Jasmine Takamine S35 Acoustic Guitar, Natural

This is a nice beginner's guitar. The action is kind of high, so you will earn your calluses quickly. I bought mine from GearTree through Amazon, and it arrived quickly in great condition. However, consider buying directly from a vendor's website, because some offer free shipping when you buy directly. Then you can buy a decent case or a strap as well, and for the same price as shipping would have cost you. Also, get an inexpensive tuner as well - you will be playing the day it arrives!

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Planet Waves 10 Standard Guitar Picks - Celluloid - Assorted Pearl-Medium

Yes they came in a much too big box but they were in a sealed plastic bag and they are all here. Many other reviews of picks complain that they didn't arrive but these did. They are for my 6 year old so quality is unclear but quantity is good!

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M-Audio Studiophile AV 40 Powered Speakers

My old Logitech Z-560 developed a short in it creating nasty crackling noises over one channel. The Z560 was a rare beast, a $140 400 watt 4.1 monster that Logitech built to really high standards to create a strong foot forward into the PC speaker market. Sadly, their quality has declined since then, and their current offerings are cheaply made, sound far worse with music than the 560s, and have even fuzzier and more overwhelming bass than the 560 did (the systems one flaw). I decided to try 2.0 systems to see if I could get good PC sound without the added failure risk of a high powered sub and the muddiness that all that extra bass and clumsy frequency transitions between sats and sub causes...

My findings, from worst to best:

Logitech Z-10: 30 watts. Looks good, costs a lot, $150, list. Sounds dreadful. Despite having a largish 3" woofer, and a 1" tweeter, the Z-10 seems to be doing a lot of signal processing of music and the soundstage sounds compressed and artificial. Changing bass and treble makes things worse, and your music will sound different (and worse) on these speakers than it would normally. The touch controls and LCD screen are useless pricy gimmicks that increase chance of failure and add weight and cost to the system. Who in the world needs to see the name of the track playing on the bottom of the speaker? Anyway, these are a disappointment, with the worst sound and tied for the highest price. The speakers are heavy and well made, very stylish, though easily smudged with the reflective black surface on the front of the speaker. Logitech needs to redo these, silly gadgets and useless feature are tolerable, bad sound however is always a deal-breaker. Two stars, for style and build quality.

Klipsch ProMedia 2.0: Also 30 watts. Nice sound, good price, $100 list. Dual 2.5" woofers and a 1" tweeter with a Klipsch high-freq horn in it. These sound pretty good, but they are unexpectedly bulky and poorly made. The oddly formed speaker housing means these take up a lot of space and the volume and bass control knobs look like they come from a $10 CyberAcoutsics set. The cheapie knobs, bulk, and ugliness make these fit for corporate presentations where good loud sound matters and where style is largely irrelevant. For the home user, the cheap knobs may well break over time, which was the Achiles heel for my 560s; quality system, cheap volume pot. Three stars, good though not excellent sound, reasonable price, loses points for ugliness and some shoddy cost cutting in build quality. The bulk is sort of a neutral issue, as the larger box size probably helps the sound and bass extension of the units, but for some users the footprint and added portability difficulties may be an issue.

Creative Gigaworks T20: 28 watts (though the box says 22 watts!) $100 list. Creative obscures most specs on these, probably fearing the single 2.5" driver versus the bigger Logitech and the double same size drivers of the Klipsch may convince buyers that the T20 lacks in comparison to its rivals. Truth is the build and design of the T20s makes them sound much better than either the Z10s or the Promedias. These little speakers can put out an awesome amount of clear accurate sound, and they look great and feel very sturdy. Treble in particular is excellent, and the alleged Bass Xport technology must have something to it, as bass is more than adequate. The separate bass and treble knobs may or may not appeal; to some, they offer more control, to others the added circuitry distorts the signal and gives an added area of complexity in the design that may fail. The portability is excellent. The only real problem is that Creative is so secretive about the wattage and driver size, out of unnecessary concern that buyers may avoid getting these because of a few watts or a half inch. These sound great, look good, and the size to sound ratio is impressive. Four stars.

M-Audio AV40s: 40 watts, $200 list. My personal choice, these speakers are much bigger than the other contenders, but the amazing sound and plentiful bass will convince you that you don't need to even think about a sub system. These wooden cabinets are very attractive and sturdy, but are not exactly portable weighing 14 lbs and being quite bulky. (More so than the Klipsch, but they also look nicer and are built better.) Besides the size and weight, the other issue is cost and maybe availability as few vendors sell M-Audio, and the price for the AV40s even with discount will be $50-$65 more than the cost of the other units I looked at. To me the sound and accuracy (no distortion at high volume, lots of accuracy at low volume) of the M-Audios, at both low and high volume, offsets all the problems. Four stars, loses a star because of higher cost and weight. (Note though these are still theoretically portable, far more so than any 2.1 system or even the average boombox...)

Do You Need More Power, a Subwoofer, or More Speakers? Probably not. If you sit at your desk with the speakers a few feet away from you, you do not need much more than 30 or 40 watts for great powerful sound. A subwoofer (unless it costs a lot!) will just screw up crossover freqs, create too much bass, and encourage the mfgr to give you cheapie satellites on the theory that the loud prominent sub will wow the casual listener who will not care that the sats have 1" uni-drivers and are made of cheap light plastic. Unless you need to entertain parties with your PC, you don't need more power or a sub.

