I know what you’re thinking…

“ANOTHER amp?”

Well, that’s what my wife is thinking at least. But this looks like too much fun! It will cost me more than the amp is worth in the long run, but as always, I’ll have yet ANOTHER amp that is a one-of-a-kind. Let’s start with the source amplifier:

 

A 1980s KittyHawk M1 4-channel 100 watt tube head that’s well… seen better days. This thing is falling apart. The cabinet is half missing. Knobs have broken off throughout the years. The output transformer is starting to go on it. However, it still works… mostly. The bass on the drive channel is, well… flabby is an understatement. Not to mention, Kitty Hawk amplifiers are not known for reliability. Plastic pot shafts and a bad output transformer design plagued their sales and ultimately led to demise by damaged reputation. In fact, Reb Beach is quoted as calling them “Shitty Hawks”, as he had 5 heads break down on him is just as many days.

But there’s a kicker: these things sound amazing. Even with the OT on mine half-shot, causing the bass frequencies to be indescribably loose, the tone and feel of the amp is unparalleled by production amps. The clean sound in this thing is actually better – as-is – than my 1974 Fender Twin Reverb. It also rivals that of my Dr. Z Prescription ES. Now add to that 3 (that’s right – THREE) additional drive channels: Crunch, Lead, and SuperLead. The drive settings are actually very responsive in an old-school way. Don’t expect modern, scooped-mid & tight-bass tones, but you CAN expect those early Mark-series Boogies to peek through the KittyHawk logo. Loose, organic overdrive with an impressive amount of sustain and a nice “sag” to the touch. I so insanely want to get this thing not only working again, but cleaned up into something I’d gig with.

As such, I have a cool (read: expensive) idea for this one.

So the first part of this rebuild is going to be to send this beast to my amp tech. I’m going to have the plastic pots removed and replaced with standard pots. I want the OT rebuilt or replaced. And finally, I want him to go over this with a fine-toothed comb and replace anything that looks like future trouble. Then I’m gonna sit down and test it with him, and we’re going to decide what needs to change with the tone, and alter the circuit to match my needs, making it truly custom.

While he’s doing that, I’m working with MatherCabs to have them build me a 1×12 combo cabinet to slide this head and a Weber high-powered Chicago 12″ ceramic into. I was originally going to go with shellac and oak with a basketweave wicker grill like an old Mesa Mark I, but the more I think about carrying this out to gigs, the more I realize tolex and standard grillcloth is much sturdier and smarter. So I’m thinking burgundy tolex and cane grillcloth now.

Chad Matthews from CMATMODS is building me a replacement quad-mode footswitch for it as well. When it’s all rebuilt and assembled, it should be a great little 1×12 100watt combo that I can use for just about anything. And no one else in the world will have one exactly like mine!

I’ve also got to pick up some replacement knobs and other aesthetic items, as well as the hardware I’ll need to ultimately transform this into a 1×12 combo. When it’s all said and done, this non-working eyesore will be attractive, functional, and sound like an old school hand-made amplifier. In a single, 100-watt 12″ combo, it’ll also be something I can easily carry to gigs from open mic nights to larger shows.

Here’s the first video installment: just testing it out to see if it works, and it’ll show you the “before” tone, which actually doesn’t suck. I didn’t think to record the clean tone, which is actually this amp’s obvious strength. If I get to that before sending it off to the repair shop, I’ll also post that video. Note the missing front and rear panels, the broken knobs, and the obviously farty low end. These are things that will all be rectified.

Well, after the last couple of shows we’ve had, it looks like a really stupid idea to put a cork in the KDB bottle. Our fill-in drummers have reminded me that the band is not only good, it’s fun. But it still leaves the same problem open… there are three good friends who are in this for the same reason, and without the fourth, we’d just be going through the motions.

I need to reconsider what I want out of KDB, and what Mike and John want out of it. It’s still a good time for us to take a break from shows and re-evaluate the entire concept. When we started this band, we all told each other the minute it wasn’t fun anymore, it was time to pack it in. And over the past five years, we sorta lost that – even though we kept saying that out loud, it wasn’t like that anymore. We’ve had a few member changes over the years, and we keep ending up realizing that we need a certain type of drummer. And that drummer needs to be like the rest of us. Not just musically, but personally.

Recently, we’ve been using fill-in drummers to finish out our last scheduled shows. And the life that’s been brought back into the band made us all stop for a second and wonder why we’d pack this in. If we could just find the right ’4th member’, all would be well in the KDB world again.

Bottom line is I refuse to start a new project OR continue with KDB without the RIGHT members. We’re not actively searching for a drummer to get things running again; we’re taking a break of undetermined length, and trying to decide what’s next for all three of us. I am also considering a complete revamp of songs, styles, and show – and moving the larger shows out of the area. I have a few local bars I would still want to play, but some of them are not at the top of their artist-employer relations game.

Let’s hope that we figure it out soon. In the meantime, keep supporting other local bands. If we don’t support live music, it WILL disappear.

