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[Simon Coffin]

Hi folks,

Happy New Year to all of you.

I'm curious how everybody's New Years eve gigs went.  What you were doing, where you were, what went right, what went wrong blah blah blah...  I always like to hear about other gigs as there is always an interesting idea, a new approach, or at minimum an amusing incident    in there somewhere.

As for me, my band was booked in Garmisch in southern Bavaria, right up against the Austrian border at the recently completed Edelweiss hotel   which belongs to the US Armed Forces Rec. Center. http://www.edelweisslodgeandresort.com/  We were playing in one of the facilities restaurants called Zuggy's Base camp, think wood everywhere, old skis and mountaineering hardware on the wall.  This is the Edelweiss's first New Years party so there was some pressure on us to make it work.

We setup on Friday around 1pm and had lots of time to sound check and tune.  At my last gig (a Christmas party I DJ'ed) I noticed that one of my subs (JBL MP418p) was pretty feeble and was clipping its inputs.  Now it was really dead.    After some mental gymnastics, I soldered up a pair of Speakercon panel connectors to about 3 feet of 16awg wire and bypassed both subs internal amps and drove them with a PLX3402 that was assigned to the mids.  (Tops now in passive mode being driven by a PLX3002)  This amused me in hind sight as I had just spent a bunch of time setting up my tops for biamp, and it was all for nothing.  I must say though, that the PLX could push the snot out of those subs, the kick had never carried that much energy before.  I'm not sure if the internal Crown amps are not up to the job or both are in need of a good warranty repair.  Either way, they are going to the local repair facility once/if I can talk to the JBL Warranty folks.  (The subs are American 120v models that are technically out of warranty since they are outside of the US even though they are still within the three year period.)

The gig itself was a hoot for the band.  We are finally enjoying playing together and I think the crowd picked up on that energy.    I did have a problem after midnight (when the crowd had diminished a good deal causing a room acoustic change) when my Sabine feedback suppressor started acting up a bit.  I had it on the mains between the mixer (Yammie 01v96) and the crossover (Behringer Ultradrive) but the signal level there is lower than it wants to see.  Looks like once it filled up its dynamic filters, it wouldn't release them until a really bad ring pops up.  So it happily let some low level ringing go on for a while until I could make a dive for the mixer (mixing from stage) and toss a notch filter in.  Next time I'll probably use the Sabine as an insert as I typically only have problems with the lead singers mic (he needs lots of gain) or maybe a drum overhead.

The sleeping arrangements, in contrast to the nice new Edelweiss, were pretty minimalistic.  Since every hotel room in town was booked, we ended up renting a very rustic (read, rundown) mountain lodge buried up in the woods just outside of town, sleeping on bunk beds in sleeping bags and sharing communal showers.  On Saturday evening, after sleeping in and recuperating from the festivities, (Clear mountain air is great) we made a big meal of pasta and salad, built a huge fire and drank a case of excellent Italian red wine, while passing around a guitar into the wea hours to totter off to bunk bed bliss.

Now its back to the day job and I still have to unpacked the van.  

ciao
Simon

[Rufus Crowder]

Sounds like you had fun.  Interested to know what you are using for tops with your JBL MP418 subs?  I am building a small system and want to purchase some small subs.  I have the MP 415 tops but don't know if I should buy some JBL MP418 subs or the JBL SRX 718S subs or something by Yorkville.  Do your subs perform well with a lot of kick and bass sent through them?

[Lee Patzius]

Hi Simon,

Yeah my truck is still loaded with the new years gig stuff too, as I headed off to a rainy hard Monday at my day job. But I did get the Christmas lights down from my house Saturday Jan 1. That's a big plus!

I also had the pleasure of playing a Christmas gig DEC 25 as a simple guitar/drum duo with lots of children singing carols, and a hard rock'n New Years Eve gig, but these were both private (but elegant) house parties.

Actually nothing too crazy, just having a great time jamming amongst a mix of some of the greatest musicians in St. Louis, lots of compromise, jamming, simplicity was the name of the game, and the requirement was... "BYOG" bring out your old used gear, and leave the expensive stuff home, because I knew it was going to be an all out guest musician's super jam, with at least 50 invited, and everyone sharing what's available. I knew I was NOT going to load out anything that night. It was an all nighter ending when the sun came up. Needless to say I left much earlier than that!

That resort in Germany looks beautiful! Great website. I like the pictures, mountains and music. Tube socks over the calves? Cool. I've never seen those before, but they look nice.

[Mike {AB} Butler]

Simon Coffin wrote on Mon, 03 January 2005 14:44

Hi folks, Happy New Year to all of you. I'm curious how everybody's New Years eve gigs went.  What you were doing, where you were, what went right, what went wrong blah blah blah...  I always like to hear about other gigs as there is always an interesting idea, a new approach, or at minimum an amusing incident    in there somewhere.

