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Gear Review: Jensen Jet Falcon JC12-50F Speaker

Posted in Guitars, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , on September 2, 2010| 5 Comments »

Jensen Jet Falcon JC12-50F

Summary: The newest member, lowest-powered, and lowest-cost speaker in Jensen’s newest “Jet” line at 50 Watts, this speaker produces tons of happening tones right out of the box!

Pros: Even before reading Jensen’s description of the Falcon, I found it to be a speaker that was built upon the substantial foundation of a rich bottom end. But make no mistake, the Falcon is not boomy in any sense, and that makes this speaker versatile. I can see using this in a bunch of different styles. I love it!

Cons: None.

Features (as tested):

  • 50 Watts / 16 ohm
  • 12″ Overall Diameter
  • 1.5″ Voice Coil
  • Ferrite Magnet
  • Steel Frame
  • Paper Cone
  • 98.7 dB Sensitivity
  • 7.2 lbs

Frequency Response Graph

Click for larger view

Price: ~$85-$90 street

Tone Bone Score: 5.0 ~ If you’re looking for a versatile speaker that can handle a bunch of different styles of music with ease, look no further. This is a keeper!

There are tons of advantages of being close friends with an amp builder; not the least of which is I often get to test everything in his shop, including components he gets from manufacturers to possibly include with his amps. The builder I’m speaking of in particular is my good friend Jeff Aragaki of Aracom Amps. A couple of weeks ago, during one of our numerous conversations, he mentioned that he got a new speaker from the Jensen distributor to try out, and asked if I would like to test it. Of course, as I have a very low resistance to trying out new gear, I immediately agreed. I think he asked me to test it out because he’s been so busy with building his AWESOME PRX150 attenuators and working on a couple of new amp designs that he didn’t have much time to do an evaluation himself. That’s a great problem to have!

In any case, we met a couple of days later and he handed the speaker over to me. I was excited to do a test on it! But unfortunately, life happens and I didn’t get the chance to test the speaker until just a couple of days ago. I wish I could have tested it earlier, because bottom line – and if you don’t want to read any further – I’m not giving the speaker back to Jeff. 🙂 Read on if you want to know why…

I could say a bunch of stuff about the Jensen Jet Falcon, but I’ll just say this: The Falcon sounds freakin’ fantastic right out of the box. My experience with speakers has been that you have to play them for several hours before they start breaking in to remove their harshness. The only thing Jeff did once he got the speaker was open the box. I installed the speaker in its brand-new, pristine state so I was anticipating having to play if for a few hours; not necessarily a bad thing, mind you. But that’s what I was expecting.

Much to my very pleasant surprise, once I had it installed in my closed-back 1 X 12, I was immediately taken by its tone. There was absolutely ZERO harshness! And I immediately thought that if it sounds this killer right out of the box, it’s going to sound even better once I’ve gigged and recorded with it. The cleans were sparkly with a nice, substantial bottom end, and the overdrive tones with my ’59 Les Paul replica got me quickly into Rock and Roll nirvana.

I could go on with technical details, but I’d rather not bore you with those. You can read about them on the Jensen product page. But as I said, bottom line, this speaker isn’t going back to Jeff. Hopefully he uses my enthusiasm to offer this speaker in his line. I recorded some clips to show what I mean. Both clips were recorded with my Aracom VRX22 and my ’59 Les Paul replica plugged straight into the amp. I only added a touch of small room reverb in my DAW to give the tone a bit of grease:

Clean with a Dirty Lead

Dirty Lead

I also downloaded the clips from Falcon page. Frankly, I didn’t like how these were recorded, but they are just reference clips:

Clean

Overdriven

As a final note, I’ve been playing this in my studio for the past few days, and the more I play it, the more I love it, especially for the songs I’m working on that need a great overdrive tone. I can’t wait to gig with it!

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It’s Always Great to Meet Fellow Artists! Meet Dusty Brown!

Posted in Guitars, tagged , , , , , on August 28, 2010| Leave a Comment »

Dusty BrownLast night’s solo gig at the restaurant was really special for me. For one thing, I was REALLY feeling it, and had a great vibe going on all night. The diners were quite responsive and the entire atmosphere was festive. One our singing servers even commented on how the energy of the place was really charged. All in all, it was just a great gig, and I couldn’t ask for a better one; not to mention the great tips I got. 🙂

During my last break before I’d finish out the evening. One of the servers asked me if it was alright if one of her customers could sing. I initially declined because from past experience, there are lots of people who come into the restaurant who want to sing, and every time I’ve let them, it turns out they have a serious case of what I call “American Idol Syndrome;” that is, they think they’re A LOT better than they actually are. In fact, they’ve mostly been horrid, despite their claims to the contrary. So I stopped letting people sing.

