A spectacular new spin on a 1950s formula.
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RatingsPros:Superb sounds. Superb construction. Superb range. Superb everything. Cons: Weighs 49 pounds. No tremolo. Street: $1,899 Mesa/Boogie California Tweed mesaboogie.com | Tones: Ease of Use: Build/Design: Value: |
Letās invert this review and put the conclusion up front: The California Tweed, Mesaās new take on old Fender amp circuits, is simply stunning. Itās easily one of the best-sounding tweed-influenced amps Iāve ever encountered. Perhaps thebest.
A Need for Tweed?
Letās face it: Fenderās 1950s tweed models can be problematic for modern guitarists. Itās easy to love their airy highs, cracking presence, and magnificent dynamic response. But their low end can be too loose and unfocused for contemporary tastes. Likewise, their tendency to get shrill at maximum volumes can alienate players who expect fatter, darker tones when they dime the volume. I suspect there are more than a few guitarists who fell in love with the lore of the tweed amp, only to encounter one in the flesh and find it a poor fit for their style.
In a nutshell, the California Tweed maintains the intensity and responsiveness of ā50s Fenders while updating other aspects for modern tastes. Lows are taut and focused. Cranking the gain yields smooth, warm overdrive. Also, Mesa has added a raft of cool modern features, capturing it all in an attractive and masterfully constructed 40-watt combo.
Fifty Shades of 6V6
The California Tweed employs a quartet of 6V6 power tubes. Historically, Fender used two of these in their midsized tweed amps, but relied on cleaner, glassier-sounding 6L6s in their 40-watt designs. But while Fender never made a 4 x 6V6 amp, the recipe has become so popular with boutique builders in recent years that itās no longer an oddity. Itās a winning formula, in fact, providing the volume of a 6L6 model, but with warmer tones and smoother transitions from clean and crunch.
Here, Mesa deploys the tubes in an ingenious design featuring five power modes, selectable via a front-panel switch. In full-powered 40-watt mode, the tubes run in class A/B pentode mode. For 30 watts, one pair of tubes runs in A/B triode mode and the other runs in A/B pentode mode. In 20-watt mode, only a pair of tubes is used in pentode mode. The same two tubes run as triodes in 10-watt mode. And at two watts, the pair runs in class-A parallel mode: one tube wired pentode and the other triode.
Cast of Characters
The result is much more than a spiffy power attenuator. Triode wiring sounds distinct from pentode wiring, producing looser tones that have been described as ābluesyā and āsloppy,ā depending on the playerās perspective. Pentode, triode, and pentode-plus-triode modes each have their own personality, and each responds differently to the gain control, so there is quite a cast of characters here. With this feature alone, Mesa boldly goes where no tweed has gone before.
The sensitivity and interactivity of the tone controls are reminiscent of 3-knob tone stacks on larger tweeds, such as the Bassman. Their voicing seems more manicured, however. Thereās an additional variable: two input jacks. The ānormalā input is loud and snappy, while ālowā is cleaner with greater headroom. Their characteristics differ enough that Iād consider adding an A/B switch to change inputs on the fly.
If this all seems a bit complex, donāt sweat it. You have to work pretty hard to get a bad tone from the California Tweed. A final sonic sweet spot is an unusually smooth-and-rich-sounding spring reverb. (On/off pedal not included.) The speaker is a Jensen Blackbird, a recent 100-watt 12"alnico model that offers more headroom than a vintage Jensen while maintaining a retro Fender character. Itās nothing like those clean, clinical-sounding JBLs Fender used in some vintage models.
Blonde Bombshell
The California Tweed looks as lovely as it sounds. Itās garbed in ācream broncoā vinyl (custom vinyl colors are available), offset by a wheat-colored grille cloth, a handle and corner protectors of dark brown leather, and a pale metal faceplate. Thereās even a blonde variation on Mesaās usual silver-on-black logo plate. Hernia warning, though: This thing weighs a hefty 49 pounds.
The cabinetry is solid and flawlessly joined. Inside, components are arranged on a circuit board, with chassis-mounted pots. Mesa describes the amp as āhandwired in the USA. And thereās much careful hand-wiring connecting the sections, plus daubs of glue to secure and separate the on-board components. You can tell that a skilled human being finalized this build.
