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Author Topic: Analog consoles still in use on big tours?  (Read 7113 times)

John Sulek

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Re: Analog consoles still in use on big tours?
« Reply #20 on: May 20, 2018, 09:17:38 PM »

The Paragon was notoriously fickle about almost everything.  Most of the time the bottom cover was removed as soon as it was in place so various connectors could be re-seated.

For its day it set quite a standard, though.  Analog with the Uptown automation package; comp and gate on every input, 7 band Eqs (IIRC), dual monitor buses... it was quite the trick.

Rex Ray can probably tell us the history behind half the Paragon serial numbers...

The times I got to mix on one it was awesome, so many features way ahead of the rest of the pack. Reminded me a bit of the Harrisons in that way. We had a few of the channel strip rackmount units and they were great also...and not as finicky as the console by a long shot. :)
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Jason Glass

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Re: Analog consoles still in use on big tours?
« Reply #21 on: May 21, 2018, 12:55:28 AM »

The times I got to mix on one it was awesome, so many features way ahead of the rest of the pack. Reminded me a bit of the Harrisons in that way. We had a few of the channel strip rackmount units and they were great also...and not as finicky as the console by a long shot. :)
I carried an ATI P2 as MON console on Lonestar 2004 to '05. We had to do some kind of field repair on it every day. Not exaggerating at all. Every day. But, oh, my did it sound great when it worked! When it worked. It almost cost me my job on several occasions.

'Twasn't a welcomed distraction when the lead singer was "high maintenance", to put it kindly and mildly.

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk
« Last Edit: May 21, 2018, 12:59:33 AM by Jason Glass »
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Ivan Beaver

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Re: Analog consoles still in use on big tours?
« Reply #22 on: May 21, 2018, 08:35:13 AM »

The Paragon was notoriously fickle about almost everything. 
There was a local large sound company that I did reconing for.

EVERY time I went into their shop, one of the Paragons was taken apart.

It was good, when it worked.

What really "irks me", is the number of pro gear that is given a "free pass".

Things like "Yeah, they do that from time to time",  "But when it works it is great" and so forth.

But when a piece of Peavey gear that works all the time shows up, they will have NOTHING to do with it.  Many would rather have a piece of non working "pro gear" in a rack, than a totally working Peavey piece of kit.
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Tim McCulloch

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Re: Analog consoles still in use on big tours?
« Reply #23 on: May 21, 2018, 11:15:23 AM »

There was a local large sound company that I did reconing for.

EVERY time I went into their shop, one of the Paragons was taken apart.

It was good, when it worked.

What really "irks me", is the number of pro gear that is given a "free pass".

Things like "Yeah, they do that from time to time",  "But when it works it is great" and so forth.

But when a piece of Peavey gear that works all the time shows up, they will have NOTHING to do with it.  Many would rather have a piece of non working "pro gear" in a rack, than a totally working Peavey piece of kit.

Cue up the story about the BE who wanted a not-used Peavey item removed from the rack because it degraded the sound (even when not hooked up!).
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John Roberts {JR}

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Re: Analog consoles still in use on big tours?
« Reply #24 on: May 21, 2018, 11:33:19 AM »

Cue up the story about the BE who wanted a not-used Peavey item removed from the rack because it degraded the sound (even when not hooked up!).
For 15 years I walked around trade shows wearing a Peavey badge and there was a noticeable cooling after people in other booths read my badge.

Sometimes I would carry a pair of drumsticks around during my show walkabouts as a disguise and it was remarkable what people would tell me thinking I was only a drummer.  :o

JR 
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John Fruits

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Re: Analog consoles still in use on big tours?
« Reply #25 on: May 21, 2018, 11:56:25 AM »

Interesting how it seems that Peavey is the only name that still comes up in the sometimes fictitious world of riders, Used to be, they would also list Carvin, Behringer and proprietary devices. 
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Jonathan Johnson

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Re: Analog consoles still in use on big tours?
« Reply #26 on: May 21, 2018, 12:32:31 PM »

...But when a piece of Peavey gear that works all the time shows up, they will have NOTHING to do with it.  Many would rather have a piece of non working "pro gear" in a rack, than a totally working Peavey piece of kit.

