tulk1 Posted February 20, 2011 Posted February 20, 2011 Played one of our favorite venues last night - The Saddle Saloon in Fulton, MO. Nice, big "Gilly's" style country bar. Can hold about 600 people. (we had around 300). Tracy runs by the house to pick me up when we go that direction, since she has to come this direction, anyway. We had a fiddle player from Branson, MO coming up to sit in again (same guy from the NYE gig). I was the lone guitar this time. So when Tracy shows up I'm yelling over at her from the gate about bringing the banjo this time or not. She's yelling back "sure, we'll work it in somewhere". I grab my two guitars, the banjo and my extras bag, load 'em up and off we go. 3 hrs down the road. We get all our gear unloaded, setting up the rigs, mics, etc. I'm looking around and ........... uh, where's my pedal board? You know, the floor rig with all the tiny toys that mask the fact that I suck on guitar? Oh yeah, it's in my car, 3 hrs back up the road! Now, for all you purists before you jump in chanting "Guitar, cord and amp!!", we're a cover band doing a very wide range of material. The delay, mods, od's, tuner!, vol pedal are all used to craft the sounds. And yes, I rely on those pedals. So, if you can relate to that, then relate to my near and shear heart attack!! I generally run a very low volume on the amp and use a low powered OD to give the amp some edge. Then the other ODs are used for various songs, leads, what not. But that ain't happenin' this time. The bar manager even called a local pawn shop to see if they had any musical gear and possibly one of them "pedalboard thingys". What an awesome guy. He was actually concerned. He comes over and goes, "now I don't really know what that is, and not to make you anymore nervous than you are, but we're filming this tonite". Argh!!!! Alright, so. I jumpered the two channels in the amp to get some more depth. The sound man is claiming I'm too loud - "my amp is on TWO!" I can't go any lower. So, the heck with it, we're going on as is. About that time Tracy's dad shows up with a Boss EQ pedal. Okay, I used that to push the front end a bit for leads and harder material. Didn't sound too bad except on some of the higher register notes - they thinned a bit. But for the most part I played "a guitar, a cord and an amp" last night. Not my preference, but danged if I didn't get it done. I'm now carrying a back up OD pedal in my extras bag. Oh, and Louis Darby, fiddler extraordinaire, just flat out rocked the place. We traded 1/2s all night long. Except for one song he wouldn't give up the lead, told me later "it was too sweet, I couldn't give it up!" ......... If you're ever in Branson, you need to find where Louis is playing and check him out. Amazing musician.
JohnCovach Posted February 20, 2011 Posted February 20, 2011 Oh man--that's tough. Sounds like you got through it ok, though. I carry a Tech 21 Liverpool amp simulator in my bag to all gigs. That way, if my amp ever goes down, I can plug directly into the PA and still get some usable sounds. That would at least cover the loss of the distortion pedal too.
tulk1 Posted February 20, 2011 Author Posted February 20, 2011 John, funny you should bring that up. I have a Tech21 Blonde that until last Wed was in Tracy's gig bag, in case she ever wanted to get out her electric. Didn't have to carry another amp. That pedal is sitting on the floor in my music room! I think I'm going to give it back to Tracy next rehearsal. <lol> That would have covered a lot of bases last night. So, what do you think of that Liverpool pedal? The Blonde does OD okay, but not what I'd call getting too many Fender-ish tones.
