General Interest

Yorkville EXM Pro10 Battery-powered 10-inch Portable PA Speaker

HighPerformance 10" Battery Powered PA

EXM Pro 10 Features:
- 10" woofer + tweeter, 134 dB max SPL
- 3-channel mixer w/ reverb, delay & compression
- Battery or AC powered (up to 12 hrs)
- Multiple EQ modes: Monitor, Live, Club
- Expandable w/ subs, stereo linking, external mixers

Marshall enters the amp-in-a-box ring with a series of true heavyweights that punch hard but can also dial back.

If you’d like to own a stable of classic Marshall heads but your budget won’t say “yes,” the legendary UK company may have a solution in the form of their recent line of amp-in-a-box overdrive pedals. They’ve put five of their greatest hits—the Super Lead (reviewed separately in our July issue), the JCM900, JCM800, the DSL, and the JVM—in 5" x 4" x 1 1/2" stomps, with a black-and-gold panel-and-grille-cloth motif. Sonically, they range from “nailed-it” to stunning. And at $159, all four total less than the tab for a 100-watt DSL head and just a bit more than the 20-watt version, to say nothing of the $2,899 it takes to grab a new JCM800. With this snarling, all-analog, true-bypass quintet, all you need is a solid pedal-platform amp and a humbucking or single-coil 6-string, and you’re in business.

Admittedly, my test amps were very solid: a Carr Vincent and the company’s Telstar. But I also have extensive experience with 800s and Super Leads, and I know a good time when I hear it. Whether spanking a PRS SE Silver Sky, a ’68 Les Paul Standard, a custom Zuzu with coil-splitting, or a been-through-Hell Tele with humbuckers, the results are gritty and sparkling, with rich midrange tones and plenty of articulate brightness in these pedals’ simple controls. And while these creations take a standard barrel-pin connector, they also run on 9-volt batteries, which makes them an easy drop-and-go asset for backline gigs.

JVM Distortion & Noise Gate

Generally, I’m a low-to-medium gain player…until I plug into a Marshall. At club and practice room volumes, I like to crank the gain all the way, use the master to set my level, and then adjust the tones with a prejudice toward floored mids, or close to that, and highs somewhere around 2 or 3 o’clock, depending on the amp and guitar combination. This modus operandi paid off immediately with the JVM. In fact, it was a rewarding strategy for each of these pedals.

What’s appealing to guitarists like Joe Satriani about JVM heads is their blend of controllability, touch response, grit, warm midrange, and singing sustain. The JVM has its grounding in the kind of classic Marshall tones initially made by the Super Lead, but with extra sizzle and snap via a lot of smooth, highly controllable, well-balanced gain.

Strapping in for a flight with all these pedals is the very definition of plug and play. The JVM has just four dials: volume, tone, gate, and gain. The gate is perfectly effective. If you’re cranking the gain, just dial up the gate until the hiss disappears. And unlike many gates, it leaves your core tone shining. The tone control has range enough that the amp’s 3-band EQ is not missed (at least by me). And while the pedal can get very loud, rolling back the gain to noon-ish and peeling off the gate creates nice low-gain-amp tones not typically associated with JVM heads. That makes this pedal a joy to play and, whether you’re a high-gain or low-gain partisan, gives it the potential to lead you to tonal places outside your usual wheelhouse.

Ratings

JCM800 Lead Series

This is a pedal version of Marshall’s flagship ’80s head that helped produce many of that decade’s defining guitar voices—most notably, perhaps, Slash’s. Like the other boxes in Marshall’s new silicon-based overdrive stomp series, it rekindles those voices admirably. Its overall sound is a little looser than the JVM pedal, with a somewhat darker character, which might make it an appealing Marshall gateway for players who typically go low-gain but yearn for a taste of the wild side.

The JCM800 has plenty of controllability and volume in its 4-dial setup. Here, the knobs are gain, volume, and tone, naturally, with the addition of sensitivity. Sensitivity isn’t the same as presence, which boosts upper-midrange and treble frequencies. Instead, the sensitivity dial controls the amount of signal that goes into the preamp stage of an amp. The higher it’s turned, the more tube saturation and gain. (In older Marshalls, this aspect of tone coloration was often accessed by jumping the high and low inputs of amps like the Super Lead with a short cable.)

