Get ready for a genre-bending lesson that aims to delight, confound, and inspire.
Chops: Advanced Theory: Advanced Lesson Overview: ⢠Celebrate and analyze the pioneers and expounders of weird guitar. ⢠Highlight elements that characterize weird guitar and demonstrate how to use these uncommon features to create your own weird sounds and songs. ⢠Discuss how intuition, industry, and music theory can work together to create weird music that is logical, clever, vital, and sustainable. Click here to download a printable PDF of this lesson's notation. |
Weird guitar isn't a genre, but there are a few odd techniques, characteristics, and approaches that allow one to gather a big tent of diverse musicians such as Derek Bailey, Jimi Hendrix, Frank Zappa, James Blood Ulmer, Janet Feder, Dillinger Escape Plan, and many others. And while āweird" means different things to different people, in this lesson we'll strive to cover enough ground that, at some point, everyone reading this will say, āThat's weird."
What Is āWeird" Guitar?
Because āweird" means different things to different people, I am determined to provide you with a myriad of references. I will also highlight commonalities between seemingly disparate musicians in an effort to bring cohesion to the classification. I myself find it difficult to listen to a whole album of weird music, although I rarely listen to ānormal" guitar albums all the way through either. Still, musical options allow one to appreciate life to the fullest and weird guitar provides alternatives you won't hear elsewhere.
Unfortunately, this lesson will exclude more than it includes. This is due to the massive amount of weird guitar music that has been produced in the last 60 years, not to mention what is uploaded to the internet daily. For the record, I have bypassed certain guitarists when I have not studied their playing in depth, appreciating their music purely on a listening level, such as Joseph Spence and Robbie Basho. Nor am I including guitarists whose playing is problematic to notate, such as Sonny Sharrock or Pete Cosey. Also, arbitrarily, in order to limit my references, I have featured only American and English guitar players and avoided the world of weird classical guitar.
Dissonance as a Hallmark
Though I've done my best to structure this lesson from pioneers to contemporaries, I am presenting these weird etudes grouped by concept. This process has led me first to the use of dissonance.
Many people think of dissonance as something that sounds bad or grating, but in fact dissonance is a sound that is unstable or unresolved. One of the best ways to demonstrate this is to play Ex. 1, a G chord to a D7 chord but don't go back to the G, even though that's what the sound of the D7 longs to do. One of the reasons for this is the fact that the D7 has a dissonant tritone in it, which creates instability compared to the G.
Contrary to this usual function of ārest, tension, release" as heard in GāD7āG, weird guitarists have a habit of composing music that is more ātension, tension, release, tension." One of the ways to do this is to fill your music with an abundance of tritones, seconds, and sevenths, all of which are dissonant.
Ex. 2 does just this. It was inspired by the guitar duet āDali's Car" from Captain Beefheart's Trout Mask Replicaāarguably the weirdest record ever madeāand performed by Jeff Cotton aka Antennae Jimmy Semens and Bill Harkleroad aka Zoot Horn Rollo. The example features myriad unresolved tritones, as well as major and minor seconds. There are several rhythmic challenges, including a variety of uncommon rhythms: the changing of time signatures seven times in the space of ten measures. In addition to Beefheart, I also added syncopated slides with volume swells (measures 9-10) heard on the Hampton Grease Band's Music to Eat album (featuring the brilliant guitarists Glenn Phillips and Harold Kelling), and the final two measures were inspired by Pat Metheny's āPart 2" from his ZeroĀ Tolerance for Silence recording, which is an outrageously peculiar and highly recommended album.
Click here for Ex. 2
Let's stick with this concept of dissonance for a few more examples, but in the following one we'll be more logical, using riffs and melodies created strictly within a whole-tone scale. Ex. 3 was inspired by King Crimson's āLarks' Tongues in Aspic, Part 2," although there also traces of the Police's āMother," and even a bit of Primus' āJerry Was a Racecar Driver."
