Breedlove Stringed Instruments Discovery Series guitars were, the company says, created to support newcomers to the instrument. They have a radiused fretboard, slimmer neck profile, and pinless bridge and are available in dreadnought and concert-style bodies with no cutaway or electronics, or with cutaway and Fishman ISYS-T electronics. The Concert is designed for the fingerstylist to be well-balanced, compact, and comfortable, while the Dreadnought is slightly more rounded than traditional dreadnoughts. Breedlove’s Pinless Bridge eliminates the need for drilled string holes and provides a gentler string-break angle from the bridge to the top of the saddle, reducing saddle strain. See them at www.breedlovemusic.com.
Year: 2014
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Breedlove Announces Discovery Series
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Nashville Pussy
Nashville Pussy marks its territory of trailer-park Southern rock with lowbrow humor and infectious charisma. The band consists of the husband-and-wife team of Blaine Cartwright on vocals and guitar and Ruyter Suys on guitar. This salty, riff-rockin’ duo is complimented by the contributions of bassist Bonnie Buitrago and drummer Jeremy Thompson.This is the band’s first album in five years. They’re refreshed, buzzed, grimy, and have created an addictive juxtaposition of AC/DC, Drive-By Truckers, and Motörhead hopped up on white lightning.
Humor plays a big role in the band’s sound, but never overshadows its ability to serve up a monstrous wall of fierce piss-and-vinegar rock. Amidst hard-charging riffs reminiscent of ’70s-era Ted Nugent, sound bites erupt about getting high, being 10 months pregnant, and more.
The album features 13 self-produced songs that showcase the guitar prowess of Suys. She brings a refreshingly filthy swagger and pentatonic bitchiness to such gems as “The South Is Too Fat To Rise Again,” “Before The Drugs Wear Off,” and “Pussy’s Not A Dirty Word.” Keep your eyes peeled for Ruyter Suys.
This article originally appeared in VG‘s June ’14 issue. All copyrights are by the author and Vintage Guitar magazine. Unauthorized replication or use is strictly prohibited.
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Analog Man BC183 Sun Face
Analog Man BC183 Sun Face
Price: $185
Contact: www.analogman.comMike Piera has been building his line of stomp boxes bearing the Analog Man name since the mid ’90s. Famous for a wide assortment of pedals with a vintage vibe, Piera boasts a customer list that includes guitar aficionados like Kenny Wayne Shepherd, Doyle Bramhall II, Carl Verheyen, Scott Henderson, and Gary Clark, Jr. His sonic thumbprint is famous throughout the guitar community, and it’s made Analog Man one of the most successful guitar effects dealers in the world.
One of Piera’s offerings, the Analog Man Sun Face, is a hand-built fuzz pedal offered with an a la carte selection of transistors, from white-dot high-gain NKT-275s to red-dot NKT-275s, BC108s, BC109s, and other germanium and silicon options. The BC183 tested here is a silicon transistor that’s brighter, fuzzier, and more stable than its germanium counterpart, and which offers a tad more gain. It’s also warm for silicon and less brittle than the BC108 or BC109. Other optional Sun Face features include a 9-volt adapter input, LED, a “Sundial” (exterior trimmer knob), and an on/off Fuzz knob that disconnects the battery, eliminating the need to unplug the input jack.
With a Volume knob, a Fuzz knob to increase gain, and an On/Off switch, the Sun Face couldn’t be any simpler to use. And in addition to featuring true bypass, solid construction, and artsy graphics, it takes up very little space. With the help of a Divided By 13 BTR 23 combo, a Budda Verbmaster combo, and a Peavey JSX 120-watt head, the Sun Face got quite a workout, with an assist from a variety of single-coil and humbucker guitars.
More Eric Johnson than Jimi Hendrix, the BC183 Sun Face elicits a smooth rumbling grittiness, turning a clean amp into a warm, woolly mammoth, reminiscent of Clapton’s “Beano” and early Cream years. A medium /high-gain fuzz, it’s sensitive to amp settings and the guitar’s volume control. When gradually turning the Sun Face’s Fuzz knob clockwise in tandem with a Les Paul, low-level amp breakup blossomed into doubled and tripled ’90s-era grungy thickness. Think Soundgarden with more hair and overtones. Even with the Fuzz knob maxed out, the guitar’s Volume knob tamed the excess for some punchy blues lines.
In Stratocaster mode, Live at Winterland-approved “Purple Haze” gnarliness escalated into experiments involving Volume and Fuzz knob fine-tuning which produced a variety of colors from dirty boosts to classic rock chord work.
Analog Man’s BC183 Sun Face is a top-of-the-line pedal for the discriminating fuzz user, offering a plethora of gorgeous big rock tones in a small package.