Keep both this dial, which emulates that process, and the gain low, and the JCM800 pedal takes a softer route, with less growl and a looser response to your fingertips and picking. Turn it up and the sound becomes nasty and more harmonically rich and reactive. In my opinion (and I toured with a JCM800 for years), these amps and this pedal have a buzzing quality in their sonic character until the gain is pushed to 2 or 3 o’clock, the tone past noon, and, in the pedal’s case, the sensitivity moves to about 2 o’clock. At these settings, the volume needs to rise to about 10 o’clock or better for the tone to open up, and that’s really pushing it in smaller rooms. But there are some great voices in the blend, and setting sensitivity to 10 o’clock, cranking the gain all the way, moving the tone to 1 or 2 o’clock, and the volume to 3 or so delivers lovely hard-rock crunch. Of course, that’s all subjective and influenced by what amp you’re pushing these pedals through, so the best test, as always, is firing one up for yourself.

Ratings

JCM900 Hi Gain Distortion

To my ears (and fingers), JCM900 heads have a tighter sound and are more responsive to your hands than 800s. I got the same impression playing this pedal too, which makes the JCM900 more genre-flexible, in my book. The secret sauce in this stompbox is administered via the contour control, which joins the gain, tone, and volume dials. Turn it down and the mids become scooped; turn it up and they are pushed to the fore.

This box is capable of tight ’80s and ’90s rhythm sounds, with the gain at 3, contour at 6, tone straight up, and the volume wherever makes you happy. Overall the tones are sparkling and snappy. Push the contour higher and mid-heavy lead sounds soar out, especially with the tone past 2 or 6 o’clock. This territory is blues-rock paradise. But my favorite setting was with the gain full-on (of course), the contour and tone around 1 o’clock, and the volume at 11 o’clock, crafting a blend of tough, biting, and sweet. I didn’t find the JCM 900 as versatile as the JVM or DSL pedals, but it’s nonetheless a charmer and, depending on your palate, may be perfect for your tastes.

Ratings

DSL Dual Super Lead Distortion

Introduced in 1997, the Marshall DSL, or Dual Super Lead, was designed to be a 2-channel Clydesdale. It’s the amp that embraces the widest spread of classic Marshall tones. Its vocabulary nods to all its heavyweight predecessors, and it’s capable of sounds that are clean and ringing as well as gnarly distortion. That versatility makes it a good partner for just about any style except folk music, unless you like your folk with a lotta attitude. (On the jazz side, Sonny Sharrock, who was a JCM800 player, would have dug this amp, too.)

This pedal is patterned on the amp’s second channel, which gleefully leans into higher gain and distortion levels. Setting the dials—gain, deep, tone, and volume—at 11, 10, noon, and 3 o’clock respectively delivered the sort of scalding, dirty rhythm sounds I associate with Pearl Jam. But turning the volume back a bit, I was reminded of a Fender Bassman with an overdrive pedal in front. In fact, on all these pedals, volume and gain are satisfyingly interactive, just like the amps that serve as their foundation.

For the DSL stompbox, the deep dial also plays an important role in this sort of mimicry. It is a low-end boost, which is especially valuable at quieter volumes, adding, well, depth, as advertised. Between the depth and tone control, the pedal offers a wide range of sonic character. And, of course, with the gain floored, it burns.

Playing through Marshal’s JVM, JCM800, JCM900, and DSL Pedals was an absolute delight, like having a fleet of toothy, world-class amps at my disposal. And they come at a bargain price. I recommend treating yourself to your own test flight as soon as possible.

Ratings

Marshall enters the amp-in-a-box ring with a series of true heavyweights that punch hard but can also dial back.

If you’d like to own a stable of classic Marshall heads but your budget won’t say “yes,” the legendary UK company may have a solution in the form of their recent line of amp-in-a-box overdrive pedals. They’ve put five of their greatest hits—the Super Lead (reviewed separately in our July issue), the JCM900, JCM800, the DSL, and the JVM—in 5" x 4" x 1 1/2" stomps, with a black-and-gold panel-and-grille-cloth motif. Sonically, they range from “nailed-it” to stunning. And at $159, all four total less than the tab for a 100-watt DSL head and just a bit more than the 20-watt version, to say nothing of the $2,899 it takes to grab a new JCM800. With this snarling, all-analog, true-bypass quintet, all you need is a solid pedal-platform amp and a humbucking or single-coil 6-string, and you’re in business.

