Tanglewood JZ-503-BL
The Tanglewood company has a name for making excellent instruments at budget prices, and the JZ-503-BL is the latest in a long line of deep bodied jazz guitars that offer excellent tone and playability. The JZ range is essentially an upgraded model of the original AS-36, and comes with a more powerful set of humbucking pick ups and branded Grover machine heads. It certainly has all the jazz style, with a single “Venetian” cutaway and flamed maple top, back and sides. The 85/90mm deep all laminate body resonates well, and there is a fully adjustable brass bridge on a rosewood base. Electrically, it’s good to see a three way toggle switch that doesn’t wiggle and wobble, and the side jack that comes complete with a gold end pin. Coming in Tobacco Sunburst and Blue, the TS is also made as a left hander.

SR Technology Jam series
The concept behind the new Jam series by SR Technology is simple: to build a compact high definition audio system that combines minimal size and elegant design with exceptional performance. To this end, SR came up with three unique and highly portable amplification systems, all with a head mounted on-board mixer. The 150 Plus is perhaps the most useful for the gigging musician, with a total of six channels, multi-band EQ and a digital effects processor amongst its many features. The high quality amplifier produces a quality and character of sound that delivers exceptional clarity through the 8" woofer and its partner compression tweeter. With the sound of a much larger audio system, these compact, quality units are ideal when you’re crammed into a corner at one of those smaller venues.

RAT jazz stand
For those of us who use them, music stands are invariably an awkward necessity but RAT’s new jazz stand is a model of ingenious design, using all the latest advances in lightweight manufacturing compounds and technology. Careful consideration has been given to the size, shape and angle of the legs so as to achieve maximum stability, while a reducing sleeve system has been used to adjust the height from table top through any intermediate level to the standard four foot base of the score support. The whole unit only weighs a couple of pounds and folds cleanly and easily into the face of the score stand, making it extremely compact with no protruding arms or awkward corners.

Protection Racket snare sets
For many drummers, a Protection Racket product has become the case of choice. Lightweight, in durable veritable bomb proof nylon denier, with a fleece lining and heavy duty MITS nylon zips, they have all but become the benchmark of the softcase. Recently however, they have upgraded their best selling snare cases for added convenience and portability. You can now buy your favourite cases fitted with rucksack straps, concealed shoulder straps that can be packed into a pocket when not in use and perhaps most useful of all, cases with a retractable handle and a set of wheels!

NS CRT double bass
The new CRT Double Bass, is the latest in the line of the CR series of solid bodied stringed instruments by the Ned Steinburger company. Set up and built specifically to satisfy the preferences of the acoustic upright player, the CRT carries a higher string tension and action than its CR cousin. Using a specially designed D’Addario Acoustic Helicore Hybrid string allows the player to “dig in” as might be the case on an acoustic instrument, delivering a classic upright tone that is both warm and percussive, while also having a great response to the bow. There is also the useful addition of a small brass button to the back of the neck, that provides a tactile reference for the traditional ‘D Neck’ position. Coming in four or five string versions, the CRT is fitted with a standard piezo bridge pick up, as opposed to the polar pick up of the CR, and is probably as close as you’re ever likely to get to the sound and response of an acoustic instrument.

David Gallant