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.
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.