Display Your Keyboard Logo On Stage?

[danstein]

I used to gig with an AM ON sitting on top of an OLA. Or maybe the OLA was on top of the AM ON?

 

Now, with a Nord, I don't bother since the red kind of gives it away anyhow.

[Lou Gehrig Charles]

22 hours ago, EB5AGV said:

BTW, how nobody has suggested yet to tape the big CASIO logo sponsoring this forum? 🤣

Oh, I tried that.  The tape sticks to my monitor real good....  But every time I scroll down the page, it moves!

[Docbop]

1 hour ago, timwat said:

The respect earned when you have demonstrated you can play puts this conversation into its proper perspective.

 

 

Playing is all the matters.   In fact when I hear someone playing great on cheap or beat up gear to me that's the sign of a great musician.  Like Jeff Beck it's all in the hands.    

[Docbop]

9 minutes ago, Lou Gehrig said:

Oh, I tried that.  The tape sticks to my monitor real good....  But every time I scroll down the page, it moves!

 

but the tape blocks some of the good stuff on PornHub when you go there afterwards 

[stoken6]

1 hour ago, danstein said:

AM ON

NYT IN EL  S JU A CLN

 

Cheers, Mike.

[TommyRude]

On a very large tour a couple years back, Nord offered me a lot of money to use their boards.  Problem is I prefer Casio.  So I took the money, designed red shells and stuffed the Casio's inside.  Win win!

[jazzpiano88]

13 minutes ago, TommyRude said:

On a very large tour a couple years back, Nord offered me a lot of money to use their boards.  Problem is I prefer Casio.  So I took the money, designed red shells and stuffed the Casio's inside.  Win win!

 

Dang!  Sucks to be Nord!

[obxa]

9 hours ago, Stokely said:

I've had the thought that if Casio changed their name they might have more sales. 

I always felt the same way at least in regard to displaying it.    I always thought they should  have a  "Pro" label.... Sort of the way Accura is to Honda as Lexus is to Toyota.  

 

 

Producers on any TV gig,  or the televised church gigs I do usually have stage hands cover all logos with gaffers, including the acoustic pianos and the  Hammond. I laugh seeing a Fender Twin or Mesa Boogie like that, as it almost calls more attention to it.   Disney used to make us do that when I worked there. 

 

Last year on an outdoor Church broadcast where I was using 2 Nords, they were going to cover my entire rig with black cover.  Instead, I changed Nord to "Lord" with a bit of white board tape, and they actually loved it. 

 

Never worry about it on regular gigs.  Pit band stuff band is barely visible anyways.

[JimboKeys]

19 hours ago, Stokely said:

I've had the thought that if Casio changed their name they might have more sales.  

8 hours ago, obxa said:

I always felt the same way at least in regard to displaying it.    I always thought they should  have a  "Pro" label.... Sort of the way Accura is to Honda as Lexus is to Toyota.  

 

 

I thought that was the point of the Privia label.  IIRC, my PX-3 i used to own said Privia, not Casio, on the side facing the audience.  But they seem to have gone back to displaying Casio on the case (a bit of pride for their brand perhaps ?)

 

-- Jimbo

 

[drohm]

10 hours ago, obxa said:

 

Last year on an outdoor Church broadcast where I was using 2 Nords, they were going to cover my entire rig with black cover.  Instead, I changed Nord to "Lord" with a bit of white board tape, and they actually loved it. 

 

Haha! That is pretty clever. I like that. Very creative. 

[drohm]

On 1/19/2023 at 12:55 PM, timwat said:

The respect earned when you have demonstrated you can play puts this conversation into its proper perspective.

Only keyboard players seem to think like this. It's still called "playing". It's not like we are doing brain surgery or saving lives. But I guess folks need their sub-cultures and status. Personally, I highly respect anyone trying to learn to play an instrument...at any age or level. But then again, I don't lean on my keyboard playing for my identity. Certainly, the concepts being discussed in this thread can be grasped and appreciated by anyone, player or non-player, regardless of this "respect earned" you speak of. I have been trying to learn to play guitar these past several years. Thankfully, the guitar players I know don't require me to earn some level of respect before having an opinion or thought. That would really suck.

[HSS]

It really doesn't matter how good a keyboardist is or whether he plays a $5000 Nord, $100 Casio, or a board with no logo, he's still won't score with the babes like the other musicians. I contend it's because of that geeky keyboard-playing Screech character on that crappy teenybopper early 90's TV show "Saved by the Bell".   Hell, I should maybe sue the producers of that show for ruining my rock star ladies' man life and get rich. 🤑

[AnotherScott]

On 1/16/2023 at 11:58 AM, Mark Zeger said:

 

Ron Mael may have first done that on a Roland, but now he does it on anything! You can clearly see this is a Yamaha...