However, in this case, I changed my mind, and allowed her customer to sing. Partly because it was late and at the end of my gig, which was particularly long last night because I started out in the patio for a couple of hours, then did a three-hour stint inside, so I was a bit tired. But mostly it was because I was in great spirits, and I figured, why the hell not?

So after my break, I did a couple of numbers, then called out to the server to bring her customer to the stage area (it’s not a true stage, but the area’s dedicated to it). It turns out that it wasn’t the guy who wanted to perform, it was the request of his friends, so I guess it took a bit of coaxing from the server. But in the end he agreed, and walked to the stage.

When he got there, he asked if he could play my guitar. Normally, I wouldn’t allow it, but the dude was just the unassuming type, and very humble and respectful of playing another musician’s instrument when he asked. That clued me in that he was the real deal. Only another guitarist would act that way. I can spot posers a mile away, and this guy was genuine. It didn’t matter to me how good he was – turns out he was quite good – I could tell he had a good heart and that was all that mattered to me.

So he played a song he wrote. It was a slow county-like ballad. Don’t know the name of the tune, but I loved the song! After he finished, we introduced ourselves. His name is Dusty Brown. What a cool guy! If you want to hear some of his music, check out his MySpace site at http://dustybrownmusic.com. It was great to hear a musician who was playing his own stuff, because it all came from his heart. Much appreciated!

I love encountering fellow musicians; especially singer/songwriters like myself. It’s not that they’re necessarily better musicians, but they’re all heart when they play their stuff. What you see with them is really what you get, and Dusty was no exception. I wish him the best of luck in his musical career!

As I listened to the song, I couldn’t help but notice how damn good my Yamaha APX-900 sounded! In fact, Dusty mentioned that he popped up his head from his booth a couple of times because he thought it was a CD when I started playing Cat Stevens’ Wild World. While he played his song, the clarity of the guitar was incredible! I owe it all to the Acoustic Resonance Technology of the APX-900.

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Gear Review: Peterson StroboClip

Posted in Guitars, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , on August 20, 2010| 4 Comments »

Click for larger image

 Peterson StroboClipTM Clip-On Tuner

Summary: A high-accuracy (0.1 cent) clip-on tuner! But it’s a Peterson Strobe tuner and that means tuning sweeteners. The StroboClip has several of Peterson’s sweeteners for different instruments, and these sweeteners ensure that your instrument(s) will sound great.

Pros: To me, the Sweeteners are what set apart Peterson tuners from the pack. But as far as the StroboClip is concerned, the clip-on is great for use in both the shop and on stage, and the fact that it is a clip-on makes it versatile enough to use on a variety of instruments. And with a metal enclosure, you can be assured of its durability.

Cons: None.

Features (from the Peterson site):

  • Smallest Multi-Temperament Tuner
  • 1/10 Cent Accurate
  • Smooth, Real-Time Display
  • Alternate Temperament Presets (Including Buzz Feiten Tuning System®)
  • Includes Eastern Temperament Presets
  • Drop/Capo Setting
  • Adjustable Key
  • 28 Exclusive Peterson Sweeteners™/Temperaments
  • Adjustable Concert A Reference: 400Hz to 490Hz
  • Auto Sleep And Power Off For Battery Saving
  • Low Power Consumption
  • Virtual Strobe™ Patented Technology

Price: ~$70 street

Tone Bone Score: 5.0 ~ I received this as a test unit from Peterson the other day, and used it to intonate one of my guitars, which I then used for a recording, and used it on-stage this evening. In all applications, it worked incredibly well. I have absolutely no complaints about this unit! So for studio, shop, or stage, this is a winner!

I dig Peterson tuners, and the fact that this comes in a clip-on makes it super-versatile; add 0.1 cent accuracy, and this is an absolutely fantastic tuner. I’m not really one to use a clip-on on-stage for guitar, even though I used it tonight to test it out, but for the studio, and especially for intonating guitars, I can see how the StroboClip will be an indispensable tool for me! That said, I am getting a ukulele pretty soon, so I’ll probably be using the StroboClip for that.

As I mentioned above, the thing that has always stood out for me about Peterson tuners in general are the sweeteners. I don’t know any of the mathematics behind the technology, but the best explanation I can give is that the Peterson tuners don’t just tune the string to the exact correct pitch. When set to a particular type of sweetener (for guitar and other instruments), certain calculations are made in the tuning algorithm to compensate for the type of instrument. The net result is that once you tune, your chords and note runs sound great!

