Reviewer: Marc
e-mail: not publicly available
Date submitted: Aug. 5, 2004
Purchase Price: $1500 "used"
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Sound & Tone
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Rating:
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7
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Comments:
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Having played My share of vibes, this is (now) a solid instrument. Sound is good, but I still get rattles if it is isolated in the studio with good (real good) mics. I play out about 1x per wekk with my jenco, I use a pair of Rode nt3's on it, sounds good in PA.
Range is strong, highs and lows often demand a little umph. I us yellow yarns or certain medium kettle mallets for goods sound. Volume is often just under too loud (where the ears start to say NO). Tuning is fine, but I can fix that (so can anyone).
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Design & Construction
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Rating:
| 6
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Comments:
| This was a POS when I got it. Motoor falling off, NO DAMPER pedal, all sorts of issues. I restored it 100%. Sand blasted the downs and frame, new string, rebuild on motor, reinforcements, fab'ed new felt and T-bar, re-weld on damper adjusts, tuned bushings on butterfly, painted, whole buncha stuff. Approx. $800 parts and labor (weld, sandblasting, a few screwups...etc) Now it runs great, easy to play (I even bow it with grace), I do have some rattle, but live you will never hear it. No frame height adjust. Casters are original, with a little love they came back. New cord and wires installed, original was fried. Playing noise is ok, if you are in studio or hardcore it could get annoying. I play heavy stuff in a loud improv band with NO issues. Non-grad steel bars. Motor will get a little hot after 6-8 hours of being on. Damper is okay, remember, I build it from scratch. Transportation is still a pain. I bring 2 large keyboard (88 key) in flight case, a BIG amp, a few pags of stull, mic stands, key stands, and vibes (flat on rug) in Tacoma truck bed with no problem. I have had my set for 3+ years and at the 3 year mark I busted my bar string (in a set). Totally normal wear, fixxed it too in our set break. I plan on playing this for many years before I sell it and probably break even on $ I put out.
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Appearance
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Rating:
| 3
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Comments:
| Appearance is GREAT. But remember, I totally stripped it. I got it in bad shape gold and brown. It is now black frame with silver downs and bars. This thing loogs hot. Compared to some of the school sets and a few of the other jazzers in ton, mine is in great shape. This is NOT a mus or Lud, they are a different breed, 10/10/10 for them, but for the $1500 and some labor I am ahead of the game a bunch.
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Customer Support
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Rating:
| n/a
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Comments:
| Customer support..lol, no more JenCo, I break it, I fix it. 10 of 10...haha.
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Overall Rating
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Rating:
| 7
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Comments:
| Hapiness, hell, vibes are the greatest instrument period. I could get a POS and be happy as a..well, you know. If yo want to be critical and compare against a new unit or a classic mus...this is still good. Different breed though. I would buy this again in a beat..I loved restoring this piece more than any other instrument.
My genre of music is improv, heavy jazz pushing rock/funk/punk. I run the mic's through my laptop sometimes too...pretty cool.
Student use = great.
Professional = depends on use and expectations.
Schools = put your $ else where and give Yamaha your dinero for a new one with warranty.
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