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“We start playing at 10am and nobody’s there yet… Two or three songs in there were thousands of people watching us”: Dan Donegan on how Ozzfest helped “launch” Disturbed’s career
Disturbed’s Dan Donegan has looked back on the band’s first ever set at Ozzfest, and how they managed to draw a crowd of “thousands” despite playing in broad daylight at 10am.
The travelling festival, founded by Ozzy and Sharon Osbourne, was launched in 1996. The idea for the fest was born after Sharon had tried to get Ozzy on the bill at Lollapalooza but was rejected, and decided that the pair should make their own festival that celebrated the best established and growing bands in metal.
Disturbed made their Ozzfest debut in the year 2000, when they played the festival’s second stage bright and early (in festival time, that is). Speaking to Guitar World for its new print edition, Donegan says it took the band to new heights.
“It was a steady climb, gradually going upward. I’ll never forget – our first show was in West Palm Beach in Florida, and we were the first band to open the second stage, which was basically a stage set up in the parking lot. There were so many good bands coming out at that time, so there was this friendly competition, with everybody trying to leave their mark.
“We were on at 10 in the morning, so we were like, ‘Is anybody even gonna show up?’ Sure enough, we start playing at 10am and nobody’s there yet,” he says. “The festival people said, ‘They’re coming in, don’t worry about it,’ and by the time we got to the second or third song, there were thousands of people watching us. It was great exposure, and it really helped launch our career.”
Speaking to Metal Hammer earlier this year, Sharon Osbourne looked back on the festival as one of her proudest achievements. “It was brilliant,” she said. “For 23 years, it was like summer camp. There was one band in particular who I just always adored, and I got the honour of working with them for a while, which was Motörhead [who played Ozzfest in 1998]. I just loved Lemmy to death.”
Of the festival’s success, she said, “It passed the torch. So many great bands came out of Ozzfest that are still going today and still so relevant.”
The post “We start playing at 10am and nobody’s there yet… Two or three songs in there were thousands of people watching us”: Dan Donegan on how Ozzfest helped “launch” Disturbed’s career appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.
“Forget the guitar playing; the way I made ham sandwiches was amazing!”: Zakk Wylde on the ‘real’ reason he was hired as Ozzy’s guitarist
![[L-R] Ozzy Osbourne and Zakk Wylde](https://guitar.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/Ozzy-Obsourne-and-Zakk-Wylde@2000x1500.jpg)
Zakk Wylde has been reminiscing on his bond with Ozzy Osbourne, and has shared what their friendship was like outside of music.
Osbourne passed away back in July, just a matter of weeks after his giant final show with Black Sabbath in their home city of Birmingham, England. The monumental metal celebration brought in a total of £33.8 million in ticket sales, according to Dr. Matt Lyons of the University of Birmingham, and proceeds from the event were pledged to Cure Parkinson’s, the Birmingham Children’s Hospital, and Acorns Children’s Hospice.
Since his passing, friends, fans, and music figures alike have been sharing their stories of meeting or working with the Prince of Darkness. As one of his solo band guitarists, Wylde has spoken of the advice Osbourne used to give him, and why his excellent sandwich making skills kept him in Osbourne’s good books in a new interview with Guitar World.
“You’re always gonna learn along the way. You trust somebody, and then you get screwed on a business deal or whatever. When anything would happen, Oz would be like, ‘Zakk, I remember with Sabbath this or that…’ Stories about thinking someone was a good guy, and they end up screwing you over,” he says.
“Obviously, all of us live and learn on our own, too. But Oz would always be there for advice. He’d poke me in the eye, and I’d be like, ‘What was that for?’ He’d say, ‘Life’s tough. That’s why.’ [Laughs] I’d go, ‘Yeah, but I really didn’t need that.’ He’d go [in a British accent], ‘Oh, go make me a sandwich, light on the Colman’s [Mustard].”
Wylde followed in the footsteps of Randy Rhoads and Jake E. Lee within Osbourne’s band. Asked why he felt Osbourne chose him to take on the gig with such big shoes to fill, he jokes, “Because I went light on the Colman’s! Forget the guitar playing; the way I made ham sandwiches with the Colman’s was amazing.
“I was the Randy and the Jake of ham sandwiches and Colman’s,” he laughs. “With anything, if it works and it’s easy, that’s how it should be with bands and relationships. I mean, with your wife, your friends, anyone – if they don’t bring you peace, why are you with these people?”
The post “Forget the guitar playing; the way I made ham sandwiches was amazing!”: Zakk Wylde on the ‘real’ reason he was hired as Ozzy’s guitarist appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.
Crazy Tube Circuits Venus review – ”Crazy Tube Circuits may well have created a masterpiece”
€299/£265, crazytubecircuits.com
Vintage guitars are rightly held as some of the most inspirational tone-creating machines out there in guitar land. Vintage pedals, however, are often dismissed for being overly big and bulky, noisy and needing a power supply last seen powering a 1980s Casio keyboard. Yes, there are the well-trodden and bank-busting Tube Screamers and Klons, and much love for round Fuzz Faces abides on forums, but outside of a few classics, many of today’s players find these ‘quirky’ boxes are just too much to handle.
For others however, the quest for tone means they will tolerate the original pedals in all their idiosyncratic glory.
One such is the Tube Driver. Designed by BK Butler in 1983, it was initially developed from a circuit designed to overdrive keyboards – in the style of Deep Purple in the late 1970s. However, it was quickly refined as a guitar pedal and despite numerous versions over the years, remains a somewhat overlooked iconic pedal.
Relied on by players such as David Gilmour, Billy Gibbons and Joe Satriani, and a core part of Eric Johnson’s smooth violin-esque lead tone, original models are big, heavy, mains powered and, feature a real ECC83 inside giving oodles of juicy smooth gain to even a clean amp.
While Butler has once again began making Tube Drivers in very limited runs, he’s a one-man operation, so they’re both hard to get and pretty pricey on the used market. Thankfully for those of us without the patience to wait, Crazy Tube Circuits is here to help.
Image: Adam Gasson
Crazy Tube Circuits Venus – what is it?
The Venus is effectively an attempt by CTC to cram all of that valve-powered goodness into a compact modern enclosure, complete with some refinements that you won’t find on the original – most notably a three-band EQ. It’s also less than half the size of the original Tube Driver, and you can power it straight off your pedalboard’s power supply (albeit with a 400mA current draw), which again, you won’t be able to do with the original.
As luck would have it, I happen to own an original vintage non-bias control Tube Driver that’s fitted with an ECC83 valve – what better way to see how the new kid on the block stands up?
Image: Adam Gasson
Crazy Tube Circuits Venus – sounds
Despite the ‘real tube overdrive’ moniker of the original unit, I’ve always felt like Tube Drivers should be best approached like fuzz pedals, they work great at imparting huge walls of gain on even the cleanest amp, yet are quite tricky to dial in. Often their best tones, at least for anything other than rich compressed super-sustaining lead tones, are best found by working your guitar’s controls to dial them back a bit.
