mynameisdanno

I was on a package tour with him in 2018, and listened to him live for 24 nights over five weeks. Never felt repetitive, never got tired of hearing him. A true communicator through his instrument. An absolute original.

Yeah, the form factor implications and the cost are the main things that have kept me from seriously considering it. The cost-benefit ratio doesn't weigh out. On the gigs where I might care enough to justify the extra cost/schlep, there's generally a FOH engineer that I trust to apply tasteful compression out front. But my irrational desire to fully utilize gear has always been hunting for a use to put those "volume pedal" jacks to use. It sure won't be for a master mix volume pedal, LOL...

Yeah, I switched from SLM to BandHelper pretty much for the cloud storage of charts, and the sync capabilities (write the setlist on the phone or in a web browser, it shows up on the iPad). I've never had any bandmates show an interest in joining my BandHelper account or using an iPad on stage. Frankly, except in casuals gigs, I think keyboard players and drummers are the only ones that can get away with iPads on stage, because we have more places to hide them. I have had several artists I work with hit me up for old setlists, or for info like "what haven't we played in a while?", since they know BandHelper makes it easy. It also is very handy for planning precise set lengths (e.g. for a support slot), if you take the time to get accurate length data on each song. I usually do this from a scratch live recording with a field recorder near the beginning of a tour.

I've thought about doing this sometimes. I think the Key Largo's volume pedal send/return basically acts as a stereo insert point just before the main and monitor outs, so you could patch in a stereo compressor (or EQ or whatever) there. That way you'd keep the Key Largo's output transformers as your last step before FOH, and also your comp/EQ would appear on the monitor outputs of the KL.

I just checked my old emails, and I downloaded Set List Maker for the first time in January 2013. That's ten years ago. I've used it (or BandHelper once I switched over) for almost every gig of every project in that time. There's a learning curve but once I climbed it, it's done everything I've ever wanted since. Arlo has been great with bug fixes and improvements over the years. He even raises the standard limit he had in place on how many active projects an account can have in BandHelper because of me. ("How can one person be in so many bands???" "Well... I'm a keyboard player." "Oh right." LOL) Anyway, highly recommend.

I'm usually programming in rehearsals (or on gigs!), and constantly leveling by ear as I go and re-saving patches. It might be instructive to have some VU meters in my live chain just to make sure I'm not clipping. This is just about the only thing I miss about the various small-format analog mixers I used to submix my rig with vs. the Key Largo I use now. But generally I think just getting in the neighborhood of equal by ear is fine, and then tweak levels by ear again at a full-band rehearsal or gig when you can hear yourself in ensemble context, re-saving patches as you go. Metering wouldn't be that useful for my approach, as my levels tend to vary a fair bit from song to song depending on the importance of keys to the arrangement. I don't sandbag FOH at soundcheck, I'll give them the absolute loudest thing to set gains with, and then I'll let them know sometime before the set begins not to worry too much about chasing me around - if I'm quiet, it's probably because I'm supposed to be, and I'll get louder again when I need to be. When forewarned, they usually seem to appreciate that.

I've had a chance to spend plenty of time with both kinds now, and find them both great. The variability from one piano to another (action and setup) is going to be bigger than the differences between those amps in terms of tone. Noise floor and reliability have been great on both so far. The difference in approach for the variable-speed vibrato controls (three knobs vs. coaxial) is something to consider, if you care about the aesthetics. I find both equally functional. The VV lets you instantly get back to the stock vibrato rate with a push of the knob which is handy but I didn't really miss that on the Warneck units. I do use the rate adjustment more than I thought I would – slightly slower is really nice sometimes. Probably the most interesting difference with the VV amp is the optional effects loop. It's a nice feature if you're using stompboxes and want to hear your effected tone through the internal speakers. If you're doing high-gain stuff and deliberately coaxing the reeds into harmonic feedback, it's helpful to have that gained-up signal going through the speakers. Be aware that the effects loop is pre-vibrato, which is ideal for some things (e.g. overdrive or compression), doesn't matter for others (EQ, modulation), and maybe a little less than ideal for time-based effects (since your tails / repeats will get vibrato'd). But you can always just put your time based effects after the final output of course, they just won't be in the internal speakers. After living with it for a while, I'm glad they did it that way - it's nice having the option. My current main studio Wurlitzer is a 203W console with a Vintage Vibe amp with effects loop. I sometimes insert a little 5W tube amp with a line output in the effects loop (one of those little Akai/Roberts conversions), and it does a really nice job of giving more of an earlier tube-Wurly vibe. I had my tech (the excellent Brad Purkey in Seattle) cut a hole in the side of the speaker cabinet part, and mount a black dual-gang light switch to give me separate speaker killswitches for the front and back speakers so I can turn off the rear speakers (which are usually just firing into the wall). The Vintage Vibe amp instructions don't provide guidance for connecting to the console speakers, but in my case at least, it seems to be driving either a pair or all four just fine. It's a real joy to play.

