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Gear Review: The Marshall Class 5 Amplifier

Posted in amplifier reviews, amplifiers, amps, guitar, guitar gear, guitar gear reviews, guitarists, Guitars, Music, musicians, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , on September 14, 2010| 8 Comments »

Marshall Class 5 AmplifierSummary: Class A, Plexi goodness in a low wattage amp that packs a punch despite its smaller size.Pros: Great, ballsy tone that’ll just make you smile

Cons: None.

Features (as tested):

  • Power: 5 watts
  • Preamp tubes: 2 x ECC83
  • Power tubes: 1 x EL84
  • Controls: Volume, Treble, Middle, Bass
  • Speaker: 1 x 10″ 16ohm Celestion G10F-15
  • Headphone output
  • Extension speaker output
  • Dimensions: 19.48″ x 16.34″ x 9.05″
  • Weight: 26.46 lbs

Price: < $400 Street

Tone Bone Score: 5.0 ~ Even though I didn’t get to spend as much time as I’d like to play around with the amp, I was simply impressed by the tone that it delivers, and at a price point that makes it very difficult to ignore. While many low wattage amps can sound thin and tinny, the Class 5 with its generously-sized cabinet has a fantastic, rich tone.

On Low Wattage Amps

I love low wattage amps – those that are 10 Watts or less. I have a few. For years, people eschewed these super low wattage amps, and passed them off as mere practice tools. But I suspect they really didn’t understand what a super low wattage amp brings to the party. Low wattage amps such as the 5 Watt Fender Champ helped define the sound of rock and roll. Listen to classic rock tunes, and more likely than not, the venerable Fender Champ would be the amp providing the sound.

Today, more and more people are turning to low wattage amps – especially home recording enthusiasts, and even pros like Jeff Beck – to save their ears and to get crunch and grind at low volume levels. As a result of the increased demand, many manufacturers, boutique and mainstream alike, have responded and come up with a slew of low wattage amps. It’s a good thing and a bad thing. On the one hand, you have tons of selections, on the other hand; well, you have tons of selections. There are a lot of them out there and it’s tough to decide which way to go.

The shear amount of low wattage amps on the market is perhaps a big reason why Marshall waited so long to come out with its super own low wattage amp. Perhaps they were studying what the market responded to and what they could do to address what people might have fed back as improvements that could be made.

Enter the Marshall Class 5 amp. This amp was released in the UK near the middle of last year, and arrived here on our fair shores around November of last year. Amazingly enough, news about this amp has been relatively quiet. There hasn’t been all that much advertising that I’ve seen about this amp. The Marshall Haze amps have gotten lots of “rag” time, and the response to those amps has been generally positive. But I haven’t heard much about this amp other than user reviews. That’s too bad because after playing it, I have to say that I really dig it!

Classic, Killer Tone!

Is Marshall embarrassed about advertising such a low wattage amp? I certainly hope not, because I got a chance to play this amp today, and I just have two words to describe it: KICK ASS! Built upon the “Bluesbreaker”/Plexi pedigree, the Class 5 has all of that Plexi goodness in a low wattage combo. Make no mistake: The Class 5 packs a serious punch; maybe not maximum volume-wise (for a gig, this amp would need to be miked, but will provide plenty of stage volume), but if you’re looking for those classic Plexi tones in a low wattage solution, look no further!

Because I was in a shop, I only tested it with a single guitar: An Epiphone Les Paul Ultra. But the Class 5 delivered that cranked Les Paul through a cranked Marshall Plexi true to form. It was everything I expected to hear from a cranked Plexi, just at a lower volume. That really blew me away!

There’s really something special about that tone. My Aracom PLX18BB is a super-close replica of the Plexi 18, plus my good buddy has several Marshalls including an original JTM45 and Plexi 50, so I’m very familiar with that classic tone. While the Class 5 is just a tad grittier in its overdrive than its more powerful siblings (perhaps due to the new speaker), the rich harmonics and smooth overdrive delivered with “balls” with a gorgeous sustain is all there.

While it might seem from my description that this amp isn’t very loud, it’s plenty loud. You can even gig with it easily, even with the stock 10″ speaker which, by the way, has tons of volume and provides rich tone. I was actually expecting the amp to sound a bit thin due to the smaller speaker, but there was nothing thin-sounding about the amp.

Another reviewer mentioned turning the bass all the way down, because he thought it was flabby. I really didn’t detect a flabbiness to the bass, but I like a bright amp anyway so I had the bass EQ dialed down to about 8pm which is almost off.

All this tonal goodness is delivered by a 10″ speaker specially developed for the Class 5 by Celestion, the G10F-15. As expected, the 10″ really has an emphasis on the mid- to high-frequencies, but Marshall compensated for the lows by providing a spacious cabinet to act as a nice resonance chamber for the speaker. The result is a very balanced and smooth tone, if a little on the bright side. But bright is what Plexi’s are all about, and the Class 5 delivers on that swimmingly!

As far as my customary test clips go, sorry, this was a shop eval, so I didn’t record any. But if and when I get the amp, I’ll post some for sure!

Yikes! It’s Too Loud!

