Posted by: tonemandan
Posted on: The PRS Forum Gear Page

10-01-2002 at 08:45 AM

My weekend with Robben Ford

Hi all

Prepare for a long post as I feel I owe it to you guys to "tell it all".

I'm just now starting to come down to earth again. For awhile I was wondering if I would ever get to hear Robben Ford live. After all I live in Montgomery, Alabama. Not exactly a music mecca, although in the last few years we have been bringing more and more big name acts here largely through the efforts of the Alabama Jazz and Blues Federation. This year the president of the Federation is the keyboard player in my band. I've been bending his ear with Robben Ford CD's for the last several years now and I guess it "took". He decided on his own to see if they were available for our yearly AJBF sponsored event "Riverjam". I've helped with the festival the last couple of years as stage manager and assumed I would be doing the same thing this year. I was floored when I was told I was to be the liason to the Robben Ford band. I was elated to find out that Robben wanted to do the gig as a trio with the original "Blue Line Band" featuring Tom Brechtlein on drums and Roscoe Beck on bass.

Robben Ford has been a huge influence on my playing style. His music resides in my favorite spot which is that "in between" place where jazz meets blues meets rock. It doesn't hurt either that he gets one of the most sought after tones in the world and plays with a deft touch any musician would envy. It took a lot of effort not to slobber, stutter, and ask many stupid questions all weekend.

Here's how it went.

I picked Robben, Tom, and his road manager Dave Kohls the night before and took them to the hotel. After introducing myself I looked at his 2 gig bags and asked "Well what did you bring along besides the Tele?" Oops, gave myself away as a guitar player first thing. He brought a newly finished Baker which he immediately offered up for me to try out! Sweet. It looks better in person than in the pictures. Superb finish and construction. Action was set a little higher than I expected for Robben. It has a varitone type rotary switch which was not in the circuit yet as they were waiting on a part for it. I got them to the hotel and went back for Roscoe Beck who's flight ended up being delayed over 2 hours by remnants of hurricane Isadore. So I missed having dinner with Robben at the hotel but got to spend a couple hours with Roscoe which I would not trade now for anything.

Let me just start out by saying how open, friendly, engaging, funny all these guys were. Serious about their craft but no prima donna attitudes. Their road manager, Dave, is hilarious. He looks like a biker but is very intelligent and extremely hard working. Seems that more than a few pro bands are clamoring to hire him and I know why now. I hit him up for the lowdown on Robbens equipment so I wouldn't be pestering Robben the whole weekend. He was a wealth of info on Dumble, speakers, etc. He was very open to questions and seemed to enjoy the gearquest as much as us. If you dis Robben or Dumble though you better watch out. He has evidently been badgered by some guys at the Robben Ford website and is still pretty miffed at a couple of them.

The Dumble Robben is using now was a spare that Alexander put in a cab to make into a combo. They have been experimenting with different speakers in it and have yet to come up with one Robben is happy with. Robben likes the sound of Celestions but they have found Eminence to be an easier ( and closer ) company to deal with. They have tried several speakers in this combo but neither the celestions or the Eminence have stood up to all the travel very well.

Sure enough when we set up the stage the next day the speaker had a problem. So they take the output to a new 2 12 twin ( I don't remember what the speakers were). Ugh. That wasn't good either. Robben looks up at me and says "do you have any speakers?" I could have died. "Oh yeah, what do you want?" So I hauled ass back to my place and brought back my venerable Dr Z Z best 2 12 with the mismatched Celestions and a single 12 open back Boogie cab with an EVM 12L. He had me switch back and forth between them quite a few times ( I am lovin this y'all......... ) before deciding he would use the Z cab. The EVM I thought had more detail but Robben liked the coloration of the Celestions and the "big" balanced low end that cab has. Robben really liked the cab and told me afterwards it was the best his rig had sounded in months. If anyone wants to buy it now I will be putting it up for sale for a measley $10,000.

Dave retubed the amp before the show. Turns out that they had picked it up "on the fly" going out to a gig and nobody had checked how old the tubes were ( Seems like Dumble would have done that doesn't it??? ) The power tubes were dated '89!! So new 6L6's ( didn't see the make-sorry ) along with a combination of Sovtek EH 12ax7's and Dumbles current faves JJ ECC83's. Robben was going to use his new favorite effect -the Moogerfooger delay but the "Dumbleator" on/off switch had shorted out and Dave didn't have time to rewire it. Oh BTW they use a Variac to control the line voltage and Dumble swears by this. Not the rackmount Furman style but the industrial tune it by hand type. I'll be posting some pics so you can see what I'm talking about. Dave said that overseas he had to sometimes compensate a LOT for the line voltage.

