msb

I’d have a heck of a time getting your gear back to my place. Truth is I’ve got too much stuff already. And Herself would give me grief if I tried to bring a 610 cab in the house. She sees different basses as art , but just sees black boxes when I see a gorgeous cab. I’m more likely to be buying amps , and have been looking around for a little Aguilar TH 350 to put in the living room … I’ll find one. I know of a 700 watt Tonehammer that’s local but I’d prefer the smaller one.

Give ‘em heck!

I have a bright yellow Kia hatchback. Easy to spot in a parking lot and easy to toss gear in the hatch. I live beside the Bedford Basin , that’s where the convoys were assembled for the war. At night it’s a twelve minute drive downtown , in daytime traffic it can be 30/40 minutes. I do the occasional gig out of town , but mostly play the rooms in the downtown core. I think of cars in simple terms of transportation. I gotta haul stuff downtown. Has to be reliable.

Some clubs have questionable wiring , I’ve suspected some amateur might have been paid with beer. With our electricity you feel it , but it’s rarely fatal.

Welcome! Those RB amps are legend for good reason. Where are you in France?

Welcome , I don’t usually “get” Warwick , but that looks beautiful.

Welcome ! Plonk here is usually an inexpensive wine. I’ve cut back a lot but still appreciate the occasional glass …

Our second gig with the Mexican band is now in the books. Crowd was slightly smaller but we still managed a good house. We recorded the night and we should start to hear stuff in the next several days , after mixing. It’s party music , and it works. The two trumpets are just nailing the parts. We’re pretty happy campers , the morning after.

Both cabs.

We put the posters up in the downtown core , and online. Our head honcho is a graphic designer and has been excellent at creating logos , buttons , and posters. Shirts are next. He managed to create a great buzz for the first gig. We had a capacity crowd. This gig looks promising too. We’re taping the night.

Our little Mexican project will be playing in our favourite old dive on Friday. It’s well rehearsed , we have two trumpets in the band , it will be our second gig.

I picked up this Ibanez Talman to be a mod platform , started , but have a lot yet to do.

There used to be a No Mustang Sally sign on the side of the stage…

… free admission but there’s a base pay and then a tip jar , the jar was quite full ! It’s just a mid sized room but there was a good sized crowd. The kids did a good job of dragging folks out.

I managed to usually play with musicians that were a lot better than I was. But I have a quick ear. I had played French horn before initially picking up guitar and then switching over to bass.

Food is really good in the old dive. It’s the local blues dive although now you can sometimes hear old time and alt country there too. Roots music. It’s a good sounding room.

I do love a nice Ric , there’s nothing else quite like them.

I love Montreal! welcome!

I’m in the house band that does a weekly blues jam , and a couple of the younger regulars managed to get a gig at the old dive. One has been studying music in Boston at Berklee , the other is more of a primitive , but a nice player. They invited the Sunday rhythm section to do the gig. So we had a couple of geezers and the kids , it was a fun night.

I bought Monique through a private sale , and mentioned one was on the way in a thread in another forum. Jule immediately contacted me and said that he wasn’t aware of a sale in Nova Scotia , but that he would make everything right. I immediately replied to say it was used … and he said that I could have had him going for a while there… He is a breath of fresh air. The Tonehammers have a unique quirk where the gain stage will affect the midrange , but if you use the effect return you bypass all that . So you only have the tone stack on Monique to deal with. And Monique is very simple , much of the magic resides in the sensitivity switch. I hope you will find the same joy with Monique that I have.

Now if you’re reluctant to use a dealer , I believe Jule will sell direct. Contact him , he’s very approachable. Edit … but if you have a TH500 I would try using that before buying a dedicated power source. Try it first using the effect return , and even try using the regular input. It’s simpler to dial in if you are just using Monique as the front end. One of the beauties of Monique is that she can be run with just about any power amp. After running my Monique with the Forte I’m not in any hurry to buy a dedicated power source.

I’ve been running Monique through a Bergantino Forte , I use the effect return and bypass the front end of the Forte. And I am in no rush to buy another dedicated power amp. I have tried Monique through various amps and they all work well , I use the Forte because it’s got some serious slam , and is a simple clean back end. Enjoy Monique! She brings something wonderful to the table. I’ve become a believer after using mine. edit … I saw a Demeter Minnie for sale about two months before I bought Monique. The Minnie was going for a silly good price , but I had no real reason to snag it at the time … regrets.

And another Dano user!

Festival gig last night with a bunch of Dutch Mason alumni doing a tribute to Dutch. He was quite the legend in the Canadian blues scene. Saw a lot of old faces , and players I hadn’t seen for a while. Dutch alumni are not a terribly exclusive lot , he played with most everybody here on the east coast at one time or another. It was a great night!

Yikes!