Jackson Demmelition King V Electric Guitar
November 19, 2008 by Chazders · Leave a Comment
Phil Demmel of Machine Head recently teamed with Jackson Guitars and integrated an element of masochism to conceive a dangerous new breed. Demmel’s legendary riffs smash us over the head like an annihilated sledgehammer, slaying our eardrums for a diabolic revelation, knocking out our teeth from an infuriated mosh pit…allowing us to stumble home with a grin plastered on our toothless bloodied face. Would it be sweet if you could abuse your audience like that? Guess what, you can. Read more
Gibson Dark Fire Electric Guitar
November 13, 2008 by Chazders · Leave a Comment
Gibson’s self-tuning Robot guitar had a limited run; the legendary guitar innovator had a much more insane second stage Robot already blueprinted and hidden up their sleeves. Of course, the mad scientists of Gibson Guitar’s don’t stop there, G-V readers, meet Gibson’s Dark Fire Les Paul digital guitar! Gibson continues to bring us more scientific achievements of our time. Read more
How To Spot Fake Fender Guitars
It’s easy to get bamboozled if you’re purchasing a vintage Fender guitar. Because these instruments are bolted together, their parts can be swapped, stripped or replaced faster than you can say “rip-off.” Read more
Roland GR-500 Synth-Guitar 1977
The introduction of the Moog Guitar at this past summer’s 2008 NAMM brought to attention of previous attempts to making guitars more synth-like. The Moog Guitar Company didn’t create a guitar synth, per se, but with its features like the voltage-controlled filter and continuous sustain, it’s a prodigy of the Roland GR-500.
The Roland GR-500 was introduced in 1977, which was actually a guitar synth system, with a comparison of an Ibanez-made Les Paul-style electric guitar/controller and a synthesizer design with more than 40 switches, knobs and controls. The Roland used a separate floor unit device, the PC50 footswitch. This unit allowed users to create and select from three different preset sounds. In that era, before MIDI, the GR-500’s components joined together with a bulky 24-pin cable about the diameter of a “garden hose”.
The instrument itself was an impressive looking guitar, with a beautiful honeyburst finish and an extensive knob-encumbered control panel on the top (like Les Paul) and bottom right (like Ibanez) that gave full-control over the synth unit’s four sections: Guitar, Poly-Esemble, Bass and solo-synth section called “Melody”. The guitar had a single humbucker pickup for standard guitar sounds and a hexaphonic pickup that allowed the synth-guitar to track the pitch of each string note with a fair degree of accuracy. In addition, magnets installed within the body allowed the guitar to produce everlasting sustain on demand, though all this added significantly to the instrument’s weight.
So what did the Roland GR-500 sound like? It’s reported that the Poly-Ensemble could produce convincing bowed string sounds, bass tones were effortless, and the synth’s “Melody” section gave guitarists total control over the synth’s components, allowing a complete range of tones, noises and, of course, effects.
The End Line
Roland’s GR-500 is not only unique, but rare, especially complete systems (see: PC50 footswitch and 24-pin cable), which is unfortunate. Without a synth unit and the cable to connect it, the GR-500 guitar is just a guitar.
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PRS CE Alder Guitar Review
November 3, 2008 by Chazders · Leave a Comment
PRS presented the CE line in 1988 as a high-quality, yet, less expensive bolt-on alternative from their pricier set-neck guitar models. PRS have gained quite a following fan base in the past 20+ years for their familiar feel and superior driving tone as well as for their competitive price point. Read more
Rick Gram Studios Tz-1 Woman Tone
October 27, 2008 by Chazders · Leave a Comment
“Nipples glow red when ON!” boasts the brochure for Rick Gram Studio Tz-1 Woman Tone. And indeed they do. Activate this titillating tone bender and you’ll be pleased, amused or maybe just outraged to find that the red LEDs illuminate the bountiful breasts of the bodacious blond silk-screened on the control panel of this creamy overdrive unit.
But if the packaging of the Woman Tone is outrageous, the tones it produces are as classy as they come: warm, responsive overdrives that react with smooth subtlety to variations in picking attack and guitar volume. Like Ibanez’s hallowed Tube Screamer or Boss’ now extinct OD-1 Overdrive pedals, the Tz-1 is not designed to produce gobs of gain. It instead excels at reproducing the creamy, compressed tones obtained by flooring classic non-master volume Marshall and Fender amps.
The plastic casing and input and output jacks may eventually crumble at the feet of booted bruisers, and a tone control would have been a welcome addition to the level and gain knobs. But the Woman Tone’s innards, which include noise quashing internal voltage-regulation circuitry and tone-saving virtual-bypass circuitry, are thoughtfully designed and well assembled.
Rick Gram Studios also offers the Catch-A-Buzz and the Franken Tone fuzz/distortion pedals. They, however, are not mammary powered.
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How Does A Wah-Wah Work?
October 16, 2008 by Chazders · Leave a Comment
Way back when electric guitars were still new fangled a few country players found they could add accents and expression to their music by twisting the guitar’s tone control while they played. Although subtle and somewhat tricky to negotiate, this maneuver produced a shift between muted bass and bright treble, adding color and movement to the notes. Read more
PRS McCarty Korina – a Sound to Remember
October 8, 2008 by Chazders · Leave a Comment
White Korina wood, also known as African limba, provides a thick solid tone much like mahogany. Korina wood is also the same high-quality wood used for many of the early [Gibson] Flying Vs and Explorers that now demand such high dollar. Notably, a Korina wood Ibanez Destroyer guitar had played a large part in Eddie Van Halen’s legendary “brown” sound. A nice piece of lightweight wood, like the ones used to construct the Korina McCarty guitars, provides renowned dimensionality and depth, screaming highs, rich rounded mids, thick lows while providing vocal-like velvety warmth backed with tremendous sustain.
