A dose of magic gain potion.
Works like a little vial of magic gain potion. Fattens without obscuring individual frequency bands.
None.
$129
Solodallas SVDS Boost
solodallas.com
The Schaeffer-Vega Diversity System—an early and very successful wireless system—excelled at the tasks it was designed for. But there was more magic than met the eye. Though designed to sound as transparent as possible, it nonetheless colored the signal in a way that people like Angus Young and Eddie Van Halen found essential.
SoloDallas explored the possibilities of this circuit before in pedals like theSchaeffer Replica, but the new SVDS Boost strips the formula to essentials. Minimalist controls—one knob, that’s it—make this boost no less delicious. I’m not surprised Angus Young was smitten with the original SVDS. An SG and Marshall 18-watt amp sound fantastic naked, but the SVDS Boost has the rare talent for fattening everything without seeming to favor or obscure any frequency band too much. And as zest to the PAF/Marshall style formula, it makes the kind of rowdy, organic, airy, large, and punch-packing Marshall sound you would dream of getting in a studio or hearing on the radio. There are many shades of this basic awesome color in spite of the single knob. Unity gain lives in the earliest third of its range. From there you certainly get more volume, but mostly you bathe in various hues of compressed, saturated, thick, and dynamite growl. You don’t need a Gibson and a Marshall to use it to devastating effect, either. A Telecaster and Vibrolux snap with attitude and whip-crack energy with the SVDS in the line. And with both guitar/amp combos, the SVDS’ wide dynamic responsiveness to volume and tone attenuation assures that things stay cracking when you need more control.
Tour Gretsch’s Corona, California, custom guitar building operation with company master builder Chad Henrichsen and PG’s own John Bohlinger.
“We get a lot done in a small amount of space, but this is where it all happens,” Henrichsen says. It starts with the wood—mahogany, maple, and spruce body blanks; mahogany and maple neck blanks; rosewood for fretboards—and so does our tour. It also begins, of course, with specific orders from dealers, artists, and individual players, commissioning instruments."
Henrichsen describes Gretsch's process of making hollow- and semi-hollowbody guitars first, which uses pressure and heat to form tops and sides from wood laminate. The plant also uses old-school craftsmanship—a copy carver, for example—to cut wood tops and more to shape.
One of Henrichsen’s fortes is necks, so he explains the process of creating necks for Falcons, Duo Jets, 6120s, etc., in detail, and we see the neck shaper machine in operation. The evolution from wooden block to smooth, finished neck is fascinating! And some of the machinery, jigs, and other tools are older than your Uncle Billy. After inlays comes binding—gold sparkle for a Penguin, white for a Duo Jet, for example. And, by the way, all work in the Custom Shop is done by hand.
Master builder Gonzalo Madrigal makes a cameo to explain the step-by-step process of fitting a guitar’s neck to its body. The example here is one of the super-colorful, intergalactically shaped Billy-Bo models—half Diddley and half Gibbons. Madrigal also displays the process of setting a tortoise shell binding in place—a method that takes about 45 minutes overall, and then must sit to set.
In the final assembly department, we see a 12-string Country Gentleman turning to life—tuners, bridge, electronics, tailpieces and everything else comes home to roost. The grand finale? Dig a killer 3-pickup Penguin in a black paisley finish with Super’Trons, cats-eye f-holes, and a Bigsby. It’s gorgeous! And, in a sense, the culmination of Gretsch’s 140-year history of craftsmanship.
The metalcore maven details the triumvirate of riffs that equally contributed to his lifelong obsession.
