List of existing reviews in LYN Musicians sub-forum.


- To be updated by Musicians' Moderators only.
- Post your reviews in a dedicated thread, where you can pour your whole heart out about the review, and we will make a copy here

We hope this solution will satisfy most of us

... work in progress ...


GUITARS
BCRICH WARLOCK
BRIAN MOORE DC/1
EPIPHONE LES PAUL 100
ESP JAMES HETFIELD SIGNATURE TRUCKSTER
ESP KH-3
IBANEZ GAX30
IBANEZ JS1000
IBANEZ RG (by metalhead)
IBANEZ RG (by ssslayerrr)
IBANEZ RG470L
IBANEZ S470
Ibanez RG1527
FENDER STRATOCASTER HIGHWAY 1
FENDER TELECASTER CUSTOM '72
PRS SE SOAPBAR (with P90)
SHERATON ES-335
SQUIER STRATOCASTER DELUXE FMT

AMPS
FENDER BASSMAN 100 (combo)
FENDER STAGE 1000
PEAVEY CLASSIC 50 4x10
VOX AD30VT
VOX AD50VT (by Led Zep Freak)
VOX AD50VT (by Nick Drake)
WASHBURN BAD DOG 25W BD25R

BASS
IBANEZ GSR205
YAMAHA BB415
OLP MM3 (Musicman Stingray 5)

ACOUSTIC GUITARS


EFFECTS/MODELLERS
YAMAHA MAGIC STOMP MK II
IBANEZ TS9 (modded to TS808) & TS808 reissues

OTHER INSTRUMENTS

MISC.
Aluminium casing, by Metalzone

This post has been edited by TheWhacker: Feb 17 2007, 10:59 AM

During my trip to hong kong, I tried this guitar...
the Brian Moore DC/1 (HK$ 22.5k = RM 11k)


Test : during two days, on a Marshall TSL 60W (tubes)

Look : it looks like a les paul, from the front, but much lighter and with a much more luxurious feel (maybe all this gold...). Two main differences are the head, well-balanced and more modern, and the curved body. It is hard to imagine how it feels just by looking at it, but it's quite revolutionnary ! More comfort, and lighter.

Neck : much thinner than a les paul 50s round neck, perhaps comparable with a thick strat neck. Even with my small fingers and used to play on Ibanez, I managed to feel at home quickly. The wood is excellent, it is chocolate-color, the touch is super soft and the frets are very impressive. I got a biiig grin when I put my fingers on it, which says a lot !


Sound : Singing, open, dynamic and RICH. Probably the most expressive sound I've ever got on a guitar ! Clear sound : close, astonishingly close, to an acoustic sound. The guitar is equipped with piezo, and during the few seconds I tried the piezo, I didn't hear any big difference between magnetic and piezo.
Crunch and Lead : solos and double-stops are vibrant, voice-like. By diminishing the tone, I can get a pure jazz tone in the neck pickup, or get a modern crazy shred cutting-thru with the bridge pickup, full of harmonics and yet totally manageable.

I compared it with many Gibson Les Paul Custom, which all striked me by their very dark sound, as if the high-frequencies were cut or dampen. The sound is much more compact on the Gibson, but less "full" (rich is actually the perfect word to describe the DC/1 sound).
Gibson LP :

Big drawback > the DC/1 sounds like crap as soon as you play any chord with more than 3 strings in distorsion !! I guess the sound is soooo open that it becomes messy when you cumulate to many strings. What a BIIIG pity.

For this price, one expects full satisfaction... and not being able to send one thunder-like A major a-la AC/DC, that's quite a disappointment.

This post has been edited by Pix: Dec 16 2005, 02:23 PM

Bought myself a Ibanez GSR205 the other day from Harmony Music in Damansara Utama. (sorry, don't have an actual photo yet)



The tag said RM900. I asked for a discount and promptly got it. Packed a set of Planet Waves gold plated cables, and a nice Planet Waves strap with padding and I was one happy guy. Slightly below RM1K for the bass, strap, cable and bag.

I didn't have the time to really test it out yet but from the few minutes of playing it, this is the impression it gave me...

Looks wise, it's pretty simple and stunning. Black looks good. hehe.

It weighs really light, especially for a 5-string. Being a Soundgear, the neck is thin as expected, excellent for some really fast action. 4 knobs controlling the front pick up, back pick up, tone and a 'bass booster' for some enriching low goodness.

I didn't quite get to test out the sound as I was busy but I did get some friends to test it out, as he played for the Sunday Church service. Unfortunately, I woke up too late that Sunday and missed service... hehe (I did go back again for 2nd service but the sound personnel in-charge did a pretty bad job with the sound system that morning). From the 1 minute of testing the sound on an old Crate bass amp, it sounded OK to me, solid, strong, loud but yet a bit hollow, not rich like a Fender Jazz Bass. Slapping it did give quite an acceptably nice sound with quite a bit of versatility. I'd expect that you might be able to squeeze in quite a number of playing styles with this baby. I'll be playing in October using a Trace Elliot bass amp so I'll edit this post and add more comments once I'm done.

Bad thing is that I found some slight buzzing. Possibly remedied by making some adjustments to the neck and bridge (which feels a bit high now) or improving my bass playing as I only play once or twice a year these past few years.

At below RM900, this entry level bass is a must buy, considering this is my first bass guitar even though I've been playing bass (off and on) since the early 90s.

This post has been edited by azxel: Jan 24 2007, 02:32 PM

I THINK I HAVE GAS! I HAVE PURCHASED AN AMP, A ZOOM, AN ACOUSTIC, MY SHERATON AND GOING TO GET AN SX TELE IN THE SPACE OF A FEW MONTHS!!! HELP MEEEE!!!

Anyway, I'd like to talk about my beloved Sheraton.. haaaiihh..


She is so beautiful! The first time I laid eyes on this sunburst beauty, I knew straight away I gotta have her- Buying an ES-355 is out of the question because of the ridiculous tag price but this one looks even better! pearl dot inlays and abalone-gold hardwares- beautifully shaped neck and maple top.

Soundwise, its not as great as a Gibson of course, but the Sheraton has the best blues/Jazz tone I've ever come across. The bass is deep and heavy and the highs are sweet. Some musicians have said that Epiphone had problems with selectors and switches but so far, I havent had any problems. The selectors are quiet, (no pops) volume knobs and tones are accurate (not just slow, medium loud and very loud!). I'm planning to switch to Gibson's 57s for that more authentic sound of an ES-355. (apparently, p90 soapbars wont fit hehe)

On the downside, I regret not having asked the store to setup my guitar before collecting it. I won't touch it myself mind you-wont risk damaging it in any way- but the neck is set too high. So playing higher scales are a bit clumsy. My friend said that archtops are meant to be that way ut I dunno. Will check with my 'guy'. And it is quite heavy. I never knew maple was quite this heavy, but it might be the size. Hollow or not, this beast will sure give you a workout!!!

thats all folks! thx for reading! anyway, my squire tele is up for sale! (GAS symptoms - trading old guitar for new)

This post has been edited by gizmoduck: Sep 13 2005, 10:15 AM

Ok, my turn to review. And this time, it's the Fender's 50th Anniversary Gold Stratocaster. Why is it 50 ? It's because the Fender Stratocaster's five-decade tenure (1954-2004) has seen it travel through many a rocky road and still come out tops. Naturally, the folks at Fender wanted to celebrate this 50 years golden anniversary with a big mama bang. And what other way to do this than with a golden Strat. There are two versions of the 50th Anniversary Stratocaster, this one, which I'm reviewing, is "made-in-Mexico" version of this instrument. The more "grand" version is the "made-in-America" version which has a Sunburst colour.

The body of this Stratocaster is alder, mated to a one-piece maple neck, carrying the Fender-scale maple fingerboard and 22 vintage style narrow frets. The colour is Aztec Gold which you'll never find on every other guitar. I personally never be keen on gold colours but Fender did a good job on balancing between gold body, maple fretboard, anodised gold scratch plate and gold hardware is a very pleasing proposition indeed.

The guitar has a trio of single coils, a five-way selector switch and, a single tone and two numbered volume dials. Basic stuff for any Strat out there. All six strings are anchored on the vintage synchronised tremolo while the vintage style machine-heads provide for tune-ups on the headstock end of the proceedings.

I was really turn-off by the "made-in-Mexico" workmanship. The American version has the 50th anniversary logo etched on the neck plate at the back. This guitar however gets a cheap sticker on the plastic covering of the trem block.
The guitar's five-way selector takes you through all the classic settings of a standard Stratocaster, and this particular unit does it as it should. Its neck pickup provides a plump, bluesy tone. The middle pickup dishes out some earthy funk grooves while the bride unit is surprisingly polite.

Stinging blues tones scream from the neck and middle pickups as expected, but it's the bridge transducer that really throws a curve ball. Talk about grind and a toothy response - this one wrote the book on them. Never have I had quite so much fun with a Strat bridge pickup and it's really the absence of some of that top end detail that makes this pickup highly desirable and extremely useful.
This guitar plays like the rest of the Strat family. The controls on the Gold Strat are highly responsive and scaled smoothly, too, and thankfully, the trem system on this unit was in more than decent form, staying perfectly in tune through some mild abuse. I tried other trem system on some other guitars and tuning will just run way out of tune.

There's nothing to complain with the 50th Anniversary Gold Stratocaster since after all a Mexican-made Strat and the American-made Highway 1 series will burn a 'smaller" hole in your wallet then those American made guitars which will blow a hole in your bank account.

Pros: Workmanship ok la; Guitar looks good (people WILL notice you); predictable array of sounds just like any other Strats.
Cons: It's lacking that "50th Anniversary" taste if you what I mean

Yamaha Magicstomp MKII

Price : RM990 (Retail) RM800 (Street)

As we all know of recent, the multi-effects processor market has been the central of attention in the guitar world, with companies like Line 6, Digitech, Boss, Zoom etc releasing their own unique models. Hence in 2004, Yamaha joined the crowd by introducing a new multi-effects stompbox Magicstomp, which joins its older siblings : UD Stomp, AG Stomp & DG Stomp. Yamaha claims that the Magicstomp combines all the sound features and versatility of ALL 3 stomps with some from their SPX racks, and more.

The unit I have here is the new version MKII and the amazing thing about it is how simple the interface is. Like the Magicstomp I, it has 3 stomp buttons (Up, Down & On/Off), a master volume control, 3 parameter knobs, input jack, l/r stereo output & USB midi out. With the USB out, you could connect the MG to the computer for further editing & save/load your patches, however the software bundled DOESN'T support OSX (Works with OS9 tho, if that matters), which is a shame really. The software interface is very need but IMO, has lots of room for improvement, again a shame. Anyway, as you can see in the following screenshot, the pedal offers great flexibility of the sound you're looking for, all of them ARE EXTREMELY tweakable!

Anyway since this is the MKII, what improvement did Yamaha put into this??? Well first is the headphone jack, a cool feature for late-night practices. Secondly, deep-editing capability, with the MG1 you're not allowed to edit the parameters of a certain patch on-board but the 3 you assigned to your knobs. Thirdly, feedback eliminator for acoustic patches, AG Stomp feature.

Sound
Here's where the MG shines, and I'ill divide this part to a few categories :
Amp & Cabinet Modelling 5/10
Alright, the thing here is that the Magicstomp is supposed to emulate the DG Stomp. Some may find great sounds from these patches but to me, they sound pretty bland and too digital.

Distortion 6/10
Again, digital-sounding however, some of the sounds are usable if you put in time to tweak it. Lots of EQing as you're gonna run this in front of your amp! Surprisingly, the MG has some nice usable fuzz in it.

