Last night was my second gig since the lockdown, but my first gig where I was able to utilize all my new toys at one time: Ken Bebensee Baruke left handed fretless five string uke bass with the new Nordstrand magnetic pickup, new Graph Tech Ghost piezo bridge pickups and Pyramid tapewound strings; GR Bass Aerotech 212 Slim cabinet; Quilter BB-800 amp and finally the Saramonic Blink 800 B3 wireless system.
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The gig was a small VFW fundraiser banquet which was part of a three night event. We were supposed to open the second night with an hour set of Hendrix tribute at 8:00 p.m. to be followed by several stand up comedians. However, our regular drummer couldn't make it and the fill in drummer had another gig at 9:00 so the organizer let us start at 6:30.
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I got there last and the guitar player and drummer were already busy setting up on the small stage. This was a perfect opportunity to test how quickly I could set up my rig, as I have designed it for ultra fast setup and teardown. The stage was kind of funny with a tiny 'nook' where I set up the cabinet and amp. With the light weight of the GR Bass cabinet and simple operation of the Saramonic wireless I was finished in about 2 minutes. The guitar player then jokingly mentioned how I was the last to arrive but the first to finish. I then had the irritating joy of watching the guitar player set up his overly complicated rig. I mean two half stacks and all those pedals and spaghetti for such a small venue?? Simplicity for me.
View attachment 4480177
We did a quick soundcheck and I tested the range of the Saramonic. I was able to walk about 40 feet away inside the room and there were no dropouts. I did sense a slight 'delay' in the sound that seemed to increase as I moved away. I can't be sure if it was purely due to the increasing distance affecting the actual sound waves or with the Saramonic wireless, or perhaps both. I had forgotten the shelf liner during soundcheck and the Quilter really moved a lot, but no problems with the liner in place even at such high volumes.
Both the guitar player and I were getting a nasty background buzz through our instruments, so I switched the magnetic pickup level to off and used the piezo pickups at roughly 30% all night. Prior to this gig I avoided using the piezo system because the individual A piezo saddle is really hot. But with the piezo knob at 30% it's not so noticeable (flattening the volume curve, so to speak) and the background noise is absolutely, wonderfully dead quiet. I just needed to crank the master volume on the Quilter a little more to compensate and I was easily able to hang with the rest of the band through the whole set.
More than ever before I really got to see the speaker cones move and the amp and cabinet held their own quite well. No wireless dropouts that I could hear during the set and the hot A string seemed to behave at 30% combined with the higher volumes. Playingwise we hit a couple of rough spots but nothing too bad, especially with a fill in drummer and only one rehearsal. Tear down was again very fast, probably around 3-4 minutes. My policy is not to handle anybody else's gear and they don't handle mine, but I did help the drummer tear down so that we could get off stage for the stand up comics. The guitar player left his rigs onstage as he was going to stay and hang out.
Overall I was very pleased with how all the components performed and sounded together as well as the ease of setup and teardown. I am having a custom made GR Bass 212 Slim combo being made and when I get that I should be able to shave off 30-40 seconds off the setup time and increase the overall simplicity of the rig. Exciting times ahead!
View attachment 4480178
The gig was a small VFW fundraiser banquet which was part of a three night event. We were supposed to open the second night with an hour set of Hendrix tribute at 8:00 p.m. to be followed by several stand up comedians. However, our regular drummer couldn't make it and the fill in drummer had another gig at 9:00 so the organizer let us start at 6:30.
View attachment 4480157
I got there last and the guitar player and drummer were already busy setting up on the small stage. This was a perfect opportunity to test how quickly I could set up my rig, as I have designed it for ultra fast setup and teardown. The stage was kind of funny with a tiny 'nook' where I set up the cabinet and amp. With the light weight of the GR Bass cabinet and simple operation of the Saramonic wireless I was finished in about 2 minutes. The guitar player then jokingly mentioned how I was the last to arrive but the first to finish. I then had the irritating joy of watching the guitar player set up his overly complicated rig. I mean two half stacks and all those pedals and spaghetti for such a small venue?? Simplicity for me.
View attachment 4480177
We did a quick soundcheck and I tested the range of the Saramonic. I was able to walk about 40 feet away inside the room and there were no dropouts. I did sense a slight 'delay' in the sound that seemed to increase as I moved away. I can't be sure if it was purely due to the increasing distance affecting the actual sound waves or with the Saramonic wireless, or perhaps both. I had forgotten the shelf liner during soundcheck and the Quilter really moved a lot, but no problems with the liner in place even at such high volumes.
Both the guitar player and I were getting a nasty background buzz through our instruments, so I switched the magnetic pickup level to off and used the piezo pickups at roughly 30% all night. Prior to this gig I avoided using the piezo system because the individual A piezo saddle is really hot. But with the piezo knob at 30% it's not so noticeable (flattening the volume curve, so to speak) and the background noise is absolutely, wonderfully dead quiet. I just needed to crank the master volume on the Quilter a little more to compensate and I was easily able to hang with the rest of the band through the whole set.
More than ever before I really got to see the speaker cones move and the amp and cabinet held their own quite well. No wireless dropouts that I could hear during the set and the hot A string seemed to behave at 30% combined with the higher volumes. Playingwise we hit a couple of rough spots but nothing too bad, especially with a fill in drummer and only one rehearsal. Tear down was again very fast, probably around 3-4 minutes. My policy is not to handle anybody else's gear and they don't handle mine, but I did help the drummer tear down so that we could get off stage for the stand up comics. The guitar player left his rigs onstage as he was going to stay and hang out.
Overall I was very pleased with how all the components performed and sounded together as well as the ease of setup and teardown. I am having a custom made GR Bass 212 Slim combo being made and when I get that I should be able to shave off 30-40 seconds off the setup time and increase the overall simplicity of the rig. Exciting times ahead!
