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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Gibson Double Cut Longhorn Guitar
November 5, 2008 by Chazders · Leave a Comment
Gibson USA’s Guitar of the Month for November ‘08, the Longhorn Double-cutaway has an appealing body design that incorporate slightly extended, asymmetrical cutaways on a solid chunk of mahogany topped with a beautiful AA figured maple top.
The level of detail continues with its white three-ply binding around the body and headstock, which not only adds beauty to the guitar, it adds bump protection as well. And the improvements don’t end there. The Longhorn is loaded with the legendary EMG-85 active humbuckers. The EMG-85 actives deliver tone, power, and performance for all styles of musicians. The innovation continues on with a special designed L.R. Baggs piezo pickup located underneath the Tune-o-matic bridge. This gives guitarists the option of either blending the two sounds together or using them separately, thus allowing players all types of sonic capabilities.
Gibson employing a pair of EMG 85 pickups and an LR Baggs piezo pickup shows the company isn’t afraid to think outside the box. Innovated ideas like the detailed unique-style flowerpot headstock inlay add to the beauty and definition of detail. The flowerpot inlay dates back to the early 1900s which several of Gibson’s rare historic mandolins and archtops employed. The Gibson USA Longhorn guitar is limited to just 1,000 instruments. Estimated price $1999 - $2299
The neck is a solid-one-piece mahogany with Gibson’s established ’50s rounded profile, topped by an ebony fingerboard with white acrylic small-block fretboard inlays created specifically for the Longhorn. Also in keeping with tradition is the headstock’s flowerpot inlay.
The End Line
Design
Gibson’s pioneering spirit has no boundaries, and nowhere is this more evident than in Gibson USA’s - Longhorn Double Cut. This soon-to-be-classic features Gibson’s newest body design, consisting of slightly extended, asymmetrical cutaways on a solid piece of mahogany, topped by a beautiful AA figured maple top. White three-ply binding around the body and traditional headstock adds both beauty and protection to the guitar. A special-design L.R. Baggs piezo pickup has been added beneath the Tune-o-matic bridge to deliver outstanding acoustic simulation capabilities. A pair of EMG’s legendary 85 active humbuckers deliver incredible tone, power, and performance at all levels, while a new two-jack input, also from L.R. Baggs, offers separate outputs for both the piezo and humbuckers.
Neck
The neck is a solid-one-piece mahogany with Gibson’s traditional ’50s rounded profile, topped by an ebony fingerboard with white acrylic small-block fretboard inlays created especially for the Longhorn. Also in keeping with tradition is the headstock’s Flowerpot inlay, which dates back to the early 1900s and several of Gibson’s historic mandolins and archtops. The fingerboard on the Longhorn is constructed from the highest grade ebony on the planet. The resilience of this dense and durable wood makes every fingerboard extremely balanced and stable, and gives each chord and note unparalleled clarity and bite. The fret wire on the Gibson models is a combination nickel and silver alloy (approximately 80 percent nickel and 20 percent silver) specifically designed for long life and superior wear. The small block inlays on the new Longhorn Double Cutaway are a new inlay design from Gibson. They are a variation of Gibson’s more traditional larger block inlays, and give the Longhorn’s fingerboard a distinctly smooth look.
Body
The joining together of a solid mahogany back and maple top is a time-honored tradition at Gibson, and a critical part of making the new Longhorn Double Cutaway. The formula employed to select the wood and dry it is just as important. On the Longhorn, the mahogany back is matched with a AA figured maple top, both of which are personally inspected and qualified by Gibson’s team of skilled wood experts.
Electronics
The EMG 85 is one of most popular active humbuckers in the world, and rightfully so. Equipped with a bar-shaped Alnico V magnet and coils with separate outputs, the EMG 85 yields a warmer and more natural tone, and delivers balanced and uniform string response. The wide aperture of the coils produces a beefier low end and fatter top end, with loads of output that doesn’t get muddy. They can be used to play everything from classic rhythm and blues to heavy metal. The new, special-design L.R. Baggs piezo pickup is located under the Tune-o-matic bridge and offers a wide range of outstanding acoustic simulation capabilities. The Longhorn also comes equipped with a new two-jack input, also from L.R. Baggs, that offers separate outputs for both the piezo and the humbuckers, allowing for plenty of options to blend the two distinct sounds, or playing them individually.
