Tag: features

The lutherie art of Tony Zemaitis resulted in some of the rarest, most admired, and most valuable of guitars. Among his creations, including the famed metal- and mother-of-pearl-fronted electrics, his acoustics are more precious than pearls. Slowhand played one. Jimi had a 12-string.

After Zemaitis died at age 67 in August 2002, the Tokyo-based Zemaitis International division of KSC, with the blessing of Tony’s wife, Ann, and son, Tony, Jr., relaunched Zemaitis guitars. Electrics came first, but they are now joined by a range of acoustics. And they’re stunners.

The CAG-200HS is one of the top-of-the-line Zemaitis Custom Shop guitars. It has a grand auditorium-sized body with rosewood back and sides and a solid sitka spruce top bolstered by scalloped X-bracing. Heat and dry aging of the woods in a vacuum state remove excess water and minerals before assembly. Zemaitis International notes the guitar is “fairly resistant to climate and temperature extremes” as a result. The body is finished in a low-gloss urethane.

The mahogany neck joins the body at the 14th fret, and features a rosewood fingerboard with a 16″ radius. The scale length is 25½" with 19 frets.

Beyond the specs and construction, it’s style that makes this guitar shine.

The headstock is crowned by that Zemaitis Z curve. The smiley bridge, heart-shaped soundhole, and mother-of-pearl inlays combine to make a guitar like no other. Which, of course, is the point.

But how does it sound and play? Lovely. Warm, woody, and rich in tone, it’s a beauty of a guitar. Plus, the neck and fretboard are well-formed and comfortable. It’s easy to fingerpick, with a subtle, satiny voice. And yet, it can boom like a cannon when strummed hard.

The result is a worthy tribute – with both heart and soul – to Tony Zemaitis’ enduring legacy.

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

Long out of production, the Boss Slow Gear was one of the coolest pedals of the ’80s, duplicating the sound of a volume swell without putting your pinky to work. Mooer has updated this effect with its new Slow Engine.

The Slow Engine uses the popular micro-pedal format that takes about half the footprint of a traditional stompbox. Its only downside is that, with no room for batteries, these designs are DC-only, but the Slow Engine works with most any 9-volt adapter. It also sports true-bypass switching and a rugged metal chassis.

The Slow Engine has just three controls – Attack, Sense, and the On/Off footswitch. Once you activate the effect, tweak the mini Sense knob to determine if you only want the swell on some notes or all of them. Turn the control down, and you will hear swells only on notes you pick the hardest; turn it all the way up and you will hear it on every note. Turn Attack down to hear the effect kick in quickly, while higher settings give a long, slow attack. Keyboardists have had this kind of synth control for decades, so it’s great to have it available to guitarists again.

In use, the Slow Engine exhibits that cool, spacey sound great for proggy parts or violin-like melodies. It works brilliantly for lead lines, but also chords. Slide guitar sounds thrilling with its electronic swells – think of David Gilmour’s ethereal lap steel on Pink Floyd’s “High Hopes.” The Mooer box will work with bass, too, adding deep swells like a cello or bowed bass, or combine the Slow Engine with reverb to add more spatial dimension and chorus for even more fairy dust. Best of all, the pedal is affordably priced and absurdly addictive.

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

With an extensive line of nearly 30 devices, it’s no surprise Wampler Pedals has entries in both the traditional-size and a micro pedal markets – and pedals to cover both ends of your board.

Placing a compressor toward the beginning of the signal chain is a typical strategy. And a compact version of the Wampler Ego Compressor, the Mini Ego Compressor, is Brian Wampler’s answer to the need to fit as many sonic options into as little real estate as possible.

The Mini Ego’s Blend, Volume, and Sustain controls are packed side-by-side, with Attack and Tone double-throw mini switches, a stomp switch, and an On/Off light also squeezed onto the top of this small box. The Attack switch offers two options for how quickly the original signal is impacted, and the Tone control adds the high end. Volume is, well, volume, while the Sustain control allows for increasing levels of signal impact.

