After a three-year absence from the UK market, Rickenbacker guitars are now here in some force under the aegis of their new importers, Golico Ltd, and three new models are to be announced shortly.

First up is the model 230, a budget-priced guitar aimed at making Rickenbackers accessible to all but the most impecunious musician. It features a contoured body, two pickups, high output circuitry and Schaller hardware.

Model 250 is the result of ten year's research and development, and features gold Schaller bridge and keys, bound body, active circuits and a special Gloss Black finish. Not surprisingly, this guitar will be substantially more costly than the 230.

Third in the line-up is model 350, a three pickup, semi-acoustic guitar featuring a full-scale neck. The double cutaway body gives full fret access and is styled on the famous 320 model which first brought the Rickenbacker marque to prominence during the sixties.

All three guitars should be available in Britain before the end of the year, and for further details you should contact Golico at (Contact Details).

Roland's SDE-2000 digital delay line has proved itself a popular unit in it's price bracket and the company have now announced (albeit a little belatedly) two further models, one more expensive than the existing unit, the other less so.

The cheaper machine carries the title SDE-1000 and features a delay time variable from 0 to 1125 milliseconds (the first 10 milliseconds are stepped in increments of 0.1 mS, enabling a wide range of flanging effects to be produced) and a 'Playmate' jack which enables the delay time to be set via a footswitch during live performances. Additional features are a four-channel programmable memory and 'mixed' and 'delay' output jacks providing stereo chorus effects. It's expected that the SDE-1000 will sell for around £400.

The more sophisticated SDE-3000, on the other hand, is due to sell for twice the price, but for this the purchaser can expect delay time variable from 0 to 4.5 seconds, and eight memories instead of four. Roland claim an effective dynamic range of over 100dB with only 0.03% total harmonic distortion and the LCD delay time display is said to be accurate to 0.04%. Should you have sufficient capital, two SDE-3000s can be linked together in stereo, via a Modulation CV Inv output jack.

Further information from Roland (UK), (Contact Details).

AKG Acoustics have introduced a new gooseneck cardioid microphone which, the company claim, offers high quality to all but the most impecunious musician. Titled the D541, the mic has a frequency response tailored for speech, making it suitable for most PA and intercom applications. The 'neck' extends to a usefully long 340mm, while cable entry to the single hole fixing can be accomplished above or below the mounting surface.

Omnidirectional, hypercardioid, and longer (up to 600mm) gooseneck models are currently at the development stage, and further information on these and the rest of the AKG range is available from AKG Acoustics Limited, (Contact Details).