Vox Satriani Amplug

Vox has come out with a new Amplug which isn’t anything too new – Vox has been known to release multiple Amplugs, each with amazing tone (seven different Amplugs to date)– but THIS one is a SIGNATURE Amplug.

That’s right. We’ve gone from signature amp stacks to signature practice amps and now to signature headphone amps.

This is pretty awesome in my opinion. Everyone has guitar heroes and some are even after the tone of those heroes, perhaps to copy directly and use on covers and whatnot OR perhaps to build on with original material. You know, start with a base tone that you know and love and tweak it until it’s less “them” and more “you.”

The problems that come up though are that most of the time signature amps are pricey or way too loud or way too huge, especially if all you want to do is practice. Vox coming in and offering a Satriani Amplug (which seems a BIT strange to introduce signature Amplugs with a guitarist who is probably best known for playing Peaveys and is now a Marshall endorser, even though his signature pedals are from Vox) at a fair price is a great way for travelling or bedroom players to get great tone at a low price and minimum hassle.

I have an AC30 Amplug and loved it so much that I bought a real AC15. It was a GREAT introduction to the classic tone from the amp and made me fall in love with the company. And the Amplug is durable enough for casual use. I’ll be honest, I am not incredibly impressed with the durability of these but I am admittedly harder on my travel rig than most people. After a week of use, the controls started getting wonky and the volume would be barely audible then spike enough to make me think that blood would SURELY be leaking out of my ears (never actually happened though), and then after that it stopped working altogether. The light would come on, but no sound would come out. At all.

And even though I admit that I’m rough on my portable gear, I expected a little more ruggedness. Still, it was so sad to see it go and I missed it so much that I got another one. I’ve toyed with the idea of sending it to a pedal-builder to take apart and re-house in an actual pedal with real knobs and WAY more durability. I don’t care if I lose the ability to plug it into my guitar, so long as I can know that it’s dependable. In the end though, I won’t do it. For the price of re-housing it I could get quite a few Amplugs.

I’m pretty excited to see this new Amplug too. I love signature gear and I would love to see how this stacks up against the AC30.

-Pappy

New PRS SE

Carlos Santana and PRS has become borderline synonyms. Santana made PRS and PRS has always been there to push Santana in any way possible and it's because of Santana that PRS released the original SE line.

I remember when the SE first came out thinking that it was odd to have a Santana signature guitar - even a budget representation of his main signature guitar - that did not feature the same scale, let alone the same shape.

But now PRS is expanding their SE line again and is now offering Santana fans easy access to a guitar closer in build to Santana's own and I say good job, PRS.

Indeed, PRS' SE line is expanding to the point that it's like it's becoming its own company! It truly seems that if you want variety in models, tones, scales, woods, pickups and other accouterments, I think the SE line offers more than PRS' standard US line.

Also, the fact that PRS is starting to let upper-end options makes me pretty hopeful. More exotic woods, bird inlays, Santana's shape, HONESTLY, how far off can a more impressive hollowbody be? I love the US hollowbodies, but the SE doesn't do it for me.

Again, I say kudos, PRS, and I look forward to seeing more in the future! For more information on this guitar, check out Premier Guitar's article.

-Pappy

Stonecutter Reverb 30

Let’s talk about my favorite things:

1) Regular people doing things that are above and beyond what they would normally do and

2) Frugality

Well, frugality isn’t exactly one of my favorite things but it IS important when you’re making a product. Morgan Demling of Stonecutter Amps is actually a drummer who fell into making amps and he relies on his woodworking and electronics skills to modify the classic amps we all know and love, and send them to the customer with everything you would expect from a boutique amp builder when it comes to tone, but something unique when it comes to looks.

His amps feature no tolex. They feature no machining on the faceplate to tell you which knobs serve which purpose. He has tried to cut the cost wherever possible when it doesn’t involve the tone and because of this, you have an amp with wood (that’s finished, so it’s protected from the elements, but not covered in something like leather or tolex) showing and labels from your every day label maker letting you know what the function of each knob is and in most cases, it’s abbreviated (“B” for bass, “T” for treble). On the inside of the amp sent to review, his step-daughter, Miah, even tried to sign her name (she’s six years old) and this little bit of adorable only emphasizes the point that this is a small business who’s putting something special out there.

