15w don't cut it in my band...

[Commodore 64***]

Leading up to our third gig ever this Saturday, July 7...we had rehearsal over the weekend. Over the past 2 years, I've played the following amps at rehearsal...

1. Peavey Classic 30
2. Transtube Peavey Bandit
3. Blues Jr.
4. Pro Jr.
5. 5E3ish build, (2 6v6)
5. Vox Cambridge 15

I traded the Blues Jr. for the Peavey Classic 30. I gave the TT Bandit to my wife's sister who is trying to learn the guitar. I gave/lent the Peavey Classic 30 to a bandmate. He uses it for his keyboards and guitar, and it sounds fantastic.

So I'm left with a couple 15 watt or less amps...I've gigged the Pro Jr. on our two previous gigs, both times through a 1x12 external cab that I built with a Cannabis Rex speaker. The Vox, and 5E3 were also put through the C. Rex which is a pretty efficient speaker, so I think I've just about maxed out on the volume that I can get outta my amps.

Our set list is composed of older rock n roll tunes. We play 2-3 sets during a gig, which heretofore, have been at an Eagles Club and a bowling alleys. Saturday is another bowling alley, this time indoors, in the middle of the lanes (I'm told). I dunno how that's gonna work, heh.

Here's some of the songs we do:
Paint it Black
Satisfaction
The Last Time
Gimme Shelter
When a Man Loves A Woman
You Send Me
Rainy Night in Georgia
All Day and All of the Night
For What it's worth
Mr. Soul
My Girl
Get Ready
Nowhere to Run
Soul Man
Knock on Wood
Midnight Hour
The Weight
Blue Suede Shoes/Hound Dog
Bad Moon Rising
Brown Eyed Girl
Now that I've Found You
Back in the USA
That'll be the Day
Ain't Got You
Somebody to Love
+ other's I can't remember right now and a few originals.

Obligatory pic (I'm not in this picture, as I took it, after my banjo part in the song [Now that I've Found You] was done):


Anyways, of the 3, 15watt amps or less, the Pro jr. has the most volume. But it's pretty hairy at gig volumes and just doesn't sound quite right to me on some of the Motown and Stax stuff that we do (though it does great on Satisfaction and All day and all of the Night). Not that I can remotely play like him, but I'd like to get Cropper cleanish on some of the songs we do, so I've not been 100% satisfied with my set-up.

And at rehearsal on Saturday, I was using the Vox Cambridge 15, I removed the LED clippers hoping for a little bit more headroom, but I was completely drowned out, especially when my bandmate gets into it on Gimme Shelter (using my Classic 30) and some of the other songs where we end up getting pretty loud. Sometimes, these Rock songs are just freakin' fun, and we end up playing pretty hard. Unless we are really, really cognizant of dynamics, the 15w just don't seem to cut it, and we don't do little tiny bars, not with 7 people in the band, so we tend to do bigger places (e.g., bowling alleys).

I think I've finally established that:
1. I need more wattage; and
2. I need to be able to do cleans at gig volume, but I also need the dirt.

So I need a bigger amp. I happen to acquire a Traynor TS-50 a couple weeks ago. It's built like a brick, S-house and has big ugly knobs. I love the aesthetics of it. It's an all solid state amp. I'm used to low wattage tube amps and this thing is brittle clean. Almost sterile clean. After rehearsal on Friday, I sat down with the pedals I own and A/B'd the crap out of the Traynor and the Pro Jr. I'm trying to find a warmer sound for when I need the dirt. I'm thinking I need a Fuzz pedal of some sort. Most of the dirt pedals I have are pretty transparent, IMHO:

1. Allum Blues Stack modded BD-2
2. Lovepedal Amp 50 (Get's a bit hairy when Maxed)
3. BYOC British Blues Overdrive (with components chosen for the "darker" side of the spectrum.
4. Double Muff (Bought this on Saturday, because Muff seemed like it should be hairy, right? and this is Double Muff).

After spending a large portion of Saturday and Sunday practicing (Gig jitters at last gig had me forgetting a lot of bridges/key changes). I think I'm gonna give this Traynor a shot on Saturday at the gig. The BYOC pedal, with the gain maxed, and the tone knob at minimum seems to give me the best warm tones. Seems to cut down on the sterility of the Traynor. The Double Muff just makes that thing SCREAM, I think I've established that cascading gain is not what I need and that a little fuzz may be what the Dr. Ordered.

Anyways, Satruday my wife is coming to the gig. I've been practicing my *** off, and I still can't sing worth a darn, and I'm just barely keeping up on rhythm guitar, but I hope that I'll be able to have some video and sound clips (since the wife can operate cameras) during the gig. So I'll be looking forward to getting your opinions on the tone I can achieve with this old Traynor.

[FrankenFretter***]

Good that you found one that works for you. I've noticed that a lot of my dirt pedals also sound "wrong" through my SS Roland Cube 60. My Artec Soloist Distortion probably sounded the least odd to my ears through that amph.

Have you thought about or tried running a larger cab? I got to hear my 5w Blackstar through a 4 x 12 a couple days ago, and was astounded at how loud it can get when it's pushing that much air. Needless to say, it's a very "big" sound as well.

Good luck at the gig, looking forward to seeing the clips!

[NWBasser]

Like Sean said, more speakers will get the most out of your Pro Jr. A pair of 12's (or more) would make a big difference.

Elevating it up on an amph stand would help get the sound out better too so that it's not blasting past your knees.

I've found it tough to warm up a SS amph to any serious degree.

Another thought is that micing it through the PA and monitors is a generally good solution if you have an open channel for it.

[Jipes***]

Just my two cents on that subject, I play since almost ten years in a Soul Rythm'n Blues Band with a big horn section and we are covering mainly Stax records and some more modern artists( Angie Stone, Joss Stone, Sharon Jones etc...) I played two amps during that period one Fender Concert Amp, very nice clean sound with the great and deep tremolo and a Laney LC15 very British amp being quite loud and bright. The amp which does the better job to "cut trough" the mix win a Ten piece band (5 horns + keyboard,drums & Bass) was the Laney.

The Concert sounds really good but with the bass frequencies it usually mix too much with the Organ sounds of our keyboard player and get on the feet of the Baritone sax. The Laney is more harsh sounding but with my Telecaster it sounds just great for the rythmn' thing

[NWBasser]

Just my two cents on that subject, I play since almost ten years in a Soul Rythm'n Blues Band with a big horn section and we are covering mainly Stax records and some more modern artists( Angie Stone, Joss Stone, Sharon Jones etc...) I played two amps during that period one Fender Concert Amp, very nice clean sound with the great and deep tremolo and a Laney LC15 very British amp being quite loud and bright. The amp which does the better job to "cut trough" the mix win a Ten piece band (5 horns + keyboard,drums & Bass) was the Laney.

The Concert sounds really good but with the bass frequencies it usually mix too much with the Organ sounds of our keyboard player and get on the feet of the Baritone sax. The Laney is more harsh sounding but with my Telecaster it sounds just great for the rythmn' thing

All too true. Often, a super bright tone works well in a band context, but sounds awful on its own. When you play with a band, there is a bass guitar to cover the lower frequencies and so you don't really need much bottom-end.

As a bass player, I like to play with guys using bright tele's and strats.

As a guitar player, I really like a deep crunching Les Paul. But, I don't play guitar in a band context either.