jeremy_crockett's Reviews

This IS a Precision Bass; Do Not be a Label Snob

In the distant past, Squier received very justified criticism. Moving forward, the brand made great leaps in terms of quality and overall value.

Today, Squier's Classic Vibe basses are (mostly) outstanding, and this Fender Special Run (FSR) is a prime example. I do not know if Squier is paying more attention to their FSR stuff, but this bass is flawless. The fretwork was perfect. Compare that to a non-FSR 70s Squier P that I picked up last year, where the frets were miserably sharp and it took a ton of effort to get them close to "OK".

The "Fender-designed" alnico pickups produce the Precision Tone that ONLY a Precision bass can make.

Cosmetically, this is a gorgeous bass and the Surf Green color is striking. In my opinion, nothing compares to a bound and blocked bass neck. This Precision really stands out.

Finally, I want to give Guitar Center kudos for honoring their Price Match policy, as I originally picked mine up for $399 on sale ($479 list), then, 30 days later, Musician's Friend had it as their Stupid Deal of the Day for $348.

I presented my local GC with my receipt, and they handed me $54 cash. Making this one of the best prices I've ever gotten on new gear.

I can recommend this to any player looking to add a Precision to their collection or to a beginner who wants a bass that can last them for years and years and will not be "outgrown".

It's Definitely a Telecaster!

When I first found this one on Facebook, I had definite reservations about several aspects of the Thinline Telecaster.

First, I did not know how much the semi-hollow design would affect overall sound (it does not).

Next, I did not know how different playing a 24.75" scale guitar would be compared to a 25.5" scale (none that I can tell).

This Telecaster has every bit of the signature "Twang" that makes it so famous.

The construction is first-class class and the frets required nothing other than polishing. It's got a Rosewood fretboard, which, in my opinion, is miles better than "Indian Laurel" or "Pau Ferro".

The Shoreline Gold finish is absolutely beautiful; the photos do not do it any justice. It's classy and understated.

Being a second-hand guitar, it did require a setup and some tweaking ( I put a .25 shim in the neck pocket), and after experimenting, I landed on EB Pure Nickel 11s.

I can, without hesitation, recommend this to anyone thinking of joining the TeleCult.

In the Words of John Lee Hooker: "An Out-Did 335"

I got back into playing (or attempting to play) music in 2020, and over the course of these past five years, bought and sold two different Epiphone 335s. I regret selling both of them. So when I got my hands on the Sheraton Pro II in Midnight Sapphire, I decided that I would never again, sell any 335-shaped object.

The Sheraton is an amazing sounding guitar. It just feels correct in my hands, much more so than any Les Paul I have ever played.

Notable Features

Epiphone ProBucker-2 alnico pickups Coil-splitting 5-ply binding on the body, neck, headstock, and pickguard Gold hardware Grover 18:1 tuners

Anyone looking to add a 335-type guitar would be remiss in not looking at an Epiphone Sheraton Pro II. I cannot priase this guitar enough. I absolutely LOVE it!

Epiphone Continues to Amaze.

Being that I am (primarily) a bass player, I have never considered myself a "Les Paul Guy". I never thought I was "missing out" not owning one, nor did I think they were "my thing".

In the interest of complete disclosure, I bought this LP because of G.A.S. and because I got a fantastic deal on it from American Musical Supply.

Overall Fit and Finish This is an excellent instrument. There were no sharp fret ends. The figured Maple top with its Fade paint job is beautiful, with the "fade" stopping near the lower bout rather than continuing around the entire body of the guitar like a "burst" finish.

I have never owned a bass or guitar with an Ebony fretboard before and the dark wood is now something I might seek out in the future given its magnificent appearance against the pearloid inlay.

What Makes it "Modern"

The body is chambered for weight relief. To me, this was not important, but some players like having that feature.

Both neck and bridge volume controls have "coil splitting" pots that switch the pickups from humbucking to single-coil for a brighter tone, and the neck tone control allows for the signal to be out-of-phase.

