Boss VE-20 Vocal Performer Effects Processor Review

Aloha!

I am not much of a singer, and it turns out that most people that do karaoke aren’t either. There are rudimentary effects built into my mixers, but it often takes a little more to church up people’s voices so that sober people’s ears don’t burn too badly. Using guitar reverbs for vocals are a recipe for disaster, and many dedicated vocal effects are priced out of reach of the mortal man. This makes the Boss VE-20 Vocal Performer a lifesaver.

Boss is a division of the Roland Corporation and is the #1 builder of effects pedals in the world. They are most famous for their guitar effects, which perform as advertised, are very sturdy, and are backed by a great warranty. Boss’ reputation is safe -- the VE-20 Vocal Performer is a really neat piece of work.

This Boss unit has the usual bunch of effects that most vocalists would want, including harmony (up to 3-part), double-tracking, dynamics, reverb, delay, and distortion. Special effects include radio (that megaphone sound), robot, and strobe. The VE-20 can also provide real-time pitch correction and there is a built-in phrase looper with 38 seconds of mono recording time.

The VE-20 has a metal chassis and is in the standard double-wide Boss format (Twin-Series, I think they call it), so it will fit perfectly onto your pedal board. Its actual dimensions are 2-1/4" H x 6-13/16" W x 6-1/4" D, and it weighs in at a sturdy 2 pounds, 7 ounces (without batteries).

Hooking up this pedal is not too difficult. On the back of the unit you will find the input which is a multi jack that will take either a ¼-inch TRS plug or an XLR. By the way, there is 48V DC phantom power for the XLR, in case you plan to use a condenser microphone. Outputs include a stereo ¼-inch line/headphone jack and stereo XLR outs.

The top of the unit has the controls, which include two pedals -- left for ON/OFF and loop recording (hold for 2 seconds), and the right for harmony bypass and preset selection (hold for more than 2 seconds to scroll through the presets). The right pedal can also be customized to turn any one or a combination of any of the other effects ON simultaneously. There is a knob that allows the user to quickly scroll through the presets to find one that they like, and their names who up on the amber-backlit LCD display. There are also a few LEDs that indicate whether the power is ON, the status of the harmony pedal and if the unit is recording.

I mentioned presets, and there are a total of 80 preset spots on the VE-20 including 30 factory-assigned presets and 50 spaces for the user to make their own. The 30 that come from the factory are actually pretty good, and if you just want the basic you could probably get away with just using theirs. But if you want to make your own it is not a big deal, but it does take a little time.

I have tried out the VE-20 with my usual microphones – SM57, SM58, SM58 Beta and SM58 wireless, and they all sounded fine through this unit. There was no added noise or coloration other than what was asked for, and the vocals were as clear as a bell.

This pedal is great for adding harmonies. Just by pressing the right footswitch you can add preset level (like thirds or fifths), or make up your own. You will need to set the key signature for the harmonies to work, but it is not too hard to do. Also the harmonies can be customized to sound more masculine of feminine. There is also a neat Double Track feature which replicates your voice so it sounds thicker. All of the harmony features work well, and it seems to be very accurate.

The other effects are not jaw-droppingly good, but they are certainly good enough for live sound. The delay, reverb, distortion and chorus are all very usable, and I am glad that Roland thought to include these features.

I have never used looping very much, but had a blast trying it out on this effects processor. It would come in handy for coffee shop gigs or one-man shows so you can make your sound more complicated. Unfortunately, you cannot save your loop – once you stop playing it back it is lost, which is kind of a hassle. It would be nice if there was a USB port so you could save your looping work…

The pitch correction is fun, and would be great for karaoke. There are four different types to choose from, including soft (very natural sounding), hard (abrupt correction), electronic (pure Correction), and robot, which makes you sound like a robot.

All of these features work really nicely, but this is still kind of a complicated piece of equipment, and you are going to want to make sure that you have your presets figured out before your gig. You are not going to want to be on your knees fiddling around with the knobs and buttons during a gig. Do your homework before you take this thing out of the house.

In other news, the VE-20 is a huge power suck, and it takes 6 AA batteries that will run down in a little under 8 hours of use. If you are going to buy one of these you should pony eighteen bucks up for the Boss PSA-120S AC adaptor. It will pay for itself in no time. If you are looking for an aftermarket adaptor, this unit draws 190 mA at 9V DC.

Of course, quality is not cheap and the Boss VE-20 Vocal Performer is a quality piece of equipment. It has a list price of $381.50 and a street price of $279.99, so with a PSA-120S adaptor you are looking at $300 for this thing. It is worth every penny…

Mahalo!