This article originally appeared in VG September 2013 issue. All copyrights are by the author and Vintage Guitar magazine. Unauthorized replication or use is strictly prohibited.
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Wishbone Ash Releases Album, Sets U.S. Tour
Wishbone Ash recently released its 24th studio album, Blue Horizon. In its 45th year, the band’s stronghold is England and Europe, but founder Andy Powell believes it’s time for a tour of the U.S., including locales where the band hasn’t performed in years.“We hope our long-lost fans will check out what we’ve been doing,” said Powell. “The band has a fire in its belly, and we want to share that.” The tour begins April 15 in Florida. For details, go to wishboneash.com. -
Seymour Duncan Expands Black Winter Pickup Line
Seymour Duncan’s Black Winter pickup, created for metal players looking for more aggression without sacrificing definition and clarity, is now available for six-, seven-, and eight-string guitars. It has a black bottom plate, black pole pieces and screws, blood-red wire, and the Duncan logo in Old English font. It is wound in bridge and neck versions, or can be ordered in a calibrated set. Visit www.seymourduncan.com. -
Jonny Two Bags
Entering his 15th year as Mike Ness’ guitar foil in Social Distortion, Jonny “Two Bags” Wickersham steps out with a platter of his own. Social D fans hoping for a stopgap collection of roots-punk with a Stonesy patina until that band’s next LP will instead find 10 wonderfully crafted tracks of Americana with a pronounced SoCal vibe. This should come as no surprise considering the stellar lineup the long-time OC punk managed to secure for his solo debut. While all of Wickersham’s Social Distortion bandmates (save Ness) check in for appearances, the multilayered arrangements are also graced by Los Lobos’ David Hidalgo Sr. and Steve Berlin, frequent Jackson Browne and Linda Ronstadt collaborator David Lindley, and Browne himself, who lends vocals to “Then You Stand Alone,” a taste of Topanga for the 21st Century. Pedal steel and slide whiz Greg Leisz and Attractions drummer Pete Thomas also feature prominently.
Like the music, Wickersham’s cathartic tales of life on the L.A. Basin’s seedier side (“One Foot In The Gutter” and “Avenues”) also reference the region. The standout “Clay Wheels” presents a narrator who, though a slow study, brilliantly offers those wiggy, wipeout-prone pre-’70s skateboard wheels (“I got mouthful of humble pie, dirt and gravel and weeds”) as a metaphor for his repeated foibles. Somehow, only in SoCal could a former skatepunk so successfully marry the imagery to bouzouki, mando, accordion, Dobro, bajo sextet, and backing vocals from Ms. Americana Julie Miller and Latin Grammy winner Gaby Moreno.
This article originally appeared in VG‘s June ’14 issue. All copyrights are by the author and Vintage Guitar magazine. Unauthorized replication or use is strictly prohibited.
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Budda’s Chakra and ZenMan Pedals
Budda’s Chakra and ZenMan Pedals
Price: $149.99
Contact: www.budda.comBest known in guitar circles as an admired amp builder, Budda has released a pile of new stompboxes that cover all bases from modulation and delay to the crunchy stuff. Two of these offerings are the ZenMan overdrive/boost and the Chakra compressor, straightforward-looking boxes with some unique features waiting inside.
The ZenMan is one of those unique boxes meant to complement a good amp, rather than smother it in distortion. The pedal’s layout is simple: Tone, Boost, Gain, and Level, along with a heavy-duty Boost footswitch and a Bypass switch. In this case, the latter is another name for “overdrive on/off,” as it activates the pedal; in this mode, the ZenMan’s desired settings are dialed in. The Tone knob is pleasantly nuanced – not shrill or harsh, as is the case with some pedals. The Vintage/Phat switch is another cool feature, providing some beef in Phat mode while easing off the middle for a more natural, old-school sound in Vintage mode. As if that’s not enough, the ZenMan’s gain can be dialed down and the Boost used as a clean-booster for solos.
Jamming on a ’63 Fender Jaguar through a classic 1×12 tube combo, the ZenMan performed superbly, allowing the Jag’s natural voice to shine through. To play the blues all night long with just a bit of tube-amp bite, set the ZenMan for light gain. Turn up the gain to reach into Keith Richards territory and keep going for some deep Bad Company riffery. Turning the mini switch to Phat gives a more contemporary sound with some nice low-end chunks. In fact, the ZenMan delivers impressive bottom in this mode – suddenly the 1×12 cabinet had the beef of a 2×12 and, at times, even a half-stack. Add in the Boost feature and the sky’s the limit, with the clean booster settings providing killer country or blues workouts without the dirt. Step on the Bypass switch and you’re back to your amp’s unfiltered tone. Used as a go-to box for soloing, the ZenMan could be quite deadly with the amp set for a decent overdrive sound and the pedal set up as a solo boost – it’s easy to imagine tone going through the roof. Cool pedal, indeed.
