Solo volume advice

[Guitarman33172]

During the 30+ years I’ve been playing guitar there’s one problem I’ve always seemed to run into when it comes to playing live. Getting your lead volume just right. Most of my music career I was like many other guitarists and I just wanted to be able to set my lead volume once and just instantly be able to switch quickly without any problems. I’ve just lately come to grips with the reality that, unfortunately, when it comes to playing live you have to be as versatile as possible with everything including your leads. This is especially true if you play a variety of styles of music at a show. Every song is unique and they don’t all have the same dynamics so you need to be able adjust your volume as you NEED it!  Fortunately, Line 6 pedalboards have the answer to this problem. Assignable foot-switches such as the expression pedals in the floor units are the answer. Instead of using stomp pedals to raise your volume , try this..Assign the amp model output Volume parameter to the foot switch and set your normal volume to the heel position and then set the toe position to be just a bit louder than you need so you have plenty of headroom. Now when the occasion arises, you can adjust your volume in real-time using the expression pedal. Now you can adjust to any situation you may run into!

[pianoguyy]

or, you change your volume 0. let the sound guy do it. that is why he is there. 

maybe you change your tone for leads. but don't touch the volume. 

 

here's the problem with volume. 

math 

exponents and fractions and stuff 

 

at bedroom level, you play at 1. you set lead volume is 2. 

but at rehearsal, your volume is 10, your lead volume isn't going to be 11, it is going to be 20. 

for shows, your volume is 50, your lead volume is going to be 100, not 51 where it should be. 

[Guitarman33172]

I’ve always believed to let your ears decide. It’s not necessarily the numbers... it’s letting your ears determine what is right for the moment. As far as a sound guy running your solo volumes, the only way that works well in my opinion is if he knows you so well that he knows everything you are going to be doing on stage in order to make the necessary adjustments. 

[pianoguyy]

but you aren't hearing FOH. let the paid professional do his thing. 

[silverhead]

8 hours ago, Guitarman33172 said:

I’ve always believed to let your ears decide. .... 

 

Yes, but as pianoguyy says, your ears are not hearing what the audience hears. So the question becomes: whose ears should decide? Yours, for your benefit alone, or the sound guy's, for the benefit of your audience? Are you playing for yourself or for them?

[Guitarman33172]

Yes you are correct. there are two mixes to be considered. There is the house mix which can be adjusted by the sound guy to benefit the audience and there is the stage volume for the musicians. The whole concept of volume lead changes is simply to be noticeable by everyone including the musicians. The musicians ears are no more important than the crowds, but, still important for the rest of the band to mesh together. If that control was intended to be left Entirely up the sound guy then all these innovations of giving the guitar player total control of his setup and sound with digital pedalboards and stomp boxes( in my mind) is kind of pointless

[Guitarman33172]

I'd like to add this too for all others who are reading this post. The purpose of this post is to help educate others to show them another way to "Skin the Cat"(so to speak) and help them achieve the same goal... controlling your lead volume. this wasn't intended to criticize anybody else's methods of achieving this goal whatever the method is. whether it's  by changing your eq's or tone or having a sound guy do it, etc... This is just another method Which I've found to be affective for those who don't want to use these other methods. I'm also not here to question your motif for wanting to change your volume leads either. Whatever your Motif is, it's your business and yours only. I'm simply trying to show the benefits of using The volume Pot (potentiometer)of an Expression pedal to control the output of your Amp Block on your unit (just like taking the volume knob of your amp and rolling it up and down) rather than placing the volume pedal in front of the amp which only cuts your input signal like the volume pot on your guitar.

[pianoguyy]

On 4/24/2020 at 4:54 PM, Guitarman33172 said:

Yes you are correct. there are two mixes to be considered. There is the house mix which can be adjusted by the sound guy to benefit the audience and there is the stage volume for the musicians. The whole concept of volume lead changes is simply to be noticeable by everyone including the musicians. The musicians ears are no more important than the crowds, but, still important for the rest of the band to mesh together. If that control was intended to be left Entirely up the sound guy then all these innovations of giving the guitar player total control of his setup and sound with digital pedalboards and stomp boxes( in my mind) is kind of pointless

 

well, hell, since you put it that way.... 

 

if you want your solos to be heard over top of everyone else... 

 

TURN UP THE VOLUME