Muzicosphere

Fender Pawn Shop Better Than Fender Custom Shop?

Sem — Tue, 08 May 2012 11:30:30 +0000

I know that these are not really comparable but the the Pawn Shop line of guitars is more and more awesome… Meanwhile the Custom Shop just do custom shop guitars !!

Fender designers unleashed their creativity since the first Pawn Shop guitars released last year (remember that April 1st release?). But this time I have to say that they nailed it with the 2 new Pawn Shop guitars :

Fender Pawn Shop Jaguarillo… The look of a Jaguar with a Stratocaster electronic (humbucker and two single coil pickups configuration)

Fender Pawn Shop Offset Special… The base of a thinline Stratocaster with a Jag’ vibratio and Jazzmaster pickups !! Now that’s an improbable hybride !

So, obviously the Custom Shop guitars are probably much better than the Pawn Shop guitars in terms of quality of fabrication… But in terms of creativity : Pawn Shop guitars are way superior !! So, what are they going to imagine next to make live that Pawn Shop line a bit longer ??

In case the photos are not enough to make you drool… You can hear and watch both guitars in the videos below… They sound awesome, right ?

Click here to view the embedded video.

[Review] VGS Select Mustang

Sem — Fri, 04 May 2012 09:44:10 +0000

I made this review of the VGS Select Mustang guitar for Guitariste.com where you can hear and watch the video : VGS Select Mustang.

Vision in Guitars (VGS) started by making guitars for heavy music genres but they eventually expanded their lines far from that special field. The VGS Mustang is one of these guitars…

The Mustang is obviously inspired by the famous ES-335 guitar… You can see it in its shape, in its color, and many other details. Yet, if you look closer you can spot some other influences. For instance, the asymmetric headstock could remind you of a Mosrite-like headstock. The F-holes and jazz tailpiece have their own modern design.

The guitar is built very well. The bindings and the mother-of-pearl inlays are very clean. The frets are cut and finished pretty well. You almost don’t feel them under your fingers. So, the fabrication is excellent.

The Mustang is a comfortable guitar… It is big but not heavy. The unplugged tone is very natural. You know how sometimes you don’t get a natural woody tone with this kind of mid-range hollowbody guitars. Well, the Mustang unplugged tone is woody and harmonious. The VGS Mustang has a long sustain.

Once plugged, the tone of the Mustang is pretty clean. The VGS dog-ear P-90 pickups are clean, and don’t sound as biting as the original P-90. The neck pick-up has a clean jazzy feel : loud and warm. The bridge pickup was less convincing. I think it lacks the usual incisive quality of the P-90 either on clean or driven tones. Still, it is a cool guitar to play with.

To conclude, if you are looking for a comfortable, and clean ES-335 like guitar, you should check the VGS Select Mustang… It is a cool and affordable guitar that sells at 390€

Plus :
Very well built
Very cool sounding jazzy neck pickup

Minus :
The bridge pickup is not the most convincing

For more information, check vgs-guitars.com

Guitar Gear Giveaway of the Week : Win 9 TC Electronic Pedals at Tonepedia

Sem — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 09:21:13 +0000

I have to admit that since I splitted both English version and French version of Muzicosphere, well I lost the rhythm of publication. But it’s never too late to fix things…

So, here is the worldwide gear giveaway of the week… Actually, I featured it on GAS a GoGo a few weeks ago but it is ending next monday. Tonepedia is giving away 9 TC Electronic effects pedal from the TonePrint series. The rule is pretty simple as you’ll just have to comment each page dedicated to the effect you want to win.

It’s fairly simple and you could win a TC Electronic pedal : The Big TC Electronic Pedal Giveaway sur TonePedia. Easy, huh ? Now the hardest part is to win but for that, I have no power.

If you want more guitars, effects and amps worldwide giveaways… Check gasagogo.com.

Pedal Labels : Never Forget Your Effects Settings Again !

Sem — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 11:42:03 +0000

Some ideas are just like that… You see them and then you just think why the hell didn’t you think about it yourself ? That’s the case of Pedal Labels launched by Hank from the guitar effects blog : Effects Bay (I recommend this reading if you still don’t know it). And the funniest thing is that he had the idea because of a section of his blog, the Pedal Line Friday.

The problem ? How do you remember the effects settings on a pedalboard made of X effect pedals. Especially when you can accidentally change these settings. How to easily remember the settings for your next rehearsal or gig?

The solution ? Stickers… But not the basic sticker ! The adhesive needs to be strong enough to maintain the label but light enough to remove it easily with no residues or traces of some sort !

Yes… Stickers providing a clean view of the effects pedal settings but that don’t leave any residues once removed (if you change your settings as it may often happen or if you want to sell the pedal) ! That’s a very simple idea and it’s cool to see it on the market !!

