Personal Amp rejected for gig

[Boogified]

Has anyone experience this type of situation whereby the organisers/sound crew forbid you from using your personal amp that you brought along?

Here's my story which just happen yesterday.

I recently bought a boutique amp and always wanted to bring it up on stage to blast it off and rock. For this upcoming gig, my band is chosen for the closing band. Okay Perfect slot for using my own amp and have slightly more time to set up and playing etc. So I requested using my own amp for the tech rider our band is going to submit.

However, I was shocked that they do not allow me to use my own amp which is ridiculous
Here are the summarised reasons stated:

1. Time wasted and delay when sound crew has to redo the settings etc
2. People will start commenting on our band why do we have extra special service for using own amp
3. Afraid that there will be many problems caused when using my amp.(eg amp blow, fuse blow)
4. Influence/encourage other bands to bring down their personal equipments to the gig in the future.

I am totally disappointed by them and I will just have to use my metal-zone for that gig as I have sold off
almost all my effects. As for the set up, I explained to them that I will use my own mic and stand to mic up the cab and they will just have to plug it into their goddamn mixer or whatever shit they are using. Worse is, I paid $20 for the gig as a fee and I am getting these type of service.

/facepalm

If they want to improve the event, firstly they should at least let us improve.

 

[penta-tonic]

welcome to singapore.

 

[PatheinRaindropMoe]

hehe, poor boutique amp, cant get to roar out loud..

 

[kernelspy]

Boutique amp fail.




Did you inform first the organizer like 2-3 hours before your gig if you can use your own amp in the first place?

I remember when we also had a gig, I brought my own amp and asked permission first if I can use it....

 

[edgie]

Sorry to hear that. This is one of the topics covered in the thread I started recently. I think if soundmen are confident enough in their skills, musicians bringing an amp to a gig shouldn't be a problem. I guess it really depends on the organizers and soundcrew doing the gig.

 

[Cavett]

I feel you...

As an audio engineer by profession, I am greatly embarrassed by the crew and organiser that organised this gig...

 

[Boogified]

Kernelspy > I asked them if i can bring down my amp before the event. It haven started yet. I was told not to bring by them. What can I do man? =(

Anyway guys, I cant play in the gig anymore. I got kicked out of the band for posting this thread and having troubles with my Amp etc. I was told by the leader that it will affect the band position in the gig and might get removed from the gig. But it doesnt really matter much =).

 

[glblues]

lol, i never ask permission before.
i remember i was in a 4 band lineup for Singapore arts fest, blues in the house i thk it was called.
i just dragged my amp from the taxi to the stage and asked for a mike. the soundmen didnt seem to mind. tho, bear in mind that our soundcheck was an hour long. if ur soundcheck was like, 5 mins long then its a diff case, the soundman has a case there.
but u getting sacked from the band for amp troubles is a bit silly, imho.

 

[edgie]

Kernelspy > I asked them if i can bring down my amp before the event. It haven started yet. I was told not to bring by them. What can I do man? =(

Anyway guys, I cant play in the gig anymore. I got kicked out of the band for posting this thread and having troubles with my Amp etc. I was told by the leader that it will affect the band position in the gig and might get removed from the gig. But it doesnt really matter much =).

Don't worry, you'll eventually find the right bandmates for you. If that is their only their reason for kicking you out, your now-ex-bandmates are not worth playing with in the long run . Most organizers who are doing these pay-to-play gigs are just using you anyway. If they are the type of bandmates that you can be friends with, they would understand your plight more than worrying about how the organizers will accept your band. Again, another sorry-to-hear-that for you. Move on with your music and good luck in your new search for a band.

 

[LEMONed_Z]

Is your amp a head or combo? If it's a head they can reject with reasons like they already rented combos and can't provide a cab or something. If it's a combo, all they need is to shift the mic to mic up your combo instead isn't it? I don't see much problem.

