Sampson PS04 Pop Filter Review

Hello!

Well, not everything I review on Rex and the Bass can be sexy or cool, and I suppose pop filters fall into that category, but when you need one, you really need one. Today we are looking at the Sampson PS04 pop filter, which is on the lower end of the market, but still very effective.

For starters, they did not go for the terrible tamper-resistant packaging which is a big bonus for me. The PS04 and its microphone stand clamp are attached to a piece of cardboard with tie-wraps, which are easy enough to cut away so you can get to work.

After you get it loose you will find that the pop filter is about 4 ¾ inches across, and it is composed of two layers of nylon mesh that are affixed to a plastic ring. This ring is attached with screws to an 8-inch flexible steel (painted black) gooseneck. This gooseneck has a very fine thread collar that screws to the microphone stand mount.

The stand mount is also steel, and it attaches to most any normal-sized microphone stand, including the on-stage desktop stand that I use for voiceover work. The clamp is rubber coated and the mounting screw has a plastic anchor so there is little chance of marring your stand. The whole thing is pretty self-explanatory, and if you cannot figure out how to use it then you should not be messing around with recording equipment in the first place.

Why do you need a pop filter in the first place? It is important to note that A pop filter is not a windscreen. Windscreens are used outside to reduce the effect of the wind, and on stage to keep spit off the microphone. Pop filters are used for vocals and speech in a studio environment to reduce popping sounds caused by the impact of fast moving air on the microphone, which can be found when syllables that begin with P, B or D are pronounced (for the most part…).

I need a pop filter for recording voiceovers for work and school, and the Sampson SP04 works just fine for that. It fits tightly on my stand and provides good coverage for my Shure PG42 USB microphone. If you were looking for something to improve the quality of your voiceovers or podcasts, this would be a good choice.

My only complaints are that the gooseneck is just barely long enough for what I am using it for, and that it would be nice to have a little more adjustability at the head end of things. But, you get what you pay for, and this is not an expensive unit

As far as durability goes, I have not had any problems after the first few times I have used it, though it does not appear to be the sturdiest thing ever made. I would be very careful about putting it in a road case as the mesh sees quite fragile. The gooseneck holds position well, and as the screen is not very heavy I do not see any problems in the future for it. By the way, it does come with a 1-year warranty.

The Sampson PS04 pop filter does every thing it is supposed to, and it comes in at a decent price point, too. With a list price of $19.20, and an Amazon price of $14.27, it is a great buy for the occasional recording session. Check one out if you get the chance!

Mahalo!

Epiphone Dove Acoustic Electric Guitar Review

Hiya!

The law of diminishing returns turns out to be true in almost every case where it is applied, and the cost of musical instruments is no exception. There are some very nice budget guitars out there, and as you add hundreds or even thousands of dollars to the price the improvements in tone and playability are not commensurate with the amount spent. Don’t get me wrong, there is no substitute for a Santa Cruz acoustic or a Sadowsky bass, but there are some great values out there for short money.

One example of this would be the Epiphone Dove acoustic guitar. Surely you know of Epiphone, they produce the entry-level Gibson brand instruments that get re-sold for almost nothing as soon as a guitarist can scrape up enough dosh for a real Gibson. Though much maligned, these imported guitars can be quite good.

The Dove was introduced in 1962, and was one Gibson’s first acoustics that was embraced by the rock-and-roll culture. This flattop has been adopted by plenty of high-profile, one of the first of whom was the legendary Scotty Moore. It is (along with the Hummingbird) Gibson’s answer to Martin’s D-series guitars. The Epiphone version here was made in Indonesia and it is chock full of good materials and parts so the labor costs must be almost non-existent. Human rights advocates be warned…

The woods are surprisingly good, with a solid spruce top and a bound maple body and neck. 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 subdued Violinburst, which comes off quite nicely. Oh yes, and it has the signature dove-decorated pickguard and bridge, which I am quite fond of.

The slim-taper D-profile neck is quite good. It has a 1.68-inch wide nut and 20 frets with a 25 ½-inch scale. The rosewood fretboard has pearloid parallelogram inlays and there is an adjustable trussrod. On one end there are chrome Grover 14:1 tuners (though the factory calls them nickel), and on the other end there is a compensated synthetic bone bridge saddle. One welcome piece of hardware is two strap pins. Why do so many manufacturers only give you one? And the Epiphone Hummingbird is really well put together.

