Year End Sales @ City Music

Hi those in Singapore!
December is coming soon so you know what to expect, don't you?

What if - No tone knobs

I hear this almost everywhere: "No tone knobs? That's bad!". "Why 3-way switch and not 5 ways?".

Actually, I wonder why people want those in the first place. There are some guitarists who will use all the knobs and pickup combinations. I would definitely use the tone knobs especially when I'm playing jazz, blues, etc..., in other words, genres would use overdrive instead of heavy distortions. However, how many of the rest actually touches the tone knobs? Many just leave the tone and volume all maxed out.

I'm writing this after reading some comments on the Jim Root's signature stratocaster and Mick Thompson's Ibanez.

In case you are wondering what shape is Mick's guitar called, Ibanez called them 'Glaive'. It looks like a glaive too.

In general, they are complaining about the lack of tone knobs. That is one thing they have in common; no tone knobs and 3-way switches.

Their reasons for the exclusion of the tone knobs are actually simple:

1. They don't use it - How many metal guitarists do you see fidgeting around with the tone knobs? Well, I myself hardly ever touch the tone knobs whenever I'm playing metal songs. All the tonal adjustments are done on the EQs of the amp or my ME-70. Mick did mentioned this when he talked about his Signature Glaive. So it is as simple as this. Why would you want something you don't touch at all on the guitar?
2. To increase the output - This was something new when I first read about this. Another reason for the exclusion is to maximise the output of the pickups. Wiring the pickups straight to a single volume pot would have preserve more signals than having it pass through all the extra volume knobs. If Jim Root Strat would have tone knobs like a regular strat, it would be two knobs. I am not so much of an electrician but it does make sense to me if I would think logically.

So in conclusion, there are no tone knobs because they are of little use to them. Sometimes, simplicity works the best, no?

The Roland Experience @ Central Plaza

This happened last Sunday. However, it's better late than never!

There was an event going on at Central Plaza in Bangkok.

All most all types of Roland products are displayed there; piano, electric piano, synth, vintage synth, drums, etc... Of course Boss products were featured as well. What did they feature? All their products in their 2012 catalog ranging from single pedals to multi-effects. 

This is definitely a heaven for any gear addict.

You get to try all the pedals just like in the picture above! All the pedals are connected to a clean channel of Roland Cube, a 50W if I'm not wrong. I can't remember though. Sadly everyone is trying them and there were these two dudes (two brothers I guess since they look alike) who tried the pedals for the whole 45 minutes I was at the event! That's inconsiderate of them. 

Here is the multi-effects section. They have everything, even the vocal effects. I played around with the GT-100 and the ME-25. GT-100 obviously have an upgraded and improved COSM system. The amp models there are definitely sweeter sounding. And trust me, it is not that complicated to operate, though ME-70 is much easier to do so. ME-25 sounds pretty much like the ME-70 actually. Not much of a difference though tweaking on ME-25 is not as straightforward as the ME-70.

Here is the e-Band and others section. I spent most of my time at the e-Band. I almost wanted to get it. Trying it was a double-reassurance that Boss will always sound very acceptable. Actually, I love it. Most of my tone nowadays is from my ME-70. What is the blue effect thing over there? That's a guitar synth processor. I have not much interest in them so I didn't bother with it. 

Most of the guitars provided are actually of brands I've never heard of. Some of the guitars, however, are equipped with Teslas and some of the basses are Fernandes. The guitar I tried that day, it has covered Tesla pups, which I assume is the VR-60 Classic. 

 This kid was sort of a 'highlight' for the day. This kid was actually playing the drums, not playing with the drums. You should see him play the double-kick roll. It wasn't perfect but pretty amazing for what a kid as young as him could do!

There were musicians to entertain us as well. I see that the musicians are not limited to Roland products only. I smelled a Dr. Z over there! The synths were Rolands of course

Oh! I almost forgot. They featured the Roland V-guitar as well! What is it? It's a Fender stratocaster with equipped with synth capabilities by Roland. A collaboration between Fender and Roland.  

Veelah La Vita

Say hi to La Vita!

This is a Veelah V1-GACE. GA stands for Grand Auditorium and CE means that there is a cutaway. So let's say for a Dreadnought with a cutaway, it will be V1-DCE. Now I prefer the sound of the Grand Auditorium than a dreadnought. A grand auditorium, to me, sounds more open, bright and clear. Dreadnought has a darker and warmer tone. I would go for the brighter tone. I don't know how else to explain. I just like grand auditoriums or jumbos.