Click here for Ex. 3
Once again, the tritone takes center stage in both the riff and melody, though a cohesiveness stems from the fact that all the notes, as dissonant as they sound, come from the whole-tone scale (Ex. 4). For a more complete view of the whole-tone scale, check out my āDigging Deeper: A Whole-Tone Primer" lesson.
Ex. 5 is a mosaic of the tritone intro, arranged for one guitar, with a backwards guitar solo. For the solo, I recorded the lead as seen in Ex. 6, then I reversed the file in Logic with the click of a button. A similar effect can be achieved in real-time with various pedals, but for the sake of ease, I used the computer shortcut. Although he's admired throughout the mainstream, you don't have to dig too deep to find weird Jimi Hendrix guitar music.
Click here for Ex. 5
Click here for Ex. 6
Ex. 7 is one last, dissonance-centered etude, performed in the so-called math-metal or mathcore style of bands such as Dazzling Killmen, Coalesce, and Orthrelm. This is an homage to the Dillinger Escape Plan and their intrepid leader, guitarist Ben Weinman. It features dissonant minor and major seconds, a riff that requires precise string-skipping ability, and additional dissonances that can be discerned when focusing on the guitar and bass harmonies.
Click here for Ex. 7
Ostentatious Complex Rhythms
As hinted at in the previous examples, another feature of weird guitarists is the use of complex rhythms. And while one could argue that this pomposity for convolution is contrived and lacks groove, I would suggest thatā¦well, yes, sometimes. However, these seemingly unnatural rhythms are the most natural of all, as humans don't talk in 4/4 time, walk with consistently even tempos, or breathe to a steady beat. So why consistently force music into such constraints?
Accordingly, let's go all in with a Frank Zappa-inspired etude that pushes rhythmic intricacy to the extreme! Ex. 8 borrows many of the rhythmic ideas Zappa used in his iconic āThe Black Page," which, although originally composed for drum kit and melodic percussion, has been performed by Zappa alumni Steve Vai and Mike Keneally, as well as by Zappa's son Dweezil.
To make this etude slightly more comprehensible, I have written it entirely in the key of C, with minimal position shifts. I've also added a step filter effect to my guitar make the tone a bit more Zappa-esque. For more puzzling Zappa rhythms, I recommend you peruse The Frank Zappa Guitar Book, transcribed by Steve Vai.
Click here for Ex. 8
Ex. 9 is my meager attempt to capture the rhythmic irregularity of James Blood Ulmer, though his brand of weirdness extends far beyond rhythm. Ulmer has a distinctive voice developed from years of playing in soul and jazz ensembles, performing and recording with free jazz pioneer Ornette Coleman, constructing his āUnwritten Theory of Guitar Harmolodics," and dreaming up (literally) tunings like AāAāAāEāAāE and EāEāBāEāBāE. Ex. 9 (performed in standard tuning) should be understood as focusing solely on Ulmer's rhythmic style, which was very much inspired by Ornette Coleman's melodic lines but in a decidedly non-idiomatic style.
Pay attention to the syncopations, the lack of emphasis of the downbeat, the mixed meters, and the unexpectedly fast sixteenth-note and quintuplet phrases. You'll also notice the unusual drums and the almost unison bass line. This is important not only for Ulmer but for most weird guitaristsāthey usually have weird band members. Weird guitar is good but a weird ensemble is great!
Click here for Ex. 9
When Is a Guitar Not a Guitar?
Many weird guitarists have gone out of their way to make their guitars sound unlike guitars. Building on of the techniques and vocabulary that composer John Cage used with his prepared piano, prepared guitar pioneers Bjorn Fongaard, Keith Rowe, and Fred Frith created an entirely new approach to the instrument. They did so by attaching various objects directly onto, under, and in between the strings. Anything that will modify the sound of the guitar is fair game, paperclips, rubber bands, alligator clips, cardboard, pencils, the kitchen sink (use the faucet as a slide!), you name it.
