Hi there !

I've been asked to do a one hour solo gig, as support act for a touring American blues band (Lighnin' Willie and the Poor Boys).
The venue is outside Aberdeen, Scotland and it is quite big (for my gigging experience).
Its capacity is for 340 people. It has a large dancefloor in the middle with seating all the way round. Long rectangular room with raised stage at one end - perhaps chest/shoulder height.
Here are some pictures of the venue :
http://i51.photobucket.com/alb.../Petercultergig1.jpg
http://i51.photobucket.com/alb.../Petercultergig2.jpg

The main act is a 5 piece band as far as I know - so I can imagine them taking up most of the stage. There is to be a full PA system set-up for the band - 12 channel mixer I think (or larger) - so spare channels for me supposedly.
I think there will be monitor/wedge speakers too.

I'll be bringing my 88's e.piano and 3 or 4 guitars and Fender amp (to mic up) for a varied warm-up set.

Questions :
1. Do I just go with the PA system they will have ? That could be a lot of hassle and will I hear myself ? I'll need 4 or 5 channels.
2. Do I bypass the whole PA stuff and use my Bose L1+B1+T1 ?(only got one B1 so far)
3. Plug all my stuff into my T1 and line out to this PA system ?
4. Will I really need a 2nd B1 for a venue this size ? (I'm kind of veering in that direction anyway !)
5. Where should I put the L1+B1 ?
Doesn't it need to be closely in front of a wall for the B1 (and L1 ?) to work best ?
6. Would I be better setting up on the floor just in front of the stage ? This way I'll have all the space I need AND can remove all my gear easily after playing without getting in the main band's way.
Would there be sonic comprimises with the upper half of the L1 not having a wall behind it ? I'm not really expecting the dance floor will be full of bodies - but who knows ?? !!!!

Here is my set-up for using the T1 +/- L1+B1 :

Ch.1 Vocal Mic

Ch.2 Acoustic guitars (I want to swap around acoustic guitars on this channel)

Ch.3 - Mic'd up guitar amp for electric guitar songs

Ch.4/5 - Electric piano / Porchboard / Guest musician input

Your help is very much appreciated as I'd love to have a plan in mind before the gig. It is not until late March.

Hey - I have done a couple of jobs like this . What has worked best for me is using the L1 as my monitor and sending a signal to the house system from the aux out on the T1. Sometimes I will run my mic into the T1 but I have found it is easier to let the sound man control the mic if the stage levels are going to be high. Roy

Hi there !

Doesn't that cause problems with phase cancellation or something - between the PA sound and the Bose sound ?

No - The Bose acts as an onstage monitor. Steve Miller has an L1 on stage as a monitor and so do others. If you are trying to compete with the house system at the same time you might have some problems but it has always worked for me. I get to hear the sound the way I want it. The other option is to run through the house monitors or try to fill the space with the L1. You will need a 2nd B1 for a venue of this size if go totally with the L1 and maybe even 4. You could do the T1 straight to the main console. Then you are at the mercy of the monitor mix. That is where the L1 will shine as your monitor. Here is a picture of us using it in this setup on a pier.

Hi snakehips,

I've done that type of gig too, with a trio using three L1s.
We all took direct outs from the L1s or T1 into the FOH, very simple for all.
You get your sound, they get theirs.
If they do it right, they will just reinforce what they need, no competition from the L1.

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

Hi again !

Alright ! Many thanks for that help.

I'm gonna use my whole Bose system, purchase a 2nd B1 and IF i need it will line-out to the PA, using my Bose as a monitor as well as front-of-house.

Keep the comments coming though - thanks in advance !

Great - Let us know how the gig goes. Something I figured out using the L1 was that if a room was too big for the L1 it was too big for my old PA anyway. That is a big room you are going in. I just played a room that size and had two L1’s and 6 B1’s. Two on one stick and 4 on the other where the tracks where running. We did good but we were pushing a lot of volume. I find when rooms that size fills up with people, then you are competing also with crowd noise. Let the sound guy worry about that. Get a good on stage sound and have fun.

