
A tiny and terrifically inexpensive ticket to spacious places.
Rugged, versatile, and easy to use. Super compact. Impressively affordable. Useful tone control.
Deeper settings can wash out the dry signal pretty quickly.
$45
TC Electronic Skysurfer Mini Reverb
tcelectronic.com
On the heels of its full-sized Skysurfer reverb pedal, TC Electronic has introduced the smaller and even more affordable Skysurfer Mini. TC, of course has a well-established and solid foundation in studio reverbs as well as a proven ability to miniaturize effects. And this tiny 3.9" x 2.2" x 2.2" metal box might just pack the most reverb value per-square-inch of any pedal out there.
The Little One
Though it's small, the Skysurfer Mini's control set matches that of its bigger sibling. That means knobs for reverb, mix, and tone (the latter of which alters the EQ profile of the reverb's decay, but not the dry signal). Just as on the bigger Skysurfer, there's a mini-toggle switch to select spring, plate, or hall reverb.
Recorded with a K-Line Springfield with Strat-style single-coil pickups using the neck pickup, into an AC15-style 1x12 combo set for clean.
Clip 1: Hall ā Pedal briefly off, then on. Tone noon, Reverb 11 o'clock, Mix 11 o'clock.
Clip 2: Plate ā Pedal briefly off, then on. Tone noon, Reverb 11 o'clock, Mix 11 o'clock.
Clip 3: Spring ā Pedal briefly off, then on. Tone noon, Reverb 11 o'clock, Mix 11 o'clock. Near the end, Reverb and Mix turned up to 3 o'clock, guitar switched to bridge pickup.
The footswitch is non-latching, there are mono input and output jacks, power comes from a 9V center-negative jack on the crown, and the pedal draws 100 mA. The enclosure itself feels impressively rugged. And perhaps my only hesitation with embracing such a conveniently small pedal is that my ham-footed size 11s might be just as likely to stomp the knobs as the switch on a dark stage. Such are the risks with most mini-pedals, but your level of careāor klutzinessāmay make such complications less of a factor.
Surfās Up
I situated the Skysurfer Mini in front of a tweed Deluxe-style 1x12 combo and in the loop of a Friedman Mini Dirty Shirley 1x10 combo, using a Les Paul and a K-Line Springfield S-style. It didn't take me long to find several favorite settings.
Each reverb mode, including the spring, has personality and can be extremely effective and offer cool creative options when used right.
The unit's overall tonality is bright and lively, which lends the feel of hard-surface reflections to most settings, rather than the soft, hazy edges you hear in some room or well-aged plate or spring reverbs. But you can easily dial in warmer reverb tones with careful use of the tone knob. Reverb snobs may quibble with the reality of some vintage-style settings. The spring setting, for example, probably won't fool old pros into thinking they're running through a '63 Fender Reverb. Yet each reverb mode, including the spring, has ample personality and can offer cool creative options when used right. For atmospheric reverbs, I found the hall with reverb and mix around 11 o'clock spacious, lush, and appealingly dimensional. When it came to the spring mode, however, I liked more aggressive settings with everything set around 1 o'clock, which is a blast for surf-punk riff mongering.
While the perception of depth and delay varies in the spring, plate, and hall modes, the taper in each control seems to favor wet settings rather than a range of subtle wet/dry blends. Given that deeper settings audibly dull the impact of the dry signal, it's often wise to start from modest reverb settings and ease into deeper territory, where the fun is. That said, some of the bias toward wet signals is made possible by the flexible tone control, which can lend clarity to transients and enables exploration of much more deep and drenched reverb settings without creating a wash of harsh overtones in the reflections.
The Verdict
The Skysurfer Mini may not always deliver the same lushness or depth you get from complex and expensive digital reverbs, but it's ideal for compact grab 'n' go rigs. At $45, this relatively versatile digital reverb is a fantastic bargain. It sounds reasonably realistic to expansive in all modes, and while more traditional players might want to rein in the depth in most instances, more experimental players can take the Skysurfer Mini to very lush and huge-sounding spaces. If you're on a strict budget, the Skysurfer Mini Reverb is very hard to beat.
Montanaās own Evel Knievel
If artists arenāt allowed to take risks, and even fail, great art will never be made. Need proof? Check Picasso, Hendrix, Monk, and Led Zeppelin.