Hello… 5 Watts is loud. In fact the speaker’s SPL is rated at 97dB at 1 meter with a power rating of 15 Watts. People have complained that they can’t crank it up in the bedroom past 3 or 4. Yeah… welcome to the Non-Master-Volume club. But that’s the beauty of the Plexi in the first place! You need to saturate the power tubes as well as the preamp tubes to get that Plexi vibe. If you need to run this amp at bedroom levels, the best solution is to get an attenuator such as the Aracom PRX150-Pro.

I sincerely hope that Marshall doesn’t cave in to those complaining it’s too loud and add a master volume to the amp. To me, it doesn’t need and would take away from its vibe.

Made in the UK

This amp is constructed in the UK, amazingly enough. And what’s even more amazing is that it sells for less than $400! The shop I tested it at had it a retail price of $389! One would expect those kinds of prices to come from gear manufactured in Asia. But not this beauty. So to have a UK-made amp at this price point is truly remarkable! Then to get tone this good? OMG! Truly amazing!!!

Fit and Finish

This amp is extremely well made. The cabinet feels real solid, and nothing was loose. Apparently, earlier versions suffered from a buzz, but the unit I tested didn’t have that at all. In any case, I inspected the amp thoroughly – front and back-  and didn’t detect any finish flaws. The tolex was nicely molded down to the surface of the underlying wood, and there were no loose pieces of material. From what I could tell, 1/2″ ply was used for the cabinet, and that is good because I’ve found, at least from a purely qualitative perspective, that cabs built with 1/2″ thickness tend to resonate quite well. This obviously helps bolster the bottom end, and it does it nicely.

The rear of the cab is interesting in that it is partially closed with about a 4″ opening, covered by a metal grill. I suppose that this is so you don’t throw in the cable and accidentally puncture the speaker cone, but it may be purely aesthetic in nature. The rear grill is rather cool.

Overall Impression

I totally DIG this amp! It was fun cranking it up in the store this afternoon! Admittedly, the amp doesn’t really hit its sweet spot until the volume knob is about midway. But completely cranked up, it produces the tone I expect out of a Plexi! And even cranked up, it responds well to volume knob levels, so you can clean up the amp quite easily.

Compared to other super low wattage amps I’ve played, even my venerable ’58 Champ, this amp has tons of balls in stock configuration. With my Champ, I had to have an amp tech add a 1/4″ jack so I could run it into an external cab because the 8″ speaker really can be quite thin-sounding. But the Class 5 has enough balls and volume stock to not need any of that (though it’ll be fun to run this into an external cab anyway, which I plan to do).

Note that unlike other reviews, I really didn’t make mention of the amp being “Class A.” That’s a big deal with lots of folks, but to me, even though I understand the classification, it really doesn’t matter. What does matter to me is how the amp sounds, and it simply sounds killer. In my book, I couldn’t care less about an amp’s classification so long as I can get great tones out of it; and the Class 5 will certainly deliver on that!

As you might surmise, I’ll probably end up getting this amp. As if I need another! But it’s a great amp at a great price. That’s just plain tough to ignore! And note that this amp sounds so good stock to me that I really don’t see a need to swap out tubes unless they burn out (which they probably will considering I’ll be running the amp all out all the time 🙂 ).

Here are some cool video clips of the Class 5 in action:

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New Gear: The Rock Lock

Posted in Guitars, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , on September 13, 2010| 4 Comments »

You’ve heard of it happening to other guitarists, and how could it possibly happen to you? That’s right, your guitar gets stolen at a gig. Over the years, I’ve heard of countless stories of players having their axes taken right off the stage during a break; especially at small clubs where the stage can get obscured by the crowd. Bands have devised numerous ways to protect their gear from taking their guitars with them during breaks, to always leaving at least one band member in the stage area to keep watch over gear to even cordoning off parts of the stage area.

Myself, in my solo acoustic gigs where I play outside at a busy outdoor mall, I cordon off the open, rear area – I play in a “patio” at the end of a busy walkway – to prevent people from walking through my “stage.” But I also do this as a mild deterrent from possible theft. In other gigs, the stage is either raised or in an area that’s secure enough so as to offer more reasonable protection from theft. But still, that’s not complete insurance, so when I take a break, I either do it within line-of-sight of my rig, or have the servers and bussers keep watch over the stage when I can’t be within eye-shot. But if in the rare chance that any of them get busy and can’t keep watch, it’s possible for a cunning thief to come along at take my guitar.

Just a couple of weeks ago, this kid wandered over to my stage area and started checking out my rig while I was on a break. He was even audacious enough to twiddle with my pedals – he even lifted my Deep Blue Delay to inspect it! And while I was trying to get through the crowd back to the stage, he picked up my guitar! I finally got out there and asked him what the hell he was doing, and told him to put my guitar down. It turned out that he was just a young, high-school kid who turned out to not have any filters for manners. Some of the stuff he blurted out during our conversation made me open my eyes wide (had to say a brief prayer that I make sure my kids have filters 🙂 ). In any case, he just assumed that since he played he could just go up and mess with another player’s gear. I was friendly enough so as not to make him too uncomfortable, but I was quite firm when he asked me if he could play my guitar while I was on break that no, he couldn’t, and it was just not cool to just pick stuff up.

So what are we gigging musicians to do?

