Jarick
Rock Star
- Messages
- 2,550
Went to see the band Dada (early 90's alt rock) last night as they don't seem to tour much anymore. They actually sold out the decent sized club which was impressive.
But right off the bat, the guitar rig went down. I'm not sure what he was using, but between the pedalboards and amps, the guitar didn't function properly for about 45 minutes. There was probably 15-20 minutes worth of time they were trying to kill either playing just the bass and drums, or talking to the crowd.
Finally at some point I think they just plugged directly into one of the amps and cranked it up and the rest of the show was fine. But I'm pretty surprised that they either didn't just do that right off the bat, or that there wasn't some kind of backup rig.
Was a real bummer because it killed the energy for much of the night, and given the band and crowd were pushing 60, there's not a lot of energy to spare. And either with the equipment issues or the sound guy being awful, the mix was not good at all and you couldn't really hear the band too well. This is a club that has a great room and sound system too, one of the best I ever played back in my gigging days and I've seen a lot of shows with great mixes here.
It got me to thinking about relying too much on gear, and getting too hung up on having just the right setup. Could you just plug your guitar right into the amp and do a show? If not, maybe that's something work practicing!
Also thought that hey, one of those little Blackstar Amped 2 pedals would be brilliant as a backup rig. It's a solid state 100 watt amp with a couple preamp/poweramp options and some basic built in effects. If the amp or pedalboard dies, just plug this in and go.
But right off the bat, the guitar rig went down. I'm not sure what he was using, but between the pedalboards and amps, the guitar didn't function properly for about 45 minutes. There was probably 15-20 minutes worth of time they were trying to kill either playing just the bass and drums, or talking to the crowd.
Finally at some point I think they just plugged directly into one of the amps and cranked it up and the rest of the show was fine. But I'm pretty surprised that they either didn't just do that right off the bat, or that there wasn't some kind of backup rig.
Was a real bummer because it killed the energy for much of the night, and given the band and crowd were pushing 60, there's not a lot of energy to spare. And either with the equipment issues or the sound guy being awful, the mix was not good at all and you couldn't really hear the band too well. This is a club that has a great room and sound system too, one of the best I ever played back in my gigging days and I've seen a lot of shows with great mixes here.
It got me to thinking about relying too much on gear, and getting too hung up on having just the right setup. Could you just plug your guitar right into the amp and do a show? If not, maybe that's something work practicing!
Also thought that hey, one of those little Blackstar Amped 2 pedals would be brilliant as a backup rig. It's a solid state 100 watt amp with a couple preamp/poweramp options and some basic built in effects. If the amp or pedalboard dies, just plug this in and go.
