Posted: Thu Jul 20, 2006 8:05 pm Post subject: Zen drive ma consumption?
Does anyone know what the ma consumption rating is for the zen drive? I'm daisy chaining pedals and I'd like to know what it needs. It doesn't say anything on the zen drive itself.
I've been living the 'Spinal tap' life. Exploding drummers, bass players who can't get out of their cocoon, singers that refuse to sing 'don't let me be misunderstood' because they think it's about wife abuse. The list goes on and on.
I have new respect for anyone who can get a band together within a year, and keep it together for at least a year. I'm at the point now where I don't even think about gigs, I'm happy if I can even get a 'rehearsal' in once every few weeks! In Vancouver, consistency, commitment, and talent, are hard to find. The ones with talent are usually very busy with a dozen bands already, so that leaves...the flakes, the mental cases, and the wannabees. Take my last bass player for example. This is a guy who played with me for 7 months. I knew he wasn't the greatest bass player, but once drummers and singers started complaining about his lack of tone, volume, and inability to hear when he was not in 'key', (all things I had heard myself, but was hoping he could fix), I had to bring it up with him. He admitted to not having picked up a bass for 16 years, so why is this surprising? Of course, he quits, and that was a good thing, because I hate firing people. Ford material really needs a bass player who knows what he's doing. Seriously, I had already spent $900 on IEM's because I could never hear this guy. The best part was that he still had my expensive amp, and when I went to his house to pick it up, he had left it outside on the porch of his house, with no one around, in the property crime district of town. This is a 52 year old man with a family. Lesson learned: never leave any equipment with anyone in your band, because you never know what kind of idiot they will turn out to be once they are out of the band. And this is the same guy who didn't want the singer I wanted because he thought she was too old and past her prime. First of all, I detest ageism. But what's more pathetic about this is is that she's 52, and HE'S 52! While she was singing pro and touring everywhere for the last 20 years, and still looks and sounds great, he hadn't even touched his bass. He was too busy raising a family and giving his kids the same first name as himself. Of course, 'Tim' is such a rare and beautiful name, so why wouldn't you want to pass it on? Of course, the very first new bass player I auditioned, with very little exposure or practice with the Ford songs, NAILED them on the first go, and he sounded so much better than the previous guy who had been working on them for SEVEN MONTHS, I could not believe it. So, it's also my fault for just taking the first guy who came along, just because he was such a Ford fan like myself. Lesson learned: Never let a common appreciation of the artist you are covering blind you to the lack of a bass player's ability to competently carry out the cover. Audition as many people as you can when starting a project. Another lesson learned: when another pro guitarist, who previously played with the same bass player you are now playing with, warns you about his lack of skills, confirms everything you have suspected, and tells you how embarressing it was to be on stage with that bass player, 'once', take heed of said warning.
One drummer (and he was good) turned out to be a semi-psychotic diabetic with extreme mood swings, and would regularly have us over for practices in his pitch black garage while talking non stop about all the 'friends' he had once he got a 'myspace' page. Lesson learned: When first hearing confessions from a musician about his 'Health problems and medications', take them more seriously, find out more about them, their side effects, before letting the person in the band. There may be a reason someone spends their life 'jamming' in his dark garage, and doesn't even play in one 'working' band. But even this guy had the decency to shake hands, say 'good luck' when parting ways.
What this all amounts to is a lot of work over the last 9 months, with a lot of people, that ended up going nowhere. The main obstacle was getting a singer. Either I couldn't find anyone who could sing Ford songs properly, and believe me, there were some scary auditions; or the women we auditioned didn't want to sing 'male' songs (?????), or she was already cherry picking what she wanted to sing 'before' even having one jam or meeting the band.
Speed through all that crap and what happened?: About two months ago, I finally found a drummer that was pro, and mentally stable. At a jam, I found a female singer, who had very similar interests in music as myself. Not only did she know and appreciate Robben Ford, she knew practically every other guitarist I do. Now THAT is rare. I knew immediately that I had to hold onto her. She also doesn't require key changes, which is another 'singer' problem I had many times. Problem is that the drummer is now on vacation for six weeks, and she is in school, which makes it difficult to even rehearse once every 3 weeks.