Admittedly, my test amps were very solid: a Carr Vincent and the company’s Telstar. But I also have extensive experience with 800s and Super Leads, and I know a good time when I hear it. Whether spanking a PRS SE Silver Sky, a ’68 Les Paul Standard, a custom Zuzu with coil-splitting, or a been-through-Hell Tele with humbuckers, the results are gritty and sparkling, with rich midrange tones and plenty of articulate brightness in these pedals’ simple controls. And while these creations take a standard barrel-pin connector, they also run on 9-volt batteries, which makes them an easy drop-and-go asset for backline gigs.

JVM Distortion & Noise Gate

Generally, I’m a low-to-medium gain player…until I plug into a Marshall. At club and practice room volumes, I like to crank the gain all the way, use the master to set my level, and then adjust the tones with a prejudice toward floored mids, or close to that, and highs somewhere around 2 or 3 o’clock, depending on the amp and guitar combination. This modus operandi paid off immediately with the JVM. In fact, it was a rewarding strategy for each of these pedals.

What’s appealing to guitarists like Joe Satriani about JVM heads is their blend of controllability, touch response, grit, warm midrange, and singing sustain. The JVM has its grounding in the kind of classic Marshall tones initially made by the Super Lead, but with extra sizzle and snap via a lot of smooth, highly controllable, well-balanced gain.

Strapping in for a flight with all these pedals is the very definition of plug and play. The JVM has just four dials: volume, tone, gate, and gain. The gate is perfectly effective. If you’re cranking the gain, just dial up the gate until the hiss disappears. And unlike many gates, it leaves your core tone shining. The tone control has range enough that the amp’s 3-band EQ is not missed (at least by me). And while the pedal can get very loud, rolling back the gain to noon-ish and peeling off the gate creates nice low-gain-amp tones not typically associated with JVM heads. That makes this pedal a joy to play and, whether you’re a high-gain or low-gain partisan, gives it the potential to lead you to tonal places outside your usual wheelhouse.

Ratings

JCM800 Lead Series

This is a pedal version of Marshall’s flagship ’80s head that helped produce many of that decade’s defining guitar voices—most notably, perhaps, Slash’s. Like the other boxes in Marshall’s new silicon-based overdrive stomp series, it rekindles those voices admirably. Its overall sound is a little looser than the JVM pedal, with a somewhat darker character, which might make it an appealing Marshall gateway for players who typically go low-gain but yearn for a taste of the wild side.

The JCM800 has plenty of controllability and volume in its 4-dial setup. Here, the knobs are gain, volume, and tone, naturally, with the addition of sensitivity. Sensitivity isn’t the same as presence, which boosts upper-midrange and treble frequencies. Instead, the sensitivity dial controls the amount of signal that goes into the preamp stage of an amp. The higher it’s turned, the more tube saturation and gain. (In older Marshalls, this aspect of tone coloration was often accessed by jumping the high and low inputs of amps like the Super Lead with a short cable.)

Keep both this dial, which emulates that process, and the gain low, and the JCM800 pedal takes a softer route, with less growl and a looser response to your fingertips and picking. Turn it up and the sound becomes nasty and more harmonically rich and reactive. In my opinion (and I toured with a JCM800 for years), these amps and this pedal have a buzzing quality in their sonic character until the gain is pushed to 2 or 3 o’clock, the tone past noon, and, in the pedal’s case, the sensitivity moves to about 2 o’clock. At these settings, the volume needs to rise to about 10 o’clock or better for the tone to open up, and that’s really pushing it in smaller rooms. But there are some great voices in the blend, and setting sensitivity to 10 o’clock, cranking the gain all the way, moving the tone to 1 or 2 o’clock, and the volume to 3 or so delivers lovely hard-rock crunch. Of course, that’s all subjective and influenced by what amp you’re pushing these pedals through, so the best test, as always, is firing one up for yourself.

Ratings

JCM900 Hi Gain Distortion

To my ears (and fingers), JCM900 heads have a tighter sound and are more responsive to your hands than 800s. I got the same impression playing this pedal too, which makes the JCM900 more genre-flexible, in my book. The secret sauce in this stompbox is administered via the contour control, which joins the gain, tone, and volume dials. Turn it down and the mids become scooped; turn it up and they are pushed to the fore.

