speakers andamps

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Report

“To tune the spirit when someone is trampling on you is called control.”

–Carlos Castaneda

The wheels of commerce have crumbled to sub-prime fairy dust beneath the weight of a failedglobal economy, our prospects for hope and happiness bundled and sold for certain uncertainty,and all we can do is dumbly watch the carnage in hi-def with the heat turned down. As paperwealth evaporates, otherwise rational minds descend into paranoid thoughts of a New Age ofImpending Doom, foreclosed to live out the rest of our miserable days in surplus FEMA trailersuntil succumbing in our sleep to carbon monoxide poisoning from a cheap FEMA space heater.

But wait a minute... gasoline is under three bucks a gallon! Well rock the casbah, and may yourwithering carbon footprint lead to a Super Walmart stocked with two dollar cheese balls, AstiSpumanti, and last year’s Twisted Christmas album for $1.98. Verily in these perilous times, blath-ering on about how you might fix, amend or elevate your precious tone may seem frivolous andinconsequential at best. But we can also embrace a calmer and eloquently more optimistic view...

Mountainview Publishing, LLC

$15.00 US, December 2008/VOL.10 NO.2

Cheap Thrills

INSIDEThe Cheapest Thrill of All...Speakers –

the last transducerin the chainthat defines your tone

2Jensen –

NeoJet Tornado Neo

Alnico Jet BlackbirdJet Electric Lightning

MOD 30, 50 & 70

4Eminence –

Cannabis RexRed Fang 10 & 12

Legend 1058‘Lil Texas

Man ‘O WarTonespotter

Screamin’ Eagle

5Celestion –

Our go-to picks

6Warehouse

Guitar Speakers –Veteran 30

Green BeretBlack & Blue Blackhawk

7Fane

Resurrected...The Axiom Alnico

Series

9Electro-Voice

EVM12-L Classic

10The Art

of Dreaming...Optimizing

the Fender ‘57 Twin

14Analog Spring

Reverb in a Pedal?Meet Mr. Springgy

16Vanilla Fudge...

Lindy Fralin P90s

17A Writer’s Tool...

DST U84 TNT

18Fishman Aura

with Adrian Leggwww.tonequest.com

TONEQUEST REPORT V10. N2. December 2008

speakers

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that yes, world gone crazy, but as Derek said, “Got to getbetter in a little while,” and the refuge we find in friends,family, music and the guitar has never been more precious.You think Burle Ives was happy every time he sang “HollyJolly Christmas?” Hell, no! Singing it made him happy. Sosing ‘chillun, and may your cares melt away in song this hol-iday season with best wishes from your pals at TQR.

We alsounderstandthat even ifthe PayPalaccountremainsswollenwith left-overs fromyour gov-ernmentstimulus

package, big gear purchases may be forestalled for now, sothis edition of the quest revisits the single most effective andeconomical tone-altering move you can make... Speakers –the final transducer in the chain that defines your tone, andthe easiest do-it-yourself mod you’ll ever do. Having listenedto and intently considered dozens of different speakers onyour behalf over and over and over again, we’re remindedthat the extent to which speakers affect our sound is easilyoverlooked. The difference between just two speakersinstalled in our ‘64 blackface Deluxe would, for example,entirely skew your impression of the Tom Holmes humbuckerspresently mounted in our ‘57 goldtop. With speaker ‘A’ youmight conclude that the treble content in the bridge pickuplacks presence and the high frequencies seem rolled-off andattenuated – too warm and mellow for a bridge humbucker.Mount speaker ‘B’ and the Holmes produces the stunningtone of a fat-ass P90, only smoother and sultry, breakingyour heart with gorgeous, round treble bite.

Time after time during our evaluations, we were amazed bythe extent to which different speakers can cloak and masktones that seem to appear out of nowhere with others. Thedifference can be stunning, far superceding the effect of tubeswaps or EQ adjustments on an amp. Think about it... all ofour time and energy spent finding the right guitar, the rightpickups and the right amp (in the right combination no less),ultimately experienced, filtered and dramatically colored byjust one thing... What could be more important? And like somany qualitative comparisons, it is all too easy to remaincompletely unaware of what we’re missing until a betteroption is experienced first-hand.

Our recent explorations into the abundant range of replacementspeakers available today have been a work-in-progress since our

last April 2005 speaker issue titled “Coils, Spiders and Cones.”Many new speaker designs have been introduced since, and wehave assembled a collection of over 20 for your consideration.

Jensen’s long history is well known,and if you have ever owned a vintageamp with original, unreconed

Jensens, you’re familiar with their exceptionally bright andmusical voice. Old Jensens can also very dynamic, enablingextraordinary touch-sensitivity with a great amp. For manyplayers, the ‘feel’ factor is as important as tone when choos-ing speakers. Most of us want to experience and exploit thetactile relationship between the guitar and amp – an openand responsive sound rather than one that is tight, com-pressed, constrained and distant. Aside from being virtually

the only speak-er available inAmerican-made guitaramps fordecades,Jensen speak-ers excelled inproducingthese qualities– the downside

was, as César Diaz so often said, “You just look at them andthey blow.” And they often did. Unfortunately, recones todayare a black hole. Unless you can find a reconer with a stashof old cones, you’ll get a generic speaker back that will notsound nearly as good as an original. Like pickups and tubes,the cones made today just don’t seem to be the same.

Jensen speakers arebuilt today by the SICAcompany in Italy, andthey continue to aggres-sively expand beyondthe familiar Alnico ‘P’and ceramic ‘C’ Seriesvintage reissue 10s and12s. The knock on theJensen vintage reissueshas been their typicallybright, sometimes even

harsh treble tones and apparent lack of cuddly warmth. Wehave often tried to embrace many of these ‘vintage’ speakersourselves with mixed results, however, the ‘Q’ series Alnicoand ceramic Jensen speakers seem to sound less brittle and areamong our favorites for use in moderately powered amps likethe tweed Deluxe, blackface Vibrolux Reverb and blackfaceDeluxe.Our reviews of Jensen speakers in this issue focus onnew designs, with some very worthy surprises...

TONEQUEST REPORT V10. N2. December 2008 3

speakers

Neo 12The 100 watt Neo is avery versatile speaker withsolid bass response,midrange that is neitherdominant or aggressive,and high frequencies thatare strong, clear and musi-cal. The Neo is one of themost well-balanced speak-ers we evaluated – rich

and full, with excellent clarity and harmonic detail. The Neowould be a good choice for anyone seeking a brighter speakerthat isn’t fatiguing or brittle. And don’t be swayed by the100 watt rating... We loved it in our ‘64 Deluxe, and given its7 ounce magnet, the Neo would be a fantastic choice for a2x12 rig as well. Recommended.

Alnico Jet Blackbird 12 The black-clad, 100 wattAlnico Jet is designedwith the robust look ofcast iron, and like theNeo, it is endowed withplenty of bass response,moderate midrange thatdoesn’t overwhelm, andtreble that is crisp enoughto perhaps prompt you tolower the usual treble set-

ting on your amp. We hope you are not one of those who thinksthere is something ‘wrong’ with changing the tone controls onyour amp? But I had to set the treble on 4!!! Listen, don’t look.Harmonic content in the Blackbird is absolutely vivid, with typ-ical, ultra-smooth and dynamic Alnico compression. It isextraordinarily easy to feel and respond to what the Jet is givingyou in the style of the Celestion blue, but the additional powermakes a bolder statement, and the mids are less focused. TheBlackbird seems equally well-suited for 1x12 and 2x12 cabs, orcombined with a heavier sounding Vintage 30, Eminence ManO’ War or Governor.

Jet Tornado 12A Neodymium version of theJet, the Tornado shines best(in a Fender amp) with hum-bucking pickups, adding anice trebly bite in both posi-tions. It was bright toextremes with our P90Firebird and stock Nash Telein our Deluxe – so much so

that we ordered a set of Fralin P90s for comparison (reviewedin this issue). Speaker or pickup? It is easy to find yourself

pondering these murky questions... The Tornado just seems torequire the heavier voice of our Les Paul to avoid soundingtoo notched in the treble frequencies while lacking bass andmids. However, the spanky character might suit a naturallydarker amp like an Ampeg or Gibson if you are struggling tofind more sparkle and clarity. Recommending a 100 wattspeaker for a small combo seems counter-intuitive, but theselightweight neodymium speakers fly in the face of conven-tional wisdom, and even the 100 watters seem to wake up ina low-powered amp. Like the Neo, the Tornado is verydynamic, percussive and punchy, but don’t count on fatmidrange and bass. It just isn’t there.

Jet Electric Lightning 12 The new 70 watt ceramicversion of the Jet is a loud,powerful, bright andchimey speaker withstrong, slightly grittymidrange emphasis. Treblepresence is musical andbold, and we noticed thatthe Jet particularly empha-sized changes in tone as we

moved the location of our pick attack from just behind theneck pickup to the front of the bridge. The voice of theLightning overall is very musical – an interesting mix of strongmids and proud treble usually not found together in the samespeaker. A good choice for a 1x12 where heavy bass responseis not needed, or mixed with a warmer speaker in a 2x12.

MOD 35, 50 & 70As a group, we liked theMOD speakers – Jensen’seffort to create a British-flavored, slightly pissedoff speaker that can com-pete with Celestion. Wewould pass right over theMOD 35 in favor of the50, however. The 50impressed us as the best

of the MODS – balanced, strong and rich with excellent tre-ble character and solid bass. The MOD 50 would be a verygood choice for 1x12 combos, both new and vintage, or com-bine it in a 2x12 to contrast with a brighter speaker. Its com-paratively light weight is also a big plus.

The MOD 70 is well-balanced, strong and thick, andendowed with far more treble response than speakers of simi-lar girth and authority. However, the midrange focus of the 70also produces an intense, nearly rabid growl that won’t pleaseeveryone. Metalheads, however, will swoon.

www.jensenvintage.com,

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Located in Eminence, KY, thisfamily-run business is the largestspeaker manufacturer in theworld. Founded in 1966 by the

late Bob Gault (see TQR, July 2001) and managed by his sonRob, Eminence has worked closely with nearly every majormanufacturer of guitar and bass amplifiers in the world fordecades creating and manufacturing OEM speaker designs.In 2003, Eminence set out to develop an extended line of newguitar speakers in what would be called the Patriot andRedcoat series. Combined with the earlier, excellent Legendseries, Eminence now builds no less than 33 differentreplacement speakers for guitar amplifiers, while continuingto manufacture original equipment for major manufacturersand custom amp builders like Carr and Two Rock.

We’ve referenced various Eminence models frequently in thepast, including the excellent Legend 10s, 12s and the Legend

15 – arguably thebest sounding 15made today basedon our extensiveevaluations withvintage Supro,Gibson andFender 1x15amps. During ourreviews, we pulledthe original,

reconed 1959 Jensen P15N from our Gibson GA77 andinstalled a new Eminence Legend 15. It isn’t coming out.

The Redcoat Private Jack 12 and Wizard 12 are both out-standing alternatives to the Greenback and G12H30, and theRed Fang approaches the voice of the Celestion Alnico blue.We have also recommended the Legend Alnico and ceramic10s for years, as well as the extraordinarily beefy Ramrod 10.In this edition, we focused primarily on various Eminencemodels not reviewed in the past...

Cannabis Rex 12 The 50 watt Cannabis Rexis built with a hemp cone,which typically addsdepth and audiblyenhanced second orderharmonics. The sound ofthe Rex is very full, thickand rich, with a fat treblecharacter that will notplease treble freaks or the

hearing impaired, and yes, hemp cone speakers have beencriticized by some guitarists as being inherently too dark. Ofcourse, the definition of ‘bright’ versus ‘dark’ is entirely sub-

jective. We wouldn’t describe the Cannabis Rex as dark –we’ve heard the term ‘smoky’ aptly used, but the bottom lineis that hemp imparts a unique, almost mysterious characterthat some players love, while others just don’t get it.Personally, we believe hemp speakers perform best in an ampthat can properly light them up – the 50 watt Rex in a 40 wattamp, for example. Hemp speakers can also work magic on aTelecaster or other bright, single coil guitar.

Red Fang 12 Every time this speaker ismentioned we suffer anadolescent flashback to thebass player in Paul Revereand the Raiders – Phil‘Fang’ Volk, who wasknown for flipping hiswhite Vox bass over toreveal his nick name inblack tape on the back.

Billy Gibbons does this, too, but his says, ‘Beer.’ Everybodyhas a style... The Red Fang is the Eminence version of the

Alnico G12 first found inthe Vox AC30. You canexpect classic tight, focusedcompression and tremen-dous horniness in the uppermid frequencies. Push itwith single note leads andvowel sounds properly jump

off the cone. This is neither a particularly bassy or treblyspeaker... just chimey, bouncing, animated upper mids thatsound great when that’s what you’re going for. The Red Fangalso matches up well with speakers that produce a more bal-anced, heavier sound, like the Eminence Wizard, Private Jack,Celestion G12H30, or the Jensen Mod 50 or Neo.Recommended.

Red Fang 10The 50 watt Red Fang10 transformed JeffBakos’ blackfacePrinceton into a glori-ously gutsy and tonefulAC15, only better, witha deeper voice wellingup from the old RCA6V6s. No, it isn’t a clas-sic Fender sound, but anincredibly tasty and

inspiring hybrid tone that just works. Nice mids, chimey tre-ble, harmonics in spades, and enough low end to anchor yourfavorite 6-string chords. Mike Campbell would love it in aPrinceton. You will too.


speakers

Legend 1058 10The ceramic 75 wattLegend 1058 hasbeen a mainstay inthe Eminence line foryears, and for goodreason. Bright andspanky, the 1058 bal-ances treble presencewith solid midrangeand bass response,

outstanding single note clarity and definition in chords, andfine harmonic detail with no smearing or distortion. Loud,proud and toneful, this speaker is perfect for 1x10 combos,yer Vibrolux or Super Reverb. Slightly warmer than anotherone of our favorite Eminence 10s – the Ramrod.

‘Lil Texas 12This is a great choice forsmall, moderately poweredamps, new or vintage. Likethe Jensen Neo, thisneodymium speaker fromEminence is nicely balanced,being neither midrangeheavy or bassy, with nice tre-ble tones that avoid sounding

thin, and excellent compression.

Man ‘O War 12This is a fantastic speakerfor warming up a ‘cold,’brittle amp without spillinginto a sound that is too darkand brooding. The 120 wattMan ‘O War possessestremendous depth and girthwith a rich, bold voice thatdoesn’t eclipse treble tones.The treble frequencies are

clear and exceptionally musical, and this speaker is absolutelyloaded with harmonic complexity. Outstanding in 1x12 and2x12 configurations, solo or combined with a brighter speaker.

Tonespotter 12The Tonespotter behavesmuch in the style of the Man‘O War, but brighter, withless assertive bass and mids,and it impressed us as beinga little ‘vanilla.’ We didn’tcare for its tone alone, but itwould match up nicely in a2x12 with the Man ‘O War.

Screamin’ Eagle 12 The 50 watt Screamin’ Eagleis a thoroughly agreeablespeaker, deftly balanced togive all frequencies equalspace. The Eagle doesn’tgrowl with overbearingmidrange, and the top endisn’t rolled off or diminished.It is bold and powerful with-

out being strident or fatiguing. It excels at both clean tones atlow volume levels and remains willing, smooth and musical athigh volume, very well-suited for moderately powered 1x12combos like our Deluxe, 2x12 or 4x12 cabinets. The ScreamingEagle was our favorite for use as a single 1x12 among all theEminence speakers reviewed here. Scream forth...

www.eminence.comwww.thetonechamber.com

www.loudspeakersplus.com

Anyone who has been reading TQR forlong will be familiar with our extensivepast reviews of Celestion speakers,including the Heritage G12H and M

Greenbacks, Heritage G12-65, Alnico Gold 12 and G12H70th Anniversary. Lots of solid choices, all subtilely different,but we can tell you this... When we acquire a 1x12 amp thatwill benefit from a new speaker, we often install a G12H-3070th Anniversary, aged and re-labeled by Avatar speakers andsold as the Hellatone. The 30 watt 70th Anniversary justseems to work extremely well with a wide range of new andold amps – from our 16 watt ‘59 Gibson GA40, to the brownVibrolux and blackface ‘64 Deluxe. The G12H-30 is voicedin the midrange frequencies where the guitar really lives,enabling you to claim your space in the mix or with a band

with-outsacri-ficingessen-tialbassand

treble response. And it does have that trademark Celestionattitude – just backed off enough to cover a lot of musicalstyles without being overwhelmed by dominant ‘Britishcrunch.’ Every tone has its place. By comparison, Celestionspeakers like the Heritage Greenbacks, Vintage 30 andHeritage G12-65 seem to possess a more assertive andaggressive midrange notch that doesn’t always work for us,and we have never really liked the Alnico blue in Fender1x12 amps. That’s our take, and yes, yours may be different,but the G12H 70th Anniversary has been a rock-steady, go-to

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choice for us, as you will soon be reminded again a fewpages down the line in this issue. We are also anxious to heartwo new Celestion 10" speakers that were unavailable for thisissue – the Greenback 10 and Alnico Gold. When we getthem, you’ll know.

