REVIEW: Takamine EG510SC

Ya gotta love a good Takamine. They play great, they’re an absolute pleasure to set up, and the electronics always do a great job of taking all of what’s so damn good about them and pushing it out to your audience without fuss. But they can also be pretty darn expensive. Takamine’s G series guitars offer much of the same quality construction, clever design, complex tone and flat out cool looks as their Japanese made buddies, but at a lower price. The division includes over a dozen distinct dreadnaught models, with options including cutaway and non-cutaway models. 12 strings, straight acoustics and acoustic electrics.

The EG510SC on review is of the dreadnaught cutaway variety, with a solid spruce top, nato back and sides, and a TK4N preamp with piezo under-saddle pickup.
The benefit of a solid top, as opposed to a less expensive laminate, is that over time the wood ‘settles’ in a sonically pleasant way. After a few years of the wood resonating as one piece, some magical voodoo seems to happen and any impediments to the transfer of energy just sort of …flitter away. I’m sure there’s a scientific explanation for all this, but I prefer the magic explanation, so let’s just say that fairies did it.

Before plugging the EG510SC in to hear its amplified tone, I sat and strummed it for a while to hear its natural voice. I pretty much immediately concluded that this would be the perfect guitar to back up a solo vocalist, because notes and chords took on a lush background of overtones which almost made it sound like there was another instrument in the room. I don’t have a symphony orchestra on hand but I imagine the tone would fit beautifully in that setting too. I didn’t expect this level of detail and warmth in a guitar in this price range, and of course wood being wood you’re likely to find some that aren’t this rich and maybe even some that are moreso, so as with every guitar, try a few examples of that model if you can before settling on the one you take home. But on first impressions straight out of the box, the tone was quite impressive given the price.

Plugging in to my recording setup, the natural resonance of the body is of course not transferred by the piezo pickup, but instead you get to hear the clarity of the preamp. With two selectable midrange contours, a 3 band graphic EQ and a notch filter, the tone shaping facilities here are exhaustive, and the guitar’s characteristics can be altered to sound like a full jumbo, a delicate acoustic fingerpicker, a loud strummer and everywhere in between. Piling on the delay and reverb, I was able to come quite close to the sensitivity and dynamics of Tommy Emmanuel’s classic “Initiation” track, which amused me for hours. Of course you probably don’t want to add that degree of ambience for general playing, but due to the piezo nature of the pickup, you’re not getting any of the sound that’s bouncing around inside the guitar’s body, so you might still want to add some degree of reverb or maybe even a gooseneck mic mounted in the body.

Like all Takamines I’ve played or set up, the playabilty of this guitar was near perfect from the beginning, and Takamine’s famous two-piece compensated bridge saddle kept everything nicely intonated. While it may not have quite the level of craftsmanship as its Japanese-made cousins, this is still a very cool guitar.

LINK: Takamine.com

REVIEW: Blackstar HT Club 40

Former Marshall R&D staffers Ian Robinson and Bruce Keir formed Blackstar Amplification a few years ago and initially caught the world's eye with a series of valve-driven powered stomp boxes. The HT-5 amp followed not long after.

The HT Club 40 is powered by a pair of EL34B-STRs by TAD and a couple of Sovtek 12AX7s in the preamp. The EL34s are based on the early Mullard/Philips EL34 but are designed to be more stable. The speaker is a lone Celestion Seventy 80. The valves and speaker are accessed by removing the back panel. There's a degree of ventilation for the tubes but the effect on sound is minimal and you’re essentially plugged into a sealed-back cabinet – great for tight rock tones.

Controls left to right are volume, voice switch and tone for the clean channel; OD Select button; then gain, voice switch, volume, bass, middle, treble and ISF (Infinite Shape Feature) for the overdrive channel; then global reverb and master volume levels. The ISF, also found on the HT-5, alters the way the tone stack responds, especially in the midrange. Turn it all the way left and you'll get 'USA' tones. A full right turn gives you 'UK' sounds. Around the back are the external speaker jacks; an emulated output; reverb dark (out) or light (in) switch; effects loop return and send with a handy level (+4 dbV, -10 dbV) switch for tailoring the response to pedals or rack units; and the footswitch jack for toggling channel and reverb.

The clean channel is great with single coils - experiment with the Voice control and reverb type for either a twangy, punchy tone or a fatter, throatier one. Lots of jangle and zing. Higher volume levels bring out a cool overdriven grind, but nothing quite approaching actual distortion. A little more honk can be achieved with the voice switch, which fattens things up nicely for a little extra UK-style power. As for the Overdrive channel, it excels at both rhythm and lead tones, especially within the blues and rock arenas. At full gain and with all tone controls somewhere in the ‘halfway’ range the sound reminded me of Paul Gilbert’s ‘Silence Followed By A Deafening Roar’ tone. Certain metal voices can be achieved – up to Metallica’s Black album tones if you have high-output pickups - but if you need ultra high gain for any style that is suffixed by the term ‘core’ you might want to try a clean boost pedal to push the preamp valves harder. Oh also, I found a great Flying In A Blue Dream-era Satch tone by turning the ISF all the way to the 'UK' end, reducing the treble and leaving the midrange at about 5. Gain was at 10 with the voice switch in the out position for the thickest midrange.

There are many players who would dig this amp. Country spank, bluesy grit, rock crunch, shred scream and even fusion tactility are all in here. In an ideal world there’d be a third channel so you could have clean, rhythm and lead channels all in one, but even as-is it works – especially if you follow the Stevie Ray method of riding the gain from the guitar’s volume pot.

LINK: Blackstar

REVIEW: MXR Fullbore Metal distortion pedal

Distortion’s a serious game, and there are a million ways to get it. Active pickups. Inbuilt preamps. Clean boosts feeding raging high-gain superstacks. Power amp. Preamp. Speaker. Pre-gain EQ. Post-gain EQ. Such mythical alchemy is rarely distilled into a single unit, so MXR has some nerve trying to cram all that distortion-generating mayhem into a little box the size of a sardine tin. So how does the MXR Fullbore Metal stack up?

SPEC CHECK

The first thing you will notice when you’re actually holding the Fullbore Metal is that it’s tiny. Somehow it looks bigger and much more imposing on the website, but when you actually step back and look at it, this little monster is the same size as the venerable-as-it-is-diminutive Phase 90. There are six knobs and two buttons all shoehorned into the same space where that singe rate control lives on a Phase 90. The pots are volume, frequency and gain along the top, then low, mid and high along the bottom. The two buttons kick in the noise gate and a midrange scoop (which cuts the mids while boosting the highs and bass – very intense), while the frequency knob alters the character of the midrange. Turn it up for higher mids, turn it down for lower ones, then use the mid control itself to control the amount of boost or cut. Easy. Whip off the back for battery access (with a screwdriver, unfortunately) and you’ll find a tiny gate trigger control adjustable by screwdriver. Use this to set the noise gate sensitivity. Happily, the gate seems to be ideally set for simple and functional noise reduction. If you have lower-output pickups you might want to reign it in a bit, or if you’re into the whole stop-start Dimebag thing you may like to clamp that sucker right down. Aside from the gate, the pedal features true hardwire bypass and has an all-analog signal path. None of this sneaking a big ‘ol DSP chip in there, oh no.

PEDAL, MEET METAL

MXR recommends turning the volume, gain and bass all the way down before turning on the Fullbore Metal, lest you surprise your amp with the demonic firestorm that lurketh within and wind up singeing all and sundry. Good advice too: this little beast has fatter bottom than a hippo convention. Even at the lowest gain settings the tone is thick and edgy – think Hetfield in the first 9 seconds of the title track to ‘St Anger’ (I know the drum sound sucked, just listen to the guitar tone on that track, okay?). You know, that kind of woody, dirty sound? No ‘just enough gain to add a bit of sparkle’ mojo going on here.

