Rebecca Dirks graduated from the University of Iowa with degrees in journalism and art, and joined Premier Guitar as an intern in 2007. She lives in the Iowa City area with her husband, two giant dogs, and more cats than are appropriate to mention. When not petsitting, she enjoys challenging herself in the kitchen, watching the Packers dominate, and discovering new music or rediscovering old favorites.
A Canada-built, tastefully styled mini jumbo serves up comfort, a unique and expansive tone profile, and addictive playability.
Godin may be a Canadian company that skews modern in its design approach. But staring across the room at the new Godin Connaisseur MJ, glowing in soft spring sunlight, I kept thinking about two very classic American guitar companies. Martin and Rickenbacker are famous for very different things, and one of them rarely made acoustic instruments. But check out the Godin’s sunburst finish—it sure reminds me of Rickenbackerfireglo. The herringbone-patterned purling evokes that found on a D-28 as well as Rickenbacker’s checkerboard binding. The split-hexagon fretboard inlay? It conjures thoughts of aD-45, and Rickenbacker’s shark-fins. There are practical reasons that this Godin feels like an alternate-universe offspring from the two American companies—most notably the super-satisfying playability. Hermann Rorschach might have told me I’m more inclined to see and feel these likenesses in the Connaisseur MJ (I’m genuinely captivated by the beauty of Rickenbackers and Martins). But style is a big part of what sets the Connaisseur MJ apart, and you don’t need an inkblot test to know that the Godin Connaisseur MJ is a handsome, well-built, and fine-playing flattop. It’s a guitar that reveals its virtues quickly and easily.
Maple Leaf Rag
Consider another unorthodox melding of concepts: “mini” and “jumbo.” Obviously, they are a contradiction in terms. But as an acoustic guitar design guideline, the combination can yield pure gold. The jumbo in mini jumbo (MJ in Godin nomenclature) alludes to the body’s basic shape which, in its fluid curvaceousness, echoes Gibson’s SJ-200. But while the Connaisseur MJ isn’t a behemoth like the SJ-200, it’s not exactly mini either, and feels much more like a shapelier Martin OM. It’s a very comfortable profile that does much to alleviate the arm fatigue that can come from wrestling a dreadnought or genuinely jumbo jumbo.
At $2,499 the Canada-built Connaisseur MJ is Godin’s most expensive flattop by several hundred dollars. And at that price it has to tussle with giants like Martin, Gibson, and Taylor—all of whom sell very established and well-known models in a crowded market segment that most of us could call “getting expensive enough to hurt.” So, what distinguishes the Godin in a densely populated field? Well, it’s certainly pretty, and the melding of classic flattop design touchstones and contemporary styling moves achieves a unique, attractive result rather than an uncomfortable, incohesive mash up of influences.
Golden Glow
In the sonic sphere, theConnaisseur MJ exhibits many classic spruce-and-mahogany characteristics. The warm, concise fundamentals, sunset-hued, softly decaying overtones, and lack of brashness are all hallmarks of this tonewood combination. But the Godin definitely doesn’t live on the dusty, dry, and antique end of the mahogany-and-spruce spectrum. It’s alive and dynamic and responsive in ways you might even categorize as “modern,” and has ample headroom that leaves space for shifts in mood and intensity without shedding its essential voice. It’s easy to be struck by the Connaisseur MJ’s sparkle, especially when you use a light fingerstyle touch. But as I got to know the guitar, I grew to love the balance and resonance in the low end. I suspect that the mini jumbo body, and perhaps the 25.5" scale, have a lot to do with the Godin’s even, inviting voice and range. There is a beautiful combination of energy and air, even in the most softly plucked notes, and it’s easy to see how the extra expanse of spruce aft of the bridge might have a lot to do with how lively and rich the Godin sounds.
“The Godin definitely doesn’t live on the dusty, dry, antique end of the mahogany-and-spruce spectrum. It’s alive and dynamic and responsive in ways you might even categorize as ‘modern.’”
