Gibson Generation Collection
A new generation of artists have arrived, and Gibson--the iconic American guitar brand--has completed a new evolution in sound for acoustic guitar players, originally conceived in 1964. From the Gibson Lab, Gibson presents the new Gibson Generation Collection of Acoustic guitars. Inspired by a 1964 blueprint from the Gibson archives and continuing Gibson's iconic history of innovation, the Gibson Generation Collection offers a new sonic experience to HEAR MORE OF YOU, featuring balanced tone woods, and a slim comfortable neck at accessible price points.
The Gibson Generation Collection is handcrafted in Bozeman, Montana, by the highly-skilled craftspeople who make all Gibson acoustic guitars. Comprised of four models, G-00, G-45, G-Writer, and the G-200, the Generation Collection is equipped with the Gibson Player Port on the upper bout: an original 1964 Gibson concept refined today by the Gibson Lab. The Gibson Player Port delivers a truly unique and immersive sonic experience by projecting sound to the player.
The Gibson Player Port allows players to hear more of themselves as the audience hears it. With a tone that is crisp and resonant, all of the Gibson Generation Collection acoustics are designed to be comfortable to hold and play for long periods of time. All Generation Collection guitars feature the Gibson Player Port, slim, lightweight bodies, a flatter fingerboard radius, Walnut back and sides, Sitka spruce tops, and a stunning Natural finish. The G-200 and G-Writer are equipped with LR Baggs Element Bronze pickup systems which amplify deep bass and crystal-clear highs.
"[They have] this shameless, love-song aesthetic—none of the other bands had the balls to do that," proclaimed Grohl in 2013's documentary Filmage: The Story of Descendents/All. "Everyone was screaming about Reagan or whatever."
Additionally, through their blending of hardcore, drag-strip tempos, and melodious harmonies, they designed a vehicle for the '90s pop-punk explosion—paving the expressway for bands like Green Day and Blink-182 to crash into the mainstream. "They're like the punk-rock Beach Boys," said Blink-182's Mark Hoppus in Filmage.
And don't forget their iconic, line-drawn mascot Milo, patterned after lead singer Milo Aukerman. That nerdy caricature's singular outline comically defines the Descendents' simplicity, humor, subtle brilliance, and everyman appeal. It also reflects the persona of Aukerman, who stated in Filmage, "I have this dichotomy of desires. I wanna rock out. I wanna be a punk-rock guy, but I also have this really strong ambition to be a scientist."
The band's redlining riffer Stephen Egerton welcomed PG down to Birmingham, Alabama's Avondale Brewing Company, where he blasted through his punk-rock-approved, simplistic-yet-seething setup.
[Brought to you by D'Addario Auto Lock Straps: https://ddar.io/AutoLockRR]
No Knobs, No Problem!
Descendents' guitarist (since 1987) Stephen Egerton holds his only axe—an Ernie Ball Music Man signature StingRay, with no knobs or switches. In a 2016 PG interview, Egerton explained his pragmatic reason for removing everything from his namesake instrument: "Years ago, I just wired the pickup straight to the jack. It was really a practical matter, because I tend to play harder than I probably should and there was the issue of me slamming my hand into the volume knob or pickup selector switch when I played, and those electronics tended to rust out on me, so it was helpful to have them removed."
Ready for Your Close-Up
Other appointments of the streamlined 6-string include an okoume body, a maple neck paired with a rosewood 'board, 22 high-profile medium frets, a custom-wound Music Man humbucker, and a striking charcoal frost finish.
For strings, Egerton stays loyal and locks in Ernie Ball Power Slinkys (.011–.048), while he opts for custom-made Dunlop Celluloid Shell Heavy picks featuring a portrait of himself done by his young son.
Blasting Off With Blackstar
Stephen packs a punch with a pair of 100W Blackstar HT Stage 100 heads. (One is hot, while the other is a backup.) Each head has its own Blackstar HTV-412 cabinet that is stocked with a quartet of Celestion Seventy 80s.
