The question on everyone’s mind after seeing the Stereo Memory Man with Hazarai for the first time is, “What in the hell is Hazarai?” I was fortunate enough to
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So Hazarai can loosely be defined as everything but the kitchen sink, but how does that apply to a delay, and reasonably sized one at that? For the answer, a little history might be in order. Formed in 1968 by renowned individualist Mike Matthews, Electro-Harmonix’ first product was the LPB-1, a preamp that was capable of hitting the front end of the then-clean tube amps harder than a drunk jaywalking at three in the morning, delivering sweet overdrive and distortion in the process. The line evolved, adding the Big Muff in 1970, which ended up in the capable hands of guitarists like Jimi Hendrix and Carlos Santana and went on to become the object of countless fuzz crushes, perfectly displayed in a droolinducing scene in Fuzz: the Sound that Changed the World featuring J. Mascis planted firmly in front of a china cabinet chock full of vintage Big Muffs. Delving into time-based effects in the mid-seventies with the Electric Mistress flanger, EH was well on its way to mastering the tone-per-dollar equation by the time they released the Memory Man in 1976. Previously, electronic delays were the exclusive domain of recording studios, with tape delays being relegated to mere mortal use. When EH followed with the under-$100 Instant Replay sampler in 1980, more than minds were blown – Electro-Harmonix had firmly established their ability to consistently provide William Randolph Hearst tones at Cletus Delroy Spuckler prices.
1980 also saw the release of the 2 Second Digital Delay, the first affordable digital delay available, followed by the 16 Second Digital Delay in ’82, the first commercially available looper, demonstrating Electro- Harmonix’ early predilection for providing more in their delays, which is completely in line with the concept of Hazarai.
Making its buzz-filled debut at ’07 Summer NAMM, the Stereo Memory Man with Hazarai’s moniker seems apt; it’s the latest member of the EH pedal club, offering cutting edge features and idiosyncratic Electro-Harmonix musicality for dues that everyone can afford. To make sense of its deep feature set, we called upon John Pisani, one of the pedal’s designers, who was kind enough to chat with us about the inner workings of the latest in a long line of memorable EH effects.
Well, we added the word Hazarai because we wanted to create a delay pedal that was over the top with features – as many as we could in a relatively small package and not go overboard with controls.
Can you tell us how the design process started on the Stereo Memory Man with Hazarai?
The Stereo Memory Man with Hazarai came about when Mike decided that we should have a couple of digital delay products that weren’t based on anything from the past. Out of that idea came the Stereo Memory Man with Hazarai and the #1 Echo. The #1 Echo is a smaller, much simpler digital delay.
I was able to check that out at Summer NAMM – it was released at the same time as the Stereo Memory Man with Hazarai, right?
Yeah, they were both sort of made in tandem. So for the Hazarai we used our Chief Design Engineer David Cockerell who has designed numerous Electro-Harmonix pedals, both in the seventies and this decade, like the Micro Synthesizer, Bass Micro Synthesizer, the Small Stone, the original 16 Second Delay, the 16 Second Delay reissue and the 2880.
So he’s no slouch.
Yeah, exactly. He designed the Instant Replay, which was one of the first inexpensive samplers. Not only that, he went on to design most of the Akai samplers, in addition to dozens of other EH pedals. More recently he has designed the the HOG, the software for the POG, the Micro POG, the Stereo Electric Mistress – our new digital flanger and the Hazarai. Mike and I went over the concept for the two delays and we told David what we were looking for in the Hazarai, and he came up with a circuit and functional front panel – knobs, indicators, things like that. We tweaked a few things and he went about writing the software. The thing about the Hazarai is that it’s a digital pedal, so nearly all the processing – all of the fun stuff – is written in software.
We came up with some of the algorithms together, including the Reverse Echo and the Looper. We really wanted a full-featured looper, even though the Hazarai is primarily a delay/echo pedal. With all of the competition out there we decided it needed to include overdubbing capability. You can also overdub onto the loop with the echo, so you can go to any echo mode – or Reverse Echo or a Multitap Echo – and record the loop with your echo. It’s really unique.
Digital makes sense for time-based effects, but do you see non time-based effects entering this realm in the future?
