Do you want to own Reason or do you already own it but aren’t sure exactly how to use it?

Then head on over to Propellerhead Software’s YouTube channel and check out their extensive collection of videos covering Reason. You will also find videos on Record and other Propellerhead products.

zZounds is offering a number of rebates and price cuts on guitar effects right now.For example there is a $100 rebate on the Digitech RP1000 and price cuts on the Digitech JamMan Looper Pedal and the Tascam MPGT1 Portable MP3 guitar trainer.

There is an outstanding interview at Velvet Rope with Matt Beck regarding the best and worst guitar pedals out there. No he has never been in a punk band, but we musicians can always learn something from other genres. Check out this interview because it shares some great insights.

http://velvetrope.com/starpolishlife/tallboy7/2009/02/26/gear-porn-the-best-and-worst-guitar-pedals-ever/

Now when you buy an Alesis Master Control you can also receive free studio monitors by following the instructions in this Alesis Studio Monitor Rebate. The monitors you receive are the Alesis M1Active 520s, a $499 value.

Sony is offering a free copy of Acid Music Studio 7 for purchasers of the Sony MDR-7506 headphones. You must purchase your pair of 7506’s by December 31, 2009 to qualify. You must also fill out a rebate form and send it in to receive your copy of the software.

The MDR-7506 headphones have a street price around $100 and offer several excellent features such as great frequency response and the ability to be folded up for portability.

More information is available at www.sony.com/mdr7506-acid.

As always we encourage you to shop zZounds for their low prices, free shipping, and no sales tax!

Quick! Boss has a $25 rebate on the ME-20. The offer lasts only until September 30, 2009. After that, you’re out of luck! You can order the ME-20 and find the rebate form on the zZounds Boss ME-20 page. The Boss ME-20 has the following features:

1. Overdrive, distortion, delay, chorus, phaser, flanger, tremolo, rotary, and EQ effects
2. 3 footswitches and expression pedal
3. 30 user memory locations
4. Metal chassis
5. And more…

If a laptop figures into your sound, figuring out how to gig with it can be difficult. Most keyboard stands don’t quite work out of the box. Some of them have add on shelves that you can try out.

Here are a couple options you may not have considered. First is the On-Stage LPT5000 Laptop Computer Stand. If you have a laptop because you gig with a MIDI controller this stand can be bolted to an arm or shelf on your keyboard stand. If you use a laptop for some other reason (such as loops, or to make use of programs like Ableton Live) you can bolt this stand to the top of a rack with wingnuts (so it can be quickly removed) or to a table so it is accessible live. The stand is under $30 so this could be a cheap yet effective solution.

It might be a better idea for you, though, to go with a full laptop stand. This is because in some situations setting your laptop on top of a pre-existing stand or rack that is already carrying a lot of weight or that is improperly balanced can cause a horrible tipover (especially if you have an energetic live show).

Perhaps the most popular stand for this application is the Stanton Uberstand.The main reason for the Uberstand’s popularity is that it is one of the sturdiest stands around so it shouldn’t tip at all as long as it is on a level surface. Furthermore, it is constructed from aircraft quality aluminum and steel so it will actually stand up to touring. On top of all that, it folds up flat and fits into a 12″ bag, so it is quite portable.

We would be interested in hearing other ways you have solved the problem of having a laptop on stage with you. The laptop-as-musical-instrument has become increasingly popular and this will be a problem that musicians in all genres will continue to grapple with over time.

Visit http://www.ampeg.com/rebates for a $100 rebate on the Ampeg Micro-VR stack.

Part 4 in a series.

Recently I helped a guitarist friend of mine buy his first tube amp. Not a “hybrid” amp, with just a preamp tube, mind you, but an actual tube amp. I thought a nice series of blogs on the topic was in order. We’ll tackle a few different aspects of tube amps, and my goal by the end of this series is that you would have all the info you need on tube amps to make an informed choice if you are shopping for a new amp.

Budget tube amps

For punk, emo, or hardcore there are a few amps  for small budgets that quietly hold their own. These are split into two categories: used and new. Used amps typically sell for only 40-70% of their original purchase price. This is often a great deal, with the tradeoff being that you have no warranty and may have to give your gear a bit more TLC. New amps are coming out all the time though that offer a combination of classic features with new amenities such as extra channels, effects, or input-routing options.
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