Portland Dumble-fest - Mar 20, 2011!

[Structo]

I suppose it depends where you cross.
But our borders are really a joke.

I saw a story about the US/ Canadian border and in places in the middle of the country, there are places that are half in and half out of either country.

You could cross in those areas with no scrutiny whatsoever.

This was a few years back but it was amazing how porous the Northern border was.
The South border, well lets not get started on that one.

[pullshocks]

Dave, if you can deal with the border thing, we could car pool from here. I took a pair of speakers up to BC and back for a DIY audio thing, and had no problems, but that was a few years ago

Mark

[greiswig]

Okay, someone over on TGP is putting together a "tone fest" on January 23 in a restaurant they own. Do we dare just do this event there? Or would you rather have our own where we can be more focused on Dumble-only stylings?

[ampdork]

I'd be down for parlaying both into one.

[David Root]

pullshocks, I would very much prefer to carpool from Seattle. I am concerned about the weather in January as my car is no good in snow ('98 Trans Am conv.) and I have not put snow tires/winter tires on it yet. I hope you have a big vehicle as I would ideally like to bring one 2x12, two 1x12s, a combo and two heads plus a couple guitars.

[Colossal]

deleted

[telentubes]

Research the border issue a bit. I've heard lots of ugly stories from musician friends (US and Canadian) who have had problems. The last time I tried, a couple years ago on my way from Seattle to Vancouver to visit some friends, I turned around at the border and went home after 2 hours in line and another 1 1/2 hours being grilled in customs because I had "nice" instruments with me they were convinced I was going to sell. I declined their offer to pay $1600 in fees to come into the country. However, I've also breezed through with the same gear. Kinda depends on the official you get at the booth.
A Dumble ToneFest sounds like a great idea.

[David Root]

I just did research the border issue and it appears there is all kinds of paperwork, there are all kinds of horror stories, and you are dealing with potential assholes on both sides of the border who can legally act like tin pot Hitlers if they feel like it and you have absolutely no recourse whatsoever.

Even if I get Sunny Jim crossing into the States, I might get Adolf on the way back into Canada, so I am reluctantly abandoning the idea of attending. I simply can't jeopardize all the hard earned money and labors of love that I have in my stuff.

[pullshocks]

Now that you mention it, I did get a couple questions coming into Canada by myself with 2 mountain bikes in the back, but they were OK when I explained one was for cross country and one for downhill.

Another time I set off the radiation alarms because I had recently had a treadmill test where they inject you with radioactive dye

I'll bet your chances would be a lot better with one guitar and the combo than a whole trans-am full of cool gear

Maybe we should have an event at the peace arch park

[David Root]

Well, I think maybe you are right about lightening the load. I'd still have to bring one satellite 1x12 with the combo so I have the amp OT impedance matched.

When are we planning on doing this?

[greiswig]

As I mentioned before, someone from TGP is planning a "Tone Fest" for Jan 23rd at a restaurant they own in Portland. I was thinking of just combining the two, since they seem to have a fair amount of inertia, a venue, etc. If this group would really rather just keep it to ourselves and D-style amps, I'm game and can ask my church if they minded us using the sanctuary, which is big and can give us a way to open up the throttle a bit.

I really hope that things work out for some Canadian folks to make it down for this. But I totally understand the hesitation.

[pullshocks]

Depending how many show up, I can see filling up a several hours with show & tell & listen with different combinations of amps, guitars, and cabs, not to mention settings & volume levels.

Personally, my main goal would be experiencing different Dumble related builds and talking about the different versions and build details. I don't have a real good sense of ODS vs Skyliner vs Bluesmaster or whether my "Hybrid Rev A" based version even comes close to some of the more carefully cloned and tweaked examples. Along the same line maybe some could demo how they get the most from their set ups.

Maybe if someone in the group is a real consistent player, he or she could play some identical passages through all of the amps at a bunch of different settings

Having said that, if the decision is to take part in the other tone fest, I'm sure that would be enlightening too and I would definitely drive down. But I might be more self conscious about putting my amp up on the stage if that event focuses more on commercially available amps than on the DIY end of things.

[greiswig]

I think the general tone is to keep this separate from the TGP tone fest. People want to focus on Dumble-style amps and speakers, and keep the focus there. So I've asked my church if we can use the venue. I'll let you all know how things progress.

[Structo]

Although it would be cool to see a lot of different amps from different builders, I think that the more amps and people, the more chaotic it may be.
Plus the TGP group would not consist of builders.

The latest amp shows have used hotels where each vendor had a room or two.
It kept the noise down better and the crowd under better control.
They found this worked better than having the "Expo" type venue.

I agree that we should keep this on a smaller scale Dumble related group.

[pullshocks]

Thanks for doing that Greiswig. I would be glad to make a contribution if that works out. If not, are there any places in Portland that rent out band practice rooms?

Mark