Lead Guitar Players – “Baffle” Your Audience

If you play electric lead guitar with an amp, it’s only a matter of time before you get the “turn it down” signal from someone. Whether it’s the “hands over the ears” indicator, the downward hand gesture from a patron, or a note on a napkin from the club manager.

Of course, we guitar players are always innocent. If the drummer wasn’t so heavy handed, we could play at a lower volume. Or, “I have to compete with the PA system”. Or, “the bass player has his amp up my butt”. It’s always something.

Unfortunately, if a band is considered “too loud” it’s typically the lead guitar player that catches the heat. Sometimes it’s justifiable. Other times, an overly loud PA cabinet can be the culprit, but we of course, get the blame.

The reason is, that guitar amps can, and do, get loud! If you want to prove it, next time you are playing a gig, have someone play your guitar, and sit out in the audience at amp level and hear what they hear.

The truth is, that the tone and sound we hear on stage, is often very different than what the listener out front hears. As a result, they have a different listening experience than we do.

One of the bands I play with has two lead guitarists, myself and another guy. Early on, we got in the habit of standing next to each other on stage – a huge no-no from a sonic perspective. But we work well together and “feed” off each other while playing, so somehow it works.

Both of us are fairly aggressive guitar players and not afraid to “heat up the tubes” as the gig progresses. The problem is, of course, that the volume creeps up as the night goes on, and can get loud enough to eventually lose the separation between the two guitars, and subsequently, the dynamics fly out the window!

The solution? Baffles! The other guitar player found a few sheets of thick plexi-glass, and rigged up a couple of three panel, hinged, baffles that are about the height of our amps.

I know this is not a new concept. But it is one that’s foreign to many guitar players in weekend bands. There is somehow the thought that putting a baffle in front of your amp is going to diminish the sound.

The truth is, that this is a myth. A baffle simply deflects the sound and sends it “up” instead of “out” directly into the listener’s ears.

We actually found that, when using baffles, we have a lot more control over stage volume, the band is much more dynamic, and we are able to “push” our tube amps a little harder to get the desired tone. If we are playing a large venue, we just stick an SM57 on the amp and go with it.

Our experience using baffles on the amps has been nothing but positive. I would highly recommend it. You can build them pretty cheaply, or buy them pre-made.

Your band mates will love you, your sound man will adore you, and most of all, your audience will be ecstatic!

Keep on Picking!