Gear

For musicians or geeks interested in musical instruments & equipment.
Tricks is always upgrading and adding new technology to our system.

The nice, clean Tricks stage: sound & lights all set up and ready to go.

But how does the stage get this way?

Step one is to unload the big ugly Tricks Van. We have a 3/4 ton Econoline with a 1 ton suspension kit (Thanks to Dave Bluhm) and 8 cylinders baby. The grey Tricks van can fly right over bumpy roads with a heavy load of speakers and power amps, but it gets really bad gas mileage.

Heave-Ho!

Let there be Lights!

Rick and Krys usually come one evening earlier than the rest of the boys in order to set up the light show

Krys does the lion's share of the work hanging 44 lights: 13 par-56 lights, 8 par-38B lights, 14 par-36 pin spots, 4 multi-color effect lights, 5 strobe lights, and a fog machine. Krys hangs the lights with clamps, velcro strips, and chains - (and blood, sweat, and tears).

Krys has to run AC cables from all the lights into her power packs - 4 Elation 4-channel DMX dimmer packs, that's 16 channels, 10 amps or 1000 watts per channel.

Krys runs a DMX signal cable back to her Stage Desk-16, a 16-Channel Dimmer Console that has 24 programmable presets, tap-sync or audio-activated speed control for the programmable chase sequencing, and all kinds of fancy stuff that only lightshow people understand.

After hanging lights, running power cables, plugging in power packs and the controller, Krys has to make sure the lights are all aimed in an aesthetically pleasing manner.
Then Krys takes a break!

Let there be Sound!

AMP STACK
- 2500 WATTS of CONTINUOUS POWER

Once we finish unloading the van, we set up the power amps and racks - the brains and power for creating the Tricks sound.
This stack has Rick's guitar rig on top:

*Rick's rack has a Sabine RT-7000 rack-mount tuner, a custom Hafler T-3 guitar preamp (thanks to Dale Boysen and Bill Hannipal - Bill is president of Stedman Microphones & Accessories), and a stereo Crown XLS 202 Power Amp, 100 watts RMS per channel.

*Under Rick's rack is the rack for monitor amps. Steve's discrete monitor system is powered by a Bi-Amp TC-120 stereo amp, 150 watts per side. For the 3 front floor monitors, we have a Crown XLS 402 Power Amplifier, 200 watts per side.

*The bottom 2 rack cases hold the power for the front "house" speakers. We have 2 Crown PowerBass-2 Amplifiers, 400 watts per side, each. One Crown powers the bottom 2 subwoofers & one Crown powers the 2 top-end speakers. We use a Behringer CX2310 Super-X Pro Crossover for clean sub-bass power. Everything is installed in 19" Gator rack cases. We use at least 4 separate AC circuits: 2 for lights and 2 for sound.

DAVE'S BASS RIG

Meanwhile, on the other side of stage, Dave sets up his bass rig.

Dave has an Ampeg B2-RE 450 watt Bass PreAmp / Amplifier head (below).

The Ampeg amp runs into a Berringer 4x10 speaker cabinet & a Hartke 1x15 speaker cabinet.

At Dave's Feet

On the floor to his left, usually under his foot, Dave has a 200 watt Bullfrog Monitor
so he can hear himself singing.
Dave's bass signal runs through 5 pedals on the floor (left to right in picture):
• Digitech BP-80 Multi-Effects pedal
• Ibanez SB-7 Synth-Bass
• Electro-Harmonix Small Stone Phaser
• Boss TU-2 Tuner
• Zoom 506 Multi-Effects pedal.
(At Dave's left is Rick's 1x12' Celestion speaker cabinet
so Dave can hear Rick's guitar sound.)

Yes, that's a nice big barbell weight to hold Dave's mike stand steady.

At Rick's Feet:
On the floor in front of him, Rick has a 200 watt Bullfrog Monitor
so he can hear himself singing.
Rick's guitar signal runs through several sound-processing pedals
mounted on a customized PedalTrain pedalboard.
A Boss Line Selector (top, center) splits the signal into 2 discrete switch-able effects loops:
"Green" loop is just one pedal: the DigiTech GNX1 Processor pedal.
"Red" loop goes through 5 pedals (from top left to right in picture):
• Roland Boss Chorus • Boss Digital Delay
• Boss Overdrive / Distortion • Ernie Ball Volume Pedal
• Boss PW-10 Wah-Wah Pedal
Also mounted on the bottom right is the footswitch for
Rick's Hafler T3 guitar pre-amp in the rack behind him.
(At Rick's right is Dave's Hartke 2x10 speaker cabinet
so Rick can hear Dave's bass sound.)

