Album of the Month: G5 Project 2013

Probably my last attempt in reviving this blog!

Whenever I mention the name "G5", many people tend to ask me questions such as,

"G5? I think you mean G3"

"So now G3 has become G5?"

"What's G5? Something like G3"

Firstly, it isn't G3. It isn't made up of a group of Caucasian guitarists/artists (I apparently don't have any better way to describe them). Some may say that it is the Japanese version of the famous G3 (and I can't disagree with that). Some, mostly who worships their favourite artists from G3, even said this is probably a cheap knockoff version of their 'gods' without even listening to them. This is what I would call as 'fanaticism', not a mere idolization.

Tracklist

01  Dying to survive (Yamato)
02  Emergency (nike)
03  Kamuy (a2c)
04  Flounder (Takajii)
05  Virus (Godspeed)
06  Fragile Seasons (Takajii)
07  Journey (Godspeed, John Graham and Koyo Sonae)

As a short introduction to G5, it is actually a project by 5 Japanese guitarists to showcase their music. This is not the first G5 album and in fact, there are already a total of 4 G5 albums which were released every 2-3 years. I just bought my copy just a few days ago. And here's what I have to say about the album as a whole.

The previous albums have never disappointed me, and so is G5 2013. Comparing to the previous albums, there are more 'contemporary' elements. For instance, in the song "Virus", it has been seasoned with elements from dubstep music. While I am not a huge fan of dubstep, it is nonetheless a much interesting form of music among the rest of contemporary music. So the idea of a typical modal rock song spiced up with dubstep makes it indeed an interesting, at least for me. Some may find it repulsive but we are all entitled to our personal opinions, don't we?

I also feel that there are songs that has much of a film music (or trailer music) feel to it. "Fragile Seasons" sounds like a background music which would fit perfectly in a Japanese movie while "Journey" would seemingly bring you to an adventurous tour inside a Hollywood movie. After all, the latter was co-produced by John R. Graham. If you don't know him, you only need to re-watch the trailers of Avatar or The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor to hear him at work. Even "Dying To Survive" could possibly be used in an a trailer of an action movie.

My personal favourite in this album would be Dying to Survive and Journey. Studying jazz and playing it is fun but at times, it always feels good to listen to music which you truly like, no?

Personal Rating: ♠♠♠♠♠

And I am thinking of starting up a new monthly entry "Album of the Month" in which I would talk about what I think of the album as a whole. In other words, it is some sort of a review.

Loki

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!

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.

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 

Speedy~~

Well, those flames belongs to Modtone Speedbox.

General
Speedbox is not a high output distortion. In the Modtone family, such would be Extreme Metal. Like many other distortions, Speedbox comes with 3 knobs.
'Gain': the intensity of the distortion.
'Tone': controls how bright or dark the pedal will sound but it also affects the intensity of distortion.
'Level': controls the volume of the pedal.
Speedbox is rather bright sounding. Those who want a brighter DS-1 and do not wish to get a modded DS-1, perhaps you can consider Speedbox. It is also a true bypass while Boss pedals aren't.

Sound
When you turn down your tone knob and with your gain at 12 o'clock, you will get a very vintage sounding distortion, similar to that of a vintage tube amp. If you increase the gain, the sustains improve. But as you increase your gain, your tone should increase as well, or vice versa. Otherwise, you will end up getting some muddy tone.
As your tone knob increase, the distortion will get more coarse and brighter as well. When both Tone and Gain are maxed, that is when you will have a rather edgy distortion. At the same time, you get a lot of feedback as well.

NOTE: How it sounds also depends on your amp's setting and what guitar you are using.

Overall:
★★★★★


-True bypass
-Easy to use
-Brighter distortion compare to DS-1
-Relatively good sustain 


I seriously can't think of anything bad about it yet. Well, maybe the colour. It's green (and I hate green)

Hamer Echotone

I have a chance to try one of my friend's Hamer Echotone. (as seen below).

