Godin Guitars Gone Wild! Godin Guitars Creations

In the past decade, Godin Guitars have been making quite a name for themselves with their beautifully designed guitars becoming more and more popular each day. This isn’t only because of their looks, but functionality as well. This year, Godin overwhelmed Winter NAMM with many new, affordable instruments. Read more

NAMM 2011: Tech 21 unveils three new guitar pedals

NAMM 2011 — The evolution of the chorus effect seems to have gotten stuck in ’80s pop, along with over-processed guitars, cheesy synths and popped collars. This ain’t that kind of chorus.

When we designed the Boost Chorus pedals we went back to the ’70s, when choruses were rich, smooth and manly. We figured out what made these vintage stompboxes sound so good and poured that knowledge into a new kind of chorus pedal with greatly improved performance and a whole slew of never-before-heard sounds. Slapback, echo, flanging and doubling effects are all possible from the modestly named Boost Chorus pedals.

Tech 21 Boost Chorus

Designed primarily for guitar (but sounds great on everything else) the Boost Chorus features unprecedented tweakability for this type of pedal. No fewer than six controls allow players to easily dial-in the right tone, speed and depth of the effect.

The Mix control allows a 0-100% wet blend of the effect, while the Level control offers increasing amounts of boost to compensate for the volume loss perceived with chorus. The final control is the Pre-Delay, which alters the chorus’ range to produce effects from flange/chorus, to regular chorus, to chorus/doubler.

The secret weapon is the Multi Voice switch. Engage this to bask in the multiple chorus voices of an Ensemble-style effect

Tech 21 Boost Chorus Bass

Because of the way traditional chorus pedals typically interact with their amps, most bass players would rather put an angry badger on their pedalboard. The Boost Chorus Bass avoids seasick tones, and badgers, through a specially-tailored design.

It features the same control set as the standard Boost Chorus, including the Multi Voice switch, but differs in having a Detune control in place of the Pre-Delay. The Detune control adjusts the pitch of the choral voices, adding sonic girth to create thick, lush, bass-perfect chorus.

Speed and Depth controls add modulation, so at minimum your fundamental notes are preserved. Finally, a chorus that works in harmony with your bass.

Roto Choir

No musician can deny the deep, swirling glory of a vintage rotating speaker cabinet, that uniquely lush, pulsing tone that brings any instrument to life. So, why doesn’t everyone use one? Because they’re the size and weight of a bulky refrigerator, cost big bucks and are more high-maintenance than a platinum diva.

But, imagine getting all of that inspiring rich modulation with cutting-edge features in a studio-quiet, road-worthy pedal. Just one little pedal. Now imagine you can use that pedal with guitar and to record direct.

The Roto Choir recreates both the rotating lower speaker and the treble rotor horn – the only way to attain that complex, multi-dimensional tone. In fact, the Roto Choir utilities a specifically formulated SansAmp technology to deliver the entire signal chain – from the original tube power amp to the speaker and high-frequency rotor horn, to the microphone used to capture it. This is HD, 3D emulation.

The simple controls hide a wealth of options. Drive adds just the right amount of compression, harmonics and grit. Low and High sculpt the tube amp emulation with powerful EQ curves. The Fast/Slow footswitch allows users to ramp up, slow down or even stop the rotating speaker. There’s also a dedicated control to custom set the Top Speed of your rotor. Want to vary the intensity of the effect? Simply adjust the Position control to move the Roto Choir’s virtual mic closer or further from the horns.

Other features include a biamped/single-speaker mode switch, stereo output and a Speaker Sim switch for direct recording. Find the easy way to celestial sounds you can get lost in with the Roto Choir.

Tech 21 Guitar Pedals

NAMM 2011: Black Cat Mini Trem Guitar Pedal

Black Cat Pedals is pleased to announce their latest product, the Black Cat Mini Trem

After focusing on Custom Shop creations over the past year, the Mini Trem is the first standard production Black Cat pedal to be introduced since the company launched its debut line.

The Black Cat Mini Trem is a dual function tremolo/clean boost in one pedal. Part of the legacy of the original Black Cat line, the new Mini Trem sports some additional features and a spiffy new look. Read more

ESP and LTD Snakebyte James Hetfield Signature models

ESP / LTD Guitars — New Signature Series Models from Metallica’s Guitarists and vocalist, James Hetfield. Your eyes aren’t deceiving you. The James Hetfield Snakebyte is a brand new body style for ESP and LTD in 2011. Read more

Enter the Wormhole: Satriani Reveals His Deep-Space Magic

Electric guitar fans everywhere clap your nimble hands.  Our favorite wizard (no, not the bespectacled Harry Potter) has unveiled his current live setup–or, you could say, his book of spells.  For those who don’t know, Joe Satriani is on his Wizards and Wormholes tour, where he’s showcasing songs from the new album, Black Swans and Wormhole Wizards, along with old classics Read more

PRS Expands Guitar Amplifier Line at Experience PRS 2010

Paul Reed Smith “Experience PRS” has become the place for PRS to not only premier new products, but to give customers exclusive access to the latest and greatest in PRS gear. While the Stevensville, Maryland based manufacturer is known for stringed instruments, it has also gained a strong foothold in the amplification industry in recent years. During this year’s fourth annual open house event, PRS unveiled and intimately demonstrated several limited run amplifiers that illustrate PRS’s dedication to innovation and quality. Read more

Ibanez RG321E Electric Guitar

Ibanez Guitars — The Ibanez RG321E electric guitar features a 3-piece maple bolt-on neck with the fast and thin Ibanez wizard II profile and a mahogany body that produces extra punch, warmth, power, chunk, and incredible sustain. The bound rosewood fingerboard has 24 jumbo frets and pearl dot inlays. All hardware is black-chrome, including die-cast tuners and a fixed Gibraltar Standard bridge. The RG Fixed series brings you the world’s premier metal ax-with the simplicity and sustain of a Gibraltar fixed bridge. Not only does the Gibraltar bridge give your more sonic sustain, but also features a low-profile design that offers maximum playing comfort while you pump out those blazing licks. Read more

Orange Launch new Crush and Crush PiX Amps

Orange recently upgraded the Crush PiX range of amps to pack more punch and offer more great value for money. Following on from this, they are announcing at the Frankfurt Musikmesse a range of new models and changes.

2010 see’s the whole Crush PiX range available in an optional cool black finish alongside their instantly recognizable, brightly colored Orange Amplifiers and picture-frame cabinets. Read more

Carvin Guitars walk-through w/ owner Mark Kiesel – NAMM Video

Carvin Guitars owner, Mark Kiesel, is a humble person who is always willing to greet and shake hands with everyone. Kiesel loves talking about guitars as seen in the Winter NAMM 2010 footage below. Read more

Krank Bass Amp – The Dirty Valve D-800

Let’s face it, when you’re thinkin’ Krank, you’re thinkin’ KRANKENSTEIN! You’re thinkin’ “DIMEBAG”!!!!

And you’d be right. But it’s time to think outside the bag. The good folks at Krank didn’t want the guitar slingers to have all the fun…uh, uh…no way. They’ve taken all of that high gain expertise of theirs and created a powerful, multi-faceted bass amp (Bassenstein, maybe?). This latest addition to the Krank line of products is called The Dirty Valve D-800. Read more

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