Musical Theatre West’s Oklahoma! Review

Howdy!

Musical Theatre West assembled a terrific season for their 60th anniversary and they have included one of my top five favorite musicals – Oklahoma! I think every single person in the western hemisphere has seen this musical, either the Academy Award-winning 1955 big screen version (with the smoking hot Shirley Jones and that dreamy Gordon MacRae), or in person. Heck, many of you probably were in the musical in high school…

In case you grew up under an uncultured rock, here are a few key details. This was Rodgers and Hammerstein’s first hit book musical, and it is now 70 years old. It is set in pre-statehood Oklahoma in 1907, and is an age-old love story of men fighting for the love of lovely young prairie gals, and conflict abounds. Besides the title track, there are quite a few great songs, including “Kansas City,” “People Will Say We’re in Love,” and “I Cain’t Say No.” And there is also a Rodgers and Hammerstein dream ballet, which they revisited in subsequent shows, such as Carousel.

Musical Theatre West staffed this show with a live orchestra and a big cast that are led by Davis Gaines as director (his debut in the role), Lee Martino as choreographer and Dennis Castellano as musical director. Apparently this is a symbiotic relationship as the acting, dancing and music were perfectly integrated throughout. Anthony Ward went with a more modern stage design, with sparse sets, and it worked out well, and Jean-Yves Tessier’s lighting and Jessica Olson’s costumes were also very good. The sound was not consistent – the singers were occasionally drowned out by the pit orchestra (which was also mic’d), so I am blaming the sound guys for this one.

Despite the dicey sound, the cast really pulled this show off. The main love triangle of Curley (Bryant Martin), Laurey (Madison Claire Parks) and Jud (Christopher Newell) was perfect. Actually, it is not really a love triangle, as everybody hates Jud, but all three of these actors had a great chemistry with each other and were very believable. Martin and Parks voices were well-matched, which is vital as their duets are integral to the show. And Newell’s take on Jud Fry was appropriately scary and creepy.

Contrasting with this serious relationship is the comedic love triangle of Ado Annie (Teya Patt), Will Parker (Luke Hawkins) and Ali Hakim (Amin El Gamal). Patt’s version of Annie is perhaps the best I’ve seen and her confidence on the stage translates well to the character. Hawkins worked dancing magic but still kept his cowboy persona, and Gamal had perfect comedic timing.

The dancing was universally good, climaxing with the dream ballet sequence. This is never my favorite part of the show as I feel it kills the flow, but it was very well done. Lee Martino’s showed inventiveness with her choreography, and it was very well laid-out, and at times even unabashedly sexy. The ensemble was stocked with capable dancers, and Katya Preiser and Steve Ewing were breathtaking as Dream Laurey and Dream Curly.

For a change, the Carpenter Center was the weak link of this production. The parking guys had their heads in their butts, the temperature of the theatre was freezing, and I have never seen longer restroom lines -- I think all 1000 people at the show must have had to go pee at the intermission. I am willing to forgive this because this is usually a great place to see a show, and the rest of the performance was so great.

Rising above the problems with the venue and the sound, Musical Theatre West really knocked this one out of the park, and it turned out to be a great three hour show! Not only was this the best show I have seen MTW perform, it is the best live version of Oklahoma! I have ever attended. If you are only familiar with the movie version, you are in for a treat if you see this show as there is a lot of stuff they left out of the film.

Oklahoma! closes this Sunday, so you only have a few more opportunities to catch the show, and there are still a few seats available, so check www.musical.org for details. The Carpenter Performing Arts Center is located at 6200 East Atherton Street in Long Beach, on the campus of Cal State Long Beach, and parking is $5.

Mahalo!

Sennheiser HD 228 Headphones Review

Aloha!

Ear buds are probably the best way to take your sound with you, but they are usually not terribly comfortable, especially for long trips. But there are some nice options for lightweight over the ear headphones. I recently picked up a pair of Sennheiser HD 228 cans, and they are working out to be a good compromise for travel. I already own a few pairs of Sennheiser phones – the HD 280 and HD 380 models, and they are really a phenomenal value.

The HD 228 headphones have a compact over-the-ear design, and fold flat to make them a little more portable for travel. They are available in black or white, and come with a 1/8-inch (3.5mm) jack on the end of a 4.5 foot (1.4-meter) single-sided cable. It does not look like the cable or the vinyl ear pieces are replaceable, so these will not last for the rest of your life.

