The spirit of the legendary and underrated Electric XII lives on in an accessibly priced and playable 12 string.
Comfortable and playable. Pretty proportions. Sweet combined-pickup settings. Great value. Quality build.
Pickups can lack headroom. Tuners can feel imprecise.
$449
Squier Jazzmaster 12
squierguitars.com
Call me a freak, but some of my favorite Led Zeppelin moments happen when Jimmy Page is cruising or dreaming away on his Fender Electric XII. The middle section of “Stairway to Heaven,” “When the Levee Breaks,” “The Song Remains the Same”—all of these songs are made Technicolor, widescreen, and extra enormous by the Electric XII, which enhances the contrasts so critical to Page’s light-and-shade arrangement ethos and enlivens the pastoral threads that are such a vital facet of Led Zeppelin’s first five records.
If sound alone guaranteed success, the Electric XII would have been an enduring cornerstone of Fender’s line. Players with 12-string proclivities from Pete Townshend to the Velvet Underground’s Lou Reed and Sterling Morrison adored the Fender XII for its zingy-to-robust tones, playability, and the resonance derived from potent pickups and a 25½” scale. Wider appeal, however, always seemed limited to studio hounds and dedicated psychedelicists. Its initial run spanned just four years, from 1965 to 1969. The recent Alternate Reality series version had an even shorter lifespan. But the combination of sound, quality, familiarity, and affordability that distinguishes the Squier Paranormal Jazzmaster XII suggests that this new Fender-designed electric 12 could have staying power. It’s a beautiful, well-crafted instrument. And at $449, it’s priced less like an indulgence for a guitar that may be a secondary instrument.
Jangle Evolutions
The China-built Paranormal Jazzmaster XII isn’t Fender’s first attempt at adding six extra strings to a proven, popular design. The Japan-made Stratocaster XII appeared in the late 1980s and was in and out of the Fender roster right up until 2019. But the Jazzmaster XII draws a much straighter line to the legendary Electric XII. The body shapes are nearly identical. And were it not for the Jazzmaster pickguard and the slimmer, less extroverted take on the Electric XII’s polarizing hockey-stick headstock, you could mistake the Jazzmaster XII for an Electric XII, or, for that matter, a regular Jazzmaster, at a glance. Indeed, there is something harmonious and balanced about the union of the graceful Jazzmaster form and the smaller hockey-stick headstock that begs the question: Why haven’t Fender designers tried this before?
Even if you’re an experienced 12-string player, switching between 12 and six strings can feel alien. And part of what makes the Electric XII and the Stratocaster XII so inviting is their balanced, contoured bodies. The Paranormal Jazzmaster XII shares this advantage. The poplar body is light and, to my eye, slightly thinner than vintage and vintage-reissue Jazzmasters. The light weight makes the Jazzmaster XII prone to neck dive, but it’s not so severe that you feel like you’re propping the neck up as much as playing. The maple neck is reinforced with graphite in addition to a single truss rod to counter the extra string tension. It’s fashioned in a standard C shape, which feels thinner than necks on vintage Electric XIIs or Rickenbacker 12-strings. I find those thicker shapes can be effective protection against 12-string hand fatigue. But many players will enjoy the familiarity and fast feel of the C shape.
“Curiously, the neck pickup gives the octave and unison strings more room to sing, as well as low-end mass that makes it an ideal setup for doubling anemic rhythm parts.”
The bridge, which was likely sourced or built under license from Gotoh (it looks identical to Gotoh 12-string bridges seen elsewhere), facilitates easy action and intonation adjustments. The lower-octave strings are routed through the body and over saddles that are adjusted for action with two small Allen screws, and for intonation via a spring-loaded screw that is affixed to the back of the tail piece. The high-octave and unison strings, meanwhile, are top-loaded and routed over saddles that you intonate by loosening an Allen screw and sliding them across the bridge plate. It’s a smart design that also enables a compact, elegant footprint for the bridge and makes string loading less confusing. The slotted tuners on the new, slimmer headstock make string changes easy, which is no small consideration on a 12-string. They sometimes feel imprecise, however, which is not fun with six extra strings in the mix.
