Streamlined simplicity makes acoustic sound sweetening a piece of cake.
Streamlined and intuitive. Nice range in controls. 18V means extra headroom. Quiet.
Busy graphics make control names hard to read.
$169
Orange Acoustic Pedal
orangeamps.com
I understand why a lot of my acoustic-playing chums avoid DI boxes. They aren't the sexiest pedals in the world, and a lot of them can look pretty intimidating—with parametric EQs, notch filters, phase switches, and other highly inorganic devices that don't do much for a focused, spontaneous performance mindset. But the fact is that even a simple DI can prevent a lot of headaches. And the very streamlined Orange Acoustic Pedal (which seems conceived for the DI-averse) makes fixing or fine-tuning a baseline amplified acoustic tone feel a lot less like a chore.
It's easy to add or subtract a touch of bass and treble to very effective ends.
The Orange Acoustic Pedal is super-intuitive (which is a good thing, given that the graphics render the control names a bit indecipherable). It's easy to add or subtract a touch of bass and treble to very effective ends. And small adjustments to those two controls alone can do much to eliminate problem frequencies or add body and excitement to flat-sounding piezos. The midrange, notch, and Q-factor controls (the latter two isolate specific mid frequency ranges and narrow or widen the range of the selected frequencies, respectively) take more practice to master. But doing so can make the Orange feel like a scalpel for eliminating problem peaks. The 18V Acoustic Pedal and its useful effects loop are also super-quiet and do a fantastic job of preserving signal integrity. There is no shortage of solid DI options in this price class, but Orange's quiet performance, high headroom, and satisfying, intuitive operation make it an appealing option for DI newbies and players that like keeping their DI solution simple.
Test Gear
Takamine Blue Rose with Ct4-Dx preamp, Martin 00-15 with L.R. Baggs Element
Think outside the box and utilize bends to create tasty triads and dissonance that grabs attention!
Intermediate
Intermediate
● Use more than just the 3rd finger when bending strings.
● Bend into triads and create chords with movement.
● Home in on bending intonation and precision.Bending strings is one of the main pillars of rock, country, and blues playing. Imagine if B.B. King, Brent Mason, Brad Paisley, or Jimi Hendrix played without using any bends. It would be strange, right? The main bending techniques used by those four (and nearly every other person to pick up an electric guitar) will take you pretty much anywhere you need to go as a guitarist, but there are a few approaches to bending that will take you down roads less travelled.
The following examples give you specific licks to plug right into your playing, but the main idea is to gain a different approach and perspective when it comes to bending strings.
Ex. 1 is probably the most 'countrified' of the examples but works well as a tension builder within several genres. The lick is focused on the tension created by bending one whole-step on the 2nd string while fretting the note one half-step above the bend on the 1st string. The bend is released before moving to each section. The "rub" created by this pulls the listener's ear until the resolution, which is A. The first finger frets all notes on the 1st string, and the third finger frets all notes on the 2nd string.
Ex. 1
Ex. 2 is where we start to look at what I call a "chord based" approach to bending. Using a simple I–IV vamp in D, I demonstrate two simple ways to use triads with bends. On beat 3 of the 1st measure, I bend the E one whole-step up to F# with my second finger to create a D major triad (D–F#–A). In the 2nd measure on beat 1, I bend the F# up one half-step with my 2nd finger to form a G major triad (G–B–D). I prefer to play with a hybrid pick-and-fingers technique, but it sounds just as clean when all three notes of each triad are played with a pick.
Ex. 2
In Ex. 3 I work with a descending progression in E, using a bend at the top of a triad with my first finger to form each section. This progression sounds great on its own, but using each of these voicings in other contexts can really add some interesting flavor to your playing.
The first shape uses an Esus2 shape, bending the top note up one whole-step with the first finger to create an E major triad (E–G#–B) and then releasing the bend. The second shape has the same mechanics, only it uses an F#7 chord. The third shape continues that descending pattern, using the exact same bending mechanics but with an A6 sound. To finish the lick, I play an Esus triad using the open 6th string. Then, I use a pull-off to hit the G natural before bending it up a half-step to create an E major triad.
Ex. 3
The progression from the previous example also works well on the upper three strings of the guitar and helps build finger strength. In Ex. 4 rather than bending the top note of each shape, I'm bending the bottom note. It follows the same Esus–F#7–A6–E harmony and resolves with the same shape we used to wind up Ex. 1.
Ex. 4
In this last example (Ex. 5), I'm demonstrating three simple triad shapes that work well with bending the bottom note. We start with one that uses the 1st finger to bend, creating an Emaj7 sound. The second shape works over a B7, and the third resolves to E major. They are all very simple voicings to create but come in handy when you need something that sounds just a tad different.
Ex. 5
Bending into triads can give your playing a little sparkle when needed, whether comping or soloing. The examples given in this lesson are great to use, but the idea here is to apply this concept to different shapes all over the fretboard. Some shapes might take some muscle building, but the work is rewarding. Get creative with your voicings, create and resolve tension, and most importantly bend in tune!