Enter the new Rock Lock from The Rock Lock Company. This is one of those inventions where you say, “Damn! Why didn’t I think of that?” The Rock Lock is much akin to a laptop tether with a loop at one end to attach to a fixed, stationary object (like a guitar handle as shown in the picture to the right), and a locking mechanism that wraps around the neck of your guitar.

Folks, this is the answer to guitar security! Talk about a theft deterrent! I’m totally excited to get one of these as it will certainly set my mind at ease when I go on breaks!

Here’s some information about the Rock Lock from the site:

  • MADE IN USA!!!
  • PATENT PENDING
  • Core Constructed from Cutting Edge Metal Replacement Technology
  • Nitro-Cellulose Safe Over-Mold
  • Heavy-Duty Braided Steel Cable
  • 1 Year Full Warranty with Registration
  • 2 Keys Included, with optional Key Registration
  • Fits almost all standard 6 string Guitars.
    This excludes: 12 String Instuments, Flamenco/Spanish Guitars, and Bass Guitars.

Pricing and Ordering

The Rock Lock will retail at $49.99, and if you’re one of the fortunate first to pre-order, you’ll get free shipping.

Note that the Rock Lock is not widely available just yet, but you can submit your name and email address to be notified when the next shipment is available (apparently, the first short, test-run sold out immediately). I exchanged info with the manufacturer, and he indicated that the first large production batch will be available on December 1, 2010, so get your name in ASAP!

You owe it to yourself to be comfortable to leave your stage knowing that your axe(s) are safe!

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Dumble Amps, Spam and Necessary Evils

Posted in Guitars, tagged , , , , , , on September 9, 2010| 6 Comments »

I have to admit that I have a guilty pleasure: I love SPAM; no, not the e-mail kind, but the kind that comes in a can; the SPAM most folks who’ve never had it shun with disgust and disdain. Actually, who gives a flying f$%k about what they think? They don’t know what they’re missing. I call my love of spam a guilty pleasure, not because of the people who don’t like it, but because of health reasons, I’m not really supposed to be eating it. But once or twice a year, I get a hankering for it, and I have a couple of slices.

Who knows what actually goes into SPAM? I’m sure there’s a nutrition expert out there who can answer that, but for millions the world over, including myself, SPAM has been literally a part of their lives. Introduced in 1937 by the Hormel company, SPAM gained its original notoriety as a meat staple for US Troops fighting in World War II. It is probably from that where we get the terms “mystery meat” and the general hating of SPAM in America.

I don’t necessarily blame the troops for complaining about it. If SPAM is the only meat I’d get day in and day out, I’d probably hate it after awhile. But for many civilians at the time – especially in the Pacific Islands – SPAM became a staple that has been carried forward through the years even up to today. Ask any Filipino or Hawaiian how they cook with  SPAM, and they’ll give you tons of ways they use it in their cooking. Notice I didn’t say, ask “if” they eat it… Hey! In Hawaii you can go to Macdonald’s and get Two-eggs-two-scoop-rice-and-spam! Tell me that it’s not part of their culture!

However, there are always haters who have snide and vicious things to say about it, and many of those same folks I’ve been around who call it disgusting have never even tried it! I think that irks me the most. I really have a hard time with people who have diarrhea of the mouth about something of which they have little or knowledge. Yet in many cases, these same people speak with a certain authority and conviction that compel others to take them at their word.

I see it all the time on the many and various guitar- and music-related forums to which I belong. There’s always someone who speaks as if they know something about some gear or subject, but have little to no experience with it. They come on real strong in the threads in which they participate, and thus are able to convince the hapless who haven’t had the benefit of doing their own research that something is true or not.

In one particular forum, Dumble amp discussions are rife with folks who appear to know a thing or two about the amps. But what I’ve discovered is that a lot of them have never even played or heard one in person and that their only experience with a Dumble amp is through an amp manufactured by one of the Dumble clone builders out there. Not to say that those amps don’t sound killer, but no matter how close a builder followed one of the various blueprints circulating around the ‘Net, that amp ain’t a Dumble. People may argue that those clones have similar response and dynamics to an actual Dumble, but I’ll say it again: They are NOT a Dumble.

Personally, I’ve seen, heard, and briefly played a Dumble in person. But despite that experience, I still don’t feel that my minuscule experience warrants knowing that amp and completely understand what makes it so special. What I do know, is that there is definitely a vibe going on with it, but for me to actually articulate that “vibe” is difficult. So the best I can do is say that based upon my experience, it’s not the actual sound that the amp makes (to me, the one I heard and played sounds like a vintage Fender Twin), it’s the dynamics and sensitivity of the amp that make it so special. I’ve played amps that have a similar response, like my Aracom PLX18BB, but that amp is in an entirely different ballpark, being much more of a classic rock crunch box, so the two really aren’t comparable.

In any case, that’s as far as I’ll go with sharing what I know about that amp. I know it has a “vibe” but my actual knowledge of its overall performance isn’t enough to warrant any kind of expertise on the amp. Unfortunately, as I mentioned above, there are folks with even less experience with a Dumble than I have that participate in threads and spout off all sorts of seemingly “knowledgeable” rubbish.

