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Tuesday, 1 October 2013

Sterling by Musicman JP100 (review by Saifi Ikmal)



Produk:
Sterling by Musicman JP100

Beli dari:
Bentley Music Damansara

Harga:
RM 2.6K selepas less 10% (RM29xx)

Ciri - Ciri:
  • Basswood Body with Quilt Maple Top
  • Transparent Black Finish
  • Matching Headstock with Johns Signature
  • Maple Neck with Rosewood Fingerboard
  • Scale:25.5”
  • Nut Width:42mm
  • Neck Width, 12th fret:52mm
  • Body Wood:Basswood
  • Neck Wood:Maple
  • Fretboard Wood:Rosewood
  • Tuning Machines:Locking
  • Hardware: Chrome
  • Neck Joint: 5 Bolt
  • Frets:24
  • Fretboard Radius:16”
  • Pickup Selector:3 Way
  • Bridge:Modern Tremolo
Prestasi:
Yang buat saya memilih gitar ni setelah mencuba beberapa gitar di bentley adalah dari segi keselesaan pada neck dan juga tone nye yg agak warm. Workmanship nye agak bagus setara dengan harganya. Tremolo nye walaupun ia bukan double locking tp mmg stabil. Sekarang JP100 tu telah dilengkapi dengan pickup Tesla VR-Extreme untuk bridge dan Plasma-X1 utk neck. Pikap stock yg sedia ada mmg sudah best tp saya ingin mencari bridge pickup yang mempunyai lebih mid frequency dan juga neck pickup yg mempunyai lebih karakter ala2 single coil. Selain itu, mod yg saya buat adalah menukar nut kepada graphtech nut dan juga menukar 3 way switch yang lebih berkualiti (sbb rosak).

Pros:
- Locking tuner utk lebih tuning stability
- Truss rod adjustment senang dibuat on the fly
- Bagi saya, direct mount pickup lebih memberikan tone body kayu kerana dipasang direct terus ke body

Cons:
- Selalu putus tali 1st di bridge saddle. Penyelesaiannya mengasahkan pensel di saddle supaya graphite pensel menjadi bahan lubrication
- Skru 3 way switch nye senang longgar dan senang rosak.Telah digantikan dengan 3 way switch 4PDT made in japan
- Agak mahal harganya dijual di Malaysia
Bintang:
4/5 


Rocktron Metal Planet distortion (Review oleh Joez Flow)






Product
Rocktron Metal Planet distortion

Beli Dari
Guitar Collection

Harga
RM 450 (b4 discount)

Ciri-Ciri
Analog

Prestasi:
Di antara analog pedal yg terbaik pernah digunakan..output yg besar..range eq yg luas....sgt crunch...

Pro..
Sgt sedap jika pandai mix eq..dpt juga sound...rock biasa.. Bunyi tak berpasir,sgt awesome.

Con..
Cuma kurang umphhh sikit bila pt solo....

Bintang:
4/5

Review TC Eletronic Nova Sys. (by Riff Guy)



Produk    : TC ELECTRONIC NOVA SYSTEM
Beli Dari : Lowyatt.net
Harga     : RM1300 (2nd hand..baru dalam rm2.3-rm2.5k)
Ciri-ciri : Multieffect with analog drive
Prestasi : Mula terpikat dengan brand TC ELECTRONIC setelah mencuba TC FLASHBACK. Seperti yang dijangka, NOVA SYSTEM mempunyai delay, reverb dan modulation fx yang mampu mebuatkan kita tenggelam di alam khayalan dan kelas yang tersendiri. Saya gunakan NOVA SYSTEM untuk di”loop”kan dengan BOSS GT100..semua bahagian drive saya akan guna amp sim GT100 dan mod fx saya akan guna NOVA SYSTEM.Hasilnya adalah sangat mengkagumkan. Anda boleh cuba dengan loopkan NOVA system dengan mana2 effect yang anda guna. One of the best modulation fx yg pernah saya guna. But for the drive, tidak seperti yang dikhabarkan di mana even drive untuk NOVA adalah analog, but it’s too limited. Penggunaan gainnya adalah sangat minima.
Pro : Seperti dinyatakan di atas.
Kon : Drive gain yang sangat lemah dan terhad. Pertukaran bank yang sangat menyukarkan. Kena hold switch 2 saat baru bertukar bank.
Bintang : 4.5/5 (kepada penggemar modulation fx.Try this!

