PRS Guitars Celebrate Experience PRS Event with Limited-Edition Custom 24-08
The simple and intuitive switching system, also featured on the PRS 408 model, allows for eight distinct pickup combinations.
Stevensville, MD (June 7, 2016) -- Specially appointed to commemorate the 2016 Experience PRS event, the Experience PRS 2016 Custom 24-08 adds a new control layout to the company’s most classic model. The Custom 24 first officially debuted at PRS Guitars’ first NAMM show in 1985 and has been played by internationally touring artists, gigging musicians, and aspiring players ever since.
The Experience PRS 2016 Custom 24-08 features a 3-way blade switch and two mini-toggle coil split switches. This simple and intuitive switching system, also featured on the PRS 408 model, allows for eight distinct pickup combinations that offer players additional tonal possibilities. The 85/15 Multi-Tap pickups, paired with this control layout, provide a full array of humbucker tones and single-coil sounds unlike any other PRS.
“As you might guess, we gather for a “listening test” for each new instrument. My team can attest to my enthusiasm after the Custom 24-08 test. I like how usable all of the pickup settings sound, but I love the crisp clarity of the single coil mode. There is something about the recipe of pickups, switching, and the guitar itself that really stands out,” said Jack Higginbotham, President, PRS Guitars.
Additional special appointments include a Gaboon ebony fretboard with “old school” green abalone bird inlays and a Gaboon ebony headstock veneer with a “pre-factory” small eagle inlay (uniquely featured on Experience PRS limited runs). The Experience PRS 2016 Custom 24-08 is officially offered in five finish options: Aquamarine, Charcoal, Copperhead Burst, Trampas Green, and Slate Blue. Only 50 instruments will be available worldwide. For full specifications and images, see https://www.prsguitars.com/experiencelimited2016.
This is the eighth Experience PRS event held by the company at their Stevensville, Maryland headquarters. With just under 800 people in attendance its first year, Experience PRS is expected to draw nearly 3,000 guitar and music aficionados in 2016. The two-day event is free and open to the public with advanced registration (a door charge applies for “day-of” walkups) and includes several concert performances, factory tours, interactive areas to play PRS gear on and off stage, interactive staining exhibits, as well as a charity prize wheel benefiting Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center (Baltimore, Maryland) and guitar and accessory sales opportunities. Artists performing at this year’s event include: the Boscoe France Band, Black Stone Cherry, John Hiatt, and Living Colour, as well as The Paul Reed Smith Band with special guests, Lovebettie, RDGLDGRN, The Kelly Bell Band, Hot Tub Limo, David Grissom, Emil Werstler, and Simon McBride.
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Metalocalypse creator Brendon Small has been a lifetime devotee and thrash-metal expert, so we invited him to help us break down what makes Slayer so great.
Slayer guitarists Kerry King and Jeff Hanneman formed the original searing 6-string front line of the most brutal band in the land. Together, they created an aggressive mood of malcontent with high-velocity thrash riffs and screeching solos that’ll slice your speaker cones. The only way to create a band more brutal than Slayer would be to animate them, and that’s exactly what Metalocalypse (and Home Movies) creator Brendon Small did.
From his first listen, Small has been a lifetime devotee and thrash-metal expert, so we invited him to help us break down what makes Slayer so great. Together, we dissect King and Hanneman’s guitar styles and list their angriest, most brutal songs, as well as those that create a mood of general horribleness.
This episode is sponsored by EMG Pickups.
Use code EMG100 for 15% off at checkout!
Learn more: emgpickups.com
The legendary German hard-rock guitarist deconstructs his expressive playing approach and recounts critical moments from his historic career.
This episode has three main ingredients: Shifty, Schenker, and shredding. What more do you need?
Chris Shiflett sits down with Michael Schenker, the German rock-guitar icon who helped launch his older brother Rudolf Schenker’s now-legendary band, Scorpions. Schenker was just 11 when he played his first gig with the band, and recorded on their debut LP, Lonesome Crow, when he was 16. He’s been playing a Gibson Flying V since those early days, so its only natural that both he and Shifty bust out the Vs for this occasion.
