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A rare Honey Happening that survived the era of the Happening.
Our columnist’s musings on honey bring him back to a forgotten little guitar company in Japanese history that didn’t last very long, but produced some interesting models.
One of the guys I work with is such an interesting fella. Dylan has an opinion on literally every topic, and I take amusement by asking him all sorts of probing questions.
For instance, he only wears t-shirts made from a certain blend (I’ll wear anything), and he likes smoke-infused whiskey (I drink mine straight), and he can go into great detail about an array of things like infusers, griddles, recording software, artificial intelligence, and the list just goes on and on. It seems like I, on the other hand, only have a certain amount of brain bandwidth and I don’t really ponder things of the material world, unless it’s guitar-related.
Recently, he was telling me about the rise of hot honey! He’s always telling me about recipes and how he uses it, but I have to say, anything that’s hot always turns me off. I used to love heat and spice and I could really eat anything. Yours truly even won a chicken-wing-eating contest (101 wings, baby!) with scorching hot sauce. I can even remember working at a restaurant back in the day, and the cooks were always challenging me with hot-sauce concoctions. Even the Jamaican dudes there couldn’t believe how I could inhale heat without a tear. Alas, all the years of trashing my body eventually caught up with me, and now if I eat anything that’s spicy, my belly and bowels just give up the ghost.
So, all this talk with Dylan about hot sauces and hot honey got me thinking about the old guitar brand, Honey. Looking back, I can’t believe I’ve never written about the little company before, but it was just a blip in guitar history—albeit a cool blip.
The story goes that in 1965 the Japanese guitar company Kawai had purchased the Teisco company. Teisco had its headquarters in Tokyo and made mostly electronics there. The wood production was done at a plant called Teisco Gen Gakki, which was located near Matsumoto City. Within a year or so, Kawai brought all-wood production to its own plant and Teisco Gen Gakki went idle.
Some former Teisco employees, who had mostly lost their jobs in this production shift, decided to make a go of their own at the guitar business. From this time, we see the brands Firstman, Idol, and Honey. The Honey Company made all sorts of products, including amps and guitars, and the company only sold in the Japanese market. Honey had a few wild designs, but mostly the guitars were copies of Rickenbacker, Gibson, and Höfner. But then there were these crazy one-off models, like this Honey Happening guitar from 1968. I’ve never seen another one and the only photos I can find online are all of this same guitar! One of my good Japanese friends gifted this to me.
The Happening takes its name from common terminology of the time, like, “It’s what’s happening,” meaning “hip” or “cool,” but this one is one of the coolest, with that elongated upper bout contrasting a super-short lower one. It has a Bigsby copy resting on the beveled-out section at the butt, which is another detail that’s rarely seen. If you check out the pickguard, there’s a cute little bumblebee there with “happening” written across in an old typeface. The headstock design is also noteworthy, featuring an extra-large truss-rod cover with two little diamond-shaped accents.
This solidbody is powered by two sizzling pickups that are Mosrite copies. It has a stinging sound—sorry—and sets up well with the adjustable bridge. Electronics round out with simple volume/tone knobs and a 3-way pickup selector switch. The only part I personally dislike on this guitar is the tuners, which can be finicky. But the guitar itself is surprisingly well-balanced and is a joy to play.
The Honey Company started business in early 1967 but was bankrupt in March of 1969. All Honey guitars and amps are extremely hard to find today, and if you have a good example, consider yourself one of the lucky ones. So instead of hot honey, let’s give a little props to a cool Honey.
1968 Honey Happening Guitar Demo
Frank’s friend Mike Dugan demos the Honey Happening 6-string.
Revisiting the very first wah circuit with delicious vintage-flavored results.
Delicious, present voice. Satisfying, expressive range and filter curve. Well-made. Very little noise.
Toppy tones could be too hot for some players.
$279 street
Vox Real McCoy VRM-1 Wah voxamps.com
Some pedals are more fun than others. And on the fun spectrum, a new Vox wah is like getting a bike for Christmas. There’s gleaming chrome. It comes in a cool vinyl pouch that’s hipper than a stocking. Put the pedal on the floor and you feel the freedom of a marauding BMX delinquent off the leash, or a funk dandy cool-stepping through the hot New York City summertime. It’s musical motion. It’s one of the most stylish effects ever built. A good one will be among the coolest-sounding, too.
Vox Real McCoy - MAIN by premierguitar
Needless to say, there are not a lot of original Vox Clyde McCoys on the gigging circuit. They’re collector-spendy and a rarity, even in nice studios. And as anyone who has ever owned a wah knows, the combination of vigorous stomping and relative fragility in electro-mechanical terms means many wahs live short lives. A late-’60s Clyde McCoy can indeed sound special, though: top end that’s substantial, sweet and searing, and vowel-y contours in the filter sweeps that lend a haunting humanity to the voice. The new Vox Real McCoy VRM-1 is exhilarating in many of the same ways vintage specimens can be.