Simon,
Happy New Year to you as well. I did a briefcase gig this New Year's eve - a wedding. The hardest part was getting the setup together for the Minidisk recording setup for the video shoot - I'm Just glad for my "bag of tricks" at moments like these..   As far as eventful.. you don't want any "eventfuls" at a wedding. The reception was held in the same hall as the ceremony, so the guests sat at tables, and the ceremony took place in the middle of the hall. Two Wireless, 3 stand mics, and CD music. Should be an easy gig.
As far as the amusing incidents...
The bride kept changing her mind as to who was going to do the music - me or the DJ, and kept changing scripts. And she kicked everyone out of the hall so she could have "private words" with her party. Sheesh, woulda been nice to have the time to clean up, but hey, she's paying the bills.. Wedding went off without so much as a hitch, though. At the end, I hear that the groom was unhappy because there was an event that was supposed to take place at a particular spot, and that I had went "right through" to the next sequence. Funny, my script didn't show the event. Doh! Bride had redone them, and didn't put the updated corrected script on my desk... so they had to do a bit of improv..

But all in all, a good gig, done by 7:30, left the DJ to fend for himself, and went home in plenty of time to tip the glass with the family at midnight, and a wad of bills in my pocket..  

Simon Coffin wrote on Mon, 03 January 2005 14:44

I must say though, that the PLX could push the snot out of those subs, the kick had never carried that much energy before.  I'm not sure if the internal Crown amps are not up to the job or both are in need of a good warranty repair.  Either way, they are going to the local repair facility once/if I can talk to the JBL Warranty folks.  (The subs are American 120v models that are technically out of warranty since they are outside of the US even though they are still within the three year period.)

I was amazed at the PLX on subs the first time I tried it - that was 5 years ago. It amazes me the number of folks on this forum that state they don't like the PLX series on subs, as I have had great success. I realize they aren't huge power output monsters, but work well within their limits. And yes, I've had to run them in compromised situations at 2 ohms. Amazes me how much amp they really are.
Sorry to hear about your amps, though. I've never heard of an amp going out gradually like that. I wish you a speedy repair..

Simon Coffin wrote on Mon, 03 January 2005 14:44

The gig itself was a hoot for the band.  We are finally enjoying playing together and I think the crowd picked up on that energy.    I did have a problem after midnight (when the crowd had diminished a good deal causing a room acoustic change) when my Sabine feedback suppressor started acting up a bit.  I had it on the mains between the mixer (Yammie 01v96) and the crossover (Behringer Ultradrive) but the signal level there is lower than it wants to see.  Looks like once it filled up its dynamic filters, it wouldn't release them until a really bad ring pops up.  So it happily let some low level ringing go on for a while until I could make a dive for the mixer (mixing from stage) and toss a notch filter in.  Next time I'll probably use the Sabine as an insert as I typically only have problems with the lead singers mic (he needs lots of gain) or maybe a drum overhead.

I've seen that happen before (during soundcheck only, though), and it is interesting to watch the sabine bounce from feedback node to feedback node. OKAAYY, turn the fader down; that's all the gain we get! I usually try to put the sabine in the insert of the offending channel or subgroup. I don't like what it does on the mains mix.
Anyway, thanks for the story, and for letting me share mine..
Regards,

[James Turner]

New Years Day Gig.

Slight step in the right direction for my new company I did a Christian Gig in Westminster Central Hall, London.

In light of recent events the planed concerence was scraped and the event rewritten to reflect a new focus. This was taken up by a number of TV & radio stations and at least one national newspaper.

Any gig I'm involved in should recieve my best attention but the first time I've dealt with a strong media presence I felt a certain increased responsibility.

The gig went very well, very moving and an apreciated congregation. Sound was as it should be, invisible.


James

[geezer]

My band played the biggest club here in the Jamestown, NY (not saying much really).  Its a place called Shawbucks that holds about 400 people.  It was a great show and we had the place packed.  Unfortunately, we were plagued by gremlins.  First, we blew a Par 56 bulb.  Then our Yamaha 01v crapped out (I made a seperate thread about this.  Next, the video camera we were going to use started going crazy and became useless.  Finally, we blew power three times (which has never happened before).  But we came through and it was a great show for the crowd and the club.  For myself and our FOH guy, however, it was a nerve fraying experience.

