GEAR ROUNDUP
Thalia Bee & Ocean Ambrosonics Pickup Selectors
Thalia capos are known for their custom and instrument branded capos that fit multiple radius guitars with an innovative design and shape. Recently the company partnered with Oceanworks Foundation, a charity that is working for increased action against plastic pollution in our oceans on a global scale. Plastics in our oceans has become a much too familiar site on the News. For every Oceanworks Thalia capo that is purchased the company will donate to Oceanworks. And on another timely topic Thalia has created a AAA Curly Hawaiian Koa Save the Bees Honeycomb capo where $ 10 from each capo goes to the Washington State University Bee Research Initiative. Honeybees play an important role in pollinating plants that create food for us and support our environment as a whole! So, whether you want to support Oceanworks($ 109) or Save the Bees($ 119.95) you’ re purchasing a great capo for your instrument and doing some good for charities also. Thalia also offers truss rod covers and t-shirts for the Save the Bees initiative. Visit their website to learn more! Thalia continues to expand the guitar branded capos that they offer custom capos, picks, guitar straps, truss rod covers and even guitar slides! www. thaliacapos. com
Eric Ambrosino, the founder and Engineer behind Ambrosonics, is on a mission to increase the tonal options of your pickups and give you more freedom to expand the sounds of your current guitar. For review WM received a Harley Benton Pro double humbucker S-Style guitar with a Wilkinson tremolo. First up the Ambrosonics has you download the Pickup Composer App to your iOS or Android device, then you can pair it with the Pickup Director. On this demo instrument the electronics have already been installed in the guitar which you can accomplish or have your guitar tech do it to be safe. The menu knob is a push / pull onboard selector switch( you can select pickup configurations inside the App too). The mini toggle switch next to the tone control is for bank selection of sounds and the tone control is now a push / pull to change the bridge pickup from passive to active pickup. The Menu knob on the guitar allows you to cycle through 50 different pickup configurations and choose the ones you want. The descriptions of the pickup choices took some analyzing but the sound variations were immediate and there were many usable sounds by pairing the Pickup Composer with the Pickup Director. The mini toggle Bank selector switch provides three different pickup choices and is programmable also. Ambrosonics also offered fully loaded
pickguards with their electronics with the MT16 and MT32 plus their Sonic Glow Pots that light up your Volume and Tone controls on your guitar for easier viewing on stage. Pickup Director packages start at $ 179, MT16 wiring kit $ 45, MT32 wiring kit $ 59 and the Sonic Glow Pots are $ 32 each with discounts for multiple pots. If you are looking for a way to expand the variety and tonal offerings or a guitar without buying more guitars the Ambrosonics systems have more choices than the average the guitarist would even need. But that being said the Ambrosonics Pickup Composer & Director would be ideal for studio or live situations where you want more sonic diversity and don’ t want to change guitars between songs. My only suggestion on the Ambrosonics Amp would be to simplify the verbiage some with the pickup choices. Fifty choices are awesome but if you have 5 to 10 go to sounds in the banks that is what many guitars are looking for in live performance situations. If you love dialing in your dream tone on your guitar and smart effects, then you are going to fully embrace the Ambrosonics electronic expansion options. I have never played an instrument with these many pickup choices that sounded so great with the twist of a knob! Visit their website for more information. www. ambrosonics. com
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