Category: Guitar GAS

There’s no tone without the guitar, right? Anything and everything to do with guitars.

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PRS Silver Sky – John Mayer Rig Shootout

Today, we have a different kind of demo from Peach Guitars. They’ve done a shootout between John Mayer’s current rig – PRS Silver Sky and JMOD amp – and his old, pre-PRS rig – Fender 63 Stratocaster and a Two-Rock amp.

The PRS Silver Sky continues to be the most talked about guitar of 2018. I still can’t figure why it’s generated the reaction that it has – including my own reaction.

The more I hear it though, the more I’m interested in trying one for myself. To my ears, it sounds like a lot has gone into tuning it to be a great guitar for completely clean tones. That’s where I used to live before moving onto Les Pauls. I’d love to find the right guitar to go back to that style one day.

Please head over to YouTube to leave a like and a supportive comment if you enjoyed Peach Guitars’ video.

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2018 Rig For Clinics

Sam Coulson has posted a short video, showing us the rig he’s using when he’s giving guitar clinics this year.

He’s running a modded Charvel into a Helix, out to the Yamaha THR-100HD. The Yamaha’s setup as a clean platform for the Helix. It’s a simple rig that looks very easy to load in and out without a lot of effort.

I’ve got the Yamaha THR-100HD myself, and for a couple of years it was my main practice amp. It takes pedals better than any other modelling amp did at the time. You can run two amps at once out into different cabs, and that gives you a taste of that two-amp blended tone thing.

My main complaint with the THR-100HD is that it felt like Yamaha abandoned it to a large extent. It’s been a couple of years since the last firmware update, and they haven’t added any new models – or improved the existing ones – since launch. It’s become a very much take-it-or-leave-it amp.

But – unlike some modelling amps – you can use it as an amp, without hooking it up to a computer. Which means that they’ll continue to be usable long into the future.

Please head over to YouTube to leave a like and a supportive comment if you enjoyed Sam’s video.

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Which Is The Best Strat – Fender, Suhr, PRS

Not to be outdone by Anderton’s PRS Silver Sky video today, Thomann have shot a shootout video comparing a real Fender Strat against two of its competitors – Suhr (who used to work for Fender) Classic Pro and the new PRS Silver Sky.

It’s wonderfully click-bait-y – but do we learn anything from this video? I’m not sure that we do.

I didn’t hear much difference between the three – and nowhere near the amount of difference that I was expecting. The extra low end we heard the PRS Silver Sky do on the Andertons video isn’t there, and neither is the high-end from the Suhr’s stainless steel frets. I played a Suhr Classic Pro about a month ago, and in person that extra high-end is far from subtle.

So yeah, I’m surprised, and I’m not sure what to make of it.

Please head over to YouTube to leave a like and a supportive comment if you enjoyed Kris’s video.

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PRS Silver Sky Demo and Discussion

The PRS Silver Sky has been the most-discussed guitar of 2018 … and now Andertons are weighing in with their thoughts. Oh, and they have one to demo for us too.

This is a great video, and not at all the kind of sales-y video you might be expecting. From a first unboxing to first impression playing to discussing many of the points raised online – including comparing it to Fender Strats – there’s a lot of useful ground covered.

One thing in particular – there’s plenty of string bends in this video, showing that the vintage radius isn’t going to cause string bends to choke out.

For me, it sounds fantastic in this video. It has that quintessential Strat tone in buckets. There’s both a top-end snap and a bottom end chime that I personally look for from Strats and the like. The pickups seem nicely balanced in output too, and across the full range of the neck.

When they’re more readily available, I’m definitely going to try one out.

Please head over to YouTube to leave a like and a supportive comment if you enjoyed this video.

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Gretch Jet BT G5220 Demo

A-Strings have just gotten their hands on the new Gretch singlecut guitars, and Adam’s done a demo for their YouTube channel.

These are definitely something a little different from most singlecut-shaped guitars, thanks to the wood choices and the pickups. And I’m a big fan of the new natural look of the backs of these.

Once you’ve got the Holy Trinity of guitars – Les Paul, Strat and Tele – or maybe you just don’t feel any of them are for you, then something like this is well worth a look.

Please head over to YouTube to leave a like and a supportive comment if you enjoyed Adam and Tom’s video.

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Sounds Like – Modern Tones Rig

Matt and Rabea are back with another Sounds Like video for Andertons – and this time they’ve built a generic rig for modern high-gain tones.

If you haven’t come across it before, the Sounds Like series is a great way to see how to build a rig to achieve a given sound.

Many of the videos stick to a budget of £1,500, and it’s been educational to watch just how much prices have gone up since the Brexit referendum.

Please head over to YouTube to leave a like and a supportive comment if you enjoy Matt and Rabea’s video.

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Michael Kelly 508 Demo

Over at Agufish, Hunter has posted his demo of the Michael Kelly 508 guitar – an 8 string djent monster machine.

Even if you’re not looking for a heavy riffage monster of your own, it’s worth checking out his video just for the song he wrote for this demo.

Michael Kelly guitars aren’t carried by the big outlets over here, so I’ve never seen or played one myself. A quick google shows that there are plenty of smaller shops offering them … and I do want a rosewood fretboard T-style of some kind this year …

Please head over to YouTube to leave a like and a supportive comment if you enjoyed Hunter’s video.

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Ernie Ball Music Man BFR Steve Morse Y2D HH Demo

Man, that’s a mouthful! N Stuff Music have posted a demo of Steve Morse’s signature guitar.

This is a very limited edition guitar: there’s only 35 of these been made. Watching the video, it’s clear that Gavin really enjoyed this guitar. I imagine they had a hard time prising it out of his hands once filming was complete.

Please head over to YouTube to leave a like and a supportive comment if you enjoyed Gavin’s video.

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Initial Thoughts On The PRS Silver Sky

This evening, my friend Matt asked me on Twitter:

https://twitter.com/matthew_darcy/status/971115684552937473?s=21

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.

It makes no sense, but there it is.

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PRS Announces The John Mayer Silver Sky

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?

Please head over to YouTube to leave a like and a supportive comment if you enjoyed these PRS videos.