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'Worst nightmare' time the other day. I had just finished setting up my gear for my monthly solo spot at the 'Jazz cafe' (the main live music venue), went to soundcheck and I am getting this wimpy fzzzztttt... noise coming from the speakers (sound familiar, Mike?). Then the sound cuts out completely in one speaker... After swapping cables etc I realise that I am in deep doo-doo as my amp head/mixer is the problem I only had it repaired last year, too. Rather than cancel the gig, I decide to go home and get my smaller rig which is not really ideal but its better than losing the gig...
Lots of fast driving and gear lugging later and I'm ready to go, but it turns out be a really quiet night. Just a handful of people turn people up, just enough to make my clothes smell of smoke and a couple of heckling drunks who I've bumped into before who think they're like REALLY FUNNY (not...). All that and its about the worst paid gig I do..
Still, last night more than made up for it. It was the last gig of the year for my flamenco/latin guitar duo at Las Tascas and it went great. Lots of unexpected positive audience interaction, which I love. First of all one of the dance class students is eating there and she gets up and dances to our Sevillanas. Then there's this Spanish guy and his girlfriend who I bumped into at a recent wedding gig (they worked at the hotel) who have come to check us out. They sit right in front of us shouting Ole!, doing palmas and real getting into it (later he tells me his friend from Spain who is a kiler cajon player is moving over here and would I be interested in playing with him... OH YES!)
..then these guys turn up out of nowhere in 'joke Mexican' fancy dress - you know, huge sombreros, massive fake mexican guitar, ponchos, etc and their timing couldn't have been better. I had just finished a mexican guitar solo and we were playing a tongue in cheek take on 'Zorba the Greek'. Nothing remotely mexican, but you should have seen this big fat guys looning around pretending to play their fake guitars to a bemused but happy audience of restaurant goers, clapping along as the music got faster and faster. We were relieved they hadn't turned up when we werer playing something complex and more 'serious'.
After that we were really hyped and I think our Entre Dos Aguas was the best yet, with each of us trying to out-shred the other during our solos
Jon, sounds great! Well, the 2nd part, you ended on a happy note :).
The owner of the new local Spanish restaurant called me after I had dinner there, and wanted to hire me for Friday nights...but the pay she offered was less than 1/2 of what I get for my private gigs. So I declined. On the other hand, my gig at Barcelona on monday night has really turned out well, so far. The staff there is great and very helpful, and the clientele seem to really like us. We got compliments and some people even came up to the stage and gave us tips (as a background musician, I don't get too many of those anymore).
As for the fffzzzt sound, Jon, are you sure it was the amp? I got a little of that same sound the other night, although I was going through a different system. I have a feeling it is from the Zoom 504 now. Of course I need to change out cords and perhaps even the guitar preamp, but the Zoom is lookign quite suspicious. It (but my guitar also), has been wet a couple of times, and maybe only now it is starting to mess up. It is only a $50 piece of electronics after all.
As for the fffzzzt sound, Jon, are you sure it was the amp?
Yeah, positive
One of the channel limiter LEDs lights up and stays on, even when ther's no thing go throught the amp. I had exactly the same problem with it last year. Its an old amp really, I bought it second hand several years ago and it had already had lots of use then.
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I only had it repaired last year, too. Rather than cancel the gig, I decide to go home and get my smaller rig which is not really ideal but its better than losing the gig... 
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