Many tuners that just tune a string to the exact correct pitch, require some adjustment to get them completely dialed in. But with a Peterson strobe tuner, those minute adjustments are already done for you, so when you tune, you tune to the compensated pitch. That’s about the best explanation I can give without the technical knowledge. Just let it be said that once I’ve tuned with a Peterson tuner, my guitars sound so much better because they’ve been tuned with the guitar in mind. But the StroboClip also includes several other sweeteners for other instruments such as mandolin and ukulele, so it can be used to great effect with different instruments.

With respect to the physical act of tuning, it takes awhile to get used to tuning with a strobe tuner. Unlike other tuners where you either center a needle or LED, all Peterson strobe tuners use a moving checkerboard that speeds up or slows down depending upon how far off your tuning is. Right to left movement means you’re flat, and the converse for sharp. As a strobe tuner is super-sensitive, you have to get used to picking very lightly (I just use my thumb) to tune. But once you’ve gotten the feel for it, it’s very easy.

Tonight, I used it in my weekly solo acoustic gig. Amazingly enough, my Yamaha APX-900 stays in tune so well – never had an acoustic that did that – so the adjustments I made were minute to each string. But I do have to say that after tuning with the StroboClip, unlike other tuners like my venerable TU-2, I didn’t have to do any post-tuning tweaking.

As for the price of $70, it’s not cheap. But believe me, if you want a great tuner for studio or shop use, you could do a lot worse. I found it extremely useful for intonating my guitar last night. I have an old Seiko analog-style tuner that I’ve used for years for that purpose, but it has always required running a cable from my guitar. With the StroboClip, I just clipped it to the headstock. This also meant that I could keep my guitar plugged into my amp so I could hear what I was doing as well as see what the StroboClip was doing. So very cool!

All in all, this is a great little unit that I will most assuredly be keeping around for a long time!

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Guitar Profile: Gibson 2009 Limited Run Nighthawk

Posted in Guitars, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , on August 20, 2010| Leave a Comment »

Several months ago, while looking for a Les Paul, I once again got sidetracked by another guitar which I bought in its stead; the Gibson 2009 Limited Run Nighthawk. Back in 2009 Gibson release several guitars with limited production runs. The Nighthawk, which had a run of 350, was a revival of sorts of the VERY quirky original Nighthawk that saw a very short life of six years back in the 90’s. The 2009 is not a duplicate of the original; rather, it is more of a hybridization of three guitars. It has the body shape of the original Nighthawk; has a mahogany body and neck, and a maple top like a Les Paul; and it sports the P-90/Humbucker configuration of the Les Paul BFG. It has a very thin, yet highly resonant body, which gives the guitar a very light weight (~6 lbs), but has tons of sustain; it’s a just a little less than the sustain of a Les Paul, but a lot more sustain than a 335 to give you an idea the range of its sustain.

Tone-wise, the Nighthawk 2009 has a much fatter sound than a Les Paul. The P-90 is super-hot and produces a thick, rich clean tone, and ballsy overdrive, and the bridge pickup has lots of gain on tap, and is just a bit darker than the bridge pickup of a Les Paul.

  • Grade A two-piece mahogany body
  • Grade AAA “bookmatched” solid figured maple top
  • solid piece of Grade-A mahogany neck
  • Gibson’s traditional ’50s neck profile
  • Grade-A rosewood fingerboard
  • 12-inch radius
  • 22 frets
  • Figured, swirl acrylic dot inlays
  • P-90 Neck Pickup
  • Gibson’s 498T “Hot Alnico” Bridge Pickup
  • Two Gibson Gold Top Hat volume controls
  • 50’s-style pickup wiring (tone doesn’t bleed off highs as much & volume knobs both act as master volume)
  • Gibson Gold Top Hat master tone knob
  • Three-way toggle switch
  • 1/4” output jack made by Switchcraft
  • Pearloid tuning keys
  • Tune-o-matic bridge
  • Nitrocellulose Translucent Amber finish
  • Approximately 6 lbs

Pictures

Took these with my Nikon D40 and a f1.8/35mm lens, using available light to warm up the photos (though a couple were taken with a flash).

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Sounds

I provided these in my original review of the Nighthawk, but rather than have you go back to the review, here they are:

Neck Pickup

Clean

Dirty Lead

Rock Rhythm

Both Pickups

Clean

Dirty Lead

Rock Rhythm

Treble Pickup

Clean

Dirty Lead

Rock Rhythm

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Great News! Mad Professor to Offer Less Expensive Versions of Their Pedals!