So, in summation, it's all in a holding pattern until early November when she graduates. I'm not going to bother looking for singers anymore just to gain a few months. It will no longer be a strict Ford cover band. First, she can sing the songs, but she can't demonstrate her real strengths just doing Ford material, so we will be adding more rock/funk like Glenn Hughes, Trower, etc. I'm also sick of playing the same 12 Ford songs for the last 9 months through sooooo many auditions. Will probably cut those back to 6 songs. Most likely to stay in the set will be Rugged road, Strong will to live, Think twice, Busted up, Help the poor, Hand in hand with the blues, Worried life blues. Who knows, maybe by the time the Olympics rolls around to Vancouver in 2010, I'll be ready to gig!
On our first get together with the new drummer, we ran through the Ford songs, and the deal clincher was 'Hand in hand with the blues'. It was smoking. This guy really pushed it and I played much better. Unfortunately, I never got that on minidisc because the singer was using my mic at the time. Isn't that always how it goes? We auditioned other drummers after this guy, and the same song just paled in comparison.
I'm still trying to set up jams with bass players and drummers because I don't want to sit around until Sept until this guy comes back from holidays or the singer graduates. The last jam, the singer bailed because of a school test, the drummer had a car breakdown, and I ended up sitting there apologizing to a 'new' bass player who wondered what kind of flakes I was playing with. He had been through the same thing so many times, I really had to work hard to convince him they were okay. It's at the point where I don't even count on rehearsals, even when they have been confirmed by everyone a week ahead of time. When you can't even count on a 'rehearsal' session every few weeks, that is truly sad. But that's Vancouver for you. You only get the commitment when there is money involved. Maybe I should start paying people to rehearse.
Oh yes, I DO understand why so many people just say 'Fuck this shit' and play at home/record. If I had spent all this time just working on my own CD's, and doing my own thing, I'd have a lot more accomplished. But then again, while doing your own thing with your own recordings is fun and creative, it still is no match for having a real band, so even against the advice of people who tell me not to bother with the 'band', and concentrate on being a solo guitarist, I'm still going to give it some time.
Ha! What a rant. Well, you had to ask how it was going with rehearsals!
Last edited by spatzi on Fri Jul 21, 2006 8:39 am; edited 1 time in total
PS- Back on topic, I still would like to know the ma requirement of the zen drive, and also if the battery is being used when there is a plug in the input, or ONLY when you click the switch and the blue light goes on. I know some pedals drain battery when the input jack is plugged in.
Joined: 19 Sep 2003 Posts: 646 Location: City of Trees, USA
Posted: Fri Jul 21, 2006 8:50 am Post subject:
spatzi: Wow! Thanks for the great story. How much do you want for the movie rights.
The tale about the loaned amp reminds me of a friend of mine who returned home from a two-week vacation to find a large box on his front doorstep, left there nearly a week before by UPS. His older brother had sent it to him. In the box? A fiest red 1966 Stratocaster that had been in the family for 40 years (their Dad had played it, loaned it around with his musical sons, then taken it back and put it in the attic -- talk about a "closet classic"). Luckily, my friend lives in a low crime area.
And in the department of "things could be worse," the drummer I work with needs a hip replacement and hasn't been able to play for over two months. I've been pointing out to him that Floyd Landis has been riding a heck of a Tour de France on a similarly painful hip, but the point isn't getting through.
This is only the tip of the iceberg. I forgot to mention all the women who backed out of auditions using the 'car crash' excuse, the people who were stoned while I talked to them on the phone, or the people who sent me 'fake' demos, of someone else singing! One girl, I swear, she sounded better than Odeta. It was suspicious. When I admitted amazement at how good her vocals were, and how it was possible she didn't have a recording contract yet, she never showed up for auditions, because she 'crashed the car' on the way over.