Celestion Vintage 30 (Hellatone 60)This is another outstand-ing Celestion speaker witha long history among rockguitarists. The voice of the60 watt Vintage 30 isrobust with aggressive butmusical midrange empha-sis, solid low end andexceptionally smooth tre-ble tones that do not evap-

orate too quickly within complex chords. Harmonic depthand detail are vibrant and clear. Excellent alone with aTelecaster, bright single coils and PAFs – middy but not dark.The Vintage 30 is voiced with a slightly heavier emphasis inthe upper midrange frequencies than the 70th Anniversary,and both speakers mix extremely well in a 2x12. Along withhis Dumble and Matchless amps, the Vintage 30 has been anessential ingredient in Sonny Landreth’s signature tone.

Warehouse Guitar Speakers Warehouse assembles speakers in the USA, sells direct via theirweb site, and their line mirrors many of the most popularCelestion speaker models. We acquired several Warehouse samplesfor review, and the results were impressive... We also asked DavidYoung at Warehouse to describe the origins of the company...

“The speakers from WGS are built in Paducah, KY. Many ofthe people involved with building our speakers have beendoing so since the late 1960, and this is not the first timePaducah has been on the radar for speaker production. Youmay remember companies such as CTS, which was thelargest U.S. speaker manufacturer during the ‘60s, CredenceSpeakers, which built an enormous amount of product for theautomotive industry, or Voice Coil Communications, whichproduced coils & speakers during the ‘60s & ‘70s, and final-ly, Hawley Products, which is the oldest cone manufacturer inthe world. All of those companies are or were located in thesame geographic area as WGS, so needless to say, if youknow where to look, there is speaker talent in this area.

Over the last decade, the speaker industry has swiftly movedto foreign soil for production. This change left many in ourindustry jobless and we quickly saw build quality decline.Our speaker factory is staffed with talented employees withdecades of experience. We have been supplying OEM clients

with guitar speakers for over ten years, and until now, ourspeakers were not branded by the factory. This is one of thethings that explains our superb build quality for such a newcompany. WGS is new, but the people building our speakershave been doing this their entire life.

We have done our homework on the most popular vintageguitar speakers to understand what makes each of them spe-cial. WGS is not the first company to enter the guitar speakermarket and make replacement speakers for already existingdrivers, but we are very good at it. And finally, you haveprice. Especially in today's economy, consumers must consid-er the value of their dollar. We keep prices low and qualityhigh so customers who buy WGS will both sound good andfeel good about their purchase.”

Black & Blue 12True to its name, thisAlnico 15 watt is a bruiser.Modeled after theCelestion Alnico blue, theWarehouse version createsbrilliant compression, sus-tain and harmonic detailvoiced with strong uppermids, singing, musical tre-ble tones and surprisingly

lush and warm low end. We mounted this speaker in our ‘64Deluxe, where it sounded absolutely phenomenal at home,but we wound up pushing it a little too hard with a band. A2x12 cab would have been smokin...’ The Black & Blue is atruly great speaker – but it sounds best when its stated 15watt power rating is not exceeded by the power of the ampbeing used. Highly recommended for low powered amps(under 15 watts) and in 2x12 configurations. You expectmidrange from this speaker, but the low end and exceptional-ly smooth treble tones were a big surprise. Recommended.

Blackhawk 12The 50 watt Alnico cousinto the Black & Blue, theBlackhawk impressed us assounding very similar to thebig Celestion Alnico gold –bright and cocky, but voicedmore in the upper mids andtreble frequencies withoutthe full low end of the

Black & Blue. This would be a good speaker to provide richBritish texture and trebly chime combined in a 2x12 withperhaps a heavier driver like a Vintage 30, Eminence Man ‘OWar or Screamin’ Eagle.


speakers

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Green Beret 12 This is a very bright,chimey 25 watt speaker inthe style of a Greenbackwith a big dose of sparkleand shimmer surroundingthe notes, anchored by avery vocal midrange char-acter. You won’t hear muchheaviness in the low fre-quencies, but that’s not the

intention of this speaker. Excellent with single coils or hum-buckers in a 2x12 or 4x12 cabinet.

Veteran 30 12 Created in the style of theCelestion Vintage 30, theVeteran produces a dis-tinct upper-midrange notchwith sharp treble tones thatquickly succumb to domi-nant mids in chords. Theoverall character is raw,aggressive and gritty – agood choice for metal, or

any other style of music where you want to make a bold andunequivocal statement. This speaker has a ton of attitude, andit will rip you a new one in any cabinet configuration.

www.warehousespeakers.com270-217-0740

FANEIn the mid ‘60s Fane guitarspeakers emerged as analternative to Celestion forclassic ‘British’ tone. Ifyou’re unsure of the differ-ence between what is com-monly referenced to as‘American” versus‘British’ tone in speakers,most people would agree

that British speakers usually exhibit a more prominentmidrange emphasis and focused compression. Alnico Britishspeakers like the famous Celestion G12 are also oftendescribed as possessing a distinctive chime and jangly har-monic character in the upper frequencies, while some ceram-ic speakers designed in the ‘80s for high gain thrashing pro-duce a very forward and aggressive, grinding growl in themids. ‘American’ speakers like vintage Jensen and Oxfordsare typically brighter and more balanced overall from top tobottom, with a less compressed, airier tone. Vintage JBLsoccupy a separate space of their own – powerful, penetrat-ing and clean, and players either love ‘em or hate ‘em.

Aside from their collectable value and appeal, vintage Fanespeakers and Fane-equipped cabinets like those built byHiwatt and WEM are prized for their unique, signature toneand superior power-handling. The Fane company graduallysuffered a loss of marketshare as ownership changed handsthroughout the ‘80s and ‘90s, and in 2007 long-time Faneemployee and former managing director Arthur Barnesacquired the company in receivership. He has since begun tobuild speakers again to the original Fane specifications in anew factory using much of the original tooling and bringingback key former employees to what had formerly been a ‘fam-ily’ business for decades. We spoke with Arthur about hisadventures, and our review follows.

TQR: How did you bzecome involved with speaker manufacturing at Fane?

I took an apprenticeship in mechanical engineering – nothingto do with electronics at all. After finishing my apprenticeship,I actually applied to an advertisement for a press shop managerand the company was called Fane. At that time we were press-ing speaker baskets for the commercial speakers – loudspeak-ers for radios and televisions in the UK market, and the com-pany was also making hi-fi speakers. By 1968, Fane were alsomaking speakers for guitar amplifiers, and we began pressingbaskets for those speakers along with the metal work for theother speaker components. After four years I was promoted toproduction manager, then operations manager, and eventually Iwas named managing director. The name ‘Fane’ was originallyderived from the names of the two founders who formed thecompany in 1958 – Dennis Newbold and Arthur Faulcus.When electric guitars arrived, everyone wanted speakers forthe amplifiers, and Fane and Celestion were the main speakercompanies. When we first started building guitar speakers, themarket leaders were Hiwatt and Marshall, of course. Fane builtspeakers for Hiwatt, Selmer, Sound City and WEM, and webuilt speakers for Carlsbro and even Vox in the ‘70s.

During my tenure asManaging Director ofFane in the 1980s, wedeveloped Fane intobeing arguably theleading loudspeakermanufacturer in Europesupported by unrivaledinternational distribu-tion channels drivingsales and growth.These are the princi-

ples that I have taken with me throughout my career in loud-speakers. Fane was eventually acquired by a conglomerate andthe parent company began to experience some financial diffi-culties and decided to sell off the company. I tried to buy it in


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1989 and failed in that effort,and Fane was sold toWharfedale. I left in December1989, and it was to be thebeginning of the end for Fanesoon after.

I then had a conversation withthe founder of Eminence, BobGault, and created Eminence asa branded product for the firsttime. Before that, Eminencewas the world’s number oneOEM manufacturer, but without

a brand presence or distribution line of its own. Consequently,it was the loudspeaker industry’s best-kept secret. So I createda product line for my catalogue, supported it with professionalmarketing, which was an exciting development at that time,and established international distribution in all markets outsideNorth America. The international renown of the Eminencebrand today is evidence of the success of this decision.

Wharfedale sold Fane to another company, it was sold in turnagain, and in February 2007 I was able to buy the business. Ihad also acquired another company called Precision Devices,which makes very high-end PA speakers, so we already had asmall manufacturing facility when we acquired Fane. TheFane factory was located in Leeds, and when we built a newfacility, we were able to bring over all the old tooling andmachinery, and amazingly, many of the original workers. Oneof the smartest moves I made was to find one of my old super-visors from Fane, Susan Goodyear, who had begun workingthere in 1978 and whom we hired to run production again.

Now, Arthur Faulcus was avery clever fellow, and he hadinvented the glass fiber voicecoil in 1967, which was used inthe guitar speakers – copperwire wound on a glass fiberformer, which allowed us todouble the power ratings. Priorto that time, when guitar play-

ers would play the amplifiers into clipping, the voice coilswould heat up and quickly fail. The glass fiber former morethan doubled the power handling, and it is the same former weuse today. We also have a lady working with us who was acoil winder with Fane in 1972, and she is a coil winder for ustoday. In the early days, children would follow their mothersand fathers to work in the business, which was quite common.

TQR: To what extent do you feel that the materials used to manufacture speaker components have changedsignificantly from the old days?

Well, as you know, Alnico was exclusively used until itbecame so expensive in the mid ‘60s, and I’d be lying if Isaid it wasn’t challenging to acquire the same high-qualitymaterials today. Fane began using Alnico again in the AxiomSeries in the early ‘90s, and we have examples of the olderoriginal speakers to compare to. We have retained the samemanufacturing techniques, the same voice coil, and we buythe cones from the same supplier we used in the ‘60s – theBritish manufacturer Kurt Mueller.

TQR: Is there an accepted variance in speaker manufac-turing specifications?

I would say that a variance of plus or minus 5% in the reso-nance of the speaker is a fact of life, but each speaker is test-ed against the master specifications and the response curvemust be within our tolerances.

TQR: What do you see as the future for Fane?

The relaunch of Fane is still in the very early stages and wehave a huge number of exciting developments to the productline to unveil over the coming months. We will see a mixtureof our popular favorites standing alongside a raft of newproduct releases which will strengthen and broaden the Faneline to an unparalleled extent, giving Fane clients the oppor-tunity to use our drivers in every application in a way notavailable to them before. For information on Fane speakers inthe USA, please reference Tonic Consulting, Inc. in RedwoodCity, CA., www.tonicamps.com, and the Fane web site.

FANE REVIEWWe received a pair of Fane Axiom Alnico 12s and 10s forreview – weighty 34 ounce, 100 watt steel blue Alnicos. Bothspeakers essentially share the same voice – interesting andunique, with stout compression and a very touch-sensitivedynamic character. The Fanes avoid sounding aggressive andgritty in the upper mids, retaining a strong midrange focuswithout sacrificing treble presence and sustain. Bass responseis also strong, and the Fanes are exceptionally powerful andpunchy. Their overall sound is full, bold and very British,definitely voiced with strong mids, but not at the expense ofclarity. We’re probably just dreaming here, but they remind usa lot of a Hiwatt amp. Mounted as a single or in a 2x12 openback Avatar cabinet, the Fane created a fascinating blend oftones capturing both the full fidelity of a classic Fender ampwith the richly focused and lush harmonic detail of a Voxwhen played through our Deluxe and vintage Tremolux amps.Since the frames of the Axiom speakers are tapped with onlyfour mounting holes, we were unable to mount the 10 in theblackface Princeton, which still retains its original eightmounting screws. Keep this in mind when considering Britishspeakers destined for older combos. We recommend the

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Bob Gault & Hartley Peavey


speakers

Fanes for single 10 and 12 configurations (check the numberof screws on your baffleboard and insure that the deep Alnicobell cover will fit), or any extension speaker configuration.Fane also offers ceramic models, and additional speakersunder development.

www.fane-international.com

THE EVM12-L CLASSICJoe Bonamassa reminded us ofthe venerable EVM12-L Classicas we were discussing his ever-changing rig in the October ‘08issue of TQR. We contacted EV,and they graciously sent us aquad of these magnificent speak-ers to consider on your behalf.We also recalled a story told byStevie Ray Vaughan’s formerguitar tech, René Martinez,about Stevie switching over toEVs after they had become fed

up with speakers blowing on the road. René and César Diazspent days replacing the baffleboards in Stevie’s Fender ampsand fitting them with heavy duty EVs. One of those EV15swas present in Stevie’s stolen Vibroverb featured in theAugust ‘07 issue of TQR. Aside from the problem that blownspeakers obviously posed on tour, Stevie was intently focusedon achieving a loud and exceptionally clean tone on stage.The ElectroVoice speakers were perfectly suited to handle the

percussive soundpressure created byStevie’s .013-.060strings, multipleamps, Fuzz Face,and his brutalstring-popping‘touch.’ We askedJosh Bartunek,Product Manager

for Bosch Communications Systems to provide some histori-cal background on the EV speakers, and we received the fol-lowing description from an ElectroVoice engineer:

“The Electro-Voice EVM12 was originally released to pro-duction in 1973. The EVM12L Series II was released in1978. There is no written history of development – only thefinal documentation and various people’s memories. A varietyof engineers worked on various aspects of the design, so itwould be unfair to single out any specific individuals asresponsible for the EVM12L sound.

In the beginning, it was decided that the EVM12L wouldshare the magnet structures and frames of the entire EVM

product line, much ofwhich would be usedfor sound reinforce-ment loudspeakers.Sound reinforcementloudspeakers musthave high efficiencyand high power han-dling to be able toprovide sufficientlyhigh sound pressure

levels in large venues. To meet these requirements, largemagnet structures were designed to create powerful electro-magnetic motors for high efficiency. Heavy-duty die-cast alu-minum frames were designed to support the large magnetstructures and to ensure that the frames wouldn’t flex duringhigh-power operation. An additional benefit of the large mag-net structures and heavy-duty aluminum frames is that theyact as heat sinks to draw heat away from the voice coil,enabling higher power handling to be achieved. While thesefeatures are essential for sound reinforcement loudspeakers,they are not commonly found in most guitar speakers.Although these design decisions were not originally madespecifically for the EVM12L, they did have an effect on thesonic characteristics and resulted in exceptional reliability.

The voice coil, cone, dust dome and spider were, however,specifically chosen for the EVM12L. Although there is norecorded history of the sonic target of the EVM12L, theintent was to make the speaker sound “musical.” The voicecoil was designed to get the ”right amount of distortion”when driven hard. The geometry of the paper cone and thedust dome and the details of the paper pulp were chosen toget “the right sound,” as was the choice for the cloth for thesurround and the treatments applied. Nobody realized at thetime the impact that the EVM12L would have on the futureof guitar sound.

For most of its life, the EVM12L speaker was manufacturedat the Electro-Voice facility in Newport, TN. That manufac-turing facility was relocated to Morrilton, AR in 2002 – andthat is where all Electro-Voice loudspeakers are manufacturedtoday. There have been a variety of changes to the EVM12Lover the years – some intentional and some unintentional. The intentional changes are the obvious cosmetic changes.The frames and magnet structures were redesigned to have amore rounded and sleek look to give the speaker a more mod-ern appearance. These redesign revisions were made tochange the appearance without affect on the performance. Inaddition, a plethora of labels have appeared on the EVM12Lover the years.

The unintentional changes to the EVM12L were the result ofchanges in manufacturing processes and materials that

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occurred over time that were outside the control of Electro-Voice. For example, some of the adhesives used in the origi-nal design ceased to be available. As environmental regula-tions were implemented, some of the chemicals used to man-ufacture paper pulp in the cone and dust dome were eliminat-ed from the workplace as were some of the chemicalsrequired to process the cloth for the surround. When anychange became mandatory, substitutions were carefully cho-sen to maintain the sonic characteristics of the EVM12L.”

We mounted the EVsin our Avatar 4x12,and we can honestlysay that we havenever heard anythingquite like the earthtremors that thun-dered through thehouse. Whatever yourfavorite rig may be,the EVs change thegame, exploding with

a tremendous wall of sound in which every frequency isjust... bigger. Our 2x12 was equally impressive, with even thequietest passages revealing every nuanced touch of the guitarstrings. As we’ve said before, as big as the EVs may be, youcannot hide behind their extraordinarily clear, clean sound. Asingle EV plugged into the Deluxe via the Two Rock 1x12cab was equally mind-altering. For older combo amps, youneed to consider the strength of your baffleboard whenmounting 16 pound EVs, but if you’re craving huge tones,power, and clarity, the EV is clearly in a class by itself.

www.electrovoice.com

KITCHEN TEST NOTESAs noted, the cabinets we used included a Two RockSignature 1x12, Avatar 2x12, 4x12 and 4x10, and we alsomounted single speakers in various combo cabinets for com-parison. Amps: ‘62 brown Vibrolux, ‘64 non-reverb Deluxe, ‘58Tremolux, blackface Princeton Reverb, Fender hand-wiredreissue ‘57 tweed Twin, ‘59 Gibson GA 40 and GA77, ‘08Germino 55LV.

