10/31/2012

Traben Phoenix 4 - Blood Red 4-string Electric Bass Review

Traben Phoenix 4 - Blood Red 4-string Electric Bass
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So, looking for a lefty bass is always challenging. But when I saw the Traben Phoenix, I thought my prayers were answered - it was a case of immediate lust. However, my lust soon turned to disgust after I received my bass. It arrived looking beautiful, but I immediately discovered that the pot that controls the blending of each pickup was non-functional. Hanser Music, the distributor of Traben, would not allow me to have the bass looked at locally (there is no dealer within several hundred miles) and required me to send it back to them. It took over six weeks for them to repair the bass and get it back to me (requiring my purchase of a back up bass to continue my instruction) - and lo and behold when I finally got it back, there was a terrible hum when I plugged it in. Deciding to eat the cost, rather than have another interminable delay, I took it to a local repair shop where I discovered that the bass was not properly grounded. It cost me $40 to have it repaired. I will note that after a lot of back and forth with Hanser, they did reimburse me the $40. Unfortunately, the story does not end there - soon thereafter, the same pickup pot stopped working. I opened up the bass and discovered a very poorly soldered wire on the pot. I resoldered it myself and since them, the bass works properly.
While my Traben bass does look wonderful and sounds great, no one should have to worry about purchasing a new $600 instrument and having to deal with multiple problems necessitating the expenditure of much time and trouble. Traben manufactures the Phoenix in Korea and it appears that the quality control is very poor both in Korea and here in the US. While Hanser's customer service is very pleasant, it shouldn't have been that hard to check out the bass before both initial shipment to the dealer and before returning a defective product to the consumer. I would not recommend purchasing a Traben bass unless you have a local dealer who is prepared to stand behind the product.

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Peterson V-SAM Virtual Strobe Audio Metronome Review

Peterson V-SAM Virtual Strobe Audio Metronome
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I am called on to tune harpsichords, and this is often done using unusual temperaments and pitch standards far from A=440Hz. I formerly used the excellent Korg MT-1200, because it could be programmed to any temperament, and because it allowed a very wide range of pitch standards (I often need to tune to A=411, for example). Korg has discontinued the MT-1200, replacing it with the model OT-12, which has most of the same features but is not programmable. When the MT-1200 that I used went bad (its memory chip failed, so it needed to be re-programmed every time I used it, quite a hassle), I went on a search for something else that would do the job.
After consulting with harpsichord players, builders, and other experts, I learned about the Peterson V-SAM. None of my experts had actually used this tuner, but had heard that it was an amazing new device that was great for harpsichords. I called Peterson (for a very long time known as a venerable manufacturer of stroboscopic tuners) and their sales people confirmed that the V-SAM was excellent for this kind of instrument. I let my experts know what Peterson had told me, and so they independently bought V-SAMs at the same time I bought mine.
About a week after I got my V-SAM, I started getting calls from the others. Nobody could make the V-SAM work with harpsichords. It was unstable, and would frequently not even recognize that a note was being played on the instruments. Suspecting a faulty unit or perhaps a faulty manufacturing run, I checked my V-SAM with some wind instruments. It worked fine. Several calls to Peterson tech support revealed that if I simply added an external microphone, the V-SAM would work great on the harpsichord. I tried hand held mics, clip on mics, and suction-cup mics, and nothing helped. The others had similar experiences.
Finally, I was able to talk to engineering at Peterson, and was advised that the V-SAM was never designed to work with instruments like pianos or harpsichords. They said the tuner was intended to be used with instruments that can sustain their tones, like violins and wind instruments.
I have since returned my V-SAM, as have all my associates. I want to stress that this is not really a fault of the unit...Peterson is a good company with a high quality product. The problem is that this design is not suitable with certain instruments that produce transient tones. Unfortunately, Peterson sales and tech support did not know this and led me astray. Likewise, most retailers simply parrot what Peterson says or implies in their sales capacity, and hence the bad information is kept circulating.
In my opinion the V-SAM is a fine product for most applications, but if you want to use it with instruments that produce tones that decay quickly, look elsewhere.


