Guitarsite News
Yamaha TRBX505 5-String Bass
Yamaha introduces the TRBX505 5-String Bass, featuring a solid mahogany body with active/passive preamp switching. This bass is designed to be comfortable and at the same time provide a wide spectra of tones via the availability of both passive and active circuitry. The TRBX505 comes with a 3D sculpted solid mahogany body that provides a balance between tone, looks and equal weight distribution. You will notice that the cutaway extends up to the end of the neck, this should make it easier to reach the higher frets. The 5-pc maple/mahogany neck provides the stability required to handle the stress of five bass strings. It is bolted into the body with a scale length of 34″ and is topped with a Rosewood fingerboard. What makes the TRBX505 interesting is its active/passive preamp design. With just a flick of a switch, the two HHB5 Alnico V pickups can work as a conventional passive pickup or as an active pickup for more aggressive lows. The multi-polepiece pickups are designed to drive the active circuit in active mode, or to capture the nuances of your playing style when in passive mode. The technology behind this preamp switching automatically matches the output level as you
Line 6 Now Under Yamaha
Music gear giant Yamaha announces acquisition of popular amp and effects modeling manufacturer Line 6. Related Feature:Variax HD Upgrade This is big news for the guitar community because it expands Yamaha’s guitar processing products and pro-audio equipment and it lends Yamaha’s global presence and years of experience to Line 6. This is expected to result in faster expansion for both companies. Being one of the pioneers of digital amp modeling, Line 6 continues to be a major player in this field, and has since expanded into guitar effects modeling, wireless systems and even professional audio equipment like mixers and speakers. This new agreement will still see Line 6 operate as before with its current management team, only this time Yamaha will be overseeing their operations and they will be lending their deep pockets and global reach to the Line 6 brand. Mr. Takuya Nakata, President of Yamaha Corporation, said: “I am very happy that Line 6, which has been creating innovative products and creating new market opportunities consistently over its history, will become a member of the Yamaha group. We look forward to accelerating our growth strategy by pursuing the beneficial effects from both companies and by utilizing Line 6’s
Guild M-140E
Guild Guitars introduces the M-140E an all-solid-wood acoustic-electric guitar with ’60s style design and cosmetics. Related Feature:More Sub $1000 Acoustic Guitars It is part of their new Westerly Collection of instruments that are inspired by the designs the company used back when they were building guitars at their Westerly, Rhode Island facility, a period considered to be the golden era of the company. This is an interesting move by the company, especially now that the brand was just sold by Fender to Cordoba. Going back to their pre-Fender designs will hopefully bring back the Guild acoustic identity to help build the brand back to its once strong market position. Guild President Jonathan Thomas said, “We had three things in mind when developing The Westerly Collection: give players an incredible all solid wood acoustic guitar between $649-$1099 MAP, offer dealers great margins, and capture Guild’s iconic design and styling that has made it one of great brands in guitars for so long.“ As part of their rebranding, the Westerly Collection will be using an improved naming convention that will better indicate the guitar’s wood composition and shape. In the case of the new M-140E, “M” signifies Concert,
Bedell Guitars 1964 and Coffeehouse Series
Bedell Guitars pays tribute to the ’60s era folk/rock movement with the 1964 Series and the Coffeehouse Series. Bedell Coffeehouse TBCH-26-SB These guitars are meant to reproduce the organic feel and sound of old guitars, inducing ’60s nostalgia with their look and tone. These two new series from Bedell oozes with the spirit of Peace, Love & Rock n’ Roll – 100% made in the USA and featuring sound and aesthetics that is reminiscent of a very important era in guitar music. Both the 1964 and the Coffeehouse Series feature a vintage look, feel and sound. They feature all-solid tone woods, Adirondack “X” scalloped tone bars and dovetail neck joints that result in a expressive and playable instrument. Each of the guitars feature top quality materials starting with the use of a solid one-piece mahogany wood for the neck. The fretboard, bridge and headstock veneer are crafted from solid African ebony. The 1964 Series come with solid Sitka spruce tops matched with solid mahogany back and sides, while the Coffeehouse Series feature solid Engelmann spruce tops, paired with solid Indian rosewood back and sides. Even the binding on each of the guitars are made from solid wood. Bedell Guitars is
Gibson Trini Lopez ES-335 Ebony 2015