All the tone in the world doesn’t mean much if a guitar plays like a log. But the Connaisseur MJ shines in the playability realm. A few less-than-perfectly-dressed fret ends aside, the neck is addictively comfortable. If there’s a lot of Richard Thompson hammer-ons and pull-offs in your own playing vernacular, you’ll love the snappy touch responsiveness.
The Verdict
The biggest compliment I can offer the Connaisseur MJ is the considerable time I spent with it in a meditative musical state—thinking not about a review, just basking in its warm, sprightly resonance and inviting touch response. At $2,499, the Godin arguably offers more personality than a satin-finished instrument at the same price with a more famous name. It’s well built and feels like a guitar that’s in it for the long haul. And when it comes to tone and a pure playing experience, the Connaisseur MJ shines.
Like so many pedals that became legends, the Klon Centaur spawned legions of copies and imitators that possess unique virtues all their own. You can now count Keeley’s new Manis among the Klon-inspired stomps that took a great idea and shaped something uniquely awesome in the process. As far as klones go, it’s a great one. Tested alongside a very accurate klone that I use as a benchmark in Klon tests (it was A/B tested with a real-deal Klon once owned by my colleague Joe Gore), the Manis was virtually a mirror image, and often a more satisfying one for its slightly less compressed voice.
One of the most practical attributes of good Klon-style pedals is the relative ease with which they pair with very different rigs. The circuit’s inherent ability to span mellow boost and ferocious, chugging distortion while maintaining dynamic response and detail makes it an invaluable tool for coping with luck-of-the-draw backlines and adjusting to venues of varying size. With options to use germanium transistor clipping and a bass boost, however, Manis multiplies this multifacetedness considerably.
The Deadly Manis
Germanium clipping diodes are, of course, among the most critical parts of the original Klon’s architecture, and the Manis sounds beautiful and accurate in germanium-diode mode. But when germanium transistors take over the clipping function, the character of the pedal changes perceptibly. The Manis is audibly and tangibly less compressed, there’s more air and space in the output, and it’s easier to summon extra grit from your signal by changing pick intensity. You might hear a little less focus in germanium transistor mode, which can adversely affect the pedal’s ability to slot in a busier mix. But in isolation, the germanium transistor clipping sounds and feels much more awake and dynamic. The ability to switch between the two also makes the Manis more versatile when stacking with fuzz and other overdrives, and merely flipping between clipping modes could significantly recast the personalities of Big Muffs, Fuzz Faces, and even other klones without diluting their essence.
“The Manis is audibly and tangibly less compressed, there’s more air and space in the output, and it’s easier to summon extra grit from your signal by changing pick intensity.”
Switching in the bass boost, which gives the Manis a 3 dB kick one octave below the circuit’s usual cutoff frequency, also adds a significant breadth to your available tone spectrum. It can lend warmth to the most authentically Klon-like voices in germanium diode mode, or lend an almost Marshall-like sense of oomph to a signal without compromising much in the way of dynamics.
Ultimate Klon Killer? The Keeley Manis Overdrive Demo with John Bohlinger | First Look
The Verdict
If the Manis was merely a klone that hewed close to its inspiration, it would be an admirably authentic example of the breed. But the bass boost and transistor clipping modes make the Manis a potentially invaluable survival tool for any player that faces changing amplifiers, venues, and recording situations, and needs to extract the most utility possible from every pedal. It might well be the only klone you ever need.
Wanna talk about rabbit holes? Well, few are deeper or darker than one that awaits when you compare the virtues, shortcomings, and construction peculiarities of Big Muffs. Make no mistake, I love the things. And studying real, audible differences among Big Muff variants is fun. But I would happily take back many hours I’ve spent contrasting Ram’s Head, Triangle, and Sovtek versions, and their clones—all to arrive at the conclusion that they all sound awesome in their own right. One dude that has spent about a million hours dissecting Muff tone minutiae is EarthQuaker Devices founder Jamie Stillman. Hisefforts to reverse engineer his pal Dan Auerbach’s unique-sounding Sovtek Muff begat theHoof, which remains among EarthQuaker’s most enduring and successful products.
