Members carlstretch Posted July 21, 2011 Members Share Posted July 21, 2011 Hi guys,.. I was wondering if any of you have run across a guitarist using a Palmer Speaker Simulator. http://www.palmergear.com/pdi03.shtml My band has been moved to an all IEM setup and I am tired of lugging my speaker cabinet around to gigs. I know Joe Bonamassa uses them in conjunction with mics on his 4x12 cabinets. I'm no Joe but would like to think about moving to a guitar setup that does not include my cabinet. I have read some reviews from guitarists but I would really like to know how it reacts with the overall FOH sound with a band. It sounds like an engineer's dream,... no cabinet,.. but does it have the sound quality to hold the guitar's tone by itself?? This applies only to electric guitar,... no acoustic in my band. Just wondering if any of you have dealt with an electric guitarist using this product to connect to your systems. Thanks always,Carl Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members twostone Posted July 21, 2011 Members Share Posted July 21, 2011 Very interesting , I never seen and heard of these until now, and checked out some demo's, and gotta say pretty nice sounding for a speaker sim.I've seen and heard the Hughes and Kettner redbox, because I use to be a band with a guitarist use one and sounded good enough. I'm sure these Palmer's would sound even better then the little redbox speaker sim. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members MJastrzebski Posted July 21, 2011 Members Share Posted July 21, 2011 We use the PDI-09 to run our guitars to the PA. We won't be going back to microphones anytime soon. The PDI-09 gives us the same sound every show (mics can move from night to night.) Plus, the guitar channel only has, well, guitar. No more boosting a solo and also raising everything that's going through the guitar mic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members carlstretch Posted July 21, 2011 Author Members Share Posted July 21, 2011 Well I'm glad to know that someone likes it. I'm really interested to know how it sounds thru a FOH system and how responsive it is to mixing board adjustments. Right now I use a speaker attenuator to control my stage volume and while that has been wonderful for my stage volume,.. it has sacrificed some dynamic character of the rig. Hopefully more people will chime in that has had one of these thru their system. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members dboomer Posted July 21, 2011 Members Share Posted July 21, 2011 I haven't used one so I don't have an opinion ... but ... it looks like an expensive solution to a problem that could be handled a lot cheaper, especially in a live sound setting. If used for recording purposes then it could be different. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members carlstretch Posted July 21, 2011 Author Members Share Posted July 21, 2011 dboomer - Yes,.. it is expensive,.. And yes there are cheaper solutions. Believe me,.. I am used to 19 years of hanging a mic over it or sticking a 57 in front of my amp. I have spend countless $$$ trying to find an amp that is not crazy loud and still has good tone,.. and,.. most importantly,... sounds good out front. I have a lot of friends that never think about how their rig sounds to the crowd. I have a recording studio/band practice room I built behind my house so I would use it for recording too. I understand the cost,.. and have own many other cheaper solutions (a bunch of amps, plexi-glass in front of the cab, attenuators, etc) but was wondering how engineers feel about the audio feed from one. Thanks for the help,.. Anybody else mix with these??? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members mshifflett Posted July 22, 2011 Members Share Posted July 22, 2011 I used one for a while and I was always pleased with the tone from it. Of course nothing still replaces the real thing but these things come pretty darn close. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Mutha Goose Posted July 22, 2011 Members Share Posted July 22, 2011 I've done sound for a lot of bands with simulators of one sort or another. While in some ways it makes things much easier and cleaner, they can also be a PITA. If you decided to go this route, please please make sure your preset levels are properly set for a live band environment! I cannot tell you how important it is that you get this right. And I must say, most DO NOT! It is not purely about relative volume, it is about realitve cut-thru. And simulators are MUCH more sensitve to this than amplifiers. From a guitar players point of view: I've used a few different simluators in live situations. The PA can have a profound influence on your tone... to you. I'm not sure how much the crowd could know there is a tone difference. I would doubt it. But I do know that I can hear the differences when I'm the one that's playing. And if your using {censored}ty monitors... you probably won't like what you hear. So, if you're using your PA and monitors, you can have a very reliable, high quality sound and tone. Everything else is a gamble IME. (I use volume controlled low wattage tube amps, personally) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members carlstretch Posted July 22, 2011 Author Members Share Posted July 22, 2011 Thanks guys,.. Mutha Goose - Thanks for the input. We use our own IEM setup with a PSM 400 system and we all have Ultimate Ears Custom molds. This is the main reason for the questions about a speaker simulator. Now I don't need to hear my cabinet anymore. I agree with mshifflett that nothing will ever re-create the sound of a speaker moving air but for a band like ours, just something consistent is the goal. Our band plays local outdoor festivals, private parties, casinos, and even the outdoor opening act for major acts playing at our BOK Center arena. So, I just want sound engineers to have an easy time with me and not have to worry about my stage volume,... which is already very low due to my Weber MASS attenuator. I just want the sound engineers to enjoy my band and when we get brought up in conversation,.. I want that guy to say,.. Yes,.. hire those guys!!! Thanks everyone,.. Now if they just made one of these for a drum kit...... Carl Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators MarkGifford-1 Posted July 22, 2011 Moderators Share Posted July 22, 2011 So, I just want sound engineers to have an easy time with me and not have to worry about my stage volume,... which is already very low due to my Weber MASS attenuator. I just want the sound engineers to enjoy my band and when we get brought up in conversation,.. I want that guy to say,.. Yes,.. hire those guys!!!Carl If you play/sing well, have an even, balanced sound on stage and are easy to work with, soundguys will like you... MG Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Dogoth Posted July 23, 2011 Members Share Posted July 23, 2011 Most of the time they work great as long as the player has spent the time to learn how to make it do it's job well. Having virtualy 0 stage volume is a HUGE plus. I've never heard that exact unit but have heard decent results (as well as poor ones due to operator errors) from many others. I worked Joe Bonamassa (an outdoor stage for about 10k people) a couple of years ago and at the time he used no effects at all. He used some VERY expensive botique tube amp (I can't keep up with them all) and it was REALLY loud but his tone WAS KILLER. Truly great harmonics & tone for days. If someone who is that particular about their tone uses it and likes it, it's probably pretty good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members TimmyP Posted July 24, 2011 Members Share Posted July 24, 2011 http://www.jlhproducts.com/axetrak http://www.radialeng.com/re-jdx.htm (must be used with a cabinet - or an axetrak). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Mogwix Posted July 29, 2011 Members Share Posted July 29, 2011 http://www.radialeng.com/re-jdx.htm (must be used with a cabinet - or an axetrak). Or some other load box, like a THD Hotplate. I just bought a JDX today, as part of a "silent" practice rig, since I already have a THD hotplate to use as a load box. The sounds I'm getting from the JDX are great, not perfect, but great. I'd still rather have a mic on a cabinet but for what it is, the sounds are awesome. I'll make a video review for everybody and post it in a separate thread. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members TimmyP Posted July 30, 2011 Members Share Posted July 30, 2011 Or some other load box, like a THD Hotplate. I just bought a JDX today, as part of a "silent" practice rig, since I already have a THD hotplate to use as a load box. I wonder how good a load box would work, unless it is specifically designed to emulate the reactance of a loudspeaker. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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