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Restaurant Rigs and Gigs

#101
This is an interesting thread for me since I'm making steps to do some low volume Blues/Soul/Jazz gigs with one of my bands. Great female lead singer who will kill the vocals for this kind of music. Drummer would likely use his electronic kit or a very scaled down acoustic kit or "cocktail" kit. He doesn't seem to want to go to a cajon. I'm concerned with any acoustic kit. Not sure he can play softly.
As far as how small the bass rig is (or guitar or drums for that matter) I think it is about the footprint, especially the horizontal measurement. Doesn't really matter how tall it is. I have an Ampeg BA112 that I use for home practice, which has nice tone and has the tilt-back feature, but it isn't very loud. On the other hand I have a TC Electronic BG250 that I use for band practice. It is much louder but I can dial a nice tone into it at lower volumes. And it might only be an couple inches at most wider than the Ampeg, and only weighs 37 pounds, so I'm thinking that is what I will use. Also it's at a nice height for me to sit on it when I play if I want to do that.
 
#102


I dunno. Our drummer loves playing his cajon, and has added more little percussive elements and will likely be doing a few gigs sans drums. That being said, we're a 5-6 piece acoustic group, so YMMV.

ETA: That is NOT our drummer. But he's close to that good.
 
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#103
There seem to be some fascinating trends here!

First is that's there's plenty of Talkbass members who get this kind of work. That surprised me, given all the "ink" the higher powered stuff gets.

Next is that the vast majority are running rigs. Speaking of rigs - the trend is strong for rigs that are not producers of big bottom. Ampeg SVT210AV sealed cabinets and the Markbass 121 seem to very popular. But, those who took the plunge and leave the rigs home are all glad they did it. I'm real interested in hearing from others who have made the all in the PA jump.

Drums are another thing I've spotted a strong trend in - electronic, specialty kit (if acoustic) or cajon. Forget about getting an acoustic kit quiet enough.

One more trend - lots of pictures with smiles. Perhaps us playing low volume work are the happy ones?
 
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#104
Interceptor said:
Drums are another thing I've spotted a strong trend in - electronic, specialty kit (if acoustic) or cajon. Forget about getting an acoustic kit quiet enough.
Click to expand...
Must have missed my pic with the acoustic drums :D Yes, you CAN get acoustic drums quiet enough. You just have to be willing to play them that way.
 
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#106
I have HAD to make an acoustic kit quiet. I'm nowhere near a pro. I'm even mostly CroMagnon in many ways, too. Brushes help a lot.

I also play with a drummer who has an outstanding touch. He can go from blisteringly loud to whisper quiet in a measure if necessary. And then there was the drummer I played with for a couple years before that band dissolved. She was usually a quiet drummer, and when it was time to get loud, we had to make her mad or something. Give her brushes and you could hardly hear her at first.

It can be done.
 
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#108
another WA 12" combo user here. Also have been known to use a PF500/115HE for small and smallish rooms/gigs.
both are pretty small/portable footprint rigs that still deliver the happy tone.
I have, on occasion, gone DI (VTD) into a venue provided PA. It works fine, super easy for me, but not my favorite way to go for tone.

These kinds of restaurant/winery gigs make up about 1/3 of my work every year between steady dates and private functions.
The OP is right about how easy going they are too. Some of the winery/restaurants also offer musicians a free meal too, which is also a nice perk, in addition to easy load-in/load-out and being home before midnight.:thumbsup:

Another cool thing is that the larger Wineries often do wine festival type things from Spring to Fall, where they do full pro sound stages and such. We get hired to do many of those too, so we get the small/quiet as well as the bigger stage gigs too.
I like it a lot, nice way to work. As opposed to bars, where drunks can get difficult, people tend to be pretty happy at a winery.

As for drummers. I have had a lot of luck with pro players who understand how to control themselves, use brushes or hotrods with dynamics to serve the music and the venue, or use a percussion based set with a cajon, highhat and small snare. I have seen some crazy small kick drums in the past few years too. I have not played with too many electronic set players so far. Lucky I guess, no hammer hands for me to deal with for a long time.
 
