Gigbag: June 2004

AXL ThinAmp

TVs keep getting thinner and thinner-why not guitar amps, too? AXL’s ThinAmp is a portable, 10-watt amp with 18 digital onboard effects that’s two inches thick and about five pounds heavy. It’s perhaps best for practice but the ThinAmp could be just the tool for getting a unique, secret-weapon tone in the studio. Two, four-inch speakers drive its sound and a three-band EQ helps shape it. Included with the amp is a power adapter for a car’s cigarette lighter. themusiclink.net

Jupiter Stelrin Valve Guides

Steel valve guides for brass instruments sure are durable, but they can make a lot of noise. Plastic guides buck the noise problem, but don’t last as long. So, Jupiter Band Instruments combined the two and found a successful compromise in guides made from Stelrin-that’s steel plus Delrin, a DuPont plastic. With a soft, smooth Delrin casing over an exposed steel center, these guides provide quiet and fluid key action with the durability of a steel core. jupitermusic.com

Rimshot Drumsticks

These drumsticks have been available outside of the U.S. for years and now, finally, American kit beaters can also request a “Rimshot, please,” without the hassle of import sales and prices. Five kinds of Rimshots are available, including pairs made from Canadian Rock Maple-a lighter, livelier alternative to Rimshot’s standard American Select Hickory sticks.

(800) 263-5765

Zoom MRS-1608CD

Another digital audio workstation from Zoom? Yep. And the MRS-1608CD has it all: 16 tracks (each with 10 virtual tracks), EQ, onboard signal processing that includes reverb, compression and amp-modeling, eight hybrid XLR/phono inputs and more-even a programmable drum and bass section. But the best part might be the integrated CD-R/RW drive, which lets you burn your creations to disc immediately after mixdown. samsontech.com

Audix RAD-360 Wireless System

Fans of Audix mikes who’ve longed for a wireless system from the company can settle down, it’s here. The RAD-360 UHF Wireless system operates between 638 and 806 MHz and has 193 selectable frequencies and a dual-tuner, true-diversity receiver. The handheld transmitters feature Audix’s OM-series dynamic microphones, known for their clarity and feedback rejection, and the bodypack transmitter can be used with lavalier, headset and specialty instrument microphones. Audixusa.com

Training the Ear, Vol. 2

Former Mongo Santamaria keyboardist Armen Donelian wrote this second volume of his Training the Ear trilogy to investigate altered seventh chords, chord extensions, chord/scale relationships, chord substitutions and harmonic progressions. In addition to the text’s easily understood, follow-these-steps approach to ear-training, the nearly 200-page tome includes four CDs to further hone the ear of the intermediate, improvising music student. advancemusic.com

Originally Published June 1, 2004