Guitar
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Marshall JH-1 ‘The jackhammer’ – Review and Test.
The Jackhammer is a funny pedal, the controls are fiddly and the Distortion is hopeless but the overdrive is very usable indeed.
I picked mine up on ebay for a very good price. Therefore this review and test is based on the price I paid which was under £20.
Like I said the controls are fiddly, the contour and freq control are really hard to seperate so when you turn the Contour knob the Freq knob turns also.
The Distortion is terrible, I A/B’d it with a few other distortions I have and no matter how much fiddling I did it just didn’t come anywhere near to what I wanted.
That said the Overdrive is better than I expected especially when you take the dismal Distortion into account.
It’s got a very AC/DC vibe about it, it allows you to get some really crunchy sounds and sounds excellent on open chords with the right settings.
Getting the settings is the problem, too many knobs in a very small space and they’re stacked.
The Gain knob is onto of the Volume Knob, the Treble sits on the Bass Knob and the Freq sits above the the Contour.
After some messing I managed to get a sound that suited my Fender Champion and then just used the Gain to dial in more overdrive and it works very nicely.
I have a few different distortions and usually find a good setting and leave them using the guitars volume and tones to alter the sound.
If you’re looking for a distortion/overdrive you can dial different sounds in then it may be an idea to look elsewhere.
If you’re looking for a very usable Overdrive and are willing to fiddle with it then this maybe the pedal for you.
Check out the video below, it’s recorded using a Fender Champion, Fender Telecaster with the toggle switch on the bridge pickup and it’s been recorded using a T-Bone MB75 and not an SM57 as stated in the video.
Sound: 7/10 for the overdrive 2/10 for the distortion
Usability: Too twiddly and trying to do too much on a small box, 4/10
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A while back I picked this amp up with the mind to do some busking and small gigs.
In the meantime I’ve been using it during my lessons with students and so here is my review.
On first opening the item and giving it a test run with a guitar and seymour duncan woody pickup I found that the volume given out would be enough to project my warblings without deafening poor passers by.
It’s a wedge shaped speaker with two inputs, one for guitar electric or acoustic and vocal.
The guitar channel comes with a really bassy gain. There is a reverb that can be assigned to either channel but not both.
The battery has a good 4 to 6 hours in it.
The guitar sound without gain is nice and crisp.
The only fault I can find is that it is quite noisy, the amp gives off a very audible white noise which from reviews I read before seems to be a common design fault.
That said it’s use is not for recording or even the bedroom, it’s for performance which when you have street level noise would not be a factor. For portability this is quite a heavy peice of kit so bear that in mind when having to carry a guitar as well.
If you’re looking for a cheap small area performance vocal and guitat amp I don’t think you can go wrong for the price.
If you’re looking for a portable battery powered amp to practice with get a pignose.
Overall I;d give it 7/10 due to the noise generated but in a performance setting you could live with that.
Check out the info below for specs:
The Hiwatt BSK15/8 Guitar Amplifier Busker Amplifier, Solidstate, 15 Watts. Compact and portable, battery or mains powered busking amp from the legendary British company. Simply plug your mic, your electro-acoustic guitar and off you go, to the streets!
The Hiwatt BSK15/8 15 Watt Guitar Combo blends pedigree with portability. Hiwatt have been making great amps since the 1960′s and the BSK15/8 Maxwatt 15 Watt Busker Amp With AC/DC is no exception.
A lightweight construction with side handles, a removable speaker cover and internal battery make this an indispensable tool for musicians on the move – the internal rechargeable battery can even be charged by a 12v car lighter socket. The 15 Watt Hiwatt speaker provides great sound powered by AC or DC operation for convenience.
The amp has two channels for simultaneous guitar and microphone inputs with separate volume and tone controls for each. You can adjust the tone of your guitar to your needs with bass, middle and treble controls, a boost switch and gain dial. A compact, highly portable guitar amp, great wherever you take it!
Features:
- 15 Watts
- 8″ Hiwatt High Performance Speaker
- AC/DC Operation
- Internal Rechargeable Battery
- DC Socket & 12v Car Charger Input
- Battery Life 2-8 Hours (Subject to Vol.)
- Microphone Channel: High/Low Input, Level & Tone Control
- Instrument Channel: High Input, Gain, 3 Band EQ
- Level Controls & Boost Switch
- Headphone Jack
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That’s right, theBigRed have reduced the cost of downloadable backing tracks to 49 pence – it get’s better for a short time you’ll also be able to get a discount of 25% when you buy 10 or more tracks!
Just add you tracks and then enter 58F9993AD2 at the end and you’ll get your 25 % discount on the whole amount.
Enjoy!
Get them here > Click
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Boss eBand JS-8: Audio Player/Recorder with Guitar Effects
To be honest I’ve not had chance to review this item, but then again it’s Boss and you really can’t go wrong with that.
Read through the specs list and see what this item is capable of doing and work it out as per seperate item and you’ll see at the price this is being sold at that it’s actually great value.
Check out the youtube video below,
— Boss eBand JS-8 Jam Station: Audio Player/Recorder with Guitar Effects:
The Ultimate Jam-Along Companion for “bedroom guitarists” who love jamming along with their favorite songs, the ultimate musical companion has arrived. eBand is a portable all-in-one audio player that’s packed with big features.
