Jam Night

Charles, Eddie (great guy), Me, Devin, Jim

Once again we rocked it at jam night! It was a great time. We played Pride and Joy, Hey Joe, and Key to the Highway. I am very fortunate to have a great bunch of guys to play music with. And even more fortunate to be sharing it with my son.

We made a good showing and it was a lot of fun. We had a great buy, Eddie, stand in for Matt on drums.

The great thing about the jam is that if you can get into the flow then the rest of the world doesn't even matter. It is hard to get there when you have butterflies. By the time you get to the flow the whole thing is over.

We met some great guys from Issaquah. The Road Dogz told us about another jam that is out in Fall City on Sunday nights from 7:00 PM to 10:00 PM. Good hours for a Sunday.

Thankfully I was able to convince my co-workers that I would be no good to them after a night of music and frivolity. I am barely capable on a good day!

Our manager Sandi

I want to thank Devin, Charles, Jim and Eddie for making my day. You guys rock! Also a big thanks to our manager. It helps to have a sexy manager inspiring you.

Powering the blues

I have recently invested $2,000.00 in active speakers. It is was a difficult decision to make. It involves taking a leap of faith. Faith in myself. Faith in the music. Faith in my band mates. The last part is still up in the air.

Mackie SRM350v2 Powered Speaker

Anyway I digress. I had originally purchased a Mackie SRM350v2. I was going to use it in my practice space as a vocal monitor and drive it with an M-Audio Profire 610. It worked. It wasn't nearly loud enough. We pushed it to the limit of a vocal monitor. It started to cut out and distort badly. I needed more power!

I went back to Guitar Center and talked to Hilding. He is a very knowledgable Guitar Center Pro Audio Manager who helped me out. He spent a lot of time with me helping me make the correct decision based on the information he could get out of me. Believe me I am never helpful when it comes to getting information. I would have made a great spy.

Hilding suggested the QSC K10 10" powered speaker. 1000 watts of power! They are loud.

I decided to swap my Mackie for the K10. I also purchased another K10. I thought it would be better to have two and not mess around. I also had the money. That helped.

QSC K10 10" Powered Speaker

I opened one of the K10s, in case I needed to make a return, and it is definitely enoughpower. I haven't opened the second yet, I have had horrible buyers remorse, but I am going to do it this weekend sometime. Here is a picture of the new gear. These guys are much nicer than the Mackie. They are much more expensive too.

There is nothing like new gear to motivate a musician. I don't like having it laying around and not using it. I just kills me that it is sitting in my practice space not getting used every day. I gotta go call the guys.

A little recognition

Jam night at the J&M

Just kidding. If I played music for recognition I would either quit playing now or play way more. My experience is that playing is work. Granted I am not a musical prodigy or even a savant.
I play for me. I play for my son. If anyone even enjoys it a little that's great. It's not why I play. I am way too old to care what others think. On the flip side it is great that Frank Hidalgo took the picture above. It is a great picture if I do say so.
It isn't recognition of my musical ability. It does look like I am having fun though. That is the recognition.

Analog Man Beano Boost!

The Analog Man effects pedals are legendary. I have purchased two of their pedals for my son. The modded Ibanez tube screamer, a legend on its own, and now the Beano Boost. The Beano Boost is a hand wired boost pedal that is based on the Dallas Rangemaster. The Rangemaster has been used by all the greats including Clapton, Billy F Gibbons, Jimmy Page, and Marc Bolan not to mention a few.

If you aren't familiar with "boutique" guitar effects pedals than you should visit analogman.com. They have a wide assortment of great pedals.

Here is a picture of the pedal. It looks great! It sounds awesome. This pedal belongs to my son, but I have been playing my Epiphone Dot through it. I am amazed at home it cleans up the tone. It makes the warm fuzzy sound of the humbuckers clean and clear.

Original style wiring and NOS transistors. No circuit board is used in the construction of the Beano Boost. It has point-to-point wiring.

Hand wiring sounds much better. This is the signature style for boutique pedals!

Analog Man is using New Old Stock for the transistors. They have a stock of old transistors that add to the unique tone. It makes a difference.

I am seriously considering purchasing another pedal for myself. I am super jealous.


From the Analog Man website:

• True Bypass switching with minimal popping.
• LED for on/off status
• NOS Germanium Transistor chosen for low noise and best tone.
• Three-way, short and sturdy toggle switch for tone selection:
  • Middle: "HI" Standard Dallas Rangemaster tone, treble enhanced.
  • Up: MIDs, more of a full range boost, great for Fender guitars!
  • Down: LOW, full range sound with a bit more bassy setting.
• Optional PUSH PULL volume pot allows two tone settings:
  • Down: "HI" Standard Dallas Rangemaster tone, treble enhanced.
  • Up: MIDS, more of a full range boost, great for Fender guitars!
  • This can be reversed at order time if desired, or changed to MID and LOW settings.
• Volume Control allows substantial boost.
• Can boost volume quite a bit. Has about the same output level ON and OFF with the vol knob set at 9:00. At 11:00 there is about a 10dB boost, which sounds twice as loud. At 12:00 there is a 13dB boost, and up all the way is about an 18dB boost which is nearly twice as loud as it was at 11:00.
• Durable Grey Hammertone (like original) powdercoated cast alloy case.
• Silk Screened graphics as seen on the pedal at the very top of the page.
• Circuit hand-wired point to point like the original. No circuit board used. I won't claim this is better than using a quality circuit board, but it works very well for this pedal. It does takes us more time to build them.
• All can use a 9V Battery, a Boss style power jack is optional for $10.
• When power jack is added, it can use any normal Boss type 9V power supply, with no reverse polarity issues. We add circuitry to reduce power supply noise when the power jack is added.
• This pedal uses only 5mA of power when on (LED) and barely any power when off (under .2mA!) so the battery will last hundreds of hours.
• We usually run the BEANO BOOST directly into the input of your tube amp, with no buffers (i.e. tuners, or non-true bypass pedals) in the signal path. Most people have found they work best near the very beginning of your signal chain. Like the Fuzz Face, the Beano Boost MUST
• NOT have a buffered pedal in front of it. Something like a Boss pedal, even off, will make the Beano Boost sound VERY trebly and thin.
• Buffered pedals are OK after the Beano Boost if necessary.
• Cleans up really well when you back down your volume control!
• Pricing and options on buyanalogman.com

