May 26, 2016
Biffy Clyro
Pre-Production for a summer of festivals
Kicking off this weekend with BBC Radio One’s Big Weekend, the band are in fine form and gearing up for a busy summer.
It was the first time the band have had all three rigs in one place at one time prepping before heading their own directions for the summer. We headed down to make sure everything was in fine working order and also a few cosmetic alterations to the current rigs. The touring set up really has evolved with this band over the years from putting together what they could for a backline to having 3 almost identical rigs ready for world domination.
Bass wise James Johnston has gone from having an ABM-900 or two with an 810 or two with a few pedals to today where he is powering an on and off stage rig; The on stage rig is still fairly straight forward running one ABM-600-RC-EVO IV and 1 x ABM-810 with the Dirty (FX) signal and another ABM-600-RC-EVO IV running another 810 with the clean signal fed from an Avalon Di. The off stage set up is a little more complicated; James runs a couple of Valve amps across the rigs including a few CTM-300’s and Little Bastards these are fed with the same signals, Dirty and Clean that run two individual cabs one being a 1 x 15 and the other being a 1 x 12. These are mic’d and mixed with a blend of the Di’s for the front of house sound. James also runs a liquid foot system with his pedals including a James LoMenzo hyper drive and a few others for various different effects through out the set. Then we move on to the basses, James has a lovely mix of Fenders and Gibson’s in various different tunings to suit the set list what ever it might be that night.
We also got to catch up with James about the recording of the NEW album ‘Ellipsis’ Out in July. Taking to the studio for the first time with a new producer in the way of mixing and production legend Rich Costy. Leading to a completely different way of recording a record. Compared to what they had been used to with the great GGGGarth Richardson, both incredible producers with very different styles for getting the best out of a record. We asked James what he used to record the bass on the record and it was mostly the Ashdown BTA-400 Mic’d with an 810 and then just the on board Di straight into the desk. The sound was ‘massive and everyone was like, is that just the Di on the BTA?’ it really made us smile.... Check out the bands latest single ‘Animal Style’ out now via iTunes! The bass sounds massive, even if we do say so ourselves...
The boys take to the road this weekend spanning a world of festivals from Exeter to Mount Fuji in Japan. Click HERE for more info on their touring schedule and more news from the band. You can also stay in touch with the bands activities via their mailing list just click HERE to subscribe.
Kicking off this weekend with BBC Radio One’s Big Weekend, the band are in fine form and gearing up for a busy summer.
It was the first time the band have had all three rigs in one place at one time prepping before heading their own directions for the summer. We headed down to make sure everything was in fine working order and also a few cosmetic alterations to the current rigs. The touring set up really has evolved with this band over the years from putting together what they could for a backline to having 3 almost identical rigs ready for world domination.
Bass wise James Johnston has gone from having an ABM-900 or two with an 810 or two with a few pedals to today where he is powering an on and off stage rig; The on stage rig is still fairly straight forward running one ABM-600-RC-EVO IV and 1 x ABM-810 with the Dirty (FX) signal and another ABM-600-RC-EVO IV running another 810 with the clean signal fed from an Avalon Di. The off stage set up is a little more complicated; James runs a couple of Valve amps across the rigs including a few CTM-300’s and Little Bastards these are fed with the same signals, Dirty and Clean that run two individual cabs one being a 1 x 15 and the other being a 1 x 12. These are mic’d and mixed with a blend of the Di’s for the front of house sound. James also runs a liquid foot system with his pedals including a James LoMenzo hyper drive and a few others for various different effects through out the set. Then we move on to the basses, James has a lovely mix of Fenders and Gibson’s in various different tunings to suit the set list what ever it might be that night.
We also got to catch up with James about the recording of the NEW album ‘Ellipsis’ Out in July. Taking to the studio for the first time with a new producer in the way of mixing and production legend Rich Costy. Leading to a completely different way of recording a record. Compared to what they had been used to with the great GGGGarth Richardson, both incredible producers with very different styles for getting the best out of a record. We asked James what he used to record the bass on the record and it was mostly the Ashdown BTA-400 Mic’d with an 810 and then just the on board Di straight into the desk. The sound was ‘massive and everyone was like, is that just the Di on the BTA?’ it really made us smile.... Check out the bands latest single ‘Animal Style’ out now via iTunes! The bass sounds massive, even if we do say so ourselves...
The boys take to the road this weekend spanning a world of festivals from Exeter to Mount Fuji in Japan. Click HERE for more info on their touring schedule and more news from the band. You can also stay in touch with the bands activities via their mailing list just click HERE to subscribe.