NAMM 2010: New pedals from Jim Dunlop and MXR

JC95 Jerry Cantrell wah

The Jerry Cantrell wah is based on the darker, wider-response wahs Jerry has favoured over the years (one particular favourite of his back in the day was the old Jimi Hendrix Crybaby, which is different to the one you can buy today). His signature pedal is custom-voiced for a tight, punchy heel-down tone, while a side-mounted control knob lets you fine-tune the toe-down frequency. It also has a bitchen road-worn oxidized brass casting with Alice In Chains tread which matches the pattern on some of Jerry's new G&L signature guitars.

M148 Micro Chorus

The Micro Chorus is a reissue of the classic 80s pedal, using the original bucket brigade technology. A single Rate control is all you get but the pedal is voiced so perfectly that you really won't need any further control range to access its classic sounds. The only change from the original is the addition of true bypass.

M152 Micro Flanger

Based on the MXR M117 Flanger, the Micro Flanger was originally released in the 80s and features only two controls: Rate and Regeneration. Like the Micro Chorus, the Micro Flanger features 100% analog bucket brigade technology, and it also features the addition of True Bypass. Cool!

CSP105 '75 Vintage Phase 45

Yep, the rare Phase 45 is back! The little brother of the Phase 90 features has two stages of phasing, offering subtle sounds with hand-matched FETs and a hand-wired circuit board. It features a Carling switch, CTS pot and Switchcraft jacks. Oh and it's limited-edition, so hurry up!

CSP202 Custom Comp

This Custom Shop compressor uses the rare CA3080 'metal can' IC for increased dynamic range, greater transparency and quieter operation. It also includes RF supression components for interference-free operation, as well as an internal Attack control for fine-tuning the speed of the note's initial attack.

ZW38 Black Label Chorus

The latest MXR Zakk Wylde pedal, the Black Label Chorus features a subtler delay than the MXR Stereo Chorus. It uses bucket brigade technology and has two outputs: Mono and Thru.

LINK: JimDunlop.com

VIDEO: Jim Root's guitar rig

Check out this video by the folks at Jim Dunlop. It features Slipknot/Stone Sour's Jim Root going through his rig, including the MXR Carbon Copy, and showing off his new prototype signature Stratocaster, which will be available from Fender in 2010.

Oh, swearing alert on this one.



CLICK HERE for my review of the Fender Jim Root Telecaster.

NEWS: My pedalboard on Tonefreq.info

Aljon over at Tonefreq.info is running a week of pedalboardy goodness, and today he's posted an entry from me about my (continually evolving) pedalboard. Here's the photo, but CLICK HERE for the post where I explain my pedalboard in greater detail.

REVIEW: MXR M-134 Stereo Chorus

I’ve been after a chorus pedal for a long, long time but I was never 100% happy with any chorus I tried. They were usually too hi-fi for my tastes – I hate that slick 80s studio sound with chorus on everything. My ideal chorus tone is something like what Steve Vai sometimes uses. Y’know, a warm analog warble beefing up the notes before they hit the amp, rather than a sterile hi-fi zing applied in the effects loop. I’ve tried a few pedals that got close, real close, but I’ve finally found my chorus of choice in the MXR M-134 Stereo Chorus.

Let’s look at the features first. You’ve got your typical rate, width and intensity controls, just as you would expect. But what’s that to the left? Treble and bass controls, so you can tailor the frequency response of the chorus effect while leaving the dry guitar sound unaltered? Awesome! Furthermore there’s a little switch which drops the bass frequencies out of the chorus effect altogether, so you maintain note definition and pitch clarity while still getting that ethereal shimmer. Great idea. And naturally, it's stereo. I don't have two amps that are similar enough to really get down to business with this feature, so I tried it through two amp sim programs on my computer and the results were suitably wide and lush. But it's not really fair to test a pedal using amp sims, so bare with me and next time I'm around a pair of suitable amps I'll amend the review. Aaah, the luxury of writing for a blog compared to a magazine!