In sixth grade, I went to a strict Catholic school. When you have an Italian-Irish mother, thatās just part of the deal. The nuns had the look and temperament of the defensive line of the ā70s Oakland Raiders. Corporal punishment was harsh, swift, and plentifulāparticularly toward boysāand we all feared them. All but one second grader. I canāt remember his first name; nobody used it, because his last name was Knievel. His uncle was Evel Knievel, the greatest and perhaps only celebrity ever to come from my home state, Montana. On the playground, we would watch in awe as this wild Knievel kid raced by us, nuns chasing in an awkward, sluggish pursuit as he knocked kids over, dust, books, and gravel flying behind his path of terror. This kid was fearless. It was truly inspiring to watch.
I hadnāt thought about my schoolmate for decades, until recently, when I saw Dave Chappelle talking about a terrible show he had in Detroit where the audience rebelled against him and began chanting, āWe want our money back. We want our money back.ā Chappelle told the angry mob: āGood people of Detroit. Hear me now. You are never getting your f*****g money back. Iām like Evel Knievel. I get paid for the attempt. I didnāt promise this shit would be good.ā
Good art is a gamble. Look at Picasso. In 1907, he spent nearly a year drawing rough sketches and eventually painting his jagged, raw, unpretty Les Demoiselles dāAvignon. Picasso kept Les Demoiselles dāAvignon in his Montmartre, Paris, studio for years after its completion due to the mostly negative reaction of his immediate circle of friends and colleagues. After its first public showing in 1916, critics were hostile. Today, the painting is hailed as a pivotal moment in art historyāthe first true work of both Cubism and modern art. Many argue that the 20th century began culturally in 1907, with this painting that today hangs in the Museum of Modern Art in New York. Picasso wasnāt paid to make folks comfy; he got bank for shoving boundaries.
Similarly, I remember my sister and I watching a clip of Hendrixās feedback-drenched āStar-Spangled Bannerā at Woodstock. I couldnāt really process it at the time, but I knew I was watching something that had never been done. When he got to the ābombs bursting in airā part, it sounded like a barrage of explosions. Then, he references the mournful military bugle call āTaps,ā played on bases at the end of each day and at funerals. My sister was offended. When I asked why, she said it was āunpatriotic.ā I watch it now and I see a Black Army veteran who justifiably had a complex relationship with the country he had served. Martin Luther King was assassinated a year earlier, police brutality toward Black citizens was common. Black Americans were disproportionately stuck in low-wage jobs, and unemployment rates for Black workers were roughly double those of white workers. And although Hendrix was discharged, many of his Army buddies were overseas fighting a war they did not understand or support. So, yes, unpatriotic seems appropriate. But Hendrixās performance was iconic because he dared to try to show his complex feelings through his guitar.āThatās the sweet spot: Fearless doesnāt mean flawless.ā
Listen to Led Zeppelinās groundbreaking āBlack Dog.ā The B section is so wonky, sticking out like a sore thumb with that weird timing that always feels wrong to me, but it would not be the rock masterpiece it is without that unsettling section. Maybe thatās the sweet spot: Fearless doesnāt mean flawless. Thelonious Monkās janky genius proves that; those off-kilter notes hit you in the gut, not the head. Beck, Bowie, Coltrane⦠they didnāt polish away the edges; they leaned into them. Thatās what makes you feel like a kid at an amusement park, wide-eyed and along for the ride.
When somebody hires me, they get what they get. I want to nail it, but art is subjective, so my idea of what feels right may not jibe with theirs. Humans are not great at communicating, so often I walk away from sessions and gigs wondering if my contribution was good, great, or garbage. But thatās a stupid question I try not to allow myself to indulge. You canāt do great work playing scared. There are times when music is not creative, just painting by numbers, trying to give the customer what they think they want. I do a lot of that to make a living, but thatās more like being a vending machine spitting out custom orders, not an artist.
Real artists are like that Knievel kidāleaving a trail of chaos, and not apologizing for it. I think artists who do it the best flip the script. Their audience isnāt just a judge, but a co-conspirator in the mess. Theyāre betting on the artistās next move, not buying a finished product. Theyāre paying for the front-row seat to potential, not a flawless show. The paycheck was for the swing, not the home run. If the audience pays for āenjoymentā that turns artists into jukeboxes, not creators⦠if artists arenāt free to fail⦠innovation dies.
Nashville luthier and guitar tech Dave Johnson shows us the baker's dozen of tools he thinks any guitar picker requires to be a guitar fixer.