GT100 (Review dari Riff Guy)







Product  :
Boss Gt100

Beli Dari :
Tom Satchman

Harga     :
 rm2100 ( postage included to Sarawak )

 
Ciri - ciri :
 Multieffect/Amp Simulation
 
Prestasi :
 Antara multieffect terbaik..Amp simulation yang sgt bagus..tone ada muscle,agak solid..mod fx yg agk bgus dan menonjol.Super user frenly, stage frenly.Ada  pemilihan output setting yg sgt            bgus ntuk variasi amp yg   berbeza saiz dan  jnis. Sangat senang untuk di tweak. Twin                 screen yg sgt  efisyen ntuk membuat tweaking. Sangat clear even di bawah sinaran matahari.

Pro        : 
Sudah diceritakan seperti di atas.

Kon       : 
Tone high gain untuk metal, thrash dan ke atas, tidak tight..agak terabur dan pecah..ntuk kaki2 metal,sy lbih prefer digitech RP1000.

Bintang  : 
untuk kategori multieffect range hrga rm2k ke bawah (4/5)

Monday, 8 October 2012

20:12 and The Tree Loving Guitarist



“Music is about breaking boundaries and I wanted to prove that rock music doesn’t have to be scary. I think Bite will have people bobbing their heads without realising and hopefully understanding the amount of work and soul that goes into it,” 






   Rithan aka RE10 from Deja Voodoo Spells is an ambitious artist, his next endeavour if i may is a 20 minutes 12 seconds long of a song which is basically unheard of in this 3 minutes song of the Malaysian Radio Realm.But if any man can do it, he is definitely one of them. Hailing from Johor Bharu with a guitar in his hand and a luggage in the other he migrated to KL to pursue his dream of world domination. He played with some of the best eg. Steve Vai, Herman Li to mention a few and with his band has toured and is coming out with their 3rd CD containing just one song tentatively called - Dangerous Knowledge- or as i have always called it the 20 minutes song. Well guys just to satisfy my curiosity i have constantly bugged the guy for an interview and alas he answered on a rainy night.
   
GN : Good Evening bro...

RE10 : Good Evening, How's Life bro..

GN : Great bro, so ..heard you've been busy.So when will the next album coming out? How will u market it?

RE10: Yeah, been travelling . Well now we are mixing the album and hopefully soon this thing will reach our adoring fans. We shall distribute it DIY, although the CD could still be purchased at your local music stores. And behold there shall be something special coming with the CD.

GN: Wow, so it will be a one song CD with an added bonus? cool.

RE10 : I just can't wait to perform this song live bro... I want to blow people's minds.

GN: Well you know GN is a guitar fan oasis, so which guitars did you used for the recording?

RE10: 3 Ibanez guitars... my Cookie guitar (a heavily modded Prestige) my trusted RE10 guitar ( a JEM with RE10 logo on it) and my 7 string Guitar called Marie ( with a liquid fire on the bridge). Live though, I will have to play my 7 string, cause its the only one that can play all the parts on the song.

GN : Aha the 7 string!

RE10: Yup the 7 that i was closed to sell to you..hahaha.. luckily I didn't dude.

GN : Yeah, I would have bought it you know. So whats the theme of the song? Is it related to the movie 2012 ?

RE10 : Well... some parts of it... if you watched a documentary of it relating to the events of Armageddon, the end of the world as we know it... from the I Ching theory to the Mayan calenders and the Al Gore's Global warming. its related you know?

GN: Deep bro... so how would you explained it to our music lover buddies at GN?

RE10 : Hmmm, its a 20 minutes song with 9 movements, or you could look at it as 9 songs.

GN: Are there any characters in the song we should be aware of?

