I didn't think the Compact was going to work for drummers in any big way, but I might have been wrong.

I'm heading out on vacation today, 1,100 mile drive to Savannah, Ga.
My wife has always wanted to go there, she loves houses and architecture.
Forum member, Roy, lives there too, and I love to play music.
So this should be a best-of-both-worlds vacation.

On my last vacation to the Bose Bash at Little Switzerland I took my drum kit and two Model IIs.
This vacation it's just The Compact, a Porchboard bass, a snare with brushes, a cymbal, and a D'jembe.
I feel very comfortable that the Compact will support my gear and probably more.

As you might know, I'd been disappointed with the Compact's low end with a Porchboard bass...by itself anyway.
But last weekend at a jam session with an 8 pc. country and bluegrass band, the Compact really shined.
We had two vocal mics, acoustic guitar, mandoline, and the Porchboard all running into the Compact.
(the Porchboard was plugged into the iPOD input jack!)

The bluegrass guys, who'd had reservations about having a drummer at all, were really happy with the drum sound (I played super-quiet with brushes), the mandolin, and especially the vocals.

The Compact wasn't even breathing heavy.

The Porchboard's bass was a bit thin, but that was perfect for me to be able to slip in quietly to the music.
When the music surrounded it, that sound was all we needed, and there was plenty of headroom left.
Less was certainly more in this case, it blended beautifully with both the upright bass and the electric.
I even got a couple of drum solos during the day, the the PB got the point across with no problem.

Now with a real bass drum, there will problably have to be a compromise, no mic'ing at all.
Not a big deal really, just pay more attention to bass drum tuning, and keep band volume down.
Of course, you might be seeing a post from me later concerning *Kick Gate and The Compact*, who knows.

So, what I'm saying here is that with some adjustments to gear, and style of music being played,
the Compact can be a drummer's best friend.
Laziness (and driving cross-country) could be playing a part too.
It reminds me of OLDGHM's quote a while back about "when the Model II is just too much trouble".
How did that happen?

So Savannah, here we come, looking forward to sitting in with Roy & The Circuit Breakers at the Tybee Island arts festival, and seeing Roy's new Steel Drum at Doc's !

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

Hey Pete!

Thanks for the update on the current state of your thinking about the Compact and how it is working (and not) for you in various settings.

For me, one of the really interesting aspects of this forum is the chance to actively think about the music with input from some many others who relate to it differently than I do.

Happy Trails!

Pete,

My drummer last night used the Compact as a vocal monitor on a three-tier system with a sound company. The sound company, of course, wasn't crazy about using it since they had a massive monitor next to the drummer, but he said there was a nice sizzle & more clarity in the Compact than the company monitor had. The Compact actually kept up with the monitor. He used his T1 for compression, EQ, & FX, & fed the Master to the Compact & the Aux to the house.

Hi Tom,

I was wondering when someone would try the L1 Compact as a monitor in an otherwise conventional setup.

I can "picture" how it would work.

Ken

Oh.

Missing Cuchara right about now...

Ken,

Good to hear from you.

Cuchara just had a bunch of snow yesterday.

Tom

quote:

Cuchara just had a bunch of snow yesterday.

The news said it was 17 inches of snow.

Seems a little early for that stuff.
Weren't you just doing outdoor gig's a short time ago.
My Poolside Tiki Bar gig should be 90 this weekend.

Joel,

Weather this time of year is usually a tug of war with snow one day & nice weather the next until winter finally takes hold in November at some point. We had first snow in Cuchara in September this year.

I can't believe I haven't tried running my TrapKAT/Roland TD-12 drum module thru the Compact before now...I've had the Compact for almost a year.

Anyway, I hooked my E-drums into it and it sounds amazing!
Totally usable as an excellent drum monitor for a V-drummer running into a larger sound system.
It sounds as clean and punchy as a typical L1.
The kick drum is only slightly tighter sounding, without lots of boom, but it has plenty of punch.

I am really, really impressed by this.
Guys in the V-drum forums are always talking about what is the best monitor for them, and I think this is it.
I have always promoted the L1 in that forum as a stand alone PA for V-drummers, and the Compact might not be *that*, but as a monitor is sounds most excellent.

I would certainly take it to rehearsals, jam sessions of a lower volume, or an open mic without any hesitation.
It is set up with only one extension...the short stack system, as shown.