Posted in Guitars, tagged , , , , , , , , , , on August 19, 2010| 2 Comments »

As you may know, I recently purchased the Mad Professor Deep Blue Delay, and wrote about how much I absolutely LOVE this pedal! While I can’t say enough about it, I anguished over getting it for a long time because of the price. At $335, it was so difficult to justify buying the pedal. But though I’m very budget-conscious, and a lot of this blog is about getting great tone without spending a lot of money, sometimes great tone just costs what it costs.  I’m glad I finally did break down and get it because it is by far the best delay pedal I’ve ever used!

So what’s the big news? Well, one of the biggest complaints about Mad Professor pedals is that they’re super-expensive. People who have purchased them, like myself, are very happy with them, but their price still smarts a bit. So in response to that complaint, MP made a great move: They added a line of less expensive pedals that mirror their current line. But instead of being hand-wired, these pedals are built using PC boards. Also the case they’re using is much less expensive. The net result is that you can get into Mad Professor pedals in the $200 price point range as opposed to the $300+ price point. Nice.

In any case, here’s what Mad Professor has to say about their new offerings:

Mad Professor was at Summer NAMM 2010 in Nashville 18-20 June 2010. We did show there the first redesigned pedal, a new Little Green Wonder.

Same tone, same look, but we did design a new pcb that helps us build these lot faster and for better price. The quality is the same, same parts but now pcb mounted pots, jacks and switch.

The box is also not the same Made In Sweden Elfa box that is made for heavy industry but a high quality pedal box that is bit lighter but very durable. That helps us to save a lot of money.

The only complain we have heard about the pedals have been the price, this is our answer to that.

We still make the handwired pedals for those who prefer them. Coming soon new Deep Blue Delay and Sweet Honey Overdrive.

Conceivably, if the circuit is the same, the tone should still be the same, but based upon experience, different build materials create different tones. They may be slight, but there’s always a difference. My only concern with the less expensive line would be response. As long as the response and dynamics remain the same or as close to the same as the original hand-wired pedals, these pedals should

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Review & Gig Report: Mad Professor Deep Blue Delay

Posted in delay, delay pedals, effect pedals, Effects, GAS, gear, gear reviews, guitar, guitar effects, guitar gear, guitar gear reviews, guitar pedals, guitarists, Guitars, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on August 14, 2010| 7 Comments »

While I did a “mini review” of the Mad Professor Deep Blue Delay a couple of months ago, that was in a shop in a controlled environment, and though I played it for almost an hour, there’s no better test of gear than using it at a gig where nothing is predictable.

After I originally auditioned the pedal, I anguished for the last couple of months about getting it. Why? Simply because of its price: It is NOT a cheap pedal by any means (I got it for $335), and it was always easy for me to reason why not to get the pedal. However, I’ve been a bit disappointed with my VOX Time Machine when using it with my acoustic rig. I thought that since it performed so well with my electric rig, that it would translate well to my acoustic rig. That couldn’t be further from the truth. Truth be told, while the Time Machine simply kicks ass with my electric rig, my tone feels and sounds “processed” with my acoustic rig. The net result is that I stopped using it for my acoustic gigs.

I knew I had to get a good delay that would work well with my acoustic rig, and I also knew that after auditioning quite a few digital and analog delays at the shop, it was the Deep Blue Delay that spoke to me. But the price of the pedal made me shudder, so I put off the purchase for the last couple of months.

Then yesterday, in a moment of weakness, I purchased the pedal on my lunch break at work. Jordan, the sales guy I’ve been buying gear from at Gelb Music for years, swears by this pedal, and he just said, “Dude, I know the price is steep, but there’s none better than the the Deep Blue Delay. It’s always on my board, and it’s almost always on. The VOX Time Machine is a killer pedal (he sold me that one as well), but you know how the Deep Blue sounded with the APX900 (Yamaha – I bought that one from him too – though he didn’t make a recommendation that time 🙂 ) when you tested it a couple of months ago. Believe me, you won’t be disappointed.” Mind you, I trust Jordan’s advice implicitly. I’ve been buying gear from him for years, and have learned that when he raves about some gear, it’s not bullshit because he owns it or has gigged with it. And with the Deep Blue Delay, I’ve never witnessed him rave so much about a pedal!

So I am now the proud owner of the Mad Professor Deep Blue Delay, and like Jordan, I can’t rave enough about it! What about my Time Machine? It goes back on my electric rig board. I love that pedal because it has such a great sound with whatever electric guitar I use on it. But for acoustic, it’ll be the Deep Blue from now on.

Fit and Finish

With a gorgeous, shiny, blue powder coat finish, this is simply the most gorgeous pedal I have. I’m partial to blue, but the gloss is like a mirror, as the photos below show. If I have one nit, the blue LED is a bit difficult to see in bright lighting conditions, but that’s just small nit. Other than that, the pedal is solidly built. The knobs have good resistance without being tight, and the toggle switch is heavy duty. I’m not sure what kind of jacks were used but connectors snap into place nicely, so I’m assuming they’re fairly high-quality jacks.

