Well, it’s been 4 months but we’re finally getting around to answering a question that Richard Porter had sent us. (Thanks Richard – we’ll be in touch to get you your free Signature mug!)

Richard writes; ”During Harvest Jazz and Blues what were some unique requirement of the guitarists?  Did anyone use a different guitar setup or an amp setup that you had not seen before?  What is the easiest guitar amp to get a good sound from, and finally what guitar amps do you have available for rent/use by guitarists at a show done by Signature Sound?”

The Harvest Jazz and Blues Festival like many, does supply what we call “back line” equipment for the artists. Back line generally includes things like drums, bass amps, guitar amps, keyboards and pianos. Harvest gets it’s back line from two sources, a company from Halifax called II Eleven, and ourselves. Zack Atkinson, who handles the coordination of all the back line requirements for the festival tells me that there were no ‘out-of-the-ordinary’ requests this year.

Probably the most popular back line amp these days is the Fender ’65 Twin Reverb as seen here.

The Twin Reverb is an 85 watt, all tube power house that can deliver clean, undistorted tones, or varying degrees of beautiful bluesy distortion.

To answer “what is the easiest guitar amp to get a good sound from?” depends on what kind of music you’re playing, and therefore what kind of sound you’re looking for. Many blues, country or blues rock players use the above Twin or it’s little brother of sorts, the Deluxe Reverb (22 watts, all tube). Those who rock harder may prefer some sort of Marshall combo or stack rig. In general, most ‘pro’ players will use some sort of all tube (or tube power section) amp due to their sound.

We do have a selection of back line gear that we use exclusively for outfitting some of the festivals that we do. The list includes a couple of high-end drum kits and a good selection of Fender combos, Marshall heads and cabinets, Ampeg and G&K bass rigs, and a few other goodies

Fall is typically the busiest time of the year for Signature Sound. The Fredericton Exhibition (FREX), various university events and then of course the Harvest Jazz & Blues Festival all combine with an annual reawakening of the corporate world.

Owner Mike Jones has been Technical Director for Harvest for over 5 years and the company is proud to be a part of what has become a world-class event. Signature Sound provides sound and lighting in all venues but one, plus all of the video production – a newer component to the festival in recent years.

One new video feature this year was to stream live video and sound from the Aliant Mojo tent cameras to the Bud Light Blues tent. This allowed the Blues Tent crowd to watch and listen to some of the Mojo acts live while the Blues stage was prepared for the next act. A nice little touch that adds a little more ‘bang for your buck’ for ticket buyers!

Do you have a question that you would like to see answered in the blog? Got a cool blog topic in mind? Send it in to bruce@signaturesound.ca and if we use it you’ll get one of these fancy Signature Sound coffee mugs! (while supplies last)

You can also find and follow us on Facebook and Twitter and we now have an Email Newsletter (at the bottom of each page) that all are welcome to sign up for.

The Newsletter will be used in moderation only, and you can remove yourself from it at any time.

Special thanks go out to Ginger Design for their hard work, creativity and patience in working with us to get this up and running. We’ll be updating photos, blog and more as we go now, so stay tuned and…happy leaf raking!