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Dirty-South Blues Harp forum: wail on! >
Follow-up, Opening for John Nemeth gig
Follow-up, Opening for John Nemeth gig
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LittleJoeSamson
192 posts
Jan 10, 2010
2:33 AM
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Well, what can I say. Was absolutely incredible.
I arrived early, as I live in SLO. Met up with our sax man, and we worked out some parts on certain songs. As the sax and harp are often in similar frequencies, we have to communicate well to not step on one another, or other possible harmonal problems.
I've always loved the sax ( my 1st instrument: BASS! ) and have gotten much inspiration from cats like Zoot Sims, Prez, Johnny Hodges, Benny Carter, Paul Gonsalvez, and other horn players.
Started loading our gear in, but had to wait for the sound guy ( who was super, really knew how to dial in ), so had my stuff off to the side with the sax guys stuff and later our bands drum gear.
Routine was that the feature band set up first, and they do their sound check; THEN the opening band (US) sets up and does our sound check.
Sound guy arrives and begins.
John and band arrive and my drummer and self help to drag gear in from the band. John, Kid, and rest of band are friendly and gracious.
I see Kid looking over my rodded and pimped Traynor. I think he liked it.
They do their thang, and then we set up.
We're a 6 piece.
I pull Carmen and get her fixed. I have the Blackheart in reserve.
I play four bars with Carmen, and it's vibrating the rafters!
Then, our temperamental bass player suggests that we mic my cab.
HEY, I'm blowing out windows with 150 watts of bridged Canadien technology, but what do I know?
OK, Mic the cab.
[The sound guy later said that he never had to dial me in the mix , except at the beginning, when I played soft.]
We opened with our standard mix: "Baby What You Want Me To Do", "Born in Pismo", "Sweet Oceano"
Then transitioned to Steely Dan with "Do It Again" where I do the synth mods on harp. Not easy, but I've got it.
Received the most applause for any solo from this for the entire night. Again, Carmen was in top form.
Then, I was the featured soloist for sidemen on "OH Darlin' "
I NAILED the parts!
Then, we did "Why Don't We Do It In the Road?". and I did my solo Bass Bugle .
The crowd went WILD!
This was followed by my original, "Bad Haired Woman" , a straight ahead shuffle with stops.
A REAL crowd pleaser...a true Chicago / Eddie Taylor groove.
The band mopped up with "Route 66" where I did a Big Walter comp,
and then finished with an original from the bandleader.
John was terrific, and the Kid was awesome. These guys are great!
The most common remark was " You guys are the BEST opening act we've had!".
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eharp
419 posts
Jan 10, 2010
5:24 AM
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DAMN!!
what else is there to say.
it sounds like you made quite the impression on the crowd and john's band.
btw- very good review. put me right in the venue.
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walterharp
172 posts
Jan 10, 2010
8:24 AM
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any video?
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JTThirty
51 posts
Jan 10, 2010
7:57 PM
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Cool Beans! Thanks for Sharing! And that Traynor sounds like a harp beast.
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jawbone
210 posts
Jan 10, 2010
9:11 PM
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Hey LJS - sounz like one of those night where it just clicks!!! Does it get any better?
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If it ain't got harp - it ain't really blues!!!!
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LittleJoeSamson
194 posts
Jan 10, 2010
10:26 PM
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You said it, jawbone! Thanks for the congrats, from everyone.
No vid's that I know of, but there should be plenty of pic's down the road. A very pro photographer took lots of shots. Seemed like he took an inordinate number of pics of yours truly, but I was wearing my battleship grey Italian suit and shiny black Italian shoes...black shirt and pocket hank and leopard print tie with my trademark porkpie hat with playing cards in the brim. I'll see if I can score some to post.
Reportedly, the sound guy records all these events. Would make a great "LIVE" CD.
The band also almost sold out on a promo pack: a CD with four extended versions of some of our popular song renditions AND a T-shirt with a cartoon drawing that I did of a band pose ( I'm a professional cartoonist when I'm not doing music ). BOTH for $20!
