Rex and the Bass 2014 Year in Review

Happy New Year!

This wraps up my 5th year of blogging, and Rex and the Bass is still a labor of love (and ego). I appreciate the support of my readers, and I read all of the comments that you post on this site. If nobody looked at these pages, I would lose motivation and move on to something else.

2014 had a few milestones: the blog is rapidly approaching its 700th post, and Rex and the Bass surpassed 600,000 hits. Wow!

The side project of a blog has led to a few other side projects – writing gigs for Blues Blast Magazine and Chicago Blues Guide. Many thanks to their editors for having faith in me! Also, I have been getting so many CD submissions from artists that I started a blog just for music reviews, so if you want your music reviewed, feel free to mail me a copy of your work. And lastly, I started a blog detailing my travails with going back to graduate school.

As always, here is a list of the top ten most read posts of all time for Rex and the Bass:

1. Apple A1121 iPod Hi-fi

2. Fender Jazz Bass Special Re-issue

3. Crystal Castles (2010) Album Review

4. Philip Kubicki Factor Basses

5. Memory Lane: Pulp Fiction Soundtrack

6. Art and Lutherie Ami Cedar Parlour Acoustic Guitar

7. Little Dot Mark III Headphone Amplifier Review

8. Honda EU2000i Portable Generator Review

9. 1970s Ibanez Les Paul Custom Guitar Review

10. Hapa-haole Songs

I have always said that I would stop writing this blog when it is no longer fun. Well, I am not there yet, so I look forward to another year of sharing with you!

Mahalo!

Joe Cocker: May 20, 1944 to December 22, 2014

Rest in peace, brother.

Ernie Ball 2221 Regular Slinky Nickel Wound Electric Guitar String Set Review

Hello!

Ernie Ball has to be one of the biggest guitar and bass string manufacturers in the world (and they still make their strings in California), and their hefty market share is due to products like today’s blog subject – the Slinky electric guitar string set. This is the top-selling set in their line-up, and they are used by pros, including giants like Clapton, Page, Slash, and Vai.

I sometime try other brands, and even try new Ernie Ball products when they are introduced (the M-Steel guitar are really a winner), but I always come back to the Slinkies. You will find fresh sets of these on my Telecaster, Strat and Les Paul. They are indeed the workhorse of the electric guitar string world!

Slinkies were born in 1962, and almost immediately became the pre-eminent rock & roll string for musicians worldwide. The company is now in its third generation of family management, and their strings are still made in Coachella, California by workers who earn a living wage. Having toured their facility I was impressed with the care that goes into making their products, as well as with the amount of testing that is done to ensure that their strings are always of the highest quality.

The Regular Slinky set has normal gauges (.010 .013 .017 .026 .036 .046), and wound with nickel plated steel wire around a hex shaped steel core wire. The plain strings are specially-tempered tin-plated high-carbon steel. That is a boatload of hyphens, isn’t it?

This set is fairly neutral sounding, and perhaps a bit on the brighter side of things. They have figured out what they are doing over the past 52 years, and they are very evenly matched, both tonally and volume-wide), so that nothing is out of place when playing chords or finger picking.

Regular Slinkies hold up well for me, and they usually go almost a month before they start to dull. They stay in tune well, and I have only broken a few of them over the years, mostly when doing stupid stuff with a whammy bar. But the best thing for me is that I always know what I am going to get when I open up one of their sealed packs of strings. They will always sound the same, fell the same and last as long sets I have bought previously. When dealing with old guitars, old tube amps and effect pedals, it is nice to have one thing that is going to work the same every time I use it. I hope they don’t change them anytime soon…

And they are a pretty good bargain, too. They have a list price of $8.50, but nobody pays that much as the street price is a tad under $4. If you catch a good sale, you can buy them in bulk and get them for fewer than 3 bucks per pack.

Mahalo!

Review of Wicked at the Gershwin Theatre in New York City

Hello!

If you love musical theatre, you have to see at least one show on Broadway before you die. No matter how good the local theatre company shows are that you have seen, nothing compares to how tight of a performance you will see in New York City. This is the place that actors, dancers and musicians aspire to perform, and when the roles are filled only the best are selected. Also, after a show had played for a few months (or years), there are no silly mistakes and the sound is completely dialed in. It makes for a complete audio and visual experience.