Owners of original units will debate endlessly whether higher gain ECC83 or lower gain ECC82 valves sound best so for their reworking of the classic pedal, CTC have used an ECC823 dual triode in their Venus as they felt this offers the best of both worlds, although users can swap out for any other dual triode should they wish.
Plugging my Strat into a Deluxe Reverb set squeaky clean is usually kryptonite for drive pedals, but with the Venus’ volume and drive set at noon I’m greeted with exactly the thick, harmonically rich lead tone I hoped for. Smooth, sustaining notes bloom and blossom into feedback as I turn up the volume.
Side by side, it’s perhaps a touch fuzzier around the edges compared to the original unit, but definitely a wonderful expressive tone that is more dynamic than the vintage pedal, cleaning up far better from my volume control.
Utilising the onboard bias control to presumably starve the valve of voltage, I can go from smooth to Velcro-esque spitty fuzz tones and all points in between. Special mention should also go to the addition of this powerful 3-band EQ – it offers a myriad of tonal tweaks not possible with the original unit, making it much more versatile as a result..
Image: Adam Gasson
Crazy Tube Circuits Venus – should I buy one?
It’s very rare that a modern pedal is an improvement over the original, but for size, flexibility, tone and practicality, Crazy Tube Circuits may well have created a masterpiece here, a new Goddess of tone!
Image: Adam Gasson
Crazy Tube Circuits Venus – alternatives
Bargain hunters looking for a Tube Driver fix may wish to seek out a TC Electronic Tube Pilot, which manages to pack a real ECC83 tube in for a frankly bonkers low price of around $67.90/£50. For a non-valve take on a similar tonal palette, you might be lucky and find a used Dover Drive by Hermida out there, but it won’t be cheap! The Butler Audio recreation of the original Tube Driver will cost you $299, but Butler makes them one at a time so prepare to be patient.
The post Crazy Tube Circuits Venus review – ”Crazy Tube Circuits may well have created a masterpiece” appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.
“I’ve missed it since – I almost wish I’d never played it!”: Jake E. Lee reveals Kirk Hammett let him play Greeny backstage at Black Sabbath’s final show
![[L-R] Ozzy Osbourne and Jake E. Lee, with Kirk Hammett inset](https://guitar.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/Ozzy-Jake-E-Lee-Kirk-Hammett-hero@2000x1500.jpg)
In guitar circles, Greeny – the 1959 Gibson Les Paul Standard once owned by Fleetwood Mac guitarist Peter Green and now by Metallica’s Kirk Hammett – is sort of like the One Ring from Lord of the Rings; when players get their hands on it, they’re never quite the same again.
It’s a lesson former Ozzy Osbourne six-string sidekick Jake E. Lee learned the hard way, after Kirk Hammett let him play the guitar backstage at Black Sabbath’s recent farewell show in Birmingham on 5 July.
As he recalls in a new interview with Guitar World, Lee explains how Hammett let him play Greeny while rehearsing for his performance at the event, and the experience left an indelible mark.
“I can confirm that it’s a magical piece of wood,” he says. “I didn’t want to put it down – didn’t want to leave it. I’ve missed it ever since! It’s so resonant; it just sings. I almost wish I’d never played it! [laughs] Nah – I’m glad I got to bask in its magic, if for just a while.”
While undoubtedly one of the most fabled electric guitars in existence today, Kirk Hammett is generally pretty generous with whom he lets play the Greeny Les Paul. Earlier this year, he recalled lending the guitar to Jack White, who played it for a few songs onstage.
But while Hammett and Greeny are not tied at the hip, he has acknowledged the lasting effect the guitar has had on him since owning it.
“People say a lot of things have changed about me since I got that guitar,” Hammett said last year. “My playing has changed, my attitude has changed, my tone has changed, my approach has changed. All those things have changed over the last five or six years because of this guitar. I’m really happy about it.”
Elsewhere in the Guitar World interview, Jake E. Lee recalls his performance at Black Sabbath’s monumental final gig, which would also serve as Ozzy Osbourne’s last live appearance before his death.
“I was backstage, and I knew my guitar needed tuning,” he remembers. “And I kept saying, ‘Where’s the rest of the band? Shouldn’t I be out there?’ But they said, ‘No, we’re not ready for you?’ I was like, ‘Okay… can I go out now?’ They said, ‘Okay, you can go.’ Then they led me to stage right, and I said, ‘Shouldn’t I be stage left? I’m playing over there…’ But they said, ‘No, you’ve got to go this way…’
“So I came out, and I hadn’t heard anything, but Nuno [Bettencourt] had the crowd chanting my name. And I walked out and Lzzy [Hale] and Nuno are doing little bows to me. [Laughs] Then Nuno grabbed me and gave me a kiss on the cheek!”
He continues: “The crowd was chanting my name. It was overwhelming. I’m surprised I didn’t trip and fall down! But because of all that, I was a little out of tune – but it was worth it. To have that introduction and reaction was good for my soul.
“And then, with Shot in the Dark, we rehearsed it a certain way, but I think David got a little excited and jumped ahead. So I didn’t get to do my cool harmony at the beginning, but that’s okay! Did I play my best? Maybe not. Was I in tune? Maybe not. Was it fantastic and amazing? Absolutely.”
The post “I’ve missed it since – I almost wish I’d never played it!”: Jake E. Lee reveals Kirk Hammett let him play Greeny backstage at Black Sabbath’s final show appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.
“I want to be more myself, and get back to the real joy of playing guitar”: Sophie Lloyd to post simpler content due to social media pressures ruining the fun of playing music
Sophie Lloyd has decided to change up her social media content, as the pressure of battling with algorithms has impacted her joy of sharing guitar videos online.
Lloyd has been building up her live presence in the real world across recent years following the release of her 2023 album, Imposter Syndrome. When she last chatted to Guitar.com, she spoke of how she’d always viewed herself as a solo performer, even though she’s well-known for playing alongside MGK.
MGK recruited Lloyd after coming across her online presence, which she has been building since the early 2010s. Her YouTube videos and snappy covers on TikTok and Instagram have been something she has continued alongside both her solo work and her live shows with MGK, but the pressure of making ‘perfect’ content was has become a lot less fulfilling.
“Lately I’ve been feeling a little overwhelmed with the pressures of social media,” she writes on Instagram. “With so many amazing creators out there, I’ve been finding it harder and harder to stand out and keep up with the constantly changing algorithm. I kept comparing myself to others, chasing numbers, and honestly, it just stopped being fun.”
She continues, “I think back to when I started posting videos when I was a young girl, I was so excited to pick up a guitar for hours every night learning my favourite songs, and sharing that with whoever would listen, not worrying about views or likes. I want to rediscover that passion and love for guitar and music.”
“Joe Satriani’s Surfing With The Alien was the first instrumental album that really got me into guitar, and the song Satch Boogie was one I tried to learn when I was younger, and could just never get my fingers round it. So the other night, I sat down and started trying to work through it again. I was sat there for hours, really enjoying myself, actually playing guitar for fun like I used to. I want to bring that back into the content I make.”
