Phil O'Keefe

What do these cymbals and a 20W guitar amp have in common? This is a review about cymbals. Right off the bat I should let everyone know that I'm really not a drummer. Sure, I have a studio kit and I occasionally bang around on it, but drums are not my primary, or even one of my secondary instruments. But I am an audio engineer, and I know what good cymbals should sound like. I have put in countless hours working with drummers in various situations over the years - as a live sound engineer, recording engineer and as a musician. So why am I reviewing this new line of cymbals from Sabian? Because when I heard about them, I thought they very well might be the solution to some longstanding issues that I (and many drummers) have occasionally faced - sometimes the drum kit - especially the cymbals - can be too loud for the situation at hand, requiring the drummer to "hold back" in order to avoid overpowering the other instruments, the room, the audience, and in some cases, even the rest of the kit. Most of the drummers reading this can probably relate, and know what it's like to be asked to "turn down a bit" from personal experience. So what exactly are FRX cymbals, and how can they help with these issues? What You Need To Know Sabian's new line of FRX cymbals shouldn't be confused with "practice cymbals" (like Sabian's new line of Quiet Tone cymbals) - the FRX series is intended for performance use, and not just for practicing at home. Currently, the FRX line consists of a variety of different cymbal sizes, including 14" hi hats, 16", 17" and 18" crash cymbals, and 20" and 21" ride cymbals. Each is offered separately - there are currently no "bundles" available, although I suspect Sabian will offer them in cymbal packages eventually. The hats pair a light top with a medium weight bottom, and they feel fairly quick and articulate to this non-drummer. The ride cymbals have good stick definition and a nice clank to the bell, and good ping when played closer to the edge. I really like the bell sounds on both rides, as well as on all three crash cymbals too. Crashes are bright, crisp and explosive, but they don't rip your head off or leave you with ear fatigue. The feel is a bit on the soft side, and the pitch of the three crashes complement each other very well. Similar to practice cymbals, the FRX cymbals are perforated with a variety of small holes, but not nearly as heavily. Where nearly the entire surface area of Sabian's Quiet Tone cymbals have holes, the FRX cymbals have holes covering less than 20-25% of their surface area, at most. The hole pattern is different for each cymbal type, with only one small ring of holes around the base of the bell on the top hi hat (and none on the bottom), seven (16") or eight (17" and 18") rings of holes on the crash cymbals (covering about half of the bell and moving outward from there) and two perforated areas on the ride cymbals - with eight rows of holes that start about half way down the bell, and another three rows spaced about one inch from the cymbal's edge. While they are quieter than regular cymbals (according to Sabian by about 4 dB, on average - which I confirmed in my own studio with comparison tests using regular cymbals and a SPL meter), they're not nearly as quiet as practice cymbals, which can be 30-40 dB quieter than regular cymbals. While a 4 dB reduction in volume is audible, don't make the mistake of thinking it's a huge reduction like you'd hear from practice cymbals. For the non-engineers out there, the decibel is a non-linear, logarithmic ratio; the human ear perceives a 10 dB increase in SPL (sound pressure level) as a "doubling" of volume or as being "twice as loud", so while noticeable, the 4 dB volume difference between FRX and regular cymbals is not as drastic as a practice cymbal's sound pressure level reduction. Lower volume doesn't mean lower quality. Sabian didn't go cheap here. These are not inexpensive sheet brass cymbals - they use the same B20 bronze as their AA/AAX, HH/HHX, Paragon and Artisan cymbals. These are traditionally finished cymbals with a natural glow, as opposed to a highly polished surface. The bells are left raw and unfinished. They're fairly "fast" - not only do they have the explosive attack you want, but they decay fairly quickly too - but again, not nearly as fast as most practice cymbals. The faster decay helps them to "get out of the way" of other things in the mix (including the drums themselves), but there's still enough sustain and shimmer to be satisfying and to avoid giving the listener the impression of an un-naturally muted or dead cymbal sound. Unlike practice cymbals, the sound of the stick attack isn't overwhelming or unbalanced compared to the cymbal itself. This is a particularly important distinction when recording. I've made mention of "lower volume" multiple times in this review, but that's something that Sabian isn't really emphasizing in their marketing. They are quick to point out that while they are a bit quieter, what they're shooting for with the FRX series is not just about the SPL readings on a meter, but our perception of the sound. Sabian says that FRX stands for Frequency Reduced Cymbals. What's the difference? Sabian's design aim wasn't just to make the cymbals quieter, but to do so by manufacturing the cymbals in such a way as to modify their overall frequency response - reducing some of the excessive midrange and high frequencies in