The ZZ Top legend on what makes his "Pearly Gates" Les Paul so special, why he recently had his hands x-rayed, and the "slithering" slide guitarist whose work still inspires him.
Jumbo sounds resound in a flattop that's a straight-up steal.
Excellent value. Great quality for the price. Super playable. Unique tone profile.
Midrange can sound brash.
$399
Guild F-240E
guildguitars.com
Everyone should try playing a jumbo-bodied acoustic at some point. Though unless you live somewhere with a well-stocked guitar shop, it's not always the easiest thing to do. Compared to dreadnoughts and orchestra-sized models, jumbos make up just a small fraction of the acoustic market. But playing a good one is an extraordinary experience. They are viscerally vibrating things—loud, powerful, and pianistic for all their sustain and panoramic tone spectrum.
While they didn't build the first jumbos, Guild is a giant in this narrow field. The company launched their F-50 in the mid 1950s, and the basic body style has been a fixture ever since, becoming a platform for rosewood- and maple-backed incarnations as well as a number of 12-string versions, which are an absolutely essential acoustic guitar playing experience.
The F-240E is Guild's newest addition to their jumbo family. And as a member of the company's affordable Newark St. line, it's Guild's most affordable jumbo. At $399 and with Fishman-designed electronics, it is as fine an acoustic bargain as you'll find. But the F-240E provides much more than the generic entry-level acoustic experience you often encounter in that price class. It offers a truly different sound picture and tone profile that, depending on your comfort with the big body, can unlock inspiration and dormant approaches to acoustic playing. It also upsets the notion about jumbos being exclusively strummers. The F-240E is a beautifully responsive fingerstyle instrument, as well.
Arched and Feathery Light
Many Guilds—particularly from the '60s and '70s—are pretty heavy guitars (remarkably, at no detriment to their tone, which can be massive). The F-240E suffers no such afflictions. It's light for its size and very well balanced. And while players of small stature will probably find the body to be an armful, the satin finish makes it a pleasure to hold.
While a lot of old Guild jumbos were top-of-the-line instruments and dressed-up accordingly with acres of inlay, the F-240E is comparatively austere and flattered by the minimalist design. Like any jumbo, the F-240E is a beautifully curvaceous instrument, and those lines are, in fact, accentuated by a lack of adornment.
Construction quality is excellent for a guitar in this price range. There are a few details that could use a bit more attention: some fret ends, for instance, felt like they could have used another quick pass from the file. But for the most part, this Guild exhibits the kind of build quality that you see in instruments much further up the affordable- to mid-price food chain. One notable deviation from flattop convention that is typical of many Guilds is the laminated arched back. Many luthiers swear by the structural integrity of this approach, but it's not hard to imagine that has more than a little to do with the F-240E's lively personality.
The F-240E is comparatively austere and flattered by the minimalist design.
A Baby Baby Grand?
It would be an exaggeration to equate the F-240E's output or tone complexity with that of a grand piano. Nevertheless, the Guild's big body does impart many piano-like dynamics and sonorities that can shape and inform your playing style. The guitar's 6th-string notes, for instance, could certainly be more rich or characterful, but the big body and expansive spruce top lend them a lovely sustaining quality that is a beautiful counterpoint to the clear, bell-like top-end. It makes a very pretty combination of sounds in spacious fingerstyle arrangements.
If there's a downside to the F-240E's tone profile, it's a very present midrange that can sound strident against the more gently resonant high and low strings. This affect is exaggerated in aggressive strumming situations—a playing style that many aspiring Pete Townshends associate with jumbo bodies. Some players may end up perplexed by this essential paradox in the F-240E: a born strummer that arguably sounds finest with a light touch. But these are highly subjective assessments, and if you fear midrange less than me, you may find the Guild's big strumming voice exciting. Certainly, it can sound massive in recording situations. And with a little compression and EQ, you can create a mighty wall of chugging rhythm with the F-240E.
The Verdict
There's a slightly giddy thrill that goes along with playing an inexpensive instrument that sounds great. And while there are certainly affordable flattops that sound as "good" as the F-240E by one measure or another, few have a character quite this distinct. As with any affordable guitar, there are limitations. I'd love to hear more bloom and complexity in the low end and less dryness in the midrange. But the sensation of feeling bass notes resonate against your ribs, and the expansive piano-like contrasts of the high notes and droning bass notes, could guide you to entirely new approaches to songcraft. And if $399 is all you have to pay to add a few extra tunes to your catalog and some extra musical verbiage to your vocabulary, how can you go wrong?
The 4-knob drive includes transparent and character drive voices (changing the order of drive & EQ circuits) that cover boost, drive, and fuzz tones.
Overdrive versatility with its own voice Hamstead Soundworks are proud to introduce Comet: a meticulously voiced overdrive pedal that opens up a whole world of tones from a simple control set.
Representing our pursuit to take analogue drive circuitry to new heights, it can be moulded from boutique sounding overdrive with a vocal midrange, right through to a rich and creamy fuzz. Both transparent and character drive tones are accessed via a deceptively simple, but incredibly powerful switch. Furthermore, your tone can be shaped via an intuitive two-band EQ, for additional tone sculpting.
