Premierguitar201410 1 DL

OCTOBER Highlights
Sponsored by Dunlop
34
History of
Delay
Analog Tom runs through

the past, present, and future
of modern delay devices.
61
Dot Hacker
Josh Klinghoffer and Clint

Walsh discuss the tools they
use to make gaze-prog fever.
71
Opeth
Mikael kerfeldt discusses

creativity within todays
hard-to-define metal genre.
111
DIY Pedal
Its easier than you think to

build a killer distortion customized for your style.
130
Pedal
Roundup
REVIEWS: Forrest DB Boost B & G Bender Marshall 1958X 18-Watt ESP E-II Stream Bass
CLICK HERE
to sign up for your FREE subscription to Premier Guitars digital magazine!
Bottom Left: Photo by Chris Kies
We review 30 of the tastiest stompboxes around

Homer Simpson approved.
OCTOBER 2014
OCTOBER 2014
premierguitar.com
THIS IS
THE
SOUND
VINTAGE MODIFIED
'68 CUSTOM
GUITAR AMPLIFIERS
2014 Fender Musical Instruments Corporation. Fender , Vibrolux , Princeton,

Twin Reverb , and Deluxe Reverb are registered trademarks of FMIC. All rights reserved.
fender.com/68-custom
NEW TO THE FAMILY '68 CUSTOM VIBROLUX

DISTINCTLY ROCK N ROLL
The Lowden Team congratulate George Lowden

on 40 years of guitar making & designing
1974 - 2014
George Lowden celebrates 40 years
of guitar building and designing
Handmade in Ireland
georgelowden.com
Join our celebration
E!
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Morning Glory
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October 31, 2014 24 equal monthly payments required.
*Offer applies only to single-receipt qualifying purchases. No interest will be charged on promo purchase and equal monthly payments are required equal to initial promo purchase amount divided equally by the number of months
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The extended 27 scale DC7X is sure to satisfy even the most discriminating ERG
player. Features like its flatter 20 fingerboard radius, superior easy-to-play
neck profile and the deep arm-cut and belly-cut add to the comfort and playability. Active A70 pickups and electronics provide superior tone and definition as
compared to other popular active pickup systems. Available in 3 bridge choices
including Floyd Rose trem along with a vast choice of color,wood and other
options allows any ERG player to build a DC7X to your liking. Custom order at
the Carvin Custom Shop, carvin.com.
DC7X FEATURES:
Maple neck through alder body with smooth neck to body heel
27 scale fingerboard with 24 Medium Jumbo frets
Straight Body Edges on top
Carvin premium 19:1 ratio locking tuners
Hipshot hardtail bridge
Active electronics with volume, tone, 3-way pickup selector
A70N and A70B humbucking pickups
Neck: 1.91 wide at nut, 2.62 wide 24th fret
10-day trial on custom shop instruments
DC7X
shown with:
Figured Walnut Top
Matching Walnut Headstock
Black Back and Sides
Birds Eye Maple Fingerboard
Black Acrylic Block Inlays
Gold Hardware
Not all active electronics are created equal.
We design and build our own active guitar pickups and modules
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2014 taylor guitars
the man who went to hell, and came out sin g in g.
Jake was a guitar player. But the day a chemical explosion took his right arm, people
stopped seeing Jake, the guitar player, and started seeing Jake, the guy who lost his arm.
the proBlem was, that wasnt the Jake he wanted to Be. so, he made the decision to
fight for his identity a Battle against stereotypes, preJudice and worst of all, pity.
it was an impossiBle task, But somehow, he learned to play all over again in a way that
could only Be done with a special prosthesis and he didnt stop there. eventually he
got enough courage to get Back on stage, where audiences saw something Jake wasnt
sure theyd ever see again. Jake, the guitar player. its a story that inspires us, and
serves as a reminder that the world needs more people like Jake. for more aBout Jake
and other stories of people with the courage to step forward, visit taylorguitars.com
TM
Publisher Jon Levy
EDITORIAL
Chief Content Officer Shawn Hammond
Managing Editor Tessa Jeffers
Senior Editor Andy Ellis
Senior Editor Joe Gore
Gear Editor Charles Saufley
Art Director Meghan Molumby
Associate Editor Chris Kies
Associate Editor Rich Osweiler
Associate Editor Jason Shadrick
Nashville Correspondent John Bohlinger
Nashville Video Editor Perry Bean
Photo Editor Kristen Berry
PRODUCTION & OPERATIONS

Operations Manager Shannon Burmeister
Circulation Manager Lois Stodola
Production Coordinator Luke Viertel
SALES/MARKETING
Advertising Director Brett Petrusek
Advertising Director Dave Westin
Marketing Manager Matt Roberts
Director of Marketing Colton Wedeking
GEARHEAD COMMUNICATIONS, LLC

Chairman Peter F. Sprague
President Patricia A. Sprague
Managing Director Gary Ciocci
WEBSITES
Our Portal
premierguitar.com
Our Online Magazine:
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The information and advertising set forth herein has been obtained from sources
believed to be Gearhead Communications, L.L.C., however, does not warrant
complete accuracy of such information and assumes no responsibility for
any consequences arising from the use thereof or reliance thereon. Publisher
reserves the right to reject or cancel any advertisement or space reservation at
any time without notice. Publisher shall not be liable for any costs or damages
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be reproduced, in whole or in part, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted,
in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopied, recorded, or
otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher.
Copyright 2014. All Rights Reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part
without written permission is prohibited. Premier Guitar is a publication of
Gearhead Communications, L.L.C.
Premier Guitar [ISSN 1945-077X (print) ISSN 1945-0788 (online)] is published
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Canada, Mexico and foreign subscription rates 877-704-4327; email address
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PREMIER GUITAR (USPS 025-017)
Volume 19, Issue 10

Published monthly by:
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Distributed to the music trade
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8 PREMIER GUITAR OCTOBER 2014
premierguitar.com
TUNING UP
Doing It Wrong Feels So Right

BY SHAWN HAMMOND
@PG_shawnh
rom Gene Vincent on up to the War on Drugs, rock has always been about rebellion.
So why is it that we guitarists are often so staid?
Tattoos, extreme hair, makeup, leather jackets, and chain wallets are everywhere
the Disney Channel, commercials for kitchen-floor cleaner. But they dont signify nonconformity any more than cranked stacks or low-slung guitars. We like to think were badasses, but
the truth is, all this stuff isnt half as risky as buying your clothes at L.L. Bean and playing an
80s Hondo through a Gorilla practice amp.
So lets just admit it: Despite all our stylistic trappings, were a pretty conservative lot.
But maybe we just mistakenly believe there are no new trails to blazeno new gear combinations, no new tone settings, no new scales or chords or songs. Or maybe, despite our deepseated desires and best efforts to shirk tradition, we think there are still no-nosstark lines delineating
no-fly zones that are preposterous to consider.
Many of us restrict ourselves before even picking up our instrument. We think tube amps are the
route to great tone. We tussle a bit over where a fuzz box or wah belongs in a signal chain, but we pretty
much agree that after that its compression, dirt, modulation, delay, then reverb. Its all very elementary.
But were not in elementary school anymore.
For the record, Im not talking about different for differents sake. Actually, I kind of ambut not as
some stupid attention-getting gambit. How about for the joy of discovery? How about to expand your
horizons and bulldoze ruts?
Despite the mightily entrenched views of the 6-string majority, there are plenty of inspiring examples
of wacky adventurers over the years. Players who did stuff that sounded different and new, but once you
knew how they did it you thought, Oh godreally?
The new album Peahi from Danish surf/garage-pop duo the Raveonettes has recently made me rethink
my own assumptions. As guitarist/songwriter/co-vocalist Sune Rose Wagner detailed in our recent interview, despite his addiction to vintage Jazzmasters and Mosrites, and despite his love of the Everly Brothers
and Mark Knopfler, he hasnt used a guitar amp on any of his bands seven albums over the last 13 years.
All of Wagners influences used traditional guitar gear in traditional ways, but he and fellow
Raveonette Sharin Foo did things differently to create a signature sound. Besides eschewing amps and
recording direct through a Neve-style preamp, Wagner uses an ass-backward pedalboard. First in line is a
Catalinbread Echorec delay, then two Boss RV-5 reverbsalways running in tandem with different settingsfollowed by five dirt boxes, ranging from WMDs bit-crushing Geiger Counter fuzz to a ZVEX
Box of Metal, an EarthQuaker Devices Bit Commander, an old Rat, and MXRs La Machine.
It gets worse, too: Wagner has played drums since he was 5he says theyre his favorite instrumentbut every Raveonettes album since their 2003 debut, Whip It On, has featured percussion loops
exclusively. Im not a fan of real drum soundsit all sounds the same to me, he admits. I love samplestheyre so diverse. I love mixing various drum sounds together, maybe have three or four different
kicks and four or five different snares. I want them to sound interesting and special.
Conventional logic says this is all a recipe for unique ugliness, but in reality the Raveonettes sound
a cross between Dick Dale twang, My Bloody Valentine fuzz mayhem, and the Jesus and Mary Chains
melancholy melodies, with Phil Spector-esque wall of sound productionis not only instantly recognizable, but its also beautiful and organic sounding. And its built them a sizable following around the world.
Maybe different for differents sake is something worth exploring after all. Turn on your ears and turn
off the judgment. Theres a universe of fun waiting for you.
Shawn Hammond
Chief Content Officer
shawn@premierguitar.com
premierguitar.com
BIG POWER
HIGH OUTPUT
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more people than ever before. Paired with custom
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2014 LOUD Technologies Inc. Mackie. and the Running Man figure are
registered trademarks of LOUD Techonologies Inc. All rights reserved.
FEEDBACK LOOP
programmable boards, which go
through a PA and dont use amps
at all. In short, be more realistic
in the reviews. Also, you should
provide more articles on upgrading
the lower priced instruments
with better components. The
editors Squier Telecaster upgrade
[Squier Tele Makeover, March
2013] is a case in point, which
took a reasonably priced guitar
and personalized it with a good
explanation of why, how, and what
was done to take it there. I still
enjoy the magazine very much and
anxiously await each new (print)
issue. Keep up the good work.
Socialize
with Us!
How many guitars do

you have currently stored
in your stash?
@premierguitar
Lou Chauvin
Morgan City, Louisiana
Family Ties
As the daughter of Hank

Garland, this is one of the
best pieces written about my
father that Ive read [Forgotten
Heroes: Hank Garland, April
2011]. There are many sides to
the story of my fathers life. My
sister and I were never asked
for the side that we lived, so
post what you want. You all do
anyway. Heck, you make movies
out of it. Did you live it? Were
you there? Was it part of your
life? Was it part of who you are?
Was this your mom and dad and
your daily life? Just saying...
Thank you to Thomas Scott
McKenzie and Premier Guitar
for this article.
Debi Garland,
via premierguitar.com
What Regular
Guitarists Want?
Enough! The gear reviews are not

applicable to most of us. I expect
a $5k guitar to sound and to play
great and should include all of the
fine-tuning and details that are
not available on more reasonably
priced guitars. Most of your
readers, including me, will never
own and/or play (or even see) any
of these guitars. In the future your
reviews should be one of these
high end/custom guitars and/or
basses and a second review should
be provided for the ones that most
of us can afford. Also, the amps
used for testing should be more
of what regular guitarists use. Not
all of us have a 66 Deluxe Reverb
or a 65 Vox AC30. Also, many
of the bands I see will use various
Thanks, Lou. Our reviewers use

a variety of amps, from boutique
to mainstream, which seems like a
decent reflection of the wider guitar
community. As for our reviews, in
2014 weve tested 31 instruments.
Half of the 12 electrics ranged
from $350 to $800. Five of the 11
acoustics were between $550 and
$850. And half of the 8 basses were
under a grand. Hopefully this shows
were trying our best to be diverse!
Shawn Hammond,
chief content officer
@premierguitar 28 and
growing. Ive run out of
places to put them. And yes
theyre all left-handed.
@MattMira
@premierguitar 21, which

is actually down a few
recently, but will surely go
back up again.
@rstguitars
DIY Success
This video by Kye Kennedy [DIY:

Amp Safety 101, July 2014] is one
of the most important, instructive,
well-articulated and explained DIY
videos I have ever watched. This is
how they all should be done.
Daniel Bornt,
via premierguitar.com
Keep those
comments coming!
Please send your suggestions,
gripes, comments, and good words
directly to info@premierguitar.com.
No one really wants

our opinions. Everyone
has a different setup
and different gear and
different ears and different
techniques, so pedals alone
are hard to judge. I cant
stand a single EHX pedal
I ever tried, and Ive tried
so many, yet others seem to
love many or all of them.
David Mednick
premierguitar.com
Photo by Tom Hughes
CONTENTS October 2014
ARTISTS
61
34
Dot Hacker
History of Delay
Josh Klinghoffer and

Clint Walsh discuss the
tools they use to make
gaze-prog fever.
74
Opeth
Mikael kerfeldt
discusses creativity
within todays hard-todefine metal genre.
83
Ty Segall
The multi-instrumentalist blends fuzz and

jangle, sweet and salty
on Manipulator.
94
Joel Harrison
The avant picker
collaborates with
sarodist Anupam
Shobhakar.
Analog Tom runs

through the past,
present, and future of
modern delay devices.
111
130
DIY Pedal
Pedal Roundup
Its easier than you

think to build a killer
distortion customized
for your style.
We review 30 of
the tastiest stompboxes aroundHomer
Simpson approved.
REVIEWS
194 Forrest DB Boost B & G Bender
197 Marshall 1958X 18-Watt
200 ESP E-II Stream Bass
For a period of time

when I was coming
up, it really seemed
like everything good
that was happening
involved guitar.
Joel Harrison, p. 94
premierguitar.com
Fender Custom Shop Custom Jeff

Beck Signature Stratocaster Electric
Serial No. 9299, 8.04 lb.
ike the ridges of a ngerprint, every guitar is unique. Its combination of wood grain, weight, feel
and tone are one of a kind. Its a true reection of its owner. With an in-depth report on the
guitars that suit you best, our Guitar Advisors will help you nd your perfect match.
Call a Guitar Advisor: 866-926-1923 MondayFriday, 8 a.m.5 p.m. CST
www.privatereserveguitars.com
Cover illustration by John

Achenbach. The Simpsons
TM and 2014 Twentieth
Century Fox Film Corporation.
All Rights Reserved.
premierguitar.com
CONTENTS October 2014
OCTOBER 2014
JULY 2014
On the Cover:
South American
mahogany, a
wood used on
a majority of
acoustic guitars
made in North
America, could
be on the list of
restricted woods
in the future.
Richard Johnston,
Gear Radar
Opening Notes
Tools for the Task
Staff Picks
Esoterica Electrica
Last Call
GEAR
28 Rig Rundowns
56 Trash or Treasure
58 Vintage Vault
72 Tone Tips
HOW-TO
92 Acoustic Soundboard
102 The Recording Guitarist
104 Guitar Shop 101
106 Bass Bench
108 On Bass
124 Mod Garage
126 Ask Amp Man
128 State of the Stomp
Bottom: Photo by Tim Mullally Top: Photo by Darren Boucher
Acoustic Soundboard,
p. 92
20
23
192
202
222
224
premierguitar.com
Elixir HD Light Acoustic Strings

are a tone-lovers dream!
My guitars sound bigger and fatter than they are.
- Pete Huttlinger
Photo courtesy of Tokens
BOLDER high end

FULLER low end
Elixir
Light
Strings
LIGHT
Your new voice in Phosphor Bronze

- Bolder, stronger high end
- Fuller, warmer low end
- Balanced voice across all strings
- Ideal for narrow bodied guitars
- Comfortable, balanced hand feel
- .013, .017, .025, .032, .042, .053
Available in Phosphor Bronze and 80/20 Bronze,
HD Light Strings deliver the extended tone life
players expect from Elixir Strings.
www.elixirstrings.com/hdlight
Pete Huttlinger plays
Elixir Strings HD Light Phosphor Bronze
with NANOWEB Coating, .013 - .053
facebook.com/elixirstrings
twitter.com/elixirstrings
youtube.com/elixirstringsmedia
GORE, ELIXIR, NANOWEB, POLYWEB, GREAT TONE LONG LIFE, e icon, and other designs are trademarks of W. L. Gore & Associates. 2014 W. L. Gore & Associates, Inc.
ELX-381-R1-ADV-US-AUG14
GO ONLINE
ONLY ON PremierGuitar.com
Your guide to the latest stories, reviews, videos, and lessons on PremierGuitar.com
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LESSONS
Access all of our lessons
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FUTURE ROCK
10 Essential Slides,
Scrapes, and Noises
By Aurelien Budynek
Bass Pedal Wars, Ace Frehley Solo,

and Bonamassa on Amps
What do you get when you line up two of the most sonically adventurous bassists around and
challenge them to pick the 10 best bass stomps? Juan Alderete (Deltron 3030, Big Sir, Mars Volta)
and Jonathan Hischke (Dot Hacker) go head-to-head to find out. We recently met up with Ace
Frehley in Times Square to learn about his new solo album, Space Invader, and the guitar-recording
trick he learned from Pete Townshend. Last but not least, red-hot blues guitarist Joe Bonamassa
sets aside his Dumbles and vintage Fender Twins to wax poetic on five amps that are a bit under the
radarincluding one tube-free option!
Read these interviews and more at premierguitar.com/oct14
BEYOND BLUES
Turnaround Tactics
By Levi Clay
ELECTRIC TUDES
Jerry Garcia
By Shawn Persinger
RHYTHM RULES
How to Steal from Yourself
By Pete Weise
DIY Distortion
Build Guide
To accompany our DIY Distortion feature on

p. 111, resident pedal scientist Joe Gore put
together an in-depth, downloadable build guide,
with 30-plus pages illustrating every step needed
to create a great-sounding crunch box derived
from a classic circuit thats a favorite of boutique
builders. Youll learn not just the hows, but the
whys of DIY pedals, from selecting parts and
prototyping through building and boxing.
A great beginners project! Build it and they
will come
Download it at premierguitar.com/DIY-Distortion
premierguitar.com
GUITARDOMS
TOP TWEETS
Im watching Frozen in my bunk.
Im not ashamed.
- @theclaycook
The Dead5/19/77, Scarlet Begonias. Its a

12 minute answer to the question what was so
special about The Grateful Dead?
- @JohnMayer
Safety instructions for my new Boss TU-10

headstock guitar tuner. Operating instructions
were a whole other page.
- @seancwatkins
Learning James Jamerson bass lines is like

discovering a religious treatise full of
infinite wisdom.
- @KakiKing
An outdoor lesson taught by Doug Doppler now

at #G4Experience on modes, scales, & chords.
What a setting!
- @chickenfootjoe
premierguitar.com
PREMIER GUITAR OCTOBER 2014 19
GEAR RADAR
New products on the horizon.
3
4
EVH
Stripe Series
Circles Guitar
WEST COAST
PEDAL BOARDS
Little Rock
YELLOW JACKETS
NOS Tube
Converter
OLD BLOOD NOISE

ENDEAVORS
Black Fountain
A 20-watt combo
Made famous in the 1981
This ready-to-rock
A limited-edition converter
This stomp harkens
designed for todays
video for Unchained,
pedalboard can hold up
made for most amps less
back to the days of the
versatile acoustic-electric
this guitar features a
to 56 boxes and comes
than 100 watts. Lowers
elusive oil-can delays,
gigging musician.
basswood body, single
in three different sizes
the overall power in
emphasizing a chorus-like
Street $129.99
EVH humbucker, and
(7"x13"; 7"x17"; 7"x21")
an amplifier giving it a
modulation on the repeats
acousticamplification.com
EVH Floyd Rose with
and 10 hip covering options.
unique vintage tone.
of the effect signal as well
D-Tuna bridge.
Street $79.99
Street $118
as a warm repeat cycle.
MSRP $1,199
westcoastpedalboard.com
yellojacketstc.com
evhgear.com
ACOUSTIC
A20
Street $199
oldbloodnoise.com
premierguitar.com
8
7
10
9
6
DOD
Bifet Boost 410
JENSEN
P10R-F
10
This retro classic is a
Designed by the Jensen
MOLTEN VOLTAGE
SIMI Pedalboard
Display
3 MONKEYS AMPS
Orangutan Jr.
EPIPHONE
PRO-1 Ultra
Rooted in the circuit
Geared towards beginners,
simple, two-knob boost
factory in cooperation
A handy, programmable
of its big brother, the
this acoustic features
pedal with 20 dB of
with Fender for the reissue
MIDI display with a
Orangutan, the Jr. has two
a solid spruce top;
power on tap and a
of the 57 Bandmaster
buffered thru jack that
cathode-biased 6V6s and
mahogany back, sides
switchable buffer.
and the 20th Anniversary
features real-time
three 12AX7s. Its controls
and neck; a rosewood
Street $149.95
Vibro King.
message capability.
are volume, treble, bass,
fretboard; a Shadow
dod.com
Street $125
Street $175
reverb, and master.
Performer preamp; and a
jensentone.com
moltenvoltage.com
Street $1,799
NanoFlex pickup system.
3monkeyamps.com
Street $329
epiphone.com
premierguitar.com
OPENING NOTES
Eugene Htz
July 6, 2014
Fort York: Garrison Common
Toronto, Canada
Photo by Andrew Dubinsky
The frontman for Gypsy-punkers

Gogol Bordello brings it to the
Toronto Urban Roots Festival with
his primary box, a 2013 Cordoba
GK Studio thats outfitted with a
Fishman Presys system and prized
for its ability to take abuse quite
well, says Htzs tech.
premierguitar.com
OPENING NOTES
Brian May
July 12, 2014
The Palace of Auburn Hills
Auburn Hills, MI
Photo by Ken Settle
The 6-string Queen legend goes

to town with Red Special, the
famous axe he built as a kid with his
father in the early 60s. The guitar
has graced countless classic Queen
songs and in its 40 years of existence
has remained mostly original.
premierguitar.com
OPENING NOTES
Rachel Goswell
July 20, 2014
Union Park
Chicago, IL
Photo by Lindsey Best
On the last day of the Pitchfork

Music Festival, the guitarist for
the recently reunited shoegaze
troop Slowdive goes to work on
her No. 1, a 2014 Custom77
Roxy Hollowbody DL4 with a
Custom77-designed P-90 in the
neck and a humbucker in the
bridge position.
premierguitar.com
OPENING NOTES
Sam Roberts
August 1, 2014
Parc Jean-Drapeau
Montreal, Canada
Photo by Darren Boucher
The Sam Roberts Bands

namesake leads his outfit through
a Friday-afternoon set at the 2014
Osheaga Music and Arts Festival
with his stock Fender Thurston
Moore signature Jazzmaster,
Green Mamba.
premierguitar.com
www.mo-ka.net (photos: Noah Saydel)
Influence Series
chena kenai
and
Knaggs best thing:
www.knaggsguitars.com
RIG RUNDOWNS
Tommy Thayer, Paul Stanley, & Gene Simmons
KISS
Not many bands

can claim as much
influence on todays
hard rock and
metal scene as this
makeup-wearing,
blood-spitting, pyroshooting foursome.
PG caught up with
current guitarist
Tommy Thayer,
along with techs
Francis and Michael
Berger, to dig
into all the axes
(in some cases,
literally), effects,
and amps that the
band brought out
on their 2014 tour
with Def Leppard.
FACTOID
Tommy Thayer
opened for Kiss in
the 80s and later
worked as a tour
manager for the
band.
TOMMY THAYER
GUITARS
Top left: Tommy Thayer
is a longtime Les Paul
man and brings several
on the road with him.
This black Les Paul
Classic houses the
classic Kiss pyro behind
the headstock.
Top right: When he
needs some midrange
honk, Thayer reaches for
a Custom Shop Gibson
Explorer decked out in
silver sparkle.
AMPS
For the past eight years, Thayer has been touring exclusively with a pair of his signature 100-watt Hughes
& Kettner Duotone heads (Thayer donates all the royalties from this amp to The Childrens Hospital of
Los Angeles). After an experiment where he switched cabinets with Paul Stanley, he discovered the Engl
E412SG and has been using a pair of them ever since.
premierguitar.com
PAUL STANLEY
GUITARS
Top left: Paul Stanley
tours with several of
his signature Washburn
PS12 Starfires. Each
one is outfitted with a
Seymour Duncan Custom
5 in the bridge and
Duncan 59 in the neck.
Top right: Stanleys
contract with Washburn
expires this year, so hes
returning to his famous
Ibanez PS10, which is
planned to be released
at next years Winter
NAMM show. Currently,
Stanley is rocking the
PS10 that he first used
on the 95 reunion tour.
AMPS
Left: Stanley plugs into
custom Engl heads that
are loosely based on
the Ritchie Blackmore
model, but powered
with EL84s instead of
the stock 5881s. He
runs that into a pair
of Marshall 4x12 cabs
loaded with Celestion
Vintage 30 speakers.
GENE SIMMONS
BASSES
Bottom left: Gene
Simmons plays his
signature line of basses
exclusively. His iconic
Axe bass features a
mahogany body, maple
neck, Indian rosewood
fingerboard and EMG PJ
active pickups.
Bottom right: Simmons
Punisher bass
features neck-through
construction, mahogany
body, maple neck,
rosewood fretboard, and
EMG PJ active pickups.
The controls have been
simplified to a single
volume knob with
the input jack routed
through the front of the
bass to accommodate
Simmons costume.
premierguitar.com
RIG RUNDOWNS
Jesse Lacey & Vincent Accardi
BRAND NEW
On July 7, 2014,
Premier Guitar met
with Jesse Lacey, his
tech Joe Cannetti,
and lead guitarist
Vincent Accardi of
the Long Island altrockers Brand New
before their show in
Louisville, Kentucky.
Lacey spilled the
dirt on his love of
Fender guitars and
fuzz pedals.
FACTOID
Laceys No. 1
Telecaster was
borrowed from a
church worship leader
20 years ago.
JESSE LACEY
GUITARS
Top left: Lacey keeps it
all single-coil. His No. 1
is a battered 70s Fender
Tele with a Curtis Novak
Tel-V bridge pickup.
Top right: He also rocks a
2009 Stagg Jazzmasterstyle guitar with singlecoils in the neck and
middle positions, and a
Fender Jaguar single-coil
in the bridge position.
AMPS
Center: Lacey goes big
and loud with a DR103
Hiwatt Custom 100 head
plugged into a Janice
2x12 cab loaded with
one Eminence Delta
and one Swamp Thang
speaker. Running in
conjunction with the
Hiwatt is a 90s Orange
Overdrive 80 that has
been modded for 120watt output. The Orange
drives a Janice 2x12 with
two Weber FC12s.
EFFECTS
Left: A true gear
geek, Lacey did
all the wiring and
soldering on his
pedalboard. When
the signal first goes
into the board, an
L.R. Baggs preamp
sends an acoustic
DI to the front of
house. The electric
guitar line runs
into the GigRig
Pro-14 switching
system, which
routes the signal
into all of
his pedals.
premierguitar.com
VINCENT ACCARDI
GUITARS
Top: Accardi keeps it
Fender-y with his stock
60th Anniversary Fender
Cyclone. He also plays a
1992 MIM Fender Strat
hes owned since he was
a kid.
AMPS
Center: Accardi uses a
300-watt Fender Super
Bassman Pro tube head
plugged into two cabs: a
Janice 2x12 loaded with
two Eminence EM12s,
and a Janice 2x15 with
two Eminence Legend
1518s.
EFFECTS
Bottom: Accardis
grungy pedalboard
starts with a MKS Pedal
Pad connected to both a
MKS power supply and
a Walrus Audio Aetos
Clean Power Supply.
After hitting a Boss TU-2
Chromatic Tuner, the
signal goes into two
Boss PS-5 Super Shifters
(one goes up, the other
down). From there it
enters a gig-fx Chopper,
a Dunlop DBO1 Dimebag
Darrell Cry Baby From
Hell, a Catalinbread
Dirty Little Secret, a
Pro Co RAT, a Marshall
ShredMaster, a Boss TR-2
Tremolo, a Boss CH-1
Super Chorus, and a Boss
PH-3 Phase Shifter. From
there it encounters three
delays: an Old Blood
Noise Endeavors Black
Fountain, a Boss DD-6,
and a Boss DD-7.
premierguitar.com
WHICH
pedaltrain
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YOU ?
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Echoes of
the Past
and Future
How sweet the answer Echo makes
To music at night,
When, roused by lute or horn, she wakes,
And far away, oer lawns and lakes,
Goes answering light.
Thomas Moore, from Echo (1821)
premierguitar.com
Effects guru Analog Tom Hughes chronicles

musics most influential time machinesfrom rockabilly
echo chambers to space-rock oil cans, 80s racks,
and modern stompbox marvels.
STORY AND PHOTOS BY TOM HUGHES
rom rockabilly slapback to long,

spacy repeats on a searing lead,
we guitarists love delay. Its one of
our most beloved effectswhich makes
it a subject well worth repeating. (Sorry,
couldnt resist!) Echo and reverb are the
oldest of all effects, and our desire to hear
them is evidenced throughout history
in monasteries, cathedrals, and concert
halls specifically designed to create them.
The advent of electronics brought new
possibilities for the creation of these
effects, taking the evolution of echo into
the modern age.
In terms of signal processing, delay
is essentially a form of echo. A naturally
occurring echo is the repetition of
a sound due to reflection off of a
physical surface. But this also describes
reverberation. In fact, theres quite a
bit of overlap in what is commonly
considered reverb, echo, and delay. So,
whats the difference? In the case of
premierguitar.com
reverberation and echo, the difference

is timethe length of time between the
original and the repeated sounds.
Delay, however, is a unique and
essentially man-made phenomenon. This
is because, as applied to signal processing,
delay is a single repetition of a sound,
isolated and without any accompanying
reflections. This is an artificial occurrence
and doesnt happen in nature. Whether
a sound is made indoors or outdoors,
it is never reflected back strictly from a
single source. Sounds are reflected from
multiple surfaces, and the reflected sounds
are likewise reflected, causing multiple
reflections at various intervals and volumes.
Even the distinct repeat you hear shouting
Hello! in a cave or across a massive canyon
is not without ambient reflections of some
sort. Although the delay is long between the
source and reflected sounds, because of the
multiple reflections, these events are more
appropriately deemed echoes.
The irony is that, though were only able

to achieve true delay through electronic
signal processing, in a more abstract sense
the original meaning of echo more
closely resembles what weve just been
describing as delay: In Greek mythology,
the nymph Echo distracted the goddess
Hera with conversation to prevent her
from discovering the numerous affairs of
her husband, Zeus. When Hera discovered
Echos trickery, she cursed the nymph by
taking away her power of speechexcept
for the ability to repeat exactly what
another had just spoken.
Obviously, echo has since taken
on much broader meaning as both a
noun and a verb describing any sort
of reflection or repetition of sound.
Therefore echo will be included in the
early part of our look at the history of
delay as an outboard effect. Now, lets
look at some of the ways echo and delay
effects have been created.
Echo ex Machina
The history of electronic effects runs
parallel to the history of recorded music.
The creation of an ambient setting could
be thought of as the first effect to be used
in recording. Studio engineers realized the
physical characteristics of the room being
performed in affected the outcome of the
recording. A room with reflective surfaces,
such as tile or concrete, created natural
reverb. A larger room yielded an echo
effect. These live rooms were some of
the earliest and most widely used studio
effects. Echo chambers purposely built
for use in broadcast and recording date
back to 1931.
An echo chamber is a very large room,
usually with a playback system at one
end of the room and a microphone at the
other. Recording pioneer Bill Putnam Sr.
is credited with being the first to employ
a send-and-return method on an audio
console in order to vary the amount
of echo in a recording. Phil Spectors
famous wall of sound recordings from
the 1960s are a great example of the
echo-chamber effect. Echo chambers
were commonly employed in commercial
recording up until the 1970s, when
multi-tracking, close-miking, and more
sophisticated studio effects changed the
way commercial recordings were made.
Many of the recording techniques
still commonly used in studios today
were pioneered by Les Paul back in the
late 1940s. One of Pauls more notable
tricks was to add an extra playback head
to his tape recorder in order to achieve
a slapback echo effect. This innovation
marks the point where true delay was first
used as an effect, independent from echo
and reverb.
As this slapback effect was employed
on more and more recordings, it created
demand for a way to reproduce the effect
live. Ray Butts of Cairo, Illinois, was the
first to step up and meet this demand
when he was asked to build a device that
would recreate the type of echo that Les
Paul got on his records. Rays solution
was the EchoSonic amplifier with built-in
tape delay.
The EchoSonic had a fixed delay time,
but it yielded a perfect slapback echo that
helped define the rockabilly sound of that

era. The first notable guitarist to use the
EchoSonic was Chet Atkins, who recalls
having the amp as early as 1953 or 1954.
Next in line was Elvis Presley guitarist
Scotty Moore, who commissioned an
EchoSonic after hearing the one Atkins
had. The revolutionary device can be heard
on Chet Atkins recording of Mister
Sandman, and on much of Moores work
with Presley, starting with Mystery Train
and on through the early RCA singles.
In 1958, Charlie Watkins helped
develop what may have been the first
commercially available tape delaythe
Watkins Copicat. Shortly thereafter,
other manufacturers began making echomachine designs of their own. By the

early 60s, nearly a dozen manufacturers
were selling portable delay units.
Debuting in 1958, the Ecco-Fonic was
an attempted improvement on the earlier
EchoSonic. Designed in Los Angeles by
Ray Stolle, it was a tape-loop delay (like
the EchoSonic), but it featured a variable
delay length. Session guitarist and EccoFonic endorsee Del Casher told us he
suggested the method of moving the tape
head (rather than slowing the tape down)
to adjust the echo.
In 1959, German manufacturer
Dynacord began making the Echocord.
Photo courtesy of Dave Kyle
Ray Butts
EchoSonic
amplifier (used
by Chet Atkins
circa 1953) was
the first tapedelay-equipped
outboard unit to
enable guitarists
to achieve
slapback echo in
a live setting.
premierguitar.com
Top:
The Italian-made
Binson Echorec
today one of
the rarest and
most soughtafter delay units
from the late
50s and early
60s
was key to the
early Pink Floyd
sound.
Bottom:
The Echoplex
EP-3, a tapedelay that used
a self-contained
cassette-like
cartridge, is
perhaps the
most famous
and iconic delay
unit of all time.
One of the more popular European

echo units in the 60s, the Echocord
Super 65 sported six ECC83 tubes,
making it a terrific guitar preamp. Early
Dynacord echoes were nearly identical
to those from another German company,
Klemt. One of the odd drawbacks of
these German machines was their use of
five-pin DIN sockets for the inputs and
outputsnot terribly convenient for the
average guitarist.
For the true echo connoisseur,
nothing is more highly prized than the
Italian-made units of the late 50s and
early 60s. From Milan, Italy, came
the Binson Echorecone of the most
desirable and collectible designs of all
time. It used a rather unique system
involving a rotating drum that had
record and playback heads placed around
it in a circular fashion. The drum
contained a magnetic wire-recording disc
that spun continuously past the heads.
The legendary Binson design was integral
to the sound of early Pink Floyd, as both
guitarists Syd Barrett and David Gilmour
made extensive use of it. It can be seen
in action all throughout the movie Pink
Floyd: Live at Pompeii.
For the true echo

connoisseur, nothing is
more highly prized than the
Italian-made units of the late
50s and early 60s.
Italian amplifier company Meazzi
became much better known for its
Echomatic delay units than for its amps.
British guitarist Hank Marvin made
great use of the first Echomatic for his
famous rippling echo effect with his
band the Shadows. The first version of
the Echomatic used a rotating-drum
system similar to Binsons Echorec. But
after having problems with the rotating
drum, Meazzi switched to a tape-loop
system. The better-engineered new
version of the Echomatic featured six
playback heads equidistant from each
other, and another separate playback
head for an extra-long delay.
premierguitar.com
Over in the U.K., JMI (Jennings

Musical Industries, makers of Vox
instruments and amplifiers) began
importing Meazzi echoes and rebranding
them with the Vox name. Vox engineer
Dick Denney (designer of the famed
Vox AC30) decided to build his own
echo machine. The resultthe Vox
Echoalso came to be known as the
Shadows echo due to its endorsement
by Marvins famous instrumental outfit,
even if there is little evidence the band
actually used them.
But not all early echo machines used
magnetic tape. Raymond Lubow of TelRay Electronics developed the Adineko
Memory System in 1958. The Tel-Ray
Adineko is referred to as an oil-can delay
due to its unique method of generating
echo by means of a small tin can (like
a container of Sterno cooking fuel)
containing an electrolytic oil. A motor is
used to turn a small rubber belt, which
in turn rotates a flywheel armed with a
pickup inside the oilcan. The oil helps
premierguitar.com
store the electrical charge that generates the

echo. The resulting sound is not as clean
and well defined as a tape delay, yielding a
sometimes bizarre, warbling combination
of echo, reverb, and pitch shifting.
Although Tel-Ray produced their own
Ad-n-Echo Model 1001, the Adineko
system was licensed to a number of other
companies, including Gibson and Fender,
through which most of the Adineko
delays were sold.
Most of the great echo machines
of the 1960s were manufactured in
Europe. A couple of these designs
were made available on the American
market courtesy of Guild Guitars, which
imported and rebranded the Watkins
Copicat and Binson Echorec, selling
them as the Guild Copicat and the Guild
Echorec by Binson, respectively.
Fender made some forays into the
echo market in the mid 60s, too,
including with the Fender Electronic
Echo Chamber and the Fender EchoReverb. These were not as well regarded
as the European machines, and there

was really only one obvious choice for
many American players looking for
echothe Echoplex.
Echoplex Rex, King of Vintage Delays
The Echoplex is perhaps the most
popular and iconic echo effect of all
time. Designed by engineer Mike Battle
in 1959 (with the help of guitarist Don
Dixon), the Echoplex used a loop of
tape housed in a self-contained type
of cassette, which was much easier to
The key
component
in the classic
Tel-Ray oil can
delay isnt all
that different
from this
Sterno can.
Top:
In the 1970s,
Tel-Ray changed
its name to
Morley and
released several
large-format oil
can effects.
Bottom:
Rolands Space
Echo RE-201
featured
built-in spring
reverb and a
free running
tape system
that greatly
increased
tape life.
manage than other tape-based systems. It

also employed an easy-to-operate movable
head to achieve different lengths of delay.
Manufactured by Market Electronics
in Cleveland, Ohio, the first Echoplex
model was produced from the early to
mid 60s. It was succeeded by the EP-2,
at which time the originalwhich had
no model numberwas subsequently
designated EP-1. These early Echoplex
models are prized by guitarists for their
warm, tube-driven tone.
Eventually Battle was asked to design
an Echoplex that didnt require vacuum
tubes, which led to the release of the EP-3
in the early 70s. In addition to its solidstate circuitry, the EP-3 incorporated a few
other changes, the most significant being
its sound on sound feature. In soundon-sound mode, the erase mechanism is
disengaged so that the machine continues
to record on top of whatever has already
been recorded onto the tape loop.
This made the EP-3 the first portable
looperan analog one, to boot! Other
improvements included a proper output
jack (instead of the hardwired cable used
on the previous models) and a better,
more accessible layout. The EP-3 also
featured a really nice-sounding preamp
that many pedal manufacturers have
attempted to emulate in recent years.
In an effort to further improve the
design, the makers of the Echoplex came
out with the EP-4 around 1976. This
model incorporated additional circuitry,
such as a built in noise gate, compressor,
and controls for treble and bass, which
affected the sound in a way most players
didnt care for. The sound-on-sound
feature was also eliminated, perhaps
to make room for the level meter and
additional controls on the front panel.
Mike Battle has stated that he was not
involved with the design of the EP-4.
A couple of other Echoplex models that
had a brief run in the early to mid 70s are
also worth mentioning. The Battle-designed
EM-1 Groupmaster was sort of like a
deluxe, 4-channel EP-3 with additional
features and a large, awesome-looking
analog VU meter. The budget ES-1 Sireko
model lacked the sound-on-sound feature,
and its delay-time slider control had a
much shorter throw than the EP-3. The

Sireko also used a different tape cartridge
than all the other Echoplex modelsone
that is nearly impossible to find these days.
Other Echoes of the 70s
In the early to mid 1970s, electromechanical echo machines were still the
only game in town if you wanted delay.
The Echoplex EP-3, now marketed under
the Maestro brand, reigned supreme but
other manufacturers began releasing new
and more sophisticated designs.
The oil-can delay made a minor
comeback when Tel-Ray Electronics
changed its name to Morley in the early

1970s and released a whole line of very
large, chrome-plated stompboxes. Some
of theseincluding the EVO-1 Echo
Volume and the RWV Rotating Wah
Volume, and the EDL Electrostatic
Delay Linefeatured the Tel-Ray oilcan design.
Universal Audios Cooper Time Cube
warrants mention, too. Designed by
Duane H. Cooper and Bill Putnam in
1971, it sent the audio signal through
coiled, garden-hose-like tubing to create
30 ms of delay. Although the slight
doubling effect was prized by several
premierguitar.com
TRANSFORM YOUR SOUND

Reinhold Bogners new Harlow boost with bloom,
Wessex overdrive and Burnley distortion incorporate a
custom audio transformer created by legendary audio
pioneer, Mr. Rupert Neve.
transformer by rupert neve designs
The pairing of these masterminds has resulted in a trio

of pedals that serve up rich, buttery tones, ultra-dynamic
response and a stunning, three-dimensional sound quality
inspired by the classic mixing consoles of the 1960s.
Top:
MXRs bucketbrigade Analog
Delay debuted
in 1977 and
became one
of the most
popular delay
pedals of
its time.
Bottom:
Electromechanical
delays such as
the Multivox
Multi Echo can
sound great, but
theyre bulky
and difficult to
maintain.
producers and engineers for its ability to

sit well in a mix, it was more than a bit
underwhelming as a delay compared to
the average tape echo. Only 1,000 units
were ever made.
Japanese manufacturers made a
number of unique effect contributions
in the late 60s, too. One of the first
Japanese delays, the Ace Tone Echo
Chamber, was released in the early 70s
as two different modelsthe EC-10
and EC-20. Both models had features
that astute observers will recognize as
precursors to the Roland Space Echo.
Established in 1972 by former Ace
Tone founder Ikutaro Kakehashi, the
Roland Corporation entered the effects
market and gave the Echoplex its greatest
competition with several models of
the Roland Space Echo. The first two
Space Echo models, the RE-100 and
RE-200, were similar to Ace Tone units
in that they had multiple inputs and
outputs, variable motor speed, and a
multi-position rotary switch for selecting
different delay settings. But these shortlived models were soon replaced by a new
design that would become a classic: The
next Space Echo iterations included the
RE-101, RE-150, andmost famous of
allthe RE-201. All three featured a new
free running tape system that allowed
a longer length of tape to be used, and
that also reduced tape frictionboth of
which increased tape life. The RE-201
also featured built-in spring reverb.
Around 1977, the company introduced
the RE-301 Chorus Echo, which added
the groundbreaking chorus effect from
Rolands existing JC-120 amp. This was
followed by the RE-501 Chorus Echo,
an improved version of the RE-301 with
balanced XLR ins and outs and noisereduction circuitry. The SRE-555 was a
rackmount version of the RE-501.
Other notable Japanese electromechanical delays from the 70s include
the Korg Stage Echo (models SE-300
and SE-500), and the Multivox Multi
Echo (models MX-201 and MX-312).
Although electro-mechanical delays are still
held in high regard by many musicians,
theyre not without their drawbacks.
Their bulky size, high-maintenance,
The bucket-brigade device (BBD) is a specialized integrated

circuit that facilitated development of a whole category
of time-based modulation effects. Before the digital
revolution, choruses, flangers, and analog delays all
relied on BBDs to achieve these effects.
and unpredictable reliability keep many
otherwise interested players at a distance.
And by the mid 70s, a new technology
emerged to singlehandedly relegate the
electro-mechanical delay to the Island of
Misfit Toys.
The Charge of the Bucket Brigade
In the early 70s, integrated-circuit
(IC) chips made it possible to create
more sophisticated effects designs.
The bucket-brigade device (BBD) is a
highly specialized IC that facilitated
development of a whole category of
time-based modulation effects. Before

the digital revolution, choruses, flangers,
and analog delays all relied on BBDs to
achieve these effects.
The BBD was invented in 1969 by
F.L.J. Sangster and K. Teer at Philips
Research Laboratories in Eindhoven,
Netherlands. The most common
version made by Philips was a 512-stage
BBD named TDA 1022. Eventually,
Philips licensed the technology and
other companies began manufacturing
bucket-brigade devices. The first was
the Reticon Corporation of Sunnyvale,
premierguitar.com
In sport we refer to the exceptional athletes

as games changers, someone who can take their
game to another level & raise the bar on the
competition. The GrandMeister 36 is the game
changer of amplifiers.
* iPad is a trademark of Apple Inc.
Josh Rand
is an all analog tube amp as you

know it. We added effects, and simply replaced all the conventional
potentiometers with Smart Rotary Controls. For the first time, you can
remote control every single pot and switch on your amp in realtime!
Simply with a footswitch, expression pedal or even with your iPad*.
It is really that simple.
Watch and Touch your Tube Tone

