BeesNest Productions » Gear

Robin Moxey, rockin’ the Bogner!

aaron — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 17:07:02 +0000

So, I’m checking my email the other day, minding my own business and what should appear in my inbox, but a newsletter from Line 6. I usually just skim over their marketing, see if there’s anything worth checking out and then send ‘em to the old bit bucket, but this one I noticed was mentioning something about the Bogner Alchemist. Hm… that’s interesting, my good buddy and bluesman extraordinaire Robin Moxey just started playing a Bogner so I go ahead and click the link and sure enough… there’s Robin on the Bogner website trading licks with a few other guys showing off the amp.

Who said there’s never anything useful in junk mail?

Edge & The Echo

aaron — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 23:19:33 +0000

I just had to share this video of Edge “showing off” his guitar rig and technique. He makes it look so easy…

Check out more videos of Edge on the BBC Site.

The Ideal DJ Gig-Rig

aaron — Thu, 22 May 2008 23:06:29 +0000

I’ve got a few of DJ gigs coming up this summer… you know, folks getting married and all. I love wedding gigs. Everyone’s (usually) in a good mood, there’s free food, people all gussied up and ready to party. What’s not to like? Generally the only challenge is dealing with the gear. Our sound system has been built up around the idea of supporting a live band, not so much the DJ thing and it can be a little… hm… top-heavy for that kind of a gig.

I don’t mean top-heavy in an audio sense, but more in a gear sense. I don’t really want to lug along our Mackie 24 channel board with on-board effects just to plug in my MacBook and one mic. However, my little Behringer studio mixer doesn’t have the EQ capability I’m looking for either. My newest find is the Behringer FBQ1502 Ultragraph Dual 15-Band Equalizer.

$80, dual 15 band EQ in 1 rack space with a sub out. Now if I could just get some active PA speakers I could leave the amps at home too. That’s the way I roll.

Ya gotta keep em separated

aaron — Thu, 01 Nov 2007 00:29:35 +0000

After many years and countless gigs powered by our trusty old sound system, I finally broke down and bought a real crossover. We’ve been operating fine without one for quite a while, but using the “built-in” crossover features of our Mackie m1400i amps has the unfortunate drawback of not excluding the low frequency range from the mains. Result… when you crank up that kick drum mic in order to get good response from our aging Peavy Sub-Compact subs, the resulting sound you get from the mains is something along the lines of whacking an empty Rubbermaid garbage can with a yard-stick.

My model of choice is a DBX 223XL. It’s your typical no-frills, 2 way stereo / 3 way mono crossover. I have to say it did the job pretty well. We put it thru it’s paces when the Robin Moxey Trio played last Friday and Saturday at the Halftime Saloon in Gig Harbor. The only downside is now that the main mix is clear of the low-frequency muddiness, I can really tell how old those speakers are! Oh well, one thing at a time.

Line 6 and the return of Gearlust

aaron — Sat, 20 Oct 2007 00:59:23 +0000

I haven’t had a “gear-crush” in quite a while. I think I’ve grown out of it as I’ve gotten older…. well that and the fact that I’d rate shopping retail for music equipment somewhere between dentist appointments and rush hour I-5 traffic on the “fun to do on my free Saturday afternoons” scale.

Having said that, the new Pod X3 live from Line 6 definitely has my attention right now. The two features I think make it crush-worthy are:

Two amps at once
Programmable Effects Loop

The truth is, it probably doesn’t sound any different than the Pod XT I’m currently using, but those two little additions make it pretty enticing. I’d love to be able to add an Octave pedal or Whammy pedal into my virtual rig. It has several more amp simulation models than the XT too. However, I find that I pretty much only use a few of the amp models anyway. I’ve got a pretty good “generic bluesy rock & roll” sound set up using the Cali Crunch amp and my The Edge sound for our U277 shows which of course uses the Vox AC-30 model.

I’ve been pretty pleased with the sound I’m getting of of that old Pod. It improved a LOT when they added the ability to have a dedicated 4 band EQ on each patch. Definitely helped to liven up the sound. I’d say it’s about 90% authentic sounding. In a studio situation I still feel like it sounds fake (which it is), but playing live and pushing it through my tube powered Peavey Classic 50 combo it’s as close to the genuine article as I need to get.

The main benefit I get from using an emulated rig as opposed to good ol’ fashioned stomp boxes and tube amps of course is the versatility. It’s great being able to push one button and jump from a punchy clean chime-y rhythm sound to a full-distortion with crazy-long-delay solo sound like one needs to in a song like “Bullet the Blue Sky”.

On the other hand, I could opt for ultimate realism and get two rack cases full of gear as well as a full pedal board and 8 individual amps like my doppelgänger here.

I’d better find a house with a bigger garage!