Review on Yamaha APX700II 12-String

Hey guys, it's me again.

In this post I'm going to make a short review about the acoustic 12-string Westernguitar of Yamaha out of the APX line. It's my latest addition to my guitar rig, and I'm crazy about it! Check it out!

Since the beginning of Seasplash, I've always played 12-string accoustic guitars. Not surpising, that my first accoustic guitar was a Yamaha. As you may remember, on tour we play Takamines EF341 SC (6-string version) and EF381 C (12-string) though the latter I once gave away. I regret that! But now I have again a fantastic 12-string guitar - this Yamaha. As you remember, Yamaha is one of my favourit brands for music stuff. More or less everything coming out by this brand is solid, made of good quality, and has a fair price. Let's start with the review.

The very first time, I unpacked the guitar I was shocked. The bodysize of the guitar was much smaller and thinner than a commom 6-string guitar has. Even in lenght with the 12-string head. I mean, normally 12-string heads are twice as long than 6-string heads. But this guitar was shorter and smaller. Besides, I searched for some flaws over the guitar but couldn't find anything. The wood was prepared solidly. After putting in the batteries, I tuned all strings by the assimilated tuner. The tuning pegs work great as well. The strings do not detune a lot. Then I started to play. 

Rightaway, I was shocked again. I would never have thought that this guitar brings out such a sound. It sounded more transparent and lovely than the Takamine EF381 did. It's like playing a 6-string guitar that sounds like a harp. What a gear! I kept on playing. And the funny thing is, it is easier to play than a normal 6-string guitar. So you are able to make every chord that exists without leaving out strings. Your hand does not even start to cramp after playing a while. Of course this has something to do with the neck size which is smaller as well as common 12-strings are, but still have a good size. Though I wouldn't recommend the guitar for fellows with huge hands, this guitar is basically made to be played by everyone. The bridge and the nut accord with each other perfectly, so the strings lay optimally over the neck. Same for the frets. There is no fret that distorts the vibration of the strings, not even slightly.

One big plus in addition is the Piezzo pickup. Usually, they are not always convincing in sound transmition. But this time, they are very solid. They sound warm, transparent, and bright. Because of the small bodyshape, the guitar doesn't generate much of deep frequenzies which is an advantage for mixing because you don't have deep bad frequenzies to cut out. In our mix, I put the Piezzo straight (cut out a bit of high-mids by point) and it works perfect.The highs are coming out straight with now addition necessary. And like I mentioned above, the tuner is also assimilated into the pickup board and works precisely. Because of the reasons that the sound hole is not in a round shape, Yamaha gives a tailored feedback buster already included in the package. 

In sum, this guitar is another evidence for Yamaha's work and quality. Everything is made precise and solid, from the preparation of the body over the frets to the tuner pegs. But remember, this guitar is made for being played live. That's the reason of the whole set up of the gear. For recording, in case you work with condenser microphonees, I wouldn't recommend the guitar because the deep mellow sound of a normal sized acoustic guitar does not come out of this bodyshape. Still, try it and you love it. And all of it for 650.- Swissfrancs. What do you want more?!

Stay tuned for more posts.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ND-ZjV77kRo

Enjoy Seasplash!

Review on my new Bogner XTC Blue Pedal

Hey guys,

While last month I had to finish our video "The making of heroin" which you may watch on Youtube (click here), I'm now back doing some review stuff. This time, I want to give you a little review about my latest addition to my pedalboard - The Bogner XTC Blue Pedal.

