North Hollywood, CA (December 18, 2018) -- Artist-designed guitars and basses under the ESP and LTD Signature Series have long been among the more popular product offerings by the company. For 2019, the Signature Series expands with new models by players such as Reba Meyers (Code Orange), George Lynch, Stephen Carpenter (Deftones), Frank Bello (Anthrax), Bill Kelliher (Mastodon), Gary Holt (Slayer/Exodus) and more.
The Reba Meyers LTD RM-600 is the first Signature Series guitar ever offered by ESP based on the design of a female guitar player (the company has previously done a signature bass for Doris Yeh of Chthonic). Based on the Viper shape, the RM-600 features neck-thru-body construction, a mahogany body in a new Black Marble Satin finish, a 3-piece maple neck with Macassar ebony fingerboard, a reverse headstock based on the LTD M Series, a single EMG 81 pickup with special orange logo, and an EMG TKO kill switch. Code Orange’s album Forever was nominated for 2018 Grammy award in the “Best Metal Performance” category.
Other new Signature Series models include the LTD SC-607B1H, a new signature model for Stephen Carpenter (Deftones). Built at 27” baritone scale, it’s a 7-string guitar that features neck-thru-body construction, a single Fishman Fluence SRC Signature pickup, and a new Purple Satin finish. The LTD GL-200MT is a new signature model for iconic guitarist George Lynch, and is a lower-priced version of Lynch’s famous ESP M-1 Tiger guitar with its yellow finish and tiger stripe graphics. Similarly, the LTD FBJ-400 is a new and more affordable version of the signature model for Anthrax bass player Frank Bello. It’s available in a Black Satin finish, and includes EMG P-HZ/EMG LJ-HZ pickups with red covers. The LTD TED-600T is a new TE shaped guitar for Ted Aguilar of Death Angel with neck-thru-body construction, a mahogany body with maple cap, a set of EMG 60/EMG 81 pickups with white covers, and a matching Snow White finish with white binding. The LTD KS-M6 is a 6-string version of the signature model for guitarist Ken Susi of Unearth. ESP has also updated available finishes on two other popular Signature Series models, with Gary Holt’s LTD GH-600 model now being offered in Snow White, and Bill Kelliher’s LTD Sparrowhawk now being offered in Black.
LTD Deluxe “1000 Series” guitars have long been among ESP’s most popular and best-selling models due to their combination of professional-quality designs and components along with appealing, affordable pricing for instruments of their caliber. ESP has announced a number of new “1000 Series” models for 2019.
The unique and bold Arrow guitar shape is now being offered in the LTD Deluxe series for the first time with the Arrow-1000, being offered in Snow White and Violet Andromeda finishes. These guitars offer neck-thru-body construction and high-end components including Grover tuners, Floyd Rose bridge, and an EMG 85/EMG 81 pickup set. The Arrow is also being added to the LTD Black Metal Series with the Arrow Black Metal, featuring a Black Satin finish, black hardware, and single EMG 81 pickup.
The popular LTD EC guitar shape, based on the single-cutaway ESP Eclipse, is getting three new models. The EC-1001T/CTM is being offered in Silver Sunburst Satin and Snow White finishes. These guitars offer set-thru construction, a full-thickness chambered mahogany body with maple cap, and a set of EMG 66-TW/EMG 57-TW pickups. These “TWIN” pickups are being offered for the first time on a production guitar, and allow users to split the active neck and bridge pickups with push-pull controls. The EC-1000T is another chambered full-full-thickness model, available in Honey Burst Satin finish. This model offers Fishman Fluence Open Core Classic Humbucker pickups with three voicings, also the first production guitar to offer this innovative pickup.
The new LTD TE-1000 EverTune is the first TE guitar shape ESP has offered that includes the powerful and innovative EverTune constant tension bridge. It also features the new independently splittable EMG 57/66 TWIN set, and is available in an attractive Black Natural Burst finish. The classic-shaped SN-1000FR, offered in Pearl White finish, has a traditional bolt-on roasted maple neck on an alder body, a Floyd Rose bridge, and an H/S/S pickup set with two Seymour Duncan Hot Strat single coils and a Seymour Duncan Custom 5 humbucker with a push-pull coil split control. Several new LTD Deluxe “1000 Series” models offer exciting and innovative new color fade finishes. The H-1001FR is available in Violet Shadow Fade; the MH-1000HS is being offered in Violet Shadow Fade and Black Cherry Fade; the 7-string MH-1007 comes in Black Fade finish. The LTD Xtone Series also has new “1000 Series” additions with the PS-1000, available in Violet Shadow and Purple Sparkle finishes and employing Seymour Duncan Phat Cat overwound single-coil pickups.