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Line 6 FBV Review

Line 6 FBV
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If you have a Vetta amp and a Line 6 modeling guitar, this is THE indispensible item to complete your ensemble. It works great, allows you to switch amp AND guitar settings with simple footswitch controls.
The combinations are endless!

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DigiTech Vocalist Live 4 Harmony-Effects Processor Review

DigiTech Vocalist Live 4 Harmony-Effects Processor
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The VL4 is a lot of fun! I've had mine for about 3 weeks now, so i've had time to really use all the features. First, i'll talk about the highlights. This product really makes your voice stand out. The compression works great and really brings your voice out of the mix. Even has a de-esser to remove the sibilant "s" sounds. The EQ is important for removing muddy mid frequency from your vocals which also helps to bring your voice out of the mix. The harmony works wonderfully and you can change the parameters in many ways. For example, let's say you're playing an A minor chord on your guitar, and singing an "E". You can choose your harmony note to be either an A or a G, depending on whether you want a true 3rd above, or the note closest to a 3rd above which is also a note in the chord. You can also choose the VL4 to choose a harmony note in a predefined scale, rather than based on what you're playing on the guitar. If you're playing a song in the key of D Major, and there are no key changes in the song, and no chords that do not fit in the scale, then you can simply choose all your harmony notes to be in the key of D Major. The strength of the Music IQ feauture(harmony based on what you're playing with the guitar) is when a song has key changes or chords which do not fit in the original scale. The reverb works great and you can change the predelay, decay, intensity, type(hall, studio, stage) and tone. The features which are not so great for vocals are the following:
1. pitch correction--it doesn't sound natural because the VL4 outputs both your original off-pitch voice and the pitch-corrected note, so it sounds like a doubling effect. Maybe if you really play around with the pitch correction parameters you'll be able to get a more natural sound, but i have yet to achieve that.
2. delay--if you can get the tempo of delay that you want, it works fine. The trouble is, the VL4 won't let you choose a fairly slow delay. So if you're singing a slow-tempo song, you won't be able to get a delay of a quarter note or even an 8th note. The delay works best for achieving a doubling effect.
3. lead effects--this effect lets you change the timbre of your voice, allowing it to sound deeper, more femminine, more Elvis-like, with vibrato, etc. Actually, this feature can be useful and fun. But like the pitch correction, it doesn't sound too natural. However, if used sparingly and in a song with complete backing music(bass, keyboards, etc) i think the audience wouldn't know any better.
Now for the guitar effects--reverb and chorus. I am very impressed with these! It uses the same reverb settings as your vocals, but you can adjust how much of the reverb is going to the guitar. The chorus sounds realistic and can be adjusted to be obvious or not-so-obvious. You can get a great guitar sound with these 2 effects, but i'd recommend running your guitar through a compressor and EQ to get a really clean sound.
I'd recommend the VL4 over the VL2 because of the extra vocal effects(they're really useful) and because you can store changes to any presets, and with the step of the pedal, you can get your stored preferred settings. I think having 4 harmonic voices is overkill, but for the features i just mentioned, the VL4 is recommended over the VL2.


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Digitech Vocalist Live 4 is a three- or four-part vocal harmony generating floor pedal, that uses musIQ Harmony Technology for both note detection and harmony generation. The unit analyzes guitar chord progressions in real-time an. Buy DigiTech Vocalist Live 4 Harmonizer Vocal Processor now!... Buy DigiTech Vocalist Live 4 Harmonizer Vocal Processor now!

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Lanikai NK-C Custom Series Koa Concert Ukulele Review

Lanikai NK-C Custom Series Koa Concert Ukulele
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Beautiful and has the real Hawaiian sound. I have played guitar for fourteen years, and I lived on Oahu and Maui for six year and the sound is dead on. Arived in Mint condition tuning is good holds tune very well. Koa is really beautiful wood. I would buy it again !

