Preferred Concert Amps?

[Diminished Triad]

For those that have played or play on large stages for large crowds, what are your preferred amps? These days most are always mic'd up and fed to even larger mains but either way, what would your one or two amps be if/when you are on the big stage? Seems like Marshal had a large advantage back in the day for the big boys.

 

[Mincer]

Re: Preferred Concert Amps?

I use smaller amps, or none at all- direct to PA. My main amp is a Mesa Blue Angel at 18 watts. It gets miked. Otherwise I plug my pedalboard into a Tech 21 FlyRig5, which goes direct.

 

[Diego]

Re: Preferred Concert Amps?

My Egnater kills my Roland tonewise, but the Roland's line-out option makes gigs a breeze. Don't miss miking at all.
Soundmen love it and I don't need monitoring, unlike with a Sansamp/POD/etc.
The tone is great through most PAs and if I feel like tweaking it further I put my GE7 in the loop of my mixer's channel. Voilá!
And if the gig has a ****ty PA it's normally a small pub and I just use stage volume.

 

[beaubrummels]

Re: Preferred Concert Amps?

Depends on the music also, and guitar in use, but...

For 50-250 people / cafe / small club

• Tech21 SansAmp PSA-1 direct to board
• or Champion 600 mic'd
• or possibly Orange AD50 @30w, 1-12 Celestion cab mic'd
• (the Orange has a master volume, so it can be used at smaller gigs)​

For 300 - 500 people / club / hall

• could use something like a Line6 Flextone mic'd
• or a Vox AC30 mic'd
• or a Fender SuperReverb mic'd
• or possibly Orange AD50 @30w, 1-12 Celestion cab mic'd
• or Wallace BKW45 into Marshall 1960BX
• (might use a Weber MASS and mic the cab)​

For 500 - 1000+ / hall / outdoors

• Wallace BKW45 into Marshall 1960BX
• or Marshall 100w into 1960AV
• mic'd as needed​

 

[Chickenwings]

Re: Preferred Concert Amps?

i use a small amp (princeton reverb II) for when im not playing with a drummer, and a big amp (twin reverb) when i am. The rest of it gets looked after by A: the volume knob and/or B: the FOH guy. As long as you can hear yourself onstage, there is really nothing else you need. Modern PA systems have done away with the need for huge powerful amp stacks.

 

[Boogie Bill]

Re: Preferred Concert Amps?

The last big outdoor festival I did, I used my Mark III Coliseum 200-watt head and its Mesa 412 half-back cab with C-90s and EVM. Big stage, and I got to open it up enough to have a nice feel.

But I've done outdoor things with all of my amps: DC-3, Maverick, the half-stack and my Mark III and IV combos.

A lot just depends on the sound guy and the PA. We have a really good system.

Bill

 

[NecroPolo]

Re: Preferred Concert Amps?

Looking back, I used 50W Marshalls and Laneys most of the time, regardless of the venue from 100-sized small clubs to big open fest stages and I never had any problem with their power.

Now'days I use AMT Electronics stompbox preamps (P1 and M1) with an Electro-Harmonix 44Magnum micro power amp and a featherweight 1x12" cab because my spine said a permanent no for lifting heavy stuff around 2010. My micro rig can go out either direct through a dedicated DI box using the cab sim out of the AMT preamp or it can go to the PA the normal way, a mic before the small cab if the actual sound guy prefers that. Sometimes he uses both.

 

[AlexR]

Re: Preferred Concert Amps?

The only answer to this is...whatever amp you've already been using that has given you good tone.

 

[Red_Label]

Re: Preferred Concert Amps?

When I play rock for large crowds outdoor, I always go big. A pair of heads into a pair of 4X12s. Sure, mic'ing or direct will overcome the volume issue. But I wanna feel the stage vibrate under my feet and the moving air on my back. I'm old school that way. I'll use whatever is available or preferred for the particular gig... but when it's my choice, I just go as big as I can. One show (several years ago) was about 1,700 people and I was running three rigs. Traynor YCS100H into Marshall 1960 in stereo with Bogner Shiva into Bogner OS2X12 for crunch. And Bogner rig in stereo with a Fender Twin Reverb Reissue for cleans. T'was a maaaaw-velous rig indeed! But my [bad] back wasn't too thrilled with the load-in/out. :crazy:

 

[dominus]

Re: Preferred Concert Amps?