With that in mind, Lloyd is going to be stripping down her content in favour of posting “real stuff” with “no fancy lighting, no fake eyelashes, no overdubbed audio. Just the room sound, and what I’m actually doing and wanting to work on that day”. She’ll also be doing chatty and fun content, the kind of videos she likes to watch as a viewer, and will still be doing her YouTube shred versions and higher production reels from time to time as well.
You can watch Lloyd’s cover of Satch Boogie below:
Sophie Lloyd is touring with Glenn Hughes this October – find out more via her official website.
The post “I want to be more myself, and get back to the real joy of playing guitar”: Sophie Lloyd to post simpler content due to social media pressures ruining the fun of playing music appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.
“These go to 11!”: Nigel Tufnel’s old Spinal Tap amps are out – because Marshall has designed him an amp that goes to “infinity”
A teaser video for the sequel of Spinal Tap landed earlier this year, showing a Marshall amp that can be cranked right up to “infinity”. Now, the fictional band’s lead guitarist, Nigel Tufnel, has spoken about it for the first time.
The sequel, titled Spinal Tap II: The End Continues, lands on 12 September this year – that’s over 40 years since the original rock ‘n’ roll comedy mockumentary was released. As for the plot of the new film, director Rob Reiner says that the band’s manager has passed away, and that his widow has been left with a contract that states Spinal Tap owe them one more concert.
- READ MORE: Eddie and Alex Van Halen thought This Is Spinal Tap “wasn’t funny” because it was too true to life
Tufnel, played by Christopher Guest, recently did an in-character interview with Guitar World, in which he discussed his gear choices for the Spinal Tap reunion, and that mighty “infinity” master dial. After all, how can you possibly out-do an amp that goes to 11?
It seems this new custom-made head is the solution: “Marshall has made for me an amplifier, the head, and if you look at the dials, it now goes to Infinity. Just think about that for a moment. Think about infinity – oh, my God, that’s literally infinity,” Tufnel says.
Commenting further on his experiments with gear, he adds: “There are lots of pedals that people have done in the last years that are quite extraordinary. Companies that make these pedals, which I use, and I do a little work on them. I take them apart, and I do a little fooling around with wires and stuff like that to get the sound I’d like.
“Lots of times I break them because I don’t really know how to do that work. I haven’t been trained, but it’s interesting to open things up, see all the wires and move them about a bit.”
You can watch the official, full-length trailer for Spinal Tap II below:
To find out more about Spinal Tap II, head over to Sony Pictures.
The post “These go to 11!”: Nigel Tufnel’s old Spinal Tap amps are out – because Marshall has designed him an amp that goes to “infinity” appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.
“I couldn’t get up to the top frets, but the SG suited me perfectly”: Why Tony Iommi never became a Les Paul player
Tony Iommi is about as synonymous with the Gibson SG as any guitar player could be, apart from maybe AC/DC’s Angus Young.
But in his early days as a guitarist, the Black Sabbath man actually set his sights on being a Les Paul player instead, but found that, following his famous accident while working at a sheet metal factory – which saw him lose the tips of his two middle fingers on his fretting hand – the LP proved a little restrictive.
During a recent Q&A event held at the Gibson Garage in London – where he launched his new signature humbuckers – Iommi explained [via Guitar World]: “I always wanted a Les Paul, but I couldn’t play the Les Paul because of my accident.”
“I couldn’t get up to the top frets, but the SG suited me perfectly,” he said. “The SG for me was comfortable. I liked the shape, the weight, and, eventually, a ton of people started using it. Everybody wanted a Les Paul in the early days; that was always the best.
“As I said, I couldn’t have a Les Paul. I didn’t feel comfortable, [it was] too heavy, and I couldn’t get to the top frets. So the SG has been perfect for me, and that’s why I always stuck with it.”
While Tony Iommi is now synonymous with the Gibson SG, he started out his Black Sabbath career playing a Fender Stratocaster, before it became faulty while recording the band’s self-titled debut album.
He reached for his backup Gibson SG, which has been his preferred guitar for his entire career since.
While the Les Paul is widely considered to be the most iconic Gibson model, guitarists have long touted – and continue to tout – the benefits of an SG.
Recently, Greta Van Fleet man Jake Kiszka explained why his SG is his favourite in his arsenal.
“The thing about an SG that differentiates it from other Gibson guitars is that it’s really microphonic, and you can feel every nuance of the guitar,” he said.
“I really like to play with my body,” he continues, “and even pulling the neck slightly back and moving things and tapping on it. It’s responding in more than just one way. It’s not just the strings and the connection between that and the pickup.”
The post “I couldn’t get up to the top frets, but the SG suited me perfectly”: Why Tony Iommi never became a Les Paul player appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.
“One of the main goals with these parts is to not subtract from the beautiful sound the strings are trying to make”: Paul Reed Smith explains how hardware impacts guitar tone
Continuing its popular Rules Of Tone YouTube series, PRS Guitars has released a new video on how the hardware materials on your instrument affect its sound.
Founder Paul Reed Smith – whose knowledge on all things tone has come from years of experimentation and building, from crafting the right necks to taking razor blades to pickups – says that the materials used on your guitar are all “subtractive”, and have an impact on the way its strings ring out.
With that in mind, PRS opts for hardware material that ensures the guitar doesn’t “shut down” its natural harmonic sound. Teaming up with Rob Carhartt, PRS’ Director of New Products Engineering, Reed Smith walks through some examples of the brand’s choice for nut material, bridge material, tuning pegs, and more.
“In a lot of the past videos, I’ve stated that whatever the guitar string touches is God,” begins Reed Smith. “To exaggerate that, if the bridge is made of rubber, the nut is made of rubber, and the tuning peg is made of rubber, the guitar is not going to have the kind of high-end that it would have if these things were made out of metal.
“We’ve done a tremendous amount of research about how each of these [parts] operate on a mechanical engineering basis, but also what [they] sounds like. I can tell you just in these tremolo bridges alone, the amount of time spent on the geometry of the curve of the saddle where the string leaves has gone through three or four iterations, and it makes a difference [to] how much high-end the string has, how it works with the tremolo, and how it gets out of the way so the string can vibrate without sounding like a sitar.”
He continues, “The theory with these parts is that the string is trying to do its job. It’s really, really trying to ring for a really long time. The guitar in general is subtractive. If you make the bridge and the nut and the tuning pegs out of rubber, it’s going to shut that vibration down really fast…
“One of the main goals with these parts is to not subtract from the this beautiful sound the string’s trying to make. If you take a string and put it between two big steel vices and hit it, it rings [beautifully]. It’s got a nice, beautiful musical high-end. It’s full of harmonic content, which I want the guitar to not shut down.”
You can watch the full video below:
PRS celebrates its 40th anniversary this year. You can find out more about the brand and view its product lineup via the PRS Guitars website.
The post “One of the main goals with these parts is to not subtract from the beautiful sound the strings are trying to make”: Paul Reed Smith explains how hardware impacts guitar tone appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.
