Phil O'Keefe

Los Angeles, CA. – Roland Systems Group, a world leader in Digital Snake and Digital Audio Mixing and Transport Systems, is pleased to announce the Roland S-2416 Stage Unit. This new digital snake stage unit expands the line-up by offering a 24 input x 16 output analog and 8 input x 8 output digital, for a total of 32 input and 24 output channels. In addition to the analog and digital I/O the S-2416 has two REAC ports enabling the ability to cascade an additional snake for expanded I/O or for a fully redundant, zero-loss audio back-up solution. In addition, the discrete mic preamps are newly developed high-grade ensuring highest-quality uncolored sound. The ruggedized chassis is an EIA design with a 4U rack-mount space size designed for touring or fixed installation. The analog connectors employ rugged Nuetrik connectors and the inputs have three-colored indicator lights that provide phantom power, clipping, and signal presence at a glance. The AES/EBU ports on the rear are 25-pin D-sub types that enable other digital audio devices such as speaker processors, amps and other digital devices to be directly connected. The S-2416 is the first digital snake capable of a cascade connection, making it possible to expand the I/O up to 40x40 channels. A simple activation of a switch to Cascade Mode allows a connection to an additional REAC digital snake. The cascade feature allows for more complex and flexible V-Mixing System configurations. The S-2416 supports 24-bit 96 kHz, 48 kHz, or 44.1 kHz when switched to clock master mode. Word clock input and output enable a master clock signal to be connected when using AES/EBU. Mic preamps can be remotely controlled using any V-Mixer, R-1000 or S-4000R connected by RS-232C or by using the S-4000 RCS remote-control software on a computer (Mac or Windows) connected via USB. Fundamental to S-2416 connectivity is REAC – Roland’s Ethernet Audio Communication protocol for low latency, high quality digital audio transfer. Products using REAC technology are installed today in many venues and have been used in high profile events worldwide. REAC’s 24-bit, 40x40 channel protocol delivers pristine digital audio via lightweight, inexpensive and easy to install cable (Cat5e/6). REAC technology is immune to externally induced signal quality degradation or hums and buzzes typically found in analog systems which leads to freedom in cable placement resulting in lower cost and better sound. The REAC family of products is varied and includes digital mixing consoles, digital snakes, personal mixers and multi-channel playback and recording all of which work together in a plug-and-play fashion building a comprehensive digital audio eco-system. The Roland S-2416 is expected to be available sometime in Q2. For more information about the Roland V-Mixing System go to www.rolandsystemsgroup.com/s2416 Roland Systems Group U.S. (RSG) supplies the commercial and performance audio/video industries with application specific equipment from ROLAND professional audio and video product lines. These product lines address applications for houses of worship, studios, clubs/casinos, theaters/performing arts centers, production houses and rental and staging companies. Roland Systems Group U.S. is located in Los Angeles, CA, and is a member of the worldwide group of Roland companies. For more information, visit www.rolandsystemsgroup.com or call 800-380-2580

The new Santa Cruz 5 is not a copy or replica of any one Blackface style amp but rather an amalgam of a few. Inspired by the power section of a 5 watt, with the EQ of a higher watt amp coupled with classic tube driven spring reverb, the versatility of this amp may be just what you're looking for. The new SC-5 has the ability to run 3 different power or rectifier tubes without the need for a re-bias. With a full treble/mid/bass EQ section the amp responds much like the larger blackface style amps. Very active, you start to hear more volume of the amp once you dial in the tone controls. Cabinet size can sometimes be an issue with small amps, so this circuit is coupled with a larger cab found on their Lil' King model that can accommodate anything from an 8 to a 12 inch speaker. This allows more area for the speaker to resonate inside the cab. A line-out jack has been added on the back panel to allow for direct plug in to a recording console or PA board. Stock cosmetics are Black tolex with Wheat cloth and blonde barrel knobs with other color options available. Technical Specs: -5-9 watt output -Hand wired -Finger Jointed Pine Cabinet -Tube driven spring reverb -Accepts 5Y3/5U4/GZ34 Rectifier tubes -Ability to run 6V6/EL34/6L6 Power tubes without biasing -Line Level Out -One Button Footswitch Pricing starts at $1325 for the Head version Visit Headstrong Amps on the web at: www.headstrongamps.com Or call 510-898-8123 for more info

Hundreds of effects, presets, a looper, and stompbox simplicity - all in one By Phil O'Keefe This review is going to be a bit different than my usual reviews. Typically I give a basic overview of the product, and then go into the details about its various features as well as its limitations, and wrap it up with my conclusions. While I'll stick with that same basic framework, that's already been done here on Harmony Central - if you'd like to check out Jon Chappell's review of the Line 6 M9 and its larger sibling the M13, you can find it right here. A smaller version called the M5 is also available, and it includes the same basic collection of modeled effects as the two larger units, but can only do one effect at a time. Instead of replicating that previous review, what I want to do is go into some of the reasons why (after using one extensively for a couple of years) I consider the M9 to be a true classic effects unit, and talk about some of the things I like about it and how I've been using it, as well as a few of the things I wish were different. What You Need To Know With over 100 different effects models onboard (compiled from the Line 6 MM4 Modulation, DL4 Delay, FM4 Filter and DM4 Distortion Modelers, as well as the Verbzilla and Echo Pro), it's almost like having the sounds and capabilities of a huge collection of stompboxes in one pedal.There are two main modes of operation - stompbox and scenes. In stompbox mode, each switch is a dedicated on/off footswitch for one effect. You can run up to three effects at the same time. Click the two lower-right footswitches simultaneously and it calls up scene mode, where each footswitch calls up a complete "scene", with the possibility of having different effects configurations pre-saved. After calling up a scene, click the two footswitches again and you're back in stompbox mode, where you can turn individual pedals within the scene on and off.In stompbox mode, you can use up to three effects at a time, each one with another alternative virtual pedal ready to go with just a click of a footswitch. Any effect can be assigned to any of the six main footswitches.There are 24 memory locations for saving your own "scenes", or arrangement and order of virtual pedals. These can be recalled at will, which is great if you need to use the same combination of effects on a regular basis. To get anywhere near his kind of recall with individual analog pedals would require a expensive (and usually more complicated) switcher, and even then, you'd still lack the ability to save different settings on the individual pedals, and the ability to quickly reconfigure the order of the effects.At 10.5" W x 6.5" D x 2.4" H, the size is "just right." It's small enough that it can be incorporated into a larger pedalboard. It's big enough that operating it is fairly easy and straightforward, but compact enough that it can easily fit into the back of a moderately-sized combo amp, gig bag pocket or cable bag. Don't underestimate the importance of that. For times when taking my full-sized pedalboards along is overkill or too much hassle and floor space, the M9 Stompbox Modeler is a great alternative, and it provides a lot more capability than the two or three individual pedals I used to take with me in those types of "need to travel light" situations.Speaking of ease of use, the interface is largely free of menus and scrolling through seemingly endless lists of parameters just to change a setting on an effect. With six dedicated knobs - one for each parameter, all you have to do is twist a knob, just like with a analog pedal. And just like with an analog pedal, it "remembers" where you last set the knob - no need to "store" or "save" anything.I really like the color-coding of the display and assigned footswitches - you know what the effect category is at a glance. Yellow for overdrive, EQ, compressors and distortion, red for reverbs, green for delays, purple for filters and blue for modulation effects. To select an effect "type", just push on one of the knobs (which is clearly marked) and you can cycle through the various categories, then with a twist of the knob, you can scroll through the various models until you find the one you want. It's all very intuitive, and not at all like most "multi-effects."Setup is super-easy. Connect your guitar cable to the M9, another from the M9 to the amp, and plug in the included power adapter - done. Of course, there's plenty of connectivity to support stereo in and outputs, and you can even connect a pair of expression pedals for even more control if you wish. Any parameter can be assigned to a expression pedal, which makes them perfect for real-time control as you play. MIDI I/O means you can incorporate the M9 into a larger MIDI rig, or use your DAW for automation. For times when you don't want or need to use MIDI, an onboard universal tap tempo with a dedicated footswitch makes it easy to lock the tempo of the effects (delay times, modulation rates and so forth) to tempos set by you - or other musicians. The onboard tuner is also nice to have, and saves you from needing to bring along a dedicated tuner. Some examples of situations where I find the Line 6 Stompbox Modeler very handy… As a backup at gigs in case of an issue with something on one of my main boards, or as a spare in case someone else wants to join the fun.It's also perfect for "grab and go" spur of the moment jam sessions. And it's not just for guitar - it works very well as a bass or keyboard effects unit too.For people who are relatively new to effects, the M9 is a very useful tool, and serves as a great, cost-effective introduction to what various effects sound like, as well as what you can do with them. After all, buying hundreds of individual pedals to get a feel for what tickles your personal fancy and what doesn't can get rather expensive.While each effects category has its standout models, the reverbs, delays and modulation effects are categories I find particularly strong. I also appreciate some of the more "out there" effects types that are included. I probably wouldn't use them often enough to justify spending a ton of money on several of these types of pedals, but having them on-hand for the occasional times when I have need of them is definitely cool.Because of the built-in 28 second looper, I find it extremely valuable in the studio. If you ever work alone in a multi-room studio, or at home with the amp isolated in one room while your recording gear is in another and need to dial up the amp and mixing console settings, you can either grow a third arm and work on your ability to be in two places at once, or record a bit of the part you're about to track into the looper, hit playback, and have a virtual you playing the guitar, thus freeing up your hands to dial in the sound at the amp and with your mic preamps, outboards and DAW software. In addition to the obvious live performance applications, the onboard looper is also useful for practicing at home. Throw down a loop of some riffs or rhythm parts, and practice soloing over the top. I find it's also great for songwriting; throw down the chord progression you're working on for the chorus or verse section and you're freed up to think about the lyrics, or work out the supporting riffs. Limitations Some of the overdrives and distortions don't seem quite as convincing to me as many of the other effects. Don't get me wrong - nearly everything is at least useable, and some are actually quite good, and all of them give you at least a reasonably close approximation of the effect that was modeled, but I feel that the delays and modulations are, overall, a bit more sonically satisfying than some of the dirt.Some users have reported issues with the footswitches, although this has never been a problem for me. The rest of the unit is quite durable, with a solid metal case where you'd normally expect to find plastic.There's no master volume control for adjusting overall output levels.The footswitch LEDs and the backlit screen can be a bit hard to read in bright sunlight. If you play outdoor daytime gigs a lot, this might be a concern for you, but as a studio-dwelling engineer / musician, it's not really a major issue for me.It's not a amp and speaker cabinet simulator like the Line 6 POD modules, so if you want to record with it, you'll need to use a suitable hardware or software amp simulator, or run the M9 into an amp and mic it up the old-fashioned way. Conclusions The Line 6 M9 has that magic combination of compactness, versatility, ease of use, solid sound quality, and reasonable price that makes it a must-have for many musicians. Line 6 describes it as "stompbox simple, pedal board powerful and totally portable", and I'd say that's pretty darned accurate. For the cost of a couple of nice analog pedals, it gives you the sonic capabilities of dozens and dozens of them. While it hasn't replaced all of my individual boutique pedals, it augments them beautifully. Mine has been rock-solid reliable, but if it died, I'd go out and buy another one in a heartbeat. I really do feel it's one of the few multi effects pedals that deserves to be called a classic. If you've never tried one out, do yourself a favor and give it a whirl sometime. I think you'll be impressed. Resources Musicians Friend Line 6 M9 Stompbox Modeler online catalog page ($559.99 MSRP, $399.99 "street") Line 6 M9 Stompbox Modeler 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.

