Gig Report (Yamaha, Bose, Mojotone content)

[BDiamond]

Hi Friends,

I played a gig last night that I was very lucky to be offered by a family I teach guitar/piano/drums. I haven't been gigging much since quitting my band about 7 years ago. And I've never played a solo gig of this scale. I was the first act 7:00-9:00, then the DJ went after me.

It's amazing how revealing and educational it was, both with regard to gear, and of course my own musical preparedness. I pulled it off with some high praise, but to me, there is a LOT to work on.

Anyway, thought some may be interested in the gear I'm using and how it went. It was a HUGE room - 3500sf, and about 130 people. All I have is a Yamaha DXR8 powered speaker, and then just the other day bought a used Bose L1 compact. I have a Mojotone NC-2 soundhole pickup that I've been pretty happy with at home. Once I have a chance to listen back to my recording, I'll see if I still like it. I have the mic DIMED in order for it to sound acousticky enough for me.

At home I have to really position things right so nothing feeds back. I was hoping this would be easier in a large room, but it turns out it wasn't. I still have to be careful with speaker placement, and then of course the volume goes up, and things get pretty dicey. People say that soundhole pickups are feedback resistant - I guess I could have turned down the mic.

So the last minute acquisition of the Bose L1 compact was to make sure I had enough of a rig to support this gig. I have to say, it didn't seem to contribute much. Or rather, I was REALLY grateful for the Yamaha because it seemed like I couldn't barely hear anything without it. It feels like a real pro piece of equipment. The Bose feels (and I think sounded) toyish by comparison. When I needed more volume, I just had to give the DXR8 a couple more ticks on the knob and it was there. The Bose may be great in a small room, I suppose. But I don't know. I think it is probably going right back on Marketplace.

Songs include some James Taylor, Dave Matthews, John Mayer, Tommy Emmanuel, Bill Withers, Maroon 5. The two most successful songs from my perspective were Neon and Piano Man.

This now makes me think an in-ear monitor setup would be next. It was really difficult to hear myself properly - fine with only a few people in the room, but once it filled up with loud talking and drinking people, I couldn't hear nearly as well.

Last pic was after I started breaking it down.

[jricc]

Congrats on the gig and thanks for the report. Sounds like it went well.

[martingitdave]

Glad your event went so well. It also appears the music was the easy part. I feel the same way when I need to setup all that gear for a performance or even a live stream, etc. It feel like all that stuff is just a distraction from the music. A necessary evil if you will.

[BDiamond]

Originally Posted by martingitdave

Glad your event went so well. It also appears the music was the easy part. I feel the same way when I need to setup all that gear for a performance or even a live stream, etc. It feel like all that stuff is just a distraction from the music. A necessary evil if you will.

Well, the music isn't necessarily the easy part, it's just the part I'd really rather be doing. It's easy to play bits and pieces of a million different songs. It's a whole 'nother thing to have a bunch of songs polished from beginning to end.

Originally Posted by jricc

Congrats on the gig and thanks for the report. Sounds like it went well.

Thank you! Yes, I think it did.

[Nick84]

Your post intrigued me because I recently started using a single Yamaha DXR8 for my sound in a bid to travel lighter (although I do have a acoustic amp too with a DI out to the DXR)

I’ve not had a situation yet where I’ve played the setup in a really big room. I’ve got that next weekend though. I’m pretty confident the speaker is going to handle it, it just seems to have headroom to spare.

around your idea of going with in ears this is something I’ve started doing. I’ve got the Xvive U4 set up. Really cool I can just plug it into the back of the DXR and get what the audience is hearing, and it saves turning up so you can hear yourself. It took me a bit to get used to but really helped me with fine tuning EQ etc.

[BDiamond]

Interesting, Nick84. Great to find someone else also using the DXR8! I've always thought it was not enough speaker, but maybe I'm wrong. I've also been obsessing over dispersion, when maybe I shouldn't be.

Took a quick look at your facebook - which guitar are you using with the DXR8? How do you set it up position-wise? Any feedback issues?

I've always been obsessed with having enough low end, but maybe I should stop.

Commence latest internet research obsession: in-ear monitors!

[martingitdave]

Originally Posted by BDiamond

Interesting, Nick84. Great to find someone else also using the DXR8! I've always thought it was not enough speaker, but maybe I'm wrong. I've also been obsessing over dispersion, when maybe I shouldn't be.

Took a quick look at your facebook - which guitar are you using with the DXR8? How do you set it up position-wise? Any feedback issues?

I've always been obsessed with having enough low end, but maybe I should stop.

Commence latest internet research obsession: in-ear monitors!

