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Posts Tagged ‘gear find’

Gear Alert! Aracom Amps to Release a New Model!!!

Posted in amplifiers, amps, Amps/Amplification, announcements, aracom amps, buying gear, GAS, gear, gear reviews, guitar, guitarists, Guitars, Music, musicians, Tone, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on March 14, 2009| 1 Comment »

The Dawg always has his nose to the ground, trying to pick up the scent of new gear. And for the past few months with the economy in a deep recession, new gear has been tough to find; especially from the small-run manufacturers. Well, I just picked up the scent of a brand new amp from Aracom Amps, and despite the recommendations of its maker, Jeff Aragaki to wait until he updates his site, sorry Jeff, this alert just can’t wait!!! 🙂

The new amp is called the Vintage Rox Series, and is based upon his absolutely kick-ass RoxBox series, which is an EL84-based, 18 Watt head or combo. The Vintage Rox, or VRX, series on the other hand, uses the same chassis and layout as the RoxBox, but is 6V6-based, producing 22 Watts of output. Now you have a choice in low-wattage solutions from Aracom!

Time to come clean…

Okay, I’ll admit it: I didn’t just discover this amp. I was actually the primary tester for the amp (there are distinct advantages to being local to a manufacturer), and I have been literally waiting weeks and chomping at the bit to announce it. I’ve hinted at its existence in previous article, but couldn’t provide any details.

Why am I so excited? For lots of reasons. But I’ll name two. First, with this amp, I think Jeff has definitely hit the sweet spot for low-wattage amp solutions! With the RoxBox 18 and the VRX 22, players have a voicing choice that not many boutique builders offer. But even more special, both the RoxBox and VRX amps sell for significantly less; in many cases more than half as much as other boutique amps at the same or similar wattage.

Secondly, the tone this amp produces is freakin’ marvelous! So much so, that I’m taking delivery of the first production amp. When Jeff brought the first prototype to me several weeks ago as an “experiment” he was working on, my immediate feedback was that this was a special amp, and I couldn’t wait until he had a production model because that was the amp I wanted to get from him.

I’ll have a full review of the amp once I get some pictures from Jeff, but for now, start checking out the Aracom Amps site for the VRX 22 announcement. It should be up by tomorrow!

Folks, I haven’t been this excited about an amp since I reviewed the Reason SM25! It’s one special amp that really deserves your attention. Also, if you subscribe to Vintage Guitar mag, you should see a review of the Aracom Evolver there in the newest issue!

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New Gear: Orange Amplification launches ‘Limited Edition 2009’ White Finish’

Posted in amplifiers, amps, Amps/Amplification, announcements, buying gear, GAS, gear, guitar, guitarists, Guitars, Music, musicians, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , on March 4, 2009| Leave a Comment »

Orange Amps Limited Edition 2009 White FinishI love writing this blog. In order to keep my content fresh, I have to top into a lot of resources. No doubt, I get A LOT of announcements and stuff. Most of it I just let rot in my inbox, but there are some, like this press release from Orange that really catch my eye. Here’s the verbiage:

British amplifier manufacturer Orange, have for decades produced their instantly recognisable, brightly coloured Orange Amplifiers and picture-frame cabinets and more recently offered Black as a standard option. Their revolutionary styling, have not only set them apart, but literally helped guitarists the world over, stand out from the crowd.

Orange can now announce a ‘limited edition 2009’ white finish on their UK built, valve amps and cabs. The cabs have a stunning white finish, complete with black fittings and come with the classic Orange front grill cloth, Orange logo and crest. This finish has previously only been available for artist’s special orders and is now being offered as a special limited edition for the duration of 2009 and will cease to be obtainable thereafter.

The white finish has already been used by artists as diverse as Madonna, Monte Pittman and The View and following numerous requests, Orange are able to offer this for a limited period only at the same price as existing Orange amps and heads.

For further information contact:

UK and rest of world info@omec.com  and for the USA info@orangeusa.com

home


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Gear Find: Prestige Guitars

Posted in announcements, gear, gear reviews, guitar, guitar gear, guitarists, Guitars, Music, musicians, prestige guitars, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on February 24, 2009| 2 Comments »

Prestige Heritage - Lite Sunburst

Prestige Heritage Elite - Lite Sunburst

You gotta love Canada. You just gotta. In addition to being the country that brought us my favorite sport, hockey (Go Sharks!), Canada is now raising the attention of guitarists. The first Canadian manufacturer that caught my attention was Godin guitars. I first played a Godin at a local shop, and was really impressed by them.

But I recently caught wind of another Canadian manufacturer – Prestige Guitars – that is making me raise my eyebrows – A LOT! Granted, it took me reading about them in Guitar World mag, but that brief review article of the Prestige Heritage Hollow compelled me to do research on Prestige and see what’s so special about them.

