Looking For A Simpler Rig For Solo Acoustic, Does it exist???

[sventvkg]

Hey guys long time no see. I did 248 gigs this year I play full-time and I’m in an out of a lot of places. Right now I’m using a powered 12 EV on a pole with guitar going into an Aura 12, then zoom ME50 for EQ, Compression, Modulation into a TCHelicon Performer on my mic stage. I got rid of the footpedal because I thought this would be a smaller footprint any easier and it turns out it’s not. I’ve got the power cables mic cables and quarter inch cables going up and down my mic stand and it’s just a mess I hate it. Plus it still takes me just as long as it did before to set up and tear down.

The problem is is I have a sound exactly like I like it for my aggressive style with a lot of lead fills, I need that compression and being able to dial the EQ carve out frequencies, etc is key. But I’m sick of toting in my big tub with the paddleboard a bag for my mic stand and speaker stand this speaker my guitar fan Etc. This past week I’ve been just using my speaker with a mic in one input in my guitar direct into the other input with surprisingly good results it took a little getting used to for the dry sound but I love the simplicity of it.

Now what I’m looking for is a speaker that has the effect build them for my guitar some modulation a little bit of Reverb some EQ and compression. Something where I could just plug my aura pedal directly in from my guitar my mic right into another input and sound great. It’s got to be pretty powerful as I play outdoor on the beach so it’s gonna carry at least as much is the EV.

Only thing I found that exists that seems to have some of that minus the compression is the Line 6 speaker it even has their Variax acoustic that you can blend in which if it sounds decent I may even use in place of the Aura. I’m looking for ease of set up and simplicity hear it actually takes presidents over a perfect sound in this case. I have a lot of PA gear a lot of speakers already but none of them do what I’m looking for. Any suggestions would be welcome thanks gents.

[Guitaurman]

Originally Posted by sventvkg

Hey guys long time no see. I did 248 gigs this year I play full-time and I’m in an out of a lot of places. Right now I’m using a powered 12 EV on a pole with guitar going into an Aura 12, then zoom ME50 for EQ, Compression, Modulation into a TCHelicon Performer on my mic stage. I got rid of the footpedal because I thought this would be a smaller footprint any easier and it turns out it’s not. I’ve got the power cables mic cables and quarter inch cables going up and down my mic stand and it’s just a mess I hate it. Plus it still takes me just as long as it did before to set up and tear down.

The problem is is I have a sound exactly like I like it for my aggressive style with a lot of lead fills, I need that compression and being able to dial the EQ carve out frequencies, etc is key. But I’m sick of toting in my big tub with the paddleboard a bag for my mic stand and speaker stand this speaker my guitar fan Etc. This past week I’ve been just using my speaker with a mic in one input in my guitar direct into the other input with surprisingly good results it took a little getting used to for the dry sound but I love the simplicity of it.

Now what I’m looking for is a speaker that has the effect build them for my guitar some modulation a little bit of Reverb some EQ and compression. Something where I could just plug my aura pedal directly in from my guitar my mic right into another input and sound great. It’s got to be pretty powerful as I play outdoor on the beach so it’s gonna carry at least as much is the EV.

Only thing I found that exists that seems to have some of that minus the compression is the Line 6 speaker it even has their Variax acoustic that you can blend in which if it sounds decent I may even use in place of the Aura. I’m looking for ease of set up and simplicity hear it actually takes presidents over a perfect sound in this case. I have a lot of PA gear a lot of speakers already but none of them do what I’m looking for. Any suggestions would be welcome thanks gents.

Just a suggestion. If you were somewhat happy with the mic and guitar going into the speaker, would just going into a small mixer like the Yamaha MG10XU, then to the powered speaker work for you. That would give you effects, EQ, and compression, in a pretty small footprint.

Outdoors I use that Yamaha mixer into one or two QSC k10.2s on USS stands. I also use a TC helicon Play Acoustic, but I can get a pretty fair sound with just the mixer into the QSCs.

Good luck! I understand the hassle of lugging, setting up and tearing down equipment.

[lschwart]

I think your idea of using one of the Line 6 StageSource speakers with the acoustic modeling and the reverb is a good idea. Add to that one of the TC floor units for compression and a few other effects and you'll have something significantly simpler than you've got now.

The only thing simpler would be an all in one PA/speaker amp, but none of the ones I know of have everything you say you want onboard--and most of them don't give coverage as good as a single decent PA speaker.

Louis

[The Kid!]

I have a Line 6 L2m, L2T, & L3T. They sound incredible and the mixers on the T models have mid sweeps which really helps shape your tone. You won't have compression though.

Edit: LSchwart already said it.
Maybe a small pedal board or small format mixer built into a road case with a couple pedals also built into the case could work.

