mmm vocalmaster mmm

There are those who claim that Deep Purple was regarded as the "loudest band" in concert.  But I would imagine several bands made this claim.  I know the the WHO was incredibly loud on stage.  Now all they can hear is the ringing in their ears. 

I remember that in the early 90's Pink Floyd did a concert with 500 KW stack.  Does that ring a bell? 

But maybe the most significant contribution to SPL is by Nigel Turfnel from "Spinal Tap" whose Marshall amp "goes to eleven".

This was my first vocal monitor when I was in high school.   An Electro-Voice CDP-850T.  You may recognize it from MASH the TV show.  My parents had a dance band for 30 some years called "Marv and the Misty's" and they used this for the mains with a Bogen tube amp for the PA.  They actually work quite well.  Very efficient, full range and portable.  They are very durable also.  I wonder if he still has them.  

BTW... my father played the brass instruments and my mother the electric bass.           

Speaking of paging reflects horns... now this is a vocal monitor! 


Not!

This backline could use some straightening out...

Now on to some modern big rigs.  Don't let the size fool you.  The arrays are very efficient working more like one source.

JBL Vertec.  One of the most popular these days.

Metallica Tour 1998 with dB Sound EV MT4 System.  1600 Watts per high pack!

I am not familiar with this particular concert setup but it looks like they were playing in the round, since there are speakers back to back and skewed concave instead of convex.  Somewhere in that array there was a big null in the bass.  Presumably on each side at +/-90 degrees.

This is the 2009 AC/DC Black Ice concerts with EV X Array.   BTW... According to to this article the "Monsters of Rock"  had a 1 Mega Watt touring system with EV:

http://www.prosoundweb.com/article/inside_story_sound_reinforcement_for_ac_dcs_ongoing_black_ice_tour/

Harry Witz of Clair International (formerly of dB Sound) designed this system according to the article.

Midas XL4 Console for FOH...Correction...That is a Pro 40 analog console because AC/DC said so!

Pab Boothroyd mixing FOH for AC/DC

The main event... Lead singer Brian Johnson and guitarist Angus Young in mid-concert form on the current Black Ice tour.

Lead singer Brian Johnson and guitarist Angus Young in mid-concert form on the current Black Ice tour.