- Instrument trainer / recorder1/4" guitar/bass inputGuitar/bass effects including amp modelling, delay, reverb, chorus and moreRecords 44.1kHz/16-bit WAV filesPlayback 16 or 24-bit WAV files or MP3 filesSD/SDHC card media slot with included 2GB cardOverdub recording allows sound-on-sound build up of an arrangementLoop playback using dedicated buttonsVariable Speed Audition speeds up or slows down playback without changing the pitchChromatic Tuner and MetronomeUSB 2.0 jack for high-speed music tra
It comes with a 100 page owner's manual (in English), a registration card, an errata sheet for the manual, a USB cable, a 2GB SD card and two AA batteries. Except for the plastic sleeves, everything can be recycled. The batteries are intended to power up the unit to show that it works. The set that came with mine lasted about two hours. Other reviews on the web say that they're getting eight to ten hours out of quality batteries, so you will want to either get batteries by the case, use the supplied USB cable for power or get the power supply (PS-P520). I got the power supply and it works very well.
As I said, the owner's manual is 100 pages and is in English, except for one page. Page 5 contains "IMPORTANT SAFETY INSTRUCTIONS" in Chinese. My best guess is that is is displaying recycling information since it mentions lead, mercury, cadmium and some other compounds.
The manual has an easy to read font. There is a "Quick Start" section that explains the major features. You'll likely be able to use the unit after going through these. The rest of the manual explain what the various buttons on the unit do. It reads like a technical specifications document press A and B happens. There's not much effort into explaining why you would want to use an effect or how various options interact. In short, it is a manual and not a user's guide. Also, there is no index.
The unit only accepts a Tascam RC-3F footswitch. That model has not yet been released. I contacted Tascam about it. They responded pretty quickly saying that it would be available at some time in the future. I am disappointed that they couldn't time the release of both together.
I used the supplied USB cable to hook the unit up to both a Mac and Windows computer. The unit is USB 2.0 compatible, but doesn't require it. Practically speaking, that means that it is a USB 1 interface.
When connected, the unit prompts you to use the connection as a power supply or for data. If you select power, then the unit will draw power from the computer, not from the batteries. Select data and the unit mounts as a drive, allowing you to transfer data from the computer. You can only use one mode or the other. I didn't find that to be inconvenient since I only transferred files a few times. If you're running off of batteries, though, make sure that you have plenty of power when copying files or you could lose data.
I had no problems with file transfers on the Mac. On the Windows XP box, the drive was very, very slow. I was not able to try it on another Windows computer so I do not know if it is the unit or maybe something like an overly-agressive virus scanner on the computer. I did find it funny that the manual states that it is compatible with "Widnows" (yep, that is their typo).
The unit will play either MP3 (32-320kbps, 44.1kHz) and WAV (16/24-bit, 44.1kHz) files. I used files that I had downloaded from iTunes (in MP3 format) or ripped from a CD (MP3 and WAV). I had no problems with either format. Tascam does point out that if you are using an MP3 file then you may not be able to specify an exact location for the start and end points looping. WAV files do not have that problem.
The files that I copied over sounded very good when playing back. There were no issues with clipping or stuttering. I used the unit as an MP3 player at work one day. The interface is not as streamlined as my iPod, but it worked. I had a little fun showing off the unit as an MP3 player. My co-workers laughed at how big it was. I let a few try it out and none of them preferred it to a dedicated MP3 player. I want to point out that the volume on this unit is unbelievable. I had to put the output to the lowest level possible in order to listen to most music comfortably with the buds from my iPod.
When copying audio files, you can create folders to organize your content. You must do that from your computer since the unit does not have that capability. The advantage of grouping files by folder is seen when playing back files. The interface is streamlined when the songs are in a common folder.
