Our Guitar and Bass Amp Modelling System for Roaming Shows.
06/09/24 09:51
Read about how we're helping Roaming Guitarists and Bassists maintain an authentic tone where they can't use amps, or own Kempers.
In early 2024, we were hired in to replace the regular engineers for a Roaming Band - a group that doesn’t perform from the stage, but spends their performances in and amongst the audience. It’s an awesome concept - so much fun for everyone involved. The band featured a Drummer using an SPDX Drum Pad, Vocalist, Saxophone, Guitar and Bass, each requiring our Sennheiser EW500 G4 Radio Mic and Body pack systems.
But something became apparent to us during the show - the Drummer, Vocalist and Saxophone were [largely] in their natural environment : running through the desk and being effected by the Reverb in the usual way. The Guitar and Bass, however, were DI’ing straight into the desk from their wireless systems.
Normally - Guitarists would be fairly bolshy about being able to use their amps. After all, serious guitar players are tone-junkies and we usually treasure our amps for the tone they give us. But these guys ( I surmise ) have gotten used to the fact that they don’t need to travel with guitar amps - and it may be because; there needs to be somewhere for them to go, they’d need to be loud, mic’d up, and this could skew the effect of the audience being in and amongst the music; or it could be that wireless receivers hadn’t interacted with their amps well in the past, and they can simply plug into the desk and be fairly happy.
Of course, if they were using the likes of Kempers or Quad Cortex systems, this would be a great solution to give a real guitar amp tone, but that’s an expensive buy-in and it’s rare to see Bass players using digital modelling in their rigs (although I highly recommend looking at what Alistair Begg is doing with fantastic sounding Mac rack based Bass rig).
So, when we picked up Amplitude’s Max Guitar amp pack that essentially features all of their popular Guitar and Bass amps, and we picked up a second Presonus Quantum to deal with some bookings where two bands both requiring Mac/Interface were performing over the same weekends, we saw an opportunity to provide something very unique to our clients who are hiring us to manage the FOH for their Roaming shows.
Provided FOR FREE with the hiring of our Sennheiser Wireless Systems for the purposes of wireless Guitar and Bass performances, where the performer doesn’t have the likes of Kempers, QC’s, etc - we’ll provide them with an Apple Mac, a Presonus Quantum, and a pre-built Amplitube Rig powered by Gig Performer.
This latency free system is currently set up to provid a gorgeous sounding Fender Super Reverb for the Guitarist, and an Ampeg SVX-VR for the Bass player, providing the rich vibe of classic Amps during their performances rather than the unexciting sound of a DI’d instrument.
We have a specifically defined package for a band of up to 6 piece in a room of up to 300 people that includes 3 channels of Wireless - 1 channel for the lead vocalist and 2 channels for the Guitar and Bass, with this modelling system included for free. You can see our package prices on our homepage to see what it includes.
And There’s no reason why the system can’t be expanded to include more players. The Quantum provides 8 inputs and 8 outputs so adding additional channels is not a problem, with each additional RF channel being £50.
Prestige Sound is a company dedicated to a fabulous sounding FOH sound, both for the audience and for the players. We think a little differently to give you the best experience you could hope for in a FOH company.
Contact us now on foh@prestigesound.co.uk to discuss providing for your show.
But something became apparent to us during the show - the Drummer, Vocalist and Saxophone were [largely] in their natural environment : running through the desk and being effected by the Reverb in the usual way. The Guitar and Bass, however, were DI’ing straight into the desk from their wireless systems.
Normally - Guitarists would be fairly bolshy about being able to use their amps. After all, serious guitar players are tone-junkies and we usually treasure our amps for the tone they give us. But these guys ( I surmise ) have gotten used to the fact that they don’t need to travel with guitar amps - and it may be because; there needs to be somewhere for them to go, they’d need to be loud, mic’d up, and this could skew the effect of the audience being in and amongst the music; or it could be that wireless receivers hadn’t interacted with their amps well in the past, and they can simply plug into the desk and be fairly happy.
Of course, if they were using the likes of Kempers or Quad Cortex systems, this would be a great solution to give a real guitar amp tone, but that’s an expensive buy-in and it’s rare to see Bass players using digital modelling in their rigs (although I highly recommend looking at what Alistair Begg is doing with fantastic sounding Mac rack based Bass rig).
So, when we picked up Amplitude’s Max Guitar amp pack that essentially features all of their popular Guitar and Bass amps, and we picked up a second Presonus Quantum to deal with some bookings where two bands both requiring Mac/Interface were performing over the same weekends, we saw an opportunity to provide something very unique to our clients who are hiring us to manage the FOH for their Roaming shows.
Provided FOR FREE with the hiring of our Sennheiser Wireless Systems for the purposes of wireless Guitar and Bass performances, where the performer doesn’t have the likes of Kempers, QC’s, etc - we’ll provide them with an Apple Mac, a Presonus Quantum, and a pre-built Amplitube Rig powered by Gig Performer.
This latency free system is currently set up to provid a gorgeous sounding Fender Super Reverb for the Guitarist, and an Ampeg SVX-VR for the Bass player, providing the rich vibe of classic Amps during their performances rather than the unexciting sound of a DI’d instrument.
We have a specifically defined package for a band of up to 6 piece in a room of up to 300 people that includes 3 channels of Wireless - 1 channel for the lead vocalist and 2 channels for the Guitar and Bass, with this modelling system included for free. You can see our package prices on our homepage to see what it includes.
And There’s no reason why the system can’t be expanded to include more players. The Quantum provides 8 inputs and 8 outputs so adding additional channels is not a problem, with each additional RF channel being £50.
Prestige Sound is a company dedicated to a fabulous sounding FOH sound, both for the audience and for the players. We think a little differently to give you the best experience you could hope for in a FOH company.
Contact us now on foh@prestigesound.co.uk to discuss providing for your show.
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