ESP Guitars has announced a collection of new premier-quality guitar models in their ESP E-II Series. ESP E-II are guitars that are produced at the ESP factory in Japan.
The E-II Arrow-NT is being debuted in three finishes: Black, Snow White, and Black Silver Fade, while the E-II Arrow also gets new Snow White and Silver Fade finishes. This bold V-shaped guitar features neck-thru-body construction with alder body and 3-piece maple neck and ebony fingerboard. It offers a Floyd Rose Original bridge, or a Gotoh TOM bridge with string-thru-body for Non-Trem (NT) version. Other high-end components include an EMG 85/EMG 81 pickup set and Gotoh locking tuners.
The E-II Eclipse-7 EverTune is a 7-string guitar in the popular single-cutaway Eclipse shape that includes the innovative EverTune constant tension bridge system. Available in Black Satin finish, the guitar includes set-thru construction, a mahogany body with maple cap, and a Seymour Duncan Sentient/Pegasus pickup set with push-pull coil splitting. Three new finishes/tops have been announced for the E-II Eclipse: Blue Natural Fade with a Buckeye burl maple top, Black Natural Burst with a flamed maple top, and Snow White Satin with a maple cap. These models include the new EMG 57/66 TWIN set for coil splitting each active pickup.
Three new ESP E-II Horizon models have been announced for 2019. These include the E-II Horizon-III FR, available in Black Cherry Fade finish. It’s a neck-thru-body design with a Floyd Rose Original bridge and a set of Seymour Duncan SH-2n/Custom 5 pickups. The E-II Horizon FR comes in Black Natural Burst finish and also includes an Original Floyd, along with a Seymour Duncan Sentient/Pegasus pickup set. The E-II Horizon NT-II comes in Tiger Eye Amber Fade finish, and includes an EMG 66/57 pickup set. All three models have quilted maple tops and coil splitting control. The E-II M-II NT offers a Buckeye burl maple top in Black Natural Fade finish, and includes a Hipshot bridge and a set of Bare Knuckle Aftermath Tyger pickups. A 7-string version, the E-II M-II 7, comes in Purple Natural Fade finish with a set of Bare Knuckle Warpig 7st Tyger pickups. The E-II SN-2 is a new model in Blue Natural Fade finish. A classic shape with an alder body and bolt-on neck, it includes a Floyd Rose Original bridge and Bare Knuckle Aftermath Battleworn pickups. The E-II Viper offers a premium-quality version of the asymmetrical double-cut Viper shape, with set-thru construction and high-end components, including an EMG 66/57 TWIN pickup set with coil splitting, and is available in Black and Urban Camo finishes.
ESP Guitars is introducing 13 new bass models in their popular and affordable LTD Series for 2019.
The AP-4 Black Metal is the first bass addition to the LTD Black Metal Series, a collection that debuted in 2018 to immediate acclaim. The AP-4 Black Metal offers the classic shape of the AP Series basses, with a bolt-on maple neck and an alder body, but adds the distinctive menacing cosmetic vibe of Black Satin finish, all black hardware, and a black LTD logo on the headstock. The bass includes pro-quality components including Grover tuners, a Babicz FCH-4 bridge, and a single EMG 35CS pickup. The AP Series bass series also expanded with new Pelham Blue finishes for the AP-4 and AP-5 basses, as well as a new Snow White finish for the affordable AP-204.