While this may seem like it cheapens the amp, I think it makes it more special. This is a bold statement from a small builder that he’s more concerned with the tone than he is the looks and honestly, isn’t that what we should all be thinking? Tone should always come first.

Stonecutter sent me an amp to check out that’s called the Reverb 30. It’s an amp that’s been passed around from person to person that eventually made its way to my house with the last person who used it being Jim Rotramel from Skinny Jim and the Number Nine Blacktops. You can hear the amp in use on the songs Walkin Bill and Running Strong on their new album, Daredevil Action.

I’ll say it right now, this amp has mojo. Maybe it’s the fact that it has imperfect looks and labels over the knobs but I feel like I’ve found a little tonal treasure in a sea of well-manicured amps from indie builders that may or may not really sound all that great. Since it doesn’t depend on its looks it HAS to sound good.

And MAN does it sound GOOD. I love the tone. It’s thick and creamy (technical terms) with some great drive and a ton of headroom. Right away I wished that he offered a lower watt-version or perhaps one with a master volume because it stomps all over my Vox AC15 and the Vox’s only redeeming quality is a master volume (writer's note: the Reverb 30 now comes with a quality master volume).

The reverb is great, especially for a Vox clone. Voxes weren’t known for their reverb though they were nice, and this amp doesn’t disappoint. The limited amount of knobs makes adjustments easy and those adjustments can be heard right away because they matter. While you can’t get Fender brights with the treble cranked all the way up, you can get close enough to feel good and your audience will probably appreciate you not driving an ice pick through their ears with your Tele’s bridge pickup.

It’s a heavy beast of a head but it’s worth the weight and the tone is so good, so amazingly good that I’m selling my Vox. It just doesn’t sound the same after playing this amp and while I have to send it back to Stonecutter to forward it on to the next person (a blues guitarist in Chicago that will no doubt be singing the blues when HE has to send it on), Stonecutter Amps won’t be far away from my mind when I’m looking for a Vox-ey tone.

What makes this amp so awesome? Is it the reasonable price, the great electronics, the little things like the fact that the front face plate is attached by velcro and therefore allows easy access to the guts (which roadies should love!), the low-fi looks, the fact that it is unabashedly all about the tone, or his step-daughter's signature on the inside of the head cab? Perhaps it’s all combined. I think that this amp is so special that Morgan should become VERY superstitious and try to do everything exactly the same way down to Miah’s signature.

Just in case.

How much does this amp cost? $900.00 and that includes shipping! Not bad for a handmade amp with so much goodness going on inside it!

I can’t recommend this company enough. Check them out. Your ears will thank you.

-Pappy

Eddie

Gretsch is known for its 6120. It’s also known for its White Falcons but I would wager that Gretsch is MAINLY known as the company with the big orange guitar and that guitar is a 6120. Brian Setzer plays them, Jim Heath from the Reverend Horton Heat plays one, Nicholas Appleby from the Mighty Atomics plays one, Skinny Jim from Skinny Jim & the Number Nine Blacktops plays one and about a gazillion rockabilly guitarists play them.

They’re a popular guitar that is commonly the first thing that pops in your head if you’re familiar with Gretsch and there’s all sorts of variation within the 6120 line that makes the model appeal to a wide base of players. For classic fingerpicking or rockabilly purists, the DSV or DSW feature Dynasonic pickups and a great amount of twang – the kind of twang that made Duane Eddy famous. For the more modern players, there’s the 1959 models which feature trestle bracing (to make the top and bottom vibrate at the same frequency helping eliminate feedback at high volumes and definitely add some solidness to the tone) and FilterTron pickups which are what I believe to be the first Humbucker (sorry, Seth Lover).

Now Gretsch is in the works of adding one more variation that is truly worth taking notice of.

