solusash's Reviews

Prefer This to Traditional Bongos

Former gigging musician, have live and studio experience, radio airplay, did commission work, all that fun stuff. Chose to buy this set after a mate of mine snagged 'em some decade before I did, and I used 'em in a recording of mine when my oldschool bongos died the death.

Build quality is everything you'd expect from MEINL, absolutely solid. Body is made from Rubberwood, playing surface is Siam Oak. Has a really great resonance to it, sounds just fantastic, great resonance to it. This thing is LOUD. Takes a mic really really well. Sounds really good in the mix. Easy to hold between your knees or on your lap, goes good on a bongo stand as well. Just a really fun lil' thing to play. I genuinely have zero complaints about it.

They even have a snare string version I'm debating snagging, though at that point I'd probably just snag myself a traditional cajon... I do need one for my collection, after all.

You Get What You Pay For

I bought it when it was £33.

To answer the questions on the sidebar there, I'm a former gigging musician, have some airplay under my belt, and have a small home studio. What motivated me to buy it was seeing a shiddload of YouTube musicians buying a bunch of Micro Pedals and Combi Units like this one, saying they were the bee's knees, and figuring it's £33. What's the worst that could happen?

And that's £6.60 per mode (it's technically 5 effects). With that in mind, I provide the following review: Durability: This thing is built like a tank, it feels like. Solid metal housing, the stomp switches feel sturdy, and the knobs, while tiny, also feel like they're attached to something worth having in the device. Even the (very tiny) switches to swap between the Reverb and "Roto Engine" (modulation) modes feel pretty stout.

Sound: Delay: The delay is great. It's a digital delay, fairly self explanatory. I'd have liked a slightly longer delay time, but hey, £6.60 delay pedal. Ocean Verb: It's the exact same circuit as all of the mini pedals branded as "Ocean Verb" over on Amazon, with a slightly duller sound. Probably because of the power drain from being in a multi-effect unit. Instructions say it has a memory mode you can save a setting to and recall, that does not work on the "Ocean Verb" setting. Just like the mini pedal version, the Shimmer setting has harsh harmonic overtones that I don't personally care for. YMMV.

Roto Engine: This SAYS it has Phase, Vibe, and Chorus (like I said, 5 modes). What it really has is Leslie Emulation, borderline-but-not-quite Tremolo, and Chorus. It D*does* have a recall mode that functions. As someone who uses phase shift, tremolo, and chorus religiously in their setup, I can say the phase shifter is just garbage for a phase shifter. If you want a rotary speaker emulation, it's marginally better, but still not really all that great. The trem doesn't go nearly deep enough on the volume cut, so you'll never be able to get that choppy staccato effect you can with something like the TR-2, but you CAN make use of it. The chorus is about on par with what you'd find at the low end of chorus units, it's serviceable, but I don't see it replacing my SC10 any time soon.

Summary: I give it 3 stars because at the end of the day, while it's one unit, it's technically 5 effects built into one unit, which means it's a sub-£10 pedal on each effect I'm reviewing. They get sounds better'n I would expect in that price range. The delay was great. I love the delay. Is the delay, reverb, and chorus worth £33? That is one I'll have to play with it a bit more and decide. It may be good for like a knock-about board, but I really don't see it becoming part of my regular kit.

It'd be a great pedal for someone starting out wanting to explore sounds for cheap. But for established players who know what they are looking for? Not so much.

Still, you could do a lot worse.

The Last of the Dragons

Mine is #11 out of 50. This is an ABSOLUTE BEAST of an axe. Fitted with DiMarzio Super Distortions straight from the factory, this thing SINGS. It's got great weight, great balance, and lemme tell ya, that bridge is an absolute stunner for what it is. Locking nut stays in tune. And since it's not a string-thru bridge like a Floyd Rose, you can wail on it like Odysseus' Business (that's a bit highbrow, IYKYK). Not to mention the thing is just GORGEOUS.

They go for between $1500 and $2500 if you can find 'em. I was lucky enough to lay hands on one when my wife found this for our 15th anniversary. She knows I love Lotus guitars, and have been looking for a Lotus explorer since my brother was given a purple burst one for Christmas when I was 12. Dude never even learned to play.

Who's got the REAL beast of an axe now, Johnny? I DO! HA!

