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Marty,
I owe you a personal "Thanks" for having shared your comments regarding the
Crate Power Block with the group, in the first place. That tweaked my
"gear-head" curiosity sufficiently to cause me to do some research on the Net,
which led me to the Jensen Neo speakers. I totally empathize with you
mentioning your back. Having any kind of back difficulty bites big-time when
you've got heavy music gear to carry to and from gigs!
I'll share a story from Longboard Ranch's earliest days:
Doug and I started trying to recruit another guitarist, and a bassist, in
December 1998. By February '99, we had Don Lindner on bass, and Rob Woolsey on
guitar. (As you know, Woolsey is on heckuva fine guitarist, and his leads were
impeccable, his rhythms totally correct and his sound-level always right-on in
the overall mix. On the strength of a demo tape made by Doug, from rehearsals
in February and March, the city of Glendale hired us to perform at the July 27,
1999 Glendale Cruise Night.
In those days, finances were really tight, and my budget wouldn't allow me to
spend what I needed to, in order to have "correct" gear. I was playing a Peavey
Predator Strat-copy, and the only amp I had when LBR started, was a Peavey
Classic 30, with the 1X12 extension cab.
It rapidly became obvious that the Peavey, as sweet as it's tone was, had to go.
Just nowhere near enough power and volume! I was able to sell it rather quick,
and spotted a 1970's Music Man HD130 combo amp that had 2 12" speakers. This
sucker was very similar in power, sound, AND WEIGHT, to a Fender Twin Reverb,
but cost me only $250.00. Problematic Reverb circuit caused the on-board Reverb
to be less than useable, so I purchased an ART-1 Personal Reverb pedal, and from
about March 1999 until December this was my rig.
In March I started having some incredible pain and sensations of pressure in my
mid and lower back, especially noticeable when I would try to stand from a
sitting position. I suffered with this for a couple of weeks, and then it went
away. Meanwhile, during the Spring months, we drove out to Temecula a couple of
times to play live at a friend's ranch, where they were putting on private
mini-Woodstock type weekend festivals. My back gave me no further trouble until
late May, when I started having horrible, fiery shooting pains down my left
side, in my left thigh and calf. When I walked, it felt like red-hot daggers
were being thrust into my left calf.
The day of the gig, the pain was fierce as hell, but I loaded my wannabee Twin
Reverb, Guitar and pedals and was there about an hour early. I was not
allowed to get my car closer than one block from the stage, so I had to carry
that amp a full city block, with every step being total agony! Then had to go
back to get my guitar and pedals. Rob, (God Bless Him) saw and understood what
I was going through, so he actually carried my amp up onto the stage.
We started our set very much as we still do, with High Tide/Tranquilizer, and
then Walk Don't Run, on both of which I play lead. It was kinda cool that the
moment we started to play, I started feeling less pain, and the high of being on
that stage, with a few hunnert people watching and applauding, made me almost
forget my pain, and I really had a memorable great time, right until I got home
from the gig, and had managed to drag my gear back inside. The strain I'd put
on my back at the Cruise Night gig, brought on a crisis in my Sciatica.
It got so bad that I had to walk in a hunched-over posture, couldn't sleep in my
bed, had to sleep sitting in a chair, bent forward over pillows laid on a table!
I tried every anagesic and pain reliever that promised back-pain relief, with
ZERO affect. Tried Homeopathic remedies, went to a chiropractor, who diagnosed a
severely compacted disc at the 5th lumbar vertebra, a condition known as
Sciatica. My first visit to the chiropractor was in August, two weeks after we
played the Glendale Cruise Night.
It took almost 3 months of Chiropractic adjustments, (3 a week) plus Heat
Treatments, Massage, and Electrostatic stimulation of lower-back muscles, before
I was close to feeling OK again, and my Chiropractor upon learning that I was
in a band, urged me to find ways of lightening the weight I had to carry to our
gigs.
Since then, I'd given up the thought that I could make a sound I was happy with,
using anything less than Fender tube amps and EV/JBL speaker cabs. I tried a
Line-6 amp, but it just didn't really compare with the '64 Showman that I bought
from Neal Kuzee, (former rhythm guitarist with The Surf Raiders). To say that
your original posting about the Crate Power Block got me curious, is a
monumental understatement!
Like you, I was astonished at how good that little Crate head sounds.
Unbelievable amp for the money! The speakers seemed the next logical step in
gear weight-reduction, and my quest for information, led me to these new
Jensens, which like the Crate Power Block, have an incredibly good sound for
such featherweight speakers!
I know you've decided to use the Crate strictly as a backup amp, and you're
still using a Fender tube amp head as the main amp. After having used the Crate
for one of our L.A. Zoo sets a couple of weekends ago, and having used it for
our most recent rehearsal session, the rest of the band totally supports my
using the Crate as Amp #1, (and at $200, I'm getting a SECOND Crate Power Block
to serve as backup!)
This results in the following reduction of weight in my rig:
Before:
After:
Main Tube Amp Head 80 lbs Main Amp Head
5 lbs
Backup Tube Amp Head 70 lbs Backup Amp Head
5 lbs
2X12 Cab EV 100 lbs 2 X 12 Cab
NEO 50 lbs
Total Rig Weight: 250 lbs Total Rig
Weight 60 lbs
That's one Heckuva Major Difference IMHO, and I have to say a most sincere
"Thank You Marty!" for having pointed me in this direction! I suppose my next
endeavor may be to get
a pre-finished Jazzmaster body in light swamp ash, to knock a couple pounds off
the alder-body axe I'm now using.
Regards,
Bruce D
Marty Tippens <> wrote:
I gotta try those Neo speakers, Bruce. After throwin' my back out just in time
for a pier gig, I'm definitely into light weight gear (and don't nobody say that
makes me a "lightweight"). I especially like light guitars. My favorite Strat
weighs a relatively light 7.125 lbs (even with 13's and a baseball bat neck).
-Marty
"There's no such thing as too much reverb"
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