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Posts Tagged ‘gear announcements’

A Few NAMM 2010 Eye-Catchers

Posted in Guitars, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , on February 8, 2010| Leave a Comment »

I was persuing YouTube today to check out some cool stuff from NAMM, so I got a few vids that I thought were worth sharing.

The first if from Fender (yeah, I know, it’s mainstream, but Fender has been doing some interesting stuff). This is Acoustasonic Tele, which is a half acoustic / half Tele. As you know, I have the Acoustasonic Strat, but this looks like it’s even better! Check it out:

Here’s a really cool thing for acoustic guitars – no more string pegs!

Ever wanted a Tube Screamer in an amp? Well Ibanez has come out with a 15 Watt amp they appropriately call “The Tube Screamer.” It features an authentic Tube Screamer circuit in the front end, and has a half-power switch (pentode-triode) switching. It will only cost $299. Probably mostly solid state, but it has 2 X 12AX7’s in the pre-amp stage and a pair of 6V6’s to power it up. Interesting. Here’s a demo… At least the amp sounds decent (read: I don’t necessarily like how it’s being played): 🙂

And here’s a new overdrive… the HAO OD-16, handmade in Japan. The NAMM vid I found on this was private, so I did a search for another. Apparently it has a street price of $300… yikes! I’ll do a bit more research on this one. Sounds very nice!

That’s it for now. If I find more stuff, I’ll post it here. There are lots of videos to wade through….

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This Just In: George Lynch and the Skull Crusher!!!

Posted in buying gear, effect pedals, Effects, GAS, gear, gear reviews, guitar, guitar effects, guitar gear, guitar gear reviews, guitar pedals, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on February 5, 2010| 2 Comments »

I announced the Skull Crusher back in September when it first came out. Based upon the KASHA overdrive (but with some upgraded wiring and electronics), it has since gotten the attention of several prominent guitarists. Now George Lynch is playing through it, and HE LOVES IT! Check out this video:

How’s that for an endorsement. I’ve said all along that the KASHA overdrive is just about the best overdrive I’ve ever played, and I’m not alone in saying that. With guys like George Lynch touting how good the Skull Crusher is, you owe it to yourself to check it out! I know, some people don’t go for the look, but it’s the tone that matters.

For more information, go to The Tone Box site!

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Newly Discovered II: Guitar Scale Magnets

Posted in Guitars, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on January 18, 2010| Leave a Comment »

Wow! Two days in a row, and yet another e-mail received from a reader, and yet another pretty cool idea. This time, it’s from Guitar Scale Magnets located in Houston, TX. These help players learn scales by attaching a magnetic strip to the bass side of the fretboard. The premise is that learning guitar is a visual as well as tactile and aural experience, and having a visual cue as to where you should place your fingers in relationship to a particular scale will help you learn faster. Interesting indeed. Here’s a picture of the pentatonic scale strips:

There are 12 strips representing each note in an octave, so you can learn the five pentatonic box shapes in any key! Cool! Each strip is attached to the guitar via a “base” strip of magnetically receptive material (not metal) tape. The tape has a weak adhesive, to stick enough to stay in place, but not damage your finish. In any case,  very ingenious idea!

At this point, only 25 1/2″ scale length strips are available, but according to the manufacturer, slight variations won’t throw the strip off much.

Personally, I wish I had these strips for when I was learning guitar. I just memorized the box shapes, then learned how to connect them through osmosis. But if I had to do it all over again, I would’ve invested in stuff like this to help get me started! For you teachers out there, you might consider getting a few sets of these – you can pass the cost of them to your students. But then again, that might shorten the time it takes to teach your students to play the guitar. 🙂 Seriously though, if my teacher provided me with stuff like this, it would make learning a helluva lot easier!

For more information, go to the Guitar Scale Magnets web site!

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Newly Discovered…

Posted in Guitars, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on January 18, 2010| 4 Comments »

As GuitarGear.org has gotten more of following, from time to time, I get random e-mails from folks who share gear and what-not. It’s cool. If it’s interesting stuff, I share it here, and like in the case of Jeff Aragaki of Aracom Amps, their contact initiates a close friendship.

Anyway, I got a notification from YouTube that someone sent me a private message – I’ve gotten those before and they’ve been from users with names like “PoleRider69” or something to that effect, telling me to go to their adult porn site – but this one was different because the person who sent it was sharing a video about a glass guitar pick. Ah-ha! Gear! Now, you know me, gear slut that I am, I just can’t resist checking out stuff related to gear; especially picks!

