live guitar setup

[hawketh2]

alright,
i've been playing guitar for almost two years now. I've a Epiphone Les Paul that I pass through a Behringer Vamp-2 and ultimately to the sound input in my computer. So far, that's how i have been playing, ie to backing tracks.
Recently i found some people to jam with and am hoping to soon play infront of an audience. During the jams, I plug in my guitar to the vamp and the vamp to a 15 watt Behringer amp. The problem is that I am not at all satisfied with the sound i get when i jam with the guys. With the Vamp it sounds out of control and i end up just plugging my guitar directly to the 15 watt amp, which doesnt really produce a decent sound either.
I'm new to these aspects of guitar playing. So i was just wondering if i was missing something here. I'm guessing i would need a better amp. But aside from that, how do i get a really fluidish sound while soloing live? Any advice would be helpful here. Plus any resources for getting good guitar sounds would be appreciated.

Thanx in advance.
frank

[DannyBoy]

this is a tricky one that requires patience but first of all .. yes you will need a new amp for playing live .. 15 watts wont cut it for long man . but if you are having to make do with it for a while then you are gonna need to EQ your vamp for live settings .. when you turn the volume up it will add bass and it will add highs .. so you want to change the EQing of it for a live setting . it wont necessarily make it a great great rig . the gear you have aint bad but its nowhere near good enough to produce a great live sounding rig . but it should help if you just EQ it .. turn the bass down and turn the highs down . and maybe the mids too .. just experiment until it sounds less harsh .. if that doesnt work . then simply save up for a new amp . sorry but we've all been there and thats the hard reality of it bro . but try EQing first ... you might get lucky lol. sorry if that aint what you wanna hear

[Lazertronic]

Here's a thought!

If you can use the Vamp-2 to record to your computer... Why not use only the Vamp-2 live... does your singer use a PA... like with a Mixer board? If so... patch your Vamp-2 into the 1/4" input on a channel and tweak the board until it sounds right, and is mixed (volume wise) with the vocals correctly!

Can save you a bunch of cash... and to tell you the truth, most guitarists are not using amps on stage anymore, unless ofcourse they are using tube amps, or miking a combo amp into the mixer board!

[slimshady842]

If you can mic the amp, you won't need it as loud as you think, but as Danny boy said, it's probably better you get a bigger amp, preferrably with tubes.