Guitars: GretschAnniversary LTV,Nash ToneQuest‘pawn shop gold’Telecaster with LollarSpecials, Gibson non-reverse Firebird withP90s, Fender RelicStrat with Slider’svintage ‘57 pickups,

‘08 Historic ‘57 Goldtop with Tom Holmes humbuckersCables: We’ve progressed to a point where your old 18-gaugelamp cord or push-back, cloth covered stranded speaker wirehave been significantly upstaged by modern speaker cables.Granted, this new wire can be stiffer and a little less pliable,but you’ll gain audible improvements in clarity, transparency,and a sound that just seems less veiled – closer, in the sameway you might experience digital versus analog recording. Ifthis matters to you, we recommend Evidence Audio speakercable, which can be made up with a right-angle jack for combocabinets, or varying lengths to connect a head and cabinet.

“Things don’t change. You change your way of looking, that’sall.” – Don Juan

No one has eversucceeded in deci-phering the infinitevariations mani-fested by thehuman mind – howwe inhabit thesame world, yetperceive and reactto every moment in

our lives in such profoundly different ways. Society, educationand culture provide filters intended to shape how we viewthe world, but each human being remains different andunique for reasons that remain a mystery. And so it goes withmusic and musicians... Why do some players find their voicein a Stratocaster, while others can’t imagine playing anythingbut a big-ass hollowbody? This is ‘me,’ and that isn’t, but forsomeone else it is. Most of us hear target sounds in our headthat drives our selection of instruments and gear – a soundthat may change with each song, while a weekend blues play-er might simply wish to refine a single, signature tone in thestyle of Jimmie Vaughan or Albert or B.B.King. The point is,we often know where we want to go, but the shortest path toour destination isn’t always so clear. To make things moreinteresting, some players just want to be dropped off at theright address in the Quest for Tone, preferring to find some-thing that works with no tweaks or modifications as quicklyas possible, while others view the Quest as a journey with nodefined beginning or end. To them, anything is possible untilproven otherwise, they enjoy exploring new sounds, and their‘ failures’ are often as illuminating as success.

We learned this lesson once again with an amp that we hadinitially written off, only to discover four years later that it

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could become one of the most extraordinary guitar amplifierswe have ever owned or reviewed. What changed? Well, withthe lucid, unerring clarity of hindsight, we had to dream itfirst, thinking in terms of possibilities – what could be, ratherthan focusing solely on what was missing...

Fender ‘57 TwinThe 25 watt Twinoriginally debutedin 1952 as the firstamp with separatebass and treblecontrols. By 1955,the model 5E8Twin had beenupgraded to 50

watts, featuring two 5U4G rectifiers – another Fender first inguitar amplification – dual 6L6s, bass, treble and Fender’spresence control, a new fixed bias power transformer, choke,an extra gain stage and second negative feedback loop, andthe new ‘narrow panel’ cabinet with speakers mounted ineach corner. In the next circuit revision (1956-’57 model 5E8-A), a ground switch was added and the treble tone circuit wasremoved from the negative feedback loop. Leo Fender could-n’t play a lick on the guitar, but he obviously never stoppedthinking about how to improve the sound and performance ofhis amplifiers, as evidenced by the nearly constant revisionsand refinements of Fender circuits.

The mighty‘high power’80 watt Twinmodel 5F8appeared in1958 withfour 5881s, ashort-lived 83mercury-vapor rectifier

that would be replaced by a single GZ34 rectifier (model5F8-A), and a new ‘Middle’ control added to the normal andbright volume, bass, treble and presence controls. For manycollectors and players who can afford them, the high poweredTwin ranks with the 5F6-A Bassman as the most toneful,desirable, rare and costly Fender amps ever built.

With a deft nod to the company’s rich history, Fender intro-duced a faithfully conceived, hand-wired version of the ‘575E8-A Twin in 2004, wisely sidestepping the incredibly loud5F8-A 80 watt version. Unless your name is Keith, wherewould play it? Like many players and gear enthusiasts, wewasted no time grabbing a ‘57 Twin off the floor at MidtownMusic, anxious to develop a review article soon after its intro-duction, but the ‘57 Twin left us utterly unimpressed and disap-

pointed. We hadanticipated a lush,rich, throaty, singing,exquisitely vocal tonefrom the Twin, andwhat we heard was aclangy, brittle, thin,and rather one-dimensional amplifierwith an irritating

voice. Granted, our high expectations may have contributed tothe depth of our disappointment, but we have heard enoughgreat Fender amps to know this was not one of them. Ratherthan wasting a page or two burning down the Twin in print, wedecided to just return it and move on – there were plenty ofgreat amps that remained to be explored and reviewed withoutranting on about the Twin. Well, there are no mistakes.

Over the next year or so we received several calls from read-ers asking why we hadn’t reviewed the Twin as we had indi-cated in the ‘coming in future issues’ column on the backcover of TQR (discontinued when we realized certain othermags were watching our planned editorial calendar a bit tooclosely). Further discussion revealed that these same readershad already bought the ‘57 Twin, and they wanted to knowhow they might ‘warm up’ the sound of their amp. Really?We kicked around the idea of changing tubes, and that per-haps the speakers needed to break in, but that’s as far as itwent. Aside from seeing Eric Clapton playing the reissueTwin every other year or so when he came through Atlanta,and at the final Cream show in New York, the Twin remainedlargely forgotten until August of 2008.

Perhaps we were inspired byPeter Frampton’s FingerprintsCD – much of it recorded witha tweed Twin, but for some rea-son we began thinking of thehand-wired ‘57 Twin again inlate summer of 2008 – how dis-appointing it had been – butmore importantly, how goodmight it be made to sound? AneBay search revealed that barelyused Twins were selling for$1300-$1500. Within a fewdays we had found one that hadbeen played but a few hours and

put back in the box (that resonated with us), and we bought itfor $1500 shipped.

The Twin arrived in mint condition in the original box withall documentation, and as we unpacked it we felt no littlesympathy for the former owner, having bought our share of

Vintage 5E8-A ‘57 Twin

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disappointments inthe past. A swingand a miss is farbetter than havingnever swung atall... We pluggedinto the Twin andeverything weremembered aboutthe first one filled

the room as if it were yesterday. The amp sounded raw,tight, sharp, one dimensional and remarkably uninteresting.It didn’t breathe, and a rainbow of warm and essential fre-quencies seemed distant, muted and removed. If you canimagine a big, powerful amp still sounding small, this onedid. The more we played it, the Twin’s boxy, shrill tonebecame, as it had the first time – irritating – so much so thatit was actually a relief to shut it off. We had expected this,of course – that had been the whole point in buying theTwin in the first place, but this time we had a dream ofsomething better to follow.

We first turned ourattention to the mostobvious areas forimprovement – tubesand speakers. Fenderhad chosen GrooveTubes 12AX7s,6L6GEs, and dualElectro-Harmonix

5U4GBs – solid, reliable choices for a production amp, toneperhaps being secondary to durability and price. You can’tfault Fender or any other amp builder for the sound of currentproduction tubes, but were we to replace the tubes in theTwin today with new tubes, we’d use reissue Tung Sol 5881sand 12AX7s. We went all out, biasing the Twin for a matchedpair of blackplate RCA 6L6s, with GE and RCA 12AX7s,and we tested both GE and RCA NOS 5U4s. Since new oldstock RCA 6L6s cost as much as some small amps thesedays, we also tried a pair of NOS JAN Philips small-bottle6L6WGBs, which are still available and reasonably priced at

www.kcanostubes.com. Unlike the original,the ‘57 Twin is equipped with a very con-venient and necessary bias pot. As you canguess, the NOS tubes produced an audibleimprovement, with the power tubes con-tributing the most significant change. TheRCAs were predictably musical and rich,with a smoother treble tone than the fullcymbal crash treble we’d heard before, andharmonics were clearer, deeper and moredistinct with a 3-dimensional shimmer.However, the Philips 6L6WGBs signifi-

cantly beefed up the mid and bass frequencies, smoothed tre-ble with a silky and less dominant edge, and essentially repo-sitioned the brightness of the Twin inside chords rather thanbrashly dominating everything we played. It sounded like an

entirely differentamp. The preamptubes subtilelycolor the tone inthe normal andbright channels,and they affect

the threshold at which clean tones began to thicken with sus-tain. Identical but different tubes produced varying results. Ifyou have an assortment of great old preamp tubes, it pays totry them all in different sockets to see which sound best. Wealso acquired and experimented with lower gain NOS12AY7s, which would have been original equipment in the‘57 Twin along with a 12AX7 for the phase inverter. Thesetubes extended clean headroom, and remember... Leo Fenderwas constantly trying to eliminate the distortion that becameso desirable in the ‘60s.

The 5U4s turned out to be acuriosity. We didn’t care for theNOS pair of GEs at all – theymade the amp sound stiff and inan odd way, and less lively. TheRCAs were an improvement,sounding more fluid and airy,but we also liked the EH5U4s,which are, as Mike Kropotkin

reminded us, not true 5U4s at all. The EHs just seemed topush the amp a little harder, where the RCAs were more sub-tle and reserved, as you would expect a tweed circuit tobehave. Perhaps the best way to describe the difference is thatthe EHs introduced a slightly more forward and aggressive,punchy feel. It’s quite possible that you’ll be perfectly happyleaving them in the amp. You can also pull one of the 5U4s toachieve distortion faster, at lower volume.

With our new old tubessorted out, we turned tothe speakers – speciallydesigned by Weber andbuilt by Eminence in theimage of the classic ‘50sJensen Alnico ‘P’ series.Having played throughmany reconed vintage

P12N and P15Ns, we had initially viewed these speakers witha little skepticism during our first tumble with the ‘57 Twin,so we had no qualms about pulling them. However, we alsorepeatedly re-installed them during our experiments with var-ious tubes and replacement speakers to be absolutely sure

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where we were headed.In 1957, the 5E8-ATwin was originallyequipped with JensenP12Qs, and thanks toGreg Talley, we hadaccess to two pairs ofvintage, unreconedJensen P12Qs dating to1962 and 1964. In fair-ness to Fender, Weber

and Eminence, the bright character of the original P12Qsprobably wouldn’t be the first choice of many players today.Yes, the old speakers were musical and richly detailed withincredibly clean, pure treble tones, but they also clearlylacked the warmth, bass response and balance of many popu-lar speakers made today in the U.S. and England. We don’tfault Fender for their efforts in resurrecting a vintage Jensenspeaker, but in our opinion, the diminished bass response,thin, strident treble tones, and muted voice just don’t meetour expectations in 2008. Like rusted bridge saddles on a newrelic Tele or Stratocaster that can’t be adjusted, there can be apoint of diminishing return in an effort to strictly duplicate‘vintage’ tone or the visible effects of time.

Even with ourNOS tubesinstalled, thebright channel inthe Twin is bright,and the presencecontrol sharpensthe tone even fur-

ther. This weighed heavily in the choice of the replacementspeakers we considered. We also acquired a Hosa ‘Y’ patchcable that enables us to plug into both the normal and brightchannels and mix to taste – recommended.

At 45 watts or so, theTwin is capable ofreaching comparative-ly ‘high’ volume lev-els, but perceived vol-ume and the associat-ed pain-avoidancereflex many of us feelwhen thinking aboutpowerful amps isdeceptive. As JoeBonamassa recently

pointed out, dialing in the mids can mean the differencebetween a relatively tame amp sounding brutally hurtful, anda higher powered amp seeming much less so. This is alsowhere your choice of speakers can play a significant role... If

you’re craving maximum power, volume and distortion-freetone with all frequencies present and accounted for, EVs willdo that, while admittedly adding an extra 20 pounds to thebaffleboard. That’s not where we wanted to go, but we didmount one EV in the Twin with other speakers as our evalua-tions progressed, and the results were impressive if that’s thesound you’re chasing. SRV freaks should stop burning throughoverwound Strat pickups and just throw down the scratch for a

couple of EVClassics. Forour personaltaste, we knewwe wanted tofatten up thevoice of theTwin withstronger bassand midrange

– treble was not going to be a problem. At 45 watts, we alsowanted to use speakers that would neither produce maximumvolume, or the kind of faster speaker distortion you would getfrom two 25 watt speakers. The beauty of the Twin is that thenotes retain a captivating clarity even as the amp spills into anoverdriven tone at 5-6 on the volume control.

Experimenting with combinations that included the 70 wattJensen Mod, Alnico Jet, Warehouse Veteran 30, EminenceMan ‘O War, Red Fang, Cannabis Rex and Screaming Eagle,we turned to a pair of Celestion G12H30s, followed by oneG12H30 paired with a Celestion Vintage 30 (Hellatone 60).While we could easily recommend several excellent combina-tions of the various speakers referenced here, we ultimatelysettled on the Vintage 30 and G12H30 for their robust lows,rich midrange, and plenty of smooth and musical high end tocomplement the Twin’s bright channel, without sounding toosharp or dominant with a wide range of guitars and pickups.The ‘57 Twin now sounded exceptionally good – warm, fulland bright, with a thick, trebly vocal quality that in our expe-rience elegantly reflects the way vintage tweed amps of thisera were voiced, as demonstrated by our ‘58 Tremolux. Butour work would not be complete without considering the cir-cuit and components...

Fenderdesignersfaithfullyfollowedthe originalschematicand layoutfor the ‘57Twin, turn-

ing to Mercury Magnetics for the all-important transformersand choke. Among custom builders, there are many ardent

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fans ofMercury, whileothers haveworked withmanufacturerslike Heyboerand Hammondfor years. Each

company has their followers, and the same can be said for thecapacitors used today in building amplifiers. In the booteekworld, you’ll often see Sprague, F&T or Solen electrolyticcaps. Fender chose to use Illinois electrolytics, in part, weassume, because their smaller size enables them to actually fiton the board as originally designed (leaving room for theadded bias pot), while the big, blue Spragues used by manycustom amp builders will not. Jeff Bakos agreed that it’slargely a moot point – he likes the Illinois caps and uses themfrequently for repairs. You’ll find them in Sampson-eraMatchless amps as well. Fender chose Xicon polypropylenecoupling caps for the Twin, and when it comes to couplingcapacitors, you’ll find lots of conflicting opinions. Some peo-ple luv SBE Orange Drop polypropylene film caps – othersprefer German F&Ts, or the foil and polyester film replica

‘mustard caps’ by Sozo. Jeffsuggested that we replace theXicons in the Twin with metal-ized polyester 150M ‘Mallory’caps – a very popular replace-ment in Fender amps that manybelieve imparts a smoother,warmer tone than, say... OrangeDrops. We agree. Whatever youchoose, be prepared for delayedgratification. There is a break-inperiod with all signal-carryingcomponents, and new coupling

caps can require as much as 50-100 hours before they areeffectively burned-in. We burned in the Twin for 48 hoursafter replacing the caps, and while the full effect may yet tobe realized, we do hear a subtle smoothing effect from theMallory 150s that is less grainy and metallic than the Xicons.What’s left in our optimization of the ‘57 Twin? Not much.We run ours with one rectifier more often than not, and it isundoubtedly one of the most toneful, character-laden andinspiring amps we have owned or reviewed in these pages.Warmer with more organic mids than a typical blackface,

brighter than the brown-era amps, yet less aggressive, loud,trebly and in-your-face than a blonde Bassman, the Twin cre-ates its own beautiful space played clean or cranked intosinging sustain and round, woody distortion. Even pushedhard, the sound of the Twin remains uniquely clear anddefined, and it is also a very pedal-friendly amp for fans ofboost and overdrive effects.

As much as we dis-liked the Twin ‘outof the box,’ we nowenthusiasticallyembraced it withthe same convic-tion. With theexception of a tubeclamp breaking anda somewhat flimsy

leather handle for a 60-pound amp that we replaced, theworkmanship and fine detail found in the Twin is clearlycomparable to any booteek tweed, with an artfully applied,lacquered tweed covering, solid pine cabinet, stout plywoodbaffleboard and precisely hand-wired circuit. All the Twinreally needs is... reverb. Well, here ya go...

As an amp tech, designer, and founder of Metaltronix in theearly ‘80s, Lee Jackson was among the first custom ampbuilders who cleared a path for the booteek industry thatwould fully bloom in the ‘90s. Jackson initially learned hiscraft at Fender working with legends like Ed Jahns andFreddie Tavares, and for over 25 years he has continuallydeveloped and refined his amps, mods and effects, as well ashaving written a book titled, “Ultimate Bench Warrior – HowTo Design, Modify and Build Guitar and Bass Amplifiers.”due to be released this month (see Amazon.com).

Working in Austin, TX, Lee developed the Mr Springgy reverbpedal in 2007.Now in version2, it has beenenthusiasticallyembraced byguitarists as aremarkablytransparent,realistic andtone-enhancingalternative todigital reverb or

ToneQuest


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spring reverb units. Here’s the story behind the developmentof Mr Springgy, followed by our review.

“It all started when I was going to the L.A. Namm show in2006. On the day of the show, I ran into an old friend that Ihad worked with at Ampeg – Steve Winkler, who was nowworking with Belton Industries, the manufacturer of reverbpans. They had just developed a new reverb pan replacementmodule, and he wanted me to hear it and offer my opinionbefore they went into an important meeting that afternoonwith Fender, Marshall and Peavey. So, I listened to theirdemo and said, “Great concept but it sounds like crap.” WhatI didn’t know was the designer was present, and I was quick-ly ushered out of the room. After the show, Steve contactedme and asked if I would be their technical adviser and ears.They had been crucified by the majors at their meeting, andrealized I was right. I began working with them on a weeklybasis – they would send samples, and I would listen and thenmake notes and suggestions. The process was like pullingteeth, but they got it.

