Tascam GB-10 Review

[Jondeeman]

A short time ago, I asked fellow Basschatters for some assistance. A bad experience with a less than robust, but extremely useful Tascam BT-CD1 had left me in a quandary. The usefulness of a bass trainer on the one hand, versus reliability and value… what to do?

[topic="127459"]Bass Trainers[/topic]

Well, a question here helped put my concerns to rest. Tascam were reliable and deserved a second chance. The only debate was whether to go with the robust and loved MP-BT1 or move onto the newer GB-10, which nobody seemed that’ve tried yet. I opted for the GB-10, with a promise to review in these here very pages once I’d got my head around it.

The good news is that the GB-10 arrived for the princely sum of £120, from Fair Deal Music (via Amazon) a day after ordering. The unit comes with a2GB SD card and a set of AA batteries, but without the required power adaptor (which had to be ordered separately). It can also be powered via the USB socket.

[url="http://tascam.com/product/gb-10/"]Tascam GB-10[/url]

The GB-10 is compact and robust with a large enough monochrome display to read and understand. Battery life is excellent – my rechargeable AA batteries seem to give me 3 hours minimum usage from a charge. Overall, the unit is 6 inches by 3 inches, and around an inch thick, so small enough for the front pocket of a gig bag, or inside a hard case. The screen can be read outside in bright sunlight (I now play whilst drinking coffee on the patio in the morning).

The battery compartment is also home to the SD card, which can either be left in situ to upload music to the GB-10, or removed and placed into a card reader (as per any digital camera). The 2GB card holds a lot of stuff, and should be enough for anyone, though it can be replaced with something larger – the GB-10 taking care of formatting. The files can be arranged in separate folders as required). My only issue in adding files was that the GB-10 only recognises MP-3 and WAV formats. Several of my tracks had been uploaded as WMA files, and these needed converting as they weren’t compatible.

The bass is plugged into the GB-10 through a jack socket on the right-hand side. Next to the input is an input level control. This only goes up to 10. ;-) The mix can be adjusted, using the balance control; the lower the balance, the quieter the track playback is. Balance seems to go up to 20. Finally, the output to the headphones can be adjusted via the two output buttons. Easy enough for even me to understand!

Tuning is done via the tuner button. The screen is clear and easy to read, and is a great little digital tuner. The unit will also send an auditory tuning note via the headphones if you prefer to tune that way.

Playback is simple, achieved via the push buttons below the screen and the larger cursor control to select tracks. Tracks can be adjusted for tempo and key, as well as being looped and repeated at will. I’ve put my playlist in suitable order, and enjoy whizzing around the tracks. In summary, I love it!

The metronome is also handy and pretty self explanatory. As someone used to a mechanical metronome with a bell, nothing will ever beat the swaying “tick, tock” but the GB-10 is easier to carry, and harder to break.

The effects incorporated into the GB-10 are, to my view, extremely poor and ineffective. I’m not a huge user of effects anyway, but these are either ineffective, or sound thin, electronic and horrid.

As ever, there are certain things that I haven’t used extensively, yet. The recording function seems rather useful, but has not been any more than a toy so far. Tracks can be overdubbed and files can be recorded and then uploaded into a PC. Empty, the 2GB card will record over 3 hours of playback.

Overall, I love my GB-10. I can play anywhere, it gives me the flexibility I was looking for and I can keep myself to myself when practising (much to the kids’ relief). It’s robust (yes, it has hit the deck) and it can carry a load of music. Whether it’s better than the MP-BT1, I can’t say. It certainly ticks the boxes for me.

If you have any questions, please feel free to give me a yell.

[Bassman Sam]

Thanks for this review, I was looking around for something like this as I need to get a good headphone practice amp. I think this will tick all my boxes. Cheers.

[lanark]

Can this be recharged, like the BT-1 can?

[Jondeeman]

[quote name='lanark' post='1258056' date='Jun 6 2011, 08:27 AM']Can this be recharged, like the BT-1 can?[/quote]

Hi Lanark,

It uses 2 AA batteries. The menu allows you to select alkaline or NiMH. The batteries won't recharge in the unit, and seem to last 15+ hours. I have a 2 sets and carry a spare.