From what I can tell, these are production guitars with TONS of boutique accoutrements. Click on the picture to the left to see what I mean. This guitar, replete with abalone binding and intricate mother of pearl inlays on the fretboard sells for CAN $1800! That is roughly US $1450!

Here are specs for the Heritage Elite:

  • 24 3/4” scale length
  • 1 11/16” nut width
  • Abalone bound mahogany body
  • Carved AAA Grade quilted maple top
  • One piece mahogany neck
  • Abalone bound rosewood fingerboard
  • Floral vine fingerboard inlay
  • Mother of pearl prestige logo & decal
  • Seymour Duncan SH1-59 (neck) SH4-JB (bridge) Humbucker pickups
  • 2 Vol. / 2 Tone / 3-way toggle controls
  • Tune-o-matic bridge & stop bar
  • Grover tuners
  • All gold hardware
  • Available in natural sunburst & ebony finishes

What a price point for these kinds of features! An equivalent boutique guitar will sell for three to four times as much, and here’s this Canadian company providing the same kinds of features for so much less! YOU GOTTA DIG IT! YOU JUST GOTTA!

I haven’t been able to find any sound bites the web, otherwise I’d list some, but I’m going to do some research, and I’m definitely going to see if I can somehow play one of these!

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New Gear: VOX JamVOX Jam and Practice Tool

Posted in buying gear, GAS, gear, guitar, guitar instruction, guitarists, Guitars, jam, jam track, learn guitar, Music, musicians, vox, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on February 22, 2009| Leave a Comment »

JamVOX Front View

JamVOX Front View

JamVOX User Interface

JamVOX User Interface

Even though I have some patterns and scales that I practice, I usually end up jamming to jam tracks that I either write myself or download. But I also like to jam to music from popular bands. The only problem with this is that the guitar parts are already printed, and it’s tough to jam over recorded stuff.

But VOX has just come out with the JamVOX, a jam and practice tool consisting of softare and a mini practice amp to play along with any MP3. The software apparently extracts the guitar part from any MP3, and you can rip away! I don’t think this is the first of its kind, but compared to the solutions I’ve seen in the past, this looks like it is the most well-integrated software/hardware solution to date. I’m definitely going to check it out as soon as I can! Here are the features from the VOX site!

  • Revolutionary new GXT (Guitar XTracktion) function lets you cancel or extract the guitar part of an existing song.
  • 19 famous guitar amps and 54 effect units ranging from vintage to modern are provided as software.
  • Easy-to-use “drag and drop” interface enables guitarists to create their “dream guitar rig” without any advanced knowledge of amps or effects. Sound famous fast!
  • A music player feature with convenient functions for jam sessions or practice.
  • Import music files to jam along with from your favorite CDs, music library or MP3 player.
  • A dedicated USB monitor speaker is included, and there’s no need for complex wiring or specialized knowledge of computer music.
  • Two guitar play-along CDs containing 28 famous rock classics.

Check out a few videos:

After watching the videos, I’m REALLY stoked about JamVOX!!! And at $249.00, it’s a great deal!!! Can’t wait to give it a whirl!

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Gear Find: Tone Freak Effects

Posted in booster, buying gear, clean boost, distortion, effect pedals, Effects, GAS, gear, guitar, guitar effects, guitar gear, guitar pedals, guitarists, Guitars, Music, musicians, overdrive, pedals, Tone, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on February 18, 2009| 2 Comments »

Tone Freak EffectsI love serendipitous moments, when I stumble upon something new when I’m doing something else entirely. Such was the case of me stumbling upon Tone Freak pedals. I was seeing if the domain name “tonefreak.com” was taken, and at the top of the search results was Tone Freak Effects. You know me and overdrive and distortion pedals. I LOVE ‘EM! And Tone Freak Effects specializes in two kinds of overdrive, two kinds of distortion pedals, plus a buffer/booster and a really nice trem pedal.

The OD and distortion pedal clips I listened to demonstrate a very diverse set of pedals that have a classic character, but also sound fairly unique as well. For instance the Abunai 2 clips sounded a lot like a classic Tube Screamer – nice and open – but with a bit more low-end while maintaining that openness. In fact, all the pedal clips I listened to portrayed familiar OD and distortion sounds, but were also wonderfully different in very good ways. This could likely be because almost all the pedals are the result of collaborations with various guitarists.

No matter, these pedals sound awesome!

I’m particularly interested in the Buff Puff, a signal buffer, plus a clean boost. The buffer is on all the time, and helps restore the signal loss that can occur in a long effects chain. When you switch the pedal on, you get some clean boost. Not sure how many dB, but that is something that I find totally cool. In addition to my love for OD pedals, I’ve really started getting into clean boost – not just to up my volume, but to also slam the front-end of an amp. It’s wonderful!

