Category: First Impressions

What do I think about a piece of new (to me) gear at first? We all know first impressions don’t last, but at least this way I can look back and see how my opinion has changed from when I first tried something.

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First Impressions: Universal Audio’s LUNA DAW

The thing I hate most about digital recording? Latency. Even though I’m about as far away from a technically-accomplished player as you can get, I really struggle with coping with latency when I’m recording with Reaper. It’s the main reason that I bought my first UAD Apollo interface back in 2016.

So when Universal Audio announced LUNA, and made a huge song-and-dance about how it enables recording with virtually zero latency, I had to try it.

That was at the end of April 2020. I’ve been using it on-and-off throughout May, and scribbling down notes as I went along.

When you read this, please remember that it’s perfectly possible that some of these points may have been addressed in more recent releases of LUNA. UAD seem to be doing a great job of getting regular updates out for users.

That kinda hints that I ran into a lot of pain points with LUNA …

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First Impressions: Boss FBM-1 Fender 59 Bassman Overdrive Pedal

Above all others, there’s one tweed-tone pedal that I haven’t yet tried. It might not be the very first tweed-tone pedal, but it’s certainly the earliest one that I know about. It’s a pedal that’s rumoured to have graced the boards of many successful recording and touring artists.

And finally, after years of watching them go for very high prices, I finally won one on eBay. Was it worth the wait? Or will it remain forever in the shadow of my beloved SHOD?

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First Impressions: D’Addario XT Strings For Electric Guitar

Every now and then, I like to try some different strings. Just because I’m happy with my current choices, that doesn’t mean that other strings won’t be great too. I always preach about having options, and sometimes that can just be from how a different set of strings changes a guitar.

I grabbed a set of D’Addario XT 9s and a set of XT 10s (both for electric), and put them onto a couple of guitars to try for the very first time. How did I get on? Read on to find out.

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First Impressions: Kinman Impersonator 54 Noiseless Pickups For Stratocaster

Back in November 2019, I picked up a set of Kinman pickups from Knighton Music Centre. I’d taken my wife there so that she could look at their impressive range of acoustic guitars, and while I was there, I spotted a promo poster for Kinman pickups.

I didn’t even know you could get these in the UK.

I bought a set, brought them home with me … and then they sat on the shelf here for several months. I’ve finally had them put into my Strat. What do I think of them? Read on to find out.

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First Impressions: Danelectro Big Spender Spinning Speaker Pedal

I’m a huge fan of the Danelectro Billionaire series of pedals. I’ve now got all of them except the tremolo pedal, and I’ve been delighted with the sound quality of each and every one of them.

This isn’t the last pedal to arrive before the pandemic lockdown, it’s just the last one for me to put onto the board and spend time with. How did I get on with it? Read on to find out.

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