RE10: Well its 'tersirat' i want people to interpret it by themselves, you know?

GN : Where does the recording takes place?

RE10: Let me see... Drums was at 101 studios, Guitars,Bass and Vocals at my home studio using Logic and Innuendo. I use re amping this time. I record my guitar parts clean at home and re amp it at the studio using my RE10 amp, a 5150 some fenders for clean parts

GN: Why not Pro Tools?

RE10: Well for me, that is just tools, the important thing is the person behind the board. Nowadays software can do everything.

GN: Explain to me about your own RE10 amp. Are you selling it to the masses?

RE10 : Well, i haven't actually sold it to anybody but if GNers are interested I an arrange for testing and if they dig it, they can buy it. Its a single channel tube amp 50 watt with Presence control, Bass,Mid,Treble a pre master and master volume. Its basically me in a box..hahaha.

GN: Why did u decide to build your own amp?

RE10 : You know back in the days, I can't afford all those Marshalls,Mesas and in 1998 Line 6 and tech 21 was the only doing those modelling amps stuff. my pal Jack from Sputum turned me on the Line 6 POD. So, I bought the POD 1.0 the first generation and I find the tones on that satisfies my need, there's even a patch in there that is my 'Cari Makan' Patch you know. I depended on that until a few years back my rig was stolen from the trunk of my car. I cried for days man.. sob sob
Anybody with info on RE10 POD 1.0 please contact Rithan
GN: Wow... that sucks man..  so after that u decided to build your own amp?

RE10 : I've bought Carvin and Mesa, but I still can't find my tone , so I learn about amps and the components and all that and yeah I built it after 2 years of researched I've got 2 prototypes. My taste is diverse and I need an amp that could play anything from rock to Metal and more, and I want it to have 1 channel cause I want it crystal clear. Ibarat macam air la, I nak amp ni macam air kosong..jadi bila I nak sirap, I campur sirap, nak Oren I campur Oren..macam tu lah.

GN: Terbaik punya analogi! Going back to your project. How long does it take for you to record all the music and vocals.?

RE10 : I wrote it back in 2009, I wrote it like 5 times until I was fully satisfied and we recorded it for 2 months. Now its at mixing stage. The song will be 60% music and 40% vocals so it is progressive but with
 ol' skool metal attitude and my hardcore influence... :)

GN: OK, nice talking to you dude... hope you can give us GNers some special deal with this upcoming CD. Any last words?

RE10: This CD will be about humanity...start thinking about your kids and your kid's kid and their kids.

GN: You are so cheesy dude.

RE10: Hahahaha...thanks for the interview dude.. and to all GNers 'POWER TO THE SOUL'.
Jangan lupa beli CD saya nanti ye.



PS: Stay tune to know more why I called him the The Tree Loving Guitarist. :)





Thursday, 4 October 2012

Profil Dhalif Ali - Singapore's Shredder





1) umur mula2 belajar guitar?

Umur mula mula belajar guitar time tu around 10 years old.. time tu ternampak slash main guitar atas piano.. aduh macam style..

2) guitar pertama? masih ada lagi kah guitar tersebut?

guitar pertama semua standard kapok jugak.. belajar kat bawah kolong dgn abang abang guitar terrer kat bawak block situ .. tapi time first beli electric guitar tu brand dia apa ntah legend.. dah bagi orang hu huhu

3) influence serta style permainan.

influence memang byk la tak tahu mana satu lagi nak sebut tapi yang memang betul betul change my attitude towards permainan guitar ni is john petrucci.. time tu saya baru 13 tahun.. dah sampai sekarang masih addicted nih.. tapi mmg feberet saya

4) Rig peribadi anda.


rig dulu dgn skrang berbeza betul dulu pakai boss ds-1 jer mana mana live ker kat rumah ke kat studio ke bawak satu pedal tu jer.. nak pakai yang lain lain tak reti pulak chorus delay ni semua.. tapi sekarang dgn knowledge yang kongsi kongsi dgn members.. dapat jugak blajar pasal sound/effects ni semua.. tu saya pakai pod x3 live.. kalaukat rumah pasang stereo out pergi ker monitors, kalau live pasang direct out pergi FOH.. bunyi stereo dia besar gilllllaaa punya

