My bands set up for gigs

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xiwiwix

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My band's doing a Digital/Acoustic setup.

Both guitars (hd500's), bass (sansamp+Ampeg PF500 direct), drums and vocals go direct to our mixer. From there (our mixer) to "Front of House".

Our drums are a hybrid of an acoustic snare (mic'd) and cymbals, with digital toms and kick.

We use two 1x15 and one 1x18 for sound reference since we have no amps. Also, because we're using digital toms and kick, the sub helps for a good feel for our drummer.

1900146_10202290786324919_574288590_n.jpg
 
That's a cool way to go. How do you like it so far? How many gigs have you done that way?
I did an all digital set up a couple of times with a previous band, but didn't stick with it.
If you guys like it and it works for you, setup time and ease of use can be nice.

Are you using in ears monitoring as well? That's the next step if you aren't doing it already.
I would say the in ears makes a BIG difference in whether things sounds good to you on stage. The speakers are fine, but in ears will kill any monitor.
 
How do you like it so far?
How many gigs have you done that way?


It's been a learning process, there isn't much info online (reference, opinions, walk thrus) about running a digital / acoustic drum set thru a PA live, and using the pa so that the entire band can hear the drums.

All 3 of our 2014 shows have been done this way (picture).


Are you using in ears monitoring as well?
That's the next step if you aren't doing it already.


No, we're using two 1x15's and one 1x18 for "on stage monitering". Everyone (the band: vox, bass, guitars, kick, toms, snare) plugs into our PA and from our PA we go to the Bar/Venue/Hall F.O.H. (mixer aka their PA)

AxeFx's, QSC Towers and Subs, Line 6 Stagescape m20d <-next set up, maybe next summer

I have a small studio in which I record bands for a living (I'm poor lol); in there the band practices. When we practice, I'm in the control room with the bassist listening back on the monitors (some times in ear), the drummer is in the tracking room and the vocals (is also the other guitarist) is in the "other room". They both use in ear's.


@GtarLover, the subwoofer makes all the difference in the world for our drummer. We keep the sub right next to him so he can really feel the kick and toms thump.



Here's some more back story on our set up if anyone's interested.

Since May 15th (2013) me and the other guitarist (also singer) in the band started using our PA (pwrd mixer and speakers / from mix to FOH) as "cabs" / reference because we both were using HD500's. Before that it was a Blackstar HT Stage 60 and a Mesa 2x12 TOV.

At first I thought it (HD500's) sounded pretty good because we received a ton of complements that first show, and every show that has followed we seem to get complements on our tone. Then I a/b'd my 2x12 TOV with my tone from my HD500 (thru our PA), and found it to be lacking a lot (Maybe round aug '13). So I've spent months learning and trying new things (on going), and all the while still playing shows with our PA and our HD500's.

With 2014 approaching, we decided to upgrade our set up so we could include the vocals and bass thru our PA (to our mixer then to front of house), while still including the guitars. It was decided to not drop 3.5 grand on a new setup. QSC ks153 tops and 181 sub was "our dream setup". With a show coming up in 3 days (in January '14), I realized we could have been using a sub with our existing set the whole time we'd been running it. The day before the show we gather up the money and bought the subwoofer.

We tried running the Digital/Acoustic hybrid set up at our last show in Dec '13, but some wise guy (me) forgot the power cable for the drum brain. We needed up using the house kick and toms, thank god they had something. lol
 
Badronald":ecooiard said:
It seems Mr. Cash doesn't approve. ;)

Are you kidding me!? That jerk was yelling obscenities at the band all night long!

:lol: :LOL:
 
Also, I would rather not go back to a regular set up. I prefer that I get to control our mix. The sound person gets two 1/4" cables (mono our mixer has no head phones out), is told to set everything to flat or unity on both channels and they control the over all level that gets played thru F.O.H.

Setup: A lot is done before we go on. It's about 4-6 minutes to get on stage and set up (really just connecting cables) and about 3 minutes to kinda break down and get off stage.

Break down: We take everything apart off stage as to not waste time for the other bands. All the cables are thrown into one bin and get sort out later. That REALLY cuts down on time. I think there's 22 cables to connect or something like that (can't remember right now), but everyone does their part and it's all done within two minutes top.