The finish quality is good, and the frets are as good as the ones that you will find on a new Gibson Les Paul (which is not saying much, I guess). The tuners hold well, and in general the intonation is good. The neck can be adjusted for a low and fast action, though a little nut filing may be needed. And best of all, this guitar has a gloriously loud tone and a relatively balanced sound from string to string. Keep in mind that this is not an expensive guitar, and everything is relative…

The electronics package is also pretty good, with a Fishman Sonitone soundhole preamp and Fishman Sonicore underbridge pickup system. This is a very natural sounding pickup that fortunately uses a conventional 9-volt battery, not one of those weird flat CR-type batteries that you will not be abe to find at the last minute when your preamp poops out. Controls include master volume and master tone – no tuner is included on this one, folks.

What will all of this cost you? The Epiphone Dove has a list price of $499, and a street price of $299 (no case included). If you look around you can find even better deals online, and used ones are embarrassingly cheap. But if you buy a new one you get the Epiphone Limited Lifetime Warranty and Gibson 24/7/365 customer service. This is one of the best acoustic deals on the market right now. Trust me…

Mahalo!

Blues Blast Magazine Album Review: Ray Mazarek and Roy Rogers – Twisted Tales

Good day!

This CD review was originally published in the October 24, 2013 edition of Blues Blast Magazine. Be sure to check out the rest of the magazine at www.bluesblastmagazine.com

Ray Mazarek & Roy Rogers – Twisted Tales

Self Release

www.manzarek-rogersband.com

10 tracks / 44:42

Every now and then I run into an album that is way out there, and I have to listen to it repeatedly to figure out how I feel about it. Twisted Tales by Ray Manzarek and Roy Rogers is certainly one of these, and in the end it turned out that I really liked what they put together.

You are certainly familiar with Ray Manzarek, the UCLA film student who became the founding father and keyboardist for The Doors. After that band disintegrated in the early 1970s, Ray performed periodically with bandmate Robby Krieger as well as actively participating in other music endeavors, including producing albums for other artists. He was a well-rounded character, also working in film and writing fiction and non-fiction books. Sadly, he passed on in May at the age of 74, just a month before Twisted Tales was to be released.

Roy Rogers is probably not the one you are thinking of, but this slide guitarist was indeed named after the famed western singer. Roy’s career is impressive, and he has been successful as a performer, writer and producer. He played with John Lee Hooker back in the 1980s, and produced four of Hooker’s albums. He has also collaborated with other top-name artists, including Bonnie Raitt, Steve Miller, Carlos Santana and Linda Ronstadt.

Twisted Tales is not the first Manzarek / Rogers collaboration, as they started working together in 2008, releasing two very good albums before this one. On this project Ray took some of the vocals, played the keyboards (obviously), and took a turn on the flute. Roy handled the rest of the vocals and the guitar work. Also in the studio were Steve Evans on bass, Kevin Hayes on drums, and George Brooks on sax. This is a tight album, and if you check out this CD you will hear Manzarek and Rogers at the top of their games -- their chops are amazing!

Rogers has a rock-solid blues background, and while there is plenty of rock and blues to be found here, this is not a conventional blues album, and you can get a clue of the content from the title. Their previous albums were composed of ballads (Ballads Before the Rain) and blues (Translucent Blues). So, not surprisingly, Twisted Tales is all about the stories that are told within. With their limited vocal ranges, at times this music leans towards a spoken word project, and it commands the listeners’ attention throughout. This is not easy listening by any stretch of the imagination.

This disc includes ten original tracks, with all of the music written by Manzarek and/or Rogers, and the lyrics coming from a few different sources. The words for four of the songs were penned by the late Jim Carroll, the poet/musician who wrote The Basketball Diaries. His lyrics are not complicated or even particularly slick, but they evoke strong images that help the listener visualize the stories that he laid out. I found “Cops Talk” to be tedious and cliché-ridden, but “Street of Crocodiles” and “American Woman” are truly poetic, and turn out to be great reads even without the musical score.

Beat poet Michael McClure contributed the lyrics for three of the tracks, and his writing style is less direct than Carroll’s, so instead of painting harsh pictures he uses similes to tell his stories. One of these, “Black Wine/Spank Me with a Rose,” is a Doors-style roadhouse blues tune, and it is fun to hear Manzarek hitting the 2nd beat on the piano and organ just like he did nearly 50 years ago.

