Where Did The Good Ole' Days Go?

[BEADG63]

Didn't we all. I had a Dano and a Silvertone amp. Our "PA was a Premier 77 guitar amp setting on the front of the stage in the middle with an old Shure 55 plugged into it.

Oh, Dav....that really takes me back. I played in a group in the (very) early 80's and our "PA" was a Fender twin reverb! Sounded not too bad either...surprisingly.

 

[portpc]

I was just talking to an amp tech that noted he's likely to charge a higher fee on anything produced after 2007, and many techs don't even want to touch that stuff. Apparently that's when the switch to lead-free solder became mostly universal, and it's evidently tougher to work with. But basically, if it was made after then, if it breaks it generally goes in the trash. So there's not a lot of modern gear right now that has hotfixes or repairs. Just shiny new stuff or garbage.

This is true, I work in the El Component biz & the ROHS (Pb free) Directive has created issues mainly in desoldering & therefore a whole new pile of headaches.
Military & Medical & a few other applications are exempt as they require fail-safe systems (stuff that doesn't break), everything else is evidently a crap shoot,

 

[justin fleenor]

This is true, I work in the El Component biz & the ROHS (Pb free) Directive has created issues mainly in desoldering & therefore a whole new pile of headaches.
Military & Medical & a few other applications are exempt as they require fail-safe systems (stuff that doesn't break), everything else is evidently a crap shoot,

my amp guy says that blackstar stuff is especially bad due to tiny little nearly microscopic stuff on the circuit boards ;-)

 

[portpc]

my amp guy says that blackstar stuff is especially bad due to tiny little nearly microscopic stuff on the circuit boards ;-)

Yes, We are in the era of surface mount components, therefore it's replace the entire board rather than the component more often than not.

 

[justin fleenor]

Yes, We are in the era of surface mount components, therefore it's replace the entire board rather than the component more often than not.

yes if its bad enough to make an engineer that works at nuke plants as a day job and builds botique amps and plays in 3 different bands b*7C* about it i want nothing todo with it

 

[10cc]

REALLY?
i was playing the Hollywood circuit in the 80's.
REAL monitors. Real PAR cans.
(homemade pyrotechnics, and a repurposed shop vac filled with water and dry ice for a fog machine though)
I had the Dunlop Straplocks then too. (of course i also used a chain attached to an eyelet, this was, after all the Metal 80's)
Getting shocked by the microphone? three prong power, and ground lifts existed before even then.

Hey i was is garage bands too that had "repurposed" stuff too (i had a 2x18 bass cab made out of an antique mahogany armoire)
and used a "PA" that was a re-purposed school public address amplifier
heck it came with an old Shure unidyne "Elvis" mic (yeah that was real punk LOL)
But welcome to the new world my brother. I retired from @ 1991-2004. so i FEEL ya!

Speaking of old Public Address amps. Got an amp builder I know who converts these old Masco's. Man do they sound good and man are they ever heavy.

 

[Honch]

HAD THEM ! BLEW THEM!

 

[kenneffdupriest]

I miss going around super stoned and putting up handmade flyers on the "cool" telephone poles with a staple gun.

 

[/\/\3phist0]

Speaking of old Public Address amps. Got an amp builder I know who converts these old Masco's. Man do they sound good and man are they ever heavy.
View attachment 790342

My guitarist has a similar one, really cool.
His is a Bogen iirc.

 

[BassBrass]

[QUOTE="48th street Manhattan in the early '80s ![/QUOTE]
I was older, visiting NYC, remember the line of 40 used Fender basses on the floor leaning against each other, you'd have to dig one out to try...they weren't exactly cheap either. the best of NYC resembles an ancient bomb crater that people live in and decorate. oh, I once built a PA speaker column out of a trombone case, battery driven amp for outdoor performance.

 

[10cc]

My guitarist has a similar one, really cool.
His is a Bogen iirc.

So will you be moving this way?

 

[/\/\3phist0]

So will you be moving this way?

Hmm, I'll call you.

 

[Aberdumbie]

Drummer dated a gal that was a nurses tech whose job it was to test medical devices. The baseline of the test demanded a new 9 volt battery that would be discarded after the test was complete. We became the lucky recipients of the batteries after the test. It was a sad day when the drummer broke up with her.... Also remember at the time I would install toilet stalls in schools during the summer. Our road cases were made up of the old toilet stall panels that were being replaced. I called it being thrifty at the time. Fact was, I was plain poor.

 

[justin fleenor]

Drummer dated a gal that was a nurses tech whose job it was to test medical devices. The baseline of the test demanded a new 9 volt battery that would be discarded after the test was complete. We became the lucky recipients of the batteries after the test. It was a sad day when the drummer broke up with her.... Also remember at the time I would install toilet stalls in schools during the summer. Our road cases were made up of the old toilet stall panels that were being replaced. I called it being thrifty at the time. Fact was, I was plain poor.

as long as you have the gift of being able to repurpose things and things to repurpose you can at least have fun doing some stuff like that and it makes you appreciate the good stuff when you finally get it ive been there and some of my best memories were when i was having a hard time financially as odd as that may sound.

 

[Aberdumbie]

as long as you have the gift of being able to repurpose things and things to repurpose you can at least have fun doing some stuff like that and it makes you appreciate the good stuff when you finally get it ive been there and some of my best memories were when i was having a hard time financially as odd as that may sound.

You are dead right about that. Hard to see it that way until you reach the other side. The old cab over van we had for our gear had a shifting fork that would work its way loose at random times. No money to fix it so when those random times came whichever of us was the most sober would climb under the truck, disassemble the side of the gear box, put the shifting fork back in place and continue on our merry way. Big drag at 3 am when none of us would be considered any where near sober by todays standards. It sucked then... Absolutely hilarious now.

 

[justin fleenor]

You are dead right about that. Hard to see it that way until you reach the other side. The old cab over van we had for our gear had a shifting fork that would work its way loose at random times. No money to fix it so when those random times came whichever of us was the most sober would climb under the truck, disassemble the side of the gear box, put the shifting fork back in place and continue on our merry way. Big drag at 3 am when none of us would be considered any where near sober by todays standards. It sucked then... Absolutely hilarious now.

ha had an old blazer w/ a bad spot on the flywheel every once in a while it would land on that spot when off and i had to turn the flywheel past that spot with a large flathead screwdriver now i work on stuff for funcurrently restoring the only 62 simca 1000 sedan in the country but its not my daily so its fun.

 

[Milo Spleen]

Everyone laughs when I open my box of accessories and there is a soldering iron in it. Hardly anyone fixes broken instrument cables anymore.

 

[Milo Spleen]

Bogen PA with 1 mic, the obligatory Bassman with Bandmaster extension cabinet, guitarist with Super Reverb, and FUN!!!

 

[Aberdumbie]

Nineteen eighty-something. The awesome hair styles give that away

 

[justin fleenor]

Everyone laughs when I open my box of accessories and there is a soldering iron in it. Hardly anyone fixes broken instrument cables anymore.

lol i keep a soldering iron and silver solder in my truck @all times