The pedal runs on 18v so you’ll either need two 9v batteries or a Dunlop ECB-004 18-volt AC Adapter.

My preferred placement for chorus may be a little unusual compared to some players. I’ve placed it after my other modulation effects (phaser and flanger), and before distortion (Marshall DSL50’s Lead channel, sometimes beefed up with an MXR CAE Boost/Overdrive). My theory here is that the chorus works its magic on the phaser and flanger, and doesn’t sound so dang digital like if it was placed after distortion. There are two exceptions though: I have a Way Huge Swollen Pickle and a Dunlop Jimi Hendrix Octave Fuzz (one of my most cherished eBay finds) placed before the flanger and phaser. I don’t use fuzz as a main sound but rather a cool embellishment now and then, and I find it to be more stable if I’m not changing the input signal all the time with different effects. I also like the psychedelic effect of chorus, phaser or flanger applied after fuzz. It reminds me of stuff like ‘Itchykoo Park’ or something. Yet I simply will not abide the sound of phaser, flanger or chorus on a modern distortion or overdrive tone, dagnabbit! Yes, I’m a complex man.

I pretty quickly found my ideal setting with the MXR Stereo Chorus, and perhaps not surprisingly it’s with the width, rate and intensity controls all set somewhere around 5, give or take a little. This is where I find the best mix of sparkle, fatness and warmth. Check out Steve Vai’s tone on ‘Frank’ from The Ultra Zone for an idea of the kind of sound I’m going for with this setting. I use the filter button to zap out the chorus effect on the low end, which seems to maintain the thump of lower notes while increasing the zing of higher ones.

Sometimes though I leave the switch out and increase the width for a bit of a Joe Satriani Surfing With The Alien sound. This is an especially cool trick when I kick in the wah wah, then feed the whole shebang into a distorted amp setting.

You can also get some great vintage vibrato sounds by cranking the rate and width controls and mixing the intensity to taste. I like this for David Gilmour-esque wobbles, especially combined with a chorus effect.

So there ya have it: my long search for a chorus pedal is finally over. I wonder what pedal I’ll start lusting over next…

Check out JimDunlop.com for sound samples. I’ll record my own next week too and add them to the review.

LINK: Jim Dunlop online store

NEWS: Pro Guitar Shop reviews Dunlop Fullbore Metal distortion

I’m probably as much of an MXR/Dunlop geek as I am an Ibanez geek. Just have a look at my pedalboard for proof (and this morning I ordered a Buddy Guy wah to replace my unwell Crybaby).

Now MXR has released the M-116 Fullbore Metal distortion. According to the Dunlop blog:

This compact but powerful device is all you need to unleash the most devastating contemporary metal guitar tones ever heard. The FullBore pedal turbo-charges your guitar signal with lethal amounts of ultra high gain. This is combined with a built-in Noise Gate to knock out the noise associated with extreme gain levels while also adding definition and tightness to syncopated metal riffs. Extensive EQ controls, with Bass, Mid, sweepable Mid-Freq and Treble knobs let you sculpt your tone with fiendish precision. The additional Scoop switch provides an instant high and low frequency boost that’ll rumble the room while also adding clarity.

Check out Pro Guitar Shop’s video demo and review.

CLICK HERE to see the Pro Guitar Shop eBay store.

GEAR: About my rig on the Satch 'how to' video

I’ve had a few people ask me about the gear I used for the ‘How To Do Satch-Style Harmonic Squeals’ video I posted on the weekend. Here’s an edited version of a response I wrote to a user on Jemsite.

* Ibanez RG550 20th anniversary reissue with stock pickups.
* Marshall JCM2000 DSL50 amp
* AxeTrak isolated speaker cabinet
* MXR/CAE Boost/Overdrive pedal
* MXR Carbon Copy analog delay.

If you're interested in buying any of this stuff, there are links at the bottom of the post.

About the guitar: A lot of people change these pickups straight away without even giving them a chance, but I think they’re great. There’s a little 30-second shred video on my YouTube channel www.youtube.com/iheartguitarblog which is the same exact amp and effect setup but using the neck pickup instead. The neck pickup reminds me of Andy Timmons.

