can't hear my guitar during jams

[Slowish]

hi y'all, since day one i've had the problem of not cutting through the mix during jam sessions. Somehow or rather my guitar tone gets swallowed by the bass or drums. I think its the eq settings and prolly the gain problem (too much gain that is) and of course the common amps we all use... the jazz chorus and laney amps. I just cant seem to get a clear and defined tone when i jam.

How do you guys cut through the mix? wat effects pedals and eq settings do you guys normally use? Really appreciate the advice thanks!

 

[penguin]

hi...sorry to hear that..
can list ur amp setting ?I mean clean tone..
and perhaps ur effect chain as well...

from wat is listed mayb other forumers might be able to advise you..

 

[gargamelesp]

try boosting the mid range,as uncool as it may sound when the guitar is being played alone, it will help you cut through more during jams.

 

[Slowish]

thanks for the reply guys, im currently running my rg550 into my podxt live then into either the jam room's jazz chorus or laney amps. i tried raising the volume but it was evident that the eq was the problem because i still wasnt getting any definition at higher volumes.

the settings on the amp itself i usually turn the bass to 9 o'clock keeping my feet out of the bass fequencies then mid is usually at 3 o'clock and treble at 12 o'clock. i'm really at a loss guys.

 

[Wadi]

Try set all the amp's eq to off or zero. Then get your sound through the PODXT. If you are using amp simulation turn it off unless the amp has a line in.

I dont have PODXT but I've read about it..try at own risk. :twisted:

 

[Vaiyen]

never jam with a scooped sound!

 

[ChanMin]

slowish = MARC?

singapore richie kotzen????

 

[Slowish]

yo channy boy yup Marc here. Whats up with all the name calling and stuff man heh. Any tips anot chan? damn frustrated at jams man. You are actively jamming right? how do you set up ur EQ ballz?

 

[teleholic]

well, hope this will help..did this at my last jam..ran my guitar thru a very quiet dist pedal..bass about 1 o'clock, mid 3o'clock, treble 2o'clock, with the vol set right, i was able to get a very close cd-like recording save for the room noise on an mp3 player...

 

[marshall_law]

never jam with a scooped sound!

Yeah! Turn up the mids baby! Unless you got amps like James Hetfield, never scoop your mids!

 

[ChanMin]

im not worthy!!!! im NOT WORTHY!!! (bows down dun dare to look up... )

haha.. usually i play with low gain... and up the mid and bass frequencies(via pedal or amp)...

the more gain the softer you sound when the whole band is playing... so play with a tight focused dist ... it always helps cut thru.

 

[3notesAbar]

Slowish you know Hidir?

 

[penguin]

hi slow,

I`ve not tried the podxt live,
but i`ve tried the podxt...got no problem..can used the amp effect return

alternatively, u might light to boost ur "channel" knob.
or pair it up with a poweramp...

i do not know how you "program" ur patch..but lastly but not least check that the output is for the correct...(the connected to part on the manual i think)

gd luck man..

 

[koolguy74sg]

hi y'all, since day one i've had the problem of not cutting through the mix during jam sessions. Somehow or rather my guitar tone gets swallowed by the bass or drums. I think its the eq settings and prolly the gain problem (too much gain that is) and of course the common amps we all use... the jazz chorus and laney amps. I just cant seem to get a clear and defined tone when i jam.

How do you guys cut through the mix? wat effects pedals and eq settings do you guys normally use? Really appreciate the advice thanks!

Your topic description here seems that it does not tally with the title of the topic you post. It seems that you did not get a clear sound, rather than you did not hear anything (as per your topic title).

I think if you cannot hear the sound clear you got to adjust the volume of the pedals, or you can set the chorus knob and other knob to the mid range, as what the rest have said.

Rgds
kool

 

[mikemann]

Well, being a studio operator myself. I more often find that the guitar player crank till he drowns out the other sounds.

If you are standing in front of the amp, I don't see why you will not be able to hear yourself. The amps in question are definately powerful enough. I am guessing you are jamming at weelee or sengchai.

My advise is to sit down with your other band members and get their feedback. Can they hear your playing? Are they playing too loud?

Another possibility is the type of music you are playing. If you can narrow down logically, I think you should be able to find a solution.

Plan your jamming session, discuss before and review after. What is your goal?

Different brands of amps have it's own distinctive tone, maybe you are a peavey player, have you tried that?? Knowing the amp is a must. You are welcome to try out my studio, I can give you more details on the workings of amps, as I repair them.

Regards,
Mike
Mikemann Music Studio

 

[BF109E]

Another thing. How you play matters too. If the rest of the guys are hovering around the lower register, then you should aim for the higher ones.

Use the bridge pickup and cut back on the bass and mids. And do a appropriate sound mix (meaning setting all the amps at levels that supplement each other's playing)) with all the other guys when you jam so that no one instrument is over bearing on the others. Put some dynamics into your jamming so that the jam is not all high energy sounds but a mix of intensities.

Just some simple ideas.

 

[Slowish]

Hey y'all thanks for the great advice, guess i should prolly turn my gain down. I noticed that the amps in the jamming studios have an inherent higher gain output as compared to my home amp which is the tech21 powerengine. I'm thinking thats why my distortion patches are too gainy till i cant even hear any definition.

3notesabar: hey there, yup i do know signapore's drum god hidir heh

mikemann: sounds like i should pay ur studio a visit, might pick up a helpful tip or two on getting my sound right yeah.

 

[thor666]

Perhaps u might want to try playing without the podxt live first. Digital effects do tend to be "muddy" in a sort of way.

u're jamming at weelee aljunied right?

for the gain thing, actually the jazz chorus should be one of the more clean and non-tonecoloring amps. Should not have high gain.

Laney amps in weelee on the other hand, have very poor definition for some reason. Although the distortion sounds nice alone, yes, they do get drowned out more often than not in the jam studio.

 

[JamdeltaV]

hey i use the pod xt live with those amps and i swear by it.

i encountered problems with getting some sort of mushy.. can't cut throuhg the mix tone too but i solved them like this

Podxt works best when using it's mono out pluged into the 'return' portion of the efx loop of amps or doing it such that it bypasses the preamp.

The output mode has got to be set to 'stack pwramp' when plugging into things with 4x12 and 'combo pwramp ' anything else and it gets mushy

the output level should be set to the max so that you get pressence.
control the volume with the amp's master volume or 'efx level' knob. Usually it gets damn loud and you should hear it by now

if that stil cannot solve you problem you should just go for different amp models.
The SLO 100, all the plexi models and fenders are focused in the higher feq. and cuts through really well. if everyone's playing lower freq.
The Jmp,Treadplate,Spinal puppet and jazz chrous models are your thing for lower freq's

hope this helps ease the pain

P.s. avoid plugging the podxt live through the amps input.
If you have to turn the amp modelling off and use the stompbox model for distortion, saves alot of trounle.

 

[One]

jamdeltaV....Can i know why u say said to avoid plugging the podxt live into e amp imputs? i dun understand tat part....k thankz

Anyway...mikeman...can pass me more detailz of ur studio...how do i get there man?? thank u very much.
cheerz..