With piano and keys you’ll hear that a 10” speaker is the minimum. But the new systems and enclosures make more bass. It used to be that you couldn’t use less than an 8” speaker for acoustic guitar, now the Bose S1 Pro will fill a (small/medium) room with wide dispersion on a 6.5” woofer. In other words, unless the audience is telling you to turn it up, you’re probably too loud already. Don’t worry too much. Just use one of the 8” or S1 Pro as your floor/foot monitor. But the 8”, or a pair of them on stands, and you’re good. IEM take a lot of getting used to and make sense on high SPL stages. Just play quieter. :-)

[Chriscom]

Congrats on the successful gig! Love the photos.

That is indeed a large room, and personally I wouldn't try it with my L1 Compact. Casually glancing at the specs, I'm not surprised it didn't add much--I'm seeing 129db max spl for the DXR8, v. 112db max and 106db continuous for the Compact. I was very happy with the Compact for smaller spaces, and its other big selling point is the 180-deg dispersion. Probably not a big plus there.

Yeah your experience with the mic on the Mojotone aligns with others here with in-guitar mics--the louder the soundstage, the less you can use without fear of feedback.

For sure monitors are a big help in noisy environments. I've limited myself to an external monitor (currently an Everse 8 which doubles as an emergency backup for my Evolve 30m) because I wear hearing aids and don't want to deal with whatever complications IEMs might involve.

Again, congrats and thanks for the field report!

[BDiamond]

Thanks guys. March has turned into a 3-gig month! Which is more than I've ever done in such a short span of time.

It's nice to know that the DXR8 will work in pretty much any situation. I was going to sell it, but now that it saved the day, that seems cruel.

I'd love to lose the soundhole pickup and get the "look" of my guitar back, so now I'm really interested in the GO Acoustic that's been buzzing lately. Haven't seen enough to be convinced yet, though.

[Nick84]

Originally Posted by BDiamond

Interesting, Nick84. Great to find someone else also using the DXR8! I've always thought it was not enough speaker, but maybe I'm wrong. I've also been obsessing over dispersion, when maybe I shouldn't be.

Took a quick look at your facebook - which guitar are you using with the DXR8? How do you set it up position-wise? Any feedback issues?

I've always been obsessed with having enough low end, but maybe I should stop.

Commence latest internet research obsession: in-ear monitors!

I mainly use my Maton but I do tend to rotate round them. Never had any feedback issues. I generally get the DXR up on a pole towards the middle of the room with the amp underneath. I’m usually now where near as I use the in ears so feedback doesn’t tend to be a problem

[leew3]

Well done and thanks for the report. I think we've all succumbed to 'playing by faith' at the end of some loud crowd nights as we can't hear ourselves well enough. Sounds as though you did a great job so keep at it!

[BDiamond]

Yep, monitoring is always the hardest part, even on the rare occasions where there's a pro PA company running sound. There's usually not enough time to soundcheck properly, and of course everything changes when the crowd gets in there.

Any thought's on adding a sub and keeping my DXR8? Maybe an EV 12 or 15 powered sub, then flip the switch on the Yamaha to roll off the low end. Would this benefit me in any way? Would it make feedback or hearing myself better or worse?

[Cuki79]

Hi Bdiamond,

Can you please describe your pedalboard?

[BDiamond]

Originally Posted by Cuki79

Hi Bdiamond,

Can you please describe your pedalboard?

I'd love to. Took a better picture so you can see it better.

Mind you, this is my first pedalboard ever. I've poured over forums and videos and really tried to figure this out. I've never been an electric guitar guy. I used to play bass guitar (in a band) but never had any pedals.

Signal Path:
1) Guitar into
Sunn DI
Tuner
OC-5 Octave
Ch1 of StompMix

2) Vocal Mic
Ch2 of StompMix

3/4) L/R of keyboard
Ch3/4 of Stompmix

L/R out of Stompmix
Into Input A and B of Boss RC500.

RC500 Output A to Yamaha DXR8
RC500 Output B to Bose L1 Compact.

The amount of work this has taken to figure out has been ridiculous, but really fun and I've learned a lot. Oh yeah, and the Airturn is another really great item that is switching pages in OnSong, which is yet another wormhole to go down to fully learn to use properly.

[BDiamond]

Giving this thread a bump to also add a follow-up question - do you guys with more live sound experience and acoustic guitar gigs under your belts think that the addition of a subwoofer to my DXR8 would make a good system for my one-man show? Or should I look toward a compact all-in-one system like the RCF Jmix8? (which I'm hearing a lot of great things about). I have another gig coming in May - this time outside under a tent.