“Probably had a better chance of getting struck by lightning”: Watch Daron Malakian join System Of A Down covers band onstage in Chicago – it’s the stuff of dreams
It’s the stuff of dreams: you’re playing a cover of a famous song with your bandmates, and a member of the original band digs what you’re doing so much they come and jam with you.
That’s exactly what happened to a band playing System Of A Down’s Cigaro in a bar near where the Armenian-American metal legends were set to perform with Avenged Sevenfold on Sunday (31 August).
The event was the first of two nights at Chicago’s Soldier Field with a co-headlining bill of System and A7X, and support from Polyphia and Wisp.
As the story supposedly goes, ahead of the first night on Sunday, SOAD guitarist Daron Malakian was walking around the area near Wrigley Field, a few miles from Soldier Field, when he overheard a band in a nearby bar playing Cigaro, from the band’s 2005 album Mesmerize.
He then used his rockstar powers for good, stepped inside and joined the band onstage, no doubt to their heavy disbelief.
Malakian later took to Instagram to share his thoughts about the moment, confirming that “none of this was planned”.
“We had a day off before our show in Chicago and I went out to dinner, and after I decided to go take some pictures around town. We didn’t plan on going to Wrigley Field, but we ended up there.”
He explains that he first heard a cover of Needles (from 2001’s Toxicity) and, at first, thought it was karaoke.
“I decided to walk across the street and go into the bar and found that it was a System Of A Down cover band called Peephole. I walked right to the front of the stage and surprised the band and the audience. This was all so spontaneous. The look on everyone’s faces was priceless.
“To be honest, I was just as surprised as anyone else that this was happening. I joined the band and sang Cigaro, shook their hands, took some pictures with the fans in the audience, and walked out of the place. I can only imagine what a shock it was for everyone there after I left.
“The odds of this happening were so slim. Probably had a better chance of getting struck by lightning. So many stars had to align for me to end up at the right place and right time.”
Malakian concludes by saying it was “one of the coolest moments I’ve ever had”.
Watch footage of the spontaneous performance below:
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The guitar gear used by Neil Young on his Harvest album
Neil Young is not a man who does a lot of gear-focused interviews, which makes the secret of his incredible and hugely influential guitar tones something of an enigma in guitar circles. While guitar fans do our best to extrapolate what Young used, we do have the benefit of one forthright source. His longtime guitar tech Larry Cragg has been pretty open about the gear Young has used and his preferences when it comes to tone.
What we don’t really have is any concrete idea of exactly what he was using and when – so we’re left to pull from what Cragg has shared, combing the various interviews, photographic evidence from his studio and live sessions, and a fair bit of hearsay, too.
Harvest is an album that many see as the pinnacle of Young’s long and storied career. And there’s a good case for it – it’s his best-selling album, and gave him his only number one song in the US in the shape of Heart Of Gold.
The album also helped solidify his signature sound. As we know, Young has, at times, been very experimental when it comes to his guitar rig, but for most, when we think of the “Neil Young Sound” we think of Harvest.
The ‘Old Black’ Les Paul
We can’t talk about gear used on a Neil Young album without talking about his main electric guitar, Old Black. Old Black is a heavily modified 1953 Gibson Les Paul Goldtop that Young obtained from his Buffalo Springfield bandmate Jim Messina. However, regarding the recording of Harvest, there is some debate over what pickup was in the bridge position. The most reputable sources, as well as Neil Young himself, claim that the Firebird humbucker was installed in 1973, which would be after the recording of the album. It is widely believed that the pickup in the guitar during the sessions was a DeArmond Dynasonic single-coil (the neck was still a stock Gibson P-90 which had been rehoused in an aluminium cover).
Cragg stated that he installed the DeArmond which was in the guitar for about two years before being replaced by the Firebird humbucker. If the Firebird pickup was installed in 1973, then the pickup in Old Black during the recording of Harvest would have been the DeArmond.
The White Falcon
As the story goes, Young traded his first White Falcon, a 1959 model, to Stephen Stills in exchange for a rare 1960 White Falcon that had stereo outputs (though Cragg often refers to this guitar as a 1970 model). This guitar was unique, so much so that it had its own model name, the 6137 (a regular White Falcon was a 6136). It was made from 1958 to 1981, but in very small numbers.
The guitar actually had different pickups than a standard Filter’Tron; it had what historians call “Project-O-Sonic” pickups which had wiring that separated the three pole pieces on the bass of each pickup from its three pole pieces on the treble side of each pickup. Meaning that one output was for bass and the other for treble. They could be routed to two different amplifiers and panned in a recording mix. It is easy to see why Young wanted this particular White Falcon model as it was so much more versatile in the studio. This guitar was most notably used on the solo for Words (Between the Lines of Age).
Martin D-45
The main acoustic used on Harvest was a Martin D-45. That guitar was used on songs like Old Man. Young bought this guitar in 1969 as a reissue – the D-45 was originally made from 1933 until 1942. Martin wisely started making them again in 1968 and it has been a mainstay of the company’s lineup ever since.
Pre-war D-45s are quite rare and only 91 are said to have been made. Neil Young’s former bandmate Stephen Stills is said to own a 1939 model that he calls ‘Mother Maybelle’. At some point Young had his tech scallop the braces on the inside of the guitar to enhance its tonal response. To amplify the acoustic, Cragg installed two FRAP pickups (Flat Response Audio Pickups) inside the guitar. One is for the top strings, and one is for the bottom strings. In this way, they were better able to tweak the tone of the guitar to their liking.
Amps & Effects
The primary amplifier for his electric guitar work on the album was a 1959 Fender Deluxe Tweed (5E3), especially during the barn sessions at his ranch, where most of the electric tracks were recorded for Harvest. As far as we know, Neil Young is still partial to the Tweed Deluxe.
As for effects, there were very few, which is something that has become somewhat characteristic of his signature sound. There was, however, a 15 IPS (inches per second) tape slap-back on Young’s vocals for a few tracks, which is often confused for a subtle echo or delay. The other “effect” is something we had already alluded to… perhaps just as important as the gear itself was the studio where it was recorded, and Harvest was the first album to utilize a new studio that Young was in the process of building in his barn at his newly acquired thousand-acre ranch in Woodside, California, that he called Broken Arrow.
The barn where the album was recorded allowed Young and his band to play loud, allowing for the room ambience to be captured. The barn, and relatively primitive recording techniques, unlike a proper recording studio, often resulted in bleeding between tracks, which means you can hear the bass in the guitar tracks or drums in the piano tracks, etc. This makes mixing more difficult, but nonetheless was something that Young and his production crew embraced. This concept of using the room and recording techniques, essentially, as an effect, was a brilliantly simple way to record and forge his own sound. The sound was far from perfect, but it was Neil Young.
Neil Young is known as the Grungefather, and the recording techniques used on Harvest, along with the natural tube distortion of a cranked out Deluxe amp, helped to sculpt the tones that many rock musicians still chase today. Harvest remains a favorite among Neil Young fans and the mainstream at large.
