input on a good cordless bluetooth speaker

[Orion7319]

This makes me so happy in my soul... I got a live sound reinforcement degree, rolled up and down the road countless miles as a sound guy, and you've just summed up essentially everything I ever learned along the way in two sentences. This is serious wisdom you speak.

The industry (joke) definition of JBL: "Just Big and Loud."

Working concerts is not as fun as people think it would be. When I was in college I worked a local venue. I worked Friday nights, Saturday and Sunday and would put in over 40 hours a week over those three days…. My ears would ring Sunday though the following Thursday. They always made me run one of the super trouper spotlights 80ft up in the air because I could see in the dark and was good at aiming the things…..But I did get to pack up Ron Woods guitar and break down Charlie Watt’s drum set one night…

 

[markayash]

Working concerts is not as fun as people think it would be. When I was in college I worked a local venue. I worked Friday nights, Saturday and Sunday and would put in over 40 hours a week over those three days…. My ears would ring Sunday though the following Thursday. They always made me run one of the super trouper spotlights 80ft up in the air because I could see in the dark and was good at aiming the things…..But I did get to pack up Ron Woods guitar and break down Charlie Watt’s drum set one night…

I am sure going to Rush concerts and sitting on the 3rd row in front of a Marshall stack had nothing to do with my hearing loss today I went when nobody knew who they were go always got great seats but man looking back that wasn't very smart

 

[Orion7319]

I am sure going to Rush concerts and sitting on the 3rd row in front of a Marshall stack had nothing to do with my hearing loss today I went when nobody knew who they were go always got great seats but man looking back that wasn't very smart

Rush is a great band! I remember several times trying to work on a lighting truss or something else while standing directly in front of a 20ft wide by 40ft tall speaker stack during a sound check… it was unsafe to wear ear protection in that environment as inevitably someone working above you would drop something and if you couldn’t hear them yell “heads!”, you could be in trouble.

 

[markayash]

Rush is a great band! I remember several times trying to work on a lighting truss or something else while standing directly in front of a 20ft wide by 40ft tall speaker stack during a sound check… it was unsafe to wear ear protection in that environment as inevitably someone working above you would drop something and if you couldn’t hear them yell “heads!”, you could be in trouble.

I went a lot in the 80’s when it was 3 long hair guys just playing. Will show my age tickets were $7.99, $8.99 and $9.99 ( front rows ). Now Ticketmaster charges more then that on fees.

 

[TexEdmond]

Working concerts is not as fun as people think it would be.

I've gotten to meet some amazing folks and watch was paid to watch some mind blowing performances. I took pretty good care of my ears. But if I wanted to have a dog, a family life, and anything resembling a normal human experience I had to get off a tour bus and quit working concerts all the time. The last band I worked for did something like 190 shows a year, plus acoustic gigs. Since I was the monitor engineer I did those too. We very rarely did a stretch longer than 2 weeks, so when you tack a half a day for travel on either side of the week, I lived in that bus about 240 days a year. When you see the circus come to town, the train stops, and some guy hops out and they get out the tents and set them up, then they push all the animals out and they do their tricks, then the guy pushes the animals back on the train and takes down all the tents and sweeps up all the poop. THEN, he gets on the train with the animals... and the circus NEVER ends. That's why I don't live on a tour bus anymore. But it's all the free booze you can drink and basically anything else you could think of...

"Pay no attention to the men and women behind the curtain..."

 

[KJB1]

I got the Kicker Bullfrog recently. Sounds good and good battery life. It looks like a cheese grader is the only con. My JBL had battery issues and finally died completely after a couple years.

 

[markayash]

I've gotten to meet some amazing folks and watch was paid to watch some mind blowing performances. I took pretty good care of my ears. But if I wanted to have a dog, a family life, and anything resembling a normal human experience I had to get off a tour bus and quit working concerts all the time. The last band I worked for did something like 190 shows a year, plus acoustic gigs. Since I was the monitor engineer I did those too. We very rarely did a stretch longer than 2 weeks, so when you tack a half a day for travel on either side of the week, I lived in that bus about 240 days a year. When you see the circus come to town, the train stops, and some guy hops out and they get out the tents and set them up, then they push all the animals out and they do their tricks, then the guy pushes the animals back on the train and takes down all the tents and sweeps up all the poop. THEN, he gets on the train with the animals... and the circus NEVER ends. That's why I don't live on a tour bus anymore. But it's all the free booze you can drink and basically anything else you could think of...

"Pay no attention to the men and women behind the curtain..."

View attachment 371759

I got conned into helping a band in high school I think because I had a bigger car They would get done and go drink at the bar while I loaded all that Crud up.

The flip side for anyone who has kids in the high school band is I LOVED roadie for that. We have a semi with 2 levels and it was packed end to end. Somebody has to unload and load all that percussion stuff but worth every minute. Plus you get the benefit of watching the band perform from field level! Trust me they would welcome your help

 

[TexEdmond]

One of the last gigs I worked before COVID killed the industry was a Norm Macdonald standup show... I got to spend an hour or so just shooting the breeze and hanging out chatting about random stuff.

He was a brilliant, incredibly kind guy. No indication whatsoever that he was sick or struggling. Even stayed out in the parking lot after the crew left signing autographs.

RIP, funnyman.

 

[jark87]

But I did get to pack up Ron Woods guitar and break down Charlie Watt’s drum set one night…

Some great stories are emerging in this thread! I first saw the Stones in ‘78 when I was 16 and have seen them in every decade since. I took my youngest son, also 16 at the time, to see their last show of their 50th anniversary tour in NJ in ‘12, which I assumed would be their last U.S. show. Little did I know that I’d see them twice more in that decade and have tickets to see them again in the ‘20s, stretching my streak to 6 decades. RIP Charlie!