To a certain degree I do. Consider what we have out already – the POG and the HOG are both non-time-based effects that are completely digital. They are both basically pitch shifters, so they’re unique compared to what’s out there. Even though EH will probably have a finger in every sort of technology – tubes, transistors and digital – I definitely see us heading in a direction where we’ll be writing more software for our DSPs, and the software won’t necessarily be delays, flangers or choruses, but other interesting effects that are mathematically intensive and therefore hard to produce in the analog world.
Do you think distortion effects and overdrives will remain analog or do you ever see that going digital, too?
I do see it going digital, but not 100 percent. We’ll still be making analog distortions like the Big Muff, the Muff Overdrive, the Metal Muff and the English Muff’n. Tube and transistor distortions need to use analog circuitry for that particular sound. We don’t really have much interest in modeling something like the Big Muff or coming up with a digital version of it, but we would be interested in coming up with a different type of distortion that can only be done digitally.
I was assuming that since we are running out of some very specific chips that you would eventually have to go digital. You’re saying as long as there are IC chips, you can find something to work?
Yeah, I would say that’s essentially true. The chips that we do run out of, like the Panasonic MN3005 in the Deluxe Memory Man, do one very specific job – delay a signal by however long you need it to be. But the transistors in the Big Muff, for example, could be used for anything. I can’t see a point in the future when they’ll stop making those.
The circuitry to make a fuzz tone is relatively simple, but the corresponding signal that comes out of the output is very complex, which seems much more difficult to replicate digitally.
As simple as the circuits are for fuzz tones, the amazing thing is how much component tolerances, the slight changes in components – whether it’s a resistor or capacitor – really change the sound. That’s why some people think distortion pedals from the seventies sound better. It’s the subtle differences in component tolerances and the way the components have been made. It really makes a huge difference in things like distortion, but digital pedals can absorb component tolerances a lot better than analog pedals.
For the majority of digital pedals out there, all of the processing work is happening in the DSP chip and processor, and the sound is being manipulated and affected by the software running on the processor. That software never changes. Every digital pedal needs analog circuitry supporting it – A/D and D/A converters at the very least. Those types of circuits are very common and they don’t change much from chip to chip. Different A/D and D/A converters with similar specs get a similar sound.
So once you’ve got a design together and you’re happy with the way everything is working, at that point it’s easier to build consistently. You sent us a Hazarai to check out a month or so ago – if you sent us another one tomorrow, it would sound the same.
Exactly, it takes inconsistency out of the equation. With all-analog circuitry there might be some variance due to chip tolerances and various things.
How do you guys handle that variance in your analog pedals?
We use resistors and capacitors with low tolerances. If you were to measure a bag of resistors they would all be within plus or minus one percent.
"With the Hazarai we tried to throw in everything you would want from a digital delay pedal, from tapping in the delay time to having the ability to create loops on the fly"
So you use really close tolerances – not plus or minus five percent?
Sometimes we do use the plus or minus fives – that’s only one way we try to do it. Another way is circuit tricks that help make those tolerances less noticeable. A very popular one is to use negative feedback around the transistor. That helps to subtract out any variance from transistor to transistor.
So by using tighter tolerances and specific design choices you can keep the variances to a minimum.
Even with all that, in something like a Big Muff, there are some variances from unit to unit. One thing we don’t have control over are the pots themselves. The pots tend to have huge tolerances, like plus or minus ten percent. It’s very difficult to get a tighter tolerance on a pot, so if the pot itself is in the middle of a tone circuit, then it’s going to cause differences from unit to unit.
Is it just the quality of pots that are available now?
It’s always been the case. I’ve never done this, but if you were to take five Big Muffs from the same production line from 1973 and listen to all five, you would probably hear something different out of every one.
So with analog circuitry, it seems like more of a holistic approach – you have to be concerned with every component.
Yeah, every component in the design has a purpose, but nearly every component in an analog pedal actually touches the signal; that’s not typically the case with a digital pedal. With digital designs you have components that never even see the signal – all they see is the digitized version of it.
During the process of designing the Hazarai, were there any specific challenges that you weren’t expecting? It sounds like everything went really smoothly.
