Inventory Update: Second Quarter of 2012

Hello!

I am sure that this is no surprise, but my collection is quite a bit different than it was on New Year’s Day. Here is what is around today:

1. 1977 Aria Pro II Precise Bass. This Precision Bass copy is in the shop for some fret work.

2. 1980 Aria Pro II SB-1000. The Jack Bruce/John Taylor model.

3. 1982 Fender JV Precision Bass. This early Japanese Fender bass outshines its contemporary US-made brothers.

4. 1983 ESP P-J Bass. Serial number 0008, formerly owned by Masayoshi Yamashita of the Japanese metal band Loudness.

5. 1983 Tokai Love Rock LS-50. Decent pickups and wiring really woke this guitar up.

6. 1986 ESP PPJ-160. Also formerly owned by Masayoshi Yamashita of the Japanese metal band loudness.

7.1980s ESP 400 Series Jazz Bass with EMG pickups. This one is one the chopping block. Drop me a line if you are interested. It is a peach!

8. 1980s ESP Custom P-J bass. Formerly owned by Tom Hamilton of Aerosmith.

9. 1980s ESP J-Four. May be on its way out, but it is a beautiful bass.

10. 1992 Fender Precision Plus. This boner bass is for sale; let me know if you are interested.

11.Kala solid mahogany soprano ukulele. A great travelling companion and a fond souvenir of Hawaii.

12. Kala solid mahogany tenor ukulele. Ditto.

13. Simon & Patrick Songsmith dreadnought. A consistently popular post for this blog.

14. Simon & Patrick Woodland 12-string acoustic. Also up for sale…

15. Orpheus Valley Guitars Rosa Morena. A sweet Bulgarian Spanish guitar.

16. Ernie Ball MusicMan Stingray Classic. Really the only bass I need.

17. Genz Benz Shuttle 6.0 with two 12-inch Shuttle cabinets. This one is still hanging in there!

18. Ampeg SVT-CL and SVT-810. Thunder of the gods.

19. Cave Passive Pedals. These are the still the only products on my pedalboard besides my trusty Boss tuner.

20. Fender Blues Junior III amplifier. The best small tube combo for the money.

Thankfully I only do this once a quarter…

Mahalo!

Inventory Update: First Quarter of 2012

Hi there, and Happy New Year!

Looking through my stuff, there are a few changes to my collection, and a few more changes to come. Here is what is around today:

1. 1978 Fender Precision Bass. Incredible condition and Antigua. Mmmm.

2. 1982 Fender JV Precision Bass. The earliest Japanese Fender bass I have ever seen. Loaded with Jamerson flats, and everything a P Bass should be..

3. 1983 ESP P-J Bass. Serial number 0008, and formerly owned by Masayoshi Yamashita of the Japanese metal band Loudness. You have to have a PJ bass around.

4. 1983 Tokai Love Rock LS-50. The best sounding and playing Les Paul I have ever owned, and that is saying a lot.

5. 1986 ESP PPJ-160. The flat-out coolest bass I own. I will be writing about this one later on this month.

6. 2008 Fender Custom Shop 59 Re-issue Precision Bass. This one is one the chopping block. Drop me a line if you are interested. It is a peach!

7. 2009 Fender Mustang Bass. Candy Apple Red, competition stripes, and fresh out of Japan. Sweet!

8. Kala Tenor Ukulele. Also on its way out, as I have a sweeter one coming in.

9. Kala solid mahogany soprano ukulele. A great travelling companion, and a fond souvenir of Hawaii.

10. Cordoba 25TKCE Ukulele. On loan to a friend, but I will be selling this one too.

11. Simon & Patrick Songsmith dreadnought. This solid acoustic is still hanging in there; it is still a super-popular post for this blog.

12. Simon & Patrick Woodland 12-string acoustic. I will need to write this one up this month too.

13. Martin D-18V. I should play this more often, so I do not forget how much I like it.

14. Orpheus Valley Guitars Rosa Morena. A sweet Bulgarian Spanish guitar.

15. Sterling by MusicMan AX20. Perhaps the ugliest guitar I own, and also up for sale.

16. Genz Benz Shuttle 6.0 with two 12-inch Shuttle cabinets. How is it that I still have this set-up? Probably because it is so awesome!