... from a whole new perspective.
Hughes & Kettner is proudly distributed in the USA & Canada by Yorkville Sound.
facebook.com/hughesandkettner | www.hughesandkettner.com/TubeMeister
Everything you would expect from a Meister,

plus everything you wouldnt!
Above:
Some believe
the Dynacord
EC 280 was the
first BBD delay.
Right:
Boss bucketbrigade DM-1
Delay Machine
preceded the
now-legendary
DM-2 compact
analog delay.
California, whose Sampled Analog Delay

(SAD) series of delay chips became the
industry standard for the first wave
of modulation effects. Not long after,
Philips licensed the technology to
Matsushita in Japan, which developed
the Panasonic MN3000 series.
BBDs are also referred to as analog
delay lines, even though theyre also used
in modulation effects such as choruses
and flangers. This has more to do with
how the chip itself functions than what
type of effect its used in. In lay terms,
heres roughly how it works: A BBD chip
contains a long series of stages. Each stage
is made up of a small capacitor circuit that
can store a charge. As a signal enters the
BBD, it must pass through each stage of
the chip, which causes a delay in the time
between the signal entering and leaving
the chip. The delay time is controlled
by a low-frequency clock oscillator, and
premierguitar.com
MODULAR PEDALBOARDS
SIMPLE TO CONNECT
Slide two units together and twist
the built-in locking thumbscrews
to connect. Done.
CLUTTER FREE ROUTING

Route instrument & power cables
underneath & attach to built-in
anchor points.
CUSTOM BAG
Each Stompblox comes with a gig
bag. When using two units, the
bags zip together. The first
modular pedalboard bag.
CREATE YOUR OWN LAYOUT

Guitar player? Bass? Both?
Configure Stompblox to fit your
style. Have a big board for practice
and take a smaller section to gigs!
NEW ACCESSORIES
STOMPBLOX RISER
Snap the modular Riser
into Stompblox allowing
pedals to be elevated
for easy access.
premierguitar.com
STOMPBLOX EXTEND
Extends Stompblox
and easily mounts
nearly any effect
pedal power supply.
An assortment
of electromechanical,
BBD, and digital
delays from the
60s through the
present.
the total delay time is determined by the

number of stages in the chip. The term
bucket brigade was originally used
to describe a single-file line of people
standing side by side and passing items,
usually buckets of water or sandbags,
from one person to the next. This is how
fires were extinguished in the days before
modern transportation and plumbing.
Bucket-brigade devices were first
used in musical products around 1972.
Electronic keyboards such as the Eminent
310 String Synthesizer and Freeman
String Symphonizer were the first to
employ this new technology. It was only
a matter of time before the devices found
their way into standalone effect-pedal
designs. The first stompbox effects to
employ BBDs were flangers, which first

appeared around 1974.
According to Electro-Harmonix
founder Mike Matthews, the first analog
delay pedal was the Electro-Harmonix
Memory Manthough the veracity of
this claim has been the subject of some
debate. Design engineer Howard Mick
Davis, who was hired by Matthews in
1976, recalled that the Memory Man
had already been released for some
time before he was hired, which at least
qualifies it as one of the first BBD delays.
Davis improved design was the nowclassic Deluxe Memory Man.
Another contingent holds that
the first analog delay was the EC
280 Electronic Echo, which was
manufactured by Dynacordthe same

company that made the highly regarded
Echocord tape delay. The EC 280 used
eight Philips TDA 1022 BBDs, one of
the first analog delay-chip models. As
analog delays go, the EC 208 isnt great,
but it does have a quirky lo-fi sound
thats unique and rather endearing.
Yet another contender for first analog
delay is the Marshall Time Modulator,
an exceptionally great-sounding studio
rack unit with some highly innovative
features. Stevie Wonder used it on his
1976 album, Songs in the Key of Life.
The Tycobrahe Analog Delay Line was
another early design that used four
Panasonic MN3001 BBDs and had an
awful lot of circuitry for a relatively
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By the end of the 70s ... manufacturers started to focus more

on rackmount products and less on stompboxes. As a result, the
next wave of classic delay units was mostly of rack devices.
By the
1980s, many
manufacturers
emphasized
rackmountable
effects, such as
the A/DA STD-1
and Ibanezs
AD-230, a multieffect monster
with 18
BBD chips.
short delay time. Due to its rarity, the

Tycobrahe is more of a collectors item
than a useful delay unit.
One of the more popular analog delay
pedals of this era, the MXR Analog Delay,
debuted (along with the companys new
block logo design) in 1977. And though
Boss is better known for its DM-2 analog
delay pedal from the early 80s, the pedal
giants first analog delay was the DM-1
Delay Machine, which came out in 1978.
By the end of the decade, every major
effects manufacturer offered BBD flanger,
chorus, and analog-delay effects.
Unfortunately, the demand for BBDs
was somewhat limited, and the advent
of digital technology soon rendered
analog delay chips obsolete. Reticon
ceased producing them in the early
80s, thus the majority of subsequent
analog delays featured Panasonic chips
until Matsushita ceased production of

Panasonic BBDs in 1999.
The Digital Revolution
By the end of the 70s, two major
effects-market shifts began unfolding.
First, manufacturers started to focus
more on rackmount products and less
on stompboxes. This was coupled with
a growing movement in favor of newly
emerging digital technology. As a result,
the next wave of classic delay units was
mostly rack devices.
Initially, some of these products used
analog BBD circuitry. A/DA entered
the market in 1978 with a line of
stompboxes, beginning with the legendary
A/DA Flanger, but by 81 it had switched
exclusively to rackmount products.
One of its early rack units, the STD-1
Stereo Tapped Delay, was a high-quality,
BBD analog delay. And though Boss

(a division of the Roland Corporation)
and Ibanez continued producing effect
pedals during the 80s, each also had
its share of rackmounts. The mother of
all vintage Ibanez rack effects was the
Ibanez AD-230 Analog Delay and MultiFlanger, a studio-quality unit that used 18
Panasonic MN3004 BBDs.
But within a couple of years, even the
analog rack delay would become a relic of
the past. With their relatively low fidelity
and inherent loss of high-end frequencies,
bucket-brigade delays were no match
for the crystal-clear repeats of a digitally
sampled signal. Digital technology was
the way of the future.
Eventide Clock Works Inc.today
known simply as Eventidewas one
of the first companies on the digital
signal-processing scene. Its legendary
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With 9 nely-tuned presets emulating
the legendary organs of the 60s and
beyond, the B9 Organ Machine will
transform your guitar or keyboard.
Control the organs signature percussive click and sweet modulation. Blend
your dry and wet signals independently to create lush layers. The B9 packs
enough tonewheel and combo organ
inspiration to light your fire and fry up
some green onions!
See the Demo Video www.ehx.com/B9
Above:
The Digital
Delay was one
of Mu-Trons
final products
before folding
in 1980.
Meanwhile,
Korgs SDD3000 gave the
Edge his echoes.
Inset:
For years, TC
Electronics
TC2290 delay
was one of the
most highly
regarded rack
delays on the
market.
H910 Harmonizer, which debuted

in 1975, featured pitch shifting and
a short digital delay, with feedback
control for creating doubling effects. In
1979, Mu-Trons Digital Delay arrived,
although it was short lived due to the
fact that the company had just been
purchased by ARP, which went under
the following year.
The early to mid 80s brought some
of the most highly regarded digital delays
ever produced. Lexicon, which was
already breaking new ground with the
224 Digital Reverberator, introduced
the PCM 41 Digital Delay Processor
in 1980. It was the first in a series of
world-class digital delays that would also
include the PCM 42 and PCM 70.
In 1982, Korg debuted the SDD3000 Programmable Digital Delay,
which quickly became integral to the
signature sound of U2s the Edge.
Around the same time, Roland released
the SDE-3000 Digital Delay, a rack that
was on par with the Korg but that now
commands less than half the price on the
vintage market ostensibly due to the lack
of celebrity association.
In 1984, players who wanted digital
delay in a stompbox finally had access
in Electro-Harmonixs 16-Second
Digital Delaya pedal that King
Crimson guitarist Adrian Belew made
extensive use of, especially for its
looping capabilities.
Eventide scored big in 1985 with

the H3000 Ultra Harmonizer, a stateof-the-art processor with algorithms
for creating pitch shifting, delay, and
modulation effects that had never
been heard before. The H3000 quickly
became a must-have for broadcast and
recording professionals.
TC Electronics TC2290 Dynamic
Digital Delay + Effects Control Processor,
released in 1986, is one of my all time
favorite delays of any kindfantastic
sound quality, great modulation, packed
with features, easy to program, and the
best looking display a rack unit could have.
Rackmount gear was fully established
by the late 80s and dominated the scene
in the early 90sthis was the heyday
of digital multi-effects units. However,

most multi-effects units of the era seemed
to concentrate on quantitynumbers
of effect types and preset-storage
slotsrather than quality. The focus of
manufacturers trying to develop products
that delivered the most bang for the buck
resulted in the cheap, over-processed
guitar tones that began to give digital a
bad rap.
The Seattle grunge movement of the
90s helped shift players attention back
to analog stompboxes, creating an interest
in vintage pedals and helping to foster
a new cottage industry of first-generation
boutique pedal makers. But while more
pedals were becoming available, delay
was an underrepresented effect in the
premierguitar.com
90s stompbox scene. Programmable

rack delays still had it over stompboxes
in terms of options and flexibility. One
of the better delay-pedal options toward
the end of the decade would have been
something like the Boss DD-5 Digital
Delay. Over the next decade, things
became a whole lot different.
Today and the Future
At present, the effects market is completely
and utterly saturated. If theres such a thing
as too many choices, were definitely there.
In terms of delay, great units are available
from many different companies, no matter
what your preferenceanalog, digital,
stompbox, rack, app, or plug-in!
Units such as Strymons TimeLine and
Eventides TimeFactor and Space pedals
represent the pinnacle of state-of-the-art
stompbox delay: Each unit offers more
features, depth, and programmability
than most players could use in a lifetime.
And for those who dont want that deep
of a dive, there are units like the Empress
Vintage Modified Superdelay, a featurepacked digital unit thats a little easier to

get your head around.
But analog delay is anything but
dead. Semiconductor companies such as
CoolAudio and Shanghai Belling are now
manufacturing bucket-brigade-device
reissues that have made possible a new
generation of analog delays, including
the ber-boutique Toneczar Echoczar and
Analog Man ARDX20, not to mention
MXRs Carbon Copy, Way Huges AquaPuss, and many, many others. And if
thats not enough, Moog Music just
released the Moogerfooger MF-104MSD
Super Analog Delay, which uses six newold-stock Panasonic BBDs.
Want more? The options are nearly
endless: If youve got a hankering for
authentic tape delay but dont want
to take your chances on a beat-up old
unit, you can get yourself a Fulltone
Tube Tape Echo. And there are plenty
of powerful digital boxes, apps, and
plug-ins that aim to give you a taste
of virtually every delay technology

discussed here.
With a whole universe of delay at our
fingertips, its hard to imagine how delay
will evolve in the future. We can certainly
expect to see more of what we already have
in a variety of forms from various brands,
in endless cycles of repetition. Any further
innovations will most likely take place in
the digital realm. Portable looping units
are becoming ever more sophisticated and
compact, and new variations of shimmer
delay effects will likely be available.
Perhaps some predictive modeling
algorithm will enable us to generate delay
from a signal that has yet to be createda
virtual time traveling echo machine to
bring us delays of future past.
TOM HUGHES (aka Analog Tom)
is author of Analog Mans Guide
to Vintage Effects, and owner and
proprietor of ForMusiciansOnly.com
and Black Cat Pedals.
premierguitar.com
WEVE TAKEN
DIGITAL WIRELESS
TO THE NEXT LEVEL . . .
THE FLOOR
SYSTEM
STOMPBOX
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delivers the ultimate wireless experience. With the tap of a foot on the rugged, metal Stompbox receiver, guitarists can toggle between dual " balanced outputs or mute one output without affecting the other. And, since the System operates
in the 2.4 GHz range, its free from TV and DTV interference. You can also pair multiple UniPak body-pack transmitters with
a single receiver to easily change guitars. So go ahead, give it a try we think youll be floored.
audio-technica.com
TRASH OR TREASURE
A Look at the National Newport 50

BY ZACHARY FJESTAD
Q:
The 17-watt,
2x10 National
Newport 50
offered up just
about everything
an intermediate
guitarist would
need and are
now worth
between $800
and $1,000
in excellent
condition.
Hey Zach,
I was checking out some rummage sales with my wife and happened
upon this National guitar amplifier. I suspect the family who was
holding the sale didnt know what they had as I picked it up for $50. It
was an estate sale of various items, but this definitely stood out to me
since Im a recreational guitarist. Everything on the amp works, except
that a few of the knobs make a scratching sound when turned back
and forth. Can you affirm my suspicions that I found a deal?
Thanks,
Ned in Green Bay, Wisconsin
A:
Hi Ned,
While Im fairly confident
you would get your $50
back (and then some) if you decided to
sell this amp, lets take a look at it first.
National amps came from the same
National brand of Dobro resonators, but
the amp you have is hardly designed to
be used for bluegrass. Its a fitting brand
name, however, since Nationals resonator
guitars represent some of the first forms
of amplification.
National ventured into guitar
amplificationsans electronicswhen
guitarist George Beauchamp approached
John and Rudy Dopyera (the founders
of National) with an idea on how to
increase the volume of guitars that were
getting lost in the large orchestras of
the late 1920s. He suggested putting an
aluminum resonator in the guitar body to
help resonate the sound, which is where
the name came from.
Modern amplifiers powered by
electricity began to appear in the 1930s,
thereby almost rendering the resonator
obsolete for its intended purpose only a
few years after it was introduced. However,
resonators found a niche with bluegrass
players and continue to be popular today.
National followed suit and introduced
an electric amplifier in the 1930s called
the National Dobro. Ownership of
National then changed many times in
the 1930s and early 1940s before Victor
Smith, Al Frost, and Louis Dopyera
partnered and changed the name of
the company to Valco in 1943. Valco

produced National amps, but they also
built amplifiers and instruments for other
distributors/suppliers under different
names including Supro, Oahu, Gretsch,
and Airline. Its not uncommon to find
the exact same amplifier produced under
several different trademarks.
Your newly acquired Newport 50
is from Nationals line of amplifiers
introduced in the early 1960s, around the
same time they released their unique ResO-Glas electric guitars (one of which is
also called a Newport). These amps were
very attractive and instantly recognizable
with their random-colored stitching and
black covering combination, and light
brown/gray grille. They were offered in
many power levels with varying features
and price points, so there was a National
amp for just about everyone.
The Newport 50 falls in the middle
of Nationals lineup. Somewhat similar
to the Fender Super in terms of power,
speaker size, and features, the Newport
50 provided the intermediate guitarist
with everything they should need in an
amp. Specifications include 17 watts
of power, dual 10" Jensen speakers, an
8-tube chassis with four 12AX7s and one
6973 for the preamp, two 6973s for the
power amp, and a 5Y3 for the rectifier.
Other features include reverb and
tremolo, and six knobs on the front
panel consisting of individual volume
and tone controls for each channel and
controls to dial in reverb and tremolo
intensity. There are four inputs (two per

channel) located on the rear panel, along
with a tremolo speed-control knob and
inputs for the 2-button footswitch for the
tremolo and reverb.
These amps were produced until about
1967 or 1968 when the entire line was
replaced by a new and more powerful
series. These new amps only lasted a
year or two before Valco went out of
business, and the National name ended
up with Strum N Druman importer
in Chicago without any manufacturing
facilities. They offered one amp called
the GA 950P, a solid-state model that
effectively ended production of National
amplifiers for good.
Being among the most recognizable
and arguably the most popular National
amplifiers, your amp represents one
of the most valuable in terms of
collectability. Currently, a National
Newport 50 is worth between $800 and
$1,000 in excellent condition. Since
your amp likely sat for many years, it
probably needs to be cleaned and tuned
up. Potentiometer scratching is very
commonespecially in amps that have
sat at lengthand this can be remedied
with some contact cleaner. If that doesnt
work, the pots can simply be replaced.
For a few hundred bucks, you could
get this amp re-tubed and cleaned so it
operates like new.
Based on current value, Id estimate
you stand to make at least a $500 profit
on your $50 investment if you get it
tuned up. This is indeed a treasure for
you, although the people that held the
rummage sale might disagree!
ZACHARY R. FJESTAD is author
of Blue Book of Acoustic Guitars,
Blue Book of Electric Guitars, and
Blue Book of Guitar Amplifiers.
For more information, visit
bluebookinc.com or email Zach at
guitars@bluebookinc.com.
premierguitar.com
T H E G R E AT E S T S E L E C T I O N
O F T H E F I N E S T G U I TA R S
ESP Exhibition Model No. 35

Mystique with Natural Koa Top
Friedman Dirty Shirley

40-Watt Tube Guitar Head
(3739MYST)

in see-thru Black Burst

Mystique in Tiger Eye
(3741MYST)
(3740MYST)
Friedman Dirty Shirley 1x12 Guitar Cabinet

with Celestion Creamback Speaker
S E E T H E S E I N S T R U M E N T S A N D M O R E AT G C P L AT I N U M . C O M
The unusual
construction of
the Firebirds made
them difficult
and expensive to
produce.
premierguitar.com
VINTAGE VAULT
1965 Gibson Firebird III

BY DAVE ROGERS, LAUN BRAITHWAITE, AND TIM MULLALLY
n 1962 Gibson president Ted

McCarty decided that a bold new
guitar was needed to compete
with Fenders popular Jazzmaster. For a
fresh, all-new concept, McCarty sought
outside help and hired well-known
automobile designer Ray Dietrich.
After 50 years of designing for such top
companies as Lincoln, Packard, Ford, and
Chrysler, Dietrich had recently retired to
Kalamazoo, Michigan, where Gibson was
headquartered at the time.
The new Firebird linethe name was
suggested by Dietrichwas introduced
in the spring of 1963. The series included
four guitars, the Firebird I, III, IV, and
VII, and two basses, the Thunderbird II
and IV. Boasting a unique neck-throughbody construction that ran from the tip
of the headstock to the bottom strap
button, as well as a pair of asymmetrical
wings attached to either side of the
necks center section, the guitar had a
unique, irregular look. To complete this
visual impression, the headstock sported
six banjo tuners located on the opposite

side of Fenders familiar headstock.
The unusual construction of the
Firebirds made them difficult and
expensive to produce. Once the guitars
had shipped, the headstock/neck area
was found to be weak and easily broken.
Unfortunately, the heavy banjo tuners
exacerbated this problem.
These issues, along with poor sales and
pressure from Fender about copyright
infringement on its offset waist design,
caused Gibson to revamp the entire
Firebird/Thunderbird line using more
conventional and less costly construction
methods. The overhauled versions used
a traditional glued-in neck on a more
conservative offset body that looked like
a flipped overnon-reverseedition of
the earlier guitars.
The rare 1965 Firebird III pictured
here has features of both the original
reverse Firebirds and the redesigned nonreverse versions of that year. It retains
the reverse body style and neck-through
construction of the original series, yet

has a flat headstock, rather than the
earlier two-level sculpted style. Its also
equipped with conventional Kluson
tuners instead of banjo tuners. The neck
is unbound, like the non-reverse models,
and P-90 pickups replace the original
mini-humbuckers.
The original price for a Firebird III
was $249.50. The current value for one
in excellent all-original condition is
$10,000.
Sources for this article include Gibson
ElectricsThe Classic Years by A.R.
Duchossoir; Flying V, Explorer, Firebird
by Tony Bacon; and Gibson Guitars: Ted
McCartys Golden Era 1948-1966 by Gil
Hembree.
DAVES GUITAR SHOP
Dave Rogers collection is tended by Laun Braithwaite

and Tim Mullally and is on display at:
Daves Guitar Shop
1227 Third Street South
La Crosse, WI 54601
davesguitar.com
Photos by Mullally and text by Braithwaite.
Opposite page:
The Firebird
was Gibsons
response to
the Fender
Jazzmaster.
Left: This 1965
Firebird has a flat
headstock, which
differs from
the two-level
sculpted design
introduced in
1963.
Inset: Another
difference
between the 63
Firebird and the
redesigned 65
model shown
here: Gibson
replaced the
banjo tuners with
conventional
Klusons.
premierguitar.com
S2 Singlecut
2014 PRS Guitars / Guitar Photos by Marc Quigley / Concert Photo by Graham Fielder
S2 Mira
S2 Custom 24
S2 Starla
The S2 Series from PRS Guitars

provides tone you can trust whether
youre rocking an arena or gigging in
the bar around the corner. Now, with
two new models, the S2 Custom 22
and the S2 Singlecut, its easier than
ever to find the one thats right for you.
Affordable, Maryland-made guitars
with classic PRS sound and playability.
S2 Custom 22
Tone You Can Trust
Red Hot Chili Pepper Josh Klinghoffer and former Gnarls Barkley guitarist
Clint Walsh talk about their chance meeting and the toys/tools used
to create the gaze-prog fever dreams on their two new Dot Hacker albums,
Hows Your Process (Work) and Hows Your Process (Play).
BY SHAWN HAMMOND
premierguitar.com
hat do you do in your downtime when you play guitar in one of

the most popular and influential bands of the last 30 yearsa band
that fills stadiums and plays the friggin Super Bowl? If youre Josh
Klinghofferpal of the Red Hot Chili Peppers since the late 90s,
touring member since 2007, and full-timer since 2009you form
another band so you can exorcise your prog-y shoegaze demons, of course.
Only in his Dot Hacker quartet, Klinghoffer doesnt have to worry about
comparisons to Strat-master John Frusciante. On 2012s Inhibition and this years two
Hacker LPs, Hows Your Process (Work) and Hows Your Process (Play), hes not just the
guitar guy: He takes center stage as bandleader, singer, guitarist, and synth player.
Not that the 34-year-old L.A. native spends much time thinking about the big
shoes he filled in the Peppers. Hes a close friend and frequent collaborator with the
6-string genius behind RHCP hits like Under the Bridge, the Grammy-winning
Give It Away, and The Zephyr Song. And, in general, one of Klinghoffers key
strengths seems to be his mature ability to chill with musicians from across the creative
spectrumoften musicians many years his senior.
In fact, this is a recurring theme in Klinghoffers musical story. The bonds he forges
with players he falls in with through luck, fate, or brains, all seem to lead to something
bigger, better, or at least refreshingly different. His path to the Peppers wouldnt have
materialized had it not been for the friendship he struck with Bob Forrest (frontman
for cult post-punk outfit Thelonious Monster) when he was recruited to Forrests
Bicycle Thief project at the age of 17. Forrest, in turn, happened to be tight with
Frusciante, Flea, and Chili singer Anthony Kiedis, so being in that circle eventually
paved the way to taking over when Frusciante departed to resume his solo career.
But Klinghoffers abilities and amiabilities led him onward even after hed landed
that coveted gig. In 2008, between Chili engagements, he went on the road with yet
more friendsDanger Mouse and CeeLo Green from neo-soul outfit Gnarls Barkley.
Just for fun. Thats where he met guitarist Clint Walsh and the seeds of Dot Hacker
were sown.
We became friends pretty instantly, Klinghoffer says. Walsh adds, The next thing
I knew, we were moving forward with our plans: Josh introduced me to Jonathan
[Hischke], our bass player, and I introduced him to Eric [Gardner, also from a Gnarls
Barkley touring lineup]. We had a space, we were writing songs, and it just went really
smoothly. Everything felt right about it.
A cynic might look at all these connections and call it simple networking, but Dot
Hacker seems like more than just a band: The four mates are so close theyve instituted
a daily song-sharing regimen to draw closer and understand each other better. The
day of our interview, Gardner had suggested Ornette Colemans Humpty Dumpty,
featuring late bass great Charlie Haden. We sent texts around saying, Lets learn
that and play it tomorrow, says Klinghoffer. The way Clint and I turned up having
learned it was totally differenthe could play it far better than I could.
It goes without saying that Klinghoffers musical interests are all over the map:
He plays in the punk-funkiest band on the planet, yet when asked about formative
influences he mentions Depeche Mode and Morrissey in the same breath as Guns N
Roses, Mtley Cre, and, yes, the Peppers. And then theres the Dot Hacker sound
itself: Falsetto lithium-dream vocals float over soundscapes smeared in manically
droning vintage guitars, amps, and synthesizers, each awash in reverb, echo, and
tremolo, and each ricocheting off the others one minute, then slithering around and
through them the nextall in a way thats somehow loose, organic, and unpredictable,
yet prevented from disintegrating into ambient oblivion by the confines of Hischke
and Gardners hypnotically pulsating and remarkably dynamic rhythm section.
To get insight into the process behind Klinghoffer and Walshs work and playas
well as their toys/toolswe spoke to them just after the midsummer release of Hows
Your Process (Work), which preceded the (Play) album by three months.
Josh, youve been kicking around the

phrase Hows your process? for quite
some timethere are YouTube videos
from more than a year ago where youre
wearing a t-shirt that says it. Whats the
story there?
Josh Klinghoffer: I heard someone say
it one time. Just out of the corner of my
ear, I heard someone ask that question,
and I thought it was the most amazing
thing Id ever heard. There were all sorts
of things going on in that room that
made it a 50-sided question. I love things
that have multiple meaningsor could
have multiple meaningsand make you
look at a thing in a thousand different
ways. That name really applies to this
bandasking ourselves how our process
is and thinking about how we work
and want to continue to work. I was so
compelled by it when I heard it that I
made that shirt and wore it around on
the tour. Im always asking myself if I
could be doing what Im doing better,
or whether the term better is bullshit.
Like, if youre doing it at all, it might
be as good as you could be doing it at
the moment. I dont know youre just
always looking at yourself and wondering
if youre doing everything youre doing as
well as you can be doing it for yourself,
other people, your bandmates, your
family, or your friends. I just think its a
good question to ask yourself all the time.
Speaking of work/play processes,
how do Dot Hacker songs typically
developdo you guys just get together
and jam?
Clint Walsh: Its some of everything.
Josh writes stuff and brings it to us, and
we react to it. Ill write stuff and do the
same. Sometimes songs are born out of
jams. Theres no real rhyme or reason.
The only caveat is that you have to hear
what somebody brought ineverything
deserves a chance to be heard.
Klinghoffer: Sometimes the amount of
time we get to spend together dictates
how much certain things get worked on,
but in the end hopefully they all wind up
sounding like this band. Like, Ill listen
to songs that were born out of a jam that
sound more constructed and worked
premierguitar.com
on than a song that took five years to

complete.
Walsh: Josh is also really good at
cataloging. I dont think Ive ever been
in a band with somebody so on top of
rehearsals. Listening to your practices
helps so much. Im really thankful that
part is there.
So you record all your jams?
Klinghoffer: Yeah, we record everything.
We spent all of the last two weeks
rehearsing for this tour, and Im kind
of kicking myself for recording, like, 90
percent of it. But just in the little bit I
listened to in order to catalog it in the
computer, I heard things that I couldnt
really pick out at practice. It helped me
know how to approach the song the next
time we played it. I dont know how
because time is going by very quickly these
daysbut there are still pieces of music we
jammed on at the beginning of the bands
existence that I know will someday be a
song. Also, when we jam there are a lot of
lyrics and song ideas vocally that I have to

dig for and listen to. Ive become very
analis that the right word?about my
recording and cataloging. [Laughs.]
Walsh: No, diligent is a better word.
Both of you also play keyboards. How
does that dynamic work, and how does
it affect your guitar roles?
Walsh: Josh is much more proficient as a
piano player than I am. We both kind of
allow each other the space to do whatever
we want to do on whatever instrument.
I tend to favor certain types of keyboard
sounds and use them more as either a
counter-melodic instrument or with a
pad-type approach. I think both of us
are different musicians on the different
instruments that we play, too.
You mean the different form factor
the different physicality of the
instrument itselfmakes you approach
music differently?
Klinghoffer: Writing songs on piano
or coming up with progressions on the

keyboard is a lot more exciting to me,
because Im far less familiar with it than
I am with the guitar. It still has a really
exciting, unknown aspect to it.
Walsh: Yeah, Id agree with that. It takes
you out of your comfort zone.
Klinghoffer: People have been saying it
for a long time now, but anything that
you can do to change or even slightly
modify a general rock-band format [is
great] I mean, we are essentially two
guitarists/keyboardists, plus bass and
drums. When I come in with a song
thats on piano and Clint looks at the
guitar or keyboard, its a bit of freedom.
If I want to just do one note on the
synth and twist a couple of delay knobs,
theres freedom to fill a lot of different
kinds of space.
Josh, do you use the same guitar rig
you use with the Peppers?
Klinghoffer: Absolutely not, because I
would never set that up myself. No, no,
premierguitar.com
nothat rig is built for higher volumes and

more arm strength than mine. [Laughs.]
We did a Rig Rundown with your Chili
Peppers tech a couple of years ago, and Im
pretty sure you had more pedals than anyone
weve ever talked to. Was it, like, three or four
different pedalboards?
Klinghoffer: I think at that time it was three.
I dont know what I was thinking [laughs]. Not
too long after you guys filmed that, I wound
up breaking my foot and was sort of confined
to a chair and in one place onstage. Since I
could only use one foot, we shrunk down to
one board and Ian [Sheppard, RHCP guitar
tech] controlled a couple of things that were
only used in one or two songs from a controller
offstage. After that, we realized how much
signal I was losing by going through all those
pedals. I didnt really need all of it. A lot of
it was just hung over from past Chili Peppers
songs that required a certain thing, or from a
recollection of a jam that sounded great when
I first started playing with them, but that I
wound up never using again. I made it through
the rest of the tour with the one board Id
shrunk it down to. The next time we go out of
town, Im really going to try and use just what
we need.
With Dot Hackerbecause we dont often
get the luxury of soundchecks, or because
were loading the gear ourselvesI really try
to have my shit as tight as possible. I use one
amp, preferably as small as it can be while
still sounding big and good. I try to use as
few pedals as possible. I even kicked myself
for throwing two extra pedals that I felt like I
didnt need on my board last weekend. I really
try to have as little gear and as few cables
as possible.
JC-120 for a few things. I really liked

the combination of those two. Josh
brought in a lot of cool stuff that hed
gotten over the last few years. Some of
the amps Id never heard of, and some
of it was just like a candy store.
Klinghoffer: When we did the live
tracking, the basic tracks were done
over a few different sessions. I used
an old Fender Superlike, a late50s Fender Super. And a Danelectro
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Lets talk about the rigs you used for the album.
Klinghoffer: The album is a different story. We
just kind of had fun with what was around at
the time. Ive amassed a lot of cool amps over
the last few years, and Clint and I both have a
lot of cool guitars. I think that, amp-wise [to
Clint] what did you record through?
Walsh: I used an old Deluxe Reverb.
Like, a blackface?
Walsh: Its one of the 68s with the aluminum
drip, so silverface I guessthough that year is
still technically a blackface. I used a [Roland]
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DS-100thats sort of been my secret

weapon for Dot Hacker in the studio
on this last album. During overdubs,
we used a Watkins Dominator and a
Watkins Scout a lot.
Walsh: Theres a song called First
in Forever on the Hows Your
Process (Work), and I remember
Josh overdubbed his guitar with
a Marshall like a 4x15 or
something.
Mahogany neck and body
Modern bolt-on neck joint
Sleek C-shape neck
Clean, precise fret job
24 scale
Black Gold Flake finish
silvertoneguitar.com
CLINT WALSHS GEAR

GUITARS
So thats yours, Josh?

Klinghoffer: Yeah, I think we found it
somewhere in England. Ian and I have been
looking for anything interesting. I play the
Marshall Major onstage [with RHCP], so
were always looking for Majorsespecially
if theyre in different colors. We found that
4x15 cabinet with a matching head.
Walsh: Its the size of a safea
refrigerator!
Klinghoffer: Yeah, its the biggest
cabinet Ive ever seen. It has an enclosed
back, obviously, but the low end
and the clarity of the low end is just
unmatchable.
Is it a stock, factory cab or a
custom thing?
Klinghoffer: Thats a good question. I

actually have no idea. Maybe it was a
bass thing?
Walsh: [Laughs.] Yeah, maybe it was
something made for Lemmy [Kilmister,
Motrhead bassist].
Tell us more about the Danelectro
DS-100 that you said was key to this
album. Is that, like, a 6x12 cab with a
head the size of a small combo amp?
Klinghoffer: Yeah, kind of. Its very similar
to the Silvertone 1485the one with six
speakers that I use onstage with the Chili
Peppers, and that Jack White uses.
What do you like about it?
Klinghoffer: Its just very clear. Its got
great bottom end, great top, and a great
clean sound. If you turn it up, its huge.
Sometimes a certain amplifier or piece of
equipment is underwhelming, but with
this amp thats never the case: You plug
AMPS
1968 Fender Deluxe Reverb
Roland JC-120 Jazz Chorus
Watkins Dominator
Watkins Scout
Montgomery Ward 50-watt head
EFFECTS
Strymon TimeLine
Fulltone OCD
Boss CE-2 Chorus
Boss VB-2 Vibrato
Boss DM-2 Analog Delay
EarthQuaker Devices Dispatch Master
EarthQuaker Devices Grand Orbiter
EarthQuaker Devices Hoof Reaper
STRINGS & PICKS

DAddario .010 and 011 electric sets
DAddario light and medium acoustic sets
Dunlop .60 mm Tortex picks
Photo by Rachel Martin
Klinghoffer: I think it was a white Super

Lead 100 with matching 4x15 cabinets. We
miked it with some room mics. Ill never
forget how that soundedit was huge.
59 Fender Stratocaster
62 Fender Jazzmaster
Nash T-style
Gibson 120-T
60s Yamaha 12-string acoustic
Martin D-12
40s Martin mahogany acoustic
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in and you sound like a champ.

Walsh: I know I said this about the Marshall,
but the DS-100the one that Josh hasis
one of the best amps Ive ever heard. Its
got clarity in all frequencies, its really full
sounding, and it takes pedals really well.
Which guitars did you guys use most on
the new albums?
Klinghoffer: I used an old 64 or 65
Jazzmaster quite a bit. There was one session
where I used this cool, custom prototype
there were only three made or something.
I think its called a Harmony Glenwood. I
think it was Harmonys answer to the SG
or the Les Paul Custom. If you google, like,
1961around thereit was Harmonys
three-pickup answer to that, but I dont
think it ever went into production.
Does it have humbuckers and sound
similar to a vintage SG?
Klinghoffer: I guess theyre humbuckers
they look like humbuckers. To me, it doesnt
sound too big. Its actually pretty modest
sounding. It has a short-scale neck its a
strange guitar. Those are the two guitars I
remember using the most, but there were
probably others here or there. Ive been
buying a lot of gear over the last couple
of years, so whatever caught my eye that
morning might have been brought down.
I know I used my all-rosewood Tele on a
couple songs.
What about you, Clint?
Walsh: Josh has a 59 Strat with a rosewood
fretboard. Its a two-tone sunburst, and it
sounds like no other guitar. I used that for a
lot of stuff. I havent been partial to Strats for
a long time, but I started playing them a little
more with this band, and I feel like singlecoilsat least on my endreally help with
versatility. Its easier to make the guitar sound
less like a guitar when you have single-coils.
[Pauses, then laughs.] I dont really know how
much I believe that!
You mean youre able to get more diverse
sounds out of your pedalboard with singlecoils?
Walsh: I think so. I dont know if Im just
looking for an excuse, but I generally use
single-coils with this band. I used a 62
premierguitar.com
JOSH KLINGHOFFERS GEAR

GUITARS
How about pedals?

Klinghoffer: Um.
Walsh: How much time do you have?
[Laughs.]
Klinghoffer: When possible on
this album, I tried to dial in my
toneswere talking overdrives and
distortionsfrom the amp. If we
were doing a heavier song, I tried to
hike the amp up and leave it at that.
But you cant quote me on that being
the case all the way around. With

Dot Hacker, I usually use a [Ibanez]
TS808an original Tube Screameras
my main overdrive. Theres a variety of
fuzz pedals laying aroundanything
from the old [Univox] Super-Fuzz to
[ZVEX] Fuzz Factorys to all manner of
Big Muffs and weird boutique things.
Between Clint, myself, and Jonathan,
we have tons of stuff. I used a Boss
CE-2 Chorus, and were both big fans
of the Boss VB-2 Vibrato and the Boss
DM-2 [analog delay]. Those are my
staplesthe Boss DM-2, the CE-2,
and the VB-2.
Walsh: Yep, same here.
You can tell there are quite a few
effects on the new albums guitar
parts, but theyre almost mystifyingly
subtleyet powerful and effective.
Whats the secret to absorbing your
effects into your repertoire without
making them be your repertoire?
Klinghoffer: Since all four of us have
AMPS
1960s Danelectro DS-100
Late-50s Fender Super
Watkins Dominator
Watkins Scout
1960s Marshall Super Lead 100
with matching 4x15 cab
EFFECTS
Ibanez TS808 Tube Screamer
Univox Super-Fuzz
ZVEX Fuzz Factory units
Electro-Harmonix Big Muffs
Boss CE-2 Chorus
Boss VB-2 Vibrato
Boss DM-2 Analog Delay
STRINGS & PICKS

DAddario .010 and 011 electric sets
DAddario light and medium acoustic sets
Dunlop .60 mm Tortex picks
Photo by Rachel Martin
Jazzmaster on this record, and Joshs

59 Strat. I have a 52 relic Nash Tele
that I love. That was on it. I think I
played another Jazzmaster that Josh
has. I basically stuck with those. I think
there are a couple of tracks of a Yamaha
12-string acoustic that Josh and I both
have, which we love.
Klinghoffer: A red-label from the 60s.
Walsh: Yeah. I think we also used a
Martin D-12.
Klinghoffer: Or one of those little
mahogany Martins from the 40s.
Circa-64/65 Fender Jazzmaster

Circa-61 Harmony prototype
Fender rosewood Telecaster
60s Yamaha 12-string acoustic
Martin D-12
40s Martin mahogany acoustic
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BEYOND GIG BAGS
spent time serving other peoples songs, its

a really nice place for all of us to get serious
and explore sounds that weve always wanted
to hearlike a dying bee, or a choking
grandmother. We probably spend too much
time trying to choke grandma, but yeah.
[Laughs.]
In this band, one distinction between Clint
and myself when were both playing guitar is
that Im less effected than he is. Its usually me
whos playing the chords and being married
to whatever is easiest to sing to. Hes kind
of more ethereal or colorful. Throughout
the course of the bands existence, Clint has
dialed up a couple of amazing cocktails of
effects that run in tandem, and I think that
answers your questionyoure not jumping
to one effect to do one thing, but kind of
using a variety of things to serve a song. Also,
sometimes the parts and tones arent solidified
when the song goes downwe wait until the
vocals are down and we leave as much space as
we can. Sometimes we dont leave that much,
but we try and find sounds that provide the
best use of space that the song requires. I
might throw down a really simple part at the
zero hour, and he might do the same thing at
the last minutethrow down, like, a two-note
melody you cant really hear. Thats the beauty
of this band: We work for the whole or the
team. Its not about one part. That actually
comes back to haunt us when we try and play
livebecause there are lots of little things in
the recordings. I think we just are all about
making the song an enjoyable and interesting
experience rather than, Okay, heres the
chorusnow the tone has to change.
THE VERTIGO
Whats that vibrato on the dark, thumpy

guitar in Whatever You Want? It has this
warm, swampy, vintage vibe.
Klinghoffer: Theres kind of a collection of
guitars there. We used the Fender Vibratone
speaker, a sort of Fender Leslie speaker they
put out in the 60s. And theres a track of
Clint playing guitar and me live-treating his
guitar through this amazing Montgomery
Ward Supro-like amplifier. All I know is that
its a Montgomery Ward 50-watt head.
Walsh: With a crazy-responsive EQ.
Klinghoffer: Yeahthe high and low knobs
are crazy. Its kind of like a live vibe pedal.
THE DUAL
How about that trippy, Leslie-type effect

on the trebly counterpoint lead in the same
songsame stuff?
Walsh: I think thats the VB-2 with maybe
some of the Strymon TimeLine delay, which
is really good when you go beyond the
presetsyou can create some really cool
sounds. Maybe we even had some [Fulltone]
OCD for a little drive.
How about the warbling guitars in First
in Forever?
Walsh: I wrote the guitar part on a borrowed
Gibson 120-T [thinline archtop] with
flatwound strings. It has one [Melody Makerstyle] pickup and one volume and one tone
knob. I wound up having to give that guitar
back, but I always said that when we got
around to recording that song I would either
use my friends or get another one. I had to
get another one. Its pretty much a simple,
untreated guitar through the amp for the main
part of that song.
Josh, is it weird to go from playing
funky Chili Peppers stuff to the moody,
atmospheric, borderline avant-garde Dot
Hacker stuff?
Klinghoffer: I feel like both bands could
do either kinds of music if they wanted to.
There are things that I bring into a Chili
Peppers context that sound more like Dot
Hacker, and the Dot Hacker guys all have
an appreciation for the kind of music that
the Chili Peppers play. Its only confusing
sometimes with the roles: When youre
the guitar player in a band with a very
prominent and incredible lead singer, and
then you go to another band where youre
the lead singer, thats the only thing thats
kind of confusing. But I welcome it. Its
amazing to watch my brain have to deal
with that stuff. I never really admitted to
myself that I wanted to do that until we
got this band going. This band taught me
how to be comfortable doing thathow to
be comfortable with myselfand that you
should believe in who you are. I probably
cant not be myself to a fault sometimes, but
I think Ive also learned how to be who Im
supposed to be in certain situations and serve
those situations correctly.
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TONE TIPS
Taking It to the Wall

