I have put this off way too long...

So much has happened since my last post, so I will try to get you up to speed quickly without boring you or shooting stuff over your head (which I'm sure I tend to do with some of my technical talk from time to time).

I have had continuing problems with my Mackie MDR 24/96 multi track. I took it back to the repair shop, and he started doing stuff with it while I was there. I kept trying to tell him that I had already tried this, that and the other, but he insisted on continuing to try some of these same things. I was getting frustrated with the situation, and I think he was too because he was starting to realize that he had never fully fixed the thing in the first place. He said he would look at it some more tomorrow, and that he would appreciate it if I could bring some other hard drives for him to experiment with. I'm not thrilled about it, and I'm pretty sure he wants to figure out what the problem is without me around so that he does not have to admit that he didn't do a proper job the first time around.

I'm not really upset with him though, he has helped me out for free with some other stuff. I had a blown crossover on one of my mains (Behringer Eurolive b1520), and he rebuilt it for free right on the spot. He also hooked me up with a free Yamaha 8 inch to replace one that was dry roting on a pair of really nice dual 8 tower speakers I have. He has also offered to replace the e-prom on a guitar processor that I picked up recently for about $10 (including parts, I will discuss this processor later).

So, I also recently made a few purchases on eBay, and got some new toys. First is a ProCo Rat. I have owned 2 of these in the past, this now making my 3rd. I always remembered it as having crushing drive and great tone. I got it in the mail and scrambled off to band practice early so I could play with it. I was less than pleased with it oddly enough. While the amount of drive you can get out of it is devastating to say the least, the tone left me wanting more. there is a point on most distortion pedals where once you turn the input gain to that critical mass point, you expect to get nice warn saturation after exceeding that point. Such was not the case with this pedal, it gave me more of a sloppy fart sound, almost a synth sound. I didn't enjoy the way it sounded, especially when I compared it to the on-board distortion on my Ampeg VH-150, the Ampeg completely destroyed the Rat. Tone, Balls, Saturation, every department hands down. It's still a new pedal, and I got it for a great price. I still have the box, manual, all that. Anybody want to buy a Rat?

I also picked up an Alesis M-EQ 230 and a Digitech RP-1 from the same seller, he cut me a break on shipping, and I managed to get both on pretty low bids. I was happy for a time. Then when everything arrived, to my surprise the EQ didn't come with the power supply. He was relatively quick to remedy that though, even though I am still waiting to get it. I also discovered that the it is an unbalanced unit, which is not the guys fault, I bought it without looking up the specs. I was a little upset at first, but then I realized that I am going to be running it through the mains inserts. which are not balanced anyway, and they are going to be on short cable runs too.

The Digitech RP-1 has not been a completely happy story either. One of the other guitarists in my high school band had one in addition to some other pedal board he had, and let me use it for a while. It ended up being the core of my tone for one of our albums. After the album was done I went back to my old stand by, the Digitech GSP-7. Anyway, I recently got another GSP-7, and the old high school band has been getting back together every once in a while to do some re-hashing of the old tunes, make a re-release album and maybe even do a show or two. This inspired me to get both the Rat and the RP-1 since I (at least thought) I missed the tones I got from them, and that they would be useful for the reunion. So I went out of my way to find them (and trust me it was not easy finding an RP-1 in good shape). I left the RP-1 on over night one day shortly after receiving it, not on purpose, but I did none the less. After having done that, I was fairly certain that it was in pretty good shape. It has a dark tone, almost too dark, but it's easy enough to fix with some of the filters it has on-board. I was happy, until a few days later I broke it out again to do some recording and it started rebooting every few seconds. It was an as is sale, and I think the guy knew exactly what he was selling me. I'm a little pissed. I have not left any feedback on his page for that particular sale yet until he responds to me about working with me on the issue. If he doesn't want to work with me, then I'm gonna trash him.