My favorite prepared guitarist is Janet Feder, who in recent years has brought prepared guitar to a wider audience by mixing prepared guitar machinations with traditional classical techniques and avant-songwriting skills. One preparation Feder uses to angelic effect is the placing of split rings onto various strings, which in turn produce a bell-like chime, emphasizing the harmonic overtones at the point of placement. Ex. 10 demonstrates this technique with an abstract, Feder-esque etude in which I have placed split rings on the 1st (E), 3rd (G), and 5th (A) strings. The notation and tab represent only the notes I played, not the notes you hear. For more on Janet Feder check out Premier Guitar's 2016 profile piece.
Click here for Ex. 10
Ex. 11 and Ex. 12 feature another prepared technique by shoving a pencil under the strings, effectively turning the guitar into a poor man's koto. While many guitarists have done this, āEmpitsu No Uta" by Richard Leo Johnson was the initial inspiration for this etude. Before we get to the etude, this example demonstrates, in succession, three systems the pencil preparation generates:
1) Placed a regular No. 2 pencil under the strings at the 20th fret (you can place it anywhere; I chose my highest fret). This makes it so that, picking over the soundhole you can only play the notes heard at the 20th fret CāFāBbāEbāGāC. Although not perfectly in tune yet they still sound wonderful.
2) This might seem limiting at first until you realize these notes create a displaced C minor pentatonic scale.
3) If you pick over the soundhole and push down on the string on the fretboard side at the 17th fret, you can bend the notes up both a quarter- and a half-step, giving you more notes and articulations to play with. (I should mention that there are playable notes on the other side of the pencil, but you'll have to work that side out yourself.)
Click here for Ex. 11
That's the method and system, now we're obliged to create music, which I've done in Ex. 12.
Click here for Ex. 12
One last pseudo-preparation to mention is self-proclaimed āFreak Guitarist" Mattias IA Eklundh's use of a comb to play notes. I say āpseudo" because the only modification he's made is the replacement of the pick in the right-hand with a comb. Nevertheless, Eklundh gets a variety of maniacal sounds from this seemingly unhinged idea. Check out his brilliant post-shred song āMusth" to hear an artful use of this technique.
For more on the history of prepared guitar, check out Michael Ross excellent article āAvant Guitar 101: Alternate Attacks."
Postmodern Guitar
The concept of Postmodernism often equates, for better or worse, to āanything goes" or āeverything is equal." I don't know that I believe this, yet I do know that weird guitarists appear to value an all-inclusive philosophy. To that point, a few bands in the late 1980s and early 1990s embraced the idea that all musical styles were so equal that not only could you mix genres in one set you could mix genres in one song. Examples of these early mashups include Scatterbrain's āDon't Call Me Dude" and Mr. Bungle's first, self-titled album. But, in my opinion, no one has ever done it better than John Zorn's Naked City, featuring weird guitarists Bill Frisell and Fred Frith (on bass). What I admire about Naked City is that, rather than creating a pastiche, they managed to blend disparate elements so artfully as to be alchemical, creating completely new music.
Ex. 13 is a Naked City etude that, while it lasts for only 31 seconds, is longer than several Naked City originals! Be prepared to switch styles, grooves, and keys in quick succession. I've kept the tempo the same throughout, double-time and half-time notwithstanding.
Click here for Ex. 13
Graphic Notation
The depiction of musical directions/prompts using symbols outside the realm of traditional music notation, such as scribbles, text with various font sizes, and colors isn't limited to the world of weird guitar. Still, enough guitarists use the technique to reason for its inclusion in this lesson. I also have a delightfully fun video example to share, which demonstrates that, while most weird guitarists are serious about their art, they can maintain a sense of humor too.
Which brings us to a video featuring Nick Didkovsky (who performs solo and with various weird ensembles, most notably Dr. Nerve).
In the video you'll see Didkovsky composing a graphic notation score, followed by a recording session, ending with the final product āCould Have Been an Ankles Tableau," one of his contributions to the $100 Guitar Project, a various artists recording that features an abundance of weird (and a few ānormal") guitarists. Enjoy.
