John Hancotte's Bass Desires: Platinum at the St. Regis in Buckhead

Sunday, August 12, 2012

Platinum at the St. Regis in Buckhead

It felt good to get back together again. I even think the rehearsal paid off. We played the new tunes we had worked on. We played some old tunes we hadn't worked on: Jump Jive 'n Wail? I shoulda looked at that one a bit. I remembered it was in Bb but wasn't certain about the key change. I went up a half-step and that sounded right. The part with the syncopated kicks was a bit rough. Where Have You Been --> We Found Love was great - I played Stick on it and in time, I might have that synth part down even better. My sound was weird; better with a pure Stick tone (isn't it always better that way - The Stick has such a delicious harmonic-infused sound of its own). I played Stick on several tunes in the last set. I switched the compressor setting on the Boss to "Limiter", which is a much more heavy setting. It does give it some drive and squashes it quite a bit, but I need to have loud bass on every tap. That's my current solution. Should mention that earlier in the week I finally got around to adjusting the string height on the bass strings. Emmett set it up for optimum action, but I needed the strings higher at the nut in order to sound out notes at the 1st and 2nd frets. Unfortunately, that extra half-turn of the screws at the nut allows for sympathetic vibrations to occur, even with the "fuzzy mute" in place. I did lower the bridge screws by a half-turn as well, which kept the action somewhat in check. Very little buzzing or fretting out, so all is well. Now, the lowest notes at least are almost as strong as the the mighty 5th and 7th positions. Glad I did that. I used the NS WAV with my bow on the Call Me Maybe --> Firework medley, although my sawing back and forth lacked finesse and I sorta lost the groove until I sheathed the bow and started pumping out the eighth-notes. Gotta comment on the Gallien-Krueger Fusion 550. Lots of players opting for the "light as an iPhone" Class-D amps that are hot right now. I'm very happy with what is most likely my 30-lb. 4-space rack (housing a Furman RackRider, which is rather old - don't think they make that model anymore). The sound and the power were so nice; I noticed it right away. The headroom was something I was really after. It was absolutely delicious! I brought the old Goliath II, so the 410 cabinet was helping out, in all honesty. Still, I can't imagine it sounding too much better. Very glad I was able to make that exchange - much thanks to Jim at Atlanta Bass Gallery for working with me!

Forgot to check inside the acoustic guitar case. Ended up bringing my old Yamaha, which does not have a pickup. Perhaps I should look into getting an external pickup like Derek did with his. Something to look into, I guess. We did I'll Be with me on bass (the EUB, in case you were curious) and Glen playing keys. It actually sounded good like that. I think Virginia wants it to be like the unplugged version with Warren Haynes playing that slide and whatnot. I like the full band version, but we probably need to stick to her vision. Great versions of My Funny Valentine and L-O-V-E, as sung by our resident star diva Lexxi. Other wonderful news - my phone would not cooperate with the sd card and camera, so not many pics to choose from. All in all, it felt good to get in there and get this done. I had introduced many new variables: the new amp head, the new pedalboard configuration, the bow, the Stick (okay, not that new there but I hadn't played it in a while). Luckily, it all worked out and I left feeling good about myself. Can't say that that is always the case.