2022

The new Roland E-X50 is a feature packed keyboard for music arrangers and live performance.  The E-X50 has a pair of onboard Stereo speakers for quality sound output.  It has 61 keys, 689 tones, 256 note polyphony, 18 drum sets, Bluetooth connectivity and built-in Effects.  The Roland Acoustic pianos that are contained in the E-X50 sound stunning and Bluetooth allows you to jam to favourite songs, play to tracks or take lessons.  With the dual speakers you can use the Roland as your music entertainment centre when you aren’t playing and there is a microphone input also.  The 300 presets are easy to access thanks to the LED screen at the top of the keyboard and light up soft buttons.  For beginning and intermediate musicians, the E-X50 provides Auto Bass Chord mode to achieve arrangements with only one or two fingers.  Other connectivity on the back of the keyboard includes a USB port, USB memory port for flash drives and stereo outputs to send your sound to a PA system or amp.  Style Converter software lets you create 30 different custom styles with windows or Mac and load them into the E-X50 memory to access.  The USB memory port makes it simple to record your original or cover songs to a flash drive.  My favourite features of the Roland E-X50 are the auto-accompaniment, large LED screen, mic input and the Bluetooth connectivity.  This arranger keyboard is aimed at intermediate musicians but can honestly do much more than that and a very reasonable price point. The keys feel great and access to all the sounds and beats are easy to achieve through the light up soft pad configuration.  If you’re ready to step up your keyboard game the Roland E-X50 is worth your consideration!  www.roland.com  READ MORE ‘TOOLS OF THE TRADE’ IN THE LATEST ISSUE OF MAVERICK AVAILABLE HERE! Media Contact: Eric Dahl, Editor Email: editor@maverick-country.com

Musicians need to practice and play guitar daily, but that isn’t easy to achieve when we need to practice quietly and not bother others.  The new Donner HUSH-I Silent guitar is designed so that you can plug in the included earbuds or your own headphones into the guitar and only hear yourself while playing.  What makes the HUSH-I great is that it secures into an ultra-small footprint gig bag that can fit on an airplane, your car, or any tight space.  The leg rest and top bout of the guitar are made of metal and attach with a magnetic Hex wrench that fits into the back body of the guitar.  This is a headless guitar so that you can hang it on a wall by the top metal frame.  The strings feed in reverse with the ball ends at the top and the end of the strings at the bottom where the machine heads are located.  The body and neck are constructed of Mahogany wood and the neck has a flat profile that feels great in your hands.  Electronics wise the Piezo pickup is built into the bridge and the Phase; Volume and two band EQ are on the top of the body.  The strap buttons are located on the back of the neck and at the input jack on the bottom.  The HUSH-I plays incredible and sounds great plugged into an amplifier or PA system.  The only challenging part is using the Hex wrench for the tuning machine heads at the bottom of the guitar, but it does hold tune very well thanks to the bone nut and HPL fretboard.  For the playability, sound quality and features you can’t beat the Donner HUSH-I for the price, and it includes strap, Hex wrench, picks, tuner and earbuds!   www.donnermusic.com  READ MORE ‘TOOLS OF THE TRADE’ IN THE LATEST ISSUE OF MAVERICK AVAILABLE HERE! Media Contact: Eric Dahl, Editor Email: editor@maverick-country.com

Donner instruments recently released the new Rising-G Pro Carbon Fibre travel guitar that has an all-carbon one-piece body.  The parametric sound hole, which is located on the upper bout of the body makes it easy for musicians to hear what they are playing.  I was surprised at the fullness of sound and projection emitting from a travel size guitar.  Besides the sound hole placement, carbon fiber construction and rounded edges back of body I believe the added sound comes from the A frame style bracing of the top.  The one-piece HPL fingerboard contains nicely rounded frets, and the machine heads are mini sized but work efficiently.  The top of the guitar is black carbon fibre whilst you can choose the back colour in Cloud White, Carbon Dark, Apricot Yellow, or Sky Blue as the one we tested.  The smooth satin finish on the back of the body and neck makes the Rising-G Pro acoustic guitar a pleasure to play with no hand fatigue whatsoever.  The guitar comes with a well-constructed gig bag and player kit that includes a manual, capo, guitar strap, tuner, guitar picks and an Allen wrench for adjustments.  The cutaway on the Rising-G Pro guitar makes playing up the neck a breeze.  Everyone that saw it displaced in the Maverick Country offices wanted to grab it, play it, and were surprised that it was a carbon fibre guitar.  The only addition I would make to this Donner instrument would be an internal pickup so that you can plug in and play to amplify the sound at jam sessions.  This would be a perfect songwriter guitar to take to co-writes or songwriter rounds since the carbon fiber construction is impervious to weather changes.  I’m a fan of the Donner Rising-G Pro Guitar.  www.donnermusic.com  READ MORE ‘TOOLS OF THE TRADE’ IN THE LATEST ISSUE OF MAVERICK AVAILABLE HERE! Media Contact: Eric Dahl, Editor Email: editor@maverick-country.com