Whether you’re a musician, or are shopping for one this holiday season, here’s a look at JAM, by Apogee Electronics, a professional grade digital converter for studio quality recording.

With a true “plug and play” setup, it takes just a few minutes before your ready for some high quality recording on your iPhone, iPad, or Mac. Unlike a simple adapter, JAM is a converter, which transforms the analog signal from your instrument to a digital one before it enters your device, avoiding any unwanted noise.

The input is particularly useful for recording multiple tracks with clarity. Just plug your headphones into your computer or other device, and you’ll have in-ear monitors. Alternatively, let it play through your built in speakers and play/record new parts to your creation while listening to existing tracks. Either way, the integration with GarageBand is seamless, and the sound quality superb.

Although originally designed for electric guitar and bass guitars, JAM is compatible with any instrument that has a built in pickup. We also tested JAM with a Taylor 510ce acoustic/electric, and it sounded very crisp and clear.

Physically speaking, JAM is compact and convenient in size, and is easily stored in a guitar case or bag. It comes equipped with two cables, one for use with Mac (via USB) and one for iPad/iPhone. You won’t have to worry about a lose connection as the output on JAM locks into place. It is also a very lightweight design that poses no threat of pulling the cable out of your guitar — all in all a very functional design.

For a hundred bucks, and a piece of American engineering (Made in USA!) JAM is a great pickup.

Real Drum is a fresh release from Rubel Co. released this week that puts a variety of drum sets and sounds at your fingertips.

Rubel, which also makes the Real Guitar iOS app now offers 11 unique drum sets with the newly released app. You can take your pick from: Abstract, Acoustic, Bongos, Break Beat, Conga, D’n’B, Electro, Hip Hop, Japan, Jazz, or Rock.

Tested on none other than the iPhone 4S, we could not get this app to miss a beat, pun intended. In Real Drum, you’ll find a relatively bare bones approach, consisting of two screens: the choose drum set screen, followed by the drum set screen to jam on.

While jamming, aside from the instruments, there are only two buttons, one to switch drum sets, and the other to open up the volume toggles – which allows the volume of each individual drum or cymbal to be adjusted, a nice touch for the talented finger drummer looking to perfect their beat.

Even while tapping the snare as rapidly as possible, throwing in some high hat and kick drum – this app will not lag behind the aggressive drummer. Playing multiple drums/cymbals simultaneously was clean and clear as well. You will not find any option to record, save, or upload any of your creative beats – but make no mistake, this app has the basics down. Real Drums looks and sounds great, so for $1.99, it just might be worth tapping into.

617-965-678NEWTON — Our Visit to O’Hara’s Irish Pub was quite a treat this weekend.  The food was excellent and well worth a short wait.    The freshly squeezed lemonade and homemade dinner rolls were a great way to get us started.

Moving into the main course; the chicken Parmesan with toasted ravioli ($13.50) was both very tasty and well proportioned.  A generous piece of chicken with 6 fried raviolis was more than enough food for one person.  Since the back of the menu is completely dedicated to O’Hara’s pizzas and calzones, we decided to diversify and go for a pie.  The Buffalo Chicken Pizza ($14.95) was excellent and very fresh. It is not your typical pizza shop buffalo chicken pie thrown together and boxed up.  Notably, the hot sauce was perfect, (probably a medium hotness on a typical restaurant scale) and it did not make the pizza too runny or messy.

As it was 8 p.m. on Friday, we did have to wait about 20 minutes for a table, but there is a nice square wooden bar upon entering the restaurant, so we didn’t mind.  The dining room was a bit smaller than anticipated — around 20 tables — but the staff seemed very efficient with keeping track of who was next to be seated and adjusting tables to keep things moving smoothly.

But if you’re looking for a loud hot spot for young people or college kids, this is not your place, it tends to attract more of a middle-aged crowd. Everyone was very friendly though, and the staff was welcoming and attentive.  O’Hara’s is located a short walk from the Newton Highlands stop on the Green Line/D-Branch. There is also well-lit metered parking in the area as well.

In short, for a tasty reasonably priced meal, O’Hara’s is definitely worth the short trip to Newton Highlands.  It’s something different that’s just outside Boston.

The Bose L1 Compact is a very impressive portable PA system. We were a bit skeptical upon seeing the small box it arrived in, but this thing kicks ass. We have played with amps of similar size. Some have strong volume or tone, but have a learning curve more intense than that of the instrument being played. The L1′s incredible sound, coupled with the user-friendly two-channel mixer onboard makes it the complete package.

