
Exceptional playability and scores of sounds make this much more than a simple electric/acoustic hybrid.
Super-sweet playability and superb setup. Wide range of available tones—including convincing acoustic tones.
Best-looking Acoustasonic yet—but may look pretty strange to some. No dedicated tone knob.
$1,999 street
Fender Acoustasonic Jazzmaster
fender.com
Back in June 2020, I reviewed the Fender Acoustasonic Stratocaster. It was my first long-term exposure to Fender's new Acoustasonic line, and like many old-school-leaning Fender-design enthusiasts, I greeted the concept with mild skepticism. But the Acoustasonic surprised and impressed on many levels—sparking fun and inspiration in ample measures and at many turns.
- Multi-Voices Clip: Acoustic track is blend of mahogany jumbo and small-body mahogany voices. Electric rhythm track is "fat semi-clean" setting with UA EMT-140 reverb emulation. Electric lead is "overdriven electric" voice with UA Space Echo emulation.
- Dreadnought Voices Clip: First segment is rosewood-backed dreadnought, second segment is a blend of rosewood- and mahogany-backed dread voices, the last segment is the mahogany voice only.
The new Corona, California-built Acoustasonic Jazzmaster is more than a Acoustasonic Telecaster or Stratocaster re-shaped for the surf set. For starters, there's a brand-new humbucking pickup designed by Fender's tireless tinkerer-in-chief, Tim Shaw. The Acoustasonic Jazzmaster also introduces a raft of new voices, adding J-200-style mahogany jumbo and 00-18 mahogany-style acoustic sounds as well as surprisingly versatile piezo settings.
The Jazzmaster's acoustic sounds—created via the onboard acoustic "engine" designed with Fishman—aren't digital models. They're generated via a combination of digital and analog processing that interacts with the guitar's actual acoustic body properties. Generally, the differences in these voices are most perceptible as shifts in EQ emphasis.
And without the Acoustasonic Stratocaster alongside for comparison, it's hard to say exactly how significantly the Jazzmaster's new "all-mahogany small body" voice, for instance, differs from the Stratocaster's "spruce-and-walnut, short-scale" voice. But other unique features like the Jazzmaster's "lo-fi piezo" voices and the humbucking electric sounds make the guitar feel geared toward contemporary, more experimental, and more hard-rockin' musical situations. That doesn't minimize the impressive utility of the very nice acoustic-style voices here. But the Jazzmaster, more so than its other Acoustasonic siblings, signals an invitation to invention and marks a real point of departure in this interesting line of the Fender family tree.
Deconstruction Derby
Stylistic appraisals of an instrument like the Acoustasonic Jazzmaster are subjective. And the look of the Acoustasonic instruments can be polarizing, in general. But Fender deserves credit for stretching the design envelope, and the Acoustasonic Jazzmaster is arguably the most balanced realization of the Acoustasonic design ethos yet. The offset body's proportions are well suited to the compound, sweeping curves that make up the instrument's visage. If you look at it just right, you can even see traces of other Fender designs. (I see more than a hint of the Kurt Cobain-designed Jag-Stang in the outline of the inlaid top.) As on the other Acoustasonic instruments, softer, more gently contrasting colors, like the natural and arctic white finishes offered on the Jazzmaster, suit the complex curves best. But our satin ocean turquoise review guitar looked super sharp, and is a nice nod to Fender's first great custom-color era.
Like all Acoustasonic guitars, the Jazzmaster is built around a mahogany body that is routed for the lightly braced Sitka spruce top (the turquoise finished section, in this case). The join feels virtually seamless, and that same sense of precision and craft is evident everywhere.
The "lo-fi" piezo is gloriously trashy and garage-y in the kind of way that a young Beggars Banquet-era Keith Richards would have savored.
Like any Jazzmaster, the Acoustasonic version's lower horn lacks the length of a Stratocaster of Telecaster, and it can slip off of your lap when playing seated—which, of course, is how many folks chose to have an acoustic guitar experience. But that is perhaps the only ergonomic complaint you can level against this otherwise supremely comfortable instrument.