Parts-express.com is one of my new favorite places to do business. I have been having a roller coaster experience with my first transaction with them, but at the end of the day, it has been a good experience. I ordered 2 Peavey 400 watt (200 RMS) 15 inch drivers for a 215 cab I picked up for free a while back (I'm pretty sure I posted pics of it a while ago). They were only $50 or so each, with free shipping. Sounds like a great deal, and it is, except... When they got here, what they had shipped me were passive radiators. So they gave me a return ticket, picked them up the next day and checked them out (since I didn't recognize them for what they were at first). They sold out of them since they got the returns back from me, so they said they would do whatever they had to do to get me back in business. They promised me a pair of 600 watt (300 RMS) Eminence Beta series. I am quite pleased with this resolution. Now granted I have not seen them in the mail yet, but I am not really in a hurry, it was really more of a project cab, something to have in case I decided to pick up my bass again.

Max Thrash IV went well, mostly because it finally happened and didn't get cancelled due to snow a third time. About 60 people showed up, which is one of my better turn outs at the studio (which only has an 80 head cap). This was due mostly in part to the fact that I had Woodbine Hotline play, they always draw a crown.

I had a few problems with the system though. At one point during a set change, I hit the mains assignment buttons for the 7-8 sub groups (for no particular reason), and there was a massive boom, which made the Crown CDi 1000 (powering the subs) go thermal, and it would not come back up. I was pissed, but I had to roll with it. I had a Crown 800 CSL in the rack that was not being used, so I switched the subs over to it real quick and prayed for the best. Well, I have to say I was quite pleased with what I heard. I would venture to say that the 800 was punchier and had more bottom than the CDi.

Later in the night the amp I used to power the center stage monitors and the drum riser monitors went thermal on me and also wouldn't come back. For the sake of the artists who had to suffer with only 2 of 6 monitor cabs running I felt bad, but not for myself, I was almost relieved. It's a Gemsound EAX 1000, and I paid about $100 for it new. I have known it is a lesser amp, and have been looking for an excuse to replace it for a while now (even though it has served me well through some rather abusive situations).

Well I came back to the studio the next day to do some cleaning up and to check out the possibly damaged equipment. Everything seemed to be working just fine (except for the multi track of course). I'm VERY relieved that the CDi 1000 is still online, it is after all about the most valuable piece of gear I own (monetarily anyway). But it got me to thinking. #1, not having bins is not good, I need to split the load with another amp, which I have. #2 not having monitors is almost as bad, again I need to split the load, which brings me to #3.

#3, I don't just need to split the load here. I was using my smallest, cheapest amp to do the hardest work. That little EAX was pushing 2 different mixes over 4 different wedges, and the 2 most important mixes at that, center stage and drums. I have been getting a lot of drummers tell me that they need more in their monitors, and drummers usually do need the loudest mix. So I thought to myself "Why not get another amp and another crossover and use the 215 cab you just got once the new speakers arrive?" So I think that is exactly what I am going to do. One of the local music supply houses has a decent number of Peavey CS 800's for $200 to $300. That's a pretty solid investment on a work horse of an amp. I may pick up 2 of them once I get a chance to set some coin aside. The only problem now is to find space in the drum riser for a 215 cab, a 12 inch wedge and a 15 inch wedge...

I am going to post some videos at the end of this, but before I get to that, I need to tell you all about my latest find. I stumbled across this company the other day while cruising through eBay. They are called Seismic Audio, and they have STUPID low prices on their own brand of pro audio gear. They don't make instruments, mixers, mics and prob a few other things, but they make a lot of stuff that the struggling musician and/or studio engineer can use. They have 400 watt half stack cabs for a little over $200, with free shipping. They have 24x8 100 foot snakes with parallel XLR and TRS 1/4 returns for about $250, again free shipping. They have 350 watt 15 inch stage monitors for $260 a PAIR, not each. Or you can step it down to 250 watts for $210 a pair. And of course this is all with free shiping too. I think they have free shipping with everything. I don;t know if their stuff has the best tone in the world, or what their spec tolerances are like, but for the price, it's worth looking into.

So here are the videos I was promising...

