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Archive for the ‘gear find’ Category

New Gear: VOX Time Machine

Posted in buying gear, delay, effect pedals, GAS, gear, gear announcements, gear find, guitar, guitar effects, guitar gear, guitar pedals, guitarists, Guitars, Music, musicians, new gear, pedals, vox, vox time machine, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on April 27, 2009| 4 Comments »

VOX Time MachineCan’t believe I missed the announcement of its release – I’m usually good about keeping on top of new gear – especially since VOX has been coming out with some pretty awesome stuff as of late. But here it is, the VOX Time Machine Delay. As with the other pedals of this VOX line, this pedal is the result of a very close collaboration between VOX and Professor Satchfunkilus (Joe Satriani). This pedal completes the three pedal line.

The Time Machine Delay features two delay modes (Modern and Vintage) and two EQ modes (Hi-Fi and Lo-Fi). The Modern delay mode provides a transparent delay to retain your orginal tone, while the vintage mode mimicks a vintage analog tape delay. The Hi-Fi/Lo-Fi switch does something similar to the delay modes. Hi-Fi retains your tonal color, while the Lo-Fi mode delivers a “distinctive EQ, combining both high-pass and low-pass filters” to blend better in a mix.

But the thing that I think is pretty incredible is that the pedal has up to 5600 milliseconds of delay – that’s almost 6 seconds! With that you could really do a nice lead loop that you can play over! Damn! Six seconds is a LOT of time. There are lots of layering possibilities with that! That length of delay alone compels me to try the pedal out!

While there are several demos, there aren’t a lot of reviews. Reviews on Harmony Central are mixed. Sound-wise it gets high marks, but one user did point out that the switches seemed a little “rattly,” with no click. Hmmm…. that could be a potential problem. But so far, I haven’t seen any quality issues – but the pedal’s new, so that remains to be seen.

The pedal ain’t cheap, coming it a $199 street, but it has some really great features that definitely worth consideration. Me? I’m really leaning towards the TC Electronic Nova Repeater, mainly because it’s no frills and the tap tempo function using the strum of your guitar is friggin’ awesome – it’s also only $150 street. And based upon the venerable, Nova Delay, it’s a known quantity. However, to be fair, I’m going to have to an A/B to see how the two pedals stack up.

For more information, go to the VOX Time Machine web page.

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Gear Announcement: New Electro-Harmonix Deluxe Memory Man

Posted in announcements, buying gear, delay, effect pedals, GAS, gear, gear announcements, gear find, guitar, guitar effects, guitar gear, guitar pedals, guitarists, Guitars, pedals, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on April 23, 2009| Leave a Comment »

Electro-Harmonix Deluxe Memory Man Old and New

When I first saw the pictures of the new Deluxe Memory Man, I wasn’t too impressed only because I didn’t see the actual size difference between the old and the new version. But Electro-Harmonix has done it: They’ve made a DMM with a smaller footprint. I’ve played the DMM before, and really dug it. There is a certain mojo about this analog delay. But I never considered it because of the real estate it would require on my already space-starved board (though admittedly, it’s time to get a bigger board if I want all my pedals on a single board). Now, with it’s smaller size, this is definitely a pedal I’m going to consider – especially since I’m in the market for a good delay pedal. In any case, here’s the press release from EH:

The original Deluxe Memory Man is considered to be the finest analog delay ever designed. Organic and musical, it has been used by rock and Roll legends and countless musicians since its introduction in 1978. With the desire to make a flawless and smooth transition, Electro-Harmonix proudly announces the “new” Deluxe Memory Man in our rugged and pedal board friendly die-cast enclosure.

Exactly the same components are used in order to maintain the superior analog sound with exactly the same performance qualities. In this case, downsizing to a more rugged chassis was important and only second to maintaining the legendary sound. The exact same sound!

The original Deluxe Memory Man will still be available for a limited time. Musicians in the US and UK can now choose to get the new Deluxe Memory Man, or opt to get the classic. Musicians in the EU can now choose to get the classic original (as right now they only get the die-cast)

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New Gear: Roland Cube 80x Amp

Posted in amplifiers, amps, Amps/Amplification, announcements, GAS, gear, gear find, guitar gear, guitarists, Guitars, Music, musicians, new gear, Roland Cube 80x, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on April 18, 2009| 2 Comments »

Roland Cube 80x

This is actually kind of exciting news: Roland has just released its most powerful Cube amp, the Cube 80x. Sporting 80 Watts of power through a 12″ speaker, this amp is poised to pack a serious punch. The Cube 60 has been quite successful since its inception a few years ago. Hell! Even I have a Cube 60 and I love it! The Cube 80x while being more powerful, also has some new features that are sure to turn heads (taken from the Roland web site):

