Sue Foley Interesting Amp Position

[crank]

We saw Sue Foley last night at NYC's Iridium. Nice club with very nice guitars on the walls.

Sue is a really great blues /rock guitarist we discovered by chance when we wandered into the blues tent at NOLA's Jazzzfest last spring.


Anyway she has some sort of Fender combo, possible a Blues Deluxe. But she had it the front/speaker facing the ceiling. It was sitting bridged across a couple chairs, I think, and miced. I've seen bands there in the past and you tend to get an uneven mix, especially sitting close or directly in front of someone's amp. In this case the mix was even and excellent. Got a chance to speak with her after teh show and she told me she stole the idea from Jimmy Vaugn. Great idea.

 

[SFIV1967]

Sue Foley: "Sometimes when I play a smaller room, I’ll put the amp on its back, aiming it straight up. I learned that from Jimmie Vaughan. If you’re in a theater and you need the sound to be in the system too, you can baffle the amp to deflect the sound a bit, and if you’re on a big stage, like at a festival, you can have the two of them together and wide open."





Sometimes she is also using a tweet '59 Bassman reissue 4X10 in that position together with a Twin in normal position behind a plexiglas deflector screen.



Ralf

 

[Default]

That's the difference between a pro and an amateur right there. Pointing the amp up and over, rather than having the sound blocked by pants legs and bodies.

 

[Midnight Toker]

That's the difference between a pro and an amateur right there. Pointing the amp up and over, rather than having the sound blocked by pants legs and bodies.

It has more to do with not blowing audience members near the stage away by the amp’s stage volume, and allowing the PA to take care of the crowd hearing the guitar. In smaller clubs, loud amps make for unbalanced PA mixes. In smaller spaces, a FOH sound man's worst enemy is loud amps on stage, and in blues clubs, it's a regular occurance as most drive their amps w/ volume, not gain.

 

[Rocky]

Neko Case has been known to do the same thing with her amp

 

[lungimsam]

The paisley tele was her other smart move. Sounds like an interesting show!!!

 

[crank]

Midnight Toker has it right.

 

[Ross]

I've always liked Sue Foley. Glad to hear that she's still performing.
Thoughtful speaker positioning, too.

 

[Default]

It has more to do with not blowing audience members near the stage away by the amp’s stage volume, and allowing the PA to take care of the crowd hearing the guitar. In smaller clubs, loud amps make for unbalanced PA mixes. In smaller spaces, a FOH sound man's worst enemy is loud amps on stage, and in blues clubs, it's a regular occurance as most drive their amps w/ volume, not gain.

I've been to local events where the sound was blocked by the performers, hence the comment.