Innholdsfortegnelse for Vol. 138 i Australian Guitar

Kemper has unveiled two new cab options for its Profiler guitar amp – the Kemper Kabinet and Kemper Kone replacement speaker. The Kabinet and Kone offer guitarists the choice of 19 different speaker imprints, for use with Kemper Profiler PowerRack and PowerHead amps. The Kabinet combines the Kone loudspeaker and Kemper-developed speaker tone mining technology, making it possible to digitally “imprint” various speaker characteristics onto one single cabinet. The Kone, meanwhile, is a 12-inch speaker designed in conjunction with Celestion, and features a full-range sound that “carries a distinct guitar speaker character.” There are also Sweetening and Directivity parameters for detailed adjustment. The 19 imprints offer classic speaker sounds from Celestion and other brands, with the potential for more imprints included in future software updates. The Kabinet can be driven…

ISEKAI THEY ARE a pair of Adelaidian post-punks on the cusp of a monolithic breakthrough with their anthemic eccentricity. They pair defiantly raw and brutally authentic quips with crisp, modern production. The end result is something straight out of a BLUNT Magazine mixtape circa 2003, buffed up with the sharpness of everything we’ve learned about music production since. THEY SOUND LIKE the battered, barely functioning portable CD player you carried around with you everywhere in your early teens, zombified and sprinting into the 2020s with all of its nostalgic dorkiness in tow. The overly straightened bangs, the velcro wallets with keychain clips, the half-drunk cans of Monster Energy you thought you looked like such a badass walking around with at the skate park… Oh God, it’s all coming back! And…

Everybody loves a good comeback story – it’s in our human nature to embrace a narrative of resilience and rehabilitation. It gives us the motivation to persevere when shit hits the fan in our own lives; to keep our chins up and kick life’s little inconveniences where the sun don’t shine. For Kiwi synthpop scorchers The Naked And Famous circa 2018, a good ol’ fashioned comeback was just what they needed. Longtime members Jesse Wood (drums) and Aaron Short (keys) both abandoned ship that March, and both its remaining members – keyboardist Alisa Xayalith and guitarist Thom Powers, both of whom founded the band and serve as its interchanging frontpeople – were in the midst of their own personal tumults. For a short while, it seemed as though The Naked…

Though it’s virtually impossible to deduce when the first proper ‘album’ came out – historians get pretty subjective when it comes to the grinding minutia of timelines, classification and so forth – 1948 was a huge year for longform music releases, when Columbia Records debuted the iconic 33RPM 12-inch LP. Capable of holding a then-revolutionary 52 minutes of audio, the LP format quickly became the norm for burgeoning rock and pop acts. Seven decades later, and – no shit – a great deal has changed in the music industry. We moved from vinyl to cassette, to CD, to MP3, somehow back to vinyl (thanks, hipsters) and finally to streaming as our favourite way to chew through some tunes. And as streaming services continue to steal the spotlight, so to do…

As the old adage goes, you either die a punk or live long enough to see yourself release a folk album. Though the roots of folk and country have always planted themselves throughout Brian Fallon’s discography – most notably when he was the frontman of heartland heroes The Gaslight Anthem – the 40-year-old New Jersian has officially made the crossover into fingerpicking singer-songwriter territory with Local Honey, his third solo album and a blindingly beautiful compilation of introspective reveries. A mostly lowkey affair, Local Honey showcases Fallon at his rawest and most vulnerable; he has nowhere to hide with his emotional fervour, he can’t bury a feeling in an onslaught of riffs or shake off his worries in a breakdown. The music is resoundingly mature and understated, yet it’s undoubtedly…