So what’s the point to all this? Forums are great places to get information, but make sure you put on your bullshit filter because there’s A LOT of it out there! And just like with SPAM, if someone’s a hater of a particular thing, make sure they actually have experience with what they’re talking about; in other words, they need to justify their hate…

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Gear Review: Jensen Jet Falcon JC12-50F Speaker

Posted in Guitars, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , on September 2, 2010| 5 Comments »

Jensen Jet Falcon JC12-50F

Summary: The newest member, lowest-powered, and lowest-cost speaker in Jensen’s newest “Jet” line at 50 Watts, this speaker produces tons of happening tones right out of the box!

Pros: Even before reading Jensen’s description of the Falcon, I found it to be a speaker that was built upon the substantial foundation of a rich bottom end. But make no mistake, the Falcon is not boomy in any sense, and that makes this speaker versatile. I can see using this in a bunch of different styles. I love it!

Cons: None.

Features (as tested):

  • 50 Watts / 16 ohm
  • 12″ Overall Diameter
  • 1.5″ Voice Coil
  • Ferrite Magnet
  • Steel Frame
  • Paper Cone
  • 98.7 dB Sensitivity
  • 7.2 lbs

Frequency Response Graph

Click for larger view

Price: ~$85-$90 street

Tone Bone Score: 5.0 ~ If you’re looking for a versatile speaker that can handle a bunch of different styles of music with ease, look no further. This is a keeper!

There are tons of advantages of being close friends with an amp builder; not the least of which is I often get to test everything in his shop, including components he gets from manufacturers to possibly include with his amps. The builder I’m speaking of in particular is my good friend Jeff Aragaki of Aracom Amps. A couple of weeks ago, during one of our numerous conversations, he mentioned that he got a new speaker from the Jensen distributor to try out, and asked if I would like to test it. Of course, as I have a very low resistance to trying out new gear, I immediately agreed. I think he asked me to test it out because he’s been so busy with building his AWESOME PRX150 attenuators and working on a couple of new amp designs that he didn’t have much time to do an evaluation himself. That’s a great problem to have!

In any case, we met a couple of days later and he handed the speaker over to me. I was excited to do a test on it! But unfortunately, life happens and I didn’t get the chance to test the speaker until just a couple of days ago. I wish I could have tested it earlier, because bottom line – and if you don’t want to read any further – I’m not giving the speaker back to Jeff. 🙂 Read on if you want to know why…

I could say a bunch of stuff about the Jensen Jet Falcon, but I’ll just say this: The Falcon sounds freakin’ fantastic right out of the box. My experience with speakers has been that you have to play them for several hours before they start breaking in to remove their harshness. The only thing Jeff did once he got the speaker was open the box. I installed the speaker in its brand-new, pristine state so I was anticipating having to play if for a few hours; not necessarily a bad thing, mind you. But that’s what I was expecting.

Much to my very pleasant surprise, once I had it installed in my closed-back 1 X 12, I was immediately taken by its tone. There was absolutely ZERO harshness! And I immediately thought that if it sounds this killer right out of the box, it’s going to sound even better once I’ve gigged and recorded with it. The cleans were sparkly with a nice, substantial bottom end, and the overdrive tones with my ’59 Les Paul replica got me quickly into Rock and Roll nirvana.

I could go on with technical details, but I’d rather not bore you with those. You can read about them on the Jensen product page. But as I said, bottom line, this speaker isn’t going back to Jeff. Hopefully he uses my enthusiasm to offer this speaker in his line. I recorded some clips to show what I mean. Both clips were recorded with my Aracom VRX22 and my ’59 Les Paul replica plugged straight into the amp. I only added a touch of small room reverb in my DAW to give the tone a bit of grease:

Clean with a Dirty Lead

Dirty Lead

I also downloaded the clips from Falcon page. Frankly, I didn’t like how these were recorded, but they are just reference clips:

Clean

Overdriven

As a final note, I’ve been playing this in my studio for the past few days, and the more I play it, the more I love it, especially for the songs I’m working on that need a great overdrive tone. I can’t wait to gig with it!

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Guitar Profile: Gibson 2009 Limited Run Nighthawk

Posted in Guitars, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , on August 20, 2010| Leave a Comment »

Several months ago, while looking for a Les Paul, I once again got sidetracked by another guitar which I bought in its stead; the Gibson 2009 Limited Run Nighthawk. Back in 2009 Gibson release several guitars with limited production runs. The Nighthawk, which had a run of 350, was a revival of sorts of the VERY quirky original Nighthawk that saw a very short life of six years back in the 90’s. The 2009 is not a duplicate of the original; rather, it is more of a hybridization of three guitars. It has the body shape of the original Nighthawk; has a mahogany body and neck, and a maple top like a Les Paul; and it sports the P-90/Humbucker configuration of the Les Paul BFG. It has a very thin, yet highly resonant body, which gives the guitar a very light weight (~6 lbs), but has tons of sustain; it’s a just a little less than the sustain of a Les Paul, but a lot more sustain than a 335 to give you an idea the range of its sustain.

Tone-wise, the Nighthawk 2009 has a much fatter sound than a Les Paul. The P-90 is super-hot and produces a thick, rich clean tone, and ballsy overdrive, and the bridge pickup has lots of gain on tap, and is just a bit darker than the bridge pickup of a Les Paul.