Two legendary names meet in one remarkably affordable USA-built guitar By Phil O'Keefe Gibson's first Melody Maker was released way back in 1959 as a slab mahogany-bodied single pickup guitar designed to make a Gibson electric affordable to budget-minded players. While the Melody Maker has seen multiple versions and variations over the years, they've all generally been very popular, and in many years it was Gibson's best-selling model. The 2014 Gibson Les Paul Melody Maker has two model names, which is a bit confusing, and while aspects of both models are apparent in its design, it retains a Melody Maker's emphasis on value. It is the most affordable Gibson Les Paul model available today. Let's take it for a spin and see how it handles. What You Need To Know The 2014 Les Paul Melody Maker has a mahogany body with a carved (!) maple top. The body is thinner than a standard Les Paul (about the same thickness as a Les Paul Custom Lite or SG Standard), which helps keep the Les Paul Melody Maker's weight down. The rear of the body features a tummy cutout, making it even more comfortable. I was surprised to learn that this Melody Maker / Les Paul has a maple neck. This is rather interesting, since most Les Pauls and even Melody Makers in the past have had mahogany necks. The neck has a rounded 50s profile. Being relatively short-fingered, I usually prefer Gibson's 60s SlimTaper neck profile, but while it's a bit larger than I normally look for, the shape and overall contour of the neck are very comfortable. The neck has a nice rosewood fretboard, with 22 cryogenically-treated medium-jumbo frets, a 24.75" scale length and 12" fingerboard radius. The cryogenic treatment is said to give the frets longer life, making them stronger without being harder, with increased resistance to abrasive wear. The neck position marker inlays are acrylic dots, with white dots on the side of the fingerboard. As with all of Gibson's 2014 guitars, there's a distinctive inlay at the 12th fret commemorating Gibson's 120th anniversary. The nut is a low friction TekToid unit, and the nut slots are cut with the assistance of the PLEK system. The tuners are white button Klusons, which give the guitar a bit of vintage-inspired flair. They hold their tune fine, and turn smoothly. The gear ratio is 14:1. The headstock is a full-sized Gibson style and shape, and not the thinner, straight-sided version seen on most previous Melody Maker models. The bell-shaped truss rod cover is stamped "MELODY MAKER", while the headstock has a traditional "Les Paul Model" logo silkscreened in gold, which matches the gold silkscreened Gibson logo at the top of the headstock. The review unit is finished in what Gibson calls Charcoal Satin. It's a pleasing color; a very dark smooth matte satin grey. For some reason, this color is slightly less expensive than the other color options, which cost an extra $50 "street" price. In addition to Charcoal, it's also offered in TV Yellow Satin, Wine Red Satin and Manhattan Midnight Satin. Unlike some previous Melody Maker models, there are no wood pores visible in the finish. The 2014 Les Paul Melody Maker's Charcoal Satin finish extends to the back, and up the back of the neck, giving it a very uniform appearance. I found the "feel" of the finish quite smooth and comfortable, and not the least bit sticky, even when playing it with sweaty hands. The bridge is a one piece Lightning Bar wrap-around unit with a satin chrome finish that visually ties in well with the satin finish of the guitar. It has pre-set, non-adjustable saddles built-in, so the intonation adjustment is relatively limited, and can only be done by adjusting the two allen screws on either end of the bridge. Fortunately, the intonation was excellent straight out of the box.The pickups are a P-90ST in the bridge and a P-90SR in the neck position. They are both top-mounted "soap bars" with black plastic covers and individual, non-adjustable AlNiCo V "slug" magnets instead of the adjustable polepieces and bar magnets of most P-90 pickups. They are based on a version of the P-90 that was originally used on the ES-125 from 1946 to 1950. The sound of the pickups is similar to, but a bit brighter and crisper than other P90s you might be familiar with, and the pickups snarl and growl in a very cool way when used with a overdrive pedal or cranked-up amp. Want warmer tones? Use the neck pickup, or just roll down one of the tone knobs a bit. While I'd characterize this guitar as leaning towards the brighter side of things, it does offer a variety of cool sounding tones.The three-way pickup selector switch is from Switchcraft, and it is positioned in the traditional Les Paul location above the neck, as opposed to being pickguard-mounted like on most earlier two-pickup Melody Maker models. It's more work in the building process, with more routing involved to put it where it is on the 2014 model, but I think it looks cooler and it is much less likely to get in the player's way than a pickguard-mounted switch is. In another departure from traditional Melody Maker specs, the 2014 Les Paul Melody Maker model has two volume and two tone controls, as you'd expect to find on a two pickup Les Paul model. The potentiometers are 500k units with a non-linear response, which makes them very fast and easy to adjust. The new Supreme Grip speed knobs have indentations in the top edges that make them easier to grab and manipulate, as well as larger numbers that are easier to see. The output jack is mounted on the side of the guitar, like you'll find on a standard Les Paul. While most Melody Makers in the past have had pickguard-mounted output jacks, I greatly prefer the 2014 model's configuration. Again, it's more work to build it this way, but it's out of the player's way. The new 2014 Gibsons now ship with Cleartone coated strings. Regardless of your personal opinions regarding coated strings (and I like the feel of these strings), they offer superior corrosion resistance and longer life over traditional strings, and that means the chances of you having a decent first encounter with the Les Paul Melody Maker in the store are greater, even if it's been on display for a couple of weeks and auditioned by multiple players. After all, no one likes trying out a guitar with grimy, rusted-out strings. The new, larger sized aluminum strap buttons are yet another nice touch. They're big enough that it was a bit more difficult to attach my strap to the guitar, but the upside to that is that it's less likely to come off accidentally. I'll gladly take that tradeoff. At this price, expecting a hardshell case would be pretty unreasonable, and while one is not included, Gibson does toss in a very nice gig bag. It's a USA-built Gibson, and it comes with their standard limited lifetime warranty. Limitations You're somewhat limited in terms of string gauges. Not that the guitar wouldn't handle significantly heavier (or thinner) strings, but you may have issues with getting the intonation dialed in as precisely as you can by sticking with the stock string gauges, which are 0.09 - 0.46.Although the overall setup on the guitar was good, I did notice a bit of minor buzzing on the first few frets when playing unplugged. If you're bothered by that, since the stock action is quite low, it could probably be raised slightly to cure the buzz without adversely affecting the playability or action too much. It's a non-issue and inaudible when the guitar is being amplifiedIf you have small hands, or prefer the more svelte SlimTaper neck profile, you may not find the neck suitable to your preferences. Even still, as someone with short fingers, I actually found it quite comfortable to play - much more so than I was expecting. Yes, it's a rounded 50s profile, but it's very playable, and the extra beef in the neck is bound to be a contributor to the solid tuning stability and overall tone of this guitar. Conclusions The combination of nice features and low price is always attractive to players, which is probably why the Melody Maker has been such a success over the years. Toss in light weight and good balance, coupled with the sound of the updated P90s and a ton of Les Paul-type features, and you've got a real cool USA-built guitar that practically anyone can afford, and more importantly, that you'd actually be proud to own. I love the traditional Les Paul "look" of this guitar, with the single cutaway body shape and carved top, all four knobs, the switch in the upper position, and the traditional full-sized Gibson headstock. I was worried that intonation would be an issue with the minimal adjustment offered by the compensated wraparound bridge, but the factory intonation was spot on, and outside of some minor buzzing, it all worked and sounded great right out of the box. Some are going to say that the Gibson 2014 Les Paul Melody Maker is not "really" a Melody Maker because it lacks this feature or that, or because it has this feature or that which Melody Makers have traditionally not had, but to me, that's quibbling, especially since the 2014 Les Paul Melody Maker gives you much more than most previous Melody Makers have. Besides, the core essence of the Melody Maker has always been USA-made quality coupled with maximum affordability and value, and this guitar nails that in spades. Had Gibson decided to call this a Les Paul Junior or Special, which in many ways it is, I wouldn't have questioned it. Some may have complained about the maple neck and satin finish, since most Juniors and Specials have traditionally sported mahogany necks and gloss finishes, but outside of that, the essentials of a good two-pickup Junior or Special are all here, but it's priced like a Melody Maker. That adds up to a ton of value in my book - especially since this thing smokes any of the earlier Melody Makers I've tried. Grab one before Gibson comes to their senses and raises the price by 50%. Resources Musician's Friend Gibson 2014 Les Paul Melody Maker online catalog page ($999.00 - $1,089.00 MSRP, depending on color, $569.00 - $620.00 "street") Gibson's 2014 Les Paul Melody Maker product page Gibson Les Paul Melody Maker demo video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_UNLkfXAB2Q 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.

This revamped version of this classic, affordable studio mic is also one of the quietest microphones in the world By Phil O'Keefe The original Rode NT1 was first released way back in 1995. An updated version, the NT1-A, was released a couple of years later, and has been a very popular model. In fact, the NT1 and NT1-A were some of the first truly affordable large diaphragm condenser models. The NT1-A remains a popular choice among many home recordists and is still in production many years after its introduction, but Rode has taken the model and given it a complete reworking, and in a move that's bound to cause at least some confusion and difficult online searches, released it with the model's original name, calling it the NT1. Let's take a look at what's been changed. What You Need To Know The new NT1 is an all new design. While it may look similar to the original NT1 and the NT1-A, it is a completely different microphone, and the only component shared between the new NT1 and the NT1-A is the mesh grille.The new capsule is a 1" edge terminated pressure gradient type. It's gold plated and has a fixed cardioid polar pattern.P24 or P48 (24 or 48V) phantom power is required to power the NT1.The capsule is mounted in an internal Rycote Lyre type suspension mount, which helps isolate it from shock and vibration.The internal electronics use surface mount technology, and are designed for low noise. In fact, at 4.5dBA, the NT1 has exceptionally low self-noise, which makes it a great choice for recording quieter sound sources. The NT1 is a transformerless design, and uses a JFET impedance converter and bipolar output buffer. The output connectors are gold-plated.The microphone's body is machined from 6061 aluminum, and then nickel plated and coated with a black, scratch-resistant ceramic coating that also does well at resisting fingerprints and smudges. The front of the mic is indicated with a small gold circle just below the grille.The accessories included with this mic are quite nice, and not just at this price point. The SMR shock mount is world-class; it's made by Rycote, and uses their Lyre suspension system to further protect the mic from unwanted stand-borne vibrations. It also comes with a removable multi-layer metal pop filter. This cleverly attaches directly to the front of the SMR shock mount, and is very effective at reducing plosive pops. I also appreciated the inclusion of a drawstring bag. While you should always put away your mics when you're not using them, let's face it - in the real world, that doesn't always happen. Maybe you're in the middle of tracking vocals, and coming back to it in the morning… it's nice to be able to put a bag over the mic for the night, even if you're leaving it up on the stand. I wish more companies included drawstring bags with their microphones. Unfortunately I didn't have a NT1-A handy, so I was unable to do any direct side-by-side comparisons, but I have heard the NT1-A many times and am familiar enough with its sound to make some comparisons. The new NT1 seems to have a flatter frequency response overall, with silkier highs than the NT1-A, and a less peaky and boosted presence frequency region - the upper mids are not as pronounced on the new mic as the rather forward upper-mids of the NT1-A are. If I had to sum it up with one word, I'd say it's a flatter, more lush or more refined sounding microphone than its predecessor.Rode stands behind the NT1 with a one year warranty that they'll extend to a full ten years if you register your purchase on their website. Limitations It's a cardioid-only mic, so you're limited to cardioid only mic techniques. I'd love for Rode to consider making a multi-pattern version of this mic; I think it would be really popular, and it would offer users even more options and flexibility.There are no pad or high pass filter switches on the mic. While the NT1 can handle decently hot signals without overloading (132dB SPL), it can still pump out enough signal level (+8dBu max) that it can, with a very loud sound source, potentially overload your mic preamp.While the "Complete Recording Kit" has a lot of great stuff in it, it doesn't have a mic cable or mic stand - you'll need to purchase those items separately. That's not uncommon at all, but since everything else you'll need is in there, and since a lot of beginners will probably opt for this kit, it's worth mentioning as a reminder to potential purchasers. Conclusions The original NT1 brought affordable large diaphragm condenser mic performance to the home recording masses at a breakthrough price. The new NT1 refines that performance and improves on it significantly, while still remaining remarkably affordable, especially in light of the accessories that are included, the nice build quality, and the overall sound quality. It's remarkably quiet too, which is extremely beneficial in a oftentimes noisy home studio environment, or when working with softer and quieter sound sources. Since vocals are probably the most commonly recorded sound source in home studios, it's good that the NT1 performs well in that application. While no single microphone is going to be ideal for every vocalist, the NT1 is versatile enough on a variety of singers and other sound sources, and it takes EQ well enough that it is a good choice for a home studio's first large diaphragm condenser. The fact that it can also serve well on other commonly encountered sound sources such as guitar amps, hand percussion and acoustic guitar is going to be icing on the cake for some users, but absolutely crucial for others with more limited mic collections who need their "one good mic" to be able to perform reasonably well on whatever they put it in front of. This one does… and I suspect it will be at least as popular as its predecessors because of it. Resources Musician's Friend Rode NT1 online catalog page ($395.00 MSRP, $269.00 "street") Rode Microphones NT1 web page Harmony Central Review Preview video of the Rode NT1 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.

How and where to position your acoustical absorption for maximum effectiveness By Phil O'Keefe You've bought your acoustic foam and / or fiberglass absorbers, and made panels for mounting them as needed, but now where do you put them within the room? In this article, we'll go over some suggestions to help you make good use of your absorbers. Acoustic foam and fiberglass absorption products are popular with home and project studio owners, and are often used to help correct various acoustic issues that are commonly found in the small rooms that are typically used for such studios. The most common problems you're likely to encounter in small rooms are early reflections from nearby room surfaces, flutter echo from parallel walls, and low-midrange and bass buildup. 2" thick foam or fiberglass panels placed flush against the wall can be effective at dealing with flutter echoes from first reflection points, but since they absorb primarily at midrange and high frequencies, it is easy to over-absorb the mids and highs while leaving the bass frequencies untamed, resulting in a badly unbalanced-sounding room. Whenever possible, I recommend using as much bass trapping and broadband absorption (thick absorbers that work well across a wide range of low, midrange and high frequencies) as possible, and using only as much of the thinner absorptive products as needed to tame flutter echo and early reflections from the side walls. In fact, if you can use thicker absorptive material for your first reflection points and space the material a few inches from the walls to increase its effectiveness at lower frequencies, that's highly recommended. Studios and Control Rooms - They're Not The Same Right up front we should discuss the purpose of the room you'll be treating, since control room and studio acoustics often have two different goals. In a control room, monitoring accuracy and controlled RT60 (reverb decay) times at all frequencies is the ultimate objective, while the main purpose of acoustic treatment in a studio or tracking room is more about making it sound good - with "good", as always, being variable and subjective. In this article, we'll focus primarily on control rooms. Many people are using a single room for recording and mixing, and that's okay too - for single-room studios, I would recommend taking a control room approach to the room so that you have a good place to monitor and mix in; after all, with today's mobile recording options, it's always possible to move to different rooms and acoustical environments, both inside your home and at other locations when tracking. A small control room being set up, with absorptive panels suspended over the mix position (above the wood diffusers), mounted to the side wall first reflection points, and mounted diagonally in the front room corners. Control Room Orientation and Symmetry Your control room setup should be symmetrical, with the speakers set up at equal distances from the centerline of the room so that there is the same amount of distance from each speaker to the nearest side wall. I also generally recommend that the speakers be set up to fire down the long axis of the room, with the desk set so that when you're seated at the mix position, you're located about 1/3 of the room's length away from the front wall. Assuming you're using this type of configuration and room layout, the places I recommend positioning your absorptive panels are: Side wall first reflection pointsIdeally, you want the sound from your speakers to be the only thing you're hearing - when it's combined with very short / early reflections from nearby walls, it has a detrimental effect on the stereo imaging, transients, and overall sound quality and accuracy of your monitoring system. Sound that radiates from your speakers, strikes a room boundary surface and reflects directly back to where you're seated at the listening position should be absorbed if at all possible. How do you determine where these first reflection points are? The most common approach is to use the mirror technique. While seated at the mixing position, have an assistant hold a mirror flat against the side walls at various locations in the room. Whenever you're able to see the speaker's reflection in the mirror, that's a first reflection point, and a very good location to place some absorption. Since your room should be symmetrical, the treatment should normally be in similar spots for the left and right side walls. Room cornersBass builds up in your room corners, making them another excellent place to put absorption. Typically, you'll want to put at least one 2' x 4' absorber diagonally across each 90 degree room corner where two walls meet. Thicker panels are recommended for all corner absorption; stick with 4" thick as a minimum, and 6" thick or more is even better. If you have eight foot tall ceilings (or higher) and enough room to stack two 2' x 4' panels vertically so that you have panels diagonally across the entire corner from floor to ceiling, so much the better. If bass buildup is a big issue in your room - and it is for many small rooms - adding even more absorption to the wall / ceiling corners can often help. As with the front and rear corners of the room, the absorptive panels should be as thick as possible, and mounted diagonally so that it creates a triangular space behind the panel. This will increase low frequency absorption compared to mounting the panel flat to the wall or ceiling. Front and Rear WallsThere are more than a few theories about the best room acoustic treatment approaches. One very popular configuration is the Live End / Dead End approach. While there's more to a true LEDE certified room than this, the basics are an absorptive front part of the room, and a more diffusive back end. I really like the sound of a diffusive rear wall since diffusers scatter sound in a variety of directions which helps keep some controlled ambience in the room, but you need a bit of space behind you in order for diffusers to work properly. If you have less than 6-8 feet of distance from you to the rear wall when seated in the listening position, it may be better to make the rear wall highly absorptive instead. If you go this route, thick absorbers on the rear wall are a good approach. If you do have sufficient space and room, diffusers in front of thick mineral wool or fiberglass bass traps can provide some liveliness in the mids and highs while providing additional and beneficial low frequency absorption. The front of the room can also be a good place for absorption - especially the space between the monitor speakers. In the room pictured above, a large bay window exists behind the curtains, leaving considerable space. This space has been filled with large, thick chunks of absorptive material two feet thick, which provides additional bass trapping for the room. Ceiling:Sound can reflect off the ceiling just as easily as it can off of the side walls, and there are first reflection points on the ceiling that you should address if possible. Companies such as Auralex, Real Traps, and Primacoustic offer absorptive panels that can be suspended from the ceiling that will help tame first reflections from the ceiling. These should be hung so that they are between the two speakers, and directly above and in front of the listening position. If you're not certain of the location to put the panels, the mirror trick can be helpful for the ceiling, just as it is for the side walls. Keeping It Simple While these are generalized tips and are in no way a substitute for in-depth room analysis or consultation with a good acoustician, for those who don't have the money or expertise to hire someone or do extensive room analysis themselves, adding thick bass traps to the room corners, as well as absorption to the first reflection points on the front and side walls and ceiling above the mix position, and using either absorption or diffusion on the rear wall can make a significant improvement to the sound within the room, and is well worth the cost, time and effort required to purchase and install these treatments. 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.

