Review: Cordoba F10

January 26th, 2013 by Andres Gallo

Cordoba F10 Flamenco Guitar

$999

Design

One thing about the design of this guitar is that it is pure flamenco. I had never played on a flamenca blanca type of guitar, and it shows I had been missing out on a lot of awesomeness for playing flamenco style techniques. The choice of woods looks absolutely gorgeous and more importantly, contributes to the guitars great balance between resonance, aggressive speed and responsiveness.

The overall design really screams quality. There are small details on every inch of the guitar reminding you that this is a serious instrument, and serious care was taken in its design. To protect your investment Cordoba also includes a very nicely designed and light hard case which is also a nice touch.

Sound

This specific guitar sounds absolutely gorgeous for flamenco style techniques while being rich enough to work well for less aggressive styles. The F10 does not sound as resonant, as cordobas own classical C7, though for flamenco this is for good reason. Where their classical sounds very warm and rich the F10 sounds incredibly fast and aggressive. Playing fast rhythmic runs, shows off how chords come through with lots of clarity, without any one strum muddying the next. Tapping on the guitar’s body sounds huge opening a new world of playing ideas.

For romantic type slower songs I would recommend a classical like the Cordoba C7 over this guitar anyday. Being that this is a flamenco guitar however, this is an amazing instrument if you love the aggressive rhythmic and almost percussive sounds found in flamenco. An amazing instrument, and perhaps the one I am playing most lately.

Reliability

The guitar looks and feels very solid. I havent beaten the guitar or anything like that to test how much damage it can endure, but it certainly feels very durable. The only possibly negative aspect in terms of reliability from Cordoba I can think of is consistency. When I picked up my Cordoba C7, it was perhaps the best sounding guitar out of the lot; what makes me question the consistency however, is that I thought it sounded better than guitars almost 3 times the price including some other more expensive Cordobas. Depending on how you look at this this can be a good thing.

Conclusion

An excellent value for the money for those looking for a guitar that can truly express that aggressive flamenco playing where many fall short. Excellent feel, and gorgeous look and sound.

Cordoba F10

Review: Phaez Black Daisy

March 5th, 2011 by Andres Gallo

Phaez Black Daisy Amplifier
$800 -$1000

Design

After lots of research on the internet in search for a high gain lower wattage amplifier, I learned of a few amplifier brands with a great reputation. One of these brand is Phaez amplifiers, who makes various amplifier models to which he offers lots of customization. Reading through various comparisons and reviews I saw nothing but raving reviews, and so thought I should hear it myself.

One of the coolest aspects of the Phaez brand is that you can customize various things about the amplifier. You can get the amps with just about any choice of tubes, furthermore, you can even request some features to make your amp more unique; I had a unique boost installed in my amplifier. Unlike the usual boost in most amps, I asked for my amp’s boost to take place after the preamp stage to keep my tone more consistent, and simply louder.

As mentioned you have the choice to design many aspects of your amplifier, and you can even ask Randy for suggestions on features that would better suit your playing style. The unit I got for example is called Blackdaisy for its Fender Blackface like cleans, and its Daisycutter high gain channel. These are two things I really wanted in my amplifier, and two which I will cover in more detail as I cover the amplifier’s sound quality.

Overall the design is very custom which it can’t be wrong, but one thing that definitely needs improvement in my opinion is the aesthetic of it. The casing looks awesome with the clear front covering, however it is not a look that defines the amp or which shows how good the amp sounds. The look is in other words somewhat generic with the exception of the plexi front, yet I am sure most people looking for a custom amp are really looking for the sound quality rather than how it looks.

Sound

With this kt77 35watt unit I got a really sonorous clean channel. It has that Fender Blackface quality to it, but its a fair bit more chimey making it great for rock music and such. While I got this amp for its high gain channel, I ended up liking its clean channel a lot more. I could see myself using this along with the Evans AH200 when recording clean tracks.

