I posted this as a response in another discussion, but thought that since it is also gig related would start a new topic.


Tonight I brought my Compact out to an open mic jam. They play blues, classic rock, some country etc.

Nice place with a fairly large dance floor - I'd say the whole dance/seating area was about 50' wide and about 40' to the bar.

When I got to the place, I mentioned that the PA sounded like it was clipping and distorting. When I brought that up, someone agreed. Someone else went up and fiddled around with the sound, but still couldn't get the distortion out of the sound when anyone would sing a little louder.

The house band consisted of bass player, two guitar players and drums.

When it was my turn, I set up the Compact, ran my microphone to it, set up the Mustang Floorboard (like a Line 6 POD).
The Compact was by far the best sounding and by had the cleanest and crispest sound for both my vocal and guitar.

My friends who joined me (a guitar player and a bass player ~ total of 4 of us on stage))could hear me across the stage and across the room - and I never had to worry about my guitar overpowering my vocals - because I could hear if it did. When the bass player took his turn to sing, I couldn't really hear him on stage, even though they had HUGE monitors, and as they fiddled with the sound levels again, feedback would squeal through the bands PA.

Oh, and one more thing - my friends were already up on stage and playing when I was told to go ahead and set up while they played a song since I would be setting up on the other side of the stage (the two house guitar players had sit down by this time). By the time my friends were finished, I had set up the Compact, mic, the microphone stand, Mustang Floorboard and was ready to play. How's that for a nice speedy setup? LOL.

Love the Compact!

Tom

Hi Tom,

Nice gig report. It's always interesting to read how an L1® fares out in the wild with other gear on stage.

I used to take my Classic/Model I (and later, the Compact) out to open mics. Now I host a weekly showcase / jam event. See: If I could create a venue...


If you show up at an open mic with a great guitar the other guitarists will notice. If bring your own microphone the vocalists will notice. If you bring your own guitar amp the gearheads will notice. But bring your own PA and sound better than the house system - the audience will notice. You may even wrest interest away from conversations and TVs and whatever else is going on in the venue and convert the distracted into listeners.

It's tough to balance your own interests (sounding good) against the possibility of making others look or sound bad. That's true at any open mic event, but if you are on a level playing field (the house system) it's one thing. If you bring you own PA, it's a whole new game.

I'm not saying, "don't take your Compact". That's an education for everyone. But I might add a touch of advice... "be gentle".

quote:

Originally posted by ST:
Hi Tom,

Nice gig report. It's always interesting to read how an L1® fares out in the wild with other gear on stage.

I used to take my Classic/Model I (and later, the Compact) out to open mics. Now I host a weekly showcase / jam event. See: If I could create a venue...


If you show up at an open mic with a great guitar the other guitarists will notice. If bring your own microphone the vocalists will notice. If you bring your own guitar amp the gearheads will notice. But bring your own PA and sound better than the house system - the audience will notice. You may even wrest interest away from conversations and TVs and whatever else is going on in the venue and convert the distracted into listeners.

It's tough to balance your own interests (sounding good) against the possibility of making others look or sound bad. That's true at any open mic event, but if you are on a level playing field (the house system) it's one thing. If you bring you own PA, it's a whole new game.

I'm not saying, "don't take your Compact". That's an education for everyone. But I might add a touch of advice... "be gentle".

Oh yeah, I know the "be gentle" part. I used to host Open Mic Jams for several years - it was always a delicate balance of controlling the volume of "guitar gods", "vocal virtuosos who "need a little more of me in the mains", and such. I initially was just going to use the Compact for the guitar, as I wanted to try out the Mustang Floorboard see how it sounded through it (I have and still will be to some extent that "tube amp freak"-LOL), but as I kept hearing the quality of sound that was going through the PA mains and as I was setting up my inability to hear anything through the monitor, I took another minute to hook up a microphone, cable and mic stand.

And as the old saying goes "some folks don't know what they're missing until they hear/see what they could have..."

Tom

Took it out again to another jam. And once again, the Compact just "jammed"! Love the clear sound and the ability to be heard off axis.

I've always been a tube amp snob - and to some extent I still am - and never really got along with the modeling amp solutions like the PODs, Vox Tonelabs, etc - even when going through a PA. Perhaps it was because I didn't like hearing my guitar coming from in front or just through the monitors.

However, using the L1s - either the Classic or the Compact, I can appreciate the modeling much more.

Oh, and of course the vocals sounded great through the Compact too. In addition to the drums and bass, there three other guitar players playing up there as well - hey, it's a jam session!

Anyway, just wanted to continue to report my findings. . .

Hi Tom the Guitar guy,

quote:

Originally posted by Tom the Guitar guy:
Took it out again to another jam. And once again, the Compact just "jammed"! Love the clear sound and the ability to be heard off axis.

Had some guests sit in at a gig last night. Great fun for me as they took over the role of leading the show and I got to step back and do some jammin'. It's great to know that I can manage the mix by managing myself, and be confident that I'm sharing that mix with the room. (No hotspots).

quote:

I've always been a tube amp snob - and to some extent I still am - and never really got along with the modeling amp solutions like the PODs, Vox Tonelabs, etc - even when going through a PA. Perhaps it was because I didn't like hearing my guitar coming from in front or just through the monitors.

Bingo! I was doing a guest set last Saturday night and I was running a modeller through a PA. This was nowhere near as satisfying as playing the same gear through my Compact coming from behind me.

This was one of those cases where I elected not to take my Compact into the room because I didn't want to show-up the house system.

quote:

However, using the L1s - either the Classic or the Compact, I can appreciate the modeling much more.

ditto

quote:

Oh, and of course the vocals sounded great through the Compact too. In addition to the drums and bass, there three other guitar players playing up there as well - hey, it's a jam session!

Anyway, just wanted to continue to report my findings. . .

Thanks for sharing. It's fun to read along.

quote:

Originally posted by ST:

Bingo! I was doing a guest set last Saturday night and I was running a modeller through a PA. This was nowhere near as satisfying as playing the same gear through my Compact coming from behind me.

This was one of those cases where I elected not to take my Compact into the room because I didn't want to show-up the house system.

Bring the Compact, just don't plug your vocals into it! It would be just like bringing your own amp! LOL

Brought the L1 Compact out to another open mic jam last night:

Loud Drummer ~ Check
Loud Bass ~ Check
Loud Guitar Player ~ Check
Loud Guitar Player ~ Check

Using my Line 6 PODHD500 into the Compact Channel 2 and my vocal directly into channel 1.

Got all sorts of raves about how great the sound was coming out of the little ole Compact.

One of the guys made a comment "that sure looks and sounds better here than in the room at Guitar Center with all of those other huge speakers."

The bass player is a professional sound guy who travels back East every year to run sound at a Bluegrass Festival and couldn't believe how great the sounds were. The stage was so loud with the amps and mics that there were feedback problems - but not through the Compact. I was grinning the whole time!

So just to clarify, the Compact held it's own against a Peavey Classic 30 (w/ 15" Blue Devil) and a Dr. Z Maz 38 ~ both amps pretty loud, a loud drummer and a pretty beefy bass.

Go Compact!