Guitarist - May 2016

VISIT THE WOR LD’S BEST GUITA R MUSEUM W ITH US! 406

MAY 2016

SOLOING MASTERCLASS

SWING & JIVE LICKS OF THE LEGENDS

JOINT-ROCKIN’ LICKS RARE 50s ELECTRICS HELLACIOUS PLAYERS TIMEWARP TONES

1959 White Falcon Reissue A titan of classic tone with knockout looks

FRET-KING ‘JJ’ SWART MOD84 LÂG ACOUSTICS CARR LINCOLN LINE 6 HELIX

G6118T Players Edition Anniversary Vintage styling hides a raft of updates

John Petrucci rig tour

Chet Atkins & White Falcon Reissues versus 2016 Players Editions p86

Boutique American amp shootout

Taylor’s master luthier on tone

John Page Classic Ashburn

Chris Corcoran Jump Blues lesson

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Change Partners This month’s rock ’n’ roll theme was, at least in part, inspired by the Gretsch reissues reviewed on p86. The associations with rockabilly are well known, but as everyone here said when we played this interesting quartet of guitars, you could use them for pretty much anything. All of which makes me wonder if, as individual players, we try enough guitars that are outside our comfort zone – or use guitars outside the context for which they’re best-known? Picking up a Ricky, for example, when you’ve been playing Strats for years (or vice versa) has the potential to open the door to a whole new area of music. Yes, it will probably force you to do things a bit differently, but that’s the point. For example, a few years back, Sheffield songwriter Richard Hawley told Guitarist about his surprise when he picked up a good Les Paul – a model he’d hitherto had little to do with, being primarily a Gretsch player – and it helped inspire the heavier sound of his Standing At The Sky’s Edge album. These days, so much tone advice is focused on specialisation, on honing our comfort-zone tones to perfection, that perhaps we could be missing out on the benefits of trying something – to paraphrase Monty Python – completely different. As a teenager, I used to gleefully plug into any gear that was lying around when it was time for a jam. Granted, it probably sounded terrible at least some of the time – but other times, you’d make a discovery and use that as a springboard for creativity. As a (hopefully) more discerning adult, using a given model of guitar outside its conventional, stereotypical role at the very least opens up the possibility of sounding a little different; playing a little differently. After all, isn’t individuality and breaking the rules what rock ’n’ roll is all about? Enjoy the issue, see you next month.

Jamie Dickson Editor

Editor’s Highlights Go Slow, Daddio!

Darrel Higham

Fret-King ‘JJ’

Chris Corcoran’s blues-jazz chops are raw, edgy and so cool – and he does it all on an £80 guitar. Read all about it and learn his best licks on p78

It was a pleasure talking Gretsches and old vinyl with the UK’s biggest bopper on the rock ’n’ roll guitar scene. Dig it, too, on p68

We couldn’t get enough of John Jorgenson’s new signature axe – or its versatile voicing. Nice to see some really progressive features on a new electric p16

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Future Publishing Limited, Quay House, The Ambury, Bath, BA1 1UA Telephone 01225 442244 Email [email protected] Online www.guitarist.co.uk

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Contributors Michael Astley-Brown, Owen Bailey, Richard Barrett, Adrian Clark, Trevor Curwen, Josh Gardner, Adam Goldsmith, Nick Guppy, Martin Holmes, Rob Laing, Neville Marten, Kerry Moyle, Roger Newell, Elliott Randall, Mick Taylor, Henry Yates In-House Photography Joseph Branston, Olly Curtis, Adam Gasson, Neil Godwin, Laura Howlett, Joby Sessions, Jesse Wild

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Contents Guitarist would like to thank Betterdaze Juke Box Hire in Yorkshire for the generous loan of its superb late-40s Wurlitzer 1015 Jukebox that graces the cover of this issue. It truly is a thing of beauty and Betterdaze has no less than four of these grand totems of tone for hire – plus many restored vintage jukeboxes for sale. If that pushes your buttons visit: www.betterdaze.co.uk

COVER FEATURE

THE ROCK ’N’ ROLL ISSUE

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GUITARIST MAY 2016

Guitarist explores the jukebox hits, timeless licks and legendary players of the rock ’n’ roll era

Contents ISSUE 406 MAY 2016

REGULARS 003 .......... Editor’s Welcome 027 .......... The Lineup 032 .......... Opinion 038 .......... Readers’ Letters 108 .......... Subscribe 132 .......... The Workshop 140 .......... Longterm Test 143 .......... Gear Q&A 148 .......... Next Month 150 ......... Old Gold 160 .......... Reader Ads

FEATURES 036 .......... Big Boy Bloater 044 .......... Chris Robertson 046 .......... Miloš Karadaglic 050 .......... Steve Morse 054 .......... John Petrucci 068 .......... Darrel Higham 078 .......... Chris Corcoran

NEW GEAR 010 .......... John Page Classic Ashburn 016 .......... Fret-King ‘JJ’ John Jorgenson 022 .......... Brunetti Pleximan 50W head 086 .......... Gretsch Players Edition & Reissue Edition electrics 098 .......... Carr Lincoln 1x12 & Swart MOD84 1x12 110 .......... Line 6 Helix

PEDALBOARD

120 .......... Fractal Audio Systems AX8 122 .......... TC Electronic Ditto X4 Looper 124 .......... Moog MF Chorus 124 .......... EarthQuaker Devices Sea Machine V2

AUDITION

126 .......... Lâg TSE701DCE & T70DCE 128 .......... Elliott Capos Hybrid & Deluxe

TECHNIQUES 153 .......... Blues Headlines I Hear You Rockin’

VIDEO & AUDIO cover portrait by

Joseph Branston

To enjoy all of the video and audio content in this month’s issue, simply type the following link into your browser and follow the instructions on-screen: http://bit.ly/guitaristextra

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JOHN PAGE CLASSIC ASHBURN £1,199 WHAT IS IT? A brand-new take on a legendary US instrument, packed with sensible innovations and player advantages

A New Dream An attractive guitar from Japan, but with solid-gold USA credentials, designed and built by renowned Fender Custom Shop frontman, John Page Words Neville Marten

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Photography Joby Sessions

he name John Page is synonymous with top-of-the-line guitar craft and design. Mentored by Freddie Tavares, who helped Leo design the Stratocaster, he worked his way up from Fender’s shop floor to end up running the Custom Shop – the so-called ‘Dream Factory’ – which he helped set up in 1987. Page remained in charge for 12 years. And remember Fender’s budget-but-cool Bullet range from the 80s, with its innovative metal pickguard and combined bridge? That was Page’s doing, as were many other Fender innovations at that time. Move on nearly three decades, and John teams up with Howard Swimmer’s HRS Unlimited to produce affordable versions of his hand-built models, including the Ashburn, as reviewed here, fitted with his range of Bloodline pickups. There’s no disguising the inspiration behind the Ashburn. However, Page has used his experience as a player and a designer-builder to include improvements to the ‘three single coil, bolt on’ design. The alder body and maple neck are perhaps a given (ours has a rosewood ’board and, of course,

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maple is available), but Page has restyled his instruments to be more user-friendly and ergonomic than strict vintage models. Although the body is comfort-contoured in all the usual places, the traditional square heel is replaced by a sculpted affair, which offers greater access to an increased complement of 22 frets on a flatter 305mm (12-inch) Gibsonlike radius. Further refinement comes courtesy of a genuine ‘bolt on’ design, where the usual hefty wood screws give way to bolts that locate into threaded inserts in the neck. Page says this affords superior neck-to-body contact and string vibration transfer – there seems to be some logic to this view. High-end parts include Gotoh’s 510 vibrato bridge with push-in, tension-adjustable arm, and staggered tuners that obviate the need for clunky string trees. Finally, pickups are Page’s own-design Bloodline single coils, a reverse-wound middle pickup rendering positions two and four of the five-way noise-cancelling, and the bridge unit – like the Fender Hendrix Strat reviewed in issue 403 – featuring what John describes as a “contrarian slant”. This means the treble side is further from the saddle and should promote a less spikey tone.

Feel & Sounds With its 22-fret neck and shallow fingerboard radius, the Ashburn’s neck feels familiar – but not Fender-familiar. It’s more like a cross between Gibson and Ibanez, or indeed if anyone remembers the Starfield instruments made by Hoshino (Ibanez) back in the early 1990s. In fact, the offset-dot markers look almost identical and the headstock shape is redolent of the brand, too. But that’s no bad thing, as these were fine instruments but just didn’t catch on. Ahead of their time, perhaps? Strapped on, the Ashburn balances beautifully and the top frets certainly are easy to reach. Medium frets lend the instrument an un-metal vibe, so the guitar’s playability resonates well with its appearance and intent. The medium C-section handful melds seamlessly into the palm, while the matte finish is smooth and drag-free. No nasty surprises here, just a purposeful neck that lets the player get on with playing. With a Custom Shop Strat for comparison, we fired up the ubiquitous Blues Junior for a back-to-back comparison. Hand-onheart, there were far more similarities than differences: the Ashburn is perhaps on the

1. Page prefers threaded bolts to traditional wood screws, and sculpts the Ashburn’s heel for better upper-fret access 2. Easy-access truss rod, staggered Gotoh tuners that negate the need for string trees, and Page’s stylised script logo 3. A Gotoh 510 push-in arm vibrato and Page’s own Bloodline single coils contribute classy playability and tones

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JOHN PAGE CLASSIC ASHBURN

4 4 The easier-to-see bass-side position marker dots are said to aid navigation. Note the well-dressed frets, too

brighter side all round, but it’s marginal, and with master tone as well as volume for all pickups, this is easy to tame. Anyway, it’s sometimes great to have a real ‘edge’ there – think of Eric Johnson’s chord work – and it’s definitely a sight easier to lose a bit of top than it is to add it afterwards. All the signature tones are there – it works superbly with distortion, too – and there’s nothing to suggest that one guitar was half the price of the other.

Verdict

Re-imagining beloved guitar designs is often fraught with disaster. But we feel John Page has nailed it

Re-imagining beloved guitar designs is often fraught with disaster. It’s so easy to come up with a pig’s ear of a design, but we feel John Page has nailed it with his very likeable Ashburn. And considering his design heritage, we can’t think of anyone with more of a right to do so. We love the quality Japanese build, too. Available in a range of great colours (which any vintage Fender fan will recognise), it looks like it’s been around forever, and in many guitar lovers’ eyes, the visuals are half the battle won. That this instrument goes on to perform with understated ease in both the playability and sound departments should win it friends within this admittedly hotly contested price bracket (not least by Fender itself ). In fact, there’s nothing not to like. In the final analysis, we ask ourselves: would we be happy to be seen with it out on a gig? And the answer to that is a resounding yes!

PRICE: £1,199 (inclu gigbag) ORIGIN: Japan TYPE: Double-cutaway solidbody BODY: Solid alder NECK: Solid maple with open-ended headstock truss-rod adjustment SCALE LENGTH: 648mm (25.5”) NUT/WIDTH: Synthetic bone, 42mm FINGERBOARD: Rosewood, 305mm (12”) radius FRETS: 22, medium HARDWARE: Chrome-plated Gotoh 510 six-point vibrato with push-in arm, Gotoh six-a-side tuners STRING SPACING, BRIDGE: 53mm ELECTRICS: 3x John Page ‘Bloodline’single-coil pickups; master volume and master tone controls (middle pickup RWRP); 5-way pickup selector WEIGHT (kg/lb): 3/6.6 OPTIONS: None RANGE OPTIONS: Ashburn HH (£1,279) comes with twin Bloodline humbucking pickups and 2-post modern floating vibrato LEFT-HANDERS: Not as yet FINISHES: Black Metallic, Olympic White, Inca Silver, 2-Tone Sunburst, Fiesta Red, Daphne Blue, Shoreline Gold (as reviewed) Coda Music 01438 350815 www.johnpageclassic.com

8 PROS Great looking vintage-meetsmodern styling with Custom Shop quality tones and sporting sensible playability upgrades CONS Sadly, diehard traditionalists might take some convincing

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FRET-KING ‘JJ’ JOHN JORGENSON

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FRET-KING ‘JJ’ JOHN JORGENSON £799 WHAT IS IT? An innovative take on the Telecaster with chambered body and hum-cancelling circuit

Silent Might From the Hellecasters to Bob Dylan, John Jorgenson is one of the most sought-after twangmeisters out there. His latest signature guitar is as quietly versatile as the man himself… Words Dave Burrluck

Photography Olly Curtis

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riminally overlooked by the fashionistas, Fret-King makes a pretty wide section of classically informed electrics, all with tweaks aplenty by one of the industry’s longest serving tweakaholics, Trev Wilkinson. To be honest, we’re surprised he hasn’t yet had a knighthood for his services to the electric guitar. Along with the bread ’n’ butter Black Label ‘standard’ models (although there’s very little standard about Wilkinson’s mash-up mania), there are some 14 signature models from a pretty diverse range of players including Guitarist stalwart Geoff Whitehorn, folk/country mangler Jerry Donahue, the eclectic Gordon Giltrap, and one of the UK’s finest jazzers, John Etheridge. Joining this diverse team for 2016 is probably the best-known of the bunch, John Jorgenson, whose career has included The Hellecasters, numerous stints and collaborations with artists such as Elton John, Bonnie Raitt, Sting, Bob Dylan and even Luciano Pavarotti, as well as keeping the flame of Gypsy jazz alive with his eponymous quintet. Annoyingly, he’s also a dab hand on the saxophone, clarinet, bouzouki, pedal steel and mandolin.

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1. A standard Tele setup, but the push-push switch on the tone control introduces the two dummy coils under the scratchplate that reduce single-coil hum without changing the tonality 2. A classy redesign of Fender’s six-in-aline headstock that features highly effective locking tuners and lubricated nut 3. This Vari-coil control introduces an additional coil to add a small amount of thickening lower-midrange boost on the bridge pickup only

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With those diverse and well-honed musical chops under his belt, it can’t have been that easy to decide exactly what sort of guitar he wanted. “I’ve known John for many years,” Trev Wilkinson tells us. “Jerry Donahue is already one of our artists, John is Hellecaster number two – I’ll have to give Will Ray a call,” he laughs. Knowing that John would be in the UK during 2015, Trev set about creating a guitar that might interest him. His initial attempt involved crossing his Country Squire Semitone with the aesthetic of Gretsch’s two-tone green Anniversary, including a painted-on f-hole for good measure – and it had John hooked. Now, the Country Squire Semitone is a close-ish semi-solid clone of the Telecaster, albeit with a range of different pickup layouts, bridges and vibratos, not to mention a typically tweaked outline, headstock and scratchplate geometry. So, while that model from Trev’s catalogue might have been the basis – along with its Fender Custom recipe of bound alder body, bolt-on maple neck and rosewood fingerboard – the treble horn of the ‘JJ’ is reduced, the line of the cutaway flowing into the less-square upper shoulder rather nicely (Trev’s collection of French curves is legendary!). The body is routed from the front, leaving a centre section and little else, then

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topped with a thin piece of alder, any jointing hidden by the binding. With a standard pickup configuration it would have been quite a guitar, but the ‘JJ’ has a few tricks up its sleeve in the form of two ‘ghost’ or dummy coils under the scratchplate that provide hum-cancelling but still retain a true single-coil sound – that was John’s request, because he still wanted the standard single-coil tonality. You switch between the two via a push-push switch on the tone control. Secondly, we have Trev’s ‘Vari-coil’ control, placed like a master volume on the tip of the lower horn. Typically, this moves from single coil to dual coil, for example, on a humbucker. Here, it only works on the bridge pickup, which is a single coil. Trev? “It’s a WVOBT [Wilkinson Original Broadcaster Tapped], so as well as its Broadcaster-esque spec, there’s additional wire, like a secondary coil, in the centre of the pickup that brings in an additional 3kohms of winds for a boost, as John says, when he needs to ‘take it over the top’.”

Feel & Sounds Here’s a lightweight beauty that feels ‘right’ from the off. The frets are a little bigger than you might expect, the radius more Gibson-like and hugely bend-friendly, with a deep-ish

handful of C-section neck that feels ‘manly’ without being over-big. Intonation is tamed by machined ledges on each saddle (despite having three brass saddles), all housed in a high-wall Tele-style tray bridge. There’s a lovely unplugged ring and resonance, too; plugged in, this means there’s plenty going on. Its Tele-like sonic repertoire has a little extra ‘cloudy’ semi response, a little extra thickness, perhaps, but still with plenty of Tele-like ‘steel’ from the bridge, a little added depth to the percussive twin-pickup mix, and a smooth rounded voice, as you’d expect, from the neck. Push up the tone control and you naturally expect to hear a different sound – but you really don’t. Push it back down, however, and generate some close-to-your-amp hum, then push it back up again and the hum is certainly reduced – not as dead quiet as the pickup mix, which is also hum-cancelling, but certainly enough to clean up some of the single coils’ notorious hum pick-up. The ‘master volume’placed Vari-coil is again subtle, adding some lower-mid thickness as you turn it up. It only works on the bridge pickup, but with it full on, a little volume reduction to tame the high-end sizzle and a little tone reduction with perhaps some added gain boost, it’s a noticeably thicker voice, with a hint of ES-335. It’s easy to encourage some musical feedback on gainier,

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4. A classic three-brasssaddles setup, but the age-old problem of compromised intonation is solved by the machined intonation ledges. A typically neat ‘that’ll fix it’ Trev Wilkinson design

higher volume sounds, and as our test time continues, we simply conclude that, although the hum-cancelling effect might be relatively subtle, the combination of the chambered body, that Vari-coil and the shading from the volume and tone controls creates one of the finest Tele-styles we’ve played that doesn’t feel or sound like its price would suggest.

PRICE: £799 (inc gigbag) ORIGIN: Korea TYPE: Single-cut chambered electric BODY: Alder (chambered) with faux f-hole NECK: Maple, bolt-on SCALE LENGTH: 648mm (25.5”) NUT/WIDTH: Graphite/43mm FINGERBOARD: Rosewood, m-o-p dots, 305mm (12”) radius FRETS: 22, medium jumbo HARDWARE: Wilkinson WTB bridge with 3 brass intonated saddle, Wilkinson WJ455 rear-locking tuners STRING SPACING, BRIDGE: 52mm ELECTRICS: Wilkinson/JJ WVOBT bridge single coil, WTN/JJ covered neck single coil, 3-way lever pickup selector switch, master volume, master tone (push/push switch introduces 2 hum-cancelling‘ghost’ coils under s/plate),Vari-coil control for bridge pickup only WEIGHT (kg/lb): 3.1/6.75 OPTIONS: Non-signature Country Squire Semitones start at £569 RANGE OPTIONS: Elise‘GG’Gordon Giltrap, £749; JDD Jerry Donahue, £809; Elise‘JE’John Etheridge, £849 FINISHES: Two-Tone Arcadia/ Versailles Green (as reviewed)

Verdict

Here’s a lightweight beauty that feels ‘right’ from the off… Like the player who inspired it, the ‘JJ’ is all about subtlety and nuance

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The danger of any signature guitar is that it’s so specific to the actual artist that its appeal might be very limited to the rest of us. That’s the case here, in that the hum-cancelling function, though effective, might be a feature few of us need for our journeyman gigs. Add in the Vari-coil feature on the bridge pickup and, again, we have a subtle shift – hardly like a 20dB active gain boost. But, no, the ‘JJ’ – like the player who inspired it – is all about subtly and nuance. Superbly conceived and executed, it’s a very serious Tele-inspired option with boutique flavour aplenty but a more-thanmainstream price. The essence of Fret-King and one, if not the best, we’ve played to date.

JHS 01132 865381 www.fret-king.com

9 PROS Great build and ‘Tele-plus’ concept; lovely weight, resonance, great sounds and slinky playability CONS The hum-cancelling feature is rather subtle – likewise, the Vari-coil ‘boost’; faux f-hole will divide opinion

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BRUNETTI PLEXIMAN 50W HEAD £1,095 WHAT IS IT? Pro-spec’d but affordable Italian-made 50-watt head

Italian Stallion Brunetti celebrates 25 years of production with an Italian-made compact head that’s full of brutal British Plexi-inspired tone Words Nick Guppy

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Photography Adam Gasson

taly has a place in history as one of the world’s top guitar and amp manufacturers, although it’s often unfairly overlooked. Based in Modena, not far from where Ferrari builds its cars, Brunetti Amplification has a similar reputation for build quality and high performance, together with a particular style that’s refreshingly different from the majority of British and American products we see. One of Brunetti’s latest products is the Pleximan, a beautifully designed and puttogether amp that celebrates 25 years of amp production with a real boutique vibe. This compact, lightweight all-valve head is easily carried in one hand and has a plywood cabinet neatly finished in cream and black vinyl. It’s as hard as nails and built to survive in the pro touring arena. The electronics live inside an exceptionally clean open-ended tray chassis and comprise two main circuit boards: one for the front panel controls and switches, and a larger one holding the main components, including all the valve bases. Both boards are very high quality, with metal film resistors and Wima ‘pink brick’ capacitors throughout, for precision and low circuit noise. The Pleximan is a proper two-channel head. Channel one has a simple volume and tone control arrangement, with a small switch

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called Dense that adds extra lows, while the tone control works in the reverse to what you’d expect, reducing lows and mids as it’s turned up, shifting from a vintage feel to a more modern voicing. The lead channel has a familiar gain, master volume and three-band EQ arrangement, together with three small toggle switches. The switch marked Hotrod adds an extra gain stage, taking the Pleximan from traditional vintage Brit sounds to a higher gain voice that’s typical of many 80s and 90s rock sounds. The Mellow switch, meanwhile, softens the treble edge a little, to deliver the original Super Lead voice, while the Extra switch adds a significant midrange punch. There’s also a 5/50-watt toggle switch that lets you drop the power down to five watts class A – one tenth of the Pleximan’s 50-watt Class AB output rating. The last control on the front is the Solo level knob, which adds up to 10dB of volume boost for soloing, or any other time you need it. This feature – like the channel switching, Hotrod and Dense functions – is footswitchable from the rear panel, which also features a valve-buffered series effects loop and a pair of speaker outs with switchable impedance.

Feel & Sounds The Pleximan’s simple clean channel has a punchy, fast response. The simple but effective tone control makes it easy to dial in almost any guitar, and for our regular Strat and PAFloaded Les Paul, the ideal position is almost exactly at the hallway point, which gives the widest possible range in both directions. The Dense switch adds powerful low-end grunt for

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extra weight to mild single coils, but can be a little too much with humbuckers. The Lead channel’s sonic inspiration is obvious, with an aggressive attack that leaps out of the loudspeaker. Used at lower gain settings, you can easily dial in great British rock sounds from the 60s/early 70s. The passive EQ controls work smoothly, the Mellow switch softens the treble for the warmer, woody attack of the early ‘plexi heads’, while the Extra switch pushes the midrange forward but without the nasal honk that some amps of this type suffer from. This one works best with the Hotrod switch, which adds an extra gain stage for a

1. The power switch flips from 50 watts class AB to five watts Class A, making the Pleximan easier to drive hard in the studio or at home 2. The Pleximan’s footswitchable solo boost adds up to 10dB of volume, to get your point across when you need to be heard 3. This all-valve head is powered by four 12AX7 and two EL34 valves

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PRICE: £1,095 ORIGIN: Italy TYPE: Valve preamp and valve power amp OUTPUT: 50W rms, switchable to 5W Class A VALVES: 4x 12AX7, 2x EL34 DIMENSIONS: 190mm (h) x 450mm (w) x 220mm (d) WEIGHT (kg/lb): 8.5/19 CABINET: Ply CHANNELS: 2, footswitchable CONTROLS: Ch1: Volume, tone, dense switch. Ch2: Gain, volume, bass, mid, treble, master volume and Solo volume, Mellow, Extra and Hotrod switches FOOTSWITCH: 3-button switch toggles channels, Solo and Hotrod function ADDITIONAL FEATURES: Series valve-buffered effects loop, solo function (adds up to 10dB boost). Power switch changes 50W class AB to 5W class A OPTIONS: Waterproof cover and footswitch included. Various custom colours are available – contact dealer for details RANGE OPTIONS: None Brunetti Amps UK www.brunettiamps.com

The Lead channel’s sonic inspiration is obvious, with an aggressive attack that leaps out of the loudspeaker

great 80s-style overdrive and distortion. Strats sound great on this channel, but the punch of a good Les Paul really brings it alive, with plenty of harmonic overtones and a very vocal sustain.

Verdict This amp has a lot going for it: it’s compact, good looking and built to an exceptional standard. Like many boutique amps, it’s dialled into a specific range of sounds aimed at those looking for an alternative to the traditional EL34 choice. It sounds terrific when teamed up with a standard 4x12, the low-power switch is great for home or studio, and as a live tool, it’s loud and satisfyingly effective. Compared with many boutique designs, the Pleximan is also surprisingly affordable. If you’re looking out for an amp that has the fabled ‘plexi’ tone but with an extended range of features, give the Pleximan a go.

9 PROS A compact, great-sounding head; plethora of vintage and modern Brit rock sounds; boutique quality at a mainstream price CONS We wish the effects loop was footswitchable

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The Lineup

Don’t miss it! Must-see guitar goings-on for the coming weeks…

Earl Slick & Bernard Fowler Perform David Bowie’s Station To Station 24 April to 1 May, various UK venues lans for this tour – led by Earl Slick and long-time Rolling Stones backing vocalist Bernard Fowler, celebrating the 40th anniversary of Bowie’s 1976 album – were actually underway a year ago. As Bowie’s longest serving guitarist, and part of his last touring line-up, Slick boasts Station… as one of his proudest achievements as a musician, and these one-time-only UK dates will see the landmark record played in full by Slick, Fowler and a supporting band. We spoke to Slick to find out more about his Station… sounds, then and now.

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You had a pretty stripped-down rig for the original album sessions, is that right? “The rig was two Les Pauls… actually, I just found a picture of David with one of them, that I’d never seen before. It was a White 20th Anniversary [unfortunately stolen around 1977]. I had another, Black, and I’m guessing it was a late 60s. Then a ’62/’63 Strat, a 100-watt Marshall I’d bought in ’68 or ’69 with a 4x12. And my Gibson J-45, still my pride and joy. Actually, my ’65 SG Junior was with me, too.”

© CHUCK LANZA

What guitars will you play for the shows? “I’m definitely bringing over my Aquamarine Slick [S-type] from my guitar line. I’ve got one here that I love. I want a Paul with me. At the beginning of Golden Years, that’s actually a Les Paul with the volume just backed off and the amp on 10. The same thing with the opening lines from Stay – there’s a lot of Les Paul on that record. An acoustic I’ll just get [in the UK], John Henry’s have some really nice J-45s that I’ve used before. Because I will not fly mine there; I won’t fly any of my acoustics.” Are there any specific pedals you’ll need? “For the front end of Station, I really need that insane echo I use live. And maybe a fuzz. My Guitar Fetish delay is killer – it’s called the Pro Delay. I can get a much longer delay than with any other analogue. I’m going to bring two: one set one way and one set another. The fuzz will be my Source Audio… the nastiest fuzz tone on the planet.