The Korina McCarty’s body is carved from sold slab of Korina wood, as is the 22-fret thick-wide neck. For those who have not played the liked PRS carved neck, it’s a beefy C shape that’s positioned into the 25-scale body. The chrome-covered McCarty humbuckers are similar to the highly commended humbuckers in the standard McCartys, and a Duncan-wound soap-bar is offered as an option for those who want something a little more unique. Vintage style tuners and a fixed aluminum bridge add a touch of sparkle to the Korina McCarty’s highs.
Like the PRS Mira, the PRS Korina McCarty confirms that a guitar doesn’t need a maple top to sound excellent. The Korina produces all of mahogany’s warmth with more definition in the bass and a more dynamic response. The well-defined midrange harmonics are also dazzling—2nd-,3rd- and 4th-fret harmonics pop clearly from this McCarty, even with a clean amp setting. When needed, treble response can be sharp but not piercing. It’s a sound enthusiast call “refined” because the pronounced highs and loose lows are balanced to create a bolstering prominent midrange.
The PRS McCarty’s highly developed and defined tone just sings, but through an amp that has plentiful gain, it could be likened to Santana’s heavier sounds or when you turn up the gain or turn the treble down and comp out some cool jazz lines. Korina McCarty does every style well, rock, jazz, country, etc… The sound to remember.
PRS Korina McCarty Guitar.
prsguitars.com
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Fortin Bones Tube Amp
October 6, 2008 by Chazders · Leave a Comment
The BONES amplifier is a stripped down “bare bones”, single channel, all valve, electric guitar amplifier. With delicious modern styling and a straightforward & intuitive front panel layout, BONES is exceptionally versatile and completely inspirational from the first note played. It maintains all the detail of your guitar and playing dynamics as well as front-end dynamics from stomp box pedals.
The BONES front panel features consist of Input, Gain, Bass, Bright switch, Boost switch, Middle, Treble, Voicing L/M/H switch, Depth, Presence, and Master controls as well as Power and Standby switches. The Voicing L/M/H is a 3-way switch that selects between 2, 3 or 4 stages of gain. This function really changes the tone and feel of the amplifier giving you an astounding array of sounds. From succulent, vibrant cleans to blazing, cabinet erupting high gain overdrive, it’s like having three totally different amps! The rear panel includes 5 LOUDSPEAKERS, AC input, 4-Bias controls and test points, jacks and if requested, the following optional features (FX loop, Lineout with level, Footswitch & MIDI). The individual Bias controls are a powerful feature and tool for tapping into more tonal possibilities with the BONES amp. You can also mix and match different tube types together for virtually unlimited variety of tones.
BONES Chassis mounted components are wired, “flying lead” design, to a 1/8″ thick, 4oz weighted FR4 PCB. All ceramic tube sockets, sealed stainless steel shafted pots, metal jacks, metal switches, custom designed precision wound power, choke and output transformers are mounted to a rugged14 gauge brushed stainless steel chassis. Front and back panel are clear anodized brushed alloy with laser etched lettering that will not wear off. Housed in a ¾-inch birch-ply head case, accented with custom black aluminum anodized metal grills and a ¼-inch thick machined alloy logo plate. Premium components are used throughout, combined with solid, reliable design that will last several lifetimes over.
BONES FEATURES & SPECIFICATIONS:
World Mains 100/110/120/220/230/240 VAC 50/60HZ.
VOICING L/M/H selects between 2, 3 or 4 stages of gain.
4 - 12AX7s (1 x 12AT7 FX Loop) & 4 x Power tubes in any combinations of EL34, 6CA7, KT77, 6L6, 5881, KT66, 6550, KT88, KT90, KT100. Class-AB, 100 to 180 watts
4 - BIAS locking pots.
RMS, depending on types of power tubes used.
Fully regulated preamp DC heaters for an ultra low noise floor.
Optional FX Loop, Lineout w/ level control and other footswitching and MIDI options.
Marriage of PCB and Point-to-Point assembly.
Approx Street price: $2575.00
Visit Fortin Amps web site at www.fortinamps.com.
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LightWave Bass Pickup System See The Light
October 2, 2008 by Chazders · Leave a Comment
First there were magnetic pickups, hex pickups for guitar synth, and piezos for that acoustic guitar sound. Now there’s LightWave Pickup System from Audio Optics, Inc. The LightWave is a departure from conventional magnetic pickup technology.
Photodetectors use infrared illumination to measure the shadow cast by each vibrating string. This optical signal is then converted into an audio output. Meanwhile, each string is also “felt” by a piezo signal in the bridge, which contributes other components to the string’s sound. The bass player controls the blend of these optical and piezo outputs, and selects among 15 presets EQ settings for a wide range of tone colors. The LightWave is rockin’ in 4-, 5-, and 6- string basses. With acoustic-electric guitars to follow the lead. Your ears will be amazed at what your pickups are “seeing”. http://www.lightwave-systems.com
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