DaytonaRik

A different gig for me - running my HK/X32 rig for a 5 piece band at a private function. Had a weird cross-talk issue between 2 guitar inputs but instead of burning time trying to fix it I just moved a guitar to a different channel and all is good. Other than that a pretty straight forward gig - nice and early arrival and load in, sound check took 30 mins and that was it until showtime. Single 1hr 45 min set, then an hour to break down and load the van - I'll take that!

There are at least 2 companies in the UK doing this @Doctor J - Jobeky and Diamond Drums. There are also Dig Drums in Poland as well as Drum Tec in Germany, plus these and other companies offer internal triggers to convert acoustic kits into e-Kits. I spent an age looking for a 5 x rack tom kit to convert and gave up so ordered my Jobeky kit and a few days a later a 5 x rack tom Sonor 3003 set popped up - typical! Ah well - I'm not unhappy or disappointed with my Jobeky kit though

The toms are all undersized by a couple of inches - more like fusion sizes - so the kick looks bigger but it's a 22x18 so nothing too massive.

They are actual wooden shells - but as to their musical virtue I can't comment. The heads are mesh so prevent any resonance within the shells themselves...just a boink/doink! I dare say that they could take a traditional skin - it would interesting to see how they actually sounded/functioned as an acoustic drum Thanks! It was definitely a financial splurge for the hardware but I figured that I can't take it with me 😉 That's before I even think about adding on the MacBook to run it all!!!! 🤣 Drums are a relatively new instrument for me (18 months) and I'm hoping to progress to live playing, but decided that I had to come away from the consumer/prosumer level gear to really progress in a more meaningful way. This is really like sitting behind a full size kit - basically because it is! You are correct in your assumption re the eDRUMin modules - they are MIDI conduits to the VST and come with a superb piece of software to calibrate your triggers - be they cymbals or shells - and set rim and rimshot thresholds, bell/edge/bow thresholds on the ride etc,

Having started with an Alesis Crimson II kit to begin my drumming journey the time has come to progress to something a little more substantial. After a 3 month wait, my Jobeky Compact Pro kit arrived this week and very nice it is too. Finished in UK Drum Wrap's ultraMarine fade burl digital wrap with black hardware, the kit comprises 8"x6", 10"x7", 12"x8", 13"x10" and 14"x12" rack toms with a 22"x18" kick. I already owned a 13"x3.5" Jobeky piccolo snare, and ordered a set of low volume cymbals to finish the kit off - 10" splash, 16" and 18" crashes, 16" china and a 20" ride. Everything is mounted onto a 3 sided Gibraltar rack Such an unbelievable difference sitting behind a full size kit instead of my little e-kit! Worth the expense and the 3 month wait All triggers are running through eDRUMin interfaces and triggering Slate Drums 5.5 running inside Reaper.

With IEMs I figure that you get that you pay for - as a vocalist as well as a bass player I wanted something that fitted perfectly as attenuation was an important choice given that the IEMs should prevent external audio leaking into your IEM mix. We're also just a pub band/weekend warriors also but using IEMs has prevented further hearing damage given the close proximity to cymbals, guitarist insisting on playing with 4x12 cabs at stupid levels etc. 5 years down the line they're still as good as new although they may need a reshell in the near future as your ears don't stop growing so the fit changes. The X32 is a great desk in whatever format but the rack is a 3U piece of genius. We use it with an 8 port stage box downstage for wedges, vocal mics and FoH send plus bass input/output, and a 16 port stagebox upstage for backline, drums and wireless vocal mics. The stage boxes connect over a single RJ45 cable so much shorter more manageable cable runs Like you, I'm not an FX user per se but to my ears the preamp section of the Valeton just hit the spot - the additional chorus is a nice touch on some tracks (G'n'R, Slash, Velvet Revolver) and the envelop filter get's an outing on Play That Funky Music

I ditched the Ashdown head and cabs this year in favour of a Valeton Dapper Bass pedal which I tried back-to-back with the SansAmp Bass Flyrig v2 and tbh I just preferred the Valeton - it is just more 'me' which straight is ahead rock, a touch of chorus now and again. IEMs are a set of 64 Audio A3 Customs which are quite frankly amazing running over an older but serviceable DBTechnologies IEM2000T stereo system. As a band we use a Behringer X32 rack which has plenty of sends and have a mixture of wired IEMS (drums), wireless IEMS (myself) and stage monitors (2 x guitarists and lead vocals) but one of the guitarists is very interested in going down the IEM route, and is even contemplating going 'silent' as well.

Just the Shadhowhills and Oberhausen for me but others may benefit from a few new toys!

Great bundle from Plugin Alliance for free - https://www.plugin-alliance.com/en/blog/blogpost/items/introducing-soundwide.html Details on the page, plug ins include , Ampeg SVT, Brainworx Master Desk, Shadowhills Compressor and a bunch more FOC!

Never had an issue with the weight of any bass...although maybe playing a bloody great hefty Les Paul for years taught me what having a heavy instrument was REALLY like!

I use wireless not because of the distance but mostly to keep myself away from some of the horrible electrics in venues!

