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Little River Band & Doobie Use Helix


richardcuccia
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--- [1] ----- [a] In this past mid-April 2018, I saw Little River Band at L'Auberge Casino, Baton Rouge, La.  I got to the concert early & entered the venue when the doors were opened about an hour or so before the concert. 

----- {b} ------- {i} Quickly being bored in my seat & with about 45 minutes to go before the concert, I went to the stage & see LRB's set up, which was complete.  While at the stage, I saw that at both of LRB's guitar players' (Rich Herring (lead) & Colin Whinnery (co-lead, rhythm)) stations were Helix Floors.  I struck up a conversation with one of the near roadies (quite probably the guitar roadie).  The roadie said up until this tour, LRB had used rented AC30 amps.  However, on this tour, both guitar players were using Helixes.  The roadie said that the guitarists loved their Helixes.  Further, he said that the Helixes simplified & expedited setup & made the house mix much easier to perfect.

------- [ii] After the concert in the venue's lobby, at the LRB meet & greet the crowd get together, I asked Whinnery about the Helix.  He said that he loved the Helix, & that he was going to purchase another one for his home.

------- [iii] Also & quite expectedly, LRB sounded great vocally (lush multi-2, 3, & 4-part vocals; all five members sing), instrumentally, & twin-guitar wise.  They sounded like LRB, & they are LRB.  Further, there was no way that anyone could tell if the LRB guitarists were using real amps & stomp-boxes or Helix, which sounded.

------- [iv] Point of note: In LRB's songs, "Help Is On Its Way" (2-part harmony guitar phrase, followed by a 3-part harmony guitar phrase) & "Night Owls" (3-part harmony guitar phrases), 3-part guitar harmony phrases were performed by the two guitarists.  One might logically conclude that one of the guitar players, probably Whinnery), kicked in harmony-mode on his Helix to enable the 3-part guitar harmonies to be properly & exactly replicated.

--- [2] Doobie Brothers lead guitarist, John McFee, uses Helix, a Variax Standard, & Line 6 Acoustic.  In their YouTube vid, "Rig Rundown - The Doobie Brothers", 14:09-25:11, McFee explains his Variax Standard & Helix Floor (16:44) rig set up.  He also explains his Line 6 Acoustic guitar (22:40).  Listen to McFee's 11-minute portion of the vid, & McFee sets forth his case.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nMPK8XTVFWc&t=1523s

----- {b} On May 22, 2018, I saw the Doobs along with Steeley Dan at the Smoothie Center, New Orleans.  The Doobs were their expected & normal great selves.  In addition, that night in "Listen To The Music", you could hear McFee's banjo part in the song's live version.  When you see the vid, you will understand.

----- [c] Indeed, Line 6 should pay some small gratuity to John for his fine recommendations.

Richard  :)

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I saw a version of LRB about 5 years ago... they were outstanding. I don't care if none of the originals are still in the band... they play, sing and sound like they should. At the time I saw them they were still on backline amps, but I'm not surprised they moved to modeling. Their sounds was so impeccable you could tell they took time to craft their tones regardless of what they were playing on. 

 

7 hours ago, richardcuccia said:

"Night Owls" (3-part harmony guitar phrases), 3-part guitar harmony phrases were performed by the two guitarists. 

 

When I saw them their guitar tech came out and grabbed a third guitar for Night Owls :) 

 

John McFee (Doobie Bros).... What an underrated monster of a musician. He was with Clover when they recorded Elvis Costello's iconic first album... his guitar work on "Alison" is still some of my favorite to this day. He's the dobro on Steve Millers "Dance, Dance, Dance", he's the pedal steel on Huey Lewis (also from Clover) Honky Tonk Blues from the Sport album, he's the picker/steel/fiddle on Southern Pacific's 4 incredible albums and of course he is the utility man in the Doobie's... his second stint with them.

 

John has been a Line 6 users for years.... going direct as far back as the POD XT and Variax 700. He's a huge advocate of their products. 

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Coda,

--- [1] """ When I saw them their guitar tech came out and grabbed a third guitar for Night Owls :)"""

Yes, I remember that experience (the guitar-tech playing the 3rd-part guitar harmony on "Night Owls" & also (I think) on "Help Is On Its Way" with LRB.  That occurred for a number of years (about 3 years or so).  If I remember correctly, this situation was probably before 2006 with Steve Housden on lead guitar.  (I've seen LRB quite a bit since 2000.  Pretty much every year, I catch LRB, 38 Special, & the Doobs when they appear in or near New Orleans {mostly Biloxi}.  They are all great groups with wonderful & beautiful music, most well played, & with many memories.)

--- [2] --- {a} """ John has been a Line 6 users for years.... going direct as far back as the POD XT and Variax 700. He's a huge advocate of their products."""

John is a guitar-beast, who is incredibly tasteful.  I love him.

--- {b} In the vid from Jul 25, 2017, John said that he had used Line 6 products for about 10 years, with Boss products before that.

--- [3] Between my LRB-Helix experience & guitar-tech explanation, & McFee's Line 6 vid explanation & accolades, I added a Helix LT on this past July 6th to my Variax JTV-69, purchased in July 2017.  With my Line 6 products, my perfectly fine, excellent, & enjoyable Boss GT-100 will just have to collect dust.  Life moves on, just like with members of nearly all bands, especially bands that have been around for 40 or so years.

Slainte, Richard  :)

Edited by richardcuccia
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At a recent gig, a guy showed up and said he liked my tone and playing but was very disappointed to find out there were no tubes in my rig.  I laughed and he started to extol the "virtues" of tubes. I parried every argument and he could not counter any of them, especially when it came to weight, consistency, flexibility and maintenance. I told him that I'm convinced that there will never come a day when tube amps will equal the flexibility, consistency and reliability of modelers - ever.

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5 hours ago, hideout said:

At a recent gig, a guy showed up and said he liked my tone and playing but was very disappointed to find out there were no tubes in my rig.  I laughed and he started to extol the "virtues" of tubes. I parried every argument and he could not counter any of them, especially when it came to weight, consistency, flexibility and maintenance. I told him that I'm convinced that there will never come a day when tube amps will equal the flexibility, consistency and reliability of modelers - ever.

hideout, a short & simple response - Yes !!!!  You are completely correct, especially for your formerly aching, but now happy back.  :)

Edited by richardcuccia
needed an addition.
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