Rough & Dirty bar gig (mp3 clips) with Express Amp by GK

[geetarpicker]

Years ago I had posted these clips here, but recently discovered the links were no longer valid in the old thread.

SO, here are a couple (albeit old) clips that folks might still appreciate. I'm playing one of my pair of self built Express amps that are very closely based off my '89 original. This was a bar gig, and our singer at the time was a little under the weather but still belted it out.

The guitar is an '03 Historic Les Paul, the cab was a 1x12, and no pedals were used though I was running a Sennheiser Wireless and a THD Hotplate a click or two down.

Enjoy!

GK

[Dr-Joned]

That sounds great Glen !!

[Progear]

Some great playing and sounding tracks. Nice job to Glen and band mates

[bcmatt]

Sounds sweet, Glen! You are such a killer player! Very rich tone too! What speaker are you using in a 1x12 with this?

[geetarpicker]

Thank you.

Kind of a long story on the speaker, but it's an original '72 era Celestion G12M 25 watt. They tend to be my favorite with these amps.

In (way) more nerdy detail: I was running two 1x12 cabs, but miking just one. One cab was next to the bass player as a monitor so he could hear me, and one was right next to me. Both were sealed cabs and the one you are specifically hearing has an original '72 era G12M 25 watt Celestion in it. This particular speaker had a buzz issue (and I almost trashed it) but I pulled the spider loose, pulled off the dust cover, shimmed the voice coil with some card stock to realign it, then reglued it back together and it's been holding ever since and no longer buzzes. It is the first speaker I ever tried that on. It's in a Mesa thiele port 1x12 cab that I blocked off the ports to make it sealed, and added about 4 layers of felt in front of the speaker to simulate the darker tones one typically get's with a vintage basketweave cab using the same speakers. The cab has limited low end as it's so small. However miked it works well and with it sealed it seems more flat in response and easier to EQ in extra lows without getting too much of a peak at the cab's natural resonance point. Once EQed it almost has that 4x12 thumb, out in the "front of house" PA that is. I'm pretty sure at this gig I hooked up an outboard graphic EQ to the PA just for the guitar, and the mic was a Sennheiser e906. The cab is still pretty small sounding on stage though so when you play you have to imagine it out front, haha! These days I no longer have the Mesa cab, but now have a Bogner cube (with the same old Celestion) that I like a bit more and is ported. Running a 4x12 would be easier, but with experimentation a 1x12 can be made to work quite well but it's not as fun on stage for sure!

[bcmatt]

Thanks for the details, Glen! That's exactly the stuff I was wondering about. A single 12" didn't seem to add up at first, knowing your speaker preference and their wattage rating.
I think I am going to have to pay a lot more attention to my post-speaker setup in the PA. It seems that can make or break the tone for the audience. I appreciate the consideration you put in for them, even if you don't get the full enjoyment on stage.

The recordings turned out very well. Is this recorded from the board, or just on a handheld type device. I don't feel that any of our band's "quick and dirty" live gig recordings turn out even half as clear as this.

I would be really interested to hear you talk about and compare the character of ALL your Expresses some time-- Ken AND Glen built.

[geetarpicker]

This recording was both a DAT tape of the board mix, combined with a little bit of ambience from a stereo Zoom recorder at the back of the room. The "board" was actually a little Mackie PA head.

[bcmatt]

This recording was both a DAT tape of the board mix, combined with a little bit of ambience from a stereo Zoom recorder at the back of the room. The "board" was actually a little Mackie PA head.

Well, it seems like a great way to do it. The feel and ambience of the live room with the direct clarity of the "board" mix. Turns out great!

[Blackburn]

Really enjoyed how the recording came out on both tunes. Great sounding Express clones Glen! I don't think I could tell them apart from your real ones, over computer speakers anyway. Maybe in person.

[njwrecks]

great sound and playing- you guys are really rocking it out!

[Richie]

Glen I have a couple tracks of yours that are really good. I had them on an older hard drive,and saved them so its been a while.
Don't know if they are still here or you have them. I think both are the ZZ stuff,one a strat and one the LP.. Both are really good. I don't know if you want me to post them or send them to you some how. last time I tried posting something like a pic etc.. it said I was over my limit were..lol
Let me know if its ok to post them. I'll try to send them to you.


nope, I cleaned out everything and still get this..

Sorry, but the maximum filesize for all Attachments in your Private Message Folder has been reached. Please delete some of your received/sent Attachments.
Sorry, but the maximum filesize for all Attachments in the Private Message Folder of 'geetarpicker' has been reached. Please let him know, or wait until he/she has deleted some of his/her Attachments.

[Colossal]

nope, I cleaned out everything and still get this..

Sorry, but the maximum filesize for all Attachments in your Private Message Folder has been reached. Please delete some of your received/sent Attachments.
Sorry, but the maximum filesize for all Attachments in the Private Message Folder of 'geetarpicker' has been reached. Please let him know, or wait until he/she has deleted some of his/her Attachments.

Sorry for the hijack, but this issue with TAG PM and attachments has been going on for years. Whenever I want to attach something by PM, I just put it in DropBox and PM a public link to the TAG user I want it to go to.

Great clips as always Glen!

[geetarpicker]

Richie two PM sent.
Thanks! GK

[Richie]

Yeah you should have them now.