 

[Boogified]

glblues > I have around 10 mins set up time. Definitely enough for me to set up the whole thing. yeah. It pretty silly. Im sure there are other hidden reasons.

edgie > I found the right people and we cant find a drummer who is willing to play. We will continue to find anyway. At least I will get my $20 refund back and stop playing for that pathetic event and band. Anyway I wanted to quit the band long ago because all the members are swapped with another clique. Pretty obvious that they have something biased against me and I got backstabbed recently. Pretty pissed off. But I will continue to rock. LOL!

Lemoned_z > Im using a Mesa B. Triple Rectifier with 2x12 cab. And of cos I will provide all the necessary things for myself like mic, stand, cables. There is totally no problem with setting up. I wonder what made them think so far. Even a 3yrs old knows how to do it.

 

[Likui]

oh my Mesa B. Triple Rectifier with 2x12 cab cannot make it for the gig, but I thought a proper gig, you should bring your own amps right? I mean dream theater come to singapore they bring their own equipments so that's being professional. I think i know what you lack, you forgot your own soundman, because dream theater have their own sound man. So you can get a sound man if you cannot find, just ask me lol

 

[Boogified]

Haha. Yeah. Damn it man. Cant use it. Cant even play anymore. If a guitarist wants to have a proper sound, he/she should always bring their own amps down for professionalism. This event is an exception. If any of the "Ang moh" hear this, Im sure they will LOL. haha. I wish I have my own sound man. haha. my budget not so high till I will hire a soundman. Maybe next time.

 

[LEMONed_Z]

If they reject your amp request, I doubt they will even let a sound man that's not part of their team come along and touch the equipment. Since you're bringing even ur own mic n such, they really shouldn't have any reason to reject man.

 

[Boogified]

Yeah. I wonder why they don change a sound man. I don see any problems in setting up etc. I personally feel it's just pure lazy. $20 for the gig with a peavey combo and direct line out to PA. epic~

 

[edgie]

Yeah. I wonder why they don change a sound man. I don see any problems in setting up etc. I personally feel it's just pure lazy. $20 for the gig with a peavey combo and direct line out to PA. epic~

That's usually how it unfortunately goes specially for production gigs. You got crabby and lazy soundmen who are just thinking, "let's just get this s**t over with so I can go home with that hot chick I met". So whatever they set for the first band on their mixers, they would just assume that it would work for the rest of the bands.

The best soundmen that I encountered were Malay guys who worked at the now-defunct Bar None and the current Malay guy at DXO(so nice to play there now with their newly-purchased, great-sounding monitors). They were very patient and helpful with each band that played on their gigs and those were the gigs that I really felt my gear purchases were justified. Even with just those Peavey amps, we managed to play well because of their help.

 

[Boogified]

If they are so lazy and stuff, the organizer should not even hire them or collect our fees in the 1st place. Good to hear that you have good experience with those soundmen. It's always good that sound men work out well with the band and make the performance even better. Sadly all my gigs have bad soundmen. =(

 

[PatheinRaindropMoe]

hehe, soundman are misunderstood fellas when they meet band folks who cant and dont know how to control stage volume...

anyway, hope the next band be a better one for you. I just find it comical in someway how the whole thing came about and ended up..

Happy owner of boutique amp waiting to rock out, but kena rejected from using it, still have to pay 20 bucks to play, then latter kena kicked out from band over the thread. Man, i would say that the boutique amp is a curse.

 

[Boogified]

haha nvm. yeah it's damn epic ending. I got backstabbed by 2 bandmates that's why I got kicked out. The reason was I didn't play as a band and tried to overpower them with my volume and gain. All I did was a simple slight mid boost during jam to cut thru the mix. lol. Epic ending haha. Can make a movie out of this story man. I love the amp no
matter what . it's my first tube amp and sound perfect for my genre and playing

 

[robboster]

My school did that. I wanted to bring my amp down cos I use a 50W tube, and those imbeciles rented a bloody solid state for the thing... and in the end they said I couldn't cos they paid for the other amp and that it'll be wasted if I brought my own...