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Band wants to go "ampless" ?!?

#41
stettoman said:
So we went to the first Disturbed concert in 5 years in Fargo ND last Wednesday nite, and now my band is all a-twitter to go in-ear and clean-stage. Yeah, the band had nothin but room to roam (cept the drummer), and it made the visuals and lights VERY effective, but I'm a rock dinosaur and just had custom Eden XL10 clones built for my stage rig and now they want to take that away---I do like the idea of traveling lighter (no more wedges and side-fills--YAY!) and set-and-forget monitor mixes for every gig EVER, but how will I adjust?

Anyone who's made the move to in-ear, please reassure me!
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Profile your amp rig with a Kemper?
 
#42
You can do it, but there are VERY few bands that do it and do it well (Def Lep and Garbage come to mind) it take a lot of time and great gear to get the sound to sound right and not "processed". (Again, Lep and Garbage as examples still sound pretty "processed" to me.

My 3 piece has kicked around using Kemper and Axe FX to do this but we just keep going back to good old fashioned "analog"
 
#43
s0c9 said:
That is the WORST thing you can do with IEM's... because...you TURN UP the IEM in your ear to match (compensate for) the external volume you are hearing in your non-IEM ear - never mind the delay you mention and other artifacts. Doing that WILL DAMAGE your hearing over time.. Google it.. read what the experts say about it!. Take them BOTH out if you are going to remove one.. your ears will thank you later on!
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Quite a few "pros" as well as audiologist a would call BS on this.
 
#44
Agreed, re: both ears. I even leave mine in during breaks. They act as plugs, so I'm not slammed by the DJ SPL.

As far as additional stresses on the PA, ours is a modest yet capable rig. QSC k-subs and K12 tops. They are currently running a sub per side. I can't seem to get thru to them on that, so I leave it alone. The bandleader and I approach sound stuff from opposite sides. Ultimately, he's driving the bus. One less thing for me to worry about.
 
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#47
BassikLee said:
Yeah, regardless of what touring pros do, it is terrible for your ears. Find me an audiologist that suggests running ONE, and I'll buy you lunch.
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I would guess any touring pros that do that have an issue with their IEM's, like their receiver battery pack died, and needs a fresh set.. yes, that does happen - even with "pros".
 
#51
Scottkarch said:
If you feel too isolated and need crowd noise, add a mic facing the audience and have it only in your IEM mix. works great.

Also, to save money you can start with wired monitors. high quality transmitter receivers are expensive. starting wired saves a ton of dough.
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That was my next issue, the lack of crowd participation, at least audibly. The buds I tried are COMPLETELY sound cancelling. Communication between band members becomes an education in sign language, yes?

We have a full monitor setup, 4 Yamaha 15" wedges, 2 EAW side fills, 6000 watts of headroom for amplification. But we are all in our 50s, rode hard and put up wet. That stuff is a lot to lug around.
 
#52
Meanwhile, my band's whole front end fits in an EIGHT space rack that weighs maybe thirty pounds. That includes the mixer, two wireless IEM transmitters, one wired headphone amp for the drummer. Bandleader is on "steam powered" wedge, by his choice. I wouldn't go back
 
#53
stettoman said:
That was my next issue, the lack of crowd participation, at least audibly. The buds I tried are COMPLETELY sound cancelling. Communication between band members becomes an education in sign language, yes?

We have a full monitor setup, 4 Yamaha 15" wedges, 2 EAW side fills, 6000 watts of headroom for amplification. But we are all in our 50s, rode hard and put up wet. That stuff is a lot to lug around.
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Agree. Its an issue. But IMO more than made up for by its advantages. You could have 1 or 2 talking mics with a momentary foot switch that a band member could walk up to to talk only to the band. Or have an aggressive gate set on it. that is more mics and may be a pain. It isn't ha tbig a deal for us. I guess we've learned to lip read a bit. Its usually obvious by context what someone is saying. Or we say some just into the stage microphones.

We have JBL powered 18 subs on each side and powered jBL 15 tops. I feel my bass and drums. No need for a butt kicker plate. But those are cool.

When playing a bar with FOH, we have a rack splitter some still set up identically and the bar gets a split feed.
 
#56
Bullitt5135 said:
I'm getting more "feel" from the rumble of the subs than I ever got from blasting my cab.
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Same here... my IEM's (1964 Qi's via Senn G3 system) are real low.. I can usually FEEL the bass from our subs.
One venue we play has SIX dual 18 subs under the stage.. I have no trouble feeling that low "B" !! :hyper:
 
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#58
We've been asked a few times to open for regional and local acts none of which carried monitor systems beyond IEM. We always turned them down because integrating our wedges and amp rack just seemed too much hassle ('specially when asked to play for "free"). I guess I'm getting more comfortable with IEM as I post. Besides, if I can get comfortable with using just the one bud I'm a little more ahead, yah?
 
#59
Bullitt5135 said:
We are running a pair of JBL PRX18 subs with FOH. While I'm hearing my IEM mix at an overall LOW volume level, I'm getting more "feel" from the rumble of the subs than I ever got from blasting my cab.
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Who said anything about BLASTING my cab? My guitarist, who plays with a Marshall stack, and I get asked to turn up by soundmen far more often than we get asked to turn down.
BassikLee said:
I wish I could "like" that more than once!
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I wish there was a 'dislike' button. His reply and yours assume facts not in evidence. ;)
 

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