Martin OMC-LJ Pro Laurence
Juber Custom Artist Edition
Martin’s OM is one of the greatest
acoustic fingerstyle guitars ever
designed—heck, it’s just about one of
the greatest guitars
period. And former
Wings and studio ace Laurence
Juber is as about as resourceful a
guitarist as you’ll ever find. So the fact
that the guitar that resulted from the
collaboration between the two should
end up a recipient of a Premier Gear
award isn’t startling. But that doesn’t
mean the OMC-LJ (
January 2010 web exclusive) is lacking in surprises.
Unlike previous Martin Laurence
Juber models, the OMC-LJ Pro has
a back and sides of maple—a tonewood
that imparts a lot of warmth
and detail but is more commonly
seen on heftier, jumbo-bodied guitars.
Reviewer Gayla Drake Paul loved
the sonic qualities of the maple and it’s affect on her playing, noting that
it had “incredible power, drive, and sustain, with lean but warm bass and
plenty of sparkle. You put your hands on it and it starts to sing, and gives
up its tone effortlessly. I still haven’t found a way to overdrive it and make
it sound fuzzy or distorted.” She also found it amazingly versatile “This
guitar rocks. Or whispers. You can make it sing like an angel or bark like a
dog. You can play fingerstyle and you can flatpick. It loves open tunings,
but sounds awesome in standard tuning.”
Street $4599
martinguitar.com
Rack Systems Brown Eye and Naked
Amp builder Dave Friedman’s takes on vintage Marshall sounds are
informed by working with a very demanding clientele (among them
Jerry Cantrell and Eddie Van Halen) but also by an interest in lending
them a modern sound and feel. In the form of the 100-watt
Brown Eye and Naked heads (
September 2010), Friedman took two
very bold, impressive, and successful steps toward that goal. Jordan
Wagner found the plexi-inspired Brown Eye, with its Fat, Custom 45,
and Saturation switches and Clean and Gain channels, to be the more
flexible of the two. Noting that it was capable of biting, late-’60s-
Marshall clean and
saturated tones, Wagner
remarked that “the
pure, raw aggression
lunging from the amp
was staggering, to say
the least.” The Naked,
inspired by a Friedman
modification of A
Perfect Circle guitarist
Billy Howerdel’s JMP
100, is (as the name
suggests) the more
straightforward affair. Designed for clarity, high gain, and improved
touch sensitivity, the Naked impressed Wagner with its headroom and
clean-channel tones, though it also had no problem driving into “raging
Slayer territory.” With aesthetic nods to the very earliest Marshall
heads and tones ranging from classic rock to modern metal, Friedman’s
amps cover a lot of high-power Brit amp history and sonic territory.
Brown Eye Street $3500
Naked Street $3000
tonemerchants.com
T-Rex Octavius
Octave pedals can take many forms.
They don’t come in as many flavors
as fuzz boxes perhaps, but they can
run the gamut from chaotic and
rhino-grunt-belching to harmonically
precise and singing. The T-Rex
Octavius (
November 2010 web exclusive) has a foot in each world.
And for having such a many-faceted
identity, it might just become the
octave pedal most likely to stay on
your pedal board. The Octavius isn’t
exclusively a dive-down or high-octave pedal. Instead, you can set
volumes for separate high- and low-octave functions, which effectively
allows you to create a three-octave tone that you can also boost for
super-fat and rich lead work or leave clean for subtle texturizing. Out
in front of a fuzz box, this thing can do major damage. But by itself
it’s an exceptionally musical pedal that can make your guitar pop in
a mix. Reviewer Oscar Jordan was able to “dial in all kinds of octave
variations, going from subtle thickening of my stock guitar tone to
crazy high-pitched stuff that sounded like my Strat suddenly becoming
a 12-string.” Looking for one pedal to totally transform your tone
vocabulary? The Octavius may be the ticket.
Street $279
t-rex-effects.com
Tone Box Skull Crusher Overdrive
If there’s one thing rockers like, it’s a good skull. And, frankly, were
amazed we haven’t seen a stompbox in a brain bucket before the
Skull Crusher. Thankfully, when Tone Box got around to doing this
most macabre stompbox deed, they made it sound amazing, too.
The Skull Crusher (
March 2010) is the brainchild of John Kasha, an
expert on high-gain Marshall amp modifications. And as reviewer
Steve Ouimette found out, it can turn
a JCM 800 into a thick, singing beast.
Switchable voicings—including, Clear, Ice,
Chains, and Body—yield tone-shaping
and switchable-gain capabilities that
Ouimette likened to “stepping through
a very effective tone stack that revoiced
the Marshall for four totally usable and
very different tones.” A Turbo Boost
mode provides access to a super-high-gain boost full of harmonic
sustain that is tailor-made for pinched harmonics and other modes
of metallic expression. As Ouimette said, “rarely have I heard a
pedal that so effortlessly let you be heard through the din. It’s like
stepping above the band and proclaiming, ‘Here I am!’” As if having
a glowing skull on your pedal board wasn’t enough!
Street $399
thetonebox.com