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by ericdano

Sony MDS-JE470 MiniDisc Deck

November 23, 2001 in Reviews

Christmas has come early for me. I splurged and bought a Sony MDS-JE470 MiniDisc Deck from J & R MusicWorld. It was $199.

This deck does not have a lot of bells an whistles, such as Pitch control, etc. It does have the MDLP technology, which allows for recording of 2 to 4 times the normal recording time on to a minidisc. I however, have not really used that yet due to my portable minidisc recorder not having MDLP technology.

The deck supports Digital Optical in only. Not that I have anything that would really take advantage of that.

In all, I thought this deck was a good value. I’m not really that interested in the MDLP technology. Maybe if my current portable player/recorder dies and I buy a new one that has the technology. I give this a 9 out of 10. MiniDiscs are very cool. Perhaps around the first of the year I’ll add a deck to my studio in addition to the DAT deck I have. It would make recording students SOOOO much easier…..Their own Minidisc, I can delete bad takes, etc……..

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by ericdano

What’s In Your Gig Bag?

October 31, 2001 in Articles

When I go to a gig, rehearsal, whatever, I take a bag of stuff with my horn. The bag is actually a Lands End laptop bag. The bag holds a wealth of tools, reeds, and toys in addition to perfectly holding my clarinet, flute, and piccolo….The laptop bag has 2 sections. On the one side I put the clarinet. It fits perfectly there. Music goes there too. Show books, or folder fit in with the clarinet just fine. My Piccolo fits in nicely on top of the clarinet case.

On the other side there are little pouches for pencils and other things. I have at least one pencil in there. And one pen. Also in the pouches are the following:

  • Egg shaker
  • Etymotic Ear Plugs (2 sets)
  • Slide Whistle (always fun to annoy people with)
  • Leatherman Wave Tool which is great for fixing stands, repairing instruments, etc.
  • 65 mm Chadash Barrel for Clarinet (for really sharp bands that I sometimes play in)
  • Binaca Breath Spray
  • Small spray bottle that has Listerine in it
  • Plastic lip cover things to put over my teeth incase my bottom lip starts hurting (I think I got it from The Woodwind and the Brasswind
  • Small Maglite flashlight
  • Collapsible cup
  • Seiko ST-747 Chromatic Tuner
  • Matrix Universal Tuner Pick-up

This side of the bag also holds my Hamilton Saxophone stand, Clarinet stand, and flute stand. The stands are in a drag string bag. My Flute goes in there first, and then the stands.

All this stuff fits in the laptop bag, and everything zips shut just fine (as long as I pack it correctly).

So, what do you carry in your “gig” bag?

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by ericdano

Selmer Saxophones

September 12, 2001 in Articles

joemaynard writes “ALright i am getting ready to purchase a (tenor saxophone) new horn, i would like some comments on the selmer super action 80 series 2 and 3′s, and also the mark 6, just give me some input on these sax’s and which you think is better, money is no object. What about the Reference series horns? I’ve tried the Super Action 80 series, and owned one years ago, and sold it. I liked my old Martin better. My current horns a Mark VI Tenor.

However, you should really go play all the horns and make a decision then. Perhaps take a friend/teacher with you for some feedback. Also, maybe bring something to record yourself as well.

Everybody plays on something different. I know of a great Alto player, Larry DeLaCruz, who bought a Super Action 80 over a Mark VI cause he liked it more. He plays great on it. So, try out a bunch and then make your decision. Any of the horns you listed would be a good purchase as long as YOU like it.

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by ericdano

Saxophone Amplification

June 29, 2001 in Articles

Jbone2w2 writes “I have recently been experimenting with effects and amplification of my Saxes. I am looking to build a rack system to handle effects and serve as a stage ready system but I am unsure of what I need on the system.

I want to be able to run several horns into the system using a wireless mic setup and leave enough expansion room to eventually add an EWI. I want to not only be able to add effects such as reverb, chorus and that type of effect but possibly add midi effects also. Do I need a D/A converter and what sort of components do I need i.e. pre amp , power amp, speaker cabinet etc.

Right now I am using a Marshall AR50 Amp and am running chorus, reverb and a Dunlop Crybaby through the effects loop. However, I want to go a little more high tech and have more options available as well as not have to use the same mic for all my horns. Any information you could provide would be much appreciated.”

Very good question. You need to start with a mixer. You’ll need to figure out roughly how many horns and stuff are going to be plugged into it. And then get a mixer that has about 6 extra inputs (in addition to the inputs that you’ll need). You can check out mixers by Mackie and Behringer. For horns, you just need mono inputs. But for midi devices, stereo inputs are better. Most mixers have effects sends/returns, so, adding an effects unit is easy.

I don’t know why you’d need a D/A converter. Amp and speakers will depend on how loud you want to get. There are numerous brands that will probably work. And then there are microphones, etc.

However, one of the key components is the mixer. So, get something good there, and the rest should fall into place.

Good luck!

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by ericdano

Guardala Earthtone Series

May 10, 2001 in Articles

After rehearsing the other night, I got into a conversation with Guido Fazio about Guardala Earthtone saxophones. Seems that House Of Woodwinds had some of these new saxophones in, and Guido tried one….He was very, very impressed. I have seen him talk favoriably about horns before, but never to this degree. He owns a mint Selmer Mark VI that is in the 80,000 serial number range. A awesome horn. 98% of the dark lacquer is still there. He said that these Guardala’s had the richness of tone that his Mark VI has, except it was “so easy blowing”. He felt that he could easily take on a trumpet section and out blow them. I had to remind Guido that he needs a new flute before getting another Tenor (he plays on a Sankyo Headjoint with a Geminhardt student body).

I did ask Guido how the Guardala compared to one of those new Selmer Reference series saxophones. He said there was no comparison. For the money, the Guardala was way better.

Anyone tried these horns out? I know that the Alto I had, one of the first 1000 Guardala made about 8 years ago, was real close to a Mark VI in tone and the intonation was very good. Has Guardala finally made something that is going to be the thing that sax players should be playing on?

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by ericdano

Want to get a Mark VI…..

March 29, 2001 in Articles

seer writes “I am currently a student of Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh and have been playing the same Bundy Tenor since 6th grade. I got really into jazz in high school, and was able to play the school Mark VI…..Although I play in the band here, at CMU, my soloing ability hasn’t really increased in the past year because I haven’t been playing much. Anyway, I just started taking lessons from Eric Kloss (great player!) on campus and am improving again. So I decided to take my sax to the big, local music store Volkweins. I have been having problems playing low notes and other weird things going on. Such as I can play a high A altimiso, or Ab etc, actually pretty much any altisimo except high G and G#. Although I suspect that might be related to the design of the sax inherently.

After arriving at the store I went to the repair section and gave it to the lady at the desk who took my sax to a guy in the back who stuck the light down inside of it. She came back in a few minutes and said that every pad, except one, needed to be replaced and it was going to cost 400$. I have been planning to buy a vintage Mark VI or Balanced Action Tenor soon anyway so I guess this is just speeding up the process.

So what I’m wondering is what are good stores to buy from. I want to be able to try it out, of course, before I get it, which I see you can do at places such as USAHorn. Money is not really the issue here as I am willing to spend quite a bit to get a great sax. I keep hearing good things about the balanced actions so I will attempt to try some of those in addition to many Mark VIs.

Also, if anyone knows good stores in the Northwest that’s good too since I will be back there in the summer.”

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