[Ascaloth] Trial Run: K-ON!, Episode 2 at Riuva : Research Institute for Unicultural Visual Arts

[Ascaloth] Trial Run: K-ON!, Episode 2

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Popularity: 9% [?] Published by Ascaloth April 10th, 2009 in Ascaloth, Anime

Having never participated in club activities before, Yui now looks forward to the first ever club she has joined, the light music club. However, having never had any experience in playing music before, how would she handle the demands of learning the guitar from scratch, just in time to participate in the first concert the light music club is bound to hold? Of course, everything has to have a starting point, and for Yui, that starting point is…..to buy a guitar. Hey, everyone’s gotta start from somewhere. In any case, let’s follow the girls as they begin their journey with the light music club, right from the beginning.

K-ON!, Episode 2.

Featured Instrument: Fender Jazz Bass, American Deluxe Left Hand

The Jazz Bass (or J Bass) was the second model of electric bass guitar created by Leo Fender. The bass is distinct from the Precision Bass in that its tone is brighter and richer in the midrange with less emphasis on the fundamental harmonic. Because of this, many bass players who want to be more "forward" in the mix (including smaller bands such as power trios) prefer the Jazz Bass.

First introduced in 1960 as the "Deluxe Model", it was marketed as a stablemate to the Fender Jazzmaster guitar which was also marketed as a "Deluxe Model" in its own right; however, it was renamed the Jazz Bass as Fender felt that its redesigned neck - narrower and more rounded than that of the Precision Bass - would appeal more to jazz musicians. The Jazz Bass has two single coil pickups with two pole pieces per string. This gave the bass a stronger midrange sound to compete with the Rickenbacker bass, which had been introduced in 1957 and which was famously "bright." As well as having a slightly different, less symmetrical and more contoured body shape (known in Fender advertising as the "Offset Waist Contour" body), the Jazz Bass neck is noticeably narrower at the nut than that of the Fender Precision Bass. While the Precision Bass was originally styled similarly to the Telecaster guitar (and, after 1957, the Stratocaster), the Jazz Bass’ styling was inspired more by the Jazzmaster guitar, with which the Jazz shared its offset body and sculpted edges that differentiate it from other slab-style guitar bodies.

Featured Instrument: Korg Triton Extreme

Korg Triton is a music workstation synthesizer featuring digital sampling and sequencing created by Korg. All Tritons use Korg’s HI Synthesis tone generator. They are available in several models and various upgrade configurations. The Triton is world famous among many musicians for being the benchmark of keyboard technology, and is widely featured in music videos and live concerts.

In 2005 Korg released the Triton Extreme, which boasted many of the features of the Studio (such as the entire PCM ROM from the Studio model) plus the addition of many previous Triton expansion boards, and a best of of some others, It also has new PCM data that is not available on any other Tritons including improved pianos and acoustic guitars giving it a broad range of sound, 160 MB total compared to the Triton Classics 32 MB. Also featured in the Triton Extreme is Valve Force circuitry, using a vacuum tube and an analog ultra gain transistor to allow for warmer, guitar amp-like sounds for more extreme analog overdrive/distortion sounds, and is especially useful for warm luscious pads, and adding depth and realism to acoustic sounds, especially piano. Unlike the previous Tritons, which were white-silver, the Extreme boasts a deep blue color.

Featured Instrument: Yamaha HG6T46RM Rick Marotta Signature Hipgig

Ask any drummer what’s the worst part of gigging and they’ll tell you setting up, tearing down, and carting home the drums. The ingenious HipGig is a compact four-piece drum set which can be set up in five minutes, needs the minimum of floor space, and can be carried from car to stage in one easy trip. The snare and two tom toms are stored inside the hinged bass drum during transport, then mounted off it when set up. And all the stands, pedals and brackets fit into the ‘throne’-style canister seat. The whole caboodle fits into the two supplied soft bags.

The Hipgig shells are made from a 7-ply sandwich of high quality birch and mahogany. Toms come equipped with Remo Pinstripe heads, the bass drum with Remo Renaissance PowerStroke-3s and the snare with a Remo coated Ambassador batter. This combination supplies attack alongside control and body. The 10"x6" and 13"x7" toms may be small, but they sound surprisingly full and loud. In addition there are now two more tom-toms which can be bought separately. These measure 8"x5.5" and 12"x6.5" and both are supplied with soft carrying cases. The 12"x5" snare is suspended rather than placed on a normal stand, resulting in an extra liveliness and a huge reverberant cross-stick sound. (source)

(Special thanks to khryeoleoz and Kinny Riddle from the Animesuki Forums for the inspiration for this instrument feature)

Disclaimer: The instrument feature is based wholly on personal research, and there is no guarantee that it is 100% accurate. If there are any errors, please inform me in the comments and I will adjust accordingly.

You know Mio is superior when even the designated moeblob of the series admits defeat in the face of the former’s moe power. Yui’s reaction seems uncomfortably similar to Kanako from Maria+Holic though….

Mio may have a point here, but for a light music club which is not a cafe, the selection of confectionaries certainly is impressive. Only in anime do all girls have metabolic rates high enough to handle anything they can possibly consume.

