powercab How to amplify powercab live

[RainerG]

I recenty bought a Helix and tweaked some sounds at home using an QSC 10.2

My first live gig (HELIX went straight into PA +  return from monitor ) was a bit disappointing.

Maybe my sounds weren't that good (or the monitor or its EQ was bad). Anyway, it did not sound like what I prepared at home at all.

 

Maybe on a Powercab I could prepare the sounds better at home.   

But - maybe a silly question - how do you amplify a powercab on stage?  Do you then put a mike in front of it ? 

 

 

 

[cruisinon2]

2 hours ago, RainerG said:

But - maybe a silly question - how do you amplify a powercab on stage?  Do you then put a mike in front of it ? 

 

 

 

 

No, using a device(s) that models mics and cabinets, only to turn around and throw an actual mic in front of it would be pointless. A mic will  color all your patches that you've painstakingly created... the whole point of this kind of gear is to eliminate the need to mic anything on stage. You could use a Powercab for stage volume if you want, but run Helix straight to the board with an XLR. 

 

As for the problem of the patches you created at home not translating well live... the QSC seems to have some sort of onboard EQ and DSP... depending on how you have everything set, that could account for the differences you heard through the PA. If it was running flat,  then much of the problem is likely related to volume.  The perceived loudness of different frequency ranges varies drastically with volume. You really need to tweak your patches at (or a close as possible) to stage volume. If you're listening and tweaking away at a nice comfy living room volume, you really have no prayer of them sounding the same when cranked. Likewise, a Powercab will only help you with this issue if you crank that too...

[lawrence_Arps]

9 hours ago, cruisinon2 said:

 

No, using a device(s) that models mics and cabinets, only to turn around and throw an actual mic in front of it would be pointless. A mic will  color all your patches that you've painstakingly created... the whole point of this kind of gear is to eliminate the need to mic anything on stage. You could use a Powercab for stage volume if you want, but run Helix straight to the board with an XLR. 

 

As for the problem of the patches you created at home not translating well live... the QSC seems to have some sort of onboard EQ and DSP... depending on how you have everything set, that could account for the differences you heard through the PA. If it was running flat,  then much of the problem is likely related to volume.  The perceived loudness of different frequency ranges varies drastically with volume. You really need to tweak your patches at (or a close as possible) to stage volume. If you're listening and tweaking away at a nice comfy living room volume, you really have no prayer of them sounding the same when cranked. Likewise, a Powercab will only help you with this issue if you crank that too...

 

mmmm careful there.  If you are using the PC as an FRFR then you can take a line from the Helix, BUT, if you are using either the speaker emulation or an IR on the PC then you should take the XLR out of the PC.

[ADBrown]

On 7/25/2018 at 8:50 AM, RainerG said:

Maybe on a Powercab I could prepare the sounds better at home.   

But - maybe a silly question - how do you amplify a powercab on stage?  Do you then put a mike in front of it ? 

 

It's best to create and test presets before a gig at or near gig volume to make sure your tone is still best represented at higher volumes. Using different PA speakers can produce different results, for better and for worse. Occasionally there will be a PA or venue I'm unfamiliar with and I find it can be too bright, or boomy/muddy across my presets. In this case I will turn to the global EQ to tame the lows or highs.
As for amplifying PC; the easiest way is to use the XLR out to FOH. Using speaker models and the XLR out puts an sm57 mic model in the signal going to the board. On Power Cab + you can change the mic model. Because the speaker in Power Cab is a guitar speaker with a HF tweeter placed behind it you can actually mic it like a regular guitar cab.

 

[capdoogie]

If I’m at small bars clubs and I don’t plug into  foh, I just go with the preset speaker combo that worked during rehearsal with my band.  If on bigger stages or I do run foh, I step off stage with wireless to see which mic  I think might sound best in my preset and any other minor tweaks needed thru house PA system.  Remember mics in the preset only work when you use the xlr out to foh. They don’t work when your just listening  to yourself playing thru the Pc.  I’ll turn my pc volume completely off to just here house pa tone for tweaking.  I always use my PC as my monitor tilted towards me if using foh. Or backline if used not hooked up to foh. Oh, if you use ir’s there is no mic selection for xlr out.  Or at least the one I have.     Amp sound tone is pretty much same as tone coming out xlr.   One last thing, I used to run my setup thru an atomic clr neo.  For me the Powercab is better.