Check this out - Gig requirements

[Kink Rimson]

This wound me up no end! It's part of an email a venue sent a friend's band who are due to play there soon.

Am I over-reacting here?

EQUIPMENT -

Low stress is the key here! The venue provide drum kit (take your own cymbals/snare/kick), bass amp, and three head/cab amps - all of them free of charge and well-maintained. Don’t bother taking amps unless they’re crucial to your sound.

The backline consists of an Ampeg SVT2 Pro with 4x10 Ampeg cabinet, Engel Powerball 100W head with 4x12 Marshall cabinet, Marshall DSL100 JCM 2000 head with 4x12 Marshall cabinet, HiWatt 100W head with 4x12 Marshall cabinet, and three Marshall Powerbrakes. Each speaker cab is mic'd up.

The bass player MUST USE the house amp and speaker as it's hard-wired into the desk and therefore a real bitch to change. Fortunately, it's a 400W Ampeg valve amp with a 4x10.

The 6-piece kit is a hybrid: the drums are Premier Artist Maple, the four cymbal stands are Pearl. Cymbals are Zildjian & Sabian, with Sabian hi-hats. Everything is mic’d up. Don't know the make of stool but it's big and comfy. The drummer MUST USE this kit! NO EXCEPTIONS EVER! We didn’t let Iron Maiden’s Blaze Bayley use his own kit, so we certainly won’t let you.


Anything else you need you’ll have to bring. All equipment should be delivered to the bar no later than 7.30pm - there’s a car park right beside the venue for loading-in. Our sound engineer (who previously worked at Cornwall’s famous Sawmills Studio and helped record albums by Muse, Supergrass, et all) will arrive around 7pm.


Finally! There are NO SOUNDCHECKS, repeat, NO SOUNDCHECKS. You’ll get a line-check ten minutes before you play. In exceptional circumstances (like where you play weird instruments or have accumulated the requisite Reputation Points) we might, just might, be persuaded to grant you a quick soundcheck.　



　

[MrTAteMyBalls]

wow...a club that owns hiwatts and engl???? at least the guitarists will be happy.

[zachbass02]

what's the problem? little to load in, decent gear....unless your friends band is a major national act, soundchecks are rare. If the sound guy is good, a line check will be fine. I'm not seeing the issue at hand that has you so worked up. Seems pretty normal, especially for Nashville....except Nashville would also have, there is no free parking anywhere ($12 to park at a garage) and all drinks and food are full price, even for the band.

Anytime I can play and have minimal cartage, I'm all for it. Especially if the venue has semi-decent gear.

[caeman]

You might be over-reacting. But the ad also seems strange in some ways.

A 400watt bass rig for the bass sounds not too shabby. But who hard-wires an amp head to the sound board? I was under the impression most heads had a standard port for a standard cable. Standard stuff.

As a drummer, I wouldn't mind using that kit. I am not so elitist as to claim only my set can give me MY sound. That set sounds like is WAY better than what I own, anywho!

Is that place on a tight schedule? But then, if the sound engineer is as good as they make it sound, maybe he only needs 2 minutes to get it right.


A buddy down in Tennessee told me of a club he used to play that was apparently owned by the Gibson guitar company. To play there, you had to use a Gibson git.

[guitfiddle0409]

As someone who has torn down many a PA rig at 2 AM, this sounds like heaven!

[Steve]

The email is a little snotty but the concept is standard.

"Full Backline provided. Line check prior to performance"

They could have left out all the editorial dumbs**t but, I'd be willing to bet that evolved over time after dealing with a bunch of attitudinal glory whores.

[dmusic148]

Completely normal. Been there many times. Be glad the bass rig is decent- sometimes it's really awful.

[bassman0221]

I wouldn't like the fact that I couldnt use my amp...For me its not an issue of power/wattage but of tone. Everyone in my band spends alot of time getting there tone just right throwing new amps in there would change it alot. No sound checks are normal unless your a national band like Zachbass2 said.

[CBgaragebassist]

Blaze Bayley never played drums...

[kesslari]

Part of growing up as a musician is learning to get your sound from other gear, and learning to appreciate not having to haul extra gear. Spend the time you would have had to break down gear chatting up a pretty girl.

[DeluxeRed]

If you're going to play popular, contemporary music out and about at various venues, you really need to be ready to play a reasonable facsimile on just about anything, including DI. Have a couple of tone pedals and/or DI of your choice, and be prepared to play straight into the board or through some p.o.s that you'll be happy if you can just get it to be flat. Sure, we all like to have our favorite gear handy, and probably sound best with it, but you cannot become so reliant on a piece of gear that you are crippled without it; that just doesn't work in the reality of live music.

So...show up, don't have to lug gear, get paid for playing music with someone else managing the headaches. Sounds pretty sweet to me, even without my optimum rig or tone. Just get out there and rock! And have your friend leave one of their stickers on the back of their cab.

[CTbass613]

I think that every bass player especially playing in original bands where 30, 45 and hour long sets with little to no soundcheck or tweaking time should have some sort of preamp or pedal that they can bring to get their sound from. I love my aguilar rig, but if i am traveling to new york with my band, and their is a hartke rig to plug into i know that with my tone hammer i will at least get close to my tone from the backline...FOH is another story, but then again who really has all that much control over their FOH bass tone, unless like someone said you are a National Act.

[cheezewiz]

Wow. I'd be in heaven. I think you're overreacting.
I've never played a venue that provides a backline, and I've played a lot of gigs.

[anonymous02282011]

Sounds great. No schlep with decent gear already there, quick sound check before you play. What's the issue?

[albertofrog]

the only bit in the OP that would annoy me is the bit where it said

"Don’t bother taking amps unless they’re crucial to your sound."

Yet bass players HAVE to use the house amp (AMPEG not withstanding...)

why do guitards get a choice and we don't?

However, if I can walk in with just a bass and a bits box, I could bite the bullet...

[0utlier]

I agree that the editorializing is silly, but anytime I can show up with a just bass and my GT-10B seems pretty fantastic to me. I've been on a major downsizing binge lately anyway. Their offer is the ultimate downsize for me. When we open for other bands now I always see if I can use the headlining bands bass rig. I couch it in terms that if I can use their rig then that makes it just that much faster we can be off the stage and you can be on. Their rig onstage is really just a glorified monitor anyway.

Playing in a live situation I've just come to realize that it's futile to tote heavy, boutique, and/or expensive gear to any venue with a full PA. I can get a reasonable facsimile of "my" tone (whatever that is) through my pedal regardless of amplification.

The ultimate irony is that virtually no one in the club can tell one damn difference between you playing through a $2000 mega rig or a $200 combo if you're DI'ing to the board.

When I was younger I HAD to have my rig though. Now I don't care. I don't know if getting older makes you more lazy, or just more accepting of the realities of the world.

[Zooberwerx]

Ahh, the sign of a true professional....walking into a club and pulling off a stellar performance on strange equipment. Sounds like the venue knows what works and what doesn't:

*Guest bands schlepping in tons of gear (disruptive to patrons).

*Time wasted as guitarists attempt to recreate "their sound".

*Soundguy having to balance / re-learn 16-20 new inputs, not to mention backline headaches.

A competent soundguy should have things up to speed by the end of the first verse.

Riis

[INTP]

They could have delivered the same message differently, and it probably wouldn't have been so off-putting.

It sounds pretty nice to me. I know the weight of every piece of equipment I have. I think of it every time I load in/out.

[Kenny Allyn]

Kinda strange wording ... but as has been said what a great bonus to going to play a show!

We did a Hard Rock Cafe gig where in writing they promised a full backline, the bass "backline" consisted of a cheap whirlwind DI box and small wedge monitors designed for vocals only!

Your gig survival kit when they say "backline" provided should include a pedal or two that give you some semblance of the sound you need, VT Bass, Sansamp, MXR 80 etc: and a "Swiss Army Knife" bass ... I usually play a passive Jazz but for gigs where I'm using a provided system I take my one "active" Jazz so I can have some control of the sound from the bass.

... Real world gig survival 101

[addylewis]

That...well, its okay - but if I were local and DID need my own amp for a tone which is bloody hard to get out of an ampeg I'd be pretty pissed!

I'd take a nice preamp with "my sound" and a pod which has a similar preset and make sure the sound I want goes through the P.A...