wateroftyne

First rehearsal today - six hours' worth. It was loads of fun. The show's being shot for DVD, so everything has to be spot-on. We've got a week in the rehearsal hall, so we'll have the monitor mixes pretty much there by the weekend, so hopefully the check in the arena will mostly be tweaking stuff. The band is great.. the drummer's from Lindisfarne, the keyboard player's from Dire Straits, the other keyboard player and sax player are from The 1975's live band, the guitarist was a touring member of The Arctic Monkeys, and one of our vocalists sang on 'I Would Do Anything For Love' with Meat Loaf. And then there's me. I daren't pinch myself. Loads of pics here: https://www.sundayforsammy.org/sunday-for-sammy-2018-access-all-areas

Just had a six-hour rehearsal with it today. MY GOD... the notes are massive. Some of the tunes are old-school P-and-flats, others are rounds and growl, and it just responds beautifully. It's beautiful. Can't wait for tomorrow.

That logo, though.. it's one step away from Comic Sans.

More pics, just 'cos the sun finally came out...

Okey doke - I'll suggest it to him :-)

That would be a good idea - I'll mention it to Leszek. Are you volunteering to babysit it?

OK.. in that case, how far back do you want to go?

Here's some more pics. LPB is a really tricky colour to capture...

There's some horrors out there. ...and the winner of of the 'Most hideous headstock decal' award:

I think he's into production now, but I'm not sure.. Here's a bit of noodling from this afternoon...

Boom! NBD thread here.

Well lookie what landed today! So... this is a Limelight Precision, with a '67 spec in a light-relic LPB finish. I ordered it last year, and had a good chat with the - extremely pleasant - Mark at Limelight to discuss the spec and the level of relic'ing. I wanted the finish to be a little more muted, so it glows a bit more, and he's obliged. It's a nice weight, less than 9lbs, helped by the Gotoh Res-o-Lites, which bumped the cost up a little more. I've just put proper strings on it (it came with fairly light rounds), and it sounds just like I'd hoped. A really nice P... and it cost significantly less than a Fender Roadworn MIM. I'm about to start a solid week of rehearsals, so lots of time to give it a run out. Happy days!

OK... just had another blast on it, and I can confirm there's no LEDs - it's just the long exposure. In reality, the valves just glow gently :-)

One word... massive. I was instantly reminded how tactile valve heads are. Here's a really crappy vid I've thrown together tonight. The camera mic is terrible, so please don't pay too much attention to it. Also, I was so giddy with excitement I forgot to play anything useful. ha ha.

Poor Dave :-(

Just plugged it in. Omigosh.

I'm in the house band for the two Sunday for Sammy shows next weekend. I can't give too much away 'cos the line-up is under wraps, but with 5,000 people at each show, it's going to be fun. I'll take some pics and that, and try not to make any mistakes. Disclaimer: I fully acknowledge this is a 'boast post'. Apologies.

*points at door* Get out.

All credit to anyone who has the time to invest in a technique as random as this. I would love to, all my free time at the moment is taken up by covering an old Vauxhall Vectra with thousands of dried peas dabbed in glue, and there just aren't enough hours in the day.

No, it's just fine for me :-)

So.. the CTM15 isn't all-valve in the traditional sense? How did that misunderstanding come about, I wonder?

FWIW, I never miss them and I've got big fat sausage fingers and below-par eyesight :-D

Quick update... Leszek's just messaged to tell me a trial model is en-route to Geordieland :-) He says: 'It isn't the final design, but let's treat this matter like experiment ok? Amp sounds brighter caused by the speaker transformer I have used in this one. I am happy to hear your opinion, but ultimately I will use the transformer with a darker sound.' So... we'll see what happens! It's arriving just in time for a solid week of rehearsals, so I'll have loads of time to try it. At some point I imagine it'll be going on a grand tour of the UK, so watch this space.

Ah, bit of confusion there. From top-to-bottom: Lake Placid Blue Burgundy Mist Sherwood Green (often mistaken for aged LPB - the passage of time, and the right amount of sunlight & nicotine can leave them very similar)

Ah, just clicked... that's the Sherwood Green, yes? At first I thought it was aged LPB...