b l o g . b o x o f d i r t . c o m

"I'm Healed This Month"

2011-11-03T17:21:00.000-06:00

I really should've documented my accident/healing better, but 5 months and 3 days after the accident, the hole in my right foot is HEALED. I had my photo taken for the "I'm Healed" bulletin board. I have to tip my hat to the staff at the Denver Wound Healing Center, especially Dr. Ken Morgan. Y'all are the best, but I hope that I never see you again.

Now, onward and upward with physical therapy and stuff. I'm dreading it.

Downsizing.

2011-09-27T16:53:00.001-06:00

After my recent accident, I finally came to grips with the fact that I need to downsize my bass rig situation. I'm essentially unable to carry/lift anything.

I watched in horror as my girlfriend carried my 4x10" live cabinet down my rickety stairs on the way to a gig. I haven't weighed it, but it's probably right around a hundred pounds because I chose the classic Eminence 10-inch speakers instead of the nifty new neodymium ones (expensive) when did a complete speaker replacement last year. She somehow got the damn thing down the wobbly stairs, but I was sure that she was going to fall or blow out a knee or otherwise injure herself. She got a gold star that evening for not only being an awesome girlfriend, but also playing the role of bad ass bass roadie.

The show was canceled due my drummer cracking a rib. However, I decided to intensify/re-examine my quest for a decent bass combo amplifier.

For years and years, I have been a bass stack/half-stack guy. Combo amps, in general, are something that I've always found underwhelming at best.

I was looking for something with the following "features":

light weight (for reasons stated above)
at least 100 watts (really a minimum for the clubs where I tend to play)
at least one 10" speaker (even though I love the sound of a 15" speaker, they throw the sound too far and I can't hear 'em on stage
a decent DI (because 99% of the time, that's what signal winds up going to FOH for me)
as always, less is more when it comes to expense.

I considered a bunch of little amps and then I saw the Line 6 Lowdown Studio 110is one, which (except for wattage), seemed to fit the bill. I read a lot of propaganda (mythology) from Line 6, and read lots of reviews. This video is pretty spot-on, even if it is from the manufacturer:

I was pretty apprehensive about not having a tube in it, and the whole modeling deal, but I thought that I'd give it a shot. The worst case scenario is that I'd have a practice combo for home use.

It's sort of cute:

And, it has some presets that are pretty helpful, actually:

Test 1: Home use

The 75 watts are plenty loud enough for home workouts. Sure, it's not the same as having a glass-breaking raging stack, but it's realistically loud enough for me to do some playing at home. I'm not so sure about the presets, but once I got into the hidden "Brit" preset, all was good. The compressor (modeled of a LA-2A, my favorite studio secret weapon) really helps out when I get excited and fingerstyle gone wild. This little one should do the trick for practice at home.

Test 2: Band practice

This was with my 6-piece band (two guitars, violin, drums, vocals, me), so your mileage may vary. This little sucker can hold its own in a small room without having to dime the master volume (which really should be labelled "Volume" since there's no separate preamp volume)--at 75%, I could still keep up until the guitars and cymbals get loud. On the more quiet numbers, the amp performed like a champ.

Test 3: Live

I used this little guy for three shows this summer. 75 watts isn't enough juice to use as a monitor live; the bass had to be pumped in the monitors. Usually, my stage rig doesn't even go through the monitors. Otherwise, it seems to be really great in the FOH only using the balanced DI output, which, BTW, isn't affected by the master level. On recordings of one show, the bass guitar sounds great.

Test 3: Studio Recording

I suppose that this is the intended use of this piece of equipment, and it really performs in the studio environment. I used a Radial JDI as a safety (just in case I wanted to re-amp), in addition to the balanced DI out from the Line 6. I used a stereo headphone adapter to mute the speaker output, which allowed for tracking bass and drums in the same room. The two outputs summed make a truly huge bass sound that sits well in the mix with minimal EQ. This setup might be my new secret weapon. My only real gripe is that the "Gain" control doesn't add a tube "feel," but rather more of a "fizzy" overdrive that isn't very convincing. More tweaking might be required in this area. Here is a short mp3 sample of how the dual DI setup sounds.

Quickie Conclusion

For the time being, this little one is going to do the trick just fine for most of the things I do. As long as a venue as a reasonable monitor system, I'll definitely be lugging this one instead of something bigger/heavier. I'd be more happier if it had a little more output RMS, but like Mick Jagger says, "You can't always get what you want."

This is pretty damn close, though.

This Is A Test...

2011-04-05T17:36:00.001-06:00

I recently attached my blog to my face-space, so I'm trying this out.

I heard this one on KYEN on the way to BLC practice, and HAD to phone Ross. You see, he/we have a demo version of one of our songs with some super-crunchy Jew's harp on it (it's one of those instruments like 'electric jug' that you don't hear often). Magical has become a wizard when it comes to recording weird shit. Check it out, yo:

So ready for this one....it's got LEDs, and stuff.