17. Genz Benz Shuttle 3.0-8T. A powerhouse for its size, and a nice value on the used market.

18. Cave Passive Pedals. These are the still the only products on my pedalboard besides my trusty Boss tuner.

19. Fender Blues Junior III amplifier. A great amplifier for the money.

20.Fender Vibro Champ XD. I have been having a miserable time trying to sell this. I might have to trade it in at Guitar Center for a new set of strings or something.

Good thing I only do this once a quarter. It seems like I could do it once a week.

Mahalo!

Inventory Update: Fourth Quarter of 2011

Hi there!

As no surprise to anyone, my inventory is a lot different than it was 3 months ago. Here is a snapshot of what is around today:

1. 1982 Fender JV Precision Bass. A natural relic with Jamerson flats.

2. 1983 ESP P-J Bass. The earliest ESP bass (serial number 0008) I’ve ever seen and a great player.

3. 1983 Tokai Love Rock LS-50. I breathed some new life into this one with Burstbuckers and decent pots. It is a transformed rock monster.

4. 2005 Fender Custom Shop Nocaster. This is really cool, but will not be sticking around long. Drop me a line if you are interested.

5. 2008 Fender Custom Shop 59 Re-issue Precision Bass. I need to write this one up. It is a peach!

6. Kala Tenor Ukulele. On loan to a friend right now.

7. Kala solid mahogany soprano ukulele. A great travelling companion.

8. Cordoba 25TKCE Ukulele. You have not lived until you have played an electric ukulele.

9. Simon & Patrick Songsmith dreadnought. This solid acoustic is still hanging in there; I think I may have had this longer than any guitar in my collection.

10. Martin D-18V. Must keep this one. Must keep this one. Must keep this one.

11. Sterling by MusicMan AX20. Bedazzled with the Rockstar Energy Drink logo, I bought this cheap off of a 7-Eleven owner. Really.

12. Genz Benz Shuttle 6.0 with 2 12-inch Shuttle cabinets. I am not tempted by Genz’s newer offerings, probably because I have never tried them. Ignorance is bliss.

13. Cave Passive Pedals. These are the still the only products on my pedalboard besides my trusty Boss tuner.

13. Fender Blues Junior III amplifier. An upgrade from my old Vibro Champ XD.

Just wait until the December 1st update. Who knows what I will have by then?

Mahalo!

Inventory Update: Third Quarter of 2011

Hi there!

What is in Rex’s newly remodeled garage/studio today? Inquiring minds want to know, and the second quarter ukulele frenzy has changed up the mix a bit. Here is a snapshot of what is around today:

1. 1982 Fender JV Precision Bass. The oldest Japanese Fender I have ever seen. I recently had this one strung with D’Addario tapewounds. This thing is sexier than Face’s Corvette.

2. 1982 Fender JV Precision Bass. Ditto the above, but with Jamerson flats.

3. 1984 Fender JV 62 RI Jazz Bass. This bass is on its way out because I hate the neck on it. Maybe I am not a Jazz Bass guy anymore.

4. 1999 Fender 75 RI Jazz Bass. Ditto the above, although it is dead sexy.

5. 1997 Fender 52 RI Telecaster. A heavy thing, but the best Tele I’ve ever owned, and that says a lot.

6. Kala Tenor Ukulele. Cheap, but a very good ukulele.

7. Kala solid mahogany soprano ukulele. I am in love again, and this one make the other ukes hide in dark corners (and Chris’ house).

8. Simon & Patrick Songsmith dreadnought. Still a very popular subject on my music blog.

9. 2008 Martin D-18V. It is good to have a really nice acoustic back in the fold. Hopefully I will not be so hasty to off such things in the future.

10. Genz Benz Shuttle 6.0 with 2 12-inch Shuttle cabinets. The ironmen of my collection.

11. Cave Passive Pedals. These are the only products on my pedalboard besides my trusty Boss tuner.

12. Fender Vibro Champ XD. Cheap, but it has a 5-year warranty.

On August 1st things will look completely different. Trust me.

Mahalo!

Inventory Update:Second Quarter of 2011

Hi there!

What does Rex have in stock right now? I am sure everybody is dying to know, and a surprising number of guitars from my first quarter update are still here. Here we go:

1. Art and Lutherie Ami parlour guitar. This is not getting as much use as I thought it would, but I have some travel coming up and it might come along.

