The Last Act

Jeff’s Take on the Guitar Part II

// February 11th, 2011 // No Comments » // Uncategorized

This is part II of the article started last week by Jeff Larsen of “the Last Act” (again, what other band would it be? =P):

The next step was adding guitars to my collection. And I must admit, I am seriously picky about what guitars I want in my collection. At that time, I had no idea what I was looking for. This was in the latter part of the 90’s. At that time I had heard that Jackson had a good rep and I wanted to check it out. I went to the store and I found a flat black Jackson designed by Marty Friedman, formerly of Megadeth (he was still in the band at the time). This guitar had a real Floyd Rose, played like a dream, and it was built for speed. I got that guitar 30 minutes after I tried it.  I have added a couple of more Jackson’s to my collection since then, but I also added another Dean. I went back to the same guitar store that I bought my first Jackson from in 2007 and was just in there to fool around on the guitars and see what was there. I saw a Dean Razorback, Dimebag Darrell edition. I thought “ok, whatever. Just another hyped up guitar. I’ll try it”. I tried it and immediately I discovered that this guitar was going to introduce a new playing style to me and it also played just awesome.  Welp, the decision was made and 24 hours later I had that guitar. And based on the crunch and drive of the sound, I use that guitar mostly now, although I still love the Jackson’s for the ease of play, and the beauty of the play of the Gibson (which honestly, I don’t play as much as I should anymore).

My configurations and settings for things have changed a bit over the years, but I finally settled in on D’Adario .10’s for my strings (on all guitars) and .46mm Jim Dunlop vinyl picks. I like my floating bridges a hair ‘loose’ to remove space between the strings and the fret board (improve the action)…but not enough to make the strings buzz. I use my Peavy head for distortion…such a fuller, more real, overall better sound than a pedal (WAY better sound). All EQ’ing is done on the head, and the Transtube setting is turned way up. I use the onboard switch from the Peavy head to turn on and off the distortion when playing live. The guitar I used on that disc was the Dean Razorback…nice and crunchy.  A good example of the resulting sound is off the last CD “Still Standing”. The sound of the guitar on that disc is almost completely unchanged from the way it sounds live. The Boss ME-8 pedal is used for effects such as flanger, harmonizer (live), and delays.  In the past year I have added a Sennheiser ew 172 G3 Instrument Wireless System, and this thing is incredible!  I love how it’s easy on batteries, and I also like the onboard sensitivity settings, cable length emulation, and tuner!  Great stuff! And last, but not least, a ‘Steve Vai’ passive volume pedal with a stopper (actually a rubber door stop) glued in so it won’t go more than ½ way down to zero. I use it for when I need that extra “punch” during leads and such.

Maybe some of this will help someone in their quest to find the perfect setup. All I can say is, try, try again until you get it sounding just the way you want it to!  I always thought “real” is better than “processed” (i.e. pedals and preamps), but that certainly doesn’t mean I’m right. It’s one big experiment! So good luck and I hope you all that are searching for the “grail” find it!

–JL

Jeff’s Take on the Guitar

// February 5th, 2011 // No Comments » // Uncategorized

Jeff Larsen from ‘the Last Act’ here (what other band would it be I guess?  haha) to explain a little bit about the guitars I use, have used, tips and techniques that I have found that work with gear and setup, and stuff like that. Let’s start at the beginning to provide some background:

When I was a 13 year old kid, I was handed my first real guitar as a gift (and what a nice gift!!). It was a 1980 Fender Stratocaster. This was after 2 years of playing on a Univox guitar that was borrowed from someone else. The Univox wonder wouldn’t stay in tune for more than 10 mins at a time and the action was terrible…strings were an inch off of the fret board. So, as I said, the Stratocaster was a huge step up for me. The only issue was the intonation was out on one string and no one seemed to be able to fix it. So after 4 years of playing it, I started looking around for something new.

One of the first mistakes I made when looking to get a new guitar was ‘pretty’ or cool looking over functional. I got a Dean Z, but it was unlike the Haymer ‘Explorer’ kind of shape that Dean says they are today. It looked like a Stratocaster, but with a great lock system (good ol’ real Floyd Rose!)  and a mirror pick guard (the selling point for little Jeffie!).  The only problem with this thing was it would constantly break strings. Suffice it to say I got really good at tuning up a guitar really fast as I couldn’t afford another guitar. I discovered much later on that it was most likely a combination of thin strings and heavy picks I was using that was causing the issue…c’est la vie. But by the time I found out, I had sold the guitar (for next to nothing…which I am still kicking myself for) and bought a Gibson Les Paul – Studio…which I still have today.  Awesome guitar, incredible action and ease of play. I was wary of the lock system as I thought at that time the lock system was causing my issues (although it wasn’t) so I went with this guitar. I have never regretted that decision.