order to reduce frequencies that tend to mask other sounds, cause ear fatigue and make cymbals seem overbearing in some situations. Does it work? Yes, it does. The FRX cymbals have an almost pre-EQ'ed sound to them that makes them sit in the mix much more comfortably and in a way that sounds much more polished - especially in smaller rooms or situations where regular cymbals might be a bit too overbearing - yet they still sound like "real" professional cymbals - because they are. Dynamic control is unaffected. You won't be able to get quite as loud with them, but you can still crescendo, you can still get louder on the chorus if you want to, and you can still be totally musical with your playing dynamics. Limitations The long-term durability of some other perforated cymbals has been a concern for some players, and only time will tell in terms of how well the FRX series will fare in that respect, but as of this time, I have no reason to think that they'd be any more prone to cracking than any other relatively thin cymbals. The fact that there is a substantial area at both the edges and near the center of the bell that is left unperforated on the FRX series means that these critical areas are less weakened than the same locations on some heavily perforated practice cymbal models. That, along with the standard B20 bronze metal formulation, should help them stay in it for the long haul. They're considerably more expensive than practice cymbals and are priced similarly to other professional grade cymbals in the Sabian line. Conclusions Sabian has really come up with something unique, special and very much needed with their new FRX line of cymbals. Finally, drummers don't have to hold back anymore - you can play naturally, while still controlling your SPL levels and reducing the chance that people will think you're too loud or playing too hard. With Sabian FRX cymbals the sometimes overwhelming broad spectrum wash of white noise that you get from most other cymbals is gone, leaving a more balanced, better focused, less overpowering sound in its place. Guitarists don't always need a 100W amp, nor will a 5W practice amp always be enough - which is why we've seen a rise in popularity of amps in the 15-20W range in the past few years. The FRX cymbals are the drummer's equivalent of a 20W guitar amp - loud enough to be practical for use in the types of venues where most of us play without being overpowering. If you find yourself regularly playing at wedding receptions, in the pit orchestra for musical theater or stage plays, at an amusement park, on a cruise ship, in a casino lounge, or for a church praise and worship team - or anywhere else where you have to be constantly vigilant about how people will perceive your volume level, then you'll appreciate what the Sabian FRX series has to offer. Drummers are not the only ones who might want to consider purchasing these cymbals. Smaller venues such as clubs and coffee shops, musical directors, school stage and jazz band programs, churches, and recording studios may want to invest in a set of Sabian FRX cymbals and keep them on hand for use when the drummer's regular cymbals are too loud and overpowering. They record exceptionally well, and if you've ever had a drummer come into the studio that beat the snot out of the cymbals constantly but barely tapped the skins, you know how frustrating it can be to try to get a well balanced drum sound. As I had hoped, the FRX cymbals are ideal for these situations, allowing for a more impactful drum sound and more balanced mix overall without compromising the subjective sound quality of the cymbals. While I wouldn't always automatically default to using them in the studio, I don't ever want to record drums again without having a set of Sabian FRX cymbals on hand in case they are needed. While they're not inexpensive, the same is true of all high-quality cymbals, and no other cymbal currently on the market that I'm aware of (no matter how expensive) does quite what the Sabian FRX series does. If you're looking for a very musical set of cymbals that blows people away based on their sound rather than on their volume, you owe it to yourself to give them a try. I predict that they're going to be very popular with a lot of drummers - and a lot of other people too. -HC- Want to discuss the Sabian FRX series frequency reduced cymbals or have questions or comments about this review? Then head over to this thread in the Drum forum right here on Harmony Central and join the discussion! Resources Sabian FRX series frequency reduced cymbals ($299.99 - $479.99 MSRP each, depending on size and model) Sabian's product web page You can purchase the Sabian FRX series cymbals from: Sweetwater Guitar Center Musician's Friend (More demonstration videos and audio clips, including examples with each separate cymbal, can be found on the Sabian product web page) __________________________________________________ Phil O'Keefe is a multi-instrumentalist, recording engineer / producer and the Senior Editor of Harmony Central. He has engineered, produced and performed on countless recording sessions in a diverse range of styles, with artists such as Alien Ant Farm, Jules Day, Voodoo Glow Skulls, John McGill, Michael Knott and Alexa's Wish. He is a former featured monthly columnist for EQ magazine, and his articles and product reviews have also appeared in Keyboard, Electronic Musician and Guitar Player magazines.

