Pedalboard Showcase: Ben Thompson of Nai Harvest
Jay caught up with Ben Thompson of Nai Harvest to talk about his pedalboard and multi-amp setup.
Jay caught up with Ben Thompson of Nai Harvest at the Hope and Ruin in Brighton to talk about his pedalboard and multi-amp setup.
Dr. Z Release DB4 Amplifier
This new amp was designed in collaboration with Brad Paisley.
Dr. Z Amplifiers have announced the DB4, a brand new amplifier designed in collaboration with Brad Paisley. Described as a "rich and warm sounding British-voiced amp", the DB4 utilises a 5879 U.S. made pentode preamp tube similar to the one found in the Gibson GA-40 Les Paul amplifier.
The DB4 will be offered as a head, 1x12 “Classic-Lite” combo loaded with a Celestion Alnico Gold, and 2x12 “Blues-breaker” combo loaded with two Celestion Alnico Blue speakers.
Specifications
- Power Output 18/38 watts
- Output Tubes 4 - EL84
- Preamp Tubes 2 - 12AX7
- Rectifier 5AR4
- Controls Volume, Rotatory Tone Switch, Cut
- Other 4, 8, 16 Ohm speaker outs
- Half/Full power switch
- Removable casters (2x12 combo only)
- Configurations Head
- 1x12 “Classi-Lite” combo
- 2x12 “Bluesbreaker” Combo
- Colors Head and 1x2 Combo: Black, Blonde, Red
- 2x12 “Bluesbreaker” Combo: Black, Red, Navy Blue
- Dimension & Weight Head: 19”W x 9 3⁄4H x 9 1⁄2D 26 lbs.
- 1x12 “Classic-Lite” Combo: 23”W x 20 1/8”H x 10”D 42 lbs.
- 2x12 “Bluesbreaker” Combo: 32 1/4”W x 23 1/8”H x 10 1/2”D 68 lbs.
The Top Five Most Metal Guitars EVER
Mark counts down the the most metal guitars ever. Pointy, impossible to play sitting down and super morbid, these axes are HEAVY.
Mark counts down the the most metal guitars ever. Pointy, impossible to play sitting down and super morbid, these axes are HEAVY.
Review: D'Addario Pedalboard Cable Kit
Does D'addario's custom patch cable kit solve Mark's pedalboard problems?
With the explosion in popularity of pedalboards in the last five or so years, the amount of pedalboard accessories available has also experienced rapid growth. Once the territory of boutique brands such as George L, custom patch cables kits have now gone mainstream. The Pedalboard Cable Kit is D'Addario's first foray into custom cables and retails at £54.99, a price that falls in line with similar kits from Diago and Evidence Audio.
What do you get?
The Pedalboard Cable Kit includes 10 feet of instrument cable, ten right angled jack plugs, a cable cutting tool and a small screwdriver for attaching the cable to the plugs. The cable seems rugged, as do the jack plugs, and the entire package is incredibly well made.
Why use custom patch cables?
As you can see from the above photo, my pedalboard is neither huge nor particularly complicated, yet using a mix of pre-made patch cables and short instrument cables has left it pretty untidy. When putting together a board using pre-made cables, you are constantly having to make compromises. Either the cables won't quite stretch to where you want the pedals to sit on the board and you have to move them closer together, or the pedals are too close and you end up with excess cables underneath the board. As you can see from my board, this means you often end up with cables all over the place, often interweaved with power leads. The underside was even worse...
How does the D'addario Pedalboard Cable Kit work?
Making patch cables with the Pedalboard Cable Kit is really simple. First, plan how long you need the cable to be. I did this by placing the jack plugs in to the in and out sockets of my pedals and then laying them out on the board in the positions I wanted them in. This allowed me to accurately gauge exactly how long each cable would need to be. I then cut each cable to the desired length using the supplied cutting tool. Attaching the cables to the jack plug is also very easy. Simply unscrew the small screw on each jack plug and feed the cable into the plug until it stops. Tighten the screw back up, and the connection is complete. When making up the cables for my board, I only had one instance where the cable did not work first time, and this was solely down to not feeding the cable in far enough before tightening the screw. This was easily resolved by untightening it, feeding the cable in further and re-tightening. The connection between the cable and plug feels solid and as convincing as any pre-made patch cable.
