A Brief Early History
As Marshall quickly grew in reputation as the new king of high-powered guitar amplification during the early 1960’s, Dave Reeves, who had been an employee of Mullard as well as a contractor for Sound City in London, began working on his own amplifiers that aimed to take the amplification construction quality and tonal designs to new heights. Reeve’s new Hiwatt amplifiers were born via his company, Hylight Electronics.
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Although Mesa first released its Roadster series of amp heads and combos in 2006, it wasn’t until 2008 that I finally tried one. Playing it in the store, I was impressed enough to make the purchase. Based on my playing time since then in various environments, volumes, etc., and coupled with the many experiences of other Boogies I’ve played and owned through the years, to me the Mesa Roadster is THE best amp Mesa has ever produced. No contemporary multi-channel amp I’ve ever played previously had delivered such a consistently great range of tones across each of its channels – suitable for any style of music and user-friendly with any guitar.
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Take a journey with me while I reminisce back to the beginning where my love for Mesa Boogie amps began. During the summer of 1984, I was a wide-eyed 12-year old teenager who was passionate about the hard rock and metal music available at the time. From the bands that had broken through to my US ears from overseas such as Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, Def Leppard and the Scorpions, to the Los Angeles rock and metal scene with bands like Van Halen, Motley Crue, RATT, Dokken, and Quiet Riot, to even further underground metal acts at the time including Metallica, Slayer, Obsession, and Venom, there was a LOT for my young ears to take in and listen to. Just about every dollar of money I earned for chores around the house went toward buying new records (yes,on vinyl) or guitar and music magazines including Circus, Hit Parader, Guitar for the Practicing Musician, and Guitar World.
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Creative, innovative products are often sparked by thoughts that began with, “Wouldn’t it be cool if…?”
Such is the case with the new Keeley Phaser, a design that provides the unique ability to switch between two phaser speeds by way of a ramp function. It works like a rotating Leslie speaker cabinet where the phase rate gradually changes from fast to slow or vice versa with the footswitch – except you now have control over the transition time from the two speeds you select. You can choose between an immediate phase speed change or a gradual ramp which can take up to about a half a minute to fully transition.
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OD-9: Suggested retail price – $140
The Maxon OD-9 leads off the 9-Series of pedals and in fact looks just like the original Ibanez TS-9 tube screamer. There’s good reason for that since Maxon is actually the manufacturer for the classic effect – look inside a TS-9 on the circuit board and you’ll see the Maxon name! So let’s dig in a bit more and see what’s new with Maxon’s own OD-9 Overdrive.
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I think I’m a lot like most people caught up in the world of vintage (or at least semi-vintage) music gear. I always look for a great deal and to pay the lowest price when I’m buying and then I look to get the most return on my dollars when selling. That’s just human nature.
But within the past couple of years, it’s been a lot harder for me to do any buying. The deals have been difficult to find and the prices of the things that I’m interested in have gone through the roof. It frustrates and pisses me off that I can’t have the same fun in the marketplace like I used to.
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Some History…
In the early 1970’s, electric rock and roll music was booming and growing in sophistication, and guitarists were interested in getting more from their instruments to help enhance their playing and inspire further creativity. The two traditional and most famous electric guitars, the Gibson Les Paul and the Fender Stratocaster, were essentially polar opposites in both sound and feel. This left the market open for a guitar that could successfully merge some of the features of both instruments to create what would be viewed by many as the ultimate rock and roll guitar.
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I created our very first video, “Destroying a $5000 guitar”, designed to initially create some “shock” but with a “purpose” too to create awareness and get attention about the counterfeit guitar market – the hope that people would follow the video and then read the full story here and heed the warnings of this disturbing problem!
It’s not a secret that nothing beats the sound of a great guitar tube amp cranked up. When a tube amp is driven to overdrive, rich and musical even-ordered harmonics flow in abundance and the amplifier seems to take on a new sense of dynamic character that responds better to a player’s touch. It is this feel that gives a tube amp an organic and natural sense, while solid-state amplifiers are considered more sterile in sound because of the lack of this response or harmonics.
The age-old problem has been getting the great tube amp sound at lower and more realistic levels. As the majority of musicians play relatively small clubs and in even smaller practice rooms, only the minority (i.e. those famous guitarists!) get the real opportunity to play these tube amps at the volumes that they sound best. As a result, many of our classic and much beloved Marshall, Fender, and Vox amplifiers are often seen used with distortion and fuzz boxes to compensate. While my personal belief is that these distortion and fuzz boxes are useful in some applications, they are certainly not the best way to achieve great tone when used strictly as the sole source of distortion.
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We will begin this article with an honest question: Does the world need yet another Tube Screamer or Tube Screamer clone? The original pedal itself sees no end to its use and popularity, and from the 90’s onward there has been no stop in production from countless manufacturers, large and small, each creating their own stamp and version of the pedal based on the Tube Screamer circuit. From low-cost imports made in China that anyone can afford, to custom painted unique one-offs costing hundreds of dollars, there’s a Tube Screamer for every class and budget of musician. So don’t we have enough already?
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