Re: DOES YOUR TOURING RIG DIFFER FROM YOUR HOME RIG?

[tEd ® KiLLiAn <tedkillian@charter.net>]

Rick,

On Aug 18, 2008, at 4:35 AM, Rick Walker wrote:

> In fact, it would be great to hear from others what there touring rig consists of
> and what their 'play my hometown or withing shot of an automobile" rig would consist of.

Well, of course, you know very well what my "touring" (LOL) rig is 'cause I've toted it from Loopstock in SLO, to Y2K2 thru 6 in Santa Cruz , BEMFs 1 thru 3 in Boise, VNMF in Ventura and various other points of interest and musical mayhem in between.

I think for a brief time in there (2005?) I attempted to work with an abbreviated setup but found it sort of unsatisfying.

My pile o' gear used to inspire either hushed expressions of awe or snide jeers of derision . . . alternately and in just about equal numbers (seldom eliciting indifference)

I decided not to play Y2K7 (last year) and came just as an attendee -- truthfully  I'd gotten older and more feeble and my rack was too big to handle any more.

I've downsized considerably this past year going into 2008.

Gone are the 20-space rack (full on one side and half full up the back), multiple guitar cabs, guitar synths, processors, tone generators and multiple boutique pedals and Xmas lights.

Now I have just two 5-space rack-bags and some floor pedals to control what's in them

One bag has my guitar processors (VF-1, VG-99, 2 Vortexes, LXP-1 and LXP-5) and a sub-mixer.

The other has my loopers (2 Oberheim EDPs) and loop manglers (2 Alesis Akiras) and another small sub-mixer.

If the gig has no PA I can provide a pair of SRM450s on stands (which I have set up at home in the garage).

If it doesn't have the stereo stage monitoring I like (and require), I have a pair of SRM150s on sawed-off mic stands (these have really turned out quite handy despite their lack of bass response) so I can hear myself well pretty doggone well.

So, now, rather than have to manhandle a 200+ lb rack, 2 guitars, pedals and cabs in about 7 trips to and from an ancient minivan I can easily schlepp in all my current gear in 3 trips from the back of my economy sedan and hardly break a sweat (if it's not too far and there are no stairs . . . I am 55 and a  bit overweight after all, LOL) .

That's also if the house PA is adequate and I leave all the Mackies at home.

The wiring is a little complicated still (between pedals and the 2 bags) and setup time is still about the same, but there is less "huffing and puffing," sweat and anxiety involved.

Too, with GK pickups on my guitars and the VG-99 I only really need to bring one guitar now.

That one guitar can now be just about any other plucked-string acoustic or electric instrument there is (plus sundry strange imaginary instruments and noisemakers as well).

When I get around to going Max/MSP on an iBook my rig will be smaller still.

But I've realized that I personally need to have a certain amount of guitaristic tonal variety at my disposal for input (whether I use it or not) to be a truly happy camper.

I don't think I could be happy with just one kind of guitar sound going in to a laptop - even if there are all sorts of plug-ins to tweak that basic guitar sound in millions of ways.

I want to start with a sound I know.

That's just me.

Best regards,

tEd ® KiLLiAn

At almost regular intervals down the centuries someone will hit upon an idea which has some claim to truth. It is then blown up into a system which is thought to be capable of explaining everything. It is hailed as a key to unlock every door. In each case the thinkers concerned were so impressed with their particular insight that they built it into a more-or-less rigid system which virtually destroyed its original usefulness. If anything is to be learnt form the history of philosophy, we should be cautious in embracing one set of philosophical ideas to the exclusion of all others, and critical in our evaluation of all of them. Just as no single human being has exhaustive knowledge of the whole of reality, but may have partial and valid insights into this or that field of experience, so no philosophy is all-embracing. Its insights and methods are often tentative and provisional. It may have a valid apprehension of this or that. Its methods may be fruitful in exploring certain particular fields. But, if we are wise, we shall be on our guard against definitive systems and allegedly omnipotent methods of approach. — Colin Brown, former Dean of Studies at Trinity College, Bristol, England

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