Awhile back, I posted a blog about mine and Justin’s trip to my amp tech to get a half power switch put into my Holland, so that I could drop it to 15 watts when necessary and hence be able to better enhance the worship music by not….. well…… let’s face it, if we’re honest we think our instrument is the most important and should therefore be the loudest. So, trying to get out of that, I got a half power switch.
(“But these go to 11.”)
And it’s been one of the best things I’ve ever done. Because now, in almost every venue I play in, I run at 15 watts with the master volume dimed. And it’s a much purer sound with the master volume all the way up, even though the Holland has a very, very decent master volume control.
But a few nights ago, I’m playing at a church, and my monitor was so loud I couldn’t hear my amp……. eh, at least not as much as I like. I mean, I could hear it, but I want to hear it…… you know what I mean, some of you are smiling right now. So I go over to my amp as we’re rehearsing and flip the switch to 30 watts.
Oh, sweet mercy.
I haven’t played at 30 watts for a while. There are a few venues I play where I need more than the 15, but I have not played at them lately. And I have forgotten how sweet it is to push the speakers like that. I was in heaven for the last half of the song we were rehearsing (I think it was Brooke Fraser’s ‘Hosanna’). And then I realized that the rest of the band could now not hear. Well, they could hear me. And tempted as I was to say that hearing me was enough for them, I called back to the sound guy to turn my monitor’s volume in half, and then I sadly (and not without a few tears, I must add), walked back to my amp and flipped it back to 15 watts.
And that was the best decision at the moment to help the worship music the most……. I think……. there’s still some deranged part of my brain that says that 30 watts would have helped the worship more, no matter whether people could hear anything else or not.
Mmmm……. loudness.
Splendid.
Karl.
haha … i know what you mean. i also use a 30-watt amp but without a master control. so i bought a power-soak to try still push the tubes/speakers less the volume. it works out ok, but i wish i could remove it and really turn it up. of course, we still have to play in context with the worship setting so there is a little sacrifice for us to make. and that is to keep it a tad softer than what we really want. hope you can get the chance to turn up every once in a while during rehearsals
How do you like using the power-soak? Does it keep your tone somewhat intact? And nice blog, by the way!
thanks for also visiting my site!
at first, it was kinda weird but i decided to make it a part of my rig sound-wise. when i try to dial in my tone, i always try to compensate with the amp’s tone controls. it’s workable now and i eventually got used to it. btw, i use a weber mini-mass for 2 years now.
https://taweber.powweb.com/weber/minimass.htm
Awesome! How are you using the Weber? Do you send a line signal straight into the board or do you still mic the amp or do you mix mic and direct signal?
i tried both. but as many guitarist would attest, mic’ing up the amp still sounds more organic & natural. since our awesome sound guys gave me a choice, i just mic the amp.
Sweet. I agree, you gotta mic up the actual moving air!
wow karl,
you’re kranked at 15 watts of class A JJ Tesla tube power?
i wonder what the dB of that is like an inch away from the speakers. what mic are you using to mic it? in fact, i’m gonna officially request a post on how you mic your amp live. how many amps? how many mics? what kinds of mics? pictures!
steve
Hey Steve,
Well, my master volume is cranked. My gain is just on the verge of breakup. So, it’s not the full 15 watts the amp is capable of until I really hit is with pedals at the big parts of songs, and even then I’m sure I’m not pushing it to peak. Plus, these are fairly large church buildings. My home church, master volume cranked up is impossible. hehe
And my personal favorite mic is an SM58 vocal mic. But most sound techs like either SM57’s or Audio-Technica condensors. Or a mix of the two. And currently, I’m only running one amp live for my guitar, and one amp live for my pad. Which is just a little keyboardish thing I run underneath my guitar.
hehe So, ya, I’m full on the master volume at either 15 or 30 watts depending on the venue, but my gain is only right on the edge between clean and breakup…which, for EL84 amps, is not very loud. hehe Otherwise, ya, I’d be in trouble!
Cheers!