World Music Supply | Smash Pedals

Hey guys, its Brian here with World Music Supply, and today I’m here to talk to you about some of the Smash pedals we carry here at World Music Supply. We went to great lengths and bought out all of Smash pedals entire inventory and now have them all at well below wholesale prices. So don’t let the low price fool you, these pedals can go head to head with pedals costing four or five times as much. We currently offer the Pedal to the Metal distortion, the Sixth Gear Overdrive, the Full Moon Phaser and the WW-100 Wah.

Pedal to the Metal Distortion

first up to bat is the Pedal to the Metal Distortion, if you want a full on gain drenched monster, this pedal has it and at a great price. The pedal is plastic, but it isn’t soft or easily damaged, and I was able to stomp on it again and again without compromising its structural integrity. It has about as much gain on tap as a Boss metal zone, its tone shaping controls are different in that it features just a level, a filter control, and a gain knob, so while it might have the same gain as a Metal Zone, it is voice differently. The Filter control took some getting used to as it works sort of like the tone knob on a tube screamer, but with a larger range from bass to treble, meaning it can get sort of touchy, and it takes a steady hand to really dial in your desired tone, but when you do its worth it. Overall I was pleased with the pedal, it gave out some very saturated tones without ever getting fizzy or tinny, I give the Pedal to the Metal a 9 out of 10, simply because I know some people just don’t trust plastic pedals.

Next up is the Sixth Gear Overdrive.This is the classic pedal overdriver sound in a cheap and

Sixth Gear Overdrive

surprisingly impressive little box. Sounding like a cross between a Digitech Bad Monkey and the classic yellow Boss Overdrive, this pedal honestly did more then I thought it would. Featuring just three controls, level, tone and gain, this pedal may be simplistic, but it certainly does its job. Gain wise, this pedal is nice and balanced, not too much, not too little, just smooth lightly compressed overdrive with just enough sonic teeth to get your leads through even the most cluttered mix. When I used the overdrive in conjunction with a clean-ish tube amp, it gave me the classic sound of a tube amp on the edge, with the added warmth of the tube amp, the pedal sounded just perfect. The Sixth Gear does its job, and does it well, and if you’re looking for an inexpensive new addition to your pedal board I highly recommend the Sixth Gear. I personally give it a 10, its just too good of a deal not to love this pedal, even if it is made of plastic.

Full Moon Phaser

Now its time for the Full Moon Phaser, which I found to be an unexpectedly amazing pedal. It wasn’t too over the top sonically, and did everything a phaser should do, from quick Leslie style swirls; to slow Van Halen approved sweeps, to crazy sci-fi movie ray gun sounds. It features three knobs, Rate Resonance and Depth which means it has two more knobs then I am used to having on a phaser, so this pedal is certainly versatile. I typically don’t use phasers for much, but with this little guy on my board I didn’t turn it off, I just moved around the controls, with three knobs there is a setting for every situation, from the dirtiest distortion tones, to the cleanest cleans, this pedal added just the right amount of movement to my playing to keep it sounding fresh and interesting. While I know most people are happy having a phaser with only one knob, the versatility afforded by having three was certainly something I could get used to. The Full Moon Phaser easily gets a 9 out of 10, because its definitely a lot more then most people need, but like they always say, its better to have too much, then to have too little.

WW-100 Wah

Last on the list is the WW-100 Wah, a personal favorite of mine, why you ask? Simple, because every guitarist has a wah on their board, and every guitarist is always looking for a way to sound just a little bit different then the next, what better way to do this, then just switching out the wah. I found the WW-100 to sound a lot quack-ier then your average Dunlop but not as much as your average Vox, meaning if you want to sound a little different this might just be the wah for you. The throw felt comfortable, not stiff, but not loose, and even though its made of plastic I never once found it to feel fragile or easily damaged, it always felt sturdy and stoic, just like a wah should. It held a lot of classic funky sounds, with the wah never sounding too dark or too bright, and even though it’s the most expensive smash pedal we carry, at such a low price its still one of the cheapest, if not the cheapest wahs we carry at World Music Supply.

Over all I know a lot of people will have their doubts about buying a bunch of plastic pedals, but these are great sounding pedals, plastic aside, and at the end of the day, you buy pedals to make you sound better, and it doesn’t matter to the listener if the gear you’re playing through cost you 100 dollars, or 100,000 dollars, as long as you sound good. So why don’t you give these pedals a chance, and snatch up one of these gems up while we still have them at these great prices, just head on over to Worldmusicsupply.com, and pick up one of these awesome pedals today!