Or how about the drummer who was so pussy whipped by his wife, he literally dropped his sticks and ran home the minute the practice was over (this was once a week). She would regularly call us in the middle of a session and try to get him to cut it short and come home to Mommy.
Or how about the woman who advertised herself as 'Extremely talented, beautiful, etc' and she walks into my house carrying a street bum cart, and she looks like Angela Lansbury with a blonde wig, tight jeans, and a weight problem. I give her the benefit of the doubt and hope she has a voice. She gives me a demo disc that she proudly told me was 'recorded at a local pro studio'. So I'm thinking, this might be good. Who goes to a studio unless they're good? It is very unfortunate that I was not able to burn a copy of it before I threw it at her, because it was the most ridiculous thing I had ever heard. I literally grimaced in pain. First of all, every 'musician' she hired for this session was drunk, and they all sounded like they had just picked up instruments that same day. The studio actually let them play, and took her $100 an hour. I told her straight out. "Burn this. do not give it to anyone else if you want to be taken seriously." She then proceded to ask me if I'd be interested in playing 'senior care homes'. Oh yes, it's my DREAM to have a power trio and the 'cat lady' play 'Strong will to live' in front of a room full of 80+ geezers who were raised on Lawerence Welk. But at least those guys wouldn't notice how crap my bass player was. And one more thing, I had never met this woman before she came to my place. Within two minutes of being in my living room, she's already picked up my $3000 Parker mojo, without permission, and is strumming away on it. Can you believe the frickin' nerve? And that was before I heard her 'studio cd'. Yes, she made a wonderful impression.
I have an idea. I'm going to take a few audio samples from the bad 'vocalist' auditions of the last 8 months, doing the Ford songs, and put them together in a nice mp3 for your listening enjoyment, so you too will know my pain.
Joined: 10 Jul 2006 Posts: 64 Location: Wichita, KS, USA
Posted: Sat Jul 22, 2006 2:12 pm Post subject:
man...I feel for you, brother. There's so many riff-raff people out-there...it's crazy and even scary sometimes...
Like the old saying goes..."Seek and thou shall find"....
Joined: 22 Jun 2005 Posts: 63 Location: Grass Valley, CA
Posted: Mon Jul 24, 2006 9:31 am Post subject: Zen Drive ma consumption
At least if you put all the best of the worst you'd get a laugh for all the time wasted and so would we. I'm sure most of us have been down that road. If you have more auditions please video them thats the best part, not only are they bad but they think there great and it would give us all a great hoot. Post them you could start the new Canadian Idol out takes.
It actually took me about three years to get with the right bunch of guys who are dedicated and show up for rehersal twice a week. We are workin on it. Check out www.Remleymusic.com weve been working on a cd wich we hope to release in a month or so. Its been a weird long road to get this far. Good luck finding the right mix of musicians.
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spatzi: Where ya' been the past two months? How are the rehearsals going?
Of course, the very first new bass player I auditioned, with very little exposure or practice with the Ford songs, NAILED them on the first go, and he sounded so much better than the previous guy who had been working on them for SEVEN MONTHS, I could not believe it. So, it's also my fault for just taking the first guy who came along, just because he was such a Ford fan like myself. Lesson learned: Never let a common appreciation of the artist you are covering blind you to the lack of a bass player's ability to competently carry out the cover. Audition as many people as you can when starting a project. Another lesson learned: when another pro guitarist, who previously played with the same bass player you are now playing with, warns you about his lack of skills, confirms everything you have suspected, and tells you how embarressing it was to be on stage with that bass player, 'once', take heed of said warning.
He had been through the same thing so many times, I really had to work hard to convince him they were okay. It's at the point where I don't even count on rehearsals, even when they have been confirmed by everyone a week ahead of time. When you can't even count on a 'rehearsal' session every few weeks, that is truly sad. But that's Vancouver for you. You only get the commitment when there is money involved. Maybe I should start paying people to rehearse.
Can you believe the frickin' nerve? And that was before I heard her 'studio cd'. Yes, she made a wonderful impression.
