San Antonio once again. It really is a great city for music. Austin gets all the press, but the crowds are so subdued. It's like everyone in the audience is thinking "Interesting concept" or "I'd play that differently/better". In SA people get rowdy and are ready to ROCK! This is even more evident when it's someones birthday.
Nightrockers. Generally this place is dead (at least when all the bands I play in are there) they have a PA that is about twice the size that the room needs. This can be a problem but for Belle's birthday folks came out. It sounded really good in there. The bill was Born to Lose, Los Number 3 Dinners, Churchwood and the Hickoids. Lots of sonic ass kicking and plenty of folks eating it up. Very nice.
Breakdown
Two beer tickets, lame. But enough folks wanted to buy me drinks that I was able to tie one on without hitting my wallet too hard.
Finally got a chance to use the new rig, it is so damn good. That TC is really powerful. I was next to a Fender twin that was cranked, LOUD and I still had no problem hearing myself. Number 3 and Churchwood used it too and both bass players said "And it has a built in tuner!" It was in use for three bands and it never gave any trouble. Hell, it never even got hot! I now understand how it's got such a great reputation. What I really don't understand is how my old Ashdown head was supposed to be a match for that cabinet I've been using.
The TC killed it.
Wednesday, September 28, 2011
Wednesday, September 21, 2011
9/18/11
ACL day 4. The last day of the Corn Lovers Fiesta, it's a little sad it over... I played first with the girls and we kicked ass! It was our last time playing with Jill (new job and life stuff) but we have a new drummer we are gonna start getting whipped in to shape this week. Cunto was next, those guys have come a long way, really tight and strong. They said they were recording with Cris Burns, I can't wait to hear it. Hickoids were next and we continued to dominate. With seven pieces it's hard not to.
Then something weird happened. The next band, the Swindles showed up, I even saw Joe from the stage while we were playing, but by the time we finished they were gone. Apparently the drummer didn't want to do the show, so they all piled back in to the car and drove back to SA. Weird.
The Pocket Fishermen did the usual ass kicking later in the night. Brandt was dressed as, as... uh well, just look at the picture... Nightmare clown?
Breakdown
All this went down at the Scoot Inn and I was there all day drinking free beer (thanks to playing twice and getting some drink tickets from some non drinkers) it's nice to get treated like a human. I wish I could remember his name, but the sound guy was great. He had the room dialed right in.
I used my guitar rig and the SVT for bass. BC had a lot of fun playing a huge bass amp.
Damn, I love music.
Monday, September 19, 2011
The Big O
Otis...
I can't stop watching this!
Good God I don't believe in, thank you for the greatest music ever, thank you...
Sunday, September 18, 2011
9/17/11
ACL day 3.
So much corn... I don't know how I'll deal...
Trophy's
One of the few Austin bars located across the street from a middle school...
That might not mean much anywhere else, but it's kind of a(nother) Austin anomaly. That scheme is currently illegal.
There were two stages one in the front and one in the back. You know, not in the back, but on the stage...
If you've ever been there you'd understand...
Breakdown
No free beer (I believe they call this lame...) but a really cool and enthusiastic bar staff. some really cool folks.
SVT, blah blah blah..., we whipped it, it was a hell of a lot of fun, casters and Hickoids. My ashdown rig was on the front stage and this gal asked me how to make it make noise (does it have a broken fuse?!?!?!?!).
"Just push that button by the blue light". The mute works wonders.
This might be some kind of an analogy...
So much corn... I don't know how I'll deal...
Trophy's
One of the few Austin bars located across the street from a middle school...
That might not mean much anywhere else, but it's kind of a(nother) Austin anomaly. That scheme is currently illegal.
There were two stages one in the front and one in the back. You know, not in the back, but on the stage...
If you've ever been there you'd understand...
Breakdown
No free beer (I believe they call this lame...) but a really cool and enthusiastic bar staff. some really cool folks.
SVT, blah blah blah..., we whipped it, it was a hell of a lot of fun, casters and Hickoids. My ashdown rig was on the front stage and this gal asked me how to make it make noise (does it have a broken fuse?!?!?!?!).
"Just push that button by the blue light". The mute works wonders.
This might be some kind of an analogy...
