Remember when churches use to allow amps on stage?
That was awesome.
Why do so many churches run everything direct these days?
I seriously want to know...if your church runs everything direct, please share....
Friday, March 28, 2008
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17 comments:
we still run amps on stage
awesome...another reason you are cool.
or, at least your church is...
It is interesting that you typically have the sound guy saying something like, "We need to run that Les Paul direct." What he means is this... "It's too loud and if I control it then I can adjust the sound to please everyone." The heart behind it is genuine I think but what the sound guy is doing by taking control is removing part of the musicianship held by the guitar player. Of course it also depends on the maturity of the players. If you have younger players who just want to set it on 11 and rock out then going direct may be a good idea. However, if you have a seasoned vet then maybe he's got the right answer for the house sound problems.
I'm not a lead guitar player or even a sound guy for what it's worth so this opinion is just that... an opinion.
i think its because of bass players who think that they are awesome and like to turn their amp up louder than anyone else...not that im talking from experience here.
-doug-
Now Todd, we all know that Jesus didn't have any amps on stage...
We're just following God's word. That's all...
Amps...Birdie...I miss you
Remember when you used to let me run multiple amps on stage -
Amp on stage for Youth events. Direct for Sunday morning worship with amp as monitor. The subs in the auditorium sound better than my amp. lol
I love an amp on stage. Our worship guy lets our guitar player keep his amp on stage. The sound guy completely approves.
There's a lot to digest here....
Rob, I feel you on this one, but I also think it also comes down to the maturity of the sound engineer, too. We're putting a lot of trust in one guy or gal to decide what's best for a big bunch of folks. I'll be honest...I've been very fortunate in that I've played w/ some really sharp folks. And I can't recall any situation where I had somebody on stage who, when asked to turn down for the sake of the mix, completely ignored the request or secretly turned back up after the engineer looked away. That doesn't happen all the time, but I think it's a bit of a slap in the face for churches to tell players they can't bring their amps on stage. I think it communicates a lack of trust and makes some unfair assumptions of folks giving their time to lead worship.
Sam...I'm not sure I like the idea of amps being "okay" for the youth stage but not for the sanctuary, but I know you're really talking about system quality and the difference between the two locales. But subs ain't everything...they're awesome for bass and kick drums, but telling an electric guitar player to turn his amp the other way around and run direct (w/ no mic) because the "subs can handle it" doesn't seem like the best way to do it.
Chris: I love you.
I guess what bugs me most is the overall attitude churches have about amps on stage. Listen, I get that every church is different and every place makes decisions that they think is best. What bugs me is when that turns into an arrogant way of approaching the issue. ("Well, we do it like this. It's the best way.")
Lots of churches still run amps on stage. But I think it's becoming way more rare - and that kinda' bugs me.
Come on...I got more readers out there who haven't weighed in.
Who uses amps on stage? Who doesn't? Why or why not?
Actually, to be painfully honest, the only good amp I have is in the youth area. I don't mind lugging my bass up and down three flights of stairs, but that amp is heavy and I AM an "OldFart". Seriously though, I like the bass going through the subs in the auditorium because if the sound man gets it just right, I can rattle the windows and call the ambulances. LOL :)
I prefer the amps on stage because you really can't get "Quality" feedback running through the house. Wednesday night, our metal man was able to work in some really cool feedback while bending a string behind it and it sounded awesome. I guess the only way you could really catch that is to mic the amp in the auditorium but we would have to form a committee and bring it before the church for a vote and approval to use the "Frying Pan" pedel in the auditorium. The "Frying Pan" pedel is actually marked on his pedel. It says "Push for Frying Pan". He wrote it on a sticker and stuck it on the pedel. There was a particular Sunday Morning musician in the auditorium one day who commented that the guitar sounded like a frying pan. Thats how that all came about.
I can imagine the day(that will never happen by the way) when he opens a song with a sweet "Frying Pan" opener, and 90% of the congregation stands up and walks out. Or is carried out on a stretcher. But all the while you might catch me kicking the drummer and yelling at him, "keep playing, keep playing!!" I know, that is a little extreme I guess.
i have a hard time answering this, because i'm a little worried everyone will think i'm bragging about how great my church is.
oh well...
We don't care about stuff like this. The musicians can kind of do whatever they want, because we don't put people on stage who would turn their amps up to 11 and act like jackasses. the issue here is really trust. if your people trust (i mean, really TRUST) the worship leaders, this stuff isn't as much of an issue.
I know how that sounds. Sorry. You asked.
Our church has plenty of problems, but this ain't one of them.
Amps on stage... our musicians are purists...
I think people see amps and automatically THINK the sound is louder, regardless of if it actually is or not. I remember one time Romack set his kick drum in front of the v-drum set at Grace and people said they could hear the difference haha.
I forgot about Romack's kick drum experiment!
That was genius...and definitely a lesson learned about mob mentality. Or at least church mob mentality.
Thanks for chiming in everybody. Anybody else before I post another brilliant article?
Thats why Chris is the freakin man! Even if he makes me turn my amp around where the cool badcat light doesnt shine(i still love you). Yeah i have been in situations where i turned my amp completely off and pretended to play and was told it was still too loud. Just as annoying as it is for someone to come in, jack the volume up and disregard the sound guy, its equally annoying when the sound guy makes up his mind before hearing anything.
-Adam (p.s) im playing way too loud tomorrow Todd.
Hahaha! I never heard about the "Kick drum experiment", that's awesome!
Believe me, I LOVE amps. Seriously... I spend 90% of my time on the internet on a guitar forum drooling over equipment. I mean, heck! Adam Fischer owes his setup to me! Hahaha...
Seriously though, amps aren't a bad thing. It's all about the attitude projected from BOTH the musician and audio engineer. BOTH can very easily pop off and get an attitude really quick and I think arrogance and pride is really the issue here.
If you have a mature musician who isn't trying to show off his new Matchless, or Ampeg or whatever, then there will be no problem.
It all boils down to the situation in my opinion.
We have amps. I plug my acoustic in direct but the bass and e-guitar have their amps.
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