Good news, folks: Guitar is alive and well! PG headed south to Atlanta for three days to celebrate performances (and gather guitar details) from Beck, Gary Clark Jr., Tame Impala, Tyler Childers, Incubus, the Struts, Cage the Elephant, Tash Sultana, and more!
Bad Books’ Andy Hull
If something appears missing, your eyes are not deceiving you because Bad Books guitarist/singer Andy Hull has stripped everything from this Fender Telecaster except the Seymour Duncan Little ’59 bridge humbucker. In our Rig Rundown with Hull’s day job (Manchester Orchestra), it’s detailed that “All the other wiring, switches, and pots have been removed so the signal is as pure as possible. And for what it’s worth, Hull has said that the surgery has resulted in making the Tele 25 percent louder.”
Day 16 of Stompboxtober is here! Win today’s pedal from Ibanez by entering below—then come back tomorrow for another chance!
Ibanez Pentatone Noise Gate Pedal
The Pentatone Gate is a standalone version of the GATE section in the Ibanez Pentatone Preamp. This gate achieves a quick response and natural sustain and has an added threshold mode switch which allows you to adjust the threshold in the appropriate range. Furthermore, thanks to the 4 I/O jacks, the gate circuitry can work at a proper location, such as right after distortion pedals or in between the send/return of a guitar amplifier.
•Controls: Threshold
•Switches: Threshold mode (High/Low)
•True bypass
•I/O’s: GUITAR IN, GUITAR OUT, GATE IN, GATE OUT
•Size: 70(W) x 116(D) x 63(H) (mm)
•Size: 2.8(W) x 4.6(D) x 2.5(H) (inch)
•Weight: 455g, 1.0lb (including Battery)
•Required Current: 45mA@9V
•Power Supply: One 9V battery (006P) or external AC adapter
A 15-watt, Class-A 1×10 combo designed to be compact yet offer extraordinary tone.
The Montauk is a 15-watt, Class A 1x10 combo amp featuring a tube-driven spring reverb with Dwell and Level controls. This all-tube amplifier sports independent gain and master volume knobs, along with a 2-band EQ to provide a wide range of tones from chiming clean to saturated overdrive.
A trio of line outputs optimized for feeding another amplifier or recording console are driven by the preamp tubes before the master volume, allowing the player to tame the on-board speaker from rock gig to bedroom rig, as well as easily utilize the all-tube outboard gain/reverb as an effects unit or direct recording preamp. The Montauk is dressed with Supro's signature Blue Rhino hide cosmetic and comes loaded with a custom-built Supro BD10 speaker made by Celestion.
A trio of line outputs optimized for feeding another amplifier or recording console are driven by the preamp tubes before the master volume.
Supro's custom, high-power 10-inch BD10 speaker features an oversized ceramic magnet, top of the line suspension and a special British cone, resulting in rich, full articulation.
Price: $999.00.
The second release from Cosmodio is a first-of-its-kind modulation effect that features an Expression Pedal/Tap Tempo input for dynamically controlling the LFO’s speed or depth mid-performance.
The Gravity Well is a dual-sided pedal featuring a tremolo on one side and a wavefolder on the other. When both circuits are active a third effect emerges – a refractor – a first-of-its-kind modulation effect produced by integrating the tremolo and wavefolder to rhythmically and fluidly warp and unwarp your signal, producing a dazzling variety of never-before-heard sounds and textures.
The pedal’s five-knob control set includes wavefolder Volume; wavefolder Gain (for controlling the amount of signal folding); modulation Speed and Depth; and a Waveform control to select between 8 LFO shapes that include classic shapes as well as randomized movements.
The Gravity Well’s capabilities are expanded by three toggle switches:
- “Flow” determines the signal flow when both sides are active. Tremolo into wavefolder or wavefolder into tremolo, dramatically changing the effects’ interactions and the sonic result.
- “Voice” selects between three different output voices of the wavefolder: full wavefolding, focused wavefolding, or a wavefolder and clean signal mix.
- “Tone” allows you to select a bright, dark, or balanced output tone of the wavefolder.
The Gravity Well encompasses familiar and exotic sonic territory, creating a pedal that’s both thrilling and approachable. Its carefully spaced control layout is optimized for easy spontaneous adjustments. Its top-mounted input, output, and power jacks ensure an efficient footprint on a pedalboard or desktop. It features faceplate artwork by accomplished pop-artist GOLDSUIT.
Gravity Well features include:
- Selectable true bypass or buffered bypass switching
- 9-volt operation via external power supply - no battery compartment
- Built in US
- Internal DIP switch controls for customizing expression pedal function, tremolo volume, and tone switch range.
The Gravity Well carries a $279 street price. It is available for pre-order at the https://www.cosmod.io/ website. It will fully launch and start shipping on November 19.
The multi-instrumentalist bandleader and ex-Metallica bassist talks the strain of professional touring, creative fulfillment, maintaining artistic balance, and cellphone screens.
Jason Newsted spent 15 years holding down the low end in Metallica, playing bass for the band from 1986 through 2001. That era included records like …And Justice For All and Metallica—AKA The Black Album—plus the iconic S&M live album with the San Francisco Symphony.
But that was just the beginning for Newsted, an artistic polymath who has since pursued a life of balance and creative freedom. On this episode of Wong Notes, he opens up to Cory Wong about why he left Metallica, and details the “Olympian” physicality and discipline that hard international touring requires. Newsted needed a break; the band wanted to keep going. “You gotta sometimes give it a minute,” he says.
Newsted shares his thoughts on Dave Mustaine and his predecessor Cliff Burton, and goes deep on the issue of cellphone usage at concerts. (Spoiler alert: He doesn’t like it very much, and he’s got good reasons for his disdain.) But Newsted isn’t just a performer. He talks about his painting and the way that practice differs from music-making, plus his private artistic journeys with theremin, mandolin, and sequencers and loopers—rabbit holes he might not have gone down if he stayed in Metallica. “I don’t say no to any medium,” he says.
Maybe leaving Metallica created the need to explore. “I did not get to fulfill that journey,” he says, “so I’m making up for it.”