Tag: features

In his day, Jimmy Reed was a huge influence on everyone from Eric Clapton and Mike Bloomfield to the Rolling Stones and Stevie Ray Vaughan. Among its reissues, Kay Guitar has included the K161 Thin Twin, the guitar irrevocably associated with the legendary Chicago bluesman.

Strapped on, the Thin Twin is a hefty axe for a hollowbody, weighing in at roughly eight pounds, thanks in large part to the all-maple construction – three-ply flamed and bound top; sides, neck, and arched back; and internal parallel braces to reduce feedback.

The 20-fret bound rosewood fingerboard sports pearloid block inlays, while the headstock features the original outsized “Kel-von-a-tor” emblem – certainly an attention-getter. The one-piece set neck has an unusual 26″ scale and 12″ radius, and the guitar features a chrome saddle-mount bridge, trapeze tailpiece, and vintage-style tuners. Available finishes are natural golden flame, red ’burst, and black.

The Thin Twin gets its name from its dual single-coil blade pickups. Only a small part of each pickup is visible above the pickguard. A large bobbin sits under the pickguard and the whole unit is mounted to the bracing and pickguard with screws and grommets.

Made in China, the guitar exhibits nice workmanship and a beautiful finish, though the three-way pickup selector seemed rather frail. The pickups are fine for dark, bluesy cleans, but also on the noisy side when set to bridge or neck positions (add overdrive at your own risk). If you want to play old-school blues like Reed, or even some Chet- or Merle-style fingerpicking, there are punchy clean textures in here. If you don’t want any noise, set the selector in the middle for hum-canceling operation and big, fat tone.

The K161 Thin Twin has lots of offer, primarily as a stage guitar that will look great under the bright lights while delivering real vintage tones for postwar blues aficionados.

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This article originally appeared in VG December 2016 issue. All copyrights are by the author and Vintage Guitar magazine. Unauthorized replication or use is strictly prohibited.

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The story of Earthquaker Devices begins with Jamie Stillman fixing his own overdrive pedal and then deciding to get into the pedal business himself. Twelve years later, Stillman’s Earthquaker Devices is one of the most celebrated brands in the industry. One of its latest, the Avalanche Run, is a delay and reverb combo that produces an “avalanche” of sound for players seeking to create otherworldly tones.

Tested with a 1968 Princeton Reverb and a ’67 Telecaster, the Avalanche’s reverb proved very responsive, with a Decay knob to control the delay time and a Mix knob that allows everything from slight verbed tones to 100-percent effected tones. The effect itself is quite lush and slightly modulated in nature. The 100-percent effected tones lack attack, instead swelling into a fantastic barrage of beautiful verbed-out mess.

The Avalanche Run’s Delay section produces everything from tasty slap-back echo to locked-in repeats via the Tap tempo footswitch at a variety of subdivisions set by a Ratio selector knob. It also offers a toggle with Reverse and Swell settings that produce backward tape sounds and auto-volume swelled tones; a Tone knob allows for dark to bright repeats. Using the effects together produces especially beautiful and expansive tones from a single box. In addition, holding down the Tap switch causes the pedal to go into self-oscillation with short delay times or infinite repeats when utilized with long delay times. An expression pedal can also be attached to control most functions.

The Avalanche Run is the perfect answer for players looking to add both reverb and tap tempo delay in a single pedal. It is obvious that this unit was designed with the ambient guitar player in mind. But no matter the style, it is a fantastic-sounding unit.

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This article originally appeared in VG December 2016 issue. All copyrights are by the author and Vintage Guitar magazine. Unauthorized replication or use is strictly prohibited.

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Supro’s new Titan amp is built to play out. This 50-watt 1×10 tube combo packs it all into a compact, portable package that’s simply antsy to gig.

The Titan cranks out astonishing stage volume with a crisp, clean crunch. Best of all, it boasts a heady amount of headroom, making it ideal to mix and match with a lineup of pedals. Add in a 1742 Titan 75-watt 1×12 sealed-back extension cab, and you have a powerhouse stack capable of rocking most any venue.

Back in the day, Fender’s tweed 4×10 Bassman was the ideal gigging amp for dancehalls and roller-skating rinks, with enough sonic oomph that many a band even ran their vocal mics through them. The Twin Reverb took over in the ’60s and ’70s for playing bars and even some larger venues.

