Tag: Music Gear Reviews
PRS SE 245 Soapbar Review
Review of the Paul Reed Smith (PRS) SE 245 Limited edition Soapbar Spalted Maple electric guitar. A modern take on a Gibson Les Paul? My trusty Gibson Les Paul Studio had just about bitten the dust (full story here). I was after something more modern, reliable and also with a little more top end bite.…
How to set up a Home Recording Studio
How to setup your own home recording studio including the hardware and software involved and tackles the problem of latency Mic and Mic stand There are 2 basic types of reasonably priced microphone; Dynamic and Condenser. If like most people, you don’t have the luxury of a sound-proofed room, and are setting up a studio…
BOSS BR-800 Digital Recorder Review
How the BOSS BR-800 Digital Recorder became an invaluable part of my recording and practice setup. My brief history of the stand-alone multi-track recorder My first multi-track recorder, way back in the mid-90’s was a cassette-based Tascam 4-track Porta05 ministudio. Obviously cassette tape had it’s limitations, primarily the degradation of the tape itself after numerous…
Fender Blues Junior III review
In-depth review of the Fender Blues Junior III guitar amplifier. Comparisons…… I’ve owned a fair few amps in my time, a Vox AC30, Marshall DSL401, Orange Rocker 30 and Cornford Roadhouse 30 to name but a few. All amazing amps in their own right, but they all had to go for various reasons. The Vox AC30 was…
GarageBand for iPad: 5 Missing Features.
After using GarageBand for iPad for almost 2 years, here are the top 5 missing features I’ve noticed along the way, with workarounds. Is it still the best DAW experience out there? GarageBand for iPad missing feature #1. No Track Routing or Grouping. Track routing (or bussing) is a really useful feature, for example, to…
10 Secret Songwriting Tips for Beginners
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#1 : The Secrets of Songwriting First the bad news. I’ve been writing (mostly guitar-orientated) songs for over 20 years now, and there are no secrets. No short-cuts I can share with you that’ll transform you into a hit-maker overnight. I can’t plant an idea into your head and I don’t even believe songwriting is…
Why the Gibson Les Paul Is Better Than the Fender Stratocaster
Introducing the Heavyweight Contenders In the left corner, we have the Gibson Les Paul, and in the right, we have the Fender Stratocaster. For comparison let’s not mess about with the myriad of different versions and go for the latest versions of each Standard USA model. Both champions, but which one is better? Firstly the…
Epiphone ES-335 PRO Review
Budget Gibson ES-335? So what do we have here? a guitar with the exact same construction as the real deal (a 2015 Gibson Memphis ES 335). Or in other words, a laminated hollow body, with solid centre block and glued-in mahogany neck, bound rosewood fingerboard and block inlays. What you are getting here is the…
TC Electronic Nova System Review
An in-depth, hands-on review of the TC Electronic Nova System Multi-Effects unit. The need for change…. I thought I had it all worked out, a Cornford Roadhouse 30 combo for my drive sounds, a Zoom G3 in the loop for adding effects and volume boost for solos. an BOSS SD-1 to push the Cornfords front…