Here’s a clip from the 2011 Harvest Fest
Opening for Uncle Kracker, with guest drummer Matt Curran:

This is an awesome little amp built and designed by Tom Kissinger for CigarBoxAmp.com. This one was a prototype thrown into a BBE enclosure just to test the range and ability. Check out how good this little thing sounds!

Watch the video on YouTube here.

Kids Don’t Bounce has been a fun 5-year ride.

I made a lot of friends in that time – some of them were band members, many were new faces of people who came out to catch a show. We took a bunch of open mic night songs, peppered them with some rock, country, and dance, then completely rewrote all the arrangements to keep ourselves entertained. It was a really cool concept, and it kept me smiling for a long time.

But I watched myself over the past 5 years go from the guitarist in a band to booking agent, webmaster, publicist, lead singer, guitarist, “guy who owns and hauls out the big PA”, internal affairs officer, “person who fixes things when band members are upset”, and Guy Smiley.

Well, I have to admit that I finally lost my patience… for lack of a better term, I ran out of happy. There was too much stress on me, it broke me, and I don’t like that at all. I was doing this for a good time, not as a business, but somehow the business took over, and it was more than I signed up for. It’s time for me to step back, recalibrate, and close this chapter peacefully so I can move onto the next.

I told everyone the first day we came up with the idea for this band that the moment it’s not fun for any of us, we need to move on and part as friends. One of my good friends and ex-bandmates called me one day to let me know he was moving on because he was no longer having fun, and I respected that. Well, it’s now my turn.

I wish those guys all the success. It’s not exactly like they will have trouble finding new projects.They’re talented, experienced musicians.

For me? Who knows. Maybe originals, maybe another cover band, maybe something completely different.

I won’t go hunting, though. See, sometimes things just fall into my lap. Other times, they don’t. When they don’t, I know it’s because I need time off. I’m just going to sit tight and wait for the next thing to reveal itself to me.

So we’ll see where that idea takes me.

————– OK, SERIOUSLY? ————–

I mean, first of all, my area must have really pissed off Mother Nature. The month of August completely wrecked my summer vacation. First, torrential flooding? Then, during my vacation to the beach, New Jersey experiences an earthquake? And before I can finally relax and try to enjoy some time with the family, we’re ordered to evacuate due to Hurricane Irene. Yep. Thanks. Perfect.

Now, I have to say that the earthquake was a non-event in my area. We were on the North Wildwood Beach when the tremor quietly rolled under us. In fact, if it hadn’t been for my earthquake experiences in California, I likely would have scratched my head and wondered why I felt seasick for 10 seconds inexplicably. The ground just lightly rolled under us for a second or two – similar to the effect of slight movement on a non-baffled waterbed.

But if I back up to the flooding, that was real. Rain fell so hard over a short period of time that almost every access road into or out of Bridgeton washed out. I’m just gonna make my point: we’d had enough of summer’s bitchy weather by now, and just because the ground decided to dance for a minute wasn’t any reason for us to think twice about our vacation.

So obviously, when we heard a hurricane was headed our way, we blew it off. I mean, come on – when was the last time a hurricane touched ground in our area? We get these warnings all the time and they’re always overreactive. It wasn’t until Thursday afternoon (when we were told that we had to evacuate our condo by 6pm and leave the barrier islands) that it seemed something may just happen.

We packed up, rushed home, unpacked, filled our bathtubs with water, bought supplies, stocked up on batteries, fashioned a camp of sorts in the basement, grabbed radios, and hoped that our family, friends, and possessions would narrowly escape what the news was touting as the worst storm in a century. I even bought a crapload of extra large coffees from Dunkin to reheat on the gas stove if we lost electricity.

Now for my unpopular statement. I’ve seen scarier Spring showers. Seriously. I mean, I know some lost their lives in this. There were a couple that were unpreventable, but most were because idiots didn’t listen to emergency personnel or weather advisories. And coming from a summer weather pattern which included heavy flooding, high winds, and hail, this was just another summer storm. Hell, my basement didn’t even leak. Overall, I’m very thankful it wasn’t worse (as it very well could have been), but even more so, I’m irritated with the media for their overcoverage and scare tactics. I can’t help but wonder about those people who died because they were outside or in their vehicles during this thing. Do we no longer listen to the weather reports because we’re desensitized to their scare tactics? Do we just brush them off because they make small events seem like natural catastrophes?

I don’t know. All I can tell you is that I’m disappointed that they aren’t more factual about their reporting. I know they can’t forecast anything with certainty, but their need to oversensationalize every tiny aspect is the reason I believe more people don’t take them seriously. It’s like the boy who cried wolf. Stationing reporters on the coast, standing in the rising tide, leaning into the wind to stay on their feet, in a storm that – in that same area – did no more damage than typical erosion, is why we don’t believe everything we see anymore. The only outcome of this entire storm for me (other than picking 2 or 3 limbs off my front yard and putting my lawn furniture back out) is that I now have a lot of coffee to drink.