Joanne Shaw Taylor - No Amp?!

[matonanjin]

I'm sure that this is far more common than I realize.  This is, after all, a 3 year old article.  But when I read it it somewhat shocked me.  How many gigging musicians are going sans amp? 

My wife and I first saw Joanne Shaw Taylor on the Keeping the Blues Alive cruise.  A great guitarist and she put on a tremendous show.  But I was sure that I saw her plugged into an amp.   Going out the door a couple weeks ago for a trip to Chicago I randomly grabbed a handful of magazines for the 8 hour drive.  One of them was this Guitar Techniques from January, 2015.  Having become a fan of Joanne I naturally gravitated to this article.  I was somewhat surprised to read the sentence that I have underlined in red, when referring to amps she said, "I don't use them too much live anymore...." 

So obviously she is using a modeler.   What other musicians do you know, famous or otherwise, that are giving up amps?  Perhaps I shouldn't be to surprised.  I had posted over at L&MG the video about setting in with that blues band practice.  I had gone back a couple times and the lead guitar player is using only a POD HD500X.  But I reasoned that's just a local band and this is just practice.  (I later saw them at a show and that is what he is using).

I still vacillate between my pedal board and my POD HD500x.  @Six String has been trying to drag me into the 21st century for months, probably longer.   Right now I'm using the POD just for an OD, Chorus and a Delay into my Blues, Jr., amp.  This is a silly waste of its potential.  If I'm going to do that I should use my OD, Chorus and a Delay on my pedalboard and sell the POD!   Or use the POD into my guitar interface and sell the amp and pedalboard! 

But again, what gigging musicians do you know that are ampless?  What are you using? 

 

[Randy120]

She has to be using some kind of amp. You can't just walk on stage without amplification. 

[Eracer_Team-DougH]

Rik Emmett when touring in his duo guitar tour with Dave Dunlop,  just uses a small pedal board into FOH.

 

With a POD styled modeler you can plug into the FOH ( that's short for Front of House PA system)

Although modeling pedals are getting good, so like Rack-FX are really good.

 

I find messing around with "patches" takes what little time I have to play.. away from my playing and more fiddling around. 

[matonanjin]

That's what I thought she probably did.  A modeler into the house PA.  (Although I've never heard the acronym FOH ?)

 

[Six String]

There are many factors mitigating towards professionals going to tiny effects pedal sized amps or a modeler going directly to a PA (FOH).  For one venues are demanding much lower stage volume and the entire business model of the music industry has shifted so few acts will ever have the finances to conduct the type of tour that was common when I was a kid. 

Except for a few huge acts, the days of massive tours with 3+ tractor trailers of gear are over.  Emerging musicians today need to go where the big gigs are, and they often need to get there on their own dime, so small light systems that will get them the sound they want become more and more attractive. 

Expect to see more and more professionals using a rig compact enough to travel as carry on luggage on a Regional Jet.

To Randy's comment about having to have an amp that's true, but at a mid sized to larger venue you actually could walk on stage with nothing more than a modeler and a guitar and rely on the house system for amplification. So yes there is amplification but the artist didn't have to lug it there.

[Randy120]

There are also things like the SANS amp. You often see large refrigerator size cabinets with many plug in boards that handle amplification and effects. Many acts use the in-house sound system for amplification. 

I read an article many years ago which showed massive towers of speakers which were actually empty. They were just mock-Marshall stacks with no actual speakers to give the visual impression of the old style setups. 

[matonanjin]

I guess this answers my question.  Even Django  Reinhardt used a POD HD500  ???