I guess that’s a weird way of saying this is more of a status update than anything, but I’d just like to muse a little about what the past month’s been for me.
Like I mentioned in my last post, I had some really good band shows in January (the solo gig was more iffy). After that, kind of nothing whatsoever was happening with the band for a variety of reasons, which was kind of weird but ultimately very okay. There’s a lot brewing in the other band Pat and Jay are working on, so I kind of knew that was the deal. Which is fine.
I did a setup-cleanup-restringing of the new bass and got it sounding great and in tune all the way up the neck, and I was very excited to play it at the band shows this past weekend. So I strapped it on for the second set…
…and I hated it. Seriously. HATED IT.
I don’t know if it was the choice of strings, the non-maple fingerboard, or the fact that I didn’t adjust the truss rod when I did the setup because things seemed fine, but it played like garbage for me at the show and just didn’t have the right presence sonically. I played maybe four songs and swapped back for the other one. What a disappointment. I was really digging it at home. Maybe it’s just better as a sit-down, studio bass. Not sure. I’ll figure it out, or if not, I’ll let it go. No big deal – there’s no real emotional attachment to this one yet.
The Speakeasy show with Chandler and The Bings went SPLENDIDLY – lots of energy and fun – and a packed house, which included my lovely wife Erin! I was so excited to have her there and seeing her face always makes me feel happy and loved. (Thanks to her friend Christopher for being on toddler duty so she could come.)
The solo show at 360 UNO was just as much fun as the CATB show – Using a “new old gear” setup I brought my Line 6 X3 Live pedalboard back into the fray, designed a patch that ran my vocals and guitar, and it made setup even faster. And I added a Bluetooth page turner footswitch so that I never have to reach up and scroll on my iPad.
I also recorded the show. I was trying to get a decent video of the show to share, but the video looked like total garbage, so I’m sharing the audio with you, if you’d like to have an idea of what my shows are like. It’s pretty good. Some clearly iffy vocal moments (just had a gig the night before, which usually makes things dodgy) and enough guitar clams to make a chowder, but I was happy with it and the crowd really seemed to enjoy it.
Here it is in its entirety:
I didn’t take a break, so it’s two solid hours. Feel free to skip around. Comments are welcome.
Here’s a list of the songs I played (with timecode, for the aforementioned skipping around…):
0:00:24 Hurts So Good 0:03:52 Bad Moon Rising 0:06:02 Learn To Fly 0:09:57 Bus Stop 0:13:14 Lodi 0:15:58 Daydream Believer 0:19:12 Just Like Heaven 0:21:52 Ain’t No Sunshine 0:24:13 Stray Cat Strut 0:27:07 Hold Me Now 0:31:27 Happy Together 0:35:12 What’s Going On 0:38:48 The Way 0:43:16 Every Rose Has Its Thorn 0:47:34 Wanted Dead Or Alive 0:52:42 Can’t Buy Me Love 0:54:52 Santeria 0:58:19 Plush 1:03:30 Wonderwall 1:07:39 Drift Away 1:11:43 Crazy Little Thing Called Love 1:15:03 Hey Jealousy 1:18:42 The Middle 1:21:59 No Such Thing 1:25:31 Always Something There To Remind Me 1:29:01 Tainted Love 1:32:08 I’m A Believer 1:35:22 I Melt With You 1:39:52 Interstate Love Song 1:43:33 Get Back 1:46:56 Out Of My Head 1:50:34 Walking On A Thin Line 1:55:47 Blitzkrieg Bop 1:58:14 Baby One More Time
More Bings stuff coming up, then a Florida trip – hoping to coordinate seeing a lot of my Jax friends. Have to figure out a venue to be hanging around in on Friday or Saturday night or something for when I’m in town.
Enough from me for now. I was going to rant on some big concept, and I still have a few ideas I’m going to explore in the coming months, but for now, just an update.
Take care, have a great week, and thanks for reading!
Peace be the journey. TMS
Museday Mumblings (Vol. 68): Inspiration, Machines, Cranky Old Mofos
My musical mission thus far in 2022 has centered on a few things: Playing good shows. Getting my gear all in proper operation. Learning how to use my new tools (patchbay, Behringer X18 mixer). Forming inspirations into ideas into actual songs.