World Music Supply | DBZ Barchetta

Hey guys, its Brian here with World Music Supply, and today, I want to talk a little about DBZ Guitars. DBZ is the brain child of Dean B. Zelinsky, who parted ways with Dean Guitars in mid 2008. In order to give Mr. Zelinsky “personal control over design, direction and quality” he started DBZ guitars shortly after parting ways with his former company.

DBZ Barchetta LT Premier Series in Red

We here at World Music Supply currently carry the DBZ Barchetta, a guitar with all the sonic fire power and visual flash a modern shredder could ask for. We carry the LT Premier series in both the string through hardtail, and the Floyd Rose Pro equipped versions. This series of guitars all feature a heavily carved top, the signature Dean Zelinsky neck profile that is neither too fat, or too skinny, and a set of great sounding DBZ humbucking pickups. We also carry the Absinthe which is a Barchetta style guitar with a special Absinthe graphic, Grover tuners, a Floyd Rose Special, an ebonized rosewood fretboard and special diamond inlays. Lastly we also carry the Bare Bones Series of DBZ guitars, which are Barchetta style guitars, which all feature sleek graphic finishes, a Floyd Rose Special Tremolo, Grover tuners, and a set neck with an ebonized rosewood fretboard with upgraded bare bones inlays.

DBZ Bare Bones Series Devil Graphics

Ive gotten the opportunity to test drive a few of these guitars, and was thoroughly impressed by them in every way. The body style looks far more impressive in person, and pictures just don’t do this guitar justice. It hung comfortably on a strap, and the body bevels made it just as comfortable to play. The tone of these guitars is thick, with no range of the guitar over powering another, and the Floyd Rose worked wonderfully, coming safely back to pitch no matter how far I pushed or pulled it. The ability to coil tap the pickups was a fun feature, and provided me a bit of spanky, single coil tone, which is a nice addition to an already nice guitar.

These were designed by DBZ to be metal and hard rock guitars, and while I understand they were designed to be the guitar equivalent of fire breathing monsters. With the gain turned down I was able to wrangle some rather respectable classic rock tones, and with a clean tone, and the coils split, these guitars even do a fairly impressive impersonation of a strat, so even though they’re marketed as metal guitars, these are very versatile instruments.

DBZ Barchetta FR LT Premier Series in Black

Because of this amazing versatility, in my book the Barchetta series a pure 10 out of 10, as they are stunning guitars at a jaw dropping price, with features and quality rarely found in a guitar in this price range. So why don’t you do yourself a favor, and head on over to Worldmusicsupply.com and snag yourself one of these fantastic guitars before they’re all gone.

World Music Supply | Fender Pawn Shop

Hey Guys, it’s Brian here with World Music Supply and I’m here to talk to you about the new line of Fender Pawnshop Guitars. By now we’re all at least semi-familiar with this new line of Fender guitars, but if you aren’t, let me fill you in. The Pawnshop line is in Fender’s own words are “guitars that never were but should have been.” They’re patterned after some of the more eccentric models that were produced during the latter years of Pre-CBS Fender, when they were coming out with models like the electric XII, the Musiclander, the Marauder, the Bass VI and let’s not forget the Starcaster or the Coronado.
 

          In truth though, the first line of these guitars, the 51 and the 72 are based off of the unexpectedly successful Squier 51, a strange Tele, Strat hybrid that looked like an old 51 P bass scaled down to a normal guitar size. I personally loved the Squier version, with its weird switching system, and no tone control. The fender model though? It took everything I loved about the Squier and supersized it. Fender gave it a hotter humbucker in the bridge, a bolder sounding neck pickup, and a much cleaner, and more intuitive switching system, and don’t even get me started on the 72. I am in love with that guitar, and if they offered it in fiesta red, I would pick one up in a heartbeat….but I digress. Now, Fender has created a new set of wild, retro looking guitars. The Pawn Shop line now includes the Offset Special, the Jaguarillo, a reverse Jaguar bass, and the Mustang Special.

The Fender Offset Special

 

Let’s start first with the Offset Special, the strange, mutant love child of a Fender Jazzmaster, and what looks like a Stratocaster. You want a weird and quirky guitar? This guitar has it in spades. The Jazzmaster has always been one of my favorite guitars, made as an attempt by Mr. Leo Fender to try and diversify his company away from making “country” guitars, he made what he figured jazz guitarists would love, big, full sounding pickups, a floating tremolo, and a circuit just for the neck pickup, so you could get two different flavors of smooth tone. Problem was…jazz guitarists tend to be a pretty conservative bunch, and they didn’t want any part of it.