The 6120-1957 has been around for a few years now. It was originally named the 6120EC because it was based heavily on the guitar that Eddie Cochran played throughout his career as a solo man but due to some legal issues, the name changed to the 6120-1957. It had gone through some changes over the years, the biggest to me being changing the nut from bone to brass. The guitar had a tone that knocked my socks off and if I had the dough when I played it the first time, I would have bought it and brought it home. To this day, it’s my favorite 6120.

Unfortunately, the 1957 was discontinued. It seemed like it wasn’t a hard discontinue where one day it’s there and the next it’s not, but more of a gradual fading out and in its place was the amazing looking Eddie Cochran Tribute Model.

I love signature guitars. It seems like more and more every day I’m interested in them and they are what I look at most when I’m lusting after guitars and I don’t have a really good reason why. Tribute models are just as cool but they carry a stigma to some and to me, they’re just too expensive to even fantasize about owning. When I close my eyes and think of bringing my 6118T to a gig I get nervous because it’s so expensive and yet, compared to the other guitars in the Gretsch line it isn’t very expensive at all.

The EC tribute is beautiful with excellent tone. Just check out this video.

But that’s not what I’m talking about here. Gretsch realized that there would be players on a tighter budget who may not be able to afford such a fine guitar and as a result they are offering a Cochran signature guitar in a much less expensive variety from the shops in Japan (where amazing guitars are made) and it will feature a movable Bigsby arm (a plus for me).

The variation that’s BIG in the 6120 line is that it will feature no bracing connecting the top to the bottom. It’s going to be completely hollow and open on the inside and THAT’S what I’m most excited about. Bracing makes a difference folks and even the lightest sound post bracing used by Gretsch is going to sound different than this.

I was able to play a Country Club which featured the same kind of bracing (none in the middle) and it sounded heavenly. Of course, there were a lot of other variables from different pickups to a different top wood to a different body size, but I was so impressed by that guitar’s tone that I’m SURE some of that will be transferred to this new 6120 which is due to make its appearance at winter NAMM.

For more information about this guitar, check out the interview from Gretsch’s own Joe Carducci and hear what he has to say. You can find it here.

Personally, once I find a store that has one I’ll be planning a road trip to check it out.

-Pappy

PRS DGT

PRS has several guitars that I really like. The McCarty, for instance, seems to me to be a serious upgrade to the Gibson Les Paul. Where Gibson ignored Ted McCarty, a valuable resource to ANY guitar company, PRS reached out and brought him in an Mr. Smith actually LISTENED to him and his tips.

Gibson really messed up on that one, but their loss was PRS’ gain and the McCarty is the fruits of the labor. It’s a really great guitar, especially the ones with rosewood necks (AMAZING feel).

And who can ignore the classy looks of the Hollowbody? Hollowbodies are tricky mainly because of the f holes. They have a tendency to look weird or tacked on when it comes to a lot of hollow iterations, especially when the guitar they’re on is obviously inspired by a solid body, but PRS pulls it off (and I believe the Hollowbody I has a more hollow inside than the Hollowbody II but I need to do more research on that).

I love hollowbodies, so my gut, heart and brain dictate that the Hollowbody I is the PRS I MOST want, but when it comes to solids, the best I’ve come across is the DGT or David Grissom signature guitar. It’s a little thicker in the body and features a comfortable neck and a lacquer finish (most PRS guitars do not) and has tone and feel that’s amazing. The kind of amazing where you can kind of see yourself spending over $2,000.00 on a plank guitar.

And the color choices used to be fairly limited with the best looking (in my opinion) being the gold top which looks great on just about ANY guitar provided it isn’t too sparkly and has a more natural back and sides to contrast and make it seem not so gaudy.

But now…

Now you can get it with the ever popular birds AND in this AMAZING color but only from Willcutt Guitars who custom ordered a batch of these beauties!

So I just wanted to put this out there and show it to anyone who hasn’t seen it. You can even click on the picture to view it in Flickr where you can see it in all its glory instead of a condensed, shrimp-sized version!

Prepare to drool in

3...