Hi, what's the date of your gig in March ? Peterculter's just along the road from me. Maybe I could help with the extra B1 if we're not gigging on the same night.

- Iain R
www.yousedancin.co.uk

Hi there !

Here is the poster for the gig :
(not sure what size this pic is gonna be on this forum thread !!)

Hi again !

Got my big gig tomorrow night.
Many thanks IainR for the offer of borrowing a B1.
One of my Edinburgh friends (also on this forum) has also offered to borrow a B1.
However, I've just bought one now (my 2nd).

Last question - have re-jigged my plan for what I plug into the T1 :

Ch1 - vocal SM58 mic
Ch2 - condensor mic on National guitars (will switch off when using Ch3 and vice versa, or playing piano)
Ch3 - SM57 on my Fender amp (for Elmore James Kay acoustic electrified with a vintage Dearmond pickup)
Ch4 - Highlander equipped National guitar
Ch5 - Free for additional Highlander/National
and my Electric Piano in the Aux (tower base unit)

The Highlander pickups for National resonator guitars are active piezo pickups - so should have good line-level signals - so should be fine in channel 4/5, I think ?
One National compared to another should be about the same volume (with the same pickup system, all things being equal ?) if I had a guest player up I could have two Nationals in Ch4/5 I'd have thought, without a problem ?

I was putting my Nationals in Ch2 before and e.piano in Ch4/5 and didn't really have a spare channel if my bandmate or a "guest musician" wanted to play through my T1 with one of my Nationals, along with me playing my National.

Do you think it should be fine in Ch4/5 ? Any downsides ? Thanks !
Suppose I'll find out tomorrow night !!!!!

Hi snakehips!

quote:

Originally posted by snakehips:
Ch4 - Highlander equipped National guitar
Ch5 - Free for additional Highlander/National

The Highlander pickups for National resonator guitars are active piezo pickups - so should have good line-level signals - so should be fine in channel 4/5, I think ?

You want to test the gear before you get to the gig just to make sure that you do NOT need another preamp to get the impedance match and signal level right for Channel 4/5.

Hi again !

No time now ! However, I think it will probably be just fine !!

I just sat in front of the TV with my T1 plugged into the power supply and programmed a new Scene with all the settings for each instrument I had previously written down - only took like 3 or 4 mins !!!
(I have the T1 power supply because my Duo use two T1's and thus one of the T1's needs external power !)

So if the signal levels are not good enough, I can just change what channels I was gonna use for what and switch to a scene with my previous set-up.
Easy-peasy, lemon squeezy !!!!!

Hi snakehips,

It's sounds like your set either way, but if you want to try it, run headphones from the Master Analog output to get a preview of how things will sound.

Hi again !

Reporting back after my gig.
The large hall looked even bigger in real life than in the photos I had been emailed (and linked to, earlier in this thread) - longer, especially.

The main act was soundchecking when I arrived. That seemed to go on for an eternity.

As there was enough room on the stage, I set up everything on the stage, in front of the band's drum kit, with my Bose L1 + 2B1's + T1. The set-up was really easy. I had the 2 B1's stacked (side-on) with my Fender Blues Jnr guitar amp on the top of that. The T1 was attached to the L1 tower and sat about an inch above the top of my guitar amp - all and all, a tidy set-up. It took me just under an hour from moving everything on stage, unpacking, setting up, and plugging everything in, e.piano and tuning up 4 guitars and soundchecking them ALL too ! All at a relaxed pace !!!

The whole event was filmed and so I might be able to post stuff on YouTube to link to. No photos though - unless the organisers took some.

The main act had of full PA set-up - Bose, actually !! A tower of speakers cabs either side of the stage plus fold-back monitors. The soundman had his huge 24 track desk half way down the hall. I just set up my stuff independantly and that L1 baby (plus two B1's) filled that hall no trouble !!!

