Some points:
1) The first band Lip Service was ok until the second song -- then all the three other songs sounded like the first song. I wish they could add more space into their riffs and melodies. After awhile digital delay and digital sound effects fatigue the ear specially if the mix is 100% wet. Lots of noise too. The local mix put the guitar louder than the singer.
2) General Luna -- I was disappointed. It was a mess. They were not tight. Lip Service was much much tighter and rehearsed. Caren was clearly having difficulty with her effects and she was playing at times ahead or out of time with her rhythm section -- which was clearly absent. You could clearly see that the three girls to the right (the prettier ones)-- the singer, the drummer and Caren were the stars while the two girls on the left were just filler. Again the local mix was strongest on Caren's guitar and the drummer which made it a struggle for the singer to be heard -- the worst possible mix for anyone to start appreciating a song. Even on their signature song, you could not tell they were playing it. It was only when the singer started the lyrics that you realized it was their song. Caren's PGM simply would not and could not sustain as she struggled to make the clean passages sustain. Again as I have said before, Ibanez guitars suck and the only way to get a fighting chance for an Ibby is to plug straight into a high gain boutique amp turn up the preamp gain. Forget the multi fx set up for an Ibby because it just makes it sound worse.
3) Mr. Big -- I loved everything except Paul Gilbert's sound. Since Paul first came out, I never really though of him as having the best tone but this is his worst. Clearly the single coils lacked the midrange punch to cut thru Billy Sheehan. Paul sounded beautiful only when the rest of the band was quiet. But with the band on, its as if his guitar disappeard. You could only hear the attack of the single coils and nothing else as if there were no notes from his fingerboard. Actually, you could only hear him on the higher register but since he applied distortion on single coils -- his highs were harsh -- clearly bad single coil and bad distortion design. In a sense you can understand why he has his phaser/flanger slightly on. He needed to thicken his single coils. But with all his endorsements, I can hardly blame him for having to struggle which such inferior equipment -- i guess he needs the extra bucks for his family. Sinubukan na lang niya idaan sa timpla pero hindi talaga kaya.
4) Mr. Araneta should improve his P.A. and add more speakers.... They are weak and they distort when the whole band level is up. I have noticed this during the STP concert and nothing was done. It was quite obvious that the P.A. could not keep up with Billy's bass solo because the whole P.A. started to distort and could not keep up with Billy's attack. I also partly blame the P.A. for not being able to reproduce Paul's sound in the band mix. A better PA would give Paul's single coils a better chance in the mix.