Modulation 10/10
All I can say is WOW, great job Yamaha!!! The chorus is very lushy & the symphonic chorus is just, unbelievable! I've compared this to one of the Boss chorus boxes and the Boss is far inferior to the MG. And the same thing goes for flange, phaser, & tremolo effects! Plus, they're very tweakable! Kudos to Yamaha!

Delay 9/10
Anybody remember the UD Stomp, designed by the amazing Allan Holdsworth??? It came with the 8 band parellel/series delay??? That was amazing and very tweakable right??? The good news is the MG has the UD living in it. The bad news is, no tap tempo.

Reverb 10/10
Rack-quality reverbs.

Pitch Shifting, Ring Modulator, Rotary, Filter (N/A)
All these effects are seperated because they can't be combined with other effects. Pitch Shifting soundsd pretty good but I wish it could be operated with an expression pedal ala Digitech Whammy. Ring Modulator, not sure how it sounds compared to analog ones but they're usable. Rotary, not bad at all. Filter, not as good as the analog ones but quite usable.

Acoustic 9/10
We all know that Piezo pickups sound plastic-y and sometimes awful (Even though you have a good acoustic amp). The purpose of these patches are to emulate microphones to get rid of the plastic sound of those piezo pickups. I would say Yamaha, again, has done a great job bringing the AG Stomp patches into the MG! My borrowed acoustic sounds beautiful with added reverb and some light chorus. Kudos to Yamaha!

Verdict
Yamaha has created a very unique yet amazing sounding multi-effects stompbox. The point of the MG is to eliminate the need to have individual stompbox & it's quite true as the effects sound very very good. However, the MG does kill you guitar tone a bit but if you really love your tone, get a looper!
True, the MG is not for everyone, I've seen 2 groups of users online. 1 being the ones who love their MG to death (One of them owned 4 MGs!) & the other hates it as much as.... well I dunno.... but nonetheless, it's worth a try if you get a chance to do so!

Pros : Versatile, great sounding effects, highly tweakable, compact size.
Cons : No tap tempo, kills bit of your guitar tone, doesn't support OSX.

The Fender Stage 1000 is a three-channel amp (Normal/Drive 1/Drive 2) that delivers 100 watts (yes its 100 watts NOT 1000 watts) into the single 12-inch Celestion G12T-100 speaker. My friend told me this amp could be pushed to 160 watts by adding an eight-ohm extension cabinet which I yet to try. This amp also houses a variety DSP effects, a built-in chromatic tuner, along with a four-button footswitch for channel/effects/reverb selection, balanced line output, preamp out, power amp in (the last two via quarter-inch jacks, and which also double up as an external effects loop) something called "Timbre" which I have NO idea what this does.

There's the Normal or some guitarist would love to say clean channel, with its own treble, mid and bass controls. Beside it, there's a button that switches between the Normal and either of the two drive channels. Drive 1 has gain and volume level knobs, then there's the button to select Drive 2, which has both those controls as well ... treble, mid and bass knobs common to both drive channels are provided.

Further down are buttons to select "Timbre" ... which my friend said it quite simply, a preset EQs for different overall voicings - Flat, Bright, Dark, Deep, Scoop, Squawk and Acoustic, which I think you know what they do. The engineer at Bentley Music told my friend not to overdo the EQs as the results from the Timbre settings would also depend on the nature of your guitar and the amp's EQ configuration. Using the chromatic tuner will mute the amp while you're tuning your guitar.

And finally the effects sections where all the reverb level and type, effects level and type, and time/rate control to adjust parameters for the effects are what you get. There's ALOT of effects on this amp, you have Ambient, Room, Hall, Arena, Plate and Spring, with two to four sub-types for each. The modulation array includes Delay (digital, tape echo and ducking), Vibrato (Vibratone here), Tremolo, Phaser, Flanger and Chorus, plus one Delay/Chorus combination.

The Stage 1000 is very loud. On the normal channel, the volume have to be kept at "3" so that I won't annoy the rest of the household and neighbours. It will go loud and cut right through on a small stage without tripping up. The sound is bright, open and punchy.

There's flexibility of tweaking the effects, what you get here is more than decent and useable in a variety of circumstances. If you don't want to carry too many pedals or even a multi-effects box the Stage 1000's effects is a great provider but I'll say your pedals will deliver a much better result in terms of it's sound. But still, it's good having some extra features to play around with.

The drive channels on this amp works really well. Drive 1 is perfect for those who want to blues up their leads. It's not too heavy and not too light, it's just in the middle. For those who love super heavy metal distortion, the Drive 2 might not be your best friend, as the over-drive seems abit on the "week" side. Nonetheless, it's still gives that punch to your riffs.

I think this is a very good amp for those looking for more punch then your little small practice amp. You can't go wrong with those effects on board as well as 3 different channels to play with and price tag of Rm3,100, I definitely recommend this amp.

Pros: Good clean and drive channels; maddness tons of effects; build in tuner
Cons: Drive channels abit "week"

Modded TS-9 to 808 specs:

tone: huge improvement in clean od from the normal ts-9... yes... better than the original. When used as OD for dist i believe that very few can match against this pedal. It retains your original tone and makes it better, what more can you ask? A big improvement from the old one trick pony

durability: extremely tough and the finish does not fade or chip easily unlike most of the Boss pedals.

overall: 10/10. Try one and you'll love it. Even the original will make you weep. IMO its the best OD pedal ever and it doesn't cost a bomb. Don't know how it compares with some of the other boutique pedals but it beats the Hotcake hands down in terms on clean OD and value.

Ibanez TS808 reissued

tone: Can never get a clean OD better than this, PERIOD.

10/10. Had the chance to mess around with this pedal for a few weeks. Dist OD is pretty much the same but the clean OD is better.

Ibanez RG470L

I bought this baby last year from Bentley. Wanted to get a lower end Ibanez model.. either the 350DX or the 320FM but there wasn't much choice considering teh fact taht i was after a left handed model. I have 3 guitars to choose from, the MIA fender strat, Jackson DK2 or this. Fell in love with her the moment i grabbed its neck
*the MIA strat was way out of my budget anyway Rm4000 without discount

The 1st thing you'll notice is the incredibly thin neck. No problem executing jimis baseball grip. Smooth unfinished neck with little to no friction when sliding along. Shes made of Basswood like most Ibanez guitars, which makes it very light.

Shes got a HSH configuration with Ibanez V7/S1/V8 pups, which i later switch to the Tonezone/BV/Air Norton. Stock pups are quite "dead".... only found this out when i use her with my 15w cube. "Strangely" however she sounded pretty damn sweet on the AVT100 amp...lol. One of the mistakes i made when choosing my guitar.

Action was pretty damn bad and the strings were quite rusty. But it was all good after sending it to my friend for a set up. Before that it was almost impossible to get a good legato run.

She is fkin beautiful with the ermm.. cosmic black finish or watever its called. But the finish is very weak... the coat can be easily chipped off. I bet i can do a better finish than that.

She also came with a Edge Pro bridge. It holds tune better than most floating trems but it stills go off by a few cents after each divebomb. Did a few mods with it and its much better now. Credit goes to Rich from Ibanezrulez.

Overall i give it a 7/10 stock. As you can probably tell i had to make alot of mods to ensure she plays well. And ive been told that shes a 2nd class model... which most guitar companies sell to most Asia countries. But heck... I love her now and thats all that matters
Valuewise Ibanez guitars definitely tops the list. With a few changes you can make any Ibanez guitar play like a custommade one.

Ok, this time round I get to review my friend's Squier Deluxe Stratocaster FMT. Yes, you can review your friend's gear too as long your friend knows about it and you're the one actually reviewing it. The best part of reviewing your friend's gear is that, you can try it as long as you want. Music shops will just give you that "please go home" body language. Trust me, I seen that many times.

I have seen this before .....

The Squier by Fender Deluxe Stratocaster FMT has all the attributes that you'll find in any Fender by Fender Stratocaster, generally speaking la. The headstock of this guitar is very similar to the ones used by the '70s Stratocaster, big and fat. It has a flame maple top and a fancy three-ply white pearloid pick guard on it. The body is crafted out of either alder or agathis, which I have no idea what material this is. The guitar comes with a beautiful three-tone sunburst under a highly glossed finish to give it a very handsome look, if not pretty.



Neck is of maple construction and has a "C" profile with a 25.5-inch scale length. The guitar also features a 9.5-inch radius rosewood fretboard. Both body and neck have polyurethane finishes. The guitar comes with 22 medium jumbo frets and a synchronous twin pivot tremolo bridge.

The Strat is loaded with three Alnico magnet single coil pickups. Electronics are the standard affair for all Stratocaster guitars that consists of a five-way pickup selector, one control knob for volume and two more for tone. All hardware on the guitar is chrome. A tremolo arm is also provided here. Behind houses the neck plate that is engraved where the four bolts join the neck and body are joined together.
What I'm trying to say here is, the finishing and assembly of this guitar is top notch, first-class, outstanding workmanship. And I cannot believe this guitar is from Squier's Indonesian factory.

...... and it sounds like .....

The amplification used to test the sound quality of this guitar was the Fender Stage 1000. The guitar was plugged directly to the amp with all the EQ controls to "12" o'clock. Using the neck pickup with the clean channel gives you a warmth and glassiness sound. The middle single coil boasted a nice punchy sound suitable for any soloing work. The bridge pick up brought forth a very ballsy and bright voice. The remaining two pickup settings delivered some very tasty funky sound. .Position 4 (middle and neck) is mellower and seemed to sound more neck the neck pickup's position.

This guitar can rock 'n' roll too as I switched the amp to its overdrive channel. No matter what amount of gain you pump into this guitar, the guitar's natural tone shone through without getting muddy and losing definition.



The volume and tone controls on this guitar are very responsive, obeying very command you dialed in. Turn the volume knob down halfway and the overdriven tone cleans up beautifully, keeping it warm and punchy. Switching to the bridge pickup and you'll get screaming and piercing rock sounds.

My friend tried some of his tricks with the tremolo arm locked in. This guitar had its bridge set up so that you could only push the bar down and we found this a wee bit annoying, as the bridge knocked on the body of the guitar every time I came up from a dive with the bar. Going crazy on the tremolo is not recommended as the guitar will go badly out of tune. This is because there are no locking tuners whatsoever, so do it if you really need to and gently.

.... a good guitar.

The Squier Deluxe Stratocaster FMT is one of the good looking, great sounding and playable guitar. It can easily knock off any high-end guitars out there without breaking your pocket. If you're new to guitars or you're looking a entry level guitar, this IS the guitar you should get. With the price tag of Rm1,250 you can't go wrong with this guitar. I highly recommend this guitar.

Pros: Good workmanship; great sounds; looks beautiful and expensive; very comfortable.

Cons: I can't find any

Haha, if you have been following this thread's reviews you might think that I'm a Fender man. I'll play any type of guitar regardless it's brand name as long it's affordable, playable and looks good. Just ask any guitarist here at the forums and they'll tell you they can never find that "all-perfect" guitar. Or even if they did, the price tag will be enough to pay for a wedding dinner.

This is my friend's Fender Highway 1 Telecaster that was just 30 minutes old from the time he bought it from the shop. Very lucky guy indeed. And 15 minutes later, we're back at his house to do a little stroll on the Highway.

Body way .....

The colour of this guitar is Honey Blonde with a Satin Lacquer Finish. The body is made of Alder while the neck is made out of Maple with a Modern "C" Shape and Satin Polyurethane Finish. There are 22 Medium Jumbo Frets on a Rosewood fretboard.