I’ve succeeded at the good shows part – I played great in both of my Bings shows, and at times was so locked in with Jay every bit of both of our performances made the other’s even better. Excellent crowd in San Antonio, too.
My solo show was a bit hit or miss, working my way through my first on-stage slow-motion anxiety attack. I couldn’t get air, which made it extraordinarily hard to sing. Then, hilariously, I used the altered tuning feature on my Line 6 Variax to play Wonderwall with a “Capo” on the second fret, and promptly FORGOT TO CHANGE IT BACK! So the next group of songs (Drift Away, Crazy Little Thing Called Love, Always Something There To Remind Me, I’m A Believer, No Such Thing, and Hey Jealousy) were all played a WHOLE STEP HIGHER than I usually play them. Which made the whole “not having any air” thing even worse. And made it so I didn’t even end up playing one of my “standards”, the Turtles underappreciated classic “Elenore”, because there was no way in HELL I’d be singing that chorus in F#. I literally just stopped the song and moved on. I felt like such an unprofessional loser, and it ruined my evening. I came home a ball of nerves, and I think mildly freaked my wife out. Being someone who’s more of a depressive than an anxious person, it always freaks me out when the stress hormones get rolling, and it’s hard to recover. I think a pharmaceutical would have been helpful (perhaps a Xanax), but I don’t have that stuff. In the end, the venue was happy, and if I’m being honest with myself, even though I was falling apart inside, I still sounded pretty dang good. Just not as good as I normally would sound. I am kind of glad I didn’t record this one, though.
Moving on to the technical stuff – using the wonderful substance Deoxit, in the past few months I’ve cleaned the pots and jacks on a bunch of my aging things and it’s brought them back to life, particularly my “first guitar” – which technically was my brother Robert’s first guitar – now all it needs is to have its nut glued in properly and it’ll be a fun little pseudo-Telecaster to bang around on. I also cleaned up the pots on my basses, bringing them back to proper function, and even rescued a presumed-dead guitar wireless by merely cleaning the output jack. All I need now are some new strings on some of these guitars and basses and we’ll be in business.
Speaking of guitars and basses, I sold one in December. A Dean ML bass (looks kind of like the guitar Dimebag Darrell from Pantera used to play). It never worked for me, and it was a four-string, so I wasn’t using it, it was basically just collecting dust, and since I only paid $49 for it on a blowout sale at Guitar Center over a decade ago, I still made money on the deal, selling it for $100. I probably could have made more off it, but I just wanted it gone and the dude seemed nice.
Last Thursday I had to head down to San Antonio for the day job and on the way home decided to pop by the Guitar Center down there, and discovered a two-pickup version of my “#1” Sterling by Music Man Ray 5 bass that I use in Chandler and The Bings. I couldn’t believe it. More than that, it was on sale for the same price as I picked the #1 up for back in 2018 (that model has since gone up in price, and this version was even more). I decided to snag it. I couldn’t help myself! Pics or it didn’t happen:
She pretty.
It desperately needs new strings and a cleaning/set-up. But I already love it, and that’ll only make it more awesome.
Back in 2021 I got an amazing deal on a Behringer X18 mixer and am just now learning all the little things it can do. It’s going to be central to the new studio setup as I streamline and get things in order. It has amazing routing capabilities and some really cool built-in effects I can play with for doing live streams and stuff like that. This with the patchbay and my ATEM switcher will definitely enable me to do some really cool, interactive stuff from the studio in the future. I just have to get it all plugged up and learn how to make it all work together. I think my Edirol M-16DX, which has been my trusty studio sidekick for over 10 years now, will become the center of my live solo acoustic rig, making setting up and running all that much simpler, because it can live in a rack bag that I can keep set up and basically just plug my guitar and my vocal mic into it and still have effects and stuff I can use.
The last goal is inspiration – and translating that inspiration into new material. I’ve already written down multiple new ideas for songs – concepts more than phrases, really, but really good, inspiring starting points. And I’ve got a bunch more I’ve collected over the past few years that will be worked into songs. I might even use music that I liked from my old songs and replace the dodgy lyrical content with something based off these new ideas. (It won’t be the first time I’ve done that.) Time will tell for all of it.