I fully expected to change out the stock V2 pickups, but after playing them for a few days I decided they were fine (although the single coil is a bit microphonic so if I’m using that I turn the boost pedal off). I never really liked the V8s – too barky for the sound I'm going for. The V2s sit very nicely in the mix and they’re great for either alternate picking or legato. They seem to emphasize everything you do, so if you have your phrasing together it really shows.

About the amp: The guitar is recorded directly from the AxeTrak into my Digidesign M-Box with no processing. For the recording I used the amp’s lead channel (in normal mode, not ‘Ultra’). Gain at 5, master at 6, through an AxeTrak isolated speaker cabinet. All of the tone controls on the Marshall are turned up to 10, although when using a regular Marshall cabinet instead of the AxeTrak I reduce the treble and presence to 5 to get the same sound. The AxeTrak sounds great but you just have to learn to compensate for its natural tone a bit. Once you do it sounds very similar to a Marshall 1960A cabinet. In the interests of full disclosure, I bought my amp on endorsement terms by arrangement with the distributor. I shopped around and tried out a bunch of different amps by many different brands, but the DSL50 was the one for me. I bought the exact amp that I'd been using at World of Music to test guitars when I was working there.

I’ve found that the balance of a medium amp gain, combined with a cranked boost, seems to make all these cool harmonics come out which would otherwise be squashed with too much preamp gain. My theory is that when you increase the amp’s own gain, you increase the harmonics so much that they all start fighting for attention. Doing it the way I do seems to emphasize only the best ones. Think of it like increasing the contrast and brightness controls on your TV, where the boost pedal is the contrast and the amp gain is the brightness. If you turn them both all the way up, you'll just get a white screen, whereas if you turn up the contrast and find the sweet spot with the brightness, you'll get that glowing, David Lee Roth video kind of look. I also use the boost on the amp's Rhythm channel. I set the channel's gain at about 6, then use the pedal to increase it to around the same level as the lead channel's halfway point. It sounds a bit Nuno Bettencourt like this, and gives me just the right individual gain levels for rhythm and lead, while allowing me to set different volume levels for each channel. The end result is that it pretty much sounds like I'm on the lead channel all the time, but increasing the gain and volume when switching channels. If I want a clean sound, I just turn off the boost when on the rhythm channel, and maybe roll the volume control on the guitar down a little if I'm using high output pickups.

About the boost: For the recording I had only the boost side engaged, turned up to full volume. This pedal is designed by Bob Bradshaw of Custom Audio Electronics, and his amps have been used by guys like Steve Lukather and Eddie Van Halen, who used a CAE preamp on 'The Dream Is Over' from Van Halen's For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge album back in 1991. The overdrive part of the pedal sounds cool too but I don't use it very often.

About the delay: The Carbon Copy’s repeats are a little muffled, which seems to add a little bit of warmth to the overall tone, although I wouldn’t go so far as to say it’s one of the key elements. I’d say the biggest contributing factors to the tone are the stock Ibanez bridge pickup and the effect of using a clean boost to increase the gain of the Marshall, instead of cranking the Marshall’s own gain.



For more how-to videos see I Heart Guitar site sponsor WonderHowTo

CLICK HERE to see Ibanez RG550 guitars for sale on eBay.

CLICK HERE to see Marshall DSL50 amps on eBay.

MXR Custom Audio Electronics MC-402 Boost/Overdrive Pedal from Guitar Center for $139.99.

CLICK HERE to buy the MXR M169 Carbon Copy Analog Delay from Guitar Center for $149.99.

CLICK HERE to buy the AxeTrak from JLH Products.

REVIEW: MXR Classic 108 Fuzz

I’m a bit of an MXR/Jim Dunlop fanboy. The MXR-to-other-stuff ratio on my pedalboard is about 70:30. I push my amp with an MXR/Custom Audio Electronics boost/overdrive, I get my swirl on via an EVH Phase 90, and the Carbon Copy Analog Delay is probably the funkiest, warmest sounding delay on the market, and earlier this year I finally bought a Dunlop Jimi Hendrix Octave Fuzz, which was literally the very first pedal I became aware of, the day I bought my first guitar magazine at age 12.

