Amps / Live

thomasross20 · October 2014

Good points. I was thinking along the same lines - but that's me done with spending money on gear now, completely (after an amp cover and some earplugs)!

mike_l · October 2014

thomasross20 said:

Good points. I was thinking along the same lines - but that's me done with spending money on gear now, completely (after an amp cover and some earplugs)!

PAh-ahahahahah

thomasross20 · October 2014

Saying that - I've just been told I should really get monitors. How many of you use those?? Essential

digitalscream · October 2014

thomasross20 said:

Saying that - I've just been told I should really get monitors. How many of you use those?? Essential

Do you mean in-ears, or just on-stage speakers?

To my mind, if you're playing with a mic in front of your amp and going through the PA, your amp should be loud enough that you can hear yourself on-stage, so there should be no need for monitors to hear yourself. I tend to ask for a monitor mix which just has vocals and the guitarist on the other side of the stage, so I can hear what everybody else is doing. Then again, sometimes I don't even get that...

Jalapeno · October 2014

thomasross20 said:

Bugger! Took my Roland to practice today with pedals going into it and it was loss enough on quarter volume. Hope I've not gone and bought an amp for nothing....!!

It's strange how what sounds loud in a cramped rehearsal space totally vanishes at a gig. It's all about having the headroom.

re:Monitors - are you singing ? Then, yes you will need them. If not I agree with @digitalscream above ^^^^^^^

vasselmeyer · October 2014

thomasross20 said:

Saying that - I've just been told I should really get monitors. How many of you use those?? Essential

Protectning your hearing is essential. Always ALWAYS protect your ears when in high-volume environments. If you're just playing pubs you probably won't need in-ear monitors; just something like ASC moulded plugs which attenuate the volume without changing the tone too much. Adding IEMs adds a whole extra layer of complexity for the setup for what should be a fairly simple gig.

If you're playing places that already have a PA and monitoring system then looking at IEMs is worthwhile.

Jalapeno · October 2014

vasselmeyer said:

thomasross20 said:

Saying that - I've just been told I should really get monitors. How many of you use those?? Essential

Protectning your hearing is essential. Always ALWAYS protect your ears when in high-volume environments. If you're just playing pubs you probably won't need in-ear monitors; just something like ASC moulded plugs which attenuate the volume without changing the tone too much. Adding IEMs adds a whole extra layer of complexity for the setup for what should be a fairly simple gig.

If you're playing places that already have a PA and monitoring system then looking at IEMs is worthwhile.

This. 100%. An IEM setup will need radios all round and ought to be able to tailor each person's individual mix ....

Moe_Zambeek · October 2014

Most of the cover venues in Edinburgh would struggle to accommodate an IEM setup, IME.

thomasross20 · October 2014

OK so monitors likely not needed!

Given the amp is 24kg (heavy to me, anyway) I'm wondering... have any of you ever attached rollers to the bottom of an amp?

Danny1969 · October 2014

Your IEM needs an aux send same as a wedge monitor so no difference in terms of adding complexity to a PA setup. Just smaller, lighter, no chance of feedback, better all round really. You don't need em but playing live with a really good stereo mix of the whole band in your ears is an absolute pleasure and gives you the kind of clinical separation to the instruments you get in the studio. In the 30 years I've been gigging this has been the biggest improvement to playing live I've come across

vasselmeyer · October 2014

thomasross20 said:

Given the amp is 24kg (heavy to me, anyway) I'm wondering... have any of you ever attached rollers to the bottom of an amp?

I'm not sure if you mean casters but yes, my Egnater Rebel 30 2x12 is 88lbs which is 40Kg. While it's liftable I generally move it on its (optional) casters when I can.

Jalapeno · October 2014

Danny1969 said:

Your IEM needs an aux send same as a wedge monitor so no difference in terms of adding complexity to a PA setup. Just smaller, lighter, no chance of feedback, better all round really. You don't need em but playing live with a really good stereo mix of the whole band in your ears is an absolute pleasure and gives you the kind of clinical separation to the instruments you get in the studio. In the 30 years I've been gigging this has been the biggest improvement to playing live I've come across

So you do this with L/R panning of the Aux channel(s) I suppose ? (We've been doing mono, and it wasn't much cop really)

IanSavage · October 2014

Jalapeno said:

Danny1969 said:

Your IEM needs an aux send same as a wedge monitor so no difference in terms of adding complexity to a PA setup. Just smaller, lighter, no chance of feedback, better all round really. You don't need em but playing live with a really good stereo mix of the whole band in your ears is an absolute pleasure and gives you the kind of clinical separation to the instruments you get in the studio. In the 30 years I've been gigging this has been the biggest improvement to playing live I've come across

So you do this with L/R panning of the Aux channel(s) I suppose ? (We've been doing mono, and it wasn't much cop really)

What I assume Danny's talking about is using TWO aux sends to provide your IEM mix, one panned into your left ear and one your right; more complicated than I've ever tried mixing IEMs, but I've certainly heard of bands who play to click wanting their click track good and loud in just one ear and their band mix in the other.

