My first ever band practise as a guitarist! Thoughts and reviews...

[Pierre]

First of... I regret the day when I said 'ah my basswood Strat is VERY heavy, I like heavy guitars, it makes me feel safe' because right now, my shouder is dead. But the Kramer doesn't do drop D and the model 1 doesn't stay in tune so I'll have to shape up a bit. But daaaamn it's tiring.

Secondly...is it that hard to find amps that sound decent for practice??
There were a Marshall AVT50XH with the AVT 412 and a Fender FM100H with Fender 412... Well no matter how I dialled it in, the bass were GONE. I had no low end whatsoever. Treble were harsh as **** and really bad. The Marshall has this really grainy sound that I'd liked if I could have dialled it in better. Even with added bass from the Digitech Bad Monkey... nothing to be done.
The FM squealed like crazy! I have no idea why, it was feedbacking A LOT. It sounded a little thicker than the Marshall but was barely more useable. Even less bass. I'll get the bassist to put in more mids and bass next time to fill in, because there really was a hole there. It sucked.

So yeah... what else... ah yeah the Boss DS1 is not useable for high gain stuff on a clean channel I'll see if I can mod it to be though. Otherwise... The Bad Monkey does a good work at tightening things up but adds too much feedback at high volume. It's still fairly transparent at low volume, but brightens up the sound a little as you turn the amp on for some reason. Or maybe it just brightens it up more and I can hear it?

Lessons for next time:
Shorter cables.
More cables.
Lighter guitar.
Better Distortion pedal (the amps had no footswitch )

 

[Guitarist]

Re: My first ever band practise as a guitarist! Thoughts and reviews...

Well, you're certainly critiquing as if you've done this before!!

Best wishes to you and your future practices/setups!

 

[suislidE03]

Re: My first ever band practise as a guitarist! Thoughts and reviews...

I thought you still had that Laney combo? Why the hell are you using an AVT and a fender lol?

 

[Pierre]

Re: My first ever band practise as a guitarist! Thoughts and reviews...

The rehearsal place is far away and my combo is about 30Kgs I used the amps that were in the room. I wish it had been my Laney for sure Though it also does lack bottom end.

For next time I believe I'll bring in my POD.

And thanks Guitarist! For noobs ears like me, it means a lot

 

[Marcel]

Re: My first ever band practise as a guitarist! Thoughts and reviews...

Something like a 5150 rocks for higher gain stuff at bandpractice!

But in my opinion the only thing you have to learn is play with the drummer..
Everthing else come from it's own then... if you got band practice twice a week there isn't anything hurting anymore...

 

[Pierre]

Re: My first ever band practise as a guitarist! Thoughts and reviews...

I can't afford twice a week. But I'll play for longer standing up on my own now. As for playing wit ha drummer... I used to be one... so it was a bit weird hahah but everything went fine, he didn't miss a beat :thumbsup:

 

[Davey]

Re: My first ever band practise as a guitarist! Thoughts and reviews...

there's nothing to be done but to shape up your shoulder man.

get a thicker strap.


good luck with dialing in the amps. i dont have that much experience with them so i dunno...

try somehow to get your laney over there (get a smaller box and make it a head?) but it'd still be pretty heavy.
do you trust the people? you could leave the amp there if so. run it through the marshalls 4x12.



oh yea.. stay away from the FM. it SUCKS! that much i DO know. though the marshall.. wait, AVT is the solid state right? preamp is rubbish, get the pod and run it through the effects loop to bypass the preamp, should be able to make it sound better

 

[Pierre]

Re: My first ever band practise as a guitarist! Thoughts and reviews...

That's indeed the plan for next time
We can't leave our stuff there, and even if I made it into a head it'd still be way too heavy to carry around. I'll only be able to use for gigs (hopefully starting this summer). So far I'm stuck with the stuff they have in there until I buy a head. Hopefully a Laney GH50L Whenever I have the dough.

 

[Jay 77]

Re: My first ever band practise as a guitarist! Thoughts and reviews...

The Fender 412 lacked bottom end? Wow. The Fender cabs I tried many years ago were loaded with it. I couldn't afford them at the time so I bought my Peavey & I'm still using it. It's got a huge sound and I love it. Good luck with dialing in your sound anyway. It takes a ton of tinkering but when you find it, you'll love it.

 

[Pierre]

Re: My first ever band practise as a guitarist! Thoughts and reviews...

