Geekazine

We talked with Chris Poland about the Stone Tone for guitar. Now, Sergio Michel talks with Richard Bosworth – concert pianist – about how Stone Tone gives him an extra boost playing.

Stone Tone uses Granite to create a sustain that adds to the stringed instrument. Whether Guitar, Piano, Bass, or another stringed instrument, the granite piece adds more clarity when you strike the notes.

We learn more about Bosworth, including his performance at the White House in 1999.

Stopping at the Seymour Duncan booth for two reasons: to talk with Pantera Bassist Rex Brown, and to find out about a new pedal called Silver Lake Reverb. Host Sergio Michel talks with Riley Giffen about this new pedal

What is Silver Lake Reverb?

This is a digital reverb workstation, with stereo inputs, and MIDI control. With 8 types of reverb, you can move from a room sound, to a spring, gated, or hall sound with the turn of a dial. You can add dynamic expression to adjust the Mix, Mod, or Damp settings, depending on how you are playing.

There are over 100 preset locations, MIDI switchable for song setup, and the ability to send in Stereo to your amps, or mixer.

Sergio also inquired about the Solid State guitar amp heads. Riley talks about the PowerStage 700 wth stereo output and cab simulator. A smaller PowerStage 170 for an amplifier right on your pedal board.

For more information, check out Seymour Duncan. The Silver Lake Reverb will be available later this year.

Guest host Sergio Michel takes us to the Mooer booth at NAMM 2018 to find out more about the Preamp Live pedal.

What is Mooer Preamp Live

This footpedal is design do you can set a preamp as desired. It’s perfect for those musicians that use a lot of different gear, but need to have their sound dialed in for each show. The Preamp live allows the musician a base line to work from when they get to the next amp.

Visible buttons select the source, target, sync, and active. You select the channel through A-B-C (Two button press). The four buttons will function to each channel. Therefore, you can create clean channels, boosted channels, and more.

Multiple dials control the Volume, Bass, Mid, Treble, Gain, and Boost – which can be set to pre or post. The pedal also has a built-in XLR for a direct connection, effect loop, USB, and MIDI options.

Preamp Live will be available in March/April. No prices are available yet. Check out Mooer for availability.

We got a chance to catch up and talk with Rex Brown at NAMM 2018. Sergio Michel interviewed him on the new Seymour Duncan Rex Brown Signature Pickup. We also talked about his latest solo album, and how he was testing the pickup during the recordings.

About the Seymour Duncan Rex Brown Signature Pickup

A pickup for Active and passive guitarist. Rex plays heavy, so having a 4db push can help give you a sound that you need. A push knob will switch between passive and active. Simply tap for the boost.

The Quarter Pounder pickups now give a growl that Brown is excited about. Rex indicated a guitarist could also benefit from this idea. He plays guitar on his solo album “Smoke on This”, which is out now.

More information on this pickup will be available later this year. Find out more at RexBrown.net or SeymourDuncan.com

When you watch a guitarist like Chris Poland, you see the years of hard work look like it’s nothing to do. The former guitarist of Megadeth is also a cool, laid back person who will talk guitar shop until your ears fall off (only to put them back on with his guitar skills – like a surgeon).

While at NAMM 2018, Sergio Michel and I got a chance to hang with Chris while he was showing off the Stone Tone Rock Block system. Sergio has known Chris for a long time, so they had some fun, candid moments in this conversation.

About Stone Tone: Granite Sustain Blocks

The idea is simple – use more of the elements to make your stringed instrument sound better. Most guitars with a sustain block (for example) are made of metal – steel or brass. Changing to Granite into your guitar can give the strings a brighter sound, fuller tone, and more clarity. Some harder rock and metal guitarists really enjoy the sound as it cuts through for a decisive tone.

More than Just Guitars

In another video, we’ll be talking with Richard Bosworth – Pianist, and spokesperson for Stone Tone in Pianos. Reality is – any stringed instrument could be configured with a Stone Tone to give the musician the sound they may crave.

Chris Talks Analog Gear

Chris and Sergio had a good conversation, and there were a lot of great spots that probably could have gone in. Nonetheless, Chris talks about how he gets his sound, and the gear he uses.

OHM – Heavy Fusion

Chris Formed OHM in 2002 as a way to bring his guitar skills to Jazz/Rock/Fusion.

Check out ChrisPoland.com for more information.

Special Guest Host Sergio Michel Interviews Floyd Rose at NAMM 2018, as we get a look at the newest version of FRX tremolo, The new Signature line with Pick Glide, and the Floyd Rose Headphone series including Bluetooth, and wired headsets.

Add a Tremolo to Your Guitar with FRX

A pretty hefty tremolo system for your guitar, the FRX tremolo allows you to customize your Les Paul, SG, or Flying V guitar. The best part of this system is there is no additional router modification needed to install. Simply swap out the bridge for this easy-to-configure system.

“We have tried this a couple times in the past with no success” said Rose. “We gave it one more try and came up with the FRX”.

The spring tension is on top, which makes for easier adjustments. The Tremolo assist helps bring the strings back to the exact same position. It makes the bar more stable, so you can use it better. A Floyd Rose nut is also included, but also can be installed behind the original nut to lock strings into place.

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New Signature Line with Pick Glide

We got to check out the Signature line of Floyd Rose guitars, a strat-style with a FRX-inspired Floyd Rose Tremolo (where the springs can be adjusted from the top of the guitar). The guitar has 3 other great features that will help any guitarist shred when they need it, or make it sing at other times.