While all this was going on, I was doing my own experiment-ing with the modules, and I discovered I could tailor the mod-ule to sound just like an old Fender table top reverb, and that’sas far as I am going in explaining what I am doing with themodule. The stock modules from Belton sound great, but theydo not sound like the Mr Springgy’s and they will agree withme on that. Lets just say I mod the module before I use it.

Mr Springgy has gone through a couple of revisions since Iintroduced it in November 2007. I designed Mr Springgy as alark to prove something to myself, then a couple of guitarplayers happened to be around and heard Mr Springgy, andthey had to have one. Well, within weeks I started making MrSpringgys night and day, seven days a week. The first fiftyor so had a trim pot on the inside which adjusted the level ofreverb in the mix. What I quickly found is there is never

enough reverb in the world, andno one ever turned down the trim,so it was the first thing to go,which brought us to the mostrecent version where I added the“Wet” only feature. I have alwayslistened to players, and I was get-ting a lot of e-mails asking for a“Wet” only feature, so as soon as Icould add that feature, I did. Theother thing I did was make a com-mand decision on the MrSpringgy colors, and I decided onblack only. On the earlier models Ihad offered them in gold and pink,but Texas weather has been so badthis last year that it has been

impossible to paint the colors and have them dry in under aweek.

Mr Springgy is completely analog from input to output –there are no modeling or analog-to-digital or digital-to-analogconverters. I also included one of my Crystal Clear SplitterCircuits so you can run multiple amps, and now with the “Wetonly” feature you can have one amp wet and one amp dry fora huge, spatial sound. Plus, with the wet only, you can use MrSpringgy in the Studio or live mixing board. Mr Springgy isalso quieter than the Fender Reverb unit it is recreating. It actsjust like the Fender unit, meaning it works in the front of theamp for clean and with a little gain. If you use a lot of gain,then it needs to be in the loop of the amp. They sound greatafter distortion pedals, and should be the last effect in a chainof effects. I think if you play Blues, it will work great in thefront of the amp. If you play metal, it would have to be in theloop, unless you use distortion pedals.

Can I also have a word here about “true bypass?” I get a lotof e-mail concerning this... OK, in the ‘50s, ‘60s and ‘70s,electronics – and especially solid state electronics, were anew frontier. A lot of companies had no idea what they weredoing, and really didn’t care as long as whatever they builtwas selling. So yes, many of those earlier effects suck all thelife out of your instrument if you leave it in line. But this is2008, and as designers, we now know how to design circuitsthat do not suck tone and actually enhance it. So, with thatsaid, I have only heard how playing through Mr Springgy hasimproved the tone – On and Off. I have never built anythingthat was so loved by such a wide spectrum of players. I guessthere is just never enough reverb in the world!”

SPECS:Powered by one 9V battery, or 9-12 vdc power supply 100 ma + center tip ground, like any standard Boss effect.Not true bypass, but if you want to change it, I have made iteasy to change. I will not offer true bypass because I hateeffects that pop when you turn them off and on.

MR SPRINGGYREVIEWWe’ve been extolling thevirtues of even the slight-est drip of reverb for yearsin amps that aren’t soequipped, so why stopnow? A Vox or Marshall isa beautiful thing supportedby a little ‘verb, and wehave never heard a Britishamp with factory-equippedreverb that wasn’t laugh-


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able, the absolute worst being a 50 watt Sound City head weonce owned. Plenty of great vintage American amps werebuilt without reverb as well – all the ‘50s Gibsons (and whenGibson did add reverb, it was brilliantly cheesy), tweed,brown and blonde Fenders, and the usual assortment ofAmpegs and Valcos. Gutsy, stripped-down vintage amps areoften hugely improved with reverb, and the big ‘57 Twinbecomes two vintage amps in one – a tweedy tone monsterdry, and one hell of a blackface amp wet, only better.

In the past, we’ve happily recommended the Electro-Harmonix Holy Grail and Holiest Grail reverb pedals as analternative to moderately soulful reissue Fender reverb unitsand the pricier vintage boxes, which can be plagued with badpans that need replacement and other quirky gremlins. Theknock on the Grails has been less than robust roadworthiness,and in our experience, a tendency to just stop working untilyou disconnect and reconnect the power supply. We have alsoreviewed and recommended the $249.00 TC ElectronicsNova digital reverb – a durable and versatile pedal with loadsof features – perhaps more than you need. Lee Jackson haselevated the reverb wars with an outstanding $200 analogreverb pedal that simply does what you want with a supreme-ly realistic sound and just one knob to deal with, plus a verycool wet/dry capability when using two amps. Mr Springgysounds superb, with a big-pan reverb vibe that doesn’t soundboinky, hissy or difficult to dial in without slipping quicklyinto all or nothing heavy surf... Just smooth, liquid and lushanalog 3-D reverb from a small box that won’t eat space inyour gig bag or pedalboard. Great for acoustic instruments,keyboards, harp, fly gigs, and a most excellent stockingstuffer this holiday season. Spring forth…

www.leejackson.com/

When tak-ing theplunge on anew guitarisn’t anoption, theright pick-up swapcan effec-tively

soothe that itch and transform an uninspiring guitar into oneyou can enjoy playing again. We’ve got a follow up to theApril ‘08 Spanish Castle issue in the works, but our recentexperience with Lindy Fralin’s ‘stock’ soapbar P90 set

deserves your attention now... You’ll recall our recent acqui-sition of a 2007 non-reverse Custom Shop Firebird –arguably our favorite P90 guitar to date, which is saying alot, having owned and reviewed multiple goldtops, SGs,ES330s and Les Paul Juniors equipped with P90s in the past.We also acquired a couple of vintage ‘50s P90s this year, sowe feel confident in our ability to assess the variable tonesand voices available from new and vintage P90 pickups.

The Firebird is not only an unusu-al guitar from a design perspec-tive – it also possesses a uniquevoice which we attribute to mate-rials, design and construction.Unlike any other Gibson model,the non-reverse Firebird presentsa relatively thin, elongated singleslab of carved mahogany with abeefy mahogany set neck, rose-wood fingerboard and tune-o-matic bridge and stop tailpiece.All that gorgeous mahoganymight lead you to conclude thatthe Firebird produces a naturallydeep and heavy tone with under-stated treble response, but in real-ity, quite the opposite is true. Inthe bridge position the Firebirdgracefully leans into sharp, bitingTelecaster tones, admittedly withround and middy overtones, butsharp, nonetheless, sounding lesstaut and tense than the goldtopsand Juniors we’ve owned. We ini-

tially found the stock Gibson P90 too shrill, while the neckposition was less objectionable, but perhaps still a little toowoofy. We replaced the Gibsons with a Lollar ‘50s set, stillnot happy with the overall voice of the guitar, whichremained linear, beamy and one dimensional. Hard to put intowords, but something was missing that became more evidentas we evaluated speakers for this issue with the Firebird,among other guitars. Motivated now to make a move – notfor the purpose of writing a review – but because we, likeyou, merely wanted a better tone – we bought a set of Lindy

Fralin ‘stock’soapbar P90swhich feature a10% under-wound neckpickup for betterclarity and defi-nition. Fralintypically usesthe same USA-

ToneQuestLindy Fralin P90…Lindy Fralin P90…Vanilla Fudge

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made Alnico IV magnets and 42 gauge enamel wire used inhis humbucking pickups, which makes sense, since Gibsonand Seth Lover used the same wire and magnets from the P90to build PAFs. During a conversation with Lindy about hisP90s, he mentioned that he likes to ‘soften’ the magnets by

gently rubbingtwo together,alternating theorientation ofboth flat sur-faces and eachend to veryslightly de-magnetize

them. He commented that many people seem to like theresults, and he has had pro players request that pickups besent with different Alnico II, IV and V magnets so they couldchoose which sound they liked the best. We’ll be featuring abroader discussion with Lindy on pickups soon, but for nowwe can tell you that his P90 set truly completed the sound ofthe Firebird for us. The bridge pickup seems to display morefacets, as if looking through a prism rather than a flat piece ofglass. There is a texture and depth to the sound that supportsthe dominant treble and upper midrange frequencies that alsofeels more responsive to pick attack.

In the neck position, the slightly underwound P90 bettermatches the bridge in volume when both pickups are com-bined, but the neck P90 alone remains clear and detailed atlower volumes, swelling to the fat and woody voice of a greatold guitar turned up. And like the bridge, there just seems tobe more content in the Fralins – an extra dimension in andaround the notes played both clean and cranked. We’ll gladlygive Lindy Fralin a nod for the best sounding P90s we’veplayed to date – ‘vintage’ or new.

www.fralinpickups.com, 804-358-2699

DST foundersBob Detorre andJeff Swansonbuild great amps.We’ve reviewedvarious models(along with Jeff’sstellar cabinetwork) enoughover the past tenyears to expect

something uniquely appealing whenever we receive an ampfor review, and the U84 is no exception. However, we willadmit to being pleasantly surprised by this amp in particular.Here’s why...

The U84 is DST’s entry into the low-power, dare we say‘bedroom’ segment of the booteek amp world – a now crowd-ed field driven by aging boomers, the family noise police, andneighbors in urban apartment buildings and condos where theeffluvia of curry, garlic, monkfish and leaky children may notbe viewed as an affront to the senses, but a screaming guitarwill target the owner as an undesirable reprobate to be muz-zled for the good of society. We get it – two watts may notleave you feeling as if you’ve just played an encore at BuddyGuy’s Legends club, but those two watts have their place.Here’s designer Bob Detorre’s pithy description of the amp...

The U84wasdesigned tobe a minia-ture versionof my largerdesigns –Class ABpush/pull,dual EL84s,solid state

rectifier, simplified tone stack and 12AX7 pre-amp and phaseinverter (long tail variety). The power select is a simple pas-sive power dump. This keeps the amp running at full powerall the time so in the 2 watt mode it simply throws away 6watts and sends 2 to the speakers. This allows the characterof the amp to remain the same at lower power. The Outputswitch turns the negative feedback on and off for vintagetweed or more modern feel to the output tubes, while theGain switch changes the gain at the first pre-amp stage. Thepots are set up so the Gain pot controls pre-amp crunch andthe Master controls output tube crunch. The idea here is tohave a few features for the “tweakers” while still being sim-ple and fun to play.

The operative phrase in Bob’s description is ‘fun to play.’We’ve come a long way since the Pignose... It will take you

about a minute to plumb the breadth and scope of the U84’scontrols, which enable variable levels of volume, gain, cleanand distorted tones, plus bass and treble EQ. We plugged inthe Firebird, stepped on Mr Springgy, and thirty minutes of

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ToneQuestDST U84-TNTA Writer’s Tool

DST U84-TNT


liberating fun passed before we began to even think abouttaking notes. Yeah, that’s significant. Now, we aren’t going tosay that the U84 shines with sparkling clean tones at all vol-ume levels – it doesn’t. You can coax some nice clean tonesat low volume, but this isn’t the intention of this amp. Whatyou can do is dial up moderately busted up to intense levelsof overdriven tone that actually have a tone, and still allowthe unique character of your guitars to shine through. Thereason we were so fascinated with what we were hearingwith the Firebird and the U84 was simple – it sounded great– from bluesy sustain to a crunchier tone that would be per-fect for writing songs that call for such sounds at relaxedrather than fatiguing volume levels. The woodiness of theFirebird endured through the U84 circuit at all settings, andat certain settings on the neck pickup you would swear youwere hearing a Strat through a Marshall stack. More impor-tantly, that’s just one of many voices that can be pulled fromthis amp with a great guitar.

The 2watt set-ting iswhispersoft, butas Bobobserved,the soundis exactly

the same as the 8 watt setting – just quieter. You can easilymix or emphasize preamp and output tube distortion throughthe Master and Gain controls, with additional control overgain via the Hi/Lo inputs and toggled preamp and outputboosts. Our review amp was loaded with a 25 watt CelestionGreenback, and the tone controls enabled us to shape thetone to taste. We would happily use the U84 for writing andlow volume dealing, probably selecting the 8- pound headfor maximum versatility with an 8 or 16 ohm cabinet. Eitherway, the U84 is exceptional, available with optional speakersand covering as a 1x12 combo with 3/4 inch pine cabinet($1199) or head ($999).

www.dst-engineering.com, 978-578-0532

Fishman Aura technology is part of a fundamental perspec-tive shift in getting an acoustic sound loud, and works by bot-tling various complex EQ characteristics of body sound (aspreviously sampled by a specific microphone or two) andtransferring them into the electronic domain.

Essentially, having ledthe field and estab-lished a sizeable busi-ness by developing allkinds of bugs, under-saddles, magnetics,microphones and theirattendant preamps andmixers, Fishman aretaking on board themany and frequentplayer comments thatthese pickups don’treproduce an acoustic

sound with an acceptable degree of accuracy. Functionally,the Aura offers us acousticati an opportunity to use electron-ics as a creative, additive tone tool alongside the defensive,subtractive devices we’ve employed in the past. Fishman’sdeclared intent is that the Aura should be used to match itspre-tailored “Sound Image” with a guitar as similar as possi-ble to that from which the image is sampled, and using anundersaddle that’s as close as possible to the one that hasbeen catered for in the production of the “Sound Images.”Fishman get into complicated arguments over the differencebetween modeling and “Sound Images” – the latter is a com-plex EQ algorithm with some phase information, derived bysampling the sounds of particular guitars, and therefore, intheir opinion, less artificial than “modeling” in that it offers acomplex EQ system that will interact with the input signal.You may care to read up on Roland’s COSM modeling, for

exam-ple, toget ahandleon thecom-para-tiveangel-

to-pinhead ratios involved. Having pointed out that a guitarwith characteristics that differ significantly from the charac-teristics embedded in the Aura might not sound too good,Fishman say that in the event of instrument substitution, “Inthe best cases, an acoustically neutral sounding instrumentcan ‘put on’ some of the resonant characteristics of a dissimi-lar Sound Image, but we can’t guarantee your results.”

Whatever the seeming contradictions in Fishman's presenta-tion, the Aura is fascinating. I don’t like the sound of magnet-ics through it – they have too much local character, finger-board or bridge, for the Aura’s internal electronics to over-ride, but my Graph Tech piezo saddles certainly seem to ben-efit from it. Indeed, I have run tonally dull recorded Stratstyle piezo saddle-derived tracks through it from my Tascam,

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and used theAura to addquasi-acoustic tex-tures on theway back into anothertrack – notso much re-amping as

re-guitaring. They sound no less convincing for the after-thought treatment, and if this music gets released, I fullyexpect to be asked what acoustics I used for particular tunes.For us hoi polloi, the simpler (than the full size original)stomp box Aura comes in several flavors, each offering arange of EQs sampled from a particular type of guitar. Thevery keen can send their guitars in to be sampled and havethe results burnt onto a CD which is then sent back to theuser to be installed on the bigger Aura Imaging Blender,which has a MIDI interface to facilitate loading other guitarcharacters. Note, this personalized factory load facility costsa couple of hundred bucks, plus the costs of shipping yourguitar to and from Fishman, which guitar must have anundersaddle pickup fitted so that its characteristics can betaken into account. I think this particular hajj is somethingyou could wonder about after having an in-store bash at thestomp box versions, and, having tried the variations on eachsetting, consider how much value subtle individual acousticinstrument analysis adds in the blunderbuss reality of variablesound systems and venues.

Meanwhile, Greg Carmichael, who has been working success-fully with Acoustic Alchemy in the USA for seventeen yearsnow, and who regularly passes by Fishman’s Massachusettshome, has had his Matrix-equipped nylon strung guitar sam-pled and loaded into his big Aura. He describes the changefrom generic to specific sample as subtle and pleasing, andwhere he used to mix the generic processed sound in at a levelof one out of six, he now mixes his sample in at two. He doescaution that too much Aura sound in the mix can soundclanky. He powers his Aura and a couple of other pedals –echo and reverb amongst them – from a Dunlop DC Brick,

and isn’thearingany of thenoise thiskind ofswitchingsupplysome-timescauses.It’s worthsaying

that this does not suddenly turn your whole system into ahuge acoustic guitar; what comes out of the speakers is still afacsimile, but it is a very good facsimile of a well set up andEQ’d plugged in acoustic sound.

There are people working in electric bands who have to dealwith acoustic scenes in their otherwise electric stage reper-toire. Some of them have already gone for the live option ofswitching to piezo saddles added to their electric guitars fora couple of numbers rather than go through the hassle ofchanging over to a bugged-up acoustic that will be a bigproblem alongside a drumkit. For example – Gaz Coombeswith Supergrass, and Adam Christian with The Pretenders. I have tried two Aura stomp boxes, one a Dreadnought, theother an Orchestra, plugging a set of quite neutral GraphTech Strat saddles through them via an A/B switch. In theheadphones (Sennheiser HD 650 and Sony MDR-7509), Ihear the boomy low mids of the Dread and the more homelyOrchestra as if they were mic’d real guitars. These soundsare not as perfect as a good engineer could get the real gui-tars in an expensive studio in a nice room with multiplemics, but as close as a good engineer could get amid thevagaries of live gigs.

