Guitar plugged straight into amp

mirkok1

New member
does anyone gig with just a guitar and amp? with no pedals in between. if so what kind of guitar and what kind of amp?
 
Re: Guitar plugged straight into amp

Almost always, if you don't count my tuner. The amps I use most for gigging on guitar are a newish Mesa Express Plus 5:25, a '90-something Ampeg Jet II, a '68 Princeton, and a '63 Gibson Skylark. (I often use the Ampeg and the Mesa together, or the Ampeg and the Princeton together.) There's an Ampeg Reverberocket head that I bring if a place has a speaker cab they want me to use; it's very convenient that way. I also have an Ampeg Super Rocket 2x12 (100W), and an Ampeg V4 (100W). I don't use those that often, as they are loud as hell and heavy as hell.
 
Re: Guitar plugged straight into amp

I have gigged with only a guitar and amp a few times. The guitar is a Warmoth loaded with Duncans and the amps have been two different Traynor YCV 40's (one loaded with 6L6's and one with KT77 tubes), a Traynor Custom Blue 50 and even a Laney Cub 12 (obviously all of them were mic'd).

Works just fine for me. Some music needs pedals, some music doesn't. No big deal.
 
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Re: Guitar plugged straight into amp

Most of the time. I use a strat into a deluxe reverb. I play some sort of indie folk. I'm adding a looper/delay pedal and an overdrive soon.
 
Re: Guitar plugged straight into amp

Thay's the way I roll 99% of the time. Orange rocker30 or thunderverb with a les paul. Never gigged either of my mesa or my diy jcm800 so I can't say for sure but I think it'd be the same.
 
Re: Guitar plugged straight into amp

When I gig, I have my pedal board, and these days I have a checklist I print out so that the right gear gets into the van. I just high-lite what I need and check it off.

I started doing this because about 20 years ago; I had a couple of gigs with my other band where I'd walked off and forgot the board--luckily I had a spare OD in one of the bags, so I could get a decent lead tone with the Fender and Marshall amps I had.

One time I forgot the board when I went to a jam--and no spare OD, either. Super embarrassing; I almost left before getting up to play. But it was a slow night early on, and the leader wanted to get me up on stage right away. So there I am with a Marshall JCM 800 4010 112 50-watt MV combo, and my 1975 Les Paul '55 Special Reissue with P-90s. I had a rocky relationship with that amp, and was just taking the Paul out because I hadn't used it for a while, having become a confirmed Strat player. Pretty much everybody is looking at me strangely, because seeing a Marshall combo at a jam is a rarity--probably 99% of the players I knew back then used either Fender or Peavey amps. So, GAIN on about 7-8 and the MV up to 4--and tonight I'm going to be using the guitar's volume knobs--a lot! Keep in mind, this is a totally foreign style of playing and getting my tone.

And I think that just turned into one of the best jams I'd ever done up to that point. That P-90 Paul and the Marshall just seemed perfectly mated. I didn't have the super clean tones that I would normally want to use with my band's material, but with the jam--I didn't need them. And when I soloed, that Marshall just SANG! What's interesting is how quickly the night turned from what was going to be a certain disaster in my mind, to my being totally confident in my playing and tone.

The Marshall was a great rock amp, and I loved the lead tones, but it just wasn't working with the majority of the music I was playing with my band. A few months after this jam I found my Mesa amp and the tones I wanted--and never looked back. I don't need any dirt boxes with these amps. But that combination of the P-90s and that little Marshall was pretty cool.

And so these days with the Mesa amps, I rarely feel the need to take my big Furman board to a jam with me. I can take any of my Mesa 112 combos, and play with confidence--DC-3, Mark III, Mark IV; or even the Maverick 212. Depending on the jam, I might want to use a chorus or a wah in front of the amp, or a delay pedal in the loop, but most of the time I just go straight into the amp. Not having the pedal board is a bit uncomfortable for me, walking the tightrope without a net so to speak. But I think it's good for me to go and concentrate on my playing, rather than worrying about which pedal to step on.

So, while I have gone straight into the amp, I really like having those little boxes at my feet--adding a touch of chorus, wah, phasing and delay where appropriate.

Bill
 
Re: Guitar plugged straight into amp

All depends on your music......and the venue. In my house there is no way you can get any amp turned up enough to have drive through volume, so pedals are required.
 