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“So many accusations have been levelled at the band, our management, and me personally”: Dani Filth issues lengthy statement amid Cradle of Filth dispute
After Cradle of Filth members, husband and wife Marek “Ashok” Šmerda and Zoe Marie Federoff, recently quit the band citing “low pay”, high stress and “years of unprofessional behaviour from people above us”, band leader Dani Filth has offered a response.
Šmerda and Federoff’s resignations came in quick succession last month, with the latter claiming the band’s management were “dishonest” and “manipulative”, also saying they had attempted to withhold advance payments for the band’s new album.
Posting screenshots of her contract with the band on social media, Federoff says her lawyer “called it the most psychopathic contract a session musician could ever be handed”.
Now, Dani Filth has come forward with his “side of the story, now that so many accusations have been levelled at the band, our management, and me personally”.
Apologising for the “tardiness” of his statement following a period of reflection, Filth says he doesn’t want to partake in “tit-for-tat or slander”, but wishes to “clarify the following points”.
Filth says “one of the main reasons” for the ongoing dispute between Šmerda, Federoff and the band is a “miscommunication regarding the nature of the contract”.
“There is not a contract that was ever expected to be signed as is, but was the initial framework to build from,” he writes.
Filth also accuses Šmerda and Federoff of engaging in arguments while the band was on tour, sometimes in front of fans.
“I’m sad to see that Zoe is picking facts to fit an agenda but am willing to share the full story including the description of events of the first three days of the South American tour, to show a more balanced picture so that people can make their judgements based on the wider context,” he says.
“During those first days, heavy drinking, escalating arguments, and repeated public disputes created a very disruptive atmosphere for everyone involved.
“I personally witnessed heated exchanges between Zoe and Ashok that included both verbal and physical abuse, culminating in a public display in front of the hotel and fans who had gathered for last minute autographs in Sao Paolo. This was not an isolated incident but part of a pattern of abusive behaviour that strained the entire team.”
Filth also says he took issue with the way Šmerda spoke about band manager Dez Fafara, as well as Sharon Osbourne, in screenshotted text messages.
The messages, confirmed by Consequence, read: “Dez Fafara – you are a sick, evil person trained by sickest person in music industry – Sharon Osbourne – the criminal who should be whipped to death.”
“Dez is very honest, transparent and truthful and doesn’t get paid until I allow the accountant to pay him,” Filth continues.
“This means everything goes through my accountant and then said accountant sifts through all the financial numbers to see what can and cannot be afforded. Dez never handles any of the moneys coming in.
“Dez called out for Zoe’s firing, to which Ashok spoke out for her and went after the Royal family of heavy metal and we won’t have anybody speaking about Ozzy’s wife like this.”
You can read Dani Filth’s full statement below:
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“Sharon actually sat in on my audition – probably to see if she’d wasted plane tickets!”: Jimi Bell on his Ozzy Osbourne audition – and why he lost out to Zakk Wylde
Landing a gig with Ozzy Osbourne is a dream for any guitarist and Jimi Bell certainly came closer than most.
In a new interview with Guitar World, Bell recounts the audition that almost saw him become the Prince of Darkness’ next axe-wielder following Jake E. Lee’s exit in 1987, sharing everything from the gear he brought to the surreal dinner where Osbourne ate off his salad plate.
Bell’s journey began with a call from Kramer Guitars: “I was endorsed by Kramer Guitars and Dennis Berardi, the president, had kind of taken me under his wing. One morning he called to say Jake E. Lee was out and he’d sent a video of me to Sharon. Suddenly I had an audition – but the catch was I had to fly out that same day.”
Already familiar with Ozzy’s classics like I Don’t Know, Crazy Train, Flying High Again, and Suicide Solution, Bell spent the hotel ride brushing up on his repertoire.
When it came time to play, he didn’t need much gear as the amps were already set up. “I just had to bring myself and my Boss 7-band EQ to push the amp a bit harder. I’m pretty sure it was a Marshall JCM800,” he recalls. “The energy in the room was intense but inspiring.”
Bell explains that the first round of audition was with Randy Castillo and Phil Soussan, though the moment that stuck with him the most was Sharon Osbourne sitting in on his session.
“Most of the players went through that first round. Sharon actually sat in on mine – probably to see if she’d wasted plane tickets! She liked what she saw, and I was told I did great.”
The next day brought him onstage with Ozzy himself: “Surreal doesn’t even begin to cover it,” he says. “It went exceptionally well – I was locked in with the band and stayed true to the song and the solo, but I added a little flair unique to me. Ozzy literally leaned down in front of my amp while I was playing.”
The guitarist also took a solo on his own, noting how the vibe in the room was “strong” then. “Ozzy and Sharon told me it was down to me and Zakk. I went to dinner with them at a fancy restaurant, where Ozzy ate off my salad plate with his fingers!”
“Then I went back to their house and hung out for a while, and I even met Ozzy’s oldest daughter, Aimee,” he continues. “At that point Zakk had already started working with them, and I think his similarities to Randy played a big part in the final decision.”
Though he didn’t land the gig, Bell looks back on the experience without regret.
“I don’t know if he ever saw my tape; but I know Sharon did, and that’s what got me in the room. More importantly, Ozzy saw me live, just inches from my amp. I think that moment said more than any demo ever could,” says the guitarist.
The post “Sharon actually sat in on my audition – probably to see if she’d wasted plane tickets!”: Jimi Bell on his Ozzy Osbourne audition – and why he lost out to Zakk Wylde appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.
“There is hope in the world of rock ‘n’ roll”: Matt Sorum hails Yungblud as rock’s next great star after Hollywood Palladium show
Former Guns N’ Roses member Matt Sorum has seen his fair share of frontmen command a stage. But after catching Yungblud’s recent gig at the Hollywood Palladium, he says he’s convinced rock ’n’ roll’s future is in safe hands.
The drummer recently shared a photo with Yungblud – real name Dominic Richard Harrison – on Instagram, praising the pop-rock provocateur as a “pupil of RNR” who’s “done his homework” and studied greats from Freddie Mercury, Mick Jagger and Steven Tyler to Axl Rose and Ozzy Osbourne.
“Happy to report there is hope in the world of rock n’ roll,” he writes. “Truly inspired and blown away by Yungblud’s gig at the Hollywood Palladium last night. If you were there you know what I mean. The room was electric and the crowd was insane. The energy all came from the stage as Yungblud brought it.”
“He has discovered himself and is unleashing it on the world,” Sorum continues. “I will go so far as to say I saw something historic last night and the world needs this. Congrats Dom you are going no place but up!”
It’s no faint praise, coming from a musician whose career spanned stints with Guns N’ Roses, Velvet Revolver and the Hollywood Vampires. Sorem’s comments also add to a growing chorus of rock veterans championing Yungblud as more than just a crossover act dabbling in guitars.
The 27-year-old recently brought down the house at Black Sabbath’s farewell show last month with a soaring rendition of Changes that won over even hardened skeptics. Ozzy Osbourne himself had long been a supporter, forging a personal friendship with the singer before his passing in July.
Meanwhile, Yungblud’s ‘Idols’ World Tour is set to continue across North America and Europe in 2025. The tour began on 23 August in Los Angeles and is scheduled to conclude in April 2026 in the UK.