My L1 was on the stage to the left of the drum kit, turned inwards a little to point towards the middle of the hall (and me). I had a single mic stand for vocals plus a condensor mic attached, lower down on the stand, for my guitars. The mics were pointing off to the right a little - so they were facing nearly 90 degrees off, away from the L1.

I had plenty "juice" for the condensor mic on my National resonators to fill the huge hall WITHOUT feeding back. I also was using the internal piezo Highlander pickups on these guitars. The sound from the condensor mics IS better (than pickup alone) but the combination of the two was just great !!

E. Piano sounded good too. I had that further over to the right of the stage and, upon reflection, was a bit too far from the L1. I'll re-think were I put the e.piano for next time.

My electric guitar (well, dreadnought acoustic with vintage Dearmond magnetic pickup on it) was played through a Fender Blues Jnr amp.
I have an attenuater for the amp now, but didn't use it (as the venue was so big).
I mic'd it up with a Shure SM57 (SM57 mic'd amp setting on the T1) and it sounded BRILLIANT !!!

The soundman and friends told me that wee amp's sound travelled to the back of that long hall and sounded crystal-clear everywhere.
In contrast, the main act's Gibson Les Paul through a Marshall "Bluesbreaker" 2x12" combo, mic'd up through the main PA system just sounded mushy/indistinct, almost everywhere in that hall !!! Same thing with the harmonica player's Fender Bassman amp for his "amplified" distorted harmonica sound - even worse, in fact.

As it turned out, I didn't need to send a line-out signal to the main PA system. My L1 + 2B1's a T1 + mic'd Fender Blues Jnr handled all chores fantastically. I am so amazed how well the L1 system handled the large, long hall.

I had had my T1 set with a touch of reverb and even slight delay (for vintage-sounding echo) - but had to turn all that off as the large room was quite reverb/echo-ey as it was. I just pressed the "Effects Mute" buttons on, for each channel and instantly everything sounded so much better.

My onstage volume was great - I like a bit of volume - to "feel" the sound through my feet (via the B1 cabs rumble). However, it was nowhere near too loud for me onstage. No one said or even hinted it was too loud or too quiet. I DID get many compliments on how good they thought my system sounded. Also, plenty comments on how much the other band's sound was mushy and/or swamped in the large room's reverb.

Volume settings ? I'll just get out my T1 and check how I had the volumes set :

Master - just over 5
Ch1 - SM58 vocal mic - Trim 6.5, Vol just over 6
Ch2 - AKG C1000s condensor mic on reso guitars - Trim 5, Vol 6
Ch3 - SM57 mic on Fender Blues Jnr (amp gain on 4, master vol on 5) - Trim 4.5, Vol just over 4
Ch4 - Highlander piezo pickup on National reso guitar - Trim 4.5, Vol just over 4
Aux input in L1 base - E.piano (its volume on full) - Level - 7

Perhaps the level of my e.piano on 7, for the Aux input shows the volume levels I was needing to fill the room. Even at that, I felt the e.piajno was a bit quieter than the rest of my gear that night.

As for my vocal mic, I don't really like "eating" the mic and so prefer to have the level powerful enough to be able to back away from the mic and still be heard well. Even at that type of "loud" settings, I wasn't getting any feedback squeals at all. No feedback from the condensor mic on the reso guitars either.

Overall, a fantastic experience - I am thrilled at how the Bose L1 system performed, especially in such a large hall. Oh, and at these volume levels there wasn't any hint at all of clipping or distortion on any of the mics or instruments - brilliant !

Will try and get photos and/or links to videos if and when I get some.

Thanks all, for the very helpful advice, in advance of my gig - it really did help me be planned, in advance, how I was going to tackle the gig. I didn't have any worries at all, before, during or after. I was able to really enjoy the gig and my sound and my Bose !!!

You Dah The Man Snakehips - It's a great feeling isn't it. I bet the road crew for the first band was shaking they're heads.

Hi Snakehips,

Thank you for the detailed gig report. I'm sure that there is plenty here for others to use.