Taking the back off the pedal, there are LOTS of wires connected to a foam-wrapped circuit board (that I didn’t want remove), so it’s clear that the Deep Blue Delay is completely hand-wired, save for the circuit board. The wires are all fairly heavy-gauge with thick shielding, which speaks to the quality of components used in the pedal. I didn’t want to lift the foam pad because the wires were so heavy and I didn’t want to have to deal with putting them back into place. 🙂 Mad Professor could’ve easily used thin-gauge wires for this pedal, but I like the fact that they opted for the heavier gauge.

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How It Sounds

I know that I use the words “awesome” and “incredible” on this blog. After all, this is a “best of breed” type of site. So let’s just assume that the pedal can be described with those words, and I’ll take a different tack and describe what that sound does to me.

I know a piece of gear is incredible when it just makes me close my eyes and soak up the sound it produces. That’s the effect the Deep Blue Delay has on me. The delay effect, even at high levels is always smooth, and amazingly enough sounds so natural. There is nothing processed about this sound. And unlike other analog pedals I’ve played, the Deep Blue Delay doesn’t get dark, which is what has kept me from getting analog delays in the past.

At last night’s gig, I turned a disaster into a way to fully evaluate the Deep Blue Delay. With my acoustic rig, since I don’t have too many pedals, I use my BOSS TU-2 to power up the rest of my pedals. But last night, I had forgotten that I removed the TU-2 to use at a gig last week, so when I opened up my pedal bag, I was shocked to see my TU-2 missing. Luckily, I had left my 9V plug in the bag, so I figured that it was a great way to use the Deep Blue. So I plugged my guitar into the pedal, and it went straight into my Fishman SoloAmp.

I set up the pedal with the Delay and Repeat knobs at about 2pm, and the Level at 9am so I could get a nice, ambient sound that didn’t dominate. That created a hall-like effect that was simply delicious. I kept it at that setting for several songs. Then just as an experiment, I upped the level to 11, and then the skies parted and a voice rang from the heavens, “You have found s a sacred tone!” 🙂 Seriously though, I was completely blown away by what the pedal produced. The repeats were on the speedy side and the decay was a nice tail without being overbearing, and at that level, the wet/dry mix was just perfect!

The wonderful thing about the Deep Blue is that it seems like there’s a pre-delay built into the pedal. The one thing that sets this apart from other delays I’ve used is that at anything greater than low level settings, you get delay going right away. But even at 11am, whatever I was playing, whether finger picked or strummed, didn’t start repeating until there was space – or at least that was what it seemed like. Of course, at higher levels, the delay kicks in right away, but despite that, what you’re playing is invariably clear and doesn’t get washed out by the repeats.

Overall Impression

In other words, this truly is an incredible pedal. I’m still smarting just a little from the price, but as I haven’t played a delay for my acoustic as good as this – ever – it is well worth the price! I originally gave the Deep Blue pedal a 4.75 Tone Bones rating because of its cost. But my thinking now is that if that’s what it costs to get this kind of delay, then that’s what it costs, and I’m so much happier playing with this pedal in my signal chain. I’ve re-rated it as a 5 Tone Bones pedal. If you can afford it, this pedal will not disappoint; in fact, I’ll wager that it’ll make you practically squeal with joy!

About the Photos

Another hobby of mine – and no, I don’t sleep all that much – is photography. With this hobby, I don’t aspire to be a professional photographer, but I do like to take good photos. These photos were taken with a Nikon D40 with a f1.8 35mm fixed-length lens. All shots were taken in manual mode. I don’t remember the settings, but I shot about 60 photos and picked what I felt were the best shots. Then I used Adobe PhotoShop Elements to crop the photos and did a minimal amount of color correction on a couple of them. I believe that unless you’re going to make artistic enhancements to photos, you should set up your shots so you can “print” them immediately without color manipulation; that is, set up your camera so you don’t have to compensate later.

I know, this is a guitar gear blog, but going forward, I will be doing my own photos of gear. What I love about this particular set is that my camera caught the wonderful reflections off the shiny powder coating of the Deep Blue Delay. I find that marketing photos tend to be a bit too sterile. This is the best-looking pedal in my collection, and I wanted to do its look justice.

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Slash: Underrated?

Posted in Guitars, tagged , , , , , on August 13, 2010| 8 Comments »

Even though I dug GN’R music back in the day, I wasn’t a huge fan, mainly because of Axl Rose who really annoyed me with his well-known and well-publicized antics. While I appreciated Slash’s playing at the time, that annoyance with Axl unfortunately made me write him off. My bad.

