2008 Sadowsky NYC Vintage Jazz Bass Review

Greetings!

Today we are looking at a very nice Sadowsky NYC Vintage 4-string bass guitar. It is one of the nicest basses I have ever owned, and that is saying something as a lot of instruments have come through the studio over the years.

Sadowsky NYC basses are built in New York City by Roger Sadowsky’s luthiers, and are the best Fender-inspired guitars and basses you can buy. Some haters (i.e. guys without enough money to buy one) sneer and call them “parts basses.” They should go buy a box of parts and see how well they can build one…

This bass was made in August 2008 for one of Sadowsky’s endorsing artists, Fuji Fujimoto, and it has quite a striking appearance. I am not ordinarily a fan of natural finish basses, but this one has a vintage tint applied to its ash body and it looks wonderful when contrasted with its tortoise shell pickguard. It is not too heavy, coming in around 8.5 pounds.

This bass has a traditional four-bolt neck and the neck pocket fit is super-tight, and after 10 years of use and transportation there are no signs of finish damage (i.e. cracking) around the joint. The Sadowsky luthiers really do a fantastic job.

The 21-fret neck is very good, and the original frets are still in great shape. The frets are perfectly level and are finished very well on the edges. It has a 1.5-inch wide neck with a 12-inch fretboard radius, but seems to have a shallower profile than most jazz basses. The trussrod adjusts at the heel, and there is a nice cutout in the body and pickguard, making the process a little easier. The tuners are first rate, as is the high-mass bridge.

This bass has its original hum canceling pickups and Sadowsky pre-amp with Vintage Tone Control. The knobs control: volume, pickup pan, VTC/preamp bypass (push/pull pot), and stacked bass and treble boost. Vintage Tone Control minimizes the treble for a darker tone, and works in both the passive and active settings. Overall this bass is astoundingly quiet, and sounds flawless. It is versatile, and can attain high-gain growliness and ultra clean tones.

The overall condition of this bass was very good when I had it, as It had been well cared for so it only had some light swirl marks on the body and pick guard. It played very well and sounded killer, but then again that is really the least I would expect from a bass that cost as much as it did.

So why did I get rid of it? For the amount of money one of these basses costs (even used they are stupid expensive), it has to be the perfect bass for my feel and playing style. I did not like the feel of the very thin neck, and I prefer the tone (and appearance) of a rosewood fretboard. I have since found a Sadowsky NYC Standard with a chunkier neck and a rosewood board that works out a lot better for me. Keep your eyes on the blog, as a review is coming soon.

If you want a bass like this, it might be time to start saving. A Sadowsky Vintage 4 starts at $4175, and it will take at least 6 months to get it built.

Mahalo!

Pacific Talent Academy of the Arts

Hi there!

The media focuses so much on all of the bad stuff that happens in the world, so there a lot of positive things that are going on out there that we never get to hear about. One of these would be the Pacific Talent Academy of the Arts, which is based out of Torrance, California.

This is neat organization, with a wonderful mission statement: “ The Pacific Talent Academy of the Arts is a multidisciplinary arts organization whose mission is to present, perpetuate and progress the cultural heritage of the Pacific Islands through quality arts education programs designed to kindle youths’ imagination, mentor their creativeness and develop their sense of possibility.”

There are no worthier goals than celebrating cultural history and developing the arts through our youth, and this group has both of these things covered.

The Pacific Talent Academy of the Arts is the sister organization of Fireknife of Samoa, and was founded in remembrance of Paramount Chief Uluao "Freddie" Letuli, the Father of the Fireknife Dance. Chief Letuli was an accomplished knife dancer that performed in Hawaii and Los Angeles, and later added fire to his routine after seeing a gypsy’s fire-eating act. He first performed the fire knife dance in 1946 at the Golden Gate Park in San Francisco, and through the 1960s he performed with his many different dance troupes throughout the United States and Europe, showcasing his talents and his love for the island of Samoa.

In keeping with Chief Letuli’s spirit, this group works to preserve and perpetuate the performing arts of Polynesia by organizing free workshops, performing at community and cultural events. They target low income, at risk, under-served Polynesian, Native Hawaiian and other Pacific Islanders and educate them through history and the arts, including, dance, music, cuisine, visual arts and film.