A legitimatequestion reallyis, “How real-istic do youactually wantthe simulatedacoustic soundthat is pumpedout of a p.a.?”That mayappear to have

been the grail for as long as we’ve been taking this path,but, apart from the now absent breathy diffusion of a realacoustic instrument, odd things happen to sound at higherlevels, and some of the acoustic’s EQ characteristics that arevery attractive in a small setting can become fatiguing andunpleasant at a higher level from a directional speaker sys-tem, and Aura users working at higher levels often use pro-portionally less of the treated sound. The low mid boom ofthe Dreadnought Aura, for obvious instance, is just as mucha problem as the boom from the original instrument, andeven differently modeled acoustic sounds can need the bodyelement reduced to avoid, say, an undamped fifth ringing onunnaturally. Feedback tendencies are still a liability even ifthe uneven EQ is generated electronically instead of physi-cally. Luckily, the Aura stomp box is relatively easy to findand experience for yourself.

www.adrianlegg.comwww.fishman.com

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Don’t miss your opportunity tosave 10% on selected productsoffered by members of yourToneQuest Resource Directory!

Look for exclusive ToneQuest dis-count offers in gold and referenceTQR when placing your order.

TQR Directory News! The GibsonRepair Shop, Nashville, new gearfrom Visual Sound, and Carr Amps!Welcome, Mercury Magnetics!

A Brown Soun The all–new Hemp E Cones,Bass 10’s, and 10’s for guitar are here! In additionto A Brown’s original hemp cones, John Harrisonhas created a new “ E” cone that is a bit brighterthan the original hemp cone. Killer tone for Fenderamps, or in combination with the original HempTone Tubby speaker. The bass 10’s have receivedrave reviews from none other than TommyShannon, and the 10’s for guitar will knock youout in your Princeton, Vibrolux, or Super. A BrownSoun was founded in San Rafael, California in1974 by John Harrison – a working musician whorefused to settle for the few reconing choices thatexisted when he first needed speakers repaired inthe Bay Area. Since then, John has been recog-nized by artists such as Carlos Santana, NeilYoung, Pearl Jam, Van Halen, and many others asCalifornia’s top speaker reconer. In addition to itsfamed reconing services, A Brown Soun also cus-tom builds speakers and cabinets for virtuallyevery application. The renowned Tone Tubbyspeaker developed by A Brown Soun has receivedrave reviews from top professionals around theworld. Brown’s recently released series of speakersfor guitar and bass featuring hemp cones is settinga new benchmark for guitar and bass speaker per-formance, with dramatically improved clarity, notedefinition, frequency response, durability, andpower handling. Whether you need new speakers,custom built cabinets, or vintage speakers rebuiltand sounding right, A Brown Soun is your profes-sional resource. As the Tone Tubby logo says, “We’re committed to tone,” and that means yours.

A Brown Soun Inc. San Rafael,CAwww.abrownsoun.com 415–479–2124

Acme Guitar Works Acme is the source for thenew ToneShaperTM for Stratocaster (other modelscoming), a drop-in, completely solderless controlassembly that gives you incredible flexibility on thefly, such as the ability to assign your Strat's tone con-trols to specific pickups; to select between differentcapacitor values for the tone controls; to choosebetween series and parallel options; to add a blendercontrol; and more, and all in a properly-engineered,shielded assembly! Check it out on their website.

And as always, Acme Guitar Works has the bestselection of the best pickups available, and thewidest selection of killer electronic components foryour guitar, whatever the make. Their signature serv-ice is providing complete pre-wired electronicassemblies, with or without pickups, that allow youto easily upgrade the electronics in your guitars.Whatever your skill level may be with regard towiring and electronics, these turn-key solutions offer

a real benefit by allowing you to concentrate on thefun part of your craft (playing your guitar!) ratherthan spending your day off with a solderingiron in your hand.

Assemblies are available in a number of differentconfigurations. Opt for Fender parts - such as pick-guards and control plates/knobs - or order yourassembly on a template and use your existing plastic.Pickup options include Lollar, Fralin, Suhr, VanZandt, Fender, and Duncan. Assemblies for manyguitars are available, including Strats, Teles, and LesPauls, along with Fender basses. If you don't seewhat you want on their website then give them acall. They'll even make you a complete controlassembly with a new ToneShaperTM installed, for theultimate in both tone and flexibility. It's the best ofall worlds.

Acme also stocks a complete selection of top-qualitywiring kits. These kits include the finest componentsat reasonable prices, with no hype involved. Just thegood stuff, no fluff.

Get Wired!

Acme Guitar Works, Inc.Vero Beach, FL

www.acmeguitarworks.com772-770-1919

AllParts Top players and guitar builders rely onAllparts for the right guitar and bass parts theyneed, in stock and ready to ship. AllParts offers acomplete range of finished and unfinished guitarbodies in a variety of premium tone woods, includ-ing alder and swamp ash, with optional highly fig-ured maple tops. Finishes include all of the mostpopular vintage colors, including see–throughblonde! Premium necks are also available withmaple, rosewood, and ebony fingerboards in a vari-ety of neck shape profiles, with or without binding.Custom design your next guitar with AllParts,including tailpieces, tuning keys, bridges, nuts andsaddles, pickups, pickguards (that really fit),knobs, hardware, and electronics for many popularmodels. Bass players and lefties can also find theparts they need at AllParts! You can also rely onAllparts for hard to find parts, along with vacuumtubes and amplifier hardware.

AllParts, Houston, TX www.allparts.com 713–466–6414

Analogman TQR readers are invited to save $25on the Sunface NKT with Sundial Fuzz, or receivefree shipping on all handmade Analog Man brandpedals, Foxrox, Teese wahs, and the PedalPower2!Mike Piera is one of the premier guitar effectsdealers and manufacturers serving professionalplayers worldwide. Analogman is unique, since itmanufactures, modifies, buys, sells, and repairsvintage and new guitar effects. Specializing in vin-tage and high–end effects, you won’t find cheapTaiwanese “ happy meal” style, toy effects there.Analogman is dedicated to helping you successful-ly pursue your quest for tone, and every customeris treated as a prospective friend. Analogman canmeet all your effects needs, including: Buying andselling vintage, new, and custom built effects, andmodifying pedals to sound and function better. Afull repair service, including referrals to specialists.Creating the best new effects with vintage values,schematics, and original owner’s manual copies.FREE help with effects problems by e–mail or in

our Web Forum, plus professional consultation andtechnical services. Analogman specializes in pedalmodifications for the Ibanez and Maxon TubeScreamers and several Boss pedals (SD–1, DS–1,BD–2, DD5, etc). They also modify Fuzzfaces tovintage germanium specs. Analogman hand–builtpedals include the Clone chorus, Comprossors, andSun Face fuzz pedals. There are 3 versions of theComprossors available, based on the Ross styleand/or the Orange Squeezer style of compression.Other hand–made pedals available from AnalogMan include the FOXROX Captain Coconut andTZF flanger, Teese RMC wahs, Z Vex, Black Cat,Tubester, Ultravibe, Pedaltrain and George Lcables. Jim Weider recently collaborated with Mikeon the King Of Tone overdrive pedal, which isbeing introduced in December 2003! Please checkthe web site for more information, and e–mail ifpossible. If you must call, please mentionToneQuest and they’ll make time to help you.

Analog Man, Bethel, CTwww.analogman.com 203–778–6658

Antique Electronic Supply Antique ElectronicSupply carries the largest selection of parts for gui-tars, amplifiers, high–end audio, antique radios andamateur radios.

Looking for an obscure vacuum tube? AntiqueElectronic Supply has the world’s largest inventoryof NOS vacuum tubes, carrying hard to find tubesfrom such companies as RCA, GE, Sylvania, TungSol and others. They carry a great selection of cur-rently produced tubes from JJ/Tesla, Winged–C(which are manufactured in the JSC SvetlanaFactory in St. Petersburg, Russia), Valve Art andEI. In addition they stock Groove Tubes, RubyTubes and other current production tubes fromboth Russia and China.

Along with vacuum tubes AES has a wide range ofparts for Ampeg, Vox, Fender and Marshall ampli-fiers, carrying such items as speakers from bothJensen and Celestion, tolex, handles, grill cloth,reverb tanks, resistors, capacitors, transformers,knobs, switches and other much needed parts.Antique Electronic Supply also carries Korg key-board parts, as well as components for Leslie cabi-nets and a variety of books, software, test equip-ment, soldering supplies and chemicals.

Antique Electronic Supply has a great selection ofparts for guitars and basses. They offer a full rangeof parts for both Fender and Gibson, stocking suchitems as bridges, pickguards, knobs, potentiome-ters, and tuning knobs. They have recently startedcarrying Badass Bridges, and they also sell Pro Coand Maxon effects pedals. Information and imagesare available for all of their items on www.tube-sandmore.com.

For 22 years Antique Electronic supply has been inbusiness and they know how to please their cus-tomers, offering same day shipping on ordersplaced before 2:00 p.m. MST. Catalogs are avail-able upon request.

Antique Electronic Supply, Tempe, AZ www.tubesandmore.com, 480–820–5411

Avatar Speakers was founded in 1991 by DaveNoss and is known for selling well-built,high valueguitar and bass speaker cabs loaded with the best


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speakers in the world from Celestion andEminence. We also offer the best prices on rawspeakers from these fine companies.

Avatar recently introduced the new G2112HPremier cabs available in Red, Orange, Green,Brown, Black or Blonde tolex, loaded with yourchoice of speakers. Features include 13 ply balticBirch cabs with superb dovetail corner joints andyour choice of open, oval, or closed backs. Grillcloth colors include Wheat, Black, vintage Fenderand Oxblood with white piping.

We also offer a Premier Vintage cab modeled afterthe ‘60s Bluesbreaker. Avatar also markets their great sounding Hellatoneline of 12” guitar speakers – aged CelestionG12H30’s and Vintage 30’s, both of which havereceived stellar reviews.

Avatar Speakers, Dalton Gardens, ID208-762-5251, www.avatarspeakers.com

Callaham Vintage Guitars & Amps BillCallaham is a builder of exceptional electric gui-tars that exceed the original quality, tone, andbeauty of the vintage models that inspire his work.“ Better than vintage” is an apt description for theCallaham “ S” and “ T” model electric guitars thatfeature premium lightweight ash and alder bodies,custom hand–shaped rock maple necks, and cryo-genically treated Lindy Fralin pickups speciallywound to Callaham’s specifications for true vin-tage tone. Bill also offers cryogenically treated,pre–wired vintage pick guards for Strat style gui-tars, and his exclusive formula for cold–rolled steelalloy tremolo blocks continue to delight playersaround the world with improved resonance andsustain. Callaham vintage saddles also improvesustain while minimizing string fatigue and breaks.Additional Strat parts include stainless steel tremarms, string ferrules, bridge plates and mountingscrews, and string retainers. Attention Tele Players!Callaham now offers a complete line of customTele parts. Please visit their web site for informa-tion on pre–wired control plates with premiumpots, capacitors, and cloth–covered wire, speciallywound and cryogenically treated Fralin vintageTele pickups, compensated brass bridge saddles,bridge plates, knobs, jacks, tuners and string trees!The only thing better than Callaham parts is aCallaham guitar. We said that, and you can take itto the bank.

Callaham Guitars, Winchester, VAwww.callahamguitars.com 540–678–4043

Carr Amplifiers Check out the ALL NEW CarrMini-Mercury! The Mini-Merc is an extremelyversatile combo with all tube Reverb, 3 positionBoost switch, Treble cut switch, and a built inattenuator yielding 8, 2, fi, or 1/10 watt output.100% hand wired and every amp is rigorously test-ed before leaving our shop.

The Mini-Mercury offers tones and big amp ‘feel’ranging from lush 60s American reverb to modi-fied ‘brown’ ‘70s British crunch at almost any vol-ume. The cabinet measures a friendly 19.5” wideby 15” tall by 10” deep at the bottom sloping to 9”deep on the top. Our new Mini-Mercury has thesame electronics as the standard 1-12” Mercury

differing only in its smaller cabinet and its warmand smoky 10 inch Eminence “Lil Buddy” hempcone speaker.

Plug into any Carr amp and you’ll immediatelyunderstand why we said in our first very firstToneQuest review, “Finally, somebody got it right.”Right, as in the perfect marriage of classic Fenderbalance, clarity, and head room, with innovativeoverdrive features that produce natural, sweet tubedistortion, but never at the expense of the toneyou’ve worked so hard to capture in your instru-ments. Lots of small–batch amp builders use pre-mium components and labor–intensive,point–to–point construction, and Carr is no excep-tion. The Solen filter caps used in Carr amps alonecost more than the sum of the parts in many bou-tique circuits!

Carr amps are professional tools and works of artthat will inspire you for a lifetime. Check out themany stellar reviews and dealer locations for Carramps at their web site, and contact the boys at Carrfor more information about which Carr model isbest for you.

Carr Amplifiers, Pittsboro,NCwww.carramps.com 919–545–0747

Celestion Ltd. Nobody knows more thanCelestion about guitar loudspeaker design andmanufacture. Think of your all-time favourite gui-tar riffs and solos, chances are, they were playedthrough Celestion guitar loudspeakers. For the lastfifty years - since the birth of the Celestion Blue(the first ever purpose-built guitar loudspeaker) -our magical mix of metal paper and magnets hasformed an essential part of the sound of guitarmusic.

Some of the greatest speakers available today arepart of the Celestion Classic Series. Over the years,we’ve applied our design expertise to build a rangeof speakers that will give you classic Celestion tone,no matter what style you play. The Alnico Seriesand the Heritage Series, both hand-built in Ipswich,England, are the result of meticulous attention todetail, created for those who are absolutely dedicat-ed to the pursuit of true Vintage tone.

For high-volume OEMs, Celestion Originals repre-sent outstanding value for money. We have the spe-cialist experience coupled with the most advanced,high-volume manufacturing techniques to deliverCelestion tone, quality and brand appeal atextremely competitive prices.

Celestion International Ltd www.celestion.comFor OEM Enquiries, contact Andy Farrow at

Celestion America, 732-683-2356For retail and distribution enquiries, contact

Group One Ltd 516-249-1399 www.g1limited.com

Collings GuitarsBill Collings’ story provides a classic exampleof what can be achieved with an engineer’sbrain, a machinists’ hand and an experiencedrepairman’s eye. After dropping out of medicalschool in Ohio to work in a machine shop,Collings moved to Texas in the mid 1970’swhere the experience he gained repairing and

restoring guitars guided his design of the firstCollings guitars. His understanding of the flawsand shortcomings found in production instru-ments was instructive, and he set out to elimi-nate those shortcomings with the very firstCollings guitars

Today, Collings has 50 full-time employeesworking in a new, 22,000 square foot, state-of-the-art facility, and Bill Collings remains hands-on, building all the tooling used throughout theshop and personally working on guitars at hisbench whenever time permits. As the businesshas grown and processes refined, there is onething that has not changed…Bill Collings’ com-mitment to building the finest handmadeacoustic steel string instruments in the world.

Collings instruments have grown to include 32different acoustic guitar models including thefamed dreadnought and OM models, sevenaward-winning mandolin models in both lacquerand varnish finishes, three archtop guitars, and anew line of seven electric instruments crafted toinspire rock, blues, jazz, country, and yourmusic, too.

Bill Collings work is respected by professionaland amateur musicians alike…anyone on thequest for quality. Some of these include artists:Keith Richards, Lyle Lovett, Pete Townshend,Emmylou Harris, Andy Summers, David Crosby,Chris Hillman, Joni Mitchell, Don Felder, JohnSebastian, Lou Reed, John Fogerty, TimO'Brien, Pete Huttlinger, Kenny Smith, BrianMay, Joan Baez, John Prine, Nigel Tufnel ofSpinal Tap, and Steven Spielberg to name a few.We invite you to play a Collings today. For more information on the complete line ofCollings instruments and dealer locations, pleasevisit our web site.

Collings Guitars, Austin Texaswww.collingsguitars.com, 512-288-7776

Dave’s Guitar Shop offers Fender, PRS,National, Taylor, Gretsch, Guild, Hamer, Vinetto,Ernie Ball, Rickenbacker, Martin, Santa Cruz, andmany other fine new and used instruments, plusnew and used amplifiers such as Fender, Marshall,Line 6, Carr, Matchless, Victoria, Bad Cat, Dr.Z,Savage Audio, Ampeg, plus hundreds of guitareffects, aftermarket pickups from Joe Barden,Seymour Duncan, and more. Due to their inventoryof over 1,000 guitars, amps, and accessories,Dave’s is an excellent resource for top of the lineCustom Shop and Historic reissues, to intermediatenew and used gear. Unlike some dealers’ out ofdate stock lists on the web and in print, Dave’sinventory is updated daily. The selection of newand used instruments is truly exceptional, and youcan often select among several models of the samenew guitars to find that special instrument that wasmeant for you. Dave’s staff is friendly andextremely knowledgeable about the instrumentsand gear they sell, because they’re players, too.Please check the web site for current inventory,and you are welcome to call for more informationor an accurate, in–hand description.

Dave’s Guitar Shop, LaCrosse, WIwww.davesguitar.com 608–785–7704


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Doug’s Tubes Doug Preston founded Doug’sTubes in 2002. It became an evolution originatingfrom his passion for music, guitars, and tone. Weare now serving thousands of satisfied guitar playersand audiophiles internationally. It has been myintention from the beginning to seek out the mostreliable and great sounding current productiontubes, and to help influence manufacturers intoreproducing many NOS tubes to keep our vintageamps going, such as the JJ 7591. We offer the mostcommon choice NOS, currently manufactured, andhand selected used tubes at a fair price. If you needhelp in selecting tubes for your particular applica-tion, call Doug at Doug’s Tubes, your one stop tubeshop. Making music sound better, one amp at atime.

Doug’s Tubes, Levittown, NY 516-314-0357,www.dougstubes.com

Eastwood - Since 2001, Eastwood has been cre-ating some of the most exciting Electric Guitarsthe world has ever seen. Our RADICAL VIN-TAGE REMAKE series feature a variety of modelsbased on popular sixties designs - from the classicMosrites to our top-selling AIRLINE - they cap-ture the excitement and style of the originals. Eachyear the prices of the originals skyrocket - gettingharder to find and harder to play! Eastwood’s focusis to make top quality replicas - that cost less andplay better - so the average musician can experi-ence the excitement of playing one of these beauti-ful vintage guitars as their every day player.

TONE & STYLE - All Eastwood Guitars are fittedwith high-quality modern components that offer anoptimal playing experience that far exceeds their1960’s original counterparts. It is hard to find aguitar these days that oozes more vintage stylethan an Eastwood! All Eastwood Guitars are setupprofessionally before shipping to our customers.

VALUE - All Eastwood Models are subjected toextensive research and development to continuallyraise the level of performance. At the same time,we are very careful to maintain an affordabilitylevel that our customers expect. These elementscombine to deliver peak performance and higherquality than the originals at a much lower price.

SERVICE - A product is only as good as the peo-ple who stand behind it. Eastwood Guitars serviceis second to none in the industry because we sim-ply treat customers the same way we would expectto be treated. All guitars come with a 3 Year limit-ed Warranty. Guitars purchased directly from usreceive a no-questions-asked return policy. Or, ifyou are located near an Eastwood Dealer, you canbuy from them at the same direct price we offeronline.

THE FUTURE - We continue to bring new modelsto the Eastwood line-up. Our goal is to introduce3-5 new models each year, available in a wide vari-ety of colors and of course, including left-handversions. Please feel free to email us directly if youhave some suggestions for models that we shouldconsider developing in the future!

Eastwood Guitars, Toronto, Canada www.eastwoodguitars.com, 416-294-6165

Eminence Eminence is proud to present thePatriot and Redcoat series of guitar speakers.Incorporating both British and American conetechnology into speakers that we manufacture inthe USA gives us the ability to provide you withvirtually any tone you desire. Be it British orAmerican, clean or dirty, big bass or screaminghighs, we have a speaker that will allow you to “Pick Your Sound.” Choose from one of seventeennew models! Eminence has been building speakersto custom specifications for nearly every majormanufacturer of guitar amplifier and sound rein-forcement products since 1967. Their new LegendSeries of guitar speakers captures the essence ofthe vintage American and British speaker designsthat are held in such high regard today by so manydiscerning players. The Legend Series includesclassic British and American designs for 6,” 8,”10,” 12,” and 15” speakers utilizing ceramic andAlNiCo magnets, British or American cones, andKapton polyamide voice coils for superior heat dis-sipation and durability. Best of all, becauseEminence has been successfully competing foryears with other speaker manufacturers as an OEMsupplier, the Legend Series speakers are priced farbelow those of many other popular manufacturersof “ reissue” and custom speakers. The EminenceLegend Series delivers all of the tone and durabili-ty you need, at a lower price, with no compromisesin quality. To locate genuine Eminence dealers inyour area, please visit their web site or callEminence Speakers.

Eminence Speaker LLC, Eminence, KYwww.eminence.com 502–845–5622

Contact: Chris Rose

Evidence Audio was founded in 1997 by TonyFarinella to supply the MI and Studio communitywith performance–based cables at reasonableprices. The most well–known cable is the LyricHG (High Gain) guitar cable. Readers of GuitarPlayer Magazine voted the Lyric HG as “ BestAccessory of 2004” supporting the opinion drawnby editors of magazines from around the world.

In simple terms, cables from Evidence Audio arebuilt different; as a result, they sound different.The Lyric HG features two solid core high gradeIGL copper conductors and a braided shield that isgrounded at the amp end only. This is the correctway to “ drain” spurious noise. By using solid coreconductors strand interference is eliminated aswell. Designed to be neutral and honest, the cablesdon’t actually “ improve” your tone, they simplyreplace a cable in your signal path which was like-ly destroying it. What you hear is a tighter moremuscular bottom end, a clearer more complexmid–range and a sweeter more detailed high end.Dynamics and harmonics are improved and sustainis no longer masked. Overall the guitar becomesmore three–dimensional sounding, cuts throughclearer and at the same time takes up less space inthe mix.

The Siren Speaker Cable and The Source ACPower Cable compliment the Lyric HG. They offera solution to distortions cause by cables in otherareas of the signal path and power supply. Theeffects of the speaker and power cable are consis-tent with that of the Lyric HG: you hear the guitarand amplifier, not the cables.

While not inexpensive, cables from Evidence

Audio are still one of the most cost effective waysof improving your tone. It’s like changing pickupsor a bridge – a small detail with big results. Pleasevisit the Evidence Audio website to locate a dealernear you and demand a demo!

Audionova Inc., http://www.audionova.ca/514–631–5787 ext. 22

Fishman Widely recognized as the premierdesigner and manufacturer of acoustic amplificationproducts, Fishman is committed to making acousticmusicians heard while faithfully maintaining theirown natural tone, for the best possible sound.The Fishman product line began with the BP-100(tm) acoustic bass pickup, originally developedto meet founder and president Larry Fishman’sown jazz performance needs. With a track recordof quality engineering, reliability, functional sim-plicity and - most importantly - the natural tone itenables, Fishman firmly established a reputation ofexcellence that consumers have come to expectfrom the brand.

For acoustic guitar, Fishman offers the flagshipAcoustic Matrix(tm) Series active pickup system,the Rare Earth(tm) Series active magnetic soundholepickups, and the Neo-D(tm) magnetic soundholepickup, as well as passive undersaddle, classical,archtop, and resophonic guitar pickups. Fishman’snew Ellipse(tm) series combines the AcousticMatrix(tm) pickup with our industry leading preampdesign. Designed to fit in the guitar’s soundhole, theEllipse(tm) system provides volume and tone con-trol at your fingertips and easily installs without anymodification to your instrument.

Fishman pickups are also available for banjo,mandolin, harp/piano, violin, viola, cello andacoustic bass. In addition, the Concertmaster(tm)amplification system for violin and the FullCircle(tm) upright bass pickup offer two elegantand cutting-edge string amplification solutions.

Utilizing cutting-edge Acoustic Sound Imaging(tm)technology, Aura(tm) features the most innovativeacoustic amplification technology available today.This stompbox-sized unit captures your instrument’strue acoustic sound with stunning, studio micro-phone quality. Anytime, anywhere. Aura(tm) elimi-nates the boundaries of conventional acoustic ampli-fication and gives the most natural, realistic ampli-fied acoustic instrument sound available - both onstage and in the studio.

Joining the award-winning Loudbox(tm) andLoudbox Pro(tm) acoustic instrument amplifiers, thenew Loudbox Performer(tm) completes Fishman’spopular, highly-acclaimed family of acoustic ampli-fiers and represents the size, power and features thatmusicians demand. Setting a new standard inacoustic amplifiers, the Loudbox(tm) series feature apowerful tri-amped system that delivers sweet highsand undistorted lows-even at tremendous volumes. As Fishman celebrates its 25th year as the leaderin acoustic amplification, the company continuesto redefine the benchmark of acoustic sound. Formore information, please visit www.fishman.com.

Fishman Transducers Inc.Wilmington, MA

www.fishman.com 978–988–9199

Resource Directory


Germino AmplificationGreg Germino’s passion is in recreating andoptimizing the sound of Plexi-era amplifiersusing the highest quality components and atten-tion to detail born from decades of experience asan amp tech and guitarist. Germino amplifiersare designed and built to enable guitarists toacquire the classic sound of the Plexi ampsagain, while avoiding the significant inconsisten-cies and reliability issues found in expensive,vintage examples.

Models include:The Classic 45 – A finely tuned, faithful replicaof the JTM-45 using a custom wound version ofthe Radio Spares output transformer. Workswell with 6L6GC/5881 tube types and KT-66s,or EL-34s after re-biasing. Rated at 35 watts,the Classic 45 can also be fitted with 6V6s whenusing a 5Y3 or 5U4 rectifier. The Club 40 reprises the early sound of theJTM-50 and JMP-50 Bass 50 watt heads. A GZ-34 rectifier and solid state rectifier are selectableby a switch allowing for the softer rounder feelof a JTM-50, or the quicker pick attack andresponse of a JMP-50 Bass head.

Lead 55 & Lead 55LV – The Lead 55 modelsuse a classic dual EL-34 output section and‘lead’ circuit values. Both models are voiced thesame with the only difference being the powertransformer in the LV model supplies lower volt-age at the output stage. Additionally, the LVmodel is delivered stock with optional tube/solidstate rectifier switching.

Monterey 100 – Based on the original ‘SuperAmplifier’ from 1966, also known as the JTM-45/100, the Monterey is a faithful re-creation ofthe JTM-45/100 in every way with extremeattention to detail in both build quality, partsused and the incredible sound.

Fillmore 100 – Lets roll back in time to 1967,the year that Marshall made the switch from KT-66 tubes to EL-34's with new transformers forthis tube type, and a steel chassis All of theseearly amps used a Bass circuit derived from theJTM-45. Steel chassis made their debut in earlyin 67 as well.

Headroom 100 – The Headroom 100 specificallyemulates the sound and construction of the veryearly ‘68 100 watt plexi panel Super Lead andSuper Bass amplifiers to exact detail. Availablewith either a “Super Lead” circuit for the ulti-mate in singing sustain or, Super Bass circuitvalues for those wanting a cleaner amp with amore rounded tone.

For more information on Germino amplifiers,cabinet options, dealers and prices, please visitour web site.

Germino AmplificationGraham, NC

www.germinoamps.com, 336-376-8354

GHS – The String Specialists Who plays GHSstrings? Artists as diverse as Eric Johnson, MartinBarre, Charlie Sexton, Will Ray, Warren Haynes,Tom Morello, Ritchie Sambora, Steve Howe, BrentMason, Junior Brown, Zakk Wylde, Tommy Castro,Rene’ Martinez and TQR advisory board member

and AC30/Telecaster stud Mr. James Pennebaker, toname just a few! GHS has been manufacturing gui-tar strings since 1964, and whatever your musicaltastes, GHS has the right string for you. You’reinvited to try a set of GHS classic Boomers, brilliantNickel Rockers, Burnished Nickel strings for awarm, vintage tone, Compound Nickel strings forelectric arch tops, and the recently introducedInfinity Bronze coated acoustic strings for extendedtone and brilliance. All GHS strings are available ina wide range of gauges to appeal to every player.Refer to the GHS “ Brightness Bar” found on selectpackages of strings and at our web site. It’s yourguide to determining which strings will produce thespecific range of tone you’re seeking.

Please check out the all new GHS web site atwww.ghsstrings.com for expert information aboutGHS strings, including technical documentation onthe entire GHS line of strings for fretted instru-ments, tech tips, string tension calculations, the “Brightness Bar,” and a comprehensive list of thetop artists who play GHS strings. All GHS stringsare manufactured to continually exceed yourexpectations.

GHS String CorporationBattle Creek, MI

www.ghsstrings.com1–800–388–4447

Gibson Gibson Repair & RestorationWorld Class Repair of Stringed InstrumentsOver the years, Gibson has received countlessrequests from players needing work on their gui-tars, mandolins, etc. These players all say the samething: “I don’t trust anyone but Gibson to work onmy instrument!” Until recently, these folks had torely on whoever was available in their local areaand hope they had the skills and experience to dothe required work.

All that has changed now. Gibson has opened thedoors of its in-house repair facility and is accept-ing stringed instruments of all types and all brandsfor repair or restoration. Offering a state of the art,temperature and humidity controlled environment,as well as a full staff of highly skilled and experi-enced luthiers, Gibson is fully equipped to performany and all operations required in all phases ofrepair and restoration. Among the services offered are:Pro Set Up – Acoustic or ElectricFretwork – Fret Dress to Plane & RefretCustom Wiring/Pickup InstallationStructural Repairs – Body Cracks, Bracing, BrokenHeadstocksNeck ResetsCustom Paint/Finish Repair/RelicsTotal RestorationsSo whether it’s an acoustic or electric guitar, man-dolin, banjo, ukulele or oud, if it has strings and itneeds attention, we can help. It doesn’t even haveto be a Gibson – we’re an equal opportunity RepairShop! Call, write or email. We’ll guide youthrough the process and we’ll help with shippingand insurance information so your instrument getshere and back quickly and safely. We’ll tell youupfront what your costs will be and no work isbegun before what is to be done has beenexplained and approved by you.

Gibson Repair & RestorationNashville, TN615-244-0252

www.gibson.com/Products/Places/Repair/

Guitar AdoptionsSince 1999 Guitar Adoptions has provided musi-cians with an unmatched selection of premiumelectric and acoustic guitars, amplifiers and acces-sories online, combined with exceptional cus-tomer service personally provided by the compa-ny’s founder, Dave Schmidt. The GuitarAdoptions online concept is simple: Select instru-ments that offer the best proven performance andvalue available today, present them online withsuperior photographic detail and sound clips, anddirectly consult with customers to assist them inmaking the right choice the first time.

Guitar Adoptions maintains an extensive inven-tory of acoustic and electric guitars that includesG&L, Giffin, Gretsch and Original Sennelectrics, Guild, Morgan and Northwoodacoustics, K&K Sound, Schertler and L.R.Baggs acoustic pickups, and Guitar Adoptions isthe largest Larrivee and G&L dealer in the US.We also maintain an extensive inventory of gui-tars for lefties!

Our extensive selection of custom amplifiersincludes Fargen, Louis Electric, Gretsch,Victoria, Clark, Sewell, Ultrasound, Schertlerand L.R. Baggs. We also carry a wide selectionof excellent stompboxes, including: EllisAcoustic, MI Audio, MXR, Retro-Sonic CustomEffects, Seymour Duncan, Sweet SoundElectronics, Dunlop and T-Rex Engineering.

Guitar Adoptions also maintains an outstandingselection of pre-owned instruments by G&L,Gibson, Fender, Larrivee, Heritage and more,always described in detail and available for in-hand descriptions. Check our web site often fornew arrivals! Whether you are an experiencedpro, collector, a weekend warrior, or beginnerwho wants quality, we are dedicated to helpingguitarists find the instrument of their dreamswith hands-on, personal service and productknowledge that big online sites simply cannotoffer, and always at competitive prices.

To view our inventory, please visit www.gui-taradoptions.com and rest assured that all e-mailand phone inquiries will be promptly answeredby Guitar Adoptions founder, Dave Schmidt.

Guitar AdoptionsWonder Lake, IL

815 653-6500Toll Free 877-241-4580

www.guitaradoptions.com

Just Strings.com Now more than ever, guitaristsare reaping the benefits of technical innovations instring making that have led to the widest selection ofguitar strings ever available. JustStrings.com is dedi-cated to providing guitarists with the largest selectionof acoustic, roundwound, and flatwound strings,complimented by exceptional personalized serviceand outstanding value. Trying different types ofstrings often results in amazing new discoveries thatnot only improve the sound of your instrument, butdramatically enhance your playing enjoyment. Fromtraditional hand–crafted strings to high–tech exotics,JustStrings.com exists to help you get the most outof your instrument. Try a new set today, or orderyour favorite acoustic or electric sets and SAVE!

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Resource Directory

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Juststrings.com offers the best prices on all of themajor and specialty brands, promptly delivered toyour door. Shop online at JustStrings.com, or placeyour order by fax at 603–889–7026 or telephone at603–889–2664..

JustStrings.com, Nashua, NHwww.juststrings.com [email protected]

Keeley Electronics – Check out the new KeeleyKatana Preamp! ToneQuest subscribers receive 10%off on all pedal mods and the Keeley Comp, JavaBoost and Time Machine boost! Keeley Electronicsrecently won a Guitar Player Reader’s ChoiceAward and Keeley is now the exclusive distributorfor Framptone! Robert Keeley’s Time MachineBoost, Keeley Compressor, and his custom,state–of–the–art modifications for vintage pedalscontinue to receive rave reviews from guitaristsaround the world. Keeley pedals are used byAerosmith, Abbey Road Studios, Steve Vai, leg-endary producer Bob Rock, George Lynch, PeterFrampton, James Burton, and many, many moreguitarists and music pros around the world. TheTime Machine Boost is a versatile 2 channel, 3mode pre–amplifier designed to drive your ampli-fiers into overdrive or saturation. The two channelsare labeled “ Vintage,” and “ Modern,” with the “Vintage” side inspired by rare germanium boostslike the Dallas Rangemaster. The “ Modern” chan-nel is a new +23dB gain, dual JFET transparent sig-nal amplifier. The Keeley Compressor is a superbaudiophile and studio grade compressor with truebypass switching and premium metal film resistorsand capacitors for the cleanest Ross clone compres-sor ever available. Available with a standardIbanez/Boss style adapter jack and/or battery power,you can say goodbye to that old red Dyna Comp!

