I have an electric guitar with a pedal board of various stomp boxes. For a while now, due to convenience, I've been going direct to the sound board from the effects through a DI-box. The sound was not bad, but I sat down the other day and compared my direct sound to my sound with an amp, and it's convinced me to carry my amp around with me again.
I have a Fender Frontman 65R solid state amp. I currently go from guitar > amp input > pre out > through my effects > pwr in. Then the amp would need to be miked.
The amp isn't huge, but more than I'd like to lug around. Also, there are times when I don't want the amp sound on stage, or it is easier to go to a DI in some manner instead of Micing the amp.
And now my question: I am fairly inexperienced with the use of amp heads (I know the general concept), so... If I bought a decent tube amp head, would I get a good tone by going in this order: Guitar > amp head input > amp send > through the effects board > DI-box to sound board? Would this do well at what I'm looking for?
If not, what would you recommend in my situation? I'd prefer the nice amp sound without having to carry that large of an amp with my other gear.
Thanks!
Comments
There are a few guys I know who use just a Line 6 Pod set up dir
There are a few guys I know who use just a Line 6 Pod set up direct to the sound board, no amp at all and with pretty good effect, I have never been able to get the sound I like without an amp. As my friends and I have aged I think we all pretty much feel the same way, we want to get paid for playing not piano moving (lugging a marshall stack for example.) In general most of us have gone to boutique tube amps 10-15 watts, lightweight, small speakers, easy to carry and load. Properly miced these sound awesome, you can use all your pedals, get the ability to adjust tone, drive, get feedback effects plus you can truly hear your tone onstage which in a direct to soundboard system you are at the mercy of the soundman for a monitor mix to gauge yourself. If you have a true pro no problem but some of the smaller places I play well let's just say it's a crapshoot. The offshoot of this is it easy to practice at home, sound great recorded, IMO it's a win, win. I think you will find that one of these amps will be a true joy to play through after the Frontman (one my least favorite Fender amps.) The drawback is to get into something really good you are in the $1000.00 range.