Author: Yoel Kreisler

Matt Richards builds basic cathode-bias amps housed in the carcasses of vintage radios. They’re designed to be compatible with various tubes, giving the user a range of output and tone choices.

His Chippy amp has a single Volume knob on the front and a negative-feedback loop pot on the back that acts as a combination Gain/Tone control that alters (subtley) the amp’s response and brightness. We experimented with everything from KT88 to EL34 tubes, and each imparted its own character; KT88s were warm and silky, 6L6s were tight and compressed, while EL34s made the Chippy roar and croon with toppy bite.

No matter the tubes, the Chippy’s 8″ speaker sounded thick and warm, its simple circuit nicely responsive – low-end was a little loose (lending an excellent vintage-Fender sag) while mids were brash and raunchy with balanced dynamics that didn’t overemphasize high or low mids. With cleaner settings, highs sounded rolled-off – again keeping the Chippy’s vintage-tone footing. When the Volume knob was turned up, however, high-end bite jumped more the harder we dug in.

Pushing the volume with a 2×12 extension cab allowed this “little radio that could” to keep up with loud drumming. Tubes (specifically power tubes) really make a difference in sound and response.

The Chippy offers looks and feel that reinforce its stellar sounds. Far from gimmicky, it packs versatility and punch. A quick swap of tubes can send it in many sonic directions including classic favorites and – more importantly – to something unique to each player. Plugged into a 2×12 or 4×12, it’ll keep up with a band while offering dreamy dynamics and incredible tone.

The Chippy is beautiful, but it’s far from being all style and no substance.

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This article originally appeared in VG January 2018 issue. All copyrights are by the author and Vintage Guitar magazine. Unauthorized replication or use is strictly prohibited.

One of the newest models from Fender’s Artist series is designed to appeal to vintage Telecaster fanatics, country twangers, and even new converts taste-testing the Tele waters.

The new Brad Paisley Road Worn Telecaster has a body made of paulownia, a fast-growing wood that has long been used in China, Korea, and Japan for the soundboards of traditional stringed instruments. It’s becoming popular in the building of electric guitars in the region due to its high availability/low cost, weight, and a fine grain that makes it strong and warp-resistant. On this instrument, it’s sandwiched between a spruce top and back.

Modern touches include a 9.5″-radius fingerboard and medium-jumbo frets. Its personal aesthetic is derived from a silver-sparkle Road Worn lacquer finish, aged hardware, clear pickguard with black and silver paisleys, and a cowboy-hat insignia on the headstock.

Its patina will find fans among those wanting the Relic look without having to pay prices typical for the segment. The dull chrome of the tuners and hardware looks tastefully weathered, as if exposed to skin oils, pick scratches, humidity, and general use for many years. Likewise, the aged-brass bridge saddles appear incredibly realistic, with the color and feel of old screws in your grandpa’s workbench bins. Even little details like the strap buttons and string ferrules are given the weathered treatment. Plus, the frets are masterfully flattened ever so slightly to match the feel of good used frets without affecting playability. There were no buzzing or intonation issues on the tester – quite an achievement considering the difficulties of creating an “old” guitar such as this.

With its satin finish and no discernible Relic treatment, the neck has a modern feel. For some, this will be a plus. The new Enhanced V shape  – fatter near the headstock, flatter in the upper registers – may prove less than comfortable for smaller hands or those accustomed to a vintage profile, but those with typical or larger hands who feel lost on a vintage Tele neck will feel right at home here, with plenty of room to grab those harder-to-hit notes.

Unplugged, the guitar was surprisingly resonant, which carried over to the sustain when plugged in. Double-stop bends on frets that might be a problem on other guitars have almost unnaturally long sustain. Fender says Paisley himself approved the pickup configuration, which includes the company’s ’64 Tele bridge and a Custom Shop Twisted Tele neck pickup. The latter has a clear sound that isn’t overly bright or piercing, with a tinge of warmth that works well when paired with brighter amps. The ’64 Tele pickup also has that classic Tele bite, with popping, bright dynamics and subtle warmth. Digging in, the sound jumps with more bite and grit, and powerful response. Those dynamics make the Road Worn Paisley work impressively at low- and high-gain settings – a quality not often seen with vintage-style pickups.

Through a 30-watt 6V6 amp into a paired 2×12 cabinet, the guitar maintained a wonderful snap and low-end tightness. Into a 20-watt class D lunchbox amp, those driven dynamics remained obvious, with silky highs, biting mids, and taut lows.

The Brad Paisley Road Worn Tele may not be a pure “Relic,” but its combination of vintage aesthetics and modern comfort is sure to make many players jaded by the sterility of modern guitars excited to make great music.