I really appreciate these kinds of posts for all the information, good news and real world results.

Thanks for taking the time to tell us about your show.

Hi again !

Here is the sketch to my gig layout :
http://toonz.ca/sketcher/showband.aspx?SketchID=4139

Hopefully will get some video - the video recorder was set up half-way down the long hall - so should give an idea of sound/volume. Will keep you'all posted !

Hi snakehips,

Thanks for using The Sketcher! Here is your Sketch.


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

Legend:
L1® Model II
T1 ToneMatch® audio engine
Orange numbers are Systems and Inputs using those 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 snakehips from The Sketcher

quote:

Solo performance set-up :

1 Vocal mic - Shure SM58 into Ch1 of T1 (Vocal mic, SM58 setting)

4 Guitar setup :
1 electric (acoustic with vintage Dearmond magnetic pickup) into Fender Blues Jnr e.guitar amp, mic'd up with Shure SM57 into Ch2 of T1 (mic'd amp with SM57 preset)
3 National Resonator guitars with Highlander piezo-type active/powered pickups - into one input of Ch4/5 of T1
(still have the spare input for one other of these guitars for a guest musician)
Resonator guitars also mic'd up with AKG C1000s condensor mic, into Ch3 of T1 (not a symbol for resonator guitars so used cutaway acoustic symbol !)

E.piano - full 88's weighted keys (Roland FP-7) into Auc input of L1 base

Bose L1 + 2B1's (stacked) - Fender Blues Jnr amp sits on top of theis stack and T1 on L1 tower, just above Fender amp - all neat looking.

While it looks like there is a lot going through the L1, I am only using one vocal mic plus one instrument at a time. Unused instruments or channels are off (using the Channel mute button) when not in use. The e.piano channel doesn't need muted.

Most gigs are with my Duo band-mate. He has his own T1 - which is plugged into the Aux channel of the L1 base (with power adapter), and I plug my e.piano into one of his T1 channels. He is only using 3 channels - a vocal mic, a guitar pickup and a condensor mic also, on his guitar. Thus we would play everything through one L1 + 2B1's. Might purchase a 2nd L1 in the future.

quote:

As it turned out, I didn't need to send a line-out signal to the main PA system. My L1 + 2B1's a T1 + mic'd Fender Blues Jnr handled all chores fantastically. I am so amazed how well the L1 system handled the large, long hall.

Awesome report!
I love reading these kinds of posts.

Hi again !

Got to say that the Tonematch was great for that gig. I had everything pre-programmed (a new "Scene") into it, the night before the gig. Did this with the T1 on my lap, while watching TV. Previously I had messed around with the Bose system in my garage and worked out what T1 settings suited me for each mic/instrument and wrote all the parameters down, to program in, into a "Scene" later.

All I needed to do at the gig was load everything on the stage, plug everything in, set up the 3 mics, tune up 4 guitars, check out the level for the piano through the Aux input of the L1 base and get the levels matched. Didn't really need to adjust the T1 after that - other than to switch off the effects (as the room was too reverby as it was). All this took me about 50 mins. Tuning up 4 guitars probably took half the time ! Will be able to shorten that time the more I use my Bose system.

What was really cool+handy was that as I swapped around between one electric and three acoustic reso guitars and a piano, all I needed to do was mute appropriate channels I didn't want on. This is so easy with the EASILY located+accessible "Channel Mute" buttons.

No stress involved in all the changes. In my 50 minute set, I rarely played the same instrument two songs in a row - I kept swapping things around. I like to give a varied set. Sometimes I needed my waist-height condensor mic on for my reso guitars and the channel for their guitar pickups, other times I wanted them off.
Sometimes over on the piano.

Had my condensor mic on Ch2 and reso pickup on Ch4. My mic'd up Fender amp was on Ch3.
I'm gonna swap what I had in what channels so that I either need Ch2 for e.guitar or Ch3+4 (ie. adjacent channels) for reso guitar (condensor+pickup).

Great !