And this brings us to the Classic 108 Fuzz. Essentially this pedal is simply the guts of the BC 108-loaded Fuzz Face, transplanted into a more pedalboard-friendly layout than the almost hubcap-like proportions of the original unit. Boutique builders have been doing this very thing for years, and MXR is well aware they need to do something to make the Classic 108 Fuzz stand out from the pack. So aside from the authenticity of being built by the very company that now owns the rights to the design, MXR/Dunlop has ensured this stand-outedness by adding a buffer circuit. More on that later.

Controls are simple: Volume and Fuzz. There are no tone controls or switches, just the buffer button. Unlike the original Fuzz Face, the Classic 108 Fuzz has a removable battery door (the same kind as on the bottom of my MXR/CAE Boost/OD), a simple design which I think should be implemented across the pedal line, and tradition be damned: who wants to have to unscrew a pedal baseplate just to change a battery? Other updates include optional AC operation (I ran it off a battery and my Gator power supply), true bypass, and a status LED. The buffer also has its own LED, when it’s on, it’s on, regardless of whether you’ve turned on the effect or not. This is especially important over long cable runs, where the signal would degrade if not given a helping hand through a buffer.

In unbuffered mode, the Classic 108 Fuzz sounds round, barky and dirty. Just like it’s supposed to. There’s a kind of synthetic charm to the sound that’s not attainable by later overdrive and distortion designs, which are intended to mimic or at least approximate the sound of an overdriven amp. This pedal is pure vintage bliss, Hendrixy voodoo intact, with unearthly-sounding overtones and squashed dynamics all over the place. Pickup selection and phrasing choices make some amount of difference to the sound, but the pedal always adds its own character, regardless of whether you set the gain level to ‘kill’ or if you back it off a bit for some grit and dirt. Chords mush together in an oh-so-fuzzy way, and single notes have a kind of buzzy, violin-like sustain – great for those Eric Johnson moments, especially with some nice cascading analog delay repeats.

Kicking in the buffer has an additional and very practical use: to eliminate an annoying oscillation which can occur between this type of fuzz and certain wah wah pedals. But it also has a drastic effect on the tone, almost kicking the sound up to hi-fi levels (which is not usually a term associated with vintage fuzz). Pick attack and note definition are increased, as are upper midrange harmonics. I loved this sound through my slightly overdriven Marshall DSL50 head, where it added an old school fuzz edge while pushing the amp into a more modern high gain sound. Lower gain levels on the pedal, or volume settings on the guitar, clean up the sound while maintaining that cool vintage vibe. Using my Ibanez Jem7VWH and a more modern-sounding digital delay, the result was a thick, compressed tone with lots of harmonics and an upper midrange spike with added thump to palm-muted notes on the lower strings while evening out legato lines on the higher ones.

Despite its simple origins, this is a very versatile pedal which can be appreciated by rockers, fusionists, blues guys, even metalheads who need an extra lashing of evil for solos. I’m sure I’ll be adding one to my ever-growing pedalboard as soon as possible, especially for the aforementioned Jem/digital delay/overdriven Marshall combination.

CLICK HERE to buy the MXR Classic 108 Fuzz from Tunnel Vision Music.

LESSON: How to sound like Andy Summers

Recently packing out enormodomes for the Police reunion shows, Andy Summers has done it all, from 60s psychedelia to 70s punk, to fusion and jazz. Those who caught Summers on his 2000 jazz trio tour like I did (with Toss Panos from Mike Keneally’s Beer For Dolphins on drums, woo!) would have seen him playing dizzyingly complex lines on a Gibson ES-335, but as great as his jazz skills may be, he’s held in the most high esteem for his classic work with The Police.

