Back in 2008 I built a few guitars with my grandfather. He’s a retired carpenter with a great woodworking shop (and woodworking skills). We went with telecasters, as they are fairly easy to build (the bodies), and they are just plain cool.

Here are some spec’s:

• Body: Alder (we routed this from scratch out of a nice piece of alder that I picked out myself)
• Neck: Standard rosewood/maple neck from Warmoth. It’s the “boat” contour – nice and chunky. Probably one of the most comfortable necks I’ve ever played. I finished it with tung oil.
• Neck pickup: Seymour Duncan Vintage Mini Humbucker
• Bridge pickup: Seymour Duncan Little ’59 Humbucker
• Wiring: 5 way switch (4-way switch – lets you run both pickups in series)

Sound:

This thing sounds really big and full. Having two humbuckers in it kind of gives it a telecaster meets Les Paul feel. If you’ve heard any of the music I’ve recorded in the last few years with electric guitar, you’ve heard this thing.

Photos:

You can see the full rez photos here on Flickr.

The new models retail for $249. Back when I bought mine they sold for more like $200, and I got mine used for around $150 or less. Either way, you could definitely call these budget friendly.

I also recall from the research I had done that the C1 is widely regarded as a very good vocal mic for the price. The Studio Projects B1 is known as more of an all-purpose mic, but I use my C1 for absolutely everything.

It comes (at least mine came) with a really nice metal case, foam pop filter, and a well-made shockmount. Here’s a photo of what I got with mine:

The construction on all of it is top notch. I’ve owned this mic for several years, and you can kind of tell the previous owner put some wear on it.

I’ve recorded the following things with this mic:

Vocals

I’d say this mic is best suited for vocals. It’s very articulate and clean sounding. I’d say bright, too. When comparing with my Shure Beta 58a, the C1 has a lot more clarity. That’s one of the big differences between dynamics and condensers.

Acoustic Guitar

This mic has become my main acoustic guitar mic (actually, I’ve sold the mics I used to use for acoustic). I like the sound – very bright and clear. It really does a great job of capturing the sound of whatever you put in front of it.

Electric Guitar (amp’d)

I know the SM57 is the go-to mic for electric guitar, and I have one, but I like the sound of the C1 on the amp. Again – it does a good job of capturing the source.

Cons

The only con I’d say about this mic is that it can have the tendency to sound a bit harsh/brittle. I’ve never had the privilege of using really high-end gear, but it’s my understanding that using premium tube preamps and microphones give you a lot of warmth, and using these budget mic’s results in a lack of said warmth. That’s my experience.

Overall, I really do love the way this mic sounds and performs. I have a feeling I’d have to spend way more money than I can afford to get any noticeable improvement.

So what does it sound like?

Reviewers can babble on and on about these things, but listening to recordings gives you the best idea of this mic. I’ve embedded my “Strings EP” below. I recorded pretty much all the acoustic guitars and vocals on this whole EP with the C1 into my PreSonus Firepod.

Conclusion

Looking for one single mic that you can do pretty much anything with in your home studio? Put this one on your list for sure. If you can find a retailer and try one out, that’s the best way to decided. Line it up with a few others in your price range, sing (or play) into it, and pick the one that sounds the best. Overall I’m very happy with this mic.

Let’s get started with what it does…

Inputs/Outputs and Connectivity:

It’s firewire – 10 in and 10 out, but two of those channels are digital (spdif). It does 8 XLR or 1/4 inch ins (combo jacks), 8 1/4 inch outs.  Here’s a look at the front and back:

Those inputs across the front are your combo XLR/TRS inputs. The first two work as XLR or instrument inputs. The two blue buttons on the far left are for the 48v phantom power. You can power them in blocks of 4 channels, so the first button powers ch1-4, and the 2nd does 5-8. The knobs on the right control the gain for each 8 channels. They each have a little LED light that will go red when you clip the channel. Then on the far right you’ve got a main volume knob, a headphone volume, and a monitoring blend knob (more on that later).

Moving on to the back, starting from the left. You get two firewire connections which allows you to daisy chain these units together. I’ve daisy-chaned two of them (a FirePod and an FP10), and it works without a hitch. Then you get your S/PDIF and MIDI connections. Finally, on the right are the outputs. Next to the MIDI connections are two sets of two outs. The first is “Cue Mix Line Out” and the second set is “Main CR Output. Honestly, I never use the Cue Mix Output, so I’m not quite sure what it does. Next you get the 8 individual channel outputs. To the right of those are the channel one and two line inputs (remember, the front channel 1 and 2 inputs are instrument), and finally the Preamp Output. I never use that, either.

