
Fender’s Tone Master series of amplifiers includes the Super Reverb, a 200-watt Twin Reverb in black and blonde Tolex, a 100-watt Deluxe in black and blonde, and a 12-watt Princeton Reverb (not pictured).
Chasing classic tones with new tech has kept major tube-first amp companies and designers in the game. Here’s how they’ve done it.
Darren Monroe had been working with musical instrument retail giant Sweetwater for 18 years when he was promoted to senior amps and effects buyer in 2019. The company’s senior category manager for those products had seen a lot of change in gear up to that point, but a major shift from that year has stuck with him: It’s when Fender’s Tone Master series launched. Legacy tube amp manufacturers had produced digital amps before, but Monroe says the Tone Master was different.
What set the series apart from previous digital attempts by household tube amp brands? For Monroe, it’s simple: They were really good, better than previous digital releases from Fender. “They were pro-level amps,” says Monroe. “They sounded good, and they sound good still, plus they’re super light. It feels like that was somewhat of a sea change at that point.”
For Monroe and many others, the Tone Master marked a new frontier in digital amplification. While digital-only manufacturers like Kemper, Fractal, Neural, and Line 6 had produced excellent, endlessly versatile amp tools over the years, tube-first makers seemed to struggle to put out digital amplifiers that could go toe-to-toe with their valve offerings in most settings. The Tone Master declared that Fender wasn’t just a heritage nameplate. They would be part of the next generation of guitar amplification.
“There’s a legacy in our tube amps, but tubes were the tech of the time going back to 1946.”—Fender’s Justin Norvell
To keep pace with the explosion of popularity in lightweight, utilitarian digital modeling and profiling technology, many tube amp builders—including Fender, Blackstar, Marshall, Vox, Mesa/Boogie, Peavey, and others—have pivoted toward next-gen offerings that bloggers, critics, and players consider on par with their all-valve ancestors, with varying degrees of adaptability for the modern guitarist. The changes across the industry evince a different approach not just to amplification, but perhaps to the entire practice of playing guitar.
Fender’s Justin Norvell explains the shift in the company’s design strategy that led to the Tone Master line: “Instead of giving in to that desire to take a quad-core processing amplifier and make it do 100 things, it’s like, ‘Let’s take all that processing power and make it do all of the subtleties and nuances of the one thing perfectly.’”
Processing Power’s New Hour
Fender’s Tone Master marked the company’s biggest non-tube splash, but the California-based brand has been involved with modeling since the early 2000s. The Fender Cyber-Twin, released in January 2001, was their first swing at integrating digital modeling technology with tube circuits. The 135-watt 2x12 combo came with 250 digital signal processing (DSP) amp presets and 42 effects presets, all driven by two 12AX7 preamp tubes.
To analog purists, mixing the two technologies within the Cyber-Twin might have been heresy, but Justin Norvell, executive vice president of Fender products, says it’s not so radical. “There’s a legacy in our tube amps, but tubes were the tech of the time going back to 1946,” he says. “At the end of the day, these are tools, and getting the most utilitarian or usable tools for players is what we’re all about.”
Norvell says the most significant game-changer in digital production has been the increase in processing power. That leap has taken modeling from a “convenience play” that packed many sounds into one package to an audio technology that can rival tube amplifiers. “We’ve really gotten to a point where there isn’t that much difference,” says Norvell. In the early days, modeling was full of “compromises” and approximations of certain sounds. Now, software and processing firepower advances mean those sounds can be dialed in to be identical to those of tube amps.
“Whatever digital technology is coming out is always chasing the analog technology. For that reason, I feel like that’s insurance that the old thing is never gonna go away.”—Sweetwater’s Darren Monroe
On that note, the Tone Master represents a new-school approach to modeling: Rather than trying to pack tons of different sounds into one amp, Norvell says they opted to simplify. “Instead of giving in to that desire to take a quad-core processing amplifier and make it do 100 things, it’s like, ‘Let’s take all that processing power and make it do all of the subtleties and nuances of the one thing perfectly,’” he says. “That would not have been possible several years ago.”
