Joining playful mid-’60s cultural icons such as the Ford Mustang, NBC’s “The Monkees,” the Beatles’ “Nowhere Man” and Cassius Clay, the Teisco Del Rey Spectrum 5 was the high-water mark of original Japanese design from the era. It’s also one of the most sought-after import guitars – with good reason.
Debuting circa 1966 and lasting only a few years, the Spectrum 5 was the top of the line for the Tokyo Electronics Company in the psychedelic late ‘60s, when suppliers could not keep up with demand for guitars.
The Spectrum 5 was a part of a larger Spectrum series that shared the same elegant styling; however, it’s the 5 that’s special.
As the ’66 Teisco Del Rey catalog boasts, the Spectrum 5 “has unique features which no other guitar in the world can match.” While the mahogany body with Mosrite-inspired German-carve edge, the seven layer, hand-rubbed lacquer finish, and Kay-influenced fretboard inlays were standard for the Spectrum series, the staggered pickups with stereo/mono output and a five-ply ebony neck were unique to the 5. The four-and-two tuner arrangement on the headstock was used on other Teiscos, but the plastic faceplate adds a tasteful touch. Some Spectrums had natural-faced headstocks, others had matching colors. The vibrato had an integral bridge that moved with the assembly to eliminate friction and wear on the strings.
The name of this guitar derived from the switches’ ability to produce five tonal colors – a “spectrum of sound” – which could be used alone or in any combination. For stereo output – bass through one channel, treble through the other – two jacks were used.
As lovely as the Spectrum 5 was, it hardly caught on. In ’66, at least in the United States – the world’s dominant guitar market – anything “made in Japan” carried a negative connotation no matter how well-executed. There are photographs of Nils Lofgren playing one of these, and the intrepid David Lindley plays a Spectrum 4 (with four pickups, typical Japanese vibrato, and mono-only output).
The Spectrum 5 – along with a few other collectible guitars like the Yamaha SG series – reflect the end of the first era of Japanese guitar making. As the ’70s dawned, the emphasis shifted to copying successful American instruments and consolidating market share.
This article originally appeared in Vintage Guitar Classics No. 1 issue. All copyrights are by the author and Vintage Guitar magazine. Unauthorized replication or use is strictly prohibited.
John Widman is a custom guitar builder whose artistic leanings began while he worked as a graphic designer and photographer. After building bolt-neck instruments using off-the-shelf parts, he began crafting instruments from scratch, and recently introduced the Set Neck.
A chambered single-cut, the Set Neck is built from a single piece of Honduran mahogany, while the top is carved from Bastonge walnut, which is bound with ivoroid and given a player-friendly tummy contour. The neck is quarter-sawn Honduran mahogany, and the bound-ebony fingerboard has a compound radius (7.25″ to 9.5″) with mother-of-pearl dot inlays. Its scale length is 25.5″, while the neck measures .84″ deep at the first fret and at 13/4″ wide at the bone nut. Its 24 frets are of the medium-tall variety. Hardware includes a Schaller roller bridge, Schaller tuners, and a Bigsby B7 vibrato. Pickups are Lindy Fralin Pure PAF and measure 8k at the neck, 8.5k at the bridge. To dial in sounds, it uses a three-way pickup selector, two Tone pots, and a master Volume; knobs are large, nickel-plated Schaller speed-type.
The guitar can be ordered with various colors, top woods, pickups, hardware, and nut widths, and from the box, our tester boasted smooth fretwork that played very clean even through step-and-a-half bends on every string.
Fit and finish was top notch. Details such as binding, headstock veneer, and body shaping were all done with a critical eye for detail. Yes, the guitar has a nitro lacquer finish, and although it is glossy, it is thin and hard. We were also glad to see a well-cured finish, as there was no area of the guitar that felt sticky, even while played in the middle of a humid summer day in Nashville, Tennessee.
To put the Widman through its paces, we used a boutique 30-watt/1×12 tube combo and ’71 Fender Bassman head with a 2×12 running a Vintage 30/G12H-30 combination. Starting with a clean tone from the Bassman, the guitar offered a Kalamazoo solidbody flavor; its scale length focused low-end response and gave the instrument a tighter feel. The neck pickup exhibited thick tones with no woofiness, while the bridge pickup was clear and refined. Running both gave an exceptional fingerstyle tone. The Volume and Tone controls worked with an even taper and solid feel, and the Bigsby gave the melodious waver craved by so many players. Widman did some particularly nice work in the nut, and roller bridge kept the guitar in tune, even under heavy use of the Bigsby.
Plugged into the new amp (which is based on a Marshall plexi), the guitar’s tones became a bit more saturated. Perhaps most attractive was the bridge pickup running with the amp gradually turned up until it reached a nice level of grind. The guitar produced fat, sustained tones with plenty of cut in every position.