2. 1982 Fender JV Precision Bass. The oldest Japanese Fender I have ever seen. I recently had this one strung with Jamerson flats. My god, Magnum.

3. 1983 Fender JV Precision Bass. This one is still hanging in there. I have D’Addario flats on it, if I remember correctly.

4. 1984 Fender JV 62 RI Jazz Bass. This bass was really hard to find. It seems like there 20 JV P basses for every JV Jazz Bass that comes along.

5. 1997 Fender 52 RI Telecaster. I recently had this set-up with Ernie Ball 0.010’s, and this is the best-sounding Telecaster I have ever had. And the heaviest.

6. 1999 Fender 75 RI Jazz Bass. This is the only bass I have ever found in Japan that had flatwound strings on it. I left them on, and I think they are Ernie Ball Group III’s.

7. Kala Tenor Ukulele. Code named “Operation Bad Idea”. I need to put some more time into learning how to play this thing.

8. Simon & Patrick Songsmith dreadnought. I get a lot of comments about these guitars on my blog. People love these things.

9. 1983 Tokai Love Rock. This may be going on sale soon. Stay tuned.

10. Genz Benz Shuttle 6.0 with 2 12-inch Shuttle cabinets. I have somehow withstood the temptations of the Genz 9.0 and the new Genz Streamliner. The 6.0 is sticking around for now.

11. Cave Passive Pedals. These are the only products on my pedalboard besides my trusty Boss tuner.

12. Fender Vibro Champ XD. This amp has not been getting a lot of use lately, but it is not in my way either. I will be keeping it for awhile.

Check back on June 1st. You never know what the future will bring.

Mahalo!

Inventory Update: 1st Quarter of 2011

Happy New Year!

I figured I would kick off the new year with a new feature: What does Rex have in stock right now? My friends know this is a moving target, but I figure I can draw a line in the sand at this moment in time and let you all in on my secret stash of goodness. I will try to update this once a quarter, so that everybody knows what is going on.

1. Art and Lutherie Ami parlour guitar. You will see me writing about this one soon. It is pure fun.

2. EBMM Stingray Classic 4 string. This is living in Chicago right now, but will probably find its way home to me.

3. 1983 Fender JV Precision Bass. The holy grail of Japanese P basses, and is the instrument that has lived in my stable the longest. Strung with flats, for the Motown thump.

4. 1994 Fender 62 RI Jazz Bass. Strung with rounds, this bass is sharp, and has had plenty of road wear and mojo applied.

5. 1997 Fender 52 RI Telecaster. I cannot believe that I have a Telecaster that is heavier than my Les Paul, but Fender figured out a way to make it happen for me. Bravo!

6. 1999 Fender 62 RI Stratocaster. Does this complete my collection of the major models from Fender?

7. Simon & Patrick Songsmith dreadnaught. The instrument I use the most, and a super-popular subject for readers of this blog. Go figure.

8. 1983 Tokai Love Rock. I love to use my Love Rock for rock.

9. Genz Benz Shuttle 6.0 with 2 12-inch Shuttle cabinets. No drama to report with this set-up. I am still in love with it.

10. Cave Passive Pedals. These are the only products on my pedalboard besides my trusty Boss tuner.

11. Fender Vibro Champ XD. A super-cheap guitar amp that is working out pretty well. I will be putting together a report on this one, too. Soon. Real soon.

Check back on April 1st. I am sure my selection will look completely different. There are already a few changes in the works.

Mahalo!

Cave Passive Pedals Grunt Mk II Review

I am sure some of my friends are getting tired of me spouting off about Cave Passive Pedals. Well, tough luck. Here is another review!

Cave Passive Pedals is an Australian company that hand builds small batches of boutique guitar and bass effect pedals. They are very involved and customer-focused, so when you call them or send them an e-mail, you are dealing directly with the people that make them. A bonus is that they are very friendly and are great to deal with.

Their basic hook is that their pedals do not require a power supply, so there are no batteries, and no need to plug in an AC adaptor. All the power that is needed is provided by the output signal from the guitar or bass. There is more to the pedals than the hook, they work well too.

