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Audition time...fingers crossed.


Gruupi

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It went well. I played well even though I was nervous at the start and didn't really know the songs. The guys (and gal) were really cool, down to earth people with good sense of humor. They don't have any aspectations of being rock stars but care about the music enough to work at it.

 

They said they liked my playing but didn't really say "your the one". They have another round of auditions next week and then they will make a decision. Like I said before, there are probably a million guitar players in Dallas who can play blues/rock really well. They didn't say no so thats a good sign at least.

 

If they offer the position, I am inclined to take it just based on personality. Sure I could search for a year (years) and find the exact set of great musicians for the perfect band. But I just got a good feeling from these guys. They were open minded but not wishy-washy. I pretty much just improvised for an hour and they seemed to get into it. Since I am not doing this to make a living or to become famous, it sounds like it could be a great release to play with other folks after my long layoff.

 

My Line 6 Pod XT Live setup sounded really good by the way. My 65 watt keyboard amp was fine. I dont know how much more headroom I had but it really blended well with everything. I would be going direct out of the amp to the PA anyway in a live situation. With drums and everything I was impressed with how my patches worked, they cut through and weren't muddy at all. I don't think that the band would be to much louder (onstage) and if anything I was probably too loud. I made them aware that I was trying this out live for the first time so had to tweak my volume level a bit till I blended in, but anytime you play with someone new you have to make adjustment. I always have the option of getting a bigger keyboard amp or a power amp speaker setup. With all the tweaks that the POD XT Live has, I feel confident now that I could play with it an any situation.

 

Whats neat about modeling amps is that you can get a decent sound at any volume or through headphones. Not every single amp/ speaker combination works well and you can't expect to nail every single guitar sound in the history of music. But, you can get several great sounds depending on how hard you work on tweaking. From clean, to dirty, to singing lead, everything worked as well as I could have hoped for.

 

I'll keep you guys posted on if I get the gig or not. Thanks for all the advice and support. I think it helped having someone to talk too that have been in performance situations. It helped calm my nerves considerably. If this gig doesn't pan out, I'll keep scouring the want ads and find something.

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Ok! sounds pretty good so far.. so tell us more about each player... and did you deal with a Strong man in the group..was there a lead guy that called most of the shots did it seem? are decisions made by the whole group or a strong leader...important stuff in the long run..what where your immediate perceptions and who will handle the business part of the group? OH and whats up with a keyboard amp?? why a keyboard amp?
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The keyboard player/guitar player was the leader but everything seemed layed back. If someone made a suggestion he was supportive. They all seemed to listen to each others opinions and I did not sense any conflicts or anyone there that I would clash with. I asked them what happened to their last guitar player and they explained that after a bit of a lay-off after losing a singer and the audition process for a new one, he just kind of got ancy about gigging and joined another established band. It sounded like they were still on good terms with him. I didn't get any negative feeling.

 

The singer was a girl who had formal music training but didn't really pursue it till later in life. She belts it out and sings in tune. She seemed likable as well. The bass player was kind of quiet( aren't they all). I didn't pay a whole lot of attention to him playing wise as I was focusing on the keyboard/guitar guy for cues. I thought he sounded good. The drummer was a little concern but I am so used to playing with my brother its hard to be objective there. My brother is a VERY good drummer and since we grew up playing together we lock into each other easily. This guy seemed solid but seemed to have a little trouble on transitions. Nothing to bad that a little rehearsal shouldn't clear up.

 

The band hadn't played much in a year or so they said and are just getting back into it. They singer is fairly new to the group but the other 3 have been together for years. I don't see any problem with this, it didn't seem as though my ideas would put down. They pretty much said just play what you want. Every single one of them was funny and easy to get along with. They were joking alot which I love. Its not only about the music, its for fun. There ad said " no drugs, no drama" and I think that makes things clear.

 

You probably have different aspirations and goals than I do Ellwood. I love music and guitar as much as anyone but am satisfied to do it as a hobby. I don't want to get onstage and be embarassed but I am not going to freak out if everything doesn't go perfect. I have tried out for bands where there is a strong leader that points out every little mistake, nobody seems to really have any fun and all they care about is money and prestige.

 

An amplifier modeler doesn't really work well with a guitar amp. A guitar amp colors the sound and defeats the purpose of having speaker modeling in particular. Beleive me I spent a lot of time trying every amp I had and wasn't getting it to sound as good at all. I researched alot before buying what I did. You need a full range flat system to work well with modelers. A keyboard amp is just perfect for that. I wasn't happy at apartment volumes with a single 12" speaker and was still concerned. You will never get any type of amp to sound the SAME as through headphones, you have to tweak a bit to get it right.

 

In the room with drums and other people, the amp was great. I could see situations where someone might want to move more air, there are always bigger louder amp to do this however. But, I am always one to try and keep the volume down. I know its rock and roll but have always been consciuos of hearing loss and tinnitis. I want to play and listen to music the rest of my life and I try and avoid situations where I can damage my ears.

 

I am completly sold on modeling amps now, the POD 2.0 was ok but not quite there, the XT line is a big step forward. Things can only get better also. The ability to have so many variables in one tiny $400 unit is just fantastic. I carried all my equipment to the gig in one load. Guitar over my shoulder, amp in one hand, gig bag in another. I have access to the sounds of many different amps and effects all right there. I will bring my old POD as a backup to gigs, along with a backup guitar. If the amp goes out I can always go direct to the PA, monitoring may suffer but I can get through the gig.

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Hay great! well good luck and I bet you will get that good call pretty soon from them sounds like a good fit. Well my aspirations have been the same for along time here..I gig every weekend both nights and sometimes on Wednesdays too.. with mostly the same guys I have played for over twenty years so we are very tight and rehearsed..we all have out jobs within the group and it is an excellant working unit..the only exception to that was a really bad experience with a female singer ..she is gone.. and not working at all now... we are gigging all the time and doing well so music life here is good. Yep good explanation on the keyboard amp and the Pod... ya you need a transparent amp and let the modeler do the simulation..i see.... I have the old original POD the red one ..forget the version..i mess with it from time to time but I use regular amps on stage ...yes let us know how it goes.
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