Preferred Settings + Usage:

Is a Decent Beginner Guitar, Better Exist for Similar Price Range

I bought the one I bought because mine is absolutely exceptional, unique, and special. I mean, Jerry was bored one day, and painted mine. You don't get cooler than that. The one I have, unfortunately, has rather sharp fret edges needs proper dressing. The tuning pegs are rather high up, as if they're coming OUT of the headstock. The nut also needs a good file job.

I paid £120 shipped for a piece of art, not for the guitar. YMMV.

But hey, the bridge at least doesn't seem to be made of plastic--it's got that going for it, which is nice.

For the Price, Does Pretty Good

First off, the good: It has a button that buttons, knobs that knob, and a switch that switches quite satisfyingly. It's got three different reverb modes, "room," "spring," and "shimmer." It uses a 9v 100mA power supply instead of a 9v battery, so there's less waste. It gets really good sounds from two of the three reverb modes, and the third is fun to play with, and may be useful in certain settings.

Construction: It's built pretty solidly, it's in a metal chassis, metal stomp button, metal switch, and the big knob is metal, while the two smaller are pretty high grade plastic (or at least they feel like it). I was scared to drop it on my toe, it has good weight to it--my grandmother once broke her toe dropping a can of soup on it, this would likely yield similar results. Is built quite solid.

Button: The button buttons very well. It's got a satisfying click, if the barrel is somewhat loose (as these style buttons sometimes are). It turns the pedal on and it turns the pedal off. You can't ask for much more of a button than that.

Knobs: The knobs knob in the most satisfying way. The decay knob (sets how long the reverb tail is) is just a pleasure to turn, very solid feeling, very nice, smooth turning, and a wide range of reverb tail to set it to. The Mix and Tone knobs (which adjust the wet/dry signal and the well, tone of your sound, respectively) are also quite pleasing from a tactile standpoint, with a smooth and even turn. I find with the Room setting, everything set to noon, you get a nice general purpose reverb sound.

Switch: The switch switches. It does so with an audible click, it's not loose in the housing, and feels like it will hold up to hundreds of switchings over the life of the pedal. Not much more you can ask from a switch, really.

Sound: The room and spring settings are both very well done for this price point. The spring setting, with the right tweaking, you can get your Telecaster sounding like the James Bond theme. And really, isn't that what we all want a spring reverb for? The room setting is just a good all purpose reverb, adds depth and dimension to your sound.

The not so good: The shimmer. I just can't really find a place for this in my sound, and I'm a prog/jazz guitarist. It adds a harsh overtone that you have virtually no control over, and there's not a lot of finessing it. With the Collision Devices Black Hole Symmetry, you can set the overtone to be between a semitone and a whole 5th above your note, so you can dial in how it sounds, and really make it work. With the Ocean Verb, it just kind of is there? I mean, with some more playing around, I may can find a place for it, but right now, that setting is just kind of meh.

Outside that, it's a darn good pedal for the price, and the spring 'verb sounds better than the reverb tank on my amp.

You could do a lot worse than this'n, folks.

.strandberg* Looks on a Firefly Scalper Budget!

OK, so this is not for beginners. I can't think of a single headless guitar that is. The tuning machines on it alone would cause consternation for many intermediate guitarists, and beginners? Forget it.

Anyroad, this instrument is nice. Beautiful colour, beautiful sound, and plays like a dream.

Now, it is a £220 guitar. So it's not perfect. The frets could use a polish. You can feel bits of sawdust caught under the satin coat on the back of the neck. The switch is a bit sub-par. The pots could be higher quality. It looks like a .strandberg*, but it's not. It does not have the .strandberg* neck, and gods I wish it did.

All that said, it's a £220 guitar! It looks great! It plays great! It sounds great! It doesn't need too much setting up, it holds tune really well, and while it doesn't have the .strandberg* neck, it does have the rest of the ergonomic design, so it's just a pleasure to play.

It can do everything from jazz to djent, and do it with ease.

But it is not for beginners. Don't get this for Johnny or Jenny if they're first starting off, unless they are just dedicated to the craft. If they are, then by all means, get it! It inspires you to pick it up and play it.

Don't worry about the pitting on the top of the guitar--it's spalted, so that's going to happen.

Bloody love it, will be buying another from a different source, one that has the .strandberg* neck. Costs a bit more, but I need that for the tendon damage I have.

