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Joe_Atlanta checking in

Hi folks, long time no see. It’s been over eighteen months since my last post here and during that time my life turned upside down a couple of times. I have a lot of ties (both personally and through my Zydeco band) to Louisiana and New Orleans. After the disaster of Katrina (both the hurricane and the government’s botched immediate response and criminally slow, bureaucracy plagued ongoing response), my bands did a lot of benefits and I also stayed busy doing individual relief work.

As all that slowed down a bit (and I burned out), I got an offer on my house that I couldn’t refuse, so I ended up moving after 25 years in one spot. The whole process of finding and buying a new house, packing up and moving was awful. I’m pretty much of a pack rat and boxing all that stuff, moving it and unpacking it is still going on a year after our move.

My band situation has changed. Although there were initial hopes of continuing, both my Link Removed and my alt country band are dead with vital members moving out of town for personal reasons. That leaves me with a blues band and Link Removed and between them I’ve been fairly busy (the Zydeco band recorded a CD this spring and worked whole lot). Here’s a sample without the dreaded accordion, lol. zt-bbjam.mp3

Things have finally slowed down for me, so with some cash in hand, I’m looking to lighten up my rig a little more. As I move into my middle fifties joint problems, arthritis and back pain are increasing. I have been sifting through the archives in the amp section, looking for the latest, greatest and lightest and I can feel the GAS starting. :D

Joe
 
Welcome back Joe!

Former New Orleanian here, River Ridge area(1959~1989). Packrat here as well so I know what you mean. Good luck on the rig weight reduction...our ages are close so the same happened here. My last reduction went to:
Line 6 Bass Pod XT-> QSC 2402 -> ACME B2's

In a lot of the "band" situations, they provide BOSE so it gets used and ACME's stay home. I much prefer ACME's but won't argue with an "already there" rig that I finally(6 months of trying) got a decent sound out of.

For an "emergency" rig, a SansAmp BDDI rides in the gigbag.

Previous rig was a 4x10 + 1x15. That got to be too much trouble to move alone.
 
Hey guys, thanks for the welcome back. Only right that league of happy B2'ers would take note. :bassist:

Johnny, a couple of my bandmates were active during your time in N.O. Trombonist Gary Vosbein was there in the late 80's doing latin and jazz stuff and guitarist Kris Sherman (who subbed for several months in my Zydeco band) played a lot with a rock band in the mid to late 60's called the Illusions (later Invalid Link Removed). BTW, the Guzzlers' tunes sound like fun to play, good luck with that project.

Joe