First is an acoustic ditty I wrote, and Rachel maned "Tranquility" for me.

Next is an example of a harmonic minor scale/exercise in D played on an Ibanez RG-470 through a Digitech GSP-7.

the next 3 are sets from this past weekends Max Thrash IV

Woodbine Hotline

Big Whiskey

Brethren Boys

Well that's about all for now. Sorry if that was a lot. I probably missed some interesting stuff, but I'll be sure to let you all know about it if I remember.

Later,

Neely

snow and cancellations...

Life as we know it has been cancelled, indefinitely. We have had 65 inches of snow so far this season, which is a record in this area, and the snow continues to fall as I type. I have been killing my back and my arms, constantly shoveling every few hours to try to stay ahead of the accumulation so that we can get to our cars in case of an emergency, or who know what.

CARBONSTONE's benefit show for Haiti was cancelled completely by the venue. But otherwise things are looking up for the band. We have a number of other shows lined up, and we are constantly networking, making new connections. CARBONSTONE has just signed up for Radiolicious.fm, which is a streaming audio service. If you are a local musician, YOU MUST CHECK THIS OUT. The sign up and set up process is as simple as can be, and you are live and on the air as soon as your first song is uploaded. Our broadcast was up and running before I could even finish uploading all our songs, and their uploader is fast. You can check out or station at http://www.radiolicious.fm/artist/CARBONSTONE/38049.

I also managed to finally finish some video projects I was working on from a show I recorded at Fish Head Cantina on December 11th of last year. It was fun, and I managed to get some interesting results. See for yourself.

Some of the videos have rather unique musical style. Please feel free to hit me back with some comments about the music, audio quality, video quality and over all finished product. I'm not really looking to get into video production, it was just something I did for fun. The audio I was being paid to do, and it's what I do, so if you have any advice or constructive criticism, please let me know.

Postponed...

CARBONSTONE's Rock for Haiti show was postponed in anticipation of snow. This is probably a wise move as we are expecting more snow in the Baltimore area than we have seen in some years this weekend. We are still waiting to hear from Rams Head Live as to what the reschedule date will be. It could be the 10th, the 15th or the 16th. Keep your eyes peeled for more updates.

Have not been here in a little while...

A couple interesting things have happened since I posted last.

CARBONSTONE scored a show with Evolver on March 19th, which is cool. Brian, our buddy at Baltimore Sound Management has really been hooking us up lately with some good shows. Then last night we get a call from him again with a spot on a 98 Rock Haiti benefit. This is huge in 2 ways. One we get to finally do a show for/with 98 Rock in front of what will probably be the biggest crowd we have ever played in front of, and we get to do something good for people in need in the process.

Threshold Productions also has a show this Saturday at Jams Music Store, barring any inclement weather. I'll put up fliers for all of these events at the bottom of this post.

Last Sunday I was at the studio having band practice and managed to spill egg-drop soup on the console. As can be imagined I freaked out. So I ran to CVS and grabbed a can of WD-40 and a can of compressed air. Didn't seem to help, channels 2 and 3 were doing bad things when I tried patching them in. I was ready to resign myself to being the proud new owner of a 30 channel board instead of 32. The the owner of the store called me on Monday asking my why the mixer would not turn on so that he could play a CD. I was a little nervous at first, but we figured out that the power switch is backwards from what he was expecting it to be, so no biggie. Then he calls me Tuesday and asks me if I had come in the night before to mess with the system. I told him no and he proceeded to tell me about my worst nightmare. The system was making horrible noises, even with the console powered off. I started running through all the outboard gear over the phone to make sure he had everything turned on properly. I did hear the noise over the phone by the way, it was not pretty. So I said "you know what? I'm just gonna head on over there. Because if the mixer is out of commission, then I need to get the other one wired up in it's place for the show on Saturday". I show up and fire everything up, and guess what? EVERYTHING is working fine, even channels 2 and 3. I'm more than a little confused at this point as well as the store owner. I called the repair shop and told them to get me a number on a new 8 channel module just in case since it is being so unpredictable.

