Guild Chris Hillman Signature Byrds Bass and Starfire II
These two Guild Starfire basses! Yikes! The sunburst Starfire on the right honors Byrds bassist extraordinaire Chris Hillman. It's got a mahogany body and neck and a fast-feeling 30.75" scale neck with a Byrds logo inlay at the 12th fret. It's a blast to play and brings the boom with a single BS-1 BiSonic pickup. (Street $1,499.) The $1,299, two-pickup Starfire II is also new at Summer NAMM. Beautiful stuff!
3rd Power Dual Citizen
One of the most impressive amps at NAMM was 3rd Power Amps' Dual Citizen. Like the name implies it can go from a beautifully chimey British sound to a robust and spanky blackface tone. The channels can either be blended together or switched via an included foot switch. It's loaded with Mullard EL-34s and weighs in at a solid 45 watts. Finally it has a mixed bus, pedal-level loop driver so you can put all your pedals after the preamp. It's available now and streets for $2750. Combo version coming soon.
EarthQuaker Devices Dunes, Interstellar Orbiter, & Levitation
EarthQuaker Devices shared a mother lode of new stompboxes. The Dunes is a condensed version of the 808-inspired Palisades, the Interstellar Orbiter is a dual-resonant filter that can do everything from wah emulation to a rotary speaker effect, and the Levitation is a vintage-voiced reverb reminiscent of somewhere between dirty '60s chamber, classic spring, and the ringing plate reverbs of yesteryear.
Washburn Guitars Woodline Series
Washburn Guitars' new Woodline series is probably the best-sounding affordable line of acoustics we've heard so far at NAMM. They range from $299-$399 street, and the higher-end WL020SCE shown here features a solid Sitka spruce top, laminated rosewood sides and back, Graphtech Nubone nut and saddle, and Fishman Isys+ electronics.
Greer Amps Black Tiger and Hammer
Greer Amplification came to Nashville with both a Black Tiger and Hammer in hand. The Black Tiger delay features an analog signal path with a digital delay repeater circuit and was designed to have the warmth and feel of vintage delays with some added touch sensitivity and slight grain on the repeats. The Hammer brings the nasty with textures that range from gnarly Texas rock distortion to squashed-out, almost cut-off fuzz. Both are $199 street and will start shipping once the Greer crew gets home.
Electro-Harmonix 22500 Dual Stereo Looper
Mike Matthews and the Electro-Harmonix gang brought several new stomps to Music City this week but the 22500 Dual Stereo Looper made us turn our head. It has a slew of cool functions, including automatic loop-length matching, SD card storage, octave and reverse modes, XLR input for simultaneous instrument-and-vocal looping, drum loops, and more.
Ibanez Talman Presitge Series
Ibanez Guitars just showed us a trio of new Talman Prestige models that produces everything from Nashville-approved country spank to robust rock tones via the Seymour Duncan pickups. They will be shipping in November and will start at $1199.
TV Jones Spectra Sonic Standard
V Jones debuted the new Spectra Sonic Standard at NAMM this week. Available Bigsby B7-equipped or not, these matte-black beauties feature chambered alder bodies, set-in maple necks topped with rosewood 'boards, and TV Jones T-Series Spectra-Flux pups.
Roland JC-40
Roland U.S. is at Nashtown NAMM celebrating the 40th anniversary of their iconic Jazz Chorus amp with the release of the new JC-40. This 40-watt stereo amp still brings the famous “JC clean” tone and long-respected signature chorus effect, but also includes evolved features for modern players like enhanced onboard effects and a front-panel stereo input.
Fret King Esprit III
Trev Wilkinson is a tinkering genius. And his Fret King guitars always seem to offer some cool, unexpected twist on a classic. Or in the case of the Esprit III several twists. This candy apple red ripper, which fuses Firebird and Fender offset design cues features stacked P-90s, five way pickup selector with Fret King's Vari Coil tone control, Maestro-style vibrato, and Wilkinson roller bridge. This thing generates about a gazillion killer tone flavors. And the price is pretty fair too at $1,249.