There was a time when I though Peavey was junk. But that was when I was in the audience, before I got interested in actually running sound. And, what I discovered was, the reason I thought it was junk was because the people running it (mostly high school students and staff) had no idea how to run sound so it always sounded like crap (*bad gain structure*). Or, it was a seriously abused piece of equipment (that still worked!) so it looked like crap. Or the people playing through it were total amateurs so they sounded like crap, regardless of the sound system.

But it's not the sound guy's name plastered across the front of the speaker stack, it's "PEAVEY." So Peavey gets labeled as "crap."

How many other people are there who have a disdain for Peavey but have never actually used it themselves?
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Dave Pluke

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Re: Analog consoles still in use on big tours?
« Reply #27 on: May 21, 2018, 02:37:53 PM »

How many other people are there who have a disdain for Peavey but have never actually used it themselves?

Fair question.

Back when I was touring the frozen tundra, we had a Mark IV 24 channel mixer and a combination of CS800's & CS400's.  That stuff never let us down - even after -40F truck rides.

IMHO the gaudy logo and aluminum trim strips should have been jettisoned much sooner.  Some of that has a lingering effect.

Saw some very nice speakers for the House of Worship market in the Peavey booth at Nashville NAMM.  I was surprised they weren't further along in the Digital Mixer development, but maybe that's what the Crest Audio acquisition was all about?

Dave
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Tim McCulloch

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Re: Analog consoles still in use on big tours?
« Reply #28 on: May 21, 2018, 03:45:48 PM »

Fair question.

Back when I was touring the frozen tundra, we had a Mark IV 24 channel mixer and a combination of CS800's & CS400's.  That stuff never let us down - even after -40F truck rides.

IMHO the gaudy logo and aluminum trim strips should have been jettisoned much sooner.  Some of that has a lingering effect.

Saw some very nice speakers for the House of Worship market in the Peavey booth at Nashville NAMM.  I was surprised they weren't further along in the Digital Mixer development, but maybe that's what the Crest Audio acquisition was all about?

Dave

Yeah, branding was/is controlled personally by Hartley Peavey.  He liked the original lightning bolt logo and that ended any discussions, I'm told.

JR was a big part of the mixer dept and among other things gave us most of the AMR mixers and the Mark VIII.  The Mark VIII was really a nice sounding desk with a very good EQ section and could have given Soundcraft a run for the money.  The downside to it?  It really, really didn't like riding in a truck (much like the $$$$ ATI Paragon consoles).  We sold our MK VIII to a recordist in SW MO who used it to record tracks and do the headphone mixes.  Not sure it they still have it or if it found another home.

As for digital mixers, JR probably has the answers up to the time he parted ways.

Lots of Peavey bashing from folks who've only heard it was "bad"?  Sure.

Jonathan Johnson has a good list to which I'll add this:  Peavey made it possible for inexperienced folks to play deeper than they had the chops for - the gear might have been up to the gig but the owners were not.  If a new-ish provider had a majority Peavey system it usually meant the needed experience and knowledge to pull off the show or event simply wasn't there.  So the "no Peavey" was, at some point, more about the folks who owned it than it was about the gear itself.

I too owned a MK IV-24 and when I bought it new, my other option was a Soundcraft 200B.  I really wanted the Soundcraft but the useful feature set of the MK IV eclipsed the 200B.  Not sure how many gigs that mixer did but it was one of my best investments, I think.
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Brian Bolly

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Re: Analog consoles still in use on big tours?
« Reply #29 on: May 21, 2018, 04:07:51 PM »

Last time Lee Brice was through these parts he was going through a Paragon

I think that may be Wayne Pauley's personal console he has out with Lee. 

Dierks used to be on a PM5000 at FOH when that was a VER account.  I know Pugs has switched back to digital on an S6L now, and I think they're back with Clair.

Kevin still has Brad Paisley on the H1000 out front.  I think I remember Kevin telling the story that he uncrated that desk when it was brand new and that's the only artist that it's ever been with.

Somebody already mentioned Green Day and Eric Church. 

Elvis Costello was on an XL4 last time I saw him, but it's been a few years.

To the OP - there are still some artists, but it's few and far between.
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Re: Analog consoles still in use on big tours?
« Reply #29 on: May 21, 2018, 04:07:51 PM »


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