Jump to content


Jerry Huber

Member
  • Posts

    32
  • Joined

  • Last visited

Everything posted by Jerry Huber

  1. I've been using a DZR 12 for over a year, very happy with the sound from it. It's used primarily for acoustic piano (usually Nord Stage 2 or Grand) and LH bass. I went with the 12 to better cover bass. I think piano sounds are more natural than the Bose L1 Model II with B2 sub I was using. Voices and acoustic guitar sound great through it, also. Plenty of volume for bigger rooms, but works well in small ones, too. It's not light at 49 lbs., I use a collapsible hand cart. If I didn't have to cover bass, I would get the DZR 10.
  2. If you"re using a T1 mixer and two towers, here is a way to go stereo. Plug one output of your keyboard into a T1 channel and plug the other output into another channel. On the T1, set the aux output on one channel at 100% and the other channel 0%. Set the main outputs the opposite. Run a cable from the from the T1"s aux output to the other tower"s ¼' jack. You can either run a cable from the T1"s main output jack to the tower"s analog input ¼' jack or use the Ethernet cable. Unfortunately this method occupies two of the four puts. I use a small secondary mixer for other things and run that into the 4/5 input channel. Channel 4/5 will sum the two inputs into a mono signal. That summing is not as good as summing with your keyboard if you have that option. Obviously if you have two towers, you can plug the two cables from the stereo out of your keyboard into the analog input 1/4" jacks and control the volume with the trim knobs. The analog inputs have nothing to do with the ethernet from the T1, you can use both at the same time in a tower. I've found in a band situation (guitar, bass, drums and keys), the difference between stereo and mono is hard to tell. Solo piano and/or with acoustic guitar it's very noticeable.
  3. I recently auditioned to be a keyboard sub for a 70's rock bar band and decided I needed a different amp. I normally use a Bose L1 II with B2 sub for the acoustic guitar duo I'm in, but I've never been totally happy with the acoustic piano sound from it. It's very good, but not great. I have an ancient Barbetta SE41 and never liked the AP sound, either. My Motion Sound KM12 is even worse. I wanted a unit that could go down to near 40 MHz because I play LH bass but I will not with this rock band. Searching for something to play with the rock band, but small enough to bring to a jam session. Although 15" speakers easily meet the low, I thought the mid-highs wouldn't be as good and I wanted to stay under 50 lbs. I didn't want to buy a sub to meet the low end. More money, more things to carry. After hours of researching and building a spreadsheet of specifications, I decided to get a 12". I couldn't find a 10" that met the low end. I've read RCF's (TT 22-A II) are the top of the line for consumer products, never heard one and found a delivery time of 6-10 weeks. There are professional units from other companies running thousands of dollars, but I can't justify that level of spending to play in local bars. The high end units have networking capability which I don't need or want to pay for, that can add $300. I always thought JBL (SRX812P) to be near the top of speaker lines, but that unit is 59 lbs. and nobody had one to hear. In northern Indiana, there's few stores that have units in stock to listen to. I was able to narrow it down to a Yamaha DZR12, QSC 12.2 and a EV ETX-12P. I chose the Yamaha after a blind listening test, the salesman said the same. I'm confident it will be loud enough for the rock band, yet sounds good at low volumes, too.
  4. In the 70's, a very good friend, both musical and personal, asked to borrow my Rhodes 88 for a gig. I said yes, totally trusted him, wish I had not. It took me a couple days to track him down to get it back, he made no effort to return it to me. Maybe because when I did get it back, three of the tines were broken. I asked him what happened to the Rhodes, he said it must be f**ked up, it wasn't his fault they broke. I had never broken one before, I actually tried to hit a key so hard that the tine would break (what's one more?) and it wouldn't. He didn't offer to pay for repairs and when told what it cost afterwards, he said something on the lines of "glad that only three broke". Lesson learned. A few years ago, a friend asked to borrow an PA amp from me for a gig near me. He was desperate, I said sure, I went to the gig, (I wanted to go anyway) at the end, I packed up the amp and took it home. I think he thought I was weird doing that, but it got home safe and sound.