2…

1…

-Pappy

Metal Rhythm Guitar Week 1

It is an AMAZING time to be a learning guitarist (and if Jimmy Page says HE’S still learning, EVERYONE is a learning guitarist)! When I started playing guitar twelve years ago the only instruction available was through face to face lessons and VHS tapes that cost a ton of money.

But now we have virtual schools taught by accomplished musicians in specific genres, styles or playing philosophies. We have YouTube, we have gargantuan DVD lesson sets like Learn & Master Guitar that take you step by step through just about everything that has t do with guitar, we still have face to face lessons and we have recorded DVD lessons as well. The price of the DVDs is on par with what VHS tapes used to cost and some might call foul on that, but not me. The quality of a DVD over a VHS tape is out of this world, you can back up the DVD to play on your computer or portable devices and the quality won’t degrade no matter how many times you rewind and play again so I look at it more like I’m paying for quality and portability as well as the lesson.

Speaking of DVD lessons, one of the biggest learning tools is companies that understand what makes for good lessons and offers them to the public at fair prices. Companies like Learn Roots Music and Lick Library.

Lick Library (LL) features a VAST catalog with so many different options it will make your head spin. You can take a six week lesson broken up into six DVDs, you can learn to play in a specific style or genre, you can learn to play in the style of a specific guitarist, and in some cases you can even get lessons taught by those specific guitarists. The amount of material available is insane and until just recently, I had no idea the vastness that is the LL inventory.

And LL sent me a six week program to review called Metal Rhythm Guitar in Six Weeks and instead of trying to do a review of all six weeks in one shot, I figured I would break it up into six segments and share my views on it and then perhaps do a summary of the whole program.

The problem I have with most lesson DVDs is that they aren’t slow enough. It’s obvious with most that the producers/instructors want to cram in as much as possible so you feel like you’re getting your money’s worth and in the process it gets difficult to follow along.

The problem I have with huge lesson plans that feature a ton of DVDs is that there is SO much material to cover that it can feel intimidating and overwhelming.

The problems I have with face to face lessons is that I forget some of what the instructor went over which is basically money lost on my end and there’s no guarantee the instructor will teach what YOU want to learn. I’m all for versatility, but it has to start somewhere and it should start with something you WANT to learn.

Lick Library has taken a noble attempt to fix all of these issues (without even consulting me which makes me think I’m not the only one with these complaints) by offering a six week program split up into six DVDs. Six DVDs is not a behemoth amount of discs to keep track of and six weeks is not that long. Since it’s a DVD I can watch them as many times as I like which means I won’t miss/forget anything and since it’s specifically designed to be a weekly lesson, the instructor goes slow enough to give you new things to play without drowning you in material and shows you slowly how to do everything within the confines of time that mirrors a normal lesson.

The instructor, Andy James, knows his stuff too. If you watched it on mute, you would feel confident that you’ve found an instructor that can teach you metal. Turn on the volume and you’ll find your confidence was well placed. Not only does how know what he’s doing, but he has a good metal tone which is something that’s overlooked in a lot of instructional DVDs. Good tone makes me want to play more and when I play more I get better and when I get better I want to PLAY MORE. It’s an amazing cycle.

The first installment uses standard tuning and James goes over a few things that form the building blocks of metal rhythm, mainly downpicking, triplets and palm muting. If you master these three things, you can probably do an amazing job of faking just about any metal song. He goes slow, sometimes excruciatingly so, but you have to remember that the point is to make you accurate and THEN fast. Playing palm muted triplets can sound like the most aggressive machine gun fire in the world OR it can sound like a sloppy drunken stumble and when it comes to metal, one is probably after the former rather than the latter.

In the end of the lesson, James gives you different practice routines backed by a drum track so you can play along with a “band” which will only help once you actually start playing with a drummer. A metal rhythm guitarist and a drummer should be best friends when it comes to the beat after all. The practice routines are slow and then they move to incredibly fast. It’s the same material, just played at a much higher tempo. This is NOT a case of doing one and then doing the other, rather doing one and WORKING UP TO the other. If you don’t have a metronome, you should get one (not just for learning from these DVDs, but also for instilling a good sense of rhythm to your own playing).