Stephen’s Settings
As you can see, Egerton dials in a punk-rock platform that eases off the gain to retain note clarity for his furious right-hand hammering.
The Punk’s Preamp Pedal
Since the punk-rock papa doesn't have any knobs on his guitar and relies on varied attack for dynamics, he enlists a MXR Echoplex Preamp Mini for the singing sustain he needs for soloing. And because punks still gotta tune, he's trusted a Boss TU-2 Chromatic Tuner for keeping the StingRay in line.
Six Slick Drives
As varied as the Overture can be, the main control layout is pretty straight ahead. There are knobs for gain, volume, bass, treble, and pre-boost. Just below those knobs you can select from the Overture's modes—clean boost, classic, boutique, versatile, smooth, and crunch—by using a small button. The two footswitches are on/off and solo. The latter switch, which is called "bank" in the newest production run, lets you select from preset banks 1-4 when disengaged or 5-8 when engaged. The bank switch effectively lets you switch between two presets in the two different banks.
Ernie Ball/Music Man Axis Sport and a Fender Super-Sonic combo for both clips.
Clip #1 - Classic Gain 3 - 00, Treble (Tone) 11 - 00, Volume 12 - 00, Pre - Boost OFF
Clip #2 - Crunch Gain Max, Bass 1 - 00, Treble 11 - 00, Volume Noon. Pre - Boost Off
The Overture's programmability is a big part of its convenience. The unit allows up to eight presets. And if you really want to geek out and stretch the Overture's potential, you can use the pedal's MIDI functionality and, with an external controller, can store up to 100 additional presets and control parameters. The programmable aspect of the Overture isn't immediately intuitive and I had to consult the manual to get up and running. But in general, it's fairly simple once you learn how it works.
I got rounder, slightly softer transients, but a big buttery sound that was more than a little Dumble-like.
To access presets 1 though 4, you have to press the on/off and solo buttons simultaneously to scroll. To access presets 5 through 8, you press the solo button again to select that bank of presets, then scroll with the on/off and solo buttons. To save changes, you hold down the overdrive mode mini-button for three seconds, and it will save to the selected preset location.
To access a specific preset within a bank, you have to scroll through all the presets sequentially in ascending order. So you can't quickly switch from, say, preset 2 to 1. You have to scroll all the way from 2 through 4 before reaching 1 again. To get the most out of the Overture, it's worth looking into integration with one of the excellent MIDI foot controllers in RJM's product line.
Overdriven Overture
While space in this review doesn't permit covering all six Overture modes in depth, there are distinct highlights. Three of the modes—classic, boutique, and versatile—are based on TS and modified TS circuits. In classic and boutique mode, the bass knob is inactive and the treble knob functions like the single tone control on a TS. With the gain around 11 o'clock and the treble knob at noon, classic mode generates very sweet lead voices that are open and refreshingly robust in the low end for Tube Screamer-style stomps, which are famous for their midrange. It also sounded more articulate and spacious than many original Tube Screamers I have heard. The versatile mode is similar to the boutique mode, but its active bass control permits more tone-shaping flexibility. Switching to smooth mode with the same settings (and the bass control active and set at noon), I got rounder, slightly softer transients, but a big buttery sound that was, surprisingly, more than a little Dumble-like.
Engaging the clean boost with pre-boost at noon (the pre-boost control allows up to 12 dB of pre-overdrive boost) and gain set low coaxed stinging bluesy tones from single-coils. At the same settings, bridge humbuckers generated beautiful clean rhythm tones. And even a basic open-position G chord sounded majestic and responded dynamically to extra pick attack, with rich overdrive breakup.
The Verdict
It's hard to find a bad sound in the Overture. Even at lower gain settings, the pedal shines—lending a bright, lively edge to basic guitar tones. If all you need is a single overdrive pedal, this might be overkill. But if a single OD leaves you wanting, the Overture can make a lot of high-quality overdrive sounds without taking up a ton of space.