  • Grade A two-piece mahogany body
  • Grade AAA “bookmatched” solid figured maple top
  • solid piece of Grade-A mahogany neck
  • Gibson’s traditional ’50s neck profile
  • Grade-A rosewood fingerboard
  • 12-inch radius
  • 22 frets
  • Figured, swirl acrylic dot inlays
  • P-90 Neck Pickup
  • Gibson’s 498T “Hot Alnico” Bridge Pickup
  • Two Gibson Gold Top Hat volume controls
  • 50’s-style pickup wiring (tone doesn’t bleed off highs as much & volume knobs both act as master volume)
  • Gibson Gold Top Hat master tone knob
  • Three-way toggle switch
  • 1/4” output jack made by Switchcraft
  • Pearloid tuning keys
  • Tune-o-matic bridge
  • Nitrocellulose Translucent Amber finish
  • Approximately 6 lbs

Pictures

Took these with my Nikon D40 and a f1.8/35mm lens, using available light to warm up the photos (though a couple were taken with a flash).

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Sounds

I provided these in my original review of the Nighthawk, but rather than have you go back to the review, here they are:

Neck Pickup

Clean

Dirty Lead

Rock Rhythm

Both Pickups

Clean

Dirty Lead

Rock Rhythm

Treble Pickup

Clean

Dirty Lead

Rock Rhythm

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Great News! Mad Professor to Offer Less Expensive Versions of Their Pedals!

Posted in Guitars, tagged , , , , , , , , , , on August 19, 2010| 2 Comments »

As you may know, I recently purchased the Mad Professor Deep Blue Delay, and wrote about how much I absolutely LOVE this pedal! While I can’t say enough about it, I anguished over getting it for a long time because of the price. At $335, it was so difficult to justify buying the pedal. But though I’m very budget-conscious, and a lot of this blog is about getting great tone without spending a lot of money, sometimes great tone just costs what it costs.  I’m glad I finally did break down and get it because it is by far the best delay pedal I’ve ever used!

So what’s the big news? Well, one of the biggest complaints about Mad Professor pedals is that they’re super-expensive. People who have purchased them, like myself, are very happy with them, but their price still smarts a bit. So in response to that complaint, MP made a great move: They added a line of less expensive pedals that mirror their current line. But instead of being hand-wired, these pedals are built using PC boards. Also the case they’re using is much less expensive. The net result is that you can get into Mad Professor pedals in the $200 price point range as opposed to the $300+ price point. Nice.

In any case, here’s what Mad Professor has to say about their new offerings:

Mad Professor was at Summer NAMM 2010 in Nashville 18-20 June 2010. We did show there the first redesigned pedal, a new Little Green Wonder.

Same tone, same look, but we did design a new pcb that helps us build these lot faster and for better price. The quality is the same, same parts but now pcb mounted pots, jacks and switch.

The box is also not the same Made In Sweden Elfa box that is made for heavy industry but a high quality pedal box that is bit lighter but very durable. That helps us to save a lot of money.

The only complain we have heard about the pedals have been the price, this is our answer to that.

We still make the handwired pedals for those who prefer them. Coming soon new Deep Blue Delay and Sweet Honey Overdrive.

Conceivably, if the circuit is the same, the tone should still be the same, but based upon experience, different build materials create different tones. They may be slight, but there’s always a difference. My only concern with the less expensive line would be response. As long as the response and dynamics remain the same or as close to the same as the original hand-wired pedals, these pedals should

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Review & Gig Report: Mad Professor Deep Blue Delay

Posted in delay, delay pedals, effect pedals, Effects, GAS, gear, gear reviews, guitar, guitar effects, guitar gear, guitar gear reviews, guitar pedals, guitarists, Guitars, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on August 14, 2010| 7 Comments »

While I did a “mini review” of the Mad Professor Deep Blue Delay a couple of months ago, that was in a shop in a controlled environment, and though I played it for almost an hour, there’s no better test of gear than using it at a gig where nothing is predictable.

After I originally auditioned the pedal, I anguished for the last couple of months about getting it. Why? Simply because of its price: It is NOT a cheap pedal by any means (I got it for $335), and it was always easy for me to reason why not to get the pedal. However, I’ve been a bit disappointed with my VOX Time Machine when using it with my acoustic rig. I thought that since it performed so well with my electric rig, that it would translate well to my acoustic rig. That couldn’t be further from the truth. Truth be told, while the Time Machine simply kicks ass with my electric rig, my tone feels and sounds “processed” with my acoustic rig. The net result is that I stopped using it for my acoustic gigs.

I knew I had to get a good delay that would work well with my acoustic rig, and I also knew that after auditioning quite a few digital and analog delays at the shop, it was the Deep Blue Delay that spoke to me. But the price of the pedal made me shudder, so I put off the purchase for the last couple of months.

Then yesterday, in a moment of weakness, I purchased the pedal on my lunch break at work. Jordan, the sales guy I’ve been buying gear from at Gelb Music for years, swears by this pedal, and he just said, “Dude, I know the price is steep, but there’s none better than the the Deep Blue Delay. It’s always on my board, and it’s almost always on. The VOX Time Machine is a killer pedal (he sold me that one as well), but you know how the Deep Blue sounded with the APX900 (Yamaha – I bought that one from him too – though he didn’t make a recommendation that time 🙂 ) when you tested it a couple of months ago. Believe me, you won’t be disappointed.” Mind you, I trust Jordan’s advice implicitly. I’ve been buying gear from him for years, and have learned that when he raves about some gear, it’s not bullshit because he owns it or has gigged with it. And with the Deep Blue Delay, I’ve never witnessed him rave so much about a pedal!

