gb1138

This amp is almost perfect. I gig with this occasionally, and I can get a pretty wide range of sounds out of it. The tubes provide a nice, warm tone, and the trebles are good and crisp. The reverb is perfectly dreamy (something I've certainly found lacking in most recent Fender amps). The only downside is the weight. I know it's common for tube amps, but it is a downside. If I'm just running off to a jam session or a smaller venue I'll bring my Vox Pathfinder 15, but if I'm playing a bigger club, this is definitely going with me.

A few years ago I had a Vox Pathfinder without reverb. I loved the tone, but really wanted that reverb, as I played a lot of lap steel at my church. I played out of a Peavey Classic 50, and still love that amp above all others, but it's incredibly heavy. So I needed something that was small and light, but still had good tone and that reverb (gotta want that reverb). Unfortunately they don't make these anymore, so when you find one on Craigslist or in a music shop, do yourself a favor and pick it up. Its tone is nice and full. The spring reverb isn't exactly "Surf's Up" echo-y, but it's good enough to add a nice dynamic to your playing. It also has a nice tremolo feature as well. These can be had for around $100-120, and it's worth every penny.

I've got an Ovation Viper exactly like the one pictured here...butterscotch with black pickguard and an ebony fretboard. The scale is longer than an average electric guitar, and as I'm mainly a rhythm player, this isn't a big deal for me. I care more about tone, and this is where the guitar delivers in spades. The neck pickup has a beautifully rich, punchy, bright tone that feels aggressive without being overbearing. The middle pickup position (both neck and bridge pickups active) provides a nice honky kind of twang. The bridge pickup is, like the neck, bright and rich, but thin enough to match what you'd want to hear from a bridge pickup. This is a hearty guitar. It feels good when slung over your shoulder, and the versatility you get from it makes it a must-have. I'm actually quite surprised that more guitarists don't play this regularly, but on the other hand, there's something kind of cool about playing a show and having someone come up and say, "What the hell is THAT? I've never seen one before!"

I bought my Blacktop JM secondhand. The original owner had replaced the neck with that of a Squier Vintage Modified Jazzmaster, which is a very nice, smooth neck, and also has the vintage finish. They also replaced the bridge humbucker with an aftermarket Seymour Duncan pickup, so it's a little hotter. But I love the tones I get out of this thing. The bridge pickup is bright and chimey (like Nels Cline or Mike Daly), and the neck pickup has that great, fat Fender single-coil tone like Thurston Moore is jumping out of my guitar. The tremolo is very smooth, and I love it soooo much more than the one on my American Standard Strat. If I were to make any change to it, it would probably be to replace the vintage-mint pickguard with tortoiseshell. But otherwise, this is a really great guitar.

I got mine at an antique shop in Northern Minnesota for $18. It sat for a couple of years with a set of electric guitar strings on it for just messing around. But I finally started taking it seriously and strung it up with some medium-gauge acoustic strings, and after a little bit of fiddling with the bridge to get the intonation right, I was really knocked out at how good it sounded. Mine doesn't have the date stamp on it, but it does have the white plastic pickguard, so that means it was made between 1961 and 1970. The back is cracked in a couple of places, and the finish is pretty beat, but man...that guitar. It's ladder-braced, and the whole body is made of birch, which I'd never even heard in guitar building until I looked up this model. So the result is you get that really boxy, bluesy, folky tone that almost sounds like a resonator, but not as tinny. It's a great guitar to use if you're into slide guitar. One could very easily install a higher nut and raise the bridge a little to make a fun little lap steel. If you want to get that Bon Iver "For Emma, Forever Ago" tone, this is the guitar to get (he reportedly used an old Sears Silvertone acoustic, but it was probably made by the same company in the same factory, just with a different label). I'm surprised to see some of these selling on Reverb for well over $150, considering that mine was less than $20 (granted, it only had two strings on it when I got it, and I don't think the antique shop knew anything about it, or they thought, "Stella? I remember those. They were super cheap. Not worth much."). So if you happen to see one in a junk shop somewhere, it's worth your while to pick up, even if you just use it for a great campfire guitar.

