Another Big Thank You!

Happy New Year!

Well, this post brings an end to my second year of blogging, and I am humbled by the support from people that stop by to check it out.

I started Rex and the Bass to practice my writing skills and preach about my interests, and have met my goals for the blog for 2011. It has become much more popular this year, showing steady growth every month, and in January it will pass the 100,000 page view milestone. I never thought it would take off this well.

Just in case you were wondering, here are the top posts of all time (by page views):

1. Fender Jazz Bass Special Re-issue

2. Memory Lane: Pulp Fiction Soundtrack

3. Philip Kubicki Factor Basses

4. Crystal Castles (2010) Album review

5. Simon and Patrick Songsmith Acoustic Guitar

I am not even close to running out of things to write about, but if you have any suggestions, please send them along. Also, if you would like for me to review your album or products, drop me a line and we can figure something out.

Thank you for checking in today, as well as for the time you spend looking through Rex and the Bass. I look forward to writing about new things next year, and hope to keep you all entertained.

Mahalo!

Rex

DMX512 Lighting System Protocol

Hello!

I have mentioned the DMX512 light control protocol a few times on Rex and the Bass, and thought a brief explanation might be in order.

If you have ever been to a concert and seen the huge arrays of stage lights and effects, you may have noticed that they are usually independently controlled. But there are not separate controls and wiring going to each one, as they are on a multiplex network. This means that there is only one communication line that goes from component to component, and they can all be controlled from a single panel.

This makes for a more simple set-up, and reduces the number of costly cables that have to be purchased.

The DMX512 digital communication standard was introduced in 1986 to provide a single protocol for stage lighting, thus allowing compatibility of equipment from different manufacturers. It was designed to control light dimmers, but has also proven to be a godsend for effects, such as lasers, spot lights, moving lights and fog machines. I have even seen people using these networks for their Christmas lighting displays.

If you purchase DMX-compatible components, you can assign discrete addresses for each one, and use a single controller to operate them. There will be DMX IN and DMX OUT ports on each device.

DMX512 is able to control 512 dimmable channels and up to 32 devices with just one cable. The cable can be up to 1200 to 1500 meters long, which is pretty far if you think about it.

These communication cables are standardized, sort of. DMX512 systems are supposed to use 5-pin XLR connectors. These have the following pins: Signal Common, Data 1-, Data 1+, Data 2-, and Data 2+. The Data 2 circuits are optional; so many times regular 3-pin XLR microphone cables are substituted. Some manufacturers have dropped the 5-pin requirement altogether and just use 3-pin XLR connectors. So much for standardization, huh?

Some people discourage the use of microphone cables, as they are not the best choice for data transmission, but for the short runs I do I’ve not had any problems. And always be careful not to accidentally plug a lighting 3-pin XLR into your audio mixing board, as 48 volts of phantom power through the data circuits can wreck your lights.

There is a lot more to the DMX512 story of course, and it can get really confusing if you are running a lot of effects over long distances. But if you are running small shows, or are looking for lights and effects to enhance your band or DJ service, it is easy enough to get started.

If you have just a few lights, a cheap light controller running DMX controls will provide a lot more versatility and more professional transitions and fades. Just make sure that as you collect new effects and lights that they are DMX512 compatible, as some manufacturers still use proprietary communication protocols. You will be able to find them easily, as major music retailers carry a lot of this gear.

Mahalo!

Max and the Bass

Feliz Navidad, amigos!

I hope you all have a very merry and safe Christmas. This is a momentous day, as my son Max got his first bass for Christmas, and we will start on lessons after the holiday break.

Wish us well…

Mahalo!

Orpheus Valley Rosa Morena Guitar Review

Howdy!

Today we are looking at a gorgeous Orpheus Valley Guitars Rosa Morena model classical nylon-string acoustic guitar. I have found it to be a terrific value for the price.

I had never heard of Orpheus Valley Guitars until recently. They are produced by the Kremona Lutherie in Bulgaria, which has been in the business of building stringed instruments since 1924. I believe their main focus had been on the violin family of instruments.

I was looking for a new nylon-string guitar, and played this one the recommendation of a friend. The sound and the build quality impressed me, and it was not a bad looker either. Win, win, win.

The first thing you might say is “You call it a classical guitar, but it looks suspiciously like a flamenco guitar to me.” Well, yeah. But Orpheus Valley Guitars built it and they call it a classical guitar, so I am going with their name.

It is a handsome guitar that is built in Bulgaria, but its components are sourced from the United Nations of Lutherie supplies.

The Rosa Morena has a solid European spruce top, and Indian rosewood back and sides. The rosette is a pretty inlay and is all wood, just like the simple body binding. This is all sprayed with a super-thin layer of poly.