I was listening to WTF with Marc Maron and his interview with John Mellencamp, and it was really fun listening to two cranky old motherfuckers talk about all kinds of stuff relating to John’s career, music in general, and how to exist on the planet. In fact, two of the aforementioned song ideas directly came to mind as a result of their conversation. So I’m already snagging that inspiration wherever it may show itself.
In summary, I’m excited for the new year at least as my musical experiences are panning out. I love learning new things and feeling energized when it comes to this stuff, so I’m very optimistic that if I make sure I’m investing time in this instead of sitting on my ass watching Rick Beato videos (not that those aren’t awesome), I’ll actually make some headway getting my shit together and creating things. I like the progress my friend Mandy has made with her dedication to live-streaming on Twitch, and I think maybe I’m going to try and make a Musical Schizo concert there a regular part of my week, once I decide on a day and time to do it and get more used to how all that live-streaming stuff works.
Thanks for reading, take care, be safe, and remember to love one another.
So I got me a patchbay. What’s a patchbay? Well, it’s a rackmounted (in most cases) device that allows you to have your instruments and interfaces all hooked up in a way that allows you to easily change their routing as you need. So if you have a bunch of guitar effects things, keyboards, whatever, you can have them all hooked up to the patchbay, and you can very easily plug them in to each other or into whatever inputs on your recorder, mixer, or computer interface you want to use.
So far, it’s not all the way hooked up, but I’m so stupidly excited about having everything hooked up and patchable from one place that it’s occupied a lot of my mental real estate related to music/production/etc. Thinking of the various ways I can get it hooked up, and what I’m going to patch into it, all of that…it’s so wonderful and exciting to me. And that’s very inspiring.
Finding new ways to work can be such a wonderful thing to light the fire around creating music. This new way to work really has opened me up to the possibility that I don’t have to get behind stuff and plug and unplug things to make them all available to me. I can just patch them on the front panel, or if they’re already hooked up to the specific input I need to use, just leave them there. It’s great and I really can’t wait to get it all set up and ready to go.
So find something that shakes up your workflow to get you inspired to get in there and make some music. It’s working for me. (Now if I could only do that with my songwriting…)
The first quarter of the year was pretty lame. Not a whole lot going on that was new.
Started back with gigs in May. (YAY!)
Joined an awesome Yacht Rock band but punked out because I had to accept reality the playing level expected didn’t fit with my current lifestyle. It still makes me sad when I think about it.
Blogged many, many times but got super inconsistent at the end of the year (depression does that to you).
Made many great improvements to my home studio building on all the great improvements from 2020. Hey, I figure if I live in this room for work, it might as well be decked out, right? Upgraded the live bass rig from a little HX Stomp to the HX Stomp XL, which has more footswitches. Very happy with the change.
Went to California for a family vacation. It was more of a trip than a vacation, because it was the opposite of relaxing, but it was wonderful to be back “home” and see some California family and friends. The Golden State is as much a part of me as anywhere else I’ve ever lived, and I still miss it. If I win a large sum in the lottery, I will buy property there.
Discovered great new music – Mammoth WVH’s debut album is EXCELLENT, as was their live show. I Don’t Know How But They Found Me (aka IDKHOW) somehow escaped me when they were the alternative music press’ retro darling a few years back, but now I know who they are (thanks to my bud Dennis) and dig the SHIT out of their stuff. They’re 80s in all the best ways, but current – if you like the idea of Duran Duran and The Cure having a baby, you’ll probably dig this.
Wrote ZERO songs. Didn’t even compose riffs or anything this year. Not sure why…just not all that inspired. I did do some livestream noodling.
Returned to the stage as a solo act thanks to my friend (and excellent livestreamer) Mandy Prater recommending me to the awesome people at 360 Uno.
And I think that’s about it.
Definitely going to get things set up in the studio in 2022 for easier musical creativity and make it a point to make stuff. I might even make videos of the process since I have that awesome-but-basically-unused live streaming mixer. And Bathroom Schizo videos!