These cans are very lightweight, and with the padded headband and swiveling ear cups they are super comfortable. They are springy enough to stay on at the gym or while walking, but not so tight that they hurt. I have worn these for hours on end with no problems.

Neodymium magnets are used for higher output, and specs-wise, there is nothing unusual going on with these dynamic headphones. They have a frequency response of 18, 000 to 22, 000 Hz and are capable of putting out 110 dB. Total harmonic distortion is supposed to be less than 0.5% with 100 dB at 1000Hz. The last spec is important to me, and I am getting different numbers depending on where In look. Their website says that these phones have 16 Ω of resistance, while the packaging says 24 Ω.

I have burned them in for around 100 hours, and they loosened up quite a bit and sound much better than they did out of the box. I use them or traveling on planes and at the gym, and though they do not have big ear cups, they provide pretty good isolation and not much leakage to annoy my companions.

They are loud enough for travel, despite the higher than rated resistance ( 32 ohms is as high as I would want to go with headphones for an iPod). I tried them with a few different headphone amplifiers and they really perked up, but that is not really the sort of use these phones were designed for.

Sennheiser says that the HD 228 phones “provide excellent bass performance” and are “optimized for iPod, iPhone, MP3 and CD players.” Well, they sound good with my iPod and my laptop, but I would not say the bass performance is excellent.

They do, however, have a nice crisp tone with good enough bass. I hear some mid-range resonance, and they are not nearly as good as any of my other Sennheisers (HD 201, HD 280 and HD 380). But they were never supposed to be as good. The HD 228s are cheaper, more portable phones so I never expected any miracles. But I think they are too spendy for what they are…

The Sennheiser HD 228 headphones have a list price of $99 and a street price of around $75. I found mine for $25 on closeout at an electronics store in Tokyo. For $75 you can move up to a pair of HD 201 or HD 228 (on sale) cans that sound a ton better, but keep in mind that they are both quite a bit larger. So, if you crave portability I suggest that you try the Koss Portapro headphones instead.

Mahalo!

Shopping for Guitars in Tokyo’s Ochanomizu District

Aloha!

I travel to Japan quite a bit for business, and have spent plenty of my off hours prowling various cities for guitars, but there is one place that has more guitars than I have ever seen anywhere else in the world – the Ochanomizu neighborhood of Tokyo.

Most tourists that are shopping for electronics in Tokyo stop off at Akihabara, which is only one stop away from Tokyo station. There are barely any musical instrument stores there, but disappointed musicians only need to head one train station further to find nirvana, at Ochanomizu.

There are at least dozen large shops here, including a Big Boss, but surprisingly no Ishibashi store. All of them are packed to the gills with inventory, with not a square inch of empty space on the walls or floor. And this is not cheap stuff, either. There is every type of popular collectible American guitars from Gibson, Fender and Rickenbacker, as well as plenty of Sadowsky Metro, Atelier Z and high-end ESP custom instruments. Of course Fender Japan is well-represented, too.

And it is not just guitars and amplifiers in Ochanomizu, either. There are entire shops dedicated to violins, ukuleles and wind instruments, too. I could spend an entire day looking though these shops and still not see everything – it is a total sensory overload.

The only thing I was a little bummed out about was the scarcity of second-hand instruments. The new inventory seemed to outweigh the used stuff by about a ten to one ratio, maybe even more. But most anything else that anybody is looking for can be found here.

If you want to see Ochanomizu for yourself, It is only a few steps from the Ochanomizu station which is served by the Soubu Line from Akihabara or the Chuo line from Tokyo station. You will not be disappointed!

Mahalo!

Fender Sting Precision Bass Review

Aloha!

Some folks are not very fond of artist edition instruments, but I have found many cases where the artist model gives me a combination of features that is really cool and that I would not otherwise be able to get. One such instrument is the Fender Sting model Precision Bass.

You are surely all aware of Sting, the Tantric monster that was the frontman and bass player for the Police. The instrument he is most readily identified with is an early 1950s (1953, I think) Fender Precision Bass.

Fender chose to issue an artist-edition Sting Precision Bass, model 025-1902-303. This is quite a bit different than their 1951 Precision re-issue in a few important aspects. Like the 51 re-issues, these basses are also built in Japan.

The Sting basses have a contoured light ash body, which is waaay better than the slab body found on the 51s. Not having that edge dig into my wrist is a real benefit. These basses string through the body, and all the ones I have seen are sprayed in 2-tone burst. These come with a single-ply pickguard which looks cheap, but that is the way there are supposed to look.

