Learned a lesson about playing out

I'm curious to know where you ran into problems as I'd like to start gigging my pretty elaborate rig out soon.  Were you just having problems EQing, setting levels, and micing?  I'd recommend the DI Palmer PDI-09 which is a much smaller version of the PDI03 that Joe uses.  It requires a speaker load unlike the PDI03 but allows the house to get a very consistant tone without the need to mic.  You can set your amp up on stage loud enough to hear yourself, then run a line straight to the mixing board/FOH.

Ok so my problem came about when I bought this direct box that is supposed to go in between your amp and your speaker.  It gives you a direct out that won't over load your line power on your mixer.  The box worked fine but was not the sound the amp's speaker makes which in return gave my blues sound a Randy Rhoads thin metal tone.  Everyone used direct outs, except for 1 guy who didn't have one so we mic'd him.  It was our first time out and we tried to save on money by not buying mics for everyone.  My directbox was a kit I put together myself it did what it was supposed to I'm just not getting the tone I had from my speaker.  The other guitarist had a Marshall with a built in direct out (JCM 600) that had a speaker emulator that sounded close to the real thing but listening to a recording of it he hated the sound it got.  Bass was ran through an amp with a DI as well but it was fine.  Drums were mic'd and they sounded good.  Keyboards were ok.  Bottom line was we were very green to that setup and really didn't need all that sound.  We did a gig 3 weeks earlier in a small building with our old setup and it was as perfect of a set as we can perform.  We really looked dumb up there with $3000 worth of PA equipment and putting on a crap show like we did.  I'm really glad it wasn't a paying gig.

I usually only like Mic'ing my amps outdoors, or if the PA guy has the stuff and insists. My amp is 55 watts and can hold up at most indoor venues I play at. Only time I'd really want to mic my amp is when or IF if take my Blues Jr. to a gig and my other guitar player has his HRD. Which is never.

Luckily, I have a balanced line out on the back of my Rivera Combo, so I don't need to mic or DI box it.

-Nic

- Nic from Detroit... posting on JB's Forum since 6-2-2006
Ask me about my handwound Great Lakes Guitar Pickups
Since 2010, Bonamassa fans have taken advantage of my JB friend discount = my cost + shipping.

Sometimes it really is best not to overthink it.

Yesterday we played on a moving trailer through a festival route. there just wasn't enough room on the thing to have a full set up! Especially as the local Fire brigade, who asked us to play had tables and chairs and a barbeque on there as well!

The damn generator was so loud that I got them to rig it up underneath the trailer on a pallet. So basically we had to be loud enough to kill that thing.

We had our PA and desk behind the drums ( he controlled the mix from there), bass we also ran through the PA with the direct out and the guitarists both just had a small box with their VHT's and no effects. No additional mic'ing up. It sounded great up there, if a little brash, and we relied on friends after the first number to give us tips on where to tweak it which was mostly the bass (everything on 11 from then on!).

Was an absolute hoot. Literally taking the music to the people. It was loud, but in tune with no problems. Unbelievable considering how much grief setting up normally can be in a hall or smaller venue. As we were the last float it was like being the bloody pied piper with everybody just following us down the road to the festival site.

Perfect. An hour to set it up, half hour to break down (with many willing hands), beer, whiskey & BBQ on the go and the sun shone. No overthinking necessary.

Thinking about buying my own trailer now. Mobile gigs. Its the way to go.

PS. Lessons learnt. Mic stand beer holders definately a future requirement

We've run into the same issue (time) that you are speaking of.  I can tell you if you are playing a Friday gig and it's not too long a drive, ask to set up the day before.  We have done that and that helped a lot, if it's the day of, call me crazy, but we allot no less than four hours for set up prior to the show.  If we are done early, then we can have a few beers and chill.  As for DI boxes and what not, we mic our cabs (I'm not using a plexi shield yet but soon will) and not with the typical SM57.  Both myself and the other guitar player use Sennheiser e609.  They're the same price as the SM57 but to me translate the sound of our amps better.  Also, if you are working with the same sound guy every time, it may not be much of an issue, but we provide a set list with who is singing what (we have two vocalists) and what instruments are playing (I play some lead, rhythm guitar and keys).  We also give them a preferred stage set up, how many monitors, where we need power and for what...it just let's the sound man know how fricking important to YOUR sound you think he is.  They love that, believe me.  It takes a little planning on your part and some time investment, but once you play out a few times, and you get an order to set up and tear down, believe me, you'll appreciate the effort and the audience and club owners will REALLY appreciate it.  Just my two cents.

It was a family event for one of our members in the band and they wanted to setup everything before it got too hot to work.  We kept everything under tents so incase a storm passed by we could keep our stuff dry... we managed to keep it from total saturation at least.  We would have been better off with 15 minutes