3. Guitar Tech Screwdriver Set - 3000
4. Nut File Set (for medium guitar strings) - 0882
8. String Spacing Ruler - 0673
9. Nut and Saddle Files - 4556
The Ultimate Guitarist's Tool Chest Giveaway
Whether you're setting up your first guitar or fine-tuning a custom build, these are the 13 tools every guitarist needs. Now you can win them all. We've partnered with our friends at StewMac to give away a complete pro-level toolkit valued at over $750.
Click here to enter
Kemper updated the entire product range introducing the all-new Kemper Profiler MK 2 Series. More Power. More Flexibility.
KEMPER PROFILER - The all-new PROFILER MK 2 Series
Kemper today announces the immediate availability of the all-new KEMPER PROFILER MK 2 Series. Kemper continues to raise the bar with the upcoming Profiler MK 2 Series ā a bold evolution of the Profiler lineup (All PROFILERs: Head, Rack, Stage, the Player, and the powered versions), delivering more power, more flexibility, and more creative potential than ever before.
At the heart of the PROFILER MK 2 Series works an upgraded processing engine, unlocking faster performance, with boot times clocking in around 20 seconds, and a host of new features that expand the boundaries of what a modern guitar or bass rig can do.
A New Era of Effects:
20 Blocks in Series, the most powerful effects architecture ever found in a Kemper unit - The PROFILER MK 2 Series now offers seven additional effect blocks, raising the total number of simultaneous audio effect blocks to an incredible 20 ā all running with zero added signal latency. Itās like having an entire, fully integrated pedalboard with pedal essentials at your feet ā but one that boots in seconds, never needs rewiring, and always remembers your settings.
A new Era of Profiling:
Kemper announces a new profiling technology for the MK 2 series. Availabilty is expected during Summer. Currently in extended testing with some selected third-party profile vendors the new profiling offers:
- More than 100,000 individual frequency points meticulously analyzed for the most precise amp recreation ever achieved.
- Next-Level Speaker & Dynamically adjustable Cabinet Resonance ā Capturing the true dynamics of your setup with the longest and most complex impulse responses in the industry.
- Liquid Profiling Technology ā Seamlessly integrate the original ampās gain and tone controls, transforming a single profile into a fully dynamic, living amplifier.
- Unparalleled Precision & Feel ā A cutting-edge hybrid approach combining precise, deterministic analog measurement with Kemperās industry-leading profiling intelligence.
Overview - All thatās new in the PROFILER MK 2 in more Detail:
All-New FX Section ā 7 Additional FX Slots - ThePROFILER MK 2-Series introduces an expanded FX section with seven dedicated āpedalboard essentialā FX slots, featuring: A new second Noise Gate (Palm Ninja), Compressor, Pure Booster, WahWah, Vintage Chorus, Air Chorus, and Double Tracker.
Adding these to the pre-existing 10 audio blocks, Spectral Noise Gate, Transpose Effect, and Volume Pedal - in total this provides users with 20 simultaneous audio effect blocks, setup gig-ready right out of the box while maintaining full flexibility for customization.
This new layout makes it convenient to cover all the bases and offers 8 flexible FX blocks available for the acclaimed tone shapers and studio-grade unique FX the KEMPER PROFILER is famous for.
Performance Meets Portability - With a smarter internal design and new lightweight aluminum components, the Profiler Stage Mk 2 has shed excess weight ā making it even more gig-friendly without sacrificing the tank-like build quality musicians rely on. Whether for touring the world or heading to a local session, this is the most travel-ready full-featured Profiler yet.
Mk 2-ready Player! - For all guitarists and bassists already rocking the compact PROFILER Player, there is good news: itās been āMK 2ā-ready from day one, meaning itās fully aligned with the power and potential of the new series, and now, on LVL 1 already, it features 16 simultaneous FX in total. This new extended signal flow becomes available for all Player owners as a free update, and yes, it will get Profiling, too. Making the PROFILER Player out of the box the features richest and most professional performance and recording solution - with its travel-friendly footprint and convenient price point!
8-Channel USB Audio Support for the new Mk 2-Series - Native 8-channel USB audio support to all KEMPER PROFILER MK 2 Series units, enabling seamless multitrack recording and reamping directly into your DAW ā no external interface required.
Loop Longer, Play Harder - The integrated Looper also gets a serious upgrade. With up to two full minutes of recording time, the MK 2 Series lets you capture extended phrases, build layered soundscapes, or craft entire performances ā all on the fly. (Looper available from LVL 3 for the Player)
Speed and Responsiveness Upgrades - Major improvements under the hood. Boot times, preset switching, and UI responsiveness are noticeably faster and smoother, especially in Performance Mode.