BY PETER THORN
Heres a recent
pic of me with
my tech, Shuhei
Fujita. Whether
youre touring
as a musician,
tech, or in
management,
giving 100
percent with a
positive attitude
is infectious.
m currently in Japan and three

weeks into rehearsals for a tour
with legendary Japanese rock artist
Tsuyoshi Nagabuchi, and Ive been
working hard and having a great time.
Ive been to Japan before, so I was
already familiar with the culture and
work ethic here, but this is my first time
working on a tour with a Japanese artist.
One thing thats really struck me is
that when people do something here
whatever it isthey are 100 percent
all in. They take it to the wall. I really
admire the dedication and effort the
Japanese people put into everything
from their work, to their style and
fashion, to their pastimes.
Something Ive noticed over the
yearsno matter what the work
situationis that the overall vibe of an
organization tends to come from the top
down. If the boss is hardworking and
dedicated, the employees tend to follow
suit. JS Technologies, Inc. (the company
that produces Suhr guitars and amps) is
a great example. My good friend John
Suhr is relentlessly dedicated to making
innovative and top-quality guitars,
pedals, and amplifiers. He expects his
employees to give their all, and as a
result, the company continues to grow
and become more successful each year.
When you see your boss working hard, I
believe it makes you want to rise to the

occasion and deliver your best.
The Nagabuchi tour is also a perfect
example of this. Tsuyoshi Nagabuchi
gives his all and treats every rehearsal
like a full performance. The gig is very
high-energy and performance-oriented,
so its incredibly physically and mentally
demanding. Still, every single person
involved brings his or her A gamebe
it the musicians, the crew, people in
management, etc. Nobody is jaded and
nobody is phoning it in.
In stark contrast, Ive worked on a
few tours in the past with U.S.-based
artists where band and crew morale has
sometimes been low and the work ethic
substandard. Bad habits, laziness, and
poor attitudes can spread like a cancer
through an organization. And before you
know it, quality can slide, everyone is
complaining and grumpy, and you might
start to question what youre doing.
I remember one tour where the
travel was brutal and the pay was low.
Everyone was constantly complaining
and even threatening to quit mid-tour.
The keyboardist eventually pointed out
that any of us could walk anytime, but
that we should all stop with the idle
threats and either quit, or band together,
suck it up, and figure out how to make
things as good as possible under adverse
circumstances. You owe it to your
audience to give them a great show, and
its hard to do that if everyones in a bad
mood all the time.
Its so much more rewarding and
fun to work in an environment where
everyone is in it to win it. It sounds
simple, but you have to make the choice
to not be a complainer. Dont forget
that you agreed to your salary, agreed to
take the gig, and agreed to do the work.
And if youre playing music for a living,
you are one of the privileged few who
have discovered one of the main keys
to success: Do what you love, and the
rest will follow. Even when things are
toughgive off good energy and youll
most likely find yourself getting better

gigs before too long.
On any tour, the road crew is the
backbone that can make or break each
and every show. Having a hardworking
and dedicated crew is worth its weight in
gold since you know someone has your
back onstage at all times.
The Nagabuchi crew is unlike any
crew Ive ever encountered because
they are literally part of the show. They
participate by cheering and fist pumping
during rehearsals and performances,
and they all watch Tsuyoshi like a hawk
for cues since he frequently likes to do
breakdowns and alternate endings. When
they see one of his cues, they all cue the
band members in unison so everyone
is on the same page. The energy of the
whole band and crew is cyclical, and you
cant help but get caught up in it.
My tech Shuhei Fujita is proving
to be one of the best Ive ever worked
with despite the fact he speaks very little
English and is quite young. He took it
upon himself to learn how to program
my Musicom Lab EFX MkIII switcher,
and then offered to reprogram all my
patches for the Nagabuchi set so they
would run in order starting from the first
song of the shownot an easy task.
Shuheis dedication and pleasant
demeanor serve as constant reminders to
me that I need to do my absolute best at
all times, and I constantly let him know
how much I appreciate his hard work.
Basic respect, expressing gratitude, and
maybe a simple but nice gift at the end
of a tour are all great ways to let your
techs and crew know that you appreciate
their efforts.
Until next month: Stay positive, work
hard, and I wish you good tone!
PETER THORN
is an L.A.-based guitarist, currently

touring with Melissa Etheridge.
His solo album, Guitar Nerd, is
available through iTunes and
cdbaby.com. Read more about his
career at peterthorn.com.
premierguitar.com
SWEDISH FLOYD
Opeths Mikael kerfeldt disses predictability, explains why he
wont give any musician advice, and admits loving ... Rihanna?
BY CHRIS KIES
premierguitar.com
Opposite page: Photo by Frank White
peth frontman and guitarist Mikael kerfeldt doesnt care much for labels. Im
really confused about what metal is these days, says kerfeldt. Its difficult
for me to talk about. I can appreciate people who say that were not a metal
bandand I kind of like that because, to me, current metal is stale and boring.
When the quintet formed in Stockholm, Sweden, in the early 90s, kerfeldt and
company churned out three impressive, stop-you-in-your-tracks albums full of crushing
rhythms, guttural vocals, and dark themes about religion, death, and the occult. And
while the band always experimented with dynamics and tempo shifts, with 1999s Still
Life and even more so with 2001s Blackwater Park, Opeth started moving away from its
intense roots.
There were five or six years where I was listening to death metal, kerfeldt admits.
It rubbed off on me and I had to glorify that strong influence by making the music I
was most passionate about in that given period of my life and career.
But the path kerfeldt has chosen for Opeth since then is one of restless
experimentation. He and his rotating cast of combatants have released 11 albums,
and throughout, theyve weaved a Family Circus-like path through aggressive music,
swerving to make pit stops with more vulnerable numbers like Damnations In My
Time of Need, veering into acoustic instrumental territory with Heritages Marrow
of the Earth, and experimenting with extended prog voyages like Morningrises
Black Rose Immortal. And on this years Pale Communion, they even dabble in
straight-up classic rock on tracks such as River.
I really dont like trying to recreate or reflect on something weve already done
in Opeth, kerfeldt explains. People will look at Watershed or Heritage and try to
link the musical progression these albums have in common with Pale Communion
as a trend towards something defined, but really its just a continuation of the
bands life and the music weve made and like to hear. Were not trying to be a
certain type of band to capitalize on anythingwere just Opeth.
In our recent interview with kerfeldt, he also discusses his switch to Marshall
amps, why hed never give advice to another artist, and why hes not ashamed
of the decidedly un-metal tunes on his iPod. Plus, we talk to Opeth lead guitarist
Fredrik kesson about the making of Pale Communion.
Opeth has always had great dynamics,

ranging from prog-rock and soft
acoustic jams to death-metal ragers.
Is that something you try to balance,
or do you just write the songs as they
come to you?
I dont think about it too much, but
Im a big fan of dynamics. Im still a
metalhead obviously, but I dont try to
stick myself to a single style just because
were expected to. The metal in this band
will always be there, but I think were
more than just metal. The definition
of metal is much different now. Again,
it was never a choice that I made
somewhere down the line that I dont
want to write or play metal anymore. Its
just something that happened. Recently,
I havent really been inspired by death
metal music, or contemporary death
metal music.
premierguitar.com
It seems to take multiple listens to

reveal the full depth of albums like Pale
Communion and Heritage.
Yeah, I know exactly what you mean
thats the music I like to listen to. Maybe
were just in the wrong time or I need to
stop making music that I like [laughs].
The music that stays with me is a bit
more complex and deep than regular
radio squalor or formulaic stuff.
Tell us about writing the 11-minute
song Moon Above, Sun Below.
It was a bit of a weird piece of music.
The working title was Floyd after Pink
Floyd, because of how slow the song
starts. I remember that I wrote about five
or six minutes of it and then called up
Fredrik to come down and listen to it.
At that time, I wasnt so happy with the
whole song so I left it unfinished to focus
on songs that were further along and

already had themes. Three or four weeks
passed, and Fredrik came back to the
studio and said he had the solo ready for
Floyd. Id forgotten he was working on
it [laughs]. With his solo added to what I
started, it was a completely new song.
As I was working on that song, I
reverted to my 20-something writing style
and disregarded a structure or themeso
I just let this song float, left the riffs
on top of each other, added a bunch of
musical twists and tempo changes based
on riffs I had come up with. I decided to
keep it like that. Why not? All the other
songs had some kind of structure, so this
songs structure was no structure [laughs].
Do you feel that shows your growth
as a songwriterthat you work off a
lot of different ideas now, versus being
more riff-based in the past?
Well, I tryI dont want to get bored. I
especially dont want to sound old. Im
not afraid of getting old. I just dont want
to sound old [laughs]. I want to keep it
interesting. I enjoy doing micro tweaks
like a miniscule change in the second verse
or adding a vocal harmony during the third
chorusthats where I think I shine. I used
to resent that type of attention, but now
its what can really push a chorus, a song,
or an album to another level. I feel like Ive
become more dimensional as a songwriter,
but I cant say whether Im getting better.
Talk about the ever-shifting new tune
River.
I love that song! Its very unpredictable,
which is exactly up my alley. I actually
hate predictable songs. You might even
confuse that song for something from 70s
classic rock, but its Opeth. When I hear
a song and know exactly whats going to
happen in each section, I dont like it at
all. I want to avoid that as much as I can,
and I think that this songmore than
any other on the albumshows were not
confined by boundaries.
The new album has an instrumental,
Goblin, and the previous record had
two as well. At what point do you see a
song as an instrumental?
MIKAEL KERFELDTS GEAR

GUITARS
PRS SE Mikael kerfeldt
1967 Gibson Flying V
1964 Fender Stratocaster
PRS SE Angelus acoustic
AMPS & CABINETS

Marshall JVM410HJS Joe Satriani head
Marshall 1962 Bluesbreaker combo
Marshall 1960 4x12 cabinets
EFFECTS
70s Electro-Harmonix
Small Stone Phase Shifter
Way Huge Supa-Puss
MXR Carbon Copy
Fractal Audio Axe-FX
STRINGS & PICKS

Jim Dunlop Tortex 1.14 mm
Thomastik-Infeld Power-Brights
(.010.046)
All the instrumentals Ive ever recorded

have been written as instrumentals from
the start. Its not a coincidence. Especially
Goblin, which is a tribute to Goblin
an Italian prog-rock outfit that played
only instrumentals.
Your music has a very orchestral sound
and feelhow do you know when
enough is enough?
Thats a good question. Im a believer in
whatever sounds good. I dont want it
to be messy. On the songs with strings,
we deliberately hold back the volume
and gain on the electric instruments.
I hadnt really thought about it, but it
makes sense now that we talk about it,
that a song like Faith in Others,
when those strings kick in, its only
drums and bass so the strings are really
present. Doing this for over 20 years,
Ive come to realize that to make a part
or a song better, youre usually better
off taking something away rather than

adding something.
Sometimes with mastering and
production in current music,
everything keeps getting maxed in a
kind loudness war. Is that something
you try to avoid?
Yes, definitely. During the Watershed
sessions we were in the loudness wars,
because I remember mastering that record
11 times. Up to that point, Id never done
more than one master. It was because it was
all maxed out and everything was cracking
upit sounded like shit to me. I remember
telling the label and master engineer, This
wasnt how I wanted it to sound. I dont
care if its supposed to be loud. We have to
pull this back, because it sounds like shit. I
had to play the Its my album card. It was
dreadful, but I had to do it.
I dont like the sound of modern
records that much, to be honest, unless
they are done with producers and the

band looking to their predecessors.
If theyre trying to create a new
contemporary record with the knowledge
of the old days, then Im really interested.
It can sound really good. I tend to get
tired of listening to records that are
too loud. I lose interest quickly. I also
dont like the drive for things to sound
absolutely perfectwith punched-in
solos and auto-tuned vocals. I cant name
one song on my favorite records that are
perfect. There are times where they sing
off key, the guitar players not in tune,
and the drummer is drunkall of my
favorite records are flawed.
Do you prefer older production styles
to digital?
To be honest, weve recorded on tape
in the past, but this new one was done
with Pro Tools. It all has to do with
techniques of how one records and
Photo by Frank White
Opeth
mastermind
Mikael kerfeldt
plays a PRS
Custom 24 while
on tour in 2008.
premierguitar.com
mixes. If you have a reference from the 60s,

70s, or 80s, you might think of things a bit
different. I think a lot of the modern metal
bands want their records to sound perfect.
The producers and the engineers know how
to do that easily, and in my book, thats a
downward spiral.
If you were a full-time producer, what
advice would you give to a younger band in
any genre?
I wouldnt want to say a thing [laughs]. I
dont want to correct people who think that
things should be a certain way. As a musician
you shouldnt take any advice. You should
trust yourself and eventually youll finally
wake up and do something better than
you did last time. You can get help on how
to achieve somethinglike using certain
equipment properly or EQ-ing something a
particular waybut I believe a true musician
shouldnt take advice and should learn from
their experiences.
stacks behind us onstage. Its like a

childhood dream to have access to
their impressive range and history
of amplifiersI couldnt resist. I
was very reluctant to leave Laney,
because Im very loyal and theyve
taken great care of me in the past.
But I had to tell them I was sorry
and switch. Laney has always been
great and that door isnt closedjust
a different chapter for now.
But to answer your question,

we used Marshalls in the studio.
I mainly used the Satriani JVM
head and a handwired, reissued
Bluesbreaker combo.
Did you use your signature PRS
guitar pretty much exclusively?
Yep, there are plenty of PRS guitars
on the record. The PRS is the nicest
guitar Ive ever hadContinued on p. 80
Pale Communions last song, Faith in

Others, is probably its softest, but it still
has a very dark, ominous vibe.
Yeah, its one Im proud of. I think its one of
those songs with an interesting sound where
you know you have something special. When
[former Porcupine Tree frontman/guitarist]
Steven Wilson told me that he wished hed
written the song, I knew it was a good one!
That was the first song I wrote for Pale
Communion, so it set the tone for the rest of
the album. Its a special songits depressing
and charismatic, and the chord changes
are what give it such emotion. I remember
playing the original demo to the rest of the
band. We all became so somber and quiet
we even cried. Thats when I knew it would be
the album closer.
Lets talk about gear for a bit. Are you still
using Laney heads and cabinets?
No, I use Marshalls now. I had a long
relationship with Laney, but a few years back
I met Paul Marshall and he told me he loved
our band. He told me backstage after our
show, Thats the first time Ive been at a rock
show and I havent seen a mosh pit. What
the fuck is going on here? I said, Well,
sorry, but what are you saying?! He laughed
and told us that he wanted to see Marshall
premierguitar.com
THE JOURNEY Opeths Fredrik kesson on making Pale Communion

Oh yeah, definitelywhen the song
becomes a bit heavier, we bring it back
with a more soulful, dulcet solo. The
background rhythm is pretty strange
and creates an interesting listen,
because it goes from major to minor
all the time and back a few times. This
was something I wanted to incorporate
because of how complex it was. I knew
it would keep things moving forward.
This is your third album with Opeth,

starting with 2008s Watershed. What
is the working relationship and how
does album material unfold when
working with Mikael?
kesson: Before any studio time,
Mikael has all tracks in demo form with
guitars, bass, drums, and keyboards.
When we get the call to rehearse the
new material, there are definitely parts
that are changed or tweakedbecause
were all creative and Mikael is gracious
with our input and trusts our opinion
and direction. A lot of times hell let us
hear his demos and then well go to our
homes and work on what we can bring
to the song. Mike and I usually sit down
and go through all the guitar parts and
come up with some new ideas.
This time I put down a solo during the
demo stage that actually made the album.
The first single, Cusp of Eternity, with
the long solo, was just improvised during
the demo stages. The danger is that when
you do a demo solo and everybody listens
to it, they get so used to it. If you try to
do something different for the actual
recording, youre often stuck with the
basic idea that just came out naturally.
And on the flip side, on the song Moon
Above, Sun Below, I worked on that solo
for two months at homeon and off
againbut I wanted to do something
more like a melody that went through
everything instead of just burning scales.
Theres some of that more melodic
playing on River, too.
Gear-wise, did you guys change

anything up from the previous
recording sessions?
On Watershed, we used mainly Marshall
JVM heads with various PRS guitars
with humbuckers. For Heritage, we
used Marshall JCM800s with singlecoil pickups because we wanted more
string sound, a more open-sounding
record rather than a distorted wall.
On the newest album we went back to
humbuckers, but we only did one main
guitar track for each of usthe previous
two records we each did two tracks and
put them on both sides. But this time
we only filled one channel, one side
each. We wanted it to sound like old
Judas Priest or Thin Lizzy albums where
the two guitarists were playing the
same thing, but if you listen closely you
can hear differences in the tone, pick
attack, and soundwe wanted that 70s
and 80s rock sound. I think it sounds
more present and lively that way.
We definitely add some atmospheric
and ethereal stuff with delays and
modulation pedals, acoustic parts, and
solos, but we didnt feel the doubling
of guitar tracks was necessaryyou
know, too much of anything is not a
good thing [laughs]. We have a lot of
other instrumentation, like piano, string
sections, and a Hammond organ, so we
wanted to avoid listeners fatigue. In a
way, it breathes a bit more.
Another change for me was using
P-90s for a lot of the rhythm work. And
this time, I played through an older
plexi Marshall and pretty much did the
old Hendrix thingdimed all the knobs
and jumpered the inputs.
What guitars did you use?

I used two P-90 guitarsa 55 Les
Paul Jr. and a PRS P22. All the rhythm
parts are with the 1955, because it
has a special kind of character to it.
Its aggressive, round, and full, but still
retains some articulation through all
its noise.
You often have two or more delays in
your rig. How did you use them on this
album?
Im currently using the Way Huge SupaPuss and the MXR Carbon Copy. The
Carbon Copy was used as the standard,
short delay. I love that you can turn
it up pretty loud, but the repeat is
analog, so you can add more volume
without getting too messy. With the
Super-Puss, it has a gain knob for
repeats, and I tweaked that control
during the eBow melody on the second
track, Cusp of Eternity. That delay,
more than any pedal Ive used before,
can get a lot of spaced-out stuff
oscillation, atmospheric sounds. I love
to experiment with stuff like that. The
wackier stuff shows up on parts of
Voice of Treason and River.
Whats your favorite song on the
new album?
Probably Moon Above, Sun Below,
because its a long, drawn-out track that
builds. Its like a journey with all sorts
of different parts coming in throughout
the entire song. The thing that Im most
proud of with this album is that every
song is different, but it flows as one,
cohesive piece. Im also really impressed
by Mikaels writing on the last track,
which is more of a dark, rock ballad.
It is very melodic. Its not a metal
track at all, but a lot of my favorite
metal tracks are like thatSabbath
did that a lot. They werent afraid to
experiment.
Oh yeah. Planet Caravan jumps
to mind.
Exactly, stuff like thatthose are the
songs you remember.
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and it has my name on it,

too [laughs]. I also used a 67
Gibson Flying V and two 60s
Stratocastersone is a near-original
64, and the other is a 68 that I put
together from random periodcorrect pieces that Ive found on
tour or online. The original 64 is
on the first verse and solo of River.
I used a PRS SE Angelus acoustic
quite a bit, too.
Do you have a particular

gauge of strings or brand you
like to use?
I generally play regular .010s from
Thomastik-Infeld. I did switch
briefly to heavy-bottom .011s when
we did Ghost Reveries, because
most of the songs were written in
dropped-D and a variation of open
Dmadd9 tuning [DADFAE],
which made the strings a bit too
FLOOR IT
KICK YOUR TONE INTO HIGH GEAR
Aside from Ghost Reveries, why havent you

ventured away from standard tuning to give
yourself more songwriting options?
I like it actually, because to me the guitar
sounds the best within standard tuning.
Besides, I dont feel like Ive run out of ideas
with standard E tuning. The reason why I did
that alternate tuning for the Ghost Reveries
record was that I needed to find new ways to
express myself and push myself. I was listening
to acoustic guitar players like Bert Jansch and
Nick Drake, and they use a lot of tunings. I
also had a bit of an agenda, because I figured
with an open tuning I could just put my finger
across the six strings, and Id get chords. That
would make it easy for me to come up with
things. I found that I could make cool stuff
with alternate tunings, and before I knew it, I
was experimenting with some really complex
stuff. This song called The Baying of the
Hounds is just insanely difficult to play and
I started out just plucking strings with all the
frets barred by one finger. I didnt write the
piece to make it difficult, but Id discovered all
these different-sounding chords once I opened
up, and I ended up having to do these huge
stretches. Id have no problem going back to an
open tuning if I dry up again, but I have plenty
more in the E tank.
Youre a big collector of vinyl records
in all sorts of genres. What
would an avid Opeth fan be shocked to see
in your collection?
Well, I have two songs by Rihanna on my
iPod. When I listen to them, I make sure
that other people arent around or else Ill get
picked on [laughs]. When people read this
like Fredriktheyre going to be angry, but Im
not ashamed to have that on my iPod. Im a
believer in good songsit doesnt matter what
genre it is. I think it would be stupid to restrict
yourself to certain genres. I listen to all sorts of
music, to be honest. While we did the Still Life
recordwhich is said to be one of our more
experimental and groundbreaking records
we were all listening to Stevie Wonders
Innervisions. That was the only record that was
constantly playing in the studio as we were
recording, and Im not ashamed about that or
enjoying Rihanna!
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BY BRIAN FOX
Multi-instrumentalist Ty Segall blends fuzz and jangle, sweet and salty on his new album.
Photo by Dene Petracek
y Segall isnt your typical guitar geek. I was the

kid who learned by listening to Black Flag, playing
two-finger power chords, he concedes somewhat
sheepishly with an undeniably Californian twang. But get
on the subject of 1960s psychedelic space rock or percussive
acoustic guitar craft, and Segall is ready to take you to school.
Since 2008, Segall has been channeling his inner Zappa,
pumping out records by the fistful and embracing a singularly
eclectic style. Segalls latest, Manipulator (Drag City), is a heady
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brew that mashes sunbaked psychedelic melodic strains with

Blue Cheer-meets-Blue yster Cult riffs and the acoustic jangle
of Zeppelin and Sabbath.
A preposterously prodigious songwriter, Segall is no slacker
when it comes to playing, having tracked nearly all the
instruments and vocals on Manipulator. From janky-sounding
acoustic tracks to trashy, thrashy lead parts, Segall sounds
completely at ease with a guitar in his hands, no matter which
other hats he might be wearing.
How did this batch of songs come

together?
The songs on the record come from 14
months of writing. I spent the whole year
writing at my house, two-to-seven days a
week, depending on what was going on.
The ones that made the record are just
the best of the bunch.
Do you have a songwriting regimen?
It takes a lot of work to get to the point
where youre not working too hard for it.
It takes a lot of disciplinedoing things
every day just to do them. If you get one
good song per week, youre really lucky. But
you can work for a month or two without
getting a single good song.
How do you keep track of your
song ideas?
YOUTUBE IT
Ty Segall and his band slay it on Conan, performing Feel off his
new album, Manipulator. Forward to 1:50 for a freak-out solo!
YouTube search term: Ty Segall Feel 08/13/14
record ideas. There are lots and lots of

songs Ive thrown away through the years:
Multiply my discography by three, and you
get an idea of all the songs Ive thrown away!
Do you know immediately if something
isnt working, or do you get outside
opinions on that?
There have been a couple times when
Ive written something I thought was
garbage, but other people felt I should
put on a record. Most of the time, I just
know. If it feels like a put-on, pushing
an emotion, or relying on a gimmick or

a specific sound, thats not right.
What are your attitudes about
collaboration in your songwriting?
I love collaborating. My favorite kind
is the rapid-fire, open-minded freestyle
where its as if youre passing a ball back
and forth. Its a very good way to refresh
your own mind in songwriting.
When youre writing, how do you
record those ideas?
Prolific songster
Ty Segall demos
his songs at
home before
recording them
in the studio.
premierguitar.com
Ty Segalls
live band
includes Charles
Mootheart on
guitar (left),
Mikal Cronin
on bass (not
pictured),
and Emily
Rose Epstein
on drums.
Everybody in
the band rips,
so to take the
songs into a
less-controlled
place is pretty
amazing, Segall
says.
I have a Tascam 388 8-track at my house,

and I just demo songs out like they
would be for a record. Its not just to
write it, its testing a songs ability to be
on a record. If it doesnt work, I might
try another version. For some songs on
Manipulator, there were three or four
versions of a demo.
Do you think in terms of songs or in
terms of albums?
You have to start by thinking in terms of
songs. If you think purely in terms of an
album, the songs just arent going to hold
up. Im an album guy, so I like to try to
have both in mind.
Do you think of Manipulator as having
a unifying thematic or sonic thread
running through it?
Yeah, thematically, all those songs rest in
the same placelyrically, theyre in the
same world. Theyre like characters that
interact with each other, and theres a
loose story being told.
I love collaborating. My favorite kind is the

rapid-fire, open-minded freestyle where its as if
youre passing a ball back and forth.
Two of my favorite albums are Electric
Ladyland [Jimi Hendrix Experience] and
The Beatles [aka the White Album].
Those are both double records but each
of them is very variedthey dont have
a unifying sonic element, and thats what
makes them unified. It was a similar idea
with Manipulator.
Do you write on guitar, or come up
with drum patterns first, or all of
the above?
All of the above. I find it helps to mix
up how you start a song, and where the
idea comes from. Thats crucial to keep
something new sounding. If a song is
written on drums first, with a melody in

your head, its going to be a way different
song than if it were written on guitar.
When do lyrics come into play?
I usually do lyrics at the same time
when Im writing on guitar. But
with drums, its completely after-thefact, freestyle.
What about stages of tracking? What
goes down first?
On the demos, I might track guitar first,
but when it came time to do the record,
I always would track the drums first, to
make sure they sound perfect. Then I
premierguitar.com
TY SEGALLS GEAR
GUITARS
1966 Fender Mustang
1977 Gibson ES-335
1970 Gibson Les Paul
1970s Italian-made acoustic 12-string
Stella acoustic guitar
AMPS
1972 Fender Quad Reverb
Music Man HD-130
EFFECTS
Death By Audio Fuzz War
STRINGS
DAddario EXL115 (.011.049)
BASS GEAR
1968 Gibson EB-0 with flatwounds
1970s Ampeg B-15
would do bass, guitar, keyboards, and always

vocals last.
Do you write down an arrangement or is it
in your head?
Ill just make notes as we go along. Like,
Needs noise blast at 0:32.
Who are some of your guitar heroes?
For acoustic, Im a huge John Fahey fan,
because hes weirdhes bizarro. Hes super
emotive, but also rhythmic. Its especially
important to be rhythmic when it comes to
acoustic playingthe percussive clashing of
the pick on the strings is one of my favorite
things. You can get that with fingerpicking,
too. I love when someone smacks an acoustic
with their palmits great!
I also love the old blues guys, and so many
great electric players are also great acoustic
playersHendrix, Jimmy Page, all those guys.
When it comes to lead guitar players, who
gets you most amped?
Oh, man Tony McPhee of the Groundhogs,
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for one. Along with the guys in Pink Fairies

and the guitarist for Hawkwindhe was
part of the crew of early-70s English, postpsychedelic, hard-rock guys. He played with a
lot of blues guys and started going into a lot of
weirder hard-rock stuff. I love him.
Peter Green is super cool, [Frank] Zappa
is crazyHot Rats is so fun to listen to. And
then there are the classics: Tony Iommi
Jimmy Page is so rad. Its clich to talk about
him, but theres a reason why: Hes so great!
Hes so interestingthats what it is about
him. I also like Bob 1 [Mothersbaugh] from
Devo, whos super weird and cool.
I really like lead guitarists who dont need
to play in your face, they just add a really nice
accompaniment to things. Theres also Randy
Holden, who was the second guitar player
in Blue Cheer. Hes on the third Blue Cheer
record [New! Improved! Blue Cheer]. Hes only
on the B-side, because they kicked him out
he was too good! [Laughs.] He was pretty rad.
And then he put out a solo record, Population
II, thats absolutely insane, with the coolest
leads ever. I definitely lean toward extravagant,
psychedelic guitar playing. Steve Morgen is
another. I like weirdos.
NAIL
HEADS
What are your go-to guitars?

My main squeeze for a long time was a 66
Fender Mustang that I toured with and
recorded with for years. But the idea with this
record was to mix it up. So I got a 77 Gibson
ES-335, which is what I used on a lot of the
rhythm tracks for Manipulator. A lot of the
leads are the Mustang. I have just one amp I
like to record witha 72 Fender Quad Reverb.
Its like a double Twin with four 12" speakers.
Wow, that must be pretty heavy.
Yeah, but it breaks up in the best way ... it
sounds like Dick Dale on steroids.
Those kinds of amps are popular among
players who want clean sounds. You can get
it to break up without going deaf?
Well, I definitely play way too loud! [Laughs.]
But it has gain and master volume knobs, so
you can kind of control things.
What about effects?
I have a Death By Audio Fuzz War pedal,
which is pretty much the only pedal I like
using these days.
There are lots and lots of songs Ive thrown away

through the years: Multiply my discography by three, and
you get an idea of all the songs Ive thrown away!
Ty Segall
premierguitar.com
Do you have a string preference?

I like to play .011 sets. Ernie Balls are rad,
but Ive been switching around a bit. I
played Ernie Balls for a really long time,
then I switched to DAddarios, which Im
trying out right now.
What are you looking for in a string set?
I just want the toughest strings out there
that arent going to break. I break strings
every other show if I dont change them. Its
super annoying. One issue is that Fender
Mustang bridge.
Do you use the tremolo on the Mustang?
So muchits kind of stupid how much
I use it.
Aside from their floating tremolo bridges,
Mustangs are quirky when it comes to the
pickup phase switches.
When I want to play the Mustang, I just
set it with the bridge pickup on rhythm,
because it has so much treble to begin with.
And then on my amp, Ill turn every tone
knob up to 10.
Is there any other guitar gear thats
getting you excited these days?
I didnt want to bring my hollowbody on
tour, so I got a 1970 Gibson Les Paul for
the road. It had a broken headstock, but
that was fixed around 1975 and has been
fine ever since. Thats cool, because that
made it cost about $2,000 less than it
should have!
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What about the acoustic guitar on

Manipulator?
A lot of it is 12-string. I have an old Italian
12-string from the 70s. Live, it sounds
deadits backwards and wrong. But it
records perfectly. It sounds like cardboard,
which is great. You turn up the mic and
there are no weird low-mid frequencies,
which can sometimes be a problem. I
also have a really nice Gibson 12-string
acoustic. But recorded, it sounds like shit.
I also have a Stella acoustic guitar that
sounds really bad live. But recorded, it
sounds great. Those are the two acoustic
guitars on the record.
Whats going on in the bass department?
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VintageKing_GP_0818_Guitar_PRINT_REV.pdf 1
PREMIER GUITAR OCTOBER

89
8/18/14 2014
12:59 PM
I have a 68 Gibson EB-0 bass. With

its short scale, that one is super fun to
play. The action on this one is super
low, so I can do crazy stuff on it.
What about bass strings?
Im a fan of flatwound strings.
How do you amplify your bass?
I usually play it through my Fender
QuadI dont have a designated
bass amp. But for this album, I

borrowed my buddys 70s Ampeg
B-15.
The bass tone on Feel is especially
gnarly. What went into that?
Ah, theres a secret on that one! We
sped up the tape machine, and I
played guitar as the bass line. We
then put it back to normal speed so
it was an octave lower. Then it was
mixed with an actual bass track, which gave it a

particular sound.
You get a sick, crunchy rhythm guitar tone on
songs like The Faker and Susie Thumb.
Is that your Gibson ES-335 in action?
Yes, often through the Fuzz War pedal.
Whats your approach to using fuzz pedals on
rhythm guitar tracks?
The way I see it, all that breakup and noise
works like cool blemishes on the record. Put
very simply, Ill think: The verse is clean, the
chorus is fuzzy. Rhythm and lead guitar parts
often work the same way.
That probably doesnt work every time.

Oh, not at all. But you work through it and you
reach another place where you get it.
What about playing live?
Its different live, because the songs change and
become entirely different beasts. Its all part of a
song becoming finished.
And your strategy in terms of creating

memorable guitar solos?
I view myself as playing two different types
of guitar solos: the melodic hook solo, and
the noisy weirdo solo. Its all about having
perspective and being appropriate. But all
of that stuff is like taking a ball of paint and
throwing it against the wall.
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The cool thing is that

everybodys pushing each
other all the time, but
theres no negativity and
harshnessits positive
and helpful.
Whos in your live band?

Charles Mootheart is the other guitar player in
the band. Hes a madmana far better guitar
player than I am. Hes the guitar player in my
other band, Fuzz, where hes the main riffmaster.
He used to play Fender Mustangs and now he
plays a custom guitar. He uses a Fuzz War, as well,
and he plays through a Music Man 4x10 amp,
and a Fender Twin head through a 4x12 cabinet.
Live, I play my Fender Quad Reverb and a
Music Man head through a 4x12 cabinet. We
both play through two amps.
some things will take on a different

vocal harmony, vibe, etc.
Aside from the band, what have
you heard this year that gets you
excited to play?
Ive always been a total record junkienerd-weirdo, rummaging through
records for new discoveries. Lately,
Ive been overloaded with stuff, such
that Im continuously buying records.
Also Im really fortunate to

know a lot of great playersMikal
has some solo records that are
insane and great, along with the
band White Fence, which I just
worked with. The cool thing is that
everybodys pushing each other all
the time, but theres no negativity
and harshnessits positive
and helpful. Its like a friendly
competition, which is cool.
The CabGrabber is the most efficient tool for miking a guitar or bass
cabinet. I use it with my i5s for guitars and with a D4 on the bass
cabinet. Its reliable, rugged and speeds up the miking process.
Stephen Shaw - Front of House Engineer - Buckcherry
On bass, you have Mikal Cronin. What gear

does he use?
He plays a Rickenbacker through a giant
[Ampeg] 8x10 cabinet.
Given that you tracked most of the parts on
Manipulator, how do these other players get
you psyched?
Thats the coolest part of it all: Were all learning
it together as a band. And as a band, I think were
generally louder, faster, and a bit more aggressive.
Thats exciting to me, especially when tackling songs
that were written in a more controlled environment.
Everybody in the band rips, so to take the songs
into a less-controlled place is pretty amazing.
The CabGrabber microphone mounting system is a real

problem solver that allows for precise and repeatable mic
placement on flat and slant-front cabinets of nearly any size.
With integrated cable clips and no floor stands to trip over,
mics go where they are placed and stay there!
Add the industry standard Audix i5 dynamic instrument mic
50 Hz to 16 kHz frequency response at up to 140dB without
distortion and you have a reliable, economical miking
How involved are you in steering the overall

sound of the ensemble onstage?
The way I see it, my role is in setting the tempo
and the chord changes. Thats it. With a band,
premierguitar.com
solution for any gig or session.
ACOUSTIC SOUNDBOARD
Vintage Instruments: An Endangered Species?

BY RICHARD JOHNSTON
The Martin 0-34 from 1901 shown here reveals how much ivory was used on that
companys higher models, as not only are the tuning pegs and bridge made of ivory,
but all of the binding as well. In contrast, the ivory saddle and nut show the maximum
amount of ivory found on any Martin guitar made after 1920 and weigh less than 1/5
of an ounce. But thats still enough to make the instrument illegal to sell in some U.S.
jurisdictions, if recently enacted laws are fully enforced. Fortunately, the original nut
and saddle can be removed and replaced with domestic cattle bone with no loss to the
guitars sound or playability.
was on restricting shipments of illegally

harvested raw wood with little attention
being paid to the finished product. Thin
Brazilian rosewood headstock veneers, for
instance, continued to adorn the necks of
thousands of new acoustic guitars, even
though most buyers of those instruments
didnt know or care what wood they were
staring at when they changed their strings.
In retrospect, we now can see trouble
brewing because while there was lots
of Brazilian rosewood stockpiled in
North America and Europe, only a
small fraction of it had documentation
suggesting it was legal. And, since raw
wood lacks fingerprints or serial numbers,
bridging the gap from a legally imported
Brazilian rosewood board to a completed
guitar is iffy at best.
The question, What rosewood is it and

when was the tree cut down? first came
up at international borders, but of course
customs officials for different countries
arent always in sync. This meant you
might have no trouble flying with your
1998 Brazilian rosewood Collings D2H to
Vancouver, British Columbia, but getting
that same guitar back across the border into
the U.S. might be tricky or even impossible.
Even if your Brazilian rosewood Martin
HD-28BLE has a clear serial number dating
the instrument to 1990 (two years before
the CITES ban), customs officials dont
have a Martin serial-number dating list. Do
you want to risk selling and shipping it to a
bluegrass guitar fan in Germany?
Brazilian rosewood certainly isnt the
only endangered species on the CITES list.
Photo by Grant Groberg
e all know the usual reasons

used and vintage guitar prices
fluctuate: The overall economy
obviously has a huge impact, as do new and
different musical trends or buyers assigning
more importance to changed tuners or
refinishing. Then theres the chance that the
latest hot artist chooses to tour with your
favorite guitar model, making you wish
youd bought one last year.
But a different trend has begun to
impact guitar values in the last few years,
and this modifier has nothing to do with
music, and, in fact, has nothing to do with
what guitars cost or even what condition
theyre in. Instead, its the materials used
when the guitar was manufactured that are
coming under new scrutiny.
It all began back in 1975 when CITES
(Convention on International Trade in
Endangered Species) first went into effect.
This new international agreementan
organized and legislated awareness of
endangered plant and animal species
didnt have much impact on guitars
initially. However, in 1992, Brazilian
rosewood became a protected species that
could only be legally shipped from Brazil
if accompanied by a CITES export permit.
Brazilian rosewood that was already in
other countries, however, was still legal and
more Brazilian rosewood continued to be
brought to the U.S. as demand for sets of
backs and sides, and boards large enough to
yield fretboards and bridges, forced prices
ever higher. (Most, if not all, American
guitar-making companies still offered
Brazilian rosewood limited editions or as an
expensive option for custom orders.)
Some of these recent shipments of
rosewood had paperwork, while many did
not. But even when a shipment was fully
legal and had the proper documentation,
the paperwork rarely followed every piece
of wood as it was dispersed to dozens of
guitarmakers, from huge companies to
one-man shops.
This issue of paperwork rarely came
up in the 1990s and even through the
first years of the new century, as the focus
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Elephants and ivory from their tusks didnt

seem to be a concern for guitar players, or
those who bought and sold guitars, because
nobody in North America had used much
ivory in the last 40 years. In recent decades,
there has been only a small amount of
trade in ivoryusually for restorations
as everyone was far more comfortable
with fossilized mammoth ivory. Those
special bridge pins for your Custom Shop
Martin, for instance, were easy to enjoy
guilt-free since the species that contributed
the material had long been extinct. Of
course everyone knew there were tens of
endangered species had been that items over

100 years old were certified antiques and
therefore immune from sale restrictions.
But because of the highly emotional
ivory situation and new legislation, pieces
1,000 years old will soon be illegal to sell
in the state of New Jersey. This means
a Hackensack folkie could still inherit
and play her great-grandmothers 1890s
mandolin with original ivory bindings and
tortoiseshell pickguard, but selling it could
land her in serious trouble. Its almost like
a reverse grandfather clause that turns the
market for antique instruments on its head.
South American mahogany, a wood used on a majority

of acoustic guitars made in North America, could be
on the list of restricted woods in the future.
thousands of old and used guitars out
there that had been made with Brazilian
rosewood, plus ivory parts such as nuts and
saddles, but that was long ago, and the use
of ivory seemed to have faded along with
proclaiming that you could only get good
tone by playing with a tortoiseshell pick.
But the long ago case for ivory took
on a hollow ring by 2013 when headline
news reported a dramatic rise in ivory
poaching in Africa, resulting in the
horrific slaughter of elephants. Illegally
downed trees and stripped landscapes
are one thing, but photos of slaughtered
animals provoke a heightened level of
outrage. Despite the fact that most
poached ivory was headed for countries
in Asia where its far more highly prized,
suddenly the sale of anything made with
ivory, no matter how old, was seen as
related to poaching elephants. Protecting
live elephants was no longer enough, and
there was a growing sentiment that to
squash the demand for poached tusks, the
sale of any ivory needed to be banned.
Thus began a round-robin of laws with
draconian penalties for ivory commerce,
both on the national and state levels. The
policy regarding the sale of items made with
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New rules and regulations that

impact the sale and shipment of musical
instruments containing materials like ivory
are perhaps one of the more troubling
examples of a disconnect between a
newly defined illegality and any hope
of enforcing it fairly. The U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Servicewhich is in charge of
enforcing these new restrictions regarding
the sale of items containing material from
endangered speciesuntil recently hadnt a
clue how many older violin bows had ivory
tips, for instance, or how many guitars
made before the 1970s had ivory nuts and
saddles. To complicate matters even more,
ivory used as a structural elementsuch
as a bridge saddlecan be very difficult to
differentiate from bone, or from a synthetic
material designed to look like ivory.
Theres some small comfort in noting
that these new laws are focused on the
sale of ivory, or to restrict traveling with
it across international borders. Theres no
indication that playing a 1955 Martin
000-28 at an open mic will land you in jail
or that fiddling with an ivory-tipped bow
will bring jackboots stomping through
square dancers to confront the band. Yet
theres no denying that the recent changes
in the governments attitude regarding

both plant and animal products used to
manufacture musical instruments has
many musicians wondering when the next
endangered shoe will drop.
Mother-of-pearl fretboard dots, for
instance, are still legal. But since they are
an animal product, technically they will
soon need a permit from the U. S. Fish
and Wildlife Service if shipped across
the border. And, like most permits, it
will require a fee. (Even more daunting:
South American mahogany, a wood used
on a majority of acoustic guitars made in
North America, could be on the list of
restricted woods in the future.)
Many of these regulations are still in
flux and not specifically cited here (the
exception is the recently signed law in
New Jersey focusing on ivory). Some of
these rules may change in the future, but
as any stockbroker will attest, markets
dislike uncertainty and the market for
used and vintage musical instruments is no
exception. Collectors will be the first to shy
away from guitars that may be difficult to
sell locally, let alone on the world market,
but even musicians will probably wonder
if they want to bother filling out permit
applications to play a gig in Toronto.
Instrument manufacturers have already
responded: Taylor has many new guitar
models with no inlays made of shell (an
animal product) and Paul Reed Smith has
eliminated the use of any questionable
species from most of its electric guitar
production. And for a musician about to
embark on a world tour, new instruments
made with synthetic materials that signal
being man-made at first glance may have
new appeal.
RICHARD JOHNSTON
co-founded Gryphon Stringed

Instruments with Frank Ford
in 1969. He later shifted from
repairing vintage guitars
to writing about them, and
has contributed to dozens of
magazines and several books, the
most recent being Inventing the
American Guitar. He appraises
musical instruments for Antiques
Road Show on PBS.
JOEL
HARRISON
Seeking Commonality in Sound
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BY ADAM PERLMUTTER
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Photo by John Soffe
The avant guitarist

travels through very
different musical worlds
on multiple releases this
year, including a duet
with Indian sarod master
Anupam Shobhakar.
oel Harrison frequently travels

between Western and Eastern
idiomsoften with a Gibson
Les Paul at hand. At the same time,
Harrison uses his formal training in
classical composition to realize his
pieces using whatever nonstandard
instrumentation it takes to get his
message across.
At 57, Harrison has a long and deep
history with the guitar. Like many of his
generation he got into the instrument by
listening to such prodigious rock players
as Jeff Beck and Jimi Hendrix, and then
delved into jazz and improvisation.
He studied at Bard College under the
great composer Joan Tower, graduating
in 1980, and then rounded out his
education with private lessons from
Hindustani classical master Ali Akbar
Khan and jazz guitar wizard Mick
Goodrick, among other mentors.
In the 1990s, Harrison was a fixture
on the creative music scene in the San
Francisco area. On the albums 3+3=7,
Range of Motion, and Transience, he brought
together his explorations in the areas of jazz,
new art music, and ethnic sounds. Moving
to New York in 1999, Harrison continued
these explorations in a series of new projects.
On Free Country (2003), for instance, he
reshaped a dozen traditional country-andwestern songs; on Harrison on Harrison
(2005) he explored the music of George
Harrisonwork that led to him being
named a Guggenheim Fellow in 2010.
Harrison is as prolific as he is eclectic,
as can be seen in his most recent output.
This year hes released two albums, each
with an entirely different angle. Leave the
Door Open, with sarod player Anupam
Shobhakar, finds common ground between
jazz and Indian improvisation, while Mother
Stump revisits Harrisons rock, jazz, and soul
roots in a stripped-down ensemble. And
for the fifth year in a row, he assembled a
selection of the most intrepid practitioners
for his annual Alternative Guitar Summit,
including Nels Cline and Fred Frith.
We spoke to Harrison about his latest
albums, the philosophies behind his
music, and, of course, about the enviable
selection of gear he used to bring these
projects to life.
Joel Harrisons
recent guitar
experimenting
includes playing
with volume
extremes,
alternating
between playing
really loud or
really soft.
Combining Western and Indian music,

as you do on Multiplicity, is a thread
that runs through your career.
Ive had an appreciation for Indian music
for most of my life. I studied it a bit, but
was never a true student. Its the opposite
with Anupam Shobhakar, the sarod player
on the record. He casually absorbed rock
and jazz ideas but is obviously steeped in
Indian music. Our coming together was
a real attempt at collaboration, and not
something where we wanted to arbitrarily
graft one tradition onto another. I try
to organically incorporate his ideas and
background and vice versa.
How did you go about doing this?
We spent a lot of time togetherat least
a couple of yearsexchanging ideas and
borrowing each others source materials.
We explored the sound resulting from the
combination of guitar and sarod.
Can you expand on this?
The concept of bringing two different
cultures together is nothing new. But after
working together for some time, we felt a
true linkage between cultures, as opposed
to a random meeting. It took proximity
and timea whole lot of listening
together. What you hear on the record is a
sound that had been stewing for a while,
where the blend of our personalities feels
real and lived-in, not episodic.
Whats it like to work with a sarod
player, and what do you take from the
instrument?
There are certain things the sarod does
that are fantastic resources for a guitar
playerthe very sophisticated approach
to rhythm that Indian musicians have,
ways of displacing beat and time, and
adding together unusual strings of
phrases. Then theres the intonation, or
way of approaching notes and departing
from them, developed over centuries in
Indian musicespecially cool for a slide
guitarist. Listening to Anupam play,
I realized that I had to spend a whole
lot more time on my slide playing. My
problem is I get interested in so many
different musical things that I end up
moving along too quickly from one to
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JOEL HARRISONS GEAR

GUITARS
1960 Epiphone Sorrento
1960 Fender Telecaster
1963 Gibson SG
1967 Gibson ES-345
1999 Gibson 40th Anniversary
59 Reissue Gibson Les Paul
1998 Martin Mandolin Brothers
25th Anniversary 000-28
Herringbone Commemorative
1930 National Style O
Recent PRS Hollowbody II
AMPS
1957 Fender Bassman
1962 Fender Super
1966 Fender Princeton (three)
EFFECTS
Boss Super Overdrive SD-1
Electro-Harmonix Frequency Analyzer
Electro-Harmonix Holy Grail Nano Reverb
Lexicon PCM 41
Menatone Red Snapper
TC Electronic Nova System
STRINGS & PICKS

DAddario strings
(.011 and .010 electric sets, and various
steel and nylon acoustic sets)
Fender heavy picks
Dunlop slides
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another. In any case, we continued to

play together and revisit ideas, and in
the process I tried to bring them into my
guitar playing.
How did you go about applying these
techniques to the guitar?
One example would be that Anupam
recorded a series of more basic meends.
Those refer to the route one takes when
approaching notes and departing from
them. [Sings a single A, then the same
note with a stream of vocal ornamentation
before and after it.] Like I said, this makes
for really beautiful ideas for slide-guitar
playing. Other things include unusual
right-hand picking patterns, stuff I hadnt
thought much about since I briefly
went to the Ali Akbar College of Music
years ago. That and rhythmic ideasfor
YOUTUBE IT
In this live duet, Joel Harrison and Anupam Shobhakar blend the
haunting sounds of a National resonator and fretless sarod.
YouTube search term: Joel Harrison & Anupam Shobhakar
Deep River (LIVE)
example using odd groupings like threes,

fives, and sevensto add complexity to
4/4 time.
So did you transcribe the meends?
No, I just put them on iTunes and played
along with them, mostly on slide. By the
way, one reason I really appreciate Derek
Trucks is because hes taken similar ideas
and applied them to blues slide.
We did it in a day and a half. With

five people involved, it was certainly
challengingnot to mention getting a
good sound on the sarod. An interesting
thing about the album is that Anupam
recorded some mock vocals, then went
home to Bombay and replaced them with
vocals from two very different classical
Indian singers, Bonnie Chakraborty and
Chandrashekhar Vaze.
Talk about the recording process for

Multiplicity.
Was the end result how you imagined it?