The amount of gear we take is so little compared to what we used to take (full kit, two 2x12, bass tower) to shows. The best part of all, what we've heard at the three shows we've played (like this), the toms and kick sound incredible. They can feel, hear the punch, also the kick has a very clear sound and the toms are just as audible and powerful. A few different drummers (different shows) have said they liked how they could hear the toms and laughed. I know what they mean. haha
 
My corporate band does this.

I use:
Digitech RP1000
Alto 10" Powered Wedge

Drummer Uses:
Roland TD10 - Like this one (Not his kit but same model)

1275059985_96513893_1-Pictures-of--Roland-TD-10-V-Series-Kit-with-V-Cymbals-1275059985.jpg


Bass player (when we use one) runs the Boss Bass GT unit

Keyboard player runs direct.

We all have powered wedges for reference on stage. Doesn't feel as good as rocking my tube gear but I can't complain. Super fast load in and set up times.
 
With all the advances in technology, an all digital set-up is really possible.
The quick set-up and quick tear down is a HUGE plus as well.

When we did it, we were "THE" band, no one else before or after, so we had time on both ends.
Still, quicker is always better...

The only issue I see is YOU are regulating the volume for everything, without the benefit of a sound man.
Since you are just running the outs from your board, YOU have to make sure levels are correct, a sound man can't adjust, even if he wanted to help.
That's a bit of pressure on you to adjust everything without help and could be challenging on the fly during a gig.

Other than that, sounds super cool. I have an Axe FX and would not hesitate for a minute, if we were going to run that way.
If you can grab one, I highly recommend it...and with a new model coming soon, you will probably find some good deals around.
The other excellent option is the Kemper, which is also very sweet.

Would enjoy hearing updates and where you end up happy with the whole rig. Great job.
 
JerEvil":240jv5lm said:
My corporate band does this.

I use:
Digitech RP1000
Alto 10" Powered Wedge

Drummer Uses:
Roland TD10 - Like this one (Not his kit but same model)

http://images02.olx-st.com/ui/6/41/93/1275059985_96513893_1-Pictures-of--Roland-TD-10-V-Series-Kit-with-V-Cymbals-1275059985.jpg[img]

Bass player (when we use one) runs the Boss Bass GT unit

Keyboard player runs direct.

We all have powered wedges for reference on stage. Doesn't feel as good as rocking my tube gear but I can't complain. Super fast load in and set up times.[/quote]

IMO the feel comes back (a little) with the sub, there's a fullness there that's just not with out it. The tops seem to work A LOT more efficient with the lows going to the sub.

We almost went with powered speakers but then you have to plug them in, that's a huge problem. What wedges were you all using?

We won't go all digital for a while as the snare and cymbals (digital) aren't "there" yet. Our drummer is a power hitter so the snare and cymbals have to be acoustic.
 
GtarLover":38kceea6 said:
With all the advances in technology, an all digital set-up is really possible.
The quick set-up and quick tear down is a HUGE plus as well.

When we did it, we were "THE" band, no one else before or after, so we had time on both ends.
Still, quicker is always better...

The only issue I see is YOU are regulating the volume for everything, without the benefit of a sound man.
Since you are just running the outs from your board, YOU have to make sure levels are correct, a sound man can't adjust, even if he wanted to help.
That's a bit of pressure on you to adjust everything without help and could be challenging on the fly during a gig.

Other than that, sounds super cool. I have an Axe FX and would not hesitate for a minute, if we were going to run that way.
If you can grab one, I highly recommend it...and with a new model coming soon, you will probably find some good deals around.
The other excellent option is the Kemper, which is also very sweet.

Would enjoy hearing updates and where you end up happy with the whole rig. Great job.

We can sound check and get a good mix within a minute or two now. The first show we did as a dry run, and learned the hard way (the point your brought up), but by our 2nd show we practiced setting up (with mixing/sound checking) and breaking a down. We also check the mix before we pack up and then adjust at the show, seems to work out that way.

I stand in front of the band and tell the singer what to raise or lower, for the mix. It's a two man job for sure, but I'm the one who gets the say in the mix. <-more than anything the rest of the band trusts me and it's one of "to-do's" when setting up.

The goal, get some AxeFX's and use our HD500's as controls :rock:

I'll update or make a new post if we have any updates to our set up. Thank for the interest.
 
PBGas":2iiahsab said:
Looks like a quick and dirty setup. We'll done!

Thank you.



Also, I'd like to add, as a whole, the sound of the band is a lot more cohesive and "cd like". It has a touch of a produced sound which I'm guessing has to do with the HPF (eq trick) we have running on the tops.
 
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