So here is our first practice this season. We’re an 80’s metal tribute band. Shows are already booked at a couple different fine biker establishments during this years bike week in Laconia.
This is our first recorded practice where the bass guitar and kick drum are going through their own subs so they are more distinct in the mix. More tweaking to do but it’s a decent start.
We’re just happy Covid’s let up a bit and finally we can do this. Laconia in June, Daytona in March.
Oh, this is also the first recording with everything hooked up properly. I have 4 subs for my bass and the kick drum alone. 4k watts, it sounds like a cannon.
Here’s Quiet Riot’s ‘Metal Health’ and Accept’s “Ball to the Wall”.
Hey John,
What better way to kill-o-watt than with a few Marshalls! I think you guys are sounding tighter and tighter as things progress. I take it this recording is coming off the mix console? However it was done, it sounds pretty stinking good to my ears.
I am curious on your signal chain. I take it your bass is going through the Marshall cabs? If that is the case, what are the amps you are using? I see a Marshall head on your side. Is that a bass amp?
I would love to be out east and catch you guys in a place like Daytona! That is a great place to land a gig!
Our resident bassist reminding us all how to really rock
That’s a tight unit you have there, John. I think I remember you mentioning you might do a couple of small gigs in your purpose-built practice space. Are you going to go down that road.
How many songs will your set contain?
Please tell me you’re going to ride onto the stage on a hog!
The big white marshall’s you see aren’t providing anything sonically to the audience. While they do work, the guitarist and I are using them more as monitors. Then the singer has his two little monitors in front of him and there is one behind the drummer for him.
The sound you hear is going through a board and coming from the PA. There are two sets of PA speakers (two on each side) and FOUR bass subs for the drummer’s kick and my bass.
Total, if we want to hook everything up, we can push about 200,000 watts easy. There are no less than 10 power amps hooked up. I run through a paired set of Marshall heads, the one you see on top of my amps isn’t hooked up. The guitarist worked all his life so we could to enjoy his toys. I will get a video of the whole behind the scenes set up next practice.
We played “Born to Be Wild” at an outdoor show at a biker bar and they revved their engines the whole song. Was the coolest audience interaction I ever witnessed.
Well,
200k Watts is sometimes called sound reinforcement. I would call it sound enforcement! I don’t think it is overkill, as you guys are ready for the big time, doing a stadium or large hall. I guess Daytona would be enough area to spread out and blast the place full bore!
All the best as you guys journey down the rock-y road!
If you look near the guitarist you’ll see a little black Marshall amp off to the side sitting on the floor near the stool. Mavis (the guitarist) is going through that little mic’d Marshall for his tone during the solos. That little amp is mic’d and then amped and then sent through the PA.
All the amps on stage are more for visuals. There was more to this type of music than just the music back then, the image was important. When you went to see Iron Maiden, Quiet Riot, or other rock acts, the image of being loud and powerful was a part of what made you seem even louder than you already were. They had to live up to those album covers.
When KISS first started touring in the 70’s they couldn’t afford the actual amps so they would put the cabinets on stage with no speakers in them. Image means a lot in metal. Hell, it can even make up for some shoddy playing if your obnoxious enough. lol
Kyllswitch is trying to capture that over-the top image the bands we pay tribute to focused on. We get lots of people come up and talk about the way our stage looks and how it reminds them of the concerts they went to when they were young.
But yeah, Mavis’s guitar tone during solos… little mic’d amp in the corner.
Reminds me of a picture I saw a while ago from the big stadium gig with little amps and consoles behind big dummy Marshall “amps” couldn’t find it but here is the closest I found:
couldn’t find it but here is the closest I found:
