- 2 days ago
Ashdown - Geezer Butler - Back to the beginning
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MusicTranscript
00:00It's the original four members we haven't played the original four haven't played together for
00:1220 years I think the last gig and this is going to be the perfect ending back in Aston where we
00:20all started from we were all born and bred here in Aston and my favourite team is Aston Villa
00:27and that's where we'll be playing at their ground so it's like the perfect ending for Sabbath
00:32it's been a matter I mean it's slow at first because we all you know we've got to get into it
00:38again um it's been great it's like we've uh we only played like last week or something as soon
00:46as we started up again it's like we'd never been apart it's just the natural thing you know it's
00:51all the songs sound exactly the way they were recorded uh when we did them um built up plays
00:57the same drums the way you did back then and uh it's great it's just falling into that groove
01:04again brilliant well I couldn't have asked for a better rig um Ashdown have just done such an
01:12incredible job uh it's so beyond incredible it really is so when I first seen the photos of the
01:22uh when they were being finished off I was like wow this is incredible and um the purple and black
01:28reflecting back to the master of reality master of uh reality album um just it's just been incredible
01:37working with Ashdown I mean I've never worked with a company like that before it's just amazing
01:42just like whatever we've asked they've done uh I just can't I can't be any happier with them with
01:50them I mean I didn't even know this was going to happen until like a few months ago um so whenever
01:57when you think you've completely retired and you're never going to do any music ever again something
02:02comes up like as you say Deadline Ritual that came out of the blue um and I'm always being asked to
02:09play at various functions and things like with other bands and other people so you know I can
02:17never say never or anything that's going to be definite definite it just think if it's going to
02:22happen it happens it's just you know I just hope everything goes well and
02:28hello everybody we're here today with the wonderful Terry Welty hello um who's been looking after Giza for
02:37as long as I've um as long as I can remember really almost 30 years wow wow so um tell us a little
02:45bit about how this conception this rig came about uh well I you know I talked to Giza in November and
02:52he told me there could be a possibility of this happening so uh I thought well if that happens we
02:57should probably build a rig because it's it's it's the last time there won't be another time so
03:03I wanted to build a rig so uh you know talk to well I'll talk to you yeah and we kind of formulated
03:09a plan and uh you know I did change some things we added a purple to it and yep uh painted logo a
03:15little bit to make it more of a more black so it's it just it works well with the with the cabinets I
03:21think and it you know it uh they definitely stand out even though they're black yeah you know they
03:27definitely do add a punch to the stage because that was a concern and thank you for that um because it
03:31was um we got the email saying that the cream and the red might look a little bit out of place on
03:36stage considering um it's quite a dark stage um so um I was like thinking what we're gonna paint
03:43them so they still pop out and um I managed to convince our carl in the warehouse to do them black
03:48and purple um which works that keeps with the motif of the masses of reality because that's kind of
03:55what Sabbath are so I thought well let's do something let's go back to the old days and you know
03:59make the purple tolex and uh which y'all were more than happy to do and you know and we have a
04:06really really really nice finished product thank you it's really really good I guess I can't tell
04:12you how good it is it's very good well it's been an honor and an absolute privilege to make it for
04:18this event um and as well as um the heads themselves because these are the signature heads that we
04:23actually conceived to an extent it was your idea with the two vu meters and to have something that
04:29could be connected to use in multiple cabinet situations which we're using now which is one
04:35of the first times actually we've been able to use it in quite the way it was designed to be built um
04:40having the two separate oh sorry I'm stepping in well no no no because it's it's it's a master head
04:45and a slave and a master head and a slave so these two heads are on the 12s these two are on the 15s
04:51uh you know which was what I was going after even way back then when we first talked about doing
04:57something like that uh that now we finally get to use it so it was like it was a good idea that we
05:02actually got to use but and I think if correctly we could do 16 heads yes so yeah that's a lot of uh
05:10that's a lot of power there yeah currently it's uh it's going to be 2400 watts on stage
05:14um all into these wonderful cabinets that we'll we'll have a little walk over to in a minute but
05:20um the two heads um as Terry mentioned they're tuned to for the 12s and then the 15s at the
05:27bottom the two heads are tuned to have that bigger bottom response um and yeah much to
05:33the need no no you're fine you're absolutely fine no no who's this guy creeping yeah absolutely
