Expand the Scope of Your Pride in Your Gear

It's only natural that many musicians take pride in having good gear.  For better or worse, a musician's instrument is usually part of his/her identity as a performer, and aside from any image/perception concerns, who doesn't feel better knowing they're playing a really good (guitar, etc.)?

But unfortunately that pride rarely extends beyond each individual player's little corner of the stage.  That's a shame because by far the most important gear when it comes to a band's relationship to its audience is the PA, but many, many bands barely get by with an absolute minimum amount of lower-tier PA gear, although the players individually may have really top-shelf instruments and amps.

The thing is, even if you're getting a great guitar tone, you're coming to the plate with two strikes against you if the overall sound of the band is muffled or distorted, or vocals are unintelligible, or the band can't hear themselves on stage.  Almost nobody will leave the show thinking, "Well, I couldn't really hear the vocals or the kick drum, but the lead guitarist had great tone!"  And you know who the few people who will think that are, don't you?  Other musicians, and it is pretty much impossible to become successful as a band if that's all you appeal to.

So I highly recommend---indeed, I challenge everyone to try to do this---expanding that feeling of "pride in your gear" to include your PA.  Make THAT a part of your identity as a musician.  Assuming you've got an at least adequate instrument/rig, before you spend that next thousand dollars getting a new (or another) guitar, drop some money into a pair of decent powered speakers---there are lots of nice ones that will work either as mains or can be tilted back or laid on their sides and used as monitor wedges.  You will always be able to find a use for them!  And don't get something cheap.  Go with mid-level or higher from a good brand.

Or, before you get a new amp or cymbals, invest in some decent microphones.  There are plenty of good mics that are (relatively) cheap, including Shure SM57s and SM58s, which are industry standard instrument and vocal mics respectively.

I think one reason many people don't think of the PA as part of their identity, as something to take pride in, is the free rider problem---if bandmate A invests in a really good PA, then bandmates B, C, and D will potentially get the benefits of the good PA without sharing the costs.  Well, yes, that may be true, although hopefully PA enthusiasm will infect the whole band.  (It could happen.)   And, if you have bandmates who refuse to invest in making the band better, that may be indicative of a bigger issue that you might want to keep an eye on.  But even in a worst-case scenario, consider that, whatever satisfaction you may get out of being a tough guy who nobody takes advantage of, NOTHING good comes from following that path.  You're a tough guy whose band sounds bad playing through a shitty PA.  Whereas if you embrace the idea of taking pride in your PA, yes, maybe it costs more out of pocket, but, (a) your band sounds good, and (b) you have a great PA!  Which you can take with you if (when) your current band of freeloaders implodes.

There are other ways to deal with the freeloader issue, but that's part of a bigger issue, so it will be the subject of a separate post shortly.  In the mean time, take a look at your current PA.  Are you proud of it?  Can you say honestly that it's presenting your band in the best light?  If not, try making that your gear focus for a while.  I assure you, it will pay greater dividends than getting that third guitar!