Just as good as the clean channel is its high gain channel, which is a great 70s to 80s high gain sound with lots of body. In terms of body it sounds huge…bigger sounding than most high gain amplifiers, however it does not have the modern airier tone of some of the other high gain amps that I have grown to love. Triads and power chords come through so mean and strong that it keeps you playing heavy riffs that have body unheard of in other amplifiers. All in all the sound is great, with my only gripe being the versatility of the high gain channel. Its a really good sounding high gain channel, but its not as versatile as I’d like.

Reliability

The plexiglass can make it seem like the amp is more exposed than it should be, however the amp feels very solid. The amp feels strong, and reliable to play through years of shows

Conclusion

The clean is beautiful as well as its high gain sound. Just as it is with any amplifier however, its sound is not for everybody. The high gain channel’s vintage grit while not exactly my sound, is one I know a lot of people love.

Phaez Amps Website

Review: Port City 2×12 OS Cabinet w/ WGS Veteran 30s

September 11th, 2010 by Andres Gallo

Port City Wave Cab with WGS Veteran 30s
$550 – $750

Design

During the last 2 months I have been the lucky owner of a Port City Wave OS 2×12 cabinet with WGS Veteran 30 speakers, and promised myself I would write a review on it. I knew I had to write about it since the first time I plugged my amp into it, as I was very happy with its sound quality, and as it keeps making me smile every time. I had no idea a cabinet could make such a big difference in the sound quality of the guitar, furthermore, it looks a lot better than just about every other cabinet I have seen.

Looking at it, it has a really beautiful tolex finish, a tough but great looking mesh grill, a front port at the bottom, and a durable handle which looks capable of carrying something 20 times heavier than the cab. Everything about the design seems to have had been thought throughout to be not only aesthetically pleasing, but functional. Proofreading this article, I can see my language makes it seem as if I had fallen in love with this speaker cabinet, and perhaps such is the case even though it is still not perfect. It is beautiful, sounds great, but its very heavy and would heavily benefit from having wheels as due to its shape it is designed to be carried by only one person. I am certain Daniel at Port City can offer wheels for extra charge, however.

Sound

It’s bigger in size than most 2×12 cabinets, but smaller than a 4×12, however it sounds substantially bigger than any 4×12 I have tried. WGS claims their Veteran 30 speakers sound like Celestion vintage 30s but better. In the Port City Cabinet they sound bigger and smoother than any Celestion vintage 30s I have ever heard, although I have never heard the Port City cab with Celestions. The sound has that definition of vintage 30s, but there is something special that I can safely assume is due to the combination of the Veteran 30s and the cabinet. The sound seems a lot more rounded, and seems to come out of the speaker into a room filling aura of pure awesomeness. I can equalize my amp in ways that would have made it harsh before. Overall, the sound of this combination is absolutely phenomenal; the cleans sound cleaner and bigger, and my higher gain channels sound meaner and more defined.

Reliability

As already mentioned the cabinet looks like a gorgeous tank. The cabinet is without a doubt built to last, and I feel I’d receive help from Port City should any problems arise in the future. Daniel Klein from Port City, for example helped me with all questions I had, and even helped me with the process of getting the WGS speakers into the cabinet. Long story short, I appreciated their great customer support, and also that of WGS.

Conclusion

All in all I recommend this combination to all of you looking for a new cabinet. The design of the Port City does as advertised making a positive difference and improvement in the sound quality.
For those of you who may be curious about the WGS Veteran 30s, they are similar to the Celestion Vintage 30s but smoother. I have not compared the two brands in the same cabinet, but from the sound I got out of the WGS in my cabinet, it is a beautiful thing.

Port City Amps
Wherehouse Guitar Speakers

Review: Morley Little Alligator

August 14th, 2009 by Andres Gallo

Little Alligator
$90

Design

The little alligator is a great volume pedal that does what it was intended for perfectly. The design is quite simple, and feels well constructed with its tough materials, and their smooth implementation. The construction is so good actually, that the motion is about as smooth as it gets. It sure feels a lot better than my 535Q wah pedal. Very neat also, is the “minimum volume” knob which controls the minimum volume available to the pedal. This means you can control the threshold which maycome in quite handy for the creative players. For example I use it on the loop for dynamics in my music, similar to having two channels, with 1 being louder than the other one. Functionality wise its perfect. Like always in my reviews, however, I like to show the negative side of the items I review as well. For this volume pedal, such is its physical size. It takes much more space than dunlop’s wah pedals, yetI don’t see why it should. Put simply, this pedal is unnecessarily big, though not huge by any means.