The Widman is a classic in terms of function, with refreshing styling an era of reissues and copies; fit, finish, components, and playability are top-notch, and the longer scale and walnut top are nice twists. There are many vintage-styled instruments, but painfully few offer this level of execution.
This article originally appeared in VG January 2012 issue. All copyrights are by the author and Vintage Guitar magazine. Unauthorized replication or use is strictly prohibited.
Some years back, an insurance company promoted itself as “the quiet company.” While they probably wouldn’t like to hear it, in many ways that description fits Yamaha guitars.
Whether you say acoustic or electric, Yamaha is almost never the first name that leaps to mind. Nevertheless, since the mid 1960s, Yamaha has been quietly turning out excellent acoustic and electric guitars. Some had startlingly wonderful designs, many had innovative features, and some may be regarded now as classics. But virtually all of the better-grade models have been made with exceptional quality.
One guitar that answers all these encomiums is this 1989 Yamaha Image Custom.
Much of the time, the people behind striking guitar designs like this are anonymous. But in the case of the Yamaha Image, we know whodunit. His name is Martyn Booth, and today he makes custom guitars.
Booth’s interest in guitar began in the early ’60s, when at age 14 he wanted a guitar but couldn’t afford one. So he built one in his dad’s workshop – “little more than a toy,” as he tells it. Over the next few years, he borrowed friends’ guitars and returned them with much improved setups. By the late ’60s, he had achieved his dream of being in a band (a prog-rock outfit Booth describes as the “promising but never quite made it” type). The band gave up trying to make it big in 1975, and Booth needed to find a paying job. A friend worked for a Norlin/Gibson distributor in the U.K. and helped him land work there as a repairman.
The idea that would become the Yamaha Image began in 1980, when Gibson introduced the 335-S, its solidbody take on the ES-335. Booth was not impressed, and started work on his own version. Time passed, and by ’87, Booth was working for the Yamaha organization in the U.K. Yamaha was looking for an upscale guitar to complement its venerable SG line. Booth dusted off his solidbody 335, and the Yamaha Image was born… well, in the U.S. it was the Image. In the U.K., the name was already taken, so it was called the MSG (Martyn’s Solid Guitar). It had a mahogany body with a carved maple cap and glued-in mahogany neck. Scale was 25”, top binding was maple, and finish options were blond, cherry, and orange sunburst.
The MSG/Image guitars were made in three grades. The Standard had twin humbuckers, rosewood fingerboard, and a stop-tail with strings running through the body. The Deluxe had an ebony ’board and RM Pro double-locking vibrato.
The Custom, shown here, had a Brazilian rosewood fingerboard and the latest technology from Yamaha’s Japanese labs; pickups were Hybrid Integrated Pickup System (HIPS), with active/passive options, the vibrato was a then-new needle-bearing type with a small thumbwheel on top for adjusting spring tension, and instead of a cumbersome locking nut, it had Gotoh Magnum Lok tuners with a screw-down shaft that locks the strings in place.
In addition to the active/passive option (with its mini-toggle with LED), controls include a three-way mini-toggle, volume, midrange boost, and passive tone controls. Two other mini-toggles serve as coil taps. Active mode basically consists of a power-boost function, which can give nasty overdrive distortion depending on the amp and settings. There are more versatile tonal arrangements, but this does give a lot of color.
One of the coolest features of the Image Custom is a line of LED dot markers running along the top edge of the fingerboard. A little switch where the jack normally would be turns on this groovy feature – so cool! Also worth noting is the wide fingerboard and jumbo frets, both nice if you like them.
The MSG/Image debuted in ’88. The following year, the headstock shape was altered a bit and the Volume knob moved on the Standard and Deluxe models. Collectors often refer to these versions as Mach 1 and Mach 2, respectively. The line ended in 1991 or ’92. Prominent Image players included Alan Murphy (Go West, Kate Bush, Level 42), Barry Finnerty, Bireli Lagrene, Mick Box (Uriah Heep), Captain Sensible (The Damned), Andy Powell (Wishbone Ash), Mick Abrahams (Jethro Tull, Blodwyn Pig), and Scott Gorham (Thin Lizzy). Gary Moore apparently got one fitted with EMG pickups, but he seems not to have been impressed.
Booth left Yamaha in 1990 to start his own shop. In 2002, he resurrected the design, trimmed it down a bit, refined some features, and it’s now available as the Martyn Booth Classic and Signature. His output hovers around 50 per year.
We don’t know whether the MSG/Image guitars are rare birds. Demand for them remains high, and few show up on the market. They appear to have been more popular in the U.K. than in the U.S. They were expensive and appeared at a time when tastes were changing – it was not a “heavy metal” guitar, and it certainly wasn’t an instrument to be wielded by Nirvana.