So I am now the proud owner of the Mad Professor Deep Blue Delay, and like Jordan, I can’t rave enough about it! What about my Time Machine? It goes back on my electric rig board. I love that pedal because it has such a great sound with whatever electric guitar I use on it. But for acoustic, it’ll be the Deep Blue from now on.

Fit and Finish

With a gorgeous, shiny, blue powder coat finish, this is simply the most gorgeous pedal I have. I’m partial to blue, but the gloss is like a mirror, as the photos below show. If I have one nit, the blue LED is a bit difficult to see in bright lighting conditions, but that’s just small nit. Other than that, the pedal is solidly built. The knobs have good resistance without being tight, and the toggle switch is heavy duty. I’m not sure what kind of jacks were used but connectors snap into place nicely, so I’m assuming they’re fairly high-quality jacks.

Taking the back off the pedal, there are LOTS of wires connected to a foam-wrapped circuit board (that I didn’t want remove), so it’s clear that the Deep Blue Delay is completely hand-wired, save for the circuit board. The wires are all fairly heavy-gauge with thick shielding, which speaks to the quality of components used in the pedal. I didn’t want to lift the foam pad because the wires were so heavy and I didn’t want to have to deal with putting them back into place. 🙂 Mad Professor could’ve easily used thin-gauge wires for this pedal, but I like the fact that they opted for the heavier gauge.

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How It Sounds

I know that I use the words “awesome” and “incredible” on this blog. After all, this is a “best of breed” type of site. So let’s just assume that the pedal can be described with those words, and I’ll take a different tack and describe what that sound does to me.

I know a piece of gear is incredible when it just makes me close my eyes and soak up the sound it produces. That’s the effect the Deep Blue Delay has on me. The delay effect, even at high levels is always smooth, and amazingly enough sounds so natural. There is nothing processed about this sound. And unlike other analog pedals I’ve played, the Deep Blue Delay doesn’t get dark, which is what has kept me from getting analog delays in the past.

At last night’s gig, I turned a disaster into a way to fully evaluate the Deep Blue Delay. With my acoustic rig, since I don’t have too many pedals, I use my BOSS TU-2 to power up the rest of my pedals. But last night, I had forgotten that I removed the TU-2 to use at a gig last week, so when I opened up my pedal bag, I was shocked to see my TU-2 missing. Luckily, I had left my 9V plug in the bag, so I figured that it was a great way to use the Deep Blue. So I plugged my guitar into the pedal, and it went straight into my Fishman SoloAmp.

I set up the pedal with the Delay and Repeat knobs at about 2pm, and the Level at 9am so I could get a nice, ambient sound that didn’t dominate. That created a hall-like effect that was simply delicious. I kept it at that setting for several songs. Then just as an experiment, I upped the level to 11, and then the skies parted and a voice rang from the heavens, “You have found s a sacred tone!” 🙂 Seriously though, I was completely blown away by what the pedal produced. The repeats were on the speedy side and the decay was a nice tail without being overbearing, and at that level, the wet/dry mix was just perfect!

The wonderful thing about the Deep Blue is that it seems like there’s a pre-delay built into the pedal. The one thing that sets this apart from other delays I’ve used is that at anything greater than low level settings, you get delay going right away. But even at 11am, whatever I was playing, whether finger picked or strummed, didn’t start repeating until there was space – or at least that was what it seemed like. Of course, at higher levels, the delay kicks in right away, but despite that, what you’re playing is invariably clear and doesn’t get washed out by the repeats.

Overall Impression

In other words, this truly is an incredible pedal. I’m still smarting just a little from the price, but as I haven’t played a delay for my acoustic as good as this – ever – it is well worth the price! I originally gave the Deep Blue pedal a 4.75 Tone Bones rating because of its cost. But my thinking now is that if that’s what it costs to get this kind of delay, then that’s what it costs, and I’m so much happier playing with this pedal in my signal chain. I’ve re-rated it as a 5 Tone Bones pedal. If you can afford it, this pedal will not disappoint; in fact, I’ll wager that it’ll make you practically squeal with joy!

About the Photos

Another hobby of mine – and no, I don’t sleep all that much – is photography. With this hobby, I don’t aspire to be a professional photographer, but I do like to take good photos. These photos were taken with a Nikon D40 with a f1.8 35mm fixed-length lens. All shots were taken in manual mode. I don’t remember the settings, but I shot about 60 photos and picked what I felt were the best shots. Then I used Adobe PhotoShop Elements to crop the photos and did a minimal amount of color correction on a couple of them. I believe that unless you’re going to make artistic enhancements to photos, you should set up your shots so you can “print” them immediately without color manipulation; that is, set up your camera so you don’t have to compensate later.

I know, this is a guitar gear blog, but going forward, I will be doing my own photos of gear. What I love about this particular set is that my camera caught the wonderful reflections off the shiny powder coating of the Deep Blue Delay. I find that marketing photos tend to be a bit too sterile. This is the best-looking pedal in my collection, and I wanted to do its look justice.