Your best opportunity to see what they are doing is at their annual “Weekend in Polynesia” event, which will take place on September 6 and 7, 2014 in Long Beach, California. The highlights of this event include a Tahitian Ito dance completion as well as fire knife championships. But there will also be crafts, activities for kids, hula lessons, language and craft workshops, musical performers and a worship service. This is a great family event, and admission is free of charge.

Anyway, I hope you find all of this as exciting as I do, and as this is a 501C3 non-profit organization, and I am sure they would appreciate any donations that would help them fulfill their mission. For more information on Pacific Talent Academy of the Arts, check out their website at www.pacifictalent.org

Thanks!

dbx DriveRack PX Powered Speaker Optimizer Review

Aloha!

When setting up the stage for a band or a hall for a DJ performance, there is usually not enough time to get everything right, and sometimes there is just not enough time to get a good sound check in. And even if you get a killer sound check in, the room will change throughout the event as people come and go and the dynamics of the band of music change. That is where products like the dbx DriveRack PX loudspeaker management system come in handy.

You may remember dbx, as they came to prominence in the 1970s for their compressors and noise reduction technology. Over the years they went through various parent company changes (BSR and AKG) and now they are owned by Harman international. It turns out that they still make some very nice live sound equipment, such as the DriveRack series.

The idea of DriveRack is to automatically optimize the operation of powered PA speakers. This system can quickly configure itself to optimize EQ settings for the room, and it uses an Advanced Feedback Suppression system to nip feedback in the bud. The result is a very clean sound and thumping bass that does not get all blurry.

The DriveRack PX is in the lower to middle range of this family of products, but it is certainly good enough for what I am using it for. Besides the features listed above, it also contains a classic dbx compressor, a dual-band 28 channel equalizer, a stereo multi-band parametric EQ, and a subharmonic synthesizer that provides that bass I was just taking about.

The PX fits in a single rack space, and connecting it to the PA system is a breeze. On the back are a pair of XLR inputs, two XLR main speaker outputs, and two XLR subwoofer outputs. Also on the back are an IEC power socket, an input pad switch and a ground lift switch. That is it, and the hardest part about this is figuring out where you want to put it in your signal chain. In my set-up it is the last thing in my signal patch before my powered speakers.

The front of the DriveRack PX is only a little more complicated, and if you can use a smartphone or an iPod it should not take you too long to figure it out. There are LED meters for all six of the XLR jacks on the back, a selector knob, nine switches for functions and set up, and another XLR inputand an RTA switch. What are these for? I’ll get to it in a minute…

Set-up is easy, if you can read a manual and follow instructions. Just press and hold the SETUP switch to create a new preset (many popular powered speakers are already saved in the unit), and the DriveRack will tell you what position to put the speaker level knobs in. Then select your subwoofer settings, and pull out the handy RTA microphone that came with the unit.

Set that microphone up about 25 feet away from the speakers and press the RTA switch, and pink noise will start to come out of the speakers. Then turn the knob until it reaches the sound level that you anticipate for the gig, and follow the prompts on the screen. It will automatically EQ the system for your room. Like magic!

Following additional prompts on the screen, it will walk you through setting feedback filters. After it is all done, do not forget to save your preset, so you do not have to complete all of these steps the next time you set up. Set-up should take no more than 20 minutes, and subsequent set-ups take maybe 10 or 15 minutes (you will need to pink noise the room each time). It is best to not try to set this up for the very first time at a gig when you are in a big time crush – experiment with it at home a bit first.

You can set up to 25 of your own presets, in addition to the ones you get from the factory. Of course, you can make things more complicated if you want to and this unit gives you the ability to spend all day fiddling with EQ frequencies, but if you are that kind of person you would not be buying one of these in the first place.

Once I did all of this set-up and got my first DriveRack-enabled dance gig going I was blown away. I was using a pair of 1000W QSC K12 main speakers and a pair of 1000W QSC KSUBs in a 500+ square foot carpeted hall, and I could immediately tell a difference. There was a lot more presence and headroom, and everything sounded more clearly with no harshness, even at ridiculous volume levels. This is a tough room to EQ, and usually the sound would get swallowed up, but this time it really came alive.