This is perfect for you, your guitar and whatever small crowd or venue you run into. It’s great for a coffee shop, open mic gymnasium or your living room. All you have to do is adjust the height of the tower for the coverage you need. It is a very easy to use system, but its versatility shines. There are a total of four pieces: the base, and three extensions. The base can be used with one extension only, making it an extremely portable amplifier, or it can be used with the full tower of all extensions. There are no cables to deal with between these extensions either. The square extensions piece into one another, and the connections are made internally, which is nice because instrument and microphone cables are enough to deal with. For your microphone channel, there are adjustments for volume, treble, and bass. Once you have an instrument plugged in, all you need to do is adjust volume. There is even a green light for each indicating that your signal is being received. So many portable amps require fumble over 30 knobs and switches before a sound you can tolerate emerges, but the L1 System keeps it simple, and small. While we only tested this with guitar and vocals, it could certainly be used with a bass or keyboard as well.

Each array of the system has a durable soft protective cover. The slipcover for the base even has an attached diagram of how to connect your instrument, microphone, and each component of the system that you wish to use. It couldn’t be easier.

For those with a variety of PA system needs, just place the base on a table and pick up the mic and your ready to give a presentation. There is even an mp3/Ipod input (1/8") for your intermission from the stage, or just hanging around at home.

Though this system is $1,000, a few hundred more than other similar two channel systems, the sound and tone quality are worth the extra investment. That, coupled with the ease of use and modest size of the L1 Compact make it an easy choice.

The EcoAquarium is a real-life display of biology and self-sustained aquatic life in action. In each aquarium there are two African Dwarf Frogs. And no, they can’t breed because you’ll you get two males or two females, so don’t get any ideas. Along with the two frogs, the aquarium comes a bamboo plant, living and decorative rocks, and two snails.

The Chinese Lucky Bamboo undergoes photosynthesis and oxygenates the water. This particular bamboo was chosen because it’s extremely low maintenance. As long at is has light and water, it’ll stay alive. The “living rock gravel” at the bottom is specially treated and conditioned with algae, which clean and filer the water. The snails clean the aquarium surfaces and feed on the algae, keeping its growth in check. While the decorative rocks don’t play a vital role in the self-sustainability of the aquarium, it gives the frogs something to play with and hide behind and is aesthetically pleasing.

The only outside maintenance required is just to feed the frogs two pellets each, twice a week and twice yearly cleanings. All of the parts of the aquarium keep the ecosystem in balance. With such a perfect environment for the frogs, some have reported that they have lived for as long as 6 years!

A company based in Myrtle Beach, S.C. called Wild Creations has perfected these self-sustaining aquariums. The aquriums are sold at stores like Brookstone, however we recommend dealing directly with Wild Creationsfor more information or for orders. Prcing starts at $19.99. And while we’re sure the Brookstone employees take great pride in their knowledge of the vibrating recliners and other electronic gadgets, they’re not biologists, and probably wouldn’t be much help with an enclosed ecosystem. Service employees are very available by phone and email.

If frogs aren’t your cup of tea, EcoAquariums with fish are also available, for a more traditional product. We’ve been very happy with our EcoAquarium, and it’s become a great addition to our desk! They’re perfect for anyone into science, or even if you just need a friend to talk to now and then. We won’t tell.

The Boss TU-88 is a versatile micro monitor and tuner. It offers a tuner, metronome and built in headphone preamp in one device.

The guitar tuner, which can be accessed wirelessly or by connecting your instrument to the input jack, is very easy to use. It also can play a reference tone for you through the “Accu-Pitch” speaker. This built-in speaker will also play another tone indicating that the instrument is in tune (within 5 cents sharp or flat in actuality).

The metronome is also a nice addition. I often avoid metronomes while playing because I don’t want to put the time into finding my exact tempo with it, but the TU-88 bypasses that with a unique feature I had never seen before. The “TAP” button allows a user to set the metronome’s tempo to his or her tempo. Pushing the button with the beat of whatever your playing will set the metronome to your beat. This ensures that you stick to the beat that you intend to. You feel the beat — you set it, and you keep it. If your’re reading music and do know exactly what tempo you need, the TU-88 can certainly accommodate you.

The tuner and metronome are very useful and innovative, but what really makes the TU-88 stand out in my mind is the headphone amplifier. There are tons of devices that tune guitars, quite a few of them offer built in metronomes, but this is the first device I’ve seen that includes a tuner, metronome, and headphone amplifier.

The headphone amplifier allows one to plug their instrument cable into the TU-88′s input jack, plug and pair of standard headphones into the “phones/line out” and play straight to their headphones. This is ideal for an electric guitar player who wants to work on something quickly without dealing with large amplifiers. Often times while traveling a headphone preamp is useful. Noise level is minimal while using a headphone amplifier, which makes it an ideal addition to your gear for private practice sessions. The “Mix in” jack even makes it possible to plug in a CD/MP3 player to play along with — all within your headphones.

