Portal:Gear

Welcome to the Gear portal!

The chain of sound is a long one for electric guitarists - some of the things we use are effect pedals, amplifiers, cables, strings, picks. Some common guitar brands are Gibson, Fender and Ibanez. If you suffer from GAS - then this is your section!

Let's ROCK!!

Sensible Jones' Guide to Building your own Guitar!!

OK, ever felt like you want to 'build' your own Guitar, to your own Specs, but didn't think you had the skills?? Well, I'm here to tell you that ANYONE, with just a little bit of time and patience and a few basic Tools, is capable of producing their own 'Custom Creation'!! In this article I'll take you through the assembly of the Guitar pictured on the right.>>>>>>>

As you can see it's a Strat styled instrument and so we'll be using a Vintage style Tremolo Bridge and 3 pickups with 1 Volume and 2 Tone controls. The whole process is exactly the same, whether you are building a Tele, a V, a Les Paul etc! It doesn't matter what shape it is, it will still have the same basic geometry and parts!!!

So, what do you need to get started???
(More....)

Marc's amazing Guide to Ibanez RG and S Series Guitars!!!

Since Ibanez is one of the leading guitar companies used on this forum, I thought id dump my knowledge of the brand on to you, so you may buy yourself a real quality Ibanez guitar! This comes after I get countless PM’s on which to buy “is this any good” so on and so forth...

To learn about the history of Ibanez guitars check out the Ibanez GMC Wiki article here: CLICK In this guide I will teach you a little about Ibanez guitar quality, all the key terms you will need to know, and how to get the guitar of your dreams at good prices. Used or new. I will talk about mostly about RG series, and S series since those are the most popular, (and other models derived from these two) however, the same rules apply for all Ibanez models. (More....)

Want to know more about Amplification???

A guitar amplifier is an electronic machine to enforce the sound of a guitar or an eguitar. In case of an eguitar the amplifier is not wanted to simply make the eguitar louder but to give the sound a certain touch actively. A lot of guitarists see their amplifiers as a part of their instrument and use them, not to make the guitar sound louder, but to achieve a special expression with their amps. (More....)

Ever thought about a Scalloped Fretboard???

A fretboard is scalloped when the wood between the frets is scalloped out, creating a soft U shape between the frets. The result of this is that the finger only has to touch the string in order to fret the string. (More.....)

EL34

Tubes:

Vacuum tube, electron tube, or thermionic valve; it is the simple device which has driven modern music since the early 1900's. Tubes (short) saw mainstream use in radios and signal amplification as early as the 1920's. By the 1950's they were in every major juke box across America.(More...)

Jackson:

The History of Jackson is not a long one and begins in Glendor California in the mid 70's with two men; Grover Jackson and Wayne Charvel. They ran a small shop called Charvel Guitar Repair. Through this shop Grover and Wayne made custom guitars known as Charvel. (More....)

This Week's Reviews are:

Staffay's review of his Suhr Classic!!!

Suhr Classic.

John Suhr is a master luthier who has been in the business for 35 years, and his early success includes the Pensa-Suhr guitars used by Eric Clapton, Peter Frampton and Mark Knopfler amongst others. Nowadays he runs his own factory with craftsmen from Fender's customshop and they make about 150 instruments/month. The guitars come in all flavours, but they are all in the upper price segment since they are handcrafted. The model tested here is a "classic" strat type, but with a humbucker in bridge position. Nothing fancy here, except for the craftmanship and the components that are all top-notch. (More....)

Ivan Milenkovic reviews his new Hiwatt Custom 100 Head!!!

Hiwatt Custom 100.

This amp was made recently. Hiwatt was making these amps back in the 70ties, but the production halted and the company closed. I'm not sure exactly what happened (if someone wants Hiwatt history, there are some resources on the web), but today there is again UK based Hiwatt company that makes Hiwatt amps just like they used to make them in the old days, but with modern components. I'm not sure about the transformer quality, but I read that Partridge made the ones that go on these too, based on old specs. Not sure if they managed to do the job properly, because I don't have any old DR103 head to do some testing. I've read almost every thing there is to be found on them on the web, and no one complained about the new components tho..(More....)

OzRob's review of the Bbe Sonic Stomp Pedal!!!

The BBE Sonic Stomp brings all the audio magic of its rack-mounted big brother - the 482i Sonic Maximizer - to the foot of the guitarist using pedals.

The Sonic is not an effect or tone manipulator. When a person hears an instrument live (with no speakers involved) the sound is organic and provides the particular timbre of that instrument. However, a sound played through speakers involves a phase delay between higher and lower frequencies, where the lower frequencies reach the listener earlier than the higher frequencies resulting in a 'muddier' sound than the instrument actually produces. This process also introduces amplitude distortion resulting in affected harmonics. (More....)