Derek Bailey
It was difficult to figure out where and how to put Derek Bailey into this lesson as he epitomizes weird guitar, using every anomalous technique you can image. Therefore, I saved him for last and created his own category.
While Bailey is perhaps best known for his idiosyncratic, non-idiomatic free improvisation style featuring unpredictable rhythms, note clusters, large intervallic leaps, harmonics, scraping the string with the pick, plucking below the bridge of archtop guitars, and more, he has also recorded his take on jazz standards. This is how I have represented him in Ex. 14. As if Derek Bailey was playing the classic āAvalon."
Click here for Ex. 14
This is a perfect vehicle for penetrating Bailey's style, as āAvalon" is a relatively straightforward song, yet this etude was composed. Yes, I had to compose what sounds like an improvisation to get it rightāto make it seem byzantine. There are many features to analyze here but you should listen to the audio a few times first. Note that I included the original chords in this chart, though I am not playing them most of the time but rather implying them. This is important because I am playing the melody and inferring the changes. None of this is random.
The opening chord is classic Bailey, including three minor seconds and two minor sevenths. This a quintessential chord cluster. The piece ends with a similar cluster, performed by moving the previous shape over one string. After the opening, as anomalous as it sounds, the etude stays true to the original melody, though it's been enhanced and obfuscated by blending it into abnormal chords, playing it in harmonics, displacing melody notes down or up an octave, and adding a few āoutside" notes (the way any jazz musician might, though Bailey's are more outside than most).
Postscript: Who Did We Skip?
Due to the dilemma of who to leave out, this was easily the most challenging article I have ever written for any publication. Because, although this lesson is lengthy, I cut out ten times more! So, who did I cut and why? Fortunately, you can find that extensive list, along with links, recommendations, and additional lessons at weirdguitarlessons.com.
Before I sign off, I want to acknowledge the help of Henry Kaiser, Michael Ross, David Starobin, Joe Gore, Steve Feigenbaum, Jack Vees, Andre Cholmondeley, and Richard Leo Johnson for points of reference and insight. And finally, my sincere gratitude to Premier Guitar, and Jason Shadrick specifically, for publishing this lengthy, weird guitar lesson, which is so near and dear to my heart. I am beyond grateful.
- The Worldās Weirdest Guitar Mods and Builds - Premier Guitar āŗ
- The Worldās Weirdest Guitar Mods and Builds - Premier Guitar āŗ
- 4 Unconventional Effects and How To Use Them - Premier Guitar āŗ
- 4 Unconventional Effects and How To Use Them - Premier Guitar āŗ
- How to Play Like Frank Zappa - Premier Guitar āŗ
A live editor and browser for customizing Tone Models and presets.
IK Multimedia is pleased to release the TONEX Editor, a free update for TONEX Pedal and TONEX ONE users, available today through the IK Product Manager. This standalone application organizes the hardware library and enables real-time edits to Tone Models and presets with a connected TONEX pedal.
You can access your complete TONEX library, including Tone Models, presets and ToneNET, quickly load favorites to audition, and save to a designated hardware slot on IK hardware pedals. This easy-to-use application simplifies workflow, providing a streamlined experience for preparing TONEX pedals for the stage.
Fine-tune and organize your pedal presets in real time for playing live. Fully compatible with all your previous TONEX library settings and presets. Complete control over all pedal preset parameters, including Global setups. Access all Tone Models/IRs in the hardware memory, computer library, and ToneNET Export/Import entire libraries at once to back up and prepare for gigs Redesigned GUI with adaptive resize saves time and screen space Instantly audition any computer Tone Model or preset through the pedal.
Studio to Stage
Edit any onboard Tone Model or preset while hearing changes instantly through the pedal. Save new settings directly to the pedal, including global setup and performance modes (TONEX ONE), making it easy to fine-tune and customize your sound. The updated editor features a new floating window design for better screen organization and seamless browsing of Tone Models, amps, cabs, custom IRs and VIR. You can directly access Tone Models and IRs stored in the hardware memory and computer library, streamlining workflow.
