Equipment for the Cruise Ship Guitarist, Part 2
This article is part 2 of a series by Nathan Whitney, who spent 6 years working on cruise ships all over the world. Please also visit part 1 of this series, which discusses the choice of guitar to bring on a cruise gig:
Welcome back to part two of this series. I hope the information about guitars was helpful. Thanks for all your of your kind comments and thoughtful emails.
In this article I’m going to begin to layout the basics of which amplifiers you’re likely to come across when you join a ship, as well as some of the effects that I found to be useful.
Amplifiers
Cruise ships do provide a backline (amps) for the rhythm section. I have seen everything from a full-blown Marshall stack to a Peavey practice amplifier. While we have to be open and willing to work with whatever is provided, there are a few standard amps that seem to be on ships.
Though as guitar players the consensus (however subjective that may be) seems to be that tube amplifiers are the best tonally, you will usually find a solid-state amplifier on board. In my experience, these amps are popular on cruise ships as they are usually low maintenance and lightweight, which the technical staff is thankful for. Solid-state amps also tend to cost less, so if one breaks or needs to be off-loaded the ship for repair, they are easier to replace.
An industry standard in the solid-state arena is the Roland Jazz Chorus 120
The Fender Twin Reverb
Digital modeling amplifiers, by manufacturers like Line 6
Effect Pedals
For the non guitar players reading this article, effect pedals are those multi colored, tone shaping/modifying boxes that you’ll see a guitar player step on and off through out a performance. Effect pedals (“stomp boxes”) come in all shapes and sizes, from individual pedals that do only one thing, to giant multi-effect boards that contain nearly ever effect known to man. There are many ways to use effects, but there are definitely a few basics that every cruise ship guitarist (or any guitarist) should have in their equipment arsenal.
Here is a list of some of the stomp boxes that I would bring on a contract:
Tuner – A tuner, while not an “effect”, is essential to your rig. I would recommend a pedal style tuner such as the Boss TU-2
Wah – Though use of a wah pedal may be infrequent during your contract, I would always recommend having one available so that when you’re playing a show of disco classics, you’ll fit right in. Wah’s can also be used as tonal shaping devices if set in one position, or swept slowly from top to bottom of it’s tonal spectrum.
Overdrive/Distortion/Clean Boost – For various styles of rhythm and lead guitar you will need an overdrive. Please note there is a tonal and gain difference between an overdrive and distortion. Overdrive pedals tend to be lower gain, with more pronounced mid range, while distortion pedals are higher gain and tend to have a more scooped mid range.
While possible to use just one overdrive, I would recommend bringing two. Start with a common overdrive such as the Ibanez TS-9
Indpendent clean boost pedals, such as the Keeley Katana
With so many gain pedal options available today that it can be overwhelming to find one that is right for you and your playing style. Take your time, do some research online, listen to sound samples and take them for test drives, if possible, at your local music store before you get on the ship.
Modulation – Modulation effects are the ones that give you a swooshing or shimmering sound, depending upon which adjective you like to use. Chorus, Phase, Flange, and Univibe type units are in this category. Chorus is a standard sound that can be found on a lot of pop music, but more recently I have been using a Uni-Vibe
Ambient – Ambient effects include delay and reverb. I would start off with a delay to add atmosphere as most amps have a reverb effect built in. I would also recommend a delay that has a “tap” function that allows your delays to line up with the tempo of the song that you are playing.
As with guitars, bring the effects that you feel most comfortable with and are within your budget. While possible to survive a contract with just an overdrive pedal, but I always found that having the right effect not only enhances the song, but makes the gig more fun. And music is supposed to be fun, isn’t it?
Power
All of your effect pedals require power, whether from a battery or “wal-wart” power supply. While batteries are great and reduce cable clutter, they can wear out at the wrong time and also can be expensive. I have used the Voodoo Labs Pedal Power 2
Pedal Boards
The above basic list of pedals should be attached or fitted to your pedal board. Pedal board you say? That’s right. Whether it’s store bought
I hope this article has shed some light in the area of effects and amplifiers. If you have any questions, please feel free to comment and I’ll do my best to respond.
In the next article of this series I’ll be continuing to expand on some other types of effects, multi-effect pedals, gear and tools I found essential for the ship. Until next time…
About the author
Hello, Nathan. I am listening you in Myspace. Nice music there!!
What’s your opinion about one or two multi-effect boards? Some of them are easy to carry, you save lots of cables and are able to be programmed.