Kenton MIDI Merge 8 Got the urge to merge? This versatile box can do it in two ways By Phil O'Keefe Kenton is a familiar name to those who need MIDI problem solvers. Some of you may remember my review of the Kenton Thru 25 1 x 25 MIDI thru box. A MIDI thru box takes one MIDI input and splits it to multiple outputs. This time we're looking at another essential MIDI problem solver from Kenton - the MIDI Merge 8. It essentially does the opposite of what a MIDI thru box does. In what ways? Read on to find out! What You Need To Know The Kenton MIDI Merge 8 is manufactured in the United Kingdom. It can be thought of as an expanded version of their popular MIDI Merge 4. It has eight MIDI inputs (on standard 5-pin DIN jacks) and two MIDI outputs instead of the 4x1 configuration of the Merge 4. The MIDI inputs are opto-coupled for isolation. MIDI inputs 1-6 are located on the rear panel of the MIDI Merge 8, while MIDI inputs 7-8, as well as MIDI Out 1 and 2, are located on the front. The Kenton Merge 8's enclosure is brushed aluminum with black screen printing for the graphics and labels. Four small rubber feet come pre-installed on the bottom of the enclosure. The Merge 8 measures 155 mm W x 80 mm D x 35 mm H and weighs 220g, excluding the power supply. The included 9V DC 100mA power supply is of the wall-wart type that is appropriate for your region - power supplies that are suitable for the UK, EU, USA and Australia are available and when you order directly from Kenton the correct adapter for your country is shipped to you automatically. The adapter's 2.1mm plug is wired center-positive. The Kenton MIDI Merge 8 can be configured in two ways: as an 8 in, 1 out MIDI merger, or as two 4x1 mergers. You'll find a dual-color LED indicator and a recessed pushbutton switch next to the power receptacle. The switch allows you to select between the Merge 8's two modes of operation. The Kenton MIDI Merge 8 can be used as a 8x2 MIDI merge box, or as two separate 4x1 mergers, depending on the position of the switch. The LED glows amber when the dual 4x1 option is selected, and green when the 8x2 merge mode is active. MIDI Inputs 1-4 are merged to MIDI Out 1, and MIDI Inputs 5-8 are merged to MIDI Out 2 when using the MIDI Merge 8 in split mode. The MIDI Merge 8 remembers the switch position when you power down and defaults to the last used mode when you power it back up. Limitations There are some rules that you have to be aware of when merging MIDI data streams. Controller data can be easily merged, but the MIDI protocol prohibits some types of data merging. For example, you can only have one master MIDI clock. The MIDI Merge 8 defaults to "no inputs as master" when it is first powered up. As soon as the MIDI Merge 8 receives a MIDI start command on any of its inputs, that input becomes the MIDI master, and the master is assigned to the most recent port to receive a MIDI start or continue command. System Exclusive messages can also not be merged. The Kenton MIDI Merge 8 will pass along System Exclusive messages, but will lock out Sysex messages from the other ports until the first one has completed. Since the 8x2 / 4x1 (x2) switch is recessed, you'll need a small tool (like the tip of a pen) in order to change its position. Of course, this also means you won't accidentally hit it in the middle of a gig, which is probably why they decided to recess the switch to begin with. Conclusions Since MIDI signals can not be combined or split with audio mixers or by using Y cables, a MIDI merger can be an essential accessory to have around. Unlike a thru box that takes one MIDI input and splits it to multiple outputs, a MIDI merger takes multiple MIDI inputs and combines them into a single MIDI output. Suppose you have two keyboards - a weighted-action master keyboard that lacks MIDI modulation and pitch bend wheels, and a synth-action keyboard sitting above it that does have those controls. You could use the synth for everything - playing the keys and adding expression with the wheel controllers, but if you prefer playing on the weighted-action keyboard, you would be giving up the use of the modulation and pitch wheels - but not if you have a MIDI merger. It would allow you to combine the MIDI Out from both keyboard controllers and send the merged data stream to your computer or MIDI module(s) so that you could play using the weighted action keys while using the synth keyboard's pitch and modulation wheels too. Here's another example. Suppose you have a drum machine that is providing a MIDI clock signal to your DAW to keep everything in sync, but you also want to be able to record MIDI performance data from your keyboard into your DAW too. The only problem is, you only have a single MIDI input jack on your computer. You could buy a new MIDI interface with more inputs, but if you have a MIDI merger, you could also send the clock signal from the drum machine, along with the performance data from the keyboard to your DAW simultaneously by merging the two data streams into one. If you need to combine the MIDI data from multiple devices, you should definitely check out this box. The Kenton MIDI Merge 8 was designed to do exactly that, and it does it without muss or fuss. Kudos to Kenton for the dual-mode operation - whether you need to merge a lot of MIDI data streams (up to 8 at once) and send the combined data stream out two ports, or whether you need two individual 4x1 mergers in a single box, the MIDI Merge 8 has got you covered. It is solidly-built and reliably does what it says it does. -HC- Want to discuss the Kenton MIDI Merge 8 or have questions or comments about this review? Then head over to this thread in the Keys, Synths & Samplers forum right here on Harmony Central and join the discussion! Resources Kenton MIDI Merge 8 (£128.92 ex VAT; about $166.23 at the current exchange rate at the time this was written.) Kenton's product web page Kenton MIDI Merge 8 manual (PDF file) You can purchase the Kenton MIDI Merge 8 directly from Kenton. __________________________________________________ Phil O'Keefe is a multi-instrumentalist, recording engineer / producer and the Senior Editor of Harmony Central. He has engineered, produced and performed on countless recording sessions in a diverse range of styles, with artists such as Alien Ant Farm, Jules Day, Voodoo Glow Skulls, John McGill, Michael Knott and Alexa's Wish. He is a former featured monthly columnist for EQ magazine, and his articles and product reviews have also appeared in Keyboard, Electronic Musician and Guitar Player magazines.

