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Bryan Beller: Aristocratic Riffs

Bryan Beller and his Lull Custom BBMF5 demonstrate what it takes to keep up with Guthrie Govan and Marco Minneman in their scary-good fusion trio, The Aristocrats. Bryan and his four- and five-string basses help the band tackle challenging instrumentals without losing sight of the song; think modern-day Dixie Dregs or fusiony Satch/Vai. Here, he plays “Aristoclub” (from their latest album, “Duck”) while plugged into his touring rig – a Gallien-Krueger MB Fusion preamp, GK 2001RB power amp, and two GK RBH410 speaker cabinets. In-between are a Boss OC-2 Octave, Digitech Bass Driver, Xotic Effects EP Booster, and a Demeter Opto-Compulator. Catch our interview with Bryan in the April issue. Read Now!

Bryan Beller: Aristocratic Riffs

Bryan Beller and his Lull Custom BBMF5 demonstrate what it takes to keep up with Guthrie Govan and Marco Minneman in their scary-good fusion trio, The Aristocrats. Bryan and his four- and five-string basses help the band tackle challenging instrumentals without losing sight of the song; think modern-day Dixie Dregs or fusiony Satch/Vai. Here, he plays “Aristoclub” (from their latest album, “Duck”) while plugged into his touring rig – a Gallien-Krueger MB Fusion preamp, GK 2001RB power amp, and two GK RBH410 speaker cabinets. In-between are a Boss OC-2 Octave, Digitech Bass Driver, Xotic Effects EP Booster, and a Demeter Opto-Compulator. Catch our interview with Bryan in the April issue. Read Now!

VG Approved Gear

Universal Audio Max and Del-Verb

Smart Stomps

After rolling out several “amp-in-a-box” pedals last year, Universal Audio is back with a fresh line of stompboxes to help guitarists groove. The Max Preamp/Dual Compressor gives models of famous compressors, with three compressor circuits – the classic DynaComp pedal capable of squashed, chicken-pickin’ sonorities, and two studio favorites, the LA-2A and FET 1176, which […]

by Pete Prown
Artists

Fretprints: Steve Khan

Khan-sequential Guitar

Steve Khan is an internationally acclaimed guitarist with a career spanning more than 50 years. Japan’s Jazz Life proclaimed him one of the 22 greatest jazz guitarists and Musico Pro’s Antonio Gandia praised him as “the voice of the guitar in Latin Jazz.” He has been making waves as a solo artist since 1977, collaborated […]

by Wolf Marshall
Classic Instruments

United Guitar Corporation

United They Stood.... A Jersey City Tale

The history of the United Guitar Corporation, which unfolded in Jersey City, just over the river from the glitter of New York, is one of the great obscure stories in 20th-century guitar lore. Jersey City, “left of the Hudson,” was home to the Oscar Schmidt Company, builders of the pre-war Stella guitars iconic in blues […]

by Peter Stuart Kohman
Carl Bradychok
Artists

Carl Bradychok

Rockabilly’s Newest Guitar Wizard

Carl Bradychok’s instrument and genre of choice seemed destined from day one. “There are pictures my parents took of me as a baby, sitting in front of the TV watching ‘Carl Perkins and Friends,’ from ’85 – ‘The Rockabilly Session.’” Born in 1991, he got his first guitar at seven and was playing professionally at […]

BASSMAN-HOME-MAIN-THUMB
Classic Instruments

1964 Fender Bassman

1964 Fender 6G6-B Bassman Preamp tubes: four 7025 (12AX7 types) Output tubes: two 5881 (a more-rugged 6L6 type), fixed-bias Rectifier: solidstate Controls: Bass Instrument channel: Volume, Treble, Bass; Normal channel: Volume, Treble, Bass; shared: Presence Output: 50 watts RMS Utter the word “Bassman” in guitar circles, and most players’ minds rush to the tweed-covered 4×10″ […]

Fred Newell
Artists

Fred Newell

Steelin’ Away

Guitarist Fred Newell’s best-known gig – as a member of the house band on “Nashville Now” – ended more than two decades ago. In the time since, though, he has barely missed a step. Newell has backed artists including Waylon Jennings, Porter Wagoner, and dozens of other frontline artists, and in more recent times, gigged […]

Music

Jimmie Vaughan

The Pleasure’s All Mine

Vaughan’s 2010 album, Blues, Ballads and Favorites, honored his blues, R&B, country and rock roots, followed a year later by a second volume. This reissue offers both – all 31 exuberant, raw performances, mostly covers. Backed by A-list Austin players, with Billy Pitman playing rhythm, Vaughan is everywhere, singing and firing off stinging Strat breaks […]

VG Approved Gear

Effector 13 Improbability Drive

“Beam Me Up, Jimi” - The Effector 13 Improbability Drive - spacey, fuzzy, and funky

