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Dad3353

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Posts posted by Dad3353

  1. 6 hours ago, BigRedX said:

    Or you could chose to play in an originals band, where unless you deliberately decide to play venues that don't normally put on live music almost everywhere you will want to play will have an in-house PA and lights complete with someone to work them for you.

     

    This was true once Kiemsa (all original eight-piece ska/rock/punk band...) had climbed far enough up the greasy pole to play those venues, but it took a couple of years putting on self-promoted concerts, and a fair share of lesser venues and events in which we had to provide the PA and lights. Once we could get the tech sheet and rider respected by the bigger events, all was well; we just had to learn how to set up and operate the various PA and lighting consoles that were on hand. Solved, for lighting, by using a Dmx interface and a laptop; all I had to do was patch the fixtures to my Dmx output, which I could do during sound check. We still had issues on occasion. Once, at the Bourge festival, we were playing 'off' venues. Upon arriving at the first, and asking what the PA was, we learned that none of the 'off' venues (bars and clubs, for the most part...) had anything 'in house'. The road crew had to scour the countryside to rake up enough gear for playing. Do you know just how hard it is to find a decent PA rig to hire whilst the Bourge festival is on..? It's all been soaked up by all the other stages and events. We did the gigs, though, with what we cobbled together. Happy Daze..! B|

    • Like 1
  2. Back in the '70s, I was simply the drummer for the pro touring bands; the BL handled all the gear, tour bus, dates, hire'n'fire etc. I turn up with my drums and play, and help the roadies at tear-down.

    Since playing in cover bands with buddies, or doing the roadying, desk and lights for an originals band, I've always been the one supplying the gear etc. As these were/are always buddies, chums, friends and family (two sons...), and I had the funds to do it (from my day-time career...), it was, and still is, my own gear and transport, so no split-up, and no arguments. I worked week-ends at times with a buddy's events outfit, so had a source for s/h gear when he upgraded stuff. Now retired, I have easily enough for the few gigs we now do, but no more tour-bus (too old for MOT, so scrapped...), so I 'borrow' a van from our local garage, for a tankful of diesel when I return it. Just lucky, I guess, but no issues with any split, as it's all mine (my Precioussss; all mine..! Mine..!) B|

    • Like 3
  3. 2 minutes ago, tauzero said:

    Collar felt is absolutely useless for use on a shed roof. Ms Twelvetrees can supply the list of appropriate felts, along with the requisite forms for felting.

     

    Feltham..? I used to live very near Feltha... Oh, sorry. Felting. My mistake; as you were. :$

     

    (Note to self : clean the felt out of my ears. )

    • Haha 1
  4. 16 minutes ago, Dankology said:

    I picked up a c20 year old AC30 last week but when I crank it up it cuts out and emits a continuous hum.

     

    Has anyone any inklings before I lug it to a tech? Could it be a simple as a duff/loose valve?

     

    You'll have to take it to a qualified, reputable tech, I'm afraid. I have several valve amps; they are, in general, very reliable for home use, but they do age badly, some more than others. Your Vox has a valve diode rectifier; it may well be that which is failing/has failed, which would cause the hum (the amp must be shut down straight away once it starts doing that...). There are also several electrolytic capacitors in there, which dry out over the years, whether used or not, and need inspecting, and often enough changing. The EL84 valves in there are not the most robust, being quite heavily loaded to get the thirty watts, so may be tired.
    In short, find a Good Technicien and get it thoroughly checked out. On no account try to open it up and poke around in there yourself; there are very high voltages that can take your fingers off or kill you dead. Get it seen to, and enjoy it for years to come afterwards.
    Hope this helps. :friends:

    • Thanks 1
  5. 12 minutes ago, Norris said:

    It becomes a crutch, a dependency, a chain around the neck of spontaneity. Cast it out I say!

     

    I presume that you don't use a pedal-board, so not dependant, nor chained to a spot, ruining your spontaneity..? o.O

     

    ...