So how was the concert? Well what do you think? Awesome! I've read some posts about "bad tone from the new Dumble combo" in the past. I don't know if it was the new tubes, the questionable ears of the previous reviewers, the phase of the moon, or what, but Robben sounded, well, like Robben Ford all night ( musta been my cab ha ha ). I especially liked the tones out of the Tele. Clear. Bell like. Never thin or ice picky. The leads were just chewy and sustaining. The Baker was understandably darker and woolier sounding than the Tele. Interestingly I thought his tone was better through the mains than right in front of the cab. It was smoother and seemed to have just a bit less distortion. Everyone agreed that the music was superb. Great tones, virtuosic playing by all three. If you've ever heard Roscoe and Tom play together than you know it is a real treat. I've never heard a more solid and interesting rhythm section.

After the show Robben was patient and gracious with all the fans. He signed autographs and posed for pics for a good while. I found out that Glenlivet is his drink so I presented him with a bottle after the show and the band and I had a nightcap ( or 2 ) in Robben's hotel room.

Before taking them to the airport I worked up the nerve to ask if I could play the Tele. It was as light, resonant, and toneful as I expected. He said "sounds great just like that doesn't it?" ( unplugged ) It was dead stock according to Robben except for the best refret job I've ever seen. Nice big frets polished to a mirror finish. Even I didn't sound bad on it!

I had a dream weekend. It won't be easy going back to being an eye doctor tomorrow!

Dan

The thread continued

Posted by: chiadog
Posted on: The Robben Ford Forum

Alabama Show Review!

Hello, I've been a long time reader of this thread site, and finally felt compelled to tell you all about my road trip friday night (9/27).

Checking out Robben's website, I saw that he was going to be in Montgomery, AL that very same night, and NOWHERE else at all in the Southeast! I called my wife, and begged her to change our plans, telling her that something more important had come up. When I told her that Robben was playing only 3 short hours away, her shoulders slumped,( knowing there was no way of talking me out of it), and agreed to go.( She says I owe her TWO "chick flick" dates to make up for it!) We live a little north of Atlanta, so getting to the interstate to Montgomery through Friday afternoon rush hour traffic wasn't cool, but I was grinning, knowing where I was headed!

We arrived in Alabama,( with no banjos on our knees, thank you....) with a few hours to spare. The event was called "River Jam", sponsored by the AlabamaJazzBluesFoundation. We went to dinner at a Thai restaurant that had a patio overlooking the festival, so we could hear the other bands while we ate. We should have taken a table inside, because on our way out, walking back through the restaurant, was Robben, Roscoe, Tom, and some friends enjoying some noodles and spring rolls! I almost wet myself that it was gonna be a "BlueLine" reunion! I didn't want to bother them, but I couldn't resist. I just said my "hellos" and wished them a good show. Then we went out to find a spot to watch the show.

Starting to feel the effects of the road, and thinking about the long drive back, and that I still had to be at work the next morning, I was wondering if this was such a good idea......

Showtime came about 10:30 and they hit the stage with the first song from " Blue Moon". I've got to say that Robben's voice was really great! I was equally impressed by his singing as I was by his playing. The band sounded amazing! Just the three of them onstage, Roscoe was tapping and comping his bass lines to simulate the keyboard parts from the album! I've seen Tom and Roscoe before with Eric Johnson, but I like them better with Robben. They seem to have more "chemistry" or interplay or something.....they were very locked-in! The festival was not that crowded so we were able to stand right up front and enjoy the show. Robben played a red Baker guitar with gold hardware, but mostly the Telecaster that is pictured on the cover of Blue Moon. His amp was a Dumble combo with an extension cab next to it, some pedals on top of his amp, and that was it. His tone was amazing! It got me to thinking how everyone focuses on his gear, what amps he plays, what picks he uses, or what cables are hooked up. I'll bet that he can sound the same when playing through any amplifier or guitar. Most of his tone comes from his hands! I watched him play with a pick, tuck it into his palm and brush the strings with his thumb, then fingepick a passage, then pull out the pick again. Great dynamics! The show went by like a blur, and they were doing their encore before I even realized it! One of the coolest things about the show was the improvising that was going on. It was so awesome to be that close, and watch them watching each other, giving cues and head nods, and really being able to stretch out on older songs to make them exciting!I wish I could remember the exact setlist, but they played selections from all of his albums except "Tiger Walk". My favorites were: "Indianola", "I don't make sense( you can't make peace)", and "Supernatural". He played that one a lot heavier than what's on the album, and it rocked!! Some drunk girls jumped onstage while he played that one and started doing the "stripper-strut", but that's what happens when you step on a wah-wah pedal!

I won't bore you with details of the long drive back, or the bleary eyes at work the next day, but I will mention this: If you get the same opportunity to see Robben, or any other artist who does'nt tour that much, GO! The regret would have killed me if I hadn't gone, and I am SO glad That I did! It was probably the best I've heard him play and sing. period. I hope to read similar reviews of his west-coast shows with Jing-Chi!
Take care,
Chris.

The thread continued!