Cheap good reverbs, cheap fun stringed thingy

[Richard Hunter <turtlehill@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

The topic of inexpensive, effective reverbs comes up farily frequently
on this list.  In a previous post, I mentioned the Alesis Nanoverb as a
decent buy at $100 street price new, but no great shakes.

Well, in this month's "Electronic Musican" magazine, a producer who's
done a number of recent hits for bands like Outkast is quoted to the
effect that he loves the Nanoverb, and won't mix a song without it(!),
notwithstanding that he has access to the highest end reverbs Lexicon
makes (at about $8,000 a pop).  He also cites the Alesis Wedge, a
now-discontinued 'verb and multi-FX box that you can buy used for $100
or less, as one of his favorites.  

So there you go.  Darn good reverbs, cheap.  This is indeed the golden
age of gear, at least for stuff that you can plug in.

Also on the subject of cheap fun gear, I bought a 3-stringed instrument
called the Strumstick at a craft show last week for $100, and I love it
to pieces.  It's set up to play the notes of a G major scale; it's
practically impossible to hit a wrong note.  It's a tiny little
instrument -- basically looks like a stick one meter in length, wighs
less than a pound -- but it's plenty loud, and sounds like a cross
between a guitar and a banjo.  With a contact mic, you can amplify it. 
I've already tried it with my Digitech RP-200, and it howls
convincingly. (Plus the pitch shifter in the RP-200 helps me get around
that G-major-scale-only thing...).  More info is available at
www.strumstick.com.  (Full disclosure: nobody paid me to say that.)

I'm too busy with harp to spend the next three years learning to play
guitar.  This thing is 80% of the fun for 5% of the work.     

Required harmonica content: harmonica players use reverbs, and some
harmonica players also play stringed instruments.  Or so I have heard.

Regards, Richard Hunter
www.hunterharp.com