Memory Lane: Gallien-Krueger 210ML Guitar amplifier Review

Howdy!

I remember the first time I saw the Gallien-Krueger 210ML. It was the loudest little combo guitar amplifier I had ever seen, and I was instantly filled with lust. “We begin by coveting what we see each day…”

Gallien-Krueger has been building quality solid-state amplifiers in the United States since the company was started by a pair of Hewlett Packard engineers over 40 years ago. They have become the biggest bass amplifier manufacturer out there on the back of their RB series of bass amplifiers, which were introduced back in the early 1980s. Their products and customer service are very well regarded in the music industry.

Well, G-K also used to dabble in solid-state guitar amplifiers, and the 250ML was introduced in the early 1980s as the combo version of the 250RL. It was small, coming in at around 22 pounds and measuring 14 x 9 x 6 inches and carrying two 6.5-inch Pyle speakers. In checking around, and it turns out they also had the same combo with two 12-inch Celestions (the 212SCL), though I have never seen one of these in my world.

The 250ML is a stereo unit with 50 watts per channel. The front of the unit does not have many knobs, but it sure has a passel of switches. There is a single input jack with a channel switch (A or B), as well as a footswitch jack and a headphone out. The A channel (clean) has a Gain switch and a “compander” switch which is designed to produce a more bluesy sound. The B channel (dirty) just gets a gain switch. There are also knobs for the four-band EQ, as well as switches for pre-set stereo echo and chorus effects.

The back of this G-K amp is a lot simpler. There is an XLR direct out, two ¼-inch 16-ohm speaker outs, and a switch to change from bypass the internal speakers and to switch from 16 to 8 ohms. There is also an effect loop and a trick ¼-inch jack that can act as a stereo out or as an aux in. How does that work? And lastly there is the power switch, an IEC power cable socket and a separate 110V outlet, which is something you never see anymore.

If you hook up the optional footswitch, you can control the channel switching and turn the effects ON or OFF. Unfortunately it will turn both effects ON or OFF at the same time. Bummer.

All of this stuff is wrapped up in the aforementioned little tiny package, which is securely housed in an aluminum case with a steel mesh grill. There are little rubber feet on the bottom and a handy carry handle on top.

This amplifier is amazingly loud for its size, as you can imagine. The tone it puts out makes me think of 1980s metal every time I hear it. But other than this is does not really do that much for me. I can never get the rich tube sound and distortion that I have heard others talk about. Maybe there is something wrong with me…

I find the pre-set gain and effect control to be limiting. Of course you can fiddle with the EQ knobs to dial your sound in a bit better, but it is hard to make those kinds of changes on the fly. And even then you are not going to get the sound exactly where you want it.

At high volume level the tiny speaker will start to distort, and when you attach more speakers, you lose all the advantages of having such a tiny amp. It turns out to be awfully heavy for a solid-state head when you use it that way.

If you are looking for one a 250 ML, they were very well built, and I have seen some that were amazingly abused and still functioned fine. Gallien-Krueger does a nice job of supporting their older products, but do keep in mind that these amps are 30 years old, so make sure you check it out before you buy it.

Oh. And make sure you like the way it sounds too…

Mahalo!

Stewart-MacDonald String Spreaders Review

Aloha!

We are looking at a product today that is so simple that I wish I had thought of it. These are string spreaders that are sold through the Stewart-MacDonald guitar supply company.

Stewart-MacDonald of Athens, Ohio has been selling guitar parts and luthier tools for over 40 years, and is the best company in the business. They carry OEM parts for both electric and acoustic guitars, as well as a panoply of bodies, necks, pickups, bridges and tuners in case you want to build your own guitar. They also have every tool you will need to build or set-up your own guitar, rewind your pickups or replace worn out frets. For example, they carry files for every application, including ones for nut work and cleaning up sharp fret edges. If you need it, they have it.