[Laughs] Yeah, I know, I guess it’s kind of boring. Part of the reason everything went so smoothly is that [David] Cockerell is a very experienced designer, so he knows what he’s doing. As far as the circuitry goes, the digital pedals tend to be very similar from design to design; they have an A/D, a D/A, a processor, some analog circuits at the front end, the output and a power supply. So, if you’ve designed one, in a sense you’ve designed a million. By the time he went about designing the Hazarai, he pretty much knew what was going on and what would and wouldn’t work.
What was your role on the team while you were working on this?
My main role was project management, making sure deadlines were met, even though we didn’t have any hard and fast deadlines. In addition, I did much of the testing of the Hazarai. David would send me a software update, I would listen to it and make comments – this is good, this isn’t, or we want it to work differently. The best example I can give you is the Reverse Echo, which hadn’t been designed or written in the software until later in the design process. My part in that was coming up with an idea for how the algorithm should work – like we want to have a note detector that can tell when the player plucks a note and then at that point the Hazarai is going to reverse the delay. So I wrote down some ideas for David on how the echo should work and he made that happen. It took a few tries – we went back and forth five or six times before we eventually got it.
I would say the Hazarai actually took a shorter amount of time than the typical digital pedal, and I want to clarify digital. The reason is that because much of the circuitry used in the Hazarai was in the 2880 and in the HOG pedals, so we were able to take what we needed from those two pedals to go into the Hazarai.
Does that speak to David’s involvement with all of those pedals?
He designed all of those pedals, and since he already had a design in place from the 2880 and the HOG, which use the same basic chips as the Hazarai, he was able to use all that circuitry and pare it down – we didn’t need everything that was in the 2880. A lot of the circuitry of the Hazarai was already tested, already established, already known, so it was a relatively quick design process because we had already established the most important chips in the circuit.
Was the end product price a consideration at this point?
At the beginning stages, it wasn’t. For the #1 Echo, price was a consideration – we wanted to make that competitive, but with the Hazarai we decided to pull out all the stops.
That must be nice from a design standpoint.
Well, we knew we couldn’t go overboard, but we also knew we had a little bit of leeway. With the Hazarai we tried to throw in everything you would want from a digital delay pedal, from tapping in the delay time to having the ability to create loops on the fly. We wanted to make a really good sounding digital delay with modulations and filtering – we threw it all in. We even got some reverb in there, which was a surprise. It wasn’t on the original specs but I’m glad it’s there.
What do you use to program this? I envisioned oscilloscopes everywhere, but the way you’re describing it, it sounds more like sitting in front of a computer display.
We are planted in front of desktop computers. We have our scopes and our waveform generators, which we use to test the circuits and the software, but instead of soldering and trying different component values, most of the work is done with software, where a few lines of code are written and we try it out.
Can you tell us more about the Looper function?
With the Looper, we looked back at some older pedals, and we always liked the infinite function, which takes whatever is in the delay’s memory at that time and loops it forever but it doesn’t record any new audio. We kicked around the idea of having that in there, but ultimately we decided that as nice as that is, it would be more useful if the musician could record the echoes and delays as they’re hearing them, creating a loop if they wanted. With the Hazarai, you can record a loop while you’re playing any of the echo effects, with one exception. The Looper records the output of the Blend knob, which is essentially the last stage, so it’ll record the loop as you hear it, which is an important feature that we wanted.
What is the echo function exception for recording loops?
The one exception is the mode that’s called One Second plus Reverse. The looper works by holding down the tap footswitch to record the loop, but the tap is also a multi-function switch – you can set the tap tempo if you press and release the switch at least two times. Since the Hazarai has the ability to play back whatever you just played in reverse, when you’re in the One Second plus Reverse mode, the tap switch plays back your previous six seconds in reverse. I want to clarify that you can still tap, because in a YouTube video that somebody made…
Is that the one with the echo guy with the disco light on the desk?
Yeah, in that video, there’s one error: they say that you can tap in any mode except the One Second plus Reverse mode, but that is not true, you just can’t record a loop in that mode.
Let’s talk about getting signal in and out.
