tracy evans dot name

About eight years ago I bought a “dream car,” a 1982 Collectors Edition Corvette.

I have admired Corvettes since 1973 from watching Bill Bixby in a show called The Magician. He played a mystery-solving magi who lived on the top floor of the Hollywood Magic Castle. He would drive his white Corvette up a ramp to park in the back of his private 747. Gas was cheaper then.

Corvettes were well out of my price range in the ’80s. But I found that if you let them age for 20 years, they become quite affordable.

My ‘82 Vette has been a fun car. It was once written up in Corvette Magazine, and I even built a little tribute web site for it. But it’s really about time I drove something built in the 21st century. I posted the Vette on CraigsList a few weeks ago.

My daughter was 5 years old when I bought the Vette. She loved playing with her dolls in the rear compartment when it was parked in the driveway. Here is a photo from the day I brought the car home:

Eight years later, on the eve of selling the car, I parked in approximately the same place, and crammed her into rear compartment to take another photo.

The 1982 Collector Edition Corvette is a unique vehicle. A special multicolored design called “Silver/Beige” incorporated decal graphics, multiple pin stripes, and custom interior leather, and the first ever Corvette hatchback. Chevrolet only made 6,759 of this special edition. Mine even has an 8-track tape rack in the glove box. Groovy.

I had been vacillating for weeks on replacing my aging Mackie 1202VLC mixer. The headphone jack died months ago, and several channels need periodic jiggling to make connection. When I ran across the Korg ZERO 8, it seemed to have everything one would want in a mixer, and so much more. Between the time I placed my order at Musicians Friend and the expected ship date, Korg killed the product line.

What a shame. This was an amazing piece of gear; 8 stereo channels, Firewire I/O, effects, a touch screen that doubles as a Kaoss Pad, lots of knobs, slider, and “blinken lights.” The ZERO consistently receive rave reviews. Why would Korg kill this dream machine, less than 2-years after its release? It could be any of many reasons. Here are two.

Price. All this digital power does not come cheap. With a list price of $2,450 it’s difficult to understand to whom this unit was targeted. The street price apparently quickly dropped and was currently hovering around $1,000. A few weeks ago, some retailers started clearing these out for about $850. That’s when I made my purchase.

Sound. While many ZERO 8 owners were quite happy with the sound quality, a small but vocal group of users groused about their units being crazy noisy for a fully digital mixer. Several months of no response from Korg only made this community louder and angrier. When a response finally came down from Korg many of these users took it as a denial of the issue. You can read all about it on the Korg Forum. I don’t have an opinion on this subject, but I was looking forward to forming one upon receiving my ZERO.

Which will now never arrive. So farewell ZERO 8. We hardly knew you. Does anyone have any recommendations for an alternative? My Mackie is ready for retirement.

How good can a $99 guitar sound? Very good according to Dave Criddle, co-host of the Home Made Hit Show podcast. Dave was referring to his new SST57, a Stratocaster knockoff from Rondo Music. Rondo has been importing Chinese and Korean built instruments since 1959.

While Rondo readily admits that these guitars are “great for beginners or novice players to learn on,” most experienced players like to have “beat up” guitar that they don’t have to worry about scratching or denting. And many pros will reserve their $10,000+ instruments for studio use, while gigging live with a sub-thousand dollar ax. Few sound systems can even effectively  reproduce the nuances of difference between these instruments in a live situation.

Although Dave prefers the feel of his $600 G&L ASAT, he finds no difference in the sound quality between his $99 SST and a friends borrowed $1,000 “real” Strat. The fit, finish and setup action of the Rondos may reveal thier price range, but co-HMHS host and co-Rondo enthusiast Tony Butterworth recommends a full fledged setup (rod adjust, fret filing, etc.) straight out of the box as an important step in Rondo ownership.

For months I’ve had a hankering for a Tele, but have been hesitant to drop six to ten bills on a real one. I wonder if a $109 STL50 3TS Sunburst would sufficiently scratch that itch? Hmmmm … you may be seeing a guitar review here soon.

What’s your opinion of cheap guitars? Have any experience with Rondo? Let me know through the comments here.

A friend recently told me he wished he had taken a picture of his wife’s TV setup back when they were dating. It would be fun to reminisce about her 12″ tube and VCR, and compare it to the technological terror that is their entertainment system today.

It’s a true gear junkie that can look back on their ancient piles of metal and plastic with a fondness typically reserved for baby pictures and graduation photos. In that spirit, I start this new series on my ever-evolving home studio conglomeration, affectionately known as The System.

The System is built around an Ikea Jerker desk, a very popular choice among gear guys and gals.

It is doubly appropriate to begin this documentation now as I am in the middle of a gear rotation; a periodic sell off and acquisition cycle that leaves my closet cleaner and my wallet relatively unscathed.

So here is a candid (meaning cluttered) photo of the system as it stood last week for a brief slice of time. It is already a bit different as I returned one piece (the Akai APC40 in the foreground) to Guitar Center yesterday, and impulse purchased an Akai LPK25, a very handy mini keyboard. But more details on the individual pieces will follow, along with higher quality photos, in future installments. In the meantime, can you spot any of your favorites?