Schecter has released a new guitar from Tempest series (or Hellraiser series, yes it is at both series), the Schecter Hellraiser Tempest, a double cut-away guitar with a very simple, but good looking, design.

The Schecter Hellraiser Tempest features mahogany body (with quilted maple top) and neck, rosewood fingerboard, 24.75” scale length, TonePros TOM bridge, 2 EMG Active 85 and 60A humbucker pickups, 2 volume controls and 2 tone controls and 3–way pickup switch.

The Schecter Hellraiser Tempest is available in black cherry and black finishes and its suggested price is $949.

» From Electric guitar review
» Official site

Lace introduced the Lace Ultra Slim Acoustic Sensor Humbucking pickup that features a cool chrome–cover design. This pickup has been designed for acoustic guitars and resonators, but it soon will be available in mandolins and other instruments.

The Ultra Slim Acoustic Sensor features a low profile (0.275” tall), duo-coil design and a high quality 1/4″ female jack (with a Switchcraft brand ). The low profile doesn’t affect to the sound and it hasn’t the interference of a full-size humbucker pickup.

You can get The Ultra Slim Acoustic Sensor in this spring and its price will be $199.

» From Harmony central
» Official site

the Carvin NS1 is a nylon-string guitar with MIDI/synth interface. You select to use or not use the MIDI/synth interface only with the connector, jack for normal guitar connection and 13–pin cable for MIDI/synth guitar. Through the 13–pin is sent out the signal of each string and a summed signal (this avoids using 2 cables).

Besides the MIDI/synth interface the Carvin NS1 features mahogany body (with 4A flame maple top) and neck, ebony fingerboard, 25.5” scale length, Graphtech Hexaphonic pickup, Graphtech preamp, Hexaphonic Midi Access and piezo acoustic volume, treble and bass cut/boost and mid cut/boost and mid sweep controls. As said before the Carvin NS1 features 1/4” jack and 13-pin Hexaphonic outputs.

You can get the Carvin NS1 in many finishes like Antique Brown stain, Black Stain, Ruby Red, … for the price $1,299.

» Official site

CME Pro has released 2 audio interfaces, U2GKB and U2MIC. The CME Pro U2GKB is a jack-to-USB interface for guitar, keyboard and bass guitars and CME Pro U2MIC is a XLR-to-USB interface with +48v phantom power.

The CME Pro U2GKB features a preamp on/off switch to adjust the device to the appropriate input (guitar/bass or line-in), while CME Pro U2MIC features a +48v phantom power on/off switch.

Both models feature self-contained preamp, zero latency real-time monitoring, high quality A/D and D/A converters (16-bit/48/44.1kHz CD quality), USB 2.0 full speed transmission, pristine preamp, mini-jack stereo output, in and out mute buttons, volume controls and are USB powered.

» From Create digital music
»CME Pro U2GKB and U2MIC Official site

The Fender Andy Summers Telecaster features the same aspect and the same modifications than the original Andy Summers guitar. This means alder body, maple neck, “soft” brass bridge, Schaller tuners, humbucker neck and single-coil bridge (mounted in the body) pickups, mini-toggle phase switch, overdrive unit (controlled by a 3rd knob) and preamp on/off mini-toggle switch.

It may look like a coincidence but I don’t think so, this month The Police will do a special one-off show in the Grammy Awards night and Fender is releasing a very limited edition of a the Andy Summers custom guitar, the Fender Custom Shop Andy Summers Tribute Telecaster. Is the right moment, don’t you think?

The Fender Custom Shop Andy Summers Tribute Telecaster will be a 250 units edition and they are all sold, so Police fans, a little bit late.

» From Electric guitar review
»Press release

To celebrate its 60th anniversary AKG has released a limited edition mic based on the legendary C 414 mic, the AKG C 414 LTD Limited Edition.The AKG C 414 LTD Limited Edition is a a large-diaphragm reference recording microphone that features 5 switchable polar patterns, 3 bass roll-off filters, 3 pre-attenuation settings, 2 colors LEDs (quick reference of selected settings), transformerless output stage and extremely low self-noise.

AKG C 414 mic has been used in a lot of records, studios, etc. This limited edition mic is transformerless studio-standard condenser mic.

The AKG C 414 LTD Limited Edition has a vintage design and features carefully selected components, the mic also comes with some accessories and certificate of authenticity. It’s available in black and brown colors and its price is $1,200.

» From : Electronic musician
Official site

After the success of Zoom H4 Recorder and it’s 1.20 version Zoom has announced the H2 Handy Recorder which prototype was showed in Winter NAMM ‘07. The prototype was a non-working version but the listed features looked like the H2 handy Recorder will be a very good gadget.

The Zoom H2 Handy Recorder features 3 integrated mic capsules (allowing front 120-degree cardioid, front-90 super cardioid, rear 120-degree cardioid, rear 90-degree super cardioid and 360-degree polar software switchable patterns), 96, 44.1 and 48 KHz WAV and 320kbps VBR MP3 recording formats, USB port (to transfer data or to use it as USB mic), power stereo mic input, timestamp function and true 5.1 surround sound recording.

Zoom H2 Handy Recorder it doesn’t come with XLR as H4 Handy Recorder but but it’s half of its size and its price is also lower, $199.

» From : Mac Music
» Official site

Effector 13 company has released a new serie of effect pedals called $35 Artifacts that include AR 05, AR 25, AR 33, AR kP and AR JP. As you already realized all the pedals from this serie costs $35 and they are available through official retailers.

Al the pedals feature volume control, on/off switch, true bypass, aluminum enclosure and are powered by 9V battery (no DC input available).

The AR 05 is a clipping boost pedal with sound range from clean but full to gained and crunchy, the AR 25 is a crystal clear boost features a very clean sound in normal and crunchy mode, the AR 33 is a short decay fuzz pedal that sounds good, the AR kP is a chunky overdrive pedal but a little bit low for an overdrived pedal (for me this is the weakest effect) and the AR jP is a passive volume control.

» From : Harmony Central
» Official site

The Guitar Hero II game features songs from various artists like Mother from The Doors, Surrender from Cheap Trick, Heart-Shaped Box from Nirvana, You Really Got Me from The Kinks, … But now XBox Marketplace Live, the store for XBox users is offering 70 new songs to download (not free obviously). The new songs include Billion Dollar Baby from Alice Cooper, Hush from Deep Purple, Dead from My Chemical Romance, Life Wasted from Pearl Jam, …

We haven’t talked about Guitar Hero (and Guitar Hero II), the console game where you “play” several rock songs using a device that is a replica of the Gibson SG with 5 fret buttons and a strum bar. The fret buttons represent the notes that appears on the screen and the strum bar represent a string pick, the Gibson SG replica also features a whammy bar (that adds realism to the playing).

You can play Guitar Hero II just for fun but its not realistic game as playing a real guitar.

» Official site

Yamaha has released a new instrument for bass players, the Yamaha RBX4 A2 Electric Bass Guitar is an instrument with a very simple design and very low weight. The A.I.R. produces a greater resonance and sustain than other bass guitars with lighter weight because the body is build with hardwood top and back with ultra lightweight wood core between them. Usually, bass guitars are heavy as hell, but this bass guitar features the A.I.R. (Alternative Internal Resonance) construction technique.

Besides the A.I.R. the Yamaha RBX4 A2 Electric Bass Guitar features maple neck, rosewood fingerboard, 2 Yamaha single-coil designed by the Yamaha Guitar Custom Shop, LED-illuminated pickup indicator lights and master volume control.

The Yamaha RBX4 A2 Electric Bass Guitar will be available this summer and its price will be $999.99.

»Press release