Overall, I think this has pretty much all the connections you’d need. What it lacks is capability to hook up an ADAT unit and get 8 more channels via digital. Given that you can daisy-chain another Firepod (2 more, actually), you can get the same functionality.

Sound Quality:

If you’ve listened to anything I’ve recorded ever, you’ve heard this thing in action. It sounds great!

I’d say the preamps are transparent, quiet, and sound great. If I had one complaint, I’d say that the Firepod sounds a bit sterile. There’s a bit of warmth missing that you can hear on mixes done in a more professional studio. This could have a lot to do with the other gear I use – namely microphones. The preamps have plenty of gain – I’ve never had a problem picking up and recording any source – quiet or loud.

I could go on and on describing how I think this sounds, but I think it’s better just to let you listen to it. Here is a simple acoustic song:

Guitar: Martin D-35. You’re hearing two different flavors here – I recorded the take both with a mic and direct. I used a Studio Projects C1 for the mic, and the direct signal is going through an Ultrasound DI Plus preamp. My pickups are K&K Pure Western Minis (an awesome pickup system, and cheap).
Vocals: Studio Projects C1.

Here’s a more involved recording – if you listen to it in one of the higher quality settings, I think the sound is a bit better:

Acoustic Guitar: Takamine FD-360sc recorded direct and with a pair of MXL 603s mics.
Vocals: Studio Projects C1
Keys: M-Audio midi controller – controlling sounds in Logic
Bass: Yamaha (I think? – sold it a while back) bass plugged straight into the FirePod. I know I did some signal processing in Logic with it, but I can’t remember exactly what I did.
Electric Guitar: That was a Jimmie Vaughan Strat through a Vox AD60VT amp (I’ve since sold both). I mic’d it with an SM57.
Drums: Loops from Drums on Demand. Great loops!

So, as you can see (or, rather, hear), you can get a very good quality recording from the Firepod. In case you’re wondering – on that Bon Jovi cover – I recorded the audio first and then went back and did the video to it – sort of “music video” style.

Additional Controls:

I think the only thing here to talk about, really, is the monitoring “blend” knob. It allows you to monitor the dry signal (turned all the way to the left), or the signal you’ve got coming through your DAW (all the way to the right). Here’s an example of how it works…

Say you’ve got a whole song done and with a scratch vocal track. Now it’s time to come in and re-record the vocals. So, you’re hearing the song in your headphones, and you’re monitoring your vocal track. If you turn the knob all the way to the left, you just hear your dry vocal with no processing at all. This is also zero latency. Turn it to the right, and you’re hearing the vocal that the DAW is processing and sending back. So you can add some reverb, compression, delay, etc. You can choose to blend those two signals as well. It’s a pretty cool feature, but I typically monitor with it all the way to the right. That way I can hear a bit of EQ, reverb, and compression on my vocal track (or whatever else I’m monitoring).

One note – if you’re running a slow machine, you can monitor the dry signal and you won’t have any latency (delay) issues. If you don’t have a ton of processing going on in your DAW, you’ll probably be fine, as this unit is 6 or more years old now. I think it’s best to keep things simple while tracking anyway, and then play with different plugins and processing while you’re mixing.

Reliability/Durability:

I’ve been going on and on now about how I’ve had this gear for so long. That should speak to it’s reliability. I haul it all over the place. I should mention, though, that I bought a little rack for it when I got the 2nd unit (the FP10), so they’re pretty protected. I used to carry the Firepod around in a bag when I’d take it from place to place. Eventually, some of the knobs got a little noisy, so I figured it was better safe than sorry and I bought a rack for them.

I’ve had the Firepod about 4 or so more years than I’ve had the FP10, but both are still going strong.

I used to have one little issue with connectivity with an older laptop (2005 Macbook pro). I would have both the laptop and the firepod powered on, and when I plugged the firepod into the laptop, it would never connect. A restart on my laptop would fix the problem. I have a new Macbook Pro now, and I don’t have that issue.

Ease of Use:

Very straightforward.  On a mac, you just plug it in and go. I use Logic, and the software recognized the Firepod without any other tinkering. I have also used it with Windows XP. I remember that I had to install it using the software and drivers from Presonus, but I never had an issue with it.

