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Well, Slow Me Down
TASCA M C D - GT 1 P O RTA B L E C D G U I TA R T R A I N E R
A
great way to
improve your guitar
skills is to practice
along with your
favorite tunes.
Unfortunately, this can be difficult to do when the licks are so
hot that they go by faster than,
well, the speed of sound.
Tascam’s CD-GT1 Guitar
Trainer is a CD player that lets
you slow down the music without changing its pitch, and then
add your own playing to the
Trainer’s output. Not bad for a
unit that’s hardly bigger than a
paperback book!
The CD-GT1 features an
onboard tuner and a multieffects processor that has a
total of 43 presets for
electric and acoustic
guitars, as well as
vocals. These
include various
combinations of
distortion, compression, delay,
reverb, pitch shifting, modulation effects, auto wah and EQ.
The onboard effects make it
possible to match the tone of
your instrument to that of the
guitar on the CD. The unit can
be connected to keyboards and
outboard preamps via a stereo
minijack, while the 1/4-inch
input accepts instruments and
microphones; the latter option
will be especially appealing to
acoustic guitarists. The CD-GT1
also comes with separate linelevel and headphones outs and
runs on four AA batteries,
although an optional nine-volt
power supply is also available.
It is possible to play an
entire CD or a single track on
the CD-GT1; you can also continuously loop a desired section. There are three playback
modes: “Pitch” lowers the pitch
BY E M I L E M E N ASC H É
and speed of the selection;
“Key” changes the pitch but not
the speed; and “Slow Speed
Audition” changes the speed
without altering the pitch.
Once you get the feel for the
CD-GT1’s control menus, it’s easy
to set up. You can define loop
points with a couple of button
pushes, then change the
time/pitch parameters in real time
as you play the track. In addition,
the CD-GT1 can slow a
CD up to 50 percent.
With its impressive
feature set and easy
operation, the CD-GT1
is an outstanding learning tool. By slowing down
those licks, you can speed
up your learning process—
and master your guitar
faster than ever before.
List Price: $199
TASCAM, 7733 Telegraph Rd.,
Montebello, CA 90640; 323-7260303; www.tascam.com
As Seen in Guitar World, August 2004
No-Sweat Guitar Care
P L A N E T WAV E S H U M I D I T Y CO N T RO L K I T
umidit y and temperature play major
roles in your guitar’s long-term
health. Dry and hot
conditions can cause the guitar’s wood to shrink and crack,
affecting both tone and playability. Yet many of us either
neglect this important fact or
are simply unequipped to test
and adjust the guitar’s living
conditions for the proper
humidity level.
The Planet Waves Humidity
Control Kit is designed to make a
difficult job simple. The kit
includes two products: the
Humidity and Temperature
Sensor (HTS)—a hydrometer—
and the Acoustic Instrument
Humidifier. The palm-size HTS
fits inside your guitar case or,
with the help of the double-sided
Velcro tape (included), can be
mounted on a wall. Pop in
H
Photographs by LORINDA SULLIVAN
the included CR2430 battery, and
the unit powers up an easy-toread LED display that indicates
temperature and relative humidity level. You can program a target
for minimum humidity level
(Planet Waves recommends a setting between 40 and 45 percent).
When the relative humidity falls
below this “Set Point,” the HTS
BY E M I L E M E N ASC H É
indicates that it’s time to humidify the guitar. The digital
time/date display gives current
time and also allows the HTS’s
internal memory function to
report the time and date of the
lowest readings for temperature
and humidity. Though you’ll
need to do a little programming
to take full advantage of these features, the controls are simple and
easy to use.
When it’s time to add
humidity, the Acoustic
Humidifier makes it possible for
you to do so safely and with
minimal hassle. The plastic
reservoir slips easily between the
guitar strings and hangs down
into the soundhole, releasing
moisture over time. An included
plastic syringe makes it easy to
fill the reservoir without spilling
water on the guitar.
At under $60, the Humidity
Control Kit is an affordable insurance policy for your acoustic guitars. Both the HTS and the
humidifier can also be purchased
separately, so you can treat a
number of guitars in the same
room. Highly recommended.
Price: Humidity
Control Kit $59.99
HTS alone: $49.99:
Acoustic Humidifier alone: 14.99
Planet Waves, PO Box 290,
Farmingdale, NY 11735;
www.planet-waves.com
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