[Harp-L] re:Speaking of amp stands

[Michael Easton <diachrome@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

 I should add that both guitarists I play with are great guys.  Non  
of the guitar god persona.
The one that complained last week was in a duo act with me for a year  
before we teamed up with the other guys to form the band.

It was just a bad situation trying to squeeze 5 players in a very  
small space and not having a game plan for that type of situation.
The room we played last week and this week was our first time there.

I would have had my amp on stand beside me but there was a table of 4  
people less then a foot from where I stood.
I apologized to my guitarist last night before we headed off to the  
gig and said I'd leave the amp stand in the van since the room we were  
playing
in was even smaller.  We were at a bit of a loss where to position  
ourselves since the front door was where the other guitarist would  
have stood.
 The drummer was in an out cove where a digital  dart board sat an  
hour earlier. We're talking about an 8x8 foot area to fit the rest of  
us plus amps, pa and speakers.
We used one speaker as main and pointed the other back at the band as  
monitor.

Our bassist/bandleader came up with a novel idea that worked out  
great. Both guitarists play small custom SAMAMP VAC 23's on low volume  
gigs.
We pulled my amp stand out and placed one guitar amp on it and tilted  
the other underneath it to conserve space. Both guitarists were on the  
same side of the stage this time, one slightly
in front of the other.   My amp was placed high on a wall mounted  
table that ran the length of the bar room. I had to turn the amp on  
it's side to fit and placed my pedals behind it.
 I was about a foot out in front of the band with the amp to the side  
in front of me.

The setup was perfect.  Everybody in the band could hear each other  
since we weren't spread out in normal band fashion. The audience was  
filled with blues society members, neighborhood locals,
 and and a host of  blues musicians.  We got complimented from  
everyone throughout the night how tight the band sounded and how great  
our gear sounded.
The band felt good afterwards and we were even offered a gig there  
next week but had to pass.

It's been mostly trio's that play the small blues room but we proved  
you could squeeze a 5 piece band in and still keep the volume under  
control.  We are going to go with that set up
on future small room gigs.  The guitarists will have to provide their  
own stand though. ;)

I guess to sum things up. having the harp amp on a stand behind you  
may not always be the best solution because while you can hear better  
you may piss off the guy beside you or force him to turn up
louder if he is getting to much harp in his ear.  I found positioning  
it high on the stand  and just to the side of me provides the best  
unmiked amp situation to allow you to 1) hear yourself 2) the audience  
hear you at a decent level and 3) keeps your band mates happy.  It  
also keeps you out of the feedback zone if you need to crank it a  
little. I set the 15 watt amp volume on 5 1/2 and controlled my vol.  
from the mic.

Michael Easton
www.harmonicarepair.com