"Emmott's been rocking this all-analog board since 1982 and says, ""Still works, sounds great - no noise or hum!"" The pedals inside are an MXR Dynacomp, ProCo RAT, Ibanez Analog Delay, MXR Flanger, and Boss Chorus Ensemble."
The Warm Audio Reamper does what the name says, but that's the least interesting thing about it. Tom Butwin runs through three use cases of the latest studio stalwart from @WarmAudioOfficial: pulling old direct recordings back through a real amp and pedalboard, splitting your signal to capture a dry safety track alongside your live rig tone, and even routing a vocal through a guitar overdrive pedal. For something this compact, the feature list runs long: JFET and op-amp switching for analog color or transparency, plus a built-in 50-watt power soak for silent amp recording with IRs or cab sims added after the fact.
Warm Audio
Reamper
Analog Studio Routing Hub with Independent Preamp and Re-Amp Signal Paths, Variable Impedance Control, and Silent 50W/8 ohm Power Soak
Our columnist’s quirky, unbranded electric—short a few strings in this photo—certainly isn’t a walk in the park to play.
I’ve been thinking a lot lately about time and the passage of things. I realized that I’ve been writing for Premier Guitar for over 10 years! Ten years is a long time to do anything of significance, but I can say there are about 100 columns of varied knowledge, humor, and stories to keep you engaged. And, miraculously, I still have more stories to tell!
Our columnist’s quirky, unbranded electric—short a few strings in this photo—certainly isn’t a walk in the park to play.
Even though time is always fleeting, I’m still down for adventuring and learning. But, alas, there are fewer local guitar shops to explore compared to when I started writing my column. Forty years ago, there were about 30 eclectic stores between Philadelphia and New York—I was living the dream! Ten years ago, the number was down to maybe 15. Now, there are around eight cool shops in my area still in business, and that number will likely continue to dwindle with time.
One local spot I really love is West End Music in Allentown, PA. I’ve known Doc, the owner, for a long time, and he always seems to have interesting items appear—currently, he has a vintage Teisco Spectrum 5 guitar. I stopped in recently to buy a bass amp and catch up on the news that Doc has to find a new location somewhere else in town. Doc is originally from a small coal town in northern Pennsylvania that at one time had the highest suicide rates in the state; even the pawn shop shutdown in that depressed town. Long before I started writing for PG, Doc and another friend suggested that I drive up and check out the guitars that were left over from the pawn-shop inventory. And folks, it was then, in that small moment of time, that I saw a guitar that would change my life. I was able to buy five vintage electric guitars there for $100, and one of them was so odd that I wondered who would have produced it.
The weirdo was an amateurish no-name, although I have seen similar guitars with the “Douglas” or “Hickory” brand names. Taken as a whole, this club of an instrument looked like an electric guitar, but with more nuanced investigation, I came to some interesting conclusions. The instrument’s body was made of plywood and looked kinda clunky; it had an offset design, but the build process seemed crude.
“What designer or factory would rubber-stamp such a strange instrument?”
It was obvious that the guitar was made by a novice—perhaps even a noob. The neck joint was secured with one(!) screw and a washer to keep everything together. The frets were bad, the grounding was horrible, the tremolo was wonky, and the string alignment was all off. The pickups had large chrome covers that hid some rather weak single-coils. Feedback was a huge problem, and I fought with this guitar all the time.
Did I play it? Yep! Could I make music with it? Yeah! But man, it was a rough experiment. I couldn’t stop wondering who would make such a primitive guitar—what designer or factory would rubber-stamp such a strange instrument? My mind turned to the Japanese companies that were tasked with meeting the overwhelming demand for electric guitars while often having very limited lutherie experience.
I learned that this guitar dates to the mid-1960s, when many wood-producing factories were tasked with making electric guitars. There were all sorts of “pop-up” factories that made guitars for only a short time and then simply disappeared from history—which turned out to be the story with this strange 6-string. Surprisingly, I traced a few other guitars to the same forgotten factory where this one was made, and every single one had an amateurish feel.
Sound-wise, there were some interesting tones. One of my good friends describes it as the “empty-beer-can” sound, where there is a nasally, echoey quality that works particularly well for lo-fi surf or spaghetti Western tunes.
One of my favorite quotes comes from the name of a Charles Bukowski book: “The days run away like wild horses over the hills.” Yes, time does fly, because it seems like a lifetime ago that I got a phone call from an editor here at Premier Guitar. With time and practice, we all can hone our skills. And thankfully, the Japanese builders of my oddball beer-can guitar returned in the 1970s with a newfound desire to build high-quality guitars.