I think so. The problem with music thats
Photo by Scott Friedlander
Joel Harrison
plays a 1967
Gibson ES-345
at his Alternative
Guitar Summit
held this year at
New York Citys
SubCulture
venue in January
of 2014.
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this stylistically diverse and occasionally complex

is that ideally you would have weeks to play it
together and develop this innate awareness of it,
so that you can nail it in the studio without really
thinking about it. The problem for so many of us
is to summon the magic and communication right
off the bat. I think we were able to capture it on
the record.
What guitars did you use on Multiplicity?
I played an old National steel guitar on a few tunes,
and a PRS [Hollowbody II] I bought a couple of
years ago. Its a semi-hollow with humbuckers and
a piezo pickup, which is just an amazingly well
built engine. Its so easy to play and is similar to
one John McLaughlin has been using. For some of
the overdriven stuff, I played a 1963 Gibson SG
that Ive had for 30 years, and I also used a 1960
ES-345 that Ive since sold. As for acoustic, in a
couple of places I used a Martin 000-28an early
2000s Mandolin Bros. commemorative edition that
has a mandolin inlaid at the 12th fret.
influenceswhat I really love about

guitarand started to practice.
This record was definitely a lot of
fun to make.
What do you love about the guitar?
The instrument is the primary
vehicle for a lot of American music:
country, blues, rock, all of the
corollaries to those styles, all of
which I love. I feel that the guitar,
especially the electric, is one of the

most versatile of instruments. It can
be a rhythm machine or a tool for
creating freaky soundscapes. It can
sound like a violin or a machine.
Acoustic guitarsnylon-string,
steel-string, and steeloffer so many
other sounds. Im not sure if any
other instrument can do so much.
And, at least for a period of
time when I was coming up, it
SLIM DOWN
TINY BUT MIGHTY IN STYLE AND SOUND
How about amps?

I used the brown 1962 Fender Super that I bought
when I was in 11th grade. This guy I knew found
it in his closet, neglected. It had been mangled
by people who tried to make it sound better by
replacing the speakers and changing components.
Eventually I had it restored to the original specs,
and its just a very human or vocal-sounding amp.
I also played through a 1966 blackface Princeton.
I have three of those that I love. Some people feel
thats the best amp Fender ever built. On lower
volume settings, its beautifully warm. Turn it up
and its got a wonderful, bluesy bite. Its just a very
simple, friendly amp thats so versatile.
What inspired you to return to your roots for
Mother Stump?
I had just finished an enormous big-band
record19 musicians [Infinite Possibility]. It was an
exhausting album to make. So one evening I was
sitting around with some friends, Michael Bates
and Ole Matheson, and I said, Now what? How
do I follow such a large project? One of them
said I should just make a trio record and not really
think about it. Id never really wanted to do a trio,
and Im not the person to jump off the cuff into
a new situation, but this idea intrigued me, which
was kind of the opposite of my usual approach.
I quickly got excited about making my first
really guitar-centric record. What would it be
like? So I just collected a bunch of tunes and
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Sarod player Anupam Shobhakar introduced Joel Harrison to the idea of meend (a technique in
Indian music that involves how you approach notes while improvising), a concept that Derek Trucks
often applies to slide guitar.
CM
CY
CMY
Your annual Alternative Guitar Festival

shows that these are also very good times for
the guitar.
Thats truethere are so many new and
unusual approaches to guitar, largely
improvisatory. The Alternative Guitar Festival
is the only one of its type that I know about
in this country. Im lucky to be able to curate
some of the most exciting players and use
them, to, say, approach the music of Curtis
Mayfield or Jimi Hendrix in all new ways.
What was your guitar approach on
Mother Stump?
Unlike most of my other records, where the
guitar takes a back seat to the ensemble, I really
worked on my sound, and wrote arrangements
that would be a showcase for it. The project
gelled for over a month: I just played melodies
and variations, and tried to emulate the sound
of the human voice on guitar.
Howd you go about trying to sound like

the voice?
For Suzanne and I Love You More than
Youll Ever Know, I listened to a lot of Donny
Hathaway, trying to channel the pathos he
brought to the music, and really just going for
all of the vocal mannerisms on the guitar. But
in other instances, I thought about how Jeff
Beck might approach a melody, making the
simplest tune sound so dramatic. And I would
also turn to one of Becks influences, Roy
Buchanan, and go after his sound a bit, too.
Speaking of Buchanan, did you play a
Telecaster on the record?
Yes, as well as a handful of other guitars, each
of which does something different. One of
the most fun things in making this record is
that I got to pull out all my gear. As a guitarist
Im often helmsman of the ship in terms of
composing, but not much of a featured soloist,
so this time I got to trot out a bunch of pieces
and showcase them to the best effect. I divided
my time between a 1960 slab-board Telecaster,
a 67 ES-345, and a 1999 40th Anniversary
59 Reissue Gibson Les Paula monster of a
guitar. Gibson has really made some beautiful
reissues throughout the years.
Photo by Scott Friedlander
really seemed like everything good that was

happening involved guitar. Even in jazz,
which wasnt necessarily guitar-centric, you
had players like Metheny, Frisell, and Scofield
starting to push the boundaries of what the
instrument could do.
MY
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Which amps and effects did you use?

The Fender Super, as well as a 1957 Bassman,
which is similarly wonderful. As for effects,
I played through an Electro-Harmonix Holy
Grail Nano Reverb and an older TC Electronic
Nova System that I really love for its reverse
delay, which I used on pretty much every tune.
Theres a Boss Super Overdrive SD-1 Ive had
since 1982it keeps on working and working,
and somehow sounds warmer and richer than a
lot of other overdrives. I also used a Menatone
Red Snapper, which I put on if I just wanted
a little bluesy grit. Adding the Boss on top of
that gets a roaring sound. I also used an ElectroHarmonix Ring Thing and a volume pedala
metal Ernie Ball model.
Speaking of volume, I got into playing with
extremes on the record. Ive always thought that
the guitar has two very good volumes: either
really loud or really soft, in between being kind
of a problem.
It might seem obvious, but can you explain
what its like to play with extremes of volume?
Volume gets abused in general in our society,
so youve got to do it properly. Amazing things
happen in the sound loop when its really
loudif you have the right gear and know a
little about how to control the sound. All these
overtones start flowing around, you get all of
these really interesting artifacts. Sustain allows
you to conjure up the sound of the human voice
crying or wailing.
When youre playing soft, its like playing
a whole different instrument. You have to
use another bag of tricks and be very attuned
to nuances. Listen to Jim Hall, with his
delicacy of touch and his chord voicings. You
just want to lean in and hear more, just as
you do with steel-string players like Doc
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Watson and nylon-string players

like Julian Bream.
How did the session go?
It was really simple and informal.
Id never even rehearsed with Glenn
Patscha, the keyboard player on the
record. We just went into Tedesco
Studios, a pretty small space in New
Jersey, and blasted through some
tunes. Ive often spent so much
time preparing for an exhausting

session that it was a welcome change
just to let people cut loose and be
themselves. We basically did the
whole thing in six hours. That might
seem like very littlebands can take
so many months to make a record.
But youve got to remember it took
four hours to make many of the
classic jazz albumssome of the
best music ever recorded.
You cant be different if youre playing what everyone else is. Visit reverendguitars.com to start your journey to becoming an individual.
I also played some oddities Ive collected over

the yearscheaper guitars with idiosyncratic
sounds. On Wide River to Cross, I played
slide on a 1960 Epiphone Sorrento. With the
right amp settings, its got the most beautiful
sound with those mini PAFs, some of the most
respected pickups of all time. On Suzanne, I
played a Jerry Jones baritone, which just sounds
fantastic. And I used a 1930 National steela
scary-beautiful-sounding guitar that was rebuilt
by Flip Scipio after a previous repairman all but
destroyed itfor the second version of Folk
Song for Rosie.
THE RECORDING GUITARIST
An EQ Case Study
BY JOE GORE
ast month we looked at basic EQ

techniques and terminology. Now
lets use them on some electric
guitar parts. (If youre reading this in
print, go online for the audio examples.)
Using a drum performance swiped from
Dawn Richardson (Clip 1), I threw
together a two-guitar arrangement played
on a 60s Strat and an 80s Les Paul, both
through a Marshall 18-watt miked with a
Royer R-121 ribbon mic (Clip 2).
I also doubled the parts. I had no
idea whether Id use doubles, but I like
slapping a few down while I have the part
in my head and the feel in my fingers.
Studio fatigue syndrome. When your
ears get tired, you literally stop hearing
correctly, especially in the highs. Its easy to
jack up the treble in search of excitement,
or dull things down too much because the
highs have become tiresome. Thats why
tracking and mixing in separate sessions is
nice if you have the luxury.
Listening back the next day, the
guitars sounded dark and woolly. No
surprise: Adding treble slice and
removing/clarifying low mids are
probably the two most common electric
guitar EQ chores. Focusing on the Strat
part, I added a hefty +6 dB treble boost
with a shelving filter at 2.5 kHz (Pic 1).
I set the Q (bandwidth) wide for general
brightening (Clip 3).
Low-end theory. I wasnt sure yet
whether the track would have bass, so
I wanted powerful lows. But simply
boosting the bass like I did the highs
worsens the low-mid clutter. The Strat
part in Clip 4 sounds fat but unfocused.
I switched from a shelving filter to a
low-pass filter, cutting below 75 Hz (Pic
2), roughly the frequency of my lowest
note, the 6th string dropped to D. (To
calculate which musical notes correspond
to which number in Hz, use the A = 440
cheat: The A at your 1st strings 5th fret
is 440 Hz. Shifting by octaves doubles
or halves the frequency, so A at your 3rd
strings 2nd fret is 220 Hz, and the open
5th string is 110 Hz. My lowest bass
notethe dropped-D of my 6th stringis

roughly half an octave below, midway
between 110 and 55, or about 80 Hz.)
Adjusting the bandwidth on most highand low-pass filters alters the resonance of
the cutoff frequency, with high Q settings
emphasizing a narrow swath of frequencies
at the cutoff. In Pic 3, Ive raised the Q,
and the gentle bass cut of Pic 2 becomes
a focused bass boost with relatively
little low-mid buildup. Also, since the
strongest overtone is the octave above the
fundamental, cutting there can restore clarity

after a bass boost. For example, if youre
goosing 70-80 Hz, it may help to trim
around 140-160 Hz (Pic 4 and Clip 5).
I dialed in a similar setting for the Les
Paul part, but with a slightly wider treble
Q and a deeper low-mid cut.
Dont touch that button! Note that
these clips dont feature soloed guitars.
Yeah, soloing tracks is essential when
diagnosing problems, but it can be
counterproductive when mixingall that
matters is how tones work in context. Use
the solo button sparingly.
Also beware of making EQ adjustments
by sweeping a filters frequency. When we
hear a shift in frequency during a long
listening session, our ear is drawn to it
because it sounds fresh. Its easy to adjust
and adjust, only to realize later that your
track sounds better with no EQ. Instead,
try to imagine the sound you want and go
straight to the target frequency.
Double double. Next I revisited my
doubled tracks. I liked a Fender Bass VI
part that doubled the Strats B section
melody an octave below. But while it
sounds cool in isolation (Clip 7), its a
mess in context. So I applied extreme
EQ (Pic 5), amputating lows and adding
a midrange peak (Clip 8). The result is
edgy and thin, but I like how it suggests
some weird folk instrument with droning
strings. I also added a touch of the Les
Paul double, panned apart from the
original, just for added dimension.
In Clip 9 Ive added compression and
delay and played with panning, all while
making more EQ adjustments, because
all those things change our perception
of EQ. Well cover those techniques in
future columnsbut for now, lets give
our poor ears a rest!
JOE GORE has recorded and
performed with Tom Waits, PJ
Harvey, Tracy Chapman, Courtney
Love, Marianne Faithfull, Les
Claypool, Flea, DJ Shadow, John
Cale, and many other artists. Joe
has written thousands of articles
about music and helps develop
music tools for Apple and other
clients. He blogs at tonefiend.com.
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GUITAR SHOP 101
How to Fix a Misaligned 3-Bolt Neck

STORY AND PHOTOS BY JOHN LEVAN
or a guitar to play well, its strings

must line up straight along the
fretboard, all the way from the nut
to the bridge. On electric guitars with a
3-bolt neck attachment systemsuch as
many 70s Fenders or 70s reissue modelsits not uncommon for the neck heel
to shift laterally in the neck pocket, causing the neck to move out of alignment
with the strings. This can be caused by
general wear and tear or even improper
installation at the factory.
If the neck moves out of alignment,
one of the two E strings will lie too close
to the edge of the fretboard. Often, the
offending string will actually slip off the
frets as you play. And thats not all: When
a neck is out of alignment, some strings
dont run directly over the pickup pole
pieces, and this affects your string-tostring volume. A misaligned neck is tricky
to correct, but for the guitar to function
properly, its an essential repair.
If you have a guitar with a 3-bolt
neck that has shifted out of alignment,
the fix is to carefully pivot the neck heel
toward either the bass or treble strings,
thus re-centering them over the fretboard.
This operation involves measuring,
drilling, and doweling. If youre not
comfortable with that prospect, its time
to take your guitar to your local tech.
Lets walk through this process using a
mid-70s Fender Tele with a 3-bolt neck
and Micro-tilt assembly, and then you
can decide if its a project you want to
tackle. On this guitar, the 1st string was
almost falling off the fretboard (Photo 1).
Prep work. Before removing the
neck, I made sure the Micro-tilt Allen
screw was backed off so it wasnt pressing
against the metal disc embedded
underneath the neck heel. After
confirming that the three neck bolts were
snug, I checked the forward neck angle
(or tilt) with the guitar tuned to pitch.
Fortunately the action was good and the
bridge saddles offered a sufficient range of
adjustment to control string height. This
was good news: It meant I wouldnt have
to shim the neck. This repair would be

limited to the necks lateral adjustment,
not any height adjustment.
Clamping down. Determining the
new lateral position is an exercise in trial
and error. First remove the inside four
strings, leaving only the two E strings on
the guitar. Tighten the strings just enough
so they run in a straight line between
the nut and saddles. The E strings will
provide a visual reference and indicate
how much to the left or right youll need
to pivot the neck heel.
Next, place a grip clamp on the neck
where it meets the body (Photo 2).
Important: Make sure your clamp has rubber
covers so it wont damage the frets or body.
Remove the neck screws. With the
clamp still in place so its holding the neck
to the body, shift the neck heel from side
to side in its pocket, watching how the
strings align with the edge of the fretboard.
At this point, youre simply doing
reconnaissance. The goal is to determine
if the neck pocket offers enough room
to shift the heel into proper alignment.
If the neck doesnt have enough play
to properly align the E strings to the
fretboard, the fix is to remove some wood

from the side of the neck pocket. Trust
me, that is a job for a pro.
On this project Tele, the neck pocket
offered enough wiggle room for me to get
the E strings correctly aligned with the
edge of the fretboardcool.
Doweling the neck. Assuming youre
able to manually realign the neck so
the strings line up correctly along the
fretboard edges, youre ready for the next
step, which is to remove the neck and
prepare it for doweling. Many techs use
toothpicks to dowel a neck, but I dont
recommend that. Instead, use a 3/16"
hardwood dowel.
With a 3/16" drill bit, enlarge the two
wood screw holes by drilling only to the
depth of the screws when assembled. First
gauge this depth by inserting one of the
neck screws through the body (Photo
3), then place your bit against the screw
where it protrudes through the body and
use a marker to indicate the depth on the
drill bit. Double-check your depth mark
against the neck itself (Photo 4).
Now carefully expand the screw holes
with your 3/16" bit. Its a good idea to use
premierguitar.com
a drill press for this so your holes remain

completely perpendicular to the neck.
Next, cut two pieces of dowel to plug
the enlarged holes. Make sure the dowel
pieces are a bit longer than the depth
of the screw holes (youll trim down the
dowels later).
Use sandpaper to round the tip of
each dowel so it matches the end of your
drill bit (Photo 5). This way the dowels
will completely fill the holes you just
drilled into the heel. Nice, huh?
Dip a dowel in wood glueI
recommend Titebond IIand press it
into the screw hole in the neck. Using
a small hammer, tap the dowel down to
make sure it penetrates the full depth of
the hole (Photo 6). Repeat this process
with the other dowel.
To ensure a solid bond, its a good
idea to let the glue dry for several hours
or even overnight. When the glue is
completely dry, cut the dowel flush to the
heel using a small, flexible saw.
Marking the dowel. With the neck
dowels installed, glued, and trimmed
flush to the heel, set the neck back in the
pocket and install the third neck screw
(this is the one that screws into the metal

insert mounted in the neck). Tighten the
screw just enough to seat it against the
neck platedont torque it down yet.
Gently clamp the neck onto the body
and add a little tension again to the two
E strings. With the neck pivoting on the
third screw, shift the neck from the bass
to the treble side until the strings are
properly aligned. When theres an equal
distance from the outside of each E string
to the edge of the fretboard, stop and
tighten the clamp.
Being careful to preserve your
alignment, flip the guitar over. Insert
the two upper neck screws into the
body and gently tap them with a small
hammer (Photo 7). The resulting
indentations will mark the exact location
for the new holes in the neck heel. Now
youre ready to re-drill those holes for
the neck screws.
Drilling the new holes. Remove the
clamp and neck from the body. Mark a
1/8" drill bit to the proper depth (you
can use the 3/16" bit as a reference, or
repeat the measuring process you used
previously). By the way: The neck screws
premierguitar.com
are 5/32" in diameter, so by using a 1/8"

(4/32") drill bit, youll be sure the neck
screw threads will tap the neck enough
to hold it tight.
Double-check your drill bit depth: If
you dont drill deep enough you can crack
the heel when you bolt on the neck. And
I dont have to remind you what would
happen if you drill too deep, right?
Now, using the indentations you made
as guides, drill new screw holes in the
dowels (Photo 8). Again, using a drill
press is ideal.
Install the neck screws. With the
new holes drilled to the proper depth and
diameter, install the neck screws. Check
your work to see if the two E strings line
up correctly with the fretboard edges
(Photo 9). If so, congratulationsyoure
now ready to string up your guitar and
give it a workout.
JOHN LEVAN has written five
guitar repair books, all published
by Mel Bay. His bestseller, Guitar
Care, Setup & Maintenance, is
a detailed guide with a forward
by Bob Taylor. LeVan welcomes
questions about his PG column
or books. Drop an email to
guitarservices@aol.com.
THE BASS BENCH

2
Why Headless?
Photo 1:
Designed
by Guenther
Paal and built
by Markus
Kirchmayr, these
headless basses
are each made
from a single
piece of ebony.
Photo 2: As on
Steinberger L
Series basses,
tuners are
mounted at the
bodys base.
e began exploring Ned

Steinbergers groundbreaking
bass in my previous
column [Introducing the Headless
Bass, September 2014]. Lets continue
this journey by looking at how the
headless bass was designed to solve
several technical problems that dogged
traditional electric basses.
Setting the stage. After he completed
his design studies, Steinberger met luthier
Stuart Spector and ultimately designed
the Spector NS bass for him. Production
on the NS model began in 1977 and the
successful series is still being made today.
The NS bass offered a more sculpted
body than its predecessors, but it wasnt
the first to do so, and in no way were
its sleek contours a radical departure in
terms of functionality. But change was in
the air.
When he began working on the NS
design, Steinberger literally started from
scratch. Because he wasnt a bass player,
he had to rely on Spector to provide a
musicians insights. For bass builders, its
hard to know whether being a player is
an advantage or not. Leo Fender wasnt a
player, so one wonders: Could that have
made it easier to think outside the box
and jettison the ballast of the past?
Fast forward to the L Series. After
his initial success with Spector basses,
Steinberger began designing his own
instruments, and his radical L Series basses
quickly put his company on the map. The
headless L1 and L2 were much more than
merely portable, full-scale instruments
for the travelling musician. Besides the
compactness of the headless design, the
real advantage is the reduced string length,
which improves tuning stability.
Another benefit: The tuners were
located at the bottom of the body, and
this helped avoid accidental detuning if
you either hit a wall or bonked a fellow
musician, or when you simply put the
bass back in its case. Body-mounted
tuners are always in easy reach, and this
design focuses all heavy hardware at the
end of the body, which results in better

balance and eliminates neck dive. The
tuners higher gear ratio bring a smooth
accuracy to the tuning processa real
plus. The double-ball-end strings allowed
for quicker restringing, and even the
locking screws that appeared later at
the headpiece are easier to handle than
traditional tuners. Shifting the tuners to
the body adds some weight to it, yet here
a headless system isnt very different from
a high-mass bridge.
Wait, theres more: A headstock can
interfere with the neck and cause dead
spots. Not too many players would regret
eliminating these problems by removing
the headstock. Finally, theres the (almost)
one-piece body and neck made of a
synthetic material. This construction
makes the bass impervious to changes in
humidity and temperature. Of course,
weve put all sonic considerations aside
for the moment, butexcept for the
materialthe L Series technical advances
didnt have a huge influence on tone. So
no cons so far.
The eyes have it. One would think
that because the Steinberger was the
most advanced tool a bassist could get,
it could or should have eradicated all
earlier designs. We know that bassists
will never all play the same model, just
because its practical. But you could
imagine that once the market caught up
with Steinberger, there would be a huge
variety of headless instruments that kept
all the advantages of the L Series while
offering different woods or other body
materials, as well as different pickups and
body shapes.
In fact, there were several companies
that jumped on the bandwagon and
offered alternatives, including the
unlicensed Westone and licensed wooden
Hohner and Cort, and aluminum-neck
Kramer. However, as we now know,
the headless bass didnt become the
ubiquitous design. Why?
Perhaps its because an instruments
looks strongly reinforces a musicians
identity. Some say

that were dealing
with art, and
therefore players
want to use their
instruments to
make a visual
statement about
their favorite music
genre. Others
might be more
cynical: Bassists are
more concerned
1
with fashion than
function. For whatever reason, the
headstock prevailed, despite its technical
deficiencies.
Fortunately, the number of headless
instruments on the market has increased
in recent years. The two basses in Photo
1designed and owned by a passionate
L Series loverhave more in common
with the original Steinberger than youd
initially think. The first impression is
that someone made the body curvier and
added a long horn, but they are also onepiece instruments, in this case made from
a single block of ebony. And the tuners
(Photo 2) are mounted at the base of the
bodyjust like the original.
So who plays headless instruments
today? The answer actually depends on
how you define headless. If you use
tuning location as the main criterion,
the answer is simple: a huge group of
guitarists! Every guitar equipped with
a Floyd-style locking tremolo system
is, in fact, a headless instrument from
the moment you lock the strings at the
nut. Because all fine-tuning is done at
the bridge, theoretically you could then
remove the whole headstockat least
until you needed to change strings.
HEIKO HOEPFINGER is a
German physicist and long-time
bassist, classical guitarist, and
motorcycle enthusiast. His work
on fuel cells for the European
orbital glider Hermes led him to
form BassLab (basslab.de)a
manufacturer of monocoque guitars and basses.
Photo 1: Courtesy markusguitars.at Photo 2: Courtesy basslab.de
BY HEIKO HOEPFINGER
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ON BASS
Some Parting Thoughts

BY STEVE COOK
W
PG columnist
Steve Cook
set personal
guidelines to
get where he
wanted to be as
a bassist.
ell folks, this is it. Its my

last go round (for now at
least) writing the On Bass
column for the greatest gear magazine
on the planet. Ive had a fantastic five
years in this slot, but Im leaving my
column duties to jump into another role
here at PG, which promises to be pretty
interesting. Youll be in the capable hands
of Victor Brodn every montha great
friend, fellow Nashvillian, and a sharp
dresser. And he can really play. Listen to
him: He has a lot to pass on.
So what can I leave you with that will
have impact? Id like to pass on some
knowledge that Ive personally learned
along the way that might help you on
your career path.
First of all, do your thing. Dont let

someone tell you your technique is wrong,
or that youre playing the wrong gear. Find
what makes you happy and roll with it. So
what if you cant play as fast or as flashy as
another player? I shied away from learning
every Geddy Lee lick in high school
because everyone else was doing it. Aston
Family Man Barrett had my ear growing
up with his perfect less-is-more approach.
to bring a dozen basses to a session, and

this really isnt an exaggeration. To make
matters worse, they may not be the same
as your touring instruments. You might
have the absolute cleanest and best 59
P in the world, but if the bass doesnt
sound good on tape, then its wall art.
Whatever your arsenal of choice (maybe
a P, a Jazz, a hollowbody, something with
flatwounds, something quirky, a couple
Dont let someone tell you your technique is wrong,

or that youre playing the wrong gear.
As bassists, this is what were sort of
supposed to be doing anyhow. Im not
taking anything away from my shredder
friends and I love a monster Racer X
riff just like the next kid, but to make
money in this bass business, my advice
is to take all your fancy licks and leave
them at home. That was the advice given
to me 20 years ago here in Nashville,
and its served me well. I can play as fast
as I want during soundcheck. But when
it comes to playing well with others,
one must listen, adjust, play less, and
grooveand then (hopefully) get paid.
This brings me to my next point
regarding money versus art. This debate
has raged since the first notes were struck
on a hollow tree and a caveman gave up
two rocks to hear the performance. I have
sold out to the higher bidder, but I have
also been on the poverty side by staying
true and waiting for the right situation.
As the younger players will learnand the
older ones already knowcaring for your
family is priority number one. Sometimes
that means taking gigs we dont necessarily
like or think are the coolest. How cool
are you going to look sleeping in your car?
There is a balance to be had in playing
great music and actually getting paid.
You may have to kiss a lot of frogs before
getting to play with Prince.
When it comes to recording, youre
going to need a few things if you really
want to get serious. Some say you need
of active basses, and a 5-string), and

depending on the session, keeping your
signal chain simple will help, too.
Above all, be cool. Be an easy hang,
come prepared, knock it out of the park,
and go home. Thats how you should
approach any gig. Be the nicest guy in
the room without overdoing it, and leave
a great impression.
One last tidbit of sobering
information: Every gig ends. No matter
how long youve known the band or
artist, or how invincible you feel, there
will be a time when the train stops and
youll have to step off onto the platform.
At that moment, lets hope you have
enough heart, stamina, and moxie to get
on another train.
Thank you, wonderful readers of PG,
for the years of support. As a young lad
with a Gibson knock-off pawnshop bass
plugged into my parents stereo as an
amp, I used to dream of being in music
magazines. Now even with all the miles and
all the shows, my dreams continue, and Im
not even close to the finish line. Everything
you want is possible. Now go get it.
STEVE COOK
started as a touring bass player

when printed maps were the only
way to get there. His extensive
studio and touring credits run
the gamut from rock to jazz to
country. Also a busy producer
and WWII aviation junkie, he
welcomes you to reach out via
Twitter @shinybass.
premierguitar.com
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Build a killer distortion pedal customized for your style.

Its easier than you think!
BY JOE GORE
uilding stompboxes from

scratch is easier than you
might expect. So is customizing the circuits to suit your
style and taste. This project walks
you through the process step by
step. When youre done, youll
have a killer distortion pedaland
enough knowledge about using and

choosing stompbox components to
build countless other pedals.
Anyone of average intelligence
with functional hands and eyes
can complete this project. But
there are many stepsmore than
we can cover in a conventional
magazine article. So weve created

an illustrated build guide in PDF
form, which you must download
to complete the project. If youre
reading this in print, go to
premierguitar.com/DIY-Distortion
to download a comprehensive set

of instructions.
DIY
Photo 1:
The Electra, a
late-70s/early80s guitar with
built-in effects,
has been largely
forgotten. But
many boutique
builders have
borrowed its
simple yet
great-sounding
distortion
circuit.
Photo 2:
I built my
PG Distortion
into a prepainted and predrilled enclosure
and decorated
it with stickers.
Because stickers!
What youll build.
This project is a modernized and tweaked version of a distortion circuit that

originally appeared in the Electra guitar, a Japanese axe with built-in effects that was
imported into the U.S. by Saint Louis Music in the late 70s and early 80s
(Photo 1). The guitar was never very popular, but at some point savvy boutique
stompbox builders realized that despite (or maybe because of ) the circuits simplicity,
it offers terrific overdrive tones. Its a fine alternative to the Tube Screamerinfluenced designs found in perhaps 90 percent of todays overdrive pedals.
Were calling our Electra variation the PG Distortion (Photo 2). Compared
to a Screamer, the PG Distortion is less compressed, less midrange-heavy, and
more responsive to variations in your playing dynamics. It preserves note attack
and has an edgy grind that cuts through onstage and in a mix. Its been used
in several highly regarded boutique pedals (just Google the phrase based on
Electra distortion).
What youll learn.
The circuits simplicity makes this a

perfect starter project. But the goal isnt
just to build a cool pedal from a few
modestly priced parts. From the very
first steps, youll make design choices
to suit your style and taste. Youll learn
how common stompbox components
work, and how to choose the right ones
for your needs. Making stuff you like is
a prime motive for DIY.
Now, if your goal is simply to build

a cool pedal as quickly and cheaply as
possible, you might consider a prefab
DIY kit rather than this project. (Im
especially fond of kits from Build Your
Own Clone because of their clever
designs and excellent documentation.)
But usually, kits like that only tell
you the next stepnot why youre
doing the step, or how you can apply
the procedure to future builds. Also,
kits usually come with a printed

circuit board (PCB) for mounting
components, while we will make
connections manually using a blank
piece of perforated circuit boarda
more laborious process, but a more
informative one. So think of this as a
stompbox-building class, with the PG
Distortion as our case study.
premierguitar.com
DIY
Project overview.
The project is organized into five parts:
1. Preparations. Here you assemble all

the needed tools (Photo 3) and round
up your parts (Photo 4).
2. Breadboarding the circuit
Assemble the circuit on an electronics
breadboardan inexpensive
prototyping tool that lets you create
circuits without soldering. This will
make it easy to see which components
accomplish what (Photo 5).
3. Customizing the circuit.
Breadboarding is also a great way to
explore design options, which youll do
right from the beginning.
4. Assembling the circuit on perf
board. Once you finalize your design,
youll solder it onto perf board, a type
of circuit board (Photo 6). Its a more
complex process than just plugging
parts into holes on a prefab PCB, but
it permits customization. Once you
learn the technique, youll be able
to transpose most stompbox circuits
directly from schematic to perf board
and almost every stompbox schematic
is available online. (Yes, reading
schematics is one of our topics.) After
assembling the circuit board, youll test
it using the breadboard (Photo 7).
5. Boxing the circuit. Finally, youll

box everything up. Youll install the
jacks, footswitch, LED, and DC
adapter into the enclosure (Photo 8)
and then add the circuitry (Photo 9).
5
premierguitar.com
DIY
8
Tools.
Youll need these tools to complete the

project. Ones marked optional are
nice to have too.
1. Soldering iron. (Preferably 30 watts
or more, but not a large gun-type
iron. A soldering station with a
temperature control is a big plus. Use
a fine, narrow soldering iron tip
the best choice for small-format
electronic work.)
2. Lead-free solder. (Less toxic than the
leaded kind, but still nasty.)
3. A damp sponge to clean the
soldering irons tip.
4. A small electronics breadboard.
(They make large-format ones, but most
stompbox circuits are simple enough for
a small board.)
5. An assortment of jumper cables. (You
can make your own, but the prefab ones
have metal tips that dont fray from
repeated use.)
6. Wire stripper.
7. Wire cutter. (Most strippers have
cutters, but youll probably want a separate
flush-edged tool for tight, close cuts)
8. Needle-nosed pliers.
9. Phillips-head screwdriver.
10. An adjustable wrench or a wrench
set. (Long-handled luthiers wrenches
are nice if you can afford themplus
you can use them for guitar repairs.)
11. A digital multimeter. Auto-ranging
meters are the easiest to work with. These
have many functions, and the high-end
ones can be quite complicated. But even
budget models should have the functions
needed for this project: a voltmeter, an
ohmmeter, and a continuity function (a
beeper that sounds when you touch the
test terminals to any two points that are
linked electronically).
12. A small saw and vise for cutting

perf board to size.
13. Double-sided foam tape
14. Optional: a helping hand vise
to hold components steady while
soldering.
15. Optional: a syringe-style desoldering pump.
plus an electric guitar, an amp, and
two audio cables.
premierguitar.com
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Pictured: VOX AC30C2, Korg SDD-3000 Digital Delay Pedal, & Gibson Explorer
WWW.VOXAMPS.COM
DIY
Parts.
Heres your bill of materials

(BOM)the engineers term for a
parts list. Part of the project involves
auditioning multiple components to
choose your favorites, so not everything
in the list will appear in the final pedal.
The extra parts are quite inexpensive, so
I recommend getting them allyoull
learn a lot. (In the U.S., a complete set
of parts should cost around $50.)
1. Five 1/4-watt metal film resistors.
Values: 470R, 4.7K, 10K, 68K, 2.2M.
2. Four non-polarized capacitors (caps):
473 (also called .047F or 47n)
683 (also called .068F or 68n)
two units of 104 (.1F or 100n)
These can be polyester film, box style,
or ceramicthey all sound the same
in this circuit. Get small-format caps
rated between 50 and 100 volts, not
the large-format caps used in amps and
other AC-powered devices. (Youll only
use two of these in the final pedal.)
Sourcing Parts.
Stompbox parts tend to fall into two categories: those you can get from
large electronics supply houses, and those sold chiefly by stompbox
specialists. Large suppliers such as Mouser (mouser.com), Digi-Key
(digikey.com), and Allied (alliedelec.com) often have the lowest prices,
but they dont stock some of the essentials. Meanwhile, the specialized
stompbox vendors often carry both specialized and non-specialized parts,
and the convenience of one-stop shopping may compensate for slightly
higher prices on generic parts.
This isnt a complete list of stompbox parts specialistsjust three
reliable U.S.-based vendors with fine reputations, listed in alphabetical
order. Ive had great service from all three businesses.
Mammoth Electronics (mammothelectronics.com)
Pedal Parts Plus (pedalpartsplus.com)
Small Bear Electronics (smallbearelec.com)
Meanwhile, I hear good things about Germanys Banzai Music
(banzaimusic.com) from my friends in the E.U.
Mammoth Electronics has created a preassembled kit with all the
parts needed for this project. (Premier Guitar has no financial stake in the
productits merely offered as a convenience.) The parts are good and
the prices are competitive, but its just one way to go. The kit includes all
needed parts, but you must provide the tools. Heres the product page:
https://www.mammothelectronics.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=KIT-TNFND-DIST
3. One 16V 22F electrolytic capacitor.

(This cap type is polarized.)
8. A 3PDT footswitch.
4. Three transistors: 2N5088, 2N5089,

and 2N3904. (Youll only use one in
the final pedal.)
9. Three 1/4" mono jacks. (One is

for the pedal, and two are for your
breadboard testing rig.)
5. Eight diodes, two each of the

following. (Not all will appear in the
final pedal.)
10. One 1/4" stereo jack.
1N4001
1N914
1N34A
red 3 mm LED
6. Two 16 mm potentiometers (pots):
A100K and C10K. (Substitute a B10K
if you cant find a C10K.)
7. A piece of perf board (perforated
circuit board) at least 15 holes in width
and seven in height. Chances are youll
saw a standard-sized 45 mm x 45 mm
piece (shown) in half.
11. One DC jack. (I used the standard

type with an internal nut for the photos
in this guide, though you may find it
easier to work with an external-nut
model.)
12. One 5 mm LED (any color).
13. One 5 mm LED bezel.
14. Two battery snaps. (One for the
pedal, and one for the breadboard rig.)
15. One 9V battery.
17. One 2" length of 1/8" heat-shrink

tubing. (You can substitute standard
electrical tape.)
18. Hookup wire, preferably 24-gauge,
stranded and pre-bonded. (For visual
clarity, it may help to use several
contrasting colors, such as black, red,
and white.)
19. One 1590B-size enclosure drilled for
two knobs, footswitch, input, output,
LED, and DC jack. You can order a predrilled box, or use a drill press to make
your own holes. Use a larger enclosure
if you like, though everything should
fit into a compact 1590B. (If you have
a drill press, you can save a couple of
bucks by drilling your own holes. For
an appropriate drill template, Google
1590B drilling template.)
16. Two knobs of your choice.
premierguitar.com
(ACTUAL SIZE)
Lets be perfectly clear.