* Powerful 80-watt output into a high performance 12″ speaker
* 10 COSM® amp models including new DLX Combo model
* Two channels: Clean and Lead plus new SOLO memory function
* New Spring Reverb modeling for vintage reverb sounds
* Easy to use Looper for unique live performance
* Convenient built in chromatic tuner
* Aux input for connecting MP-3 players or other audio sources

The Cube series amps have been known for their versatility. They sound great a pretty much any volume level, and they have enough features packed into them to make it easy to just pack the amp, a guitar and go. I have a couple of friends who use Cubes for club gigs!

There are a few of standout features that really pique my interest: 1. The ability to hook up an MP3 player to the amp to practice with; 2) The looper function, and finally; 3) The built-in chromatic tuner. This amp is made for gigging, and with the line out, you can go right into a board – which I’ve done many times with my Cube 60.

If you’re looking for a great, versatile amp, you can’t go wrong with a Cube. Just pick the one that suits the volume level you need (or the features you want), and you’re good to go!

For more information, visit the Roland Web Site!

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New Gear: Seymour Duncan Twin Tube Blue

Posted in buying gear, effect pedals, Effects, GAS, gear, gear find, guitar, guitar effects, guitar gear, guitar pedals, guitarists, Guitars, Music, musicians, overdrive, pedals, Tone, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on April 8, 2009| 2 Comments »

Seymour Duncan Twin Tube Blue Image c/o Seymour Duncan

Seymour Duncan Twin Tube Blue Image c/o Seymour Duncan

Seymour Duncan is known for its outstanding pickups, and I’ve known they’ve made pedals for awhile, but haven’t really paid attention until they came out with the Twin Tube Blue (SFX-11). This is a very cool little preamp/overdrive box that sits – gain-wise – right in the middle between their Twin Tube Classic and their Twin Tube Mayhem.

Run by two 6111 mil-spec, USA Philips-Sylvania tubes, the Blue can get you some nice, pre-amp snap, to sweet, sustained gain. Here’s the description from the Seymour Duncan site:

Too often, inexpensive tube gear runs in “starved plate mode,” where the tubes function like clipping diodes and do not actually amplify. The Twin Tube Blue’s high-plate voltage and 100% vacuum tube signal path allows the tubes to operate at their fullest potential and provide maximum dynamic range. This means you get the most gain and all the smooth tone you expect from a high-quality tube preamp. Two channels provide versatility. Like all Seymour Duncan stompboxes, the Twin Tube Blue is true bypass and features a fully encapsulated toroidal transformer for quiet operation. Heavy duty steel chassis.

Sounds impressive, huh? Here’s a video:

At about $229 street, it’s a bit on the pricey side, but it sure sounds good. Check it out at Seymour Duncan!

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New Gear: TC Electronic Nova Repeater Delay

Posted in buying gear, delay, effect pedals, Effects, GAS, gear, gear find, guitar, guitar effects, guitar gear, guitar pedals, guitarists, Guitars, Music, musicians, pedals, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on April 8, 2009| Leave a Comment »

Imagine a TC Electronic pedal for under $200! That’s right! It’s the Nova Repeater Delay. It has the same great quality you expect from TC Electronic, but at a great price. As TC Electronic puts it, the Nova Repeater is a “no-frills-with-a-sound-that-kills” type of pedal. In other words, it doesn’t have a lot of bells and whistles. You dial in your settings and play. The most useful feature I dig is the tap tempo you can do strumming your guitar! You hold down the tap tempo button, strum your guitar, and the pedal picks up the tempo you strum! Very cool! When you hold down the tap tempo to set your tempo via your guitar, the pedal shuts off the signal to your amp, so you can set your tempo practically noiselessly. The TC Electronic dudes are awesome! Here’s a video:

I’ve been wanting to get a simple delay pedal for awhile now, and this one looks very promising. However, TC Electronic announced this pedal on March 27, 2009, and it hasn’t hit the stores yet! Damn! I was going to lay down the $149 for this sight-unseen! Oh well, guess I’ll have to wait, or get the Catalinbread Dirty Little Secret first… 🙂

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New Gear: VOX Tonelab ST

Posted in amps, Amps/Amplification, announcements, effect pedals, Effects, GAS, gear, gear find, guitar, guitar effects, guitar gear, guitar pedals, Music, musicians, pedals, vox, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on April 7, 2009| Leave a Comment »

VOX Tonelab ST

VOX Tonelab ST

I got my first introduction to VOX Tonelab boards when I saw a dude playing one direct into his PA at a casino a couple of years back. I was amazed at how awesome it sounded, and completely changed my opinion of using models in a live situation. Since then, I’ve played with some of the Tonelab series boards and Valvetronix amps, and have generally been pleased with them. But with the Tonelab SE, I think I’m going to take a really good look at this new offering from Vox.