Times have changed, and these days, when it comes to smaller clubs, the Titan fits the bill – small yet high-powered with vintage Class A tube tone. And it can handle most any array of stompboxes daisy-chained together without the need for an effects loop.

It’s also a darn simple amp, which will pay dividends on stage. It’s powered by two 5881/6L6 power tubes and a silicon rectifier working in concert with four 12AX7s and one 12AT7 and a printed circuitboard. And there are just two tone controls – Bass and Treble – so you won’t get confused in the heat of action.

Those 50 watts of loud are fed through a single 10″ Supro HP10 speaker with a larger magnet and hemp cone specially designed to handle the volume. Also packed into the small 19 x 9 x 14″ combo cab is a tube-driven six-spring reverb and output-tube tremolo. As with all Supro reverb amps, the tremolo is located after the reverb, allowing you to dial in a haunting, modulated reverb effect.

All that in a 46-pound package, covered with tough blue rhino-hide tolex.

To hear what this little sparkplug is capable of, it was tested with a new Zemaitis CS24PF pearl-front guitar featuring loud-rocking DiMarzio Custom PAF humbuckers. It was also lined up with every available pedal within spitting distance.

There’s no denying the Titan is muscular-sounding, but the amazing thing is how it retains its clarity as the Volume knob is twisted northward. Fifty watts is nothing to sneeze at, and the speaker deals well with all that horsepower, staying sweet and smooth no matter how hard it’s gassed.

Indeed, the Titan ain’t no chugging, choking economy car – it’s a Hemi, ready to race. The amp’s sound is suitably vintage. Dial in teeth-jarring treble or go all out for lowdown bass. The Titan can do warm, but it’s not a complex, mystical warmth. It doesn’t have a wide palette of colors and tones, but then again that’s not what this amp’s about. Rather, the Titan is a perfect blank canvas for pedals. It remained articulate with a Fuzz Face added to the signal chain. Even with a delay, a wah, and eventually a full pedalboard thrown in, the amp never faltered.

As for that reverb, it’s suitably lush, adding nice depth. Wind up both the reverb and tremolo together for some crazy ZZ Top sonic blasts.

Supro also recommends pairing two Titans for a full 100-watt stereo blast. Add a pair of the 1742 extension speakers to that and you’d have an incredibly flexible backline capable of handling about any trouble you could get yourself into.

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This article originally appeared in VG December 2016 issue. All copyrights are by the author and Vintage Guitar magazine. Unauthorized replication or use is strictly prohibited.

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In 2014, Fishman introduced their Fluence line with the goal of combining vintage tone with freedom from the inductance problems that impact even the most hallowed vintage pickups. Rather than traditional windings, Fluence pickups incorporate two 48-layer boards, seemingly resulting in zero noise.

Designed with input from guitar virtuoso Greg Koch, the innovative Gristle-Tone addition to the Fluence series offers both classic whiteguard and blackguard Tele voicings sans the 60-cycle hum issues.

Designed to be installed without requiring permanent modifications, the Gristle-Tone set comprises a a drop-in control plate with three-way switch, pots, jack and cup, and a Fluence rechargeable lithium-ion battery pack. The only noticeable difference from a traditional Tele plate is a flush voice selector button between the Volume and Tone controls. The internal battery pack connects to a USB port discreetly mounted in the jack plate for easy recharging (Fishman claims that rechargeable battery life is 250 hours; the set was tested for for hours without any degradation of signal).

The test pickups came installed in a Fender Custom Shop Tele that was played through a ’66 Fender Vibrolux Reverb and a 1965 Vox AC30. The Gristle-Tone-equipped Tele played nicely with the usually noisy AC30 and sounded the same at any volume level.

Through the low-noise Fender amp and with the voice-select button in the “out” (whiteguard) position, the Gristle-Tones provided a variety of usable clean tones. The setting would be ideal for both clean and airy rhythm work or twangy Bakersfield tones reminiscent of Don Rich.

