PRS has introduced the David Grissom signature DG Custom 30 and DG Custom 50 amps along with the matching DG Custom 2×12 cabinet.
The DG Custom 30 uses four EL84/7581 power tubes and tone-sculpting features including Bright switch, reverb, Boost/Normal gain switch, Presence control, and Top Cut control. The Custom 50 uses four EL34 tubes delivering 50 watts. The DG 2×12 cab has Vintage 30 speakers and a custom internal structure, a dual-ported back panel. Both are dressed in blond vinyl with a cherry-stained mahogany fascia and salt-and-pepper grillecloth. Learn more atwww.prsguitars.com.
Harman’s DigiTech has released the Element and Element XP multi-effects pedals. Both have six overdrive and distortion stompboxes, compressor, three-band EQ, flanger, phaser, tremolo, vibrato, chorus, rotary simulator, envelope filter, step filter, spring reverb, room reverb, noise gate, an acoustic guitar simulator and 12 amp/cab simulators, all in a pedalboard-style control layout. The XP adds four expression pedal-based effects including the Dunlop Cry Baby wah, Vox Clyde McCoy wah, a full-range wah, a volume pedal, Players can choose from 100 factory pre-sets and create 100 more custom pre-set sounds. In addition, each has 45 drum tracks to jam and practice with, and both include a built-in tuner. Their 1/4″ input and a stereo out jacks can be connected to either an amplifier or a mixer for direct recording using the Amp/Mixer mode switch. Learn more at www.harman.com.
In addition to several significant shifts in style and presentation, for Fender, the transition of the late 1950s into the early ’60s represented a more concerted push into big-amp territory. Having introduced the 80-watt “high-powered” tweed 5F8 Twin (VG, March ’09) in ’58, this rapidly expanding Fullerton manufacturer sought another model to help take it more forcefully into the large dance halls and theaters in which the kids were congregating in greater and greater numbers to get jiggy to the new hormone-fueled music. Leo Fender had cut his teeth on the slightly tamer country-and-western scene of Southern California, but he needed a more-bombastic test bed for this ambitious new venture.
The West Coast’s burgeoning surf scene proved the perfect laboratory, and there was no better test pilot than the young Dick Dale, who was already pummeling his Strat through Fender creations in front of crowds at the Rendezvous Ballroom every weekend. What did Dale really need to take this live music experience over the top? He needed a Showman amplifier, and Fender was ready to burn the midnight oil to give it to him.
In blending the output stage of the high-powered tweed Twin and the preamp, tone stack, and tremolo effect of Fender’s first official Tolex-covered amp (the new Vibrasonic of 1959) the Showman was nothing entirely new. It was, however, Fender’s first piggyback amp, and therefore its first real leap from bandstand to arena stage. Also, it represented a depth of research and development that was perhaps more intense than that required by the majority of Fender’s new amplifier products, which were themselves no slouch in the R&D department.
Dick Dale has frequently spoken of his role in the development of the Showman, and boasts of having blown up nearly 50 amplifiers before Fender achieved a design that could take his heat. Whether or not the seminal surf guitarist exaggerates, his claims encompass the ambition of the Showman. The keys to creating the bigger, stronger, and louder amp required lay primarily in two major ingredients; a new output transformer (OT) and a new speaker cab design.
By the end of the “tweed era” of the ’50s, Fender had moved to Schumacher transformers for many of its amps. To make the Showman work, however, the company turned once again to Triad, and together they developed a super-robust OT with heavy iron for the kind of punch and tight low-end response this new Professional Series amp demanded. Often referred to as the “Dick Dale transformer,” this Triad unit (Fender part number 125A4A) helped give the new amp an abundance of girth.
The next requirement was to design a speaker cabinet that could take the wallop of four 6L6s through that mammoth OT. To do so, Fender put a lot more thought into the matter than the usual rectangular-box-with-speaker had ever required. The result – and the original partner to the Showman amp head – was an oversized closed-back cab with a 15″ speaker mounted on a “tone ring,” a circular metal mount attached to the rearmost of two wooden baffles. The system decoupled the driver from the front surface of the outer baffle, and served as a lens to focus and better project its sound.
