Headlining on the Friday night at the Xmas Fayre on Angel Hill? Well, we just had the last one hour slot of the day following a rock-a-billy band called Fretz! Our slot started at 7pm but we were required to show up a couple of hours earlier. We only needed back line, so I tested my Mesa Lonestar amp with the Roland FX and packed a few leads. I also put on my thermal underwear because, even though it was a mild night for the time of year, it would be cold playing in the open. Chris the bass was taking a half stack and kindly picked me up at 4:15pm for the drive us into town. Getting through security was a bit of a faff, and the Mayor of Bury was brought over to walk in front of the car to lead us to the car park near the old tourist office. This was still a hundred yards to the Abbeygate Green King stage in the square so I borrowed a trolley thing and we shifted the amps to the assembly area to the left of the stage. Chris the drum was already there and a school choir was performing, so we minimised disruption while they finished by heading to the One Bull pub for a pint. When we came back we shifted our gear into the artiste assembly tent - aka green room! Fretz did their set and Chris assembled his kit while they were on so we were all ready for a quick change. They played a fine set of that idiom; I was pleased to see there was no overlap with our set. The wives and entourage all arrived about 20 minutes before our show time and the square was busy if not crowded.
The changeover went very smoothly. The sound guy miked my amp up with a SM57 and the kit with a condenser mic on the top and a bass drum mic. Chris provided a DI from the 'pre' socket on the back of his amp and all was working very quickly. We didn't do a sound check as such and just got straight on with FBI. My amp was a bit toppy, so I took the volume down a bit on guitar and that seemed better. We got a good reception for our start off and I led us quickly into "Heartbeat". The toppy edge came back, but not a lot I could do while singing. Interestingly, some ladies out front had been dancing, so I got quickly on with "Rock Around Clock". It was after the solo in this that my amp lost a lot of power and we had to drivel it to a finish. I switched guitar socket thinking the guitar battery had given out, but no sound at all then. I touched the tip of the jack, not a whisper? So I swapped lead and - we got sound back! We got straight on with "Alright Mama". Good pace but I could feel the amp struggling to maintain volume, so I kept the guitar signal as high as possible to blow the problem free - that seemed to work a bit. We got through the song and set up for "Rocking Around the Xmas Tree - White Xmas" All OK and I started to relax. Next was "Ring of Fire". The guitar sound went again in the last verse. The number came to a close and I fiddled around a bit but I never got to the bottom of it on the night. From then on it seemed to work enough for us to get on with the set. Chris had a go at "Delilah" and it sounded fine. The guitar sound was a bit distorted but workable as we carried on with the Beatles and Searchers. No harmoniser on the mics but the mic sound was good on stage and Jacqui later reported the vocals as being strong out front. We were going down well with this passing crowd and I ramped us up a gear by doing "Hi Ho into Alright Now". The guitar sounded good in these! We ran to a finish with "Johnny B Goode" . We had done about 45 minutes but it felt like hours with all the problems. I know we weren't at our best but all our followers thought it was good - with a really strong band sound out front making the stress of the situation less noticeable.
Pack up went smoothly and the Mayor who was MC for the event came over to say he had enjoyed our set and would we be up for it next year? 'Yes Please' we said. It had been quite enjoyable despite the problems.
Jacqui and I walked back intending to get a beer on the way but, as the One Bull was packed, we ended up having a beer at home .
Next day I ran the guitar rig at home and found:
1. The guitar lead has a silent switch on it. I must have knocked it when changing sockets!
2. The amp was set as I use it at home with the FX loop enabled. There has always been an intermittent fault with this. I thought the service had fixed it but it was still there. The fix is simple - switch it to hard bypass and a relay switches that circuitry out! That's the way I used to use it with the Foot Tappers for maximum power and clarity!
3. The guitar battery was OK but I changed it to be on safe side!
The changeover went very smoothly. The sound guy miked my amp up with a SM57 and the kit with a condenser mic on the top and a bass drum mic. Chris provided a DI from the 'pre' socket on the back of his amp and all was working very quickly. We didn't do a sound check as such and just got straight on with FBI. My amp was a bit toppy, so I took the volume down a bit on guitar and that seemed better. We got a good reception for our start off and I led us quickly into "Heartbeat". The toppy edge came back, but not a lot I could do while singing. Interestingly, some ladies out front had been dancing, so I got quickly on with "Rock Around Clock". It was after the solo in this that my amp lost a lot of power and we had to drivel it to a finish. I switched guitar socket thinking the guitar battery had given out, but no sound at all then. I touched the tip of the jack, not a whisper? So I swapped lead and - we got sound back! We got straight on with "Alright Mama". Good pace but I could feel the amp struggling to maintain volume, so I kept the guitar signal as high as possible to blow the problem free - that seemed to work a bit. We got through the song and set up for "Rocking Around the Xmas Tree - White Xmas" All OK and I started to relax. Next was "Ring of Fire". The guitar sound went again in the last verse. The number came to a close and I fiddled around a bit but I never got to the bottom of it on the night. From then on it seemed to work enough for us to get on with the set. Chris had a go at "Delilah" and it sounded fine. The guitar sound was a bit distorted but workable as we carried on with the Beatles and Searchers. No harmoniser on the mics but the mic sound was good on stage and Jacqui later reported the vocals as being strong out front. We were going down well with this passing crowd and I ramped us up a gear by doing "Hi Ho into Alright Now". The guitar sounded good in these! We ran to a finish with "Johnny B Goode" . We had done about 45 minutes but it felt like hours with all the problems. I know we weren't at our best but all our followers thought it was good - with a really strong band sound out front making the stress of the situation less noticeable.
Pack up went smoothly and the Mayor who was MC for the event came over to say he had enjoyed our set and would we be up for it next year? 'Yes Please' we said. It had been quite enjoyable despite the problems.
Jacqui and I walked back intending to get a beer on the way but, as the One Bull was packed, we ended up having a beer at home .
Next day I ran the guitar rig at home and found:
1. The guitar lead has a silent switch on it. I must have knocked it when changing sockets!
2. The amp was set as I use it at home with the FX loop enabled. There has always been an intermittent fault with this. I thought the service had fixed it but it was still there. The fix is simple - switch it to hard bypass and a relay switches that circuitry out! That's the way I used to use it with the Foot Tappers for maximum power and clarity!
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