Saturday, September 17, 2011
9/16/11
Corn Lovers Fiesta day 2, Hole in the Wall. One hell of a good night, music on both stages and a decent crowd to watch it all. This was the big out of town band night with Glambily, Billy Joe Winghead, Poor Dumb Bastards and many others. Byron from PDB did his usual duct tape thing, black tape gloves, tape X's on his nips, a taped on goatee, and a black tape wig with a corn cob mohawk. So pretty. At one point all the cobs were off but the one up front making him a uni-corn (sorry). He even stuffed his pants with a cob. Then he took it out of the front and stuck it in the back than threw it in the crowd. God bless America.
Breakdown
The Hole actually did right this time, the band tab was open and free. It was almost as if we were appreciated!
Used the SVT again, it looks like I may not get to use my new head this weekend which is kind of a bummer, but I got next week for that...
Day three tomorrow!
Breakdown
The Hole actually did right this time, the band tab was open and free. It was almost as if we were appreciated!
Used the SVT again, it looks like I may not get to use my new head this weekend which is kind of a bummer, but I got next week for that...
Day three tomorrow!
Friday, September 16, 2011
9/15/11
"ACL" day one. It was a wonderful night for corn lovers of all ages, and the ones who were legal drinking age got in to the club. Lovejoys, one of the few decent place to play/drink in Austin's douche bag mecca known as 6th street. Things always get a little boozy/sweaty around there... Hickoids were in the middle slot and Churchwood closed things out. The 'oids played as a seven piece for the first time ever (as in we never even had a practice with all of us). Four guitars, kinda insane especially on such a little stage. I had fun, it was like steering a barge around a shit swamp, fun! The rest of the schedule is here http://www.saustexmedia.com/AUSTIN-CORN-LOVERS-FIESTA-2011.html .
Breakdown
Lovejoys is great. The bands get a $50 beer tab each and the beer they make is $2 a pint. Classy. Thanks to the new parking laws it was $1.86 to park in a metered spot from when I pulled up to the expiration time (11 PM). It's a racket.
I played through a full Ampeg SVT, one of the 4 x 10" with a 15" cabs. It sounded pretty good, better after I learned how to defeat the limiter. It was loud but kinda crappy. I think a similar thing could be said about the Hickoids...
Breakdown
Lovejoys is great. The bands get a $50 beer tab each and the beer they make is $2 a pint. Classy. Thanks to the new parking laws it was $1.86 to park in a metered spot from when I pulled up to the expiration time (11 PM). It's a racket.
I played through a full Ampeg SVT, one of the 4 x 10" with a 15" cabs. It sounded pretty good, better after I learned how to defeat the limiter. It was loud but kinda crappy. I think a similar thing could be said about the Hickoids...
Wednesday, September 14, 2011
9/14/11
Two practices in the same room (15 at music lab Oltorf one of the worst practice rooms for bass acoustics with loads of standing waves and slap back). The first one my bass sounds lumpy and mushy. The second it has punch and clarity. It is much louder and lower. What a difference a good head can make.
TC Electronic, you do some amazing things with an 8.8 pound amp head. No joke. It weighs four times less than the Ashdown I was using and it KILLS it in every way. The first thing I noticed was the control. Loads of punchy clean power and when I gave the bass knob a twist it gets thicker and adds some meat. The tube tone fuzzes up nicely and adds some slick sustain to everything. At one point in the middle of a song I thought it was lacking some grunt so I drove the gain a little harder and suddenly it slammed way harder than ever before.
The only problem now is I'm borrowing this head and now I'm gonna want to buy it (and some cabs to go with it...) I'm gonna have no money...
Hickoids ACL fest is this weekend, so you can look forward to lots of tales of stupidity for the next few days.
TC Electronic, you do some amazing things with an 8.8 pound amp head. No joke. It weighs four times less than the Ashdown I was using and it KILLS it in every way. The first thing I noticed was the control. Loads of punchy clean power and when I gave the bass knob a twist it gets thicker and adds some meat. The tube tone fuzzes up nicely and adds some slick sustain to everything. At one point in the middle of a song I thought it was lacking some grunt so I drove the gain a little harder and suddenly it slammed way harder than ever before.
The only problem now is I'm borrowing this head and now I'm gonna want to buy it (and some cabs to go with it...) I'm gonna have no money...
Hickoids ACL fest is this weekend, so you can look forward to lots of tales of stupidity for the next few days.
Thursday, September 1, 2011
9/1/11
My bass amp history.