A straightforward drop-down menu provides quick access to hardware-stored Tone Models conveniently sorted by type and character. Additionally, the editor offers complete control over all key parameters, including FX, Tone Model Amps, Tone Model Cabs/IR/VIR, and tempo and global setup options, delivering comprehensive, real-time control over all settings.
A Seamless Ecosystem of Tones
TONEX Editor automatically syncs with the entire TONEX user library within the Librarian tab. It provides quick access to all Tone Models, presets and ToneNET, with advanced filtering and folder organization for easy navigation. At the same time, a dedicated auto-load button lets you preview any Tone Model or preset in a designated hardware slot before committing changes.This streamlined workflow ensures quick edits, precise adjustments and the ultimate flexibility in sculpting your tone.
Get Started Today
TONEX Editor is included with TONEX 1.9.0, which was released today. Download or update the TONEX Mac/PC software from the IK Product Manager to install it. Then, launch TONEX Editor from your applications folder or Explorer.
For more information and videos about TONEX Editor, TONEX Pedal, TONEX ONE, and TONEX Cab, visit:
www.ikmultimedia.com/tonexeditor
The luthierās stash.
There is more to a guitar than just the details.
A guitar is not simply a collection of wood, wire, and metalāit is an act of faith. Faith that a slab of lumber can be coaxed to sing, and that magnets and copper wire can capture something as expansive as human emotion. While itās comforting to think that tone can be calculated like a tax return, the truth is far messier. A guitar is a living argument between its componentsāan uneasy alliance of materials and craftsmanship. When it works, itās glorious.
The Uncooperative Nature of Wood
For me it all starts with the wood. Not just the species, but the piece. Despite what spec sheets and tonewood debates would have you believe, no two boards are the same. One piece of ash might have a bright, airy ring, while another from the same tree might sound like it spent a hard winter in a muddy ditch.
Builders know this, which is why youāll occasionally catch one tapping on a rough blank, head cocked like a bird listening. Theyāre not crazy. Theyāre hunting for a lively, responsive quality that makes the wood feel awake in your hands. But wood is less than half the battle. So many guitarists make the mistake of buying the lumber instead of the luthier.
Pickups: Magnetic Hopes and Dreams
The engine of the guitar, pickups are the part that allegedly defines the electric guitarās voice. Sure, swapping pickups will alter the tonality, to use a color metaphor, but they can only translate whatās already there, and thereās little percentage in trying to wake the dead. Yet, pickups do matter. A PAF-style might offer more harmonic complexity, or an overwound single-coil may bring some extra snarl, but hereās the thing: Two pickups made to the same specs can still sound different. The wire tension, the winding pattern, or even the temperature on the assembly line that day all add tiny variables that the spec sheet doesnāt mention. Donāt even get me started about the unrepeatability of āhand-scatter winding,ā unless youāre a compulsive gambler.
āOne piece of ash might have a bright, airy ring, while another from the same tree might sound like it spent a hard winter in a muddy ditch.ā
Wires, Caps, and Wishful Thinking
Inside the control cavity, the pots and capacitors await, quietly shaping your tone whether you notice them or not. A potentiometer swap can make your volume taper feel like an on/off switch or smooth as an aged Tennessee whiskey. A capacitor change can make or break the tone controlās usefulness. Itās subtle, but noticeable. The kind of detail that sends people down the rabbit hole of swapping $3 capacitors for $50 āvintage-specā caps, just to see if they can āfeelā the mojo of the 1950s.
Hardware: The Unsung Saboteur
Bridges, nuts, tuners, and tailpieces are occasionally credited for their sonic contributions, but theyāre quietly running the show. A steel block reflects and resonates differently than a die-cast zinc or aluminum bridge. Sloppy threads on bridge studs can weigh in, just as plate-style bridges can couple firmly to the body. Tuning machines can influence not just tuning stability, but their weight can alter the way the headstock itself vibrates.
