SHIFTINGGEAR
RICH ECKHARDT
Troubleshooting for the Biggest, Baddest Tour
Rehearsal for Toby Keith’s Biggest and Baddest was normally set at 8 ohms, I wanted to see if
Tour was scheduled for Sunday, the week I had the same problem when I ran the amp in
before the first concert date. I came in on the 16 or 4-ohm position. When I touched the
Saturday to go through my rig with a fine-tooth
comb. Needless to say, I’m glad
that I did because there was an
AMPlitude of problems!
The rig in question
When you consider the 60-plus cities we played last year, including
soundchecks and recording sessions,
I put a good number of hours on my
amps. I knew it would be smart to
change out the tubes in both of my
Kustom heads before the start of this
tour. After doing just that, I powered
both babies up and discovered that
I was only getting sound out of one
side. I turned down the top amp
and listened to the bottom one. I
immediately gathered that it wasn’t
producing enough sound to play the
Horowitz’s Bar Mitzvah, let alone an
arena full of rowdy and excited fans!
I was faced with the task of trying to
figure out why this was happening.
The first thing I did was bring out
another amp that I knew worked to
see if it would function through the
same lines. If it did, then the problem
was the original amp and not the pro-
cessing leading to the amp. If the new
head still didn’t work, then it could be
a couple of things: an effects processor,
the wireless unit or any number of cables
connecting the chain.
One wrench in the works for Toby Keith’s
Biggest and Baddest Tour was that the set
the band stands on was made with wheels
and built to move during the show. However,
the engineers who designed
the stage forgot to consider
the trivial detail that the band’s
gear, which sits behind the set,
had to move as well. Sammy
Bones, my always-capable gui-
tar tech, devised a method of
fastening all of the band’s gear,
speakers and racks to the set.
The problem then was reduced
to mic’ing amps with mics that
could move, too. I didn’t want
to stick Z bars under the cabinet
in the road case base, because
it would cause too much wear
and tear on the equipment. By
the end of the tour, my cabinet
would have to get a room at
the 4x12 retirement home next
to Clapton’s, destroyed by an
airline in the seventies, and down
the hall from Hendrix’s Marshall
cabs from Woodstock. We came
up with the idea to Velcro the Z
bars to a board placed on top of
the cabinet with the mics hang-
ing down. That way the only thing
that needed to be done was plac-
ing the board on the cabinet and
running the mic lines.
The new amp worked perfectly, but it wasn’t
a match to the other head in the rack, so
I couldn’t switch them. I had to figure out
why the first amp was low on output. I took
the non-functioning head out of my rack
and plugged it directly into a 4x12 cabinet.
That way I could see if it worked in the simplest application – direct to the speakers
with no effects chain in-between. I plugged
into both sides of the speaker cabinet to be
sure that I wasn’t dealing with a disconnected or blown speaker. It reacted the same on
both sides – a discouraging nothing! I was
completely stumped.
Before sending it back to the manufacturer for
repairs, I thought I’d try one last thing. While it
ohms switch on the back of the amp, it cracked
and fired up with an intense volume that even
Deep Purple would have been proud of! The
problem was that the switch was stuck at a
point between 8 and 16 ohms; a proverbial no
mans land between V = IR and nada! I don’t
understand all of the electrical or mathematical
properties of ohms, but I do know that a switch
has to be in the correct position to work. This
one wasn’t. Upon further inspection I noticed
that the components of the switch were also a
little wobbly, so as a safety measure I ordered
a new one from the manufacturer. From then
on it was smooth sailing. The rest of the rig
checked out fine.
When the band hit rehearsals on
Sunday, my rig was shining bright and in
perfect working order. The lesson here (if
there has to be one) is to stay one step ahead
of Murphy. Be prepared and never assume that
everything is going to work just because it did
the last time you played. You’ll present yourself
as much more of a pro!
Keep Jammin’.
Rich Eckhardt
Rich Eckhardt is one of the most sought after guitarists
in Nashville. His ability to cover multiple styles has put
him on stage with singers ranging from Steven Tyler
of Aerosmith to Shania Twain. Rich is currently playing
lead guitar with Toby Keith. His album Soundcheck is
available now, with another due this summer.
richeckhardt.com