I have a gate built into it, thank God! It does octave fuzz, everything. There’s my pedals – all three of them! Makes life easy.” Looking back, what are your fondest memories of the Station… sessions? “The night me and David did the feedback at the beginning of the title track [laughs]. It was five or six o’clock in the morning, poor [producer] Harry Maslin sitting behind the board, just cross-eyed, thinking, ‘When are these guys going to go home?’ And when we did the solo, too, for the middle section, the uptempo part, me and David actually worked that out together. We sat there with

it for a while with guitars. A lot of times, he would say, ‘Well, what have you got?’ And I’d play four or five things and he’d say, ‘Okay, well let’s start with that.’ Then I would build on top of that. Us sitting down and working those parts out like that, that was always fun. The memories from most of what I’ve done in my career, besides the dumb shit you did occasionally back then, are really the music. It was always the music.”

24 April – Norwich; 26 April – Glasgow; 28 April – Liverpool; 29 April – Islington; 30 April – Colchester; 1 May – London www.ticketweb.co.uk

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The Lineup

What’s Goin’ On All the best guitar events happening over the next few weeks, in one place Buddy Guy 30 June to 2 July Glasgow, Birmingham and London This trio of dates across the UK offers the welcome opportunity to see one of the greatest living bluesmen, over 50 years on from his first visit to the UK when he showed then-tourmates The Yardbirds what a Strat could do in the right hands. Buddy is open about the secret of his longevity: “I just didn’t let a little success go to my head,” he reflects, “and make me feel like I was supernatural and didn’t need to sleep, didn’t need to eat, didn’t need to take a shower. And I didn’t let that bother me.” Times may change, but the blues and Buddy’s passion for it remains strong. “If you love it the way I love it – and if you’re playing well, you have to love it – just keep on playing it,” he adds. “A lot of people criticise the blues, but I tell them, ‘If you haven’t had the blues, just keep living’.” www.buddyguy.net

Explosions In The Sky

Dan Patlanksy 12 to 22 May

Manic Street Preachers

Stone Free Festival

19 to 25 April Various UK and Ireland venues

Various UK venues

13 to 28 May

02 Arena, London

18 to 19 June

Various UK arenas This instrumental post-rock five-piece lean towards layers of crystalline Fender cleans with reverb and delay to create mesmeric arrangements. They’ll be visiting the UK with brand-new material to play, ending with a special Albert Hall show. The Wilderness album is released 1 April. www.explosionsinthesky.com

Following shows in his home country of South Africa, the blues-rock player will head to the UK to support new album, Introvertigo (which is set for release on 6 May). Patlansky has great crossover potential to bring new ears to the blues, so this could be the album that capitalises on his groundwork in Europe. www.danpatlansky.com

The Welsh band celebrate the 20th anniversary of one of the Britpop era’s finest records as they perform their Everything Must Go album on these seven dates – including a two-night stand at the Albert Hall and a huge homecoming finale at Swansea’s Liberty Stadium. www.manicstreetpreachers.com

This new weekend festival is aimed squarely at the classic rock and prog crowd, with headliners Alice Cooper (his only UK show this year) and Rick Wakeman (playing his King Arthur opus for the first time since 1978). Other potential highlights include Steve Hackett, Blackberry Smoke and The Darkness. www.stonefreefestival.com

22 to 24 April

Eric Bibb

Glastonbudget

Fotheringay

Landmark Arts Centre, Teddington

4 to 29 May

27 to 29 May

23 to 29 June

Various UK and Ireland dates

Wymeswold, Leicestershire

Various UK venues

The bluesman returns for an extensive run through May, including two nights at London’s Cadogan Hall. With 36 albums under his belt, the constantly inspiring guitarist has a wealth of material to draw from. He’ll also be joined by his daughter, vocalist Yana Bibb, for this tour. www.ericbibb.com

The Darkside Of Pink Floyd, Absolute Bowie, The ZZ Tops, Antarctic Monkeys, The Clone Roses and The Clashed are just some of the many tribute groups playing this year’s event, with over 100 original acts on the bill, too. Even better than the real thing? It’s certainly cheaper! www.glastonbudget.org

Jerry Donahue joined the two other surviving original members of the folk ensemble when they reunited for UK shows last year, with some new faces completing the line-up. Now they return, with vocalists Kathryn Roberts and Sally Barker, plus guitarist PJ Wright, for six more dates. www.fotheringay.com

This Middlesex weekender includes a number of special events, including seminars from Charlie Chandler, folk from Sam Carter and a jazz tribute to his mentor Stephane Grappelli from the acclaimed John Etheridge. Chris Corcoran’s Jump Blues & Swing Guitar Workshops will also provide inspiration for players of all levels. www.landmarkartscentre.org

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© JOSH CHEUSE

The Great Guitar Fest

The Lineup

The Players News and happenings from the world of your favourite guitarists

© KATIE FRIESEMA

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The Eagle Has Landed John Mayer’s PRS takes flight

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RS’s close collaboration with John Mayer has come to fruition with a special run of 100 Private Stock Super Eagles. Mayer’s Super Eagle (£10,995) was initially designed for his current role playing with former Grateful Dead members in Dead & Company, but its use will reportedly go beyond the tour. “Paul and I worked very closely to create this guitar,” says Mayer, “and the result is an incredibly refined and elegant instrument. It has a completely new sound and spirit. It’s been a joy to play and I’m excited to share that experience with other guitar players,” PRS and Mayer began with a vision for a unique, boundary-pushing instrument, and there’s plenty of personal touches here in pursuit of that, including a relatively long scale length of 25.375 inches, by PRS standards. The pickup options are myriad: treble and bass humbuckers are specially wound 58/15 JM designs with a Narrowfield JM middle. In addition, there are three individual coil-tap mini-switches for these and a JCF Audio preamp with treble boost. Such an ambitious design has been the result of constant communication between builder and artist to reach this point. “Working with John has been a truly rewarding experience,” reflects Paul Reed Smith. “His knowledge and understanding of guitars is highly sophisticated. We were on the phone on a literally daily basis attacking this project, and I am so proud to see this guitar on stage and in the studio with John, and to be able to offer it to musicians and collectors to enjoy.” www.prsguitars.com/supereagle

ne of the five black-andyellow Charvel guitars that Eddie Van Halen received from Charvel/Jackson before their relationship originally soured in 1982 has been sold at auction by Guernsey’s in New York for $67,500. It’s part of a limited production run of an estimated 100 Van Halen models from ’82, which included the striped yellowand-black motif he painted on his original in 1978, which also appears on the back on 1979’s Van Halen II. Guitarist was saddened to hear of the passing p of Budgie guitarist John ‘Big’ d 63. Thomas Thomas, aged in the replaced Rob Kendrick K band in 1979 and remained until Budgie sp plit in 1988. He returned foor their reunions in 1995 and 1999, before his departure in 2002. Robin Trower paid tribute to Thomas on Twitter, describing him as a “rifftastic guitarist”. It looks like Crosby, C h are Stills And Nash over. Graham Nash d Dutch reportedly told magazine Lustt For Life: “You asked me if there’s more of CSN? My answ wer is ‘no,’ and thatt’s very sad, because we’re pretty n’t good. But I don like David Crossby right n awful to me now. He’s been these last two years, just fucking awful.” Meanwhile, you can read more from Nash in the latest issue of Guitarist Presents Acoustic, on sale now. Izzy Stradlin has signed up to Twitter and used his first tweet to deny involvement in the Guns N’ Roses reunion, which will see them play shows in Las Vegas this month. “At this point in time, I’ve no involvement in the upcoming April 2016 GN’R shows,” the rhythm guitarist and songwriter states. However, rumours persist that he’s writing with Slash and bassist Duff McKagan.

Bare Knuckle Pickups has released a new signature pickup for Josh Smith, guitarist with Australian metallers Northlane. The Impulse was developed after extensive prototyping with Smith’s seven-string Jackson B7 baritone and the results yield a neutral and expansive midrange for clarity across the whole register, with low-end compression, too. Josh believes other heavy-gauge players can appreciate the rewards: “The thingg I like the most is they’re real players’ pickups. Although designed for me, they don’t sway towards anyy particular genre of music. W Whether you’re a lead player with red-hot chops, or the rhythm m player holding down the meeat and potatoes; Strat or Les Paul, or baritone seven-stringg like me, the Impulse set has something to offer to you.” Steven Wilson’s firrst signature model has been aannounced by Babicz Guitars (www.acoousticcentre. co.uk). His signature Identity Series S dreadnought (£1,995, left) hass a solid mann Spruce Engelm soundboard, d rosewood solid backk and sides with Babicz’s Continually Adjustaable ws action Neck (allow adjustment without affecting intonation) and Torque Reducing Split Bridge. Electronics are LR Baggs’ Stage Pro Anthem dual pickup system. The Strokes’ Nick Valensi has finally been reunited with his missing Epiphone Riviera after a £3,500 reward was offered by the band for the return of the guitarist’s beloved 1995 Orange model. His wife, Amanda de Cadenet, confirmed with a pic of Nick and the Riviera on Instagram that it was back, but “severely water damaged, and covered in rust, with no strings”.

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The Lineup

Headroom New gear and guitar arcana you need to know about. This month: The spirit of rock ’n’ roll

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1 Breaking Stones 1963-1965 A Band On The Brink Of Superstardom £29.95

Released on 11 April, this photobook, with insight from photographers and band, gives a fascinating glimpse into the Stones’ early days. Up-and-coming Fleet Street photographer Terry O’Neill had unrivalled access to the fledgling R&B band. “I didn’t have to work too hard,” reflects O Neill, “they were just immediately cool.” He was there to cover the band extensively in 1963, in what Keith Richards describes as a pivotal year in the band’s relentless schedule, including their landmark debut television appearance on Thank Your Lucky Stars. From 1965, Gered Mankowitz takes up the story as the band hit the road in the US and fan hysteria starts taking hold. www.antiquecollectorsclub.com 2 Bigsby B5 Vibrato Kits From £146

Bring some vintage mojo and expression to your guitar by Bigsby-ing it. Available in Tele and Gibson-style kits, you can find out why players including Neil Young and David Gilmour like their Les Pauls with a Bigsby. And there’s been an upsurge in Tele converts in recent years. Your chord vibrato and string changing will never be the same again… www.bigsby.com 3

Keeley Memphis Sun $169

Keeley’s Lo-Fi Reverb, Echo and DoubleTracker, themed on the legendary Sun Studio, invites you to bask in the sounds of the dawn of rock ’n’ roll with three effects: Sun Mode for auto track-doubling and slapback, Echo 600 for long delays and room-reverb studio simulation. www.robertkeeley.com 4 Sun Records Distressed Logo Tee $17.95

You’ve heard the tones, now show your appreciation for the studio and label that changed rock ’n’ roll history with this classic half-logo tee, available from the studio’s official online store. www.sunrecords.com

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5 Go Cat G Essential Roc billy Collection £14 9

Everyone from Link ay, Buddy Holly, Eddie Cochran, Carl Perkins and Gene Vincent with his Blue Caps can all be found on this excellent fourdisc collection. If you’re new to the extraordinary twang that came reverbe ng from the American South the mid-50s, prepare for a righ us education here. www.salvo-music.co.uk

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6 Lablague ’59 Po Homme £119.99 (59 l)

Lablague of Grasse claims to h aptured the Holy Grail of scent for playe e boutique French perfumery brings you the coveted aroma of a new ’59 ’Burst, laying invitingly in a freshly opened Lifton hard case. Described by Lablague as an “exquisitely carved d arch of mahogany and maple with a top t note of nitrocellulose, with a sustaining presence”, this extremely limited-edition eau de toilette’s scent has been captured d using Lablauge’s patented ‘Scentiant’ technology. The aroma, according to the press reelease, “is based on the musk gathered from ma Paris-based guitar collector’s own ’59”. We advise you to invest now; this couuld be the closest you ever get to one. www.lablague.com

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Opinion

THE TWANG! Pedal Power Pt2 Steely Dan guitarist and session legend Elliott Randall continues his delve into the “mega strange” world of effects

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o I arrive for one session – Vicki Sue Robinson’s Turn The Beat Around – and the producer wants me to add that ‘something special’. There were already multiple guitar parts on the recording, and they were great. Rhythm tracks, fill tracks, really full. What to do? This track had a very insistent, percussive beat, and I had the realisation that whatever I did, it would need to be mega strange. Well, my trusty ol’ leather bag filled with pedals had a recently invented box called the Mu-Tron Bi-Phase. Not your ordinary phaser – it swept the phase a full 180 degrees, grabbed amazing frequencies with its notch filters, and could do a stereo figure-eight. Aha! I know – this needs ‘phasers on stun’. I whacked the baby up the full 180 degrees, max ‘feedback’ (depth), a very slow undulating phase. After playing around with the chords a bit, I felt it might be too musical and even a bit superfluous. The solution was to tape up the strings, so that they were fully muted, and to apply a 16th-note-based rhythm to the track… and it worked like a charm. Odd and ‘out of the box’ worked again!

One For All Let’s talk pedalboards. Other than the odd homemade pedalboard, the first ones were made by Boss.They were as much pedal ‘containers’, made from durable plastic, and had no onboard power supply – batteries still reigned supreme in the mid-70s. In the early 80s, Korg introduced the PME-40X. It was a modular system that could chain a total of four effects boxes – but you had a choice of dozens of these special-built effector modules. I still use it, though less frequently.Analogue! The‘digital revolution’heralded a huge increase in the production of stompboxes and rack-mounted effects. Now, one could purchase a‘one-box-does-all’device.These were basically computers – packed with RAM and IC boards, with algorithms that would instruct portions of the memory to simulate echo, distortion, phase-shifting, octave division, and so on.They don’t do word processing, but programmed a bit differently, they could! Some were/are very good.

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These days, many effects boxes offer‘true bypass’– so when the effect is in the‘off’ setting, your signal does not travel through the multitude of electronic bits and pieces of the unit, thereby giving you a more‘pure’sound. It never made much difference to me.

YouTube Screamer The modern-day pedalboard can be fitted with more optional extras than a Cadillac.You can design your own, incorporating patch bays, power buffers, a second set of on-off buttons for each effect when used through the patch bay, link-ups (USB and MIDI) to computers with which to further enhance your sounds, and I wonder what they’ll dream up next. I’ve been directed to various videos on YouTube, demonstrating just how great some of these modern pedalboards and components are. Let’s be real – audio coming from aYouTube vid? No matter how your system hypes up the sound you hear from your ’puter, trust me, by the time the audio goes through the various codecs that allow streaming to appear‘good’, this is not the same sound that is being produced in front of the camera and mic. So, for the sake of absolute audio integrity, that one is off the table, okay?

Elliott Randall asks you to consider what your ‘desert island’ pedal choice would be

Randall’s Bottom Line: back to the word ‘appropriateness’. There are times when having a slap or two of echo, or a wild-sounding fuzz, further enhanced by flanging can really add positively to a performance.There are also many instances when nothing sounds better than the‘combo of three’– guitar to cable to amplifier. Choose wisely. By sheer coincidence, I received an email a few weeks ago, asking me four questions (the author of the email did not know that I was about to begin my two columns on pedals). Two of the queries: 1.Aside from a tuner, if you could have just one effects pedal – what would it be? 2.Aside from a tuner, if you could have just two effects pedals – what would they be? (My thanks to Gordon Boath for asking!) I will not give you my answers (yet). But I would encourage you to think about them. We’re talking‘desert island pedals’here. Cool food for thought.And multi-effects pedals are not allowed. Maybe later, we can discuss computer-based‘amp simulators’…

· “There were already multiple guitar parts on the recording, and they were great. Rhythm tracks, fill tracks, really full. What to do?” ELLIOTT RANDALL

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Opinion

SESSION DIARY Making Movies Top session guitarist Adam Goldsmith begins a new column on the trials of being a guitar man for hire

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t’s been a fairly varied month for me so far, with rehearsals starting for a new eight-part series of ITV’s Live At The Palladium, for which I’m in the house band, a single for a well-known actress at Mark Knopfler’s fantastic British Grove Studios, a film score for Disney at Abbey Road, a gig with my own band, a couple of jingles from my home studio, and my regular West End show, Beautiful: The Carole King Musical. Oh, and a speeding fine and three points trying to get to a studio on time and not get sacked!

And… action First up was the Disney film. Recording for films, in my experience, can be one of the most high-pressure recording situations for a musician.There’s generally a lot of money being spent on big studios like Abbey Road, Angel and Air (the late, great George Martin’s famous studio in Hampstead) and big orchestras, so the pressure to get it right is on. Sessions like these are generally booked by a‘fixer’(musician’s agent) and in threehour blocks, so for this day, we were booked 10am until 1pm, with an hour for lunch (not liquid!), then 2pm until 5pm.You never know what you’re going to get, so I generally take way too much gear – on this occasion, it was mostly acoustic, so my Martin John Mayer OM, a Patrick Eggle Linville cutaway,Taylor 12-string,‘Nashville’-tuned Sigma smallbodied acoustic, and my Burguet 1A classical, and a spare Antonio Aparicio classical with a cutaway.The small amount of electric was played on my Rory Gallagher Custom Shop Strat and a Gibson 339, through a Carr Sportsman amp and my go-to pedalboard. A brief note on recording clean electric guitar, especially single lines and more subtle parts: I have found subtle use of a compressor pedal (I have a Keeley 4 Knob and an MXR Dyna Comp, along with a very slight boost pedal – I use the Xotic RC Booster) helps me‘sit’in the mix nicely, and play more dynamically. If I have a choice, the mics that seem to work on amps consistently are the trusty Shure SM57 mixed with a Royer R-121 or similar.

Under pressure After everything is ready to roll, we open the first‘cue’. This could be anything, but after the click track started rolling, I found it was just me on solo acoustic-guitar arpeggios for around a minute, which was pretty nerve-racking, as I didn’t know that was coming.The trick here for me is focus, don’t stop, even if you make a mistake and exclude everything except the music from your mind.You have to very quickly make the adjustment from realising you’re on your own, to sight reading, to creating music from the notes.That’s the important bit of interpreting charts, not the reading itself, long considered a‘dark art’among guitar players, but what you do with the notes after you’ve learned to read (music reading being, in my humble opinion, just a matter of practice,

not a talent you are born with). Film music is mostly used to convey emotion, so I try to have that awareness (especially on sensitive acoustic parts) and try and convey the beauty or fragility of a scene through the guitar and not sweat too much about the mechanics of reading.The musical value of what you bring and a positive attitude are what will get you consistently employed in this kind of work, not any spectacular display of eight-finger tapping or suchlike.That, and the Holy Grail of a nylon-strung guitar that plays in tune! The day ends with the composer indicating he’ll see us on the next session, which, if you’re looking for validation or congratulations, is about as good as it gets in my experience. Another day of not getting sacked is a pretty good result…

Recording for film is fraught with uncertainties, so Adam brings a full complement of acoustics

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The Lineup

AUDIO

http://bit.ly/guitaristextra

Substitute

This Issue: The Persistent Suspension Last issue, we took an alternative approach to the pedal-point concept – stripping our original chord progression down to just the bass line, and then sustaining or repeating just the first chord over all four bass notes. You get some interesting combinations, but the sustaining chord ‘glues’ it together. Here’s another variation on that idea, and it came from a chance encounter with a YouTube piano lesson, of all things!

JUST to recap: a pedal note (or tone) repeats or sustains throughout a chord progression. It’s most commonly found in the bass, but can also be a higher note, or even a whole chord, as we discovered last issue. Start off by familiarising yourself with the sound of the basic progression, and then we’ll try something new. Instead of just repeating or sustaining that first A major chord, this time, we’re going to convert it to Asus2 first. In a suspended 2nd chord, the major or minor 3rd is replaced by the 2nd. In A major, we replace the C# with a B…

SO, there’s our Asus2 chord, with that characteristically open, ambiguous sound. Get used to holding those top three or four notes, because they’re going to act as our pedal notes for the rest of the progression.

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TAKING just the bass note from the G chord, we still have the Asus2 notes over the top. On its own, this might be quite a confusing sound, but it makes musical sense in the context of the previous chord.

AGAIN, here, we’re holding that Asus2 on the top, and taking just the bass note from the original F#m. You could also interpret this chord as F#m11.

FINALLY, the bass note of the D chord. If anything, this sus2 method works better than last issue’s approach, possibly because of the open ambiguity of the sus2 chord. Try it with any progression and see what happens!

Big Boy Bloater Jools Holland calls him “one of the great bluesmen of our time”, but how will he fare with the 10 questions we ask everyone?

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the whammy bar quite a bit. I have a very particular way of putting them on that helps the tuning.”

What was your first guitar and when did you get it? “I started playing guitar when I was about 10 or 11, it was just a nylon-strung classical acoustic, which I wasn’t really enjoying. Then my dad came home and surprised me with an electric guitar he had won in a bet down the pub. It was hand-painted leopardskin, and when I say hand-painted I mean everything: the body, the neck, the fingerboard, the scratchplate – everything had been painted with a twoinch brush. I couldn’t even tell you what it was because everything was painted over, but it was kind of Strat-shaped. It was missing the whammy bar, so in its place, the previous owner had put a bicycle brake lever. It was pretty unplayable, so when my dad realised I was keen on guitar, he got me a Hohner LP-style, which was actually really nice. I was probably about 12 by then.”

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If you could change one thing about a recording you’ve been on, what would it be and why? “I’d probably want to change something about all older recordings. There’s nothing I’m really horrified by, although no way would you find me listening to the stuff I was putting out when I started out. You have to tell yourself you were happy with it at the time and move on. No regrets…”

8 ·

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If the building was burning down, what one guitar from your collection would you save? “I only really use one guitar, a 2005 Japanese Fender Strat. It’s been modded a bit: new pickups, new trem block, tone and single volume. I call it the ‘Bloatocaster’! It’s a great guitar, it takes a lot of abuse and never lets me down, but it’s not really anything special. If I lost it, I could replace it fairly easily.”

3

What’s the oldest guitar that you own? “Sorry, readers, but I am not a guitar collector! I guess I’m not a hoarder anyway, but it’s quite possibly also that, although I have always done this for a living, it has never quite brought me the riches to have guitars laying around just to be played occasionally. I used to gig a ’63 Gretsch, but I got rid of it in favour of my Strat. I do have some other guitars, but nothing older.”

4

What plectrums do you use? “I like to use those huge picks about 1mm thick and I get them custom printed with my logo. I think they’re meant to be bass picks – you know, the ones that are like a rounded-off triangle with all the sides the same length. I find I get a better grip on those big picks and end up dropping them a lot less often.”

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“My first guitar was Strat-shaped… The previous owner had replaced the whammy bar with a bicycle brake lever” ·

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When was the last time you practised and what was it that you played? “I practised this morning and I played a song from my forthcoming album. I wanted to see if I could do it on acoustic guitar. I don’t tend to put time aside to practise as such, but there is always a guitar within reach when I’m working in my den, so I pick it up throughout the day and mess around with various things.”

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When was the last time you changed your own strings? “I change them myself most of the time. I tend to change them every two to three gigs as my style of playing is very tough on strings – I do like to yank on

What are you doing five minutes before you go on stage and five minutes after? “Drinking beer if I can possibly arrange it! We’re very relaxed before we go on, usually chatting to the guys in the band, or out front, chatting to people. I also still like to go to the merch stand and meet people after a show, so as soon as I can get over there, I will.”

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What’s the worst thing that has happened to you on stage? “There’s a famous festival up north I was booked to play with my old band and I was really looking forward to it, but on the way there, I started feeling ill. It turned out I’d contracted gastroenteritis and I was throwing up in the dressing room just before stage time, but managed to hobble on. About three songs in, I felt sick again, and had to keep running to the bin beside the monitor engineer to throw up midsong. By the time we’d played an hour, I thought I was dead – I ended up collapsing and they had to take me to hospital.”

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What song would you play on acoustic around a campfire? “Here Comes The Sun. George Harrison was such an amazing guitarist and it’s such a simple riff, but he made it sound fantastic. That song also means a lot to me, personally.” [DM] Big Boy Bloater’s new album, Luxury Hobo, is out now on Mascot Records. A UK tour begins 8 May in Birmingham www.bigboybloater.com

Feedback Your letters to the Guitarist editor. Drop us a line at [email protected]

Star Letter wonderful – we discussed this, and I said, “It’s all in your hands.” After Ben had gone home, the guitar and amp were still plugged in, so I thought I would give it a go and try and get a similar sound. As you can guess, no such luck. However, I suddenly realised that Ben had been using a different plectrum to me and had left it on the stool; it was a Landström Sharkfin. I started using the plectrum and, instantly, the sound changed. I was amazed just how different the sound was and I got close to what Ben had sounded like. I then went through my box of plectrums to check them all out and realised just what a difference they can make to the overall sound. Certainly, it’s something very simple and basic to try, and I now feel my sound and playing has really improved. So it is in your hands – but also maybe what you hold between your thumb and finger. Andy Weeks, via email

PLECS APPEAL As a passionate guitar player, I am always trying to improve my technique and sound. I have a total of eight guitars and I get to play them every day during my songwriting and recording projects. I enjoy the magazine every month and in issue 404, the interview with Def Leppard was really good – and my letter is in regard to the comment made by Viv Campbell when discussing guitar sound: “It’s all in your hands.” I think he is right, but I have recently discovered something else – that I guess I knew about but had forgotten. Yesterday, my friend Ben came around to play guitar and have a chat. I have to mention now that Ben is a very good guitar player (far better than me). He was playing my Fender Strat through my Roland Blues Cube amp and it sounded

Nearly every guitarist loves buying posh new tone-toys. Guitars, pedals, pickups… you name it. We do it, too, and, wearily, we’ve come to accept that nothing will ever silence the little voice inside that tells you that you really do ‘need’ to buy that thing before you can settle down, once and for all, to the serious business of sounding better/playing better/achieving spiritual fulfilment (delete as appropriate) with a guitar. But for every high-end piece of kit we buy, there’s probably about five or six things we could have bought first for under £50 that would also have a seriously beneficial effect. Lessons come to mind, among other things! So, don’t despise the small, inexpensive choices you can make to improve your tone – they’ll complement the big stuff very well.

Vivian Campbell: right to criticise Yngwie Malmsteen?

