Many amp aficionados realize that silverface Fenders retained many blackface characteristics and components well into the ’70s. Yet many regard 1968’s newfangled silverfaces as symbols of CBS’s stranglehold on the company Leo built. Soon players were pining for those glorious blackfaces, even modifying their silverfaces to sound like them. Today’s boutique builders still regard blackfaces as some of the most inspirational amps ever as they seek to match or, dare I say, better those legendary tones.
Ben Fargen’s superb Marshall plexi and Vox AC clones are already minor legends in boutique circles. Meanwhile, his Blackbird VS2, as its name suggests, draws inspiration from Fender’s blackface era. Loaded with 6L6s, pushing 40 watts, and boasting a bright switch between the input and the controls, this amp has much in common with the rare Vibroverb. It’s an amazing platform for pedal-heavy rigs.
Outwardly Elsewhere
The Blackbird’s cosmetics don’t shout “Fender” (apart from the black color). The simple controls offers easy access to volume, reverb, treble, mid, and bass knobs. If you roll any tone control completely to the left, it’s off, and the amp won’t pass any signal. This means there’s a truly additive feel as you move each knob to the right, providing plenty of tonal variation.
A peek inside reveals clean, point-to-point wiring, Mercury Magnetics transformers, and other quality components mounted to a stout chassis. The back panel offers an effects loop and extension cab outs. Ultimately, the signal finds its way to a 12” Warehouse speaker. At 35 pounds, the Blackbird isn’t terribly heavy for a 40-watter.
Clear Overhead, Fire Below
It only takes a few minutes of playing to recognize the familiar glassy tones of Fender’s mid-’60s period. With every knob at 12 o’clock, I plugged in an SG Classic loaded with P-90s and banged out some barre chords. At this volume level the amp was tight and responsive with a little natural compression. The output perched on the verge of distortion, even when played hard. Single-note runs generated nice harmonics and sustain. Moving closer to the amp yielded more sustain without rolling over into feedback. Things definitively got distorted when I increased the volume to about 2 o’clock—sustained single notes crossed over into singing, musical feedback. This is arguably the amp’s sweet spot.
It’s also very stompbox-friendly at these settings. For fuzz, I tried a Tone Bender Mk II clone. This circuit can lack clarity with some amps, but that wasn’t the case with the Blackbird. I could even get a great rhythm sound with this high-gain pedal. Next I pushed the envelope with a Death By Audio Interstellar Overdriver at its most over-the-top setting, achieving tones bordering on sludge. But backing off a bit on the Overdriver settings produced heavy rock sounds that would have made Blue Cheer jealous. You might initially look to the Blackbird for clean tones, but the amp excels with a good fuzz or aggressive overdrive.
The Fargen also sounds great with subtler overdrive. Thanks to the amp’s pedal-friendly headroom, boosters tend to push the tubes and add grit more than they increase volume. My favorite setup was a stock DOD 250 Overdrive and a Telecaster loaded with single-coils. As I moved the guitar’s volume knob, the amp transitioned smoothly from clean to gritty, never sounding harsh.
The Blackbird’s bright switch is very subtle when using just a guitar and amp, but it makes a massive difference with distortion pedals. With the bright switch on, the Tone Bender added more of a fizzy, acid rock sound. Meanwhile, the DOD 250 became an even better lead boost, and a Boss Blues Driver went from serviceable to special-sounding. The bright switch can definitely expand your pedalboard’s palette.
Effective low-mids can be a challenge with many amps, but the Blackbird’s mid control let me dial in thick, defined tones with no woolliness. As with the vintage Fenders that inspired it, it’s easy to call up great tones with the Blackbird.
However, the reverb was almost too mellow for my tastes. Oh, it sounds fabulous— warm, rich and spacious. But when dimed it adds about as much depth as a vintage unit in the lower half of its range. No matter how hard I played, I couldn’t excite the springs, or introduce any snap. It’s excellent for light ambience, but surf rockers may need to dust off their old Fender outboard tanks.
Ratings
Pros: Simple to use. Almost impossible to get a bad sound. Fully captures the blackface spirit.
Cons: Could use a wetter reverb.
Tones:
Ease of Use:
Build/Design:
Value:
Street:
$2,250 (head) / $2,650 (combo)
fargenamps.com
No surprise that the Fargen sounds great in the studio. It’s also a stunner for small club shows. I sometimes play with the quirky Durham, N.C., pop group Organos, whose guitar parts range from delicate lines to slashing, Pixies-style leads. Paired with my trusty Jazzmaster, the Fargen sat beautifully in the mix, but was willing and able to stand out when it needed to. As with many open-back amps, the sound spread was excellent, filling the room.
The next night I sat in with psych-rock warriors Prisms for a set heavy with fuzz, delay, reverb, phase, flange, and just about everything in the time-based-effect playbook.
Through it all, the Blackbird remained focused and clear. I was most impressed by how well the Blackbird took repeat-percussion-style tremolo, which can lose its aggressive chop when used with a cranked, but less responsive, amp. Such issues don’t plague the Fargen.
