LeftyBassist.com

Hello Music is extremely addictive, which is dangerous for a guy like me. I've been very happy so far. Shipping times can vary depending on the product, but most items I've ordered arrived within 2 weeks. (Over the course of the past 3 months, I've ordered an Alesis Performance Pad (returned it no problem), lefty Gibson SG Standard, Shure SM7b, Heil PR35, and I just ordered an SM57 a couple of days ago. There prices are usually better than anyone else, because they have very limited supplies, so you do have to jump on items quickly, and they have a 365 day return policy on most items. They ran special deals at Christmas time were unreal, but I missed out on most of them because they had very limited supplies that coincided with number of days counting down to Christmas (i.e. 5 days prior, 5 of an item in stock). So a brand new RME Babyface came and went for $275 (What is that, a $475 savings?!). The shipping cost is strangely reasonable too. I think it only cost an additional $9 to ship the SG.

If you do order from them, please use me as a reference. They have a 10 friend referral policy where you get $25 if any of your 10 friends orders from them, and so on. You can list me as friend as well so you can get credit when you order too.

True, but for $1100 new, it's hard to beat for the money. My only real concern is that they are not an authorized dealer for many of their products. So that begs the question: What is the source of their products? Are they getting them from wholesalers at near to wholesale cost? And what happens if something breaks? On something like the MKII if it busts, and is not covered my mfgr warranty, you're going to take it up the butt in repair costs.

PJ, how'd you swing getting a lefty SG? Did you call them up and ask for a lefty?

Maybe stuff's just, "falling off the back of a truck." and they've got an uncle Vito taking care of it.

They claim to have a 365 day return policy, which exceeds some warranty lengths, though every product I've bought from them so far also had warranty cards enclosed for mailing in as well. There may be exceptions, so it's best to give them a call and find out exactly what happens in the event there's a problem with the unit 3-4 months down the road. As I mentioned, I returned an Alesis performance Pad because I didn't care for the on board sounds and it didn't have midi in. I didn't return it until almost a month later than I bought it. They did ask me if I had all the packaging, paperwork, and whether or not I had opened it, to which I replied yes (since there's no way of knowing whether or not something works unless you do open it and try it out), but I returned it no problem and they refunded me.

The lefty SG Standard was listed in one of their daily e-mails, so I jumped on it 'cause the price was great. (Much as I hate giving my hard earned money to Gibson, an SG has been on my short list forever and this guitar screams). I haven't seen any other lefty instruments since though.

Hey Marc. Just got notice from Hello Music you used me for a referral. Many thanks for the referral... and for helping to contribute to my inevitable debt! Did you end up getting the UA-610 MKII? I'm still holding out for the Apogee or RME Babyface to pop up again on Hello Music.

Back to preamps. I'm liking everything I've read about the UA Solo 610 ($799) and the Focusrite ISA One ($499). Any experience with either? The Focusrite has an additional ADC card you can add on to it ($399), though I don't know how revered Focusrite's AD converters are compared to others like the Apogee. Guitar Center's running a $150 off $799 or higher deal today, and with a $50 gift card I have I could take $200 off a purchase of either preamp (and get the AD converter with the Focusrite).

One other question: any experience with MXL mics? The folks at Gearslutz seem to write them off and they are cheap mics, but then I read reviews on Sound on Sound and they get decent reviews. The R77 ribbon mic looks pretty cool.

Got my Shure SM7b last week. Amazing mic, sounds great on my voice, even through the junky on board mic preamps of my Behringer mixer. It will need more juice though, since I had the levels pinned.

PJ, i did not expressly mention you as a referral. In fact I don't remember seeing anything on the order form or sign-up form asking who referred me. So I am glad you got one regardless.

Yes, I pulled the trigger on the LA610MKII . It is the same pre as the Solo 610 you mentioned above AFAIK. The LA 610 just has and added LA2A compressor married in one unit.

At NAMM I spoke to several manufacturers about Hello Music and they all had pretty much the same story.
1) they dont like the business model because HM is selling stuff at a loss. In all cases of the mfgr's I spoke to HM is retailing at below wholesale cost, sometimes way below. To a tee they all feel that the only way HM is generating a profit (assuming they are) is by selling your email info to marketing companies.
2) None of them can see how HM will be able to remain in business. But strangely enough, with one exception, all the mfgrs were not too annoyed with HM becasue they agree with HM's mission of providing gear to musicians who would otherwise not be able to afford it.

Re MXL: I had a friend who had a couple of bottom of the line MXL's that he tried to use at band rehearsal. They were dynamic mics and they sounded like poo. This was 4 years ago so maybe things have improved. I have never used their condensers so I cannot comment.