Ivan Milenkovic's review of the Fulltone OCD Overdrive!!!!

First I bought Fulltone FullDrive 2 MOSFET, which is a nice pedal, but for the price, it's overrated, too strong mids, very low distortion and boost isn't working nicely. Then I swapped with some guy for this one, and I was glad I did, it's a keeper, and let's find out why..(More....)

Marc Maidens great review of his Blackstar HT-5!!!

Blackstar HT-5.

Big beefy tube amps? Pfffft that is SOOO last week! Low wattage tube amps are in, and it is taking the guitar world by storm!

This puppy comes loaded compared to its competition!

It features: • Innovative 5-watt valve combo • 1xECC83 and 1x12BH7 • Unique push/pull power amp design • Award-winning HT Pedal preamp • Two foot switchable channels • Enhanced tone controls • Patent-Applied-For Infinite Shape Feature (ISF) • Fully equipped for studio or practice • Speaker emulated output with 1x12 or 4x12 voicing • Effects loop with effects level switch • Footswitch included • Cool vintage styling.

HT-110 cabinet: • Power Rating (RMS):40 Watts • Impedance: 16 Ohms • Speaker: 1x10" Celestion • Weight: 24 lb. • Dimensions: 17-4/10" W x 17-4/10" H x 9-7/10" D

I will talk about the important stuff.(More....)

Ivan Milenkovic's review of the Electro Harmonix Stereo Electric Mistress Pedal!!!!

Electric Mistress!

As all people who are into stompboxes are aware, EHX is the brand that was very popular during 70ties with Fuzz, Flange and Delay models that represent point of reference for today's devices. The saying "they don't make them like they used to" is true in this case as with most vintage gear, and those were the glorious days of analog gear.
What seems a bit ironic is the fact that these models were considered very "passe" in the 80ties with the abundance of digital FX devices, but now in our super-modern times, analog is something that is highly appreciated once more, so all companies are making big efforts to capture a part of that magic that once existed.(More....)

Sensible Jones' review of his Ibanez RG350DX!!!

Ibanez RG350DX.

The first thing I noticed about this instrument when I initially purchased it was it's weight, weighing in at a fairly hefty 3.4kg (7.5lb) I will never be able to call this particular guitar a 'lightweight'!!!!
(Especially when compared to my Warmoth 'Sound chambered' Bodied Strat!!) Having said that, the weight is evenly distributed and is comfortable whether seated or standing whilst playing.(More....)

Previous Reviews.....

Marc_Maidens review of the Vox AD50VT!!!

Vox AD50VT.

It has a 2x12 configuration which I absolutely love...ive never been much of a half stack guy, just because i dont think id ever really need one!

This bad boy has a 12AX pre amp tube in it, make it a hybrid, and this tube really shines. NO, it is not a tube amp, but YES you do hear the single tube in the sound.

Its got 50watts of power along with a power squeezer so that you can crank the master with out making your ears bleeeeed! (yay)

NO EFFECTS LOOP! yuck! I dont know why this doesnt have one, but it bothers me because i dont like plugging things through the front. (its messy and waters your tone down).......(More....)



Anton Skvortsov's Review of his Epiphone Les Paul Ultra II!

The Ultra II.

Bought mine this month (beginning of June 2009), its been with me for two weeks. In overall scheme of things this is a very good guitar.

Nice mahogany neck with rosewood fingerboard. Back of the neck has satin finish, which is a big plus grip wise. Decent gold covered Grover tuners. Alnico Classic Humbuckers + NanoMag, which really give it good tone versatility, you can get almost Fender-like single-coil tones out of this one when humbuckers are used in combination with the NanoMag. (More....)


Trond Vold's Review of his Schecter Stiletto Classic!!

Schecter Stiletto Classic.

I was on the lookout for a new guitar, and i must have spent days browsing the net for potential candidates. Could'nt find one that i thought looked cool, had my needs and at the same time came with a friendly price tag. [(More....)]


jdrivers Review of the new Boss ME-70

Boss ME-70.

The ME-70 is the latest multi-effects stomp box for guitar from Boss. It shares the layout and appearance of it's predecessor, the ME-50, and it would be logical to assume this is an "ME-50 plus 20," but that's not what it is. This is a similar but very different unit. I'm guessing Boss won't discontinue the ME-50, but rather lower it's price. [(More....)]


Trond's review of The Behringer Hellbabe!!!!

Behringer Hellbabe.

- Multi-functional Wah-Wah pedal—offers everything you need for all styles and sounds - This BEHRINGER product has been designed to compete head to head with leading products on the market. - Total optical control for wear-and-tear-free pedal operation (no mechanical pots and switches) - Unique spring-back pedal mechanism with resistance adjustment for ultimate playing style (option to remove)[(More....)]