Danny1969 · October 2014

IanSavage said:

Jalapeno said:

Danny1969 said:

Your IEM needs an aux send same as a wedge monitor so no difference in terms of adding complexity to a PA setup. Just smaller, lighter, no chance of feedback, better all round really. You don't need em but playing live with a really good stereo mix of the whole band in your ears is an absolute pleasure and gives you the kind of clinical separation to the instruments you get in the studio. In the 30 years I've been gigging this has been the biggest improvement to playing live I've come across

So you do this with L/R panning of the Aux channel(s) I suppose ? (We've been doing mono, and it wasn't much cop really)

What I assume Danny's talking about is using TWO aux sends to provide your IEM mix, one panned into your left ear and one your right; more complicated than I've ever tried mixing IEMs, but I've certainly heard of bands who play to click wanting their click track good and loud in just one ear and their band mix in the other.

Yeah on an older desk it's 2 aux sends and you basically say aux 1 is left ear aux 2 is right and then you can effectively create a nice stereo image of the band across your ears. I like my guitar in my right ear and the other guitarist in my left ear. Kick and snr central and toms and keys panned across. So the kick and snare get equal measures of aux 1 and 2 on their input channels, my guitar only gets some aux 2 and the other guitar only gets some aux 1 and so one

On the newer desks like the A&H QU series you just plug into a stereo IEM output pair like 3&4 or 5&6 and there's a pan knob to make the above easier. The trouble with everyone using stereo IEM's is you can quickly run out of aux sends so now it's generally done by passing all the channels out in digital format to be used for monitoring rather than using aux sends. With one band I'm using a cat 5 system where you receive all 32 channels via a cat 5 cable into your personal monitor system, you select from that what you want and then it daisy chains via cat 5 to the next guys personal monitor mixer and so on. That's about as luxury as it gets as these things also have 2 ambient mics built in for picking up the crowd and general ambiance.

thomasross20 · October 2014

I've got recordings of 8 of our songs from last night if you'd like to hear? Keep in mind we've only practised 4 times now...

Jalapeno · October 2014

Danny1969 said:

Yeah on an older desk it's 2 aux sends and you basically say aux 1 is left ear aux 2 is right and then you can effectively create a nice stereo image of the band across your ears. I like my guitar in my right ear and the other guitarist in my left ear. Kick and snr central and toms and keys panned across. So the kick and snare get equal measures of aux 1 and 2 on their input channels, my guitar only gets some aux 2 and the other guitar only gets some aux 1 and so one

On the newer desks like the A&H QU series you just plug into a stereo IEM output pair like 3&4 or 5&6 and there's a pan knob to make the above easier. The trouble with everyone using stereo IEM's is you can quickly run out of aux sends so now it's generally done by passing all the channels out in digital format to be used for monitoring rather than using aux sends. With one band I'm using a cat 5 system where you receive all 32 channels via a cat 5 cable into your personal monitor system, you select from that what you want and then it daisy chains via cat 5 to the next guys personal monitor mixer and so on. That's about as luxury as it gets as these things also have 2 ambient mics built in for picking up the crowd and general ambiance.

We chose a main mixer with 4 AUX outs, so we can mix individual IEM channels for each player - we've not had a gig since to try it out in anger though

)

Never really got on with floor monitors, especially on small stages - as I'm over 6ft they needed to to be too far in front !

vasselmeyer · October 2014

thomasross20 said:

I've got recordings of 8 of our songs from last night if you'd like to hear? Keep in mind we've only practised 4 times now...

Put them in soundcloud and post a link in "Making Music"

thomasross20 · October 2014

There are no casters on my Blackstar

Wonder how I'd get some on (hopefully a mod like this wouldn't affect the warranty).

Anyway, update! There's hardly any space left in the room with this new amp so I AM thinking about selling the Roland. And I'm happy to report that the Blackstar sounds AMAZING!! Even at low volumes. Not AS good through headphones but still damn good, and I'm relieved I don't need some sort of additional amp for headphone use.

The sounds are EPIC. I've never had so much fun playing!

thomasross20 · October 2014

Hmm, gator cases seem to do amp transporters with wheels on. Maybe an alternative to a HotCovers case?

Basically there's no way I'm carrying 24kg around when I can get some wheels...

Could always also get a HotCovers cover and a dolly trolley off Amazon. Anybody use similar??

thomasross20 · October 2014

Wow, including postage, the HotCovers cover is bumped from £38 to £44.50 which is about 10% the price of the amp itself!! Starting to wonder if I really need it...!

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