Given Fender’s history of dynamic, responsive, and sensitive amplification, that goal required a lot of tweaking. Sometimes, says Norvell, they could see a visual on a screen indicating that a tone has been replicated. Other times, the deciding factors were listening tests, and the ears of the testers. “It’s a real mix of art and science,” says Norvell.
Fender’s Cyber Twin, released in 2001, was the company’s first swing at integrating digital modeling technology with tube circuits. The 135-watt 2x12 combo came with 250 digital signal processing (DSP) amp presets and 42 effects presets, all driven by two 12AX7 preamp tubes.
Photo provided by Bill’s Music/Courtesy of Reverb.com
He says Fender’s and other long-time amp producers’ situations are unique in that when designing their digital offerings, engineers can go next door and consult the person who designed the Princeton or Deluxe Reverb reissues. Norvell says this makes for a more contextualized and less abstract approach to sound engineering. “It’s more than just taking some oscilloscope measurements of an amp and making a model of it,” he says. “It’s really intrinsically understanding that electronic ecosystem.”
The interplay between past and present has been key to Fender’s digital development. “The makeup of a digital amp is completely different as to the way that it comes together,” says Norvell. He says it’s “markedly” more work to produce a digital amp than an all-tube, requiring more people, collaboration, and software-to-hardware matching.
Norvell says that the makeup of Fender’s staff has changed to fit the development of digital technologies. Now, it’s not only analog engineers working on their circuits, cabinets, and speakers. “There are software engineers, DSP engineers—all of these different things that have completely recast the way our product and research and development departments look, and what they do,” says Norvell.
“It’s not about authentically copying this or that. We’re trying to produce the best possible and most flexible sounds, and digital technology is a tool we deploy to give guitarists the tools that they want.”—Blackstar’s Ian Robinson
Fender’s emphasis at the moment is on modeling rather than profiling, which Norvell says is “more akin to taking a snapshot of something,” while modeling has discrete pieces interacting and behaving more similarly to an analog circuit. Before the Tone Master line, Fender’s Mustang amp series, starting at $159 street, offered their modeling at an entry-level price point. The Tone Master line starts at $899 street for the Princeton Reverb and peaks at $1,249 street for the Tone Master Super Reverb.
From Marshall to Blackstar
Ian Robinson admits that when the first digital amps started hitting the market in the mid-1990s, he was cynical. Robinson, an electrical engineer, was then working at Marshall as their research and development manager/chief design engineer. But Robinson’s Marshall colleague and future Blackstar cofounder Bruce Keir, a brilliant engineer who would become Blackstar’s technical director until his death in 2021, wasn’t as skeptical. Keir was an engineer “in the purest sense,” says Robinson, which meant he was agnostic in terms of what technology he used, as long as it produced a good sound. “He was quite heretic that way,” says Robinson.
In the early ’90s, Keir had helped develop Marshall’s MIDI-controllable JFX multi-effects processor. Later, his open-minded philosophy was evidenced in a presentation to Marshall customers about the effects-laden, solid-state MG amp series. Keir held up an EL34 vacuum tube in front of the room. “He said, ‘Do you know what this is? It’s a valve. It’s also an electronic component, and just like any other electronic component, it can be understood. There’s nothing magical about it just because it’s glowing and made out of glass,’” remembers Robinson.
Robinson considers Blackstar’s Series One design to be one of Keir’s masterpieces. The two of them worked on the analog preamp and power amp designs together, but what Robinson didn’t know was that Keir was also transferring their designs into the digital domain. One day, he took Robinson out to a rehearsal studio where he’d set up a Series One alongside a laptop with a primitive, 16-bit DSP evaluation module. The sounds were nearly identical to analog. “He basically cracked the code from the get-go,” says Robinson.
Blackstar’s ID Core 100—one of the latest evolutions in its ID series—is a 100-watt amp with two 50-watt speakers in stereo, boasting six voices and 12 vintage-style effects.