Marc_Maidens new acquisition!!!
His Switch Innovo 4 guitar!!!!

Switch Innovo 4.

I was in search of a back up guitar for my Ibanez rg520. I needed something affordable, and what better place to do that, than to go to ebay.

I saw this one for the first time, and i thought wow what in the heck is this???!! but after a while i thought hmmm cool....so i look at reviews and everything was positive although i was a bit skeptical because it seems like with all "low end" guitar reviews, the beginners give them 10/10 reviews...so yeah, didn't buy the reviews one bit.(More....)


Toneport UX1

Toneport UX1

Hi there GMC, welcome to my review of Line6 Toneport UX1 USB recording interface. This unit`s main purpose is to easily connect instruments (guitar, bass and mics, also other line level audio sources too) and record them wiht zero latency and wiht an intuitive graphic interface. And beleive me, this thing does it WELL! Okay let us begin:(more....)



Emu 1212m PCI Audio Production System!!

Emu 1212m

This unit is a PCI audio card that serves for semi-pro to even (some forms) of professional audio production. The package actually includes two PCI cards, E-MU 1010 PCI card & E-MU 0202 I/O daughter card that are connected internally via flat cable. 1010 card is the actual heart of the system, and it has DSP chip onboard, while 0202 serves as expansion card where I/O and MIDI section is..(More....)



M-Audio Dmp3. 2 Channel Mic Preamp!!

M-Audio Dmp3.

I needed a device that will enable me to amplify signal from microphones & instruments, so I can feed it into 1212m audio system. 1212m has no preamps on its own, and it has 2 TRS 1/4 jack inputs. This device is a 2 channel preamp, so I can use both channels in separately, and feed each of the channels to the card's inputs. I've used Behringer MIC800 preamp before this,(more....)


Schecter C-1 Hellraiser!!!

Hellraiser.

Now when inspecting the guitar a bit closer at home I noticed that it was made in Indonesia. So it seems to me that Schecter did also move away from South Korea to Indonesia like ESP LTD did. Probably because of the new minimal wages in South Korea. Not really good behavior and at least in the LTD's case the quality seems to have suffered. So I went on to look for flaws.(more....)




The Blackheart Bh5h Amp!!!!

Blackheart Bh5h.

Blackheart BH5H Gear Review
All tube for $150? What's the catch?
Thrills and frills: None really. 1 12AX7 preamp tube and 1 EL84 output tube Playing Style: Rock, Blues, Jazz (Sorry metal heads, need a distortion pedal for this one)(more....)

The Behringer Compressor/Sustainer Pedal!!!

Behringer Cs100

The Behringer CS-100 is a low budget compression unit that has been designed to compete directly with the more expensive pedals on the market. For those of you who dont yet know/understand what compression is , please see Tony's awsome guide here

I bought this pedal as I was in need of longer lasting sustain (how long the notes ring after you pick them) for slow solo work. I found that I could not get enough sustain out of my lovely Vox AC15 and Boss Distortion pedals even though I did have a beautiful tone. This I believe in part due to the fact I cannot turn the amp up loud enough in my room which equals angry parents/neighbours.(more.....)

Roland Cube 60

Roland Cube 60

Powerful 60-watt output in a compact, 12-inch speaker design. Built-in 9 COSM guitar amp models, including JC, British Combo and R-Fire. New Dyna Amp feature offers expressive control over enhanced dynamics and tone transitions based on picking style. Six classic built-in Roland effects, including Chorus, Flanger, Phaser, Tremolo and independent Delay/Reverb. Multiple outputs, including Recording/Phones Out, Line Out, Tuner Out and Ext Speaker Out (for connecting external cabinets). Channel switching, delay/reverb and effect on/off control via optional footswitch. (more.....)

Learn more about the Electric Guitar.

Learn what all the Parts of the Guitar are called!!!!

Thinking about starting to RECORD????

Want to know more about your Floyd Rose Tremolo System????

Ever wonder about the best way of Miking up your equipment for Recording???

Interested in learning more about Sound Modeling????

BC Rich

ESP Guitars

Jackson Guitars

Schecter Guitar Research

Ibanez

Gibson.

Fender.

Boss.

D'Addario.

Epiphone.

Korg.

Marshall.

Paul Reed Smith.

Parker.

Randall Amplification.

Floyd Rose.

* Add to an existing gear article!!!
* Just bought a new Guitar, Amp or FX Unit?? Write a review of it!!!
* Share your opinions of manufacturers Old and New!!!



If you need help then don't hesitate to ask me, Sensible Jones for any help/advice I can give you!!!