Nux offer @ SV

If you are looking for a practice amp (and a portable one), Nux Mighty 8 should be put into consideration. This busker amp is not that heavy. I think your guitar would probably weigh more than it. 

Sound-wise, I would say it is rather amazing for an 8watt amp. It doesn't have the best cleans. You can't really get warm clean sounds from small amps like this. But if you are metalhead looking for decent distortion, Mighty 8 will not disappoint you. The drive channel is very similar to Line6 Spider IV amp modelers. This will roughly give you a rough idea of what it sounds like.

If you are looking for a larger one, you might want to look into the Might-ier ones like 15 or even 50. There is a piece of good news for those who are interested in Mighty 8 and 15. SV is currently offering the 8 for $99 (U.P. S$129) and 15 for $125 (U.P. S$139). How long does the offer last? While stock lasts! 

Going back...

ONCE again, I am going back to Myanmar tomorrow. GCE A level exams is over and this is my well-deserved rest (and the rest of the A level students!). However, I have never really wanted to go back there. For various reasons which I won't be stating them!

Anyway, I'll be back by 26th of Jan, right after the Chinese New Year. Meanwhile, my keyboardist will be helping me edit! As you know, you can't open Blogger, Twitter, MSN, etc.. back in Myanmar. So Artik would be helping me edit instead!

Thank you for reading my blog! See you next year!

Loki 

Cleaning the frets - steel wool-ing

I used to use GHS Guitar Gloss to clean the hardwares of my guitar but I also used it to polish the frets. Apart from that, I also use steel wool to polish the frets, especially if the frets are rusty or extremely dirty.

Well, everyone would use a 0000 grade steel wool. You can use medium grade (000) ones but it would be better if you can find the very fine grade (0000). You can find them in any hardware stores, DIY stores or places where you can probably buy sand papers. I think you can get it from Homefix as well. For S$25 if I'm not wrong. They are the most effective way to clean rusty or 'yellowed' frets. In the above picture, I was cleaning a guitar which is a birthday present. But the condition of the frets weren't that pleasant-looking. So I decided to clean them using steel wool. Usually people would tape the fretboard with masking tape. I used a piece of paper like the one shown above. Some won't even mask the fretboard but I prefer it to be protected. Steel wool, even in its fine grade, may scratch the fretboard and I don't like that. Well, if you would think logically, which is harder, steel or wood? 

Satch-uration (Episode 2)

Well, it took me quite a while to get a proper review on this red box of distortion. 

The reason I took so long to write about this is because I was looking for a bigger amp than my practice amps. After all, these practice amps can't bring out the full potential of Satchurator at all. I almost feel like reselling it until I tried it on a better amp, a full tube amp to be precise.

Summary

In my opinion, 10W and 15W practice amps deteriorates the tone of Satchurator. It makes the distortion sounds so dry and makes you feel like the tone lacks the 'colour'. When Satchurator is connected to a tube amp, it creates a very tube-like distortion. And you get nothing of what you would get from an practice amp. This is an epitome on how amp makes up most of your guitar tone and how important it is.

Controls

As many distortion pedals, Satchurator comes with 3 knobs namely, gain, tone and volume. Many said that Satchurator is a 'versatile' pedal. To be frank, the change in the gain as you tweak your gain knobs is minimal. Even if you roll off all your gain, you will still get a very distorted tone. So no matter how you adjust your gain, it doesn't make much of a difference. You may say it is not versatile but remember that it still has the 'More' switch to increase your gain. Now, that does increases your gain significantly and adds up more punch into your guitar tone. If anyone tells you that you can use Satchurator as a mild drive as well, I would disagree with him. Modtone Speedbox does that better. So I would say gain-wise, it is not that versatile.  

The Tone knob is rather responsive. Well, that's actually a good thing since it gives you a larger tonal range. So tone-wise, yes it is versatile.

Volume control doesn't just control the loudness. I feel that it does affect its tone as well. The higher your volume setting is, the more treble response it has. So whenever I make any changes to the volume, I would have to adjust the gain and the tone again. 

Sorry that I haven't been blogging. I've been busy packing all my stuff since I'm moving and nothing is really going according to plan. 

The red 'baby' in HERE!

Well, I believe I am not the only one who pampered myself with a new instrument at the end of the year. Now come to think of it, all my band members are getting new instruments. Bassist got himself a new LTD bass, keyboardist (also the 2nd author of this blog) got himself a new synthesizer. The vocalist will be getting something as well. Oh well, anyway this is what I've gotten myself for. Not going to talk much about its goodness today. I will leave it for another day!