5) Tips yang boleh dikongsi dengan Gners.

tips eh errkk kalau nak blajar yang phrasing phrasing susah tu yang laju laju.. jangan rush.. pakai metronome pelan pelan dulu kalau dah comfortable baru naikkan speed metronome tu lagi 5.. dah ok lagi naikkan 5.. kalau masih tak pass jgn naikkan dulu .. kasi line tu absorb in your finger memory.. baru boleh.. priority kan precision dari speed.

6) Bila start youtube?

saya start youtube tahun 2006 - 2007 time masa start tu memang lah slow habis.. kadang kadang view dia cuma 10 jer.. dahtu 6 bulan, view 35 lol tu takpe..lagi kena flame kat youtube habis habis hahaha tapi alhamdullilah skrang view dia 1 hari dah boleh naik 1000 - 1500.. dah jadi youtube partner jadi video video yang dirakamkan ada profit dia every month.


Wednesday, 3 October 2012

Ameer Firdaus- Bakal Pelapis Persada Muzik Tempatan


Kali ini, kami ingin mendekati bakat-bakat muda yang bakal menyinar di persada muzik tempatan. Bak kata orang dulu-dulu, patah tumbuh hilang berganti. Bakat yang akan diketengahkan kali ini ialah saudara Ameer Firdaus. Beliau merupakan pelajar fakulti Muzik UiTM, Shah Alam. Dilahirkan tanggal 24 Februari 1988, mula belajar bermain guitar pada usia 15 tahun.

GN: Assalamualaikum Ameer

AF : Waalaikumsalam Bang.

GN : Cerita sikit style permainan serta influence AF.

AF: style permainan: anything goes,hehehe...saya hantam semua..idola saya pula ialah Paul Gilbert to Rizal Halim to Jason Becker to Oja Axis.

GN: AF sangat Paul Gilbert, dah agak mesti beliau idola no1 AF.Boleh kongsi sikit mcmna boleh study music di UiTM?

AF: sebab cita2 nak jadi sessionist guitarist. dan juga sebab sgt mnat dgn ilmu muzik. parent pun kasi lampu hijau, jadi terus apply ke uitm fakulti muzik


 GN: Katakan macam saya ni, minat nak main Jazz, apa nasihat AF pada saya?

AF: mula2 kena tau ape tu bossa, swing, bebop sbb permainan die lain2... tau rhythm dulu.. main lagu senang2 dulu contoh blue bossa, autumn leaves, all of me, dont get around much anymore..pastu kena tau 7th chord ke atas,diminish, minor7b5dan lain-lain tu..fahamkan progression contoh yg wajib ade II-V-I untuk solo tackle part ni dulu

GN: biase jazz tone mcmna set up rig dia?

AF: simple je,kalau boleh dapat semi hollow lagi bagus..pastu pakai tali tebal2 skit.amp clean je all the way. Mid kasi paling banyak...treble ngan bass ikut telinga,yang penting jgn tajam dan biasa org turunkan tone kat gitar tp jgn sampai muddy sangat nanti tak dengar apa kita main.

GN: Kalau bantai jek main chromatic bley kira jazz ke?

AF: Chromatic mmg extra flavor jazz.Tapi kena tau mana nak letak la.Mcm guthrie govan ckp, it's not only about the notes but how u put the notes that's important. Yang penting nak main jazz, study piece tu.Tau chord ape sume, sbb jazz selalu sgt tak resolve dalam diatonic punye sequence.Bile die modulate, kita kena ikut skali.

GN: Awesome explanation.Blues jazz ke jazz blues?

AF: Hehehe,  blues jazz.

GN: Ok lah ameer nak kena study, jadi last but not least apa guitar pertama ?

AF:  Rhythm guitar (lebih kurang kapok) sudah hilang tinggal kat kolej der..

Begitulah temubual ringkas bersama beliau. Sama-sama kita doakan kejayaan beliau.