2011-03-30T20:35:00.000-06:00

Dunlop Manufacturing :: Electronics :: MXR :: Bass Compressor

Chic - le freak - 1978

2010-12-21T20:03:00.000-07:00

This one is for "mighty" Mike D:

11122010 Show Recap

2010-11-13T11:28:00.000-07:00

Bad Luck City @ Su Teatro/Denver Civic Theatre (I'm not sure which name is technically right, but I'll stick with Su Teatro), The Exposure Music Lounge for the 2010 Denver Film Festival

Actually, the exposure part worked out pretty well for us. We caught several film makers' interest, and met a bunch of photographers. One guy actually asked us if we had done any scoring--I had to chime in regarding our live score for Bruce Bickford's Cas'l'. Indeed, we have done scoring, sort of.

The lounge part was really strange--none of us like playing to a seated audience. It's alright, though.

I played well, and only screwed up the second verse of "An Unclean Evening"--my bass part (unfortunately) is where the cues lie for the band, so it was a little bizzare at the change. I got distracted by the mightiness of BLC (still stunned that I'm in the band), and played a line that was more through-composed instead of rigid. Improvisation is great, but if I'm in the cuing position, it's a bad idea. What I did play was fucking right on, though....it seemed like I fucked the band up ever so slightly. Apologies, y'all...

The flyer looked like this:

We looked like this (thanks Jon):

The set list was:

Accident
Widow Franes Colver
Unclean Evening
Choptank River
Rotten Mess
Girls of St. Magdalene's Parish
Night Town
Blood Trail

The sound check setup was like this:

SRRS played a great set. The coolest thing about the Su Teatro is that they pipe the music throughout the building and also onto the sidewalk. You can't escape the jams, friends. It was supercool to hear my rig as played by James. He said that it was "totally dialed in", but I don't know about that....it was just set up so I liked it. I actually tweaked the gain and EQ a lot last night so that I could hear it, and I wasn't killing everything else on stage. I really want to find a 4x8" or 4x6" cabinet that's cool enough that it doesn't throw the sound far, so I get to use the PA.

09162010 Show Recap

2010-09-26T17:58:00.000-06:00

This night was RE&COJ's first headlining show and it went fairly well. I was especially stoked by the flyer that I saw the week before at the I Can Lick Any SOB show. Check it out:

It was good to see friends at the show (Jeff, Ryan, Shannon, Tom, Jay, Charles, The Reverend). We played fairly well and let the alien do some serious dancing during the set. Magical and I actually pulled off some cool shit during some of Ross' solo freak-outs.

The printed set list looked like this, although we did not follow it. Improvised set lists are my favorite thing, but having one ahead of time helps plan segues, which we pulled off, despite my drop-D problems. Check it out:

Ross Etherton and the Chariots of Judah.

16.Septenber.2010 3 Kings Tavern

(Angel of Death/House of Gold)

Coyote

Kingdom Gonna Come

Any Port in a Storm

A Few Crummy Memories

The Best Parts of Me

Yellow Crane Tower

Best Dress

Goodnight, Everybody

3 Ounces

2010-09-16T19:03:00.002-06:00

Enter The Drop Zone?

2010-09-13T18:54:00.000-06:00

Here is something cool that I discovered while desperately seeking a "D-key" for my school bus bass to facilitate a transition for the show on Friday (enough prepositions?).

If I ever require going lower than D, I swear that I'll bite the bullet and get a five-string. Ross has been threatening to start tuning a half-step lower, because he likes how it loosens up the action on his T-60 (it also should simplify writing parts for horns). I'm curious as to how this new technology will work set to E♭ and D.

I suppose that I'll have to make a phone call....

My First Setlists

2010-09-08T18:32:00.000-06:00

I may have posted these before, but I've been digging the YouTube versions of some stuff that I don't even own anymore (tapes that got eaten, etc).

First show (bass guitar) were both intermissions at the Junior High School autumn play (which I can't recall the name of) when I was in 9th grade. The first one was this:

My next show was the last school day of the year, and I can't remember what we got through before the (lame) Boulder (Environmental) Police showed up and made us stop because they had "numerous" noise complaints. I know that these (and the above two) were on the list, though:

I'm glad that I grew out of the thrash metal, seriously....

Dos Mas...

2010-09-08T18:02:00.001-06:00

5.5 ounces.

Roscoe Beck's Hammond B-3 simulation on bass guitar.

2010-09-07T17:59:00.000-06:00

Roscoe Beck pretty much rules. He's currently being Leonard Cohen's musical director. I didn't know about this technique, which might prove itself to be useful live at some point if I can figure it out. It's a lot easier to just use a Hammond in the studio. Most importantly, I might be able to use one of my flangers for this, instead of letting 'em rot.