Veelah has 4 different series, V1, V2, V3 and V4 with V4 being the most expensive tier and V1 (of course) the most affordable tier. 

One way to bring down on the cost and making the V1 affordable and yet not compromising quality specs is to strip down on cosmetics. If you've seen my guitar, V1-GACE has no bindings at all. None on the fretboard, none on the top or the back of the guitars. Binding can be expensive. There is no fancy roselette as well and not even inlays. Inlay-less fretboards look attractive to me. How much simpler could a guitar get? Oh yes, this pores on the wood are open and this is no gloss finish. Sonically, it adds up more to the mids. Imagine speaking through a mask and without one. That would be the difference between open and sealed pores.

What I get in return is a solid top and the following:

Graphtech NuBone Parts

I think having a quality nut and bridge is as important as changing the strings when they go dead. Graphtech Nubone synthetic bone bridges and saddles. If I'm to get the separately, at cheapest, they would cost me SGD 40 or about a thousand bahts.  So this is a plus for Veelah, for providing even its V1 range of guitars with these parts instead of plastics. You will also find that Swing acoustics do come with Nubone parts as well!

Fishman iSYS-T

 This is a very simple yet useful preamp there. iSYS-T (T stands for tuner). It isn't a ground-breaking awesome preamp but for a default preamp, this is definitely awesome. I played this through a VOX AGA70 and I was sold. That was when I decided to buy the guitar. You don't see any EQ knobs or sliders on this so the colour of the tone is fixed. Well, of course you can readjust the EQs on the acoustic amp or the mixer if you want. It comes with phase and contour buttons to add some colours to the tone. Simple enough? 

 The fretboard of the guitar is dry, a condition you would expect to see for a guitar stored away in the warehouse. So I'm not surprised.

 So I pampered this baby with some Ikea SKYDD. For anyone who's new to this, it is a wood conditioner. And yes I got that from Ikea. Safe to use on instruments? Safe enough to use on open pore fretboards like rosewood and ebony. Maple? I don't know. Most maple are finished and the pores are all sealed up and thus doesn't require reconditioning.

One problem is yet to be solved though. The action is too high. For acoustic guitars, I normally wouldn't adjust the truss rod myself. I would find someone experienced in this. Acoustic guitars can get really messy.


Price: THB 6300
If you are looking for this guitar in Singapore, check with SV guitars!

Veelah!

Veelah is not a random exclamation. It is a name of a guitar brand.

Not many people know this brand. Veelah is a brand from USA but from what I've learnt, they are manufactured in Taiwan. "Veelah? What brand is that? I don't know! I am not getting this." Well if you are one of these people, you are surely missing out a lot of good guitars.

One thing special about Veelah acoustic guitars is that all guitars are have a solid top regardless of which tier it is from and the nut and bridge of each guitar are Graphtech Nubone. A plus for a guitar with such specs.

Is it great? Well, this picture will tell.

I needed an acoustic guitar; all of mine is back in Myanmar. So I need a quality guitar. I can't afford Taylor or Martin or any high tier brands. So I was looking for one with a tight budget.
Let me introduce you to "La Vita". It got this name because I feel that it has so much life it in.

More about this tomorrow!

Delay - How to choose?

I myself am not professional yet. I am working towards to become one though!

Anyway, if you are looking for a delay pedal and it is your first, maybe my "Journey of the Delays" will help you make your choices better. 

There are so many delays out there. So what I did what to get a piece of paper and ask myself a few questions. These are the ones I think are the most useful.

• What am I looking for in a delay?
• Digital or analog?
• Do I want a bright sounding delay or a darker tone?
• Am I looking for a delay with a looper?
• Is 400ms of delay enough? Or do I need more?
• WHAT IS MY BUDGET?

Yes, these are the questions. What exactly are you looking for in a delay? If you are looking to imitate some of your idol's delay tone, the best to do is to study their rigs. What delay did he use? For instance, you want that delay tone from U2. How is that achievable? In my opinion, original is the best but everyone has to start off from somewhere isn't?

The next question is: Are you looking for analog or digital delays? Now some of people will dismiss digital. Technophobes... They will say like "Oh digital sounds sterile. I want analog." And they will be worshiping at the altar of an idol who uses Boss DD-5. Most of them are what you called "Monkeys see monkeys do" in Singapore. They have no idea of what sounding 'sterile' and they are probably saying because all the rest are saying. 

Here is my view on digital and analog. I owned both kinds and tried many of them. Digital delays usually sounds brighter. Actually, it doesn't really make it sound brighter but I would say it preserves the tone of your guitar and do no colouration to your tone. Analog on the other hand 'decorates' your tone with a darker tone and warmer feel. 