Whenever I travel to the Tri-State area, I always make a point to get into the city to see a show, and a few days ago I got to check out the legendary Wicked at the Gershwin Theatre on 51st Street in the Paramount Plaza building. This 1933-seat house is the biggest theatre on Broadway, and it is one of the newer ones, having opened in 1972. This means the seats are not as tiny, and it turned out to be a great place to see the show. The acoustics and lines of sight are excellent, which is to be expected if you are throwing down cash for one of the best shows in town.

Wicked (the Untold Story of the Witches of Oz) is based on Gregory Maguire’s novel of the same name. Grammy and Academy Award-winning lyricist and composer Stephen Schwartz found the book, and negotiated to have it made into a musical, as Universal owned the rights, and had planned to turn it into a film. Schwartz wrote the lyrics and music, and Emmy-Award winner Winnie Holzman wrote the book.

The original cast had Kristen Chenoweth and Idina Menzel in the leads, and after tuning things up in San Francisco, the show opened at the Gershwin in 2003 and has been running ever since. That means over 4600 performances and close to $900 million at the box office. They planned to make the film version after the musical lost momentum, but they might need to rethink that. This show is a juggernaut!

The musical provides a different perspective of the more familiar Oz story, as this one comes from the point of view of Elphaba (the Wicked Witch of the West) and Glinda the Good. It begins before Dorothy’s arrival, and continues on though bucket of water incident. There is a little bit of everything: a love story, sibling rivalry, the corruption of power, and a fall from grace. What more could you ask for?

I could not ask for anything more than I got that evening – the Broadway production of Wicked was the best stage show I have ever seen.

For starters, perfect actors were chosen for the leads. They did not have to rely on the age-old trick of getting a famous TV or movie actor to draw the crowds in, so they staffed the production with top-tier actors and dancers that can actually sing (sorry, Zach Braff). Caroline Bowman and Kara Lindsay earned the roles of Elphaba and Glinda, Kelli Barrett played Nessarose, Kathy Fitzgerald was Madame Morrible, Tom McGowan played the Wizard, and Matt Shingledecker took on the role of Fiyero.

The 22-member chorus kept busy with costume changes, playing the flying monkeys, students, palace guards and the good-natured citizen of Oz. Their dance routines were spot-on, and nothing they did detracted from the overall show, helped in part by the flawless and innovative choreography of James Lynn Abbott.

Costumes for the cast were designed by Susan Hilferty, and they capered about amongst gorgeous natural and steampunk industrial sets by Eugene Lee. The elements on the stage were innovative in the way they were introduced to the scenes and also in the way the cast interacted with them. There were also some pretty cool animated objects, but I will not ruin the surprises for you in case you have not seen the show. The visuals were rounded out by some neat projections by Elaine J. McCarthy and lighting that was designed by Kenneth Posner.

Aurally, Tony Meola’s sound was perfect, as the actors voices sounded natural and were at the right volume, and the 23-member orchestra under the direction of by Bryan Perri, was mixed with the vocals so that there were no distractions and everything was balanced.

That word sums this show up: “balanced.” Nothing stood out or detracted from the story. Everything element and feature was high-quality, but I did not walk away saying “Wow, the sound was good!” or “Boy, the costumes were neat!” I left the theatre thinking about what a wonderful experience I had, and not realizing that 2 hours and 45 minutes had passed (with the 15 minute intermission).

For once I have nothing to complain about, and have only praise for a show, which never happens.

It is worth the time and effort to check out Wicked at the Gershwin Theatre if you ever make it to New York City. I know touring versions are available from time-to-time (it is actually playing in Los Angeles right now), but seeing this show will make for a magical evening. I promise!

Mahalo!

Yamaha F335 Acoustic Guitar Review

Hiya!

Things are tough for beginning guitarists, as it is hard for them to get their fingers scrunched together to make chords they cannot remember, and their fingers hurt like crazy for the first few months. It seems like a crime that many entry-level guitars play like crap too, so these players think they are not doing well when part of the problem is the instrument itself. One answer to this might be the Yamaha F335 acoustic, which is a pretty good guitar for short money.