This is the discontinued UNO Standard. I bought this from Subversion. As usual, I have faith in him and that he takes very good care of all his instruments and he will never sell any faulty instrument. So I didn't even bother to try it out before getting it. But I do know what to expect from a UNO Standard since I'd tried it countless times at SV before it was sold. 

When I show this to my friend, she said it's just like my Fernandes. =/ Oh well, she is not entirely wrong actually. Both are red and comes with a quilted top. I just like quilted tops and red colour. For UNO Standard, the matching headstock and the binding is what makes it more sexy. 

Now, my Christmas is complete. New guitar, new pedal and more to come! I am definitely a happy boy!

The above is the gig bag that comes along with the UNO Standard. It is a very well-padded bag for a complementary gig bag. However, I will still be getting a hard case since it will probably be traveling with me to Myanmar.

Lastly, I got a matching guitar strap. I find the velvet-like material for the strap rather attractive. And it goes well with the quilted top! Now, I will have to think of a name for it.

Selling: Vox AmPlug AC30

After trying it for 3 times, I've decided to sell it back so that I can fund for something else.

• Bought this less than a week ago.
• Condition is 10/10
• Price $40
• Contact: 84050766

Loki

Indo Swing!

Indonesian Swing are now available at SV Guitars right now. Well, if you ask what the difference is, it would be the price. Cost of production in Indonesia is definitely lower than in Korea. Well, the list below is taken from SV's webpage. I posted it here for everyone's convenience.

Item & Description			Price
S-1 White/M		Electric Guitar	$235.00
S-1 3TSB/R		Electric Guitar	$235.00
S-2 LPB/R		Electric Guitar	$240.00
S-2 MRD/R		Electric Guitar	$240.00
S-2 Plus TBK/R		Electric Guitar	$260.00
S-2 Stage TBK/R		Electric Guitar	$260.00
S-100 Plus WH/M		Electric Guitar	$360.00
B-1 WH/R		Electric Guitar	$265.00
B-1 MRD/R		Electric Guitar	$265.00
B-1 BK/R		Electric Guitar	$265.00
C-1 BK/R		Electric Guitar	$330.00
SS-1 BK/R		Electric Guitar	$190.00
SS-1 WH/R		Electric Guitar	$190.00
SS-2 2TS/R		Electric Guitar	$190.00
SS-2 MRD/R		Electric Guitar	$190.00
MG-105 WH/R		Electric Guitar	$350.00
MG-105 BK/R		Electric Guitar	$350.00
MG-105 LPB/R		Electric Guitar	$350.00
MG-105 MRD/R		Electric Guitar	$350.00
MG-505 TBK/R		Electric Guitar	$390.00
Classic DC 100 WR/R		Electric Guitar	$465.00
Classic-X 100 BK/R		Electric Guitar	$520.00
Korina-X 100 Gloss Black/R		Electric Guitar	$510.00
SB-1 MRD/R		Electric Bass	$265.00
JB-1 3TSB/R		Electric Bass	$265.00
JB-1 Active BK/R		Electric Bass	$300.00
MK-1 BK/R		Electric Bass	$330.00
MK-1 MRD/R		Electric Bass	$330.00
MK-1 WH/R		Electric Bass	$330.00
SB-4 Active BK/R		Electric Bass	$330.00

See the one I've italicized, bolded and underlined? That's the bass I am interested in. But it's okay. I shall be a good boy and be satisfied with what I am going to get tomorrow!

Loki 

De(lay)licious

This is my X'mas present~ (Sorry if I kept repeating this. Guess the delay is contagious and I am being 'delayed' as well.

Summary

This is a very simple delay. Delay knobs control the delay time (well, duh). The depth controls the modulation. As you know, Memory Boy is a delay with modulations like chorus and vibrato. Blend allows you to blend between wet and dry signal. When it is totally turned down, it's 100% dry signal and if it is turned fully up, it's 100% wet signal. 12 o'clock would be where there is an equal amount of wet and dry signal. It's kind of different from MXR Carbon Copy which comes with a Mix control. Mix allows you to mix the signals (from 100% dry to 100% dry + 100% Wet). Actually, I like the Blend control. It allows you to create some type of reverse delay. And to control the number of repeats, there is Feedback for you. I usually keep it from 8 o'clock to 12 o'clock. Once it passes about 3 o'clock or so, it will start to self-oscillate and it is LOUD, so don't get shocked! xD

Modulations

Still haven't try the all the modulations apart from Chorus. I don't have an expression pedal. So without it, the modulation selection switch controls the rate of modulation (chorus for slow, Exp. pedal for medium and vibrato for fast). The waveform toggle switch there allows you to choose between triangle wave and square wave. The toggle switch only affects the modulation and do nothing to the delay. When it is in the 'triangle wave' form, the chorus it produces is the usual chorus of many chorus pedals. The Square wave is the one I am not used to. It produces a temporary pitch shifting effect. Well, but it's a useful function and I will definitely have some use of it in the future when I get used to it.

