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My rented backline adventures

#401
beans-on-toast said:
I bought a Hammond B organ that spent most of its live in a bar. It was old and decrepit when I got it but man can it sing. I just love it.
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Well, those are interesting beasts, because unlike some gear, a Hammond 'B' organ sounds different once the contacts have wear and they have that percussive 'click' to the attack on the notes. Some of my favorite vintage tubes have been Hammond branded GE and RCA's... often you can find them at a fraction of the cost of the 'name brands'. Although finding European 'organ branded' tubes has been a good tactic too...I've found classic Mullard, Amperex (bugleboy design), Tungsram, Telefunken, etc. all cheap and in good condition.
 
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#402
BurningSkies said:
Showing up and finding too much is better than too little. There are some rooms where you know that at the very least they have some 'stock' backline waiting for you. Sound of Brazil (SOB) in NYC was like that when we were doing stuff in the 90's. You knew you'd show up and there's be that old decrepit SVT and 810 that had been on stage for a few decades. I'd do the same thing...throw my own rack on top and plug in. It's the nights where someone has borrowed something from a guy that someone knew...and before you know it you've got a Peavey Bandit for backline.
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Showing up to see an old Ampeg 810 I would think would always be a huge relief.
 
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#404
Well, I got to the gig tonight and things were looking good; backline was a Fender Bassman 300 Pro and a nice looking Fender 410 Neo. FOH sounded great, but the only tone I could get on stage was fart; the cab was pretty trashed. Nice rig, I just wish I could have heard what it really sounded like (other than the DI - when the opening bands were up, it sounded great thru FOH).
 
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#405
2 words: equipment rider
I had a friend with a sound company that was often asked to provide back line for national touring acts and he always got equipment riders that stated "no peavey" in the bass section! I used to rent him my rig from time to time for a couple hundred a show. The only problem I ever had was when on of the 15s in my Mesa 2x15 came back blown but it was replaced immediately. Funny thing was the band that blew it was Three Dog Night! Lol!


Sent from my iPhone using TalkBass
 
#408
I was on the 'production' side of things back when I was at college...We were a good sized school, so we'd get decent bands in for shows. We'd have great fun reading the 'riders' provided by many bands, then start crossing things off of them. We had a concert board coordinator who was an old punk and she'd be gleeful about saying 'no' to unreasonable requests. Most of the gear requirements were met when they were reasonable. 4 SVT's with 8 x 810? Not happening. Case of Jack Daniels and/or the special kind of stupid back stage requests (Dead Milkmen wanted amputee pron), not happening.
 
#409
BurningSkies said:
I was on the 'production' side of things back when I was at college...We were a good sized school, so we'd get decent bands in for shows. We'd have great fun reading the 'riders' provided by many bands, then start crossing things off of them. We had a concert board coordinator who was an old punk and she'd be gleeful about saying 'no' to unreasonable requests. Most of the gear requirements were met when they were reasonable. 4 SVT's with 8 x 810? Not happening. Case of Jack Daniels and/or the special kind of stupid back stage requests (Dead Milkmen wanted amputee pron), not happening.
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A friend of mine was in charge of dealing with the rider for a Hunter S Thompson speaking engagement at a large university. It specified a huge selection of hard liquor and cocaine.
 
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#410
Handyman said:
A friend of mine was in charge of dealing with the rider for a Hunter S Thompson speaking engagement at a large university. It specified a huge selection of hard liquor and cocaine.
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Yeah, lots of obnoxious food and drink requests. Most of that we could side-step because as a University we didn't provide booze or anything illegal. Iggy Pop didn't have anything too weird on his, and we had Fishbone/RHCP back in 1987/88 and the Chili Peppers DID request socks, which were provided. It was before my tenure, but even then, before they became a big deal they were sort of legendary to us.
 
#416
The last sentence of 2 (a) reads, "PURCHASER further agrees to provide and pay for a Monitor Speaker to be placed on stage".

As in, 1 (one) monitor? I know they did a lot of "all gather around one mic and sing" type stuff, but come on, there are 4 mics (on your minimum 25'x25' stage), and you only want one monitor? You're the Beatles for crying out loud, you could each ask for your own monitor. :)

It seems they also asked for an icechest, but didn't say there had to be anything in it.
 
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#417
It's amazing how putting on a show has evolved. I wonder if there's something special in a 40 foot mic cable. They didn't even specify the mics. I got a kick out of the one monitor as well.

The Beatles had it pretty good in comparison to the Rolling Stones. The Stones first came to town in 1965, the same year as the concert above. They were on tour and had a station wagon with all their gear in it and drove themselves from gig to gig. They were registered in a hotel under their real names. I imagine all that changed pretty quickly.
 
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#418
will33 said:
The last sentence of 2 (a) reads, "PURCHASER further agrees to provide and pay for a Monitor Speaker to be placed on stage".

As in, 1 (one) monitor? I know they did a lot of "all gather around one mic and sing" type stuff, but come on, there are 4 mics (on your minimum 25'x25' stage), and you only want one monitor? You're the Beatles for crying out loud, you could each ask for your own monitor. :)

It seems they also asked for an icechest, but didn't say there had to be anything in it.
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Things seem to have been a bit more primitive in those days. The single monitor appears to be in the corner at stage left.
 
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