Sure you can glue it directly to the walls, but there are less permanent, and less damaging options By Phil O'Keefe Acoustic foam isn't a cure-all; it won't "soundproof" your room and keep you from bothering your neighbors, and it's ineffective at absorbing bass frequencies, but it does have its uses - it's excellent for eliminating mid and high frequency flutter echo, and when used appropriately and in conjunction with various other acoustic tools, it can significantly improve the sound within a room. But mounting foam can be challenging. It's limp and not self-supporting. Gluing the foam directly to the walls is a commonly-taken approach, but as anyone who has ever had to remove it can tell you, gluing it up makes it very difficult to remove the foam later (prying it up with a wide-blade putty knife and a lot of effort is your best bet), and it causes significant damage to the wall surface, making it an undesirable approach for renters. Less Destructive Alternatives Whether you own or rent, there are several different ways you can mount acoustic foam that won't cause anywhere near the level of damage that directly gluing the foam to the walls does. Let's take a look at a few of them. One alternative approach is to glue the acoustic foam to a backing panel, such as a sheet of 1/8" Lauan plywood or MDF board, then hang the backing board from the wall with the anchors of your choice - nails, screws, hooks, picture wire, etc. Inexpensive wood products can go for as little as $7 for a 4' x 8' sheet, making them a cost-effective backing material. It is also easy to work with, and can be easily cut with a jigsaw. If you don't have a jigsaw or a truck big enough to carry a 4' x 8' piece of wood, many lumber and large home improvement stores will cut sheets into quarters for you, making it easier to transport, and the same general size as a piece of 2' x 4' acoustic foam. Of course, foam can also be cut, but don't try to use a jigsaw or a utility knife - it will tear. An electric carving knife is the tool of choice for cutting acoustic foam cleanly. Before mounting the foam to the wood, you may want to use some flat black paint to paint the side edges of the wood so it blends in visually with the foam. Fasteners There are a couple of ways to mount foam without using a backing material, and without gluing it directly to the wall. Do you have any "coasters" sitting around? Old CD-Rs are fast becoming a thing of the past, but if you still have some unwanted CDs that you're willing to sacrifice, they can be glued to the upper-rear corners of a sheet of acoustic foam and once dry, they can be used to hang the foam on to a pair of thumbtacks inserted into the wall, and spaced equidistant to the CD centers on the wall. Large T-pins are sometimes suggested as an alternative to glue, and they can work well for hanging acoustic foam on walls too (like the CD approach, they're less effective for ceiling mounting), but a typical 2' x 4' sheet of foam will usually require anywhere from four to eight pins to hold it up, so there's going to be a lot of holes to patch later if the foam is removed. Still, this is far less damaging to the walls than glue is. However, I feel that when it comes to studio walls, minimizing the holes is a good idea - anything that compromises the wall integrity and air-tightness should be avoided whenever possible to help maintain the wall's STC effectiveness. If you want to use T-Pins, push a few through the valleys in the foam and into the wall just far enough that the top of the "T" presses against the foam and holds it in position. If you're willing to make slightly larger holes in the wall, you can try using Monkey Hooks to mount your acoustic foam. Monkey Hooks (and the thicker and stronger Gorilla Hooks) are curved steel wires that you insert into the wall by hand, and that can support 35 or 50 pounds per hook, depending on the version you buy. The interesting part as far as hanging foam is the shape - once into the wall, you have a strong, upwards-facing hook that can be embedded directly into the foam. Use at least a pair of hooks, and you can secure it directly into place, with the acoustic foam hanging impaled on the hooks. Mounting the foam this way is easy - use two to four well-spaced Monkey Hooks where you want to place the foam, and then push the foam slightly downwards and into the hooks as you push it against the wall. Two hooks are usually enough for a 2' x 4' foam panel, while larger 4' x 4' foam sheets may require more hooks. Foam, Panels, Hooks and Space What about spacing the foam away from the walls as you'll sometimes hear being recommended for compressed fiberglass-based acoustic panels? Yes, there are ways to move the acoustic foam away from the wall a bit if you want to, and doing so offers similar benefits to spacing a fiberglass panel out a bit. The reason you may want to mount the absorptive material a few inches from the wall is because you'll get increased absorption at lower frequencies than if you mount the absorptive material directly to the wall. How far should you space it? A good starting point is the thickness of the material. If it's 2" foam, try spacing it 2" from the wall. You can space it further away if you have enough room, and 4" away is going to be even better at absorbing lower frequencies than 2" is. Of course, using even thicker fiberglass or foam and greater spacing distance only increases the absorption at lower frequencies, and that's almost always a "good thing" in small rooms; where mid and high frequencies are much easier to absorb and control, and low frequency absorption is almost always insufficient, so if you have the space for 4" thick sheets of foam spaced 4" away from the walls, that's usually going to be even better still. A flat backing board is fine for mounting the foam directly against the wall, but for panels that you wish to space a few inches away from the wall, a solid backing is not recommended - both sides of the absorptive material should be open to the sound, so it passes through it both as it enters, and again as it reflects off the wall behind it. Instead of using a solid panel as a backing, cut out sections of the plywood or MDF craft board so that it creates an open-back on most of the panel. A jigsaw was used to cut out large sections of the panel backing while leaving enough to glue to the recycled acoustic foam Two smaller pieces of foam can be glued together (I used 3M High-Strength 90 spray adhesive) to form a spacer, and then the spacers can be glued directly to the back of the panel, so that when the panel is hung from the wall, the foam spacers hold the panel and main foam sheets out a few inches away from the wall. In the panels pictured below, I used 2 x 2" lumber, wood screws, and Liquid Nails adhesive to pair two 2' x 4' MDF backing panels together, and then I glued Auralex 2" Studiofoam recycled from a previous glued-to-the-wall installation to the front. I used eye hooks screwed directly into the 2 x 2 as mounting hooks to hang the resulting 4' x 4' panel from two Monkey Hooks embedded into the wall. A dab of caulk at the base of each Monkey Hook keeps the wall airtight. Foam in the Corner? What about mounting foam across the room's corners? You can use it for that too, but as with fiberglass, the thicker the foam for this application, the better - especially if you're trying to absorb below 200Hz. Four-inch thick foam is the minimum I'd recommend for use in the corners. Building the corner frame is similar to the flat panel frames. You'll want to use a jigsaw to remove much of the center of the backing panel as you can while still leaving enough to attach the foam to. As before, 2 x 2 lumber glued and screwed across the top and bottom provide a bit more structural strength while also serving as the anchor for the mounting hardware - which in this case consists of a couple of eye bolts - one inserted into the center of the top 2 x 2, and another in the wall's corner. A couple of extra-long (14") nylon zip ties chained together, looped through the bolts and pulled tight is all that's needed to support the panel, while a few foam-filled vinyl pads (felt pads work just as well) applied to the ends of the wood provide protection to keep the wood from scratching the walls. Again, you can put a dab of caulk around the base of the wall-mounted eye bolt to keep things airtight. Eye bolts and zip ties will easily hold a 4" thick 2' x 4' acoustic foam panel in place in the corner... Well, there's some suggestions for mounting foam in a way that does far less less damage to your walls, increases the foam's acoustic effectiveness, and that allows you to quickly and easily take your acoustic foam panels with you and reuse them again if you ever relocate. I'm sure you can think of more ways to mount and utilize acoustic foam, and if you do, please stop in at the Studio Trenches forum (http://www.harmonycentral.com/t5/Phil-O-Keefe-In-The-Studio/bd-p/acapella-57) and tell us about them. And stay tuned for my next Technique article, which will cover where specifically in the room to place your foam panels for the best results. 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.

The Beatles were not just a guitar band - they made extensive use of keyboards too! By Phil O'Keefe While they are often thought of as a "guitar band", the Beatles also used keyboards regularly on their recordings. Both John Lennon and Paul McCartney played keyboards on various Beatles songs, and producer George Martin also contributed his keyboard playing to several recordings, including the brilliant Baroque-inspired piano solo (that sounds like a harpsichord) on In My Life. The unique sound of this keyboard part during the Beatles Era was achieved by recording the piano with the tape deck running at half speed and then playing it back at full speed. Billy Preston also played keyboards on some of their later recordings, including the Rhodes electric piano parts heard throughout the Let It Be album on such songs as Don't Let Me Down and Get Back. The Beatles were always eager to try practically anything in their quest for new and different sounds. John Lennon's use of a Hohner Pianet N electric piano on The Night Before being a good early example. A Hohner Pianet would also later be used on songs such as I Am The Walrus and Revolution. The Mellotron flutes on Strawberry Fields Forever is another classic example of their use of emerging keyboard technology during the Beatles Era, as was their use of the Moog IIIP synthesizer that can be heard on Abbey Road. The Abbey Road studios were also well-equipped with keyboards, and during their era the Beatles took advantage of that and used them on several recordings. The studio's 1905 Steinway Vertegrand upright, which was nicknamed the Mrs Mills piano by the studio staff, was kept slightly out of tune, and that, coupled with its lacquer-hardened hammers, gives it a very distinctive "old-time" sound that was used on many songs during the Beatle era, including the piano parts on Lady Madonna and She's A Woman. The studio's Lowrey DSO-1 Heritage Deluxe Organ was used for the harpsichord-like sounds on Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds, the organ parts on Sun King, as well as for some of the organ sounds on Being For The Benefit Of Mr Kite. Abbey Road's Mannborg Harmonium was featured prominently on We Can Work It Out, and the studio's Steinway D grand piano was used on several songs during the Beatles era, as was their Hammond RT-3 tone wheel organ - a close relative of their more famous B-3 model. Leslie speakers were also used by the Beatles - not only paired with organs, but to process everything from guitars (You Never Give Me Your Money) to vocals (Tomorrow Never Knows). George used Leslie speakers to amplify his guitars fairly often, and it became an easily-recognized component of his later-era Beatles guitar sound. Other keyboards of the Beatles era that were used included harpsichord (Fixing A Hole, Piggies), Moog IIIP Modular synthesizer (used on several songs on Abbey Road), Baldwin Combo Electric Harpsichord (Because), Celeste (Baby It's You, Fool On The Hill, Good Night), Clavioline (Baby You're A Rich Man), Clavichord (For No One) and a Vox Continental organ, which John Lennon played on I'm Down. Short of purchasing a ton of hard-to-find vintage keyboard pianos, today the easiest route to similar sounds is through virtual instruments. Propellerhead offers their Abbey Road Keyboards Reason ReFill Collection, which includes samples for Reason of several of the actual Abbey Road studio keyboards. There is also Fab Four, a virtual instrument from EastWest with samples of Beatles-era instruments recorded on original EMI equipment by former Beatles Engineer Ken Scott. 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.

Ringo's Drums and Percussion: Driving the Beat A look at the drums that propelled the world's greatest band by Phil O'Keefe When it comes to drummers, probably no one could have been a better "fit" for the Beatles than Ringo Starr. Able to play in a variety of styles and always rock-solid and ready to go, take after take, he was the ideal anchor for the band. The unique "feel" of Ringo's drum fills can be partially attributed to Ringo being a left-handed player who played with a right-handed kit; he tended to start his fills with his left hand, making them rather unique. With The Beatles, Starr originally used a Premier Mahogany Duroplastic drum kit which he acquired in 1960. This is the kit that was used on the earliest Beatles recordings from 1962, including their first album, Please Please Me. He switched to a four piece (kick drum, snare and two toms) Ludwig Downbeat kit in June of 1963. Originally the drummer for fellow Liverpool-based band Rory Storm and the Hurricanes, he left that group to join the Beatles, where he replaced original drummer Pete Best in mid-August of 1962. He played various Ludwig kits throughout the rest of his career with The Beatles, and was known to be fond of Ludwig's Oyster Black Pearl finish. By the time of their first appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show, Ringo was on his second Ludwig Oyster Black Pearl "Downbeat" drum kit, with the 14"x20" bass drum featuring the now-iconic Beatles "Drop-T" logo, and with a 5.5"x14" snare, 8"x12" rack tom, and 14"x14" floor tom rounding out the kit. In late1968 Ringo switched to a five piece Ludwig Maple "Hollywood" drum kit (14"x22" bass drum, 5.5x14" snare, 8"x12" rack tom, 9"x13" rack tom, 16"x16" floor tom), which was used on the famous Apple "Rooftop" performance as seen in the film Let It Be. It can also be heard on Abbey Road, including its use on The End, which is the only song Ringo played a drum solo on while with the Beatles. Ringo used other cymbals early in his career, but soon became an endorser of Zildjian cymbals, which he continues to use to this day. He now also has his own Zildjian Artist Series 5A sized drum sticks. While the details about his exact cymbal models for specific songs remains largely limited and unconfirmed, Ringo Starr typically used cymbals from Zildjian's "A Zildjian" line, including 14" hi-hats, and 18" and 20" cymbals. Several photos show him using a 20" 4-rivet "sizzle" cymbal from as early as 1963, and continuing throughout his time with the Beatles. In addition to drums, Ringo also played a wide variety of percussion instruments on many Beatles recordings, from hand percussion such as tambourine and maracas to hand drums such as bongos (You're Going To Lose That Girl) and congas (A Day In The Life), and even orchestral percussion instruments such as timpani, as heard on Every Little Thing, and orchestral bells, which he can be heard playing on When I'm Sixty-Four.This kind of sweetening was crucial to the overall sound of several of their recordings. Paul McCartney also played drums on a couple of Beatles songs, including The Ballad of John and Yoko and Back In The USSR. __________________________________________________ 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.