Tech 21 Acoustic Fly Rig Is this the perfect travel companion for your acoustic-electric instrument? by Phil O'Keefe Travel light and take up as little space as possible without giving up any of the essential effects that you need in order to deliver a professional, polished-sounding performance - either live, or in the studio. That's the basic philosophy behind Tech 21's series of "Fly Rigs" - think of them as miniature pedalboards or multi effects units that pack a ton of features into an impressively small space that's easy to take with you wherever you go. The new Acoustic Fly Rig is a great example. How small is it, and what sorts of features and effects does it have? Let's take a closer look and find out. What You Need To Know The Tech 21 Acoustic Fly Rig was designed and built in the USA specifically to complement acoustic instruments. While most people will probably use it with an acoustic-electric guitar, it's equally well suited for use with other acoustic-electric instruments such as mandolin and acoustic bass guitar. The Tech 21 Acoustic Fly Rig is super-small, especially considering all that it can do. It measures only 12.5" W x 2.5" D x 1.25" H, and weighs only 20.7 ounces, so not only will it easily fit into the accessory pocket of many cases and gig bags, it's light enough that you may not even notice it's there. Just because it's small and light, that doesn't mean that Tech 21 skimped on the build quality. The Acoustic Fly Rig's housing is all-metal and feels rugged and road-worthy. The unit is orange with white graphics, and the lettering for all of the controls is white but outlined in black, which makes it easier to see. Power is supplied from an included 9V 200mA DC power supply. The power supply is auto-switching and self-adjusting for 100V-240V operation, which means it can be used anywhere in the world with the proper travel adapter for the country you're visiting. The plug part of the power supply is removable, and adapters for various countries (included) can be quickly swapped in and out. The metal 1/4" input and output jacks are located on the rear of the pedal, along with the industry standard 2.1 mm center-negative jack for the power supply plug. The input impedance is 1megOhm, while the unbalanced 1/4" "universal output" is low impedance and can be connected to other effects pedals or directly to a high impedance amp input, or a low impedance input on a mixing console or audio interface. Need to feed the house PA instead of an acoustic amp? That's no problem with the Acoustic Fly Rig's built-in XLR output. There's even a ground lift switch to deal with any hum issues you might run into. The XLR output is located on the left hand side of the Acoustic Fly Rig. Tech 21's famous SansAmp is at the heart of the Acoustic Fly Rig. This all-analog circuitry emulates the sound of an amplifier with impressive accuracy, and allows you to run direct to the PA live or recording console or audio interface in the studio without the need of an amp or direct box. The Acoustic Fly Rig can also be used as a preamp and effects pedal placed in "front" of your guitar or bass amp, or plugged into the amp's effect loop return jack to bypass the amp's preamp and use the SansAmp preamp instead. Let's take a look at the signal path of the Acoustic Fly Rig. The first thing is a Phase Flip switch, which allows you to invert the signal polarity. When the switch is in the out position the output is in phase with the input signal, and depressing the switch flips it. This can be useful for helping to reduce feedback and for making sure your pickup is in phase with your mic, if you also use a mic simultaneously with your instrument's onboard pickup. Next up is the Acoustic Fly Rig's Comp section. This features a fast FET compressor circuit. Dialing it up is really easy - just turn up the Comp control until you hear the amount of compression you want, and then adjust the Level control to compensate for any signal level drop that results from the compression. There is a wide range of compression available, from subtle to heavy squash. There is a dedicated "footswitch" (actually a "silent-switching custom actuator" - one of the five found on the Acoustic Fly Rig) for the Comp section, allowing you to, if you'll pardon the expression, easily turn it on or off on the fly. The Acoustic Fly Rig uses buffered bypass switching, and has no problem driving longer cable runs, even when bypassed. Next in the signal path comes the Boost section. This also has a dedicated footswitch as well as a Level control. Up to 12 dB of boost is available. Need a quick boost in volume for a solo? This is ideal for exactly that purpose. After the boost comes the SansAmp section of the pedal. Instead of a footswitch, a pushbutton switch turns this section on and off. In addition to a Volume control, you get extensive collection of very useful EQ controls, with a Notch filter (complete with its own pushbutton on/off switch) that's sweepable from 70 Hz - 350 Hz to help kill resonances that can lead to feedback, Low and High EQ controls (with +/-18 dB of boost or cut), a semi-parametric Midrange with Mid (+/-15 dB) and Mid-Shift (mid frequency, sweepable from 150 Hz - 3.2 kHz) controls, and finally a low pass filter (LPF) that is sweepable from 1.5 kHz - 20 kHz for filtering out the brittle high frequencies that some acoustic pickups give you too much of. Now that you've got your tone dialed up, the next section of the Acoustic Fly Rig is designed to let