While there are several stellar and very practical solid-state or digital modeling amp options on the market these days, there’s still nothing quite like the robust sound and dynamic response that a good bassist and a great tube amp can produce together. And for players who revel in that type of tube-driven glory, the 300-watt Verellen Meatsmoke head is one of the most compelling new bass amps to come along in the last couple of years.
Unfortunately, at $2,500, the Meatsmoke also commands a price as hefty as its tone—a price that puts it out of reach for most budget-conscious players. But with the recently released Meatsmoke pedal, Verellen has essentially taken the amp's entire preamp circuit and packed it into a stomp-able enclosure. That beefy Meatsmoke tone—from brawny, glassy cleans to articulate grind to savagely overdriven roar—can now be had for well under a grand.
Where There’s Smoke …
The Meatsmoke is built of thick, industrial-grade
steel and Baltic-birch side panels, and
that’s a good thing, because there’s a pair of
JJ 12AX7 preamp tubes to protect in there.
At more than 10" wide, the Meatsmoke
takes up more space than most effects, so
be prepared to shove a few stomps on your
pedalboard out of the way to make room.
The Meatsmoke’s top panel features a 3-band EQ, controls for gain and master volume, and a pair of footswitches—one for engaging the boost and a true-bypass one for the preamp. Around back, there’s also a ground-lift switch, a high/low toggle for setting the level of the non-filtered 1/4" output jack—low for use in front of an amp, or high for use with a power amp or in an amp’s effects return—and a dedicated 1/4" line-level output with speaker simulation. Personally, I would have preferred to see the latter as a balanced XLR jack to avoid hum and signal-degradation issues.
Slow-Roasted Tone
I tested the Meatsmoke with a Fender
American Jazz bass, a Gallien-Krueger
400RB head, and an Ampeg SVT-410HLF
cabinet. I started by setting the output
switch to low and routing the signal
through the G-K’s main input. This configuration
delivered an instantly noticeable
difference in the midrange and lows, with
deliciously pummeling clean tones and
a warm, dynamic response that’s rare to
encounter when tubes aren’t part of the
equation. And I could shape the tone in
ways well beyond what the amp’s controls
could do on their own.
The Meatsmoke’s EQ has a huge range, and even slight adjustments make a big difference. I didn’t need to stray too far from 12 o’clock settings to dial in a wide array of rock, jazz, and blues tones. Pushing midrange to about 1 o’clock gave the G-K a raunchy, punchy sound, and inching the bass knob higher expanded the amp’s lows considerably. However, the Meatsmoke’s treble voicing was less pronounced, so if I wanted a brighter, snappier tone—say, one more apt for slapping and popping—I had to go beyond 2 o’clock to get there.
Because the Meatsmoke is capable of delivering a lot of output—even with the output switch set to low—I had to be careful with volume and gain settings. Too much caused the G-K to fart out rather easily, especially under heavy attack. And sometimes when I engaged the boost— which delivers a huge jump in volume that’s, unfortunately, not adjustable—the amp had an even harder time discerning the lows from the mids, resulting in a garbled, muddy overdrive. Coincidentally, and by popular request, Verellen has announced that next-generation Meatsmoke pedals will feature independent, footswitchable channels for normal and boost, each with its own gain, EQ, and volume settings.
Ratings
Pros:
Adds tube warmth to stiff-sounding rigs. Superb overdrive. Tough construction. Gets very close to Meatsmoke amp tones for considerably less money.
Cons:
No XLR direct out. Needs careful tuning to sound full and detailed with some bass amps. No dedicated gain control for boost.
Tones:
Ease of Use:
Build/Design:
Value:
Street:
$699
Company
verellenamplifiers.com
As nice as the Meatsmoke’s tones were running through the amp’s input, the results were nothing short of amazing when I ran it through the effects return. Suddenly there were incredible details and harmonics in the rich, deep clean tones, and overdrive sounded gargantuan—with endlessly sustaining low end and sweet midrange when I engaged the gain boost.
