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Bey Mario Chang
Born late 50's from a father who was a pioneer engineer of telecom, radio & TV in Panama. Became an EE too & in the late 70's, when I moved to the US; I worked with a company that was one of the 1st ones to start the "backyard dish" industry. Patented a process to do digital A/D & D/A audio, using the 8080 family of chips. Had a band that were one of six 1st ever to broadcast live on the web, using a souped up IBM Amiga & a custom UNIX/early Linux hybrid software. Many IMAX theaters as a consultant, Project Manager & even "swinging the wrench". For kicks & since I personally know the originators of the ACL & SxSW Festivals in Austin, every year I "volunteer" to do IT, Audio & Video for them. As well as helping with the Carnaval du Bahia in Brazil, Danilo's Panama Jazz Fest or the Festival de Musica Nativa (named Andina too) in Peru. But I have been a full time pro musician & can proudly say that I've played in the Whisky A Go Go. Had Dim Sun with Madam Wong in LA. Had to endure the nasty smell inside CBGB's. Played at the original Agora. Festivals... from Canada to Central & South America. Europe, Asia & of course. Many "hanging out" with famous & not so famous musicians all over the world. As of late, I'm semi-retired but since technology never stops improving; I'm part of the team doing the 4th upgrade to ACES IT facility in UT at Austin (of which I help build in '01). Also pending is the transition & implementation to digital TV in my home country of Panama. Music wise & now that the Covid restrictions have been eased up, every Monday I have a Latin Jam & are in the process of regrouping the band I formed & had since '16. To finish. If you have any questions from my initial Talk Bass thread reply (Old Peavey TKO 115 75 watt combos. Decent?), please feel free to do so thru my inbox. Every so often I check it out. Technically, I might not sound too conventional. But believe me. In order to be ahead of the curve, you need to know what was, still is & is good from the past & the present; in order to innovate for the future. To me, conventional is just letting yourself get stuck in the past. Ciao for now y'all.
Member statistics
- Messages
- 11
- Reaction score
- 0
- Gender
- Male
- Current Setup
- All basses & guitars mod stereo. Main usage amps. Mono or dual, Roland Bass Cube 40 & 60. Behringer KDX12's combos. Big rig, Soundcraft Gigrac 1000st as amp. Passive cabs or it, Rockville 18" & Bag End 2x10" w/an extra twtr. Basses, since '04 only use 5 string (but still have a few 4 string). Favorites. Rare; very rare 90's LP 5 string prototype. '18 De Rosa 5 string semi-acoustic (have 2 of them). '78 5 string Rogue w/Bassline p/u's (for the Fender sound). '20 5 string "Gibsun" EB-2d copy (w/added piezo p/up's). '08 German Spector mod stereo. '03 Ibanez AEB305-LG-01-OP 5 string (short scale but mod to take long scale steel/nickel strings & for stereo output). Also have a pair of Harmonia 5 string semi-acoustics. 1 has the frets taken out & even as they actually sound very nice, the Sapele wood is too soft for my liking (hate the color too).
- Occupation
- EE. Telecom. Computer hrdwr & sftwr. Musician too.
- Favorite Genres
- Latin, Brazilian. Jazz. Classic Rock & Country music... from some other countries (actually, much respect to Bluegrass).
- Previously Owned Gear
- Too may & too small space to mention them all.
- G.A.S. List
- Any & in any shape 50's & 60's MacIntosh tube amps. Same but Heathkit & Dynachord amps. Late 70's Acoustic bass amp heads. Friend has an Ampeg 5 string baby bass & I want one too. 1st generation Spector 5 string basses. Another Teac A3440, a Jeep signed MCI 8 track tape machine, a late 90's SSI mixer, a pair of 18" mid 80's Cervin-Vegas. And now that he passed away this year, anything Rupert Neve made before he started selling or outsourcing his designs. Plenty to dream off, including R-44 or R-77 RCA ribbon mikes.
- Influences and Teachers
- Mingus, Cachao, Oscar de Leon, good old Paul. Salvador Cuevas. Ray Brown. Eddie Gomez. Mcbride. When I was 12 & starting to play bass, pro mind you; I saw Oscar de Leon improvising on the main vocals he fronted with his band. Improvising too on the bass. Dancing in a chorus line with the back up singers & percussionists up front. All while he was holding a double bass. That discouraged me for a few months, but hey. If can never be as good as him, at least I have to knowledge it & tell that story. I'm still trying to figure out exactly what Sal Cuevas does, with the slapping chorus bass line in Hector Lavoe's Juanito Alimana. More or less can do it, but not quite as neatly as Sal did. As for taping the fret board... ah, yeah. But it's not my thing & something I don't pay much attention to.
- Hobbies and Interests
- Don't get me started on those.