The neck is supposed to be thicker than on the 1951 re-issues, but it feels exactly the same to me. It is a regular 34-inch scale, and has a nice C shape to it. The synthetic bone nut is 1.625-inches wide and there are 20 vintage frets sunk into the 7.25-inch radius maple fretboard. I see guys whining and moaning that skinny frets wear out too quickly, but there are plenty of old Fenders with vintage-size wire that have never been refretted. I think the whiners need to work on their technique. Oh yes, and there is a Sting signature clock inlay at the 12th fret. Ick.

The chrome hardware consists of vintage-style reverse tuners, and a traditional 2-saddle bridge. The basses do not come with pickup or bridge covers, but they are cheap to buy and they are easy enough to install. It does look a lot nicer with the covers, in my opinion.

The electronics are traditional, with a one single-coil pickup with a master volume and master tone control knobs. This bass sounds about like it should, which is not super edgy or great. But it has a good thump and works nice for blues and country.

The Sting Precision Bass is built in Japan, so it has everything that I expect from their craftsmanship. The finish is perfect, and the fretwork is first-rate. It was a terrific-playing instrument and it would not need much to take it to the next level. The bridge saddles are crummy, but there are nice Wilkinson replacements available (this one has them). I think a Lollar pickup and some nicer pots would wake up the bass too. But the inlay (Stinglay!) at the 12th frets is uglier than sin and completely kills the vintage vibe. Maybe I should have an inlay with my name put in there. I wish they could have put the signature on the back of the headstock like the Geddy basses.

The Fender Sting Precision Bass has a list Price of $1199 and a street price of $899 and this is supposed to include a nice padded gig bag. But you can pick up used ones all day long for 5 or 6 hundred bucks, which is not too bad, really.

Mahalo!

Honda EU2000i Portable Generator Review

Aloha!

I rambled a bit about generators in my last blog post and promised to get back to you on which one I ended up with. Well, you probably guessed from the title of this post that I went with the Honda EU2000i.

The EU2000i is a neat unit that is very compact. This generator measures around 20 x 12 x 17 inches, and comes in at 47 pounds dry. With its fuel tank full it is around 55 pounds, and it is easy enough for a big guy like me to carry it around by its molded-in plastic handle.

It has a 98.5cc 4-cycle gasoline engine mounted on a metal chassis inside its blow-molded plastic body. There are two 20A 125V AC outlets and one 96 watt DC outlet that can put out 8 amps at 12 volts. The DC outlet is designed to accept a specific Honda wiring harness that can be used to charge automotive type batteries. Overall this generator is rated for a maximum of 2000 watts at 120V AC (16.7 amps), and a more realistic 1600 watts at 120V AC (13.3 amps).

One neat feature of this generator is that should you ever decide that you need more power, you can buy another EU2000i or an EU2000i Companion (with a 30A outlet) and easily link them together with a special wiring harness to double your power output. Honda has some clever engineers, I guess.

It is super-easy to use. Push to choke lever to the side, and move the start-stop switch into position. Open the fuel cap vent and give the recoil starter cord just one pull. It will light off, and you are in business. Once it is going, you can back off the choke pretty quickly, and once you put it into Eco-throttle mode (by pressing a switch) it will quiet down considerably.

Eco-throttle mode will be fine for your live-sound needs, as you will not need to have instant access to full power like you would if you were running a power saw. This mode will reduce noise and let you go a lot longer on a tank of fuel. And you will find that quietness and fuel-efficiency are what Honda generators are all about.

The EU2000i is insanely quiet. The first time I used mine was at a big party in a park (around 1000 people), and I chained it to a tree about 40 feet away from the sound board. I started it up, started stringing the extension cord, and I by the time I got to the table I thought it had stalled out. I started walking back towards the generator, and it had not stalled. It was just so quiet that I could not hear it over the sound of the crummy Harbor Freight generators that the bounce house guys were using on the other side of the park. It is rated at 59 dB(A) at full power or 53 dB(A) at ¼ power.

At this same party I went through a little over ½ gallon of fuel in five hours. This was running a mixing board, two 500-watt powered speakers, a wireless set-up, a small effects rack with a CD player and my laptop. Honda says that it will empty its 1.1-gallon tank in 4 hours at maximum power or 9.6 hours at ¼ power. Amazing!

