Here’s a tip: If you crank up a cello loud enough to hear all the notes on the C string in a band with drums and an electric bass, the rest of the instrument will be deafening and the whole band will sound bloated and bass heavy. That’s because a cello’s lower strings vibrate from 65 to about 300 Hz—just like the tom-toms and upper electric bass strings that can easily blend into them.

The solution is to tweak the dial up on the bass tone controls for string balance, and the high-treble tone controls for a clearer sound.

“I have to play with a brighter sound than I like under my ear,” says Golove, explaining the compromises that arise in a concert ­setting.

String bass players have ­similar issues, but not so bad because they rarely have to compete with another pitched bass instrument. An amplified viola, however, can get covered by electric guitars, so turning up midrange tone controls and treble frequencies is important. Electric violinists not only turn up their upper midrange, they tone down those ear-splitting high treble ­frequencies.

How do you know how much to turn this up and tone that down?

It all starts with the sound you like when you’re playing by yourself. You’ve got to go after that sound, even when the band is going crazy around you.

At the gig, set up where you’ll be, determine how the tone controls sound best, how loud you’ll be, and add reverb for smaller rooms. The best place for your amp is a place where you, the audience, and your band can hear you loud and clear.

Let the quest begin!

“Elevate your speakers,” Golove advises, so your licks don’t get buried in the floor.

When everybody’s ready to sound check a tune, then you’re ready to use that long instrument cable I mentioned earlier. Wander as far out into the concert space as the cord will reach and walk from side to side as you play. Does your solo disappear when it goes down low? If so, turn up the low midrange controls. Is there squealing feedback? Then turn down the treble high-frequency controls a touch, though the feedback is always worse when you stand directly in front of your speaker.

Golove uses as small an amp as he can so as not to mangle his hands moving extra-heavy stuff right before a concert. He also adjusts his tone on the fly. “If there’s a moment in the set when I don’t need to cut through,” he says, “then I make a quick adjustment.”

Someday, when you play a really big venue, someone may need to mic your amplifier and adjust its frequencies on a separate mixing board while your instrument is being amplified with a larger public-address (or PA) system. In that case, you might actually need another set of ears to help out.

But keep experimenting—by the time your band finally plays Carnegie Hall, you’ll know exactly what to tell the sound man!


Gregory Walker is a violin professor at the University of Colorado at Boulder.