General Music Chat

Well.... It finally happened.... I had a bad gig! As most of you know, I'm in 2 bands and I've just had the worst experience ever with my "Classic Rock" band, Decades.

We had the nastiest snow/ice storm yesterday and I still managed to get to my booked gig that was about an hour from my home... took about 2 hours to get there due to the nasty weather! I finally arrive at the destination..my heart pounding from the slipping and sliding I had to encounter with thousands of dollars worth of equipment in my car. I finally get my stuff up on stage and tune up all my guitars when all of a sudden my brand new Line6 Bogner tube head that I've only played once before decided to just die! I freaked... I kept re-booting it, taking out all the cords and pedals and doing everything under the sun to get it to work but it was all done in vain! A few people started coming in and the only option I had was to hop back in the car and make the dangerous trek back home to pick up my trusty solid state amp and get back in time to at least honor my obligation and give at least 2 sets of tunes. The ride was just treacherous... I kept contemplating on turning around and just getting the rest of my eqiupment and delivering the bad news but I just couldn't! I finally arrived home screaming like a lunatic on how pissed I was at the moment... grabbed my other amp and proceeded to take the long journey back to the club.

I finally arrived back at the club and was amazed at how many people actually braved this horrid weather to come out to see us play... whew... glad I didn't give up. We ended up playing 3 awesome sets but during that time 2 good friends of mine had a bit too much to drink and the fists started flying... Oh.. did I forget to tell you that this was a clubhouse bar for a very intimidating biker chapter associated with the Hells Angels?? YIKES! Luckily my buds got out of there unscathed but now we had to contend with the owner who kind of went back on his word on how much we were to get paid... suffice to say, I walked out of there with only about enough cash to fill up my little car 1/2 way with gas. Got home about 4AM and was just livid about the amp and tried it again with the same depressing results... MY WARRANTY ON THIS AMP WAS OVER TODAY!! WHEW!! Got the stupid amp back just in time for a full refund only to find out that there have been many, many simiar complaints with this particular model! Gee... thanx Guitar Center for warning me about this problem before I almost killed myself trudging across the white tundra 6 times just to make a lousy 17 bucks

I'm in my sweats right now... just had a nice bowlful of homemade spaghetti and am gonna lie on the couch, surrounded by my family and gonna watch a good movie...and forget about this horrible nightmare!

good night children

........................................Your ole pal Crip2Nite

17 bucks ?!?!?

WTF??

I always wondered why you liked line 6 so much, you always came off as a Marshall kind of player to me-

I had line 6, but just couldn't get the tone I wanted from it. I haven't used bogner, but just seeing the lower price tags on their heads, I wondered if they weren't kinda cheaply made.

Anyways, that's BS about getting jacked on the pay. I'd post the bars name and address on every musician site on the internet, and everywhere locally, as a 'fail to pay' gig and make sure no band wants to play there again.

I really hate that.

Good news is that the next gig statistically should be better lol.

Crip,

I went ampless this weekend for the first time with just my POD PRO straight into the pa. We own our own pa and its awesome, with an awesome set of monitors, so Im totally in control of my sound and the gig came out great. I have to tweak a few more tones out of the POD, but I may be done with amps. Its not the same as playing thru an amp cause our stage volume was real low, but setup was really quick. And when I walked the room with my wireless my guitar sounded awesome. We ussually practice with headphones at our bassist studio and it was a lot like that. With everything blended in the monitors I could really hear the vocals and our harmonies are really getting good. Also, I think we are tighter cause like our bassist said after the gig, it was a lot like listening to another band instead of feeling like you are getting blasted all night.

On the amp screwup, I always carry some sort of spare. I had my little Mesa with me last night in case the POD didnt work for me. You might could find one of those old Sans Amp preamps to have in your gigbag in case your amp goes down.

Hate it about the money. We have been getting our asking price lately, thou its not as much as I would like, but we average $125 a man these days plus take care of our soundman. Sooner or later I know we will end up with one of those gigs like you had cause Ive sure had them thru the years.

Anyway keep rockin my friend.

JW

You have to "boot-up" your amp? Is it a computer? Microprocessor in there? (I'm an old-timer; my old Kasino amp just has an on-off switch, but I guess times have changed). Sorry to hear of your bad luck, dude.. Biker bars (or bad neighborhood bars) + Expensive equipment = well.. y'know..
You might not have made any money, but at least your equipment didn't get trashed and nobody got killed..

Damn. Well, on the bright side.... I dunno, but moral of the story: have back-up equipment. Weather's been shitty for sure.

Ouch, man! Well, better luck mext time, eh?

On the money thing, I quite agree to spread the word on this guy. There's just no excuse for that crap. I've dealt with that a time or two, myself, & there's just no way to accept that kinda stuff from ppl. I HAVE managed to get some of my money from them a time or two, but it's a rare thing, & always leaves ppl with bad feelers all around.

Sorry to hear bout your amp Crip.

Glad you made it home safe, to your family. That is what is the MOST important thing.

Lots of good lessons to be learned from a bad gig like this. Have a backup system so you don't have to miss anything. Have a contract with the bar owner or an understanding if bad weather happens so that your band and the bar owner have an agreement on reasonable pay reduction. Get courtesy cards from the bikers for each band member so that nobody else fu*ks with you if trouble happens. My band in New Jersey got courtesy cards from the Hell's Angels there. I never had to use it but I've heard stories where they actually work. (Don't know what a courtesy card is? Ask a Hell's Angel next time you see one.)

JW.... Please enlighten me about this "Pod-Pro" as we also own a beautiful sound system... I really can't trudge 2 amplifiers at every gig... what a pain in the butt... What is it??? a pedal??? Definitely would love to have that as backup just in case...