I also took the time to do a real nice, neat job of wiring the stage. I have never seen the stage look so free for the roaming, and there are 3 half-stacks and an SVT Classic 8x10 cab and head on stage, all mic'd up and ready to go. I Put the snake box under the drum riser, and took advantage of some of the rather well thought out holes that guitar repair guy drilled in the floor of the stage, and ran all the cables under the stage. I also tied the multi-track back into the system. That was the first time I fired it up since getting it back from the shop. I was happy to see it fire up and do it's job without flaking out on me. So, I'm all ready to do a multi-track recording of the show, broadcast a live board dump and video over the web, and still be able to offer a another board dump to anyone who happens to bring in their laptop to the show to record a particular bands set. I really need to set up my last spare aux out for broadcasting so that I can get a different mix, one better balanced for broadcasting.

That's about all for now. Here are the flyers...

Too many irons in the fire...

Well first of all, last nights show went swimmingly. CARBONSTONE had the highest draw of the night, we even upstaged Psychostick, and we destroyed Dead by Wednesday. Bourbon Street was just about completely empty for the first two sets. The the place filled up all at once as soon as we took the stage. Once our set was over about half the crowd left. Two sets later Psychostick took the stage and did their thing. They did a great job, I loved their set, and even got a signed set list and a free CD. I almost felt bad that we had a bigger crowd than them. Once they did finish their set the place cleared the f*&% out, and there was nobody left to watch the last 2 bands.

We are in talks to play Noise In The Basement soon, hopefully that pans out.

And one other bit of news about the multi track, for those of you who have been following the roller coaster ride (see last post). I talked to the local Mackie repair place and they said there was a rash of problems with the main boards needing to be replaced because of a bad bios update and chips burning out, and that Mackie was honoring them as warranty claims because it was a problem they created. Thought I might be getting a new board for free, but such was not the case. They called me up and told me that it was the SCSI controller and it would cost $150 to fix it.

So, on to the "Irons in the fire". I have been cursed/blessed (depending on how you look at it) with a multitude of opportunities, all of which look appealing. The problem is that none of them are a sure thing, not even my current day job, which I love.

I am in 3 bands, 2 and 1/2 really since one is more of a one time project. CARBONSTONE is a fun band to be in, and we are being met with a lot of success and potentially lucrative offers. War Driver is also a lot of fun and lets me enjoy the heavier side of my musical tastes even though our progress has been slow, partly due to my cancelling practice a few times lately. The KATZI reunion project is sort of something that has been 10 years in the making, and something that has been put off for way too long. Then there is the studio and the shows I promote. 3 bands, a studio, a production company and a day job, none of which I am interested in parting ways with.

Problem #1, the obvious one, time in the day. How do I fit it all in with 3 kids, a fiancé and all that goes with it?

Problem #2, unpredictable schedule. Work has been slow, really slow. But I can't be sure from one day to the next if there will be work for me, so I can't schedule other endeavors around that down time, otherwise I would be in pretty good shape.

Problem #3, one of the bands takes off. If that happens I would have to pretty much drop everything else. The studio, the day job, everything, especially if touring is a part of the picture. We actually got a tour offer last night, but I think were going to pass on it, because it was one of the last bands, one that had no following. And were all in a position where we can only afford to go on a regional tour, one that allows us to be home most of the time, only be gone for a day or two at a time.

Problem #4, which could actually end up being a blessing. I just had a meeting tonight with a local "dude" who is trying to start a studio that is funded by doing corporate sound reinforcement. Mostly spoken word type stuff, maybe DJ stuff too. Sounds like a good idea, and he is also interested in promoting local music. He has a bunch of really good ideas, a small team of guys with some real world skills, a knack for marketing and sales and some good connections in the industry with real name brand people. What he lacks is lot of physical assets, assets I do have, and of course I have some skills to put on the table too. But this brings me back to the whole time issue. In order for this to work I would have to integrate this guys goals into the scope of Threshold Productions, and/or mine into his operation. I need to find a new name for my operation anyway since there is some techno DJ out of Scandinavia who uses that name. Otherwise we are back to the whole time in a day issue.

