Make the Most of Your Musical Gear

20121123093437eddieMost people reading this will have dedicated guitar gear like guitaramps and effects such as distortion- and reverb pedals.
What about using some of that gear for different purposes? Distortion pedals may work very well for bass and keys or maybe even vocals if you like that kind of sound. The key is to experiment and look at what you need and see if any of your exhisting gear will give you the results you are after.
Have a look at any of the following and see if you can try it for your own purposes:
Guitar amps:
Work only well for guitar? Well yes and no, the thing is the speakers: Most guitarspeakers do carry a lot of mid. Guitar comes alive in the midrange hence guitar speakers being heavy on midrange. Try playing a bass through any of your guitar amps and you will find that the sound is not as low as through a dedidcated bassamp. You can acutally tune the speakers with an EQ. Parametric EQ’s are great at doing this job since they are simple and usually a little twist will do the trick. Once you have tuned that guitaramp it may sound fine for vocals and anything else you may have planned to amplify.
A few small guitaramps may even work as a little P.A system. Do use a mixer if you plan on using the amps for vocals since microphones need a little more power and the preamp on your mixer will be able to give those vocals a lift before they hit the guitar amp.

Reverb effects:
Most types you use for guitar may be fine for vocals as well. Dedicated reverb effects for vocals usually have a lot of different reverb patterns, typical guitarreverbs will have less variation. Try the sound of your guitar reverb and if you like it for vocals you have a winner!
Mixers:
Mixers can be used for a lot of purposes, once you start using one you will find a lot of different applications for it. Try it for your guitar: Just plug in straight into the mixer and use it as a guitar amp. True, a guitaramp does colour your sound a bit, a mixer may give you a dryer sound but you may like that sound at the same time. All of these variations will make you appreciate all the different ways there are to amplify your guitar.

Have fun and hope to see you soon again for more.

Eddie