The Ring’s the Thing
Both pickups in the Jazzmaster XII are Fender-designed alnico units (presumably the same pickups used in the well-regarded Squier Classic Vibe Jazzmaster), and they give the Jazzmaster XII a unique voice. The bridge pickup sounds punchy, focused, and very much in the spirit of an Electric XII. But it can also sound a bit boxy, less airy, and prone to overdrive when compared to an Electric XII’s wide-spectrum tone or the zing of Rickenbacker toaster tops. In fact, I often turned the treble on a Deluxe Reverb up unusually high to generate adequately chiming Byrds-ian top end, only to obscure harmonic detail from the octave strings. Curiously, the neck pickup gives the octave and unison strings more room to sing, as well as low-end mass that makes it an ideal setup for doubling anemic rhythm parts. The star of the show, however, is the combined-pickup setting, where the strongest attributes of each pickup sum as a whole greater than its parts. Not coincidentally, the combined setting is considered a strength of the 6-string Jazzmaster. Here, though, the two pickups together generate oxygenated, open sounds with strong fundamentals and radiant overtones. Adding just a touch of compression and chorus can send the combined setting to even more kinetic and heavenly heights (a prescription that, incidentally, works wonders for the bridge pickup, too).
The Verdict
Though probably viewed as interchangeable by players that use them infrequently, electric 12-strings have personalities as distinct as any 6-string. The Paranormal Jazzmaster XII resides primarily on the fuller, thicker, and more aggressive side of the 12-string spectrum. You may have to hunt a bit to find voices that approximate vintage Electric XII, Rickenbacker, or Vox tones, and you may not always find the note-to-note balance or headroom required to get there. But the combined pickup settings in particular offer vintage-hued sounds that can fill those shoes with style and elan while offering less orthodox and, just maybe, more intriguing and distinct alternatives.
Do you overuse vibrato? Could you survive without it?
Vibrato is a powerful tool, but it should be used intentionally. Different players have different styles—B.B. King’s shake, Clapton’s subtle touch—but the key is control. Tom Butwin suggests a few exercises to build awareness, tone, and touch.
The goal? Find a balance—don’t overdo it, but don’t avoid it completely. Try it out and see how it changes your playing!
The author dials in one of his 20-watt Sonzera amps, with an extension cabinet.
Knowing how guitar amplifiers were developed and have evolved is important to understanding why they sound the way they do when you’re plugged in.
Let’s talk about guitar amp history. I think it’s important for guitar players to have a general overview of amplifiers, so the sound makes more sense when they plug in. As far as I can figure out, guitar amps originally came from radios—although I’ve never had the opportunity to interview the inventors of the original amps. Early tube amps looked like radio boxes, and once there was an AM signal, it needed to be amplified through a speaker so you could hear it. I’m reasonably certain that other people know more about this than I do.
For me, the story of guitar amps picks up with early Fenders and Marshalls. If you look at the schematics, amplifier input, and tone control layout of an early tweed Fender Bassman, it’s clear that’s where the original Marshall JTM45 amps came from. Also, I’ve heard secondhand that the early Marshall cabinets were 8x12s, and the roadies requested that Marshall cut them in half so they became 4x12s. Similarly, 8x10 SVT cabinets were cut in half to make the now-industry-standard 4x10 bass cabinets. Our amp designer Doug Sewell and I understand that, for the early Fender amps we love, the design directed the guitar signal into half a tube, into a tone stack, into another half a tube, and the reverb would join it with another half a tube, and then there would be a phase splitter and output tubes and a transformer. (All 12AX7 tubes are really two tubes in one, so when I say a half-tube, I’m saying we’re using only the first half.) The tone stack and layout of these amps is an industry standard and have a beautiful, clean way of removing low midrange to clear up the sound of the guitar. I believe all but the first Marshalls came from a high-powered tweed Twin preamp (which was a 80-watt combo amp) and a Bassman power amp. The schematic was a little different. It was one half-tube into a full-tube cathode follower, into a more midrange-y tone stack, into the phase splitter and power tubes and output transformer. Both of these circuits have different kinds of sounds. What’s interesting is Marshall kept modifying their amps for less bass, more high midrange and treble, and more gain. In addition, master volume controls started being added by Fender and Marshall around 1976. The goal was to give more gain at less volume. Understanding these circuits has been a lifelong event for Doug and me.
Then, another designer came along by the name of Alexander Dumble. He modified the tone stack in Fender amps so you could get more bass and a different kind of midrange. Then, after the preamp, he put in a distortion circuit in a switchable in and out “loop.” In this arrangement, the distortion was like putting a distortion pedal in a loop after the tone controls. In a Fender amp, most of the distortion comes from the output section, so turning the tone controls changes the sound of the guitar, not the distortion. In a Marshall, the distortion comes before the tone controls, so when you turn the tone controls, the distortion changes. The way these amps compress and add harmonics as you turn up the gain is the game. All of these designs have real merit and are the basis of our modern tube–and then modeling—amplifiers.
