Guitar Review: Gretsch G5445T Electromatic Double Jet

If you can believe it, I never played a guitar with a Bigsby vibrato system on it until today. Also, before today I never played a Gretsch guitar before either.

Why haven't I played a Gretsch until now? Two reasons. First, I never really think about Gretsch when in the guitar store, and second, I'm not really into semi-hollow or hollow bodied guitars, but... this Jet is in fact a solid-body.

While I was in the guitar store (Sam Ash Tampa), in addition to trying out a Fender Jazzmaster, I also tried out the Gretsch you see above since they had one hanging on the wall.

So okay, here we go, my review on the Gretsch G5455T Electromatic Double Jet.

Expensive?

Nope. It's the same price as a Mexico-made Fender Standard Stratocaster or Fender Standard Telecaster...

...but it sure looks expensive, no doubt about that. In person, it looks even better, even in black. If you're wondering if there is another color, there is. Gold. And if you think the black one looks good, it would not surprise me if you instantly bought the gold version upon seeing it; it's a guitar that turns heads easily. I guarantee you that very few (if any) other guitar players you know own an axe that looks that cool.

I'll put it another way. If you want a guitar that says, "I want a guitar that gets noticed anywhere I go with it", you can't do any better than a gold Gretsch Double Jet, because it could pass for a $2,500 guitar easily even though it's priced far less than that.

Fit and Finish

Good. Feels solid. I couldn't find any obvious flaws. In fact, I couldn't find any flaws at all.

Weight

Pretty close to "boat anchor" heavy. It's a solid-body with weight reduction (meaning it is chambered), but it has a heavy Bigsby vibrato on it.

Still a comfortable player even though heavy? Yes.

Sound

Spanky and twangy. It has set of what Gretsch calls "Blacktop Filter'Tron humbucking pickups".

Given the pickups are humbuckers however, it's not single-coil style "spank". More like a rockabilly sound rather than a surf sound is the best way I can describe it.

Neck and Fretboard

Even though the scale is slightly short (24.6-inch short, which is slightly shorter than typical Gibson 24.75-inch), it doesn't feel like a short-scale.

I felt very comfortable whizzing up and down the neck. In addition, this guitar responds great to finger-plucking. You can do snap-back style plucks and this Double Jet just loves that.

I had no issues holding chords or soloing, nor did I have any issues accessing higher frets. This particular Gretsch design is a "just right" for what it is.

Using the Bigsby

Okay, now to the meat and potatoes of why I tried this guitar in the first place.

The Bigsby vibrato that is on this particular Gretsch is the B50 model. There are, if you can believe it, 13 different models of vibrato that Bigsby makes. And some guys like to know which Bigsby is outfitted. Well, on this guitar, it's the B50.

I am used to a vibrato arm that swings out of the way when not in use. The Bigsby vibrato arm does not do that. Wherever you place it, that's where it stays unless you swing it out of the way yourself.

For some players, that's perfect because they like a vibrato arm (a.k.a. "whammy bar") that does not move and always stays in the same spot. For me, I actually prefer an arm that swings. As such, I had to get used to the fact the arm doesn't swing.

One thing the Bigsby does better than any other vibrato is that you can pat instead of grab to use it. What that means is that with a minor tension adjustment, you can simply use one or two fingers to lightly pat down the arm whenever you want vibrato. The reason you can do this is because the arm is wide, like the end of a small butter knife; this allows plenty of room to rest your finger on so you can pat instead of grab like you would with Fender vibrato arms.

Yes, you can adjust how much or how little tension you want, and that adjustment is stupidly easy to do.

But is the Bigsby on this Gretsch usable?

Yes, absolutely. Ridiculously easy to use and the strings stay in tune as long as they've been stretched out properly. Because the strings have a rolling point before the bridge, you can use the vibrato all you want without any nasty string "kinking" at the nut.