Check it out:

Holy Hell!

2010-09-03T20:43:00.000-06:00

I've been neglecting this stuff because it's a lot easier to use my face-space from my phone. My mental health sez that I'd be better off publishing to the world.

September Will Be A Good Month

2010-09-03T20:40:00.000-06:00

...for asshole record stores taking my dollars.

The new Grinderman sounds wicked. It seems that they're on my same page by having Robert (fuckin') Fripp guest on this stuff:

Grinderman - Super Heathen Child (with Robert Fripp) by MuteRecords

Super-stokeed (jz) about the $WAN$ record, too. Check out this shit, yo (curls my hair):

Swans - 'Eden Prison' by theQuietus

Both are masterful examples of how to do up a one chord song. Ronny Thunder Wizard also has such skill. Hail the mighty RTW, even if we're only in Denber (jz).

Two More

2010-08-27T17:45:00.001-06:00

7.5 ounces

Wow.

2010-08-24T20:34:00.000-06:00

David Gilmour on Stratocaster #001 for the 50th anniversary of the guitar. Dude really is a hell of a guitarist.

My New Theme Song?

2010-08-21T10:40:00.000-06:00

I learned that talking crazy isn't a good idea, especially when dealing with the police. At least they released me before the 72 hours was up--being stripped and held against my will for 10 hours was quite enough.

Easy Money....

2010-08-16T21:20:00.002-06:00

The "pop" song from the most tolerable version of Robert Fripp's band. Wetton ruled when he was part of Crimson. I heart the p-bass power (of the dark side).

Hey, man, is that freedom rock?

2010-08-16T19:50:00.001-06:00

No...but that's a Robin Freedom Bass (II), though. Tommy Shannon pretty much rules. He's an awesome bass player, and grew up in (fuckin') Dumas, TX (where I turn right). He's one of my bass heroes, for sure.

This one's way tougher, though. Witness the passive power of the P-bass:

Stevie is on fire for Austin City limits, though. Hellish....

You can't touch (fuckin') Jimi in 1970, though......the solo(s) is(are) like an audio fucking orgasm, really:

After all, Jimi learned how to be frek-i from the mighty Little Richard. Noel Redding doesn't miss a beat--beautiful shit, really.

The Hook

2010-08-11T22:52:00.000-06:00

I was trying to explain Jamerson's hook technique, but it's a lot easier to see it:

Kind of like this...

2010-08-07T21:09:00.000-06:00

The '51 reissue really does sort of have this kind of tone. I really like it for the COJ material live. It's a big, fat, deep thing with a click-ey attack, if I get sloppy. It works. Check Kenny's out:

07312010 Show Recap

2010-08-04T20:51:00.000-06:00

The Paris on the Platte didn't disappoint last Saturday night. Greg "doing" sound for the night was a boon to all the bands.

A French band called The Verduns opened. I know that their sound was giving Greg fits, but I really enjoyed the ukulele-esque sound of the guitar. Their set was solid. They closed with a cover of Britney Spears' "Toxic", which was really decent.

I still feel good about our set. I basically played it perfectly, which hardly ever happens. I need to figure out some way to keep my hands from sweating so much. Jason Claypool (good to see him out shooting again) and LRC (fingering out her new SLR) and some others took photos, but I haven't seen anything on the interwebs yet (will steal some content here).

The set list was:

Angel of Death (solo acapella Hank cover; amazing...not on our lists);
Coyote;
Kindgom Gonna Come;
Goodnight, Everybody;

Ross switched up the order here against our printed sheets, I think that it went as follows:

A Few Crummy Memories;
Any Port in a Storm;
Hard Road;
The Best Parts of Me;
Yellow Crane Tower (dance with the alien, bitches!);
Army of Stars; and
Your Best Dress

Of course, the Reverend completely threw down an epic set (it was his record release show after all), and I feel lucky to have been there. Aaron Collins (whom I have decided is a quite talented drunk asshole) and Alex (insert last name here) joined on keys and percussion for the finale. Brilliant. Truly.

Hell of a good show, really.

Pretty Much Awesome.

2010-07-31T07:36:00.003-06:00

I'm really excited about the new SWANS record. Some clips are up at the Young God Records site, but I found an interview with Gira here that includes this monster:

'Eden Prison' by Swans

Tomato #1

2010-07-29T18:53:00.001-06:00

5.5 ounces.

I Thought That I Knew A POS Truck When I Saw One.

2010-07-28T18:03:00.003-06:00

Our latest purchase (part of the buy out of the other company) is straight-up dangerous. I made it from just east of Erie to Longmont (barely). I think that Vic was right when he said that we should drive it off a cliff.