Audio Technica AT2020 USB @ $149.00

New technology means new gear! As more and more of people stray into the realm of home studio recording via DAW software, music tech manufacturers have been keeping up with a slew of computer centric gear that was once strictly in the realm of pure analog. One such device is the microphone. Sure, computer microphones – the kind that hook up through a 1/8 inch aux port much like headphones – have been around since before the days of Windows 95 but those models were simply meant as a means of chatting and definitely lacked the fidelity for even decent quality recordings. But all that’s changed now that we have the USB microphone!

These types of mics have become quite popular recently with more and more manufacturers now offering at least one USB model. Sure, you can always hook up a regular mic through an external audio interface or compatible preamp but for those of us who don’t have or don’t want to connect that extra gear, USB microphones simply plug ...

The Seymour Duncan Vintage SSL-1 a popular
choice for 7 string guitar players looking for the
benefits of a staggered pole pickup. [@$76.00] 

Ever wonder how your favorite guitarist achieves their trademark sound, or simply wanted to try out a more customized setup for your own tone? Some might be thinking such versatile sounds must be a product of the studio or some sort of expensive rig of pedals and footswitches combined with specific amp effects -- not so! For the majority of people, something as easy as buying a specific type of effect pedal can satisfy their need want for a particular sound (such as heavy distortion used in metal), but for those of us in the hunt for that perfect sound, variations in pickups can offer subtleties in tone and quality that can definitely make the difference between being close to what one may want and being dead on.  With so many options to choose from, deciding on what type of pickups are better suited for the sounds you’re trying to create can seem l...

Musician Ray Manzarek, who is best remembered as keyboardist and founding member of the Doors, died on Monday at the RoMed Clinic inRosenheim,Germany, after succumbing to complications due to bile duct cancer according to the band’s Facebook page. He was 74.

According to the post, he was surrounded by his wife Dorothy Manzarek along with his brothers, Rick and James Manzarek.

Both drummer John Densmore and guitarist Robby Krieger have spoken up about the loss, and while doing so, remembered Doors frontman Jim Morrison, who died in 1971. 

“I was deeply saddened to hear about the passing of my friend and bandmate Ray Manzarek today,” said Krieger in the post. “I’m just glad to have been able to have played Doors songs with him for the last decade. Ray was a huge part of my life and I will always miss him. Ray Manzarek and Jim Morrison were the two most unusual people I have ever known. It didn't take long to realize this about Jim. He was obviously a genius, and he worked hard at bein...

Mixers like Peavey's 16FX often come with built-in solutions

Being in the business of pro audio, we here at PAL believe that supplying our customers with the best possible value and equipment is only half the goal. The other half is making sure that they are given the best possible resources to get the most out of their gear by providing a number of guides, reviews and tips. Last week, we took an in depth look at the studio microphone along with several key facets as they relate to recording such as the most common variations, their frequency charts, inherent problems and their solutions along with plenty of more integral info. To check out part one of our Microphones 101 series, hit the link right here. Now yesterday, we brought our readers the first half of our bass recording guide. We discussed the basic principles of recording a low end frequency instrument along with the two different methods of recording – through DI (direct input or direct injection) or with a traditional mic a...

It's not just a pickup, it's a weapon of tonal Armageddon. The Nazgûl was designed with a single purpose; for intense high output chug heavy punch you in the chest ruthless distortion. The tone is heavy and aggressive but also retains articulation and provides a precise pick attack that is necessary for high-output metal. The Nazgûl gives chords heavy saturation and produces a lightning fast response to your amp. Perfect for all high output metal needs in which sonic obliteration needs to be accomplished.

The Nazgûl is available for 7 and 8 string players and also comes in an active mount (soapbar) sizing for those who own a guitar that originally came with active pickups but prefer the tone of passive pickups.

PRICING

7 string:

Passive Mount: SRP: $89.95

Active Mount & Metal Covers: SRP: $119.95

8 string:

Passive Mount: SRP: $119.95

Active Mount & Metal Covers: SRP: $139.9

The EMG 57-Bridge and 66-Neck, only $129.00 each. 

When you think about pickup companies that built their reputation around giving players classic tones with contemporary sensibility, Lindy Fralin, Fender and Dunlop quickly come to mind. You don’t usually think EMG. Instead, that particular company is better known for focusing their products on the much more modern sounds of the last forty years with an emphasis on crisp, hot, detailed tones especially suited for heavy music. This has not only helped EMG solidify themselves as one of the more dominant PU manufacturers today, but has made the brand synonymous with several players and genres – simply do a quick search on their wildly popular 81 and 85 combination and you’ll get a sense of their typical loyal fanbase. And with that said, it came as a slight surprise when the company announced a couple of brand new pickups – the 57 Bridge and the 66 Neck – which are essentially trying to recreate the vintage PAF humbucker, albeit with an ac...