The B50 on the Double Jet is very usable and genuinely a joy to play once you adjust the tension to what you feel most comfortable with. All you have to do is decide whether you prefer a firm or soft feel for Bigsby tension and that's pretty much it.

There really is no learning curve to using a Bigsby system since it's just a tailpiece. All your intonation and string height stuff is handled separately at the bridge.

Electronics

This is the only part that may confuse some players, but once you understand how it works, it's easy.

On the top horn is a simple 3-way pickup toggle switch. Bridge, Bridge+Neck or Neck. Easy enough to understand.

It's on the bottom where things get interesting.

Near the back of the guitar are TWO volume controls (one for bridge, one for neck) and ONE master tone control.

Then, on the bottom horn (under the neck pickup) is a master volume.

Now if you're totally confused by this, here's how to make real simple sense of it for beginners new to how Gretsch does electronics.

Method 1: Use the master volume all the time.

1. Turn "Volume 1" and "Volume 2" all the way up.
2. Turn the master tone control all the way up.
3. Adjust volume with the master volume knob and never touch the other three.

Method 2: Never use the master volume control.

1. Turn the master volume control all the way up and then never touch it after that.
2. Turn the master tone control all the way up.
3. Adjust "Volume 1" and "Volume 2" as desired.

There is no right or wrong way to use a Gretsch. You will either use the master volume control all the time or just turn it up all the way and never touch it.

Where players get confused is that they think the three knobs at the rear of the body are Stratocaster "Master Volume/Tone/Tone" knobs. They're not. It's "Volume 1/Volume 2/Master Tone", with the master volume knob set far away under the neck pickup.

"I'm confused! Which should I use?"

If you're just totally confused, just use method 1 above as it's the easiest.

As for why the master volume is separated so far from the other knobs, that's just a Gretsch thing. They probably designed it that way originally so it was really obvious where the master volume control was.

Anything bad about the G5445T?

The tuners are a bit crappy. Not bad, but just.. well.. they could be a little bit better.

Yes, they are easy enough to use and felt okay when using them, but were a little stiff. Then again, this was a guitar I just picked up off the wall at a Sam Ash, so... maybe with change of strings to my preferred string set (which is Dunlop DEN0942 by the way), the tuners would have worked better with those.

Also, the tuner buttons felt a little small. I could grab and turn them easily, but still, they felt somewhat toy-like. But maybe the smaller size is a Gretsch thing. I'm not sure.

The only other thing I could complain about would be the weight of the guitar. It's heavy. While the guitar isn't big by any means, she has some weight to her.

Verdict

Above-average. Great look, great tones, easy to play. A small learning curve with the electronics layout, but easy enough to figure out.

For the nit-pickers wondering whether the guitar is more "Gibsony" or "Fendery", it's neither. Gretsch is Gretsch. There is no one part of the guitar where I think "this is Fender-like" or "this is Gibson-like". As I said, Gretsch is Gretsch. It may be a brand owned by Fender Musical, but believe me when I say there isn't anything about the Double Jet that's been ruined by who owns the brand.

I'll say it another way. The G5445T is absolutely not a "Gretsch-looking Telecaster". Not at all. And that's a very good thing. It's cool, different, a total head-turner, and totally a bargain for what it's selling for.

For those of you that want something really different but really cool at the same time that's not a Fender nor a Gibson that will impress the hell out of anyone who sees you with one, get a Gretsch G5445T Electromatic Double Jet. Black or gold, your choice. I played the black one, but if I were buying, I'd order a gold; it's the same price as the black one.

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Guitar Review: Fender Classic Player Jazzmaster Special

Today I headed out to Sam Ash and while there I tried out two guitars. One was a Fender and the other a Gretsch. I'm writing about the Fender first.

The exact guitar I tried out was a Mexico-made Fender Classic Player Jazzmaster Special in 3-color Sunburst finish.

Appearance

The first thing to know about this guitar is that pictures on the internet do it no justice, as it looks way better in person. Even in brand new condition without a scratch or mark on it, it totally captures that "looks like a pawn shop guitar" look. The color and look of this particular Jazzmaster is 100% correct.