Getting to the bottom of the Beatles bass gear By Phil O'Keefe The electric bass was still a young instrument when the Beatles appeared on the Ed Sullivan show for the first time in February of 1964, and it had not really developed any major stars or notable players - at least not ones that enjoyed widespread notoriety among the general public at the time. A young left-handed bassist with a distinctive-looking instrument changed all that with a single television appearance. There are not many people who are as closely associated with an instrument as Paul McCartney is with the "violin" or "Beatle bass." Paul actually had two Hofner basses. He purchased the first one, a 1961 Hofner 500/1, in Hamburg Germany while the Beatles were performing there. He selected the model because unlike American-built instruments, it was readily available in Germany at that time, and also because he liked the symmetrical design and felt it would look good as a left-handed instrument. Paul's second Hofner 500/1 bass was a 1963 model - the primary differences between the two being different Hofner logos on their headstocks, and the location of the pickups. The earlier Violin Bass had the second pickup located close to the neck pickup and further away from the bridge than the 1963 version. The second Hofner bass, which McCartney purchased as a backup to the first in 1963, served as his primary bass for the duration of the band's career, and can be seen in countless photos and films, and heard on the majority of Beatles recordings. It is also the instrument Paul plays on the first Ed Sullivan Show appearance. His first 500/1, with the bridge pickup positioned almost like a middle pickup, and closer to the neck pickup than to the bridge, was also there as a backup, and can also be seen in use in the movie Let It Be. Another very significant bass was the Rickenbacker 4001S. This was given to McCartney by Rickenbacker. They had first attempted to give him one in 1964, but McCartney had declined it due to it being a right-handed instrument. Rickenbacker presented him with a left-handed Fireglo (red sunburst) 4001S model in August of 1965. Photos from the Rubber Soul sessions suggest it may have been used for some of the bass parts on that album, but there is no doubt that this bass is responsible for the distinctive sound heard on Paperback Writer and Rain, although it is not shown in any of the promotional films for either song. Although supplemented with the Hofner 500/1 on Let It Be and a Fender Jazz Bass on The Beatles (aka the White Album), the Rickenbacker 4001S would see considerable use for the remainder of Paul's association with The Beatles, and was also used extensively with his next band, Wings. Currently Rickenbacker is not making a 4001S model, but they still make the very similar Rickenbacker 4003 bass. Fender's Jazz Bass was also used on various Beatles recording dates. Photos from the White Album sessions show McCartney holding a left-handed Fender Jazz Bass. He also may have used it on some Abbey Road recording sessions. A right-handed Jazz Bass can also be seen in some late-60s era Beatles session photos. Both of these basses were sunburst models with block inlays on their rosewood fretboards. The Fender Jazz Bass remains a popular model that is still in production in various forms today. George Harrison is shown playing a Burns Nu-Sonic bass on some of the photos from the Paperback Writer sessions, although the bass parts on the final recording were performed by Paul. John Lennon and George Harrison occasionally used a sunburst Fender Bass VI for bass parts on the rare songs where Paul McCartney was unavailable or was otherwise occupied playing guitar and / or keyboards on the song. Songs that John played bass on include The Long And Winding Road, Helter Skelter, Let It Be, and Back In The U.S.S.R., while songs featuring George on bass include Hey Jude, Birthday, Golden Slumbers, and Carry That Weight. The Bass VI has six strings instead of four, and is tuned an octave lower than standard guitar. Its close string spacing and 30" scale length makes it an easy bass for many guitarists to transition to. While long discontinued and relatively rare, Fender recently released a slightly modified Bass VI as part of their Pawnshop series. Squier has also recently released a new Bass VI variant for those on a tighter budget. 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.

Guitars get a lot of attention, but the amps are important too By Phil O'Keefe Electric guitars are nothing without amplification, and the amplifier brand most closely associated with The Beatles is Vox. Early in their career, Beatles manager Brian Epstein made a "handshake" endorsement deal with Vox amplifiers, and they were used exclusively in public by The Beatles until his death in August of 1967. Models that they used include the famous AC-15 and AC-30 all-tube amplifiers, as well as the more powerful AC-50 units that John and George used for the first Ed Sullivan Show performance. Paul originally used a Vox T-60 bass amplifier, but soon found an AC-100 head and 2x15" speaker cabinet more to his liking, and this is the amplifier he used on the first Ed Sullivan Show appearance. The more powerful 50 and 100 watt models were especially useful on-stage, where by this time, The Beatles were finding it difficult to hear themselves over the screams of their fans. The AC-30 remained popular with the band for studio use even after they moved to larger amps for touring, and versions of the AC-15 and AC-30 are still made by Vox today. By 1966, the Beatles were also using Vox UL4120 120 watt bass amps, and Vox UL730 30 watt and UL7120 120 watt guitar amplifiers, which were used in the recording of Revolver and Sgt. Pepper. The unique sound of these amps is apparent in several places on both of these landmark albums. A good example of the sound of the 730 can be heard on Revolver's She Said She Said. The 4120 lacked the footswitchable fuzz circuit, and the vibrato and reverb effects of the 730 and 7120, but all UL series amps featured solid state preamps, and tube power amplifier sections. During the Sgt. Pepper era, Paul also owned a Selmer Thunderbird Twin 50 Mark II all-tube amp, which he used for his solo on Good Morning Good Morning and guitar parts on Being For The Benefit Of Mr Kite. Other amps that they were known to have owned include a Tweed Fender Deluxe that John used in the Hamburg and Cavern Club days, a Gibson GA-40 that George used in the same era, and a Fender Showman. In the studio starting in 1965, McCartney also frequently used a blonde 1964 Fender Bassman amplifier when recording. This amplifier was also sometimes pressed into service for use with guitar too, making it one of their most favored and highly-used studio amps in the middle and later Beatles years. The Beatles were given a silverface Fender Twin and a matching silverface Deluxe Reverb by Don Randall of Fender in 1968, and these amplifiers were used on a lot of their later material, including sessions for Abbey Road. Three late 1968 "drip edge" silverface Twin Reverbs and a Bassman head with a 2x12" cabinet can also be seen in use on the Apple "rooftop" performance in Let It Be, which was filmed on January 30, 1969. Today Fender makes a reissue version of both the silverface Deluxe Reverb and Twin Reverb amps. 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.

Countless people started playing guitar because of the Beatles - here's what they used By Phil O'Keefe When the Beatles auditioned for Decca Records shortly before signing to EMI's Parlophone label in mid 1962, they were turned down and told that "guitar groups are on the way out." Little did the Decca executives realize at the time that guitar groups - and guitars in general - were about to become more popular than they had ever been, as a direct result of the band that they had just rejected. By early 1964, after signing to EMI and conquering the UK and Europe, and with a number one song on the American charts, the Beatles were ready to invade America's living rooms on a popular national TV program. When John Lennon made his first appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show in February of 1964, he was playing a 1958 Rickenbacker 325 Capri. The 325 featured a short (20 3/4") scale length. John's 325 appears solid, but like all Rickenbacker 325's, it is actually a hollowbody guitar. As one of the earliest 325's made, Lennon's has a solid top; most later 325 models featured a soundhole. John received a second Rickenbacker 325 in mid-February of 1964; just in time to be used on their second Ed Sullivan Show appearance. It quickly became his main guitar, with the first 325 being largely retired after that. John also had a one of a kind Rickenbacker 325/12 that he was given by Rickenbacker in March of 1964 and that he used on the recording of the song "Every Little Thing." John also owned a Framus Hootenanny, a German-built 12 string acoustic guitar which made several appearances on the Help! and Rubber Soul album sessions, including prominent use on You've Got To Hide Your Love Away. George Harrison also used Rickenbacker guitars early in his career, having purchased a 425 in September of 1963 while on vacation in the USA visiting his sister Louise. While sick with the flu in a New York City hotel room in February of 1964, he was being interviewed over the phone by a local radio station, and simultaneously trying out a new Rickenbacker 360/12 12-string electric that the rest of the Beatles had been checking out at another nearby hotel and brought back for him to try. He mentioned this in the phone interview, and the station offered to buy the guitar for him, which lead to some confusion, but the guitar was actually given to him by Rickenbacker. This guitar was the second Rickenbacker 12-string ever built, and would go on to introduce the sound of the 12-string electric to popular music, and saw considerable use on various Beatles recordings, including its significant contribution to the sound of the legendary opening chord of A Hard Day's Night, as well as appearing on songs such as I Call Your Name, I Should Have Known Better, and Ticket To Ride. Rickenbacker still manufacturers the 360/12 model, and George's estate still owns the Rickenbacker 360/12 that he received in February of 1964. George also used several Gretsch guitars in the early days of The Beatles, including a 1957 Duo Jet, as well as Gretsch Country Gentleman and Tennessean models. That first night on Ed Sullivan, George played a his second Gretsch Country Gentleman; a dark brown model with dual flip-up mutes. From 1962 through 1965, Gretsch Country Gentleman and Tennessean models would remain his main 6-string electric guitars, and appear on most of the recordings from that time period. John also briefly used a orange double-cutaway 1963 Gretsch 6120 for the Paperback Writer sessions. In 1966, George began using a 1964 Gibson SG Standard. Equipped with a Maestro vibrato, this guitar was used on the Revolver sessions, and can be seen in the promotional films for Paperback Writer and Rain. Harrison later gave this guitar to Pete Ham of Badfinger. The SG wouldn't be the last Gibson to see notable use with The Beatles. Lucy - the factory-refinished cherry-red 1957 Les Paul that once belonged to John Sebastian of the Loving Spoonful, and later to Rick Derringer (who had Gibson refinish it after the original goldtop finish became worn), was bought by Eric Clapton and given to George Harrison as a gift in August 1968. Less than a month later, Clapton played the solo for While My Guitar Gently Weeps from The White Album on this same Les Paul. Lucy was stolen from George in 1973 and wound up in Mexico, but George was eventually able to get it back. George can be seen playing it in the promotional film for Revolution, and it was also used on Abbey Road and Let It Be. Another guitar that is closely associated with George during that same time period is the famous rosewood Fender Telecaster, which can also be seen in the Let It Be film. Paul McCartney used a sunburst Fender Esquire, a close relative of the Telecaster, for some of his recorded guitar parts, especially on the Sgt. Pepper sessions. This Esquire was a right-handed model that he re-strung and played left-handed. The Beatles even had a few guitars in common that more than one member of the band is known for using. Originally, both John and George had matching Gibson J-160E acoustic-electric guitars, which were purchased in September 1962, but unfortunately, John's was stolen after a Christmas show in December of 1963, and thereafter, both used George's for various recordings, and as a backup guitar on tour. Lennon purchased another J-160E in 1964 to replace the one that was stolen. The sound of the Gibson J-160E is a big part of many early to mid-period Beatles records, and it can be heard feeding back on the introduction of I Feel Fine, and it was also used on songs such as Norwegian Wood, and You're Going To Lose That Girl. Gibson and their Epiphone division still manufacture J-160 guitars today. Another notable early-era acoustic guitar that George used was a Jose Ramirez Classical that can be heard on And I Love Her and Til There Was You, and seen in the film A Hard Day's Night. George later used a Gibson J-200 acoustic, while John stuck with the J-160E and augmented it with a Martin D-28, which he took on the Beatles' trip to India in February 1968, and which saw considerable use on the sessions for the White Album. Paul McCartney also acquired a Martin D-28 in 1968, and used it to record Blackbird. This guitar supplemented his earlier Epiphone Texan acoustic, which he had used on Yesterday. While working on Help!, John and George sent Beatles roadie Mal Evans out with instructions to buy them each a Stratocaster, and he returned with matching 1962 Fender Sonic Blue Strats, which were first put to use on Nowhere Man. These guitars were also used elsewhere on Rubber Soul. John used his less frequently after that, although it did see some use on the Sgt. Pepper LP, while George used his rather more extensively, including for the biting guitar parts on the song Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. It was later decorated with hand-painted psychedelic artwork by George himself. Nicknamed Rocky, this guitar can be seen with its psychedelic paint job in the Magical Mystery Tour TV special and the All You Need Is Love session. Another model that is closely associated with The Beatles is the Epiphone ES-230 Casino. Paul McCartney was the first Beatle to purchase one, buying a 1962 right-handed Casino in late 1964. This thinline, hollow-bodied guitar was converted for left-handed use and became McCartney's primary electric, and was used by him for the solos on Ticket To Ride, Drive My Car, and Taxman, as well as on other Beatles songs. It remains his favorite electric guitar to this day. George and John soon purchased Casinos of their own. These were used heavily on Revolver. George can also be seen playing his on film clips from Magical Mystery Tour. Lennon's Casino became his main guitar, and he used it almost exclusively from 1966 through the rest of his time with The Beatles. Originally a sunburst, it was later stripped down to a natural finish. It's the guitar responsible for the wickedly distorted guitar parts on the single version of Revolution, and can also be seen on the Paperback Writer / Rain promotional films, as well as throughout the Let It Be film, including the Apple "rooftop" concert performance scenes. Epiphone still makes the Casino today, and it remains a highly popular model. In fact, many of the guitars that were used by the band are still in production, along with many similar models inspired by them - all as a direct result of their lasting influence. 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.