First, Floyd reconfigured the pickups of the guitar. The standard tele pickup is usually placed by the bridge at a +14 degree angle by the bridge. Some believe this design would be better flipped, so the Signature series not only flips it, they also move the single pickup to the fretboard side. The end result is the forward pickup won’t sound so muddy.

Next, the tone control knob was re-designed so it’s more sensitive in it’s use. Rose never used the tone in playing simply because the control went from one extreme to another. This new knob will allow for a smoother transition and more control in your playing.

Finally, the Pick Glide was installed into the Signature series. The glide is a plate behind the strings that will make sure your pick doesn’t go in too deep into the strings. This allows for fast notes and licks.

Floyd Rose Headphones

A new 3D headphone was shown off at the booth, along with the Floyd Rose series of wired and wireless headphones in multiple styles – including Mahogany and Oak. There are also earbud style headphones for a smaller form factor.

Check out Floyd Rose for many more tremolo systems and guitars. Get a Floyd Rose FRX Here.

Dell, as usual, has a lot of updates for CES, especially when it comes to Alienware. Joel Olmsted sits with Jeffrey Powers at CES 2018 to break it all down.

Alienware Command Center Gives You More Customization

Let’s start with their brand new version of their Command Center Software. It will be in every new system that the company is launching this year. Basically it tunes your machine to the game you are playing. If your game needs better GPU performance for instance, this ups it. It eliminates the processes you don’t need and ups the ones that you do, streamlining any game that you play.

Adding AI Lighting to Alienware Computers

They’ve also added more colors to the lighting on their machines. One cool example from the video is that your keyboard could go from green to red as your health goes down in a game. How cool is that? That is going to be very helpful in a variety of games. You can set the lights to serve other purposes. Assign any light a functionality. Use them for streaming or social media. Assign another light if you get a Facebook message or alarm to tell you when the pizza is ready.

AMD Ryzen and Threadripper in Alienware Machines

AMD 16 core processors by AMD are crazy fast. Last year, Alienware had the advantage on these processors as they were the only PC manufacturer that could sell Threadripper. You can also get an Octo-core Ryzen 7 1700x if you don’t want the Intel 5680 processor version.

Alienware Goes VR

In other news they just introduced a new Dell gaming desktop this year with Intel Coffee Lake 6-core, which the company sees as an affordable entry point into VR at under $800. After that Joe Olmsted talks about the Dell Mixed Reality Visor, with the big message being that more content is coming.

Joe Perry and Monster Audio have combined their forces at this years CES. The Monster Blaster JP1000 Classic Rock Edition has a Classic Rock mode designed and hand-tuned by rock legend Joe Perry himself. This boombox brings all your music to life. It is a boombox for the modern age, with a modern design and wireless technology built in. This baby is going to enhance your classic rock to the max. Because older music doesn’t always sound great with the newer technology.

About the Monster Blaster Joe Perry Sound of Rock

It has 7 speakers, 2 drivers on each side, 2 passive radiators and a power subwoofer. The V shape of this full Bluetooth device means that the sound will come to you, unlike older boomboxes, where you had to tilt the unit to move the sound direction toward you. It also includes an indoor/outdoor mode. Not into classic rock? No problem. Everything sounds great on this boombox.

Joe Perry Firecracker

A smaller version called the Firecracker has 3 speakers, a microphone and an integrated light tuned at 5000 degrees kelvin and 500 lumens. That’s important because it means that it is tuned to be a photography light or a general light source. It will take phone calls and is handy for plugging in other devices to check your sound etc. In short, it will come in handy in many situations.

Monster really knocked it out of the park with these two products. So much to love here. Get your Joe Perry Sound of Rock Now or from the Monster Website.

Anteres introduced Auto-tune twenty years ago. It has been a versitile tool in making music sound it’s best. It also started a new sound in music. Now it’s time to up the game to make the music production easier and faster with Auto-Tune Pro

What’s New in Anteres Auto-Tune Pro

The biggest new features are pitch and time correction. This allows you to automatically find the key, the note being sung, and it’s duration. With that, you can make sure it’s exactly where you need it to be, how long you need it to be, and in the right frequencies.

Bring in any track – a rap, a background vocal, and even an instrument – add the plugin (to any VST3 compatible DAW), and start tweaking the sound.

Anteres also includes Audio Random Access (ARA) support to give you the classic mode for the original Auto-Tune 5 sound. This product also includes MIDI CC control in Auto mode, and HiDPI support for Retina displays.

Ato-Tune Pro will be available soon for $399. Keep updated with Anteres Here. I’ll also try to get a review in to test out.

Ring made a name for themselves with a doorbell system that allowed you to capture who was at your front door. Of course, thieves will try to find other ways into your home. When I had a break-in last year, they came through the back. So Ring has been working on more security, including acquiring a light company to give you more peace of mind.

New to Ring

Coming spring this year will be the Ring Alarm – a central hub that sends instant mobile alerts if door and window sensors are tripped. It can put your cameras on instant record, turn all lights on, so you can contact police quicker and easier.

A updated Ring Video Doorbell 2 is available, along with a series of outdoor security cameras that are either wired, or on battery/solar power.

Sensors for Smoke, CO, and Water

The Ring Smoke & Carbon Dioxide detector will send alerts if it senses dangerous levels of smoke and CO. A Flood & Freeze sensor (underneath pipes, refrigerator, water heater) alerts you of water leaks, or freezing conditions can happen. You can then fix the problems before they become disasters.

Ring Beams

Ring acquired Mr. Beams last year to add an LED light level to their systems. With Ring Beams, you can add a floodlight sensor over the garage, walkway lights, and other LED triggered lighting in places you need it most.

For more information, Check out Ring (Amazon), or through the Ring Website.