Weight

Almost the same as the Squier Vintage Modified Jazzmaster I own, which is around or a little over 8 pounds. In other words, heavier than a Stratocaster or Telecaster which usually weigh in at around 7.5 pounds.

In plain English: A bit on the heavy side, but not "boat anchor" heavy.

Neck/Fretboard/Frets

Feels identical to the Squier because it has the same measurements and same gloss coating. This particular Fender does not have a satin urethane neck finish. But that's fine because the neck feels great.

As for the fretboard and frets, it's just ever-so slightly rounder on the board and ever-so slightly "fatter" on the frets.

Buzzy?

Barely. It's not nearly as buzzy as the Squier, mainly because of the bridge which is a Fender Adjust-o-Matic. This is not a true-to-vintage Jazzmaster bridge. I'll talk more about this in a moment.

All Jazzmaster guitars with the old-school vibrato do buzz because that's just the nature of the way they are. The only way to have a buzz-free Jazzmaster is to play one that has no vibrato on it whatsoever, such as the Fender American Special Jazzmaster, which is a hardtail with no vibrato at all.

I will say however that the one I played today is the least-buzzy Jazz I've ever put my hands on. That Adjust-o-Matic bridge really gets the job done, but changes the way it plays, which again I'll get to in a moment.

Fit and finish

100% proper front-to-back. Fender Mexico makes a good guitar, and this Jazzmaster doesn't disappoint.

Sound

Other than the Adjust-o-Matic bridge, the pickups are why Fender calls this a "Special" model. What's loaded in this Jazz are labeled as "Special Design Hot Single-Coil Jazzmaster" pickups, according to Fender specifications.

What does that mean? I have no idea. But I can tell you what it sounds like.

In the lead (down) circuit position, the best way I can describe the voicing is that it's more "smooth" than the Squier Jazzmaster pickups while still retaining good treble response. However, to my ears it doesn't have as much "honk". And I like honky-sounding Jazzmaster pickups.

The rhythm (up) circuit position is, I admit, more usable than on the Squier version. Because of the hotter output, you hear more treble out of the rhythm circuit when in use.

Basically put, yes, it sounds like a Jazzmaster, although not as honky as I would like it to be.

Truss rod hole placement weirdness

This is something so subtle that it's really easy to miss, but important to know.

Notice on the headstock that there is no truss rod hole. That's because it's on the heel of the neck.

The upside to this is that it contributes to the vintage look. The downside is that it can be a major annoyance to adjust the truss rod.

Why do I label this as weird? Because it's a vintage-inspired thing on a guitar that's more modern than vintage and not a reissue. It's just plain weird Fender would do this on the Classic Player Jazzmaster Special.

Vintage or Modern?

Modern, no question about it. Looks totally vintage, which is exactly how it should look, but feels and sounds totally modern.

My issues with the Fender Adjust-o-Matic bridge

The entire reason Fender even bothered putting this bridge on the Jazzmaster was in response to players who said the original was buzzy and unusable.

I own a Squier Jazzmaster with the true-to-vintage bridge. Buzzy? Yes. Unusable? No. Very usable, if you know how to play a Jazzmaster correctly. And most guitar players these days are unfortunately so stupid they can't even figure it out, so they cried to Fender, Fender buckled and slapped on an Adjust-o-Matic.

When I went to use the vibrato on this Fender, it felt totally wrong and sounded totally wrong. While the Squier with the proper vintage-style bridge has beautiful, smooth operation and nice overtones, the Fender version just felt "short" for lack of a better description...

...and that's because it is literally shorter, spacing-wise.

The vibrato-to-bridge spacing on the Squier model with its vintage style Jazzmaster bridge is normal for what it should be, mostly if not exactly following vintage specifications. On the Mexico Fender with the Adjust-o-Matic bridge, the spacing is shorter. And on the American Fender '65 model with the vintage-style Jazzmaster bridge, the vintage spacing is obviously used.