 

On 1/16/2023 at 11:36 AM, DaveMcM said:

Several years ago when my Korg Krome 88 died I drove to Sweetwater in order to try as many different brands/models as possible.  I tried every newer Yamaha, Korg, Nord, and Kurzweil. Then for fun and not expecting much, I tried the Casio Px-560M. Much easier to get around on for on-the-fly splits/layers than any of the others. Color touch screen that is nice and bright and accurate. Good feeling keybed with textured keytops that are way better than the so-called IvoryTouch keytops used by another brand. Very good, useable sounds. Some very nice editing features with abilities not found on the other brands. I could keep going but I'm not trying to do a commercial here. Just making a point that several of the popular brands out there started out making crap and since have grown into good products. Casio never made crap, but they did focus on toy type instruments. Not so any more.

 

That PX560 does have one of the best interfaces for splits/layers (similar interface also in PX360, MZ-X300/500). I hope they don't abandon that approach. It's been 7 years since they've come out with a board with that kind of specifically stage-friendly design. (Though I do wish those boards had more MIDI functionality. I think it's been 10 years since they've come out with a board with where a zone could be defined as external, and that would have been a nice enhancement on the boards with that nice touchscreen interface. Nothing has it all...)

 

On 1/16/2023 at 2:24 PM, HSS said:

Like most in-the-know keyboardists, I personally think Casio's boards, at least  since the Privias first showed up 15-20 years ago, kick azzz, especially for the price point. 

 

IMO the only problem with Casio boards, at least among non-keyboardist musicians, is Casio's legacy reputation. Hopefully, as more  top shelf players use Casios on stage, Casio's rep will self-correct.

 

Yeah, even the first Privias were impressive, But also getting back to DaveMcM's comment, they've made non-toy pro/semi-pro stuff for a long time, though not consistently. Look at their rack units, e.g. VZ-10M and FZ-10M. But I guess the lower end stuff was always their bread and butter.

[drohm]

30 minutes ago, AnotherScott said:

 

Ron Mael may have first done that on a Roland, but now he does it on anything! You can clearly see this is a Yamaha...

 

Never heard of him. He certainly looks the part. 

[o0Ampy0o]

1 hour ago, AnotherScott said:

 

Ron Mael may have first done that on a Roland, but now he does it on anything! You can clearly see this is a Yamaha...

 

 

 

He Scotch taped that plate on there so people in the audience would think he was playing a Yamaha instead of a patched up Ronald.

[Lou Gehrig Charles]

34 minutes ago, drohm said:

Never heard of him. He certainly looks the part. 

 

Now that you have, you'll never forget him!  He's definitely one of a kind!

[GovernorSilver]

52 minutes ago, drohm said:

Never heard of him. He certainly looks the part. 

 

That's because his name is not as known as the name of his band:   Sparks

 

 

[Lou Gehrig Charles]

Then of course there was the Paul McCartney video which featured Paul dressed up as Ron, and also as Buddy Holly, Mick Fleetwood and a bunch of others:

 

 

[GovernorSilver]

36 minutes ago, ITGITC said:

 

Oh Bruttah!! 

At least his cables are neat.

 

ITGITC? 

 

You don't like Sparks?  

 

Or is this a "any band that ain't Steely Dan is bad" kind of thing?

 

can we still be friends, or is this too big of a divide between us?

[GovernorSilver]

This was back when Sparks just had their big radio hit.   The backup keyboardist obviously misspelled Ronald  - nvm, they all did! 

 

 

[GovernorSilver]

2 minutes ago, ITGITC said:

 

Ha!!  GovernorSilver I know you.  We will always be friends!

 

All acts need a hook of some kind.  However, you must admit, Sparks is indeed pretty ummmm... interesting. 

 

Something else interesting is how this topic has made it, so far, to FOUR (4) pages!  Keyboard players, in general, continue to impress me with their continuity of opinions.  IOW, we're an opinionated bunch.  And our opinions are consistent.  And that hasn't changed in all the years I've been coming here.

 

And that's OK.  It's who we are. And dammit, I think we're pretty special.  (Says me... Mr. Humble.) 

OTOH, beer helps. 

 

Happy Weekend!

 

ITGITC? 

