We got the chance to share a bill with the John Kadlecik Band on Saturday night in Rhode Island. His rig was interesting, he was using his Alembic guitar, into a Roland GK-55 guitar synthesizer as his primary "amp" setup -- that's Roland's COSM modeling of amps and speakers. He had a pair of Meyer powered speakers -- one positioned in front of him as a floor wedge, and the other behind him where you would put a guitar cabinet. He had the GK-55 on the floor on one side, and a conventional pedal board on the other side (I think it was a Trailer Trash board but not sure). I only looked very quickly at it, but he had an MXR Distortion +, Phase 90, one of the new Mutrons, Octave, a Lexicon something or other (harmonizer, perhaps), a POG, a delay I did not recognize. I assume he was running the MIDI off the Alembic to use the synth patches on the Roland -- the acoustic guitar patch was very convincing and he had various other flavors to choose from (horns, etc). For the electric stuff, I don't think the Roland allows you to do any customizing of anything on there (IR files, etc.) so I assume it was just the COSM simulation of a Fender amp and speakers he was running. He ran it all into, I believe, a little 8-channel Mackie or Behringer mixer, and used that to set his volumes (as the Meyer gear does not have volume controls).
His keyboard player (Todd Stoops) was playing a chopped Hammond into one of the "road" modern Leslies (think it was a 3300), which sounded great but it was extremely loud on that side of the stage, as a real Leslie will be. Terrific organ player. He was right next to JK so JK's guitar was very loud, as well. He did not have what I would call an rukind-style "Jerry" tone (a la E120s, Twin etc.) but as I have always found, so much of it is in the fingers that he still sounded very much like he does when he plays through his E-120s and rack setup. Joe Gallant (Illuminati Orchestra) sat in on bass (Klyph Black had a last minute cancelation) and sounded terrific. Nathan Graham was on drums and he is a monster, too.
Very nice night of music. Definitely recommend checking them out if they are nearby. I talked with JK briefly about his setup. My impression is he likes the predictability and being able to hear himself perfectly from in front, as well as knowing 100 percent what the FOH is getting -- essentially why I went in that direction myself. I have abandoned the onstage cabinet at this point, relying on the FOH for front fill and, really, when the wedge is loud right in front of the crowd, they hear it plenty from there. I only use the speaker behind me now if the stage is far from the front row. Would love a set of Meyers but they are HEAVY.
His keyboard player (Todd Stoops) was playing a chopped Hammond into one of the "road" modern Leslies (think it was a 3300), which sounded great but it was extremely loud on that side of the stage, as a real Leslie will be. Terrific organ player. He was right next to JK so JK's guitar was very loud, as well. He did not have what I would call an rukind-style "Jerry" tone (a la E120s, Twin etc.) but as I have always found, so much of it is in the fingers that he still sounded very much like he does when he plays through his E-120s and rack setup. Joe Gallant (Illuminati Orchestra) sat in on bass (Klyph Black had a last minute cancelation) and sounded terrific. Nathan Graham was on drums and he is a monster, too.
Very nice night of music. Definitely recommend checking them out if they are nearby. I talked with JK briefly about his setup. My impression is he likes the predictability and being able to hear himself perfectly from in front, as well as knowing 100 percent what the FOH is getting -- essentially why I went in that direction myself. I have abandoned the onstage cabinet at this point, relying on the FOH for front fill and, really, when the wedge is loud right in front of the crowd, they hear it plenty from there. I only use the speaker behind me now if the stage is far from the front row. Would love a set of Meyers but they are HEAVY.
*****
Check out my original record at http://vicderobertis.com
or https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/crook ... d978388845
http://leftyguitarsonly.com
http://www.playingdead.net
Check out my original record at http://vicderobertis.com
or https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/crook ... d978388845
http://leftyguitarsonly.com
http://www.playingdead.net