  • First off, it’s nice and compact. It’s their smallest footprint yet!
  • 50 Presets and 50 User programs.
  • 33 amps and a 11 cabinets – more than you’ll ever need to customize your sound.
  • I’ve always dug the fact that it has an on-board expression pedal to adjust a bunch of different parameters – but most of all, to use as a wah (the wah is actually pretty sweet on these units).
  • Finally, at $199 (street), there’s tons of value in this little unit!

For more information, check out the VOX Tonelabe page.

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Gear Find: Catalinbread Dirty Little Secret

Posted in announcements, distortion, effect pedals, Effects, GAS, gear, gear find, guitar, guitar effects, guitar gear, guitar pedals, guitarists, Guitars, Music, musicians, overdrive, pedals, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on April 1, 2009| 5 Comments »

Catalinbread Dirty Little SecretI always love being able to get great tone at a bargain. It’s not that I’m cheap. I’ll pay top-dollar for great gear, but when potentially great gear comes at an incredibly affordable price, the Dawg’s ears perk up, and his nose starts sniffing around to see where he can play some gear.

Such was the case when I first came across this little pedal company located in Portland, Oregon called Catalinbread. I had run across the name on a couple of gear forums, but didn’t get a chance to check out their site until today when I read their press release in Harmony Central Effects News. After I read the press release, I had to check out Catalinbread’s site, and much to my pleasure, Catalinbread offers several, very cool pedals.

One thing that makes them stand apart is their diminutive size. As noted in ProGuitarShop’s Catalinbread company page, “One of the defining features of Catalinbread effects pedals is the size. Catalinbread pedals are half the size of your standard MXR. That’s right, take a Phase 90 and cut it in half vertically and you’ve got the basic size of Catalinbread’s pint-sized pedals.” But, as they say, size isn’t everything. Apparently Catalinbread’s pedals pack a lot of sonic punch.

The other thing that makes Catalinbread pedals stand apart is their price. Their most expensive pedal that I found was US$179.95. Several of their pedals are under US$120.00! Mind you, these are handmade pedals! That’s so awesome! Catalinbread is definitely taking the stand of selling gear at lower prices to get it into players’ hands. Creation Audio Labs does this with their awesome pedals, and Aracom Amps does it with their VRX line. This ain’t trivial stuff, either. This is great, handmade gear at a great price!

Can you keep a secret?

The Dirty Little Secret could be construed as another “amp in a box” pedal. But from what I’ve heard from sound clips, it’s far from that. Catalinbread claims to have built into the box amp-like touch sensitivity that accurately respond to your playing dynamics and volume input; so much so that you feel like you’re playing in front of an amp, and not through a pedal. But there are several videos on the DLS product page that bears this out. Check out that page here.

Of course, only a live test will reveal if that is true, but I’m intrigued enough to go try one out if I can. The only problem with that is there are none to be found. This pedal’s so scarce that you can’t even order one on the Catalinbread’s web site! I have a feeling they’re being sucked up as fast as the company can produce them. Even retailers who were hawking the pedals awhile ago have either removed their sale pages or replaced their “buy now” link with ‘Email us about ordering.”

Well… my brother lives up in Portland. Maybe I’ll have him look these guys up!

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Gear Find: Acoustic Image Corus+

Posted in amplifiers, amps, Amps/Amplification, announcements, GAS, gear, gear find, guitar, guitar gear, guitarists, Guitars, Music, musicians, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , on March 31, 2009| Leave a Comment »

A couple of weeks ago, the Dawg was sniffing around for some new and interesting gear, and came across a little company in Raleigh, NC called Acoustic Image, that specializes in acoustic and bass amps. While I love my Roland Cube 60 for its acoustic channel, I was really impressed by the sound of the Acoustic Image Corus. Now, I could only go off the sound of the YouTube video below, but this puppy has some serious, natural tone. Amazingly enough, it’s a diminutive amp with a 10″ downward firing woofer, a 5″ midrange driver, and 1″ tweeter. It produces 450W at 8 ohms and 800W at 4 ohms. That’s a boatload of power! But we’re talking solid state here, so it’s tough to compare to tube amps. But power isn’t everything – it’s the sound that counts, and from what I can tell, this amp sounds fantastic! I need to get to a store that carries these to try it out with my acoustic/electric. Check out the video!