But lately, I’ve been revisiting GN’R. Just the other day, while driving to work, I was greeted to “Welcome to the Jungle” playing on my favorite classic rock radio station, 98.5 KFOX. I’ve always dug that song, and it has been a mainstay in my iTunes collection for years. In any case, Slash gets a couple of lead breaks during the song, and this time, I really listened to what he was playing.

No, he’s not particularly fast, he doesn’t do two-handed tapped arpeggios. But what he did in that song was so melodic and fit so well, and his tone was so definitive of Marshall “mojo” that I gained a completely new appreciation for his playing.

So I spent lots of time during work listening to the GN’R tunes I have in my library and playing GN’R and Velvet Revolver videos on YouTube; not for the bands, but to listen to Slash play.

And after that, I came to a conclusion: Of all the hard rock guitarists out there, I believe Slash is underrated. He doesn’t do anything flashy, but what he does, without fail or variance, is play exactly what fits with the song; nothing more, nothing less. To me, that’s the mark of a truly great musician. There’s so much attention paid to the great shredders out there nowadays, but I believe that Slash’s tone represents the model and epitome of a Les Paul played through a cranked up Marshall. Admittedly, that’s a tone that I’ve been really getting into lately. I love the bite and sustain of that combination of guitar and amp, and Slash simply nails the tone!

But in addition to his awesome tone, one thing that I really “got” yesterday was what a great rhythm guitarist he is. Again, he plays solely what is appropriate, but it provides a foundation for the songs he plays that are as definitive as his leads. Again, that’s musicality, and musicality at its finest.

If you’ve ever written Slash off in the past, give him a listen, and you’ll realize like me what a truly great guitarist he is!

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Gear Review: Sennheiser ew 172 (100 Series) G3 Instrument Wireless System

Posted in GAS, gear, gear reviews, guitar, guitar accessories, guitar gear, guitar gear reviews, guitarists, Guitars, Music, musicians, new gear, wireless guitar, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , on August 10, 2010| 1 Comment »

Click for larger image

 Sennheiser ew 172 G3 Wireless System

Summary: If you’re looking for a great instrument wireless system that is both easy-to-use and a snap to set up, look no further!

Pros: 1680 available frequencies make this ideal for busy RF venues. Super easy to set up sensitivity levels. Transmitter sports a metal housing, so durability shouldn’t be an issue. Integrated guitar tuner in transmitter – works great! 25Hz low-end response – great for bass!

Cons: None.

Features:

  • Sturdy metal housing (transmitter and receiver)
  • 42 MHz bandwidth: 1680 tunable UHF frequencies for interference-free reception
  • Enhanced frequency bank system with up to 12 compatible frequencies
  • High-quality true diversity reception
  • Pilot tone squelch for eliminating RF interference when transmitter is turned off
  • Automatic frequency scan feature searches for available frequencies
  • Enhanced AF frequency range
  • Increased range for audio sensitivity
  • Wireless synchronization of transmitters via infrared interface
  • User-friendly menu operation with more control options
  • Illuminated graphic display (transmitter and receiver)
  • Auto-Lock function avoids accidental changing of settings
  • HDX compander for crystal-clear sound
  • Transmitter feature battery indicatation in 4 steps, also shown on receiver display
  • Programmable Mute function
  • Integrated Equalizer, Soundcheck mode and guitar tuner
  • Contacts for recharging BA 2015 accupack directly in the transmitter
  • Wide range of accessories adapts the system to any requirement

Price: $499 street

Tone Bone Score: 5.0 ~ I waited a LONG TIME to pull the trigger on a wireless system, and while I could’ve gotten a cheaper one that would work well, but it was hard to argue with the frequency coverage of this unit. The added features of a guitar tuner and EQ are great, but the ease of use factor really hit home with me as well.

As I mentioned above, I’ve been holding out a long time to get an instrument wireless system. When I finally pulled the trigger, I decided upon the Sennheiser G3 Wireless system; first and foremost because of the number of frequencies it has on tap, but honestly, also because it’s a name I trust as my performance mics are Sennheiser. I’m not being a cork-sniffer here. I swear by the brand because of the years of great performance I’ve gotten out of other Sennheiser equipment, so it stands to reason to trust it for something completely new.

As it turns out, true to my past experience with Sennheiser gear, there was absolutely nothing to be disappointed about with the wireless system. I took it to my church gig yesterday and it well, just worked, with no tweaking on my part; save for adjusting the sensitivity levels which I didn’t even think to do when I first opened up the box. In fact, I didn’t even read the manual when I took it out to try in my studio. I just attached the antennas to the receiver and plugged in the instrument wire into the transmitter, popped in the batteries, and let ‘er rip. It literally took less than a couple of minutes to get up and running. Insofar as my church gig is concerned, it was a great venue to put the unit through its paces, as there are potentially several wireless units in operation at one time, including my own wireless headset mic. I’ll talk more about the system’s operation below.

