question about gain

i watched a few of our worship band 'performances' and then compared them to a couple of the same band with a fill in guitar player and i believe that i might use too much gain for that setting. nothing like a metal setting or anything like that.

wonder if anyone has ever come across that in their playing? i am a decent player and don't use gain to cover up a lack of ability. in my in ear monitors, it just seems like if i don't have the gain it doesn't sound right at certain parts. no one from the team has mentioned it but i am just doing a little self critique.

please share your thoughts if you have come across this issue in your playing.

i always tend to use more gain than needed in the song, its a guitar player caracteristic

Right on

I have noticed how little gain is used on a lot of classic rock recordings when trying to match tones compared to what you think you hear!

It may be a volume issue. With less volume, you dont have the headroom to get all of the sustain and dynamics of your playing, so the natural thing to do is to compensate with more gain. I hate it when your in the middle of a song and you keep reaching for the volume knob cause the sound just aint happening...



Yeah, me too. I suspect that's because those older records were recorded with old Marshall Plexi's and such, where they could run the amp full blast and get all of the sustain & dynamics that they needed. A big part of that is physically working the speakers and pushing some air!


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On the Eleven Rack, you have to kinda dig in a bit more than usual almost like if you were playing a solid state or turn the gain up slightly to match what a tube would feel like. Sometimes it's better to just use more gain, then dial down your guitar volume a little. I don't think there's as much hiding OUR flaws as the gear we use. With the right guitar and amp, I feel invincible even with hardly any gain, and my messups well, they sound cooler too so they're "hidden" either way haha

I've got quite a few big church setting praise set vids on my channel.. I won't spam the thread.. lol... remember as volume goes up.. gain goes down.. this allows the power amp section to speak more.. even in the 11R sims.. its a much more musical sustain type of gain versus the tinny trebly fizzy stuff.

As someone who also has been guilty of probably using too much gain, I've started used the practice of setting the gain where I think it needs to be, then backing it off about 15-20%. The 11rack is dynamic enough that I can pick and dig in a bit harder if I need it a little bit crunchier.