Just as Auerbach’s Muff possessed a certain something missing in otherwise identical Sovteks, so it was with a Version-6 (V6) Electro-Harmonix Big Muff used by James Murphy of LCD Soundsystem for his band’s fuzz-bass tones. As 40-something pedals will, Murphy’s V6 Big Muff got a bit fussy for tour life, so Stillman and EQD were tasked with crafting a replacement. But like so many vintage pedals that have become notorious and legendary, Murphy’s V6 Big Muff is distinguished by construction inconsistencies that made it a quirky and unique thing.
EQD’s interpretation of this formula—made manifest here in the Chelsea Low End Fuzz Driver—is a Big Muff-style voice that leans more Ram’s Head than Sovtek. In strictly sonic terms, that means lots of grind, presence, and a delectable balance between air and aggression that make the Chelsea soar. Like a vintage V6 Big Muff, it features a tone-bypass switch which removes the tone pot entirely. The midrange-heavy result is appealing and impressive in its own punky way. But the rangeful tone control, and the oxygenated sounds that live in its treblier zones, in particular, are highlights of the pedal’s vocabulary that make it distinctive.
As the “Low End Fuzz Driver” handle and Murphy’s historically bass-oriented usage suggest, the Chelsea’s tone profile is a great tool for crafting gnarly, nasty, bottom-end sounds that have a trace of almost saxophone-like honk and grit on top of mere mass—a sound composite that gives bass and baritone riffs lift and definition. But as sweetly and swaggeringly as the Chelsea gels with bass, guitarists will find it a source of rich and blistering tones, and a distinctive alternative to early Triangle-, Ram’s Head-, and V6-style Big Muff sounds.
It’s easy to characterize Chase Bliss' Joel Korte and “Analog” Mike Piera as pedal-designer opposites. Piera’s work is rooted in understanding what makes great vintage circuits special and building improved, refined, better-quality versions. Korte is often a maximalist (many sounds, many knobs, many possibilities) and an envelope-stretching modernist (unorthodox tones, digital control). But the two builders share much in common. Both are gifted designers, and each is tireless—perhaps obsessive—about chasing specific sounds. The intersections in their methodologies are embodied in the Brothers AM, a Chase Bliss/Analog Man collaboration based on the scarce and much-coveted Analog Man King of Tone dual-gain device.
The Brothers AM nails the creamy, clear, and agreeable essence of the KOT—at least what I know of it. Like many of you, I do not own a KOT and rely on the effusive raves from fellow musicians and what I’ve heard live and in the video sphere. But you don’t need a KOT to hear how good the Brothers AM is. It’s an excellent drive pedal by any comparison. The seamlessly integrated dual-circuit design means it moves readily from very subtle to very vicious tones. It’s even more versatile than its inspiration, thanks to the inclusion of an addictive, dynamite 2-position treble booster and DIP switches that expand the pedal’s tone palette and control options.
Rock-Solid Foundation
The original King of Tone pedal was inspired by a moddedMarshall BluesBreaker which an Analog Man client bought as a less-compressed, less-midrangey Ibanez TS9 alternative. By the time Piera completed the King of Tone, it didn’t sound much like a BluesBreaker. But it achieved other aims: It sounded natural and open and felt touch responsive. As the KOT evolved it effectively became two drive pedals in one—each of which could be configured as a boost, drive, or distortion. This KOT iteration is the foundation for the Brothers AM.
The many controls on most Chase Bliss pedals induce panic among some players. If you’re among them, Brothers AM won’t do much to calm your nerves—at least at first. In reality, though, the Brothers AM is easy to know. The six knobs are two identical sets of gain, volume, and tone controls for the two circuits. You switch each circuit between boost, OD, and distortion using two dedicated toggles on either side of the 3-position treble booster switch. The DIP switches on the pedal’s crown make it possible to add extra gain, reconfigure the footswitches for momentary bypass, repurpose volume and tone knobs as master volume and presence controls, save and switch between two additional presets, assign expression pedal control, and more.