Gibson Memphis releases a limited edition Trini Lopez ES-335 for 2015, distinguished by its ebony finish. Related Feature:Gibson Dave Grohl ES-335 Although not as popular as other signature models, the unique look of the Trini Lopez provides a breath of fresh air especially when viewing the company’s semi-hollow guitar line. Gibson and American singer/guitarist Trini Lopez worked together in the early ’60s to design and produce the original Trini Lopez signature, and the guitars were in production from 1964 to 1971. Today, vintage Gibson Trini Lopez guitars are sought after and prized by professionals and collectors. Even Dave Grohl based his signature Gibson model from the Trini Lopez, and it ended up being well received and were quickly sold out! Following up on its success, Gibson releases a limited run version that also carries some of the improvements that were implemented across their 2015 line of instruments. The elegant black finish of the Trini Lopez ES-335 Ebony 2015 will easily appeal to blues and rock players who are willing to pay the premium for a special run guitar. The most distinct feature of the Trini Lopez signature is its six-a-side headstock, which is based on the Gibson Firebird. It provides
Gibson Eden of Coronet Diamond Guitar
Gibson teams up with jewelers to create “Eden of Coronet”, an SG guitar embellished with $2 million worth of diamonds! Related Feature: Gibson Les Paul Supreme 2015 The guitar now holds the Guinness World Record as the most expensive guitar ever created, and is currently on display at the 2015 Baselworld international trade fair for jewelry and watches at Switzerland. Even more interesting than its $2M price tag is how the guitar is getting a lot flak from guitarists online, many of which comment that the Diamond-Studded SG does not look as impressive as expected from it’s price tag. The response from guitarists is quite ironic, especially since the guitar was designed and crafted by a group of arts and crafts specialists, which include sixty-two artisans, three product development specialists and two project managers. It is said that it took a total of 68 people and 700 man-days to complete the project! Love it or hate it, the guitar did achieve what it was meant to accomplish, become an interesting centerpiece for Aaron Shum’s Coronet brand and become a Guinness World Records title holder. Aaron Shum gave credit to the other parties that helped
DigiTech JamMan Solo XT Looper
The JamMan Solo XT is the newest looper from DigiTech, a standard size pedal with true stereo looping and Micro SD support. Other features that were packed into this compact pedal include Dial-in BPM, Auto-Record, Auto-Quantize and DigiTech’s JamSync. DigiTech has years of experience when it comes to providing guitarists with a working and great sounding looper. Their JamMan brand of loopers is highly regarded by many guitar players. With the new JamMan Solo XT, they are adding into their already successful design with modern features. While other loopers have time limitation, the Jamman Solo XT can store over 35 minutes of stereo, CD-Quality loops in its internal memories. An optional mini SDHC card can store even more loops, adding over 16 hours of CD-quality loops. If all this memory is not enough, you can use the built-in USB port to connect the pedal to your computer and use the JamManager XT software. This software lets you create virtually limitless loops by allowing you to save your loops and organizing them into usable presets which you can access anytime in live situation. You can literally load multiple instruments and and turn this pedal into a virtual song accompaniment. JamSync Another
Line 6 introduces the JM4 Looper
Line 6 JM4 Looper is included in our Best Loop Pedal list. Line 6 has introduced JM4 Looper, a looping stompbox that combines a complete palette of vivid guitar sounds and explosive jam tracks performed by world-class studio musicians. Packed full of recorded jam tracks featuring Jason Bonham, Tony Franklin, Carmine Appice, Gregg Bissonette and many others slamming the drums, thumping the bass and strumming guitars, JM4 Looper boasts more than 100 jam tracks in over 10 different styles from country to heavy metal. The organic, entirely human jam tracks will send players' pulses racing and their fingers craving their fretboards. Plus, JM4 Looper can loop its jam tracks endlessly letting players shred for hours. Perfect for practicing and songwriting, JM4 Looper also facilitates performance. Ideal for on-the-fly recording at home or onstage, JM4 Looper features 1/4-inch instrument and aux inputs, an 1/8-inch CD/MP3 input and a balanced XLR microphone input for sound-on-sound loop recording of guitar, bass, keyboard and vocals. Complete with an extensive collection of famous guitar sounds, JM4 Looper gives players access to 200+ artist-created presets, 150+ song-based presets, 12 original Line 6 amp models, seven guitar effects, vocal effects and 36 banks for saving user-created tones.