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10/30/2012

Maxon OD820 Overdrive Pro Review

Maxon OD820 Overdrive Pro
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I bought this pedal about three months ago, i'm loving it more and more. Its probably the best overdrive Ive heard because its really transparent. You can crank it up to have a nice warm, crunchy, bassy drive but you can still hear the presence and clarity of the clean channel. Its wonderful. It is a tiny bit on the large side if you have a cramped board but you gotta love the vintage look.

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Mackie PPM1012 12-Channel, 1600-Watt Powered Desktop Mixer Review

Mackie PPM1012 12-Channel, 1600-Watt Powered Desktop Mixer
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I've been a musician playing in clubs and all types of other venues since the sixties. Some of the bands I've been part of used massive PA systems to get a quality sound. I'm talking racks of power amps, EQ's, Effects , etc. etc..
That was then, this is now. This Mackie board does it all and does it all extremely well !! You'll have plenty of headroom. There is more than ample power when you need it, just waiting to kick in and support your vocals and anything else you run through this board. The effects are superb with two high quality effects processors that you can tweek out and blend the effects to your liking. The clarity of this board is so good that all I have to run is a slight curve on my equalizers to get a nice clean and clear sound. Match this unit up with a high quality pair of speakers and a couple of good powered subs, and you're sound is Happening !!
Sizing down and maintaining good sound at my age is important to me. Other powered consoles I used and thought were OK just don't compare to this. Having a well-polished act, I need the best sounding equipment with the smallest footprint. Although a tad bit heavy, this mixer takes the place of hundreds of pounds worth of PA.
Now, I can't wait to get to the gig and hear my new Mackie. I couldn't be more pleased !!
Jim, SW Fla.

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TC-Helicon VoiceWorks Vocal Effects Processors Review

TC-Helicon VoiceWorks Vocal Effects Processors
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I'd watched the videos on TC-Helicon's website before buying this from Amazon, my hope was that it would be half as good as advertised. It's two or three times better than I could have ever imagined!
1. The pre-amp is excellent.
2. The compressor is better than my stand alone unit.
3. The doubling is great, really gives you that professional sounding vocals.
4. The harmonies are exceptional, let me repeat, EXCEPTIONAL. I'm not that great a singer, this thing is magic in a box. You do NOT need to use midi for the harmonies, I'd say about 3/4ths of the setting don't require any midi input, don't get me wrong, the midi presets are amazing, you can literally hold a note with your voice, and say hold the C note on the keyboard, and it will bend it as far as you're willing to go up the keyboard!
5. The voice correction, I believe, is making me a better singer. It coaxes you to move your voice to get the harmonies in tune, which is not hard. Yes, you can take it to the extreme and have the "cher" effect.
I don't post reviews often, but this thing is so far beyond my expectations, I had to let others know. You will not regret this purchase!


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EastWest Gypsy Virtual Instruments Collection Review

EastWest Gypsy Virtual Instruments Collection
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Quantum Leap's Gypsy is an incredibly well done piece of sampling work. The classical guitar and violin have levels of detail that I never imagined were possible. I continue to be amazed by EastWest studios' attention to detail. Other notable instruments are the spanish steel guitar, and the trombone, which play very well and sound great. The flamenco and django guitars sound impressively realistic and the accordians are excellent. I consider this a "must have" for my core sample set.
It does require an iLok key to use, but since this is my fourth EW/QL PLAY instrument, that wasn't an issue for me.

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Fender Pro Jr Amp Review

Fender Pro Jr Amp
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This is a great amp. Light and portable but loud as hell. I used this guy at a band practice with drums and another guitarist recently and only had the volume at about 3 and it was plenty loud enough. Sounds great too. Its definitely got that tube sound. I also love the simplicity of the controls: just on/off, volume, and tone.

