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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The new Vox amPlug is a headphone guitar amp that can fit in the palm of your hand. Just plug it into your guitar, put on your headphones, and start enjoying serious guitar tones with amazing presence. You can choose from three types of sound. There’s the aptly named “AC30“ which gives you the top boost sound of a vintage Vox AC30, “Classic Rock“ which delivers the classic high gain sound of a UK-manufactured 100W amp, and “Metal“ which produces the aggressively powerful metal sound of a US-made amp. With these three different amplug products to choose from, you can start enjoying whatever guitar sound suits your mood for today.
With its completely analog design, great care was also taken with amPlug’s gain circuitry. The “AC30“ uses two natural-sounding gain stages to reproduce the distinctive AC30 tone. “Classic Rock“ uses four classical gain circuits to deliver that great sound. “Metal“ uses two stages of ultra-high gain plus a mid-cut circuit, giving you modern metal high-gain sound anywhere and anytime. Even the circuit response of the original amp is simulated completely. The simulation extends not only to the response of the tone circuits, but also to the way in which the high frequency and gain are affected when you turn down the volume control of the guitar. Every detail has been faithfully reproduced. (more…)
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Guitar Parts by Mark Starlin
A good workman knows his tools. Below are diagrams of the two most popular types of guitars: electric and steel string acoustic (classical or nylon string guitar parts are basically the same as steel string acoustic guitar parts.) Each type has numerous variations but the parts are basically the same. Some electrics may have two Humbucker pickups while others may have three Single Coil pickups, but they are all still pickups. On electric guitars the bridge can be part of a single unit with a “tremolo” (like a Stratocaster) or it can be a separate unit and include a Stop Tailpiece (like a Les Paul.)
There are also various terms for the same items. For example: tuners, tuning machines, tuning keys, and tuning pegs are all the same thing. Tremolos, vibratos, and whammy bars are also the same thing. The Fretboard is the piece of wood on the top of the neck that contains the frets, although this is often referred to as “the neck.” Compare these diagrams with your guitar and you should be able to figure out the parts of your guitar.
It is not necessary to memorize all these parts immediately, but you should refer back to this section from time to time until you do know them all.
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