TC Electronic Flashback X4 Delay and Looper
Flashback X4 is the big brother of TC Electronic’s popular delay pedal, now with 12 delay types, four TonePrint slots and looper functionality. While maintaining its original color scheme and look, this bigger pedal brings requested features like preset handling and tap tempo. When a product is successful, manufacturers usually just stick with what is working. However TC Electronic thinks otherwise and continues to improve on the Flashback delay pedal, releasing various alterations to the original. The Flashback Delay X4 builds on the original design by adding more features that were requested. One obvious improvement of the X4 is its wide selection of studio quality delay, carrying 12 recreations of classic delay sounds including the popular 2290 Dynamic Digital delay and emulations of analog tape and tube delays. Another important change to the pedal is the addition of the requested feature – preset storage. This pedal lets you store your settings into three independent patches which you can quickly recall. With over 70 TonePrints available for the Flashback delay pedal, it was only natural that the X4 comes with more TonePrint storage. The pedal can handle up to 4 of these Artist created patches giving you real-time ability to switch
EHX 22500 Dual Stereo Looper – Summer NAMM 2015
EHX introduces the 22500 Dual Stereo Looper, a versatile looper with two independent loop tracks and built-in rhythm tracks. Related Feature:EHX NanoLooper 360 Thisl expands the company’s looper pedal lineup, giving you flexible control over two uncompressed audio tracks and modern versatility packed in the usual tank tough exterior expected from Electro-Harmonix. The EHX 22500 Dual Stereo Looper is a compact and more pedalboard friendly version of their 45000 looper, which retains the same mixer like appearance but with more knobs and footswitches for handsfree control. A notable feature of this pedal is the ability to play two recorded tracks in parallel or series, which you can toggle in real time. This will let you build your sonic textures with more control over the details as well as disengage a loop when no longer needed. This allows for more harmony and rhythm possibilities that can be changed in realtime to accommodate every section of your song. And with up to 12 hours of recording via the supplied 8GB SD card, the looping possibilities that you can do with this pedal is quite staggering. Because of its mixer like appearance, the 22500’s user interface is easy to understand and use. This
Roland Mobile AC – Acoustic Chorus Amp
The Roland Mobile AC is the smallest amplifier in Roland’s Acoustic Chorus series, it is a portable three channel amp for acoustic guitars. This mobile amp is around the same size as a regular lunchbox and its 5 Watt amplifier conveniently runs for 15 hours on 6 AA alkaline batteries. Being part of Roland’s Acoustic Chorus series, the Mobile AC is fine tuned for acoustic guitars and features the same Chorus effect found on its bigger amplifier siblings. Once you activate the built-in stereo chorus effect, it will make its two 4″ stereo speakers produce Roland’s famous swirling stereo chorus sound. You can Its small and compact form leaves very little room for controls, however Roland was able to put some essential effects and tone shaping knobs for beginners and even professionals to play with. Aside from the built-in chorus, the Mobile AC has a built-in reverb with a dedicated control knob, and it has a wide effect button that enhances the “stereo” image of your audio signal. Tone shaping is achieved by adjusting the Tone knob. While bigger practice amps come with just one input, this humble amp provides you with three inputs – one for your acoustic guitar,
Zexcoil T-bucker
The Zexcoil T-Bucker pickup is a noiseless bridge pickup for Telecaster style guitars, featuring PAF and single coil voicing. This versatile pickup can produce PAF and single coil tones, and it features Zexcoil’s unique one coil per string design. The T-Bucker expands Lawing Musical Products’ line of noise-free pickups. It is based on the “Juicy Bucker” pickup, with both single coil and humbucker tones in one easy to install single coil package. This pickup is straightforward drop-in replacement for the bridge pickups found on Telecaster style guitars. By default, this single-coil looking pickup will give PAF humbucker like tones. If you have a push/pull pot, you can utilize the pickups “Silent Split” feature, which gives you single coil sounds without the noise. The T-Bucker is essentially a T-style friendly version of the Juicy Bucker, featuring the same tone voicing technology. It reproduces the classic PAF sound without the unwanted noise, thanks to its efficient hum-cancelling design technology. The pickup does not utilize dummy coils or excessive shielding like others, instead it utilizes Zexcoil’s patent pending tone engineering technology to keep the noise at bay. Another cool feature of this pickup is that it has a very minimal, almost negligible string