Delay

As for the delay sound, it is relatively bright. It doesn't add too much colour to your guitar tone like CC would make your tone darker. Memory boy's delay is relatively clean and brighter compared to some other analog delay pedals. The pedal's max delay time is 550ms or approximately half a second. But I think it is kind of shorter than 550ms. So I checked up on the net and apparently, it is said that you would need an expression pedal to get the full amount of delay time. However, the delay time there is still good enough for me. Some would say that 400-550ms is a very short delay time compared to those delay time given by digital delays (2s-8s or even 21s). But my question is, does everyone really need such a long delay time?

Sorry if this review is lousy. It's my 1st time ever talking about a delay pedal!

Loki 

Sale @ Sims Drive

The pictures says it all! Please contact Swee Lee for more information!

Midnight practice solution

I have an important jamming session on the 6th of December and thanks to all the A level, I am not prepared at all. So I have no choice but to practice late into the night. But again, I don't wish to disturb my neighbours. So here is my solution to this problem. 

To be frank, if only I have the cash to spare, I would have gotten a Pandora Mini. But I am really really really broke at the moment so this is a cheaper alternative. AC30 there is a pretty good headphone amp actually. The drive there is good enough for me but it doesn't do anything near metal. I would say, it's good for rocks, blues, jazz and maybe punk. If you are looking for something metal, there is amPlug Metal for you.

Available at City Music.
Loki 

My Early Christmas PRESENT!

It's a month early, I know. But I got a super early Christmas present!

I didn't get any Christmas presents in the past few years. This present definitely makes me very happy! 

THANKS WALTER! (if you are reading this now!)

Currently in the midst of trying it out so I don't have anything to write about yet. I'm also still trying out the Satchurator. Will write about that soon!

Loki 

2 more papers before the end of A lvl!

Elixir @SV

When I went to SV Guitars this afternoon, I was surprised to see that they are carrying Elixir Strings (both electric and acoustics)

$19 for Elixir, I would say, is a good price. This time I bought bronze instead of phosphor bronze. Well, I'm definitely going back to phosphor bronze after this set...

SOLD: Spector Legend 4 Classic

This is not my bass. It's my bassist's bass. He's getting a new bass so he's letting his current one go. It's a Spector Legend 4 classic. 

A few things to take note:

• The preamp in this bass was spoiled. So it has been bypassed. So it works just as a passive bass. The preamp is still inside it though.
• The result of bypassing the preamp is that the tone controls are not working. Just the volume.
• Everything else works perfectly fine. Neck is straight as well. 
• Condition: 8/10

SOLD

Acoustic day today!

I didn't try much today at City Music. One reason is because today's the start of the sales day and it's a busy day. And I am more into acoustic rather than electric or bass. So I ended up trying this.

Some may prefer pure acoustic tone and think that multi-effect's tone sounds fake. You never know until you try. Before I try this, I turned off all the modulation, delays, wah, chorus and other effects except the voicing. I want to know if the acoustic presets installed in it are nice. All I have to say is that for $120, it is pretty good. I especially like the 'Nylon' preset. I don't really like the tone of real nylon strings about this emulated nylon tone seems to appeal to me. There are also several other presets for popular dreadnought like J-45 but I'm not really a fan of dreadnought's sound (I prefer jumbo or grand concert). Available at City Music.

Loki 

City Music Year-End Sale: Starting from today!

Something that is happening right now! 

Well, I went there today with Artik today to check out some synth. Well, I did check out many other stuff. Well, the discounted prices may not be as nice as last year. You have to blame the economy for it. Inflation is the word. 


Loki 

The Dinosaur

No, I'm not going to talk about the real ancient beings (I couldn't care less anyway). It's about guitar. Heard of Depapepe? If you haven't, here's one of their Live shows. 

Well, why dinosaur? The guitar of the guy on the left in the video (his name is Miura Takuya aka Depa) is named as Dinosaurs Special. I think it is a customised jumbo guitar by Yamaha just for him. This is his Yamaha Dinosaurs Special. 