With the Boss JS-8 Audio Player with Guitar Effects, WAV and MP3 files can be loaded and played by eBand, and the tempo and pitch can be changed. Plug in your guitar and jam along using the powerful onboard COSM® preamp and BOSS effects. You can minimize the pre-recorded vocals or guitar parts with the Center Cancel feature for minus-one play, and record and save your jams. There’s even a library of backing tracks and rhythms onboard, plus a built-in tuner and metronome.
BOSS FX Onboard
eBand is loaded with high-quality BOSS effects derived from the GT-10, including over 100 powerful guitar sounds that span a variety of genres. It also features the famous COSM® preamp from the GT-10. Using eBand?s Guitar/Mic input, you can apply the internal processing to your guitar or voice.
EZ TONE Sound Wizard
Creating your own sounds is simple with eBand. The EZ TONE feature provides a quick, intuitive approach to tone creation based on graphic icons and a Tone Grid. You’ll be programming at the speed of sound!
Memory-Card Compatibility
SDHC memory cards of up to 32GB can be plugged into eBand, letting you store thousands of WAV/MP3-format songs per card. eBand also lets you play WAV/MP3 files directly from USB memory stick, expanding your data storage and file-management options. (eBand comes with a 1GB SD card)
Convenient Phrase Trainer
Phrase Trainer is a feature packed function convenient for practicing phrases from imported songs. Phrase Trainer includes functions to control pitch and tempo of imported songs, Center Cancel for minimizing the guitar or vocal parts from pre-recorded audio, and AB repeat. Now you can learn phrases without feeling any stress!
USB Audio Interface
eBand can be used as a USB audio interface, allowing the audio signals from eBand (audio-player sound + live guitar/vocal sound) to be transferred to PC via USB. As a result, eBand audio can be recorded into DAW software on your PC. Furthermore, audio from PC can be played back on eBand. This means eBand can function as USB speakers for your PC.
Cool Extras
There are many other notable features packed into eBand, including an internal recorder for capturing your guitar performances as you play along with songs or backing tracks. And speaking of backing tracks, 300 audio-loop phrases are onboard for jam-along inspiration. Of course eBand is also equipped with the essential built-in tuner and metronome
Features/Specifications:
- Imports and plays audio files (WAV and MP3)
- Pitch and tempo control of imported songs
- Guitar/Mic input with dedicated input control; headphone output
- Custom-tuned speakers for powerful playback
- COSM Preamp and 100+ effects derived from BOSS GT-10
- EZ Tone function provides the ultimate easy-to-use, intuitive approach to sound creation based on graphic icons
- 300 audio-loop phrases onboard for backing tracks and rhythms (some include companion guitar effects pre-programmed to match the loops)
- Tuner and metronome built in
- Records and saves your guitar performances
- USB audio interface for direct link to and from PCs
- Play songs from USB memory stick
- Import your favorite songs from audio CD to eBand with included utility software (PC/Mac)
Further Specifications:
- Memory Capacity: SD/SDHC Card (128 MB ? 32 GB)
- Data Type: JS-8 Songs (Recording/Playback), MP3 (Bit rate: 64 kbps – 320 kbps, Playback only), WAV (Quantization Bit Rate: 8/16/24-bit, Playback only)
- AD Conversion: 24-bit + AF method* (GUITAR/MIC IN), 24-bit (LINE IN)
- DA Conversion: 24-bit
- Sampling Frequency: 44.1 kHz
- Effect Patch Memories: Preset: 130, User: 100
- Effect Types: AMP (Amp Modeling) -FX (OD/DS, WAH, COMP, LIMITER, OCTAVE, AC.PROCESSOR, PHASER, FLANGER, TREMOLO, ROTARY, UNI-V, PAN) – EQ (Equalizer) – NS (Noise Suppressor) – DELAY – CHORUS – REVERB.
- Recording Time (listed capacities are approximate. Times may be slightly shorter depending on the number of songs that were created.): JS-8 Songs: 250 min. (1GB), 8,060 min. (32GB) – WAV/16-bit/Stereo: 90 min. (1GB), 3,020 min. (32GB) – MP3/128 kbps/Stereo: 1,040 min. (1GB), 33,330 min. (32GB)
- Nominal Input Level:GUITAR/MIC IN: -20 dBu (INPUT GAIN=GUITAR), -32 dBu (INPUT GAIN=MIC), AUX IN: -15 dBu
- Input Impedance: GUITAR/MIC IN: 1 M ohm/AUX IN: 22 k ohms
- Nominal Output Level (Phones): -10 dBu, LINE OUT: -10 dBu
- Output Impedance (Phones): 44 ohms, LINE OUT: 1 k ohm
- Display: 132 x 64 dots graphic LCD (with backlit)
- USB: Supports file transfer (mass storage class) and audio
- Width: 264 mm/10-7/16 inches
- Depth: 166 mm/6-9/16 inches
- Height: 201 mm/7-15/16 inches
- Weight: 1.7 kg/3 lbs. 12 oz.
Accessories Included:
- AC adaptor (PSB-1U), SD card (1 GB), Owner’s Manual, Roland Service (Information Sheet)