Anyway, check Tone Freak Effects out at: http://www.tonefreak.com!

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New Gear: Lava Cable CPS – LockBlox for Guitarists?

Posted in buying gear, effect pedals, Effects, GAS, gear, gear reviews, guitar, guitar effects, guitar gear, guitar pedals, guitarists, Guitars, Music, musicians, pedalboard, pedals, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on February 16, 2009| 1 Comment »

LavaCable CPS

LavaCable CPS

Introduced at Winter NAMM, the Lava Cable CPS (Configurable Pedal Board System) is what Lava Cable claims is the first fully configurable pedalboard system ever. They may be right, and are certainly on to something. The CPS consists of individual, notched pedal “blocks” that fit flush together. You then screw the pieces together in whatever fashion you wish. Imagine growing or shrinking your board at will! For pedal junkies like me, this system could be a bit dangerous. The limited size of my current board makes getting more pedals prohibitive, and that’s a good thing. A system like this would allow me to expand it ad infinitum!

In all seriousness though, being able to flexibly lay out your board is a totally cool concept to me. You’re not reliant on the shape of the board nor, if you’re into doing it yourself, must you cut out your own templates. For more info, go to: http://www.lavacable.com/lavacps.html

There is also an interesting discussion on The Gear Page with some pictures people have taken of their setups. http://www.thegearpage.net/board/showthread.php?t=487904

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New Gear: Faustine Amps Attenuator

Posted in amplifiers, amps, Amps/Amplification, buying gear, GAS, gear, guitar, guitar gear, guitarists, Guitars, Music, musicians, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , on January 12, 2009| 4 Comments »

This piece of gear is so new, it’s not even in production yet, but I just had to share the news!

A few months ago, I was watching a video on YouTube about the Faustine Amps VT-58 amp, which is based on the 5E8A “Low Power Twin” circuit. Very nice, compact amp. But that’s not the story. Faustine is just about to debut a standalone version of their built-in attenuator.

One thing to note about Faustine amps is that all models have a built-in attenuator that gives you from -3dB down to -18dB attenuation. I played at VT-57 at Tone Merchants, which is a 35Watt, 3 X 10 amp – classic, sweet Tweed tone. But it was the built-in attenuator that really sold me on the amp, and actually one of the things that started me thinking about using an attenuator in the first place. As you know, I ended up going with a Dr. Z AirBrake, which has totally served me well, and will continue to do so in the future, but I remember the attenuator working so well on the Faustine, that I was wishing that Faustine had a standalone attenuator.

My wish has been granted.

If you watched the video (and I will present it in its full glory at the end of this entry), the reviewer mentions it being released in early 2009. That prompted me to contact Tim Gregoire, Faustine Amps designer and owner to see if and when it will be released. According to Tim, full production models will be available by the end of this quarter or early next quarter. He’s currently building a set of pre-production models for select clients in the SoCal area, and once he’s done with those, he’ll begin production of generally available models.

So what’s so special with this attenuator? From my personal experience with the built-in one, the attenuator circuit Tim has created is totally transparent – at any level. While I love my Dr. Z, at high attenuation levels, it starts sucking tone, and that’s not good. But with the Faustine, I didn’t detect any tone loss, even when I cranked up the attenuation to its highest setting!

According to Tim, the standalone model will have a wider attenuation range than the built-in attenuator. He shared that it will attenuate within the range of -2dB all the way down to -26dB – that’s conversation-level! Freakin’ awesome! No price yet, it probably won’t be cheap. But sometimes you have to pay for transparency. Once out, the unit will be sold exclusively for a time through Tone Merchants. Stay tuned, as I will hopefully be able to get a unit to review!

Here’s the video of the VT-58. This is a great little low-power amp, with wonderful, vintage Tweed goodness!

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Gear Find: Plush “The Verbrator”

Posted in buying gear, effect pedals, Effects, GAS, gear, gear reviews, guitar gear, guitar pedals, guitarists, Guitars, pedals, Tone, tubes, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on January 9, 2009| 1 Comment »

Plush Verbrator

Plush Verbrator

I dig interesting pedals. in my search for a decent reverb, I came across the Plush Verberator that is a tube-driven effects loop and a 24-bit reverb in one pedal. I’m not too sure about the effects loop bit, but the reverb sounds really awesome. Here’s the product description from the Plush site:

The Verbrator® is a new multipurpose pedal which combines an all-tube effects loop with a studio grade reverb featuring a 32-Khz clock speed for full 16-K audio bandwidth. The Verbrator® is our most innovative pedal offering to date. It’s an effects loop, it’s a reverb, it’s both!

Unlike other “tube pedals,” the Verbrator® power supply features a unique regulated switching technology that takes the incoming 9 volts and converts it up to the optimal high voltage a tube really needs to operate best. In addition, a 6-volt DC regulator provides consistent clean DC power for the tube filament assuring lowest noise and consistent performance despite any changes to incoming line voltage.