The Full Shred isn't a bottom heavy pickup. The guitar will get a Distortion sometime soon I believe anyway, this should rectify it. I just thought I could get away with it and the Bad Monkey adding some bass, but it was unuseable as the amp squealed

 

[Marcel]

Re: My first ever band practise as a guitarist! Thoughts and reviews...

The Bad Monkey is a TS pedal (afaik) and don't add but cut bass... it's more a midboost...
This is often used to get a tight sound (by cutting bass pre distortion and adding it after distortion)

 

[Pierre]

Re: My first ever band practise as a guitarist! Thoughts and reviews...

It's digital actually. It's very transparent at bedroom level and a great pedal for the price. I used it to boost the bass and put out smoother treble with the AVT (AVT's stock treble were harsh. So I turned down the mids and treble a bit, added some highs with the BM and I had smoothed it out) but by boosting bass on it, I got too much feedback, and lowering the level made it not efficient enough.

 

[Metalman_666]

Re: My first ever band practise as a guitarist! Thoughts and reviews...

Way back when my band used to be smaller and we all had crappier gear, I used to run a Boss Metal Zone through my Randall combo... that is, before I smartened up and started using the Randall. The MT-2 has great bottom end and overall a good practice sound from a pedal. You might be better off using that instead of the Marshall AVT's distortion.

 

[Jeff Dunne]

Re: My first ever band practise as a guitarist! Thoughts and reviews...

Just run the POD through the FX return of one of the heads - it'll be better than the heads themselves, but not quite as good as a tube amp .

Basswood strat - heavy? Try a mahogany 7 string .

 

[Pierre]

Re: My first ever band practise as a guitarist! Thoughts and reviews...

I won't argue hehe... This Strat is heavier than any LP I tried though for some reason.
And yeah I'll use the POD. I'll need to bring a Europe to UK plug adaptor and it should be ok. I'll use it on the Marshall I think, the cab seemed better at least.
I'd probably have to buy one of them cheap FBV2 footswitches too as I can't bring the floorboard I have now. It'd be a good thing actually... mhmm things are shaping up in my quest for tone

By the way the FullShred cuts like a RAZOR through a mix. It was only guitar bass and drums but wow...

 

[Pecan]

Re: My first ever band practise as a guitarist! Thoughts and reviews...

It took me 3 months to learn to dial my amp in perfect. I know your feeling man. Thats why I hate using other peoples amps at small gigs and stuff.

 

[suislidE03]

Re: My first ever band practise as a guitarist! Thoughts and reviews...

Another thing is were do you play? That alone can have a big effect on your sound. Plus, if you play in your bedroom alot (and i know you do by how many threads you talk about it) you will get used to having alot of lows. In a larger room your low end will diminish pretty quickly. Our band plays at a loading dock. Ceilings are 20'(6m) or more, 75'x100'(~22x30m) or so concrete floor. Not the best place acoustically, but its the only place we can play for free and not get cops called on us. The low end from my laney and the splawn cab almost disappears compared to when i play in my room.

About your Laney being too heavy?
:bsflag:

I have my Laney 2x12 combo and a Splawn 2x12, around 70-80 lbs each. Im a really small guy, but i have to carry both about 300' to my jeep, and the same up a ramp to the loading dock where we play. Then again when we leave.. it wears me out for a second or two, but its fine with me. So grow some muscle, and play with good tone dammit! :bigthumb:

 

[Davey]

Re: My first ever band practise as a guitarist! Thoughts and reviews...

Hopefully a Laney GH50L Whenever I have the dough.

thats the ticket

didnt want to post it to make ya feel i'm shovin it down your throat, but since you said it yourslelf

i "should" have mine at the end of the month


good luck with the band dude!

 

[Pierre]

Re: My first ever band practise as a guitarist! Thoughts and reviews...

Carrying a 30kgs combo for thirty minutes is out of my capacities and we don't have any way of going by bus (no buses go nearby) nor cars (none of us have one )
But yeah I didn't know that about big room, thanks!

 

[suislidE03]

Re: My first ever band practise as a guitarist! Thoughts and reviews...

I can't afford twice a week.

Sounded like you did drive.. I guess the US is still one of the only countries dominated by personally owned vehicles. I almost wish it wasnt.. but not to get off-topic. I also doubt that removing the full shred will give you that much more bass. It makes your amp seem tighter and crunchier.. a distortion may thicken just a bit, but of course i dont know what sound you are going for. Marshalls are known for their crunch i thought.