This box is capable of tight ’80s and ’90s rhythm sounds, with the gain at 3, contour at 6, tone straight up, and the volume wherever makes you happy. Overall the tones are sparkling and snappy. Push the contour higher and mid-heavy lead sounds soar out, especially with the tone past 2 or 6 o’clock. This territory is blues-rock paradise. But my favorite setting was with the gain full-on (of course), the contour and tone around 1 o’clock, and the volume at 11 o’clock, crafting a blend of tough, biting, and sweet. I didn’t find the JCM 900 as versatile as the JVM or DSL pedals, but it’s nonetheless a charmer and, depending on your palate, may be perfect for your tastes.

Ratings

DSL Dual Super Lead Distortion

Introduced in 1997, the Marshall DSL, or Dual Super Lead, was designed to be a 2-channel Clydesdale. It’s the amp that embraces the widest spread of classic Marshall tones. Its vocabulary nods to all its heavyweight predecessors, and it’s capable of sounds that are clean and ringing as well as gnarly distortion. That versatility makes it a good partner for just about any style except folk music, unless you like your folk with a lotta attitude. (On the jazz side, Sonny Sharrock, who was a JCM800 player, would have dug this amp, too.)

This pedal is patterned on the amp’s second channel, which gleefully leans into higher gain and distortion levels. Setting the dials—gain, deep, tone, and volume—at 11, 10, noon, and 3 o’clock respectively delivered the sort of scalding, dirty rhythm sounds I associate with Pearl Jam. But turning the volume back a bit, I was reminded of a Fender Bassman with an overdrive pedal in front. In fact, on all these pedals, volume and gain are satisfyingly interactive, just like the amps that serve as their foundation.

For the DSL stompbox, the deep dial also plays an important role in this sort of mimicry. It is a low-end boost, which is especially valuable at quieter volumes, adding, well, depth, as advertised. Between the depth and tone control, the pedal offers a wide range of sonic character. And, of course, with the gain floored, it burns.

Playing through Marshal’s JVM, JCM800, JCM900, and DSL Pedals was an absolute delight, like having a fleet of toothy, world-class amps at my disposal. And they come at a bargain price. I recommend treating yourself to your own test flight as soon as possible.

Ratings

Some surprising hardware setups and unorthodox configurations head up the drop – which sees Fender commit to its beloved Classic Vibe family

The Who found themselves at the centre of the headlines earlier this year when drummer Zak Starkey was abruptly fired following a choppy gig at London’s Royal Albert Hall.

Starkey – the son of Beatles legend Ringo Starr – was re-admitted into the band on the condition that he “tighten up”, but was subsequently dismissed again a short time later.

Now, guitarist Pete Townshend has explained in further detail why frontman Roger Daltrey decided Starkey was out of the band following that Royal Albert Hall show and the subsequent aftermath.

• READ MORE: “Pete and I retain the right to be The Who. Everyone else is a session player”: Roger Daltrey comments on firing of drummer Zak Starkey

“One of the difficulties Roger had was [Zak] jumped straight into Instagram and started to mouth off and defend his position in a cheeky, chatty manner, which belies the seriousness of what actually happened,” Townshend tells AARP.

In a now-deleted post on Instagram made shortly after his firing, Starkey wrote: “Heard today from inside source that Roger Daltrey – lead singer and principal songwriter of the group – is unhappy with my performance at the Albert Hall a few weeks ago, is bringing formal charges of overplaying.”

Pete Townshend continues: “Roger had asked us to rehearse The Song Is Over because that’s what we were calling the tour. We shortened it to three and a half minutes. And about halfway through [during the Royal Albert Hall show], it appeared that Roger got completely lost.

“He stopped, he complained, spoke to his own sound engineer, and started to rage. It looked like he was raging at Zak, but that’s not the case. It became a story among fans, and it looked like Roger made a mistake, but something technical went wrong. [Zak’s] handling of it was, I suppose, light-hearted, but you know Roger.”

Elsewhere in the interview, Townshend is asked why he and Roger Daltrey continue The Who while they’re both now in their 80s, instead of retiring.

“It’s a brand rather than a band,” he says. “Roger and I have a duty to the music and the history. The Who [still] sells records – the Moon and Entwistle families have become millionaires. There’s also something more, really: the art, the creative work is when we perform it. We’re celebrating. We’re a Who tribute band.”

