What is the most Gerry rigged/Cheesiest rig you have seen on stage?

Stinsok · #1 09-05-2007, 07:38 PM

Used to play with a keyboard player (thought he was a guitarist) that borrowed everything. He once spliced and duct taped wires into a Rockman (borrowed) so he could play distorted keyboard (borrowed) solos.

Tony G · #2 09-05-2007, 07:44 PM

I did an open mic once with an old beat up ampeg tube head that barely worked, and that was plugged into an old yamaha 15" inch PA speaker. Not a good sound.

markjazzbassist · #3 09-05-2007, 07:46 PM

i played with keyboard player who used a 15" monitor speaker from Radioshack. Can we say ghetto?

Stinsok · #4 09-05-2007, 07:47 PM

Forgot to mention the guitar player that used one of those old Crate amps (with the crate attached) that cut out on a regular basis. He kept a hammer on top to whack it with.

markjazzbassist · #5 09-05-2007, 07:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Stinsok

Forgot to mention the guitar player that used one of those old Crate amps (with the crate attached) that cut out on a regular basis. He kept a hammer on top to whack it with.

hahaha

man. that one's got me rollling on the floor. i can just imagine the guy stopping in the middle of the set and whacking it with the hammer.

Stinsok · #6 09-05-2007, 07:52 PM

How bout in the middle of a Battle of the Bands?

BWB · #7 09-07-2007, 10:31 AM

My first bass rig was a 1960's 15 watt Heathkit mono amplifier plugged into a 12" speaker. I plugged into the RCA AUX phono jack on the back panel. I actually played a gig, in front of people, at age 13 with this monstrosity with all the knobs turned up to '11'.

mjolnir · #8 09-07-2007, 01:17 PM

I pulled a beaut in marching band in high school. First time we implemented the boat battery as a power source... boat battery -> inverter -> 2 JBL pa speakers -> XLR to 1/4" into an old junk bass with a guitar pickup on it.

Stinsok · #9 10-02-2007, 07:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mjolnir2730

I pulled a beaut in marching band in high school. First time we implemented the boat battery as a power source... boat battery -> inverter -> 2 JBL pa speakers -> XLR to 1/4" into an old junk bass with a guitar pickup on it.

My kid's marching band has a 3 wheel cart with a battery/inverter/ Fender Bassman 200. It works really well. I didn't see this, but I recall an interview with singer T. Graham Brown. He described some of his first gigs where he and a friend had a microphone and guitar wired into one of those stereo consoles for a PA.

fenderhutz · #10 10-02-2007, 07:49 PM

My cab died at a show 3 hours from home and I grabbed my Kicker Solo Baric SUB out of my car, spliced a speaker wire and ran my bass through it. No highs what so ever but it was as Rock and Roll as it gets.

Stinsok · #11 10-02-2007, 07:54 PM

At the Fair, there was a Bluegrass group using behind the seat (pickup) speaker boxes for a PA. Truly sad.

Skel · #12 10-02-2007, 08:12 PM

Eddie Van Halen's totally beat to hell Marshall head, 4x12 cabinet with the tolex completely gone, and his "pedal board" - a piece of plywood with a solid state Echoplex (and an identical backup unit), an MXR phase 90, an MXR 7 band EQ, and I think an MXR flanger (he mainly only used the echoplex) -all this stuff duct taped to the plywood by somebody like a guitar player. But I'd say the guy could play and his stuff didn't seem to crap out on him.

Microbass · #13 10-03-2007, 06:21 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Skel

Eddie Van Halen's totally beat to hell Marshall head, 4x12 cabinet with the tolex completely gone, and his "pedal board" - a piece of plywood with a solid state Echoplex (and an identical backup unit), an MXR phase 90, an MXR 7 band EQ, and I think an MXR flanger (he mainly only used the echoplex) -all this stuff duct taped to the plywood by somebody like a guitar player. But I'd say the guy could play and his stuff didn't seem to crap out on him.

my guitarist's pedal board sounds quite like this... we're not van halen fans either. he's going to need a bigger piece of plywood soon, though.

as for cheesiest rig?
at a bar, i turn up to find an old, beat up peavey 2x15. tolex ripped off, holes in the cover. jacks on the back loose. not keen to use my trace but i did anyway. the mains socket was hanging off the wall. glad i brought a surge protector!

ended up sounding good. i reckon one of the 15s were bust, but it added some nice "distortion".

Jonyak · #14 10-03-2007, 09:03 AM

I showed up at a gig where a guy said I could use his amp, so it wouldn;t take as much time between sets. I show up and he has about 8 different homemade speakers set up with home made crossovers duct taped to the top of each one. he had set them up all over the stage, with bass high mid and lows all going to different places. it sound really good, and super bassy, so much so the sound guy told him to cut the bass cabs because it was shaking the place to much.

it stopped working halfway through my set and he cam out while I was playing and started hitting it to get it to run again.

it was interesting. I use my own amp all the time now.