I used the GB-10's features to slow down, speed up and change key on several songs and I was fairly underwhelmed. The unit will change the playback speed by up to 50% while maintaining pitch. When I slowed down "Tom Sawyer", I found that the pitch was preserved but it was still difficult to pick up the notes. To my ears, the effect of the speed change was like having a slow vibrato played on the note. The effect on drums (which are prominent in the song) is actually horrible. It sounds like dropping a marble in a steel bucket. This is a guitar and bass trainer so it is only an issue because it is kind of distracting. Since "Tom Sawyer" has some reverb added to begin with, I had a problem picking out the bass line.
When I tried a simpler song, the results were much better. I listened to a violin piece at half speed and was able to follow along very easily. To confirm, I went through a lot of music from the 80's and 90's. For the majority of the songs, I was able to follow the guitar. The bass was a different story it came across as very muddy. Switching to a better set of headphones helped and connecting to my stereo proved that it wasn't the unit. It seems that the target audience for the GB-10 will be using headphones most of the time, so this could be a serious issue if you are a bass player. A built in EQ would be welcome.
After trying out these features, I plugged my Fender Jazz bass into the unit. I normally play using the bridge pickup set to 80% and the neck to 20%, so keep that in mind. I'd already tuned using a Korg TM-40 tuner. The GB-10 tuner disagreed, so I tuned to it. The tuner is not hard to use but is not as user-friendly as the Korg. After getting tuned on the GB-10, I went back to the Korg and found that the GB-10 was consistently a few cents higher. No big deal.
Once through with the tuning, I tried playing a bit to get an idea of the tone. I found out that I could not hear myself. I turned up the input to ten and could see on the display that signal was getting through, but couldn't hear a thing. I was puzzled until I remembered that I had turned the output level to the minimum to listen to the MP3s. Turning up the output about halfway allowed me to hear the bass. The tone was pretty neutral, so I recorded a bit and played it back. The volume on the playback was okay. When I transferred the WAV file to my computer and played them back, the volume was much better. And the tone was exactly what I was expecting. It sounded great.
I should point out that the GB-10 will put the recording into the current folder. The manual says that they will go the root folder if you don't specify a location but it turns out that changing to another folder makes the GB-10 dump the recordings there.
When I tried playing along with a music file, I remembered to set the balance first. This is not the "left to right" balance that you would expect but the balance between the input level and the volume of the music file. Setting it from the default of 20 to 8 provided a nice balance between the bass and the music file. You should be careful with this, though. When you unplug the guitar, the balance goes back to that default of 20. In my case, that means that it suddenly gets much, much louder. Painfully louder.
I was worried that recording while having the unit set to 50% speed would impact the recording. It did but not in a terrible way. The GB-10 compressed the notes' duration so that when played back at 100% speed, my part didn't sound slow. When I listened to it on playback, I realized that the balance of 8 was too low since the bass overwhelmed the music. You will have to play with that setting to get a good balance.
I have to say that for training purposes, it works as well as can be expected and I do recommend the product. I would give it five stars if there was a built in equalizer and a better way of dealing with the differences in volume between the guitar input and the music file being played.
Buy Tascam GB-10 Guitar Trainer/Recorder Now
This is my third Tascam guitar trainer,the first two being the CD-GT1 and CD-GT2 cd based units. This unit has a major flaw. When in "loop" mode, you cannot fast forward, rewind, or use the 2 second "flash" mode. They simply do not work. Also, if you "pause" while in "loop" mode, and then push play, you automatically go back to the beginning of the loop. There is no way around this. You loop off a 30 second solo, pause at the 25 second point to practice that last 3 second lick, push play, and you have to go over the entire 25 seconds again just to get back to that 3 second lick.A minor gripe is the "speed" portion of the unit. You can only adjust in 10% increments. 100,90,80,70,60,50. With the GB-10, you will find 60% may be too slow while 70% may be slightly too fast. The GT-2 is adjustable in 1% increments: 100,99,98,97 etc. This gives you much more flexability when slowing down those fast licks. The previous units GT1 and GT2 performed all of these functions perfectly. I bought the GB-10 expecting advances in features, not reductions, and for that I'm slightly disappointed. I still have the GT2 and will go back to using that for the majority of the more complicated licks. I do like the SD card storage and usb transfer from computer to GB-10. It makes accessing songs near instantanious and I'll probably use the GB-10 to store songs I've already learned and play against.