It is a semi-hollow. Nothing very prestigious so don't compare it with some Gretsch or Gibson. However, it is still very well built. Echotone provides a very clean tone and I find that it is especially true when played through its neck humbucker. The neck of the guitar is a set-neck. The neck is rather thin as well. However, after a quick research, it is made of maple and not mahogany as I have anticipated. Maple gives a brighter tone, so those who prefer bright sounds will like it. However, I do not have enough time to play it with some distortion. I will make a better review of it after I'd thoroughly tested it out.
It costs $527 at City Music. If you are looking for a good and affordable semi-hollow, here you go. =)

Grunge - the re-review

I've done a review on this pedal before, but not a thorough one. 

'Grunge' is actually a subgenre of alternative rock, somewhat related to that of hardcore punk and heavy metal. So, by naming a pedal 'Grunge', one can tell what type of distortion it is. (It can be considered a metal distortion.)

General

"Loud" is volume level and "Grunge" represents the gain. For metal distortions, I would prefer it to have the mid tonal control as well. However, as you can see, there is only low and high knobs; implying that the mid frequency is fixed. It has a dual-output. The Amp output is for connecting directly to an amp (of course) while the Mixer output is useful when you wish to do recording. 

This pedal has a sturdy built. The housing of the pedal is fully metal. It also has a relic-style design. For those who prefer relic finish, Grunge might be an eye candy to you.

Sound

It is tested through my 'Vendetta' (my Fernandes). This pedal is just very loud despite level clocked at 9 o'clock position, same goes to my 10W practice amp. In fact, I got 2 complaints from 2 different neighbours while testing this out. 

It is also very distorted. The grunge knob doesn't seem to do much of a difference. Grunge is also too distorted. Even with your grunge at its lowest, the distortion is still there. So if anyone is trying to reduce the gain and use it as some mild distortion, you might want to give up that idea.

However, I still like this pedal. Why? It has a very unique tone. Very crunchy and gritty tone which, in my opinion, gives you an boosted effect on palm-muting. Those who like to have a coarse and crunchy lead tone, it would do a perfect job. I, for one, prefer a much smooth distortion which my Metal End King gives with the amp simulator on. I would rather use Grunge for playing rhythm rather than lead. However, it's all a matter of preferences. 
Hooray to sustain lovers, this pedal gives you a good one. Those who know how to utilise feedbacks will also find it useful.


Overall

★★★★☆ : 
-A good friend for anyone seeking for a fierce distortion
-Sturdy-built
-Dual output: Ideal for recording
-Crunchy tone (unique tone). Those wanting to be unique may consider this
-Good sustain


-Very loud and the gain can't be lowered.
-Lack mid frequency controls. 

Pe-Are-es! (PRS)

New PRS?

Well, yeah..... but... not mine though. I wish it was =P. It's my friend's first guitar. She got it fresh from Davis Guitar today (and yes it's a 'she')!! To be specific, at its expanded branch.


This is PRS SE Orianthi Signature model in Red Sparkle (indeed, it is sparkling, especially under the light).

Price: S$850

Special Features
Its most outshining feature is the 'O' at the 12th fret rather than a usual signature spread eagle of PRS.

Body
The body is made up of Korina with a maple top. Korina is rarely used in guitars. In fact, PRS is the only brand that I know uses Korina for the body. It is somewhat like a mahogany, having similar grains of mahogany. However, compared to mahogany, it has a brighter sound.
The hierarchy of brightness will be as shown below:

Mahogany < Korina < Alder

Neck
The neck is a maple neck according to the PRS website.
As for the neck profile, it is a bit wide but rather thin compare to a PRS SE Custom 24, which features a much thicker neck profile.  It is a set-neck construction and allows easy access to the lower frets.

The fretboard is an Ebony fretboard. Its extremely dark and shiny looks highlights it. Ebony is said to have a brighter attack in terms of tone, which further contributes to the brightness of this guitar.

Pickups
The pickups in it are PRS Designed SE TFS Treble at the bridge and Vintage Bass at the neck. The pickups do it job well when it is played through clean. The resultant tone (with the pickup switch in the mid position) is of my preference, bright and clear sound. When some distortion kicks in, it sounds somewhat like my alder-bodied Fernandes, with less brightness. It does a good job in sustaining (I'm very particular about this). Do take note that the sustainability doesn't just depends on the guitar but also on the level of gain on the amp and other factors as well.