Their string spreaders were the brainchild of a real-life ace repairman, David Lynch (no, not that one). These tools might look hokey and seem like a waste of money to you, but believe me when I say that they easily pay for themselves in the time they save and the frustration they avoid.

There are a lot of jobs on the guitar where you just need to get the strings out of the way, such as cleaning the fretboard, working on a nut slot, touching up frets or adjusting pickup pole pieces. It is a hassle to unwind the strings all the way, so often times guys will tape them back or use Velcro to hold the loosened strings so they do not get in the way. My old favorite was to hook a wooden pencil behind them.

But the string spreaders make this a lot easier. You get a pair in the set, and they are about 3 ½ inches long and are made of brass coated with rubber so they do not scratch the neck. They are nice and springy and have hooked ends to hold the strings in place while you work. They install in a jiffy and help you get down to what you are supposed to be doing a lot quicker.

Anyway, the Stewart-MacDonald string spreaders are a peach, and if you do any work on your own instruments I recommend that you pick up a set. They are only $9.95 for a pair, or $8.95 is you buy 3 or more sets.

How can you go wrong?

Mahalo!

Taylor GS Mini Acoustic Guitar Review

Aloha!

My seemingly endless search for the perfect travel guitar has led me though everything that Martin has to offer, so I figured I had better give Taylor a fair shake. So, today we are going to take a look at the Taylor GS Mini acoustic guitar.

Taylor guitars are fantastic instruments, and though their sound does not suit my fancy, they have legions of fans that prove that my tastes are not shared by everybody. Most of their instruments are built in their San Diego, California factory, but some of their lower-priced instruments are built just across the border in Tecate, Mexico. These include the 100 and 200 series instruments, as well as the Baby Taylor and the GS mini.

The first question for a travel guitar is: “How big is it?” And the answer is, “Pretty darned big.” Most parlor and travel guitars are called ¾-sized guitars. I call this one 7/8-sized. It has a 23.5-inch scale, and it measures almost 5 inches deep with a 15 inch wide body. So, right from the start I am disqualifying this as an airline travel guitar.

But, the Taylor GS Mini is a nice instrument, and it has a definite role to play in the musical world. Before we get to that, let’s take a look at how this thing is put together.

GS Minis are available with either a Sitka spruce or a mahogany top, and I chose the one with the solid tropical mahogany top. The top has X braces to keep everything together while still allowing it to vibrate well. The back and sides are made with a sapele laminate, which looks like mahogany to me. The body has a tasteful black and while purfling, a simple rosette and a tortoise shell pickguard. The whole this has an even coating of matte-finish varnish.

The neck and heel are also made of sapele, and the fretboard is hewn from ebony, which is surprising on a guitar at this price point. The nut is a bit narrow at 1 11/16 inches width, but combining this with the sahllow V profile of the neck you end up with a guitar that is nice for those with smaller hands. There are 20 frets standard-sized Taylor frets, and you will find 14 of them free from the body. The headstock has a simple overlay with a screen printed logo, and sealed-back chrome tuners. They are unbranded, but seem to be good quality, and they hold tune well between practice sessions.

The craftsmanship is up to Taylor’s high standards, with an even finish and a truly terrific job with the fretwork. The Tusq nut and compensated bridge are perfect, and this GS Mini came out of the box with a surprisingly playable low action with the OEM Elixir medium gauge Nanoweb strings. I worry a little about the durability of the finish, which is thin, and the unbound edges are sure to draw a few dings here and there.

Playability is also top-notch, taking into account the narrower neck, which makes fingerstyle a little more difficult for clumsy chaps like myself. This is a very easy to play instrument.

The sound is amazingly big for a smaller guitar, living up to the GS in its name (Grand Symphony). This is helped by the big soundhole and the rounded back, the shape of which eliminates the need for back bracing. Of course the bass is not terribly thunderous, but it certainly has an even tone across the strings when playing with light to medium intensity. Once I started playing it harder the low action kept me from really digging in, so I might have to bring the action up a bit and give it another shot.

