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MGR/garyde « Behringer iAXE393 USB Electric Guitar »
Published on 03/15/07 at 16:00I started on keyboard when I was about 10 years old. Own several Hammond B3 type organs. Started on guitar about 10 years ago. Do mostly rhythm guitar (bar chords)and a little melody. I've collected quite a few guitars in the learning process and have everything from a real Fender 60th aniversary edition to an el cheapo Rogue "starter" guitar. I am more into the mechanics of the guitar as in nice low easy action rather than cosmetics.
I got the iaxe393 from Musicians Friend on sale for $99 which included free shipping.
The 393 looks like your basic 3 single coil Strat copy. This is a white guitar and looks very much like the 3 coil Fender Squier Strat which also sells for about $100. I own a Fender Bullet special which is basically the same guitar body, but only with a single humbucker pickup. As copies go, this is one of the best I've seen. It came with the action set nice and low and easy to play, and intonation was fine. It has standard volume and tone controls as well as a switch to select and mix the 3 pickups. It comes with the tremelo bar, but I took it back off as it seemed very tight. The iaxe has your standard 1/4" phone jack so you can plug it directly into any amp and play it like any other guitar. It sounds great this way. The real difference in this guitar is that it has a USB jack on the bottom rim right next to one of the strap hooks. There is also a 1/4" stereo headphone jack.
Now it gets a little complicated: The main selling feature on this item is that it connects to your computer. This is how it works: You plug your USB cable into the guitar and computer. Then you plug your stereo headphones into the guitar. This is of course after you installed the software/drivers that come on the inluded CD. Here is where the real power is. Included on the CD are 3 versions of the Native Instruments Guitar Combos software. You are given 30 days to try ALL 3. They give you a key and you can activate the one you like best. Each combo has various effects and amp simulations built in and all of them sound very nice. You will have to choose the one that best meets your taste for the style of music you play. The combo interface looks like a real guitar amp with all the controls etc. It even has a built in tuner! If you don't like the pre-sets they give you, you can edit them. A little too deep on the tremelo, no problem, back off on the control with your mouse and re-save the pre-set. The amps also have a metronome built in so you have a tick tick tick type sound to keep time with. It would have been nice if Native Instruments gave you a simple drum machine as well but you can't have everything. Behringer includes a copy of the open source shareware program Audacity which is a fairly decent WAV recorder that mimics a 2 track tape machine.
In order to hear the effects and amp simulations you have to have your headphones plugged into the guitar itself. Remember the guitar has a 1/4" jack? Most computer headphones use an 1/8" stereo plug so either you need headphones with the right plug or an adapter. Behringer should just throw in a set of walkman type phones with the 1/4" adapter so you can try it when you get it. The other thing I didn't like was the length of the USB cable they included. This is your guitar cord and its only about 5 foot long so you have to stay real close to the PC. I already ordered a 15 foot replacement. But I think USB has a limitation on length so 15' is about as long as you can go. With the five foot cord and the non humbucking pickups on the guitar, I got a little hum when near a lamp. The 15 footer is supposed to be sheilded so maybe the buzz will go away. It wasn't that bad though. They really don't give you much documentation on the Audacity so you will have to play with it a bit. It also has some effects that you can add to your recordings. Overall I'm very happy with it. For $99 the guitar alone is very well made.
As I've said, this is about the best Strat type copy in a guitar this cheap. If I were Behringer I'd add the headphones and a longer cord. And Native Instruments would do well to add a simple drum machine to them Guitar Combos. Then you would have all you need to make a decent recording.
Guitar alone well worth the money.
You may end up buying the Guitar Combo's you don't activate. Their THAT good.
This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com
I got the iaxe393 from Musicians Friend on sale for $99 which included free shipping.
The 393 looks like your basic 3 single coil Strat copy. This is a white guitar and looks very much like the 3 coil Fender Squier Strat which also sells for about $100. I own a Fender Bullet special which is basically the same guitar body, but only with a single humbucker pickup. As copies go, this is one of the best I've seen. It came with the action set nice and low and easy to play, and intonation was fine. It has standard volume and tone controls as well as a switch to select and mix the 3 pickups. It comes with the tremelo bar, but I took it back off as it seemed very tight. The iaxe has your standard 1/4" phone jack so you can plug it directly into any amp and play it like any other guitar. It sounds great this way. The real difference in this guitar is that it has a USB jack on the bottom rim right next to one of the strap hooks. There is also a 1/4" stereo headphone jack.
Now it gets a little complicated: The main selling feature on this item is that it connects to your computer. This is how it works: You plug your USB cable into the guitar and computer. Then you plug your stereo headphones into the guitar. This is of course after you installed the software/drivers that come on the inluded CD. Here is where the real power is. Included on the CD are 3 versions of the Native Instruments Guitar Combos software. You are given 30 days to try ALL 3. They give you a key and you can activate the one you like best. Each combo has various effects and amp simulations built in and all of them sound very nice. You will have to choose the one that best meets your taste for the style of music you play. The combo interface looks like a real guitar amp with all the controls etc. It even has a built in tuner! If you don't like the pre-sets they give you, you can edit them. A little too deep on the tremelo, no problem, back off on the control with your mouse and re-save the pre-set. The amps also have a metronome built in so you have a tick tick tick type sound to keep time with. It would have been nice if Native Instruments gave you a simple drum machine as well but you can't have everything. Behringer includes a copy of the open source shareware program Audacity which is a fairly decent WAV recorder that mimics a 2 track tape machine.
In order to hear the effects and amp simulations you have to have your headphones plugged into the guitar itself. Remember the guitar has a 1/4" jack? Most computer headphones use an 1/8" stereo plug so either you need headphones with the right plug or an adapter. Behringer should just throw in a set of walkman type phones with the 1/4" adapter so you can try it when you get it. The other thing I didn't like was the length of the USB cable they included. This is your guitar cord and its only about 5 foot long so you have to stay real close to the PC. I already ordered a 15 foot replacement. But I think USB has a limitation on length so 15' is about as long as you can go. With the five foot cord and the non humbucking pickups on the guitar, I got a little hum when near a lamp. The 15 footer is supposed to be sheilded so maybe the buzz will go away. It wasn't that bad though. They really don't give you much documentation on the Audacity so you will have to play with it a bit. It also has some effects that you can add to your recordings. Overall I'm very happy with it. For $99 the guitar alone is very well made.
As I've said, this is about the best Strat type copy in a guitar this cheap. If I were Behringer I'd add the headphones and a longer cord. And Native Instruments would do well to add a simple drum machine to them Guitar Combos. Then you would have all you need to make a decent recording.
Guitar alone well worth the money.
You may end up buying the Guitar Combo's you don't activate. Their THAT good.
This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com