Controls
It has a 3-way pickup switch, a volume knob and a tone knob.

Bridge
The bridge is a PRS Designed Tremolo bridge like many other PRS SE has. 6 screws bridge. Nothing too special that I could expand on this. The tremolo is the not a screw-in type. All that is needed is to insert the tremolo at the bridge and use it.

Accessories

Other extra accessories included are (of course) a guitar bag, a short cable, tremolo bar and all the Allen keys. The included bag is a well-padded bag which would normally cost around $35-40 to get it. Well, after paying a $850, such quality bag is to be expected, isn't?

Overall: 5/5
This guitar is a great guitar. The neck profile, though it isn't as slick as an Ibanez RGs, it is still considered as thin. Shredding isn't a problem for me. Its standard action is just right; neither too low nor too high. If I have the ability to buy it, I would DEFINITELY do so. Of course, the stock pickups will be changed accordingly to the genre I would use it to play. However, it would be much better if PRS features a 2-point bridge; after all the problem my Squier has given me, I feel that it's safer use the tremolo without going out of tune so much for 2 point bridges than its 6 points kins.

Smash B1's goodness

Ivan had finally bought his guitar, a Smash B1 (as shown below).

Price: S$270

Many had heard of Fender, Gibson and Ibanez's budget series namely Squier, Epiphone and Ibanez Gio. But Smash doesn't lose to them, too. Smash is a budget series of Swing guitar from Korea. Many may look away from these not-so-famous brands, especially those who are ONLY aware of the more famous ones. 

Body
B1 has an Indonesian mahogany body. The shape of the body is somewhat like the shape of RG but it doesn't have sharp cutaway like RGs. I thought it was a basswood body but I had my doubts since it was TOO heavy for a basswood guitar.

Pickups

The guitar is loaded with Swing Heartbreaker pickups, featuring Alnico 5 magnet and plain Enamel coil. It is also the highest output pickups produced by Swing. Smash B1 is also the only guitar that comes with Swing pickups among all the Smash. These pickups has very distinctive high and mid tone. They are rather good pickups and it is rather hard get a guitar with relatively good pickups with this price range. A good beginner guitar. 


Controls
The guitar comes with a 5-way pickup switch so it is possible to get the single coil in its 2nd position (neck) and 4th position (bridge). Comes with one tone and one volume control.

Headstock and tuners

This is Swing/Smash style headstock. At the back of it includes its serial number. It has stringtree for its low E and B strings, like many other swing and smash guitars.

The tuners are Smash diecast tuners.

Neck and Fretboard
The neck construction is bolt-on. It is rather hard to find a guitar with set-neck within this price range as well.

This hard maple neck isn't that thin even though Smash B1 looks very alike to Ibanez RGs and GRGs. They are relatively thicker but not as thick as that of strats. The staff at SV had set up this guitar well and the strings are as low as possible, giving it its maximum low action.
B1 has a rosewood fret board with jumbo frets. What I like about SV is that they always care to set up their guitars. This is evident by looking at the polishing done on the fretboard

Bridge

The bridge of this guitar is 2-point synchronised roller saddle tremolo. Well, it is not a fixed bridge. To be frank, fixed bridges are more appealing to me than tremolo. The irony is.. both of my current guitars are tremolo bridges. But i had 5 springs to pull back both of my bridges.


Others

Many of Swing and Smash guitars include a soft bag as show above. The bag is not of a very lousy quality. It is still properly padded. To buy this 'A la Carte' would costs $25 dollars. 


Rating: 4.5 / 5
I rate this 4 stars because it is indeed a good guitar for its price. Would rate is 0.5 if the bridge is a fixed one. Of course you couldn't expect it to be at a Ibanez Prestige standard. But, if I am to buy a guitar with a budget of $300 and is looking for something of an RG shape, I would get Smash B1 rather than choose one from Ibanez Gio series.


Hope this help