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Black spaghetti on stage


Phil Starr
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[quote name='mcnach' timestamp='1442352300' post='2866357']


I use a 4-way and it's white, yup. It's rarely visible as it goes behind the backline, but it can occasionally be seen. I think it goes well with my red cabs (when I'm not using the orange/black one), and my instrument leads, an orange one from the bass to the pedalboard and the lead coming back to the amp would be, depending on the day and what shoes I'm wearing, pink, red or white.

What I really want is an electric blue fluorescent 4-way. Oh yes.

My bass? Natural ash/maple, of course. ;)
[/quote]

Well it's your gig and your artistic choice. If that's the look you're going for and you want your backline and leads to be props that are part of the performance.

I played a gig once on a church hall stage where the band leader had set up so much gear on stage that there was hardly any room for us. I suggested we moved the mixer, power amps, his guitar rack of 7 guitars and some other bits into the wings but he said it was a bad idea as no one would be able to see all our gear. :crazy:

Edited by TimR
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[quote name='KevB' timestamp='1442306776' post='2865839']
I was in a band once where we ended up with a stupid number of leads (mainly due to the drummer insisting on fully mic'ing his drum kit which was overkill for pubs and a PITA to get decent mixes of) and I ended up buying multicore 'snake' with 16 inputs. It was still a bit of a mess onstage (gaffer tape is your friend) but at least only 1 cable leaving the stage to go out front to the desk.
[/quote]

That's what we do and I use a Line 6 wireless transmitter.

Blue

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[quote name='Phil Starr' timestamp='1442340774' post='2866245']
This is really a question for those regularly gigging bands that carry their own PA.


As someone who used to organise the sort of gig you refer to I found fixing everything down was essential to a quick handover. All the leads were colour coded to so if one of the bands swapped a mic or a lead I could spot it from FOH. Fortunately I've never had to play at this sort of event.
[/quote]

We carry our own lighting and sound with a sound person. However we hardly ever play multi bill shows.

Blue

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[quote name='Maude' timestamp='1442350439' post='2866348']
I laugh at your white four way mains, I use a white six way . . . ha!

To be fair though I use one of those aluminium hop-up things to put my amp on, I put a black flag over it before the amp goes on.....

[/quote]

Is this a hark back to Victorian times when they used to 'dress' grand piano legs to avoid the possibility of the family/guests harbouring unseemly erotic fantasies?

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[quote name='leftybassman392' timestamp='1442330001' post='2866089']
Imagine a space going full width of the stage between the mic stands and the backline. I'd aim to have nothing in that space except humans if at all possible.
[/quote]

Drummers?

In common with others who've mentioned it, I use a cable snake for pedalboard (or effects) to amp. I'll either have a Zoom MS-60B or a Zoom B3 and a Line 6 G50 receiver on the floor, so the cable snake is actually a jack-to-jack with two DC power extension leads cable-tied to it, and I have a choice of two lengths. Out of curiosity, has anyone else made up this sort of thing, and if so, have you used cable-ties or some other means of consolidating it? I have to take care with cable ties round the lead, they're a little hard on my delicate little hands if I'm not careful.

I do have a few colour-coded leads - two green XLR to balanced jack (one longer than the other) for the PA speakers, one 2m XLR in yellow to run between the active monitors, and a red jack-to-jack which is theoretically my backup lead if anything goes wrong with the wireless.

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[quote name='KevB' timestamp='1442334094' post='2866149']
It was, one of those 'contractual obligation' releases recorded on the tour to support the 'White Fourway Mains Splitter' album of the previous year. We won't see the likes of Black Spaghetti again. I think Tony Goggle might have been in one lineup.
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Not only was he in the lineup, but IIRC he actually owns the rights to the name. Every time the other members have tried to reform and tour, they've ended up going out under the name "Unwhite Fettuccine". One year they tried "McGarry Mopp Honeyman Miller" but nobody knew who they were. They subsequently tried adding "play the music of Black Spaghetti" but it didn't fit on the posters. At gigs they are always plagued by crowd chants of "Where's Toneeeee? Where's Toneeeee?" (although rumour has it that the hecklers are members of the Goggle family). Frankly their performances are a sad sight these days.

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In my experience it's spaghetti junction on the guitarist's side of the stage and neat and tidy on the bass players side.


The guys in bands I play in are always running cables across "my space". I have to rerun their cables if they do that. I can't stand treading on cables when I'm playing.

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[quote name='tauzero' timestamp='1442393734' post='2866544']
Out of curiosity, has anyone else made up this sort of thing, and if so, have you used cable-ties or some other means of consolidating it? I have to take care with cable ties round the lead, they're a little hard on my delicate little hands if I'm not careful.
[/quote]

You could try cabinet lacing (not sure what the official name is). It's a thin nylon string covered in a black outer sheath that is used by panel wirers to bundle cables together. Although these days they tend to use cable ties for speed

Edit: Search for "cable lacing"

Edited by Norris
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[quote name='tauzero' timestamp='1442393734' post='2866544']
Out of curiosity, has anyone else made up this sort of thing, and if so, have you used cable-ties or some other means of consolidating it? I have to take care with cable ties round the lead, they're a little hard on my delicate little hands if I'm not careful.
[/quote]
I used this stuff (pic). Search for "braided cable sleeving". It's dead easy to use, just one cable tie holding it all together at each end of the sleeve. Gives it all extra flexibility; if you use multiple cable-ties all the way along, you end up with it being completely unbendable.

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[quote name='Rich' timestamp='1442401532' post='2866622']
I used this stuff (pic). Search for "braided cable sleeving". It's dead easy to use, just one cable tie holding it all together at each end of the sleeve.
[/quote]

Aha, that's more like it. Presumably you can pull it lengthways to reduce the diameter when you put the cable ties on?

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[quote name='tauzero' timestamp='1442402864' post='2866645']
Aha, that's more like it. Presumably you can pull it lengthways to reduce the diameter when you put the cable ties on?
[/quote]
Yes, although that would tend to make the whole snake slightly less flexible if the braid is too tight.

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[quote name='Rich' timestamp='1442406710' post='2866708']
Yes, although that would tend to make the whole snake slightly less flexible if the braid is too tight.
[/quote]

I was thinking more of reducing the wizard's sleeviness of it than making it really tight.

Hmm, about £3-50 for 5m of 8mm braiding, about the same for 5m of 13mm heatshrink, and I have two cables, one 2m long and one 3m long. It may be time for an experiment.

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[quote name='KevB' timestamp='1442334094' post='2866149']
It was, one of those 'contractual obligation' releases recorded on the tour to support the 'White Fourway Mains Splitter' album of the previous year. We won't see the likes of Black Spaghetti again. I think Tony Goggle might have been in one lineup.
[/quote]

Tony Goggle - great reference. A man we don't hear anywhere near enough of these days!

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[quote name='GrammeFriday' timestamp='1442590028' post='2868073']
Pah! Nowadays it’s all gone health and safety mad. Back in the good old days we had proper trip hazards all over the stage. Here’s me just about to fall over in 1985:

[url="http://s1333.photobucket.com/user/grammefriday/media/GF%201985-2015/1985_zpsee0k5dwe.jpg.html"][/url]
[/quote]
I love the irony of there being two perilously placed liquid containers poised directly above the high voltage warning sticker :lol:

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