A three-position blade selector switch allows you to alternate between the two standard vintage-style Alnico Magnets single-coil Tele pickups. A knurled volume and tone dial complete the electronics package. All the hardware on this guitar is chromed to perfection.

..... Sound way ....

One thing I love about Telecasters is that they have a lovely feel once you strap it and ready to play. You can seat, jump, stand, fly or anything in between, the feel stays great and neck comfort is wonderful.

The guitar was plugged into a Marshall MG100DFX and the Highway 1 snarled as if it wants to eats us. This was having the gain turned way up and on the bridge pickup.

Change the pickup positions to the middle and neck positions and you'll get those 1960s and 1970s soft rock sounds. Double note bends and double stops possessed a rich vowel-like quality.



The Highway 1 Tele responded to the strums and flat-picking with a rounded, plump tone while on a clean channel. The bridge pickup is perfect for soloing work while the other two positions invited cool, bluesy and jazzy single-note licks. This guitar can match any humbucker-equipped guitar because of the rosewood if you know how to work with the volume and tone dials.

The pickups on this guitar are kinda week according to my friend. Even with the amp's gain at max, the guitar still sound too "gentle", lacking that punch. You can always add in an Overdrive pedal to boost its "gentleness"

Highway ?

Overall, this guitar is good for those in between rich and poor. It's plays well and kinda good-looking. The best part about this guitar is its comfort while you're strapped on ready to go. Once you put in on, you won't want to take it off. I would recommend this guitar to everyone but with a price tag of Rm2,990, get this guitar IF you have the money.

Pros: Comfortable while playing; Great workmanship; Variety of tones

Cons: Price; pickups very "gentle"

Epiphone Les Paul-100



A cut-down version of the Les Paul Standard, this baby features an Alder and Mahogany Body with a Mahogany Bolt-On Neck, without any binding. Of course, this is lighter compared to the regular Les Paul Standard, but it still is heavier then most of the knock-offs. Also, it doesn't have the block inlays, and instead uses the regular dot inlays.

To me, it feels good whether it's played standing or sitting down, thanks to it's fantastic curved body. You can really get into a fast picking frenzy on the higher strings on the upper frets with the cut-away. Although, I did remove the pick-up guard for even faster playing.

Sound wise, it's a classic Les Paul tone. Warm and full bodied tone resonates from this baby. I haven't put both the Les Paul Standard with the Les Paul-100, so I can't really comment on the difference. But to me, playing a wide varity of music ranging from Blues and Country to Rock and Heavy Metal, it performs well.

The Les Paul-100 uses regular Open coil humbuckers but if you want to spice things up, you can easily add in new Pick-ups easily (I added in the EMG-ZW set which are slightly modified EMG-81 and EMG-85), because it comes with the standard 2 tone, 2 volume knob like the Les Paul Standard, unlike the Les Paul Special with comes with only 1 set of tone and volume knobs. Using the EMG's really adds great ammounts of sustain and gives it an even fatter tone, especially when played through a Dirty amp.

Overall, i'm extremly happy with this Low Priced Les Paul. It's a great beginner's Les Paul and with better pickups, this can definately stand up with it's bigger brothers.

This post has been edited by blacktrix: Sep 16 2005, 12:13 AM

Yet another Fender review ? What's with this dude man ? Seriously speaking, I don't even know why. Really, I went to my friend's shop to inquire if he allows a member of this forum (evo.com) to borrow a left-handed guitar. But the only left-handed guitar he has at the shop was a Fender (again ?) American Deluxe Stratocaster® Left Handed. He told me, "the only way your friend is going to "borrow" is to pay me Rm4,900 and he can "borrow" for the rest of his life. But you can try out that '72 Telecaster Custom over there"

Tele looks .....

My first look on this guitar was "why all the Fender Telecasters look the same wan ah ?" Maybe it was me, or maybe its because of 50 years of building guitars for artist around the world like James Burton, Muddy Waters, Danny Gatton and many more players of the Telecaster. Those folks love the body design of the guitar so why change to some design that can kill someone with those sharp designs ?
The Fender '72 Telecaster Custom Telecaster's body is made of alder, with a 1970s vintage hard tail strings-thru Strat bridge (with three-piece saddle) and a funny looking black pickguard which in my opinion, looks way nicer with a white one. Why '72 you ask ? It's because this guitar was created at 1972 la, huh.



The pickups on this guitar really have that Gibson Les Paul influence. Seated at the neck position of this guitar is a Fender Wide Range humbucking pickup (with three pole pieces each on opposing ends of the pickup) and the bridge equivalent is a standard Tele single coil. Both these pickups are controlled by a pair of numbered volume and tone dials, and a three-way toggle switch located on the upper bout of the guitar.

The neck of this guitar is made of Maple "U" Shape design with a Gloss Polyurethane Finish which is attached to the back of the guitar via three screws on the neck plate. This guitar also has the Micro-Tilt Adjustment feature. My friend told me that the 0.10 gauge strings on a 25.5" inch scale length could kill your fingers and hands into shreds, unless you're Stevie Ray which I'm no where near there. The Fender®/Schaller® Vintage "F" Style Tuning Machines on the guitar's headstock keeps all the tuning in check.



The guitar is really well built. Whoever hand built this masterpiece most likely took long and painstaking hours to put everything together. This is a Mexico-made guitar that is part of Fender's reissue series.

.... Tele Tunes ....

I never tried a guitar with both single coil bridge pickup and humbucking neck and I must say it sounds so good even better while playing it. Plugging on to a Fender Stage 1000, this guitar can do pop, funk and country picking genres.
Through the Stage 1000's overdrive channel, the '72 Telecaster Custom becomes a vintage rock monster and it sounds blistering when I strike those open position chords. In the bridge position, the '72 Telecaster Custom is a crunch monster, providing some strident, punchy sounds with tasty top end. Toggling the switch's central position results with a rockabilly tunes. The balance between the warmth of the neck pickup and the snap of the bridge single coil does wonders for this style of music.



The '72 Telecaster Custom has 4 controls to play with which are Volume 1 (Neck Pickup), Tone 1 (Neck Pickup), Volume 2 (Bridge Pickup) and Tone 2 (Bridge Pickup) plus with the pickup switching, the Custom is a highly versatile beast and will take you through most musical styles without having any problems at all. From jazz, blues, ska and anything in the middle, this guitar can play them all.

.... Tele Good ?

I think so far this is the best Telecaster design ever built by Fender. It feels so comfortable when you strap this guitar on and it sound so good to be true. If you're a professional guitarist looking for a new guitar for that professional use, I highly recommend this guitar even if it cost a cool Rm3,850. You won't regret this guitar. Get it and enter the Telecaster's Hall of Frame.

Pros: Excellent workmanship; very comfortable play; a lot of tonal options

Cons: Price

What to eat ? That's the question on one fine Saturday afternoon. I just played Battlefield 2 and earned 549 global points but my stomach is making too many "I'm hungry" noise. So I drove down the hawker store and passed by Harmony Music Center at Uptown. To my surprise, there's no one at the shop expect for the auntie who is the wife of the uncle who owns the shop. My church bought most of our music equipment from this store so both auntie and uncle knows me very well, even though they don't even know my name. So don't go there and ask "Auntie, you know who is TheWhacker ah ?"

So I went in and asked the auntie how was business? She replied saying business was going very well hence the shop has expanded into 2 shop lots now. She further on told me that they bought in some new Ibanez guitars and invited me to try them out. They are very friendly people indeed.

S what ?

The guitar was a S470 that is under Ibanez S series. Ibanez claims that this is one of the most versatile guitars ever made, with adherents in every genre. My first impression on this guitar was very handsome yet sexy looking guitar. The guitar's body is in black colour and the body itself is made of Mahogany. The fingerboard is made of Rosewood and with 22 Jumbo Frets running across the guitar.



The neck however is made of Maple. The inlays of the S470 are a "flying bird" which the proper name is S Special Inlay. I'm not joking, look at the first picture above and laugh for yourself. Something different then the traditional circle inlays. The controls on the guitar are handled by 1 Volume knob, 1 Tone knob and a Pickup Selection Switch for you tweak out pickups on the guitar.

S tones

The pickups on the S470 consist of 2 IBZ INF1 Humbuckers at the neck and bridge position. The third pickup right in the middle of the two humbuckers is a single coil IBZ INFS1. From the pickup lineup on this guitar, you know for sure that this guitar is meant to rock & roll. So Ibanez's claim of "with adherents in every genre" is very in doubt now. Or so it seems.



Well, the problem of testing a guitar at a shop is that you can't just test any instrument and equipment that is available at the shop. Others will have that "tak tahu malu" impression on you even if you know the shop owner well. So I plugged the S470 to a MG50DFX, which is on the floor. Well, there's a MG100DFX that is on the top of the shelf, but like I said, you just can't just test any instrument and equipment that is available at the shop.

On the normal channel, the guitar speaks out clean and clear tones. Using clean channel on the neck humbucker with some reverb sounds really good. You can also play some jazz riffs on the neck humbucker and using only the middle pickup (the single coil) delivers puckable tones.

Neck humbucker with distortion is too smooth and leads with it in my opinion sound not too good, however jazz sounds good enough. However, using the bridge humbucker is perfect for those metal players because the guitar speaks out boldly and has that little punch to your face.



The ZR Tremolo system on the guitar works well but even with the tremolo lock, I suggest not to go crazy with it since the tuning of the guitar may go out of tune.
One thing I notice is how comfortable this guitar is. It has a very thin body design and all the edges around the guitar are so thin to be true.

S stands for Superb

Overall, the guitar's construction is ok since I found that the controls for the volume and tone knobs are placed very close together. Other than that, it's a good guitar with quite a diversity of tones you can get with the H-S-H configuration. Some may find this a little expensive with the price tag of RM2150, but with its attributes above, I recommend this guitar to anyone and most likely the last guitar you ever buy, till something better comes along.

Pros: Workmanship ok la; very comfortable play; a lot of tonal options; great for rock players

Cons: Controls knobs too close together;

What's the first thing that comes to your mind when you think about bass ? Mostly people will think of the name Ibanez. Some will think BIG amp. Others will look at the history. So when Mr.Fender (or Leo Fender) built an amp for his Precision Bass back at the 1950s, little that he care about what he thinks in the first place that this amp will be a hit with bass players. The Fender Bassman was born in the era where blues, rock and country were getting popular. And little did Mr.Fender knew that Mr.Marshall (Jim Marshall) adopted the Bassman's circuitry to launch a new line of Marshall amps.

Bassman cool man.....

When I first saw this amp, I notice the new Fender logo on the grille. And you cannot miss the "Eminence Inside" label at the bottom of the grille. This label tells you that whatever you hear from this amp is coming out from a reputable 10-inch American speaker manufacturer. And to my surprise, this 100-watter (yes, one hundred) amp is actually light. So don't worry if this amp is going to break your back or some bones while moving this amp around.

The single instrument input has a -6dB switch, so you can plug in either a passive or high-output active bass. There's a mute switch which is useful when you're tuning your bass. There's also a tuner output is located at the back of the amp.

I'm not a fan of semi-parametric EQ but my friend is and boy he was excited. Seeing him playing around with the semi-parametric EQ is like watching a kid playing his Christmas toy on Christmas day. The Bass and Treble controls are represented by a knob each but the mid can be controlled via "Mid Level" and "Mid Frequency" knobs. For your desired tone, simply dial in a mid frequency (between 150Hz and to 1.5kHz) and choose to cut (down to -15dB) or boost (+15dB). This apart, the Contour control also allows broader scooping of the overall mid frequencies.