Sparkle and Snarl
About the audio examples: The first clip features only the amp and an all-original 1963 Stratocaster. I wasnāt shy about using the potentially prickly bridge pickup, yet the tone never gets shrill. For the second clip, I switch to a DIY guitar with humbuckers, adding germanium overdrive at the input and plugging an Eventide H9 multi-effector and Strymon Volante delay into the rear-panel effects loop.
You hear various power, gain, and tone-control configurations, though at some point I just controlled the sound from the guitarās pots. The California Tweed is exceedingly responsive to guitar volume knob adjustments. With the gain knob at 2 oāclock or so, you can go from chunk to low-noise sparkle directly from the guitar.
The Verdict
You read the verdict in paragraph one: The California Tweed kills. Itās got countless fine tones and no yucky ones. It augments the sparkle and sensitivity of vintage tweed amps with fuller lows, warmer high-gain sounds, and a wealth of tone-shaping tools. Granted, $1.9K aināt chicken feed. But the ampās tones, build, and features easily outdistance any number of costlier boutique models. California Tweed is both inspired and inspiring.
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On our season two finale, the country legend details his lead-guitar tricks on one of his biggest hits.
Get out the Kleenex, hankies, or whatever you use to wipe away your tears: Itās the last episode of this season of Shred With Shifty, a media event more consequential and profound than the finales of White Lotus and Severance combined. But thereāll be some tears of joy, too, because on this season two closer, Chris Shiflett talks with one of country musicās greatest players: Vince Gill.
Gillās illustrious solo career speaks for itself, and heās played with everyone from Reba McEntire and Patty Loveless to Ricky Skaggs and Dolly Parton. He even replaced Glenn Frey in the Eagles after Freyās death in 2017. His singing prowess is matched by his grace and precision on the fretboard, skills which are on display on the melodic solo for āOne More Last Chance.ā He used the same blackguard 1953 FenderĀ Telecaster that you see in this interview to record the lead, although he might not play the solo the exact way he did back in 1992.
Tune in to learn how Gill dialed his clean tone with a tip from Roy Nichols, why he loves early blackguard Telecasters and doesnāt love shredders, and why you never want to be the best player during a studio session.
If youāre able to help, here are some charities aimed at assisting musicians affected by the fires in L.A:
https://guitarcenterfoundation.org
https://www.cciarts.org/relief.html
https://www.musiciansfoundation.org
https://fireaidla.org
https://www.musicares.org
https://www.sweetrelief.org
Credits
Producer: Jason Shadrick
Executive Producers: Brady Sadler and Jake Brennan for Double Elvis
Engineering Support by Matt Tahaney and Matt Beaudion
Video Editor: Addison Sauvan
Graphic Design: Megan Pralle
Special thanks to Chris Peterson, Greg Nacron, and the entire Volume.com crew.
New RAT Sound Solution Offers a Refined Evolution of Distortion
ACT Entertainment ās iconic RAT brand has unveiledthe Sterling Vermin, a boutique distortion guitar pedal that blends heritage tone with modernrefinement. With a new take on RATās unmistakable sound, Sterling Vermin delivers a new levelof precision and versatility.
āThe Sterling Vermin was born from a desire for something different ā something refined, withthe soul of a traditional RAT pedal, but with a voice all its own,ā says Shawn Wells, MarketManagerāSound, ACT Entertainment, who designed the pedal along with his colleague MattGates. āBuilt in small batches and hand-soldered in ACTās Jackson, Missouri headquarters, theSterling Vermin is a work of pure beauty that honors the brand legacy while taking a bold stepforward for creativity.ā
The Sterling Vermin features the LM741 Op-Amp and a pair of selectable clipping diodes.Players can toggle between the traditional RAT silicon diode configuration for a punchy, mid-range bite, or the BAT41 option for a smoother, more balanced response. The result is a pedalthatās equally at home delivering snarling distortion or articulate, low-gain overdrive, with a wide,usable tonal range throughout the entire gain spectrum.