There was some controversy over Summers’ tone when The Police first surfaced. At the time, Eddie Van Halen was revolutionising the guitar by cranking a Marshall and playing guitars fitting with just a single humbucker and a volume pot, with the occasional effect thrown in, usually just to emphasise a few notes in a passage (like the flanger sweeps in ‘Unchained.’ Summers, in comparison, was criticised by some corners of the guitar community, including Van Halen himself, for just playing “Flangy chords” (a criticism EVH would later retract in admitting he was influenced by Summers on the Van Halen III track, “Dirty Water Dog”).

Throughout his time in The Police, Andy Summers’ most visible guitar was a 1961 Fender Telecaster with an alder body and maple neck, although he also played a Fender Stratocaster and a variety of Hamers. The guitar was heavily modified when Summers bought it in the early 70s. Modifications included a high output humbucker in the neck; a brass bridge plat and bridge saddles; an inbuilt preamp and overdrive; a phase switch; and Schaller tuners. The bridge pickup was mounted directly into the body instead of to the bridge plate, a modification which some believe adds more fullness, resonance and sustain to the tone.

Summers used Marshall half stacks, despite being a predominantly distortion-free player. The added toughness of a cranked but still clean Marshall allowed his sound to cut through the mix in a way unattainable with a pristine, hi-fi sounding rig.

For effects, Summers favoured Echoplex tape delays, and a variety of chorus, delay and flanger pedals. To attain a Summers-like tone for yourself, try running single coil pickups on individual settings for the sharper stuff like “Roxanne” and “Bed’s Too Big Without You,” or in combinations for that zingy “Walking on the Moon” tone. Try to retain some edge and toughness – don’t let the tone get too pretty. Keep your amp’s preamp gain low but don’t be afraid of the power valve overdrive created by cranking the amp. One way of keeping the sound from being too ‘nice’ is by using the chorus and flanger into the amp’s input, whereas traditionally they might go in an effects loop or towards the end of a signal chain into a very clean tone.

If you’re working with a modelling device, make sure you select models of tape echo, Marshall Plexi, and more analog styles of chorus rather than more electronic-sounding ones. If you can move effects within the signal chain (either in a modeller or with real pedals), try the chorus as the first effect, perhaps even into an overdrive pedal with the gain control turned right down and just used as a tone shaping device. Also try some light compression – I prefer the MXR Dyna Comp but there are other more transparent models out there too.

CLICK HERE to buy Andy Summers music on eMusic.

CLICK HERE to buy the Line 6 MM4 Modulation guitar effects pedal from Musician's Friend for $249.99.

CLICK HERE to search for Fender Telecasters on eBay.

This article originally appeared in Mixdown magazine.

NEW GEAR DAY: AxeTrak

This morning my 2-year-old and I climbed into the car to zoom across town to Billy Hyde Music in Blackburn to pick up my latest toy, a JLH AxeTrak. I bought the AxeTrak after reading about it on Harmony Central and posting about it here on my blog.

The AxeTrak is a speaker and microphone inside a soundproofed box, and with it I'll finally be able to record my Marshall DSL50 amp in a controlled environment - which means I'll now be able to record audio and video reviews of various products for I Heart Guitar. I've already planned the first few pedal reviews, which will be the Roger Mayer Spitfire X and Mongoose X, and the MXR EVH Phase 90. It might take me a couple of weeks to post them while I mess around with video editing programs (used to edit video for a living but I'm a bit out of practice now) and try to figure out the best way to do it. But at the very least I should have audio samples of the Roger Mayer pedals finished some time this week.

My favourite stuff of 2008

I'm back from my little Christmas exile, and I'm in a reflective mood, so here, for the heck of it, is my list of stuff I liked this year, in the world of guitar. 2008 was a pretty cool year for me. I wrote about a squillion articles for Mixdown and Australian Guitar, recorded a few tunes, wrote a huge batch of songs for my new band (watch out for us in 2009), interviewed Joe Satriani, John McLaughlin, Zakk Wylde, Steve Lukather, Page Hamilton, Max Cavalera, Bryan Beller, George Lynch and more, and started this here blog (with encouragement from the ever clever Mrs I Heart Guitar, who is an avowed blog-reading fiend).