Plugged through a late-’50s Ampeg Jet with a repro 10″ Jensen speaker, subtle changes to the Mini Ego’s Blend knob allowed the natural guitar tone and player dynamics to combine with the controlled sound for a natural attack with enhanced sustain and transient spike control. Signal compression typically calms the trebly attack, but a flick of the Mini Ego’s Tone switch added some compensating high-end sparkle without the abrupt attack, making for clear rhythm chords.

For the soloist who wants a clean, singing sustain without fuzz or overdrive, the Ego Mini offers plenty of extra gain, and a natural sound with all the benefits of the typical compressor and none of the squashed dynamics. The Ego Mini’s small size more than makes up for its tight switching arrangement.

Delay and reverb are typically found at the other end of the pedalboard, as overdrive and distortion can uncontrollably magnify those effects. Turns out Wampler has you covered down there, too. The Faux Tape Echo v2 pedal offers digital control over the echoes with analog sound processing. It utilizes six knobs, two footswitches, and a Subdivision push switch for selecting the selected delay tempo.

Despite the hefty array of controls, the Faux Tape Echo v2 is a low-noise device with no evidence of unmusical digital glitching. Bypass and Tap Tempo stomp switches start things up, with Rate controlling intensity, Depth adding a degree of modulation, and Repeats allowing everything from a single slapback to infinite echo. Delay Mix is similar the Ego’s Blend knob, adding the original analog sound to the mix.

Through the same Ampeg at a small club, the Faux Tape Echo v2 offered classic early rock sounds and longer delays that were easy to dial in for soloing. Though it was easy to tap in the meter, the Subdivisions switch was difficult to access without bending over for manual adjustment. This feature offers quarter, eighth, dotted eighth, and triplet repeats. The dotted eighth setting was favorably musical in response especially for soloing. And thanks to the digital delay/analog blended sound, the Faux Tape Echo v2 was particularly effective on a solo jazz guitar gig where chord development in triplets was enhanced with clarity along with the warmth associated with an amplified jazzbox.

The ability to blend natural guitar with processed sound gives both pedals an organic feel without excessive noise or digital sterility. And the oversized Faux Tape Echo v2 is more than offset by the diminutive Ego in the struggle for pedalboard space. Indeed, the Ego Mini and the Faux Tape Echo v2 would supply a fitting beginning and end, respectively, to any pedalboard – but as a general rule, put the wah before the Ego.

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

While many have tried via transistor trickery to replicate the tone of Jimmy Page’s Hiwatt at Led Zeppelin’s legendary January ’70 Royal Albert Hall performance, the Hi-Tone HT30/JP 15 is the most authentic reproduction yet, with a few welcome updates.

Commonly referred to as the JP-30, this Hi-Tone is a 30-watt, all-tube head. The review model had a footswitch to reduce headroom and increase gain via the Balance control, as well as Variable Voltage Reduction that makes the amp easier to use in situations requiring less volume and more grit. The JP-30 was tested with Hi-Tone’s 2×12 cabinet with DR-F speakers.

The JP-30 is not unlike other Hi-Tones in that it has more clean headroom than a good number of amps on the market. Clean, it offers that classic clang and a wide, clear midrange along with deep low-end and snappy, responsive highs that glue themselves to your dynamics.

On the gainier side (with cranked Input Volume and Balance controls), it’s still classic, with a more AC30-ish high-end saturation. Low-end is massive, midrange still wide and clear, which creates a beautiful, huge distorted tone that makes even weaker single-coils sound girthy and wide.

The character of the gain changes subtly with the guitar used. With a Strat or a Tele it focuses toward the high end; with a Les Paul, the midrange opens up and the tone becomes more buttery. With a P90-equipped semi-hollow, the gain was toppier, with more “air” in the mids.

But this is not a “hide behind the gain” amp – it’s incredibly responsive and transparent, revealing every nuance of your playing. It also works seamlessly with boosters and overdrives, melding the characters of amp, guitar, and pedal into one gloriously loud formula.

