Kevin Shields backline photo - mystery (acoustic ?) amp -

Make it loud here.
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Re: Kevin Shields backline photo - mystery (acoustic ?) amp -

Post by mackerelmint » Tue Sep 18, 2018 3:32 pm

StevenO wrote:
Tue Sep 18, 2018 5:30 am
stevejamsecono wrote:
Mon Sep 17, 2018 9:41 am
Unrelated but that is an upsetting amount of amplifiers on stage. Like, I know that being super loud is the deal but like... sheesh.
Yeah... I haven't seen them live but that looks like it would sound like shit too.
I had the chance a few years back and passed on it, because a zillion amps cranked up all the way in a venue with notoriously bad sound (Showbox SoDo in Seattle, formerly the fenix underground) isn't anything worth spending money on.

I'd love to see them, but it'll have to be in a place that sounds good. Otherwise I may as well just set my money and my hearing on fire.
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Re: Kevin Shields backline photo - mystery (acoustic ?) amp -

Post by my bloody television » Tue Sep 18, 2018 5:39 pm

like someone mentioned earlier, he doesn't run through all those amps simultaneously. He has a separate guitar, pedal chain, and amp for each song...sometimes each part of a song...because he's overly obsessive. That's not to say their live shows aren't loud, but the sounds are tailored very specifically.

Anyway yeah the acoustic amp is an SWR california. I think that's an older picture of his rig though, either the 2008 or 2013 tour. I didn't see the acoustic amp in his backline when I saw them a couple months back.

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Re: Kevin Shields backline photo - mystery (acoustic ?) amp -

Post by Harmoncj » Tue Sep 18, 2018 7:59 pm

yeah the volume comes from the PA , the amps are to get tones for each song. shit on what they do all you want but its pretty refreshing how he gets all of that mainly relying on different combinations of guitars + fuzzes + reverb choice + amp selection. looked like they brought like 50 guitars too.

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Re: Kevin Shields backline photo - mystery (acoustic ?) amp -

Post by andy_tchp » Tue Sep 18, 2018 10:44 pm

StevenO wrote:
Tue Sep 18, 2018 5:30 am
stevejamsecono wrote:
Mon Sep 17, 2018 9:41 am
Unrelated but that is an upsetting amount of amplifiers on stage. Like, I know that being super loud is the deal but like... sheesh.
Yeah... I haven't seen them live but that looks like it would sound like shit too.
When I saw them they had way fewer amps on stage.

Still sounded like shit :)
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Re: Kevin Shields backline photo - mystery (acoustic ?) amp -

Post by shadowplay » Wed Sep 19, 2018 2:16 am

andy_tchp wrote:
Tue Sep 18, 2018 10:44 pm


When I saw them they had way fewer amps on stage.

Still sounded like shit :)
When I saw them in their pomp they had one or two and IMO sounded better than the one reboot gig I attended purely to accompany the children, which I couldn't wait to leave.

IMO for what it's worth they aren't a big venue band anyway, when they were releasing worthwhile records I saw them with 50-200 crowds which is IMO roughly the level for this sort of music*. Of course they've been elevated by peer committee since then and are now playing sheds to what I generally call the boxed set.

One thing that struck me when attending the early reboot gig was the amount of fucks as old as myself in attendance, I couldn't help wondering where they were when only a 100 folk were showing up and paying a farthing for it too. I can only assume they needed 20 odd years of media and peer validation and retrospection because at the time they very nearly had the press coverage the Smiths got a year or two earlier when it seemed whole music magazines covered very little but.

D

*not saying it doesn't deserve to be popular, merely that it doesn't suit big venues.
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Re: Kevin Shields backline photo - mystery (acoustic ?) amp -

Post by Jaguar018 » Wed Sep 19, 2018 6:20 am

my bloody television wrote:
Tue Sep 18, 2018 5:39 pm
He has a separate guitar, pedal chain, and amp for each song...sometimes each part of a song...because he's overly obsessive. That's not to say their live shows aren't loud, but the sounds are tailored very specifically.
All that shit is really more for Shields than the audience. I mean-- who can tell that kind of thing with the deafening decibel level in the middle of a crowd holding up their smartphones?

Listen to the gristley tones of the 6L6 tubes paired with the gated reverb! *guy passes by holding two beers and steps on your foot* Oooh. Now I can hear the EL83s and the germanium fuzz-- it really brings out the Jazzmaster! *guy yelling in the ear of his girlfriend that Shields loves Jazzmasters, an underappreciated guitar.*

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Re: Kevin Shields backline photo - mystery (acoustic ?) amp -

Post by StevenO » Wed Sep 19, 2018 7:19 am

I'd be more impressed by their live sound/power if they all used some combo amps rather than a wall of assorted amps. But hey, that's me. I like their music but haven't seen them live. Not a fan of loud concerts, personally, and theirs seems like it would be stupid.

