Guitarist plays too loud

[makkE]

He plays his amp too loud AND mics it to PA ??? That's some serious egocentricism.
What I'd do, I'd simply pack up in the middle of the rehearsal and leave. Maybe you should all do it. When he asks, say "You don't need us anyways, have fun, bye".

 

[fjbass78]

What amp does he play out of? Maybe he could buy an amp with less power and still crank the gain to get his tone.

 

[woodsideh]

I once had an audition with a band. They practiced at the guitar player's house. When I got there I was shocked to see the guitar player was using a Marshall 1/2 stack and had it miked through the PA in his freaking living room. I politely put my gear back in the car and left.

On another note, the guitar player with my current gig was always too loud. He always used the tone argument. He finally installed an attenuator. I'm not an expert about these at all. I understand that it really only works with a tube amp. Either way, it solved the problem. I guess we are lucky to have a guitar player that listened to what everyone was saying.

 

[klokker]

It is so ridiculous to play so loud you need earplugs at a rehearsal. Its just a cover for people who can't play if you ask me.

One of the best rehearsals we had was when we all brought little teeny amps and played at acoustic levels. We figured out real quick how bad our vocals sounded.

 

[treekiller]

One thing they can do(but none of them do!) with a 100w head is pull out 2 power tubes. I can't remember if it has to be re-biased or not(not a big deal), but it helps to get that power amp "break up" at lower volume. However, most of these guys use so many damn pedals that the orginal tonal charicteristics of their amp were lost a long time ago!!!

 

[treekiller]

It is so ridiculous to play so loud you need earplugs at a rehearsal.

I use them all the time!!!

 

[Twobass]

PLaying super loud and not blending your sound with everyone else in the band is the first sign this guy is a rank amateur. I don't agree with your assessment that he is "really good", because if he was, he would already know this.

Sounds like you have your work cut out for you. I have found that if volume wars happen more them once, there is something else at play, and you are going to have a hard time convincing him to turn down. really, this is why I hate most rock bands.

Yea I can see if he was really good he would know to turn down, I think maybe his hearing isn't that great. He has a lot of knowledge with music but I don't think he has much with gigging and live sound.

 

[Twobass]

What amp does he play out of? Maybe he could buy an amp with less power and still crank the gain to get his tone.

He has a 100 watt Marshall half stack.

 

[Coop Soup]

I once had an audition with a band. They practiced at the guitar player's house. When I got there I was shocked to see the guitar player was using a Marshall 1/2 stack and had it miked through the PA in his freaking living room. I politely put my gear back in the car and left.

On another note, the guitar player with my current gig was always too loud. He always used the tone argument. He finally installed an attenuator. I'm not an expert about these at all. I understand that it really only works with a tube amp. Either way, it solved the problem. I guess we are lucky to have a guitar player that listened to what everyone was saying.

This is the correct answer.

Also, the guy should get a 50 watt head. For almost any normal application a 100 watt head is overkill.

 

[stylonpilson]

If he's micing his amp at rehearsals, then the solution is simple - get him to put his stack in another room. Then he can turn it up as much as he likes, to get "his tone", and you can set a reasonable level on the PA.

S.P.

 

[SteveC]

50, hell, 35 would probably be great plenty - especially if you are going thru a PA as well.

 

[Febs]

Now I've suggested that we all should turn down to hear the vocals and the guitar player has his standard reply ready "I have to play with high gain".

In 1967, that may have been a valid reason to play at high volume. In 2011, it is not. He has plenty of alternatives:

1. If the amp has a master volume, turn it down.

2. If the amp does not have a master volume, use pedals for gain rather than cranking the power amp.

3. If he insists on getting gain from a cranked amp, he can use a smaller amp.

4. Similarly, he could use a power attenuator.

5. He could use a Line6 of other modelling solution.

 

[Twobass]

In 1967, that may have been a valid reason to play at high volume. In 2011, it is not. He has plenty of alternatives:

1. If the amp has a master volume, turn it down.

2. If the amp does not have a master volume, use pedals for gain rather than cranking the power amp.

3. If he insists on getting gain from a cranked amp, he can use a smaller amp.

4. Similarly, he could use a power attenuator.

5. He could use a Line6 of other modelling solution.

I'm going to suggest some of those ideas, I had a guitar player in another band that had a power attenuator and it did the job.

