The Ventures-The Cruel Sea

[JimPage]

Dubtrub wrote:
>>Monitors were virtually unheard of in the 60's.

Danny is correct. I first saw and then started using a monitor in about 1972.

--Jim

[ZacJM]

I got an interview with Bob Bogle in a book I have where he talks about their amp setup on that tour, I'm on a trip right now but when I get back tomorrow I may have an answer for why they are set up like that

[brutus]

Surely Mel has some kinda mix, the bass is 40 feet away!.... as jtr654 pointed out.

[Dennisthe Menace]

The amps are tilted and miked... so they have no guitar monitors? just the amps?

Monitors were virtually unheard of in the 60's. Big amps played loud was the hot setup. I don't think monitors came into existence until the 70's.

I do recall seeing stage monitors on some of the old British Concerts from the mid 60s......

[dubtrub]

I do recall seeing stage monitors on some of the old British Concerts from the mid 60s......

I would bet that is where they got their origins.

Anyone recall floor monitors used at Woodstock or the Monterey Pop Fest?

[Veenture]

The amps are tilted and miked... so they have no guitar monitors? just the amps?

Monitors were virtually unheard of in the 60's. Big amps played loud was the hot setup. I don't think monitors came into existence until the 70's.

I do recall seeing stage monitors on some of the old British Concerts from the mid 60s......

I'll always remember The Shadows playing their concerts without monitors. I was at their concert in Johannesburg in 1961. Here's a pic from the same year when they performed in Copenhagen...no monitors.


[edit]...boy, have we hijacked this thread guys...

[ZacJM]

These are from interviews in Vintage Guitar Magazine of Don Wilson and Mel Taylor commenting on the Live in 65 stage setup:

Don's comments:
VG: Why was Mel Taylor's drum kit up front with the rest of the band back in the mid 60s?
DW: He plays real hard, and he used to use those big, thick drumsticks to try and get a bigger sound. But we'd still drown him out sometimes, and we didn't have monitors in those days, and only vocals were miked. He moved up front so we could all hear each other better.

VG: On the Beloved Invaders movie, the amps were tilted back on the stage; they appeared to be Fender amps covered in white Tolex, and I think you were playing a Showman model, because I think I saw the JBL speaker in it.
DW: You're absolutely right. We played in some big places, and we need to project the sound, even though we played pretty loud.

VG: But on the 1965 album The Ventures on Stage, the band was using some other brand of piggyback amps that were different colors; they were tilted back, as well.
DW: Those might have been Mosrite prototypes, which we used for a while; they were great, but they were stolen.

Mel's comments:
VG: Don Wilson said that the stage setup with you up front was because of the volume factor, since nothing was really miked back then, except the vocals.
MT: The thing is, we're a bit different from a vocal group; all four of us are very important to the sound, since we're primarily an instrumental band. At first I was in the back, bit it got to the point that everybody have to gather around the drums and couldn't spread out. Then we diced on the four-across-the-front setup with me in the middle; two players on one side of me and on the other. But that didn't work either, so I went to one end, which worked because we could "telegraph" the music; drums to Don to Nokie to Bob. Those guys were using big amps, and I was using baseball bat-sized sticks, so the music was loud enough that we had to come up with some kind of system.

I think Mel's comment might clear up why Bob was at the end, guess Don followed Mel's drumming, Nokie played at the pace Don was strumming, and Bob kinda played with Nokie on bass, or something along those lines. Hope this helps, they were asked alot more but I wasn't sure if I scanned the interviews if the text would be legible.

[Veenture]

Mel Taylor: Then we diced on the four-across-the-front setup with me in the middle; two players on one side of me and on the other. But that didn't work either, so I went to one end, which worked because we could "telegraph" the music; drums to Don to Nokie to Bob.

Most interesting Zac, thanks for posting that. I can identify somewhat with that; during our most recent gig our setup was far from ideal due to the awkward space allotted to the band. When it was my turn to play rhythm on a few songs, I could hardly hear the lead guitar, so I simply 'held on' to the bass player who in turn relied on the drummer. Generally speaking the audience always gets to hear the best of the overall sound produced, I'd say. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bn32AhaKINc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fgUGhRCG ... re=related

[vjf1968]

I do recall seeing stage monitors on some of the old British Concerts from the mid 60s......

I would bet that is where they got their origins.

Anyone recall floor monitors used at Woodstock or the Monterey Pop Fest?

When Bob Dylan toured the UK on the infamous 1966 tour with the Hawks, they did use PA speakers has a foldback system. They also had them at Monterrey, Woodstock and even Altamont.