Honestly, I have to say that Youtube videos about the Blue Pedal are probably more interesting and informative for you than my post is. But it might interest you, how it works with my set up. While in the recommended videos below both players use the pedal with a lightly distorted amp, I put the pedal in front of a 100% clean channel. As you may remember, I use a Mesa Boogie Dual Rectifier 50/100W Amp with a Marshall 1960A Cab. In the signal chain of my pedalboard, the Blue Pedal found its place at the very end before getting directly plugged into the amp. I use this Blue Pedal exclusively with a clean signal. And that's what it makes fantastic about it. The Bogner really works perfect through a clean channel amp. The pedal is equipped with a normal channel or a boost channel. With the latter you can adjust gain and volume level independently. That's amazing! The normal channel sounds through my amp like a Fender Twin Reverb. It clearly adds some warmth to the signal and compresses it like I would have put on my MXR Red Comp. That blew my mind, the first time I played it! Further, with the boost channel I push the gain on maximum and leave the volume knob on the normal level. This boost gives me more or less the same distortion sound as if I have switched the channel mode on my Mesa Boogie amp from "clean" to “push”. And that's why the pedal is so important to me. It literally gives me a fourth channel on my Amp. Even better, the pedal functions like an amp as well. When I turn down the volume knob on my guitar, the pedal calms down as well though all dynamics are still out there. That's where you get the typical Steve Lukather sound which I personally like a lot. Here you probably wonder, why I added the pedal instead of just turning down the volume on my guitar using channel two (vintage / distortion on 90%) on my amp. The thing is, I didn't want a distortion level that is too pushed down by my guitar on channel two because with this way I lose all characteristics and dynamics of the channel itself. It shatters down. This does not happen with the Blue Pedal and that’s why it is such a beneficial addition to my system. I can only recommend it to every heavy metal guitarist who works with a clean channel.

 

Below you find two links for reviews online.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KAfGiRqjA0U (german)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UacASksOtEk (english)

Stay tuned for more posts within the next month.

Enjoy Seasplash!

Bon Jovi "This House Is Not For Sale" - record review

"The Band you love(d) the most is back". With this slogan Bon Jovi announced their new record this summer. For this occasion, I thought it would be nice to make a little review about the latest work of Bon Jovi. But before getting even started, you need to have some background information about my story with Bon Jovi.

Since a little boy of four years old, Jon Bon Jovi was my idol and still is. Not only his music with the band is fantastic, even more impressionable is his character (still married to the same wife, no heavy scandals, does charity, is humble, etc.). Bon Jovi also affected our music a lot.

Probably you think how I might write an objective review about the new record. Easy. Since the record "The Circle", Bon Jovi missed in my opinion the point to change their music. Because all of them are getting older, it was at least clear to me that they couldn't hold their high level of perfection in music. Still the world tour in 2010/2011 was perfectly played when Richie came out of rehab again. The record "What About Now" in turn, was a solid record with good stuff on it. But the live show I saw in 2013 at Bern was not good. Jon didn't have the energy to sing all songs right. I was actually really disappointed. At this point, I felt confirmed in my opinion. So when I heard that Bon Jovi came back again with a new record, I wasn't psyched about it. I was afraid that my idol would break and loos all the credibility and integrity they've held up for so long.

So with a pessimistic attitude I bought the single "This House Is Not For Sale". And I had to confess, the more I listened to it the more I started to like it very much. Kind of a typical Bon Jovi thing though. But then came the record. Right away I have to tell you, Bon Jovi turned it around!

Heavy drums, hard guitars coupled with nice melodies, beautiful keys, smooth bright bass, typical choir and a lower adapted voice of Jon which sounds mature and fit. Besides the technical parts, most of all songs are arranged differently and vary in the style of sound (e.g. "Come On Up To Our House" and "The Devil's In The Temple"), even though the record has a clear structure (find out about these terms more on my section "how to write a good rock song"). The lyrics of the songs seem to reflect their souls and seem honest. Proof it with songs like "Scars On This Guitar" for example.

A big credit for the turning point goes in my opinion to Phil X. As the new guitarist he fits in the band perfectly which you hear on the album. He brings in fresh and bold diversity in the guitar sound, almost as Richie did in the early years, but isn't overloading the songs with too much guitars. Same for the solos, Phil brings in perfection without pushing it too hard. 

With this fresh wind of Phil X, songs like "Roller Coaster" or "New Years Day" bring Bon Jovi definitely back. And of course the rock ballads aren't missing. Bon Jovi show again with "Labor Of Love" or "Real Love" that they are kings in this category.

In sum, the record puts Bon Jovi back on top, where they belong!

Congratulations to this fantastic work!

Enjoy Seasplash