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My rented backline adventures

#423
mysteryclock said:
David Lee Roth had a very great interview about concert riders and the legendary "Brown M&Ms". I had a whole new level of respect for him after I saw this one. His mention about what can go wrong about 4:10 is particularly awesome...
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Not a fan of his vocals, but yeah, he explains pretty succinctly why you sometimes see those weird requirements in bands' riders.
 
#424
I don't think my backline experiences have much of a parallel with most of the folks here.

I enjoyed my backline days a lot, and I never specified anything contractually in our riders as far as bass equipment goes. I enjoyed the concept of regularly playing through a different rig. Maybe I got lucky but most of the venues and rehearsal rooms had some pretty decent amps/rigs and I loved the variation and excitement of something different almost every night. If I ran into a lemon which sounded horribly bad or had a blown speaker, they were always gracious about providing a replacement or an upgrade. I always considered the stage amp to be nothing more than a stage monitor, but that is just me.

All the magic was in the PA/FOH and really had very little to do with the sound you were creating on stage - no matter how perfect or marginal it happened to be. Of course, it can be about being inspired on stage - but I always found the inspiration in the instrument itself, so the stage monitor was secondary. My bass sounded incredible plugged into anything.

Just my 2 cents......

YMMV

VERY enjoyable thread, Jimmy - thanks so much for this! I learned a lot.

BassHappy
www.innertainment.net
 
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#425
Thx Rick! Glad to have your contribution as a longtime pro. Many folks do enjoy that challenge of a different rig every night, and I've been there myself where I did, and it always proves that no matter what any of us use, we end up making it sound like what we like anyway, and the differences tend to disappear. But even though I don't always get it, I still want what I want ;)
 
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#427
semiprohooker said:
That's so true... no matter what I'm playing out of, it still ends up sounding like me. Sometimes it just takes a little longer to make it sound like me. ;)
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JimmyM said:
Thx Rick! Glad to have your contribution as a longtime pro. Many folks do enjoy that challenge of a different rig every night, and I've been there myself where I did, and it always proves that no matter what any of us use, we end up making it sound like what we like anyway, and the differences tend to disappear. But even though I don't always get it, I still want what I want ;)
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Thanks Jimmy and SemiPro, i hear what you are saying.

In many cases my bass rig was much more about the drummer hearing me. Monitor systems tend to get so muddy when you start pumping a lot of bass in them. You can ask my sound guy, it was a VERY RARE soundcheck that I actually asked for a monitor. We had a pretty organic and balanced sound happening on stage, and not much in the way of vocals. I had endured so many horrible monitor mixes over the years that I mostly opted to bow out and either move it a good ways away, or turn it off/unplug it. Plus to protect my hearing, I have ALWAYS opted to not have anything pointed directly at my ears. The damage the cymbals cause to your hearing over time is enough for me!

The tunes were second nature anyways and breathing with the drummer was my primary job and where the excitement originated for me. I always had my rig right next to the drums so I could get him a little more or a little less bass to make him comfortable. I find that in most rooms with my audio guy (who mixes the bass pretty up front) I could usually get a good sense of my bass coming off the back wall of the hall or room. Couldn't always hear it but I could always FEEL it which is just as important. Talk about inspiration. There it is.

BassHappy
www.innertainment.net
 
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#428
I'm often less worried about 'sounding like me' and more worried about being able to hear myself on stage and/or give the band what they want to hear. I have used provided backlines that you couldn't tell were actually plugged in or on, and I've also had set ups that you couldn't get loud enough before it was just a messy distorted dump. I also sort of hate showing up to a gig and being faced with a head that has so many knobs and features on the front that are curiously named or marked and I just want to get a decent 'straight down the middle' clean tone.
 
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#429
Some of my best ever live sounds have come from showing up with my bass and plugging into whatever they had on hand (and that the sound guy had dialed in for the room), and just shutting up and playing. Svt4 with 2 410HEs, only the top one plugged in. Bass 350 with a henry the 8x8. Its so much more about getting good tone than getting "your" tone when it comes to live bass.
 
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#431
I know im gonna take some heat here LOL....I played bass for a gig with Shane Yellowbird as always i bring my own rig.You can just see what i set up beside and gave up the chance to play threw... yup the famous 8 10,s Ampeg rig.I almost decided to play threw it but didn,t.Listening to all the bands that played before us kind of bugged me every player that played threw it to me sounded crappy.They played so loud they needed no PA support.So the mix sounded weird to me everything threw the PA but the bass.I played my single 15 my normal volume and i could feel my PA support a nice deep and solid Jazz ...yeah baby...hang on im gonna grab some popcorn
 
#432
stonewall said:
I know im gonna take some heat here LOL....I played bass for a gig with Shane Yellowbird as always i bring my own rig.You can just see what i set up beside and gave up the chance to play threw... yup the famous 8 10,s Ampeg rig.I almost decided to play threw it but didn,t.Listening to all the bands that played before us kind of bugged me every player that played threw it to me sounded crappy.They played so loud they needed no PA support.So the mix sounded weird to me everything threw the PA but the bass.I played my single 15 my normal volume and i could feel my PA support a nice deep and solid Jazz ...yeah baby...hang on im gonna grab some popcorn
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I'm not sure why you think that would bother anyone here. I've thrown my head up on top of an ampeg rig before, and/or also opted to use my own. I get funny looks from other bass players when I turn down their 'baby' (nicely), but hey, my choice. I've also had guys turn down my rig because it's 'not tens'. Whatever.
 
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#436
I've been starting to think that some promoters are just biased for some reason or other towards certain brands and just no matter what will swear by budget or psuedo-pro brand X and trash tried and true pro-brand Y gear. Annoying professional musicians to no end.
 
#437
waltdogg said:
I've been starting to think that some promoters are just biased for some reason or other towards certain brands and just no matter what will swear by budget or psuedo-pro brand X and trash tried and true pro-brand Y gear. Annoying professional musicians to no end.
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I think they're just cheap, and when they get the rental quote for an SVT and 810, they say, "What do you have that's cheaper?"
 
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#438
JimmyM said:
I think they're just cheap, and when they get the rental quote for an SVT and 810, they say, "What do you have that's cheaper?"
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I think they're even cheaper...and then ask the soundguy if he has any friends who they can borrow an amp from, or book an opening band if they'll lend their backline.
 
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#439
I could play through most anything so long as there is a line out to FOH and decent stage monitoring system, the audience will be hearing a much enhanced sound than what your hearing on stage. There have been times when I had an amp on stage but just went direct to the board and used the monitors because it just sounded better on some stages, so , whatever works
 

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