Bar Gig - Amplification?

[monroe]

So, I've been playing in a bluegrass band (i.e. all acoustics, micing everything) for several years. However, our band has now added drums and gone electric. I'm playing a Epi Les Paul through a 1980 Princeton Reverb. Other band members are playing electric bass, banjo, and guitar through similar powered amps.

My question is, for bar gigs, what's the best way to amplify the instruments? Mic the amps? One guy has a fender Hot Rod Deluxe, with an effects loop. It's manual says you can run the Preamp out of the effects loop straight into a PA ... is that a good idea? Any help here would be appreciated.

[milobender]

For me, I'd always mic the speaker. In my experience, it's really hard to get a good sound straight from the preamp to the mixer... An SM57 is pretty cheap, and works fine.

Brian

[Chuckles]

D/O to the PA loses the nuances that the speakers in the amp have - a huge part of anyone's sound.

Princetons sound great; I'd just mic it with a 57 like milo said... only issue I've had with an underpowered amp is with sufficient stage volume, so you need to consider whether you can send your sound to the monitor mix in a way that everyone can deal with.