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Clueless with technology

R

Raudsarw

Feb 26, 2012
39
2
#1
I'm pretty confident in my playing abilities. I know my theory as well. But my one weakness is technology. One time I tried to figure out why my amp wasn't working for 20 minutes, before the guitarist found out the mute button was on... I know how to set the EQ, but if there is anything else on an amp, I'll have no idea what it actually does. I get a panic attacks during sound checks. Maybe the sound guy will ask me a question I won't know how to answer. I only use a chorus pedal, and not that often. Pedals scare me.

Honestly it makes me feel unprofessional when gigging. Not sure where to start to remedy the situation though. Any tips?
 
#5
Raudsarw said:
I'm pretty confident in my playing abilities. I know my theory as well. But my one weakness is technology. One time I tried to figure out why my amp wasn't working for 20 minutes, before the guitarist found out the mute button was on... I know how to set the EQ, but if there is anything else on an amp, I'll have no idea what it actually does. I get a panic attacks during sound checks. Maybe the sound guy will ask me a question I won't know how to answer. I only use a chorus pedal, and not that often. Pedals scare me.

Honestly it makes me feel unprofessional when gigging. Not sure where to start to remedy the situation though. Any tips?
Click to expand...

A person is wise to keep their setup as simple as they can get away with for exactly the reason you already describe. Every knob and switch that is not there is one less thing that can potentially be at fault when you are on stage with inconvenient lighting and a bunch of people staring at you. Also, if your rig is simple your soundman should not even have any questions about it and you can discuss more interesting topics.

I'm not saying complex rigs, rack systems and elaborate pedalboards is wrong, they just require more attention.
 
#6
I think it might help if you experiment with the various knobs to see what it does, as well as reading the manual. That's how I managed to understand my amps. I played around with various knobs in various settings because I used to be clueless about how amps work as well.

Nowadays, I wouldn't call myself a techie, but I feel more confident around amps. I find it's a matter of familiarising yourself with the settings so they're not as daunting.
 

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