Start Me Up
Five awesome new products to get your gear engine revving this month…
Five new products for you to try
Korg Pitchclip 2
1 Just when youth oughtkorg had run out of ideas for headstock tuners, it goes and releases a sequel to its best-selling Pitchclip. Changes this time around include a thinner, larger display; improved low-frequency detection accuracy; a 140% improvement in clip holding power; reversedisplay function for lefties; and 24-hour battery life. The tuner’s detection accuracy is +/- 1 cent, as before, and it works with electric and acoustic guitars, basses and ukuleles.. (from£13,korg.co.uk)
Nektar Pacer
2 MIDI controller specialist Nektar has dipped its toe in the guitar pedalboard waters with the pacer, an 80 s-vibe dun it that’s preconfigured to work with line 6 gear, the Kemper Profiler, and even switch your amp, midi or not. there are 10 programmable footswitch controls, and you can connect two expression pedals and up to four external foot switches. you can set one button press to send up to 16 Midi messages at one time, and the unit can be used to control yourdaw,too. (£199, nektartech.com)
Rockboard Patchworks Solderless
3 There are a fair few solderless patch cable systems on the market nowadays, but rock board’ s effort offers a cunning innovation: the two-piece compact plug can be changed from straight to angled by turning one part by 90 degrees. The kit also promises high-quality cable and gold-plated connectors), and is available as a set com pr is ing3m of cable and 10 plugs. (£53,rockboard.de)
Floyd Rose wired wood headphones
4 Of all the guitar brands on the market, we never expected double-locking vibrato legend floyd rose to get in on the act, but nonetheless, it’s ‘done a Marshall’ and released its own set of cans. Hand-crafted, with wooden touches, fr’ s premium’ phones feature an anti-tangle detachable cable with built-in microphone and volume control, contoured cushioned ear cups and a 20-20,000 hz frequency response. Bluetooth and in-ear options are also available. (£129,floydrose.com)
Pigtronix Gatekeeper Micro
5 Pedalboard noise getting you down, but don’ t have the real estate to squeeze a gate on there? Well, praise the porcine lord, because Pigtronix has managed to squeeze its Gatekeeper into a mini-pedal format. JFET circuitry promises speedy gating of non-musical sounds, with performance approaching rack mount compress ors. two controls handle the hiss and squeal: threshold and release, which aim to keep your playing sounding musical, all without the hum. (£129,pigtronix.com)