Increasing the gain further brought out all sorts of cool Rectifier and 5150-like metal tones, and I was able to scare up a few of my favourite Devin Townsend tones from SYL to Ziltoid. Continuing the Metallica theme I found some pretty passable ‘Black Album’ sounds waiting to tear my head off. Careful shaping of the midrange is the key here. Whether you need scooped death tones or thicker, middier hardcore sounds, they’re yours for the finding after a bit of tweaking. High mid settings bring out the vocal quality to shreddy lead work, while lower mids and highs bring out the chunk factor. In fact, for a good all-round multi purpose metal tone, just set everything to 4 and you can’t go far wrong.

By the way, Dethklok  mastermind Brendan Small is a fan of the Fullbore Metal, and if it earns the approval of Skwisgaar Skwigelf you know it’s gots to be brutals.

HEAVY METAL THUNDER

The Fullbore Metal is not one of those ‘do everything’ distortion pedals. If you want musical overdrive, forget it. If you want subtlety, get outta here. If you want to add some jangle to your clean tone, you’ve got some nerve pokin’ round here, buddy. But if you need intense, full-bodied metal tones with that extra ‘oomph’ that you usually only get from inbuilt amp distortion, the Fullbore Metal is unmissable.

By the way, I’ve begun work on a video demo of the pedal but I won’t be able to finish it before I head to the US for a few weeks, but I’ll try to get it online some time around the first week of February, okie dokie? And in the meantime, here's Dunlop's video demo.



Super special thanks to Dunlop Manufacturing for providing an MXR Fullbore Metal for review.

REVIEW: Digitech RP1000

Guitarists are forever locked in an epic battle between functionality and flexibility. We dig effects, but we prefer if they’re in the form of little boxes with easy-to-use controls. We love combining different sounds to create something new, but loathe doing the little tapdance required to turn them all on (or off) at the right time. Floor-based multi effect units are great, but most are designed to be the entire source of your sound, so you’re stuck, for better or worse, with whatever amp models are built in.

The new Digitech RP1000 takes a lot of the features that have made the RP series so popular, and integrates with your amp by allowing you to place the unit’s effects either before or after your preamp – kinda like having a pile of stompboxes on the floor and an effects rack plugged into the amp’s effects loop. There's a roundabout way to do this with the Boss GT-8, which I used on stage for a while, but it was an unintended side effect of the design, and required all sorts of special cables and hum eliminators to work. The RP1000 is specifically designed to do it, so that's one big advantage right there.

The RP1000 has over 160 internal stompboxes, effects, amps and cabinets, as well as an additional stompbox loop. Say you have a particular pedal you just can’t live without, but you want to use the RP1000 too: just place that pedal in the loop and you can turn it on and off within your patches. Neat. Oh and as an added bonus, you get Cubase LE4 recording software too!

Features include 14 very chunky, confidence-giving metal switches that control program changes, effects on/off, stompbox loop in/out, bank up/down, and the built-in 20-second looper (on the day I received the RP1000 to review, I’d been listening to a lot of David Torn, so I was in loop heaven). There are two different control modes: Preset and Pedalboard. In Preset mode you can switch up to 10 different presets on a single bank, while in Pedalboard mode there are 5 presets and 5 effect on/off switches. Think of Pedalboard mode as 5 different amp and pedal rigs, with the ability to turn on or off any pedal for that setup. Additionally, if you want to use your amp’s natural sound as the basis for your tone (instead of the RP1000’s amp models), there’s an internal Amp/Cabinet Bypass switch which removes the RP1000's internal amplifiers and cabinet effects from the signal chain, leaving only stompboxes and effects.

One particular benefit of the RP1000 compared to most other multi effect floor units is that it includes dual stereo XLR outputs for going straight into a mixing desk. I plugged it into my DigiDesign Mbox 2  for some very accurate and clear reproduction of the sounds, and was particularly impressed by the edgy clean sounds and the Lexicon-licensed reverb effects.

I was able to compare some of the models to examples of the actual gear I had laying around, including the Marshall JCM2000, and the MXR Phase 90, and while the modelled sounds aren’t 100% spot on (with the exception of the extremely accurate DOD FX25 envelope filter, another unit I have kicking around the house), they sound close enough to give you most of the same vibe. I found that the stomp box models worked especially well with my amp instead of the inbuilt amp models. My favourites were the trigger flanger (very Frank Zappa); the DOD FX13 Gonkulator Modulator, which is great for Nine Inch Nails-style processed guitar sounds, and the harmonizer, which includes major and minor scales in all keys, as well as settings for some of the modes, for those who aren’t totally into their music theory. I especially liked the harmonic minor scale setting for instant Yngwie. You can set most effects to be either pre or post amp (or amp model), which is a huge benefit for those who need their phaser to sound spacey (after the amp) in one song, and syrupy (before the amp) in another, for example.

I found that the Carvin Legacy model didn’t sound like the actual amp, but if you’re after Vai tone you can get quite close by combining the JCM900 and Tube Screamer models with some digital delay and reverb. On the other hand, the acoustic guitar models sound surprisingly accurate and are very useful, and the various Mesa Boogie models are also pretty close to the real thing. I slung my Ibanez UV777BK seven string with DiMarzio Blaze pickups and dialled in a Petrucci-like Awake-era tone, kicking in the wah wah to get in the ‘Caught In A Web’ zone. Cool!

My only beef with the RP1000 is that there is no way to switch amp channels, which slightly limits the practicality of the unit – you may have to get used to having all your settings and effects stored on individual buttons for your clean, rhythm and lead sounds, but needing to step on a separate amp channel switch as well. One way around this would be to use varying levels of distortion pedal on top of your clean sound. Another would be to set up your amp with your medium-level distortion sound, then create a patch that drops out some frequencies and reduces the input (similar to lowering your guitar’s volume control) for a clean sound, and adding a boost or overdrive to kick it up to high gain territory. This is what Paul Gilbert does with a bunch of pedals and a single-channel amp, so an argument could be made that the RP1000 makes this method much easier.

LINK: DigiTech.com

REVIEW: Line 6 Pocket Pod

First off, the Line 6 Pocket Pod is such obvious genius that I can’t believe it wasn’t the very first thing the company invented. You know that episode of the Simpsons where Homer had financial problems and he dreamed he invented something that changed the world (and fitted in the palm of your hand) but he was woken up before he could see what it was? Well I’m pretty sure it was the Pocket Pod.

What you get here is 100% of the famous Line 6 digital modelling technology in about 1/8 of the size. The Pocket Pod is the same familiar kidney bean shape as the regular desktop Pod, but it’s about the size and thickness of a Bubble-O-Bill ice cream. For a small handful of cash you get 32 classic and modern amp models, along with 16 cab models and over 300 custom presets by guitarists from Thursday, Ash, As I Lay Dying, Sparta, 311, P.O.D, Razorlight, Hawthorne Heights, Killswitch Engage, Maroon 5 and Guns N’ Roses.

The list of amp models – ready for this? – is ’64 Fender Deluxe Reverb, ’59 Fender Bassman, ’68 Marshall Plexi 100 watt, Marshall JTM-45 meets Budda Twinmaster, ’60 Tweed Fender Champ, Budda Twinmaster head, ’65 Blackface Fender Twin Reverb, ’60 Vox AC 15, ’60 Vox AC 30 non-Top Boost, ’85 Mesa/Boogie Mark IIc+ Clean Channel, ’85 Mesa/Boogie Mark IIc+ Drive Channel, Dumble Overdrive Special Clean Channel, ’95 Mesa/Boogie Dual Rectifier Head, ’89 Soldano SLO Super Lead Overdrive, Dumble Overdrive Special Drive Channel, 1987 Roland JC-120 Jazz Chorus and Line 6 Insane.