The real fun, however, began with the voice-select button in the “in” (blackguard) position. The tone was instantly fattened and sustain increased, all while retaining the Tele twang. Rhythm tones retained the trademark Tele clarity, and single-note soloing was juicy and delicious, with harmonic richness that seemed to lead to the next note.

Offering modern convenience and flexibility while retaining classic Tele tones are these pickups’ calling cards. Indeed, the Gristle-Tones may offer both clean and hot tones, but rest assured – those multiple voices most certainly are not in your head.

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This article originally appeared in VG December 2016 issue. All copyrights are by the author and Vintage Guitar magazine. Unauthorized replication or use is strictly prohibited.

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Having spent the last 120 years perfecting righteous guitar tones, Yamaha has set out to increase their coolness quotient. The design of their latest guitar line – the Revstar Series – was inspired by café racer motorcycles popular in 1960s London.

Made in Japan, the RSP20CR is a handsome retro machine with all the comforts of modern rock and roll. Bearing a slight resemblance to Yamaha’s classic SG2000, the RCP20CR has its own rugged thumbprint.

A push/pull Dry switch functions as a low-cut filter or EQ knob, allowing the player to roll off the bottom end of the guitar’s vintage-output alnico humbuckers. This result is single-coil or P90 flavors without the hum. Judicious use of the pickup selector’s three positions results in an abundance of smoky blues or heavy rock.

With a scale length of 24.75″ and a neck radius of 13.75″, its set-neck design, rosewood fingerboard, mahogany body, and comfort cut make the RSP20CR a breeze to manhandle. It’s slightly weighty, but the feel and access to the upper frets makes this the kind of guitar one could get lost in. With jumbo frets, die-cast tuners, TonePros AVT-II bridge, antique-finish pickup covers, and an anodized pickguard, it’s strikingly cool yet high-functioning.

Plugged into a two-channel half stack reveals a dark rustic countenance. Its warm tones and facile neck shape makes this an inspiring guitar to conjure favorite classic-rock riffs or modern blues soloing. The Dry switch is subtle but a nice touch when you need a P90 dialect. The pickups yield earthy grit with crunch, but clean up nicely to expose a bit of twangy nasality.

The Revstar RCP20CR is a super-cool guitar – an old soul with modern appointments. It rocks, it snarls, and its looks provide just the right amount of individuality.

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This article originally appeared in VG December 2016 issue. All copyrights are by the author and Vintage Guitar magazine. Unauthorized replication or use is strictly prohibited.

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When it comes to sweet retro tones, the wizards at Electro-Harmonix (EHX) have been busy again, turning out a fresh pair of wonders just dripping with ’70s and ’80s vibes. One of these, the Cock Fight, reproduces the vintage tones of cocked-wah pedals, while the Key9 is the latest in EHX’s impressive line of keyboard simulators for guitar.

The Cock Fight is well-named – a feisty pedal scrappin’ for action. The idea is to replicate the classic tones of Tony Iommi, Michael Schenker, Brian Robertson, and Slash, players who knew how to deploy a conventional wah as a booster for solos, setting it in a single position and letting its powerful EQ and boosting qualities make solos and riffs even hotter. Similarly, Jeff Beck used a wah with cleaner textures to make licks from his Blow By Blow era funkier than anything else.

The Cock Fight’s powerful EQ control manages the sweep of the wah effect, but rather than using their foot, the player can pick the desired tone. There are also Tone and Volume controls, but the genius of the Cockfight is that the EHX folks also put a full-blown fuzzbox in there, allowing the user to go to Marshall-town via the Drive knob.

Other goodies include a Bottom knob for extra bass; Cry/Talk tone filter and Pre/Post Fuzz toggles; and a Bias control. Pre Fuzz yields a warmer vintage crunch, while Post is abrasive and decidedly modern grit. Bias is even wackier – turn it up for a full, beefy flavor or down for that sputtering, dying-battery sound. For a more conventional wah approach, just plug in an expression pedal. The Cock Fight is a killer pedal and a blast to play with.

The idea behind the Key9 is to let guitarists add electric-piano sweetness to their grooves, replicating various Fender Rhodes, Wurlitzer, and Mallets bringing to mind John Paul Jones’ tremolo-laced piano on Led Zeppelin’s “No Quarter.” The “Eighty Eight” setting is a dead ringer for the Doors’ “Riders On The Storm,” and there are Organ and even Steel Drum settings, among others, for creative guitarists whose bands need more atmospheric texture.