So without further ado, I’ll share the video. It’s very short, but how this pick was used really compelled me to share it and find out more about the pick.

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New Gear: StageTrix Pedal Fastener

Posted in buying gear, effect pedals, GAS, gear, gear announcements, gear find, gear reviews, guitar, guitar accessories, guitar effects, guitar gear reviews, guitar pedals, guitar reviews, guitarists, Guitars, Music, musicians, new gear, pedalboard, pedals, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on November 13, 2009| Leave a Comment »

stagetrix-pedalfastener

Click for full size view

I wrote about StageTrix Pedal Risers awhile ago, and how they elevate the back row of your board to make your pedals more accessible. I’ve been using them since, and they really are a godsend! I did mention that they already came with the fastener already installed, so all you have to do is place the riser.

I really like the fastener they’re using. For one, the material is thinner than most kinds you buy at a store, which means it shapes well to contours. Another thing – and more importantly, in fact – is that the glue StageTrix uses on the fastener can withstand up to 200 degrees Fahrenheit. That’s the best thing. We’ve all had the experience of getting velcro glue on our fingers. It’s a gooey mess! Well, that’s solved with the Pedal Fasteners.

For $9.95, you get a pack of three (click on the picture to get a full size view). You can install a fastener with the middle, or you can remove the middle part, and only use the fastener on the edge of  your pedal. Very cool stuff!

For more information, check out the StageTrix Products site!

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Saint Guitars Vintage Series

Posted in GAS, gear, gear announcements, guitar, guitar gear, guitarists, Guitars, Saint Guitar Company, Saint Guitars Vintage, tagged , , , , , , , , , on October 18, 2009| 1 Comment »

Vintage10-2-09 003A few days ago, I announced the new Vintage Series model from Saint Guitar Company. At the time, Adam sent me pictures, but few details, so there wasn’t much to report on. However, I’ve since spoken with Adam, and was able to get some juicy details on this guitar and his vision for the Vintage Series.

  • This first guitar sports a solid mahogany body and neck.
  • The pickups are Seymour Duncan Vintage p-90 Soapbars.
  • Rosewood fretboard with Saint Logo on the 12th fret.
  • Volume and Tone knobs, and a Three-way pickup selector switch.
  • Dark burst finish (natural stain to black)
  • Custom, flush pick guard.

Here’s the best thing about this guitar: It will range in price between $1300 and $2300, significantly less than Adam’s Benchmark and Messenger models which start at $3300 and go up from there. That in no way means lower quality. Said Adam of the price, “I still make the guitars by hand with custom templates and jigs, but the difference is the flat top. Because I don’t have to shape a carved top, the guitar is a lot less labor-intensive to build. Also the dark burst finish is a lot less time-consuming as well. So because I’m saving on time and labor, I want to pass that savings on to my customers.”

Since I already have a Saint Guitar, I know this will be special. I should be getting a test drive of this baby in the next few weeks. I’ll keep you posted!

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Gear Announcement: Saint Guitars Releases Its New Vintage Series

Posted in gear, gear announcements, guitar, guitar gear, guitarists, Guitars, Music, musicians, new gear, Saint Guitar Company, Saint Guitars Vintage, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , on October 8, 2009| 4 Comments »

This announcement is so new that Saint Guitar Company hasn’t even put it up on their web site! I first caught wind of this new series a few months ago when Adam mentioned to me in a conversation that he was starting to work on a new style of guitar. This new series was to be a mild departure from the modern rock-inspired designs he has been building for the past several years, and roll time back just a bit to create what he was coining his new “Vintage” series, which would be chambered, have retro styling, and employ P-90 pickups. I don’t have any final build details as of yet, but his first in the series sure looks fantastic. Here are some pictures for your enjoyment!

I can’t wait to do an evaluation on one of these. It’s really exciting! I love the body style on this, with the less pronounced horns, and rounder lower bout, and I dig that flat top! Very cool!

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New Gear: Way Huge Angry Troll

Posted in booster, clean boost, distortion, effect pedals, Effects, GAS, gear, guitar, guitar effects, guitar gear, guitar pedals, guitarists, Guitars, Music, musicians, new gear, pedals, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on October 7, 2009| Leave a Comment »

Wanna slam the front-end of your amp with up to 50dB of gain, then be able to add some distortion? Then look no further than the Way Huge Angry Troll. I don’t have much information on it yet, but it’s a simple two knob affair. The left-hand knob controls the variable boost, while the right-hand knob provides 6 positions of “Anger” from no anger (clean boost) to a full fist. Here’s ProGuitarShop.com’s video demo.