Score one for dbx!

My second experience with the DriveRack PX was at an outdoor punk/hard rock show that I was providing the PA and doing sound for. This time I brought a pair of 1300W Yamaha DSR115 mains with a pair of 800w Yamaha DSR118W subwoofers and a pair of 1000W QSC K12 speakers for floor monitors. This was an unbelievably loud show, but I went through the set-up wizard (not for the monitors, there is only so much this thing can do), and crossed my fingers for the 6 different bands on the bill. The sound was clear as a bell, and with four vocal microphones on stage and countless different singers of varying abilities and vocal strength there was not a single feedback incident over the next 6 hours.

Score two for the dbx, and I am willing to call it a win after this one. I will not go to a gig without this thing in my rack.

Fortunately the dbx DriveRack PX will not empty your pockets. This unit has a list price of $599.99 and a street price of $299.99, which includes the RTA microphone. That is one heck of a deal, and if you are doinglive sound with powered speakers I wholeheartedly recommend that you pick one up!

Mahalo!

AudioQuest DragonFly DAC 1.0 – USB Digital Analog Converter Review

Howdy!

I spend hours every day listening to music through headphones -- I write at least one album review each week, and it is also nice to have music going as I write for my blog and my day job. I never realized how lame the sound from my laptop was until I discovered the world of headphone amplifiers. Then my boss gave me an AudioQuest DragonFly Digital Analog Converter, and my world was expanded even further.

You see, your laptop is not optimized for audio playback. The managers and engineers in the computer companies’ product cheapening departments have to cut as many corners as possible to make their wares competitive in the marketplace, and the audio output suffers considerably. If you are watching cat videos on Youtube this is not much of an issue, but if you really love music and want it to sound as good as possible, upgrading this output is not too big of a deal and it does not have to cost an arm and a leg. I say this because in the audiophile world it is possible to spend $10,000+ on a digital analog converter, but it is possible to get the job done (and well enough) for under $200.

This is where the DragonFly DAC comes into play – simply plug it in and bypass the cheap-o sound card that the child laborer installed at your favorite third world computer factory. This unit is the size of a normal flash drive with a USB connector on one end, a 1/8-inch (3.5mm) headphone jack on the other end, and a cool dragonfly logo that lights up (more on this later). It has a rubberized coating and comes with a leatherette sleeve to help protect it in your backpack or laptop bag (I keep mine in my headphone case). It is a little thicker than some thumb drives, so you might want to invest in the AudioQuest Dragontail extension cable ($17) if your USB ports are recessed into the case of your computer.

It is astounding that this thing is made in the U.S., and even more amazing is the number of high-quality components they were able to cram into its tiny footprint. It actually has a metal case under that rubberized coating, and there are 107 parts in there including its heart and soul, the 24-bit/96kHz ESS Sabre digital-to-analog conversion chip. This chip is also found in quality CD and Blu-Ray players.

There is a lot going on inside this small package, the first of which is its asynchronous clock function. There has to be a clock so that digital music is played back with the proper timing, and there is a clock in your computer that is usually tapped into for this function. But your machine is so busy doing other operations in the background (virus checks, auto-saving files, viewing porn), that the clock will be off inducing errors into audio playback, such as harshness and a lack of clarity. The Dragonfly has its own dedicated clock (two of them, actually) so timing errors are minimized, which improves the detail of what your are listening to, as well as making the sound stage larger.

Another important feature of the Dragonfly is its 60-position analog volume control, which is unheard of on DACs at this price point. A digital volume control will reduce signal resolution and degrade sound quality. Of course it still has to be controlled digitally with the computer, and make sure you read the instructions to set this thing up properly. Pretty much it is best to max out the volume control on the app or program you are using to play the music, and use the master volume control on the computer to set the level. Again, it is a good idea to read the book…

This unit also functions as a headphone amp, and it will work with most any headphone that has more than 12 ohms of resistance. I borrowed my friend’s high-zoot Sennheisers with 300 ohms of resistance, and the DragonFly had the oomph to push them.