Other Considerations This guitar has Epiphone's "ProBucker3" pickup in the Bridge position and "ProBucker2" in the Neck position. These are alnico pickups.

Grover locking tuners are a nice touch, and they work well, making string changes easier.

I like this Les Paul a lot more than I ever expected. The fact that I got it new for $256 below retail makes me like it even more!

If you are looking to buy a Les Paul, this is one to consider.

Why I Chose Yamaha for a "Modern" Bass

I want to preface this review by saying that up until (literally) 5 minutes ago, I was buying into the "Ceramic pickups sound sterile, cold, and brittle" myth. It was upon that myth that I decided to buy the Yamaha TRBX304 because I was looking for a more "modern" sound.

So digression aside, here we go:

This is an excellent bass overall. The construction is first-rate, as is 99.9% of anything Yamaha produces. The neck is a little thinner than anything else I have owned, but its 5-piece maple and mahogany laminate is not just beautiful but solid and easy to play. That combined with the Rosewood fretboard and you've got darn near a "Hippie Sandwich" neck-wise.

24 frets means a two octave range, the pots have a center detent, as does the pickup blend pot. Bass and treble tone pots (no mid) have always been sufficient as far as I am concerned.

Yamaha has included a 5-way "Performance EQ Tone Circuit" switch that modifies the bass's active tone as well. It's not completely "a gimmick" and can be useful depending on what you are looking for.

The TRBX304 is extremely versatile, more so than I expected. You CAN coax vintage thump out of it without issue.

The bass required a little neck relief tweaking out-of-the-box (not surprising), but it did ship with D'Addario XL Chromes so that saved me my usual string swap whenever I buy a new or used bass.

I think the price of the bass ($380) is exceptional when you consider that the current Squire Classic Vibe line of basses is $450.

I have (foolishly) ignored the Yamaha brand for a long time, the TRBX304 has completely changed that. And I am glad that it has.

Extremely Solid Entry-Level Bass

Yamaha makes great products. Yamaha has ALWAYS made great products. Considering that this is an entry-level bass, it is a very good product. My chief complaint is the relative weakness of the Bridge pickup, which is why it gets three stars instead of four.

To begin with, the build quality of the instrument is what you would expect from Yamaha. The fretwork is perfect, the wood used on the body is beautiful. Everything fits together nicely.

I picked up this particular bass second-hand from Guitar Center for around $160 plus tax. This was a screaming deal in my opinion. Even if I end up adding a better Jazz pickup, it's still a bargain.

Overall I would recommend this to any beginner without hesitation.

An Odd Duck But, it is MY Duck.

When I was looking for a semi-hollow bass, I was familiar with the Epiphone Jack Casady but couldn't justify the $800 asking price.

After spending some time shopping on FB Marketplace, Craigslist, and other usual locations, I decided on one that I had never heard of before, an Ibanez Artcore AGB140 in Transparent Brown.

It's a bit of an odd critter being a full 34" scale. The neck feels much longer than my Ray34CA, but I love the aesthetic so much that I am learning to deal with it.

One of the previous owners, for reasons that will forever remain shrouded in mystery, decided to first super-glue a CLIP-ON tuner to the upper bout of the bass. Then, when that failed miserably, they glued it to the back of the headstock. As I've pointed out, this is a weird bass that seems to have garnered weird ownership over its 19-year existence.

The overall quality is good and the bridge hardware is excellent, very stout.

The single humbucker is a One-Trick pony but I really like the trick. The bass has a great, round, vintage sound.

Budget-Friendly Valve Amplifier That Sounds Great

As a hobbyist, home player who is primarily a bassist, I do not need a Marshall Stack, but I wanted the valve sound and modeling amps just cannot recreate that tone.

I have used Monoprice gear in the past and have been happy with its quality; still, I did not quite trust the online "buzz" regarding this amplifier. That said, when I found a used one listed for $150, I decided to give it a try.

Most players should be satisfied with the sound right out of the box. Celestion makes great speakers and though the Seventy 80 is their "entry-level" speaker, it is excellent.

