Okay, Zep police, sound the alarm and prepare to loose the hounds – we are finally about to lift the lid on the Jimmy Page amp. Well, maybe not the Jimmy Page amp, but almost certainly a Jimmy Page amp, and even this claim should be enough to get the keys clacking and the internet […]
When pop-music fans in the U.K. talk about guitar heroes, they tend to put more stake in the way a player’s work fits, contextually, into that of his band. To wit, in a 2006 poll, BBC listeners were asked to choose the best guitarist to emerge since 1980, and many of the 30,000 who responded […]
When Eric Johnson came to prominence, he sounded like nothing anyone had ever heard before. He made a Strat sound like a violin, and transformed the Fuzz Face into an instrument of highbrow elegance. The press conjured images of a Texas guitarslinger weaned on Jimi Hendrix, Jeff Beck, and Chet Akins, but hearing him was […]
Blackstar ID:30TVP Price: $399.99 Info: www.blackstarampsx.com. Since forming in 2007, Blackstar has been building user-friendly amplifiers and attracting high-profile artists like Leslie West, Neal Schon, and Gus G. The company’s ID series would seem to represent the next logical step: Blackstar’s first digital non-tube amp line. The 30-watt entry in the ID series has many […]
Guitarist Jorma Kaukonen and bassist Jack Casady have been playing music together for 53 years – 40 of them as Hot Tuna. What started as an acoustic splinter group from their gig with Jefferson Airplane morphed into both acoustic and electric variations and myriad combinations.Released on the heels of Tuna’s successful “blues tour” with Charlie […]
Among musicians and collectors, Gibson’s pre-World-War-II ES-300 may be less popular today than the ES-250, but in terms of sheer numbers, it was Gibson’s most popular 17″ pre-war electric, despite the adverse context of the early 1940s. Truth is, most of the more-prominent guitarists of the period continued to favor installing an old-style bar pickup […]
Brimstone Audio Crossover Distortion XD-1 Price: $299.95 Info: www.Brimstoneaudio.com. Brimstone Audio is a relatively new company that hit the ground running, entering the stomp-box arena with some innovative ideas that offer tone geeks unparalleled aural flexibility. The XD-1, for example, is essentially two amps in a box. It allows the user to generate the kind […]
“What started in California?” you ask. The list includes a broad range of inventions, fads, pop culture, and social movements. The Golden State brought forth Levi’s, iPhones, surf music, hot rods, low-brow art, Eichler homes, and of course, electric guitars. A list of the latter includes Rickenbacker, National-Dobro, Mosrite, a bunch of lesser-known brands, and […]
The term “rare” is applied to guitars in far too many instances. Usually an appealing term, its overuse can be attributed in part to the fact it’s particularly catchy to the eye of anyone fond of a collectible vintage instrument. The subject here this month, however, is truly deserving of the label. A custom-order Gibson […]
3rd Power Solo Dream/Switchback amps Price: $1,859 list/$1,149 street (EXL-1); $1,999 list/$1,409 street (EX-SS) Info: www.dangelicoguitars.com. Images of John D’Angelico crafting masterpieces in his Little Italy shop haunt guitar enthusiasts to this day, implying an era of lost glory. Happily, D’Angelico guitars, long inaccessible to average guitarists, are being revived and reinterpreted in a manner […]