Park Little Head 18 and Rock Head 50
Park Amps brought two really nice-sounding heads to NAMM. The Little Head 18 (top) uses the same preamp as the venerable P45, but has a rad self-biasing power section that accepts 6V6, 6L6, EL34, and other octal tubes—including rectifiers—without modification. Meanwhile, the EL34-powered, two-channel Rock Head 50 was inspired by the '70s Park Rock Head, but adds extra flexibility with a switchable cascading gain stage, and a cathode-following tone stack.
Daredevil Pedals Northern Clipper
Chicago's Daredevil Pedals brought the new Northern Clipper—a six-transistor silicon fuzz that's inspired to some extent by the Shin Ei Super-Fuzz and Maestro FZ-1S. The cool thing is that it strips out a lot of the less-functional aspects of those designs and concentrates on the heaps of fatness the circuit can generate. It's surprisingly versatile, with just the right amount of octave, and has a ton of range. Did we mention it sounds freaking huge and nasty? Price TBD, but will probably be around $140.
TecAmp MTS Cab
TecAmp brought an ingenious new cab to NAMM. Outfitted with 10" and 12" drivers, plus three kinds of tweeters—a 4" paper cone, a horn, and a neodymium-magnet tweeter—the MTS features three 3-way switches for selecting any combination of these high-end drivers (or none) at full or half engagement. The result is an astonishing variety of sounds perfect for everything from warm, thumpy R&B to Jaco-style soloing, bright funk snapping and popping, and much, much more.
Gibson originally launched the EB-6 model with the intention of serving consumers looking for a “tic-tac” bass sound.
The Gibson EB-6 was announced in 1959 and came into the world in 1960, not with a dual-horn body but with that of an elegant ES-335. They looked stately, with a thin, semi-hollow body, f-holes, and a sunburst finish. Our pick for this Vintage Vault column is one such first-year model, in about as original condition as you’re able to find today. “Why?” you may be asking. Well, read on....
When the EB-6 was introduced, the Bass VI was still a glimmer in Leo Fender’s eye. The real competition were the Danelectro 6-string basses that seemed to have popped up out of nowhere and were suddenly being used on lots of hit records by the likes of Elvis, Patsy Cline, and other household names. Danos like the UB-2 (introduced in ’56), the Longhorn 4623 (’58), and the Shorthorn 3612 (’58) were the earliest attempts any company made at a 6-string bass in this style: not quite a standard electric bass, not quite a guitar, nor, for that matter, quite like a baritone guitar.
The only change this vintage EB-6 features is a replacement set of Kluson tuners.
Photo by Ken Lapworth
Gibson, Fender, and others during this era would in fact call these basses “baritone guitars,” to add to our confusion today. But these vintage “baritones” were all tuned one octave below a standard guitar, with scale lengths around 30", while most modern baritones are tuned B-to-B or A-to-A and have scale lengths between 26" and 30".)
At the time, those Danelectros were instrumental to what was called the “tic-tac” bass sound of Nashville records produced by Chet Atkins, or the “click-bass” tones made out west by producer Lee Hazlewood. Gibson wanted something for this market, and the EB-6 was born.
“When the EB-6 was introduced, the Bass VI was still a glimmer in Leo Fender’s eye.”
The 30.5" scale 1960 EB-6 has a single humbucking pickup, a volume knob, a tone knob, and a small, push-button “Tone Selector Switch” that engages a treble circuit for an instant tic-tac sound. (Without engaging that switch, you get a bass-heavy tone so deep that cowboy chords will sound like a muddy mess.)
The EB-6, for better or for worse, did not unseat the Danelectros, and a November 1959 price list from Gibson hints at why: The EB-6 retailed for $340, compared to Dano price tags that ranged from $85 to $150. Only a few dozen EB-6 basses were shipped in 1960, and only 67 total are known to have been built before Gibson changed the shape to the SG style in 1962.
Most players who come across an EB-6 today think it was a response to the Fender Bass VI, but the former actually beat the latter to the market by a full year.
Photo by Ken Lapworth
It’s sad that so few were built. Sure, it was a high-end model made to achieve the novelty tic-tac sound of cheaper instruments, but in its full-voiced glory, the EB-6 has a huge potential of tones. It would sound great in our contemporary guitar era where more players are exploring baritone ranges, and where so many people got back into the Bass VI after seeing the Beatles play one in the 2021 documentary, Get Back.