“The code” was how to reproduce analog sounds with digital components without loss of fidelity or sensitivity. According to Robinson, Keir built algorithms the “old-school way,” from mathematical first principles, using formulas like the Laplace transform to convert analog signals from the time domain to the complex frequency domain. Then, he was programming the results. At the same time, Keir and Robinson were cracking old 1950s textbooks on valves, deepening their understanding of the technology. They isolated and modeled every single component in an amp to the point that they were indistinguishable from the real thing, then developed a digital index system of each component, so that rather than swapping physical parts, they could do it digitally to modify the sound. In time, their analog designs have sometimes come to be reverse engineered: designed and perfected in digital format, then constructed with analog parts.
Keir made good on his proclamation about the essential simplicity of tubes when he developed Blackstar’s patented True Valve Power. “If you ever want to know why valve amps sound louder than solid-state, read the patent,” says Robinson. Primarily written by Keir with help from Robinson, the patent outlines the way that valves, the output transformer, and the speaker react to produce different amounts of voltage at different frequencies, and therefore different power delivery. “That’s part of the reason you get that feel of the resonant frequencies and the presence being fuller and more open on a valve amp,” says Robinson. “It’s to do with the impedance curves and speakers, and the ability of the valve amp to deliver the voltage constantly.”
One of the things that Keir established was that to attain tube qualities with a solid-state power amp, a circuit required two-and-a-half times the headroom. The concept came together in Blackstar’s original ID series, which combined their modeled preamp with the True Valve tech. Robinson admits the line landed in market limbo. The extra power and tech fetched a higher price tag than beginners could afford, and pros weren’t yet as popularly interested in digital. But Blackstar’s digital line now is broad, with entry-level ID combos, street-priced at $149 to $229, through to 100-watt pedalboard amps.
Keir’s experiments also got at something deeper: Amp modeling can be reduced to mathematical terms, but there’s something else at play, too. Robinson describes it as the “physical embodiment” of an amplification system. No matter the technology involved, you can’t get an 8" guitar speaker to sound like a 100-watt stack, says Robinson. “You can have a plug-in-and-play through a pair of monitor speakers, which is a great thing,” he says. “It’s not the same experience as playing with the amp in a room. The feel and the sound has a lot to do with the amplification system.”
Blackstar co-founder Ian Robinson says, “You can have a plug-in-and-play through a pair of monitor speakers, which is a great thing. It’s not the same experience as playing with the amp in a room. The feel and the sound has a lot to do with the amplification system.”
Brave New and Old Worlds
In his role as amps and effects buyer for the world’s largest online instrument retailer, Monroe stays on top of not just what’s happening in the here-and-now, but what’s coming down the line. He says that while modeling, profiling, and other digital amp offerings are continuing to increase in popularity, he hasn’t seen a corresponding drop in tube amp sales. “It seems like [they] are not gonna go anywhere,” says Monroe. “That business is still strong.”
Monroe notes that Fender got lucky with their Tone Master series dropping right before the pandemic, and that other manufacturers have had to pause potential new digital products in development. “People were sort of in survival mode,” he says, but in the coming years Monroe expects a wave of new digital amp products.
He says that the latest swell of digital amplification is just the most recent in a cycle that has seen bursts of interest in digital technology. He notes that Line 6’s futuristic POD series, which launched in 1998, enjoyed significant uptake even with its distinctly non-analog sound. That means that younger players might be less precious about how they achieve their sound than their tube-purist counterparts, having come up listening to digital tech alongside valve amplifiers. “New players start at lower price points, and digital is more affordable almost universally,” says Monroe.
Sweetwater’s Monroe predicts that as digital amps continue to improve, they will make a dent in tube amp sales periodically, but he doubts that valves will ever fully disappear. “Whatever digital technology is coming out is always chasing the analog technology,” he says. “For that reason, I feel like that’s insurance that the old thing is never gonna go away. When the real is the goal, the artificial will never take over.”
Like Fender, Robinson says Blackstar has no intentions of attempting the sort of profiling that has launched Kemper, Fractal, and Line 6 into the digital amp profiling spotlight. “Our thing is just amp design,” he says. To a certain degree, that means uncoupling from the past. “It’s not about authentically copying this or that,” says Robinson. “We’re trying to produce the best possible and most flexible sounds, and digital technology is a tool we deploy to give guitarists the tools that they want.”
