i hate supplied backlines

[Jeff Scott]

I like having some decent mids in my bass tone, thanks.

 

[drummer5359]

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.

I hate playing backline "junk" drums. It's a shame I'm not close.

 

[parsons]

any backline Ive used has been considered an industry accepted standard. I guess Ive been lucky enough to play professional quality gigs.

 

[Kael]

I'm lazy. As long as the supplied backline is beefy enough to allow me to hear myself, I'll take it over schlepping my own rig every time. I can always slap a SABDDI into the mix and get a tone I am familiar with.

 

[Essen]

I haven't played a lot of supplied backline gigs as of yet, but those I did had an Ampeg SVT CL + 8x10 waiting for me, so I can't complain.

 

[BurningSkies]

I hate playing backline "junk" drums. It's a shame I'm not close.

We have a keys player who commutes the hour from Ithaca, but I think Pittsburgh might be a little much.

Actually I've been 'quietly' working to remedy the situation...the rest of the band is on board and also being quiet, since we do have some decent gigs lined up and I don't want to back out or take a hiatus. Drums have always been our hot seat, unfortunately. It's hard to find anyone who knows how to play Jamaican style kit and better yet, is good enough to do it right.

 

[Jeffrey Wash]

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).

Actually that would be a speaker cable, and I've done that many times and it works great.

Somewhere along the way I got it in mind that speaker cable needed to be shielded, but I just did a bit of google researching and, lo and behold, I was indeed very wrong about that. Thanks for the reminder, Jimmy.

 

[JimmyM]

any backline Ive used has been considered an industry accepted standard. I guess Ive been lucky enough to play professional quality gigs.

You'll get your turn in the barrel...don't worry.

 

[vin*tone]

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?

hahaha. The accountant looks down the list and sees a great deal on an Ampeg rental..."Gee I've heard they're great amps aren't they??!!"

 

[Russell L]

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.

Speaking of that speaker cord, my old 1966 Silvertone Twin Twelve guitar amp has cord like that going from the head to the speaker, done by the factory that way, except it's black instead of brown. It picks up the radio sometimes, LOL.

 

[thumpbass1]

I guess I've been lucky that the times I've had to use a provided/rented back line, the amp rig was usually serviceable enough to use for the gig in question. Sometimes it was damn nice gear, so no complaints there. I do carry my Sansamp with me these days, to every gig, including my gigs where I am bringing an amp rig. I know I've done some gigs where the p.a. that the promoters say would be provided was far from adequate to put it mildly. That was more of an issue to me than being stuck with some less than desirable bass amp.

 

[svtb15]

Doent really matter what you like.. your amp is all you need to worry about for your monitoring.The final house mix is where it is at..
The 52 actually works well in the house mix for the overall tone of the bass and balance with other instruments in the house..

I like having some decent mids in my bass tone, thanks.

 

[JimmyM]

Speaking of that speaker cord, my old 1966 Silvertone Twin Twelve guitar amp has cord like that going from the head to the speaker, done by the factory that way, except it's black instead of brown. It picks up the radio sometimes, LOL.

I always thought it was the axe picking up radio, not the amp.

 

[BurningSkies]

I always thought it was the axe picking up radio, not the amp.

Its definitely not the speaker cord...

 

[callingltu]

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?

Lol, that's exacly the same rig that i ran into once. There were Mesa and and Laney tube stacks for guitars and ****** ampeg combo for bass. Which had broken DI output, so sound engineer miced it with wifi shure sm58!!


Btw i also brought my head, and couldnt plug it anywhere

 

[Blankandson]

(It picks up the radio sometimes, LOL.) Or ambulance. Or sheriff. Had a sound man called away during setup in an emergency many years ago and we (the BAND!) thought we knew enough to finish ourselves. Ha. Got every policeman, fireman, deputy, etc that drove within a block of the theater. I still don't know what we did but it was not funny.

 

[godofthunder59]

I won't do a gig with a supplied backline. If by chance I get there and they try and push one on me I tell them in the nicest possible way that you don't want me playing through your rig. I will hurt it, it's just the way I play. I accept no liability. That usually shuts them up.

 

[BurningSkies]

(It picks up the radio sometimes, LOL.) Or ambulance. Or sheriff. Had a sound man called away during setup in an emergency many years ago and we (the BAND!) thought we knew enough to finish ourselves. Ha. Got every policeman, fireman, deputy, etc that drove within a block of the theater. I still don't know what we did but it was not funny.

Not the speaker cord. It may be the pickups or a poorly shielded instrument cable, or any number of issues with the amp. But its not the speaker cord.

 

[WingKL]

I've read that it's possible for RF to enter through the output of an amplifier not designed to handle RFI and interfere with it's operation. So even it may not be the fault of the speaker cable, that's one way in.

 

[Korladis]

I always thought it was the axe picking up radio, not the amp.

Something to do with my pedal board seems to pick up the radio. Plugged straight into the amp, there's no radio interference, but going through my pedal board, there is. Not sure why.