Re: Stage volume...was: What amp for 12C

[fjm <2738540@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hmm, the thread has evolved.  Ok, the reason I sold my Twin Reverb,
master volume, is it was too loud.  We play out door gigs with 2 15"
JBL's and no monitors.  We're not loud enough to need them.  I play a 5
watt amplifier and don't turn up much past 5.  The P/A never gets turned
up much past one third.  You can sit in back at our gigs and actually
talk quietly to the person next to you.  Conversely we played the Folk
Festival this weekend, waiting behind stage for one song before our set
my ears were ringing in 2 minutes.  We were playing in a courtyard and
the sound was up so loud that the slap from the rear wall was hitting
the stage and I had no idea of where I was timing wise.  This for an all
acoustic gig.  I'd had to sign a form acknowledging that it was acoustic
only and no amplifiers were alowed.  Ah the irony.  Recently opened for
Freddy Fender out of town.  I had to beg the very professional sound
guys to lower the sound in the house and on stage to the point it only
kind of hurt my ears.  This in a half full 415 seat college auditorium. 
Generally speaking concert volume levels are too loud most of the time. 
Ever notice what small children do when they're standing next to the
train tracks and a train goes by?  They cover their ears, adults don't. 
Sometimes we are truly clueless. I had a band gig playing out 2-4 times
a week for 3 and a half years, the reason I quit the gig was I didn't
want to lose my hearing playing Mustang Sally for drunks screaming
Freebird.  Who was that really good guitar player that used to gig with
Gary Primich?  Rusty something?  He's a deaf butcher now.  Freddy
Fender's 60% deaf or so someone in his band said.  Of course it's not
just amplified music that gets you, symphonic players regularly lose
their hearing.  Depends on where you sit.  Too close to the horns you're
dead.  fjm