I used the Gibson for several years (it turned from white to a creamy white/yellow from playing in smoky rooms!) with a custom cabinet/amp that was made by a friend of mine and a combination of pedals. A Boss Delay (not Digital), Tube Distortion (by some company…can’t remember the name), a Next Flanger, a Next Chorus, and a cheap ol’ Cry Baby Wah which I think was a $20.00 wonder from the music store…but it lasted a loooong time, like 15 years or something! Before I replaced it with a Vox.

Then the time came in the mid-90’s where I figured it was time to finally upgrade my gear. After much contemplation and trying different things, I got a Peavy TransTube Supreme head (really, there is no identification on this thing!) and  Peavy cabinet…at least the mid-grade/pro model at the time and a Boss ME-8 (discontinued 2000).  It’s really too bad they don’t make the ME-8 anymore as it was exactly what every guitar player needs and nothing more, nothing less. I don’t know what I will do if the thing breaks because I love it so much and have no idea what I could possibly replace it with (ME-50!?!?)!  And I have looked at the latest ME series by Boss:  seems like it’s either just short of enough ‘stuff’ for live performance or waaaay too much (i.e. almost have a small recording studio on stage with you). Ahh well…I will cross that bridge when I get to it.

:: Part II coming in a week! Stay Tuned! ::

Broke 3000

// January 30th, 2011 // No Comments » // Uncategorized

Looks like we broke 3000 for the active fans on our Facebook site today. I guess we must be doing something right (whichever part that was haha).

A great big THANK YOU from the band (and us!) to all of you who ARE fans! We love you guys! And we’ll do our best to keep you all enjoying TLA and coming back for more.

–TLA Admin, Lory Collins

The ‘Enthusiastic Suck’

// January 28th, 2011 // No Comments » // Uncategorized

When I go to a bar to see a live band, or several bands in a night, there is usually one or more bands that I would call the “Enthusiastic Suck” (or sometimes even the bands we are playing with!). These are the guys who are terrible musicians, instruments are out of tune, and couldn’t play together with each other if their lives depended on it. And each of member of this band is having some kind of “conniption fit” on stage because they are supposedly “getting into their music”. Or it’s the guys who think their own originals are so awesome yet the lyrics make you wanna cry…and not in a good way (i.e. I reach for the skyyyyyy and I wonder whyyyyy…etc.). Their music has no hooks and all the cliché stuff used in it at every point possible…and they are also having a “conniption fit”.  I would probably feel better if I only saw this once in a while, but I see it at least 7 out of 10 times I see any live band play.

Kinda goes to show what’s out there. Everybody and anybody who can barely hold their instrument can get a band together and play any club that will let them in it seems. Which just clutters up the space and makes it more difficult for those of us that can actually write and play. Meaning bar owners and managers really put the gears to us if we are not represented or won’t even talk to us about playing in their place due to bands like I mentioned: no ifs, ands, or buts about it. And it’s sad.

Then there’s the other side. The bar owners who want to get the “freebie” from the good bands, using this excuse about all the “Enthusiastic Suck” out there for not letting TLA play, which is valid to a point I guess. But too often it doesn’t seem to matter if we have testimonials from reputable clubs and people, video, or what have you to support the fact that our band is really GOOD. And some of the lame excuses these guys come up with like “Everybody has a press kit, video, and testimonials. We want to see that you can really play before we let you play in OUR special little club”. Really hey?  Somehow I doubt that everyone has those items. And if they say they do, then invest the 2 minutes that it takes to VERIFY that these things are real!  So in the end, the bar owner/manager wants you to come down to their bar and play a 30 minute set in some lame “battle of the bands” or some crap whereby getting a free night of entertainment for their bar. And a night of aggravation for us…mostly checking out the “Enthusiastic Suck”.  The solution?  There really isn’t one other than to be represented 100% by an agency.

Don’t even get me started on the “pay to play” thing. I hope I never see that in Central or Western Canada.

Ah the live music gig. What a ride. This rant is done. I’m all out for today. Until next time…Up Yur Act!

–JL