New sounds....

We tried out our busking gear last night and were really really impressed by the range and depth of the sound we can now produce. The clarity of what we play is now much more evident and Rose's voice really comes out rich and full with some added reverb, which we of course get at gigs but never at rehearsals so nice to push that a bit more

Just a small example of how much cleaner the guitars sound here

We're still very much going to remain an acoustic trio, but it will be nice when we start to make use of some of the toys I have for different sounds and loops


Ahthankyew

Can't wait for that cushion

I'll give it a go when it arrives but I've been trying to work at my desk on this shit chair for a couple of days and just not comfy, with constant back age... So brought the big sigma chair down from upstairs and the difference is immense.

Hopefully can focus on some work now instead of constant fidgeting and excuses to go walk it off.


Ahthankyew

A-Busking we will go...

We've been trying really hard to reduce our dependancy on PA's and power systems, but the fact is even as an acoustic trio we do need to use some amplification to balance our sound, to deal with the fact we have 2 quiet male voices and a powerful female voice. Also Ed's playing style is much louder than my usual finger picking and twiddles style so I can get drowned out playing pure acoustic.

So Ed and I have both invested in some Roland Battery power amps, quite the bee's knees. On their own these solve 90% of the issues, but...

I wanted a little bit extra though since I like to use my TC VoiceLive3 unit for my guitar and vocal boosts when doing solo's and so on. Also I really would like to try to introduce a bit of looper fun into our set. But we can't do that without an easy to transport power system.

I've tried to find a few but honestly failed miserably as most units don't provide the 12v power the TC unit needs.
But I did have an awesome 5v unit, also designed to power some laptops and even boost a car battery if needed. But it didn't have a 12v out plug, only 5v and 15/16/19v..the 12v was limited to a jump cable system and no cable output which was a bit of a bummer...I felt for a while I'd just bought a really massive Iphone charger and it went in the drawer.

Fortunately I found a simple USB 5v > 12v gadget on line for pennies, which does exactly that.. takes 5vUSB and bumps it up to 12v. I was worried about ampage but its managing fine, been running for an hour now and still showing 5 bars on the power levels.  It looks like this will do fine.
I did also have to add a polarity swap as the TC has + center unlike every other unit under the sun :D but I had one lying around anyway.. Also pennies. It does get a bit warm, at the business end, so I'm ordering a few others as possible spares just in case but I think as long as it is in the open air it will be fine.

I now have a viable portable busking solution, with our 2 roland amps, (Ed has an AC33 I have a Street EX) and this little power unit to drive my main fx pedal..

Busking and lighter loads for small gigs...here we come

Ahthankyew

owww again...

I've pulled a muscle in my groin, it fucking hurts.. I've had a nasty cough for a couple of weeks since xmas, and during one particularly enjoyable lung expulsion I must have sat badly and pulled the muscle, didn't feel it at the time but am feeling it now for a few days.

Fuck its sore, not all the time though, just sometimes when I move or brush against something just above my left hip, it reminds me of what real pain is.

I genuinely was going to do a bit more excercise, and cycle to work etc now that we're back at our renovated offices within cycling distance, but until this heals up, no cycling..


Anywa, 2020, I'm not big on resolutions but for sure I'm going to try to make some fresh starts, 2019 was not a great year for me on many levels and the only way to avoid repeating that is to have a different approach, so some life changes have to be put into place. The Diet of course is back on..and I'll try to be a little more methodical in my work as well. So many things were allowed to slide as I drifted in and out of variosu illnesses and depressions. Time to get back on track and be a bit more single minded about doing things that need done.

So I made a list of the top ten reasons I procrastinate in an effort to overcome them.

1.




Ahthankyew

good money after bad?

Oh dear
the new chair is now just terrible, after finally fixing the basic seating position so it wasn't giving me constant back strain, the seat cushion itself has now basically smooshed into the frame of the chair so that my arse bones are now sitting on some kind of metal struts...the foam has just totally collapsed and provides no support at all.

I've ordered a memory foam cushion to put down on the seat but if it doesn't work, I'll have to junk it and pop up to Macro for another of my nice Sigma chairs, sadly with no massage or recliner functions (1st world problems)

What a shame, in many ways its quite a nice chair, but the cost cutting in its manufacture makes it useless after less than 2-3 months use.

In other news...don't get attached to emotionally damaged people, the emotional invesment you need to make them open up to you just doesn't get a return (ohhh cryptic)...

Ahthankyew

Good Riddance to 2019

Wasn't a good year at all

lost dear friends, lost harvey, fucked up a lot of shit and got fucked over by a lot of people... 2019 can go fuck itself

2020... be warned.. I'm taking no fucking prisoners this time.

Ahthankyew