linuxaudio.org

Last Wednesday 06 July 2005 00:57, Brett McCoy was like:

quoted text
> And I will also contend that if the guitarist using a 100 watt Marshall

> is more powerful than the PA, he's got no business playing a full stack

> onstage.  For most gigs I've found a 50 watt combo (also Marshall) to be

> more than adequate...

It's not that simple.
1) Marshalls don't turn down that well, even if you have one of those

half-power switches on the back you can still saturate small venues without

really trying. And some people can only afford one amp. If you're the

engineer you're going to have to deal with whatever random equipment

combination they throw at you.
2) Everybody does it. This phenomenon is not isolated to lead guitarists. For

some reason, what is obvious to anyone standing in the hall is not obvious

when you're holding a plugged in instrument. In many venues, the right volume

for the mix is too quiet for the player. Finding players who don't sneak up

their on-stage sound while the engineer isn't looking is a rare treat.
Good monitoring can help ~(again, you need everything going through the desk

to achieve this)
3) The drummer always plays the gig at twice the velocity and volume of the

soundcheck. 
4) Of course it'll sound completely different once you've got an audience in

there. ;p (seriously though, a good audience runs at around 100dB)
cheers,
tim hall

http://glastonburymusic.org.uk