The sound is big, but sterile. It lack the warmth that I found in the Little Martin. If you plug it in you might be able dial in a more pleasing sound. But you will have to add a pickup, as the GS Mini does not ship with electronics.

Taylor makes it amazingly easy to add electronics to these guitars with their ES-Go soundhole mounted humbucker pickup system. If you order this $98 kit, it will answer your questions about the design of the goofy screw-on chrome strap pin. Installation is a breeze with no guitar modifications, and should just take a few minutes, with a screwdriver being the only tool you will need. No soldering is required! I have heard mixed reviews on the pickup’s performance, and I have not had the opportunity to try one out, so I will hold off judgment until I can hear one in person.

In case you were wondering, these guitars ship in a surprisingly sturdy padded soft case. Like all Taylor soft cases, it is that terrible tan color than gets dirty as soon as it comes out of the factory shipping box. It does a nice job of protecting the guitar, though…

So, where does the Taylor GS Mini fit in if it is too big to take on the plane? Well, it would still be great for a car trip, or if you have to lug your guitar around on the subway or bus. But where it really works is as a modern day parlor guitar. Its small size makes it great for kicking around the house, and as I said it would be a good guitar for smaller people. If you set it up with light gauges strings, it would be a great instrument for kids and beginners.

The Taylor GS Mini has a list price of $678 and a street price of $499, which includes the aforementioned gig bag. Though I do not consider it to be the world’s greatest travel guitar, it is a very nice instrument that would be great for smaller-statured players, or for general playing around the house of campfire. Try one out, and see for yourself!

Mahalo!

John Pearse Acoustic Guitar Strings Set 200L Review

Howdy!

I do not really experiment very much with my acoustic guitar strings, and mostly stick with the trusty Martin SP phosphor bronze stuff. But, every now and then I pick up a set here or there that makes me wonder what else is out there. Recently a store threw in a set of John Pearse 200L strings when I bought a used acoustic, so I figured I would give them a shot.

John Pearse was an English musician and author that you may remember from the PBS series, “Stringalong” and “Cooking with Wine.” He dabbled in the string industry in the mid sixties, and ended up moving to the US in 1978 to work for Martin Guitars in Pennsylvania. This did not last terribly long, as he started Breezy Ridge Instruments with his wife Mary Faith Rhoads in 1980. They made fabulous hammer dulcimers, and the string business came along shortly after. John passed away in 2008, but Mary Faith is still at the helm of the company.

The 200L is a light gauge set for six-string acoustics. They are 80/20 bronze wound, with the following gauges: 0.012, 0.016, 0.024, 0.032, 0.042, and 0.053. These strings are not cryogenically frozen or coated or doused with any other voodoo technology. They are just very good quality strings.

After stringing up my Takamine with these John Pearse strings, I was impressed with what I heard. I realize that the strings I took off were dead, but this set was noticeably louder than the Martins or D’Addarios I have used in the past. This extra volume does not make for a harsh sound, as they end up with a very sweet and pleasant tone. This set is nicely balanced across the range with good tension on the low strings and the high strings are not brittle at all. I have mostly been working on folk music, country and bluegrass, and these strings are perfect for these genres.

These strings are holding up well, too. My daily hour of practice in the hot and sweaty studio has not noticeably degraded their tone over the past three weeks. I will keep an eye on them to see how well they last, but I think they might be a better alternative than the coated strings that I have never had any luck with…

With a list price of $12.45 and a street price of $8.00 these John Pearse strings are not the cheapest ones out there, but I think they are worth it. I am not going to throw away the stacks of new strings I have sitting around the studio, but I will certainly keep these in mind the next time I am shopping for strings.

Mahalo!

SKB Gig Rig Rack Case Review

Howdy!