The creative process

I am trying to get a blues band together. I am really new to the whole band thing. I think because I am such a novice that I haven't been tainted by any bad experiences. I still have an open mind.
Our band doesn't have a name yet. Our set list is 5 songs (so far). Our lineup is still pretty fluid. We haven't been able to get a consistent drummer. It is all very unstable.

The cool part is that it is still fun. It is a lot of work. It takes a lot of time to plan and get everybody to practice. One thing that is very cool is that we have a great practice space donated by the owner of Andrews Inc, thanks Vern! It does make things much simpler.

Our current lineup is Devin on lead guitar, Charles on bass, Matt on drums and myself on guitar and vocals. We had a great practice yesterday. It was very rewarding. Actually I had two practices yesterday. One with the band and the other with Devin and myself. We had to haul the gear over to Matt's house from our normal practice space. We were early so we jammed for about 35 minutes. It was sweet.

I put together some of my thoughts about the creative process at my other blog stevewdewitt.dyndns.info .

Jammin' at the J&M

Tonight I am jammin' at the J&M Cafe in Seattle's Pioneer Square. It is a lot of fun. Playing music as a hobby is work. I can't yet imagine playing music for a living. It is no wonder some musicians play the blues.

This is my friend Cory Wilds setting up for the jam night about a month and a half ago. He is a hard working musician.

I am looking for band mates these days. I have had some small successes with some guys I know and it has been great.

What I am getting out of this jam night is a great sense of what I want to do with my time and energy now that I have time and energy.

I am gonna play the blues and make it rock!

It's tough to play the blues

I am learning the song "She loves my automobile" by that little old band from Texas, ZZ Top. It seems to be straight I, IV, V blues in A. It isn't.

from left to right Dusty Hill, Billy Gibbons, Frank Beard

There is some weird stuff going on in the solo that I can't figure out. Being a novice blues player I am getting a little frustrated by this. I really like this 2 min screamer. I intend on playing it at jam night.

I have the notation from Cory in hand and I am going to learn this. Who would have thought that the blues were so complex (at least to me)?

My iRig

iRig from IK Multimedia

I have several products from IK Multimedia. My favorite is my iRig. I use it very often and think it was a great investment for my music gear.

I use my iRig with my iPad2. I also use Garage Band for the iPad. I also use my iRig with my iPhone.

It allows me to play almost anywhere without much gear. I pull out my iPhone and BAMM! I am playing along with tunes on my iPhone.

Specs:

Works on iPhone/iPod touch/iPad

1/4" female mono input jack connector

1/8" female stereo output mini-jack connector

Connect electric guitar and bass

Also works with line level signals from synthesizers, keyboards, mixers

Output can be connected to headphones, amplifiers, powered speakers, mixers

Compatibility:

The iRig adapter is compatible with iPhone 4S, iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS, iPhone 3G, iPod touch (4th, 3rd and 2nd generation), iPad 2 and iPad.

I have had my iRig for over a year and it comes in handy in the most unlikely places. I have used it in my office to tune my guitar. I have used it in the stairwell of my office building. I have used it in my living room so my wife doesn't get annoyed.

I also have the iRig microphone and the iKlip for my iPad.

The only downside to the iRig that I have found is that the software that comes for free is not great. It seems very cheesy to buy a product and then have to pay more for the software to use the product. That is why I use Garage Band. I am an Apple fan so it only made sense.

If you are a musician and need a quick and easy way to record that lick that is runnin' through your head this may be just the ticket.

Jam night at the J&M in Seattle

The J&M Cafe in Seattle, oldest bar in Pioneer Square, hosts a jam night every other Tuesday of the month.
The evening starts off with The Cory Wilds band at 9:00PM. Cory's band plays a rockin' set and then Cory brings up other musicians to continue the event.
It is a fun evening with a lot of blues music. The jams are sometimes spontaneous and other times a group will get up and play a very tight couple of songs.
If you are a blues fan it is a very cool time. The J&M is located at 201 1st ave s in Seattle, WA. The food there is great and no cover charge for the evenings festivities.

My son and I have been attending the jam for about a month and a half. It has been great. We have met several fine musicians and even had my good friend Jeremy Hoog show up and sing a couple of songs. What a great vocalist he is.

Even though this is on a Tuesday, if you are in the area and craving some blues of the most improvisational type you must stop by. You never know what you will hear.

The next jam night is November 15th starting at 9:00PM.

The first post

I am starting this blog over. I will be posting about music and music gear. The picture on the left is of Robert Johnson. The man who started it all for me. His delivery is chilling. His guitar style is hard for two musicians to reproduce. The man is a legend. Thank you Robert!

I have a review for the IK Multimedia iRig device over at squidoo iRig review. There is a video of me using the device plugged into my Mackie SRM350v2 powered speaker.

Look for more reviews and music listening posts coming very soon.

I will also feature some clips from our bands practices and jams at various places around the Seattle area.

I hope that people find this interesting and engage in some musical conversation.

Steve