SWEE LEE'S CNY SALE

Swee Lee is once again having sales again, tempting all of us to spend away our Ang Baos. There will be 2 sales at Katong and Bras Basah on different days.
Well, the poster will tell you more. =)

Discount is not stated in here. However, from my experience, there is usually a 50% off to all showroom items (guitars, basses, drums) and 10-20% of all other items.
Be sure to go there early as the place will be very crowded and make sure you are fast in getting what you want before it falls into others' hand. Once again, trials are near impossible or only short trials are allowed too.

JC LIFE!!

Damn.. JC life is very demanding.. Homeworks keep coming everyday.. Couldn't even have enough time to watch TV or even facebook. Needless to say, even though I have things to update about, I just can't find the time. =(

BEHRINGER PB-100

Well, look what I've got myself using portion of the Ang Bao I got!!

Behringer PB-100

Its function is well stated on it. It is a preamp booster (aka) clean booster. Got this for a cheap $29 from Subversion! Today was the first time I see him in person. =) He's indeed a very nice and friendly guy as many say. The pedal was as good as new. The pedal was thoroughly cleaned. No shoe prints on the switch shows that this pedal has never been gigged before and hence looks brand new!

Almost immediately after I'd got it from sub, I ran straight back home to try it out. 

Well, I placed the newly acquired PB-100 in the first position, followed by my Ibanez Tubescreamer TS-7. the Zoom G2.1u is just there to act as a tuner. -.- 

The PB-100 do wonders with the TS-7. The boost makes the TS-7 sound 'fatter'. I tweaked my treble at 3 o'clock on the PB-100, bass at 11 o clock and the gain in the middle. 

Many of the Keeley modded overdrives like Keeley modded TS-9 and Keeley SD-1 works in the same way. Instead of having a clean booster outside, they had a integrated boost circuit inside them. (Sub told me this! xD) 

Zoom H1 Handy Recorder

My band leader, KJ, has bought a Zoom H1 handy recorder to record our jamming when we are at the studio. He bought it at City Music. Any shops that has links with City Music like Sound Alchemy sell Zoom products.

And yesterday was our first time trying the recorder. It features an Auto-Level function; it dampens the sound of a instrument that is too loud while beefing up the ones too soft such as the vocals. This recorder is amazing.

HOWEVER.. it has its flaws, too.

While the Auto-Level function can be of a great help, it can also be more of problems than help. In order for the function to function properly, it depends on the set-up of all the instruments.
This is a preferred set-up.

Unfortunately, not many jamming studio rooms are in this formation. So, in such cases, manual leveling is better than Auto-leveling.

READ FROM HERE FOR MORE INFORMATION ON ZOOM H1.

TS-7 goodness

I am quite happy with the performance of my TS-7.. which is probably 1.5 week old. The strange thing is... I hardly ever use it alone.. My main purpose of using TS-7 is to beef up the overdrive and distortion of another effect.

In fact, it does the job rather well, especially with my (anique) G2.1u which I am not intending to upgrade to the new G2.1Nu. I use the TS9 mode as a booster. Hot Mode is too noisy. I usually use it alone instead.

HAPPY CHINESE NEW YEAR

Hello to all Chinese readers of my blog!
Tomorrow is the Chinese New Year already. =)
This year is the Year of Rabbit!!

I am busy having Reunion Dinner with my family and can't post today; just to wish you all a Happy New Year!

And to those friends who are thinking of going to Peninsula Plaza in City Hall to look for guitar stuffs, don't bother. Almost all the guitar shops will be closed and will open only by next Monday.

Once again, 新年快乐，万事如意！

Restring errors...

I helped my friend restring his acoustic guitar. (I love to do this! Polish guitar, clean here and there)

The G-string was already restrung so left only the other 5 strings for me to do his job.

After I am done restringing all the strings and stretching them properly, I continue tuning it. What did I found out? 

-There is a problem in G-string-

No matter which direction you turn the tuner (Clockwise or anti-CW), the string will tighten. As you know, if one direction tighten the string, the other should loosen it, isn't? 

Apparently, that friend of mine do not know proper method of restringing. 

He tightened the lower end of the string before he tied around the tuner. Next, he discovered that there is a long 'leftover' strings dangling at the tuner. So he wound it up over the tuner. I should have taken a picture to better illustrate this 'scenario'. 

This is a very wrong way to restring any instrument I believe. 

This guy owns a guitar with a Floyd Rose bridge and I really wonder how does he ever tune his FR guitar. Hmm...

Rosewood or Ebony

A friend of mine asked me what is the difference between a rosewood fretboard and an ebony fretboard and how to differentiate it.

Well, basically, it is very simple; the look tells everything.

Here's a rosewood

and here is a ebony

Ebony can be identified by its shiny look and smooth feeling. (I told him it looks like dark chocolate when he asked me to further elaborate 'shiny').  Rosewood doesn't shiny look. 

Maple gives you a bright tone, rosewood a darker one and ebony gives you a brighter tone with more sustain.

In terms of durability, many say that ebony is most durable.

Swee Lee online shop kenna hacked?

Today, I noticed something strange when I go to Swee Lee's Online Store. The title of said "Hacked by SerCom". Is swee lee's website really hacked? Only Swee Lee knows.

 CLICK HERE TO SEE FOR YOURSELF.

DR for this month.

I have this habit which some people may say as wasteful. Well, especially to those who are still students and do not have a work that is.

"I change strings of my guitar almost every 2-3 weeks. One reason is my sweaty palms rust them off very easily. However, ever since I changed to coated strings, it lasted at least for 1 month. Still, I just couldn't stand not changing it. 

 

So my Fernandes is restrung with  DR EXTRA-LIFE Cool Blue. The strings inside are coated blue as well. Since my guitar is red.. and red and blue doesn’t complement each other, it looks rather awkward. >.<

But nonetheless, performance-wise, I still love DR strings. Easy bending, very distinctive and clear notes on each string. While it is not a major contribution to the tone, it still matters to me.

All I have to do is to bear with the awkward look of the Fernandes.a