Each setting comes with two level controls: one for the Dry guitar and the other for the wet Keys. CTRL 1 and CTRL 2 knobs control preset effects like tremolo or phase shifter. There’s a different combination for each simulation. Another amenity on the Key9 is a Dry guitar output to differentiate the signal from the wetter Keys out.

Keep in mind that the Key9 will sound different through different amps and PAs, and is geared more for cleaner tones. That said, the box’s tone is impacted by picking technique, attack, and pickup settings, resulting in a fairly broad palette of keyboard textures. Better yet, there’s no “triggering” involved, as with a guitar synthesizer – this is all your actual playing.

The Cock Fight and Key9 will expand your guitar’s range without much effort. The Cock Fight will be popular with everyone from rockers to funk stylists, while the Key9 is the ticket to vintage electric-piano sounds with a certain amount of guitar flavor mixed in. Guitarists in cover bands who desire keyboard textures will particularly dig this pedal, especially fingerstylists who can play bass and melody notes in a piano-like manner.

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This article originally appeared in VG December 2016 issue. All copyrights are by the author and Vintage Guitar magazine. Unauthorized replication or use is strictly prohibited.

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Who says pragmatic utility and classic tones have to be mutually exclusive? Not Rob Pierce, whose Valvetech Amplifier Company deals in classic tones and enhanced flexibility. Case in point – the 25-watt VAC 25. Channel 1 is a half-powered version of a 1959 Fender Bassman; Channel 2 offers a more-modern SLO sound.

The review model included two Kendrick Blackframe 10″ speakers. The VAC 25 includes two inputs per channel (perfect for bridging channels). Two Volume controls manage each channel, with Volume 2 offering an additional Bright Boost for Channel 1. Hi, Lo, and Mid chicken knobs, along with Master volume, Speed, and Depth controls, complete the front panel.

The rear panel features Presence, Reverb, FX Mix for the passive (non-buffered) effects loop, and a two-position switch for channel 1: the 12AX7 setting has a gainier sound while 12AY7 is cleaner with more headroom. There’s also an external speaker jack and an Impedance selector.

Unlike more straightforward amps this size, the VAC 25 requires some time and patience. The controls are interactive and yield lots of aural color. Adding pedals will require even more fine-tuning. Once everything is dialed in, though, rugged chime and mellifluous thickness can be conjured for a variety of musical situations. Testing it with Strats and Teles, all mixtures of earthy Bassman, AC30, blackface, and boosted grind were unleashed.

Foot-switchable and powered by the time-tested 12AX7/6V6 tube combination, the VAC 25 yields serious gain. The top two Inputs for both Channel 1 and 2 are high-sensitivity and the lower Inputs are for low sensitivity. Plugging into the top Input of Channel 2 opens the wonderful world of high-gain using both Volume 1 and 2 to sculpt it. Setting the Master low and cranking both Volume controls produces maximum saturation with a light tweedy aftertaste.

Clean sounds blur the line between an AC30 and a Tweed Bassman, with magnificent reverb and superb tremolo. It elicits luxurious but no-nonsense masculine sounds fitting for any musical situation short of jazz. The VAC 25’s mix-cleaving toughness will work great for funk gigs and thrive in blues or classic-rock performances. It’s a wonderful little amp that’s easy to transport, yet produces dynamic sounds for the discerning guitarist. In other words, beaucoup tonal options in a handsome tweed package.

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This article originally appeared in VG December 2016 issue. All copyrights are by the author and Vintage Guitar magazine. Unauthorized replication or use is strictly prohibited.

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While guitar enthusiasts expend a lot of brain power waxing poetic about tonewoods, for many VG readers of a certain vintage, that gateway experience with an electric guitar may very well have involved a fair amount of Masonite. Of course, Danelectro and any of its once-ubiquitous “catalog brands” made ample use of the pressure-molded fiberboard.

Perhaps it was only the power of suggestion, then, that blew a brief whiff of Masonite into the room as this Danelectro ’59 Resonator was unpacked. Rather than Masonite, today’s Dano uses modern, environmentally friendly MDF (medium-density fiberboard) as the bread in its wood-frame sandwich.