HEADSTOCKS AT DAWN How dare Vivian Campbell have digs at Mr Malmsteen in the Bowie issue [404]! Some green-eyed monster coming to the fore there! If Mr Campbell had tried to play as well as he could and advanced guitar playing over his professional career, instead of, as he admitted in the interview, having an “easy life” in Def Leppard, then I might have some respect for his comments.As history has proven, Yngwie Malmsteen has been an incredible, genrecreating and leading guitarist, whereas Vivian Campbell has not! Gavin Appleby, via email Ouch! Not to put words in Viv Campbell’s mouth, but we’d argue he was mainly making a point in favour of economical but effective playing, rather than being anti-Yngwie per se – and Viv has put in plenty of blinding guitar work himself over the years so has a right, like anyone else, to his opinion. Also, if your vigorous defence of Yngwie’s talents is anything to go by, it seems that enthusiasm for his astonishing playing is alive and well...

LOVE AND THEFT Each issue’s Star Letter wins a Korg Pandora Stomp – an ingenious compact multi-effects pedal with a wealth of options in one tiny package worth £119! www.korg.co.uk

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GUITARIST MAY 2016

I would like to say how great this magazine has been for me. I have played guitar since I was 12 years old, self-taught. I have had many guitars, but my dream guitar was stolen from me; it was an Antigua Strat from the 70s. To me, this guitar could never

Feedback

be beaten. I did not get over it being stolen until recently, when your magazine did a review on Strats, which led me to buy a Sonic Blue channel-bound Strat. This is the most awesome-sounding guitar I have heard, and on your recommendations I have also recently purchased a Gretsch G2420T Streamliner. I have got over my sad loss now, thanks to your magazine… Thanks again – skint, but very, very happy! John Carey, via email We’re really chuffed we’ve helped you find a new soulmate (or two), John. Any time. Lest you slide helplessly towards (blissful) bankruptcy, though, we also refer you to the answer to this month’s Star Letter!

ARE YOU BEING SERVED? My experiences of guitar-shop staff echo those of Daniel Davie (Star Letter, Feedback issue 405), sadly! On the rare occasions I now visit these places, it takes ages to be served, irrespective of whether you want to buy a plectrum or a PRS, especially when the staff themselves are messing about with the gear, rather than making any effort to help. Like Daniel, I’ve been playing guitar for over plentyfive years [sic], and what I reckon is one of the root causes is the demise of good music shops in my area, where you could get great advice from guys who were often gigging in their own bands at the weekend, and who had a genuine interest in your musical requirements. Ho hum! Hughesy, Bath, via email

arrive, then don’t hold your breath (on either count)!

FOOL’S GOLD? Guys, I’m behind with my reading of Guitarist and having just got to p160 (Old Gold) of issue 402, I think you might have overstated the case with regard to Eric Clapton.You see, the reason I am behind with things is because I’ve just read Eric Clapton: The Autobiography. In it, Eric clearly states that it was Freddie King who inspired him to pick up and play a Gibson, but unfortunately, not a Les Paul Goldtop, rather a Cherry Red ES-335, which he states as the“instrument of his dreams”. He further adds that most of his choices in guitars were inspired by other players. It’s only later on when playing in the USA with the Juniors that the young Clapton mentions a Les Paul – when they do a runner and he leaves behind a very nice“Les Paul and a Marshall amp”. Eric later states that in ’65, he has developed his own sound by using the LP bridge pickup, rolling up the bass and developing this thick creamy sound, on the edge of distortion, with controlled feedback, the sound most of us associate Clapton with – and at the same time trying to emulate the tone of Freddie King. Perry Freeman, via email

Neville Marten, our resident Clapton aficionado and editor of Guitar Techniques, replies: “I’m pretty sure I’ve read Eric state that his influence to get a Les Paul was seeing the Freddie King album cover for Let’s Hide Away And Dance Away, on which King is playing a Les Paul. The album cover was treated in such a manner that his Goldtop looked red, thus influencing Eric’s choice of a Cherry Sunburst model. But he undoubtedly would have seen Sumlin using a Les Paul, too. “Interestingly, Robben Ford has said that his early hero, Michael Bloomfield, was playing a Les Paul in the States, concurrently with Clapton using one in the UK. Bloomfield’s was a Goldtop, but it was coming to England and seeing Eric with The Bluesbreakers that made him switch to humbuckers. Our guitar choices are all led by the instruments used by our favourite players – Eric influenced me choosing a red 335. Likewise, Clapton with his red ES-335 after Chuck Berry’s 335, Freddie’s 345 and BB’s 355… And think how many players took on Strats because of Hank Marvin (Mark Knopfler, David Gilmour) and Jimi Hendrix (Stevie Ray Vaughan, Robin Trower, etc).”

Our guitar choices are influenced by our heroes – but which ones?

TRURO-MANCE I also have come back to guitar in my mid-50s (Star Letter, Feedback, issue 405) and found the effects available mindblowing and confusing. In steps Modern Music in Truro. It’s a busy shop, but they found time and patience to help choose the pedals I needed. So far they have been spot on, and on an item that had to be ordered, I was kept in touch by text and informed of its arrival.As I progress and upgrade or just fancy something new, Modern Music will be my first port of call. Service like this keeps people playing and strummers like me feel appreciated. Rock on,Truro. Austin King, via email So there it is, guitar sellers of the world – the readers have spoken. Treat your prospective pickers right and they’ll keep coming back for years of trying and buying new guitars. But if you’re that ‘assistant’ looking bored behind the counter, who’s only stooping to selling axes while waiting for mega-stardom to

Send your letters to: [email protected] MAY 2016 GUITARIST

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Feedback

Take (Another) Trip To Guitar Heaven ast year, Guitarist headed north with a merry band of readers for a special trip to Guitars: The Museum in Umeå, Sweden, as explored in our Vintage Edition last year. There we saw plenty to warm the cockles of any guitarist’s heart, from the collection’s superb duo of a ’58 and ’59 Gibson Flying V to its ultra-rare ’58-spec ES-335 and ’60 Les Paul Standard, plus original golden-era Fender Broadcasters, 60s Strats and fascinating arcana, including dozens of B-bender-equipped Teles. The Guitarist party was also privy to detailed historical and technical insights into the collection’s rare guitars – and heard extraordinary tales and tips from the world of vintage-guitar collecting.

L

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Throughout the trip, we were treated to amazing hospitality by our hosts, the collection’s owners Michael and Samuel Åhdén, and also sampled (rather too much) of the fine beers and live music of Sweden at the Guitars nightclub, handily located on the ground floor of the museum itself. Barry Waples, who joined last year’s trip, said: “It totally exceeded my expectations on every level.” Fellow attendee Jules Carter enthused: “The best thing about the museum for me was just the sheer diversity and scale of it. It’s just great to be able to walk from one room full of fantastic guitars into another room full of equally fantastic guitars. You’d spend a lifetime trying to see that many guitars up close.”

Since then, the collection has got even bigger and better – so we’re very excited that the good people at Guitars: The Museum have once again offered Guitarist readers the chance to experience hundreds of the museum’s ultra-rare vintage guitars up close, with the Åhdén brothers as your personal guides, from 10 to 12 June 2016. The package includes: flights from London to Umeå, single-room accommodation in a charming local hotel in walking distance of the museum, two lunches and dinners, guided museum tours plus entry to a lavish evening event at the Guitars club. You can join this exclusive trip to Guitar Heaven for £700 – for booking enquiries, simply email: [email protected]




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Music

START

ME UP

MILOŠ New and notable guitarists you need to hear Who Is He?

pretty straightforward. No mighty rigs or humongous stacks around these parts; just premium-grade nylon-string guitars made by the world’s master builders. He began with a Ramirez Student model, working up to an instrument by the Spanish builder Bernabé. These days, he plays a guitar by Australian luthier Greg Smallman, whose customers include the maestro John Williams. “I think the reason why I like Smallman so much is because John Williams was such a huge inspiration for me in my early days and his records were on a loop day in and day out.”

Miloš Karadaglic is an award-winning classical guitarist, but his latest album, Blackbird, is a step away from his core repertoire in that he’s chosen to release a collection of Beatles songs. The album has received some very favourable reviews and made a considerable dent in the classical charts, too. Born in Montenegro, Miloš’s attention was drawn to the guitar at a very early age. “I started to play when I was eight years old. Earlier in my life, the big influence on me musically was my grandmother, because she had a very beautiful voice and she always used to like to sing very nice, traditional Montenegrin songs.”

Where Should I Start?

Who Has He Listened To? The young Miloš took up the classical guitar at school and began working his way through the student repertoire. At first, he showed a little unrest, having discovered that learning the guitar was not at all what he imagined. But finding a record by the legendary classical player Andrés Segovia among his father’s record collection changed his life completely. “I heard an instrument that I thought was incredible. I couldn’t believe that everything that I heard was coming from just one guitar and one player.”

What’s So Great About His Playing?

© ANDY EARL/MERCURY CLASSICS

Tasteful touch, combined with tremendous technique. Anyone covering Beatles material is generally acknowledged as being on hallowed ground and many have fallen by the wayside in the attempt. But Miloš has brought something very special to the mix, in that he has chosen to perform some stunning arrangements by masters of the craft such as Sérgio Assad and Toru Takemitsu. “It all started by selecting the right songs,” he explains.“Which, to me, was such an important thing, because I needed to find the songs that are absolutely going to be able to translate into the texture and the colour of the classical guitar.”

Why Do You Need To Hear Him? Even if classical guitar is not necessarily your thing, you will admire the lengths that Miloš has gone to in order to produce Blackbird. For the recording, he chose to book into Abbey Road Studio Two in order to soak up some of

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· “I needed to find the songs that are absolutely going to be able to translate into the texture and the colour of the classical guitar” ·

the residual ambience from The Beatles’ own sessions all those years ago. He even used some of the original microphones to ensure the mojo was just right. “It was one of those things: I said, ‘I want to do it the right way,’ so it made no sense to do it anywhere else.”

What Gear Does He Use? Naturally, spending most of his professional life playing the classical repertoire, the gear side of the Miloš Karadaglic story is

You might choose to catch Miloš in his home environment, the classical context, by checking out his previous albums, which include Aranjuez, featuring what is arguably the most famous guitar concerto out there, Rodrigo’s Concierto de Aranjuez. Then there are his concert tours, which vary from him playing with a complete orchestra to more intimate, solo performances. But if you want to hear some sensitive, beautiful arrangements of familiar Beatles tunes on nylon-string guitar, look no further than Blackbird. “The most important thing always is to preserve integrity as an artist and to do something that absolutely feels right. For me to record The Beatles, at this stage in my life and career, felt an absolute right decision and the right thing to do.” [DM]

While My Guitar Gently Weeps: A touching performance of George Harrison’s beautiful song, capturing the enduringly mournful quality of the original Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds: Here, Miloš duets with Anoushka Shankar on another Beatles classic – there’s some fascinating interweaving here! El Sombrero de Tres Picos: From Aranjuez, a chance to hear Miloš on his own turf, playing this piece by Manuel de Falla

Miloš Karadaglic’s new album, Blackbird, is out now on the Decca Classics label www.miloskaradaglic.com

STEVE MORSE The workaholic guitarist on tough gigs, playing through the pain and the challenge of taking on Ritchie Blackmore’s hallowed riffs Words Henry Yates

A

© ROGER GOODGROVES/REX/SHUTTERSTOCK

t the end of every gig, Steve Morse mentally awards himself a grade for his guitar playing. The show captured on the latest live release by Flying Colors, he tells Guitarist, was a B+. You could have fooled us. Recorded last October at Switzerland’s Z7 venue, it’s a tour de force, with the blurry fingered guitarist driving the prog-rock supergroup through tunes from 2012’s selftitled debut album and its 2014 follow-up, Second Nature. “We had one rehearsal,” Morse remembers, “and we got one shot. So it was a little nerve-racking.” Morse doesn’t scare easily. At 61, the Ohio-born guitarist’s youthful looks belie a résumé longer than your arm, sprinkled with gigs that would make most players quake. From the ferocious jazz-fusion of Dixie Dregs in the 70s, through his classical forays alongside Al Di Meola, John McLaughlin and Paco de Lucía in the 80s, to his recruitment as replacement for Deep Purple’s Ritchie Blackmore in 1994, it’s easy to see why he’s considered one of the great all-rounders of our times.

Yardbirds. Clapton. Steve Howe. I try not to exactly take the riffs of those people, but one thing you can learn from Ted Nugent, or Eric Clapton, or even Joe Walsh, is phrasing. That’s why some guitarists are more appealing to listeners, as opposed to just other guitarists.”

Get Rhythm “I like to see a player with dynamics and control. I guess the most impressive thing is when a guitarist has mastered the instrument, but assumes a role as a support member, up until the time that they’re featured. Steve Lukather – one of my most hilarious friends – once said, ‘I did 400 records in LA as a session musician, and never got one job because of my soloing.’ It’s all about the rhythm. The people in the band and the audience basically want you to be a great rhythm guitarist, and if you can be a great soloist, that’s awesome, but it’s like being able to do a wheelie on a motorcycle. It’s more important to drive safely, because that’s what you’re going to be doing most of the time.”

Find The Right Phrasing Play To Your Quirks “A lot of my heroes were English. When The Stones did Honky Tonk Women, I heard that and said, ‘That is just the coolest thing.’ Keith Richards just had that American feel. Pete Townshend’s rhythm playing is always amazing, and anybody who’s heard All Right Now has gotta love that guitar. You can keep on going. Led Zeppelin. Jeff Beck.

“People say they can identify my playing. There’s the fact that I change pickups a lot while I’m soloing and improvising. If you play a low G on the 3rd fret, you’re at the lowest frequencies, so you want more harmonics, so I’ll use the bridge pickup. But then, if you play up high that can be a brittle

sound, so I tend to want the [neck pickup]. Another thing that I tend to do is pick every note. Y’know, I love the power of using the alternate picking and having that attack be heard and felt.”

Give Your Guitar A Workout “If you watch the Flying Colors show, from the start to the end, I have one guitar on and I don’t change it. With my Music Man, it’s balanced, it stays in tune and it goes with me everywhere, because it fits in a threequarter-size bag. I can tuck it under my arm, hand it to people on the airline. And I can also go from the single-coil sound to the humbuckers and combinations thereof. It’s still the original, the number one. Actually, I just put a new neck on it, because I pretty much used it up. In fact, right now, I’m trying these stainless-steel frets to see if they last longer and if the sound works.”

Know Yourself “To a certain percentage of the fans, I don’t succeed as Deep Purple’s guitarist, because I’m not Ritchie Blackmore. But to the majority of people, it’s clear that I’m doing a respectful dance between playing it my way and remembering his way on the classic tunes. I don’t really want to copy the exact way that Ritchie played, but I want to remind people of what he did on a solo, then take it out into a different area. It’s a balancing act. Imagine somebody out on the wire, and they start to slip, but they use

MAY 2016 GUITARIST

51

Force yourself to imitate a vocal melody. And people will like it. Automatically, everyone will think, ‘Wow, you’re playing with so much more feeling’

the balancing rod to get themselves back. That’s how I feel, a lot of the time.”

I Did-It-Myself Before EVH “When I built my Frankenstein Telecaster back in the 60s, there was no Van Halen that I knew. I was helping a girlfriend paint her house and her mum wisely took advantage of the slave labour available. So I suddenly had access to all these materials, like varnish and paint stripper. Y’know, my Tele was black when I got it. I just took it apart, stripped off the paint, varnished it up, and then took a chisel to it and started putting more pickups in it.”

Give The Crowd Exactly What They Want “I’m a very non-presumptuous person, and I’m realistic about things. So if I’m in front of a big crowd, it’s because of the event or because of the name and history of a group that I’m working with. I’m a replaceable cog in the wheel. Literally anybody else could be in the same position as I am. By the dozen, there are guitarists that would be a great asset to any band I’ve ever been in, who would be available in a matter of hours. So I don’t ever think of this as my spotlight. I think, ‘How can I nail this? How can I make this music cook?’ I want the audience to have a great time. That’s all I think about.”

Take A Breath “My advice for good soloing? You should start with two-bar phrases. Like, play one full bar and end it somewhere in

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the beginning of the second bar. Put it in bite-sized pieces like that. Force yourself to imitate a vocal melody and people will like it. Automatically, everyone will think, ‘Wow, you’re playing with so much more feeling, so much more melody.’ And really, all you’re doing is giving a little breath between phrases.”

Work Through Your Limitations “I’m a left-handed person but I learnt to play right-handed. I’ve practised almost every day for the last 50 years, and my right hand is now becoming an issue, as things wear down and don’t work right any more. It’s more difficult to practise consistently, because it’s literally painful. When I get on stage, I can make everything work; the adrenalin overcomes everything. But y’know, everyone has their limitations and my right hand is mine. It’s like, all the stress that I have of playing guitar is centred around that now. It’s forcing me to look at other ways of doing things.”

Rise To The Tough Gigs “I get tested in any situation. But the tour I did with John McLaughlin, Al Di Meola and Paco de Lucía [back in 1983] was the most challenging. Originally, Al was not going to be there for part of the tour, so I was learning the material to play with them, and it was a big jump, to go from electric guitar to that really intense acoustic playing. Then, Al did make the tour, so I became the opening act and played with them at the end. So I was playing classical guitar on my own, in front of big audiences,

then with these three guys, trading solos as fast as lightning. That was a very intense test for me.”

Enjoy The Ride “I remember some amazing moments. Like, the first time I opened a big show by myself, totally solo, was for Pat Metheny at Red Rocks [in 1983]. I was layering parts using my Prime Time delay and just trying this whole new approach of building up a solo. It could have all fallen apart pretty badly, but it worked, and the audience sort of exploded with appreciation at a very critical juncture. Lots of memories. I could write a book about all the amazing things.”

The Music Is The Pay-Off “Even though most people mistake me for a 20 year old when they see me, I’ve been playing guitar for 50 years. I’ve sorta based my life around wanting to do this. I had big dreams and big hopes. Y’know, the music that I’ve chosen to write has never hit the big time, so most of my income comes from shows, so you have to tour to pay all the taxes and divorces [laughs]. One thing I could do without is sitting at airports with missed flights and lost luggage – all that. But the music part really is the payoff. It’s so wonderful to be around people that inspire me. I love the music so much.”

Flying Colors’ Second Flight: Live At The Z7 is available now through Music Theories/Mascot Label Group www.stevemorse.com

© BEBERT BRUNO/SIPA/REX/SHUTTERSTOCK

Steve has 50 years of guitar playing under his belt and he still practises every day

John Petrucci

interview

DREAM MACHINE Guitarist talks to fretmeister John Petrucci about Dream Theater’s most recent album and takes a peek behind the scenes at the live rig fuelling his brand-new signature amp… Words Jamie Dickson & David Mead

n January this year, Dream Theater released The Astonishing, a concept album set in a dystopian future where machines called NOMACS have taken on the role of passion-free music suppliers to a feudalised population. The hero is a character who has been blessed with the gift of music, which helps form the catalyst that fires a revolution. Conceived primarily as a stage show, The Astonishing was overseen and produced by John Petrucci, and Guitarist was not only granted an audience with the man himself, but also exclusive backstage access to the second date of the band’s European tour in order to feast our eyes on the guitar rig necessary to take on such a mammoth project.

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How did you approach the challenge that this concept presented?

“As a player, I had to be able to do what was musically relevant for what was happening in the story. That meant pulling everything from aggressive parts to beautiful, sensitive parts; sad playing, pretty playing, comical playing… I ran the gamut – picture watching a cartoon, playing along and scoring it as it’s going. It forced me to pull from everything I know and then some.” As an insight into your creative life, what would a typical day be like during the writing phase of the project?

“As far as the writing of the story, it was really me sitting down in front of my

Backstage photography Joseph Branston

computer and piece-by-piece diving into it, doing a lot of organising, analysis, developing the characters, coming up with names, coming up with settings, plot… Just a little bit every day as a writer would do, immersing myself into that world. Then, once completed, doing very regular revisions, trying to tighten it up, work on the mythology a bit and fix any holes in the story. That was what was involved in actually writing the story part of it.”

Did you try a few different versions of the amp or did you know what you wanted?

What’s your go-to recording rig these days?

How do you like to set your three-channel amps up with a view to them undertaking several roles in a set?

“The guitar that I use is my Majesty Signature Music Man guitar and I used the six- and seven-string Majesty throughout the whole album except for one song, The Path That Divides, where I used my Music Man JP15. Other than that, it was all Majesty, and the acoustic was a Taylor 914. The amp that I use is actually a Signature Mesa/Boogie, something we’ve been developing for a while now. I’m really, really excited about it. With the exception of a limited run of Carlos Santana Mark I amps, this is their first signature amp, so I’m really, really proud. It was designed by Randall Smith and it’s a bona-fide genuine reissue of the Mark IIC+, but modernised, as per my request. There are three channels, two graphic EQs, it’s MIDI-capable, it has a built-in CabClone and two lead channels. It’s an unbelievable amp and it’s the only one I used on the album. All the rhythms, all the leads, all the cleans were that one amp.”

“They got to it really quickly, actually. I think they did three prototypes and that was it. The first one, actually, I started tracking with right away on the song Our New World. I did the solo while we were still writing and demoing the songs and I had that proto, did those solos and ended up keeping them. So they really, really nailed it from the beginning.”

“Generally, I go for very, very super-clean; lots of headroom. I want the notes to be shiny but also have some weight, in the way a piano note would sound. It’s clean and as open as possible and it’s a nice sparkly presence and not a lot of middle. The rhythm sound is something that I want to be generally aggressive yet tight, so it has a proper amount of gain but to the point that if you play tight low notes, especially on a seven-string detuned guitar, it’s not going to flub out or break up. So I generally dial in very little bass on the controls, and the frequencies that control the upper-end harmonics, like the treble and presence, are up to give it that sort of ripping, tight sound. I use a general kind of ‘D’ setting on the graphic and in the lead channel, I like to up the gain to make it more liquid and add more mids than I would on the rhythm, so

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John Petrucci

Dream Theater (l to r): Jordan Rudess, John Myung, James LaBrie, Mike Mangini and John Petrucci

it’s not a scoop. It has more of a vocal sound to it and I cut down the highs a bit, so it’s not shrill when you get up to the higher register of the guitar.” If you could single out one musical principle that you believe leads to better guitar playing, what would it be?

“To me, it’s always been a sense of melody. I think it’s very important, because the melody is the place where you can really have a voice and you can really be unique. It’s a magical thing – you can conjure up all kinds of feelings, whether they are new, unique or familiar and recognisable, to evoke some kind of emotion. I think guitar players who have a strong sense of melody, a strong melodic focus, are always the ones that stand out. Steve Morse, David Gilmour, Tommy Emmanuel, Joe Satriani – you know, guys like that.” Which musician has been most influential in shaping your approach to guitar?

“For me, it would be Steve Morse. The moment I heard him play I was not only blown away, but really, really inspired to want to do better, to expand my playing and my writing. Then I got to see him play live and eventually meet him, become friends and play with him on G3. He just never ceases to be an inspiration – a positive light as far as sticking with things, having a strong practice ethic, being your creative best, working hard as a musician, pursuing tone, pursuing the craft of guitar building with Music Man… All the things that he does have been really hugely influential to me.”

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What steps would you recommend if a player wants to bust themselves out of the cul-de-sacs in their playing?

“Practise outside your comfort zone. Try improvising in keys like A b – non-typical guitar keys – and that might force you to do things you might not normally gravitate towards because it all seems unfamiliar. Another thing is to learn lines and phrases from instruments other than guitar. If you’re picking things up from piano, saxophone or violin, you’re going to do things more tailored towards those instruments, but not very familiar or comfortable on the guitar. It forces you to do things you wouldn’t normally do.”

What aspect of playing guitar gives you most pleasure these days?

“I guess any musical instrument is an expressive instrument, but, for me, it’s a way to have a different type of voice. You know, to maybe say some things that I wouldn’t normally say just through language. You can kind of pull some things out that are sometimes a lot deeper and more meaningful. So, to me, it’s an extension of expression and it’s an outlet for creativity. That’s something I’ve always gravitated towards, whether it’s writing or storytelling or art or music. Having an outlet for expression is really, really important to me, and the guitar helps me find that place.”

If you had five minutes coaching a complete newcomer on how to play a good solo, what would be your advice?

Stage Rites

“The first thing is, you need to listen to what you’re soloing over. You need to be conscious of the chords that you’re playing over and also the structure; look at the length of what you’re going to be soloing over. You have a certain amount of time to tell a story – you don’t want a guitar solo to be the point where there’s a lull in the energy. You want it to be as musically relevant to the song as any other part of it. So, if you’re aware of the chord progression, if you’re aware of the amount of time you have and whether it’s improvised or prethought out, you have a beginning, middle and end. You have a structure. You’re telling a story within that time, you’re contributing to the music. I think that’s a really good way to focus on practising soloing.”

Can you outline the things that you’re called upon to do at a Dream Theater gig?

After releasing The Astonishing, the next step for the band was to perform the piece live. We were invited backstage at the London Palladium on the second night of Dream Theater’s European tour for a look at the gear necessary for Petrucci to bring the album to life on stage. Our tour guide is guitar tech and right-hand man, Maddi.

“The goal is, when John walks out on stage, he doesn’t have to think about anything but playing. For me, that means tuning the guitars, doing guitar changes when they need to be changed, sometimes engaging or disengaging effects, changing banks on the pedalboard to get to a new song, bringing the acoustics on and offstage, changing amp

· “Guitar is a way to have a different type of voice. To maybe say some things that I wouldn’t normally say just through language. You can pull some things out that are sometimes a lot deeper and more meaningful. To me, it’s an extension of expression” John Petrucci ·

interview

John Petrucci

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2 1. Petrucci’s ‘hidden’ drawer of effects: a TC HyperGravity Compressor, Keeley Red Dirt Overdrive, TC Helix Phaser, TC Viscous Vibe and a pair of Dreamscapes 2. John’s Mesa/Boogie JP-2C Signature amp 3. The RJM Mastermind GT/22 MIDI Foot Controller contains all the presets for onstage use

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settings… My responsibility at showtime is pretty much anything to do with him being on stage, playing.” There seem to be three guitars in action at present, but a whole rack backstage – will John use the others, or are they spares?