There are different styles of labels to match a maximum range of pedals available on the market. The full Pedal Label System pack is available for $7.95 direct from Pedal Labels. It contains 6 individual sheets with over 100 labels (Ibanez, MXR, Boss and individual knob configurations).

More information on pedallabels.com.

[Review] Schecter SGR Solo-6

Sem — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 17:01:09 +0000

I made this review of the Schecter SGR Solo-6 guitar for Guitariste.com where you can hear and watch the video : Schecter SGR Solo-6.

Schecter… They do guitars made for metal and heavy music, right? Actually not if you consider the huge diversity (it’s a euphemism) of their guitars catalog.

I have to confess that for this review, I didn’t do my homework before. Yes ! I opened the box, I took the guitar, and didn’t do any research about it. How much does it cost? what are the specs? Where is it made? I only looked at it and thought : “Oh… A white Les Paul-esque guitar from Schecter… How original is this !!”

And then I remembered : You can’t judge a book by its cover ! Never do that ! And it works for guitars as well !

So, what about this Schecter SGR Solo-6 guitar that doesn’t look like the typical heavy metal guitar ?

Aesthetic: The white finish is clean and not shiny. It is a nice guitar !
Fabrication: The neck is pretty well made. Frets work is good, and the varnish in the back of the neck is thin. Nice sensations. The body-neck junction is very clean suggesting a good access to the higher frets.

The guitar seems to be well built. Nothing revolutionary about it but who cares ? Let’s plug, and play…

Comfort:

The guitar is light, and very comfortable to play. My only regret is about the light gauge strings that come with the guitar : too soft! It requires heavier string to bring the best out of it.
Access to the higher frets is good but I think it could have been better with a thiner neck joint. As is, it is good enough though.

Sounds: All in all, this guitar is a good sounding machine.

The neck pickup has a good clarity on clean tones. When saturated it gets darker and muddy (slightly lacking clarity).
The bridge pickup is a lot more sharper. On the clean channel of the amp, it is very easy to make it crunch. When saturated it also gets a little bit darker, and muddy.

The Schecter SGR Solo-6 is clearly made for rock, and it does pretty well on bluesy tones as well.

So, how much does it cost ? What ? The Schecter SGR Solo-6 is only 199€ ? That’s right… SGR is a budget line of guitars made by Schecter. I didn’t know that until I researched a little bit ! It is a guitar made for beginners, and while testing it I thought it was three times its actual price. As a mid-range guitar it wouldn’t be that great but for the 199€ price point, it is a hell of a deal !

It is a cool guitar for beginners… That’s funny how times have changed. Now you can get a real comfortable and sounding guitar to begin with. Plus it has a cool look ! What else would you ask for ?

Plus :

Comfort
Finish
Price

Minus :

Light gauge strings
Lack of clarity when saturated

Specs :

Basswood body
Bolt-on neck
Maple neck. Rosewood fingerboard
Scale 25,5”
Tune-O-Matic bridge with thru-body
3-way switch
SGR Schecter Diamond Plus humbucker pickups

More information on schecterguitars.com

[Review] Custom 77 Booster King For a Day

Sem — Fri, 20 Apr 2012 12:47:18 +0000

I made this review of the Custom 77 King For a Day Booster for Guitariste.com where you can hear and watch the video : Custom 77 King For a Day.

French guitar brand Custom 77 proved that they can make quality and affordable effects with the Push Me Pull Me Overdrive.

What about the King For a Day booster by Custom 77 ?

Aesthetic: The intriguing graphics of the King For a Day booster is made by French artist Jefk ! It is actually as intriguing as this special booster (see below).
Fabrication: The metal case is not that heavy but it seems pretty solid. Potentiometers, and switchs look solid too.

The manufacture of the King For a Day booster is as good as the manufacture of the Custom 77 overdrive. What about the tones ?

The King For a Day booster is a bit special for a booster. It is not a clean booster nor a treble booster but it is a little bit of both booster types. Custom 77 clearly made the versatility choice there. I am a total newbie when it comes to boosters, so I identified 2 ways to use the King For a Day booster that suit me.

This booster is excellent to get a crunch tone from the clean channel of the amp. It actually can reach a good saturation level.

Depending on the amp, you’ll have to use the Level and Voice controls to keep a nice crunch effect.
The result is even better on the lead channel with a low gain setting. Once the booster is engaged, you get more bite but not more saturation.

The second use is related to my way of playing. I often play triades on the G, B and E strings with a clean tone.

In this context, the Hi-Cut contrôle of the booster allows me to have more presence and biting tone on this short licks.
It allows me to keep a punchy tone one I switch from a overdriven tone to a clean tone, or add some punch and cut through the mix without using an overdrive.

