October deals @ Sound Alchemy

FYI...

 Pic: SAFB

Black Friday 2023

Yes, it's that time of the year when buying new gear is on top of everyone's mind. Various deal in town, I'm just highlighting a few here. Sound Alchemy has some combo deals that's worth checking out but these last till Cyber Monday.

Davis GMC's deals are online. 

Swee Lee added guitars & bass to its Black Friday deals. Do visit their web store to view the lists.

Last but certainly not least, City Music goes one-up by kicking off their year-end sale this Black Friday.

Do give due considerations to the stuff you fancy before taxes go up come 2024.

YE Sale @ Sound Alchemy

Paving the way for a good year end consideration before the tax go up a notch - the Sound Alchemy year end sale.

Hello, November... 👋

Pic: SAFB

9-9 sale @ Sound Alchemy

Sale happening at Sound Alchemy (till 17 Sept). Not much details to share but do visit the store.

Pic: SAFB

Sale: Sound Alchemy

Sound Alchemy is having a sale for all their Japanese products till the end of November. Good time to check stuff out before the new GST rate kicks in.

SALE

That's right folks, some sale going on in town from Music Theme....

Sound Alchemy...

And Luther Music. Suffering from shallow pockets in the mean time. 😕

SA EOY sale

Sound Alchemy had started theirs. *checks wallet* 😑

Mid-year enticements

Happening at Sound Alchemy now. A good time to consider Japanese guitars- we know how prices are these days so here's a chance to maybe do something 'right'.

Worthy FG

Happening now at Sound Alchemy. I've played this model before but it's at the Yamaha PS outlet. Awesome projection & playability. Now that it's going at this price, I'd recommend it to players looking for a reliable instrument on a budget with no compromise in QC. 👍

Festive weekend operating hours (2)

More festive operating hours...

... for you to take note of. Thanks to all retailers who responded to my PMs.

Enjoy the long weekend, everyone. 👍

No. 5

I got this during Sound Alchemy's Black Friday sale. It's feature rich, it's like working with an amp. Sounds really fierce when cascaded into a mild drive/ boost channel but chances are, you won't need to do so since a boost feature is already on board. Crank it up & you'll know why. 

Crushing sale

This should  be on your considerations list if you are shopping for a new practice amp 👌

SALE: 11-11 special @ Sound Alchemy

Things are heating up, here's another enticement from Sound Alchemy.

PIC: Sound Alchemy FB

SALE @ Sound Alchemy

Happening at Sound Alchemy till 31/10/2017. Do refer to their web page for updated sale prices: CLICK

SALE: Sound Alchemy

Ah, yes- Sound Alchemy is the latest on the SALE list! 👍🏾

Exotic driving

Got my SL Drive. It looks puny but there are more control options inside to keep me occupied. Tried it for a while at Sound Alchemy before bringing it home. Bottom line- my kind of overdrive.

Xotic effects: SL Drive

Availability: Sound Alchemy

List: $179

Xotic Alchemy

PIC: Sound Alchemy

I'm glad to announce the availability of Xotic effects at Sound Alchemy. Promotional intro now taking place FYI.

Happy first weekend of June, everyone :-)

Yamaha: Pacifica 510V

When Rich Lasner, the proverbial Ibanez RG designer switched camps in the late 1980s, he went to Yamaha. Lasner, together with Leo Knapp, prototyped the Pacifica models which went into regular production in the 1990s. Michael Lee Firkins & Bill Leverty were esteemed Pacifica endorsers & we know what these chaps could do. The Pacifica glory took a tremendous dip along the way, at one point in time, only the 112 version was in production. Everything else was removed from the catalogs. Maybe the economy at that point in time dictated the manufacturing of motor engines more than instruments & who would want a Pacifica anyway, yes?

Construction/ fit/ finish

The 510V you see here is part of the new wave of Pacificas in the market today. This one debuted in 2011, made in Indonesia. The '5' you see there is a reference to its tier, compared to a 112, the 510 sits way above the order featuring some of the best production standards & features you get for the asking price. The 510 has a very synthetic finish at the neck due to its intense lacquering. However, the appointments & details of the 510V neck has to be one of the best I've come across when it comes to standard production models. Particularly inviting is the fret edges which were well levelled & the nut slots manifested no choking. The 510V body is a simple alder, a very balanced feel together with the neck. I enjoyed playing it both sitting down & strapped on. All hardware here were well fixed less one string retainer which was misaligned during test time; nothing a screw driver couldn't fix. A no-frills yamaha with lots of good QC on board- what's there not to like in this department?

Playbility/ tone

The finished neck there is a little tricky when one has a sweaty palm but the feel remains very inviting. The profile is an interesting C with enough depth for blues bending moments. The action right out of the box was low-profile but our dear single coil loving brothers might set it up for a little more twang, action-wise. The immediate benefit of a single pickup guitar is that acres of space at the picking area so all forms of right hand techniques will benefit from this vacancy. If you are at home with a shred-type guitar of another brand, this one won't be any different.

Coming to that solitary Seymour Duncan P-Rails in the bridge position- it's simply an awesome highlight with enough dynamics to adapt to various music genres- rock, blues, metal to name a few. This pickup is one of my favourite because it has a flat response to begin with; that's right, equal servings of treble, midrange & bass. This is especially rewarding for clean applications involving the split coils. Since the selector is a 3-way version, it means you get three different tones to work with; full humbucking, P-90 type tone & a single coil voicing coming from that rail portion. The cleans are appealing considering they come from the bridge position which is quite devoid of that treble end roundness but the P-90 character has enough fatness to mimic this if one rolls back the tone control to taste. The humbucking mode is menacing enough with lots of distortion. In fact, you can pull off (no pun intended) some black metal with relative ease.

Conclusion
The Pacifica 510V is a versatile instrument put down by cynics who think the single pickup lacks tonal options. This is true if the manufacturer did not include a pickup selector to offer additional tones. Coupled with great playability, the 510V shouldn't be dismissed as an introvert's tool but it is very difficult to sway guitarists in general because they are mostly traditionalists who are not as contemporary in their instrument embrace (how else do you think the Les Paul & Strat survived all those years?). If you doubt Indonesian manufacturing standards, this would give some insights on quality .

Rating: 79%

Availability: Yamaha Beat Spot/ Sound Alchemy
List: $784 $769

City in store

Jet City amps are now available at Sound Alchemy- great-sounding amps that won't break the bank, do check them out.

It's a wrap

One of the fundamentals of playing the guitar is to keep those unwanted notes from being heard during play. This is a pain for beginners, it requires discipline. For seasoned players, sometimes those ghastly notes could be heard especially when we let our guards down. Some of us would choose to let it be because we know, a tremendous amount of distortion would mask things somewhat but it's a poor excuse for being sloppy. It's a different story during recording when such minor accidents could be heard under compression. Players like Greg Howe (read some stuff here: CLICK) who employs a fair bit of two-handed techniques into his playing, would see to it that such notes are muted during play. 

A simple remedy here is to wrap a hair band (aka scrunchie) at the nut area to hush things up. However, manufacturers like Gruv Gear (they manufacture instrument bags as well), invests some thinking into this idea & they came up with the FretWrap. In addition to a more cushioned approach, the FW features a buckle so you can vary the grip; some of us would want more damping than muting. As for me, I'm thoroughly enjoying this product because it helps me address the muting issue when I tap or employ some sweep picking. Yes, we should be more professional when it comes to notes muting because it's part of knowing how to control one's hands while we're at it but after prolonged play, I always realize that lethargy would overwhelm us & that's where contraptions like the FW for instance, helps.

The Fretwrap is available @ Sound Alchemy.