Maintenance is simple, but is very important. The oil should be changed after the first 20 hours of use and then every 50 hours thereafter. This is not a hard job but it is a little messy and your Honda dealer would be happy to take care of it for you (for a fee). The other thing to do is keep the fuel in good shape. I recommend a fuel stabilizer, such as Sta-Bil, that will keep the gas from going bad. Run the generator at least once or month to keep crap from building up in the fuel system. That is about it. You might need a spark plug sometime, but they make plugs a lot better than they used to so it should be good for quite a while.

There have been no surprises with the EU2000i. I have used it for a few outdoor shows and some power tool work and it has never let me down while putting out perfectly clean power. In fact, my amplifiers have quite a bit less noise when using this generator than many hard-wired residential or commercial power outlets that I have used. Go figure.

The one thing I have not needed it to use it for is a power outage, but it does give peace of mind to have it around. Honda says it will run an Energy Star efficient fridge or freezer, or any number of other appliances including microwave ovens and blenders. It would certainly be cool for camping or a tailgate party.

The Honda EU2000i is not cheap, with an MSRP of $1149 and a street price of around $950. I know you can get more powerful generators for less money at Harbor Freight or Home Depot. But, you get what you pay for, and Honda is the leader in reliability, quietness and efficiency. They offer a 3-year warranty on their generators, which is head and shoulders above any of the other manufacturers. Think about it…

Mahalo!

Do You Need a Generator for Your Gig?

Aloha!

Have you ever done a site inspection or shown up to a gig, only to discover there are no power outlets anywhere? Festivals, beaches, parks and big yards are the usual causes of this headache. That leaves you with three choices – run the world’s longest extension cord, track down a generator, or walk away from the gig.

Running a string of extension cords is really bad news. If you get a few hundred feet of cord strung across a park (or a skate park as I had to one time), there is a lot of stuff that can go wrong. For starters, it can get unplugged or cut, or possibly even stolen if you are in the wrong neighborhood. Also, as cables get longer resistance increases, so there will be less power available to you and an increased chance of tripping a circuit breaker at the other end. Any of this stuff will ruin your gig.

So that leaves you with looking for a generator, but maybe you have no idea what you are looking for. There are all different sizes and brands of generators out there, and you can spend virtually any amount of money if you are going to rent or buy one. This brings up a good question – rent or buy?

In the short term, it is easier to rent. You just pay for a generator when you need one, and you don’t have to store the thing or maintain it. This is a double-edged sword, though. There might not be a unit available when you need it, and rental power sources may not be well-maintained. Driving across town to pick one up might not be the best use of your time when you are scrambling to get ready for your gig, either.

If you buy your own, you are golden. You have one whenever you need it, and you can make sure that you buy the right generator for your needs. Also, you will have one around the house in the event of a power failure, and it is nice to keep your refrigerator going and have a few lights on. The downside is that you are responsible for maintenance – keeping the oil changed and making sure that the gas does not go bad. And you are going to have to spend a lot of money if you buy new, probably a thousand bucks.

If you decide to jump into the deep end of the pool and buy one, be wary of anything that is sold at Harbor Freight. I have experienced many of their generators, and found them to be unreliable and short-lived. Also, they put out dirty power that will add noise to your signal chain. And, worst of all, their operating sound is at a volume and frequency that makes them unbearable to be around. I did a street festival one time and the people in charge gave me one of those cheap-assed generators to use. It was teeth-grindingly deafening, and people had to move their sales booths away from the offending unit.

Used generators can come with their own kinds of headaches. Only buy one from a private party if you know the model well and if you can be assured that it has been maintained properly and does not have too many hours on it. Good luck.

When you are trying to figure out what generator you need, you will need to look at their power ratings. They are rates in kilowatts (kW), and you amplifiers are rated in watts, so you can get pretty close. You don’t want to come up too short on power, but keep in mind that you probably never run your 2000-watt amps at their full capacity, and amplifier manufacturers love to inflate their power ratings. There are some pretty good websites for calculating your power needs, so I will not go into that here.

Also, make sure you find a generator with a quality inverter, so there is no noise added to your signal chain, and so you can run a laptop from it without danger. Once you get a unit that provides nice clean power, remember is that you should avoid running lights and sound off the same generator. Most lights suck power like crazy, but even worse they will add a lot of noise and make your equipment sound like crap. If you have to run lights too, bring another generator. If some ill-prepared maroon wants to hook up their lights to your generator while you are running sound, tell them to go buy their own.

And there is one final thing to think about – if you buy a generator, everybody and their brother will want to borrow it from you. See my earlier comments about the ill-prepared maroon.

Stay tuned for my next blog post, where I will review my generator of choice…

Mahalo!