Sound

Though simply a volume pedal, you tone stays intact when used after the preamp stage. It works like the volume knob in your guitar if not used in the FX loop, and thus your gain will be affected when you lower the volume. It may be used to turn a 1 channel amp into a two channel amp by decreasing the gain. It’s a very transparent sound pedal after all. For most folks, it is sure to become an important tool in their bag of tricks.

Reliability

Durable and smooth construction are good signs. It is definatelly built to last.

Customer Support

Haven’t had the need to call them up. Its functionality is very easy, and it seems very reliable.

Review: TC Electronics Nova Delay

July 23rd, 2009 by Andres Gallo

Nova Delay
$250

Design

When it comes to delay pedals, it is always hard to justify the price as the good ones are pretty expensive. My all time favorite delay pedal, the Electro Harmonix Deluxe Memory Man, was such a pedal, which always awed me with its gorgeous tones, but unfortunately coupled with a pretty big price tag. Don’t get me wrong, the DMM is worth every penny, but new delay pedals do many things better, and some even though digital sound much similar to the classic analogs, while being capable of much more.
Here comes the TC Electronics Nova Delay, which in my opinion is the most beautiful pedal I own, and the smartest designed pedal I have ever used. TC Electronics is a company that has much experience in the live stage market, and with that in mind, you can expect something that is a pleasure to use while on the stage.
The beautifully designed pedal features both preset and manual modes of functioning for quick and simple use on the stage, as well as a nicely designed tap tempo switch. The stomp-on-switches are very smooth to the touch, and are really easy to press, which is godsend to those who like to change their delay settings in real time with their hands. The unit can store up to 9 presets and they can be completely switched from the floor.
Standard features for a delay that were of course not forgotten are a delay knob, a feedback knob, and a mix knob. These standards are included here as is to be expected, but there are some really neat aspects on the way in which these were implemented. The delay knob for example stays set only on the middle position, while the amount that it is offset determines how quick the delay time is raised or lowered and once you have the setting you want you set it to the middle position. A button controls the type of delay that is being created, of which there are 6. These little details are not very important but are sure to enhance the experience using the pedal.
Unique to the Nova Delay and the grand beauty in its design are the Mod, and Color knobs. The Mod knob can provide some really interesting textures controlling the amount of modulation in the delay, while a Mod button allows the type of modulation to be changed. This is all absolutely genius, but it gets better with the inclusion of a Color knob which allows the pedal to sound like a tape echo delay, an analog delay, or a digital delay. The genius aspect of this is that the way this was implemented, allows you to get sounds that are in between, where as in other pedals you only have the three choices and that’s that.
Last but not least, the unit also has a subdivision button that can cut the delay time in a subdivision of the set time which can come in quite handy. The delay time can also be viewed in both ms, and bpm numbers. That’s not very important in my opinion, but I am sure there is no problem when it is an option. It has so many options, and yet is so easy to use. Definitely a must buy pedal for all delay fanatics.

Sound

The sound in this pedal is absolutely blissful. I am not referring to the many tonal options provided, but rather the ability for the delays to come out absolutely pristine, to the point that you may even call them clinical. I understand many may dislike this aspect in a delay pedal, while others love it. That’s why the color knob is such a beautiful addition. It can make the tone go anywhere from pristine and clinical to the lush thick sound of a tape delay.
Beyond the wonderful quality of its sound, it also features many tonal options as already mentioned. The mod types and the mod delay for example can provide some really interesting textures impossible with another setup as they only affect the repetitions and not the original notes. To top it all, it has 6 delay modes, and one of this is unique to TC. This is the dynamic delay which does some really interesting things with the volume of the repetitions. A beautiful sounding unit which makes creative tones a pleasure.