Tascam has just released a firmware update on 12/22, which I installed, but it does not address any of these issues. If Tascam could fix the "looping" area and restore the features that the GT-2 had, this would be an excellant product.
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Well , I am no stranger to the tascam trainers (bass trainers) this is my third and each time Tascam has come out with a new model i have gotten it.Needless to say , i love this product and am very excited for new developements.BUT Each time they take away certain features, leave others and add new ones ...some times i'm left scratching my head. Just to bottom line itSome minuses
---long gone are the days that u can cancel either left or right channel and have the remaining channel come thru both ears .... wonderful for play a longs that had stereo separation; This on the fly feature went away on the "2ND" CD player version and i misss it so that i had to start out by mentioning it ( I now use Roxio to edit the music and although less convenient i can add sprinkle in some effects to make the mono output sound more stereo); would have been nice to bring this feature back.
---What, no backlight ; ok ok that might be fine to save batteries but unless you are in the most well lit conditions ( and i am usually not )the screen is kinda hard to see.
---no footswitch...available , despite there being instructions regarding them.
Some plusses
----WOW . the most intuitive buttons ....much time was spent on this as it is a good bit of revamping
----The recording aspect is slick , great for play a longs
----sd card storage ...nice
----playist mode can hold up to 4 loops per song.....nice again
----solid construction even though very lightweight
All in all it's a nice product and has proven to be an essential piece of equipment so even though they left out some features (backlight would have been nice) I am still an will pretty much always be an advocate of this device.
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I am a beginner at guitar and this thing was a big help to me from the first day I got it. At my current stage in learning I am just trying to learn entire songs and device is great for slowing things enough for me to follow along as well as easily create loops for the sections that I am having difficulty with. As for all the other nifty features, I have not got around to using them yet but I'm sure I will eventually.Save 47% Off
Tascam GB-10, not ready for prime time yet. Has potential.As a long time (6+ years) CD-BT1 Bass Trainer user, I looked forward to ditching stacks of CD's to make the move to mp3's. When Tascam's GB-10 Guitar/Bass Trainer hit just above $100 I pulled the trigger and purchased one.
These negatives made me return it for a refund:
1. Small, low resolution display packed with a bit too much information. Even with reading glasses the viewing angle needs to be spot on as it lacks back lighting. I don't need a color display but would be willing to pay more for higher resolution (more pixels) and backlighting.
2. Small size is both a plus and a minus. Small makes it portable but it also makes it prone to getting pulled onto the floor by the guitar chord.
3. $25 AC power supply (wall wart). OK this is how Tascam keeps the price point for the trainer. But jeez. Paying ¼ the cost of the trainer for a $10 wall wart is a bit too much.
4. No way to `normalize' mp3 files in order to provide a constant sound level from song to song. With songs that vary in volume you need to continually adjust the bass level and overall volume. While the user interface makes this easy it is time consuming and more importantly the volume settings are a bit coarse. I was never able to keep a consistent bass level and overall volume from song to song.
5. No simple mp3 tone or bass tone controls. While there are several cabinet modeling settings for a variety of 8" to 12" speakers I found none suitable for bass guitar. I wound up wishing for simple "Low" "Mid" "High" tone controls for both the bass input and mp3 outputs.
6. Lastly and most importantly poor bass/guitar sound quality. The mp3 files sounded find, however, there is way too much hiss even with bass volume all the way up. I have passive bass guitars maybe active guitars with a bit hotter signal might not be so hissy.
I will be keeping my eye out for a firmware upgrade or the Mark II version to hopefully correct some of these issues. If Tascam does make some corrections/improvements I would be willing to try again.
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