Tube amps carry with them the weight of nostalgia and Romanticism, and Norvell says there’s a good reason for that. “The dynamics of a tube amp cannot be understated,” he says. “But I think a lot of what tube amps did was not the initial intent. There were limitations to the preamp and power section, the distortion was not something everybody was going for, so it’s kind of a happy accident.”
But tube amps aren’t a great fit for every player. Recording with a tube amp at home usually includes cranking it to at least noon and putting an SM57 microphone on it. That’s not feasible at all hours of the day and night, and guitarists who live in apartments or other dense housing configurations need good tone at low volumes. For years, digital amps, which don’t require cranking for different tonal characteristics and often include a line-out option to plug right to your digital audio workstation, have inarguably provided better flexibility. “A digital amp allows you that,” says Norvell, “but the new digital amps allow you that without the [tonal] compromise.”
Norvell thinks the same pattern might be true of digital. “Innovations in gear drive innovations in music,” he says. “New genres and styles are created. I think we’re on the precipice of a digital revolution.”
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Onstage, Tommy Emmanuel executes a move that is not from the playbook of his hero, Chet Atkins.
Recorded live at the Sydney Opera House, the Australian guitarist’s new album reminds listeners that his fingerpicking is in a stratum all its own. His approach to arranging only amplifies that distinction—and his devotion to Chet Atkins.
Australian fingerpicking virtuoso Tommy Emmanuel is turning 70 this year. He’s been performing since he was 6, and for every solo show he’s played, he’s never used a setlist.
“My biggest decision every day on tour is, ‘What do I want to start with? How do I want to come out of the gate?’” Emmanuel explains to me over a video call. “A good opener has to have everything. It has to be full of surprise, it has to have lots of good ideas, lots of light and shade, and then, hit it again,” he says, illustrating each phrase with his hands and ending with a punch.“You lift off straightaway with the first song, you get airborne, you start reaching, and then it’s time to level out and take people on a journey.”
In May 2023, Emmanuel played two shows at the Sydney Opera House, the best performances from which have been combined on his new release, Live at the Sydney Opera House. The venue’s Concert Hall, which has a capacity of 2,679, is a familiar room for Emmanuel, but I think at this point in his career he wouldn’t bring a setlist if he was playing Wembley Stadium. On the recording, Emmanuel’s mind-blowingly dexterous chops, distinctive attack and flair, and knack for culturally resonant compositions are on full display. His opening song for the shows? An original, “Countrywide,” with a segue into Chet Atkins’ “El Vaquero.”
“When I was going to high school in the ’60s, I heard ‘El Vaquero’ on Chet Atkins’ record, [1964’s My Favorite Guitars],” Emmanuel shares. “And when I wrote ‘Countrywide’ in around ’76 or ’77, I suddenly realized, ‘Ah! It’s a bit like “El Vaquero!”’ So I then worked out ‘El Vaquero’ as a solo piece, because it wasn’t recorded like that [by Atkins originally].
“The co-writer of ‘El Vaquero’ is Wayne Moss, who’s a famous Nashville session guy who played ‘da da da’ [sings the guitar riff from Roy Orbison’s ‘Pretty Woman’]. And he played on a lot of Chet’s records as a rhythm guy. So once when I played ‘El Vaquero’ live, Wayne Moss came up to me and said, ‘You know, you did my part and Chet’s at the same time. That’s not fair!’” Emmanuel says, laughing.
Atkins is the reason Emmanuel got into performing. His mother had been teaching him rhythm guitar for a couple years when he heard Atkins on the radio and, at 6, was able to immediately mimic his fingerpicking technique. His father recognized Emmanuel’s prodigious talent and got him on the road that year, which kicked off his professional career. He says, “By the time I was 6, I was already sleep-deprived, working too hard, and being forced to be educated. Because all I was interested in was playing music.”
Emmanuel talks about Atkins as if the way he viewed him as a boy hasn’t changed. The title Atkins bestowed upon him, C.G.P. (Certified Guitar Player), appears on Emmanuel’s album covers, in his record label (C.G.P. Sounds), and is inlaid at the 12th fret on his Maton Custom Shop TE Personal signature acoustic. (Atkins named only five guitarists C.G.P.s. The others are John Knowles, Steve Wariner, Jerry Reed, and Atkins himself.) For Emmanuel, even today most roads lead to Atkins.