I almost killed myself trudging across the white tundra 6 times just to make a lousy 17 bucks

I'm in my sweats right now... just had a nice bowlful of homemade spaghetti and am gonna lie on the couch, surrounded by my family and gonna watch a good movie...and forget about this horrible nightmare!

good night children

All's well what ends well, I live few houes ride away from you I know the kind of weather you are talking about.

What made you gig a bad one was the amp gone dead and the fact that you had to trek on ice to get to a bike joint (the worst IMO) twice. As for the money, I don't know about otheres but has not been any money in the bar/club gig business since late 70s early 80s unless people want to call $50 or $75 per gig money.

A short story: During a gig in Asbury Park in a biker's joint called
Crossroad, a bunch of bikers standing outside the club after smoking and drinkin decided to start their bikes, open the front door and do wheelies right outside the front door, the place got engulfed with exhaust fumes and burned tire rubber in seconds.
Police came few minutes later ordering everybody out of place and shut the place down with our equipment inside.

We aked the police if we could retrieve the equipment, we were told not until fire inspectors would release the CO (certificate of occupancy)
It seems the town wanted to close down this joint for a long time, this was their chance to put the onwer himself a biker out of business.

It took 4 days to get our stuff just in time for the next gig. btw the joint has been closed permanently.

I don't mean to steal the thunder out of you experience, I just want to relate to your story and the hazards that bands in general face.

Glad you made home to your family in one piece.

Crip the POD PRO is a Line 6 product. Its a rack mount preamp. I have it and a foot controller. I got mine off Craigslist for $200. Our group practices in our bassists studio, so I just take it and a guitar and Im good to go. Mine is an older version but it works great. If I ever get my tones dialed in I may mount it in the pa rack so its ready to go all the time. POD makes those little red jelly bean looking versions that have amp models in them. You might check into these units. Mine has a JCM 800 Marshall sound that is my go to sound. It just rips on Aerosmith, Priest, OZZY, Van Halen material we play. Sat night I used this tone 90% of the time. Its cool cause I could roll off the guitar volume and clean the sound up just like my amps. The only problem is its different playing without an amp behind you. You just dont get the same feel, but out front what the crowd hears is great. In the end at this point in my playing keeping the paying people happy is what matters. The last few gigs I realized I had my amp so loud that the soundman was pulling me out of the mains. SOunds great on stage or 20 ft from the stage, but move to the back of the room and my guitar would just wash out. With the POD our soundman has to crank me in the mains, sounds huge out front. But like I said standing on stage is way different. Our bassist and I both are going ampless. If you have a bassist with a big rig this may not work for you unless you can crank the guitar in the monitor.

Good Luck, some sort of little preamp or even a baby amp. Ive got a little Fender 15, basically a little 2 watt practice amp that I keep in my vehicle and as a last resort I could mic it up. Oddly it sounds great miced up.

now i know wat to expect when i get out and start shreddin, thanx for the heads up

I'll add for you guys that dont gig much. Things do go wrong when you play gigs. Over the last 6 monthes Ive blown 2 amps up at gigs, I always have some sort of spare. If you use tube amps, carry extra fuses and replacement tubes, a pencil and some sort of mitt to put on your hand to remove hot tubes. If you are using batteries carry an extra pack, strings. Carry spare anything you can think of. Prepare for the unexpected cause if you do this enough it will happen, hopefully not your first time out.

Im speaking from a guitar viewpoint. We messed up a crossover on our pa a few monthes ago, 15 minutes before we were scheduled to start. We improvised and started 5 minutes late. Theres a lot more to playing gigs than just showing up and playing. Be prepared and know your equipment inside and out. Weve blown breakers on our lights multiple times, weve cleared rooms with smoke machines, weve even converted country audiences to rock.

I believe in the KISS principle, Keep It Stupid Simple. When you play at home its one thing to wire all sorts of pedals and crap together, but going out and playing live do the simplest setup you can. One good tone is worth 100 crappy ones to me. I can make do with a guitar and amp in a cinch with nothing in between.

AWESOME ADVICE JW!!

That's one of the main reasons I stopped using tube amps when I was touring. I always used to carry a little pig-nose head with me whenever I gigged with my Marshall because of the occasional blown tubes while in another freakin' state ... when you start gigging and/or rehearsing every other day, you tend to run into a lot of probs with tube amps... back in the late 80's, early 90's, I decided to trade in the Marshall for a Solid State Galien Kruger and yeah, the sound wasn't as nice as a tube amp, but I was the only one that noticed... never, ever had a tech prob with a solid state... my other solid state Line 6 has been very dependable and I've gotten numerous thumbs up on the awesome way I set it up. Took about 3 months to perfect the right mid, bass, treble and effects for my shows but have even had quite a few professional musicians giving me props on the way the amp sounded! I've got enough maintenance probs with my house, cars and bikes.... I don't need this crap when I'm gigging... sorry guys... I know the Marshalls and Mesa's are da bomb but I'd rather keep my sanity in the gigs to come and am going back to my trusty, bullet proof solid state.... Honestly... the only one that actually can tell the difference in sound are my band mates and I and a few pro's in my audience but the paying public really don't give a crap and at the end of the night, I get paid and I'm satisfied that the gig went on without a hitch!

I believe in the KISS principle, Keep It Stupid Simple. When you play at home its one thing to wire all sorts of pedals and crap together, but going out and playing live do the simplest setup you can. One good tone is worth 100 crappy ones to me. I can make do with a guitar and amp in a cinch with nothing in between.

all i have is this used handmedown digi-pedal w/ an eq, distortion mod, patch level and sum other junk that i never even use. so i guess i don't have to worry bout blowin up my only amp right?