An XLR Line Out socket with a Pre/Post EQ switch, a Line Level control and a ground lift switch are also provided. Behind the amp there's a pair of Effects Send and Return sockets. There's also an auxiliary input for devices such as a drum machine or CD player to be plugged in as well as the headphones too as there's an output for this device.

Bassman sound

Enough of design and let's talk about how this amp sounds. The Fender Bassman 100 is pretty normal like other amps but it's a bit "gentle". It's 100-watter amp and I was expected to be blown away by that. But somehow, I stood on the floor which I should been thrown to the wall.

If you're good at tweaking the semi-parametric EQ mid controls on this amp, you can get a lot of variety of sounds from this amp. The combination of the Contour knob and semi-parametric EQ resulted in some awesome tones. The 10-inch Eminence speaker produced a punchy and focussed sound. Bass was solid, not just some low-end rumble, even playing with the low-B string on the bass guitar. The treble was sweet, especially when you're slapping or popping. You'll find yourself tweaking the mid controls ever so often so those mid controls will be your very best friend.

So I Mr.Guitarist who don't even know a single thing about bass, pIugged in the Fender '70s Stratocaster with the Fender Bassman 100. I was expecting a heavy low tone sound from my guitar but to my surprise it produced a very nice clean sound.

Bassman cool ?

Despite being made from the Indonesian factories, the Bassman 100's price can really raise some eyebrows for a cool Rm3, 350. But with its semi-parametric EQ which you can get a variety of tones from this amp, bassist would love this feature (if they're good at tweaking the controls) more then they love their bank account.

My humble point of view is if you're not good at tweaking the controls on the semi-parametric EQ, then you probably won't want to get this amp. However, if you're seasoned bassist who knows what you're doing, by all means go ahead and get this amp because this will be the last bass amp you'll ever need.

Pros: It's light; the semi-parametric EQ is a very good feature.

Cons: Price; tweaking the semi-parametric EQ is not for everyone

ESP James Hetfield Signature Truckster



Before I begin.... here's the price tag: RM 10279. Yup. Today I got to test a 10k guitar....... Thanks to the guys at Guitar Collection midvalley to trust me with their stuff. But when you look at it, 10K for a signature guitar isn't really THAT expensive or cheap either... It's more like the right price for a signature guitar. And remember, this is the ESP we're talking about.

Upon first inspection, the artwork/damage is extremly cool. Imagine! You're spending 10k on a new guitar that looks old! WOW! Even the backside of the guitar shows scratches and dings around it. I remembered that last time someone wanted to fix his gutiar from dings on the forum.... this guitar is DEFINATELY not for him then.

When you pick it up, you'll find it EXTREMLY light. Even lighter then my Epiphone Les Paul-100! A Gibson Custom Les Paul weighs in roughly 3 to 4 times heavier then that. Then I got to some of the WEIRDEST controls ever. If you look closely, you'll see a pick-up selector swtich at the top. That was the first place I went to since I'm a Gibson Les Paul man through and through. Turns out, it's a fake. Pure cosmetic looks only. The REAL switch is next to the tone knobs. Speaking of the knobs, it has 2 tone and 1 volume knob, which means I can't have a mute-switch like I do on my Les Paul (I normally roll down the volume of the pick-up I'm not using, so I can switch to that for mutting the sounds).

When I start to play the opening chords of Enter Sandman, that's where you'll see where it shines. Using an EMG 81/60 pick-up, the tones are fat, thick and has a heavier bottom end then Jennifer Lopez on an eating spree. It really sounds like a cross between a Les Paul Standard and a Bartione guitar. I ripped through some of their newer songs (like Memory Remains and Frantic) which has great growl to it and seemed to be MADE just to play them. Of course, I switched on full Zakk Wylde mode and it ripped through No More Tears, Demise of Sanity, and Suicide Messiah without breaking a sweat. For suicide messiah, it even had the great palm mutting "chug" that really worked well on this guitar. But when I tried stuff like Seek & Destroy or Master Of Puppets... it just doesn't seem made for it. But then again...... James has a full aresenal of guitars for those kinds of songs. I then switched off the distortion and went to clean and tried out Nothing Else Matters, the opening of One and the Master of Puppets first intro. It did the job well, but didn't find it REALLY spectacular.

For comparison, I tried it against my Les Paul-100 with EMG 81/85s side-by-side and the truckster sounds sharper then on my Les Paul. Palm mutting my way through Master Of Puppets, I found that the Truckster had a bit more bite to it then the Les Paul though. I dunno how to explain it, but it sounds sharper AND heavier then my Les Paul at the same time.....The EMG-81s are practically the same but I prefer the clean tones on my Les Paul more then on the Truckster. I guess it's really a guitar that was made for really growling music.

Overall, I found it not as a copy of a Les Paul, but rather an alternative to it. It's the same guitar that James uses when he wants a Les Paul type guitar (Of course, he does use a Black with Gold Racing Stripes and a Gold Cross Gibson Les Paul Custom sometimes) and still wave the ESP flag. You can't help compare it to a Les Paul, because well..... LOOK AT IT! It even needs a fake selector switch! The Truckster is a great metal guitar on it's own right and does have a unique sound, plus it's REALLY light..... Bottomline, if you want that heavier Les Paul sound, go get a Les Paul. If you want something that growls well and have the distinction of carrying the same axe as the legendary James Hetfield, well keep on Trucking baby!

Pros:
Great for that famous Metallica crunch
Awsome Paint Job
A great "chugger" if used well
Great Bottom end.... almost like a baritone.

Cons:
Damage on purpose look might not appeal to some
Too light for my tastes
Weird controls

Overall: 7.5/10

"All guitarists will love the BD25R. With 25 watts of power, this reverb equipped Bad Dog offers 2 channels, high and low inputs, and a headphone jack. Small enough to take anywhere and loud enough to fill the room."

That is what is written at the Washburn website about their Bad Dog BD25R guitar amp. I never did fancy Washburn guitar amps but their guitars are however a different story altogether. Some of the Washburn guitars are hand-made under their Idol Series. Those guitars look so cool and sound even cooler. So how about their guitar amps then ? Visiting my friend's house for Deepavail and Hari Raya is not only to eat murukus and rendands, but aslo to try out my friend's gear. One of my friend has this amp which I'm about to review, in his room. With the name Bad Dog, it sounds like this amp is very bad.

Sit boy .... Good dog

This is without a doubt a practice amp for your bedroom. With 25 watts of power, this amp will definitely sound like a puppy in a big hall. The amp has very sturdy look and the construction is very well built. It's encased in black Tolex that does a good job of protecting the amp, with the help of plastic edges. The eight inch Washburn speaker is housed inside a metal grille.



The control panel has high and low inputs, a channel select switch, volume and reverb knobs, and a three-band equaliser. This amp has an open back that has inputs for an effects loop and optional footswitch. Overall, this amp isn't that heavy making it ideal portability amp.

Bark doggie ....

A Squier Deluxe Stratocaster FMT plugged into the amp's channel one. The amp was able to produce some fairly warm and vibrant clean tones. Plugging and strumming sounds no problems at all.
Plugged into the amp's channel two delivers a crunchy sound which I think it's perfect for playing alternative rock or a little puck riffs.

After playing around with the clean channels, I switched on the overdrive button. The gain is there, but it's very lacking that German Shepherd fierce barking which my neighbors has. Rock and metal players will not love this amp's gain as playing metal riffs with this amp doesn't sound metallic at all. The gain level is also unsuitable for playing anything other than blues/rock

Good dog ?

For an amplifier made in China, you can't really complain much considering what it can do. This puppy is more then enough to stay at your bedroom or some studio recording work. For a price tag of Rm750, I think you can get better practice amps with that price range.

Pros: Good construction; very light; dual channels

Cons: Overdrive very week

How many of you know what PRS stands for ? Well, if you don't, knock your head on the wall. PRS stands for Pontian Root Sugar, no la .... I'm just joking. PRS stands for Paul Reed Smith. They (or he) are one of the most famous guitar makers in the world as all of their guitars are all hand made to perfection. How famous you ask ? My answer to that will be the various guitarist and bassist from very famous bands like Mark Tremonti from Creed, Brad Delson from Linkin Park, Carlos Santana and many more. And the best part is, PRS sells to you the guitars that those famous guitarists actually use. But now, I'm going to review the PRS SE Soapbar and maybe in the future, PRS Santana.

Soap to Kill ....

First look on this guitar and you'll get the message "Don't mess with me punk". This guitar is a serious looker. This red may seems red in colour, but it's actually Vintage cherry. Koreans have vaunted finishing second to none, and the Soapbar is proof of the pudding - the high gloss is evenly applied across the entire guitar, from solid mahogany body through the entire length of the mahogany neck. Excellent finishing I have to say.



The guitar has 25" scale length mahogany 22-fret neck with rosewood fretboard and moon inlays on them. The neck on this guitar is carve, wide fat. Strapping this guitar on and you'll never put it down. This guitar is so comfortable to be true. You can jump, sit, stand, fly or do anything on stage and this guitar won't even bite you.



The controls on the guitar are handled by a three-way toggle switch, a tone and volume dial cater to tonal alterations. If you notice on the picture above, the placement of the toggle switch is not traditional in any way. All Les Paul fans have already got use with the toggle switches on the top which is the opposite of the cutaway. However, the Soapbar has its toggle switch well behind the bridge. I tried to ask the sales assistant in the shop on why the toggle switch is located behind the bridge, but he just gave me the blur look on his face.

Soppy Sounds ....

Every musicians (well, almost all I guess) out there will tell you "What's the point the instrument only looks good, but doesn't sound good". A Fender 1000 was used to test the SE Soapbar sounds. On the clean channel, the sound coming from the guitar is clear and bright sounding. Strumming and plucking chords is superb as everything comes out clean and clear.



Crank the gain and you can wail away with some sizzling rock. The punch and bite on those pickups can actually punch you on your face. The Soapbar is the most versatile guitar I ever played and you'll be surprised what music tones you can get with just a pair of P90 pickups and a volume and tone dial. There's enough top end sparkle, midrange punch and bottom end grunt to take you through a variety of styles.

The Soapbar's dynamic response is also amazing. Just by varying my picking attack, I could elicit a whole range of tones. And if you thought single coils have poor sustain, try this for size. Those volume and tone dials are fantastic tone shapers, too.

Soppy Cool

Now you know what PRS stands for. But do you know what SE on the SE Soapbar stands for ? SE stands for Student Edition and all SE series are below Rm3, 000. There are SE Santana and SE Tremonti (Mark Tremonti's guitar) for students for who can actually afford to buy their guitar heroes' guitars. Even if it's a Student Edition, all SE series are outstandingly put together. With a price tag of Rm2, 680, I highly recommend this guitar.

Pros: excellent workmanship; attractive finishing; very comfortable to play; variety range of tones

Cons: I can't find any.

ESP KH-3
[SIZE=14]




As if trying out one 12K guitar in your lifetime wasn't good enough, today I got to test out the KH-3 guitar.

I went in and asked for a good guitar with a tremolo bar, because I'm itching for a Flying V with a Whammy..... but then he took down the KH-3 and said that once I tried this, this will be the next guitar I'll buy. He's probably right.