Itās All Connected
Then thereās the neck jointāthe place where sustain goes to die. A tight neck pocket allows the energy to transfer efficiently. A sloppy fit? Some credit it for creating the infamous cluck and twang of Fender guitars, so pick your poison. One of the most important specs is scale length. A longer scale not only creates more string tension, it also requires the frets to be further apart. This changes the feel and the sound. A shorter scale seems to diminish bright overtones, accentuating the lows and mids. Scale length has a definite effect on where the neck joins the body and the position of the bridge, where compromises must be made in a guitarās overall design. There are so many choices, and just as many opportunities to miss the mark. Itās like driving without a map unless youāve been there before.
Alchemy, Not Arithmetic
At the end of the day, a guitarās greatness doesnāt come from its spec sheet. Itās not about the wood species or the coil-wire gauge. Itās about how it all conspires to either soar or sink. Two guitars, built to identical specs, can feel like long-lost soulmates or total strangers. All of these factors are why mix-and-match mods are a long game that can eventually pay off. But thatās the mystery of it. You canāt build magic from a parts list. You canāt buy mojo by the pound. A guitar is more than the sum of its partsāitās a sometimes unpredictable collaboration of materials, choices, and human touch. And sometimes, whether in the hands of an experienced builder or a dedicated tinkerer, it just works.
Two Iconic Titans of Rock & Metal Join Forces for a Canāt-Miss North American Trek
Tickets Available Starting Wednesday, April 16 with Artist Presales
General On Sale Begins Friday, April 18 at 10AM Local on LiveNation.com
This fall, shock rock legend Alice Cooper and heavy metal trailblazers Judas Priest will share the stage for an epic co-headlining tour across North America. Produced by Live Nation, the 22-city run kicks off September 16 at Mississippi Coast Coliseum in Biloxi, MS, and stops in Toronto, Phoenix, Los Angeles, and more before wrapping October 26 at The Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion in The Woodlands, TX.
Coming off the second leg of their Invincible Shield Tour and the release of their celebrated 19th studio album, Judas Priest remains a dominant force in metal. Meanwhile, Alice Cooper, the godfather of theatrical rock, wraps up his "Too Close For Comfort" tour this summer, promoting his most recent "Road" album, and will have an as-yet-unnamed all-new show for this tour. Corrosion of Conformity will join as support on select dates.
Tickets will be available starting Wednesday, April 16 at 10AM local time with Artist Presales. Additional presales will run throughout the week ahead of the general onsale beginning Friday, April 18 at 10AM local time at LiveNation.comTOUR DATES:
Tue Sep 16 ā Biloxi, MS ā Mississippi Coast Coliseum
Thu Sep 18 ā Alpharetta, GA ā Ameris Bank Amphitheatre*
Sat Sep 20 ā Charlotte, NC ā PNC Music Pavilion
Sun Sep 21 ā Franklin, TN ā FirstBank Amphitheater
Wed Sep 24 ā Virginia Beach, VA ā Veterans United Home Loans Amphitheater
Fri Sep 26 ā Holmdel, NJ ā PNC Bank Arts Center
Sat Sep 27 ā Saratoga Springs, NY ā Broadview Stage at SPAC
Mon Sep 29 ā Toronto, ON ā Budweiser Stage
Wed Oct 01 ā Burgettstown, PA ā The Pavilion at Star Lake
Thu Oct 02 ā Clarkston, MI ā Pine Knob Music Theatre
Sat Oct 04 ā Cincinnati, OH ā Riverbend Music Center
Sun Oct 05 ā Tinley Park, IL ā Credit Union 1 Amphitheatre
Fri Oct 10 ā Colorado Springs, CO ā Broadmoor World Arena
Sun Oct 12 ā Salt Lake City, UT ā Utah First Credit Union Amphitheatre
Tue Oct 14 ā Mountain View, CA ā Shoreline Amphitheatre
Wed Oct 15 ā Wheatland, CA ā Toyota Amphitheatre
Sat Oct 18 ā Chula Vista, CA ā North Island Credit Union Amphitheatre
Sun Oct 19 ā Los Angeles, CA ā Kia Forum
Wed Oct 22 ā Phoenix, AZ ā Talking Stick Resort Amphitheatre
Thu Oct 23 ā Albuquerque, NM ā Isleta Amphitheater
Sat Oct 25 ā Austin, TX ā Germania Insurance Amphitheater
Sun Oct 26 ā Houston, TX ā The Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion
*Without support from Corrosion of Conformity
MT 15 and Archon 50 Classic amplifiers offer fresh tones in release alongside a doubled-in-size Archon cabinet
PRS Guitars today released the updated MT 15 and the new Archon Classic amplifiers, along with a larger Archon speaker cabinet. The 15-watt, two-channel Mark Tremonti signature amp MT 15 now features a lead channel overdrive control. An addition to the Archon series, not a replacement, the 50-watt Classic offers a fresh voice by producing retro rock āclassicā tones reminiscent of sound permeating the radio four and five decades ago. Now twice the size of the first Archon cabinet, the Archon 4x12 boasts four Celestion V-Type speakers.
