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My Music Gear
Here's a quick rundown of my music gear and some honest comments about each.
Steinberger XQ4 with TransTrem
Steinberger XQ4
Gallien-Krueger 700RB/210 Amplifier
Carvin DC-127 with Wilkinson Tremolo
Kramer D-100 Acoustic Guitar
Korg Ampworks Bass
Yamaha NE-1 Parametric Equalizer
DigiTech RP7 Valve Pre-Amp
Korg D1200 Digital Recording Studio
Alesis SR-16 Drum Machine
Behringer Ultra-Q Pro
Steinberger XQ4 with TransTrem
Serial #: N11029
Purchased new in 1990
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Comments: My baby. I love this bass. Tight mid-range tone that cuts through the mix, yet moves air and grooves (think Geddy Lee on Grace Under Pressure). Had a Bass TransTrem factory installed in 1992. To my knowledge, the only XQ bass with a TransTrem. I play it with the bridge pick-up full on, the neck pick-up half way, and the tone about 60%. Tight string spacing facilitates fast playing. Graphite blend neck bolted on rock maple body. Very heavy, about 13 lbs. Stays in tune for weeks on end. Originally came with a DB bridge (Steinberger bridge with a Hip-shot style D-tuner for the E String). One gripe about the TransTrem: intonation has to be adjusted manually by pushing saddles back and forth with your fingers, as opposed to using a screwdriver or allen wrench.
Steinberger XQ4
Serial #: N10305
Purchased in 2004 off eBay
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Comments: Two is better than one! Exact same bass as my other XQ, except it’s red and has a standard Steinberger bridge.
Gallien-Krueger 700RB/210
Bi-Amp Bass Amplifier
Purchased new from RiksMusic.com in 2002
Comments: Loud enough for most any gig. Simple to use. Wide range of sounds. I set it warm and tight by rolling back the "presence" and "contour" settings, keeping the EQ flat, and playing through my Yamaha NE-1. Built-in handle and rollers allow you to pull it like a suitcase. Very heavy. Able to tilt back like a monitor, but is very unstable in this position. The slightest nudge will send it falling on its back. Concise and helpful user manual. I’m very happy with this amp and haven’t even considered trying other amps since purchasing it.
Carvin DC-127 with Wilkinson Tremolo
Serial #: 64639
Purchased new from Carvin in 2001
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Comments: I had the good fortune of knowing someone with two Carvins, so I became familiar with the name and their instruments. When I decided to buy my own electric, the only question I had was which Carvin to buy. I went with the DC-127 because it was one of their less expensive models (about $600). The difference in it and other higher-priced models, as far as I can tell, is the pick-up configuration. Same neck-through-body construction, same hardware, same beautiful finish. Needless to say, I love this guitar. Sounds great played acoustically. Plugged in, it does what you want: warm, bright, mellow, crisp, or any other cliché adjective used to describe tone.
Kramer D-100 Acoustic Guitar
Purchased new from MusicYo.com in 2004
Comments: I received an email from MusicYo (with my permission) announcing they had Kramer acoustics starting at $100. I clicked-through, read about it, and the rest is history. I play this guitar way more than I ever thought I would. I’m no acoustic expert, but I think this is a fabulous $100 guitar. The action was a little high when I first received it, but I installed some extra light strings which pretty much solved the problem. The bridge has a string-through design, so there are no pegs to mess with when changing strings. If all that wasn’t enough, this guitar smells good! Fresh wood scent inspires the muse! And did I mention is cost $100?
Korg Ampworks Bass Modeling Signal Processor
Purchase new on eBay in 2004
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Comments: I love this little guy! It makes playing and recording bass so much fun. Three big knobs give you a world of different of sounds. Mix and match modeled preamps, modeled cabinets, and a sound effect. My favorite is the "Jazz" preamp, 1x15 Jazz cabinet, and a touch of chorus. No matter the settings, I always set the treble back to about 10:00. I think that’s the secret to finding your sound with this unit. It doesn’t come with a power supply, which stinks, but it has a 4.5 volt DC connector if you want to buy one later. It runs on two AA batteries for about 10 hours of continuous use. Click here to read a review I posted at music123.com. Click here to visit my online Ampworks Bass program library.
Yamaha NE-1 Parametric Equalizer
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Comments: This is one strange piece of gear...and I absolutely worship it! The "NE" stands for Nathan East. Supposedly this unit is based on a custom-made unit Nathan uses in his rig. Now get this: all this thing does is cut EQ. That’s it. You can choose if want the cut to be "deep" or "shallow", and you can choose the frequency. Nothing more. On top of that, the frequencies are not labeled. It’s an arbitrary 1 through 10. The user guide sort of tells you which frequencies are available, but only with a picture of a graph. You can’t determine exactly which frequency you’re cutting on, say, Deep 7. From the picture it looks like about 800 kHz. Anyway, the setting I use is Nathan’s setting: Deep 4. It’s a -20 dB cut at 2000 kHz. If you ever get a chance to run your bass through a rig with parametric EQ, try that setting. It’s a warm growl that’s soft as a kitten. You can barely hear your fingers scrape the strings. Only complaint about the NE-1: it only runs on a 9V battery. No power adapter jack. Click here and scroll down to read my review at Harmony Central.
DigiTech RP7 Valve Pre-Amp
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Comments: I use this mostly for recording my guitar direct. Usable pre-sets, good variety of distortion and reverb, and easy to program. Purchased new in 1999 from 8th Street Music. Very tough unit, built to last. But lack of on-off switch is disappointing; it’s only on when plugged up. Speaking of which, the connector for the power supply doesn’t stay in the unit very well. One misstep and you lose power. The few times I’ve used it live I duct taped the power cord and that prevented any problems. Out of production but can be found on eBay. Here’s a link to DigiTech's RP7 patch library.
Korg D1200 Digital Recording Studio
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Purchased new from music123.com in 2004
Comments: At this writing, I’m still finding my way around this monster. It’s got a 40 GB hard drive, built-in modeling for guitar, bass, and mic, and records 12 tracks. Click here to download a song that I recorded with it. It can accommodate a built-in CD burner, but I bought it without. Once I finish recording all my tracks, I just mix down to my computer by connecting the unit to my sound card via RCA jack. This thing has bells and whistles galore: insert effects, master effects, a tuner, a drum machine, you name it. If you’re like me and don’t want to sit in front of a computer to record music, then consider the Korg line of multi-trackers.
Alesis SR-16 Drum Machine
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Comments: This is the only drum machine I’ve ever owned, so I don’t know if it’s better or easier-to-use than others. It does what I want it to for the most part. The drum sounds are realistic. The preset patterns are alright, I guess. Programming new patterns is pretty easy to do. Programming fills between patterns takes practice. Programming a song with all your patterns takes time and patience. I’m not a drummer, so any programming I do tends to be really simple. Click here to hear songs I’ve written and recorded with an SR-16.
Behringer Ultra-Q Pro
5-Band Parametric Equalizer
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Comments: I own a book called The Musician’s Guide to Home Recording. (Stay with me here) In it are some good EQ suggestions for recording vocals, guitar and bass. For example, when recording one bass signal, it recommends boosting EQ at 100 Hz, 800 Hz, 3K, and 5K. When I first got the book I thought it would be cool to try recording at those settings. So I purchased this unit. Behringer is not exactly the summit of quality and customer adoration, but I’ve been happy with the Ultra-Q Pro. Like the name says, you can choose up to five frequencies, select your octave bandwidth (ie, the Q), and how much you want to boost or cut. I primarily use it when recording my vocals, though quite frankly, no amount of EQ magic helps me. You either sing well or you don’t.
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