The Results
As you can see from the above photo, my pedalboard ended up being much tidier once the custom patch cables were in place. I no longer had to use the instrument cable to go from one row to another, and could avoid power cables crossing audio cables. There was no longer excess cable underneath the board, meaning that it now sat truely flat on the floor. Aesthetically and functionally, a massive improvement.
You may also be able to spot that I am still using a single pre-made patch cable due to there only being five included in the Pedalboard Cable Kit. While five will probably be enough for most users (it seems to be the norm for this type of kit) it would be incredibly useful to include one or two more pairs of jack plugs, or at least make these available to purchase separately.
My only other criticism of the kit would be the size of the jack plugs. While this wasn't a huge inconvenience for my board, I did have to shuffle the Soul Food and Echoplex pedals to accommodate the fairly chunky jacks, and I would imagine this becoming trickier on bigger and more complicated boards.
The Verdict
The D'Addario Pedalboard Cable Kit is a really neat product. It provides a cost-effective and easy-to-use solution to tidying up compact pedalboards. My only reservations are that the size of the angled jack plugs may prove difficult to accommodate into bigger and more complicated setups. Still, for the average user, this kit is a vastly better option than buying a bunch of individual (and fairly useless), pre-made patch cables.
8/10 - Mark
SIB Electronics announce Charger Guitar Amp
This stomp-box-sized amp could fit in your gig bag!
SIB Electronics have announced the Charger Guitar Amplifier.
This unique stomp-box guitar amplifier is small enough to fit on a pedal board, but loud enough to drive a 4x12 cabinet with up to 50 watts of power. With a pre-amp tuned for electric guitar, and a chassis made entirely of steel, the Charger would be a worth addition to any touring musician's gig bag.
The Charger is available now and is priced at $259.
The Top 5 Guitar Fails
Must try harder. C-
Mark counts down the top five products that aimed for the big time but fell flat when they were released.
Magnetic Effects announce Satellite overdrive/boost
This flexible drive looks very exciting indeed.
Magnetic Effects have announced the Satellite, a dynamic, low to medium gain overdrive and boost that retains the tonal characteristics of your guitar and amp. The UK-based company claim their latest creation is "the perfect choice if you like the sound of your guitar and amp and are looking for a pedal to add a bit of organic drive or push your amp naturally into breakup."
Along with typical Volume and Gain controls, the Satellite also offers well balanced and flexible High and Low controls which affect the Treble and Bass response. The High and Low controls can be configure for an even frequency response or used to smooth the top end and tighten up the low end when needed.
An internal voltage doubling circuit converts the power up to 18V for increased headroom. A high input impedance and low output impedance ensures the Satellite plays well with other pedals in your signal chain.
FEATURES:
- Top mounted Jacks and DC socket
- Volume, Gain, High and Low controls
- Internal Voltage doubler for increased headroom
- High input impedance and low output impedance
- True bypass switching
- 9V DC centre negative adapter powered
- Reverse polarity protection
- 100% Handmade
The Satellite is available from the Magnetic Effects website for £105.
The Dawn Of Sire
This new brand aim to bring you classic funk basses at an affordable price.
Every now and then a manufacturer appears who breaks the mold of convention, someone who refuses to play by the rules of price Vs quality that have been so rigorously set by brands such as Fender, Gibson and Ibanez.
We've seen this sort of thing in the effects market when EHX released the Soul Food, a Klon Clone drive that sounded so close it the £2000 pedal it was imitating that the £50 price tag seemed almost a joke. We've seen it in amplification when Laney released the Ironheart Studio; an all valve recording and live use head, with USB input for direct recording and built in cab simulation to go directly into a PA live.
This year the subject is far less likely, and far harder a product to drop the price on; introducing the Sire Marcus Miller V7 Jazz Bass. That's right, Miller has finally parted ways with Fender after nearly a decade of them making his signature Jazz Bass in both Japan and Mexico, whilst Fender continue on their road to only give signature model basses to punk players no-one's ever heard of.
The V7 is an active Jazz Bass in many ways very similar to Miller's original Fender, only with some really premium features, upgrades and updates...sounds reasonable right, this instrument should obviously be a progression from his old model, if for no other reason, just so Sire get noticed over the brilliant and extremely well built Fender counterpart. The only problem here is that the Fender Miller signature was £800 retail, and the Sire Miller V7 starts at £290 (oh, they do a premium model too....at £330).
