Did I just forget what an amp in a room sounds like?

  • Also we guitarists tend to blame the gear, not our abilities. But good guitarists always sound good.

    It's entirely their fault ! Iv'e never seen Metallica with a MOOER GE-150 or angus young with a boss GT-1 ^^:P:)8o


    Our mistake is that we believe we'll play like they do when we will be able to buy/own their devices !!! 8)

  • I think you are so right that many people are now going beyond being guitarists into sound production.


    Whilst many people already do that and in fact I suspect many people on here identify more as sound engineers first and guitarists second...and many famous guitarists are part of the production team or self produce, it forces you to understand the "wider" picture.


    The KPa definitely makes you think more even as a live guitarist, at the very least because you can control FOH sound separte to monitor sound. Back in the day when it was a cranked Plexi and it was the sound man's "job" to translate that FOH through careful mike placement etc, we ( guitarists) didn't care - someone else sorted that.


    Personally I still believe I am the centre of the universe and all music sand sound should revolve around me :)

  • It's entirely their fault ! Iv'e never seen Metallica with a MOOER GE-150 or angus young with a boss GT-1 ^^:P:)8o


    Our mistake is that we believe we'll play like they do when we will be able to buy/own their devices !!! 8)

    I believe Angus is now switching to a line 6 pod on their latest album ;)

  • Was about time,no;


    We guitar players believed to long we are the centre of the universe without working hard for anything else than doing the guitar hero stuff..


    Time to wake up. The KPA is a great tool to push us beyond our comfort zones.

  • In the end I realized that doing only recordings over a long period of time while doing no live work changes EVERYTHING. And I mean EVERYTHING. The "balance" get lost and we as guitar player in the recording studio or alone at home doing our parts on the DAW evolve right away from the casual rock guitar player into a different sort of musicians more in the direction of being also our own "producers" (working on the drum sound,bass,keys etc).

    I can't see clearly the conclusion...

    Is it a bad or a good thing for you ?

    There are drawbacks and advantages in each cases...


    It helps to understand all the workflow. You can prepare your rigs before.

    On the other hand, time you've spent to understand EQ/high/lowcut and its importance is not time you've worked playing on a new song...

  • I can't see clearly the conclusion...

    Is it a bad or a good thing for you ?

    There are drawbacks and advantages in each cases...

    Thats a good question.


    I don't know. As you say there are always pros and cons...Different forms and levels of concentration.

  • i feel the same .

    I had a L6 Helix before which really made me progress in sound research. I've learnt where to place fx in the chains and consequences on the sound . How to set parameters and the need you have to do so (high cut/low cut, etc...)

    I'm pretty proud to have learnt all those stuffs and now i can talk to a sound guy and tell him ; it's plug and play, i've done all the job before ;):). Or, ok, you want this tweaking, i can do it quickly on my kemper....

    Nevertheless, at the end with the Helux, i was still tweaking parameters to improve my sounds. An endless quest, this is here, i feel i've wasted some times....

    But it can be another good base for the next level i wanna work on ; the band mix on the mix table ! (we have to improve this part too) ;):/

  • Was about time,no;


    We guitar players believed to long we are the centre of the universe without working hard for anything else than doing the guitar hero stuff..


    Time to wake up. The KPA is a great tool to push us beyond our comfort zones.

    I am split on this.


    I think it depends on the type of guitarist/person you are.


    For example I see guitarists are split into 2 types ( MASSIVE generalisation I know) when it comes to playing:

    1) Theoretical approach - wants to know music theory, modes and techniques

    2) Plays from Tabs, patterns etc.


    My other analogy is wine - some people take time to really take in flavours to concentrate on the taste...others just drink it.


    I think its the same for sound production. Some people want to understand the mechanics and hence many people take about frequencies ( low pass filter at 7k) and have a good grasp of all things sound wise to ultimately become a tone king. Others go by feel.


    In all of those examples, I'm the latter. That could make me lazy or just its not what interests me in playing guitar/drinking wine. I don't think either is right or wrong, just different.


    To follow on from the wine example, me and my wife actually went on a wine tasting to learn more about wine. After about 9 glasses, my wife turned to me and said " you know when I think about it, and I mean I really think about it, I don't really like the taste of wine"...

  • After about 9 glasses, my wife turned to me and said " you know when I think about it, and I mean I really think about it, I don't really like the taste of wine"..

    Funny, normally after the first bottle everything tastes better...=O:D

    If something is too complicated, then you need to learn it better

  • Well I have a very strange personal view on all of that.


    For me there is no "music theory".


    I always thought that only the idea of "theory" in connection with arts is very ...funny?


    How can it be "theory" when we hear,feel and play it?


    Steve Vai or Zappa for example use a lot of "theory" when in fact they always create certain feels which are not a really deniable in my ears. They just knew/know what they do. They don't like to be in a "dark room" hoping that "somehow" they will find the right way to express themselves.Some people say music is "the mathematics of our feelings" and if this is true(I like this idea) the modes/scales are just some variables. Like "minor=sad/major=happy"..and in most cases this is true. The modes have their own "feel" in between what we call "major/minor/". So nothing special really. No theory. It is very practical. If you know what you are doing in a split second. It has to he a natural thing.


    The same thing about our guitar sounds or our work flow.


    Some people try to create sound purely by gear. If the feel of the song is not "right" they will try to rectify this by changing the amp,putting more fx on the sound etc until their ears get tired and they give up.


    I would try to change other things. If I have a song which has a major feel but something is not "quite right" ..yes I would try the MIXOLYDIAN mode. Just one note different. Just one note away from.the major feel,one note more minor feel. Just an example. The older we get things start to exhaust us. We want more melody instead of energy,we want more harmony instead of rage. Gear will not help with that. Gear is not the right way to "re-fresh" our ears to revitalize them. At least I think so. This is my experience. Anyway..


    Humans are complicated creatures. And musicians even more so. There us no "rule" for anything in arts/music.

  • 3) Makes his own rules up. (Me, Jimi, and Eric). ;)

    Larry Mar @ Lonegun Studios. Neither one famous yet.