Available speaker cabinet models are 1960 Fender Tweed Champ, 1952 Fender Tweed Deluxe Reverb, 1960 Vox AC-15, 1964 Fender Deluxe Reverb, 1965 Fender Blackface Twin Reverb, 1967 Vox AC-30, 1995 Matchless Chieftain, 1959 Fender Bassman, 1996 Marshall with Vintage 30s, 1978 Marshall with stock 70s, 1968 Marshall Basketweave with Greenbacks, Line 6 4x12, Line 6 1x12, Line 6 2x12 and Line 6 4x10.

There are 16 effects: Compressor, Tremolo, Chorus 1, Chorus 2, Flanger 1, Flanger 2, Rotary Speaker, Delay, Delay/Compressor, Delay/Tremolo, Delay/Chorus 1, Delay/Chorus 2, Delay/Flanger 1, Delay/Flanger 2, Delay/Swell, Reverb.

The sounds are great whether used for practice or recording. For my money, some of Line 6’s best work is in their emulations of naturally overdriven Marshalls and highly distorted metal amps. I was able to create some quite authentic classic rock girth and grit with the former (rocking the 100 watt Plexi model with my PAF-alike-loaded Ibanez Talman), and some Megadeth ‘United Abominations’ style tones with the latter (via the Insane model and my trusty Ibanez RG550 with Seymour Duncan Parallel Axis Trembucker). I also had a lot of fun calling up a somewhat 'For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge'-era Eddie Van Halen sound using the Soldano model and Delay/Chorus 1 – headphones really brought this one to life especially during my half-assed rendition of whatever I could remember of Eddie’s live ‘316’ solo from the 'Live: Right Here Right Now' CD/DVD. Dragging out my old Strat copy I was able to pull convincing faux John Mayer sounds out of the Dumble Special drive channel-inspired model, and I went all SRV with the ’64 Fender Deluxe Reverb-based model and some reverb.

There’s so much tonal variety on tap here that you can play around with sounds for hours, and that’s before you start tinkering with them via computer with the included Vyzex software, where the on-screen control layout takes the fiddly work out of setting your sounds. Editing sounds using the Pocket Pod itself can be a little tricky, but since this device isn’t exactly configured for on-the-fly live use, you wouldn’t really expect a huge assembly of up-front editing features on the surface.

The casing is probably a little too light to use live regularly if you’re in an energetic band, but I could definitely see myself throwing one of these puppies into my guitar case to use as a backup if my amp ever packs it in mid-gig. It would also be a very handy teaching tool – it never hurts to have an easily accessible library of classic guitar tones to dial in when helping a student nail their favourite song.

Every guitarist needs one of these bad boys in their parts box, guitar case, gig bag, or on their desktop. It’s an invaluable backup as well as a fantastic tone generator in its own right. I only had the Pocket Pod on loan from the distributor for a few days but I would definitely like to buy one. In fact, every time I sit on the couch jamming unplugged on one of my electric guitars I can’t help but think of that baby Pod and wonder where it is now.

This is an expanded version of a review that originally ran in Mixdown magazine.

LINK: Line6.com/pocketpod/

REVIEW: Baden A-Style Ovangkol

I first reviewed a Baden A-Style a little while ago (click here for that review). In case you missed it, here’s the short version of the company’s history: Baden Guitars was founded by T.J. Baden in 2006. A former vice president of sales and marketing at Taylor, Baden and partner Errol Antzis, a former investment banker and a guitar lover, enlisted European luthiers Andreas Pichler and Ulrich Tueffel. The guitars are completely hand crafted in Vietnam in a workshop overseen by six French luthiers. These aren’t production-line guitars cranked out by robots, so get that idea outta yer head right now, buster!

Unlike the first A-Style I reviewed, which had a rosewood back and sides on a cedar top, this one has an Ovangkol back and sides with a cedar top. Related to Bubinga, this tonewood has much of the same depth as rosewood but with sharper high end and more immediate projection. The hand-carved mahogany neck has a soft D profile which makes it a little beefy but still comfortable enough to reach difficult chord voicings without cramping up your hand. The review model had a slight buzz on the open high E string due to some overenthusiastic cutting - not ideal on a guitar sent out for review, but any store worth their salt should fix this for you before letting you walk out the door with it. Electronics are a simple Fishman Matrix Infinity system with volume and tone controls and switchable voicing – it can be kinda fiddly to reach the voicing switch but otherwise it’s an elegantly understated system.

Interestingly, Baden appears to have refined the distinctive minimalist triangular chip between the soundhole and fretboard. Whereas before it was wedged in the and mostly free-floating, on this guitar it’s carefully inset with wood all around it. The bridge is also subtly redesigned so the string pegs follow the arc of the back of the bridge, rather than be placed in a straight line. The end of the fretboard has also been redesigned, and there is now subtle binding around the body and sound hole. The end result is a more ‘finished’ look than the previous models, which seemed to emphasise their hand-madedness.

Compared to the rosewood A-style, which wanted to be played as a delicate background fingerpicker, the Ovangkol model begs to be picked and strummed hard. Notes practically bounce off the body and scream through the soundhole before they get a chance to pick up any unusual resonances or frequency anomalies. The result is a surprisingly sharp, direct sound which is bright and cutting but not harsh. The dynamic range is quite high, and the top responds sensitively whether you’re picking softly, or laying in so hard that every chord hits a threshold and naturally compresses. This would be a great guitar for stage use in a rock band, an out-front instrument driving a modern country act, or a powerful accompaniment for a soloist who needs a guitar that displays as much character as their vocals.

The A-Style Ovangkol may not be everyone’s cup of tea visually, although the subtle redesigned elements go a long way towards making the unusual design more palatable for skeptics. It’s got power and playability, with lots of character. It may not be your grandad’s acoustic, but where was it ever written that acoustic guitars had to be as conservative as they have to be traditional?

LINK: Baden Guitars

Here's a video I found from MacNichol Guitars explaining the A-Style Ovangkol. What I like most about this video is that the voiceover sounds like the very sonorous Harry Shearer.

REVIEW: Cole Clark Hollow Baby

The Cole Clark Guardian is something of an Aussie guitar classic. Obvious nods to 50-something years of guitar history notwithstanding, it’s the little details that have made this guitar stand out from others in the field. Now Cole Clark is releasing the Hollow Baby, a variant of the Guardian which features, yes, an internally carved hollow body with a classy bass-side f-hole. I was lucky enough to get my hands on two Hollow Baby models.

Components include CTS pots, Switchcraft jacks, OAK switches, Dunlop frets, Graphtech nut, Grover vintage tuners and Elixir strings. The tremolo is a two point system (more stable than a vintage six-screw version) with push-fit arm, featuring a machined solid steel sustain block rather than a sintered steel sustain block. Wood options are Bunya or Queensland Maple for the body, maple or blackwood for the neck, and maple or rosewood for the fretboard. The finish is nitrocellulose lacquer, allowing the wood to breathe and opening up the tone that little bit more. There are three pickup types on offer: Seymour Duncan USA Vintage Flat SSL-2; Kinman Zero Hum ‘Blues’ Set; and Cole Clark ‘Ultrasound’ (w reverse bridge pickup). The latter, which I was unable to test at the time of review, has a reverse-oriented bridge pickup to pick up more treble from the bass strings while reigning in the high end of the treble strings. But whichever model you choose, each has its own character and is suited to a slightly different vibe. It’s also interesting to note that Cole Clark has chosen pickups with a flat pole piece stagger to suit the flatter 12” neck radii.