When I ask Emmanuel about his approach to arranging for solo acoustic guitar, he says, “It was really hit home for me by my hero, Chet Atkins, when I read an interview with him a long time ago and he said, ‘Make your arrangement interesting.’ And I thought, ‘Wow!’ Because I was so keen to be true to the composer and play the song as everyone knows it. But then again, I’m recreating it like everyone else has, and I might as well get in line with the rest of them and jump off the cliff into nowhere. So it struck me: ‘How can I make my arrangements interesting?’ Well, make them full of surprises.”
When Emmanuel was invited to contribute to 2015’s Burt Bacharach: This Guitar’s in Love with You, featuring acoustic-guitar tributes to Bacharach’s classic compositions by various artists, Emmanuel expresses that nobody wanted to take “(They Long to Be) Close to You,” due to its “syrupy” nature. But for Emmanuel, this presented an entertaining challenge.
He explains, “I thought, ‘Okay, how can I reboot “Close to You?’ So even the most jaded listener will say, ‘Holy fuck—I didn’t expect that! Wow, I really like that; that is a good melody!’ So I found a good key to play the song in, which allowed me to get some open notes that sustain while I move the chords. Then what I did is, in every phrase, I made the chord unresolve, then resolve.
Tommy Emmanuel's Gear
“I’m writing music for the film that’s in my head,” Emmanuel says. “So, I don’t think, ‘I’m just the guitar,’ ever.”
Photo by Simone Cecchetti
Guitars
- Three Maton Custom Shop TE Personals, each with an AP5 PRO pickup system
Amps
- Udo Roesner Da Capo 75
Effects
- AER Pocket Tools preamp
Strings & Picks
- Martin TE Signature Phosphor Bronze (.012–.054)
- Martin SP strings
- Ernie Ball Paradigm strings
- D’Andrea Pro Plec 1.5 mm
- Dunlop medium thumbpicks
“And then to really put the nail in the coffin, at the end, ‘Close to you’ [sings melody]. I finished on a major 9 chord which had that note in it, but it wasn’t the key the song was in, which is a typical Stevie Wonder trick. All the tricks I know, the wonderful ideas that I’ve stolen, are from Michael Jackson, Stevie Wonder, Lionel Richie, James Taylor, Carole King, Neil Diamond. All of the people who wrote really incredibly great pop songs and R&B music—I stole every idea I could, and I tried to make my little two-and-a -half minutes as interesting and entertaining as possible. Because entertainment equals: Surprise me.”
I share with Emmanuel that the performances on Live at the Sydney Opera House, which include his popular “Beatles Medley,” reminded me of another possible arrangement trick. In Harpo Marx’s autobiography, Harpo Speaks, I preface, Marx writes of a lesson he learned as a performer—to “answer the audience’s questions.” (Emmanuel says he’s a big fan of the book and read it in the early ’70s.) That happened for me while listening to the medley, when, after sampling melodies from “She’s a Woman” and “Please Please Me,” Emmanuel suddenly lands on “While My Guitar Gently Weeps.”
I say, “I’m waiting for something that hits more recognizably to me, and when ‘While My Guitar’ comes in, that’s like answering my question.”
“It’s also Paul and John, Paul and John, George,” Emmanuel replies. “You think, ‘That’s great, that’s great pop music,’ then, ‘Wow! Look at the depth of this.’”Often Emmanuel’s flights on his acoustic guitar are seemingly superhuman—as well as supremely entertaining.
Photo by Ekaterina Gorbacheva
A trick I like to employ as a writer, I say to Emmanuel, is that when I’m describing something, I’ll provide the reader with just enough context so that they can complete the thought on their own.
“You can do that musically as well,” says Emmanuel. He explains how, in his arrangement of “What a Wonderful World,” he’ll play only the vocal melody. “When people are asking me at a workshop, ‘How come you don’t put chords behind that part?’ I say, ‘I’m drawing the melody and you’re putting in all the background in your head. I don’t need to tell you what the chords are. You already know what the chords are.’”
“Wayne Moss came up to me and said, ‘You know, you did my part and Chet’s at the same time. That’s not fair!’”
