Review of Behringer GDI21 V-Tone Guitar Driver

A DI Box and a distortion pedal plus amp simulator rolled into one gadget.

This gadget basically is an effects pedal but has got loads of functions. First one is a DI Box. When you are in a rehearsal or gig and you forgot your amp or your guitar amp is not working for some reason like you forgot the lead, fuse or valve problems or it blew up the speaker. Then, this gadget is your saviour because you can plug this directly to your PA and on off/bypass setting, it serves as a DI box. Use an XLR lead for better quality on your PA. But obviously your guitar lead will also work because this GDI21 got two outputs; one XLR and one 1/4-inch.

Second function of this gadget is an amp simulator. You can choose between Fender, Marshall or Mesa Boogie and match it between Clean, Hi Gain or Hot channel. Added to it is a mic simulation, you can choose between Off axis, Centre or Classic. It means where the mic is positioned during mic'd in. It also got a Ground lift on and off to cancel humming or compatibility issues with amp, other effects pedal or the PA itself for that matter.

Third function is as a stompbox or a distortion pedal. Technically it works like an amp simulator but because you can dial the Drive/Gain knob on a desired level plus the tone/EQ which are bass and treble and the level/volume that you would want.... this is a perfect fuzz/distortion pedal. Tone and Drive are really nice.  If you pair this with a reverb pedal or a delay pedal, plus wah pedal, then it makes a perfect gigging gear.

Here are the sample settings of this pedal:

How to do a DIY improvised jamhub silent rehearsal

Silent Rehearsal

Things needed:
1. Mixer (Behringer Xenyx 1002FX)
2. Headphones
3. Headphone mixer amp (Behringer HA400 Microamp 4 Channel Stereo Headphone Amplifier)
4. Leads
5. Jacks/connectors

Behringer HA400

This did not happen overnight. Bought all these separately and one after the other until I figured out what I needed to improvise a silent rehearsal home studio. The first one I bought and it was ages ago was the Behringer Xenyx 1002fx mixer. I've used it a lot during live gigs, disco, karaoke, rehearsals, etc. Then, bought earphone extension leads from Poundland. Because I needed it during recording and/or rehearsals. The headsets or earphones, it's always my obsession so time and again during birthdays or xmas, I often buy one for myself or for my son or my wife would buy me one.

The only mixing piece of gadget on my planned silent rehearsal studio was something that will make all headset individualised or independent in terms of volume. And that's when I found, online, this Behringer micro amp HA400. A four-channel mixer for headphones with individual volume control which you connect to an earphone/headphones out of your mixer. And that solves all my problem in terms of doing a silent rehearsal home studio like JAMHUB.

Here are some of the video reviews I did about the Behringer Xenyx 1002 FX mixer and Behringer micro amp mixer HA400.

How to set up your Asda Onn clock radio

After unboxing your unit, make sure that you got the power supply connected to your radio. Then pull that safety plastic cap off from the backup battery underneath. Plug the power supply/adaptor to your wall socket.

Now turn on your radio using the power button. Familiarize yourself of all the buttons.

Now let's set the clock.

Your clock radio should be on standby mode. Meaning the radio should be off and its only the clock thats working. To do this, press the power button and make sure that radio is not playing.
Then press and hold the clock button to activate the clock setting mode. Use the tuner button to edit the minute and hour to set the clock. Once you got the right time, just press the Clock button to confirm and that's it, you are set.

Setting the alarm.

On standby mode again, just press and hold AL1 or AL2 (-/+) and wait til it starts to blink.
Set the hour and minute using the Tuner button.
Press AL1 or AL2 (-/+) button and choose either buzz or radio using the Tuner button. Then press AL1 or AL2 button to confirm.

To activate or deactivate the alarm just press AL1 or AL2 twice or repeatedly until the LCD for AL1 or AL2 is off.

You can use the Snooze/Dimmer to silence the alarm temporarily. The alarm repeats after 9 minutes

To stop the alarm, press the Power button.

How to setup the radio.

Press the Power button to activate the radio. Press and hold the Program button for automatic scanning and saving of station on memory. Alternatively, you can scan station manually by pressing and holding the Tuner button. And save it by pressing Memory/Sleep button. It automatically save and assign to Program i.e. P 01 through P 20.

Once you are on radio mode, you can use the sleep mode by pressing Memory/Sleep and you can choose between 90 mins, 60, 30, 15 and 00 to deactivate the sleep timer.

QUICK REVIEW OF ONN CLOCK RADIO

Valencia 1/4 sized nylon classical kids guitar review

Valencia 1/4 classical guitar

Bought this guitar for my boy. He is interested in learning the guitar. So I decided to buy a small guitar suited for him.  There's loads online to choose from but I chose this one because of the size and it says it's suitable for kids 5-8 years old.

Nylon are very good guitar for beginners because it's not that painful on your fingers. Then given the size of this guitar which is 1/4, it's really perfect for my boy. There's also 1/2 and 3/4 or the full size which is 4/4. There's a lot to choose from.

Guitar is decent, well made and most of all frets are working nicely. This one comes with a tuner and gigbag. And because the strings are still new, you need to allow time for it and be patient to keep tuning it time and again.  The sound of this super tiny guitar is excellent. The only downside is that it is really tiny that it's difficult for an adult to play it because it's either your fingers wont fit or you're putting your finger on a different fret by accident. Your fingers here can reach a good stretch. The action is decent, not too hight and low.