 

 

 

Well, I do like theatricality in rock music - in doses anyway.  The Tubes were more like that too until David Foster cleaned up their act for easier pop consumption.  And I get a kick out of Musical Box, the Genesis tribute band, every time I see them, especially the "Peter Gabriel" guy and his costumes and stuff.

 

Yes, beer does help!  I'm happy we can continue to be friends!     

 

Happy weekend to you too!

[obxa]

4 hours ago, o0Ampy0o said:

He Scotch taped that plate on there so people in the audience would think he was playing a Yamaha instead of a patched up Ronald.

 

Always loved Sparks- Netflix has this:  https://www.netflix.com/title/81436982#:~:text=Unavailable on Basic with ads,American pop-rock duo Sparks.&text=Watch all you want.

 

The fake logo made me laugh:  As a poor freshman in HS I bought a horrific no-name Italian organ....from our neighborhood postman....who was in a band.   i put Vox decals on it.  See  pics of my  first garage band, we couldn't afford mic stands either...those are spray painted broom sticks and the keyboard stand I made.  LOL.  Much later on, that same postman sold me his Clav D6 for $100.00 so he'll always be in my heart. 

[Stefan011]

Based solely on this thread I taped the logo on my keyboard for yesterday's gig. It looks a little bit cooler. But those horrible mistakes did not went away...

[DJkeys]

I still have this logo I removed from my Music Man 1x12 guitar amp in 1980, all metal-

 

-dj

[rickzjamm]

TommyRude, which Casio did you use on the TS tour? I would imagine you opted for VSTs as opposed to the Casio inboard sounds.  

[MathOfInsects]

2 hours ago, rickzjamm said:

TommyRude, which Casio did you use on the TS tour? I would imagine you opted for VSTs as opposed to the Casio inboard sounds.  

I think it was OS 4-1.

[Krakit]

My Roland JX-8P was the first keyboard I used in a gigging band. I elected to put duct tape over the logo on the back. I chose duct tape because the tape resembles the finish of the keyboard itself. I still have this keyboard and must admit that my attempts to remove all traces of the duct tape have me regretting the decision immensely. 

 

I will never stick anything on any of my keyboards again, with the exception of a vinyl wrap. 

 

Even my cases remain pristine.  

[rickzjamm]

The best sticker / tape residue removal product is "Goo Gone", always works for me. Usually get it at Home Depot but I believe Amazon carries it. 

[HSS]

1 hour ago, rickzjamm said:

The best sticker / tape residue removal product is "Goo Gone", always works for me. Usually get it at Home Depot but I believe Amazon carries it. 

 

IMO "Goo Gone" could be a cool logo to have on a keyboard, especially for someone who gigs in a band that plays sappy ballads like "Color My World" and "Desperado".  I had an "STP" sticker on one of my boards in the late 90's / early 2000's when I played in a Rockabilly & Honky Tonk  band in Texas.  😝

[eric]

This is an impressively lengthy thread. I just noticed it and read the whole thing. Really interesting!

 

I feel like I've told these stories before - I'll have to go search for it. Way back when I was in my earliest years touring, I was using a rig that included a Roland JX-8P and a Juno-106. I had originally taped off the JX-8P logo to be "ola" just for fun and then I taped off and added letters for the Juno-106 to say "land of ska" as I was in a ska band and this was one of our songs. I believe I have some old photos of that. I was in my later teens into early 20s at this point, way back when.

 

Fast forward a few years and that same band was featured on "Star Search" with Ed McMahon and it was the short era where Martha Quinn was co-hosting, with a focus on more original bands and less on lip syncing etc.

 

Our band was flown down to the Disney studios in Florida to film a bunch of live performances (not lip syncing) and we were given a big contract that mentioned the topic of "brand names" featured on the stage. Apparently it was a Yamaha sponsored backline, perhaps another brand...and anything else was not ok to show a logo due to the sponsors. I think they had a Yamaha drum kit and a few different Yamaha amps as backline. I brought my Hammond XB-2, which was my main keyboard at the time, along with a rack. I hadn't been on that stage for 10 minutes when a stage crew person came along with a roll of black gaffer's tape and promptly covered up the Hammond logo.

 

Mild complication was the fact that I had sought and been granted a Hammond endorsement probably a year ahead of this, where I wasn't given free gear, though I received nice artist discounts and free repairs, etc. Part of my agreement was showcasing the Hammond name and I even remember talking to the Hammond rep at the time (Frank Sheehan, RIP) and told him about Star Search. He was super stoked that Hammond would be on the big stage and on TV...only to have that excitement quelled with a simple piece of black tape.

 

I'll try to dig up some of those photos...this was a long time ago when less photographs were taken.