I A/B’d this rig with a full-sized Meatsmoke amp and—other than the added presence and detail in the lows and highs from the Meatsmoke amp’s set of 6550 power tubes—the two setups sounded strikingly similar. The response was somewhat quicker through the solid-state G-K, but the overall tone was definitely in the same ballpark.
While the Meatsmoke pedal is designed primarily for bass, it provides great tones for guitar, too. Its EQ boosted a Gibson Les Paul Custom’s midrange and low end exceptionally well, and added a cool, gravelly texture to the highs. The Gibson’s hotter Tom Anderson pickups didn’t push the gain in the same grinding way as the Jazz bass, but they did yield a thick, glassy overdrive reminiscent of an old Sunn Model T or a Hiwatt.
The Verdict
With the Meatsmoke preamp, Verellen
Amplification has managed to stuff most of the
best traits of its beastly bigger brother into a
tough, compact package. It works very well as
a tone-shaping front-end tool, but really shows
off its abilities when used as a preamp paired
with a separate power amp. The only real bummer
is that the boost circuit would be more
practical with a dedicated gain control, but
with Verellen’s next incarnation of the pedal,
that should no longer be a gripe. The price
is rather steep, but when you consider how
similar its tones are to those from the stellar,
all-tube Meatsmoke head, it feels a little more
reasonable. All in all, pound for pound, it’s an
excellent tool for rock and metal players.
Onstage, Tommy Emmanuel executes a move that is not from the playbook of his hero, Chet Atkins.
“My biggest decision every day on tour is, ‘What do I want to start with? How do I want to come out of the gate?’” Emmanuel explains to me over a video call. “A good opener has to have everything. It has to be full of surprise, it has to have lots of good ideas, lots of light and shade, and then, hit it again,” he says, illustrating each phrase with his hands and ending with a punch.“You lift off straightaway with the first song, you get airborne, you start reaching, and then it’s time to level out and take people on a journey.”
In May 2023, Emmanuel played two shows at the Sydney Opera House, the best performances from which have been combined on his new release, Live at the Sydney Opera House. The venue’s Concert Hall, which has a capacity of 2,679, is a familiar room for Emmanuel, but I think at this point in his career he wouldn’t bring a setlist if he was playing Wembley Stadium. On the recording, Emmanuel’s mind-blowingly dexterous chops, distinctive attack and flair, and knack for culturally resonant compositions are on full display. His opening song for the shows? An original, “Countrywide,” with a segue into Chet Atkins’ “El Vaquero.”
“When I was going to high school in the ’60s, I heard ‘El Vaquero’ on Chet Atkins’ record, [1964’s My Favorite Guitars],” Emmanuel shares. “And when I wrote ‘Countrywide’ in around ’76 or ’77, I suddenly realized, ‘Ah! It’s a bit like “El Vaquero!”’ So I then worked out ‘El Vaquero’ as a solo piece, because it wasn’t recorded like that [by Atkins originally].
“The co-writer of ‘El Vaquero’ is Wayne Moss, who’s a famous Nashville session guy who played ‘da da da’ [sings the guitar riff from Roy Orbison’s ‘Pretty Woman’]. And he played on a lot of Chet’s records as a rhythm guy. So once when I played ‘El Vaquero’ live, Wayne Moss came up to me and said, ‘You know, you did my part and Chet’s at the same time. That’s not fair!’” Emmanuel says, laughing.
Atkins is the reason Emmanuel got into performing. His mother had been teaching him rhythm guitar for a couple years when he heard Atkins on the radio and, at 6, was able to immediately mimic his fingerpicking technique. His father recognized Emmanuel’s prodigious talent and got him on the road that year, which kicked off his professional career. He says, “By the time I was 6, I was already sleep-deprived, working too hard, and being forced to be educated. Because all I was interested in was playing music.”