05:40come on well it's an absolute pleasure I hope the show goes amazingly and
05:43thanks so much for everything it's an absolute pleasure thank you
05:47he's such a lovely gentleman to work for I mean some people say don't meet your idols don't meet your
06:14heroes um but honestly um I wish I'd met him earlier it's like um yeah it's been yeah yeah
06:23well yeah I started as sound guy back in the mid 90s and became his bass tech in 2006. wow
06:32yeah so been with him a long time yeah fantastic but yeah genuinely um an honor um and getting to use the
06:38heads as they were designed um yeah it's fantastic um so obviously a lot of care and attention went into
06:46this build um is there any details you want to share with us about how the the the rack was built the rig
06:53was built well you know I built it um to accommodate uh you know anything that because I didn't know what
07:00was going to happen here you know because nobody really knew well we still don't and we got a gig in
07:06five days but we're figuring it out so I you know I built the rig to accommodate uh any foreseeable
07:12thing or non-foreseeable thing uh so I you know I have fans built into it and I've got ventilation
07:18because I didn't over in the summer it's going to be cold or hot uh so that should be good there
07:27got my my little switchy box thing so this one turns on my wall pedal and off my wall pedal
07:34so I can remove it without interrupting my signal flow uh and if I have trouble with my wireless
07:39system then I hit these two buttons and that now turns on my wire nice so I can run him alarm so
07:46we can get off to that and with that said this wire runs back into the rig so there's never a signal
07:51loss you can always hear base um you know it's it took me a minute to figure all that out but once you
07:57get it figured out it's okay and my other safeguard is on my wireless so his main base
08:03uh I use a xlr y on these so I can I can turn on base one and two and if he has a trouble with
08:10base one it's connected already into my base too so I just write him a base he can turn and start
08:15playing I don't have to come back here and turn it on and it's already there yeah nice yeah uh you know
08:21of course we have a backup for everything yes you know backup heads now backup wawa backup guitars
08:28back up back up everything because you never know no you know it works today yep but you know it's got
08:34a truck ride to go high voltage and and heat I mean we're experiencing some strange climate here in
08:40the UK at the moment um and I hear it's supposed to rain on the gig day yeah there we go I wouldn't
08:45be Birmingham without a bit of rain really would it I would I would hope it would rain yeah um what about
08:50the bases oh bases um Lakeland everyone yeah you have to look at the bases so he so we had two of
08:57these made for this show this is going to be his number one base you can see the Henry in the red
09:03yeah uh then uh you know using of course these are pickups yep uh and the black nylons yeah the the
09:12the DRs yeah um the black beauties and and this is what we call the t2 base uh because it had the
09:21two pickups yep uh which is what they call me on the road yeah uh so we did that and then this is
09:28his backup base identical except the Henry as in white nice so it's but it's exactly the same base
09:35same string same pickups fantastic yeah everything's metered the same uh so you know he can we can
09:41transition from one to the other and you won't even know the difference other than the Henry being
09:44a different color this one is more of a t1 because with the one pickup and this is one more of the
09:51slab body rather than yes yeah I mean it's more of a it's more of a that's his favorite player more of
09:59an old fender precision so when I when I did design this with Lakeland uh I wanted more of an older
10:05precision because they were a little bit lighter I went with the the maple neck and the fretboard
10:10instead of the darker wood because he likes the lighter yeah uh but you know um and so they I
10:15built this in 2016. yeah yeah yeah I think December we got it and then we he played it for the last gig
10:21in 2017 so and that was in Birmingham as well February 4. yeah yeah and that was the yeah because
10:27I think he played it at the o2 in London a couple of days before that so yeah yeah this this will be uh
10:32this base will get played during the show so I think that was the last time we came out actually
10:37to see the show wasn't it uh the o2 right um and the last time we found a lovely little interview
10:42with with with Giza and yourself um oh yeah um yeah but these are the so main guitars are used
10:50for the set except for the last song this will get used for nice oh yeah I can't say what they are
10:56because no ain't none of your damn business and we'll all be watching it live that's right too live
11:02stream it live stream it we're we're we're yeah we're probably going to put on a little Ashdown
11:06party with some oh good yeah we're sure that's your gear exactly small pa system set up in the garden
11:13and turn it up because it's going to be loud so we have a little wonder over to the stage walk this way
11:19so the cabinets themselves lovingly handcrafted in that's right in Essex made from Latvian birch
11:35plywood um and then covered with a unique purple tolex um little things um black piping um the the Ashdown
11:46double wing punched grill cloth but also to incorporate the henry rather than it being kind