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

In theory, a big guitar amp should sound larger than a smaller one. Then there’s Henriksen’s The Bud. Based on a cabinet created by company founder Bud Henriksen, it’s a small-but-powerful 120-watt box completely gig-ready for the acoustic or electric musician.

The Bud measures a mere 9x9x9″, yet weighs 17 pounds, indicating there’s some serious mojo going on inside. The amp has two identical channels, each sporting combo 1/4″ and XLR jacks; input and output Gain controls; and a Bright switch and mini-plug Aux In. The EQ section has five bands (Low, Low-Mid, Hi-Mid, High, and Presence), and a digital reverb completes the signal path.

Part of The Bud’s magic is a great pair of drivers – a 6.5″ Eminence Beta speaker and a special fluid-cooled tweeter to reproduce the upper frequencies of acoustic guitar without harshness. (Jazz cats will appreciate that the tweeter is “defeatable” – there’s an on/off switch for bop-fueled archtop work.) In the rear, working guitarists will dig the two effects loops, headphone jack, XLR line out, and external output. On the bottom, look for large rubber feet and a sound port that helps deliver the amp’s mondo bass dimension. The Bud is built like a small tank.

Tested with Yamaha and Takamine acoustic-electrics, The Bud provided incredible volume output without any PA assistance. Its multiple EQ controls allowed for extremely precise tuning of the tone –very important to acoustic players. Despite the small main speaker, the tone was never small or muddy – you’ll easily find shimmering definition and personality. Dial in the digital reverb to sweeten the deal and it sounds terrific.

In all, Henriksen’s The Bud is a small but ingeniously designed amp for guitarists and stringed-instrument musicians. Don’t let its size fool you – The Bud is a giant in its category.

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

Unlike most amp builders who take up the challenge to create amplifiers that replicate the sounds of the 1960s, Winfield Thomas was actually wielding those sounds as a musician in the mid-’60s. Over the years since then, his amp designs have impressed. He’s created a line of hand-wired beauties utilizing circuit boards, Teflon wire, and modern components. Still, his amps harken back to his youth – simple, straightforward, and oozing complex tones, Winfield amps exhibit the aural template and old-school workmanship of a bygone era.

Winfield’s Dust Devil 15-watt combo is one such model, and it’s a rock-solid tone monster. The master volume-controlled two-channel Dust Devil has just enough modern bells and whistles to be dangerous. It also provides a powerful base tone for pedals and simply rages as a plug-in-and-go blues beast. Voiced with American attitude and EQ flexibility, Channel One features 12AX7 preamp tubes controlled by Loudness One (volume), Treble, and Bass chicken knobs. This channel is advertised as the classic ’60s clean, blackface side of the amp spectrum.

Channel Two, or the Cyclone Channel, is Winfield’s interpretation of the UK amplifiers of the same era. (He offers a standalone version of this amp as well.) This channel uses EF86 preamp tubes and features independent Loudness Two (volume) and Tone knobs. Combined with a 5AR4 rectifier tube, two EL84s, and one 12AX7 (phase inverter) in the power section, the Dust Devil covers a lot of ground in the low-wattage realm. A Cut control, a push/pull knob to engage the Master Volume, and an External Speaker input complete the appointments. Oh, yeah – it’s also lightweight and handsome without any prissy affectations, and its single 12″ Celestion Alnico Blue speaker perfectly complements each channel.

At 34 pounds, the Dust Devil combines a rugged British personality with American sonic colors. With the help of an A-B-Y box you can engage either channel, or both for some wicked tones. It’s a loud 15 watts that will work well with a full band but get a good workout against a loud drummer. More importantly it makes the perfect recording amp where the nuances of timbre and texture are under a microscope.

Voiced dark and crispy in the best possible way, Channel One excels in fat, lustrous clean tones for rock and blues. Thicker-sounding, more substantive, and more consistent than an elderly Deluxe Reverb, the Dust Devil is the perfect example of what rich-sounding boutique rigs are about. It’ll fatten the dinkiest Telecaster and offer Strats bark and growl. Though it’s not suited for pristine funk or jazz, reining the Devil in with your guitar’s Volume control will get you close. Cranking the Loudness control elicits beautiful harmonic overtones, and the EQ, while not overly dramatic, gets the job done.

