Saturday 26 February 2011

Eminence

I recently had a gig and I had to play with people I had never played before. I was made to work with a guitarist, bassist and a singer. My bassist did not have an amplifier so I suggest a Hartke 30 W which would cost about Rs.11000. Instead this guy lands up buying a 120W amp!! I mean just for practice and when you have just started playing the bass, something truly out of the blue.

Anyways this amp is by Eminence and has an inbuilt cabinet with facilities for ‘megadrive’ which is a heavy overdrive, a warm gain and a clean. All of these contained basic features such as Level, Gain & Tone. The clean zone had a couple more feature which were actually general features and applicable to all the modes. It consisted of Equalizer settings such as High, Low, Mid, Master Volume & a reverb.

The Reverb effect was actually kind of impressive. Basically what anyone might ask for, for the first couple of years of their practice. The sound Quality was good and even at very loud volumes the sound did not break. The cost of this might be around Rs. 22000+ I assume as he got it at an extensive discount. A Pedal was also provided with warm gain and megadrive in it , thereby allowing the user to set their requisite levels of gain and tone and just using the stomp box to change the effects.

Sound: 7.5/10

Features: 8.0/10

Friday 18 February 2011

Essentials

For any guitarist it is very essential to have a few basic tools. Most people tend to omit these tiny things. They are actually very helpful in many situations. Imagine you are stuck in some isolated town and you don’t have a good music store close by and you run out of strings or one of you strings are stuck in one of the holes in the bridge, then what do you do? Well being in a similar location I just happen to know what all one might need to save themselves and their equipment.

It is of utmost importance for any guitarist to carry at least one set of spare strings if not more. Way more than one spare for the E, B (first two) strings as they are always prone to tear. One should also carry a good cloth to wipe the strings after using or at least once every two uses so that sweat and dirt is not accumulated on the strings which will later on lead to rust formation and weaken the strength of your strings.

A few more essential items would be like a gig bag or a hard case bag in case you have to travel a lot with your guitar. If you are an electric guitar user it is very essential that you get yourself a decent amplifier. Make yourself a budget of at least Rs. 3500 and purchase a decent amplification unit .Buy from companies such as Laney or marshall for guitarist. In case you happen to be a bassist you will have to save up almost twice the amount to get an amp. The basic bass amps will be at least Rs. 6500-7000. For those sort of amps you should go for companies such as Fender or Hartke. I think Hartke would land up being a little more costlier. The reason I am stressing so much about amplifiers is that in music sound is everything and your amplifier is one that gives you an idea of what kind of sound you produce. Plus if you go on stage and perform you will notice that you are always supplied with some what good equipment (in most cases). Sound varies from amp to amp so one would like to get his tone and pick up settings done before hand.

There are a few more things one must have. They are such as a peg winder, hairpin incase your string gets stuck in the bridge hole. A screwdriver kit, Wire Stripper, a Capo,a tuner(in case your ears are not yet accustomed to the notes) and the most important one of the lot plectrums. Beginner, intermediate or professional we are all humans and most of us have a habit of losing things especially small things. Plectrums or commonly known as picks are lost a lot at least in my case though I have become more responsible of late.

If you have quite a bit of money on you then buy yourself a processor. I would suggest to learn for atleast a year or so and get your basics clear before you buy the fancy equipment.

Sunday 13 February 2011

Bryan Adams in Tour

the concert on the 13th at palace grounds was one to experience...i was there only for picking up the tickets...but looking at the place and knowing a few of the people going there i am pretty sure that it would have been one hell of an evening...the sad part in banglore though is that tthe concerts don't go on for a long time into the night...
the concert was scheduled to have started at 7 pm ...there was a band opening for adams...he is touring india for a period of 5 days over 4 cities...new delhi...blore....hyd...mumbai...the prices of the tickets were moderately high prigh priced at 1500 and 3000 in blore and hyd and 2000 and 4000 in delhi and mumbai...
what is more intersting is that i hear that lamb of god is supposed to tour india again soon...which will be amazing....i would love id bodom also came by in their new world tour...anyways lets hope for the best

Sunday 6 February 2011

the Gio Series

Ibanez.Gio.
The worst ever creation by the company..at least thats what i think. Ibanez as amazing guitars in the high range..though to get more consumers its the ideal make..for regular guitarist its a complete waste of money..with a basswood body the complete tone of the guitar is messed up...the neck and the finger board are decent though..as it is made of maple and rosewood..
it is difficult to obtain a good sound from these guitars and almost impossible to get good heavy sounds..for metal heads this is not where you would want to spend your money...if this guitar is connected to any normal Indian amplification unit such as that of Siranger the sound would be pathetic where as it wont that bad when other better quality guitars are conneected. lately i have tried out the GRG 270dx...it has a floyd rose tremelo attached to it with an ilt1 bridge...its very uncomfortable and you cant possibly make good use of the tremelo as the bridge is real bad...
as a user of a grg series i would say if are going to spend 15-16 thousand for a guitar, get some more cash and invest in a better guitar..