Can I use an Electric Guitar directly with a PA System?

Question

Hi! I am going to go street performing soon and will be singing and playing guitar while my brother drums. I play mainly blues rock in the style of The Black Keys and the White Stripes. An electric guitar is essential for my style. I was wondering if I can connect an electric guitar into a PA system (with fuzz/distortion effects pedals between them) and have a good tone suitable for street performance?

I have looked into portable guitar amplifiers but they don't seem to have enough power (especially competing with drums) and it's more cost-effective to use a PA with mic and guitar inputs rather than buy an amp and PA system. I don't need to play clean for anything, so would my distortion pedals be enough to achieve a good tone?

Also, would using an amp modeler pedal help with getting a better tone?

Answer 1

I do it all the time, Tony B is on the correct page as to the differences between a Guitar amp and PA, So when using my guitar synth, I prefer the uncolored tone of a PA basically letting the Roland GR-55 processor do all the coloring. Same will apply to your peddles, and yes an amp modeling peddle would add even more color to your PA system, Not sure what Monitor Speakers Tony's been using but mine have a far greater frequency range than my guitar only cabinets. which comes in handy when mimicking say a piano, violin, string section, and guitars all at once while modeling a Matchless DC-30 amp. and a few effects thrown in for fun, My tube amp tends to get muddy as where my PA performs flawlessly.

Answer 2

An amp that a guitar is plugged into is as important as the guitar itself when playing music. Try playing an electric guitar without any kind of amp. You will have to experiment to find out out what works best. Go to a music store that sells guitars and amps. Ask to try out some different systems. Bring your own guitar. See what works best. They probably have portable systems. The big issue will be whether you will have access to an electrical outlet or whether you would have to have a system that runs on batteries.

Answer 3

You can can connect an electric guitar to any kind of amplification and it will "work". Plugging it into a PA system is unlikely to produce a good sound though unless you insert some kind of amp/speaker simulation or modelling between the guitar and the PA.



Guitar amplifiers and speakers colour the sound and are designed to make guitars sound "good", PA amplifiers and speakers are designed not to colour the sound and, generally, do not sound good when amplifying electric guitars.



Really though, he only thing to do is plug in and try. It could be that you like the sound.

Answer 4

Yes, it's done lots. Look into SansAmp stuff, or generically, "direct boxes". I'm puzzled why you don't already have a decent guitar amp, though, since you need one anyway to practice with & etc. If you do, you should look into using a microphone to feed the sound into a PA. (Some seriously nasty stuff has been recorded using surprisingly small guitar amps, too.) Meantime, it serves as a "monitor" behind you, so you can hear what you're playing. Typical PA speaker placement, with a smallish system, is out front, left & right, unless you have - a monitor. Without a guitar amp, or PA monitor, you're likely to have a harder time hearing yourself, so then crank up your channel to where you're too loud, so round and round it goes.



BTW, a 400w double-stack guitar amp is still "portable", but painfully powerful.

Answer 5

I put a Fishman Neo-D humbucker in the soundhole of my Guild D4 along with the LR Baggs Element piezo under the saddle. I ran them into separate channels on the PA and had no problem blending them that way. I've also done the same with my Crate Acoustic amp by running one into each of the 2 channels and blending them. I did use a K&K Sounds preamp on the Neo-D when I did that though, but I don't think it was really necessary, just that channel 2 on my amp didn't have all the EQ options.

Answer 6

Ditto for Danny regarding DI box, such as Sansamp. Other little effects boxes like Pandora have choice of line or amp output, which could be plugged into PA. Or get decent small practice amp and mic it (results may vary...)

Answer 7

yes, but a modeling pedal with lots of amp effecst will help.



You still will miss out on some subtleties of a guitar amp..but that style of music is not subtle, anyway



And without a good bass player....it will sound incomplete and horrible...unless all the listeners have mascara on and skinny jeans with multiple piercings and low self esteem(boys AND girls)



Finish School ,too. you will thank me later.

Answer 8

Sure, as long as the board has a 1/4" input. Almost all mixing boards have both 1/4" and XLR inputs. So just plug into your pedal board/chain and then from the last pedal into the board.

Answer 9

>>I have looked into portable guitar amplifiers but they don't seem to have enough power (especially competing with drums) <<



Please post your location so I can avoid it.

Answer 10

Plug it in and fine out.........