Re: Elec. Guitar in Church
Killian, your dilema is a common one for electric players. Non-electric players do not understand how tough it is to get a "good" sound (meaning one we can live with).I also have lots of years of clubs, arena rock, touring, etc. under my belt. My usual set-up was Ampeg V-4's. One head/two cabs for smaller venues and two heads/4 cabs for big ones. Obviously, when the Lord captured me and put me on a worship team, my old rig spelled certain death for the first 20 rows.I experimented with a few options. For concert type venues I use a rack system (far too complicated to elaborate on here) which terminates into an Ernie Ball stereo volume pedal which runs into a pair of Peavey Bravos. The Bravos are 25 watt tube amps. I run the signal into the effects return so as to bypass the preamp stage of the Bravos. Since the amps are so small, I mic them with a pair of Shure SM57's centered on axis in close to the grille cloth. I've played little churches and huge churches and my guitar always sounds sweet. Sometimes I don't play it very well, but at least the tone is good. For small churches I place a pair of homemade sound baffels directly in front of the amps to cut down on direct room noise.Like most players, I search for the holy-grail of tone. No... I have not found it, but the search is fun. I recently started using a Line 6 Flextone II XL. Now don't hang up on me... hear me out.I know it is not a tube amp. No I can't get it to turn over from the fundamental to the harmonic like a tube amp, but after playing on various worship teams for the past 12 years I find what I really need is a variety of useful tones. The Line 6 gives me some great guitar tones at very low sound levels. Yes, I have to do a lot of tweaking to get what I'm after, but what else is new? Who among us doesn't tweak? I'll say right up front that I don't care much for the preset patches. Most of them are pretty useless. That said, I can dial up an amp model, tweak it until I get what I want, and store it. I did not purchase the Line 6 pedalboard. I use a Rocktron All-Access MIDI foot-controller (which is very expensive, but an awesome controller) to send MIDI patch changes to the Line 6. (I already owned the Rocktron because I use it to run my rack.) I have (according to my wife) a serious case of GAS (guitar acquisition syndrome). After 40+ years of serious collecting, I have some very nice guitars. I gotta tell you Killian, I get some really nice tones from the Line 6 Flextone. I did buy the Flextone II XL rather than the smaller Flextone. The XL has more watts than I need, but it comes loaded with custom Celestions rather than Eminence, and it has a fatter sound with 2 12's. It weighs a ton, but what else is new with combo amps.Sorry for the length of the response, but I can really relate to what you are saying. Life is too short to play crummy guitars through anemic amps. Keep looking for a good guitar/amp combination that will give you a variety of tones. The response from Mike was pretty right on. Finding a tone that fits the team is a bit of a challenge, but very worthwhile. I find my work on worship team requires me to do a lot of rhythm playing and some lead. Like most things, there is never enough lead time :)! My Line 6 lets me get good rhythm tones and instantly switch to a good lead tone when needed. Now that I've tweaked and twiddled knobs on the relentless quest, my Fenders, Gibsons, PRS's, and Carvins sound great. I can't get a good acoustic tone out of the Line 6, but that's another story. Fortunately, there's lots of other gear that makes an acoustic sound great!Yes Killian, I've made some compromises on tube tone. The Line 6 does not sound exactly like a tube amp, but I knew that when I bought it. I want to serve the Lord. I love being a part of worship team. I found tones I can enjoy, and even after 40+ years, I still love to play. I am in a church that really loves to worship, and the congregation is thankful for skilled musicians. Go for it, guy...Good luck Brother.
I also have lots of years of clubs, arena rock, touring, etc. under my belt. My usual set-up was Ampeg V-4's. One head/two cabs for smaller venues and two heads/4 cabs for big ones. Obviously, when the Lord captured me and put me on a worship team, my old rig spelled certain death for the first 20 rows.
I experimented with a few options. For concert type venues I use a rack system (far too complicated to elaborate on here) which terminates into an Ernie Ball stereo volume pedal which runs into a pair of Peavey Bravos. The Bravos are 25 watt tube amps. I run the signal into the effects return so as to bypass the preamp stage of the Bravos. Since the amps are so small, I mic them with a pair of Shure SM57's centered on axis in close to the grille cloth. I've played little churches and huge churches and my guitar always sounds sweet. Sometimes I don't play it very well, but at least the tone is good. For small churches I place a pair of homemade sound baffels directly in front of the amps to cut down on direct room noise.
Like most players, I search for the holy-grail of tone. No... I have not found it, but the search is fun. I recently started using a Line 6 Flextone II XL. Now don't hang up on me... hear me out.
I know it is not a tube amp. No I can't get it to turn over from the fundamental to the harmonic like a tube amp, but after playing on various worship teams for the past 12 years I find what I really need is a variety of useful tones. The Line 6 gives me some great guitar tones at very low sound levels. Yes, I have to do a lot of tweaking to get what I'm after, but what else is new? Who among us doesn't tweak?
I'll say right up front that I don't care much for the preset patches. Most of them are pretty useless. That said, I can dial up an amp model, tweak it until I get what I want, and store it. I did not purchase the Line 6 pedalboard. I use a Rocktron All-Access MIDI foot-controller (which is very expensive, but an awesome controller) to send MIDI patch changes to the Line 6. (I already owned the Rocktron because I use it to run my rack.) I have (according to my wife) a serious case of GAS (guitar acquisition syndrome). After 40+ years of serious collecting, I have some very nice guitars. I gotta tell you Killian, I get some really nice tones from the Line 6 Flextone. I did buy the Flextone II XL rather than the smaller Flextone. The XL has more watts than I need, but it comes loaded with custom Celestions rather than Eminence, and it has a fatter sound with 2 12's. It weighs a ton, but what else is new with combo amps.
Sorry for the length of the response, but I can really relate to what you are saying. Life is too short to play crummy guitars through anemic amps. Keep looking for a good guitar/amp combination that will give you a variety of tones.
The response from Mike was pretty right on. Finding a tone that fits the team is a bit of a challenge, but very worthwhile. I find my work on worship team requires me to do a lot of rhythm playing and some lead. Like most things, there is never enough lead time :)! My Line 6 lets me get good rhythm tones and instantly switch to a good lead tone when needed. Now that I've tweaked and twiddled knobs on the relentless quest, my Fenders, Gibsons, PRS's, and Carvins sound great. I can't get a good acoustic tone out of the Line 6, but that's another story. Fortunately, there's lots of other gear that makes an acoustic sound great!
Yes Killian, I've made some compromises on tube tone. The Line 6 does not sound exactly like a tube amp, but I knew that when I bought it. I want to serve the Lord. I love being a part of worship team. I found tones I can enjoy, and even after 40+ years, I still love to play. I am in a church that really loves to worship, and the congregation is thankful for skilled musicians. Go for it, guy...
Good luck Brother.
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