Not every day you see a funky vehicle in the parking lot. My dad would know the model of the car in the pic above. I call it the ZZ Top car.
RIP Dusty and Frank!
The pic on the right is the new (to me) Orange CR60 combo amp and let me tell ya, this thing pushes some serious air. I ordered it last Thursday from the Guitar Center in Commack, L.I. and it arrived at the Paramus store Monday 10:30am! Speedy service!! Raced to the store, made sure everything worked and brought it home. Didn’t get to tinker with it too much but aside from separate volume controls, much like the Crush amp heads, I could dial in my sound relatively easy.
Oh it’s 47 pounds. Time to get a dolly.
The only slight drawback is that the plugs for the cables are UNDER the inside of the amp. HUH?! I looked like a pretzel trying to put the cables in but once I did, I realized “Hey I can leave these inside, and just uncoil them for future gigs.” Once in a while, I have more brains than luck. What about the tone?
Yeah like I said, it moves some air. Even at a low volume, it sounds massive. Once I fired up my Behemoth Board, some tweaking had to be made as the songs were going along. That’s the beauty and chaos of live performance…anything is possible. The band noticed a tonal change but it wasn’t too drastic. Going from the 10″ speaker of the CR35 to the 12″ of the CR60 meant more bass EQ, so I had to dial that back a bit. No biggie. Each room is different so I will have to tailor the amp accordingly.
What about the damn show, Steve?!
The band as usual sounded GREAT!! Pulled out songs we’d not done in a bit, but added two new ones to the mix. “Found Out About You” by Gin Blossoms was a nice touch, was nice having two distinct guitar melodies intertwine. And the mind-melter was “Devil Went Down To Georgia”. Yep, I had to learn all those fiddle parts…poor me 😉 Thankfully, my wanna-be Paganini/Yngwie ideas came flooding back, and everything worked like a charm. For a first time playing these songs (and we never rehearse), they came out quite well. Nobody in the room booed or left, so that’s a good sign.
Two things I need to get soon to relieve my back: an anti-fatigue mat and a dolly. Home Depot awaits!
Played three sets, ended around midnight, had the car loaded by 12:30, and was home by 1:30. The drive home can be a bit numbing but I’m not complaining. Thankfully when a show is that high energy, those feelings follow me as I apply the rubber to the road. Somehow I got 5 hours of sleep but a nap is imminent.
Like right now…
