eBay Pick of the Day: Newbie Edition

Bear with me on this one, as I am no expert on gear (yet), but after our fun time in Philly over the weekend, I am dreaming of a basement studio filled with giant, beautifully noisy amps. I've got the gear fever. Look out! Twice as many Speers with eBay posts of dangerously expensive and loud machines!

Anyway, here's what I found:

Ampeg Classic SVT Bass Guitar Amp Head 410 HLF Cabinet


I don't know if this is a good deal, but it looks similar to the amp I used in Philly, which I liked a lot. It's less than a thousand dollars (right now) with a few days left...so I still have time for a quick bake sale or something right?

BLUE on FOX

If you're like me, you prefer talk shows that have a desk on their set, because 9 times out of 10, there's a microphone on that desk and if the interview is boring you can always play "name that mic."

Johnny Carson had a Shure SM33, Leno uses a Shure KSM27 Neumann TLM 103 (edited-- new show, new mic) and Letterman, who used to have an RCA 77-D (it was stolen!), now has a Heil PR-40. Conan had a... I want to say an Audio Technica 4040?


And then there's Glenn Beck, whose show I have not watched and would recommend you avoid as well (instead, listen to "Coast to Coast" by Thee Iran-Contras for an hour a day). He's a Class A buffoon with a shockmounted "Kiwi," from Baltic Latvin Universal Electronics (or BLUE), on his desk. Not cool, Fox, giving a bad name to a good microphone, but thumbs up, Fox Props Department, for matching an earache with an eyesore!

Open thread: what is your favorite prop mic on TV (past or present)?

First new side projects of 2009!

2008 was a big year for new Shamblers side projects, and we've just started our first two for 2009: John and Benjamin with The Shamblers, which is itself an extension of Ben (Shamblers) and John (Tender & Vulnerable)'s new duo, John and Benjamin.

We had our first rehearsal yesterday in Philadelphia and wrote/recorded a bunch of new songs. Some of it sounds like Rod Stewart, some of it sounds like Flipper. Here's some of the Flipper stuff:



Hopefully, we'll get together again soon and record on something a little beefier than a dictaphone. In the meantime, I'll be putting a tape together of yesterday's certified hits. More info on that soon!

Thanks for setting everything up, Ben!

"Boss Hoss":

Spacemen 3 related gear post

Sonic Boom owns one of these:



(stick with it past the 1 minute mark...)

Spacemen 3 -- live, 1989

Sci-Fi hilarity

Breakout/utility box update

I made a couple of small changes to our breakout/utility box yesterday: I moved its multiple down to make room for two more I/O jacks, scrapped its not-working passive mixer and replaced it with two 1/4"-->1/8" converters and a fixed voltage source, which can be scaled from 0-9v.

I've been having fun using it for something Jess likes to call the "robotrip effect" of slowing down a master clock to a halt:

Everybody know it's Spring again

(repost from the always great Turntable Lab blog)

What, me worry?

Like many people (I imagine), I've been keeping my mind off the recession by searching for extravagances on eBay. The way I see it, I maintain a sense of normalcy this way-- "I couldn't afford this thing in 2000, I can't afford it now, so nothing's changed: it's practically still the money making 90s."

This delusion is only helped along by the fact that people are selling off some really impressive pieces of gear to help pay for food.


Take this Telefunken sidecar, with 3x V72s, 2xV72As and 2x V76s, with all the gold plated I/O you'd expect from a rehousing of this caliber. Ich wünsche. $18,000.


Or this Neve RM 8, which I've never even heard of before (is it a slimmed down Kelso?), with its 8x 1084s. No aux sends, no inserts, sure, but it has EIGHT 1084s. $40,000.


How about a pair of Fairchild 660s? Matched for stereo? With sequential serial numbers?? A mere $50,000.

I need a glass of water-- these recession deals have got me flustered!

Friday's show is not happening

The Speers/The Shift debut show double-header, originally scheduled for this Friday, has been postponed (the club double-booked itself and gave us the boot).

We'll post details once we've set something else up elsewhere.

LAME.

Photos from the WFMU Marathon Finale

Everyone there had a camera-- I'm sure there will be better pictures on the WFMU blog and elsewhere tomorrow.

(UPDATE: you can listen to the party here and check out John Dalton's photos here.)

In the meantime, if you're up late and wondering what the thing you just spent your Sunday listening to looked like, here are some snapshots:

STILL A DAY LEFT TO PLEDGE!!

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eBay pick of the day: CES Analog Computer

CES Ed-Lab 700 Analog Computer


Banks upon banks upon banks of Boolean gates! Banana jacks! A big old VU meter! Please. No one bid on this. I'm already clearing space on our synth-shelf for this monster.

On a related note, can one of you lend me a few hundred dollars?

Debut shows! March 20th

Debut shows from The Speers and The Shift!

Please tell everyone you know, and feel free to print this flier/plaster your neighborhood with it. It's going to be a good one!!

EDIT: it looks like our bands are going on closer to 9:30. Still, show up early and we'll buy each other drinks!

Frankenmount

The heavy duty velcro we'd originally used to mount our breakout box wasn't holding with much confidence, so I went ahead and bolted it in place. I call this look "Frankenstyle."

Cross-posting: SUNDAY VEGAN SUNDAY

Patrick Elkins and Charlie Slick: on tour!

Our friend Patrick Elkins and his friends in Charlie Slick are going on a short tour, starting next Monday in their native Michigan, and finishing up on the 15th in Baltimore. If you live in any of these cities, be sure to make it out!

And these... are... the dates:

mo 3.9 ANN ARBOR, MI @ ARBOR VITAE
(336 1/2 S. State Street) 8 p.m.

tu 3.10 MANSFIELD, OH @ THE VOCAL HOUSE
(1134 W. Hanley Road)

we 3.11 PITTSBURGH, PA @ THE ROCK ROOM
(1054 Herron Ave.) w. Weird Paul, Mustache Required

th 3.12 PHILADELPHIA, PA @ THE MITTEN
(4918 Kingsessing) w. Uke Ellington, No Kitten Left Behind

fr 3.13
EARLY SHOW:
PATRICK + CHARLIE - MANHATTAN @ PIANO'S
(158 Ludlow Ave.) 6 p.m. w. Manage Twang

LATE SHOWS:

PATRICK - BROOKLYN @ THE 50/50
(50 Irving Place #1) 8 p.m.

CHARLIE - THE RESISTANTS LOFT time TBA

su 3.15 BALTIMORE, MD @ THE WINDUP SPACE
(12 W. North Ave.)

eBay pick of the day: Rotel RZ-8 Mixer

Rotel RZ-8 Mixer


We have our turntable permanently connected to a spring reverb box and can't imagine listening to records any other way. But I can't tell you how many times I've wished the reverb box also had a drum machine and a couple of crossfaders built into it...

So you can imagine my excitement finding this gem. $500 is about $450 more than it's probably worth, but who can say no to such an inspired piece of over-engineering?