Gibson Longhorn Double Cut Features:
* Body Style: Longhorn
* Top Species: AA Maple
* Back Species: Mahogany
* Binding: 3-Ply
* Finish: Heritage Cherry Sunburst
* Fingerboard Species: Ebony
* Scale Length: 24-3/4
* Number of Frets: 22
* Inlays: Small Block
* Neck Pickup: EMG 85
* Bridge Pickup: EMG 85
* Controls: Dual Output Blending Magnetic and Piezo Volumes, 1 Tone
* Neck Species: Mahogany
* Profile: ’60s Slim Taper
* Peghead Pitch: 17
* Nut Width: 1.695
* Neck Joint: 19th
* Hardware Plating Finish: Gold
* Tailpiece: Stop Bar
* Bridge: L.R. Baggs Piezo Tune-O-Matic
* Knobs: Gold Speed
* Tuners: Grover Keystone
* Includes special Guitar of the Month case
www.gibson.com
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Egnater Rebel 20 Guitar Amplifier
November 1, 2008 by Chazders · Leave a Comment
You know that kid in your class that was the rebel? Always sat in the back and caused chaos by disregarding all of the rules? The teachers couldn’t get him under control, and all of the girls thought he was cool for that. Well, what if you could get those same qualities in a guitar amp? Now you can. Read more
Egnater MOD 50 Guitar Amplifier
October 25, 2008 by Chazders · Leave a Comment
For many guitarists, collecting amps and pedals is more than just a hobby, it is most likely an obsession. A three by two foot area of your floor filled with assorted stompboxes, combo amps stacked on top of half-stacks with a/b/y splitters running cables to every single amp input, and all of those running to your mixer. It’s a beautiful site.
Unless you happen to be the wife of a guitarist, in which case it looks more like a fire hazard.
So how do you solve the dilemma of getting a wide assortment of amplifier tones without having to pile amplifiers in the corner of your living room (which is beginning to resemble Van Halen’s stage rig that has been hit by a tornado…or turned into the cat’s personal scratching post)?
First things first: ditch the cat. It’s destroying your amps and cables. And it smells worse than your drummer, Dave.
Second, you might want to check out the MOD 50 guitar amplifier from Egnater.
Egnater is a boutique amplifier company that makes some excellent sounding gear up in the not-so-exotic state of Michigan. The Egnater MOD 50 has one feature that is outstanding in the area of boutique amplifiers: the ability to use different modules to generate different amp tones.
First off, the MOD 50 is a full-featured amp that comes in either combo or head varieties, both of which allow you to run two different amp modules and give you the ability to switch between the two using a footswitch. In addition, each module has two separate channels, essentially giving you a four-channel amp (that conveniently only takes up the space of one amp, which may or may not make your wife cheer). The amp features two buffered effects loops that can be used together or separately, and a power switch that gives you three modes: standby, power (pushes the full 50 watts), and low power (which backs the amp down to 20 watts for smaller venues/recording/bedroom jamming). The MOD 50 is also a tube-driven amp, giving you a more natural warmth and clarity (which is a good thing).
There are currently nine different modules available for the MOD 50 amp (and also the M4 rack mounted preamp), giving you sound options that range from vintage California and classic British all the way up to dual-rectified monstrosities that, according to their website, are “not safe to be alone with your girlfriend”.
The Egnater MOD 50 provides just enough variety to satisfy your inner tone-freak while being almost pleasing to your wife (by reducing the amount of ‘clutter’ in your living room). There’s nothing like having a happy wife AND a great sounding amp. http://www.egnater.com
Twin Tube Mayhem Death in a Box
I’m always excited when new pedals are released. One of the more recent releases was Seymour Duncan’s Twin Tube Mayhem SFX-04, which is a balls-to-the-wall full-range tube driven distortion pedal jam-packed with welcoming features. It comes with your standard EQ–Treble, Mid, and Bass controls but a great added feature is the mid boost switch from 600hz to 1.4khz. The Mayhem also has a foot-switchable boost that you can set to either +4dB or +8dB. Loaded with gain, the Mayhem is perfect for hard rock, old school metal to death metal and everything in between.
Application
Rugged High-Quality guitar preamp with built in 4dB or 8dB boost. The Mayhem uses a duet of premium, mil-spec, subminiature, USA-made Phillips-Sylvania 62051 pentode preamp-tubes. Perfect for hard rock, new metal, thrash, death and doom.
Description
The high plate voltage and 100% vacuum tube signal path allow the preamp-tubes to operate at their fullest potential and provide maximum dynamic range. Additional gain is achieved with a high voltage, low noise, discrete Class A input stage. The solid state input stage increases the resistance of the stomp-box to microphonics. The result is maximum dynamic range, the most gain, and the heaviest tone you would expect from a great tube preamp voiced for hard rock and metal. Also features user-selectable 4dB or 8dB boost for pre-setting rhythm and lead levels. True bypass. Fully encapsulated toroidal transformer for quiet operation. As expected, you can trust that the Seymour Duncan Mayhem is built with a rugged heavy duty steel chassis, with the hardcore guitarist in mind.