The pedal also features CTS pots and oversized knobs for even, responsive control that affordsa satisfying smoothness to the rotation, with just the right amount of tension. Additionally, thepolished stainless-steel enclosure with laser-annealed graphics showcases the merging of thepedalās vintage flavor and striking design.
āFrom low-gain tones reminiscent of a Klon or Bluesbreaker, to high-gain settings that flirt withBig Muff territory ā yet stay tight and controlled ā the Sterling Vermin is a masterclass indynamic distortion,ā says Gates, an ACT Entertainment Sales Representative. āWith premiumcomponents, deliberate design and a focus on feel, the Sterling Vermin is more than a pedal, itāsa new chapter for RAT.ā
The RAT Sterling Vermin is available immediately and retails for $349 USD. For moreinformation about this solution, visit: actentertainment.com/rat-distortion .
$149
Marshall 1959 Super Lead
The very definition of classic, vintage Marshall sound in a highly affordable package.
Thereās only one relevant question about Marshallās new 1959 Super Lead overdrive/distortion pedal: Does it sound like an actual vintage Super Lead head? The answer is, simply and surprisingly, yes. The significant difference I heard within the voice of this stomp, which I ran through a Carr Vincent and a StewMac Valve Factory 18 kit amp for contrast, is that itās a lot quieter than my 1972 Super Lead.
The Super Lead, which bore Marshallās 1959 model number, debuted in 1965 and was the amp that defined the plexi sound. That sound is here in spades, clubs, diamonds, and hearts. Like the Super Lead, the pedal is easy to use. The originalās 3-band EQ is replaced by a single, rangeful tone control. The normal dial and the volume, which together mimic the character created by jumping the first and second channels of a plexi head, offer smooth, rich, buttery op-amp driven gain and loudness. And the high-treble dial functions much like the presence control on the original amp.
The pedal is sturdy and handsome, too. A heavy-duty metal enclosure evokes the classic black-with-gold-plate plexi look and a vintage-grille-cloth motif. Switches and knobs (the latter with rubber sides for slip-free turning) are ultra solid, andārefreshinglyāthereās a 9V battery option in addition to a barrel-pin connection. Whether with single-coils or humbuckers, getting beefy, sustained, historic tones took moments. I especially delighted in approximating my favorite Super Lead head setting by flooring the high treble, normal, and tone dials, and turning back the tone pots on my Flying V, evoking Disraeli Gears-era Clapton tone. That alone, to me, makes the 1959 Super Lead stomp a bargain at $149.Two guitars, two amps, and two people is all it takes to bring the noise.
The day before they played the coveted Blue Room at Third Man Records in Nashville, the Washington, D.C.-based garage-punk duo Teen Mortgage released their debut record, Devil Ultrasonic Dream. Not a bad couple of days for a young band.
PGās Chris Kies caught up with guitarist and vocalist James Guile at the Blue Room to find out how he builds the bandās bombastic guitar attack.
Brought to you by DāAddario.
Devilish Dunable
Guile has been known to use Telecasters and Gretsches in the past, but this time out heās sticking with this Dunable Cyclops DE, courtesy of Gwarsenio Hallāaka Jordan Olds of metal-themed comedy talk show Two Minutes to Late Night. Guile digs the Dunableās lightness on his shoulders, and its balance of high and low frequencies.
Storm Warning
What does Guile like about this Squier Cyclone? Simple: its color. This one is also nice and easy on the back, and Guile picked it up from Atomic Music in Beltsville, Maryland.
Crushing It
Guile also scooped this Music Man 410-HD from Atomic, which he got just for this tour for a pretty sweet deal. It runs alongside an Orange Crush Bass 100 to rumble out the low end.
James Guileās Pedalboard
The Electro-Harmonix Micro POG and Hiwatt Filter Fuzz MkII run to the Orange, while everything elseāa DigiTech Whammy, Pro Co Lilā RAT, and Death by Audio Echo Dream 2āruns to the Music Man. A TC Helicon Mic Mechanic is on board for vocal assistance, and a TC Electronic PolyTune 3, Morley ABY, and Voodoo Labs Pedal Power 3 Plus keep the ship afloat.