you add some effects to polish things up. The Reverb comes first, and it has its own dedicated footswitch for bypassing it, as well as a single knob for setting the amount. A pushbutton switch allows you to select between a small room reverb or a large hall effect. The dual purpose DLA/CH section rounds out the effects. It has its own on/off footswitch, and a pushbutton switch to select between Delay and Chorus. There are two knobs that work only when the Delay mode is selected - Time and Repeats. Time adjusts the delay time (with a range of 1ms - 750ms; 200ms when the knob is at noon), while Repeats sets the number of echoes, from a single repeat to nearly infinite repetitions. An E. Level knob sets the amount of effects in the mix, and works with both the Delay and Chorus. A red LED under the knob also serves as a clipping indicator to assist you in properly gain staging your setup. Both Time and Repeat knobs are disabled when the Chorus mode is selected. The chorus in the Acoustic Fly Rig is more of a pitch detuned doubling effect as opposed to a modulated chorus. The Delay / Chorus and Reverb are mixed in parallel internally and sent to the outputs. An onboard chromatic tuner can be accessed by hitting and holding the Tap / Tuner footswitch for a moment. In tuner mode the outputs are muted. A small display indicates the current note and illuminates up/down arrows to let you know if you're flat or sharp, and a green indicator in between them lights up to let you know when you're in tune. Tapping the Tap / Tuner button again exits tuner mode and turns the outputs back on. Finally, for those who would like to practice using headphones, a pushbutton switch engages a headphone mode that changes the output level of the 1/4" output jack so it can more easily drive headphones, and sends the signal to both sides of your stereo headset. All of the knobs on the Acoustic Fly Rig are clear with easy to see black position indicators, and the knobs are illuminated from beneath when the corresponding section of the pedal is active. Even cooler, they're color-coded, with yellow lights for the compressor section knobs, and red for the Boost and SansAmp sections - except for the crucial Volume knob, which is lit up in Lavender to make it easier to find in a hurry - a nice touch. Blue is used for the knobs in the Effects section, with a second, red LED under the E. Level knob that lights up whenever you tap on the Tap Tempo switch, giving you visual feedback - another really nice touch, although it's a bit harder to see when the Effect section is active and the blue lamps are lit. Limitations The knobs are fairly close together and those with larger fingers may find them a bit tricky to adjust. Those with average sized hands should have no problems. Small, closely spaced knobs are a practical compromise that was obviously made with the intention of keeping the Acoustic Fly Rig as small as possible, and probably won't be a major issue for most users. The Chorus and Delay effects are either / or; you can't use them together simultaneously. Conclusions I am impressed with how many features Tech 21 managed to cram into the diminutive Acoustic Fly Rig, from the useful compressor and boost to the preamp and extremely comprehensive EQ section (which is often essential for dialing up a great amplified acoustic tone) and the polished sounding reverb, delay and detuned chorus effects, it really does come with all of the essentials that you'd want in a acoustic preamp / mini-multieffects unit. Add in problem solvers like the notch filter and tuner, and it's even more useful. Plus, it works well with a variety of acoustic instruments, and not just guitars. I also really like the illuminated, color-coded knobs since they make it easy to see the control settings and what's active with just a glance. While the knobs themselves may be a little close together for people with huge hands, it's really not that bad. The Tech 21 Acoustic Fly Rig puts the functions of multiple pedals into a tiny enclosure for the sake of mobility, but it's not so tiny that people are going to struggle to use it. Compared to what individual tuner, compression, boost, preamp and effects pedals would cost, it's quite a bargain too. If you play an acoustic-electric instrument, whether in recording studios, at open-mic nights, at church, or any other live venue, you really should try out the Acoustic Fly Rig. It has all the features you need to dial up the sound the way you like it, and it's small enough that you'll never have to leave it behind. -HC- Want to discuss the Tech 21 Acoustic Fly Rig or have questions or comments about this review? Then head over to this thread in the Acoustic Guitar forum right here on Harmony Central and join the discussion! Resources Tech 21 Acoustic Fly Rig multi-effects pedal ($425.00 MSRP, $299.00 "street") Tech 21's product web page You can purchase the Tech 21 Acoustic Fly Rig from: Sweetwater __________________________________________________ Phil O'Keefe is a multi-instrumentalist, recording engineer / producer and the Senior Editor of Harmony Central. He has engineered, produced and performed on countless recording sessions in a diverse range of styles, with artists such as Alien Ant Farm, Jules Day, Voodoo Glow Skulls, John McGill, Michael Knott and Alexa's Wish. He is a former featured monthly columnist for EQ magazine, and his articles and product reviews have also appeared in Keyboard, Electronic Musician and Guitar Player magazines.

