PA discussion...

Part of the reason that I want another PRS grade instrument is due to our ridiculously awesome new PA system. We went with the Bose L1 system - and it has really changed the way we approach our performances. The system is so clear and full range - that what you put in - is what you get out.

While I love that x960 through a conventional amp type rig - it is just not up to snuff in a full range direct input role that I use with the Bose while we are performing. I used it last saturday for I Alone - and Can't Find My Way Home - both of which we do tuned down a half step - and I couldnt find a tone that I was happy with.

My PRS has several positions on the 5 way that sound great in a full range setting.

SunDog wrote:...our ridiculously awesome new PA system. We went with the Bose L1 system...

You lucky, lucky buggers!! Looks almost toy-like, until ya plug it in and turn it on!

Barry wrote:

SunDog wrote:...our ridiculously awesome new PA system. We went with the Bose L1 system...

You lucky, lucky buggers!! Looks almost toy-like, until ya plug it in and turn it on!

Best purchase I have ever been involved with (musically speaking). Besides the unbelievable sound - the bonus is the set up and break down time. One gig got finished up at 1:05 AM - I was home and in bed by 2:15. Nice.

PA...don´t even get me started...
We carry....a LOT of it...(our club rig)
At the tune of approx 12 000 watts..
(incl two dual 18" subs)

Designed and built our own steel rack,but it sure weighs a ton...altho more portable than most and with basicaly provisions for everything in sight.

I reckon this thread - or the PA side of it can go across to the Off topic forums;

I can't remember what mine is; it's only about 2000W and I've kept the whole thing simple; preamp/main mixer amp FOH/slave amp for foldback/FOH/foldbacks. My mikes are 1 really old beat up x SM58, 3 beat to hell x AKG D190s for vocals and an old beatup SM57 for miking my amp - are you sensing a theme here?? They all work beautifully and I've found that ones microphone choice can make the all the difference - you can have the best PA in the world but crap mikes will kill the sound stone dead.

If I need anything bigger or better I hire it or use the house PA; they're all pretty good these days and I have enough crap to cart around with worrying too much about PA gear as well!!

We´ve tried one of them russian condenser mics for vocals and altho they of course present issues,they pick up everything in sight,they DO work well for vocals.
Hence we´ve tried shielding it every way imaginable,with so-so results.

So..for now "Blixten",or vocalist,uses a SM58 that is turn through some TC electronic boxes and that works rather well IMO.

For power we rely on swedish made LAB amps and american(?) QSCs.
No matter,we´ve got ample power to play with and on occasion that indeed is needed.

A good PA system can make or break any band IMO as can the sound tech.

SunDog wrote:...the bonus is the set up and break down time...

Next to the drummer, I got stuck with the most stuff to deal with.
Besides my own 2-guitar setup, I had the pleasure of also setting up the PA since most of my band mates were electronically challenged, or so they said

Speakers and stands, mikes, preamp, main amp, monitors, hot spots, etc...and tucking and taping all the $%^&^# wiring out of the way!! And on occasion, setting up a red-yellow-blue light box which, depending on where we were playing was either hung from above or was placed on the floor behind the drummer. I also made the thing.

All that was bad 'nuff, but at 1:30 in the morning it was a brute, and the last thing I wanted to do was dismantle it all. Where was Bose and their magic wireless pencil PA then, huh?

Barry wrote:, and the last thing I wanted to do was dismantle it all. Where was Bose and their magic wireless pencil PA then, huh?

Yep; I, too, can remember the days of great hulking FOH bins which required a block and tackle to fly them somewhere above the crowds heads - no speaker tripes in them days, Dorothy!! - the days of honking great heavy mixing desks which always went doggo on 2 or 3 channels on the night; foldback wedges that seemed to be made of concrete - and a drummer who demanded 2 of them! - and amplifiers that weighed as much as the centre of the sun.. oh, how I could go on!! Rack systems; wtf are they?? Early Boss stompboxes - CE1, anyone? - or WEM Copicats with all of the intricacies therein were the order of the day, although I can remember seeing a band called Th'Dudes in NZ about 1976 who had an enormous Cerwin-Vega PA that they had imported especially - and going "Ooooooooh!!" at the state of the art gear!!