Another track featured on Live at the Sydney Opera House is a cover of Paul Simon’s “American Tune” (which Emmanuel then jumps into an adaptation of the Australian bush ballad, “Waltzing Matilda”). It’s been a while since I really spent time with There GoesRhymin’ Simon (on which “American Tune” was first released), and yet it sounded so familiar to me. A little digging revealed that its melody is based on the 17th-century Christian hymn, “O Sacred Head, Now Wounded,” which was arranged and repurposed by Bach in a few of the composer’s works. The cross-chronological and genre-lackadaisical intersections that come up in popular music sometimes is fascinating.
“I think the principle right there,” Emmanuel muses, “is people like Bach and Beethoven and Mozart found the right language to touch the heart of a human being through their ears and through their senses ... that really did something to them deep in their soul. They found a way with the right chords and the right notes, somehow. It could be as primitive as that.
Tommy Emmanuel has been on the road as a performing guitarist for 64 years. Eat your heart out, Bob Dylan.
Photo by Jan Anderson
“It’s like when you’re a young composer and someone tells you, ‘Have a listen to Elton John’s “Candle in the Wind,”’ he continues. “‘Listen to how those notes work with those chords.’ And every time you hear it, you go, ‘Why does it touch me like that? Why do I feel this way when I hear those chords—those notes against those chords?’ I say, it’s just human nature. Then you wanna go, ‘How can I do that!’” he concludes with a grin.
“You draw from such a variety of genres in your arrangements,” I posit. “Do you try to lean into the side of converting those songs to solo acoustic guitar, or the side of bridging the genre’s culture to that of your audience?”
“I stole every idea I could, and I tried to make my little two-and-a-half minutes as interesting and entertaining as possible. Because entertainment equals: Surprise me.”
“If I was a method actor,” Emmanuel explains, “what I’m doing is—I’m writing music for the film that’s in my head. So, I don’t think, ‘I’m just the guitar,’ ever. I always think it has to have that kind of orchestral, not grandeur, but … palette to it. Because of the influence of Stevie Wonder, Billy Joel, and Elton John, especially—the piano guys—I try to use piano ideas, like putting the third in the low bass a lot, because guitar players don’t necessarily do that. And I try to always do something that makes what I do different.
“I want to be different and recognizable,” he continues. “I remember when people talked about how some players—you just hear one note and you go, ‘Oh, that’s Chet Atkins.’ And it hit me like a train, the reason why a guy like Hank Marvin, the lead guitar player from the Shadows.... I can tell you: He had a tone that I hear in other players now. Everyone copied him—they just don’t know it—including Mark Knopfler, Eric Clapton, Jimmy Page, all those people. I got him up to play with me a few times when he moved to Australia, and even playing acoustic, he still had that sound. I don’t know how he did it, but it was him. He invented himself.”
YouTube It
Emmanuel performs his arrangement of “What a Wonderful World,” illustrating how omitting a harmonic backdrop can have a more powerful effect, especially when playing such a well-known melody.
Featuring a newly-voiced circuit with more compression and versatility, these pedals are hand-crafted in Los Angeles for durability.
Messiah Guitars custom shop has launched a pair of new pedals: The Eddie Boostdrive Session Edition and Lil’ Ed Session Drive.
The two pedals are full-size and mini-sized versions of a newly-voiced circuit based on Messiah’s successful Eddie Boostdrive. The two new “Session” pedals feature more compression and versatility in the overall tone, and showcase Messiah’s ongoing collaboration with Nashville session guitarist Eddie Haddad.
The new Session Boostdrive schematic includes a fine-tuned EQ section (eliminating the need for the Tight switch on the earlier Boostdrive) and two independently operated circuits: a single-knob booster, and a dual-mode drive featuring a 3-band EQ. The booster consists of a single-stage MOSFET transistor providing boost ranging from -3dB to 28dB. At low settings, the boost adds sparkle to the tone, while a fully cranked setting will send your amp to a fuzzy territory. Thebooster engagement is indicated by a purple illuminated foot switch.