Emmanuel talks about Atkins as if the way he viewed him as a boy hasn’t changed. The title Atkins bestowed upon him, C.G.P. (Certified Guitar Player), appears on Emmanuel’s album covers, in his record label (C.G.P. Sounds), and is inlaid at the 12th fret on his Maton Custom Shop TE Personal signature acoustic. (Atkins named only five guitarists C.G.P.s. The others are John Knowles, Steve Wariner, Jerry Reed, and Atkins himself.) For Emmanuel, even today most roads lead to Atkins.
When I ask Emmanuel about his approach to arranging for solo acoustic guitar, he says, “It was really hit home for me by my hero, Chet Atkins, when I read an interview with him a long time ago and he said, ‘Make your arrangement interesting.’ And I thought, ‘Wow!’ Because I was so keen to be true to the composer and play the song as everyone knows it. But then again, I’m recreating it like everyone else has, and I might as well get in line with the rest of them and jump off the cliff into nowhere. So it struck me: ‘How can I make my arrangements interesting?’ Well, make them full of surprises.”
When Emmanuel was invited to contribute to 2015’s Burt Bacharach: This Guitar’s in Love with You, featuring acoustic-guitar tributes to Bacharach’s classic compositions by various artists, Emmanuel expresses that nobody wanted to take “(They Long to Be) Close to You,” due to its “syrupy” nature. But for Emmanuel, this presented an entertaining challenge.
He explains, “I thought, ‘Okay, how can I reboot “Close to You?’ So even the most jaded listener will say, ‘Holy fuck—I didn’t expect that! Wow, I really like that; that is a good melody!’ So I found a good key to play the song in, which allowed me to get some open notes that sustain while I move the chords. Then what I did is, in every phrase, I made the chord unresolve, then resolve.
Tommy Emmanuel's Gear
“I’m writing music for the film that’s in my head,” Emmanuel says. “So, I don’t think, ‘I’m just the guitar,’ ever.”
Photo by Simone Cecchetti
Guitars
- Three Maton Custom Shop TE Personals, each with an AP5 PRO pickup system
Amps
- Udo Roesner Da Capo 75
Effects
- AER Pocket Tools preamp
Strings & Picks
- Martin TE Signature Phosphor Bronze (.012–.054)
- Martin SP strings
- Ernie Ball Paradigm strings
- D’Andrea Pro Plec 1.5 mm
- Dunlop medium thumbpicks
“And then to really put the nail in the coffin, at the end, ‘Close to you’ [sings melody]. I finished on a major 9 chord which had that note in it, but it wasn’t the key the song was in, which is a typical Stevie Wonder trick. All the tricks I know, the wonderful ideas that I’ve stolen, are from Michael Jackson, Stevie Wonder, Lionel Richie, James Taylor, Carole King, Neil Diamond. All of the people who wrote really incredibly great pop songs and R&B music—I stole every idea I could, and I tried to make my little two-and-a -half minutes as interesting and entertaining as possible. Because entertainment equals: Surprise me.”
I share with Emmanuel that the performances on Live at the Sydney Opera House, which include his popular “Beatles Medley,” reminded me of another possible arrangement trick. In Harpo Marx’s autobiography, Harpo Speaks, I preface, Marx writes of a lesson he learned as a performer—to “answer the audience’s questions.” (Emmanuel says he’s a big fan of the book and read it in the early ’70s.) That happened for me while listening to the medley, when, after sampling melodies from “She’s a Woman” and “Please Please Me,” Emmanuel suddenly lands on “While My Guitar Gently Weeps.”
I say, “I’m waiting for something that hits more recognizably to me, and when ‘While My Guitar’ comes in, that’s like answering my question.”
“It’s also Paul and John, Paul and John, George,” Emmanuel replies. “You think, ‘That’s great, that’s great pop music,’ then, ‘Wow! Look at the depth of this.’”
Often Emmanuel’s flights on his acoustic guitar are seemingly superhuman—as well as supremely entertaining.
Photo by Ekaterina Gorbacheva
A trick I like to employ as a writer, I say to Emmanuel, is that when I’m describing something, I’ll provide the reader with just enough context so that they can complete the thought on their own.