The Hazarai features stereo ins and outs. You could have a left and right input and a left and right output, and they will stay separated. You could also do mono in and stereo out: plug in your mono guitar and then you go out to two amps or two channels of a mixer. In that case, the Hazarai will ping pong between the two outputs. So while you’re in your echo modes, let’s say you have the Multitap Echo with six repeats. The first repeat will go out to the left side, second repeat will go out to the right side, and so on. You can get this really great back and forth effect. And of course, there is mono in and mono out.
So if you’re coming from a stereo chorus pedal, you could bring that stereo signal in.
Yeah, exactly, keep that stereo chorus in stereo.
What are you working on now?
What’s next for us is we have a lot of things on the table right now, but I would say the biggest thing for us right now is that we’re getting into making bass guitar effects – we have five or six bass guitar effects in the works. The first one that is coming out we took to NAMM. It’s called the Steel Leather, again designed by David Cockerall. It’s a bass expander, a pedal that accentuates the attack or the picking of notes when you play bass. It’s really cool.
Click here for videos of the Electro-Harmonix Memory Man with Hazarai
Electro-Harmonix
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Intermediate
Intermediate
How David Gilmour masterully employs target notes to make his solos sing.
When I was an undergraduate jazz performance major struggling to get a handle on bebop improvisation, I remember my professor Dave LaLama admonishing me, “If you think playing over the fast tunes is hard, wait until you try playing over the ballads. What Dr. Lalama was trying to impart was that playing fast scales over fast changes could get you by, but playing melodically over slow tempos, when your note choices are much more exposed, would really test how well you could create meaningful phrases.
Although getting past the “this scale works over these chords” approach to improvisation generally requires hours of shedding, aiming for particular target notes (specific notes over specific chords) is an optimum strategy to maximize your practice time. In the realm of rock guitar, I can think of no greater master of the melodic target note technique while playing ballads than David Gilmour.
For the unfamiliar few, Gilmour was first enlisted by fledgling psychedelic rockers Pink Floyd in 1967, when original guitarist/vocalist Syd Barrett began having drug-induced struggles with mental health. The band experimented with various artistic approaches for several years before refining them into a cohesive “art rock” sound by the early ’70s. The result was an unbroken streak of classic, genre-defining conceptual albums that included Meddle, The Dark Side of the Moon, Wish You Were Here, Animals, and The Wall. Although bassist/vocalist Roger Waters assumed the role of de facto bandleader and primary songwriter, Gilmour was a significant contributor who was praised for his soulful singing and expertly phrased lead playing that seemed to magically rework pedestrian blues phrases into sublimely evocative melodies. His focus on musicality over excessive displays of technique made him a musician’s musician of sorts and earned him a stellar reputation in guitar circles. When Roger Waters left Pink Floyd in the mid ’80s, Gilmour surprised many by calmly assuming the leadership mantle, leading the band through another decade of chart-topping albums and stadium tours. Although Pink Floyd are not officially broken up (keyboardist and founding member Richard Wright died in 2008 while Gilmour and drummer Nick Mason joined forces with Ukrainian singer Andriy Khlyvnyuk on the one-off single “Hey Hey Rise Up” in 2022), Gilmour has mostly spent the last few decades concentrating on his solo career. His latest release, Luck and Strange, features his wife, novelist Polly Sampson, as primary lyricist and daughter Romany Gilmour as vocalist on several tracks. His recent tour filled arenas around the world.
Let’s take a page from Gilmour’s hallowed playbook and see how incorporating a few well-chosen target notes can give our playing more melody and structure.
For the sake of simplicity, all the examples use the Gm/Bb major pentatonic scale forms. In my experience as a teacher, I find that most students can get a pretty solid handle on the root-position, Form-I minor pentatonic scale but struggle to incorporate the other four shapes while playing lead. One suggestion I give them is to work on playing the scales from the top notes down and focus on the four highest strings only. I believe this is a more logical and useful approach to incorporating these forms into your vocabulary. Try playing through Ex. 1, Ex. 2, Ex. 3, and Ex. 4, which are based on the top-down approach of the Form I, Form II, Form IV, and Form I (up an octave) shapes respectively.
