Ultralight Backpacker and Musician: Mutually Exclusive?

To celebrate hitting the $10,000 savings mark last month (remember, I was in debt almost that amount this time last year) I made two new purchases. And damn are they fun.

Two super portable toys created with traveling musicians in mind. Having played with these toys for the last month, I’m having trouble remembering how I lived without them.

The Martin Backpacker

Weighs less than 2 and a half pounds. This thing is about as small as a guitar could get, without losing any of the overall functionality of an acoustic guitar.

So, what about the sound? Not bad really. Decent tone (mid and high-range great; low-range lacking and somewhat banjo-like). It looses some points on acoustics projection, but it’s more than suitable for practice while traveling or for playing around a campfire. I’ll admit, it’s no Martin D-16… But then again, for a few hundred bucks and a tiny carry-on bag, you can’t be expecting miracles.

Absolutely beautiful for practice — this is my current favorite guitar to practice on (even trumps the 12-string).

For more user reviews:

http://www.betterguitar.com/equipment/guitars/martin/backpacker.html

The New Zoom H4N

Near-professional recording now comes in the size of an 80’s model cell phone.

The H4N is ZOOMs affordable offering in the extremely portable, high quality multi-track recording arena. Beautiful for recording Jam sessions, song ideas on multiple tracks and for all those Phish concerts you wish you would love to bootleg.

I’m still playing with it to get a good sound on the multi-track setting, but so far, I’m extremely impressed.

I can’t believe how handy it’s been for writing new songs. I honestly have never felt this creative with my song writing, ever – and I think it has a lot to do with the ease of getting down my song ideas. I used to hate sitting next to a computer, fussing with all the interfaces, while trying to nurture that fleeting song idea. Now I just press record and play. The best $500 I‘ve ever spent as a musician.

I’ll be posting some songs in the Music section soon.

More comprehensive review of the H4N: http://www.bradlinder.net/2009/03/zoom-h4n-review.html

Postscript

Now, you’re probably wondering: Mike, why are you buying this travel-specific gear if you’re not traveling– wait for it…

You’ve guessed it. Let’s just say that there’s likely a trip in the works somewhere.

Can’t wait to get this newlywed couple on the road together for a honeymoon.

Post-Postscrip

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