With the introduction of its new Jazz and Blues series of guitars, Alvarez seems to be looking back and forward at the same time. The vintage vibe of the Delta00, from its honeyburst finish to its soft-V-shaped neck, sloped shoulders, and open-geared tuners, says pre-war blues all the way. But, according to Alvarez, there’s more to this guitar than meets the eye—most notably a bracing system that gives the guitar “more modern style projection.” Indeed, for a little guitar, this Alvarez sounds very big.
Bursting with Big Tones
The Alvarez is roughly equivalent to a Gibson L-00 in terms of size and profile. There are no markers on the actual fretboard, but there are on the top of the neck at the usual 3rd, 5th, 7th, 9th, and 12th frets. Craftsmanship looks very solid. I could not spot any flaws, and I was impressed with the vintage gloss “shadow burst” (which, to my eyes, looks much like a Gibson honeyburst). The body is solid wood with a Sitka spruce top and mahogany back and sides. Back-shifted, scalloped bracing on the interior explains some of the lean toward a modern tonal sensibility. And the slightly arched back allows it to sit comfortably against your body.
With the first chord, I thought, “What a cannon!” For a relatively small box, the Alvarez can really project! It has a sharp, barking voice, as well, which makes it a perfect pre-war blues machine. The guitar was set up with slightly higher action than a lot of pickers might prefer. But the upside is that the little extra space between fretboard and strings meant I could readily delve into bottleneck slide—a task for which the Alvarez’s voice is ideal. Slide sounds good in open D, but the extra string tension from open E made the Delta00 really sing as I played through Tampa Red’s “Boogie Woogie Dance.”
Back in standard tuning, the crisp clarity in the Delta00’s tones helped the guitar articulate treble and bass without getting mushy, which also made bluegrass crosspicking and G runs sound great. And while the Delta00’s basic voice is not especially complex in these settings, it’s far from thin. I tried out Big Bill Broonzy’s “Hey, Hey”—a blues fingerpicking staple—and generated plenty of thumping bass without ever sounding boomy.
Ratings
Pros:
Excellent build quality. Accurate electronics.
Cons:
Strummers might want more bass.
Tones:
Playability:
Build/Design:
Value:
Street:
$749
Alvarez Delta00EDLX/SHB
alvarezguitars.com
In general, the Delta00 has a tight, midrange-based tonal focus. For some strummers that may mean inadequate low-end “boom.” But again, it’s the trebles and mid-based clarity that make the guitar an ideal candidate for blues-styled fingerpicking, and this quality also translates well to more modern, midrange-centric musical settings.
Room to Roam
String spacing at the bridge is 2 1/4", which makes the Delta00 comfortable for fingerpicking. The 1 3/4" spacing at the nut, meanwhile, provides lots of space for the fretting hand. The satin finish on the mahogany neck feels fast, although the neck shape and size may make this guitar a little more challenging to play for those with smaller hands. And while the Delta00’s 24 13/16" scale should feel just a little looser than a longer scale guitar, it was slightly stiffer than I would have imagined. That said, it’s not really an issue unless you like to bend up a whole step or really fly around the neck.
Our review guitar was equipped with an L.R. Baggs VTC Element active pickup—an under-saddle piezo pickup with endpin preamp and soundhole-mounted volume and tone controls. The Baggs does a good job of capturing the Delta’s essential voice. I ran the signal through a Schertler Jam 150 and dialed down the VTC tone control about 75 percent to minimize some of the piezo “quack,” which yielded a very acceptable amplified sound.
The Verdict
This Delta00 is a nicely executed, well-built instrument for those who want to get a good sounding and authentic feeling fingerstyle or pre-war blues box at a more affordable, low-mid price. The back-shifted bracing does seem to tilt the tone toward more modern, and perhaps less authentically vintage, midrange-heavy tones. As such, it may have less appeal for players seeking a full-sounding, bass-heavy strumming guitar. But with onboard electronics that make this guitar gig-ready, Delta00 should provide players with less-strict definitions of “vintage correct” with plenty of proper blues attitude.
Watch the Review Demo:
Diamond Pedals Dark Cloud
True to the Diamond design ethos of our dBBD’s hybrid analog architecture, Dark Cloud unlocks a new frontier in delay technology which was once deemed unobtainable by standard BBD circuit.
Powered by an embedded system, the Dark Cloud seamlessly blends input and output signals, crafting Tape, Harmonic, and Reverse delays with the organic warmth of analog companding and the meticulous precision of digital control.
Where analog warmth meets digital precision, the Dark Cloud redefines delay effects to create a pedal like no other
But by gosh, if delay—and its sister effect, reverb—haven’t always been perfect for the music I like to write and play. Which brings us to the Fishman EchoBack Mini Delay. The EchoBack, along with the standard delay controls of level, time, and repeats—as well as a tap tempo—has a toggle to alternate between analog, tape, and digital-delay voices.
I hooked up my Washburn Bella Tono Elegante to my Blues Junior to give the EchoBack a test run. We love a medium delay—my usual preference for delay settings is to have both level and repeats at 1 o’clock, and time at 11 o’clock. With the analog voice switched on, I heard some pillowy warmth in the processed signal, as well as a familiar degradation with each repeat—until their wake gave way to a gentle, distant, crinkly ticking. Staying on analog and adjusting delay time down to 8 o’clock and repeats to about 11:30, some cozy slapback enveloped my rendition of Johnny Marr’s part to “Back to the Old House,” conjuring up thoughts of Elvis trapped in a small chamber, but in a good way. It sounded indubitably authentic. The one drawback of analog delay for me, generally, is that its roundness can feel a bit under water at times.
Switching over to tape, that pillowy warmth evaporated, and in its place came a very clear replication of my tone—but with just a bit of the highs shaved off the top. With the settings at the medium-length mode listed above, I could see the empty, glass hall the pedal sent my sound bouncing down. I heard several pronounced pings of repeats before the signal fully faded out. On slapback settings (time at 8 o’clock, repeats at 11:30), rather than Elvis, I heard something more along the lines of a honky-tonk mic in a glass bottle. Still relatively crystalline, which actually was not my favorite. I like a bit more crinkle—so maybe analog is my bag....“That pillowy warmth evaporated, and in its place came a very clear, pristine replication of my tone—but with just a bit of the highs shaved off the top.”
Next up, digital. Here we have the brightest voice, and as expected, the most faithful repeats. They ping just a few times before shifting to a smooth, single undulating wave. When putting its slapback hat on, I found that the effect was a bit less alluring than I’d observed for the analog and tape voices. This is where the digital delay felt a little too sterile, with the cleanly preserved signal feeling a bit unnatural.
All in all, I dig the EchoBack for its replications of analog and tape voices, and ultimately, lean towards tape. While it’s nice having the digital delay there as an option, it feels a bit too clean when meddling with time of any given length. Nonetheless, this is surely a handy stomp for any acoustic player looking to venture into the land of live effects, or for those who are already there.
