jez_sullivan

The Kotzen is a brilliant clash of vintage and modern. Check out my full review at www.japanguitarhunter.com

Superb build and tone. Only downside is the weight. Get a broad strap. Like a ales Paul, but tonally a touch more top end. Does cleans better than an LP.

Build quality is knockout. My only gripe are the pickups. I swapped these out for a set of Lollar Imperials and added vintage style plastics and a poker chip. I'm a critic of Gibson, but the build, fit and finish on this LP genuinely impressed me. I've owned 4 Les Pauls over the last 14 years. This one is the best by far.

I owned several TSL100's and several TSL60’s. I made an album with them in 2007 and gigged them for a decade. The amp itself was ok, but the 5 way footswitch was terrible. I was going through two a year without fail. Usually cable issues. A spare is essential. Also the FX loop was awful. For some reason the TSL100 loop really affected the tone. Even without any FX in the loop itself. Like a blanket being thrown over the speaker. I've also used and gigged the tsl60 which for some odd reason has a much better quality FX loop, it’s actually amazingly transparent. But sadly due to its really odd control layout I could only get an acceptable tone at gig level volumes. So I’d run the master at 4 o clock and control the volume with the channel volume. You can’t gun the master volume or you get a popping sound when you switch channels. There are stories of reliability issues. I did have one arc out on me in rehearsal. But gigging was OK. The fix is a post 2002 main PCB. Sadly these are true. Don't get me wrong, they sounded alright. But I had to do a lot of maintenance to keep them going for not a lot of gigs. I used to play hundreds of gigs with a 70’s Marshall Artiste and 80’s Jubilee series combo’s and they were far more reliable. But personally I think the JVM is a better amp. The TSL was built down to a price and it does show itself.

A superb retro amp. Only really does clean to crunch tones. But built like a fucking tank. Superb cleans and a great pedal platform. It’s a really simple design and totally overbuilt. The output transformer is the size of a child’s head! In 10watt pentode mode, it does get slightly noisy. So I tend to run mine in 30 watt mode. Only downside is weight. In a flight case it's over 50 kilograms. Tube life is good.

Designed to run at 12 volts DC. The 7thvn is a medium to high gain pedal. Voiced like a modded plexi. This has the lowest noise floor I've ever heard on a high gain pedal. Sadly this used NOS JFETs so it's no longer made. Look out for the Kult. Goosoniqueworx other higher gain pedal which is more like a 5150 type voice.

Has all the sounds from the Line 6 modeller pedals. But 24 presets into a much smaller footprint with a display. As with all modelling FX, some sounds are more useable than others. But all the DL4/MM4 sounds are here. Superb. Have gigged one for 6 years with no problems.

All the usual delays are here. Plus the Toneprint allows others to be downloaded. I use it as a secondary delay with my M5. Sounds great, compact too.

I've gigged about 5 different SD1's over the years. They are a no brainier. Great overdriven tones into a Marshall type amp. My favourite modded version is the Monte Allums asymmetrical clip mod. However that particular pedal got stolen in 2016.