Ex. 1
Ex. 2
Ex. 3
Ex. 4
Once you’ve gotten a handle on the scales, try playing Ex. 5, which is loosely based on the extended introduction to Pink Floyd’s “Shine On You Crazy Diamond.” We begin by soloing over a static Gm chord for four measures. As target notes, I’ve chosen the root and 5th of the G minor chord ( the notes G and D, respectively). In the first measure, we’re starting in a minor pentatonic Form I with a bend up to the root of the Gm chord. A flurry of notes on beat 4 sets us up for the bend to the D in the second measure. The D note is again targeted in measure three—this time up an octave via a shift into the minor pentatonic Form II shape. Measure four aims for the G tonic up an octave, but ends with a bend that targets a C—the root of the IVm (Cm) chord in the final measure. By focusing on target notes and connecting them with embellishing licks, your lead lines will have a much better sense of direction and melodic narrative. Also, by only targeting the root and 5th of the chord, the target note approach will be easily transferrable to songs in a G blues context (G pentatonic minor over a G major or G dominant tonality).
Ex. 5
A further exploration of this approach, Ex. 6 begins with a two-beat pickup that resolves to the scale tonic G. This time however, the G isn’t serving as the root of the Im chord. Instead, it’s the 5th of Cm—the IVm chord. Employing the root of the pentatonic scale as the fifth of the IVm chord is a textbook Gilmour-ism and you can hear him use it to good effect on the extended intro to “Echoes” from Live in Gdansk. When approaching the C on beat 2 of the second full measure, bend up from the Bb on the 6th fret of the 1st string then slide up to the C on the 8th fret without releasing the bend or picking again. In the final measure, I’ve introduced two Db notes, which serve as the b5 “blue note” of the scale and provide melodically compelling passing tones on the way to the G target note on beat 4.
Ex. 6
Exclusively positioned in the Form-IV G minor pentatonic shape, Ex. 7 is based on a bluesy lick over the I chord in the first and third measures that alternately targets a resolution to the root of the IV chord (C ) and the root of the V chord (D7#9) in the second and fourth measures. Being able to resolve your lead phrases to the roots of the I, IV, and V chords on the fly is an essential skill ace improvisers like Gilmour have mastered.
Ex. 7
Now let’s turn our attention to the Bb major pentatonic scale, which is the relative major of G minor. Play through the Form I and Form II shapes detailed in Ex. 8 and Ex. 9 below. You’ll see I’ve added an Eb to the scale (technically making them hexatonic scales). This allows us a bit more melodic freedom and—most importantly—gives us the root note of the IV chord.
Ex. 8
Ex. 9
Channeling the melodic mojo of Gilmour’s lead jaunts on Pink Floyd’s “Mother” and “Comfortably Numb,” Ex. 10 targets chord tones from the I, IV, and V (Bb, Eb, and F) chords.
The muted-string rake in first measure helps “sting” the F note, which is the 5th of the Bb. Measure two targets a G note which is the 3rd of the Eb. This same chord/target note pairing is repeated in the third and fourth measures, although the G is now down an octave. For the F and Eb chords of measures five and six, I’ve mirrored a favorite Gilmour go-to: bending up to the 3rd of a chord then releasing and resolving to the root (an A resolving to an F for the F chord and a G resolving to an Eb for the Eb chord.) The final measure follows a melodic run down the Bb scale that ultimately resolves on the tonic. Be sure to pay attention to the intonation of all your bends, especially the half-step bend on the first beat of measure seven.
As a takeaway from this lesson, let’s strive to “Be Like Dave” and pay closer attention to target notes when soloing. Identify the roots of all the chords you’re playing over in your scales and aim for them as the beginning and/or ending notes of your phrases. Think of these target notes as support beams that will provide structure to your lead lines and ultimately make them more melodically compelling.
A live editor and browser for customizing Tone Models and presets.
IK Multimedia is pleased to release the TONEX Editor, a free update for TONEX Pedal and TONEX ONE users, available today through the IK Product Manager. This standalone application organizes the hardware library and enables real-time edits to Tone Models and presets with a connected TONEX pedal.
You can access your complete TONEX library, including Tone Models, presets and ToneNET, quickly load favorites to audition, and save to a designated hardware slot on IK hardware pedals. This easy-to-use application simplifies workflow, providing a streamlined experience for preparing TONEX pedals for the stage.