Celebrating their 15th year of delightfully demented, horror-influenced metal mania, 2020 pretty much belongs to LA quintet In This Moment. Even the current global crisis feels suited to their bold and polarising aesthetic: the universal economy and major mainstream society being progressively buried alive at the hands of a viral infection caused by a bat? When you think about it, that’s pretty f***ing metal. Anyway, the band are currently riding high on the release of their equally intense and intriguing seventh album, Mother – a career-defining onslaught of harrowing hollers and spine-rattling shred. For founding members Maria Brink (vocals/piano) and Chris Howorth (lead guitar), it’s an especially gratifying release – as Howorth tells us (over the phone, because y’know, social distancing, etcetera), its writing process saw them break free from…

If you’ve ever listened to literally any rock ’n’ roll song, there’s a good chance that, somewhere along the chain, Deep Purple’s influence rubbed off on it. A key element to the genesis of modern heavy music – so much so that the Guinness Book of World Records branded them “the globe’s loudest band” – the British shredders have been doling out their colourful solos and crunchy riffs since 1968. Over the last five decades, they’ve managed to smash out a truly cataclysmic 20 studio albums – not to mention to near-uncountable deluge of demos, bootlegs and extra releases to bear their kaleidoscopic stamp of approval. And they’ve hardly settled down; in 2017 they embarked on the Long Goodbye tour, which would supposedly see them fizzle out their touring efforts.…

FENDER LIMITED EDITION HM STRATOCASTER RRP: $2,499 • fender.com The limited-edition HM Strat sports the same unique look and specs that helped the ’88-92 models compete with the hot-rodded Strat impersonators of the day. Built in the same factory as the original, the HM (for Heavy Metal) Strat features a narrow ‘C’ neck with unique 25.1-inch scale, 17-inch radius maple or rosewood fingerboard with 24 Jumbo frets for nearly effortless bends and technical fretwork. A Floyd Rose Special recessed bridge keeps everything perfectly in-tune even after the deepest dive-bombs, and the high-gain HSS pickup configuration delivers hot humbucker tones in the bridge – which can be split for more traditional Strat sounds when combined with the single coil neck and middle pickups. Other features include Gotoh tuners, molded ‘F’ logo…

The response to Prince’s death in April 2016 was a global rainstorm of emotion. He was many things to many people: a whirling funketeer who woke up sexual urges, an iconoclast who inspired individual expression, a symbol of everything pop could be. Belatedly, though, a consensus is forming behind his primary status as a fearsome guitarist. Prince was so gifted, he overshadowed this trait himself, with tastefully plucked hits like Kiss, Cream and Raspberry Beret. You already know those tunes. Here, however, is a list of the truly mind-blowing numbers – some of them deep cuts, others from Prince’s essential 1984 masterpiece Purple Rain – that should convince even skeptics. Note: Only the six-string sizzle of Prince is included (sorry, Revolution sideman Dez Dickerson and your mighty solo for “Little…

If you’ve been inspired to start learning the electric or acoustic guitar during the Coronavirus lockdown, there are a few gear essentials and guitar accessories you should consider to help supercharge your guitar development and enjoyment of the instrument. This guide covers everything you’ll need to keep your guitar in shape and sounding great. What’s even better is that, once you’ve paid for your guitar, nothing else on this list will break the bank. AMPS There has never been more choice when it comes to great budget guitar amps for beginner guitarists. Of course a low price is one thing, but it also needs to perform well, sound great and offer functionality and enough features that you can grow into as you progress. If your playing will mostly be bedroom-based,…

WHAT YOU WILL LEARN ✔ EIGHTH NOTE STRUMMING ✔ DOUBLE SPEED 16TH NOTES ✔ TWO EASY RHYTHM EXAMPLES “Strumming is fairly simple, right? Is there really that much to learn?” Well, for the uninitiated, let’s explain what strumming is first. When you play the guitar, you pluck the strings with a pick, and you’ll either strike downwards or upwards. Strumming just means you’ll be using a mixture of downstrokes and upstrokes, striking several strings at once. “So it’s pretty easy then…” Generally, yes! If you’re just starting out on the guitar, practise strumming a chord using steady, regular downstrokes. If you’re playing an open E chord or a G then strum all six strings. If you’re playing a D chord strum only the top four strings (the thinnest, highest pitched…

If you’re an acoustic cat who uses multiple tunings for a solo or singer-songwriter set, it’s essential that you manoeuvre from one to the next efficiently to keep momentum. Even if you have great ears, it’s smart to have a digital tuner (and a backup battery) handy at all times. A surefire way to lose an audience’s attention is by making copious fine-tuning adjustments by ear and accounting for your instrument’s every little idiosyncrasy. If your guitar has cheap tuners, consider upgrading them. It’s relatively easy and affordable. For that matter, if you have multiple acoustics, designate one for each of your main tunings, and use the following logic to flow from there. GROUP TUNES BY TUNINGS. If you have a significant collection of songs in different tunings, consider creating…

$7,999 Idon’t like being wrong, but I do like being pleasantly surprised. I proclaimed loudly and often during the Steve Vai Passion and Warfare years — an era that also gave us the likes of Korn and Limp Bizkit—that the seven-string fad would prove to be exactly that: a fad. I was partly right. Those bands didn’t age quite as gracefully as their initial success might have foretold, and Vai went back to the six-string for much of his Vai-style awesomeness. But the seven-string guitar did not go away. In fact, it continued to gain traction with rock and metal guitarists, and it remains a touchstone for players, guitar builders and pickup manufacturers alike. Countless guitarists love the extended range that a low B or a dropped low A can…

RRP: $8,499 This is the most highly customised Country Western in Gibson history, according to the venerable manufacturer. The idea was to use Crow’s own sweet-sounding classic CW as a baseline and add a dose of punch and projection via a hand-scalloped, advanced X-bracing pattern from the 1930s. This was applied to a thermally aged Sitka spruce top, which was adhered to mahogany back and sides with hot hide glue. Outfitted with top-shelf electronics, the guitar was made with the professional performer in mind. Like the lady herself, the Sheryl Crow Signature Country Western Supreme is an eye catcher. With a quick glance at the front, it might look rather like a traditional Country Western with squared shoulders, a “belly-up” bridge and an expanded hummingbirdstyle pickguard, plus a few subtle…

Fender Music KK has launched the Made in Japan Heritage eries, a new electric guitar and bass line developed under the guidance of Mark Kendrick, one of the Fender Custom Shop’s founding master builders and the company’s current Director of Global Build Standards. The new instruments – which are available in Japan only, though can be imported through select local dealers – encompass Heritage ‘50s, ‘60s and ‘70s Stratocasters; the Heritage ‘50s Telecaster; the Heritage ‘60s Telecaster Custom; the Heritage ‘60s Telecaster Thinline and the Heritage ‘60s Jazzmaster; as well as Heritage ‘50s and ‘60s Precision Bass and Heritage ‘60s and ‘70s Jazz Bass models. All instruments feature historically accurate specs, tones and colours, combined with “quality Japanese craftsmanship.” According to Fender, the series “delivers the true essence of Fender…

Anyone who’s met him will attest that Bert McCraken is one hell of a character: the Utah-native emo legend exudes eccentricity, his communal personality an amalgam of friendliness, hilarity and angst, with just a tinge of mania for good measure. Such rubs off emphatically on his songwriting in The Used, where he pairs acidic, brutally honest quips with an idiosyncratic whimsicality. It’s why The Used are such an extraordinary force – there are no other bands like them, because there are no other bands with Bert McCracken in them. Though he’s always kept The Used fairly close to his chest – ‘collaborative’ isn’t often a word used to describe him – McCracken is growing wiser and more open-minded as he nears his 40s. He’s less precious about other voices chiming…

Few men turn heads as fast or as fervently as Jason Isbell. Whether it’s because he’s a devout progressive in the Southern US country scene (see: xenophobe heaven) or for his enrapturing fretwork, the Alabama-native strumlord (who now calls Nashville home – because of course he went from one country hotspot to another) knows how to get people talking. His fourth album in collaboration with five-piece backing back The 400 Unit, Reunions is Isbell’s most introspective set of twangy tunes. It has him ruminate on the past and calculate his future by way of some truly stirring soundscapes, Isbell himself unquestionably in the best shape, musically at least, that he’s ever been. Australian Guitar got a hold of Isbell to chat about how the record came together, and how it…

Much like the fabled Roman emperor referenced in their name, Caligula’s Horse are titans of a gloriously stately force. Since their earnest origins in Brisbane’s underground club scene circa 2011, the prog-metallers have carved out an impressively zealous niche for themselves – they’re the go-to crew for grandiose, sprawling narrative epics that grab the listener by their ears and yeets them at a thousand kilometres a second into the eye of a kaleidoscope belonging to God himself. Rise Radiant is the fifth album to bear the Caligula’s Horse stamp of approval – yet, in many ways, it’s the album they began working on all the way back when shredder Sam Vallen first envisioned the project. It’s not a reboot for the band, however, but something of an awakening; they made…

The mammoth fourth single from Metallica’s über-hit Black Album, “Wherever I May Roam”, clocks in at over six minutes long. For the sake of brevity, though, Rockschool’s arrangement cuts the track down, focusing on the main riffs to make it more digestible for Grade 3 players. The opening riff is based around the exotic sounding E Phrygian scale (E F G A B C D) and the most colourful note is the F (a b9th interval). This crucial note comes up time and time again, lending a slight Eastern vibe to the song as the riff makes the semitone shift between the E and F notes. Lots of Metallica songs use E Phrygian and the E to F move, in fact, you could call it Metallica’s trademark! For an authentic…

No matter how calloused your fingers get, any guitarist worth their headstock will admit that sometimes, to get the perfect notes ringing from your amp – that most sumptuously sizzling riff or that beautifully bluesy twang – a pick is the right way to go. And since they’ve been around since the dawn of the guitar itself, there are virtually millions of pick options on the market. But what if guitar picks were more than just a little chunk of plastic you bought by the bucketload and flicked out into the crowd after every other lick? What if there was a truly premium pick out there – one which revolutionised the entire art of guitar playing, and didn’t just make it easier to get your strings vibrating, but more fun,…

Distortion? We all want it, and many players just can’t live without it. In this golden age of stompboxes – with all kinds of small-scale boutique FX manufacturers trading blows with industry titans such as MXR, TC Electronic and Boss – there’s never been a better time to find the best distortion pedal to turn your pristine cleans into dirt. Here we have some hardy perennials and some ubiquitous picks from the big players, but then we’ve also got an oddball gain machine from EarthQuaker Devices with one knob and that’s that. Any one of these pedals will turn a clean guitar amp into a fire-breathing monster, so if that tweed combo isn’t cutting it for your doom-metal band, boy, have you come to the right place. Each of these…

RRP: CONTACT DISTRIBUTOR Acoustica’s Mixcraft DAW is one of those quietly successful applications that doesn’t seem to blow its own trumpet, yet scores consistently well whenever it’s reviewed on these pages. In short, it does the job well, so doesn’t need to shout from the rooftops about it! It might also not be on your radar because it’s a PC-only DAW, but if it is on your radar, you’ll know it comes packed with enough features to be a serious PC contender. It’s already a bargain as is, but there’s also a cut-down Recording Studio version that lacks the Celemony Melodyne integration, a lot of the included plugin instruments and effects and other features – we think Pro Studio is well worth the extra few bucks. Mixcraft has always offered…

CUSTARD Respect All Lifeforms ABC Their time in the spotlight may long since have fizzled, but Custard’s quirks shine as bright as ever on album #8 – unequivocally their best post-reunion. The playful, tongue-in-cheek sarcasm and searing wit strike at every turn. The guitars are gristly and groovy and immediately earwormish, frontman Dave McCormack riffing with a buoyant spryness around Paul Medew’s poignantly prickly basslines. The production is tight, yet loose and lowkey, echoing the scrappy and youthful zest that made the Brisbane rockers such a fiery force to be reckoned with in the ‘90s. Its lead single asks, “Will we ever be that funky again?” There’s an argument to be made that Custaro have never been so funky. Break out the good wine and crank this one loud. DANCE…

RRP: $1,199 Guitars are discontinued for all kinds of reasons – some simply don’t connect with enough players and for others it just isn’t their time… Reissues can give lost gems a second life; a chance to find the fanbase that eluded them first time around. Which brings us here for the encore of the Fender Lead. It wasn’t exactly a flash in the pan design originally, though. Produced between 1979 and 1982, the Lead eventually encompassed three guises in its original lifetime; the single humbucker Lead I with series/parallel switch, the Lead II with two single-coils and a phase switch and finally, the double humbucker Lead III that surfaced in 1982 with coil selector switch. Bono picked up a Lead II in U2’s earlier days; Clapton’s is sitting in…

RRP: $199 Last year, one of my bandmates got in touch and asked me about an audio interface for his teenage son, who’s become really passionate about guitar. I did recommend him something good and cheap, but to be honest it felt a bit arbitrary selecting one product out from a sea of lookalikes (and soundalikes). The democratisation of audio production has led to an explosion of cheap consumer gear. In practice this amounts to companies just repackaging the same old features and designs under competing brand marquees. Audient’s new brand of EVO interfaces is an admirable attempt to bring some new features to the table. These innovations are not just novelty for the sake of it, they can meaningfully improve the quality of recordings and the device’s workflow. The…

RRP: $849.99 Traditionally, many guitarists tended to use two amplifiers: a bigger amp for the stage and a smaller one for the studio. Back in 2011, this status quo shifted when Yamaha spotted a niche for something else. Its concept was built around a third type of guitar amp, not another black vinyl-covered box sat on the floor but a design that could fit comfortably on a bookshelf or desktop with a homefriendly feature set. Thus was born the popular and highly successful THR series, which is still going strong today thanks to new models and firmware upgrades. Despite a growing number of imitators, the desktop amp is something Yamaha has always owned and to underline that the company has made what could be the most significant addition yet in…

RRP: $449 The past two years have seen a radical shift from Mooer. It has gone from the original purveyor of pocket money-friendly micro pedals with – ahem – familiar origins to an effects powerhouse in its own right, producing some astounding flagship devices, including the GE300 amp modeller/multi-effects. The GE150 combines the company’s reputation for value for money with its more recent innovative streak to produce a feature-packed multi-effects priced comfortably below the $500 mark. For the modest outlay, you’re getting 55 amp models – derived from Mooer’s best-selling Micro Preamp series, no less – as well as a whopping 151 effects. While the unit packs its own array of Impulse Responses, what takes this above and beyond a typical multi-effects unit is the inbuilt ability to add your…

AG’s partner mag Guitar World recently ranked the Line 6 Relay G10S as one of 2020’s best wireless systems. The unit is no doubt a great buy, but for those of you currently running the Relay, take heed: the Consumer Product Safety Commission has announced a recall on the G10, G10S and G10T wireless systems, as well as the G10 USB charging cable, stating that “the lithium-ion battery can overheat and the battery cover can separate with force, posing fire and injury hazards.” So far, Yamaha is aware of four incidents worldwide of the battery cover “separating forcefully from the transmitter,” with one report of minor property damage, but no injuries. The Commission advises immediately stopping use of the recalled products, which were sold between March 2016 and December 2019.…

New Italy is a town straight out of some rural Australian kid’s archive of Twilight Zone fan-fiction. You’ll be driving up the New South Wales coast for a much-needed getaway and suddenly, out of nowhere – some 700 kilometres North of Sydney, amidst a sprawling nirvana of absolutely f*** all – appears a small, yet ever-so-bustling village of shops and Italian restaurants, entirely unfazed by its remoteness or peculiarity. And though it’s largely unknown to those who haven’t passed through (or visited) it, New Italy has been thriving since 1882, when it was established by homesick immigrants determined to recapture the unique spirit of their motherland. Such makes New Italy the perfect locale to base the conceptual framework for Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever’s new album, Sideways To New Italy. The…

Alittle rough around the edges, emotionally volatile and defined by their prickly rhythms, soaring hooks and lashings of reverb and overdrive, RVG are one of those bands that are simply impossible to ignore. Starting out as wide-eyed staples of Melbourne’s DIY circuit, the foursome – led by the enigmatic Romy Vager, whose forcible quips and scuzzy riffs recall the walloping bluntness of ‘70s post-rock – have fast become one of Australia’s outright favourite rock outfits. Before they make their arena debut supporting iconic rockers Faith No More next February, RVG are cementing their status as songwriters not to f*** around with in their scorching second album, Feral. Though it’s leagues above its predecessor – 2017’s sleeper hit A Quality Of Mercy – it’s a familiar journey through the jungle of…

It’s hard to believe All Time Low were ever the underdogs of the pop-punk scene. We remember them fondly when they were dorky kids with overly straightened hair, wailing to us about how they had our picture and they were coming with us (though my name’s Matt, dude, not Maria – I’ll still count you in though). But even then, they seemed larger than life – who’d’a thought a decade of growing up would lead them to where they are now, packing arenas full of devotees from all walks of life, topping charts the world over and inspiring a whole new generation of bands themselves? Now bonafide legends of the radio-pop circuit, All Time Low are heading beyond the four-chord pit food they cut their teeth on, expanding their horizons…

When we last caught up with Code Orange, they were already one of the biggest hardcore bands in modern history. It was right before they took to Australian stages for the 2019 Download Festival (remember live music?), and the murmurs of their fourth studio album were heating up faster than a match thrown into a barrel of diesel. 2017’s Forever had showcased such passion, ferocity and talent that it seemed as though if Code Orange were to usurp it, they’d need to reinvent the wheel. Instead, they swallowed the rabbit whole. Especially notable in a climate where originality is as scarce as it is, Underneath landed at the turn of 2020 with a pummelling plentitude of new ideas. It’s vicious, grimy, rugged and industrial, yet it’s also their brightest and…

It’s a sunny afternoon in California, and Slash is holed up in a hotel room near the Anaheim Convention Center, where the NAMM Show – the massive music industry trade event that gathers upwards of 100,000 professionals and fans under one roof – is currently underway. Note that the operative word in this sentence is “near”. Because, as Slash points out, the last time he actually stepped foot inside the Convention Center during NAMM, the experience was, to put it mildly, “overwhelming”. And how could it not be, given that Slash is – and this is hardly hyperbole – maybe the most iconic and instantly recognisable guitarist of the past 30 or more years? For him to walk that convention floor amongst tens of thousands of devoted players and fans…

The staccato rhythm of the opening riff to Trivium’s “In Waves” is blasting through Chicago’s House of Blues when frontman Matt Heafy announces a special guest. Howard Jones, the hulking former frontman of Killswitch Engage and current face of fellow metalcorers Light The Torch, comes strutting onstage and unleashes a blood-curdling scream before walking over and wrapping his arm around another guy who’s been asked to sit in. Leaning into the crowd as he palm-mutes, Jared Dines is wearing his signature backwards baseball cap and the biggest grin imaginable. Dines might not have the portfolio of Heafy or Jones, but he’s got his own kind of fame. Over the past few years, Dines has reached millions of eyeballs and eardrums – not through headlining tours, but through YouTube videos with…

With all that’s going on in the world, the one silver lining is that we have a lot more time to work on our hobbies and interests – and that might well mean you consider investing a little more money in your guitar gear, too. Given that most of us can no longer get to a physical store for the time being, you might have a few reservations about buying online – but there’s no need to fear, as Reverb’s Dan Orkin is here to dispel any worries you may have, particularly during the COVID-19 crisis. Here, Dan shares his advice for what to look for when making a musical instrument purchase online – whether this is your first guitar, or a new addition to your collection. GENERAL TIPS FOR…

