Boss AD-2 Acoustic Preamp Review

Posted by glbpro

Released in late 2016, the AD-2 is one of the more compact acoustic guitar preamps available. It follows the familiar Boss form factor, being 73mm wide, 129mm deep and 59mm tall. This means that it will fit on standard pedal boards alongside your other floor wizardry, and gives it an advantage over its numerical big brother the AD-3, which takes up significantly more space. The pedal features a notch filter, ambience and acoustic resonance effects and a balanced line out in addition to the standard unbalanced output, making it the simplest pedal of this type available from Boss.

Input impedance is 10 M ohms which means that the pedal can accept passive piezo pickups directly with no need for an additional buffer in the signal chain. This would also allow the pedal to act as a backup in the event that your onboard preamp were to go down. Of course magnetic soundhole pickups will work fine too. The pedal features a buffered bypass which means that it will not pass signal if the batteries fail completely, but in my experience the pedal knows when the juice is about to run out and stitches off the effects in order to keep the buffer alive. Nevertheless an external power supply is to be preferred if at all possible. Battery life is stated to be 6 hours of continuous use.  Continue reading →

Replacing the earpads on my Beyerdynamic DT770s

Posted by glbpro

When doing live sound my headphones of choice have long been the Beyerdynamic DT770s. These closed-back built-like-a-tank cans have a brutally honest sound that hides nothing and flatters nobody. If there a problem, you’ll hear it on these! The earcups are big and comfy and the headband pressure is just perfect for all-day wear and the constant on-off convenience that live sound engineers require. And these cans are built to LAST – my first pair is now well over ten years old and has shown only cosmetic wear and tear – the drivers have been rock solid, as have all the connections and internal wiring. These headphones are a great example of old-world craftsmanship and are very rare in today’s world of throw-away plastic electronics. In keeping with this they are designed to be fully serviceable, with all parts able to be replaced as they wear out. My 770s have gone through two pairs of earpads and one headband pad in their long life.

Replacing the earpads is a relatively straight forward process and Beyer provide comprehensive instructions with every set of replacement pads. The pads themselves are thick velour with a perforated vinyl backing and are available in either the original silver or stealth black.

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Review: LR Baggs Lyric + Taylor GS Mini

Posted by glbpro

I recently had an LR Baggs lyric acoustic guitar microphone installed in my 2011 Taylor GS Mini. This is one of the original GS Minis that came without electronics but had the internal bracket for the optional ES-Go magnetic soundhole pickup, now discontinued. I had this pickup for a while but was never satisfied with the fully passive design, and so decided to upgrade to something active.

The Lyric from LR Baggs is a miniature microphone installed on the inside of the guitar, stuck to the bridge plate using double-sided tape. Being a microphone it does not suffer from the honky/quacky sound of typical undersaddle piezo pickups, and being placed inside the guitar is much more resistant to feedback than an external microphone. It also enables complete freedom of movement for the performer as there is no need to stand in a fixed position in front of a stand-mounted microphone.

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The Rail Dwellers (part one)

Posted by glbpro

Author’s note: One of my favourite pastimes is to cycle around Singapore late at night, when it is less frenetic and when there is time to think and reflect. One of my routes leads me past Pasir Panjang Container terminal, and I am always fascinated by the gigantic concrete piers that straddle the container storage yards, stretching for kilometer after kilometer (see picture below). Seeing them lit up at night was the seed for this story, which explores a future in which mankind has been forced to live above ground in rail cars that serve as mobile dwellings.

Pasir Panjang container terminal concrete piers circa 1999.

The Rail Dwellers

A short story by B.G. Luse

It was night. The rain kept falling, incessant as the clouds that had blanketed the landscape for days now. The rain splashed on the dull grey concrete of the towers and piers, running down in small rivulets to the dark earth beneath. It seemed a long time since it had done anything but rain.

“Is there any mail?” Evan’s voice came from one corner of the dull metal container that served as a home for the family. It had once been red, the paint now faded to a colour between that of rust and burnt earth. The rain drummed on the metal roof and bounced off in little crown-shaped splashes which eventually also succumbed to gravity.

“No I don’t think so…” came Elsa’s voice from the corner near the stove. She was waiting for some water to boil. It was dinner time, at least when it had been called dinner. Now it was simply called the eighteen hundred. Continue reading →

How my GS Mini has survived 6 years in the tropics!

Posted by glbpro

Over the past year, especially since the publication of my GS Mini vs Taka Mini video, I have received numerous questions about how durable the GS mini (and indeed all guitars) are in the tropics. It seems like there is a widespread perception amongst guitarists out there that the high temperature and relative humidity found in the tropics will destroy guitars the moment they are taken out of their cases. I have not found this to be the case, and in this video I go through the reasons why.

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