“Last night was the first show, so as we move forward and John gets more settled, we’ll start swapping guitars around a little bit more. Basically, he plays a standardtuned six-string, a standard-tuned sevenstring and a drop-D guitar for one song. Then he’s got two acoustic guitars that he switches between: a Taylor 12-string for one song and a Taylor six-string for everything else, probably five other songs in the set.” The gear backstage comprises your workbench, where you change strings and generally keep everything in working order. Then there’s Petrucci’s rack, containing a neatly packaged array of amps and effects. It looks a little mind-boggling…

“There are two separate signal paths: one’s really easy and one’s kind of easy. John’s guitars have two pickup systems, a magnetic and a piezo. So we run a stereo cable – two separate cables in one – out of

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the guitar into this Framptone A/B box; it’s just a passive A/B box. The cable then splits into two mono signals out of the A/B box: one is for the magnetic pickups, one is for the piezo acoustic pickups. We’ll do the piezo side first, because that’s really easy. Out of the A/B box, we go into a little isolation transformer, which just gets rid of any grounding issues. Out of the transformer into the TC BodyRez pedal, which we just switch to, sounds fantastic. Out of the BodyRez pedal into a Radial DI box and out to the PA and monitors. That’s it – boom – done. All the reverb and compression, if there is any, is done at the consoles, not here.”

Wah pedal, which is essentially the Dunlop Rack Wah in a pedal form. We took all of his settings from the rack wah, miniaturised it and stuck it in the actual pedal. For touring, I don’t have any audio cables, except for the tuner send, that run out to the pedalboard. If I had to run a wah pedal out there with regular cables, we’re talking 100ft of cabling back and forth, so that’s a lot of cable and signal loss. So I said to Dunlop, ‘Now that we’ve done the Signature Wah, can you actually put it back in the rack chassis so I can keep the signal flow in the rack and just have the control pedal out on the pedalboard?’ And they said, ‘Sure, no problem.’ So that’s what they did.”

How about the magnetic pickups?

At the top of Petrucci’s rack, there’s a hidden drawer containing a few pedals…

“Signal path two is the magnetic side and this is where it gets a little interesting… Out of the A/B box and into an RJM Tone Saver, which is basically just a buffered splitter. One side feeds the input of the rig, the other side feeds the tuner on the pedalboard, so he has a tuner attached to the guitar at all times without any sort of effects or anything like that. For the side that comes into the rig, the first thing we hit is the Dunlop Wah System. John has a new Dunlop Signature

“Yes, out of the wah unit, we come up into the pedal drawer. We’ve got an RJM Mini Effects Gizmo Switcher, five true-bypass loops, MIDI controlled. Loop one is the TC HyperGravity Compressor; loop two is the Keeley Red Dirt Overdrive pedal; loop three is the TC Helix Phaser; loop four is the Uni-Vibe pedal. Typically, in a five-loop setup, we’ve got three or four pedals that are mainstays and one that’s sort of a ‘let’s find

· “The goal is, when John walks out on stage, he doesn’t have to think about anything but playing… My responsibility at showtime is pretty much anything to do with him being on stage, playing” Maddi ·

interview

John Petrucci

John used his Music Man Majesty signature model for the majority of the latest album, and for live work…

… along with this seven-string version, and a second drop-Dtuned six string

something new and interesting to put in there’. In previous racks, we were using the Boss [DC-2] Dimension C pedal – great, cool modulation-type sound. This time around, we said, ‘Why don’t we use a Uni-Vibe?’ So that’s what we did. Loop five is actually two of his TC Signature Dreamscape pedals daisy-chained together like you would on a normal pedalboard and I just switch between them manually. One is set up for that kind of Van Halen jet flanger sound and the other for a more subtle flanger sound.”

whistles that you may have encountered on other Boogie amps. This is going back to the old IIC+, with some modern upgrades. Everything that’s been designed into this amp has been designed from a performance standpoint. The one limitation John always had with the old vintage amps was there was one graphic EQ, so he had to compromise. Essentially, we use channel two for all of his rhythm sounds, channel three is all the lead sounds, EQ1 is for the rhythm, EQ2 is for the lead.”

Have any effects been customised at all?

What about the amp’s effects loop?

“All the TC pedals, except for the ’Vibe, have John’s TonePrint settings. We’ve sat with the guys at TC, programmed the sounds John likes, loaded them in as TonePrints, so the controls are set at 12 o’clock and it’s the sound that John wants. No muss, no fuss.”

“This is where we get into all the cool delays, chorusing and pitch-shifting and all that. The effects loop goes into the input of a Fractal Axe-Fx II XL+, it’s their latest hardware version. That’s where all of John’s delays come from, so we have a bunch of different blocks in here, like the harmoniser. He’s not really using it that much, but it’s kind of your standard Eventide Harmoniser – he can do 3rds, 5ths, whatever he wants to. There’s an enhance block, there’s a couple of different chorus blocks, there’s another pitch block that’s kind of like a TC 1210-style chorus that he uses for a couple of songs. Stereo outs of the Axe-FX output: One Left comes back to the effects return of the main

We spy a Voodoo Lab Pedal Power 2 Plus power supply for everything in the drawer…

“Correct, and out of the drawer we come into the Mesa/Boogie JP-2C Signature amplifier. Three-channel amp: clean and then channel two and channel three are virtually identical. Two graphic EQs assignable to any channel, all MIDI controlled. It’s a very straightforward amplifier: it doesn’t have all the bells and

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amplifier, One Right comes to the effects return of the second amplifier, which is just acting as a power amp. Both of these amps feed Mesa Rectifier 1x12 cabinets that sit offstage, and they’re mic’d up with a pair of Shure SM57 and Shure KSM313 ribbon mics – that’s the sound for the front of house and monitors.” And how about output 2?

“Output 2 left and right of the Axe-FX feeds inputs left and right of a Mesa 20/20 Dyna-Watt power amp. That power amp feeds the two Mini Recto 1x12 cabinets that are on stage at the pedalboard, which just act as a little bit of a monitor. John’s on in-ear monitors for everything, but it helps him get some feedback and just some feel out there at the pedalboard. Everything’s controlled by the RJM Mastermind GT/22, the flagship pedalboard. I think I’ve got five or six banks of presets set up in there, depending on the song. “We’ve two pedalboards and they’re connected together so he can control things out here; I can jump in and control things offstage. Sometimes, I’ll have to call up an effect for him. Sometimes, if he forgets to turn something on or turn something off, I can catch it – but he’s actually really, really on top of his world out there.”

Introduction

Words

Jamie Dickson Photography

Joseph Branston

Hail,Hail Rock ’n’ Roll Is there any greater riff than Johnny B. Goode? We humbly submit that there is not. As played by 1950s masters such as ChuckBerryandScottyMoore,rock’n’rollguitarisstillawellspring of fretboard inspiration. Join us to learn essential jump blues, R&B and rock ’n’ roll techniques that’ll make your playing classier and more melodic today. But first, a little history…

“Everyone talks about rock these days,” Keith Richards once said. “Trouble is, they forget about the roll…”

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t’s a typically pithy quote, and a telling one. Because the ‘roll’ part covers a Holy Trinity of American guitar styles – blues, country and jazz – which combined, in a blinding flash of electricity and soul, to form rock ’n’ roll in the early 1950s. The resulting sound turned the likes of Jimmy Page and Jeff Beck on to guitar and, along with pure blues, laid the foundations for the next 50 years and more of rock guitar that followed. The secret was in the blend. If blues was the soul of rock ’n’ roll, country’s sweet harmonies and tales of love lost-and-won were its melodic heart. A dash of the swingand-jive of jazz made the intoxicating mix complete. All the American guitarists who waxed the best early rock ’n’ roll – such as Elvis’s sidemen Scotty Moore and Hank Garland, or the godfather of the genre himself, Chuck Berry – had absorbed jazz,

blues and country since childhood, via radio and vinyl. Therefore, they had at their fingertips the combined power of all three major strands of American popular music in the early 20th century, and all of that went into rock ’n’ roll. Opinions differ on what the first true rock ’n’ roll record was, but the main contenders are Rocket 88 by Ike Turner and Jackie Brenston, from 1951, and Rock Around The Clock by Bill Haley And His Comets from 1954 – though the fact that Haley covered Rocket 88 in 1951, with his then-group the Saddlemen, arguably suggests that Haley himself was first turned on to the rock ’n’ roll sound by Turner and Brenston’s work. Nonetheless, Marty Wilde, who became one of Britain’s first homegrown rock ’n’ roll stars with hits such as A Teenager In Love and Sea Of Love, recalls the meteorite-like impact that Rock Around The Clock had

on him, as a wide-eyed London teenager listening intently in 1955. “It had a colossal impact. I went to see the film Blackboard Jungle, which many, many other people in Britain did, and it hit them the same way. Rock Around The Clock was the hit song out of that and it totally blew me away. I was fascinated by how tight the rhythm was, and it made you want to dance. Compared to what had gone on before… with that, you maybe wouldn’t even tap your feet. And I think it hit everybody the same way. It happened so quickly.” With the benefit of hindsight, you can hear the origins of rock ’n’ roll in the upbeat or ‘jump’ blues of guitarists such as 1940s bluesman T-Bone Walker and even in pacey swing tracks such as Lionel Hampton’s Flying Home, the original 1939 recording of which featured Charlie Christian on guitar. Country music also had its part to play. The 1948 track Crazy Boogie by Merle Travis features a main riff that is obviously pianistic in origin – referencing Jelly Roll Morton’s playing in particular – but the translation to electric guitar renders it more angular and stark: a clear prototype for the stripped-down rock ’n’ roll guitar riffs that followed.

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Introduction

LEFT Chuck Berry’s phenomenal guitar playing was only matched by his talents as a vocalist, songwriter and showman

Embargo Blues

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musicians by hook or by crook. They wanted them that bad. Soon enough, Wilde’s celebrity meant he was also playing alongside visiting American heroes of rock ’n’ roll, which meant that Wilde’s guitarist – the late, great Big Jim Sullivan – could learn licks direct from the likes of Eddie Cochran, whose 1958 hit C’mon Everybody defined the spirit and the sound of a new era. “To hear them play was breathtaking – there’s no other word for it,” Marty says, but adds that when British guitarists such as Big Jim Sullivan and Hank Marvin learned licks from visiting US artists and from records, they couldn’t help but add a distinctly British flavour of their own. “Big Jim Sullivan and Hank Marvin were in a class of their own, both in different ways. No-one had faster fingers than Big Jim Sullivan; he could do runs that would take your head off. But Hank had a great idea of composition, of what would add to a record. He had great taste – he was playing the right thing for that record and it would be perfect. Hank’s work was up there with any of the Americans,” Wilde says. “I also

remember an edition of the Saturday Club radio show, where Eddie Cochran gave Jim the solo – because he had this wah-wah pedal and he was making the damn thing talk. That tells you our guys were picking it up very, very fast.”

Roll With It Today, we can look back with fresh admiration on the work of both American and British rock ’n’ roll guitarists, which informed everything that was to follow, including the British Blues Invasion, Beatlemania, Hendrix’s genius and more. That’s why it’s worth taking time to learn the styles of rock ’n’ roll’s pioneers, from Chuck Berry to Cliff Gallup. Why? Because what they did underpins so much modern guitar. Therefore, learning to play like Scotty and Chuck isn’t just for rockabilly fans. We guarantee it will also make your own blues or straight-ahead rock playing more authentic, classy and eclectic. So join us as we take a masterclass in vintage licks, meet some modern masters of rock ’n’ roll guitar and revisit the tones of a golden era…

© DEZO HOFFMANN/REX/SHUTTERSTOCK

Back in dreary post-war Britain – thanks to an embargo on ‘luxury goods’ from America, designed to protect Britain’s fragile economy and which lasted until 1960 – even American guitars were very hard to obtain. That ‘forbidden fruit’ desirability sparked its own revolution in guitar tone, as Marty Wilde recalls. “I sent away for a Gibson J-200 in late ’58. I’ve still got it now and it still plays stunningly – it just has something. Prior to that, we were playing appalling Italian guitars that were basically made out of mother-of-pearl plastic and were sprayed up in flashy colours. But I’d wanted a guitar like Elvis had on his first album, instead – which, at the time, I didn’t know was a Martin, because I hadn’t even heard of them – but initially, it was out of the question. I did also manage to get hold of a Gibson Goldtop that had belonged to Sister Rosetta Tharpe, though.” Expensive as hell and rarer than hen’s teeth, American guitars nonetheless found their way into the hands of British

ABOVE Hank Marvin: “His work was up there with any of the Americans,” according to Marty Wilde

Fifties Pin-up 1955 Gretsch Duo Jet Photography Joseph Branston

While Gretsch guitars are far more versatile than some would believe (in the hands of players such as Malcolm Young and Billy Duffy, they’ve sounded immense in hardrock scenarios, too), the company’s distinctive guitars had a golden period in the mid-50s when rock ’n’ roll was new. For this relatively conservative archtop-guitar maker, the Duo Jet was a revolutionary guitar when it was launched in mid-1953. A riposte to Gibson’s Les Paul, the single-cut Duo Jet was originally shipped with DeArmond single-coil pickups, though Filter’Tron and, later, Super’Tron humbuckers followed in ’58 and ’68 respectively. The distinctive Melita bridge was fitted to the model from the start, but was phased out in favour of a knurled roller bridge in ’58. Meanwhile, the ‘T-Roof’ logo seen on the headstock of this gorgeous example was introduced across all Gretsch models in 1954, the year before this particular model’s manufacture.

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Darrel Higham

Words

David Mead Photography

Simon Lees

Rock ’n’ Roll All Night As part of our celebration of all things rock ’n’ roll, we invited rockabilly guitarist Darrel Higham to choose his personal top 10 most influential records…

t’s been a turbulent year for Darrel Higham. After the split with his wife, Imelda May, he decided to leave her band and focus on his solo career. “I’ve decided to go back to what I was doing before,” he tells us, “which was singing and writing my own songs and performing with a three-piece band, which I did for many years prior to Imelda’s career.” The return to his roots involves a new recording project with a new band. The album is going to be called Hell’s Hotel and is liberally scattered with guest artists. “Jools Holland is playing on three songs and Robert Plant is singing a song on the album,” he enthuses. “Imelda’s very kindly done some backing vocals for me, and Snowboy, a legendary jazz-funk percussionist, is playing on four or five songs as well.” The new band comprises David Konig on double bass and bass guitar and Russ Chadd on drums, and the three-piece is expected to hit the road for some UK dates this autumn. “I’m still doing gigs with my old rockabilly band, The Enforcers,” he says.

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“So I’ve gone back to doing that in the interim period, because there was a lot of interest in us coming back and playing on the club scene.” So, 2016 sounds like it’s going to be a pretty full year for the rockabilly guitarist, but meanwhile, we wondered if there had been any changes with Darrel on the gear front? “I’ve been using the same Peavey Delta Blues amp for the last 15 years,” he says. “It’s been such a great workhorse, you know. I initially bought it for studio work because I thought, being a small amp, it would do the job. But it’s the best live amp I’ve ever used, really. It’s got an incredibly fat sound for its size – it’s got a big 15-inch speaker in there.” Is there any reason why he chose the 15-inch version of the Delta Blues as opposed to the 2x10 version? “Because my guitars always have DeArmond and P-90 pickups, I find that the 15-inch speaker kind of brings the life out of them a bit more – especially the DeArmond, which can be quite a toppy pickup.” That’s the amp side

of the gear equation sorted out and, turning the conversation to guitars, we can’t help noticing the rather splendid Gretsch 6120 that Darrel has brought with him to the Guitarist studios. “It’s a Custom Shop 6120,” he smiles. “I’d always wanted one of them. To me, it’s the perfect balance of old and new, because they were built exactly how they were built back in the day – but they’re brand new. So you don’t have an awful lot of the issues that you have with a guitar that’s 60 years old. It’s just the most beautiful guitar in the world, I love using it.” Onto effects and we suspect a little slapback echo might be in order… “I’ve got one of those Danelectro Reel Echoes that I really like,” he agrees, “but I mainly stick with a Zoom G2. It kind of does everything I need it to do. It’s got patches in it, but I only use two or three at any time during the course of a gig, so it’s a very easy pedal to use.” It’s time to turn our attention to the main focus of our interview. There’s a stack of vinyl under Darrel’s arm and he’s positively busting to share his top 10 with us…

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Darrel Higham

Bill Haley

Elvis Presley

Chuck Berry

Rock The Joint (1952)

Baby Let’s Play House (1955)

You Can’t Catch Me (1956)

“Bill Haley doesn’t get the credit he deserves, but back in the day, his music was incredibly exciting. He was signed to Essex Records in the early 50s and he had some regional hits with tracks like Crazy Man, Crazy and Rock The Joint – you can tell just by the titles that they were rock ’n’ roll records – and we’re talking ’51/’52. “I’ve chosen Rock The Joint because the guitar solo is exactly the same as the one used in Rock Around The Clock a couple of years later. Haley used Danny Cedrone on guitar and this solo was so groundbreaking that it was considered a ‘lucky’ solo. I think Bill Haley was a very superstitious man and this song did such a great deal to advance his career that when he came to record Rock Around The Clock, I think they thought, ‘Well, let’s throw in that lucky solo again…’ So Danny Cedrone played it exactly the same as he did on Rock The Joint. It’s an iconic solo, absolutely iconic.”

“I’ve chosen one from Elvis’s Sun recording days. Scotty Moore was such an incredibly influential guitar player and Baby Let’s Play House was the second or third single on Sun. It would be very easy to choose That’s Alright, Mama because that really is the first rockabilly record, there’s no two ways about it. There wasn’t anything before that which even came close, and Elvis takes a blues song and plays it in a totally different way with just the upright bass of Bill Black and Scotty Moore playing a kind of hybrid-picking style. Kind of a mixture between Chet Atkins and Les Paul. “Baby Let’s Play House is another blues song, originally recorded by Arthur Gunter, and they do exactly the same thing with it. They strip it down to bare bones and play it with nothing but feel and passion. It’s a marvellous record and the guitar solos are the blueprint of rockabilly – because he’s just hitting the guitar, playing with real feel, especially the second solo.”

“I’ve got to have a Chuck Berry track in there because so many guitar players cite him as an influence, and so I would go for You Can’t Catch Me, because I think it’s a great song and you can hear there’s quite a bit of rockabilly influence in there. Chuck Berry was a big fan of country music – Maybellene is a rewrite of an old country song called Ida Red – and I think he felt that if he mixed country with blues, he would attract both audiences. And that’s exactly really what rock ’n’ roll is: it’s a mixture of country and blues. It’s not just blues on its own, it’s not just country on its own, it has to be the two of them or else it doesn’t work. Blues had its own upbeat music with rhythm and blues, and country had Western swing and hillbilly boogie. So the two musics were kind of going off on a tangent, but very similar to one another.”

Tennessee Ernie Ford

Johnny Burnette & The Rock ’N Roll Trio

Carl Perkins

Blackberry Boogie (1952) “I’m a huge fan of Tennessee Ernie Ford. I think that on a lot of his early countryboogie records he was making in the late-40s and early 50s, he was a big influence on rock ’n’ roll and its origins. He used great musicians – Speedy West on steel and Jimmy Bryant on guitar, and Jimmy Bryant was just unbelievable, a real genius on the guitar. Back in the 50s, he was one of the top session guys and his solos were just absolutely mind-blowing; the instrumental LPs that he made with Speedy West are the stuff of legend. So I think it would be nice to choose a Tennessee Ernie Ford track, but it’s difficult to choose which one because the solos in them all are just fabulous, but I’ll go for Blackberry Boogie because it’s a great song and, again, you can hear the origins of rock ’n’ roll there.”

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Sweet Love On My Mind (1956) “Sweet Love On My Mind is actually sung by Dorsey Burnette, who was Johnny’s brother. There’s been controversy for years as to whether it’s Paul Burlison or Grady Martin on guitar for the Nashville recordings, but my personal feeling is that it’s Grady Martin. You only have to listen to Grady’s instrumental track When My Dreamboat Comes Home – it’s exactly like listening to Sweet Love On My Mind. It’s exactly the same player, there’s no two ways about it. “So I think it’s very important that Grady Martin gets the recognition he deserves for playing guitar on some of the greatest rockabilly recordings that were ever made. And the same with Paul Burlison for his contributions; the two players are equal in my mind, but Grady Martin is right up there with Cliff Gallup and Eddie Cochran – all the greats that we recognise for their playing in this genre of music.”

Blue Suede Shoes (1956) “I want to choose Blue Suede Shoes because it was one of the only bona-fide rockabilly records that ever got in the Top 10 in America. The reason why I think this is so important is because Carl Perkins was another one of those artists who was hugely influential. He had a lot of credibility, because he wrote his own songs and he played lead guitar on them. He was a big influence on Eddie Cochran and a lot of the artists that came out in the mid-50s onwards. “Blue Suede Shoes was a huge hit and the reason why I’ve chosen it is because of the playing on there. Carl Perkins was a really good player, but, of course, he was singing and playing lead guitar at the same time and when you listen to the outtakes, he didn’t really deviate too much on his solos. He always stayed in the ballpark of where it was going to end up. A very, very clever player and another who was obviously influenced by Chet Atkins, Merle Travis and Les Paul.”

“I’ve always had the feeling that rockabilly played with passion should frighten little children”

Gene Vincent & The Blue Caps B-I-Bickey-Bi-Bo-Bo-Go (1957) “The guitar player on the first 35 Gene Vincent recordings was Cliff Gallup, and he’s influenced so many different players. The obvious one is Jeff Beck; there are moments where Jeff goes into Cliff Gallup territory, which I think is marvellous to hear. Cliff Gallup was a very fluid player, a very meticulous player and I get the impression his solos were worked out beforehand, although there’s no outtakes of any of those recordings back then. “B-I-Bickey-Bi… is the song where Cliff does two or three solos and they’re all absolutely electric. I think it’s one of the most exciting records I’ve ever heard. I first heard Gene Vincent just as punk was starting to become a bit of a chart force and I thought, ‘This doesn’t scare me – Gene Vincent scares me!’ I’ve always had the feeling that rockabilly played with passion should frighten little children [laughs].”

Darrel Higham

“There are more guitar players out there today that wanna sound like Brian Setzer than they do Cliff Gallup or Eddie Cochran”

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Eddie Cochran

The Stray Cats

Restless

Am I Blue? (1957)

Drink That Bottle Down (1981)

Edge On You (1983)

“Whenever there’s a list of the 100 most influential rock ’n’ roll guitar players, Eddie Cochran is usually in there, you know? They choose him because of his rhythm playing on songs like Summertime Blues and C’mon, Everybody where he’s just really strumming an acoustic guitar. But he was an exceptional guitar player and that often gets overlooked. He understood that the tune and the melody were more important than blinding guitar solos, but he was still very capable of playing blinding guitar solos as and when he wanted to! “He was also a top session player in Los Angeles throughout the 50s, he played on countless sessions. There’s any number of rockabilly records I could choose that are probably better technically from a guitar player’s point of view, but I wanna choose Am I Blue? because it’s an old jazz standard but he rocks it up and he does two solos in there that are just fabulous.”

“I want to choose a couple of modern ones… Brian Setzer was a revelation because of his irreverence. He would just play whatever he wanted. He would cover an old rock ’n’ roll song, or a rockabilly song, but he would just play whatever he wanted and this was at a time when guitar players on the rock ’n’ roll scene were judged by how authentic they were. I never saw the point to that, really. I always thought that the spark in rock ’n’ roll is its imagination – just winging it and playing whatever you felt was right and, finally, there was a guitar player who did that. “Whenever you hear a Brian Setzer record, you know it’s him playing the guitar. It’s such a recognisable style. Even today, there’s an internet radio station I listen to quite a lot called Rockabilly Radio and there’s more guitar players out there today that wanna sound like Brian Setzer than they do Cliff Gallup or Eddie Cochran. It’s just a fact. He’s that influential.”

“The last one is another band that are still playing today, called Restless. Again, a very similar setup to The Stray Cats: the singer plays lead guitar and sings, with a double bass player and a drummer. But this guitar player’s called Mark Harman, he plays lefthanded and he’s a Telecaster player. Completely different animal to Brian Setzer, but still a very, very influential guy, and they were a band that never had the success that they deserved but wrote really, really edgy songs. Very contemporary songs for the day, with a very exciting rockabilly feel to them. Edge On You came out as a single on Nervous Records in the early 80s, but Mark was a player who really does deserve a tremendous amount more credit and recognition than he’s had.”

Fifties Pin-up 1956 &1958 Fender Telecasters Photography Joseph Branston

Sharp yet sweet, the voice of the Telecaster gave rock ’n’ roll its bite and snap in the hands of guitarists such as James Burton, who joined Ricky Nelson’s band and played one of the finest solos of all time on Nelson’s Susie Q in 1957, later going on to be a pillar of Elvis’s Taking Care Of Business band from 1969. This duo of beautiful blonde Teles dates from around the time of Burton’s tenure with Nelson, which was also a golden period for Leo Fender’s firstborn. The whiteplastic pickguard fitted to both guitars was introduced in late ’54, while staggered-height polepieces on the bridge pickup came in shortly afterwards, along with the distinctive ‘top hat’ pickup-selector switch, which both these beauties sport. The Fender ‘Spaghetti’ logo was moved, to sit more visibly above the butterfly-style string guide, from mid-’56 – a change in position that clearly distinguishes these otherwise very similar siblings, while steel saddles followed for Teles that were made from late ’58.

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ABOUT YOUR TUTOR Denny Ilett started young. The son of a renowned trumpet soloist, Denny began arranging horns at just 14. Shortly after, he discovered the guitar and began a lifelong love affair. He tours with New Orleans ambassador of music, Lillian Boutté, teaches at IGF events, and is artistic director of Bristol Jazz & Blues Festival

Legendary Licks For rootsier and more eclectic blues and rock soloing, get these golden-era licks by three pioneers of rock ’n’ roll under your fingers…

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ock ’n’ roll made such a huge impact because it blended together elements of three classic American guitar traditions: blues, country and jazz. All the greats of rock ’n’ roll guitar took their cues from all three genres and that’s why their playing sounds so memorably melodic and harmonically rich. Here, we’ve picked out some essential moves you’ll need

to emulate three epochal players of the rock ’n’ roll revolution: Chuck Berry, the movement’s godfather; Elvis’s twang-meister Scotty Moore; and Cliff Gallup, whose brief but sizzling career as Gene Vincent’s guitarist influenced everyone from Beck to Page. You’ll be surprised how many ways you can weave these into your blues and rock playing to add a touch of vintage virtuosity…

Chuck Berry Example 1 LET’S START with those signature doublestop licks. This example is designed to be played over an A or A7 chord and has that major/minor ambiguity that we associate with blues. There’s a mixture of Dorian (A B C D E F# G) and Mixolydian (A B C# D E F# G) notes, but most importantly the ‘target’ notes are all from the underlying A chord.