Plugging into Channel Two the differences are subtle. The British side offers more percussive attack. The Tone knob helps quell or enhances this attribute, while the Cut knob works great for fine-tuning EQ. With the preamp section cranked and the pulled Master Volume lowered to room temperature, all manner of woolly mayhem will ensue from either channel. Channel One gets the win in the truculence department, but Channel Two has more clarity.

Winfield’s Dust Devil is a nice piece of craftsmanship that does what it was designed to do. It lacks crystal-clean headroom, but that’s for another kind of amp.

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

Many vintage amp connoisseurs have a special place in their hearts for the early Epiphone Electar amplifiers. David Bromberg is one such fan; as he raved to VG recently about his 1938 Electar, “I’ve never had such a good amp. I’m just completely wild about it.” The art deco styling and the low-powered, warm-souled voice add up to a classic.

Epiphone is wise to this. In launching its limited-edition 75th Anniversary Electar “1939” Century, Epi offers an amp that’s both a reissue and an update in smart ways. Call it the best of both the vintage and modern worlds.

The amp’s looks will catch your eye first. The Electar faithfully reproduces the classic 1930s styling with its sleek wood cabinet highlighted by the “E” cutout over the vintage-styled grille cloth. The all-metal handle crowns it.

But beauty’s more than skin deep. Inside, the Electar features newly designed, all-tube electronics. The small amp’s 18 watts of power sound louder than you might expect, singing out through the single 12″ speaker. The design is Class A/B, featuring pairs of both 6V6 and 12AX7 tubes.

Controls include a master Tone knob and an oh-so-modern master Volume with a push/pull Boost.

Interestingly, the Electar includes three uniquely voiced inputs: Bright, Normal, and Dark. Each live up to their name, but with judicious use of the Tone control, you can edge into the other voices’ territories nicely. There’s also an internal bias adjustment for further tone control.

What better guitar to assess the amp’s old-meets-new character than a ’52 Gibson ES-5? Not surprisingly, the ES-5 and Electar fit each other well – both stylistically and sonically.

The amp instantly offered warm, jazzy tones with depth and rich sustain. This is what it was designed for back in the 1930s, after all. And yet for such a small, lower-powered amp, the “1939” boasts plenty of head room.

Dialing up the natural volume, the Electar readily moves into an overdriven grind that sounds ideal for lowdown vintage blues. Working the master Volume, either with or without the Boost control, provides even more drive.

The Electar “1939” Century is equally happy playing old or new music – which should come as no surprise considering its intelligent mix of old styling and modern electronics. Whether you’re blowing out a bebop jazz line, blasting the blues, or even picking some primal rock and roll, this little beauty is a heartthrob.

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

Hot dog! Gretsch has long dreamed of issuing a Cliff Gallup signature guitar, but the stars never quite aligned – until now.

Gallup, of course, was the fleet-fingered guitar man who hot-rodded Vincent’s first two LPs. He added stunning intros, dazzling riffs, and virtuosic solos to cuts like “Race With The Devil,” “Crazy Legs,” and “Be-Bop-A-Lula.” And then he was gone, retired from the Blue Caps to avoid the slog of the road and to stay close to home. His reign was short, but rock-and-roll guitar was never the same.

All of which makes this signature edition that much more exciting. Gallup was one of the most famous and influential guitarists to ever play a Duo Jet, inspiring many players – including one George Harrison – to pick up the model.

Gallup’s guitar was as stock as they come, so this signature isn’t a modded or sticker-coated replica with every scratch and paint chip perfectly reproduced. Instead, it’s a glorious, painstaking replica of a ’54 Duo-Jet from Gretsch’s top-line Professional Collection. And it proudly bears Gallup’s signature on the truss cover.

Many have speculated that Gallup played a ’55 or ’56 Duo-Jet, but Gretsch did its homework and got an A+ – Gallup’s was indeed a ’54. They tracked down the original receipt, then doublechecked the guitar’s serial number and details against ’53 models to come up dead-certain on the vintage.

