JPJ

I nearly always use my subs in the pub band format of one either side directly under the pole mounted tops. Yes, it might lead to problems for a pro sound engineer, but honestly, down the Dog n Duck on a Friday or Saturday night, 99% of punters wont notice. The advantage of the subs is they are big, heavy, substantial and have prevented the tops being knocked onto an unsuspecting guitarist (or heavens preserve, bass player i.e. me) by a drunk punter on more than one occasion. 

From the sound point of view it may be less than perfect but as one of your PA stacks is probably pointing at the end of the bar, it really doesnt make that much difference. On that rare occasion we play a social club, the subs go side-by-side in the centre in front of the stage with the tops on stands either side of the stage. The increased performance of the subs in this configuration is noticeable but this config would be totally impractical in all of our other gigs, which like Phil says, lack any sort of raised stage area. 

I see Richtone Audio are selling a secondhand set of the Studiologic pedals, no connection just spotted their ad on FaceAche tonight.

3 minutes ago, warwickhunt said:

 

re. putting a trickle through the PA - what size PA are you putting a trickle through?  I'm not sure there'd be any benefit trying to put it through the QSC K10 speakers with no sub.  

Same PA I was using on Saturday 2 x EV ZLX15P tops (nominally 500w 128dB) + 2 x Peavey Messenger Pro 15P bins (nominally 400w unknown spl). 

Must resist, I have too many preamps already. I know Ian Martin Allison (of Scotts Bass fame) and Janet Gwizdala both rate the Capo very highly. Have a bump on me GLWTS

On 21/04/2024 at 12:59, gazhowe said:

 I'm interested in silent stage but more from the point of not having to carry backline.  Unfortunately I suspect this won't happen as the guitarist likes his amp and it may require a PA upgrade which the band are unlikely to invest in.

Exactly where I am at with one of my bands. I now have four out of five of us using IEM’s and whilst my PA isn’t the worst, I ‘feel’ I would have to upgrade to cope with a truly silent stage. 

Because I double between fretless bass and NS EUB in one of my bands, I have the rather excellent EBS Stanley Clarke preamp on my board which is a two-channel preamp pedal. I then have a TC Plethora x3 and Sansamp BDDI v2 in the parallel loop of the EBS to add either a little drive or whatever effects I feel I need (normally nothing more than a bit of chorus or reverb). I then take the DI from the EBS into the PA, and an in-ears mix from my desk (Behringer XR18). Works for me across my two regular gigs. 

I’d be surprised if a single 15 can’t cut it for you. In my other band (the other one to the one you saw on Saturday night 😎) I’m gigging a 1x15 Neo equipped Ashdown combo rated at 400w so probably putting around 200w through the combo speaker and its more than enough, and drummer Alan is no shrinking violet when it comes to clattering his drums. I bought and then sold a 1x15 Ashdown Neo cab to pair with this as I found the combo on its own was more than enough for that band. Mind, I do trickle a bit of bass through the PA too. 

2 hours ago, Si600 said:

Is that all the bracing it gets? From my recollection of looking in sound holes acoustic guitars are like a boat inside, ribs and frames everywhere. 

My thoughts exactly - I was expecting a bass bar or similar plus a reinforcement under the bridge?

I can only add my praise for the support/advice I’ve received from Dave over the years.

3 minutes ago, gorandelac said:

Al now I have to buy them too...

 

The thing for me with customs is really do you really get a better picture? How much better can it be? I mean, what can be better, sound, headroom, isolation?

What justify iem for 500 Euros and up?

 

Also, can you guys give me a pointer how to record something coming out of my iem to put on my video? Btw. I don't use Apple products, maybe Zoom and then y cable one to my iem, one to Zoom?

Please advise...  

 

Thanks in advance

The main advantage will be the isolation. I know when I went from squishy foam ear protection to ACS custom moulds it was a night and day difference. I can only imaging the same will apply with custom moulded IEM’s not to mention that these will probably have better/more drivers than the non-custom type.

As to recording, it depends where your IEM signal is coming from. For example, on my X-Air XR18 desk I can monitor any aux out using the built-in headphone amp so it would be an easy stereo lead from the headphone out to computer to record the IEM mix. 

One of the reasons I opted for the Vanderkley 2x12 I was using last night is that it passes your ‘door frame test’ and is (just) light enough for me to carry on my own easily. Nice single cab solution that I can enjoy as much as my old SWR Goliath 4x10 which definitely did not pass the door frame test.

20 hours ago, warwickhunt said:

 

...and tonight's set up will be? 

 

Nothing in the first half (because I forgot to get them out of my gig bag before we started) ACS custom moulded protection with 17dB attenuation in the second half 😎

I think the key is to make sure you have an audience mic set up to help with the sense of isolation. When I first got my ACS hearing protection, I had that same feeling, remote from everything in the breaks between songs. I loved the fact that I could hear myself much better because of the reduced levels, but couldn’t get over the feeling of being uninvolved between songs. 
I’m dabbling more in the world of IEM and started like many of us with the KZ’s but I could never achieve total isolation with those, no matter what tips I used. I’m now using Sennheiser IE100’s on @warwickhunt’s recommendation, and the lower profile certainly suits my ears better, but the isolation still isn’t as good as a custom mould. So as a result, I generally only have my bass and a touch of vocals in my mix, and let the rest come through the lack of isolation. The upside is lower overall volume, and no ear fatigue. I’m sure my next step will be custom moulded in-ears but losing backline all together will need a serious FOH upgrade. 