A lot is made of Fender’s work with JBL to develop the ultimate driver for the Showman, and Dale frequently offered his two cents on the subject. But our example here is a very early pre-JBL Showman, loaded with a single Jensen P15N. This speaker, original to this amp-and-cab set, is an early-’59 model, alongside transformers with late-’59 date codes, so the amp is certainly among the earliest of Showmans built. Add it up, though, and you’re left with the slightly alarming fact that a speaker not rated to take the full power of the amplifier is indeed coupled to it – late-’50s P15Ns being rated at about 30 watts power handling, maybe 50 at most – but the enclosed cab does provide the speaker with cushioning air suspension, which could help keep it ticking longer. That said, this might just be one of the lucky amps that was spared the usual implosion wrought by Dale’s pounding surf riffage, and an exception to the rule that led Fender resolutely toward JBL. Available with two JBL speaker sizes in the early years as the Showman 12 and Showman 15, the amp would eventually go whole hog and receive a speaker cab that could sustain the fury. Around the time of the transition from brownface to blackface designs, Fender created a mammoth cab with two 15″ JBL D130F speakers, a rig that by 1963 would be known as the Dual Showman.
But let’s backtrack and examine our early-’60 Showman a little more closely. The impressive lineup of six preamp tubes along the back of the chassis tells us this Showman includes the beoved “harmonic vibrato,” a near-as-dammit emulation of true vibrato rather than mere amplitude-modulating tremolo, achieved by a circuit powered by two and a half preamp tubes (only one triode of the middle tube is used). It also retains the Presence control that would vanish by ’63. A look inside the chassis – which is every bit as pristine as its outside – shows a mix of the yellow Astron signal caps of the mid/late ’50s with a handful of the new blue Mallory “Molded” caps Fender used through much of the ’60s.
Like all Showmans, this early one has the solidstate rectification that helped make it bold, tight, and loud, and boasted heavy power filtering from a whopping set of electrolytic capacitors mounted in the “doghouse” on the underside of the chassis.
This half-century-old beauty marks both the small step Fender took from the tweed years of the ’50s to the guitar-boom Tolex years of the ’60s, and the company’s giant leap into the big-arena shows that would define rock for the coming decades. We can only be thankful that this is one Showman Mr. Dale apparently didn’t get his hands on.
This article originally appeared in VG October 2011 issue. All copyrights are by the author and Vintage Guitar magazine. Unauthorized replication or use is strictly prohibited.
Moran and band are definitely an organ trio steeped in the tradition, but they aren’t afraid to mix things up a little. That’s immediately made clear on the opener, “Strange Brew.” Yes, it’s the Cream classic, and it’s the only non-original here. It’s deconstruction and reconstruction by the band works incredibly well. The funk wouldn’t sound out of place on a Grant Green record from 50 years ago.
From there we hear plenty of organ trio style tunes, including the funk of “Slow Drive” with some slinky soloing from Moran and the soul-meets-jazz of “Say Hi To Paris,” with its instantly hummable head and tail, and Moran’s funky, crisp soloing. In between, some roads are taken. “Intention” has a light, airy feel that hints at “new age” while keeping its jazz pedigree. “My Beautiful” starts with a slightly chorused descending line before a Latin feel moves in with Moran zipping through the changes with ease. He even turns on the distortion for a bit of a fusion feel on the bopper “Wishful Thinking.”
Organist Brad Whiteley proves to be the perfect foil for Moran’s soloing, supplying the bed for the guitarist’s always-interesting solos. Whiteley also proves no slouch in the soloing department, with imaginative and funky turns on pretty much every cut. Drummer Chris Benham drives the music, covering all the various bases that Moran’s compositions hit. He’s instantly swinging on the bop of “The Physicist Transformed” and has the perfect touch on the stately ballad “No Time Like Now.”
It seems like every year brings another half-dozen New York jazz guitarists who will be around for a while, and Moran is the latest to add to that list.
