As a bass player who plays both electric and double bass I’ve met many electric players who would love to try the transition to upright but find it hard to make the financial commitment – without selling the car and pawning the Fender to get their hands on a halfway decent acoustic or a hand-crafted Ned Steinberger stick bass. ...more

Larrivee Guitars is a Vancouver-based, family-owned business that has been largely hand-building high quality acoustic guitars since the company was founded in 1967. In 1982, with the market for acoustics in one of its down-cycles, they decided to branch out into electrics, and while it could be said they had pretty firm ideas about how an acoustic should be put together, with their electrics there was a tendency to pander to whatever the market was dictating at the time. That could mean anything from Flying V's with Floyd Rose whammies, to Eddie Van Halen spray jobs or derivative Strat and Telecaster clones. After seven years the bottom fell out of the electric guitar market and the decision was made to discontinue the entire line. ...more

With its impressive legacy in acoustic and concert grand pianos, Kawai does not resonate as a rock 'n roll piano brand in quite the same way as fellow Japanese brands like Roland, Korg or Yamaha.Having had a chance to experience the Kawai MP5 Stage Piano for a week or two I can say this shouldn't remain the case. ...more

I have to say that seeing the ONIX for the first time was a bit of a surprise. You see, pro audio gear tends to have a very particular look and feel that makes it instantly distinguishable from its domestic audio counterparts. There is rawness to pro gear with an emphasis on functionality over form. Input and output sockets that might otherwise find themselves hidden from view at the rear are prominently accessible at the front, often intermingled with other seemingly unrelated controls. Rack ears with unsightly pre-bored sockets allow you to bolt the device to another equally industrial-looking structure. Faceplates tend to be littered with multicoloured LEDs, knobs and other controls that are tightly packed together in an effort to conserve space. ...more