It's a struggle getting it all in and set up! At least I have crib sheets so that each band member can take care of their own mics, know what they need to plug in where etc. Time between arriving and sound check slips through the hands like sand!!!! Digital stage boxes - one upstage, one downstage - makes cable runs much easier though

I have no idea where to start...I own the band Pa/lighting so all that comes with me!!! Subs (if needed) Tops Stand bags Mic stand bag Audio cable trunk - everything fro, 1ft lot 60ft XLRs, various length 1/4" instrument cables, speaking cables Power cable trunk - extension cables, 6 way sockets, 13 amp power cables Stage boxes Mixer rack - self contained with a rack-router, IEM TX, wireless mic RX, X32 Rack and RJ45 network cables for stage boxes Spare Mixer (XR18) Wedges/drummers IEM pack Mic case LED par cans LED Mini Spot case iPads 2 x basses Guitar rack DI Pedal Spare Ashdown mini head Wireless rack Think that's about it! Yes, I have a van!

I went for the DiMarzio clip locks ages ago and they are now on all my gigging basses. It's bolted to your guitar - it's not going anywhere!!!! https://www.dimarzio.com/straps/cliplock

Oddly enough, I really like the fact with some of our tracks we remain as true as we can to the version that we're playing...we just choose different arrangements sometimes e.g. Gothard's version of Hush, Muse's take on Feeling Good, Taking Dawn's take on The Chain - but they offer their own challenge to get right. I'm not one for copying an exact bass tone as they're all rock tracks with pretty much a similar bass through each with the odd exception that can be managed by tone/volume adjustments. My old original's band rehearsed relentlessly to make sure that we *DID* play everything exactly the same way as we recorded it each time.

I started my stringed journey as a guitarist and still have 4 kicking around - an SG, a Patrick Eggle Berlin Pro Elite, a BC Rich Assassin super-strat and a Godin Telecoustic. Lockdown saw me start drumming and I've not stopped - the original Alesis Crimson II kit has been augmented with a Jobeky 13" hybrid piccolo snare trigger, a 3rd 8" pad, the original 12" snare pad moved to the rack as a 5th floor tom, the electronic hi-hats have been replaced by some LV hats from Diamond Drums along with a GoEdrum controller and operated by a Gear4Music remote cable hi-hat pedal, and an additional dual zone ride is configured as a china. Also added a Roc'n'Soc throne and it's the most comfortable thing I've sat on! The latest addition has been an eDrumin10 interface which will replace the Crimson II module and link everything to Slate Drums 5 running under Gig Performer on a Mac Mini. I'll stick with this setup for the rest of '22 and look to moving to more LV cymbals and maybe a Jobeky kit in '23 A few shots of the development of the kit from it's original standard format, along with some pics of the 'trick' bits

I've always said that the once the bad starts, in the punters mind they're listening to the memories of the track, and not what is actually being presented to the brain via the ears! Whilst to the punter the 'close enough' works, for professional pride I do like pulling apart tracks and getting the nuances of various bass parts just right! I'm currently revisiting Velvet Revolver's Fall To Pieces and trying to work out just what Duff is playing at certain points is a fun challenge.

Not with regards to live playing, but when it comes to recording then I've found that a combination of clean DI, amp (real or simulated) and a gnarly Tech21 style driven tone really works for rock stuff - isolated it's horrible but in a mix it's lovely!

Not expensive either - https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B08T9VVMQY/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

As promised, some shots of the silicon cable guides in place. I'll get a 9v supply with a 90 degree connector too at some point

Our gigs are just run of the mill pub affairs - sometimes you get a rogue foot but I usually have a mic stand between myself and the punters, and the Dapper will live at the base of the mic stand. Once I fit the silicon cable tidies I'll post up another photo

The XLR is parallel to the bottom of the unit with a sloping top. Agree that the PSU cable really needs a holder/restraint but I have some some adhesive silicon cable clips that will keep everything out of harms way.

Week 2 - I'm out! Valeton Dapper Bass pedal was the culprit!

After trying the Tech21 Fly Bass Rig against the Valeton Dapper Bass I decided to go for the latter. The pedal will be used as a replacement for my Ashdown ABM500 gear, running from the DI output into the PA (18s and 15+horns) so the amp and compressor will be pretty much a set and forget kinda thing. The chorus will come in useful for the odd track, as will the octaver, but I'm surprised by the sounds available from the Dirty Q effect...I'm sure I could shoehorn this in somewhere. Overall a very useable bit of kit for not much money at all, and more that gave the Tech21 unit (at nearly three times the price) a run for it's money.

There are, of course, alternatives 😉 Whilst these are fake Vox guitar cabs I'm sure he would happily make a couple of Ampeg 8 x 10 cabs with matching heads whilst you run a Tech21, Helix, mic'd small cab/combo or similar into the PA! On serious note - I have an Ashdown ABM head that I use with an Ashdown 1 x 15 Neo, an Ashdown 2 x 10 Neo or both as the gig dictates but TBH I'd rather take either a Tech21 Fly Bass rig or the SH1 for gigs...something to look at for 2022