Guitars represent a rich musical legacy and hold a special place in our hearts. The new Marcus King ES-345 is a beautiful example of that tradition—a recreation inspired by his main guitar, “Big Red,” the 1962 ES-345 handed down from his grandfather to his father and finally to him.
This modern version captures the look and soul of the original, with only the features that Marcus finds essential, including mono wiring, a pair of Custombucker humbucking pickups, a fixed Vibrola tailpiece for improved tuning stability, and a stud anchor cover customized specifically for Marcus. All the hallmark features of the ES-345 are still here, just refined through the lens of a legacy that spans generations and stages around the world.
Moths and butterflies are admirably, amazingly adaptable in flight. I mean, imagine you weigh mere milligrams. You’re trucking along, minding your own business, and a 45 mph gust blows you straight into the path of a garbage truck. As a moth, you have to be ready for anything. I’ve been in a lot of jams like that. The Moth Electric C. Regalis would have been a perfect companion.
The C. Regalis (the name honors the largest moth, by mass, found north of Mexico, making the moth in my earlier metaphor seem pretty lame) derives its own adaptability from blendable drive and clean tones. There’s nothing revolutionary about that idea. But the C. Regalis has a drive section that sounds great and is very versatile by itself and makes the whole very special. It has a flexible +/-15dB treble-and-bass EQ and a smooth/crunch switch that functions, more or less, exactly as advertised by adding even-order harmonics. The many possible tones from the drive section can, in turn, be compounded exponentially with the dirty/clean blend. All this room to roam in the controls means C. Regalis isn’t encumbered by a rigid agenda. It cares little about whether you use a Jaguar or an SG, a Fender Deluxe Reverb or a Marshall. The C. Regalis is eager to please. And it’s hard to imagine a player that couldn’t find a sound, or 30, to love in this pedal.
Master of Metamorphosis
Overdrive pedals, even lovable, essential, invaluable ones, can be pretty boring. And I can’t remember the last time I thought of an overdrive as a songwriting machine. But the C. Regalis is varied, forgiving, and intuitive in ways that facilitate fast movement between tones and make morphing between mere sounds and more concrete musical ideas fluid and effortless. There are many springboards and templates to work from too: Randomly choosing pedal settings, I bounced between sweet, toppy clean boost, hot treble-boosted tones, tweed Deluxe haze, Stonesy grime (’60s and ’70s versions), Dinosaur Jr. grind, and Sabbath sludge—and that was with a single guitar and amp.
Not surprisingly, for an overdrive and distortion with a clean blend control, there are strong hints of Klon, and I found many comparable tones in the C. Regalis and my fave klone at many settings. But the C. Regalis is also generally airer and less compressed than the klone, which translates to a lot of headroom and range. That range can reveal potential in the amps and guitars you already have. A few examples: I turned a raspy P-90 and Marshall combination into deep, pillowy Kevin Shields smoke. A Telecaster and vintage Vibrolux bellowed like a plexi, then ripped lines of treble-boosted acid twang. Curtis Novak Wide Range pickups in a Telecaster Deluxe plus the Moth sounded good with … everything. And I don’t remember encountering undesirable combinations that couldn’t be fixed with a simple, quick adjustment to the pedal or guitar controls (the C. Regalis is also highly responsive to guitar volume and tone attenuation).
The Verdict
Moth Electric’s C. Regalis is a really lovely, thoughtfully designed drive unit. At $179, it’s also a deal. The controls are smooth, precise, and situated in a clean, clear, and straightforward layout. And the simple, spacious design makes it easy to move between drastically different tones, mid-performance, without feet or presets. (Yes, bending over mid-jam kinda sucks, but if you don’t have enough time to pull this off, you’re probably playing too many notes.)