Nevertheless, the Yamaha Image is another fine example of a superbly made guitar that has gone quietly unnoticed except by devoted fans. Quietly, that is, until you pick it up, throw on the fingerboard LEDs, and shove that switch into active overdrive!
This article originally appeared in VG May 2010 issue. All copyrights are by the author and Vintage Guitar magazine. Unauthorized replication or use is strictly prohibited.
Price: $1,899 (Dream Solo 1 combo); $1,699 (Dream Solo 4 head); $699 (Switchback 112) Info: www.3rdpower.com
Recording/touring guitarist, studio engineer, and industry veteran Jamie Scott made the metamorphosis into amp designer by learning to repair and modify Marshall heads. He quickly realized that he wanted amps to sound full, responsive, and what he refers to as “fader up” – i.e., fully formed and ready to “fader up” on a recording console or a live sound board.
Scott’s vision became reality with the debut of his 3rd Power HD100, which received instant market acceptance thanks to notable users like Simon Townshend, Richie Sambora, Neal Schon, and Steve Miller. Requests for more vintage-styled amps followed, and Scott responded with the American and British Dream series, mining the tones of vintage classics. The former features channels called Brownface and Blackface, while the British Dream offers ’59 AC and’68 Plexi.
Dream amps instantly found homes among artists and producers alike, with studio guys like Justin Niebank and Paul Ebersold, and guitar legends like Joe Walsh and Vince Gill counting themselves among Dream users. Two years later, Scott responded to customer demand for single-channel entries in the Dream series by introducing four Dream Solo amplifiers, including the Dream Solo 1 and 4 (DS1 and DS4), based on the aforementioned Brownface and’68 Plexi channels, respectively.
Both the DS1 and DS4 have a power section comprising two JJ 6V6s and a silicon diode rectifier. The preamps differ in the DS1’s two 12AX7s versus the DS4’s three 12AX7 preamp tubes. The DS1 has Volume, Tone, and Presence controls, as well as a Bright switch, while the DS4 has Treble, Middle, Bass, and Presence controls. Both amps have a rear-mounted HybridMaster control knob, along with 4/8/16-ohm speaker outputs, as well as a passive effects loop. Both are neatly wired in point-to-point fashion and utilize vacuum tubes that are burned in for stability and sonically tested and graded for optimal performance. The DS1 tested was a combo (also available as a head) while the DS4 was a head (also available as a combo). Both the DS1 and the 3rd Power Switchback 112 cab through which the DS4 head was played utilize the Eminence Legend V128 12″ 100-watt speaker that Scott breaks in to give his amps better responsiveness and tone right out of the box.
After plugging a1967 Telecaster into the DS1 and beginning the ceremonial twisting of the knobs, it became immediately apparent that this nod to the original is spot on. The DS1 has the pronounced midrange and woody thwack that say “brownface.” As good as the clean is, the dirtier tones are even more satisfying, with their percussive, juicy, and aggressive flavors. As much as the gear illuminati might say the tweed Twin is the sound of Keith Richards, the DS1 displays Keef tones in spades.
A ’59 reissue Les Paul and a Strat also performed well; the Les Paul, by nature of its higher output, turned the amp into a rocker lower on the Volume dial. While the DS1 has a single Tone control, just like the venerable original, the addition of Presence and Bright controls allow one to dial in the tone to the sweet spot and then add shimmer and clarity as needed with the additional controls. Additionally, the HybridMaster feature makes even the dirtiest tones available at low volumes.
The DS1 seems to always have a nicely “framed” tone regardless of setting, confirming Scott’s “fader up” philosophy of amps. When pressed on this, Scott indicates that his amps have proprietary TubeMIX circuitry (similar to a summing bus on a recording console) that applies subtle noise reduction, limiting compression, and some gain to EQ correction. How it all works is unclear; what is clear is that the tones of both amps are very pleasing. Finally on the DS1, both the speaker and the cab are noteworthy. Scott uses proprietary deflection panels inside his cabs to help reduce standing waves and disperse sound. To some ears it gives the amp more of 3D sound than a standard open-back cab.
The DS4 is the bestseller of the Dream Solo series, and after plugging into one, it’s clear why. At lower volume settings the amp is very sweet and, frankly, Fender-y in nature. However, as the volume is raised, the amp’s plexi pedigree quickly becomes obvious. Gritty, full, and punchy tones emanate, and thanks again to the HybridMaster control, the amp is capable of great crunch tones even at low volume. And unlike most master volume controls, Scott’s approach does not suck the life out of the amp’s tone – it simply allows the player to set a desired sound then the overall level. A peek inside the chassis reveals a brilliantly simple combination of circuits that regulate not just signal level, but voltage and current flow in various stages.