Tricked out with the familiar Dano “Coke bottle” headstock, polished aluminum nut, and vintage-style tuners, this modern interpretation of the classic 1959 Dano double-cut shorthorn features a spun cone biscuit resonator, diamond cover plate, stamped tailpiece, and Danelectro’s ’56 lipstick pickup. Three knobs determine volume, tone, and the blend of the lipstick with a Schatten “special design” piezo mounted in the resonator cone assembly.

The 21-fret Canadian maple bolt-on neck with rosewood board is an accessible modern carve, with the fingerboard edges nicely rolled over for a comfortable feel. The truss-rod adjustment at the headstock is attached with four countersunk screws. The glossy finish, polished fretwork, and easy setup mean a solid fit and finish for the fussy, but there’s also character galore for vintage freaks seeking that ’60s aura in a modern axe.

There wasn’t enough acoustic volume from the hollowbody ’59 Reso for effective front-porch jamming (no soundholes!), but plenty for hotel room practice without rattling the neighbors. Easy playability was enhanced by light-gauge strings (including an unwound G with satisfactory intonation). The string height was conducive to fluid electric playing, but bottleneck and acoustic styles begged for heavier wire and a higher action for a harder attack – all quick work for a competent repair person.

Plugged in through the house PA at a folk/blues duo gig, the ’59 Resonator was played with bare fingers and a stout plectrum underneath a National resonator mandolin. The first impression was of the extraordinary balance between the piezo and the lipstick. The center detent on the Blend knob proved to be the sweet spot, which made it easy to find a variety of good acoustic resonator sounds for blues and Americana styles in various tunings. The Tone knob was crucial for obtaining a spectrum of voices, from brittle tin pan to dark and gloomy. Percussive effects and slide guitar string noise were accentuated by the piezo, making the Blend knob useful for dialing in just enough lipstick pickup for quieter performance and added sustain.

Through a late-’50s Ampeg Jet, the lipstick was round and warm but lacked the raw attack one might want for blues and related styles. Bleeding in just a little piezo and opening up the Tone knob added the needed edge. Stomping in an overdrive pedal led to mixed results – too much piezo, and high-end feedback became excessive.

Soloing with the lipstick alone while working the Tone knob achieved a classic “woman tone” and allowed the acoustic nature of the body/resonator combination to produce a controlled midrange feedback from the overdriven repro Jensen speaker. Remarkable effects were created by suddenly kicking in the piezo on a sustained note – shrieks and whistles were rendered musical with a little finesse on the Blend knob. Bill Frisell, Marc Ribot, sonic improvisers: take note.

The Danelectro ’59 Resonator isn’t exactly your Masonite sandwich of yesteryear. And while it exhibits many of the sonic traits of those now-desirable classics, it also offers modern improvements.

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This article originally appeared in VG December 2016 issue. All copyrights are by the author and Vintage Guitar magazine. Unauthorized replication or use is strictly prohibited.

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Strike up a conversation with anyone who records music and they’ll talk your ear off about mics and preamps. If you want to make your guitar and vocals sound good in a home studio, the right “front end” tools are critical.

The Golden Age Pre-73 MkIII is an affordable preamp whose job is to make audio sources (guitar, bass, mic’d vocals and instruments) sound better. Based on a famed Neve studio circuit, the single-channel box has just a few controls and in/out jacks: Gain and Output knobs, plus a DI jack for guitar or bass, and a phantom power button for condenser mics like those used to record acoustic guitars. It also has a Mic/Line switch for choosing a plugged-in guitar or a mic, and Air1/Air2 switches for additional EQ flavors. In back, there’s a Neutrik “combo” input for an XLR mic or 1/4″ cable, as well as separate outs to send the signal to the next step in the chain (digital interface, compressor, PA, etc.).

Soundwise, the Pre-73 MkIII will make any signal sound better, but it also adds its own tonal character, unlike “transparent” preamps. Most folks with project studios are not likely that fussy, simply preferring their tracks to sound better than if they went straight into a digital interface, and the Pre-73 MkIII will absolutely do that.