We understand how you might react. “Another drive pedal?” There are so many… a lot of them similar, or nearly identical? But then again, some are different… (Cue Captain Kirk voiceover…) Prepare, then, gearhead followers, to embark on a journey of drive, fuzz, and distortion unlike anything you’ve experienced before! Just step aboard (okay, on) […]

Music

Birthright: A Black Roots Music Compendium

Various artists

This double-CD’s 40 tracks represent a wide swath of black roots music, from zydeco to gospel, from a Mississippi fife-and-drum crew to one-man band Jesse Fuller. If some of the cuts are familiar, others are likely unknown. Selections aren’t arranged chronologically or ganged according to style – thus providing a fascinating shuffle experience, from a […]

Artists

Lee Ritenour

Lee's Six-String Theory

Lee Ritenour’s career accomplishments are the stuff of greatness. With thousands of classic recording sessions and more than 40 albums bearing his own name, Ritenour continues to work his magic straddling the world of jazz, rock, fusion, and Latin music. Ritenour’s Yamaha Six String Theory Guitar Competition recently came to a close, and 16-year-old guitarist […]

VG Approved Gear

Flying High Again

The Eastwood Airline ’59 3P

Long before the brazen, pointy electrics of the 1980s, Airline created a model with all kinds of modern angles and attitude. The original Airline electric guitars were made by Valco from 1958 to ’68 and sold through the now-defunct Montgomery Ward catalog and department stores. They were among the quintessential “cheapo” guitars of the era, […]

Classic Instruments

Q&A With George Gruhn: A Strong Case

And When to Get an Appraisal

Some of my vintage guitar cases are very worn. One Martin case from the ’40s is missing a latch and the handle is falling apart. I have newer, better cases for everyday use, but I’m concerned that repairing the originals would devalue the appeal of the “guitar with original case” package if I sell. Should I […]

Artists

Andy Bassford

The Harder They Strum

Legendary fish-out-of-water reggae guitarist Andy Bassford has been a first-call sideman for decades. Now, he’s stepping out front with his first solo album – a remake of the soundtrack to the classic film The Harder They Come, which transported him from Hartford, Connecticut, to Kingston, Jamaica – and then, the world. How did a small-town […]

Artists

Premiere of Seth Lee Jones’ new 110 video!

Filmed at one of our favorite local dive bars, Tin Dog, this is “110.” I played my main guitar, a battle scarred Tele style I built from scratch in 2006. It’s a one piece ash body, one piece birdseye maple neck with single carbon fiber neck reinforcement. The neck is non adjustable and has no […]

Classic Instruments

The Burke Guitar

The Axe that Time Forgot

For more than 60 years, aluminum has been used as a component in guitar construction. Exactly whose idea it was originally has never been a cut-and-dried matter of fact, but has amply provided cud for the world’s guitar animals to chew upon. In his November ’04 column “The Different Strummer: Al-u-minium!,” VG contributor Michael Wright […]

Classic Instruments

Roy Smeck’s Gibson L-5

One For the “Wizard”

Player endorsements are part of the tradition of guitarmaking going back to its earliest use for public performance. LeRoy G.A. Schmeck, a.k.a. Roy Smeck, may be history’s most-prolific endorser of fretted instruments. The list includes Washburn (Lyon & Healy) in 1924, the Harmony Vita-Uke and Vita-Guitar in ’27, the Bacon & Day Roy Smeck Silver […]

George Gruhn and Joe Spann
Sigma by Martin
Classic Instruments

Sigma by Martin

Following the Line

Long overlooked and relegated to an obscure corner of the collectible market, Sigma by Martin guitars have recently gained popularity among a new generation of collectors. If you’re one who has developed a taste for them (or other vintage Japanese brands), you likely know that Martin – as it readily admits – kept few notes […]

Artists

Robert Lockwood, Jr.

1915-2006

With the death of Robert Lockwood, Jr., the blues world lost one of the few direct links to Robert Johnson as well as one of the studio kingpins of Chicago blues’ heyday in the 1950s and early ‘60s. Born in Turkey Scratch, Arkansas, in 1915, Lockwood died November 21, a few weeks after suffering a […]

Tele Jimmy Bryant
Classic Instruments

Sixty Years of Tele-Kinetic Guitar Heroes

Flying Saucers! Tail Fins! Robots!

Taking a cue from the burgeoning world of television, in 1951, Leo Fender married the name “Telecaster” to his new electric-solidbody guitar. Originally dubbed “Broadcaster” (which infringed on a Gretsch trademark), after being given a new name, the Telecaster became a new guitar for a new age of popular music. At the time, country, jazz, […]

Durham Electronics’ ReddVerb
VG Approved Gear

Durham Electronics’ ReddVerb

’Verb, Extra Saucy

Durham Electronics’ ReddVerb Price: $219 (list) Info: www.durhamelectronics.com Take it from Redd Volkaert; good reverb is hard to find. And that’s especially true if you’re gigging on the road and don’t want to lug an amp with a built-in spring reverb, let alone a stand-alone tank. Enter Alan Durham. He not only designed the Durham […]

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