To daisy chain them, you have to create an aggregate device in the “audio/midi” settings on a mac. This took me a bit of time to figure out. Google it and you’ll get really clear instructions.

I’ll say this – I have used (and still use) gear that is MUCH harder to figure out how to work. I’m talking about you, Line 6 UX2!!

Customer Support:

I called Presonus once with a question about the firewire connection (a loooong time ago) – seemed very friendly and I got the info I needed within a minute of picking up the phone.  I’ve only heard good things about them.

Overall Rating:

There are lots and lots (and lots) of audio interfaces on the market right now. You can spend as little as $50 – maybe even less – or you could spend thousands and thousands.

I think the 8 channel type interface is a pretty good sweet spot. It’s enough channels that you could record a mic’d up drum set if you wanted. I also think that a 2 channel interface is limiting even for simple applications. When I do a basic acoustic guitar and vocal track, I’ll use 3 or even 4 channels. One for the vocal, one for the guitar direct, and maybe another for the guitar with another mic.

If you only have $100 for an interface, you can get a 2 or 4 channel device that will sound great, but if you ever want the option of being able to track more things at once, a used FP10 or Firepod is a super awesome deal. You can buy them used for $300 or less.

Overall, I highly recommend it. I think the one thing that speaks most highly of this piece of gear is that I’ve never wanted to replace it. If you get into audio gear, you know exactly what I’m talking about.

Have questions? Ask away!

UPDATE

Presonus has stated that they aren’t officially supporting OSX Lion with the Firepods and FP10′s. I’ve done some reading and have found mixed experiences – some people say they work with Lion, some don’t.

These devices run natively with the audio drivers built into OSX, so you don’t need to run drivers from Presonus. I’ve upgraded to Lion, and just last night I recorded our band at rehearsal using both of my units daisy chained together. They worked just fine. I recorded with Apple Logic 9.

This page serves as a current inventory of all my stuff. Hit the links for a more in-depth look including reviews, photos, and how I use the gear I use.

Guitars

• Martin D35 – with K&K Pure Western Mini pickups installed – Review and photos
• Takamine FD-360sc – Review and photos
• Custom built blue Telecaster
• Custom built pink Telecaster

Previously owned:

• Samick Acoustic Guitar
• Paul Reed Smith SE Soapbar II
• Fender  72 Thinline Telecaster RI
• Fender Jimmie Vaughan Stratocaster
• Epiphone Les Paul Standard
• Ibanez Bass

Misc Guitar Gear

• Kayser Capos
• Planet Waves Capos
• Dunlop .60mm picks
• Elixir Light Strings (acoustic)
• Elixir .10s (strings – electric)
• Cheap Korg tuners
• Live Wire Cables

Other Instruments/Controllers

• M-Audio Keystation 49e

Previously Owned:

• M-Audio midi keyboard controller
• Djembe

Amps

• Vox AC15cc1 – Review and photos

Previously owned:

• Vox Valvetronix AD60vt
• Peavey Classic 30
• Line 6 Spider II 1×12

Pedals/Effects/Pickups

• Line 6 POD HD500
• Ultrasound DI Plus Pre-Amp
• K&K Pure Western Mini Pickups (in the Martin D35)

Previously owned:

• T-Rex Mudhoney (overdrive)
• Boss DD-20 Digital Delay
• Ibanez TS-9 Tube Screamer (owned very briefly)
• Line 6 POD 2.0
• Line 6 POD XT Live
• Line 6 GuitarPort

Recording Interfaces

• Presonus FirePod/FP10 (2) – Review
• Focusrite Saffire Pro 14

Previously owned:

• Line 6 POD Studio UX2 (briefly)
• M-Audio Delta 44

Microphones

• Studio Projects C1 – review
• Shure Beta 58a
• Shure SM57

Previously owned:

• Superlux CM-H8B
• MXL 603s (matched pair)

Speakers/Headphones

• Event TR5 Studio Monitors
• AKG K 66 Headphones (for studio use)
• Shure SE110 Earphones (for live and studio use)

Computers

• Macbook Pro (2011)
• Custom built PC (running Mac OSX)

Previously owned:

• Wow – lots

Software

• Apple Logic
• Apple Final Cut

Previously used:

• Steinberg Cubase
• Reaper
• Sony Vegas

In this post, I’ll highlight what I use to get the job done. You can view the “Gear I use” page (coming soon) to view all the gear I own (and ever have owned), but in this post I’ll just focus on audio stuff.

