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American Idol

#42
Hi folks,
I'm complimented by all your comments and interested in your queries so I am happy to reply to your questions.

My name is Lynn Keller. I played for the Hollywood Week auditions for American Idol. I used two custom MTD basses - they're protype models built for me. 32" scale so they're not specifically 535 or 435's. Also, neither bass is chambered. They sound completely different. I used the green one for the week on the show. I'm also not using an Avalon U5 for the show as I use that in the studio. For the show I was using the iAmp800 and the EA NM 410. The Hollywood Week auditions are usually done with solo piano. This year Nigel wanted to bring in bass. I played for 80 kids on Monday which included a 4 hour rehearsal in the a.m., then an 8 hour day on camera in front of the judges. I did the same thing on Tuesday which was a 4 hour rehearsal of the next 80 kids followed by 9 1/2 hours on camera. The third day we rehearsed for 19 hours straight as the contestants were allowed to chose any song they wanted. To do 80 arrangements took from 9 a.m. till 4 a.m. Yes, how observant. A GK RB800 and a Hartke 4 x 10. This was my touring road rig for years. The 800 literally died at 4 a.m. upon completion of the rehearsal. Good timing! The final day was camera time for about 6 hours. Was I sick of playing those tunes? A few of them for sure.

I thought the bass sounded great on tv and am thrilled that both EA and MTD got some airtime!

Thanks for all the cool comments.

Lynn



Feel free to visit my website lynnkeller.com
 
#44
redshooz said:
Hi folks,
I'm complimented by all your comments and interested in your queries so I am happy to reply to your questions.

My name is Lynn Keller. I played for the Hollywood Week auditions for American Idol. I used two custom MTD basses - they're protype models built for me. 32" scale so they're not specifically 535 or 435's. Also, neither bass is chambered. They sound completely different. I used the green one for the week on the show. I'm also not using an Avalon U5 for the show as I use that in the studio. For the show I was using the iAmp800 and the EA NM 410. The Hollywood Week auditions are usually done with solo piano. This year Nigel wanted to bring in bass. I played for 80 kids on Monday which included a 4 hour rehearsal in the a.m., then an 8 hour day on camera in front of the judges. I did the same thing on Tuesday which was a 4 hour rehearsal of the next 80 kids followed by 9 1/2 hours on camera. The third day we rehearsed for 19 hours straight as the contestants were allowed to chose any song they wanted. To do 80 arrangements took from 9 a.m. till 4 a.m. Yes, how observant. A GK RB800 and a Hartke 4 x 10. This was my touring road rig for years. The 800 literally died at 4 a.m. upon completion of the rehearsal. Good timing! The final day was camera time for about 6 hours. Was I sick of playing those tunes? A few of them for sure.

I thought the bass sounded great on tv and am thrilled that both EA and MTD got some airtime!

Thanks for all the cool comments.

Lynn



Feel free to visit my website lynnkeller.com
Click to expand...

Thanks for responding, you sounded great on the show. Hollywood week this year was tons better with BASS.
 
#46
Lynn,

Thanks for stopping by. Great playing on the show! You'll have to give us some pointers on the settings for the iAmp. I used mine mostly for URB and couldn't find the right tone with my EB.

Those were some long days for you and the band.
 
#47
Thanks Lynn! You sound great and I compliment you on your level of patience and professionalism. I will check out one of your gigs as they come up on the website. BTW, Isn't Matt R. one of the nastiest players you have seen on any instrument? I saw him play Hammond in a trio that left me speechless for days.
 

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