“You can do that musically as well,” says Emmanuel. He explains how, in his arrangement of “What a Wonderful World,” he’ll play only the vocal melody. “When people are asking me at a workshop, ‘How come you don’t put chords behind that part?’ I say, ‘I’m drawing the melody and you’re putting in all the background in your head. I don’t need to tell you what the chords are. You already know what the chords are.’”
“Wayne Moss came up to me and said, ‘You know, you did my part and Chet’s at the same time. That’s not fair!’”
Another track featured on Live at the Sydney Opera House is a cover of Paul Simon’s “American Tune” (which Emmanuel then jumps into an adaptation of the Australian bush ballad, “Waltzing Matilda”). It’s been a while since I really spent time with There GoesRhymin’ Simon (on which “American Tune” was first released), and yet it sounded so familiar to me. A little digging revealed that its melody is based on the 17th-century Christian hymn, “O Sacred Head, Now Wounded,” which was arranged and repurposed by Bach in a few of the composer’s works. The cross-chronological and genre-lackadaisical intersections that come up in popular music sometimes is fascinating.
“I think the principle right there,” Emmanuel muses, “is people like Bach and Beethoven and Mozart found the right language to touch the heart of a human being through their ears and through their senses ... that really did something to them deep in their soul. They found a way with the right chords and the right notes, somehow. It could be as primitive as that.
Tommy Emmanuel has been on the road as a performing guitarist for 64 years. Eat your heart out, Bob Dylan.
Photo by Jan Anderson
“It’s like when you’re a young composer and someone tells you, ‘Have a listen to Elton John’s “Candle in the Wind,”’ he continues. “‘Listen to how those notes work with those chords.’ And every time you hear it, you go, ‘Why does it touch me like that? Why do I feel this way when I hear those chords—those notes against those chords?’ I say, it’s just human nature. Then you wanna go, ‘How can I do that!’” he concludes with a grin.
“You draw from such a variety of genres in your arrangements,” I posit. “Do you try to lean into the side of converting those songs to solo acoustic guitar, or the side of bridging the genre’s culture to that of your audience?”
“I stole every idea I could, and I tried to make my little two-and-a-half minutes as interesting and entertaining as possible. Because entertainment equals: Surprise me.”
“If I was a method actor,” Emmanuel explains, “what I’m doing is—I’m writing music for the film that’s in my head. So, I don’t think, ‘I’m just the guitar,’ ever. I always think it has to have that kind of orchestral, not grandeur, but … palette to it. Because of the influence of Stevie Wonder, Billy Joel, and Elton John, especially—the piano guys—I try to use piano ideas, like putting the third in the low bass a lot, because guitar players don’t necessarily do that. And I try to always do something that makes what I do different.
“I want to be different and recognizable,” he continues. “I remember when people talked about how some players—you just hear one note and you go, ‘Oh, that’s Chet Atkins.’ And it hit me like a train, the reason why a guy like Hank Marvin, the lead guitar player from the Shadows.... I can tell you: He had a tone that I hear in other players now. Everyone copied him—they just don’t know it—including Mark Knopfler, Eric Clapton, Jimmy Page, all those people. I got him up to play with me a few times when he moved to Australia, and even playing acoustic, he still had that sound. I don’t know how he did it, but it was him. He invented himself.”
YouTube It
Emmanuel performs his arrangement of “What a Wonderful World,” illustrating how omitting a harmonic backdrop can have a more powerful effect, especially when playing such a well-known melody.
Initially released in 1977, the Gibson RD model has been a cult classic for years. It is famous for its unique appearance, which takes inspiration from both the Gibson Explorer and Firebird designs, as well as its functionality and use by several popular guitarists across multiple genres.
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The Gibson RD Custom is designed to help players stand out from the crowd with its longer scale length, curvaceously elegant body, and classic design. Now is your opportunity to experience the unique and comfortable playing experience of the cult-favorite Gibson RD Custom for yourself. A Custom Shop hardshell case is also included.
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