The new Replay Box stereo delay pedal is our clearest sounding delay ever.
No distortion or warble just crystal clear, studio-quality repeats. With a delay time
of up to 3 seconds, plus a subdivision switch and tap tempo, you get all the tools
you need to create perfectly tailored delay in one impressively compact box.
This is one pedal youll want to hear over and over and over again.
t-rex-eects.com
DIY
Your workspace.
Work somewhere with decent lighting

and ventilation. Expect everything to
take longer than planned, so dont start
working at your kitchen table if you
plan to eat there this week. Remember,
a clean, well-organized workspace is a
sign of a clean, well-organized mind.
My bench is a filthy junk pile.
When in
doubt,
step away
from the
bench
and seek
help.
Safety first (and
second and third).
This project requires tools and

techniques that can hurt you if youre
not careful. Fortunately, its pretty
much impossible to electrocute yourself
with 9V circuits like this one, but its all
too easy to cut or burn yourself.
When in doubt, step away from the
bench and seek help. Dont touch
things that are hot or sharp. Wear eye
protection. Dont work when youre
angry or stressed. Dont leave anything
dangerous where kids or pets can find
it. You know the drillincluding the
fact that you proceed at your own risk,
and that neither I nor Premier Guitar
can assume any responsibility for injury,
property damage, or other unfortunate
events that may occur while attempting
this project. Be smart and careful, okay?
Common-sense soldering.
If youve never soldered, it can be intimidating. And yes, its possible to burn
things, including yourself. But its actually an easy procedure that quickly becomes
second nature. If youve never soldered before, watch a few YouTube soldering
tutorials. Start by searching YouTube for Soldering with W0JAK (thats a zero in
W0JAK), to find a clip in which a clever 11-year-old covers most of what you
need to know in three fast minutes.
Some basics:
Dont touch the hot part.
Dont leave a hot iron unattended.
Work in a ventilated area. Even if youre using lead-free solder, it cant be
healthy to inhale those fumes for hours!
Wear eye protection.
Tin the irons tip by touching a bit of solder to it before starting.
Keep a damp sponge or rag handy and swab the irons tip frequently to keep
it clean.
Instead of touching solder to the irons tip, try to heat the target component
and melt the solder against the component. (But yeah, sometimes we cheat
and quickly touch the solder to the iron for a fraction of a second to get it
flowing.)
A good solder joint is shiny, smooth, and shaped like a Hersheys Kiss. If its
dark, or sits on the surface like a water droplet, reapply the iron.
If you make mistakes, it may help to have a syringe-type de-soldering tool.
(You simply re-melt the solder, and then suck it up with the tool.)
Consider using a helping hands vise to hold your components, leaving both
your hands free for work.
Its possible to complete this project with a bare-bones pencil-type soldering iron,
but its far easier if you use a soldering station with adjustable temperature from
a company such as Weller or Hakko. Simple hobbyist models start at around
$40, and fancier models go for about double that. But dont use big, high-wattage
soldering gunstheyre too powerful for work like this. Use a fine, narrow
soldering iron tip suitable for delicate electronics work.
premierguitar.com
DIY
Working with schematics.
A schematic is simply a graphic representation of a circuit. Schematics can look

intimidating, but it doesnt take long to learn the basic symbols. Photo 10 shows
the schematic for this project. The build guide PDF discusses it in detail, but heres
a quick intro:
Schematics are usually arranged with the power connection at the top, ground
connections at the bottom, input to the left, and output to the right.
The zigzag lines depict resistors.
The potentiometer symbol is like the resistor symbol, but with an added arrow
to indicate the middle lug.
Parallel lines symbolize non-polarized capacitors.
The electrolytic cap symbol adds a curved line and a plus sign to indicate
polarity.
The diode symbol includes a triangle and a line. The side with the line is the
negative terminal. The LED symbol adds arrows representing emitted light.
Like most circuits, this one includes many connections to ground. We could
connect them all with lines in the schematic, but the schematic is easier on the
eye is we indicate ground connections with a simple symbol: the downwardfacing triangle.
Dont sweat it if youre still confusedits covered extensively in the build guide.
10
Mods of the gods.
Sure, you might be a beginning builder,

but chances are you have strong tastes
when it comes to guitar sound. Its
never too early to modify projects to
better meet your musical needs and
personal style. In fact, youll be doing
just that within the first few minutes.
Even in this simple circuit, small
modifications can dramatically alter the
effects sound and response.
Your modding experiments will focus
on three areas:
1. Youll try different values for the
input capacitor (labeled C1 in Photo
10). This part acts as a high-pass filter,
removing lows. But the result isnt quite
like, say, turning down the bass knob on
your amp, or using EQ to remove lows
from a recording. Here at the front of
the circuit, slight component variations
alter the effects fundamental character.
2. Youll audition three different
transistors (the part labeled Q1 in
Photo 10). This component defines
the circuits gain. You can make this
an understated overdrive or an angry
chunk machine.
3. Youll experiment with different
combinations of clipping diodes (parts
D1 and D2 in Photo 10). The result
can range from soft, warm distortion to
razor-edged sizzle.
DIY not?
Remember, this project isnt just about building a cool distortion pedal. The goal is learning the whys as well as
the hows so you can a) apply these techniques to any project, and b) alter circuits to taste. I hope you find the
process fun and informative, and that when the smoke clearshee heeyou have an inspiring musical tool. For
best results, maintain your patience and sense of humor, and dont freak out when you hit the inevitable hurdles.
Theres much more info in the PDF build guide available at premierguitar.com/DIY-Distortionincluding
additional resources and troubleshooting tips. Download it if you dare!
premierguitar.com
J . ROCK
ET
UD
TA
IO DESIG
NS
MOD GARAGE
Inside the Red Special

BY DIRK WACKER
The Red Special boasts three single-coil

pickups, Telecaster-style master volume and
master tone knobs, and individual on/off and
phase switches for each pickup.
If youre intrigued with the idea of
configuring a Strat la May, Image 1
is the wiring diagram for a stock Red
Special. Naturally, you can physically
arrange the on/off and phase switches to
your personal taste.
Theres nothing fancy about the
controls. The original Red Special has
two 220k audio pots (a common value
in the 60s), but you can substitute two
readily available 250k audio pots. The
original also has a 0.02 F paper-in-oil
cap with a metal casing on the tone
control. Such caps are still available today,
at least with the modern 0.022 F value.
Pickup details. A big part of Mays
tone comes from the Red Specials Burns
Tri-Sonic pickups. Though Tri-Sonics are
single-coils, theyre wider than standard
Stratocaster pickups. This means if you
want to install a replacement set of

Tri-Sonics in your Strat, youll have to
enlarge the pickup holes in the pickguard
and reroute the pickup cavities in the
body. Fortunately, Burns also offers a
drop-in replacement for Strat pickups
called the Mini Tri-Sonic. These pickups
sport ceramic magnets and a chrome
cover, and have a typical DC resistance
of around 7k ohms and an inductance of
approximately 1.9H.
The Tri-Sonics unique construction
gives it richer harmonics than a standard
Stratocaster pickup. In fact, a Strat-sized
P-90-style pickup will get you closer to
Brian May territory than a Strat pickup.
But to get as close as possible, Tri-Sonics
are the ticket.
Instead of a common 5-way
pickup selector switch, May uses an
Wiring diagram courtesy of guitarwiring.blogspot.com
rian May is one of the most

immediately identifiable guitarists
of all time, and part of his sonic
mojo comes from his unique 6-string
the Red Special. Lets explore this
instrument to learn how it works and
discover how you can mod a production
or custom replica to make it even more
versatile. Once you understand the
electronics, youll even be able to rewire a
Strat to Red Special specs.
Red Special history. Guitar freaks
know the story about Mays main
axe and how as a kid he built it with
his father in the early 60s. From the
moment May started playing with
Queenfilling stadiums worldwide and
recording monster hitsthe Red Specials
distinctive tone has been essential to his
music. What makes this guitar different?
The Red Special boasts three singlecoil pickups, Telecaster-style master
volume and master tone knobs, and
individual on/off and phase switches
for each pickup. Like some older
Danelectros, its pickups are wired in series
rather than in parallel, and this yields a
very fat, loud sound.
The theory behind series wiring is
that the ground wire of one pickup is
connected to the hot wire of another
pickup. As a result, they become a kind
of compound pickup with one ground
and one hot for both. When wired in
series, the pickups impedance (resistance)
is summed and the output is very high.
(To learn more about series wiring, read
Stratocaster Parallel/Series Switching at
premierguitar.com.)
Mays original Red Special is
constructed with unusual materials. The
body is made of oak and blockboard,
and topped with a mahogany veneer.
Its center block and neck consists of
an unknown wood taken from an old
fireplace mantel, and the fretboard
is oak. The result is a kind of semiacoustic guitar thats almost impossible
to copy, but a standard Strat isnt a bad
foundation.
premierguitar.com
Wiring diagram courtesy of John Hewitt (guitarnuts.com)
on/off switch for each pickup. This

arrangement gives him seven different
combinations from the three pickups.
Besides the five well-known Strat
combinations, he can also pair the
bridge and neck pickups, as well as
engage all three pickups. His Red Special
uses slide switches, but mini-toggle on/
off switches work just fine.
A passing phase. On his Red Special,
May also incorporates an individual
phase switch for each pickup, so he
can reverse its phase in any pickup
combination. When two pickups are in
phase, they work together and sonically
reinforce each other. When theyre out
of phase, two pickups work against one
another, cancelling many frequencies.
The resulting sound is the leftovers
from these cancellations.
Before we go any further, lets review
two things about switching pickup
phase: You dont have to engage two
phase switchesreversing the leads of
both pickups puts them back in phase
again and thus yields a stock sound. And
switching the phase of a single pickup has
no audible result. For example, the bridge
pickup by itself sounds the same whether
its switched in or out of phase. You can
only get an out-of-phase sound when you
use two pickups together and only one of
them is out of phase.
premierguitar.com
So why add all these phase switches?

Consider this: There are two ways you
can use the bridge and middle pickups
together with one of them being out of
phase with the other. The bridge pickup
can be in phase and the middle out of
phase, or the other way around. Each
configuration delivers different harmonic
content, especially when youre playing
with distortion. The difference is subtle,
but audible, and May is known for
tinkering with this option a lot. Its an
important part of his signature tone.
May typically plays with heavy
distortion, pushing his amps hard with
those series-wired Tri-Sonics. His out-ofphase sounds are an excellent choice for
cutting through the mix, and this whole
circuit is perfect for his playing style.
To get close to the Brian May tone,
there are several more things to consider:
He plays with very light strings (.009
.036) and uses an old sixpence coin as a
plectrum. He also runs his guitar into a
treble booster and a wall of Vox AC30s.
There are other details, but to enter the
May zone without breaking the bank, use
thin strings, pick with a coin, plug into
any Rangemaster Treble Booster clone,
and use a Vox ampideally an AC30.
There is a Vox Brian May signature
amp (the VBM-1), which was designed
to mimic his studio sound and has a
built-in treble boost circuit. Though

the amp is no longer in production, it
sometimes shows up used on eBay.
There are a lot of mods out on the
web for Red Special replicas and clones,
mostly designed to coax more sounds
out of the guitar. My favorite (Image
2) is by John Hewitt, an Australian
guitar tech and the mastermind behind
the GuitarNuts website. This mod
incorporates series/parallel pickup
switching, leaves all stock wiring sounds
untouched, and only requires one
additional switch, which acts as a master
series/parallel switch. Parallel switching
of the pickups offers more traditional
Stratocaster tones. Compared to the series
wiring, it has reduced output but delivers
enhanced clarity, twang, and top end.
All you need for this is a 4PDT mini
toggle or slide switch. A mini toggle
switch should be easy to acquire, but
finding a 4PDT slide switch can be more
difficult. Using the new switch is fairly
simple: Dial in a pickup combination of
your choicefor example, bridge-plusmiddleand youll hear them connected
in series (the stock wiring). If you want
a more Strat-like sound, flip the new
switch and both pickups are now wired
in parallel for a more traditional tone.
Flip it again and you are back to the
stock series wiring.
This isnt an easy wiring project, so
be methodical and dont rush through
it. The third pickup wires (not shown
in Image 2) from the Tri-Sonics are
twisted together and soldered to ground
as shown in Image 1s stock wiring
(represented in green).
And thats it! Until next time, keep on
modding!
DIRK WACKER lives in Germany
and is fascinated by anything

related to old Fender guitars
and amps as well as all vintage
German guitars. When not playing
or working on his guitar workbench, he writes for several guitar
mags. He is also a hardcore DIY-er
and runs an extensive webpage
(singlecoil.com) on the subject.
Reach him at info@singlecoil.com.
ASK AMP MAN
Modifying an Early Fender Super-Sonic 60

BY JEFF BOBER
Q:
There are
two different
versions of the
Fender SuperSonic 60: The
first generation
was introduced
in 2005 and the
updated model
debuted in
2009.
Hi Jeff,
I have a first generation (2007-08) Fender Super-Sonic 60 1x12
combo. Great ampreally love the tonebut the more recent
models have some changes that tighten up the low end and sharpen
the mids at higher gain settings. Can my amp be modded to the
newer specs? Or should I leave well enough alone since Im happy
with it as is?
Thanks!
Mike Bjorgo
A:
Hi Mike,
The Fender Super-Sonic is a
versatile amp with two distinct
channels. Labeled Vintage, the first
channel emulates two iconic Fender amps:
the Bassman and the Vibrolux. And this
is no virtual emulation! Fender designers
accomplished this by actually switching
between different component values and
circuit paths. Its done with relays, I might
add. Im not a fan of solid-state LDR (light
dependant resistor) switching, as it does
not have a true on and off state. Relays
are absolute. This channel also positions
the tone stack after the first gain stagea
standard Fender design trait.
Channel 2 is labeled Burn. This
channel offers an additional gain stage
and less in the way of passive tone
shaping. It also has the tone stack
positioned after the fourth gain stage,
which allows a more full-range signal to
pass through all the gain stages before its
tweaked by the tone controls. All in all,
two different channel designs.
Okay, you want your older SuperSonic to sound like the new model,
so lets get to it. The first model was
designed in October 2005, and the
updated model was designed in October
2009. According to your needs, the later
model has some tonal improvements,

which Ill detail here so you can have
your amp modified. This info is available
online, but Ive done my own research
and will share my findings. Beyond that,
Ill give you my opinion as to what each
change does, should you desire to pick
and choose.
1. The first change in the schematic
occurs at C2. The original version uses a
.0022 F cap here. The later model ups
this value to a .0033 F in the combo
version. This change causes a bit more
of a full-range signal to be sent to the
Burn channel.
2. The next change is at C7.
Originally this was a 120 pF cap; the
later model drops this value to a 47
pF. This causes less brightness at lower
volume settings in the Vintage channels
Vibrolux mode.
3. Next we find a change at C11 and
R22. Original values were 3.3M and
10 pF respectively. In the newer model,
these are changed to 1.5M and 330 pF.
This change increases both the level and
frequency range of the signal being fed
to the subsequent gain stages of the amp.
In my opinion, this change probably has
the largest impact on the amps sound.
If youre simply looking for more out of
WARNING:
All tube amplifiers contain lethal voltages. The most dangerous voltages are stored in
electrolytic capacitors, even after the amp has been unplugged from the wall. Before
you touch anything inside the amp chassis, its imperative that these capacitors are
discharged. If you are unsure of this procedure, consult your local amp tech.
the Vintage channel, this would be the

change to make.
4. The next change consists of two
additional components: C99 and R160.
Its a series network consisting of a 0.015
F capacitor and a 47k resistor attached
between the R22/R23 junction and
ground. This is a simple low-pass filter
that reduces some high frequencies in the
Vintage channel. Since these components
will need to be discretely added, as they
have no circuit board locations in the
earlier amps, you could hold off installing
them until you decide its necessary.
5. Next we move on to C25. This
capacitor is at the end of the Burn channel,
electrically across the volume pot. Initially
a 680 pF cap, it was increased to a 0.001
F cap in the combo amps. This will shave
just a bit more top end off the signal,
probably in the hopes to make the combo
amp sound a bit fuller and less shrill.
6. The next changes happen in the
reverb circuit, starting with R150 and
R151. R150, originally a 220k resistor,
has been changed to a jumper, and R151,
originally 470k, has been changed to 1M.
This change substantially increases the
signal level to the reverb drive circuit. The
result would be a fuller-sounding reverb.
7. The last change consists of changing
R167 from a 470k resistor to 1M. This
is the reverb return signal that gets mixed
with the dry signal in the amp. The new
1M resistor serves to reduce the return
signal a bit, likely to compensate for the
increased drive signal.
There you have it: All the changes
needed to bring your older Super-Sonic
up to the latest specs, plus the result of
each modification, so you can pick and
choose how to enhance your amp.
JEFF BOBER, is one of the
godfathers of the low-wattage amp

revolution. He co-founded and was
originally the principal designer
for Budda Amplification, though
he launched EAST Amplification
(eastamplification.com) in 2010.
You can catch his podcasts at
ampsandaxescast.com or email
him at pgampman@gmail.com.
premierguitar.com
STATE OF THE STOMP
The Importance of Contingency Planning

BY BEN FULTON
A catastrophic
flood threatened
to end the world
in the biblical
tale of Noah,
and one pair of
every animal
species was
brought onto the
ark to continue
the way of the
world. But is one
set enough?
ccording to a recent major

motion picture, Noah, the
animals entered the ark two by
two. The logic of this obviously stems
from the desire to continue the various
species (irrespective of the consequences
of a remarkably diminished gene pool).
Ive always thought it might have been
wiser to have a few backup sets. Perhaps
they did and it was simplified for ease of
storytelling. The terms two by two does
have a nice ring to it.
Lets talk about contingencies
planning ahead so you can ensure
the continuation of your tone under
catastrophic flood conditions. Actually no,
not catastrophic flood conditions, but the
sorts of adverse circumstances that will
inevitably hit you as a gigging guitarist.
As guitarists were members of that
larger family groupmusicianswho in
turn are part of the supergroup known
as artists. Speaking in very generalized
terms, there are some traits that seem to
come with artistic leanings. For instance,
we do have a tendency for extremes, from
moderate leaps to the full-blown mania of
folks in our flock who are afflicted with
bipolar disorder. This inclination towards
extremes can be a wonderful catalyst
for creativity. The chicken-versus-egg
conversation has been played out here on
many occasions: Does our craziness drive us
to create art or does our art drive us crazy?
So we tend to be risk-takers, which
serves us well when it comes to things
like improvising, but can you imagine
how Jimis solos wouldve sounded if
he had approached with the risk-averse
headspace of a financial planner? Yuck.
Hideously yuck. Where risk-taking
doesnt serve us well is in things like
forward planning and ensuring we have
contingencies for when things dont work
out. State of the Stomp is way too small
a space and your humble author is way
too underqualified to comment on the
larger ramifications of this as it applies
to all things. I can, however, talk about
contingencies for your tone.
Worst-case scenario: Youre playing a

packed-out gig, it comes time for your
big solo and suddenly: nothing. Silence.
What do you do? While kicking the
amp over and embedding the guitar in a
nearby drummer might seem like a good
idea at the time, sonically its never going
to satisfy. What you need to do is get
back online as soon as possible. Having a
contingency plan here is a great idea. The
first question you need to ask yourself is:
Whats the bare minimum I can get by
on, soundwise? If its just a guitar plus
an amp, do it. Unplug any pedals and
run straight into the amp. Get through
the set and then work on rejuvenating
your pedalboard in the break.
This reveals one of the best
contingencies a working player can
havea backup amp. Because what if
you unplug from the pedals, and jack
straight into the amp but theres still no
sound? Looking at pro rigs you will often
see several amplifiers. Very rarely are all
of these are used simultaneously. Chances
are that one (or more) of those additional
amps are there as a backup. Every major
artist Ive visited backstage has had
several backup amps, because when youre
playing to stadiums you cannot afford
to have a catastrophic flood, er, I mean
failure, onstage.
For smaller gigs, I personally use a
wonderful 20-watt vintage Jansen 6/20
amplifier that was made in New Zealand
in 1964. I also travel with a head version
of the same amp as a backup. Having
said this, you dont necessarily need to
go out and purchase another 1968 plexi
head for your weekly local bar gig. There
are some cool little ber-compact solidstate amps on the market now that can fit
in your cable bag. Sure, they may not be
as tuneful as your valve-laden glory box,
but theyll get you through. In addition
to the amp, there are always smaller items
to consider, like spare cables, spare power
supplies for pedalboards, spare pedals
(for effect-critical songs or players) and
obviously, spare guitars. Too many of
you will think this all seems to be utter

common sense. But many of our ilk have
a default setting of extreme optimism.
Which is great when contemplating the
future of humanity or considering the
morality of your bandmates, but may
not be so helpful when youre playing a
sold-out show and your gear (which you
were confident would be solid and help
you kill it) goes down, and youre left
standing there with no sound.
So, to summarize. 1. Bring spares of
everything that you could imagine you
might need. 2. Think about the bare
minimum that you need to keep playing
and have access to that easily available.
(For example, no hardwired cables from
guitar to pedalboard that require eight
minutes and the removal of multiple
screws to release.) 3. Repeat: Bring
spares. Until next time, my optimistic
rock-and-roller siblings, be well, be safe,
and be happy!
BEN FULTON is a Libran. He
likes long walks on the beach

and loves watching the sun set.
He likes going out dancing but
is just as happy to cuddle up
in front of the fire with a good
movie and glass of Pinot. He also
is the CEO and head designer at
Red Witch Analog Pedals.
premierguitar.com
premierguitar.com
o outsiders, pedal
fixation probably
seems a bit, well, dorky.
These brightly painted
and oddly named
totems stoke raging
debates in chat rooms, fuel the kind of
sleepless, ascetic research thats typically
devoted to holy texts, and drive adults to
surreptitiously stash little boxes beneath
their beds and in car trunks, because ...
they had to have just this one more.
But for all the weird obsessions pedals
fire within us, they are, in the end, about
creation, joy, and happiness. Plug in a
premierguitar.com
phaser and ambient reverb, hand a guitar

to someone whos never touched one
before, and watch the smile spread as the
simple thump of an E string becomes the
soundtrack to a science-fiction dream.
And so it goes: From distortions that
evoke the sound of raining hellfire to
pitch harmonizers and delays that conjure
wee caterpillars dancing in the morning
dew, pedals are about stimulating our
imaginations and manifesting our wildest
sonic fantasies.
Every year at Premier Guitar, we
celebrate the stompboxthose prized
gadgets that help us embrace and decode
the mysteries of sound. Its that time

again: Together well explore 30 new tone
toys, a few of which are likely to wind
up stashed under your bed. (Dont say we
didnt warn you.)
And while were reveling in this pile
o pedals, lets also salute the minds and
imaginations of the folks who make this
stuffin some cases, theyre the most
tireless renegades, misfits, and weirdoes who
ever came down the line. Their hours spent
both in solitude and conspiring with other
freaks give us the treasures well behold over
the next few dozen pages. May their work
forever channel our musical reveries. Enjoy!
{ FUZZ }
DAREDEVIL
Nova
BY MATTHEW HOLLIMAN
hicago-based Daredevil
Pedals loves fuzz. In just
a few short years, founder
Johnny Wator has produced
everything from original twists
on the Fuzzrite and Russian Big
Muff to the growling Ronsoninspired Atomic Cock. Daredevil
typically avoids clonesadding
a little extra gain or extra range
in a tone stack instead to make
a classic unique. Thats the case
with the new Nova fuzz, an
original, simple silicon transistor
fuzz that offers an alternative
to the same old Maestro, Tone
Bender, or Fuzz Face clone.
Muscular Simplicity
The Novas white and purple
sparkle paint job would look
fantastic on its vehicular
namesake. But the utilitarian
nature of this fuzz aligns with
the intent of Chevys no-frills
muscle-car platform too. There
are just two controls: volume and
saturation. Volume controls the
outputno surprise thereand
the latter is essentially the gain
or fuzz control, and turning it
clockwise increases the crunch.
Overall, the Nova is sturdy and
carefully wired on the inside.
Laying Rubber
Wators aim with the Nova
was to create a fuzz that would
work well in a two-guitar band.
The Maestro FZ-1 was a tone
touchstone for its high-end
bite, but Wator wanted more
versatility and gusto in a live
setting than a germanium
Maestro-type circuit could
deliver. The silicon circuitry of

the Nova ensures that it does not
lack presence. Unity both for
humbuckers and single-coils is
right around high noon, and that
leaves you with a fair amount of
headroom if you want to increase
the output.
For all its two-knob simplicity,
the Nova produces many unique
fuzz and overdrive tones that
dont fit easily into any of the
classic categories. The silicon
circuitry lends some of the hot,
aggressive sound and feel of a
BC-108-driven Fuzz Face. But
the Nova can also sound a lot
more tattered and rowdy
particularly when you explore
the lower ranges of the saturation
control. Dialing the saturation
back to around 9 oclock
generates some of the sound and
feel of a little amplifier stressed
to its limits, and this produces
hip, unpredictable decay thats
more chaotic than smooth. Youll
have to dial back the saturation
even further to achieve this sound
with humbuckers, so if you want
to explore the more unruly and
random facets of the Novas fuzz
voice, single-coils might be the
best match.
Rolling the saturation
completely counter-clockwise
generates the texture of a gritty
overdrive. It sounds great in this
setting, though the lack of an EQ
control means youll have to finetune the sound using your guitars
tone knob.
Maxing the saturation
highlights the range of this
deceptively simple pedal. It
sounds immense and

dangerous without
getting bulbous and
rotund like a Big Muff,
and the overall output
has a healthy, welldefined midrange. This
keeps the harmonic
detail of single notes
and big chords intact,
even when you venture
into more substantial,
Fuzz Face-like sustain
textures.
If the Nova lacks
anything, its the wideranging sensitivity
to a guitars volume knoba
signature of the best Fuzz Faces
and Tone Benders. Rolling
back your volume cleans up
the crunch, and there are great
tones here. But theres a little less
sustain on tap in these attenuated
settings than a good silicon Fuzz
Face. If you use humbuckers,
youll notice this phenomenon a
lot less. In general, the smooth
output of good humbuckers is
an ideal match for the Nova
particularly if you like to use
guitar volume to shape output
and tone.
The Verdict
The Nova is a great fuzz box for
135 bucks. The simple design,
big tone, and excellent noteto-note definition is ideal for
bombastic, full-bodied leads
or chiming or chugging chord
work. And if you need a fuzz that
guarantees youll cut through a
booming band, theres volume
and midrange aplenty. The
tradeoff may be a little loss of
dynamics with some single-coils.
But if you tend to keep the pedal
to the metal, the Nova will keep
you riding high in the mix.
Tones
PROS Simple control set. Huge silicon

fuzz tone with classic color and
contemporary presence.
CONS Could be more sensitive to vol-
Ease of Use
Build/Design
Value
$135 street
daredevilpedals.com
ume input from single-coils.
CLICK HERE TO WATCH this pedal at premierguitar.com/oct2014
premierguitar.com
Over 65 years of STROBE tuning technology PACKED INTO A SLEEK, HANDHELD

TUNER MAKES THE STROBOPLUS HD THE BOSS OF ANY TUNING TASK.
1/1000th of a Fret Accurate Tuning HUGE TUNING SCREEN OVER 90 SWEETENED TUNING PRESETS
RECHARGEABLE BATTERY PLAYBACK TONE GENERATOR AVAILABLE METRONOME OPTION USB Programmability
/petersontuners
The Sound of Precision
2014 Peterson Tuners. The term StroboPlus HD and Sweetened Tunings are trademarks of Peterson Electro-Musical Products, Inc. Buzz Feiten Tuning System is a registered trademark of Buzz Feiten Design Co., Inc.
{ FUZZ }
WAY HUGE
Havalina
BY CHARLES SAUFLEY
hink about it: 60s-vintage

fuzz is a funny thing.
Most guitar players claim
to love it. But a lot of modern
tone connoisseurs will turn up
their nose at a Fuzz Face or Tone
Bender if you contextualize one
outside of a Jimi or Zep classic.
And forget asking half these folks
to actually play a vintage fuzz.
See, those old fuzzes are
temperamental, unforgiving
things. They snarl, screech, sound
harsh, punch back, feed back.
And extracting the best sounds
means paying attention to lessthan-glamorous links in the tone
chain like guitar volume and tone
knobs that lack cachet among
stage-snooping pedal kooks. But
when you take the time to get
to know a cool, 60s-inspired
germanium fuzz like Way Huges
new Havalina, you realize just
how versatile, vicious, malleable,
and musical they can be. With
the inclusion of up-to-date design
touches like smooth quiet-relay
switching, the Havalina has the
stuff to make converts out of
preset-addicted modern tone
softies everywhere.
From Russia with Love
Like every Way Huge pedal,
the Havalina is designed by
Jeorge Tripps and built around a
brick-house anodized aluminum
enclosure. Theres a one-click
battery compartment on the
bottom of the unit and a 9V
jack on top, and opening up the
fuzz reveals a two-tiered circuit
board array. The one at the top
is dedicated to the I/O jack and
DC power. The larger board

is dedicated to the analog fuzz
circuit itself and is populated
by three hat-shaped Russian
germanium transistors and
five outsized yellow capacitors.
They impart a sense of tough,
professional road-readiness.
Mind-bending Fuzz Machine
The Havalinas three-transistor,
tri-knob construction suggest
inspiration by way of a Sola
Sound Tone Bender. Perhaps not
coincidentally, so do the Way
Huges sound and dynamics.
Starting exploration of the
Havalinas range with each
control around halfway up offers
an idea of how varied the pedal
can be. In this neutral setting,
its not especially aggressive
recalling a really hot and biting
overdrive as much as a fuzz. With
a little volume attenuation from
your guitar, you get smoother
OD tones. With the guitar
volume wide open, the Havalina
has the dry, husky, sassy snap of
Jimmy Page and Paul Kossoff s
most unadorned early tones.
As good as the Havalina
sounds at these and even tamer
settings, its most exciting when
the fuzz is up in its highest
reaches. Ive heard smoother fuzz
from Tone Bender-style circuits,
but the combination of sizzle and
singing harmonics in the upper
midrange and top end make this
a screaming fuzz for leads, and a
monster for freakbeat and garagepsych lines and riffs. Chords also
sound fat and detailed at these
higher fuzz levelsa feat few
60s-style germanium
fuzzes can pull off
with such aplomb.
You can get even
more mileage out of
the Havalina through
active use of tone
controls on the pedal
and your guitar.
The Havalina is
rewardingly sensitive
to adjustments of
the latter, but its
own tone control is a
very powerful soundshaping tool. Using
mellower, less trebly
settings from both
conjures cool, wooly
Randy California
fuzz tones and
Pageys hollow fuzz
moans from You Shook Me.
The Verdict
The Havalina speaks in
fuzz colors from buzzing to
brutalizingjust like a good
old Tone Bender wouldbut
from a much more stable, wellmanufactured, and reliable
platform. Its a touch fizzy in the
high end if youre not careful
with the tone controls on the
box and your guitar. But its

also very responsive to tone
and volume adjustments, and
can be massaged into shape for
humbuckers, single-coils, and
bright or dark sounding amps.
With its impressive quality and
sounds, the Havalina is an ideal
platform for those just launching
vintage fuzz explorations and a
bargain for players who already
have the buzz.
Tones
PROS Surprising range of fuzz voices.

Very well built. Great price for an authentic
sounding vintage-style fuzz.
CONS Will sound bright to the uninitiated.
Ease of Use
Build/Design
Value
$119 street
jimdunlop.com
premierguitar.com
Less is More...
More Tone... More Styles... More Quality....
Less Expensive...
Lets be honest, a Guitar Pickup is a pretty simple device. Simple and yet devilishly difficult to make just right... to deliver all the tone
your guitar can produce, to deliver the vocal, warm Vintage tone we all seek.
GFS Pickups are designed, prototyped, inspected and shipped from our Boston Massachusetts headquarters. Every pickup
encapsulates the decades of experience of our pickup designers.
We offer some of the most unique pickups on the market, yet in almost every case our prices are BELOW the wholesale prices of the
Name Brands. In fact, all of the pickups shown below are available for under $40 each.
In most cases we use the same ingredients as far more expensive products, but our unique Warehouse Direct business model
strips out the typical expenses of dealers, distributors and sales reps. With GFS you buy DIRECT and save.
GFS Surf 90
Alnico II Single Coil
GFS 63 Professional
Alnico V Single Coil
GFS KMZ+
Alnico V Humbucker
GFS offers dozens of different styles, from noise cancelling single-coil sized pickups to single coil humbucker-sized pickups. We do
some of the oddball pickups that the Big Boys deem too niche to offer. Constantly designing, we continue to offer new kinds of
pickups on a monthly basis.
Keep an eye on our website, youll always find something new!
With tens of thousands of satisfied customers and dozens of artists playing GFS pickups on the road and in the studio, isnt it time
you tried a set of our pickups?
GFS Pickups are sold exclusively online by
www.Guitarfetish.com
{ FUZZ }
MAXON
FWA10 Fuzz Elements Water

BY JORDAN WAGNER
uff-style circuits can

be muddy-sounding
beastsat least in a
loud, crowded band mix. And
in the last few years weve seen
a lot of Muff-style circuits with
midrange controls built to address
that shortcoming in the design.
Maxons FWA10 Fuzz Elements
Water takes that concept a step
further by taking the companys
FEA10 Earth Fuzz circuititself
a lovingly crafted take on the
famed 70s Electro-Harmonix
Rams Head Big Muff Piand
adding a sweepable parametric
EQ circuit for boosting or cutting
specific frequencies. It handily
solves the classic Muff malady
EQ section. The rightmost

EQ knob, freq, enables you to
pinpoint the frequency you want
to boost or cut. The b/c knob on
the left enables you to boost or
cut the selected frequency.
Paired with a Fender
Stratocaster and a Marshall
JCM800 half stack, the Water
sings with the sustain and hardedged chunkiness that made
the original Rams Head Muffs
a grunge and indie-rock prize.
I started with the parametric
EQ boost control set at noon,
which effectively puts the Water
in stock Rams Head-style
mode. Here its easy to hear the
signature Big Muff midrange
Boosting and emphasizing the highest

frequencies while piling on the gain
sends the Water to realms that few
Muff-style circuits can touch, including
some fantastic notched-wah-type tones.
of missing upper midrange,
but its also flexible enough to
add extreme low-end rumble
and fine-tune the pedals highend output to add more detail,
definition, and destructive power
to their fuzz tones.
Ramming Speed in
Water World
The Waters volume, tone, and
fuzz controls will be familiar to
any Muff user. Where the Water
deviates from dogmatic Muff
design is the two-knob parametric
scoop that makes it so easy

to play fluid legato licks and
thick, bluesy leads that sustain
for what seems like an eternity.
Even in these standard modes,
the Water exhibits classic Rams
Head tendencies and generates
ferocious, rich chord textures
and hot lead tones when you
crank the fuzz.
The parametric controls
are both versatile and easy to
use. Turning freq to 1 oclock
and boosting the signal a hair
fattened my fuzz tones midrange
without sacrificing
an ounce of the hefty
low end, resulting
in a velvety but
huge and searing
lead tone thats
equally menacing
for chords. Boosting
and emphasizing the
highest frequencies
while piling on the
gain sends the Water
to realms that few
Muff-style circuits
can touch, including
some fantastic
notched-wah-type
tones. Meanwhile,
using a Les Paul and
scooping the mids
with the freq control
resulted in seriously
brutal metal tones
with drum-tight lows
that made classic metal riffs
feel effortless.
The Verdict
The original Rams Head Big
Muffs were among the most
aggressive-sounding Muffs ever
produced, and Maxons new
FWA10 Fuzz Elements Water
pulls no punches in replicating
those tones. Adding parametric

EQ capability makes the
Water a monster of power and
versatility with a much bigger
tone palette than the average
Muff. With its rock-solid build
and small footprint, the Water is
a no-brainer for Muff fans who
want the soul of an original Muff
and the sonic expansiveness of a
more modern fuzz.
Tones
PROS Impressively captures the 70s

Rams Head Muff tone. Parametric EQ
offers jaw-dropping versatility.
CONS Pricier than many Muff-style fuzzes.
Ease of Use
Build/Design
Value
$199 street
maxonfx.com
CLICK HERE TO HEAR this pedal at premierguitar.com/oct2014
premierguitar.com
{ FUZZ }
MXR
La Machine
BY CHARLES SAUFLEY
hat is it about octave

fuzz? Hendrix-based
hero associations aside,
theres something else that draws
us in. Its a sound thats a bit filthy,
a bit decadent, tough, chaotic,
and exploding with sasslike the
electric feel of strutting big city
streets in the wee hours. Like all
rich and intoxicating things, octave
fuzz is best in moderation. But
used with discretion and timing,
its one of the most distinctive
ways to drive a riff or solo home.
MXRs La Machine is as mean
and heavy as a good octave fuzz
should be. But theres also a
civility (and we use that word
loosely) that makes it very
to know what means they use to

approximate the Tone Machines
combination of fuzz corpulence
and octave wail. But the control
set on the compact La Machine
is virtually identical, save for
a small push button for the
octave function that stands in
for the Foxxs side-mounted
toggle switch. For Tone Machine
devotees that kept space-hogging
originals off their boards, MXRs
smaller path to comparable tones
will be a godsend.
High-Octave Hustle
Like a lot of fuzz seekers, I always
enjoyed the Tone Machines
two-headed versatility. Again, La
Few fuzzes cross over from

Beck-era Yardbirds to desert rock
excess with such ease.
rewarding and a bit more userfriendlyan octave fuzz that
works as well for the neophyte as
the experienced octave fuzzist.
More Miniscule Machine Gun
As the name coyly suggests, La
Machine is inspired by the Foxx
Tone Machine, a (literally) fuzzy,
flocked octave-fuzz box that
appeared at the height of the
early-70s effects boom. While
not as renowned as the Octavia
or Univox Super-Fuzz, many
would argue the Tone Machine
was more versatile and sounded
every bit as good as those icons.
Because MXR flipped the
PCB on La Machine, its hard
Machine excels at this duality.

The basic fuzz is huge and more
Big Muff-like than the fuzz
on the original Tone Machine.
But its varied, responsive, and
wide-ranging enough to be the
only fuzz on your board. The
fattest fuzz tones are abloom
with harmonics, exhibiting a
high-caloric feel that evokes a
cross between 70s and Sovtekera Muffs, but with a little
less compression and slightly
more immediate pick response.
La Machine can also generate
mid-60s-style insect buzz with
uncommon sustain when you set
the tone and distortion controls
just right. Few fuzzes cross over
from Beck-era Yardbirds

to desert rock excess with
such ease.
Like the basic fuzz,
the octave effect is very
adaptive, malleable, and
responsive to input from
the tone and distortion
controls. Dialing back the
distortion highlights how
good the octave signal can
sound without the low-end
support of the fuzz. In this
environment, an octave
signal can sound stark
naked, but La Machine
exhibits a singing quality
that players will find more
forgiving than whats offered by
typical octave boxes.
With the fuzz and octave
raging at once, La Machine is
monstrous. It can add extra
tonnage to Band of Gypsys
leads or deliver you to stoner
rock heaven. This is one of the
smoother pairings of octave
and fuzz youll encounter
too. And though you still
get all the glorious, glitchy
phase cancellations and ghost
harmonics you want from an
octave fuzz, theres a smoothness
to chords and a touch sensitivity
that you dont hear and feel as

readily in other octave units.
The Verdict
La Machine is a great octave
fuzz for players who find the
Octavia or Super-Fuzz a little
too hectic and tough to wrangle.
Its smoother than those units
and the fuzz is more in line with
players who like a little more
gain, more Muff-like flavors,
and a more modern touch. And
it carries a real cool price for a
MXR Custom Shop pedal. Dont
wait too long thoughword is,
they arent making many.
Tones
PROS Smooth and forgiving for an

octave fuzz. Fuzz voice is huge and
versatile by itself.
CONS Octave bypass button is small.
Ease of Use
Build/Design
Value
$139 street
jimdunlop.com
premierguitar.com
{ OVERDRIVE/DISTORTION }
ELECTRO-HARMONIX
EHX Tortion
BY MATTHEW HOLLIMAN
s of late, ElectroHarmonix has been

working overtime to
produce impressive, cost-effective
overdrives such as the East River
Drive and Soul Food. Joining
the fray is the new EHX Tortion,
an all-analog, JFET-driven
overdrive with a boost circuit
capable of providing powerful
distortion. Also equipped with a
buffered bypass and a frequencyspecific pre-gain knob, the EHX
Tortion aims to scratch the itch
for vintage lovers and modern
warriors alike.
A Box of Plenty
The EHX Tortions thick,
rugged case is screenprinted
with graphics that look like an
amplifier, and the pedals top
row of controls are arranged like
any familiar combo or head. But
in addition to volume, treble,
mid, bass, and gain knobs, the
EHX Tortion sports a 4-way
pre-gain selector. The gain
settings are divided into low and
high categories, which are each
subdivided into full or tight
editions. The former offers
increased bass frequencies, while
the latter chops the low spectrum
for a more focused output.
A second set of volume and
gain knobs works with the
switchable boost function. When
boost is engaged, these controls
replace the non-boost volume
and gain, but the pedals other
controls remain active.
Adjacent to the input jack is
a boost switch jack that lets you
turn the boost function on or off
with a remote footswitch. This

jack is wired in parallel with the
onboard boost footswitch, so you
can control the boost either way.
The pedals XLR-equipped
DI output jack lets you connect
directly to a front-of-house or
studio mixer. This direct output
includes all-analog circuitry to
simulate the tone of a 4x12 cab.
Shipped with a 9V adapter, the
EHX Tortion can also operate
with a 9V battery.
Crunch Time
Grabbing a Fender American
Standard Tele, I turned the pregain knob to its lowest setting
and reached for the gain control.
I quickly discovered theres no
output if you turn the gain knob
down completely, so you need at
least a hair of this parameter to
make some noise.
With these low settings,
the perceptible gain is very
minorjust the faintest dust
of drive sprinkled over chords
if you really dig in. Moving
the gain knob up to 3 oclock
yields genuine overdrive. With
the Teles single-coils, this was
the sweet spot for the sound of
an amplifier breaking upthat
tightrope walk between clarity
and a scoop of dirt, depending
on your attack. Switching to a
Les Paul, I found this territory at
9 oclocka much lower setting.
Its no surprise that, in general,
hotter pickups draw a lot more
crunch from the two low pregain positions.
The high pre-gain settings
lead you into mild overdrive,
something more akin to

modern gain structures. Again,
humbuckers get dirtier here than
single-coils. Stepping on the boost
adds a third sonic perspective, and
this circuit has a huge amount
of headroom in both its gain
and volume knobs. The boostgain knob is fairly aggressive,
and adds a bit of coloration even
when its completely rolled back.
This works well for low pre-gain
settings if you need to call up
moderate drive for a solo.
Moving gain into higher
settings yields enough distortion to
address the needs of metal riffers,
especially when you scoop out the
mids. The full and tight modes are
still active with the boost engaged,
so you can retain your carefully

sculpted EQ character even when
you hit the gas.
The Verdict
Creating a gain structure thats
highly responsive and usable
across the board is no easy feat,
yet Electro-Harmonix pulled it
off. The low pre-gain settings
have a nice appeal for those who
want just a little more out of
their clean amplifier. Engaging
the boost reveals the other side
of the coin, unleashing plenty of
frenzied distortion for those with
much heavier tastes. And while
the EHX Tortion isnt cheap, its
street price seems fair given the
pedals versatility.
Tones
PROS Great clarity. Huge range of gain

for many genres.
CONS In normal mode, some gain is
required to hear sound.
Ease of Use
Build/Design
Value
$179 street
ehx.com
premierguitar.com
www.allparts.com/joe-barden
{ OVERDRIVE/DISTORTION }
STOMP UNDER FOOT

Serenity Overdrive
BY CHARLES SAUFLEY
ith so many overdrives

out there, youd think
guitarists would just
feel blessed to have a wealth of
options. But almost nothing
incites web forum warfare and
near fisticuffs like the microminutiae of the common OD
circuit. Will Stomp Under Foots
Serenity fan the flames, or put an
end to the madness?
See, Serenity has the potential
to please a lot of players. It sounds
great as a clean boost, a treble
boost, a low-to medium-gain
overdrive, and even a near fuzz.
the presence of LED clipping

diodes. This deviation from TS
convention makes the Serenity a
very different sonic animal.
The problem with many
overdrives (and perhaps the root of
much overdrive-related discontent)
is that at the end of the day,
they dont do a lot. Unlike cool
delays or modulation units, they
arent tickets to a million sonic
worlds. A good OD might drive
your preamp section in a natural
way, or be super-transparent, or
deliver distortion pedal-style grind
at more aggressive settings. The
Add a little more gain, and Serenity

walks the tightrope between clarity
and Crazy Horse grind.
Even the threat of a pitchfork- and
torch-toting overdrive faction
arriving at my doorstep by days
end cant stop me from loving this
pedal. Its without question one of
the more versatile overdrives Ive
played in the past few years.
Vive la Diode Diffrence!
Kneejerk critics will claim the
Serenity is just another TS clone.
The control set is the same as
a TS-808 or TS-9, save for the
reverses placement of the gain
and level knobs. When you crack
it open to inspect its innards,
youll see a cleanly ordered
circuit board hosting the same
Texas Instruments RC4558P op
amp that powers many better
TS-808 clones. But sharp-eyed
circuit spotters will also notice
Serenity does some of each of

these thingsand some of them
very, very well.
Transparency may be the
pedals least strong suit. Thats
not to say it doesnt communicate
your guitars voice gracefully,
but even at modest gain settings
it adds bassy thickness thats
hard to get around. While the
tone control gives you tons of
high end to stack on top, theres
always a wide load quality to
the overdrive. For low-output
single-coils this is great. For
humbuckerswell, just make
sure your amp tone is fairly
bright and not too compressed.
Room to Roam
If your amp can handle thick
overdrive tones, youll find
Serenitys range
impressive. Set the
gain to nil and dial
up volume and tone
to suit your rig, and
youll encounter a
fat, singing, nearclean boost. Add a
little more gain, and
Serenity walks the
tightrope between
clarity and Crazy
Horse grind. The
more you favor the
latter, the more you
appreciate the stringto-string clarity
Serenity delivers
even when heavily
overdriven. Mediumgain and clean-boost
settings also showcase
the pedals headroom.
The ability to get these sounds at
high volume is one of the things
that separate Serenity from many
TS-808 clones.
High-gain settings are among
Serenitys biggest surprises. At
extremes, tones are distorted,
even fuzzy. Yet even here Serenity
feels very much in its elementa
claim few ODs can make.
The Verdict
Okay, maybe Serenity wont
bring peace to stompbox land.
For some, it wont be compressed
enough. Others may have little
use for its fuzzier tones. But if
you need to be heard in a big
rock context and dont want to
sacrifice overdrive clarity, Serenity
is a great place to start.
Tones
PROS Great clean-to-fuzz range.