And what a neck. This flatter shape is ideal for extended playing sessions and chording, and is also great for faster styles. A more rounded radius may allow you to grip the notes a little more firmly but many players prefer the extra finesse that can be added with flatter designs. You also have far less chance of fretting out a note when you bend it. In all honesty, as someone who’s collected 80s-style shred guitars for half my life, I was very comfortable with this neck, and personally I’d love to see it on a two-pickup Guardian with a bridge humbucker, neck single coil, no scratchplate and a Floyd Rose – y’know, a stripped back screamer. The neck is topped off with Cole Clark’s iconic ‘Curlicue’ scroll-topped headstock shape, which recalls – without actually copying – the 1940s and 50s work of guitar pioneer Paul Bigsby. Fretwork is perfect, with no rough edges or file marks to offend the eye or hand.

The first thing you may think when you pick up one of these Hollow Babies is ‘Well, I’m pretty sure I can guess how this is gonna sound.’ After all, while there are many key differences, it shares some common traits with a pretty well-known axe. But, as they say in David Lee Roth videos, ‘Fugeddaboutit.’ Any preconceived notions you may have about the tone of these instruments will be immediately dispelled upon picking the first note. Even unplugged you’ll notice that you simply can’t judge the Hollow Baby on what you know about other guitars that look somewhat like it. The acoustic tone is lively and midrange-heavy, with restrained treble and round bass – pretty much the opposite of the tone you’d expect from a solidbody version of this design.

Plugged in, the difference is even more pronounced. We were loaned two Hollow Babies to review: one in two-tone sunburst with Seymour Duncan Vintage Flat SSL-2 pickups and one in black with the Kinman Zero Hum ‘Blues’ Set.

BLACK - KINMAN ZERO HUM ‘BLUES’ SET


The black Hollow Baby, equipped with Aussie-made Kinman pickups, actually sounds a lot brighter than the unplugged tone may indicate, and there’s not much bass – at least, not of the booming, overbearing variety. This clears the lower frequency range to make complex close-voiced chords ring clearly and without extraneous dissonance. My favourite pickup setting was the neck/middle combination, which had a steely treble and reduced midrange, but with all the sonic benefits of the hollow construction: extended dynamic range and a certain liveliness to the note.
Regardless of the pickup setting you select, the attack is very immediate and the sustain is quite pronounced, with a nice natural tail.

One of my favourite tones was achieved by turning the bridge/middle tone control all the way down. While this would muddy up the sound on most guitars, on this one it simply reigns in some of the strident treble, fattening up the pickup for big lead sounds. A lot of players tend to ignore the tone control altogether but here it’s so carefully and complementarily voiced that it would be a crime against music to not explore its usability.

My favourite settings all seemed to be achieved with sparkly clean and slightly dirty – but not overdriven or distorted – tones. There comes a point where the very things that make the Hollow Baby work so well – evolving midrange, lively dynamic response and delicate interactivity – start to work against it when you pile on the distortion. That’s in no way a criticism of the guitar. It’s just that it’s presented in its best light when you can actually hear what’s going on.

2-TONE SUNBURST (SEYMOUR DUNCAN VINTAGE FLAT SSL-2 PICKUPS)


The first thing that struck me about these pickups was that they are very quiet. At high gain levels you’ll hear a kind of ‘ksssh’ off in the background in positions 1, 3 and 5, but only in extreme cases. In normal playing conditions you’re not likely to hear any noise at all. Amazing. Like the Kinman-equipped Hollow Baby, the Seymour Duncan version has a very bright and stabby tone, but this time the tone control doesn’t cool down the bridge pickup in quite the same way. The tone overall is a bit more gutsy, with powerful but not harsh treble. My favourite setting was the neck pickup by itself. This pickup is very midrange-heavy, making it great for bluesy solos and ringing indie melodies. It’s especially happy when you combine fretted notes with open string drones. I was also continually drawn to the middle pickup, which was home to a lot of fat lead tones. In fact, the middle pickup on this guitar reminds me of a fat bridge pickup on some others. I also found a great overdriven tone with the middle/bridge tone control down about 3/4 of the way while using those two pickups in combination.

This Hollow Baby responds especially well to soft playing, either with a pick or the fingers. Notes have an immediate impact but then fade out gradually and musically. You can also get some great textures by picking with the edge of your thumbnail around the 12th fret while holding down chords around the 7th-9th frets. On some guitars this technique sounds a little ‘meh,’ while others really take the sound and run with it. This one bolts.

Surprisingly, I found myself drawn to this particular Hollow Baby for John McLaughlin and Allan Holdsworth style fusion. There’s something about the way the notes sustain which lends itself to that kind of ‘fast/slow, soft/loud, up/down’ phrasing you often find in fusion, and the tone itself sits very nicely as a solo instrument.

Both of these guitars are very well made, with lots of clever little design details - the fretboard radius, the wiring of the tone controls, the pickup selection, the neatness of the f-hole. The different pickup choices are a great way of demonstrating how adaptable this basis design is to different types of music. The Kinman-loaded model would be my choice for country and cleaner styles that require lots of spank and twang, while the Seymour Duncan model would be my pick for edgy blues and dirty classic rock. I wish I had the chance to try the Cole Clark-loaded version too, but whichever way you shake it, Cole Clark’s come up with a very unique take on what at first seems to be a traditional design. Strip away the preconceptions though and you end up with something altogether unprecedented.

LINK: ColeClarkGuitars.com

REVIEW: DBZ Guitars Premier Cavallo FR

When Dean B. Zelinsky left the guitar company that bore his name, a lot of things were uncertain. What would he do next? Would any well-known Dean endorsers follow him? Would his new designs be similar to the old ones or a complete departure? But then again, a few other things were certain. 1: Whatever he did next was bound to get a lot of attention. 2: Much of that attention would come from metal guitarists. 3: Those guitarists would be from all walks of life and would be buying guitars at all price points. Dean Z’s new venture, DBZ Guitars, designs guitars with all three of those points very much in mind, from relatively low-cost guitars like the Barchetta LT FR to the high-end, USA-crafted Bird of Prey – along with some surprisingly jazz and classic rock-oriented models.

The Cavallo on review here is from the reasonably-priced, Asian-built Premier series. The body is an artfully routed chunk of mahogany, with a mahogany neck and ebony fretboard (the latter a surprising inclusion at this price). The scale length is a slinky 24.75” and there are 22 frets. Tuners are Grovers and you have the option of the string through (ST) or Floyd Rose (FR) models. Pickups are a set of DBZ’s own DBZB and DBZ5 humbuckers. Controls are brutally simple: Master volume, master tone, and a 3-way switch. But what’s this? The tone control pulls up to split the humbuckers for single coil operation - a surprising feature since it’s not listed on the DBZ website. Cool! Ergonomically, The whammy bar itself might get in the way of the controls for some players, and the fretboard is a little too narrow for larger hands, but these are very much style and player-dependent issues rather than a design flaw. Aside from a few small rough spots in the finish (which could probably be buffed smooth, including a little bubble in the finish on the back of the neck which would probably wear down with regular playing) the workmanship was of a quite high standard – especially the fret finishing.

There are three features which really stand out about the Cavallo. The first is that wicked headstock, with the 3D DBZ badge (an eagle holding a big DBZ logo in its talons – pretty badass); the sculpted body contours – which don’t feel overly ergonomic but certainly go a long way towards setting the Cavallo apart from everything else on the market – and the V-shaped neck profile. This isn’t the first guitar to feature this shape and it won’t be the last but I’m always surprised which I encounter a guitar that has it. That surprise always gives way to a knowing nod though when I remember just how perfectly this shape places my fretting hand for speed, comfort and reach – and that knowing nod gives way to the metal horn hand gesture when I realise that playability-wise it’s almost ridiculous how quickly and cleanly you can play on this type of neck in general, and the Cavallo in particular.

