Amp volume and tone/how do you keep it consistent from room to room? (Page 2 of 2)

Like I said this topic really intrigues me so I did a little retrospective of many of Joe's DVD's and found a few commonalities that must be related to volume control either in large venues or small. First, and I'm not positive but pretty sure, but it looks like his amps are never on the floor but on some kind of sub-floor. Second, the baffles are always just above the tops of the speaker cabinets and third they (the baffles) are almost always set up differently. Either straight across or in a kind of "W" formation and wrap either slightly or quite a bit around the sides of the amps. At the Borderline the amps have mics which might have helped tone and volume while not killing those standing in the front row by running some of his sound through the PA of that small club. I'm not saying Joe isn't loud. But the Borderline audience is about seven to ten feet from the front of his amps so Joe sure as hell is doing something to control the volume.

I remembered I had seen these articles from Tonequest on another forum so thought I's post them here. I hope I don't get stern letter from Tonequest. In any event I think they might help answer the question.

First Article

TONEQUEST: We first discovered Bonamassa when he opened for Peter Frampton in Atlanta last year at the Variety
Playhouse. Arriving mid-way though his opening set, Delta Moon guitarist Mark Johnson and I stood transfixed and humbled as Joe tore through a mix of hook-laden rockers and incredibly emotional, bluesy shuffles. We heard shades of Beck at his best and Hendrix, too, while we both surveyed the stage to see what he was using to get that unbelievably clean and saturated tone… It's hard to mistake a couple of Marshall Silver Jubilee heads, even from 50 rows back. As we shot pictures that night for our upcoming Peter Frampton interview, we vowed to track Joe down, which happened in Nashville at Third and Lindsley - a small 'showcase' venue that might seat 100 souls, versus the Variety, which holds 900.

When we arrived in Nashville we were shocked to see that Joe had the identical rig that he had used in Atlanta - a couple of 100W Marshall Silver Jubilees, another 100W reissue Marshall MKII head, and a blackface Fender Showman head with two 4x12 Marshall cabs. Uh, uh… Joe's a blaster, but imagine our surprise when we were able to order a beer without yelling at the dixie chicks slinging the suds while the band played at full tilt. And no, he did not turn down… Joe Bonamassa has indeed invested a big chunk of his relatively short life learning to play the guitar and sing with a passion and fire rarely achieved in a lifetime, yet he has also devoted a great deal of intelligent thought to getting his tone just the way he wants it, every night, regardless of whether he's playing a dump in Columbus, Ohio or an outdoor shed with a capacity of 15,000. Same rig, same mind-altering clean and dirty tone, every night.

Second Article

TONEQUEST: I wonder if you realize just what you've accomplished? The single biggest rub with guitarists seems to remain the entire volume/power, distortion/clean headroom thing. Their big amp is too loud for the venue and they can't get it cooking, their smaller amp doesn't have enough headroom, and the only way they can get both is by using a pedal… But you've cracked the code as far as your shows are concerned, and we've seen you play a corner bar and a big theater with the same rig…

JOE BONAMASSA: It's that baffle, and the baffle is the cheapest part of the whole setup. Even the case that it sits on costs more than the baffle, and it saves me every time. If we're playing the Majestic Theater that holds 2,000 people, it can be even worse than a small club, because those theaters were designed for people to sing and play with no amplification, and the amps really throw in them. When I do a sound check, I will play my guitar from the first couple of rows. If I can sit there and play, have a conversation with myself, and it still feels punchy and warm, we're done. Once the place fills up you won't really hear the stage volume so much. And I will say this about the baffle… a lot of people that use them still have problems. We toured with Indigenous and they had a straight baffle custom built and they were still having problems. With a flat, straight baffle there is still nothing to absorb and deflect the sound - it just goes up and over. The baffle that I use folds up, and I can stagger it so each panel is at right angles to the speakers and it's truly baffling the sound. If I really wanted to get crazy with it I'd get that eggshell foam and put that on the inside of the panels. There are times when I can hear some of the high end coming over the top of the baffle on stage, but knowing how it sounds in front of the stage, I can deal with that. That baffle has just saved me so many times…

jbyrd1 wrote:

Yep...like I said, it's not a huge mystery. I'm really not trying to be a jerk, but you are being way too analytical about a very simple thing. First, he plays loud. That is well documented. Second, that's what the baffles are freaking for. Plain and simple. That's why I was trying to help answer your question by relating it to my gigs. I am currently using a custom built 50W Friedman with a 4x12 in a 120 seat club. It would blow your face off if you were at the front few tables. Sooo, I use a baffle. Simple. Easy.

Is the guitar cab miced into the PA?  Or is it being used "live"?    Alot of places alot of us play only mic things like vocals an acoustics, and drums, bass, guitars... all go live.  Old school.  Like I said, it's still done that way ALOT these days- even in Nashville.   I'm not sure a baffle would work well in that situation? (as opposed to selecting the right wattage/headroom amp for the room, which is what has been recommended by everybody for decades).

I'm not disagreeing with you- I'm just not convinced playing really loud, with a baffle, would work in some of the smaller places alot of people play where the guitar amps aren't miced.   Please describe the different gig situations you deal with, and if the cab is miced or not.