Dean Markley Blackhawk Coated Guitar Strings Are these new coated strings all they're wrapped up to be? by Phil O'Keefe This is a review that took me a lot longer to write than I originally thought it would. I can hear some of you now - yeah, but it's a review about guitar strings, how much is there to say? And that's true enough - there's only so much to talk about when it comes to guitar strings, but in order to fully and fairly evaluate any new strings, you have to put a couple of sets on your guitars and then play them. A lot. And therein lies the issue, as you'll see as you continue reading this review... What You Need To Know Blackhawk strings are the first coated strings from Dean Markley. They have a micro-thin coating that you really can't see or even feel, but that helps prevent tone-killing rust and corrosion. Dean Markley Blackhawk coated strings use a high-carbon nickel-plated steel wire core. Blackhawk strings are designed to be break-resistant as well as corrosion resistant. Dean Markley claims they will last up to four times longer than uncoated strings. I tried the regular Blackhawk electric guitar strings, gauges .010-.046, (.010 / .013/ .017 / .026 / .036 / .046) on my Telecaster and SG, but other gauges are also available, from .009-.042 lights to .011-.052 mediums, including custom light and light top / heavy bottom variations. Dean Markley also manufacturers Blackhawk strings in both 80/20 Bronze and Phosphor Bronze acoustic varieties as well, with each being available in a selection of gauges, from Extra Light (XL .010 - .047) to Medium (.013 - .056). In addition to the electric strings that I auditioned, I also installed a set of medium gauge (.013-.056) Blackhawk 80/20 Bronze strings on my Taylor GS Mini acoustic to test for this review. The acoustic and electric sets performed similarly in my tests. I put these strings on towards the end of the Southern California desert summer. Embarrassing admission time - I sweat quite a bit - especially in the summer. My personal body chemistry is really hard on strings - I rust them out and kill their tone pretty quickly. In spite of the heat and aggressive daily playing, over a month later they're still going strong, and still sound fresh and lively. That's impressive longevity - an uncoated set of strings would be lucky to last a week under similar conditions. The "feel" of these strings is quite good, without the thick plastic-coated feel that turned many players off on some of the earlier coated strings. Many people probably wouldn't even notice they were coated with anything if you didn't tell them. Don't forget - while they may be a bit more expensive, the economy is still there - since they last up to four times longer, you won't have to replace them nearly as often as less expensive strings. Not only will they save you money, they'll also save you time - you can spend more time enjoying playing your guitar and less time restringing it. Limitations I am not really crazy about the way they wrap and package the strings. The strings are all in a single sealed bag, which is placed inside a cardboard outer packet. So far, so good - it's light on excess packaging materials, so it's relatively environmentally friendly, which I think we can all agree is a good thing. What I was less knocked out by is the way they wrap them together in pairs, with only two color codes used for the ends - red and nickel/silver. It's pretty clever, and certainly easy enough to tell which string is which this way (at least as long as you unwrap and install them one pair at a time), and it reduces the number of different colored ball ends they need to keep on hand, but untangling the string pairs can be a bit tricky - especially compared to individually wrapped strings. It's not hard, just a minor annoyance. Conclusions Like many guitarists, I've had previous experience with Dean Markley's well-regarded strings, and as good as those generally are, these are by far the longest-lasting sets of Dean Markley strings I've ever used. In fact, they hold up as well as any strings I've ever tried, regardless of manufacturer. Considering how torturous my personal body chemistry is to string life, that's no small accomplishment. These are excellent strings with great tone that lasts and lasts due to their corrosion, rust and break resistance. We're nearly twenty years into the new millennium folks, and there's no need to play the same old strings anymore. Today we have something much more modern and long-lasting. If you were turned off by the thick poly prophylactic feel of some early coated strings, or have never experienced the extra life you can get with coated and break resistant strings, you owe it to yourself to try a great modern set of strings like the Dean Markley Blackhawk coated strings. You'll be amazed by how good they sound, how familiar they feel, and how long the tone lasts. -HC- Want to discuss the Dean Markley Blackhawk strings or have questions or comments about this review? Then head