Up until now I've been using a pair of Alesis Monitor One MKII monitors, and they have served me well over the years. But due to the problem outlined below I felt it was time for an upgrade. The HR824s have always been on my wishlist. Recently their price have come down about £200 due to the oncoming introduction of their MKII model. Talking to someone in digital village, I found out that the new model contains the exact same components as the orignal. The only differences are largely cosmetic, but there is a new design feature which is being used widely amongst new monitor designs, and that is the 'zero-edge' concept. It is believed that speakers with perfect 90 degree edges and corners create diffracted sound waves which alters the way sound is emitted from the speakers. The new design incorporates a new design with all its edges and corners curved off to avoid this phenomenen. Since the new versions will cost £1k and above, I felt it wasn't worth spending that extra £400-500 on just that, so I reluctantly (cos I'm skint) bought a pair of these before they went out of stock completely.

I've only used these a few times now and only for listening. Havent tried mixing with them, but looking forward to it. Listening to some well known familiar songs, I could immediately tell the difference. The high mids are projected forwards in the soundscape and really come out at you. This means vocals come out very clearly and are very defined from the rest of the mix. In fact, everything has immense clarity and focus, and you can really pick out individual elements in the mix. The speakers come with a test graph conducted by the manufacturer to show each particular speaker's own frequency response. It really is almost ruler flat. So this means you really are listening to how the engineer intended the mix to sound. Being so detailed shows the most minute of details and you can hear things you never heard before. This really adds to the enjoyment of the songs and no doubt gives you a new perspective on music you thought you knew inside out.

I've only had these for a few days now, so will update this review after I've worked them in a bit.

Posted at 01:51 in Reviews | Comments (0)

Because they are passive monitors I had an Alesis RA300 to power them. In the pass few months the amp started to have fits, crackling and cutting out intermittently. I attribute the problem to dodgy volume pots on the front, otherwise the amp is sweet. My friend has the same setup and has the same problem, so must be an Alesis problem. I tried WD40 on the pots and it relieved the problem briefly, but it came back. Afterwards, I was told WD40 is the last thing you want to use for volume pots. I've always used it for guitar knobs and its worked brilliantly. My friend who has the exact same amp and unfortunately the exact same problem as well tried using proper contact spray, but to no avail. Short of replacing the pots, this amp is shot and a pain to use because of the constant crackling and cutting. When the amp did work, it perform brilliantly and never lacked enough juice.

Over the time I've had these speakers, I've grown very fond of them. After I popped my proverbial cherry with these speakers back when I started music, I thought these was the dogs danglies. But of course, over time you learn to appreciate its qualitys and its downfalls. Even so, because you spend so much time with a pair of speakers, you become accustomed and attached to them. You know what will sound nice in the mix and what will sound shite. As a entry level pair of monitors, I can't really fault them. They lack a little clarity and higher freq transients aren't always apparent, but overall, they offer a great sound. They've been sold on the ol ebay now, which is a little sad, but daddy needs a new channel strip and stereo mics.

Posted at 01:57 in Reviews | Comments (0)

Recently I came across a guitarist named Andy Mckee on youtube and I was blown away by his incredible skill, technique, tone and above all melody and songwriting. You get a lot of these acoustic guitarists that rely solely on technique based trickery to write songs. Whilst this is great for a live performance as a crowd pleaser, personally I don't see it as much more than a party trick; akin with playing the Mario Bros theme on the guitar. Guitarists like Mongrain and Preston Reed don't quite do it for me. Andy McKee on the other hand encompasses all the skill and trickery that these otheer guys use, but with beautiful harmonies and delicate melodies. Pure genius. Anyway, I digress. Part of Andy's method of creating such inspiring music is the use of alternate tunings. In addition to tuning his strings differently, he uses special 'partial' capos that clamp only certain strings. I knew of these before, but never had the urge to try one until now.

The one shown above is Shubb partial capo. This particular one clamps only the 5th, 4th and 3rd strings when clamped from the 'top' side. Thus leaving the 6th, 1st and 2nd strings open. It can also be used from below the neck to clamp the 2nd, 3rd and 4th string if so desired. When used on the second fret, it creates a DADGAD tuning (up a tone), which is popular amongst acoustic players. Its essentially a Dsus4 open tuning which sounds nice and airy.

Shubb capos are in my opinion the best designed capo so far. Very small and unobtrusive, solidly made from brass, goes on and comes off very quickly and basically works very well. This fits both my acoustics and electrics perfectly.

Posted at 02:08 in Reviews | Comments (0)

So after watching Andy McKee's video of Rylynn, and doing the relevant research I needed a capo that only clamps the bottom 4 strings. I started using my Kyser KG6B capo and it did the job quite well, and I think it was the capo that Andy initially used as well. The problem with the kyser, is that its huge, so the giant lever that you use to clamp it can get in the way when moving from above the capo to below the capo. I later found out that Andy is using a Shubb Banjo capo for the job! So I went and got this one. It justs covers the bottom four strings exactly. BUT, obviously being designed for the banjo, it doesn't quite clamp around the neck as snuggly as a normal capo does. This has the effect of uneven pressure across the strings where the pressure is greatest on the 3rd string and lightess on the 6th string. If you don't get it right, the 6th will buzz due to insufficient pressure. It generally works ok, but is a little loose and doesn't clamp all the strings as tightly as the Kyser. One tip is to capo directly over the fret to get as tight a grip as possible.

Posted at 02:06 in Reviews | Comments (0)