Headroom to spare. Unique but not
overpowering coloration.
CONS May be too thick and heavy for
Ease of Use
Build/Design
Value
$165 street
stompunderfoot.com
humbuckers.
premierguitar.com
Introducing the J-15.

Handcrafted from solid,
North American tone
woods with a price you
wont believe. Play one
today at your local Gibson
dealer and experience
the new American
Legend.
The J-15
www.gibson.com
{ OVERDRIVE }
GREER
Lightspeed
BY MATTHEW HOLLIMAN
reer Amps could hardly

be called single-minded.
The little company out
of Athens, Georgia, builds an
impressive and extensive line
of amplifiers and pedals for a
company its size. It is, however,
a very focused company in that
it specializes in overdrive and
distortion in just about every
conceivable flavor. Its latest
offering, the Lightspeed Organic
Overdrive, is a deceptively simple
design thats rich and responsive,
with tones that range from clean
boost to complex raunch.
Substance and a Little Style
The Lightspeed doesnt get
by on glitz. The enclosure is
unpainted, its only adornment
being an engraved faceplate held
in place by the same nuts and
washers securing the knobs and
footswitch. Yet it has a rugged,
elegant charm reminiscent of
circa-1930s industrial design. The
loudness knob is, of course, the
output level control, while drive
controls the gain and the freq.
EQ control emphasizes high mids
or bass presence, depending on
which side of noon you twist it.
Reverse-engineers beware:
If youre trying to dissect what
makes this Greer organic, forget
it. Popping off the four backplate screws leads you to the
9V battery compartment and a
circuit board dipped in a foggy
epoxy to protect the identity
of its secret components. For
hardcore circuit nerds, this is a
bummer. But theres certainly
something intriguing about what
lurks behind the muck, especially

on such a simple effect.
Light to Grit,
Lightspeed Quick
One of the nicest things about
the Lightspeed is its ability to
add a range of drivefrom light
boost to dirtier tones. It can
be set up as a very transparent
near-clean boost by dropping
the drive to the bare minimum.
This requires turning loudness
to around 3 oclock to reach
unity gain. If youre using a more
powerful amp (in my case, an
Orange OR50,) this is a great
way to thicken the overall output
and add sustain while retaining
a relatively clean tone. Kicking
drive up to 10 oclock yields
more saturation, with the tones
dancing between clean and gritty,
depending on your picking
intensity. At this range, you can
decrease the loudness for a fatter,
unity-level lead tone or keep it
high to use the Lightspeed for a
sharp and glassy lead.
If you need an overdrive that
also generates thick distortion,
the Lightspeed is probably not
your pedal (you might want to
check out Greers Tone Smuggler
instead). The Lightspeed starts
crystal clear and maxes out
somewhere in the mild drive
range. The grittiest tones have
a lot of character, however, and
theres more than enough attitude
to enable a clean amp to take
on raunchy riffs like the Stones
Cant You Hear Me Knocking.
Getting this kind of medium-gain
grit is easy with humbuckers.
And when I needed a

dose of Stones- or Faceslike swagger, I loved the
sound of a Les Paul neck
pickup and the Greers
drive set around
4 oclock.
But the expansive
sweep of the Lightspeeds
freq. knob makes the
pedal friendly to just
about any pickup
configuration. Set it
at high noon, and it
delivers a slight increase
in mids, which become
more pronounced as you
twist the knob clockwise. And
for all the extra presence the
Greer conjures, its genuinely
difficult to get this little guy
to sound harsh. Things can get
a little muddy when you mix
humbuckers and the lowest
freq. settings, but otherwise the
response to picking dynamics
is superb. Same goes for
responsiveness to guitar-volume
adjustments: The many shades
of cleanyet robusttones you
can get using your volume knob
attests to the basic sensitivity
and sophistication in the
Lightspeed circuit.
The Verdict
The only real downside to
the Greer Lightspeed Organic
Overdrive is its price. Compared
to many like-minded boxes on
the market, its not cheap. But
this is a superb overdrive by any
measureit excels at coaxing
complex dirty tones in the lowmid gain range, and it can be
set up for use as a transparent
boost, or to throttle a tube into
full-bodied breakup. If you
value clarity, definition, amplike grit, and responsiveness, the
Lightspeed may well merit a little
extra investment.
Tones
PROS Very responsive to playing

dynamics. Excellent tones for both singlecoils and humbuckers.
CONS Somewhat pricey.
Ease of Use
Build/Design
Value
$190 street
greeramps.com
premierguitar.com
ENROLL FALL 2014

Develop your tone and technique in the Guitar Program at Musicians
Institute, the College of Contemporary Music.
Development in these areas + more:
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COLLEGE OF
CONTEMPORARY
premierguitar.com
{ OVERDRIVE }
PROVIDENCE
Red Rock OD ROD-1

BY MATTHEW HOLLIMAN
hile Providence has

produced a wide
variety of wellbuilt effects over the years,
overdrives are the companys
strength. And the new Red Rock
OD ROD-1an overdrive
specifically designed for singlecoil guitarsis yet another
brick in that foundation. With
its fat switch and midrangeoriented tone control, it provides
flexibility and horsepower
for single-coils where other
overdrives can be thin or rigid.
switch boosts low end, while

volume adjusts the input level in
the pre-gain stage to compensate
for lower-output pickups.
Hot Rock
The fat switch is one of the
most valuable features on the
Red Rock. My Fender Jaguar
can sound thin on the bottom
end, but the fat switch gave
it considerably more low-end
presence without obscuring its
natural voice. Theres more to
the Red Rock than extra bottom
The ROD-1s focus and clarity assure that it

works well with other effects, too. Fuzzes in
particular benefit from having the Red Rocks
midrange boost out front.
Little Red Rager
Like all Providence boxes, the
Japanese-built Red Rock is built
to communicate a kind of hefty,
road-ready feel. To that end, the
footswitch is protected by a steel
guard that looks a little like a
bottle opener (though I didnt test
its effectiveness as such), and in
general the pedal feels designed
and built with a very high quality
standard in mind.
For the most part, the Red
Rock adheres to standard
overdrive design formula. Theres
master, gain, and tone knobs that
adjust output level, gain level, and
midrange content, respectively.
However, its the two remaining
controls that are key to the Red
Rocks extra flexibility: The fat
end, though: Nudging tone up

to 2 oclock adds considerable
high-midrange focus, giving
simple power chords a heavy but
cutting presence in two-guitar or
bass-heavy ensembles. Keeping
the tone above noon is vital to
maintaining that presence as long
as the fat switch is engaged, but
much more subdued tone levels
still cut impressively through bass
and low-mid heaviness. The gain
controls sweep is considerable. As
long as you dial in the appropriate
amount of tone in relation to
gain, note and string-to-string
definition remains excellent.
Using a silverface Bassman and
a Telecaster, it was easy to cop
early Zep lead tones with the gain
south of noon.
The ROD-1s focus

and clarity assure that
it works well with
other effects, too.
Fuzzes in particular
benefit from having the
Red Rocks midrange
boost out front. My
vintage RAT has a very
narrow sweet spot, but
the sweet spot became
much bigger with the
Red Rock zapping the
RATs input.
While Providences
latest overdrive is
designed with singlecoil pickups in mind,
it works great with
humbuckers, too. For obvious
reasons, the fat switch is less
effective with humbuckers, and
chords have less definition at
higher gain settings. That said,
lead tones can still sound searing
and huge with humbuckers
out front if you make the right
adjustments to the tone knob,
and if you switch between
humbuckers and single coils
during a set, a few quick
adjustments will keep your signal
loud and clear.
The Verdict
On its own, the Red Rock OD
ROD-1 delivers amp-like drive
thats a perfect match for clean
tube amps. The price tag is a
bit steep, and there are certainly
quite a few ODs on the market
that sound great for less. On
the other hand, the Red Rock
delivers clarity and definition
in a thoughtful design that will
be a real asset for the single-coil
guitarist seeking extra oomph
without sacrificing vintage vibe.
Tones
PROS Offers great tonal flexibility for

single-coils. Powerful midrange control.
Responsive to dynamics. Can open up new
sounds from other effects in your chain.
CONS Noisy at higher gain settings.
Ease of Use
Build/Design
Value
$199 street
providence-ltd.com
premierguitar.com
THE HARDEST
WORKING GUITAR
NILS LOFGREN
AND HIS TAKAMINE EF508KC
Photo: Jo Lopez
See the entire line of Takamine guitars at takamine.com.

2014 KMC Music, Inc. TAKAMINE is a registered trademark of KMC Music, Inc. All rights reserved.
{ OVERDRIVE }
MAD PROFESSOR
Simble
BY MATTHEW HOLLIMAN
or most of us, playing an

original Dumble amplifier
is more fantasy than
reality. With only about 300
in circulation, these gems have
reportedly fetched up to $50,000
in used condition. Consequently,
the boutique market is filled
with stompbox approximations
aimed to fit the budgets and
tone jones of regular folks. One
such creation is Mad Professors
Simble. Though in its quest to
capture the organic overdrive
tones of the fabled Dumble on
the cheap, it delivers quite a few
additional, pleasant surprises.
with a 9V battery, but can also

work with a 9V power supply that
plugs in next to the input jack.
Wood Grain, Vintage Gain
The Simbles instruction manual
comes with several tone recipes.
One of the most useful is the
setting for a transparent boosted
tone: max the level, neutralize
the accent, keep the contour
at 3 oclock, and add a dash of
sensitivity. These settings are
exceptionally clean for both
single-coils and humbuckers, but
this is also a great jumping-off
spot for exploring the Simbles
The Simble absolutely excels with smaller

amps, demonstrating a richness that most
dirt boxes just dont deliver.
Simple Simble Doubles
for Dumble
The Simbles faux wood grain
finish looks super coolevoking
thoughts of 70s musical
instrument and accessory design,
when faux wood grain ruled the
roost. The brown knobs look a
bit camouflaged, which could
be tricky on a dark stage, but
for the most part the pedal is
logically and sensibly laid out.
There are four knobs for level,
sensitivity, contour, and accent.
Level controls the output volume,
sensitivity increases gain, accent
works like a presence knob, and
contour adjusts the brightness
of the output in the fashion of a
one-knob EQ. The effect ships
impressive range and nuances.

With Stratocaster in hand,
I found that increasing the
sensitivity to 9 oclock adds a little
meat and a touch of dirt to the
clean boost. Turning the accent up
to 3 oclock yielded a bright attack
with an almost Rangemaster-like
chime that was a killer match for
my Orange OR50 and slashing
Marc Bolan rhythms.
The pedal has impressive
headroom and I rarely had to
push the level control above 2
oclock. Hooked into a vintage
Fender Vibrolux with sensitivity at
high noon, the Simble nails SRVs
smoky strut, with a gritty, honking
overdrive color and a touch
of compression that cleans up
beautifully with a nudge to

the guitars volume knob. Its
a quiet pedal too. The only
excess noise I could hear
came with the sensitivity
and accent controls in
their upper reaches. And
while both the accent and
contour controls can add a
little more top end bite, the
contour setting tends to be
less hissy at similar levels. In
a full band setting I needed
higher sensitivity settings
and a little extra contour to
cut through the mix.
The Simble absolutely
excels with smaller amps,
demonstrating a richness
that most dirt boxes just
dont deliver. I find that many
overdrives, especially with hot
humbuckers, tend to sound
mushy and compressed with
smaller amplifiers. But with a
touch of extra contour and accent
the Simble manages to sound
tough, gritty, and clear with small
tube ampsa potential boon to
club and session players.
The Verdict
The magic of a real Dumble
amp is the way it deftly mixes
traces of vintage amp overdrive

and compression and an almost
high gain amp-like bite. Mad
Professors Simble replicates
these characteristics nicely, but
its not a one-trick-pony. Theres
a multitude of great settings
from clean boost to treble boost
that sound excellent. The $149
price tag isnt chicken scratch
but compared to what a lot of
Dumble-in-a-box pedals fetch
not to mention the real thing
its a very fair price to pay.
Tones
PROS Covers Dumble-flavored tones

and transparent clean boost sounds.
CONS Accent control can be noisy.
Ease of Use
Build/Design
Value
$189 street
madprofessorusa.com
premierguitar.com
{ OVERDRIVE }
DLS
Reckless Driver
BY JOE CHARUPAKORN
LS is famous for their

delay and modulation
effectsso much so that
to see a new overdrive among
their pedal roster verges on, well
odd. But in classic DLS style,
the new dual-channel Reckless
Driver isnt just another generic
OD: It generates boost, overdrive,
and distortion in many colors
from nearly transparent to
crunchyall with a remarkable
dynamic sensitivity.
Refined Recklessness
While the pedals name hints at
the potential for sonic havoc,
there is nothing reckless about
the pedals design. It feels
meticulously engineered and uses
top-shelf parts, like Amphenol
jacks and 3P3T switching. The
craftsmanship is impressive.
So is DLS ability to cram so
many controls onto a relatively
compact surface without inducing
total confusion. Theres volume
and gain for each channel (the
higher-gain boost channel and
the curiously named normal
channel), a shared EQ section
consisting of bass and treble knobs,
two mini knobs for each channels
wet/dry mix, a toggle switch for
attack, and two footswitches.
Under the hood youll find
internal trim pots for input stage
and distortion input stage.
Pedal to the Metal
I tested the Reckless Driver using
a Gibson SG and a Music Man
Axis Sport through a Fender
Super-Sonic combo and a solidstate Roland Jazz Chorus, and the
extent to which you can tailor this

pedal to amps of such radically
different circuitry is remarkable.
The mix knobs let you balance
how much clean signal you want
blended in, which significantly
expands the Reckless Divers
palette. With the normal mix
control set in the middle and the
normal gain set just shy of noon,
I got a very pleasing, edge-ofbreakup, low-to-mid gain sound
that highlights the harmonic
detail in open-position chords.
Even at this gain level, the
pedal has great range. The
units touch sensitivity is very
perceptible and musical, and
allows you to add texture to
different sections in a song
based on the intensity of your
attack. The harder you hit the
strings, the rattier the overdrive
sounds. But a light attack or
thumbpicking can make the
pedal sound downright dignified.
Indeed, the Reckless Driver feels
very much like an extension
of your hands and instrument.
With the gain set low, the normal
channel works well as an alwayson signal enhancer that can
thicken and excite an otherwise
anemic amp tone.
The circuit routes the normal
channel into the boost channel,
and the drive from the combined
channels generates some of
the most complex and natural
amplifier overdrive Ive ever
heard with a pedal in the mix.
Individual notes bloom and decay
with a very organic feel.
Maxing the gain on both
channels yields a fairly aggressive
distortion. But where a lot of

pedals would drown dynamics
and overtones in a sea of
compressed, dark gain, the
Reckless Driver is articulate,
clear, bright, lively, and open
sounding. Even with the treble
all the way off and the bass all
the way up, theres plenty of
note-to-note definition and room
for picking dynamics.
You can tailor how the
Reckless Driver interacts with
your picking by using the attack
toggle switch. With the switch
to the left, you get a softer and
warmer attack that works well
for fusion and smooth-but-heavy
blues. Flicking the switch to the

right adds brightness and a faster
attack. The shift can be subtle
but you can definitely feel it.
The Verdict
Theres no shortage of dirt boxes
out there. And there are some
very good 2-channel overdrive
and distortion units at great
prices. But its not easy to find
one that offers as broad a range
of natural OD and distortion
sounds that can bring your
playing to lifeas the Reckless
Driver. Given the units high
quality and versatility, its an
excellent value too.
Tones
Ease of Use
PROS Tube-like sounds. Lots of colors and Build/Design

sound options. Great dynamics.
Value
CONS Shared EQ. Getting the best sounds
for your rig may take some tweaking.
$179 street
dlseffects.com
premierguitar.com
you dont haVe to be old

to sound Vintage.
new
new
CV-75
Over 10 years in development, weve
captured the epitome of British tone.
Complete tonal balance grunt and
punch in the lows, warm/tailored
mids, and clear, open/airy highs.
legend em-12
High power ultra-clean tone with
big, round, punchy lows and warm,
smooth mids and highs. More
neutral tone so you can hear more
of your amp and guitar.
new
ga-sC64
True vintage voicing by amp guru
George Alessandro. Well-balanced
from top to bottom, its warm,
dynamic character lends itself to
vintage amps as well as modern
gain and distortion.
Three new models

with distinctive
vintage tone.
Check out more new models and
sound clips at www.Eminence.com.
Follow us:
Proudly designed
and assembled in the USA.
{ MODULATION }
NEO INSTRUMENTS
Mini Vent
BY CHARLES SAUFLEY
igitally simulating
a rotary speaker is
ambitious. Because
while the fundamentals of the
rotary speaker effect couldnt be
much simpler (put speaker on
stick...spin...repeat), the wobbly,
swirling, pitch-shifting delights
that result are paradoxically
complex and hard to replicate.
Neo Instruments last rotary
simulator, the Ventilator, blew
our minds. It simulated the
sonic intricacies of a Leslie 122
with startling realism. But it
also enabled users to fine-tune
details like balance between
treble and bass horns and virtual
microphone placement. The
latest version of the Ventilator,
the Mini Vent, has fewer features,
but its Leslie simulation is no less
stunning. And apart from a few
hidden programming features that
can be a bit tricky, the simpler,
smaller version is as convenient
and user friendly as can be.
Rotating Speaker Writ Small
The original Ventilator was a
smart piece of design, and in its
own modest and simple way the
German-built Mini Vent lives up
to its big brothers high design
standards. The super sturdy square
enclosure looks uncannily like
that of a vintage ProCo Rat 2 and
is about the same dimensions.
Crack it open and you behold an
immaculately tidy and cleverly
arranged two-tiered printed
circuit array. The smaller, topmost PCB is home to the chip
that drives the digital processing.
Not surprisingly, its a formidable
looking beast that looks capable

of powering a laptop. The same
PCB is home to an input gain
select switch that can help you
better mate the Mini Vent to hot
pickups or keyboards.
The control set is much
simpler than the five-knob array
on the full-size Ventilator. In
fact, there are no knobs at all
just a bypass switch and one for
moving between slow and fast
rotary speeds. A small button on
top of the unit enables switching
between programmable presets.
The two factory default presets,
which simulate close and more
distant microphone placement
are all most players will need.
But if you want to fine-tune
the output and better match
the pedal to an instrument,
amplifier, or effects rig, you can
program the pedal by using the
footswitches and following the
instructions in the manual.
Kandy-Koated Karamel Swirl
If youve struggled with trying
to approximate rotary speakers
through more cost-effective
means like phasers, vibrato
pedals, and Uni-Vibe-style pedals,
the Mini Vent will probably
mark an end to most of your
frustrations. Its an incredibly
convincing and authentic
simulation. The simulation
of speaker acceleration and
deceleration when you switch
from slow settings to fast is
excellent. Its also exceedingly
responsive to dynamics, whether
it comes from your picking
technique or a fuzz placed
before the Mini Vent

(warning: The latter
setup is extremely
intoxicating and
addictive).
On tape (or a
digital equivalent)
its all but
indistinguishable
from the real thing
especially in an
ensemble. And onstage
it only suffers at close
proximityand only
then because you wont hear
the mechanical whirring of the
horns and realize the modulation
is coming from your guitar
amplifier rather than a Leslie at
the side of the stage. Another
testament to the richness of
the Mini Vent is how is can
make a cheap amp sound, well,
expensive. My Vox Pathfinder 15
sounded rich, huge, and a whole
lot like a real Leslie on a fourtrack demo. The Mini Vent even
lent grandeur to the voice of a
thrift store Casio keyboard I used
for the same recording.
The Verdict
Folks will undoubtedly knock
the cost of a pedal that, on the
surface, looks like a one-trick
pony. But if you love the sound
of a rotary speaker and have
already spent hundreds of dollars
trying to fake it with other
modulation devices, the 349
bucks wont seem like much
especially when you fool most
of your friends with a recorded
sample. And as well as the Mini
Vent is put together, we guess its
an investment that will pay itself
back though longevity too.
Tones
PROS Startlingly convincing rotary

speaker simulations. User friendly.
Factory default settings are excellent.
Gain scheme can be reprogrammed
to accommodate hotter or quieter
instruments. Built like a rock.
Ease of Use
Build/Design
Value
$349 street
neo-instruments.de
CONS Hard to justify the cost for

occasional use.
premierguitar.com
(Actual size)
POCKET-SIZED
PERFECTION
STRUM
tcelectronic.com/polytune-2-mini
TUNE
ROCK
The new PolyTune 2 Mini is the tiniest big thing

to hit your pedalboard!
With its ultra-bright display, groundbreaking
polyphonic tuning mode, insanely fast and
accurate strobe tuner and unfathomably small
enclosure, this pedal will serve as a massive
upgrade for your rig. Pure PolyTune Win!
{ MODULATION/FUZZ }
CARL MARTIN
Purple Moon Fuzz/Vibe

BY ALEX MAIOLO
enmark regularly tops the

list of Happiest Places
on Earth. Obviously
thats due to their unusually high
number of effects manufacturers
per capita. TC Electronic, Emma,
Reuss, and T-Rex are a few of the
builders that call the nation their
home. They have a reputation
for building high-quality,
no-nonsense effects, and the same
is true of Grens East Sound
Research, AKA Carl Martin. (The
Purple Moon, however, is part
of Carl Martins Chinese-made
Vintage series.)
Nailing the Vibe
Carl Martins latest offering
is a psychedelic toolkit that
combines classic Uni-Vibe tones
with blistering silicon fuzz in
a chore to remove if you prefer

Velcro. The pedal runs via 9V
battery or AC adapter.
As if wired to do so, I grabbed
my Strat to test drive the Purple
Moon, but then decided to avoid
the obvious. With 1960 Les Paul
Reissue and Jazzmaster in hand,
I plugged into my favorite new
amp, a Dusky D20, and did
everything in my power not to
play Breathe first.
Carl Martin has absolutely
nailed the Uni-vibe sound,
delivering all the blubbery
goodness youd expect.
Remember, Uni-Vibes were
developed as portable Leslies,
so its great to be able to
approximate the big cabinets
two speeds, alternating between
slow, swirly phasiness and full-on,
The fuzz is fantastic. Its crispy, with

the correct quantity of sizzle
which is to say, ungodly amounts.
one bombproof housing. The
controls are intuitive and well
organized: On the vibe side are
knobs for speed 1 and speed
2, with a footswitch to toggle
between them and flashing
LEDs to indicate their rates.
Depth and level controls let you
dial in the desired amount of
swirl. Meanwhile, mini-pots set
the fuzz amount and level. Jacks
are top-mounted, minimizing
pedalboard clutter, though I
wish the foam base plate was
packaged separately, because its
rotating chop. Since theres no

expression pedal input, it might
have been nice to include a rampspeed control, since that taxi to
takeoff effect is one of the best
things about vibe effects of this
type. Not providing it here seems
like an oversight.
Serious Sizzle
The fuzz is fantastic. Its crispy,
with the correct quantity of
sizzlewhich is to say, ungodly
amounts. Its important to note,
though, that while the vibe can
be used without fuzz, the inverse

is not truetheres no fuzz-only
option. Its a shame, because I
love this fuzz! But while I cant
help feeling that Carl Martin has
limited the pedals usefulness by
not providing true two-in-one
switching, perhaps its best to
think of the Purple Moon as a
Uni-Vibe pedal that tosses in a
bonus fuzz, especially since you
get both effects for about the same

price as many vibe-only pedals.
At any rate, you cant argue
with the tones. There is a lot of
vibe control here, and when the
fuzz is engaged the paint-peeling
lysergia rating on this thing is a
solid 10. (Full disclosure: upon
conclusion of this review I totally
grabbed my Strat and played Us
and Them.)
Tones
PROS Compact. Well-built. Stellar fuzz.

Powerful two-speed vibe.
CONS No fuzz without vibe. No
expression pedal input or ramp control.
Ease of Use
Build/Design
Value
$148 street
carlmartin.com
premierguitar.com
{ MODULATION }
DOD
Phasor 201
BY JORDAN WAGNER
he earliest DOD phasers

inhabit a special place
in the stompbox hall of
fame. They are among the earliest
compact phasers (the 650 Phase
Shifter debuted in 1974), and
the little company from Salt
Lake City restlessly produced
new versions and improvements
in the following years. Phaseheads particularly treasure the
original Phasor 201 for its simple
single-knob design and a warm,
two-stage sweep that sounds
indicator. Two LF3533N dual op

amps replace the single LM348N
quad op amp used in the original,
though the change seems to have
no adverse tonal effects.
The single knob
simultaneously controls effect
speed and depth. Players
accustomed to more complex
controls might long for a depth
knob, but the beauty of the 201
comes in part from a near-perfect
voicing conceived to keep the
low-end mud-free.
The shape and movement feel

naturalmore like a texture moving
through the open chords I played
rather than a whooshing effect on top.
clear and rich with both clean
and dirty tones. Thankfully, the
recent resurrection of DOD by
Harman International includes
a revamped 201 in all its gooey
analog glory, along with some
modern upgrades.
Just a Phase
The new Phasor 201 reissue
boasts a lightweight aluminum
enclosure, dressed up in a sparkle
blue that looks awesome paired
with the pedals vintage-videogames graphics. Its 9V adapter
jack is located on the top edge
for easier pedalboard mounting.
The analog circuitry is similar
to the originals, though DOD
has added true-bypass switching
and a bright blue LED power
Next Phase of Tone

With a Fender Stratocaster, a
Vox AC30CC2 combo set clean,
and the pedals speed around
9 oclock, the phasing sounds
present and balanced across the
frequency spectrum, though
the effect feels slightly stronger
in the mids and highsa good
thing when youre playing in a
band. The shape and movement
feel naturalmore like a texture
moving through the open chords
I played rather than a whooshing
effect on top.
I placed the Phasor 201 in
front of a cranked Fulltone OCD
for some EVH-influenced riffage.
Here too the little blue DOD
sounded warm and luscious,
integrating smoothly with the
overdrive. Most notably, the 201

seemed to roll off some of the
overdrives highs as the phase
reached the top of its ramp,
which makes the 201 feel more
natural in high-energy, distorted
settings. It also does a pretty great
rotary speaker emulation when
the phase knob is above 3 oclock.
With a little low-gain overdrive, it
was a cinch to evoke the swirling,
sassy Vibratone sound of SRVs
Cold Shot.
The Verdict
DOD has done a knockout job
replicating the original Phasor
201s warmth and clarity. The
new version delivers all of
the gooey warmth and subtle
phasing of the original. While
its simplicity may be off-putting
to compulsive knob twiddlers,
the thoughtfully voiced circuit
is remarkably versatile. And at
just under a hundred bucks, its
something of a steal.
Tones
PROS Natural-sounding phasing that

lives up to the original. As user-friendly as
a phaser can be.
CONS Limited effect control.
Ease of Use
Build/Design
Value
$99 street
dod.com
No battery door.
premierguitar.com
{ MODULATION }
WAMPLER
Latitude Deluxe Tremolo

BY MATTHEW HOLLIMAN
remolo hasnt changed a

ton since the motor-driven
DeArmond Tremolo
Control appeared in the late
1940s. That primitive unit had
just two knobsspeed and
increase (or intensity), but they
remain the foundation of most
amplifier and pedal tremolos
available today.
Theres something pure and
beautiful about tremolo in its
simplest form. But sometimes
you need more precision or color
to hone a part or make a song
stand out. Wamplers Latitude
Tremolo Deluxe is a trem aimed
at the tinkereran exceptionally
tweakable effect that can mimic
vintage throb or create chopped,
synthy syncopations. Plus, it
offers variable waveform shapes,
subdivision options, and a tap
tempo control.
Navigating the Waves
The U.S.-built Latitude is
handwired in a very sturdy
enclosure. But unlike a lot of
simple, vintage-inspired tremolos
out there, the Latitude has a total
of seven controls for shaping your
signal. Anyone thats used an
onboard tremolo knows how to
whip up a wobble with speed and
depth. The Latitudes attack and
space parameters open up acres of
new territoryespecially if youre
open to a little investigation
and tinkering. Increasing
attack reshapes the waveform
so you hear a quick rise in
volume followed by a soft taper
(obviously, this wont work on the
square wave setting). Dropping
the attack level produces a slower

rise to the wave peak, almost like
a volume swell. Increasing the
space level, meanwhile, increases
the distance between sine waves
without affecting the arc of the
wave, which enables intense
pulses at slower rates.
The waveform toggle switch
selects between square, peak,
or bell-shaped waves. The tap
tempo control adjusts the rate
on the fly, but Wampler has
also added a subdivision selector
switch. With a simple push of a
button the Latitude will scale the
tapped tempo with quarter notes,
eighth notes, dotted-eighth
notes, or triplets. The potential
for fine-tuning to fit a rhythmic
base is impressive.
Good Vibrations
The real key to the Latitudes
flexibility is the tap-tempo
function and while Wampler
didnt pioneer tap-tempo
tremolos, the presence of this
function makes the Latitude feel
capable of just about anything.
Changing time signatures is a
breeze and hitting the switch
three times resets the unit. This
is amazingly useful in a live
setting when you have to keep
up with the inevitable human
errors in timekeeping. And if
your drummer loses the plot it
takes just a few steps to get your
tremolo pulses back on the one.
Selecting the bell-shaped
waveform delivers the classic
vibrations of 50s and 60s amp
tremolo. The deep pulses of Tommy
James and the Shondells Crimson
and Clover can be had

by setting all controls
at noon, adding a hefty
dose of depth, and an
eighth-note subdivision.
(Even better results are
possible with single-coils
and a heap of tube amp
reverb). When using more
intense depth settings, its
easy to imagine a volume
drop in your signal, but the level
control can help you bump the
pedals output significantly. Unity
gain is right around noon on the
depth control if youre using single
coils (in my case a Fender American
Standard Telecaster) but theres
plenty of extra volume available if
you want the effect to dominate a
phrase, lead, or song section in a
live context.
The square-wave tremolo is a
powerful, choppy, and stuttering
tremolo thats ideal for spare,
intense tremolo passages like the
chords that populate the verses
of Pink Floyds Money. This
waveform can sound almost synthy
and intensely electronic when
you max the depth and tweak the
space and speed controls. Adding
a fast attack will also intensify this
robotic oscillation, but even at
these settings the Latitude rarely

feels unmusical or unforgiving.
The Verdict
If youve shied away from using
tremolo because it feels limited or
difficult to manage, the Wampler
Latitude Tremolo Deluxe could
open up a world of possibilities.
The tap-tempo control enables
you to cope with the most
erratic rhythm section. And the
space and attack controls enable
tremolo forms well outside
the bounds of traditional amp
tremolo. The $240 price tag
is pretty steep. But if youre a
session or gigging guitarist or just
a tremolo fanatic that likes more
extreme (and more numerous)
forms of the effect, youll be
thrilled at the options the
Latitude puts at your feet.
Tones
PROS Tap tempo functionality. Excellent

tone. Plenty of tweakable features.
CONS No battery option.
Ease of Use
Build/Design
Value
$240 street
wamplerpedals.com
premierguitar.com
premierguitar.com
{ MODULATION }
BLACK CAT
Vibe
BY CHARLES SAUFLEY
he original Uni-Vibe
may have failed as rotary
speaker simulation. But in
doing so it made sounds every bit
as musical, expressive, evocative,
and beautiful as any Leslie.
Funny thing is thatlike a
Lesliethe expense and hassle of
faithfully replicating a Uni-Vibe
dissuades many pedal builders
from trying. So when a good one
pops up, we tend to take notice.
Black Cats Vibe adheres
to the notion that a real UniVibe-style pedal has to be light
and photocell driven. And in
committing to this arcane but
oddly elegant analog technology,
they created a sonically deep
device that can impress the
snootiest Uni-Vibe purist.
A Dashing Dandy
I wont lie. Im a sucker for a
good-looking stompbox. And
with its psychedelic, grey-sparkle
graphics, the Black Cat Vibe is
the kind of box that compels
you to kick it on and dive in
headfirst. The simple control set
has knobs for volume, speed,
and intensity, and a small switch
toggles between chorus and
vibrato modes. Even the knobs
themselves look cool, and the
pots have the smooth feel of
controls lifted from a precision
scientific instrument.
Opening up the substantial
box reveals that the bigger
enclosure is more than just
a style exercise. Youll find a
circuit board nearly as wide as
the enclosure itself and densely
populated with an impressive
array of transistors, resistors, and

caps. But the coolest bit of the
circuit is the little black dome
embossed with a leaping black
catthat protects the photocell
apparatus. Its a tidy and ordered
circuit, though I have some
concerns about the plastic posts
and double-sided tape that secure
itthey seem flimsy and out of
place on a pedal that otherwise
feels positively luxurious.
Visceral Vibes
The original Uni-Vibes magic
was in how completely alive,
animated, and deep it sounded
without the advantage of a
physically rotating speaker. The
Black Cat Vibe has that liveliness
and, at times, abyssal depth
creating the illusion of displacing
and reordering air, water, and
other matter in its own strange
and intoxicating way.
One of the Black Cats
prettiest, most surreal qualities is
the almost submarine coloration
it adds to your output. A lot of
this is down to the way the Vibes
modulation softens the high-end
and midrange, and even at high
intensity rates this lends a hazy,
dreamy quality to your guitar.
The high/mid roll-off also makes
the Back Cat Vibe an excellent
match for aggressive fuzztones,
and the high-end peaks of octaveup fuzzes are especially well
suited to the Vibea good thing
given how many players will rush
to do their best Machine Gun
solo as a litmus test.
Another fascinating aspect
of the Black Cats softer
high-mid content
is how seamlessly
it compliments the
pedals very wide and
unique spectrum of
shades and overtones.
At slow speeds in
particular, you can
perceive a delicious
mlange of almost
metallic, reverberative
overtones and superfractal, sunlightthrough-water
modulation textures.
The pedal offers
wonderfully complex
sounds that work
whether you use them at barely
perceptible levels or at completely
hallucinogenic orders of intensity.
And though the most classically
Uni-Vibe-like sounds come by
way of the chorus setting, the
organic warble of the vibrato
channel is no less effective.
The Verdict
The Black Cat Vibe is a sharplooking, beautifully lush
modulation machine. And if
youre dead set on finding the
most authentic Uni-Vibe out
there, it will be hard to top. That
said, there are a wealth of textures

beyond classic Hendrix/Trower/
Gilmour tones that make this
pedal worth investigation, and
its ability to subtly color your
tone and add almost subliminal
but deep levels of movement to
your playing is remarkable. We
hope future versions will find a
sturdier way of affixing the circuit
board to the chassis, especially
given the near-$300 price. That
issue aside, this is a lovingly built,
high-quality homage to a timeless
classic with the potential to
reward you in unexpected ways.
Tones
PROS Deep, organic, lush Uni-Vibe-style

modulations. Authentic photocell
circuit. Looks old school and amazing.
Ease of Use
Build/Design
CONS Circuit board needs sturdier mounts.
Value
$299 street
blackcatpedals.com
premierguitar.com
UNCOATED,
UNINHIBITED
BRILLIANT TONE
THAT LASTS UP TO
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Do you really want to pay twice as much to suffocate

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a little crazy! Instead, unleash your tone with HELIX
Strings from Dean Markley. Constructed with tighter and
closer wraps that deliver amazing sustain, bucketloads
of output, and rich resonant tone, HELIX strings last up
to 5 times longer than just about any other string out
there. Theyre top quality, gorgeous-sounding strings at
a normal human price.
Shouldnt you play with the best-sounding, most kickThe source of your sound.
ass strings on the planet? More at DeanMarkley.com
{ TIME BASED }
EARTHQUAKER DEVICES
Afterneath
BY JASON SHADRICK
he sound of reverb has

shaped electric guitar
tone from the beginning.
Whether a product of a
cavernous, reflective studio, a
tank, or a pedal, it can make
you feel like youre wrapped in
a warm blanket or lost in an
underground cave of crickets.
EarthQuakers Afterneath,
dubbed an otherworldly
reverberation machine, is among
the latest creations to emerge
from the Akron-based shop.
And like most of EarthQuakers
stomps, the Afterneath is a
forward-thinking design that will
deliver the unexpected.
Ghost In the Machine
Typical of EarthQuaker, the
pedal is housed in a very rugged
enclosure with a busy but
comfortably spaced group of six
controls. Right out of the box,
the knob that intrigued me the
most was the drag control. This
knob brings out the stuttering
delayed signal thats buried deep
inside. Set the drag to 10 oclock
and a very rhythmic, but not
overpowering, delay appears
in the mix. Its not strong and
pulsing enough for Albert Leestyle runs, but it gives droning
shoegaze riffs rhythmic punch. As
you turn the knob clockwise the
delay fades away and an ethereal,
lush reverb replaces the stuttering
repeats. Moving the knob while
a spacey suspended chord rings
creates a very cool warping sound
that has elements of a revving car
engine or a vinyl record slowly
rotating to a stop.
Length and dampen control

the decay time and tone,
respectively. You may need to
turn up the dampen control
up to about 3 oclock in order
to cut through in louder band
situations. And given all the
hidden (and not so hidden)
nuggets, artifacts and overtones
that live within the reverb signal,
I tended to keep the length
control a bit higher than I would
with a normal reverbgiving the
Afterneath more room to bloom
and reveal its surprises.
The reflect control can be
subtle at times and wildly out
of control at others. At medium
settings, the result is a beautiful
ambient wash that hints at the
more unwieldy noises lurking
at the edges. At 9 oclock the
oscillation gets stronger, and with
the control maxed, a deluge of
sound floods the output. Both
the reflect and drag controls beg
for expression pedal functionality,
though, and its tantalizing to
imagine how much more effective
these could be with extra control.
The subtlest control is the
diffuse knob. By adjusting the
spread of the reverb it gives
the output a bit more edge
to it without changing the
EQ. On the upper end of the
spectrum, it gave the already
spacious-sounding reverb an
almost three-dimensional sound.
Think of this as the difference
between bouncing sound around
a room with no corners and one
with plenty of pointy surfaces.
I tended to keep this knob at
noon and adjusted very slightly
depending on how much decay

Id dialed in.
The Verdict
The Afterneath rewards creative
approaches to what a reverb pedal
can do. The controls are very
interactive and beg you to explore
the far-reaching extremes that
other reverb pedals simply cant

muster. That said, its capable
of subtle textures, and while
its probably not the reverb for
someone that wants to replace
their old-school tank reverb, if
you want to option to take your
reverb beyond, the Afterneath is
hard to beat.
Tones
PROS Able to cover extremely spacious

and interesting sounds. Very responsive to
pick dynamics.
CONS No expression pedal function.
Ease of Use
Build/Design
Value
$225 street
earthquakerdevices.com
premierguitar.com
premierguitar.com
{ TIME BASED }
DEATH BY AUDIO
Ghost Delay
BY ALEX MAIOLO
eath By Audio doesnt

really care what people
think. Commonplace
notions of what fuzz, overdrive,
delay, and reverb are supposed to
sound like mean little to them,
and many musicians that treasure
their effects couldnt be happier
with that stance. Because where
a lot of pedal builders build
variations on established templates,
Death By Audio builds for
iconoclasts. Its always fascinating
to see what these mad scientists
have conjured in their lab.
One of the latest offerings
is called Ghost Delay. Its an
appropriate moniker because it
doesnt take many knob turns to
extract a wealth of supernatural
sounds. The idea is simple
enough: cascade three delay
circuits into each other, and let
chance do some of the work. And
unlike other multi-taps, theres
no emphasis on synching, or
subdividing.
Three-Headed Monster
Death By Audio may savor
unexpected sonic results, but they
know how to design effects that
makes sense. On the Ghost Delay,
there are three shaded stripseach
one home to a time and feedback
control for a single delay. A colorcoded, three-triangle graphic
reminds you (rather subtly) that
signal flow is right to left. Each of
the three echoes has a range from
30 ms to 700 ms.
A 4-position blend control
allows you to choose between four
proportions of dry and wet signal.
This might sound limiting at first,
but given the copious possible

delay permutations available
here, it actually enables you to
more easily get back to where
you started. Theres also an input
master volumenot unlike what
youd see on an Echoplex. The back
panel is home to an input, output,
aux out (more on that later), and a
connection for a 9V jack (though
there is a battery option too).
Playing Poltergeist
Exploring the milder side of the
Ghost Delay first, I played a
Telecaster through a Matchless
HC-30, setting the Ghost for a
sort of slapback effectwhich,
in reality, is to the traditional
Sun Studio slapback delay what
The Jesus and Mary Chain
are to Motown. At this setting
individual notes take on the
percussive characteristics of heels
clacking down a hospital corridor,
only a bit darker. One of the
strongest impressions I got at this
setting is that the Ghost Delay
has little of the harsh brightness
we associate with digital echoes.
In fact, it reminded me a lot of
the old, analog, Boss DM series
... or rather, three of them.
I toyed with putting short,
medium, and long delays in
various orders, and Id often get
patterns that almost mimicked
the output from a sequencer.
You could build entire songs
around these patterns, and the
only limitation of using this as
a composition method is that
there are no presets for recalling
the settings later. Whats more,
the controls are sensitive, so
returning the knobs to

previous positions might
not get you exactly what
you had before.
Every delay reacts
differently at maximum
feedback. As you might
expect from a Death
By Audio product, this
one screams and distorts when
its infinitely cycling. Im a fan
of more controllable, throbbing
foldback, and at times I found
the Ghosts self-oscillating settings
a bit challenging to manipulate.
The upside of the Ghost Delays
sensitivity is that when the
feedback control is on the brink
of cycling infinitely, you get a
very touch-responsive and musical
screech that you can manipulate
with downstream delays. The
more notes you play, the more
they pile up exponentially and
the volume increases. Add space
between the notes, and the
mayhem subsides.
Aux out sends the echo
trails of the first two delays in
the series (the black and silver
strips) to a different amp. The
dry signal and the delayed signal
from the last delay in the chain
are routed through the output.

