Category: Gear Review

The History of Takamine Guitars

Hello, This is Jooyoung Kim, an engineer and music producer.

This post is a review-style article I wrote when I was working at Soop Records(Jan. 2023), where I had the opportunity to use Takamine guitars. I covered the history and lineups of Takamine guitars, including reviews of some mid-range models. Instead of letting this post remain only in Korean, I decided to translate it into English.

When I previously searched for information, I couldn’t find a comprehensive summary of how Takamine was established and what guitar lineups they offer.

Whether it’s due to my personality or not, I feel the need to organize these basic details before diving into more specific topics.

Let’s start with the history of Takamine guitars.

Takamine began in 1959.

Ohzone(大曽根), who worked at a musical instrument factory in the Nagoya region, decided to leave after the factory suffered severe damage from a typhoon and settled on Mount Takamine in Sakashita, Nakatsugawa City, Gifu Prefecture.

It started under the name Ohzone Musical Instruments(大曽根楽器製作所).

Mount Takamine in Gifu Prefecture (岐阜県 高峯山)
Almost 1000 meters!(3300 feet!!)

In 1962, dissatisfied with the company name, they changed it to Takamine Gakki (Takamine Musical Instruments, 高峰楽器製作所), named after the mountain.

(Side note: There are many mountains named Takamine in Japan. It was quite challenging to find pictures… haha)

By 1968, nearly ten years after the company was founded, it had grown into a sizable company with 60 employees, gaining fame for its classical guitars and mandolins.

During this period, guitarist Hirade, who played a significant role in the company, joined Takamine.

Pictures from the Takamine website

With Hirade as the president, in the 1970s, they anticipated a growing demand for steel-string acoustics and entered the international market. At the time, the guitars were reasonably priced and well-made, which helped them gain a foothold in the market.

1970s Martin-style Takamine guitar

However, Takamine couldn’t escape the shadow of Martin copies during this period.

Martin even sent Takamine a letter asking them not to copy their headstock design exactly.

Although Martin didn’t sue, the story got slightly distorted, leading to old Takamine Martin-style guitars being called “Lawsuit guitars.”

Regardless, this marked a turning point for Takamine, leading them to create their iconic pointed headstock and develop unique split saddles for better intonation.

The iconic pointed headstock and split saddles commonly found in their guitars

In 1978, Takamine developed their renowned Palathetic pickup.

The Palathetic pickup, with six individual piezo transducers, one for each string, is still highly regarded today and has been widely copied by other manufacturers.

Even though the company name was Takamine Gakki, previous guitars had names like Elite and Nashville. After the introduction of the pickup, they started using the name Takamine exclusively.

This solidified Takamine’s place in the market. It’s said that the Eagles used a Takamine 12-string guitar for “Hotel California” during this period.

In 1988, Takamine introduced a parametric EQ to their preamps, and in 1989, they developed an external battery box and a replaceable preamp system, making their guitars more suitable for performances.

CoolTube – not just a name, it actually has a tube!

This innovation continued with the introduction of the CoolTube, the first onboard tube preamp, in 2004, along with other replaceable preamps.

Unfortunately, this feature is not available in the lower-priced G Series.

It would be great if these preamps could be swapped in lower-priced guitars, as they would be perfect as a second guitar for gigs, but it remains a bit of a drawback.

This covers the main points of Takamine’s history. In the next post, I will summarize Takamine’s lineup and price ranges.

See you in the next article!

I purchased a bow for an acoustic guitar (+ brief thoughts)

Hello, this is Jooyoung Kim, a mixing engineer and music producer.

Some time ago, I briefly saw a bow for an acoustic guitar. I wanted to buy it, but it was too expensive to justify purchasing it as a novelty.

Time passed, and when I was ordering a toroidal transformer for device repair from AliExpress, I wondered if they might also sell guitar bows. To my surprise, they were selling them very cheaply. I decided to purchase from a seller with a decent number of reviews and buyers.

The packaging was quite neat, which was surprising. Including shipping, I think I paid around 15$, and they even included rosin. The package contents seemed quite substantial.

Below is a video I recorded with my phone camera, so the quality isn’t great.

Due to the structure of the guitar and the bow, you can play double stops.

I also tried bowing sideways to see if I could play all six strings simultaneously, but the bow was too short, and I couldn’t apply enough pressure to produce a sound. A better guitar might produce a smoother and richer sound, but I didn’t want to use too much rosin and risk it absorbing moisture and becoming sticky.

When playing, I noticed that if the bow touched the guitar’s harmonic points, the sound would break. It was quite challenging to play, and I realized I might have underestimated it.

Originally, I planned to use this bow to dub MIDI recordings of violin parts, since recording strings can be expensive. However, it might be too difficult. The bow is too short for fast pieces, and the speed required would make it even more challenging.

On the other hand, it seems quite effective for fiddle techniques often used in country music, such as tremolo effects and repeated staccato chords. I think I’ll try writing some pieces incorporating these elements.

