Feedback at low volumes

  • Hi guys


    Did a quick test I've been meaning to do for a long time. How to get feedback at low volume? That's a question that's plagued us bedroom volume players for some time :)


    There are some tips and tricks using various stomps in the kemper, but I think this may not be the optimal way. Mind you, this might not be either - but it sorta works.


    I was thinking: OK, getting feedback requires loud volume or moderate volume and high gain, right? So why not try at a lower volume, but very close to a speaker - and with massive amounts of gain and compression - and then REAMP that sucker. Not rocket science and revelations (hey, that's a great album title!), but I couldn't remember anyone talking about this before. So I put my money where my mouth (thoughts?) were and did some testing.


    I used my Avantone speaker, which is a SMALL speaker (4 inches maybe?) and put it right at the edge of the desk. I haven't had any luck before with my main monitors, but haven't tried this precise approach either - mostly, I used the avantone because it's easier to move.


    Then I loaded up a profile with fairly high gain (could have cranked it some more, though!), added a fuzz stomp, made some semi-arbitrary EQ moves (which may have helped or hurt), and set amp compression at around 4-ish.


    Volume in the room? Nowhere near neighbour-frustration-volume - but not at a "the kids are sleeping" volume either.


    Commence recording and great fun moving the guitar around, capturing different overtones. What I learned (which is probably only news to me who has ALWAYS been a bedroom player):
    - Different angles and positions result in different overtones - you can hear this in the clip below - when the same note turns into different overtones, that's because I've moved around.
    - Some spots on the guitar neck seem to favour certain overtones
    - Lower notes really benefit from laying the neck on the speaker cabinet. I suspect this is especially true for small speakers, since they likely vibrate more. Didn't test this particularly with higher notes, I think.
    - Oftentimes, having the neck parallel to the direction of the sound (ie. roughly perpendicular to the speaker face, though not necessarily pointed directly at the speaker) yielded better results than facing the speaker with the body of the guitar.
    - I need to find a less cramped position for playing with this - put the speaker in a better place :)


    Further experimentation needed of course.


    Then on to reamping - used the Michael Wagner erect 2 profile, with gain raised to 7 and amp compression raised to 2.


    Further learned that it's probably best if you can obtain the feedback with the "right" profile right away, since you can't judge the amount of feedback you'll get in the reamp stage if you don't play that exact profile. Also, the result was fairly noisy (an effect of having the guitar that close to the speaker?), so I quickly did some subtractive EQ on the source DI and also on the reamped track. I bet some noise correction could be the ticket (audacity will be used next time) - so there should be some "non-playing time" recorded to get a read-out of just the noise. Also, the noise of the string against the fretboard is pretty evident, so I think the best method is getting a good strong feedback going (where you can hear it getting higher in volume even than the original note sometimes - and THEN apply the vibrato).


    Anyway, here is the result - probably boring to listen to in it's entire length, but you can skip around.


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    I should point out that this was only a QUICK test as proof of principle. The final result is not perfect, and many things could be adjusted to get a better result (even more gain, fuzz and compression on the original recording used for getting the feedback - and more gain on the reamped profile etc etc etc....)


    Let me know what you think, and if you have any experiences with this yourselves!

  • I find Kemper feedbacking like crazy, without any tricks in some cases @Michael_dk.


    It happens when I play through my 5" monitors. I don't have to get close to the speaker, I just sit as center triangle node circa 1m from my monitors.


    Let's say that any rig with ~6.5 of gain keep the feedback like crazy in some situations. Even more - once I plum the power chord, when feedback starts after while, it keeps going like on sustainer. And I don't even use (I don't have) sustain-king Les Paul. I do this with stock bridge humbucker of my Chapman ML-1.


    What's even more interesting and I find it Kemper only related, is some kind of pulse/peak that happens on "feedbacked" signal, with no intervention on my side (I don't do anything, don't strum, don't touch any knobs) - if I have a chance, I'll record it.

  • I get feedback easily at moderate levels with the low E-string by putting the headstock of my Strat in contact with the speaker grill of my DXR10. I usually control the feedback level by pulling the Strat away from the speaker. On one occasion I kept the headstock in contact with the speaker grill and let the feedback build up so that it was squealing for about 5 to 10 seconds and I started to smell burning electrical insulation. I quickly ended the feedback. I was a bit worried but I don't think it damaged the DXR10 - it still sounds the same. I guess Class D amps aren't built to take the kind of abuse that a tube amp could easily handle. =O

  • Check this out.

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    This is sick good.

  • I already paid for one through Sweetwater a week ago (they are $179.00 USD), although they don't ship until April 10!

    (PEDALBOARD): Kemper Stage, Shure GLXD-16 wireless, JHS A/B Switch, SoloDallas Storm, Keeley Halo, Mission Engineering EP-1 KP, Voodoo Labs Pedal Power 2, Pedaltrain-3 board

  • To my ears it sounds synthetic, though I suppose that's what it is, and not at all musical. Maybe more like a Theremin effect <X or like FOH PA feedback than guitar - amp feedback The search continues....


    T

  • Sounds pretty good to me. I wouldn't use it on a studio recording but for live nobody will hear a difference in a full band mix


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    (PEDALBOARD): Kemper Stage, Shure GLXD-16 wireless, JHS A/B Switch, SoloDallas Storm, Keeley Halo, Mission Engineering EP-1 KP, Voodoo Labs Pedal Power 2, Pedaltrain-3 board

  • I usually get pretty good feedback if I want it as well... we'll see if it changes when my new Xitone Michael Britt convertible open/closed back cab gets here this week!

    I am a Profile Whore... Sometimes a Recovering Profile Whore...
    but mostly a Complete and Utter Profile Whore... I want them all... aCk!!! 8|:love:

  • I usually get pretty good feedback if I want it as well... we'll see if it changes when my new Xitone Michael Britt convertible open/closed back cab gets here this week!

    You usually get good feedback using a cab on stage? A lot of us are talking about using something for feedback becasue we are direct to PA with no cab and using IEMs . I have one RG550 with a sustainer system in it but I think this Freqout pedal is going to work great for me live.

    (PEDALBOARD): Kemper Stage, Shure GLXD-16 wireless, JHS A/B Switch, SoloDallas Storm, Keeley Halo, Mission Engineering EP-1 KP, Voodoo Labs Pedal Power 2, Pedaltrain-3 board

  • Yep... FRFR powered cab. I can get some good harmonic howl outta mine.

    I am a Profile Whore... Sometimes a Recovering Profile Whore...
    but mostly a Complete and Utter Profile Whore... I want them all... aCk!!! 8|:love: