Innholdsfortegnelse for Vol. 109 i Australian Guitar

British power metallers DragonForce have been in the business of wailing vocals and ferocious face-melting guitar solos for over 15 years, but the lads from London knew that playing at break-neck speeds on the six-string wouldn’t satisfy fans forever. So when they sat down to write their latest record Maximum Overload, the boys made sure that a few stylistic changes were thrown into the mix such as comparatively slower songs designed for epic sing-alongs and a stronger focus on symphonic instruments and arrangements. And yet, it still sounds distinctly DragonForce, thanks in part to guitarists Hermann Li and Sam Totman’s steadfast decision to stick with the same gear they’ve been using for years. Why? Because they feel right, they sound right and have survived all manner of abuse including a…

Xavier Rudd’s new album Nanna is his most ambitious yet, finding the Torquay native blending into a full band concept. And not just any band: the United Nations, as his outfit has been dubbed, is an 11-piece combo including two backing vocalists, synth, trumpet, trombone, sax and all sorts of percussion. It’s forced Rudd to rethink his approach to the guitar but more importantly it’s opened up his composition to new layers and levels of expression, often paying loving tribute to established reggae forms but with a fresh, more international perspective. The album reached #8 on the ARIA charts and Rudd and his band will be supporting it throughout the year with shows all over the world. Nanna was mixed at Tuff Gong Studios in Jamaica by the legendary Errol…

PRICE: $1299 • iPad*/Android* tablet xontrolled 18-input digital mixer• 16 award-winning MIDAS-designed, fully programmable mic preamps For Audiophile Sound Quality• Built-in tri-mode wifi router tor direct pperation.• 18 x 18 channel, bi-directional USB interface for direct recording on iPad, etc.• Revolutionary Dugan* Auto-Mixing automatically manages microphone gain sharing (future firmware)• Award-winning X32 effects rack Featuring four stereo FX slots There are so, so, so many digital mixers out there that it can be hard for any of them to distinguish themselves from the others, especially since mixers sell to a pretty wide cross-section of the market from hardcore pros to cover bands, duos, schools, churches and small community groups. At the hobby or non-pro corners of the market folks might tend to buy according to ease of use instead of specs, while serious pro users might…

Before we get into the meat of this article, we’re gonna have a little history lesson. Once upon a time guitarists were quite content to simply plug in to an amp. Then pedals came along and we were quite content to plug into a fuzz pedal, a wah-wah and then an amp. Then more pedals came along and we all learned to tap dance. Then the ‘80s came along and with it came the era of the Rack Of Doom – refrigerator-sized cases filled with preamps, power amps, power conditioners, equalisers, aural exciters, signal splitters, signal mixers, tuner… oh yeah, and effects. Lots and lots of effects. Things became so excessive that players were using a whole bunch of different digital multi-effect units just because they liked a chorus from…

Dave Grohl’s documentary/ode to a recording studio, Sound City (2013), was a charming but overly self-indulgent affair, with Grohl finding himself too much in love with both the subject and his musical guests to cut the film into a pacier, more interesting offering. When his music geek side shone through and he went into specifics about certain aspects of recording or some artist’s résumé, the documentary shone with a personal warmth, but often that was swamped by the sheer magnitude of content. There is a similar problem with Sonic Highways, though admittedly to a lesser extent and in some cases, for almost the exact opposite reason. The series takes Grohl and the rest of the Foo Fighters to eight American cities, exploring the iconic recording studios, musicians and musical legacies…

PRICE: $999 • Select pressure tested solid spruce top• Walnut laminate back and sides• Silver leaf maple integrated set neck• Rosewood fingerboard and bridge• Compensated tusq saddle and nut by Graphtech• Double function truss rod• Semi-gloss custom polished finish• 43.7mm nut width• Fishman Isys electronics and Piezo pickup The same wonderful people who make Godin Guitars in Quebec, Canada, build Seagull Guitars as an affordable option to their other high-end models. Robert Godin came up with the concept of producing more affordable instruments by striping back some of the aesthetics of his guitars, without compromising on the tonal qualities. The Seagull Walnut SG features a solid pressure tested top, Adirondack Spruce bracing, an aged and book matched Spruce top, integrated neck with double function truss rod and a slightly smaller dreadnaught body shape. All features you would find on…

PRICE: $499.99 • Tube amp• Two channels• 5-watts• Reverb• Three-band EQ.• Two tubes• Preamp tubes: 1 x ECC83• Power tubes: 1 x 12BH7• Inputs: 2 x 1/4”• Outputs 2 x 1/4”• Footswitch I/O• Effects loop The world of 5-watt Class A valve amplifiers is becoming increasingly crowded of late. It seems a lot of players are craving the rich, warm sound of groaning power tubes at volumes that won’t get angry anonymous letters from the neighbours or midnight visits from the boys in blue. And a lot of us also appreciate the ability to cart a small head and a 1X12 speaker box to a gig in a little hatchback. This has been an increasing trend over the past decade or so but particularly over the last two or three years these little amps have become a little more complex. Perhaps buoyed…

PRICE: $3999 • Made in USA• Mahogany body• Bookmatched curly maple top• Mahogany neck• Rosewood fretboard• Seymour Duncan SH-55 Seth Lover humbuckers• Two x volume, Two x tone, three-way pickup selector• Hardshell case Once upon a time Gibson guitars were made in Kalamazoo, Michigan. In the early ‘80s the company’s owners decided to close that factory and relocate most of its production to Nashville, Tennessee, but a group of workers and their families wanted to stay right where they were. They founded Heritage Guitars to build instruments in part of that very same Kalamazoo factory, and they still produce guitars today in quite limited numbers and with great attention to detail. For obvious trademark reasons the designs are tweaked to have their own style going on. For instance, the narrower headstock, shallower cutaway and different pickguard of this…

GETTING THE MIX TO TRANSLATE One of the most difficult things to achieve from an audio mix perspective is the ability to have your final mix sounding exactly the same outside of your studio on various speaker systems as it does inside your critical listening environment. It would be crazy to assume everybody listening to the music you are making has exactly the same speakers as you do, so with this said, how do you get the mix to translate across a variety of playback devices? Using a reference track when mixing is an extremely helpful way to combat this issue. The idea of the reference track is not to get it sounding exactly the same, but to give you an indication of how other music is behaving and sounding…

WHEN: FRIDAY 24 MARCH WHERE: QANTAS CREDIT UNION ARENA, SYDNEY PHOTOS: SANDRA MARKOVIC REVIEW: ED LAMINGTON He may be the current king of pop, but Ed Sheeran is still one hell of a guitar player too and an unmatched master of using loop stations. Stadiums are usually the realm of heritage rock acts and lavish productions for pop stars of the week, so seeing one little redheaded chap and his acoustic guitar step out in front of a sold out Qantas Credit Union Arena was a unique experience. People love Mr. Sheeran, so it took a little while for the ravenous applause to dissipate before he could launch into his opening track “I’m A Mess”. Backed by some impressive visuals – hey, you gotta spice it up a little as…

It’s been 18 years between albums for rock legends Faith No More and they have put their combined knowledge and talent to good use on their seventh studio album, Sol Invictus. The album came out of their Second Coming reunion tour where the band members came to realise they had enough songs to make a killer new record. They went into the studio under total secrecy; nobody knew they were recording and nobody was expecting a finished product by a certain date, so they had all the time in the world to record whatever they liked, however they liked. Bassist Billy Gould took over as producer and the only outsider on the job was mixing engineer and long-time associate of the band Matt Wallace. Could you tell us about your…

PRICE: $1199 • Made in the USA• Five-ply maple body• Mahogany neck• Rosewood fretboard• 22 medium-jumbo frets• Epiphone P-90T & P-90R pickups• Trapeze tailpiece• LockTone Tune-O-Matic bridge For many decades now the Epiphone Casino has been held as an icon of blues, rockabilly, country, indie and rock. It was launched in 1961, four years after Epiphone’s merger with Gibson, and during a time when Epiphone was moving away from making large archtop guitars. There are certain common links with the Gibson ES-335, especially in terms of shape and the electronics layout, but unlike the semi-hollowbody nature of an ES-335 and its cousins, the Casino is a true hollowbody guitar. It’s what you see in John Lennon’s hands during The Beatles’ classic rooftop performance, you’ll hear it all over The Beach Boys’ Pet Sounds, and today it’s favoured by…

PRICE: $3100 • Honduras mahogany• Fitted with a bolt-on maple neck with a rosewood fingerboard with 21 medium jumbo frets• Maple fretboard• 25.5” scale length• Unique “Fican” treble clef headstock• 1:1 ratio banjo-style tuners• Violin style tuners and dressed with a way cool tornado etched plate• Neck is a C type profile• Versatile tonal range• Equipped with two WSC Tone Maven series humbucker pickups in neck and bridge position• Pickups deliver a broad rich tone with warm bass• Graph Tech Piezo bridge pick-up Last issue we looked at the Tornado guitar crafted by Stuart Monk of Fican Guitars. This new brand is all about creating hitherto-unseen designs that don’t adhere to the ‘50s-based guitar shapes and electronics setups we’re so used to. Monk tells us he began building guitars after an injury to his finger made it difficult to play C-shaped necks;…

PRICE: $3500 • Size: 12-1/4” wide, 1-3/4” thick, 36-1/2” long• Weight: 2.86 kg – varies slightly• Alder body wood• High gloss polyester finish• Music Man vintage tremolo bridge of chrome-plated, hardened steel with bent steel saddles• Scale length: 25-1/2”• Neck radius: 10”• 22 high profile, medium-width frets• Maple neck• Maple or rosewood fingerboard• Gunstock oil and hand-rubbed special wax blend neck finish• Schaller M6-IND locking• Switching: five-way lever pickup selector• Neck Attachment: five bolts – perfect alignment with no shifting; sculpted neck joint allows smooth access to higher frets• Graphite acrylic resin-coated body cavity and aluminium-lined pickguard• DiMarzio pickups• Available left-handed The Silhouette was Music Man’s first guitar design after Ernie Ball revitalised the brand in the mid-80’s. The lessons learned from Music Man’s previous guitars, the StingRay and Sabre ranges, were distilled into a simple philosophy: give the people what they want and keep it simple.…

PRICE: $2499 • Top: solid German spruce and Indonesian SK rosewood binding (abalone body purfling)• Back: solid rosewood and bubinga, Indonesia SK rosewood binding• Solid rosewood sides• Mahogany neck• Ebony fingerboard and bridge• Abalone position marks and bubinga wood• Gotoh gold tuners• D’Addario strings EXP-26 (.011-.052)• Natural gloss finish The story of the Crafter guitar company is one of a family business continuing to grow. It was founded by HyunKwon Park in 1972 in the basement of his home, using the brand name Sungeum, which translates to ‘accomplishing the sound’. By 1978 the company had outgrown its basement space and moved to bigger premises in Yangjugun, just outside Seoul, in order to fulfill growing demand for the guitars. InJae Park joined his father in 1986, the name was changed to Crafter to conjure images of high quality, and a…

WHEN: SATURDAY 21 AND SUNDAY 22 FEBRUARY WHERE: MELBOURNE SHOWGROUNDS REVIEW & PHOTOS: THOMAS GRAHAM We were off to a blistering start when we dropped in to see Japanese electronicore band Crossfaith, bringing their formidable live show to Soundwave for the second time in three years. This is a band that gives more of a performance during their sound check than some bands do during a whole set. The already sweltering 37 degree heat at Stage 5 felt like it was raised considerably within moments of the first chords being played. Kazuki Takemura’s metalcore shredding on guitar combined with the dubstep infused beats of Terufumi Tamano and screams of vocalist Kenta Koie meant that there was chaos and circle pits for most of their time on stage. Crossfaith were relentless…

In 1995 four teenagers from Perth got together in a pharmacy warehouse to quickly rehearse a few covers for a local gig under the name Jebediah. Now, despite management changes, label shifts and a five-year hiatus, that same band is still flying the Aussie alt-rock flag some 20 years on with the same line-up that appeared on their debut hit record, Slightly Odway. To celebrate, the four-piece are touring Australia with a new greatest hits album, and plans to play Slightly Odway in full for the first time. It sounds a tad cliché, but the band’s longevity seems to come down to the fact that they never really stopped being the same group of friends touring around the country in a van, when alt-rock was at its peak in the…

This September marks 45 years since James Marshall Hendrix left this plane of existence. Throw in the three years – yes, it was only three years – that he was releasing albums and that’s 48 years of influence on the entire guitar-playing world. Add another year for when he was kicking around London in 1966 striking fear into the hearts of folks like Eric Clapton and Keith Richards and you see we’re almost at five decades of Jimi’s influence. And like great classical composers, influential novelists and important filmmakers, Jimi’s music continues to evolve in its meanings and applications to subsequent generations. The music itself remains unchanged and yet it means different things to different people, in ways that had nothing to do with the artist’s original intent. We thought…

KING PARROT Dead Set EVP RECORDINGS Just days prior to penning this review, King Parrot took a sizeable hit to the hip-pocket after a van break-in during yet another exhausting US jaunt. It’s seemingly one of the few eventualities that haven’t turned up trumps for the madcap Melburnians recently, who have taken their punk-stained, thrashed-up grind anywhere that will allow them during the past couple of years. They’ve therefore yielded the rewards of a peerless work ethic, from attaining high-profile friends to slots at prestigious festivals. Loyal followers even inundated the band with donations to recoup the aforementioned losses. There’s no sophomore slump for these foulmouthed road dogs. Dead Set is often blisteringly fast, filled with pummelling beats, always aggressive, and offers an epic prog-metal jam. Okay, one of those…

PRICE: $2199 • Made in the USA• Multi-piece mahogany body• Maple neck• One-piece rosewood fretboard• Gibson G FORCE tuners• Gibson 61 Zebra humbuckers• Zero Fret Nut• Wider fretboard• Cryogenically treated frets• USA-made hardshell case Last year we had a look at the 2014 Gibson SG Special. 2014 was a landmark year for Gibson; the company’s 120th anniversary, they took this opportunity to overhaul several design elements and to mark guitars with commemorative 120th Anniversary 12th fret inlays. The 2015 models have been overhauled even further, with particular emphasis on playability and stageworthiness. The look is quite similar to last year’s model but they’re very different guitars. I’M SG AND I KNOW IT The SG Special 2015 once again has a medium-grade (under Gibson’s new 2015 wood selection scale) mahogany body, the standard SG tone wood. It’s made of multiple matched…

PRICE: $1699 • Two channels: Clean and Lead• Two gain control knobs: Input Gain and Lead Drive• ECC83 (12AX7) tube produces a very warm and soft tone with plenty of punch in the preamp section and delivers a great distortion sound with rich sustain• EQ: Bass, Middle, Treble for precise sound tuning• Mid Boost sound option: switchable via front panel button or via footswitch• Gain Boost sound option: switchable via front panel button or via footswitch• Channel switching via front panel button or via footswitch• Lead Volume control• Master Volume control• Stand By switch• Rear Panel• 3x 1/4” Stereo jack for connecting a Z-4 footpedal: Channel switching & Gain Boost, Mid Boost & M.V.B. (Master Volume Boost), FX On/Off & Reverb• FX loop: Send – Return• Line out• Poweramp output: 2 x 8 ohms (parallel: 1 x 8 ohms or 2 x 16 ohms),…

PRICE: $399 • Made in China• Flamed maple veneer top• Rosewood fretboard• B-Band A3T preamp and piezo element• Florentine Cutaway• Faux-abalone trim• Intonation-compensated bridge• Creme body and neck binding• Die-cast tuners The acoustic guitar market has undergone a revolution in the past decade or so as production facilities, techniques and efficiencies converge to a point where you can now find an affordable instrument at a level of structural and sonic sophistication that you used to have to pay about four times more for than you do today. Songline guitars are designed in Australia and made in China, and you have to imagine that those behind its design took into account various Australia-specific factors such as the types of genres we play, the kinds of performance spaces we encounter and also, judging by the sharp Florentine cutaway on this particular…