Why does the Mexico model have shorter vibrato-to-bridge spacing? Probably to decrease buzz and prevent string ring before the bridge...

...and that's exactly what I personally don't want taken away from a Jazzmaster.

Now for some players out there, the Classic Player Special Jazzmaster is perfect because it directly addresses the two largest complaints people have about the Jazzmaster guitar, that bring bridge buzz and before-the-bridge string ring.

But or me, the vibrato with the shorter spaced setup operates so differently that it almost feels foreign.

After I strummed around on the Classic Player, yes I was able to get along with it all right. I could still get nice, smooth vibrato after getting used to it...

...but ultimately I felt it to be "too modern" for my liking.

Now again, some players will really, really like the Classic Player. But that short-spaced vibrato in combination with the differently-voiced pickups just didn't work for me.

Is it worth the asking price?

Tough to say.

This is a Mexico-made Jazzmaster, and it's priced significantly higher than a Mexico-made Strat or Mexico-made Telecaster.

What I can say is this:

1. In 3-tone Sunburst, wow, what a looker. It is an insanely good-looking guitar, because it's like I said, the thing looks pawn-shop perfect even in brand new condition.
2. It does sound correct, even though not as honky as I'd like it to be.
3. It is easier to deal with compared to the vintage vibrato/bridge setup.
4. It is a quality-built guitar, no question about it.
5. I guarantee you will not care that this is a Mexico-made and not an American-made, because the look, fit, feel and finish are totally spot-on.
6. I can easily see this guitar becoming a collectible in the future because it's a unique thing in the Fender line, especially for a Jazzmaster.

But is that enough to justify its price?

For some of you, just the look of the guitar alone makes it worth its asking price. This guitar comes in only two colors, 3TSB and Black. Don't even bother with the black one. Get the sunburst. Even if you bought this guitar, never played it and just hung it on a wall for display, people would say "WOW!" each time they saw it. Yes, it truly does look that good in person.

For me, no it's not worth its asking price. But if it had the true-to-vintage vibrato/bridge setup and traditional vintage-voiced pickups, then yes, it would be worth its asking price.

If the price of the Fender Jazz scares you off, get the sunburst Squier version instead. And if that particular Squier scares you off because of its true-to-vintage setup, the Fender Modern Player HH Jazzmaster in Black will be just the thing you want.

The Modern Player guitar in particular looks great in black because it has a maple fingerboard with block inlays, and it has almost the same price point as a Mexico-made Strat or Tele. And, strangely enough, it has the proper spacing for the vibrato/bridge setup even with an Adjust-o-Matic on it. Also, the truss rod hole is at the pegboard and not the heel for easy adjustment.

What do you miss on the Modern Player? No rhythm circuit on top, but that's fine because it would "mud out" humbuckers too much anyway even if it were there.

Final verdict

I give the Classic Player Jazzmaster a rating of "above average". Looks perfect and fit/finish are very good, but that vibrato/bridge setup and pickup voicing just does nothing for me.

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Rich's movie review of Airplane II: The Sequel

This is not about the first movie, Airplane! It's about the second one, Airplane II: The Sequel.

For a long while I've known that the original writers of the first movie, that being Jerry Zucker, David Zucker and Jim Abrahams, had absolutely nothing to do with the second movie. And as far as I know, none of them have even seen it because they positively refused to even give it a look. If I remember correctly, I believe the Zucker brothers said in an interview that they knew right up front the second movie would be a total piece of crap and refused to make it. But the studio went behind their backs and made the movie anyway. That ticked them off, and rightly so.

The first movie, Airplane!, is a total comic masterpiece. Truly. That movie was made in 1980 so it's a 34-year-old flick. However, it was written so well and the timing and gags are so good that it's still funny even today.

As for Airplane II: The Sequel... not so much.

I think the last time I actually sat through this whole movie was probably either in my early 20s or even my teens. Yeah, it's been that long.