  5. I had to ship a 88 key from near Chicago to Seattle a couple years ago. I put it in it's soft case and surrounded that with bubble wrap, I then made a outer case from large pieces of cardboard with a thin sheet of ply wood inside to protect the keys. My employer had a strapping machine which I thoroughly secured the package. When I took it FedEx and wanted to insure it for $3,000, they told me that for a musical instrument, they have to inspect it for damage before it's packaged. There was no way I was going to do that, so I could only insure it for the standard $300. If you download the 205 page FedEx Service Guide (page 141), you'll see there's a $1000 declared value limit on musical instruments more than 20 years old and customized or personalized instruments. Fortunately, it arrived undamaged. FedEx did lose a computer monitor for me which took six weeks to resolve, but that's another story.
  6. About 20 years ago I auditioned for a classic rock band located a one hour drive from me. When I arrived, they told me I had 30 minutes to show what I got. It took almost 15 minutes to haul the keyboard (Kurzweil PC2x) and amp from the car to the house and setup. There were two guitar players in this band and the audition started with Johnny B. Good. Mid song, I was told to play a solo, got two 12 bars in, then the guitar players improvised for many more. When it ended, the band then argued among themselves about how the song should be done differently. I don't remember what the second song was but it was another three chord progression which I got to do one 12 bar solo. I felt I played interesting solos that were not simple or easy, but I can't live on three chord songs all night. The next guy showed up 30 minutes after I got there and they told me my time was up but thanks for coming and we'll call you. They didn't call, so after a week, I called the bass player who asked me to audition to find out what was going on. He said they thought I was good, but they were looking for someone who could sing. They never asked me to sing or if I sang. It didn't make sense to me, but I took it as a nice way to reject someone. I rationalized the rejection along the lines of "I didn't really want to do two hours of driving for once or twice a week practices and all of their work was a minimum 1-2 hour drive one way, anyway". A few months later, I went to see them play. They hired a much older guy with a real B3 and Leslie, he didn't have a microphone in front of him. I couldn't hear the B3 at all during the hour I was there, but he had a lot of hand/arm motions going on that probably looked impressive to non-keyboard players. Maybe equipment does matter after all, or at least the look of it.
  7. Two years ago, at age 65, I decided to get hearing aids while still on my employers health care plan before I retired. I knew a few people, including one musician whom I've worked with for years, were happy with the Oticons. I didn't try any other brands. My problem was understanding voices, particularly female voices, while other people were speaking, It was especially bad in crowded bars on gigs, even worse when there was music playing in the background on breaks. They have helped most of the time. I found that when I wear headphones playing electronic keyboards, there is a unnatural phasing of acoustic piano sounds. It's not terrible, just slightly annoying, but now I take the Oticons out. I have two settings; one for normal situations and another for gigs with noise reduction on and EQ'd to bring out voices. It seems my tinnitus hiss isn't as noticeable when I wear the hearing aids.
  8. I really enjoy the outdoor gigs, especially to larger crowds. Although our act is not loud, it's nice to not get the dreaded, "Can you turn the volume down?" request when we're outdoors. I can share a bad outdoor experience from 20 years ago. We played at a private pool party in August. As the sun went down, the mosquitos came out and were overwhelming. The hostess offered the guests and us bug spray which we put on ourselves with our hands, usually every break. The next day when I unloaded my equipment from the cases, I saw that my Korg keyboard had black streaks on most of the middle white keys. Apparently the bug spray had a solvent that dissolved the black keys, I didn't notice it in the dark. I replaced over a dozen keys, thinking nobody would buy it when I wanted to sell it. The guitar players acoustic Takamine's finish was damaged where his bare forearm rested against the guitar. Lesson learned. Although most were cancelled, the few outdoor gigs we've had this summer there was some mandatory social distancing, some mask wearing. The masks all seemed to come off when the dancing started. Our next gig is in a barn, so there should be plenty of ventilation. It's the New Year's Eve one (indoors) I'm wondering about.
  9. I have a L1II with a B2 and am very happy with the quality of sound for acoustic piano and bass. It's components are relatively light weight and fit in any car. They are expensive, if you're getting 15% off, that's great but unusual. I don't think the single analog input is stereo, however. If you got the T1 mixer you can combine channels into a mono signal, but that's another $500 I think. If you need a lot of volume, like in a outdoor gig and expect it to carry far, it may disappoint. I do recommend the system and my friends that use it are happy, also.
×
×
  • Create New...