New Pedal for Retro Sound
Berkeley, CA (August 17) - Hartman Electronics has released its latest pedal, the LM308 Op-Amp Distortion. The new stomp is inspired by the edgy, modern-sounding distortion popularized by punk, new-wave and college rock bands of the late ''70s and early ''80s. Incorporating true-bypass switching and LED indicators, each pedal features ultra-quiet premium components, military-spec plated-thru-hole printed circuit board construction, and the LM308: the 1970''s-manufacture Op-Amp that lent its signature tone to some of the finest pedals of that era.
The pedal offers two modes of distortion, both selectable on-the-fly via the footswitch. The first distortion mode employs a diode-clipping stage to produce a classic distortion and crunch of the early ProCo RAT, exhibiting the sensitivity to player pick-attack, mute and pinch-harmonics for which that pedal is renowned.
The second distortion mode transforms the pedal into an overdrive, increasing transparency, headroom, and dynamic response, and producing a hotter output signal suitable for overdriving the input of downstream amps/devices.
Together, the two modes of operation expand the pedal''s sonic palette and versatility, allowing it to be applied to a wide array of setups, playing styles and musical contexts, old and new.
All pedals are hand-wired and assembled to order using N.O.S. LM308AH metal-can style op-amps unless otherwise requested. The LM308AH has a smoother treble roll-off than the LM308N. Players requiring heightened treble response may select the LM308N option.
For more information:
Well-designed pickups. Extremely comfortable contours. Smooth, playable neck.
Middle position could use a bit more mids. Price could scare off some.
$2,999
Ernie Ball Music Man StingRay II
A surprise 6-string collaboration with Cory Wong moves effortlessly between ā70s George Benson and Blink-182 tones.
Announced at the 2025 NAMM show, Cory Wongās new collaboration with Ernie Ball Music Man scratched an itchānamely, the itch for a humbucker-loaded guitar that could appease Wongās rock-and-R&B alter ego and serve as complement to his signature Fender Strat. Inspiration came from no further than a bandmateās namesake instrument. Vulfpeck bassist Joe Dart has a line of signature model EBMM basses, one of which uses the classic StingRay bass body profile. So, when Wong went looking for something distinctive, he wondered if EBMM could create a 6-string guitar using the classic StingRay bass body and headstock profile.
Double the Fun
Wong is, by his own admission, a single-coil devotee. Thatās where the core of his sound lives and it feels like home to him. However, Wong is as inspired by classic Earth, Wind & Fire tones and the pop-punk of the early ā90s as he is by Prince and the Minneapolis funk that he grew up with. The StingRay II is a guitar that can cover all those bases.
Ernie Ball has a history of designing fast-feeling, comfortable necks. And I canāt remember ever struggling to move around an EBMM fretboard. The roasted maple C-shaped neck here is slightly thicker in profile than I expected, but still very comfortable. (I must also mention that the back of the neck has a dazzling, almost holographic look to the grain that morphs in the light). By any measure, the StingRay IIās curves seemed designed for comfort and speed. Now, letās talk about those pickups.Hot or Not?
A few years ago EBMM introduced a line of HT (heat-treated) pickups. The pickups are built with technology the company used to develop their Cobalt and M-Series strings. A fair amount of the process is shrouded in secrecy and must be taken on faith, but EBMM says treating elements of the pickup with heat increases clarity and dynamic response.
To find out for myself, I plugged the StingRay II into a Fender Vibroverb, Mesa/Boogie Mark VII, and a Neural DSP Quad Cortex (Wongās preferred live rig). Right away, it was easy to hear the tight low end and warm highs. Often, I feel like the low end from neck humbuckers can feel too loose or lack definition. Neither was the case here. The HT pickup is beautifully balanced with a bounce thatās rich with ES-335 vibes. Clean tones are punchy and brightāespecially with the Vibroverbāand dirty tones have more room for air. Individual notes were clear and articulate, too.
Any guitar associated with Wong needs a strong middle-position or combined pickup tone, and the StingRay II delivers. I never felt any significant signal loss in the blended signal from the two humbuckers, even if I could use a bit more midrange presence in the voicing. The midrange gap is nothing an EQ or Tube Screamer couldnāt fix, though. And not surprisingly, very Strat-like sounds were easy to achieve for having less midrange bump.