Built to Rip
Fender's attention to detail on the Acoustasonic shines brightest when you put fingers to fretboard. Like the Acoustasonic Stratocaster's neck, the Jazzmaster's feels fantastic. The fretboard is shaped with a 12" radius to better suit the guitar's mission as an acoustic, but the "modern deep C" profile and rounded fretboard edges make the neck feel like a classic Fender with a more curvaceous radius. Chording is a breeze over the whole expanse of the neck, the action feels low and fast, and I couldn't find a trace of string buzz anywhere. The .011–.052 phosphor bronze strings that the guitar ships with make deep bends a more difficult proposition than on a lightly strung electric. But the narrow-tall frets that have become a standard feature on many Fenders beckon you to try, and facilitate nuanced finger vibrato techniques.
Sounds That Span Ages
Unplugged, the Jazzmaster is surprisingly resonant and blooms with sustain. And in some amplified "acoustic" modes and isolated direct-to-DAW settings, that resonance can translate to a slight imbalance between deep low-end sustain and boxier high mids—particularly in the dreadnought voices. Such properties mean you may not want to make the Acoustasonic your first choice for recording a solo fingerstyle piece. But as part of a more complex arrangement, these voices can shine. The ability to blend voices means you can craft the Jazzmaster's acoustic sounds for a mix without having to tinker endlessly on the mixing side. And if you record the guitar direct to a DAW, a little vintage-style compression, console-style preamp thickening, and high-mid EQ tweaking can go a long way toward softening any less-than-natural artifacts.
The new humbucker has a very different tone profile than the single-coil in the Acoustasonic Stratocaster. Where the Strat's single-coil is unmistakably Fender-y, spanky, and clear, the humbucker is, predictably, more muscular. At its cleanest settings, it evokes hotter single-coil pickups like the Rickenbacker Hi-Gain and the P-90. Blend in the more aggressive "overdriven electric" voice and the P-90 presence gets stronger.
There isn't as much round, wooly PAF-style humbucker tone on tap as you might expect. But the volume pot has a nice taper and is an effective means of shaping cleaner tones and more specific gain profiles. The "lo-fi" piezo also merits mention, because it's essentially a third electric guitar voice. Its trebly but overtone-rich voice won't be everyone's cup of tea, but it is gloriously trashy and garage-y in the kind of way that a young Beggars Banquet-era Keith Richards would have savored.
The Verdict
The Acoustasonic Jazzmaster is a thoroughly modern instrument. It suits the needs of musicians that work across genres and in smaller studios and dwellings, where keeping a five-guitar quiver at hand isn't possible. But apart from its considerable practical upside, it's a true joy to play. And between its natural, comfortable feel and the ease with which you can access such a wealth of diverse sounds, the Acoustasonic Jazzmaster is full of musical potential.
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Left to right: Joe Lally. Brandan Canty, and Anthony Pirog
The bassist, now with the Messthetics, has had a long learning journey. Thanks to the online-lesson boom, you can study directly from Lally.
Although it’s been years since the beginning of the pandemic, many monumental things can still be explained in a single phrase: It all started because of Covid. One of those is that you can take online bass lessons from Joe Lally, bassist and co-founder of Fugazi, the unyieldingly indie post-hardcore band that raged out of Washington, DC’s ever-vibrant punk scene. From 1987 to 2003, over the band’s six studio albums, assorted EPs, and hundreds of live shows, Lally demonstrated his utter mastery of intense, full-throttle bass playing and writing.
So you might be surprised to learn that such an accomplished low-ender didn’t always feel confident about his own musical knowledge. “I spent all that time in Fugazi not formally being able to articulate about music very well with the other people in the band,” Joe says. “It was very frustrating at times. There were times I wanted to leave the band because it felt like I couldn’t even talk about what I wanted to do.”
