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.

Ozzy's Bass Rig

Meanwhile, on the other side of stage, Ozzy sets up his bass rig. Onstage is a Hartke HA 1400 Amplifier driving Sonic Speaker cabinets; a 4x10" cabinet and a 1x15" cabinet.

At Ozzy's Feet

For effects, Ozzy has a Digitech BP200 multiple effects and a Boss BE-5.
On the floor to his left, Ozzy has a 200 watt Bullfrog Monitor
so he can hear the vocals.
(At Ozzy's left is Rick's 1x12' Celestion speaker cabinet
so Ozzy can hear Rick's guitar sound.)

At Rick's Feet:
On the floor in front of him, Rick has a 200 watt Bullfrog Monitor
so he can hear all the vocals.
Rick's guitar signal runs through a Roland Boss ME-70 multi-effects unit.
The ME-70 contains a powerful COSM AMP section derived from the Boss GT-10. The ME-70 is popular with guitarists because it does not dampen or color the tone of the guitar the way most multi-effects pedals do. The Boss ME-70 has 8 modulation effects; Phaser, Flanger, Vibrato, Tremolo, Chorus, Rotary Speaker, Uni-vibe, Intelligent Harmonist.
PREAMP: Uses BOSS COSM amp modeling technology to emulate 6 classic guitar amps
OD/DS: 10 distortion and overdrive effects
COMP/FX: Compressor, Touch Wah, BOSS Slow Gear, BOSS Defretter, Pickup Simulator
DELAY: Phrase Loop with 38 seconds of recording time and unlimited overdubbing, Echo for up to 6 seconds in analog, modulate, and reverse
PEDAL FX: Wah and pitch-shifting, voice effects, modulation control via expression pedal's toe switch
Other great features of the ME-70 include the 1-knob reverb control, noise suppressor, built-in chromatic tuner.
Also mounted on the bottom right is the footswitch for
Rick's Hafler T3 guitar pre-amp in the rack behind him.

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, Ozzy, Krys and Rick to set up all the lights and sound gear, Steve is setting up his drums. In 2009 Steve bought a New Gretsch Catalina All-Maple 6 piece Drum Kit.
The story of Steve's drumset is an ever-evolving tale which is best told in Steve's words:

Gretsch Drums

• Dark Cherry with custom Tricks bass drum head cover, (Thanks Krys).
• I have been playing the snare drum that came with the kit, leaving a custom Yamaha snare at home for now.
• Kick drum is standard 22" around but is about 4" deeper than my previous bass drum.
• Toms are the same sizes of my former Mapex drums: 10” 12” 14” 16”.
• The mount system is different which led to a new fun way of playing for me.
• Instead of having floor stands, the two smaller toms have an isolated mount arm off the bass drum.

The two large toms are floor toms and have their own legs. I hadn’t played with two floor toms since the used Ludwig kit I bought from Bill Roelofs back in the 70’s. I don’t like to play so much to my right preferring the drums to be as much in front of me as possible. So I put the smaller floor tom first in line, to the left of the kick drum. This may seem odd but is not unheard of. At a Kenny Aronoff clinic years ago he explained his reasoning for the same type of set up was that it made him more aware of playing melodic drum fills. I am really having a blast with this set up.
See this photo to understand my floor tom arrangement:

Dampening:
For many years I’ve used my own system for muffling to control drumhead ring. That consisted of bar napkins and duct tape.
When I got the Gretsch kit decided to use moongels. I was introduced to these at the Barn Fly studio which has a Yamaha kit dampened with moongels. I’m very pleased with the effect and now I don’t even carry duct tape at all.

Cymbals:
When I broke my 14” Paiste top hi-hat cymbal a few years ago I went to the drum shop with an open mind. The Paiste sounded great for the closed “chik” sound but I tend to play the other 15” hats for that. I was looking for a cymbal that would sound good for the half-open and heavy “Shhh” sound that I needed. After trying several out, the obvious choice to my surprise was coupling the bottom Paiste sound edge with a new Zildjian A crash. (I have been a Paiste or Sabian cymbal player forever).
As I have a way of doing regularly, I broke the Zildjian near the end of 2009 but replaced it with the same.

Drumheads:
For 2010 the Tricks drum kit is newly outfitted with Aquarian drumheads.
2009 was Remo heads. This is my way of slightly changing the sound of my drums from year to year. A luxury the big guys can’t do since most of them endorse one head or another and cannot be seen playing anything else.

Mic’s:
I moved the Electrovoice ND868 to the floor tom. The kick drum is mic’d up with Roger’s Shure beta 52A

Percussion
"A couple percussion pieces from LP (Latin Percussion) a cowbell and woodblock.

Sticks
Vic Firth 5A - I've gone to the blemished ones, much cheaper- and after the first song they're more than blemished anyway."

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

"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!

Ozzy's main axe is a BC Rich Warlock 4-string Bass.
Ozzy also has a Fender Precision and a Dean that he uses for practice and back up, Ozzy has been also spotted playing a Martin D-28 acoustic guitar,

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

^{In 2010, Rick bought a Brand New Martin DX1-E Guitar! The Babicz and Martin are mainly used for Rick's solo acoustic shows, and for the Rick & Krys Shows. Although the Babicz and Martin sound much better, the Ovation Elite remains a reliable acoustic guitar workhorse for the less than delicate conditions on the Tricks stage.}

^{2007 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.