venturing into supper club territory....AHHH!!!

[captain54]

I'm back to picking the brains of the good people at the Vdrums.com forum for some advice on a new venture....

I'm contemplating taking a few pretty well paying gigs at some supper club type of places ...it will be a two piece, a drummer and a keyboard player playing lite jazz and standards for the dinner hour..

anyone ventured into this territory with war stories...??

Portability is an absolute must...$1300 for the Roland Club Kit is totally out of the question...unless its the only way to go...

I've thought of a couple things..

A Pearl Rythmn traveler...
A Roland Spd-20, an fd7 and a kd-7 with external amplication
A Roland Handsonic
A Roland Spd6

these seem to provide maximum portability and could be picked up used via ebay..

any suggestions??

[acidbran]

This is my territory.

It all depends on how much jazz and I mean real chops not just the "gentlemans bounce" you need to cover.

I do this for a living and I play 4to 6 nights a week doing so with 4 bands.

Some of the cats I work with are monsters and if I show up with e's it is in bad taste( not my opinion)


Brush work is a huge part of the horsey/golf set.

Vdrums are a bit lacking even with good chops on brushes.

The great thing is of course volume.

I just played a place and Gingerbaker can concur, it is HELL for volume.
I mean the chick is deafening.

I really should have brought my v set but I was in the middle of 6 gigs and didn't have the time to strike my set and reload the Tahoe........(read.....lazy)

Also I had a sub bass player and thought less weirdness for him would be a good thing.

If you have fully tweaked the brain of your set and are secure in that the dynamics and sensitivities are in order then..... go for it.
I have a jazz dinner wed. and would love to use my set but the area is too small.

I am currently doing some final tweaking with my new BBE and I am ready to bring out the set again.

Don't get me wrong I love the V's, but I also love the A's

Rock and POP fine...... jazz and blues...... be careful, the dynamics a crucial to the style and I wouldn't want to compromise the music for the sake of using my new gear.

This may not help but I will answer any questions you have,


------------------
Jeff, using...
td 8,PD-120,
pintech pads,gibraltor rack, JBL G2 EON 15 AND Mackie srs-1500, BBE 462 yamaha maple customs, remo jazz kit, buttloads of cymbals... 96 Tahoe,leather.

[Schuh Man]

Sounds like gigs I did in my college days at Eagles Clubs. Instead of Teen Night it must have been "Nobody Under 75 Nite".

I used to just drop down an acoustic kick, an acoustic snare, a hi-hat and a ride cymbal. Brushes were a must. Actually used to have a lot of fun doing these gigs (read: good money + low overhead).

Now, about the electronics for this type of gig. Having had my V's for over a year, I think I could actually imagine doing this type of gig with a scaled down version of my V's. Would need to do some tweaking on a couple of stock kits, plus would need to "brush up" on my brush technique in the electronic environment. Might not have all the subtlties and fine nuances of acoustic brush work, but it should be close enough for government work and supper club gigs.

[Oz DrumR]

Originally posted by acidbran:
T"gentlemans bounce" . . horsey/golf . . .I will answer any questions you have,

Yeah, my question: Please excuse my ignorance - but what do these phrases mean?!

[acidbran]

Gentlemens bounce= Satin doll type beat.
Medium swing played politely.

Horsey set= The well to do/old money types.

------------------
Jeff, using...
td 8,PD-120,
pintech pads,gibraltor rack, JBL G2 EON 15 AND Mackie srs-1500, BBE 462 yamaha maple customs, remo jazz kit, buttloads of cymbals... 96 Tahoe,leather.

[This message has been edited by acidbran (edited August 30, 2001).]