Well I guess that is all I really have to complain about today. We did broadcast the show last night, but we used a different service, www.bambuser.com this time. I will be adding an embedded player for that service at the bottom of this page as well. Check out the show archive, not the best quality, but fun to watch from my biased point of view.

Neely

Such a roller coaster we ride...

I'm of course talking about my guitar and recording equipment as usual.

Slope #1, down: The Classic Chorus 212 dies.

Slope #2, up: Looks like it's not dead after all. I went to the studio on Sunday and lo and behold it's working just fine, even at high volume. I must have been using a crap instrument cable or something the other day when I thought it was dying.

Slope #3, up: I did a mobile multi-track recording at Fish Head Canteena this past Saturday, and mad e a few bucks.

Slope #4, down: I bring the multi-track home, start exporting the tracks to my computer and the thing takes a dump on me. Error code 43. Anybody good with a Mackie MDR 24/96? PLEASE let me know, I'm DESPERATE. I don't exactly have $1200.00 to replace this thing.

Slope #5, up (sort of): Upon dis-assembling the MDR I discover that I can add more RAM, RAM I already have several sticks of laying around the house. Part 2 of this semi-up slope is that I was able to remove the internal hard drive and salvage my tracks, so I can finish the project and get my pay, which I should really be working on right now.

Slope #6, up: Josh, bassist from CARBONSTONE has an Ibanez RG-6 that he is letting me hold onto, knowing full well that I will not be in a position to give him any money for it for months to come. It's a pretty nice guitar, medium blue with lots of sparkles. Humbucker at the bridge, single in the middle and a another humbucker at the neck, with a 5 way switch. Floyd Rose floater. I don't like floating bridges or locking nuts (which this guitar has both of) but this one is a little different, it stays in tune like magic. The action is low and fast. Again, I'm weird, I normally like my action a squeak high, but this one seems to work well for me nice and low. Oh and the pickups are supposedly something special, they have fancy model numbers on them. V8 (bridge), S1 (middle), V7 (neck).

Slope #7, up: I got a new toy in the mail today. A Digitech GSP-7, guitar processor. Apperently it's a guitar synth. Yes Brian, I'm playing digital distortion, or am I? That's what I really need to figure out. These things have an actual 12AX7 in them, but I have heard rumors that it is only for looks. The one Distortion setting that has the most saturation and gain is called "Digi-Tube", which of course is a contradiction in terms. There is also a "Metal Tube" Which has a nice dark warmth to it, but lacks a hair in gain and saturation, "Heavy sustain" which looses tone as you let it ring out but it does keep ringing, "Overdrive" typical flat over driven solid state sound, and then there is "Rock-Tube" which is good for low gain rhythm crunch, but with strong emphasis on the "low gain" part of the statement.

So I spent the late half of my afternoon sawing, cutting and drilling. I installed the GSP-7 into the Stereo Chorus head, and I think I did a fine job of it, I'll throw in a pic here at the end of this post. Then I ran off to a meeting, and afterwards I spent the majority of the night running through the different programs and fine tuning them. So far I have...

Patch #1, "Bitch": Basic high gain tube distortion for most metal power chord needs

Patch #2, "Low Gain Crunch": I think that one pretty much describes itself.

Patch #3, "Croon": For all your long, drawn out, half time, melodic solos. Little chorus, intermediate amount of reverb and lots of stereo multi-tap delay.

Patch #4, "Scream": High speed, high gain soloing patch. Much like "Bitch" but with a swell in the upper mid frequencies, simulating a volume boost.

Patch #5, "Deep Slow Chorus": A clean patch for ballad picking. Kind of like a clean version of "Croon", but with more emphasis on the chorus.

Patch #6 "Clean Delay": Just what is sounds like, with a little slow multi-tap delay and not too much feedback.

