And though the Excalibur and Greta differ significantly in terms of look and function, each is a ticket to funky realms that can prompt inspiration and fresh thinking about tone, recording, and performance possibilities.
The annals of rock guitar history are filled with tales of resourceful players getting killer sounds with crusty, busted, decrepit, funky off-brand equipment from the dustiest corners of the junk shop. Some such legends have become so, well, legendary, that these castoff gear artifacts have become Excaliburs and Holy Grails in their own right—and a cottage industry of electronic alchemists keen to capture the mojo of everything from Jimmy Page’s Supro Thunderbolt to Dan Auerbach’s Companion Fuzz has arisen in the wake of these tales.
Despite their status as an industry vanguard and giant, Fender has built their share of gear that fit this bill. And though their offerings have been, on the whole, a bit out of reach for truly destitute players for a while now, the company’s early overachievers—like the Champion series and White amplifiers—were among the first to rise from trash to treasure status. Fender’s new Pawn Shop series amplifiers, the Excelsior and Greta, are a nod to the style and sonic potential of those amplifiers and their contemporaries—many built by makers long since relegated to history’s dustbin. And though the Excelsior and Greta differ significantly in terms of look and function, each is a ticket to funky realms that can prompt inspiration and fresh thinking about tone, recording, and performance possibilities.
Excelsior
In not displaying the Fender name anywhere prominently, Fender has playfully created a cool brand that never was. Indeed, the 13-watt Excelsior looks and sounds like it could have been conceived as some electronics division of Montgomery Ward or a radio manufacturer with grand designs on diversification in the ’50s. To that end, the Excelsior gets a lot of the details from that period in amplifier amplification right.
The back of the amp is wide open, with the transformer and tube section of the chassis mounted on the bottom section of the amp, and the control section placed in an enclosed section at the top—a common approach to amp layout in the ’50s. The two 6V6 power tubes are enclosed in a metal cage that keeps them cool and out of harm’s way. You’ll also notice the considerable bulk of the 15" speaker, a nod to 15-equipped accordion amps from the Eisenhower era, given how many amps from the period had smaller 8" and 10" speakers—and one that pays big sonic dividends.
The control panel, which is part of the upper-chassis enclosure, is finished in the gray finish you see on old toolboxes, and the control set is refreshingly simple: a volume knob, a knob for the tremolo rate, and a slider for moving between dark and bright settings. To the right of the volume knob, there are three inputs—a standard guitar input, a mic input that has a pad for handling high-output instruments, and an accordion input that gives you a little low-end roll off and a little more presence in the highs and midrange.
In Excelsis Play-O
If you have experience with playing little Fenders, Silvertones, Gibsons, Magnatones, and other small amps from the period that inspired this amp, you’ll be struck by how well the Excelsior nails the compressed and explosive-to-mellow character of those amplifiers. With the single-coil output of a Danelectro 3021 reissue and a Stratocaster driving the Excelsior, I could run through a range of tones from sparkling to filthy, though the amp naturally gravitates toward dirty tones at any substantial volume.
Ratings
Pros:
’50s-cool looks. Well-built. Interesting range of tones. Great overdrive.
Cons:
Not much clean headroom.
Tones:
Ease of Use:
Build:
Value:
Street:
$299
Fender
fender.com
Clean tones really are only available in the lower third of the amp’s volume range, and they’re best accessed with the help of single-coils—or humbuckers whose volume controls are rolled back a touch. This limitation makes the Excelsior a tough proposition for players who need clean tones at performance levels, though it records beautifully at these settings. The 15" speaker lends a little extra low-end color and headroom that give the amp a unique clean voice, and that definitely complements the amp’s somewhat bright voicing.