It was only after Fugazi went on indefinite hiatus that, realizing he wanted to keep making music, Joe decided to get some education. “I took a few lessons at Flea’s school in L.A., the Silverlake Conservatory. I studied with Tree, the dean of the school, who showed me some things about songwriting on piano. I was looking at it like I was getting piano lessons, but really he was showing me the sound of major, the sound of minor, and the sound of the dominant 7 chord. Those three chords are the basic beginnings of learning music theory.”
As Joe learned it, the major sound was “Here, There, and Everywhere" by the Beatles, the minor was Santana’s “Evil Ways,” and the dominant 7 was “I Feel Good” by James Brown. “I learned to play those chord changes on piano, and came to understand more about songs and completing my own song ideas.”
Joe mainly learned by asking questions. “To a degree, that’s what I want people to get from the lessons I give,” he continues. “There’s so much you can go into theory-wise, but you don’t really need to to be able to write music, play music, and figure out other people’s music.”
Joe went on to write and release three solo albums, as well as two with Ataxia, his project with Red Hot Chili Pepper guitarists John Frusciante and Josh Klinghoffer. In 2016, he formed instrumental jazz-punk fusion trio the Messthetics with Fugazi drummer Brendan Canty and genre-spanning guitar virtuoso Anthony Pirog. They’ve since toured heavily and released three full lengths. He also joined Ian Mackaye—Fugazi’s and the Evens’s singer-guitarist—along with Evens drummer Amy Farina to form Coriky.
Lally’s humble online flyer.
“I foolishly never picked up a book because I thought it would ruin what I did know. When I told a friend I was teaching theory, he asked, ‘Has it ruined your playing yet?’”
When off the road, Joe worked different jobs in DC’s independent music scene to pay the bills. But when the pandemic lockdown came, he decided to start giving online lessons. He made flyers and posted them on social media.
“I’m not teaching formal theory, which I think is weird and abstract and doesn’t show people everything,” says Joe. “It takes years of learning formally to see how everything is connected to see how this thing is part of that other thing we learned years ago. Most of my students are adults who have been playing but now want to know more about what they’ve been doing.”
But music theory is something we all operate within, says Joe, whether we’re knowledgeable about it or not. “We are engaged in theory. We just may not know it. When you’re playing or writing a song, you might think ‘that note sounds right’ or ‘that note sounds wrong.’ It's because we are relating it to something in theory that we’ve picked up from all the music we’ve listened to.”
Joe recognizes that some people are apprehensive about learning music theory, and he admits that when he was in Fugazi, he was, too. “I foolishly never picked up a book because I thought it would ruin what I did know. When I told a friend I was teaching theory, he asked, ‘Has it ruined your playing yet?’
“But formal study should use your thinking mind, and when you play, you’re outside of thinking. Creativity is outside of thought. You hear about jazz players who practice scales over and over, and what they’re really practicing is the sounds of these things that they want to hear. But when they play, they let go of all of that. So I realized my playing is never going to change. I’m always going to write the way I wrote.”
To immerse yourself in Joe’s creative world, check out the Messthetics’s 2024 album, The Messthetics and James Brandon Lewis, which adds saxophonist Lewis to the trio, bringing together Fugazi’s powerful rhythm section with two players from the creative improv world.
To inquire about bass lessons with Joe Lally, contact him on Instagram at @joelally898.
We chat with Molly about Sister Rosetta’s “immediately impressive” playing, which blends jazz, gospel, chromaticism, and blues into an early rock ‘n’ roll style that was not only way ahead of its time but was also truly rockin’.
In the early ’60s, some of the British guitarists who would shape the direction of our instrument for decades to come all found themselves at a concert by Sister Rosetta Tharpe. What they heard from Tharpe and what made her performances so special—her sound, her energy—must have resonated. Back at home in the U.S., she was a captivating presence, wowing audiences going back to her early days in church through performing the first stadium rock ‘n’ roll concert—which was also one of her weddings—and beyond. Her guitar playing was incendiary, energetic, and a force to be reckoned with.