Another good thing about this DVD is that James knows that there are those with a ton of practice time and those without. The ones without vast amounts of free time to practice can focus specifically on the practice routines while the ones with a ton of free time will probably master those fairly quickly. In an effort not to let anyone get bored, James peppered the lesson with examples of what you would/could use for riff writing using a specific chord and then covers chord substitutions. This serves a couple of purposes. One is that you would get awfully bored hearing the same chord over and over again since the main point of the lesson revolves around the picking hand and it also provides tips to where you would go from there.

The other purpose it serves is that it gives the folks who practice eight hours a day something new to learn and focus on until the next week’s lesson.

That’s the way I look at it. Even though you CAN get through the DVD quickly, you should take the time that you would normally take during a face to face lesson and practice. Get as good as you can get before the next week’s lesson and you’ll be set. Don’t try to rush through.

In summary, the week’s lesson was easy to grasp, but a challenge to master if you aren’t used to down picking at a high speed for a long time and that’s just what I want in a lesson. The practice routines are solid and I felt like I learned something and that’s the best part.

I look forward to next week’s lesson.

The whole series can be bought from Lick Library's website for about $126.51 (this is after conversion from GBP to US dollars), but each disc costs $26.87 which means if you want to brush up on your metal rhythm skills with more than an introductory DVD with just the lessons mentioned here, you should probably buy the whole set at once and save $34.71.

-Pappy

New Fender Blacktop Guitars

I've ragged on the big companies in the past, especially when companies are relying so heavily on the past and not really looking either forward or to more niche markets.

And I love being proven wrong in this case.

Fender, who's most vocal audience insists on as close to vintage as possible, has released FOUR new models in their new Blacktop series, almost all with two humbuckers in them. Vintage fans cringe, but people who a) like humbuckers or b) are not satisfied with Fender's offerings and are looking elsewhere now have something that is aimed at them.

And I'm pretty sure that this crowd is in the minority.

So I say KUDOS, Fender. Way to step up and give a new group of players something to look at and drool over.

Also, Fender deserves major kudos for the price point. Most Jazzmasters for instance, hover at $1,000.00 and up, but this:

This can be found online for about $450.00.

$450.00!!!

Do you realize what this means? Fender (not Squier) is offering an affordable Jazzmaster and at $450.00 you can live out all your Sonic Youth dreams on stage and if it gets a little crazy when you channel your inner Lee Ranaldo it won't take too much to replace your guitar.

Tastes vary and I'm not a HUGE fan of the knobs, but they're KNOBS for crying out loud. Not hard to change at all and if that's your ONLY issue (well, I may replace the bridge with a bar bridge) then that's a WIN in my book!

And can we talk about modding? Inner metal heads who are looking for something more metal are free to easily put in super heavy pickups, perhaps even active pickups. You can make your own John 5 Tele in silver or red! Some may look at the lack of traditional circuits in the Jaguar and Jazzmaster as a fault but I like it. I like streamlined and clean and I've NEVER been a fan of the controls on a Jaguar. I think these guitars can do what you want them to and if they can't, it probably wouldn't take too much to get it there!

I'm floored. Flabbergasted. Thinking to myself that I may have to get one of these puppies! And soon because honestly, I don't see Fender keeping these winners at such a low price point.

But enough of me gushing over these guitars (that have been reported to feature USA necks that were sent to Mexico where these are put together). Let's look at the stats from Fender's website:

General
Model Name:	Blacktop™ Jazzmaster® HS
Series:	Blacktop™
Color / MSRP* / Part # :	3-Color Sunburst Rosewood Fretboard $700.00 014-8400-500 Black Rosewood Fretboard $700.00 014-8400-506
Body
Body Material:	Alder
Neck
Number of Frets:	21
Fret Size:	Medium Jumbo
Position Inlays:	White Dot Position Inlays
Fingerboard:	Rosewood
Fingerboard Radius:	9.5" Radius (241 mm)
Fretboard:	Rosewood
Neck Material:	Maple
Neck Finish:	Gloss Urethane
Nut Width:	1.650” (42 mm)
Scale Length:	25.5" (648 mm)
Neck Plate:	Vintage Style 4 Bolt
Truss Rod Nut:	3/16" Adjustable Hex Nut
Electronics
Pickup Configuration:	H/S
Bridge Pickup:	1 Duncan Designed™ Humbucking Pickup (Bridge)
Neck Pickup:	1 Duncan Designed™ Single-Coil Jazzmaster® Pickup (Neck)
Pickup Switching:	3-Position Toggle: Position 1. Bridge Pickup, Position 2. Bridge and Neck Pickups, Position 3. Neck Pickup
Controls:	Master Volume, Master Tone
Hardware
Hardware Finish:	Nickel/Chrome
Bridge:	Vintage-Style Jazzmaster® Tremolo with Adjusto-Matic™ Bridge and Tremolo Lock Button
Tuning Machines:	Standard Cast/Sealed Tuning Machines
String Nut:	Synthetic Bone
Switch Tips:	Black Switch Tip
Tremolo Arm Handle:	Vintage Jaguar®/Jazzmaster® Tremolo Arm
Tools
Truss Rod Wrench:	3/16"
Miscellaneous
Strings:	Super 250L's, NPS (.009-.042 Gauges)
Unique Features:	HS Pickup Configuration, Simplified Controls/Switching, Black Skirted Amp Knobs
Accessories
Pickguard:	(500) 3-Ply Black (506) 3-Ply Mint Green
Included Accessories:	Truss Rod Adjustment Wrench
Control Knobs:	Skirted Amp Knobs

So what do YOU think? Do you think Fender's tapping into an ignored market or are they off their rocker? Are you going to be saving up for or buying one? Which one do you like the most or least? Inquiring minds want to know!

-Pappy

Serafine FX Tron Review

One of the biggest challenges for the home recording guitarist is putting together professional sounding tracks. Sure, most of us can get a usable guitar tone - we’ve spent years working on it after all - but it’s the other parts of the track that find us lacking. Since most of us are not drummers or bassists, our drum and bass parts can often be uninspired to say the least. Even on our best guitar playing days, the tracks we record down can lie there, missing that certain something… and that certain something is exactly what I was looking for when I approached the folks at Sonic Reality about reviewing their sound effects workstation Serafine FX Tron.

First off, let me be clear about one thing: Serafine FX Tron was not

designed for the guitarist - at least not primarily. It was designed for people that require sound effects of the highest level of quality and diversity. I’m talking film and television producers and video game designers. However, Sonic Reality has gone out of their way to make it musician-friendly. Basically they have set it up with VST and RTAS capability so it will work as a plug-in in whatever DAW you are using…

Okay, maybe I am getting a bit technical here. Let’s step back for a second and talk about what the heck this thing even is and why you should care.

Frank Serafine is a sound designer who has worked on such films as Hunt for Red October, TRON, Lawnmower Man, Star Trek and did I mention Hunt for Red October (hey, Connery rules in that flick). He has teamed with Sonic Reality to put out this insanely professional sounding and comprehensive library of sound effects.

How comprehensive is it, you ask? Okay, lets say you want the sound of someone flipping a coin at the beginning of your track. FX Tron has thirteen different coin flips sounds to choose from. That’s right, I said thirteen coin flip sounds! But that’s only the beginning, because each of those sounds can to reversed, stretched, manipulated or played in any pitch on the midi keyboard friendly interface. Or you could layer all thirteen coin flips to make one super coin flip sound. All in an extremely easy to use format.

Serafine FX Tron includes over 13,000 sounds. Think about almost any animal, and chances are FX Tron includes at least a few different sounds of that animal in just about any mood you might want. Machines, human sounds, sci-fi sounds, this thing has got it all. In fact, it has over 17 gigabytes of sounds. We are talking about a massive, searchable library here.