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Legendary Licks

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Example 2 THERE’S MORE major/minor ambiguity in this single-note line. This time, we’re in the key of B b, but once again mixing Dorian (Bb C Db Eb F G Ab) and Mixolydian (Bb C D Eb F G Ab). Combine this approach with the doublestops and you have that classic Johnny B. Goode sound!

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Scotty Moore Example 1 THIS IS the classic rockabilly riff. It’s based around an open E chord, but with that hint of A as well. Use your thumb or pick to play the notes on the sixth and fourth strings, with your second (m) and third (a) fingers plucking the high notes.

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Example 2 HERE’S MORE of a flashy run in C major. Again, there’s that bluesy use of hybrid scales. The first section is largely C major pentatonic (C D E G A), moving to a mixture of C blues scale (C Eb F Gb G Bb) and C Dorian (C D Eb F G A B b).

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Legendary Licks

Cliff Gallup Example 1 THERE’S A similar theme here, with the octaves picking out a descending line among the notes of the first four chords. We then switch to C major pentatonic (C D E G A).

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Example 2 OVER A static E7 chord, this example also uses the Mixolydian mode (E F# G# A B C# D) but with lots of chromatic passing notes. You can really hear Cliff’s country influence in these kind of lines, especially with his crystal-clear pick attack.

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LIKE THESE LICKS? If you want to master the playing styles of many more giants of 20th-century guitar – from Charlie Christian to Les Paul and also the players featured here – you can learn how in one handy 146-pagevolumefrom Guitarist,entitled Aces: Discovering Guitar’s First Heroes. With stunning photography of the greats in action, it deserves a place on any guitarist’s bookshelf. To order, or for more details, visit the following URL: http://bit.ly/1ZM9Mno

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Fifties Pin-up 1953 Gibson J-200 Photography Joseph Branston

It was not only electrics that defined the sound of rock ’n’ roll. Gibson’s Super Jumbo 200, more commonly known simply as the J-200, is the archetypal big-voiced American acoustic guitar – and everyone from Elvis to Eddie Cochran played one. It wasn’t merely super in name: with an unmistakable hourglass-shaped body fully 16 7/8-inches wide, it’s a whole lot of guitar, with abundant bass and volume but also sweet, harmonious treble. Devised in 1937, the design first arrived in the hands of Gibson customers in 1938 and the ebony ‘mustache’ bridge with elegant cutouts and pearl inlays form part of the guitar’s unmistakable aura of grandeur. The model has undergone many revisions between the 30s and the present day and one or two indignities, too – including the dubious decision to embed a tune-o-matic bridge within the ‘mustache’ in 1961. This more classic example dates from 1953 and has the figured maple back and sides normally associated with Gibson’s big-hearted jumbo, but around this period a few J-200s were also made with mahogany back and sides.

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Chris Corcoran

Words

Jamie Dickson Photography

Adam Gasson

Chris Corcoran Raw, bluesy yet formidably inventive, Kent guitarist Chris Corcoran plays a junkshop 50s archtop through a cranked tweed amp that sounds like it’s about to catch fire at any moment – and sounds glorious. Right now, he’s keeping the spirit of T-Bone and Scotty Moore alive on the British rock ’n’ roll scene – or should that be blues? Or jazz? We caught up with Chris to find out why he hates to be fenced in and learn a few of his ‘secret weapon’ licks...

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ometimes you put a record on, not knowing quite what to expect, and what leaps out of the speakers holds you spellbound from the first note to the last. So it was at Guitarist when we played the aptly named Listen Up! by British guitarist Chris Corcoran and his trio for the first time. Imagine T-Bone Walker meets Scotty Moore, with a bit of Barney Kessel thrown in, and you’ll have an idea where Corcoran’s sound comes from – he uses no effects, his guitar cost £80 from a junk shop and you may well not have heard of him before. And yet the album is one of the most exciting, raw and inventive jazzblues records you’ll hear all year. What’s more, it’s all instrumental. Most guitarists have some breathing space when the singer gets started, but not Corcoran, who lassos the listener with heavyweight flatwound strings and keeps them gripped with spirited melodic invention. Take the track High Roller: it kicks off with a supercharged Latin-jazz riff that belches flames from the exhaust pipes before scorching off towards the horizon, as Corcoran lets rip with peal after peal of top-drawer licks. Listening for the first time, you think, ‘He’s got to run out of steam soon’ – but

he doesn’t, fishtailing from turnaround to turnaround without leaving the road once, or tiring the listener’s ear. We invited Chris down to Guitarist towers to find out why heavy strings, an open mind and listening to a lot of great records are the key to taking your blues and rock ’n’ roll guitar playing to the next level, plus we tug on Chris’s coat to learn some of his best licks… You can hear the influence of so many greats, from Scotty Moore to Kenny Burrell, in your playing. What got you into the guitar playing of that era?

“Funnily enough, I got into rock ’n’ roll when Eddie Cochran’s C’mon Everybody came out on a jeans advert or something, and that was the first time I’d heard something other than what was out and about at that time. And it just kind of struck me as being so different that I investigated that genre for a few years. And it was really funny, because I had guitar lessons when I was at school and the guy would have this standard stuff prepared, like Amazing Grace and Beatles tunes and stuff, and I’d take him the Elvis Sun Sessions and go, ‘I wanna learn what Scotty Moore’s playing!’ So he

was like ‘Oh, God…’ and he’d be there the whole lesson transcribing this solo for me, then I’d take it away. And we did that with everything from Chuck Berry to all these obscure Eddie Cochran things and it was great, because I think I probably wouldn’t have made headway with it if I wasn’t doing something I really wanted to do. I wanted to go home and I wanted to play it straight away, you know. “From there, I kind of got into blues stuff, initially through Stevie Ray Vaughan and then Jimmie Vaughan, The Fabulous Thunderbirds – that kind of thing… I still love Jimmie Vaughan, but the Stevie Ray Vaughan thing has been quite interesting for me, because he was great at crediting his influences – and so I went back and checked out people like BB King, Otis Rush… all the big blues guys that he was into, and Kenny Burrell as well. And so, through Stevie Ray Vaughan, I got my first jazz album, which was Midnight Blue, and then from there, it was like, ‘That’s just amazing. So what else is there?’ From there, you get Grant Green, you get Barney Kessel and so on. I was getting into Manuel Galbán, too, the Cuban player – I liked a lot of his kind of stuff. I could hear some obvious kind of things that

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· “One thing I never got was people who go out and just play blues or just play rock ’n’ roll or just play jazz. I still don’t really get those genre boundaries” ·

Chris uses a mix of flatwound strings, from gauge 0.015 to 0.065, and tunes to E b

made sense to me from that sort of playing, too. Through all that, you get into bebop stuff as well, which was really exciting for me. So, yeah, lots of different things. I’ve just developed from there, really. “But one thing I never got was people who go out and just play blues or just play rock ’n’ roll or just play jazz. I still don’t really get those genre boundaries. It makes it tough getting gigs sometimes, because people want, say, a rock ’n’ roll band or a blues band or they want a jazz band – they don’t really want people that do all things. But I thought

that was really important. Because I don’t sing, my trio is all instrumental-based, so being quite varied in style has been really useful for us – we can get through three hours of music without too much repetition of things. Because we play lots of different things, you know?” Your soloing has a really seamless blend of gritty blues and sophisticated jazz in it. How did you acquire those chops?

“I learned a lot from ear and once I left school I didn’t have any lessons. I’ve just picked up what I wanted to pick up from records – there’s been a huge Blues Explosion amount of backtracking to fill in those kind of gaps. I do workshops, Chris Corcoran on who he rates among the current as well, for people who aces of the British blues guitar scene want to play that kind of stuff, and having to “I set up a little show that we do called Blues Guitar prepare for those is really Summit show, and I play with a guy called Paul Garner interesting – it’s really and a guy called Mal Barclay. Basically, I realised good to shore up any gaps that there’s a load of great players out there, but in your knowledge. I’ve I never get to see them because if I’m working, or moved into the jazz thing they’re working, you never get to have a chat with because I really enjoyed them unless you were passing on the way to a gig it when The Fabulous or something. So we put this show together with Thunderbirds used to us playing three guitars, plus bass and drums, you do those big harmonica, know. And that works really well, because they’re swing-instrumental great, great players and so we get to have a bit of fun. things – and they’re the Those two guys are two of the top players out there things that I most enjoy – and there’s a couple of others [on the British live playing, because they feel circuit] that when you hear them, you always think really, really lively. how impressive they are. One is a guy called Lewis “From there, you Fielding; he’s a really authentic player with a great can get the West Coast Chicago sound. And then there’s a guy down in the guitar players like Plymouth area called Vince Lee and he’s absolutely Junior Watson, Rick got everything down – he’s a really clever guy.”

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Holmstrom, those kind of guys – they were what I was into as well. When I’m hearing a kind of shuffle or a swing thing and then someone plays something a bit quirky – that’s what my ears picked up on more than anything else, really. That then led me through into those things, generally: passing chords or suggested chords with a lead line. “I was consciously trying to have a different voice, I suppose, but once I’d left school I was a bit too lazy to learn a complete solo note-for-note, so I’d pick out the bit I wanted and then it was glued in with something else that came through. That’s been good for me in terms of turning improvising into phrases, and then you can pick up on things and they come naturally then from that. Because I’ve never got a 24-bar solo that I’ve nicked from somewhere… and I’m going to put this in there… you know? I’ve never really been any good at that – because I guess it would feel kind of false and I’m worried that I’m not playing all the right notes and all that, so when I’ve made up my own thing, it’s much easier to remember it.” One of the most striking things about Listen Up! is how great your tone is on a really beaten-up old archtop! Where did you get it and how do you set it up for gigs?

“It’s a Framus – the stamp on the top says Broadway, but I think it was a Framus model and that Broadway was the British import label, from either the mid-50s or early 60s. I got hold of it as an acoustic guitar – it was £80 in a shop window. And I thought, ‘I’ll go and have a look at that, see what it’s like.’ The P-90 I put on it was

Chris Corcoran

Framus guitars and basses have found their way into the hands of players like Bill Wyman and John Lennon

Chris reckons his blonde Framus hails from the 1950s – and the P-90 pickup he installed cost more than the guitar!

· “I’m one of those players who doesn’t really experiment too much in terms of guitar amps and tones and all that – it’s more about the effect I get through playing it acoustically” ·

more expensive than the guitar! It was all a bit of an experiment, but it just seems to work. I don’t know if it’s because the wood’s quite old, or the pickup’s particularly tasty, it just seems to have a real kind of grit to it. I use really heavy strings as well – I use flatwounds, but I buy different sets and combine them, so I’ve got 0.015 to 0.065 on. It’s tuned down to Eb to save the neck a little, but that sort of stuff helps as well, you know? When you’re digging in on the D string and effectively playing what would normally be an A string, you get that extra kind of grit. But the tone is really cool and, for the album, a mate of mine lent me a GA-50 from the 40s, a great old Gibson amp. “A lot of those tunes on the album are played just through that with no effects or mucking around. We spiced it up a little in the mix but pretty much that was it: it was just the room sound, plus the Gibson amp and the guitar. It’s a bit feisty and I quite like that. My favourite players are those early 50s, late 40s jazz guys, who – because all the kit they had was those amps – just had this kind of grit to their sound. It wasn’t clean… Barney Kessel stuff from the 40s had that kind of sound and Mary Osborne had that sound as well. It’s got attitude, which is great. “A lot of the time I don’t really practise through an amp. I’ve got a sound that I’m used to, but most of the practice I do is at home with just the acoustic sound, and

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so I’m one of those players who doesn’t really experiment too much in terms of guitar amps and tones and all that. It’s more about the effect I get through playing it acoustically, and then once you’ve got that nailed, what comes out of the amp is just awesome, you know what I mean? That’s where the work needs to be done.” Would you say the fact that heavy strings discourage bends forced you to be more inventive in terms of pure melody?

“Yeah, you’re absolutely right. When I first went on to those really heavy strings, there were two things that really got me. The first was tuning down to Eb – I mean you’ve got to really be up to speed on that when you’re playing a gig, because it’s so easy to drop into the wrong key, because everything is a semitone out. And then when you’re playing these lines all over the fretboard, it really does your head in, so that took a bit of time to get used to. I didn’t have much bending in my playing for a while – quite a few years – while I was getting through it. And then, all of a sudden, I wanted to play a bit like Albert King again; I wanted to do those Otis Rush things and BB King bends. You have to take a run-up with it to get the bend through! There’s no point doing it if you don’t hit it. So yeah, it’s quite a physical thing, but I think that’s good, because you feel it properly before any sound comes out of the amp.”

Your trio is very tight – but without vocals to fill out the sound, how do you avoid repetition or self-indulgence?

“Because I don’t sing, we focus much more on the dynamics of what we’re doing – they become much more important. So because we didn’t focus on that, we focused on doing that break there or building the tune here, or playing that phrase together. Plus, my trio is fantastic and if we ever have to get dep players in, you’ve got your list of people that you want to use, but you always want the top guys because they can handle what’s required of them – and Dave [Lagnado, double bass] and Peter [Greatorex, drums] are so great at that kind of stuff. I’m never thinking as we’re playing a gig, ‘Oh, what are they going to do now?’ There are no weak moments with them. “I’ve been so lucky in the last 15 or 20 years; I’ve been playing with such great players that I never have to worry. When you’re starting out in a band, you hear horror stories of the kind of musicians that turn up sometimes – we’ve all been them as well, I’m sure. Luckily, I’ve got some really great players now. It really works for every facet of what we do, which is cool.”

Listen Up! by the Chris Corcoran Trio is out now on Shack Records. Head to his site for sample tracks www.chriscorcoranmusic.com

Chris Corcoran

Jump To It Learn this bevy of so-classy vintage licks to inject swing and sophistication into your blues soloing… Words Adrian Clark

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In these examples, Chris shows how he builds licks around a framework of notes from underlying chords. This is a crucial skill for swing and many types of jazz and blues. Note that Chris normally tunes down a semitone, so on our videos, he’s using a capo at the 1st fret to raise his open strings to standard tuning.

hris Corcoran plays a range of blues, jazz and swing styles with his own instrumental trio and other artists. His major influences are from the 1940s, but he adds a fresh angle, blending elements as diverse as 60s organ-trio jazz and gritty New Orleans funk.

Example 1 CHRIS STARTS with two short licks that’ll work in a C dominant (C7, C9), blues or Mixolydian situation. As he mentions on the video, he’s visualising a framework of notes around the 3rd position C9 and C6 shapes. Note how he connects the chord notes with chromatic passing notes.

©»¡§º

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Example 2 MANY OF these notes are from the Mixolydian scale (C D E F G A Bb), which also contains the C9 and C6 chords. Remember, though, swing and swing-era jazz are all about the chord progressions, and solos are generally built around the chord notes. C7

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Example 3 NOW CHRIS shows how to use imitation and variation to build a cool sequence over a full 12-bar blues progression in G. The first and second lines are identical, with the contrast provided by the underlying C7 chord, and the third line fits the jazzier Am7-D7-G7 turnaround. Note how each phrase starts with a chord note.

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©»¡¶¶ #

Chris Corcoran

http://bit.ly/guitaristextra

VIDEO & AUDIO

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Example 4 ANOTHER LINE in G, and this one builds on a similar concept to Ex 1 and Ex 2. The first bar outlines most of a G9 arpeggio, giving a standard dominant sound, but then bar 2 is a partial G6 with the typically ‘sweeter’ sound of that chord.

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Example 5 CHRIS DOES something similar here, but in the key of B b major. Bar 1 works around a Bb9 arpeggio, but the G note in bar 2 takes us into B b 6 or B b13 territory.

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Unchained Melody

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review

While Gretsch added its ultra-affordable Streamliner range at the tail end of 2015, its second assault for this year comes in the form of a re-jigged Professional Series for both vintage buffs and serious gigging players. Which are you? Words Dave Burrluck

Photography Neil Godwin & Joseph Branston

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GRETSCH PLAYERS EDITION & REISSUE EDITION GUITARS £1,899 – £3,199 CONTACT

Fender GBI PHONE 01342 331700 WEB www.gretschguitars.com

What You Need To Know

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More Gretsch guitars? What’s different here? Indeed. For this year, Gretsch has split its Professional Series into two distinct strands: ‘Reissue Edition’ and ‘Players Edition’. The former are classics with a few concessions to the modern player; the latter are less vintage-specific, with numerous gigging-aimed upgrades. I don’t play rockabilly: what’s the interest? Many a player has used a Gretsch outside of its original style, and the Players Edition models are designed to ‘rock out’ with thinner bodies, pretty firm ‘ML’ bracing and, not least, ‘string-thru’ Bigsbys with locking tuners: a Gretsch without the hassle! They’re a bit pricey… The Professional Series are the top-line Japanese-made models, but Gretsch also has its mid-price Electromatic range and the new-for2016 Streamliner mini ranges, which all retail under £400.

GUITARIST MAY 2016

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eing a heritage brand in 2016 can’t be simple. If Fender strays too far from its classics, we’re not happy. Likewise, Gibson – or virtually any other brand that had a part to play back in the formative years of rock ’n’ roll. Gretsch is certainly restrained by its past, even though its classic hollowbodies have been used in every mainstream musical genre from the 60s to the present day. So, what to do? Well, keep that oh-so-classic aesthetic in place, but make changes under the hood to keep the modern player in mind. In a nutshell, that duality is Gretsch in 2016. If you want a pro-level ‘reissue’, we now have the Reissue models and if you want the look, but need something that’s more giggable and usable for virtually any contemporary style, we have the Players Edition. Broadly speaking, the 10-strong reissue models stick to the various specs of yesteryear, with subtle concessions to the modern player: we get TV Jones pickups, aged binding and inlays, pinned bridges (where applicable), bone nuts, ‘Squeezebox’ paper-in-oil capacitors with a treble-bleed circuit (on the master volume only), and vintage thick pickguards. Price-wise, the range starts with the Anniversary at £1,999, moves through the Tennessee Rose (£2,099), a pair of Chet Atkins 6120s (£2,599), a trio of Country Gentlemen, including a 12-string (£2,399 to £2,699), a lone Country Club (£2,549), and pair of White Falcons (both £3,199). The Players Edition models feature ‘ML’ bracing, pinned Rocking Bar bridges, ‘string-thru’ Bigsbys, strap locks, locking tuners and Tusq XL nuts, those Squeezebox

caps, a treble-bleed circuit, No-Load tone pots and thinner 2.25-inch body. These models start lower, with two colour choices of the Anniversary and a Tennessee Rose at £1,899, one 6120 at £2,199 (left-handed at £2,379) and a flame-maple version at £2,399. The lone Country Gentleman is £2,249, while the White and Black Falcons are £2,799 – the lefty White Falcon topping the range at £2,899. So, with a pair from each edition to feast on, let’s get stuck in…

G6120T-55GE Reissue Edition Chet Atkins Irrespective of its history, this nitrofinished beauty is superbly built. It’s not aged in any way, and has none of the construction quirks and blips that you’ll find on an original piece. As with all our models, it’s entirely built from laminated maple, the top’s facing slightly flamed, and there are even a few marks in the wood: one by the lower tip of the treble-side wide f-hole looks like an arrow – very in keeping with the control knob motifs and Western cattle-and-cactus inlays and headstock logo. The cream binding around the body, ’board and head is all remarkably clean and matches those aged block inlays to a T. The neck is two-piece maple, with a central thin contrasting veneer and additional headstock wings, and the see-through lightorange finish leaves nowhere to hide tooling marks and the like, though we can’t see any. It’s perhaps a little heavier than some early examples we’ve played, although, like many instruments of this period, variation seems much wider than today’s more consistent builds.

VIDEO DEMO

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1 & 3. Chet Atkins never liked the cattle and cactus inlays of his original signature guitar. They had both been removed by the late 50s

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2. The DeArmond-made DynaSonic single coils were replaced in 1958 with humbucking Filter’Trons. Guild started fitting them to its electric hollowbodies soon afterwards 4. One of the many subtle concessions to the modern age, this Bigsby bridge would have originally been intonated for a wound third string 5. Gretsch loved its cartoon sketches. This Falcon graces the thick plastic pickguard, back-sprayed with gold paint 6. With its proprietary knurled metal knobs and strap buttons, original Gretsch guitars had plenty of unique features. Yamaha recently, er, borrowed the design for its Revstar guitars

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Hardware is gleamingly gold-plated, with the exception of the compensated aluminium bridge on its pinned base. Pickups are TV Jones’s T-Armonds, faithful recreations of the original DeArmond single coils that pre-dated the Filter’Tron, while the ‘Tone-Pot’ circuit controls offer probably the most common Gretsch setup, certainly of contemporary times: a three-way toggle pickup selector, individual pickup volumes, a master tone and a master volume on the single horn.

G6136T-59GE Reissue 1959 Falcon One of the showiest electric guitars ever conceived, even today, the White Falcon – although the nitro finish is slightly nicotinestained – is not for the shy, retiring player. With its slightly larger body (430mm wide as opposed to the 400mm of our other three models), it also has a longer scale length and uses the quite robust Trestle-style bracing, no doubt contributing to its heavierthan-the-6120 weight. Numerous new features were introduced by Gretsch in 1958, not least the Filter’Tron humbuckers, here replicated with TV Jones’s Classics. We also get the NeoClassic fingerboard (ebony, not rosewood) and those ultra-classy Neo-Classic half moon (aka ‘thumbnail’) inlays. Again, the binding is remarkably clean, and made from a gold metal-flake plastic, like the bigger logo on the elongated and huge headstock. Gold-plating is everywhere on this model, and we have the Space Control bridge with knurled wheel saddles and V cut-out ‘Cadillac’ Bigsby. The electronics differ, too, with the ‘Tone Switch’ circuit that replaces the master tone control – with a three-waytoggle master tone switch placed below the pickup selector on the upper shoulder, plus two individual volume controls by the Bigsby and the single master volume on

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the rounded horn. Control knobs are the later ‘arrow-through-G’ types, with added mother-of-pearl centre-dot and red-crystal position markers. The epitome of bling.

G6118T Players Edition Anniversary After the Falcon, our first Players Edition model looks way less showy, but far from dowdy, in this new two-tone ivory top with metallic charcoal-coloured sides, back and neck-back polyurethane finish. Vintage buffs might get sniffy about that finish, but it’s far from over-thick, and, like every other detail of these guitars, perfect in execution. Its more ‘workingman’ vibe is enhanced by the chrome and nickel hardware and, here, we have the rocking-bar bridge – intonated for standard 0.011s, as the guitars are shipped with, on its pinned wooden foot. Locking tuners and a slippery Tusq XL nut help to keep tuning stable, while the string-anchor bar of the Bigsby, instead of featuring the usual pins onto which you hook the strings’ ball-ends, is actually drilled through, so you simply thread the string through the bar and pull them into those rear-lock tuners. It’s taken the Gretsch-owned Bigsby company a while, but, finally, here’s a Bigsby that isn’t a total pain to restring. We return to the ‘Tone-Pot’ circuit and have Gretsch’s own Alnico-loaded High Sensitive Filter’Trons. The thumbnail inlays are retained, but the unbound fingerboard is rosewood, not ebony, and Schaller strap-lock buttons are fitted as standard – the locking elements for your strap are supplied, too.

G6119T Players Edition Tennessee Rose Perhaps the most generic of our foursome, the Tennessee Rose is a dead ringer for the Anniversary, with the exception of the more conventional Deep Cherry

One of the showiest electric guitars ever, even today, the White Falcon – although the nitro finish is slightly nicotine-stained – is not for the shy, retiring player

VIDEO DEMO

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GRETSCH PLAYERS EDITION & REISSUE EDITION GUITARS

7. The so-called Space Control bridge was designed by Jimmie Webster and was simpler than the previous Melita Synchro-Sonic bridge, although it doesn’t offer individual intonation, just variable string spacing

review

What’s Inside? You thought your Gretsch was all hollow, right? Wrong. We investigate…

8. The classic halfmoon or ‘thumbnail’ inlays were part of Gretsch’s ‘NeoClassic’ fingerboard, which used bound ebony, as opposed to rosewood. Compare these with the inlays on the Anniversary and Tennessee Rose (picture 14)

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The term ‘hollowbody’ is one of those catch-all phrases used to describe a guitar’s construction, but outside of the ‘jazz-style’ hollowbodies, guitars created before that new rock ’n’ roll thing came along, most have some sort of internal bracing. Why? There are variety of reasons, sustain and feedback rejection being paramount. Like the flat-top steel-string, the hollowbody archtop was designed before pickups and amplification transformed the instrument from a mainly rhythm instrument to a lead voice. The large body, with its violin-inspired arched top and back, has – to generalise – quite a short sustain, with a mid-focus to the sound that helped it cut through ensemble settings. With the advent of pickups and amplifiers enabling the player to add these to his or her instrument, that sound was not only made louder, but the ‘jazz’ or ‘plectrum guitar’ became defined – as it still is today. As the 1950s progressed, plenty of brands – Gretsch included – were experimenting with internal bracing and support. This initially took the form of dual braces and a post running from front to back, to damp the top and back but at the same time add some sustain. Of course, when Gibson combined its solidbody with its archtop heritage and created the ES-335, you’d have thought most others would follow. Plenty did, but not Gretsch. Despite requests from its key artist, Chet Atkins, the company refused to make a thinline with a centre block. The so-called Trestle bracing appeared in the later 50s. This was a dual-bar system, which added mass and stiffness to the top, while two legs on each of the braces connected top to back close to the neck pickup and the bridge. That’s the style used on our reviewed White Falcon, and you can see these supports are quite sizeable. ‘ML’ bracing, as used on the Players Edition guitars, is named after Fender/Gretsch veteran Mike Lewis, and is a much later addition to the Gretsch canon. Basically, this takes the Trestle concept, but removes the neck-placed feet, leaving quite a rigid top support, plus the dual feet by the bridge, to connect top to back.

