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Post subject: Clapton Nearly Deaf
Posted: Mon Oct 15, 2007 11:09 am
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Aspiring Musician
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In the Larry King interview the other night, Clapton admitted his left ear was almost completely deaf, and his right ear was severely hearing-impaired. This from all the years of Marshall stacks blasting 200 db at him. And undoubtedly, the range of frequencies he can hear in his one barely functioning ear is extremely limited and tinnitus is roaring away 24/7. This is the same syndrome Jeff Beck and a whole host of aging guitar heroes are facing.

You'll notice today John Mayer and many other guitar players have sound-blocking flesh-colored earpieces filling both ear canals which transmit a reasonable-volume mix into the ear effectively eliminating ear damage.

And why a lot of bands are going to small to medium combos like even BJs and simply miking them into the PA system. Los Lobos, Beck, Franz Ferdinand, Mayer, Santana, all kinds of acts are blowing off stacks for moderation to save both their and their audiences future ability to hear.

And Clapton playing the '57 Twin in giant stadiums owes no small measure to that consideration. We are entering the era of less is more in amps. And more and more small combo amps have speaker-compensated line outs that will interface straight into your sound reinforcement system.

Ban cochlear war. Hear hear!


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Posted: Mon Oct 15, 2007 12:05 pm
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Indeed. I have a pair of Shure E2cs that make excellent headphones and monitors. I still blast my eardrums though. :D


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Posted: Mon Oct 15, 2007 12:40 pm
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That's cool that Eric Clapton is using a '57 Twin! The man is a fantastic musician. Very sad that his hearing is hurt now, but he plays as well as ever, like Beethoven. Check him out on Riding With The King to hear a couple of amazing musicians playing off each other. I was browsing his autobiography over the weekend. It's a very heartbreaking story he had as a kid. It's a great thing when a guitar hero matures into a real hero who has overcome a lot of knocks to make excellent music while also becoming a good person, husband and father.


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Posted: Mon Oct 15, 2007 2:24 pm
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I seem to remember Pete Townsend saying that it wasn't so much the huge stacks he stood in front of for 30 years, it was all those years in a studio with headphones on. Not that standing in front of a couple Marshall 100W rigs is doin any good for the ears. It's just that cranked headphones can do even more damage then the stacks.

When the IPOD generation gets older we'll have an epidemic on our hands.

Me? I've had tininitus for years now. Constant buzzing.

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Posted: Tue Oct 16, 2007 9:24 am
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wow. i'm gonna be careful. i think that people need to know the dangers of loud speakers etc.


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Posted: Tue Oct 16, 2007 9:49 am
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Yeah, I watch the volume when my kids are around.


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Posted: Tue Oct 16, 2007 10:28 am
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Not only music I got my dose of hearing damage from working in a print shop in my late teens. Very loud machines and no one knew or cared back then.

The damage is cumulative and shows up years after it has already happened.

Makes me wonder about all the ones driving around inside a bass speaker.
You can hear their thump coming blocks away.
On the one hand I bet they could get a class action suite against the car audio installers and manufacturers for not providing adequate warning about the side effect of going deaf.
On the other it should be common sense by now, not to sit inside something producing more DB than a jet engine. :?

Just my 2.5cents worth.

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Posted: Tue Oct 16, 2007 11:49 am
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The next phase of pollution control has to be noise. If folks don't have the right to pollute my lungs with their smoke anywhere, they sure as **** don't have the right to damage my hearing and my brain with their noise, be it from leaf blowers or a beat box. And now concert promoters are having to deal with hearing damage lawsuits. Good, anything over 100db is like choking cigarette smoke: it will cause damage.

Good point about studio headphones and iPod buds: potentially the most damaging of all.

Guys get used to insane stage levels and need that volume in headphones to "get into it" in the studio. The main thing I hear in the studio is LOUDER. MORE.

And this whole syndrome is spreading to consumers as well with their earphones. As your hearing deteriorates you want more and more, which just causes more and more damage.


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Posted: Tue Oct 16, 2007 12:09 pm
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I have been playing in my band since I was 12 years old (I am 23 now) and I use to have a strongly amplified sound system in my cars. I have noticed now that my comfortable listening level seems to be much louder than my girlfriends and my ears tend to hurt from time to time. I hope it doesnt get much worse.


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Posted: Tue Oct 16, 2007 12:48 pm
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WHAT ?!!?? :shock:


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Posted: Tue Oct 16, 2007 12:50 pm
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stevestrat wrote:
I have been playing in my band since I was 12 years old (I am 23 now) and I use to have a strongly amplified sound system in my cars. I have noticed now that my comfortable listening level seems to be much louder than my girlfriends and my ears tend to hurt from time to time. I hope it doesnt get much worse.
I too hve signifigant
hearing loss from too many years of over amping .
I'm 45 and used to use 2 2-12 combos
now I use a fender twin with a master volume and a good sound man!
he tells me when I'm too loud
with dirty look and hands over his ears LOL


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Post subject:
Posted: Tue Oct 16, 2007 1:01 pm
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Twins were brutal before they had master volumes. I could never figure out why I couldn't get mine to sound like Clapton so I left it on "10" a lot, and I still couldn't get it to break up with my wimpy Hagstrom II pups.

Adrenaline and a couple of beers (not to mention the babe in the front row) will have us all cranking the volume beyond medically sound levels. If they had Sonic Police we'd all be pickin up trash on Highway 61.


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Posted: Tue Oct 16, 2007 2:29 pm
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I've been using these for a few years now. They're great. You don't lose the high end and they do a great job of db reduction. I'd recommend them to anyone gigging or jamming regularly.

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product/ ... sku=421214

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Post subject:
Posted: Tue Oct 16, 2007 2:44 pm
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Great pickup, c-strat! If only Clapton had these in 1967 he'd be hearing fine today! These things are really important.

I remember asking Clapton's roady when we were opening for him back then how Eric could hear anything after standing in front of the stack on 10 for hours. He said, "Well, there were a couple of earplugs on Eric's nightstand this morning so perhaps he's started wearing them!" Guess not enough.


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Posted: Tue Oct 16, 2007 2:53 pm
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Yeah man. I'm 47. The noise in my ears never stops. I have no idea how bad it will get as I get older. All I know is it's worse now then 5 years ago. Woulda, coulda, shoulda.

Remember kids....the damage takes decades to show up and there's no going back. There is no fix. It's not a cool badge of honor. It's just annoying and makes you feel stupid for what you did to yourself years ago. Saying "I know what I'm doing" or "It won't happen to me" a million times doesn't help either.

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"is that a real poncho...i mean
Is that a mexican poncho
Or is that a sears poncho?
Hmmm...no foolin ...." FZ


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