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Akai DPS12 Recorder Review
September 30, 2008 by Chazders · Leave a Comment
Our final contestant in our recent recorder reviews, the Akai DPS12, is chunkier and shorter than the Fostex DMT-8VL but closer to it than the Korg D8 size. Read more
Harmony Central Message Board Is Down
September 30, 2008 by Chazders · Leave a Comment
Harmony Central Message Board Is Down
We’ve noticed that Harmony-Central music message forum is down due to having database error (s). We would like to take this opportunity to invite acapella.harmony-central.com forum members to join us at Gear-Monkey Forums Read more
Understanding Speaker Cabinet Designs
September 23, 2008 by Chazders · Leave a Comment
Lesson #1
Ask a group of guitarists what their favorite instrument, amplifiers and effects are, and each one will surely ramble on for hours about his gear of choice. Ask that same group about their favorite speakers and cabinets, however, and many of them will likely respond with a simple “I dunno.” The sad truth is that even though cabinets and speakers play major roles in shaping the tone of a guitar sound, they are often overlooked by players.
The overall sound of a cabinet is the result of all the components that go into building it and how they’re put together. Once you acquire the knowledge of what goes into building speakers and cabinets, you’ll start to understand exactly what you like and dislike about different cabinets. In this lesson, I’m going to focus on defining the components and materials that go into building speakers and cabinets as they relate to the sound they produce. My hope is that at the end of the two lessons, you will be well informed and on your way to identifying what you preferences are and what speakers and cabinets complement your playing the best.
With very few exceptions, cabinets are made out of wood. Plied birch wood is far and away the most common choice, though some cabs are made from particle board or a combination of the two. Sonically, birch is great because it strikes a very desirable balance; it’s rigid enough to produce punch and definition while being soft enough to sound warm but not floppy. Remember that the cabinet acts as a resonator for the speakers just as the wood of a guitar acts as a resonator for the vibrations of the strings. Birch is also super durable and is well suited to withstand the vibrations, abuse and travel that a cabinet is likely to endure.
The average wall thickness of a 4×12, 2×12 and 1×12 cabinets is ¾-inch, though some combos have been made from one-inch thick wood. A one-inch wall will be more rigid and will produce a tighter, darker and more blunt sound; a ½-inch wall will usually accentuate high frequencies.
Another factor to consider is whether the cabinet has an open back or a closed back. Open back cabinets generally don’t produce as much low end because the back pressure created by the speakers has a lot of room to escape. With a closed back enclosure, the back pressure has a much harder time escaping the cabinet which, in turn, creates a more significant low end resonance. In some closed back and front loaded (where the speakers are mounted on the front of the baffle board) cabinet designs, you will see holes in the front or back of the cabinets. Those holes are known as ports and are intended to let some of the back pressure escape to allow for desirable frequency response.
An interesting characteristic I discovered about closed back cabinets is that you can change the sound of the cabinet by loosening and tightening the screws that hold the back board on. By loosening (or removing) some of the screws, you can “tune” the cabinet to be soft and floppy. If you want clarity and defined punch, use all the screws and tighten them up. It’s similar to the way drums are tuned—just think of the back board as the drum skin and the rest of the cabinet as the drum.
Another thing that I’ve found to affect the sound of a cabinet is the vinyl covering and the glue that holds it onto the cabinet. The glue and the vinyl slightly muffle the higher frequencies, in most cases in a desirable way. I first discovered this when I decided I wanted one of my 4×12s to have bare wood finish and proceeded to rip off all the vinyl. After the vinyl had been stripped I noticed a difference in sound.
The age of the cabinet and amount of time it’s been played also affect the sound. An old cabinet with years of use and heavy gigging will, in time, soften up and lose it’s stiffness-sometimes too much for desirable results. The sound of a cabinet is also affected by what surface it’s sitting on. I’d much rather have my amp sitting on a wood floor than carpet or concrete. Wood interacting with wood will only extend the resonance of an amp as opposed to carpet or concrete which have a little or no resonating abilities. For the same reason, I also recommend resting cabinets on rubber feet or nothing at all, as opposed to leaving the wheels on all the time.
That’s all for now. Next time we’ll look at different types of speakers. Come join us at Gear-Monkey Music Gear Message Boards
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