The Verbrator® can be used as a pedal on a pedal board as a reverb pedal. It features a level control and decay control allowing you to have a short medium or long decay reverb algorithm. It can also be used as a tube buffer to convert an incoming high impedance signal to a low impedance for long cable runs or driving a pedal board. The recovery (gain) stage can be used to boost the level of a guitar or pedal board with a true tube audio stage. It provides a warm sweet utility gain stage with a multitude of uses.

The effects loop portion of the pedal features a unity gain cathode follower to work with any amp that has passive preamp output – power amp input patch jacks, and not a true active effects loop like Ceriatone, Dumble, Bludotone, Brown Note, some Marshall models and others. It has a send level control and high headroom. The return portion of the loop features a high impedance input (250-K) and a low output impedance with its own level control as well. The loop can be run in series or parallel modes, and features a level adjust switch for rack or pedal style effects.

9-volt DC adaptor provided, the Verbrator® features a unique “window” showing the tube. Like all Fuchs pedals, the Verbrator® features solid cast aluminum powder coated enclosure with heat cured silk screening, dual sided heavy circuit boards, premium switches and controls, and premium electronic parts throughout.

Like I said, I’m not too sure about the effects loop part of it, but the reverb really sounds good. Check out the video below:

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Gear Find: Fairfield Circuitry Barbershop Overdrive Pedal

Posted in buying gear, Effects, GAS, gear, gear reviews, guitar, guitar gear, guitar pedals, guitarists, Guitars, Music, musicians, pedals, Tone, tubes, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , on December 15, 2008| 1 Comment »

Fairfield Circuitry Barbershop Overdrive Pedal

Fairfield Circuitry Barbershop Overdrive Pedal

I don’t know why I love overdrive pedals so much, despite my recent discovery of the beauty of using a clean boost. I just do. I can’t help myself. So when I hear about new drive pedals appearing on the market, I’m keen to check ’em out and better yet, see if I can play ’em; but that’s besides the point of this entry… 🙂

Anyway, I just found out about a brand-spankin’-new company called Fairfield Circuitry, who’s just come out with a new overdrive pedal called “The Barbershop.” In their own words,

“Have you ever sat in a barber’s chair wishing your tone was as slick as your freshly shaved upper lip? With the Barbershop Overdrive on your pedalboard, you could keep your moustache and sound good doing it.”

That’s pretty amusing! But the sound of this pedal, at least from the samples provided on the product page, is absolutely serious. According to the Fairfield Circuitry spec sheet, this is an original design and completely handmade from JFET’s. It has three controls: Drive for driving the gain, Sag (which I find very cool) to control voltage into the internal amplifiers, and Volume to control output volume without changing the effect. The Volume control is a very cool feature – it’s like a Master Volume on an amp. I dig it!

The Barbershop is the first of three pedals to be produced by Fairfield Circuitry. Two more will be coming out in the near future, but there’s very little information on these right now. In any case, check out the site for yourself!

And by the way, this pedal, though handmade is actually quite affordable: $175 CAN. That converts to $141.68 US! Not bad at all!

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Gear Find: Valve Train Spring Thing

Posted in buying gear, Effects, GAS, gear, gear reviews, guitar, guitar gear, guitarists, Guitars, tubes, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , on December 11, 2008| 2 Comments »

Valve Train Spring Thing

Valve Train Spring Thing

In my search for a new reverb unit, I ran across this interesting unit by Valve Train. I know, it looks like an amp, but it’s a tube-driven reverb unit with a dedicated reverb tank – very cool. There’s really nothing like a good spring reverb unit, especially ones done the old school way. I’d love to try one of these. However, one issue I might raise is where to put it in my chain. Ideally, I’d run it through an effects loop, so I reverb the amplified signal. But what about using with an amp that doesn’t have an effects loop? I’ve had mixed results with reverb unit in the past that I’ve run before my amp. Maybe because they were digital units – who knows? But that’s definitely a concern, though I suppose I could run it from the amp output, into the unit, then into the speaker, though that might be bad idea considering what kind of impedance the unit can handle.

This just in:

Rick from Valve Train Amps sent me a message. Here’s his answer to my question:

Brendan,

my favorite place to put the ST is actually in a effects loop if the amp has one…

otherwise, put it anywhere in the effects chain that you like the sound… (some folks like it before overdrive pedal, some after)
because it is an active tube circuit, placing in front of a high gain amp may cause some unwanted hiss, etc…
I have a lot customers that use it in between the guitar and a tweed style amp with no other toys in the chain…

hope that helps…

Rick Gessner

Sure does! Thanks, Rick! I probably could’ve answered my own question – You have to experiment! 🙂

In any case, check out this video I found on YouTube about this unit.

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