Ok, my turn to review. And this time, it's the Fender's 50th Anniversary Gold Stratocaster. Why is it 50 ? It's because the Fender Stratocaster's five-decade tenure (1954-2004) has seen it travel through many a rocky road and still come out tops. Naturally, the folks at Fender wanted to celebrate this 50 years golden anniversary with a big mama bang. And what other way to do this than with a golden Strat. There are two versions of the 50th Anniversary Stratocaster, this one, which I'm reviewing, is "made-in-Mexico" version of this instrument. The more "grand" version is the "made-in-America" version which has a Sunburst colour.

The body of this Stratocaster is alder, mated to a one-piece maple neck, carrying the Fender-scale maple fingerboard and 22 vintage style narrow frets. The colour is Aztec Gold which you'll never find on every other guitar. I personally never be keen on gold colours but Fender did a good job on balancing between gold body, maple fretboard, anodised gold scratch plate and gold hardware is a very pleasing proposition indeed.

The guitar has a trio of single coils, a five-way selector switch and, a single tone and two numbered volume dials. Basic stuff for any Strat out there. All six strings are anchored on the vintage synchronised tremolo while the vintage style machine-heads provide for tune-ups on the headstock end of the proceedings.

I was really turn-off by the "made-in-Mexico" workmanship. The American version has the 50th anniversary logo etched on the neck plate at the back. This guitar however gets a cheap sticker on the plastic covering of the trem block.
The guitar's five-way selector takes you through all the classic settings of a standard Stratocaster, and this particular unit does it as it should. Its neck pickup provides a plump, bluesy tone. The middle pickup dishes out some earthy funk grooves while the bride unit is surprisingly polite.

Stinging blues tones scream from the neck and middle pickups as expected, but it's the bridge transducer that really throws a curve ball. Talk about grind and a toothy response - this one wrote the book on them. Never have I had quite so much fun with a Strat bridge pickup and it's really the absence of some of that top end detail that makes this pickup highly desirable and extremely useful.
This guitar plays like the rest of the Strat family. The controls on the Gold Strat are highly responsive and scaled smoothly, too, and thankfully, the trem system on this unit was in more than decent form, staying perfectly in tune through some mild abuse. I tried other trem system on some other guitars and tuning will just run way out of tune.

There's nothing to complain with the 50th Anniversary Gold Stratocaster since after all a Mexican-made Strat and the American-made Highway 1 series will burn a 'smaller" hole in your wallet then those American made guitars which will blow a hole in your bank account.

Pros: Workmanship ok la; Guitar looks good (people WILL notice you); predictable array of sounds just like any other Strats.
Cons: It's lacking that "50th Anniversary" taste if you what I mean

The Fender Stage 1000 is a three-channel amp (Normal/Drive 1/Drive 2) that delivers 100 watts (yes its 100 watts NOT 1000 watts) into the single 12-inch Celestion G12T-100 speaker. My friend told me this amp could be pushed to 160 watts by adding an eight-ohm extension cabinet which I yet to try. This amp also houses a variety DSP effects, a built-in chromatic tuner, along with a four-button footswitch for channel/effects/reverb selection, balanced line output, preamp out, power amp in (the last two via quarter-inch jacks, and which also double up as an external effects loop) something called "Timbre" which I have NO idea what this does.

There's the Normal or some guitarist would love to say clean channel, with its own treble, mid and bass controls. Beside it, there's a button that switches between the Normal and either of the two drive channels. Drive 1 has gain and volume level knobs, then there's the button to select Drive 2, which has both those controls as well ... treble, mid and bass knobs common to both drive channels are provided.

Further down are buttons to select "Timbre" ... which my friend said it quite simply, a preset EQs for different overall voicings - Flat, Bright, Dark, Deep, Scoop, Squawk and Acoustic, which I think you know what they do. The engineer at Bentley Music told my friend not to overdo the EQs as the results from the Timbre settings would also depend on the nature of your guitar and the amp's EQ configuration. Using the chromatic tuner will mute the amp while you're tuning your guitar.

And finally the effects sections where all the reverb level and type, effects level and type, and time/rate control to adjust parameters for the effects are what you get. There's ALOT of effects on this amp, you have Ambient, Room, Hall, Arena, Plate and Spring, with two to four sub-types for each. The modulation array includes Delay (digital, tape echo and ducking), Vibrato (Vibratone here), Tremolo, Phaser, Flanger and Chorus, plus one Delay/Chorus combination.

The Stage 1000 is very loud. On the normal channel, the volume have to be kept at "3" so that I won't annoy the rest of the household and neighbours. It will go loud and cut right through on a small stage without tripping up. The sound is bright, open and punchy.

There's flexibility of tweaking the effects, what you get here is more than decent and useable in a variety of circumstances. If you don't want to carry too many pedals or even a multi-effects box the Stage 1000's effects is a great provider but I'll say your pedals will deliver a much better result in terms of it's sound. But still, it's good having some extra features to play around with.

The drive channels on this amp works really well. Drive 1 is perfect for those who want to blues up their leads. It's not too heavy and not too light, it's just in the middle. For those who love super heavy metal distortion, the Drive 2 might not be your best friend, as the over-drive seems abit on the "week" side. Nonetheless, it's still gives that punch to your riffs.

I think this is a very good amp for those looking for more punch then your little small practice amp. You can't go wrong with those effects on board as well as 3 different channels to play with and price tag of Rm3,100, I definitely recommend this amp.