In a two-amp rig, the split and
disparate delay rates can create a
fantastically disorienting effect.
The Verdict
Death By Audio are a ferociously
creative collective that encourage
players to embrace happy
accidents and chaos. Founder
Oliver Ackermanns band, A Place
to Bury Strangers, has made a
niche career out of embracing
chaos, and his effects seem like an
extension of the band. The Ghost
Delay fits squarely within the to
thine ownself be true ethos. Its
not built to be predictable or easy
to control (and lets face it, theres
plenty of that out there). Instead,
the Ghost Delay is designed to
keep your playing life a little
wild, and the potential results are
nearly infiniteand infinitely
rewarding.
Tones
PROS Three delays for the price of

one. Great build quality. Delivers the
unexpected.
CONS Can be hard to control at
Ease of Use
Build/Design
Value
$250 street
deathbyaudio.net
self-oscillating levels.
premierguitar.com
RETHINK
YOUR
TONE
Neu Mannas
Photo: Andrew Lessard
The Montreal Premiere has

become my go-to guitar.
Pretty when she ought to be,
and mean when I need
that extra bite.
Handcrafted in Canada and the USA
godinguitars.com
2014 Godin Guitars - Godin is a registered trademark of Harmonilab Inc.
headoftheherdmusic.com
{ TIME BASED }
NEUNABER
Wet Mono Reverb

BY SHAWN HAMMOND
he last four years have seen

a veritable explosion of
incredible-sounding reverb
pedals, starting with the Strymon
BlueSky Reverberator, and
followed by stuff like the mindbogglingly powerful Eventide
Space. But the overriding
philosophy of most manufacturers
seems to be that reverb fans fall
into two campsdyed-in-thewool spring devotees or those
who want a command center
filled with a jillion algorithms.
Neunabers Wet Mono
Reverb falls into a logical,
largely neglected middle ground:
Designed and built in Orange
County, California, it offers a
single, studio-quality digital
reverb in a roughly MXR-sized
box with a simple, 3-knob
layout and no distracting bells or
whistles. Two Wet Mono versions
are available: The standard v4
(tested here) features buffered
bypass, while the v4tb has truebypass switching.
Whats New, Neighbor?
Given the Wet Monos
90s-Photoshop visual vibe
and lack of toggles and LCD
readouts, it can seem almost
quaint at first glance. Indeed,
perhaps its most sophisticated
function is the ability to use the
soft-response footswitch during
power-up to select between
normal, trails, or two-stage
bypass modes, the latter of which
allows already-played notes to
continue at their normal rate of
decay while you hold the switch
down (an option that perhaps has
more allure and practical use on

the true-bypass v4tb). But once
you hear the Wets fidelity and
interact with the knobs a bit, you
get the sense that a lot of care
and thought went into making
this a quality pedal with the
no-nonsense allure of an ampstyle reverb.
Only two construction
aspects struck me as potentially
problematic: First, the manual
warns that removing the bottom
plate will void the warranty
because the circuit is sensitive to
electro-static discharge. A lot of
players are going to think you
should be able to take a gander
at the innards without such
drastic consequences. Second,
the amount of vertical give in
the plastic pot shafts makes me
wonder how much the Mono will
stand up to gig abuse.
As Wet As You Wanna Be
When I tested the Neunaber
with a Telecaster and a
Danelectro baritone driving a
Jaguar HC50 and a Goodsell
Valpreaux 21, I got a surprising
number of sounds from the
humble control set. Although the
companys website and the units
included instruction sheet dont
specify what type of reverb its
pumping out, it sounds to me
like a hall emulation.
Dont let that lead you to rash
conclusions, though: Yes, if you
set the mix knob between noon
and 2 oclock and then crank
depth to its upper reaches, it
sounds like youre playing in a
giant room in space where crazy
galactic walls reflect

gorgeous, glitch-free
reverberations into
infinity. Its nothing
like the interstellar
zaniness of Eventides
Space, but fans
of Strymon-style
lushness will love it.
Theyll also dig how
higher tone settings
add an addictive
sheen reminiscent
of mild shimmermode settings on the
BlueSky or BigSky.
These sounds really
are so inviting that youll find
yourself coming up with new
song parts simply because of
how beautifully ghost notes
and minuscule picking nuances
blossom into oblivion.
But the Wet Mono also sounds
really good when you turn depth
way down for a rockabilly-style
slapback, or dial it somewhere
in the middle to use as a pristine
set-and-forget reverb. And the
tone knob lets you tailor the
ambience from a darker, more
muted vibe to something more
akin to a live room with hard
reflective surfaces.
The Verdict
If your ambience needs are
simple and youre searching for
a studio-quality reverb in a box
thats a piece of cake to operate
and doesnt hog pedalboard
space, then Neunabers Wet
Mono Reverb may be the singlepurpose, 21st-century verb
machine of your dreams.
Considering its price and other
powerful options on the market,
the Mono can seem limited in
features. But its simplicity is
the whole point. Its difficult to
imagine a hi-fidelity reverb thats
easier to use.
Tones
PROS Great digital fidelity in an

incredibly easy-to-use package.
CONS Pricey. Plastic pot shafts dont

inspire confidence.
Ease of Use
Build/Design
Value
$179 street
neunaber.net
premierguitar.com
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{ TIME BASED }
SEYMOUR DUNCAN
Vapor Trail Analog Delay
BY MATTHEW HOLLIMAN
eymour Duncan is just

about the biggest name in
aftermarket pickups. That
focus doesnt reflect the bounds of
the companys know-how, though.
The company has built guitars,
amplifiers, and a bunch of effects
over the years. Theyve reenergized
their pedal-building efforts over
the last year, and one of the latest
products from the Santa Barbara
workshop is the Vapor Trail, an
analog bucket-brigade delay that
also incorporates a chorus-like
modulation section. Despite its
small size, it sounds huge.
purely wet signal out to another

amplifier/input.
No Smokescreen Here
The main attraction of the Vapor
Trail may be the ability to blend
in modulation, but the delay is
excellent on its own. And though
the 15 to 600 ms delay range
isnt as expansive as what you
get from digital units, the Vapor
Trail covers classic analog delay
textures with ease. You can dial
up slapback tones readily with
the repeat and delay around 9
oclockjust make sure to roll
The Vapor Trail covers classic analog

delay textures with ease.
Undercover Powerhouse
The Vapor Trail is a pretty simple
affair on the surface, but the
compact control set gives you a lot
of sound-shaping power. The delay
controls are pretty conventional,
with knobs for mix, repeat, and
delay. The clear delay knob,
however, serves a cool double
function by working as a delay rate
indicator via a flashing blue LED
that illuminates the knob. The
two smaller rate and depth knobs
control the modulation section.
Input and output jacks are
located on the crown of the box
and a wet insert jack is mounted
on the left side. This function
can be used in multiple ways.
You can attach an expression
pedal to alter the delay repeats,
create a wet parallel loop with
a Y-split cable, or run the
off the modulation rate control,

unless you want that, Who
spiked the punch? feela trick
the Vapor Trail does very well.
Though the mod can also
run alone by turning the delay
time to zero, its less effective
by itselfsounding mostly
like a mild chorus. Mixing
the modulation with delay,
however, can produce cosmic
soundscapes, subtle tape wobblelike modulation, or approximate
the chorus/vibrato textures of a
Deluxe Memory Man. Spacious,
Uni-Vibe-like Dark Side of the
Moon colors surface with the
rate and depth around noon.
Slowing the rate way down turns
chords into a ghostly, swirling
earfulespecially when you
nudge the modulation depth
and dial in a long delay. Shorter
delay times give the pedal a

Leslie-like resonance that sounds
great with a really wet mixa
setting that can be unforgiving
to delays or modulations with
thin voices.
The Verdict
You can extract a surprising range
of sounds and effects from the
Vapor Trail. It invites tweaking
and experimentation. But at

its foundation, the Vapor Trail
is a really solid analog delay
with a deep range of voices.
The wet insert jack is cool little
perk that adds additional value
and tweakability to a package
that already does a lot for a
little analog unitespecially
considering the very reasonable
$150 price tag.
Tones
PROS Warm analog delay tones.

Surprisingly versatile modulation functions. Wide range of sounds and textures.
CONS Modulation effect isnt that
Ease of Use
Build/Design
Value
$150 street
seymourduncan.com
useful on its own.
premierguitar.com
A LEGEND REBORN
THE DANGELICO EX-59
ORIGINALLY CRAFTED IN 1959

JOHN DANGELICO COMBINED
HIS LEGENDARY CRAFTSMANSHIP WITH
TWO P-90 PICKUPS THAT OFFERS THAT
LEGENDARYDANGELICO WARMTH BUT WITH A
UNIQUE EDGE.
WWW.DANGELICOGUITARS.COM
WWW.DANGELICOGUITARS.COM
{ TIME BASED }
TC ELECTRONIC
Alter Ego X4 Vintage Echo

BY CHARLES SAUFLEY
aptain Ahab had his whale.

Stompbox developers, it
seems, obsessively pursue
the sounds and colors of vintage
delays. Its easy to fathom the
obsession. Tape delays, oil-can
echoes, and bucket-brigade
devices embody everything that is
wonderful about analogdeep,
multi-hued tones and inexplicable
wobbles and irregularities. Even
though good digital modelers
can nail a lot of these analog
idiosyncrasies, duplicating analog
intricacies at the affordable end of
the spectrum is tough.
Thankfully, that hasnt kept
engineers from trying. And
the TC Electronic gang has
developed a new version of
their Flashback X4 digital delay
inspired by tough-to-model
echoes from the Binson Echorec
to the Watkins Copicat and TelRay Deluxe Organ Tone.
Tripped-out Flashback
Doppelganger
Though the Alter Ego is relatively
large, you cant argue with the
elegant simplicity of the design.
TC probably could have stuffed
the same functionality into a
pedal a third the size, but it
would have been a lot less fun
to use and less practical in realworld gigging situations. The
many voices of the Alter Ego are
derived from hip inspirations: two
different Echorecs, two Echoplex
models, a Ibanez DM-2, the TC
Electronic 2290 (with a touch of
modulation), a Watkins Copicat,
Roland Space Echo, ElectroHarmonix Echoflanger, and more.
Each delay is shaped via a

conventional control set: time,
delay, and feedback. And the three
controls take on very different
characteristics, ranges, and
personalities for each delay. Three of
the four footswitches are dedicated
to user-defined presets and looper
operation. The fourth doubles as a
tap tempo and undo switch.
Two notable omissions among
the control set are rate and depth
for modulation. Given that most
Alter Ego settings feature some
form of modulation, it would
be nice to have intensity and
speed controls. Doubtless this
functionality would add to the
price, but depending on the delay
type, such knobs would contribute
a lot of range and musicality.
Dotted-eighth and dual-delay
settings give you percussive variants
for the delays. Combined with the
tap tempo function, they let you
mate the devices vintage voices
with more modern playing styles
and song structures. The easy-to-use
looper also enhances the usability
of the unit. With independent
record and play footswitches, its
refreshingly simple to operate.
Altered States
Each Alter Ego delay has
something cool to offer. Depending
on your experience with originals,
youll find some more or less
authentic. But subtract perfect
accuracy from the equation and the
Alter Ego X4 is still very impressive.
The first Echorec voice (E
REC 1) will be a big draw for
Pink Floyd obsessives. It nails
much of the originals metallic,
submarine liveliness
especially when you
stack the repeats on
heavy. But lacking the cool,
murky darkness of the original,
this delay also reveals its digital
origins. The upside is that it
sounds fantastic with fuzz or
high-gain overdrive for Gilmourin-an-arena lead tonesless
authentic, perhaps, but probably
more useable and forgiving.
The Deluxe Memory Man
settings mostly nail the essence
of the original, though you
hear trace digital artifacts in the
slightly too-clean repeats, and
youre stuck with a fixed intensity
for the vibrato and chorus.
The rare, oddball oil-can
Tel-Ray Organ Tone inspired
the X4s graphics as well as one
of the devices most delightful
settings: With an intense, Lesliein-a-Bathysphere wobble thats
deep and full of character, the TR
Organ voice sounds amazing for
languid psychedelic chords and
warped jazz comping.
The Ibanez-inspired BDM2
setting is perfect for subtle textures,
and allocating a preset to this voice
is a great way to get out of trouble
if more radical presets let you down.

A more ambitious undertaking is
the Watkins Copicat. Replicating
the originals multi-head tape
echo irregularities would be tough
for the most advanced digital
modelers. But TC does a great job
of replicating the dense wash of a
multi-head setting and it sounds
great at heavy feedback levels.
The Verdict
The Alter Ego X4 is a superb
digital delay, a ton of fun, and
a fantastic tool for gigging
guitarists. Some of the best voices
have a perceptible digital-aroundthe-edges color in the repeats.
But replicating so many oddball
delays for $269 is a tall order,
and wasting processing power
on arcane analog quirks at the
expense of functional facsimiles
is a fools pursuit. TC Electronic
deserves praise for tastefully
balancing ambition and restraint.
And given how many textures are
on tap and the easy-to-use presets
and looper, the Alter Ego X4
Vintage Echo is likely to reward
your investment many times over.
Tones
PROS Oodles of unique delay voices.

Elegant design. Useful looper. Killer onestop delay generator for gigging players.
CONS Perceptible digital artifacts at
Ease of Use
Build/Design
Value
$269 street
tcelectronic.com
most settings.
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Gourmet tone - supermarket price!
Creme Brulee and Double Creme

Gourmet Boost-Overdrive
Natural sounding amp-like drive

Dual function gain control - bypass for a pristine boost
(foot-switchable on Double Creme)
Immaculate buffer circuit improves the sound of your entire board
Starting at $99 - visit your favorite dealer or go to www.tonebakery.com
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{ TIME BASED }
WALRUS AUDIO
Descent
BY ALEX MAIOLO
remember how confused I

was the first time I saw a
cell phone with a camera
it made about as much sense
as a waffle iron with a CD
player. Unboxing the new
Descent Reverb from Walrus
Audio, which unites octavegenerating effects and a modern
reverb, elicited a similar sense
of disorientation. History
proved me wrong about camera
phones, and after 15 minutes
with Descent I had a similar
conversion. This pedal
could become a space rock/
shoegazer essential.
signal, -1, +1) on the lower row.

A mini-toggle selects from three
reverb modes (hall, reverse, and
shimmer). Theres no spring
simulationDescent is strictly
for interstellar travelers, so look
elsewhere for surf-a-billy reverb.
Sonic Spelunking
Descents dry mix and wet mix
controls work the same in all
three modes. Reverb time takes
you from a minimal effect to
super-long, washed-out trails.
In reverse mode it lengthens the
trails leading up to the source
note. The ambiguously named
The hall setting may get passed over as

players rush to check out the more extreme
stuff, but its one of the best Ive heard in a
pedal, clear and three-dimensional.
Odd Effects United
Walrus isnt the first company
to flirt with pitch and octavetweaked reverb. The effect
has been around since the
80s, and these days Eventide
and Strymon are standard
bearers for such shimmer
effects. But where Eventides
Space is fairly complex and
Strymons Blue Sky has a single
shimmer-style preset, Descent
splits the difference, allowing
you to fine-tune the amount
of shimmer in your reverb via
relatively simple controls.
The reverb controls (dry mix,
reverb time, diminish, tweak,
wet mix) are on the top row,
with the octave controls (dry
diminish and tweak controls take

on varying functions, depending
on the reverb type. Diminish, for
instance, changes the diffusion
and reflective properties of the
virtual walls in hall mode, but
modifies feedback in shimmer
mode. Tweak controls diffusion
in shimmer mode and frequency
response in hall mode. While you
can develop a feel for how these
controls work in each mode,
the ambiguity can be a liability
onstage, through theres the
option of saving three user presets
for quick recall.
The hall setting may get
passed over as players rush to
check out the more extreme
stuff, but its one of the best
Ive heard in a pedal, clear and

three-dimensional. You can make
it sound really spacey as you
increase the size of the room to
an architecturally impossible allmarble mega-cathedral. Damping
highs here with the tweak control
minimizes sonic clutter.
Im happy when a pedal
brings something new to the
party. Here, its adding octaves
to reverse mode. Like any reverse
reverb, the effect can mess with
your timing, and the octaves
can sound low-res and digital if
theyre too high in the mix. But
many modern players sometimes
like inorganic effects. (Im

reminded of Jonny Greenwoods
arpeggios on My Iron Lung.)
The Verdict
The Descent capably fills the
space between minimal reverb
units and more complicated,
preset-heavy devices. Walrus wins
points for keeping the interface
simple for an effect of this depth,
though Id still need to tape crib
notes over the beautiful graphics
to stay afloat onstage. If you dont
need authentic spring reverb
sounds, Descent could easily be
your only reverb pedal.
Tones
PROS Great reverb sounds. Three footswitch-accessible user presets.
CONS Ambiguous control names.
Ease of Use
Build/Design
Value
$299 street
walrusaudio.com
premierguitar.com
the Straight Truth About Pickups by Jason Lollar

The magic found in some (but not all) classic vintage pickups
was created by accident. Dont let anyone tell you different. And
over time, some pretty stellar accidents happened. The only way
to recreate that magic is to study more than a few exceptional
examples of all the classic pickup types, while acquiring a
thorough understanding of exactly what materials were used
and precisely how each pickup was constructed and wound. Only
then is the magic repeatable, if you are willing to spend the time
and money required to chase the dragon. I am.
I personally design and wind over 30 different pickup models,
including all the vintage classics, many obscure works of art
known only to lap and pedal steel players like Robert Randolph,
and even a few of my own designs that never existed in the past.
I invite you to visit our website for sound clips, videos and
current product information, or call us for a free product
highlight brochure.
Lollar Guitars PO Box 2450 Vashon Island, WA 98070 (206) 463-9838 www.lollarguitars.com
Get the Fanned-Fret

Advantage
See the videos at
novaxguitars.com
Sweet
Annie
premierguitar.com
Sassy
Annie
{ PITCH SHIFTING/FILTER/SYNTH }
SUNSINE AUDIO
Harmonic Decoder
BY JOE CHARUPAKORN
dding the latest Tube

Screamer clone to
your arsenal probably
wont make your sound more
distinctive than it was yesterday.
But if youre looking for a pedal
that will shock you out of a
rut or get you noticed, look no
further than the Sunsine Audio
Harmonic Decoder.
The handmade Harmonic
Decoder pedal is essentially a
single-oscillator analog synth that
can produce sounds ranging from
8-bit glitch and wah/filter to pitch
shifting and fuzz. While it does a
lot, its not a multi-effector. More
between Env (the envelope

follower) and CV (control
voltage). The latters toggle
position also lets you use the 1/8"
jack on the side of the pedal to
accept a control voltage signal
from devices like the Arturia
MicroBrute synth and eurorack
modular synthesizers, and expand
the tonal palette available through
alternate modulation sources.
Controlled Randomness
Depending on your inner control
freak, the seemingly random way
this pedal changes from one effect
to another is either completely
I created mini conversations with

myself where phrases would be answered
by a totally different sound.
accurately, its a phase-lock loop
device, which means that a phase
detector senses where your signal
crosses a threshold and locks the
oscillator onto the frequency and
phase of the incoming signal. The
results are a blast.
Decoding the Decoder
Considering the multitude of
sounds you can extract from
the Harmonic Decoder, its
control set is relatively spare and
encourages tweaking. There are
three knobs: Vol, Freq (which
sweeps the internal clock of the
oscillator and sync), and Depth
(which sends a control voltage
to the oscillator based on the
envelope follower). Theres also a
mini-toggle that lets you choose
cool or totally frustrating. In an

instant, your sound can go from
a filtered Tom Morello effect to
a Space Invaders blip. But spend
some time with the Harmonic
Decoder, and youll realize things
arent as random as they seem.
For instance, with Freq set at
about 3 oclock, Depth around
1 oclock, and the mini-toggle
switch set to Env, an odd but
perceptible pattern emerges. All
the notes I played between D
and B% on the 2nd string were
pitch-shifted to a low octave, but
as soon as I hit the 12th-fret B,
the pitch-shifting effect jump to
a higher octave. When I went
lower than D, the device started
glitching out and producing
alien-like sounds. When I
maneuvered the Freq

knob, however, I was able
to change the frequency
at which the sidebands
occurred. And when I
knew what to expect,
moments of befuddlement
turned to inspiration.
Using these timbral
changes as unifying
elements for composition
took me in very interesting
directions. And I created
mini conversations with
myself where phrases
would be answered by a
totally different sound, and
to access such sounds all
I had to do was play in a
different register.
I also had fun playing
two notes simultaneously
because this forces the phase
detector to choose between the
pitches. You can hear the detector
trying to jump between the two
notes and it creates very striking
tones at different intervals. Full
chords, however, are a bit too much
information for the pedal to handle.
The Verdict
In my time with the Harmonic
Decoder, I only scratched the
surface of what the pedal can do.

But it made me venture beyond
my comfort zone, and that gave
me a completely new perspective
on the guitars potential role in
composing music. Thats not
something a pedal can do every
day. Factor in its power to reshape
your tone in performance, and
it becomes clear the Harmonic
Decoder is a potent little package
of controlled chaos.
Tones
PROS Fresh new sounds.

CONS Can take some time to
figure out.
Ease of Use
Build/Design
Value
$165 street
sunsineaudio.com
HEAD ONLINE TO HEAR this pedal at premierguitar.com/oct2014
premierguitar.com
premiereguitar_lace_halfpg_7.85 x 4.85.indd 1
7/21/14 5:53 PM
2 channels:
heavy and heavier
...any questions?
www.empresseffects.com
premierguitar.com
{ PITCH SHIFTING }
EARTHQUAKER DEVICES
Pitch Bay
BY CHARLES SAUFLEY
arthQuaker Devices
irreverence is widely
celebrated in the pages
of this journal. But when you
play a pedal like the Pitch Bay
polyphonic harmonizer, you
realize theres a whole lot of
purpose and substance behind the
companys seemingly devil-maycare approach to pedal design.
Sure, the Pitch Bay will help you
craft Frankensteinian mutations
of crossed octaves and the glitchy
sounds of a vintage Atari console
is dedicated to the octave above.

The top right knob is a gain
control, which you can use to
dirty up the harmonized output.
The three lower knobs are
level controls for the root-note
signal, the octave down, and the
octave up, and they give you a
lot of flexibility for shaping the
harmonized output. While the
root-note signal moves through
an all-analog signal path, the
two octave signals are digitally
processed.
Dialing up slightly out-of-tune octaves

or unisons can give the pedal the
feel of analog synth pitch drift or add
an almost tremolo-like wobble.
dying a painful and gruesome
death. But it can just as easily
conjure the sounds of a 12-string
or help you dial up quick, fuzzy
Thin Lizzy or Southern rock
guitar harmonies with a slightly
demented edge.
Harmonies Made Mad
and Simple
You could conceivably plug in the
Pitch Bay, set the cluster of six
knobs randomly, hear the ensuing
mayhem, and be justified in never
looking back. But a little patience
reveals that this is a surprisingly
simple, intuitive, and fun-to-use
pedal. The two top and left-most
knobs enable sweepable pitch
adjustments, including all 12
semitones and the microtones in
between. One is dedicated to an
octave below the root; the other
Many Harmonious Means

Dialing in harmonies is easy on
the Pitch Bay. And the most
natural application is a virtual
12-string (or 18-string, if you
prefer). Dialing in the unisons
is easy enoughwhats fun is
adding slightly off kilter pitches
and odd emphasis on one octave
or both. Add a short delay and an
expansive reverb, and youre living
in a sci-fi, folk-rock utopia.
Classic rock guitar harmonies
are another obvious and easy
application. But I got a bigger
kick out of using the gain and
unison harmonies to create a
dirty little virtual three-piece
horn section. If you cant afford a
trumpet player and baritone and
alto sax sidemen, the Pitch Bay
plus a simple horn section-style
riff make a pretty funky stand-in.
As forgiving and easy

as the Pitch Bay can be,
dialing in precise semitones
can be tricky. The knobs are
pretty sensitive and theyre
easy to bump out of place.
But dialing up slightly outof-tune octaves or unisons
can give the pedal the feel
of analog synth pitch drift
or add an almost tremololike wobble when close
harmonies clash just right.
Dialing up odd intervals
produces even stranger pitch
wobbles and cancellations.
And while they can easily
sound harsh, working these
textures in with volume
swells or dialing them
in at disparate levels can
sound like everything from
alien radio dispatches to
cathedral bells clanging in
the distance.
The Verdict
EarthQuaker clearly builds
pedals with moody players in
mind, because the Pitch Bay
can go from pretty and angelic
to completely nihilistic and
demented with a few twists. And

few harmonizing pedals move
through those moods as readily
and intuitively as the Pitch Bay,
and its that easy interactivity and
musicality that set it apart.
Tones
PROS A harmonizer thats easy to

tune. Lots of practical applications and
unconventional sounds. Even slightly outof-tune harmonies sound cool. Sounds
fantastic with other effects.
Ease of Use
Build/Design
Value
$225 street
earthquakerdevices.com
CONS A little pricey for the casual user.

premierguitar.com
10th Annual LA
Oct 4th-5th 2014

Saturday and Sunday 10am-6pm, $20 door
Dozens of Private Demo Rooms

"TONE WIZARDS", Prizes
Airtel Plaza Hotel, 7277 Valjean Ave. Van Nuys, 91406
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premierguitar.com
{ FILTER }
TWA
LD-02 Little Dipper 2.0

BY MATTHEW HOLLIMAN
n the late 70s, Colorsound

briefly produced an envelopecontrolled formant filter
called the Dipthonizer. The
effects vocal-sounding vowels
and diphthongs provided an
animated sonic conversation with
hints of phasing, wah, and talk
box interplay. Originals are rare,
so pedal pushers have produced
clones of the endangered effect.
One such gadget is TWAs Little
Dipper 2.0 with an analog
circuit and some new additions,
including a bass boost and
expression-pedal support.
The occultation rotary switch,

the newest feature on the Little
Dipper 2.0, provides seven timing
and EQ variations, including
high- and low-filter cuts, boosts,
and delayed response. Additional
controls include a +6 dB bass
boost and three internal trimpots
to fine-tune output level, dry/wet
mix, and noise gate release.
The Stars Align
Grateful Dead fans will be
pleased to encounter many colors
reminiscent of Jerrys Mu-Tronbased tones. For example, I
The occultation rotary switch, the newest

feature on the Little Dipper 2.0, provides
seven timing and EQ variations.
Across the Galaxy
Like the first-generation Little
Dipper, the 2.0 version has a
sparkly, midnight-blue finish.
When you connect the 9V adapter
(theres no battery option), a
constellation of LEDs lights up.
Input and output jacks are on the
right-hand side of the box, with
the expression-pedal input and
power adaptor on the left.
Like the original Dipthonizer,
the Little Dipper includes built-in
fuzz, here called diffraction. With
the control counterclockwise,
tones are clean. Advancing the
knob excites certain frequencies,
though the tone never gets really
hairy. Ascension controls the
filters sweep range, while the
5-way inclination switch sets the
trigger timing for the dual filters.
replicated the sliding funk rhythm

of Fire on the Mountain with
the inclination switch in its fourth
position and ascension in the 3
oclock range. Jerrys tone is fairly
clean, so leaving the diffraction
rolled down is a must.
Still in fourth position, I
increased diffraction to a hint
above noon for emotively
babbling single notes reminiscent
of a talk box. Of course, you cant
replicate the exact expression
of Peter Framptons crooning,
but its in the ballpark. Some
higher diffraction settings make
inclination a bit muffled, and
thats where occultation helps out.
With a Tele and a Fender
Bassman, I enjoyed the cockedwah sound of the second position,
but needed a bit more presence
for lead play. The occultation

control let me add enough
midrange to edge my notes above
the mix. Unfortunately, this
slot-headed mini-pot requires a
flathead screwdrivera pain to
deal with onstage.
The bass-boost switch is great
should you want to use the Little
Dipper on bass guitar, since some
of the formant filters tend to suck
low end. Flipping this switch
adds 6 dB at 80 Hz. There
youre all set for that Geezer
Butler solo.
The Verdict
TWA adds some great features
to their latest Little Dipper,
making it a very versatile
envelope filter. However, some
controls are difficult to access
live, including internal ones such
as wet/dry mix, and frequency
EQ/delay, which requires a
screwdriver. The $299 price
tag is a bit steep, but vintage
Dipthonizers arent exactly
cheap. The Little Dipper 2.0
covers a lot of ground with its
great tones and unique design.
Tones
PROS Large variety of filters and great

vocal emulation.
CONS Some controls are hard
to access.
Ease of Use
Build/Design
Value
$299 street
godlyke.com
premierguitar.com
Emily Robison
of Court Yard Hounds
and Collings Guitars
Emily Robison on stage with her Collings CJ SB

Serious Guitars | www.CollingsGuitars.com | (512) 288-7770
{ RING MODULATION }
ZVEX
Super Ringtone
BY MATTHEW HOLLIMAN
VEXs original Ringtone

was introduced in 2006
and heralded as the
worlds first dedicated tap-tempo
sequenced ring modulator.
As the descriptor suggests, it
appealed largely to the seriously
adventurous stompbox tinkerer.
The new Super Ringtone is a
fully reimagined, larger, and
more powerful version of the
original 8-step. The Super
Ringtone is an analog, 16-step
sequencing ring mod complete
with MIDI ports, an expression
pedal jack, and glissando control.
This incarnation can achieve
everything from rolling tremolo
to robotic cacophony and save up
to eight of your favorite settings,
making this feature-laden sound
modifier and mangler a seriously
dangerous stage weapon.
Phoning Home
The Super Ringtone is
overflowing with knobs and
switchessome with multiple
functions. There are four ways
to control the tempo: speed
knob, MIDI, expression pedal,
and tap tempo. By turning
the steps/preset knob, you can
set the number of steps in a
sequence (up to 16) when SEQ
mode is selected. RND mode is
a randomizer that hits different
steps in scattershot fashion. STEP
mode activates the selected steps
ring-mod setting, and engaging
the tap/hold button will move
to the next step in the sequence.
With us so far?
The gliss knob controls the
glissando rate between each step.
Adjusting this knob changes all

sequence steps to the same value.
Turning this parameter clockwise
smoothes out the transition into
the next step, or can be turned
counterclockwise for a choppy,
uneven approach. Glissando
levels for individual steps can be
altered by using the little knobs
beneath the red LEDs.
Encased in a heavy-duty
box, ZVEX offers unfinished
or handpainted models. The
Super Ringtone ships with a 9V
battery, or can power up via 9V
barrel adaptor. There are two
trim pots on the board that are
accessed by removing the four
plate screws. The right-hand pot
adjusts the range of pitch for the
ring modulator and the left pot
is the dry/wet mix control. Im
sure ZVEX had their reasons
for burying the mix control
internally, but it seems like a
strange choice for such a radical
and complex effect where you
might want to use a tamer setting
more easily.
Pitchin Groove
I found the most immediately
usable tones in step mode. In
this mode, the sequencer isnt
automated, so you only hear
the steps and parameter settings
you select. Its easy to get very
effective, if unusual textures
here. For instance, by turning
the glissando knob completely
counterclockwise, I discovered a
deep tremolo that changes shape,
color, and speed as you turn
clockwise. Once you hit about 9
oclock, the effect turns metallic
and ray-gun like. Past noon,

things get more frantic still, but
rich overtones start blending
togethersounding something
not unlike a killer cross between a
cocked wah and a glockenspiel.
Delta mode is a cool timebending function that works with
the sequencer. Pressing down
and releasing both tap div/delta
and steps/preset knobs engages
delta, which speeds up or slows
down the tempo by depressing
the tap/hold switch. I set the
intensity of the warp by holding
down and turning the tap div/
delta knob. Depending on your
settings, tap/hold can slow the
sequence speed, delivering a
cool decelerating sound, or one
that rises in rate. When I release
the switch, it snaps back to the
original speed. This function

not only sounds beautifully
demented, it is exceptionally
useful for a MIDI setup where
you can warp the tempo for the
elastic effect and then release to
snap back to your external clock
without missing a beat.
The Verdict
The features described here are
a fraction of what the Super
Ringtone can do. Its a very unique
and sonically potent pedal that
demands a little effort if you intend
to make the most of it. Theres
a lot here for the experimental
crowd, especially with the MIDI.
At $349, its not priced for most in
the casual lets-give-it-whirl set. But
if you commit to the pedal, it will
reward that mindset plentifully.
Tones
PROS Hugely tweakable. Great surreal

tones. MIDI sync.
CONS Dry/wet mix isnt easily

accessed. Learning curve can be steep.
Ease of Use
Build/Design
Value
$349 street
($469 for handpainted model.)
zvex.com
premierguitar.com
{ BASS FUZZ }
MALEKKO HEAVY INDUSTRY

Diabolik
BY STEVE COOK
alekko Heavy Industry

Corporation is the
creation of former
Ministry bassist and producer
Paul Barker and synth junkie
Josh Holleya tandem that
knows heavy and weird. One of
the latest pedals to come out of
the Malekko sonic laboratory
in Portland, Oregon, is the
Diabolik. Its a signature pedal
that was designed in conjunction
with Justin Meldal-Johnsen
long-time bassist for Beck, and,
like the creative element at
Malekko, a funky tone enthusiast.
signal you want mixed in, and the

squish dial controls the character
of the fuzz. Im a big fan of
simple layouts, and knowing that
Meldal-Johnsen had a hand in
the design, I was psyched to hear
this pedal.
Dia-bass-ical
I ran my favorite Music Man
through an Eden WTX500 and
matching D410XLT cabinet
starting with all the Diaboliks
controls at zero. To get any signal,
you need to inch up the squish
control, but you dont need
The rugged blue and pink chassis doesnt

take up much more space than a bar of soap.
Meldal-Johnsen wanted to
build on the tonal advantages
of another Malekko pedal but
reduce the footprint and simplify
the control layout. Here, we find
out if he got what he wanted.
Squish Squash
The Diabolik is a very
straightforward design and very
intuitive to use. Better still (for
the space conscious,) the rugged
blue and pink chassis doesnt take
up much more space than a bar
of soap. The Diabolik can operate
on a battery, but youll probably
want to power the pedal with a
9V power supply (not included)
to avoid the much-dreaded
4-screw battery replacement
procedure. The three controls are
pretty self-explanatory: the fuzz
control determines the amount of
fuzz, clean is the amount of clean
much before the pedal springs to

life. With the fuzz at the noon
position, the clean off, and the
squish at 9 oclock (which is
barely engaged), the pedal delivers
a fantastically tight fuzz, with
harsh harmonic overtones that
emulate dirty synth tones. Adding
clean signal makes the fuzz more
traditionally fuzzy and robust.
Diming the clean control,
leaving the squish at 9 oclock,
and rolling the fuzz back to 9
oclock takes you in the other
direction, and it hit me with
a dark, vintage, overdrivenamp tone a whole lot like an
Ampeg V-4B pushed to its limit.
Harmonic overtones shifted as
I eased up the squish up to the
noon positionopening up the
mids and letting the pedal and
the natural bass tone breathe a
little. The pedal gets more sinister
when rolling the fuzz up higher,

and when both clean and fuzz
controls are set aggressively the
sound is downright killer.
The Verdict
The Diabolik is a well-crafted pedal
and the keen minds at Malekko
have done a great job harnessing
the raw power of bass fuzz into a
budget- and user-friendly package.
Where I do like the simplicity of

the controls, the predetermined
harmonic settings can be a tiny
bit limiting. This is not an all-bad
thing, however, since the ability
to add clean tones beefs up the
signal where other pedals often fall
short. If youre a bassist ready to
get your fuzz on, the Diabolik is
full of tones to explore and make
your own.
Tones
PROS Superb tones. Beefy fuzz.

Compact footprint.
CONS Some players may want an EQ

to help sculpt tones even further.
Ease of Use
Build/Design
Value
$149 street
malekkoheavyindustry.com
premierguitar.com
velvetdistribution.com
engl-amps.com
{ BASS OVERDRIVE/DI }
TECH 21
VT Bass DI
BY DAVID ABDO
ech 21s SansAmp has

become a go-to piece of
gear for many bassists and
engineers, both onstage and in
the studio. The black and yellow
box has long been praised for
its tube-emulation capabilities,
as well as other performancefriendly functions. Recently, the
mad scientists in the Tech 21
labs have been tinkering with
their toys by splicing the DNA
of their previous products. The
new VT Bass DI was born from
this experimentation and is a
multi-functional tool that aims
to please players with tubeemulating familiarity, and new
and thoughtful features.
A quintet of switches provides

additional tone shaping and
the means to alleviate potential
output issues. Phantom power
can be used when depressing its
assigned switch, and subsequent
switches include one that can
boost the 1/4" output by 10 dB
and a -20 dB button that lowers
the output of the XLR.
Depressing the speaker
simulation switch shapes the tone
in a way that conveys a micd
speaker sound if youre running
the VT Bass DI straight to the
board. For additional presence
with a subsonic filter, the bite
button could come in handy. Add
to that a parallel output and an
A little experimentation in your

laboratory will reward you with a very
useful spectrum of sounds.
Emulator Deluxe
Its pretty clear at first glance
that the VT Bass DI is packed
with options. If youre familiar
with the SansAmpor any
of Tech 21s Character series
pedalsyou should feel right at
home. For newbies, a quick tour
might be helpful.
The level dial adjusts the overall
output, with the neighboring
blend control providing a
balance between the direct signal
and tube-emulation circuitry.
The triangularly arranged EQ
controls are positioned for quick
adjustments, and the personality
of the pedal is located within the
character and drive knobs.
easy-access battery compartment,

and you have a box that boasts an
impressive array of tools.
I Want My SVT!
The VT Bass DI might pride
itself on Ampeg-style shape
shifting, but there are far more
layers to this onion. As previously
touched on, unless you are
completely familiar to Tech
21s family of pedals, I wouldnt
recommend taking the pedal
straight from the store to a gig.
A little experimentation in your
laboratory will reward you with a
very useful spectrum of sounds.
On a rock gig, the VT Bass DI
turned a Nash P-style bass into
a doom-friendly drone machine

when I used the SVT-style sample
setting found in the manual.
The bite button also benefitted
the bass sound, providing just
enough presence to convey a
clang-y edge to the tone. While
it didnt deliver the plushy tube
touch, the sound was convincing.
I plugged an NS Design
NXT electric upright into the
VT Bass DI at a salsa show,
engaged the -20 dB and speaker
simulator switches, and ran
the signal straight to the board
with no bass rig. I dialed in the
flip-top-style settings and the
heft and punch of the electric
uprights notes filled the room, as
if I was playing through a B-15

on steroids. Thanks to a robust
sound system, I was able to go
rig-free the entire night.
The Verdict
Tech 21 has constructed a pedal
with practical features, a logical
layout, and solid construction.
It may not convert the tube
aficionado or someone who
prefers more simplicity in their
sound crafting, but spending
some time with the VT Bass DI
can be a rewarding experience. If
youre hungry for a go-to pedal
for a host of situations, the VT
Bass DI might satisfy your
tonal appetite.
Tones
PROS A solid pedal packed with

practical features.
CONS Mild learning curve. Might not

totally please die-hard Ampeg disciples.
Ease of Use
Build/Design
Value
$209 street
tech21nyc.com
premierguitar.com
Rig & Pedalboard
Building
Design
Turnkey Systems
Rewires
Interface Panels
Cable Looms
Programming
708-802-9677
proaudio@best-tronics.com
facebook.com/bt.proaudio
@BTPA_USA
GREAT GEAR GIVEAWAYS FROM
Buzz Feiten Guitars Blues Pro
ENTER FOR YOUR CHANCE TO WIN IT AT
PREMIERGUITAR.COM/CONTESTS
Sweepstakes void where prohibited. Read full rules on PremierGuitar.com.

premierguitar.com
{ BASS WAH/FUZZ/FILTER }
ELECTRO-HARMONIX
Crying Bass
BY BRIAN FOX
ike so many pedals

originally designed for the
bass guitars 6-string sister
(no offense, guitarists), wah-wah
effects often tend to suck the
life out of the low end, creating
a significant problem for those
of us seeking to hold it down.
Through the years, however,
designers have taken considerable
strides to retain low end in
stompbox effects, from chorus
pedals to fuzz boxes and beyond.
The Electro-Harmonix Crying
Bass, which features EHXs Next
Step technology, represents the
latest development in the arena.
the wah. The Crying Bass features

buffered-bypass switching and is
powered by either a 9V battery or
a Boss-style AC adapter.
A Good Cry
The primary use of the Crying
Bass is, obviously, as a wah. On its
own, the pedals wah has a depth
of expression that makes the pedals
modest price a total bargain. But
the two additional featuresa fuzz
and a low-pass filtermake it an
exceptional value.
I tested the Crying Bass with
both a Precision and a Jazz bass
running through a 65 Ampeg
Like all its Next Step brethren, the

Crying Bass ditches the footswitches
and pots in favor of a slick system
with no moving parts.
No to Pot
Ever since the wah pedal was
developed in the late 60s, the
construction of most incarnations
has involved a rocking footbed
attached to a potentiometer.
The pot, in turn, acts like an
instruments tone knob by
running a signal through a
capacitor to attenuate high end.
Like all its Next Step brethren,
the Crying Bass ditches the
footswitches and pots in favor of
a slick system with no moving
parts. Tipping the pedal forward
from its resting place engages
the effect, and rocking the pedal
backward or forward on its
rubber-bottomed fulcrum sweeps
SB-12 and quickly found that if

its Shaft-stylewacka-wackawah
effects you crave, this pedal serves
up a pretty juicy version of that
particular dish. To my ears, the
Crying Bass was tastiest when
worked at slower speeds, giving
a phaser-like swirl to a chugging
eighth-note pattern as I slowly
rocked the pedal heel-to-toe.
Those looking for a kickass bass fuzz might do better
elsewhere in the massive line of
effects from EHX. With that
said, I often found myself using
the Crying Bass as a stand-alone
fuzz. Simply dial up the fuzz
knob on the side of the pedal,
kick it on and leave it stationary,
and you have yourself a pretty

sick-sounding little fuzz box.
Next to the fuzz dial is where
the pedals other secret weapon
resides: the low-pass filter thats
fixed at 194 Hz. While the
typical filter might allow low
frequencies to circumnavigate
the fuzz and/or wah circuits,
there seems to be something
else at play here, since
cranking the filter actually
creates a pretty profound bass
boost. However its working, the
low-pass filter definitely does the
trick in helping preserve a low-end
presence when using the effect.
So Sensitive
Electro-Harmonix has long been
an innovator in the stompbox
game, and its Next Step
technology follows solidly in that
tradition. In practice, the system
is not without its difficulties
because the Crying Bass is so
easily engaged by tilting the pedal
forward from its resting place. An
accidental bump or a stages floor
flex from an active performance
could inadvertently kick it on.
Similarly, the pedals sweep
sensitivity requires cautious
control, as a little twitch or

jiggle mid-position can create
unintended warble effects. But
given the Crying Bass pedals
sweet sounds, mitigating these
environmental factors is worth
some extra effort.
The Verdict
If you arent already familiar with
the legacy of Electro-Harmonix
in the realm of effects pedals, do
yourself a favor and read up on
the companys rather amazing
work. If, however, you just want
to jump right in and have a ball
on bass with a multi-talented
pedal that will set you back less
than 100 bucks, go check out the
Crying Bass now.
Tones
PROS Mixable wah, fuzz, and low-pass

filter in a single stompbox under $100.
CONS Small movementslike those

from an undulating stage surfacecan
affect the effect in unexpected ways.
Ease of Use
Build/Design
Value
$98.25 street
ehx.com
premierguitar.com
LUST
PICKUPS
IN THE
VINTAGE
TRADITION
Play it. Love it.
THE NEW GOODTIME SOLANA 6

Fitted with nylon strings & tuned just like a guitar, the Solana 6 is
a new kind of 6-string designed to bring out the creativity in you.
Learn more at:
deeringbanjos.com/solana
(800) 845-7791
premierguitar.com
HANDMADE IN THE U.S.A
Proudly Made in the U.S.A. by
www.lustfortone.com
(561) 282-6607
{ BASS MODULATION }
PROVIDENCE
ABC-1 Anadime Chorus

BY BRIAN FOX
hats in a name?
Apologies for going
full Shakespeare off the
bat, but the question is actually
germane. Providence is defined
by many as the manifestation of
divine care or direction, a pretty
lofty appellation for a company
furnishing stompboxes for the
great unwashed among us. But
given its track historyand a
demonstrated soft side for the
low-end communityProvidence
gigbags, the pedal proved itself to

be a stout little stompbox.
The ABC-1s raised LED
serves a dual purpose: The
bright, blue light pulses at the
tempo set by the pedals speed
control, but it also acts as an
indicator of battery strength
dimming when the charge sags
below 7 volts. Handy.
My only reservation regarding
the pedals roadworthiness is its
3-position deep-mode toggle,
Dig deeper, and youll find

what makes the Anadime Bass
Chorus so special.
has thus far earned a name so
sweet. Here we turn to one of
their latest offerings, the ABC-1
Anadime Bass Chorus.
Road Rate
Based on the companys ADC-4
Anadime Chorus, the ABC-1
Anadime Bass Chorus takes the
best features of its predecessor
rugged build, tidy form factor,
and a bucket-brigade delay
circuitand presents it in a
bass-facing format. The ABC-1
screams quality from the get-go
from its powder-coat chassis to its
heavy-duty footswitch and easyaccess pointer knobs.
Inside, Providence places
its D.C.G. circuit, a doublecontact grounding mechanism
that promises durability and
improved sound. Thats a hard
one to assess in an evaluation
such as this, but on gigs and in
which is somewhat precariously

placed in an exposed area below
the speed knob. That said, the
switch felt sturdier than most, and
allowed for little lateral movement.
Depth and Dimension
A chorus pedal at its most basic
needs two controls: one for
rate and the other for depth of
modulation. Judged on these
merits alone, the ABC-1 is
perfectly adequate, as those
controls function precisely as they
should. Dig deeper, and youll
find what makes the Anadime
Bass Chorus so special. Just as
overdrive and fuzz pedals can
vex bass players in how they
suck the low end out of the
signal, modulation effects can be
problematic in how they become
mired in muck, sluggishly
spitting out a signal that lacks
definition. Providence tackles this
problem with a high-pass

filter (HPF) knob that offers
tremendous control over the
low-end character.
With the HPF set at
minimum value, my
hot-rodded Fender Precision
going through a 65 Ampeg
SB-12 sounded a tad tinny.
The low end began to bloom
as I turned the HPF toward
noon, and when turned
full-bore, the HPF control
let in more booty than a
bouncer at a Kardashian
bachelorette bash.
On its surface, the ABC1s deep-mode switch might
also seem to function as
a frequency filter, but in
fact its cooler than that.
By controlling the effects delay
response, the deep control
provides three distinct settings.
Flip the switch down, and
the chorus has a presence and
immediacy that will make you
feel as if you were just plunged
into a pool of pudding. Flipped
to the middle position, the effect
takes on a more airy quality, as if
youre bobbing in a bubble ball.
The deep switch goes even deeper
in its high position by serving up
a sound that somehow feels both

submerged and spacious.
The Verdict
It can be tough to make a splash
in a market as crowded as chorus
pedals. But with its eye toward
the low end, its superior build
quality, and its spacious, multidimensional sound and feel, the
Providence Anadime ABC-1
makes some others in its class seem
about as warm as soggy blankets.
Tones
PROS Solid build with an eye out for

low-end preservation and projection.
Ease of Use
Build/Design
CONS High-pass filter is a tad counterintuitive, but no less functional and flexible.
Value
$249 street
providence-ltd.com
premierguitar.com
premierguitar.com
{ BASS PREAMP/DI }
MXR
M81 Bass Preamp

BY DAVID ABDO
pplying the descriptor

Swiss Army knife to a
piece of gear is probably
overused in reviews, but if it
aptly describes an instrument,
amplifier, or effect pedal that
offers excellent versatility, its
a fitting one. Many effect
companies offer different takes on
a portable preampwhich can
provide a multitude of benefits
and one of the latest units on the
market comes from the design
team at MXR. Their M81 Bass
Preamp boasts both simplicity
and flexibility, all wrapped up in
a simple green box.
Just the Essentials, Please
The primary feature of the MXR
M81 is its 3-band EQ with
sweepable midrange. The bass
setup are also two switchesone

for ground lift and the other a
pre/post for a studio-quality DI.
The pedal is powered through
either a 9V battery or adaptor,
and it uses MXRs Constant
Headroom Technology.
Problem Solved
No matter what bass I plugged
into the MXR M81, the pedal
improved the overall sound of the
instrument. I started by placing
the pedal between a 64 Fender
Jazz and an Epifani AL112
combo set flat to hear if the
preamp could breathe some life
into the Js aging pickups.
A significant boost with the
input dial and a slight bump with
the bass control began an instant
tone resurrection. Tweaking the
A significant boost with the input dial

and a slight bump with the bass control
began an instant tone resurrection.
and treble controls are voiced
quite nicely, providing fullness
that doesnt muddy the tone and
highs that arent harsh. Unless
you obsess over midrange at
Billy Sheehan-like levels, the mid
and mid-frequency controls are
very user-friendly, and allow a
bassist to boost or mellow out the
bumps, honks, and clacks of this
sonic spectrum.
Secondary features include the
input and output controls. They
make boosting a passive signal
and achieving unity gain a breeze.
Tucked cozily into the 6-knob
mids brought some aggressiveness

to the bridge pickup thanks to a
+3 dB boost in the 500 Hz range.
A little cut in the treble darkened
the tone and helped create
punchy and burpy bass lines,
perfect for 16th-note passages.
Most surprising was how the
M81 enhanced the neck pickup.
Its not that often that Jazz-bassstyle players solo this side of
the instrument, but with a little
boost of the bass, mid (at 480
Hz), and treble, the 64 took on
a tonal character similar to its
older brother P.
Despite already having its own

preamp onboard, a Brubaker
Brute MJX-5 benefitted from
what the M81 preamp could
provide. A twist of treble made
the instruments 3-month-old
strings sound fairly fresh. When I
soloed the Brubakers Music Manstyle bridge pickup and boosted
the bass and mid, the M81 helped
deliver a StingRay-esque voice
that would be ideal for Chic bass
lines and Louis Johnson disciples.
Bassists who double will
probably also be impressed with
the M81. I was able to dial out
the harsh mids that plague both
a Ned Steinberger NXT electric
upright and a German upright
equipped with a Fishman Full
Circle pickup. It was easy to glean
sounds perfect for salsa bands or
jazz ensembles, from deep dublike timbres to tones that brought
out the wood of the bass.
The Verdict
Whether youre looking to give
your vintage bass a modern vibe
without having to route the
body, or you seek a solo-boost
or tonal-tweaking device to cut
through the mix, or you need a

solid DI that will work well for
both the stage and studio, youre
pretty much covered with the
MXR M81. All of these options
are at your fingertips at a price
point lower than many quality
onboard bass preamps, and this
makes the M81 one of the better
boxes in its class. Id definitely
call it a Swiss well, you know
what I mean.
Tones
PROS A super-functional and flexible

preamp that brings out the best your bass
has to offer.
CONS Some players may find the
Ease of Use
Build/Design
Value
$169 street
jimdunlop.com
ground-lift and pre/post switches a bit

difficult to reach.
premierguitar.com
TOOLS FOR THE TASK
Pedalboard Power Supplies
To coincide with this months smorgasbord of pedal coverage, we look at some options for
stompbox sidekicks. Here are more than a few ways to efficiently power your pedalboard.
DECIBEL ELEVEN
Hot Stone Deluxe Dual Voltage
This power supply boasts eight isolated outputs, a shielded
toroidal transformer, selectable input voltage, a pair of
high-current outputs, and a heavy-duty steel chassis.