My sister bought two!
Something else funny....John was talking casually with the sound guy early on, and inquired if he was familiar with any of his recent songs. Sound guy said no, but I spoke up and said I had, and how much I like "Love Me Tonight" and then just sang the first verse.
John said, "Hey, you have a pretty good voice!" and I quickly responded, "Well, you wrote a pretty good song!". He liked that, and I sincerely mean it.
Yeah, JT, Carmen is a real tone monster now...not just loud. I'll be forever indebted to my good friend Mark Pannier that passed from Hodgkin's two years ago for scoring her for me.
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jawbone
211 posts
Jan 11, 2010
5:58 AM
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Hey LJS - I've got a '67 YGM 1 - Guitar Mate Reverb, is that anything like yours and do you have any simple mods that could be made. We have tried to take a lot of the treble out of it.
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If it ain't got harp - it ain't really blues!!!!
Last Edited by on Jan 11, 2010 5:58 AM
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LittleJoeSamson
195 posts
Jan 11, 2010
7:35 AM
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jawbone, mine's the YGL-3, 2X12, 80W/channel, and I bridge the channels, 4 X 6CA7/EL34 . LOTS more power than your YGM-1...why I had to detune it to voice for harp.
The YGM with two 6BQ5's will be alot brighter, British sounding. Try and find some used '50s-60's USA tubes @ 75% to fatten it up, or Mullards that are more cushy to begin with, from same era. The Mullards will not be cheap, the used ones could be.
There's so many variations possible in the pre amp, but what might work is going with a 6211 in V1 instead of the 12AU7, and then using a 12DW7 in V2 and not a 12AX7. The 6211 is kind of a "secret" tube for harp, like a 5751 became as a replacement for 12AX& for guitar players. They're classified as a 12AT7 variant, but they sound more like a smoother 12AY7 or a livlier 12AU7...and at 27 mu are right between those two. Most were very well built with lo-microphonics, as they were designed for hi-end computers ( the kind you see in all those old James Bond movies ). They're not all that expensive ( yet ), but are not that common, either.
Another pairing could be the lo-noise 5814A variant of 12AU7 and a 12AY7.
Then, it's mainly a matter of dialing in settings. These early Traynor's used the Mid pot as a kind of EQ'ing feature. Cutting Mid to 0 will make the bass and treble more responsive, and then you can set bass way up and treble low to taste.
You can also install a beam blocker to muffle the hi's. I just velcro a 4" cork coaster centered over the speaker.
Just a few of the tricks.
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LittleJoeSamson
196 posts
Jan 11, 2010
8:12 AM
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jawbone, I checked out your URL. Nice! You're right there in Yorkville territory, so finding some more rock-solid Trains should be easier for you!
Listening thru a laptop can be subjective, but were you using the YGM-1 on the first track ( Lil' Red Rooster ) ?
Sounded good, but what I detected was more reverb, which the Traynors are famous for being hot. That has a tendency to make them sound gainier, but here again it could be my system here. Something you could try is to dime the tremolo intensity, and then set the speed over 5 so it will not be overly noticeable. It's kind of a noise cancellation trick to transfer power from the hi-EQ's.
Are you good with a solder iron? I'm guessing yours is similar PTP wiring as mine. I recently overhauled Carmen and remelted every connection that was not hard to get to, excepting some switches I knew to be working fine. Man, it really opened up the sound. Did not take as long as one might imagine. Just be careful around the electrolytic caps, and/or drain them first. Usual caveats about working near elec. that can kill.
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jawbone
212 posts
Jan 11, 2010
8:13 AM
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Thanx LJS - I will copy this down, I'm still using my '67 champ for most gig's (the few we are getting) it is still plenty loud, I don't have it fully cranked yet and if my band gets any louder than it can handle it's time to give them a stern talking to!!! or in the words of Eddie Clearwater "Give them a damn good leavin' alone"
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If it ain't got harp - it ain't really blues!!!!
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