New from BG Pups: Strat-Sized ‘S90’ P90 pickups in white
BG Pups Handwound Pickups and Bryan Gunsher, a Northern California maker of handmade-handwound electric guitar pickups, has announced the addition of white S90s to the lineup. Due to the overwelming response of the S90s the option to have the pickup made in white has been added. The “S90” pickup offers great authentic P90 tones in a strat sized package while still retaining some classic strat sounds. Great for rock, southern rock, blues, jazz and country. The tones are fat and full when clean and dirty up nicely under gain. The S90 is a very versatile pickup and covers quite a bit of ground tonally. This pickup uses top quality components and features dual ceramic 8 magnets, adjustable nickel pole screws, forbon fiber baseplate and is wax potted. This pickup now comes in black and white. This is a Press Release Related Article: Mojotone Quiet Coil Pickups
DiMarzio Mo’ Joe and Satch Track – Satriani Signature Pickups
DiMarzio latest demo video features guitar virtuoso Joe Satriani’s two signature pickups, the Mo’ Joe and Satch Track. DiMarzio Mo’ Joe Related Feature:John Petrucci Signature Pickups In this video, Satch showcased his two main pickups as installed on his signature guitar, and he also shared the stories behind their design and tone. The two pickups that shared the spotlight with Joe Satriani are the Satch Track singlecoil that he had positioned on the neck, and the Mo’ Joe humbucker that handles bridge position duties. As expected, the popular guitar teacher/wizard effortlessly put the two pickups into action, and masterfully explained in detail how the two pickups behave and sound like. Mo’ Joe After using the Fred bridge pickup for years, Joe asked DiMarzio for a hotter and bigger version to be used on his new Ibanez signature guitar. This resulted in the humbucker called Mo’ Joe which is tweaked to satisfy the tone and definition requirements of its namesake artist. As the name aptly suggests, it has more mojo and power than the Fred pickup while retaining clarity, dynamics, and harmonics. And since harmonics is a very big part of Joe’s playing style, this pickup have become a staple in
Mojotone Quiet Coil Pickups
Mojotone releases Quiet Coil, a new Strat style pickup that has the same look and tone without the noise. Related Feature:Guitar Pickups Explained This noise-canceling pickup features the exact same materials used on vintage single coils, so it does not have any modern PC boards and batteries, also it does not have stacked coils and other designs found on humbuckers. Quiet coil is an interesting approach to noiseless single coil pickups, aiming to stay true to classic single coil pickups in terms of look, feel and sound, and it does so without unwanted noise and 60-cycle hum. There are currently two available models, ’58 Quiet Coil and ’67 Quiet Coil, and as the name suggests, each one are based on vintage pickups built on the specific years mentioned. This means that the ’58 Quiet Coil, is a noiseless reproduction of the pickups found on old late ’50s era Stratocasters, while the ’67 Quiet Coil follow the late ’60s design and sound. Late ’50s era Strats are known for having a bright and airy tone, a popular example of this is Eric Johnson’s iconic sunburst Strat, which exhibits bell like clean tones that have become his signature sound. On the other
Guitar Pickups Explained
by Kurt Prange Passive (i.e. battery-free) electric guitar circuits are relatively simple and the possibilities for customization are endless. A basic understanding of pickups, potentiometers, capacitors and switches is all you need to get creative and take more control of your instrument’s voice on an electronic level. Where does the electric guitar signal come from? Pickups are transducers that convert the mechanical energy of a vibrating guitar string into electrical energy by way of electromagnetic induction. It is a fundamental concept studied in physics and electronics that a changing magnetic field will generate a current through a coil of wire. The electric guitar pickup uses permanent magnets and pole pieces to form a steady magnetic field in the vicinity of each individual guitar string. An opposite magnetic polarity is induced in the metallic (steel core) guitar string when mounted above its respective pole piece and when the string moves, the otherwise steady magnetic field changes accordingly. Wire is wrapped around the poles thousands of times to form a coil within the magnetic field to pick up an induced current and voltage. The output signal from the pickups is AC (alternating current) because the direction of the current alternates, producing a
Keeley DynaTrem