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New Gear: Peterson StroboClip

Posted in Guitars, tagged , , , , , , , on August 10, 2010| 3 Comments »

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Peterson is at it again. I did a review on the Peterson StroboRack awhile back, and loved the unit, though as a pedal guy, the rack didn’t make much sense in a gig situation. I’ve seen the StroboStomp in operation, and that’s a cool unit. Now, Peterson has just released the new StroboClip, which combines the strobe technology Peterson is known for along with several “Sweeteners” for specific types of musical instruments, and provides 0.1 cent accuracy; all in a clip-on tuner! How cool is THAT!

True to Peterson build quality, the StroboClip isn’t made of cheap plastic. It is housed in a metal casing, so it should be quite durable, and the backlit LCD display should help a lot in making the tuning bars readable.

If you’re new to Peterson tuners, they use a pattern of left-right moving bars to indicate tuning. Movement left is flat, movement to the right is sharp. Once the bars stop moving, then the instrument is in tune. It takes a little while to get used to, but once you get the hang of tuning with a strobe tuner, it’ll be hard to go back to another type. I had trouble parting with the StroboRack when I had it, but also didn’t want to pay the price of a rackmount unit.

With the StroboClip, I might just be enticed to get one – especially for my solo acoustic gigs. My onboard tuner works okay, but it’s not as accurate as I’d like, and I oftentimes have to do some post-tuning tweaks to get it dialed in. But with a super-accurate tuner like the StroboClip, that might solve that problem.

I’ll hopefully be getting one of these units in for review, and I’ll do a full write-up on it. For now, here’s the press release from Peterson:

——–

PETERSON IS NOW SHIPPING THE WORLD’S FIRST CLIP-ON STROBE TUNER

Unrivaled accuracy in a small package strobe tuner

Alsip, Illinois, USA – 8-6-2010 – Peterson Strobe Tuners has added a clip-on style strobe tuner to their Virtual Strobe™ series line-up. The StroboClip™ is designed for acoustic instruments and contains many new features not found in traditional clip-on tuners. The large strobe display maximizes the StroboClip’s screen area by moving the strobe bands horizontally, rather than vertically as in previous strobe tuner models, to guarantee easy viewing in various lighting conditions.

New and exclusive Sweetened Tuning® presets for banjo, mandolin, and ukulele offer dedicated settings for players of these instruments to facilitate tuning. A variety of other presets including Dobro®, lap steel, and settings for the violin family come standard in the StroboClip. Settings for eclectic instruments such as lute, bagpipes, and oud are also covered along with additional Eastern Temperament settings for instruments of the like.

The StroboClip also features an exclusive Sustain mode™. In Sustain mode, the StroboClip can be set to hold the tuning pattern for a short time after the note has decayed so that instruments with short voices, such as banjo and mandolin, can be tuned quickly and easily. For regular tuning, the Sustain mode feature can be turned off.

“Musicians have been asking for the convenience of a clip-on tuner that has the accuracy and real-time tuning of a strobe tuner for a long time,” says John Norris, Peterson Sales Manager.  “Many features with a low price point is what the target was and we feel we hit the mark with this product.”

The StroboClip is encased in a brushed aluminum shell to help it withstand the rigors of the road and the included cushioned, metal carrying case will keep it safe when not in use. Soft, rubber pads in the jaws of the StroboClip protect the instrument’s finish while providing a firm grip for maximum signal conductivity.

The MSRP of the StroboClip is $89.99 and it is now shipping. Visit www.petersontuners.com or www.stroboclip.com for more information.

***

About Peterson:

Peterson Electro-Musical Products, Inc. has been manufacturing strobe tuners since 1948. The Virtual Strobe™ series was introduced in 2003 followed by the first ever True Bypass tuner of any kind, the Peterson StroboStomp™ in 2004. The StroboSoft software tuner was released in June 2005.

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Gear Review: Sennheiser ew 172 (100 Series) G3 Instrument Wireless System

Posted in GAS, gear, gear reviews, guitar, guitar accessories, guitar gear, guitar gear reviews, guitarists, Guitars, Music, musicians, new gear, wireless guitar, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , on August 10, 2010| 1 Comment »

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 Sennheiser ew 172 G3 Wireless System

Summary: If you’re looking for a great instrument wireless system that is both easy-to-use and a snap to set up, look no further!

Pros: 1680 available frequencies make this ideal for busy RF venues. Super easy to set up sensitivity levels. Transmitter sports a metal housing, so durability shouldn’t be an issue. Integrated guitar tuner in transmitter – works great! 25Hz low-end response – great for bass!

Cons: None.

Features:

  • Sturdy metal housing (transmitter and receiver)
  • 42 MHz bandwidth: 1680 tunable UHF frequencies for interference-free reception
  • Enhanced frequency bank system with up to 12 compatible frequencies
  • High-quality true diversity reception
  • Pilot tone squelch for eliminating RF interference when transmitter is turned off
  • Automatic frequency scan feature searches for available frequencies
  • Enhanced AF frequency range
  • Increased range for audio sensitivity
  • Wireless synchronization of transmitters via infrared interface
  • User-friendly menu operation with more control options
  • Illuminated graphic display (transmitter and receiver)
  • Auto-Lock function avoids accidental changing of settings
  • HDX compander for crystal-clear sound
  • Transmitter feature battery indicatation in 4 steps, also shown on receiver display
  • Programmable Mute function
  • Integrated Equalizer, Soundcheck mode and guitar tuner
  • Contacts for recharging BA 2015 accupack directly in the transmitter
  • Wide range of accessories adapts the system to any requirement

Price: $499 street

Tone Bone Score: 5.0 ~ I waited a LONG TIME to pull the trigger on a wireless system, and while I could’ve gotten a cheaper one that would work well, but it was hard to argue with the frequency coverage of this unit. The added features of a guitar tuner and EQ are great, but the ease of use factor really hit home with me as well.