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#110
timber22 said:
This is an interesting thread for me since I'm making steps to do some low volume Blues/Soul/Jazz gigs with one of my bands. Great female lead singer who will kill the vocals for this kind of music. Drummer would likely use his electronic kit or a very scaled down acoustic kit or "cocktail" kit. He doesn't seem to want to go to a cajon. I'm concerned with any acoustic kit. Not sure he can play softly.
As far as how small the bass rig is (or guitar or drums for that matter) I think it is about the footprint, especially the horizontal measurement. Doesn't really matter how tall it is. I have an Ampeg BA112 that I use for home practice, which has nice tone and has the tilt-back feature, but it isn't very loud. On the other hand I have a TC Electronic BG250 that I use for band practice. It is much louder but I can dial a nice tone into it at lower volumes. And it might only be an couple inches at most wider than the Ampeg, and only weighs 37 pounds, so I'm thinking that is what I will use. Also it's at a nice height for me to sit on it when I play if I want to do that.
Click to expand...

Small footprint = Ampeg SVT210AV. Stack two if you need 'em.
 
#112
My small rig for quiet gigs, theater, restaurants, etc., looks a lot like Bucephylus's, except that I use a GB Shuttle 6.0 ( or a NeoPak 3.5) plus a Berg HT112. My big rig is exactly the same plus a Berg EX112. I have found that cabs with too much low extension are much harder to deal with in quieter situations. Having worked extensively in musical theater the last 40 years or so, I have had the pleasure of working with many drummers who know how to play crisply and cleanly at lower volumes. Low volume playing is a skill that needs development just as any other.
 
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#113
biobass said:
I have found that cabs with too much low extension are much harder to deal with in quieter situations.
Click to expand...
While that could be true with a cab like the 410HLF that has an exaggerated low extension, the current crop of full range cabs work very well at low volumes in my experience.
 
#114
I do reoccurring weekly gigs at a hipster coffeehouse and chillout wine bar and they have decent sound systems that I use. I show up with my bass, TC Ditto, and iPhone; plug-in and play. For other places I use a Phil Jones Bass Cub. It's small, lightweight, discreet, and plenty loud for the types of places I play.
 
#115
Small, smaller and smallest. I recently got a Crazy 8, new version with rear port. I haven't found its limits yet, it exceeds all expectations, it even handles the Mb800 at reasonable volumes in pubs. It's just so easy to move about.
11058277_1050104841675668_3341370931622939992_n.jpg
 
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#116
MOSCOWBASS said:
Small, smaller and smallest. I recently got a Crazy 8, new version with rear port. I haven't found its limits yet, it exceeds all expectations, it even handles the Mb800 at reasonable volumes in pubs. It's just so easy to move about.View attachment 732311
Click to expand...
I really like your set ups.
A friend of mine had the crazy 88's and it seemed to work best with a hpf when using a P bass. How does the 8 handle your low b?
FF
 
#117
FlatwoundFunk said:
I really like your set ups.
A friend of mine had the crazy 88's and it seemed to work best with a hpf when using a P bass. How does the 8 handle your low b?
FF
Click to expand...
Mine handles the low B very well, i haven't had it fart out yet(don't have a HPF), I was wondering it the redesign with the rear port has helped reduce the port chuffing I've read about, but not experienced yet. Of course the Crazy 88 has a rear port, so who knows? I've run the Crazy 8 with the mb800, input gain 10 oclock, master at 11 oclock with the volume on the Xotic almost full up, i know that's hard to quantify, but it was pub gig playing Jazz/American songbook with electric piano, drums, sax and vocals, no foh for the bass. Think i would be pushing it with the 17 piece big band i play with, but I have the BB2 for that. It's the small restaurant gigs you can't park near and have to walk with bass, amp, cables and speaker etc that it covers so well
 
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#118
It's important to use an HPF on the Crazy8 - especially with acoustic bass w/piezo pickups. It eliminates all the low end unhearable junk that needlessly makes the drive pump extra hard. With the HPF (like Fdeck's HPF Pre), the driver is more efficient so you can achieve higher volume, more headroom, and more low end clarity. In quiet restaurant gigs the extra volume potential usually is not as useful as headroom, greater tonal clarity and character, but a rocker might feel otherwise.
 
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