Amazingly frustrating run in with a staunch "has to be an amp" guy

dpeterson

dpeterson

Axe-Master
Played a gig recently where we were supplying back line for the headlining act flying in from out of state, granted we were also out of state. I had all my stuff up and running, and we did our sound check, everything went great. Guitarist from other band shows up and says "whatta ya got"... I showed him my rig (axe III, atomic clr), he just stared, sat there for a few seconds and just walked away. Bassist comes over and says, "he's really picky, we were told there would be an amp." I said "that is an amp, it's 263 amps", he looked at me with a blank stare.... I'm dumbfounded, and it got real uncomfortable for a few minutes.

So about 10 minutes go by and the guitarist show's back up, and I tell him, I have a JTM45 setup with a cab with v30's, set clean, will work great with your pedals. Handed him the lead to plug into his pedal board, and away he went, flipping through all his pedals, and it sounds glorious. Kept pacing back and forth, comes over and says "modelers just dont cut it live, i'm worried as I had a bad experience with a Helix". I assured him this is not that. Then goes on to say "They don't respond like an amp and I have to play harder and I then break more strings". Next was the question "does it have any reverb?".... uggh. I dialed up some spring reverb for him, and he said "that sounds great".

I continue to coddle him like a 3rd grader, and told him this is the new III model, not the II, and then he says "ohhhhhh that's why it sounds good it's the new one, I thought it was the II".... ooof. Next comes the question, "do you know how to fix guitars, my jack is broke"? I said yes, opened up and found the hot wire was disconnected. I asked the house if they had a soldering iron, which they did, and I fixed it for him, even though the whole band was not being cool. By this time he had calmed down and they did their soundcheck and all was well. Gig went on without a hitch.

I'm astonished that there are those who still refuse to believe that anything can take the place of an amp, especially in this day and age. One few thing's I took away from this was that I will NEVER let anyone use my gear again, ever. Also will not take the gig if we have to supply back line. Hate to be like this but it's not my job to hold someones hand as they ease into the world of modeling.

Closing note.... Humility will get you a lot further in life, than acting like an entitled d-bag. Unless your initials are EVH or YJM, then of course it's expected.
 
A lot of really cool, intelligent, open-minded people play guitar.....

A lot of people who are too dumb to do anything else also play guitar..... I think you were dealing with one of the latter...

It’s like models.... not all good looking people are dumb, far from it, but occasionally you meet someone who you can only think “good thing you can get by on looks because you sure couldn’t survive on your wits” lol
 
Back in the old days I didn't mind to be the one who supplied the backline for the other bands, as I preferred to play over my own amps then over those of others. In the end I was lucky to never have met that terrible member of the guitar playing species, the asshole guitarist. My last band's bass player also played in a different band, and when their band did a CD presentation show, they were the ones supplying the backline. Along comes the asshole guitarist from the band Shaemless, who just had to crank up one of the guitarist's tube amp in full, eventually causing the amp to blow up. The bastard didn't even offer to pay for the damages afterwards.

Rule of thumb, when not playing on your own amp, don't crank up the amp in full, you don't know if it can do that. After all, it's not your own amp. If having a loud ear piercing amp on stage is that critical in your sound, bring along your own. Also, if you break someone else's, at least be a man enough to pay for the damages, or if you know your electronics, offer to fix it.

As for the 'it has to be a real tube amp' kind of guitar player, yeah well, there's a lot of bullshit and snake oil going on in the guitar community. People become emotionally invested in their gear. Be it a cheap ass Line 6 Spyder all the way up to the most expensive bootweak amps and pedals. And the one thing that people don't take kindly too is you telling them they are wrong. So, if you come across such a person either proceed to talk in a way where the other guy does not feel threatened but you politely and respectfully defend your own gear, or if he's part of the asshole guitarist species, just smile and nod. Life is too short to deal with assholes, you're not going to change any opinions so you might as well save yourself the aggro.
 
honestly, if i was told there was backline provided, and specifically a guitar amp, and i showed up and there was not what i was told, i'd be angry. this has happened way too often to me as a performer.

if i ask for 4x 500w minimum stage monitors, told i'm going to get them, but then show up and only have 2x 200w monitors, that's a problem because those won't handle our sound requirements, and we'll sound bad because of it. this has happened many times.

i do understand the point of this thread and hey, i'm glad it worked out. but i absolutely understand what the guy was thinking. if i ask for backline, i don't expect a modeler. even an Axe.
 
chris said:
honestly, if i was told there was backline provided, and specifically a guitar amp, and i showed up and there was not what i was told, i'd be angry.

i do understand the point of this thread and hey, i'm glad it worked out. but i absolutely understand what the guy was thinking. if i ask for backline, i don't expect a modeler. even an Axe.
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He’s lucky I didn’t tell him to go rent one. This was a courtesy we didn’t even get paid for. I get it but “an amp” is so vague it’s laughable. Live and learn. I wish him luck.
 
Sounds to me like you changed his mind maybe. That happens so rarely I don’t bother trying anymore except with my kid (and that’s only because I don’t want him to live under a bridge when he grows up). If someone likes chicken and I like pork chops, that’s all right with me. :)
 
You did well Mr Peterson.
Something tells me you were taught respect, humility, & empathy at a young age.
Good on you for not being what you could have been to this guy... Imagine, you even fixed his dodgy output jack!
Thanks
Pauly
 
The last backline supplied gig I played I walked in to find a Roland Cube waiting for me. The sound guy said it would do fine with my pedals. My 'pedals' are a Dunlop Crybaby Wah and a Korg Blackout tuner.