Here's the interesting thing this time around. It's my first time viewing the movie fully uncensored. Every time I've seen this movie in the past, it was always the "edited for television" version.

So what do you get in the uncensored version? You see some breasts, hear some mild cussing, and see the Elaine character smoking weed.

You would have to be high to be able to laugh at this movie because it's just bad. While the first movie was great, this one just tries way too hard to be funny. There's a lot of forced humor going on.

Some parts of the second movie are funny, but not many. You'll laugh a little bit here and there, but it's nowhere near as good as the first one.

The biggest problem with the second movie other than the forced humor is that it's so woefully dated. What the writers decided to do was shove in any popular culture reference they could at the time the movie was made, which was 1982. Nobody under the age of 35 would be able to catch all the references, so most of the time it just doesn't work.

Even I didn't know all the references. The one I didn't know was that the main theme music used in the movie is from Battlestar Galactica (1978). I only found that out now just by seeing the reference in the end credits. I never watched that show, which is why I didn't know it before.

The film was made simply to cash in on the hit that the original Airplane! was. The script was probably rushed together, and the writers not only rehashed but outright copied jokes right out of the first movie, did it often, and did it badly.

Obviously, I didn't see this movie originally when new in the theaters because I was too young in '82. Instead, I saw it on television years later as one of those summer runs that networks used to push out when the regular television seasons were over.

My kid self thought this movie was funny. My adult self barely finds the movie funny at all, and it's probably the last time I'll ever watch it.

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My now-vintage Squier Stratocaster

I own a 1989 Squier II Stratocaster. It's my first guitar and now 25 years old. That's vintage. Today, you don't need vintage to get vintage tone as Squier makes brand new guitars like these that totally capture what vintage Strats are supposed to sound like.

Being that cars over 25 years old in most parts of America qualify for "historic" license tags (meaning vintage), the same can be applied to guitars as well. If what you have is over 25 years old and still works properly, then yes, it's vintage.

And yeah, that means I have been playing guitar for 25 years.

What have I learned in 25 years of playing?

It would take a very long time to state everything I've learned, so instead I'll make a few points. It's still long but worth the read. Or at least I think so.

Single-coil pickup guitars have the best "personality"

I play nothing but guitars with single-coil pickups in them. I've tried many from skinny Strat coils to P90s to Jazzmaster big-and-beefy. All are great in their own way.

Humbuckers for me have a personality I just don't agree with. Every guitar I've owned with humbuckers in it was nothing I ever got particularly excited about. No, I'm not saying humbuckers are bad. I'm saying I find much more enjoyment out of the single-coil.

Fender design is my favorite

I've bounced around different brands of guitars over the years, but always go back to Squier. And of course, Squier is part of Fender Musical and the only company permitted to copy Fender designs. So in essence, if you play Squier, you're a "Fender guy" because they are Fender designs.

But that doesn't mean I like all Fender designs...

I don't like the Telecaster

Strats I can get along with. The Jazzmaster I totally love, and love that offset-waist body so much I might even pick up a short-scale Jaguar later.

As for the Telecaster, nope. I owned one very briefly (the Thinline model). Played great, looked great, sounded great, but I enjoy the Jazzmaster so much more.

Telecasters have their place. But they do nothing for me.

Playing nothing but metal is stupid

I used to play nothing but metal. Metal, metal, metal all day long. I played metal so much that I bought a Schecter C-1, put away the Strat and didn't touch it for years.

Then I broke out the Strat again and started playing things other than metal. And I liked it. A lot.

I sold the Schecter, went through a bunch of Squier guitars and ended up with the Jazzmaster as mentioned a moment ago. I do not regret selling that Schecter one bit.

Want to advance as a guitar player? Stop playing metal because it's limiting what you can learn.

Playing nothing but cover songs is stupid

There was a time when I wasn't playing anything of my own. Most guitar players are the same way where they will play everyone else's stuff and nothing else.

It's fine to play other people's stuff to learn, but eventually you have to start coming up with your own riffs and songs.

