How does Audio work with Guitars in Concert?

Question

In concert i know that with guitar you either mic the amp or plug it into a mixer/soundboard. I was thinking if you miced an amp on distortion it would sound too scratchy. So how exactly does plugging into a soundboard work. Do you set your amp and the soundboard recognizes it and plays it through speakers. If thats the case why cant you just plug into a computer program with your amp already on it or something.

Answer 1

I'm having a bit of trouble understanding your question. So I'll try and answer it as well as i understood it.

In a live setting. The Mixer controls all the levels (volumes) of all the instruments and vocals. The amplify the guitar, a mic is used in front of the Guitar amp. I'm not sure what you mean by scratchy... But these high quality Mic's can handle the sound of the amps and the mixer can control of the volume is to soft or too loud.

I'm not sure what you mean by the mixer recognizing the amp... but when you record onto a computer you have two options. You can put a mic in front of your amp, or you can plug in directly to the computer sound card, this can also be done using the line out on an amp.