I have some songs I’ve been working on, but I haven’t released anything recently. This year, I plan to release at least three songs.

See you again in the next article!

Audient Nero Monitor Controller Review

This article was written on May 27, 2023.

Hello? This is engineer and singer-songwriter Jooyoung Kim.

The volume knob was pushed to the side when I bought a rack the other day, so for convenience’s sake, I’m going to review the Audient Nero monitor controller I purchased a few weeks ago.

  • Appearance and Function

The exterior is just plain. It’s made of steel plate, so it doesn’t feel as light as plastic material, and the knob has a reasonable amount of resistance, so it’s just decent quality.

A total of 4 headphones can be connected. You can connect 1 headphone using the 1/8″ or 1/4″ jack on the front, and 3 headphones can be connected using the back.

A total of 4 inputs can be selected: Cue, Alt, Src1,2, and Alt
Alt can also be selected separately from 3 types: Optical, Coaxial, and Aux.

There are three outputs: Main, Alt 1, and 2. you can connect a subwoofer using the Sub terminal button. What was a little disappointing was that you couldn’t select the crossover frequency when choosing a subwoofer. The crossover band was a bit low, so when I connected my 8-inch subwoofer, it didn’t come out as powerfully.

In addition, a talkback microphone can be used, the input source can be set differently for each headphone jack, and there are functions such as Dim, Cut (Mute), Pol, and Mono. It would have been nice to have L/R conversion, but it was a bit disappointing.

  • Measurement and Usage

Once an analog connection is made, the output is basically reduced by about 6dB. And both in terms of listening and measurement, the high frequencies were slightly cut off.

​Still, I was surprised by the fairly decent performance. Fortunately, I think it’s worth it for the sake of convenience.

Also, basically, the overtones rise a little, but not to such a huge level. The picture on the right below shows that the headroom was exceeded and distortion occurred, so I thought it would be useful as long as it wasn’t in extreme situations.

I also wanted to measure Coaxial Digital, but an error occurred and measurement was not possible. However, basically, when you make a digital connection, the volume becomes lower than when you make an analog connection, and the analog connection sounds much more detailed than the digital connection.

I’m not sure because I haven’t disassembled it and looked inside, but I think it’s probably the DAC chip difference. To make a digital connection, you need to use Grace Design or Cranesong…^^;;

  • Conclusion

There are no particular inconveniences while using it. The number of ins and outs and performance are just satisfactory, and I don’t think I’ll even think about changing it if nothing happens.

I think I can say that he’s ‘a fairly good friend.’

Mixchecker Ultra Rent to Own ($13.75/12 months)

hello? This is engineer and singer-songwriter Jooyoung Kim.

Today, I wanted to introduce Mixchecker Ultra, a higher version of Mixchecker, Audified’s representative plug-in, as it was released as Rent to Own at a plug-in boutique, so I requested an NFR (Not for Resell) code from the plug-in boutique and brought it.

As its name suggests, Mixchecker, this plug-in can be useful for simply checking how something sounds in different environments.

It is a format derived from the IR of various speakers, and if you are interested in equipment or machines, you will be able to tell which product it is from just by looking at the shape of the speakers, cell phones, headphones, earphones, etc.

​Even if you don’t know the product well, if you hover your mouse cursor over the icon, a name similar to the original product will appear in the center and a description will be written on the right, making it easy to find.

If you select Auto in the middle, the automatically set devices will play sequentially, and you can add noises from everyday life such as the street or subway through the Noise button and listen to them.

In addition, you can listen to various situations through functions such as Bypass, Mono, and Distortion.

Analyzer functions are also included, and individual analyzers can be enlarged and viewed for easy visual inspection.

​You can just use it to check the mix, but it can be fun to use for special effects, such as playing with earphones or in the car.

I measured Mixchecker’s NS-10M model using Plugin Doctor, and the Frequency Response came out interesting… haha.

​In fact, it is absurd to reproduce the sound of another speaker through one speaker. First of all, if the woofer is small, the low frequency range is not physically produced, so a small woofer cannot reproduce the sound of a speaker with a large woofer. Nevertheless, devices other than speakers, such as earphones, laptops, and TVs, seem to be represented quite well.

It is said that these speakers and various devices were measured and modeled in an anechoic chamber using an instrument called apx525 and B&K Type 4128-C.

​Mixichecker Pro is Audified’s flagship product that has been purchased by many people, with more than 20,000 units sold worldwide since its launch.

​The higher version, Mixchecker Ultra, contains many more features than the Pro version, so it would be a good idea for those who have been interested in mixing or mastering to take a look.

Buy MixChecker Ultra plugin

(If you purchase through the link above, I will receive a small commission, which greatly helps in running the blog)

If you purchase from the plugin boutique, you will receive a plugin for free.

This month, they are giving away an autopan plugin called V-Pan from Rhodes, and a sound modulation plugin called Dehumaniser Simple Monsters from Krotos.

​If you purchase it, I hope you will receive one.
Well, see you again in the next article!