Your amp volume when gigging...what is it?

[BadAssBill]

Friday my band had a gig in a medium sized club. I thought...FINALLY...I'm going to get to crank my super 17. Nope....no doing. None of our stuff was miced...and I was still at the 12'oclock area for my amp volume. With humbuckers, my guitar volume was still on 3...UGH! With the Tele volume I was up around 3/4. My tone was still pretty damn good...but not like when I'm in the sweet spot with that amp.

So I started thinking...is anyone else having this challange? I mean...we are pretty damn loud at times and I'm still not even coming close to diming a 17 watt amp. I don't know how I ever used my 50w JCM. It sucks to not get amp overdrive...

What are you gigging with ...and what are your various volumes set at? Are you playing very large clubs? Is anyone else having this problem????

 

[zuel69]

Hi, I played in a pretty large club Saturday night in my classic rock style band. I used a Diezel Einstein 50 watt head into a Mojave 2x12 with the Heritage Greenback G12H30's...I had the channel volumes at noon and the master around 11:00. It was loud.

 

[Jarrett]

Spider Valve 212 (40watt) with MV at noon. And yep its loud.

 

[John Phillips]

Clean... gain at 10 o'clock, master all the way up. Dirty... gain at 3 o'clock, master at about 9 o'clock. Output master at about 11 o'clock.

Plenty of amp overdrive there... and not too loud. 100W amp.

I have no idea why anyone would gig with a set-up where they can't control distortion and volume independently in today's world of small gigs... just cutting off your nose to spite your face IMO, since you then can't get either the volume or the tone you want. If you don't like pedals or amps with master volume, you need an attenuator.

Either that or an amp so small (which is going to be under 5W, and probably less) that you're never too loud, in which case you rely on the PA and monitors for when you're not loud enough.

 

[zuel69]

I have debated bringing out a 100 watt nmv amp with an attenuator and a channel switching box into another amp for cleans but I'm just to lazy.

 

[HEAVENandHELL]

Played Friday and Saturday nights with a 100W Dual Rec. I run the channel masters pretty hot (clean max, dirt channels around 1 o'clock) and my master volume was set between noon and 1 o'clock. We are a LOUD classic rock band.

Gregg

 

[Roe]

I play small clubs with 30-60w amps at full volume. I do get complaints sometimes thoug

 

[clarkram]

I've been running a D13 rsa31 (approx 30 watts) at sports bar gigs into a 1x12, volume @11:00 which is pretty loud. For cleaner stuff I roll off the guitar volume (Suhr T or Thorn P90s), for leads just roll up the guitar volume.
Only pedal is a Trex Replica.

Have a gig Friday, might try the Komet Constellation, but with either amp I'm going to try putting a clearsonic shield in front of the cab just for a little attenuation.

This is not metal/hard rock set up, just classic rock stuff and a little blues.

 

[Category 5]

Sounds like your a candidate for power scaling. We do that in almost all our amps and this solves the problem.

DonR

 

[BadAssBill]

Now that I think about it...I had my Gain almost all the way up. I LOVE the slightly overdriven sound when clean...so maybe I'll try and back off that for a bit.
Don I remember you from the LPF pimping your stuff.

What else is everyone set at?

 

[bluesmain]

Tough to get any power tube tones with volume below noon on either my mesa or marshall. Often it's below noon and front end loading with a stomp box...

 

[Dave Orban]

I've been gigging for several years with a Matchless Chieftain 1x12 combo.

Thank God for the decent master volume...!

 

[RGB]

It doesn't seem that anyone has actually answered the original question so far....so I'll take a crack at it....my stage volume is set to sit nicely in the mix with the drums and bass for rhythm, with a nice boost available for leads, using guitar volume or a boost pedal....these levels are different for every room, of course. Some nights it's easy to get that tone you seek, and some nights it takes a bit more work....plexi shields can help a lot in those rooms where you just can't seem to get it up to the sweet spot. Using smaller cabs can also help in problem rooms....a 1x12 is going to let you get that dial up higher than a 4x10 or 2x12.

 

[dave s]

Recently went from a 212 AC30CC2x to the AC15H1TV because the 30 was WAY too loud to turn up even at outdoor gigs on larger stages.

So I get the AC15 and dial everything in with the Channel volumes on about 4, which I figured was about normal gig volume.

Show up to the first gig with the AC15 running at 4. Too loud! Had to drop the channel volumes down to about 3 so we could hear the monitors!

And to think at one time, I gigged with a Mesa 2:90 / preamp rig!

dave

 

[Lou Brush]

I gig with a Marshall JMP 2204 and generally set the master volume around 5+ (noon) and then adjust the preamp gain for volume control. Kind of the opposite of how most peeps do it? I like to get the power tubes cooking first.

 

[ahab]

I have played my CR 2x12 all over Chicago with no problem. Typically, I dime the master, get the "volume" past noon, and let the sound-person do the rest. At a few clubs, I have had to turn the master down a bit but it is always at least 3/4's of the way up.

 

[mad dog]

I play out with most 35 watt amps. Typical gig will be the Sewell Wampus Cat, Volume at 3PM, treble maybe 2PM (treble is the gain knob on this amp), control volume at the guitar. So how loud depends on the guitar and how far up I take it. I do that by feel. Let's say 5 to 8 on the strat. If I need much louder than that, it's time to yell at the other guitarist.

 

[gtrfinder]

I'm about to start using a little 5 watt amp (like a Champ) with a 12 inch speaker for everything except my blues/rock band gigs. For those I'll use my 65 Amps London.
I like to keep the amp volumes at about 1:30 or 2:00. I suppose that would be about 7 if the controls went to 10.

 

[Category 5]

Lot's of people power scale amps and you can have it done aftermarket(which we don't do). Just trying to suggest a general solution to your problem.

DonR

 

[gerryguitar]

I gig with a Marshall JMP 2204 and generally set the master volume around 5+ (noon) and then adjust the preamp gain for volume control. Kind of the opposite of how most peeps do it? I like to get the power tubes cooking first.

I use a JMP2104 combo at a little over half volume on the low sensitivity input, so it's fairly clean, and I use a couple of pedals in front for a bit of drive and delay.... works for me almost anywhere, my stage volume is always dictated by how loud the drummer is in any case...