Well, truth be told: I haven’t played one, and until I do, all I have is an emotional reaction to the announcement.
And my feelings are really mixed.
The pricing was a nice surprise to me. I’m used to PRS charging top dollar for their guitars. In return, you get an amazing musical instrument that’s also often a work of art. Plus this is a signature model.
I was expecting it to be priced around the same as the Custom 24, if not higher. So to see it priced where it is was a really nice surprise. If I was looking for a top-end Strat, it’d make my to-try list on price alone.
The thing I’m not feeling good about is that, in looks at least, it’s a Strat. It’ll have all the little tweaks and improvements that PRS do best, but it’s a Strat. It’s a little too close to being a clone for my comfort.
I don’t know why I’m having this reaction. I grew up playing Strat clones, and I still own one to this day that I’ll never part with. Last month, I was very happily bonding with an Xotic California Classic, and I didn’t have the same reaction then.
This has been teased for months … and now it’s finally out in the open for us all to see.
Let’s not beat about the bush. This is PRS’s take on a vintage Strat, just like the 594, McCarty and SC250 models have all been PRS’s take on the Les Paul.
An interesting thing about the Silver Sky is the pricing. They start from £2,299.99 in the UK. That competes well with Fender Custom Shop Strats, and is in aspirational reach of anyone looking at Fender’s Elite series.
What do you think? An interesting addition to the market?
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Whenever new gear comes out, people ask about it on forums and Facebook groups. Money is tight for most people these days, and many people aren’t covered by the great 14-day return distance-selling laws we enjoy in the UK.
The new Fender pedals are an interesting case in point.
Fender’s put a lot of effort into getting the word out and promoting these from launch. Not only have we seen demos appearing on YouTube, but they’ve also been running online ads for them too.
So when someone recently asked for opinions, it wasn’t a surprise to see people quickly respond with their thoughts. But how many people have actually played them?
At the time of writing, I’m the only person who posted in there and said “yes, I’ve played them.” That’s 1 out of 28 responses.
And that has me thinking. I joined forums and Facebook groups to learn how to get more out of gear, and to learn how to solve some of the problems I’ve run into over the years. Just how many people are offering their opinion (often with complete confidence) without having ever tried or owned the stuff they’re talking about?
It’s something to be aware of, as you look for helpful advice on getting the sounds you want at home.
When Shane recently demoed the new Marshall DSL amps, he liked them so much that he went out and bought one for himself. And he’s kindly gone and posted an in-depth look at what the 40W combo sounds like.
Watch it all the way through to the end for his honest pros and cons of his new amp. and some footage of him using the amp live with an ES-335 style guitar.
If you’re thinking of getting one of these, you’ll find his comments about the two master volumes particularly informative. They’re especially important if you’re thinking of buying this amp to play mostly at home tone volume levels.
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Another one from Michael Nielsen tonight. He’s done a great video looking at how several popular load boxes sound for vintage tones.
Around the 7 minute mark, he talks about a surprising aspect of load boxes – that they drive the amp harder than the real cab does. He then goes on to show the captured waveforms side by side. There’s a few surprises hiding in there too.
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Check this out. Michael Nielsen has posted a video comparing a real mic + cab setup vs 5 different ways to record silently at home. And he’s picked a great way to do it too.
He’s recorded the best sound he could with each approach, and used them in a mix so that you can hear the kind of final results you might be able to get. Best of all: the guitar is soloed to begin with, to give you a taste of what it’s like to simply noodle through each setup.
It isn’t a straight comparison. The real cab has V30s in it, and is mic’d using an SM57. The impulse responses used are of G12M Creambacks with a couple of different mics, and I’d swear that the OX is emulating G12Hs not G12Ms. But that’s kinda the point. He’s gone and done exactly what we’d do ourselves – dial in what he thinks sounds the best.
Do have a read of the comments people have been leaving on his video. It’s clear that not only do people have different tastes, but that different people actually hear different things too.
The other thing that’s interesting? Play it back to back a few times. Once ear fatigue kicks in, just how much difference can you hear any more?
(And just how good does that BE-100 sound?!? Me want …!)
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Earlier today, I had the opportunity to play the new Fender Santa Ana Overdrive for myself. AStrings’ recent demo had left me unsure what this pedal actually was, so I thought I’d go and find out for myself.
And I’m glad that I did.
I ran the Santa Ana into the vibrato channel of a Fender Deluxe Reverb Reissue (DRRI). I went for that amp partly because it’s the clean tone that I’m into right now, and partly because I know that particular DRRI is a very sweet-sounding amp. (If only I had the space for it, it would have come home with me a long time ago!)
For guitars, I used two very different beasts: a single-cut PRS 594, and a certain green Fender Special Telecaster. I’m not sure how I managed to leave the store without the Telecaster …
I haven’t come across another drive pedal that sounds quite like the Santa Ana Overdrive does. To my ears, it does offer something different.
I really liked how it sounded through the DRRI. Roll back the treble and presence a bit, wind up the drive and mids, and there’s a really sweet creamy lead tone there. Roll back the volume on the guitar, and you’re in ZZ-Top-ish Texas tones for rhythm.
There’s a softness to the initial attack that I particularly liked. Along with the pedal’s natural compression, it certainly made me sound a lot more fluid than I really am! I really enjoyed how it tamed the natural spikiness of the Tele’s bridge pickup. I had a hard job handing the Tele back after that 🙂
You can hear an example of what I mean in the jam at the end of this video:
The jam starts just after the 32 minute mark. The tone that Danish Pete gets out his Les Paul is very similar to what I was getting myself today.
Also, check out the earlier jam around the 25 minute mark. Very impressed with how well the Pugulist Distortion pedal worked over the top of the Santa Ana Overdrive in that.
Other thoughts …
The light-up knobs aren’t a gimmick. Even in a well-lit shop, I found they made it quicker to see how the pedal was dialled in. I wonder if we’ll see them catch on with other brands.
The two voices were different, but not drastically so. A bit like how a Tweed is different to a Deluxe, I guess. One was a bit more in your face than the other. Both were very usable.
The boost/extra drive circuit doesn’t change the tone at all. It’s just either a volume gain or increased saturation. I’m not sure that I’d make any use of it personally. I’m more inclined to either ride the volume knob of my guitar, or kick on a second pedal to change the tone.
It’s an interesting pedal, and I’m sure I’ll be picking one up at some point.
We’ve already seen AStrings demo the new Fender pedals, and now it’s the turn of Andertons. Watch the Captain and Danish Pete give you their thoughts on them here:
They’ve got all six pedals out, running them into a Victory V40 Deluxe and a Hot Rod Deluxe v4. These two amps sound very different to the Bassbreaker that AStrings used in their demos, so even if you watched all the excellent AStrings demos, the Andertons’ video offers a different look at these new pedals.
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