Claymore: The great Scottish sword with a Quest
The new Quest 12FR; finding friends in the live music scene
With five albums and twelve years of gigs on the international festival circuit, the Celtic rock band Claymore has forged their own unique sound by their exciting and original treatment of the “Celtic Music” genre.
Apart from the obviously good song writing, Claymore’s great musical style and full sound is due to the wide range of instruments (from traditional Celtic to electric modern) that give the songs a really interesting mix of sounds and rhythms.
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Claymore at a festival show always sells out. Getting consistent results on tour is always a challenge, especially with a band with such a full sound. |
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A Scottish song in an Irish pub
Not all their shows are festival concerts with big production, Claymore are just as likely to turn up at an Irish pub from Glasgow Scotland to Melbourne Australia, and for these shows they need a sound system that can deliver that fat sound but still be quick to load in and set up. For this requirement, Quest is an ideal choice.
The members of Claymore play many instruments. This can make a pretty complex sound tonally for a PA to reproduce.
The band’s production manager, John Boshua mixes the band for the big and small shows and is very concerned to give the band a consistent sound regardless of the size of the venue.
"The new Quest Q-motion system has to be one of the best compact gig systems I have ever used" was the comment from John. "For its size and cost, you just can't beat it".
John has used the system for pub shows and even some outdoor gigs, quite surprised how much output it has for a small box system.
Claymore uses the basic array of 4 x QM12FR and 4 x HPI-18 sub boxes powered by 2 QA4004 amplifiers. That’s an 8,000 watt system that can pack into a van. Monitors are QM12DC and Senheiser wireless in ear receivers.
The system can be used as just one QM12FR and one HPI-18 per side and still output enough to cover a 250+ people venue at a high level. Pictured are some photos from a recent pub gig. The size of the room determines how much gear comes out of the truck. That’s the great thing about the Quest PA, you can use it in so many system configurations.
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Quest stack |
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| The band members all play a range of modern and traditional instruments and the vocals are all the real thing. |
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Claymore with the lot - You just can't have too many dancing girls! |
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