Could be Better, but it's £20!

So it does what it says on the tin. And that's about it. It's not horrible, but it does have some tracking issues. That said, it does everything it says it's supposed to, it works on guitar, bass, and keyboard.

I have not tried it with other effects yet, but hey, for £20, it's not terrible, yeah?

Great Delay Pedal

One of the more solid pedals in the Tone-Lok line, there's a reason this thing is so pricey on the second hand market. Had one for years right after they first came out, nifty little feature being able to change it from a digital delay to an analog circuit style echo, as well as setting the min/max time between three ranges with a switch.

The real selling point with this pedal, as with all the Tone-Lok line, was the push-lock knobs. Set it, forget it. They're also built like a damn tank.

Traded it for an Ibanez SC10 Super Chorus and Boss HM-2 Heavy Metal (yeah, 2-for-1 trade, and both pedals worth as much or double what the DE7 was at the time). Best trade I ever made.

Solid Middle of the Road

Could be better, could be worse. The guitar I have is 23 years old. It's not horrible for what it is. I didn't pay a dime for it, so I can't rightly complain about it. It has a plastic bridge. Don't know what Aria was thinking when they did that. If it were any kind of wood, this would be a much better guitar than it is. It looks nice, standard curvature of a dreadnought guitar, but the pickguard has that little flare to it that sets it apart. Holds tune for years. Literal years.

Just that damn plastic bridge. I've thought about replacing it, but that's just so much more trouble than it's really worth on this guitar when I've got my Kay KDG-70, which is 1000x the guitar this one could ever dream to be.

Still, if you ever come across one for a c-note, you could do a lot worse!

Also, interesting note here--the interwebs is shockingly bare of information about this guitar. I know it exists, it's less than 3 meters away from me as I type this on my triple guitar stand with my ICX-120 and my Lyon Strat knockoff--I know it exists. It's physically in the room with me. But there is little and less information on the interwebs about it. And fewer and far between are any pictures of it!

Even Aria doesn't seem to have much info on the guitar. The maker of it. Weird and strange times we live in, folks.

Ah well. Closed tuners, not sure what wood the body is, plastic bridge, bridge pins, rosewood fingerboard, plastic nut. As I say, if you find one for a c-note or less, and you want a cheap banger of a guitar you don't mind knocking about, this'd be the one I'd say snag. But be minded that plastic bridge gives a fairly artificial sound. Not a bad sound--it's a truly unique sound, but it's artificial none the less.

Not Terrible, Does the Job

Does what it says on the tin. Has a pretty decent valve modeling software side of things. Most people can't tell the difference after I've done my post processing, so that speaks volumes (if you'll excuse the pun). Comes bundled with Cakewalk these days, so I've no reason not to use it. Good little plugin. Have seen worse. Have seen better. Free though, so it gets better'n average rating out of me.

Desert Island Pedal, Hands Down. No Questions Asked.

Guys, this pedal. Oh my giddy aunt. Oh my giddy aunt, this pedal, this pedal oh my giddy aunt this pedal. This pedal, oh my giddy aunt. I can't say enough good things about it. It looks good, it sounds good, it's easy to use, it has one of the best fuzz circuits I've ever played on. The delay has a full second of delay time. The reverb is rich and creamy. Oh my giddy aunt. This pedal.

Yes, it's £250. Yes, that's a lot of dosh. Yes, you could just as easily buy a low-to-midrange guitar or amp for that. Yes, that's a week's groceries, half an auto payment, or a quarter month's rent. But Hel's HOLIEST of Bells, mates, this pedal. It. Is. SO good.

Much like with the Vox V241 Bulldog Guitar, if you're looking for an unbiased review of this pedal, look elsewhere. You won't find it here. Everything this pedal does it does great, and then some. It works together in harmony, three effects that you'd think when you throw fuzz in reverb and delay would be harsh and unwelcome, instead it blends into this perfect just... So good.

Check out the Knobs review on the YouTubes if you don't believe me.

Then go buy this.

It's MMMMMMMMMMM good!

Klone for a Pittance

So with shipping, this comes in under £55 Making it cheaper than even the EHX Soul Food, and one of the 5 cheapest Klones around, that I'm aware of. If you don't know what I mean by "Klone," then you probably don't need this pedal. I'm just going to shoot straight with you.