    The only people to give the model recognition were surf guitarists during the 60′s, but they soon migrated back to their Stratocasters with the success of bands like The Shadows and Dick Dale, and when Fender came out with the Jaguar, the Jazzmaster fell into disuse and mediocrity. It wasn’t until bands like Nirvana and Sonic Youth got their hands on these old relics that Leo had designed for jazz guitarists, now found acceptances by post rockers and grunge players alike. So why did I go through this short history lesson on the Jazzmaster? Well I want to point out just how weird the Offset Special is. They took most of the hardware from the Jazzmaster, one of their least successful guitars of all time, and mated it with the Stratocaster, arguably one of their finest guitars of all time, and what do we end up with? Something amazing, a guitar with all the smooth tone and class of a Jazzmaster, and all the power and playability of a Strat. So in short, what do you get with the Offset Special? We get a hollow, offset, Strat style body, with big steel guitar style pickups, a floating tremolo, and a 21 fret Strat style neck, and the sounds of this thing is huge! It’s like a cross between a Gretch Country Gentleman, and a Jazzmaster. Thanks to the hollow body, and the shorter distance from the tremolo to the bridge, the Offset Special defiantly sounds bigger then a normal Jazzmaster, a bit fuller, a bit rounder, and the floating trem lends itself well to smooth jazzy bends. I love the period correct style of the guitar, what with it looking like a cross between a Jazzmaster, a Stratocaster, and a 72 Tele, the Offset Special has something for everybody. I give it an 8 out of 10 stars, because even though it does have a very distinct tone thanks to the Jazzmaster style pickups which are well suited to country, jazz and certain brands of alternative rock, that same distinctive tone that gives it that signature shimmer and spank, might not lend themselves to heavier styles of music as well. 

The Fender Jaguarillo

          Next up is the Jaguarillo, my personal favorite of the new line up, because its just one of those “really why didn’t they do that sooner?” kind of designs. I’ve seen people do this with Jaguars for years, take out bridge pickup and replace it with a humbucker. By itself that would be enough to make the Jaguarillo a great little guitar, but pair that with a much simpler switching system and a slanted HSS configuration, and you have one monster of a guitar. The Jazzmaster style trem is well suited to bigsby style flutter, or some light vibrato. The HSS configuration is slanted, meaning it makes the low strings sound a little fatter, and the high strings a tiny bit brighter, so it sounds like a Strat, just with a little wider range of tones.  Lastly, something about the offset pickups and the simplified control scheme, just makes this guitar look so, so good. Out of the new pawnshop line up, I like the Jaguarillo the best, especially in the faded sonic blue, easily  9 out of 10 stars, simply because some people might have reservations about buying a guitar with slanted pickups. Regardless, the Jaguarillo looks and sounds amazing!

The Fender Mustang Special

Then, rounding out the Pawnshop Guitar line is the Mustang Special. Now this is something I’ve been hoping fender would do for a long time, introduce a nice small guitar again. Sure I loved the old Mustang, but that tremolo unit on it always frustrated me, sure it worked, but it was just so tedious to maintain, and though I love the sound of fender single-coils, on an instrument this small, they just sounded a tad too bright even for my tastes. So the addition of a good hardtail bridge and some nice fender full-range humbuckers is just what this guitar deserves. The Mustang style switching system is still there, but now with the more powerful pickups, its given a whole new twist of being able to do strange coil tapping, where you can either have the back, or front pickup of the humbucker. Overall I give it a 9 out of 10, because even though I love it, I’m sure a Fender purist is going to be mad that the mustang trem and phase switching isn’t there. This guitar sounds amazing though, purists aside, and I’m glad that Fender finally has a good sounding, and good looking little guitar again, and at an affordable price.