There are some guitar guys on YouTube who play cover songs (of course) and brag about getting every single note correct by stating it in the title of the video. What a total waste of time that is. They basically treat the song they're covering like a game, where if they hit every note exactly perfect, they "win". Sorry, but you're not a winner when you do that, you're a copier. All you're showing anyone is that you know how to copy things well. That's not impressive at all, and anyone who thinks otherwise is just fooling themselves.

It's cool to learn other people's songs. But if that's all you do, it's time to start writing your own stuff.

When I started coming up with my own stuff, I really started advancing as a player.

It is 100% OK to drown your guitar in effects if you think it sounds better

One of the funniest things I've read in internet comments is how guitar guys say that anyone who uses any guitar effects of any kind is "cheating".

There are no rules to how your guitar should sound. None at all. If you want to add in delay, do it. If you want to add in reverb, do it. If you want to add in phaser, flanger, octave, wah or whatever else you have, DO IT without apologizing for it. And if anyone gives you any crap about using effects, ignore them.

Guitar snobs believe that an electric guitar should be nothing but the guitar itself and the amp. To hell with those idiots.

The fact the electric guitar can have so many different effects applied to it is what makes it FUN. Yeah, fun. Remember that? Remember how the fun factor is the reason you play guitar to BEGIN WITH?

On certain songs I write, I will purposely drown the guitar in effects and not think twice about it. Why? Because it sounds cool, that's why.

Every guitar purist snob I've ever known who complains about how other players use guitar effects is a crappy player himself; that's why I pay no attention to what the snobs say, because they're all 100% wrong.

Use effects because they're great. Get a Pandora Mini or a Pandora Stomp. Both are loaded with TONS of effects for hours of experimenting with - and you will. Or if you want to go really dirt cheap, get the DigiTech RP55. The RP55 has a built-in drum machine by the way and 27 effects. Wah, compressor, noise gate, chorus, flanger, phaser, pitch shift, vibrato/rotary, delay, reverb, etc. It's all in there. If you want one with a rocker pedal for wah/volume-rocking, get the RP255 instead.

Need something really, really cheap? Get the Behringer VD400 Delay pedal. The delay effect is probably what you'll find useful more than anything else, and that pedal is as cheap as you can get if you're really strapped for cash but want a cool effect.

Whatever you get for multi-effects, get it and have fun with it. Don't do that guitar snob crapola. Not worth it. And boring.

Record in the cheapest, fastest, least-hassle way and just get it done

If you read my blog at all, you know I use a ZOOM R8. It has everything. Yes, everything. You don't even need separate effects because it's all built-in to the unit, along with a drum machine and built-in microphones for quick vocal tracks. The R8 is so loaded with so much awesomeness that I can't say enough good things about it.

I made my personal goal to record things very, very fast while still sounding pretty good. And for the most part I think I pull that off nicely.

When I have an idea for a song, all I do is set a tempo, arm a track and hit record. That's it, and the idea is put into the R8. I don't even plug into an amp because what's in the R8 is good enough. I also have my DigiTech GSP1101 plugged directly into it as well. And yeah, that's an expensive unit, but in all honesty the RP255 can do almost everything the GSP1101 can (and had I known that before buying the GSP1101, I would have bought the RP255 instead and saved a bunch of money).

But anyway, I have my recording rig set up in such a way where all I have to do is dial in the guitar sound I want, set a tempo and record. Done and done - and fast.

Rarely do I ever encounter the "What was that riff I played yesterday...?" thing. When I'm just noodling around on my guitar, when I come up with something I think is cool, I put the riff down right then and there because it's all set up and ready-to-go.

Am I done learning?

No. I'm still learning new things on guitar. Recently I've been messing around with Dorian scales, and that's something I haven't used before.

The way I see it, when you stop learning, you stop playing. So I never intend to stop learning.

I'm not saying I learn something new every time I pick up the guitar. Not at all. But I do try different things often because it's interesting.