On this episode of 100 Guitarists, we’re joined by guitarist Molly Miller, who in addition to being a fantastic guitarist, educator, bandleader, and performing with Jason Mraz, is a bit of a Sister Rosetta scholar. We chat with Molly about Sister Rosetta’s “immediately impressive” playing, which blends jazz, gospel, chromaticism, and blues into an early rock ‘n’ roll style that was not only way ahead of its time but was also truly rockin’.
OM-balance and comfort suited for the fingerstylist on a budget.
Comfortably, agreeably playable. Balanced dimensions. Nice fretwork.
Lighter mahogany top looks less classically mahogany-like. Some compressed sounds in heavy-strumming settings.
$299
Guild OM-320
guildguitars.com
The Premier Guitar crew is spoiled when it comes to hanging out with nice flattops. But while those too-brief encounters with acoustics we can’t afford teach us a lot about the flattop at its most refined, they also underscore a disconnect between the cost and the acoustic guitar’s status as a true folk instrument of the people.
Guild’s OM-320, from the company’s new 300 series, sells for $299, which isn’t much more than a good-quality, entry-level flattop cost in the 1980s. Strikingly, there’s a lot of competition in this price class. Even so, the OM-320’s nice build quality and pretty tone in fingerpicking applications stand out in a very crowded price segment.
The United Guild of Deal-Seeking Pickers
Though Guild, in all its incarnations, has always made accessible guitars a part of their offerings, a $300 instrument with the company’s logo might give pause to players familiar with guitars from their various U.S. factories. Quality can be hit-or-miss on any guitar from any brand at the entry level. What’s more, a lot of guitars with different brand names come from just a few OEM facilities—lending a certain sameness on top of irregular quality. But the recent acquisition of Guild by Yamaha, who has a reputation for solid entry-level instruments, inspires confidence as far as these concerns go.
So, too, does the integrity of the OM-320 at the nuts-and-bolts level. I couldn’t find any overt lapses in quality control. And in many spots where that really counts, like the fretwork, the execution is especially good. Little details like the Guild logo overlay (rather than a simple decal) add a soupçon of luxury. So do the Guild-branded, Grover Sta-Tite-style butterbean tuners, which look stylish and feel sensitive and accurate.
“The neck inhabits a comfortable zone between C and D shapes that’s super agreeable and, at least in my case, a nice antidote for hand fatigue.”
Though the body is built from layered mahogany on the back and sides and a solid mahogany top, the latter is much lighter and amber- or honey-toned than the rich cocoa-hued mahogany tops you’d associate with a vintage Guild M-20, or, for that matter, theM-120 from the company’s contemporary Westerly line. As a result, you see a little more contrast in the grain and a little dimpling in certain sections of the wood. The lighter wood isn’t unattractive, it just looks less trad, if you’re chasing Nick Drake’s Bryter Layter style. If that’s important, you should adjust the “design/build” score appropriately.
Sit and Stay Awhile
Barring being covered in porcupine spines, almost any OM or 000 will qualify as a pure-comfort title finalist. It’s not too thick, too wide, nor too petite—a size and profile that also pays unique, civilized sonic dividends. Here, the OM body is complimented by a neck that feels like an especially natural match. I don’t have a bunch of inexpensive OMs on hand to compare, and there isn’t anything wildly unique about the shape, but the neck profile feels very proportionate to the body. It also, depending on your own sense of such things, inhabits a comfortable zone between C and D shapes that’s super agreeable and, at least in my case, a nice antidote for hand fatigue. The neck is not classically OM-like in terms of nut width. The M-320’s nut measures 1 13/16", which is typical of a 000, rather than the 1 3/4" associated with OMs. The extra width, of course, would make the guitar more appealing to some fingerstylists that need the space. At no point, however, did I feel anything close to cramped; it’s just very comfortable.