Of course, you may want some mics to plug into the Pre-73. The Ear Trumpet Edwina is a cool, steampunk-styled large-diaphragm condenser mic. These microphones can be used for everything from vocals to drums, but pickers often prefer them for acoustic guitars, as they pick out details nicely. The Edwina’s no exception, but it gets the job done without any harshness or feedback. As with all condenser mics, remember to fire up 48-volt phantom power to make this puppy work.

The Avantone CR-14, meanwhile, is a ribbon mic that requires no supplementary power. Ribbon mics are more fragile than dynamic or condenser mics, but they can capture absolutely beautiful tones. The CR-14 is wonderful on acoustic guitar. Pair it with a nice preamp, some light compression and reverb, and enjoy the magic.

Coupled with the Pre-73 MkIII preamp, both the Edwina and CR-14 will give any home-recording cat a nice array of guitar tones. And in the studio, sound quality is everything.

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This article originally appeared in VG December 2016 issue. All copyrights are by the author and Vintage Guitar magazine. Unauthorized replication or use is strictly prohibited.

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Excitement at the arrival of this offset beauty was dampened by the sad news that its creator had passed away July 1. Ted Newman Jones was known for building guitars in the 1970s for Keith Richards, who helped finance the workshop where Ted crafted customs for a who’s-who of players. While Newman arguably gained most of his notoriety with the five-string open-G models he built for Keef, there’s no mistaking the in-hand appeal of any Newman.

The Lake Placid’s stunning finish covers a solid, swamp ash body shaped like a cross between a Jaguar and a melted Les Paul, with a single cutaway and a drooping lower bout. The curly ash neck has gorgeous cross-hatching in the grain, visible from certain angles, and is topped with an ebony fingerboard. The headstock, also in ebony, features the cool invertible Newman logo set in mother-of-pearl, like the dot inlays.

Design choices are so tastefully understated you don’t quite realize the motherlode of character and range you have on your hands until the guitar is plugged in. It’s responsive to a nuanced touch and roars when muscled. And despite the dual-humbucker setup, the tone is clearly in the Tele family. The guitar has an exceptional vocal quality for lead lines, marked by a pleasing nasal resonance. With the Treble rolled back just enough for low-string notes to cut through, double-stops to hum, and high notes to open a conversation, the neck position proved a favorite lead setting. The punch of a cranky, overdriven Stones riff is immediately available in the bridge position, and chords chime brightly in the middle.

In all three positions, the Newman occupies the right midrange zone to sit well in a mix – a quality that should be common among electric guitars but is not. A treble-bleed circuit helps maintain balance by filtering bass frequencies as volume is reduced.

While tone woods and construction have their influence on the Newman’s sound, a hat tip is definitely warranted to the Jimmy Wallace PAF humbuckers. Voiced to emulate vintage ’50s and ’60s tones, the PAFs have a relatively low resistance for humbuckers (7.2k in the neck, 8.4k bridge), which accounts in part for how ’buckers could have the growl and rasp of a Tele setup. Wallace is so dedicated to a faithful reproduction of the early humbucker, right down to the butyrate bobbins, that he says his hand-wound PAF “not only sounds and looks like the original pickup, but smells like one, too!”

A signature of Ted’s instruments has long been his asymmetrical neck profile, and it’s a dream – a soft V shape with the depth running deepest behind the D and A strings rather than straight down the middle. The carve is subtle and ergonomic; the thumb is supported and the fingers have an easier reach across the strings. It’s a substantial bolt-on neck, too – 12″ radius and 24 playable frets along a 24.75″ scale – contributing to tone and sustain. Thanks to the profile, it doesn’t feel bulky.

The Hipshot locking tuners and all other hardware are polished chrome (save the distressed PAF covers), which sit handsomely against the blue finish and the ebony. Controls include CTS 500k Volume and Tone pots and a Switchcraft three-way toggle.

The passing of Ted Newman Jones is a loss to guitar lovers and to luthiery, but Newman Guitars will go on as he wished under general manager Jeff Smith and luthier Jacob Harper. And it’s difficult to imagine a better testament to that continued legacy than instruments like this Lake Placid Blue.

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This article originally appeared in VG December 2016 issue. All copyrights are by the author and Vintage Guitar magazine. Unauthorized replication or use is strictly prohibited.

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