In 2011, Gabe Kubanda was cast in the “Rock N’ Roll Fantasy Camp” reality show on VH1 Classics. This year, he co-founded the Epic Proportions Tour, a new concept in promotion. Kubanda and two other unsigned artists, Lost In Atlantis and School Boy Humor, played 15 dates at military bases, high schools and colleges throughout the summer.
When planning the tour, the new Line 6 StageSource L3t loudspeakers played a key role.
“Epic Proportions is a new and different approach to touring. The idea is to get great live bands a lot of exposure without a lot of financial risk,” Kubanda said. “Instead of getting a dozen or so people to see us in a club, we play free shows for large crowds, often in the thousands. Kids love to hear new bands, and this is a great way to start a buzz, meeting them after the show, getting social media connections. That starts a cyclical process of getting more fans and more industry notice. Everybody gets paid, and it also enables us to partner with some really great charities like The Keep A Breast Foundation, and do some good in this world. That’s what it’s all about.”
To be successful, Kubunda needs to keep the Epic Proportions Tour compact and self-contained. “I first saw the Line 6 StageScape M20d mixer and StageSource L3t speakers demoed at the NAMM Show this past January, and I was just blown away. I thought they would be great for the tour,” Kubunda said. “So when the speakers came out, we bought three of them—two for main PA and one for use as a monitor. They worked out great.”
“We can’t afford to bring a full-fledged sound engineer with us, so the L3t speakers were a perfect fit for our situation,” he said. “First, the sound quality is awesome—nice and crisp, with none of the muddiness you get from a lot of regular PA speakers. Then they have different modes for PA and monitors, which is incredibly helpful. They’re smaller and lighter than a lot of other products, and very durable. And they have plenty of output, so we could play to crowds up to 2,000 with no problem.”
Kubanda is a big fan of the two-channel onboard mixer and effects contained in each L3t. “When it’s just me playing solo, I play directly into those and have full feedback suppression, acoustic modeling, reverb, EQ and everything else,” he said. “I love it! Also, when you lay the speaker down, there’s an accelerometer inside that converts it from PA mode into a monitor and actually adjusts the frequency response and the output. I thought that was insanely unique and helpful.”
The summer tour was such a success that Epic Proportions is about to embark on an even more ambitious national tour. “People think you can’t make money playing free shows, but we have a formula that works, and we’re always looking for great live acts that want to join us,” he says. “This fall, we’ll be playing our way across the country on a biodiesel-fueled tour bus, from LA to New York and back, including a stop at the CMJ Festival to network. Epic Proportions became a success by thinking outside the box, and utilizing StageSource speaker systems is a great example of that.”
In fact, the Epic Proportions Tour is planning to expand its commitment to include a Line 6 StageScape M20d smart mixing system. “I’ve been a Line 6 fan for years now,” said Kubanda. “I use their wireless system and their M13 modeling pedal already. The L3t speakers are incredible, and now we’re looking forward to expanding our system to include the StageScape mixer as well as more speakers, which will give us the full benefit of everything the system can do when it is integrated together.”