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Burns Double Six 12-string “borrowed” by Mark Knopfler for 50 years and used on classic Dire Straits album could fetch £30,000 at auction
A red Baldwin Burns Double Six 12-string electric guitar lent to Dire Straits frontman Mark Knopfler in the mid ‘70s is headed to auction, and could fetch up to £30,000, experts say.
The guitar was lent to Knopfler by old friend Jeff Sadler, who played guitar for numerous bands in north-east England, including Brethren, which later became Lindisfarne. It was originally intended to be part of Christies’ massive Mark Knopfler Guitar Collection Sale, which raised nearly £9 million last year.
However, according to auctioneer Gardiner Houlgate, the 12-string was withdrawn prior to the auction and returned to Jeff Sadler.
Despite Knopfler using the Double Six “regularly in the studio and on stage” – including on Dire Straits’ second album Communiqué, and at the band’s Prince’s Trust Rock Gala performance in the mid ‘80s – the instrument is said to be in “perfect original condition”.
Now, the guitar is scheduled for auction via Gardiner Houlgate on 9 September, alongside a Jimmy Page-owned 1957 Gretsch Chet Atkins 6120, which was given away by the Led Zeppelin man in a competition in NME Magazine in 1974.
“Mark Knopfler and Dire Straits had a huge influence on music and guitar players not just in the 1980s and ‘90s, but through to today,” says Luke Hobbs, auctioneer at Gardiner Houlgate.
“I’m confident this guitar will attract a lot of attention from fans and collectors alike – particularly as it has such a great story behind it.”
The auction – featuring both the Mark Knopfler-played Double Six 12-string and Jimmy Page-owned Gretsch Chet Atkins 6120 – will take place at Gardiner Houlgate, 9 Leafield Way, Corsham, Wiltshire, SN13 9SW on Tuesday, 9 September.
The guitar will also be available for public viewing on Friday 5 and Monday 8 September from 09:00 – 17:30, and on the day of the sale, too.
For more information, head to Gardiner Houlgate.
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“I don’t feel like there’s anything left unsaid”: Thurston Moore on the likelihood of a Sonic Youth reunion
More than a decade since Sonic Youth’s split, Thurston Moore is certain about one thing: fans hoping for a reunion shouldn’t hold their breath.
It’s a stance that has held firm even after the guitarist briefly reconnected with former bandmates Lee Ranaldo and Steve Shelley late last year at New York’s the Stone. The trio’s hour-long set of improvised noise had shades of Sonic Youth’s old magic, but Moore insists it wasn’t meant as a prelude to something bigger.
“It was a gig I had at the Stone, and I initially asked Lee to do a guitar duo,” the musician explains in a recent chat with Rolling Stone. “We’ve done this before in different places, and I thought it would be cool to ask Steve to play, because he’s in town, and he plays drums. And I thought that would be cool. So that’s all it was.”
Asked if the performance stirred any nostalgia, Moore quickly shakes it off: “I didn’t think about that. I don’t, like, miss things. I miss the future,” he says. “As far as music is concerned, reformation doesn’t really come into it so much.”
“We had a solid career of 30-plus years, far longer than most bands have had. The legacy of the recordings stands on its own. I don’t feel like there’s anything left unsaid as far as what we were doing.”
As unique as Sonic Youth’s sound was, the guitarist says he has little interest in recreating it: “We’re all kind of long in the tooth now. I don’t know if that can ever be recaptured. And I don’t like the whole ‘re’ thing, you know, reforming.”
Kim Gordon, Sonic Youth co-founder and Moore’s ex-wife has echoed similar sentiments. Speaking with Rolling Stone last year, Gordon said that any reunion “would never be as good as it was.” And Moore agrees.
“I find bands that get back together to be just an exercise,” he says. “A lot of the time it’s less to do with the band and has more to do with the brand. Unless it’s the OG members, you know, but even, a lot of the aspects of bands that are so important is their youth. And to replicate that is a little bit like a grandmother in a mini-dress, which I don’t want to be.”
Despite frequent offers, he’s content to leave Sonic Youth where it ended.
“I get asked every day. We all do. It’s a constant thing,” Moore says. “I like it because I’m glad we had such an effect and left such a mark… I’m so proud of it, and it’s such a big part of my life experience. But it’s very encapsulated. It has a great beginning and middle and end.”
With that chapter closed, Thurston continues to focus on his solo work. Earlier this year, the musician released a new single, The Serpentine, followed last month by a cover of the Velvet Underground’s Temptation Inside Your Heart.
The post “I don’t feel like there’s anything left unsaid”: Thurston Moore on the likelihood of a Sonic Youth reunion appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.
“Eric’s not playing on it. That’s me”: The time John Mayer received the ultimate guitar playing compliment from Paul McCartney’s session guitarist
Few compliments hit harder for a guitarist than being mistaken for Eric Clapton. And for John Mayer, that moment came courtesy of none other than session legend Robbie McIntosh.
Over his career, McIntosh has played alongside some of music’s biggest names – from Paul McCartney and Mark Knopfler to Norah Jones – and, of course, John Mayer.
Looking back on his time in Mayer’s band for his Where The Light Is live album, McIntosh shares a story that perfectly illustrates the Gravity hitmaker’s guitar prowess.
“Steve Jordan and Pino [Palladino] had done Continuum and John was looking for another guitar player,” he tells Andertons. “Pino and Steve suggested me, I think just because I can learn things pretty well.”
While preparing for the sessions, McIntosh was deep into Mayer’s catalogue when a mix-up occurred. Listening to one of the tracks, he assumed the lead guitar was Slowhand’s – only to find out it was the work of Mayer himself.
“John is an unbelievable guitar player, but playing some of the parts was quite easy – I certainly can’t play his lead stuff,” says McIntosh. “Then John actually phoned me up, and I kind of put my foot in it, because I thought Eric Clapton was playing the lead guitar on, I think it was Stop This Train.
“I said, ‘Oh, when did you get Eric to play on that?’ He said, ‘Eric’s not playing on it. That’s me.’ Just on that track, it sounded more like Eric Clapton than John Mayer. He laughed, and he said, ‘Oh, thanks, man.’”
It’s no surprise Mayer took it so gracefully, for the guitarist has long cited Clapton as a major influence. The two have since shared the stage at events like Clapton’s Crossroads Guitar Festival and even recorded guitar duets together.
Watch the full interview below.
The post “Eric’s not playing on it. That’s me”: The time John Mayer received the ultimate guitar playing compliment from Paul McCartney’s session guitarist appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.
Olivia Rodrigo’s guitar tech explains the “one thing Leo Fender got wrong” when designing the Fender Stratocaster
Few guitars have earned the reputation of the Fender Stratocaster. Ergonomic, versatile, and endlessly imitated, it’s often held up as the very blueprint of electric guitar design.
Since its debut in 1954, the Strat has served as a faithful workhorse for players ranging from Jimi Hendrix to pop powerhouse Olivia Rodrigo. But as Rodrigo’s guitar tech Luis Munoz argues in a new video on social media, even Leo Fender didn’t get everything right.
