Reviews
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Call of Duty Advanced Warfare Trailer Revealed
By Quincy Oshiro | Posted May 2, 2014 at 03:57PMSledgehammer Games has just released the trailer giving us a sneak preview of the latest installment in the Call of Duty Franchise. Entitled Call of Duty Advanced Warfare and is set to release on November 4th this year. As a die hard fan of the Call of Duty franchise I cannot wait for this to... -
Actiontec Pwr51w Wireless Network Extender
By Victor Oshiro | Posted April 15, 2014 at 09:46AMNot too long ago I reviewed a wireless network extender from TP-Link. What was noticeable with that device is that the further the extender got from the base signal the poorer a job it did rebroadcasting the wireless signal. In essence, you have to be close enough to get wireless to be able to... -
Tone Grenade Pedal
By Victor Oshiro | Posted March 27, 2014 at 04:16PMThe three main ways to make distortion are with fuzz, overdrive, and a distortion pedals. I tend to stick to overdrive pedals for a couple of reasons. First, I can get a lot of distortion/gain from just about any amp or even a preamp like a pedal board. Secondly, I prefer the more singing... -
Sharp LC-70LE65OU 70" LED Smart TV
By Victor Oshiro | Posted February 25, 2014 at 10:30AMI'm pretty good at taking care of my gear so it shouldn't come as a surprise that my last TV - a 50 inch Samsung Plasma - lasted my family about 6 years of near constant use. That TV is now being used in my bedroom but it was getting time to update to a newer set. New features and better picture... -
Quilter Tone Block 200 Amplifier
By Victor Oshiro | Posted February 13, 2014 at 10:09AMQuilter Laboratories have had a very busy couple of years. They've released amplifier heads, combo units, and now a head that offers some different features you won't find anywhere else. Recently they released the Tone Block 200 amplifier which was a big hit at the recent NAMM show. What is the... -
Apogee Jam 96 kHz/24 bit guitar input
By Victor Oshiro | Posted February 7, 2014 at 10:58AMApogee's original Jam input device gave 48kHz /24-bit recording to musicians but Apogee recently sent out a press release for their 96 kHz Jam guitar input device. With this you can connect your guitar or other electronic instrument to an iPad or an iPhone. This is what intrigued me: 96 kHz /24... -
Real Racing 3
By Victor Oshiro | Posted January 7, 2014 at 10:32AMI had thought to originally release this review during the holidays. My logic was that what better than a game played on mobile devices to pass the time during the holidays? As it turned out I had a very busy holiday season with family and work so just goes to show how the best laid apps of men... -
TP-Link 300Mbps Range Extender
By Victor Oshiro | Posted November 6, 2013 at 06:09AMI've been lucky in my new home not to have WiFi dead spots. This doesn't mean I don't have any, just that in the places I use WiFi the most I'm not in a dead spot. My old home had a lot of them. I'm not sure if it is due to the construction of that home (the new home is also wood frame, sheet... -
ClearClick Software Guitar2USB
By Victor Oshiro | Posted October 8, 2013 at 09:54AMSeems like any recording devices for audio to computer or instrument to computer cost a hefty investment. Its not unusual to see equipment costing $200 or more and that is a price that can really hurt a struggling musician. I came across ClearClick Software's Guitar2USB setup a short while ago... -
Impressions of iOS7 after a week
By Victor Oshiro | Posted September 24, 2013 at 09:49AMAfter a week with iOS7 I think we can finally weigh in. We weren't lucky enough to get a pre-release evaluation peek at the OS or new iPhone 5s and 5c so like you we had to download the OS, update, and install. I think that there were conflicting reports out there, some even warning users not to... -
Plutoneium Chi-Wah-Wah Pedal
By Victor Oshiro | Posted September 10, 2013 at 08:00AMMost people's first effect pedal is usually a distortion pedal. What comes next? For most of us its a wah wah pedal. The wah pedal isn't just for 60's rock and roll sounds. Ask guys like Steve Vai and Kirk Hammett why they spend so much time getting their wah technique down. Better yet, search... -
Seymour Duncan Hotrodded Humbucker Set
By Victor Oshiro | Posted September 3, 2013 at 10:45AMThis is going to be our first guitar pickup review. I'm planning to bring you some different options, some very economical and some not so. Since this is our first pickup review I wanted to cover a well used combination that many players use to get a versatile rig: the Seymour Duncan Hotrodded... -
Pedalboards and Organizing Pedals
By Victor Oshiro | Posted August 28, 2013 at 10:05AMAs we continue our addition of musical audio equipment with our normal tech articles and game reviews it came to me that perhaps a quick tutorial on pedalboards and organizing pedals was needed (clever title eh?). This article isn't going to cover preamp equipment which generally is rack mounted... -
VHT Special 6 1x12 Cabinet
By Victor Oshiro | Posted July 10, 2013 at 10:04AMIt occurred to me the other day that while I've done reviews of instrument amplifiers and combos I haven't as yet reviewed a speaker cabinet on its own. Well folks here it is: The VHT Special 6 1x12 cabinet in closed back form. An open back version is available which features a Celestion speaker... -
League of Legends Game Review
By Quincy Oshiro | Posted July 1, 2013 at 06:05PMOVERVIEW
As a major league gamer it is my duty to keep up with some of the most competitive video games out on the market. You may have heard a recent uproar in people using the term LOL. No it is not the term "laugh out loud" used by everyone today while texting. This stands for "League... -
Defiance. Worst MMO Third Person Shooter.
