Grateful Dead Music Forum

Here's some really good quality vids from our last gig - well, as good as youtube can get anyhow... Aside from the mistakes (of which there are plenty!) it was a VERY fun night!

Sounds good. You guys have the best bassist. Dude is poppin. Did you used to play in Buffalo, NY before heading east?

Yeah - Dan's the best!

Yes I did play with the Maniacs in Buffalo before heading east. That is - heading east after a 5 year layover in Denver!

Dude, those vids are such good quality! What camera are you using? Are you using a separate mic for the sound or the camera's built-in mic?

Thanks,
Jim

Thanks! I'm not sure what the camera was - a pretty high end HD of some sort. The audio is just from the camera's built in mics

If you could ask someone about the camera (what kind/model) I'd really appreciate it. Your band sounds great!

Thanks,
Jim

You guys sound great. I ended up going to your youtube page and watching about 2 hours worth. Mike, your Jerry tone is really nice. Are you you using a ss power amp that I can't see, or is that all the twin? Your bass palyer kicks ass....I want him in my band!

That's the twin. I really want to go with a SMS Classic though - one of these days I might go that route.

That twin sounds wonderful. I have a 72 showman reverb head I'm running preamped to an mc2120, to a homemade truckers cab with E120's. But to my ears, your twin on it's own sounds better. As far as I know my dsr is all stock, other than new tubes and adding the pre out. Maybe it needs a tune up and some blackface Jerry mods? Does that make a big difference in achieving "the sound"?
I have considered the sms classic too. Have you tried one out? It would be nice to not have to lug around a 50lb. box just for a preamp.

The twin is modded with the "jerry mods" - what that exactly is I'm not really sure. For a while I did use the pre-amp output into a QSC power amp but it was just to sterile - no grit to it. I found that the twin puts out plenty of juice all on it's own - I really don't need more power. It's biased so that it just starts to get a little dirty with the volume set at about 3 or 4 - I never have to turn it up more than that. In fact, I usually have my guitar volume set at about 3/4 so I have lots of headroom if I need it (I rarely do need it). If I find that I'm needing to turn my guitar volume all the way up then it means that we're all just too loud.

We're also pretty lucky in that most places that we play we have a very good monitor mix so I'm able to add guitar in my monitor as I need so that I don't increase the overall stage volume.

No - I haven't really played with an SMS classic - but from the reviews and from Brad's knowledge alone I trust that it's a step in the right direction for the Jerry sound.

My main problem with the Twin is reliability - I've had quite a few problems with it during gigs. Transformer, tubes, fuses blowing - and the biggest culprit is it's sound when the incoming voltage is too low - it starts sounding like I've blown a speaker. In many situations I find that the only power that's available is split off to so many things that the current just isn't enough and the sag causes a really horrible sound. A solid state amp would work good in this situation. I think that because the SMS doesn't have a power section that it wouldn't be so affected by this.

An alternative that I'm looking into is having a solid state backup amp. There's nothing worse that having amp issues during a gig and having no backup...

mijknahs wrote:If you could ask someone about the camera (what kind/model) I'd really appreciate it. Your band sounds great!

Thanks,
Jim

I sent off an email - I'll post it as soon as I hear back

Sounds like you need a Power Regulator.

http://www.furmansound.com/product.php? ... id=AR-1215


Jim

mijknahs wrote:Sounds like you need a Power Regulator.
http://www.furmansound.com/product.php? ... id=AR-1215
Jim

Yeah - that would help. I used to have one when my effects were all rack mounted but I don't currently use a rack. I've also seen them shut down before because there's not enough current. The times that I've had the issue is when the power is supplied by a generator that is too small or when a ridiculously long power cord is run from one circuit and powers everything (stage AND PA). Most of these circumstances are beyond my control (like in a festival or other event) and I'd like to have something solid state that will at least get me by.

myoung6923 wrote:

mijknahs wrote:If you could ask someone about the camera (what kind/model) I'd really appreciate it. Your band sounds great!

Thanks,
Jim

I sent off an email - I'll post it as soon as I hear back

sony hdv 1080i, model hvr-z1u/z1n

Have only listend to a very little bit...but that's all it really took. You guys sound fantastic...you said it was a fun evening...it's evident. I'm sure it's been posted elsewhere but what's the name of your band? From the discussion it sounds as though you are, yet another, New England area band. I wish we could put one band of your calliber together in our area. Thanks.