So what makes the V7 stand up to the Fender? Well you have to start from the ground up to be honest. They haven't cheaped out on body wood for a start; most Squiers at this price point use Agathys or Basswood, but Sire go straight in with a choice between Swamp Ash or Alder, even going for a natural finish; something you can only do if you're confident in your wood quality.
The instrument's electronics are similarly premium. Even Music Man drop down to a 2 band EQ on their budget model, but not Sire. The V7 comes equipped with a full 3 band EQ AND a separate Mid sweep control. Then, as if that wasn't already enough, they've thrown on an active/passive switch; a feature that Fender don't introduce until you get to their £1500 premium Deluxe models. The edition of an active/passive is in itself a demonstration of confidence in their product, as the pick-ups need to be versatile enough to sound good in either context.
Additional little touches almost go unheralded in the wake of such great playing feature. Of course you'd expect the physical appearance to be the let down considering the quality parts and price tag, but no. The Sire V7 comes with pearl block inlays in either a rosewood or maple neck, pearloid or tortoise shell scratch plate, a huge high mass bridge, through body strung, body accessible truss rod, and it even comes with an optional neck pick-up cover just like the Fender original. Honestly, what a bass!!!
Check out Sire's interview with Marcus Miller below:
Squier release Ryan Jarman (The Cribs) signature guitar and Gary Jarman signature bass
These Cribs signature models combine vintage style with modern features.
Squier have released two new signature models for Ryan and Gary Jarman of UK indie rockers the Cribs.
The Ryan Jarman signature guitar reflects the Cribs' frontman's sonic philosophy and combines stylistic elements from his favorites offset guitars to create an instrument with a unique voice and body shape.
With Duncan Designed single-coil Jaguar® neck pickup and a output humbucking bridge pickup, this signature models covers a huge range of tones. Featuring a master volume and tone controls along with phase and on/off switches for each pickup, and a toggle killswitch, this unique model allows the player to shape their tone to meet the demands of your music. A vintage-style Jazzmaster bridge, large ‘60s-style headstock and metal control plate offer stylish looks and practical usage.
The Gary Jarman Signature Bass was designed in collaboration with the team at Squire and offers an amalgam of features from The Cribs bassist’s favourite Fender instruments. Sporting a growling P Bass split-coil middle pickup for roaring, punchy tone, the distinctive body shape borrows elements from the traditional Precision shape, as well as the rarely-seen Bass V. A HiMass bridge delivers added sustain and attack, while Jazz Bass control knobs, a metal control plate and original Precision Bass headstock complete the package.
Both models are available to pre-order now.
NAMM: Gretsch Streamliner Series
These new Gretsch models won't break the bank.
What is happening!?
2016 may well be the year that Gretsch broke the mold with their absolutely mind blowing Streamliner series. The new budget line series of guitars from Gretsch; the Streamliner range features double cuts, single cuts and junior models in such majestic finishes as Gold Dust, Walnut Stain, and Torino Green. If that wasn't enough, a number of the models come fitted with Bigsby's and all feature the brand new Broad'tron humbuckers, Gretsch's venture into full-size humbucking pick-ups.
Every model in the series comes in at under £400, making the Streamliner series probably the most affordable and best looking range of guitars on the market as of 2016.
Grab a bargain!
NAMM 2016: Hungry Robot WASH
This interesting delay creates beautiful and haunting effects.
Hungry Robot have announced the WASH, a tap-tempo enabled wash delay.
At its most basic, The Wash is an analog-voiced, tap-tempo delay with just over 1000ms of delay time. The Wash can be used independently as a standalone delay or with in conjunction with "Wash Circuit."
The Wash circuit (right footswitch) adds reverb to the signal and through a complicated network of internal feedback loops, subtle multi-head Binson effect, and what Hungry Robot have coined "ripple effect," It works to add a wash to your signal in ways that can't be accomplished by stacking reverbs and delays in series. It does all of this while keeping the clarity and presence of your original signal without getting lost in the soup of decay.
Hungry Robot WASH features:
• "Ripple" knob controls The Ripple Effect. The Ripple Effect is a feature in which each successive delay trail slowly scatters and transforms into reverb.
• The "Resonance" knob is to fine-tune the resonance and decay of the wash.