over to this thread in the Electric Guitar forum right here on Harmony Central and join the discussion! Resources Dean Markley Blackhawk strings ($11.99 - $14.88 "street", depending on type) Dean Markley's product web pages Blackhawk Strings Blackhawk Electric Blackhawk Acoustic Phosphor Bronze Blackhawk Acoustic 80/20 Bronze You can purchase Dean Markley Blackhawk strings from: Strings And Beyond Amazon (Electric) Amazon (Phosphor Bronze) Reverb (Electric) Reverb (80/20 Bronze) __________________________________________________ Phil O'Keefe is a multi-instrumentalist, recording engineer / producer and the Senior Editor of Harmony Central. He has engineered, produced and performed on countless recording sessions in a diverse range of styles, with artists such as Alien Ant Farm, Jules Day, Voodoo Glow Skulls, John McGill, Michael Knott and Alexa's Wish. He is a former featured monthly columnist for EQ magazine, and his articles and product reviews have also appeared in Keyboard, Electronic Musician, and Guitar Player magazines.

Electro Harmonix Hot Wax Dual Overdrive One pedal, two classic EHX overdrives, and an invitation to color outside the lines by Phil O'Keefe Have you ever wanted to color outside the lines? Some people consider that to be breaking all the rules, while other people think of it as a sign of creativity. If you fall into the later category and you're a musician, Electro Harmonix probably had you in mind when they designed their latest pedal - the Hot Wax Dual Overdrive - a pedal that attempts to mix a Crayon with Hot Tubes - it packs those two classic EHX pedals into one enclosure, and is designed to appeal to guitarists and bassists. The question is, does the combination of two overdrives result in useful musical colors you can drip all over your music, or does it just make a waxy sonic mess? Let's fire one up and see. What You Need To Know The Electro Harmonix Hot Wax combines two popular EHX overdrives into a single pedal. The two distortion sections - one from the EHX Crayon and the other from the EHX Hot Tubes - can be used individually, or together. The Hot Wax is built into an all metal enclosure that measures 4" W x 2" H x 4.5" D. The case is bare metal, with the exception of the graphics on the top. Graphically the pedal is fairly sparse, with a drawing of a green crayon melting on a red-based tube at the center of the Hot Wax logo in the center of the pedal being the main visual attraction. The 1/4" input and output jacks are mounted on the two sides of the pedal. Input impedance is 2.2 M Ohm, while the output impedance is 220 Ohms. The Crayon overdrive section is on the right side of the pedal. This side of the pedal has a green pinstripe outlined in black wrapped around the perimeter, and the two white knobs (with black indicator lines) associated with the Crayon section have similar green and black labels too. The Crayon is a full-range overdrive, and of the two, it tends to have a somewhat warmer sound, with a bit less treble edge. It's still a full-range overdrive, but it seems to have a bit more mids and lows than the Hot Tubes does when both are set identically. This is my first exposure to the Crayon, and I really think it pairs exceptionally well with the Hot Tubes. There are two white knobs that control the Crayon section of the pedal - a Drive knob, and a Volume knob. Drive sets the amount of grit, while the Volume knob sets the output level. Most of my preferred settings were with the Drive set to noon or higher, and the volume set to taste. The Hot Tubes half of the pedal is bordered in a red pinstripe hat's outlined with a black border, and the corresponding white knobs (this time, with red indicator lines) are also labeled in the same red and black motif. The Hot Tubes is one of EHX's older pedal designs, and a pedal I've previously reviewed… it uses a CMOS FET as the heart of its circuit, and it produces overdriven tones that lean towards bright and raspy in character. Like the Crayon, it's a bit different than your typical mid-boosted TS-style overdrive, with a brash and aggressive sonic character. As with the Crayon section, there are two white knobs that are dedicated to the Hot Tubes side of the pedal - Drive and Volume - and they work as you would expect, with the Drive setting the amount of grit the Hot Tubes section generates, and the Volume knob acting as its output control. The Hot Tubes has a bit more treble than the Crayon does, and can generate some nice, rude and raspy sounds on its own, and when driven by the Crayon, it gets massive sounding. The Crayon side drives the Hot Tubes side in the Hot Wax; the volume knob of the Crayon determines how hard you're driving the input of the Hot Tubes, and the Volume knob on the Hot Tubes section sets the overall output level of the Hot Wax. Each of the two overdrives has its own dedicated footswitch. These are located at the bottom of the pedal, with one for each "side" of the pedal. Each switch has a corresponding LED positioned just