But do not forget Rogers’ contributions here. Besides throwing down serious guitar work throughout (tasteful layering and smoking slide playing), he also wrote the lyrics for two of the tracks, “The Will to Survive” and “State of the World.” These have the most conventional lyrics of any of the songs found on the album, which is a neat contrast with the material that others wrote.

Twisted Tales is a complex piece of work, and both Ray Mazarek and Roy Rogers proved that they were masters of their craft on this disc. It is fitting that Manzarek could end his career on this high note and I certainly look forward to what Rogers has up his sleeve for the next chapter of his career.

Mahalo!

Fo’ Reel – Heavy Water | Album Review

Aloha!

Fo’ Reel – Heavy Water

Self Release

www.foreelband.com

11 tracks / 53:06

Fo’ Reel bills themselves as a “New Orleans All Star Blues Funk” band, and though it sounds like hyperbole, there might just be something to their boast. Just looking over the list of personnel for their new album, “Heavy Water,” proves that they have a lot of powerful musicians in the line-up.

For starters, C.P. Love, the legendary Crescent City soul singer is their frontman, and a couple of Grammy winners are on the bill too: Jonny Neel behind the keyboards (Allman Brother, Gov’t Mule, and Dicky Betts) and Jon Smith on tenor sax. David Hyde takes on the bass chores, and the drums were played by Daryl Burgess or Allyn Robinson, depending on which city the recording session was in that day (New Orleans or Nashville). This ensemble is rounded out by Ward Smith on baritone saxophone, Barney Floyd on trumpet, and songwriter Rick Lawson, who provided the lead vocals on four of the tracks.

But do not forget guitarist and executive producer Mark Domizio, who is their leader and the brainchild that turned this group of journeyman musicians into a cohesive whole. David played with Dr. John’s band for 40 years, and has been a first-call guitarist on the New Orleans scene for just as long. Now that this disc is cut, he will be taking some of these guys on the road to spread their brand of blues to the hungry masses.

For a “New Orleans All Star Blues Funk” band, their selection of music is not what you would think it would be – what they play is not exactly the New Orleans Blues. Though there is an undercurrent of the NOLA vibe, their music has a smooth and soulful modern blues sound that is not loaded up with accordion, washboards, or raw production values. It is a fresh blues-based sound that incorporates elements of jazz, soul, funk, rhythm and blues, Latin beats, and even a little Texas swing. This album is as slick as hell with high-quality and seamless production, and the band cranks out eight original songs and three clever covers in just under an hour.

Heavy Water kicks off with “Breaking up Somebody’s Home,” the first of the three cover tunes. This Albert King standard differs from other versions that came before as it is more soul-based, with some incredible Hammond work from Neel, and killer horn arrangements from Smith. Love’s vocals are strong and suitably harsh and emotional for the theme of this song.

Love also takes the lead vocals on the other two covers: “Shake N Bake” and ”Just as I Am,” both of which were recorded by the late Luther Allison. The former is a slow-rolling funk masterpiece, and the latter borders on gospel. The common ground between the two is the rock-solid backline, Domizio’s stellar lead breaks, and the incredible keys of Neel.

Rick Lawson’s smooth voice brings more of a 1970s funk style to “Shake N Bake” which is an explosion of raw horns, retro synthesizer sound, and hammering snare and hi-hat. But otherwise, his vocals are used for slow-rolling blues tunes, including “Leave Your Love Alone,” “Blues,” and “Outside Love.” These latter two also feature some sublime slide work from Domizio.

As cool as all of this is, there are a few instrumentals that will really knock your socks off too. “Gate” is a jazzed-up Texas swing tribute to Clarence “Gatemouth” Brown, with some trick fingering on the guitar and razor sharp horns, including a fabulous tenor sax solo from Smith. They chose to end the set with “Tater,” a jazzy horn fest with a funky beat.

Fo’ Reel’s Heavy Water is a very good album with first-rate writing, arranging, performance and production. If you like contemporary blues or soul, this disc is a must-buy, but also consider their live show if you are looking for a fun evening of righteous music. For details of how to purchase the CD or to see their gig schedule check out their website at www.foreelband.com

Mahalo!

Shure PG42-USB Condenser Microphone Review

Aloha!

