[JohninCR]

This is an offshoot of guitar solo thread in the music circle.  There's just no way I could pick a top 20, but it got me thinking about what is the best rig for great playback of guitar solos.  We probably need to break it down into 2 categories, amplified and acoustic.  Fullrangers have let me down in this respect for electric guitar, so what are the critical frequency ranges wrt guitar playback.

[gitarretyp]

Marshall 100 Watt Plexi and a full stack?

Seriously though, electric guitar covers about 80-2Khz if memory serves (discounting some higher order harmonics). I'm a bit surprised a fullranger wouldn't produce them well, since electric guitar speakers are typically 10" or 12" fullrange drivers themselves. To really get proper sounding electric guitar, 100+db for the guitar is probably necessary --this is coming from someone that's played guitar for 13 years, hitting 100db playing alone is very easy to do. This would but the full band at rock concert levels, however. Electric guitar sounds nice on my stereo, but it has no where near the visceral impact of my guitar amp.

[Daygloworange]

The problem isn't going to be your speakers. It's going to be the recording. So then it becomes a near impossible question to answer.

Take Eddie Van Halen on Van Halen I for example. A 100 watt plexi Marshall, running wide open, on a Variac autotransformer set to 140 volts, playing a Strat with a PAF humbucker. What's on the record is not what that rig would sound like in a room. No speaker in the world is going to make the guitar on that record sound like it does coming out of the amp itself.

Cheers

[JohninCR]

Dayglo,

While I'm sure plenty of recordings are lacking, I've heard recorded stuff played over concert PA systems that sounded really good.  A good recording should be a pretty good copy of the real thing.  Ignoring the room acoustics part for the sense of space (a separate topic), for realistic playback does it take big PA drivers or front loaded horns to launch a larger wavefront to reproduce the sound, or can smaller drivers dialed in for a flat response faithfully reproduce the sound?

[nathanm]

Dayglow is dead on.  The problem is microphones.  You stand there and dial in this beautiful, guitar sound blossoming out into a room, then stick microphones in front of the cabinet and play it back through stereo speakers and it's a shadow of its former self.  It's a good thing that one need not torment themselves with this dichotomy when listening to recordings.

[Russell Dawkins]

would seem like the Bastanis Prometheus, having something like a guitar speaker for a wideranger would be promising, and the Zu Druids and Definitions for similar reasons.

[Daygloworange]

You'll never reproduce that sound like it's right there. A 100 watt Marshall can seriously pound out sound. I'm just giving an example in the case of Eddie Van Halen. If you listen to his guitar there is a lot of roll off in the bottom end, in the order of 18db per octave roll off, and probably between 3 and 6db centered around 100hz. Then the mid range is adjusted after that and the top end is mucked with as well. Then it's been quite compressed as well.

You can't compensate for all those things in your 2 channel audio system I'm afraid. But your welcome to come over and OD on high SPL guitar sounds.  aa



That's my rig, BTW.

No hate mail, please.  

Cheers

[Marbles]

Not withstanding the above comments, the best speakers I've heard for guitar have been the VMPS RM40's.

[fiveoclockfriday]

Dayglo,
Not to be a jerk, but I've got to ask what kind of band you're in and what kind of venues you play? I play guitar too, and I've had a few amps over the past couple years (Fender Twin Reverb, A 50 watt Hughes and Kettner Tube head w/ 2x12, and now a modified Fender Blues Deluxe with extension cab). I've never been able to really crank any of those amps, whether in practice, playing out, with banging drummers, etc. That's the big reason I've stepped down to the humble Blues Deluxe; I can actually turn it up a bit. Do you plug all 3 heads into different cabs? I'm just having trouble imagining where you could get away with such Woodstock esque power    I'd love to try it though!

[Daygloworange]

 

That's in my studio. No, they're all different set ups, not running at the same time! 

I mix and match amps and guitars depending on what a track needs.

One is a '69 super lead 100, one is a '76 JCM lead series 100, and one is a '73 markII 50 watt .

I had the same problem. Just way too loud. If I got past 2, on the dial, on the 100 watters, the guys in the band would just boycott! I've had to do lots of crazy stuff over the years, lay the cabinet on it's back and fire upwards, turn it around and face the back of the stage......yeah, people get pissed.

It's a problem, as they only start to come alive at a certain point, and depending on what wattage speakers you run, what kind of speaker breakup and compression you're going to get. It ain't easy sounding good y'know.

Cheers

[fiveoclockfriday]

Have you tried the Epiphone Valve Junior head? It's an all tube, 2 knob, 5 watt little scrappy beast. I played one at a music store and it was great fun for just old school rock. Small enough that you can literally crank it if you want (and get a great growl). It's still quite loud at that point, but nothing like the big 100+ watters. I believe they're only $100, so I may cave in and buy my own at some point, just too much fun! Also ripe for modding possibilities.

[nathanm]

I've got a THD Univalve driving a Marshall 1960TV cab and although it is indeed capable of reasonable volume levels the fact remains is that no matter what, there's no replacement for displacement.  A guitar amp just cannot sound "right" until you reach a decent volume level.  And that level is not domestically friendly.  The idea that low-watt amps are some sort of magic way to get "cranked tone" at low volume is just impossible.  I'd say the amp must be at least  loud enough to drown out ANY acoustic string noise from an electric guitar.  Below that and you're not happy.  I had a Marshall head for a little while but it's just unworkable indoors.  It wants to HURT you.  You can't tell the volume knob to play nice in that few millimeters between off and "oh shit".