So what is this pedal? It is a transparent overdrive that most people won't actually use as an overdrive, they'll use it as a clean boost, with the tone and gain set to very specific settings, to drive their tube amps into just a hint of breakup, so they can use the volume knob on their guitar to roll back just a bit. And that's what this pedal does. And it does it in spades. It sounds every bit as good as the pedal it copies, and personally, since it has a bit more headroom, I think it sounds better. I like being able to crank it a little louder, being able to push the gain stage a little harder, and being able to get that creamy breakup while still retaining note definition at higher volumes. You can't do that on the one that costs $2800.

Build quality is bang-on-spot. This bugger is built like a tank. Solid metal construction, with knobs that knob, and a footswitch that switches very switchingly. It also has LED lights that you can set to synchronize, always be on, or always be off. So it's got a nice ambient glow to it, as do all the Joyo R Series of pedals. So you can have a little light show going on your pedalboard. Great if you're into Shoegaze.

But uh... this pedal isn't really great for Shoegaze. Unless you're putting it in front of the Joyo Aquarius, on Galaxy. It sounds like Pink Floyd and Incubus got together for some kind of Vann's Warped Tour... I don't think that's a good analogy, but you just gotta try it.

Anyroad. If you're looking for a Klone under a C-Note, this is the one. If you're looking for a Klone that's not the Tumnus, this is the one. Otherwise, just get the Tumnus/Deluxe, because really, that's the only other one worth thinking about.

First Impressions are I'm Dead Chuffed

So the next price up the ladder costs twice what this does, and it's about on par with it, from what I've played. As with any off-brand/cheaper instrument, you've got your setup work you have to do yourself, Johnny. Don't play around. You know that. Truss rod adjustment, proper strings, maybe a bit of intonation. I can't knock points for that though, not at this price range--you know you're getting a guitar in this price range, you know you're going to have to do that work. It's part and parcel to the job.

So, after the setup: Fit and finish: Pretty OK. The glue work on the nuts was a bit sloppy, so I docked them points on that, and I had to do some work on the volume and tone pots, they were a little loose. So I docked them on that as well. It came with a chintzy gig bag, rather than a case (like the Harley-Benton, but the Harley-Benton costs twice as much), I want to dock 'em on that, but it DID come with a case.

Sound is nice warm vintage vibe. You run this thing through a proper reverb or delay, grab a bow, play some Zeppelin, you're going to be rocking.

I'd be remiss if I DIDN'T shout out to Gear4Music the company and their excellent customer service. There were... issues getting my guitar to me, and they were with me every step of the way via email, and even refunded my shipping costs. Can't speak highly enough of them. Great lot of chaps, they are.

So yeah, 4 stars because it required a bit more work than it should have out of the box, but it plays good, sounds good, and looks killer. And for £250? Yes please!

For the Money, Hard to Beat

So this thing had both delay and a looper in the same pedal. And it's a looper that goes on for 5 minutes of recording. That's bloody well impressive in a £75 package, that is. It's got 8 different types of delay, from analog and digital to lo-fi and "Galaxy," which is the reason you buy it. Just be honest, that's the reason you buy it. Sure, reverse delay is nice, and tube delay with the gradual breakup is pretty fun--but Galaxy steals the show. It's just plain fun.

It's got tap tempo. It's got a looper. It's got 8 types of delay. And it's cheap. Why are you reading this? Go buy it!

Built Like a Tank, Projection for DAYS

This mandolin is LOUD. I mean, it barely needs to be mic'd if the amphitheater is built worth a darn. It projects better than any A-or-F-Style mando out there, and it has a much richer midrange. Holds tune really well, too. More importantly, it takes ALTERNATE tunings really well. Not every mandolin does. It's been out of production for a long, LONG time now, but you can still find 'em on Reverb and eBay if you keep a weather eye out. The downside? 9 out of 10, you don't get 'em with a case. And finding a case for a bowlback is a pain in the neck. So hope you're handy with some tools, because you're going to be making your own, most like.

Seriously though, this mandolin sounds better than a £20,000 Gibson. I'm not just blowing smoke, either. Feel free to look up sound clips on the YouTubes--there's a video of this mandolin, and there are plenty of videos of various super expensive Gibsons. You decide for yourself, but this one has richer midrange sound, and way warmer and deeper projection.