2008 was also a pretty bitchen year for the world of guitar. We had releases by Steve Vai, Mike Keneally, Joe Satriani, Yngwie Malmsteen, the reunited Extreme, Guns N’ Roses, and even a freaking Van Halen tour (which never made it down to Australia or anywhere else outside North America for that matter… hopefully that will be rectified in 2009, but I shan’t be holding my breath for that one). There were also some very cool gadgets released during the year. So here’s my list of cool stuff in 2008. Click on any of the links to buy the stuff if you like.

General stuff

Meeting Paul Gilbert in person after many years of email communication and two interviews - he was just as cool as I could have hoped.

Hearing from Mike Keneally that he’d checked out my blog. In an email he said “Your website is EXTREMELY readable! Lots of cool articles.” I think I still smile in my sleep about that one.

Attending an album preview party for Trivium, and almost accidentally making a baby with the back of Corey Beaulieu’s head thanks to an uncomfortably posed photo.

Buying a crapload of new pedals while the Australian dollar was at 98 US cents. I went on an MXR spree and bought a Dyna Comp, Custom Audio Electronics Boost/OD, EVH Phase 90, Carbon Copy Analog Delay, and Dunlop Jimi Hendrix Octave Fuzz. Now the dollar sucks again, so I’ll have to hold off on buying a Dunlop Buddy Guy wah and an eBow until it recovers. Dammit.

Music

Extreme - Saudades de Rock

After going their separate ways to join Van Halen (Gary Cherone), farm alpacas (Pat Badger, and with a name like that how could he not be an animal lover?) and release stunningly awesome albums under various band names like Population One, Mourning Widows and Dramagods (Nuno Bettencourt), these guys finally got back together for one of the best rock albums of 2008 and one of the best moments of their eclectic career. I freaken love Nuno’s guitar tone here, all natural and gusty, and the live feel helps smack this one over the line as my favourite new release of the year.

Paul Gilbert & Freddie Nelson - United States

This unexpected new direction follows two highly successful instrumental albums from Gilbert. Sounding like a cross between Queen, Paul’s own solo stuff, and a tiny dash of For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge-era Van Halen, the songs are memorable, the performances are powerful, and the shredding is noodletastic. You should also totally check out Gilbert’s ‘Silence Followed By A Deafening Roar’ CD, which was released earlier in the year. The link above will take you to CDJapan.co.jp, but you can also buy it at Amazon.com now too by clicking here.

Mike Keneally - Wine And Pickles

This album is a collection of alternate or extended takes, unused tracks and various bits and pieces, yet it feels like a cohesive statement which can sit just as comfortably within the Keneally canon as anything else he’s done. The best reasons to buy this album are ‘Feelin’ Strangely,’ an alternate version of ‘Backwards Deb’ with different lyrics and hugely differing mix to the version on ‘Dancing,’ and the amazing ‘Inhale’ with Lyle Workman.

Gear

Paul Reed Smith Starla

When I was a kid, I thought Gretsch guitars were the coolest freaking thing in the freaking world. All that metal stuff really looked like it did something, and I couldn’t wait to grow up and get my hands on one. Later my attention drifted to pointy Ibanezes and never really went back, but I still think Gretsches are cool, and the PRS Starla taps into enough of that vibe to make me say ‘dayum’ every time I see one. PRS, if you can find a way to make a Bigsby perform just like a Floyd Rose without changing the look at all, I’ll let you rebadge the Starla as my signature model. Just putting it out there, okay? Cool.

Ibanez FR series

Yep, I’m an Ibanez geek. What can I say? The second I saw Steve Vai hoist that heart-shaped triple neck guitar on David Lee Roth’s ‘Just Like Paradise’ video in, what, 1988 or something, I was hooked. Having said that, I’m not just into spiky neon metal axes, and my favourite Ibanez in 2008 was the new FR series. These Telecaster-inspired axes feature a fast neck and modern pickup switching options while still carrying more than a little old school soul. I’m sure it’s only a matter of time before someone with a lot of sway in the industry picks up one of these and declares it their main squeeze forever more. It’d be me but I think I need to sell some guitars before I even think about buying any more.