As far as surround sound, unless you watch movies on your PC or play a lot of FPS shooters that need positional audio, the added wires and difficulty of positioning the rear and surround sats in the listening environment are too much of a pain for most folks. Plus a decent PC surround sound system is at least $250, meaning a much higher cost than any of these 2.0 systems.

Buying Recommendations: Don't mind big and bulky? Get the M-Audio AV40s. (Note the company has a smaller less powerful variant, the Av20s, but I did not hear these and they do not seem to be widely available so I cannot comment.) Want small and portable, get the Creative T20. The Logitechs unfortunately have no comparative strengths, and the Klipschs are adequate but offer no real advantage over the Creative. If you can find the Promedias significantly discounted, they may be viable.

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Behringer GM108 True Analog Modeling 15-Watt Guitar Amplifier

I was given this amp as a birthday present. My kids have a limted budget. I plugged in my Guild GAD 40CE and I was pleased with the sweet crisp sound. This is not a gig worthy amp, but it sounded great in the confines of my living room. Nice boom to the bass and the sustain was very impressive. I must admit that perfomance wise, it is as good as amps costing much, much more. MY kids were pleased and I was amazed at some much amp for so little cost. The 8 inch speaker does a good job on reproducing the highlights of my guitar. Do not tell my guitar amp (snob) band mates. They drag amps that weight more and do less. Great amp. I continue to be very pleased and surprised by it's perfomance.

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BOSS ME-70 Guitar Multiple Effects Pedal Board

Great, easy to use effects processor. It took very little time to learn how to program it. Sets up like stomp boxes but you get to store your settings. Wah/volume pedal is solid. You can set it under a desk, plug your CD player/computer into it and go. For $299 you can't beat it.

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Blue Microphones Snowball USB Microphone (Brushed Aluminum)

Okay, I own a lot of microphones. I am very picky when it comes to sound and I would gladly waste $40 in gas to return a microphone that just didn't have the sound I expect. I was delighted to hear the quality of this USB mic! It has a great clarity to it, without being "tinny" or "crispy", and without sacrificing on the lows either. No "boomy" or "hollow" sound, just a nice clean and full-range quality that I expect from my $500-range microphones (but thankfully, without having to fool with an audio interface or goofy proprietary driver software!) What a great find... plug it in and it is ready to record!!

If you are looking for an intelligent, clean, affordable microphone for voice-over projects, podcasts, quick-and-easy live recording (with your laptop, of course), or open-mic music composition before dragging all the gear out to record a full-blown multitrack, this is the best money can buy in this category. Not to mention, it looks great sitting on your desk! BLUE has definitely convinced me to buy again, solid construction and solid sound (and no stupid drivers like Samson's USB garbage). Maybe next I'll get a Bluebird or Baby Bottle, this company is worth a closer look now that I've heard the very smooth sound of their entry level -- BLUE has got my attention!!

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Nord Electro 3, 73-Key Electronic Stage Piano and Organ (AMS-NE373)

You need the sounds, and you want them in less than 20lbs? Here you go. The sounds are great. The organ is perfect. Just played my first gig with it and it sounded amazing- blended in perfectly with the other instruments. Organ cut through the guitars when it needed to and added background beef when appropriate.

It's pricey, but I've yet to see a product as good as this.

I read a review of it somewhere that complained about the fact that it was red: That's just stupid.

You might be worried about the action- the keys are not weighted, but compared to all the over-easy synths I've played the action is great.

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DeRosa by Bridgecraft Child Drum Set *BLUE - DRM 312 - For 3 to 5 yrs

We got this set for our two year old and could not be happier. The quality of the drums are great for the price and I was actually surprised at how "professional" they were. Our son loves to bang away and this will be a suitable set for a few years, at least.

All drums include tuning keys so that the tightness and sound can be modified. There is a snare drum, a bass drum, a tom drum and a crash cymbal, along with a quality little stool.

Pros -
Quality "toy" (not really a toy, but an actual instrument)
Price

Cons -
As mentioned by others, the assembly instructions are TERRIBLE (we actually got instructions, but they were a photocopy and unreadable), but we figured it out in no time by looking at the picture online.

I have to say, if you are looking for a quality set that can be enjoyed for years to come and then passed along (not thrown away), this is it.

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Ernie Ball Music Man Stingray 4 Bass, Ice Blue

An awesome instrument, really blows away any bass I have ever bought before. Flawless design and detailing, there was not a single bad detail on this bass, the only thing being the fact that it is a bit heavy and you will feel that after some time playing it. It includes a case, made in China, but sincerely I don't think I would risk this "investment" by sending it on a plane's luggage compartment in this case, seems a bit flimsy to me, and I wouldn't use it as sturdy protection. The blue finish: beautiful, not very common, and although I originally wanted a see through finish, this color is just so scarcely seen that it is worth it. The actual color is different from the pictures seen here, so if you like the image posted on Amazon, you will love the actual color. An instrument that you sincerely can never part ways with, Musicman basses and quality control are simply excellent.

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Epiphone Flying Veewee Rave Rig, Includes 1/2-Sized Guitar, Red

The Epiphone Flying-VeeWee RaveRig features our best-selling Flying VeeWee electric guitar which features real Flying V style and tone you can take anywhere with a full-size classic Humbucker pick-up, Chrome hardware. The Epiphone Mini-amp operates with a 9 volt battery and includes its own carry strap. Other accessories include guitar strap, cord, instructions and a carry-it-all custom gigbag.

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