Or not. Since I like to believe I’ll do creative things but I rarely come through because life and my mental state often get in the way. STAY TUNED!
One thing that’s definitely happening in 2022 is a return of the weekly format for the Museday Mumblings. I slacked hard in Q4 and I find that embarrassing.
Thanks for reading, and I hope you have a wonderful 2022! TMS
Monday Moanings (Vol. 1): I CAN’T HANDLE IT! Also: PURPLE!!!
All I want is for people to do their jobs, for the systems to function as they are designed, and for everything else to get out of the fucking way. Is that too much to ask?
Yes, Brian. It’s way too much to ask. That’s not how things work at all. You’re like that lady in the insurance ad with all the pictures tacked to her wall and her friend comes over and tells her, “that’s not how this works…that’s not how any of this works…!”
That is me.
Of course, not really, because I’m fully cognitively aware of the fact that most things are beyond my control and thus not worth fussing over. But that doesn’t stop my dumb-dumb lizard brain from getting all mad about it.
This isn’t actually going to be a series, by the way. I just happened to be sitting at my computer and thought it might be fun to write something about how today went for me. I should be over the moon of course, since I managed to score a new guitar over the weekend that I like A LOT. TIME TO SHARE THE PURPLEY GOODNESS!
It’s PURPLE, people!
Looks super purple here because I used a bright light. It’s much more subtle.
Needs a wipe-down, but it’s purpley!
This was a limited edition from 2017 that I’ve been lusting after for years. A super nice dude named Randy sold it to me for a good deal.
So now I feel better sharing the purpley goodness with you and I can get back to normal. I have to change a poop diaper now. See y’all tomorrow or so when I do my regular musing.
I have been using fakery to get my sounds for over 20 years.
It’s true. Rather than relying on actual analog circuitry to create the sounds I use on stage, no matter whether I’m playing bass or guitar, generally-speaking and for the vast majority of the past 20 years, I’ve been using a technology called “modeling”.
If you happen to be unfamiliar with the technology, modeling defines a variety of techniques used to digitally emulate analog circuitry. They basically take a real amplifier or effects module and do a TON of measurements on it to see how it behaves and then they convert that information into computer algorithms that create a precise replica of how those analog circuits change the signals that pass through them.
I was first introduced to this technology through Line 6’s very first product, the AxSys 212 guitar amplifier. It frankly blew me away with all the different sounds you could get out of it. There really wasn’t anything on the market like it at the time. There were a few amps that sort of did the same thing, but none that did it as well or in quite the same way. It had this incredible footswitch that connected by just ONE Cat-5 cable that basically turned the amp into a multi-effects rack that was completely foot-controllable – no pedal board needed.
Line 6’s AxSys 212 with Floor Board foot controller
Line 6’s physical modeling “Tube Tone” technology was the first that really kind of breathed like a “real” amp to me. I didn’t have anywhere near enough money to afford it, nor did I want something that looked as weird as it did, but it definitely put the company on my radar.
A year or two later, I had gainful employment and was looking to get a new amplifier because I wanted to have something reliable and loud enough to gig. The leading candidate at the time was a Peavey Special 212, because I really liked the idea of not having to worry about tubes or my amp being particularly delicate. And I really liked the Peavey TransTube analog circuit – it was just mushy enough to make me not miss having tubes. So every time I’d go to my local music emporiums, I would plug into a Special 212 and play a little, and frequently I’d pop over to the Line 6 stuff to see if there was anything new, and that’s when I saw their “Flextone” line of amps. I thought, “Wow – this sounds just as good as that big boy. And you can use that big foot controller, too!” The price was still too steep for me at the time, but I did gather up a promo CD that previewed the sounds available in Flextone, and kept my eyes open while borrowing my brother’s Fender Ultimate Chorus when I needed enough volume to play over a drummer.
Line 6 Flextone XL
Here’s the audio from that promotional Flextone CD, in case you were curious:
I was thinking, “If only they’d create something that would allow me to afford this revolutionary technology…” Then they introduced POD.
The Original “Kidney Bean”.
I HAD to have it.
It was a lot cheaper than their amps, AND it worked with that big Floor Board thing from the AxSys!