I haven't had any hands-on time with the Night Sky but I would strongly disagree with the statement "BigSky is better for guitars rather than keyboards." My BigSky is in near constant use in the studio on synths, Hammond (pre-Leslie), really just about anything/everything. They are so de rigueur in the synth world these days that it's almost become a meme. With that many synths, having it on an aux send/return at your mixer (with the BigSky set 100% wet) seems like the most logical move on the surface, but if you want to be "playing" the pedal as part of a sound on one particular instrument at a time, you might find it better to just set it on top of whatever instrument you're playing at the time and patch directly through it, so it'll be easy to reach while playing. I usually have mine sitting up on top of the instrument I'm playing so I can tweak decay times, etc. as I go.

I'm not sure exactly which model it is, but my Petosa Little Pro Xt has a "Harmonik" brand mic system in it with individual volume and tone for LH and RH. Sounds great, and very good rejection, so gain-before-feedback is excellent and other loud instruments on stage aren't bleeding noticeably into the accordion. Active output, so it works just fine plugged into the Key Largo. Needs a new 9V every 10-15 gigs or so, as long as I remember to unplug it after soundcheck.

I'm half of D, sorta. I use BandHelper on an iPad. It's extremely powerful and fairly finicky as a result, but I love it. All my projects have at least two custom fields, "Nord Patch" and "Quicknotes" (used for any one-liner reminders of musical cues, which BGV part is mine, etc.). Those fields are shown on my setlist view along with key, and that's all I need on most gigs. If I want to refer to a chart or have a few lyrics reminders on a tune, I can load that stuff in there too and just click on a tune in the setlist to see it. I usually keep the iPad mounted down low to one of the legs on my KS7150 with the iPad parallel to the floor, so it's very low profile from the audience perspective and usually hidden from the audience entirely by my leg. I prefer this approach to any "Setlist mode" on a keyboard, because usually with the folks I play with the setlist is being written in the green room ten minutes before showtime. I haven't ever bothered with the necessary MIDI plumbing to send program changes from the iPad to the gear. Even on the Heart tour, with four preset-capable keyboards and a few H9's to change presets on, plus the Minimoog Model D to manually repatch a few times a night, it just didn't seem worth the hassle. I added a few more custom fields to that BandHelper project for the additional gear's patch numbers for each song, and loaded images of patch sheets for the Minimoog into the songs where I used that (with highlights on the knobs that needed to change, if going in the usual setlist order). It only took me a few seconds to shift all the patches manually for most tunes, and after a couple weeks I was finding places where I could "work ahead" to get the Minimoog ready for the next tune I'd need it for. Bottom line, I would rather be in the habit of quickly doing it myself rather than becoming reliant on automation that becomes a point of failure and leaves me looking like a deer in the headlights when some janky dongle inevitably fails one night.

I have an SC-2 and have found it quite impressive. I normally avoid gig bags, in fact except for my accordion the ES-110 is the only piece of gear I regularly transport in one. Foam thickness is hard to measure, but it seems to me about 3/4" thick not including the fabric. It seems to be of a particularly stout type. The construction of the bag is very solid and the design is thoughtful. Good zippers, good handles and stitching, etc. I can't compare it to the PriviaCase bag, having never laid eyes on one, but I wouldn't hesitate to recommend the SC-2.

That first reissue they were making in the late '10s are just excellent instruments. It feels like giving up absolutely nothing vs. a vintage unit, and gaining several really useful additions without losing the vibe. Mine held up great on the road. The new walnut stain looks sharp. Looks like the only other change is a spring-loaded pitch wheel... well, I guess I could get used to that. I might be disappointed about this new production taking away some of the ridiculous appreciation of the previous reissue in the used market, except that I never considered selling it for a second!

I did this maneuver recently, after installing the gel and restringing, but missing the fact that there’s a correct orientation for the Clavigel (there’s a slight taper to the cross section). I applied a piece of gaff tape across the strings near the comb before pulling the ends off the comb, to keep them reasonably well organized and easy to get back onto the comb.

I would be all over this if they ever had a passenger version in the US. As far as I can tell the Chevy City Express and Nissan NV200 were only ever available in cargo versions over here. I believe they work great as Hammond haulers, but I need to move 2+ passengers somewhat more often than I need to move a Hammond rig.

+1 on not using XLR outs on any gear (keyboards, amps, whatever) that you don't *know* to be transformer isolated to feed FOH. I've learned the hard way. Only takes one FOH mixing board with global phantom power to ruin your day. Several good companies sell stereo isolation transformer boxes with XLR ins and outs. I've used the Radial Twin-Iso and Whirlwind ISO-2 in this role, no complaints. If you want something that can function either as a XLR-in, XLR-out transformer or a traditional 1/4"-in, XLR-out DI box, the Radial JDI Duplex is a great choice. If you are always operating in the same fixed install (e.g. at a church) and totally trust your audio team, they may not be necessary. But for any keyboard player who deals with audio du jour, a good passive DI will solve annoying (or expensive) problems before they come up. Spend the extra hundred or two bucks to get a good one and it'll sound better than 95% of what sound companies will provide. And they last approximately forever.

Yeah, I was really hoping to hold out for something electric, either the ID Buzz or something else, but I'm just not sure my current van will make it that long. I might just get another used Ford Transit Connect with slightly lower miles, to tide me over for a few years. The Devil You Know, etc.