Before I forget, DragonFly can be set to a line level output so it operates only as a DAC, so you can control volume with other audio components down the signal chain. I have used this mode to run the audio output directly into my mixing board for DJ gigs.

The AudioQuest DragonFly will work with almost anything. It is compatible with PCs running Windows XP, 7 and 8, as well as Mac OS X Mavericks, Mountain Lion, Lion and Snow Leopard. It can accept every file format I threw at it, including MP3, CD-standard 16-bit/44kHz and native 24-bit/96kHz high-resolution, regardless of music file format. A cool feature is that the logo will light up in different colors based on the resolution of the incoming audio signal. And lastly, it works with every audio file program I tried, but for this review I am sticking with iTunes, because it is common, and is what I use most often.

Blah blah blah. So how does it work?

DragonFly installation was easy as pie. I plugged it into the USB port and attached my headphones, and set up the volume and sound controls as shown in the instructions. In less than two minutes and I was ready to go.

I launched iTunes on my Windows 8 laptop and tried every set of Sennheiser headphones I have, including HD 201, HD 228, HD 229, HD 380, and HD 600 as well as my Ultimate Ear in-ear monitors. Immediately it was obvious that the DragonFly provided a warmer tone that the original sound card could not achieve.

This was with a wide assortment of music, including Larry Coryell, Buddy Guy, Bryan Ferry, Ray Price, King Crimson and the Boston Pops. I was impressed with the organic tone that had a noticeable improvement in separation and clarity – it a very natural listening experience. There was no unusual compression and the silence between phrases had a natural decay with no abrupt cut-offs. This is one of my big gripes with digital playback. Bass and mid-range performance were exceptional

As I said earlier, I also set the DragonFly for line-out and ran it through my mixing board and QSC powered speakers. The increased detail and clarity made a huge difference with 6000 watts behind it, which made the sound of the middle school dance incredible, even if the organizer’s choice of music was lame beyond belief.

All in all, I thing the DragonFly is a winner. It woke up the sound from my laptop in ways that I could not expect, and the experience reminded me of the first time I ran my music through a dedicated headphone amplifier. True audiophiles will sniff at this because it is based in the digital world, it does not cost enough money and it does not have enough knobs. But I am the target audience for this product, and it hits the mark perfectly.

Of course, all of this goodness does not come super-cheap, but at $150 the AudioQuest Dragonfly DAC is worth every penny (and it comes with a one-year warranty). By the way, this is the price of version 1.2, which is supposed to sound even better than the version 1.0 that I have. If you spend very much time listening to music on your computer, and if you want it to sound as good as it possibly can, you need to pick one of these up.

Mahalo!

Album Review: Professor Porkchop and the Dishes – U R My Everything

Good day!

This CD review was originally published in the June 6, 2013 edition of Blues Blast Magazine. Be sure to check out the rest of the magazine at thebluesblast.com

Professor Porkchop and the Dishes – U R My Everything

Self Release

www.myspace.com/professorporkchop

11 tracks / 40:38

There are countless reasons to go to Louisiana: the cuisine, its culture, a strong variety of college and professional sports, plenty of hunting and fishing opportunities, and (of course) the music. The state’s history of blues, zydeco and swamp music is priceless, and its native sons are heroes that its populace can be proud of. Professor Porkchop and the Dishes’ new album, U R My Everything is a prime example of this and its slick performances and clever lyrics should not be missed.

Professor Porkchop is Chris McCaa’s pseudonym, and he is the leader, singer and pianist/organist for this Shreveport, Louisiana-based group. The rest of the crew for this album includes Jason Coffield on guitar and saxophone, Danyelle Bryant and Brady Blade on the skins, Rick Wallis and Shawn Stroope on bass and George Hancock on flute, baritone saxophone and percussion. There is a lot of role-swapping going on here, and there is no way I will be able to keep it straight.

U R My Everything was produced by McCaa and Stroope, and includes eight original tracks and three cover tunes. It is hard to assign this album to any one genre, because even though it has a solid blues bass, it is flavored with funk, soul, jazz, ragtime and a healthy dose of bayou spices. McCaa’s voice has been compared to Randy Newman and John Hiatt, and rightly so, but it is still more his own than anybody else’s. Throughout the changing moods of this album he is able to deftly adapt to different styles but never lose his unique sound, thus giving the band’s sophomore release a sense of continuity.