Everything in these amps makes a difference. The circuits, the capacitor values and types, the resistor values and types, the power and output transformers, and the power supplies—including all those capacitor values and capacitor manufacturers.
I give you this truncated, general history to let you know that the amp business is just as complicated as the guitar business. I didn’t even mention the speakers or speaker cabinets and the artform behind those. But what’s most important is: When you plug into the amp, do you like it? And how much do you like it? Most guitar players have not played through a real Dumble or even a real blackface Deluxe Reverb or a 1966 Marshall plexi head. In a way, you’re trusting the amp designers to understand all the highly complex variations from this history, and then make a product that you love playing through. It’s daunting, but I love it. There is a complicated, deep, and rich history that has influenced and shaped how amps are made today.
Lenny Kravitz’s lead-guitar maestro shares how his scorching hit solo came together.
Hold onto your hats—Shred With Shifty is back! This time, Chris Shiflett sits down with fellow west coaster Craig Ross, who calls in from Madrid equipped with a lawsuit-era Ibanez 2393. The two buddies kick things off commiserating over an increasingly common tragedy for guitarists: losing precious gear in natural disasters. The takeaway? Don’t leave your gear in storage! Take it on the road!
Ross started out in the Los Angeles band Broken Homes, influenced by Chuck Berry, Buddy Holly, and the Beatles, but his big break came when he auditioned for Lenny Kravitz. Kravitz phoned him up the next day to tell him to be at rehearsal that evening. In 1993, they cut one of their biggest hits ever, “Are You Gonna Go My Way?” Ross explains that it came together from a loose, improvisatory jam in the studio—testament to the magic that can be found off-leash during studio time.
Ross recalls his rig for recording the solo, which consisted of just two items: Kravitz’s goldtop Les Paul and a tiny Gibson combo. (No fuzz or drive pedals, sorry Chris.) As Ross remembers, he was going for a Cream-era Clapton sound with the solo, which jumps between pentatonic and pentatonic major scales.
Tune in to learn how he frets and plays the song’s blistering lead bits, plus learn about what amps Ross is leaning on these days.
If you’re able to help, here are some charities aimed at assisting musicians affected by the fires in L.A:
https://guitarcenterfoundation.org
https://www.cciarts.org/relief.html
https://www.musiciansfoundation.org
https://fireaidla.org
https://www.musicares.org
https://www.sweetrelief.org
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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
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Special thanks to Chris Peterson, Greg Nacron, and the entire Volume.com crew.
Tobias bass guitars, beloved by bass players for nearly half a century, are back with the all-new Tobias Original Collection.
Built for unrivaled articulation, low-end punch, and exceptional ergonomics, the all-new Tobias Original Collection comprises an array of six four and five-string bass models all offered in both right and left-handed orientations. The Tobias range features Classic, Killer B, and Growler models, and each is equipped with high-quality hardware from Babicz and Gotoh, active electronics from Bartolini, and the iconic Tobias asymmetrical neck design. Crafted from the finest tonewoods, Tobias Original Collection bass guitars are now available worldwide on Gibson.com, at the Gibson Garage locations, and at authorized Gibson dealers.
The bass world has been clamoring for the return of the authentic, high-end Tobias basses, and now, Tobias has returned. Combining the look and tone of the finest exotic tonewoods, such as quilted maple, royal paulownia, purpleheart, sapele, walnut, ebony, and wenge, with the feel of the famous Tobias Asym asymmetrical neck and the eye-catching shapes of the perfectly balanced contoured bodies, Tobias basses are attractive in look and exceptional in playing feel. However, their sonic versatility is what makes them so well suited to the needs of modern bassists. The superior tone from the exotic hardwoods, premium hardware, and active Bartolini® pickups and preamps results in basses with the tonal flexibility that today’s players require. Don’t settle for less than a bass that delivers everything you want and need –the look, the feel, and the sound, Tobias.
“I’m thrilled to release Tobias basses, emphasizing the use of exotic woods, ergonomics, and authenticity to the original Tobias basses,” says Aljon Go, Product Development Manager for Tobias, Epiphone, and Kramer. “This revival is a dream come true, blending modern craftsmanship with the timeless essence of Tobias.”
“It’s amazing to see this icon of the bass world return,” adds Andrew Ladner, Brand Manager for Epiphone and Kramer. “These models are truly a bass player’s bass, and true to the DNA that makes Tobias world-class—the ace up the sleeve of bass players around the globe since 1978. Today’s players can find that unique voice and feel that only Tobias can offer.”
For more information, please visit gibson.com.