Elliott Randall

This one really blew my mind. I am a huge fan of Albert’s. His personal model sports 3 Seymour Duncan Strat-type pickups. This one, with 2 DiMarzio humbuckers has quite a different set of sound properties. And the all-rosewood neck is heavenly!

I’ve been playing with an ensemble in which the two other guitarists are using axes that also sport humbuckers. This can prove problematic, with all those very similar sounding pickups, the overall sound can become a bit muddy at times. This guitar solves the problem beautifully. The designers have, in their wisdom, designed a circuit which, with the help of a 5 position switch, gives the user the choices of one coil from each pickup (two separate configurations), which does a most amazing job of “clarifying” the tones of this wonderful instrument.

My first couple of encounters with the TubeMeister series were at music conventions, and those are not really the place to get intimate with any piece of equipment. Next, I was in the studio with my great pickin’ buddy Mick Abrahams (recording his album), and the sounds that his guitar were emitting were simply heavenly. He grinned and pointed to his TubeMeister head, plugged directly (via Redbook) into the console. I decided at that very moment that I had to have one. I got one. I’ve never looked back. Both in the studio and live, it’s an absolute killer, with myriad tonal possibilities. It rocks. And it purrs.

The final compliment on the gear front is the SONUUS WAHOO. It’s their extraordinary wah pedal that is truly 21st Century, in every respect but the great retro sounds it produces. It’s all analog audio components, but controlled by a digital “front end”. Not only will it give you all those classic wah sounds, but an on-board envelope follower and specialised filters for frequency pinpointing bring new dimensions to those who like to take it to the limit. The geeky nature of the designers also brings you a computer interface (USB) where you can chart out the freqs you want (or don’t want) on screen, and drag the curves any which way. Coolness; I’m lovin’ t!

I’d seen it advertised and reviewed in several guitar publications and websites, and reading the various critiques of the unit got my curiosity going. Thanks to my friends at t.c., the newcomer was at my doorstep in a matter of a few days. Chock full of flashing lights, an illuminated screen display, and more sound choices that most of the ’60s and ’70s records put together! It comes with 30 factory pre-sets, and has capacity for 60 more user-defined ones. But “first things first”. How does it sound? I gave it its initial trial last June at Ronnie Scott’s Jazz Club in London. I was a guest of The Ben Waters’ Boogie Woogie band – and in this instance, subtleties can be most important – and were! Bottom line, it sounded great. I had programmed up a couple of pre-set banks a few days earlier – one pretty much emulating what my old Korg board did, and a few other more …adventurous ones. So far, we are most impressed. Recently I’ve been using it in the studio. I thought I’d try plugging it in D.I. with the unit’s “Redbook” speaker emulation. Winner. Those flashing buttons and illuminated do-dads all serve practical purposes. There are memory locations within memory locations! The device is totally midi-compatible, so if you utilise midi in your show, whether at small venues, or in huge arenas, total control of your NOVA can be run via a master midi controller. Yeah, geeky. I’m still discovering a lot about the NOVA, and will of course keep you updated, but I can tell you “it’s a keeper”. There’s much more in-depth info about The Nova System on t.c.’s website here.