John Hendow

This has been a great week of Preons rehearsals and we’re sounding better than ever. It was also a week of interesting adventures… on Tuesday it seemed the equipment gremlins paid us a visit.

• Brad’s trumpet mic was acting up and he decided to abandon it until he could spend some time troubleshooting. This meant we used his horn without any sort of processing, which is still pretty cool since he’s a good trumpet player. Brad uses interesting effects and explores tonal shading with a very music sense. But his “straight” trumpet tone is really tasty.
• Janie’s snare head was on its way out. Minor stress cracks had begun appear around the edges and I wondered if she’d make it through the rehearsal with it intact (fortunately it did survive).
• My instrument cable started making occasional skronking noises. It’s a Whirlwind cable that I have had for a few years, and I’m guessing the solder joint is failing at the plug (this seems to be the weak point on these cables). Also, my bass amp sounded thin and crummy. I couldn’t EQ it in a way that felt good and sounded musical.

Last night was much better.

• Brad’s mic is working perfectly. We have no idea what caused all the noise and issues. Brad attempted to recreate the original symptom, and it wouldn’t manifest itself.
• Janie replaced her snare head. The new batter head is slightly different than the previous one, and it sounds more crisp to me, with better fundamental tone and less ringing overtones.
• My cable is attempting to redeem itself by performing noiselessly, but just to be on the safe side I’m going to retire it. My amp is still a little underwhelming, but I can live with it for another gig. This week I did some looking around and found a nice deal on a potential replacement amp that is for sale as a used unit. Unfortunately it’s a little more expensive than I can currently justify and I will probably need to pass on it.

Rehearsal last night went very well. On the way home, both Brad and I were observing the positive energy and musical solidity that permeated the room. We’re looking forward to playing tomorrow. I’ve decided to play fretless on two more songs in our set, and we may even throw in a brand new song that we’ve been using as a warmup / soundcheck lately.