In summation/TL;DR-if you can lay hands on one of these, you should. If you can't, you should be sad.

For the Price it's Hard to Beat

I would give it 5 starts, but you can never find the damn things in stock, so rather'n get 'em for the $130 MSRP, you end up paying $200+ for 'em, plus a rather silly amount of shipping. They come in all manner of colours (I have the Catalina Blue model, like in the stock photo), from Green, to Black, Salmon Pink (they call it orange), even a natural sunburst. They're beautiful to look at. But looks aren't everything.

The necks on these things are where they really shine. They play like a dream (with a proper setup job--you do have to do a little work out of the box--but let's be fair--outside of Fender, Gibson, and Ibanez, most guitars you buy require at least a little fine tuning right out of the box). The fretwork is really well polished, there's no burs, they just feel really great under your fingers. The neck shape is about perfect for a Fender player like me. It's a gloss finished neck and maple fingerboard, so it's really fast to move around on.

Pickups are about what you'd expect to find on a midrange instrument (think Mexican Fenders, Epiphones, $300-500 Ibanez). They sound really really nice. Not too hot, nice warm vintage tone. Push 'em through a tube amp with a bit of saturation, and you're going to be able to get some really nice sounds. Personally, I think this guitar should be paired with an Orange Tube Amp, but that's just my preference for any Telecaster style guitar.

In summation, you could do a whole hell of a lot worse for the money. This is an absolute must have for any fan of a Telecaster, and an absolute no brainer for any fan of inexpensive guitars!

Favorite Acoustic Guitar

So this is basically a cross between some form of Martin and a Gibson Hummingbird. It was a cheap guitar in the 70s, now almost impossible to find. Made in the Matsumoku factory in Japan, it has a lovely three piece back with purfling strips separating the mahogany from the maple strip down the center. Basically, it looks every bit as good as it sounds. The double pick guard is reminiscent of a Gibson Hummingbird, and adds a touch of class to what was, in the 70s, a bargain guitar.

I've been tracking this one down for 15+ years, my wife got it for me for our wedding anniversary this year. It is now my main acoustic guitar. For a ~50 year old instrument, it is in near perfect shape. It plays like a dream. Best tuning for it is DADGAD, it takes open tuning really well.

And for the record, there are no stock pics of that guitar I could find. That's my actual guitar in the picture. Ain't it just a beautiful piece of kit? :D Well, one of the two I own, anyway!

Great for Studio Shortcuts AND Gaming

Honestly, this is the best mouse I've ever used. The changable sidepanel makes it so useful for everything, you can use the Synapse software to hotkey everything, so there's no more hunting things up on the keyboard to find your tools or whatnot. It's all right there on the side of your mouse.

Would give it 5 stars, but it's $70-100.

Maestro Fretless Bass

So even after asking around on here, no dice on just exactly who makes this instrument--it was listed on Reverb as "Maestro BL52 Fretless Bass," and said it was custom. Well, that's a lie, as I have one as well, except mine's black, not blue. So the BK52? I dunno. Anyway. The spouse got it for me for Father's Day some many years ago.

Believe it or not, for being a cheap instrument (she gave less than $120 for it at a hole-in-the-wall music store, now defunct), it's actually decent quality. It plays better than it looks. Fingerboard is my biggest issue. It's non-radiused at all, so unless you like playing on a totally flat fingerboard, it'll mess with you. It's also a right proper pain to tune. But once you get it in tune, it doesn't easily come out of tune.

Has a nice thick heavy sound to it, very heavy low end. I actually really like the tone you can get out of it.

In summation, not a bad lil' axe if you can find one. You COULD do worse. Try searching up "Batwing bass," "Fretless triryche bass," and even "Maestro Fretless Bass." You may yet find one.

Also, if ANY of you know just what the devil it is, feel free to let ME know.

This Thing Rocks

I've got an 04 in Midnight Wine (matches my Strat and my Precision Bass--just need the Tele to round out the set). It has amazing tone, smooth neck, plays easy, and with the flat wound strings on it, slides are just so much fun.

It stays in tune for ages, has that classic J-Bass tone we all know and love, and is just so mellow, man. Like, this is the bass I've been after since I started playing more'n 20 years ago, and I finally laid hands on one for my birthday this year. I'm happy like hell.