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Any Worship Guitar Players Using Hd 500?


Jhatem81
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I appreciate this thread so much!  And i really appreciate Tboneous comments about what is worship.  I agree with most of this discussion, but i feel it does detract from the intent of this tread for sure!  

 

That said...we as Worship Musicians should be striving for an excellence that is uniquely ours. We like many many other churches are just big "worship cover bands" we try to replicate, duplicate, & manipulate everyone else's tones and effects...which is where i appreciate the comment about how there is not many uniquely outstanding guitarists in this Christian Music era.  Phil Keaggy and Lincoln Brewster are probably the top Christian Music Guitarists of All Time...and being a huge LB fan his tones are uniquely his!

 

God has given us all talents and giftings (even the un-saved).  We should as a body of believers and worshippers start to break out of the box of comparison and make the sound God has given us...not just duplicate what someone else is doing.  In other words, let's quit letting all the other BIG Christian Worship Bands dictate our tones & lyrics lets make our own!  Some of us may never become BIG like them, but we'd be confident in knowing we were playing the sounds that God gave us to play!

 

As a side note, everything under the sun hasn't already been done! God is infinitely talented and we are made in his image!!

 

I get what you are saying and it is certainly a legitimate perspective. In my case though, we are given the recordings of the songs (often in a key different than what we're doing for service) and very simplified often inaccurate, chord charts, a week in advance and do not practice together at all until just before the service.  I essentially learn the songs note for note like the recordings because we don't have time to "arrange" the songs one hour before the first service. So my only reference and therefore, choice, is to match the recording. That makes these tips and patches very helpful to me.  I definitely come up with my own stuff on my own time, but for worship, in my case, it works best to use the recording as a template.  Just don't have the time to do more.

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We do the same thing at our church. Note for note. I was just adding to the earlier part of the thread where someone was trying to get pretty deep ;) so I countered with deep! Anyway I guess I should have been clear that I have to download these patches too. So I was talking to my self as well!

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I'm one of 2 lead guitar players in a church worship band (we generally alternate weeks).

 

On the topic of using my own tone vs. copying tones from the original recordings, I'm somewhere in between, but lean closer to using my own tone.

 

What I do is create several tones of my own that I really like, from crispy clean to high gain, and use those as my base sounds. I generally stick to those tones that I've created and use the appropriate patch for gain level, although sometimes I'll use a light gain instead of clean or something like that.

 

Then, when a song has a specific ambient effect or timing effect(s), I'll try to match the ambiance or timing effect as much as I can, but using my own tone as a the base tone.

 

For example, we recently played All The People Said Amen by Matt Maher. I created a patch with my own new clean tone (using the Tweed B-Man), and assigned a low res delay to FS4. The low res delay is set to have a single repeat using 1/16 notes and tap tempo (I just hit the tap tempo switch when the drummer clicks in at the beginning). Then I added a colordrive pedal with medium gain and also assigned it to FS4, but set it up so that when I turn off the delay, the color drive kicks in. This way I get the nice clean repeated notes for the intro and first verse, and a good medium gain sound when the song's chorus kicks in.

 

Here's the original Maher song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WhfPLYVZ5j0

 

Here's the patch I created: http://line6.com/customtone/tone/343328/

 

Here's a clip of us playing that song (it's a house recording, so you won't hear much bass or room ambiance, but you'll get the idea of the guitar tone/effects): http://www.mediafire.com/listen/3nw8w4exatd3elp/AllThePeopleSaidAmenClip.wav

 

So I get my own tone without copying the song exactly, but still get the feel of the song.

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  • 3 months later...

I use my 500X for everything, but I don't subscribe to the typical (let's sound like U2) idealogy.
Considering that live sound reinforcement is almost always in mono, I've intentionlly referted from a reasonably complex stereo setup to an entirely mono setup.  I've gone so far as to globally set up my 500X with each amp in the center, and each side of the internal mixer assigned to center.  No more phasing issues, complete continuity as I don't go from a mono to stereo or from stereo to mono configuration each week.

 

Yeah, I may not get the additional ear candy of a stereo spectrum in my aviom in-ears, but my guitar now always sits exactly where it needs to in the mix, and I feel I have a greater range of dynamics for having set it up this way.