Fantastic work, really stunning, but could the problem with the epoxy be a reaction with the acetone you used for clean up?

Where we’re at is backline levels equal to acoustic drums. Drummer, singer/guitarist, fiddle player all use IEM to help them hear their instrument/voice clearer. Second guitarist/bv uses a floor wedge. I vary between backline only, hearing protection (ACS custom moulds) or IEM (Sennheiser 100’s and Xvive U4) depending on the gig. If the room means drums and particularly the cymbals are painfully loud then I’ll go either ACS or IEM. But as I mix the live sound from the side of the stage, I’m always nervous about going IEM and potentially missing something with the FOH mix. If we have the luxury of provided PA and engineer, then I’ll go IEM every time.

As you say, fairly rare, but an excellent amp all the same. I absolutely love mine and it’s the most all valve like hybrid I’ve played. I will not be parting with mine anytime soon, GLWTS

3 hours ago, Chienmortbb said:

I wonder how some live sound techs learns their trade.

Don’t automatically blame the guy/girl on the desk. We had one local venue that doubled as a music venue and a nightclub. As a result the in-house rig was tuned and configured for the bottom end heavy dance music and travelling sound techs were not permitted to retune the rig. As a result, the louder the mix, the more dominant the bottom end. I was lucky (unlucky) enough to play there on more than one occasion and whilst the power of the bass was quite something, it was also so overpowering and as a result mushy. The venue became known for having a bad sound and only a few bands I saw there cracked it, generally by not pushing the master all the way to unity. 

As there appears to be little appetite for this premium preamp I am now withdrawing it from sale.

2 hours ago, EBS_freak said:

It’s amazing how much extra energy a tight kick can give a band.

I’ve seen a few bands that could benefit from a tight kick in the ………😝

I keep looking at the 800 too, as a possible replacement for my 1x15 Neo Ashdown ABM combo. But the amplifier knobs put me off - these should have been black chicken heads imho not those cheap and cheerful looking off white plastic jobs. Unfortunately (or fortunately for Mrs JPJ) it doesn’t look like there is enough space between the pots to allow for retro-fit chicken head knobs. 

Is the singer using a stage monitor? If so, try asking them to angle it away from you so that your’e not picking up the vibrations from this directly. 

@VTypeV4 If you like old skool pics, this is the setup I ‘learned the hard way’ with.

My two’penneth coming from being a Behringer XR18 user for many many years. 

Firstly, I don’t like delay on vocals. Secondly I love reverb on vocals. Three tricks I’ve learned from pro engineers: 1) use plate reverb in a live setting; 2) make use of pre-delay to separate the reverberated voice from the dry signal - makes the vocal sound fuller and warmer; 3) eq the reverb to only work on the mid-range so hard use of hpf and lpf to stop the reverb sounding muddy or shrill. 

I have a plate reverb on the XR18 that is pretty much ‘set and forget’ and use the send level to adjust how much of each voice has reverb added in the FOH mix. This is probably the wrong way to do it as wiser people than I seem to say that your sends should be at unity, but it works for me. 

Just now, rwillett said:

 

I hated the place. If you weren't 3rd or 4th generation there, you couldn't do anything. I'd arrange meetings to try and work out what to do and how to improve things, and they'd tell me to F'off to my face and go back to reading a book. They kept using the name Vickers rather than BAE. When each sub was in the last few years of a build, work would slow down until the next contract was awarded. Each sub was built one at a time and took circa 11 years. I absolutely loathed the place. The train journey from Lancaster was lovely, but as it pulled into Barrow, my heart would sink.

 

My only regret was not catching E-Coli earlier. I almost died but it was worth it.

I arrived there to commission some PAU’s built for the then new North Morecambe Bay gas terminal. I came from offshore with a very ‘can do’ mindset. It quickly became apparent the reverse was true in that ‘shipyard’. After a month of achieving nothing we shipped the PAU’s to site and commissioned/rebuilt them there 😤

On 18/03/2024 at 18:47, rwillett said:

My knowledge of cutting aluminum is zero so assumed I needed cutting fluid. I wasn't sure so tried it. Might now stop using it and will see what happens. 

 

My experience at BAE was helping the project management team. My knowledge of building nuclear attack submarines and how to speed delivery up is a little limited, IBM sold me in as an expert and so I had to bullshit rather a lot. 

 

Thankfully I got E-Coli and escaped before I was discovered. Somewhat extreme I know but it was worth it not to go back to Barrow. 

Having worked at BAE in Barrow many moons ago, I would not be surprised if it was the source of the E-Coli 😂