| Author | Message | ||
| jazzyvee
Senior Member Username: jazzyvee Post Number: 1840 Registered: 6-2002 |
I don't know about you but many times when I'm playing a gig, I know my alembic sounds great on-stage but I often I wish I could also be in the crowd to hear what it sounds like from an audience perspective. Recordings from the desk aren't really the same as hearing it first hand. I have thought about lending my guitar or bass with back line to a trusted musician to play on one of their gigs so I can hear what it sounds like out front. I know it won't sound the same as when I play but I really just want to hear how one of my instruments sounds as a punter. The only one I've heard live apart from mine is Stanley Clarke and then one guy playing a spoiler at a blues festival in Canada. Have you done this and what did you think? or am I the only one who wants to be in two places at one time? Jazzyvee | ||
| dannobasso
Senior Member Username: dannobasso Post Number: 1198 Registered: 3-2004 |
I've heard others play my basses at jams and in a rehearsal but the sound was affected by their technique. The unforgiving electronics put their playing on blast as the kids say. So it was not a true test to my ears. I have plugged in Bose headphones to the jack and was very pleased with the sound. I'm always at a loss to know what the audience gets out of the whole performance. We get great reviews but I always wonder what others come away with. | ||
| lbpesq
Senior Member Username: lbpesq Post Number: 4307 Registered: 7-2004 |
Jazzyvee: Try a wireless. Walk out into the audience. Be cool! Bill, tgo | ||
| jet_powers
Senior Member Username: jet_powers Post Number: 486 Registered: 2-2003 |
I've found recordings usually tell me more than I really want to know! JP | ||
| dluxe
Member Username: dluxe Post Number: 57 Registered: 11-2009 |
Years ago (around late 1979) I was going to school at St. Andrews College in North Carolina. A band came to play there and I noticed right away during setup that the bass player had a long scale Series 1 bass. I asked about it and to my surprise he let me play it during sound check so he could hear how it sounded out front. The first thing I played was that little lick from "The Chain" and there was "that" tone. It was only the second time I'd seen an Alembic in person, but the first time ever to play one. I was one excited 18 year old! | ||
| gregduboc
Advanced Member Username: gregduboc Post Number: 311 Registered: 11-2008 |
My solution was the one Bill suggested. I also wondered how I sounded until one day during a rehearsal I had the vision: "I play wireless... I don't I get down there and hear myself?" It is a bit awkward at first, but it is a different experience... It kinda looked like there was a band playing, but I could find the bassist... Well, you get the idea! And honestly, the sound system was so good that I basically sounded really similar to the sound I was hearing on the stage.... I recommend it! Greg | ||
| edwin
Senior Member Username: edwin Post Number: 494 Registered: 5-2002 |
The wireless thing is fun, but it's amazing how short a distance you have to travel before the delay becomes an issue. I use to travel to the bar during sets with my wireless and hassle people at the bar who weren't paying attention. Eventually I stopped using a wireless because I couldn't handle the degradation of tone. | ||
| jazzyvee
Senior Member Username: jazzyvee Post Number: 1850 Registered: 6-2002 |
I do have a wireless and used if regularly in the 90's when I was playing guitar in a calypso band for getting out into the crowd to show them the dance moves. But back then I wasn't using an alembic and the venues were quite small. I have haven't used it much in recent years due to having to travel on a weight restriction for equipment when I was doing a lot of touring. I also have only used it for guitar. Yes it is frustrating to have to deal with the delay and the sound quality when using it away from the stage, but maybe I will try it out on soundcheck when the right opportunity presents itself. Actually mine is quite old now, I got it in 1992 and it's a Samson Concert Series II True Diversity rack mount so probably not the best quality. Jazzyvee | ||
| gregduboc
Advanced Member Username: gregduboc Post Number: 314 Registered: 11-2008 |