[eric (e.t.) torgerson]

My 10pm-1am 4pc rock band by the pool gig got moved into the resort ballroom due to inclement weather (predicted flooding w/ high winds). The resort had turned the evenings entertainment over to the house pianist who hired a jazz band to play from 6pm-10pm and a rock band to go from 10pm - 1am. And a solo (w/ tracks) jazz sax player to cover the changeover & breaks. So my outdoor 10pm - 1am got 4 more hrs. added to the front end when the mgt closed the outdoor restraunt which was supposed to be the jazz bands venue. Of course there was no more $$ in the budget for the earlier start and I had to cxl the 7pm dinner resrevations w/ my wife. Anyway the jazz band during dinner kinda sucked but the seasoned rock band (Surf Jones) rocked a couple hundred people on the dance floor, ploughing bravely thru everyones requests. The waiters were happy and poured plenty of bubbly for everyone; guests, crashers, band widows & locals alike while the weather got steadily worse. The rain got thicker during loadout and drive home but we were safe & snuggly in bed by 5am. At 8am the phone rang (why did I answer?) and it was the Channel 8 News person begging and bribing me to go out and shoot video (something I have not done for 15 years) of the flood damage and problems. So we had some coffee and drove to the airport (15 mi.) while I shot video out the window w/ the Sony Handycam. I love getting gigs but sheesh; I like doing other stuff too. Peace & prosperity to all in '05 and beyond.

[Dan J Sullivan]

We Loaded in to the venue (Streatham Trinity baptist church, London) on the Thursday:

Kit included Midas XL4 FOH, and XL3 on mons.  all the normal outboard, distro etc, camco amp racks, 4 stacks of EAW 850. Finished at midnight on the thursday. Received a phone call 10am on the friday,  informaing us that the venue had just had a health and safety inspection and that both the desks had to go!! and that we would probably have to remove all of the kit.  Got to the venue about lunch time, to find that people at the venue had taken it upon themselves to move the 850's out into the foyer! How they didn't break there backs I don't know,  so lets just say none of us were in the best of moods,  it was then decidid that we were going to do the gig but the desks had to go, so the speakers were brought back in and we tipped both desks and stored them else where in the church.  We hired in a yamaha DM2000 as a replacement,  only to find later on in the day that there was a fault with it and it would not reset, so we ended up using the in house spirit live 24!!  The scale down in desks meant that we had to half the number of input channels as we used the full 48 on the XL4.
Also there was no room for any outboard next to the desk so we had to go without.
Next Job was rigging the 61" plasma's and Martin F8's in the outside marquees and the foyer.
The event came and more problems...the 6 Shure radio mics we had hired in, were not working properly despite working in sound check,  5 mins of fiddling later and still nothing so we had to tip out the radio kit, and run a multicore + 6 corded mics.
The room was completly packed out,  no Idea how they got around fire regs...and the ceiling fans weren't working properly so the temperature rose right up to 34 degrees celcius! not pleasant.
Thankfully with the exception of the start of the gig there were no major problems.

The whole event was being filmed for a DVD and as such had the fussy video crew who moaned the instant the moving lights did anything vaguely interesting....

All in all a bit of a nightmare gig.

[Simon Coffin]

Howdy,

I am running a pair of JBL srx4702 wedges on stands as my tops.  They were originally bought as monitors, but then we went to all powered wedges and IEMs.  The 85x85 horn is not ideal, but they seem to work in the small rooms that we typically play.

I think for the money, the MP418s subs are a pretty good deal.  (As one poster described in another thread, "They don't suck")  In general I like their sound, but sometimes I wish they had a bit more impact.  They have tons of output and will go as low as you want them to (great for bass guitar and keys), but I've never got a good chest thump out of them.  Its hard to tell if you could do better with something from Yorkville or one of the new SRX700 models.  There is a comparison in the LabSub board between a Yorkie and a Tuba24 sub which seems to indicate that subs are an either/or decision.  Some give you a good thump at the expense of extension or vice versa.  The thread may be useful reading for you.  There is also a whole different discussion between 15" and 18" subs that I won't go into.

I'm not sure I can recommend the MPro418sp powered versions as both of mine have died on me and based on my Furman AR-PRO, they need a snot load of current (15amps a piece!!!).  The PLX3402 that I jury rigged into them on Friday was just blinking the current lights even though I was hitting it pretty hard, whereas the MPros would have been pegging the 30amp rating at the same output.  (Admittedly, both of mine may have had a problem for a while which caused this excessive current draw, so YMMV.)  If you have a separate 16amp circuit for each, you are probably ok.  But at my level, power is always a question.

ciao
Simon

[Simon Coffin]

Hey Lee,

There is something to be said for a bunch of great musicians playing whatever music they feel like playing, combined with large quantities of booze.  Reminds me of my early days at the King of France Tavern in Annapolis, Md at their Open Mic nights.  There would always be an oddball bunch of locals playing stuff that you would never hear again.  Pretty amazing times.

Quote:

That resort in Germany looks beautiful! Great website. I like the pictures, mountains and music. Tube socks over the calves? Cool. I've never seen those before, but they look nice.

Yes, the knee socks are part of the traditional Bavarian outfit.  A bit odd at first, but I've grown used to German oddness after 9 years here.  Since the Edelweiss is an American run hotel, they are not so traditional as to require that the band wears Lederhosen and Durndels and knee socks.  But, I sense our day is coming.  Won't that just be a sight, an American Rock n Roll band looking like a bunch of Bavarian farmers.