As I mentioned above, I’ve been holding out a long time to get an instrument wireless system. When I finally pulled the trigger, I decided upon the Sennheiser G3 Wireless system; first and foremost because of the number of frequencies it has on tap, but honestly, also because it’s a name I trust as my performance mics are Sennheiser. I’m not being a cork-sniffer here. I swear by the brand because of the years of great performance I’ve gotten out of other Sennheiser equipment, so it stands to reason to trust it for something completely new.

As it turns out, true to my past experience with Sennheiser gear, there was absolutely nothing to be disappointed about with the wireless system. I took it to my church gig yesterday and it well, just worked, with no tweaking on my part; save for adjusting the sensitivity levels which I didn’t even think to do when I first opened up the box. In fact, I didn’t even read the manual when I took it out to try in my studio. I just attached the antennas to the receiver and plugged in the instrument wire into the transmitter, popped in the batteries, and let ‘er rip. It literally took less than a couple of minutes to get up and running. Insofar as my church gig is concerned, it was a great venue to put the unit through its paces, as there are potentially several wireless units in operation at one time, including my own wireless headset mic. I’ll talk more about the system’s operation below.

In any case, since this isn’t something that actually makes music, my review areas are going to be a bit different from my normal reviews.

Ease-of-use

As I indicated above, the unit’s pretty plug and play. But of course, you should check the sensitivity of the transmitter and receiver to make sure you’re not overdriving the unit. The LCD’s on both the transmitter and receiver makes setting sensitivity of either unit a snap. Both have an active meter and navigating to the sensitivity menu is just a couple of button presses. Sennheiser did a great job with the menus to make them only two levels deep, so you won’t have a problem getting to the parameter you need to set.

Durability

Both transmitter and receiver have very sturdy metal housings, so you needn’t worry about the units cracking. The transmitter has a real solid feel, and that instills confidence that you don’t have baby the unit, though of course, it’s always good to take care of gear.

Performance

Despite having 1680 UHF frequencies to scan, the receiver locks on to a usable frequency almost instantaneously once you turn it on. That is such a boon to using the unit. You switch it on, and you can use the unit.

One of the tests that my sound guy and I did was for me to walk a distance away from the receiver to see if it lost connection. I honestly don’t know what the maximum range is, but no matter how far I got away – I got about 100 feet away – the transmitter and receiver didn’t lose their connection to each other.

To save battery life, when I’m not playing I always switch off the transmitter on my headset mic. I did the same with the G3 in between songs. Every time I switched it back on, making a connection to the receiver only took a couple of seconds.

Final Verdict

I haven’t even begun to explore all the different features that this system has; one of which is a cable emulation mode that simulates a cable’s capacitance to ensure consistent operation of your effects and amp settings whether you’re plugged in or wireless. This a great feature. Admittedly, I didn’t use this, but my rig sounded pretty much the same with the same dynamics once I dialed in the sensitivity of both transmitter and receiver. Or it could be that the only thing I obsess about with my tone is if it sounds good and I’ve got dynamics. Minute changes due to changes in my chain don’t really bother me too much. So if I got a slight change in tone, since my sound with the G3 system was good with no loss in dynamics, it didn’t trigger anything displeasing with me.

But other than performance and sound and all the other stuff I discussed, going wireless is simply fantastic. I like to move around a lot when I perform, and not being tied to a spot by a cable is so freeing! It really boosted my ability to lead musical worship, and that is so COOL!

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Aracom PRX150-DAG Video is out!!!

Posted in aracom amps, attenuator, GAS, gear, gear reviews, guitar, guitar gear, guitar gear reviews, guitarists, Guitars, Music, musicians, new gear, PRX150-DAG, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , on August 9, 2010| Leave a Comment »

When you’ve got a guy like Lance Keltner singing the praises of your equipment and calling you a genius to boot, you must be doing something right. Jeff Aragaki of Aracom Amps is someone I’ve been praising for quite awhile, and I’m glad he’s finally getting the recognition he deserves.

As far as the DAG unit is concerned, that’s available exclusively through Destroy All Guitars. I’ve played through one of those units myself, and the high-cut filter works great, and definitely takes the edge off, without throwing a blanket over your tone and dynamics like many attenuators do that include one. If you have an amp that outputs lots of highs when cranked – or somehow hear high-frequency transients –  then the DAG unit is the way to go.

Coming up…

While Jeff has gained lots of popularity with his attenuators, often overlooked are his wonderful amplifiers of which I have three. In the next couple of days, I will be getting a 50 Watt Evolver to test out in my studio. I’m so excited! I’ve played through an Evolver at Jeff’s workshop and that amp has tons of balls! It’s definitely Marshall-esque, but with Jeff’s particular twists. I’m excited to be getting this unit for a full test!

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