Paul Reed Smith and master amp builder Doug Sewell have teamed up to create a new amplifier called the Sweet 16. This new single channel amp combines excellent tone and quality aesthetics and a not-so-expensive price point, and is available as a head or a combo amp. The Sweet 16 amp has 16 watts of cathode-biased 6v6 output tube power and is hand-wired in Stevensville, Maryland.
Under the Hood
The Sweet 16’s has a simple control layout that includes volume, treble, mid, bass, master volume and a bright switch. The preamp section incorporates two 12AXT tubes and two 12AT7 tubes. The amp runs on Class A power, the tubes are biased to run a bit hotter than normal. There is also a tube-driven 3-spring Reverb. The back panel has an impedance selector and the speaker outputs.
Premier Guitar Magazine has a review here
Check out PRS here
Oxford, Leeds, & U.S. Steel
Tech 21 has expanded their SansAmp Character Series with the addition of three new pedals: Oxford, Leeds and U.S. Steel. The Oxford’s tones range from ‘70s London glam to modern stoner rock. The Leeds spans from the ‘60s classic UK rock to ‘70s prog rock. U.S. Steel delivers tones from ‘90s Valhalla to the aughts Nu-metal chunk.
Following the same design formula as the existing Blonde, British, California, Liverpool and VT Bass pedals, each of the continuously-variable Character controls sweeps through an entire tonal range of possibilities. By simply twisting a few knobs, you can build the most sought-after tones and hot rod your own. From rare vintage classics to roaring modern icons, every variation is delivered in the distinctive voicing of that amp style.
Being genuine SansAmps, each Character Series pedal can be used as a stand-alone pre-amp to drive a power amp, a studio mixer, or a PA system, or used as a stompbox with an amp. Other features include built-in, defeatable speaker simulation, which is individually tuned to match each of the speaker/ cabinet configurations associated with each type of amplifier; 3-band active EQ, Drive and Level controls; and 100% analog circuitry. MSRP: $225.00
For more information: Tech 21
PRS has pushed the envelope in their R&D and manufacturing departments and created the SE Torero a beautiful guitar that is billed as “THE” Shred Guitar! For this masterpiece, PRS incorporated some design elements that they have never utilized before, such as; neck thru body construction, active EMG pickups in the neck and bridge positions, and above all outfitted the Torero with a Floyd Rose 1000 series tremolo. The man and legacy himself, Paul Reed Smith dubs this guitar as “the shredder’s dream” on their website. Other features include a 25 1/2″ scale length, mahogany body with a flame maple veneer, 3 piece maple neck with an ebony bound fingerboard with no inlay. Sounds delicious!
Check out PRS Guitars
One hot amp at the 2010 NAMM show was the Egnater Tweaker from boutique amp designer Bruce Egnater. What is unique about this amp is the mini switches that are user accessible on the front panel for “tweaking” the amps tonal character. These switches include TIGHT and BRIGHT options as well as VINTAGE and MODERN gain voicings. I’m looking forward to some web reviews of this amp, heck, I would like to fire this amp up myself for a test drive.
The Egnater website has yet to list the Tweaker Amp, but here are the current specs.
15 Watts All-Tube
2 x 6V6 Power Tubes
3 x 12AX7 Pre-amp Tubes
Master Volume, Gain and 3-Band EQ
Modern/Vintage Amp Voicing Switch
Buffered Effects Loop
Selectable AC, British and American Tone Controls
Clean/Hot Gain Selector
Tight & Bright Voicing Switches
100V / 115V / 230V Switchable
Stay tuned to Egnater for more info.
Mesa Boogie introduces the TransAtlantic TA-15 lunchbox amp. The TA-15 packs all the footswitchable performance, including the patented multi-watt Channel Assignable Power, found in the company’s high-end full-size models and offers the most classic British and American sounds in a 12 3/8″ W x 6 3/4″ D x 5 7/8″ H package that weighs only 12 pounds.
The amp features two channels with five modes. You can choose a preamp style in each channel and then select either 5, 15 or 25 watts. The Channel Modes start off with lower gain Normal and higher gain classic versions of the iconic Top Boost sound in Channel 1, which includes an ingenious Pull Master on the Cut control that can be hard bypassed for purists. Channel 2 houses three modes: a tweed clean, a British high gain in HI 1 and a classic Boogie lead in HI 2.
The amp comes with a padded gig bag that holds the power cable and footswitch.
For more information check out Mesa/Boogie
The TightDrive Overdrive Pedal is the first offering from Amptweaker, a new company started by James Brown a veteran engineer from Peavey amps and most recently Kustom amps. Mr. Brown knows tone. He was the chief engineer that worked with Eddie Van Halen for nearly 13 years to develop the now famous 5150 amp.
The TightDrive Overdrive Pedal most notably features a tight control knob to tighten or loosen the bass response of your amp tone. What is very fascinating about the concept of Amptweaker is that James Brown has a “suggestion box” on his website and welcomes ideas for future pedal designs to meet the various real needs of users. Be sure to check out their website Amptweaker
This is a fascinating pedal from the folks at Xotic Effects, the EP Booster. They basically took the preamp circuit from an echoplex type unit and packaged into a skinny foot pedal design. This pedal recaptures the magical tone and nuances of the echoplex preamp and reveals the secret many legendary guitarists have known for a while. The video is courtesy of Pro Guitar Shop. Below is the skinny as described from the Xotics website.
What do the tones of renowned guitarist such as Page, EVH and Johnson have in common? They all used the legendary echo machine EP-3 as a pre-amp.
We’ve captured that magic in a new Xotic Effects pedal, the EP Booster.
We’ve used the highest quality parts available with a discrete FET design and low impedance output, the EP Booster provides up to +20dB of unadulterated boost with multi-dimensional, shimmering highs and lows, and no ear fatigue. The internal DIP switches let you choose the boost frequencies, and EQ settings.
Housed in a small 3.5″x 1.5″ x 1.5″ case with blue LED and transparent knob, the EP Booster can be powered by 9-volt up to 18-volts.
A simple pure boost that pays reverence to the magical EP-3 and captures the celebrated tones of the world’s most famous players.
Visit Xotic Efects website
Well, I will be observing NAMM 2010 from webdom this year and hopefully provide some updates as I can. This is one great looking guitar that I came across while browsing GuitarNoize.com
DBZ Guitars unveils the Bolero Banneret, the first in the new Regalia Series of guitars debuting at the National Association of Music Merchants (NAMM) trade show January 14 in Anaheim, California. The new Regalia Series takes guitar building, features and appointments to a new level by incorporating ornate metal embellishments. Utilizing new CNC technology, combined with old world hand casting, the ornate metal castings are of jeweler quality, detail and finish.
The Regalia Series will broaden the existing models by incorporating a finely crafted, metal, set-in on the bodies of the instruments. The ornate metal casting is designed in high detail and finished in 24k gold and nickel. To compliment the body’s metal casting, each guitar will have a matching truss rod cover at the headstock.
In addition to the new inlay, standard features of the Bolero Banneret include:
24.75” Set neck
Mahogany/Maple bodies
Mahogany neck/Ebony fingerboards
22 frets
Premier inlays
DBZ pick ups
Volume and Tone controls
Pick up selector
Coil tapping
Grover tuners
Chrome hardware
DBZ custom casted Stop Tail piece bridge
Street Price starting at $849.00 USD
To learn more about the new Bolero Banneret or the new Regalia Series, visit the company website at www.dbzguitars.com or visit their booth #3290 at the upcoming NAMM show.
Visit GuitarNoize
Telecaster® and two Stratocaster® guitar models are “guitars for the times”
The latest incarnations of Fender’s famous Telecaster and Stratocaster models comprise the new American Special series-built “by the people and for people” as value-conscious “guitars for the times.” They are designed specifically to bring the full Fender experience of a terrific-sounding, smooth-playing, rock-solid-built U.S.-made Fender guitar to the workingman without emptying his bank account.
The three instruments in the new series—the American Special Telecaster, American Special Stratocaster and American Special Stratocaster HSS—are highly affordable Fender electric guitars that are within the reach of an entire spectrum of players. As such, they share many features with their cousins in the acclaimed Highway One™ and American Standard series.
All three American Special guitars feature alder bodies with gloss urethane finishes, 9.5″-radius maple necks with jumbo frets, and Texas Special™ pickups (the Stratocaster HSS has an Atomic™ humbucking bridge pickup).
The American Special Telecaster has a vintage-style string-through-body Telecaster bridge with three brass saddles, a black pickguard, and is available in Olympic White and Three-color Sunburst. American Special Stratocaster has a vintage-style synchronized tremolo and white pickguard, and is available in Candy Apple Red and Two-color Sunburst. The American Special Stratocaster HSS has a rosewood fingerboard, black pickguard and vintage-style synchronized tremolo, and is available in Black and Three-color Sunburst.