Today we are looking at a product that I thought would be really neat, but unfortunately turned out to be a miserable chunk of crap. This would the SKB Gig Rig.

SKB has sold a ton of the Gig Rig series mixer/rack road cases over the past 15 years, and the Gig Rig (model 1SKB19-R1208) you see here is based on their Mighty Gig Rig (ambitious name, isn’t it?). The idea is to keep all of your rack-mounted equipment and mixer in one compact, easy-to-use unit.

The R1208 Gig Rig has the mixer rails on top, and they are 12U high and mounted at a 7-degree angle. There are also front and rear facing 8U spaces for amps, effects, or whatever. There is enough space in the top rails that stuff that is plugged into the mixer does not have to be unplugged when the lid is put on.

The whole thing is made of molded black plastic, and there are handles on each end for horsing this beast in and out of vans or trucks. The lid and caster portion come off of the main body of the unit and can be stacked together to get this thing to a nice working height.

So what could the problems be with this thing? Let’s see…

1. The plastic is flimsy and the lid is really hard to separate from the body because the whole thing sticks together – to the point where I am afraid something is going to break when I am trying to separate the pieces.

2. The latches are flimsy and break easily. I do not care how good SKB’s support is, because this thing should not have busted a latch before I ever got to use it.

3. It is heavier than hell – 70 pounds of plastic, and that is with nothing in it.

4. It is hard to swallow the idea of spending $500 for a plastic case.

So, the high hopes I had for the Gig Rig were dashed when it came time to actually try to use one. If a product tries to do everything, than chances are good that it won't do any of it well. Live and learn, I guess…

Mahalo!

Habib Koite & Eric Bibb: Brothers in Bamako Album Review

Good day!

This CD review was originally published in the February 21, 2013 edition of Blues Blast Magazine. Be sure to check out the rest of the magazine at thebluesblast.com

Eric Bibb and Habib Koite´ – Brothers in Bamako

Stony Plain Records

www.ericbibb.com & www.habibkoite.com

www.stonyplainrecords.com

13 tracks / 52:32

We have all seen plenty of established musicians collaborate with each other to create new art, but few of them go to the lengths that Eric Bibb and Habib Koite´ went to for their new CD, Brothers in Bamako. You see, Eric and Habib are both singers and guitarists, but they come from opposite sides of the world, and despite their diverse circumstances they were still able to put together a very pretty project.

Eric Bibb was born in New York into a musical family; he got his first guitar at the age of seven and started playing in his father’s show at sixteen. After deciding that college was not for him, he split for Paris and ended up touring the world with his band. He has released over thirty of his own albums, and has appeared on countless others. Eric has earned the respect of his peers and has received numerous awards for his blues work, including a Grammy nomination.

Habib Koite´ was also born into a musical family, but this time in Senegal, and he received formal musical training from the Bamako National Institute of the Arts in Mali. He started the West African super-group Bamada in 1988, and since then they have performed throughout Europe and North America. He has performed with many fine artists, including one of my favorites, Bonnie Raitt.

Koite´ met Bibb when they were both asked to play songs on the 1999 Mali to Memphis album, which also includes great tracks from John Lee Hooker and Muddy Waters. Eric and Habib became friends and exchanged ideas, and finally got together last year in Bamako, Mali to record Brothers in Bamako. This thirteen track effort includes original songs from each of them, a few Mali traditionals, and an unexpected cover tune. Both men provided vocals, guitar, banjo and ukulele parts, and they were joined by Mamadou Kone on percussion.

There is a little bit of everything on this album, but even with the different genres that are used there is a consistently calm and soothing vibe to the material. The first few tracks provide each man’s view of the world the other lives in. Bibb wrote and sang “On My Way to Bamako” which has simple lyrics and an island feel to it, while Koite´ provided his impressions of the City of Angels in “L.A.” which is not in English except for his repeated expression of his love for tequila. The liner notes are in French, so I cannot help out with the meaning on this one. But in this case the lyrics are secondary to the music. Both songs are layered with different types of guitars and guitar-like stringed instruments, and that is where the joy of listening to this album comes from.