In any case, since this isn’t something that actually makes music, my review areas are going to be a bit different from my normal reviews.

Ease-of-use

As I indicated above, the unit’s pretty plug and play. But of course, you should check the sensitivity of the transmitter and receiver to make sure you’re not overdriving the unit. The LCD’s on both the transmitter and receiver makes setting sensitivity of either unit a snap. Both have an active meter and navigating to the sensitivity menu is just a couple of button presses. Sennheiser did a great job with the menus to make them only two levels deep, so you won’t have a problem getting to the parameter you need to set.

Durability

Both transmitter and receiver have very sturdy metal housings, so you needn’t worry about the units cracking. The transmitter has a real solid feel, and that instills confidence that you don’t have baby the unit, though of course, it’s always good to take care of gear.

Performance

Despite having 1680 UHF frequencies to scan, the receiver locks on to a usable frequency almost instantaneously once you turn it on. That is such a boon to using the unit. You switch it on, and you can use the unit.

One of the tests that my sound guy and I did was for me to walk a distance away from the receiver to see if it lost connection. I honestly don’t know what the maximum range is, but no matter how far I got away – I got about 100 feet away – the transmitter and receiver didn’t lose their connection to each other.

To save battery life, when I’m not playing I always switch off the transmitter on my headset mic. I did the same with the G3 in between songs. Every time I switched it back on, making a connection to the receiver only took a couple of seconds.

Final Verdict

I haven’t even begun to explore all the different features that this system has; one of which is a cable emulation mode that simulates a cable’s capacitance to ensure consistent operation of your effects and amp settings whether you’re plugged in or wireless. This a great feature. Admittedly, I didn’t use this, but my rig sounded pretty much the same with the same dynamics once I dialed in the sensitivity of both transmitter and receiver. Or it could be that the only thing I obsess about with my tone is if it sounds good and I’ve got dynamics. Minute changes due to changes in my chain don’t really bother me too much. So if I got a slight change in tone, since my sound with the G3 system was good with no loss in dynamics, it didn’t trigger anything displeasing with me.

But other than performance and sound and all the other stuff I discussed, going wireless is simply fantastic. I like to move around a lot when I perform, and not being tied to a spot by a cable is so freeing! It really boosted my ability to lead musical worship, and that is so COOL!

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Aracom PRX150-DAG Video is out!!!

Posted in aracom amps, attenuator, GAS, gear, gear reviews, guitar, guitar gear, guitar gear reviews, guitarists, Guitars, Music, musicians, new gear, PRX150-DAG, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , on August 9, 2010| Leave a Comment »

When you’ve got a guy like Lance Keltner singing the praises of your equipment and calling you a genius to boot, you must be doing something right. Jeff Aragaki of Aracom Amps is someone I’ve been praising for quite awhile, and I’m glad he’s finally getting the recognition he deserves.

As far as the DAG unit is concerned, that’s available exclusively through Destroy All Guitars. I’ve played through one of those units myself, and the high-cut filter works great, and definitely takes the edge off, without throwing a blanket over your tone and dynamics like many attenuators do that include one. If you have an amp that outputs lots of highs when cranked – or somehow hear high-frequency transients –  then the DAG unit is the way to go.

Coming up…

While Jeff has gained lots of popularity with his attenuators, often overlooked are his wonderful amplifiers of which I have three. In the next couple of days, I will be getting a 50 Watt Evolver to test out in my studio. I’m so excited! I’ve played through an Evolver at Jeff’s workshop and that amp has tons of balls! It’s definitely Marshall-esque, but with Jeff’s particular twists. I’m excited to be getting this unit for a full test!

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Gear Review: 1987 Gibson ES-335 Custom St

Posted in es-335, gear reviews, guitar, guitar gear, guitar gear reviews, guitar reviews, guitarists, Guitars, inspiration, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on August 6, 2010| 8 Comments »

Click to enlarge. Sorry, phone pic
1987 Gibson ES-335 Custom St (St = Standard? Studio?) Summary: A rare beauty with a natural blonde finish with classic ES-335 tone!Pros: Absolutely tip-top shape for a guitar of this age. No major dings, but has been well-played. Sounds amazing!Cons: None.Features:

  • Mahogany neck
  • Bound carved flame maple top and maple sides and back
  • Bound ebony fretboard
  • Medium jumbo frets
  • Bone nut
  • Original chrome hardware (look like Tone Pros)
  • Original chrome pickup covers
  • 60’s-style lower profile neck
  • 50’s-style pickup wiring (either volume knob acts as a master, but the tone controls have a different cap value that doesn’t throw a blanket over your tone when you turn it down – this is crucial for playing in the bridge pickup).