The DS4’s familiar three-band EQ is quite useful for dialing in the best tone for the instrument. Each dial exhibits nice variation from 0 to 10, but never so drastic as to make the amp picky as to position – or make the player afraid to breathe on it once the sweet spot is found. The Switchback cab with its 12″ Eminence V128 perfectly handles clean and dirty tones. And its ability to switch from open- to closed-back configuration gives it more tonal variation and versatility. Overall, it is a great amp with stellar cleans and dirt tones that are much richer and more responsive than any stompbox.
The 3rd Power Dream Solo amps are fantastic tools and they arrive ready to be played. Scott’s passion for tone, attention to detail, and experience as a player have resulted in a desire to build amps that not only sound like the amps of yesteryear, but are dialed in to work well in modern band and gigging contexts, thus features like the HybridMaster volume control, the Switchback cab, and the TubeMIX feature that subtly compresses tone to give Dream amps their signature “fader up” quality. These features add up to vintage hues sculpted to please the most finicky soundman, producer, or tone aficionado.
This article originally appeared in VG March 2013 issue. All copyrights are by the author and Vintage Guitar magazine. Unauthorized replication or use is strictly prohibited.
While PRS has for several years offered a piezo bridge-pickup system in its Hollowbody models, it recently worked with LR Baggs to improve their collaborative piezo, and the end result is being offered for the first time on a production PRS solidbody.
The P22 is based on PRS’ Custom 22 but with a slightly thicker double-cut mahogany body a la the McCarty model, figured maple top, set mahogany neck with 25″ scale and 22 frets, a PRS/LR Baggs wraparound bridge/tailpiece, and Phase III locking tuners. Our test guitar sported a fancy maple top in Black Gold Burst finish with the company’s V12 topcoat, and Bird inlays on the fretboard. Electronics include a pair of PRS 53/10 humbuckers mated to a five-way blade selector, master Volume and Tone controls for the magnetic pickups along with a master Volume for the piezo, and a three-way mini toggle to combine (or switch between) the two systems. The five-way gives the player the bridge humbucker alone (in position one), the inside coils of the neck pickup and the bridge humbucker (position two), both humbuckers (three), the inside coil of the bridge pickup and the neck humbucker (four), and the neck humbucker alone (five).
The P22 has two output jacks; one mixes the acoustic and magnetic pickups into a standard instrument cable for use with a single amp, the other routes the piezo to a separate acoustic amp or PA system. Also on the jack plate is the piezo’s 9-volt battery compartment, which houses six mini pots that control the output of individual string saddles on the piezo.
Our tester had PRS’ Pattern Regular neck profile (also borrowed from the McCarty), which has a very comfortable feel, fitting right between the company’s Wide Thin and Wide Fat profiles. The fretboard’s rolled edge gives it a lived-in feel, while the low string action and nicely polished frets made bending easy. The one piece mahogany body was light and resonant, fit and finish of all components was nicely executed, and intonation was spot-on.
Other notable features include PRS’ new pickup bobbins, which have a slightly squared shape along with new surrounds with recessed cavities that keep the height-adjustment screws flush with the top of the ring, and Phase III locking tuners that have an elegant semi-open-back design, larger buttons, and tighter gear ratio.
We tested the P22’s 53/10 magnetic pickups through a 6L6-powered 1×12″ combo and its piezo through a 1×12″ acoustic amp. The 53/10s, while true full-sized humbuckers, take inspiration from single-coils of the early ’50s, producing a thick, articulate tone with a single-coil top-end snap. Through the amp’s overdrive channel, they have plenty of midrange punch, with sweeter highs and excellent note separation. Positions two and four, which mix single-coil and humbuckers, produce a surprisingly Fender-ish quack. Darker humbucker tones are achieved by simply rolling back the well-voiced Tone control without appreciable loss of clarity.
Through a dedicated acoustic amp, the new PRS/Baggs bridge produced an outstanding acoustic tone with a realistic, “woody” vibe and clear, crisp highs, even mids, and tight low-end response. The tone is not metallic-sounding in the least. Rather, it’s warm and round, but still exhibits the classic piezo “glassy” top-end shimmer, without, of course, the feedback, howling, or noise rendered by a traditional acoustic/electric when it’s turned up or moved too close the amp. And as a player, one needn’t adapt their technique, so it remains easy to solo in upper registers, execute full bends, and do things that prove challenging an acoustic. While having to use two cables and running into two amps complicates matters a bit, it’s key to getting an authentic acoustic sound without sacrificing regular electric tone, as well as adding a new dimension and space when both systems are engaged.
The 53/10 pickups and re-tooled piezo make the P22 one of the most versatile-sounding guitars on the market. With its huge palate of single-coil, humbucker, and acoustic tones, excellent playability, quality, and killer looks, the P22 will be the go-to guitar for many.
This article originally appeared in VG July 2012 issue. All copyrights are by the author and Vintage Guitar magazine. Unauthorized replication or use is strictly prohibited.
