Band Frustration:

Inspector #20

Inspector #20

Ambassador of Tone
Fallen Star
Country flag
Venting....Ok, so I been with this new group about a month or so. As I have probably said, the bandleader is trying to resurrect the band, following the death of his brother, which devastated him, and I take that into consideration.

There are 5 of us and all are great people to work with.

The first issue I ran into was a pile of bad instrument cables. Lots of newer, cheap cables that were noisy. I bought a bunch of new cables, which fixed most of the "bad equipment" complaints.

They have a Sunn bass amp with a dead speaker or output circuit, so I taken them my Peavey TNT-130 to use, which I don't use anymore.

The bassist is the bandleader's wife. Nice lady. Plays a very nice (very heavy) Yamaha bass. It has a really loud buzz that goes away when you touch any metal part...no big deal, needs a ground repaired...right???

So yesterday, the group takes a break and the bass is sitting therr buzzing like hell and I look closely and notice the strangest thing.

The bandleader has the bass plugged into a Sunn guitar amp and a cable leaving the guitar amp and going into the TNT-130's input jack.

I pull this cable and plug her bass in direct to the TNT-130. No noise. Zero.

So, I share this with him on the down low and he agreed that the bass was totally noise free.

However, he then reconnects this sonic daisy chain saying his is using the guitar amp like an EQ and that it gives the bass better tone, but honestly, this arrangement sounds like total sonic poop.

Saturday night, we attend a large dinner at a local Elks lodge. There were 575 in attendance. We were there to meet the event coordinator and check out the current band.

The bandleader's wife is very cool and my wife and daughter attended with me...food was good too.

So, anyways, about halfway through the set, the bandleader's wife told him that our current set list will never fly because everyone is dancing....which is a 100% accurate observations.

I mean, this band was good...they did Footloose, Oh Pretty Woman, Unchained Melody, even some Selena songs....very versatile.

So, I guess it frustrates me a little when people don't see the obvious....but I am being cool and just seeing where this goes for now....

I been in bands since our first garage group formed in 1978...and I have never been in an ideal band situation. Mostly its like an asylum with instruments...

Playing guitar for Juice Newton back in the 1980's was a great experience, but most bands are just silly in all honesty. If it wasn't for how cool these people are, I don't think I would do it.

Ever feel like this???
 
Robert, the moment has come. I think that it's time...you...must...
Play that funky music white boy
Play that funky music right
Play that funky music white boy
Lay down that boogie and play that funky music till you die
Till you die, oh till you die!
 
Robert Herndon said:
I been in bands since our first garage group formed in 1978...and I have never been in an ideal band situation. Mostly its like an asylum with instruments...
Click to expand...

I am reading what you are saying, and it brought back a memory of when my guitar playing friend and his bass playing friend and I got together to jam with me on drums. Part way through, the guitar player gets obsessive about the bass player's sound.
To preface, this is my 1 friend who is bipolar/psychotic and his friend who did too many drugs so that when he speaks, I call it "outer space." I mean it is supposed to be English and he means well and knows what he is trying to say but I can honestly say I have never understood 1 complete sentence from the man.

Anyway, Guitar player says to bass player, when was the last time you changed strings?
Bass player mumbles something... Guitar player says listen Mf'r, those strings sound dead, when did you change em last?

Bass player mumbles and to the best I could decypher, he said, " you get my message statement" Whatever that was supposed to mean.

Guitar player whips out a knife and waves it toward Bass player and says, " I could cut you and gut you and no one would care or know the difference or miss you."

At that time, I decided the jam was over and the bass player and I packed up and left.

What was that you were saying? Robert
 
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Tony, I did not look to see. I had already had a knife incident of my own from another guy when I was about 15 when he had a butcher knife less than an inch from my chest and I used all my strength to not get stabbed.\

Goo, No more group jams with him, but he is now my blind friend ( wasn't blind back then) who I fixed his Dot head stock, Marshall amp Retubed/Biased, Broken window glass in various apartments he's trashed when losing his marbles, Guitar cases he's trashes latches, hinges etc on and so on and so on.
 
Eherm...

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Or its clone by Harley Benton ... but i actually miss a position between 800 and 4500 Hz, and i miss one at 250 Hz.
 
Tony M. said:
I would weigh the fun and the frustration.
If the frustration is heavier than the fun I would bail.
I play for the fun of it. Always have, always will.
...but that's me.
Click to expand...

I get where you are coming from. I just have a hard time understanding why an obviously better, cleaner, quieter way is not embraced once demonstrated????
 
I have a similar sonic problem in the Pink Floyd band I am in. The other guitarist has never been in a band and is a computer guy by trade.

He runs his guitars through a computer simutation thingy into studio monitors. The vocals and electronic drums also go into these same speakers. Certainly not ideal for a vintage David Gilmour sound.

I suggested he run his computer stuff through his Fender amp, as the speaker is voiced as a guitar speaker and not a reference speaker (if that makes any sense-I'm not too up on modern processing and stuff).

Well he got pretty defensive and I just gave up.

I will continue using my Strat, Micro Terror through my analog effects and 2x12 and sound like a real guitar and not a bunch of mosquitoes farting in a tin can I guess.
 
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