Guitar-and-Bass Magazine’s Exclusive: Pete Townshend’s The Who Live Rig, including Pete Townshend’s revolutionary use of TubeTraps to control and refine his amplified sound. Pete is one of our longest term customers and one of the first to apply our modular acoustics to the stage.
”Myer also brings out the TubeTraps, bass traps made by Acoustic Sciences Corp, invented by Art Noxon. On the top is written, ‘this half is a treble diffuser and usually faces the listener, the full perimeter is bass absorptive’.
I contact Marcus Thompson from Acoustic Sciences, who very kindly directs me to Chris Klein, the company’s studio acoustic specialist. Klein was directly involved with setting up the TubeTraps for Townshend. He tells me: “Pete has used them in his studio for years. When I was working with Zak Starkey, and involved in his stage set-up, Pete was interested to know how they would work with his own stage amp set-up”
The Who Perform at The Prudential Center. in Newark, NY on March 19, 2016.
“They make an amp punchier, and where Pete stands will reach about 92dB. The large 16-inch traps are 55Hz absorption, but if you turn the trap around, it will exceed 400Hz diffusive.” Pete used four of them for the Hyde Park gig, and Tim used a plan layout showing the precise placement for this gig.
“I measure from the amp grille cloth to one of the traps and place them strategically to diffuse the volume hitting Pete. Small pieces of white gaffer tape are then placed on the floor around them in case they’re moved accidentally. Pete likes to have as close to a studio sound as you can get, and these traps are very effective – even for an outdoor gig.”
“Pino Palladino’s traps are set up in a different way,” Chris explains, “because of the frequencies he generates, in order to get rid of the peaks and valleys. This is done in order to produce the sound Pino wants to hear.”
~excerpt from guitar-bass.net powered by Guitar-and-Bass Magazine
Get the full story here courtesy of Guitar Magazine: Exclusive: Pete Townshend’s The Who Live Rig
