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23 Mar

Reviewed: Positive Grid Bias 600W modeling amp

Link Audio | linkaudio.com.au | Expect to Pay: $1999

We may not eat food in pill form or hoon around in hover-cars just yet, but we are well and truly living on the cusp of, if not smack bang in the belly of the future. There are people making music on computers that sounds like blips and bloops just like The Jetsons guessed, and we’re video calling each other on a regular basis just to tell each other that we’re minutes away on the tram. Fred and Wilma would be quaking in their loincloths if they knew half the things we can do these days. The advent of the internet and its expansion to the seemingly limitless world of hands-free technology has made it so that just about anything and everything you could possibly wish for is a swipe, click or tap away. Positive Grid is a company that has been at the coalface of this technological tin mine for years now. Famous for creating some of the most user friendly and sonically advanced music apps on the market, their new Bias Head sees them take one almighty leap into the physical realm and apply the entirety of their tone-tech prowess in the real world.

23 Mar

20 Mar

Reviewed: DV Mark "Raw Dawg" EG amplifier

CMC Music | cmcmusic.com.au | Expect To Pay: $1095

Many moons ago I was a starry-eyed, fledgling reviewer for this here magazine. The very first piece of kit I was asked to cast a critical eye over was a low wattage DV Mark guitar combo. Being as dewy as I was back then, I only knew about Marco’s inimitable range of bass gear having seen some of my more discerning four-stringed friends conjure brown sounds with various models as conduit. This little combo opened my eyes to the sheer voracity with which De Virgiliis and co. eek out the corners of guitar tonality, and since then I’ve had a certain soft spot for the company. There is just about every colour of the rainbow in their catalogue, each with its own celebrity signatory, and it seems like every issue since I’ve written about a DV Mark build that differs in degrees from the last.

20 Mar

9 Mar

Reviewed: Marshall Amplification DSL1C Combo Amp

Electric Factory | elfa.com.au | Expect To Pay: $599

Growing up, the only Marshall amps I ever saw were hefty 100 watt heads sitting atop a plethora of quad boxes. I guess I never thought it was obtainable to get that classic tone in my bedroom. Who wants to buy a JCM900 only to have it sit in the corner of your bedroom with the volume control not even on one? The answer is no one. Thankfully, Marshall have finally caught up with the modern trend of valve driven, low wattage amps for home and rehearsal use. The classic DSL line has been reimagined and reinvigorated in 2018 with amps ranging from as little as one watt through to the 100 watt stalwarts we’re all accustomed to seeing on huge stages across the world. With this new era of DSL, it has never been more obtainable to get the classic Marshall tone at a reasonable volume for the bedroom guitarist.

9 Mar

22 Feb

Reviewed: Jet City Custom 5 amplifier head

Amber Technology | ambertech.com.au | Expect to Pay: $699

America is not a nation famous for downsizing. From the luxury sedans of the ‘50s and ‘60s to the serving sizes of today, it seems that everything is bigger not only in Texas but across the whole country. On the flip side, bucking the trend is in their blood, so it stands to reason that several American manufacturers are leading the charge in the lower wattage amplifier game. Several issues ago I reviewed Peavey’s range of 20-watt versions of their most notable builds and was suitably impressed, so I was wringing my hands with glee when the Jet City Custom 5 came waltzing my way.

22 Feb

16 Feb

Reviewed: Fender Hot Rod Deluxe IV

Fender Music Australia | fender.com.au | RRP: $1549

Even if you’ve never actually read Don Quixote I don’t imagine the blurb of Miguel Cervantes’ defining tome has escaped anyone; stately madman goes roaming the countryside on a hallucinatory quest accompanied by his donkey and faithful off-sider. What a strangely fitting metaphor for the relationship between a guitar player and their amp of choice. We are the lance-wielding maniacs off hunting imaginary dragons while dragging along humble wattage on whatever adventure we see fit. For the better part of a decade now I have had a Fender Hot Rod Deville 4x10 in tow as the Sancho Pança to my Man of La Mancha and it has yet to fail me in my battles against windmills. As 2018 sputters into life like an old tractor, Fender unveils the new and improved Hot Rod series, of which I respectfully introduce myself to its Deluxe IV 1x12.

16 Feb

19 Jan

Reviewed: Jet City Jettenuator

Amber Technology | ambertech.com.au | Expect To Pay: $349

It’s a pretty un-rock-n-roll idea, really. For decades now, the burly king of modern music has made a point of embracing sheer, ear-splitting volume as its broadsword. As a company, Jet City is no different. Their designs are more often than not aimed at those of us who stand behind our noisy heroes like loyal foot soldiers. Why, then, would any rock-pig in their right mind want something that brings down the ultimate level? The answer is simple: Lemmy is dead, and not everyone has the ironclad fortitude to live and listen the way he did. For most mere mortals, attenuation is the key to achieving that blisteringly and blissfully loud sonic maximisation without replacing your eardrums after every rehearsal. I’ve had a rudimentary variation on this theme built into the back of my main amp for years, and I personally swear by the positive effect is has on my overall tone as well as the peculiar options it affords me where pushing tubes is concerned.

19 Jan

10 Jan

Reviewed: Vox Adio Air GT and BS

Yamaha Music Australia | au.yamaha.com | Expect to pay: $499

Once upon a time, there was a set sequence of events for those brave and/or dumb enough to venture into Guitar Players’ Grotto. First, you struggled to maintain interest as you learned Nirvana and Beatles numbers on a laminate nylon string abomination. If you made it through that mire, you went one of two ways; either you upgraded to a steel stringed acoustic, or you wandered blindly into the dizzyingly wide world of electric guitar.

10 Jan

1 Dec

Reviewed: Mooer Hornet Black Guitar Combo

Jade Australia | jadeaustralia.com.au | Expect to Pay: $299

Mini pedals have been a monster hit with guitarists the world over. Desperate to free up pedalboard real estate and have access to more sounds, brands such as Mooer offer a tonne of models to increase your sonic palette, all with a smaller footprint. Mooer have then continued to expand their slide into the guitar scene with this range of pedals and effects being supplemented by a number of amplifiers. Slotting into the small/practice amp division, the Hornet series offers modeling technology and effects in a grab and go type package at a reasonable price.

1 Dec

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