NAMM 2017: Outlaw Effects announce two new pedals
A new micro tremolo and overdrive for 2017.
Outlaw Effects have announced two new mini stompboxes, the Rocker Box Tremolo and Deputy Marshal Plexi Distortion.
The Rocker Box is an optical tremolo pedal that offers players rich and natural sounding tremolo effects. A Bias control adjusts the tonal complexion of the sound wave delivering everything from smooth and polished trem to the looser, non-symmetrical waveforms of vintage tube amps. Depth and Speed controls offer the ability to further fine-tune the effect.
The Deputy Marshal captures the sound of Plexi-era British tube amps that defined the classic rock era. Standard Gain, Tone and Volume controls allow the player to dial in his or her distortion tone with precision. A Bright/Normal toggle switch offers even more versatility, with beefed-up highs just a flick of a switch away. As with the Rocker Box, the Deputy Marshal offers true bypass operation.
Both pedals retail for $60 and will begin shipping in February 2017.
Shergold Guitars return!
A legendary British brand is resurrected for 2017.
After years in the wilderness, Shergold Guitars are being relaunched in 2017.
With a British legacy reaching back as far as 1968, Shergold Guitars enjoyed their heyday in the late 1970s and early 1980s when bands such as Genesis, New Order and Joy Division chose the guitars and basses as their go-to instruments. Now, luthier Patrick Eggle and distributor Barnes & Mullins have joined forces to resurrect the legendary brand.
The first model to return to the market is based around a single Masquerader model shape, and is available with three pickup configurations and in four colour finishes. A solid mahogany body and solid rosewood neck are paired with a custom-designed bridge and Patrick Eggle's personal choice of genuine USA-made Seymour Duncan pickups.
Prices are £765 for the P90 equipped Masquerader SM01SD, £835 for the 2 Single Coil Humbucker equipped Masquerader SM02SD, and £809 for the 3 Single coil loaded Masquerader SM03SD. All three variants will start shipping in early 2017.
Italia announced Jeffery Foskett Signature
This new Italia will help you create the Pet Sounds in your head.
Italia guitars have announced a brand new signature model for Beach Boys vocalist/guitarist Jeffery Foskett. Designed in collaboration with the longtime Beach Boy, the ITJF12 features a chambered alder body and ash back, mated to a hard rock maple set neck with 22 fret rosewood fingerboard.
A matched pair of Wilkinson WPM mini double coil pickups are paired with master volume, tone and blend controls, plus individual on/off switches with LED indicators. Furthermore the ‘FosQ’ enhancer switch engages two further controls ‘Jangle’ and ‘Boost’ for even more tonal variation.
“I’ve played thousands of shows and hundreds of guitars in search of ‘my’ sound”, says Jeffery “I wanted the jangle of McGuinn’s and the smoothness of Carl Wilson’s tones, along with a few other features I’ve always dreamed about.”
With a Wilkinson VS50K-2 bridge and a set of Italia locking machine heads completing its impressive specification, the ITJF12 is a fantastic addition to the Italia lineup.
Finished in Cobalt Blue the Italia Jeffery Foskett Signature comes with a luxury padded Italia guitar bag.
SUMMER NAMM 2016: Reverend JW-1 Jenn Wasner Signature Model
Reverend win the award for the most eye-catching guitar at Summer NAMM 2016.
Looking for a guitar to help you stand out from the crowd? Then Reverend have the guitar for you at Summer NAMM 2016.
Jenn Wasner, of Wye Oak, Flock of Dimes, and Dungeonesse, has been playing Reverend Guitars since a friend showed her the Charger HB – the dynamo of the line with humbucker power that creates big, clear tones. When Reverend CEO Ken Haas reached out to her about building the Reverend Jenn Wasner Signature JW-1, she suggested something to match her April Camlin designed outfits that she wears on stage and that inform much of the visual aesthetic of her upcoming Flock of Dimes debut LP. Ken, who is always looking for something new and creative, agreed.
April is a Baltimore-based textile artist who designed a pattern called “Optic Interruption.” She adaptedit for the project, and Reverend designer Joe Naylor matched it to the Charger HB-style guitar. The visual effect is as dynamic as the sound.
Specifications:
- Classic H humbuckers specially designed for a balanced volume and tone when switching.
- 25.5” scale maple neck adds clarity to the tone.
- Body graphic of textile artist April Camlin’s “Optic Interruption,” while the back and sides are Midnight Black to highlight the pattern.
- Korina body
- Graphite nut
- Locking tuners
- Reverend’s Bass Contour Control
- Dual-action truss rod
See more at www.reverendguitars.com
Summer NAMM 2016: Outlaw Effects introduces four new pedals
These compact pedals could solve all of your pedalboard woes.
Micro effects pedal company Outlaw Effects has introduced two new power supplies and two new micro pedals.
The Power Supplies
The Kerosene (MSRP: $79.00) micro power supply helps users streamline their pedal boards by eliminating individual power cords/wall adapters. With eight 9V DC outputs each offering 300mA of current, and 2000mA of overall output, Kerosene has plenty of fuel to burn.
The Iron Horse (MSRP: $89.00) tuner/power supply features eight 9V DC outputs, two of which offer 500mA and the other six providing 100mA. The integrated tuner boasts a large 1 5/8" x 1 1/8" easy-to-read LCD display. Your signal is muted when tuning, and True Bypass switching retains the purity of your signal when the tuner is not in use.
Kerosene and Iron Horse each include eight 550mm DC connector cables, allowing the user to power a wide assortment of pedals and two 200mm polarity converter cables, making it possible to power pedals that require a positive-center.
The Pedals
The Lasso Looper (MSRP: $99.00) is a compact-sized 24 bit, 44kHz looping pedal lets you build multiple layers of guitar sound into rich sonic creations. Lasso Looper features a generous 10 minutes of recording time and unlimited overdubs, and allows users to record, playback, overdub, stop and delete all at the touch of a single, easy-to-use footswitch.
The Six Shooter II (MSRP: $45.00), is a new and improved version of the company's popular Six Shooter tuner pedal. This precision, compact-sized chromatic tuner is suitable for a wide range of instruments. The Six Shooter II features a quicker response time and more accuracy than its predecessor, and boasts a larger LCD screen (1 3/16" x 2").
Xvive announce two new Thomas Blug signature pedals
The two new signature pedals offer a variety of rock tones.
Xvive's range of compact pedals continues to grow with two new signature pedals from German guitar virtuoso Thomas Blug.
The Sweet Leo overdrive allows the player to blend a cleaner, more elegant overdrive tone with shimmering high end redolent of a iconic Class A valve amplifier. Crank up the Drive and Growl controls you have an instant dirty overdriven ‘tweed’ amp sound. Designer Thomas Blug describes the range of sounds as “clean, transparent vintage tones and anything in between".
The DynaRock is an open dynamic and warm pedal that comes close to the natural tone of tube amplification. With tons of punch and dynamic expression for classic rock tones, the DynaRock has classic gain with real tubelike dynamics.
Both are available now for £59.99
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.
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!
Vox announce AV Series combos
Three new models that feature analogue modelling technology.
Vox Amplification have announced the AV Series, a brand new range of amplifiers that combine 12AX7 valves and analogue amp modelling. With three models available, the AV Series ranges from the small, home-use AV15 to the giggable AV60. The full specifications are:
AV15
• 15 Watts of power through a custom VOX 8” speaker
• True analog circuit design complete with a twin triode 12AX7 tube
• Achieve authentic tones with eight, all-analog amp models
AV30
• 30 Watts of power through a custom VOX 10” speaker
• True analog circuit design complete with two 12AX7 tubes
• Achieve authentic tones with two sets of eight, all-analog amp models
AV60
• 60 Watts of power through a custom VOX 12” speaker
• True analog circuit design complete with two 12AX7 tubes
• Achieve authentic tones with two sets of eight, all-analog amp models
Check out Vox's video demo of the AV Series below:
The Gear of ArcTanGent: Bear Makes Ninja
A look into the unique and bizarre set ups of the bands responsible for pushing effects driven music into new territories. In this episode we take a look at Bear Makes Ninja's resident Jagmaster wielding tap dancer.
Over the last 3 years ArcTanGent Festival has been responsible for uniting some of the most interesting guitar music being made. Technically there have probably been more effect pedals in one place over the ATG weekend than there are in a Boss Factory.
Following another amazing year of ATG I caught up with some of the most brilliant bands playing the festival and had a chat with them about their weird and wonderful gear.
Bear Makes Ninja make quintessential British Math-Rock. Their classic 3-piece format allows each instrument to shine in its own completely unique way. Their quirky rhythm section is as off kilter as it is solid, and gives the effect crazed guitar enough room to flail wildly about in a refreshingly poppy fashion.
I hooked up with James, the band's Jagmaster wielding tap dancer, and asked him a few super nerdy questions about his set up...
Walk me through your pedal board. What goes into what?
Firstly, the board itself....I made it from a wooden pallet! I took inspiration from Pedaltrain and this crazy thing I saw online with the holes to tidy the cables away. It's the third one I've made so far and seems to be holding together nicely! I plan on painting it soon too.
Set up wise, I have the guitar going into a Behringer Compressor. This stays on permanently and just neatens up my tone a little bit, providing a bit more clarity and punch and it sustains really well too! I've had a few Behringers and have been replacing them as time goes by. They're great for anyone wanting an introduction to pedals without the high costs, but tonally some of them do suffer when compared to higher priced pedals.
From the compressor into my TC Electronics Polytune 2. I find that having the compressor first just helps the tuner to be a little more accurate, cutting tuning times down a little. The polytune is great, nice and accurate with a screen that I've never had problems reading from. It also has a power in AND out, meaning that I can power more pedals from this too!
I currently have an Artec Powerbrick, which I've mounted under the board, which powers the 8 pedals I have on there at the moment, but I feel I will have to upgrade this at some point soon!
Next, we go from the tuner and into the EHX Pitch Fork. This is a great little octave pedal, I'm using it mostly on the 1 up and 1 down setting, allowing me to play 3 octaves at once, which is great for single note riffage! It's one of the best octave pedal I've played in terms of tracking and you can even plug an expression pedal into it so you can pretty much use it like a digitech whammy!
The Pitch Fork then goes into a Nux Mod Core. I bought this a couple of years ago for about £30, mainly because it has ton of effects, which are really tweakable with the addition of a 'deluxe' switch, which essentially doubles the amount of effects on the pedal by adding extra beats and sweeps in the effects. I'm using the Phaser setting at the moment in a couple of tunes. I just wanted to play around with a few different noises and on my tight budget this was a great find!
The NUX goes into a Behringer Digital Reverb. This is one of the first pedals I bought, again because it had the most effects to experiment with for the cheapest price. I tend to use the Cave setting the most, but the Room setting is nice too. The 'Space' setting is my favourite, which adds octaves to the reverb. Mmmm octaves! I'm aiming to replace this pedal soon though as I've noticed that whilst it was a great introduction for me into Planet Verb, it seems to suck a lot of tone from the original guitar sound, compared to others I've tried more recently. My favourite so far is the Line 6 Verbzilla, which I think the Behringer is based on as it has a lot of the same effects, but there's so much more clarity and warmth with the Line 6.
Next up is another Behringer. This one has been my favourite and probably the most important pedal on my board. It's called an 'Ultra Shifter Harmonist' and the setting I bought it for is called 'Trem Bar'. With this, you can make your guitar sweep up or down an octave, or any note in between at a whole range of speeds, from siren-slow, to pretty much instantly. For a mere £35, it's provided me with loads of fun and although the other settings aren't really that great tracking-wise, sometimes that can provide an interesting, crapped-out sort of effect in itself! It's the pedal I mostly get asked about after we play at gigs.
From there is a Boss Mega Distortion, which gives me loads of distortion, but not too much that it goes into chuggy metal territory. I wanted a distortion that was nice and clear when playing 4, 5, or 6 note chords with high gain and this does the job well! For recording, I use a Wampler Slostortion, which is a bit more difficult for me to use live, but is a tad more versatile and has a bit more clarity in tone.
The last pedal is a Boss RC-30 Loopstation. This I use for live looping some guitar parts and also as a riff bank. I'll record ideas into it and save them on it's memory for practice sessions etc. You can also plug it into a computer and load samples onto it, or copy your saved loops onto your computer. Last Halloween, we loaded horror movie themes onto it and played them in between songs at a show we played!
Interesting tones are so often the result of stacking rather than a single stomp box. Is there a selection of pedals that you find stack especially well to create something unusual?
I've been using the Trem Bar setting on the Harmonist with the pitchfork for some meaty 3 octave sweeps and the Reverb and Mod Core pedals stack up nicely to create a 'Phasey cave' sound. Both of these feature quite a bit on the newBear Makes Ninja album we've just recorded and hope to release in March next year.
What is your choice of amplification, what led you to this choice, and how do you make it your own?
My current amp is one I've had for many years. It's a 100w Laney TF300 Valvestate combo, but I wasn't quite getting the power I wanted from the single 12" speaker that was supplied, so I bought a Kustom 4x12 cab and started running the combo through that. It was loads louder and clearer now, so I had no need for the single 12" speaker and promptly chopped it out, effectively making it a head unit and ultimately taking up less space in the van/car/train/bus/ferry! I then painted the wood I had used to make a new shell and fitted it with some old denim and some handmade glow-in-the-dark knobs! Ahhhh, pretty!
My favourite feature of this amp, and probably the reason I haven't upgraded yet is the 'Vibe' switch on the far right. I have no idea of the technicalities behind this switch, but it just makes everything more better! Without it, the distortion sounds fuzzy, but with it on, it's a lot tighter, and it just makes the cleans a lot fatter sounding too!
I did borrow a mates Marshall JCM 900 for a while, which was awesome so when I have the pennies I may have to invest in something with valves!
What is your choice of guitar, how did you come to play that guitar, and what makes you stick with it?
The Jagmaster has been my long time guitar of choice. It was a present for my 16th birthday, back when I worshipped grunge! I've had many guitars since, including a more recent remake of this model, but nothing has compared so far! I can't really pinpoint it as its half rusted out, half replaced, knocked and banged about, but I guess it's the feel of it. I've bought higher priced guitars that I thought would be similar, only to be disappointed and return to this one! The next guitar I hope to try out is a Vintage Modified Squier Jaguar HH. It's the closest thing I can find to my Jagmaster as Fender don't even make a version!
I mainly use the neck pickups on this guitar and I find the factory fitted humbuckers on this model produce a nice thick bluesy tone, whilst the bridge pickups have clear mids and highs without being too raspy.