This article originally appeared in VG‘s June ’12 issue. All copyrights are by the author and Vintage Guitar magazine. Unauthorized replication or use is strictly prohibited.
Think Detroit rock and roll – the MC5 and Iggy by way of Ted Nugent and Kid Rock: gear-grinding rock with plenty of volume and aggression. Throw in some Hendrix, Guns N’ Roses, and even some SRV. That gets you close to describing the antics of Kenny Olson Cartel.
Olson formed the Twisted Brown Trucker Band in the mid ’90s, backing Kid Rock, and has also led several bands of his own – the Flask, Motorflys, and the Seven Day Binge. Along the way, he has played on tracks by a range of artists from Run-D.M.C. to Les Paul, Chaka Khan to Hank Williams, Jr., and the Experience Hendrix Tour. Even Keef called him “one of the best rock guitarists on the scene right now.”
So with that kind of résumé, it’s time for a solo album. The Cartel is an all-star collective of players led by Olson as songwriter and guitar man. He’s joined forces here with Hendrix bassist Billy Cox, Lynyrd Skynyrd keyboardist Peter Keys, and vocals by Sonia Dada’s Paris Delane, Tantric’s Hugo Ferriera, and Detroit singer/ songwriter Brandon Calhoon.
The Cartel’s 12-track debut kicks off with the rousing “Loaded” – and a healthy dose of fun. Olson blazes away on a roaring introduction solo before the sound of a skidding car halts all progression, transporting the band into the first verse. Cool.
Olson also gives nods to his heroes. “Water” salutes Stevie Ray Vaughan’s Texas blues while “Away We Go” resonates with a Hendrix vibe. “Left Sock” is fun funk, and “Rebel With A Cause” is a tremolo-soaked electric blues with sleazy guitar licks and swampy wah riffs.
This article originally appeared in VG‘s June ’12 issue. All copyrights are by the author and Vintage Guitar magazine. Unauthorized replication or use is strictly prohibited.
For five decades after he built his first guitar amp in 1952, Jim Frenzel designed tube and solidstate equipment for the military, FAA, and Texas Instruments. But it wasn’t until 2001, after his retirement, that he returned to tube guitar amps.
Frenzel’s philosophy is pretty straightforward; he designs and builds amps that easily dial up “tones you know” while allowing room for customization. One prime example is his FM-DP1 Tube Preamp.
A dual-channel dedicated guitar preamp for stage and studio use, the FM-DP1 is part of Frenzel’s Inspired line and is designed to give classic tones inspired by vintage Fender- and Marshall-style amps with some of Frenzel’s modifications.
The preamp uses two 12AX7s with DC on the filaments to control noise. The first 12AX7 is wired as a dual-input preamp for the channels, labeled Type F and Type M. Each is then controlled by individual Gain controls. The second 12AX7 is wired as a common-voltage-type amplifier with a cathode follower to drive the tone stack. The three-band tone stack has knobs for Bass, Mid, and Treble, with an optional push/pull Deep Bass Boost switch (on the Bass knob) to capture more of a classic Bassman vibe. Add in a Master Gain knob and you have the basics for a very usable workhorse preamp.
The FM-DP1 is like all of Frenzel’s products in that it is hand-wired, with no printed circuit boards. A feature common in higher-priced boutique amps, here it’s a surprising addition. Another cool design feature is a trim knob on the rear panel for setting output gains.
Also cool is how the signal goes into the FM-DP1 as high-impedance and comes out low-impedance, which makes the preamp usable as an extra gain stage, to overdrive an amp, or as the front end of a recording rig.
Using a single-coil guitar plugged into the Type F input and with the FM-DP1 running into the power-amp section of a 40-watt open-back combo driving a Celestion Vintage 30, the tone was instantly recognizable – classic Bassman vibe, with an overall warmth that made notes full with just-right midrange snap. The Treble control dialed in pleasant-but-not-overbearing top-end. Players looking for a chimier tone may need to crank the Treble to get that extra bite from the Type F channel. Fortunately, it doesn’t produce much hiss when dimed.
