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New Cream DVD

watspan

watspan

Nov 25, 2002
1,579
148
67
madison, wi
#1
Check out the new Cream 2005 DVD! Jack Bruce playing a gibson EB-1 through 2 hartke 8x10 stacks (each w/ a 5500?) and 2 1x15 (maybe 18?) gets a fantastic tone!

I realize Jack can play anything he wants, and at his level may have an endorsement from Hartke, but I was surprised to see Hartke, and was surprised by the tone!

I also thought his EB-1 sounded better than his signature warwick fretless!

Even though I'm an old timer and am familiar w/ Cream's hits, i've never owned a cream album, but while watching the dvd it struck me that I play in a style similar to Jack too!

The Cream aren't psychedelic heavy or anything, but I thought it is a very well done dvd with a very intersting performance.
(I also posted in amps)
 
#3
zongeek said:
I thought he used his signature fretless Warwick Thumb 4? Hmm. I'll need to buy that.
Click to expand...

He used the Thumb on a few songs, but mostly the EB1.

I bought the DVD yesterday and watched disk 1 so far. Excellent. Jack looks a little frail, but he can still play. And sing. And plays a pretty mean harp too.
 
#5
Man!....Jack Bruce still has some lungs!!....great singer!!! I really though Clapton played great too, he seemed to thrive in the extra room a trio format affords him.
 
#6
I saw the clip of "White Room" I think Jack's voice has gotten a little bit worse. It sounds like he spent all his time since the breakup of Cream drinking. I hate Clapton's tone though. Doesn't sound like Cream. I mean, a strat and a fender twin? Get the Gibson and the Marshalls!
 
#7
nettor said:
I saw the clip of "White Room" I think Jack's voice has gotten a little bit worse. It sounds like he spent all his time since the breakup of Cream drinking. I hate Clapton's tone though. Doesn't sound like Cream. I mean, a strat and a fender twin? Get the Gibson and the Marshalls!
Click to expand...

I don't think we saw the same DVD ;)
 
#11
If Jack Bruce spent 37 years straight drinking he'd be dead. He sounds good to me for someone being compared to an impossible standard- his younger self. I agree though that the fender sound seems a little too tame, but it overall sounds great. It's amazing Ginger Baker can play at all. He looks like my 89 year old grandmother.
 
#12
I am very pleased with the new Cream DVD. As Jack pointed out in the interview, they didn't want to be a nostalgia act. They wanted it to be what they are now. He said they could have hauled out the Marshall stacks and he could have played an EB3, but that's not where they are at know. Plus he said they did try that at rehearsals and it didn't work.

If you are expecting to see Cream picking up where they left off in 1968, you will be disappointed. If you want to see three musicians who have a special bond, who have grown as players since they last played together and who seem to be genuinely enjoying what they are doing, you will love the DVD. Jack did look frail on the songs taken from the Friday show, he looked a little better on the Tuesday clips, but not at all bad for a guy in his mid 60's who almost died from liver disease last year.
 
#13
last night BBC4 showed Cream at the Royal Albert hall in 2005- I think the same as this DVD, and after it the 1968 Cream gig/mini-documentary (with amusing very english interviewer's questions to the band).

I have to say I preferred Jack Bruce's 1968 EB3 tone to his 2005 EB1 tone (not enough mids IMO- even with the frowny face eq curve visible on his Hartke's) but the drums sounded a lot better with 2005's clarity.

in the 1968 docu, when asked about the effects of high volume on hearing, Jack Bruce says a doctor told him that there's a part of the brain that switches off so you won't be harmed by high volume-

I wonder if (now hearing-impaired) Pete Townshend heard the same misguided story at the time....
 
#14
watspan said:
Check out the new Cream 2005 DVD! Jack Bruce playing a gibson EB-1 through 2 hartke 8x10 stacks (each w/ a 5500?) and 2 1x15 (maybe 18?) gets a fantastic tone!
Click to expand...

Actually, one of the rigs was for his EB1, the other for the Warwick. The whole setup is posted on the Invalid Link Removed website. It looks like the EB1 signal was miked and the Warwick was taken direct, from looking at what his tech posted.
 