With the volume up past a third of full, things get gritty fast. At around noon, tones from the bridge pickup take on a cool, Tweed Deluxe-like combination of compression and bite, though it lacks the balance and airiness of a Deluxe—or a Champ for that matter. What it does share with the Deluxe is a penchant for cool, honking midrange that rules for rhythm parts and slurry, percussive, Chuck Berry-/Keith Richards-style leads. When the Excelsior is wide open, it’s all attitude. It growls with an authority worthy of early James Gang or ZZ Top—especially with the bright switch on. A hanging, first-position A chord sustains as if it were coming from an amp twice its size—thanks, again, in no small part to the larger speaker—and leads are all fangs and beautiful high-mid wail. Throw a primitive fuzz, like a Tone Bender or a Fuzz Rite, in front of the cranked Excelsior, and you’ll be awash in glorious, fried, busted, and screaming lead tones that teeter between gloriously singing and chaotic.
The tremolo is a beautifully contoured pulse—neither too choppy nor too flat—that can move from a sexy, noir-ish rate to a fast, sci-fi-wave undulation. It works beautifully with the amp’s clean tones in particular, but it will stay defined through most of the amp’s volume range. It’s only when you really push overdriven chords through the slower reaches of the tremolo’s range that you start to significantly lose detail.
The Verdict
If you’re used to contemporary clean and/or high-gain flavors, the Excelsior will take some getting used to—or it might just prove entirely outside your vocabulary. But if you need an amp that can record with personality, from clean to filthy, or a little amp that can get bellicose enough to hang with a small, rockin’ combo without pedal assistance, the Exclesior has the goods to deliver.
Greta
Dressed up more like a mid-century Japanese radio than a guitar amplifier, the 2-watt Greta looks like it was designed to live in disguise. And indeed, the primary mission of Greta is to be the amplifier you can tuck away next to the reading lamp or on your work desk without offending the sensibilities of those who don’t see beauty in a tattered Champ quite like you do. Life as a double agent isn’t all that Greta does, however.
With a 12AT7 power tube and a 12AX7-driven preamp, Greta can be a little more responsive than your average desktop practice amp. And with line and speaker outputs, you can actually use it to drive an external cabinet or run it out to a larger amplifier. It also has a 1/8" auxiliary input for plugging in your mp3 player.
In many ways, Greta is a pretty cool piece of retro design and an imaginative way to package an unobtrusive practice amp. Its radio-like lines are attractive and will likely prompt a double take among those who aren’t in on the visual subterfuge. The coolest visual element is the backlit, test-instrument-like needle readout, which provides a visual indication of where you are in the clean-to-overdriven range of the amp. However, a few design touches may strike some as less than appealing, even given the pawnshop inspiration: The sum total of the garish, lipstick-red wooden front panel, the unsubstantial-feeling, gold-colored plastic knobs, and the stamped-plastic name badge is a look you might expect from a novelty item more than a pawnshop prize. That said, overall build quality is sturdy enough.
Ratings
Pros:
Imaginative package for a practice amp.
Cons:
Few useful tones for anyone but lo-fi junkies. Some low-quality materials. Expensive.
Tones:
Playability/Ease of Use:
Build:
Value:
Street:
$199
Fender
fender.com
Little Mr. Bojangles
Once you plug in, the Greta is most comfortable delivering clean, subdued tones that won’t wake the family or neighbors. And it’s in these lowest reaches of the amp’s volume range that you also hear the most tube character. Lowering the tone control also helps enormously on this front, and a Stratocaster or Telecaster at these levels will sound great and surprisingly rich for jangling arpeggios and Mark Knopfler- or Richard Thompson-style leads that benefit from middle or out-of-phase pickup positions and a roll off of the guitar’s tone. Set up this way, the Greta is perfect for recording demos or deliberately lo-fi applications.
Despite its tube circuit, the Greta runs up against its biggest shortcomings at more aggressive volume and tone settings. When pushed, the 4" speaker tends to break up in a manner that most players probably won’t find appealing, and it gets downright harsh with both volume and tone controls wide open and a bridge pickup selected. If you move to your neck pickup and roll back the tone, it’s possible to get some pretty cool Randy California-like, super-compressed and muffled lead tones that will actually record pretty well. However, chording at these settings tends to yield a less-than-pleasant sludge unless you’re working at very slow tempos with more open jazz voicings. The amp definitely sounds better through an external cabinet, and it will drive any 8-ohm cab—though the tones will still be of the very lo-fi variety.