There's a very highly regarded independent Mercedes repair guy half a mile from my house, which is definitely feeding into my thinking on this question.

My beloved 2011 Ford Transit Connect fit the bill perfectly but is nearing the end of its service life. My needs in frequency/priority order: 1. Mostly hauling a modest two-board live rig, sometimes with a Leslie cabinet 2. moving 3-5 humans, sometimes in conjunction with the above 3. Moving a C3 and Leslie 142 with soft covers and some other gear. I do this maybe 4-5 times a year, but it’s nice to not have to rent a van every time I do it. And preferably something that can get in at least some urban parking garages and get MPG in the 20’s, which knocks out full sized vans. Without getting into the headaches of maintaining 10+ year old vehicles, the Mercedes Metris (aka Vito in other markets) seems attractive except for the costs, both up-front and being a hostage of the Mercedes Maintenance Regime. Anyone hauled a Hammond console and Leslie in one of these? Any other personal experience? Any options in the U.S. market I may be overlooking? 098E672D-C157-4115-AFAC-CC87F9C54C68.webp

Since nobody's said it yet: the Radial Key Largo is an excellent choice for a combination submixer / passive DI for a small multi-keyboard rig. I have a few of them for different rigs, and am using one on a major tour right now - the same first Key Largo I bought when they first came out and have been using ever since. If you want to bring your own stage amp or powered wedge acting as an amp (which I personally always do, unless I have 100% trust in the monitor engineer), you can connect your amp to the Key Largo's monitor output, and you have easy access to a volume control for your stage sound, without screwing up the FOH mix and everyone else's monitor mix. And it has a high quality stereo DI built in. If FOH wants mono due to channel shortage or a mono PA system, just give them the right side only, and then feed your onstage amp with the left monitor output, and you can at least enjoy stereo on stage, and put a little more spaciousness into the room as well, if it's a small enough room for stage sound to be somewhat audible to the audience. (Obviously you'll want to check your patches at home and make sure they sound good using only the right side, and modify as needed). Incredibly reliable, flexible, sounds great, has never let me down. My only caveat is I would suggest buying a spare power supply for it since it's kind of an oddball 15V unit and you may not be able to get your hands on a spare in a hurry if it gets lost/forgotten.

What a treat. Nothing like the real thing, even if it's just a spinet – IF you can reinforce/record it well.

I'd keep the Leslie sim on, but stopped. If you don't do a stopped Leslie, at least use one of the amp sims. You'll want some high end roll off for sure, the uncut organ engine will be a little too brutal. C3 vibrato, and some reverb. Spring reverb would be ideal if you wanna get ambitious and route the organ to a separate output to run it through a spring reverb pedal. For drawbars, I'd start with something like 670000003, or 667800003 as a starting point. Pull out a handful of higher drawbars for the punchier hits; the Cmi-Dmi hits at the end of each chorus sound pretty close to full organ to me. Just monkey around with 'em, don't worry too much about finding "the" "right" setting. What sounds right will vary depending on how the other instruments are sounding, the room, etc.

Totally depends on the rig of course. I have used, and enjoyed, in various scenarios: Radial Key Largo (the standby for sure) Radial KL-8 Radial Space Heater MOTU UltraLite AVB Midas MR18, for one particularly large touring rig I tend to avoid standard form-factor mixers, since keyboard submixing is ideally a set-and-forget enterprise, and faders are just a waste of space and limit placement options for the mixer on stage, and are more prone to dust-related issues over time than knobs. When there's vintage gear in the rig (usually a Wurly or analog synth) I do sometimes wish for channel EQ, but if it's really important I can either run it through an EQ pedal or something, or bring a digital mixer.

Tastes vary on actions, but I've found the ES110 to be by far the most satisfying action I've experienced in a sub $1k board, and it's also been more roadworthy than I dared to hope. I have one stashed with a mid-level touring act that's done several months of riding around stood up on one end (inside a good ATA case) bouncing up and down inside a jam-packed single axle trailer; no issues yet. I keep a spare PSU for it in case the chintzy DC wire ever gives out, but it hasn't yet. I also have one at home, and I just bought a third one on closeout. I would certainly snap up a used one at $350. Disclaimer: I don't use the internal sounds, it's purely a controller for Nord piano sounds for me.

Lots of triad inversions moving about. Mostly a one-handed part other than the verses. I find lots of times what separates the decent cover versions from the great ones is an awareness that the band isn't always louder / thicker in the chorus. It's a killer arrangement and piano part but David T. Walker is the MVP of the track. Hopefully your guitar player approaches it with some finesse!

The price hikes that have been cracking me up the most during COVID are keyboard stands. The On-Stage KS7150 for example, looking at email receipts: 2013: $50 2017: $80 2018: $83 2021: $130 (a demo deal!) Today: $145 It makes some sense that something this low-tech, commodity-driven in terms of the required raw materials, and shipping-intensive would be impacted the most in the current environment. But all of a sudden my tendency of many years to buy keyboard stands at the drop of a hat and litter them around my musical life like iPhone chargers feels smart.