McCaa has a great voice, but he also has keen keyboard and writing skills. His comfort in his abilities is evident as he chose to start U R My Everything off with four original songs. The title track begins with a mellow vibe flavored with electric piano, but solidifies quickly as the chorus adds in organ and heavier guitar chords. But this is not a one man show, as the backline is solid and the guitars are spot on. When “Blame it on the Moon” gets going, you can see where the Randy Newman comparisons come in. Chris’ voice is similar, and indeed he has a deft touch on the piano. When you add in the sadly clever lyrics and creative rhymes, we get to see that he really has the whole package.

The band did not forget their Sportsman’s Paradise heritage, as they crafted a fabulous homage to the Crescent City in “Move to New Orleans.” Any locals that have moved away will be made jealous during this tour of all the great spots in town. Then they move on to Shreveport for the next track, “Sprague Street Rag” which is a short instrumental with full-blown ragtime piano accompanied by only a pair of spoons. Chris McCaa certainly has fine chops!

George Hancock brings plenty to the table too, as his jazz flute work in “Puerto Rican Hotel” is both tasteful and skilled. Throughout this selection he is in perfect sync with McCaa’s electric piano and the rhythm section. I was surprised to find a second instrumental tune on the album, but this Afro-Cuban fusion piece really works well into the mix of other styles.

Professor Porkchop and the Dishes included a sprinkling of cool cover tunes too. Their take on “Knock Me a Kiss” is the best version I have heard since B.B. King’s, mostly due to McCaa’s fine vocal phrasing. They also took a crack at Ray Charles’ “Roll With My Baby,” and the rolling bass line and sweet saxophone make for more of a modern feel (in a good way). And “Early in the Morning,” a Louis Jordan hit from 1947, has its upbeat tempo held in place by a nifty snare riff with a slick overlay of the tinkling ivories.

The album comes to a close with the hardest tune of the bunch, “I’m Gone.” This Southern blues rocker has growly vocals and a neat stereo effect of the rhythm and lead guitars; it is almost like this is a five-minute guitar solo with a song happening underneath it. The guitar tone is gloriously distorted, and the bass is fat and totally in the pocket with the drums. And, in keeping with the rest of their original songs, the lyrics are top-notch and worth paying attention to.

U R My Everything provides a most laid-back vibe, and it is great music for just sitting back with a tumbler of your favorite beverage and listening with a fine sound system or a good set of headphones. Professor Porkchop and the Dishes have outdone themselves and delivered a solid piece of work throughout. Check it out if you get the chance!

Mahalo!

2011 Nash JB-63 Jazz Bass Guitar Review

Hello!

Today we are looking at a fabulous Jazz Bass copy: a Bill Nash built JB-63. I was all out of Jazz Basses recently, and this one practically fell into my lap. What could I do?

Bill Nash has been assembling vintage-style guitars since 2001, and has gained a lot of respect and a faithful following because he builds guitars that play very well and sound incredible. These guitars have all received the relic treatment, and they will not build you a shiny new guitar. I’ve asked…

By the way, Bill Nash initials and dates the headstock on each guitar they build, and writes the serial number on the tip of the headstock. And the serial number convention is something I have not seen before. The first two letters of the serial number denote which dealer the guitar was shipped to. In this case it starts with “SND”, because it was originally shipped to Soundpure Music in North Carolina.

Spec-wise, this JB-63 is a fairly faithful reproduction of a 1963 Fender Jazz Bass. It has an alder body with a black nitrocellulose lacquer finish and a dead-on accurate tortoise shell pickguard. The slim maple neck has a C shape and a 10-inch radius rosewood fretboard with a 1 ½-inch width Tusq nut. They installed tall Dunlop 6105 frets on this one, which is a departure from the early 1960s standard.

The hardware is also true to the theme, with Kluson-style reverse tuners and a serrated-saddle bridge. Nash went with Jason Lollar pickups, which I think are the best choice for a J-bass these days. There is no pre-amplifier, just the expected volume/volume/tone pots.