I love this bass. I'm a fan of short-scale basses anyway, and this is perfect. The single neck pickup is really diverse. If you play with a pick, it's really punchy. If you play with your fingers, it's mellow and warm. This bass is most at home with a set of flatwounds. Here's a quick story. I was 12 when I discovered the Beatles. I instantly became obsessed with their music, and shortly after found my dad's record collection. He had this Framus Strato Star bass in the basement closet, in the original chipboard case, and with the low E tuner busted. I told him I really wanted to play bass, and so we fixed it up. Got new tuners, cleaned the electronics, and replaced the flatwounds with roundwounds. And I then spent almost every free hour sitting in front of those records, playing along as Rubber Soul spun on the turntable (I didn't have an amp at first, so I rested my chin on the upper bout while I played to get the vibrations in my head). Time went on and I got other basses, but I would occasionally pull the Strato Star out and always enjoyed it. Recently, in a fit of nostalgia, I bought my own 1966 Strato Star on Ebay. It came with a case and cost me $200. It's not perfect. The screws holding the replacement pickguard in place are rusty and seem to be a mish-mash of whatever screws were on-hand at the time, and the pickguard itself is a really crappy black plastic. My summer project is to replace those parts and restore this beautiful bass to its former glory.

This is a great little amp. It features volume and gain controls, several EQ options, and some effects (chorus, flanger, delay/slapback echo, etc). It's got good all-around tone and is very versatile. I've played it at home, at church, and at gigs, and it's equally at home in any setting.

I got one of these in sparkly blue finish. It's a beautifully full-sounding guitar, and it's not something you see often, so people usually ask about it. I thought about stripping it down and staining the wood, but why? It's a lovely finish, and what would be the point? It already sounds great. My only complaint is about the neck. I love to do neck-bends for sure, but this neck was almost a little too flexible. It reminded me of when I had tried out the Epiphone SG anniversary model, and realized that the neck is so sensitive to pressure that it's almost impossible not to bend it. This neck was similar, although it's much better than that SG was. All in all, it's a great guitar, and if you can find one for under $300 you're doing quite well (mine was $250 used, and came with a nice Eastwood/Airline case).

I got mine in 2007. It was one of Gibson's reissue models, and apparently it was one of the last years that they made the J-50. It had a beautiful sitka spruce top with mahogany back and sides (I loved to stick my nose in the soundhole and breathe in that delicious smells...it constantly smelled like freshly cut wood), and an LR Baggs internal mic system. The volume knob was just inside the soundhole, which is great because I HATE when guitar companies cut holes in the sides of their acoustics to put all the knobs and other fiddly bits and show off how cool their technology looks. It came with Grover enclosed tuners as well, and sounded perfect from Day 1. I got mine hours after it was delivered to the store from Bozeman, Montana, and it was like they'd set it up before shipping. It came with a nice "Gibson Acoustic" case for a total of $2000. As far as sound, it's exactly what you'd expect from a high-end Gibson acoustic. A nice full sound when strumming (and with very balanced sound, from a full bottom end to a crisp and clear high end), beautiful clarity when fingerpicking. It also sounded really good when plugged in. Sadly I sold mine when I got divorced. I still daydream about finding it online and buying it back. I'll tell you this, though. If you find one of these, grab it. I guarantee you won't be sorry.

I first was introduced to the 80s Bullet when I saw Death Cab For Cutie playing at 7th Street Entry in Minneapolis in 2000. They were playing a double-header, and I stayed for both the all-ages show and the 21+ set. Between sets I had a beer with frontman Ben Gibbard, and our conversation quickly turned to his guitar, which I had originally thought was some kind of partscaster. He told me about the Bullet, and how much he liked it (his had the Strat body shape but only two pickups in his pickguard). I've been intrigued by them ever since. Then about three months ago (September of 2020) I walked into a pawn shop on a whim and saw one hanging there for all of $50. I think the people working there thought it was one of the cheap, modern Chinese Bullet Strats. Their mistake made my day. Mine was made in 1983/84 in Japan (officially called the Bullet One) and has three single-coils with no visible pole pieces (so they look like Fender Lace pickups), 5-way switch, a volume knob, tone knob, and a 1/4" jack right next to the volume. It's a 7/8-size body, so it's small and light, especially compared to pretty much any other full-size Strat. The maple neck with Tele headstock is very smooth, and feels very comfortable to wrap my hand around. The tone is killer. Most of us who have played cheap, student-model guitars are used to poor quality electronics. The Squier Bullet One is not at all in that category. It even stands out from regular Strats, which I've always felt have kind of weak-sounding pickups. Mine has a hardtail fixed bridge, while others have a pretty typical floating trem. It stays in tune amazingly well. Overall, this has become my favourite guitar.