 

[Orion7319]

I've gotten to meet some amazing folks and watch was paid to watch some mind blowing performances. I took pretty good care of my ears. But if I wanted to have a dog, a family life, and anything resembling a normal human experience I had to get off a tour bus and quit working concerts all the time. The last band I worked for did something like 190 shows a year, plus acoustic gigs. Since I was the monitor engineer I did those too. We very rarely did a stretch longer than 2 weeks, so when you tack a half a day for travel on either side of the week, I lived in that bus about 240 days a year. When you see the circus come to town, the train stops, and some guy hops out and they get out the tents and set them up, then they push all the animals out and they do their tricks, then the guy pushes the animals back on the train and takes down all the tents and sweeps up all the poop. THEN, he gets on the train with the animals... and the circus NEVER ends. That's why I don't live on a tour bus anymore. But it's all the free booze you can drink and basically anything else you could think of...

"Pay no attention to the men and women behind the curtain..."

View attachment 371759

Sounds about right. I was in my mid 20s back in the mid 90s the last time I worked a concert. I have friends that went on the road with acts like Puff Daddy and Lynyrd Skynyrd. I learned really quickly that if I went that route in life my choices were either work the local union crew 20 hours a day 7 days a week or live life like a carnie… I have several friends that stuck with touring. One friend I know stage manages traveling Broadway shows and she seems to live in airports, and other friends that would go on to do lighting for all kinds of events like the opening ceremonies for the Atlanta Olympics. I have one friend who seems like he’s always doing lighting for elaborate parties in Dubai. I switched gears early on and worked for educational television for a while, and got into AV work, both installing fancy AV equipment and running sound and lighting an all that stuff for local speaking events. Two things I wont do, work in news or go on tour…
Love the picture by the way.. I know that vantage point well..

 

[Orion7319]

Some great stories are emerging in this thread! I first saw the Stones in ‘78 when I was 16 and have seen them in every decade since. I took my youngest son, also 16 at the time, to see their last show of their 50th anniversary tour in NJ in ‘12, which I assumed would be their last U.S. show. Little did I know that I’d see them twice more in that decade and have tickets to see them again in the ‘20s, stretching my streak to 6 decades. RIP Charlie!

The absolute best concert I’ve ever seen in my life was Pink Floyd’s Pulse tour… those dudes had all the cool toys!

 

[TexEdmond]

those dudes had all the cool toys!

 

[markayash]

The absolute best concert I’ve ever seen in my life was Pink Floyd’s Pulse tour… those dudes had all the cool toys!

I regret not seeing Pink Floyd. First concert probably around 77 was Van Halen opening for Black Sabbath. One other band, maybe the Sex Pistols but not sure. Mom dropped me and a friend off and picked us back up from the omni. How in the heck was that possible without cell phones

 

[TexEdmond]

I was in the Navy ROTC at A&M, and they would send us out into the fleet for training during the summers before Jr and Sr years. My senior cruise was in the Mediterranean and my brother lived in Germany at the time, so I cashed in my plane ticket, hung out with him for a week or so, then flew home before school started. They flew us from Marmaris, Turkey, I got on a train in Rome, changed to an overnight train in Zurich, and my brother picked me up on the platform the next day. I noticed the newspapers at the train station and around town talking about how great the AC/DC concert was the NIGHT BEFORE in the next town over... I was SO mad ... I missed it by one dang day. That's the one that got away...

 

[Orion7319]

Yep! And at one point they had their leer jet fly down and buzz the field in the stadium…

 

[Orion7319]

I regret not seeing Pink Floyd. First concert probably around 77 was Van Halen opening for Black Sabbath. One other band, maybe the Sex Pistols but not sure. Mom dropped me and a friend off and picked us back up from the omni. How in the heck was that possible without cell phones

Lol, my first concert was Van Halen in 1988 on the OU812 tour.

 

[markayash]

Yep! And at one point they had their leer jet fly down and buzz the field in the stadium…

I still love dark side of the moon..Notice I didn't say " Money" or a song that whole album is a song

 

[markayash]

I was in the Navy ROTC at A&M, and they would send us out into the fleet for training during the summers before Jr and Sr years. My senior cruise was in the Mediterranean and my brother lived in Germany at the time, so I cashed in my plane ticket, hung out with him for a week or so, then flew home before school started. They flew us from Marmaris, Turkey, I got on a train in Rome, changed to an overnight train in Zurich, and my brother picked me up on the platform the next day. I noticed the newspapers at the train station and around town talking about how great the AC/DC concert was the NIGHT BEFORE in the next town over... I was SO mad ... I missed it by one dang day. That's the one that got away...

my " hobby" is watching youtube stuff about old bands..watched one the other day where Brain Johnson was talking about interviewing. I think he lived with his parents and after he tried out they are like stay your hired and hew as like " I have to get back home soon and will let you know"

 

[markayash]

Let me know how you like it.

Sounds nice so far and I like it's omni directional. The old JBL was nice but very directional..
I was a little shocked when it told me to update the firmware on a speaker I kept thinking " its a speaker and an amp " but did it

 

[Matt F 1]

My turn;
I have both a JBL Flip 5 and a Charge 4, The Charge 4 has the better sound IMO. Get the Charge 4 Its only 20 bucks more on Amazon.


m