So your band is looking to take it to the next level. Or perhaps someone has offered to pay your way out of the home studio scene and into a big studio you’ve only seen pictures of. In this feature, I want to discuss the pitfalls I have witnessed and how to avoid them. I swear I could make a living saving bands money – if they would only listen. You don’t have to trust me, but read on. I may just be saving you not only thousands of dollars, but your actual career. 1. BEING UNREHEARSED Sounds like common sense to me. But I only wish you could witness how many times I’ve been in the studio and the two guitarists have no idea what the other is playing.…

Having some singing ability gives you an artistic leg up on guitarists who only work the fretboard, and it makes you more hireable and desirable. Whether you have a dynamite voice or can barely carry a tune, these tips can help you maximise your magic as a singing guitarist. PICK THE BEST KEY. It’s normal to want to play a cover tune in its original key. But if the melody lies outside your vocal range – or if you’ve dreamed up an alternate melody that’s an unrealistic stretch for your vocal cords – you won’t do the song or yourself any favours by taking that approach. To find your vocal range, do this: Sing the lowest note you can hit well, and mark its location on the fretboard. Do the…

Nothing Is True & Everything Is Possible AMBUSH REALITY / SO RECORDINGS Before hitting play on Nothing Is True & Everything Is Possible, make sure to rid yourself of any lingering expectations. Not because Enter Shikari won’t live up to them, of course – to put it succinctly, this is effortlessly one of their fiercest and most cerebral bodies of work yet – but because it’s truly impossible to predict all the meteoric surprises, purist-enraging musical excursions and kaleidoscopic plot twists the English electronicore warriors pull throughout its mercilessly unhinged and defiantly ambitious 45-minute runtime. Right off the bat, the LP marks a luminous return to form for the quartet after 2017’s middling The Spark: where that record embraced subtlety and cohesion, LP6 is raw, powerful and impassioned. And, perhaps…

RRP: $3,899 For many guitarists, the biggest stars of the vintage small valve-combo market are the Tweed and ‘Blackface’-era amplifiers made by Fender during the 50s and early 60s. That’s no surprise, of course, because since their introduction, Tweed and ‘Blackface’ Champs, Princetons and Deluxes have been used by some of the world’s top players on stage and in the studio, producing many of rock’s all-time epic guitar tones. But there’s more to Fender’s small amp heritage. Just under the radar but equally worthy are the blonde and ‘Brownface’ amplifiers made roughly between 1959 and 1963. This was a time of transition: the introduction of Tolex covering, forward-facing controls, twin channels, alternative loudspeakers and the new tremolo effect were all part of Fender’s drive to appeal to a wider range…

RRP: $1,099 While I truly love love multi-channel guitar amps for the undeniable versatility they can provide when performing live, I often wonder if we guitarists were actually better off when we didn’t have such a wide variety of tones, all easily accessible simply at the flick of a footswitch. For example, when I think of the greatest guitar tones of all time, most examples come from players who used single-channel Marshall heads during the ‘60s, ‘70s and ‘80s. Even the great Marshall tones that emerged during the ‘90s and new millennium often came from players who used older or reissue single-channel amp heads. Marshall’s new Origin series of guitar amps provide a welcome return to the philosophy of “less is more”. The Marshall Origin50H amp head is kind of…

You might have noticed that in this issue of Australian Guitar, we’ve forgone the usual Axes In Action column. No, we haven’t suddenly decided that live music no longer butters our proverbial muffin; rather, there haven’t been any gigs for us to hit since the outbreak of the worldwide coronavirus pandemic – no mosh pits to cut loose in and no breakdowns to bang our heads to, all because despite millennia of human evolution, we’re still not immune to every possible viral infection. Sigh. COVID-19 has wreaked merciless havoc on virtually every industry in the first world’s current capitalistic hellscape, but perhaps none has suffered quite the blow that the arts and culture sector has. Though it was musicians, performers and artists of all ilk that banded together the strongest…