The post “One of the difficulties Roger had was Zak jumped straight into Instagram and started to mouth off”: Pete Townshend reveals the real reason why The Who fired Zak Starkey appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

As the multi-hyphenate artist gears up for the follow-up to 2022’s acclaimed record Gemini Rights, he looks back on his roots and his love affair with the guitar

The two virtuosos went toe-to-toe during the Generation Axe tour, and Malmsteen walked away as the victor

Singer-guitarists reveals what he’s learned after 20 years of pushing too hard against the industry current, and the surprising upside of not being able to work as hard as he used to

How did Steve Vai get so good at guitar? Well, it could be to do with the rigorous – to put it lightly – practice regimen he adopted from a young age.

In a new interview with Billy Corgan on the Smashing Pumpkins leader’s podcast The Magnificent Others, Vai recalls becoming obsessed with the guitar in his early teenage years, and developing a round-the-clock training schedule to sharpen his skills.

• READ MORE: “They were doing some fixing on their live record”: Peter Frampton claims Kiss borrowed his guitars to do overdubs on KISS Alive!

“When I was younger I chose the route of being fascinated by chops,” the virtuoso recalls. “It was an interesting discovery, and it was just something as simple as, ‘Look, if you sit down and just practice, you get better.’”

He continues: “And when I started getting better, it gives you a feeling of enthusiasm, self-respect, which I needed at the time. So it becomes sort of like an addiction.

“Practicing endlessly is not for everybody. It’s only for those that have a pull to do it. You can try to force it, but if it doesn’t feel natural to you, [it won’t happen].”

When asked by Billy Corgan about how many hours a day he would practice early in his guitar-playing career, Vai replies: “My schedule back then – I was happy if I got nine hours a day. I was very neurotic, very myopic.”

Vai says it was as early as 12, 13, and 14 years old that he became so engrossed and obsessed with honing his guitar skills.

“It just had such a pull, such an attraction, such an interest. Such a joy,” he explains.

“The funny thing was, it didn’t feel like discipline. People say, ‘You must have been very disciplined.’ Sometimes I would go to sleep early on a Friday so I could wake up and practice all the way ‘til Monday… I’m not a very disciplined person in that way. It was a passion. Passion is a much more powerful engine of creation than discipline.

“Discipline implies you have to fight something, you have to push yourself to do something that you don’t really wanna do. But passion says, ‘You’re gonna do this because you want to do it.’ There’ll be challenges along the way but there’s never the thought of giving up. Because it’s in your heart.”

The post “I was happy if I got 9 hours a day”: Steve Vai on the crazy practice schedule he developed as a teenager appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

Raw, rowdy, rugged, and won’t break the bank—a no-frills double cutaway delivers on its decades-old streamlined design promise with USA-made P-90s.

The Gibson Les Paul Special was first introduced as a single cutaway model in 1955, and with the exception of the sunburst Standards that were produced from 1958-1960, it was the last of the original50s-era Les Paul model variants to be introduced. An enhanced version of the Les Paul Junior with increased sonic flexibility, it featured two P-90 pickups instead of the single P-90 found on the Junior and also added a bit of extra bling in the form of a bound fretboard and a mother-of-pearl headstock logo. In 1958, the body shape was revised from a single cutaway to a double cutaway, which delivered improved fretboard access, and the Special hit its stride in 1960 when a thinner SlimTaper neck profile and a lower neck pickup placement made it more robust and easier to play than ever.

Now, Epiphone, in partnership with Gibson Custom, is proud to introduce the 1960 Les Paul Special Double Cut Reissue, an Inspired by Gibson Custom recreation of the sought-after 1960 Les Paul Special Double Cut. Like the originals, it features a slab mahogany body with double cutaways that provide excellent access to the entire length of the fretboard. The one-piece mahogany neck has a fast-playing 60s SlimTaper profile and is capped with a rosewood fretboard with 22 medium jumbo frets and mother-of-pearl dot position marker inlays. The fretboard has a 12” radius that makes playing first-position chords and solos with string bends further up the neck equally effortless. The Gibson “open book” style headstock is equipped with Epiphone Deluxe three-on-a-plate tuners with white buttons and a GraphTech nut to help keep the tuning nice and stable, while a historic style Wraparound bridge with intonation screws solidly anchors the strings at the other end and contributes to the excellent sustain that the Les Paul Special is famous for. A pair of USA-made P-90 Soap bar pickups from Gibson Custom that can go from sweet and clean to outright nasty and dirty-sounding are hand-wired to individual volume and tone controls with high-quality CTS potentiometers and Bumblebee paper-in-oil capacitors for authentic vintage tones that are sure to please even the most tone-conscious players.

