These have to be one of the most anticipated amp releases of 2018 – and now we can finally hear them for the first time, thanks to Andertons.
Vintage-style Marshalls that are priced to go head-to-head with Fender’s Hot Rod series? That come in head or combo format? Yes please! Oh, and they take pedals really well? Take my money now!
Seriously, I think these have the potential to become the standard pedal platform amp. I’m looking forward to trying them myself when they arrive in the shops in mid-April. And there’s a good chance I’ll pickup one of the heads for an upcoming project that I have in mind.
Please head over to YouTube to leave a like and a supportive comment if you enjoyed the Andertons’ video.
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.
Please head over to YouTube to leave a like and a supportive comment if you enjoyed Shane’s video.
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.
Please head over to YouTube to leave a like and a supportive comment if you enjoyed Michael’s video.
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 …!)
Please head over to YouTube to leave a like and a supportive comment for Michael’s video.
Burgs has posted a video of him noodling on a copy of a pre-CBS Strat. What makes this particular copy extra-special is that it’s fitted with a set of pickups wound by Abigail Ybarra.
Everyone has “the one that got away” – a guitar they couldn’t get, didn’t get, or had to sell on. Mine is a Fender 2012 Custom Deluxe Strat, fitted with Abigail Ybarra pickups. It was the best sounding Strat that I’ve ever played.
If you’ve never heard of her, Abigail Ybarra has been winding pickups since the early days. I believe that she retired from Fender a few years ago. There’s something about the pickups she made in her career that just works. They’re highly sought after as a result, especially as it appears that she wasn’t able to pass on her technique to the next generation of pickup winders.
The pickups aren’t the only star in this video. Burgs is noodling a long through his AxeFX, and it sounds really good too. Close your eyes, and see if you can tell it’s digital modelling.
Please head over to YouTube to leave a like and a supportive comment if you enjoyed Burgs’ video.
Continuing this afternoon’s Marshall theme (yeah, the Metro Plex module has made quite the impression this morning 🙂 ), here’s a video from Johan Segeborn looking at a modded Marshall 1987X.
This particular Marshall has been modded so that it can be switched between something like half a dozen classic Marshall circuits. Very cool, if that’s your kind of sound.
It’s also worth a watch just to see how different two guitarists sound, even through the exact same amp and speaker cab.
Please head over to YouTube to leave a like and a supportive comment if you enjoyed Johan’s video.
Pete Thorn – pedal demo maestro extraordinaire – has started a new series of videos: Amps In The Zone. In this series, he’s showing us how he likes to dial in classic amps, along with great explanations of why.
We’re going to learn a lot from these videos.
In the first video in the series, Pete takes a look at vintage Marshall amps, along with the Suhr SL68:
I’m scouring it for any tips I can use to get the most out of my Synergy Metro Plex module 🙂
Please head over to YouTube to leave a like and a supportive comment if you enjoyed Pete’s video.
Over on In The Blues, Shane has posted his demo and review of the new Boss Katana Artist amp.
The Katana Artist is the new top-of-the-line amp in the Katana series from Boss. If I’ve got this right, it’s the same models as the original Katana amps, in a 100W combo platform with a reworked power section – including attenuation – and a better speaker.
I’ve heard the original Katana 50 at gig volumes, and thought it sounded great in person. Katana isn’t trying to be a digital model of other amps. It’s basically it’s own thing, backed with models from Boss’s 40+ years of pedal heritage.
There is a trick to getting the most out of the Katana. Boss modelled the power section to work the same as a tube amp. Run it with the master volume up full, and adjust the channel volume to suit. The Artist’s reworked power section, with the built-in attenuator, should make it even easier to setup even at home tone levels.
Please head over to YouTube to leave a like and a comment if you enjoyed Shane’s video.
This is a very interesting video. It’s a walkthrough of the guitar rigs used by Metallica’s James Hetfield and Kirk Hammett.
Okay, here at the HomeToneBlog, we’re playing to an audience of one – not touring the world playing to arenas full of adoring fans hanging on every single note. There’s still a lot we can learn from seeing what the pros use – and why.
Two things in particular caught my eye in this video.
First off was that Metallica have gone entirely digital modelling for their live amps. The AxeFX has reached the point where it sounds good enough to replace tube amps – and whatever difference there is, it’s not big enough to be worth the challenges of using tube amps.
There’s a telling statement from James’ guitar tech partway through, where he discusses how using AxeFX means they have more time to spend on other aspects of the touring process, like guitar maintenance. Digital modelling promises to sound the same night after night. Tube amps don’t.
Kirk’s guitar tech also throws some light on that decision. He talks about how each tube amp has its own character, and what it can be like when you have to switch to a backup amp when the primary tube amp dies.
The second thing that stood out for me was how they’ve gone with analogue signal paths and switching. Mid-song, they don’t switch patches inside the AxeFX; they switch to a different AxeFX that has the next patch already loaded and ready to go. Why? Analogue just doesn’t have any added latency. Switching is instant.
Something to think about if you’re thinking of gigging with a digital amp yourself one day.