MXR M169 Carbon Copy Analog Delay

I’m not sure exactly when this pedal was released – it could have been some time in 2007 – but I got mine in mid 2008 and it’s one of the best delay pedals I’ve ever encountered. It’s stupidly simple: controls for delay time, number of repeats, and volume of repeats, plus a button which adds a light warble to the delayed effects if you wish (and a few internal controls to adjust this modulation effect if you wanna, but really, they seem to have selected the most useful settings at the factory). The repeats mush up in a gloriously lo-fi way, and they get muddier and noiser as you increase the time between repeats, but that’s part of the charm of this vintage-vibed, sparkly green little beauty.

Bogner Alchemist series

I haven’t even played one of these suckers yet and already they make me go all a quiver. ‘Real’ Bogner amps are kinda outside my financial reach at the moment, so it’s encouraging to see a Bogner amp out there which the majority of players can afford (I’ll be sticking with my Marshall DSL50 cos we’re totally in love, but that doesn’t mean I can’t check out a hot amp from time to time, right? I’m sure my Marshall checks out other guitarists when I’m not looking). Anyway, the Bogner Alchemist series takes the vibe of the company’s far more expensive and covetous amps, and distils it into Asian-manufactured units for the player who wants to show off with a Bogner logo, but doesn’t have the financial wherewithal to hoist an Uberschall and Ecstasy into the back of the van for a pub gig.

So what were your highlights of 2008? Any gigs that totally did it for ya? Any new gear that you would hock your right leg to own? Favourite albums? Meet any of your heroes?

NEWS: Christmas gift ideas for guitarists

According to feedback from some I Heart Guitar readers, not everyone who reads the site plays guitar: some just like guitar-based music and are into the interviews and reviews and stuff. I guess in a way this post is dedicated to them, provided there's a guitarist on their Christmas shopping list. Here are some goodies which are bound to fulfill two key criteria: a) stuff a stocking, and b) guilt the receiver into letting you have the last slice of turkey/tofurkey at Christmas dinner, hehe.

MXR M-102 Dyna Comp Compressor Pedal Standard
One of the coolest compressors known to man, the MXR Dyna Comp is not the pedal to stomp on if you want a clean guitar to sound like a crisp FM radio. But if you're after soupy funk, swampy blues, snappy soul, or those singing, silky David Gilmour tones, you can't go past this little red monster. It's also quite inexpensive, yet very sturdy and roadworthy. You could probably use it to hammer in a nail, or crack a home intruder over the head and keep him down for the count until your biker mates arrive to finish the job. I have one of these on my pedal board and it's my secret weapon. Well, that and my magic amulet.

EVH D-Tuna Drop D Tuning System Standard

This elegantly simple device from the mind of Eddie Van Halen attaches to the low E string saddle on a Floyd Rose-style bridge (at least, if it's set to divebomb-only mode, either due to the design of the bridge cavity rout or some kind of aftermarket blocking method). Flip the lever and you're instantly in drop D tuning. Now you don't need to change guitars to crank out 'Unchained.'  Eddie claims that you could have 6 of them on a guitar and drop the whole dang thing down a whole step. Unfortunately it's not recommended for fully floating bridges, so that rules out all of my Floyd-equipped axes.

Dunlop Eric Johnson Classic Jazz III Guitar Pick 6-Pack
Believe it or not, these picks from Jim Dunlop are paintstakingly modelled on a specific favourite red Jazz III pick from Eric Johnson's personal collection. They feature a more refined and smoother tip, are more flexible than a standard Dunlop Jazz III, and have a matte finish with raised logos for grip. There have been signature picks before (I'm quite fond of Ibanez's Paul Gilbert picks), but not quite like this. Will this start a trend? Will we see picks replicating the teeth-marks of Eddie Van Halen, or the pick scrapes of CC Deville?