This is an entry-level dreadnought from the Japanese company, and is their prime contender in a market where guitars sell for the price of a nice pair of sneakers and change hands on the used market for next to nothing. Though much maligned, these imported guitars can be quite good. This Yamaha was made in Indonesia and it has nice materials and parts so the labor costs must be almost non-existent. Human rights advocates be warned…

The woods are good enough, with a laminated spruce top and meranti back and sides, a wood from the South Pacific that is sort of like mahogany. Only the top is bound, which is not surprising at this price point. The fretboard and bridge are made of real rosewood, which is amazing when you consider that Gibson is using all kind of bizarre stuff for Les Paul fretboards instead of rosewood. The body is sprayed in a glossy Tobacco Brown Sunburst, which is probably my least favorite part of this guitar. It is a nauseating combination of hues, but fortunately there is a faux tortoiseshell pickguard to break things up a little bit.

The kind of beefy neck is quite good, if you do not have small hands. It has a 1 11/16-inch wide nut and 20 frets (14 free) with a 25 ½-inch scale. The rosewood fretboard has simple dot and there is an adjustable trussrod. On one end there are sealed die-cast tuners (gold plated!), and on the other end there is a compensated plastic bridge saddle. One bummer is that there is only one strap pin. Why do so many manufacturers only give you one?

Anyway, this Yamaha is pretty well put together. The finish is a bit thick, with just a few imperfections here and there. Mostly there, actually. Intonation is good enough and the no-name tuners hold well. The nut is good and the frets are about as good as the ones that you will find on a new Gibson Les Paul (which is not saying much, I guess). This one came with a pretty darned high action, so fortunately the neck is adjustable. I was able to get it low enough on the first twelve frets, but after there it was still high, so I lowered the bridge a bit, and now it is a reasonably good player. Oh yeah, it also got fresh set of light gauge Martin strings when I did the set-up. That might have helped things a bit.

It sounds good too, with a glorious amount of volume and it is fairly well balanced from string to string. It has a warm tone too, making it a very pleasant sounding guitar. It turns out that I like it – go figure. Buy one if you don’t have a lot of dough and want to get a playable acoustic that sounds good.

I keep taking about what a good value the Yamaha F335 is, so how cheap is it? How does a list price $359.99, and street price of $130 sound to you? For this price you are not going to get a case, but you do get the Yamaha lifetime warranty. Check one out for yourself and see what you think!

Mahalo!

Keith McMillen Batt-O-Meter Battery Tester Review

Aloha!

It is a heartbreaker to have an effect pedal or active electronics battery die in the middle of a performance – we have all been there. But it is really expensive to change out all of your 9-volt batteries before a show, and sometimes it is a hassle to gain access to test them with a conventional battery tester. This is where Keith McMillen Instruments’ Batt-O-Meter comes to the rescue.

The concept behind the Batt-O-Meter is that you simply plug the permanently attached ¼-inch lead to an effect pedal input or an instrument output, and it will let you know if the battery is any good. You do not have to find a screwdriver or pull the pedal apart to get to the battery. This is a pretty cool concept!

But there is more to it than that, this is a pretty neat piece of equipment that is a bit smaller than a normal-sized stomp box, so it will easily fit in a guitar case or gig bag pocket. On the left ide is the test switch and another switch that allows you to select rechargeable, alkaline or carbon Zinc batteries. On the other side are external terminals, and on the bottom is the integrated lead with a gold-plated ¼-inch male jack.

Just plug it in an hold the test switch, and on its LED display, it is able to show battery type, voltage, percentage of battery life, hours remaining of normal use, and low battery status.

The Batt-O-Meter is powered by its own 9-volt battery (not included) with a self-test function.

So, when you plug it into a pedal, effect pedal or active guitar, it measures the power being pulled from the battery, compares that load to the battery's remaining energy, and calculates the remaining hours of battery life. 
The Batt-O-Meter is designed for circuits powered by a single battery 9-volt battery or combinations of AA or AAA batteries that come in under 10.23-volts (the maximum reading). One caveat is that the tester will only work with negative ground circuits (most pedals), so if you have a positive ground pedal you are SOL.

In my world, this thing worked really well. With my collection of pedals, I could not find any that would not work with it. My active basses are mostly 18-volt, but on my Jazz with EMGs it also delivered the goods. I did a few tests where I used the tester and then pulled the battery out and used a conventional voltmeter, and the Batt-O-Meter is very accurate. The only thing it did not work on was my Martin acoustic with factory-installed Fishman Isys preamp – it would not give any sort of reliable reading on it. On the plus side, this guitar has an easy-to open battery box, so it is not too big of a deal. Overall I give this product a solid A!

By the way, if you have a 9-volt, AA or AAA battery that is not installed, you can also use the terminals on the side of the Batt-O-Meter for testing. Easy as pie.

