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Originally posted by Adam Mottley So that's my small slice of the live audio world. It isn't the best, it isn't the biggest, but it's mine. Adam Good review. Your rig sounds very well thought-out. For the few times I have to do wedges I'd love to be able to justify the Radians, the reviews I've seen in various places are all fantastic from a GBF perspective. -- Dan

I'm a Systems Engineer for a network hardware manufacturer. You can be certain that you used our products to get to this web site and every other web site you visited today. My opinions on my club rig: Speakers: - 4 x JBL SR4719X subs These have served me well, they're basically idiot proof. A bit heavy and tippy towards the front so I strap them down to a 4x4 foot piece of plywood they sit on with holes in it for the feet. - 4 x JBL SR4732X tops Harsh arond 2.7 Khz, I've got that sort of under control in the speaker processor. Unsuitable for arraying from JBL, I've replaced the original horns with 60 degree versions. Now they throw much further than stock and array better though I suspect any pro level cabinet would be much better. Speaker Processor: - dbx Driverack 260. It has been fine though I have experienced bugs in the Driveware software. I'd like a Xilica 4080HD. I run no analog graphic equalizer, I use the EQ in the 260. Amps: - 4 x QSC PLX3402 on subs, one bridged per cabinet. These are limited so as to hopefully not blow up the SR4719Xs. - 1 x QSC PLX3402 on mids, two cabs per channel. - 1 x QSC PLX1602 on highs, two cabs per channel. All the QSC has been absolutely reliable and I would buy them all again. FOH Mixer: - Yamaha 02R (not an O2R96, an original O2R). I love the 02R and I will never return to analog. I think in 5 years the available market for new mixers will be half digital and half analog, in 10 years analog will be relatively rare high end boutique products. I have Digimax LT external preamps into ADAT cards on the 02R for channels 25-40. Cases: - Anvil shock ATA racks. They're too expensive. I have some Audiopile cases, haven't actually used them yet but soon. Effects: - 2 x Yamaha 02R internal effects, one set up for snare and one set up for toms. - TC Electronic M-One XL, this is set to a Short Double Reverb for vocals - TC Electronic D-Two, this is set to a Chorused Delay for vocals. The M-One is more or less a standard at this level. I really like the D-Two. It sounds great. Dynamics processing: - Yamaha 02R internal comps and gates. The only drawback here is there's one per channel. You can't have a gate before a comp. For the things that require that: - dbx 1066, I have one of these for snare and kick. Recording: - Sony CDRW-66, this allows us to record all the shows to CDR to listen to the mistakes later. I run it off the AES out on the 02R so it's digital to the CDR. It gets kind of hot but has worked well. Snake: - 100 foot Proco Roadmaster something or other, this has been too short and from Proco they didn't tighten all the XLRs on the fan sufficiently so the jackets pulled out over time and I had to redo a lot of them. That sucked. The connectors on the stage box are also of a pushbutton release variety that everyone complains are too hard to release. I have other fan to fan drive snakes Proco and the ends are slightly different lengths that don't line up. I've been buying Audiopile's short fan to fan snakes lately and they seem much better so far but time will tell. Other cables: - Proco mic cords, no complaints - Fan to fan snakes from FOH FX rack to FOH mixer, Audiopile stuff. No complaints so far. - Speaker cables, Neutrik NL4s from Full Compass and 12/2 or 12/4 electrical cable from the local electrical supplier. I solder them, I think it's best when people who aren't careful are jerking cables with big connectors that catch on everything around tables and other stuff at the end of the night. Monitors: - All in-ears, I had Shure PSM400s and I believe they have a design defect that you could search for and read about over on Prosoundweb if you wanted to. I have switched everything to Sennheiser EW-300 IEM G2 and the musicians have stopped complaining about RF dropouts and they say the audio quality is better. When you hit peak on them the backlight on the LCD display changes from green to red and you can see it from across the room. It looks cool and the first time I saw them do that I think I heard angels sing. I mix monitors from FOH though I'll be moving to an O1V96V2 at the stage soon. Mics: - Pretty much all Shure, SM-58s and Beta 58s for vocals, SM-57s and Beta 57s for instruments, SM81s for hat and ride, Beta 56A for snare because the mount is convenient to stick it between the toms up high pointing down at the snare. Beta 98s on Toms. For Kick I have a Beta 91 and a Beta 52 but I have moved away from them to an Audix D6 (boom) and an Audix D1 (tick) for kick. I use a Crown CM311 for the drummer. I tried an Audix OM5 on on musician that was muddy on a Beta 58 but it had a high mid gritty sound that I didn't like. I also have one of those EV ND/whatevers that a lot of people have, I bought it on a recommendation from someone but haven't used it yet. Stands: - Atlas with the heavy base, they haven't fallen over much so I guess they're okay. It'd be nice if they stacked somehow because carrying mic stands is a PITA but I think the ones that stack have lighter bases and that concerns me. Distro: - I use a distributed distro system that I built where we tie in with tails or a NEMA 14-50R and then two very small 6 circuit 120 amp panels are located at the back corners of the stage. Every circuit is served with 20 amp GFCI outlets. We need that many circuits because lighting is on that too but you didn't ask about that. Break music playback: - IBM Thinkpad T23, this also runs SmaartLive which has been *very* useful. I use an Edirol UA-5 for SmaartLive in and for break music out. It's fine but the wall wart power supply is huge. This is what's required to compete near the top of the market for a cover band in Madison, Wisconsin. Some guys around here have JBL SRX, some have Turbosound Flashlight. The norm here is the band hires or carries complete production. Production skills vary widely, the crowds don't seem to notice much after 15 or 20 beers. We're in festival season now and this rig covers beer tent type engagements well too. All in all I'd say it has served me well though I'd like things that were more of a pro level. If some money fell out of the sky and hit me on the head I'd like KF650s and some other sub, I think many of EAWs sub offerings are of a poor form factor for efficient packing at this level. I see the guys with the Turbosound Flashlight stuff and I like how it packs easily and is very stable but TFL-760s are so commonplace it makes me want something else. -- Dan