Boost Mids
MIds are the home frequency of electric guitars, so if you can’t hear them, you’ll sit way back in a band mix. Gibson Les Pauls are inherently mid-focussed, which is one of the reasons why many prefer them in a live context to something like a Fender Stratocaster, but boosting the mids past 12’oclock, either on your amp or through FX (e.g. an amp-modeler or EQ pedal) will compensate and allow you to punch through. Don’t take this too far though, too much middle sounds sterile and honky, dial in just enough to make an impact, nothing more, otherwise, you’ll lose the natural sound of your instrument.
Cut Bass
When it comes to live playing, the bass player has the low end covered, so I never run the bass anywhere near 12 o’clock, always the 9-10 o’clock mark. This affords you a number of benefits, the most obvious being more efficient use of your eq as you’re not adding bass that would be canceled out by the bass player anyway. The more bass you add, the earlier you’ll reach your clean headroom threshold. Also, you’ll notice a lack of woofiness and mushiness in your guitar tone. It’ll not only be clearer, but it’ll also allow you to work with more gain without mushing out if that’s your bag, but wait…
Lower Gain
If you implement the above two tips, You’ll find that you can get away with a lower gain to achieve the same sustain, and a lower gain means even more punch and clarity, which is precisely what you need when competing against the bass and those cymbals! As an extra bonus, things will be more controllable, but, thanks to the louder volumes needed for live playing, you’ll still be able to slide into harmonic feedback if that’s your thing. All the fun with none of the drawbacks.
Ease up on FX
So far, so good. You’ve got a much clearer, punchier tone now and more headroom, with non of those unused bass frequencies muddying things up, and with a lower gain keeping things nicely in check. You can both be heard and are able to express yourself. But then you engage your chorus or delay, and you’re relegated to the background again. The thing is, your FX levels, like the gain and bass control, work differently to jamming or recording at home, and you need far less of them in a live context. So, if you’re using a multi-FX, I would suggest having a separate setup for home/recording and live.
Understand the Differences
As mentioned earlier, there are differences between how certain guitars operate in a live context. Les Pauls and Teles have more mids and therefore more punch than a Strat in this context, so you’ll need to adjust to compensate. Also, you can play with far less gain live, with the higher volume giving you the sustain you need. Unfortunately, a fantastic home/recording tone will not equate to a great live tone, so you’ll need two different gear settings for each (separate live/recording patches on your multi-fx for example). Of course, not everyone uses Multi-FX, so this is something else to consider.
Conclusion
To achieve a tremendous live guitar tone, you’ll need to boost mids and reduce bass, gain, and FX levels. That may not necessarily achieve a great home/recording tone so you’ll need to understand the differences between the two scenarios, as well as between instruments.
Example: Gibson Les Paul Vs Fender Stratocaster.
A Gibson Les Paul is much more forgiving in a live context. It already has those mids and a good deal of output so, most of the time, it was plug-and-play without having to tweak much bar the FX. However, the Gibson Les Paul has always been a little one-paced, and those home/recording tones were never that inspiring, particularly clean.
The Fender Stratocaster is the opposite with the best cleans in the world plus all the versatility you could want in a home/recording context, but live, it needs all the tweaks mentioned in this article. In my opinion, that’s not such a big deal and the results are worth it.