I need to do a bit of voiceover work for my day job and my night classes, and it should be no surprise that the microphone in my laptop is not super-great. So, I have been looking around for a nice USB condenser microphone that will not break the bank, and I think I have found just what I was looking for: the Shure PG42-USB.

Shure has been around since 1925 and has been making microphones since 1931, so they probably have a good idea of what they are doing. Their SM57, SM58, 55SH, PG52, 520DX (Green Bullet), Beta Series, and wireless systems are all industry standards, and I own all of them. So, when looking for a USB mic, they were the first ones I went to. It was a wise choice.

The PG-42USB is a side-address USB microphone that was designed specifically for digital recording (there is also a PG-42 with a regular XLR connector). When you buy one of these it comes with a nice case, a shock mount and a USB cable – it really is a great set-up for the money.

This condenser microphone has a cardioid polar pattern to reduce background noise and feedback. It has a large diaphragm with and an inherently warm tone yet it is clear enough to be appropriate for lead vocal or solo instrument recording. There is negligible added noise, so it is perfect for choral recording, or better yet, voiceover work.

There are quite a few extras built into this mic, and if you look at it closely there are little knobs and switches all over it. There include:

-- A volume control knob.

-- A 15 dB pad switch to reduce distortion from loud sources, such horns or drums.

-- Low frequency rolloff to reduces floor rumble and low-frequency room noise from heating and air conditioning systems. It can also reduce low frequencies that can result in muddy sound.

-- Integrated pre-amp with microphone gain control to allow control of input signal strength.

-- 1/8-inch headphone jack for monitoring

--Monitor mix control for blending microphone and playback audio.

Set-up with the computer is easy. It has USB plug and play connectivity, and it works with Windows 7 or 8, XP and Mac OSX. The quality of the recording is top-notch as it is a 16-bit mic with a 48kHz sample rate. I used it with my fairly new Macbook Pro with no troubles at all.

I fiddled around with the best set-up and found that with a table-top boom stand and pop filter I was able to set it off to the side of my mouth (about 4-inches away), and it was still easy to see my computer to mess with the controls and see my script. The headphone jack was especially welcome!

With both Garage Band and Adobe Audition I had great results with my voiceovers. My voice did not sound harsh and it had nice warmth to it with no background noise once I got my hotel room air conditioner tuned out of the mix. It is very sensitive, of course, so if anything unexpected happened in the room a retake was necessary. You really have to have a quiet room to get the most out of this thing. But it was totally worth it because the overall sound was so much better than if I used the Mac’s onboard unit or my POS low-dollar mic I bought from Sam Ash in a pinch.

Looking the PG-42 USB over, it is a quality piece that is quite heavy and I a sure it will hold up for years to come. I really think it is the perfect voiceover or podcast microphone for the money. I cannot wait to try it out with my acoustic guitars and some of my mediocre singing to see how it fares.

The Shure PG42-USB is a very good vocal microphone, and it is also a terrific value. It carries an MSRP of $249, but sells for around $200 everywhere you look on the internet. That price includes the aforementioned case and shock mount, not to mention Shure’s outstanding warranty. If you have more than a little bit of voiceover work to do, it will do a super job and be a terrific investment in your work!

Mahalo!

Blues Blast Magazine Album Review: Detroit Frank Dumont – Let Me Be Frank

Hello!

This CD review was originally published in the October 17, 2013 edition of Blues Blast Magazine. Be sure to check out the rest of the magazine at www.bluesblastmagazine.com

Detroit Frank Dumont – Let Me Be Frank

Self Release

www.detroitfrankdumont.com

11 tracks / 48:32

The music world is chock full of half-finished albums and projects that got off to a good start but for some reason never got finished. Let Me Be Frank could have been one of those ill-fated efforts, but Detroit Frank Dumont persevered and rolled this album off the assembly line a whopping 22 years after it was started.

Originally hailing from Benton Harbor, Michigan (right across the lake from Chicago), singer and guitarist Frank Dumont has definitely been around the block a few times. He started his career in the early 70s with the Detroit Blues Band, and since then he has lived and gigged all over the globe -- from Hawaii to Amsterdam and everywhere in between. Along the way he has shared the stage with legendary blues figures, including John Lee Hooker, Greg Allman and Buddy Miles.