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This article originally appeared in VG December 2017 issue. All copyrights are by the author and Vintage Guitar magazine. Unauthorized replication or use is strictly prohibited.

For years, Ceriatone fans have suggested the amp maker offer its stellar Overtone Special sound in a scaled-down, affordable package. The OTS Mini 20 was Ceriatone’s answer.

The control layout is classic Dumble topology, with the familiar voicing switches, Ratio pot (sort of a blend control for the clean and dirty channels), and the Mid Boost switch. Players can dial in warm and distinctive cleans, throaty overdrive, and high-gain spitfire.

At just 20 watts, this little lunchbox won’t blow the roof off your house. However, when tested with multiple cabinets, it managed to crank out a lot of volume for its size. Even at lower volumes the driven tones maintain their dynamic character while avoiding a thin, harsh sound, thanks in part to the over-spec’d 20-watt transformers.

The review amp was the ’80s variety OTS-20, a bit darker and deeper than the typical OTS-20, which uses more traditional Fender component values. This makes it an excellent pedal platform when on the clean channel, where it has high headroom and enhances anything thrown at it. On the other hand, the driven channel’s gain structure is incredibly unique as well – meticulously voiced in every frequency, and with a sort of inherent compression that makes it incredibly responsive and dynamic. With an outboard reverb plugged into its effects loop and the driven channel engaged, it was easy to hear how pick dynamics affect tone, with the reverb blooming and moving with each change in play style and pick strength.

At this price and quality, it’s a no-brainer to suggest this amp to anyone searching for Dumble tone. The OTS Mini 20 is beautiful, dynamic, and meticulously voiced, leaving just enough room for your own style to shine through.

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This article originally appeared in VG November 2017 issue. All copyrights are by the author and Vintage Guitar magazine. Unauthorized replication or use is strictly prohibited.

Chalk up another score for Italian innovation. Chicco Bellini and his company, Gurus Amps, are among the top dogs in the Italian gear market. They’ve also been gaining steam worldwide since the release of their most popular pedal, the Echosex 2, a few years ago.

The SexydriveMkII is a reissue of Gurus’ first pedal, the Sexydrive, with additions for further tweaking. It also conforms aesthetically to the Gurus look, with a Plexiglass faceplate that makes it feel premium and unique. On the front, the SexydriveMkII features a passive three-band EQ, the standard Volume and Gain controls, and a Balance control that gives you the ability to mix in your dry signal with the distorted one, essentially adding more shades to an already impressive palette of overdrive colors.

Like its predecessor, the SexydriveMkII seeks to emulate the crème de la crème of driven amp and overdrive tones, mixing influences from the Dumble Overdrive Special and Klon Centaur. A few hours with the pedal left the impression of an overdrive designed by a hi-fi specialist – meticulously sculpted in all frequencies, with enough compression to make it feel tight but not noticeably squashed. With the gain cranked up, it responded to changes in dynamics with a nice smooth bite. The Balance control adds an interesting functionality to the drive characteristic; mixing in more of the dry signal makes the pedal feel bouncier and clearer, while mixing in more distorted signal makes the overall sound smoother (high-end doesn’t peek out as much).

I found the sweet spot a few ticks above the 1:1 clean-to-distorted ratio, where it had enough dynamics and compression to sound like a classically smooth overdrive, but the added detail of a good clean tone lying right underneath.

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This article originally appeared in VG October 2017 issue. All copyrights are by the author and Vintage Guitar magazine. Unauthorized replication or use is strictly prohibited.

Jensen has been in the speaker game for a very long time and its wares are some of the most sought-after vintage drivers. The company’s new 12″ Tornado Stealth series stands as proof it remains aware of the fact guitar players want not only to create sounds they’ve heard on their favorite songs since the ’60s, but also want to invent unique sounds of their own.

We had a go with all three versions – 65-, 85-, and 100-watt – using a Strat plugged into a modern 20-watt “lunchbox” amp.

The 65-watt version offered beautifully rounded lows that were punchy and quick to respond to transient changes. The mids were airy and sweet, and the highs had a warm, slightly rolled-off attack characteristic. With a bit of overdrive, it sounded gutsy and warm, with a low-mid grunt that gave the highs room to breathe and expand, with a kiss of compression to top it off.

In comparison, the 80-watt had more air and brightness in the high mids, with tighter, more-controlled lows. The mids were punchy and present with a softer attack transient. With overdrive added, it took on a bright, Champ-like feel… if Leo had made the Champ a 1×12 combo. Of the three speakers, the 80-watt offered the most cut, with a healthy amount of compression to help it stand out in the mix.