The Keeley Electronics Dynatrem is a new tremolo pedal that is designed to be dynamic and responsive to your playing. Related Feature:Keeley Sojourner Fuzz Verb This pedal has three modes that expand the sonic possibilities that you can get from a tremolo pedal, one of the modes even allow you to change effect settings by simply playing hard or soft. Keeley Electronics designed the DynaTrem to be more than just a conventional pedal, and describes it as a creative tool for shaping your sound in a way that’s natural. According to the press release, “The Keeley team has created a neo-vintage voiced tremolo that has two dynamic modes of operation. No longer are guitar players stuck with setting a fixed rate or depth, they now have the ability to control the pedal with just their playing style.” It’s most notable feature is the three mode switch that lets you vary the way the pedal behaves depending on your playing. The first mode is called Dynamic Depth, and this is where the pedal becomes input sensitive to your playing, adjusting the depth setting based on the volume changes of your guitar signal. This can be controlled by adjusting attack strength and
Blackstar ID:Core Guitar Amplifiers
Blackstar targets the entry level market with their new ID:Core series, featuring built-in amp and effects modeling plus stereo sound for music playback. Related Feature:Blackstar LT Pedals Three models are currently available – the ID:Core 10, ID:Core 20, and ID:Core 40 – all packed with features and priced competitively. At first glance, the top mounted controls look simplistic and straightforward, but closer inspection will show that the knobs and buttons were designed to allow for a wide range of tones and effects. The controls are designed to be intuitive to make tone shaping a pleasing experience for both beginners, while offering enough depth for experienced players. Tone shaping is achieved via two knobs, the Voice, ISF and Gain knob. The Voice control lets you sweep between six different voices that include Clean Warm, Clean Bright, Crunch, Super Crunch, OD 1, OD 2. This works in conjunction with Blackstar’s patented ISF (Infinite Shape Feature) knob, that provides pre-configured EQ as you turn the knob. When used together, the two knobs will help you find the sound you want, be it American or British style tones. The Gain knob lets you control the amount of gain which varies depending on your Voice
Blackstar is now shipping the HT-1 Tube Amp
The HT-1 series is Available in a 1 x 8″ combo, either with or without stereo digital reverb, or head with reverb configuration. [HT-1RH Stack – Click to Enlarge] Here’s the official announcement: It packs all the tone and innovative features of the award-winning HT-5 tube amp into a 1-Watt format. The patent-applied-for ISF (Infinite Shape Feature) circuit offers infinite adjustment over the characteristics of the tone control network, enabling players to design their own tone to fit “the sound in their head” — taking them from the U.S.A. to the U.K. and anywhere in between. For home and studio use, this new amp delivers a full, toneful sound even at the lowest volume level, via Blackstar’s brand new tube power amplifier topology. The HT-1 power amplifier features a low powered push-pull design, which produces the crunch and break-up characteristics of a traditional 100-Watt output stage but at a much lower volume. This is achieved by the use of an ECC82 dual triode in push-pull configuration producing 1-Watt output, which is rich in tube harmonics and compression. The HT-1 also has a state-of-the-art speaker emulated output for studio use, providing desirable tube tone straight to tape or disk, or through
Blackstar Tone:Link Bluetooth Dongle
Blackstar introduces Tone:Link, a Bluetooth audio receiver that adds wireless connectivity to amps with line-in ports. Related Feature:Guitar Amps for Under $200 This device plugs into line-in ports conveniently, upgrading any amplifier to have Bluetooth audio compatibility. It gives your amp the ability to have up to 65 feet of wireless range so you can play your favorite tracks untethered without the need for any modifications. This Bluetooth dongle was designed by Blackstar with modern convenience in mind, specially since guitar amplifier manufacturers have not been quick enough to adapt Bluetooth technology into their designs. Tone:Link is especially useful if you have older amps, specifically if you want the convenience of wireless technology but you don’t want to part with your favorite old school tube amplifier. Because you can just plug-it in and out, it offers a modular solution that gives you wireless audio connectivity without interfering with original design and form of your existing amplifier. If you’re familiar with Bluetooth technology, you can appreciate its impressive data transfer capability which translates to great and clear sounding audio. And since this technology comes standard with modern day computers, you can wirelessly connect your amp to your phone, tablet, laptop or