This afternoon I had another gig with the wind orchestra (CSWO), this time at Queen’s Park in Loughborough. Photograph-wise, I managed to come back with this rather abstract shot of the bandstand floor:

The gig went very well. The tweak on the bass end was that I borrowed a small, battery powered amp to see how it would do. The Roland Microcube Bass RX sounds impressively loud inside despite only being rated at 2.5W output, having four 4″ speakers and running off six AA batteries. However, it didn’t quite cut the mustard in the bandstand. I could hear it clearly but, when turned up so the conductor could catch it, the tone started to push into that of an amp being driven too hard.

I wonder if the trick it uses is to process the signal so it gives the illusion of sounding like a much larger amp. The trouble with illusions is that they don’t hold up in real-world conditions and, when you need to push some air, tiny speakers don’t do the job. The consensus between me and Mike, the conductor, was that the double bass probably has a better presence for these outdoor gigs. It isn’t particularly audible but does create real low end energy and certainly looks the part.