I still have fun playing guitar, and I'm glad I still have my first electric. I don't play it often (mainly to preserve it), but that guitar has been with me for 25 years.

Will it still be playable in another 25? I've no idea. Hopefully it will be. :-)

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ZOOM R8 review

Back in October 2013 I bought a ZOOM R8, have been recording with it for the past few months, and this is the update on how it's fared out so far.

The bad stuff

Failure rate?

Nothing has failed on the unit at all. Everything works just like it's supposed to.

Feels cheap?

The only time the R8's plastics feel cheap is specifically with the four small toggle switches at top left of the unit, which you can see in the above photo. That is literally the only part of the R8 that feels subpar. Otherwise, every hard button has a nice resounding click to it, every pad button feels fine, every slider works properly and the scroll wheel jogs properly without issue.

If the four toggles were made the same was as the power switch on the back (which does feel correct), it would be perfect.

Fortunately, those four toggle switches are what you use the least on the R8, so it's not like you use them often. But I can definitely tell that as the unit ages, it will be one of those toggle switches that will fail first.

Hidden features either not found in the manual or buried so deep you would never find them

There are a few things about the R8 which are in fact very cool but aren't mentioned in the manual or barely mentioned.

An example of this is setting a guitar delay effect repeat rate to the tempo and not to the millisecond.

This sounds confusing, but once you start using this feature it is amazing what you can do with it.

Let's say you set a tempo of 120 beats per minute. Then you arm a track for guitar recording. You press EFFECT, enable effects, go to MOD/DELAY, select a delay and enable that.

I wanted to see how much delay time the R8 was capable of, and I found it supports up to 2 seconds, which the R8 reports as 2000ms.

But then I found something else after I went past 2000ms.

You can set the delay to follow the tempo, as in follow the metronome in whole notes, eighth notes, quarter notes and so on.

VERY, VERY USEFUL. This means you can set the delay to exactly what the tempo of the song is for exact-match slap-back style or "dreamy" style delay effects. This also means you DO NOT have to do any math to look up what the millisecond delay time should be for exact-match to a tempo because the R8 can totally do it for you, and does it well.

Oh, and guess what else? You can exact-match the same thing for the tremolo effect. HOW COOL IS THAT?

I list this as "bad" because it is barely mentioned in the manual. I found this totally by accident. Glad I did.

The good stuff

I'm very surprised anyone who records at home doesn't own an R8. Actually, I'm not surprised because the R8 is marketed totally wrong. If more musicians knew what this thing could do, they'd go buy one in a second.

The R8 is without question the best budget multi-track recording unit that exists. Nothing out there even comes close to what it can do for the price it sells for. It's also a million times more convenient than dragging around a laptop - especially since it can run on AA batteries.

Here's an example scenario of how good the R8 is:

You're at home and come up with an idea for a song. You insert a drum track (the R8 has its own drum machine built-in), follow along and record two guitar tracks. One rhythm and one lead. Did you need any external effects or amps? No. The R8 has all that built-in.

After than you pop in batteries and take the R8 to the singer's house. Can that singer plug right in? Yep, because the R8 has two ports that accept 1/4-inch or XLR. Record the vocal tracks, done. Did the singer forget or break his mic? No problem. Use the R8's internal microphones instead for a quick fix.

After that, run over to the bass player's house, have him plug in, same thing. Record and done, done, done.

After that, mix, master, record and you've got THE WHOLE THING ready-to-go. Export a master WAV, convert to MP3 on the computer and that's it.

And yeah, the R8 remembers where you set the faders for each project saved. It's also a can't-go-wrong environment, because the moment you turn if off, even if accidentally, it auto-saves what you were doing.

If the batteries run low, no problem. The R8 detects when the batteries are low, will auto-save, then power off (with a warning of course).

When I say the R8 is a can't-go-wrong thing, I'm not kidding.

A lot of thought and effort went into the R8's design.