Luckily I had my normal rig in the car .... and even more luckily (for him) the sound guy wasn't bending over nearby while I looked for somewhere to put the Roland Cube out of the way.
 
maxdown said:
The last backline supplied gig I played I walked in to find a Roland Cube waiting for me. The sound guy said it would do fine with my pedals. My 'pedals' are a Dunlop Crybaby Wah and a Korg Blackout tuner.

Luckily I had my normal rig in the car .... and even more luckily (for him) the sound guy wasn't bending over nearby while I looked for somewhere to put the Roland Cube out of the way.
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this happened to me too! the soundguy actually told me "what? i use this amp in my bedroom and it sounds great."

:eek:
 
dpeterson said:
Played a gig recently where we were supplying back line for the headlining act flying in from out of state, granted we were also out of state. I had all my stuff up and running, and we did our sound check, everything went great. Guitarist from other band shows up and says "whatta ya got"... I showed him my rig (axe III, atomic clr), he just stared, sat there for a few seconds and just walked away. Bassist comes over and says, "he's really picky, we were told there would be an amp." I said "that is an amp, it's 263 amps", he looked at me with a blank stare.... I'm dumbfounded, and it got real uncomfortable for a few minutes.

So about 10 minutes go by and the guitarist show's back up, and I tell him, I have a JTM45 setup with a cab with v30's, set clean, will work great with your pedals. Handed him the lead to plug into his pedal board, and away he went, flipping through all his pedals, and it sounds glorious. Kept pacing back and forth, comes over and says "modelers just dont cut it live, i'm worried as I had a bad experience with a Helix". I assured him this is not that. Then goes on to say "They don't respond like an amp and I have to play harder and I then break more strings". Next was the question "does it have any reverb?".... uggh. I dialed up some spring reverb for him, and he said "that sounds great".

I continue to coddle him like a 3rd grader, and told him this is the new III model, not the II, and then he says "ohhhhhh that's why it sounds good it's the new one, I thought it was the II".... ooof. Next comes the question, "do you know how to fix guitars, my jack is broke"? I said yes, opened up and found the hot wire was disconnected. I asked the house if they had a soldering iron, which they did, and I fixed it for him, even though the whole band was not being cool. By this time he had calmed down and they did their soundcheck and all was well. Gig went on without a hitch.

I'm astonished that there are those who still refuse to believe that anything can take the place of an amp, especially in this day and age. One few thing's I took away from this was that I will NEVER let anyone use my gear again, ever. Also will not take the gig if we have to supply back line. Hate to be like this but it's not my job to hold someones hand as they ease into the world of modeling.

Closing note.... Humility will get you a lot further in life, than acting like an entitled d-bag. Unless your initials are EVH or YJM, then of course it's expected.
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You did awesome. Respect and kudos for handling this like a champ.
 
levipeto said:
The guy felt worried and scared because he needed safety and comfort.
When he had his needs met, he calmed down.
Real amps give him comfort, 'modelers' do not.
He was not entitled or dumb. He just didn't know how to express his feelings and needs.
@dpeterson did a great job!
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I disagree in that he seemed to know all about the Axe II etc, so it wasn’t an issue he was unfamiliar, he had an attitude and certain bias.

Now I do get what Chris was saying, you expect a certain thing and that totally makes sense, but there is a way of going about it and how you say things.

I picked up a rental car yesterday, it was slightly different than pictured, but I didn’t go all Steve Martin in Planes Trains and Automobiles on the girl behind the counter.

Some people are just kind of a-holes, nothing about needs, comfort etc.

I’ve learned if it matters, bring your own. Don’t count on expectations of what will be there at gigs.

I’ve also learned though, it generally doesn’t matter all that much as you can generally make things work well enough. I’ve done stuff on a borrowed guitar even after some logistics issues and it still worked out in the end, to where no one said or seemingly noticed anything.


Besides, getting to play thru an Axe III is actually dream come true for a lot of people, right ? Lol
 
if i was expecting an amp, i'd bring something that would go well with an amp. if i knew it was an axe-fx, for example, i would probably have brought something different.

i'm just saying if the guy was told "there will be an amp", then i can understand his frustration when there wasn't an "amp" there. that's all. i don't know the details of what he was told or who was responsible for what.

again, i think it's a neat story.
 
This is why it pays to pay attention when you're playing a gig over someone else's backline. Having worked at a youth center where we did a lot of live shows I've noticed first hand that the people who are doing the booking do not generally know their musical gear from the hairs on the back of their anus. Exceptions happen but when in doubt ask if you can personally contact the sound engineer or band providing the backline directly. They at least will know their gear.

So the theory goes..... In the end it pays to always have a backup plan. Just like it pays to always play with a backup guitar in case of string breakage.
 
If you're a professional - you have to act like one. You have to be able to problem solve and make the best of every situation and put on your best performance. If the guy was expecting an amp, and got an Axe III - whats he do ? Walk in and say "ok, what do you have for me to use? an Axe? - I'm not used to modelers, can you dial in a good JTM tone for me? ok - well that sounds great - thank you. "
Life is full of things we don't ask for - not just as musicians, but in everyday life and everyday jobs. The people that figure out how to best roll with the punches and problem solve and are pleasant and easy to work with, are the people that will be asked back for gigs and jobs. Again dpeterson - you were the pro here and acted like one.
 
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