So now all I need is a midi foot-switch. I just want a basic 12 button without expression pedals. 1 - 10 and up and down buttons. I have a feeling I will have a hard time finding anything without expression pedals, oh well. You may wonder why I might not want expression pedals. First of all, I already have a volume pedal. Second the GSP does not have a Wah effect (which I don't use as part of my style anyway. And third, I dont think the GSP even supports it anyway.

Brain, Guitarist for War Driver, dropped me a link to some software that I need to look into. It uses midi to interface the GSP-7 with various recording programs. To what end I'm not sure. I have never fully understood Midi, or at least not all aspects of it, but it sounds like it could be a useful tool.

Oh, by the way, it's official. My phone does every F&^%ing thing in the G@$ D#%& world. I now have apps that make a my phone a chromatic tuner, a guitar (yes, a guitar), A piano, a drum machine, a bass synth, a VERY advanced metronome, a chord/scale reference (with modes) and lots more.

OK, that's all for now...

Neely

And here is a good funny I couldn't resist throwing in.

With a tear in my eye...

I bid farewell to a guitar amp. It was a Peavey Classic Chorus 212. I bought it right after I met Rachel. It served me well in many ways. I used it as a guitar amp of course, but I also used it once to power a pair of bass bins, as a stage monitor, as a vocal amp and lots of other uses. It endured a lot of abuse, in particular using for the past 5 years with a missing heat sink. It also spent a lot of time in the rear cargo area of a compact SUV, constantly exposed to extreme cold and heat. I used it once to scratch track guitar for a local band I was recording, and the speakers blew apart violently. once that happened I bought a Peavey Stereo Chorus 212 to replace it, which was the amp I really wanted when I bought the Classic. I hung onto it though, left it in the corner of the basement for a while.

Then I started upgrading. I got an Ampeg slant cab (w/ Celestians) and put the Classic Chorus back in service to power the cab. But then I got an Ampeg VH-150 head for the cab and back into the corner it went. Later down the road I got my hands on 4 more Celestians and put them in both the Classic Chorus and the Stereo Chorus and took the 2 Scorpions from the Stereo Chorus and put them on ice, wondering what I would do with them. It had been my intention for a long time to break out the saw and turn the Classic Chorus into a head one day.

A few months ago I decided it was time to get a straight cab and load the extra set of Celestians into it, giving me an Ampeg full stack. Got the cab, loaded the Celestians and finally got around to chopping the Classic Chorus down. So now I had either a full stack with 2 different heads to choose from or 2 half stacks, and of course the Stereo Chorus with the Scorpions returned to where they belonged.

Then about a week or two later I decided to switch the guts between the Classic Head and the Stereo Combo, which I did. The Classic Chorus was finally whole again, and not just whole but improved. It now had casters (which came with the Stereo Chorus), a vented top panel (standard on the 2nd generation Stereo Chorus), a semi-closed back panel made from parts left over from chopping the Classics's original chassis, a modular power cord(which I added) and I also added switchable external speaker jacks. It was an awesome amp, and I really loved it just as much as my half stacks.

Then one fateful day, 5 days ago to be exact, I went to the studio for band practice, powered up and started pulling levels. Something was wrong, I had to turn my distortion channel up way more than I usually did in order to get the same volume, and it sounded like crap. Switched to the clean channel, same story. I was upset, but didn't show it much, I just cranked it up and enjoyed my last few hours with it.

I can't tell if it's the main power transformer or if it's the transistors, I'm leaning towards the latter on account of the missing heat sink, but who knows. I may put some resources into figuring out what the problem is, but I probably won't get it fixed either way. It's a good parts unit to keep around. I will probably get another Stereo or Classic Chorus 212, I need a practice amp. What will I do with the speakers? I don't know, I will keep them on hand for something. I have always wanted to build a Scorpion loaded 4x12 cab, or even a full stack. No, I shouldn't, but I probably will one day.

So the amp is still at the studio, I need to bring it home and put it properly to rest. Let me know if you need any Peavey guitar amp parts.

Neely