Plugged in, the Cavallo sounds a lot smoother than you would expect. On the bridge pickup there’s a very refined, dry ‘grind’ character to the tone which makes for perfectly thick, chunky power chords and punchy extended voicings – it actually reminds me a lot of my old Japanese-made 1993 Ibanez RG370 with Ibanez V6 pickups. It’s a great sound for 80s/90s thrash and current metal styles, but it has surprising adaptability for more conventional rock tones too. In fact, back off the distortion a bit and you’ll find some surprisingly useful classic rock sounds. While some pickups and body woods combine to emphasise the separation between notes in a chord, there’s a very cool ‘unity’ to the sound here – voicings are knitted together nicely without any one note jumping out above all the others.

The neck pickup has a similar smoothness to the bridge unit, augmented with a bit of a midrange spike which enhances articulation of speedy alternate-picked lines, and really allows sustained and bent notes to scream. It’s equally at home with Slash-style bluesy soloing or intense metal shreddage. Flipping to single coil mode I was instantly taken by the neoclassical girth of the tone. Think of a certain Swedish virtuoso – that’s the kind of character these DBZ units have in single coil mode. This is a sound that would work really well for cleaner textures in the studio, but also has enough cut and character for great dirty blues and country tones (believe it or not!). It’s not a particularly sparkly clean tone: more coarse, fat and gritty.

The DBZ Premier Cavallo FR is individual and unique in both looks and character, yet extremely adaptable in playability and sound. It may look like it wants you to play metal on it and nothing but, yet if you’re game enough to try other styles you’ll be rewarded with a great-playing guitar that can cover a surprising number of musical bases without losing its own identity.

PS: I’ve shot some video of me noodling on the Cavallo. I’ll post it on YouTube when I get a chance to edit it, hopefully some time this week.

LINK: DBZ Guitars

REVIEW: Native Instruments Guitar Rig 4

I’ve been using Native Instruments’ Guitar Rig 3 for quite a while – I really dig the edgy clean tones of a few of the models, and am especially into the effects modules. Guitar Rig 4 ups the awesome factor with a wider selection of amp models, once again with effect and micing options all able to be laid out on one screen to make it easier to see exactly what you’re doing. There are now 15 guitar and bass amps and there are several key differences to the Guitar Rig 3, including a bunch of additional Plex models, enhanced virtual microphone control, a master effects section, and true-stereo processing across the entire signal chain. Neat!

Like Guitar Rig 3, a rack of components is displayed on the right side of the screen, including an Input module with input volume and a noise reduction section (you can also use this as a clean boost to push the amp models into overdrive, just like a real amp – there’s a free tip for ya); a Tape Deck module for recording or loading a file to play back through the software - for instance if you wanted to audition various amps for a particular part. It also has pitch and tempo manipulation for learning from a recording; a Tuner module with chromatic, guitar, bass, and various alternate tuning modes; a Metronome module with over two dozen time signatures and a wide variety of sounds for emphasis; another Tape Deck module for recording the entire signal chain, and finally an Output module which includes a limiter section for taming the dynamic range. While I prefer to jam to drum loops I cobble together, the metronome is still very handy to have, and I often use the second tape deck to record song ideas.

Guitar Rig 4 can be used in standalone mode for practice and general riff writing, or as a plug-in for most recording programs. You can also load it onto a laptop and use it in live performance, aided by the Kontrol edition, which includes an incredibly useful floorboard with all your switching and audio ins and outs.

Back to the screen: To the left is a Browser section which lets you choose settings by sound type or amp type, and a Component section which presents visual representations of everything: amps, speakers, effects, etc. The drag-and-drop method of signal chain shaping is very intuitive and it’s fun to mess around with ideas like “What if I took a cranked Marshall head and plugged the speaker out directly into the input of a clean amp?” Try doing that in the real world without getting exploded. Finally there’s an Options section which takes care of various admin tasks.

One of the biggest differences between Guitar Rig 3 and Guitar Rig 4 is the truckload of new Plex models. In addition to the original Plex from Guitar Rig 3, there’s Jump (high-gain take on the classic Plexi tone), Cool Plex (warm but with restrained overdrive when pushed), and Hot Plex, which reminds me of a cross between EVH’s ‘Fair Warning’ tone and the monster sounds Randy Rhoads got on Ozzy Osbourne’s live ‘Tribute’ album. To test each of these out I’ve been chipping away at a track which uses every model in a different way: Hot Plex for a Rhoads style rhythm, Cool Plex plus the flanger stomp model for a dirty clean-toned arpeggio part, Jump for some ringing emphasis chords in the background, and Plex for a Jeff Beck-like, single-coil-and-fingers tone. I would definitely recommend downloading the demo and trying out each of these models within the same track. It’s a great way of comparing their sames and differences. When the track is completed I'll post it on YouTube and here on I Heart Guitar so you can hear it.

I’m also a huge fan of the Citrus and High White models. The former offers a muscular low end with ringing highs, and the latter excels at open chords in a percussive rock context. I like to use these with my Ibanez Talman, which has PAF-like Ibanez Super 58 pickups, for classic early 70s sounds. Citrus works extra well with the neck pickup and a fuzz pedal model, while High White does the ringing-chord, cranked-valves thing exceptionally well.

I also love the range of tones available from the Gratifier and Ultrasonic models. The Gratifier is by far the best models of you-know-what I’ve ever used. It models each of its channels very accurately, and is great for muscular modern metal riffage. The Ultrasonic is especially friendly with my Ibanez Jem, and the two of them pair up nicely to create Steve Vai ‘first G3 tour’ era tones, especially with a little Quad Delay from the effects section.

The real star of Guitar Rig 4 though is the Control Room module (see pic below), which allows you to mix up to 8 different virtual microphones placed on the one cabinet. You can balance the respective volumes and pan them anywhere in the stereo field. There are universal Air, Bass and Treble controls for overall tone colouring, and although it’d be nice to have individual versions of these for every virtual mic, it’s still an incredibly versatile system which goes even further in aiding Guitar Rig 4’s authenticity.

The addition of the extra Plex models and the Control room function are standout features for me, but the pedal models also deserve riotous applause (especially an incredible sounding ‘Cat’ distortion – pair it up with the 800 model for instant Nuno). I tend to keep an open mind to my amp modelling needs so I’ll never settle on a single program, but there are certain things I’ll use Guitar Rig for every time. It also achieves its tonal mojo with less processing power than some other amp sim plugins, which means I spent less time chucking picks across the room in anger when Pro Tools hangs up in the middle of a session, and more time rocking out in glorious high fidelity.

LINK: Guitar Rig 4

GUITAR CENTER: Native Instruments Guitar Rig 4 Kontrol Edition Standard

REVIEW: Hughes & Kettner ATTAX 100

A solid state amp that isn’t a digital modeller? The very idea seems confusing and unusual today, when valve-swollen high gain heads and boutique handwired tone monsters jostle for position with digital simulations of same. There was a time when solid state amps occupied a larger corner of the market, but today those same units are regarded with suspicion at best, and flippant derision at worst. So what has Hughes & Kettner done differently to keep the Attax series from being relegated to a job as a coffee table in a music store?

It’s interesting that the very first thing you encounter on the Attax is the very sturdy on/off switch. I guess I got used to seeing plastic rocker switches on solid state amps, so the inclusion of the very serious-looking metallic toggle gives the very favourable first impression of a serious amp built to last.