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Stain finish and clean white fingerboard binding that matches the body’s binding. The chrome/nickel hardware is mirrored by the silver back-sprayed pickguard. It’s a straightforward, modern player for the journeyman guitarist who doesn’t want to upstage the singer – never a good idea if you want to keep your gig! There are a lot of similarities with Fender’s Telecaster and the sound we hear from the 6120: a quite steely bridge, soft mellow neck and a percussive mix that, as soon as you drop into a basic Chet Atkinslike picking pattern, produces a rubbery thwack to the basses with a hollowed textured bite from the high strings – glorious and hugely evocative. While it’s true that Mr A might not have liked these DeArmonds, the entire sonic stew moves through the decades, just like a Tele – it ain’t just for country! That mix, for example, is a superb soul voice and the dynamic range of the

The Rivals Outside of Gretsch’s lower-spec Electromatic and Streamliner ranges, there are plenty of Bigsby-loaded semis and solidbodies designed with ‘twang’ in mind. Guild’s Newark Street range has the thinline hollowbody Starfire III (£799) and the full-bodied CE-100D Capri (£796) with pinned bridges, Bigsbys and Guild’s LB-1 ‘Little Bucker’ mini humbuckers. Godin’s Montreal Premiere P90 comes with or without Bigsby (£1,399 and £1,299), dual soapbar single coils and spruce ‘breathe-through’ centre block. D’Angelico’s stylish range includes the single-cut EX-175 (approx. £1,300) with dual Kent Armstrong ’buckers and Bigsby. From the solidbody side, even brands such as PRS offer the S2 Starla (£1,179) with Bigsby and dual Filter’Tron-like Starla ’buckers

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instrument… well, it’s why many of us are so drawn to hollowbodies and semis. The aesthetic might not be right, but you can easily cover your jazz deps with this, too, although the neck has a slightly soft-nosed attack on the upper strings and real highfret access isn’t that easy. But, in anyone’s book, it’s just a quality voice with a slightly short old-school sustain and that hollowbody snap. Aside from the mixpickup position, hum may be problematic on the solo pickups – they are single coils, after all. The bigger body of the White Falcon is noticeable seated, slightly less so strapped on, but it feels a little more solid and chunky. The perception of its sound is that

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Mr Atkins might not have liked these DeArmonds, but the entire sonic stew moves through the decades, just like a Tele – it ain’t just for country, after all!

VIDEO DEMO

http://bit.ly/guitaristextra

11 9. The Anniversary nameplate refers to the 1958 75th Anniversary of Gretsch – the company was founded in 1883 by Friedrich Gretsch

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10. A distinctly modern feature of the Player’s Edition guitars is these rear-locking tuners. Along with the lubricated nut and ‘string thru’ Bigsbys, they enable simpler re-stringing

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11. The brass Rocking Bar bridge was an early Gretsch design that the modern Gretsch company believes is the best choice for the vibrato performance 12. Gretsch and Bigsby go hand in hand: the company is now owned by Gretsch, who purchased it from Ted McCarty in 1999. McCarty had bought the company in 1966 after he left Gibson 13. While the Player’s Edition guitars feature these ‘arrowthrough-G’ logo’d knobs, they dispense with the similar style strap buttons in favour of modern Schaller strap locks 14. On an unbound fingerboard, like this Anniversary, those thumbnail inlays act as both side and face markers. Neat

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17 15. The famous G-brand body logo had already appeared on the Gretsch Round-Up in 1954, which also featured the ‘cattle and cactus’ theme. Yup, it was aimed at country players! 16. Designed by Ray Butts to primarily cure the hum from the DynaSonic single coil, the development of the Filter’Tron came at the same time as Seth Lover’s humbucking design for Gibson 17. Over the top? The White Falcon’s headstock is big, which reflects its larger body and longer scale length. Originally, it featured a vertical ‘winged’ Gretsch logo; this later spec has the classic Gretsch ‘T-roof’ logo and nameplate

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it’s slightly more forceful, a little higher in output, stronger and firmer, helped by the longer scale length. The tone switch is a very neat circuit that simply offers a slight high-end roll off when pushed up, and a darker, throatier sound when pushed down. On a big guitar like this, not least with the Bigsby in play, those standard controls seem quite a way away, so you can set your individual volumes then control everything from the top of the guitar: master volume (which seems to retain the highs as it’s reduced, while the individual volumes slightly soften the attack when reduced), pickup selection and tone control. The feedback threshold is raised, but it still remains, despite the firmer structure, essentially a hollowbody. The Anniversary and the Tennessee Rose, on paper, are the same guitar and plugging in the Anniversary after the Falcon takes us slightly further still from the 6120. With everything full up, we feel the need to add a little treble from our amp to create that stingin’ steely tone from the bridge, while both the mix and the neck sound a little clouded, a little thicker than the Falcon. Of the two, it might be splitting hairs a little, but the Tennessee Rose just sounded a little lighter, especially on the mix and

the neck pickup positions. Certainly, when we’ve tested the No-Load tone fully open on a Fender solidbody, we quite often back it off. Here, we kept it pretty much fully up. Gretsches for the more contemporaryminded player? Quite definitely.

Verdict Beautifully made and with some lovely period-correct details mixed with more modern concessions, there’s little we don’t like here. Choosing your fit, however, may be a more difficult decision. At £3.2k, the White Falcon is a serious investment, although its sturdier build and longer scale (not to mention those Filter’Trons) give it perhaps the most versatile sonic palette. Considerably lower in cost, our two Players Edition models are close cousins and either would be perfect for those for rockier, less ‘Gretsch-style’ outings – the new stringthru Bigsby alone will cure what most of us find a chore: restringing. That just leaves the Chet Atkins G6120T55GE hollowbody, which, with its lighter build and those DynaSonic-style single coils, really gets to the essence of the ‘Gretsch sound’. If you haven’t played a Gretsch for a while, you might be very surprised. These are some serious guitars.

VIDEO DEMO

http://bit.ly/guitaristextra

GRETSCH PLAYERS EDITION & REISSUE EDITION GUITARS

GRETSCH G6120T-55GE REISSUE CHET ATKINS

GRETSCH G6136T-59GE REISSUE 1959 FALCON

PRICE: £2,599 (inc case) ORIGIN: Japan TYPE: Single-cutaway hollowbody electric BODY: Laminated maple back, top and sides w/ parallel tone bars MAX WIDTH: 400mm RIM DEPTH: 70mm NECK: Maple, standard ‘U’ profile SCALE LENGTH: 625mm (24.6”) NUT/WIDTH: Aluminium/42.6mm FINGERBOARD: Aged white bound rosewood, aged pearloid blocks with western motif inlays, 305mm (12”) radius FRETS: 22, medium jumbo HARDWARE: Pinned aluminium compensated bridge, Bigsby B6GBVF vibrato, Grover Sta-Tite tuners – gold-plated STRING SPACING, BRIDGE: 51mm ELECTRICS: 2x TV Jones T-Armond single coils, 3-position pickup selector toggle switch, master volume, master tone, 2x pickup volume controls WEIGHT (kg/lb): 3.19/7 OPTIONS: The ’59 spec G6120T-59GE Chet Atkins Hollowbody (£2,599) RANGE OPTIONS: There are two 6120s in the Players Edition: G6120T Nashville (£2,199) and the G6120TFM Nashville, Flame Maple (£2,399) LEFT-HANDERS: Not this model, only the Players Edition G6120TLH Nashville (£2,379) FINISHES: Western Orange Stain – gloss nitrocellulose

PRICE: £3,199 (inc case) ORIGIN: Japan TYPE: Single cutaway hollowbody electric BODY: Laminated maple back, top and sides w/ 1959-style Trestle bracing MAX WIDTH: 430mm RIM DEPTH: 70mm NECK: Maple, standard ‘U’ profile SCALE LENGTH: 648mm (25.5”) NUT/WIDTH: Bone/43.56mm FINGERBOARD: Gold sparkle ebony, m-o-p thumbnail inlays, 305mm (12”) radius FRETS: 22, medium jumbo HARDWARE: Space Control bridge, Bigsby B6GVT vibrato, Grover Imperial with ‘stair-step’ buttons – gold-plated STRING SPACING, BRIDGE: 52.5mm ELECTRICS: 2x TV Classic humbuckers, 3-position pickup selector toggle switch, master volume, 2x individual pickup volume controls, 3-position master tone switch WEIGHT (kg/lb): 3.89/8.5 OPTIONS: G6136-55GE Reissue 1955 Falcon with Cadillac tailpiece and TV Jones T-Armond single coils (£3,199) RANGE OPTIONS: G6136T Players Edition Falcon with string-thru Bigsby and Filter’Trons (£2,799) LEFT-HANDERS: Not this model, only the G6136TLH Players Edition Falcon with Bigsby, with Filter’Trons (£2,899) FINISHES: White – gloss nitrocellulose

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GRETSCH G6118T PLAYERS EDITION ANNIVERSARY

GRETSCH G6119T PLAYERS EDITION TENNESSEE ROSE

PRICE: £1,899 (inc case) ORIGIN: Japan TYPE: Single-cutaway hollowbody electric BODY: Laminated maple back, top and sides w/ ML bracing MAX WIDTH: 400mm RIM DEPTH: 56mm NECK: Maple, standard ‘U’ profile SCALE LENGTH: 625mm (24.6”) NUT/WIDTH: Graph Tech NuBone Tusq XL/43.25mm FINGERBOARD: Rosewood, pearloid thumbnail inlays, 305mm (12”) radius FRETS: 22, medium jumbo HARDWARE: Nickel-plated secured Rocking Bar bridge, ‘String-Thru’ Bigsby B6CP vibrato, Schaller rear-locking tuners STRING SPACING, BRIDGE: 52.5mm ELECTRICS: 2x High Sensitive Filter’Tron humbuckers, 3-position pickup selector toggle switch, master volume, master tone (No-load), 2x individual pickup volume controls WEIGHT (kg/lb): 3.48/7.7 OPTIONS: Colour only RANGE OPTIONS: The G6118T-60GE Reissue 1960 Anniversary (£1,999) LEFT-HANDERS: No FINISHES: 2-Tone Lotus Ivory and Charcoal Metallic (as reviewed), Smoke Green – gloss urethane

PRICE: £1,899 (inc case) ORIGIN: Japan TYPE: Single cutaway hollowbody electric BODY: Laminated maple back, top and sides w/ ML bracing MAX WIDTH: 400mm RIM DEPTH: 56mm NECK: Maple, standard ‘U’ profile SCALE LENGTH: 625mm (24.6”) NUT/WIDTH: Graph Tech NuBone Tusq XL/42.9mm FINGERBOARD: White bound rosewood, pearloid thumbnail inlays, 305mm (12”) radius FRETS: 22, medium jumbo HARDWARE: Nickel-plated secured Rocking Bar bridge, ‘String-Thru’ Bigsby B6GP vibrato, Schaller rear-locking tuners STRING SPACING, BRIDGE: 52.5mm ELECTRICS: 2x High Sensitive Filter’Tron humbuckers, 3-position pickup selector toggle switch, master volume, master tone (No-load), 2x individual pickup volume controls WEIGHT (kg/lb): 3.45/7.6 OPTIONS: None RANGE OPTIONS: G6119T-62GE Reissue 1962 Chet Atkins Tennessee Rose (£2,099) LEFT-HANDERS: No FINISHES: Deep Cherry Stain – gloss urethane

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PROS A classic guitar with high build quality, great playability and huge ‘twang’ factor

PROS Beautiful repro with sensible upgrades and TV Jones’s best-selling Filter’Tron recreation

PROS Workingman’s Gretsch with great upgrades, not least the locking tuners and String-Thru Bigsby

PROS Ditto the Anniversary – great upgrades, including the locking tuners and String-Thru Bigsby

CONS Not the best choice for playing at high volumes

CONS Not for the meek; it’s also a big and quite heavy ol’ bird

CONS Might need a treble lift to obtain true twang

CONS A very close cousin to the Anniversary… a model too far?

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Rich Pickings Rock ’n’ roll rebel-rouser Darrel Higham’s played more Gretsches than most – but he says their versatility is under-exploited. Here, he walks us through what he thinks matters on a hollowbody Gretsch, regardless of musical style, as he takes a close look at our four review guitars

1. Playability & Handling

3. The Pickups

“On a 6120, like the Chet Atkins Reissue we’ve got here, you want a nice dainty neck, because it’s a guitar you feel you should play quite fast on – and, actually, the 6120 is very versatile and you can use it for lots of different types of music. It’s not just great for rockabilly and rock ’n’ roll, especially with lighter gauge strings than the 0.011s that are on here. “I’m not mad on the Bigsby arm standing up so high like that, though. You find that on nearly all reissue Gretsches and, for me, it’s something that really does need to be looked at. Once I buy a guitar like this, the first thing I do is adjust that lower so it sits right there, just [a couple of inches] above the strings, because it’s easier to reach and use when you’re playing. But maybe that’s just a quirky thing of mine,” he adds. “The neck on the Falcon is one of the best I’ve ever played, by the way. Because they can be very hit-and-miss, the necks on Falcons. It’s been set up quite low and fast, too. One thing, though – I love Falcons and I’ve still got one at home, but whenever I was playing gigs with Imelda in some of the big places, you’d have stage lights shining in and they catch that sparkling binding on the fingerboard and you do not know where you are. So a couple of years ago, I asked Stephen Stern to make me a kind of Falcon/6120 hybrid, and it’s basically this Falcon body size but with a neck that’s more akin to a 6120. And I find that perfect – and it’s still got the Falcon headstock, which I love.”

“As far as DynaSonics versus Filter’Trons go, I generally prefer the DynaSonics,” Darrel comments. “I hate to use the word, but they sound just a little bit more ‘authentic’ for the kind of playing I do and I also find that DeArmonds have got a little extra bite – they poke through the mix. I use a Peavey amp with a 15-inch speaker, so that gives you a little bit more fatness than some amps, and while DeArmonds can be, in some instances, a little harsh-sounding, you can work around that. But then again, Chet Atkins wasn’t a fan of DynaSonics, was he, because he felt they were too uneven across the strings – he felt they were top heavy and he was struggling to get the bass notes coming out. You’re probably always going to get that a bit with the fingerpicking stuff, anyway – but he found the Filter’Trons more even. “I also find some modern DynaSonics can be too trebly, but I personally like the Seymour Duncan ones – I think they build them so they sound like pickups that have lost some of the strength of their magnets over the years. Because that’s the sound you want, really. I think it’s lovely – quite a full sound. I’m not a fan of Filter’Trons so much, but that’s a personal thing. They’re more middly to my ear and they’re certainly more adaptable to rock and other styles.”

2. The Bridge “The Chet model here has a nice straight-bar bridge, which I think are essential on a guitar like this, to be honest with you,” Darrel says. “I’m not a fan of the Melita-style bridge, personally; if you’re a bit heavy on the vibrato, Melita bridges can fall apart on you – I’ve had that nightmare scenario a couple of times. So, for a guitar like this, I would always favour a straight-bar bridge or something like the rocking-bar bridges fitted on the Players Edition Tennessee Rose and Anniversary models. I don’t have much experience of the roller bridges that are on the Falcon there. Also, the bridge has got to be pinned or fixed in some way to stop it moving around and causing intonation problems.”

4. Modern Mods “I think the updates they’ve made on the Players Edition guitars here are good,” Darrel says. “If someone’s looking for a semi, but worries that Gretsches are too genre-specific, they should go for one of these, like this Tennessee Rose. It could be an indie guitar or jazz – there’s no reason you couldn’t do anything on a guitar like this. I really like this one – it feels really solid and it could become your main warhorse. There’s nothing delicate about it, even the scratchplate feels welded on. The neck on the G6119T Tennessee Rose feels lovely: more like a D shape than a C shape, so you’ve got the flatness there. “I don’t use any authentic vintage equipment, I never have,” Darrel adds. “It has to play well and sound right on stage and I think using the old equipment is best left to the purists. I’m all for using whatever technology you can, subtly, and still keeping the look and the vibe. These guitars do that – that’s the great thing about Gretsch.”

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Second Opinions Guitarist staffers pick their faves from the four David Mead, deputy editor “I had a feeling that I would bond with the White Falcon when we first opened all the Gretsch cases. You have to admit, it’s a looker. But I think what really reeled me in to make it my first choice was the fact that it felt so familiar. I’ve owned and played my fair share of archtops in the past, including a vintage Gibson ES-175 and a rather fine Epiphone Emperor, and the Falcon just felt a bit like coming home, with a great feel and wonderful sound. If I was pressed to make a second choice, it would have to be the 6120 – none more orange!” Jamie Dickson, editor “In the real world, the Gretsch I’d take home would be the G6119T Tennessee Rose; the price is attainable and the quality is top-notch.As a humbucking alternative to a Tele – in other words, a bright, edgy but chunky-sounding guitar – I think it would be great and very flexible. Guitarist columnist and session ace Adam Goldsmith was extolling the versatility of his Duo Jet the other day and, like him, I think I could use a guitar like this in so many scenarios, especially in the studio – definitely not just for nostalgia tripping. Plus, it looks beautiful.” Neville Marten, editor, Guitar Techniques “I really didn’t want to be Mr Predictable who always goes for the classic over anything tweaked or modded, but my heart was lost to the Orange 6120 the instant I set eyes on it. And if the cowboy scenes, ‘G’ brand, DynaSonic pickups, Bigsby and that iconic colour weren’t enough, picking the thing up and finding it was so light in weight and so welcoming to play sealed my fate. Second in line was the gorgeous Players Edition Anniversary – a simpler beast, but a real musician’s guitar and still packed with great Gretsch vibe… Fabulous colour scheme, too!”

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VIDEO DEMO

CARR LINCOLN & SWART MOD84 1X12 COMBOS

http://bit.ly/guitaristextra

review

CARR LINCOLN 1X12 COMBO & SWART MOD84 1X12 COMBO £2,499 & £1,699 Two impossibly cool boutique EL84-based 1x12 combos from North Carolina amp supremos Carr and Swart vie for your affections Words Nick Guppy

Photography Joby Sessions

What You Need To Know

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Both amps use EL84 valves. What’s so special about them? The EL84 valve is a mini pentode, developed in Europe, to power small radios and portable record players. Dick Denney later used them for early Vox designs, where they later became synonymous with the ‘Vox sound’.

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What’s a Creamback? Celestion’s high-powered version of its original G12M is capable of handling around 65 watts. It has the familiar woody midrange of the G12M, but with a more detailed treble.

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What’s the difference between valve and solid-state rectification? Before reliable high-power silicon diodes, alternating current was turned into direct current using a rectifier valve. There’s a small drop in voltage when using a valve, while diodes drop hardly any voltage.

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ot a lot of people know that North Carolina, home to some of America’s most beautiful scenery, is also America’s number-one producer of sweet potatoes, and its second-biggest provider of Christmas trees. Another interesting fact we think should be on North Carolina’s official website is that the state is home to a disproportionately large number of very talented guitar-amp manufacturers, including some of the USA’s top boutique names, among them Carr and Swart. We have a pair of medium-sized combos from these highly respected builders that have some intriguing similarities and differences. The Carr Lincoln and Swart MOD84 are both new releases, aimed at capturing vintage Brit tones, but with a singularly American twist. Both amps feature almost identically sized pine cabinets, loaded with Celestion Creamback G12 loudspeakers. The hot loudspeaker of the moment, it’s one of Celestion’s best-sounding drivers since the Vintage 30 and a firm favourite with many boutique brands. The Swart is finished in

lacquered tweed, with a distinctive dark stripe edged with black stringing. The tweed fabric has been cut and laid to a very high standard – it can be difficult to work with, but great attention to detail has been paid to this sample. We like the combination of the TV front and stripe, which combine to maintain that vintage feel within their contemporary look. Steve Carr’s cabinets are renowned for their craftsmanship and the Lincoln is no exception, with an upcharge two-tone vinyl finish on this sample complemented by a distinctive speaker grille and Carr’s trademark thick leather carrying handle. The hint of 1950s Googie-influenced styling combined with perfect vinyl work bestows extreme ‘I want’ appeal on the Lincoln, even before it’s plugged in. While the Swart and Carr are both powered by a pair of EL84s, the rest of the electronics are very different. The MOD84 is a valve-rectified single-channel circuit, with reverb and tremolo controls together with volume and tone. A three-position toggle switch adds two stages of gain on

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top of the standard clean sound. Carr’s Lincoln has a lot more going on, with two separate channels for a wide range of clean and overdriven sounds. Channel one has controls for volume, treble and bass, together with a toggle switch offering normal and bright options. Channel two has drive, tone and master volume knobs, with a small toggle switch offering a choice of low and high gain. The Lincoln’s spring reverb also has separate channel-level controls, and the standby switch has a low and high power setting. Inside the chassis, the construction styles are very different. The Swart uses a heavy-duty turret board for its small components, with neat and

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tidy cloth-covered hook-up wiring to the front and rear panels and valve sockets. The soldering and wire-routing is impeccable, with high-quality parts giving the Swart a very vintage feel – and smell! Carr amps have a very distinctive construction that blends modern hi-fi components, such as Solen fastcaps and Analysis Plus speaker cable, with traditional point-to-point wiring that doesn’t use any kind of board support. This type of build is very labour-intensive and needs careful tweaking to ensure consistency from one chassis to the next. Carr is one of just a handful of manufacturers building this type of amp today. Small components are

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VIDEO DEMO

1. Two separate preamp channels and a footswitchable boost give the Lincoln great tonal flexibility, from crystalline cleans to vintage Vox grunt, and huge Queeninspired overdrive. There are separate level controls for the valve-powered spring reverb, too. The Lincoln is one of Carr’s more versatile combos 2. Both amps use the Celestion Creamback 12-inch loudspeaker,

http://bit.ly/guitaristextra

a more powerful version of the G12M Greenback with greater power handling and an improved treble response. It’s proving to be an excellent choice, especially for single-driver combos and cabinets 3. The centre spar on the grille also acts a little like a ‘beam blocker’, diffusing the more directional high frequencies

CARR LINCOLN & SWART MOD84 1X12 COMBOS

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4. The Lincoln’s front grille is a perfect example of Carr’s superb cabinet craftsmanship. The perfectly applied two-tone vinyl is an extra charge, but well worth it

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secured with blobs of silicon glue, which – it has to be said – doesn’t look visually attractive when compared with some other boutique brands. However, each resistor and capacitor is carefully placed and positioned for sonic and electrical integrity rather than looks, and the quality of soldering and wiring is first class. The switching is taken care of by relays, which sit on small PCBs. The Lincoln’s beefy diode-rectified power supply uses large Solen polypropylene capacitors instead of electrolytics. Originally developed for satellite use, the Solens are often found on audiophile hi-fi amplifiers. To our knowledge, Carr is the only manufacturer to use them on a guitar amp.

Sounds The MOD84 and Lincoln both fire up smoothly, with practically no background noise, bar a little hum on the valve-rectified Swart that quickly disappears as the voltages stabilise. We tried out a number of different guitars with both amps, including an old Strat loaded with Duncan Alnico Pro IIs, a PAF-equipped Les Paul Standard, an original ’72 Les Paul Custom and a Fender Custom Shop Nocaster.

5. The Lincoln has a handy six-watt low-power setting; on the full 18 watts, its large power supply helps deliver plenty of volume

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The Swart MOD84’s superb tone has more than a hint of AC15, which can be subtle or in-yourface, depending on which EQ switch setting you choose The Swart MOD84 is Swart’s first design to use the EL84 and it delivers a superb tone with more than a hint of AC15, which can be subtle or in-your-face, depending on which EQ switch setting you choose. We tend towards the middle position for the best balance of gain and treble. The MOD84’s effects are especially cool; the reverb (called ‘Space’ by Swart) is warm and spacious. Powered by a clever circuit that uses a 12DW7 dual triode (basically half a 12AU7 and half a 12AX7), the drive, decay and tone are all tuned for a great all-round effect that

works equally well for surf crashiness or jazz-club ambience. The tremolo circuit has an organic warmth that pulls you into its 50s Americana vibe. From slow menacing pulses to a fairly fast stutter, the effect is one of the best tremolos we’ve heard. With the volume pushed up, the Swart’s valve-rectified power supply begins to sag just enough to add a warm, natural compression for a subtle three-dimensional effect, with sustained notes seeming to gain a little level before they slowly tail off, and punchy chord playing seems louder while requiring less effort. Inspired by the Vox AC10, the Carr Lincoln’s two channels add quite a bit of extra versatility. The clean channel’s volume, treble and bass controls are deceptively simple. A normal/bright toggle switch flips the Lincoln between AC10 grind and Top Boost sparkle, while the two tone controls interact smoothly and progressively. We never noticed the lack of a midrange control; by positioning the treble at lower settings and the bass a little higher, you bring the midrange forward, while increasing treble and reducing bass scoops out the mids a little, for a leaner tone. The volume control is also very nicely

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tuned, with most of the clean headroom in the first third of its travel. After this, the gain and drive increases to take you into classic Vox territory, nailing the sound of those edgy, iconic riffs from Beatles classics such as Paperback Writer and Day Tripper with typically consummate ease. Things take an altogether different direction when you step on the footswitch and unleash the Lincoln’s second channel. This has a lot more drive, available in two stages that can be selected from the front panel or the footswitch. Channel two has a darker overall vibe – not such a bad thing, as it lets the guitar’s midrange punch through

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Steve Carr likes high gain and there’s enough in this channel to take on huge Brian May tones without the need for a separate overdrive pedal

VIDEO DEMO

http://bit.ly/guitaristextra

a little more. Steve Carr likes high gain and there’s enough in this channel to take on huge Brian May tones without the need for a separate overdrive pedal. The single tone control on this channel isn’t a treble cut, but seems to operate on the midrange, sounding dark when turned down and scooping out mids to leave a sharper treble edge when turned up, with a lot of different effects between these two extremes. Separate reverb level controls for both channels is a neat touch that makes full use of the Lincoln’s excellent valve-powered reverb circuit. The reverb is smooth and detailed – maybe a little too glassy if you

CARR LINCOLN & SWART MOD84 1X12 COMBOS

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8 6. The Swart’s TV front and edged dark stripe set the vintage scene 7. Aside from volume and tone, the singlechannel MOD84’s deceptively simple control panel features controls for the reverb level (which is called ‘Space’), tremolo speed and depth 8. The MOD84’s effects are all valve powered – the reverb uses a special triode called a 12DW7 9. Both the Carr and Swart use a pair of EL84 power valves: the Carr Lincoln has a solid-state rectifier, while the Swart uses a GZ34 valve rectifier to enhance dynamic response and touch sensitivity, at the expense of a little output power

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10. The Swart’s tweed fabric has been finished to an impeccable standard

overdo the treble on channel one, but adding lush density to channel two – perfect for long, sustained ballad solos. The Lincoln has another trick up its sleeve, in the shape of a six-watt low-power setting, which makes all the amp’s overdrive tones available at more bearable volume levels – a good thing, because the Carr’s big power supply makes it very loud on full power.

Verdict Both the Carr and Swart are exciting and very satisfying amps to play through. We liked the Swart’s earthy drive tones and loved its evocative tremolo. It’s a great amp and beautifully put together. Like many boutique designs, the MOD84 is dialled into a particular tone and response – and within this range, it sounds superb, with great touch sensitivity. Some boutique amps put every tiny mistake up front and centre, but the MOD84 flatters every note, making even the bad ones sound good! The Carr Lincoln is substantially more versatile, thanks to the extra channel, but there’s a price to pay: yes, it sounds awesomely good, but for almost £1,000 more than the Swart, you’d expect it to. Steve Carr has an uncanny ability to nail specific tones and the Lincoln is a stellar homage to Tom Jennings’ and Dick Denney’s iconic designs, capable of sounding as British as Abbey Road or as American as apple pie, seemingly without even blinking. So, there you have it: two tour de force amps from North Carolina’s finest. Even at these exclusive prices, we think anyone who plugs into either of them will have a hard time letting go.

