This weekend was a great run of activity:
- 2 gigs – Both with 80s Invasion, one in a bar and one at a private party
- 2 ferry rides
- 1 evening rehearsal – For another band that I’m sitting in with for a few shows
- 1 UW graduation party – For one of my best friends who has recently joined the ranks of officially papered college grads
- 2 instances of equipment entropy – Fortunately limited to cases
Friday night at the High Dive we had a great show. The band seems to be attracting a regular following and this particular venue is a great place for us. It was fun to see so many familiar faces and to chat with some of them. One table full of 20-somethings were very interested in the music, having an apparently encyclopedic knowledge of 80s pop hits. Lots of great dancing and crazy sing-along activity.
At our previous show in this bar, my guitar rig exhibited some strange behavior and I wondered if the power might be to blame. For this show I used a fairly sophisticated power conditioner and it seems to have resolved the issues. Chalk one up for technology. So from the perspective of equipment performance, this was a perfect gig. I was very happy with the band’s playing at this show. Zach and Shane are consummate professionals and always do their parts well. Our vocalists are coming along nicely too. Mona and Paul are both becoming more confident in their roles.
On Saturday we got up early and headed over to Bainbridge Island for a private show. It was a birthday party with plenty of great food, awesome friends, kids and dogs running everywhere, and of course some fun music. We were playing outdoors with a fabulous view of the water. The band played a similar set to the one from Friday night, with a few minor changes. Again, a great time.
During the course of the weekend I noticed that two of my equipment cases are beginning to fall apart. One is a plastic box that I’ve been using for cords and mics, and it’s at least 15 years old (maybe 20!). It’s beginning to crack and split, and I think I may need to finally admit it’s time to recycle it. The other case that’s wearing out is my pedalboard case. This one is also 20 years old and has seen tens of thousands of miles of road use in Jumbalassy, and I purchased it used 20 years ago so who knows what its previous life might have been like. Technically it’s a keyboard case for a 3-octave synth, but it happened to be a perfect fit for my pedalboard. The hinges, latches and corners are all falling to pieces and I don’t believe this one is fixable. Might be time for a replacement. A long time ago I knew someone who worked for a flight case manufacturer but he’s long since retired. I need to find a new contact in that industry.
80s Invasion will be playing next weekend on Saturday June 20, at the High Dive. Come on out and get your 80s groove on!
Last night at 80s Invasion rehearsal I noticed that my Line6 PODXT Live was behaving a little strangely. This happened recently at a gig and I assumed it was a bad cable. Apparently something is going on with the gain structure in the output section, and this manifests itself as a huge drop in volume. After doing some on-the-floor analysis of the issue I wasn’t able to find the cause, but it did suddenly correct itself which allowed me to finish rehearsal. Still, it was a bit of a distraction as I kept an eye on it to see if it would recur.
Tonight I will need to spend some time doing further investigation. I have 2 shows this weekend and need to have this unit performing correctly. I certainly hope this isn’t going to require a trip to the shop… my assumption is that nobody locally can diagnose or repair this unit, and that it would involve shipping it back to the manufacturer. In the mean time I would need to rent or buy another unit. I’ve done five years of gigs with this unit and it’s been flawless. I like the tone and usability of Line6 gear, and hopefully this is something minor.
This past weekend the 1 Uppers spent a lot of hours in the recording studio putting down tracks for a CD. We managed to get through four takes (each) of six songs on Saturday despite losing a few hours to ProTools gremlins. Our intrepid drummer and engineer Eric Eagle did a great job of getting all the electrons in line, and once we got underway we had a very productive session. One of the interesting setup exercises in the studio is capturing good tone from all the instruments, and since I’ve spent the past year really massaging my sound, this was something that meant a lot to me. The most common approach to putting a microphone on a guitar amp is to use a Shure SM57 slightly off-axis. For decades I carried a pair of SM57s for this purposes, but they were a casualty of my car being broken into a few years ago. Kris loaned me a Sennheiser e609 for my guitar amp which sounded really great. I’m thinking of ordering the e906, which is a slightly upgraded version of that microphone. It has a smooth openness to its sound that isn’t present in the SM57.
I’m pleased with the results of this weekend’s recording and I look forward to getting back into the studio to work on additional elements (solos, fills) and more songs. The 1 Uppers was originally started with the intent that we’d cover some country favorites just for fun. At some point the creativity started to flow and we began to write originals. I’d say we probably have a full CD of material to put down, and it’ll be a fun summer project to realize this project. Bits ahoy!
Saturday night was an unusual early show for 80s Invasion. We played at the High Dive in Fremont, which is a great venue with a fun regular crowd. Zach surprised me by including “Kiss Them For Me” by Siouxsie and the Banshees. I’ve always wanted to add that one to our set list and I thought it sounded good. Also fun was the late addition of “Don’t Stop Believing” by Journey. The High Dive has a particularly aggravating issue with their stage power. I discovered this the first time we played there, and have pointed it out to the house sound man every time. There is a persistent ground buzz throughout their PA system, and it’s very bad onstage. And I suspect their line voltage fluctuates throughout the night. I swear if I ever own a bar, clean stable power will be a priority.
One especially interesting aspect of this gig was the presence of dozens of merry Greeks (!) dancing and drinking and yelling “OPAH!” pretty much throughout the gig. I don’t know what “OPAH!” means, but I suspect it’s the national salute to whoever founded the first Mediterranean distillery.