above the switch to indicate status. Just as with the somewhat subtle green and red labeling of the Crayon and Hot Tubes sections, the LEDs have the same color coding, with a green LED that lights up when you kick on the Crayon section, and a red LED that illuminates whenever the Hot Tubes half of the pedal is engaged. Directly below the row of four white knobs are another three knobs. These are visually different, so they stand out - they're black with white indicators. These three knobs are active whenever the Hot Wax is active, whether you're using the Crayon, Hot Tubes, or both of them together. Two of the black knobs are Bass and Treble EQ controls. The EQ knobs are flat when set to noon, and can boost or cut, depending on which way you turn them from there. The EQ is plenty powerful, and allows for a wide range of tonal shadings. The third black knob is a Blend control. This lets you blend in some of your dry, undistorted signal to give the sound more definition and clarity. Turn it down all the way for full dry, and crank it to the max for full distortion. While this is somewhat useful for guitar, it's really helpful when using the Hot Wax as a bass pedal - a job it's very well suited for! The inside of the Hot Wax contains no user-adjustable parts, but here's a "gut shot" to satisfy your curiosity. The Hot Wax uses primarily surface mount construction, which helps to keep the construction costs low, allows for a more complex circuit to fix inside in a smaller enclosure, and helps to keep the quality consistent. Powering the Hot Wax is handled by the included EHX 9V DC adapter. The power input jack is located at the top of the pedal, and uses the industry standard 2.1 mm center-negative plug format. Current draw is 75 mA at 9V DC. The Hot Wax uses buffered bypass switching. I noticed no negative tonal issues associated with it, and in fact, it helped to keep the signal levels nice and robust when using the Hot Wax with several other true bypass pedals connected after it. Limitations Unfortunately there's no way to change the order of the two overdrives so that the Hot Tubes could be used to goose the Crayon. The Crayon always runs first, with its output feeding the Hot Tubes. Similarly, there is no way to assign the EQ to any other location in the signal path - it is always post-distortion, and comes after the Hot Tubes. You don't get individual EQ sections for each overdrive - just the master EQ, which influences the tone of both overdrives simultaneously. The Hot Wax does not accept batteries, and can only be powered with an adapter. Conclusions Tone savvy guitarists have long known that complex overdrive tones can be generated by "stacking" two dirt boxes and running the output of one into the input of another to generate sounds that neither could make on their own, and that's exactly what the Electro Harmonix Hot Wax is all about. Take two classic EHX overdrives - one of their oldest models, and one of their newest, and put them together, and the combination is even greater than the sum of the parts. As usual, there's a few things that I would like. It would be great to have a switch that changed the order of the two distortion sections so you could drive the Crayon with the output of the Hot Tubes as an alternative to doing it the other way around, and it would also be nice to have separate EQs for each overdrive, or the ability to put the EQ pre-distortion, but that's really it for my wish list. EHX really did come up with a very cool sounding pedal by combining the Crayon and the Hot Tubes in one housing. The inclusion of the Blend knob opens up a surprising amount of extra tonal textures… bassists will love it, and yes, this is a very bass-friendly pedal (it works great with keyboards too!), so guitarists, keep a tight grip on yours or your band's bassist or keyboardist may decide to borrow it from you on a "long-term" basis. Tell them to keep their hands off and go get their own - I'm betting you'll want to hang on to yours once you give one a try! -HC- Want to discuss the EHX Hot Wax or have questions or comments about this review? Then head over to this thread in the Effects forum right here on Harmony Central and join the discussion! Resources Electro Harmonix Hot Wax Dual Overdrive pedal ($148.90 MSRP, $111.70 "street") Electro Harmonix Hot Wax Dual Overdrive product web page You can purchase the EHX Hot Wax from: Sweetwater Guitar Center B&H Photo Video Musician's Friend __________________________________________________ Phil O'Keefe is a multi-instrumentalist, recording engineer / producer and the Senior Editor of Harmony Central. He has engineered, produced and performed on countless recording sessions in a diverse range of styles, with artists such as Alien Ant Farm, Jules Day, Voodoo Glow Skulls, John McGill, Michael Knott and Alexa's Wish. He is a former featured monthly columnist for EQ magazine, and his articles and product reviews have also appeared in Keyboard, Electronic Musician and Guitar Player magazines.