Members Voltan Posted May 19, 2014 Members Share Posted May 19, 2014 ever have two of those evenings all in the first half hour of the gig? it started yesterday... *dream sequence* we had a tire blow out on the mobile clinic and while changing it i broke my thumbnail and the first three nails on my picking hand... not too bad but i havent used a pick in more than a year and it felt weird just holding one... ran through all the gear and everything worked perfectly... made sure i had spare everything and loaded up the car. it was a fund raiser for a large cat (read panther, lynx, jaguarundi, servals etc) rescue that has been a very good client of ours for about 6 years now... informal, laid back, no sweat... first, no power at the outlet (only one outside) so i chase down someone that knows whats what and finally, electricity comes to arkansas... set the gain on the mics, bring them up and.... nothing... meters jumping, no sound... think man... IDIOT!!!! active cabs, did you turn them on Einstein... ummmmmmmm... OK, power speakers on, and the guitar sounds nice... for a psychedelic band in the 60's but for an acoustic trio? next time, maybe... so it's the 9 volt, grab the spare... guess whats dead? rip out the wireless rig, plug directly into the DI and no sound... change guitars and nothing but static and the faint haunting mids of a local radio station not quite intelligible... finally get one guitar functional and go back to the mics... now mine has stopped working and both guitar cords seem to have a dead short? wtf???? get two of three mics going, now maybe two channels dead on the board... two out of three guitars are not working, so we decide to wing it and start anyway... finally after three or four tunes i get two guitars going although the 12 string had to be tuned as i was just using it on four or five tunes in a non-standard tuning... said the hell with it, and settled in and just started playing... people loved it, and the rescue made out pretty well... well enough that they are already talking about an end of summer bash... i'm loading out and the cook comes out and asks me if i could talk to the owner for a second... the owner loved what we did and wants to book some dates... we were the first ever play in his restaurant but maybe not the last... i'll fix yer flat tire Merle.... dont getcher chikkin pickin' fingers all covered in earl... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members steve mac Posted May 19, 2014 Members Share Posted May 19, 2014 Nice perseverance mate, alls well that ends well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Voltan Posted May 19, 2014 Author Members Share Posted May 19, 2014 i plan on delving into the board today to see if it was user error, ( quite possible) or something else... either way, i'm seriously considering a couple of mics and going for simplicity... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Shaster Posted May 20, 2014 Members Share Posted May 20, 2014 Well I'm glad you managed to pull that cat out of the hat. The whole week has felt and been pretty strange for me. Included getting a last minute call at 6:30 pm for a gig that started at 8:00. I was the rehearsal guitarist for a big band recording gig (the regular guy forgot he had a gig that night). My sight reading is a trifle rusty, but I made it through. Then I had to set up early Friday afternoon for my duo gig, because I was doing a solo gig just before. At that point, the day manager informs me that they've changed the hours (earlier start).. I had to break it to them that maybe someone should have told me before then, and I wouldn't be able to make it any earlier. Almost forgot about my Ford Escape lift gate not opening and having to load my PA through the side doors. Just a wacky weekend. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Voltan Posted May 20, 2014 Author Members Share Posted May 20, 2014 full moon??? lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members MartinC Posted May 20, 2014 Members Share Posted May 20, 2014 I feel ya! I did a wedding gig on the 10th of May. Good money, or so I thought. 85 miles north of San Francisco, downbeat at 5pm. Started checking my gear and loading up, getting ready at 10:30am. Left for the gig at 12:30 and it took three hours to get there. A parking lot on the freeway most of the way. Get there and they say setup on this stage, uh, no, maybe that stage, uh, actually they can't decide.....Do you need anything? Yes, just four chairs with no arms. "We don't have any" they say. "That's why we have it in the contract" I answer and smile.I didn't sign the contract says the nice winery employee.We finally get set up, start playing, my pickup or my preamp shorts out, then the other guitarist goes " Dude, we are getting bit by mosquitos!" And we were.Time to eat.....meals for the band in the contract. But nobody is getting a meal at this wedding-just finger foods passed around by waiters. Finish at 8pm, back in the car, home by 10pm, $500.00 richer, $5,000.00 worth of stress relieved. I'm turning 56 tomorrow, might be time to hang it up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators daddymack Posted May 20, 2014 Moderators Share Posted May 20, 2014 Well, happy birthday...56 is the new something or other, at least I have heard that...probably when I turned 56 I think about retiring from gigging every year, and at 60, I'm still at it. A few weird gigs is not the reason to give it up...in the long run, those are the ones that you remember. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members MartinC Posted May 20, 2014 Members Share Posted May 20, 2014 Thanks daddymack,Argg, you are probably right. Next time I get a call, "Yes" will probably pop out of my mouth before the brain kicks in. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators daddymack Posted May 20, 2014 Moderators Share Posted May 20, 2014 I just got a call to do a gig, outdoors, in December....'I'm in'...you have to be a little bit nuts to be a performer in the first place, right? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Shaster Posted May 20, 2014 Members Share Posted May 20, 2014 Sure did feel like a full moon week(end) but I guess it wasn't. I remember 56 - maybe because it wasn't that long ago - otherewise I wouldn't! I haven't hit 60 yet but I work for, and with quite a few guys that have. I've got two band leaders that have hit 70 (although they don't look or act it) and I've mentioned another friend that at 70 has never been busier. But... there are some things I pass on; mainly showcases. When people start talking about exposure I reckon I've had so much expolsure I'm like a weathered old barn. And just today a lady asked me if I would do a showcase. The band was to be given 200 tickets to sell, and the band that sold the most got the best spot. If you didn't sell at least 35, you didn't get a stage manager or backline or anything else. I was too amused to even be angry. Back to the Ford Escape liftgate - they want $400.00 to replace a relay switch. Think I'll do it myself. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Voltan Posted May 21, 2014 Author Members Share Posted May 21, 2014 i remember my mom showing me how to squeeze two guitars, a plexi half stack, plus my ludwig 13 drum kit into a 1981 camaro without a hatchback... needless to say i can squeeze all the gear for a duo, including the other musician, into my prius without having to lift anything very far... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Voltan Posted May 25, 2014 Author Members Share Posted May 25, 2014 ok, so i set everything up tonight and went through it... and every channel worked, every cord worked without a hitch, i took the batteries out of the guitars and they all tested out fine, but i replaced them with brand new ones anyway since i was already in there... i tried 4 different mics, all worked just like mics are supposed to... i did notice that several of the settings on a couple channels really cranked like the treble completely off and the bass and mids on 11... i dont recall doing that but i suppose they could have been bumped while packing into the case... it's got to be either gremlins or ancient aliens... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators daddymack Posted May 25, 2014 Moderators Share Posted May 25, 2014 it's got to be ...gremlins... No! Say it isn't so! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Voltan Posted May 26, 2014 Author Members Share Posted May 26, 2014 No! Say it isn't so! *runs screaming into swamp* Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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