Robert Keeley pedal mods include 2 versions forTS9’s – the TS808 mod, and the “ Baked TS9” forsearing hot Tube Screamer tone. Keeley uses theoriginal TI RC4558P chip that appeared in the earlyTS808’s, while increasing the bass response andoverdrive range. The result is a perfectly voiced 808that’s cleaner when turned down and produces twicethe drive/gain when turned up, with all of the stock808 character in the middle. The Keeley moddedBD–2 is not a fuzz pedal but has the best character-istics of a fuzz pedal, and it’s much smoother andmore realistic sounding. Other exclusive Keeleymodifications include the Boss Blues Driver BD–2Tube Mod, the PHAT Switch BD–2 Mod, RatMods, Boss DS–1 Seeing Eye Mod, Boss SD–1,and Boss Chorus CE–2. For detailed specs, usercomments, dealer information, sound clips, andordering information, please visit the KeeleyElectronics website.

Keeley Electronics, Edmond, OK405–260–1385, www.robertkeeley.com

K&M Analog Designs — Two RockK&M Analog Designs, LLC, was formed in north-ern California in1998 by Bill Krinard and JoeMloganoski. The company brings a combined 65 +years of experience in tube amplification and gui-tar tone to the boutique amp market. As talenteddesigner/engineer and seasoned guitarist (respec-tively), Bill and Joe have developed a uniquelytoneful, dynamic and affordable line of hand builtvacuum tube amplifiers that are instrumentsdesigned to completely complement your individ-ual playing style. Each amp is equipped with pro-prietary custom transformers and coupling caps,

the best available new and NOS tubes, and eachmodel has unique build architecture and layout notfound in other modern hand built designs. EarlyK&M customers such as Carlos Santana helpedlaunch the company to the forefront in its earliestdays. Current K&M and Two–Rock devoteesinclude John Mayer, Steve Kimock, Mitch Stein,Barney Doyle, Mark Karan, Michael Kang, andVolker Strifler, among others.The companylaunched its line of Two–Rock amps in the sum-mer of 1999. Past models include the AmethystSpecial Indoor Storm Model, Emerald 50,Sapphire 100, Emerald Pro and Topaz. Currentmodels include the Custom and Custom Reverb,Onyx, Opal, and Ruby and LTD recording amplifi-er. Recently Two–Rock introduced their Signatureseries of amplifiers, by far the most popular of anyTwo–Rock series to date. Future models willinclude a single channel clean amp in variouspower levels. A number of customized versions ofthe aforementioned have also been built for playersseeking the ultimate personalized tone machine.

K&M Analog Designs,LLC. www.Two–Rock.com

707–584–TONE(8663)In Japan: www.Two–Rock–jp.com

Koch Guitar Amplification was founded in 1988by Dolf Koch in the Netherlands and are knownworldwide as a manufacturer if high end boutiqueguitar amplifiers. They have many models for allstyles of music from the new 20W Class “ A”Studiotone combo to the 120W Powertone II head.

All amps are channel switching with two or threeextremely versatile channels. They are recognizedfor having both sparkling clean channels and wideranging drive/gain channels. They were the first toutilize trim pots on their heavy duty circuit boardsenabling anyone to adjust bias with only a screw-driver and voltmeter. Speaker damping switcheswhich when toggled from high to low alter the toneto a more scooped sound. Rhythm volume switchon the footswitch (included) which when engageddrops the level to a pre–determined “ Rhythm”level. It’s the opposite of a boost and does not alterthe lead tone as a result. It so useful guitar playerstell us that they’re surprised that no has done thisbefore. All amps have Accutronics reverbs andKoch designed speakers that have a sweeter moreextended high end. These speakers also handlemore power and have a better bass response thanalmost any guitar speakers available. They are anintegral component to the KOCH sound.

Other products include the Loadbox which attenu-ates a tube amplifiers output without destroying itstone, i.e. no huge loss of high frequencies. ThePedaltone is a semi–four channel, foot operatedpreamp which has four 12AX7 preamps tubes. Oneof these tubes acts as a .5W power tube! It hasmany patch points and output options for almostany application.Some famous people that use Koch are: Paul ReedSmith, Al Di Meola, Randy Bachman, BuzzFeiten, and Jimmy Bruno to name a few. KOCHalso manufacturers the 300W EDEN VT300 allbass head and the 200W Sadowsky SA200 basshead on an OEM basis.

Audionova Inc.www.audionova.ca/

514–631–5787 ext. 22

Lollar Custom Guitars & PickupsAccording to Jason, he never really set out tobecome a custom pickup designer and builder.Jason Lollar is a guitar builder on Vashon Island,Washington (near Seattle) who originally beganbuilding pickups for his own guitars and a fewfriends when he couldn’t find the tone he was after.The word spread, and now Jason custom buildsover 30 different pickups, including Strat, Tele,humbuckers, P90’s, custom steels and CharlieChristian–style pickups, all persoanlly designedand wound by Jason. He is especially well knownfor his P90, Imperial Humbucker and Tele replace-ment pickups, but he has also designed pickups formany unusual applications…

Recently, Jason was acknowledged by gonzo pedalsteel player Robert Randolph for having wound thepickups in his two custom Fessenden pedal steels.And the list doesn’t end there – Jason has woundpickups for guitar greats such as Billy F Gibbons,Peter Stroud, Kevin Russel, Rick Vito, ElliotEaston, Duke Robillard, and the Beasty Boys,among others.

Jason is always happy to personally consult withhis clients via phone and e–mail to determine thepickups that are right for each player, and TQRrecommends Lollar pickups without exception. HisLollar Special Strat pickups are standard equip-ment in our custom built ToneQuest guitars.Call Jason or check out all the options available onhis web site.

www.lollarguitars.com, 206–463–9838

Mercury Magnetics The basis of every tubeamp’s characteristic sound is the unique designof its transformers. Mercury transformers arelegendary for their stunning tonal superiority,build quality, consistency, and reliability. Webelieve in old-world customer service and sin-gle-minded focus. Transformers are our onlybusiness, allowing us to concentrate on provid-ing you with the best-sounding guitar amplifiertrannies in the world.

If your amp is suffering from bland and unexcit-ing tone, then it’s time for a transformer upgradeor repair. Here are your options:

ToneClone™ Best-of-Breed SeriesTransformers: Behind every great-soundingvintage guitar amp is a piece of transformer his-tory. Within any amp line there are usually alarge number of transformer variations, inconsis-tencies and just plain ol’ building errors thataffect their sound (good or bad). At Mercury, weseek out, study, blueprint and replicate only thebest-of-breed transformer designs (includingtheir all-important anomalies) and add these dis-coveries to our catalog. And we make theseincredible tonal selections available to youthrough our ToneClone™ line.

Axiom® Series Next-Gen Transformers: Next-generation guitar amplifier transformers. TheAxiom series are in a class by themselves. We’vetaken our advanced knowledge of modern trans-former design and mated it with historically best-sounding designs of the past. Axiom trannys arehybrids that take vintage tone to the next level!More bloom, more overtone color, and awesome

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tonal depth. If you ever needed convincing as tohow outstanding transformers affect your sound,Axiom trannys will astonish you.

Mercury Vintage™ Transformer Service: Mostvintage transformers have already outlived or arenearing the end of their life expectancies. That’sthe bad news – now for the good… Mercury willrestore, rebuild or rewind your valuable originaltransformers. Or, we can clone your originals sothat you can continue to play your old amp with-out fear of further “wear and tear.”

Free Transformer Testing And EvaluationService: Do you think there might be some-thing wrong with your transformer? Send it tous. We’ll test it in our lab and report back toyou. Our evaluation procedures are thorough,complete and reliable, and always free. The onlytransformers that come with a 10-yearManufacturer’s Warrantee and a Money-BackTonal Guarantee. Made entirely in the U.S.A.

Mercury Magneticswww.MercuryMagnetics.com

[email protected] 404–325–0515

Nash Guitars Have you ever thought, “ If theywould just make a Tele with….” , “ I love my Stratbut it just doesn’t….” “ Why don’t they make aJaguar that could….” Well, you’ve come to theright place. From exotic woods, custom paint,unlimited neck types, custom designed logos, pick-up selections, Timewarp aging, or any other featureimaginable – Esquires with hidden neck pickups,Strats with interchangeable pickup assemblies,Custom Shapes — whatever… If you can dream it,we can build it.Each guitar is a unique work of art, handcrafted byme. The use of 100% nitrocellulose lacquer, highquality vintage hardware, superior woods and awide variety of pickups and options produce magi-cal instruments that have thus far not been avail-able “ off the rack” . The level of aging on ourTimewarp guitars can be adjusted from “ played itonce a month at church” to “ used to break open awindow during a fire in a Louisiana roadhouse.”

Bill Nash is an Olympi, WA based builder of agedvintage guitars inspired by Leo Fender. Availablethrough Nash Guitar dealers in the US andOverseas. Please see Nashguitars.com for informa-tion and a dealer near you.

NashguitarsOlympia,WA

www.nashguitars.com1–877–484–8276

Mojo Musical Supply is the all–inclusive amplifier parts supply house. ToneQuest readersreceive an exclusive 10% discount on all Mojoproducts! Just reference the “ MojoQuest304” dis-count code when placing your order. Mojo special-izes in pre–1980 amplifier parts, including a widerange of custom and vintage reproduction cabinets,a line of exact reproduction transformers, andhard–to–find electrical components. Mojo contin-ues to supply a full range of speakers for the guitarmarket, including Jensen, Celestion, and of course,their own custom Mojotone speakers. Thein–house cabinet shop at Mojo specializes in mak-ing authentic Fender and Marshall reproduction

amplifier cabinets, custom cabinets from your owndesign, as well as cabinet repair and re–covering.Mojo stocks over fifty different amp coverings andgrill cloths to insure that vintage enthusiasts andcustom amp creators have a large palette to choosefrom. Within the last two years, Mojo has becomeone of the largest vacuum tube importers in theworld, stocking over 20,000 tubes. Because theybuy tubes in large volumes, their prices remainvery competitive. For completed electronics, Mojois the east coast distributor for Belov amplificationand also the home of Mojotone Custom electron-ics. Mojo manufactures and markets the ToneMachine amplifier, a powerful and eclectic tubeguitar combo. They are also able to offer turnkeyand partial component electronics and cabinets forOEM’s and builders of all sizes. The future ofMojo lies in their ability to work directly withmanufacturers, or bring the manufacturing inhouse. Our plans for the coming months and yearsare focused on making quality vintage parts avail-able at even better prices, while assuring that all oftheir products are of the highest quality.

Mojo Musical SupplyWinston–Salem, NCwww.mojotone.com1–800–927–MOJO

PLEK The brand name PLEK stands for a technol-ogy which allows the best fret dress and setup work,based on a computer controlled scan.

The Plek is a computerized tool that scans aninstrument strung to pitch, generating graphicviews of the fret plane, fret heights, fret shape andplacement, fingerboard relief radius, humps andbumps — basically everything that luthiers andrepair pros have wanted to see well but couldn’t,until now. Besides having measurement and dress-ing capabilities many times more accurate than thehuman eye allows, the PLEK has two particularlygreat advantages over manual fretwork.

First, it scans and dresses a guitar while it is tunedto pitch. This is a major breakthrough, since necksare subjected to approximately 100 pounds of stringtension. This string tension invariably affects theshape of the fret plane, creating curves and humpsthat change when the strings are removed for a fretdress. The PLEK identifies precisely what needs tobe done for perfect results when the instrument isre-strung, whereas even the most skilled luthier orrepair professional must guess about how to com-pensate for the effect of string tension when dress-ing the neck with the tension released.

Secondly, the PLEK applies very sophisticated for-mulas for optimum neck curve or relief, adjustingthe calculations for the actual string height and indi-vidual string gauge from the treble side of the fin-gerboard to the bass. Achieving these same resultsby hand would be lucky and extremely rare at best!

The Plek is now in use by some of the top repairand restoration experts worldwide. We invite youto contact the Plek repair shop nearest you, orlearn more about Plek technology at

www.plek.comPlek, Berlin/Germany

+49 30 5369–6339, [email protected]

Joe Glaser, Nashville/TN(615) 298–1139, [email protected]

Gary Brawer, San Francisco/CA(415) 621–3904, [email protected]

FretTek, Los Angeles/CA(310) 474–2238, [email protected]

Philtone, Baltimore/MD(410) 783–0260, [email protected]

Peekamoose Guitars, New York, NY(212) 869-2396, www.peekamoose.com

Suhr Guitars, Lake Elsinore/CA(951) 471–2334, [email protected]

Charlie Chandler’s Guitar ExperienceLondon, UK +44 20 8973–1441

[email protected]

GuitarLabs Scandinavia, Stockholm, SwedenPhone: +46 8 644–9480, [email protected]

RS Guitarworks RS Guitarworks is the your one-stop source forexpert finishing, refinishing and aging, complete gui-tar assembly and repair, custom electronic upgradekits, pickups, hard-to-find hardware, and more!

Located in Winchester, Kentucky, RS Guitarworksbegan as a small repair and refinishing shop in1994. As the word spread among guitarists, ourbusiness rapidly grew and today we receive expen-sive guitars from around the world for aging andrefinishing. We offer many hard-to-find vintagereplica parts and other specialty items related tovintage Fender and Gibson guitars, and we alsocustom build complete guitars, including our “OldFriend” Series, “Step-Side” and “Artist Replica”models.

RS Guitarworks Premium Wiring Kits offer a dra-matic and immediate improvement over the factoryelectronics found in even the most expensive gui-tars. During a year of research and development wetested over 20 different tone capacitors and nearlyevery type of potentiometer made before develop-ing our upgrade kits, which feature measured CTSpots within 10% of their specified value, and RSGuitarcaps in .022uf and .047uf values madeexpressly for us by Hovland. Our customers tell usthat our wiring upgrade kits impart a fuller, clearertone than standard factory components, with asmoother, more even and responsive taper fromeach pot. Additionally, each potentiometer is testedon a digital meter, checked for the proper sweeppattern and sorted and labeled as a neck/volume,neck/tone, bridge/volume or bridge/tone control.

Wiring Upgrade Kits are available in 5 differentstyles for various Les Paul type guitars, as well asTelecaster, Stratocaster, and PRS guitars, andExplorer and Flying V types. Nearly any otherconfiguration can also be built with a call to ourshop. RS Guitarworks is also an authorized Fender,Jackson, Charvel, Guild and Gretsch ServiceCenter.Please call or visit our web site for complete infor-mation on finishing, refinishing and aging of newand used guitars, custom wiring kits, vintage reproparts and repairs.

RS Guitarworks859-737-5300, www.rsguitarworks.com

Resource Directory


Resource Directory

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26

Ruokangas Guitars Located in Hyvinkaa,Finland, Juha Ruokangas is a custom designerand builder of unique, handmade electric guitars.Many companies today use the terms “hand-made” and “custom-built” to describe expensiveguitars that are built in large numbers in a facto-ry – Ruokangas’ vision has always been todesign and build instruments completely byhand in a low-production environment using thefinest materials available in the world, anduncompromising craftsmanship.

Ruokangas guitars are available with a variety ofunique custom options, including four standardneck profiles, three fret sizes and a wide rangeof finishes, binding, genuine pearl inlay andhardware combinations. All instruments are builtusing Thermo-Treated wood to impart a vintagelook and sound even when new, and specificmodels feature genuine Arctic Birch figured topscombined with Spanish cedar – an exceptionalwood with properties similar to Honduranmahogany. Models include:

The MojoInspired by many requests received by our cus-tomers, the Mojo delivers all the twang you willever need! Standard features include an Alderbody, Rock Maple neck, Thermo-treated wood,high gloss finished body, satin finished neck,25.5” scale length and 12” fretboard radius. Thelatest additions to the series - Grande andSupreme - have proven to be the most popularmodels with the unique semi-hollow SpanishCedar body and Arctic Birch top.

The V.S.O.P.All of us at Ruokangas are big fans of vintageguitars, and the V.S.O.P. offers fans of vintageStrats a bolt-on instrument that plays, feels andsounds like a classic. The V.S.O.P. can bedesigned with traditional single coils, humbuck-ers, or both utilizing spilt coils, and all modelsfeature a Wilkinson tremolo tailpiece. The VSOPSupreme takes the Strat concept to the extremewith the Spanish Cedar body and Arctic Birchtop, fretboard and pickguard.

The DukeThe Duke Series covers all the bases – from thestripped-down solidbody Sonic, to the originalcarved top design that started the Duke Series asthe Standard, the striking appearance of theDeluxe with highly figured maple or Artic Birchtop, to the vibrant, woody, semi-acoustic style ofthe semi-acoustic Artisan.

The best way to experience and appreciate theentire range of Ruokangas models and options is tovisit our web site and take the tour! You can customdesign any guitar we build online with all availableoptions, and of course, we will be happy to answeryour questions and offer our advice via e-mail.