There are, of course, specific drive sounds that the C. Regalis can’t recreate. But it was hard to find any sizable holes in its performance envelope. And it can convincingly approximate almost any pedal, and many amps, at anywhere along the clean-boost to mid-gain distortion spectrum. If you chase specific pedal tones at super-granular levels, the C. Regalis might not always hit the mark. But if you’re out to craft a tone of your own that’s rooted in the organic, analog, vintage realm, C. Regalis has a very high likelihood of delivering.
With features including Pro Twin Six humbucking pickups, String-thru Bigsby B7GP vibrato tailpiece, and Adjusto-Matic bridge. The Broadkaster LX Center Block with String-Thru Bigsby and Gold Hardware (24.6” scale length) is available in Cadillac Green and Black. Additionally, the Broadkaster Jr. LX Center Block with String-Thru Bigsby and Gold Hardware (25.5” scale length) is available in midnight sapphire and blackberry.
Professional Collection Broadkaster® LX Center Block guitars provide modern Gretsch tone with exceptional performance. Featuring the powerful Pro Twin Six™ humbucking pickups, a redesigned Channel Core™ center block, and deeper cutaways for improved upper fret access, the Broadkaster® LX guitars are designed for full-spectrum sound at high volume, providing the flexibility and control you need to explore new sonic territories.FEATURES:
Refined body design with deeper cutaways for improved access to the upper frets
Redesigned Channel Core™ center block features a combination of maple and spruce for faster attack and enhanced midrange punch
Standard "U"-shaped maple neck with 24.6" scale length
12"-radius ebony fingerboard with rolled edges, 22 medium jumbo frets, pearloid Neo-Classic™ thumbnail inlays and Luminlay® side dots
Pro Twin Six™ humbucking pickups
Three-position pickup toggle switch, individual volume controls for neck and bridge pickups, master volume control with treble bleed circuit and master no-load tone control with "Squeezebox" capacitor
String-thru Bigsby® B7GP vibrato tailpiece
Adjusto-Matic™ bridge
Graph Tech® TUSQ® XL nut
Gotoh® locking tuners
Grover® strap locks
Gold hardware
G6267 Gretsch® deluxe hardshell case included
Available in Cadillac Green and Black
Redesigned Channel Core™ Center Block
Combining a maple top layer and spruce bottom layer with a more focused chambering design, the redesigned Channel Core™ center block provides faster note attack and enhanced midrange punch that takes the Broadkaster LX guitars to a whole new level.
Refined Body Design with Deeper Cutaways
The Broadkaster LX features a refined body design with deeper cutaways that greatly improves access to the upper frets resulting in better playability and a more effortless experience.
Pro Twin Six™ Pickups
The Pro Twin Six™ pickups are some of our most modern and powerful pickups to date. The Neck pickup features an Alnico 5 magnet with a DCR rating around 5.5k and provides a tone that is warm, clear, and throaty without being muddy or overly compressed. The Bridge pickup features an Alnico 4 magnet with a DCR rating around 12k and provides a tone that is bright and clear, with enhanced midrange punch, tight focused lows, and sparkling highs that never get spiky or shrill.
Together these pickups provide exceptional power, fidelity, and versatility that allows you to explore new sonic territories.
Maple Neck with Rolled Fingerboard
A 12"-radius ebony fingerboard with rolled edges and 22 medium jumbo frets tops a 24.6"-scale maple neck with a comfortably familiar standard "U"-shaped profile for smooth playability, while the glow in the dark Luminlay® side dots offer precision fretting in low-light settings.
Jackson is launching theX Series Surfcaster SC HT6 and SC HT7, and the JS Series Surfcaster JS22 HT: blending vintage appeal with thoroughly modern appointments for the ultimate modern metal machines. Featuring an Offset poplar body, High-output Jacksonhumbucker, and Jackson’s robust hardtail bridge to keep tuning stable and setup perfect.
X Series Surfcaster SC HT6
JS Series Surfcaster JS22 HT is available in Gloss Black and Snow White.
X Series Surfcaster SC HT7 is a 7-string model available in Metallic Black while the SC HT6 is a 6 string model available in Satin Black.