The Fender Reverse Jaguar Bass

Now a strange turn for the line is the more modern flavor of the new Reverse Jaguar Bass. Featuring a Fender high mass modern bridge, a bigblock humbucker in the neck, a reverse jaguar special humbucker in the bridge, and a short-ish scale 32” neck with a reverse headstock and trust me, this thing sounds massive. I like the shorter scale length, but I also like that they didn’t go as low as 30” like fender used to with the mustang basses, which always sounded a little dark to me. This thing though? It’s the perfect place between too dark and too bright, with more then enough power on tap for even the most modern bass players. The reverse design is something I love too, it reminds me of old Mosrite guitars, and basses from the 70′s All in all, this bass is a nice addition to the new line up that is the Fender Jaguar bass range. Easily the best idea fender has had in a while. I easily give the Fender Reverse Jaguar 10 out of 10 stars, because even a Fender purist can’t get mad, because the jaguar line is such a new line of basses. Now if only they would make a guitar version of a reverse jaguar, maybe with some modern touches as well? Some high output humbuckers and a Floyd Rose anybody?

the four new additions to the Fender family

At the end of the day, I like the Pawnshop line up, probably because I love all those weird Fenders from back when Leo ran the show, and let’s be honest, these guitars are beautiful. So what if they don’t look like your standard Strat or Tele, if you get one of these, you will have a weird little gem of a guitar that is quirky and unique, with all the spank and sparkle that you have come to expect from Fender. So how about you go on over to Worldmusicsupply.com, find something unique, and start standing out from the crowd, go get yourself a Fender Pawnshop guitar today!

World Music Supply | Bugera Infinium Technology

 

Within the world of electric guitar, the tube amplifier is the almighty, unchallengeable king of tone. Capable of producing everything from clean sounds that are beautifully articulate while at the same time it can go all the way to the most degenerate overdriven tones that breathe with warm harmonics, string definition and clarity. from the beginning, its been the same, tube amps have ruled the world. Opinions as to exactly what great tone is, have evolved over the years but through it all one thing has remained constant; solid state, no matter how advanced modeling gets, no matter how good computers can replicate the sound, it just can’t compete, and you don’t have to be a tube amp purist to know that solid state will likely never be able to match the warmth, or breadth of tones as the venerable vacuum tube in most audio applications.

 For the past three quarters of a century, tube amps have constantly been a source of headaches to guitarists worldwide, as they are just so frustrating to own and operate. Cost of ownership includes both regular maintenance items like replacing tired old tubes and rebiasing as well as the occasional repair bill, often due to a tube’s lifespan being unexpectedly shortened because they tend to be so very fragile. I mean lets be honest, one good jolt to the chassis while moving an amp before its tubes have had a chance to cool down, is just asking for trouble.  As most of us dedicated guitarists will do anything for our sound, we have typically shrugged these issues off with little drama because we all know that great tube tone is worth almost any amount of extra effort. Swapping out tubes once or twice a year (more often for some of us) and having our amps rebiased seemed a small price to pay. Of course it also gives our friendly neighborhood amp techs a reason to get up in the morning.

Bugera’s 1960 Infinium Guitar Head

Rejoice Tube Fans! The days of expensive maintenance issues and annoying and untimely gear failures may be forever behind us. Enter Bugera Amplification with their Infinium Valve Life Multiplier Technology. The good folks at Bugera have been hard at work engineering ways to make our lives as tube amp aficionados both easier and less expensive. How would you like to be able to indulge in all of your favorite tube tones without ever having to worry about failing valves or rebiasing? Now throw in tube life that averages 20 times longer than normal. Sound too good to be true? Well guess what, it’s not.

Years and years of R&D have produced the revolutionary new Infinium technology. Automatic and continual monitoring of each individual power tube gives you ample warning before a tube has the chance to dramatically affect your tone, or worse yet, ruining your performance. This is accomplished via the Valve Life Monitoring indicator on the back panel of the amp. Any upcoming valve failure will trigger a bright red LED next to the corresponding tube.

In addition to making sure you get through your bands set without equipment failures, Infinium also continually monitors for optimal tube performance. The system automatically keeps an eye on operating conditions and tweaks for top notch tone. For instance, current levels are monitored and adjusted automatically, all to keep your tubes sounding great,  even if line voltage drops below optimal levels, so no more of that annoying tone “suck” that happens from time to time.

Biasing is also handled automatically with Infinium. Just swap out a tube and the system automatically takes care of it for you. No more trying to do it yourself, risking the lives of you and your amplifier, and definitly no more expensive visits to an amp tech. So you can save those guys for serious problems instead.

Also, how’s this for a neat trick? So your Infinium just informed you that one of your EL34’s is about to go and you only have a 6L6 available on you? No problem. Out with the EL34, in with the 6L6, or 5881, or 6550, heck, just about any tube will do the job! Replace it later with the “correct” tube or enjoy the tone crafting ability of being able to run the amp on which ever odd tube you would like! 

Never again replace an entire set of tubes because your amp suffered a serious jolt right before a show. Never again throw the power switch on your amp and find it dead because it was loaded out at the last gig while the tubes were still too hot.

In fact, most of the issues that used to cause us undue expense and stress have been addressed and promptly, eliminated by Bugera’s Infinium Technology. Since the company’s extensive lineup of amplifiers covers just about every musical style from classic rock to ultra modern metal, there is sure to be at least one model that suits your needs perfectly. Take a long, hard look at Bugera’s complete line of Infinium equipped amps at WorldMusicSupply.com today!

World Music Supply | Line 6 Releases Mobile IN™ Portable Audio Interface

iPhone 4, Ipad/iPad2 and iPod Touch owners rejoice! Line 6 introduces its’ new Mobile In Digital Input Adaptor and Mobile POD App. Guitarists can now put legendary POD power and tone in their pocket and carry it with them everywhere they go!

Just connect your Apple device to your guitar via the Mobile In Digital Input Adapter, download the free Mobile POD App and you are set up with world famous POD guitar tone. The free app comes equipped with outstanding models of some of the most sought after tones in rock history, including 64 guitar amps, stompboxes, rack effects and speaker cabinets.

Line 6 Mobile IN™ Portable Audio Interface

Incredibly cool graphical displays allow you to dial in, edit and save your favorite sounds. Share your sounds with the world and download tones dialed in by other users. Use your iTunes library as your personal backup band. Stay locked in with the on board tuner. The list of features here is incredible for a pocket sized unit and so are the sounds.

Classic Fender amp models from the 50’s and 60’s shine with dead-on accuracy for out of this world clean and blues tones. British style crunch is available in abundance via modeled Plexi and JTM-45 amps. For more modern flavors of overdrive and distortion the Mobile POD App includes Rectifier and Mark series models as well as Line 6’s own Insane metal tones. Smokin’ cool, yes?

As guitarists, we know how important a speaker cabinet can be to our tone. Line 6 did not neglect this critical ingredient of the recipe. Cabinets from all of the classic combo amp and stack configurations are included, 16 different varieties in all. From the open, airy sound of an AC15 combo to the tight, focused punch of a Vintage 30 loaded 4×12, all are present and accounted for.

As for effects, all of the usual suspects are in the lineup. Typical of all the POD sounds, the verbs and other time based effects sound stellar as do the compressor and tremolo. In addition to using the effects individually, the delay can be paired up with most of the modulation effects making for some nice combinations.

And lets’ not forget the sheer number of sounds that are available here. More than 10,000 presets are accessible from within the POD app, written by artists, Line 6 and other guitarists. And they’re all free!

As if all of the above weren’t enough, Mobile In is compatible with GarageBand and other CoreAudio apps for iPad. More than just a recording notepad, you can lay down “keeper” tracks with a system that fits in the palm of your hand.

Mobile IN™ Docked With Phone

One other notable feature that I should mention here is that the Mobile In connects to your device via the 30-pin digital connector and not the headphone jack. This keeps your signal sounding rich and full-bodied at all times.

I want to buy one of these things. You are going to want to buy one of these things. Are you familiar with the phrase “the greatest thing since sliced bread”?

Apple, iPhone, iPad, iTunes and GarageBand are trademarks of Apple, Inc., registered in the U.S. and other countries. Apple is not responsible for the operation of this device or its compliance with safety and regulatory standards.

 

World Music Supply | Fender American Special Series Guitars

The Fender Stratocaster and Telecaster guitars have been around forever, it seems. Most of us who play have owned at least one example of these iconic instruments over the years, if not several. While there have been a great many incarnations of these guitars spanning seven decades now, ranging from imported entry level student instruments to high-end, high-dollar show pieces, it has never been more affordable to lay your hands on an American made Strat or Tele loaded with all of your favorite features, as it is right now with Fender’s American Special Series.

Fender American Special Series

The goal was to produce an instrument with all of the quality tone and feel of Fender’s American made series in a guitar that the average player could fit into his/her budget. It seems that Fender has hit the nail on the head with the American Specials.

With several popular finish choices and fingerboards available in both maple and rosewood, the most in demand combinations are ready to fly. Cool new features like Texas Special pickups, a larger radius fingerboard and jumbo frets provide a modern feel and rich tone that handles both clean sounds and heavy distortion equally well. There is even an HSS version available with Fender’s Atomic Humbucking Pickup loaded in the bridge position.

Also included are some nice aesthetic touches that I personally like a lot. The headstock is the big, 70’s style, as is its’ logo decal and certain finish combinations come with the black, multi-ply pick guard. The Strats are equipped with a vintage style tremolo. Fender’s cast/sealed tuning machines are standard. Both guitars come with a heavy gigbag. Fit and finish on the example that I used for this review was quite good. Overall, the execution was above average and showed superior attention to detail.

Now, let’s get down to business. For this review, I used my Marshall DSL100 head with a 1960AV Vintage 30 loaded cabinet for the dirty sounds and my Fender Blues Jr combo for the clean sounds. The guitar that was made available to me was the three single coil, maple fingerboard configuration.

With the pickup selector set on the bridge pickup only, clean sounds through the Blues Jr were bright and chimey, almost brittle if I cranked the treble on the amp. Backing off the treble control just a bit takes the edge off and makes for a nice bright clean sound. My personal favorite setting on the Strat (for clean sounds) is position 4 (middle and neck pickup together). In this position the American Special Strat has all of the warm, classic clean tone that we all love. Bell-like and full-bodied, with rich overtones and the much loved out of phase sound that is provided by the two pickups running together. I don’t recall ever playing a Strat that I liked any better for this type of sound. The Texas Special pickups do a wonderful job with clean sounds providing you know how to dial in your amp.

American Special HSS Black

When I dimed the volume on the Jr I was rewarded with a hard-hitting, mildly overdriven tube tone that was music to my ears. This was with the bridge and middle pickups together. The bridge pickup alone, with the same amp settings, produced a Hendrix-like tone that would be useable for all kinds of classic rock applications.

Now for theMarshall’s turn. I began with pristine clean settings again because the DSL does that tone quite well, better than most Marshall stuff. On channel 1 with just a touch of gain (about 4 on the knob) I nailed some of my favorite sounds. Turn it up loud and it is very SRV-like with this guitar. Back off on the volume knob a bit and you’re back to super clean, with a lot of warmth, on any pickup selection except the bridge pickup alone. Engage crunch mode on the clean channel and the tone explodes into Angus territory. Positions 2 and 4 on the pickup selector work exceptionally well in this mode as the added distortion combined with  the single coils creates that magic mid-gain tone that only a Strat can really nail (think Voodoo Child). I was in tonal heaven. You will be too if you are a classic rock fan.

American Special Series Maple

For the higher gain tones we’ll cut to the chase. Ultra Gain Channel, Lead II switch engaged, gain on 10. Start with your tone controls all set at 12:00 o’clock. Tweak the EQ until you get what you like and commence rocking. Strike the big G chord and brace yourself. The tone is smooth and richly saturated, but still has a tightness to it that produces a beautifully articulate sound that retains string definition and clarity. I couldn’t ask for a better classic Strat heavy rock tone. Single note passages sing with all of the searing power of Jimmy or Robin Trower on steroids. Power chords strike you like a punch. And talk about fun with feedback!

For all of you metal fans, I had to throw my Digitech Hardwire Metal Distortion pedal into the signal chain. The results were more than satisfactory. You’ll probably want to stick with position 2 on the p/u selector when using this much distortion unless you have a quality noise gate in your path. Otherwise, the extraneous noise may be more than you can bear. I was able to emulate Dimebag style heavy with a little bit of EQ tweaking. You know, scoop the mids and crank everything else.

One side note regarding the oversized headstock; whether you love it or hate it, the additional sustain that its’ extra mass provides is always welcome in my book. I’ll say it again, this guitar NAILS all of the classic Strat sounds. And it does it with a modern feeling neck that is both comfortable and fast. Fender’s goal has been realized fully in the American Special Series. If an American made Strat (or Tele) with modern “player” features, at a price that is in reach of the average player is what you’re after, look no further. I’ve already ordered mine.

Fit and Finish…………………….*****

Playability…………………………*****

Features…………………………….*****

Sound………………………………..*****

Value…………………………………*****

World Music Supply | Digitech iPB-10

Digitech iPB-10

Digitech iPB-10

 

Digitech’s new iPb-10 may be the company’s masterstroke of creativity. The concept is to take the whole preset culture of the signal processor world and apply it to a pedal board. And the thing really works.

Here’s the deal. Buy the iPb-10 and use it in conjunction with your iPad to easily and effectively arrange as many as 10 different pedals per board with a nearly infinite number of combos to choose from. You can save 100 of your favorite pedal boards and recall them at any time with the stomp of a footswitch. There are 54 amp and 26 cabinet models that you can use as well. And it’s all drag and drop via the iPad touch screen. By the way, the iPB-10 is compatible with both the iPad and iPad2. How’s that for slick?

Now, here’s how it works. The first step is to acquire Digitech’s iPad app called, appropriately enough, iPad Nexus. The app is free to download from the Apple iTunes App Store. Once you’ve nabbed the app, you can then physically dock your iPad with the iPB-10 and begin using all of the units’ killer functionality. We’re not going to cover every last switch, knob and feature here today. Instead we’ll take kind of a high level view and briefly discuss the main features and some of the sounds within the unit.

iPB-10 with Apple iPod Docked

First of all, as a docking station for the iPad, the iPB-10 is very sturdy and secure. You won’t feel like your expensive iPad is in a precarious position. Once docked and with the Nexus app running you can now arrange up to 10 different pedals in any order you like. With 87 pedals, 54 amps and 26 different cabinet models to choose from you will never run out of options.

Using the iPads’ touch screen, guitarists can rearrange the signal chain, turn individual pedals on and off or simply adjust settings. As for saving your favorite configs, it’s done with the touch of a button. Recalling a favorite pedal board requires no more than stomping a footswitch.

As for the iPB-10’s sounds, there are many cool tones that can be dialed in. We all have our favorites and odds are that the majority of your favorite pedals are included in the Nexus app (pretty much all of mine are). While I can’t say that I am in love with every single model included here, I can say that to my ear the sounds are quite accurate, as true to the originals as a digital model can be.

For instance, when comparing my original Vox Wah to the included model I cannot distinguish any appreciable difference between the two. The Boss DS-1 Distortion model sounds completely true to my original Boss pedal. The Tube Screamer model sounds exactly like my TS-808. While I don’t own every pedal modeled here, for comparison purposes I’ll have to say that of the sounds I can make direct comparisons to, the models are all quite good, though no modeler gets every sound perfect.

Nexus App for Apple's iPod

Using the clean channel on my Marshall DSL100 and the iPB-10 for my basic sound, I can nail my favorite rock rhythm tone using the units’ Boss DS-1, Lexicon Ambience verb and Boss DM-2 analog delay. The sound is every bit as cool as using the original pedals. And the greatest thing about it is that I can assign that sound to a switch and call it back up at will. I mentioned it earlier but it bears repeating. You can save up to 100 pedal board configurations. Surely, enough for any playing situation.

There are many other examples of great tones inside this slick setup but it’s not really necessary to go through them all here. I’d have to write enough to fill an encyclopedia to accomplish it and none of us have time for that.

Suffice to say that with just a little bit of experimentation any player can be up and running with the iPB-10 in no time at all. And, Digitech promises many updates and upgrades down the line that will no doubt make the Nexus app even more comprehensive.

I’ll close out by saying that I give the iPB-10 high marks across the board.

See below for my personal ratings…

Concept………………………….*****

Design…………………………….*****

Build Quality…………………….*****

Ease of Use……………………..*****

Sound Quality………………….*****

Cost………………………………. ****

World Music Supply First Dealer to Sign with Charvel Guitars

Charvel Guitars welcomes World Music Supply as first to sign on as a stocking Pro Level dealer for the company’s new “Desolation” series instruments. WMS president Jason Struble recently flew to California to meet with Senior Vice President Jeff Cary to see Charvel’s distribution facility first hand and was given the opportunity to see the line up first hand, as well as hand pick some stunning examples of the company’s finest guitars.

Jason Struble and Jeff Cary Making The Deal!!

Struble, who has operated World Music Supply for more than a decade, has had the opportunity to supply his customers with everything from beginner level instruments to truly high end pieces worthy of the most discriminating musicians. Given his track record of bringing quality service and merchandise to his customers, the new relationship with Charvel promises to be both long and fruitful.

Charvel Guitars

In addition to the ten new Desolation models WMS will be offering (in both single and double cutaway versions), three new Skatecaster models based on Charvels Surfcaster from the early 90’s and favorites like the San Dimas and Pro Mod lines will be available as well. Struble reports that the quality of these instruments are hitting price points that will make other vendors nervous.

There are features you usually don’t find in other brands for the same money.  World Music Supply made a commitment to the Charvel dealership on the spot.

For more information check out www.worldmusicsupply.com/charvel-guitars.html or see the new Charvel guitars and more at Sight & Sound music in Muncie, IN.

 

Vox Tonelab ST Review

The Vox Tonelab ST is the newest in the long-celebrated Valvetronix line of multi-effects processors for guitar from Vox Amplification. Although Vox is well known for their heritage of classic tube guitar amps, the Tonelab multi-effects processors and the corresponding Valvetronix amplifiers have won the hearts of many.