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10/29/2012

Akai MPC1000 Music Production Center Review

Akai MPC1000 Music Production Center
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My first impressions on the newest and smallest MPC in Akais great lineup of sampler/beat machine was thatit just HAD to be a lesser equiped version of those higher numbered MPC. WRONG!!!. I've used all MPCs and can say that I am pretty skilled with the MPC-60, 60 II, 2000, 200xl, and 3000 and just begining to peak at what the MPC4000 can truly do (it is in a whole different level and not at all for the novice).
The MPC1000, in my opinion is the best of the lot (not including the MPC4000). It doesn't have the warm sound that the MPC-60/60 II has but overall it can do anything that you want it to do. It does everything that a 2000/2000xl can do. It may have a smaller number of outputs but that is not that big of a deal if you know what you are doing.
Armed with a computer (as most of us are) the MPC1000 is extremely capable of accomplising any task that its big brothers can. In fact it handles many things better than those costing much more.
The MPC1000 is set up more like an MPC4000 and will aid those who hope to step up to using the big boy. Starting with a 2000 or 3000 will hinder you, in that some of those things you will do on those machines you will have to re-learn how to do those same things on the 4000 (once you pay the big bucks to make that move).
Don't be put off by it's tiny size. Max out it's memory, get a big compact flash card (it canhandle up to a 2 gig card, WOW) and this little box will STOMP the 2000 and 3000, even the 60 (remember those aren't made anymore and are quit old).
This thing KICKS.

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Inheriting all the essential MPC series features, the Akai MPC1000 complements its larger siblings while also providing a powerful Music Production Center on its own. It features 32-voice stereo sampling, 64-track sequencing, and 16 velocity, and pressure-sensitive MPC pads--all in an affordable and compact package that weighs just 7.6 pounds. The MPC1000 is small, rugged and incredibly portable for an easy fit into a backpack or laptop bag for the traveling producer.
It comes with 16 MB of onboard memory (expandable up to 128 MB), and you can further enhance your storage with optional standard Compact Flash memory cards (up to 2 GB in size). A preloaded CF card with popular Akai Pro samples is included to get you going. When connected to a Mac or PC via its built-in USB port, you can simply drag and drop data between the computer and MPC1000's CF card.
Key Features
Pattern-based and linear 64-track sequencer with 32 MIDI channels
32-voice drum/phrase sampler with up to 128 MB RAM
Velocity and pressure-sensitive pads for expressive programming
16-level pad function maps one sound to all pads with varied level, tuning, attack, decay or filter per pad
Two Q-link sliders for real-time performance control
Built-in Compact Flash drive and USB port (Mass Storage Class)
Standard WAV files samples and MIDI-file sequences
Analog and digital I/Os, headphone output and two MIDI In/Out
Internal sounds in flash
Four-way sample layering and velocity switching per pad
Four-pole filters (two two-pole filters) filtering for each of the 32 voices
Two on-board effects processors plus main-output effect processor, all which can be used simultaneously
Outputs can be re-sampled

Specifications
Storage: Compact Flash: Type-II, support up to 2 GB card
Hard Drive (optional - req. HDM-10): any standard IDE 2.5-inch hard drive
Memory: 16 MB installed (Can be expanded to 128 MB with EXM-128)
Analog Input/Output:
(2) Balanced 1/4-inch Inputs
(6) Unbalanced 1/4-inch Outputs [Stereo L/R + 4 Assignable Outs]
(1) Headphone Output

Digital Input/Output:
(1) Coaxial S/PDIF Input [RCA]
(1) Coaxial S/PDIF Output [RCA]

MIDI Input/Output:
(2) MIDI Input [5-pin DIN]
(2) MIDI Output [5-pin DIN]

Other Input/Output:
(2) 1/4-inch Footswitch
(1) USB [Slave only]

Levels:
Analog Input = +10dBu
Analog Output = +17dBu [Stereo & Assignable Outs]

Sampler Resolution: 16bit/44.1kHz
Sampler Recording Time:
136 seconds [16 MB/MONO]
24 minutes 28 seconds [128 MB/MONO]

Sequencer Details:
100,000 notes resolving at 96ppq
99 Sequences with total 64 tracks per seq
20 Songs with total 250 steps per song

Pad Details:
16 (velocity and pressure sensitive)
4 Pad Banks [A, B, C, D]