The Verdict
In both studio and live settings the Blackbird delivered the goods. Amps of this quality have many admirers, but they can be expensive. But it’s worth noting that a ’67 Deluxe retailed for almost $300 in its day—almost $2,000 in today’s dollars. Meanwhile, a vintage Vibroverb in decent shape will set you back at least $4,000. I’d venture to say that considerably more care went into building the Fargen. This amp should sound and look great 50 years from now, just as many of our beloved blackfaces do today.
Flights with the Falcon
In the year or so since he introduced the
Falcon amp, Mark Bartel (the tone king
behind Tone King) came to love the sound
and feel of an output stage wired in ultralinear
mode. Bartel was listening to a lot of Joe
Maphis and Deke Dickerson, and digging
the thick mids and silky top end in their
sound. Like the Falcon, the Sky King was
conceived as an amp having an ultralinear
output design. But in the latter stages of the
Sky King’s development, Bartel decided that
players might like the option of having the
more conventional sound of pentode mode,
which, by comparison, is more responsive,
so he added the pentode/ultralinear switch
to the back side of the chassis.
The rest of the control layout is simple enough. You can select either the lead or rhythm channel using a control-panel switch or the included footswitch. The back panel has controls for the built-in attenuator, pentode/ultralinear switch, and speaker impedance setting, as well as the power and standby switches.
Outwardly, the amp is reminiscent of Fender’s early tweed amps (the so-called “TV fronts”), and the silver-and-black grille cloth adds a touch of blackface style. The Tone King logo, which is shaped like a ’50s television set, even harkens back to Tone King’s own history and the company’s earliest amps, which are among the most ’50s kitsch-influenced amps ever built. The script for each knob is bold and easy to read, which is a big plus for dark stage use, and as the Western rope motif on the control panel suggests, Maphis and Dickerson did more than influence the sound of the Sky King.
There are separate Ironman attenuators for each channel, which allow the player to dial in more preamp-tube saturation at lower volumes. While both attenuators work well, the plastic knobs on my test example were a little loose and made the various selections on the click-position pot feel a little indistinct. In addition, our test unit’s rather heavy chassis was a little loose when I unpacked it, which led me to wonder if future versions might benefit from a reinforcement baffle. [Bartel says the latter problem was actually due to the lack of locking nuts on our test unit’s chassis bolts, and he assures us that the issue has since been addressed on all production units.]
Sonically Spanning Decades
Though there’s no shortage of sounds on
tap from the Sky King, you can make a
case that the ultralinear setting on this
amp is where it sounds best. The amp’s
ultralinear output has a surprisingly
blackface-style voice (particularly given
that it’s supposed to have response more
in line with a tweed circuit), and plenty
of clarity and headroom, thanks to the
Celestion G12M-65 Creamback speaker.
I was very impressed with the thick mids
I heard from a Stratocaster plugged into
the rhythm channel, and the high end has
plenty of bite without a trace of harshness.
The EQ is subtle, but because the voice is
so naturally balanced I was able to get all
the range I needed out of the bass and treble
controls and wasn’t left wanting more
adjustment in those frequencies. I did long
a bit for a midrange control, however.
Plugging in a humbucker-equipped Gibson SG yielded a very rich, jazzy tone in the neck-pickup position, which was a pleasant surprise. And the Sky King/Gibson pair was willing and able to provide the tones of early Butterfield Blues Band or Peter Green-era Fleetwood Mac records— biting, punchy, thick, and musical. While the Sky King’s manual states that pentode mode is most like a vintage blackface amp, my ears tell a different story. I found the pentode setting to be very aggressive and punchy, though it also has excellent definition. With the Stratocaster, the pentode mode in the rhythm channel reminded me of the clean tones you’d hear from a Marshall plexi. The lead channel tone stack, meanwhile, generates the creamy distortion and front-and-center midrange response that drove early rock ’n’ roll (check the raunchy solo tone that Chuck Berry got on the 1955 recording of “Maybelline” for reference). The lead channel has just a single tone control and a Tone King-designed mid-bite knob. Together, the two controls let you increase the mids and gain while rolling off high frequencies and compressing the low end. I found the pair allowed me to dial in both harmonically rich modern and classic rock sounds.
Ratings
Pros: Incredibly versatile with a wide range of tones.
Cons: Expensive. Could be a little more road-worthy.
Tones:
Ease of Use:
Build/Design:
Value:
Street: $2,995
toneking.com
Fans of rich ’60s reverb textures will love the tube-driven reverb, which is lush and sounds superb. In fact, I never wanted to turn it off! There’s simply no substitute for the tube-colored drive and dimensionality of a reverb circuit this good, and if you want to cop the rollicking excitement of the mid-’60s Rolling Stones or Magic Sam’s haunting vibe, the Sky King’s reverb is where it’s at. The tube-driven tremolo sounds great, too, though I wished it weren’t quite as subtle as it is.