     

    :lol: :P 

  6. I'd just like to point out that I have no hostility towards this player, and am not criticising her free choice of how to pursue her career. Just put me down as being of a more Puritan opinion, and, without going to the extremes of full-length burkas or nun's robes and the like, would not want any daughter of ours to follow such a style. She would, of course, have the freedom to do so, but I don't approve of such blatant, and to me, vulgar, accoutrement. I'll likely be chastised once again for expressing my opinion, but it's not the lady in question, nor her playing, nor the bass; it's just the question of role-model portrayed in that way that I find difficult. Sorry if that rankles with the popular view, but there it is. :friends:

    • Like 1
  7. I'm not sure that I would consider this to be a suitable role model for young girls, from a sartorial point of view, if this is the image that one is required to project. To me, it's the equivalent of the old, male, 'cucumber in your pants' image so prevalent in certain rock/pop bands. There are more sober ways to promote oneself and the bass, without the, to me, tacky fake call-girl look. I've no comment to make on the playing, nor the bass; I'm a drummer. :|

    • Confused 2
    • Sad 1
  8. 1 minute ago, SteveK said:

    Unless you're banging tympani drums, blowing a tuba or got a violin under your chin music stands shouldn't be anywhere near the stage. It simply looks "naff"! Do your job and learn the lyrics and music.

    "Appearance" is hugely important to some people in rock/pop music. If you went to see Sir Ian McKellen in a play would you be happy if the actors were clinging to, and referring to their scripts?

     

    Fixed. :|

    • Like 4
  9. 3 hours ago, Jack said:

    Can you explain the problem with this please? Not the physics, that bit I get, but the install? When one is installing a large system such as this do you tie all the power together first and then plug the system in? I just can't see the issue if one side is on one and the other on the other.

     

    3 hours ago, dmccombe7 said:

    Surely any 2 phases to common would give 230V. If its wired correctly it shouldn't be an issue. Not every feed in a building will be from the same 2 phases. It should be shared across all 3 phases to balance load.

    Dave

     

    In a perfect world, and an existing layout, there may never be an issue. When cabling and installing stuff, however, I would want to be able to be certain that, when I trip a 'live' feed, all the stuff downstream is effectively cut off, with no voltage at all anywhere. This was not the case in the layout I was working on. Tripping the part I was working on did not isolate all the sockets and cables; some were still 'live', and on differing phases, so that, if I start working on one, supposedly 'dead' wire which had not, in fact, been isolated, and touch another equally 'live' phase, I would fry. The phase distribution was all wrong, and not at all as per the 'house' wiring schemas. The company doing that part of the building were severely reprimanded, and their work tightly inspected.
    The discotheque opened on time, however, and ran successfully for many years (The Empire, Laval...).

    • Like 1
  10. 15 minutes ago, dmccombe7 said:

    Don't understand why being on a different phase would affect anything ? 

    Most pubs will only have a 230V supply any roads rather than 3 phase. Could be wrong tho. ?

    No idea how larger venues set up their 3 phase supplies ie does the full stage area have one single supply taken from 2 phases ?

    Dave

     

    I was installing the lighting Fx in a brand new disco, just been built. As I was fitting the various units into and under the lights console, out of some 'je ne sais quoi' feeling, I checked the voltage from the sockets under there. All were 220v, but I decided to check the voltage between the rows of sockets; it was 400 volts. The rows were on different phases. I stopped, and pointed it out to the company installing the wiring; it got fixed for the next day so that I could continue. Without my check, I would quite likely have been fried under there. A Lucky Escape. B|

    I have a younger brother, rather inexperienced in electrics, hired by a touring band for roadying, in France. He (with colleagues) rigged the PA, lights, backline etc in one theatre. When the PA was turned on, all Altec-Lansing and JBL rigs burned up, immediately. I was working as a technician; they brought me the whole sorry lot to sort out, replacing every driver in every column, and all of the power transistors in all of the power amps. I can't remember the total cost, but somewhere in the tens of thousands. Each side of the stage had, apparently, a different phase, unmarked. :(

    • Like 2
    • Sad 3
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