First off, I'm a Les Paul fanatic so the looks already appealed to me (like James Hetfield's Truckster). Also, it's REALLY Heavy, close to Gibson Les Paul Custom weights. If you notice carfeully, there's no curves on the back on the guitar, like that little wedge between your body and the guitar..... this is a full solid-body guitar. The dials and pick-up selector switch is of course placed differently from the Les Paul. But unlike the Truckster's confusing layout (what with the dummy switch and all), this one got me playing instantly. 2 Volume and 1 Tone dial made me make my cut-off switch easily.

When I first held it, it felt amazingly comfortable. Because I'm so used to a Les Paul, the body position had no problems with me, and I had no problems with it.


I started with clean tones with songs like Nothing Else Matters, Welcome Home (Sanitairum) and One. The clean's are clear and very warm. When you start playing Nothing Else Matters... wow. Amazing feeling. I could use this for a clean tone guitar and still be very impressed. Then I turned on the distortion. With it's weight also comes a VERY thick sound. Thank's to the EMG-81's, this thing can really rock out. You can't help but play all the classic metallica songs on this baby. And with the Floyd Rose system in place, I didn't miss a note. Amazingly, this guitar could pull of the "pings-of-death" almost without effort. Don't even get me on Palm-muting. This baby was MADE for palm muting. Master Of Puppets, Enter Sandman, Seek & Destroy... all came off without problems. Zakk Wylde would definately approve with this guitar as well because No More Tears, Demise of Sanity and Suicide Messiah sounded thick and heavy.

The main flaw I can find with the sound... you can't stop! I literally sat there for a good 15-20 minutes playing riff after riff after riff. I would have stayed longer if my guitar teacher hadn't come in! This could really give the Les Paul custom a run for the money.

Obviously, I'm more impressed with this guitar then the Truckster. If not for the steep 12k price tag, I would probably put this VERY high on my list. But for 12K, you get the full potential of what a Metallica guitar SHOULD sound like.

Pros: Awsome Thick-end sound
Bottom Heavy
Clean's are just as amazing
Floyd Rose system
Amazing finishing

Cons: Heavy Price,
Heavy Weight might be too heavy for some

My first review.
I hope everybody can understand my writings because honestly, there's a lot of pple can't understand my writings.

Yamaha BB415



Yamaha, a name that would ignite bunch of things in our head. Aside from their fine line of bikes, their basses have been in the hand of many famed bassist such as Nathan East, Micheal Anthony, John Patitucci & John Myung to name a few. What is so special about Yamaha line of bass? Well, believe it or not, this particular Yamaha BB series have been around for decades as quoted from Yamaha Music UK webbie,

"For more than 20 years, the Yamaha BB Series basses have been the workhorse for great bass players like Nathan East, Tony Kanal, and Michael Anthony. Now Yamaha has reinvented the bass that started it all. The BB series basses boast all the classic characteristics of the original BB's, from the distinctive big body design and bolt-on neck to vintage-style hardware and soapbar and split-coil pickups."

Specifications...

Body : Alder
Neck : Maple
Fretboard : Rosewood
Bridge : Vintage style
Pickup : Original BB pickups J-style(Bridge) & P-style(neck)
Electronics : Passive - 1 Volume & 1 Tone

Blast from the past...

Tested using Yamaha F-20B 20-watt bass amp, the first thing I realised about this baby that it's so easy to dial old school tone! Given the age of BB series, it's not really shocking. Try muting the notes, you'll get instant Larry Graham tones. Choose the right pickup setting, you'll get Jaco instantly. Although I would admit the tone are more towards P-Bass tone (those modern tone lovers might not like this bass), it's loud and solid thanks to it's powerful passive pickups & electronics. Suprisingly the electronics are kinda quiet too.

As for the build, it doesn't dissapoint my high expectation. Awesome finish although it's simply a thumbprint magnet. This particular unit have been setup nicely by the shop's staff so it's really a breeze to play. Kudos to Yamaha for superb workmanship!

Conclusion...

With RM 1,990 price tag, you got to give this bass some hat off. Just that the tone are not for everybody and to add that there's no blend dial which lowers the versatility of this bass. Such a pity since the powerful pickup with J/P combination could done more magic with a blend dial. Some might find the 21 fret would limit them further too. I would recommand this bass to anybody that want that killer P-Bass tone together with a little bit more option than the standard Fender.

Pro :
Solid, powerful & loud tone
Tip top workmanship
Friendly price

Cons :
No blend dial made it less versatile,
Tone are too P-Bass-ish at times (modern tone lovers, stay out! LOL)
21 frets might be limited to some.

Thanks to my good buddy, Alda Tan & the staff of Yamaha Music One Utama for letting me play around with this hot babe.

Yamaha Music Malaysia - http://www.yamahamusic.com.my/
Yamaha Music US - http://www.yamaha.com/yamahavgn/CDA/Home/YamahaHome

This post has been edited by chapree: Dec 14 2005, 07:58 PM

OLP MM3





First Impression : W00t, Sting Ray 5 incarnation! From bridge to the headstok and there's even Ernie Ball/Musicman logo behind the headstock. Lighter than a Sting Ray itself. Love the black one that comes with matching black hardware.

First Play : Hmm, same characteristic like the big brother, Sting Ray 5. A palette of tone can be achieved with the EQ control.

Warning : Don't expect the tone to be as same as a Sting Ray though.

Price : RM 1350

Da Place : JS Music, Jalan Imbi (same row with CK Music), KL. http://www.jsmusic.com.my

Da Web : http://www.olpguitars.com

Not everybody in this world are fortunate enough to raise enough dough to buy their music instruments. I always felt that budget series are essentials to ensure the survival of budding musicians that just started one's journey. With plenty of budget series models nowadays, choosing one that worth your money is hard task. For the one that fancy Sting Ray basses, I have some models that might take your wallet away.

Enter the world of Officially Licensed Product or more known as OLP. OLP basses were developed under the careful eye of Ernie Ball/Musicman to ensure the end product met their high standard & quality. Apart from MusicMan licensed product, OLP also manufacture officially licensed product from Coffin Case, Traben Bass & Guitar, McSwain Guitars & Orange County Choppers (guitars & basses with their brand name, not those monsterous choppers!).

I tested two unit actually, one came with flamed maple top on top of a transparent red finishing and another one were a normal shiney thumbprint magnet black finish. Both came with white pearloid pickguards. As it's a direct decendents of Musicman Sting Ray 5, all the other pretty much resembles the big brother. Body are made from Basswood and the 34" scale bass's neck were made from maple flavoured with rosewood fingerboard. The finish on the headstock matches the body finish too! From cosmetic view, MM3 sure got my eye's glowing "w00t!".



The bass were equipped with MM-style exposed poles pickup and passive electronic with 2 volume control (1 for each array of poles) and 1 tone control. Both basses were tested with Roland Bass Cube 100 amp. I started out with the flamed maple top unit but I realised that the particular unit have some irregular electronic setup. MM3 features 2 volume control but then this unit behave like it have 1 volume control unit which if you turn it all the way down, it will mute the bass. It have a thin tone which below my expectation of a MM-style bass. Maybe there's some error inside this unit, so I change to the black one.

So there, the sweet sound of Sting Ray growl. It's loud and punchy with lotsa mid range power. The B string growls were quite controlable. Slap 'em up I actually expecting the tone to be more treblish but then, you can always tweak the knobs around. It might appear that MM-styled bass have limited tone options but some knobs fiddling totally dumped that thought. Focus on the tone control and you shall be rewarded with plenty of modern sounding tone. Damn obvious this baby were meant for modern rockers out there. Classic tone lovers, you might have to K.I.V first.

To sum it up, if you just started your journey into magical world of low end or a modern rock scholar and have a very tight budget, you definately have to give serious thought on OLP MM3. Backed up by Ernie Ball/Musicman with great quality, sweet tone and awesome price, it's a good first step.

I would like to thank Jee, Retail Manager of JS Music Jln Imbi for superb hospitality. 3 hours are definately not enough to test these babies throughly so if you interested, just head to the shop and test it yourself.

This post has been edited by chapree: Dec 14 2005, 07:57 PM

After some playing, here's my review of the VOX AD30VT!

But be warned, this review is coming from a relatively new guitar player, around 1 year old or so, who hasn't been exposed to as much music as the experienced members here, and isn't as skilled as them either.

Price: RM850 from RM1000
From: CK Music, Kuala Lumpur

I have owned this amp for about 5 days, however I've only managed to really play it properly today as I just got back from Tioman. This review will be edited as time progresses, if I find any shortcomings with the amp.

First of all, the aesthetics. This amp definitely has it. This is coming from a person who is not really into this vintage looks and stuff. At first I was doubting on this amp due to the classic grille, but one look at the amp once I stepped inside CK Music, and whoa. Was I stunned. This amp really rocks aesthetically!

I'd give it a 9/10.

Next up is functionality, as in the control panel. There are many dials and knobs on the control panel, but they're pretty easy to get the hang of. On the top tier of the control panel, you get the Amp dial which lets you choose from 11 amps, the Gain dial, the Equaliser dials, the Effects dial which lets you choose from a combination of 11 effects. On the bottom tier, there's the Preset and Manual buttons, Channel Selector and Write buttons, and also the Tap, Edit and Bypass buttons for the Effects. I'm not going to elaborate on every function of the dials and buttons. I'm just going straight to the shortcomings.

I wish they'd use a numbered dial instead of leaving it up to you to use your ears and listen to the level. Without numbers or bars, it makes it quite hard to read and judge.
Another shortcoming is that the Equaliser isn't really responsive to changes. It takes time and you may not hear the difference immediately.

I'd give the Control Panel functionality a 7/10.

As for diversity, this amp has loads of it. This amp is extremely versatile and extremely loaded with sounds and effects. This is what makes it shine the most. I'm not going to go into extreme detail on each and every amp models, but just to summarize them, there are about 6 "clean" amps and 5 high gain amps. They offer pretty close modelisation, although there have been some complaints about the Mesa Boogie modeller sounding too digital, it sounds okay to me.

Just on raw diversity, I'd give this amp a 10/10. I'll go to the major shortcomings later.

As for Effects, this amp is pretty loaded and good. My main gripe is that the Auto-Wah lacks intensity, but it's usable. I haven't really tinkered around with the Edit dial for the effects, so I can't really elaborate. But based on my playings and impressions, the effects are darned good for just simple practice, though I won't recommend bringing them to stage.. at least for large-scale performances. Small gigs are fine.

Will update this section once I get a better feel on the effects.

I give it a 9/10. One point deducted from the lack of intensity on the wah.

Okay, now the main gripe about the amps selection.

The clean channels are too soft. The lack of a dedicated volume control for the clean channels only makes it worse. This can be remedied by saving your "perfect" tone as a preset on one of the channels, but however, the task in getting your tone can be a little daunting due to the finicky equaliser knob and the gain knob (you get gain in your clean channel if your gain is past a certain level, turn down the gain and you also reduce the volume as the gain dial acts as a master volume for non-gain amps). To me, though I am a metalhead, but I am really particular about my clean sound if I play them. So, this is one very big shortcoming of the amp.

And, be prepared to get a shock if you suddenly switch channels from clean to distortion on preset mode without tinkering. That's what happened to me. The difference in volume was so.. big. Literally.

To summarize everything,

Pros: Extremely realistic sounding, generous amp and effects selections, pretty user friendly, extremely loud, extremely affordable.

Cons: A numbered dial could be better (how hard is putting this?), auto wah could be more intense, equaliser could be more responsive, the task of getting your sweet spot could be daunting.

Summary: A good amp, gig-able, but not perfect. The best one in it's range IMO.

Rating (not an average) : 7.5/10

Sorry if this review sounds noobish, after all I am..