I set up last night with both extensions on the Compact, full height.
The sound was not nearly as punchy and bass-y as before, when at my head level.
This leads me to think twice about using the Compact as my only PA at the winery as it would need to be at full height to even fill the front half of the long, thin room.

So I would remain confident about it's use as a monitor, or in a very small space.
When I cranked it up at full height, it didn't impress as much.

I also found that some of my *Kit* kick drums sounded good, others did not.
Kicks that I had tweak for a *tight* sound thru a Model II (what I use most) were too thin with the Compact.
The heavier, rock oriented sounding kicks fared better, full due to the added decays.

You would think that after all this time that I would have leaarned.

Last night I played a gig at a venue where I have played before. I used the Compact with the T1 and when I started the vocals were muddy. I turned off all effects, still muddy. I tweaked tone, still muddy. Boosted volume, still muddy. Several songs later, I remembered to boost the trim on the vocal channel, ahhh.
I should go back once a month to review the tips on this board about gain staging.
An old dog can learn new tricks, but slowly.

Respect,
Andy

I played a coffee house with my main (all-Bose) trio over the weekend, and had to do it with an aching back.
So I decided to take a tiny drum kit and the Compact, thinking that I would not bother mic'ing the kick drum.

I have some cool new drum toys; a 10" single-headed Toca Jingle Snare , and an LP "Stanton Moore" Pandiero.
Stanton uses this as a side snare or floor tom, others have used it as a kick drum, I went with the floor tom thing.
So I have this scaled down little drum set.

After set up, I decided to go ahead and run my kick mic into the T1 and to the Compact, it had a nice tone, but not loud.
I then hooked the T1's Aux Out to our singer's L1 Classic w/1-B1 (ch 3), and ran just a little kick into there.
That gave me a little bit of low sub bass, and together they gave me a really nice kick sound.
After playing around with the blend of the two L1s, I would up going with mostly the Compact, and just a little Classic.

It worked out really nice in this venue, as it's always been acoustically troublesome, a long, hard, noisy room.
Bass in there has always been a problem too, when using my Model II w/2-B1s, unless I could get the B1s out of the corner.
My labor was cut way down and no one seemed to notice the poppy sound of the Jingle Snare, nor the jingly, flappy sound of the Pandiero-as-floor-tom.

When mixed in with the music, those little drums actually fit quite nicely.
The guys in the band didn't even notice, until I brought it up at the break...they are so observant!

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

Here's a pic of the room from my view:

...and us (and our friend Dave, sitting in on the harp) from the audience point of view:

Did yet another gig this last Sunday using the Compact and mic'ing my kick into it.
This time at a winery, a hard room, tonally.

Again, the Compact gave me a comfortable reinforcing tone to my kick drum.
I was sure the audience wouldn't have noticed it much, if at all, but it gave me just enough.

I also Aux out-ed the kick into the singers L1 Classic, as before, but didn't really get the added tone I wanted.
So I went with just the Compact's sound.

Got big compliments on the drum sound from an audience member, who thought they were mic'd and said
"No offense, your drum set looks like a kid's toy set, but they sound great!"
He had been sitting about 10' in front on me.

I report this since each gig I do with the Compact makes me more and more comfortable.

Granted...we are NOT a loud band trying to overpower a room full of noisy people.
Yes, we had noisy people at our gigs, but we don't fight them, we just do what we do, and it seems to work.

Here is a pretty swingin' pic from that Dick Tater & The Tots gig.
Notice how we put the L1s behind us, facing forward, for the best monitoring & throw into this long, narrow room.
Brilliant!

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

Did a gig at a different winery last Saturday night with the quartet.
Used my Model II w/B2 sub...Wow.
I'd forgotten what a kick drum can sound like after so many gigs with the Compact.
This was the best sound I ever got since buying the B2, a very large room with lots of drapery and table clothes.
Fantastic acoustics, although at the beginning, in our corner, I thought the room sounded "loud".

We had to play quietly, but cranked it up some midway through, and the bass drum was just killer.
The B2 has a smoother tone, not the butt-thump that I'm used to, but it's low and full, seems to make the whole kit sound better.

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

Hi Drumr,

That's your most positive review of the B2 isn't it? Sounds like you had a nice time.

That's great.