The 1960 Les Paul Special Double Cut Reissue comes packaged in a vintage-style case with a brown exterior and pink plush interior that features Inspired by Gibson Custom graphics on the exterior. It all comes together to deliver a vintage playing and ownership experience at an accessible price that is special in every way.

The new addition to White’s roster of ever-evolving Triplecasters was demoed by Detroit-style guitar slinger Olivia Jean

The pedal specialist will be taking time away from his firm's YouTube channel while he recovers

It’s long been known that Kiss’s 1975 breakthrough Alive! album wasn’t quite as “live” as advertised. Members have since admitted to overdubs, while producer Eddie Kramer has explained that the band’s explosive stage show often came at the cost of clean-sounding performances.

• READ MORE: “Ace started to indulge in things that went up his nose”: Gene Simmons on the “rebellious” nature of Ace Frehley in Kiss’s early days

From fire-breathing and guitar rockets to sky-high platform boots, the chaos of a Kiss gig made it nearly impossible to capture everything cleanly on tape. “It’s no wonder things got a little bit out of whack,” Kramer tells Guitar Player. “So we did a bunch of guitar and vocal overdubs at Electric Lady Studios.”

As it happens, Peter Frampton was mixing Frampton Comes Alive! at the very same studio. And according to the guitarist, Paul Stanley and Ace Frehley made regular visits next door to borrow his gear.

“They kept on coming to us and asking if we got guitars, amps or basses, as they were doing some fixing on their live record,” Frampton told Guitar Player in a 2005 interview.

Among the gear was his mid-’50s Les Paul Custom ‘Black Beauty’, the same instrument immortalised on the cover of Frampton Comes Alive! and in Humble Pie’s breakthrough record Performance: Rockin’ the Fillmore.

”They just kept on coming in and borrowing all sorts of different stuff,” Frampton said. “So my equipment is on that album – but not me!”

Kramer, too, remembers Frampton’s gear being used alongside Kiss’s Marshalls: “I do remember Peter’s amps in Studio A other than the Marshall stacks that Ace and Paul had,” he says. “Aside from them doing lead vocals and some harmonies, that’s all the gear I can remember now, as it’s ‘only’ 50 years ago now.”

Despite purists questioning the overdubs, the producer insists the fix-ups were necessary to deliver the record Kiss needed.

“After having heard all of the original shows and the rehearsals, they were remarkably good,” he says. “The essentials were there and well played, and we did whatever was needed to make that a great live album.”

The result spoke for itself: Alive! went on to sell nearly eight million copies, turning Kiss into arena headliners – with a little uncredited help from Peter Frampton’s gear along the way.

The post “They were doing some fixing on their live record”: Peter Frampton claims Kiss borrowed his guitars to do overdubs on KISS Alive! appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

The trailblazing English guitarist passed away on June 23 and left a formidable legacy, influencing the likes of Joe Bonamassa and countless others

Joe Bonamassa is done wrangling with the critics. With his new record Breakthrough fresh out, the blues legend is clear-eyed about where he stands: not everyone will like his music, and that’s perfectly fine by him.

In a recent chat with Guitar World, Bonamassa declares, “What I interpret the blues as is different from what other people interpret the blues as. I’m long past the point of caring. There’s nothing I can do to change people’s opinions about me, nor do I wish to.”

• READ MORE: Joe Bonamassa says he no longer cares if you use too many pedals: “Players can do whatever the f*** they want. How about that?”

For Bonamassa, the point of it all is simple: “What I offer is an escape for two hours and 10 minutes. When we play a show, it’s an escape from politics, the world’s problems and your personal problems. You enjoy the show, or put on the record, and you forget. That’s what music is about. It’s always been about that.”

And while the so-called “blues police” might nitpick, he shrugs it off.

“Even the people who get praised and championed by the blues police think the blues police are a joke. They all roll their eyes in private,” says the guitarist. “It’s like, ‘Who cares? It’s just music.’ It’s made to be enjoyed; it’s not that important.”

That attitude extends beyond genre debates to his gear too.

“Everybody has room. There’s no right or wrong,” JoBo explains. “We live in a world of influencers going, ‘Well, here’s the ultimate way to do X.’ The next thing you know, someone comes up with some oddball approach that changes the game again. But everybody is dealing with the same wood and wire as everybody else.”