The Attax features four channels: Clean, Crunch, Lead and Ultra. There are two EQ sections: one for Clean and Crunch, the other for Lead and Ultra, plus a volume control for each channel and a master volume for the whole amp. There are individual gain controls for each channel, and four pushbuttons for channel selection.

Next to the channel buttons, there sits an effects section. A modulation knob moves through increasing increments of chorus, flanger and tremolo, while there are dedicated delay time and level pots, and a reverb control. The idea of having digital modulation and delay effects in an analog amp isn’t unheard of, but it seems to usually be reserved for practice amps – I guess the theory in leaving them out of costlier amps is that if you can afford a top dollar valve head or combo, you can probably afford a swag of pedals or a rack of processors as well.

The power amp section uses current feedback similar to a valve amp, where current flowing through the speaker feeds back into the power amp, for a more organic response.

Around the back, connections include an effects loop, separate foot switch and FX on/of switch jacks, a line out, a CD/line in, a headphone output, and an external speaker jack (8oHm minimum). The head version adds a second external speaker jack (4oHm minimum). The included footswitch provides instant access to each of the 4 channels, and if you want to turn the effects section on or off, the FX switch jack supports multiple switch buttons for toggling the modulation effects and reverb.

The Clean channel especially likes active pickups and high gain humbuckers for that compressed Metallica clean tone, but it’s also good for LA studio funk. It's certainly not where I'd look if I wanted a clean but growly or snappy tone for edgy rhythm work, but there's plenty of sparkle and chime. The Crunch channel, however, has plenty of natural vintage bite at low gain levels, and sounds great with judicious use of slapback delay. Turn the gain up for chunky rhythm tones with tight bass. If you need more power, the Lead channel has plenty of chunk and fury for metal rhythm - or if you use Crunch for your main rhythm sound, Lead should have all the gain and body you need for your solo voice. It handles single notes cleanly and clearly, and has more than enough articulation to keep us shredders happy. The Ultra channel ratchets up the gain and fullness even more to almost ludicrous levels, and combined with a little delay and chorus it will appeal greatly to fans of Rush’s Alex Lifeson. In fact, this amp covers a lot of the sounds you can hear in Rush’s extensive discography, and while he doesn’t use this model, Lifeson is an avowed H&K fan, so it’s interesting to note that this amp cops so many of his tones so accurately, without even trying to. But Lifesonesque tones aside, this channel is a monster when you flip to the neck pickup and go into rapid-fire arpeggio meltdown.

This is an ideal amp for those who require four distinct rock-to-metal oriented sounds in a light and easy-to-navigate package. It may not feel exactly like a valve amp, but it’s close enough that it sounds like a really good recording of a valve amp, and far from being a gimmick, the effects are there to enhance the tone when required, when they could easily have been dropped in to mask an otherwise lacklustre offering.

REVIEW: Krank Krankenstein +

I’m not sure what’s the coolest thing about Krank amps, exactly. Is it the metalleriffic logo? The faultlessly roadworthy construction? Or is it that these monsters are brutal enough to withstand not only the mighty picking hand of one James Hetfield, but also to stand toe to toe against the crushing metal power that is Dethklok lead guitarist Skwisgaar Skwigelf?

IT’S ALIVE!

It’s probably a safe bet that the Krank name wouldn’t be quite so prevalent in the guitar world if they hadn’t secured the endorsement of the late great Dimebag Darrell, just months prior to his tragic death in 2004 (and a huge ‘screw you’ to the asshole currently burning in hell for taking Dime from us – hope you like ass-forkin’, dingus). A long time solid state amp user, Dime was so taken by the sound of the all-valve Krank Revolution that he teamed up with the company to design his own amp, the Krankenstein. That amp has undergone a few changes to become the new Krankenstein +, which takes the basic design that was formulated with Darrell, and refines it as a result of some of the lessons learned over the last few years, during which Krank went from virtually unknown to one of the most prominent amp makers in the metal world. These refinements include a larger transformer and a switch to Sovtek 6550 valves instead of the 5881 valves used in the original Krankenstein.

At the heart of the Krankenstein + is a preamp section with four 12AX7 valves. The Dime channel includes a gain control, a 3 band EQ stack (treble, midrange and bass) and a sweepable midrange control. There are two master volumes, accessed via footswitch, so you can set separate levels for rhythm and lead. Then there’s the Kleen channel, which has a simple three band EQ and a volume control. There are master volume and presence controls so once you’ve got the perfect ratio of rhythm, lead and clean levels, you can tailer the amp’s output to the size and tonal characteristics of the room.

IT’S DIME TIME

The Dime channel has a hell of a lot of gain on tap. Even with the gain set to 1, you’ll get a distortion that’s more than powerful enough for classic Judas Priest/Iron Maiden metal grind. Crank it up to 5 and you’re in death metal territory. Go up to 10 and you might never come back from the abyss. Then again, you might like it there. In fact, it’s probably best to start here. Hehe. My favourite setting was with the tone and gain controls all set around 5, more or less, and with the sweep control at about 11 o’clock, which created a tone reminiscent of John Petrucci’s sound on Dream Theater’s ‘Scenes From A Memory’ album but with the bite and presence of their ‘Train Of Thought’ album. This sound was perfect for metal, and made hard rock more intense and powerful. Of course, scooped-mid Pantera tones are easily achievable, but to write this off as a Dimebag soundalike tool is to do the Krankenstein + a great disservice.

The Kleen channel is extremely clean, and is great for those ‘This Love’ arpeggios. It’s also a perfect platform for getting the most out of distortion pedals, because this sucker will simply not distort on its own. And of course, all that sparkly cleanness and inexhaustible headroom makes it great for adding chorus, delay, reverb and maybe a little compression to get those classic metal clean tones.

STRENGTH BEYOND STRENGTH

If you need more vintage, overdrive-based sounds and fatter, rounder tones this is not the amp for you. Try the Revolution + instead (my review here). If you need gritty clean tones with bite and snarl when you dig in with the pick, you’ll be disappointed in the staunchly clean manifesto of the Kleen channel, but if you need ultra clean sounds for spooky intros, and all-out distorted mayhem for everything else, you’ll be hard pressed to find a better amp to deliver just that, and nothing but, in the Krankenstein +.

LINK: Krank


Here's a NAMM demo video of the Krankenstein + and Revolution + from Premier Guitar's excellent YouTube channel:

REVIEW: Carvin TL60

The faithful old Telecaster design has been around since 1948, and in that time it’s been through a few reinterpretations – psychedelic rock axe, country twanger, indie standby, balladeer’s accompanist, and even metallic instrument of doom. With such basic design characteristics it’s a great canvas on which to paint unique and interesting ideas. With that in mind Carvin offers its TL60 model, a familiar Telecaster outline with a multitude of custom options.

The basic TL60 model takes the general Telecaster philosophy of well-distributed mass, through-body stringing and clear, cutting tone, and adds a few upmarket features like neck-through construction, a graphite-reinforced 12” radius, 24-fret neck and Sperzel locking tuners. The vast options list includes a Wilkinson trem system or Fishman piezo acoustic bridge with matching preamp, a choice of three headstock shapes, stainless steel frets, 10” or 14” fretboard radius, and a list of wood varieties and custom colours so long you’d need an intermission and a comfy armchair to get through it.

The review model was decked out in classic sunburst finish on a quilted maple top, with a hard rock maple neck and alder body wings, gold hardware, two cream-coloured Carvin C22 humbuckers, Fishman piezo acoustic bridge, Birds Eye maple fretboard with classy yet understated black dot inlays, coil splitter switches for each pickup, a phase switch to cover both C22s, separate active tone controls for the acoustic and magnetic pickups, and dual outputs which allow you to separate the acoustic and electric signals to different amps or combine them in the one jack.