The OEM tubes were not great and there were some "microphonics" when I would play. So I went with Electro-Harmonics and am extremely happy with the results. Additionally, I put in a Jensen C12K speaker to tame the highs.

A Solid Practice Amp

I am a hobbyist who would like to play out live one day. I have not done that since the mid-90s and remember having a great time doing it.

I bought this because my Ampeg BA-210v2 was a bit "much" for quiet practice and Fender makes excellent amplifiers.

The Good:

Reasonably priced @ $230 on Guitar Center's website with an additional 10% in-cart discount, $221.50 out-the-door. Well built. Versatile tone-shaping with both "Low Mid" and "High Mid" potentiometers. The preset buttons work well.

The Bad Nothing at all.

An Outstanding Amplifier at a Bargain Price

As an amateur home player (primarily a Bassist), I do not need a ton of power for a guitar. That said, the 50 watts this excellent amplifier puts out is almost too much.

The Chorus feature is what closed the deal for me. I paid $180 for mine and it was money well spent. The thing that the Princeton Chorus does well is the classic "Fender Clean" tone. It is very responsive to playing dynamics and the Chorus is amazingly lush.

If you are looking for an over-driven tone, you will need a pedal to accomplish this as the "dirty" channel is, quite frankly, not good. Other than that, I cannot see how anyone would be disappointed with this Secondhand Lion of an amplifier.

From Great to Disappointed in Three Years

I want to start with the "Pros" of this USB interface.

It's well-made and feels extremely solid. It is moderately easy to set up and get running although the free software downloads are somewhat convoluted, I eventually, ended up with what I needed.

At first, the hardware performed flawlessly but a couple of months ago, I noticed static coming from the unit. I attempted to clean the pots but discovered that they were sealed. I want to point out that this unit is never moved or abused in any way, shape, or manner.

It was reasonably priced but I certainly expect more than three years of service from a unit that has been essentially babied all of its life.

At the time of this writing, I am thinking about replacing the Focusrite with a Universal Audio Volt.

I cannot recommend this particular USB interface.

Essential for Funk, Jerry Garcia's Tone, and 70s Groove.

I had been considering buying one of these for quite a while now. I finally went ahead and pulled the trigger.

You KNOW the sound you want and THIS is the way to get THAT effect. If you are on the fence, go ahead and buy the thing. It's worth it.

I understand that "It's not a Mu-Tron" but to my ears, I cannot tell the difference, especially for the cost.

It will work with guitar and bass, so I'm covered.

Ampeg Sound Delivered

I have now had this amp for nearly four years. It is built like a tank but is not so heavy as to make moving it around difficult.

The built-in "Scrambler" effect is marginal and (at least to my way of thinking) best used with a Precision bass with the "Tone" control backed off. Then it sounds extremely cool.

There are enough buttons and knobs to keep the OCD crowd occupied, I tend to have everything at 12:00 with some minor fiddling about with them occasionally.

Since being discontinued by Ampeg, I have seen them second-hand for as little as $250, making this combo an EXTREMELY GREAT deal for anyone looking.

I can recommend this for ANY bass player, and ANY style of music. It is a wonderful amplifier.

This Is An Amazing 335!

Lately, I have been on an absolute roll when it comes to trading music gear and this may be the best trade I have made to date.

It is very difficult to find information on these via the WWW and Epiphone, for whatever reason, does not maintain any kind of reference page for discontinued guitars on their website. They could learn something from Fender in this area as Fender now has a serial number look-up feature with extensive information on lines that they no longer produce.

In any case, my particular ES-335 was made in 2018 and is alleged to have a Rosewood fretboard. I have no way to confirm this, but if it is Rosewood, it appears to be of a very light variety.

That aside, this is an astounding guitar that is far better than I had imagined! I really like the 12" radius on the neck and the width is great for a ham-fisted amateur player such as myself. It sounds fantastic as well! I have it paired with a Fender Mustang LT50 and can get any tone I want out of it.