As for the critics who still want him to play it straighter? Bonamassa’s simply not interested.

“It doesn’t matter, because when I look at our last set of gigs and I see full arenas, I think, ‘We did something right, and the music struck a chord with a large number of people,’” he says. “So do I placate the minority of folks, or do I play an arena gig with blues songs that nobody else is doing? I’d rather do the latter.”

Ultimately, Bonamassa wears the “polarising” label like a badge of honour: “You have to, at some point, say to yourself, ‘This is who I am, but not everybody is going to like it.’… You’re not doing it right until you’re polarising. You’re not doing it right until someone you know makes a stupid meme about you.”

“There’s a quote from a bass player [Derek Smalls] from a great band [Spinal Tap], who said, ‘There’s fire and ice,’ but what you don’t want to be is lukewarm water. I’d rather quit than be lukewarm water,” says the musician. “I’d rather be loved or hated – but not tolerated.”

The post “There’s nothing I can do to change people’s opinions about me”: Joe Bonamassa accepts some people will never appreciate his take on the blues appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

Kiszka and Turpin’s 12-fretters are stunning – and they sound as good as they look as the Mirador pair demo them exclusively for GW

For most of us, learning guitar is a labor of love, and that love is placed squarely in the music we want to make with the instrument, not necessarily in how it works and functions as a piece of equipment. In this article, or perhaps series of articles, we’ll take a look at some of those steps that might get overlooked when it comes to getting to understand our instruments and how they work.

• READ MORE: The best electric guitars for metal – our top-rated Jacksons, Gibsons, Strandbergs & more

How Do I Tune A Guitar With A Tuner (Properly)?

Tuning a guitar seems like it would be the easiest thing in the world for a guitarist to learn, but there is actually a fair amount of subtlety to it if done properly. Everyone should learn to tune by ear, and there are enough tutorials online on how to do that. I do have some tips for those using a tuner of some sort that will help you get a better reading.

A guitar string vibrating consists of several notes – there’s the fundamental note, which is the initial sound when you pluck the string. Your fundamental note is the lowest note and then you have harmonics of that note at various points on the string. We know exactly where these points are, and they are very important in determining the timbre of an instrument. However, these harmonics often confuse a tuner – that’s why your tuner might bounce around a bit before it “settles down” and gives you a good reading.

When tuning your guitar, you only want the fundamental note, which happens to be the lowest note, so, to make it easier for the tuner to find that, roll the tone knob down very low, switch your guitar to the neck or rhythm pickup (if it has one) and then pluck the string over the twelfth fret. Don’t pluck it too hard or your string will go sharp and by the time it settles down, the note has died out – this is especially true on down-tuned guitars. Light pluck is all you need. This will give you the most accurate reading on a tuner.

What Does A Tone Knob Actually Do?

Most guitars have volume knobs and tone knobs, and while the volume knobs are fairly self-explanatory, ‘Tone’ knobs are a bit more misunderstood. Tone is a big buzz word in the guitar community and there are a million different ways that a guitarist can alter their tone, only one of which is the knob on the guitar. As it turns out, the tone knob affects the tone in a very specific way and can be a very important tool for us to alter tone before it leaves the output jack of our guitar.

The tone knob on your guitar is essentially a low-pass filter which allows lower frequencies to pass through the pot while knocking out the high frequencies. So, when you find your tone a bit harsh and high pitched, you can roll back on your tone knob to knock out some of those high frequencies. It functions very similarly to a treble knob on an amplifier.

When your tone knob is set to 10, you are letting all frequencies through, and you can dial it down until it’s at 0, at which point no frequencies will get through, and the guitar will not have any output. Learning to work with your tone knob will allow you to dial in a wider range of sounds right on your instrument without having to go mess with your amp during a show.

Are Neck And Bridge Pickups Interchangeable?

Most of the time, pickups will physically fit into either position on the guitar, but a good life lesson is: just because it fits doesn’t necessarily mean you should put it in there. There are some key differences that you should be aware of.

The first difference is that bridge and neck pickups are often wound differently. A string vibrates differently at the neck pickup than it does at the bridge. The string vibrates less at the bridge because it’s closer to a fixed point. Many builders compensate for this by making the bridge pickup “hotter”, essentially boosting the signal to match the neck pickup’s output signal.