While gigging with Scorpions in Germany, Schenker met and was poached by British rockers UFO, with whom he recorded five studio records and one live release. (Schenker’s new record, released on September 20, celebrates this pivotal era with reworkings of the material from these albums with a cavalcade of high-profile guests like Axl Rose, Slash, Dee Snider, Adrian Vandenberg, and more.) On 1978’s Obsession, his last studio full-length with the band, Schenker cut the solo on “Only You Can Rock Me,” which Shifty thinks carries some of the greatest rock guitar tone of all time. Schenker details his approach to his other solos, but note-for-note recall isn’t always in the cards—he plays from a place of deep expression, which he says makes it difficult to replicate his leads.
Tune in to learn how the Flying V impacted Schenker’s vibrato, the German parallel to Page, Beck, and Clapton, and the twists and turns of his career from Scorpions, UFO, and MSG to brushes with the Rolling Stones.
Credits
Producer: Jason Shadrick
Executive Producers: Brady Sadler and Jake Brennan for Double Elvis
Engineering Support by Matt Tahaney and Matt Beaudion
Video Editor: Addison Sauvan
Graphic Design: Megan Pralle
Special thanks to Chris Peterson, Greg Nacron, and the entire Volume.com crew.
Katana-Mini X is designed to deliver acclaimed Katana tones in a fun and inspiring amp for daily practice and jamming.
Evolving on the features of the popular Katana-Mini model, it offers six versatile analog sound options, two simultaneous effects, and a robust cabinet for a bigger and fuller guitar experience. Katana-Mini X also provides many enhancements to energize playing sessions, including an onboard tuner, front-facing panel controls, an internal rechargeable battery, and onboard Bluetooth for streaming music from a smartphone.
While its footprint is small, the Katana-Mini X sound is anything but. The multi-stage analog gain circuit features a sophisticated, detailed design that produces highly expressive tones with immersive depth and dimension, supported by a sturdy wood cabinet and custom 5-inch speaker for a satisfying feel and rich low-end response. The no-compromise BOSS Tube Logic design approach offers full-bodied sounds for every genre, including searing high-gain solo sounds and tight metal rhythm tones dripping with saturation and harmonic complexity.
Katana-Mini X features versatile amp characters derived from the stage-class Katana amp series. Clean, Crunch, and Brown amp types are available, each with a tonal variation accessible with a panel switch. One variation is an uncolored clean sound for using Katana-Mini X with an acoustic-electric guitar or bass. Katana-Mini X comes packed with powerful tools to take music sessions to the next level. The onboard rechargeable battery provides easy mobility, while built-in Bluetooth lets users jam with music from a mobile device and use the amp as a portable speaker for casual music playback.
For quiet playing, it’s possible to plug in headphones and enjoy high-quality tones with built-in cabinet simulation and stereo effects. Katana-Mini X features a traditional analog tone stack for natural sound shaping using familiar bass, mid, and treble controls. MOD/FX and REV/DLY sections are also on hand, each with a diverse range of Boss effects and fast sound tweaks via single-knob controls that adjust multiple parameters at once. Both sections can be used simultaneously, letting players create combinations such as tremolo and spring reverb, phaser and delay, and many others.
Availability & Pricing The new BOSS Katana-Mini X will be available for purchase at authorized U.S. Boss retailers in December for $149.99. For the full press kit, including hi-res images, specs, and more, click here. To learn more about the Katana-Mini X Guitar Amplifier, visit www.boss.info.
Snark releases its most compact model ever: the Crazy Little Thing rechargeable clip-on headstock tuner.
Offering precise tuning accuracy and a super bright display screen, the Crazy Little Thing is approximately the size of your guitar pick – easy to use, unobtrusive and utterly dependable.
Housed in a sturdy shell, the Crazy Little Thing can be rotated for easy viewing from any angle, and its amazingly bright display makes it perfect for the sunniest outdoor stages or the darkest indoor studios. You can clip it to the front of your headstock or on the back of your headstock for extra-discreet usage – and you can easily adjust the display to accommodate your preference.
As the newest addition to Snark’s innovative line of headstock tuners, the Crazy Little Thing is rechargeable (no batteries!) and comes with a USB-C cable/adapter for easy charging. Its display screen includes a battery gauge, so you can easily tell when it’s time to recharge.
The Crazy Little Thing’s highly responsive tuning sensor works great with a broad range of instruments, including electric and acoustic guitar, bass, ukulele, mandolin and more. It also offers adjustable pitch calibration: its default reference pitch is A440, but also offers pitch calibration at 432Hz and 442 Hz.
Snark’s Crazy Little Thing rechargeable headstock tuner carries a street price of $21.99. For more information visit snarktuners.com.