A look at some of the equipment used on Beatles recordings By Phil O'Keefe While recording technology in America was in some cases more advanced than that available in the UK in the 1960s, especially in terms of the number of tracks available on multitrack recorders (Les Paul, as well as Tom Dowd at Atlantic Records had been using eight-track reel to reel machines since the late 1950s, while Abbey Road Studios wouldn't see their first eight track go into service until 1968) , there was considerable innovation occurring at EMI, and Abbey Road was (and remains) one of the world's best sounding and most respected studios, as it has since first opening its doors in 1931. The studio's association with The Beatles would only add to its reputation. A lot of the sound of the records that the Beatles made was due to the sound of the sources - the instruments they used and the unique acoustics of Abbey Road's studios - particularly Studio 2, where the Beatles recorded the majority of their music. EMI had strict standards with regards to recording equipment, and while they used gear from other manufacturers such as Altec and Fairchild, it was often modified in-house to meet their requirements. The Beatles were constantly in search of new sounds and tonal textures, whether they came from classical Western instruments, Eastern instruments, or new technology and recording techniques, and this further added to the uniqueness of their records, as did the technical excellence of the engineers, and George Martin's production and arranging. Unfortunately, most of the microphones that were used on various Beatles sessions are now long-discontinued, and tend to go for big bucks on the vintage market. The Neumann U47 and U48 were probably the most significant models, and Abbey Road studios owned several of each. They were essentially the same microphone, with the U47 featuring switchable cardioid and omnidirectional patterns, while the U48 had cardioid and bi-directional ("figure-8") polar patterns. These microphones were used by engineer Norman Smith on guitar amps on the early and mid-period Beatles albums, and they were also used on most of the vocal recordings the Beatles did throughout their career. Later the Neumann U67, another multi-pattern tube mic, was also used extensively on guitar amplifiers. Engineer Geoff Emerick sometimes used yet another tube mic, the AKG C12, on Paul McCartney's bass amp, placing it several feet in front of it to capture the sound he wanted. The C12 was built between 1953 and 1963, and although it's no longer available, AKG does offer a somewhat similar model today called the C12VR. The AKG D19 dynamic microphones that were extensively used on drums are also long-discontinued and hard to find, as is the AKG D20 (a predecessor of the AKG D12) that was often used to mic the bass drum on Beatles recordings. A lot of the recording equipment used at EMI / Abbey Road studios was custom-built; either by Abbey Road's in-house engineers, or at EMI's own manufacturing facility in Hayes. Much of this equipment was not available for sale to the general public or to other studios outside of the EMI corporation. This included the REDD 37 and REDD 51 tube mixing consoles that were used on the majority of Beatles records, as well as the solid state TG 12345 console that was used for recording and mixing Abbey Road. The BTR mono and two-track reel to reel tape recorders that were utilized for their earliest records were also made by EMI. Later, four-track machines from Telefunken and Studer were heavily used, with the Studer J37 four track being particularly noteworthy for its use on Revolver and Sgt. Pepper. By 1968, 3M eight-track machines were also being used to provide expanded track counts for their later albums. Today much of this equipment can be difficult to impossible to find. However, there are several plugins on the market that are designed to emulate some of it, such as the Waves / Abbey Road Studios J37 Tape, ReelADT, and REDD Consoles plugins. Also Chandler has released some hardware that is based on Abbey Road designs, such as the TG2, which is available in both rackmount and 500-series versions. However, more important than the equipment is the attitude. Playing together when possible, and the spirit of inventiveness and creativity that was so obviously a part of the Beatles recording sessions. At the end of the day, the magic of the Beatles came down to great songs, inspired arrangements and performances, and a creative approach to capturing and manipulating sound. The gear that they used, while an important contributor to the sounds we hear on those iconic recordings, is in many ways less important than the material they were recording, and the attitude and approach that they took to creating their records. If you're interested in learning more about the actual instruments the Beatles used throughout their careers, how to play their songs, and the methods they used when they were recording them, there are some books you may find interesting and helpful, including The Complete Beatles Recording Sessions by Mark Lewisohn, which documents, day by day, which songs were worked on and which studio the work was done in for each Beatles studio session, while Beatles Gear by Andy Babiuk focuses on the instruments the Beatles used, both live and in the studio at various points in their careers. Recording The Beatles by Kevin Ryan and Brian Kehew is the most throughly researched and lavishly illustrated book I've ever come across on the subject, and is the most comprehensive look inside Abbey Road studios you'll find anywhere outside of London. The Beatles Complete Scores contains sheet music and tab for every song recorded by the Beatles, and is a valuable resource for musicians who are interested in learning to play their songs accurately. 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.

Now you can use your effects pedals with anything! By Phil O'Keefe The first time I tried using a guitar effects pedal on a vocal mic while recording (way back in the 1970s), it didn't go very well. At the time, I didn't have a full appreciation of the importance of impedance and the different levels involved, and as a result, the sound quality was far less than I was expecting. Additionally, ground loops can also be troublesome issue when attempting to use pedals with studio gear. It can also be tricky to get just the right balance of dry and effected signal. Solving the problems of interfacing effects pedals with the rest of your studio setup is exactly what the Radial EXTC Guitar Effects Interface was designed to do. Let's take a closer look. What You Need To Know Packed into a standard single space 500 series module, the Radial EXTC slipped right into my Radial SixPack rack / power supply with no muss or fuss. The fit was perfect, and while I didn't try it with any other rack, I saw nothing that would suggest it would't work equally well with a third-party's 500-series rack unit as the host.The line input and line output connectors for the module are provided by whatever 500-series rack unit you have it installed into. The EXTC 500 supports balanced line in and out.The Radial EXTC isn't a power hog - which can be a big consideration with some 500-series racks. The power requirement is a measly 60mA, so it's well within the recommended specs, even for rack units with less power on tap than the Radial SixPack, which has 265mA available per slot.Connecting your external effects is easy. Two front panel 1/4" jacks are provided; one for sending the signal out to your effects (or amp), and one for returning the signal from the effects pedal(s). Each jack has a corresponding level control, allowing you to set the send and return ("receive") levels to optimize signal to noise. This effects loop is designed for use with high impedance effects, so there's no need to worry about impedance matching when connecting your various guitar pedals to it, and while you can fine-tune the levels going to your pedals and coming back from them, the EXTC drops the line level to the appropriate range for use with effects pedals.It can also be used as a more conventional "Reamping" device, and works great when sending a line output signal from your DAW or tape deck straight into a guitar amp. The EXTC's effects loop includes an isolation transformer to prevent ground loops.The EXTC uses a Class A discrete transformer coupled circuit for low noise and great sound.When used with any of the Radial Workhorse rack units, the rack's Omniport jack is supported by the EXTC 500. The EXTC provides a second unbalanced effects loop in series after the front panel loop via the Omniport jack. This insert loop uses a TRS jack (wired tip send, ring return, sleeve ground) and is optimized for use with studio / rack effects units, and can be engaged or bypassed with a front panel switch.The remaining controls on the EXTC are fairly straightforward. At the top of the module is a Blend knob that allows you to set the ratio of the dry (line input) source sound and the effects loop. This is extremely handy, and allows you to use the EXTC while tracking to add just the right amount of dirt and grit to a track from a distortion or overdrive pedal, or to adjust the balance of dry and ambient signal when using delay or reverb pedals when recording.Of course, nothing says you can't process a pre-recorded signal. Just send the pre-recorded track from your DAW to the EXTC, patch some pedals into it, and then send the line output from your 500 series rack to a new track in your DAW and "print" the 100\% wet signal from the effects pedal(s), and adjust the balance of the wet and dry tracks later, at mixdown. Since some pedals invert the signal polarity, a 180 degree polarity reverse switch is also provided. This is also a very useful feature, especially when using the Blend control. If you notice things starting to sound weak, thin, or hollow when you start to blend in the effected signal, hitting this button will usually eliminate the phase cancellation and fix the problem. You can also use the Radial EXTC as a direct box by plugging your guitar or bass directly into the Receive jack and using the line output from your rack to feed an input on your recorder or interface. The sky's the limit with the EXTC - literally any line level signal - either from a live sound source (line level out from your mic preamp, keyboard, etc.) or pre-recorded track can be processed with your effects pedals when you have this handy box in your 500-series rack. Wah on piano, fuzz on drums, phaser on vocals - you really are only limited by your imagination and musical tastes. Limitations The EXTC is a mono unit, so if you're working with stereo signals and stereo effects pedals, you'll need two EXTC units.There are no meters on the EXTC, nor on most effects pedals, so you'll have to use your ears to determine when the signal to noise ratio is optimized. Conclusion I love devices that are well-built, affordable, sound great, and that allow you to get a ton of cool new sounds from other gear that you already own, and that let you apply that gear in new and creative ways - and that's exactly what the Radial EXTC 500 does. The Radial EXTC encourages creative experimentation, and you're bound to come up with your own unique and individual tones when you use this box. As is typical with Radial equipment, the EXTC solidly built, and exceptionally well thought out, and it provides the user with all the tools they need to use effects pedals when tracking, reamping, or when mixing. It's a ton of fun to use too; all of which makes it a must-have for 500-series rack owners. Resources Musician's Friend's Radial Engineering EXTC 500 Reamp Guitar Effects Interface online catalog page ($300.00 MSRP, $249.99 "street") Radial Engineering's EXTC 500 Guitar Effects Interface web page Radial Engineering EXTC introduction video: 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.

Does Deering's most affordable professional-grade banjo measure up to professional expectations? By Phil O'Keefe The Deering Banjo Company is an American small business success story, having been started as a family-operated business by Greg and Janet Deering in Southern California back in the mid 1970s. They have become one of the most recognized and respected banjo manufacturers in the world, with lines that include Vega, Deering, Tonebrook and Goodtime banjos, all of which are still hand-built in the USA. Their latest instrument is the Eagle II, a model that is designed as an affordable professional-grade banjo. Let's see how well it measures up to professional standards. What You Need To Know The Eagle II is Deering's newest and most affordable professional-grade resonator 5-string banjo, but just because it's affordable, that doesn't mean they took quality shortcuts. Nor is it an imported instrument - as with their other banjos, it's made just outside of San Diego in Spring Valley California USA.The Eagle II has an unbound maple neck that is finished with a dark red mahogany stain and a high-gloss finish. There are 22 pressed-in nickel-silver frets on the natural ebony fretboard. The scale length is 26 1/4".The neck features Deering's slender neck shape. It measures 1 1/4" wide at the nut, and is extremely comfortable to play. The neck also has the original Deering Eagle engraved inlays. Additional inlays adorn the headstock. The workmanship on the inlays is first-rate; as hard as I tried, I couldn't find any flaws or filler used to fill gaps around them.The Eagle II has smooth planetary tuners, and a geared fifth string peg. Tuning stability is excellent.The Eagle II has a violin-grade three-ply maple rim, and 24 brackets. It utilizes Deering's own Twenty-Ten™ tone ring, a new and patent-pending design that Deering says contributes significantly to the Eagle II's expressive and versatile tonality. The Eagle II uses Deering's True Tone tailpiece.The Eagle II has a slender nickel plated shaped armrest. The resonator is 13 7/8" in diameter, and also made from maple, with the same dark red mahogany stain and high gloss finish as the neck. It is also double-bound, which I think looks really classy. The setup straight out of the case was perfect, and no adjustments were needed. The action is admirably low making this banjo super easy to play. The 11" top frosted head was expertly tensioned, and the two piece maple and ebony bridge well cut and properly positioned so that intonation was right on the money.Speaking of the case, it's included with the Eagle II, and very nice. There is a large gold Deering logo on the outside, and the inside is very plush and well padded. I think the green lining of the case looks really cool. The quality of the nickel plated hardware is also quite good.Deering has a well-earned reputation for building solid instruments, and the Eagle II is only going to reinforce that. Deering stands behind the Eagle II 5-String banjo with a limited lifetime warranty.A left-handed version is also available for a slight additional charge. Limitations The fret position indicators on the side of the neck are relatively small, and not as readily visible as I would have preferred.There are no pre-installed spikes for the 5th string at the 7th, 9th and 10th frets on the review unit. However, Deering does offer this as an option for an additional $39. Conclusions This Deering Eagle II is built like a tank. At ten pounds, it's not particularly heavy by professional banjo standards, but it has a definite aura of quality and durability to it. The items I mentioned under limitations are really minor quibbles, and the spikes can be easily added later, or ordered with the banjo for a slight additional cost, while the visibility of the side dots is probably not that bad for younger players with better eyes than I have. The Deering Eagle II is an excellent multi-purpose banjo that works well for playing in a variety of styles, including Bluegrass and Clawhammer. The tone is warm and full, with plenty of bass and great projection and more than ample volume. The highs are bright and crisp without being strident or overbearing, but it is the midrange of this banjo that is of particular note - it's punchy and present, with a unique and very cool voice. Sustain is also very good. Playing closer to the neck results in a rounder sound, as you might expect, while rolls played near the bridge snap and chime wonderfully. It's definitely a flexible banjo, with a sound that works very well with a variety of playing styles and across multiple genres. This is the kind of banjo that makes a great long-term companion for the serious player; and by "long-term", I mean "lifetime partner." Sure, there are fancier banjos on the market, but the Eagle II has enough beautiful inlay, binding, and sparkling nickel-plated hardware to stand tall even in comparison to other high-end banjos, and more importantly, professional-grade sound and build quality that will delight its owners and audiences for years to come. It's certainly worthy of your consideration if you're ready to move up to a truly professional-grade instrument that can serve well in a variety of genres. It's a delightful banjo. Resources $2,549.00 MSRP, $2,119.00 "street" Deering's Eagle II web page http://www.deeringbanjos.com/products/eagle-ii-5-string-banjo Deering Banjo's web site http://www.deeringbanjos.com/ Deering Banjo's Eagle II demo video: Harmony Central Review Preview - Deering Eagle II 5-string resonator banjo 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.