While it does have the coil splitting feature, I do not see myself using that much as I have a Squier CV Tele for true single-coil twang.

If you are looking at one of these I can recommend it without hesitation. I much prefer it to the current line where Epiphone has decided to go with dots instead of blocks on the fretboard.

I Really Wanted to LOVE This Bass.

I want to open with the idea that this is NOT a bad bass. It is well-made, the finish is beautiful and it is nice to have a Rosewood fretboard when you can find one. The one I have is Korean-made before the Rosewood restrictions on instruments.

The biggest problem, for me, is that the string spacing is entirely TOO NARROW. Uncomfortably so.

It sounds as it should and despite its limited sonic variety, what it does, it does well.

If you do not have enormous sausage fingers as I do, and are looking for a hollow-body Beatle bass, this one will serve you well and look good doing it. I am a complete sucker for aged Pearloid and dig the control plate.

An Excellent Upgrade From "Stock".

My understanding has been that most entry-level complete drum kits come with cymbals that can be described as "mediocre" at best. This was definitely true for the Meinl HCSs that came with an older TAMA Imperialstar that I picked up.

They sounded cheap and metallic. I had heard that PST7s were "80% 2001s at 50% of the cost", so I took a chance and ordered these.

I am very glad that I did. The PST7s are very musical and a massive improvement over the Meinls.

If you are thinking about an upgrade and do not want to spend a fortune, I would go for these without a doubt.

I Guess This Makes Me a RØDE Fanboy... So Be It!

This is the second product I have purchased from RØDE when equipping my home "Music Studio". I got them to use as overheads for a drum kit and they work exceedingly well for my purposes. I would say that you could mic a guitar amp, keyboard amp, piano, indeed any instrument with them and be happy with the results.

Again, they are budget-friendly while being extremely well-made. And (as my experience with RØDE's NT-1) the hype is well-deserved.

If you have been considering them, go ahead and pull the trigger. You will be happy that you did.

Everything You've Heard is TRUE! This is a Top-Flight, Professional Microphone.

Having used cheap microphones for most of my life, I can tell you that the minute you pick this guy up, you can tell it's the Real Deal.

Sold, heavy construction means it will last you a very, very, long time.

Perfect for voice-over work or any vocal application, you will not go wrong with this purchase. And it sells for a realistic price that anyone starting in the recording business can afford.

I was skeptical of all the hype surrounding these mics, but it turns out that said reputation is well-deserved. I can recommend this without any reservations.

Nice Kit. Beautiful Finish.

I do not know much about drums. I picked up my first kit (a TAMA Imperialstar) in March of 2021. And, at the time, I was a bit unsure of the TAMA brand. For whatever reason, I had always associated TAMA with '80s Big Hair bands and thought that only Heavy Metal players used them. Very silly, I know.

It turns out, TAMA makes some really nice stuff.

This kit was a very nice step up from that initial set.

The shells are Maple with two layers of Lacebark Pine which are then lacquered in the Garnet color you see presented.

It is a lightweight kit and sounds very musical.

Fantastic Little Amp. Perfect for the Beginner.

I am not the biggest fan of "Modeling" amplifiers. It just seems to me that one thing trying to do a lot of different things is bound to fail. I am happy to report that where the Mustang LT50 is concerned it is pretty successful at what it does.

There are quite a few factory presets onboard and even more if you download the Fender Tone software for your PC or Mac.

The available effects will keep you busy for hours as you search for the ideal sound. It is quite a lot of fun to play with! The "clean" tones are, in my opinion, the strongest feature. They are very clear and very Fender. But you can "dirty up" the sound with surprisingly good results.

At 50 watts you could likely gig with this at a small venue such as a coffee shop or the like but I think it would have a hard time keeping up with a live drummer.

It's a great practice amp and will let you decide if you want to invest in things like pedals and a pedal board.

Overall, excellent for a beginner who does not want to shell out a ton of money for equipment they will never use. It's also an outstanding practice amp usable by ANY level of player experience.

I can recommend this without hesitation.