String action out of the box was quite low and even across the fretboard, and the neck-through design allowed for completely unrestricted access to every fret, all the way up to the 24th on the low E string. Fingerpicking was a breeze, and two-handed tapping (which admittedly still looks kinda funny on a Telecaster-style design) was so effortless I almost felt guilty wailing like it was 1984 all over again.

The first thing that struck me about the TL60 was the sheer amount of sustain afforded by the neck-through construction. We're all familiar with Nigel Tufnel's Les Paul which sustained so much you could strike a note, go away for a bite, come back and it would still be ringing. Well you could hit a note on the TL60 and then get dressed, go out for coffee, bruscetta entree, penne Sicilia main course and maybe an affogato for dessert, followed by a stop at the 7-Eleven for a Mars Bar for the walk home, and when you got home the guitar would still be singing. (Might I recommend Rococo on Acland St if you want to try this for yourself). Telecasters are usually known for their sharp, sudden attack with not much sustain, and as a dedicated Tele fan it was quite unusual but extremely welcome to be able to hold such clear notes for so long.

Strung with Elixir strings, the test guitar was quite trebly when played unplugged, with a snappy attack which mellowed as the sustain took over. The clarity of the strings translated well to the piezo acoustic tone, helping sell the aural illusion of an acoustic guitar when it’s not practical (or cool enough, depending on genre) to bring one out on stage. The acoustic tone can be refined with the active tone control if you require a little more zing or more bass and body, but the basic tone is already stage-worthy and ready for an acoustic amp or PA system.

The magnetic pickups, the same kind found in Carvin’s CT6M California Carved Top model, sound a little drier and punchier in the TL60, where the more evenly distributed body mass and solid-sounding alder provide for a more direct sound well suited to overdriven vintage British-style valve amps. The harder tones make power chord rhythms a no-brainer, and in single coil mode the guitar is just begging to be hooked into an old valve amp with plenty of clean headroom so its icy attack can have maximum impact. I tried to resist, but eventually I gave in to the urge to play the Stones’ “Start Me Up,” one of the archetypal Telecaster songs in my book, and the TL60 responded with all the ringing overtones of the original, and then some, thanks to that sustain and the tonal complexity of the different wood varieties interacting. Throw in the extra tones offered by the phase switch, and there are more sounds lurking under the hood of this guitar than I can count.

But the fun doesn’t stop there. Plugging the piezo pickups into a modelling combo and the magnetic pickups into a valve head and 4X12 cabinet, the TL60 came alive with complex, full-bodied tone. The acoustic and electric sounds complemented each other perfectly, and putting aside the ability to create the very cool illusion of two guitarists playing at once, it’s just a fun tone to play around with. I tried a few little tricks, like running tremolo on the electric sound while going clean with a little reverb on the acoustic, or throwing some chorus on the acoustic while cranking the distortion and reverb on the electric, then blending the volumes so the electric sounded like it was off in the distance – instant Radiohead without the need for a bunch of extra guitarists to drink your beer and hog your space on the power strip.

The playability, tone and modern-retro design of the TL60 are enough to make it worthy of consideration, but consider the additional flexibility of the piezo bridge, coil tap and phase switch and this guitar turns into an unstoppable killing machine in the studio. The ability to record acoustic and electric tones at once to two separate tracks is pretty enticing, and the switching options allow you to go from clean Strat or Tele tones to driving Les Paul sounds literally at the flick of a switch. Then when it’s time to take your music out onto the stage, the TL60 looks rockworthy enough to hold its own, while replacing at least 3 guitars from your collection.

LINK: Carvin.com

REVIEW: Cole Clark Culprit 3

I’ve reviewed a few excellent Cole Clark acoustics and electrics over the years (like this Guardian, for instance), but when I opened up the case for this baby I was pretty gobsmacked. It combines several of my favourite things: that classy body shape, a cool semi-hollow body, classic wood tones that manage to avoid looking like your aunty’s coffee table, and that awesome headstock: definitely Paul Bigsby-inspired, but still distinctly Cole Clark. The design philosophy behind this one is to use Australian woods, so you have your choice of Bunya or Queensland Maple for the body (with a Blackwood cap), Blackwood or US Rock Maple for the neck, and Rosewood or US Rock Maple for the fretboard.

The body is internally carved rather than simply gluing in a solid centre block: the bridge, the neck pickup and the neck itself are all directly connected to the back and sides for enhanced sustain and resonance, while sound chambers allow the sound to swirl around within the body, picking up additional reflections and frequencies before throwing them out of the modified f-hole. It’s a very cool effect when unplugged, and those extra resonances definitely play a role in making the amplified voice morestrident and distinctive. Translation: It sounds really cool. The fretboard radius is a finger-friendly 12” (Ibanez players like me will be quite comfortable with this feel), and the neck is comfortable without being too fat or too thin.

The Culprit 3 uses a pair of Cole Clark’s own Culprit single coil pickups, which are wired into a 4-way switch instead of the more traditional 3-way. Position 1 is the bridge pickup; position 2 puts the bridge and neck in parallel for that classic open, jangly vibe; position 3 is the neck pickup, and position 4 combines both pickups in series for a monster high output sound which is sure to make your amp sweat a little.

I tested the Culprit through my Marshall DSL50 and a Peavey Windsor Studio. Through the Marshall’s clean channel, this guitar was a punchy, powerful chord monster, while adding some compression courtesy of an MXR Dyna Comp and a little slapback analog delay made for a great country pickin’ tone, prompting me to kinda slip into my Junior Brown impersonation for a while. Then I pushed the Marshall’s ‘Crunch’ button for a more chunky, bright attack, and it’s at this point, ladies and gentlemen, that I gave in to my weakness and took a shameful jump into Jimmy Page’s ‘Stairway to Heaven’ solo. Being single coils, there’s a limit to how much gain you can pile on before things start to get a bit noisy, but why anyone would buy a guitar like this and try to pile its natural character under gobs of gain is beyond my comprehension. So if you hang back a little and listen to the guitar, and respect what it has to say, you can still find your way into some killer rock sounds that don’t need to sound like your guitar is gargling garbage-water.

Through the Peavey, the Culprit had a more jangly, indie vibe, and I couldn’t help hooking up a vibrato effect for a few faux Clientele chord extravaganzas (played fingerstyle for added authenticity, of course). I also found that through the Peavey I gravitated towards old school soul and R&B riffs of the Curtis Mayfield variety. A little analog delay in the effects loop and a flip over to that high output fourth setting added a swampy blues vibe that I could have stayed on all day.

This is a very cool guitar for a variety of styles, from clean country and indie to swampy blues, to dirty, filthy rock. The construction quality is excellent and while there are a few hints as to its inspirations, it’s unmistakably an original design.

LINK: Cole Clark Guitars

REVIEW: Jackson JS30 Dinky & Kelly

Jackson’s JS30 range allows players on a budget to get their hands on a real Jackson designed and branded axe at a price that’s far more attainable than their droolworthy custom shop creations or other high end axes. I had a look at two models from the series, the Dinky and the Kelly.

The JS30DK Dinky (above) has a vaguely Strat-shaped alder body, a bolt-on maple neck, and Indian rosewood fretboard with dot position markers. While Jackson is known for its pointy sharkfin inlays, the sharp reverse headstock adds just enough of the jagged metal look for this guitar to be recognised as a Jackson despite the dot markers. There are 22 frets on the sleek, shred-approved neck.

Pickups are a pair of Jackson CVR high output humbuckers. A Floyd Rose licensed Jackson Low Profile JT580 LP double locking 2-point tremolo system is included for dive bomb freakouts.