The overdrive contains a soft-clipped op-amp stage, inspired by a screamer-style circuit. The pedal includes a classic Silicon clipping mode (when activated, the pedal’s indicator light is blue)and an LED mode for a more open, amp-like break up (indicator light is red).
The active 3-band EQ is highly interactive and capable of emulating many popular drive sounds. Although both effects can be used separately, engaging them simultaneously produces juicy tones that will easily cut through the mix. Both new pedals accept a standard 9V pedal power supply with negative center pin.
“I love my original Boostdrive,” says Haddad, “but I wanted to explore the circuit and see if we could give it more focused features. This would make it more straightforward for guitarists who prefer simplicity in their drive pedals. The boost is super clean and loud in all the right ways…it can instantly sweeten up an amp and add more heft and sparkle to the drive section.”
Like their custom guitars and amplifiers, Messiah’s pedals are hand-crafted in Los Angeles for durability and guaranteed quality.
The Lil’ Ed Session Drive pedal includes:
- 5-knob controls, a 2-way mode side switch
- Durable, space-saving cast aluminum alloy 1590A enclosure with fun artwork
- True bypass foot switch
- Standard 9V/100mA pedal power input
The Eddie Session Edition pedal features:
- 6-knob controls, a 2-way mode switch; space-saving top-side jacks
- Durable, cast aluminum alloy 125B enclosure with fun artwork
- Easy to see, illuminated optical true bypass foot switches
- Standard 9V/100mA pedal power input
The Eddie Boostdrive Session Edition retails for $249.00, and the Lil’ Ed Session Drive for$179.
For more information, please visit messiahguitars.com.
Eddie BoostDrive and Lil' Ed pedal review with Eddie & Jax - YouTube
Enjoy the videos and music you love, upload original content, and share it all with friends, family, and the world on YouTube.Joe Glaser has been a pillar of Nashville's guitar community for decades. He's a man that dreams in mechanical terms often coming up ideas while deep in a REM cycle. Through his various companies he's designed, developed, and released a handful of "blue water" solutions to age-old instrument problems making the tolerable terrific. In this comprehensive visit to Glaser's home base, we get up close and personal with several of the products that enhance intonation and playability without disrupting the guitar's integrity.
In addition, Music City Bridge CEO Joshua Rawlings introduces us to a couple software ventures. Shop Flow helps increase productivity and efficiency for guitar builders and repair shops, while Gear Check aims to help guitarist's keep track of their collection and its history. Join John Bohlinger as he goes inside this inconspicuous six-string sanctuary.
With 700 watts of power, built-in overdrive, versatile EQ options, and multiple output choices, this bass head is designed to deliver unparalleled clarity and performance in a lightweight, rugged package.
PowerStage 700 Bass is compact and durable for easy transport yet powerful enough to fill any venue. This world-class bass head can also serve as the ideal clean power platform to amplify your preamp or modeler. Streamline your rig without compromising your sound and focus on what truly matters—your music.
Designed by Seymour Duncan’s legendary engineer Kevin Beller, a lifelong bass player, this 700-watt bass head delivers unparalleled clarity and performance in a lightweight, rugged package. Whether plugging in on stage or in the studio, PowerStage 700Bass provides tight low-end and rich harmonics, with a footswitchable built-in overdrive for an extra layer of sonic versatility.
A robust, bass-optimized EQ (treble, low mid, high mid, bass and presence) tailors your sound to any room. Need to switch between active and passive basses? You’re covered - PowerStage700 Bass includes a convenient -10db pad control. Multiple output options (¼”, Speakon, XLRDI, and headphone) work for any setup, whether powering cabinets, going direct to a PA, or recording straight into your audio interface.
- 700 Watts of Power at 4 ohms• Preamp voiced for a wide range of vintage & amp; modern bass sounds
- Built-in Overdrive that can go from a light vintage saturation to full-throttle bone-grinding distortion (with optional foot-switchable control)
- Effects loop allows for post-preamp processing and easy integration with modelers and preamp pedals
- 4 band EQ, Sweepable mid controls, and presence button offer dynamic tone shaping possibilities
- Aux input
- Super lightweight and durable chassis for easy transport with our optional gig bag or rack ears.
For more information, please visit seymourduncan.com.