 

From there, I have my standard range of tones:

Clean, Tweed, Crunch/Solo, & Spcl.  (Special is usually a "morphed" tone from clean to crunch/solo, or something specific to a song)

If a greater degree of delays are needed for a particular song, I'll make that one of the Spcl presets with the song title as the preset title.

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I appreciate this thread so much!  And i really appreciate Tboneous comments about what is worship.  I agree with most of this discussion, but i feel it does detract from the intent of this tread for sure!  

 

That said...we as Worship Musicians should be striving for an excellence that is uniquely ours. We like many many other churches are just big "worship cover bands" we try to replicate, duplicate, & manipulate everyone else's tones and effects...which is where i appreciate the comment about how there is not many uniquely outstanding guitarists in this Christian Music era.  Phil Keaggy and Lincoln Brewster are probably the top Christian Music Guitarists of All Time...and being a huge LB fan his tones are uniquely his!

 

God has given us all talents and giftings (even the un-saved).  We should as a body of believers and worshippers start to break out of the box of comparison and make the sound God has given us...not just duplicate what someone else is doing.  In other words, let's quit letting all the other BIG Christian Worship Bands dictate our tones & lyrics lets make our own!  Some of us may never become BIG like them, but we'd be confident in knowing we were playing the sounds that God gave us to play!

 

As a side note, everything under the sun hasn't already been done! God is infinitely talented and we are made in his image!!

  I most wholeheartedly agree with this statement.  It's been my beef with "christian music" as it is described for well over 25 years.  I recall going to the "christian book store" and perusing the records/cassettes and seeing descripters like "If you like AC/DC, then you may like Resurrection Band" and similar tags. 

 

I think if Christian artists, or better yet, Jesus Followers would just be honest and sinceredly creative, these genre' identifiers would not be necessary.  I for one, would like to see the reverse happen where secular artists find inspiration in Jesus following artists, because of the excellence of the work, and that would provide and opportunity for the message to be shared. 

 

This is one of the reasons that I don't create presets that emulate another's work.  Part of being creative, and worshiping the creator is by being genuine with it, and for me to just recreate what someone else has done is not in my opinion and honest act of worship.  I use my own stock presets and then customize them accordingly with the submission to the worship leader's authority as a guage for what objectively fits.  Rather than extensive delays, I might incorportate diatonic harmonies, as that is more of an honest reflection of my playing style and sensibility.  We should be the ones to model creativity to the world the most, as we serve the creator of the universe.  Instead, more often than not, we emulate, and market mediocraty.

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  • 1 month later...

Which distortion pedal do you think works best in a worship setting?

 

The one that sounds best with you playing it in the particular group of musicians and their gear.  In other words, there's no right/wrong answer.  Each component of the band/team should complement the others and the group as a whole (one body/many parts).

 

I could pick up your guitar, play through your rig, the same songs, and sound completely different. 

 

I would have you ask this question to your bandmates in rehearsal, and the worship leader if this sound fits what his vision was sonically that he was trying to reinforce spiritually.  As your spiritual leader, and authority for your given role, he should be able to give you some direction.

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  • 3 weeks later...

After using a Boss ME-25 for the most part of the last two years or so, I finally upgraded to the HD500x (obviously wow what a difference, not even comparable).  I've only used it once at church so far, but I believe I have it setup fairly well for 95% of worship music situations:

 

Patch basically looks like this:

 

Vol Pedal

Tube Comp

Screamer

RAT(Classic) Distortion (I also play in a Spanish church with my wife, and a few songs have fairly heavy distortion, so this may be fairly optional)

AC30 Amp with what I believe is a Celestion 25 modeled speaker

Delay One - Set to Dotted 8th

Delay Two - Set to 1/4 notes

Reverb (Hall I believe)

Noise Gate (I play a Strat, so this may be optional as well)

 

I have the settings to use pedalboard mode and just saved this as "Worship" in the user presets.

 

I can't think of much else that I'd need for worship, unless it just a funky song that maybe required a wah or something, but that'd be fairly rare.  Hope it helps!  Keep it simple though - slight overdrive and unobtrusive delay will get you through in most situations.