Fine-tune and organize your pedal presets in real time for playing live. Fully compatible with all your previous TONEX library settings and presets. Complete control over all pedal preset parameters, including Global setups. Access all Tone Models/IRs in the hardware memory, computer library, and ToneNET Export/Import entire libraries at once to back up and prepare for gigs Redesigned GUI with adaptive resize saves time and screen space Instantly audition any computer Tone Model or preset through the pedal.
Studio to Stage
Edit any onboard Tone Model or preset while hearing changes instantly through the pedal. Save new settings directly to the pedal, including global setup and performance modes (TONEX ONE), making it easy to fine-tune and customize your sound. The updated editor features a new floating window design for better screen organization and seamless browsing of Tone Models, amps, cabs, custom IRs and VIR. You can directly access Tone Models and IRs stored in the hardware memory and computer library, streamlining workflow.
A straightforward drop-down menu provides quick access to hardware-stored Tone Models conveniently sorted by type and character. Additionally, the editor offers complete control over all key parameters, including FX, Tone Model Amps, Tone Model Cabs/IR/VIR, and tempo and global setup options, delivering comprehensive, real-time control over all settings.
A Seamless Ecosystem of Tones
TONEX Editor automatically syncs with the entire TONEX user library within the Librarian tab. It provides quick access to all Tone Models, presets and ToneNET, with advanced filtering and folder organization for easy navigation. At the same time, a dedicated auto-load button lets you preview any Tone Model or preset in a designated hardware slot before committing changes.This streamlined workflow ensures quick edits, precise adjustments and the ultimate flexibility in sculpting your tone.
Get Started Today
TONEX Editor is included with TONEX 1.9.0, which was released today. Download or update the TONEX Mac/PC software from the IK Product Manager to install it. Then, launch TONEX Editor from your applications folder or Explorer.
For more information and videos about TONEX Editor, TONEX Pedal, TONEX ONE, and TONEX Cab, visit:
www.ikmultimedia.com/tonexeditor
Two Iconic Titans of Rock & Metal Join Forces for a Can’t-Miss North American Trek
Tickets Available Starting Wednesday, April 16 with Artist Presales
General On Sale Begins Friday, April 18 at 10AM Local on LiveNation.com
This fall, shock rock legend Alice Cooper and heavy metal trailblazers Judas Priest will share the stage for an epic co-headlining tour across North America. Produced by Live Nation, the 22-city run kicks off September 16 at Mississippi Coast Coliseum in Biloxi, MS, and stops in Toronto, Phoenix, Los Angeles, and more before wrapping October 26 at The Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion in The Woodlands, TX.
Coming off the second leg of their Invincible Shield Tour and the release of their celebrated 19th studio album, Judas Priest remains a dominant force in metal. Meanwhile, Alice Cooper, the godfather of theatrical rock, wraps up his "Too Close For Comfort" tour this summer, promoting his most recent "Road" album, and will have an as-yet-unnamed all-new show for this tour. Corrosion of Conformity will join as support on select dates.