Reliability

Its pretty heavy, but that seems to be part of the engineering as it seems to have been made to last. It feels very solid.

Customer Support

Have not dealt with their customer support, but it seems they have a good reputation.

Review: Electro Harmonix Holy Grail Plus

July 1st, 2009 by Andres Gallo

Holy Grail Plus
$145

Design

A great design is something the guys at Electro Harmonix seem to have become masters of. They are consistently creating stompboxes that are not only incredibly simple to use, but which in spite of their simplicity pack a whole load of awesome tones. Fortunately, the Holy Grail is no exception, featuring only three knobs in their usual tank like durable container. It does not get any simpler than this, yet the control and range of tones possible is still pretty amazing.
The controls include a “Blend” knob, an “Amount” knob, and another knob which controls the type of reverb. The types of reverbs available are, the famous “spring” reverb, Hall Reverb, Room Reverb, and an odd sounding “Flerb.” The blend knob controls the mix of the reverb in contrast to the dry signal, while the amount controls the depth of it. With those two knobs you can get a wide range of different sounds which I will discuss in the sound section.
It’s simplicity is really beautiful for the sounds you can get out of it. Even when it’s off, with its True Bypass switching you can feel calm as your tone will be intact. Unfortunatelly, it was only close to perfect, as I can see people complain about it’s inability to use batteries.

Sound

“OMG…” Well yeah it really sounds that good. The spring mode is absolutely beautiful, with its thick yet clear shimmering tones. As much as I dislike putting thick and shimmering in the same description, I can’t see any other way in which to describe its sound. Shimmering sounds tend to be thin, but here the sound is really thick, and as it decays it just turns into a really nice shimmer bringing a new level of life to your clean tones. It gets most of this character when used through the amps FX loop where the reverberations come through more naturally. It works awesome with distortion as well, though to be honest if not set correctly it can make the sound mushy. Don’t let this scare you, however, as it can also beautify you lead tones.
One mode I see many people complain about is the flerb mode. In this mode, the holy grail does not sound like a reverb, but rather as some sort of modulation effect. I personally love the flerb mode because it is extremely unique. These modulations sound really cool when playing slow arpeggios with the guitar tone’s knob down creating cavernous creepy landscapes. I think this mode just requires some extra creativity from the artist as it sounds very odd, which then again is its best characteristic.
All the modes, are great in one way or another, but the spring mode alone makes the holy grail worth its price.

Reliability

Like usual its built like a tank; a really small tank, but one nonetheless. You probably seen me write this of another Electro Harmonix stompbox, but then again, most of their pedals share the same physical design.

Customer Support

Electro Harmonix customer support is very good. They have always been quick to respond to my emails, and have provided me helpful answers to my questions.

Review: Electro Harmonix Signal Pad

April 30th, 2009 by Andres Gallo

Signal Pad
$43

Design

In music, dynamics are a big part of what separates the outstanding from the rest. I love compositions that use lots of changes in volume and energy but always found it really hard to keep different volumes consistent with volume pedals. I thought the only solution would be a custom made stompbox; and then I learned of the Electro Harmonix Signal Pad.
The overall design is spectacular following the specs I had been looking for. Consisting of a volume knob, and a true bypass switch it gives me that extra volume preset I needed in a small package. Combined with another volume pedal, it gives me lots of volume options. Also important, and very nifty is that is does not need batteries, unless you want the indicator LED. Overall, a simple pedal which I am sure many could benefit from. Don’t be fooled…this pedal can do much more than just change the volume, especially on tube amps where the gain heavily affects the tone.