Re: Guitar plugged straight into amp

"Do you paint with only 3 colors, or do you prefer a full palette of colors?"

Same question.

I prefer the 64-box of Crayons.
 
Re: Guitar plugged straight into amp

Been there, Done that.

Gibson Guitar, Duncan or DiMarzio pickups, Marshall amp.
 
Re: Guitar plugged straight into amp

Assorted guitars, mk2 Fender HR DeVille 410. Any time and modulation effects go in the pre-/post- loop.
 
Re: Guitar plugged straight into amp

When I was playing metal, yes. ESP or similar super strat into a Splawn Quick Rod, and 1–2 4x12 cabinets.
 
Re: Guitar plugged straight into amp

I tried but I ended up missing the boosts and whatnot for variety.
I do try to use as few pedals as possible. 5 tops including the tuner.
 
Re: Guitar plugged straight into amp

These days Im using this: but it is for 80's metal covers, so lots of delay/chorus stylings.

 
Re: Guitar plugged straight into amp

I tried but I ended up missing the boosts and whatnot for variety.
I do try to use as few pedals as possible. 5 tops including the tuner.

I wholly agree with this sentiment.

Although that being said I can never fully shake my love/addiction for pedals so I always have more than I need. Including about a half dozen projects that I won't be able to get to for another few months.

My dream is to one day have the following board:
- Tuner
- Volume/Pre (Something with the functionality of the TC electronic spark boost but (1) high voltage, with (2) jfets and (3) an ep-workalike input bufffer in a wah housing)
- Wah
- 1776 effects multiplex (specifically because it has settings that emulate the echoplex, the binson echorec, and the roland space echo) adapted to 18v (I think the pt2399 can only handle 5v but apparently the catalinbread montavillain uses the pt2399 and can run on 18v so yeah)
- Tremolo in a wah housing (so, like an old univibe pedal but where it does tremolo instead)

So, basically 3 pedals that have a treadle and one way-to-many-functions delay lol.
 
Re: Guitar plugged straight into amp

In my situation, live I use:

-Tuner
-EHX Memory Toy.
-Boss Equalizer. Permanently on with a slight volume drop and a slightly sculpted midrange, then off for leads. More mids and volume.
-Marshall Jackhammer.
-Maybe a Boss CE2 I've got and rarely use. Or a fuzz. Depends on what I'll play.

No wah or volume pedals. I'm considering ditching all this crap and buying something like a Line6 M13.
 
Re: Guitar plugged straight into amp

Most commonly yep.
Usually a 335 or SG for slide into the amp on the left (based on a marshall JTM but with some tweaks including a master volume). For Jazz gigs i'll use the 175 into the amp on the right.
DSC_0858_zpsrnooq2bl.jpg

Sometimes i take a pedal along, and sometimes i use different amps and more pedals, but thats the basic setup for most gigs.
 
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Re: Guitar plugged straight into amp

I have done it a few times admittedly when we have been supporting another band where change overs need to be quick and I don't want to lose any of my gear. My rig would normally be any one of 4 guitars loaded with a S.D Brobucker in the bridge into either a Cornford MK50 or Hurricane..... It's very liberating to have no effects.
 
Re: Guitar plugged straight into amp

I don't use a pedal with a jmp-1 preamp usually. It sounds good on its own. Same with my valvestate. The jtm30 is 50/50 - sometimes I'll use a mxr classic, sometimes not.
 
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Re: Guitar plugged straight into amp

At the moment I feel like delay is a little to integral to my sound to go a gig without it. I used to just literally show up to gigs with a guitar and use whatever backline they had, though as a jazz musician, if if has a clean tone on it I can probably make it work. That's part of the reason that I started carrying a boost/eq pedal with me everywhere, just in case the backline sounded like crap, I could use the boost as a preamp and force a useable tone out of it.

I think I fluctuate between a lot of pedals and very minimal setups, but at this very point in time I don't think I could do without them entirely.
 
Re: Guitar plugged straight into amp

Usu ally can't do without my board, but just did a gig last night @ a house party and there wasn't room. So for lightness and space saving I went with my Tom DeLonge strat into my Tubemiester 18 and the provided 4x12. It actually worked pretty well, and I'm glad I had made that gear choice in advance since I threw my back out about 2hrs before I had to leave for the gig
 
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