review from mark starlin 
Here this is the my favorite Picks, The Dunlop Jazz III has become a key element in guitarist Eric Johnson’s fluid and seamless style. With its pointed tip and rounded edge the Dunlop Jazz III gives players great control and speed. Working with Eric to recreate a prized vintage Jazz III from his personal collection, Dunlop used the most advanced laser scan and molding techniques available. The result? The Eric Johnson Classic Jazz III pick, with an even more refined and smooth tip, increased flexibility, and a matte finish with raised logos that offer an incredible gripping surface.
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Review by Mark Starlin Some guitar player give no thought to the condition of thei guitar They regularly bang them around and feel the resulting “battle scars” give their guitars character. Others polish their guitars lovingly and always keep them in a case like prized jewels. If you don’t really care how your guitar looks, you don’t need Scratch Pad. But if you prefer to keep your guitar looking as good as possible, read on. (more…)
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Review by Mark Starlin , Back in the early 70’s, channel switching, high gain amps had yet to be invented. To get that soaring, infinite sustain, players would often resort to tricks such as running one amp into another (a disaster waiting to happen) or having someone hot rod their amp (which is how some well known amp makers got their start.) Randy Bachman, who was a member of The Guess Who at the time, and later Bachman Turner Overdrive (BTO), had his repairman, Gar Gilles, build him a tube preamp with two gain stages. This simulated the effect of running one amp into another without the inherent danger. This unique tone was made famous on the classic Guess Who hit American Woman. The Tech 21 American Woman pedal was designed to capture that classic tone in a pedal. Does it succeed? Let’s see.
That Sound
Naturally, any sound on a recording is the result of several factors. In the case of American Woman, it was the result of ’59 Les Paul, the two stage preamp, a Garnet amp, an RCA ribbon microphone, an RCA compressor/limiter, tape saturation, and lest we forget: Randy’s technique and choice of notes. Can one pedal possibly recreate all that? With the exception of Randy’s technique, the answer is yes. In fact, when I popped The Guess Who’s Greatest Hits in my CD player and played along (using my Les Paul) with the lead lines on the song American Woman, it was shocking how close I could get to that famous tone. (more…)
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Review by Mark StarlinWhen I first saw the new Pocket POD and how small it was, I couldn’t help but think of a gadget I had back in the early 1980’s called the Rockman. Guitar players who were around back then will remember that the Rockman was a compact headphone guitar amplifier created by Tom Scholz, the guitarist from the band Boston (who also had a Masters degree in engineering!) When you plugged your guitar into the Rockman and played, you essentially had the guitar sound of the band Boston coming through your headphones. This was way before amp modeling and was very cool at the time. Still, it was limited to a couple of tones and effects that you couldn’t tweak.
The Pocket POD is also a portable headphone guitar amp (plus a performance and recording device), except this one is designed for the 21st Century and has more features and tones than you would expect to fit in such a small package. And instead of sounding like one band, it comes with tones programmed by several different bands (and enough others to sound like just about any band.)
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Review by Mark Starlin For the first time, a plug-in entirely dedicated to heavy-metal gear with an arsenal of 36 highly acclaimed modern/vintage amps and stomp box models spanning from the late 70’s through the 90’s. Seven highly sought-after distortion pedals plus five other must-have metal stomp-boxes, four amp heads and eight cabinets for 32 high-gain amp combinations, plus eight rack effects that rock!
All of this available in the familiar and extremely easy-to-use Powered by IK Multimedia AmpliTube interface which is laid down the same way your guitar rig is set up and with controls no more than two clicks away.
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