Of Halos, Pots, Treadles, and Trips
The Real McCoy mixes old and newer components and circuit construction techniques. The machine-populated board is clean, neat, and dotted with time-tested, familiar parts, like BC-109 transistors, and a contemporary halo inductor design. The latter component, like any inductor, shifts the resonant peak and shapes a wah’s voice. The one used here is less noisy than those on early Clyde McCoys, but clearly shares many very similar tone attributes.
Something in the Wahter
When I play a wah, I love using long, slow filter sweeps—like, “Maggot Brain”-at-half-speed slow. The McCoy’s nuanced taper means lots of copious tone colors to paint with if you take that approach. If you’re accustomed to the narrower vocal range of inexpensive wahs, the Real McCoy can inspire a relaxed approach to the effect—the kind that compels a player to lean on a single note and enables sweet, vocal-style support in more tender, soulful musical settings. As much pleasure as there is in these lazy-footed adaptations of the effect, the McCoy’s range and treadle action also makes it a standout for Wah Wah Watson and Skip Pitts “wocka-wocka” rhythm jabs. The Real McCoy is quiet, too, adding little hiss or noise to your signal.
At extremes of the potentiometer’s travel, the McCoy shines. The toppiest of the top end is blue-flame hot—a killer place to punctuate a solo or linger for a whole one, for that matter. The bassier reaches of the sweep are throaty, thick and powerful rather than muffled. I love the sounds the Real McCoy makes here, particularly with a nasty fuzz on the receiving end, which can sound really snarly and focused rather than grating.
The Verdict
The Real McCoy sounds, in most respects, very vintage in its tone profile. There’s lots of range, sharp trebly peaks, and fat, bassy resonance. It feels great underfoot, too. It’s responsive—facilitating fast, fluttering “Dazed and Confused” filter sweeps and long, slow throws of the treadle. About the price: $279 is on the high end for new wah wah. That’s only 20 bucks less than Vox’s V846-HW handwired wah and anywhere from 100 to 180 bucks more than wahs at the affordable end of the price spectrum, where the occasional wah-ist tends to look. If lyrical, super-present wah textures are a cornerstone of your sound, the Real McCoy merits a listen to see if the differences here justify the cost. Even wah newbies, however, may well find the Real McCoy’s characterful voice infectious and irresistible.
Introducing the ENGL Steve Morse Signature 20, a compact and versatile all-tube head with two channels, power soak options, built-in noise gate, delay, reverb, and more. Made in Germany, this amp delivers Steve Morse's precision and clarity in a powerful package.
Steve Morse, the legendary guitarist known for his work with bands like Deep Purple and the Dixie Dregs, has recently announced a new collaboration with ENGL Amps.
The result of this partnership is a small signature head that promises to deliver the perfect tone for any guitarist looking to achieve the same level of precision and clarity that Morse is known for. The new ENGL head, aptly named the Steve Morse Signature 20, is a compact and versatile amplifier that packs a punch in terms of both features and sound. With two channels, guitarists will have the ability to dial in a wide range of tones to suit their playing style.
What makes this signature head stand out is its unique preamp and power amp design. The clean channel offers a warm and articulate sound, while the lead channel delivers a classic rock tone with just the right amount of grit. With its powerful and responsive gain stage, this head produces a rich and dynamic sound that can go from smooth and creamy to aggressive and punchy with just the twist of a knob.
But that's not all the E658 also features a built-in noise gate, making it perfect for high-gain playing without any unwanted noise. And for those who want even more tonal options, the head also has a built-in delay and reverb as well some handy features like an IR loader, midi, headphone out. Whether you're a fan of Steve Morse's playing or just looking for a versatile and powerful amp, the ENGL Steve Morse Signature 20 is definitely worth checking out. With its compact size and impressive features, this head is sure to become a go-to for guitarists of all styles and genres.
- Two Channels: Clean, Lead
- All Tube Head
- Power Soak (Full Power / 20 Watts, 5 Watts, 1 Watt, Speaker Off)
- Preamp tubes: 4 x ECC83 (12AX7)
- Poweramp tubes: 2 x EL84
- Tube buffered FX Loop
- Noise Gate Master Volume Boost (M.V.B.)
- Reverb
- Delay
- Midi: MIDI In (with ENGL Phantom power switch)
- Impulse Response Loader
- USB: for IR loading
- Headphone Output with Level control
- XLR Ground Lift Switch
- Store (for MIDI programming)
- Controls: Gain (separately for each channel), Bass, Middle, Treble, Lead Volume, Clean Presence, Master
- Controls (Rear): Powersoak, Noise Gate threshold level, Delay, Reverb
- Outputs: 1 x 8-16 ohms or 2 x 16 ohms
- Made in Germany
The Steve Morse Signature 20 is available now from authorized Engl Amplifiers dealers worldwide.
For more information, visit engl-amps.com.
John Bohlinger & Tim Aven Play Guitar and Talk About Being a Pro Musician in Nashville
The LANCO lead guitarist sits down with John Bohlinger and covers his journey from software engineer to touring pro, surviving the deep waters of Nashville’s music scene, and how he uses social media and YouTube as a resume. Plus, he and John jam it out!