Like the ZenMan, the Chakra is a straightforward-looking Budda box with a few nice surprises. Designed to mimic optical studio compressors from the 1960s, the Chakra has four knobs – Gain, Level, Compression, and Attack – as well as a heavy-duty footswitch like the ZenMan. The Chakra is capable of light, transparent compression, as well as a heavy “squeeze” sound. The more the Gain is pumped up, the more the Compression and Attack knobs react to the signal.
While many guitarists are confused by compressors, there are a few standard ways to employ them. With most of the Chakra’s controls set around 12 o’clock, the compressor can be used as an overall fattener and sustainer, giving a guitar a bigger dimension and a more professional sheen, as well as controlling dynamic volume spikes and drops. With the Compression control cranked up, the Chakra delivers that “plucky” squeezed tone that has been heard on a thousand Telecasters in a thousand country songs. Compressors are also terrific for acoustic guitars and archtops, especially when used at light settings to add dimension and sound control. And for louder rock players, the Chakra will work as a booster/sustainer for solos and, once again, as a dymanic leveler that gives a more professional sound.
Used in combination, the ZenMan and Chakra were impressive, giving that “pro” tone at everything from clean to gritty to big and crunchy. Better yet, both pedals feature true bypass, stylish chickenhead knobs, 9-volt or DC power, and a rugged steel chassis that will survive just about any gig. Give ’em a stomp and see what you think.
This article originally appeared in VG September 2013 issue. All copyrights are by the author and Vintage Guitar magazine. Unauthorized replication or use is strictly prohibited.
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Reunion Blues Intros RBX Series
Reunion Blues’ RBX Series bags are lightweight and include backpack straps, integrated subway grips, Zero-G handles, a pocket and the RBX Protection System, a lightweight foam surround with strategically placed impact panels, a foam neck cradle, and endpin rest. Visit www.reunionblues.com. -
Lanikai, Shimabukuro Team Up for Four Strings Foundation
Lanikai Ukuleles has partnered with ukulele virtuoso and composer Jake Shimabukuro’s Four Strings Foundation. The non-profit, founded by Shimabukuro and Chicago educator Polly Yukevich in 2013, seeks to curate music education workshops nationwide. Lanikai, one of the world’s largest ukulele brands, remains committed to music education and will provide their patented TunaUke ukuleles to schools and educators in support of this initiative.“Lanikai’s TunaUke creates the ability for beginners to adjust intonation in a way they weren’t able to previously,” said Shimabukuro. “It affords new possibilities for students to explore intonation in solos and ensemble playing and the adjustable saddle makes this instrument accessible and useful to beginners and pros alike.”
The first collaborative event took place March 26 in Harvard University’s Memorial Hall with Shimabukuro leading a beginner’s workshop utilizing 100 TunaUkes.
“We are so excited Four Strings has partnered with Lanikai for this event and are planning more like it,” said Polly Yukevich, “It is our hope that events like this will encourage people will join us in spreading the ease and joy that is inherent to playing the ukulele.”
For more, visit www.lanikaiukes.com or fourstringsfoundation.org.
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Michael Angelo Batio
MAB ignores the critics and pushes his art forward with prodigious talent and inspired business savvy. He borrows here from the model used on Santana’s hit album Supernatural to bring together some of the best-known guitarists in shred and metal.Intermezzo is a sprawling note-intensive rollercoaster ride with some of Batio’s finest compositions to date. It features MAB along with George Lynch, Craig Goldy, Guthrie Govan, Michael Romeo, and Chris Poland.
“Pillars Of Steel” is a grand instrumental track in the Steve Vai mode with blistering contributions by Lynch, Goldy, Dave Reffett, Jeff Loomis, Rusty Cooley, and Andrea Martongelli. It’s a back-to-back shred fest, and Batio is in first-rate company.
“Juggernaut” features Govan, Poland, Romeo, Dave Reffett, Annie Grunwald, and Mike Lepond. The tempo is outrageous, and if you think guitar playing isn’t an athletic composition, listen up.
Despite MAB’s over-the-top reputation, this is a varied album with melodic ballads, neo-classical, jazz, and prog-metal. With the contributions of established as well as new-school shredders, Intermezzo is a strong record with nimble-fingered excellence.
This article originally appeared in VG‘s June ’14 issue. All copyrights are by the author and Vintage Guitar magazine. Unauthorized replication or use is strictly prohibited.
