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Archive for August, 2022

Gig Report: Swiff Audio WS-50 Wireless System

Posted in wireless, tagged , on August 6, 2022| 2 Comments »

Though I’ve already sung the praises of this system and how great it performs and love the fact that it operates in the UHF frequency range. But I wanted to give a gig report on using the unit with my old farts classic rock band.

Last night we played at our regular first Friday gig at a local hotel. This would be the first time that I used this system other than at church. So I really going to put it through its paces.

As far as its signal is concerned, I am SO glad I went with this system rather than one that operates in the 2.4 GHz or 5.8 GHz range. My bandmate, and the lead guitarist in our band, uses an XVive system that operates in the 2.4 GHz range. During sound check, he was having all sorts of interference problems with that unit and ultimately had to plug it directly into his pedal board. But with the WS-50 in a completely different frequency range, I had no interference problems whatsoever!

The WS-50 battery life is excellent! I was actually using two sets in this gig because I was also playing acoustic guitar. As I write this article, both sets are charging and no unit lost more than half of its charge! In fact, the set I used for acoustic still had 3 out of 4 bars of power as I was shutting the system off when I wasn’t using it to conserve power.

The only irritating thing I experienced with the WS-50 was that it would come loose when I rested my Telecaster on its stand. My Tele has a recessed jack, so the transmitter would come loose if I wasn’t careful about how I placed the guitar on the stand. That’s really more on me, but it did slow things down a bit when I was changing guitars. Though it’s a minor thing and really a factor due to my recessed jack, it is a bit concerning as I don’t want to damage the transmitter. It hasn’t been a problem with my Les Paul or my Taylor T5z as those don’t have recessed jacks.

All in all, though, all I can say is “Wow!” The signal quality is great. My guitars sound great with them!

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First Impressions: Fishman Loudbox Mini

Posted in amplifier reviews, amplifiers, tagged , , on August 2, 2022| 1 Comment »

Now that I’ve rejoined my old farts classic rock band, I’ve started getting regular GAS attacks again. Damn! But I’ve gotten wiser about gear over the years and manage to resist my natural compulsions to get gear. That said, having not played out in a while, my gear has been showing its age. And let’s be honest at 60 years old, so am I. And approaching that senior citizen age of my life, I’m just no longer willing to lug around heavy gear. When I got my Tone Master Deluxe Reverb, weight was a huge factor in my decision besides freakin’ awesome tone.

And so it goes with my acoustic amp. One of the great things about rejoining my band is that I’m no longer the only lead guitarist. I switch off solos with the other guitarist, and quite frankly, he plays way more solos than I do – I admit it – simply because he’s better than me. But this means that I also have some freedom to not just play electric. I can play my acoustic as well, and that totally pleases me!

To that end, adding that dimension to our sound comes with its own challenges, not the least of which is the fact that my only really good acoustic amp is a 1981 SRS California Blonde II. It is a sensational amp. But it weighs 75 lbs! That was not going to work for me. So I went on a search for a compact acoustic amp that I could use both as a reference monitor while I’m onstage and one that I could plug into our board.

I was all set to get an AER, but decided to take a look at other amps and came across the Fishman Loudbox Mini. After watching and reading some reviews online, I saw that my local GuitarCenter had one in stock. So I drove down there and tried it out and half an hour later, walked out of the store with one.

Thus far, I’ve played it at my weekly church service, using it as a reference monitor and running the DI into the church’s PA. It sounded great through the PA, and I actually ran the EQ flat out of the mixer as the tone was nice and rich. I also played it at band rehearsal last night to see if I should add an acoustic guitar to our sound. There was unanimous agreement that this will provide a great contrast to our sound. I’m SO jazzed to be using it in this coming Friday’s gig!

From a usability perspective, the amp is straightforward as can be! The EQ is incredibly responsive but not so sensitive that I have to make micro-adjustments to the different levels. The built-in hall reverb is generally good, though I tend to keep it at very subtle levels (I’ll explain below). The chorus is actually very nice, and at lower levels adds a little tonal grease to the overall sound. I dig it!

Circling back to the reverb, the reason I keep it low is that at volume, there’s a certain depth and richness to the sound that I feel reverb would only muddy. The whole purpose of reverb is to provide depth. But the way the sound is projected from the amp, I feel that I just don’t need more depth. It’s actually a little uncanny and totally unexpected, and you only get it at performance volumes. At low volumes, the amp is like any amp – very directional. But when you up the volume, the sound takes on a 3-dimensional quality!

Overall, this was a great purchase! And at $369, it has a sound that rivals amps that are 3-4 times more expensive. No, it’s not an AER. But it’s not trying to be. This is a great workhorse amp that I just know I’m going to get a lot of mileage!

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