He was probably wrong.

That seems a little paranoid. Like anything else going through the PA it would be mediated both by the gain setting on the board as well as the volume of the fader. Turned up louder then the speakers like it causes problems, turned up louder then the board likes and it clips. Just like any other signal.

My guess: Just another asshole live sound engineer.

They're everywhere. I ran into one at the last live gig I did. I wanted to split my acoustic guitar using a very nice spliter box I brought with me into a DI into the PA and also into an amp. And it was a rented amp. It was all rented backline. And I asked for the "smallest" tube amp they could rent me and of course it ended up being a marshall half stack. So I got the DI going fine and then I was trying to get the acoustic into the amp going and of course it would feed back a little and I would fuck with the knobs and a little more feedback. and after the third time the PA guy comes up says "that sounds like shit". I couldn't believe it. What a dick. He's lucky I was in a good mood and just wanted to get it done and get back on the plane and go home or I woulda fucked with him a bit.

Guys like that just want to get the job done. When you ask for one little thing that maybe they aren't used to they get pissy. They should just go work in a widget factory if they're that into the job.

no, it won't hurt a thing.

this kind of bullshit is why half the ppl i know mix themselves from the stage and send a pair of balanced lines to the house.

I don't even see how he would possibly think that. If yuu're doing weird like self-oscillating or whatever it is and making insane noises with the delay that's one thing, but just because it's a guitar pedal?? I hate soundguys so much. I know there are good ones out there, but I never see them. I've had one or two ever, and when i have a good one oh how I love him.

i cant see how that setup could possibly be a problem. i'm a live sound engineer, and when a band comes to me with a weird setup, i may advise a better way to do it if one exists, but ultimately its not my place to tell a band what they can/cant do (except turning their backline up too loud!)

Too often the "soundguy" at the bar is the same guy you fing washing glasses when no bands are booked.

Little story.

Me: I need 2 D/Is.

Asshole: Just plug in to the snake. (Points to 1/4" returns on crappy snake box)

Me: I'd rather go through D/Is incase of buzz, hum, whathaveyou. You know, not run unbalanced signal through 150' of cable.

Asshole: The D/Is are connected to those snake inputs on the board end.


Sure enough he had 4 D/Is connected to the fan side of the snake and had 20" mic cables connecting them to the mic inputs.

150' of hiZ unbalanced, cheep D/I transformer, 20' mic level to Mackey.

That's signal flow!

japmn wrote:Too often the "soundguy" at the bar is the same guy you fing washing glasses when no bands are booked.

Little story.

Me: I need 2 D/Is.

Asshole: Just plug in to the snake. (Points to 1/4" returns on crappy snake box)

Me: I'd rather go through D/Is incase of buzz, hum, whathaveyou. You know, not run unbalanced signal through 150' of cable.

Asshole: The D/Is are connected to those snake inputs on the board end.


Sure enough he had 4 D/Is connected to the fan side of the snake and had 20" mic cables connecting them to the mic inputs.

150' of hiZ unbalanced, cheep D/I transformer, 20' mic level to Mackey.

That's signal flow!

That's the best DI story I've ever heard.

otisroom wrote:
That's the best DI story I've ever heard.

There were..... others?