The Verdict
Most players do not expect a practice amp to sound like a Princeton, but even with the lower expectations this product category instills, many players are likely to see Greta’s nearly $200 street price as rather steep. Like any practice amp, she does have tones that will reward adventurous players—especially in studio situations. But she also never quite realizes the potential implied by her tube circuitry. Which is a shame, because there are other small amps on the market that will do the job for significantly less cash—even if they’re a lot less fun to look at.
Fuzz, octave, and odd intervals co-mingle and clash with bizarre, mangled, musical, pretty, and often shockingly unpredictable results.
Scores of tones that span the musical and the ridiculous. Fun and ferocious fuzz. Octave can be used independently. Often intuitive in spite of its complexity. Tracks pitch shifts without glitches
Easy to get lost in the weeds if you don’t do your homework.
$249
Keeley Octa Psi
robertkeeley.com
I’d venture that most guitarists instinctively regard fuzz as a brutish, brainless effect (which is funny given how much energy in our community is dedicated to dissecting the nuances and merits of different fuzz types). Keeley’s Octa Psi, however, transcends mere troglodyte status by combining a fundamentally nasty fuzz voice in three switchable variations, and a web of octave and interval tones that transform the Octa Psi into a synthesizer capable of textures ranging from soaring to demented to downright evil.
Crush of the Space Invader
It’s no mistake that the little figure adorning the face of the Octa Psi looks like a sinister cross between a Space Invader and a Cylon. The Octa Psi often evokes the 8-bit, synthy sounds of ’80s arcade games. But the fact that the Octa Psi’s sounds range to cartoonish extremes shouldn’t suggest to a potential user that the Octa Psi is anything less than musical. And the smart, if complex, control layout ensures you can span both extremes with ease.
The Octa Psi is effectively made up of an analog fuzz and a digital octave section. The knobs on the fuzz side are no-brainer stuff: fuzz, master level, and tone. The 3-position toggle, however, expands the potential of those three knobs exponentially. In each mode the fuzz has a cool, snorkel-y, almost filtered essence, with hints of cocked-wah snarl. The punch voice features a bass-heavy profile that’s cloaked in pea-soup fog at the extreme treble-cut/bass-boost ends of the tone control’s range, but crushes like a Tony Iommi-operated wrecking ball in the middle section. The psi mode is even thicker and doomier, though not just heavier in the bass. There’s also more midrange presence that lends extra definition and makes the fuzz feel more explosive under the fingers. The scoop setting, in very relative terms, sounds almost thin compared to the other two. But no voice is exactly short on power here, so perhaps it’s best to call it focused. Each of these modes, which already have heaps of tonal range thanks to the versatile tone knob, can be altered dramatically by the octave section.
Getting a feel for the octave options definitely takes practice. And though intuitive exploration of the possible combinations is rewarding, it’s essential that you do your homework if you want to maximize the pedal’s potential and avoid musical muddles. The Octa Psi’s complexity is largely down to the fact that it gives you much more than just a few octaves up or a few octaves down to work with. First, you can blend in the amount of octave signal. Then there are eight pitch modes available via the rotary switch. Each of these modes shifts in character, depending on whether you select the octave up, octave down, or dual octave setting with the toggle switch. But you can also reshape the tone by pressing and rotating the blend switch, which, depending on where you’ve set the other octave controls, will add octave intervals, like sharp ninths, stacked fourths, and major and minor voicings. Additionally, each of the preset modes will save your settings in dual mode—even after you unplug.
Controlled Chaos
There is another reason the video game correlation implicit in the Octa Psi logo is appropriate: At times, using it can feel like the sky above your moon base is raining laser bombs and you’re being menaced by alien aircraft from all sides. It can be really chaotic, particularly if you’re finding your way by ear rather than consulting the extensive pitch matrix in the manual. Chords are sometimes rendered into atonal glop, and, like any octave fuzz, it’s often easiest to stick with single-note lines.
But for all the mayhem Octa Psi can unleash, finding a clear musical path can be easy and feel like striking gold. Plus, the pedal is, in its way, quite forgiving. It tracks pitch changes well, and rarely collapses on itself—even when executing whole step bends colored by dissonant intervals. You can also use the octave without the fuzz, which yields conventional sounds like pretty faux-12-string, watery chorus tones, and subtle harmonies for clean leads.
