9/20/2005 Built to Spill to RAWK the Cain's!

[Betterout]

Tyler,

Electric guitars are passive instruments that produce a very faint signal based on vibrations of metal strings through an electromagnetic field created by magnets in the pickups (some, called contact or piezo pickups, rely on vibrations in the wood instead). These signals are so faint that they must be boosted greatly in order to be used to much effect, so they are sent to a device known as an amplifier. Amps must then convert the signal--a process known as transduction--into kinetic energy, which is done by way of a loudspeaker or an array of loudspeakers. Amps are often packaged together with their loudspeakers, and are thus known as combo amps. Other times, amplifiers and loudspeakers are very distinct. In these sorts of cases, the amplifier is known as a head amp, or just head, and the loudspeaker(s) are housed in an acoustically designed speaker enclosure often made of thick wood and covered with grillcloth. Such speaker enclosures are commonly called cabinets, or just cabs. Combos and cabs are often referenced in terms of the number and types of speakers they contain. For instance, an enclosure with 1 speaker of 12" diameter is frequently called a 112. Likewise, one with 4 10" speakers is called a 410. Amps, on the other hand, are referenced most often by their wattage and their circuitry--either solidstate or utilizing vacuum tubes. So, someone (namely me) might say, "My Fender Hot Rod Deville is an all-tube 60W 212." This means my amp contains at least one tone tube (probably an 12AX7, in this case I have 3) and possibly a power tube (I have 2 6L6 tubes) and/or a reverb tube. It produces 60 Watts of amplification power, and feeds the signal through 2 12" speakers.

[rickus]

Justin,

I had the feeling you may have delivered much of the info in your last post with just a hint of "Tyler, you silly silly man!" in it. But I really did think that was amazingly informative. Sincerely. Also your description of the show was wonderful. I can't think of a single adjective to add. Thank you, thank you, thank you Justin and Amanda for our tickets. It was a gesture above and beyond the call of friendship. I pray that Katie and I will have the means and the opportunity to repay you kindness soon. Your generosity is terrifically appreciated!

Tammy, thank you too! As we drew close to Tulsa with the buildings looming large in the wind shield Tammy steadfastly provided us with driving directions via cell phone. Were it not for her, we might very well have missed the show entirely. I hope we can be there for you some day to return the favor!

And lastly to the lady standing next to me at the show. Without you I would not have had cotton mouth. Nor would I have had the munchies until 3:00AM in the morning. Or the stuffy headed feeling followed by bouts of paranoia. I haven't been stoned since 1989, when Ronald Reagen still had the country by the throat. Thank you... I guess.

rickus

[Betterout]

Aha!

The two guys who played in both bands last night, 'the guy with the sideburns from hell' and 'the old guy with the Corn King hat,' were none other than Mike Johnson's bandmates from Caustic Resin, including Brett Netson (sideburns) who was once a member of BtS.


(http://www.causticresin.com/photos.cfm?startrow=1&photoid=61CC408A-F1CF-4F3E-8A88D06386B48F6C)

[Tyler]

How do roadies tune up guitars during concerts? How do they hear the guitar above the music?

[Betterout]

Most tuners nowadays are digital, and make use of LEDs in place of the old fashioned needle. Plus, they rely on the EM signal from the pickups not an acoustic signal. Because it's a light and signal system, it can be utilized in complete darkness and in very loud situations. Digital tuners are also more precise than the old needle-type systems. Old tuners had to be set to the desired pitch before they could be used. If you wanted to tune your A string, you had to set the machine to A, and it would tell you how off you are. They did so by appealing to a constantly skewing scale to account for very increasingly small cents of frequency. The visible scale behind the needle must be the primary point of reference, but you'd want the real precision in the small steps not the broadstrokes. In other words, if you're playing what you thought was an A at 448, you wouldn't care so much about the leap from 448 to 441 as much as the leap from 441 to 440. Most digital tuners nowadays are fully chromatic. This means you can play any note, and it will tell you what you're playing. In theory you could tune your whole guitar up or down fractions of a semitone, and do so consistently. Digital tuners are so precise as to be useful in setting the intonation of a guitar (to ensure an open A is the same frequency as the next octave A played on the same string), which involves raising or lowering and shifting forward or backward of the string saddles on the bridge. Movements here are in fractions of a string width. It would take a skilled luthier to do this without the use of a digital tuner.