This box is designed to hold your 500 series goodies, but does it deliver the goods itself? By Phil O'Keefe There's no denying that 500 series modules have become a big hit in the studio world. The modular design of 500 series units allows them to be plugged straight into rack frames that are designed to house multiple units and provide the I/O and power for all the modules they host, giving you the ability to reconfigure your unit or install just the types of modules you need. Originally developed by API, the 500 series format has become increasingly popular over the past several years, and a wide variety of companies now offer modules of various types that are designed to work with 500 series power racks such as the Radial Engineering Workhorse SixPack. While the Radial is designed to hold your 500 series goodies, the question remains - how well does it deliver the goods? What You Need To Know As the name suggests, the SixPack is a power rack that can house six single-width (5.25" x 1.5") 500 series modules. The unit's six slots allows you a pretty decent amount of configuration options. For example, it's enough for a really outstanding stereo signal path, with two mic preamp modules, two EQ modules, and two compressor modules. Alternatively, you could load a SixPack with nothing but mic preamps, or install six compressors, or a bunch of EQ modules - the choice is yours, and this degree of flexibility no doubt has contributed to the popularity of the 500 series format.The 500-series format also allows you to purchase a rack / power supply and then add channels / modules to it as you afford it, which can be a more realistic option for some people than purchasing an expensive multi-channel preamp and having to pay for it all at once. While you do have to purchase a rack to power and house the modules, the price of the rack is spread out over the total number of modules, and the modules are generally less expensive than their full-sized rack equivalents.Radial is not a member of the API VPR alliance, but their products are tested by Radial and designed to be compatible with API modules as well as those from other companies. Radial Engineering has also done extensive research into the 500 series, and has considerable specification documentation that they freely make available to other manufacturers. Like all Radial gear, the SixPack is built like a tank, with a 14 gauge steel housing and a rugged powder-coated finish. An alignment tray inside the unit helps facilitate module installation. In the event you run into a slightly off-spec module in terms of size (and they're out there), this tray can be removed to allow a bit more "wiggle room" so the oversized unit can be installed. I had no trouble installing a variety of modules with the alignment tray in place. Module installation is a little tricky because the format doesn't always allow you to see what you're doing, but if you go slowly and carefully, it's really not all that hard to do.A removable handle is included, and it can be placed at the top of the unit, or installed on the side, depending on how you wish to orient the SixPack. The included rubber feet can be installed in a similar manner, allowing the unit to be situated horizontally or vertically. The unit is well suited to both desktop use in the control room, or it can sit on the floor out in the studio. While internal power protection features are included in the SixPack's design in case you forget, you should always turn power off before installing or swapping modules. Modules use a 15 pin card edge connector that is inserted into one of the six slots inside the SixPack. These 15 pins handle the audio I/O, power for the module, stereo link, phantom power, and all connectivity between the module and the rack's connections and power supply. If a module doesn't use a particular feature (for example, a compressor doesn't need phantom power), it's ignored.The Radial Workhorse SixPack uses a 16VDC 1600mA power supply that provides an average of 266mA per slot. This is significantly more current than the original API spec calls for. The extra current provides ample power, even when using current-hungry modules such as tube preamps. It's unlikely that users will ever run into a combination of modules that the SixPack won't adequately power, even when fully loaded. In my experience with the review unit power sag due to "not enough power" was simply never an issue, even with the unit fully loaded and everything driven hard.The power supply is an external "line lump" type, and it connects to the SixPack via a locking 5-pin XLR type power connector. I like that it locks into place - there's much less chance of someone accidentally disconnecting the power in mid-take. Since it uses a standard IEC power connector and is designed to work with a variety of voltages (100V-240V), using the SixPack in other countries is as simple as connecting the correct IEC power plug for the country you're visiting - no new power supply or pesky voltage adapters required. Two front panel LEDs give you power and 48V phantom power-on status indication at a glance.For combining stereo-ready modules, a link function is provided. You'll need to install the modules in adjacent slots. Slots 1/2, 3/4 and 5/6 can be linked with the flip of a switch. There are tons of connections and patching options on the SixPack. Each channel has an XLR input and an XLR output. Output levels are typically +4dB line level, while input level will depend on the type of module installed in the slot. If it's a mic preamp, then the XLR serves as a mic-level input connector, but if it's a compressor or EQ installed in the slot, then the input will typically function as a +4dB line level input. With some rack units, short XLR to XLR patch cables are needed to patch the output of one module into the input of whatever module you want to connect it to. You can certainly patch this way with the SixPack, but Radial includes a nifty "Feed" switch for each card slot that allows you to send the output of one slot into the next without having to use a patch cable of any kind. This is extremely handy, and for many users, this will drastically reduce the amount of patching they need to do.Patching is further facilitated by the inclusion of TRS input and output jacks for each card slot. These jacks are wired in parallel with the XLR I/O, which allows for even more creative patching possibilities.D-sub connectors on the unit mean it can be quickly patched into many studio patch bays, mixing consoles, and DAW setups. The connectors are DB-25 type, and the pin format follows the Tascam D-sub standard, which supports eight channels. There are two extra, or "convenience" XLR inputs on the front panel of the Radial SixPack. These can be routed to D-sub channels 7 and 8, or card slots 1 and 4, which is perfect if you're using the SixPack to host six modules in a two-channel preamp / EQ / compressor "channel strip" configuration. These extra inputs can also be routed to the rear panel channel 7 and 8 outputs. Additional rear panel XLR and TRS jacks provide access to the D-Sub I/O for channels 7 and 8. Another area where the SixPack differs from its competitors is the Omniport jacks. Omniport is a Radial Engineering innovation that gives you even more functionality and patching flexibility. Using a 1/4" TRS jack, Omniport can be used for things such as a side chain input for a compressor module, a send and return insert point or instrument-level input on a preamp, unbalanced I/O for the module - there's tons of possibilities. Of course, not all modules currently use Omniport, but the ones that do gain additional features that makes the Omniport a welcome addition to this rack.Modules that are not designed with Omniport functionality will still work with the SixPack; the Omniport jacks are simply inactive for any slots with such modules installed. While the details are beyond the scope of this review, Radial Engineering also makes 500 series racks in other sizes, including the 3-slot Workhorse Cube and PowerStrip units, along with the 8-slot Workhorse and Workhorse WR-8, and the 10-slot Workhorse Powerhouse. Limitations There is no power switch on the Radial SixPack. Admittedly there really isn't room for one, and you can get around the lack of one fairly easily on a device like this by using a power strip or just unplugging it (after all, this kind of rack is designed to be mobile), but a switch would still be nice to have, and may be missed by some users.Rack ears and desktop-insert mounting hardware is not included, but are available as extra-cost options. Conclusions I am quite impressed with the amount of thought that went into the design and specifications of this unit. As you can see from the limited amount of "limitations" I commented on, there really aren't any significant flaws to it. It's solidly-built and has thoughtful features nearly everywhere you look that make the unit easier or more flexible to use. It's a marvel of excellent design and engineering. The switching and routing of this unit make it a breeze to use, and really minimize the need for external patch cables. When you do want to partake in a little creative signal routing and patching, there is a wealth of patch points at your disposal. While module installation is always a bit tricky with any 500 series rack, the SixPack makes it as easy as possible, while still allowing for the use of off-sized modules. The front panel XLR jacks allow you to easily patch into the Workhorse SixPack even when it's mounted in a rack or desktop without having to crawl around to the back. The extra beefy power supply means that there's plenty of power on tap, even when using modules that demand more juice than the original API spec allows for, such as many modern tube preamp designs. Even with the SixPack fully loaded up with a variety of different modules (discrete mic pre, EQs, compressor, tube preamp, exciter, etc.), it doesn't sag or bog down. The Radial Workhorse SixPack is not only a low-cost way to get into the world of 500-series modules, it's an extremely flexible and well-thought out one too, and for these reasons, I highly recommend it. I've been wanting a 500 series rack for quite some time now so that I could test out all the latest 500 series modules, and I've found an excellent product for this purpose, and one that I feel does a great job at delivering the goods. The Radial Workhorse SixPack is that unit, and I am so impressed with it that I have purchased the review unit. Stay tuned for some 500 series module reviews in the not too distant future. Resources Musician's Friend Radial Workhorse SixPack online catalog page ($550 MSRP, $449 "street") Radial Engineering's Workhorse SixPack web page Radial Engineering's Peter Janis introduces the SixPack to Harmony Central at NAMM 2013 Harmony Central Review Preview - Radial Workhorse SixPack 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.

Talk about having it your way... By Phil O'Keefe Sandberg guitars and basses are far more well-known in their native Germany than they are here in the USA, but that appears to be rapidly changing as more and more American players become familiar with this boutique European brand. Sandberg takes an artistic approach to building instruments, and one look at the custom shop page on their website will tell you that they're not afraid to try some outrageous things. Even their regular models offer the buyer outstanding flexibility in terms of options. Holger Stonjek, the company owner, is a skilled musician who regularly contributes to the building of Sandberg instruments, as well as regularly performing at shows and clinics. The folks at Sandberg obviously have a lot of passion about music and musical instruments; the question is, is that passion evident in the instruments they build? Let's take a look… What You Need To Know There are a ton of available options for this bass… you can literally "have it your way", with a staggering array of available options.The neck on the review unit is Canadian hard rock maple and has a smooth, comfortable satin finish. It is capped with a rosewood fretboard. There are no inlays of any kind on the fretboard, although there are side markers so you'll still be able to tell where you're at on the neck with just a glance. If you prefer fretboard inlays, you can get dots or blocks at an additional cost.The truss rod is inserted from the front, and then covered with the fingerboard. There is no "skunk stripe" on the back of the neck. The truss rod adjustment is done at the headstock. The edges of the rosewood fingerboard feel as though they're slightly rolled or rounded, which gives the bass a "broken in" feel that is very comfortable. Maple and ebony are also available as fingerboard wood options. There are 22 medium-jumbo frets, and the scale length is 34", although a 35" scale length is available as an option for five-string versions of this bass. Fretless versions of this bass are also available. The frets on the review unit are well dressed and polished, and expertly leveled via the Plek system.The neck is quite comfortable in terms of dimensions, and has a c-shaped profile. Width at the nut is 1.65" on the review unit, and 2.23" wide at the 12th fret. The neck thickness at the first fret is 0.875", and it is 0.975" thick at the 12th fret.The neck is joined to the body with a unique six bolt arrangement that is very stable, and undoubtedly contributes to the excellent sustain of the Sandberg California TT4. The Sandberg California TT is available in 11 different high-gloss finishes. The tobacco sunburst finish on the review unit is absolutely flawless and quite striking in appearance. In addition to high-gloss finishes, you can also opt for a matt finish. There are even three different levels of relic treatment that simulate aged finishes available as options.The body of the review unit is alder, but other woods are available as options, including swamp ash, and European ash. You can even order it with a mahogany body and a "rarewood" top. Optional top woods include bubinga, birdseye maple, cocobolo, imbuia, flamed maple, wenge, quilted maple, walnut, spalted maple, zebrano, bahia, macasar, and bocote. Rarewood versions are not available with "aged" finishes. The headstock on the review unit is finished in natural, but you can order it finished to match the body if you wish. Yes, even if the top of the body is done in a rare wood, you can get a matching headstock. The pickups are Sandberg "T" models (J-style) with two big beefy pole pieces per string. Alnico V magnets are used in the pickups. Delano and Kloppmann pickups are also available as options. The electronics are rather nice too, with the Sandberg California TT4 being offered in both passive and active / passive versions. The review unit came equipped with passive electronics, and features a single master volume control and a smaller master tone knob, with the middle knob serving as a balance or blend control that allows you to quickly switch between either pickup, or blend the two in any ratio you prefer. This center pickup selector knob also has a center-detent which lets you know when both pickups are equally balanced. The control cavity is painted with shielding paint to help reduce hum, and noise is not a significant issue with this bass, even though it uses single coil pickups. Quality full-sized Alpha pots are used, and the wiring and soldering are clean and well-done.The bridge is a very heavy-duty top-loading unit made by Sandberg. Action and intonation can be easily adjusted for each individual string. The three-layer pickguard is fairly traditionally-shaped, and the top layer is tortoise shell colored. The pickguard is extremely well cut, and fits snugly to the neck and control plate, with no visible gaps to be found.There are four metallic inlays near the neck. The "four circles" motif is also repeated on the headstock and on the bridge, and are a Sandberg logo item that distinguishes their basses.The neck is also extremely well-fitted into the neck pocket on the body, with no visible gaps at all. The Res-o-lite tuning machines are made by Gotoh. They're open-gear, with a 26:1 ratio, and are exceptionally lightweight, yet hold their tuning quite well. The stock strings are stainless steel round wounds, in gauges .040-.100, with .040-.128 gauge strings used on the five-string models. A Plek machine is used to make sure the frets and setup are first-rate. As with the various other guitars and basses that I've tested that featured Plek-assisted setups, the playability is outstanding, and nothing at all thing needed to be done to the bass in terms of the setup - the action and intonation were perfect, straight out of the bag. Limitations My only real disappointment is that, at this price, I would have liked to have seen a hardshell case included instead of the deluxe gig bag that comes with the Sandberg California TT4. Speaking of price, it is not really what I'd call an inexpensive bass, and that will no doubt discourage some players from owning one, but it is a very well built and excellent playing bass and not at all over-priced for a European import of this quality. Conclusions While I was reviewing a fairly basic version of this bass, the amount of options available are quite impressive, and allow the player to order exactly what they want - at a price of course. This kind of flexibility puts a lot of demands on a manufacturer, but it's great that Sandberg gives players the ability to spec out their dream bass in practically every way, from wood types, to color, to finish aging - even the pickups, electronics and inlays. The neck joint is extremely stable, and while it has the kind of sound you'd expect given its looks and pickup configuration, the Sandberg California TT4 is even beefier and more sonically flexible than many J-style basses. The setup and playability are both first-rate, and exactly what you'd expect from a high-end bass. If you know exactly what you want in a bass, Sandberg can build it for you, and they're well worth considering when you're ready to have a bass made your way. Resources Price: $1,835 "street" Sandberg's US distributor's web page: www.diffusion-audio.com Sandberg's California TT4 Bass web page Sandberg California TT bass demo videos: 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.