This 1921 Martin 000-42 bearing serial number 15947 projects with excellent volume. It’s very responsive and renders beautiful tone – prime for fingerpicking.
Martin has never been a stranger to producing certain guitars in very limited quantities.
But just how rare is the 12-frets-to-the-body 000-42? It has long been held that Martin has done a yeoman’s job of tracking its production through the years (few manufacturers have been so meticulous, especially going back so far), but it has recently become clear that the company’s production totals from its early history can no longer be relied upon as 100 percent accurate.
Those records, as printed in the late Mike Longworth’s book Martin Guitars – A History indicate that 13 of this style were made (two in 1918, five in ’21, four in ’25, and one in 1930). However, there has been a great deal of research since Longworth’s book was first published in 1975. In certain cases, such as the 000-28 koa-bodied guitar (of which Longworth indicated only one), three are known to exist; two of them were recorded as 000-28s with no mention that they were koa. This information was discovered when the guitars surfaced in recent years.
According to Richard Johnston, co-author of the book’s revised edition, Martin’s production totals for the 12-fret 000-42 do not agree the serial-number logs, and there are surviving records of only nine such guitars.
“In going over the same serial number log Mike Longworth was using, I find two listed in 1918, five in 1921, one in ’22, and in 1925 I can’t find any mention of a 000-42,” he said. “There are no additional notes for any of them with the exception of the second one in 1918, which has serial number 13364 and is the model with special pickguard made for Ditson with fan bracing. I’ve read through all entries for the year 1925 three times, and can’t find a hint of any 000-42. But, maybe Mike found something he didn’t write in the log? This period is a mess, with a lot of models sometimes lumped into the same batch. For instance, 22084 through 22098 is described as ’00-42, 00 and 000-45,’ which suggests that 000-42 models could have been included in that same shop order.
“This kind of mismatch between Mike’s totals and the serial number log, which he compiled, is not unusual,” Johnston added. “Serial number 41802 is listed as a single-order 000-42 stamped March 13. Also, 1930 is an absolute mess, listing new and old style tenors, plectrums, OMs – including Deluxes – banjo pegs versus standard gears, ‘#25’ models, and every variation of older standard models imaginable as Martin struggled to find its way in the transition to longer necks along with bigger bodies for four-string models. That lone 000-42 is months before the first of the only two OM-42 models listed later that year.”
As is typical of Martin guitars made from 1898 through late 1930, this guitar has a serial number stamp on the neck block, but no style-designation stamp. It clearly conforms to the 000 size, with a 15″-wide body and style 42 construction and ornamentation, with abalone top trim and soundhole rosette, white/grained ivoroid bindings on the ebony fingerboard and top and back edges of the body, spruce top, Brazilian rosewood back and sides, and mahogany neck.
At the time this instrument was made, the 000 was the largest body size listed in Martin’s catalog, however, as early as 1916, the company had started to produce 12-fret dreadnought guitars for distribution by the Oliver Ditson company. As befits the body size of the 000, this guitar has a 25.4″ scale whereas the far more numerous smaller body 0- and 00-size instruments produced in the ’20s had a 24.9″ scale.
The white-grained ivoroid pickguard is original. Martin did not offer pickguards as a standard feature on guitars prior to late 1929, but they produced mandolins with pickguards as early as 1896 and pickguards were available as an option on guitars by the early 1900s. The earliest Martin mandolin guards and some of their early guitar guards such as this one were inlaid into the top rather than glued to the surface.
The vast majority of guitars made by Martin in 1921 were still braced and designed for use with gut strings, but most players at that time who purchased Martin guitars for classical style playing preferred the smaller 0 and 00 size instruments, which they felt responded better to the low tension of gut strings. The 000 size, in the opinion of most players, is better suited to steel strings, and sales of 000 models were slow until Martin switched a majority of its production to steel strings a few years later.
Though a high percentage of Martins survive today (especially the higher-grade models, which were particularly well-cared-for by their owners), and those produced in such low quantities are particularly well-documented, to our knowledge only one other 12-fret 000-42 has surfaced.
This article originally appeared in VG August 2013 issue. All copyrights are by the author and Vintage Guitar magazine. Unauthorized replication or use is strictly prohibited.
In just a few short years, Strymon has established itself as a premier developer of pedal effects. With boxes like the highly praised El Capistan dTape Echo, they’ve cut out a niche building DSP effects that recapture the sounds of iconic analog gear with remarkable authenticity.
A recent addition to Strymon’s lineup is the Flint, a two-in-one pedal that re-creates tremolo and reverb circuits from historic guitar amps and studio effects. With the Flint, the dynamic duo of trem and ’verb as heard in much-coveted, seldom-acquired gear can be dropped right into your signal chain.