The neck is made of Honduran cedar with an Indian rosewood fretboard and headstock veneer. There are 19 frets with a 650mm scale. It is a chunky 52mm wide at the nut, which is about 2 inches, and standard for classical guitars. The neck is set with a dovetail joint (no bolts in there).

The Gebr. Van Gent gold-plated lyre tuners are sourced from the Netherlands, and are nice quality machines that hold well. It has well cut genuine bone nut and saddle, and an Indian rosewood bridge.

All of this is put together well. The finish is even, and the fretwork is well done. I think the end where the sides meet could be a little dressier, but it is a clean joint, at least.

It plays well and has a sweeter sound and more volume than the La Patrie classical guitar it is replacing. It has a balanced tone, and is a pleasure to play. I give it an A+ rating.

The Orpheus Valley Rosa Morena is a good value with a list price of $599 and a street price of $499. This includes a 3-year warranty, that may or may not be the easiest thing to use, as the Kremona headquarters is in Europe. Check with your dealer for details.

Mahalo!

MusicMan 2006 Limited Edition Guitars and Basses

Greetings!

Today we are looking at a peach of a limited edition bass: a 2006 Ernie Ball MusicMan Bongo. This limited edition was not limited to basses, it also included many guitars in the MusicMan lineup.

These instruments were finished in glossy black poly, and came with gold-plated hardware – even the pole pieces on the pickups were gold-plated. Ordinarily I shy away from gold hardware, but it is irresistible on a black instrument. They also came with 5-layer black pickguards, which are a classy touch.

Each 2006 limited edition model also had “Limited Edition 2006” silkscreened in gold by the neck plate. They shipped in a pimp-daddy custom black faux-skin G&G hard shell case with a limited edition badge inside.

Other than these differences these instruments were configured the same as their conventional MusicMan counterparts.

I picked this one as new old stock in 2008 from a dude that owed me (and a lot of other people) money. It was a beautiful instrument, and very well made. The finish was perfect and the neck was very good.

Of course, I am not a 5-string player, so it did not stick around long, but I did get most of my cash back.

Mahalo!

Kindle Fire Review

Aloha!

I was disappointed when the iPad 2 came out and it was no smaller than the previous version. I had heard rumors that it would be downsized, which would have been great for me as I had owned an iPad and thought it was too big. I am not an Apple-hater, or anything of the sort; I have an iPhone and think it is the best thing since canned beer.

So I was stoked when they announced the Kindle Fire, a tablet from Amazon. The size was just what I was looking for, about 8 inches by 5 inches. It was going to be Wi-Fi only, but would use the Android operating system so it already had a huge base of applications to work with. It sounded like a winner (at a reasonable price too) so I pre-ordered one.

It showed up a few days earlier than expected, and the packaging was very simple and did not seem wasteful. It is small (as expected), but a little bigger, thicker and heavier than my wife’s conventional Kindle. The heft gives an initial impression of quality, and feels nice with a non-slip rubberized back. These come with Gorilla Glass over the screen, which I have had good luck with in the past, as it is clear and resistant to scratching.

There is not much else going on with the exterior, just an ON/OFF switch, an 1/8-inch headphone jack and a micro USB port. All charging and data transfer is done through this port. A micro USB cable and AC adapter are included.

It has 8GB of internal storage which would be enough for approximately 800 songs, 8 movies, or 6,000 books. It would be, but there is really only 6.5GB of storage available as the operating system takes some room. This is not very much space, but Amazon tries to make up for it by including 5GB of cloud storage for free. I am too old-fashioned and have not embraced the cloud yet.

I guess the idea is that you can store your media on Amazon’s cloud, and then access them on your Fire, (or any other device) whenever you please. It is easy enough to transfer files to the Kindle, as long as you have Wi-Fi access, or a computer to plug into. By the way, if you buy songs or videos from Amazon, they are stored for free.

Anyway, I plugged it in and it fired right up (heh). It guided me through a quick set-up and it was a breeze to connect to my home’s wireless network. As I said, it uses the Android operating system, so it looked very familiar as I used to have a droid phone.

I was a little wowed by the screen, as it has great resolution. It looks just as nice as the one on my wife’s iPad. The funny thing is that is not optimal for reading books. The E-ink display on my wife’s Kindle is easier on the eyes, although it is nice to be able to use the Fire without having a light on.

With the small screen, magazines are not very fun to read unless you are looking at a Fire-optimized app. However, I found that newspapers come out ok and comic books are fun to look at. You can tap on the individual comic frames and they zoom out to fill the screen.