I'll cover the rest of my questions right now. Analog delays usually have a shorter delay time than a digital delay. Analog has about 400-900ms of delay time while digital delays can go up to 10 seconds, 21 seconds or even a minute! Now usually those delays with such delay abilities usually comes with a looper function. I mean, who uses a 1 minute delay or 50 seconds delay in any song. Digital delays also will have many modes of delay like 'analog', 'modulated', 'reverse', 'momentary' etc... The analog there is actually a sound generated by the computer in it. Now they have quite awesome 'analog' tone in digital delays nowadays. Why am I not talking anything about analog delay? Because they don't usually have any additional features. They are just... straightforward delays. 

Delays are never cheap. You can find cheap delays of course, but majority of them are expensive (around SGD 150-200). If you are new on delays and do not wish to spend a hundred bucks, there are cheap delays. I don't know how much Behringer Stereo delay is but I think it's pretty cheap. Another digital delay is the new nuX TIME CORE delay (just for SGD80 at SV guitars). If you want an analog delay, Artec SE-ADL Analog delay is just SGD80 away from you. Of course it would be the best if you can save up and buy what you want at once. Then you wouldn't have to spend your precious money twice. 

My personal preference? Go digital. Get one with looper. It will come in handy. I am usually my delay on my ME-70 and I like the sound I am getting from it as well. 

All you have to do before getting a delay is to do your homework. You wouldn't want to buy a Nova System and then totally clueless of what feedback is even. 

SV guitars - Swing SS1 Package

Here is (maybe) a piece of good news for anyone who is looking for an all-in-one electric guitar package. The poster above is quite self-explanatory. Worth the $250? Well, let me put it this way:

Guitar: $190

Cable: $12

Gig bag: $25

Picks: $3

That means in this package, you are getting the 15W amp for just $20. It is definitely not going to be great-sounding but at least it is still usable. In fact, it comes with a 3-band EQs so I have nothing to say against it. $20 is dirt cheap for a brand-new amp.

If you upgrade to Sound Drive SG-15, you get the amp for $70 instead of $100.

My personal opinion? If you have a very fixed and rigid budget, just go along with this package. Or if you have more cash to spare, please go for something like Nux. 

PRS SE Mikael Akerfeldt

Oh, a small update on my whereabouts. Right now I am in Bangkok. 

One of this church member here is a big fan of metal. He plays metal and almost only metal. It appears he doesn't really favour other genres so much. For me, I listen, play and explore everything, maybe with an extra bit of attention towards blues and fusion.

Anyway, his gear was a signature PRS SE. Mikael Akerfeldt. I am not so much of an Opeth fan so it isn't surprising that I wouldn't touch this signature guitar at a music store. But I had the luxury to try it out for quite a long time.

It is a nice looking guitar. That was my first though. Tone-wise, it isn't that bad as well, considering the fact that I played through a Roland Cube 15x and I could get some nice tones. The pups there are the same ones as SE Orianthi, PRS Designed SE HFS Treble (bridge) and Vintage Bass (neck).

Let's talk about the neck. The guitar shop he'd bought this from didn't make a proper setup for this guitar.
Either that or he'd lowered the action too much. There was a very bad fret buzz in the 19th fret on the 4th string. Oh, for those who hates gloss-finished neck, I have a good news for you. The neck on this guitar is matte-finished. No more glossy feel. And it sports an ebony fretboard. The neck width is rather wide and it reminds me of some Schecters. I used to be very anal about the neck size but along the way, I got used to switching between different types of necks. Thus, it is not a big problem. The rest of its features are the same as most SE Singlecut models; the bevel at the cutaway, 1-volume and 1-tone control.

Tone-wise, the bridge pickup sounds really fine. Feed it with quite a bit of gain and it sings well. But for the neck, it wasn't my cup of tea. While it sounds sweet with the gain cranked up, its sweetness dies of when the gain is reduced. Some may like that tone where there is a huge mid hump thanks to the body shape and the humbucker. To me, I still prefer the wooly tone of a single coil and a strat. Personal preference I would say.

Once again, with that said, you still have that 3-band EQs on your guitar amp, unless it comes either with a single tone knob or 2-band EQs. I would normally place them in the low criteria list since I like to have more control over my tone and I feel uncomfortable with being limited to a single tone-knob. Mid-band is a very important band to me as well and I wouldn't want it to be lacking as well. Anyway, you can tweak and adjust your guitar amp to compensate or cut down any section of your tone. We should try to tweak first before we start to whine.