Off to a Concert.....A Reconers Nightmare

[Ian Mackenzie]

For those with a sense of wit and humour what do you think happened to the 18 inch JBL subs when Rick Wakeman played a 30 hz triangle wave through them at his Melbourne concert on tour with Journey to the Centre of the Earth in 1975?

They vapourised, but not before shaking the crap out of everything at ground at Zero and it made front page news. As I recall they had a very lavish system , at least a 5 way with a massive array of 075 ring radiators powered by SAE amps c/- Clair Bros.

http://www.rwcc.com/programme.asp?int_programme_ID=14&index=22

Well tonight I will hear him play again....his farewell tour.

I will let you know what happens ..................

Ian

[GordonW]

Why would it be a reconer's nightmare? Seems to me, the reconer would be standing there, with $$ in his eyes... like in the cartoons. He would just KNOW that the money would be coming in!

More likely, it'd be the sound engineer's nightmare... he gets to unload all those cabinets, tote all the drivers to the reconers and back, and load all of 'em back into the cabinets. My guess is that some choice phrases about where the performing act could stick their 30 Hz triangle waves, would be forthcoming... :D

Regards,
Gordon.

[mikebake]

I will let you know what happens ..................

Ian

Thirty years is a long time of improvement at FOH, eh? I would think that with the modern loudspeaker management systems now used, one could about guarantee that a stack could not be overdriven.

[Ian Mackenzie]

Agreed,

The show was very nice and the production values excellent...in house Meyer everything.

Ian

[spkrman57]

What would produce a signal like that? I don;t mean to sound ignorant, but was that a "electrically" produced signal, or actually from a instrament and then amplified?????

Ron

[mikebake]

What would produce a signal like that? I don;t mean to sound ignorant, but was that a "electrically" produced signal, or actually from a instrament and then amplified?????

Ron

Rick Wakemans synthesizer(s)

[hector.murray]

I think the Moog was the instrument of choice at that time.

Not necessarily related but amusing - I pulled this from the Wakeman website.

Q.What were the fundamental differences between the Mellotron and Birotron?A.The mellotron was a great sounding instrument that was a nightmare to play, never stayed in tune, broke down all the time and the notes only played for 8 seconds. The birotron was a great sounding instrument that was a nightmare to play, never stayed in tune, broke down all the time but the notes played for 8 minutes.

[speakerdave]

By the way, Robert Moog left us the other day.

David

[Ian Mackenzie]

Yes it was on the tune Merlin the magician

On this occasion he arranged some audience participation and asked a very lovely blonde woman up on stage to hold a note on the keyboards while he went over to complete the tune on the piano.

It was a gag and while the note was sustained Rick and Ashley sat down and had a cup of tea trying work out what they were going to play for the rest of the evening.

Ashley Holt who has been the lead vocalist for Rick since 1966 also sang on many of the tunes. We were stunned by the power and range of his voice.

Rick is also a great stand up comedian and he told the audience some rather funny stories.

Ian