Marshall MS-4 Micro Stack Standard
There are quite a few mini amps on the market, but this has gotta be my favourite. There is, of course, nothing cooler than a Marshall stack, and you could probably talk yourself into buying 8 or so of these so you could have a mini Yngwie amp rig on your desk. Think about it: 4 dry amps in the middle, and 2 either side, each pair with its own delay signal. Ok, maybe that's just me, but at the very least you could chuck one of these and a travel guitar in your backpack for a picnic. Or you could have a bitchen Barbie concert in your doll house. 

D'Andrea Guitar Care Kit Standard
I know, I know, cleaning your guitar isn't the most glamorous of ways to pass one's time, but I've received these kits as Christmas presents every few years since I was in my early teens and they're always very useful. So unless the guitarist you're buying it for is an utter jerk, this is a gift that will be greatly appreciated. Just make sure you're not in the room if they use the string cleaner and polishing cloth, cos you risk being exposed to the dreaded fingers-on-the-blackboard sound. Urk.

NEWS: Dunlop revives Way Huge Electronics

Not content with reviving MXR and the Crybaby wah wah pedal, Jim Dunlop is now bringing back pedal company Way Huge Electronics. Sa-weet! Now guitarists won't have to scour the internet to find a used Way Huge Swollen Pickle and risk a very confronting list of search results.

Here's the press release:

Guitar players—your wish is finally answered: Way Huge is back! Effects guru Jeorge Tripps—creator of the coveted Aqua-Puss Analog Delay, Green Rhino Overdrive II, and Swollen Pickle Jumbo Fuzz-is working with premier accessory manufacturer Dunlop, maker of the legendary Crybaby and MXR pedals, to bring you a new series of Way Huge pedals.

Dunlop's 30 years of meticulous attention to detail and Jeorge Tripps' spectacular creations is a winning team. The Pork Loin Soft Clip Injection Overdrive, Swollen Pickle MKII Jumbo Fuzz, and the Fat Sandwich Harmonic Saturator Distortion are the first pedals out of Mr. Huge's workshop.

For more information visit: http://www.wayhuge.com/

Way Huge Electronics will be available only through a select dealer network worldwide.

For more information, visit their web site at www.jimdunlop.com.

NEWS: MXR 76 Vintage Dyna Comp

Just saw this one on Guitarsite.com. MXR is releasing a custom shop reissue of the Dyna Comp, the best freaking compressor pedal in the universe. Unlike the (still quite excellent) current production version, the 76 Vintage model uses the original spec integrated circuits (ICs), and does away with the LED added on later versions. 

These appear to be similar in spirit to the MXR CSP-026 Handwired 1974 Vintage Phase 90 pedal, which is also made to original specs in the custom shop (click the link to buy the Phase 90).

Here's the press release: 

The MXR Dyna Comp that was produced in 1976 has long been regarded as the ultimate stomp box compressor. There's something inherently musical in the way it "tightens up" a guitar signal, raising the volume of quiet notes and leveling off peaks to create rich, full bodied sustain. 

And now the MXR Custom Shop brings back that highly sought-after sound with the '76 Vintage Dyna Comp. Meticulously researched and superbly crafted, it features the exact same circuitry used in the original 1976 Dyna Comp, identical in its component layout, silkscreen and handmade wire harness.

The key component is the old school CA3080 "metal can" integrated circuit (IC), which yields quieter operation, greater transparency and increased dynamic range. These ICs have been out of production since the '80s, but MXR has tracked down a stash of them—enough to produce a limited run of these little red boxes of compression bliss.

With supplies limited, the MXR '76 Vintage Dyna Comp is destined to quickly become as ultra collectible as its noble ancestor.

The MXR '76 Vintage Dyna Comp pedal has a street price of $175.00.

Sweet. I have a modern Dyna Comp reissue on my pedalboard and I hope I get to test drive one of these new ones so I can compare the two.