Who’s the elder sister here….?

Watching a group of girls going window shopping in anime is cute. Having to accompany a group of girls to go window shopping in real life, however….well, the reaction of the guy in this picture pretty much sums it up.

Frankly, I couldn’t think of a better reason for such a weird guitar, either. What the hell is it, and does it really exist?

Featured Instrument: Gibson Les Paul Standard

The Gibson Les Paul is a solid body electric guitar originally developed in the early 1950s. The Les Paul was originally designed by Ted McCarty and endorsed, named and used by then popular jazz/rock and roll guitarist Les Paul. The Les Paul model was the result of a design collaboration between Gibson Guitar Corporation and pop star, electronics inventor, and accomplished jazz guitarist Les Paul. In 1950, with the introduction of the Fender Telecaster to the musical market, electric guitars became a public craze. In reaction, Gibson Guitar president Ted McCarty brought guitarist Les Paul into the company as a consultant.

The Les Paul guitar line was originally conceived to include two models: the regular model (nicknamed the Goldtop), and the Custom model, which offered upgraded hardware and a more formal black finish. However, advancements in pickup, body, and hardware designs allowed the Les Paul to become a long-term series of electric solid-body guitars that targeted every price-point and market level except for the complete novice guitarist.

In 1958, Gibson changed the top finish on the regular Les Paul model from the gold color used since 1952 to the Sunburst finish already being used on Gibson’s archtop acoustic and hollow electric guitars such as the J-45 model. These Sunburst-finished guitars were later referred to as Les Paul Standards to differentiate them from the earlier Goldtop. The hardware specification was the same as that of the ‘57 Goldtop, featuring the new humbucker pickups. Today, the Gibson Les Paul Standard has BurstBucker pickups on the Vintage Original Spec models and Burstbucker Pro on the lower end models bearing the ‘Standard’ name

I LOL’d when Mugi-chan, for some reason, attempted to muscle in on Ritsu’s moe factor, as if she herself isn’t already content enough with her own moe territory.

This kind of part-time job exists in Singapore too, except that over here, they hand out advertisment flyers instead of tissue paper. I generally have the bad habit of brushing them off quite brusquely; it’s also the reason why I would rather not take up such a part-time job, because you know, karma. X_X

This reminds me of that one time when I was at a McD’s, and the girl at the counter spoke in a voice so soft I almost went deaf straining to hear what she was saying. I swear, I was torn between maintaining the usual customer’s detachedness and teasing her for her shyness on the spot. I managed to restrain myself from giving in and attempting the latter…barely. XD

I swear I’ve seen that guy with the shades on the right somewhere before….

Poor Mio-chan. Despite the outwardly mature air that Yui admires her for, the girl has an obvious weakness after all. Well, I guess that is part of what fuels her moe power….

You know it’s a KyoAni show because no one does wind-touched hair quite like they do.

I wonder if there’s a type of training typical for oujosama that allows them to sit still and concentrate for a long period of time like Mugi does here.

The early beginnings of the future death metal legend who calls herself Johanna Krauser II.

Eyebrow Power!!!

LOL, way to tell them only now that your family owns this shop, Mugi-chan. Although, apart from simply wanting to try it out, I’m not sure I really see why she needs to bargain; wouldn’t she enjoy certain privileges simply from being the daughter of the company president, or otherwise being such a rich girl, wouldn’t she have a credit card at least?

Somehow, I can’t help having the feeling that Mugi-chan will mention in the future that her family runs a small business….

Erm, maybe you should practice the guitar first before thinking about autographs, Yui?

Yui’s kind of like this little pet who can be satisfied just by being fed.

Humble beginnings, great dreams. The girls of the light music club are shooting high indeed, but they’re only just beginning, and it will be a long, long way until they get there. Let’s cheer these girls on, as they pursue their dreams from the very first days! One day, the day shall come when they shall truly put on that awesome Don’t Say Lazy performance in front of us all!

Ascaloth, out.

Popularity: 9% [?]

24 Responses to “[Ascaloth] Trial Run: K-ON!, Episode 2”

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1 Anonymous 1 comment Apr 10th, 2009 at 10:07 pm

Zzzz… too much copypasta.
2 konakona 1 comment Apr 10th, 2009 at 10:14 pm

uber kawaii mio reaction from calling out “y-yui” hurhur….u didnt mention the occupation illness thing , was quite funny too , when ritsu teased yui with the “hora hora hora~” nice details on the instruments! osukaresamaaa
3 animekritik 25 comments Apr 10th, 2009 at 11:02 pm

awesome post. my favorite part was the eyebrow thing. My least favorite part was Tsumugi trying to muscle her way into Ritsu’s territory. She’s obviously just like her conglomerate-controlling father: looking for new areas to take over!! (ooh-ooh, i got an idea for a post!!)
4 Leefe 120 comments Apr 11th, 2009 at 12:07 am

I thought the eyebrow part was rather funny… and somehow Yui’s supposed moe isn’t working D:

Mio ups her moe power. Eventually she’ll be very definitively chou tsundere.
5 tj_han 1442 comments Apr 11th, 2009 at 3:00 am

Yeah, the double necked guitar is not that rare. You don’t play both necks at once of course, it just gives you a wider range. There’s also 12 stringed guitars that are mainly for strumming.