These days Frank is working out of Colorado Springs with his band, The Drivin’ Wheels, but the genesis of Let Me be Frank predates his work with this group. The first sessions for this album were recorded in 1991 at studios all around the country, including Louisiana, California and Memphis. Dumont held onto these tracks until 2012 when he started recording again, this time in North Carolina, Colorado, Nashville, Memphis, North Hollywood, and Alabama. This guy really gets around! Everything came together late last year when the source material was digitally mastered by Larry and Kevin Nix in Nashville. They did an amazing job of taking all of these sessions and making them come together into a singular entity.

There is plenty of heavy-hitting talent on this disc, and there is no way to include everybody that participated in this review. You will find the pillars of the blues community, the musicians that played in bands with BB King, Freddie King and Buddy Miles.

The first track up is “Key to the Highway,” which was a hit for Little Walter in 1958. This is a rich arrangement with horns, piano and the esteemed Deacon Jones on the Hammond B3. Dumont displays a smooth guitar talent, and his voice is road-worn and wise. I would like to see him perform this song live! After this, Frank belts out nine covers of songs by Freddie King, BB King and Robert Johnson.

Dumont is a Freddie King fan and he growls his way through Freddie King’s “Tore Down,” a classic 8-bar hit that was also covered by Clapton. Benny Turner’s fat bass keeps this rollicking tune moving, and David Maxwell lays down some killer piano that at times is swallowed up in the mix. “Hide Away” is a fun instrumental that lets Frank tear loose on his guitar over a complex arrangement of organ, piano and a passel of horns. The other Freddie King songs on this disc are both performed as instrumentals: “The Stumble,” and “I’ll Be There,” with the latter showing some interesting Hawaiian influences and more than enough harp (not the harmonica kind, either).

BB King is well-represented, with Dumont howling his way through “Every Day I Have the Blues” and “How Blue Can You Get.” While the rock-solid backline of Mighty Mike Doster and Caleph Emphrey Junior keep it real, Victor Wainwright provides some righteous piano work on “How Blue Can You Get.” This is one of the standout tracks on Let Me Be Frank.

Three of the tracks were penned by Robert Johnson: “Kind Hearted Woman,” “Traveling Riverside Blues,” and the inevitable “Crossroads.” In keeping with the original spirit of these songs, these are more bare bones arrangements with harmonica and slide acoustic guitar. Frank was respectful of the source material and did not go very far off the beaten path when reproducing these songs.

The album finishes up with its sole original track, “Blues for Buddy,” a tribute to Dumont’s friend Buddy Miles, who passed on before he could record drum tracks for this project. This instrumental psychedelic blues song is a grand yet casual-sounding jam that includes a few guys that played with Buddy back in the day: Deacon Jones and Jimi Hendrix’s bass player, Billy Cox.

Let Me Be Frank is a sampler of blues styles, with material written by the greats and played with gusto. It is obvious that Detroit Frank Dumont and his friends gave their all for this project, and I hope you can take the time to give it a listen.

Mahalo!

1st Quarter of 2015 Inventory Update

Hi there!

Time flies by, and here is the quarterly list of what is in my musical playground. A few things have moved on since last time, but I still need to make some room. If you see anything here that you cannot live without, drop me a line. It is all good stuff…

First off, the basses:

∙ MIJ Fender 1962 re-issue Jazz Bass

∙ MIJ Fender 1970 re-issue Precision Bass

∙ MIJ Fender Jazz Bass Special

∙ Sadowsky NYC Ultra Vintage P, and NYC Standard J

Electric Guitars:

∙ MIJ Fender 1962 re-issue Stratocaster

∙ MIJ Fender 1972 re-issue Telecaster

∙ 1990 Gibson Les Paul Standard

∙ 2010 Gibson Explorer with custom pimp paint job

Acoustic Guitars:

∙ Taylor 312EC

∙ Martin D-18 Golden Era, LX1E and Backpacker steel string

∙ Kala solid mahogany soprano ukulele (on loan to a friend)

Amplifiers:

∙ Bugera V5 Combo

∙ Genz Benz Shuttle 9.2 with Aguilar GS112 and GS112NT Cabinets

∙ Fender Twin Reverb (someone please buy this!)

∙ Fender Acoustasonic 30 DSP

Check in again on April Fool’s Day to see what is still around. As always, you know it will be different!

Mahalo!