In early 1999, I did a payment plan with American Musical Supply and got the Line 6 POD, the Floor Board (which now didn’t have that green stripe on it – it was just black and white), and a nice little bag to hold the POD and power supply. Considering I’d just gotten myself a nice computer and my first “real” audio interface, this POD was the perfect next step to be able to really record my music. I didn’t figure I’d be playing gigs any time soon, as I’d just started playing bass with a cover band and I figured that’d occupy my time.
I realized from the start that I could also get a great sound plugging the POD into my PA system…the POD wasn’t designed just as an effects box to put into a guitar amp, and honestly, it didn’t sound particularly good when run like that, even with the “amp” setting on the outputs. So that became my guitar rig – POD into PA. Little did I know that kind of setup would basically be my guitar and bass rig for the rest of my career as a musician.
In June 2000, Line 6’s next excellent product (for me) hit stores: Bass POD.
I got George’s Music in Jax Beach to hold this for me the FIRST DAY it was available!
I bought one the first day it was out. I called George’s Music (at the time, probably the best music store in Jacksonville, way out at the beach, about an hour’s drive from my house in Orange Park) and they put one behind the counter for me. This changed my whole approach live.
Before, I’d just run into my combo amp and send the XLR direct out to the PA. And unfortunately, it had a buzz and didn’t translate my amp tone particularly well. Now, I’d run the amp model output to the PA we were using, however large or small, and I’d have a big-ass bass tone rumbling through the PA system. I’d run the DI out to my amp on stage for a little more localized thumping. I’d use the Floor Board with it to switch effects or boost my signal, or to run a wah-wah sound and cut my volume between sets or for bass changes. It was great. I loved the sound. I loved the weird looks on sound guys faces when they heard how awesome my bass sounded through their PA. I was fully hooked. Eventually, I’d ditch the amp and just get my bass sound from my on-stage monitors. Lugging the bass amp just wasn’t worth it.
Over the years, I’ve become quite a Line 6 fanboy, participating in various user forums (as Tripper), owning a ridiculous amount of different Line 6 products, and even making friends with people who work there (or worked there) online. Once I even was in a development group where I had to sign an NDA helping Line 6 with ideas for their next products. I was even kind of a part of Line 6’s marketing, since pictures of me were used to create line drawings in the marketing materials for one of the products. I never really wore the rose-colored glasses that most fanboys have – I’ve always acknowledged the superiority of analog circuits – but the gap between the analog originals and modeling technology has grown narrower with every new generation of modeling, from Line 6, Fractal Audio Systems, Kemper, or whoever.
As new POD units came out, I’d upgrade, as they always seemed to find more detail and get closer to a more “real” sound. I’ve owned at least one of every generation of POD. Lots of amps, too. I had one of the original Spider amps for a little while. It kind of sucked, to be honest. I sent it back and used the cash to get a Flextone II Plus that I purchased from an internet buddy who had created a head enclosure for the amp guts that I would later use with a Carvin stereo 4×12″ cabinet for a cool half-stack setup. I got lucky and picked up their flagship Vetta amplifier (with an even BIGGER floor board) for an amazing deal, and I lugged that heavy beast to all my 2003-2006 guitar-playing shows when there was room. When there wasn’t room, I’d just use a PODxt.
I was an early-ish adopter of their Variax guitars – the original black one I got (which at a little over $900 is still the most I’ve ever spent on a guitar) – is still my #1 choice for playing acoustic shows (since it has a great acoustic guitar emulation built in). The Variax system modeled different guitars, and using the specialized VDI connector with a piece of Line 6 gear that had the capability, you could save your guitar settings in the amp or floor unit with your amp settings and switch them immediately – going from a clean acoustic sound to a Les Paul into a crunchy Marshall amp with one stomp of your foot.
TMS in November 2005 with Vetta and Variax connected via VDI
Around 2007 or so I eventually got a POD X3 Live, and it is one of my favorite pieces of gear I’ve ever owned. It has a VDI connector and the dual-amp feature of the Vetta, but in a compact and light floor board format with one pedal (I used for volume and wah) that fit perfectly on basically every stage but gave you full control over your settings.
Longest-serving #1 rig – beat to death and still works great!