With good care they last for decades and still sound good. Maybe it’s just about tastes. I have both, stomp boxes and multi processors but on the easy go, I will prefer multi effects board because of just plug and play. Maybe the worst thing is when the whole thing stops working fine and you will have to plug your guitar straight to the amp overseas.
5/21/2009
I think multi-effect units, such as ones made by Line6 or Boss, are definitely viable options for ships. Like you’ve mentioned though, if they go down, you’re not going to be able to cover some sounds that may be required. I would always have an overdrive, tuner and maybe a delay pedal as backups if I used a multi-effect unit as my main pedal board
As always, it’s about what you are most comfortable with and what is in your budget for gear. I’ll be discussing the pro’s and con’s of multi-effects a little more in detail in my next article. Thanks for your question!
5/22/2009
Is it possible to plug directo to the amp and use no pedals or multi-effects at all?
I have slowly grown laziness and dislike for pedalboards and heavy stomp-box carring arround. I started with ten boxes and slowly been going down until I just use the guitar into the amp and found I like it better and have more (musical) fun this way.
What I mean is: does the musical director of the ship orchestra look down on you if you don’t use chorus or tremolo in a specifil song, or wah and overdrive on another song? Regarding tube amps like the TR, is it possible to crank the amp for overdrive and use a power attenuator to keep a low volume profile?
What about digital modelling software (amplitube, guitar rig), a laptop with a decent audio interface (headphones for monitoring) into a DI box and off to the FOH mixer?
5/22/2009
Agustin: I’m not such an expert in cruise MD’s so I’m not the best to answer your question but if I had to go straight to the amp I would use a Superstrat (five position switched) with tremolo bridge or othewise a Telecaster. Maybe that will guve more versatile sound. About the overdrive into the amp, I guess all the guitar amps have separated controls for gain and volume. Let’s wait what other readers think about it.
In my case, although I play in land, I never go out without pedals such as Digitech RP200 for guitar (and and old Zoom 1010 for emergency) sa well as Digitech BP200 for bass because of variety of sounds, wah, volume control and tuner but in many cases I like to play in Bypass mode.
One of the troubles with Digitech multis is about voltage. If it slightly changes, the whole pedal board restarts all its sounds !
I don’t know if there is in musicianwages.com some article about one man band in guitar, I mean good backup tracks or Jam stompboxes and how the Cruiselines think about it.
5/22/2009
In regards to plugging straight into the amp, it is possible to do that but lots of times an overdrive and wah parts are written into charts as expected sounds, so you should at least have those available.I have seen chorus and tremolo indicated as desired sounds, though those are less noticable parts most of the time. As a ship guitarist, you want to represent the song the way it was intended, and not having an effect set up of some sort can be a hindrance.
Boards don’t have to be expensive or heavy. A small computer bag with tuner, wah, overdrive, dealy would be sufficient. I would avoid computer based setups due to the chances of crashes, reboot time and power considerations on the ship. As well, you may find yourself playing outside in less than ideal weather conditions, and would not want your computer exposed to the elements.
I would avoid loud amplifier like the plague, even though you could use an attenuator it would be more beneficial to bring a pedal to get your overdrive and leave the attenuator at home.
5/22/2009
Hey Nathan,
Great blog!! I will be going on a Princess cruise from June 14th through Sep 23rd. As far as guitars I have a Shecter for rock and a Strat for pop and dance. I also have a Line 6 XT pedal board which is everything in one pedal. I know it’s a long shot but do you think there’s any way I could get the guitars and pedal board on the plane?
Also, I am looking for one guitar that can do it all. Do you have any ideas as far as guitars with hummbucking pickups for rock and single coils for pop and dance? I know I’ve seen some with a 5-way selector that is humbucking in the bridge position and in the next position over, switches to the single coil bridge and middle pickup together out of phase. Ideally that would also have a Floyd Rose tremelo for the ocasional Van Halen tune.
Thanks, Matt
6/1/2009
Hey Matt,
In regards to guitars and pedalboard, you could try to carry them on, but you may have to gate check or stow them. I’ve never had any good experiences with trying to bring guitars on the plane. My last pedal board was small enough so that i could count it as my carry on, so if the case is the right size, you may be able to do that with the POD. Be prepared to pay for extra baggage and weight.
I think you could get away with just your strat for the gig. Humbuckers are great, but you could definitely make the strat work. I would avoid a Floyd Rose trem if you only have one guitar as quick string changes in the middle of the show would be impossible.
Thanks for your questions.
6/1/2009
I don’t know why there is so much written here – Two articles?
