Recent performances in Surabaya and Jakarta (Indonesia) saw former Guns N’ Roses lead guitarist Slash furthering on his reputation as one of rock’s finest players. Part of world tour that is presently passing through Asia, the gigs' PA set-ups were based around Aero and Avant Series loudspeaker systems from DAS Audio.
Equipment rental house Don Sistem Suara counts Indonesia’s top music, audio and broadcasters among its regular clients, and was contracted to handle the sound for the two performances. Donny Hardono compiled a massive DAS Audio system for the concerts and turned the mixing desk over to three-time Grammy Award nominated producer/engineer Ken ‘Pooch’ van Druten.
‘These sound systems are great,’ he says. ‘There’s minimal EQ needed and that’s the way it should be. I popped in a CD, played Pink Floyd’s ‘Time’ and it sounded terrific. The way these systems were set-up gave me a lot of options – farfield, close-field, left and right subs, and front-fills – all on different faders. That’s all I needed.’
The tour follows the release of the guitartist's debut solo album – Slash – in April, and features Myles Kennedy (Alter Bridge) on vocals, Bobby Schneck (rhythm guitar), Todd Kerns (bass) and Brent Fitz (drums). Along with GnR, he has performed with Slash's Snakepit, releasing two albums It's Five O'Clock Somewhere (1995) and Ain't Life Grand (2000), and Velvet Revolver for Contraband (2004) and Libertad (2007).In Surabaya, the sound system comprised 32 Aero-38 line arrays flown 16 elements per side. For low-frequency support, these were accompanied by 16 LX-218A active subwoofers stacked in a LR configuration with eight enclosures per side. The Aero-38 line arrays were driven by 24 DAS SLA-4000 and eight SLA-2600 power amplifiers.
DAS Audio Avant-12A compact, active two-way multipurpose loudspeaker enclosures were used for stage and drum monitors, with another four Avant-12As for fill close to the center/front stage area. Side fill was from four Avant-215A two-way, dual 15-inch full-range systems, while four Avant-18A powered subwoofers provided sub bass for the side fills. Loudspeaker processing and management was from DAS Audio’s DSP-4080 and DSP-2060 loudspeaker processors.
At the Jakarta show, the DSS team flew 24 Aero-38 enclosures, 12 units per side. These clusters were accompanied by 16 LX-218A subwoofers that were ground stacked eight enclosures each left and right. The line arrays were driven by a combination of 18 DAS SLA-4000 power amps and six SLA-2600 amplifiers. For stage and drum monitors, eight Avant-12A loudspeaker enclosures were used, with six Avant-12As for used for front fill. Four Avant-215As for side fill, and four Avant-18A powered subwoofers provided sub bass support for the sidefills. DAS Audio’s DSP-4080 and DSP-2060 loudspeaker processors handled loudspeaker processing.
Tight packing and ease of assembly and flying are essential concerns for live sound reinforcement, and Donny Hardono reckons that the rigging hardware on the Aero-38 is among the best-in-class: ‘Nothing beats DAS in the ability to get equipment up in the air and operational,’ he says.’ This equipment’s rigging system enables us to get the system running quickly and securely. This optimises our time during set-up and provides us with more time for the crew to rest.’
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