Cover Band Rigs

[ned911]

Discuss your live rig that you use for your cover band.

 

Guitars: Wolfgang Special Flame Top or Tokai T2

 

Amp: Randall RM50HB with Vox and Plexi modules

 

Cab: Marshall 1965A (4x10)

 

FX: Rocktron Multivalve, OD808, TS9

 

Controller: ADA MC-1

 

Just got a Line 6 Mod Pro that I'll probably add to the rig this weekend. Also thinking of adding a Line 6 XTLive for FX as I do most of my fx programming at home with the GuitarPort.

[fastplant]

Well for my last cover band:

 

Bass: Warwick Thumb 5, Hartke 3500 Head, SWR 2x10, Trace Elliot 1x15, Presonus compressor limiter, BBE sonic maximizer

 

Guitar: PRS (not sure what model) Marshall JMP1, Marshall tube power amp, Marshall 4x12 cab

 

Drums: DW 5 piece, again not sure what model

 

Keys: Korg Triton 88 key, Korg Triton Extreme 66(?) key

[analogaddict]

Small rig: Nord Electro 2, Alesis Micron, Yamaha Motif or Roland XV-2020 rack. Akai Midi merger.

 

Bigger rig; add CME UF7 controller and Triton rack. Big Rig; switch CME for Roland A-90. Deluxe version; add Alesis Andromeda and/or SE-1 to any configuration.

 

Amps: 2xMackie SRM350, Motion-Sound Pro-3T and Low-Pro

Mixer: Mackie 1202 VLZ Pro

FX: TC Electronics mfx/reverb, Line6 delay rack

Stands: Quiklok 2-tier X-stand, a couple of smaller X stands. Ultimate A-frame 3-tier stand, heavy Italian A-frame copy made in steel.

 

 

Ups: It's lots of fun to have multiple keyboards in a flexible setup. Everything is interchangeable, if I have a gig that requires synth bass only, I just bring the Micron or the SE-1. For piano gigs, I can bring the A-90 and Motif rack. If backline keys are supplied, I can bring the racks and leave the keys at home.

 

Downs: Lots of cables. Lots of stuff to keep track of. The A-90 is heavy and bulky.

[Badside]

My band is built around the "good old rock" philosophy! Thus both of us use Marshall half-stacks (both JCM2000, mine through a 1960A, his through a 1960AC, nice texture when combined) and Gibson guitars (me a LP, him two Explorer and one SG) plus I use a Fender Strat here and there. The bassist has 2 Musicman Stingray 5-string basses through a 500W Eden full stack (4X10 + 1X15). Drummer has an Ayotte 4 pc (and he actually use two floor toms, a big one mounted over the kick, a bigger one on the floor).

We often get comments by soundman on how good we sound as a band and how easy we are to mix.

 

When we started doing the cover gig thing, I was using Line6 amp and multiple guitars (up to 5 at one point: Strat, Explorer, Goding LGX, Yamaha RGX and a Yamaha Pacifica tele copy). I was going for the versatility factor, using a "Mesa" patch when the original band used a Mesa, a "Marshall" patch when the original band used a Marshall... It quickly became hell to keep fresh strings on all these guitars, or do quick adjustements to my sound on the fly according to the venue.

 

I quickly learned something: 1 great sound is better than many "ok" sounds. Once all of this {censored} was replaced with the Gibson + Marshall combo, everything improved 10 fold. Anyway, more than half what we play was recorded with a Gibson through a Marshall! When a more modern tone is necessary, a boost pedal is all I need (I use a ZW OD). And setup is so easy, the amp (DSL50) sounds good with everything on 5, I just tweak a bit from there. Just one EQ for everything and then two sets of Gain/Volume, one for rhytm one for lead. Then all I have to do is work my guitar's volume knob and vary my playing technique to cop out all the textures I need, from Pink Floyd to Metallica!

[Singin' Dave]

We're a bluesy roots rock outfit and run about as bare bones as it gets. We play a mix of very small venues (taverns etc.) with max audiences of 100 (25'x70' rooms) or larger places with pro sound systems. For the small places we bring our little PA on a stick listed in my sig and do not mic guitars or drums (except kick), run the bass and kick through our little powered sub and run mid-highs through our passive 12"x1" tops.

 

Our backline is very simple too....

