Just purchased two L1 w/Double Bass Modules and am looking for help with set-up. We traditionally mic all instruments either with mics or direct in. The guitar players are reticent to giving up their backline because they claim that 1/2 their sound comes from the amp. I am the bassist and would have no problem giving up carrying my bass rig. We are a 4 or 5 piece group (depending on the gig). Anybody out there with similar set-up? your comments would be greatly appreciated. Thanks - JB

Hi,
Can you tell us about the type(s) of music and instruments?

Hi JB (thebeermann)

I'm sure we can help with this.

You Guitar players can keep their backline amps if they want. You just want to keep things reasonable on the stage. Typically you want to run the amps loud enough to get the 'tone' and soft enough not to 'leak' out everywhere.

If you have a couple of minutes, please use
The Sketcher
to show us your stage layout. (Just where everyone is standing and what they are playing, I'll help you with the wiring details later).

How it works:
You can see it in action: The Sketcher Movie

or

It is probably just as fast to try it.

You drag items from the warehouse of instruments onto a stage area.

You can add notes (a good idea) for things that don't fit into the picture.

Click this picture to get started.




I will watch for it and post the finished result here.

PS - Jim and I were typing at the same time. He's right, it would be great to know more about what you are doing.

Please tell us more about your music:

• What kind(s) of music you play,
  
• Where you do it (size, type of venue)
  
• Who is there (audience) - how many, what are they doing while you are performing
  

This message has been edited. Last edited by: ST,

Hi thebeermann,

Thanks for using The Sketcher!

This is just a quick note to send you a link to your Sketch in case you want to review it, edit it, or share it with others.


-- click image to make changes to the live version --

Codes:
Orange numbers are Systems and Inputs using those Systems.
Blue ringed numbers are Channel connections to/from the Classic and Model I Systems.
Blue filled numbers are Channel connections to/from the T1 ToneMatch™ audio engine.
Green numbers are for general notes about the Sketch and connections to non-Bose gear.

Quoting thebeermann from The Sketcher

quote:

ST Edit - moved everything forward a bit.

Hi JB,

Sorry this took so long. I hope it will have been worth the wait.

First - I've spread things out a little.



When not working with one L1™ per performer I sometimes imagine the stage broken up into "zones" like this.



More coming...

That might get us to something like this:



-- click image to make changes to the live version --

Codes:
Orange numbers are Systems and Inputs using those Systems.
Blue ringed numbers are Channel connections to/from the Classic and Model I Systems.
Green numbers are for general notes about the Sketch and connections to non-Bose gear.

More coming...

Add the color coding for the 'zones' and it looks like this.



All the vocals are running direct to a Powerstand PS1 Powerstand: Channel 1 or 2 so you can use the presets.

Everything else (green numbers) are running through the mixer, panned hard left of hard right so that each input "appears" in only one L1™.

This should work fine but I have another idea for you. Give me a few more minutes. I'll also get back to your original question about using the back-line amps.

JB,

Would you be open to moving the Guitarist/Vocalist to the other side of the stage. It would look like this.



-- click image to make changes to the live version --

or with the color coding:



-- click image to make changes to the live version --

This puts the Keyboard playing/Guitarist/Vocalist in with the Drums in System
and
The Guitarist/Vocalist and the Bassist in System .

This minimizes the amount of overlap in the frequency ranges. This can make a tremendous difference to how you hear, and what the audience sees and hears. By separating the two upper range sets of instruments (Keyboards/Guitar/Vocal - separated from - Guitar/Vocal) you should get a much more interesting show, through an enhanced sense of localization. That is: being able to see and hear different parts of the band, in different places on the stage.

This also puts the two people who want to use their back-line amps together. This could be an issue. If they run their back-line amps really loud, they will probably not be able to hear the Keyboard playing/Guitarist/Vocalist. The answer to this (and the whole back-line amp issue), is

Run the Guitar amp only as loud as necessary to get the 'tone'. Aim the amp offstage (or put it off stage and aim it away from the stage and the audience).

Put a microphone on the cabinet and use that to through the mixer to the System . This will give him/her all the benefits of using the L1 to deliver the sound, while minimizing the impact of the back-line amp.

For the Bassist, this will be less of an issue, but I still like to run a high-pass output (if there is one) from a Bass Amp to the nearest L1™. This can add a lot of definition to the Bassist's sound and contribution to the mix.

About the Drummer
You may want to move things around so that you are using Kick Drum microphone through System so that you can use a Kick Drum preset. This means that you will run the Drummers vocal through the mixer.

Finally - at some point you may want to add an A1 PackLite ™ Extended Bass Package (A1 + two B1 Bass Modules) to System to provide more support for the Kick Drum.


There you go JB. What do you think?