As famously well as tremolo and reverb work in tandem, they are discrete effects in the Flint, each with its own bypass switch, LED indicator, and parameter controls on the face of a handsome black box. On the trem side, a mini switch selects between three tremolo types: ’61 harmonic band filtering (think early brownface Fenders like the Concert and Twin), ’63 power-tube bias (brownface Princeton), and ’65 photocell (Deluxe Reverb). The Speed knob controls how fast or slow the trem oscillates, and Intensity controls the depth of the effect, ranging from no effect at hard left to smooth waves around 12 o’clock to the stuttering chop of a square wave at hard right.
On the reverb side, a mini switch selects between ’60s spring tank, ’70s electronic plate (inspired by the EMT 250), and ’80s studio rack hall (Lexicon, Alesis). The Mix knob controls the wet/dry balance, Decay lengthens or shortens the reverb trail, and Color varies the reverb tone – great for tailoring the Flint to your existing rig.
Strymon engineers note that they don’t model any specific amps or effects, but pore over the schematics of old circuits to learn how to re-create their unique and most desirable characteristics. While one musician will appreciate, say, how well Flint’s ’70s reverb plate emulates the coveted EMT 250 (to learn more, clench your wallet tightly and then check eBay), another will simply enjoy the ease with which gentle waves of vintage trem, an ambient wash, or a genuine surf tone can be recalled. In fact, Flint not only captures those vintage colors faithfully but expands on original parameters. The reverbs can create nearly infinite decays, for example, and trem speeds can run slower than the original amps allowed. Any analog purists out there are still free to set their Flint dials for vintage limitations, if they prefer.
Tremolo and reverb are wisely paired, and interact under the Flint’s hood in compelling and highly usable ways. Each can bolster the other’s best qualities or rescue an effect that needs tweaking. A reverb set to short decay and dark color adds girth to a hard-edged trem; a photocell trem softens and warms a hollow reverb. The Flint makes it possible to dial in completely convincing tones from days long gone but also allows the player to selectively dial out the undesirable sonic characteristics of those original circuits – a ticking trem, a splashy reverb attack – and replace them without sacrificing a tone’s organic, natural quality.
Secondary functions of all the front-panel knobs, accessed by holding down the two bypass switches, make possible more variations and customizations, such as a 3dB boost or cut when an effect is engaged. The order of the effects in the signal chain can be swapped; though the default setting is Reverb>Tremolo, in keeping with traditional circuit routing, reversing the order produces the more real-world sound of an amp with tremolo in a reverberating hall – the guitar signal reverberates without the peculiar sound of a reverb trail being tremmed. Another conscientiously added feature gives the player the capability to rig Flint for analog bypass rather than true bypass, so that active reverb sounds sustain when the effect is bypassed rather than abruptly cutting off.
On the back panel, the input is configured for mono but internal jumpers can be reset for TRS stereo input. There are left and right stereo outputs, plus a jack for one of three external connections: an expression pedal for continuous control over any selectable parameter; a Strymon “Favorite” switch for recalling one favorite preset in addition to the current dial settings; or a switch for tapping in tremolo tempos.
For anyone on that Holy Grail quest for vintage tone, the influence of tremolo and reverb shouldn’t be underestimated. If you have been inching closer to it, the Flint may be the big step you need. But for players with any kind of rig, playing any style, the Flint delivers high-quality trem and reverb as if plucked from the chassis of a classic piece of gear.
This article originally appeared in VG March 2013 issue. All copyrights are by the author and Vintage Guitar magazine. Unauthorized replication or use is strictly prohibited.
It’s been said that Buddy Guy was the first guitarist to put his instrument through a Leslie rotating speaker. Supposedly, this was done in a pinch after his amp crapped out during a 1965 session for Junior Wells’ seminal Hoodoo Man Blues, but the result was a fresh new sound.
Soon after, the Beatles started experimenting with rotating speakers, followed by Jimi Hendrix and Cream. As more guitarists picked up on the Leslie, they were faced with the problem of moving these behemoths that were often the size of a small refrigerator.
As the ’60s progressed, the Uni-Vibe became what many believe to be the first pedal to simulate a Leslie. Since then, dozens of pedals have been devised to produce shimmering, liquid tones. The latest entry into the war of the vibes comes from Chris Siegmund, founder of Siegmund Guitars and Amplifiers. His hand-built, tube-driven Doppler Vibe, contained in a heavy-duty, blue octagonal case, provides a range of great Leslie-esque tones, from lush chorus to fast tremolo.
The Doppler Vibe, which comes with its own power supply, is relatively simple to operate, having only five controls. The Intensity knob controls the level of effect, from subtle to pulsating. Speed regulates the rate of pulse, made visible by a blinking red LED in the center of the pedal. Additional range of speed up and down can be invoked through a Fast/Slow toggle (an optional foot controller – a wah-wah-style rocker pedal – does this manually by overriding the speed controls).