Hey, I can play the bass and guitar!

Yui is such a piece of shit. 250 000 yen for a guitar?? BEGINNER’S GUITAR? And the worst part is, she doesn’t even know how it sounds like because she didn’t test it and knows nothing, and basically chose it cos it looks cute. What a piece of shit.

Mio rules. Bassist girls are the hottest things alive. Just look at School of Rock’s bassist.
6 Ascaloth 202 comments Apr 11th, 2009 at 3:18 am

@TJ Han

Please teach me to play the bass after the exams. :3

….come to think of it, why am I writing on this series and not you?
7 Sniperk 9 comments Apr 11th, 2009 at 8:53 am

I would take Mio’s tissues anytime, anywhere. XD
8 LianYL 785 comments Apr 11th, 2009 at 5:39 pm

@tjhan
My guitar was free. FREE. btw 250000 yen is $3800 in SGD and $2500 in USD. gg
9 Tamekichi 1 comment Apr 12th, 2009 at 4:22 am

I think the drum set that Ritsu is playing is indeed a Yamaha Hipgig, but is in fact the HG6T46RM Rick Marotta set, instead of the Al Foster one, mainly because in the Al Foster set, the cymbals have their own free standing stands, while the Rick Marotta set has the cymbal stands on the bass drum, like Ritsu’s has.
10 Ascaloth 202 comments Apr 12th, 2009 at 11:43 am

@Tamekichi,

Indeed?! Nice catch, thanks for the correction. I’ll go edit it now.
11 Chua 1 comment Apr 12th, 2009 at 12:16 pm

The ED is a spoiler for Mio! In ep2, she mentions her reason for not wanting to play the guitar, (shyness) but the ED reveals that she sings in the front, even without a guitar. =O
12 fangzhao 6 comments Apr 12th, 2009 at 3:16 pm

http://mikoto.wordpress.com/files/2009/04/double-popsicle.jpg
13 Shin 7 comments Apr 12th, 2009 at 5:15 pm

They used up an entire episode to purchase a guitar which could have been settled in 5 minutes (ﾟ⊿ﾟ)
14 Taka 9 comments Apr 12th, 2009 at 5:21 pm

The guitar in question is Gibson EDS-1275. It’s a guitar with 12 strings on 1 neck and the usual 6 strings on the other. Jimmy Page was pretty famous for using these during live performances especially on Stairway to Heaven so he wouldn’t have to pause between verses. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gibson_EDS-1275
15 welsper84 32 comments Apr 13th, 2009 at 11:57 pm

Impressive, u did a lot of research for this review ^^
16 otou-san 3 comments Apr 14th, 2009 at 2:10 am

The Triton is a bit of an overkill for a keyboard player in a rock band, since it sequences etc., but I guess she’s a rich girl so…

As for the Les Paul standard, the price is pretty much accurate on that, making it the absolute most infuriating thing to see a first-timer/moeblob wind up with when I literally played for 20 years before getting one. I almost gave up on K-ON right there.

Nice post though, lots of fun info.
17 Hynavian 29 comments Apr 14th, 2009 at 10:34 pm

Good job! :p
I do not have those instruments that you’ve reviewed but let me know if you need to borrow my classic guitar for practice after the exams.
18 omo 137 comments Apr 15th, 2009 at 3:27 am

Poor otou-san. I actually kind of agree with you, although I didn’t have that gut instinct kicking in (lol not a guitarist).

I handle a Triton on a regular basis. It is heavy, but it’s 88 keys, so maybe Mugi-chan’s is lighter. If they have to take down stuff every week, it’s a long 3 flights climb with that keyboard. I am guessing they didn’t have to…
19 lelangir 9 comments Apr 19th, 2009 at 10:26 am

@otou-san: that’s an interesting reason for dropping the show, same with omo. Not like I cared….I didn’t even notice that it’s actually a Fender.
20 BKG 1 comment May 25th, 2009 at 3:48 am

Gibson SG Standard was my first guitar
Nothing wrong with starting with Les Paul Standard
Some people who are serious from the start do purchase
Gibson or Fender from the start
21 Zane Keaney 1 comment Jan 7th, 2010 at 10:41 pm

Did you hear about the newest in Mafia Wars? There is some crazy ebook circulating that is that promises free cheats that work or something… I doubt it even works, but… It’s here: http://ultimatemafiawarscheats.blogspot.com :/ Tell me if it does work though.
22 Sue Beamon 1 comment Mar 8th, 2010 at 1:03 am

Nice introduce!I just have new choice to purchasing Vacuum tools.I have new car and I need very fastvacuum toolsto have clean my car.

Do not use any < and > for your own sake. It will end the comment there and then. Also, there is an automatic IQ filter which weeds out comments made by those who accidentally got transported from the stone age.

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