Breakdown | Michael Brook

House of Blues / Knitting Factory
Boston / New York City
8-9 August 1999
by Hoby

Part Three of Six

Hey Now,

Here is what happened when PK, Kim, and I went to see Michael Brook and Djivan Gasparyan at Boston's House of Blues.

This chapter will describe Michael Brook's stage rig in excruciating detail.

[Please be warned. This is a telling of my opinions and perceptions. I do not claim that mine is an objective view. This will not be the cool, clear, detached review one might read in a newspaper or magazine. This will be the recounting of the experience of someone who has waited since 1985 for this event.]

If I had had the balls to climb up on stage and stand where MB stood, this is what I would have seen at my feet:

A Roland VG8 guitar synth system. Immediately to its left, the control pedal for the VG8. To the left of that, a large pedal with the letters "INF" hand-painted in white. And left of that, a box labelled "16 second delay" (green factory silkscreen on black face) No manufacturer name visible. Tucked in just above the delay (closer to the stage edge) was a Boss tuner. Just above the tuner was an AR116 DI box. Just to the right of the DI was a well used box on which I could barely make out the silkscreen reading "Hot Tubes Overdrive". Finally, just to the right of the overdrive (and just above the VG8, therefore completing the rectangle) was a small homebrewed box with a couple of small toggle switches and a couple of cables coming out of it. Tracing these cables led me to the conclusion that this box, along with the "INF" pedal (duh!) make up the outboard portion of the infinite guitar electronics.

MB's amp? I think it was a Fender Vibrolux Reverb.

His guitar? A strat-style Tokai with a scalloped fretboard and a bridge with microtuners. Three red pickups (single coil) that looked like swiss army knives. Besides having the GK2 pickup for the VG8 installed just above the bridge, there were two other cables coming out of the guitar as well - these ran to the infinite guitar pedal and box. All three of these cables were bundled together into one rather large umbilical cord.

Other tech notes: Richard Evans uses a Yamaha sampler. I couldn't find a model number on its face, but based on my fuzzy memory of its layout and a fuzzy catalog picture, I'm guessing it's a SU700.

He also used a Line 6 Pod amp simulator for his Telecaster. And he played the hell out of a Westone bass.

There were floor wedges across the front of the stage, but Djivan and Jason were also using in-ear systems.

Having finished my inspection, I passed the time talking with friends old (48 hours) and new (20 minutes), watching the house fill, and making even newer new friends (hi Mike!).

Finally, the band came through the crowd from the back of the house to take the stage. My second set of Michael Brook / Djivan Gasparyan music was about to begin!

But that's a story for another chapter...