Comet Features:
- Incredibly versatile tone shaping from a simple control set
- From tone-enhancing 'always on' preamp gain, to boutique overdrive and all the way to rich, creamy fuzz
- Transparent and Character drive voices
- Multifunction EQ/Drive switch:
- Changes the order of the Drive & EQ circuits
- Switches between two distinct clipping circuits
- Adjusts the gain structure for a wide range of drive sounds
- Active EQ with +/-15dB of clean Treble & Bass boost & cut Up to 30dB of Level boost
- High Gain mode (via an internal switch)
- Global Hi Cut adjustment (via an internal pot)
- Silent optical switching and TheGigRig's OptoKick footswitch, for excellent reliability
Drive, EQ & Gain Structure
The EQ/Drive switch sits right at the heart of Comet, providing two distinct tonal paths. While on the surface it may appear to be just a simple physical switch, it's much more than that. By selecting DRV>EQ or EQ>DRV, you not only change the order of the Drive and EQ circuits, but also the type of clipping and gain structure circuitry. The design uses complex analogue engineering on the inside, to be simple and instinctive to use on the outside.
- DRV>EQ mode gives you a very dynamic and transparent clipping circuit and places the EQ after the Drive Circuit, for studio style EQ sculpting.
- EQ>DRV mode moves the EQ in front of a more raw, yet organic clipping style that boosts the input gain into the drive circuit. Doing this provides a wide range of character drive tones that can be pushed all the way to into super saturated fuzz tones.
Global Gain & Tone Control
From pre-amp boost and right through to fuzz, Comet has a very wide range of gain available onboard. However, to push the circuit even harder into high gain territory, we've also added an extra gear. Selectable via an internal switch, Hi Gain Mode can open up heavy crunch and distortion or even highly saturated fuzz tones.
While Comet is voiced to work excellently with any guitar or bass set-ups straight out of the box, we wanted to add a little extra flexibility for those players who really want to fine tune their sound. With the internal Hi-Cut pot, you can tailor the high frequencies to suit any rig or tonal preference.
Comet Specification:
- All-analogue design
- Dimensions: 70 w x 130 d x 65 h mm
- Weight: 525 g / 1.16 lbs
- Power Requirement: 9-12 V DC ONLY, 65 mA (Centre Negative) Input Impedance: 500 kΩ
- Output Impedance: < 300 Ω
- Warranty: 5 Year Limited Warranty
Comet has been extensively tested with a large range of familiar guitars and amplifiers to ensure that it will work superbly with any setup.
An all-analogue circuit designed by Peter Hamstead. Built at the Hamstead labs in Cambridgeshire, Great Britain.
Hamstead Soundworks COMET: Interstellar Driver
Hamstead Soundworks Comet Interstellar Driver : RRP £199 // €235 // $259
hamsteadsoundworks.com
Built with KT77s, this living-room-worthy, stage-ready combo rocks out in 40W/20W modes and comes stock with a 12" Celestion alnico Cream speaker.
Based in the Flemish region of Belgium, Da Capo manufactures totally hand-built, valve-driven guitar combination amplifiers of the highest quality.
With switchable 20watt Studio and 40watt Stage outputs, the Da Capo GT Deluxe Series 1x12 class a/b amplifier, features circuitry designed in-house by respected engineer Guy Tiels, delivering sweet, hot-valve musical cleans, with an abundance of harmonic induced sustain when pushed to its natural overdriven voice.
"The Da Capo GT Deluxe Series brings a fresh new approach to tube amp design," says Da Capo owner and founder Nicolas Acou. "There's a noticeable increase in clarity and separation within chords and lead lines, what you hear from the speaker is an open and direct, unimpaired translation of the guitar, with exceptional focus and definition.
A Fresh New Sound
Controls:
- Pré Gain
- Treble
- Mid
- Bass
- Gain
- Reverb
- Headroom
- Studio / Live switch
- W540xH430x245
- 15kg
- 20w/40w
- 240v / 110V
Ins and outs:
- High / Low input
- Power inlet
- 8ohm extension
- Effects loop
- Mic out
- 1X Ecc 83 Tung-Sol- 2x ECC83 JJ's
- 2X KT77 JJ's- Custom wired toroidal power traffo
- Van der Veen toroidal output trafo
- 12" Celestion alnico Cream speaker
- Beech cabinet
- Leather handle
Top Design
We also worked with renowned contemporary designer Joeri Claeys, whose emphasis is on form and vision, for a striking cabinet design, featuring well-balanced, fluid curves, creating a minimalist contemporary guitar combo that suits every interior.
Modern Ergonomics
No more heavy lifting with oversized and heavy amplifiers. The GT deluxe is easy to carry and will fit in any car. It is designed to make traveling and setting up a breeze.
GT Deluxe amplifier
€ 3.630,00 incl.tax
Optional Integral mic'ing system
€ 150,00 incl.tax
Extension Cabinet
€ 965,00 incl. tax
Padded cover
€ 230,00 incl. tax