#16
Jack Bruce was the reason I took up bass so of course I bought the DVD and was surprised...his playing was way toned down while Clapton sounded more adventurous than in the past! Like Eric said in his interview, he couldn't lean on keys, second guitar, etc. and it showed. He really hasn't played like that since Cream broke up.

I was surprised to hear Eric say the reunion was HIS idea and Ginger was hesitant because if anyone needed the $$$ from a reunion it's Ginger Baker. Then again, I suppose only Eric could have launched the reunion...he was the only one who had nothing to gain from it.

The DVD shows up Cream's weakest point....songwriting, very few of their songs are anything beyond jamming vehicles (We're Going Wrong is one exception to the rule) and the jams are mostly one chord workouts. Since they spent so much time touring they never really developed their writing, which is more the shame because by the end Clapton was just starting to blossom ("Badge" was written after they had decided to break up) and Bruce's songs on his solo albums have been in general superior to his Cream material. Cream DID mess around with a few of Jack's solo tunes (demo versions are on the box set that came out a few years ago) but sadly never refined them enough to record or perform them.

What I would really like to see (but of course it's impossible) is the 1968 Albert Hall film shot with the quality of the 2005 one!
 
#17
The Mock Turtle Regulator said:
in the 1968 docu, when asked about the effects of high volume on hearing, Jack Bruce says a doctor told him that there's a part of the brain that switches off so you won't be harmed by high volume-

I wonder if (now hearing-impaired) Pete Townshend heard the same misguided story at the time....
Click to expand...

I think part of Pete's loss came from being hit in the ear with a piece of exploding gear on the Smother's Brothers show--story has it a drunk Moonie talked a stage hand into over-filling a flash-pot on stage
 
#18
From the website: (although I think mit should say EB-1, not EB-0) I had noticed the differnt eq's on each 8x10 and wondered if he had them set for different basses--I had never tried an "upside down smiley" eq on my own rig, but when I did I was surprised at how good it sounded!

At The Royal Albert Hall Concerts, Jack used:

A fretted Gibson EB-0 bass
A fretless Warwick Thumb bass

Both basses were strung with S.I.T. Nickel Rock Brites - RB50105L. He was using two identical Hartke rigs, one for the Gibson (passive/lots of high end graphics added) and one for the Warwick (active/lots of boosted mid graphics)

Hartke provided:
Two VX810 cabs powered by two HA-5500 amps and two 115XL cabs powered by two HA-3500 amps, taking their input from the "Send" of the 5500's to the "Return" of the 3500's.

We also had one of each of the above as spares (which we didn't need to use, unusual for Jack(!)).

The radio systems were provided by Samson. They were two Synth-5 systems plus four transmitter packs. One signal booster with two aerials. Basically, one set-up for each bass (Gibson and Warwick) plus two packs for the spare basses**

**Warwick fretted and a Warwick fretless, both Thumb basses, both "Jack Bruce Signature" models....Just in case!!

The signal went from the receivers (combined output), to a Boss TU-2 tuner/mute, then into a Boss A/B switcher and then into the respective amps, (the outer most amp, stage right/Gibson, had a Boss NS-1 noise suppressor pedal inline). The inner most rig (Warwick) had a Mike Hill "B.I.S. Box", just before the amp input.

Jack used Hohner "Marine Band" harmonicas (in the key of "C", for this set list), with a Shure beta 58 microphone, either in his hands (vocal mic) or using a separate microphone with stand and clamp.

This information was graciously provided by Jack's guitar technician Baron Beetmoll Troy.
 
#19
watspan said:
I think part of Pete's loss came from being hit in the ear with a piece of exploding gear on the Smother's Brothers show--story has it a drunk Moonie talked a stage hand into over-filling a flash-pot on stage
Click to expand...

P.T. has often said his hearing loss was largely from excessive volume in his headphones while in the studio in addition to the stage volumes.

He was an obsessive home studio rat since very early on in the Who (you can see photos of his early 8-track studio on the gatefold of the Thunderclap Newman LP he produced and played bass on).
 

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