Who said you could not gig with a 30W amp???

[mcnach]

So, last night Sea Bass Kid was to play at this outdoor gig.
It was an interesting one, at Bilston Glen, the protest site with the tree houses etc, protecting a bit of forest from some planned roadworks. 10th anniversary party last night. Hippy/punk crowd. It was... interesting, like I said.
They had a pretty amazing setup, to be honest, a wooden stage, covered, a mixing desk in front... right inside the forest. I loved the site. They said they would prvide nearly eevrything. A bass amp was there "it´s a bit sh*t" I was told. I said I don´t care, I was not going to drag my gear through the mud there to play just for fun.
I get there, and I could hear bass. Loud. Not bad sounding at all. From where I was I could not see the amp.
When I go onstage... I see a tiny tiny tiny 30W Gorilla practice amp
It was DI´d at the back... and all I had to monitor onstage was that amp. I propped it upon some boxes, tilted it towards me so I could hear anything, something.
Once the band was playing, I could barely hear anything. If I leaned towards it, I could sort of hear a bit. If I went to the front I could feel a lot of bass out there, although no pitch information for me, however it sounded good out there I was told, and I heard it myself before with another band.

so no, it´s not exactly ideal... but at a push, it worked.

It sounded really big at the front, it was just too funny to see what it was actually generating the sound.

It was a fun gig, at least until 5min before I walked out

The police showed up.
Not sure exactly why, we were too far away from any houses to create any significant disturbance.
The people organising it asked us to stop a bit. We did. Then to carry on. Then some guy that was never introduced to us just came onstage from the front, and came to me *ordering* me to "turn this amp down". I said "what?". He insisted. I stopped playing, told him that was not my amp, that it belonged to that guitarist in front of me, and that if volume is an issue he should talk to his own people at the mixing desk, as we were all in through microphones/DI and the amps onstage were not producing the volume he heard at the front. He had none of it, but didn´t touch the amp, instead he asked the singer. So we had stopped midsong for that. We were all a bit confused. We turned down a bit, to make it like we were collaborating.
We had played for about 40min at that stage and I said to the guys "let´s play one more and leave".
Singer and one guitarist insist "no, come on, we can play these 4 more songs and itll be ok".
I said "fine, but if someone else comes up with a rude attitude while we play, I walk out".

Sure enough, second song in this guy comes up... and this one at least is not rude, but he walks up to *me* to tell me that we should turn down a bit, to appease the police. I tell him that he is at the wrong place, that he should get the mixing desk guys to turn us all down to whatever level they wanted. He said "the bass is very loud". Part of me laughed. Part of me screamed. "I´m playing through THAT", believe me, what you hear out there is not controlled by me, volume wise, but by your own guys at the mixing desk. He gave me a look like I was just talking crap. So I just unplugged. Meanwhile the band had played for a few bars without bass. Now the unmistakeable sound of a bass being unplugged without muting first was produced, and I proceeded to get my case. The rest of the band stopped. Singer said thank you (they were an enthusiastic audience) and good night. And we left.

Pity. For 40min it was a lot of fun despite a number of technical inconveniences, we managed to sound ok and we sincerely had a great time while these punks and hippies were dancing a lot in the mud.

But I get very annoyed if I am going to the trouble of doing a gig for no money whatsoever in a not very convenient location, so, just for fun... and someone is being rude to us while not grasping the most basic concept of their own set up.
I don´t go on saturday nights to muddy fields to be treated like an annoyance.

Still, it was an experience ;-)

[Gust0o]

Sound like ball bags without a clue.

[discreet]

[quote name='Gust0o' timestamp='1340550939' post='1706018']
Sound like ball bags without a clue.[/quote]

Is this the vasectomy thread..?

Edit: No..? I'd better pull my pants back up, then.

Edited June 24, 2012 by discreet

[Gust0o]

It's topical.

[stingrayPete1977]

A punch in the face would of been my suggestion, have you learnt nothing living up there? it's a sign of affection Im told.
Proves the point about amps though yet many folk here on BC fail to realise that its only them that can hear their amp and even when mic'd up its still at the mercy of the PA and the EQ settings the engineer is using. If I ever make it big I will get a Gorilla amp then just have my monitoring put through the wedge in front but not until I have bought dozens of old gorilla amps off ebay ready to sell to the punters in the FS section

[gjones]

[quote name='stingrayPete1977' timestamp='1340551655' post='1706039']
Proves the point about amps though yet many folk here on BC fail to realise that its only them that can hear their amp and even when mic'd up its still at the mercy of the PA and the EQ settings the engineer is using. If I ever make it big I will get a Gorilla amp then just have my monitoring put through the wedge in front but not until I have bought dozens of old gorilla amps off ebay ready to sell to the punters in the FS section
[/quote]

100% true. The only places I get to play my insanely expensive rig is the odd pub gig. The rest of the time I'm wacked through the PA. When will we ever learn?

[hamfist]

Oh I see a couple of people have taken an extra wit-booster pill this morning.

[stingrayPete1977]

[quote name='gjones' timestamp='1340552159' post='1706050']
100% true. The only places I get to play my insanely expensive rig is the odd pub gig. The rest of the time I'm wacked through the PA. When will we ever learn?
[/quote]

My Neox 2x12T cab is getting used less and less with me opted for 1 1x12 for most gigs, not quite ready to go for just the Gorilla yet but getting there

[stingrayPete1977]

[quote name='hamfist' timestamp='1340552545' post='1706062']
Oh I see a couple of people have taken an extra wit-booster pill this morning.
[/quote]

Wanna buy 8 Gorilla amps and a ratchet strap?