If you are a normal worker-bee doing a show-band this is what you want:
1 solid body guitar- I know you consider yourself a jazzbox/classical/blueridgeacoustic guy, but when you are hired to play guitar, this is what is normal. I brought two guitars on my contracts, on solidbody Hum-S-Hum and one Jazzbox w/a piezo so I could cover all my bases. Most guys will only bring 1 solidbody.
A multi-effects box with an expression pedal [the rocker pedal which you can assign to volume or wah-wah] and a foot pedal to allow you to change your tone on the fly. All of them have built in tuners. Know your gear so you can reorder effects and change your presets! I’ve done multiple contracts with the exact same piece of crap Digitech thing from 1995. Cost me $40 used. If it ever were to die, I would go to a guitar store in port and buy a new multieffect. Most towns, no matter how remote, have a guitar store somewhere…
You need Tuner, Distortion, Chorus, Wahwah. That’s it. Everything else is you being cool in your own mind. no one ever asked me to increase the feedback trails on my delay.
If you are in a your own band, bring as much gear as you like, that’s up to you. You know the sounds you’ll want etc.etc. If you are such a big tone geek that you think the drunk spring breaker will really care that you have a tube-saturated compression, well go ahead and bring that AC30, you’re paying for the shipping.
Just don’t be a tone prima-donna. No one listening cares that you’re playing a solid state amp [another reason for solid state amps is that shit gets knocked around on a ship, I've had my amp flip over in the middle of a gig due to the boat rocking so bad!], you shouldn’t either. When you go home to your studio and want to turn up your Vintage TS-808 thru the Bassman’59 with Mogami cables go ahead, but on a ship, no one will give a damn.
6/2/2009
What’s up Riz?
The purpose of these articles is to give a new-hire a general impression of what to expect on a ship. While you are spot on with your general summary , I felt these articles would give someone with no experience a wide viewpoint of what they are getting into. As with anything, experience gives us a better standpoint to base future decisions on. Glad to see your experience has helped you become a successful, professional cruise ship musician.
Thanks for reading and commenting!
6/2/2009
Granted, a typical cruise is not the type of vacation I would choose to take, but I’ve been on a ship before as a passenger and there’s nothing more depressing than watching a band play that doesn’t care about how they sound. I’ve heard the stories and I know that the gig really drains some musicians moral, and the drunk tourists don’t always make for the best audience, but that’s no reason to not care about your sound. You never know who’s in the crowd–if there’s one thing I’ve learned as a guitarist it’s that everybody and their dad plays guitar and most of them recognize good tone (whether or not they can produce it doesn’t really matter).
The professional thing to do is be prepared, and I think these articles provide exactly the kind of information many guitarists starting their first contract are looking for.
6/2/2009
Hi Nathan,
Great blog. I have done eight contracts as a guitarist on Holland America and I am thinking of going back after a year and a half break. (I think I am the guy that bumped you from the Amsterdam in 2005. Your wife was pissed. Oops.) Are you teaching now at a university, you sound great Well nice to read your stuff, take care!
David
7/23/2009
Hello,
I was just offered a gig w/ a cruise ship band. It’s a rock/funk cover thing. The money is very good, seems like the contracts are 4-8 months. I have some concerns about gear. I really like my old fender amps. Do you pretty much have to make do with what is on board or can you request a certain amp, like the twin you mentioned?
Also, is it possible to find a place to be alone and practice with headphones. It sounds like the living situation is tight and cramped which will be a little hard for me as I’m a bit of a loner.
Is it possible, once you have developed a relationship with the agency, to move into doing jazz gigs? That’s ultimately what I would like to play. Thanks,
Mark
10/1/2009
Hey Mark,
In my experience, you’re stuck with what is onboard. If you are going to be playing the same room every day and not moving, a good eq or even a multi effects with amp modeling might help with getting your tone. It’s a constant struggle onboard, but there are ways to make it work. It just may take some time. Some of the direct boxes with amp modeling that are out there may work for you if you don’t like the amps onboard.
You can always find a place to practice. Make sure you bring a guitar/headphone amp like I mentioned in the last article. Those are great and you can 99% of the time find a little corner somewhere backstage, in the officer bar, or a back staircase to do some practicing. Ask the MD onboard when you get there.
As for jobs, it’s always possible to do what you want. It’s just a matter of finding the job or making the connection. I know many people who have only done jazz combo gigs. Try calling some cruise lines directly and speak with their Ent/Music manager and see what they have available.
Hope that helps.
10/1/2009
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