I recently went to the Czech Republic (FOR THE 1st TIME) to play a festival
My son lives in Switzerland (CH) ,so generally,if I go to Europe to do a tour I ,round trip into, then back out of Switzerland on my way home
Many years ago ,when his mom & I were married , we stashed a bunch of gear in his grandpa's basement .Back in them days you could fly internationally with TWO pieces of checked luggage ,weighing up to 70lbs apiece, FREE of charge. So with 3 of us paying a fare ,that was a pretty good amount of stuff we could bring over each trip.
Of course , now it just stays
This particular trip ,I had to do some dates in the UK before heading to CZ & NL for some festivals . I have gear stashed at my UK tour manager's (fellow gearhead) house as well . We probably could've taken from that stash to do the mainland gigs ....but I didn't wanna start breaking up / fragmenting that kit ,as it took me a few trips to put that all together
Before I left home, I had to think up some expendable sacrificial sh*t that fit on the plane (or not) and could cover the range of repertoire
I knew I already had this Squier "Supertele" I slapped together around 2008, gatherin' dust in CH. But what for bass?
Our bass player in Europe , Fabio, is not a 6'5"er like me , so he can totally get away with playin short scales . In fact ,he likes 'em .
Over in the barn , I stumbled upon my high school era plywood Asian Kay SG bass that I got around 1978. It fits perfectly in a normal guitar gig bag ..and therefore most overhead bins on the plane
So I got to work ,settin that bass up with some new FLATWOUNDS , as the old ones were starting to unwind . I plugged it into my bedside bass amp ...the Peavey TKO 80 I got for Xmas 1978...sounded glorious...like ROCK ....It's GOIN !
When I got the CH , I stuck these two in a double gig bag ,and hauled 'em to England until it was time to go to the CZ
It was a somewhat frustrating day of travel to get there , but the Czech audience was well worth the effort
BTW , I had no pedalboard either ...just a mini Crybaby & a TS9...a clip on Korg headstock tuner
But between those and the Trem & Reverb in the AC 30 CC2, I had it covered OK
That 15yr old kid's bass sounded fantastic
I will say , cheap guitars don't ALWAYS kill it , but this time , this pair did it !
My son lives in Switzerland (CH) ,so generally,if I go to Europe to do a tour I ,round trip into, then back out of Switzerland on my way home
Many years ago ,when his mom & I were married , we stashed a bunch of gear in his grandpa's basement .Back in them days you could fly internationally with TWO pieces of checked luggage ,weighing up to 70lbs apiece, FREE of charge. So with 3 of us paying a fare ,that was a pretty good amount of stuff we could bring over each trip.
Of course , now it just stays
This particular trip ,I had to do some dates in the UK before heading to CZ & NL for some festivals . I have gear stashed at my UK tour manager's (fellow gearhead) house as well . We probably could've taken from that stash to do the mainland gigs ....but I didn't wanna start breaking up / fragmenting that kit ,as it took me a few trips to put that all together
Before I left home, I had to think up some expendable sacrificial sh*t that fit on the plane (or not) and could cover the range of repertoire
I knew I already had this Squier "Supertele" I slapped together around 2008, gatherin' dust in CH. But what for bass?
Our bass player in Europe , Fabio, is not a 6'5"er like me , so he can totally get away with playin short scales . In fact ,he likes 'em .
Over in the barn , I stumbled upon my high school era plywood Asian Kay SG bass that I got around 1978. It fits perfectly in a normal guitar gig bag ..and therefore most overhead bins on the plane
So I got to work ,settin that bass up with some new FLATWOUNDS , as the old ones were starting to unwind . I plugged it into my bedside bass amp ...the Peavey TKO 80 I got for Xmas 1978...sounded glorious...like ROCK ....It's GOIN !
When I got the CH , I stuck these two in a double gig bag ,and hauled 'em to England until it was time to go to the CZ
It was a somewhat frustrating day of travel to get there , but the Czech audience was well worth the effort
BTW , I had no pedalboard either ...just a mini Crybaby & a TS9...a clip on Korg headstock tuner
But between those and the Trem & Reverb in the AC 30 CC2, I had it covered OK
That 15yr old kid's bass sounded fantastic
I will say , cheap guitars don't ALWAYS kill it , but this time , this pair did it !
Last edited:
, No I did not , good one though !!