I wrote a review of the original Grunt pedal last month, and was very impressed with its function. It has very simple controls: an ON/OFF switch, and a Clean/Dirty selector switch. It provided a great-sounding distortion or a noticeable boost in output. One small drawback to me was that it could not do both at the same time. Well, it turns out that the Cave dwellers already had that in mind, and they have since issued the Grunt Mk II. Bass distortion pedal

The Mk II is a compact pedal that looks sharp. The pedal measures about 2.75 inches wide, by 4.5 inches long and 1.75 inches tall. The chassis is powder coated glossy white, with a clean-looking sticker for the logo and control labels. There are no feet on the case, so it is easy to add Velcro to attach it to your pedalboard.

New controls have taken the original Grunt and made it more versatile. It now has adjustable drive and level controls. An oddity is that the levels increase as the knobs are turned counter-clockwise. Is this because of the Coriolis effect? Anyway, this allows varying amounts of boost and distortion.

Not surprisingly, the Grunt Mk II will respond differently depending on how you have your bass and amplifier controls set. I have found that this pedal seems to work best with my passive basses, and with the volume and tone controls dimed (as usual). I also dial in a lot of gain (12 o’clock +) into the tube pre-amp on my Genz Shuttle 6.0, and do not boost the low frequencies. With this set up the tone is pure 60s/70s overdrive. Nice!

My results varied quite a bit when using active basses (Musicman, Spector, Sadowsky), and I will have to experiment more with them as time goes on.

As with the other Cave pedals, the Grunt Mk II comes in an eco-friendly waxed MDF box along with a microfiber cleaning cloth and some basic instructions.

All Cave pedals come with a lifetime warranty, which shows the confidence they have in their products. There have been no problems with my pedals, but I am sure they would be happy to help if something went bad.

The Grunt Mk II is priced at $129 AUD, or a mere $110 USD (as of today). It can be ordered directly through cavepassivepedals.com.au and they accept PayPal or bank wire transfers. Shoot them an e-mail for details of shipping costs.

Also, be advised that the original Grunt pedal is still available, so you can choose your poison, pardner. BTW, I took it a step further and have hooked the Mk II up in series with my original Grunt Pedal, so I can control the distortion and boost separately. Bwa Ha Ha!

Disclaimer: I am an endorsing artist for Cave Passive Pedals, but I paid for my first one, and was totally blown away. I would never represent a product that I do not 100% believe in.

Yamaha STAGEPAS 500 PA System

Everybody needs a PA system, right? Well, almost everybody I know needs one. Today I am writing about the Yamaha STAGEPAS 500 system, which is the PA that I own and am very happy with.

The STAGE PAS 500 system is slick. It includes a pair of passive speakers with a built-in powered mixer. The mixer fits into the back of one of the speakers, and can be easily removed if you want to set it up on a table with the rest of your equipment. The other speaker has a storage compartment in the back so you have a convenient place to store your speaker cables and the power cord for the mixer. By the way, speaker cables are included.

The mixer has two 250-watt class-D power amplifiers with plenty of power for medium-sized room or outdoor gigs. The amplifiers have been reliable thus far, and I have had no problems with overheating or cutting out.

There are 10 input channels: four mono microphone/line inputs (switchable for phantom power) and three stereo line inputs. For output, it has two main speaker jacks, as well as line outputs for additional powered speakers, RCA jacks for recording.

The STAGEPAS 500 mixer has 2-band equalizers for each channel, as well as REVERB switches on channels 1 through 4. A separate REVERB level control adjusts the reverb mix. Channels 1 and 2 have LIMIT/COMP switches. You will need the compression and limiters for those drunken karaoke folks.

The two speakers the system comes with are very rugged. They have 10" woofers and 1" tweeters. The speakers will fit standard 35mm speaker stand tubes.

How well does it work? Pretty darned good, if you’re asking me. I mostly use the STAGEPAS 500 for DJ and karaoke events, and as the bad mother of all garage stereo systems. I have run up to 3 microphones, a dual-deck CD player and my laptop music library through it with no trouble at all. Transporting and setting up the system is a breeze due to its relatively light weight and compact size. I went ahead and sprung for some wall mounts for the speakers to keep them up high and out of my way when they are not in use.

As a bassist, I would not recommend this system to a band that heavily relies on running the bass through the PA at high volume levels. It does not have enough headroom for that. Of course, additional powered speakers can be added to the system if necessary.