Ruokangas Handmade Guitarswww.ruokangas.com

US contact: Eero Kilpi, New York,

1-914-316-2414

Stewart MacDonald Stewart-MacDonald offers acomplete line of hard–to–find tools, parts, acces-

sories, instructional videos and books for building,repairing, setting up, and optimizing the playabilityand tone of stringed instruments. Whether you arejust getting started or you’re a seasoned luthier,you’ll find everything you need in the Stew–Maccatalog, including: fret wire, finishing supplies,glues and adhesives, wood, bodies, necks, binding,tuners, nuts and saddles, inlay, bridges, tailpieces,electronics, pickups, and free information sheetsand professional advice! Their friendly customerservice and technical support staff are trained tohelp you make the best product choices, and theyalso offer an Unconditional Return Guarantee. Ifyou’re not satisfied with an item for any reason,simply return it.

Stew-Mac is the leading supplier of innovativeproducts for guitarists and repair pros, and everything they make is guaranteed to work well,because every product is tested by the professionalluthiers at Stewart MacDonald first! The masterbuilders and repairmen on staff include DanErlewine – well–known author of guitar repairbooks and magazine articles, member of theToneQuest Report advisory board, and a regularcontributor to TQR. Dan and all of the experiencedluthiers at Stew–Mac personally develop and testevery product the company offers, and they arealso dedicated to education. The StewartMacDonald catalog is packed with helpful tips,and the company produces an extensive series oftraining videos at their facility in Athens, Ohio.

For more information on the entire range of prod-ucts available, please visit the Stewart MacDonaldweb site. In addition to their free online help serv-ice, your telephone call is also always welcome.

Stewart MacDonaldwww.stewmac.com,

1–800–848–2273

Toneman Veteran working guitarist Don Butler isan experienced tech who specializes in servicingand restoring JMI–era Vox tube/valve amps as wellas many other vintage British amps includingMarshall, Selmer, Hiwatt, Sound City and Orangeamps. Don also services and restores vintagetweed, blonde, brown and blackface era Fenderamplifiers. Don’s modifications and upgrades tovintage reissue Vox, Marshall, and Fender ampshave earned him a solid reputation among playersthroughout the country for achieving dramaticallyimproved, authentic vintage tone from reissueamplifiers. Don uses hand–made MercuryMagnetics Axiom Tone Clone transformers, alongwith the correct, premium signal path componentsto bring reissues to vintage specs. He also modifiesreissue Vox wahs to vintage specs, and he offersupgrades to Vox Valve Tone pedals and reissueIbanez TS9’s. For the past 6 years, Don has beenbuilding the famous Rangemaster Treble Booster,which is an exact replica of the original DallasRangemaster unit from the early 60’s. In additionto the original treble model, Don builds a fullrange model and a switchable model combiningthe features of both Rangemaster units. Don wasalso the very first dealer for Pyramid strings, andyou can count on him to maintain a full inventoryof Pyramids at all times.

Don Butler, Newhall, CA www.tone–man.com

661–259–454410–6 PST, Tuesday–Saturday only

TonePros Sound Labs & MarquisDistribution Since our first published review arti-cle, The ToneQuest Report has enthusiastically rec-ommended the patented TonePros system of guitarcomponents.

TonePros tailpieces feature a patented lockingdesign. For years, guitars with stop tailpieces andwrap-around bridges have been cursed by “lean” ortilt on their stud mounts. Since string tension wasall that held tailpieces on, the only contact areawas just a bit of the edge of the bottom flange, justa bit of the lip of the stud top, and often just as lit-tle contact with the intonation screws. TonePros®Locking Studs provide 100% of the contact area ofthe bottom flange, 100% of the contact area of thestud top, no lean, and dramatically improved sus-tain, resonance and tone.

TonePros bridge and saddle components featurethe “patented pinch” - the lateral pressure that isapplied from the strategically placed “tone screws”that greatly reduce the play or wiggle of the bridgeposts in their inserts. The posts are frozen in place,resulting in a solid connection between the strings,bridge, and guitar top, transferring more stringvibration and resonance to the guitar body, result-ing in an audibly stronger, sweeter, woodier typeof resonance and sustain. And once your guitar isset up, it’s locked. Bridge height and intonationsettings remain intact and exact, even after re-stringing. TonePros® System II Components arefound on the worlds best guitars, played by theworld’s best artists.

TonePros Sound Labs International,www.tonepros.com

www.guitarpartsdepot.com818–735–7944

Marquis DistributionAt Marquis Distribution, we offer the highest qual-ity guitar parts to fit your needs. We specialize inguitar replacement parts, and hard to find, vintage-inspired and vintage replica parts, including agedTonePros and TonePros Kluson parts, emphasizingyour desire to achieve a vintage look and tone atan exceptionally high level of performance.Whether you need to replace one part on your gui-tar or outfit many guitars with whole new setups,our focus remains on the individual customer andyour unique needs.

www.marquisdistribution.com, 209-845-9579

Victoria Amplifier From our first Victoria to theone we build for you, every Victoria amplifier ismeticulously crafted for real musicians and built tobe played for a lifetime. We utilize componentsand manufacturing techniques that are chosen fortheir proven ability to meet both the sonic and realworld gigging demands that musicians depend on.From the real Allen Bradley resistors (new manu-facture, not surplus) to the finger jointed pine cabi-nets, every aspect of a Victoria Amplifier isdesigned to provide years and years of faithfulservice and superior tone. With the addition of ournew Victorilux and Sovereign amplifiers, Victorianow offers amplifiers with features like reverb,tremolo and high gain circuits that will surpassanything currently available and define the word “tone” for years to come. But manufacturing newamplifiers is not all we offer! Our restoration and


Resource Directory

repair department is equipped to turn the mostheinous, hacked up old amp into an inspiring gem.Our obsession with period correct components andour real world expertise are your assurance that aninvestment piece or an old road hawg will leavethe shop with all of its tonal potential maximized.The job gets done right at Victoria Amplifier. Youcan be sure that we at Victoria Amplifier Co. willcontinue to provide the finest guitar amplifiersavailable anywhere, at any price. New fromVictoria — the Victorilux and Victoriette — theultimate club amps, plus, the Sovereign — ouranswer for players seeking true vintage Britishtone with master volume and reverb at astage–friendly 35 watts!

Victoria Amplifier, Naperville, ILwww.victoriaamp.com 630–820–6400

Visual Sound Founded in 1995 by guitarist BobWeil, Visual Sound is pleased to announce that itsproduct line of high-quality effects pedals hasincreased, with the release of the V2 Series ofeffects pedals.

In addition to new, improved versions of the best-selling dual effects pedals – Jekyll & Hyde, H2O,and Route 66 – the V2 Series also boasts of a brand-new dual effect pedal, Double Trouble, which accu-rately reproduces the sound of the TS-808Tubescreamer, but with a Bass Boost switch and farmore output volume than the original.

However, the new V2 Series doesn’t stop there.Bob, along with chief engineer R.G. Keen, havedesigned single-effect pedals from the favoriteeffects that have made Visual Sound a growing hitin the guitar-playing world: Son of Hyde is the samedistortion channel found in the acclaimed Jekyll &Hyde pedal; COMP 66 takes the compressor chan-nel from the Route 66 and lets it ride solo; LiquidChorus is a wonderfully-voiced effect for electric,acoustic, or bass guitar, taken from the H2O pedal,but with the second output being a true stereo output– ideal for spacious sounds when used with twoamps or a PA system; Route 808 is designed to takethe sound from the TS-808, but with a bass boostswitch and greater volume output – along withVisual Sound’s proprietary tone-sweetening ingredi-ents. Last – and far from least, the Angry Fuzz is anoriginal effect that will blow away any other fuzzpedal out there; although it has an octave circuitwhich can be blended with the fuzz, it is not at alllike an Octavia or other vintage pedal…playingangry has never been so much fun!

As if that weren’t enough, the 10th Anniversary edi-tion of the Visual Volume pedal and the Workhorseamps (60W212 Stallion) continue to find their wayonto pedalboards and rigs all around the world, aswell. For more information about Visual Sound,mp3 downloads and product information, pleasevisit the Visual Sound web site or MySpace site, orcontact Bob Weil personally.

Visual Soundwww.visualsound.net

www.myspace.com/visualsoundusa931-487-9001

Warehouse Guitar Speakers® LLC is anInternet-based retail speaker supplier and manu-facturer based in Paducah, KY – an area of thecountry with a long history in speaker manufac-turing that includes the original CTS company,Credence Speakers, Voice Communication Coil,and Hawley Products – the oldest cone manufac-turer in the world. When an OEM speaker man-ufacturer needed to clear warehouse space in2006, WGS was born and began manufacturingand selling American-assembled guitar speakersto the public.

Today we build a wide range of high-quality andreasonably priced 10 and 12-inch Alnico andCeramic magnet guitars speakers that celebrateand reprise the golden era of speaker manufac-turing in the USA and England during the ‘60sand ‘70s, including the 15 watt Alnico Black &BlueTM, 50 watt Alnico BlackHawkTM,60 wattVeteran 30TM, 25 watt Green BeretTM, 80 wattBritish LeadTM, 65 watt ET65TM, 30 wattReaperTM, and 75 watt Retro 30TM, amongothers. WGS also builds high-power bass andPA speakers, and we are constantly developingand adding new speaker models to meet thedemands of today’s guitarists.

Why should you consider buying WGS speak-ers? At a time when speaker manufacturers havemoved production to Asia, compromising qualityand reliability while prices continue to increase,our speakers are proudly assembled in the USAby a team with decades of speaker design andbuilding experience, at a reasonable price. Ouremployees take pride in building the very bestspeakers available anywhere. Selling direct viathe Web enables us to keep prices low withoutcompromising quality. You buy direct from themanufacturer, and we proudly stand behind ourproducts with fast shipping and exceptional cus-tomer service.

For information on the entire range of WGS gui-tar and bass speakers, please visit our web sitetoday.

Warehouse Guitar Speakerswww.WarehouseSpeakers.com

270-217-0740

WD Music ProductsAs a special offer WD® Music Products, Inc. isoffering a 10% off coupon to Tonequest read-ers… Visit us at www.wdmusic.com and entercoupon code TQWD at checkout. Please note:Coupon good for wdmusic.com web orders only,offer not valid on wdbiz.com orders.

For the past thirty years WD® Music Productshas been providing quality service and parts tosatisfied working musicians, discriminatingbuilders and OEMs. WD® pioneered the field ofaftermarket pickguards and continues to lead theway in the niche we created in 1978. We havemanufactured thousands of pickguards and ifyou need a replacement or something you envi-sion yourself we can make it happen. For manyyears WD® Music has also carried a full line ofreplacement parts for just about any stringedinstrument.

WD® Music is proud to continue the legacy ofKluson® tuning machines, one of the mostrespected OEM and replacement tuners fordecades. Replace or restore your vintage instru-ment with genuine Kluson® tuning machinesfrom WD® Music. We stock Kent Armstrong®pickups, L.R. Baggs® acoustic gear, Q-Parts®custom knobs and accessories, Bigsby® tail-pieces, Graph Tech® products, Wilkinson®bridges, Grover® tuners and accessories, BigBends® maintenance supplies, Guitar Facelifts,effects and much more.

History is repeating itself with genuine Kluson®tuners, continuing with WD®’s customer serv-ice, and…Stromberg® Jazz Guitars. No one canattempt or claim to reproduce the prestige of theoriginal archtop Stromberg® guitars. But withhistory in mind WD® is also proud to distributeStromberg® Jazz Guitars. With six models tosatisfy everyone from the serious working jazzmusician to the rockabilly king Stromberg®offers an affordable, quality instrument foralmost any taste or style. Stromberg® jazzGuitars is a small, limited production archtopguitar company whose main goals are quality,playability and affordability. Play one and see.

WD® Music Products. Thirty years of knowl-edge, service, quality parts and accessories wait-ing to serve you. Everything from pickguards,tuning machines, pickups, electronics, necks,bodies, bridges, prewired assemblies and hard tofind hardware—if your guitar or bass needs it,chances are WD® Music has it. Old fashionedcustomer service, genuine Kluson® tuners, clas-sic Stromberg® Jazz Guitars, and so much more.Call 877-WDMUSIC or visitwww.WDmusic.com.

Willcutt Guitar Shoppe Located in Lexington,KY, Willcutt Guitar Shoppe is one of the world’spremier boutique guitar and amp dealers. Customersmay select from guitar lines such as PRS, HamerUSA, Fender, Gibson, McInturff, Gretsch,McNaught, Nik Huber and Taylor. With a vastinventory of over 1500 guitars always on hand,Willcutt’s staff of experienced guitarists can reliablyassist you with the purchase of your next dream gui-tar or amplifier. Recognizing that a superb electricguitar requires an amp of equal quality, Willcuttoffers a tremendous selection of handbuilt ampli-fiers, including Dr. Z, Victoria, Carr, Bad Cat,Bogner, Mesa, Fuchs, Rivera, and Koch.

Willcutt’s staff of veteran, working guitarists has thehands-on product knowledge necessary to assistplayers at every level in finding just the right guitaror amp the first time. The store’s website featureshigh quality digital photos of nearly every item instock, and 99% of all high end instruments are keptin their cases – not on display – insuring that everyinstrument remains in the best possible conditionprior to sale. Pictures and detailed, in-hand descrip-tions are always available on request.

Willcutt Guitar Shoppe, Lexington, KYwww.willcuttguitars.com

859-276-0675


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The ToneQuest Report TM (ISSN 1525-3392) is published monthly by Mountainview Publishing LLC, 235 Mountainview Street, Suite 23, Decatur, GA. 30030-2027, 1-877-MAX-TONE, email: [email protected]. Periodicals Postage Paid at Decatur, GA and At Additional Mailing Offices. Postmaster: Send addresschanges to:The ToneQuest Report, PO Box 717, Decatur, GA. 30031-0717.The annual subscription fee for The ToneQuest ReportTM is $89 per year for 12monthly issues. International subscribers please add US $40. Please remit payment in U.S. funds only. VISA, MasterCard and American Express accepted.The ToneQuest ReportTM is published solely for the benefit of its subscribers. Copyright © 2008 by Mountainview Publishing LLC. All rights reserved. Nopart of this newsletter may be reproduced in any form or incorporated into any information retrieval system without the written permission of the copyrightholder. Please forward all subscription requests, comments, questions and other inquiries to the above address or contact the publisher [email protected]. Opinions expressed in The ToneQuest Report are not necessarily those of this publication.Mention of specific products, services ortechnical advice does not constitute an endorsement. Readers are advised to exercise extreme caution in handling electronic devices and musical instruments.

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Editor/PublisherAssociate Publisher

Graphic Design

David WilsonLiz MedleyRick Johnson

EDITORIAL BOARD

Analogman

Tom AndersonTom Anderson GuitarWorks

Mark BaierVictoria Amplifiers

Jeff BakosBakos AmpWorks

Dick BoakCF Martin & Co.

Joe Bonamassa

Phil Brown

Dan ButlerButler Custom Sound

Don ButlerThe Toneman

Steve CarrCarr Amplifiers

Mitch ColbyKORG/Marshall/VOX USA

Ben ColeGHS Strings

Larry CraggNeil Young

Jol DantzigHamer Guitars

Ronnie Earl

Dan ErlewineStewart-MacDonald

Larry FishmanFishman Transducers

Bill FinneganKlon Centaur

Lindy Fralin

Peter Frampton

Greg GerminoGermino Amplification

Billy F. GibbonsZZ Top

Joe GlaserGlaser Instruments

Tom GuerraMambo Sons

John Harrison A Brown Soun

Johnny Hiland

Gregg HopkinsVintage Amp Restoration

Mark JohnsonDelta Moon

Phil JonesGruhn Guitars

K&M Analog Designs

Mark KaranBob Weir & Ratdog

Robert KeeleyRobert Keeley Electronics

Gordon Kennedy

Ernest KingGibson Custom Shop

Chris KinmanKinman AVn Pickups

Mike KropotkinKCA NOS Tubes

Sonny Landreth

Albert Lee

Adrian Legg

Dave MaloneThe Radiators

Jimbo Mathus

Shane NicholasSr. Mktg Mgr, Fender Guitar Amplifers

René MartinezThe Guitar Whiz

Greg MartinThe Kentucky Headhunters

Richard McDonaldVP Mktg, Fender Musical Instruments

Justin NorvellSr. Mktg Mgr, Fender Guitars

Dave NossAvatar Speakers

James Pennebaker

Riverhorse

Tommy ShannonDouble Trouble

Todd SharpNashville Amp Service

Tim ShawFender Musical Instruments Corp.

John SprungAmerican Guitar Center

Peter StroudThe Sheryl Crow Band

Lou VitoEntertainment Relations

Gibson Musical Instruments

Laurence WexerLaurence Wexer LimitedFine Fretted Instruments

Buddy WhittingtonJohn Mayall & The Bluesbreakers

Greg VNashville

TToonneeQQuueessttTToonneeQQuueessttTToonneeQQuueesstt

5500%% OOFFFFBBAACCKK IISSSSUUEE SSAALLEEWWHHIILLEE TTHHEEYY LLAASSTT!!Order back issues of TQR now and save50% - just $7.50 per copy while supplieslast!

Simply log on to www.tonequest.comand select the Back Issue Index for sum-maries of every issue published sinceNovember 1999. Please ask for theSubscriber Discount when placing yourorder online, or by phone at 1-877-MAX-TONE. Don't delay - limited quantitiesare available. Order today!

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