Can't comment on the ISA One either, don't know much about it. I do lust after old Focusrite pre's like the Red. When they first came out they were amazing units.

I'd go for the solo 610 but you may want to look at the Twin 710 which is the same thing with the possibility to mix solid state and tube.

The new RME Fireface UCX just hit Hello Music this morning. $1349. I have no idea how good a price that is, but I'm tempted. USB 3.0 compliant, Firewire as well, half rack. Read specs: http://www.rme-audio.de/en_index.php.

It's probably more interface options than I'll ever need when I'm looking at the most basic AD converter interface I can find, but if the mic pres and forward thinking approach don't render it obsolete years from now it might be worth it.

There is some warnings applicable when buying new RME products. The FF400 held a LOT of promise but had so many bugs when it was released folks were flipping mad with RME to the point of swearing off their products. RME was very slow to respond both on their forums and in their tech dept, which also pissed folks off a lot. The same thing happened with the FF800, tho not nearly to the same degree.

Now don't get me wrong, I saw it demo'd and it looks to be a killer product. But if i wuz u, I would wait until it's been on the market for a while and evaluated by the fashion-forward-first-adopters. After working in technology for 12 years, I rarely bite at the latest and greatest anything. I prefer to be behind the curve and have stability. Hey, I work for a utility, that oughta tell you something in itself.

Also, it's not even available on Sweetwater yet, so lord knows when it will actually ship. You could call Sweetwater and ask them when theirs are due to arrive.

On another note: Did you how quick HM pulled the Cascade 731R w/Lundahl transformer they had on their page yesterday? Poof! It was gone in hours. Edit: it's back, and now you save $150 off retail.

Yeah I hear ya. It is risky to grab a new piece of gear (especially hardware/software-based) in round 1. I'll wait.

What were they asking for the Cascade yesterday? I have seen that mic pop up from time to time. (just as the SM7b pops up every other week or the Fender Deluxe Reverb). They seem to get small batches in that sell out, then more small batches at a later date. Sometimes they've got less than 3 in stock (i.e. the Babyface they offered at Christmas time), so you have to act fast.

Little by little chipping away at what I'll need to get going here. Came across a new problem, unfortunately.

I've encountered, what appears to be, a ground loop static-like buzz emulating from my iMac when hooked up to my mixer and active powered speakers. Not a steady consistent hum or buzz, but one that seems to worsen when you're actually doing something on the screen, i.e. moving the mouse or if you're on a web page where flash images are rotating/changing. If you're scrolling down a web page the static buzz will coincide with that. The problem is evident if I use the headphone jack on the mixer as well, though not evident if I plug a headphone straight into the iMac.

I did a search of the problem in Google and came up with a few chat forums discussing the issue. Some seemed to eliminate the problem by plugging various components into different outlets (did that, no luck), plugging everything into the same outlet/power strip (did that, no luck), or even connecting the 3 prong AC plug of the iMac to a 2 prong plug (Not recommended but I did that and it resulted in a steady hum instead). Some claimed success after purchasing a ground loop isolator (Radio Shack or Hum X), which I'm considering, though I'm wondering if there's some simpler solution I'm overlooking. I also read that it could be the iMac's Firewire 800 port that causes it, though I didn't hear a difference when disconnecting my Firewire hard drive. If it ends up being the Firewire port, I will be pissed, since that potentially renders my port useless if I'm trying to track cleanly and may force me to go with a USB interface instead.

So, anyone encounter this problem before and remedied it?

P.S. On another note, I sent over my basement layout/dimensions to Auralex via their "free personalized room analysis form". Hopefully they'll get back to me with some recommendations for proper placement of sound proofing panels (though I won't be getting Auralex panels).

time for a thread bump!
PJ, are you familiar with Lunchboxes? They may be something you want to look at.

For those who don't know a lunchbox is a powered enclosure that holds '500 series' modules. The modules are usually pre's; compressors; EQ's and the occasional funky thing like filters. The modules generally run $700 (ea.) and up when bought new.
So, for example, a Great River pre new will cost you $1150, whils the 500 module goes for around $70. The advantage of the modules are a) they are cheaper to build because the mfgr doesn't have to spend money on a power supply or large chassis. b) you can mix and match modules more often than you can trade Pokemon cards . C) It's a good way to check out all kinds of different gear at a lesser price point.

The main disadvantage IMO - well, it's more of a PITA than a disadvantage I guess) is that the lunchbox itself uses a DB-25 temnination. The pinout configuration is 95% standardized across various mfgr's, but not always. What most folks do is buy a DB-25-> TT (tiny telephone) snake for around $250-300 and a TT patchbay for around $100-$150.