These are two specific use that I like but the Hi-Cut and Voice controls are a lot more versatile. They’ll allow to shape your tone very efficiently either on clean or overdriven tones. I think that the Custom 77 choice for versatility is a good choice for a booster effect. The King For a Day booster is available for 88€ direct from Custom 77…

[Review] Custom 77 Overdrive Push Me Pull Me

Sem — Fri, 20 Apr 2012 11:24:40 +0000

I made this review of the Custom 77 Push Me Pull Me Overdrive for Guitariste.com where you can hear and watch the video : Custom 77 Push Me Pull Me.

Is it possible to build quality effects for a reasonable price ? That’s what French guitar brand Custom 77 tried to do recently when they launched the new effects pedals line.

Does the Push Me Pull Me Overdrive by Custom 77 keep that promise ?

Aesthetic : The graphics is a creation of French artist MinaSmoke. I dig it ! If it sounds as awesome as it looks… That pedal should really keep its promise !!
Fabrication : The metal case is not that heavy but it seems pretty solid. Potentiometers, and switchs look solid too.

I have no doubt that the manufacture is well done. What about the tones ?

The standard Level, Tone and Gain controls plus the Vintage, Modern and Wild modes selector allow a huge versatility of the Push Me Pull Me pedal.
I liked the Vintage and Modern voicings. It is crunchy, and roaring. It is perfect for most kind of rock musics.
Vintage and Modern modes do sound different.
I was expecting a boosted overdrive tone with the Modern voicing. But actually it remains vintage oriented with a sharper quality.
Though it can reach a good level of gain, this pedal is not dirty sounding.
The only thing I didn’t like was the Wild voicing… It is way too wild for me ! The output level is very high, it has a lot of dynamics, and the tone is somehow very percussive. I was not able to tame it during the test period. Some wilder guitarists than me should be able to use it anyway.

I think this overdrive should be perfect for many styles of hard blues and rock. When used on the lead channel of the amp, it allows to reach some serious distorsions. It is available for 95€ direct from Custom 77… And it is worth the money. I even thought it was more expensive!

The Interactive Trailer…

Sem — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 12:55:07 +0000

Coming soon on Muzicosphere… Very soon… Watch your feeds !! Interactive trailer below… Click it !!

We thought that we wanted to see more of this kind of animations, and ideas in the guitar industry… Strangely enough most brands are not there yet! Good news is that we are !!

So with the help of my sidekick Gilles we wrote a short script, and produced this trailer… And I have to admit that I really love the final result !!

Click here to view the embedded video.

Dan Auerbach’s Rig

Sem — Fri, 13 Apr 2012 14:30:18 +0000

Here is a new and Rig Rundown from Premier Guitar with Dan Auerbach’s guitar tech Dan Johnson. So what gear can you find in The Black Keys set?

The Black Keys, I saw them around 2006 or 2007 maybe in a Parisian venue ! The atmosphere was hot and it is one of my best live show experience featuring The Black Angels as a support band… Both bands were pretty exciting !

Back then, Dan Auerbach didn’t have many guitars on stage… As far I can remember he only used his Ibanez SG custom plugged into a Marshall amp. It seems like his rig has wildly evolved since then. Vintage guitars weirdness, three monster amps on stage and a very fuzzy oriented pedalboard…

Just like G. Love’s rig, I never thought that getting such a raw tone as Dan Auerbach’s tone required that much gear !! Enjoy the video below with all these desirable guitars… Especially the Guild guitar !!

Click here to view the embedded video.

Addstring : Innovative & Easy Acoustic Guitar Mod !

Sem — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 12:37:16 +0000

I love the sound of 12-strings acoustic guitars ! However, I always thought that the doubled G string is responsible for the most part of the 12-strings distinctive sound, and character. At least, that’s what I like about the 12-strings sound. I recently had a “confirmation” of this guess when I tried the 8-stings baritone guitar from Taylor.

So, I figured out that I don’t need a 12-strings guitar but a 7-strings guitar with a doubled G string. Tell me about something rare !!

And then I heard about a brand new acoustic guitar gizmo : The Addstring !! The name says it all. The addstring is an easy to install system that lets you add an extra G-string that is tuned one octave higher to an acoustic steel-string guitar!

Best part, the Addstring system comes with a part that fits in the sound hole to easily turn the extra string off while playing. You can also use the addstring to double any of the 6 strings of the guitar.

That’s the gizmo I need, though I won’t install it on my current acoustic guitar which is too crappy to be called a guitar!

So if you’re looking to expand the tone of your 6-strings acoustic guitar, I guess that’s the gizmo to look at. Check Addstring.nl for more information.

Check this demo by my friends Jacques Carbonneaux & Geoffroy Lebon shot at the 2012 Musikmesse

Click here to view the embedded video.