The MSRP for the Yamaha STAGEPAS 500 is $1249, and the street price is $899. I found it quite a bit cheaper from a music store that was clearing out all of their Yamaha equipment at blow-out prices.

If you are on more of a budget and don’t need as much presence, the STAGEPAS 300 can be had for a street price of around $600. Of course, it is cheaper so it has fewer channels (8), smaller speakers (8-inch woofers) and less power output (300 watts).

Either way, you cannot go wrong with the STAGEPAS systems. Yamaha has a well-justified reputation for providing reliable products that are an exceptional value.

Cave Passive Pedals: Grunt Review

Why would anybody want a passive guitar or bass effect pedal? Until recently I rarely used effect pedals (except for the trusty Boss Tuner), because of the hassles of having to use only powered pedals. What hassles? How about dead batteries and leaking batteries, or the fistfuls of heavy AC adaptors I had to keep track of if I chose not to use batteries (now where AM I going to plug in all of those adaptors)? Cave Passive Pedals has developed a line of passive pedals that do not require a battery or a clunky AC adaptor. Everything is powered by the output signal from the guitar or bass.

Cave Passive Pedals is a small company in Australia (Cave is Australian for pedals, mate!), that designed their own line of boutique pedals. They build them with adult hands in Australia, not by little enslaved child hands in China or India. If you call them on the phone or send them an e-mail, you are dealing directly with the people that make them, and they are friendly and obviously have a passion about what they do for a living.

Their pride in workmanship shows with these pedals. The Grunt pedal that I am writing about today is both visually and functionally flawless. The pedal itself measures about 2.75 inches wide, by 4.5 inches long and 1.75 inches tall. The chassis is powder coated glossy white, with black screen printing for the logo and control labels. The controls are simple: a two-way knob for the clean and dirty channels, and a stomp switch to bypass the effect.

Open up the back of the Grunt and what do you see? Not much, the electronics are sealed to keep connections from moving around, and probably to prevent boneheads like me from heading down to the electronics store and knocking off my own brand of passive pedals.

What does the Grunt actually do? The folks at Cave say that “The Grunt has the ability for you to choose either Clean for frequency boost or Dirty for an outrageous 60's sounding overdriven bass amplifier.”

Well, does it actually work? Hell yeah! Depending on the position of the switch, you get either a volume boost (clean), or a nice 60’s/70’s overdriven crunch (dirty). It really is a miracle, and can transform a dull bass tone into something that would make any rock or funk band happy.

My favorite basses to use with the Grunt are my Fender 57 re-issue Precision, and my Fender 75 re-issue Jazz. Both have their original passive pickups, and this is where the GRUNT really shines. With both basses, I leave the volume controls dimed (as I always have). Just for kicks and giggles, I did try backing off on the volume pots, and this does reduce the amount of dirtiness from the pedal.

I have used the Grunt with my active basses (Musicman and Sadowsky), and the clean signal boost was not as dramatic, although the dirty channel was still fun to play with. It really perked up the tone of Sadowsky original P that has a Lollar single-coil pickup in it.

I have only used the Grunt with my current amplifier setup, which is a Genz Benz Shuttle 6.0, and either a Genz Benz Uber Bass 410T 4-ohm cabinet, or a Genz Benz Shuttle STL-12T cabinet. Be advised that unless you are dialing gain into the tube pre-amp stage, both the Grunt’s clean and dirty boost will not be as dramatic.

Cave pedals ship in a nice handmade and waxed boutique MDF box along with a microfiber cleaning cloth and some basic instructions.

All Cave pedals come with a lifetime warranty, which I cannot imagine ever needing to use. They are very well made, and with the passive electronics, there really is not much to go wrong with these. But surely, if something were to go wrong, the friendly folks at Cave are just an e-mail away to help you out.

The Grunt is priced at $129 AUD, which works out to $120 USD, as of today. Pedals can be ordered directly through their website: cavepassivepedals.com.au , and they accept PayPal with no troubles.

Note: There is now also GRUNT MkII, which I will be discussing in the next few weeks. Stay tuned!

Disclaimer: I am an endorsing artist for Cave Passive Pedals, but I paid for my first one, and was totally blown away. I would never represent a product that I do not 100% believe in.