Jazz and bass players should take notice of the optional Deep Bass Boost switch that can be added to the Bass control. In Type F, this helps the Frenzel morph into a full-figured rig with lots of low-end. Hollowbody guitars sound thunderous in the neck position, and basses capture the sort of old-school bass tone still used in numerous applications. There is no extra charge for this upgrade, so it’s a no-brainer.
The multiple personality of the FM-DP1 is made complete with the addition of the Type M channel. Here, the EQ section and voicing take on a new personality; mids and highs shimmer and the Gain control helps push the Frenzel to searing rock tones worthy of any stage. Humbucker-loaded solidbodies, in particular, take on the mass and girth of a classic amp.
Other than the lack of a LED power indicator, there’s little to complain about with the Frenzel FM-DP1. Its stripped-to-the-essentials, open-chassis design is great for dialing up the sounds of classic amps, for the same cost as certain boutique pedals.
This article originally appeared in VG April 2010 issue. All copyrights are by the author and Vintage Guitar magazine. Unauthorized replication or use is strictly prohibited.
Xaviere is a company that imports its guitars from China, sets them up in its Massachusetts shop, then sells direct.
The company’s XV-JT90 Offset Hybrid is a solidbody with a body shape reminiscent of a Jazzmaster, yet it has a bridge pickup more like you’d find on a Telecaster, making it more adaptable for everything from surf to twang. The Xaviere-branded GFS pickups are the Alnico Fatbody 10k in the bridge and a Mini Crunchy mini-humbucker in the neck. The neck is maple with a rosewood fingerboard and graphite nut. It has 21 frets and a curvy, old-school radius of 71/2″. In that vein, the 251/2″-scale neck is pretty beefy, much like a vintage Fender – no skinny shred neck here. The body is alder, constructed of several laminated pieces.
The Xaviere XV-585 Chambered Mahogany Carved Top single-cutaway has a GFS Alnico VEH Zebra humbucker in the bridge and a Alnico Soapbar P90 pickup in the neck slot. Its mahogany neck has 22 frets on a rosewood fingerboard with 243/4″-scale and 12″ radius. The body is also mahogany, and has a chambered back and carved top – most likely, this is one of the most affordable guitars on the market with this kind of construction. Not surprisingly, the body is also very light, weighing a mere 6.2 pounds. And as with the XV-JT90, the bodies are constructed from several pieces of wood.
Plugged in, the guitars sound good, with both guitars displaying a useful mix of twangy and humbucker-ish tones. The necks were set up reasonably well, but there were some fretted-out notes on the XV-585 around the 17th fret. I also heard crackling when trying to engage the P-90 neck pickup with the three-position selector, suggesting a weak solder joint (the company does offer excellent customer service.) Ultimately, both guitars would be acceptable for younger players, though many pro bands also use them. They could also serve as a backup or one set up for slide. Considering their ultra-low prices, you might even look at them as a subject for your own guitar experiments, swapping out necks, pickups, tuners or whatever you have in mind.
This article originally appeared in VG December 2010 issue. All copyrights are by the author and Vintage Guitar magazine. Unauthorized replication or use is strictly prohibited.
England’s Albert Lee provided one of Woodstock’s highpoints, with his band Ten Years After’s frenetic version of “I’m Going Home,” and Lee got caught up in the faster-is-better era. But as his sophisticated single-note and chordal work on Undead revealed, Lee had a solid grounding in jazz, revealing a familiarity with players like Barney Kessel and Tal Farlow.
Lee’s latest CD may be titled Alvin Lee In Tennessee (Rainman) because of where it was recorded, but it’s the album’s stylistic leaning, not to mention some very special guests, that reveal where the guitarist’s heart is. The session was cut in two days at the Nashville studio of Scotty Moore, Elvis Presley’s original guitarist, with Moore trading solos with Lee on two tracks and Elvis drummer D.J. Fontana providing the backbeat and swing throughout.