[Revy]

I've watched a guy that plays in central Iowa for the last few years. He's plays hundreds of shows and has his set up down to a science. A TC Voice Live 3, Mic & Stand, Guitar, 1 speaker stand, and a JBL Eon 15" speaker. He can be set up in 12 minutes, Gone in the same amount. Sounds awesome! No need to make it harder than it needs to be.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5e9y5C-xQ5s

[sventvkg]

Originally Posted by Revy

I've watched a guy that plays in central Iowa for the last few years. He's plays hundreds of shows and has his set up down to a science. A TC Voice Live 3, Mic & Stand, Guitar, 1 speaker stand, and a JBL Eon 15" speaker. He can be set up in 12 minutes, Gone in the same amount. Sounds awesome! No need to make it harder than it needs to be.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5e9y5C-xQ5s

Honestly this was my setup. TC floor unit which had all the effects for guitar and vocals which I also used as a mixer right into my powered speaker. 10 minutes set up under 10 minute break down. This is what I’m going back to. It seems to be the cheapest easiest solution since I already have speakers up the Yazoo. I had an older White TCHelicon White GTX which was somewhat lacking for Acoustic. This time I’ll get the black Play Acoustic floor unit and sell the red Acoustic mic stand one.

One other note is I checked out those little Boss AS Live and Pro Amps and what a cool idea! If they had a big version pole mounted as powerful as a PA speaker that would be a viable alternative and almost exactly what I was envisioning!

[Hurricane Ramon]

Like yourself I've been soling , when I layed with other musicians I have/had lots of sound re enforcement
gear - amps - speakers et cetera . I have downsized my set up .

I have a off the grid system and a small room P.A. SS old timey Polytone that is killer for acoustic guitar - blues harps
and an electric bass guitar .

For my off grid I've been using a Mackie FreePlay 150 Watter RMS which is quite versatile . I like it for several reasons
one being it's lithium ion battery runs it 10 hours . Two : In conjunction with the FreePlay it's quite a system as is .

I'm doubling up with a second unit they sound that good on pole mounts . A second one on a mount will do fine
and not break my back setting up or breaking down .



Gig bag allows you to use it while playing to protect it from light rain/fog , heavy humid weather . I'll be moving
to Hawaii in a couple of months Even while mounted to the pole the gig bag works .

A subwoofer to this set up is what I'm building up towards . Hard finding a self powered subwoofer - looks like
I'm going to have to make one - no biggy .

I use a T.C.Helicon VoiceLive 3 Extreme for my 000 acoustic resonator & Spanish classical acoustic nylon with the
T.C.H.MP-76 , I also play a Roland GR33 guitar synth through the Mackie - sounds really good . I also run my
electric guitar through it with the T.C.H.VL3X .

The FreePlay is a great little muscle machine FRFR P.A. it does well in small coffee shop venues stand alone just
acoustic electric dread one mic and my harps . It's FX are solid - 3 channels . Stereo Aux in /Bluetooth controlled .

EZ :

HR

[Chickee]

I just started brainstorming this topic a couple of days ago.
Here's how I'm looking right now.
VooDoo Labs smallest powered board
TCH Harmony Singer2
Zoom MD70 Multi Stomp
Countryman 85s d/i box(Guitar and Mic) direct to house or Bose S1 or QSC k12.2

That's as trim as I can picture working. Any help?

[Davis Webb]

Bose S1 with guitar and a mic.

Done

[sventvkg]

Originally Posted by Davis Webb

Bose S1 with guitar and a mic.

Done

One of the guys who plays at my regular 2 day a week beach Resort has the Bose stuff and it’s great. However for the tiki on the beach where I play the S1 isn’t powerful enough. My one ZX12 on a pole is as small as I can go for this outside area.

[The Kid!]

Originally Posted by Revy

I've watched a guy that plays in central Iowa for the last few years. He's plays hundreds of shows and has his set up down to a science. A TC Voice Live 3, Mic & Stand, Guitar, 1 speaker stand, and a JBL Eon 15" speaker. He can be set up in 12 minutes, Gone in the same amount. Sounds awesome! No need to make it harder than it needs to be.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5e9y5C-xQ5s

Ok, this sounds terrible to me. Maybe it's the recording, or the fact that he's outdoors, but it sounds anemic. It made me want to look him up by name to find better recordings, so I did. Talented kid, but this particular video doesn't do him justice. He has better stuff out there.

I wouldn't go without a sub and active crossover outside unless I'm using my L3T which has really good low end extension, and that's only for background music gigs (pictured below)

It's not about volume either. It's about fullness at any volume.

Originally Posted by sventvkg

Hey guys long time no see. I did 248 gigs this year I play full-time and I’m in an out of a lot of places. Right now I’m using a powered 12 EV on a pole with guitar going into an Aura 12, then zoom ME50 for EQ, Compression, Modulation into a TCHelicon Performer on my mic stage. I got rid of the footpedal because I thought this would be a smaller footprint any easier and it turns out it’s not. I’ve got the power cables mic cables and quarter inch cables going up and down my mic stand and it’s just a mess I hate it. Plus it still takes me just as long as it did before to set up and tear down.