Four big updates to basses in the LTD B Series are also being debuted at NAMM 2019. The B-1004 Multi-Scale and B-1005 Multi-Scale now make use of environmentally-friendly and great-looking ziricote tops on swamp ash bodies, and the basses also now include an upgraded black bone nut, as well as the angled fret multi-scale design, Gotoh tuners, Hipshot Solo bridge, and Nordstrand Big Splits pickup set of the previous model. The updated B-1004 and B-1005 basses have been switched to tops made of bocote, an exotic figured wood that is sustainable, and offer Gotoh tuners and bridge along with the Nordstrand Big Splits pickup set. All four of the updated B Series basses have a Natural Satin finish.
The LTD Stream Series has returned to the ESP lineup by popular demand, with a new flat-top redesign. The Stream-1004 and Stream-1005 have premium features that include a swamp ash body with solid burled maple top, a 5-piece maple/purple heart neck, Macassar ebony fingerboard, Hipshot bridge and EMG pickup set. These new basses are being offered in Black Natural Burst finish. The new Stream-204 and Stream-205 are for more budget-minded bass players, and include a mahogany body, a 3-piece maple neck with roasted jatoba fingerboard, and a Black Satin finish.
Finally, the LTD Signature Series bass for Frank Bello of Anthrax now has an even more affordable version with the FBJ-400. This bass offers a set of EMG P-HZ/EMG LJ-HZ pickups with red covers that look great on the Black Satin finish.
For more information:
ESP Guitars
Gibson originally launched the EB-6 model with the intention of serving consumers looking for a “tic-tac” bass sound.
The Gibson EB-6 was announced in 1959 and came into the world in 1960, not with a dual-horn body but with that of an elegant ES-335. They looked stately, with a thin, semi-hollow body, f-holes, and a sunburst finish. Our pick for this Vintage Vault column is one such first-year model, in about as original condition as you’re able to find today. “Why?” you may be asking. Well, read on....
When the EB-6 was introduced, the Bass VI was still a glimmer in Leo Fender’s eye. The real competition were the Danelectro 6-string basses that seemed to have popped up out of nowhere and were suddenly being used on lots of hit records by the likes of Elvis, Patsy Cline, and other household names. Danos like the UB-2 (introduced in ’56), the Longhorn 4623 (’58), and the Shorthorn 3612 (’58) were the earliest attempts any company made at a 6-string bass in this style: not quite a standard electric bass, not quite a guitar, nor, for that matter, quite like a baritone guitar.
The only change this vintage EB-6 features is a replacement set of Kluson tuners.
Photo by Ken Lapworth
Gibson, Fender, and others during this era would in fact call these basses “baritone guitars,” to add to our confusion today. But these vintage “baritones” were all tuned one octave below a standard guitar, with scale lengths around 30", while most modern baritones are tuned B-to-B or A-to-A and have scale lengths between 26" and 30".)
At the time, those Danelectros were instrumental to what was called the “tic-tac” bass sound of Nashville records produced by Chet Atkins, or the “click-bass” tones made out west by producer Lee Hazlewood. Gibson wanted something for this market, and the EB-6 was born.
“When the EB-6 was introduced, the Bass VI was still a glimmer in Leo Fender’s eye.”
The 30.5" scale 1960 EB-6 has a single humbucking pickup, a volume knob, a tone knob, and a small, push-button “Tone Selector Switch” that engages a treble circuit for an instant tic-tac sound. (Without engaging that switch, you get a bass-heavy tone so deep that cowboy chords will sound like a muddy mess.)
The EB-6, for better or for worse, did not unseat the Danelectros, and a November 1959 price list from Gibson hints at why: The EB-6 retailed for $340, compared to Dano price tags that ranged from $85 to $150. Only a few dozen EB-6 basses were shipped in 1960, and only 67 total are known to have been built before Gibson changed the shape to the SG style in 1962.
Most players who come across an EB-6 today think it was a response to the Fender Bass VI, but the former actually beat the latter to the market by a full year.
Photo by Ken Lapworth
It’s sad that so few were built. Sure, it was a high-end model made to achieve the novelty tic-tac sound of cheaper instruments, but in its full-voiced glory, the EB-6 has a huge potential of tones. It would sound great in our contemporary guitar era where more players are exploring baritone ranges, and where so many people got back into the Bass VI after seeing the Beatles play one in the 2021 documentary, Get Back.
