big bassy debut!

well we survived our debut with mollys chamber.  learning 30 new trax in 2.5 weeks was a daunting task to say the least and we put our best foot forward.  some missteps along the way but we kept things pretty bassic and low key in order to put the best sound out.

here’s a pic of the stage that night:

mollys stage at black cat

it was nice to have some light at the back but also odd to have some light if u know what we mean.  good times and good ppl at the venue and can’t wait to return!  the black cat pub and grill on dundas has a sweet menu and plenty of wellington on tap so that made the evening even better!  a few songs into the night though we developed for the first time a thumb blister:

thumb blister after the first set

we’ve been trying to incorporate more thumb into our playing and we think the mix of the outburst of energy and lack of a decent callus gave us the blister.  we worked around it for the rest of the evening but it was defo difficult and the thumb was burning hot by the end of the night! on the advice of just about every1, we did not pop it and have let it heal on its own.  so far, so good.

peggy at the jam space

in other big bassy news, our 2×10 ampeg has found a new home at the jamspace for Mollys Chamber.  it suits the tone of the band nicely and puts out just enough to keep up with the jam volume.  peggy is a heavy one so hopefully she stays put for awhile!

current rig

our current rig for shows:

eb3 with tu3-sft-bassballs-bf2 into a little mark 250 and a 1×15 fender bassman

lots of headroom and sound.  we can dig! can’t wait to take this rig out again soon!

bassmorgasborg II

before we get to the bass, as we’ve stated previously we are keeping up with are drumming on a every other day basis.  we think its a good to keep tabs on the ol’ kit and tricks just in case and to help keep that sense of what its like going.  anyways, the other day we responded to an online request for a drummer to come out to a casual jam and play along to some songs by the Clash.  well, being that the Clash are our fave band of all time, this was a no brainer for us and we wholeheartly took up the challenge.  we blasted thru 15 or so songs in 2.5 hrs and at least 60% of those would have been stage ready IMHO.  it was crazy good and met all our expectations!  plans are to have another go at some songs in sept.  can’t wait!

peggy's buddy!

we scored a bass cab the other day.  15″ that can handle 300w easily.  its pretty darn big and weighs about 60 lbs but the price was right and its not like we’ll be using it at every gig.  the plans are to use it mainly for outdoor shows.  we took the grill off as it was rattling and then took the Fender logo off that since the look of logo wasn’t that retro.  the rattle was the grill hitting the edges of the speaker so we added some weather stripping to the points where the 2 were touching and put the grill back on.  it bows out a bit but sounds great now and thats what matters.  we plan on taking the direct out of peggy the amp and feeding that into a PA amp(thats all we have for a head right now… ah, the search for a bass head is ON!) and enhancing the low end signal that way.  we plan to debut it next weekend at one of our outdoor gigs.

peggy's buddy with the grill on!

finally an update on our pedal situation.  we were not using our EHX bass big muff as much as we woulda liked and our BBE sonic stomp was always in use but we never quite 100% happy with what it was doing to our sound.  so we’ve been casually searching for a replacement for both and we think we found it with a Catlinbread SFT.   it not only add some variable grit to our sound but also is quite nice at allowing us to tweak our tones.  we took it out to our gig last weekend.  we had only really spent about 30 mins with the pedal to make sure it worked and sounded ok.  it took about a set to get used to her sensitivity(it responds to how hard or soft u play!) and once we locked in a setting that was right for the sweet reggae vibe it was perfect the entire night!  any pedal that inspires you and makes u anxious to get back to playing again just so you can hear it HAS TO BE GOOD! its also likely that her sensitive side will make us a better bassist in the future.  here’s a pic of the august pboard set up.  looking at the pic makes us think that less is more. the sft is a good step fwd in usefullness and quality so we can’t wait to enjoy it more!

august pedalboard!

replacing peggy

“peggy” is our ampeg ba210 amp that we’ve had for just over a year.  we’ve gotten to know her well and get used to her and her ways.  we bought her gently used and she’s seen over 30 shows with us.  not to mention many a jam.  we love her warmth and tone.  she is great at jams and at intimate venues but she is lacking the punch we need for bigger venues and shows.  last weekend we accidentally dropped her in the parking lot getting to our civic holiday show at the Boardwalk Pub.

not only was the pressure on us to perform well (our bass teacher was in the audience) that day but there was a sizable crowd and it was outdoors.  not a good mix.  not having enough guts and the nick she took in the parking lot made for a tense show.  we just couldn’t get enough sound out of her for our liking.  our bass teacher said all was fine with the sound but we knew it wasn’t.  we knew her limits and being outside for a gig just made it hit home.   its been problem that has been building up ever since we started giggin.  the need for more bass sound than she can give us.  we considered the dropping of peggy a sign that the search for something louder had to start in earnest.  perhaps it was her way of saying “enuff with bringing me everywhere“!

peggy at the bottom!

here’s a pic of peggy in action at the fionn macools gig those handsome hooligans did.  wow that stage was small.  we’ll likely keep her for jams and home practices but the need for something bigger for gigs is a need that is now too hard to ignore.

let the search for a 400w or better rig begin!  having said that, we’ve rented a Traynor DynaBass 200 for this weekend.  it the biggest bass amp our local music shop had for rent.  we’ll try her out at the 2 small gigs we have this weekend with TooNice.  hopefully there is a tad more punch and the tone is acceptable.  its a start.

Solid State Traynor DynaBass 200w

on a final note, following up on our purchase of the bassballs pedal…. we love it still!  been throwing it into a few numbers here and there.  love the little tickle it gives and then there more room to give more warble if we ever want to get zany with it.  we also revamped the pedal board order for more effectiveness.  it now goes: TU>MUFF>STOMP>BASSBALLS>FLANGER.  so sweet!  now how are we gonna fit on a 6th pedal?

august pedalboard setup!

bassballs!

july board

been busy.  just preppin for another weekend with TooNice and took a quick shot of the pedal board for this trio of shows.  welcome aboard Bassballs!  u sure are addictive!  next week we’ll post some thoughts on how the new pedal does!

lets do the disc as a setlist, k?

TooNice's debut, "Change"

So the idea for Friday’s CD release show with TooNice is to play the new album as a set.  That is… the setlist for the show is the CD in the order as it appears on the CD.  A different concept for us as usually setlists are put together with the thought of the live show and how we want the energy to flow.  The album track order was put together with the thought of the listener at home, kickin’ back and enjoying.  How will that order play out?  Well having reviewed the album the last few days as a set, it should do ok.  Maybe not the best set ever, but it will be fun “one time only event” nonetheless.  It will also be a different night for us, as we usually like to have a few covers sprinkled into the set.  If any of those come up, it’ll have to be as an encore!

In other news, the Bassmetaphors is off the pedalboard for good.  Too much noise and tone loss in our books.  We gave it a honest go for a few months and now with the BassPi on board as our distortion source, the cons were outweighing the pros of keeping the Bassmetaphors “on board”.  In its place, is ol’-reliable-first-pedal-we-ever-owned, the Tech21 sans amp bass driver DI. Reunited and it feels so good.