Taking the SG-inspired EB basses in a new direction, and putting some misconceptions to rest By Phil O'Keefe The more I got into writing this review, the more it felt like I was writing an episode of Mythbusters. When I write a review, I like to have a look around various forums to see what comments people are making, and to make sure that I have not overlooked any questions that people are asking about the instrument. In this case, I noticed that there are a few misconceptions about Gibson basses, as well as a few comments and opinions being shared about this bass by people who have obviously never had the opportunity to try one. Some of the comments about Gibson basses that I saw included statements that Gibson's a guitar company and basses really aren't a priority for them (considering the wide variety of bass models they've offered over the years, I think we can dismiss that myth immediately), as well as comments about their basses all sounding muddy, or complaints about them being neck-heavy, or not very versatile from a sonic standpoint. Are these comments based on facts that apply to the EB Bass, or just examples of the uninformed and baseless opinions you sometimes read online? We'll be considering all of those things, and much more, as the review progresses. Gibson's first bass, the EB-1, was a violin-shaped instrument that was first introduced back in 1953. Later EB series basses like the EB-0 (1959) and EB-3 (1961) both featured more SG-inspired body shapes after the SG-Les Paul's introduction in 1961. Although the EB-3L was available for players who wanted a 34" scale length, both models more commonly came with short scale (30.5") necks. While some of these earlier basses did indeed sound rather dark, their original goal was to replicate an upright bass tone, which is darker too. As time went on, Gibson's basses also changed, and many models that were introduced in the 70s or later are far from dark or muddy-sounding, so there's another myth busted. Gibson claims the new EB (which stands for "Electric Bass") has an "SG-derived body", and while there may be some hints of the SG shape in the elongated horns of the EB body's asymmetrical double-cutaway, it's still quite a departure from the SG itself, or the earlier EB series basses (such as the EB-0 and EB-3) that were more obviously SG-inspired. To me, the body contours and cutaway shape is almost more of a cross between a traditional EB-3 and a mid-70s era Gibson Ripper or Grabber. The horns are less pointy than the SG-shaped EB-3, but not as thin and elongated as the Grabber, and there are subtle hints of Mosrite also thrown into the mix in the way the back of the body is curved. I think it looks pretty cool, and while opinions about the looks of the bass are going to come down (as always) to the tastes of the individual, the questions remain - how does it perform, and is there any truth to the rest of the myths? Let's find out… What You Need To Know The EB Bass features an ash body (with beautiful grain figuring) coupled to a glued-in grade A maple neck. The EB Bass is finished in nitrocellulose lacquer. The finish on the ash body is "grain-textured satin", with the grain of the wood easily visible; there are no rough edges, and everything still feels smooth, but you can subtly feel the grain in the finish if you run your hand over the wood. I suspect a grain filler was not used as part of the finishing process, allowing the grain texture to be more prominent.The body has both forearm and "tummy" contour curves, both of which make it very comfortable to hold and play.The smooth satin nitrocellulose-finished maple neck has 20 medium jumbo frets that are perfectly dressed, with no sharp edges anywhere. They're anchored into a great feeling unbound rosewood fingerboard. The rosewood is nice and dark, and very consistent in shading and grain. The fretboard radius is 12", and simple acrylic dot inlays serve as position markers. The tuners are sealed Grovers with a 20:1 ratio, and they're exceptionally smooth and hold tune great. The neck isn't tiny, but it's not a gigantic monster either. I suspect players with a wide variety of hand shapes and sizes will like it. It has a rounded profile, and it's nice and thin from the fingerboard to the back of the neck (I measured .812" at the first fret, .905" at the 12th fret) and not too narrow or wide - the neck on the review unit is 1.650" wide at the nut, and it widens out a bit as you move up the fretboard, measuring 2.185" wide at the 12th fret according to my digital calipers. The satin nitro finish on the mildly-figured maple feels really good, and you can fly around this neck quite easily. Best of all, there were no noticeable dead spots to be found anywhere. The neck features a volute on the back where it meets the headstock. Volutes have been used on some Gibson models in the past (particularly from 1969 to 1981), and generally their purpose is to strengthen the headstock / neck joint to make it less likely to break. The headstock is angled back a few degrees, but it appears that there is no second piece of wood glued on to form the headstock; rather, it's a continuation of the same single piece of maple that forms the rest of the neck. The face of the traditional Gibson "open book" shaped headstock is satin black, and adorned with a simple Gibson bell shaped truss rod cover and a gold Gibson logo. The nut is Corian, and once again I must point out the excellent Plek assisted setup job on this instrument - it plays fantastic right out of the case, with great intonation, excellent buzz-free action, and no need for adjustments of any kind. Gibson's set-up work on all of the instruments I've tried lately has been simply superb.The new EB Bass comes equipped with two humbucking pickups. There are two volume controls (one for each pickup) and a master tone control. No pickup switching is available; instead, the pickups can be used individually, or combined in various ratios by adjusting their individual volume controls. The pickups in the EB Bass, which were designed by Gibson luthier Jim DeCola, are really beefy humbuckers. They feature Alnico V rod magnets and have a thick, rich tone with great fundamental and lots of bottom; but there's also great definition and brassiness to the mids and highs, and the rich bottom isn't there at the expense of the rest of the sonic spectrum. The pickups also feature a coil tap - by pulling the volume control for the associated pickup away from the body, you kick it into single-coil mode. Gibson refers to this as a "frequency compensated coil tap", and it really does sound great - there's not a huge volume drop when you go to single coil mode, which is very nice. The timbres are definitely brighter and more focused in single coil mode. All Gibson basses are muddy? Not this one, so let's put that myth to rest too. Noise is very low when running either pickup alone in single coil mode, and when running them together, they're hum canceling, even when coil tapped. The 2013 EB Bass also comes with a chrome plated Babicz Full Contact Hardware bridge. This is a really well engineered bridge and its solid, fully-adjustable design no doubt contributes to the excellent sustain of the EB Bass. While some of Gibson's earlier basses have had a tendency to be neck-heavy due to their design, their strap button locations, and the way they balance on a strap, that's just not an issue with the EB Bass. To test it, I used the thinnest (2") and slickest (nylon-backed) strap I could find laying around instead of my usual wide (3"), rough suede-backed leather bass strap, and when I took my hands away, the EB Bass stayed wherever I had last positioned it, without the neck heading immediately for the floor. In other words, it's a well-balanced bass that's very comfortable to hold and play, even when using a strap. All Gibson basses are neck-heavy? Well, not this one, so that's another myth busted. Limitations I honestly don't have any significant complaints. Sure, the satin finish was most likely done as a cost-cutting measure so Gibson could bring this bass in at the highly competitive $1,000 "street" price point, but the looks of the bass are still quite nice, regardless of the lack of gloss. In fact, some players may prefer the satin - it certainly is less likely to show fingerprints than a gloss finish would, and it does look quite nice in its own right.I guess I could complain about the stark white color of the plush lining that Gibson is now using inside their hardshell cases - as I've mentioned in earlier reviews, I suspect it will tend to get dirty over time and may not look as nice after a few years as it does now... but again, that's a minor quibble. The Canadian-built case is rugged and well-constructed, fits the EB Bass like the proverbial glove, and at this price, it's nice to see a solid case included with the bass instead of a gig bag. Conclusions Sonically, this is a really versatile bass. Rolling off the tone control and using the neck pickup results in a darker tone that is similar to what you'd hear on an old Motown record, while opening it up reveals much brighter and more articulate timbres that can really cut through; especially when using the bridge pickup. While the EB Bass can get big, beefy tones, it's by no means limited to them. Both pickups have a lot more output than you might expect from passive pickups - even when coil-split for single coil sounds. Various combinations of the two pickups can easily be blended with the separate volume controls, and the coil tapping works wonderfully, giving you even more tonal options. The EB Bass is well-built, extremely comfortable to play, balances well (it doesn't fight you when worn on a strap), and I think the new shape looks cool in a retro/modern sort of way. It's definitely something a bit different than the earlier EB series basses from Gibson, and yet not too far out in left-field either. If players can get past some of the myths and misconceptions and give the EB Bass a fair try, I think a lot of them are going to be quite impressed with it - I know I was. Resources Musician's Friend Gibson EB Bass online catalog page ($1,599 MSRP, $999 "street") Gibson's EB Bass web page Babicz Full Contact Hardware bridge manual (PDF) Harmony Central Gibson EB Bass Review Preview video 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.

MXL revises their flagship Genesis tube mic with FET electronics, making it affordable to a wider range of recordists By Phil O'Keefe Large-diaphragm cardioid condenser microphones are usually the prized-gems of a project studio's mic collection, and they're often called upon to do multiple things - especially if the studio has a relatively limited collection of microphones at their disposal. The MXL Genesis FET is a large diaphragm solid-state cardioid condenser microphone designed to excel on vocals, which is typically a common assignment for such microphones, but it's also intended to perform well as a utility mic, and MXL claims it will work well on a variety of instruments too. How well does it meet those expectations? Let's find out… What You Need To Know This is the third microphone in the MXL Genesis line, which also includes the original Genesis cardioid tube condenser ($995 MSRP / $595 "street"), and the Genesis II ($1,099.95 MSRP, $899.99 "street") which is also a cardioid tube condenser, but one that features a warm/bright switchable dual diaphragm configuration for extra sonic options.Like the other models in this series, the Genesis FET features a 32mm large-diaphragm condenser capsule with a 6 micron gold-sputtered diaphragm. The polar pattern of the Genesis FET is fixed cardioid.The Genesis FET stays true to the styling accoutrements of the other Genesis models; the body is painted a deep, bright red with the Genesis FET name engraved into it and highlighted with gold-colored lettering, and a distinctive gold-plated grille providing additional visual accent - and a touch of bling. While maintaining the same basic look as the other Genesis microphones, the Genesis FET is a bit smaller in diameter, and because of that, and with the lighter, solid-state transformerless FET electronics replacing the tube innards of the other Genesis models, it weights less too, coming in at just under one pound.You should have no difficulty using it with standard mic stands, although a suitable counterweight at the other end of the boom, or sandbags placed on the base of the stand should always be used whenever using any larger-sized mic on an extended boom arm to improve stability and help prevent it from falling over. The included pop shield is another cool touch. It's 24k gold-plated to match the grille, and attaches directly to the mic body, so you don't need an additional stand to support it in position. It's also pretty darned effective at reducing plosives and other wind blasts from marring your recordings. A cushy rubber lining around the inside of the metal band that holds it to the mic's body prevents it from marring the microphone's finish, and also mechanically decouples the shield from the microphone, and helps prevent vibrations from plosive blasts that hit the pop shield from being transferred to the mic.There are other accessories included with the Genesis FET too. They include a shock mount for isolation from stand-borne vibrations, a polishing cloth, and a wood storage box. The shock mount is effective, and the design is fairly compact, which helps when you're trying to place the mic in tight, but since the Genesis FET is a fairly large microphone (it measures 8.86" long x 1.85" wide), placement may still be difficult in extremely tight quarters.The frequency response of the Genesis FET is rated at 20Hz - 20kHz and it's fairly flat. There's a slight bump at 100Hz, and an equally slight dip between 200Hz and 800Hz, and another slight boost that starts at around 2kHz and extends out to nearly 18kHz, but none of these deviate from flat by more than a dB or two. While it's quieter than its Genesis tube mic cousins, and reasonably quiet by FET standards (13dB A-weighted equivalent noise level, 81dB S/N ratio, 127dB dynamic range), it's not spectacular or record-setting in that regard. Still, for most users, self-noise will not be a significant issue with this microphone.The Genesis FET requires 48V (+/- 4V) phantom power.Maximum SPL is rated at 140 dB SPL @ 0.5\% THD, so it can handle all but the very loudest of sound sources without flinching.The Genesis FET, like all MXL microphones, was designed, engineered and prototyped in El Segundo California USA, and is built in their own factory in China. Limitations There is no onboard pad switch. Using the Genesis FET with loud sound sources may require using an inline pad or a pad on the mic preamp.Similarly, there is no high-pass filter switch, so you'll probably want to use one on the mic preamp when tracking, or from a suitable plugin at mixdown to remove any subsonic gunk that you may have picked up while recording.Some will lament the use of a double-layer grille. While this helps to protect the capsule from plosive blasts, wind noise, and moisture, it also means more internal reflections within the microphone's headbasket. I suspect the Genesis FET may sound even better if modified to remove the inner screen grille layer, giving it a single layer grille similar to the ones used on the MXL Revelation series microphones, but such modifications should not be undertaken lightly - it's easy to damage the internal components if you don't know what you're doing, and such modifications will void the microphone's three-year warranty. Conclusions This is yet another microphone from MXL that doesn't conform to the inaccurate stereotype that all Chinese-built microphones are harsh sounding, or excessively bright. While it's more expensive than many of the bargain-basement mics from overseas, it is also a much more balanced and polished sounding microphone, which makes it well worth the additional cost if the sound quality and fidelity of your recordings is important to you. While not inexpensive, it performs better than some microphones that cost even more, and while it's a bit more stripped-down (lacking the pad and high-pass filter switches), it still provides a lot of the character and sound quality of the very popular (and more expensive) Genesis tube microphone, but at a price that makes it affordable to an even wider range of users. This is a very nice sounding microphone with tight lows, controlled, detailed midrange and an open sounding top end. There is no significant emphasis on any particular part of the audible frequency spectrum, making it a very good choice for "all-around" use on a variety of instruments and vocalists. The transient response is very quick; it sounds very detailed, and with a tonal character that leans more towards accuracy than a hyped sonic flavor or color. While no single microphone is ideal for every task, the Genesis FET does admirably well on a variety of different sound sources, including the sorts of things it would typically be called upon to capture in a project or home-based studio, such as guitar and bass amps, male and female vocalists, hand percussion, acoustic guitar, and piano. This makes it a valuable gear addition for those with limited mics to choose from, or who primarily want a good quality vocal mic, but one that can also perform well on other sound sources when called upon to do so. Its combination of solid sound quality and reasonable price definitely make the MXL Genesis FET worthy of your consideration if you're in the market for a FET vocal and multipurpose instrument microphone. Resources Price: $399.95 "street" MXL's Genesis FET large diaphragm condenser microphone web page MXL's Genesis FET introduction video Harmony Central Review Preview - MXL Genesis FET Additional images: 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.