The X3 Live was my main rig for bass and guitar for years, and then I got the POD HD500, which had very little capability for bass. So the X3 remained my bass rig and I tried to make the HD500 work for guitar. I also acquired a James Tyler Variax JTV-69 that became my #1 for electric guitar shows. When I played guitar with the band Nudge in 2014 I used the JTV-69 with the HD500, and again for my brief tenure with Flext in 2016.
Me in 2014 with my James Tyler Variax JTV-69 (HD500 on the floor, not pictured) Photo by Cecily Johnson
Eventually they sold add-ons to expand the capabilities of the HD500, but I wasn’t that impressed overall and it fell into disuse once I took the leap of faith and bought the very-expensive-but-utterly-brilliant Helix in 2017 (like my original POD, on a payment plan from AMS).
Best. Gear. Ever.
After getting Helix, I didn’t really want anything else. Then they announced HX Stomp, which is basically a tiny Helix and the perfect little rig for me to use for my bass gigs. I had to have that, so I managed to trick Guitar Center into giving me a massive discount shortly after they appeared in stores, and it’s been my #1 bass rig ever since.
Tiny box, MASSIVE SOUND!
I owe so much of my creativity and fun with music over the past 22 years to Line 6, their wonderful community of users and their creative and useful products. Some musicians like to crap on them, and that’s fine. Not everyone is going to “get it”.
Line 6 started out small, grew massive with the success of the POD amp modeling/effects units and their Spider amps, lost their way for a while in the late 2000s/early 2010s and made some truly uninspired gear and questionable marketing choices, but have returned to form, most recently under new ownership as part of Yamaha Guitar Group. They have an inspired team of designers and developers constantly improving all the Helix/HX series and their other products, the community of users is better than ever, and their customer service (at least for North American customers) is second to none in their industry.
I’ve always been able to make their gear work for me and sound great in the process. One of my favorite things as a Line 6 user is having people come up to me at shows, especially snobby musicians, and compliment me on my sound, only to have them be utterly shocked when they see what I’m running.
Thanks, Line 6. I’ve given you lots of my money over the years, but it’s been worth every penny and more. I’m proud to be a Line 6 fanboy.
Peace be the journey!
TMS
APPENDIX: A list of the Line 6 things I’ve owned over the years (I still own all but the starred ones – I don’t think I forgot anything):
POD (the original – version 1.4 – never updated to 2.0) POD bag (fits POD and power supply) Floor Board Floor Board bag (fits a POD and the Floor Board) POD amp bracket (allows POD to be mounted to mic stand or on top of an amp on its handle) Bass POD Spider 112* (original red Spider) – took back to buy… Flextone II Plus with… Flextone Cab (turned Flextone II Plus into 100w stereo amp) Flextone amp cover PODxt (new generation modeling technology – added all extra amps and effects through “model packs” – lives with my brother now) Vetta Combo* (2×12″ LOUD guitar amp that did two models at a time with…) FBV Longboard* (an even BIGGER floor board with more switching ability) FBV Longboard bag Bass PODxt* (sold in 2019 – it had been used maybe twice in a decade) Variax guitar (later renamed “500”) Variax 300 guitar Variax Bass 5-string Pocket POD POD X3 Live Variax Bass 4-string* (sold because I don’t really play 4-string bass much) Relay G30 Wireless (perfect for over 10 years – input jack just broke in 2020) TonePort GX USB recording interface GearBox VST (computer recording plugin) TonePort DI USB recording interface POD Farm VST (computer recording program/plugin) James Tyler Variax JTV-69 guitar (my #1 gigging guitar other than acoustic) POD HD500* (sold in 2020 because I wasn’t using it anymore) Helix Floor (best bit of modeling gear I’ve ever owned) Helix Backpack (got for free on a special when I bought Helix) Helix Native (computer plugin version of the Helix) TonePort UX8 8-channel USB interface (bought at a pawn shop cheap) POD X3 (the bean-shaped one-got cheap to use at work and as a backup rig) HX Stomp (like a teeny baby version of the Helix – my main bass rig) POD Go (like a more simplified version of the Helix) Powercab 112 Plus (just got Tuesday – a clever amplification solution)