The Batt-O-Meter is a pretty neat piece of work, and it is going in my road case. If you work on guitars all the time you might want to think about getting one of these for the bench. It could save a lot of disassembly time when chasing down electrical problems. If you are interested in getting one they are not terribly expensive, with a list price of $34.95 and a street price of $20. Check one out for yourself!

Mahalo!

Bugera V5 5-watt Class A Amplifier Review

Howdy!

These are heady times we live in, with everybody and their brother making nice-quality all tube practice guitar amps at very reasonable prices. I have reviewed oodles of these for Rex and the Bass, and today we get to take a look at another on: the Bugera V5.

Bugera? This is a relatively new brand (it launched in 2007), so how did they happen to get into the guitar amplifier business? Well, you are not going to like the answer – it is a division of Behringer. Yep, the same company that cranks out mediocre effect pedals, microphones and PA systems like there is no tomorrow. But, before you click on another link to get off this page, Bugera was Behringer’s introduction to all-tube market, and the V5 just happens to be a nice little amp.

For starters it is little, measuring approximately 17 x 12 x 17 inches, and weighing in at a touch under 25 pounds. This Chinese-made amp has a cool retro look, with 2-tone vinyl over its solidly built cabinet and chicken-head retro knobs for the few controls it has.

The V5 is a hand-wired 5-watt Class A all-tube amplifier with a single 12AX7 in the preamp stage and a single EL84 to provide the power. Bugera says these tubes are all tested at the factory and are matched in pairs. I am not going overseas anytime soon to verify their claims, so we will just have to take their work for it. The sound is run through a single 8-inch speaker that the company custom builds for itself, all the way down to stamping their own frames and grinding the pulp to form the cones. Right.

The controls are super-easy to figure out. On the front is the instrument input and the power switch, as well as knobs for gain, tone, volume and reverb. That is it! Around back is the power switch, and IEC cable socket (yay!) a line/headphone outs, and the attenuator control. The attenuator is a nice feature. Though 5 watts does not seem like much, with this thing fully cranked your mom will get super-pissed in a hurry if you are cranking out. Tube power is loud. The attenuator allows the amp output to be dialed down to 1 or 0.1 watt without losing any tone (i.e. overdrive). Or, you could plug in your headphones to keep everybody off your back.

Looking a little closer at the Bugera V5, it can be seen that it is really well put together. The Tolex and sparkly grill cloth are neatly applied, the joints are clean and even, and the wiring is very tidy. To be able to sell this for $200 and still make money must mean that their Chinese labor is incredibly inexpensive.

The proof is in the pudding though, and it turns out that the V5 is a really nice sounding amplifier. I tried it with my Tele, Strat and Les Paul, and it brought out the best tones in all of these guitars. For starters, there is no added noise, buzz, or hum, probably because of the printed circuit boards they use in conjunction with the tube power and preamps.

Bugera says the tubes are pre-burned in, but I noticed an improvement in tone as they burned in further. The forte of this amp is its naturally sweet classic rock/blues tone. It has a good clean tone that replicates exactly what you are playing, and as gain gets added in, it becomes perfect for blues and eventually delivers a respectable gnarly distortion for rocking out. The 8-inch speaker holds up well and does not start to crackle and pop at higher volume levels like many of these mini tube amps do. For a change the speaker is not the weak link in a combo amp!

The operation of the tone knob is subtle, so you will not observe drastic changes as it is turned (they call this a “Vintage Equalizer”). The reverb is a digital unit, which sounds a little dry to me, but it is certainly usable, especially if there are other instruments or vocals in the mix. For $200, I am not expecting a tank reverb.

The one thing you will not get is a good metal tone, but if that is what you are looking for you would not be reading this review in the first place.

It is not super loud, but 5 watts of tube power will get you pretty far. It is perfect for practicing at home, and would be good enough for coffee house or small church gigs. But, once you start getting into painfully loud garage band practices, jam sessions and paying gigs you are going to need and want more. And I am pretty sure that adding a 12-inch speaker to the auxiliary out is not going to get you much further. It is what it is.

As long as you are realistic about how much volume you are going to get out of this thing, the Bugera V5 5-watt all-tune guitar amplifier is a very good value. It is well made, it looks nice and it sounds very good. These amps have a list price of $259.99 and a street price of $200, which puts it nicely in line with the slew of other great little amps that are on the market today. Check one out and see what you think!

Mahalo!