The Sound Board

While all the stage gear is getting set up, Sound Technician Dave is setting up and tweaking his Mackie SR24x4
24-Channel Mixing Console and his effects rack.

The Dave Lopez Effects Rack

Dave has 8 electronics units in the Tricks effects rack - from the top:
• Furman M-8L Power Conditioner w/Lights - this is a glorified surge-protector with lights to illuminate the rack
• dbx 266XL Compressor/Gate - a compressor smooths out the dynamics of the sound, making the loud parts not as loud and the quiet parts not as quiet - so you don't blow speakers or people's ears. Dave uses compression on the drums and on the vocals.
• Ashley 31-band Equalizer - for drums EQ
• dbx 31- band Equalizer - for vocals EQ
• TC Electronic M-One XL Effects Processor
• Zoom Studio reverb and multi-effects processor. - for long vocal echo
• ART Digital Delay and multi-effects processor. - for short vocal echo
• Lexicon MPX-1 Stereo Processor
• Stanton C.400 Rackmount CD player for breaktime music and sound effects

Shure SM-58 &
Shure Beta 58A Microphones

Krys has cordless freedom with her cordless SM-58 microphone.
Tricks uses Shure Beta 58A microphones for vocal clarity.
It's the industry standard, baby.

The "Fronts"

In larger rooms, Tricks uses 2 pairs of JBL MPro MP215 speakers with 15" woofers and wide-dispersion horns (right),
mounted on top of a pair of Carvin Speaker cabinets with two 15", two 5" and two high-end tweeters (left).

And It Looks Like This (center below):

In smaller rooms and for "Tricks Lite gigs, Tricks uses our JBL Speaker cabinets with one 15" and a wide-dispersion midrange horn, along with the SoundTech front loaded 18" cabinets for sub frequencies (left photo)

The Cord Mess
All of the lights, microphones, speakers, electronics, amplifiers are connected with hundreds and hundreds of feet of cables. Tricks uses about 40 cords for AC to get power to lights and sound gear, 13 cords for speakers, 40 hi-z cords for signal routing, 16 cords for microphones, and a 100 foot 16 in/4 out snake to bring signals from the stage back to Dave's soundboard.

Let there be Drums!

While Dave, Tim, Krys and Rick to set up all the lights and sound gear, Steve is setting up his drums. The story of Steve's drumset is an ever-evolving tale which is best told in Steve's words:

Mapex Drums

"The heart of the 2005 TRICKS drum set is my 2 year old Mapex Series-M maple shell drum kit.
When I decided a couple years ago it was time for new, I wasn't sure which brand I would buy, but I did know I wanted 100% maple shells. The big double kick Peavey kit I had prior to this one was my first thin maple shell drums and the tone is so "warm & rich" compared to the cheaper birch shells. I'm not a one brand drummer - having owned Ludwig, Sonor, Pearl, - there are dozens of good manufacturers."

"I was having fun trying before buying at several local drum shops. I just kept going back to Lighthouse Music and playing the green Mapex kit in the window. I had to have them ! (It didn't hurt that Spock's Beard Drummer Nick D'Virgilio endorses Mapex). The following description from Mapex.com describes my feeling about them-
'Thin, all North American maple shells that deliver crisp, ringing tone and pure, gripping resonance. Add to that an isolated tom mounting system, durable, double braced hardware and a good deal from Firehouse and load them in the van.'

Yes, I can fit my entire drum set (in cases) in my minivan."

The drums are mounted on their own stands. Cymbal arms/booms are all clamped to a 3-sided Gibraltor Rack.

Cymbals

"Last year before the first spring dates I updated my cymbal set-up by adding a pair of hi-hat cymbals and yet another crash cymbal. This led to configuring my cymbal set-up into what I refer to as double-levels. I have 3 crash cymbals and my china-type up high for dramatic full stroke crashes. (Terry Bozzio inspired)
The lower level consists of duel hi-hats, a couple splash cymbals, a quick crash and my big ride cymbal. One crash is a Paiste 2002 and the hats are 2002 Sound Edge - 15" and 14". All the rest of the cymbals are Sabian."

"A couple percussion pieces from LP (Latin Percussion) a cowbell and woodblock.
Sticks are Vic Firth 5A - I've gone to the blemished ones, much cheaper- and after the first song they're more than blemished anyway."

The floor tom has a Sennheiser microphone on it. Microphones on the other drums and hi-hats are Shure SM57, except the Electro-Voice ND868 kick drum mic.

"Way over on my left - 4 Electronic drum pads are plugged into an Alesis DM5 Drum Module (right) which has over 500 sounds of which I use about 30. They sound great, just what I need for that additional effect now and then."

