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i hate supplied backlines

#62
drummer5359 said:
I have not had the "pleasure" of a backline bass rig, but I've played on my share of garbage drumsets over the years.

I always bring my own snare, pedal and cymbals. That's still not enough to save the sound. You just have to make to with what you're given.
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While we all can complain about backline, I don't think any of us would refuse to play or not play to our fullest effort because of awful provided gear.

I think we all know the sinking feeling and the feeling of standing on stage and smiling and playing knowing full well that you can't hear a damn thing you're playing, and if you could, it would sound miserable anyway.

We currently play with a drummer who hates to bring his own kit. It drives me nuts. On almost any show I'd prefer to have 'home court advantage'. While he on the other hand would prefer to roll out of bed (maybe) and shamble to the show with the least amount of gear possible (if he makes it on time, or remembers the gig). In our practice room, he'd rather use a completely beat 50$ yard sale kit than his own. Apparently he doesn't care how he sounds.

It drives me nuts. I'm used to playing with guys who are very particular about their kits and even carry their own drum mics as needed.

Needless to say, I'm looking for a new drummer.
 
#63
Unless the PA is junk with no subs, your stage amp is mostly monitor anyway and the PA/subs is your amp.
I've owned a tech21 bddi for 15 years, it always comes along, just in case. When I do sound, especially for younger bands, it gets used (those crappy old/small 'bass amps' some kids use don't have di's).
Whatever amp you're playing, no matter who owns it, I see it as 'our' responsibility to sent a good DI signal to the board, so be prepared. Friday night I ended up pointing my bass amp cabinet at the drummer (at his request), I could only hear the monitors and mains, but it was fine and a really fun gig. If you can hear yourself good enough to keep up, and it sounds good in the house, that's got to be good enough a lot of the time.
 
#64
Electricblue said:
Yes, you should have booked adequate transport. Or carried a lorry in your hand luggage.
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Ya, good one. But seriously, while it's impossible to bring your own rig everywhere or book your own transpo on every gig, especially when you're flying, it IS possible to advance the date. But I'll be damned if I'm going to rent my own rig on the road or pay out of pocket for transpo. So if my 8 piece band gets a Honda Civic after we told them we need two vans, I'm going to sit there at the airport until they bring them or I'm going home on the next available flight.
 
#65
I did a corporate event gig down in Acapulco a few years back. The bass rig provided: a Marshall guitar amp and a Peavey 15 cab with the center speaker cone missing. The 'speaker cable' that connected them was guitar cable that had been made by attaching 1/4 inch plugs on either end of 'lamp style' cable (the brown stuff with the indent between the two halves of the cord).

It sounded like you'd imagine it would.

But as the saying goes, "The show must go on". It was a challenge to work with but I do remember having a good time playing that night.

On FLY travel gigs, most of the time I end up with something close to what is asked for on the backline rider but every once in awhile I'll have to make the best of a less than ideal rig.

Sometimes playing on rented bass rigs is cool because I'll get to play through a rig that I otherwise would not have a chance to play through and will really like it.
 
#66
TheNightLife said:
Like I'm actually insulted right now. I was told to bring my head which is an svtcl. So I brought it and I can't even plug it in
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Now that's a drag.

Two ago I couldn't get a straight answer about if there even was a bass amp on stage so I brought mine along. .... Glad I did when I saw the Fender combo sitting on stage. .... A few weeks before that it was an old SVT, which was cool. ....
 
#68
TheNightLife said:
Am I the only person who seems to get shafted when it comes to supplied backlines? Tonight I'm playing an outdoor festival with an alrightish p.a. guitars have 412 cabs I have an ampeg ba112 combo amp. Really? sorry for the rant lol anyone else have this issue a lot?
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Last big outdoor show for me had a Peavey TNT 115 thing up there, not the new Tour model, but the old 200w one. I did it, but it didn't cut it unless I stood two feet in front of it where it sat on a road case. Yuk.:mad:
 
#69
EscapeNote said:
I did a corporate event gig down in Acapulco a few years back. The bass rig provided: a Marshall guitar amp and a Peavey 15 cab with the center speaker cone missing. The 'speaker cable' that connected them was guitar cable that had been made by attaching 1/4 inch plugs on either end of 'lamp style' cable (the brown stuff with the indent between the two halves of the cord).
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Actually that would be a speaker cable, and I've done that many times and it works great.
 
#72
Played a gig the other day were the backline was an awful Peavey amp. Muddy and thuddy no matter what I did. No monitors so I couldn't just plug direct.

The drummer had it worse though. There was a crack in the snare drum head (one of those fake skin things) It wasn't broken, just a little crack. His brushed kept getting caught in that weird crack and so he could never get a good swish.

I've had some really really bad backline gear before. We used to do the festival circuit. Had to fly so it was my bass and a SansAmp DI. Sometimes I'd get an SVT, sometimes I'd get a Fender. Just had to make due.
 
#77
JimmyM said:
Ya, good one. But seriously, while it's impossible to bring your own rig everywhere or book your own transpo on every gig, especially when you're flying, it IS possible to advance the date. But I'll be damned if I'm going to rent my own rig on the road or pay out of pocket for transpo. So if my 8 piece band gets a Honda Civic after we told them we need two vans, I'm going to sit there at the airport until they bring them or I'm going home on the next available flight.
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+1

I'm the furthest thing from a prima-donna - I'm usually the one rolling my eyes when cats are being ultra-particular about things like monitor mixes - but I agree with what Jimmy says. If the gig calls for something like supplied backline and the promoter can't have the decency to provide a professional, adequate bass rig, then that's just crap. It's your fault for not bringing a rig when backline was supposed to be provided? That's like going for a medical check-up and it being your fault you couldn't get your heart checked due to the doctor not having a stethoscope.

I can't really recall an instance where I had to play through crappy supplied backline. I play through my rig 98% of the time. I do remember playing through a Peavey head and a Hartke Transporter cab that was kind of bleh. However, I had a DI to the desk; so while my stage sound suck, I knew I was getting a respectable FOH sound. Generally, as long as I'm provided with a rig that can meet adequate volume needs, I can make it work. With that said, it's a lot easier to make an Eden or an SVT work than a Crate or a Behringer. I generally play active basses, and I've found that using an active bass helps me find a usable tone more easily when dealing with an amp that's foreign to me, especially if that amp has a complicated tone stack and I don't have much time to dial something in.

Now some of the house PAs I've played through that were practically duct taped together because the venue wanted to control sound without putting in the money or time to have a professional system: That's a different story. :rollno:
 
#78
Once we were opening for a Scandinavian band doing an US tour. I knew my combo wouldn't fill the venue but I was still curious about the backline, so I had our guitarist/bandleader text the organizer some backline questions. In response, he forwards us an email of the band's tour rider, which asks for an SVT and 810. Sweet, that should be great, all worries gone.

We show up at the venue, and there's no SVT, no 810. I do, however, spot a Peavey 115 combo on the drum riser. Uh oh. Luckily, the sound guys brought their DI boxes and I went through the PA. Unluckily, the gig sucked anyway.
 

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