The web browser works fine, and actually is light-years faster than the one on my old droid phone. I guess the Wi-Fi connection makes a difference. I am not used to the way the favorites work, as I am too used to my iPhone now.

Videos play well too. I accessed them through Hulu and YouTube with no problems, and also streamed a number of shows and movies from Amazon Prime. They loaded quickly (within a few seconds), and were easy to control. The lack of external volume control switches is a pain the butt, though.

Music is the one thing I cannot get behind with the Kindle Fire. I am too stuck in the Apple way of life and I have embraced the iTunes lifestyle. I do like the idea that any music that is downloaded from Amazon is Digital Rights Management (DRM)-free, which means you can put them on whatever device you want to. You got your hook into me a few years too late, Amazon.

I have heard that Amazon loses money on the Fire by selling it so cheap. And that they hope to make up the difference with folks using it as the ultimate shopping device. It is SUPER easy to buy stuff from Amazon with this thing with one-click shopping, so they might be onto something here.

Amazon also includes a free month of Amazon Prime membership. This provides fee 2-day shipping on many items, as well as thousands of T.V. shows and movies that you can stream for free. I was impressed, and if I was more into movies and television I would be sorely tempted to plunk down $79 a year for it.

Some common complaints I have seen online are that the Fire does not have a camera, its storage capacity is too small, and that the power switch is in the wrong place because it will turn the unit off if you rest it on something.

The power switch location has not been a big deal, because I am smart enough to turn it upside down so the Kindle doesn’t rest on the switch. I do not miss the camera feature, as I have one in my phone. By the way, have you ever seen somebody use the iPad to take pictures? That is a yuck-fest. But, the lack of storage is a tough one, so I have to tell myself that for the price it is still a good deal.

And I think the Kindle Fire is worth the money. It does everything I expected it to, and there have been no problems with it. You can buy the Kindle Fire all day long on amazon.com for $199 with free shipping. This is a lot cheaper than the entry-level iPad, which comes in at $499.

Mahalo!

Chauvet Obey 3 LED DMX Controller

As I dipped my toe into the pool of stage lighting and DMX-512 multiplex controls, I was looking for a cheap light controller to experiment with. I picked up a Chauvet Obey 3 for slim money, and it has been nothing but ice cream and rainbows ever since.

I use a couple of Chauvet 4-Bar LED light systems, which are great, but the controls are very basic. They have built-in color and chase patterns, but they have to be scrolled through, which is a pain if you want to go straight from one color to another or if you want to do a fade.

This is where having a light controller comes in handy. You can select specific colors, and the speeds at which they fade. DMX-512 is a lighting protocol that allows a mind-boggling amount of customization, and I will cover it in another post, as it is not too important with this controller.

The Obey 3 is a 3-channel controller (red, green, and blue) so it is compatible with many of the RGB LED fixtures out there. It has a little something for everybody, with automated, sound-activated or manual RGB mixing.

Looking at the front of the unit, in the lower left corner there are three switches: Preset, Chases and Macro. Selecting Preset allows you to choose from the nine switches above, which include the popular colors. Chase will give you the automated programs, including sound-activated with adjustable sensitivity. And Macro scrolls though various colors, which is kind of a useless feature when you consider how many other ways there are to select colors with this unit. If you combine Macro with Chases, it will automatically scroll through different colors.

Over on the right side there are the switches for sound activation (and a pot for its sensitivity adjustment), RGB control, blackout and strobe.

All this leaves us with are the three faders. Depending on the modes they can control the individual color channels, strobe timing (2Hz to 33Hz), master dimming and fade times.

These features come in a 2 pound box that measures 5.5” by 8.3” by 2.1”. It has rack ears that would allow it to be mounted in the same sized spot as a DJ mixer. It includes a 12V power adapter, which plugs into the side near the power switch and the DMX output.

It all works pretty neatly, too. Set up your lights, and run a DMX cable (or even a microphone cable) from the controller to the lights, and start experimenting. There is minimal instructions that come with the unit, but it is simple enough to figure it out on your own.

Like everything in life it is not perfect. I hate the locations of the power switch and DMX output. If I actually had this unit mounted in a rack they would be impossible to reach. Also, when it is in chase or sound-activated mode, there can be a lengthy blackout between changes if a slower fade speed is selected.

Plus, as I use it more, I wish it had more features like being able to stagger the colors on my par cans, but for the money this thing is awesome.

And the money part of this equation is really sweet. The Chauvet Obey 3 is dirt-cheap, making it perfect for the hobbyist or beginner. It has a list price of $74.99 and a street price of $49.99, and it comes with at least a one-year warranty (their policies are befuddling). If you are experimenting with LED lighting, this would be a great place to start.

Mahalo!