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VIDEO DEMO

http://bit.ly/guitaristextra

CARR LINCOLN 1X12 COMBO

SWART MOD84 1X12 COMBO

PRICE: £2,499 ORIGIN: USA TYPE: Valve preamp and valve power amp OUTPUT: 18W RMS, switchable to 6W VALVES: 4x 12AX7, 2x EL84 DIMENSIONS: 610 (w) x 400 (h) x 225mm (d) WEIGHT (kg/lb): 18/39 CABINET: Dovetailed pine LOUDSPEAKER: 1x 12” Celestion Creamback CHANNELS: 2, selected by panel switch or footswitch CONTROLS: Channel 1: Volume, Normal/Bright, Treble, Bass, Reverb; Channel 2: Drive, Hi/Low, Tone, Master, Reverb, 18/6 Watts FOOTSWITCH: 2-button switch toggles channels, boost on channel 2 ADDITIONAL FEATURES: Spring reverb OPTIONS: A wide range of custom finishes is available; contact dealer for details RANGE OPTIONS: Also available as a 2x12 combo; contact dealer for further details

PRICE: £1,699 ORIGIN: USA TYPE: Valve preamp and valve power amp OUTPUT: 18W RMS VALVES: 2x 12AX7, 1x 12DW7, 2x EL84, 1x GZ34 DIMENSIONS: 660 (w) x 395 (h) x 270mm (d) WEIGHT (kg/lb): 18/39 CABINET: Dovetailed pine LOUDSPEAKER: 1x 12” Celestion Creamback CHANNELS: 1 CONTROLS: Volume, tone, space, speed, depth. 3-position EQ switch ADDITIONAL FEATURES: Reverb and tremolo OPTIONS: Various speaker and finish options are available, contact dealer for details RANGE OPTIONS: None Coda Music 01438 350 815 www.swartamps.com

Coda Music 01438 350 815 www.carramps.com

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PROS Brims with truly stellar Vox-inspired tone, with huge range and versatility

PROS Superb build quality and great vintage tone; we love the effects onboard this amp

CONS That stellar tone also commands a stellar price tag, but it’s worth it

CONS It’s not an overly loud amp and doesn’t have much in the way of clean headroom

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CARR LINCOLN & SWART MOD84 1X12 COMBOS

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Boutique Banquet Six of the best small combos from the world’s top boutique manufacturers 1 TONE KING ROYALIST 45 1X12 COMBO £2,099

3 BAD CAT CUB III 15R 1X12 COMBO £1,599

5 HAMSTEAD ARTIST 20+RT £1,899

We were knocked out by Tone King’s Royalist; it’s a beautifully made combo inspired by classic mid-1960s British blues and pop tones, and includes a built-in version of Tone King’s Ironman attenuator, so you can get great tone at any volume level. The cabinet is built to an exceptionally high standard – designer Mark Bartel spends as much time, if not more, on cabinet design as he does on circuit design, and the result is a truly outstanding all-rounder, which looks and sounds great. www.toneking.com

Hand-wired to incredibly high standards, Bad Cat amps have a unique sound and response, thanks partly to the EF86 valve that’s used in most of their preamps and a unique master volume control, which separates preamp gain from power-amp drive. Built to satisfy the most demanding pro use, Bad Cats are the tool of choice for artists as diverse as Bonnie Raitt, Muse and Slipknot. www.badcatamps.com

A truly world-class boutique amp that comes from a lot closer to home – South Cambridgeshire, in fact – with a surgically clean chassis and some of the best laid-out circuit boards we’ve ever seen. The Hamstead Artist is attracting a lot of interest, mostly from word-of-mouth recommendations. We like its open, airy clean sounds and touch-sensitive drive effects, blended with an excellent reverb and tremolo circuit – the reverb has separate depth and tone controls to tailor its sound to different styles of music. Great value for money. www.hamsteadsoundworks.com

2 TWO-ROCK SENSOR 35-WATT COMBO £2,259

Two-Rock’s Sensor is a proper two-channel 6L6-powered amp that combines the company’s legendary clean and overdrive sounds with a proper valve-buffered effects loop, which can run in series or parallel modes. Two-Rock is the amp of choice for artists including John Mayer and Matt Schofield – they’re built to handle non-stop international touring and sound great in any environment. Unlike some other amps, they need to be turned up loud to deliver the full-on Two-Rock tone. www.two-rock.com

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4 BOGNER SHIVA 112 COMBO £2,249

Reinhold Bogner is rightly regarded as one of the world’s top amp designers, with a legendary career that took off from his early work with Van Halen. The Shiva is one of his most popular and accessible designs, with a straightforward control panel driving an output stage that can be powered by EL34s, 6L6s or, if you go for the latest Anniversary model, KT88s. Two separate channels, with independent reverb level control and a valvebuffered effects loop, add all the flexibility most players need, with some of the greatest tone ever to come out of a loudspeaker. www.bogneramplification.com

6 JACKSON AMPWORKS FULLERTON £2,350

Built by hand in Texas, Jackson’s Fullerton is a homage to one of the most recorded 6V6-based amps in history, with double the output power (around 40 watts), reverb, tremolo, and lots more. Like all Jacksons, it’s built to an astonishing standard using special techniques to minimise the dimensions and maximise tone. It’s a unique design that’s built to last and used by some top pros, including Pretenders legend Robbie McIntosh. www.jacksonampworks.com

A D V E R T O R I A L

PR E SE N T

WIN A 197 3 F EN DE R T E L EC A ST E R CUST OM ith its s ec , our inest. Fr 73 has the u can t Rever beautiful antastic. his onc rrival of usicians nformed, ere is. nstrume ree to bu ee w en

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E N T E R T O W I N AT: R E V E R B .COM / EU RO - GI V E AWAY No purchase necessary. This contest officially begins on 1 April 2016 and closes 31 May 2016 at 11:59pm CT. Open to residents of the United Kingdom, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Netherlands, Norway and the Republic of Ireland. One prize available to be won, with an approximate retail value of $2,500USD (£1,800GBP). No purchase necessary. Read full terms and conditions at Reverb.com. By signing up for the contest, participants agree to receive emails from Reverb, packed with features and all the best gear deals on the site.

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LINE 6 HELIX

review

LINE 6 HELIX £1,221 Line 6 goes seriously upmarket with its all-singing, all-dancing dual-DSP processor-loaded Helix. Is this the future? Words Trevor Curwen

Photography Neil Godwin

What You Need To Know

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What? Another Line 6 floor processor, then? Well, yes, but this is the company’s next generation – and has been four years in development. So, it’s not just an updated POD or Firehawk under another name? Definitely not. There’s a certain family resemblance, but it’s a level up from those and features dual-DSP processing, which Line 6 says “provides massive power to accurately recreate the dynamic feel of tube amplifiers, not just their sonic fingerprint”. Is this ultimately just for professional players? It’s not cheap, so you might think that, but consider what you’re getting for your money. How much did your amp and all those pedals cost you? For a certain kind of player, this could replace the lot…

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t’s been six years since Line 6 debuted its HD amp modelling in a range of floor pedalboards, which offered a tangible upgrade in terms of sound quality from the previous units bearing the POD name. And since then, there’s been a lot happening in amp modelling with the debut of the Kemper Profiler, with its unique way of taking a snapshot of an amp, and the rise of Fractal’s Axe-FX with its dual Sharc processors, both raising the bar in terms of detailed sound. Line 6 was never going to miss that high-end party, though – especially having become part of the huge Yamaha corporation, with the increased R&D muscle that the acquisition implies – and has unveiled the Helix, featuring its HX technology, another tangible upgrade in sound quality. With its solid-metal chassis and robust pedal-treadle design, the Helix has a build quality to stand up to onstage environments and a set of connections to cover a whole host of eventualities. Probably the most striking thing when you fire it up is the amount of information displayed and the visual clues it could give you in a dimly-lit stage environment. The main display is large, colourful and informative and each

of the 12 footswitches sit in the centre of a colour-coded LED ring that shows its status. But what’s really impressive is the backlit LCD scribble strip above each footswitch that displays the name of its current assignment, whether that may be, to call up a particular stompbox effect, a preset or indeed anything else that you may have assigned. The Helix follows the usual paradigm of having presets constructed from a signal chain of connected blocks. There are 1,024 preset slots in total, stored in eight ‘setlists’, each with 32 banks of four presets. Each preset features four stereo signal paths with a whole host of routing options to utilise them, combined or separated. Each path can have up to eight blocks, so there is the possibility, with clever routing, for a chain of 32 blocks, DSP permitting. At present, there are models of 41 amps, seven bass amps, 30 cabs, 16 mics and 80 effects in the Helix, but this number is likely to expand with future firmware upgrades. You can also load your own impulse responses. A computer-based Helix editor is likely to have been released by the time you read this, but editing is easy on the hardware itself via the large graphic display and a clear menu hierarchy accessed in the main

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by a clever multi-function joystick control. Six soft knobs under the display let you quickly adjust parameters displayed above them and things are made even easier by the fact that the footswitches are all touch sensitive; you can use that to assign effects to footswitches or instantly get the assigned effect’s parameters to appear in the display. There’s even a pedal edit mode so you can select parameters with your foot and edit them using the expression pedal. It’s all really intuitive and caters for mid-gig adjustments, as well as building up sounds from scratch at home. While the Helix may have enough sounds to work as a complete closed system for many players, it also has four send/return loops to allow the incorporation of external effects in the signal chain, should you want to add some favourite pedals and use them as part of a preset. The Helix can, in fact, be

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In regular use, there are two modes for the footswitches, Preset and Stomp, so you can recall presets or toggle effects on and off integrated with other gear in many ways and used as a master controller for the whole system, with various tasks assigned to footswitches. There is all the MIDI implementation you’d need, sockets for external amp switching duties and to send CV data to an analogue synth, plus

Line 6’s Variax connection. Versatility in signal routing is aided by analogue connections (XLR and jack) to send two versions of the output signal (same or different) to two different destinations as well as digital connections. A USB socket allows the Helix to be used as an 8-in/8-out audio interface for DAW recording and re-amping of recorded sounds. The Helix’s mic and aux sockets, and the guitar input, will allow you to record a variety of sources, all monitored via its headphone output. In regular use, there are two modes for the footswitches, Preset and Stomp, so you can recall presets or toggle effects on and off. You can swap instantly between these two modes and can even have presets on the bottom footswitch row and effects on the top. There’s tap tempo, too, and the expression pedal has a toe switch to toggle two expression parameters. Should you

1. The Helix’s pro-aimed features are supported by a solid metal chassis and equally robust pedal treadle design, which can be used for numerous on-the-fly parameter adjustments 2. Four send/return loops allow you to integrate external effects as part of a preset. There’s full MIDI implementation, sockets for external amp switching duties plus Line 6’s Variax connection

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3. The Helix offers 1,024 preset slots in eight ‘set lists’, each with 32 banks of four presets

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LINE 6 HELIX

LINE 6 HELIX

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4. In brief, the Helix offers 41 guitar amp sims, seven bass amps, 30 cabs, 16 mics and a total of 80 effects. The outof-the-box sounds are great, while creating your own sounds is where the real fun lies

need more expression, there’s provision to plug in two external pedals.

Sounds This is a definite step up from the HD series. Line 6 says its dual-DSP engine provides enough power to accurately recreate both the sonics and dynamic feel of amplifiers, with each stage of a circuit being measured and matched so each model reacts and interacts just like the real thing. We found that to be a pretty accurate assessment of what we feel and hear, with everything reacting naturally to playing dynamics and guitar volume. The modelled amps and effects – some vintage, some modern, some mainstream, some esoteric – cover a lot of bases and feature lots of intricate detail that can be customised. As ever, while there are plenty of presets to use out of the box, getting beyond those and creating your own is where the real satisfaction resides.

PRICE: £1,221 ORIGIN: China TYPE: Amp modeller/multi-effects pedalboard processor FEATURES: Tap tempo, tuner, looper, 6.2” 800x480-pixel LCD display PRESETS: 1,024 MODELS: 41 amps, 7 bass amps, 30 cabs, 16 mics, 80 effects CONTROLS: Volume, Phones, 1x joystick, 8x ‘soft’ knobs, 7x buttons, 12x footswitches, ground lift switch, pedal treadle CONNECTIONS: Standard guitar input, standard aux input, XLR mic input, standard Main outputs (L/Mono, R), XLR Main outputs (L/Mono, R), standard stereo phones output, standard Send x4, standard Return x4, s/pdif digital in, s/pdif digital out, AES/EBU and L6 Link out, Variax, MIDI IN, MIDI OUT/THRU, USB, expression pedal x2, Ext amp, CV POWER: Mains power (IEC lead) DIMENSIONS: 560 (w) x 300 (d) x 95mm (h) OPTIONS: Helix Rack, £1,156; Helix Control (foot controller for rack), £330; Helix Backpack, £125 Yamaha UK 01908 366700 www.line6.com

Verdict

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A bit of a technological marvel, the Helix is the most advanced floor processor we’ve seen, but even with so much in-built flexibility, it is still easy to use. This is a real do-it-all unit both live and in the studio, with comprehensive I/O and routing that will see it used on its own or as the nerve centre of a complete system, large or small. Of course, most of that would count for nothing if the actual sounds were lacking, but they aren’t: Line 6 has captured the tonal nuances found in real amps and made it feel like you’re playing through the real thing, creating an extremely practical alternative to other high-end products at the right price.

9 PROS Comprehensive connectivity; great sound and feel; innovative visual display features CONS A metal bar close to the joystick might have been useful to protect it from clumsy feet

Rise Of The Machine It’s likely many of us already use digital amp sims for practice and recording. So, is it time to ditch your traditional amp and go digital on stage? t’s often said that we guitarists are conservative in our choice of gear. Recently, however, we’re seeing more products offering an alternative to valve amps and hand-picked pedal signal chain. What we’re talking about is the digital amp-modelling processor, and the reason that these are becoming more prominent is that the technology has grown up. Advances in DSP power and in the modelling process itself is one example, plus the use of impulse responses that recreate the sound of real speaker cabs means that the sound and the playing feel of the latest generation of these (typified by the Kemper Profiler, the Fractal Axe-FX series and, now, Line 6’s Helix) can stand alongside the classic gear of yesteryear that they are designed to emulate. This was brought home in a conversation at the NAMM Show with Larry Fishman, who, in developing his new Fluence pickup, invited many pro players to bring their gear to Fishman HQ and was surprised at just how many of them turned up with high-end amp modellers rather than conventional amps. So, is ‘digital’ no longer a dirty word, and where did this come from?

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Amp modelling may have first come to some guitarists’ attentions 20 years ago in Line 6’s digital modelling amplifiers, but it was the bean-shaped POD that really put modelling on the map, ushering a new genre of hardware units containing the sounds of classic amps and effects. While the POD was primarily a desktop unit, floorboard controllers were made available. Modelling also appeared in stage-ready floor processors, too, of course: amp sims and effects in an integrated pedalboardstyle unit for stage use, not just from Line 6 but from Boss, DigiTech, Zoom and others. Of course, you could – and can – use these modelling pedalboards with a real amp, either just for the effects, or you could switch out the cabinet-modelling section and also use the amp modelling or elements of it into your own amp. But since they can more accurately deliver the sound of a fully mic’d-up rig, the best way to go may be plugged directly into the PA. Now, if you’re used to your cabinet speakers hitting you square in the back, that might take some getting used to, but you could hear your sound coming back at you through a standard stage foldback monitor, or you

could also connect your amp modeller to a FRFR (Full Range Flat Response) monitor, another fairly recent innovation, designed to handle the whole ‘amp and mic’d cab’ sound from a modelling device. Just plugging straight into a PA and not having to transport heavy amps and cabs is the great advantage of these modellers. Their smaller size makes them easily transportable to gigs and capable of being carried on planes as hand luggage. True, not too many of us are likely to fly to a gig, but you’d have to agree that it’d be a lot easier to put a Helix or an Fractal AX8 into the back seat of a Mini than an amp head, 4x12 cab and full pedalboard. The other obvious major advantage is the massive range of sounds these processors put at your feet. While some players want their own distinct ‘voice’ resulting from the combination of hand-picked gear (and technique, of course!), others may need a wider range of sounds on stage: think of the function-band player who has to accurately reproduce the sounds of many song/bands/ guitarists and, let’s face it, for recording sessions, a full sound palette is always the way to go… Are you tempted?

LINE 6 HELIX

Modelling Masters Six reasons to leave your amp at home 1

ATOMIC AMPLIFIRE £469

The compact AmpliFire is a fraction of the price of some of its high-end competitors, but still features dual-DSP processing and Cirrus Logic converters. There are three assignable footswitches, 128 onboard presets, a set of amp-style knobs for quick tweaks, and good connectivity options. www.atomicamps.com 2

LINE 6 POD HD500X £412

Initially launched back in 2013 as the successor to the POD HD500, the POD HD500X is still a very potent machine and can currently be found for a street price of £375, which makes it a real bargain. It can work as a MIDI controller and USB audio interface, as well as providing 512 presets, 30 modelled amps and over 100 effects. www.line6.com

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PROFILER FROM €1,705

Kemper’s profiling technique is like taking a snapshot of a mic’d up guitar rig – not just the amp itself, but every aspect of the cabinet and microphone configuration. It’s a process you can carry out yourself, but there’s a massive library of sounds available. www.kemper-amps.com 4

BOSS GT-100 £319

The GT-100 version 2.0 has COSM modelling technology and 400 preset memory locations. Dual amp and effects chains can be blended or toggled by footswitch, frequency or picking strength, and there are effects, including the Tera Echo. It also features monophonic guitar-to-MIDI conversion and works as a USB audio/MIDI interface. www.roland.co.uk

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5 FRACTAL AUDIO SYSTEMS AX8 €1,699

Up until recently, to use Fractal amp-modelling on stage, you’d need a Fractal rackmounted unit and to combine it with pedalboard switching – its MFC101 or a generic MIDI switcher. Now, there’s the AX8 (see review on p120), which puts Axe-FX II amps and effects into a self-contained pedalboard. It features 512 presets with a traditional single amp plus effects chain, as opposed to the Axe-FXII’s dual amp chain capability. www.fractalaudio.com 6 TECH21 FLY RIG 5 & FLY RIG 5 RK £319 & £349

Before digital modelling processors, there was the Tech 21 SansAmp – an analogue amp simulator the size of a stompbox. The portable Fly Rig 5 is the newest member of its extended family and is designed as a complete gigging rig. It features a SansAmp (with reverb), Plexi overdrive (with boost) and delay. A signature Richie Kotzen version, the Fly Rig RK5, puts the OMG overdrive in the place of the usual Plexi at the start of the signal chain. www.tech21nyc.com

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Fractal Audio Systems blazes in with the mighty AX8 and TC Electronics reveals the Ditto X4 Looper, while Moog and EarthQuaker take the humble chorus pedal a few steps beyond

mp modelling has come a long way over the past few years. The idea of having multiple rigs comprising different amps, cabs and pedals housed within a single unit has enchanted players at every level, from bedroom blasters to the premier league. Today, the name Fractal Audio Systems is at the cutting edge of the virtual-rig market with its Axe-Fx range placing unimaginable diversity at a player’s fingertips. The new kid on the block is the company’s AX8, and we take it for a test drive on p120. Looper pedals seem to possess an almost universal appeal to electric, acoustic and bass

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guitarists alike, but many players are put off by the seeming complexity of the models on offer. TC Electronic is aware of this and promises that the new Ditto X4 Looper not only provides the simplest of user interfaces, it also brings the unattainable dream of becoming a self-contained one-man-band even closer! Read the full review on p122. Lastly, we turn our gaze upon one of the oldest effects on the market, the humble chorus pedal. Both Moog and EarthQuaker demonstrate just how far out you can get with the trippy new Minifooger and Sea Machine devices – it’s chorus, but not as we know it.

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FRACTAL AUDIO SYSTEMS AX8 €1,699 With the Axe-Fx II’s modelling engine at its core, the AX8 combines effects with modelling for an all-in-one direct processing solution Words Trevor Curwen

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Photography Joseph Branston

ractal is known for its high-end Axe-Fx modelling processors, the current model being the Axe-Fx II XL+. Onstage functionality for that rackmounted model is achieved with the addition of the MFC-101 foot controller, but the whole system – though undoubtedly extremely capable – may seem to some to be an expensive (€3,298) and perhaps rather unwieldy option. More desirable for a lot of players would be streamlining the whole amp and effects caboodle into a single floor processor. Now, as Fractal had already taken the Axe-Fx’s effects and put them into a floor unit in the form of the FX8, which is designed for use with an amp, it was perhaps only a matter of time before the company brought out a unit that includes amp modelling as well as the effects for going direct without an amp in sight. Well, here it is, and it’s called the AX8. Okay, it’s not a full Axe-Fx II in a floor unit – but neither is it an FX8 with added amp sims – although it features the same core modelling engine as the Axe-Fx

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II – the main difference being that there’s only one amp block per preset instead of the Axe-Fx II’s two. Look at it as basically a stripped-down floor version at a more affordable price point.

ABOVE The AX8 adds to the FX8 with a series of knobs for adjusting amp parameters in the top right

In Use

RIGHT Rugged construction and plenty of output and control options make the AX8 a stage-ready piece of kit

The AX8 is preset-based, featuring 512 preset slots arranged in 64 banks of eight. Each of the presets is an entire rig with amp, speaker cab, effects, settings controllers and more, constructed from a series of blocks in a 4x12 framework. As well as amp and cabinet blocks, there are over 20 blocks representing different effects types, plus a looper. Models to populate the blocks include 222 amp models, numerous modelled effects and over 130 Factory cabs, plus 512 User Cab memory slots. When it comes to setting up your own sounds, everything is accessible from the front panel, but you can connect to a computer via USB and take advantage

FRACTAL AUDIO SYSTEMS

Tech Spec

of Fractal’s editing and librarian software, which graphically displays the massive array of editable parameters available and makes it all dead easy. The AX8 has the same rugged construction, footprint and nicely spread-out footswitch array as the FX8, but has a different control panel, as it adds a section of eight knobs, surrounded by LED rings, dedicated to amp parameters (Drive, Bass, Mid, Treble, Presence, Depth, Master, Level). Around the back there are XLR and jack outputs to send the signal to two different destinations, plus a stereo FX loop to connect any other pedals or to be used as an auxiliary input/output for applications such as sending signal without cab simulation to a power amp with real guitar speakers. There’s also provision to connect up to four expression pedals or footswitches to control various aspects of operation. All of the AX8 footswitches can be either tapped or pressed and held for a different result. All are assignable to a host of different functions, some globally, some per-preset. The default setting straight out of the box sees the three Function footswitches in a vertical array on the right flank utilised to select a bank, while the eight numbered footswitches initially select the preset within the bank and then revert to turning eight individual effects on and off within the preset. It’s intuitive and it works… instantly! Each block assigned to a footswitch has X and Y settings, for example, for two different amps or a change of parameters for an

amp or effect: these are selected by a press-and-hold on a numbered footswitch. Besides that, each preset has eight easily accessible ‘scenes’, which are like presets within a preset and can turn multiple effects on and off.

Verdict The sound here is the same as the Axe-Fx II: amps that sound and play like the real thing, with excellent effects. While it doesn’t have as much clout as an Axe Fx-II/MFC-101 setup, it has the essentials, providing a traditional amp-and-effects signal chain for the studio and on stage, where it is eminently practical for live work straight into the PA and/or with a full-range cabinet. Easily portable for those gigs where you can’t take an amp/speaker rig, at its price point the AX8 goes toe-to-toe with Line 6’s new Helix (see review on p110), but takes a more specialised approach, rather than offering all-round functionality. It’s a solid no-nonsense unit for stage work with the unique selling point that it will put those desired Fractal amp sim sounds in reach of a much larger cross-section of players.

ORIGIN: USA TYPE: Amp modeller/ multi-effects pedalboard processor FEATURES: Tap tempo, tuner, looper PRESETS: 512 BLOCKS: Amp, Cab, Chorus, Compressor, Delay, Drive, Enhancer, Filter, Flanger, Formant, FX Loop, Gate/ Expander, Graphic EQ, Looper, Multidelay, Parametric EQ, Phaser, Pitch Shifter, Reverb, Ring Modulator, Rotary, Synth, Tremolo/Panner, Volume/Pan, Wahwah CONTROLS: Drive, Bass, Mid, Treble, Presence, Depth, Master, Level, Out Level 1, Out Level 2, 5x ‘soft’ knobs, 7x buttons, 11x footswitches, ground-lift switch CONNECTIONS: Standard input, 2x standard Main output, 2x XLR Main output, 2x FX Send, 2x FX Return, s/pdif digital output, MIDI IN, MIDI OUT/THRU, USB, 4x pedal/switch connectors POWER: Mains power (IEC lead) DIMENSIONS: 410 (w) x 262 (d) x 101mm (h) G66 GmbH 0049 461 1828 066 www.fractalaudio.com

PROS Rugged and eminently portable; straightforward to use; great Fractal sound CONS Certain effects combinations are not possible because of CPU limitations

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TC ELECTRONIC

VIDEO DEMO

http://bit.ly/guitaristextra

TC ELECTRONIC DITTO X4 LOOPER £185 The latest addition to the Ditto family presents looping ‘times two’: twice the fun and even greater layering opportunities Words Trevor Curwen

Photography Olly Curtis

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he original Ditto Looper’s immediacy and ease of use simplified the whole pedal-looper thing for us guitarists. Since then, we’ve seen a Stereo version with the ability to store a ‘backing track’ alongside loop transfer to a computer over USB, and the X2, which added a second footswitch to stop loop playback or add effects. On a wishlist for many, though, was the ability to have two loops: enter the Ditto X4, which effectively puts two Ditto Loopers side-by-side, each with their own footswitch. The two loops can either be set to ‘serial’ mode where the loops can play one after the other for a verse/chorus vibe, or to ‘sync’ mode, which can have both loops at the same time. Each loop has a knob to set its volume, while the Decay knob is common to both and sets the rate at which previous loops fade into the background (fully clockwise gives no volume reduction in a loop cycle). Mono or Stereo operation is possible, as is dual mono, where you can connect two instruments with the outputs going to different amps. It has the same loop transfer and backing track ability as the X2, MIDI connectivity for synchronisation and more, plus mode switches to set up your own options relating to overdubs, loop switching and bypass.

super-practical Stop footswitch can stop both at once and also erase, if needed. A fourth footswitch applies an effect to the loop with seven options: you get three ways to end a loop (play once and stop; fade out; or tapeslowing style), and options to play a loop in reverse, at half speed (octave down) or twice speed (octave up); a hold function repeats a short segment of the loop as long as the footswitch is held down – great for stutter effects or to stick on a particular chord to play live over.