Knowing Wongās love for ā90s alt-rock, I expected the bridge pickup to have real bite, and it does, demonstrating exceptional dynamic range and exceptional high-end response that never approached shrill. Nearly every type of distortion and overdrive I threw at it sounded great, but especially anything with a scooped-mid flavor and plenty of low end.
The Verdict
By any measure, the StingRay II is a top-notch, professional instrument. The fit and finish are immaculate and the feel of the neck makes me wonder if EBMM stashes some kind of secret sandpaper, because I donāt think Iāve ever felt a smoother, more playable neck. Kudos are also due to EBMM and Wong for finding an instrument that can move between ā70s George Benson tones and the hammering power chords of ā90s Blink-182. Admittedly, the nearly $3K price could give some players pause, but considering the overall quality of the instrument, itās not out of line. Wongās involvement and search for distinct sounds makes the StingRay II more than a tired redux of a classic modelāan admirable accomplishment considering EBMMās long and storied history.
Ernie Ball Music Man StingRay II Cory Wong Signature Electric Guitar - Charcoal Blue with Rosewood Fingerboard
StingRay II Cory Wong - Charcoal BlueAdding to the companyās line of premium guitar strapsand accessories, Fairfield Guitar Co. has introduced a new deluxe leather strapdesigned in collaboration with Angela Petrilli.
Based in Los Angeles, Petrilli is well-known to guitar enthusiasts around the world for her online videos. She is one of the video hosts at Normanās Rare Guitars and has her own YouTube lesson series, the Riff Rundown. She also writes, records and performs with her original band, Angela Petrilli & The Players, and has worked with Gibson, Fender, Martin Guitars, Universal Audio, Guitar Center and Fishman Transducers.
Angela Petrilli's eye-grabbing signature strap is fully hand cut, four inches wide and lightly padded, so it evenly distributes the weight of the instrument on the shoulder and offers superb comfort during extended play. The front side features black "cracked" leather with turquoise triple stitching. The "cracked" treatment on the leather highlights the beautiful natural marks and grain pattern ā and it only gets better with age and use.The strapās back side is black suede for adhesion and added comfort, with the Fairfield Guitar Co. logo and Angela's name stamped in silver foil.
Features include:
- 100% made in the USA
- Hand cut 4ā wide leather strap with light padding -- offering extra comfort for longgigs and rehearsals.
- Black suede back side avoids slipping, maintains guitarās ideal playing position.
- Length is fully adjustable from 45ā - 54ā and the strap has two holes on thetailpiece for added versatility.
The Fairfield Guitar Co. Angela Petrilli signature strap is available for $150 online at fairfieldguitarco.com.
Tube Amp Doctor has reissued one of the companyās mostsought-after products: the TAD 6L6WGC-STR Blackplate⢠small bottle power tube is back inproduction after a 5-year absence.
The TAD 6L6WGC-STR Blackplate⢠is the tube that has made TAD so popular with boutiqueamp manufacturers and vintage tone enthusiasts since 2003. A direct replacement for 6L6 and5881 tubes, itās a remake of the small bottle GE6L6GC and has the same warm lower midrangeand silky top end as the classic GE versions of the 1950s and 1960s. Like the historic RCA5881, this tube features exclusive Blackplate anodes and a side getter.
The TAD 6L6GC-STR Blackplate⢠and the TAD 6L6WGC-STR Blackplate⢠feature TADāsexclusive black-plate designs, gold grid wire, double getter construction, no-noise filaments and1.2mm thick heavy duty glass. This tube is approximately 80mm high (without pins) and canreplace 5881 and 6L6WGB tubes.
The newly reissued tubes feature the original design and raw materials from old stock, availablein limited quantities as long as the old stock raw materials are available. Theyāre the perfectchoice for vintage tweed and black panel amps such as the 1960 Bassman, Twin, Showman orSuper Reverb. The complex midrange and sweet heights are a class of its own. The TAD6L6WGC-STR is recommended for classic tone with warm cleans and rich, sweet mids whenpushed ā and itās great for fat jazz or blues tones.
- Delivers classic sound of the 1950s and ā60s - excellent tone, maximum lifespan
- Tube Type: 6L6/5881
- Socket: 8 Pin(Octal)
- Identical construction, even tighter tolerances with improved production quality
The TAD 6L6GC-STR Blackplate⢠and the TAD 6L6WGC-STR Blackplate⢠are each priced at$48 (does not include VAT) / ā¬46.50 (includes VAT) and are available at tubeampdoctor.com.
