Tone. At Home.
Chappers and The Captain have taken a look at the new Hendrix Voodoo Child Stratocasters from Fender’s Custom Shop.
At £4000, they’re priced mainly for collectors of Hendrix memorabilia. They come with certificates, and some other official Hendrix-branded stuff … but at heart, they seem to be Journeyman Strats with reversed headstocks and a reversed bridge pickup.
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Chappers and The Captain have taken a look at the Gretsch G5220 Electromatic Jet.
This is an affordable version of the Duo Jet guitars that I’ve blogged about recently. It features a hard tail rather than a Bigsby, and broadtron pickups.
The body is chambered mahogany, so it’s quite a bit lighter than a Les Paul. On the video, it sounds brighter and less mid-focused than a Les Paul – something I love about my Les Paul Custom.
Watch the video to hear it for yourself, and then please head over to YouTube to leave a like and a supportive comment.
Chappers and The Captain have done a shootout between ten Klon-like pedals.
If you’re not sure what all the hype around the Klon is all about, let me explain …
The Klon is low-gain pedal that (in its day) did something unique. Set as a clean boost, it lifts the guitar in the mix (or in a live setting) thanks to the way it increases the upper mids. And yet – it also does something to the bass response that makes clean tones sound fuller, without making drive tones muddy or boomy.
The hype is partly because, for many years, the only way to get this tone was to get a Klon Centaur. They were hand-built by Bill Finnigain, and due to limited availability they started changing hands in the second hand market for eye-watering amounts of money.
Eventually, klones (with a ‘k’) started appearing. Bill himself created the Klon KTR as a mass-production version of the Centaur, did a deal with JRAD to make them, before JRAD went on to create their own klones.
The most important klone is the Soul Food. It wasn’t the first klone, and I’d argue it is amongst the worst, but it did bring awareness and availability to the mass market. Since then, there’s been an explosion of interest in klones and the Klon thing. Today, there’s plenty of choice to suit all tastes and budgets.
I’ve got three of these on my boards, including the (for me) unmatched Klon KTR. It’s the only one that I’ve tried that doesn’t add a huge bass bump to overdrive tones. That’s something that doesn’t come across in this demo, to be honest.
Watch the video to choose your favourite, and then please head over to YouTube to leave a like and a supportive comment..
Chappers and The Captain have done another of their blindfold challenges: can Rob tell if a guitar is a Fender Telecaster, or a T-style from another brand?
Every time someone on the forums insists that guitars don’t sound that different, or that the differences aren’t that great, I want to make them sit down and watch videos like this. It’s not always easy to tell them apart after YouTube has processed the audio, but in person – and importantly, through a great amp – the differences are real, both in tone and in feel.
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PRS have done a limited run of SE range guitars with quilt tops and a faded satin gray finish. Chappers and The Captain have got their hands on them and boy do they sound good,
These are (almost?) the bottom of PRS’s product line, and that’s reflected in the little things that Chappers point out in the video. But don’t let that put you off.
Listen to the opening jam. That’s one of the best lead tones that Chappers has had on an Andertons video this year. And that’s carried through throughout the entire video.
Watch the video to hear how good they sound, and then head over to YouTube to leave a like and a supportive comment.
Chappers and The Captain have posted their latest blindfold challenge. Can Lee tell a real Tubescreamer from a pool of clones? And which ones will he like?
The Tubescreamer is possibly the most-copied pedal circuit of them all. Most pedal brands have a TS-style pedal in their range, and there’s a TS-style pedal to fit every budget.
It’s not really an overdrive pedal, and that’s very confusing when you get one for the first time. It’s more of a colour pedal, thanks to it’s pronounced mid-hump. Run it into a dirty amp to shape the overall sound, or run it after a gain or fuzz pedal to act as a great boost.
A Strat -> Zendrive -> TS signal chain in particular is a very special sound.
Over the years, I’ve had a few of the pedals in the video, and the one I use is the Mad Professor Little Green Wonder. You can’t get a sense of it from this video, but one of the great things about the LGW (and, indeed, all Mad Professor pedals) is the low noise floor.
I’d love to try a Wampler Clarksdale one day – just waiting for one to turn up at a good 2nd hand price. The J Rockett Blue Note is another pedal featured in this video that I want one day. Burgs did a demo of it years ago now that really sold me on it.
And just how good does the new Hot Rod Deluxe Mk 4 sound?
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Andertons are back with a world exclusive! After PRS took a Fender Strat and stuck a PRS headstock on it, Fender are hitting back with new signature models from Slash and Carlos Santana. After all, if PRS can take an iconic guitar and slap a new headstock on it, why can’t Fender slap one of the most iconic headstocks of all time on a PRS guitar too?
This is an April Fools’ joke from Andertons, based on how the guitar community has reacted to the PRS Silver Sky. The two guitars in the video do exist, and are currently being auctioned on eBay for charity. Full links are in the video description on YouTube, so click through if you fancy bidding on either of these instruments!
Chappers and the Captain have posted the 2nd part of their high-gain amp blindfold challenge. This time, they’re looking at 7 amps at £1,000 or below.
These kind of videos are a great opportunity to hear a bunch of amps side by side. Exact same guitar, exact same guitarist, and it looks like they’re running each amp into the exact same cab (so they’re all mic’d up the same). The only difference is the amp itself.
And these aren’t aspirational boutique sell-a-kidney amps. These are the kind of amps that you’d be looking at if you want a real valve amp for home and gigging.
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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.
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Over on the Andertons channel, Chappers and The Captain take a look at the new PRS SE Standard guitars.
The SE Standard range is their new entry-level line, offering classic PRS guitars at great prices. Whether you’re just starting out or looking for that third guitar after your Strat and Les Paul, take a look at PRS. They make fantastic instruments, and Paul Reed Smith is a great believer in only making instruments that are good enough to use professionally, no matter the price range.
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