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I started with the B-man, a tube screamer, and digital delay, then started building individual patches for each song that I could recall next time we did that song. Now I'm back to a single patch - Screamer into PhD Motorway, delay and reverb. Last week I ran my DD-20 through the effects loop and my Fulldrive 2 into the front end. It's a lot of work, but it sounds fantastic. I know it's backward from what so many people do, but I just love having so many amp options while still running direct.

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  • 11 months later...

Hello Everyone,

Thank you all for posting, I am enjoying reading and learning from your vast experience.  I'm new to the HD500 and trying to wrap my mind around all of the possibilities.  Have never used effect pedals before so it's all really new.  Is there a place you would recommend I begin?  Again, thank you.

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Meambobbo has put together some excellent, real-world documentation for the Pod HD500. It can be located at http://foobazaar.com/podhd/toneGuide/

 

This might be a good place to start.

 

 

That guide is great, but also can take some time to digest.  Another thread that may be helpful is:

 

http://line6.com/support/topic/16122-the-achilles-heel-of-the-hd-series/

 

In general, people seem to find that the POD has a bit of "boominess" and "fuzz".  One of the contributors to this is the "Resonance" deep editing parameter (hit enter twice on the amp and scroll through the menus to find this).  

 

Personally, I like some of the amps with the res up a bit but agree that I end up turning down the bass quite a bit.

 

No matter what suggestions you read, it really comes down to trusting your ears.  Particularly, play at the volume you intend to perform and remember to actually test your guitar in the mix.  While a nice rich bottom end can sound great in the bedroom, it can get totally lost in the mix of the band/music you intend to play along with.

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Great to see this thread and so many players so passionate about serving at Worship services.

I am a member of another forum that wont allow this subject to be discussed lol!

Regarding copping the tones of Worship tunes. I dont bother but I have played for over 40 years and that is much longer with much more experience than many of the players on these recordings. I would encourage all Worship band guitar players to find your own thing. God has not brought you this far to have you offer him a flattering copy of someone elses sound.Just my opinion.

 

Also new HD500/500X owners. Turn Down The Bass in all amp models! The default settings of 50% are actually 100% per cent and can make your patches sound awful.

 

 

Last things. Stay out of the range of the bass and kick drum with your e.q. settings.Pull back when people are singing dynamically.

 

Do Not Be Afraid.

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Using 500x in church.  Mostly AC30 amp with a chain like:

Noise Gate>Compressor>parametric EQ > ODrive ( mostly off ) > AC30 > Delay > Hall Reverb>Volume Pedal for overall patch volume.

 

I'm just beginning to look at dual path patches where the same amp is used with different cab/mic combinations.  MeAmBobbo has documents showing how to make this work.

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  • 1 month later...

Another tip (if you're going direct) is to use the mid-focus EQ for the high-pass and low-pass filters.

High pass: I usually set to 10-20% Freq with a high Q to make room for the bass and kick.
Low pass: Some amp+cab+mic combos sound terrible and fizzy at first, but using the low-pass filter (around 60-85% Freq?) and a low to medium Q, they become pretty usable.

 

The parametric EQ is great for precise tweaking, but usually the mid-focus will be enough. Also experiment with where you put the EQ, especially if distortion is involved.

 

As for me, I need some tips on getting smooth synth tones. The Pod is decent for lead synth stuff, but I can't seem to get warm round tones like in One Thing by Hillsong. Any ideas?  :)

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Sorry I'm late to the party here... I have a 5-piece band (drums, bass, piano, cello, and me on guitar and vocals) that covers all sorts of different songs - from Stevie Wonder to Pat Metheny, Paul Simon to Les Miserables in worship, and I write a new song that fits with the liturgy of the week once a month.  I'm using my Taylor 310 or the dream rig - HD500, JTV 69, and DT25, then playing and recording with the Dream Stage - an MD20, 2 L2T mains and 2 L2M monitors.  I video the services, then take the best recordings, mix and master in Logic and then post them to my YouTube channel.  I just released a CD of original songs recorded live in Sunday worship with this. 

 

The last couple of tunes I've written use more ambient patches with some delay thrown in.  Here they are: 

 

 

 

You can check out the CD at my website, http://shinyheadmusic.com

 

I can't express the joy I get expressing worship with music. As just about every composer in western history attests, The Bible is an incredible fountain inspiration.  Happy to answer any questions about the equipment or the songs. 

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Okay...so maybe it's a revived zombie thread, but I think it's worthy of new life since there appear to be quite a few of us using PODs in worship environments.  And sharing our approaches can probably help others in new ways to use this great technology.

 

 This isn't something I'm new to.  I became a member of The Posse Band, which is the band associated with a biker church known as the Salvation Saloon located in the Tampa Bay Florida area about 5 years ago.  We're a bit different than many worship groups in that we are a band.  We're the church band and perform every Sunday but we also play a number of outside events and concerts in the area and have a pretty broad following throughout the area.

 

Our musical selection consists of a very wide range of material from some of the contempory christian songs, to older christian rock/blues out of the 70's and 80's like Darryl Mansfield and such, and a number of even older songs from people like Elvis, Blind Boys of Alabama, and some re-arranged older black gospel tunes dating back into the 20's, as well as some originals which tend to have a classic rock feel to them ala Doobie Bros., Rolling Stones, Who, Steely Dan, or Aerosmith.

 

Because of the range of material modeling is a significant part of what we do.  Not only in terms of guitar, but also in our drums using various styles of electronic kits and samples that match the feel necessary for each song.  I've been using modeling for quite a long time in the studio and brought that concept with me into the live environment when I joined the band.  Recently I've been noticing the trend of other guitarists using pedal based modeling going direct into the PA with an FRFR monitor on stage in place of a traditional amp.  I began experimenting with the POD HD ProX in the studio and found I could get a much more clear and articulated modeling similar to that in the studio using that type of setup and recently made the leap to that type of setup a couple of months ago.

 

The first challenge was to have a home practice environment that mimics the stage environment so I can develop my patches with some degree of confidence in how they will sound live.  Many have already noted the challenges in this setup due to the wide and flat frequency response you get going direct into a PA, which is VERY different than the sound that comes out of a traditional amp and cabinet.  So I've had to work my way through cutting out unnatural guitar frequencies that people aren't used to hearing on electric guitar.  Using the global EQ on the system setup I've placed my Low Cut at 80Hz and my High Cut at 8.0 Khz.  That pretty much leaves me inside the normal range of guitar amps and cabinets and allows me to use the EQ in each patch in a more natural way.  I still may have to further limit some highs and lows on certain patches either due to the guitar I'm using or to keep out the rumbling or brashness, but generally this leaves me with a very clear and articulated range that readily accepts distortion or other effects.

 

In our style of music I don't tend to have to go overboard with effects, just mostly the basics:  drive, distortion, compression, phaser or chorus, reverb, and delay in whatever measure they're required or not required for any particular song.  I do employ a range of amps and cabinets and mics to get the right basic sound then add in effects as necessary.  In most cases this will be similar to what was typically used by artists that specialized in that style.  For example BB King style blues would use a Roland amp, early british rock like the Who will use a Vox, and harder 70's rock similar to Aerosmith will use a Marshall JCM...and so forth.

 

In my case, because of the range of styles, I create individual patches for each song and store them all in the User 3 library or backed up onto the PC.  That way I can retrieve whatever songs are needed for each performance and place them in the User 2 library and then just cycle through them throughout the performance.  Each patch is named the name of the song it's for, so this gives me the added benefit of having my set list displayed on my POD.  The other advantage is each of these patches is pre-gain staged so all the volumes match and I never have to worry about one patch being louder than another, I only have to worry about my master volume, which keeps my band mates happy.  Another distinct advantage to this approach is I don't typically need to have a lot of footswitches setup for each patch.  Generally a given effect such as reverb, delay, chorus, compressor, or drive will be on the whole time I use the patch and I only need to assign a footswitch to things like a screamer for a lead or possibly a harmony for a dual lead which leaves my feet free most of the time.

 

Admittedly I'm still learning the nuances of how to use this system effectively, but so far it's been a great success.  Due to the clarity and articulation of the patches and the FRFR speakers and monitors, I don't get lost in the mix of other instruments even if my volume is lower.  Also, because of more precise control over the EQ of my guitar, it's left more space for other intruments in the band to be heard more clearly, so the overall mix has improved considerably and is much closer to a polished studio sound than a traditional live sound, which is one of the goals for our band.

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