Street $179
decibel11.com
MOOER
Micro Power
This tiny power supply features eight independent

outputs, each with a status-indicator LED.
Street $98
mooeraudio.com
WALRUS AUDIO
Aetos Clean Power Supply
This 8-output, isolated power supply has a customwound toroidal transformer for superior noise filtering
and clean power.
Street $169
walrusaudio.com
ROCKTRON
Power Tap
This power supplys space-saving chassis houses five
power jacks switchable between 9V and 12V. Two jacks
offer continuously variable power (from 4V to 9V), and
theres a single AC power jack.
Street $189
rocktron.com
PEDALTRAIN
Volto
This svelte, rechargeable lithium-ion battery-powered
supply is a quiet and efficient alternative to AC-powered
options. A pair of 9V outputs provides total power output
of 2000 mA.
Street $99.95
pedaltrain.com
premierguitar.com
GATOR CASES
G-BUS-8-US
Housed in a heavy-duty aluminum enclosure, this
multi-output power supply with resettable short-circuit
protection can juice up to 11 pedals via eight 9V outputs

and three 18V outputs.
Street $94.99
gatorcases.com
CARL MARTIN
Pro Power
Designed for the touring musician, this power supply
features switchable AC input (110/230V) and eight
isolated/regulated 9V/12V outputs, with extended power
for outputs 7 and 8.

Street $173
carlmartin.com
T-REX
Chameleon
This compact, rugged, and versatile power supply was
built for players with many diverse pedals. It comes with

all needed cables and offers four voltage options.
Street $149
t-rex-effects.com
VOODOO LAB
Pedal Power 4x4
Featuring an internal thermometer that controls
a silent cooling fan, the 4x4 can power up to four
power-hungry digital effects and four standard batterypowered stompboxes.
Street $189
voodoolab.com
10
10
MXR
MC403 Power System
With high-performance toroidal transformers to ensure
quiet operation and superior performance, this power
supply offers 16 outputs. It can be used on a pedalboard
or in a single rackmount space.
Street $249.99
jimdunlop.com
premierguitar.com
REVIEWS
FORREST
DB Boost B & G Bender

By Michael Ross
he Forrest DB Boost B and G Bender is a string

benders dream.
For the uninitiated: Bender guitars employ internal
springs and levers to bend individual strings up to a fixed pitch.
Typically, the B string is raised a whole step by pulling down
against the guitar strap. This tugs the upper-bout strap button
through a routed slot, triggering a mechanism that runs through
the body to the bridge area, where it raises the strings pitch.
This ingenious device can also be attached to the G string.
Sometimes the strap button controls the B string, while a lever
near the neck plate controls the G string. This second lever
is attached to a lanyard hooked on the players belt, so that
pushing the guitar away from the players body raises the pitch.
This is called a double-bender guitar.
Clarence White, Albert Lee, Jimmy Page, and Ricky Skaggs
have all used B-bender guitars to amazing ends. Brad Paisley
uses a G bender. Jimmy Olander of Diamond Rio rocks an
instrument fitted with both. The DB Boost B and G Bender is
for players like Olander, for whom one bender is not enough.
Enchanted Forrest
Forrest Lee Jr. is a monster Tele picker who built his first guitar
when he was 12 and started making benders when he was 18.
He and his wife, Cheryl, operate Forrest Custom Guitars. They
Jeff Callahan Boost

Series pickups
Strap-pin B
Bender
Brass saddles
60s C-shape neck
Michael Franklin Turnstyle

boost switch system
premierguitar.com
Neck-plate-mounted
G bender
specialize in custom guitars and parts and

bender installations.
Our review instrument boasts every
bell and whistle the company offers save
for custom binding. It has a urethane red
sparkle/black paisley finish with a black
burst beautifully applied to both its front
and back. The light swamp ash body and
aluminum bender mechanism keep the
weight down around the Les Paul range,
as opposed to the boat-anchor heaviness
of many bender guitars.
The one-piece maple neck sports a
skunk stripe, a rolled 60s C shape, and a
smooth urethane finish. The well-rounded
medium frets provide low and speedy
yet buzz-free action. The frets feel a little
rough in spots when rubbing my hand and
along their edges, but not while playing.
The 3-saddle brass bridge is compensated.
Intonation is accurate. The guitar rings in
tune, free from discordant overtones.
The guitars high-end electronics
include pickups from Jeff Callahan
handwound to FCG specs and wired to
provide a 2 kHz bump when you pull
up the tone pot. Theres also a Turnstyle
switch system by Michael Franklin, which
employs a 3-way switch and a Fender S1
volume pot. Pushing in the top of the
volume knob changes the stock pickup
setting to three alternate sounds.
Bendable Twang Beast
I tested the guitar through a Little
Walter 50-watt head and a Fender Blues
Junior. With the boost off, the bridge
pickup delivered vintage country twang,
while the neck proffered enough bite

for blues. Pulling the tone pot leaves the
guitar sounding twangy enough, but
more modern and Gibson-like. With the
switching system activated, the bridge
position becomes the bridge and neck
pickups in series, the middle position
provides a darker-sounding two-pickup
blend, and the neck position turns on the
bridge pickup alone with a cocked wahlike filter, perfect for driving distortion
and replicating the Dire Straits Money
For Nothing tone.
Rounding the Bend
Playing a double-bender guitar requires
a different mindset. After years of
emulating pedal-steel parts without a
bender, I had to resist the urge to produce
pedal-steel-type licks with my fingers.
That said, I was exploring Clarence White
and Albert Lee B-bender licks in no time.
Meanwhile, the G bender reminded me
that bending up a whole step on the 3rd
string while holding a note on the 4th
string is a heck of lot easier with a bender
than with your fingers.
Using the two benders together takes
concentration. At times the trick is to
avoid bending the B or G strings slightly
out of tune during normal playingyou
have to be careful about leaning on
the neck or gesturing too wildly. But
once mastered, the two-bender system
lets you perform moves that would be
nearly impossible on a regular 6-string.
(Example: Start with the B or G string
bent, then release that string while raising
the other.) You can also explore more

unusual sounds by setting the bender
range to half steps or other intervals via
the Allen screws near the neck plate.
The Verdict
Even without the benders, this would be
a beautiful, terrific-sounding, and superplayable guitar that provides a whopping
12 tones from two pickups. With the
benders on board, it can mimic a pedal
steel and create a cornucopia of sliding
harmonics that can spice up styles well
outside the country genre.
CLICK HERE TO HEAR this guitar at
premierguitar.com/oct2014
Forrest Custom Guitars

DB Boost B & G Bender
$4,500 street (including case and laynard)
forrestcustomguitars.com
Tones
Playability
Build/Design
Value
Medium frets
PROS Well built. Many tones.

Wonderful playability.
CONS Slightly rough fret ends.
premierguitar.com
U
;;
presents
th
al
u
ann
stomp
box
tober.
premierguitar.com
REVIEWS
MARSHALL
1958X 18-Watt
By Joe Gore
he 18-watt is the little Marshall that could. Originals

were only manufactured for a few years in the mid-60s
and werent terribly popular at the time. Today theyre
highly prized, and the circuit has inspired countless boutique
spinoffs. Meanwhile, Marshall has added two versions of the
18-watt to their high-end Handwired Series: the 1973X, a 2x12
combo, and the 2x10 1958X reviewed here. I had a chance to
get intimate with the 18-watt circuit when I built two 18-watt
clone kits from scratch for a recent Premier Guitar story, so it
was fascinating to get my hands on a proper model.
Biggie Smalls
The 18-watt has a reputation for delivering big Marshall
sounds in a smaller, quieter package. Its truekinda sorta.
Unlike larger Marshalls with their big tubes, 18-watts rely on
a pair of EL84s, just like a Vox AC15. Meanwhile, the openbacked cabs provide less low-end thump than a Marshall 4x12,
giving rise to occasional complaints that the 18-watt lacks
sufficient lows. Maybe, but you cant argue with the beefy
classic rock tones generated by these little giants. Mind you,
theyre still loudmaybe too loud for home use. But man,
18 watts via two

EL84 power tubes
Solid-wood
cabinet
Two 10" Celestion

G10F-15 Greenbacks
Two channels
(normal and
tremolo)
premierguitar.com
a gamut of glorious crunch tones lives

along the range of each channels single
volume knob. (There are no gain or
master volume controls.) The EL84s add
a touch of Vox-like treble animation, but
youre not likely to mistake the sound of
this amp for an AC15, and certainly not
for the comparably powered blackface
Fender Deluxe. These amps sound
and feel like Marshalls (even though
Marshalls design borrowed from the
earlier Watkins Dominator circuit, just
as Marshalls earlier models cribbed from
the Fender Bassman).
Like They Used To
The 1958X proves that Marshall can
make em like they used to. After my
ham-fisted DIY builds, it was humbling
to crack open the 1958X and behold
its remarkable construction. Everything
is handwired on turret board, with
immaculately routed wires and flawless
soldering. The circuit is faithful to the
original, though tellingly, Marshall
opts for modern passive components,
including metal-film resistors and smallformat capacitors. (Disclosure: Im a
mojo skeptic who doesnt believe these
modern parts have any perceptible
bearing on the amps tone, and while I
love the sound of the Mojotone 18-watt
kit with its retro parts, the 1958X sounds
at least as good.) The non-passive parts
including Dagnall transformersseem
hefty and reliable.
The hardware is equally impressive.
The solid-wood cabinet is stout. The
aluminum chassis is extra-thick, but
not too heavy. (The amp weights in at
just under 20 pounds.) The tubes face
downward for easy servicing, not inward
toward the speaker as on the clone kits.
A rigid metal cage protects the power
tubesan improvement on the original
design. The amp radiates the best sort of
vintage build qualityits easy to imagine
it rocking the room 50 years from now.
Crunch box
The 18-watt wins well-deserved praise
for its distortion colors. They have great
natural compression and a fine balance
of mass and edge. Theyre available
at relatively low volumes, with useful

variations throughout the volume control
range. Not that you need to move the
controlwith a single volume and tone
knob per channel, you can generally
set and forget the knobs and regulate
the crunch via touch and guitar knob
adjustments. This exceedingly dynamic
circuit is perfect for players who love
walking the clean/crunch tightrope. But
while the amp never sounds wimpy, it
may not suit metal players, or anyone else
who requires lots of low-end oomph.
Fans of this circuit tend to focus on
its higher-gain sounds to the extent
that its clean colors go unappreciated.
Big mistaketheyre stunning. Its not
the high-headroom shimmer of, say, a
larger Fender. But I love these warm,
pretty tones, especially with just a hint
of distortion and some thick, throbbing
tremolo applied.
The clone kits I made all feature a
single 12", but I think I prefer the sound
of the dual 10s. Two speakers provide
musically attractive phase cancellation
that nudges tones closer to those of
large Marshalls. I dont perceive much
low-end loss, and the 10s flatter the
treble response, especially when playing
cleanly. The 10" Celestion G10F-15s are
designed to sound like worn-in vintage
Greenbacks, and they provide an old
flavor that suits the circuit.
The Verdict
This is a beautiful rendition of a beautiful
design. The $2,700 street price is steep,
if not unreasonable for a handmade amp
of this quality. (The 2x12 model costs

$100 more.) But there are many fine
18-watt clones and spinoffs in that price
range, so you can afford to be selective
and choose the exact configuration that
suits your needs. (You might want more
sophisticated tone controls, for example,
or a head-only model.) But if you crave
the original 60s sound in a periodappropriate package, this finely crafted
reproduction wont disappoint.
CLICK HERE TO WATCH this amp

at premierguitar.com/oct2014
Marshall 1958X 18-Watt

$2,699 street
marshallamps.com
Tones
Ease of Use
Build/Design
Value
PROS Excellent workmanship. Great

classic rock distortion at reasonable
volume. Glorious clean tones.
CONS Pricy. Not for players who need
lots of lows.
premierguitar.com
REVIEWS
ESP
E-II Stream Bass

By Jordan Wagner
SPs Stream bass series combines a fresh take on reversestyle bass design and contemporary tones. One might
wonder after gazing at the sleek, eye-catching curvatures
what the classic Gibson Thunderbird would have looked like
if reimagined by H.R. Giger. The Stream models are certainly
among the most distinctive-looking basses in ESPs catalog, and
their wide-ranging price points offer several options to fit within
varying budgets.
The E-II Stream is built in ESPs Japanese facility, and its price
sits in the middle ground between the handcrafted ESP Original
Stream model and the more affordable LTD Stream-204. It
serves up deliciously thick P/J-style tones with definition and

power, and possesses a level of playability that places it alongside
some of the finer basses the company has produced.
Contoured Character
The 34"-scale E-II Streams string-through, white-ash body
certainly pulls a lot of influence from the T-bird, but ups the
ante with more pronounced curvature, a contoured upper
bout, a deeper cutaway, and a shapely carved top located in
its center. The E-II Stream includes an ESP hardshell case and
our review model sported a transparent black finish with a
EMG 35J single-coil

White ash body
EMG 35P4 single-coil
Boost switch
Volume, blend, and

stacked 2-band EQ
premierguitar.com
flame maple top (available for a $100

upcharge).
Its bolt-on maple neck is carved with
ESPs thin U contour, which gives it
a silky smooth feel thats a pleasure to
play. The profile manages to offer enough
mass for comfortable fretting without
inhibiting fast runs along the fretboard.
The large block inlays on our models
21-fret rosewood fretboard were perfectly
cut and inlaid, and the setup right out of
the box was spot-on.
The E-II Streams tones are delivered
via a combo of EMG 35P4 and 35J
active pickups. They might look like
humbuckers, but theyre actually singlecoils designed to perform together like a
traditional P/J setup. The neck positions
35P4 contains an offset pair of P-style
coils, and the 35J in the bridge houses a
version of EMGs standard J-style singlecoil. The bass is also equipped with a
2-band stacked EQ, switchable boost,
pickup blend, master volume, Gotoh
tuners, and a Hipshot style-A bridge.
Stream of Consciousness
The unplugged resonance of the E-II
Stream was impressive. I could feel the
neck and body vibrate against my body
as I fingerpicked notes in both the upper
and lower registers, indicating a strong
bond between the ash body and maple
neck. Thanks to the bodys large mass,
the bass felt very balanced across my
shoulders when I strapped it ona trait
that a lot of basses with reverse-style
designs cant lay claim to.
Eager to hear how the E-II Stream
performed amplified, I connected it to
a Verellen Meatsmoke running into an
Ampeg 8x10 cabinet and set the amp
to a neutral clean tone. The bridge

pickup sounded full and meaty, with
plenty of bite and definition in the lower
midrange. The clarity of fingerpicked
notes on the lower frets was something
to behold, and I was able to coax a little
bit of edginess on the highs with ease
when I struck the strings with a slightly
more forceful attack. The tones clarity
gave it more of a modern hi-fi quality, as
opposed to the warmer and velvety sound
that Jazz-style basses are known for.
The bridge pickups thick lows and
aggressive mids make it an ideal choice
for metal and hard rock. After I flipped
the onboard boost switch, the tone
suddenly gained a lot more volume and
took on even more upper midrange edge.
The boost didnt muddy up the sound
one bit, which was helpful when I dug
into the strings with a pick for driving
Exodus-style thrash rhythms. That said,
I did have to pull back the Meatsmokes
midrange to around 10 oclock to keep
the tone from becoming too nasal. The
real fun began when I switched gears
and started slapping and popping, and
the added midrange snarl from the boost
circuit helped the notes project with a
nice, funk-friendly thump.
The EMG 35P4 in the neck delivered
exquisitely bubbly and bottom-heavy tones
with light fingerpicking, and snarled with
a raucous midrange when using a pick.
The tones I got from the neck pickup were
expectedly fuller and more open sounding
than those I coaxed from the bridge, but
the difference in volume and sheer heft
went well beyond what I expected.
The familiar P-bass punch was there
in spades, but it was mixed with a
dose of T-bird low-end thickness that
enveloped me as I stood in front of

the amp. In an attempt to tame the
lows, I found myself fiddling with the
onboard bass EQ control quite a bit, and
consequently I discovered a huge range
of useable tones for jazz, R&B, and even
doom metal.
When blending the two pickups for
rock and pop phrases, I kept the blend
knob at around 30 percent neck and 70
percent bridge. If I wanted to thicken up
and loosen the lows, I simply dialed in a
bit more of the neck pickup and dropped
the treble knob slightly to allow the mids
to be heard a little better.
The Verdict
The E-II Stream is a great sounding bass
that will work for a number of players
across a variety of styles. Likewise, its a
great choice for those who are looking
for a bass with a unique flair that doesnt
stray too far from the ordinary. Still,
hard-core traditionalists who live and
die by vintage tone and looks might shy
away from its flashiness and clear-cut
modern tones, and its relatively high
price could scare some off. Hopefully
it doesnt come to that, because the
E-II Streams impeccable build and
wide range of responsive tones makes it
worthy of a serious look.
CLICK HERE TO HEAR this bass at
premierguitar.com/oct2014
ESP E-II Stream Bass

$1,999 street (as tested)
espguitars.com
Tones
Playability
Build/Design
Value
PROS Clear, authoritative, and highly

responsive tones. Super comfortable neck.
Block inlaid
rosewood fretboard
premierguitar.com
CONS Its spendy. Traditionalists might

not gel with its flashy looks.
STAFF PICKS
Question & Obsession
Much like our cover boy Homer Simpson, we cant get enough of effects. Buckcherry guitarist Keith Nelson joins our
editorship and the lucky Reader of the Month in talking about the stompboxes that make us swoon.
Describe the coolest-looking

pedal youve ever seen.
Howd it sound?
Keith Nelson
Pete Walsh
Guest Picker, Buckcherry
Reader of the Month
A: I came across a vintage

Vox Tone Bender... It looked
like something out of a
60s futuristic outer space
TV show, like Lost in Space
or Star Trek. It sounds
incredible! Authentic Beck
and Page for days. Its now in
my collection!
A: Im digging the SviSound

pedals. Their approach on
doing a steampunk look is
incredibly eye-catchingI
cant tell you which one is
coolest. Who wouldnt want
to look down on their board
and see that?
Current obsession:
My current and longrunning guitar obsession
is sunburst Gibson Les
Pauls from 1958-1960.
What magical instruments
they are. No two are alike,
and nothing sounds like
them. We started calling it
the Kalamazoo Voodoo
because theres definitely
something
that sets these
instruments
apart.
Current obsession:
Finding the perfect fuzz
pedal and learning to hum
underwater. Im not fully
successful in either venture,
but Im closer with the fuzz.
premierguitar.com
Joe Gore
Shawn Hammond
Chris Kies
Senior Editor
Chief Content Officer
Associate Editor
A: Its fashionable to bag on

the Klon Centaur now that
originals are so absurdly
overpriced, and you can get
solid soundalikes for under
$100. But damn, the bronzeand-oxblood-colored Version
1 still dazzles the eye. That
custom-cast enclosure with
its sinuous curves and bevels!
Id stare at it even if it didnt
do anything.
A: Alan Forbes cover

illustration from our 2011
Pedal Issue. We need a
nuclear physicist to build it,
but Im certain the green goo
will take any rig to DEFCON 1.
A: The pedal Alan Forbes

concocted for our 2011 pedal
issue is pretty stupendous,
but for a real stomp, Ill go
with Yngwie and say the Fuzz
Face looks like a land mine
and thats radical.
Current obsession:
Im geeking out again over
Andy Gill and Gang of Four.
I still cant believe how
thoroughly he stripped all
rock and blues gestures from
his vocabulary, creating an
utterly unique voice with
face-slapping impact. Wish I
was that brave.
Current obsession:
The Raveonettes new album,
Peahi. Sweetly morose
melodies, hypnotic textures
and grooves, and unique
sonicsJazzmasters and
Mosrites into multiple delays
and reverbs, and then fuzzes,
with no ampsmake it
my favorite album of the
year so far.
Current obsession:
Thanks to another
Lollapalooza, Im constantly
spinning Manchester
Orchestra, Cage the
Elephant, and Royal Blood.
They were just names on a
page before, but now their
high-energy, off-the-wall
performances are ingrained
in my auditory cortex.
Gearheads win!
Jeff Sirkin of El Paso, TX

Joe Bonamassa Replica Rig
Made in The USa
www.isptechnologies.com
Loaded pedalboard
from
&
Blues Pro
from
Enter at PremierGuitar.com/Contests
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by mail, legibly hand-print your first and last
name, address, age, and day and evening phone
numbers on a 3x 5 card and mail to:
Sweepstakes
Gearhead Communications, LLC

Three Research Center
Marion, IA 52302
premierguitar.com
Apps
Get everything thats in the
print magazine...and more.
METAL
PEDAL
BOARDS
Made in the USA, lightweight aluminum pedal boards

Universal bottom mounting power supply bracket included
Available in multiple colors
High quality Gator carry bag with shoulder strap included
Comes with Velcro for pedal attachment
Available In Four Colors To Fit

4-5 pedals
6-8 pedals
No-skid rubber feet
Overd
rive Y
ellow
Scre
amer
Gree
n
ack
th Bl
Steal
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British Orange
iPad, iPhone, & iPod Touch are trademarks of Apple Inc., registered in the U.S. and other countries.
App Store is a service mark of Apple, Inc. Android is a trademark of Google Inc.
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P: 813-221-4191
Universal power
supply Bracket included
- www.gatorcases.com
- F: 813-221-4181
Analog Spring Reverbs
Theyre Real and Theyre Spectacular!

Cop a Feel for yourself at vanamps.com/demos
info@vanamps.com
763-529-1206
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HOW DO YOU
DUAL?
Little Dual -
Run two amps
Big Sound!
without tone loss

Switches with goldplated contacts
Lehle LTHZ isolation

transformer
No ground loops,
no hum or buzz
Works perfectly
with stereo signals
Lehle
SIGNAL ROUTING SOLUTIONS. MADE IN GERMANY

www.lehle.com support@lehle.com
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issues of
for $4.95
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the c hoice for working musicians,

pro players & manufac turers
for over 10 years .
www.nordstrandpickups.com
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BY DAVE HUNTER
The book that
reveals the whole
story of the Gibson
Les Paul guitar from
its origins through
its evolution as one
of the most iconic
musical instruments
of all time.
Available now where books and ebooks are sold. WWW.QBOOKSHOP.COM
They dont
make them
like they
used to... We do.
w w w.throbak.com
Made in USA
premierguitar.com
Multiselector 4X
Four in, to one out.
bidirectional switcher.
The new standard in high performance switching.

New Product
MULTISELECTOR PRO
4x1 Instrument Switcher
Wt2000
Chromatic tuner
(not included).
The MultiSelector PRO is a state of the art unidirectional 4-to-1

instrument switcher incorporating innovative features sought
after by touring professionals. The MultiSelector PRO allows
selection of any 1 of 4 inputs to a single output. Each of the four
inputs is electronically buffered with a 1 MegOhm input impedance which emulates a proper amplifier load and prevents any
degradation to the instruments tone. Signals pass through the

MultiSelector PRO transparently, with no coloration and the
digitally controlled optical switching is completely silent. Weve
also included a tuner output on the front and rear. All three nonactive inputs are routed to the tuner outputs so a guitar tech can
tune any instrument in a non active channel without unplugging it.
New Product
MULTISELECTOR AMP
1x4 Amplifier Switcher
The MultiSelector AMP is a state of the art unidirectional 1-to-4

instrument amp switcher that silently switches one instrument to
multiple amps, with complete isolation between amplifiers. The
input is electronically buffered with a 1MegOhm input imped-
ance, which emulates a proper amplifier load and prevents any

degradation to the instruments tone. The signal passes through
the MultiSelector AMP transparently, with no coloration and the
digitally controlled optical switching is completely silent.
MULTISELECTOR REMOTE
The optional MultiSelector REMOTE stomp box style
footswitches contains four switches that remotely
control the switching functions of the rack mount units
using a regular 3-pin XLR microphone cable. A unique,
proprietary communication protocol ensures reliable
switching with mic cables up to 100 feet long.
mltselPRO4XR remote works with the multiselector PRO and 4X only. mltselamPR remote works with the multiselector amP only.
To check out our full line of SELECTORS, visit us

w h irlw in du sa.com
1 - 8 0 0 - 7 3 3 - 9 4 7 3 | 9 9 L i n g R d . R o c h e s t e r, N Y 1 4 6 1 2
MADE IN THE USA
the legendary
SELECTOR A/B BOx
You might say were obsessed. We spent many late nights in our labs
forging a collection of the most organic, luscious, and versatile
modulation effects we could conjure up. We faithfully captured the
warmth and detail of iconic effects from the past five decades, and
pushed their boundaries with new sonic possibilities never before heard.
Mobius. Rewriting the history books of modulation.
strymon.net/mobius
Monster Tone - Sustain - Stability

Best of 2013
VintageVibrato
TM
6 or 16 Watts
Cathode Biased
2 Voices (50s and 60s)
Direct Retrofit for Strat style guitars
Check out our website for additional bridges and hardware
603-488-1912
MannmadeUSA.com/pg
The Trenton
Hand Wired
Tone Machines.
valvetrainamps.com 407.886.7656 sales@valvetrainamps.com
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Precision engineered for robust

performance, the Apollo range
introduces our innovative,
dynamic response V-SWITCH
velocity sensitive true bypass
switching system - giving you
MORE right when you need it.
Stompboxes just got smarter!
www.mcsystemsmusic.com
sales@mcsystemsmusic.com
FLEX EQ7
Quite possibly the coolest guitars in the world.

mcsystems
mcsystems
FLEX DELAY FLEX DISTO
PROGRAMMABLE ANALOG PEDALS
WWW.FLEXWAVES.COM
SALES SERVICE STRINGS PARTS RESTORATIONS
Restorations by Jeff Babicz
www.HeadlessUSA.com
GM1T
Hotline: 2033958013
The worlds largest Steinberger inventory.

TM
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BJF Series by One Control

Bjorn Juhl designed them, so you
know the BJF Series from !
One Control will be amazing!
Tone: Boutique
Price: Flea Market
The innovative design of our
proprietary ATR (Authentic
Tube Response) technology has
opened up the door to boutique
tones without the price.
!Please visit www.koch-amps.com

for more information.
!
Use and
Forget.
You will only remember you use
Pedal Fasteners when you
realize your stomp-boxes are
staying rmly on your board.
The Koch Jupiter is available

in 1x12 and 2x12 versions
Red Strawberry!
Over Drive
Granith Grey
Anodized
Brown Distortion
Booster
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ESOTERICA ELECTRICA
The Right Job for Tools

BY JOL DANTZIG
Specialized
guitar tools let
you accomplish
repairs quickly
and efficiently,
and reduce the
likelihood of
damaging your
instrument in
the process.
love really good tools. When tools

are designed properly and made well,
they will last a lifetime if treated with
respect. Tools are items I wont skimp
on. And I have somewhat of a fetish for
specialized toolsthe more specialized
the better. Ive found that tools designed
to do one job often outperform multipurpose implements at that task.
For example, I have a customtelescoping socket to reach the numberthree spark plug on a Porsche 911 motor,
which is buried in the front corner of the
engine compartment and is a pain in the
ass to reach with a standard wrench. Its
not a tool that gets used often, but when
it does, it is worth every penny for the
frustration it avoids, and thats pure joy
to me. These kinds of quirky tools are
great for professional mechanics, but do
their guitar-building equivalents have a
place in your gig bag?
Guitar building and maintenance has its
share of unique tools, many of which can be
pressed into service by the average guitarist.
Just like the equipment they are used on,
specialized tools solve problems more easily
and with less stress than making do with
less. Something as simple as a T-handle
truss rod wrench is a great addition to your
gig bag, because a neck adjustment may
be in order when the climate at a venue
threatens your axes playability.
The T-handle-style wrench has an
extended length, which allows it to clear
the end of the headstock, and the handle
is an excellent indicator of how far
youve turned the adjustment nut. The
positioning of the handle places your
hand out of the way so you can sight
down the fretboard clearly while turning
the tool, and it provides a lot more
leverage as well. The next best thing is
one of those mini wrenches that look
like a corncob pipe. The good ones have
a bonus screwdriver point at the end
of the handle thats the perfect size for
guitar hardware.
For Fender instruments where the
truss rod is adjusted at the body end
of the neck, you can usually crank the

slotted nut with a flat-blade screwdriver
(which should be in everyones tool
kit), but its awkward and can chew up
your pickguard or neck pickup. A better
solution is a thin, flat, steel strip with a
straight 90-degree bend at one end and
a 45-degree offset bend at the other. Ive
started to notice these inexpensive tools
becoming available in luthier-supply
catalogs recently, which is great.
While were on the subject of truss
rods, fishing an Allen wrench around
inside an acoustic guitar and trying to
spear it into the truss rod nut can drive
you nuts. Thankfully, you can either buy
an oversized offset hex tool, or make
one from hexagonal steel stock from an
industrial supply. The extra length and
zigzag shape allows it to be manipulated
from outside the soundhole. Making your
own is fairly easy if you have access to a
vise and some Channellock pliers, plus
you can tailor it to the inside dimensions
of your particular guitar.
Not much else will piss you off more
than plugging in at a gig and finding
that your guitars output or amps input
jack is loose. Trying to tighten the nut
with needle-nose pliers or a wrench on a
dimly lit stage as the jack spins endlessly
will not put you in the mood to perform
(unless you play death metal). If you are
lucky enough to get some torque on the
nut before twisting the connection loose,
you can get on with your show.
Or you can whip out a little device

called the Bullet guitar-jack tightener,
which is a handy little tool that allows
you to temporarily snug up a guitars
output jack without removing it from
the instrument. It also works on any
amplifiers 1/4" jack, which makes it a
must-have for your traveling kit. It will
get you through a gig until you can do a
proper removal and tightening job. There
are bigger, better tools, such as the Jack
the Gripper, but the Bullet is inexpensive
and small enough to go in the pocket of
your guitar case.
My shop is full of tools I love that
perform specific jobs and do them
extremely well, but I will say that its good
to have a versatile multi-tool in order
to save space and cut down on weight
when in the field. An implement like
the Leatherman Sidekick is able to tackle
many small breakdowns and repairs. Its
equipped with pliers, saw, Phillips and
regular screwdrivers, a wire stripper, file,
and wire cutters, so its another must-have
for any gigging musician. You might just
wind up fixing someone elses rig to get
on with the show. Bonus: Theres even a
bottle opener.
JOL DANTZIG is a noted
designer, builder, and player who

co-founded Hamer Guitars, one of
the first boutique guitar brands,
in 1973. Today, as the director
of Dantzig Guitar Design, he
continues to help define the art of
custom guitar. To learn more, visit
guitardesigner.com.
premierguitar.com
MORE THAN A PEDALBOARD. IN A PEDAL.

Youve got to go, like, now. Its a paycheck, an opportunity, maybe the
Or, you could slip the sleek Fly Rig 5 into your guitar case and hit
gig of a lifetime. When you arrive, there wont be much time, space
your gig so chill it would make Sinatra look awkward.
or patience, but you better sound incredible. You could rent a van and
bust your back trying to load a half-stack and rack system on your
The Fly Rig 5 is a complete, professional rig with mammoth Tech
own, maybe pay baggage overages so the airline can play dodgeball
21 tones in the footprint of a pixie. You get 5 must-have gigging
with your hard-earned gear.
pedals for 1/3 the cost at 1/3 the size. A genuine SansAmp with
3-band EQ, a DLA delay with tap-tempo, lush reverb, a 21dB clean
boost, and our glorious Plexi distortion, all packed into a gunmetal
chassis less than 12 long. A lightning rod for inspiration with
nothing to program or patch. Just the essential, blistering tones you
want to have for every gig.
The lovable, totable Fly Rig 5 is perfect for fly gigs, fast-turnaround
sessions, studio rehearsals, backup rig, or even as your main rig.
Freedom never sounded so sweet.
Designed and Manufactured in the U.S.A.

www.tech21nyc.com
LAST CALL
Good for a Girl

BY JOHN BOHLINGER
the Jonas Brothers, Alabama, and Big

and Rich, and stints playing on SNL,
Idol, Dancing with the Stars, Nashville
Star, and more). In spite of this, Ive
seen far less talented male musicians
act condescendingly toward her at gigs,
assuming shes stage dressing rather than
a player. When asked if theres a gender
bias in music, Megan replied, When a
guy gets a good gig, its because of his
playing. When women get a good gig,
people wonder why or how she got it.
I was hoping for a longer answer, but
Megans reluctance to write my column
for me forced me to dig deeper, so I
asked my female guitar-wielding friend
Beth Garnerwhat she thought. Ive
encountered bands that like the image of
having one or a few girls in the lineup,
so theres that, but at the other end of
the spectrum, there are dude bands
that dont want a chick onstage, Beth
said. Ive worked hard at my craft. Ive
always told myself to try to be 10 times
better than the next guy because I felt I
wouldnt be taken seriously unless I could
hang as a player.
Anyone learning guitar has a moment
where they think, Dammit, this is
hardI quit, or Dammit, this is hard
but I think I can do it. The think-Icans improve as players until they hit the
I-cant-possibly-play-that mark. The true
game-changer guitaristslike Van Halen,
Les Paul, or Hendrixhave an innate
genius combined with the confidence to
not acknowledge limitations. That combo
allows them to discover musical territories
we never knew existed. Girls raised today
are far more likely to become guitar legends because society is setting fewer limitations on them. Cant wait to hear what
our 6-string sisters bring to the party.
JOHN BOHLINGER
is a Nashville musician who has

led the band on NBCs Nashville
Star and served as musical director
of the CMT Music Awards for the
last six years. In addition to his
Last Call column, John recently
joined PG as our full-time gear
demo/Rig Rundown video dude.
Premier Guitar ISSN 1945-077x (print) and ISSN 1945-0788 (online) is published monthly by Gearhead Communications, LLC. Principal office: 3 Research Center, Marion, IA 52302. Periodicals postage
paid at Marion, IA 52302 and at Additional Mailing Offices. 2014 Gearhead Communications, LLC. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without written permission is prohibited.
Premier Guitar are registered trademarks of Gearhead Communications, LLC. Subscribers: If the Postal Service alerts us that your magazine is undeliverable, we have no further obligation unless we
receive a corrected address. U.S. Subscriptions: $24.95 for one year. Call for Canada, Mexico and foreign subscription rates. Postmaster: Send address changes to Premier Guitar, 3 Research Center,
Marion, IA 52302. Customer Service and subscriptions please call 877-704-4327 or email lois@premierguitar.com. Printed in USA. Volume 19 Issue 10 October 2014
Photo courtesy of Always
ecently I learned Im the kind of

beta male who gets teary-eyed
while watching a feminineproduct advertisement. Im talking about
the Like a Girl viral-video ad campaign
by Always that investigates why women
lose confidence after puberty and how
the phrase like a girl takes on a negative
connotation as we mature. Granted, I
cant imagine many boys pass through
puberty unscathed, but this video indicates
that societys sexual bias places lifelong
limitations on girls, while boys are raised
with a you can do anything mentality.
This got me thinking about sexism that
hides in plain sight.
For instance, why do males and
females compete separately in professional
billiards? Its a game of geometry and
physics, so how would gender give one
the upper hand? Perhaps youve seen that
supermodel-looking Asian woman in the
black slacks running the table on ESPN.
She looks like she could hold her own
against those slack-jawed, doughy dudes
in the mens competition. Speaking of
slack-jawed and doughy, major video-game
tournaments often separate the sexes in
competition as well. Whats up with that?
Sexism in dude-ish activities may
disappoint, but it doesnt surprise.
However, sexism in the arts seems about
as 21st century as segregated water
fountains. Race hasnt been an issue with
musicians for decades. In fact,watching

black and white musicians play together
in the 50s and 60s helped music fans
reevaluate their own prejudice.
Similarly, sexual orientation isnt a big
deal in music. Music has always enjoyed
huge contributions to the collective
catalog by gay musicians from Handel to
Tchaikovsky, Cole Porter to Elton John to
Freddie Mercury. Musicians are typically
human-rights friendlyas long as youre
not a girl.
Consider this, from an article in The
Guardian: As late as 1970, the top five
orchestras in the U.S. had fewer than
5 percent women. It wasnt until 1980
that any of these top orchestras had 10
percent female musicians. But by 1997
they were up to 25 percent, and today
some of them are well into the 30s.
Under pressure to hire more women,
major American orchestras began
using a blind audition process where
candidates were assigned a number and
then auditioned from behind a screen.
In short, women began getting work in
orchestras when the orchestras couldnt
tell they were hiring women.
There will probably be a female
president of the U.S. before there is a
female guitarist as revered as Django, Van
Halen, Hendrix, Clapton, or Eric Johnson.
Theres a long list of amazing female
guitarists. My personal Top 5 are Rory
Block, Emily Remler, Bonnie Raitt, Shawn
Colvin, and Sister Rosetta Tharpe. But if
I listed my Top 10 guitarists of all time,
none of these ladies are on it.
So, is the brilliance of female guitarists
going unnoticed because of a gender bias?
Or are women conditioned by antiquated
societal pressures to believe they cannot
compete in what is perceived as the mans
world of guitar?
To answer the tough questions I did
my version of hard-hitting research: I
asked the wife what she thought. Megan
Mullins (the wife) is a better musician
than me and has an impressive resume
(two record deals, toured with Shakira,

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