The combination of layered back and sides, OM/000 dimensions, and mahogany mean the OM-320 feels and sounds less than super-widescreen in terms of tone spectrum and power. Nevertheless, it sounds balanced and pretty—particularly with a droning, dropped 6th string and other more-elastic tunings where the guitar can exercise the lower extremes of its voice. Tuning to standard has the effect of highlighting midrange emphasis, which can get boxy and render the 3rd and 4th strings a bit less potent and present. That said, it’s still balanced and almost never collapses into a distorted harmonic blur. The bottom end maintains an appealing growl and, as long as you use a gentler picking approach, you can use the highest four strings in very dynamic ways. Using a capo emphasizes other cool, high-mid-focused voices in the guitar that coexist well with most strumming approaches.
The Verdict
Inexpensive guitars that feel great can make up for a lot of shortcomings in tone. But the OM-320’s deficiencies in the latter regard are few, and some perceived limitations, like midrange emphasis, are intrinsic to guitars with OM dimensions. So, while forceful strumming is not the OM-320’s strength, the comfortable playability might just lead you to those places anyway. And if you compensate accordingly with touch dynamics, you can conjure many sweetly chiming tones that might sound extra sweet given the bargain price
Featuring vintage tremolos, modern slicer effects, and stereo auto-panners, the update includes clever Rate and Tempo controls for seamless syncing and morphing.
Today Kemper announces the immediate availability PROFILER OS 12.0 including the highly anticipated collection of advanced Tremolo and Slicer FX for the entire range of KEMPER PROFILER guitar amps.
The Collection features three vintage tremolos, two modern slicer effects, and two stereo auto-panners, that have been derived from the slicer effects. They all feature a clever Rate and Tempo control system, that allows for syncing the tremolo to the song tempo, retriggering the timing by simply hitting the TAP switch, and changing or morphing the tremolo rate to different note values,
The new Advanced Tremolo Modules in Detail
- The Tube Bias Tremolo is the familiar Tremolo in the Kemper Profilers. Formally named "Tremolo“ and available in the PROFILERs since day one, it is a reproduction of the famous Fender Amp tremolos from the 50‘s. Placed in front of the amp it beautifully interacts with the amp distortion.
- The Photocell Tremolo dates back to the 60‘s and features a steeper pulse slope, and its width varies with the intensity.
- The Harmonic Tremolo also dates back to the 60‘s and was introduced by Fender. The low and high frequencies alternate with the tremolo rate.
- The Pulse Slicer is a modern slizer or stutter effect that will continuously transition from the smoothest sine wave to the sharpest square wave, using the "Edge“ parameter. The "Skew“ parameter changes the timing of the high level versus the low level, sometimes also called pulse width or duty cycle.
- The Saw Slicer creates a ramp like a saw wave. The saw wave has a falling ramp when "Edge“ is at full position, and a rising edge at zero position. Towards the middle position a rising and falling ramp are forming a triangle wave. The „Skew“ parameter changes the slope of the rising and falling ramp from a linear trajectory to a more convex or concave shape.
- The Pulse Autopanner and the Saw Autopanner are derivates from their respective Slicers, they spread their signals in the stereo panorama. The "Stereo“-control parameter is included in many effects of the PROFILER. Here, it introduces a novel "super-stereo" effect that lets the Autopanner send the signal well outside the regular stereo image. This effect works best if you are well positioned in the correct stereo triangle of your speakers. When you move the “Stereo” soft knob beyond the +/-100% setting, the super-stereo effect comes into place, reaching its maximum impact at +/-200%.
- A single press on the TAP button at the beginning of the bar will bring the rhythmic modulation effects, such as Tremolo or Slicer, back into sync with the music without changing the tempo. The sync will happen smoothly and almost unnoticeable, which is a unique feature. Of course, tapping the tempo is possible as well.
- Modulation Rate - The “Rate” control available in many modulation effects is based on a special philosophy that allows continuous control over the speed of the modulation and continuous Morphing, even when linked to the current tempo via the To Tempo option. The fine Rate resolution shines when seamlessly morphing from, e.g., 1/8 notes to 1/16 notes or triplets without a glitch and without losing the timing of the music.