It’s sadder, still, how many original-era EB-6s have been parted out in the decades since. Remember earlier when I wrote that our Vintage Vaultpick was about as original as you could find? That’s because the model’s single humbucker is a PAF, its Kluson tuners are double-line, and its knobs are identical to those on Les Paul ’Bursts. So as people repaired broken ’Bursts, converted other LPs to ’Bursts, or otherwise sought to give other Gibsons a “Golden Era” sound and look ... they often stripped these forgotten EB-6 basses for parts.
This original EB-6 is up for sale now from Reverb seller Emerald City Guitars for a $16,950 asking price at the time of writing. The only thing that isn’t original about it is a replacement set of Kluson tuners, not because its originals were stolen but just to help preserve them. (They will be included in the case.)
With so few surviving 335-style EB-6 basses, Reverb doesn’t have a ton of sales data to compare prices to. Ten years ago, a lucky buyer found a nearly original 1960 EB-6 for about $7,000. But Emerald City’s $16,950 asking price is closer to more recent examples and asking prices.
Sources: Prices on Gibson Instruments, November 1, 1959, Tony Bacon’s “Danelectro’s UB-2 and the Early Days of 6-String Basses” Reverb News article, Gruhn’s Guide to Vintage Guitars, Tom Wheeler’s American Guitars: An Illustrated History, Reverb listings and Price Guide sales data.
Originally released in the 1980s, the Victory has long been a cult favorite among guitarists for its distinctive double cutaway design and excellent upper-fret access. These new models feature flexible electronics, enhanced body contours, improved weight and balance, and an Explorer headstock shape.
A Cult Classic Made Modern
The new Victory features refined body contours, improved weight and balance, and an updated headstock shape based on the popular Gibson Explorer.
Effortless Playing
With a fast-playing SlimTaper neck profile and ebony fretboard with a compound radius, the Victory delivers low action without fret buzz everywhere on the fretboard.
Flexible Electronics
The two 80s Tribute humbucker pickups are wired to push/pull master volume and tone controls for coil splitting and inner/outer coil selection when the coils are split.
For more information, please visit gibson.com.
Gibson Victory Figured Top Electric Guitar - Iguana Burst
Released in 1983, the Roland SDE-3000 rackmount delay was a staple for pro players of the era and remains revered for its rich analog/digital hybrid sound and distinctive modulation. BOSS reimagined this retro classic in 2023 with the acclaimed SDE-3000D and SDE-3000EVH, two wide-format pedals with stereo sound, advanced features, and expanded connectivity. The SDE-3 brings the authentic SDE-3000 vibe to a streamlined BOSS compact, enhanced with innovative creative tools for every musical style. The SDE-3 delivers evocative delay sounds that drip with warmth and musicality. The efficient panel provides the primary controls of its vintage benchmark—including delay time, feedback, and independent rate and depth knobs for the modulation—plus additional knobs for expanded sonic potential.
A wide range of tones are available, from basic mono delays and ’80s-style mod/delay combos to moody textures for ambient, chill, and lo-fi music. Along with reproducing the SDE-3000's original mono sound, the SDE-3 includes a powerful Offset knob to create interesting tones with two simultaneous delays. With one simple control, the user can instantly add a second delay to the primary delay. This provides a wealth of mono and stereo colors not available with other delay pedals, including unique doubled sounds and timed dual delays with tap tempo control. The versatile SDE-3 provides output configurations to suit any stage or studio scenario.
Two stereo modes include discrete left/right delays and a panning option for ultra-wide sounds that move across the stereo field. Dry and effect-only signals can be sent to two amps for wet/dry setups, and the direct sound can be muted for studio mixing and parallel effect rigs. The SDE-3 offers numerous control options to enhance live and studio performances. Tap tempo mode is available with a press and hold of the pedal switch, while the TRS MIDI input can be used to sync the delay time with clock signals from DAWs, pedals, and drum machines. Optional external footswitches provide on-demand access to tap tempo and a hold function for on-the-fly looping. Alternately, an expression pedal can be used to control the Level, Feedback, and Time knobs for delay mix adjustment, wild pitch effects, and dramatic self-oscillation.
The new BOSS SDE-3 Dual Delay Pedal will be available for purchase at authorized U.S. BOSS retailers in October for $219.99. To learn more, visit www.boss.info.