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Gear Find: Oohlala Manufacturing Brown Sound Distortion Box

Posted in distortion, effect pedals, Effects, gear, gear find, guitar, guitar effects, guitar gear, guitar pedals, guitarists, Guitars, Music, musicians, pedals, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on March 25, 2009| 3 Comments »

Ahh… yet another distortion box! Hehe. You know I just dig ’em. This one is from the same guys that bring us the J. Backlund Designs guitars; specifically, Bruce Bennet, of Bennett Music Labs, the actual maker of the J. Backlund Designs guitars.

I discovered this pedal while perusing the web for videos of the JBD-100 that I announced yesterday. It turned out that there was a video of how Bruce built the Brown Sound pedal (it’s below). That really got me interested in the pedal, so I did a bit more searching. I went to the J Backlund Site, and they had a link to view and list to sample of their pedals on a MySpace page.

That turned out to be a bit of dead-end because I couldn’t find where to buy them. I finally found a place that sells the pedals, call OohLaLa Manufacturing. Apparently, they’re a distributor and production house for a bunch of boutique pedals. They either take designs from pedal designers, then manufacture them or, as I found out from Bruce Bennett today, they just distribute the finished pedals. Defintely check out their site! Too bad they don’t have sound samples.

The Brown Sound

The original “Brown Sound” was popularized by the likes of Jimi Hendrix and Clapton with the “Woman Tone.” In its simplest sense, the Brown Sound was produced by using a bit of fuzz combined with TONS of power tube distortion. The end result was a way huge sound! Fast-forward a bit, and the Brown Sound then became associated with Eddie Van Halen. But to produce his tone requires a bit more work.

What about the Brown Sound pedal? Well, it’s not an EVH tone simulator. Apparently, it’s more of a Hendrix tone simulator as the guys at Analogman describe here. Interesting to note that this pedal is not meant to add gain. The volume knob is more of a volume cut, and the drive adjusts the amount of “Brown” you get. That’s actually kind of cool because I’m assume you don’t have to mess around with the volume much to find unity gain. Just leave the volume knob wide open, and let the pedal do its thing.

I’m gonna have to contact the guys over at OohLaLa to get more information about this pedal. I love that tone, and to get it in a box would be awesome!

I forgot to mention: The pedal is all hand-wired, and it’s only $159! Pretty cool! Anyway, check out the video of how it’s made.

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Gear Find: J. Backlund Designs Guitars JBD 100

Posted in GAS, gear, gear find, guitar, guitar gear, guitarists, Guitars, tagged , , , , , , , , , , on March 24, 2009| 1 Comment »

J. Backlund Designs JBD-100

I know I’m dating myself, but I used to love watching “The Jetsons” when I was a kid. It gave me my first impressions of what the future might hold, like flying cars and floating burger drive-ins where you docked your car. Ah, those nostalgic memories of the 60’s…

Well, if there were to be a guitar on the Jetsons, I imagine that it would have to come from J. Backlund Designs. Talk about retro-modern mojo! The JDB-100 shown to the left just oozes that! What a gorgeous guitar, and from what I heard of the sound from the video below, it has a pretty aggressive tone that seems to fit with that retro-modern styling.

At first, I thought I’d hear something like Dick Dale doing some surf stuff, but the dude doing the review played pretty heavy stuff. I’d actually like to hear what it sounds like clean.

Anyhow, here are some specs:

  • Mahogany Neck and Body
  • Set-Neck Construction
  • Custom Inlays
  • Custom Double Action Two Way Truss Rod
  • Scale Length: 24.75
  • Hipshot Locking Keys
  • Hipshot Baby Grand Bridge
  • 7 Degree Tilt Back Headstock Angle
  • Custom Color Matched Lace Sensor Alumi-tone Pickups
  • N-Tune Built In Chromatic Tuner
  • All USA Components
  • Custom Triple Chrome Plated Pick Guard
  • Custom Snakeskin Case

A real cool feature of this guitar is the built-in tuner. When engaged, the signal to the amp is cut off, so you can tune quietly. Hmm… Imagine that! You could remove the tuner from your board, and replace it with another boutique pedal! <sinister chuckle>

For more information, check out the J. Backlund Designs site! They’ve got 4 models, and the funny thing is that the JBD-100 is probably their most conservative-looking guitar! But they’re all cool!

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