This post has been edited by nerd: Dec 11 2005, 12:40 AM

AD50VT by LedZep

here's a short clip recorded easier using the Vox AD50VT on the Black 2x12 settings. Gain & Volume - 3'o clock, bass - 10, treble - 2, mid - 1, & a light touch of reverb. Connected the amp's line out into my Audigy's microphone input lol.
Guitar used - Yamaha Pacifica 112, Position 4.
Slight EQ-ing was applied with Cubase.

AD50 BlackFace Sample Download

Peavey Classic 50, with 4x10' speakers



From peavey.com :
"Originally launched in 1991, these versatile all-tube amps retain their distinctive sound and circuitry but now feature an updated chassis design. With three 12AX7s up front and four EL84 power amp tubes plus normal and bright inputs, 3-band passive EQ, and presence control, it's all the classic tone you seek and all the gigging versatility you need."

From eurotubes.com :
"The Classic series amps have got to be one of the best working manâeuro(tm)s amps ever built. For a production made amp they are built well and sound great. My favorite is the 50-410 I like the quick response of the 10âeuro(tm)s.These amps are fixed bias and use EL84 power tubes. They provide a crisp, warm tone when using tubes with a moderate natural plate current draw. If itâeuro(tm)s a good blues tone your after then a fairly hot set of EL84âeuro(tm)s will give a nice greasy tone with an early saturation. The drive channel is very good adding a nice smooth distortion when using good tubes. With the stock Chinese 12AX7âeuro(tm)s or sovteks ( the new EH tubes included, as they are sovteks ) it has a nasty honk!"

So what is this amp ? Probably a cheap way to get a very warm sounding tube amp ! It is definitely loud and very big and very heavy (about 20 to 30 kg) :

(no, that oh-so-cool-too-bad-it's-not-80s-anymore looking dude is not me on the picture !)

I swapped the stock tubes by JJ tubes (www.eurotubes.com), because I had the money to do it, but not necessarily the "need" to do so (oh com'on, you know what I'm talking about... GAS, anyone ??). The move was a lucky one : it's a definite upgrade in terms of sound, especially on the second channel which got more details in the saturation. Anyway, let's not focus on that but more on the amp itself.

There are 2 channels, Clean and Overdrive, which are charing the same equalization controls. It's quite a drawback because you usually don't shape your clean channel's sound the same way you shape you overdrive's tone, and you end up doing a compromise on one of the channel if you intend to use both of them in live situation during the same song.

The EQ controls won't make your head too itchy : TREBLE, MID, BASS, PRESENCE, REVERB.



Those are passive equalization : as far as I understand it, it has to do with the way those controls interact with themselves. Not to worry, most guitar amplifiers use passive EQ.
A little word on the PRESENCE : presence gives you a boost on the higher frequencies, even higher than the frequencies controlled by the TREBLE knob. Being able to access those frequencies is interesting in order to keep a good tone at low volumes or get a V-scooped metal sound. But I must say that I don't use it much.
The REVERB is connected to an independant spring-driven reverb device located at the bottom of the cabinet. So it is not solid-state reverb : it's the real deal. But at low volumes, it doesn't work very well if you try to put too much reverb and I reckon it has a nasty "boing" quality to it. At low volume, if you don't use to much reverb then it's fine. At higher volume, the phenomenom doesn't happen so obivously.

On top of that, you have VOLUME, MASTER, PRE-GAIN, POST-GAIN which controls the volume of the clean channel, the volume of the overdrive channel, the amount of gain of the overdrive channel, and the overall volume. Basically, it means that even though you're not allowed to have independant EQ for channels 1 and 2, you can still control the volume independantly. That also, you will find on any "decent" amp.

There are two jack inputs : "bright" and "normal". It has nothing to do with your intellect : normal people can use the bright input. Bright people would rather stay put with the normal input though. Don't be confused, let me explan it : the bright input just adds 3dB in the high frequencies, which can be useful when amplifying voice and acoustic guitars. For electric guitar, I don't really use it.

There is a FX Loop too, but that's pertty usual. People says it's working very fine, so I gather that in some other amps, the FX loop is quite tricky..? It's such a simple device that I wonder how it's able not to work less than fine. Nevermind.

Regarding the speakers, my amp is loaded with 4 speakers of 10 inches each. It's big ! It's a stack !



And it's an open back. I played few times on a Classic 50 loaded with 2 speakers of 12 inches, and I really liked the fat and sweet tone. On the other hand, the 4 speakers gives you an awful lot of presence and dynamics. You're sure to be heard. And if you can't be heard, then you might have put it too loud and your public is already deaf. I didn't try to unplug 2 out of the 4 speakers, because I must check the ohms first (will it be 16 or 8 ohms ?). But it is possible to do so.

The sound now... I guess I wrote a lot about the hardware already... Well, the sound is all about WARMTH and SWEETNESS. The cleans are pretty much standard, I must admit they are my reference (in regards with my very limited amp experience) - they do the job in a very addictive way, except when doing clean "acoustic-like" rythms. You know those 6-strings chords full blast patterns typical from acoustic ballads. Well, it's a bit messy. The bass tends to eat up the other frequencies, but if you remove the bass, it sounds too "electric"/artifical . In my opinion, it's a common problem to all electric guitars and their amplifiers : they can't produce acoustic tones ! On partial chords though, it's very funky. When it comes to arppegios and solos, I like to give a dark tone to it, in a jazz kind-of-way. Mids are very effective, bass shouldn't push to much (they're very BIG) and the treble are a bit agressive, so I prefer to roll them down in clean settings.

The overdriven channel will give you a wide range of tones, from very slight crunch (funky chunky shaky chunks...), bluesy crunch (SRV, and so on...), 70s hard rock, ACDC, all those 70s reissues bands (The Jets, The Strokes, Kings of Leon, etc...) and many modern lead tones (yes, I bought it because I could get a Satriani Flying in a blue dream tone very easily). I wouldn't recomment it for metal, even though I must say I'm having a lot of fun myself doing palm mutes. Putting a overdrive pedal in front of it can give you a mean loud earth-shaking in-your-face tone, of course. That amp might however keep you within the 40% to 70% gain area, where it's more crunchy than overdriven, and the notes keep being dynamic.

That's all folks,

PROS : Warm tones, perfect for blues and funk, with a deep dark side that can be kicked in for jazz solos and rythms. Heavy duty cabinet, classy bassman look. Sound is very versatile.

CONS : Very heavy and big : not easy to move it around, and over-powered for a bedroom or small studio usage. The sound might be too warm (it's very addictive though), and the cleans tend to crunch at higher volume (it all depends how your tubes are set... i chose mine to break-up fast). Controlboard is chromed : tend to get dirty easily.

This post has been edited by Pix: Jan 4 2006, 06:24 AM

The Long Overdued Vox AD30VT biased review/opinion by inactive forum spammer nick_drake.


Vox AD series Homepage

Okay, i'll be straight with you guys. i bought this amp without even trying it. was such a gamble. but i thought, how can u go wrong with:

1) 11 carefully selected amp models and some buncho effects bundled together as a bonus.
2) a tube power amp section (not really tube, but works in that way...or so.. )
3) VOX. VOX. VOX. need me to repeat that again?
4) power selector behind to control the wattage.



Well, what can i say, they have given you 11 amps, you choose the one that suits your style. then tweak it. eq wise and the gain knob. i hv to admit that i wasn't too impressed with the sound quality for the first few days i got it. then i got around to tweaking the eq knobs.

another thing is,on my fave model(mesa boogie) , when u turn it up kinda loud, (wattage selector pass halfway) u hv to retinker your EQ again to suit the situation, ie: band jams, so that u can cut thru the mix. for example, playing softly in my bedroom, i would turn the treble way up , bass and mid at 12. that wld sound just fine. but during loud jam sessions with my band, i turn down the treble to just abt 3 oclock..as the increase in volume seems to make the sound thin out a lot...whereas if i left the treble cut down at 3 in a bedroom level...it would sound kinda muffled...sorry if i was abit confusing here.

I hv to say tho, this amp is a tiny bit under powered. during jam sessions, i maxed out/nearly maxed out the volume...and sometimes...sometimes i couldnt hear myself. or maybe its just the rest of my band playing too loud. but you might agree with me once you use this amp with a band, unmiked. other than that, gigs with a amp miking system, this amp should pull thru fine.

So far, due to my narrow musical tastes and skills, i favour the mesa boogie(numetal) amp for dirty stuff, and the tweed (bassman) for cleans. but normally, i just get too lazy, and turn down the volume knob on my guitar on the mesa setting, and voila..i get some nice clean sound...not realy that clean tho..

I wouldn't really comment on the other amp models, as i guess , its universally known how they sound like. and i wouldnt dare to comment on the accuracy of the modelling as i hv nvr tried any of the real amps they modelled. but what i can assure you all is that, you WILL find something you love in this amp...and eventually marry that amp setting..

I would like to comment tho, on the marshall jcm900/2000 model (uk modern). it sounds kinda muffled and bassy. and lacks the definition and clarity. the jcm 800 is a very well defined amp tho. i play with it sometimes, and just like the unique punch it gives. but it kinda lacks gain on it, not that heavy. maybe a pedal will fix it?



Effects, there are plenty, but some of them are tied to another effect. like chorus+reverb, tremolo+reverb... but its alright, as there are parameters where u can turn down the reverb to zero, and leave the tremolo working by itself. other stand alone effects include delay, reverb,autowah(not good),rotary speaker...
what is cool is that, you can really control the individual effect parameters such as the time, rate, feedback. such unexpected depth for a cheap combo amp. a real winner here if ur talking about your bang for the buck.



This amp , is wrapped up in that black plastic thing...uhm..what do u call it? tolex? heh, im kinda afraid i might scratch that plastic layer on top...

other than that, its a pretty sturdy amp. traces of plastic everywhere, but the front metal grille really gives it a sturdy reaffirmation that it can hold up, just dont treat your amp like you're a rockstar. hehe...it wont make you one anyway. i dont mind sitting on it, i use it as a stool too sometimes.



There we go... im done. a little abrupt..

How many of you collect your guitar hero's items which they used for their recordings, performances and their photo shoots ? Some will go crazy to obtain their guitar pick, guitar strap and what more, the guitar itself. (would you actually collect your guitar hero's underwear ? ) This review was done by my friend (my friend wish to remain anonymous) but since I'm the one that drove both of us to the shop, I think I have the rights to post this review . What both of "us" are doing to review are two Tremonti guitars from PRS which are PRS Mark Tremonti Model and PRS Tremonti SE. It will be very interesting to put these rather similar guitars side by side for comparisons.

The looks .....

(Tremonti SE)
My friend owns a PRS Tremonti SE guitar. The SE stands for Student Edition. Well, you guess it, since most students are "not-so-rich", the Tremonti SE is the lower-end model made in Korea of the more excellent Mark Tremonti Model. Lower-end or not, the Tremonti SE has the looks of any expensive guitars out there. The body is made from Mahogany and there's a 3-way toggle pickup selector near the neck pickup, similar to Les-Paul guitars. There are also four control knobs which are controls the volume and tone for each pickup. To add some icing to the cake, there's white binding on the Mahogany body which looks real cool with the black colour body. The guitar has 22-fret neck with rosewood fretboard with PRS very own tuners which keeps the guitar in tune. And all this is still the Student Edition folks; I haven't mentioned anything on the Mark Tremonti Model yet.