The Verdict
The Octa Psi’s power and tonal vocabulary is impressive. You’ll have to be brave or have a very good memory to move between radically different settings on a dimly lit stage. And we didn’t even mention the wealth of “advanced” settings that include volume tilt, pitch ramping, effect order shifts, and more. But the bounty of smooth-to-sick sounds here means the Octa Psi could be a difference-maker in a studio or recording environment when you’re reaching for tone colors and moods that break norms. And though the Octa-Psi could, on the surface, seem nichey, it’s fun to think about the many musical styles and applications where its sounds could find a home—from doomy Sabbathoid chug, to film scores, to glitchy hip-hop hooks, to video-game sound design.
D'Addario's new Bridge Pin Puller and Tour-Grade Peg Winder are designed to make string changes a breeze.
The Bridge Pin Puller is designed to be the fastest, easiest, and safest way to remove bridge pins from an acoustic guitar. Small enough to fit in your pocket, the standalone bridge pin puller is a great way for acoustic players to avoid fumbling with bridge pins during string changes and maintenance. The ergonomic design comfortably fits in hand but won’t place extra pressure on the instrument or bridge during use. Best of all, the clamp design encloses the pin, keeping it secure inside the puller until it’s released.
The Tour-Grade Peg Winder offers next-level performance for luthiers, techs, or anyone who wants to change strings with maximum speed and ease. The multi-tool design brings together a ball bearing, non-damaging socket for smoother winding, molded grips, and a spring-loaded bridge pin puller, delivering an all-in-one option to handle most standard string changes.
From the straight-forward simplicity of the Bridge Pin Puller to the all-around convenienceof the Tour-Grade Peg Winder, D’Addario has your string changes covered.
For more information, please visit daddario.com.
On this episode of the 100 Guitarists podcast, we’re talking about our favorite Lukather tracks, from his best rhythm parts to his most rippin’ solos. And even though he spends most of his playing time with the biggest names, we’ve managed to call up a few deep cuts.
Steve Lukather is one of the most documented guitarists in the hit-making biz. He grew up as an L.A. teen with a crew of fellow musicians who would go on to make their livings at the top of the session scene. By the time Lukather and his pals formed Toto, they were already experienced chart-toppers. The band went on to success with hits including the rockin’ “Hold the Line,” breezy, bouncing “Rosanna,” and the timeless “Africa.”
As a session player, Lukather’s reign in the ’70s and ‘80s extended from Olivia Newton-John to Herbie Hancock to Michael Jackson. And alongside Michael McDonald—whose “I Keep Forgettin’ (Every Time You’re Near)” included Lukather’s distinctive rhythm riffage—Daryl Hall and John Oates, Kenny Loggins, Peter Cetera, and Christopher Cross (among many others) he may have earned the title of yacht rock’s number one guitar player.
On this episode of the 100 Guitarists podcast, we’re talking about our favorite Lukather tracks, from his best rhythm parts to his most rippin’ solos. And even though he spends most of his playing time with the biggest names, we’ve managed to call up a few deep cuts.
This episode is sponsored by EMG Pickups.
Use code EMG100 for 15% off at checkout!
Learn more: emgpickups.com
Nashville session and stage MVPs craft an aural wonderland with their genre-defying instrumental album, In Stereo.
Working from a shared language of elegance and grit, Nashville guitar domos Tom Bukovac and Guthrie Trapp have crafted In Stereo, an album that celebrates the transcendent power of instrumental music—its ability to transport listeners and to convey complex emotions without words.
In Stereo also honors Trapp and Bukovac’s friendship, which ignited when Trapp and Bukovac met over a decade ago at Nashville’s 12 South Taproom eatery and club—an after-hours musician’s hangout at the time. They also sometimes played casually at Bukovac’s now-gone used instrument shop, but when they’re onstage today—say at Trapp’s Monday night residency at Nashville’s Underdog, or at a special event like Billy Gibbons’ BMI Troubadour Award ceremony last year—their chemistry is obvious and combustible.
