South African Music Magazine
Built on Allen & Heath’s popular ZED-10FX 6 channel mixer (reviewed in our August/September 2010 issue) which offers a multitude of I/O and routing options in a very small, highly portable package, the new ZED60-10FX adds 60mm faders and individual channel muting into the mix. This portable unit has a lot on offer, particularly for Read More »
In 1962 the Takamine guitar brand was launched in the small town of Gifu, Japan as an economical derivative to other acoustic brands like Taylor and Guild. In those days Japan was on a dogged mission to propel its industry in just about every alcove it could think of: lenses (cameras), electronics, time-keeping devices and Read More »
I was somewhat tickled to have a go at the new series of drums from Pacific Drums and Percussion, otherwise known as PDP. My first drum kit, in fact, was a birch FX series kit and despite being low to medium cost, it was a quality set that always delivered. Pacific Drums and Percussion is Read More »
Conventional wisdom says never trust a product that tries to do too much. These are often words to live by in my experience with guitar amps. Some have one fantastic sound while others promise everything but sound less than stellar and have too many unusable gimmicks. Sometimes, though, someone gets it right. Like Blackstar whose Read More »
It seems that every other day we are presented with a new unknown brand looking to break into the loudspeaker marketplace. Indeed, the Chinese manufacturing industry must be smiling all the way to the bank because just about every loudspeaker company, from the smallest to the largest, has an ‘affordable’ speaker that it manufactures in Read More »
Ibanez guitars and basses have had a long prosperous history since their inception that spans more than 80 years. Originally part of the Hoshino Gakki company, the musical instrument sales division of the Hoshino Shoten bookstore chain, Ibanez emerged on the scene in 1929 when Hoshino Gakki began importing Salvador Ibáñez é Hijos acoustic guitars Read More »
Hybrid modelling/valve amps were not new when the Fender Super Champ XD came out, but the XD took a different approach to most. While most hybrid amps used a valve in the preamp section with a solid-state power amp, the XD used a solid state modelling preamp with digital effects and coupled it with a Read More »
The delay effects pedal has become hands down the most significant segment of a modern guitarist’s artillery. Since quite a big section of modern music is more ‘feel’ orientated, many guitarists have sacrificed virtuosic technique in exchange for the possibility of an escape from the conventional, which one can argue, is in itself is a Read More »
I had the honour of unwrapping 4 of the new Warwick RockBass® models when they reached our sunny shores. These included the 6 String Corvette, Streamer Neck Thru, Streamer LX and the Robert Trujillo (Metallica) Signature Bass. All of them are awesome basses, but for the purpose of this review I will focus on the Read More »
After previously reviewing a few Orange amps [Muse Dec/Jan ‘13], including the Tiny Terror combo, I was extremely grateful to receive both the Tiny Terror and Dark Terror lunchbox guitar heads along with a PPC212 2×12 cab to test. I am a huge Orange fan and have always been pleased with the rugged, organic tone Read More »