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New Gear: Routed Pedal Risers from StageTrix Products!

Posted in effect pedals, Effects, GAS, gear, gear announcements, gear find, guitar, guitar effects, guitar pedals, guitarists, Guitars, Music, musicians, new gear, pedalboard, pedals, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on September 18, 2009| 5 Comments »

stagetrix_riserOne of the things that completely pisses me off when I’m gigging is when I reach my foot out to activate a pedal in the back row of my board, and I end up also activating a pedal in the front row. Aiiiyeeee!!! This happened to me recently at a church gig. I was playing a nice, sweet, clean solo, and want to texture my sound a bit by adding some reverb.

To give some background, my reverb pedal (Hardwire RV-7) is the last pedal in my chain and it sits right above my Holy Fire overdrive. Instead of a toggle switch, the RV-7 has a switch plate, and the travel before it actually activates is enough so that I have to really point my toe so I don’t brush my Holy Fire’s knobs or accidentally activate it. Well, in this instance, I did both: I somehow completely dimed the overdrive knob AND activated the pedal. The next note I struck not only startled me, but also startled the prayerful assembly – enough so that some people actually squeaked! Yikes! No doubt, it was a bit embarrassing…

Then today, I got a Twitter alert that a new user called StageTrix was following me, so I went to Twitter to do an exchange follow, and on StageTrix’s site, I saw a Twitter reply from Premiere Guitar. Intrigued, I checked out their site, and was greeted with a solution to my problem: An 18-gauge steel pedal riser that you can use to prop up the second row of your board to make your back row of pedals more easily accessible! What a great freakin’ idea! It’s one of those ideas where you slap your forehead and say, “Now why didn’t I think of that?” 🙂

I had the opportunity to chat with one of the StageTrix guys a few minutes ago to discuss StageTrix’s invention. They’ve apparently been developing it for about a year and a half, and doing prototypes with various musicians. And their reason for building it? Exactly for what I was lamenting just above!

Here are some details from their site:

  • Raises the second row of pedals to the perfect height.
  • Front, back and side openings enable effective cable routing.
  • Premium 18-gauge steel.
  • Attaches to board via heavy duty hook-and-loop fastener on base, which holds firm up to 200°F.
  • Designed to withstand temperatures of up to 200F without melting, so leaving your pedal board in your vehicle on a summer day won’t result in a gooey mess with all the Velcro peeling off.
  • Works with most pedalboards. To be sure, check that you have an extra 1″ of clearance when case is closed. The vast majority do.

If you go to their site, they’re doing a promotion by putting several of these units up for bid on EBay, with a starting bid at a $1.00. These pedals list for $23.99 on their site, so it’s possible that if you get the winning bid, you could get one for significantly less…

Right now, they’re only available through StageTrix, but they should soon be available in stores. I will be getting a review unit within the next week or so, and will do a review.

Check out the StageTrix site now!

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KASHA Is At It Again!!!

Posted in announcements, effect pedals, Effects, GAS, gear, gear announcements, gear find, guitar, guitar effects, guitar gear, guitar pedals, guitarists, Guitars, Music, musicians, overdrive, pedals, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on September 17, 2009| 2 Comments »

large-relay-2

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How ’bout a completely different take on an overdrive pedal? Well KASHA is at it yet again, teaming up with Tone Box, Inc., with the brand-new Skull Crusher Drive! Utilizing KASHA’s RockMod technology, the Skull Crusher sports four voicings and a tone and gain knob. Plus with a 10db boost, you have 8 different analog overdrive possibilities in a single pedal!

Sounds hauntingly similar to the KASHA overdrive pedal I just tested last week. It is a bit different, as it has a Tone knob, which is different from the KASHA overdrive. But I can personally attest to the quality of the tone of the KASHA overdrive, so you can bet the Skull Crusher will have that same sweet tone itself!

BTW, my KASHA OD is in production and on its way. I got lucky, and will be getting one of the signed models with a handwritten serial number… Oh goody! Might be able to sell one of these for a grand in 30 years! HA!

In any case, I’ve never seen a pedal like the Skull Crusher before! This is a totally new approach to pedals, adding a visual as well as tonal touch to an effect. The pedal will be distributed by Tone Box, Inc. and will retail for $399.

As for the physical appearance of the box, each pedal is hand-sculpted stainless steel, and comes in four finishes: gun metal, stainless steel, aged and ancient. According to KASHA, there will also be 24K gold and Sterling Silver models as well. Damn! Imagine having a stomp box that’s worth more than your guitar! HAHAHAHAHA!!! I LOVE IT!

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