IIRC API were the 1st folks to design the Lunchbox and they are somewhat the industry standard. So here's a good place to look at for info: http://www.apiaudio.com/5006b.html

Did you leave a zero off that Great River module price?

Funny you should mention this. I was just looking at this in my search for a Great River preamp:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Great-River-MP- ... 3a6f70b9ff

My immediate thought was, "Okay, but where do you get the chassis for this? Now I know it's a whole other direction and it's a "lunchbox". Thanks. But how do most of these modules compare to their full rack counterparts?

HA! It must be Psychic Friend's Manic Monday Morning. I wuz typing up my last post at the same time you were posting yours!

A couple ofthings to note on your grounding issue:
- have you tried isolating components? i.e. removing the Mac from the equation, or your other components?
- can you beg borrow or steal another laptop and see if the issue persists?
- I'd be willing to bet the source of the hum may lie in how you've got your room wired up. IIRC, didn't you rewire/repair the electrical in your house after the flood?
- Regardless of the above bullet point, is that particular circuit properly grounded?
- got fluorescent lighting in - or around - your recording setup?
- got any thing like a motor - i.e. furnace, sump pump etc. - around that may be inducing hum?

The models are identical, and if not they damn well should be! As I mentioned, the savings come from not having to provide a power supply, a larger chassis and sometimes the UL approval.

I was chatting Dan Kennedy of Great River at NAMM, and some young fellow came up and asked that very question LOL. AFAIK, all the higher end companies use the exact components in the 500 series modules. Of course, due dilligence should be taken b4 u spend your hard earned $$$.

Gearslutz has a wealth of used 500 modules always floating around. The modules almost always retain their resale value, give or take a few $$$ here and there.

Not all Lunchboxes are created equal tho. Some modules require more juice (amperage) than others, just like some guitar pedals do. So it is critical that you buy a lunchbox that will meet your future G.A.S. requirements.

The problem definitely appears to be with the iMac. I just plugged my laptop into the same power strip and ran that into the mixer/speakers. No noise whatsoever.

I'm heading out to run a few errands, and the Apple Store's on the way. I'll see what one of the "Geniuses" has to say about it, though if it's a fault with one of their products I wouldn't expect them to own up to it.

Well on a lark I decided to pick up a ground loop isolator from Radio Shack, knowing that if it didn't work I could just bring it back. It worked! No more static buzz. I can still detect, however, a very slight hum now, though barely audible though in relation to average audio playback volumes and doesn't seem to change in level when sliders are raised/lowered. This issue is strictly somewhere within the mixer and speakers, as removing the iMac from the tape in/line inputs has no effect.

Okay more debate time. Anyone heard of the KRK Ergo room correction system? Seems pretty steep in price for what it is and for all I know might be snake oil, but I just thought I'd ask:

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/pro-audi ... ion-system

Cheaper alternative?:

http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/ARC/

Moi? I know nothing about either.

Read some of the reviews on both products. Those who own them seem to swear by them, while those who haven't personally used them seem to think they're nothing more than sonic placebos. Lots of debate on Gearslutz. IK claims they can "improve" any room regardless of acoustic treatment. I tend to think it's best served as an enhancement after proper treating, so I'm tempted to get the IK ARC after I get the room in order.

PJ, 5 things came to mind when I saw the pics.
1 - The French doors may rattle noticeably and you will need to find some way to stabilize them. A cheap solution is to install a latch on them so they are bound together.
2- I am not a fan of room corner mixing. If I wuz u I would place your speakers beside your monitor, aimed at your head. But if the money is there, invest in a mixing space solution so that you use the wall under the window instead. i.e. move it/rotate to the right 90 degrees.
3 - rip out the carpeting under your mixing space and install hard-wood flooring under the desk ,and where your chair will be. In a square or rectangular form. The flooring doesn't have to be 3/4" Brazillian Cherry (tho I'm sure the wife wouldn't mind that). Just so long as it is a stiff, level and uniform surface.
4- I am jealous that you have a basement. There ain't no basements in metro-Phoenix area as they have to blast through clay and it adds at least $35K to the base price of a house.
5 - your kids will be pi$$ed that your stealing their playroom LOL

Ad nauseum: I wouldnt worry about the lack of insulation on the walls. In fact, I wouldnt worry too much about the rest of the room until you get some frequency analysis done and figure out how many thousands of dollars it's going to cost to you get it to sound like Electric LadyLand. As I probaby mentioned before, acoustic treatment of a room can be a bottomless pit of $$$. and the more money you spend after a certain point will only yield incremental results. Just let your ears be your guide.