Steve also uses a pair of JBL JRX112M 12" 2-Way Stage Monitors (below) in order to hear himself singing.

"Hi-Hat Pedal is a Drum Workshop (DW)
Kick drum double pedals are top of the line Yamaha
Most of my cymbal stands are Tama - as is my throne.
Drum heads are Remo clear pinstripe. Snare head is a coated powerstroke 3. I put on new heads a couple times a year, snare drum - 3 or 4 times."

Tricks Lite

Steve uses his Yamaha electric drum kit for smaller and quieter gigs. "Tricks Lite" is the name we chose for back yard parties, weddings, and other gigs where someone wants Tricks at a bargain price or at lower volume levels than you hear when Tricks is in the bars.
Steve can set up his e-drum kit in about 15 minutes. He likes the sound of the e-drums (especially through his new JBL Monitors), but "it's not like hitting real drums - the bounce just isn't there" . . .
and he says he feels naked behind that little kit.

Let there be Guitar!

Dave's number one axe is his Paul Reed Smith.
Dave says "I'm proud to say that I own one of the first Paul Reed Smith (PRS) Basses made. It was built possibly in 1986 (start of production) but more likely 1987. The "born-on" serial number is #0123. PRS has halted and resumed Bass production several times over the years.
It's a "Paul Reed Smith Bass-4" with a solid Mahogany body, rock maple neck and Brazilian rosewood fretboard. It has 3 single-coil pick-ups and 1 hum canceling pick-up behind the bridge (that's the one that can produce the kick-ass piano-bass sound).
It has a PRS built-in pre-amp, 5 position rotary switch and all PRS hardware outside of the Hip-shot D-Tuner mechanism on the E-string and the custom "Demon-Knobs". The Knobs were hand-poured for me from acrylic Plastic in custom molds and then hand painted and laquered. The kid that made them was going to mass market them but I haven't seen any more in years."

Rick brings 3 guitars to play each night:
A customized 1989 Fender Squire Stratocaster
A customized 1974 Gibson Les Paul
Krystal's 1996 Ovation Elite Acoustic-Electric

Dave continues waxing nostalgic about his PRS:
"I have played Rickenbacker (2), Gibson (2), Music Man (1), Kramer (1), Peavy (1), Sunrise (1), Hamer (2), and Ibanez (2) Basses over the years; The only one that ever came close to the PRS was one of my Hamers which I accidently busted the headstock off when I was getting wild and crazy one night. I've owned the PRS since 1989. I bought it from a friend who was getting out of the biz and I haven't looked back since. My only regret is that I had a penchant for biting it and holding it in my clenched teeth at times (that's called show-boating folks) and I ruined the finish on the top side near my picking hand (see top photo). Ahh, wild youth. My PRS is truly one-of-a-kind by virtue of the abuse and torture it has endured. I hope to have it restored to it's original lustre and glory during Tricks 2008 Summer break. If not, it'll stay beautiful but flawed. "

Newest addition to Rick's guitar arsenal:
Babicz Identity Series Jumbo Rosewood Cutaway
Questions about the Babicz? -

Former Tricks guitarist/vocalist Dale Boysen did the custom work on Rick's Strat; installing a Dimarzio Tone Zone humbucking pickup and custom fret wire. The Strat's cool hippy paint job is by Heather Maloley.

Rick's 1974 Les Paul Guitar

Rick bought his Les Paul Guitar brand new in 1974. Rick says, "It was love at first site when I saw it in the music store in 1974, and I HAD to have it. It's been my main axe for all these years since then".
Back in the 70's I had custom work done by Pat Murphy (founder of Sunrise Guitars). Pat replaced the stock bridge with a heavy-duty bridge that's still working fine in the 00's, He also installed heavy-duty Go-To tuning machine heads.
Since 1980, Dale Boysen has done all the work on my Les Paul. He's painted it twice, he installed new fret wire, and he has installed various pick-ups, switches and knobs.

The Les Paul was painted gold metalflake when it was new, and stayed that way for 5 years. (That's Jeremy Dutkiewicz on the left with the new Les Paul).

When Rick and Dale got together in 1979, Dale insisted on stripping "that ugly paint" from Rick's Les Paul. Dale was very much into natural finished wood, so the Les Paul had the clear coat look (left photo) from 1979 until 2001, when Dale did the current paint job (right photo - paint barely dry).

After all the work of putting the pieces of the stage puzzle together, let the fun begin! All we have to do now is hope that all this gear holds together while Tricks is crashing and bashing and head-banging.