MT 15 Amplifier Head
Balancing aggression and articulation, this 15-watt amp supplies both heavy rhythms and clear lead tones. The MT 15 revision builds off the design of the MT 100, bringing the voice of the 100ās overdrive channel into its smaller-format sibling. Updating the model, the lead channel also features a push/pull overdrive control that removes two gain stages to produce vintage, crunchier āmid gainā tones. The clean channel still features a push/pull boost control that adds a touch of overdrive crunch. A half-power switch takes the MT to 7 watts.
āSeven years ago, we released my signature MT 15 amplifier, a compact powerhouse that quickly became a go-to for players seeking both pristine cleans and crushing high-gain tones. In 2023, we took things even further with the MT 100, delivering a full-scale amplifier that carried my signature sound to the next level. That inspired us to find a way to fit the 100's third channel into the 15's lunchbox size,ā said Mark Tremonti.
āToday, Iām beyond excited to introduce the next evolution of the MT15, now featuring a push/pull overdrive control on the Lead channel and a half-power switch, giving players even more tonal flexibility to shape their sound with a compact amp. Canāt wait for you all to plug in and experience it!ā
Archon Classic Amplifier Head
With a refined gain structure from the original Archon, the Archon Classicās lead channel offers a wider range of tones colored with gain, especially in the midrange. The clean channel goes from pristine all the way to the edge of breakup. This additional Archon version was developed to be a go-to tool for playing classic rock or pushing the envelope into modern territory. The Archon Classic still features the originalās bright switch, presence and depth controls. PRS continues to stock the Archon in retailers worldwide.
āThe Archon Classic is not a re-issue of the original Archon, but a newly voiced circuit with the lead channel excelling in '70s and '80s rock tones and a hotter clean channel able to go into breakup. This is the answer for those wanting an Archon with a hotrod vintage lead channel gain structure without changing preamp tube types, and a juiced- up clean channel without having to use a boost pedal, all wrapped up in a retro-inspired cabinet design,ā said PRS Amp Designer Doug Sewell.
Archon 4x12 Cabinet
As in the Archon 1x12 and 2x12, the mega-sized PRS Archon 4x12 speaker cabinet features Celestion V-Type speakers and a closed-back design, delivering power, punch, and tight low end. Also like its smaller brethren, the 4x12 is wrapped in durable black vinyl and adorned with a British-style black knitted-weave grill cloth. The Archon 4x12 is only the second four-speaker cabinet in the PRS lineup, next to the HDRX 4x12.
PRS Guitars continues its schedule of launching new products each month in 2025. Stay tuned to see new gear and 40 th Anniversary limited-edition guitars throughout the year. For all of the latest news, click www.prsguitars.com/40 and follow @prsguitars on Instagram, Tik Tok, Facebook, X, and YouTube.