Now we know why it is named as Dinosaurs Special. The 'special' feature in this guitar is at its cutaway. 

Part of the cutaway is further curved in so that it gives him an easier upper frets access. Now, come to think of it... Most acoustic guitars only have 20 frets. His comes with an extra 2 frets at his first 3 strings. If you watch his playing carefully in the video above, you will realise why this feature is important for him! 

Loki 

New Editor : Hello!

Hi! I'm the new editor on Loki's blog, you can call me Artik (wierd nickname isn't it). I started my musical journey playing the Electone when I was 5. Over time, I got acquainted with the Piano and eventually, Synthesizers and Workstations. As you know, I'm the keyboardist in Loki's band. I'll be posting occasionally about Keyboards and audio equipment that you can use for music recording or personal listening (I'm an amateur audiophile). Of course, Loki and I are having our A-level examinations now, mine ends on the 28th and his ends on the 29th, so you'll see more posts here after that. I hope the stuff I post is useful for you. Cheers!

Artik

New Editor!

Hello to all my fellow readers!

I've added a new editor onto this blog! 

Actually, this new editor is none other than my keyboardist in my band! (If you have read something about my band in the older posts, ignore it. That's is my ex-band). Anyway, he'll be writing more about keyboards, synths and workstations. He might also be sharing about pro-audio equipments like headphones and stuff, something that is definitely not my niche. I'll leave the rest of the introduction to him. If you see any guitar/bass posts, that is definitely from me! Anyway, I will start signing off at the end of my posts so that you know who is the author. Cheers!

Loki 

Back to blogging and guitar-ing/ Stock Up Day

I'm just left with 2 more papers (2 MCQ papers). So I can finally blog something. However, the problem is... I've been away from guitars and stuff for quite long. My mind is empty and I don't really know what to write.

Anyway, I've stocked up on guitar strings. These are what I bought (nothing new though)

• GHS Coated Boomer Light (10-46)
• GHS Coated Boomer Thin/Thick (10-52)
• Martin Lifespan SP (13-56)
• D'Addario EXP26 Phosphor Bronze Custom Light (11-52)

Well, the GHS is nothing new. As usual, I buy two different gauges. The Light gauge (10-46) is for my Squier while the gauge with the light top and heavy bottom is my Fernandes, which is always drop-tuned most of the time. The Martin Lifespan SP... I had a brand new set before but my friend bought it from me. So I have to get a new set. 13-56 may seem to be a heavy gauge. It is but this is not a problem when my acoustic is also never in standard tuning. Lastly, I choose EXP26 which is Custom Light or gauge-11. Someone once advised me to use gauge-12. However, I think the gauge is too heavy and might add certain strain to the guitar neck. Either 11 or even 10, I would say, is a suitable gauge if you want to keep your neck straight.

Active (bass) yet affordable

Usually basses which can switch between active and passive electronics never come cheap. I was searching the Web and I come across this:

Smash JB1-active

Previously, there was a passive-only version for this (JB1). I've tried the JB1 at SV Guitars and heard of it in action. It is definitely a good bass good enough for noodling. So the new JB1-active gives us a choice between active and passive mode on the same bass. Price? Mike said it should be around $300 (which is definitely a very good price). When will it be available? Probably next month!

The Carbon Marshall

Yes, the MG15CFX is now available at Davis GMC.

And yes.. it is made of carbon fiber instead of wood. That's why it is named MG15CFX. Not enough time to write much but I kinda miss blogging as well. So I decided to write something, short and sweet.

4 more papers..

Satch-uration

I am not supposed to post anything but posting a picture is not going to cost me any harm, I guess.

Well, this box of red is with me now. I'll talk about it after my exams. See ya soon!

A Level in a week.

I haven't been able to update my blog nowadays. Well, A level is starting next week so I have very little time for other things. I'll continue blogging after my A lvl ends at 29th of November.

-Loki-

UNO: T-May

I think I finally know why UNO chose to discontinue its standard series. My guess is that it's to modify it into T-May

The red-tiger looks just like the standard. I can't say if the body dimension and the neck are the same as the standard (UNO Standard has a thinner neck and body dimension) but it looks almost the same. 

The main difference between T-May and Standard would be the manufacturer's inclusion of the original Floyd Rose. Fans of double-locking bridges and tremolos will find this attractive. For me, I still prefer the Tune-O-matic bridge. I'll be getting Standard instead.