I’ve had my POD XT Live for a few years now, and it does a good job of providing the tones I use in my various bands. I’m almost upon the time of year when I do “spring cleaning” for my saved effect patches. Every year (or so) I like to save all my old effects patches to the computer, then completely re-initialize the effects back to blank presets and rebuild from scratch. This forces me to reconsider the original patch configuration and it also keeps me familiar with the patch editing interfaces on the POD XT Live.
I’ve already re-implemented the base configurations for many of my most commonly used tones, and this will be a good start for tweaking the parameters for the more specific signature tones (e.g. Stevie Ray Vaughan “Let’s Dance”). I’m also going to spend some time building up patches for Warr Guitar. Fortunately, the POD XT Live has a decent librarian and editing interface; this will speed up the management of the programming. Some day I would like to see more manufacturers including fully-customizable color displays on guitar pedals. There are some aspects of the programming which are difficult to accomplish without a computer attached.
Last night during 1 Uppers rehearsal my trusty Fender Hot Rod Deluxe amp started behaving strangely. It was randomly switching channels, the reverb was cutting in / out, and it was making profoundly unmusical sounds. I tried to switch out the cables, the guitar, and so on. Eventually I unhooked the footswitch and unplugged the guitar, and STILL it was doing all that crazy stuff. For the balance of rehearsal I was horribly distracted by how thin and crummy my amp sounded.
This morning I spent some time looking around on the usenet forums and deduced that either (1) my amp is haunted or (2) I’ve developed a cold solder joint at the +/-16V power resistors that control the op-amp switching. I’ve watched “Ghost Hunters” on the Sci Fi channel and since there weren’t any disembodied voices during the EVP session, I’m guessing it’s the resistors. Apparently this is a very common issue with this amp model and there are numerous postings to this effect. Fortunately it’s a pretty minor repair and I hope to have my amp back in time for Sunday’s gig with the 1 Uppers.
So, back to last night. As I was driving home from rehearsal I started making a mental list of my music gear, noting which items are need of repair. The list of fixes is bigger than I realized and it seems some gear maintenance is in order. Welcome to the world of a working musician! So here is my list, in order of severity:
Bring Out Your Dead
- Behringer 300XLA : This amp actually caught on fire while I was playing with The Preons. We all noticed it was increasingly stinky and it began to smoke. I made no attempt to save it – in fact, I turned up and let it die a truly rock-and-roll death. It’s probably unfixable at this point. But it was worth it.
It’s Just A Flesh Wound
- Fender Hot Rod Deluxe : Bad power resistors in the +/- 16V supply. Headed to the shop this week.
- White Strat #1 : Needs a new five-way switch, new output jack, new screws and springs to stabilize the middle pickup. I think I have most of those parts at home, and should be able to fix this easily. This guitar also really needs a setup. Once I’ve gotten my parts installed I might drop it off with a tech.
- White Strat #2 : Needs new bridge saddles. I’ll need to order these.
- Warr Guitar : Needs all potentiometers and switches replaced. They’re all the original components and are becoming intermittent. I definitely don’t have these parts on hand. I’ll need to order them. Or I might just drop it off with a tech.
- Ashdown 410T Bass Cabinet : Needs a new 1/4″ input jack. The Neutrik jack still works fine. I haven’t bothered fixing it yet, but as long as I’m making solder fumes I might as well.
- Telecaster : Needs a new output jack and the bridge hex screws ground down. Pretty minor. The new pickups, jack cup, bridge/saddles and 4 way switch are TOTALLY AWESOME! Thanks Kris!
- Fretless Bass #2 : My fender P-bass needs new pickups and a new wiring harness. Feh. This might be one that I have a shop do. Although I’m pretty handy and might take it on.
Looks like I’ll need to do some work on this gear sometime. With the ongoing projects at home I don’t know how I’ll find the time. Perhaps I’ll call up my musician buddies and host a solderfest in the garage…
Today I bought a new gig bag for my Warr Guitar. I went to a couple of music stores looking for a padded gig bag for a six string bass, which also happens to nicely fit a Warr Guitar. It’s a really nice case for my instrument and I’m mighty pleased with it. I’ll put pictures up tomorrow. For now, I’m busily noodling and trying to memorize new scale patterns.
Today I dropped off my Warr Guitar for the various changes I want to make. The local luthier doing the work is probably the best in the Northwest. I left him with extensive printed instructions of exactly what work I want done, along with diagrams (it’s impossible to remove my Project Manager hat…) and spent about 15 minutes walking him through it. And then I spent another 15 minutes shooting the breeze with him because he’s such an interesting guy.
Because one of the changes I’m making involves fabricating a new nut, which is typically made of bleached bone, the luthier will need to locate a fairly large segment of bone to use. This may delay the configuration of the instrument. Hopefully it’ll only take a week or so…
I’m generally skeptical of New Year’s resolutions. But among the things I’m trying to make happen this year is to get each of my instruments into the hands of a qualified luthier. I have a few [guitars, basses, banjos] that all need minor service and at this point there’s no way I can make time to do it at home. Fortunately, they’re all in good shape and there really aren’t any major repairs necessary. A little solder work here, a little adjustment there. One of my basses needs to have the frets dressed. One of the strats needs a bunch of minor tweaks. I’d like to replace the pickups on one of the fretless basses. My banjo needs to have its Keith/Scruggs tuners replaced. The tele needs a new output jack. And the list goes on.
read more…
I’m still on the hunt for a Warr Guitar. The more that I play my five-string bass with the Preons, the more I realize that I need a broader range tapping instrument. I’ve done some looking around for a used Warr Guitar and they just don’t seem to come up for sale nearly often enough. Since I don’t have a sneaky inside connection to the manufacturer, I’m just another guy out there looking for an affordable deal. If you happen to have one for sale, shoot me an email!