• The Middle "The Wash" knob controls the mix/level of the wash.
NAMM 2016: Hungry Robot Karman Line
A joystick controlled delay? YES PLEASE.
Hungry Robot have announced the Kármán Line, a joystick delay and oscillation device designed with experimental musicians in mind.
The base of the pedal is a delay that is heavily filtered and becomes darker with every successive repeat. Though the delay is digital, its voicing is heavily influenced by the dark repeats and degenerative decay in delays like the DM-2 which is known for its beautiful self-oscillation. It also boasts an LFO driven, analog modulation for vinyl-esque warping.
The Y-Axis of the joystick changes the delay time (up to 1000ms) and the X-Axis controls the modulation rate. The Kármán Line employs a delay chip that makes an audible warping noise when you change the delay time for very interesting results, especially when the delay is driven into self-oscillation.
The right footswitch is called "Launch" switch. When you turn this on, it automatically overloads the circuit with out-of-control ramping oscillation. Because of the unique characteristics of the delay chip, manipulating the joystick gives you some out-of-this-world alien sounds. The Kármán Line has a secondary mix knob that replaces the primary mix knob when the Launch switch is activated.
NAMM 2016: Malekko Sneak Attack and Lil’ Buddy
Malekko are pushing boundaries or in this case, the envelope.
Malekko Heavy Industry have announced the Sneak Attack digitally controlled analogue VCA pedal and Lil' Buddy Expander.
The Sneak Attack is a digitally controlled analog VCA pedal that can also be manually triggered or used in a tremolo mode. The core of the pedal is an Attack/Decay envelope generator with separate length and curve controls for both the attack and decay segments. The envelope can be triggered or cycled in several ways using the input signal, built in footswitch, Lil’ Buddy footswitch or external clock/click track. Lil’ Buddy also expands the feature set to include tap tempo and additional, unique control over the attack and decay.
Sneak Attack and Lil' Buddy Features:
• Attack and Decay Curve control
• Attack and Decay Length control
• Volume/Depth control
• Threshold control with multiplication of tempo by 1,2,3 or 4 while in tap tempo mode
• Single Trigger Modes as well as Cycling (LFO) Modes• Auto trigger using input signal threshold
• Manual trigger using built in footswitch in manual trigger mode (Attack only)
• Manual trigger using Lil’ Buddy external footswitch
• Manual trigger using external click track
• Built in LFO mode cycles the A/D envelope
• Tap tempo LFO using optional Lil’ Buddy external footswitch
• Tap tempo LFO using external click track
NAMM 2016: Marshall CODE amplifiers
Marshall's latest offering includes authentic amp modelling and Bluetooth compatibility.
Marshall and Softube have joined forces to produce the brand new CODE series of amplifiers.
Offering classic and contemporary Marshall tones, the Marshall-Softube modelling includes 14 preamps, four power amps and eight speaker cabinets. Preamps include JTM45 2245, 1962 Bluesbreaker, 1959SLP Plexi, JCM800 2203, JCM2555 Silver Jubilee, JCM2000 DSL100, JVM410H and with the power amp models listed by their valve types. EL34, 5881, EL84 & 6L6 models all appear alongside 1960, 1960V, 1960AX, 1936V, 1912, 1974X speaker cabs.
Offered in 25w, 50w and 100w varieties, there is a CODE combo for every situation. They're joined by a 100w head and series-specific 4x12 cabinet and a compatible footswitch. The entire range is Bluetooth compatible and allows players to stream audio and remotely control the amp via the Marshall Gateway app.
Marshall CODE Series Features:
• 100 user editable presets
• 14 preamp models
• 4 power amp models
• 8 speaker cabinet models
• 24 pro quality FX
• Up to 5 FX simultaneously
• Bluetooth & USB connectivity
• Marshall Gateway compatible
• Headphone output
• Line input
• Tuner
• Programmable footcontroller (sold separately)
Check out Marshall's video demo below:
NAMM: Seymour Duncan Catalina Chorus
A dynamic and interactive chorus.
The Seymour Duncan Catalina Dynamic Chorus is designed for analog character and an unprecedented level of interactivity.
