Guitarist - new to gigging - what setup?
Discussion
Hi All,
Bit of background. I have been playing guitar for a few years, but was mostly learning and playing by myself. I now have started playing in a band and we have done 4 or 5 gigs playing Eagles, Stones, Pink Floyd stuff where I play mainly rhythm, but a few lead lines/fills as well. I have some pretty basic questions that hopefully some of the more expereinced PH giggers (and pros) can help out with, regarding simple setup.
Should the amp volume be set high and then rolled back using the guitar, or vice versa, or does it not matter and just create different tones?
I have 2 amps, VOX Valvetronix VT40+ which was bought about a year ago with lots of variations of modelled amps, effects, pedals etc. and an older Peavey Bravo 112 (valve amp / 30W / 2 channels - clean and dirty).
The VOX is potentially able to give me all these tones/sounds but I am struggling with the basics, the Peavey on the other hand is simple and could then be combined with some pedals, or a multi-effects unit? I was looking at the Boss ME25 as an example.
Any advice, or basic principles would be appreciated or things to go away and tweak with. At the moment I just literally set a certain level on the amp and then turn the guitar up a bit louder for a lead bit for example!
Cheers, griff
Bit of background. I have been playing guitar for a few years, but was mostly learning and playing by myself. I now have started playing in a band and we have done 4 or 5 gigs playing Eagles, Stones, Pink Floyd stuff where I play mainly rhythm, but a few lead lines/fills as well. I have some pretty basic questions that hopefully some of the more expereinced PH giggers (and pros) can help out with, regarding simple setup.
Should the amp volume be set high and then rolled back using the guitar, or vice versa, or does it not matter and just create different tones?
I have 2 amps, VOX Valvetronix VT40+ which was bought about a year ago with lots of variations of modelled amps, effects, pedals etc. and an older Peavey Bravo 112 (valve amp / 30W / 2 channels - clean and dirty).
The VOX is potentially able to give me all these tones/sounds but I am struggling with the basics, the Peavey on the other hand is simple and could then be combined with some pedals, or a multi-effects unit? I was looking at the Boss ME25 as an example.
Any advice, or basic principles would be appreciated or things to go away and tweak with. At the moment I just literally set a certain level on the amp and then turn the guitar up a bit louder for a lead bit for example!
Cheers, griff
Sorry, I didn't explain very well. I am currently either using the Peavey or the VOX, they aren't both connected in stereo or switching via pedal.
The Peavey is really nice on either channel and being valve gives a nice tone, but I guess I was just looking to experiment with different effects (compression, chorus, maybe delay)
I bought the VOX to try and do this and get some variations on tone that I could switch between rhythm / lead and I think it is a fair amp for doing that, but maybe I just need to spend lots more time playing with it and understanding what it can do. I did read the manual (honest), but got a bit overwhelmed with Gain, Volume, Master and Power Level knobs and what controlled what pat of the pre-amp / power amp etc. and then how that related to the guitar volume/tone knobs!
The Peavey is really nice on either channel and being valve gives a nice tone, but I guess I was just looking to experiment with different effects (compression, chorus, maybe delay)
I bought the VOX to try and do this and get some variations on tone that I could switch between rhythm / lead and I think it is a fair amp for doing that, but maybe I just need to spend lots more time playing with it and understanding what it can do. I did read the manual (honest), but got a bit overwhelmed with Gain, Volume, Master and Power Level knobs and what controlled what pat of the pre-amp / power amp etc. and then how that related to the guitar volume/tone knobs!
Thanks for all the replies, really useful.
I've done three things which seem to be for now giving me the info to be able to make a decision and test/play with sounds:
1. Read the VOX manual in depth and multiple times whilst adjusting settings on the VOX, one at a time. I am now more able to see what modes of the amp are "tweakable", but more importantly fully understand how to set it up in "manual" mode and save the settings to a bank for retrieving later.
2. Got the footswitch that allows the VOX banks to be controlled
3. Dug out my old Boss pedals (Delay, Chorus) and used them with the Peavey.
The conclusion is absolutely to keep it simple but I now have 2 simple setups to choose from that I understand.
Thanks, griff
I've done three things which seem to be for now giving me the info to be able to make a decision and test/play with sounds:
1. Read the VOX manual in depth and multiple times whilst adjusting settings on the VOX, one at a time. I am now more able to see what modes of the amp are "tweakable", but more importantly fully understand how to set it up in "manual" mode and save the settings to a bank for retrieving later.
2. Got the footswitch that allows the VOX banks to be controlled
3. Dug out my old Boss pedals (Delay, Chorus) and used them with the Peavey.
The conclusion is absolutely to keep it simple but I now have 2 simple setups to choose from that I understand.
- VOX with preset tones/effects stored and retrieved via fottswitch
- Peavey on clean with Chorus/Reverb in front of it and a different footswitch to switch channel
Thanks, griff
Gassing Station | Music | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff