• TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
    Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
    Join free Log in
    Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.

Anyone else have a sound guy do this?

spiritbass

spiritbass

Jun 9, 2004
11,053
34,686
Ashland, MO
#1
I got done playing a set the other night and the guy on the monitor board comes up to me and asks me "Did you see what happened?". I reply in the negative and inquire what happened. He claimed that my Thunderfunk "slipped off" my Tri-112/115 stack during the set. He said that he was amazed that it "didn't die". What REALLY happened: for some reason, he was going behind my amp to the drum riser and stepped on the line out. The amp came off (with his help) and was saved from hitting the floor by the short length of the (speakon to speakon) cable connecting it to the top cab. The weight of the falling amp fractured the body of the speakon connected to the top cab (Tri-112) but did not pull the wires loose, so I didn't miss a beat or note. More of a live & learn for me than a pain in the pain in the posterior as I have spare parts on hand and do such repairs myself. I didn't confront the guy with his lie, but he does need to develop some personal integrity and own up to his mistakes. In the future, any line coming from the house to my rig will be secured to the handle of the lowest cab...
 
#2
Yup, the same exact situation happened to me, except during a sound check and I saw it go down.

The sound guy didn't even blink. He looked up at me and said something to the effect of "those amps are built like tanks". He didn't even pick up the amp or say sorry.

That was back when I could bench 250. I gave him an earful, scaring the crap out of him.
 
#3
Would be a dead sound guy if that happened to me.

Glad your stuff wasn't wrecked.



When I stack upwards I always use one of those ratcheting load straps (meant for securing stuff in/on a truck). I hook it through the bottom cab's handles, up over the rack, to the other bottom handle and give it a little tension. Keeps things like that from even having a chance to happen.
 
#4
spiritbass said:
I got done playing a set the other night and the guy on the monitor board comes up to me and asks me "Did you see what happened?". I reply in the negative and inquire what happened. He claimed that my Thunderfunk "slipped off" my Tri-112/115 stack during the set. He said that he was amazed that it "didn't die". What REALLY happened: for some reason, he was going behind my amp to the drum riser and stepped on the line out. The amp came off (with his help) and was saved from hitting the floor by the short length of the (speakon to speakon) cable connecting it to the top cab. The weight of the falling amp fractured the body of the speakon connected to the top cab (Tri-112) but did not pull the wires loose, so I didn't miss a beat or note. More of a live & learn for me than a pain in the pain in the posterior as I have spare parts on hand and do such repairs myself. I didn't confront the guy with his lie, but he does need to develop some personal integrity and own up to his mistakes. In the future, any line coming from the house to my rig will be secured to the handle of the lowest cab...
Click to expand...


Had an old Hartke 3500 slip off a 410 and fall forward once punching in the input jack into the head. Shakey stages = dancing amps.

If you don't mind me asking, how do you know that the sound man was the one who caused the accident? Not saying that he didn't, just that it is within the realm of possibility for it to shake off the cab (I know this from past experience), so I was wondering if someone saw this guy trip over a cable or something that caused the amp to fall.
 
#6
Kael - after that little exchange between the sound man and I, a guy I know that was also backstage gave me his eyewitness report. I assume monitor board man didn't think anyone saw his little act of clumsiness...

JackANSI - thanks, there wasn't a scratch on the 'Funk. You have a pretty good system for securing your rig!
 
#7
you should call him out on it, he needs to learn to be honest.
probably was worrying about losing all his pay for the evening.
i've seen all kinds of things get pulled down on stages when people are running around, trying to get stuff done. an average band will have at least 16 mic cables alone run. it comes with the territory to have an occasional tangle, so i always put my cables through a cab or rack handle if possible as suggested. he needs to man up....
 
#8
Not to be the bad guy...

Remember musicians are not the brightest kids.. the folks that work with them are not the brightest kids.

Your entire stage setup should be kid proof.

I'm amazed at all the hasty and poorly planned stage setups I've been asked to be around.

During a different phase of my life I played 5000 shows.. (yes 5 thousand) never had one of these events... but then again we had a manager who would give us a five dollar fine for every preventable likely error.

Tim
 
#11
You think that's bad? A soundman knocked our guitar player's guitar out of its stand last Saturday and broke the headstock, then proceeded to deny that he even touched it, even though he was running in between Bowzer's grand piano and the drum riser at a very fast clip and obviously bumped into it. I felt bad for the guy, actually. He probably doesn't make much money and didn't want to have to pay to get the headstock glued. But still, have a little integrity and own up to things you do instead of being a coward.
 
#12
MNAirHead said:
Not to be the bad guy...

Remember musicians are not the brightest kids.. the folks that work with them are not the brightest kids.

Your entire stage setup should be kid proof.

I'm amazed at all the hasty and poorly planned stage setups I've been asked to be around.

During a different phase of my life I played 5000 shows.. (yes 5 thousand) never had one of these events... but then again we had a manager who would give us a five dollar fine for every preventable likely error.

Tim
Click to expand...

+1000000
whenever i do a gig where i'm using my rig i assume everyone else in the room is an idiot and go about foolproofing my gear and making sure everything is out of the way of clumbsy sound guys and there size 9's
if someone is sharing my amp i run through the do's and donts of a tube amp regardless of weather he says he owned one or not
if i'm using both my cabs i generaly keep my head on the floor next to it out of the way of feet and beer i've seen too many people put drinks on amps and spill them mid set also it doesnt matter how well you secure the head to the cab if some drunked idiot falls into it and knocks it over the head is going down with the cab if its on the floor it cant fall down ;)
 
#14
JimmyM said:
You think that's bad? A soundman knocked our guitar player's guitar out of its stand last Saturday and broke the headstock, then proceeded to deny that he even touched it, even though he was running in between Bowzer's grand piano and the drum riser at a very fast clip and obviously bumped into it. I felt bad for the guy, actually. He probably doesn't make much money and didn't want to have to pay to get the headstock glued. But still, have a little integrity and own up to things you do instead of being a coward.
Click to expand...


Ouch! I hate seeing that happen. I once witnessed a Les Paul Recorder bass going face-down on concrete. It's just painful to watch something like that unfolding.

You are so right, Tim. Kidproof = ALWAYS a good thing.

Why didn't I call him on it? I don't see myself as the world's moral enforcer I guess. My first reaction usually is to let people be the way they want to be. Plus I was on a high from playing a good show and didn't want to loose my buzz. :cool:
 
#15
I had a sound guy knock over my Eden WT800 right in front of the whole band during soundcheck. The amp kept working (in a rack case) but it broke my rack tuner. The owner of the club just happened to be there and told the sound guy "Well there goes your pay for the night" and after the gig told him he had to pay for my tuner or anything else that was wrong. Thats really when things got heated,he claimed my rack tuner was "only worth 20-30 bucks" and how did he know it even worked before he knocked the rack over? Well I had just used it to tune my bass's and it was a korg rack tuner so I paid 150 or so for it which is what he was going to make. We googled the price on the spot (smartphones) and the owner handed me the guys pay for the night, I took out $75 and gave him the rest because IMO no one should work for free. He chilled out after that and admitted he thought i was going to pound him when he knocked the rack over and we grabbed a tuner for 90 buck the next day on our way out of town
 
#17
I was at a gig once where some friends were playing. Afterwards the bassist was getting his rig into the car, along with his Warwick. The former owner of said bass was helping, but a bit drunk. He ended up dropping the head onto the Warwick in the soft case on the ground, clean breaking the headstock from the neck. He then flatly refused to pay for any repair costs because he never put the bass there so technically it wasn't his fault the bass broke, but would've been if the amp had broke.

I'm not sure who fronted the cost in the end but a few weeks later I saw the Warwick back in action and apparently just like new, so there's a happy ending.
 
#20
Ohhh, I forgot a very close encounter.

Brand new Stingray, it had only just left the US when I ordered it (took 5 1/2 weeks to get to Australia). 2 months after having it and one night we play this free gig for a mate out in the middle of nowhere for a lot of beer (2 kegs) and good times. Packed up all our gear, a few people carried my stuff out cause I was on the phone to someone for ages. All loaded in the van... or so we thought.

Drummer's girlfriend is driving, reverses and I hear this crunching sound and then realise my bass (in it's case) is UNDER the front left wheel, but is saved from complete catastrophe because the ground was wet with dew, causing the case to have no traction and instead slide along the grass. A few people yell, I ran over to find the top of the case cracked and open up the bass case...

People are gathering around (lot of muso mates there) and after close inspected I reassure everyone that there's not a scratch, just the case took the damage. Drummer's girlfriend starts crying cause she thought she'd just broke a $3.3k brand new bass and was a bit stressed, everyone else was relieved like someone had just been brought back to life by paramedics.

To this day I never let anyone carry my bass to or from my car, unless I'm right there with them.
 

Latest posts

Top Bottom
Back