See all posts in the “Basics of Recording” series here.

So what do I use?

(by the way, links will take you to product pages on Amazon/Musician’s Friend, but I really recommend buying used gear)

Sources:

• My voice
• Guitars – mostly a Martin D-35 and a custom built Telecaster through a Vox AC15 CC1 (VOX has replaced this model with the AC15C1).
• Midi keyboard - M-Audio KeyRig 49.

Capture devices:

• Microphones: Studio Projects C1 (mine is version 1), Shure Beta 58a, Shure SM57
• Electronics installed in my acoustic guitars. Specifically, a K&K Pure Western Mini in my Martin D-35.
• Various software instruments (not sure if these are technically capture devices, but I sort of consider them that way).

My Presonus Firepod

Pre-amps and A/D conversion:

• PreSonus FirePod/FP10. The FirePod and the FP10 are the same product – strange move, PreSonus… I have one of each.
• Ultrasound DI Plus pre-amp – this is the pre-amp I use with my acoustic guitars.

Computer/Software:

• Apple MacBook Pro (2005 – this thing is getting a little long in the tooth)
• Home-built desktop running Mac OSX
• Apple Logic

Apple fan, anybody? I’ve done plenty of recording on a windows machine – actually more time spent in Windows than Mac historically.

Monitoring:

• Event TR5 Studio Monitors (discontinued)
• AKG K 66 headphones (discontinued)
• Shure SE110 Earphones (Shure has replaced these with the SE115′s)

I consider all my gear to be low to mid-level budget gear, but I feel like it gives me an excellent bang for the buck. I highly recommend all the stuff I use. You might be reading this and think to yourself:

Buying all this stuff would cost me a fortune!

Just remember that I’ve been building this list up for literally 10 years. I’ll cover just how much money you need to get started in a later post.

A few weeks ago I stumbled upon a used D-35 in a local shop. The word “used” is a stretch, as this thing has hardly a scratch on it. Virtually no fret wear. I’ve seen many, many guitars hanging on the wall at Guitar Center in worse shape.

Well, I played it for a while – realizing that, yes, I really do love the Martin sound. I was trying to decide whether I really wanted a Martin or a Taylor – Martin all the way.

I went back to the shop about a week later and put it on layaway. Got it for $1600, by the way. Not the best deal ever, but this one seemed to have something special – at least it spoke to me. That was two long weeks ago, and today I brought it home.

Photos:

Invalid Flickr ID

Review:

Sound:

I’m used to my Takamine FD-360sc, which is a very nice high-end Takamine. Both guitars are solid spruce top/rosewood back and sides. The Takamine’s sound is very even and balanced, and a bit on the bright side. When I play these two guitars back-to-back, the Tak just sounds really thin in comparison. The Martin is very warm, and has a beautiful full bottom end that the Takamine just doesn’t have. Very round sound, too. With new strings, it’s bright, but it’s top end still maintains the warm character. Another thing it trumps the Takamine on is punch. If you dig into the Martin, it punches – hard. It fits my playing style very well (mostly strumming with a pick). When I was comparing to the Taylors (a 414ce), the Taylor sound was nice, but it’s very bright and jangly. They’ve got a good bass response, but the overall brightness of the tone wasn’t what I was going for. Again, the warmth of the Martin won me over.

Playability:

This one was set up with a bit lower action that most factory Martin set-ups I’ve played. It’s perfect for my style, as it is pretty easy to chord, but I can strum hard and it doesn’t buzz. You could probably lower the action a bit if you wanted to. The neck has a satin finish (rest of the guitar is gloss). It seems to get a bit sticky, so I’ll have to get used to that. The shape of the neck is really nice. Thicker than my Takamine which is good – I like thick necks – this is totally a personal preference thing, though. It’s not quite as comfy in my hands as a Taylor neck, or, say, a vintage Telecaster neck, but it’s nice. Intonation is as good as any acoustic I’ve played – pretty much right on. Another thing, I’m used to acoustic with cut-aways, and I do play up pretty high on the fretboard sometimes. Another thing I’ll have to get used to. 90% of the time it won’t be an issue for me.

