Trances Arc

TA coming to the Five Spot, Atlanta, GA Friday April 27th. See full line up here

Thank you to @niclake for the following inquiry:

@trancesarc Do you guys have your guitar rigs posted somewhere on the web? Love your tones, would love to see what you’re rollin’

Sir Dorio shall field this one:

We have two separate sounds when it comes to the band. Live and in the studio.

Live, Eric and I play vintage Bassman heads through standard 4×12 cabinets. We try to keep it simple, letting our amps do most of the work. We both have a few overdrive pedals but we use them sparingly. I play a 1971 Gibson SG Custom and Eric plays a custom made Telecaster that we built. We generally replace all of our guitar’s pickups with Lindy Fralins or another boutique hand wired company. The trick live is to turn up and let the tubes do their thing. Traditional distortion pedals suck. They cloud the sound. We use our overdrives just for a boost or volume jump.

In the studio, things are a lot different. We have a nice collection of 60′s and 70′s boutique amps that we like to record with. Smaller the better in the studio. Rarely do we track with big cabinets. It really doesn’t matter what you use in the studio so long that it is old, hand-wired, and small. 10 inch, 12inch boxes work best. On the last record TA, we used an old Supro amp from the 60′s on a lot of the tracks. No pedals. We also like to take old heads and run them through single 12inch amps disconnecting the amp’s tubes and using the vintage head’s circuitry for the tone. Lot’s of experimentation. Lot’s of trial and error.

The greats all played small amps in the studio that would never translate live. That’s why they all played huge stacks on stage. It gave them the tone and volume they needed. Stacks are easy animals to control. Lot’s of head room and they usually can play in any size room. We stay away from combos all together. I hate how fickle they are. You usually cannot get a good tone out of a combo until you turn it up to 10 and then it is too loud.

I am rambling now. Hope this answered some of your questions.

Bottom line: Keep it simple and old. Hand-wired. Class A. Lots of old amps on eBay Use old guitars that were built with care. Use your pedals sparingly and with taste. And most importantly, write great hooks and melodies.

Rock on,

MD

Getting amped to join our good friends out in SXSW land of good BBQ, song and dance.

Fall all around us and we can’t believe its already the end of October. Lots of changes here in the TA camp and we’re eager to get moving on a bunch of new material that we’ve been sitting on for quite some time. Our time at our faithful studio is coming to an end and we’re in the process of searching for a new home… As an ode to this unbelievable space that we’ve called home for over three years now, we bid farewell with this little tune that’s still but a wee infant. On to change and new frontiers.

In other news, we’re coming back to the 40 watt on November 26th in direct support for Drivin n Cryin. We’re super stoked and hope that you’ll break from your turkey coma to come get your fix.

TA with DnC at the fab 40 Watt

Wishing you all well this fall season. Cheers, Toledo

It couldn’t have gone better. Saturday was a release day like we’ve never experienced before. The day kicked off with a leisurely afternoon set at Criminal Records… Thanks for making it out day crew!! Hope you enjoyed the Magic Hat!

Criminal Records: Photo by Nikki Wing

Plenty of time to ring out our sweaty shirts and head to the ballroom for soundcheck. Lights. Sound. Rock!

Diggin in: Photo by Melanie Irvin

TA on the retro screen: Photo by David Claasen

Special shout out to Mixtape Atlanta, Pop Death Squad, our special guests Ponderosa, Nick Niespodziani, and Dan Dixon… Thanks to David Claasen for making it out in time for our grand introduction, and to Scott Lansing of Sabotage Film Group for the killer opening video sequence. Thank you. And thank you again for all your generosity and support. You. Rule.

The good folks over at Criminal Records in Little Five Points here in ATL were kind enough to take our record in early and make it available for exclusive release before we drop this goodness all over the interweb. So go get the record NOW and support your local record store.

Speaking of Criminal Records. We’ll be playing an in store and signing our new Boom City posters on the same day of our release party. So come on out to Criminal Records on Saturday July 17th at 2pm before seeing us at the Highland Ballroom that same night with The Jaguars, The King of Pops, and the lovely ladies of Mixtape Atlanta. TA overdose!!!!!

Release the beast

That's Right... The King of Pops Bitch!

What better way to celebrate the release of our new record than to spit out a rapid fire vid for our lead off track, Boom City? Filmed this hog in less than 24 hours… 3 hours to shoot. 10 hours editing. The concept? Film a day in the life of TA. BTW, this was the most attentive crowd we’ve ever played for. Enjoy.

Boom City // Trances Arc // TA from Trances Arc on Vimeo.

Special thanks to Slush Fund Recordings and BMI folk for hosting a good time at Spencer for Mayor’s gathering at Little Kings. World Cup soccer had the pubs packed and the beer was flowing like a river on a hot humid day. Ponderosa, Part Bear, sweaty chaps and good times. AC was our friend and welcome companion.

Photos courtesy of Zach Wolfe

Suppose I should post some of these pictures of the fine gathering we had at the studio to celebrate our faithful, ever so supportive and dedicated fans. BBQ goodness provided by the veterans of pork and beans over at Fat Macks. I didn’t actually get any BBQ due to my slave shop work over at the grill station cranking out some charred burger perfection. I ate 15 burgers. like a champ. Yum Yum Good.

Fans Infiltrating the TA bat cave

Only the finest fixins for our fans

Thanks again to all our faithful fans for making this record happen. We think you’re special.

Oh gorgeous Saturday on the road to Raleigh, NC as we approach the final hours of our fundraising campaign… wishing you all a warm and happy day.