“Guthrie is very unpredictable, but for some reason our two styles seem to mix well.”—Tom Bukovac
“It’s like dancing with somebody,” Bukovac says about their creative partnership. “It is very easy and complementary. Guthrie is very unpredictable, but for some reason our two styles seem to mix well, although we play very differently.”
As Pepé Le Pew probably said, “Vive la différence.” While they’re both important figures in Nashville’s guitar culture as badass, in-demand session and live players, Trapp also points out that the foundation of their respective careers is on opposite swings of that pendulum. Bukovac’s reputation was built on his studio work. Besides his touring history, he’s played on over 1,200 albums including recordings by the Black Keys, Glen Campbell, Keith Urban, Stevie Nicks, Bob Seger, and Hermanos Gutiérrez. And Trapp considers himself mostly a stage guitarist. He emerged as a member of the Don Kelly Band, which has been a Lower Broadway proving ground for a host of Nashville 6-string hotshots, including Brent Mason, Johnny Hiland, and Redd Volkaert. In recent years, you may have seen him on the road with John Oates. It’s also possible you’ve heard Trapp on recordings by Rodney Crowell, Emmylou Harris, and Roseanne Cash, among others.But back to In Stereo. “This record is truly for the love of music and not giving a shit what anybody else is going to think about it,” relates Trapp, as he, Bukovac, and I sit and talk, and they noodle unplugged on a Danocaster and an ES-355, respectively, in the warm, instrument-filled surroundings of the Cabin Studio in East Nashville. The album was recorded there and at another studio, simply called the Studio, with Brandon Bell engineering.
“When we started working on the album, it was very loose,” explains Bukovac. “I never wanted to bring in anything that was complete because the key is collaboration. So, I knew better than to come in with a complete song. And Guthrie didn’t do that either. We would just come in with a riff for an idea and then let the other guy finish it—and that’s the best way to do it.”
“It’s got enough humanity—real playing—mixed with the cinematic side of it.”—Tom BukovacAll of which helped make In Stereo’s 11 compositions seamless and diverse. The album opens with a minute-long ambient piece called “Where’s the Bluegrass Band,” which blends acoustic and electric guitars, feedback, and keyboards with generous delay and reverb—telegraphing that listeners should expect the unexpected. Of course, if you’ve been following their careers, including their estimable YouTube presence, you’re already expecting that, too. So, a soulful composition like “The Black Cloud,” which builds from a Beatles-esque melody to a muscular and emotive power ballad of sorts, comes as no surprise. “Desert Man” is more of a mindblower, with its dark-shaded tones and haunting melodies. “Cascade Park” is an unpredictable journey that begins with delay-drenched piano and leads to Trapp’s acoustic guitar, which evolves from contemplative melody to feral soloing. And “Bad Cat Serenade” and “Transition Logo Blues” balance the worlds of country and jazz fusion. Overall, the music is timeless, emotional, and exploratory, creating its own world, much as Ennio Morricone did with his classic film soundtracks.
Tom Bukovac's Gear for In Stereo
Tom Bukovac and his ’58 Les Paul sunburst—one of just a handful of guitars he used to record In Stereo.
Guitars
- 1958 Gibson Les Paul ’Burst
- 1962 Stratocaster
- Harmony acoustic rebuilt by James Burkette
- Jeff Senn Strat
Synth
- Roland XP-30
Amp
- Black-panel Fender Princeton
Effects
- Nobels ODR-1
- Strymon Brigadier dBucket Delay
Strings & Picks
- D’Addario NYXL’s (.010–.046)
- Fender Mediums
“It’s a lot to ask somebody to sit and listen to an instrumental record,” Bukovac offers, “so I was just trying to make sure—and I know Guthrie did the same—it doesn’t get boring. When I finally sat and listened to this thing in its entirety, which was many months after we actually recorded, I had forgotten what we’d even done. I was overwhelmed. I love that I never got bored. It moves along and has moments where it gets into sort of a trance, in a good way, but it never stays there too long. It’s got enough humanity—real playing—mixed with the cinematic side of it.”