11:52of a a bit too bright right Terry came up with the idea of making it black to make it look like
11:58the heads and match the aesthetic so you get a really nice subtle effect yeah I think when lights
12:03here that you know they'll I think you know it'd be I think they'll stand off I mean they'll come
12:08really good coming out yeah you know as as the logos I think they're going to look nice too because
12:14they're shiny they're going to shine it's going to look really good yeah I have no doubt and it
12:17draws attention um it's not every day you see a black and purple Ashdown logo um but but you know
12:23the logo just from the shape of it that's the thing that's you know it's the double wings so my so my
12:30my father originally came up with the idea of the logo because it was based on a an Austin Healey um oh
12:35oh yeah yeah double wing um I know that one badge um and the Ashdown name is my mother's uh maiden name so
12:43it's um it's a really wonderful thing to see on such a prestigious stage um as a as a little
12:49family business it's it's been a a sincere honor um so that's that's why we like it's a family business
12:55so you you know you it's you don't get you don't have to talk to a machine you can talk to a human
13:00being you know which is good yeah because it's a lot of times you want you know you call and you want
13:05answers pretty quick and then so if I call Dan I you know we talk and we get an answer and we can keep
13:10moving forward because a lot of times you don't have the luxury of time no this one this we had
13:15a bit we had a minute on this yeah we did yeah so I think the cabinets we finished building them
13:21in March yeah um because we kind of knew what we wanted and then it was the logos that were the last
13:27minute sort of yeah touch well because yeah because we sent me the drawing I'm like well I mean I liked
13:33it but it just seemed like they didn't the colors didn't match but y'all y'all took care of that
13:37really moly it looks great so we have four two by 15 cabinets um all wired in 16 ohms so each cabinet
13:46is 16 ohms and then we have two two by 12s with an optional horn um with a variable high low and off
13:52um just in case needed a bit of um top end for the year um because what's the what speakers did you use
14:00um we used uh a selection of um a bnc drivers actually from italy um just for the efficiency
14:07of them um the depth and the attack um and also making sure at 16 ohms they were still going to
14:13move enough air um because this was a concern when you're pushing it with the the heads of doom that
14:19we weren't going to get the power that was required yeah right for for this stage in particular and
14:26getting to hear it earlier as you'll hear a little bit from it in a second it's thunderous
14:32on every level and we still have lots of headroom lots and lots of headroom um so yeah because we are
14:39inside so once we get outside if we need that hood room we will definitely use it yeah um and yeah it's
14:45a wonderful wall of oh but you got to see the back though you gotta see you gotta see the work of the
14:50of the plates they did in the back i know what the the geezer and the date i mean that's uh you
14:57know that's that's called attention to detail and we like that you know everybody likes that yeah for
15:03sure thank you um it was the little things yeah whilst we were doing it we might as well and they
15:08sound great you know and the cables as well they've all been meticulously wired together so the rig is
15:15this wonderful wall of sound which is a wall of sound when you're comparing it with the the size of
15:22the stage when you've got tony's rig the other side you've got this this side yeah they play well
15:28together yeah it's i mean they mirroring really well if you stand at the center of the drum riser
15:33while they're both playing you can hear it's an equal no you know so you know that's what bill likes
15:38about even being this far back you know bright at bill's ear he loves it because he can hear that
15:43bass right there and then i mean the monitors aren't too large either on that side are they i
15:48mean no it's um normally you'd expect oh yeah big big huge wedges but when you've got a stage this loud
15:57um it yeah phenomenal yeah it's good yeah i mean it just comes together well and bill was you know
16:04telling geezer every day how he's like bass sounds you know just thunderous things i love it because he
16:09can hear it he can feel it yeah yeah you know which is geezer likes the cabinets touching especially the
16:1415s he wants them to touch the floor so he can because if they don't then he'll lose someone because
16:18he likes to feel it on his feet nice so yeah there's a lot of uh spl i guess you could call it yeah yeah
16:25so he could feel it like rattling the shirt he's good he's happy nice and the top box is cut through
16:29so he can hear it with his ears yep there we go winning on every level right and it's it's the perfect
16:34height you know we did well we did talk we didn't measure because yeah yeah we were concerned because
16:38gears is a little bit about my height actually so for comparison we did walk around to make sure that
16:44it was at ear level um because it was a concern yeah that's perfect but thank you for the opportunity
16:52to come down yeah and have a look at it in in situ and i really can't wait for the show on saturday
16:59me too and yeah um thank you mate oh yeah absolute pleasure pleasure
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