 

Rhythm Guitar (me, also lead singer): Tele or Ricky or SG --> TU-2--> Keeley BD-2 --> SF Twin Reverb OR Carvin C980 acoustic into PA depending on song

 

Lead Guitar: GL s500 or Heritage 555 or late 70's Tele Deluxe into about 8 pedals (boutique stuff can't remember) --> BF Deluxe Reverb or SF Pro Reverb or SF Vibrolux Reverb

 

Bass: 70's Jazz Bass --> SWR workingman 400 head and 4x10 cab --> PA

 

Drums: Nice Yammy kit

 

All guys have vocal mics but I do 90% of the heavy lifting vocals wise.

[B Money]

my guitar rig:

Marshall TSL100 head on a 1960A (4x12) cabinet. G Major run in the loop, using a DMC Ground Control midi pedal to drive patch changes and amp channels. Main guitar is a Wolfgang standard, backup guitar is a Wolf Les Paul copy.

The other guitarist rig:

Splawn modded Plexi reissue on a 1960TV (4x12 w.greenbacks)cabinet, no effects, main and backup guitars are Music Man Axis.

Bass rig:

Gallien Krueger Backline 600 head on a Backline 4x10 cab. Ibanez bass (not sure of the model, it's a cheap starter)

Drums:

Mapex kit. Not sure of the hardware, mixed cymbols that seem to be falling apart.

 

Our band sound is really good, although I think we used to sound more unique when our other guitarist played a Mesa amp. Now our tones are very similar, but we get a crushing Marshall sound so I'm not complaining!

[Guitar Centaur]

The amp I use depends on the style of music.

 

Blues/funk: Super Reverb

 

Rock/Modern Rock: 70's Marshall 50 watt JMP & old Laney 4X12 cab loaded with Celestion Modern Lead 70's.

 

Guitars include 2 Greco Les Pauls, one standard, one John Sykes Custom, Godin Artisan TC SuperTele, Hot-rodded 80's Squire Strat, and ESP Tele with a left handed bridge, so the bridge pickup slants the opposite direction (takes some of the sharp edge off).

 

Pedals are volume, Budda wah, 2 Voodoo Lab choruses (one for leslie effect), Boss auto wah, Hermida Mosferatu OD, and Visual Sound Jeckyl & Hyde.

[Cortfan]

Cort Billy Cox Freedom Bass>POD 2.0>Bose PAS w/ 2 B1 subs. Or, Cort bass>POD 2.0>Fender 50 watt SF Bassman, or 100 watt SF Bassman head>Fender 2-15" JBL D-140 cab or 2-15" JBL K-140 cab, or 400 watt Peavey Renown head and both 2-15" cabs. I have also d.i. into a larger conventional P.A. system, and/or miked a cab. And, I use a Kustom Bass III 135 watt s.s. head, and a 2-15 matching cab with EV speakers. Did I tell you I really like 15's?

[wheresgrant3]

This is the rig setup I use for 90% of our gigs.

 

I play rhythm guitar and keyboards.

 

Guitar

Peavey XXX head

Genz Benz GL 2x12 cab

Fender Mexi Strat (w/ Schallers & Hot Rails)

ESP Mirage M1

Ibanez RG570 tuned to B

 

Pedal board#1

Boss Tuner

MXR EQ

Boss Super Chorus

EH Holy Grail

Digitech Whammy

Vox Wah

 

Synths

In Front

Roland XP30

Korg Triton LE

on Ultimate Aphex Stand

 

Stage Left

Alesis Micron

Sometimes a Yamaha EX7 (if I have the stage room)

on Onstage 2 tier stand

 

Pedalboard #2

Stereo volume pedal (for Roland)

two sustain pedals

footswitch for Peavey

 

2- 100 watt Yorkville Keyboard amps (for stereo monitoring)

 

All keys run in stereo to a Yamaha MG10/2 submixer Samson Stereo DI running stereo out to PA. Mono left and right to a pair of 100 watt keyboard wedge amps.

 

Total setup time- 30 minutes.... and that's only because I have my mixer and pedal boards all prewired.

 

Total weight: Too f**king much!!!

Total Transportation- Guitars, keys and accessories travel in my car. Amps stay with the trailer.

[analogaddict]

And the rest of the band;

 

Lead singer; Shure B58A, Tanglewood TW45FC4 acoustic guitar

 

Guitar player; Fender Telecaster, Fender Super Reverb. Various stompboxes. Backup vocals.

 

Bass player; Squire P-bass, unidentified 1970's amp. Backup vocals.

 

Drummer; Yamaha 9000 RC set, 1970's Pearl sparkle set.

[whiteroom]

Two Strats. One tuned to "G" for slide and stones/crows covers.

50 watt Carvin Nomad with a single 12" extention cab (monitor) and too damn many pedals.

Morley wah

Custom amp channel switcher. (ME)

Custom made germanium booster (By Me)

Fuzz face clone (Also made by Me)

RangeMaster clone (ditto)

Boss Tuner

Boss Hr-2 harmonist

Boss Tr-2 Tremolo (Modded by Me)

Boss Ce-2 Chorus

Boss Dm-2 Delay

Boss Bf-2 flanger (Also modded by Me)

All on a custom made pedal board (You guessed it, Me)

Works well for the '60's '70's covers,We mostly play.

[Cortfan]

Hey whiteroom, where in TN are you?

[elsongs]

As a keyboard/synth player, It REALLY gets on my nerves when the keyboard player in a Top40 band has two keyboards from the same manufacturer and chooses cheesy sounds like synth horns (a badly-articulated sax sound from a ROMpler is usually the worst you can get) and badly-made analog-ish pads/leads. It just sounds really annoying but typically in a lot of Top40 bands I know, they keyboardist is usually someone who's a very skilled, classicaly trained pianist who doesn't know squat about playing a *synth*. Hmmm, maybe I should start a consulting business that works with keyboaridsts of Top40 bands that helps them choose better sounds for tunes.

 

This may not apply to you in here, but like I said the keyboardists of most of the Top40 bands I know play a synth like a piano, when an organ sound needs to be played like an organ, a string patch needs to be played like a string section, a sax sound needs to be played like a sax, etc.

[ZenFly]

Our band plays classic rock from 60's to 80's (not shred).

 

Me:

H&K zenTera combo w zBoard

Parker Fly classic w/ rmc > 13 pin >

Roland GI20 switcher >

Roland VG8ex and Roland GR33 synth

both into a small Berhinger mixer

which feeds 2 Mackie SRM 450s

 

Bass

Small Gallean Kruger set up w small ext cab.

Hand made (he make's them) basses

 

Drummer

Drums

 

Singer

brings the P.A which is all Carvin

2 FOH cabs 2 monitors 2 power amps Mixer efx unit.

 

does the job for what we do.

[riffdaddy]

This rig is used for funk/R&B, though I've used pretty much the same thing for rock gigs too.

 

GUITARS

Les Paul Deluxe

American Strat w/Tom Andersons

Les Paul Standard

PRS McCarty Soapbar w/rosewood neck

1955 ES-225T

(I've got another four or five that don't make it into the regular rotation)

 

AMP

Zinky Blue Velvet 25w 112 combo

 

EFFECTS

George Dennis wah

Dunlop Crybaby wah (to be replaced with Thomas Organ Crybaby)

Q-Tron (to be replaced with Emma DiscomBOBulator)

Ibanez TS-5

Maxon Real Tube Compressor

EHX Micro Synthesizer

Maxon PT-9 Pro + Phaser

Maxon FL-9 Flanger

Visual Sound H2O Liquid Chorus/Echo

Danelectro Wasabi Forward/Reverse Delay

Seymour Duncan Pickup Booster

Ernie Ball Volume Pedal

[mstreck]

Amy gets intimate with her:

JTS NX-8 Microphone

Mackie 808S Powered Mixer

JBL EON15 Speakers

Juicy Tube lip gloss

 

Harry spends hours stroking his:

'02 G&L L-2000

Trace-Elliot Amplification

Avatar Cabinet

 

Rik makes up for size with:

'99 Paul Reed Smith McCarty

'01 Fender Double Fat Strat

'01 Fender American Standard Strat

'00 Fender American Standard Telecaster

'83 Fender American Standard Telecaster

'99 Fender Mexi Strat

'02 Epiphone Les Paul Deluxe

'64 Goya Panther

Traynor YCV40 Amplification

'90 Yamaha SY-77 Work Station

 

John likes to beat his:

Gretsch, Ludwig, & Pork Pie Drums

Zildjian Cymbals

DW Hardware

Vic Firth Sticks

Evans & Remo Heads

 

Mike spends hours polishing his:

 

[wheresgrant3]

 

Originally posted by elsongs As a keyboard/synth player, It REALLY gets on my nerves when the keyboard player in a Top40 band has two keyboards from the same manufacturer and chooses cheesy sounds like synth horns (a badly-articulated sax sound from a ROMpler is usually the worst you can get) and badly-made analog-ish pads/leads. It just sounds really annoying but typically in a lot of Top40 bands I know, they keyboardist is usually someone who's a very skilled, classicaly trained pianist who doesn't know squat about playing a *synth*. Hmmm, maybe I should start a consulting business that works with keyboaridsts of Top40 bands that helps them choose better sounds for tunes. This may not apply to you in here, but like I said the keyboardists of most of the Top40 bands I know play a synth like a piano, when an organ sound needs to be played like an organ, a string patch needs to be played like a string section, a sax sound needs to be played like a sax, etc.