With controls for Mix, Rate, Depth and Delay, as well as a treble-attenuating Tone control for dialing in the clarity or warmth of the wet signal, the Catalina offers an incredible amount of control. It also features a unique Dynamic switch which allows you to interact with the Depth control as you play: the Hard mode signals the chorus depth to increase as you play with more intensity, or flip it to Soft mode and you will receive more effect as you play lighter.
There's also a Threshold control to dial in the sensitivity of the Dynamic feature. The Catalina has a mono input and stereo outputs, and the footswitch is True Bypass.
Like all Seymour Duncan pedals, the Catalina Dynamic Chorus is designed and assembled at the Duncan Santa Barbara, California factory by the same team responsible for our legendary pickups.
Check out Seymour Duncan's demo video below:
NAMM 2016: Electro-Harmonix Bass Preacher
Can you feel the compression?
This might be one of the most exciting game changers of 2016!!!
Yes, I know it's a bass compressor, not the most tantalizing of releases one might think, but the bass compressor market is actually surprisingly tough. The aim of the game recently has been to put as many controls on bass comps as possible, and maybe require the player to have a complete studio engineer's understanding of multi-band compression. Prices have been going through the roof, with the most popular incarnation of last year being the MXR Bass Compressor; a great pedal, riddled with controls for every subtle nuance of your tone, hitting the shelves at between £150 and £180.
Bass players aren't forced into this price range by any means, but the alternatives are non-bass specific simple compressors, such as the Dynacomp or the legendary Boss CS-3, both great, but not 100% designed for the mighty full range of a modern bass guitar.
Enter the EHX Bass Preacher. As simple as it is affordable, the Preacher offers intuitive preset attack settings (fast, medium and slow) a volume control, and a sustain control for the overall compression. The pedal has a broad -10db to +2db making it ideal for either passive or active basses.
What more could you need? The Preacher offers a wide range of usable types of compression without any of the faff of the modern day Bass specific compressor, and hitting the shelves at well under the £100 mark, it will surely sell by the truck load and find its way onto ever discerning bass players board this year.
NAMM 2016: Vox AC Series heads and cabs
Money can't buy me love, but it can now buy me a Vox head and cab!
New for 2016, Vox have announced the reintroduction of their legendary AC-15 and AC-30 heads, coupled with a charming 2x12 cabinet housed in the same chassis as their ever-present AC-30 combo amp.
The announcement isn't especially unexpected, and it certainly doesn't blow the doors off in terms of unique or innovative NAMM releases for this year, but it is nonetheless an extremely important addition to Vox's catalog.
That might seem like an odd statement considering it is nothing more than the separation of two existing combo amplifiers into head and cab's, and that, in both cases, the separation adds at least an extra few pounds to the overall weight of what is already one of the heaviest, most cumbersome amplifiers in its class.
It has certainly been met with mixed reactions by the guitar community. Weight is a hot topic at the moment, and despite being utterly, utterly irrelevant, people have started banging on about it a lot recently. Amplifier manufacturers, ignore this at your peril! Of course, Vox have been reissuing the same amp for nearly 60 years with very little progression in the rest of their catalog, so it's unlikely that they'll pay any attention to this trend.
The reason that this reintroduction is so very important, is that it makes Vox a viable option for touring musicians again. Touring musicians are a key demographic for amplifier manufacturers to appeal to; they buy frequently, they're touring, so the manufacturers equipment is being showcased all over the place, and touring musicians tend to be very loyal, reliability is important, and it, generally speaking, guarantees repeat custom.
Now I'm not suggesting that combos aren't a reasonable option for touring musicians, but 9 times out of 10 it is preferable to use separates for ease of change overs, supporting slots etc. Not to mention, if you're touring, you might want to bring a spare, and who wants to bring a spare combo... let alone an AC-30! The head offers you flexibility, it also gives players the option to partner it with other cabinets should they choose.
The Vox AC-15 and 30 are a massively important part of musical heritage, and until now they have been difficult to integrate into a modern set up for a lot of musicians. Separating them into head units at such affordable prices puts them well within the reach of most musicians and provides interesting competition to Orange and Fender's dominance of the budget amplifier head market.
NAMM 2016: Orange 4 Stroke bass amplifier
Orange's latest bass offering included a four band parametric EQ.
Orange have announced a brand new bass head for 2016, the 4 Stroke.
