Category: Strat
What a freakin’ great band King’s X is. Just amazing. Often said one of the best bands never to “make it,” which I guess means get too rich for your own good, battle alcoholism, and at least once get divorced and/or issue an album of complete shite. Okay, not in every case, but you get […]
Does it get any better than Bad Company for classic rockage? I’ll answer that for you: No! For years I’ve held onto an old Guitar Player with Mick Ralphs on the cover, and of course now I can’t find it…but I did find the interview online. In it Mick goes into some pretty decent gear […]
There’s this issue of the old, defunct but often awesome Guitar Shop mag I have that runs down Dave Gilmour’s live gear from every period of Pink Floyd. Crazy! Actually too much stuff to put in here, but I had to get something in so here we are. The thing that kick-started this post is […]
…The Brian May and Joe Bonamassa Connections Rory Gallagher was Irish. ‘Nuff said. Seriously, Rory was a bad motherFer on the geetar, no doubt. I wish I was more familiar with him and his stuff, but here’s a cursory overview of his gear and tunes for others like me. Rory fans chime in with any […]
At this point it seems like Jimmy Page is the keeper of the Led Zep flame – doesn’t it? Plant isn’t interested, JPJ is awesome but ain’t the point man, so we have Jimmy. And how much of the Zep sound is Jimmy? He obviously wrote the riffs and a bunch of the tunes, but […]
In a 1978 interview for Guitar Player magazine, this guitar-slinger said the following: > He created his own guitar by mixing and matching parts from Fender instruments. > Part of the creation was chiseling out a spot so he could put a humbucker in the guitar. > The pickups were directly mounted to the wood.
My buddies convinced me to go see The Smithereens Sunday night, a free outdoor show at “Maplewoodstock” in Maplewood, NJ. I’ve never been a Smithereens fan, and never not been a Smithereens fan, if you know what I mean. Knew a couple songs from the radio back in the day when rock was on and […]
The Fender Jeff Beck signature Strat – MSRP of $2,199 – is a unique animal in Strat-dom. Meaning basically it’s a customized standard Strat. But the one Fender sells isn’t much like the one Jeff plays. The Fender Beck Strat has a Strat-standard alder body, maple neck (9.5″ radius) and rosewood board. But per Beck’s […]
Not Peavey Maces! Peave Mace, Peavey Mace, all we’ve heard for years is that the Lynyrd Skynyrd guys used Peavey Mace amps. Somewhat true. They did, but not all the time – and apparently not on the recording of ‘Sweet Home Alabama.’ Stumbled onto an interview with one of the engineers of that tune (off […]
Is a Strat a rock instrument? Seriously. I’m talking about a Strat with a single-coil pickup at the bridge. If so, can you name five rock Strat players in 10 seconds? How about five rock Strat players whose tones you’d want to cop? I can only name two. I’m not dissing Tommy Bolin or anyone […]
It’s no secret that I like Joe Bonamassa. The guy is flying the flag – of blues, blues-rock and classic rock. Works hard too. Tours his butt off and puts out new music like bands used to do in the old days: Black Rock about a year ago, Black Country Communion (they’re touring, so get […]
Part 1 – Plus Iso Tracks! I love Mick Jones’ stuff. Simple riffs, great song hooks and I love the tone he has on some of the older tunes. It’s Marshall plexi, but…different. I’d always thought I heard something different there, anyway. Maybe it had to do with the odd wiring in his Les Paul. […]
I’ve had these three old Guitar Player magazine interviews kicking around on my desktop for a while now, decided to wind them up into one post. Interesting stuff, here are the most interesting tone-related excerpts:
Wow. A man dying so young and out of the blue (no apparent sickness or substance abuse) is a body blow in the guitar community. RIP Gary! Had to do a tribute of sorts. Thought for a while about what to do, here’s the result. Hope you enjoy. (Diehard Moore fans, please contribute any gear […]
Yngwie Malmsteen’s signature Marshall has gotten a lot of interest, seemingly more because people like the idea of a 100w Marshall plexi with attentuation (power scaling) than because it’s a signature amp. With the recent NAMM trade show now over, some more details of the amp have come out.
Fair Warning Tone Ain’t All the Same
Got it in my head to figure out which Van Halen song tones – not album tones – I liked the most. Started with Fair Warning, whose balls I just can’t get enough of…which doesn’t sound so good but you get what I mean. Listen to it cranked in my car because that’s the only […]
Pondering VH’s Fair Warning Tone
LOVE the first four Van Halen albums. Always have, always will. Love the rest too, including the Van Hagar years (oops, forgot about VH III…), but those first four vinyl donuts are to me and many others just the nads. The nadliest of nads. They’re a band kicking the world’s butt in every way, and […]
Recently I was ruined yet again by a good amp. This time a bud’s Bogner Shiva, EL34 version. Let’s call him Sean – because that’s his name…. He’d been talking about how awesome it was for a while, and even though I know he has good ears, wasn’t too motivated to go try it. I’d […]
The Gene-EVH-Ace-Joe Perry Connection
Have you picked up “Guitar World Presents 40 Years of Van Halen” yet? Zactly – I didn’t even know it existed until I saw it in a bookstore (remember those? lol). Anyhow, I’m always amazed at how I think I’ve memorized every word ever written about Ed and his gear and then I read something […]
More On the YMI5150 Model-A Guitar
Few weeks ago I posted a brief “review” (outdated word) of Kevin Holbrook’s YMI5150 Model-A guitar. As a brief reminder, what got my attention were the following things: > A good wood combo: swamp ash, maple/rosewood. > An interesting and unique combo of components resulting in a Strat-shaped and -scaled guitar with an ABR bridge […]
Did You Read the Esquire EVH Piece Yet?
We’re going to have to wait yet another week for the interview with Kevin Holbrook of YMI5150 guitars because we have yet another newsworthy event. This time it’s the recent Esquire interview with Edward Van Halen. Now before you EVH fans get to getting your hopes up, let’s bear in mind the same ol’s: 1. […]
Show ‘Review’: Van Halen at the Garden
Took my 10-year-old son to see Van Halen at Madison Square Garden in New York City on March 1. I think he was more excited to see them than I was – not that I wasn’t, but this was the mighty Van Halen whose tunes the both of us have copped, jammed to and listened […]