Weighing in at only 7 ounces, the TU-88 has everything you need for your next gig whether its in the living room, a friend’s garage or Gillette Stadium.

Ever been ready to grab your guitar and work on a new lick or turn on some music to work on a new lead guitar part, but you couldn’t because it would make too much noise?

It’s hard to believe, but sometimes as musicians we find ourselves in situations where others don’t want to hear us play. There are other times when we would rather practice privately, and for these times we should never sacrifice playing but simply make use of the VOX Headphone Amp.

Plugging this device into the 1/4-inch instrument cable jack on your guitar allows you to listen privately to your guitar playing through any pair of headphones with a 1/8-inch jack. The VOX AC30 is made to sound like VOX’s famous AC30 high gain amplifier. It’s sound was great; it has been modified to be a powerful high gain guitar sound which is perfect for playing along with your music CD’s or mp3′s. The headphone amp has an auxiliary input for music from a CD player, mp3 player, computer or even the radio.

Once connected to the auxiliary input, you can play guitar along with your favorite songs, which is a great way to practice all within your headphones! If you aren’t interested in the AC30′s high gain guitar sound, VOX does offer other headphone amps, which aesthetically are the same as the AC30 shown. All priced at about $40, VOX offers AC30, Classic Rock and Metal options.

For a few dollars more they also make products specifically for bass guitar and for lead guitar parts only. They’re ideal for playing privately at home or even for traveling. Playing at the hotel or even in the car is no problem with VOX’s headphone preamps.

All in all, this is a useful gadget for any electric guitar player, and it is offered at a fair price. Measuring only 3.39″ x 3.15″ x 1.22″, and weighing 1.41oz., it won’t weigh your guitar down while plugged in. Other headphone preamps I have used, like the Pocket Rock-it, did not sound as true to a real amp sound despite being bigger than the Vox.

It can be a headache setting up amps and connecting them to your guitar, but the headphone amps make it a piece of cake if you’re looking to practice on your own, quietly. It runs on 2 AAA batteries (included), which will keep you rocking for up to 15 hours.

Kensington has done it right with a great wireless keyboard and mouse set.

The set works great with a Mac or a PC. Within two minutes of plugging in the USB receiver into a MacBook we were up and running smoothly with both the keyboard and mouse.

I was a bit skeptical of the thin design, as it sits very low to the desk, but once I tilted it forward with the tabs in the back, it was very comfortable under my hands. The keys are quiet and easily navigated. Running on only two AA batteries (included) the keyboard is very light. An indicator light is also set off when these batteries are at 10 percent remaining. Aside from a standard QWERTY setup there are several other features located above the keyboard and number pad. Eject CD, Internet search, email, web browser startup and media keys are all featured above the F1-F6 keys. A more involved set of media shortcut buttons is located above the number pad. These include the standard previous track, next track, play/pause and volume controls.

When the keyboard is not in use, a sliding plastic cover at the top center of the keyboard can be moved over the keys, which reveals a holster for the mouse. Placing the mouse in this holster powers the mouse off in order to save battery life. With the mouse in the holster, the keyboard and mouse configuration can be rotated 45 degrees away from the user to make it a standing picture frame. A clear sleeve in the center of the back of the keyboard allows for a 4 X 6 photo to be displayed when not computing — a nice touch.

The only way I could see improving the keyboard portion of this wireless set would be to offer back-lit keys, or a glow in the dark keyboard for easier nighttime use.

The mouse wasn’t a letdown either. I was concerned that it may be heavy, since it is battery operated, but the weight is very comfortable. It moved just fine on my desk, even without a mousepad, and it felt even more comfortable than my Microsoft wireless mouse (which cost about as much as this whole set). I had no problem with the response time of the mouse using it about 2 feet from the USB receiver. There is an USB extension cable included which will allow for greater distance if needed.

This mouse is nothing fancy but it’s everything a mouse should be: a lightweight, comfortable, two buttoned mouse with scroll wheel. As with the keyboard, there is a low battery indicator located between the left and right buttons on the top of the mouse. Not visible unless turned on, the light is housed beneath the two buttons and will come on once 10 percent of the battery life is left.Your browser may not support display of this image.

All in all, this set is a great value for the money. It can currently be had for about $70 through Amazon. We have used several inexpensive wireless sets in the past, but the Kensington Ci70 actually blows them away. With the Ci70′s comfortable design and unique features it’s an easy choice for anyone in the market for a wireless keyboard and mouse set.