Yeah, Marshall always had.. wait..

 

[TimmyPage]

Re: Preferred Concert Amps?

Most amps I've used have been overkill in most of the venues I play at. I mostly only care about clean tones for my basic guitar tones, so a 40 watt solid state is usually more than enough. I've been playing a handful of shows with my Cube 40 and pedals and it's been working out fine. The biggest gig I've played here I had the luck of playing a 100 watt Vintage Modern Marshall that the stage owners had for lending. All classic rock aside, it was way too loud, apparently our soundboard guy almost mixed me off the PA system because the minimum volume needed to get a warm/full clean tone was enough to overpower the rest of the band.

Most of the time, regardless of concert size, I prefer a smaller amp into the PA system, or worst case scenario I'm quite happy to go direct, and use my Klone pedal with the gain around 9.30 or 10 to warm up the sound a bit and give me a little bit of musical clipping.

 

[jon the art guy]

Re: Preferred Concert Amps?

Peavey Mace into 3x 4x10s from various companies.

 

[jeremy]

Re: Preferred Concert Amps?

i use my deluxe reverb, i crank it as loud as i want and the sound guy loves me cause im not pushing 100w into a 4x12 of vintage 30's and it sounds huge thru the pa.

there is something fun about running a 100w amp cranked up but its gotta be outside with a ton of people for me to even think about it

 

[Matt42]

Re: Preferred Concert Amps?

Even for a really big stage, I'd rather have something smallish, i.e. around 20 watts, miced into the PA. I like to set the amp on a chair, or in a stand so the speaker is pointed at my head and I can hear just fine.

 

[chadd]

Re: Preferred Concert Amps?

Right now, my Mesa Roadster into a 2x12 or 4x12. I prefer the larger cab as it puts the amp higher and easier to see the controls if I need to twist a knob. I run all four channels on the 50 watt setting and the "spongy" power, that gets it down to 35 watts or so. It's still overkill for almost any situation, but I don't need a lot of stage volume. I only need to hear myself in the mix, not on top of it. Closed back cabs are just too directional, you need to mic them to get a good spread through any sized venue.

 

[Lazarus1140]

Re: Preferred Concert Amps?

I used a 45 watt Peavey Prowler for the last big show I played. The crowd was blown away. That is, they both asked me to turn down.

 

[LatsMcGee]

Re: Preferred Concert Amps?

Years ago I said I never would use a modern amp, I'd stick to the classics, that changed when m old band started playing live, sold one of my bassman head's to get something more reliable, ended up with a pittbull, love and miss that amp very much...

 

[ginormous]

Re: Preferred Concert Amps?

The original black-grille Peavey Classic series were crazy hot!
My buddy had the black double 12 with the metal side panels, and the built-in phaser.
Dude was an old-school Southern rocker, and although his party days were behind him, he still had most of his original gear.
He used that for worship band... yes, in a church.

My Classic 50 4x10, like many Peaveys I've played through (like the one above), can get loud as a mofo.
I use that for outdoor concerts and so forth.
I've never dimed it indoors, although once I pushed the preamp a little.

Aside from that, my little Fender single 12 SS gets me most of what I need.

 

[jeremy]

Re: Preferred Concert Amps?

used my old deluxe reverb for a concert in a park saturday afternoon. had the volume on 6 with a strat and couldnt be happier. the sound guy said that it sounded terrific and he was happy as hell that it wasnt so loud that he had to mix around it

 

[Red_Label]

Re: Preferred Concert Amps?

Years ago I built myself a 4x12-sized plexiglass shield so I could use the half-stack in areas where it was overkill. Would like to get a large shield like Bonamassa uses so I can cover both 4x12s.