Christoph Kemper, Founder & CEO:
āThe new PROFILER MK 2-Series makes the PROFILERs feel more like a complete rig than ever before. With instant access to essential FX, full USB audio integration, and improved playability, weāre giving our users a platform that adapts and grows with them.ā
Pricing & Availability:
The new KEMPER PROFILER MK 2 Series models are available now from dealers worldwide and directly from the Kemper Online Store. All the new features require a KEMPER PROFILER MK 2 Series device. Visit www.kemper-amps.com for downloads and release notes.
PROFILER Head $1,348.00
PROFILER Rack $1,398.00
PROFILER Stage $1,498.00
PROFILER Player $ 699.00
PROFILER PowerHead $1,798.00
PROFILER PowerRack $1,798.00
PROFILER Remote $ 469.00
At a glance!
The Kemper Profiler MK 2 Series isnāt just about doing more. Itās about doing it better, faster, and without compromise. With unmatched tonal power, surgical precision, and effortless usability, this is the most complete and forward-thinking Profiler platform yet.
The Billy Idol guitarist rides his Knaggs into Nashville.
Thereās nothing subtle about Billy Idol, so it tracks that thereād be nothing subtle about the guitars used onstage by his longtime guitarist, Steve Stevens. Famous for his guitar work with Idol and the Grammy-winning symphony of sustain āTop Gun Anthem,ā Stevens brought a brigade of eye-popping signature electrics and some choice other jewels out on the road with Idol this spring.
The tour touched down at Bridgestone Arena in downtown Nashville in May, and while Stevens was jetting into town, PGās John Bohlinger met up with tech and guitar builder Frank Falbo to learn the ins and outs of Stevensā rig.
Brought to you by DāAddario
Cherry Pie
This cherryburst is one of a score of single-cut Knaggs Steve Stevens signature models in Stevensā arsenal. He plays with heavier Tortex picks and uses Ernie Ball strings, usually .010ā.048s.
More, More, More (Sustain)
This Knaggs Steve Stevens Severn XF, complete with a Sustainiac pickup system, was designed to mimic the look of one of his old guitars, and the stage lights make this finish go insane. It comes out for three to four songs in any given set, including āRebel Yell.ā
Songs from the Sparkle Lounge
This Knaggs Steve Stevens, finished in silver sparkle, is outfitted with a killswitch, push-pull control knobs, and Fishman Fluence pickups. Falbo was on the R&D team that helped design the Fluences.
Other guitars backstage include a red sparkle Knaggs with PAFs, a Godin LGXT with piezo saddles and Seymour Duncan pickups that sends three signals (synth, electric, and piezo), a pair of piezo- and MIDI-equipped Godin nylon-string guitars, a dazzling GibsonĀ Les Paul with stock Gibson pickups, a Suhr T-style electric, and a Ciari Ascender for travel and dressing-room rehearsal.
Tube Heart, Digital Brains
Stevens runs through a pair of Friedman headsāa B100 and Steve Stevens SS100, plus a third backupāwith each panned hard to either the left or right. Both signals run through a Neve 8803 rack EQ into two RedSeven Amplification Amp Central Evo loadboxes, and through their impulse response programs to front of house. A Neural Quad Cortex is on hand as a backup and for fly dates.
Steve Stevensā Pedalboard
Stevensā pedal playground is masterminded by an RJM Mastermind GT, which lives on its own board alongside a Fractal FM3 MK II. He orchestrates most of the changes himself, but Falbo is ready to flip switches backstage in case Stevens is away from his board for a key moment.
The centre hub, built on a Tone Merchants board, carries a TC Electronic PolyTune2 Noir, Xotic Effects Super Sweet Booster, Vox wah, Ernie Ball volume pedal, Mission Engineering expression pedal, DigiTech Whammy Ricochet, Suhr Discovery, JHS Muffuletta, DigiTech Drop, ISP DECI-MATE, Walrus Voyager, Suhr Koji Comp, Zvex Super Ringtone, DryBell Vibe Machine, and Ammoon EX EQ7. An Ebtech Hum Eliminator, two Strymon Ojais, and a Strymon Zuma keep the wheels greased.
The board to the right carries a Boss RV-500, Fender Smolder Acoustic OD, Lehle Dual Expression, Boss GM-800, Empress Bass Compressor, Grace Design ALiX preamp, Fishman Aura, and a Peterson tuner. Utility boxes include an Ernie Ball Volt and a Radial J48.