The JS30KE Kelly (above) is the budget version of the model used by Marty Friedman during his Megadeth days. Its overall shape is reminiscent of a Gibson Explorer, but much sharper and more aggressive. Like the Dinky, this Kelly has an alder body, a bolt-on maple neck, and Indian rosewood fretboard with dot position markers, but it differs in that it has 24 frets instead of 22, and has the same two CVR humbuckers. The strings pass through the body and over a tune-o-matic style bridge. So far, so metal.

Fretwork on both guitars is of a better standard than you’d expect in this price range - good but not great. The Dinky has a slight edge on the Kelly in this regard. The Dinky’s neck also feels slightly rounder than the Kelly’s, making it bit more comfortable to play in general, while the Kelly is more of a shredder.

One would expect the string-through nature and huge body of the Kelly to have better sustain than the Dinky, but the opposite is the case: The Dinky has a gradual attack and note decay, while the Kelly is more immediate. I would use the Dinky for more flowing styles such as legato, or for Brett Garsed-style melodic lines which require more delicate phrasing. The Kelly absolutely kills as a metal axe designed for speed, because the sudden impact of each note makes for better definition for very fast passages. Thrash rhythm work especially benefits from this quality, but if you like to play speed-picked solos up and down the neck, the Kelly is your axe.

The pickups are definitely skewed towards the more aggressive end of the musical spectrum, and while each guitar has the same pickups, they seem to emphasise the differences in the two axes, instead of making them sound the same. Having said that, a guitar like this is ideal for a pickup upgrade. I'd consider an EMG 81+60 pair, a Seymour Duncan JB/59 set, or DiMarzio Breeds.

While sharing many similar accoutrements, the Kelly and Dinky are quite different guitars, and which one you should choose depends on your needs. If you’re into instrumental rock or metal requiring lots of guitar solos with complex note articulation, the Dinky is for you. If you need something to keep up with hyperspeed picking frenzies, be they rhythm or lead, the Kelly has you covered.

SPECS
BODY: Alder (both)
NECK: Maple (Dinky: 22 frets, Kelly: 24 frets)
PICKUPS: Jackson CVR
ELECTRONICS: 1 volume, 1 tone, 3-way pickup selector (both)
BRIDGE: Licensed Floyd Rose (Dinky), Tune-o-matic (Kelly)

REVIEW: Baden Guitars D-Style

Baden Guitars was founded by T.J. Baden in 2006. A former vice president of sales and marketing at Taylor, Baden and partner Errol Antzis, a former investment banker and a guitar lover, enlisted European luthiers Andreas Pichler and Ulrich Tueffel and together they set about to redefine the acoustic guitar.

The first thing you need to know about Baden guitars is that they are made in Vietnam, and while this information might trigger alarm bells for some shoppers who prefer their instruments to be US-made, it’s important to point out that Baden guitars are no production-line-stamped, automated, cheap little axes made in a facility that builds guitars for half a dozen other brands too. Nope, these instruments are all completely hand-built, overseen by six French luthiers.

The first and most striking thing about the Baden D-Style is its shape. It’s a dreadnaught, Jim, but not as we know it. The curves have been flattened out and the outline is given a slightly boxy vibe, almost like certain vintage Danelectro electric guitar designs. The next thing you notice is the subdued approach to ornamentation: no elaborate inlays, overwrought rosettes or extravagant abalone binding here. The Baden design philosophy is one of minimalism. In fact even the Baden logo on the headstock is simply cut into the wood, rather than inlaid or painted. The one concession to style-over-substance in this regard is a tiny triangular wedge driven into a little circular cutout at the fretboard end of the sound hole. The D-Style’s back and sides are mahogany, and the top is Stika spruce, while the The binding, bridge, fretboard, heel cap and headstock overlay are rosewood. The fretboard is free of any kind of position markers, with only subtle side dots to help you find your way.

Electronics on the review model are a Fishman Matrix Infinity system with simple volume and tone controls, unobtrusively tucked away inside the sound hole. However, Baden has recently started using Fishman’s more pimped-out Aura range, which adds acoustic imaging to the piezo signal for added realism. Unplugged the D-Style is a very bright-sounding guitar, with lots of loud yet tight bass and a throaty, zingy high end. The tone is ideal for players who need to be loud and proud in the mix, especially in country or roots styles. If your music requires some heavily-picked rhythmic chugging on the low strings, the D-Style keeps up with every note, while chord stabs ring out brightly and clearly. It’s also a good fingerpicker due to the clarity and note separation. The action as set up at the factory is quite low at the nut end of the fretboard, gradually rising as you travel along the neck. This makes it more at-home for open-position chords right out of the box, but any music store or luthier worth their salt can adjust the action to a more barre chord-friendly height with ease. Plugged in, the Fishman does a good job of translating the guitar’s natural tone, but it's a shame I couldn't get my hands on the Fishman Aura version.

The D-Style is a bold, unique take on the traditional dreadnaught design, and it’s an ideal choice for those looking for something a little unique while still sounding like a dreadnaught should. Baden is attempting something quite innovative in what can be a quite conservative market segment, and their guitars are well worth checking out.

LINK: www.badenguitars.com

REVIEW: Baden Guitars A-Style

Baden guitars are as unique and innovative as they are sparse and minimal, Like the D-Style dreadnaught, the A-Style is free of the types of showy flash that seem to dominate much of the acoustic market. Former Taylor vice president of sales and marketing T.J. Baden and his small team of luthiers have a minimalist design philosophy which emphasises the sound and playability of the instrument over flashy tricks like abalone inlays or elaborate pickguard shapes. The guitars are completely handmade in Vietnam in a workshop overseen by six French luthiers, and the emphasis is on quality over quantity.

The A-Style has a rosewood back and sides with a solid cedar top. The fretwork is immaculate and there’s not a stray glue spot or tool mark to be found anywhere on the body. The body and fretboard are refreshingly free of inlay or rosette, with only a simple white wedge at the top of the soundhole. The headstock logo is cut straight into the wood – no showy inlays or fancy screened logo here. Electronics are a simple Fishman Matrix Infinity system with volume and tone controls and switchable voicing. But of course we must address the big white elephant in the room: that shape. Some will love it, some will hate it. Instead of a traditional cutaway, Baden has instead chosen to build the A-Style as if it’s two different guitars, with the body and neck meeting at the 14th fret on the bass side and the 18th fret on the treble side. If you cover half of the Baden photo with your hand, the A-Style either looks like a somewhat-regular concert-shaped guitar if you cover the treble side, or a truncated, unusual experiment if you cover the bass side. The design makes a lot of sense when you’re playing though, as there’s no cutaway whatsoever to get in your way.

The tone of the A-Style is very round and gentle. Unlike the D-Style, which is a bright and loud strummer, the A-Style prefers more delicate playing styles. It excels at fingerstyle melodies, where the restrained treble and soft bass blend every chord or arpeggio into a sound which is somehow bigger than the whole. It made my half-assed Tommy Emmanuel licks sound more integrated and assured. Strummed chords sound supportive and balanced, making this a good guitar to provide ‘accompaniment’-style playing for those who need a sonorous bed of supportive chords behind a vocalist or within a band. The Fishman preamp can add a little zing and sparkle for when you need a little more cut to stand out from a mix, but the A-Style’s natural tone is equally at home unobtrusively supporting a band or as a solo instrument. While some guitars blend each note in with the others to their detriment, on the A-Style this quality is a highlight, due to the very musical and pleasing frequencies created by the body shape and woods.

The A-Style is unusual, minimalist, perfectly built and expertly voiced. It may not be the first thing you think of when you’re looking for a new acoustic, but if you can get past the jarring look of the ‘cutaway’ or if, even better, you like the way it looks, the A-Style is a great choice for players from a wide range of genres and a huge variety of musical settings.

LINK: www.badenguitars.com