The other key difference is string spacing. The string spacing at the bridge and the nut is generally different on electric guitars, with the string spacing being narrower at the nut than at the bridge. Because of this, the pole spacing on the neck pickup is often closer together than on the bridge pickup. This is not always the case, but oftentimes it is. Today, many aftermarket pickups make “F-Spaced” humbuckers, which can be used in Fenders as the string spacing on a Fender is usually a bit narrower than on a Gibson. Eddie Van Halen compensated for this difference on his Frankenstrat by slanting the humbucker to put the pole pieces more directly under the strings on his Fender-style guitar.

With these differences in mind, my advice is always to try anything that you feel might give you the sound you are looking for. Experimentation is just fine. I swap pickups all the time, and sometimes it has yielded really good results. Remember, you can always swap them back.

Why Do Some Guitars Have A Stripe On The Back Of The Neck and Some Don’t?

This is referred to as a “skunk stripe,” and it is most commonly found on Fender guitars. It was originally seen on guitars where the neck and fretboard were one piece of wood. In these cases, the truss rod was inserted from the back of the neck and the hole was covered with a piece of wood that was usually a different color. This was done because using a piece of the same color maple would have made it look as if a repair had taken place. So, they opted to make it ornamental instead, using walnut prior to 1959 and today it can be anything (I usually use roasted maple).

Fender still uses a skunk stripe today, even when the neck is a two-piece design and the truss rod can be easily inserted into the neck before the fretboard is glued on. The skunk stripe has become somewhat of a marketing gimmick for people who have become accustomed to it.

Got your own question about guitar that you were too afraid to ask? Email editors@guitar.com and the answer might appear in a future article…

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Progressive, powerful lutherie with piano-like clarity

As a longtime music journalist and author of the Allman Brothers books One Way Out: The Inside History of the Allman Brothers Band and Brothers and Sisters: The Allman Brothers Band and the Inside Story of the Album That Defined the ’70s—both New York Times bestsellers—Alan Paul is foremost authority on the Allmans who was never in the band.

He’s also a guitar player who leads the band Friends of the Brothers and is deeply attuned to the nuances of each of the many Allman Brothers guitarists.

On this episode, we’re covering the whole history of the band’s guitar chairs, from Duane Allman and Dickey Betts to Derek Trucks and Warren Haynes and the many others who’ve stepped in to he spotlight with their 6-string.

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Mac DeMarco has had plenty of things to say about musicians complaining about how difficult their job is, and now the guitarist has doubled down on his belief that the next generation are too entitled to appreciate their privileged position.

DeMarco is due to release a new album titled Guitar on 22 August, marking his first record since 2023’s One Wayne G. Earlier this month in an interview with The New Yorker surrounding its release, he spoke of the unconventional ways he releases his art, and shared how he doesn’t view music as a “job”.

• READ MORE: John Fogerty says this thing is more important to musical success than being a good guitar player: “Even if your playing is kind of average, you can go far”

On the same note, DeMarco said that he views touring as a “rock ‘n’ roll adventure”, and doesn’t quite understand it when musicians complain about the hardships they endure when out on the road.

While many artists may disagree as touring costs rise, DeMarco has again reiterated his thoughts on the matter. He tells The Independent, “It’s frustrating for me when I meet these young musicians who are like: ‘Oh, touring is so hard and exhausting,’” he says.

“Maybe there are just too many nepo babies now that are used to sunning themselves in the south of France every summer going: ‘Oh Papa, this venue is so dark and stinky. I’d rather be on the shores of Marseille…’

“I tell those young musicians: ‘Don’t you see? This is why!’” he adds. “You get to go on vacation with your friends indefinitely, hang out with new people every night and you’re getting paid to do it! It’s the ultimate adventure!”

Not one to shy away from controversial takes, DeMarco has previously shared a strong dislike of guitar pedals, and made comments that may make some of you wince. Speaking to MusicTech in 2023, he said, “They’re stupid. They’re cheap pieces of shit with crappy electronics. It’s just crap in the path. I don’t like crap. I don’t care if it makes you sound like Jimi Hendrix or whatever. I don’t want it. I don’t want it! It just stresses me out thinking about it.”

Mac DeMarco heads out on tour on 29 August. You can view the full list of his scheduled live shows via his website.

The post “Oh Papa, this venue is so dark and stinky!”: Mac De Marco savages the music industry for being full of coddled “nepo babies” appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.