 

 

 

+1... I agree 100%. A lot of times I'll watch/talk to players in other bands and ask them about their gear, setups, patches... they dpn't have a clue. They're just lounge players who know how to pound on black and white keys.

 

Maybe that's my advantage... I'm not a keyboard player... I'm a guitarist handling keyboard sounds. My job is not to play keys... it's to create dynamics. If we are playing Bon Jovi, Kid Rock, Van Halen or even Prince I layer sounds, find huge sounding patches, etc. try to make it sound as "arena" as possible. If we are playing funk, disco or anything else with horn or strings, I play under the mix and try as much as possible to limit playing to just stabs and short breaks. It's all about adding to the mix, not just playing the selected parts.

[whiteroom]

Originally posted by Cortfan Hey whiteroom, where in TN are you?

 

Orange Mound....

[Greazygeo]

I'm in the process of adding acoustic sounds to the rig at the moment.

 

The electric side of things are:

Anderson Hollow Cobra

Ibanez RG1820X (piezo equipped floyd trem)

 

Wizard head and 4-12 cab

 

Pedalboard with VHT Valvulator, Budda Wah, SD-1 (modded), EVH Phase 90, Digitech Whammy, CE-2, DD3, Voodoo Labs Tremolo.

 

For the acoustic side I'm running into a Fishman Aura into some kind of amp/ powered monitor....

 

That's all folks.....

[MDLMUSIC]

I have an oldies/classic rock trio called "Rock This Town".

 

Me--American Ash Telecaster 2002

Peavey Special 130 amp

Digitech multi-effects pedal (the cheapest one)

AKG mic

Digitech Vocalist Performer harmonizer

 

Randy--Yamaha Bass

Peavey head

4x10 cabinet (no idea of the make)

 

Martin--Yamaha (mostly) drums

 

Simple no frills set-up, perfect for what we do.

[KHAN]

2 Am. Std. Strats with Lace Hot Golds and Graphtech Ghost saddles (piezo transducers in the saddles to get electric acoustic sounds)

 

Jackson DK-2 with hot golds

 

Digitech GNX-3

 

One of the following

 

'65 Bandmaster

'68 Bassman (blackfaced)

'68 Bandmaster

'73 Dual Showman Reverb (blackfaced)

 

into a Peavey 410E cab loaded with Jensen P10R alnico's.

[roabre999]

 

Originally posted by Hardtailed I quickly learned something: 1 great sound is better than many "ok" sounds.

 

 

I've always had "my" sound. My rig

 

Ibanez RG550 --> BossME-5 FX board -->Korg DT12 Tuner -->Roland Volume Pedal -->JCM800 -->212cab

 

I have 2 sounds. A clean sound and a dirty sound. While they might not nail every sound from every song, they are good sounds and work well in all the songs. If there is something special I might have a sound with some funky delay or flanger on it but they would be a one off. For me it's either clean or dirty.

 

A gutarist in another band I was in had a multifx unit and had a different sound for every song. While I was waiting for the next song, he would be tapdancing on his MIDI pedalboard controller to get to the next sound. Never occured to him to even renumber the sounds so he could just click to the next one.

 

I hated waiting for him and like that I have either clean or dirty.

[Bryant05]

in our last gig we had -

 

Guitar 1 - Ibanez GRX20 & Marshall MG250DFX

Gutiar 2 - Epiphone Les Paul & Line6 100w

Bass - Yamaha (i cant remember the model, nice bass tho) & 60w Drive

Drums

&

Singer

[ZED]

Cover band rig:

 

Tele or Strat

 

Boss tuner

 

Fender Deluxe 90

[JBJ]

G&L legacy

 

epi sg400 custom for backup

 

into:

 

boss tu2

keeley modded blues driver

sansamp gt2

 

to the clean channel of a marshall avt 275 and from the Direct out to the board.

 

 

pretty simple but sounds absolutely incredible and although mostof what we does falls under the curtain of rock, thats including everything from the stones and bowie to bryan adams to the buzzcocks to the libertines and more modern stuff.