The Tonelab ST is the most compact and least expensive in the series, coming in at an incredible street prices of $199 and boasting dimensions of only10.63”(W) x 7.09”(D) x 2.76”(H), it fits right into your budget and is very portable and lightweight, even with it’s heavy-duty construction.

I had the opportunity to spend some time with the Tonelab ST and thought I’d share my thoughts. First of all, there’s something for everyone packed into this box. Given the price and size, it could easily just fit onto an existing pedalboard and would be worth the coin for the volume pedal and expression controlled modulation effects alone. (Or the fact that it doubles as a USB guitar recording interface, however you want to look at it.)

I’m not normally a modeling guy but I often find myself utilizing this kind of technology in the studio for various projects and let me tell you – the Tonelab ST is perfect for quickly dialing in a tone and laying down some tracks. It’s small enough to be easily packed away when not being used (we’re talking desk drawer, here) and the USB connectivity for computer recording or downloading/sharing new patches is awesome. I’m not joking when I say all you laptop recording guys need one of these.

So what’s the problem? That depends on how picky you are. You can’t navigate from preset 001 to preset 050 in a split-second with the foot switches, so if you need that capability you’ll want to stick with the Tonelab LE. The effects have some controllable parameters, allowing you to approximate most types of effected sounds one would typically use in a musical situation but I would have liked more delay time and some type of looping/hold function. (Some of you delay guys might be happy to know that the Tonlelab ST has a darker, warmer delay texture which reminds me of those old Bucket Brigade equipped units.) I did pull out some cool layery, kinda shoegazy textures using factory preset patches and very little effort. So, that was cool.

And let it be known that the amp models on this thing are great. The word has been out on the Valvetronix line regarding how good the amp modeling is so I won’t beat that horse too much, but I was equally impressed with the models on the ST as I was with the LE.

So basically the ST is a very versatile, very inexpensive, compact version of the LE. Fits on a pedal board or in a desk drawer and sounds great. I’m buying one (employee discount, FTW!).

They’re in-stock now so if you want one, I suggest ya grab it up before the first batch runs out!!!

-Jesse

Buy Vox Tonelab ST @ WorldMusicSupply.com

Vox Tonelab ST @ the Official Vox Site

Vox Tonelab ST Owners Manual <—–Read it!

Buy Tonelab LE @ WorldMusicSupply.com

Vox AC4 Guitar Amps In-Stock

So, we’ve had the VOX AC4 Combo Amp in-stock for about two weeks and shipped TONS of ‘em out with glowing reviews from our customers. We’ve had several customers still waiting on the half-stack option to come in and they arrived today!

If you haven’t heard about these amps yet, they’re uniquely-voiced low-wattage tube amps dressed in a very cool vintage white color scheme. I personally got the pleasure of spending some time with the combo amp and it really blew my mind.

The Vox AC4 Family

The “low-watt tube amp” thing is really popular right now and just about everyone is trying to snag a corner of the market. I think that’s great – we’re finally seeing some nice sounding tube amps for about the same price as their equivalently powered solid state counterparts. However, the problem I have with a lot of these amps is that they don’t have their own “voice” or personality. I won’t cite any examples but I’ll tell you that the AC4 certainly bucks that trend.

The AC4 offers a unique take on that top-end British tone Vox is so famous for. Where as it doesn’t sound particularly like an AC15/AC30, it shares many of those familiar tonal characteristics all while maintaining a distinct sonic personality of its own. Using a P-90 equipped single-cutaway guitar – I quickly dialed up a variety of inspiring tones that made me want to play more and more. I cruised through some blues riffs and country leads before slamming the AC4 with some grungy/fuzzy sun-kissed garage rock riffs and then backing off a bit for some traditional classic rock and funky grooves. I flipped through all the power settings and found that there wasn’t too much tone alteration between them, which was a wonderful surprise.

I know it might sound like I’m talking a lot about such a simple amp but this one really hit home with me and sometimes, simple is beautiful. I’ve included links to some official Vox AC4 sound samples below.

Vox AC4 Guitar Amp Sound Clip – Chime (4 Watt)

Vox AC4 Guitar Amp Sound Clip – Grit (4 Watt)

Vox AC4 Guitar Amp Sound Clip – Humbucker Rock (1 Watt)

Vox AC4 Guitar Amp Sound Clip – Funky Single Coils (1 Watt)

Official Vox Site – AC4 Guitar Amp