Honestly, I haven't experience that delay... Of course, I did not get far from the stage, but I think we are turning the discussion into a wireless system comparison. If you are a cable guy (as most of you here), just get yourself your longest cable, and set it up in a way you can get down to the audience during a soundcheck. I really recommend it! Jazzyvee, do try it. You can blame it on me if you end up disappointed, somehow!  Greg | ||
| edwin
Senior Member Username: edwin Post Number: 495 Registered: 5-2002 |
I guess it depends on the venues you are playing. However, when evaluating your tone from a distance, you do need to get out in the room as far as possible. In a bar, that might only be 20 feet, but in theaters, etc., you need a VERY long cable to get anywhere. The reason being is that low end doesn't develop until you are out pretty far in the room and if the PA is handling bulk of the signal, you need to get far away enough from the stage to get out of the area of the stage bleed. As far as the delay goes, let's round off the speed of sound to 1,000 ft/sec (It's actually around 1140 ft/sec depending on altitude, temp, barimetric pressure, etc). This means that by 30 feet out, you are dealing with a 30 ms. delay, which is where you would hear a discrete slap if you heard the signal right next to you and then off the stage. This is definitely more than enough to affect my timing with a drummer. In a decent size room, if you get 50 feet out, it gets really out of hand. OTOH, that's where you can actually start to hear the real tone of the bass out in the room. Funny aside: I used to see Albert Collins a bunch. He had this 100' cable on a big reel that he would use with his assistant to get out into the room and at one show I saw at Jonathan Swift's in Harvard Sq., he went all the way out to the street and regaled passers-by. A few years later, he started getting more notoriety and I saw him at Great Woods (now the Tweeter Ctr. or some such nonsense), and the whole 100' reel barely got him to the side of the stage and halfway down the steps to the front row! | ||
| gregduboc
Advanced Member Username: gregduboc Post Number: 316 Registered: 11-2008 |
Edwin, I see your point. And completely agree with it. I was being superficial on my answer. Thanks for the technical stuff. Greg | ||
| jack
Advanced Member Username: jack Post Number: 247 Registered: 11-2005 |
Edwin's post highlights what I noticed when a friend's band was playing before us and his bass went bust. I got to hear him play my Epic from out in the crowd and it was a much more pleasant low-mid sound, a rounder sound if that makes sense, than what I was used to on stage. I'd always boosted the bass on stage b/c the bass sounded trebly, but cut through the stage sound (I mean what I was hearing on stage) good. I just figured the sound guys knew what they were doing, and it turned out they were right. Out in the crowd the bass was fuller, richer, rounder. A blast to hear (and see) your bass onstage. (Message edited by jack on February 10, 2010) | ||
| paulman
Senior Member Username: paulman Post Number: 412 Registered: 2-2005 |
There is a good example of Albert Collin's "long" cable in the Festival Express movie, fantastic to watch!  | ||
| benson_murrensun
Advanced Member Username: benson_murrensun Post Number: 225 Registered: 5-2007 |
I use a good cable plugged into an Avalon U-5, tone control off, and listen through good headphones. Of course, that eliminates the room's effect on the sound... but it's what the instrument really sounds like. | ||
| lbpesq
Senior Member Username: lbpesq Post Number: 4314 Registered: 7-2004 |
Wasn't it Buddy Guy using the long cable in Festival Express? Bill, tgo | ||
| krystoof
Member Username: krystoof Post Number: 74 Registered: 1-2009 |
I used to see Stanley Clarke in different festivals in the 90's (or late 80's, maybe), using a loooong cable, and going in the crowd. The other thing is maybe to record your gig with a stereo recorder, like the Zoom H2 or H4. The sound is very good. If you have a chance, try it! XToF | ||
| cozmik_cowboy
Senior Member Username: cozmik_cowboy Post Number: 656 Registered: 10-2006 |
Yes, it was Buddy in Festival Express. I've seen him playing in the middle of Lincoln Avenue in front of Wise Fools Pub in Chicago. Peter | ||
| paulman
Senior Member Username: paulman Post Number: 413 Registered: 2-2005 |
Corrected I am, Buddy Guy! Sheesh...what was I thinking? Still, that's a looooong cable run!  | ||
| grankin
New Username: grankin Post Number: 6 Registered: 11-2006 |
I've loaned my Series I to friends at jams. Then I have to pry it out of their hands. |