Tone Bone Score: 5.0 ~ This guitar sounds and plays like a dream! While the action is a just a tad higher than I like it, the guitar still plays ultra-smooth.

I already talked about how I happened to get this guitar, so I won’t bother rehashing the details. Suffice it to say that I got this guitar for an absolute steal. In a way, this guitar is sort of redemption for me having sold my original ES-335 a couple of years ago when times were tough. So getting this guitar is a real milestone for me.

Fit and Finish

For a 23 year old guitar, it is in absolutely amazing shape. The body has some very minuscule dings in it that fortunately don’t penetrate the finish. I didn’t notice any checking in the gloss either, though that may occur after a few more years if the finish Gibson used was a nitro lacquer. The hardware is aged as to be expected, though there’s a little oxidation in the brass stop tailpiece that can easily be removed. The pick guard has pick marks on it, but no scratches and all the joints are perfect. There’s some fret wear, but nothing major where the frets would have to be replaced. As for the fretboard itself, it’s gorgeous. I love ebony fretboards as they’re so smooth to the touch, and it makes bending a breeze. The back of the guitar has a few nicks that don’t penetrate the finish – and no buckle rash. All in all, for as much as this guitar has been played, I’m just amazed at its overall condition.

Here are some pictures I took with my cell phone. Sorry if the quality is low. I’ll have better ones later…

How It Sounds

This guitar has all the tone I was expecting out of an ES-335, but as it has been broken in and the wood aged, the tone is A LOT richer than what I remember with my original ‘335. As far as pickup positions go, there are three as usual, though I understand that some models did have coil-tapped humbuckers; not this model, though.

I’ve always loved the gorgeous, deep tones of the neck pickup on an ES-335 and this guitar doesn’t disappoint in that department. This is where the ES-335 gets very close to the deep, rich tones of an archtop, but it’s well, different…

Kicking in the bridge pickup in the middle position gives the ES-335 its distinctive “hollow” tone. It’s really hard to describe, but that I’m a firm believer that that middle pickup selector position is what draws people to this guitar. It certainly is one of the main things tonally that originally drew me to the ES-335 in the first place! With the bridge dimed and adding more or less neck pickup, you can get tons of great tones!

The bridge pickup is bright as to be expected – perhaps a bit too bright – but the wonderful tone knob nicely takes the edge off the brightness. I did notice that the bridge pickup is not significantly louder than the neck pickup, which leads me to believe that the original owner lowered the height of that pickup. When I get home from vacation, I’m going to raise it a bit because I prefer to have that dramatic change in volume.

In any case, here are some clips:

Neck pickup, clean

I love the haunting character of the neck pickup on and ES-335. The wonderful thing about this pickup is that it produces a very deep tone, without sounding like an acoustic. Adding a little reverb “grease” only accentuates the haunting effect.

Middle position, with some grind for rhythm; bridge pickup for lead.

In this, I have the bridge dimed, and the neck about halfway for the rhythm part. The lead is just the wide-open bridge pickup. Notice that it’s bright and almost twangy.

Middle position, clean; both rhythm and lead

I had to do a bit of a tribute to the great Andy Summers with this last clip… 🙂 I added a touch of reverb and chorus to get that “Every Breath You Take” vibe.

For all the clips, since I’m on vacation, I don’t have an amp, but I always carry around an IK Multimedia StealthPlug to facilitate my songwriting or, in this case, create clips. I used AmpliTube Fender. For the clean clips, I used a ’65 Twin Reverb model, and for the crunchy clip, I used a ’59 Bassman.

Cool Funk Lead

There are two parts to this next clip. In the first part, I play in the neck position, then switch over to the bridge in the second part plus attack a lot more. Unlike a Les Paul, the 335 doesn’t sustain as much, but that’s not a bad thing. The net result is that overdrive tones tend to be much more tight and focused. BTW, the amp used here was an Aracom PLX18BB in its drive channel.

Overall Impression

This guitar really moves me. She plays so sweet and sounds so good that I truly am inspired. Of course, the price I happened to pay for it didn’t hurt at all, but irrespective of my price, I’d still give this guitar 5 Tone Bones. It’s really an incredible guitar! I can’t wait to get it home and to a luthier for a professional setup. The shop owner did a pretty good job of setting the guitar up, but he strung it with 11-53’s which, while certainly playable, aren’t really my cup of tea. I’ll have the shop put on a set of pure nickel 10’s.

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