Verdict The X4 extends creativity way beyond its siblings: two loops greatly increase the options for layering and building your music, but TC’s ‘switches, knobs but no menus’ approach keeps things easily manageable. While this is a fine creative looper for home use (namely, songwriting or practice), it has features that really lend themselves to live work, particularly improvisational pieces where the effects footswitch can be put to great use. It balances sophistication with simplicity while being great fun to use.

Tech Spec ORIGIN: Thailand TYPE: Dual Looper FEATURES: True bypass/buffered bypass (switchable), 7 FX types, loop import/export, 5 minutes max. loop time per loop CONTROLS: Loop 1 volume, Loop 2 volume, Decay, FX selector, 3x toggle switch, 4x Mode switch; Loop1, Loop2, Stop & FX footswitches CONNECTIONS: Standard inputs (mono and stereo), standard outputs (mono and stereo), MIDI IN, MIDI THRU, USB POWER: 9V adaptor (supplied) 300mA DIMENSIONS: 235 (w) x 145 (d) x 57mm (h) TC Electronic 0800 917 8926 www.tcelectronic.com

PROS Simple operation; huge leap in creativity with two loops; nice array of effects; easy loop import/export options

In Use Recording, starting and stopping loops can be carried out with each looper’s footswitch, but the

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CONS Indicator lights obscured with foot on switch – just when you need them!; needs high current outlet on power distributor

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VIDEO DEMO

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http://bit.ly/guitaristextra

MOOG MF CHORUS £159

ORIGIN: USA TYPE: Chorus pedal FEATURES: True bypass, BBD circuitry, pulsing LED, exponentiated triangle LFO CONTROLS: Rate, Depth,Time, Feedback, Mix switch, bypass footswitch, internal mono/ stereo switch CONNECTIONS: Standard input, standard output, expression pedal input POWER: 9V DC adaptor (not supplied) 20mA DIMENSIONS: 83 (w) x 144 (d) x 58mm (h) Source Distribution 020 8962 5080 www.moogmusic.com

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One of Moog’s Minifooger

range of pedals as opposed to the larger and more complex Moogerfoogers, the MF Chorus carries on the all-analogue tradition, being based around a BBD chip. Moog actually calls the pedal a ‘Bucket Brigade Time Modulator’, which hints at the promise of more than just straight chorus sounds within. This comes set up as a mono pedal, but there’s an internal switch for stereo use, employing a split cable with a TRS jack in the output, while an expression pedal input lets you control the modulation rate on the fly. While standard Rate and Depth knobs control the modulation, the actual delay time that the effect is built around can be adjusted by the Time knob, which offers a maximum delay time of 60ms (70ms when modulated). With no modulation applied, there

is a range of ambiences up to a very tight slapback. A Feedback knob increases the number of repeats that, in this context of short delays, can manifest itself as a metallic sheen of reverb, even hinting at ring mod. Three variations are provided by the three-way Mix knob that offers two different ratios of wet/dry sound: the first is a natural transparent mix; the second has a heightened sense of the effect and a fatter sound, a setting we found compared the most closely to a vintage Boss CE-2 used for reference. The third position is wet signal only, described by Moog as the Vibrato position, and pretty much the place to go for more outlandish sounds beyond the vibrato (which it does just fine). This is a Moog after all, and

without any dry signal, you can dial in the likes of Apocalypse Now-style analogue synthgenerated helicopters. If you take the time to see how all the knobs interact, this is a very rewarding pedal. Keeping Time and Feedback close to zero serves up some classic 80s chorus sounds, while turning up Feedback and tweaking Time moves things towards flanger territory, with plenty of settings reminiscent of rotary speakers. Overall, the pedal can be very musical but Moog has built such a deep range of control into all of the knobs that it’s also easy to get outlandish and outrageous, especially with large amounts of mod depth, making this a pedal for experimentalists as well as those looking for musical fairy dust. [TC]

VERDICT A Moog modulation masterclass: chorus and more from the staid to the spectacularly seasick

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EARTHQUAKER DEVICES SEA MACHINE V2 £179

ORIGIN: USA TYPE: Chorus pedal FEATURES: True bypass, hybrid digital and analog circuitry, pulsing LED, adjustable LFO shape CONTROLS: Shape, Rate, Intensity, Depth, Dimension,Animate CONNECTIONS: Standard input, standard output POWER: 9V DC adaptor (not supplied) DIMENSIONS: 67 (w) x 126 (d) x 55mm (h) Rocky Road 01494 535333 www.earthquakerdevices.com

Where many chorus pedals just

give you control over the rate and depth of the effect (which may be as much as you need for that classic Boss CE-style chorus, ubiquitous in the 1980s), there are other aspects to the way that chorus is created that are ripe for some knobdriven control. EarthQuaker was determined to offer those options with the Sea Machine V2 and has equipped it with six closely spaced knobs to allow plenty of tweaking. The basic architecture of a chorus pedal is a delay line that is modulated by an LFO, and the bottom three knobs here (Depth, Dimension, Animate) relate to the digital delay line at the Sea Machine’s heart, while the top three (Shape, Rate, Intensity) concern the actions of the analogue LFO. The juxtapositions available with all six knobs deliver a wide range

of effects that could broadly be described as chorus, but go further than many units. Depth is the first port of call to set the subtlety or strength of the overall effect – it adjusts the mix of the modulated wet signal against your dry guitar signal. Looking at the delay line first without any modulation (Intensity at zero), the Animation knob offers control over the delay time: at low levels you get the really short delays needed for classic chorus, but turned up, there’s a doubling effect and at full, it’s almost a slapback. Dimension is said to adjust spatial generation. Effectively, it’s a feedback knob for the delay, so with Animation and Dimension working together, you have access to a range of ambiences – metallic

reverb being the predominant flavour. When it’s time to add some modulation, the Rate knob (with associated LED flashing in time) is what you’d expect on any chorus pedal, as is the Intensity knob, which adjusts the modulation depth. More variation is provided by the Shape knob, which changes the wave shape of the LFO between a soft triangle and a square wave for on/off action that’s harder-edged. With six knobs to get into position relative to each other, it may take a bit of work to find the sweet spots, but it’s worth the extra effort because there are plenty of them to be found, from a slight otherworldly shift in the sound, through lush rotary speaker styles to full-on pitch-wavering warbles. [TC]

VERDICT Lots of knobs and lots of control equals lots of cool sounds – you just need to find them!

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We test the best of the rest of the month’s new gear Photography Jesse Wild & Joby Sessions

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VIDEO DEMO

http://bit.ly/guitaristextra

LÂG TSE701DCE & T70DCE £583 & £218 CONTACT Marshall Amplification PHONE 01908 375411 WEB http://uk.lagguitars.com

If you’re in the market for a new electro-acoustic with a budget that maxes out around £500, you have quite a job on your hands. Why? The market is swamped. Conversely, we’ve never had so much choice, because makers seem to be offering you more for less. So, let’s introduce another option to tempt you. French brand Lâg has always struggled with acceptance in the UK, primarily due to patchy distribution. That changed recently with Marshall taking on the brand, with a wide range of acoustics and a limited number of electrics. Lâg’s main Chinese-made Tramontane range – named after a northern wind or, as Lâg states, “the wind of change” – starts at £145 and rises to £583, with the top-line instruments being the Limited Edition models, like our TSE701DCE. To balance that, we also have the lowly T70DCE from the start-up 70 series. Both are fairly generic cutaway 14-fret-to-the-body dreadnoughts, with full 650mm (25.59-inch) scale length. Our start-up model has a strictly bare-bones vibe, but includes a solid Sitka spruce top, laminated tropical khaya (also known as African mahogany) back and sides, with khaya neck and rather unhelpfully named ‘brownwood’ fingerboard. There’s no binding and the finish is basic ‘open pore’, but aside from Lâg’s headstock and soundhole decoration, nice touches include a compensated black graphite saddle and simple side-mounted ‘Direct Lâg’ preamp with low, mid and high EQ, phase switch and tuner. At over twice the price, including case, the TSE701DCE raises the game considerably with a higher grade AA Sitka top, Mozambican ebony ’board and bridge, and – most strikingly – laminated Mexican snakewood back and sides that have a beautiful striped rosewood-like appearance. There’s classy binding and a full but not overdone gloss finish, while the icing on this impressive cake is the Fishman Ink Body electro system, with its low-profile controls and impressive feature set: tuner, volume, phase switch, notch-filter, four-band EQ (brilliance, bass, middle and treble) and a body sensor, a bridgeplate transducer that augments the undersaddle pickup.

on very ‘in’ sounding upper-fret chord shapes. Acoustically, there’s a strong projection, trim bass and a modern, Taylor-esque clarity and precision. The TSE701DCE feels more expensive. Fingerboard edges are slightly rounded, but the acoustic sound has a richer, more generic dreadlike lower-mid power that seems to pull back the higher mids a little. It’s a big but controlled sound and works well for any style we try. Plugged in, the T70DCE has balanced stringto-string output (not always the case at this price) and the modern, textured-edge acoustic tonality is accurately reproduced. With a slight mid cut and pulling the treble back, we get into a rootsier voicing; more mid-reduction and a treble lift easily produces a modern piezo-y zing. The phase switch can, at lower levels, alter the bass response subtly or act as the first stage of feedback reduction should you need. The TSE701DCE’s preamp is easy to see and hugely flexible. The ‘body’ function subtly alters the sound, but also makes it more resonant, lively and ideal for percussive styles, as well as lowering the feedback threshold, of course, but the notch control and the phase switch are effective tools to deal with that. Its full specification means it’s a preamp for those who have some experience of live sound, and while there’s piezo character, careful setting of the EQ and body control produces some surprisingly realistic sounds.

Verdict Style, class, good build, unusual woods, excellent plugged in and unplugged tones… what’s not to like? In truth, very little, especially at these prices. The T70DCE could give start-up guitars from bigger brands a serious run for their money (Taylor’s Big Baby springs to mind) and would make a great start-up electro or a backup or slide guitar for a more experienced player on a budget. The TSE701DCE piles on the boutique features: it looks, feels and sounds the business, with the kind of electro performance that could challenge many higher-priced ‘name’ guitars. If you have the balls to be different, Lâg has the goods. [DB]

Sounds and Feel Our T70DCE has a standard 43mm nut and roomy 54mm bridge spacing, tidy fretting and well-shaped neck. Yes, there’s a noticeable sharp edge to the fingerboard and a chunky flat-nosed heel. The onboard tuner is good, though, and intonation is excellent – especially noticeable

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ELLIOTT CAPOS HYBRID & DELUXE £155 & £170 CONTACT The North American Guitar WEB www.elliottcapo.com

If you’ve spent a few quid on a guitar or two, an acoustic amp and perhaps some choice pedals, you probably also trawl the web looking for other tasty knick-knacks to complement your prides and joys. Nice straps, for example, or boutique picks made from premium materials… or what about a 170-quid capo? No, that’s not a typo. Elliott Capos thinks you need one of these expensive accessories in your case – not just for the watchmaker-like build quality, but because it offers superior tone. Well, we’re intrigued, at least… Yes, apparently, Elliott models don’t rob your guitar of its tone – as some other capos can – and instead maintain its natural ‘voice’ while simply raising the pitch. Elliott capos are all engineered from polished stainless steel, and our Hybrid and Deluxe models feature a ‘push to unlock’ top bar

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wrapped in a thin, clear plastic sleeve, with a leather clamp pad to protect the guitar’s finish, and a knurled tension adjustment thumbwheel. They are also very slim – especially the Deluxe – so they take up minimal space on your fretboard. We enlist acoustic guru Stuart Ryan’s cultured ears and using two ‘staple’ instruments – Stuart’s Gibson J-35 and this reviewer’s Martin D-28 – we gather a selection of well-known capos from various brands and set about comparing them with the Elliott models. From full strums to intricate picking, the Elliott Hybrid and Deluxe seem, to our ears at least, clearer and cleaner and – as was promised – there’s a definite sense that both of these capos retain each instrument’s inherent tone, whether they’re sited low or high on the neck.

They’re not the speediest to change and you can’t clip them to your headstock, but they’re so slim some players can simply clamp them on the nut (although not our Martin, with its vintage-style volute). But where we suspect these capos will find greatest favour is in the studio, where their tiny footprint, precise positioning, micro-adjustment and tone friendliness will ensure the best possible recording.

Verdict Yes, it’s a bonkers amount for a capo, and if you require mega-quick changes, these might not be for you, but if no capo has fully convinced you yet, we suggest you give one a try. Just don’t lose it! [NM]

8

ANDY POWERS Taylor’s master luthier surfs for inspiration, plays like a pro and makes guitars by hand in California. Where do we sign for that lifestyle, we ask Andy, as we tour his immaculate workshop – and find out why even the most cutting-edge Taylor guitars start life here, amid traditional hand tools and wood shavings

Words Jamie Dickson

G

et Taylor’s master luthier Andy Powers going on the subject of old records and you’d better be prepared for a long conversation. Like a lot of guitarists, he grew up devouring great guitar playing on vinyl – and genre didn’t matter nearly so much as what the player was putting into it. “I started off on piano and then I discovered the guitar and got really into The Ventures and Hank Marvin and The Shadows,” he recalls. “Then I got really into Jimi Hendrix and Eric Clapton, and I fell in with some older musicians who turned me on to Django Reinhardt. And then I got really into Charlie Christian and Wes Montgomery, as well as the fusion movement. But at the same time my dad is a big country and western fan, so I’m listening to Pat Metheny one hour and then the next I’m listening to Lester Flatt playing with Bill Monroe or Earl Scruggs. And I couldn’t separate those interests because I love those different styles.” Growing up with those influences in a house full of musicians, Andy really knows his way around the fretboard (we’re not kidding, check out Maaren’s Nocturne on YouTube some time). It seems

a bit unsporting to have acquired both craftsmanship and session-grade chops, but there it is – and, in fact, he says a good ear is as necessary for making guitars as it is for music. “I can’t really separate playing music and making instruments – and I can’t separate listening from that process, either,” Andy explains. “Because what the tools say to you as you work with them, or what a material will tell you… You can hear the way it changes as you work on it. So, parts of the guitar-building process I’ll only do in the morning when my ears are fresh. “For example, if I’m finalising the voicing on a top for a new design, say, I don’t trust myself at the end of the day. Not because I tune parts for specific notes or anything like that, but what I do is listen to the way that parts change as they get worked on. That’s really what tap-tuning is: you’re not tuning for specific resonances or pitches usually; it’s a very direct measurement of stiffness and weight in terms of sound velocity, and some of the hard-to-quantify parameters of building an instrument.” Andy’s tone laboratory, located at Taylor’s headquarters in San Diego, California, is a small old-fashioned workshop within

one of the most advanced guitar-making factories anywhere. It’s worked out that way, Andy says, because the Taylor formula is to craft new types of guitar by hand – listening, experimenting and finessing until everything sounds as it should – then working out how to make the same guitar on the production line, without losing the tonal character of the original, and in such a way as to permit serious numbers to be constructed and put in the hands of all kinds of players. “I’m a fan of the traditional hand tools, partially because that’s what I grew up with and I developed a fascination with how they worked and how ultimately flexible they are,” Andy says of the enduring usefulness of traditional tech, even when designing new guitars. “I’m particularly fond of the tools of Ashley Iles in Sheffield,” he adds. “A lot of modern woodworkers enjoy using the Japanese traditional chisels, with the hollow-ground backs and whatnot, but I learned with a very old set of Marples chisels that I like very much. “These chisels that Ashley Iles is building,” he continues, “they’re traditional thin ground bevel-edged, dovetailing joiners chisels. They’re the best ones for

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· “I can’t really separate playing music and making instruments – and I can’t separate listening from that process, either, because [of] what the tools and material say to you as you work with them” ·

guitar-making that I’ve found. Wonderful metal and just a delight to hold.” The meditative side of working with hand tools also gives him space in which to think, and that’s important, he says. Andy says a lot of ideas spring out of pondering long-standing problems in guitar design as he’s working. Taylor’s recent small-body 12-string acoustics, such as the 562CE-TF (see review, issue 404), are a case in point. “I’d been thinking about the 12-fret 12-string for several years. Because, as I’ve built various 12-string guitars, I’ve realised that from a physical perspective there’s a few things against you. First of all, you have almost twice as much string tension as a normal guitar. That means that there’s a massive amount of tension on the top, preventing it from vibrating. Secondly, each string is comparatively smaller than on a regular guitar so there’s very little inertia in each individual string. So now, to recap, I’ve got a top that doesn’t want to move, because it’s under a lot of string tension, and I also have smaller strings than normal trying to make it move. That’s two strikes. For me, the third strike would be that a large-body 12-string guitar needs relatively heavy bracing to make sure that it maintains structural integrity – just like a large room needs a lot of structural support. “So, I thought, ‘What if I build this around a smaller guitar?’ Then things start going a different direction: I still have that string tension, but a small body is inherently very strong. The imaginary ‘walls’ – the sides of the guitar – are closer together, therefore the top isn’t going to deflect as much and I don’t have to worry about the structural

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integrity of the guitar so much. I can be more concerned with building a wonderful voice into the top bracing instead. “Also, the natural air resonance inside the smaller body emphasises the higher part of the guitar’s frequency range, and that’s the part of a 12-string guitar I really want to hear: the chiming factor. So that’s going for me, too. Now, looking at it from the smallbody perspective… of course it’s gonna work. Then it’s just a matter of making the bits and pieces that go together for that guitar and voicing the top and the back and everything to complement each other.” This kind of logical re-evaluation of old guitar-making techniques is what keeps things interesting for Andy and,

while traditional acoustic guitars such as dreadnoughts seem evergreen and unchanging, he says that there’s no reason that they shouldn’t evolve a lot more as time goes by, through thoughtful development. “The instrument itself is still a relatively young instrument,” Andy says. “I think there’s a lot of room for improvement. I want to hear more volume, more sustain, more richness. More expressiveness. Ultimately, I want to enrich players’ lives. I want them to enjoy the artful experience and contribute to their enjoyment.” Join us in the following pages for a walkround of Andy’s custom shop, and for some more perspectives on what makes great acoustic tone tick…

1

“In this picture, I’m smoothing out the insides of a set of sides. It’s a pretty traditional way to do it: I’ve got a hand-scraper. It’s a very traditional type of tool that kind of pre-dates sandpaper, if you will. But they work wonderfully well. Now, in this case, the reason I’m doing it this way is that’s a guitar that I’m building that we don’t yet produce. It’s a different shape entirely: that’s why I’ve built a more traditional – in this case, plywood – mould. It’s an ‘outside’ mould where I’ve stacked up a bunch of pieces of plywood and so I’ve sawn it, sanded it and carefully worked the shape for this new guitar. We don’t have any tooling yet, so I bent those sides on a hot pipe, in the way you would have 100 years ago, and now I’m smoothing out the insides getting them ready to join the two halves together and put linings and things in there.”

1

· “Often the best way to make an alteration is through a very scientific, objective approach where you’re building the same thing, exactly the same way, over and over and altering only one detail” ·

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“That looks like a back in that picture – I have a traditional dial caliper because the guitar that I was building in this photo is a classical guitar. And I’m using that scraper and even some handplanes to alter the thickness of that back. Often the back or the top of an instrument won’t be a uniform thickness all the way across. Deliberately so. Because you can control, ever so slightly, the flexibility and how that works with the bracing you’re about to put on it. “The dishing on the back of an acoustic guitar serves several purposes: one is the sonic response, because the back is bent into a spherical shape. It’s not like a single radius. What that does is that it places it under slight tension, almost like a musical saw blade, so it imparts a little bit of tension like the diaphragm on a condenser mic. It’s sort of ready to be acted upon. If it were completely flat, that would pose structural problems really, because as soon as it loses even a tiny bit of moisture, it goes concave and starts to become weak. It’s going to be more inclined to crack that way. But putting it into a convex shape means we have a little more latitude for it to lose a little moisture or gain a little moisture and still be okay. It makes it a more stable type of plate and it’s not limp. “That’s a big pile of necks behind me. Aside from the way I develop ideas by hand, we’re the most technologically advanced acoustic-guitar maker that I’m aware of. So when I want to make, say, an alteration to a certain design, even a tiny little internal component, often the best way to do that is through a very scientific, objective approach where you’re building the same thing, exactly the same way, over and over and altering only one detail. “In this particular case, we were making a small adjustment to the truss rod and I wanted to know what amount of clearance should be machined into the wood that goes around that truss rod. To do that, I’m going to build days and days worth of test-necks, altering only that amount of clearance, by thousandth of an inch increments. I figure if I make 10 of the exact same neck every day for, say, two weeks, I’ve got 100 necks. So that allows me to dial it in exactly. Even accounting for the uniqueness in different pieces of wood, I can isolate how the action of the truss rod is affected by this one factor and find out the exact amount of clearance that it needs to have. And so that’s what that pile of necks is.”

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· “A lot of times I think a design out through my hands… I learned that the best way to realise some of the finer details of a design is to get your hands on it and let the wood talk to you” ·

3 “I’m a big plane fanatic, partially because I became interested in building them when I was very young. I mean, I was a pretty weird kid! Pretty nerdy, but I got really into making handplanes because with a good piece of steel for the blade, you can make a handplane that can accommodate all sorts of almost impossible cuts and do it in a very controlled way that gives a lot of precision. So I use a lot of fingerplanes, handplanes, even down to big, big joining planes meant for shooting real straight, accurate glue joints for tops or backs or what have you. “Traditionally, craftsmen would start with maybe a very rough board and start with very short planes, just to work off small high spots here and there. And then as the board became flatter and flatter, they would switch to a longer plane because it spans and kind of skips over high points and shaves it down a little more accurately. By the time they had nearly finished and prepared a surface to become a glue-joint, they’d want it to be the ultimate in flatness and straightness so they would switch to what you would call a long joining plane. The one I have is 22 inches long, so you can span over a large area and make it flat to a few thousandths of an inch. Very, very tight tolerance.”

3

“A lot of times I think a design out through my hands. I think about what I want to build and how I want it to come out – and I learned from an old furniture-maker friend of mine that the best way to realise some of the finer details of a design is to actually get your hands on it and just start working with it and let the wood talk to you that way. And so I take a lot of notes and make drawings of guitars that I’ve been working on and refining, so I can refer back to them and know that that piece of wood had this characteristic, or that I used these dimensions for a certain set of parts that I made, and I know what the guitar sounds like because I have it here on this next iteration. In this case, I’m working on a guitar that’s relatively fresh, so I’m working out where I want the back braces to go on that particular back, looking at some notes from previous guitars that had similar qualities. “The open green case is a set of cartographer tools that were handed down from my great, great grandfather. And they were beautifully machined, very, very accurate drawing tools. Even in this modern era, I find them indispensable for laying these things out, because when I go to actually physically build the guitar – whether I’ve designed parts in a modern computer-aided drafting programme or not – I still am going to realise it with wood and tools. And so that means I need to lay parts out very precisely.”

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Longtermers A few months’ gigging, recording and everything that goes with it – welcome to Guitarist’s longterm test reports

PRS S2 Vela with Michael Astley-Brown

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Longtermers

Writer MICHAEL ASTLEY-BROWN Content manager, guitars, MusicRadar.com As MR’s guitar honcho moves into the next stage of his relationship with PRS’s lovely Vela, he finds himself ditching the high life and taking the low road – low output, that is… Will it cover his covers in glory?

“ The Vela is among the most effortless guitars I’ve ever played”

n my last report, I detailed my troubled image-based relationship with PRS – based on years of consuming nu-metal ads and internet-forum debate – and how it took the Vela’s achingly cool offset charms to officially woo me into the fold. Its first appearance at a band practice was met with surprise – in my year-or-so tenure with my seven-piece covers outfit, it’s the first time I’ve ever rocked up with anything other than my trusty Cort double-cut – as well as overwhelming approval. PRS’s offset looks like a proper gigging-musician’s guitar, and that’s very much where I intended to employ its services. A few weddings here, some local pubs and clubs there, and the Vela’s road hardiness soon made itself known. The lightweight mahogany body is easy to swing around for the two-hours-minimum stints that my covers-band gig regularly requires, while the 635mm (25-inch) scale length makes playing the sometimes-awkward chords requested of me by the band’s keyboard player less of a finger-lengthening struggle than with the Strat-style necks I’m used to.

I

It’s the sound that’s caused the biggest upheaval in my guitar preferences, though. Having been a predominantly EMG HSS (with coil-split) player for well over a decade, gigging with a set of lower-output passives served as a timely reminder of what I’m missing; the chiming crunch of a low-to-midoutput bridge humbucker running into an overdrive or two is just a wondrous thing, and the Starla pickup here is a fine example. That said, switching up from the actives has presented its own challenges. For one, I’m winding the gain up on all my drive pedals, while serious ‘no pressure’ solos – our staple set features a Michael Jackson medley, including, yes, Beat It – have found me utilising my compressor as well as a pair of drives to get enough oomph for tapping. And now I’m contemplating a third drive, too. But, aside from that additional pedal dancing, the tamer bridge humbucker and coil-split tones are winning me over for the 90 per cent of the set where I’m playing jangly, driven rhythm or distorted powerchords. Plus, although the mid-position tones are a little lacking in punch compared with the neck and

bridge, adding the compressor brings out the snap and presence of that neck single coil, perfect for the obligatory function-band Nile Rodgers comping, too. For me, the Vela ticks a lot of boxes: it looks cool, sounds great and doesn’t leave your shoulder aching at the end of a long gig. It’s also among the most effortless guitars I’ve ever played – even the gentlest fretting-hand press yields spot-on intonation, with tiny pushes providing wide bends and vibrato. Yet, my resolutely stubborn – and highly pedal-obsessed – nature pushes back: why should I change my pedalboard to suit a new guitar? Am I perhaps trying to force a retro-orientated instrument into a context it was never designed to totally fulfil? Like most guitar purchases, was this whole departure purely driven by lust? The latter point seems especially poignant when I consider that my favourite times spent with the Vela have taken place in the (spare) bedroom, practising and, inevitably, songwriting. A different set of tones has brought out a new side of my playing – and that’s definitely something to explore on a Vela-inspired recording or two very soon…

Reviewed 395 Price £1,289 On Test Since August 2015 Studio Sessions No Gigged Yes Mods None

www.prsguitarseurope.com

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