All 11 songs are Lee originals, and manage to fit the idiom without resorting to mere nostalgia – not an easy task in itself, especially when surrounded by one’s heroes. As Lee enthuses in the liner notes, “These guys put everything into the feel of the music. Being flashy or virtuoso does not come into it. Just get the feel and keep it in the pocket.”
Lee more than manages to get into that same pocket, while still displaying impressive chops, as on the extended outro to “I’m Gonna Make It,” where he’s obviously savoring the experience.
This article originally appeared in VG September 2004 issue. All copyrights are by the author and Vintage Guitar magazine. Unauthorized replication or use is strictly prohibited.
The SolidGoldFX If 6 Was 9 pedal is the company’s take on the late-’60s/early-’70s Fuzz Face. It uses a pair of new-old-stock BC183 transistors the company says produce a rich, smooth fuzz with excellent sustain and volume clean-up. Vintage-spec carbon-comp resistors enhance the warmth of the core circuit while an external Bias control and a tailored two-way Tone switch increase versatility. Look for more at www.solidgoldfx.com.
A line in Bob Dylan’s “It’s Alright Ma, I’m Only Bleeding” goes, “If my thought dreams could be seen, they’d probably put my head in a guillotine.” Lyrics to Clutter Family songs like “I Love You, Jodie Foster” make one fear a similar fate for that band’s coguitarists/singers/writers Jim Earl and Chris Hobbs.
Musically much of Freak It, is like a late Beatles-era anticipation of punk. “Brain Damaged Human Beings” has unadorned, effects-free guitars over a McCartney “White Album”-like bass line and veers to the sometimes harsh but not unwelcome tone of Lennon’s Elephant’s Memory Live In New York City period. The Clutters like their guitars to sound like guitars, and, being Byrds fanciers too, they like them on the jangly side, as on “My Cat Is Sick” or “We Don’t Want Him Around.” Like their Beatles heroes, they don’t depend heavily on solos and are such capable and creative players that what Earl and Hobbs do on “Dear Geoff,” for one, sounds like “simple” virtuosity but is more an example of their ability to mine a melody or lick idea for all its worth.
Earl and Hobbs never take the easy route. They write their deadly hilarious songs as though to make each a perennial pop standard; thus, they avoid the common “funny music” pitfall of making the song depend on the joke rather than vice versa. The music, the completeness of the songs, comes first; the humor comes naturally from the subject matter and their point of view. That they’ve got dead-on musical chops doesn’t hurt either. If the flirted with Beatles/ Monty Python collaboration had happened it might have sounded a lot like a Clutter Family album, and might even have been just as good.
This article originally appeared in VG‘s June ’12 issue. All copyrights are by the author and Vintage Guitar magazine. Unauthorized replication or use is strictly prohibited.
Harman’s DigiTech has released the Element and Element XP multi-effects pedals. Both have six overdrive and distortion stompboxes, compressor, three-band EQ, flanger, phaser, tremolo, vibrato, chorus, rotary simulator, envelope filter, step filter, spring reverb, room reverb, noise gate, an acoustic guitar simulator and 12 amp/cab simulators, all in a pedalboard-style control layout. The XP adds four expression pedal-based effects including the Dunlop Cry Baby wah, Vox Clyde McCoy wah, a full-range wah, a volume pedal, Players can choose from 100 factory pre-sets and create 100 more custom pre-set sounds. In addition, each has 45 drum tracks to jam and practice with, and both include a built-in tuner. Their 1/4″ input and a stereo out jacks can be connected to either an amplifier or a mixer for direct recording using the Amp/Mixer mode switch. Learn more at www.harman.com.
The SolidGoldFX If 6 Was 9 pedal is the company’s take on the late-’60s/early-’70s Fuzz Face. It uses a pair of new-old-stock BC183 transistors the company says produce a rich, smooth fuzz with excellent sustain and volume clean-up. Vintage-spec carbon-comp resistors enhance the warmth of the core circuit while an external Bias control and a tailored two-way Tone switch increase versatility. Look for more at www.solidgoldfx.com.
