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700w amp rig can't keep up with guitars.

#42
njones89 said:
I am annoyed AF at the guitarists in my one band. One just got his first tube amp ever and his tone is garbage. The lows sound dimed. It's a 50w Bugera into some garbage cab. Our other guitarist who is on the other end of the practice room has an EVH 5150iii combo which is also going into an oversized 5150iii 412 cab with excessive gain. They are playing really loud. I had pain in my ear at the last practice and my ears rang for days. I started using ear plugs because they will not turn down. Another problem is that my rig can't keep up and I have trouble hearing myself. I have a Peavey Firebass 700w and a GK neo 410 (8 ohm) stacked on an older acoustic cab. The Acoustic is not being used because of faulty jacks on the back. When I do use both, there is little perceivable difference in volume.

Lows are at 2 o clock, mids are at 11 o clock, highs are at 3 o clock. Contour is dialed up all the way. The active input setting is off, speaker protection is on, I am using a compressor. Sound only cuts when I use overdrive. My cab appears to be clipping with a clean sound with gain at 10 o clock and master dimed. Help!

All else fails, I will just get vengeful and direct into PA with full volume, both cabs. Seriously, the practice mix is so bad, I hardly hear the drums or vocals. It's just guitar distortion, mostly the EVH one.
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What are playing with 12 year olds.

They either grow up and turn down or I would be gone. There is no venue that you play that loud at anyways.

If your ears are ringing then that's damage.

My advise is to find grownups to make music with.
 
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#46
Adding a second matching cabinet will give you up to 6db. Get your speakers as close to ear level as you can. Tilt the top speaker back a bit if necessary so your ears are in the dispersion pattern of the highest frequencies you want to hear. Basically this minimizes the distance between your speakers and your ears, and ensures you will hear more direct sound than reverberant sound. Your direct sound decreases 6db with each doubling of distance from the sound source. At some distance you will hear more reverberant sound than direct sound. For any frequency in which your ears are outside the dispersion pattern you will hear primarily indirect sound regardless of distance from the sound source.

Wear ear plugs. I know they suck, but tinnitus and hearing loss is far worse. 90% of the time I wear custom ER15s. ER15s sound a bit better than foamy or triple flange, but they still roll off some of the highs and compress dynamic range. To compensate, increase the mids and treble so your tone sounds right with the ear plugs in.

IMHO the whole point of you amp is to serve as a personal monitor. Unless the amp is expected to push the house, I usually adjust for maximum clarity at my listening position and send a pre EQ signal the FOH so the audio tech has a more neutral signal to work with.

From what I understand, loud sounds activate our fight or flight response which produces a rush because our body dumps a bunch of harmones into our blood stream. I write this as factor that helps explain why people might enjoy cranking up their amps and why some refuse to play at a reasonable volume. In effect volume is like an addictive drug and they are junkies. Ultimately the best decision is probably to find musicians who are willing to prioritize hearing conservation over the hit they get from playing loud.
 
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#54
bucephylus said:
Is this a working band or a "for fun" band? If the former, then you have cause to argue the point that they aren't paying attention to the mix. Working bands simply don't do that, because that approach to ensemble sound does not get gigs.

If the latter (which is fine, BTW), then make sure the first thing you do is get some good ear plugs. You should NEVER under any circumstances for any reason leave a musical rehearsal with pain in your ears. That is your body telling you not to do that. There are inexpensive membrane plugs that maintain fidelity, but cut dB's. Get some.

Unfortunately, physics says that guitarists can blow the rest of the band away if they choose to do it. Club owners usually won't employ bands that play that way. The most laughable thing to me is that most guitarists who play way too loud during rhythm parts can't play a solo to save their soul when the time comes that they should be louder. Competent guitarists understand dynamics.

Anyhow, the main thing for you to do is protect your hearing. There will be other gigs.
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This is a "for fun" band. They all have the serious attitude and want to become successful musicians, but they lack IMO the fundamental skillsets outside of musical ability to do so. I think that for that reason, this band will never become a "working band" in any capacity - covers or originals. I would like to see them become successful; I see problems with the music we're playing and I see problems fundamentally, like with the band mix and whatnot, but they do not want to change anything. I think our guitarist is too noodly for most people who are not Petrucci fans to appreciate - I also play guitar and I find most of what he does to be annoying or showy instead of quality. Our vocalist/guitarist has a decent voice, but does not choose the best melodies and phrasing. I do not like his lyrics at all. They are not catchy. His crowd interaction is boring. He thinks he is funny but comes across as overcompensating for something. I have started to write my own music for the first time in my life (I recording my first track ever this weekend) and I'm hoping it goes somewhere. I really wish the problems in this band would just resolve on their own... our drummer is just awesome. He is probably the only one that legitimately considers my suggestions and he is easy to work with. My only qualm with him is that he just isn't great at jamming stuff.

All of this makes me just not want to play bass. I would rather pick guitar back up, find a good bassist and drummer and go from there. I sincerely doubt I will ever find a guitarist I like to play with... so I should become what I hate now that I am sympathetic to the issue.
 
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#58
five7 said:
What does the drummer and vocalist think about the b.s. Do they complain and tell them to turn down or is it just you.
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Our vocalist is the guitarist with the Bugera rig. I guess he can hear himself because he never complains about it. I am closer to the monitors and I can't hear it! The drummer is wearing noise cancelling headphones lol. He is the rose between two thorns with the way the practice room is set up. Of course he can hear himself. He usually has a problem hearing everybody else. He also plays louder to accommodate the louder amps, but I can't really hear anything at that volume except for the clipping noises from the guitars.

I think I am the ONLY person who listens to the whole mix. In fact when i speak to the other members individually, they admit they only listen to themselves. Big problem!
 
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