I know, real exciting stuff.
When I bought my first bass from Southpaw I picked up a cheezy Peavy combo amp to play it through. It was so crappy, but it was that "Peavy" crappy. You know, sounds kinda ok, but you can throw it down a flight of stairs and pour a six pack on it and it will work fine. I never even used it in public.
Soon after I picked up a GK 400. They were all the rage back then and for $350 it worked ok. I played it through a Dietz 15" I'd picked up for Ray Henning for $125. That combo worked well for a few years. I used it in all kind of clubs and for many nights until my neighbor lent me an SWR red head. The GK lived in a closet for the next year and a half and I used that SWR until it died. It was well used when I got it and I beat it in to the ground. So for four or five months I went back to the GK, I was not happy...
I picked up an Ampeg B-2 and at first I pared it with the Dietz, then I picked up an Aguilar 15" cab and I was swinging. That was one punchy combo. Eventually I found a deal on the Ashdown I've been using for the past couple of years. I'm not even sure why I bought it, but I really liked the combo of the Aguilar/Ashdown. Not only did I do the usual gigs all over Texas, but The Hickoids took it out west and it rocked all up and down the left coast.
Then I popped the driver in Houston (opening for Dash Rip Rock) Aguilar wanted $250 for the cheezy stamped metal replacement. I ordered a "generic" 15" driver and replaced it, then sold it with the Ampeg head.
I found a good deal (Bass Emporium) on an Ashdown 4 x 10" cab figuring it would be a perfect match. I have never been happy with the all Ashdown set up. It has never punched like a 15" cab and it has very little attack and mushy tone. None of that is good.
The cab is poorly built in many ways. It's front heavy and the handles don't counter balance that at all. The input plate sticks out too far and you could easily shear off the connectors in a van. The inset boxes behind the handles came off on the Hickoids last tour. When I emailed Ashdown they confirmed they were held on with silicon caulk. No screws, just silicon. I had someone build a little frame around them and we silicon caulked/screwed them back on. I think it might stay this time...
I've used a TC Electronic 450 head with the Ashdown 4 x 10" in the past and I remember that sounding really nice. I'm borrowing one for the Hickoids ACL, I'll update after.
I know, real exciting stuff.
When I bought my first bass from Southpaw I picked up a cheezy Peavy combo amp to play it through. It was so crappy, but it was that "Peavy" crappy. You know, sounds kinda ok, but you can throw it down a flight of stairs and pour a six pack on it and it will work fine. I never even used it in public.
Soon after I picked up a GK 400. They were all the rage back then and for $350 it worked ok. I played it through a Dietz 15" I'd picked up for Ray Henning for $125. That combo worked well for a few years. I used it in all kind of clubs and for many nights until my neighbor lent me an SWR red head. The GK lived in a closet for the next year and a half and I used that SWR until it died. It was well used when I got it and I beat it in to the ground. So for four or five months I went back to the GK, I was not happy...
I picked up an Ampeg B-2 and at first I pared it with the Dietz, then I picked up an Aguilar 15" cab and I was swinging. That was one punchy combo. Eventually I found a deal on the Ashdown I've been using for the past couple of years. I'm not even sure why I bought it, but I really liked the combo of the Aguilar/Ashdown. Not only did I do the usual gigs all over Texas, but The Hickoids took it out west and it rocked all up and down the left coast.
Then I popped the driver in Houston (opening for Dash Rip Rock) Aguilar wanted $250 for the cheezy stamped metal replacement. I ordered a "generic" 15" driver and replaced it, then sold it with the Ampeg head.
I found a good deal (Bass Emporium) on an Ashdown 4 x 10" cab figuring it would be a perfect match. I have never been happy with the all Ashdown set up. It has never punched like a 15" cab and it has very little attack and mushy tone. None of that is good.
The cab is poorly built in many ways. It's front heavy and the handles don't counter balance that at all. The input plate sticks out too far and you could easily shear off the connectors in a van. The inset boxes behind the handles came off on the Hickoids last tour. When I emailed Ashdown they confirmed they were held on with silicon caulk. No screws, just silicon. I had someone build a little frame around them and we silicon caulked/screwed them back on. I think it might stay this time...
I've used a TC Electronic 450 head with the Ashdown 4 x 10" in the past and I remember that sounding really nice. I'm borrowing one for the Hickoids ACL, I'll update after.
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