Playing outside in the cold with the X20

[Methos1979]

Last night was our annual class reunion bonfire we attend semi-regularly. In the last two years we've been asked to play for it. Last year was a freakish mid-October 70 degree day and I played with the Emerald X7 September Series that I had purchased for just that occasion while I waited for my delayed X20 custom.

This year the X20 was ready and well-broken in as my go-to axe for playing out. Also new this year was Bose S1/Boss VE-8 all-battery power combo. Unlike last year it was down in the mid-40's by the time we started playing. The gear performed very well, as expected. We played farther away from the bonfire this year.

Last year we set up several feet away and people felt the need to watch and clap which was fine but since it's a reunion bonfire I felt the focus needed to be on people talking and catching up. So instead we setup on the porch which was probably a good 30 yards away and elevated maybe 10 feet above.

I went wireless so I was able to walk around and went out to about the halfway distance and got a comfortable sound level there that I felt people could hear and enjoy us but still talk. It worked out very well. People enjoyed the performance and carried on their conversations.

We had planned a 90-minute set but after an hour the cold was too much. My wife is a petite little thing and she gets cold fast. For me, I was worried about stiff fingers affecting my playing and while they got a little stiff it was not so bad that it did that but what it did do was make the fingertips very sore, very fast.

So we trimmed songs on the fly and ended at right about an hour, playing all the songs we really wanted to do most. The gear worked flawlessly and setup/breakdown was the usual 5 minute 'ordeal'. All-in-all it was a successful evening and once again the X20 showed that it really can handle anything you throw at it.

[seamusknives]

How appropriate that you contributed and still kept the occasion about conversing!

[Earl49]

Originally Posted by seamusknives

How appropriate that you contributed and still kept the occasion about conversing!

Ditto! So many times the music at events is so loud that conversation becomes impossible, even though that was the main point of the gathering. I've reminded DJ's of that several times at corporate events, with no luck.

I have not played my X20 in cold weather (yet) but I have played my Rainsong WS-1000 at campfires and festivals around Alaska and Idaho. We might start out at 65° in the early evening and end up at 40°F by the wee hours. Once it got below ~50° I would either switch to thin leather gloves with the fingertips cut out, or take a break to warm by the fire a couple of times each hour. The tuning stability was far better than any wood guitar, whether close to fire pit or in farther rows. I'm softening as I age, and not sure that I could do the cold or the way late hours any more.

[kramster]

All I can say is Bravo!!