[apa]

[quote name='stingrayPete1977' timestamp='1340553122' post='1706081']
Wanna buy 8 Gorilla amps and a ratchet strap?
[/quote]

Swap you for an 1x80 square speaker cab?

A

[stingrayPete1977]

[hamfist]

[quote name='stingrayPete1977' timestamp='1340553122' post='1706081']
Wanna buy 8 Gorilla amps and a ratchet strap?
[/quote]

If those amps come with an integrated stand we could have a deal !

[Beer of the Bass]

Sounds like an interesting one! I bet I'd have recognised a few faces there. I've played events with a similar crowd a few times, and it's always a hassle in terms of organisation but a fun audience once you're actually playing.

[mcnach]

[quote name='stingrayPete1977' timestamp='1340551655' post='1706039']
A punch in the face would of been my suggestion, have you learnt nothing living up there? it's a sign of affection Im told.
[/quote]

No, that´s Glasgow, I hear. I´m in Edinburgh

(runs for cover)

[mcnach]

[quote name='stingrayPete1977' timestamp='1340551655' post='1706039']
If I ever make it big I will get a Gorilla amp then just have my monitoring put through the wedge in front but not until I have bought dozens of old gorilla amps off ebay ready to sell to the punters in the FS section
[/quote]

I would love to do this

[mcnach]

[quote name='Beer of the Bass' timestamp='1340556705' post='1706158']
Sounds like an interesting one! I bet I'd have recognised a few faces there. I've played events with a similar crowd a few times, and it's always a hassle in terms of organisation but a fun audience once you're actually playing.
[/quote]


Totally!
We felt a bit out of place at first. We are not hippies, we are certainly not punks... one of the organising guys invited us after seeing us play elsewhere... and we thought "how on Earth do we fit here?". But it was an enthusiastic crowd at the very least. You just have to make sure you didn´t hold eye contact too long with certain colourful characters, or you´d not get rid off them
Organisation: 10 points for ideas, 2 points for having a clue (or not having a clur, rather)
Audience: 10 for enthusiasm.
Pity about the ending, because even with the less than impressive monitoring situation and general lack of microphones for vocals (we use three vocal microphones and one for trumpet... we had to do with a single one), it was a LOT of fun.

[neepheid]

Not quite as impressive a feat, but I got by with an 80W amp (Trace Elliot BLX-80) yesterday, on a lorry trailer. DI-ed into the PA. Thankfully it wasn't the full band - I was up against keys, vocals, guitar, 2 djembes, a violin and a flute so it wasn't too bad on stage. The amp was cranked right up, of course

[mcnach]

[quote name='neepheid' timestamp='1340647624' post='1707581']
Not quite as impressive a feat, but I got by with an 80W amp (Trace Elliot BLX-80) yesterday, on a lorry trailer. DI-ed into the PA. Thankfully it wasn't the full band - I was up against keys, vocals, guitar, 2 djembes, a violin and a flute so it wasn't too bad on stage. The amp was cranked right up, of course
[/quote]

It was probably cleaner too, the stage I mean.
I only took a bass in a gigbag. I tuned backstage, and just used a single cable. I took it out today... caked in mud whatever part of it was on the floor. Blergh. To think I almost brought a couple of pedals!

[phil.i.stein]

i'd have just pretended to be deaf, and mimed that i couldn't hear them, whilst pointing at the 30 watter !

[yorks5stringer]

[quote name='stingrayPete1977' timestamp='1340553122' post='1706081']
Wanna buy 8 Gorilla amps and a ratchet strap?
[/quote]

I'll give you a monkey for them.....

[Doctor J]

[quote name='mcnach']
the protest site with the tree houses etc, protecting a bit of forest from some planned roadworks[/quote]
Sounds reasonable.

[quote name='mcnach']
They had a pretty amazing setup, to be honest, a [i]wooden[/i] stage, covered, [/quote]

Bleedin' hypocrites!

[Norris]

Back in the days when there were Working Mens' Clubs (yes, I know there still are a handful left) I decided to take along my old 70's practice amp for a wheeze. It had a tiny little 8" speaker that could barely fart, and the amp looked like it was made out of cardboard. This I set up in front of the curtain on a chair. Behind the curtain was my 2 x 15" Traynor beastie, daisy-chained from the practice amp input. As is usual at these type of places, the majority of the audience didn't even notice (most left after the bingo) - but all credit to the handful that did

[mcnach]

[quote name='Norris' timestamp='1340712192' post='1708380']
Back in the days when there were Working Mens' Clubs (yes, I know there still are a handful left) I decided to take along my old 70's practice amp for a wheeze. It had a tiny little 8" speaker that could barely fart, and the amp looked like it was made out of cardboard. This I set up in front of the curtain on a chair. Behind the curtain was my 2 x 15" Traynor beastie, daisy-chained from the practice amp input. As is usual at these type of places, the majority of the audience didn't even notice (most left after the bingo) - but all credit to the handful that did
[/quote]


brilliant, I must do soemthing like this!

[Big_Stu]

[quote name='mcnach' timestamp='1340550617' post='1706008']
So, last night Sea Bass Kid was to play at this outdoor gig.
It was an interesting one, at Bilston Glen, the protest site with the tree houses etc, protecting a bit of forest from some planned roadworks.[/quote]

That's Loanhead for you! They still point at planes in Loanhead.

[mcnach]

[quote name='Big_Stu' timestamp='1340731886' post='1708845']
That's Loanhead for you! They still point at planes in Loanhead.
[/quote]