Trapp picks up the thread: “If you’re in Nashville for a long time and you’re paying attention at all, you understand this is a song town. No matter how you slice it, it’s all about the vocal and the lyric and the song. So, it doesn’t matter if you’re making an avant-garde instrumental guitar record. That influence is pounded in your brain—how important it is to trim the fat and get down to the song. A song is a song. It doesn't matter if it’s instrumental or not. It’s a ‘Don’t get bogged down and get to the chorus’ kind of thing.”
“A song is a song. It doesn’t matter if it’s instrumental or not. It’s a ‘Don’t get bogged down and get to the chorus’ kind of thing.”—Guthrie Trapp
Which alludes to the sense of movement in all these compositions. “It’s very important that every section of a song delivers every transition,” Bukovac adds. “When you go into a new room, when you open that door, it’s got to be right. That’s what I think about records. And there’s a lot of shifting on this record. We go from one field to another, and were very concerned about making sure that each transition delivers.”
Guthrie Trapp's Gear for In Stereo
Guthrie Trapp recording with his Danocaster Single Cut, made by Nashville’s Dan Strain.
Guitar
- Dan Strain Danocaster Single Cut
Amps
- Kendrick The Rig 1x12 combo
- Black-panel Fender Princeton
Effects
- Strymon Brigadier dBucket Delay
- Strymon Lex
- Nobels ODR-1
- Xotic RC Booster
- T-Rex Tremster
- Boss TU Tuner
Strings & Picks
- D’Addario NYXL’s (.010–.046)
- Medium celluloid
That kind of thoughtful development—the set up and delivery of various compositional sections in songs—isn’t exactly a lost art, but it’s certainly rarer than in earlier decades. Listen to Elton John’s Goodbye Yellow Brick Road to hear how Davey Johnstone sets up verses, choruses, and bridges—or anything by David Gilmour—for reference. It’s also a goal best accomplished with a team of exceptional players, and, of course, Trapp and Bukovac enlisted some of Music City’s finest. The cast includes steel-guitar legend Paul Franklin, keyboardist Tim Lauer, bassists Steve Mackey and Jacob Lowery, and drummers Jordan Perlson and Lester Estelle.
“Don’t tell my mom, because of course we all want to make a living, but playing music that has integrity is at the top for me.”—Guthrie Trapp
“We recorded the basics—really, most of the tracks—live on the floor,” says Trapp.
“We kept a lot of the original throw-down/go-down solos,” Bukovac adds. “There were very few fixes and overdubs. One of the best moves we made was letting an outside person objectively sequence it, because you can get a little bit too inside your own thing. It’s like … if you’ve ever done a photo shoot, if you let somebody else choose the photo, it’s never going to be the one you’d choose, and it’s probably a better choice.” That task fell to bassist and singer Nick Govrik.
The terrain Bukovac and Trapp cover on their first album together is expansive and transporting—and packed with impressive melodies and guitar sounds.
The shipment of In Stereo’s vinyl arrived shortly before Trapp, Bukovac, and I talked, and while Bukovac released his first solo album, Plexi Soul, in 2021, and Trapp put out his releases Pick Peace and Life After Dark in 2012 and 2018, respectively, they seemed as excited to listen to it as teenagers in a garage band unveiling their debut single. That’s because, despite their standing and successes, playing guitar and making music is truly in their blood. What they play is a genuine expression of who they are, ripped from their DNA and presented to the world.
“Don’t tell my mom this, because of course we all want to make a living, but playing music that has integrity is at the top for me,” says Trapp. “These days, with AI and people worried or insecure about where the music business is going, and all these Instagram players who just are fixing everything with Pro Tools so they sound like they’re in a studio, I don’t worry because we’re not selling bullshit. We have 35 years of real experience between us, and when we do social media, we’re just reaching for a cell phone and posting it. It’s organic. That, to me, is a big difference. At the end of the day, I can sleep well knowing that I have earned the respect of the people that I respect the most. It’s just authentic music made for the very reason we got into this in the first place. We love it.”
YouTube It
Guthrie Trapp and Tom Bukovac practice their live chemistry together at Trapp’s standing Monday night gig at Nashville’s guitar-centric Underdog.