The Doppler Vibe’s Balance and Tone controls are a little more involved and have a unique relationship. Balance combines both sides of the phase when in mono mode, while the Tone knob splits it into unique, out-of-phase signals. In stereo mode the two allow the player to emphasize different sides of phase through the two amps, creating an effect that can best be described as ranging from a rotating speaker effect to a pitch-shifting vibrato.
When tested through a ’66 blackface Vibrolux Reverb, it becomes apparent in mono mode that the micro tubes within the Doppler Vibe provided a significant signal boost, warming up the front end of the amp – a nice touch, especially when using a bright guitar, in this case a 1970 maple-neck Strat. It didn’t, however, color the sound of the guitar. The optional foot controller allows the player to ramp up from slow to fast just like a real Leslie, a great feature as that speed variation becomes an effect onto itself. With the foot controller rocked all the way back, the Doppler Vibe provided a nice, slow chorusy sound, à la Hendrix’s “Angel.” With a push forward of the pedal, the speed escalated to a “Burning of the Midnight Lamp” fast tremolo.
The real fun began when a ’69 smallbox Marshall 50 and 2×12 cab were plugged into the Doppler Vibe’s stereo input. Placing the amps about 20 feet apart transformed the room into a giant rotating speaker cabinet. This was truly a transcendent experience, with waves of sound coming through the two amps at slightly different times, phases, and pitches. A Tube Screamer placed in front of the Doppler Vibe increased the intensity until the pulsating was almost visible.
When put through the tube-buffered effects loop of a Colby dtb50 (VG, Feb. 2013), the Doppler Vibe seemed to become one with the amp. Although the pedal increased the hotness of the signal, it didn’t bring a noticeable level of additional noise when using the effects loop.
By placing waves of bass and treble around the room when in stereo mode, the Doppler Vibe closely mimics a rotating speaker, though this effect pedal goes way beyond simple Leslie clone. It is a very usable effect that should inspire many who want to add a little “spin” to their sound – and avoid a little pain in their backs!
This article originally appeared in VG March 2013 issue. All copyrights are by the author and Vintage Guitar magazine. Unauthorized replication or use is strictly prohibited.
In the annals of guitar stompboxes, there are no tones more elusive than the mystical swirls of a modulation pedal and the warm roar of an overdrive box. Builders big and small put their stamp on these two classic designs, tweaking circuits and then some. As evidence, we offer two new boutique pedals – the Effectrode Tube-Vibe and Goran Fat Boy overdrive.
The Effectrode Tube-Vibe is an inventive redesign of the (in)famous Uni-Vibe. As the name suggests, the most noticeable innovation is its use of tubes as a central component of the circuit, providing low noise and tons of headroom. The tubes are protected by two metal bars so that they can’t be smashed by an errant footstomp, and are interchangeable with other 9-pin tubes. The design was further revamped with Effectrode’s true-bypass switching system and a 1-meg input, which ensures a clear signal path and that pickups won’t overload.
Other cool features include a Chorus/Vibrato switch and a Classic/Smooth switch that alternates between a more-classic Uni-Vibe tone and a more spacey/surreal sound. Additionally, the two low-frequency oscillators (LFOs) can be frozen at specific frequency notches to work as a filter. The Tube-Vibe also has an LED that flashes at the same tempo of the LFOs, so guitarists can match the Tube-Vibe to the tempo they’re playing.
The Tube-Vibe has three knobs – Speed (to control the rate of the LFOs), Intensity (depth of the LFOs), and Volume. Along the back are the input for the power supply, a jack for an expression pedal, the input and output jacks, as well the Chorus/Vibrato and Classic/Smooth switches.
We tested the Tube-Vibe with a humbucker-equipped guitar through a tube amp and a modeling amp. With the Chorus and Classic positions selected (to establish a baseline to the original UniVibe), we experienced a terrifically warm, lush vibe perfectly suited to knocking out Robin Trower’s “Bridge of Sighs” or Hendrix’s “Machine Gun.” The Speed and Intensity controls have enough range for everything from subtly nuanced modulation for clean arpeggios to psychedelic freakouts. Flipping on the Vibrato mode reveals cool pitch-bending warbles that make any lick unique and refreshing. The Smooth mode is a nice complement to the Classic mode’s thick, marshy vibe, bringing a lighter, dreamier modulation to the table that is excellent for odd, dissonant chording. We also had fun using an expression pedal to vary the speed and add further dynamics to our riffs.
The Tube-Vibe is a cool tweak on the original UniVibe, bringing both innovation and improved tone to a revered design. It brings a multitude of options to the table and the runs the spectrum of the phase based modulation, it’s definitely a must have for those in the know about vibe pedals.