Finally, the 100-watt felt rotund and laid-back in the lows, with ever-so-slightly scooped mids. The highs were punchy and warm – the character of the speaker was not unlike the distant cousin of a Bassman –  big and relaxed transients that slosh around beautifully while sticking to the playing dynamics. With overdrive, pick and playing attack were more accentuated, with harder picking belching out striking and bold tone.

Note, too, that Jensen designed the Tornado Stealth with neodymium magnets, which are incredibly light, so you’ll find it surprising easy to lug a cab up a flight of stairs when it’s loaded with these.

The Tornado Stealth is truly a pleasant surprise from one of the old masters of speaker design. While maintaining the same base tone, it offers different flavors, each with unique strengths that sound and feel incredible to play. If you are in the market for new guitar speakers, the Tornado Stealth gets high recommendations.

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This article originally appeared in VG September 2017 issue. All copyrights are by the author and Vintage Guitar magazine. Unauthorized replication or use is strictly prohibited.

B&G Guitars just about do it all – from mixing their own nitro finishes to winding pickups and even casting their own brass hardware. Their goal? To re-create the feeling of playing an old guitar, while at the same time updating those old magic formulas.

Inspired by vintage parlor and early Les Pauls, B&G’s Little Sister is indeed a tribute to guitars of yore, in both fit and form.

Available in single- and non-cutaway versions, the Little Sister comes in an array of velvety ’bursts (Tobacco, Brown, Lemon, Cherry, Honey, and Black), as well as Black Widow and Natural.

Letting loose with those first few strums on the P-90-equipped test model, it was immediately obvious how wonderfully the mahogany neck’s soft V profile fits in the hand, its 12″ radius great for easier bends and a Les Paul-like action. The fretwork on the rosewood fingerboard was immaculate and vintage skinny.

For electronics and hardware, the Little Sister features B&G’s pickups, Waverly tuners, and a bevy of brass: pickup covers, ABR bridge, a handsome tailpiece, even the pickguard.

Unplugged, the Little Sister exhibits the sound and feel of a vintage parlor or a skinnier version of Gibson’s prewar ES-150, with great sustain and overtones that ring out in the mids with a warm and woody sound.

Plugged into a Hi-Tone DR-30 head and a Hi-Tone 2×12 DR-F cabinet, the bridge pickup sounded like a P-90 through gritted teeth – it really barked when the guitar was dug into. With overdriven tones, the bridge pickup growled, crooned, and sang with a deep and gutty tone. The neck pickup was warm and round, though it perhaps lacked some top-end detail. That said, it did mimic that sort of aged, high-impedance sound.

But true to B&G’s intent, the Little Sister does well to emulate the feel of classic prewar electrics – and looks great doing it.

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This article originally appeared in VG August 2017 issue. All copyrights are by the author and Vintage Guitar magazine. Unauthorized replication or use is strictly prohibited.

DryBell is renowned for one of the most authentic and pedalboard-friendly Uni-Vibe recreations on the market. Five years after launching their original Vibe Machine, the fine folks at DryBell have reimagined that winning formula – and thrown in few welcome additions.

The V-2 updates the original Vibe Machine for clarity and flexibility. On the front, two classic Uni-Vibe controls, Intensity and Speed, are tuned for vibing that seems to ebb and flow around your playing rather than just laying on top of it. Ramping up the Speed control gives plenty of low end thump and an uncongested high end for thick, burbling tone brimming with character. Slowing it down creates sonorous phasing with a three-dimensional sweep, accentuated in all the right parts of the wave for perfect throb and thump. These slower sounds are very liquid and clear, yet retain low-end muscle and warmth peppered with a faint chorus-like response.

DryBell made the V-2 more versatile by including external trim pots and a voicing switch to further tailor harmonic response. In Original mode, the pedal’s high end is subtly rolled off, simulating the low-output impendence of the original Uni-Vibe. In Bright mode, the output impedance is at a more “modern” level, restoring the high-end response for a more hi-fi vibe. The Custom switch controls the input impedance. You can change almost all parts of the V-2’s sound and response, from volume to wave symmetry and range, essentially moving the throb to a different part of the wave for unconventional tones. And the V-2 worked wonderfully with fuzz and overdrive pedals, creating chewy and resounding tones.

The V-2 is an easy choice if you like flexibility without losing authenticity. This, along with its compact size and clear, prominent tone, make it one of the best vibe pedals out there.

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This article originally appeared in VG May 2017 issue. All copyrights are by the author and Vintage Guitar magazine. Unauthorized replication or use is strictly prohibited.