Festival PA Systems from the past

guitars4you

Have seen this before in the old International Musician magazine- Grateful Dead - But forgot all about it

Kittyfrisk

Bedroom players, what are they like?  

bertie

it was only ever used at the sound check,   strummed the first chord and ended up in row 96

ZenOvertone

That pic was also used in Tom Wheeler's "The Guitar Book" 

BillDL

That's exactly where I remember the photo from also.

ICBM

It’s actually a clever concept, almost never used by anyone else as far as I know - the whole PA is at the back of the stage, and there are no monitors. How does it not feed back?

By having each microphone with a perfectly matched pair of capsules at either end, connected out of phase - hence completely cancelling sound which is a long way (and hence at equal volume) from both ends, but allowing a sound which is much closer to one end than the other (hence louder, ie the vocal) to be amplified.

That said… and as I recently mentioned elsewhere , it seems rather a huge amount of ingenuity, cost and sheer physical effort in setting up, in order to amplify some of the most insipid interminable drivel I’ve ever heard.

ZenOvertone

ICBM said:

It’s actually a clever concept, almost never used by anyone else as far as I know - the whole PA is at the back of the stage, and there are no monitors. How does it not feed back?

By having each microphone with a perfectly matched pair of capsules at either end, connected out of phase - hence completely cancelling sound which is a long way (and hence at equal volume) from both ends, but allowing a sound which is much closer to one end than the other (hence louder, ie the vocal) to be amplified.

That said… and as I recently mentioned elsewhere , it seems rather a huge amount of ingenuity, cost and sheer physical effort in setting up, in order to amplify some of the most insipid interminable drivel I’ve ever heard.

I saw the picture as a kid and imagined a super heavy band sounding like an extreme version of Sabbath (akin to the fictional band "Disaster Area" from the Hitchhikers Guide), sadly disappointed that they sounded country....

bcjim

“ some of the most insipid interminable drivel I’ve ever heard.”

Hey!  That’s my favourite band your talking about there!  And they were using that rig when I saw them at the Ally Pally all those years ago.

Jim.

diap

ICBM said:

That said… and as I recently mentioned elsewhere , it seems rather a huge amount of ingenuity, cost and sheer physical effort in setting up, in order to amplify some of the most insipid interminable drivel I’ve ever heard

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pWdd6_ZxX8c

diap

Some pretty clever minds involved in the 'Wall of sound'.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wall_of_Sound_(Grateful_Dead)


p.s. Thank fuck I'm not paying a subscription to use this clunky as hell forum!

bertie

diap said:

p.s. Thank fuck I'm not paying a subscription to use this clunky as hell forum!

thank fuck no-one else gives a shit   

diap

bertie said:

diap said:

p.s. Thank fuck I'm not paying a subscription to use this clunky as hell forum!

thank fuck no-one else gives a shit   

Yet you felt the need to comment! 

ICBM

ZenOvertone said:

I saw the picture as a kid and imagined a super heavy band sounding like an extreme version of Sabbath (akin to the fictional band "Disaster Area" from the Hitchhikers Guide), sadly disappointed that they sounded country....

Exactly. With a name like The Grateful Dead, their album artwork, a reputation for heavy drug use and a PA system that looked like it could be heard on the next continent, I expected something like Black Sabbath, Mountain and Led Zeppelin all rolled into one. I was… disappointed, to say the least.

See also: Kiss, Styx, Blue Oyster Cult.

bertie

diap said:

bertie said:

diap said:

p.s. Thank fuck I'm not paying a subscription to use this clunky as hell forum!

thank fuck no-one else gives a shit   

Yet you felt the need to comment! 

yeah,  no-one else but me   

PhilKing

I saw them at the Holywood festival back in 1970.  It took hours for them to set up and they were boring as hell.  I think it was their first appearance in the UK and it was probably the last for a while, as they really didn't get the crowd on their side.  On the other hand, Black Sabbath, Traffic, Free and Mungo Jerry were all great!

digitalkettle

guitarjack66

digitalkettle said:

Health and Safety gone mad,I tells ya.

DefaultM

Haha I was the same with grateful dead. My Dad got me an mp3 CD player one birthday and copied me loads of albums. When I saw their name but then heard their music I was confused.
I always try go back and listen but it's not my thing. Which is a shame cos they've got loads of live bootlegs.

bertie

DefaultM said:

Haha I was the same with grateful dead. My Dad got me an mp3 CD player one birthday and copied me loads of albums. When I saw their name but then heard their music I was confused.
I always try go back and listen but it's not my thing. Which is a shame cos they've got loads of live bootlegs.

similar,  both from all the hype about Bob Weir in Ibanez guitar catalogues and general hype / "folklore" anyway  
was about 15 or 16,  there was a televised gig on BBC about 1am.................. persuaded a mate (drummer) to stay up and watch it............................... he called me a lot of names 10 mins into the program..............15 mins I was on me way home !!

guitars4you

digitalkettle said:

wonder how many trucks are required to transport that - Plus how many power amps to drive it

JezWynd

Owsley, having fried America’s brains, next attempted to destroy their hearing.