 

[smcgov]

tell him to get a rocktron power soak. This is a device between the amp and speaker that allows him to get maximum gain going into the soak, then you can adjust the volume on the soak without losing the breakup.

by the time guys figure this out they've usually got damaged hearing and have inflicted same onto their bandmates. The guitar frequencies are killer on hearing. I once had a very good soundman who fought with our guitar player over killing his mix and eventually got him to turn his amp facing towards only him like a monitor...so he wasn't pulverizing people in the audience. If the gig is big enough, the PA should be providing the sound and individual amps volume should not overtake the PA mix. Trying to get "musicians" to adhere to this is like herding cats or 3 year olds.

The best guitar player I've ever played with constantly played too loud and bar owners would come up to me screaming during songs and after a while I finally would just say "go tell him you're not hiring us back if he does not turn down" and they would and he would get a shocked look on his face and turn down.

 

[Downunderwonder]

A 5W tube amp cranked is plenty loud for this cowboy

Pulling 1/2 the tubes gets you down from 100W to 50W, that's just about 5x as loud as 5W innit?

So yeah, attenuator time.

Put the guitar cab up on a stand and in his face, not everyone else's and that should take care of monitoring for the deaf guitard.

Mic it for the PA.

 

[Scobac]

Age has a lot to do with this also! The argument should be about how inconsiderate he is being towards the rest of the band! Don't make it about his tone; it's about the pain he's inflecting on his band mates! It's counter productive and should not be allowed. Period!

 

[tharv]

50, hell, 35 would probably be great plenty - especially if you are going thru a PA as well.

+1....

100W is total overkill. Especially in rehearsal.

Gotta play to the level of the loudest acoustic instrument..... The drums. I worked with a guy who regularly used a Fender Champ at rehearsal. 5W. Cranked it all the way up to get the saturation. It sounded awesome & at a reasonable volume level for rehearsals..... With proper sound reinforcement, at gigs, it would've been fine as well, but we were just running a small PA for the vocals. He moved to a Fender 50W combo for the gigs, but couldn't push it to saturation without it being WAY too loud.

FWIW.... He was always too loud at gigs. Volume wars! Stopped out to see his band the other night.... Same old thing. Guitar was louder than the vocals. Couldn't hear the drums. Not sure if it's an ego trip or what?

 

[NoGraveConcern]

Agree, 5w with a 1x10 or 1x12 cab is still really loud when you are using power tube saturation to get your "tone." Anything more inside a room in his house is absurd. Tell him to seriously downsize his tube setup or get a POD and run it straight to the PA.

I've had both, and the difference between a 120w vs. 30w tube head at power tube saturation levels through a 4x12 is like comparing the sound of 5lbs of dynamite to 10lbs.

 

[prd004]

Who mics their amp and runs it through the PA for rehearsal??????? Maybe if you were running a Blues Jr. or a pignose, but a Marshall stack???????? In a rehearsal setting the PA should be for vocals (or perhaps keys) but the guitars and bass should be just fine and dandy with amps alone.

This guy obviously needs a talking to, either he's a giant egomaniac or he he's completely inexperienced on the subject of band amplification/volume.

If you guys REALLY like playing with him, and there are no other issues at all, sit him down at the next rehearsal and have everyone in the band (united) explain the volume situation in detail. He needs to part of the band, not an individual. Take the microphone off of his amp, and if it's still too loud turn the master down. It also helps to stand a bit away from your amp, quite often bands rehearse standing directly in front of their amps when in reality they are designed to project sound! It's common to have trouble hearing your rig when it's aimed at the back of your kneecaps, at the same time you are splitting eardrums across the room.

 

[NoGraveConcern]

Also, if he's already miking the cab, you could tell him to put his half stack in another room. That way you can use the pa to adjust the volume levels without his cranked amp covering everything.