Sound

Used in the FX loop it will act similar to the amps volume knob, with little change in the tone, but much in the level of loudness. This is where I use it myself, however, in front of the amp it is a really unique and useful pedal, working just like the volume knob of the guitar, but with consistency in the volume preset. Because of this you can then have a clean, a dirty tone, and a heavier tone from just two channels, or an overdriven/distortion channel and a clean channel from a 1 channel amp. The dirty tones achieved from rolling down the volume are absolutely beautiful, and hough such tones can be done rolling down the volume on the guitar; it is pretty much impossible to get the same tone twice which is where the signal pad comes handy.
Definitely recommended to all sorts of tone freaks…there are few things more annoying the finding an awesome tone, and not being able to keep that tone consistently.

Reliability

Its built like a tank.. A really small tank, but one nonetheless.

Customer Support

Electro Harmonix customer support is very good. They have always been quick to respond to my emails, and have provided me helpful answers to my questions.

Review: Sonic Research Turbo Tuner ST200

March 27th, 2009 by Andres Gallo

Turbo Tuner
$130

Design

When it comes to music, every musician knows how obviously important it is to sound good. Out of all the things that can make us sound bad, being “out of tune,” is perhaps the worst of evils, a musician can face during a performance or any event for that matter dealing with making music. With that said, I am sure most, if not all musicians, have used a tuner, then again not all tuners are equal; although it can seem like that at first.
This tuner for example stands out with it’s strobe display, true bypass, and insane accuracy. Being one of the few strobe tuners, the display response is incredibly fast and accurate, aiding for quick reliable tunings. I want to emphasize that I say incredibly fast, I mean incredibly fast. There are some videos of it live here in the internet; check them out to see what I mean. At +/-0.02 cents of accuracy, not only it is the most accurate compact tuner in the planet, but at 5 times the accuracy of the Peterson StroboStomp tuner, it might be the most accurate tuner period.
Although not the only stompbox tuner in the market, what I found most attractive amongst its many features is that it is true bypass. But I will discuss more about that in the sound section. It’s other features include factory preset tunings, and user defined preset tunings with up to 5 strings, a reference pitch that may be set anywhere from 300Hz to 599Hz, in 0.1Hz increments, and a muted out (when the unit is on). Most of those are features I don’t use, and I think most musicians probably won’t either, but I thought they are worth mentioning.

Sound

Since it is a tuner, there is not much I can say about what it does to the sound. Bringing the instruments to glorious harmony, or in other words in tune, helps the instrument sound more musical. Then again I could say that about other tuners. Although the accuracy is indeed superior, it is inaudible to my ears if compared to the competing tuners. The big plus on the sound here, however, and in my opinion the coolest feature here is its true bypass. There is nothing worst than a pedal eating your tone when it’s off, which makes true bypass godsend, as it will keep your tone heaven just how it should be.

Reliability

Physically this tuner is built like a tank. It’s definitely constructed to last. Furthermore, it is a very reliable tuner. When the strings are shown to be almost in tune, other tuners will show the strings as being in tune. It can get your instrument really in tune, which is really good, especially for techs and luthiers who need such precision for intonating and such. Overall, very reliable.

Customer Support

Have not dealt with their customer support so far.

Review:Electro Harmonix Stereo Electric Mistress

March 13th, 2009 by Andres Gallo

Stereo Electric Mistress
$120

Design

Like the other Electro Harmonix effects, the Stereo Electric Mistress gives musicians a huge range of gorgeous tones, in an insanely simple and intuitive package. With that said, I think the design is great. With only three knobs, many different sorts of tones can be found, and more impressively is that the quality of the tones is very warm, and far from digital.
Most of you already know that this “flanger pedal”, also includes a chorus effect. The great thing about the implementation of these, is that here both effects run in parallel. This is something that is not possible using a separate pedal for the chorus, and one for the flanger. Having the effects run in parallel means that they are both blended together creating a much warmer, yet more defined mix. Instead of having the flanger run into the chorus or vice-versa, the effects are blended together. I also believe it is the only retail pedal in the market that has this feature.
My favorite feature and the last thing I discovered about the Stereo Electric Mistress is the filter matrix knob. While knob is literally the RATE knob, it’s function changes to a filter when its position is anywhere from all the way counter clockwise to a 10 O-clock position. This filter is awesome. It will freeze the sweep of the flange in a fixed position, so you don’t get that ever changing sweep that makes a flanger a flanger. Beyond 10-Oclock, on the other hand, the knob will control the rate of the sweep. Interestingly enough, the LED will change colors in accordance to the sweep. I know my tone is about right if the LED is yellow while on filter matrix mode.
The other two knobs, as obviously labeled, serve to control the depth of the flange and chorus effects. All in all, the Stereo Electric Mistress is very simple to use, without lacking in tones. Using it in stereo especially, it sounds completely amazing. The stereo is beautiful and gives the sound lots of body as the sweep pans between the two channels.
It isn’t a perfect pedal however. I mentioned I love the stereo outputs, but it lacks a second input for stereo. This means there is no way send another pedal’s stereo signal to it.