In fact, “Leo Fender got one thing wrong,” Munoz declares in a new Instagram reel. And the problem, he argues, isn’t with the guitar’s design flourishes, but with something far more basic: the wood screws used to hold its neck in place.
“The Strat is iconic, but Leo missed one detail: wood screws for the neck joint,” he explains. “The neck comes off often for many reasons like shimming, some have the truss rod adjustment at the heel, for fret work etc. With all that on and off, those holes will eventually strip.”
To prove his point, Munoz showcases a Hendrix anniversary Strat that arrived on his bench with a loose neck and a crude “fix” – toothpicks shoved into the screw holes.
“My guess, they were probably drilled a bit too big from the factory? The solution, toothpicks shoved in as a ‘fix’. That doesn’t work,” he writes.
Instead, the guitar tech lays out two proper solutions: redrilling and plugging with maple, or using threaded inserts with bolts. The latter, Munoz notes, is his “go-to” option. “[It’s] faster, stronger, cleaner,” he explains, adding that while he’s more cautious with vintage pieces, inserts are often the best long-term fix for most working guitars.
By the end of the reel, Munoz demonstrates the finished job: “I can take the neck off a million times with no worry now,” he says. “Some claim better sustain because of the tighter connections. Ps, I don’t know if that’s true.”
Watch the full process below.
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IK Multimedia Tonex One review – a complete amp solution for absolutely everyone?
€199.99 (Tonex One) & €799.99 (Tonex Cab), ikmultimedia.com
Just when you think the line between real guitar amplification and digital emulation couldn’t get any more blurry, along comes IK Multimedia and pours a bucket of molten lava over it.
Looking for a portable headphone amplifier? A device you can plug into your laptop via USB for direct recording, with instant access to multiple amp and speaker cabinet models? A jamming tool that can produce clean and dirty tones of all kinds at virtually any volume? A proper chunk of gigging backline, with channel switching, that lets you hear yourself on stage without relying on monitors? The Tonex One and Tonex Cab aim to give you all of the above, and more.
Image: Adam Gasson
IK Multimedia Tonex One & Cab – what are they?
It’s probably time to stop being surprised by how much functionality can be crammed into a single pedal these days. After all, what’s going on inside the Tonex One is mostly just digital processing, so the only reason it’s as big as it is – and next to the original Tonex Pedal this thing is basically an atom – is that IK needed to make room for knobs and sockets.
So, that functionality… there is computer software involved in this package, and I’ll come to that in a minute, but it is possible to simply power up the pedal, plug in a guitar and start playing – with 20 factory presets to scroll through and plenty of scope for on-device editing. There’s a tuner built in, and you can even pick two favourite sounds then flip between them with the A/B footswitch.
That just leaves the question of what you’re plugging it into. There’s only one jack output on this pedal, but that’s not as limiting as it sounds. For a start, the USB-C port that’s used for connecting to your PC or Mac for sound-editing can also send audio from the pedal for recording; and the main output doubles as a (stereo) headphone socket. So you’re covered for silent noodling, as well as running it into a DI box, a recording interface… or an FRFR cabinet.
In case you’re not familiar with that term, it stands for ‘full range, flat response’ and means the Tonex Cab is no ordinary guitar cabinet. Like an English salad, it’s designed to be utterly characterless – that is to say, as tonally neutral as possible, with all the frequency-filtering coming from the source, so its only job is to make everything louder. And by ‘louder’ I mean an eminently giggable 350 watts of solid-state amplification.
That’s pushed through a custom Celestion 12” driver and a 1” tweeter, and there are tone controls on the top for tuning it to the room, plus various other bonus features including an aux input. You can even load IRs into the cab, which could be useful for playing with preamps that don’t have that part built in.
And so we come to the third part of the deal: the on-screen editing. IK is known for its AmpliTube emulation software, and a stripped-back SE version of that is included with the pedal along with Tonex SE and Tonex Editor. This is the free corner of a large and complex app ecosystem that includes lots of paid add-ons plus options for capturing and sharing home-recorded tones, but for the purposes of this review I’m going to stick with Tonex Editor – that’s the simple way to control the sounds being produced here.
Image: Adam Gasson
IK Multimedia Tonex One & Cab – are they easy to use?
Just looking at this pedal, you know the word ‘fiddly’ is going to come up before too long… but I’ve got to admit, IK has done a sterling job of making the Tonex One easy to operate.
For starters, if you’re plugged into a computer you don’t even need a nine-volt power supply because it can be powered through the USB port – a simple idea but a brilliant one. And here’s another: the status LED in the middle is actually a button. You can use this to change control mode for the four knobs – bass, middle, treble and volume or gate threshold, compression, reverb and gain – or, by pushing it and the footswitch simultaneously, to enter preset scrolling mode. It even changes colour. Fiddly? Yeah, a bit, but smart.
The cab is even simpler, because all you really need to do is switch it on, plug in the pedal and make sure to start with the volume at zero unless you want your eardrums to shatter like poppadoms. It has tilt-back legs for better stage monitoring, just like a Fender Twin Reverb – and, at 15kg, has the advantage of being about half that amp’s weight.
The software side is pretty straightforward too – at least once you’ve got it going. The first thing you’ll need to install if you don’t have it already is IK Product Manager, a sort of hub for managing all your IK downloads. Confusingly, the only option that showed up on my Mac was called Tonex CS; but once downloaded, this magically changed its name to Tonex SE… and turned out to contain both Tonex and Tonex Editor.
It’s a bit of a mess, to be honest, but luckily that’s not the case with the editing app itself. With the pedal plugged in, it takes just a few seconds to sync then lets you go ahead and twiddle yourself into oblivion. Changes on the desktop are instantly applied to the pedal, so you can make adjustments in real time and not have to worry about saving.
The included amp selection is not huge but covers most bases, from Marshall and Soldano to Dumble and Dr Z, and there are 16 cab models to choose from. All amps share a common control array, including parametric EQ and presence, and you even get some basic ‘studio’ effects: compression, modulation, delay and reverb.
On the subject of effects, the free software’s 20 presets include one that has a Tube Screamer in the circuit, and five stomper-only models that can be used in front of a real amp, turning the Tonex One into a sort of ‘normal’ overdrive/fuzz pedal (there’s a stompbox mode where the footswitch engages bypass instead of A/B flipping).
But I don’t want to dwell on these virtual pedals too long – partly because they’re not very good, and partly because there’s so little you can do with them. Yes, there are thousands more stompbox models you can download from IK’s ToneNet sharing site; but if you dream of stringing together a virtual pedalboard to run into your virtual amp, like you can in AmpliTube, that’s not an option here. You can’t even adjust the knobs in Tonex Editor. Forget the pedals, move on.
Image: Adam Gasson
IK Multimedia Tonex One & Cab – what do they sound like?
Shall we start with the One and Cab working together? Go on then, but just let me warn the neighbours first – because while 350W is nothing special by FRFR standards, this black box is nonetheless an absolute house-shaking beast.