(Mark Tremonti Model)
Now it's the more expensive version. Comparing the Mark Tremonti Model with the Tremonti SE is like comparing a Ferrari F50 with a Proton Gen-2. First look at this made in USA guitar and you'll notice the superb pearl bird inlays on the 22-fret rosewood neck and the special 12th fret Mark Tremonti inlay. The guitar's body is a carved maple top with thick mahogany back and has an opaque color with natural maple edge. The guitar has a unique Tremonti Bass and Tremonti Treble pickups with a PRS adjustable stoptail bridge. Everything else is pretty much the same with the SE version, there's a 3-way toggle pickup selector near the neck pickup and four control knobs which are controls the volume and tone for each pickup. The Tremonti SE is thinner than the Mark Tremonti Model.

The sounds .....

(Tremonti SE)
My friend says that the guitar has a pleasing mix of full and well-defined lows and brilliant mids on the neck pickup, and howling leads with some real AC/DC moments on the neck. The entire sound feels quite modern and punchy, but the output isn't too high and this gives it enough raunch for classic rock stuff. The guitar has a thin neck which means playability is awesome or in other words, the action is good stuff. It pleasingly winds up the clean channel with clean crystal clear sounds.
Overdrive turns the neck pickup into rythmn heaven, with the punch at low gain good for a wide range of driven backings, with the top end biting nicely. Winding up the gain gives a much more metally tone, as the benefits of a set mahogany neck show through. My friend plays this guitar with a Marshall AVT100X, and this guitar is good for metal and rock playing guitarists.



(Mark Tremonti Model)
The amp used with this guitar is a Laney HCM65R. My friend is doing all the testing and I'm doing all the writing. The clean sound on this guitar is crystal clear and pristine, and when my friend switches on the overdrive channel on the amp, it's just pure ecstasy. Warmth and sustain for days with the fullest body of sound we have ever heard. This guitar is perfect for hard, guitar-driven rock...this is how Mark Tremonti makes those fat and warm crunch for their songs (listen to Creed's "What If"). As I mentioned earlier, this guitar has a unique Tremonti Bass and Tremonti Treble pickups installed. The fat and warm crunch is the result of the combination of these pickups. The Tremonti Bass pickup never sounds overdriven when playing clean, and the Tremonti Treble pickup will add extra presence/ brightness. There's no unwanted feedback at all with this guitar. My friend did point out that the action is super low & super fast, the guitar practically plays itself. Those who love Nickelback, Hoobastank, P.O.D., Linkin Park, Puddle Of Mudd just to name a few (and of course Creed) will surely love this guitar.

So which guitar to buy ?

Haha, seriously speaking ... we don't know. Well, it depends on your wallet. My friend bought his Tremonti SE for Rm2,999 and the Mark Tremonti Model is a cool Rm10,999. Basically, the Tremonti SE has less cosmetic finishes and the unique pickups then the Mark Tremonti Model. Both guitars are perfect for metal and rock players, but of course the Mark Tremonti Model provides the better sounding and better looking then its smaller brother has to offer.

Tremonti SE
Pros: Great for metal and rock guitarists, excellent workmanship, very comfortable
Cons: You'll get jealous with those who have the "real" Tremonti guitar .

Mark Tremonti Model
Pros: excellent workmanship, very comfortable, unique Tremonti pickups which sounds awesome, excellent presentation (pearl bird inlays and Mark Tremonti inlays)
Cons: Price , not suitable for blues and jazz

This post has been edited by TheWhacker: Mar 5 2006, 08:55 AM

Ask any musicians' you know of and chances are they will own at least one acoustic guitar along with their endless list of electric guitars. Playing a gig with an electric guitars take some time to set up, from plugging your guitar to those pedals on the floor, to setting those controls on the amp and finally having the best pedals, amp and guitar in the world won't do a thing if you can't find a power plug. Acoustic guitars are a "take and play" instrument, similar to "plug and play" in most computer hardware.

Some songs require both acoustic and electric guitar in order to play the song properly and accurately. So how do you switch between your acoustic guitar and then back to your electric guitar at an instant on the live performance?

The Modeler

To solve that problem, allow me introduce the Behringer AM100 Acoustic Modeler pedal. This effects pedal allows guitarists to achieve realistic acoustic guitar modeling using any electric guitar. The pedal has dark brown colour which may be representing the wood theme here, hence acoustic guitar. The pedal has a switch to choose what type of Acoustic Guitar sound you want (standard, large, piezo pickup style or bright). Standard mode produces a typical acoustic guitar sound while at the Large mode delivers a large and more resonant acoustic feel. The Piezo mode simulates distinct brightness of a classic piezo pickup and the last mode Bright gives a brilliant and ultra-present sound which is good if you're playing in a live environment.



On top of that, there's also 3 knobs for level, enhance and resonance. Level basically adjusts the output level (the volume). The Enhance control determines the amount of brilliance as well as upper harmonics and the Resonance control adjusts the resonance of the simulated acoustic guitar body.

Sadly, the manual is only a sheet of paper (like all Behringer effects pedals), and to be honest the manual should have at least give more information, such as where to put the 9V battery (because of this I actually unscrewed the whole thing looking for where to put the battery, only to find out it is under the actual pedal). The locking system for the battery also needs about 5 different hands to unlock and lock again. See the picture below.



If you stomped on the pedal, it would probably break due to the fact that it is mainly plastic. I said before "throwing a Boss pedal to the wall will crack the wall and the Boss pedal will be fine" but don't try throwing this Behringer pedal to anything, so press it and treat it gently.

Acoustic Sounds ?

The pedal was used with a 70's Fender Stratocaster and a Marshall MG50DFX amp. When in use, it makes a slight hissing noise, but it is very easy to ignore when playing with it. The sound when used is very similar to an acoustic guitar, but the highs, even when the enhance knob is turned up full, just aren't good enough. When the Resonance knob is turned up, the bottom 4 strings sound great.

I played the song "Some Day" by Nickelback and I was able to play the whole song only on the electric guitar with the AM100 plugged in. I played the song using the 'Piezo pickup' mode, with the 'Enhance' knob turned nearly to full, and the 'Resonance' knob set at about halfway. When the pedal is turned on it create a slight "pop", which can be a nuisance when turning it on an off mid song. You have to turn down the volume on the pedal itself it avoid the "pop" sound.

So I throw away my Acoustic guitar ?

No, keep it. If you're playing a song which uses only the acoustic guitar, then you should use an acoustic guitar to play it, not with this pedal. This pedal helps a lot if you don't want to switch guitars in a middle of performance. If you're looking for your first Acoustic Modeler pedal, this is the pedal to buy because it's only Rm120. However, if you're a seasoned guitarist, you should skip this pedal and settle for the Boss AC-2.

Pros: Super cheap; great acoustic sounds

Cons: Changing batteries is a big hassle; it's made of plastic; creates a "pop" sound when activating the pedal.

Anyone here knows where Petaling Street is located ? This is the place where all the cheap electronic items like microphones, mixers, cables are being sold at very low prices. Don't think very low prices means very low quality, the catch is to find the right item at the right shop so a little abit of window-shopping is required to get the best bang for your money.



I have seen alot of guitar cables in various shops with all the advance features like a muted button or an anti-tangle construction and all these cables don't come cheap. Some of them can reach over Rm200 price tag. Almost all guitarist and bassist will agree of the importance of having a good quality cable. This is because the cable acts as the middle man between your guitar and your amp. Some would settle for a cheap cable that will break or snap after awhile due to the cheap construction of the cable. But there's one cable under the same category of cheap but has the expensive features of an expensive cable.

The MaxCable

When I first saw this cable, my first taught is this cable is not going to be cheap. Its construction is a solid rubber base, you can slash someone's back with this cable and it will leave a mark on the skin. The connectors have a reinforced padding (see the picture below) to protect the wires inside the cable so that they will not break or snap while you move around with your guitar plugged on. This cable is 3 meters long, not that long for those who want to move around the stage during a live performance, but should be enough for most musicians. And to add the icing on the cake, the connectors are a 24k Gold Plated. Gold is one of the best conductor for electricity to inprove the connection between speakers or instruments. Gold is used because it is virtually resistant to corrosion, which is the primary reason why it is chosen over copper and silver.



Max Sounds ?

Comparing this cable with a cheap cable (the ones the music stores will give free when you purchase a guitar from them), the MaxCable gives a more brighter and clearer sound on both clean and overdrive channels while on the cheap cable it gives abit of muddy sounds. I did an experiment with this cable by moving 3 meters away from the amp. The cable poped out from the guitar but there's no sign of cracking whatsoever and still works like new. The cheap cable however didn't suffer same the fate as its now in the rubbish bin because the connector broke while I was doing the same experiment.

The best cable ever !

So how much this cable cost ? Its only Rm25. Yes, Rm25. So go and get it

Pros: It's Rm25, good construction, 24K Gold Plated connectors

Cons: If I have to say something bad about this cable, it would be the length of the cable, which is only 3 meters.

This post has been edited by TheWhacker: Aug 28 2006, 07:10 PM

Great Tutorial written by MetalZone

The cardbox box for my Korg ToneWorks AX1500G was getting somewhat worn from lugging it around to church, events, camps for the past 3 years. Since I always had a hard case for my electric guitar, i decided to make a simple aluminium case for my multi-effects too.

This issin't my usual precision work, so the workmanship is a little shabby. Coz I was doing it in a rush to finish it before I get back to KL. It only took me less than one and a half days to make it, thanks to some help from my dad.

Materials used: 1mm thick aluminium sheet, 25mm wide aluminium L-bracket, 12.5mm wide aluminium L-bracket, 2X hinges, 2X pull down latch, bostik super steel epoxy, rivets (i only used rivets in conjunction with epoxy, no screws) and some superglue (to hold some parts together temporarily), 1 inch thick black foam, 1X plastic handle, 8X corner edging.

1. First of all, plan what you want to do. The end product is only as good as how well you planned it. Measure the size of the equipment you want to make a case for. Consider how much strength you need for the case. When planning the dimensions, be sure to take in account of the thickness of the padding or foam that you intend to use. Decide on how do you want to divide the casing where it will open up (look at my pictures as an example). Remember to consider the sizes and types of aluminium L-brackets available to you and how you are going to piece them together. Take in account of the material thickness (eg. the thickness of the aluminium sheet or plywood). I can't stress enough on the planning stage. Planning is just as important as actually building it. If you can, design it in AutoCAD (I use AutoCAD whenever I'm designing anything, including modding) or any CAD program or draw it on paper. Then, calculate how much materials you need and proceed to buy them. Buy a little extra in case you make a mistake.

2. Draw out the pieces which you intend to cut on the materials. Draw accurately! Use a proper ruler and set square or the L-ruler. Remember to take in account even the 1 mm wide cut line made by the jigsaw or dremel. Cut the aluminium sheet or plywood according to the dimensions that you specified in planning. For the L-brackets, same thing. Just that you have to also cut a 45 degree angle for the corners where it will meet another piece. Use a file or some sandpaper to smoothen out the rough cuts.

3. So you got all the parts? It's time to piece them together. Some examples which you could use to attach them together: Rivets, screws, epoxy glue. I used both rivets and epoxy glue in my case. Now its time to drill the holes for the rivets/screws. Measure and mark the locations where you want to drill the holes. Always use a block of wood at the back when you are drilling through so that the hole doesnt get warped or become pear shaped. You can either drill through both the L-bracket and the aluminiums sheet or plywood at the same time, or drill through them seperately. If you do drill through them seperately, you need to be very accurate with your drilling to make sure everything lines up perfectly. If you choose to drill through both together, remember to mark both pieces with a pencil so that you know which piece matches which side. Be sure to use the right drill bit size to fit the size of the rivets that you may be using. It should be slightly larger than the size of the rivets.