The Verdict
With two channels and the very cool pentode/
ultralinear switch, the simple, stylish,
and sonically satisfying Sky King is the very
picture of tonal versatility. And it’s full of
enough sounds—from buttery smooth to
filthy—that you could classify it as a does-it-all
for practically any style of music. The only
down sides are that the steep price tag will put
it out of reach of a lot of players, and there
seem to be a couple of lingering construction
issues that could be fine-tuned in order
to make the amp better suited to the rigors
of the road. But when all’s said and done, if
you’re looking to tap into a virtual Big Muddy
of vintage tones and need an amp that’s powerful
enough for just about any size stage, the
Sky King offers one very big bag of tricks.
Watch our video demo:
One of Dingwall’s latest designs, the Super P, is a modern bass with its roots very firmly planted in P-bass tradition. Though its fanned frets and angles of the bridge and pickups make it look like it’s moving at 100 miles per hour, it doesn’t lose the true spirit of a Precision. The Super P is certainly a stunner at the very first glance, and as it turns out, this bass can be judged by its cover.
No Brick in Dingwall
Right out of the included, custom gig bag,
the Super P was a joy. Its svelte 8-pound
alder body almost lifted itself out of the
case. Once in the light, the fiesta-red
finish—which leans towards coral in
color—looked to be flawless, and the 3-ply
tortoise pickguard was the perfect choice to
accent this bass. The smooth and extremely
comfortable C-shaped neck is constructed
of five pieces of maple and topped with a
pau ferro fretboard, setting the stage for
the Super P’s fanned frets based on the
Novax system. (We’ll jump deeper into
that in a moment.) The staggered, 4-bolt
neck joint felt rock-solid, and when examining
further, I was amazed that there was
absolutely no pocket gap where the neck
meets the body. None. I have honestly
never seen this before.
The Super P’s bridge was designed by Dingwall and constructed by Hipshot, who also makes the set of countersunk Ultralite tuners which include a drop D. The passive pickups are made in Dingwall’s shop using neodymium magnets and computer-controlled windings, and the Super P’s Tone-Fusion circuit and control replaces your daddy’s tone knob with its next generation of tone sculpting. It’s a standard tone control with a passive mid-cut in one knob. I have to admit I was a little giddy to give the Super P a try after conducting this initial inspection.
Trip the Light Fanned-tastic
When Sheldon Dingwall first introduced
his fanned-fretted basses, he had his work
cut out for him to convince players about
the benefits of breaking from the tradition
of parallel frets. But when Lee Sklar jumped
in as an endorser, however, it seemed that
Dingwalls were starting to pop up more
often. Personally, I had zero fanned-fret
experience, and without knowing anyone
that owned a Dingwall, I had a number of
obvious questions. How does it feel? Would
this seem unnatural? Do I need to change
my technique?’
Well, the bass simply felt great. There was some minimal adjustment needed initially, but yes, it felt natural. While you’ll miss an occasional note at first, after a minute or two you won’t even think twice about it. The neck was smooth with no dead spots, and all 22 frets were very easily accessible. Unplugged, the Super P sounded fantastic, and it seemed to sustain for about the length of the national anthem.
Ratings
Pros:
Incredible build, solid tones, familiar body.
Cons:
The fanned frets may potentially scare folks off. It’s not inexpensive.
Tones:
Playability:
Build/Design:
Value:
Street:
$2,730
Company
dingwallguitars.com
Super-Tone
I ran the Super P at full bore through an
Eden WT550 and matching 6x10 cabinet.
With the amp set flat to best hear the
tones of the bass, I started off with the
bass volume all the way up and the Tone-Fusion control at dead center. (This setting
switches itself out of circuit to ensure
the purest signal path possible.) The bass
gave me a slightly aggressive, traditional
P-bass tone that lacked just a little of the
warmth, instead replacing it with a hint
of bite. Digging in harder in the upper
registers, the Super P handled everything I
threw at it, and notes above the 12th fret
sang with strength and clarity. Fingerstyle
players, slap monsters, or plectrum lovers
would all be happy here. I actually could
have stayed on this one setting for the
duration of the review, but alas, there were
more tones in store.
Turning the Tone-Fusion knob counterclockwise, I was greeted with a deep tone, ready for my next vintage R&B project. But this wasn’t the wet-blanket sound you sometimes hear when rolling off the tone knob. The bass maintained clarity, and whereas it was more subdued than its other settings, you can ease the knob back to center to add attack if that suits you.
Rolling the knob all the way clockwise, the mids are cut from the signal, and for us bassists, this is an automatic signal to turn our hands over and start slapping. While the slap-contoured tones from the Super P are great, I found my personal sweet spot by easing some of the mids back in. With the tonal range of this bass, I would imagine you could find your spot too.
The Verdict
The Super P is a beautiful 4-string bass,
shining with modern appointments within
the institution that is the P-bass design.
Like a Saleen Mustang or AMG Mercedes,
this variation on a theme lets you know
that there is still respect for the past, but
there is so much more to this bass. After
spending just a little time with the Super
P, the fanned frets began to feel as natural
as a traditional fretboard. So if you’ve been
hesitant at all about exploring a fan-fretted,
multi-scale bass, there’s really no need to
be. The tonal range of the Super P is broad
and the craftsmanship is simply exceptional.
Onstage or in the studio, this bass with a
modern approach to a legendary design can
and will tackle it all.