Full of features aimed at professional bassists, the 4 Stroke offers all analogue design, extensive 4 band parametric EQ section and footswitchable class A compression. Available in 300 or 500W in a 2U rack mountable chassis.
Orange 4 Stroke Features:
• Class AB solid state amplifier.
• Active four band parametric EQ
• Footswitchable Class A compression
• Balanced and line outputs
• 2x parallel Speakon outputs
NAMM: Orange Tiny Terror 10th Anniversary Edition
The original lunchbox amp gets a 10 year anniversary model.
Ten years on from its introduction, the Orange Tiny Terror remains one of the most popular small guitar heads around, and is widely regarded as kickstarting the lunchbox amp revolution. To commemorate ten years of Tiny goodness, the Orange Custom Shop has produced 110 limited edition Tiny Terror compact half-stacks.
Codenamed ‘Shiny Terror’, the 10th Anniversary model is a point-to-point hand-wired version of the original, housed in a stunning mirror-effect, polished stainless steel chassis. Each amp head also comes complete with its own open-back speaker cabinet. Finished in British racing green and fitted with a brace of 10” Celestion G10 Gold alnico speakers, the pair dovetail seamlessly to produce the ultimate Terror tone.
Orange's designer, Ade Emsley talks about the 10th Anniversary Edition…
"I like to keep things simple. The Tiny Terror is probably the amp I’m most proud of. The idea was to make a small amp that didn’t sound like a small amp – all valve, tight, punchy, springy – that didn’t have that ‘5 Watt single-ended amp sound’, which definitely sounds like a small amp! The Tiny Terror meant you could take a proper amp in a gigbag on the train or the bus to the show, borrow a 4×12″ cab from another band on the bill and blow everyone away.
I love output valve distortion and, for me, EL84s have the most musical saturation. 15 Watts cranked is the perfect volume to achieve it. The circuit I came up with for the Tiny Terror was designed with that in mind. It’s a unique channel with only three controls – gain, volume and tone – but it gives you everything from clean to pretty ridiculous. The first gang of the gain pot increases the gain of the first stage and the second gang of the pot increases the impedance of the second stage. This results in the signal pushing into the output valves evenly all the way up. It’s a real musician’s amplifier, so when you play softly you get glistening cleans, and when you dig in it crunches up into rich overdrive – all with the touch of your hands.
The 10th Anniversary model is a hand wired version of the standard Terror. The more traditional components add a certain character to the sound. Carbon comp. resistors pass a signal in a certain way and, with a proper hard-wired amp, you’re effectively soldering solid core legs of components together, so the top end is even sweeter and more defined. The construction of this 10th Anniversary edition is actually slightly different from my hard-wired prototypes. The first Tiny Terror I made was on a tag board, whereas the 10th Anniversary model is totally true point-to-point on a strip. It’s much more fiddly and involved this way but you end up with something that looks as smart as it sounds."
Orange Tiny Terror 10th Anniversary Features:
• Point-to-point handwired head utilises the finest components and heavy gauge copper wire.
• Striking polished steel chassis with ‘Pic’s Only’ styling.
• Bespoke cabinet with 18mm birch plywood shell housing a pair of Celestion G10 Gold drivers.
• Limited to 110 pieces, with each including a certificate of authenticity, signed by Orange founder and CEO Cliff Cooper.
Check out Orange's Tiny Terror documentary here:
NAMM 2016: Orange Two Stroke EQ and Amp Detonator ABY
Two new utility pedals for 2016
Orange have announced two new pedals for 2016, the Two Stroke Boost EQ and the Amp Detonator ABY switch.
Two Stroke Boost EQ
The Two Stroke is Orange's take on the essential clean boost pedal, but with the added versatility of an active 2 band parametric EQ section. 12dB of clean boost, plus and additional 18dB of EQ cut/boost per EQ band. Thanks to the pedal’s charge pump circuit (which doubles the internal voltage and massively increases the headroom), the Two Stroke works placed before or after other pedals, or even in an effects loop.
Check out Orange's video demo here:
The Amp Detonator
The Amp Detonator is the smallest active, fully functional ABY switcher on the market. Featuring two buffered outputs, one with a custom isolating transformer and phase correction switch, the Amp Detonator allows the player to switch between two amps, or use them both at the same time. A tri-colour LED indicates the current switching setting at a glance.
Check out Orange's demo of the Amp Detonator here: