Category: Music

I’m sorry to say that I failed at Black Friday and bought things I didn’t need. Sigh.

Okay, what did I get?

Easy Music Center, my local instrument and gear shop located an annoying two blocks away, had their annual 10% off anything in the store. Sometimes, stores will advertise that, but then you’ll find it doesn’t apply to things already on sale. Easy Music Center doesn’t do that. Admittedly, there were a few specific manufacturers that weren’t included, not many, and nothing I necessarily would have bought there anyway.

What did I get?

I upgraded my audio interface from a Focusrite Solo Gen 2 to a new Focusrite 2i2 Gen 4. The difference in sound is very noticeable; very. In addition, I can now plug in more than one input instrument, something I’ve wanted to be able to do for a while. I haven’t tried it yet, but I did get the interface set up quickly and easily.

That’s the solo, this is the 2i2 4th Gen.

Naturally, I had to buy new cables, but that was a plus! I’d forgotten that I own studio monitors capable of balanced input. All I needed now that I have a unit with balanced output were some new cables. And yes, they were on sale.

I also picked up a new string winder tool. I own one. I just don’t know where it is at the moment. In addition, I picked up a couple more cheap tuners. They seem to last me a couple of years, then start giving me trouble.

But did I get anything else? Maybe something expensive?

Well, here’s the fail.

I ended up buying one of their clearance guitars. I’d really liked to have had a guitar on my epic road trip this past summer. Imagine, if you will, a month without being able to make music. Not so much anymore.

I bought a Steinberger GT-Pro Spirit “Deluxe” guitar. Given the clearance price and the sale discount, it seemed like an opportunity to have some fun on the road. I’ll travel in January and February, the former to Hawai’i Island and the latter to San Francisco. I’m covered, I can bring a guitar, my Spark GO, and some headphones, and jam out daily!

Is this the best-reviewed travel guitar out there? Nope. Does it have fans? Yep. Could I have done better? Maybe, maybe not. I will say that with my Spark GO, this guitar sounds excellent to me. It’s easy to play, feels well made, has a smooth action, and is light and easy to carry around. It even came with a decent gig bag.

Should I even bother with all this stuff? After all, I’m not a great or even a good musician. I’m hopeless. But here’s the thing. I’m not playing for other people and certainly not for pay. I enjoy what I do, and that is the point.

I’ll show you what I mean…this isn’t for you…this is for me to remind myself I did this one day and had fun doing it.

I’ve had a few days to play with all my new gear and have reached some tentative conclusions. Keep in mind, I’m not a particularly proficient player nor a guitar tech wiz.

The setup for each system was as follows. For the Valeton, I’ve hooked it into my M2 Pro Mac Mini with Apple’s own expensive cable so I could use the editor. Other than that, I just hooked it up to headphones to spare my neighbors, and went to town.

The Spark GO required a bit of setup to work with the Airstep SPK controller. I hooked my Spark GO up to my iPhone 15 Pro Max with another good cable, and yes, used headphones from the Spark. Opening both the Spark app and Loopy HD, it was off to the races.

My thoughts?

The Valeton is a lot easier to setup for this. That makes sense as it’s combined unit including the looper. It also has good sounds over my headphones. The looper works great and with little tweaking, I was able to play over a loop I created pretty easily.

The combo setup of my Spark GO, the Airstep SPK, and my phone is harder to setup, especially make sure Loopy HD can read the controller. I do wish Loop Pro was able to do this, and I suppose that it can with the full Airstep controller, but not the Spark version. Further, I’ve had more trouble getting a good sound on the loop, though it certainly does work. I’m also not getting as clear a sound as I might like through the headphones, but I’m new at this and can probably tweak it to get right.

Who wins? Well…neither really. I’m far more likely to travel with the Spark GO combo. At home, I’m far more likely to use the Valeton in my living room where it’s hooked to my Mac and studio speakers. In my bedroom? It’s going to be the Spark combo.

In short, both solutions work, but seem to have different usages, at least for me. Since all the gear was on sale, I’m not feeling like I made bad purchases. I love the Spark GO and will certainly take it on trips.

All the best!

I managed to get through the day without touching my guitar…this was not in the plan, and I hope to play soon.

But I wanted to say that, at least, I’ve been quite happy with my Spark Go and the Spark Control.

I know I suggested I’d prematurely ordered it and might have considered the AirStep first. Well…maybe so, but I’m good for the moment.

Sigh. I think I may have gotten ahead of myself the other day when I ordered the Spark Control. Why is that?

Well…one of things I really want with the Spark is the ability to use a looper of some sort. And, sadly, the Spark Control doesn’t allow it. Don’t get me wrong, almost everything I’ve heard about the this device is great. The only complaint ever seems to be that you must the Spark App with it. That’s not really a problem for me, I’m down with apps and don’ t play out at gigs or even with other people. Though there is a good friend on Hawai’i Island I’d love to visit and play with and all of this Spark gear would mean I could get my own tones next time I visit.

Instead, I’ve found that XSonic makes a five-switch foot controller that can use a software looper. It’s the Airstep Spark Edition.

So yeah, I ordered another piece of kit. Luckily, Amazon will take one or the other of them back. Or, as so often happens, I’ll keep both.

I’ve been having so much fun with my new Spark Go that I decided I’d add another piece of kit for it. As it’ll also work with my 40 and is $20 off right now, it seemed like the time to get it. I’ve found that anything that increases my interest in playing my guitar regularly, is probably a good thing.

It’s a foot controller to move between amps and effects in the Spark. As I’m generally using a rhythm and lead setting, it’d be nice not to have to adjust things on the phone to change on the fly.

I wanted one of these when they first came out a while back, but they didn’t ship to Hawaii. Now that they are on Amazon, and at the same sale prices, it’s doable.

It should be here Wednesday. I’m sure I’ll have more about it then.

Until that time, here’s a bit more…

All the best!

This thing is actually pretty awesome. I own a Spark 40 but haven’t used it as much as I would liked.

This, a Spark Go, by virtue of its size will probably see a lot more use.

And it will likely get worse tomorrow!

I mentioned in a post about my new Valeton GP-200LT that one of the reasons I bought was to have a usable looper along with effects and such.

Well, I just lost two hours to the looper playing over a really simple chord progression.

Really it’s was just a B chord and an A chord…over and over, I guess I could have thrown in an E, but I never did. You’ll note, if you have a little theory that B and A are the 5 and 4 chords of E major. And, as I was resolving to B, it was a B Mixolydian jam.

There, I’ve just exhausted my knowledge of music theory and there’s a fifty-fifty chance I’m wrong anyway. But it was fun.

I also was using amp/cab/effect model I created myself in just a few minutes and I really liked the tone.

So yeah, I’m quite happy with the Valeton.

But why did I say it’ll get worse?

Well, I’ve another piece of kit arriving. It a Spark Go portable amp. It has some tricks up its sleeve that the Valeton doesn’t, but their purposes are a bit different,

So yeah, I’ll probably lose a few more hours. Sigh.

I’ve had my Valeton GP-200LT for a couple of days now and am thoroughly impressed. Keep in mind that I’m not much of a guitar player. Anything I use needs to be relatively simple. It needs to sound good, at least to me. And it needs to be on the smaller side so I don’t have to take up a lot of room.

So far, I’ve been happy on all counts.

The things I wanted most out of device have been easy to use and sound great. I wanted to be able to use a looper easily. I’ve tried loop pedals with varying degrees of success. The biggest problem I’ve had is lining them up with other tools. The looper in the Valeton is fairly rudimentary, but it works. I haven’t plumbed the depths of it yet, but can create a loop using one patch, and play along using another. Yay!

I also wanted some sort of rhythm. The Valeton has a built-in drum machine. Again, it’s not super programmable or extensive. But it has basic rhythms allowing me to practice along with something that keeps time. Using the metronome function is especially useful, especially in conjunction with the looper.

I also was able to create a decent sounding patch incorporating an amp, a cab, and some effects both quickly and easily. And better, it sounds great.

Now for the things I really wish I’d been able to achieve. To use the looper, I’ve had to place the device on the floor. I’d have preferred it on my desk, allowing me to trigger looper start, record, and stop with an external switch. I’m almost positive this can be done. I just haven’t figured it out yet.

And sadly, my expression pedals doesn’t seem to work with the Valeton. I’m hesitant to get another in case that doesn’t work either. Again though, it may just be my inability to set it up correctly. It seems to be being read, it just doesn’t trigger anything, or at least nothing I want.

Things I did have to add. I use my Bose noise canceling headphones quite often because I live in an apartment with neighbors. Because I’ve had to place the Valeton on the floor, I needed a longer cord. That was quick and cheap from Amazon, but it meant a day or two of waiting.

Further, I also needed a longer USB-C to USB-C cable to plug the unit into my Mac M2 Mini. I bought a cheap one. You can imagine the results. Do not buy cheap USB-C cables. I ended up getting the very expensive Apple USB-C cable because I have an iPhone 15 Pro Max and a Mac M2 Mini. It works great with the Valeton.

Here’s a vid on why that cable may actually be worth the price from Adam Savage.

I certainly learned something about USB-C cables.

In any case, I’m happily plinking away with guitar and quite enjoying my new toy. I’m sure there’ll be more about it in the future and who knows, maybe even some music from me. But that’s not today!

All the best.

For those who don’t know, I play guitar. I’ve been playing a long, long time and honestly, I’m not that good. I’ve never put the time into it to be more than a home hobby. But I enjoy it and that’s the important thing, at least for me.

I’ve been wanting something that would allow me to practice easily, especially over my headphones in order to save my neighbor’s ears. I haven’t purchased any new things besides strings recently, so I thought it might be time to have a little fun.

I’ve just ordered a Valeton GP-200LT. I really enjoyed the YT demo of this device from Andertons.

As you’ll note, this isn’t necessarily a pro model as it’d doesn’t have XLR outputs, though you can use TRS cables for balanced output. I’m not gigging, so…yeah, not an issue at the moment.

Why do I want this?

Well, it’s a modeler so I can get a variety of amps and cabinets, as well as lots of pedals. Further, it has a basic drum machine built in; good for my timing. Just as importantly for me, it has a looper as well. I have a variety of things that have some combination of these tools, but nothing that combines them all seamlessly. This seems to do that.

They have a more pro model, the GP-200, which has the balanced XLR outputs and an expression pedal. I wanted to keep this under $300. They also have a new version out, the GP-200JR, which is similar to this, has XLR, and an expression pedal built in. It’s a wee bit pricier, but doesn’t have a MIDI in and out. Am I going to use MIDI? My guess is no, but I have a couple things laying around that might be fun to try.

So what about that expression pedal. In all honestly, I haven’t really ever used one. Bob don’t Wah. That doesn’t mean I don’t want to use one, just that I never really have…EVEN THOUGH I OWN ONE.

Yes, I have an expression pedal that should work with this. Yay!

It’s not expensive. But I’m going to guess I don’t need an expensive one.

Further the GP-200LT is small enough to be used on my desktop if I want to tweak things easily. Have a pedal would add inches to the device and, well….you can see where that one is going.

Who knows, maybe I’ll start making actual music and post it here where no one has to listen to it.