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Re: Kevin Shields backline photo - mystery (acoustic ?) amp -

Post by marqueemoon » Wed Sep 19, 2018 8:03 am

Somebody needs a Kemper :freako:

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Re: Kevin Shields backline photo - mystery (acoustic ?) amp -

Post by MechaBulletBill » Wed Sep 19, 2018 8:33 am

StevenO wrote:
Wed Sep 19, 2018 7:19 am
I'd be more impressed by their live sound/power if they all used some combo amps rather than a wall of assorted amps. But hey, that's me. I like their music but haven't seen them live. Not a fan of loud concerts, personally, and theirs seems like it would be stupid.
Nobody knows how to do a good mix, everyone just turns up the gain/gate/compression. If gigs were quieter, everyone would have a better time but sound guys would actually have to learn to mix instead of making every band sound the same (overloud, undynamic, quite shit)

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Re: Kevin Shields backline photo - mystery (acoustic ?) amp -

Post by UlricvonCatalyst » Wed Sep 19, 2018 8:40 am

Yeah, MBV are the new Fleetwood Mac, at least in terms of sheer excess. Get ready for a Loveless Live! LP within the next two decades.

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Re: Kevin Shields backline photo - mystery (acoustic ?) amp -

Post by Riff Magnum » Thu Sep 20, 2018 1:13 pm

MechaBulletBill wrote:
Wed Sep 19, 2018 8:33 am
StevenO wrote:
Wed Sep 19, 2018 7:19 am
I'd be more impressed by their live sound/power if they all used some combo amps rather than a wall of assorted amps. But hey, that's me. I like their music but haven't seen them live. Not a fan of loud concerts, personally, and theirs seems like it would be stupid.
Nobody knows how to do a good mix, everyone just turns up the gain/gate/compression. If gigs were quieter, everyone would have a better time but sound guys would actually have to learn to mix instead of making every band sound the same (overloud, undynamic, quite shit)

What I notice now when playing shows or attending other bands shows, is that if you don't have your own soundman, the kick drum is gonna be louder than the guitars. When did that happen? Like at rock shows too, where people wanna hear loud guitars you've got: Vocals loudest (ok, i get that), then kick drum, then bass guitar, then guitar. The hell is going on?

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Re: Kevin Shields backline photo - mystery (acoustic ?) amp -

Post by andy_tchp » Thu Sep 20, 2018 2:32 pm

Riff Magnum wrote:
Thu Sep 20, 2018 1:13 pm
What I notice now when playing shows or attending other bands shows, is that if you don't have your own soundman, the kick drum is gonna be louder than the guitars. When did that happen?
At least 15 years ago.
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Re: Kevin Shields backline photo - mystery (acoustic ?) amp -

Post by MechaBulletBill » Thu Sep 20, 2018 2:45 pm

That sounds like the soundman expecting guitarists to control their dynamics (which they - and everyone on stage - should be doing). Or a soundman who's deafened himself on guitars.
andy_tchp wrote:
Thu Sep 20, 2018 2:32 pm
Riff Magnum wrote:
Thu Sep 20, 2018 1:13 pm
When did that happen?
At least 15 years ago.
I dunno if it's down to "mixing from the back" (ie. NOT where the audiences' ears are) or if it's a method being taught to training engineers but it seems like a lot of them think good mixing is just overbearing kick/bass right to the back of the room. The flipside is, you can't hear much else wherever you're standing.

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Re: Kevin Shields backline photo - mystery (acoustic ?) amp -

Post by oid » Thu Sep 20, 2018 4:03 pm

Sound checking a band you are unfamiliar with is tricky, bands do not play the same in a sound check as they do during the show and the room sounds very different once it is filled with people.

A big part of it is the band can hear them selves much better in the empty room and often give direction thinking they know better than the person at the board. The band has to work with and trust the board op, many, if not most, do not. Most people who have worked a board for any amount of time know it is not worth getting into it with a band, it is a lost cause. Sound suffers unless both work together.

Running the board sucks, a job I would never take.
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Re: Kevin Shields backline photo - mystery (acoustic ?) amp -

Post by Talpa » Mon Sep 24, 2018 2:25 pm

o/p here - new to this board, tough crowd.

always thought (and how i explain to my non-player circle) that KS/MBV use/d (uniquely & purposefully) volume as another tool, right beside: offsets, tunings, signature strum+trem bar approach, the Yamaha thing, et.al.

part of the palette; and as a statement in the Holocaust Section of YMMR. the other 'known' bands that used massive volume: not as a tool per.se.

but, if there was ever a venue-challenged band that existed (esp. in this era & w/ modern p.a. 'systems'), it's mbv live.

always wished this band had been able to play in the era of a long-defunct venue, The Warehouse, in New Orleans. It was essentially all-wood inside and had near-perfect acoustics..one of the most organic-toned gigs. do some research on the place. the live side of Fandango/ZZ Top is at The Warehouse.

man how things have changed.

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