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Sharing Last Night's Experience


Ibanez224

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I had to share this with you guys, just because everything that occured during last night's show fell perfectly inline with Friday the 13th.

 

Keep in mind, last night was the first night for my new guitar tech. He did a really good job, and was working hard during the show to keep everything flowing smoothly - and honestly the troubles that ensued were not his fault.

 

About 2nd song of 2nd set, we are steadily rocking heavy. Doing my best to rock it like it should be, bass player running up on the drum riser, and the drummer beating the skins like he was trying to kill something.

 

My amp, and rack sit atop a 2' tall riser themselves (helps get the sound closer to my head instead of cutting me off at the knees). The riser is ABS plastic, and is like in a grill fashion. Needless to say, one section of the plastic failed causing the caster wheel of my cab to slip down in a hole - and ultimately, the whole rig toppled forward onto the stage! My entire rig was lying in pieces, my guitar tech rushed on to stage to try to bring me back to life (all the while the band is still playing) - we picked up the cabinet and then picked up the rack (8 space). My Marshall power amp was crashed pretty bad - knobs jabbed in. My digitech 2120 preamp was bashed pretty good too - all the knobs busted off. My wireless got a good crunch too - all the other rack gear just was scratched. And then on the floor lied my midi board - in the shape now of a horseshoe, as that absorbed the entire impact of the rack!

 

Long story short: We plugged everything back in, fired it up and finished off the rest of the set only with the frustration of knowing I would be dropping some big bucks in the next couple of days to get my gear back in shape. UGH!

 

I have to give it up to rack gear - I think the rack made everything alittle more safe. Hell - even the tubes stayed intact.

My cabinet is a B-52 slant faced. These things are BEASTS (and YES I do like the tone!). Not even a scratch after falling 2 feet face first! The rack gear fell about 6 feet, and everything still worked!

 

It was a rough night! Third set, broke strings, end of the night - load out in the pouring rain! Damn - I hate Friday the 13th!

 

 

Anyone else experience anything like this last night - or am I just the lucky winner of all the bad luck?

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This is why I {censored}canned everything but a small amp and a pedalboard. Less gear= less potential for disaster.

 

I feel your pain!

I bought a fairly new immaculate American strat plus back in like 1994, and we were playing an outdoor show on a flatbed truck. Well, the truck bed started rocking, and my guitar took a header off the back and landed face down in some crushed gravel. It wasn't a pretty sight.

 

But the worst one was a PA cabinet vibrated off the sub it was sitting on, and fell onto the stage, crushing my sax player's bari sax. The good news is that amazingly, he was able to get it fixed, and since it needed new pads anyway, it provided the excuse to finally get the work done it needed!

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I got a sliver under a fingernail on my left hand setting up last night. I have a pair of tweezers in a small tool kit in my Anvil briefcase, so I grabbed them and went into the office for some decent light and dug the {censored}er out in pieces.

 

:mad:

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Sorry to hear that happened to you.

 

Last Saturday night as I was loading for my gig I threw my monitor in the back of my Subaru SW walked away for a minute and then came back and threw down the hatchback rather hard......crash...put the !@#$ monitor right through the back window glass. Luckily it just cracked it all and I was able to hold everything together with clear tape and make it to the show. But I really didn't need this right now.........

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Even after all that your gear still worked to finish up the gig?!? I'd call that GOOD luck!

 

 

 

Originally posted by Ibanez224

I had to share this with you guys, just because everything that occured during last night's show fell perfectly inline with Friday the 13th.


Keep in mind, last night was the first night for my new guitar tech. He did a really good job, and was working hard during the show to keep everything flowing smoothly - and honestly the troubles that ensued were not his fault.


About 2nd song of 2nd set, we are steadily rocking heavy. Doing my best to rock it like it should be, bass player running up on the drum riser, and the drummer beating the skins like he was trying to kill something.