In challenging times, sometimes elemental music, like the late Jessie Mae Hemphillās raucous Mississippi hill country blues, is the best salve. It reminds us of whatās truly essentialāāmusically, culturally, and emotionally. And provides a restorative and safe place, where we can open up, listen, and experience without judgement. And smile.
Iāve been prowling the backroads, juke joints, urban canyons, and VFW halls for more than 40 years, in search of the rawest, most powerful and authentic American music. And among the many things Iāve learned is that whatās more interesting than the music itself is the people who make it.
One of the most interesting people Iāve met is the late Jessie Mae Hemphill. By the time my wife, Laurie Hoffma, and I met Jessie Mae, on a visit to her trailer in Senatobia, Mississippi, sheād had a stroke and retired from performing, but weād been fortunate to see her years before at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage festival, where she brought a blues style that was like quiet thunder, rumbling with portent and joy and ache, and all the other stuff that makes us human, sung to her own droning, rocking accompaniment on an old Gibson ES-120T.
To say she was from a musical family is an understatement. Her grandfather, Sid, was twice recorded by Alan Lomax for the Library of Congress. While Sid played fiddle, banjo, guitar, harmonica, keyboards, and more, he was best known as the leader of a fife-and-drum band that made music that spilled directly from Africaās main artery. Sid was Jessie Maeās teacher, and she learned well. In fact, you can see her leading her own fife-and-drum group in Robert Muggeās wonderful documentary Deep Blues(with the late musician and journalist Robert Palmer as on-screen narrator), where she also performs a mournful-but-hypnotic song about betrayalāsolo, on guitarāin Junior Kimbroughās juke joint.
That movie, a 1982 episode of Mr. Rogersā Neighborhood (on YouTube) where she appears as part of Othar Turnerās Gravel Springs fife-and-drum band, and worldwide festival appearances are as close as Jessie Mae ever got to fame, although that was enough to make her important and influential to Bonnie Raitt, Cat Power, and others. And she made two exceptional albums during her lifetime: 1981ās She-Wolf and 1990ās Feelinā Good. If youāre unfamiliar with North Mississippi blues, their sound will be a revelation. The style, as Jessie Mae essayed it, is a droning, hypnotic joy that bumps along like a freight train full of happily rattling box cars populated by carefree hobos. Often the songs ride on one chord, but that chord is the only one thatās needed to put the musicās joy and conviction across. Feelinā Good, in particular, is essential Jessie Mae. Even the songs about heartbreak, like āGo Back To Your Used To Beā and āShame on You,ā have a propulsion dappled with little bends and other 6-string inflections that wrap the listener in a hypnotic web. Listening to Feelinā Good, itās easy to disappear in the music and to have all your troubles vanish as wellāfor at least as long as its 14 songs last.āShe made it clear that she had a gunāa .44 with a pearl handle that took up the entire length of her handbag.ā
The challenge Iāve long issued to people unfamiliar with Jessie Maeās music is: āListen to Feelinā Good and then tell me if youāre not feeling happier, more cheerful, and relaxed.ā It truly does, as the old clichĆ© would have it, make your backbone slip and your troubles along with it. Especially uptempo songs like the scrappy title track and the charging āStreamline Train.ā Thereās also an appealing live 1984 performance of the latter on YouTube, with Jessie Mae decked out in leopard-print pants and vest, playing a tambourine wedged onto her left high-heel shoeāāone of her stylish signatures.
Jessie Mae was a complex person, caught between the old-school dilemma of playing āthe Devilās musicā and yearning for a spiritual life, sweet as pecan pie with extra molasses but quick to turn mean at any perceived slight. She also spent much of her later years in poverty, in a small trailer with a hole in the floor where mice and other critters got in. And she was as mistrustful of strangers as she was warm once she accepted you into her heart. But watch your step before she did. On our first visit to her home, she made it clear that she had a gunāa .44 with a pearl handle that took up the entire length of her handbag and would make Dirty Harry envious.
Happily, she took us into her heart and we took her into ours, helping as much as we could and talking often. She was inspiring, and I wrote a song about her, and even got to perform it for her in her trailer, which was just a little terrifying, since I knew she would not hold back her criticism if she didn't like it. Instead, she giggled like a kid and blushed, and asked if Iād write one more verse about the artifacts sheād gathered while touring around the world.
Jessie Mae died in 2006, at age 82, and, as happens when every great folk artist dies, we lost many songs and stories, and the wisdom of her experience. But you can still get a whiff of all thatāāif you listen to Feelinā Good.