So how can this be used by the average home recording guitarist? I’ve found my interaction with it to be very similar to other software I have learned over the years, from Reason to Amplitube. First I tend to get really indepth with the software and spend a few weeks just playing with it, not really making anything musical. Then I use it on a track for the first time. Maybe overuse it would be more accurate, since I am so infatuated with the thing. Finally, I am able to use it as the tool it should be, dipping into it when I need to, when the song calls for it. And once I get that point, that is when the magic starts to happen.

Serafine FX Tron is no different. Figuring out how to use these sounds in interesting and tasteful ways in my tracks is a journey I am still on. But the potential is undeniable. If you are willing to do a little experimentation and think outside the guitar-bass-drums box, some very cool things can be done with this software.

I have been impressed with FX Tron so far. My only complaints are the time it takes to install it and the hard-disk space it takes up. On the other hand, after spending an hour installing it, I now have an incredibly awesome sound effects library installed for the life of my computer and the backup DVDs to load it onto my next one. For those concerned about hard drive space, Sound Reality also offers a version of the software that comes pre-loaded on an external hard drive for about $150 more.

Which brings us to the other issue with this software… the price. With a retail price of $995 for the DVD version or $1149 for the external hard drive version, this is not software for the casual recording guitarist looking to dabble in sound effects. However, after playing around with this thing for the past couple of weeks, I can’t help but admit that this amazing tool is worth every penny. This is high-end stuff and it sounds like it. When I was testing out one of the dozens of airplane fly-over sounds, my wife walked into the room and said, “Wow, that plane must be flying really low.” And that was with the sound playing through my crappy built-in laptop speakers. The samples sound that real. Also, I had way too much fun freaking my dog out with all the animal sounds.

The question is, is it worth it to you?

And that is a question only you can answer.

For me, this is a tool I will be using for a long time to come. The effects I have been able to get out of this thing with a little tweaking are unadulterated fun. You’ll hear it in use on my track for Six-String Bliss’s upcoming album Trans-Genred.

While this certainly isn’t required software for every guitarist, it is an awesome tool that will stretch your creativity and spark your imagination. It can add a layer of reality - or unreality if that’s what you’re going for - and professionalism to any track that calls for the use of sound effect-type samples. And it is quickly becoming one of the favorite items in my audio tool box.

Check it out at:

http://www.sonicreality.com/products/serafine-fx-tron/serafinefxtron/

Bliss on.

- PT

Twitter

After a LONG time of saying that I would never get on Twitter, I realized I was alienating any fans who don't like Facebook or RSS readers so, yes, the Fifth Fret is now Tweeting.

You can subscribe right here.

-Pappy

My stacked blonde redhead

Josh "JBGretschguy" Bradshaw is a busy man. I found that out last year - after hearing his 6A14HP style amplifier, dubbed "Lawrenceville" at the '09 Gretsch Nashville Roundup, I wanted to talk about a custom Fenderish amp for myself. I finally caught up with Josh after his relief mission to Haiti and between his day job and a active gig calendar, he and I exchanged some emails on the subject.

I wanted a dual purpose amp, something I could practice with at home and use at a larger venue too. I asked JB what we might do with a Blues Junior cabinet with the possibility of an additional speaker cab. He thought that he might be able to use a Blues Junior chassis to host the Normal channel of a 6G6-B "Blond" Bassman.

JB documented his build here: http://gretschpages.com/forum/other-amps/quirky-project-blonde-bassboy/28902/page1/

I had the good fortune to snag an nice home for the chassis - a special edition Blues Junior cabinet with a 12" Celestion V30 done up in red tolex with a matching 1 x 12 cabinet and second Celestion V30. When the chassis arrived (perfectly packed), I had to rotate the baffle to clear the transformers, but it fit in the cab perfectly. Since the cabinet was not really designed to support the additional weight of the tricked out chassis, I decided to tap two additional 10/32 holes in the chassis to bolt up some extra support. Cheap insurance.

So, how does it sound? In a word, fantastic. Crank it to four and you start getting that sweet tone that the Beatles, the Who, Brian Setzer, and so many others have used so well. Besides classic rock I recently found it is fantastic for the more rocking side of country. At a recent local jam it cut through the mix loud and clear with that lovely breakup this circuit is known for. For volume considerations, it is more than adequate for any medium size venue. Take it back to the garage, flip a toggle, unplug the external Celestion V30, and it is a testosterone fueled home amp. It is taking most of my pedals very well, and I've discovered the full potential of Tavo's killer Dyno Brain Seltzer (nice work Tavo!). Not much to do now except for getting a control plate plate made and to document my favorite settings.

