Denny Turner
From:
Oahu, Hawaii USA
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Posted 23 Mar 2005 10:40 pm |
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Personal instrument amp, monitor and processing set-ups; ...and serving multiple instruments:
Initially motivated by age, lumbar-back and body getting older; Over the last 10 years or-so I have become more and more fond of using small combo amps as my monitor and signal processor ...providing me the sound I like ...and then sending their line out to 2 small satellite combo-amps ...one on each side of the stage where the other pickers on each side of the stage can set my volume and tone balance to their respective side. That way THEY can turn me down for balance on each side of the stage rather than turning themselves up; And with my monitor / processor set close to me, it can be set to a lower volume I can hear quite well, set to the sounds / confidence I like, and it's volume in combination with the satellite sound fields provides a louder out-front volume, balanced for / by the other musicians stage L/R and provides stereo for stereo effects. I can also bump my monitor / processor volume up or down for my own ear's "stage"-mix perspective without upsetting the stage balance L or R. A bass extension cabinet (JBL K140 loaded Boyer reflex is my preference) works well to set the monitor / processor on so the monitor / processor is close to my ears and provides a bass field that doesn't have to be carried so much in the satellites that could otherwise also inject unneccessary sound "competition" with the other Musicians. The bass extension cabinet also affords that speaker & cabinet in addition to the monitor / processor's for better speaker tone loads, separation, coupling, etc. The cabinet's bass field is omni directional and will adequately permeate the whole stage for psychological tone confidence for the whole band in the stage mix ...and the satellites of course have their own tone controls for reinforcing whatever tone settings the other Musicians stage L/R might desire and are actually better to hear than me from their stage L/R perspectives, which will not upset the overall tone afforded by my monitor / processor and extension bass cab. It's amazing how much sound pressure and quality can be exerted by a 35 watt monitor / processor and 2 15 watt satellites! ...And such schemes don't screw up the PA / monitor mix in a larger Sound Man / crew setting where smaller amps and lower stage volumes actually help them in most cases. An example of what I might use in a scheme is a 15 to 35 watt amp (or larger if needed) on top of a bass extension cab for monitor ...sometimes 2 or more monitor / processor amps if I desire a radically different tone for different multiple instruments (such as a tele / lap steel / acoustic-electric / etc.), ...a small mixer (stereo provides better flexibility) for either input or output line-signal mixing that might be needed in the scheme before or after the monitor(s) / processor(s), ...usually A/B foot swithing, ...and Danelectro Nifty 50's or other similar small amps as satellites on both sides of the stage (they are easy and unintrusive to set-up at ear height or any placement ...on top of someone else's amp for example). The reason for a satellite often on my own side of the stage is again so that I can set my own monitor / processing close to my ears and let others on my side reinforce the lower monitor / processor volume as they might desire. ALTHOUGH, a rig might be as simple as 1 small monitor / processor amp sending it's line out to another small satellite on the other side of the stage. Sitting down with a piece of paper and pencil and drawing out various schemes goes a long way in realizing how well such schemes can work and for what different applications / reasons.
Aloha,
DT~
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