4. Some people aren't familiar with how rivets work, so anyway here's basically how you do it. First you need a riveter. You can buy a relatively cheap hand riveter from a hardware shop together with some rivets. The head of the riveter has different interchangeable sizes to match the diameter of the rivets. When choosing rivets, choose according to what you need. You dont need humongous rivets for small joints like these. On each rivet, there's two sides; One side with a larger diameter and a ball at the end, and one side with a long smaller diameter shaft. The side with the ball is where you insert into the hole where you intend to rivet, whereas the other shaft is where you insert into the riveter. To rivet a joint, put the appropriate sides into their respective holes as explained previously, and pull the lever of the handle. You most probably need to release the handle and pull the second time. You will come to a point where it stops, pull the handle even harder and the shaft will snap off leaving the ball end of the rivet on the other side of the joint. Do it correctly and you should have a nice rivet joint. If you do make a mistake and need to remove a rivet, just drill through the rivet and it should come off.

5. The remaining steps with the hinges and latches should be self-explained. For the foam, try to design them so that you can just fit them in like the way I did. Cut it with a sharp and long blade or knife to get a clean cut.

Thats about it for the tutorial I guess. Good luck!

After adding the handle and corner edges/feet.












Without the foam put in


The parts of the foam. No glue required. Just fit them in like a jigsaw puzzle.


This post has been edited by Pix: Sep 11 2006, 03:20 AM

Features: Ibanez RG Prestige 7 string model. Made In Japan. 24 frets and a bolt-on neck. Solid Basswood body. Mine is a blue with a slight touch of green on it. Standard Passive Pickups with 1-Volume 1-Tone selector. Edge Pro 7 with locking tuners. Comes with a very nice Ibanez Prestige Team J Craft hardcase (fits perfectly and can only fit the guitar). // 10/10

Sound: I play Progressive Metal, Neo-Classical, Jazz (well alot of things actually) with this guitar (Rusty Cooley, John Petrucci, and the likes). Running this Guitar through my Boss GT-6 to my Marshall AVT-150. The guitar is great but the pickups are questionable. Plan to change the pickups to EMG's or DiMarzio's depending on how fast I can save for it. It's stock pickup is muddy and not as powerfull as I expect it to be. But the stock pickups are bearable and won't dissapoint. A change is definate if you're a person who values tone and power. Not much difference between the Neck and Bridge Pickup. Neck pickup goes muddy when gain is up and the low B-string is played. Bridge pickup lacks the bite and has no power to it's sound. Clean sounds are ok and nothing to shout about. If you don't solo on the guitar and the B string(extended runs) and only do power chords then the pickups are quite reasonable as the sound it produces is heavy. // 5/10

Action, Fit & Finish: I had a techincian to do minor tweeks to it. It came with 3 springs at the back and added another one. 5 springs make the trem too hard to play with. 4 was just nice to keep it in better tune and stability. Had some intontion check and changed the action as it was slightly higher then usuall. Neck feels great but Ibanez didn't do a great job to the minor details. I can see extra wood used at the headstock(7 piece neck instead of 5). The paint around my pickup has a very small blotch. Not really noticeable. All in all still a good job. I'm just picky when it comes to these things. // 7

Reliability & Durability: Definately reliable if you can stand the weight as it is slightly heavier then a normal guitar. Still haven't played a real gig yet with this guitar so I cannot comment on it yet. Strap buttons are solid. I would use it on a gig without a backup. Finish looks as if it can last forever if properly taken care of. // 9

Impression: I play nearly everything and this guitar fits it well. With the right pickups this guitar can definately play anything if you know how to. I own an Ibanez S cutomized by me and a Fender Highway 1 also customized by me and the RG7 is different. This guitar gives you the extra string and that really opens up possibilities to your playing. The 7 stringer can play what a 6 stringer can and more. If it was stolen or lost (which I will make damn sure it won't) I'll definately get it back. I Compared it with the Hamer 7 string and still went for this because of the neck. The neck is truly important as it makes the transaction from 6 to 7 a lot easier. Wish it had better pickups. After playing a 7 string, when you return to a 6, the 6 will feel like a toy and feel much more easier to play (for me). It would take some time to get used to it but when you do, it'll rock hard. // 9


This is from my review at
http://ultimate-guitar.com/reviews/electri...1527/index.html

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Added on February 17, 2007, 10:54 am

Features: It's a gift from my dad and well he refused to give much information about it when I asked. This is what I can see from my research. The certificate and serial numbers from the Taylor website. It's was made in 1996 and if it was built back then it was definately made in US. Standard 21 frets. Most likely normal frets, not jumbo's in a rosewood neck. Neck has a very nice feel, small and easy to wrap your hands around the whole neck and not too fat (Trademark Taylor Neck ). One piece neck instead of the "new technology" neck (The NT neck is glued and what not. I Find it cost cutting measures instead of enhancements). If the wood used is still the same 10 years back, then the top is Solid Stitka Spruce with Ovangkol for the back and sides. Mine has a Mat finish instead of the new satin and gloss. Has Bear Claw Marks on the top which makes it look much cooler than a normal one. Has a Dreadnought body using Grover tuners. Built in Fishman Pickups (No controls, just direct into the jack at the side of the guitar). It came with the original Hand Made Taylor Hardcase from 1996 instead of the new black ones. // 10/10

Sound: I use the Taylor to tackle all of my acoustic songs as it is my only acoustic guitar. I use Elixir 0.12-0.53 gauges and it sounds amazing! When you strum this baby it sings! The projection is amazing and it also sounds beautiful when finger plucked. I play jazz to power ballads on this beauty and it just captures peoples attention because of it's loud and powerfull projection! Has a warm and round sound which I particularly like as opposed to the Martin sound (I have something for warm and round sounds). I hardly plug it in but when I have to it's usually my Marshall AVT150 which doesnt't really suit or compliment it (saving for an AER). Only minor drawback with this guitar is the feedback. I have to stay quite a distance from the amp to prevent feedback. Must be because of the pickups but I won't make changes because it'll ruin the value of this guitar. // 9/10

Action, Fit & Finish: Well for a 10 year old guitar, It's as good as new. The previous owner really kept this guitar in amazing condition and everything was perfect. Stays in tune, action is amazing it's not too low but low enough to be just nice for me (I sent the guitar for a checkup at Sinamex recently and the tech said the action was high but since i played classical he said the action shouldn't be a problem ). The neck is perfect for it's age and humidity problems here in Malaysia (very hot and humid country). And the back of the guitar is showing minor signs of bloating(prevention is the best cure, the guitar bloat is very minor and i'm doing my best to stop it from bloatign anymore). All these are because of the weather conditions here. But again the problems may not have been here when it was first brought in. // 10/10

Reliability & Durability: I have used this guitar for a lot gigs and played with it nearly everyday and it still sounds and feels like when I first got them. It's 10 years old 'nuff said. The hardware seems brand new and the buttons are solid. I only use this guitar as my acoustic so I won't use another as a backup cause this guitar is irreplaceable. Finish would last the ages. // 10/10

Impression: Practicly this guitar totally suits me as it can cover everything from blues to jazz to rock to country. I may not own many other guitars but I've tried a lot of other guitars out there in the market from Martin, Maton, Fender, Takamine and even other Taylor models, but this is unique and different. This also show the difference in quality and workmanship 10 years back and now. I tried the new 410's and they had a lot of difference but all in all it still felt the same. Wished I had more information on the guitar but never regretted this guitar. Amazing gift. If it was stolen/lost I'll hunt for it with all my heart and soul because I know this guitar is irreplaceable. Love everything about it and hate only the feedback from the fishman pickups (not using the espression system). // 10/10

My Taylor 410 review from Ultimate Guitar
http://ultimate-guitar.com/reviews/acousti.../410/index.html

This post has been edited by TheWhacker: Feb 17 2007, 10:54 AM

Moen Violent Metal MO-VM Distortion pedal review by Sweet Tooth

i bought this pedal half a year ago at The Guitar Store Damansara Perdana(sole distributor) after trying out the wide array of pedals they had there and i was pretty much stuck between this pedal and the MetalZone. In the end, i picked out this China-made pedal because i felt it had a greater crunch and aggro in it.


MOEN Violent Metal MO-VM - made in china
Pros
- sturdy casing
- very versatile; has 6 tone knobs: Low, Mid, Hi, Level, Mid Freq, Dist.
- Amp booster
- able to achieve heavy crunches

Cons
- Not popular, outshadowed by the MetalZone
- can't achieve too high Mid settings
- battery connector has some problems(might just be my unit)
- on/off button might be too small for some
_____________________________________________________________________________

First off, don't be fooled by the made in china label, its not that bad. After testing this pedal through a 100watt marshall amp, i tested it through an MG30 to be sure it would sound good on a smaller amp, and it did. With a list price of RM295, most people compare this pedal to the MetalZone and go with the more tried and true pedal instead.

This distortion pedal is no laughing matter, it can get really deep crunchy tones and also smooth, laid back tones as well. having 6 knobs(similar to the MT2), it is very versatile in its functions. there is a lot of room for tweaking and fine tuning and you will be able to find your tone from this pedal no matter how fussy you are

with this pedal, i am able to achieve various tones, from kirk hammett to alexi laiho to valkyrie1232 The only downside is you can't really get a really warm tone because too much mids will make everything on the higher register sound too muddy and even crack if you crank it up too much. to achieve that warm tone, i turn up my mids to about 12 - 1oclock and switch to my neck pickup. there's no need to keep the distortion at max because this pedal has some serious distortion in it.

i compared this pedal again with the metalzone a couple of days ago, matching both settings and i find that this pedal has less hum in it compared to the metalzone. However, the metalzone was able to reach warmer tones, with higher mid settings.

Next, there is a useful amp booster located on the left side of the pedal. by switching it on, the output will be increased by A LOT, i have to turn it off because switching it on makes it really loud and it might blow my amp. however, the tone gets really heavy and very very distorted. Perfect for heavy palm muting rhythm playing.

As the name suggests, this pedal is great for metal. it gives you a killer sound, more violent than ever(hence the name). I haven't compared this to the ML2 yet, but i doubt this pedal will be able to produce as much distortion as the ML2(based on what people say). All in all, this pedal is worth trying out if you are looking for a Metal pedal. It comes a very close 2nd to the metalzone in most aspects. Price wise, its slightly cheaper(RM295 against RM320) than the metalzone.

i hope this review was helpful and hopefully will give you an insight of this little pedal and maybe you'll go down to The Guitar Store and give it a try

Ease of Use: 8 (too many knobs might be complicated to some)
Sound: 10 (very versatile in achieving various tones)
Reliability: 8 (my battery connector had problems)
Impression: 9 (looks good, sounds good)
Overall: 8.8/10

As you know, Slashâ„¢ has his own line of signature guitars lately. I m getting a Slashâ„¢ Signature Epiphone Les Paul soon, bt I heard some other guitar instructors comment that the sound of the guitar is ambushed inside and can't bring it into the full play. I know Epiphoneâ„¢ is a lower-range guitar, so it's definitely can't compare with the Gibson Slashâ„¢ Signature Les Pauls. I have read the Epiphone Specifications and the woods used are also mahogany Neck with Maple top. I have already tried the guitar Neck, the Long Neck Tenon & the Neck Radius both are right to me. I mean the feeling when i m fretting it is comfortable to me. I haven't tried out its sound though. The Problem is should I get one of this or any other suggestions?

This post has been edited by chester43: Aug 23 2008, 09:16 AM