In the meantime, get a load of my Stacked Blonde Redhead!




Josh's turret board:

Eastwood Airline '59 Custom 3P

Eastwood is a love it or hate it kind of company. They don’t feature common shapes, they have quirks, they’ve been attached to guitarists that don’t fit in the mainstream but are good enough for mainstream to reshape itself to accommodate and they have a unique tone.

I love them, personally. I’ve wanted a '59 Custom 2P since I first saw Jack White play one (which means I wanted one before I even liked Jack White) and Eastwood was kind enough to send a '59 Custom 3P to review.

Now that you see it, let’s talk about the obvious first.

Looks:

The guitar came in a very classy case that features a nicely sized pocket and is a snug fit for the guitar to make it more secure. The case alone makes a statement that this isn’t your average guitar and the metal logo on the edge reminds me of the classic cars from yesteryear.

INSIDE, the guitar looked so amazing that I had to take it out and try it on, even though the strings were so far out of tune it wasn’t even funny (Eastwood slackened the strings before sending it to me). It fit me like a glove too. It’s lightweight and easy to play, my forearm goes right on the angle that dips down and is probably the most comfortable I’ve ever been playing a guitar and it LOOKS so freaking amazing I couldn’t stand it. Here’s my favorite color on a guitar that seemed to be made for me and I was in heaven.

It also came with a matching strap that was surf green with a cream stripe and it looks VERY cool and was very comfortable to use.

But I had some concerns.

I thought for sure the knobs would be a pain. I thought they would get in the way, I thought I would be hitting them and changing the settings left and right. I definitely thought I would run the risk of scratching them while picking.

I had ZERO problems with them. I never bumped into them, never changed the settings, never scratched it once. It takes some guts for a company to put out a guitar with six knobs lining the top of it above the pickups but it works out great. Each pickup has an independent volume and tone control and when you figure there are three pickups AND a five way switch, you can count on some tones that leave you flabbergasted.

And while we’re on the subject of tone, let’s delve in a bit more.

What kind of tone would you think this guitar excels at? Garage? Classic rock? Metal? Surf?

Actually, the tone I loved the most was its JAZZ tone. This thing KILLS when it comes to jazz.

That being said, it sounded amazing when it came to anything else, but it was jazz that really struck me.

I also thought I would have a problem with the middle pickup and in this case, I was right. I was constantly hitting it with my pick and while it didn’t hinder my playing, I could see that if I removed the protective plastic covering, it wouldn’t be shiny for very long at all.

Of course, I don’t think that would really detract from the looks. A guitar like this looks just as good used as it does new.

My biggest complaint about the guitar that was build specific was the bridge pickup. It’s close enough to the strings and close enough to the bridge, that I had a hard time hybrid picking. I couldn’t lower the pickup because it impacted the sound too much and maybe with some practice I would learn to adjust myself to it, but for initial impressions, I felt a little hindered.

This may be a deal-breaker to some, but I honestly think the pros outweigh these cons and I would still buy one, given the opportunity. I may buy it from a shop that can guarantee they’ll look at it and make sure everything’s right before sending it to me and I may buy a hotter bridge pickup so I can lower it a bit and keep the tone and hybrid pick, but the guitar sounds so great and has SO much potential with tone and the looks can’t be ignored and in the end, yeah, I’d still buy one. How could you NOT want to buy one?

They even come with two options for binding: black and cream. The one I received had black binding (which is not like normal binding and feels more like a rubber protector for the side) but Eastwood sent a picture of one with cream binding for everyone to see (above).

They’re just really cool guitars and between the great feel and playability, the amazing tonal palette, and the eye-catching great looks, Eastwood should definitely be looked at if you’re looking for a guitar to make yourself stand out from the pack.

-Pappy