Every now and then I spot a guitar that just floors me with its looks. This 1967 MaxiTone is one of those (Photo 1). I spotted this Japanese solidbody on eBay and it immediately knocked me out. Not only because of its four pickups, but that green-sparkle finish is so over the top. Just check out the back (Photo 2) and matching headstock (Photo 3).
Photo 2
These models originally came from the factory with a rather boring sunburst finish, but somewhere along the line that was replaced with emerald green metal-flake paint. Normally a refin on an older instrument will lower its resale value, but I think sometimes the right refin can actually improve a guitar’s worth if the original finish looked fairly pedestrian. Time will tell on this one.
The guitar spent some time on eBay with the seller lowering the “Buy It Now” price every week for a few weeks. When it reached $240, I could stand it no longer and pulled the trigger. Shipping was $40, but the seller said that if the shipping came to less than that, he would refund the difference. Shipping came to $17, and true to his word, he refunded $23, bringing my total to $257.
My MaxiTone arrived safely, and after testing it to make sure everything worked, I put on new strings and did a setup. The seller must have already done some work because the guitar was really easy to play and everything functioned properly—unusual for a ’60s Japanese electric.
Bottom Feeder Tip #289: Always test a guitar as soon as you receive it. If there’s a problem, it’s best to contact the seller immediately to resolve any issues before you waste your time working on something you might have to send back.
The moment of truth came when I plugged it in. Ah yes ... it’s good to hear the sound of the ’60s again.
Photo 3
Usually when a guitar has three or four pickups, they really interfere with my right-hand technique. But on this model, the pickups are grouped in pairs (Photo 4), and this leaves enough room between the pairs for fingerpicking—nice. Actually, that was one of the selling points for me.
I also like the old on/off rocker switches—one for each pickup—and this simple scheme yields a plethora of pickup combinations. The switches were a little scratchy, so I sprayed some contact cleaner on them, as well as on the volume and tone pots to clean up their sound.
Photo 4
The only problem I need to solve is the angle of the strings as they come over the bridge, heading into the trem. Sometimes I accidentally pluck the treble strings out of their saddles when I switch over to hybrid picking. Down the road I’ll need to find a way to create a steeper angle across the saddles, but without modifying the guitar and lowering its resale value. I’ll find a way because this guitar is worth the extra effort.
So is it a keeper? Oh yeah, I’ve never owned a guitar that sounds quite like it. Plus the color still floors me whenever I open the case!
Revv G3 Purple Channel Preamp/Overdrive/Distortion Pedal - Anniversary Edition
The Revv G3 revolutionized high gain pedals in 2018 with its tube-like response & tight, clear high gain tones. Suddenly the same boutique tones used by metal artists & producers worldwide were available to anyone in a compact pedal. Now the G3 returns with a new V2 circuit revision that raises the bar again.
If 3 Were 6
With six times the controls found on the 1 and 2 versions (if you discount the original’s on/off slider switch,) the LPB-3’s control complement offers pre-gain, boost, mid freq, bass, treble, and mid knobs, with a center detent on the latter three so you can find the midpoint easily. A mini-toggle labeled “max” selects between 20 dB and 33 dB of maximum gain, and another labeled “Q” flips the resonance of the mid EQ between high and low. Obviously, this represents a significant expansion of the LPB’s capabilities.
More than just a booster with a passive tone, the LPB-3 boasts a genuine active EQ stage plus parametric midrange section, comprising the two knobs with shaded legends, mid freq and mid level. The gain stages have also been reimagined to include a pre-gain stage before the EQ, which enables up to 20 dB of input gain. The boost stage that follows the EQ is essentially a level control with gain to allow for up to 33 dB of gain through the LPB-3 when the “max” mini toggle is set to 33dB
A slider switch accessible inside the pedal selects between buffered or true bypass for the hard-latch footswitch. An AC adapter is included, which supplies 200mA of DC at 9.6 volts to the center-negative power input, and EHX specifies that nothing supplying less than 120mA or more than 12 volts should be used. There’s no space for an internal battery.
Power-Boosted
The LPB-3 reveals boatloads of range that betters many linear boosts on the market. There’s lots of tone-shaping power here. Uncolored boost is available when you want it, and the preamp gain knob colors and fattens your signal as you crank it up—even before you tap into the massive flexibility in the EQ stage.
“The preamp gain knob colors and fattens your signal as you crank it up—even before you tap into the massive flexibility in the EQ stage.”
I found the two mid controls work best when used judiciously, and my guitars and amps preferred subtle changes pretty close to the midpoint on each. However, there are still tremendous variations in your mid boost (or scoop, for that matter) within just 15 or 20 percent range in either direction from the center detent. Pushing the boost and pre-gain too far, particularly with the 33 dB setting engaged, can lead to some harsh sounds, but they are easy to avoid and might even be desirable for some users that like to work at more creative extremes.
The Verdict
The new LPB-3 has much, much more range than its predecessors, providing flexible preamp, boost, and overdrive sounds that can be reshaped in significant ways via the powerful EQ. It gives precise tone-tuning flexibility to sticklers that like to match a guitar and amp to a song in a very precise way, but also opens up more radical paths for experimentalists. That it does all this at a $129 price is beyond reasonable.
Electro-Harmonix Lpb-3 Linear Power Booster & Eq Effect Pedal Silver And Blue