Sound

The Electric Mistress is known for being one of the musical flangers, where most sound overwhelmingly alien-like. With lots of transparency and tonal options it is definitely a must have modulation effect. The flanger itself is that famous Mistress tone, that shimmers, and yet unlike other flangers leave your tone thick and lush. Most flangers I have tried sound very, very different, and perhaps overly metallic. The chorus effect, is very good, and lush. The sweep which can be frozen has a huge range, and its beautiful when it creates those sweet flanger shimmering harmonics. The real beauty, however, comes in when both chorus and flanger are blended together. The sound achieved this way is very unique. The sound is very liquidy, but highly defined. It nails those classic tones from David Gilmour, and The Police, which are after all know for their use of the Electric Mistress.

Reliability

Construction is top notch. I don’t see this pedal breaking any time soon.

Customer Support

Electro Harmonix customer support is very good. They have always been quick to respond to my emails, and have provided me helpful answers to my questions.

Review:Washburn HB30

February 26th, 2009 by Andres Gallo

Washburn HB30
$300

Design

I have never been a fan of the feel of semi-hollows. They usually have really thick necks with poor upper fret access, making the experience reminiscent of that which one would go through, playing with a baseball bat for a neck. I am obviously exaggerating, but they tend to be constructed much different to the solid-bodies which I am used to. The Washburn HB30, however, is one exception. This review is based on one of the older HB30 models, and the neck is incredibly smooth, and thin. The cutaway is also very ergonomic allowing for very comfortable upper fret access, and the entire guitar’s appearance is well designed, but the finish could be more perfect. I see some glue in the review unit which is annoying to look at.
The appearance is very similar to that of the Gibson ES335, and has some extremely versatile wiring with one tone knob and volume knob for each pickup, allowing for all sorts of tone blending.
The overall design; physical, and electrical is top notch, with the exception of the finish which as mentioned shows some flaws.

Sound

One area where this instrument shines is the sound. It is not the most pristine sounding instrument, however it closely replicates that smokey thick yet clear smooth sound of the much more expensive Gibson. This tone is a real beauty for blues jazz, and pretty much anything played clean and overdriven. Something that is impressive however, is while the sound could be cleaner, this guitar sustains much more than even the ES335, which is after all what it is modeled after. With that said, the wood work, and wood choice is likely top quality and a pickup upgrade could make it something to behold. After all, the way notes resonate on this guitar, cannot be compared to any solid body. It’s beautiful.

Playability

For a semi-hollow-body guitar and in comparison to guitars in general, this guitar is very fast. It has the fastest neck I have encountered on any semi-hollow body, and the cutaway is extended enough for comfortable upper fret access. The only problem I have with it’s feel, is that it is insanely heavy, to the point where I don’t see how it could really be hollow. The neck alone makes this instrument worth it, and as mentioned before, combined with a pickup upgrade it’s pretty much perfect.

Reliability

Washburn is a reliable company, however, the wiring in this model seems pretty loose, but then again it is over a decade old. With that said, I don’t know how reliable the newer model might be.

Customer Support

Washburn’s customer support is very reliable. They respond to emails quickly, however, I encountered problems in which the customer service reps, did not know the physical specs of the bridge, which I plan to change to a tone pros bridge.

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