In terms of sheer volume, you’ll be fine here unless you’re planning to play Wembley Stadium without a PA. Maybe it doesn’t feel exactly the same as cranking a real valve amp, but it’s big, rounded and well balanced, and sounds just as convincing at bedroom levels as it does when you’re waking babies three streets away.
Clean tones have all the top-end chime and low-end warmth you could ask for, the transition into crunch happens naturally and with no loss of conviction, and the various high-gain models are impressively tight and impactful. It’s in the heavy zone, in fact, that the Tonex One seems to be happiest of all: even if the noise gate is pretty crude, the factory presets for full-throttle Marshall, Orange, ENGL and Mesa Boogie sounds are all excellent. There’s also a Tweed Deluxe model that does the Neil Young ‘splat’ remarkably well.
Given the aforementioned limitations with virtual effects, it’s important that our teeny-weeny amp can take real pedals well – and it can, getting on famously with everything from low-gain drives to Muff-style fuzzes. I’d have no qualms about using this as a live rig with my pedalboard.
Everything above applies equally when you’re listening through headphones or desktop monitors, meaning this pedal very much lives up to its billing as a true all-round tool… and it’s worth noting that the Tonex Cab works fine without its wee friend as well: I ran a Walrus Audio ACS1 into it and was rewarded with a rainbow of top-class clean and overdriven tones.
One more clever feature to add to the list: there’s a knob on the cab’s control panel marked ‘amp tone’, which the manual says “increases the realism”. What that actually means is anyone’s guess, but it can be used to liven up the midrange in a way that’s surprisingly useful.
Image: Adam Gasson
IK Multimedia Tonex One & Cab – should I buy them?
The Tonex One is an ambitious little pedal that makes a fine job of everything it sets out to do – so if you like what you’ve read about it on the IK website, you’re unlikely to be disappointed. The Cab is more complicated because it’s quite expensive for an FRFR box, and the extra functionality you’re getting for that money isn’t necessarily going to change your life… but the two of them do look awfully cute together.
IK Multimedia Tonex One & Cab alternatives
Don’t overlook the full-size Tonex Pedal (€429.99), which offers more tweaking power (and space) without resorting to the external software. Other miniature amps worth considering range from the headphone-friendly Fender Mustang Micro Plus ($134.99/£119) to the almighty Walrus Audio Mako Series MkII ACS1 ($449/£419).
Don’t like the price tag on the Tonex Cab? The Positive Grid Spark Cab ($299/£289) is a way more affordable 140W option, while the likes of Fender, Laney, Line 6 and HeadRush all make powered FRFR cabinets now.
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How Molly Tuttle is breaking the bluegrass mould with her custom dreadnought guitars
Though one of the most well respected names in modern-day bluegrass, Molly Tuttle is embarking on something of a stylistic departure with her new album, So Long Little Miss Sunshine.
Still deeply rooted in the mesmerising flatpicking prowess with which the California native has earned herself two Grammys, the album sees Tuttle venturing more into the realm of pop country, swapping solos with a “constant stream of notes” for more melodic bluegrass-inspired leads – ones that are more singable.
And in a new episode of Guitar.com Originals series My Guitars & Me – the first of season three, no less – Tuttle shows off her custom dreadnought and collection of Pre-War Martins which you’ll hear on the record.
“We were talking about this for a whole year, planning this guitar,” Tuttle says as she proudly shows off her custom Martin “Crooked Tree” D-28, inspired by her third studio album, Crooked Tree. The guitar sports a set of tree branch-inspired inlays on the fretboard, culminating in a Crooked Tree logo at the end of the ‘board with Tuttle’s initials ‘MT’.
“I sent that to them as one potential inlay idea,” she explains, “and then they had this idea to make the fret markers out of branches, and make it get more and more crooked.”
Elsewhere, Tuttle showcases her Herringbone dreadnought acoustic, made by North Carolina’s Pre-War Guitars Co., which specialises in aged recreations of pre-war guitars from the ‘30s and ‘40s.
“I played a show in Ohio, and this guy came up to me and said he had all this beautiful Brazilian rosewood,” Tuttle recalls. “And he knew I liked Pre-War guitars, so he offered to send the wood to the guitar company for free, and have them build me this guitar. So it was kind of out of the blue.”
“The thing that’s interesting about the Pre-War Guitars Co. is that they age all the wood, and they also have different levels of distress that you can order, so some of their guitars they scratch up and make them look crazy. They’ve even put a bullet hole in the guitar before. They’ll chain them to a car and drag them [along].”
On the stylistic direction of her new album – which arrived earlier this month – Tuttle explains that it was her vision to stay grounded in her bluegrass roots, while experimenting with more “general” sound.
“There was a little bit of both, making sure my identity and my roots with bluegrass and American roots music still stayed a through line on the new album,” she says. “And a lot of how we did that was with the guitar playing.
“But at the same time I wanted to stretch my playing as well… I wanted to make the style a little more general, and more uniquely mine – not trying to fit into any certain mould.”
Watch the latest episode of My Guitars & Me with Molly Tuttle above.
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Reverb’s Labor Day sale is on – save thousands on guitars, amps and pedals right now
Labor Day is just around the corner, and many of the major music retailers are hosting massive sales to celebrate. Right now at Reverb, you can save hundreds – and in some cases thousands – on a range of guitars, amps and pedals until Wednesday 3 September.
So is now the time to treat yourself to that new piece of gear you’ve been craving. You know, it might just be.
- READ MORE: One pedal to rule them all: Boss’s new PX-1 Plugout FX puts 16 classic effects at your feet
Let’s face it, the price of an authentic Gibson Les Paul puts it out of reach of many guitarists’ budgets. But if you’ve been thinking about shelling out to finally get your own LP, this Murphy Lab Aged ‘59 Reissue has been discounted by a huge $1,349.25. Granted, even with the discount it’ll still cost you $7,645.75, but previously priced at nearly $9,000, we can tell you that this is a hell of a deal.
Sold in “excellent condition with very few signs of wear”, this ‘59 Les Paul Reissue features next to no fret wear, and all electronics function as new.
Or if a Les Paul isn’t your style and you’re looking for a high-ticket guitar that’s a bit more metal-ready, why not gander at this 1977 Greco Flying V, discounted by $525, taking its price down from $3,495 to $2,970.
Other highlights from the electric guitar department picked out by our very good friends at Reverb include a Natural-finished 1987 Fender Telecaster Thinline ‘72 Vintage Reissue, discounted by a strong $460, meaning you pay just $1,839.99. There’s also something for those on a slightly tighter budget, with this PRS Limited Edition SE Custom 24 in Ruby priced at $679.20 down from $849.
Or maybe you’re not in the market for a new guitar, but are keen to give your pedalboard a little love?
We’ve spotted a host of solid deals on stompboxes, including $96 off this MXR M279 Deep Phase Phaser and a cool 20% off this Keeley Electronics Blues Disorder
Click below to browse the entire Labor Day sale over at Reverb.
[deals ids=”24ZkqfRyOvFkIMGUfoTRJ5″]
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