Patrick Posted February 20, 2011 Posted February 20, 2011 Played one of our favorite venues last night - The Saddle Saloon in Fulton, MO. Nice, big "Gilly's" style country bar. Can hold about 600 people. (we had around 300). Tracy runs by the house to pick me up when we go that direction, since she has to come this direction, anyway. We had a fiddle player from Branson, MO coming up to sit in again (same guy from the NYE gig). I was the lone guitar this time. So when Tracy shows up I'm yelling over at her from the gate about bringing the banjo this time or not. She's yelling back "sure, we'll work it in somewhere". I grab my two guitars, the banjo and my extras bag, load 'em up and off we go. 3 hrs down the road. We get all our gear unloaded, setting up the rigs, mics, etc. I'm looking around and ........... uh, where's my pedal board? You know, the floor rig with all the tiny toys that mask the fact that I suck on guitar? Oh yeah, it's in my car, 3 hrs back up the road! Now, for all you purists before you jump in chanting "Guitar, cord and amp!!", we're a cover band doing a very wide range of material. The delay, mods, od's, tuner!, vol pedal are all used to craft the sounds. And yes, I rely on those pedals. So, if you can relate to that, then relate to my near and shear heart attack!! I generally run a very low volume on the amp and use a low powered OD to give the amp some edge. Then the other ODs are used for various songs, leads, what not. But that ain't happenin' this time. The bar manager even called a local pawn shop to see if they had any musical gear and possibly one of them "pedalboard thingys". What an awesome guy. He was actually concerned. He comes over and goes, "now I don't really know what that is, and not to make you anymore nervous than you are, but we're filming this tonite". Argh!!!! Alright, so. I jumpered the two channels in the amp to get some more depth. The sound man is claiming I'm too loud - "my amp is on TWO!" I can't go any lower. So, the heck with it, we're going on as is. About that time Tracy's dad shows up with a Boss EQ pedal. Okay, I used that to push the front end a bit for leads and harder material. Didn't sound too bad except on some of the higher register notes - they thinned a bit. But for the most part I played "a guitar, a cord and an amp" last night. Not my preference, but danged if I didn't get it done. I'm now carrying a back up OD pedal in my extras bag. Oh, and Louis Darby, fiddler extraordinaire, just flat out rocked the place. We traded 1/2s all night long. Except for one song he wouldn't give up the lead, told me later "it was too sweet, I couldn't give it up!" ......... If you're ever in Branson, you need to find where Louis is playing and check him out. Amazing musician. Great gig story!! Again, you've proven that you're a guitar player. You panicked when you forgot those little "extras"?? As an older man, I harken back to when we never had most and what we did have was crude at best. My lead guitar player went directly into a Fender Twin Reverb with his ES335. He always gave me these snide looks when I was hooking up my Wha pedal, then into my VT22. Digital tuners??? I used to tap a 440 tuning fork and put it up to a microphone to tune up our horn players, guitars and Bass. (we had no keyboard when we first started gigging) I heard you play back last August at PSP III. You're not one who needs effects to hide behind. But, I do understand the desire to have them and get closer to the guitar sound of the songs you're covering . . but, I'm sure you made perfect due without them. On the other hand, I'm sure it added a different perspective on your playing that night. Hell . . . you just might become a jazzer . . where all you'll ever need is a guitar, a cord and an amp.
pegleg32 Posted February 20, 2011 Posted February 20, 2011 Kenny, I love reading your reports. You always have something fun and/or exciting going on!!
zguitar71 Posted February 20, 2011 Posted February 20, 2011 I showed up to a gig with out any picks once. I have a routine before I leave the house, I was in a hurry that day and did not go through the usual steps and sure enough I forgot them. I could play without them but out of place feel that goes with not having the usual stuff can through off the hole night. I should say hat I use a pick that most people do not too, the 3mm little stubby by Dunlop. Most any crowd will have a guitar player in it and a pick can be found but again if it is not the usual stuff then things just do not feel right. In the end all was good because my bass player reaches out to me, opens his hand and smiles, in his hand is one of my picks. He know how to take care of people in just the right way and that i am a little forgetful when my routine gets out of sink. So I know how you felt, though a pedal board is a bigger deal, and good job on pullin' through the night.
fxdx99 Posted February 20, 2011 Posted February 20, 2011 Nice report, Kenny, and good recovery. Was it your super tweed amp? Seems that one does sound good w/o a pedal in front of it, although I get that it would be loud even on 2 especially if it's to be mic'd. Jumping worked okay for you, eh? I've tried that and I know a lot of players like that, but I favor just going into the bright channel and using the normal/mic channel to blend the amount of mids/drive. Filmed?... and the vids will be posted when?
High Flying Bird Posted February 21, 2011 Posted February 21, 2011 To be honest, I have always wondered why you guys that play so well worry with all the effects. Tulkus, I have seen you pick up several guitars at the last 3 PSPs and play the shit out of them. That to me is what it is all about.
smurph1 Posted February 21, 2011 Posted February 21, 2011 good Job Kenny!! you took Lemons and made a cool glass of Lemonade.. Grace under pressure, that;s what it's all about..i once drove all the way to practice, (about 30 minutes) without my bass,,but that was only a practice..But, I feel your pain..
tulk1 Posted February 22, 2011 Author Posted February 22, 2011 Well, it was certainly a different experience for me, that's for sure. I'm putting an OD pedal in my "extras" bag. And I may just drop one in one of the cable boxes, as well. That way I'm covered. Thing is, yeah, I didn't really need it for most songs. But sometimes the upper register needs some extra gain and thats where the OD comes in. I play at such a low volume on the Super (yep Randy, still using the Super 5F4 - awesome amp) that it can use some help at times. We're trying to get a copy of the video. Not sure if we will or not.
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