The Fat Boy, from Goran Custom Guitars, is a dual-mode overdrive designed to drive clean amps into heavier territory. Its pressed-steel construction hints at durability, while the control layout is smart and professional. Internal components are equally impressive, including Black Gate electrolytic capacitors, new-old stock Allen Bradley composite resistors, and a military-grade op-amp.
Atop the Fat Boy are the controls for the two channels. For the Drive Channel, they are Gain, Tone, and Volume. The Solo Channel has knobs Gain and Volume. Between the two sets, a switch selects Fat or Vintage modes; Fat is reminiscent of JCM-series Marshall amps, while Vintage recalls the classic overdrive of early Marshalls and Fender tweed amps.
The Fat Boy has two stompswitches; one activates the Drive channel, the other Solo mode. These are not separate entities, but rather, interactive modes. Drive serves as the base tone, while Solo acts as a boost, giving the Drive more gain, more volume, or both.
We started testing the Fat Boy using a humbucker-equipped guitar plugged into an amp set clean. The Vintage mode did a very good job emulating the sound of early Marshalls and Fenders while not sacrificing depth, as many such pedals do. From its lowest gain setting to the highest, it was just tight enough for rhythm work without losing the sonic fluidity characterized by the vintage amps. The higher gain stages seemed more British in character, while lower gain settings had Fender grit and rumble. One of the great things about the two-mode system is that one can have a very low gain setting on the Drive channel, then kick on the Solo mode and add an extraordinary amount of gain and sustain for lead playing without sacrificing tone.
The Fat mode delivers on its promise of JCM-era overdrive, and there’s more than a modest difference between it and the Vintage mode. Where Vintage is loose and more present in the midrange, Fat is super-tight, with a classic scooped sound. Fat definitely takes you back to the ’80s (but without glitter and hairspray!) with a sound that’s pure testosterone. It’ll definitely put some hair on your chest when you kick in the solo mode, which heaps on even more gain for explosive rhythm riffs and molten solos.
This article originally appeared in VG December 2012 issue. All copyrights are by the author and Vintage Guitar magazine. Unauthorized replication or use is strictly prohibited.
In a day where gear companies often focus on utilitarian products, it’s nice when high-end craftsmanship rears its head. Ken Doles and the crew at DoleSonic Amplifiers are a good example with their latest offering, the Half Back Stack.
A Class-A/10-watt offering, the amp sports an interesting tube combination – a single KT66, 12AX7, and a 5Y3 NOS rectifier. The KT66 gives the Half Back a unique voice, yet it’s not too broad a departure for traditionalists who may be more accustomed to the softer output of tubes like a 6V6; the Half Back can also be ordered with a 6V6, 6L6 or EL34.
The Half Back’s controls are elegant and simple – single Volume and Tone with three-way Voicing switch that allows the user to toggle between Bright, Normal, and Boost settings. An impedance switch on the back panel allows for 4- to 8-ohm loads. Equally appealing is the amp’s speaker cabinet. Made of pine with a 3/4″ birch plywood baffle that gives it a high level of structural integrity while optimizing sound dispersion. The piggyback format exudes cool, especially with custom touches like a vintage-style custom grillecloth and leather strap handles. Head and cab are hand-stained in a finish that accentuates the design and wood grain.
Plugging in a solidbody with dual humbuckers, the first word that comes to mind is “warmth.” Notes all over the neck translate clearly, with a pronounced roundness – not overbearing. The Class A circuitry provides nice top-end presence without being overly chimey. Single-coil solidbodies render plenty of snap and bite – again, with that warmth. The DoleSonic excels as a jazz amp; hollowbodies blossom through the stack, and it loves flatwound strings.
Don’t for a second think the Half Back is simply a clean-sounding low-watt amp. On the contrary, DoleSonic’s design provides really nice overdrive; virtually all distortion settings proved usable and musical. When pushed, the roundness of the amp’s tone helps retain the same warmth. From subtle breakup to full steam ahead, the amp begs to be pushed, and you quickly forget you’re working with just 10 watts.
In all, the DoleSonic Half Back Stack is an impressive package. In the studio or on stage, its looks are timeless, its tone much the same.
This article originally appeared in VG December 2012 issue. All copyrights are by the author and Vintage Guitar magazine. Unauthorized replication or use is strictly prohibited.
Debuting circa 1966 and lasting only a few years, the Spectrum 5 was the top of the line for the Tokyo Electronics Company in the psychedelic late ‘60s, when suppliers could not keep up with demand for guitars.
The name of this guitar derived from the switches’ ability to produce five tonal colors – a “spectrum of sound” – which could be used alone or in any combination. For stereo output – bass through one channel, treble through the other – two jacks were used.
The Spectrum 5 – along with a few other collectible guitars like the Yamaha SG series – reflect the end of the first era of Japanese guitar making. As the ’70s dawned, the emphasis shifted to copying successful American instruments and consolidating market share.