A long-discontinued classic returns with some interesting twists and an unbelievable price By Phil O'Keefe The Bass VI is an interesting instrument that has elements of a standard bass mixed with elements of a guitar or baritone guitar. Influenced by Fender's Jaguar guitar, it has shared some features with that guitar ever since the Bass VI was slightly restyled after the Jaguar's introduction in 1962. Fender's Bass VI has never been a big seller, although it has had more impact on music than its relatively modest sales figures would suggest, having been used extensively by such players as Jack Bruce of Cream, Robert Smith of The Cure, and Noel Redding of the Jimi Hendrix Experience. The Beatles also owned a Bass VI, and George Harrison or John Lennon would often play it on songs where Paul McCartney, their usual bassist, was playing piano or guitar. Nigel Tufnel of Spinal Tap famously never played his ultra-rare sea foam green Bass VI - and refused to let people even look at it for long. Originally manufactured from 1961 until 1975 and briefly reissued by Fender a couple of times since then (most recently as the Fender Pawn Shop Bass VI), this is the first version of the Bass VI to be released under the Squier brand. Let's take a closer look. What You Need To Know Like a standard four string bass, the Bass VI is tuned an octave lower than standard guitar. The two "extra" (highest) strings are also tuned an octave down from the B and high E strings on a standard guitar. This makes the Bass VI a bit different than many other extended range basses; for example, most five string basses feature a low B string (below the low E) in addition to the standard E A D and G strings of a standard four string bass, giving them the ability to play lower than a standard bass. The Bass VI allows you to play as low as a traditional four string bass, but also higher; well into the baritone guitar range.The Squier Bass VI has a maple neck and a rosewood fingerboard. The scale length is 30", as opposed to the more traditional 34" scale used on the Precision and Jazz Bass models. This makes it very comfortable for musicians with smaller hands, and the shorter scale length eases the transition for players who usually play guitar and who occasionally double on bass.It's a matter of taste, but I think the bound neck and figured pearloid block inlays (first introduced by Fender to the Bass VI way back in 1965 and 1966) look fantastic on this instrument. The neck binding and inlays are skillfully done too. The fact that these labor intensive features are included on such an affordable instrument is pretty astonishing. The color selection is a bit limited; white, black and three-color sunburst being your only choices, with the white and sunburst featuring tortoise shell pickguards, while the black Squier Bass VI sports a white pickguard. The gloss polyurethane finish on the basswood body is very smooth, even, and deep looking on this bass. It's a very nicely done finish, with no spots or blemishes. The setup on this bass was on the mark straight from the box, and only a very small action adjustment was needed to bring the low E string into compliance with the rest of the excellent setup.The pickups are three custom Jaguar single coils with the traditional Jag style shielding claws. The middle pickup is reverse wound / reverse polarity (RW/RP) which means that when you run the middle pickup together with either of the other pickups, it's hum-canceling. The Bass VI features individual on/off slider switches for each of the three pickups. A fourth switch, commonly called a "strangle switch" is similar to the one found on Jaguar guitars, and rolls off a lot of the lows, giving the instrument a thinner, brighter tonality, regardless of which pickups are currently activated.Master volume and tone controls work with all three pickups, and the tone control's range, along with the diverse selection of possible pickup combinations and the bass-cutting "strangle switch" provide a extensive variety of tonal colors, making this a very flexible bass from a sonic standpoint.The added note range offered by the two extra high strings and guitar type tuning arrangement (albeit an octave lower than standard guitar) open new possibilities for you, such as the ability to hit the chord's tonic as a bass player commonly would, while simultaneously chording or playing counterpoint lines on the higher strings. You can cover a LOT of sonic territory with a Bass VI, and smaller groups and duos will appreciate its broad sonic range.Guitarists will adapt to this instrument fairly quickly - it plays and feels like a somewhat oversized guitar - the tuning, longer neck and larger diameter strings certainly give that impression, while the comfortable c-shaped neck profile and shorter than standard bass scale length make it feel faster and more nimble than many other basses, and allow you to fly around the neck quite easily. Likewise, the Bass VI is great for bass players who want to solo; the extended upper range and nimble handling making it well suited for this application. Why let the lead guitar player hog all the soloist glory? As the Vintage Modified part of the name suggests, Squier has made some changes compared to vintage Bass VI specs, and they really do improve the instrument's playability. The neck has a comfortable, modern C-shaped profile, and the fingerboard radius is now a flatter 9.5" instead of the vintage 7.25" radius. This does make the somewhat tricky task of setting up the Bass VI noticeably easier, and it also makes it less likely to buzz. Bending strings is still much more challenging than it is on guitar due to the much larger strings, but they're now less likely to fret out if you do attempt it. Bending and playability are further improved by the 21 well-dressed, larger than vintage sized medium jumbo frets.As with the vibrato tailpiece used on the current Squier Vintage Modified Jaguar and Jazzmaster models, the Floating Tremolo (actually it's a vibrato, but that's what Fender has always called this particular bridge / vibrato design) on the Squier Vintage Modified Bass VI uses an unthreaded bar, and lacks the "trem-loc" button found on their Fender cousins. The vibrato system works well and returns to pitch consistently, but it is limited in the amount of pitch variation it can offer. This is not Squier's fault - it's just the nature of the design, along with the effects of the larger, lower-tuned strings. While not something I'd use all the time, it's a fairly unusual feature for a bass, and a lot of fun when used tastefully. Limitations The string spacing on a Bass VI can be a bit annoying for some bass players, or for players with larger fingers and hands. Playing with your right hand fingers (as opposed to using a pick) can be challenging due to the close string spacing. With a 1.650" neck width at the nut and six strings, it feels more like a guitar with really big strings than a bass. The stock strings are thinner than what most bass players would use on a four string bass. In fact, the stock bottom E string could stand to be a touch beefier in my opinion. String gauges (per Squier's site) are listed as .025" to .095", but they felt lighter to me, so out came the calipers - and they actually measure .024" to .084" on the review unit. Some players may prefer heavier strings, such as the gauges that Squier lists on their Vintage Modified Bass VI web page. Heavier strings would also affect the playing feel and string tension in a positive way - particularly for the low E string, which can be a bit floppy feeling compared to the rest of the strings. It may be tempting to think of the Bass VI as an overgrown guitar, and to play bass parts guitaristically, but that's a matter that is ultimately a question of style and musical taste. In fact, some players may decide to modify their Bass VI for higher-pitched, baritone guitar type duties, and the Squier Vintage Modified Bass VI would serve as a great platform for such modifications; it would require minimal work to convert it for use as a B-B or A-A tuned baritone guitar. I wish there were a few more custom colors offered - the Bass VI has always been a bit of a rare breed, and custom colored ones like the vintage sea foam green model shown in the movie Spinal Tap are even less common. Don't be surprised if you start seeing some people refinishing these in their favorite vintage Fender custom colors. Conclusions It's hard to describe just how enjoyable and fun this instrument is to play. It sounds like a bass… and a baritone, and it plays nearly as nimbly as a guitar. For guitarists who want or need to occasionally "double" on bass, or who want to have something around that they can use to lay down a quick bass part on their demos with, the Squier Vintage Modified Bass VI is terrific. Some traditional four string bass players may lament the close string spacing, but it still offers the modern bassist extended range for soloing and chording, as well as its own unique palate of tonal textures. The Bass VI is one of those highly desirable, but rare beasts from history that, until recently, most people could only dream of owning. If you try a Squier Bass VI, you're probably going to want it. Because of the utility of this instrument, the fun factor, the unbelievably low price, and excellent all-around build quality, I predict that the Squier Vintage Modified Bass VI will become, by far, the best selling Bass VI model yet. It's great to see a long-discontinued instrument that has such tremendous appeal and flexibility being offered at this price, and with these useful modern improvements - and yet it still maintains the classic vintage look and vibe of the originals. Kudos to Squier for such an outstanding reinterpretation of the Bass VI, and for bringing back this classic bass at a price that nearly anyone can afford. Resources Musician's Friend Squier Vintage Modified Bass VI online catalog page ($549.99 MSRP, $349.99 "street") Squier's Vintage Modified Bass VI web page Harmony Central Squier Bass VI Review Preview video Squier's Vintage Modified Bass VI YouTube Demo Here's a few additional pictures of the Squier Vintage Modified Bass VI 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.

Selecting the best option for tracking your electric bass By Phil O'Keefe The importance of bass in modern recordings can't be over-stated. Bass players can achieve a surprising number of different sounds and timbres; everything from the deep boom of a dub bass, to the bright percussive attack of slap bass--the instrument can cover so much sonic territory that it's impossible to provide the stylistic and tonal recipe for every type of sound in a single article, but what we can do is cover the basics to help you capture your sound. HAVE A SOUND IN MIND AND USE THE APPROPRIATE GEAR Decide first of all on the type of sound you're going for. The sound starts at, and is only as good as the source, so use a good quality instrument that is properly intonated and set up. Use fresh, roundwound strings if you want a bright, full-frequency modern sound, and flatwounds if you're tastes lean more towards vintage Motown and 60s rock tones. Remember that different bass models have very characteristic sounds; Rickenbacker, Hofner, Fender and Gibson basses will all sound different, and if you're looking for the sound of one particular model, then the best way to get it is to use that bass. You'll also want to use the appropriate picking technique (pick, fingers, thumb or slapping) and pickups and settings on the bass for the type of sound you're after. RECORDING: FOUR MAIN METHODS There are four primary methods that are commonly used today to capture the sound of the electric bass: Direct (also known as DI or Direct Input) Direct with amp simulation hardware or software Miked bass amp Various combinations are also frequently used; for example, a direct input and a miked amp are often recorded simultaneously Here are some details of each method: Direct without anything. If your recorder or computer audio interface has a HighZ (high-impedance) input, you can plug the output of your bass or effects pedals directly into it and record direct with no additional hardware. If you don't have a HighZ input, then you can use a Direct Box. These convert the bass signal's impedance so it can be recorded through a mic or line input on a audio interface or mixing console. Process the recording with a bit of plugin compression and EQ, and you can get very solid bass tones. Direct with amp simulation software, such as Avid Eleven LE, Line 6 Pod Farm or IK Multimedia's Ampeg SVX (Fig. 1). Plug the bass into a a direct box or your HighZ input, and then process that signal with the amp sim software. Some programs have low-latency modes that allow you to monitor the processed audio while you record. You can also record a DI, then duplicate the recorded "direct" track, and use one copy "unaffected" while processing the second copy with the amp sim software; then blend the two signals together in the mix for interesting "combination" tones. Fig. 1: Software amp simulation plugins such as IK Multimedia's Ampeg SVX can give your bass the sound and character of a miked amp. Direct through an amp simulation pedal or desktop modeling box such as the SansAmp VT Bass, DigiTech BP355 or Boss GT-10B. Depending on the output level and impedance of the particular unit, you may have to plug into a HighZ input or regular line input - check your product's manual to be sure. Using a hardware amp modeler gives your direct recording the "coloration" of a bass amp and speaker cabinet, but as with a "real" amp, and unlike software, once you record the sound, you can not change it. Miked Bass Amp. The basic principles are similar to those I covered in my Guitar Amp Miking 101 article. For a brighter sound, aim the mic directly at the center of the speaker's dustcap (Fig. 2). Fig. 2: Aiming the mic at the center of the speaker's dustcap will give you a bright, articulate sound. As you move out towards the edge of the speaker, the sound will become rounder and warmer. (Fig. 3) Some bass amp cabinets contain small tweeters. Depending on their location, moving the mic towards the edge of the cone closest to the tweeter can actually give you a brighter sound than the center dustcap position. You can put a second mic on the tweeter if you need additional brightness. Record it to a separate track so you can adjust the balance of the woofer and tweeter when you do the final mix. In general, large diaphragm dynamic mikes such as Audio-Technica ATM250, Sennheiser MD421, Audix D6, Electro-Voice RE20 and AKG D112 are favored for bass amps, although large diaphragm condenser mikes such as the Rode NTK or Neumann TLM 102 can also work well. Fig. 3: Normally, placing the mic at the edge of the speaker cone will give you a warmer, darker sound, but the tweeter in the upper right corner makes this placement sound brighter than it would if the opposite side of the speaker cone was miked instead. Various combinations, such as a miked amp plus a direct input (with or without amp sim processing), or a direct input track plus a track processed by amp simulation hardware or software are often used together. Blending two different sounds can provide tones than neither one can give you on its own. But watch for phase issues when using any "combo" method. I always like to zoom in on my DAW software's waveform display to the start of the first bass note and look at the tracks to see how they align (Fig. 4). Fig. 4: Three bass tracks, recorded simultaneously through an amp, an amp sim pedal, and a DI box. The DI track is out of phase with the other two tracks. It is important to to get all of the bass tracks in-phase by dragging or nudging them into alignment so that their "peaks and valleys" correspond (Fig. 5). This is crucial for bass, because when tracks are out of phase, the low frequencies that are so essential to a good bass recording will cancel out and largely disappear. Fig. 5: The same bass tracks after being dragged into phase alignment. EXTRAS: COMPRESSION, EQ AND EFFECTS Whether or not you should record with compression, EQ and / or effects is as much an artistic decision as it is a technical one. Remember that once a sound is recorded with these, it is impossible to "undo" or remove them; but if you're certain that you like the effect, and you're hearing the sound you want, then by all means, feel free to commit to it and "print" it. If you are at all unsure, you can also simultaneously record a clean DI track to give yourself an unprocessed option in case you change your mind later. Some types of effects that are popular with bass include: Compression - pedal in front of amp / DI or post-tracking via a plugin. EQ - from a pedal, amp sim hardware or software, or plugins. Chorus pedals Envelope filters Octave and synth pedals for extra fat bass lines. The two most commonly used effects for bass are EQ and compression. Before reaching for the mixer EQ or an EQ pedal, I try to get the sound of the bass happening through instrument and pickup selection, mic selection and placement, and the amp settings; I save the final EQ adjustments, if needed, for the mix. The one major exception to that is a high pass filter. High pass filters can be used to get rid of the subsonic "gunk" that robs your mix of clarity and power. For bass, this should be set fairly low; remember that the low E string on a four string bass is 41.20 Hz, and on a five string, the low B string is 30.87 Hz, so depending on which one you're using, you'll usually want to set your filter just below there. Try 30 Hz for five string and 40Hz for four string bass. Compression is another matter. If the player could use some help with evening out the fluctuations in their playing dynamics, you can try a compressor pedal or rackmount compressor with a 2:1 or 3:1 ratio, with a fairly high threshold so it only compresses on the loudest peaks / hardest played notes. Attack time should be fairly short--anything from the fastest setting up to about 20ms. The longer the attack time, the more of the note's initial attack will come through unaffected by the compressor. The release should be set to a moderate time - set it too fast and it will distort, set it too long and the compressor won't release before the next note hits. Try a 100 to 200ms release time and adjust it to taste from there. Remember - you can always add more compression when you mix - this is just to help tame the dynamics a bit and help prevent any unexpected digital clipping or "overs" in your DAW. WHICH METHOD IS RIGHT FOR ME? Which recording methods should you use? That depends on your needs and your situation. If you have a great sounding bass amp, then a microphone might be the ideal way to record your bass tones. If you have cranky neighbors and need to work with headphones, going direct with an amp sim plugin or hardware unit may be a better option. Because of their flexibility, I recommend always recording a direct input, even if you plan on also recording a bass amp or with an amp modeler. Every bass player should have a direct box in their gear bag. Direct input recordings are very useful due to the many different things you can do with them. They can be used "as is" as the source of your bass sound, or adjusted with EQ and compression. They can be processed with an amp sim plugin. They can be used for ReAmping--sending the DI sound out of the computer and through a re-amp box (to convert the level and impedance) and then to effects pedals and a miked bass amplifier; the sound of the amp is recorded to a new, separate track. Experiment with the various approaches to see how each one sounds, then try combining two or three of the methods and blending the tracks together in the final mix. The great thing about recording bass is the number of options we have available today, and no matter what your situation, with a little experimentation, you should be laying down earth shaking bass tracks in no time. 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.