So, I was playing my guitar through my amp and it occurred to me...

Cool topic. Yes a lot of sound comes out the back. It's really dependent on the venue and the stage setup. When I use a *real* amp live - which is more and more infrequent since moving to Fractals, how we set it up and mike it will vary depending on the venue, the setlist, etc.

For a large stage where I run say, my DR with all the throttles pushed forward we'll put the amp behind the band facing backwards mic'ed up. This adds ambience and helps control the stage volume. Generally on a bigger stage you have a guitar monitor or your monitor mix will have a lot of you in it. This BTW is a fairly common practice for large outdoor stages.

At a mid-sized venue I prefer a traditional backline and if balls out is required a baffle is placed in front of the amp.

For a club or smaller venue, I leave about foot between the amp and the wall and always have the amp off the floor. The wall is all the reflector you need. I don't use a baffle at small venues because of dead spots that can be created by out-of-phase reflections. If you project up you get the bounce back down and that will generally be somewhat of-of-phase for some frequencies.

The best advice I can give for home or small clubs where you're not mic'ed is get the amp up off the floor and slightly away from the wall.

For big shows, I don't really care, that's Mike's (soundman) job and he's danged good at it. I just follow his instructions, shut up and play my guitar. Seems to have worked out OK so far. 


Chuck