So as all the 2020 wedding gigs are being rebooked for late this year and into next it seems that all the killjoy neighbors have put in their noise complaints while no weddings have been happening...
Around 50% of all the venues we are set to play with our 4 piece band are now silent stage "state of the art in house line array" (yeah sure) and are electric kit + no amplification allowed.
Is the Strymon the best option for a do all "stick it at the end of your already made board" and go solution or are there any other options I should look into?
We already use in ears so it's not gonna be too much of a change, just flat and vibeless (with little to no bass allowed) for the poor clients who got duped by the venues - it's gross and I hate it.
Anyway, enough ranting, what's the go to solution to this collectively?
Comments
Our's just rocks and back in forth in a chair and nobody can even get near him with gaffa tape..
If the venue can't guarantee an electricity supply then we don't play. If everyone boycotted those places then they'd shut down eventually, or the council would have to see sense.
We have a zero tolerance policy for people turning our amps on and off, as should everyone else.
So yeah, I'd stick with my AX8 (and I'd guess they must be getting cheap now the FM3 and Quad Cortex are on the market). If I needed to tack something on the end of an already-built pedalboard, I'd use an Atomic Ampli-Firebox. I just sold mine for £180 (because who needs a gigging backup at the moment?), and that's towards the upper end of the going rate.
I'd be interested in opinion on this as well. I'm currently weighing up getting either a HX Stomp, Simplifier or an Atomic Amplifire 6 that's listed locally
I know the Stomp would be the most flexible as it could integrate into my normal pedal board as a multi FX but are the amp sims ok? I'm not a tone snob by any stretch but I want to know that it won't cave in with a bit of Overdrive in front of it.
The Simplifier looks great, obviously it doesn't have effects or any other fancy bells and whistles, but what it does do it seems to do very well.
The Amplifire is the wild card as I don't see many around.
https://www.andertons.co.uk/dsm-humboldt-simplifier-deluxe-pedal
Not cheap at all but if it sounds as good as the original and all the extra bits are of a similar standard then it would be a great alternative option to an iridium.
The helix is way better than the amplifire in sound but especially in usability.
We've had similar situations where the bride is asking why we can't turn it up, while the venue owner is asking why we have speakers on stage (our monitors), even though we're already using electric kit and multifx straight to PA. We can work to limiters (though we'd prefer not to, obviously) but there are certain venues we've asked our agent to blacklist.
Absolute disgrace and should be reported to trading standards. If you don't want bands at your venue (in several cases it's the owners who live on site) have the balls to tell your client. Nothing they can do about it at 6pm on their wedding day, is there?
Anyway... I'm all in on Helix. I got a used LT and it's everything I'll ever need. I go stereo out to the PA then a second out to my own personal monitor so I can control my own mix of guitar and vox (I'm lead vox in a trio). I use a TC Voicelive so that has 2 outs, too, one to the PA and one to input 2 of my monitor.
I'm not bothering with an amp anymore, either. Monitor faces me and that's it. We're not on IEMs but I imagine that'll be a necessity before too long.
Helix sounds terrific, though. Snapshots are a revelation. I've kept my pedals but I can't imagine I'll use them any time soon.
Either way we've been dealing with these sorts of venues for 5+ years but this season in particular the amount of strict "silent stage" bookings has skyrocketed..
I'll have a look into the walrus one as I'm only really interested in something I can stick on my board at the end, not switching completely to a digital all it one solution just yet.
PA Hire and Event Management
Back to the OP: I've done countless gigs with a Kemper over the past decade, and that will remain my default choice if venue-limitations apply. I've also gigged with the first-gen of the Amplifire box, but didn't gel with the sounds too well. If I was starting from scratch now I'd be tempted by something like an Iridium at the end of an already-assembled pedalboard.
Final anecdote: at one venue we had to be silent on stage (with v-drums and all instruments running direct), the bit we weren't told in advance was that the PA speakers were built into the roof.... and many many metres away from the stage. I remember the loudest thing on stage being the sound of the drummer's mechanical kick-drum against the mesh, and a couple stood next to me at side of stage having a conversation that I could hear every word of. Most bizarre...
Doesn't look like I'll want to go back to it.
I'm in a 20-odd piece jazz big band at the moment. The only thing that is amplified is the bass - I suspect 20 bones, trumpets, reeds, piano, bass, drums etc would trigger all of these places too... So I'd just need a good generator for the bass. Can't turn off a trumpet!
https://speakerimpedance.co.uk/?act=two_parallel&page=calculator
Much as sometimes you'd wish to.
2 Chronicles chapter 5 in the Bible: 120 trumpets!
I have had the opportunity to play them both side by side both through the fx return of my Marshall Valvestate mk1 80V '8080' 1x12, and my Headrush FRFR108.
Whilst the Pod Go is more sophisticated with regards to Helix modelling, a wealth of amp, cab, fx models plus IR capability, there is just something about the original Tonelabs that sounds and feels that tad more like a valve amp. Its hard to put my finger on. But if you are looking for an mfx that is built like a tank, with a heavy duty PSU, that sounds great, and is very easy to use on stage with real knobs and dial selectors, you could do a lot worse than check one of these out.
These are becoming harder to find on the used market and prices have been going up. People are realising just how good these still are and are holding on to them. The TLLE is more compact and lighter with 24 bit processing. The SE has 20bit processing, dual treadles, and A/B switching in the same patch of amp and or cab models, which is really useful, as is a dial for cab models rather than having to go in a menu in the TLLE. The LE does have more global line out options inc an EQ in Ln out 2, which can be useful.
Don't be put off by being older tech, not having IRs etc. These are still blindingly good units and are perfect for function work, particularly if you prefer to have some real knobs and selectors.
Both have MIDI and the free proper edit programs let you easily create, move around, and load patches for set lists. And you can even access and move around without having to plug in the TLs.
BTW, ignore the later TLST and TLEX which are bedroom toys by comparison.