By Quincy Oshiro | Posted June 28, 2013 at 05:52PMOVERVIEW
So not too long ago a few buddies of mine wanted me to pick up a copy of this game "Defiance". They didn't exactly explain the concept to me. I thought it was going to a first person shooter fighting off aliens. Nope, did some research on the game and it was brought to my... -
Hughes & Kettner TubeMeister 18 Head
By Victor Oshiro | Posted June 27, 2013 at 02:16PMThe market for instrument amplifiers is incredibly diverse and large. There are the time tested setups like a 100 watt tube head with a full stack of speakers all the way down to the 1 watt tube amplifiers with a built in six or eight inch speakers. Throw in everything in between as well as... -
Swiss Picks
By Victor Oshiro | Posted June 12, 2013 at 10:40PMSometimes we get to do an in depth review of a product that requires tons of explanation. Other times we find that the product is so simple yet does exactly what it claims to do. Today I present the Swiss Pick. Not named for a country of birth but more for its resemblance to something that... -
Quilter Aviator 2x10 Combo Amp
By Victor Oshiro | Posted June 5, 2013 at 09:04AMIf you suffered through my recent amplifier tech articles you know I'm looking for the ultimate tone machine in a combo design. I need tone and I'm not willing to compromise on that. You'd think I'm willing to compromise on volume and projection to get the smaller form factor but here's where... -
Vox Delaylab Pedal
By Victor Oshiro | Posted May 29, 2013 at 10:51AMMy son has a forbidden love that dare not speak its name: the love the delay pedal. I like delay effects but I find them often overused and this is one sound that can definitely get tiring when used a lot. Previously my son was using a Boss delay pedal that worked very well but lacked one... -
Instrument Speakers
By Victor Oshiro | Posted May 21, 2013 at 10:58AMWe're approaching the end of this series of articles. I know that it seems very tedious - musicians tend to be the type of people who want to plug in and get a perfect sound. Sadly, it takes a lot of work to get the exact sound you are looking for. That's what this series was meant to do -... -
Solid State and Hybrid Amps
By Victor Oshiro | Posted May 18, 2013 at 10:23AMI hope you've read the previous solid state vs tube amp article and the amplifier tubes article where I covered tube characteristics as well as some tricks to get better tone. There are some situations where solid state amps really shine through. Towards the end of the article I'll give you a... -
Amplifier Tubes
By Victor Oshiro | Posted May 13, 2013 at 10:09AMIn my last article we covered the solid state vs. tube amp argument. My view on this is that you have to use the right tool for the job at hand. If you picked a solid state amp there is still some info in this article you might find interesting. If you picked a tube amp then lets help you get to... -
Solid State vs Tube Amps
By Victor Oshiro | Posted May 8, 2013 at 10:03AMEvery so often I'd post one of my 'rants' here but I've tended to stay away from that format. Basically I give you my 2 cents worth but not in a review of a particular product. Lately all the mail I've been getting are "why don't you test this amp" or "you seem to have a bent against solid state... -
BBE Sonic Stomp Sonic Maximizer
By Victor Oshiro | Posted May 1, 2013 at 10:05AMA pedal I got recently after my son's praise was this BBE Sonic Stomp. I've heard BBE's rack mount sonic maximizers so I wondered if this pedal could capture what one of those does.
How does it work?
What's a sonic maximizer? I'll let this quote from BBE's website try to explain it:
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