Looks/Build:

To me it looks like a guitar should – simple and elegant. It’s got a bit of “bling” for a Martin, which isn’t much bling for most manufactures. I like the binding up the neck, and the ornamentation around the sound hole looks classy. The 3-piece back looks awesome, in my opinion. Build quality is as you would expect from a Martin of this caliber – I’m not going to worry about it breaking down on me. Also – I’ve always loved the look of ebony on the fretboard/bridge. One more thing – I tend to break a lot of strings. I think I’d describe my style as “strum hard and sing harder”. Hopefully the saddle on this is well-made, as I’m sure it is. Time will tell.

Somewhere along the line I picked up a Peavey Classic 30, which was a great amp, and I never should have sold it.  But I did, because I guess I thought I wanted a modelling amp.  So, still keeping with the modelling thing, I bought a Vox AD60VT, which is an early Valvetronix “Blue” series modelling amp.  It sounded way better than the POD stuff, but it was still a modelling amp.

In December 2008, I decided that my electric guitar tone needed to be pure and simple, and that meant a tube amp.  I always used the “Vox AC15″ model on my Valvetronix amp, so that’s what I bought.  Now, Vox makes a couple versions of these.  There is the Custom Classic line, made in China (that’s what I’ve got).  They’ve got a stock model, and one with a Celestion Blue speaker, which costs a lot more.  Then there are the hand-wired made in England versions.  They are expensive.  Mine is the Custom Classic line.  How about some photos.

Invalid Flickr ID

I picked up my AC15CC1 used for about $500 used, and it’s got an Emminence Red Fang speaker in it, which is a nice upgrade.  The Red Fang is a clone of the Celestion Blue.

It sounds nice and chimey, just like a Vox should.  Cleans are great, and when you push it, the amp breaks up really nice.  The speaker upgrade smooths it out a lot on the higher frequencies.  Sounds good with single-coil and humbuckers.

One thing I don’t like about the amp is the reverb.  It’s got built-in tremelo (which sounds great) and reverb, but the reverb is pretty nasty.

This is my beloved Takamine FD-360sc.  I bought this acoustic back in 2001, which makes it a 2000 model, I think.  I was in college at the time, and I saved long and hard for this.  I remember I had a buddy who had a nice Takamine, and I would always go over to his dorm room and play it.

First, here are some photos:

Invalid Flickr ID

I love this guitar.  If there were a fire in my house, I’d probably run in after it.  You can see this thing in action in most of my vidoes.

Here are a few spec’s:

Top:  Spruce (solid)
Back/Sides:  Rosewood (solid)
Fretboard:  Rosewood
Electronics:  Takamine AD-1 Digital system

And a bit of a review…

Sound: I love the sound – I would describe it as clear, slightly bright, and very balanced. The bass tones and the treble tones mix perfectly, in my opinion. It’s fairly loud – good projection. It is really a joy to play and hear – one of those acoustics that is inspiring to play.

Playability: The neck is on the thinner side. This is a preference thing, but I’m used to it and like it. It is very comfy. The rosewood board on this thing is awesome. Very tight grain and feels nice and smooth – a bit of a soft feel to it, but not slow. I’ve cleaned it with 000 steel wool and oiled it with lemon oil every 9 months to a year – it’s a great neck. I’ve set it up for the style that I play. The action is low – but not really low. I’m a strummer, so I like the action just a tad higher than some. Intonation is perfect.

Build quality. I just gave this guitar a cleaning and fretboard conditioning the other day – and I once again gave it a thorough inspection. I simply cannot find one flaw in it at all – besides the ones I’ve put in it myself. The wood grain is perfect – none of the sanding marks I can see on my Fender Tele. The double binding is flawless. Joints are perfect. No visible glue. It is an example of great craftsmanship. One thing I’ve always loved about it is the weight. I’ve picked up some guitars that just felt like a bag of bricks. This one is nice and light – not too light. It can feel a bit on the “delicate” side, but not too much so. Just enough that you want to treat it with care.

Electronics. Everybody says that Takamine’s are built to be plugged in. This one is no exception (though it sounds better unplugged, in my opinion). It’s got some fancy electronics on it, allowing you to adjust feedback response, reverb, and the usual tone and volume controls. It’s really easy to dial in a really nice sound. The reverb actually is very useful, giving the guitar a nice full-bodied sound plugged in.

Well, there you have it:  My #1 acoustic.  Until I save up enough for a nice Martin or Taylor, that is…