OP: You don't need to sacrifice anything to improve your setup/tear down time. Like you, I play 250+ gigs a year and my answer was building my pedal board into one flight case and my mixer and drum machine into another. A cable snake connects them and all I need is one wall plug and a powered speaker. I use a folding keyboard stand for the mixer and drum machine. I make 7 connections total and I'm set up in 7 minutes.

I move everything with a rock n roller cart because the individual pieces are heavier than most other offerings, but they're safe in transport and set up fast. I have enough power for any gig that I play, and can leave the sub at home and down scale to one speaker for smaller gigs.

I have a master fader, so its never too loud or over kill. It's always full, clean, clear, and warm. I'd rather have a scalable system working well within its limits, than a tiny underpowered system shouting it's lungs out.

I'd love to have a single battery powered speaker that weighs under 20lbs that can punch as hard as a three or four way system with a musical EQ section and great pre's but it doesn't exist. People try to pretend like it's enough, and it might be for them, but it doesn't work for me.

Floor


Top


Small Rig (No Sub)


Medium Rig Sub, FOH, & Floor Monitor


Small to medium setups are all one trip on the rock n roller cart. Small rig 7 minute setup. Medium rig is under 15 minutes. All cabling gets stored in the flight cases.

It's worth the extra effort to me.

[sventvkg]

Originally Posted by The Kid!

Ok, this sounds terrible to me. Maybe it's the recording, or the fact that he's outdoors, but it sounds anemic. It made me want to look him up by name to find better recordings, so I did. Talented kid, but this particular video doesn't do him justice. He has better stuff out there.

I wouldn't go without a sub and active crossover outside unless I'm using my L3T which has really good low end extension, and that's only for background music gigs (pictured below)

It's not about volume either. It's about fullness at any volume.



OP: You don't need to sacrifice anything to improve your setup/tear down time. Like you, I play 250+ gigs a year and my answer was building my pedal board into one flight case and my mixer and drum machine into another. A cable snake connects them and all I need is one wall plug and a powered speaker. I use a folding keyboard stand for the mixer and drum machine. I make 7 connections total and I'm set up in 7 minutes.

I move everything with a rock n roller cart because the individual pieces are heavier than most other offerings, but they're safe in transport and set up fast. I have enough power for any gig that I play, and can leave the sub at home and down scale to one speaker for smaller gigs.

I have a master fader, so its never too loud or over kill. It's always full, clean, clear, and warm. I'd rather have a scalable system working well within its limits, than a tiny underpowered system shouting it's lungs out.

I'd love to have a single battery powered speaker that weighs under 20lbs that can punch as hard as a three or four way system with a musical EQ section and great pre's but it doesn't exist. People try to pretend like it's enough, and it might be for them, but it doesn't work for me.

Floor


Top


Small Rig (No Sub)


Medium Rig Sub, FOH, & Floor Monitor


Small to medium setups are all one trip on the rock n roller cart. Small rig 7 minute setup. Medium rig is under 15 minutes. All cabling gets stored in the flight cases.

It's worth the extra effort to me.

Nice rig man. I do have a fast setup. Or did. Pedalboard wired up with TCHELICON GTX Aura and a looper into powered EV. I have some small single 12” EV subs that are killer but they didn’t make enough of difference and stopped using them on solo acoustic shows.if I were doing a tracks thing or heavy looping I’d absolutely use one. If I didn’t have so many speakers already I’d check out those Line 6 LT cabs for sure! Anyone wants to check out what I do I’ve got lots of videos of me playing live here.
https://www.facebook.com/seanmormeloentertainer/ Cheers ya’ll! Merry Christmas.

[hotroad]

Little things can help like leaving your mic on the stand, taped to the mic adapter with the cord still attached and wrapped around the mic stand ready to go. You can make a protective sock for the mic so it doesn't get banged around. You can also leave the power cord plugged into your amps and mixers when stored. A small drum accessories tray that attaches to your mic stand is a great tool too. It connects to the mic stand in less than a minute and carries capos, pics, water, notes, etc. Pedal boards are great but why not attach a small mixer to the board as well as effects pedals and leave all mic and guitar cords connected ready to plug into the main power or wall. Just a few little tricks I use.

[varmonter]

I bought a 4 ch snake for my pedal board.
mic, two outs from felix ( mandolin and guitar)
and one for the bass di preamp, Not having
to roll up 4 seperate cords saved some time.
this snake is 25 feet and has 4 male xlr on one
end and 4 female xlr on the other.
You might consider a small digital board
like the touchmix 8. It has para eq, graphic eq
delay, reverb ,chorus, compression, and lots more
too numerouse to mention. you might need a di
for your guitar and a powered speaker. The board
has the rest.

[Davis Webb]

Originally Posted by sventvkg

One of the guys who plays at my regular 2 day a week beach Resort has the Bose stuff and it’s great. However for the tiki on the beach where I play the S1 isn’t powerful enough. My one ZX12 on a pole is as small as I can go for this outside area.

Ok gotcha. Yes, its got its limits for projection...hmmm,...a bigger Bose?