Platinum Performs at Capital City Club Times Two

We were at the same place 2 Saturdays in a row.  I find that remarkable.  Atlanta is a big city with so many options for wedding receptions & other celebrations.  What are the chances?  It's a nice venue with unusual load-in arrangements, under the main parking lot.  The first week I had more problems with my beloved rig.  I had been in denial about my Hartke amp.  The amp has served me well and it sure had beaucoup power.  Yet every so often, usually during the quiet portion of the early evening, it would start to distort & with a flatulent frequency not so desirable on a ballad.  Of course, this doesn't always happen.  I don't really enjoy shopping for new equipment.  For one thing, bass amps are not cheap.  There are so many brands, and I wanted to consider what would work best with my cabinets, which are SWR with an impedence of 8 ohms.  The impedence dictates how many amps (amperes) are ultimately converted into loud musical bass tones.  A 4 ohm cab will be considerably louder than an 8 ohm one.  Two 8 ohm cabs may be connected in series which would be seen as a 4 ohm load.  This I considered.  I went with my bud Charles Mishalaney over to Atlanta Bass Gallery, headed up by Jim Rubio.  I had already looked around at Guitar Center and was not too impressed, although they have some great gear there.  It's hard to describe to someone else what I was looking for, but I believe I found it: the Eden WTB1000.  This is one powerful (not so) little head.  I wanted a full-sized, 2 rack-space head.  Call me old-fashioned.  I didn't want a newer model that is 4 lbs. soaking wet.  Maybe next time.  The weight of the head is insignificant next to the weight of the cabinet.  They did have a monster SWR head that was 3 rack spaces tall and weighed more than my Golight cabinet!  I would have been the same price, and it had everything!  I didn't really care for the SWR effects, like the subwave, but I suppose it would be better than nothing.  I almost always have some effect pedal in line anyways.  This amp is stereo at 440W into 4 ohms per channel, or it can be bridged for something like 1000W!  Kind of dangerous, actually.  I pray that it's reliable.  Jim observed that Eden is now manufactured in China and that David Eden sold the company.  Oh well.  It looks good, at least.  It sounded great on the 2nd gig at CCC.  Plenty of power, unlike the SWR 750 I was considering.  Charley was more adventurous in the amp department.  he was checking out a small Aguilar head that really sounded good.  I don't know, but I felt I had to go with my impulse for cosmetics, volume, tone, & the fact that I've always thought of Eden and SWR as coexisting in the same rig, for some reason.  Well, it's good to think that perhaps I've finally ended some rig issues and that I've stepped up to some more professional gear.  I'm happy!  Here are some pics from the 1st Saturday night there.  Both weeks we had Michael Ray on the front line, since Kevin had been starring in Rent at The Strand Theatre.

Here are some from the 2nd night - notice that I'm smiling here (with new amp in tow).  Needless to say, we were louder this night.  I just had to test it out, you know.