If they are miced up the volume is at the control of the sound guy and his sound equipment. I've used my clubdate outside several times. Even had one gig where we had to tell the sound guy to turn the drum volume down. He had the bass drum so loud that nobody could stand it.

Gerald,

In this case the drums would have NO mics at all. Hence the concern if they would be loud enough. 100% agree if they are micd then the sound guy would control that. With the nicer weather rolling in we will likely be playing a good mix of outdoor shows; many of which I get no mics :(

Manny

In my opinion, the Clubdates should work just as well as any other. The problem you may run into is if the bass drum will carry. I think that's a problem no matter what kit you use.

Manny!

Outdoor venues/shows with NO mics? How does that even happen?! Certainly no fault of yours of course! I play a LOT of outdoor venues/shows in the summer with "The Sounds of Frank".. ( www.thesoundsoffrank.com ) .. and they are all with sound reinforcement.. otherwise .. how is your band/drums even heard? That has to be tough on you, and given that scenario, it doesn't really matter what set you are playing... the drums aren't going to "get out" as they should, especially competing with amplified instruments. Don't play too hard to compensate though, as all that will do is blow out your chops!... and pock the crap out of your heads. BEST!!

Tommyp

Well of course the rest of the band has mics but yes with this band sometimes I get none at small gigs. The least amount of mics for me is normally 3; bass, snare and an over head. Yeah I never lay into my drums or pies past a point.

Manny

... and that's the problem with the written word.. sometimes .. the intent is misunderstood! I knew the rest of the band would be miced Manny!, YOU were the concern! That really stinks that you are left "all acoustic", 'cause you know that you're gonna be buried! Gotta tell you that for most ALL performances, my set is usually three mic's. For the group/material/show that I'm playing... that's perfect! BEST to you!

Tommyp

I would use your phonics outside. They are not as heavy as your jump sack so I think you can handle the extra weight.

Tommy,

Yeah I was just giving you a hard time :) I understood you. Just stinks that as drummers we are the only "acoustic" instrument in a rock band type setting. Heck even with a lot of big bands the horns are all mic'd. Anyway yeah with the many groups I have played with these past few years I do miss playing in Germany. My main group in Germany had a great sound guy. The same out at every gig and he made sure I was always setup really well and had my wireless in ears dialed in perfect.

The few shows I had to go without my sound guy I really did not like. I gave him one of my Sonor kits when it was time for me to leave Germany as a thank you for all the hard work he did.

Anyway the lead singer of that band decided to turn down that gig tomorrow so I have time to work on my Bop drumming this weekend!

I hear you guys on the Phonics. I need to update my signature because I have bought and sold a few kits out of the lot. After I did a few recording sessions with my Phonic kit I sold it to a drummer in NY of all places. Anyway I am after another Phonic kit and snare. The next phonic kit I do I will keep it also as a three piece and get the bass drum cut down to 14" depth. Phonics with a heavier beech shell do project nicely. Only my S Classix bass drum has more punch un mic'd out of all my kits. Playing it would literally knock things off the wall in my practice studio.

Manny

We played an outdoor gig a few weeks ago on the patio, there was no need to mic anything except for the vocals. I think it depends on how big the outdoor venue is, we had tables 10-20 ft. away from where we were set up and most people were eating, with lots of kids running around. We kept the volume pretty low, here's a video, I think the drums came out fine.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=eOMR-y9Fbc8