And all of these fabulous things were put together very well by the folks over at Nash Guitars. The craftsmanship is very good, with a comfortable neck and great fretwork. I have not found any dead spots, and the Lollar pickups sound very rich. It does not hurt that it is relatively light, coming in at a touch over 9 pounds.

This is one of the best Jazz Basses I have ever owned, and it should be for a street price of around $1900.

As with all Nash guitars, I am a little hung up on the way this one looks. Even though this one is described as having light aging, I think the relic process goes a little too far -- I guess I do not have to worry about scratching it. Also, there are no bridge cover or pickup cover holes drilled in the bass, which is an oversight for a 1960s Fender replica. If that is all I have to complain about, they must have done a good job!

If you have not had the opportunity to play a Bill Nash guitar or bass, I recommend you give one a shot. It may be the closest you will get to play a pre-CBS Fender.

Mahalo!

Squier Vintage Modified Bass VI Review

Hi there!

Do you remember the heyday of the Ford Ranchero and the Chevrolet El Camino? They were a combination of trucks and cars, and people still argue today about how to classify them. Well, Fender did something similar with the Bass VI – a hybrid of guitar and bass that was introduced in 1961. They were not popular at the time so they did not make many, and now they are prized by collectors. In 2013 Fender’s Squier division re-issued this instrument as the Vintage Modified Bass VI, and now they are flying off the shelves.

The Bass VI is tuned E to E, and octave below conventional guitar, though some players install heavy guitar strings and tune them as a baritone guitar. It has a similar shape to the Fender Jazzmaster with a 21-fret, 30-inch scale neck. There are three single-coil pickups wired through volume and tone knobs, and four slider switches. The switches are ON/OFF for each pickup and a bass cut switch. The hardware is rounded out by a vintage six-saddle bridge with a floating vibrato. The Squier version is fairly close to the specs of the original, unlike the current Fender Pawnshop series Bass VI.

Looking this thing over, it appears to be a really nice piece of work from the folks at Squier’s Indonesian factory. The body is carved from basswood (light and cheap, plus it has the word “bass” in it) and is sprayed with an even glossy coat of Olympic White poly. These white instruments come with a faux tortoise shell pickguard. In case you are wondering, the Bass VI also comes in 3-tone sunburst with a tort guard, or black with a 3-ply white/black/white pickguard.

The modern C-shaped maple neck is pretty good, with smart looking pearloid block inlays set into its bound rosewood fretboard. The fretboard has a 9.5-inch radius, instead of the original 7.25-inch radius, making it a little better for playing guitar chords. I guess this, the profile and the block inlays are part of the “Modified” moniker of this instrument. They chose a synthetic bone nut that is 1.650-inches wide. The frets are medium-jumbo, and they are very well finished and level straight from the factory. I do not know how they can do that at this price point. The set-up left something to be desired, but after a bit of work the action was set well and intonation was good.

It all comes together well. This is a great playing instrument, and I do not have any trouble playing it guitar-style, and chords are pretty easy to achieve. Finger-picking aggressive bass parts can be a bit difficult if you are not paying attention, but adapting to this was easier than I thought it would be. The .025 to .095 strings have fairly low tension, so that might be something I will look into changing somewhere down the road. It is a compact size, and would be a handy for players that find full-sized basses to be too big.

The sound is really unexpected. It sounds like a bass with solid low end when cranked through my bass amps, and makes fairly normal guitar sounds when put through my Twin Reverb. This really is the Ranchero of guitars! The guitar pickups are a good match with this package, and I like that they reversed the polarity of the middle pickup to provide a little more crunch. The bass cut (“Strangle”) switch makes the sound a lot more guitar like, which is a nice feature. There is no extra hum or unusual noises with the one that I got.

I like it a lot.

I have saved the best part for last, and that is the price. The Squier Vintage Modified Bass VI has a MSRP $549.99 and a street price of $349.99. You would be hard-pressed to find a better bass/guitar for the money. By the way, I do not see many of these on the used market, so it appears that there are plenty of folks that agree with me.

Mahalo!