My amp, and rack sit atop a 2' tall riser themselves (helps get the sound closer to my head instead of cutting me off at the knees). The riser is ABS plastic, and is like in a grill fashion. Needless to say, one section of the plastic failed causing the caster wheel of my cab to slip down in a hole - and ultimately, the whole rig toppled forward onto the stage! My entire rig was lying in pieces, my guitar tech rushed on to stage to try to bring me back to life (all the while the band is still playing) - we picked up the cabinet and then picked up the rack (8 space). My Marshall power amp was crashed pretty bad - knobs jabbed in. My digitech 2120 preamp was bashed pretty good too - all the knobs busted off. My wireless got a good crunch too - all the other rack gear just was scratched. And then on the floor lied my midi board - in the shape now of a horseshoe, as that absorbed the entire impact of the rack!


Long story short: We plugged everything back in, fired it up and finished off the rest of the set only with the frustration of knowing I would be dropping some big bucks in the next couple of days to get my gear back in shape. UGH!


I have to give it up to rack gear - I think the rack made everything alittle more safe. Hell - even the tubes stayed intact.

My cabinet is a B-52 slant faced. These things are BEASTS (and YES I do like the tone!). Not even a scratch after falling 2 feet face first! The rack gear fell about 6 feet, and everything still worked!


It was a rough night! Third set, broke strings, end of the night - load out in the pouring rain! Damn - I hate Friday the 13th!



Anyone else experience anything like this last night - or am I just the lucky winner of all the bad luck?

:thu:

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Went to go see our drummer finish a final gig with his current band. As I'm dancing away and having a grand ole time, a cop comes in and asks if anyone owns a vehicle that fits the description of mine. Someone side-swiped me while I was in the club.

 

Still, nothing compared to what Ibanez224 went through. Tough break, man!

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I played at a college gig years ago. The stage was about ten feet high and being the wild and crazy sax player, I'm jumping around and swinging my horn, a 1949 Super balanced action Selmer tenor..when the neck strap broke and I threw it twenty feet out and ten feet down into the crowd, well, through the crowd onto the concrete floor.

 

Smashed the bell, bent the gooseneck down into the body of the horn..

 

Someone handed it up to me. I pulled the gooseneck up, tried as best I could to open the bell, discovered the top three keys still worked...and finished the gig. Five hundred dollars damage..

 

And that was in 1966 when five hundred bucks would buy a nice used car.

 

We played Friday the 13th in a room that had the acoustics of a concrete cardboard box. Our guitar player, bass player and drummer couldn't hear anything but a roar all night long. It sounded like three guys playing the same song a half a second off from each other. Apparently the sound out front was fine..but what a nightmare.

 

Nothing like your equipment crash.. Man.. that sucks..

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I would have to say by far the best thing that I could have had that night was.... my guitar tech... honestly!

 

There is no way with all the wires pulled tighter than Britney Spears (pre-child bearing years), that I could have reacted in such a way to do anything to save/salvage the situation. He was on stage in an instant and had the cab back up and was rewiring everything!

 

If you guys don't have one of these... go down to your local music store and pick one up! Mine was fairly cheap, he has been a friend for a long time, and thoroughly enjoys hangin with the band. Damn - guess that means he is gonna want a raise now!

 

 

Looks like I definitely shared some bad luck with the rest of you though! Metal splinter under the fingernail? Holy CRAP! I dont think I would have made it thru the night after that! I baby my hands... (but hey, my wife likes the softness! )

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Originally posted by Ibanez224

I would have to say by far the best thing that I could have had that night was.... my guitar tech... honestly!


There is no way with all the wires pulled tighter than Britney Spears (pre-child bearing years), that I could have reacted in such a way to do anything to save/salvage the situation. He was on stage in an instant and had the cab back up and was rewiring everything!


If you guys don't have one of these... go down to your local music store and pick one up! Mine was fairly cheap, he has been a friend for a long time, and thoroughly enjoys hangin with the band. Damn - guess that means he is gonna want a raise now!



Looks like I definitely shared some bad luck with the rest of you though! Metal splinter under the fingernail? Holy CRAP! I dont think I would have made it thru the night after that! I baby my hands... (but hey, my wife likes the softness!
)

 

 

Someone to sit at the side of the stage and help out is a godsend, be it a Guitar tech (getting paid for working like you guys) or just a friend who like hanging with you and can help out sometimes

 

It can really help to have someone who knows your stuff in the crowd too, just to tell you how the sound is and how everythings going, and to be ready with another guitar or to pop on stage and help out in a pickle

 

David

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