The duo also recorded a pair of songs that bring social commentary to the forefront. “We Don’t Care” is a Bibb original that pokes at class differences and social hypocrisy, while an undercurrent of guitar stylings noodles unobtrusively below. Bob Dylan’s “Blowin’ in the Wind” was also included, and I like what Koite´ and Bibb did with it. The raw framework of banjo is perfect for this mournful tune, and Olli Haavisto added a tasteful pedal steel guitar to the mix. These songs are particularly poignant when one considers the turmoil that the people of Northern Mali have gone through in the past year.

Overall this is a world folk music album, but it does have blues moments, which is not surprising as Eric has a heavy blues and gospel background. “With My Maker I Am One” has a blues base with slickly-played guitars and a single shaker for percussion. It is a bare bones song that Bibb wrote to show that despite our differences we are all the same when an eternal viewpoint is taken. “Send Us Brighter Days” is a slow-paced duet in English and French that has country underpinnings with a blues overlay. And then there is “Goin’ down the Road Feelin’ Bad” which is a traditional that has been recorded by many artists; you may be familiar with the Earl Scruggs or the Grateful Dead versions. This one has Bibb on vocals with clever banjo picking and a smooth guitar solo that plays well off the lyrics. A 30-second guitar outro finishes off this final track on the CD.

Brothers in Bamako is hard to classify and is certainly not mainstream, but you can always count on Habib Koite´ and Eric Bibb to turn in a solid performance. Their voices and guitars work so well together, that at times it seems like they are twins that were separated at birth. If you are fans of either of these musicians, this album is a must listen!

Mahalo!

Sirius XM Radio Network Channel 56: Willie’s Roadhouse

Howdy!

I get to drive a few different cars for my day job, and when I got into one a few weeks ago, whoever drove it before me had the radio set to Sirius XM channel 56, Willie’s Roadhouse. Why did it take me so long to discover this channel?

Willie’s Roadhouse used to be called Willie’s Place, and before that it was called Hank’s Place (after Mr. Williams). The first name change was when Willie Nelson signed an endorsement deal with the network, and the second name change took place after Willie’s Place merged with the Roadhouse channel. Whew. Apparently Nelson now owns a stake in Willie’s Roadhouse.

Channel 56 is home to traditional country and cowboy music, mostly from the 1950s through the 1980s. They the play hits as well as some really obscure stuff from the original artists, including Loretta Lynn, Hank Williams Sr., Charley Pride (yay!), Tammy Wynette, Johnny Cash, George Jones, and Patsy Cline. Oh yes, and Willie Nelson. I have discovered songs I have never heard before, and found some artists that I just love, such as Bob Wills, the King of Texas Swing.

Though the lyrics of some of this stuff can be hokey (and at times racist and misogynistic), this music is generally wonderful. It is an important part of our musical history and without these pioneers, modern rock and country music would sound drastically different.

There are also a few regular shows that you can catch during the week, and it pays to figure out when these are on because they are fantastic. For starters, they broadcast The Grand Ole Opry on Friday and Saturday nights. Where else are you going to find this?

On Thursday nights, Wade Jessen (Senior Chart Manager at Billboard Magazine) digs out old vinyl from his personal collection and provides some of the history behind the music . This guy is a treasure, and his on-air persona is great.

And lastly, you can find the Classic Cowboy Corral on Friday and Saturday nights, as well as on Sunday mornings. This show focuses on the golden age of the singing cowboys, and is hosted by super yodeler Ranger Doug Green, and his irritating sidekick “Sidemeat.” Into every life a little rain must fall…

Anyway, Willie’s Roadhouse is now one of the presets on my stereo, and if you have satellite radio, you ought to give it a shot!

Adios!