If you’ve never played a 6128, you owe it to yourself to pick one up. The Gallup guitar has a chambered mahogany body with a maple top finished in gloss nitrocellulose lacquer. This combines to give it a unique sound, somewhere between a Les Paul and an ES-335, but all its own.

The neck is a standard vintage U-shape with a 12″ radius, capped by a rosewood fingerboard and big-block pearloid inlays. With 22 frets, it’s a well-balanced, highly playable instrument.

Pickups are DeArmond’s lauded DynaSonic single-coils, controlled by a three-position toggle. The bridge is compensated aluminum; examining Gallup family photos, his 6128 did not have the Melita bridge (as often believed) of the standard-tailpiece model because it came with an optional Bigsby B3, as here.

It’s long been speculated that Gallup recorded the classic Vincent sides through Grady Martin’s Standel amp but played a tweed Fender live. So what better amp to try out the Signature 6128 than a ’59 tweed Deluxe (with a tube-powered Echoplex EP-2 for good measure)?

The first strum of the Gallup’s flat-wound .011-.050 strings transport you back to May 4, 1956, and Gene’s first session, which yielded “Race With The Devil.” That tone, that timbre, that twang – it’s all here. The guitar is a six-stringed time machine.

Pick some Travis-style licks and the 6128 rings like a bell, providing stunning clarity to each string and note. Dig in hard with some doublestops – as Jeff Beck did when introducing the guitar at a tribute showcase during NAMM – and the 6128 responds with fiery tone. This guitar simply loves to be played.

You might be thinking ahead about replacing that early fixed arm on the Bigsby – even Chet Atkins and Duane Eddy never cottoned to it. Try it, though, and you’ll likely find that it’s perfectly placed for everything but power-chord windmills. Mr. Beck seemed to have no issues with it. Or with the guitar as a whole!

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

One thing fans like most about Joe Bonamassa is that, in addition to his bluesy chops, he’s a guitar nut like us. His collection is renowned, and within his hoard a 1963 Gibson Firebird is a particular favorite. Now Joe has teamed with Epiphone for his fourth signature model, the Limited Edition “Treasure” Firebird-I, based on that vaunted ’63.

A recreation of the Firebird’s timeless neck-through design, the Treasure comes in two finishes: Tobacco Sunburst and a yummy Polymist Gold. There’s one ProBucker FB720 pickup and a wrap “lightning bar” tailpiece/bridge, along with gold top-hat Volume and Tone knobs. The guitar has Kluson banjo/guitar tuners and an ivory PVC nut. Look for the classic pickguard with red Firebird logo and an included custom gig bag.

The Treasure’s reverse body is a nine-piece laminate of a mahogany raised center block and two wings (four walnut stripes running from end to end). The neck features a rosewood fingerboard with dots, 14″ radius, and Gibson’s standard 24.75″ scale. According to Epi, the neck carve is a based on Bonamassa’s original Firebird and features a large C profile – it’s sizable, but not uncomfortable. The headstock is traditional Firebird, with the six-on-a-side tuning scheme (Kalamazoo’s none-too-subtle Fender homage). A dual-action truss rod is among the fresh innovations.

Warmed up, the Joe Bonamassa Firebird proves plenty hot enough. Again, its neck is beefy, but fast and comfy, ready for your best Johnny Winter, Allen Collins, or JB licks. True to form, its single mini-humbucker was brighter and twangier than a full-sized ’bucker, but still butt-kicking with the overdrive ladled on. As with most single-pickup guitars, the Tone knob becomes an important tool for cooling off the treble and adding some Clapton-esque “woman tone” to the proceedings.

There aren’t many debits with the Treasure, but the Firebird design entails a certain amount of neck dive, and that’s just part of its vibe. If you haven’t spanked a Firebird before, it will take you a few minutes to get used to the banjo-style tuners, but they’re well-crafted and hold their tuning like champs.

With a street price well under a grand, this limited edition Firebird is a keeper, with both historic looks and a sweet, killer tone.

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