The only real problem with it other than the "bad" stuff I mentioned above is that yes, you will have to dig through menus to get certain things done (usually with setting effects). But other than that, the R8 is as good as it gets for what it is.

Recently I tried my first punch-in/punch-out with the R8. Super-easy. Every time I try something new with the R8 I'm just amazed at what it can do in such a small size.

Could you record a whole band with just the R8?

Yes, but only if the tracks were recorded separately. And that's only because the R8 has just two inputs, so it can only record 2 simultaneous tracks at a time.

If you want a unit that can record up to 8 simultaneous tracks, you get an R16. That thing can absolutely record a full band live with no problem at all.

But like I said, if the band doesn't mind recording their tracks individually, yes the R8 can definitely record a whole band, and easily.

Better than a DAW?

This is actually were the R8 shines the most.

The R8 is primarily marketed as an interface rather than a multi-track recording unit. Yes, the R8 easily connects via USB and easily acts as a proper DAW controller. But it can also totally hold its own as a standalone multi-track recording unit as well.

Put simply, you get the best of both worlds. The R8 acts as a proper controller for DAW use, and as a proper standalone recorder.

For DAW use, it's great because of the easy access to 1/4-inch/XLR ports and manually adjustable faders.

For standalone use, it's great because it is so much easier than lugging around a laptop.

DAWs are meant to be used in controlled environment and have a tough time being used portable-style. The R8 on the other hand can easily flip-flop between being used in a controlled environment or in any other location.

I'll say it like this:

In the band rehearsal spot, using a DAW would totally suck, and anyone who says otherwise is wrong. You take a DAW out of its controlled environment and into the rehearsal spot, and the idiot trying to get a good recording out of the thing simply won't be able to do it. WAY too complicated for something that should be simple.

Using an R8 in the rehearsal spot on the other hand is ridiculously easy. You can place it right on the floor and not worry about it getting damaged. Plug in the instruments direct, or just output the mixing board to the unit, mash record and go.

Can you "fix" files later from the R8? Sure can. Every audio file is stored as a standard uncompressed WAV. So if you're the type that likes to edit raw audio files in post-production later, you can with the R8 because the WAVs will be there.

Better than a Tascam?

Without question, yes - except for one thing. The DP-008 is physically smaller than the R8 is because it doesn't have faders on it (just knobs). And it's also true that the "smallest usable multi-track" award definitely goes to the DP-004. You simply can't beat that for size. Yeah, there are smaller units, but the Tascam offerings are much more usable and have a very small learning curve to them.

If you are really tight on space and need super-small but super-usable, you get a Tascam DP, as you can chuck a DP-008 in a backpack easily and not worry about it. As for the DP-004's size, that thing is almost small enough to fit in your pocket. Crazy-small, but very convenient.

Could you chuck an R8 in a backpack and would it fit? Yes, but you'd have to wrap it in a towel first to avoid the faders from getting damaged.

There are several things that make an R8 better than a Tascam DP. The R8 has real faders, has a built-in drum machine, has both 1/4-inch and XLR input, many more effects, writes data to proper WAV files and not the proprietary crapola that Tascam uses, uses the full capacity of any SD card instead of that partitioning nonsense the Tascam does, and so on.

I owned a DP-008 before the R8, and can say with 100% confidence that I should have bought the R8 first. I had no problems with the DP-008, but it doesn't have anywhere near as many features as the R8 does.

Best budget multi-track recorder?

As I said above, yes it is.

The only thing that would make the R8 better - and bear in mind this is really splitting hairs here - is if the R8 had some way to connect wirelessly to a phone or a laptop via Bluetooth. With the wireless feature, you could transfer projects to and from a phone or a laptop without having to mess around with any wires.

True, project files are big as they are raw WAVs, and it would take a while to transfer them. Bluetooth would still be a nice-to-have thing. But not necessary.

Go get an R8 here. You can't do any better for this size. If you need more features and the ability to record up to 8 things simultaneously at once, get the R16 instead.

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