Synchronization: MIDI Clock only
Power Options:
100v - 240v
50/60Hz
19W

Dimensions: 13 x 2.97 x 8.98 inches (WxHxD)
Weight (net): 7.6 pounds
Data Compatibility:
MPC1000 -- SEQ, WAV, PGM
MPC2000/2000XL -- SEQ (saved as MID file only), WAV, SND, PGM (Most parameters of PGM file can be loaded.)
MPC2500 -- SEQ, WAV, PGM
MPC4000 -- SEQ (saved as MID file only), WAV, AKP (DRUM program only...No Keygroups. Only note assign and tune are loaded.)
MPC3000 -- SND (THRU Computer)
Z4/Z8 -- WAV, PGM (DRUM program only. Only note assign and tune are loaded.)
S5000/6000 -- WAV only (THRU Computer)
S1000/3000 -- No compatibility



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CB Drums JRX55 Junior 5-Piece Kit Package (Black) Review

CB Drums JRX55 Junior 5-Piece Kit Package (Black)
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The only complaint I have is that it didn't come with very good directions for setting up.

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ART Pro MPAII Microphone Preamplifier Review

ART Pro MPAII Microphone Preamplifier
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Can you find a better sounding mic pre with more functionality than the ART Pro MPAII? Absolutely. Can you find a better mic pre anywhere near this price range? Not in my experience.
The controls are intuitive and the sound is excellent. My only two complaints are:
1.) The stock tubes that come with this unit are CHEAP. If you get this, I would recommend ordering a pair of high quality tubes as well. I went with TungSol 12AX7 Gold Pin tubes, and the difference in sound was substantial. l'd probably have bumped my rating up to 5 stars if the stock tubes had been better.
2.) It would have been nice if ART had put the XLR inputs on the front of the unit next to the 1/4 inch inputs. As it stands, the XLR inputs are on the rear. I have my components mounted in a stationary rack integrated into a desk, and hooking up mics can be a bit of a chore. This is a small complaint, but it's something to be considered.
Beyond that, this is a great buy for someone looking to see big improvements in their sound without spending vast sums of money.

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Blackout Effectors Twosome Dual Fuzz Effect Pedal Review

Blackout Effectors Twosome Dual Fuzz Effect Pedal
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This pedal is pretty fantastic. There is a ton of tone options with the two different sides. You're best checking youtube for reviews where you can hear the pedal. DO NOTE that this near $300 pedal doesn't come with an adapter and can't take a battery, so add an adapter to your order.

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Flinthill FHM75 F-Style Mandolin Review

Flinthill FHM75 F-Style Mandolin
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Purchased this mando for my son who started on cheaper mandos to learn. He had moved up to my wifes Morgan monroe mm-3 and was ready for his own better grade of mandolin. We purchased the Flinthill not knowing how well it would be, but at this price range we knew it wouldnt be junk. Well we were right, it was better than expected. I had to tighted up the strings, tune it and it was ready to play. We all were amazed by the mellow tones and crispt play of this instrument. The inlays are great looking and the fret board is nice and straight with the action low so its easy to play. You will not go wrong with this instrument.

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10/28/2012

Zildjian A Custom 13-Inch Mastersound Hi-Hat Cymbals Pair Review

Zildjian A Custom 13-Inch Mastersound Hi-Hat Cymbals Pair
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I was looking for a crispy sound and this is the one.
A really versatil hi-hat beacause when you need strong and hard sound, just opening it a little bit, you get it. If you want a sweet and crispy sound for latin rythms then you just have to know how to play it to get it.
It's a really nice hi-hat, i just bought it and i know i still need to keep playing it to get more out of it.


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Digitech Jam Man Delay Looper Bundle w/FS3X Footswitch Review

Digitech Jam Man Delay Looper Bundle w/FS3X Footswitch
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What can I say The Digitech Jam Man Delay Looper Bundle w/FS3X Footswitch,was a great purchase for me, this pedal is simply awesome,and the deal I got through Amazon is beyound belief,product arrived within 2 days of placing the order,and I haven't had any regrets.This Digitech JamMan ROCKS MY WORLD.Thank You

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