It’s sadder, still, how many original-era EB-6s have been parted out in the decades since. Remember earlier when I wrote that our Vintage Vaultpick was about as original as you could find? That’s because the model’s single humbucker is a PAF, its Kluson tuners are double-line, and its knobs are identical to those on Les Paul ’Bursts. So as people repaired broken ’Bursts, converted other LPs to ’Bursts, or otherwise sought to give other Gibsons a “Golden Era” sound and look ... they often stripped these forgotten EB-6 basses for parts.
This original EB-6 is up for sale now from Reverb seller Emerald City Guitars for a $16,950 asking price at the time of writing. The only thing that isn’t original about it is a replacement set of Kluson tuners, not because its originals were stolen but just to help preserve them. (They will be included in the case.)
With so few surviving 335-style EB-6 basses, Reverb doesn’t have a ton of sales data to compare prices to. Ten years ago, a lucky buyer found a nearly original 1960 EB-6 for about $7,000. But Emerald City’s $16,950 asking price is closer to more recent examples and asking prices.
Sources: Prices on Gibson Instruments, November 1, 1959, Tony Bacon’s “Danelectro’s UB-2 and the Early Days of 6-String Basses” Reverb News article, Gruhn’s Guide to Vintage Guitars, Tom Wheeler’s American Guitars: An Illustrated History, Reverb listings and Price Guide sales data.
Originally released in the 1980s, the Victory has long been a cult favorite among guitarists for its distinctive double cutaway design and excellent upper-fret access. These new models feature flexible electronics, enhanced body contours, improved weight and balance, and an Explorer headstock shape.
A Cult Classic Made Modern
The new Victory features refined body contours, improved weight and balance, and an updated headstock shape based on the popular Gibson Explorer.
Effortless Playing
With a fast-playing SlimTaper neck profile and ebony fretboard with a compound radius, the Victory delivers low action without fret buzz everywhere on the fretboard.
Flexible Electronics
The two 80s Tribute humbucker pickups are wired to push/pull master volume and tone controls for coil splitting and inner/outer coil selection when the coils are split.
For more information, please visit gibson.com.
Gibson Victory Figured Top Electric Guitar - Iguana Burst
Released in 1983, the Roland SDE-3000 rackmount delay was a staple for pro players of the era and remains revered for its rich analog/digital hybrid sound and distinctive modulation. BOSS reimagined this retro classic in 2023 with the acclaimed SDE-3000D and SDE-3000EVH, two wide-format pedals with stereo sound, advanced features, and expanded connectivity. The SDE-3 brings the authentic SDE-3000 vibe to a streamlined BOSS compact, enhanced with innovative creative tools for every musical style. The SDE-3 delivers evocative delay sounds that drip with warmth and musicality. The efficient panel provides the primary controls of its vintage benchmark—including delay time, feedback, and independent rate and depth knobs for the modulation—plus additional knobs for expanded sonic potential.
A wide range of tones are available, from basic mono delays and ’80s-style mod/delay combos to moody textures for ambient, chill, and lo-fi music. Along with reproducing the SDE-3000's original mono sound, the SDE-3 includes a powerful Offset knob to create interesting tones with two simultaneous delays. With one simple control, the user can instantly add a second delay to the primary delay. This provides a wealth of mono and stereo colors not available with other delay pedals, including unique doubled sounds and timed dual delays with tap tempo control. The versatile SDE-3 provides output configurations to suit any stage or studio scenario.
Two stereo modes include discrete left/right delays and a panning option for ultra-wide sounds that move across the stereo field. Dry and effect-only signals can be sent to two amps for wet/dry setups, and the direct sound can be muted for studio mixing and parallel effect rigs. The SDE-3 offers numerous control options to enhance live and studio performances. Tap tempo mode is available with a press and hold of the pedal switch, while the TRS MIDI input can be used to sync the delay time with clock signals from DAWs, pedals, and drum machines. Optional external footswitches provide on-demand access to tap tempo and a hold function for on-the-fly looping. Alternately, an expression pedal can be used to control the Level, Feedback, and Time knobs for delay mix adjustment, wild pitch effects, and dramatic self-oscillation.
The new BOSS SDE-3 Dual Delay Pedal will be available for purchase at authorized U.S. BOSS retailers in October for $219.99. To learn more, visit www.boss.info.