Yngwie Malmsteen has had a long career, so if you don't have time for the whole discography, there’s one record that every guitar player owes it to themselves to rock out to at full blast. Whether or not you decide to commit yourself to some arpeggio exercises straight from hell, you’ll no doubt get the gist of the Swedish-born guitarist’s mission statement. In this episode, we’re talking about all things Yngwie and scalloped frets and wondering why we don’t see any young indie rockers reppin’ his signature model Strat.
Seymour Duncan has launched the Duncan Custom Limited Edition 50th Anniversary Custom Shop Set.
Only 500 sets will be available worldwide, each hand-built by our elite Custom Shop team, signed by Seymour W. Duncan and MJ, and finished with original-spec construction and exclusive commemorative packaging.
The Duncan Custom special pickup set’s key features include:
Ultra-Limited Collectability: Only 500 available, hand-crafted by the Custom Shop’s elite team with decades of experience
Signed and Authenticated: Bottom plates feature signatures from Seymour W. Duncan himself and Maricela “MJ” Juarez, plus original replica “Seymourized” stickers and model stickers
Original-Spec Construction: Built exactly as the first Duncan Custom, with butyrate bobbins, long-legged baseplate, four-conductor cable, maple spacers, and a ceramic magnet. Paired with the ‘59 Model Limited Edition 50th Anniversary Custom Shop neck pickup
Custom Power, Amplified: Medium-output bridge tone with tight lows, bright upper-mids, and harmonic complexity that cuts through while letting your guitar shine
Exclusive Anniversary Packaging: Special commemorative presentation honoring this 50-year milestone of Seymour Duncan’s enduring vision
Available in Black or Zebra
Seymour Duncan’s new Duncan Custom Limited Edition 50th Anniversary custom shop set carries a $375 street price. For more information visit seymourduncan.com.
Marshall has announced the Marshall x Hendrix™ 60th Anniversary Collection, a limited-edition range celebrating 60 years since Jimi Hendrix first plugged into a Marshall amplifier. The collection includes a redesigned Acton III Bluetooth speaker, a 1959 JMH Half Stack, and a limited-edition Fuzz Face® pedal, each inspired by Hendrix’s iconic sound and cosmic aesthetic.
Leading the collection is the 1959 JMH Half Stack. The 1960 AJMH 4x12 handwired angled cabinet combined with the 1959 Handwired Head to form Hendrix’s signature set-up, delivering tight low-end frequencies, a mid-range punch and stunning highs. The 1959 head delivers 100 watts of output and features a 4 x EL34 and 3 x ECC83 tube array. The 1960 angled cabinet is loaded with a quarter of Celestion G12H30 speakers.
Black and purple collide in a cosmic swirl across the fret and control panel, featuring a purple LED indicator. Silver detailing inspired by Hendrix’s jewellery features throughout, including on the knobs, handle, logo, grill and back panel. The all-seeing eye badge sits on the top and bottom of the stack. Made by hand in the Bletchley Marshall factory in the UK, each edition is built from quality plywood and wrapped in black Tolex, embodying Marshall craftsmanship.
Available exclusively with the stack, Dunlop's limited-edition Fuzz Face® Distortion pedal features the same unique oil-on-water design.
“Jimi was a formidable musician, a real force of nature. He took everything to a new level and carried everybody with him. When he played, it was an emotional time for everybody because everyone was thinking, if he can do it, I could maybe do it. And he's using Marshall, therefore we want Marshall. It was a really special time for us all and there’s no doubt that we grew with him and his fame, it was a natural tie-up. The rest is history as they say,” said Terry Marshall, Co-founder, Marshall Amplification.
“From his fashion to his lyrics and of course, his music, there are so many different stories we could tell when it comes to Hendrix. We started with materials and pattern exploration, looking at different fabrics and running test prints with a psychedelic track in mind. We spent a lot of time adjusting the final design to get it just right across the whole collection,” said Emma Rydahl, Senior Industrial Designer, Marshall Group.
Included in the collection is the Acton III Bluetooth speaker. Influenced by Hendrix’s love of velvet, silver jewellery and his fascination with space and science fiction, Acton III captures the essence of his instantly recognisable style. Coated in crushed velvet, with a silver control panel featuring purple knobs and purple LED lights, this limited-edition Bluetooth speaker reflects the bold, textured fabrics of the sixties.
The all-seeing eye is stamped in silver onto the side of Acton III, symbolising both clarity and vision. Taken from a selection of Hendrix recordings, including a rare instrumental version of “Have You Ever Been (To Electric Ladyland)” from The Jimi Hendrix Experience deluxe box set, a new on-off sound pays homage to the greatest guitarist in history.
The Marshall x Hendrix™ 60th Anniversary Collection including two Hendrix inspired t-shirts are available at these street prices:
