I grew up in a house full of guitars, as my father was forever building electric guitars on the families kitchen table. I spent my teenage years trying to tame a 100 watt Marshall JCM 800 and matching 4 x 12 cab in a bedroom, only just large enough for a bed. I’d bought it not REALLY understanding exactly how loud 100 watts is. At this young age I started to experiment with recording and MIDI and cut my teeth on Pro 24 and Notator on an Atari synced to a Foster R8 with an MTC-1.
Playing in bands and working in recording studios for many years, I learned to mix, record and eventually worked as a sound engineer. I also worked for many of the UKs large pro audio retailers, where I helped to set up DAWs in everything from local studios, music technology colleges all the way through to world famous recording facilities like Air Studios and The Strongroom. As I couldn’t help myself, I even owned my own recording studio in London for a while. There I learnt a lot about recording guitars, dealing with bands and getting quality results anyhow.
Over the years I have acquired a very sizeable guitar collection, which includes many guitars that I have built myself. I’m a total hoarder of effect pedals and valve amps and I’m a certified guitar geek. So there are not many that I have not owned at least once. Whether Parker Fly guitars or Klon Centaur pedals, I’ve had them all. Now running the annual Analogue To Digital music show in the UK, plus the Vintage Guitar Fair, I get to be busy throughout the year and also get to rub shoulders with many other guitar lovers, luthiers, manufacturers and pro players.
My tastes in music includes everything from Dinosaur Jr to Squarepusher.
Write him: jef (at) gearnews (com)
Inspired by the behemoth B-25 bombers of the Pacific battles, these two aviation inspired guitars actually have pieces of the plane incorporated into their design.
Billy Corgan is auctioning off over 150 classic era Smashing Pumpkins guitars, amps and pre-amps. There is even the odd drum machine and accordion as well.
Can anyone smell burning? Maybe it's just all the friction being generated by CITES documentation needed to ship these new rosewood Telecasters around the planet, that or another Hendrix guitar
Two great looking little 5-watt all valve guitar amplifiers, just a shame that so little can cost so much. Will these two dinky combos have enough to make you want to buy them?
This new delay pedal from Finland has the ability to run two distinct delays in parallel and also has a few hidden modes that make it very useful indeed.
The '80s era of rock guitar pushed the boundaries of what players could achieve with the instrument and Charvel are releasing two guitars that celebrate this era of shred.
Just when you thought the Fender Custom Shop couldn't make anything more ridiculous, along comes a guitar that has seen more bottoms than an NHS proctologist.
On paper, the OX has the answer to many recording issues associated with getting a good valve amp sound without damaging your gearing or your amp. And it supports Wi-Fi!
Epiphone has often tried to push the boundaries in terms of offering some measure of quality at low prices. But this Les Paul SL might just be a game changer...
If you are a guitar geek that likes to tweak your effects via software, then this dinky box may well appeal to your inner knob tweaker. With iOS and Android integration, it'll keep you busy for hours.
MXR has been busy this year and now their flagship analogue delay pedal has been given the deluxe treatment. But is this something we should have seen five years ago?
Need a drum groove and fast, but don't play the drums? Digitech's SDRUM can 'improvise' a beat based on your strumming rhythm - pretty neat, if it works!
This recreation of the famous Blackface Deluxe Reverb amplifier has even been tastefully aged to make it look the part - one for the lovers of vintage flavoured guitar tones.
Celebrating 10 years of cool British amp design these limited edition combos are set to be perfect for home and studio use, with each 10-watt amp having its own distinct tonal character.
This super cool looking tribute to the company's founder has its roots in a certain hot-rodded signature model from the company's past and boy it looks fun to play!
With some really cool features and an unusual neck profile, this new Ed O'Brien signature model guitar will have every Radiohead fan over-excited about its release later this year.
Walrus Audio have really upped their game on their latest delay pedal, it is featured packed and comes in at a price to rival many of the more generic delays out there by big name manufacturers.
Based on the famous AC30 British tone, this latest in the JOYO BAnTAmP series completes the set. Will you be tempted to part with you hard earned cash for this mini green amp head?
NAMM
It's pre-NAMM Show time and those advertising gurus are all in a fever and trying to whip up a frenzy and get us all excited. So what could it be?
Based upon one of Brad's own guitars, a refinished '63 Tele this new signature model has plenty of cool custom features and will certainly get you noticed on stage down the Dog and Duck!
The original BOSS compact stompboxes return in a one-time-only BOX-40 box set to celebrate the maker's 40th anniversary year - not cheap, but pretty cool!
The Abyss bass overdrive pedal is well laid out, simple and yet promises to be very effective - it's evidently designed from the ground up for low-down dirty tones on tap.
Vox is recreating two of its classic amp designs to celebrate 60 years in the business, AC30 and AC15 model, and will release them in limited numbers later this year.
We hear that Fender is issuing a limited edition of its 15-Watt Bassreaker guitar combo with some pseudo-50s styling - if you love 'vintage' looks, you might want to give this compact tube amp a closer look.
