Labor Day Weekend Part II: A Sunday Wedding Reception with Platinum (Subtitle I: Part Two of the St. Regis Trilogy; Subtitle II: Lexxi's Last Stand)

Our second of three performances here at one of Buckhead's finest hotels, the St. Regis, took place over Labor Day weekend.  I was a bit worn from the night before with SWJ, but I pressed on.  I was home for maybe 2 hours before having to leave again.  In that time, I dealt with some family regrouping, changed out some crucial equipment, printed some charts that I had neglected to put into the newer small Platinum bass book, packed my garment bag with my Tuxedo and shoes, and ran out of the door in a petulant frenzy to avoid being late for the big soundcheck/rehearsal.  We were a 10-piece band that night and we had a lot to cover.  I tried to consolidate my rig, but you know how it goes.  I still bring a lot.  No Stick this time.  No Ashbory.  I brought along the NS WAV, my P-bass, my 6-string (the same 3 I had used the night before), and my acoustic guitar (the black one this time, so I could plug it in - hey, what a concept)!  We ended up having a very good rehearsal and then had our dinner at Seasons 52, as the client did a "buy-out" rather than feed us a the over-priced hotel.  It was terrific.  I enjoyed a small Greek salad and then Sea Scallops with tiny pasta and asparagus.  At dinner, Lexxi dropped the big bomb that this would be her final gig with the band.  Shut the front door!  We were all a bit taken back.  I'm sure it was a surprise to Virginia as well.  No real reason given.  She will be missed - another chapter closes on my gigging history.
Thanks to the audio engineering efforts of Jason Chapman at Big Rip Records, LLC, we have some excellent sounding audio tracks preserved for posterity.  He sent us many files for our consideration; I found our renditions of Ain't No Mountain High Enough (Marvin Gaye & Tanmmy Terrell), Stop, The Love You Save > I Want You Back (The Jackson 5ive), Crazy Love (Van Morrison), & Shining Star (EWF) to be definitive versions, if I do say so my-little-bass-playing-self.  Honorable mention should go to Kevin Harry's go-for-broke performance on Seal's Love's Divine, which unfortunately did not get recorded, being early in the first set before levels had been properly set.  Jason utilized his iMac and various plugins to capture us in pristine digital quality.  I have to say, without playing it for you folks, that my Precision has never sounded better.  So glad that I utilized it that evening.  My 6 sounded good too, being relatively fresh in the boiled-string department.  I've tried to ease off a bit on the compressor settings found on my Boss ME-50B, but I still favor a 12 o'clock setting for the most part; just a less intrusive compressor pre-amp if you will: limiter vs. dynacomp.  I do like the dynacomp for the Chapman Stick, as it is the MXR pedal that TLev used back in the early 80's on his Stick.  The Dynacomp setting adds some aggressive gain and grit to the signal, which suits the Stick just fine.  On a typical bass track, it becomes too colored and noticeable.  My GK Fusion 550 has so much gain and headroom; I'm still reeling in the output that my 410 can put out.  I may never need to bring 2 cabinets again!  I love this amp.  It is a heavy one, but not enough to deter me from hauling it around.

more soon - I promise