As much as you can wax nostalgic over what was a lot of really good stuff (tube amps, etc) all in all, there's a lot to be said for wireless and solid state electronics!!

We played an opening gig Saturday night at a local marina on Watts Bar Lake. The main act set up their rig (huge mo fo Carvin rig with big subs, tons of monitors, an insane amp/mixer/effects rack) and all their guitar amps (two stacks for the guitars and a big Ampeg bass rig) and drums (every drum mic'd) first. We came in and set up our Bose stuff in front of their guitar amps. We used their drums (with an aux send from their board into our Bose T1). Our bass player used their bass amp - and the two guitarists in our band wend direct from our amp modelers into the Bose. We played for a little over 1.5 hrs straight and the response was very good - mainly from the mid thirties and up crowd.

We broke down and were out of the way in about ten minutes following our set. By the time I got back down to the docks from my car - the other band had cranked it up. I sat there for a while (waiting on my post gig chicken wings) and decided that I needed to go back to the car and get my ear plugs. It was deafening. Noboday in the whole place could carry on a conversation. The sound quality was alright - but it was LOUD!

That being the case - I was kind of shocked to see that the crowd did not mind the increased volume at all. The dance floor was packed and everyone was hoooting and hollering for more, more, more (with an occaisional rebel yell).

I ate my wings and got the hell out of there - I just dont enjoy the loudness any more. When I attend a show where the band is using the Bose stuff - the clairity is amazing - and even throught the establishement. It is actually possible to carry on a conversation with out leaning in - and to hear the waitress, etc.

My preferences are obviously not everybody's - and I definitely felt old Saturday night and that I should go home and see if there were any damned kids on my lawn.

SunDog wrote:...I just dont enjoy the loudness any more....and I definitely felt old Saturday night and that I should go home and see if there were any damned kids on my lawn.

True dat! Welcome to the wonderful world of geriatric rock!
Hey! Hey! You kids! GET OFF MY LAWN!!

Last week's gig on the smallest stage I ever want to be on. We were allowed to only have our mic stands on the floor. I was physically beat from standing in the same spot all night. We moved the drums over to one side. I really liked that.

Oh Lord, that's cruel and unusual punishment!
Damn good thing you had a Bose system or you'd be out in the parking lot!
How we suffer for our music.

Holy! that is cramped... Feel bad for the bass player stuck in the back...

Wow, that's even smaller than the stage at my favorite bar, and that feels cramped even with a three piece band! I can't imagine playing on a stage that small.

Frenchy wrote:Holy! that is cramped... Feel bad for the bass player stuck in the back...

He didnt have his plugs in. He suffered.

This bar is one of the premier spots to play in my town - so we are willing to put up with the lack of stage real estate. That being said - the adjacent space to this bar is vacant and I would love to knock out a wall and install a proper performance area.

Alas.

So.... tricky stage moves are out then?? I've played on a stage that was about 3 feet wide but about 18ft long; we were all spread out in a line - looked hilarious and Kevin the drummer just loved being out front so much, that's where we put him for all gigs!

corsair wrote:...I've played on a stage that was about 3 feet wide but about 18ft long...

Bwah ha ha ha! You just triggered a similar foggy memory for me playing in my yute (that's mid 60's folks). As I recall it was held in an old movie theatre, and like you, we were strung across the stage in front of a closed heavy curtain.

In those days going to a movie was a real event, often with a live organist for pre-show entertainment, and the silver screen was covered over with a proper theatrical curtain and then dramatically drawn back as the movie started.

For the life of me I can't remember what we did with the drummer.

I was a professional sound engineer for about ten years. I did several tours with major-label country artists towards the end of that career. The biggest/heaviest piece of gear that I remember carrying was a grand piano. That flight case was huge - bigger than the mixing console cases. And it was heavier than the 250' distro cable trunk if you can imagine. It took about a dozen people to stand it out of the case and put it back in. It had to be tuned twice a day - once before soundcheck and then again during dinner before the show.

The coolest flight cases I have ever seen were backstage at a ZZTop show - I was part of the local production crew. There were these 3 big cases and I asked one of the touring guys what they were. He said 'those are the Harleys'. They had flight cases for their motorcycles. That is truly spectacular!

colt933 wrote:...'those are the Harleys'. They had flight cases for their motorcycles...

Of course! It's ZZ Top!
Too kewl!