Tickets will be available starting Wednesday, April 16 at 10AM local time with Artist Presales. Additional presales will run throughout the week ahead of the general onsale beginning Friday, April 18 at 10AM local time at LiveNation.comTOUR DATES:
Tue Sep 16 – Biloxi, MS – Mississippi Coast Coliseum
Thu Sep 18 – Alpharetta, GA – Ameris Bank Amphitheatre*
Sat Sep 20 – Charlotte, NC – PNC Music Pavilion
Sun Sep 21 – Franklin, TN – FirstBank Amphitheater
Wed Sep 24 – Virginia Beach, VA – Veterans United Home Loans Amphitheater
Fri Sep 26 – Holmdel, NJ – PNC Bank Arts Center
Sat Sep 27 – Saratoga Springs, NY – Broadview Stage at SPAC
Mon Sep 29 – Toronto, ON – Budweiser Stage
Wed Oct 01 – Burgettstown, PA – The Pavilion at Star Lake
Thu Oct 02 – Clarkston, MI – Pine Knob Music Theatre
Sat Oct 04 – Cincinnati, OH – Riverbend Music Center
Sun Oct 05 – Tinley Park, IL – Credit Union 1 Amphitheatre
Fri Oct 10 – Colorado Springs, CO – Broadmoor World Arena
Sun Oct 12 – Salt Lake City, UT – Utah First Credit Union Amphitheatre
Tue Oct 14 – Mountain View, CA – Shoreline Amphitheatre
Wed Oct 15 – Wheatland, CA – Toyota Amphitheatre
Sat Oct 18 – Chula Vista, CA – North Island Credit Union Amphitheatre
Sun Oct 19 – Los Angeles, CA – Kia Forum
Wed Oct 22 – Phoenix, AZ – Talking Stick Resort Amphitheatre
Thu Oct 23 – Albuquerque, NM – Isleta Amphitheater
Sat Oct 25 – Austin, TX – Germania Insurance Amphitheater
Sun Oct 26 – Houston, TX – The Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion
*Without support from Corrosion of Conformity
MT 15 and Archon 50 Classic amplifiers offer fresh tones in release alongside a doubled-in-size Archon cabinet
PRS Guitars today released the updated MT 15 and the new Archon Classic amplifiers, along with a larger Archon speaker cabinet. The 15-watt, two-channel Mark Tremonti signature amp MT 15 now features a lead channel overdrive control. An addition to the Archon series, not a replacement, the 50-watt Classic offers a fresh voice by producing retro rock “classic” tones reminiscent of sound permeating the radio four and five decades ago. Now twice the size of the first Archon cabinet, the Archon 4x12 boasts four Celestion V-Type speakers.
MT 15 Amplifier Head
Balancing aggression and articulation, this 15-watt amp supplies both heavy rhythms and clear lead tones. The MT 15 revision builds off the design of the MT 100, bringing the voice of the 100’s overdrive channel into its smaller-format sibling. Updating the model, the lead channel also features a push/pull overdrive control that removes two gain stages to produce vintage, crunchier “mid gain” tones. The clean channel still features a push/pull boost control that adds a touch of overdrive crunch. A half-power switch takes the MT to 7 watts.
“Seven years ago, we released my signature MT 15 amplifier, a compact powerhouse that quickly became a go-to for players seeking both pristine cleans and crushing high-gain tones. In 2023, we took things even further with the MT 100, delivering a full-scale amplifier that carried my signature sound to the next level. That inspired us to find a way to fit the 100's third channel into the 15's lunchbox size,” said Mark Tremonti.
“Today, I’m beyond excited to introduce the next evolution of the MT15, now featuring a push/pull overdrive control on the Lead channel and a half-power switch, giving players even more tonal flexibility to shape their sound with a compact amp. Can’t wait for you all to plug in and experience it!”
Archon Classic Amplifier Head
With a refined gain structure from the original Archon, the Archon Classic’s lead channel offers a wider range of tones colored with gain, especially in the midrange. The clean channel goes from pristine all the way to the edge of breakup. This additional Archon version was developed to be a go-to tool for playing classic rock or pushing the envelope into modern territory. The Archon Classic still features the original’s bright switch, presence and depth controls. PRS continues to stock the Archon in retailers worldwide.
“The Archon Classic is not a re-issue of the original Archon, but a newly voiced circuit with the lead channel excelling in '70s and '80s rock tones and a hotter clean channel able to go into breakup. This is the answer for those wanting an Archon with a hotrod vintage lead channel gain structure without changing preamp tube types, and a juiced- up clean channel without having to use a boost pedal, all wrapped up in a retro-inspired cabinet design,” said PRS Amp Designer Doug Sewell.
Archon 4x12 Cabinet
As in the Archon 1x12 and 2x12, the mega-sized PRS Archon 4x12 speaker cabinet features Celestion V-Type speakers and a closed-back design, delivering power, punch, and tight low end. Also like its smaller brethren, the 4x12 is wrapped in durable black vinyl and adorned with a British-style black knitted-weave grill cloth. The Archon 4x12 is only the second four-speaker cabinet in the PRS lineup, next to the HDRX 4x12.
PRS Guitars continues its schedule of launching new products each month in 2025. Stay tuned to see new gear and 40 th Anniversary limited-edition guitars throughout the year. For all of the latest news, click www.prsguitars.com/40 and follow @prsguitars on Instagram, Tik Tok, Facebook, X, and YouTube.