BBE Windowpane Fuzz @ $119.99

Like a lizard on a window pane… Earlier this year, the guys over at BBE released a slew of brand new and redesigned pedals. We’ve already taken a look at two of these new pedals in the last couple of weeks – the Blacksmith Distortion and G Screamer – and now we’re ready to take the BBE Windowpane Fuzz pedal for a spin! First off, the this pedal is essentially a tweaked version of the BBE Free Fuzz that features hand biased silicon transistors along with a new name and paintjob. If you’re a fan of Jimi Hendrix, you’re most likely a fan of one of his most used effects – fuzz. The fuzz effect is essentially a slightly meatier, muddier form of overdrive and sounds, well, fuzzy. Fuzzes were among the first of the transistorized guitar effects being built back in the early 1960s—which is no surprise when you discover the simplicity of most of them, or why many of them sound a bit too similar, not helped by the fact that most are going after Jimi’s sound. In a wor...

Getting a little tired of the sound of those stock pickups on your Strat? In the need of a replacement set that’s a little more fine-tuned to your personal tastes? Or maybe you just want to check out a list of the best replacement pickups for the Strat! No problem! Us Pros here at PAL have stepped away from the confines of our inevitable tombs lofty cubicles and have gotten together to compile a list of what we feel are the top five replacement pickups for the Fender Stratocaster. While there are plenty of great sets to choose from – not to mention conflicting preferences among different players – the following five pickups are what we feel stand out above the rest. 

Lindy Fralin Vintage Hot Set

The company’s best selling set to date, these pickups are wound with 42 gauge Heavy Formvar wire and have beveled magnets and cloth leads. The neck and middle pickups are average 50s specs, while the bridge is as hot as possible with this wire. Slightly hotter than stock Fenders but not as aggr...

Live DVD hits stores later this month.

Although Judas Priest had a bit of a snag which slightly delayed  the release of their new live DVD, “Epitaph” – due out later this month by the way – the band has done a great job of keeping fans in the loop, and not just regarding their DVD either.

In a recent Q&A with Rolling Stone, the band shared a few updates on their next studio album.

“It's coming along really well,” guitarist Richie Faulkner tells Rolling Stone. “We're not saying too much about it at the moment –it's kind of early to say. But it's shaping up really well. The great thing from a writing point of view is that Priest's brand of music is so broad, there's a lot to take from. One extreme from the other. You can put stuff on the table and nothing is discounted. You might get some bands that are like, ‘Oh, we can't do that, it sounds a bit like this or that.’ With Priest, you can put anything on the table and you've got the flexibility from the scope of the sound, creatively. And th...

Gretsch G9500 Jim Dandy @ $149

If there's one section of the acoustic guitar market that could definitely use a nice dose of bolstering, its most definitely the entry level range. Luckily for all of us out there looking for a solid acoustic that won’t thin out that wallet, Gretsch has now introduced the G9500 Jim Dandy as part of their new Roots Collection. This new line swaps Gretsch’s tried and true sharp, classic ‘50s Americana feel for a more grassroots, home-town country look consisting of acoustics, mandolins, resonators and other folk-minded instruments. And it comes as no surprise that this new line happens to coincide at a time when these roots instruments are enjoying a new resurgence in popular music. Miniature acoustics, like the G9500 Jim Dandy in particular, are attracting players looking for some Delta blues and old-school country tones, but is this $150 guitar worth the scratch?

The G9500 Jim Dandy acoustic specifically pays homage to the long forgotten line of Rex-Brande...

Shown here is the Bayer Dynamic DT770PRO and the KRK Rokit 8.

When it comes to home studio recording, there are certainly a few hard and fast rules that we can all agree on but just like with music creation, music production sometimes excels when these rules are thrown out the window in favor of more daring, creative approaches. But with that said, one thing always remains the same; if you can’t mix your tracks properly, they’re going to sound off, even terrible, no matter how solid they were in the first place. I’m sure the importance of a proper mix isn’t news to anyone, but what about mixing with either headphones or a speaker? Which one is best? Not sure? No problem.

Everyone out there has listened to music from both a pair of headphones and a speaker system and although there are many differences between the two, what many don’t actually realize is that these variations are usually due to how our brains perceive audio and less to do with the devices themselves. When it comes to actu...

Abigail Ybarra with Los Lobos during her private retirement
party. 

The Fender Custom Shop is both pleased and wistful to announce that one of its most revered employees, “pickup artist” Abigail Ybarra, is retiring after more than 50 years in the Fender family. In celebration, Fender arranged for multiple Grammy Award-winning band Los Lobos to play at her private retirement party with dozens of her coworkers.

Ybarra came to Fender in 1956 and in 1958 began hand-winding and hand-building guitar pickups for the fledgling Southern California musical instrument company (pickups convert string vibrations into electric signals, creating the “voice” of an electric guitar). Ybarra’s hand-wound pickups have been included in Fender’s most popular instruments from the late-’50s to today, and were most likely found on instruments played by legends such as Jeff Beck, Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix, Buddy Holly, Stevie Ray Vaughan and countless others. Her pickups have become highly desirable and sought a...