Manifold Monster
One of the Brothers AM’s great strengths is its agreeable nature. It doesn’t seem to give a hoot what guitar or amp you throw in the pool with it. This easygoing personality makes it a great backline-surprise coping tool. Got a Telecaster and an AC15 conspiring to run you through with treble daggers? A dose of the Brothers AM’s soft-clipping OD and a dark tone setting will turn those sharp ends to honey without sapping too much energy. Need to slice through humbucker fog? A dollop of top end and a bump from the treble boost will cut through pea soup. Finding these agreeable baseline tones for a given guitar/amp combination is easy. But what’s most satisfying is shaping, refining, and recombining the Brother AM’s two basic voices into so many completely different identities.
Another great thing about the Brothers AM: You know how a lot of overdrives turn to mud at low amp volume? The Brothers AM sounds and feels great in this role. The range and interactivity between the tone and gain controls enables hot, lively tones and touch-responsive playing dynamics. The Rangemaster-voiced booster shines in this context, too. I got full-bodied, sparkling sounds from a 35-watt Fender Vibrolux whilst leaving room for an unamplified acoustic and voice in the same room. And it's easy to hear how Brothers AM will excel in small or home studios just as readily as it does in big rooms with big, loud amps.
If the Brothers AM has a drawback, it’s the heavily colored compression at the highest gain levels. But if the Brothers AM doesn’t shine brightest at these settings, the relative headroom and kinetic bump at most others underscore how you don’t need maximum gain to make your tone as hot as the hinges of Hades.
The Verdict
The Brothers AM makes almost any guitar or amp feel more alive and muscular, in shades ranging from a hint of heat and mass to fuzzy, fierce, and very loud. Though many stompbox clockers categorize the Brothers as a transparent overdrive, it does possess a compressed coloration throughout its range. It’s less cramped in the midrange than a vintage TS9, just as its creators intended. But if super-oxygenated boost-to-light-overdrive tones are the goal, you still might be better served by a good Klon clone or a preamp pedal that mixes in a clean signal. For anyone else, the Brothers AM is full of delights. It lends extra body and fullness to any tone recipe without stripping away instrument or amp personality. It’s effective in small rooms where you still want big-amp sound, but the visceral way it elevates a louder amp—especially with the thrilling treble booster in the mix—can make a player giddy. The Brothers AM, as suits its name, is like the kid at school that gets along with everyone. It doesn’t matter if you have a Rickenbacker and a Vox, an SG and a Deluxe Reverb, a baritone and a Marshall, or a decrepit old lipstick-pickup Silvertone and a Champ—all of them can sound and feel extra exciting along a spectrum that spans a gentle push and raging roar.
Xotic Effects newest version of the Vox-flavored AC Booster, the AC Booster V2, adds a second, footswitchable boost circuit (tweakable via a small, clear knob tucked among the four main-channel controls), plus a set of four DIP switches on the box’s righthand side which engage compression, modern or classic voicing, low-mid boost, and high-mid boost.
This new suite of features packs significant extra functionality into V2’s still-diminutive enclosure. The Vox sounds are all there, and with the high-mids juiced and treble nudged, you’re squarely in clanging Top Boost territory. The modern voicing trades some furry mid-range chunk for a bit more aggression and clarity, while the compression is useful for leveling leads and smoothing out unruly playing.
The boost knob is a little difficult to access, situated as it is in the center of the primary four-knob array. I don’t have particularly big fingers, but even I had trouble twiddling it. That’ll annoy some. But it’s a small price to pay for such a pedalboard-friendly footprint. The boost doses you with a healthy bump in level and gain that’s great for stand-out leads and solos. And speaking of standing out, the upper-mid boost switch is a treat. I found that creating a greater disparity between the high mids from the low mids made for a more precise and satisfying tone-shaping experience than I would experience using a standard mids knob.
There are no shortage of pedals that ape Vox AC30 mojo, but I haven’t seen many that will give you the range of utility that the AC Booster V2 will, for less for $200. Xotic nailed a smart and versatile redesign here.