Pros: Good clean and drive channels; maddness tons of effects; build in tuner
Cons: Drive channels abit "week"

Ok, this time round I get to review my friend's Squier Deluxe Stratocaster FMT. Yes, you can review your friend's gear too as long your friend knows about it and you're the one actually reviewing it. The best part of reviewing your friend's gear is that, you can try it as long as you want. Music shops will just give you that "please go home" body language. Trust me, I seen that many times.

I have seen this before .....

The Squier by Fender Deluxe Stratocaster FMT has all the attributes that you'll find in any Fender by Fender Stratocaster, generally speaking la. The headstock of this guitar is very similar to the ones used by the '70s Stratocaster, big and fat. It has a flame maple top and a fancy three-ply white pearloid pick guard on it. The body is crafted out of either alder or agathis, which I have no idea what material this is. The guitar comes with a beautiful three-tone sunburst under a highly glossed finish to give it a very handsome look, if not pretty.



Neck is of maple construction and has a "C" profile with a 25.5-inch scale length. The guitar also features a 9.5-inch radius rosewood fretboard. Both body and neck have polyurethane finishes. The guitar comes with 22 medium jumbo frets and a synchronous twin pivot tremolo bridge.

The Strat is loaded with three Alnico magnet single coil pickups. Electronics are the standard affair for all Stratocaster guitars that consists of a five-way pickup selector, one control knob for volume and two more for tone. All hardware on the guitar is chrome. A tremolo arm is also provided here. Behind houses the neck plate that is engraved where the four bolts join the neck and body are joined together.
What I'm trying to say here is, the finishing and assembly of this guitar is top notch, first-class, outstanding workmanship. And I cannot believe this guitar is from Squier's Indonesian factory.

...... and it sounds like .....

The amplification used to test the sound quality of this guitar was the Fender Stage 1000. The guitar was plugged directly to the amp with all the EQ controls to "12" o'clock. Using the neck pickup with the clean channel gives you a warmth and glassiness sound. The middle single coil boasted a nice punchy sound suitable for any soloing work. The bridge pick up brought forth a very ballsy and bright voice. The remaining two pickup settings delivered some very tasty funky sound. .Position 4 (middle and neck) is mellower and seemed to sound more neck the neck pickup's position.

This guitar can rock 'n' roll too as I switched the amp to its overdrive channel. No matter what amount of gain you pump into this guitar, the guitar's natural tone shone through without getting muddy and losing definition.



The volume and tone controls on this guitar are very responsive, obeying very command you dialed in. Turn the volume knob down halfway and the overdriven tone cleans up beautifully, keeping it warm and punchy. Switching to the bridge pickup and you'll get screaming and piercing rock sounds.

My friend tried some of his tricks with the tremolo arm locked in. This guitar had its bridge set up so that you could only push the bar down and we found this a wee bit annoying, as the bridge knocked on the body of the guitar every time I came up from a dive with the bar. Going crazy on the tremolo is not recommended as the guitar will go badly out of tune. This is because there are no locking tuners whatsoever, so do it if you really need to and gently.

.... a good guitar.

The Squier Deluxe Stratocaster FMT is one of the good looking, great sounding and playable guitar. It can easily knock off any high-end guitars out there without breaking your pocket. If you're new to guitars or you're looking a entry level guitar, this IS the guitar you should get. With the price tag of Rm1,250 you can't go wrong with this guitar. I highly recommend this guitar.

Pros: Good workmanship; great sounds; looks beautiful and expensive; very comfortable.

Cons: I can't find any

Haha, if you have been following this thread's reviews you might think that I'm a Fender man. I'll play any type of guitar regardless it's brand name as long it's affordable, playable and looks good. Just ask any guitarist here at the forums and they'll tell you they can never find that "all-perfect" guitar. Or even if they did, the price tag will be enough to pay for a wedding dinner.

This is my friend's Fender Highway 1 Telecaster that was just 30 minutes old from the time he bought it from the shop. Very lucky guy indeed. And 15 minutes later, we're back at his house to do a little stroll on the Highway.

Body way .....

The colour of this guitar is Honey Blonde with a Satin Lacquer Finish. The body is made of Alder while the neck is made out of Maple with a Modern "C" Shape and Satin Polyurethane Finish. There are 22 Medium Jumbo Frets on a Rosewood fretboard.

A three-position blade selector switch allows you to alternate between the two standard vintage-style Alnico Magnets single-coil Tele pickups. A knurled volume and tone dial complete the electronics package. All the hardware on this guitar is chromed to perfection.

..... Sound way ....

One thing I love about Telecasters is that they have a lovely feel once you strap it and ready to play. You can seat, jump, stand, fly or anything in between, the feel stays great and neck comfort is wonderful.

The guitar was plugged into a Marshall MG100DFX and the Highway 1 snarled as if it wants to eats us. This was having the gain turned way up and on the bridge pickup.

Change the pickup positions to the middle and neck positions and you'll get those 1960s and 1970s soft rock sounds. Double note bends and double stops possessed a rich vowel-like quality.



The Highway 1 Tele responded to the strums and flat-picking with a rounded, plump tone while on a clean channel. The bridge pickup is perfect for soloing work while the other two positions invited cool, bluesy and jazzy single-note licks. This guitar can match any humbucker-equipped guitar because of the rosewood if you know how to work with the volume and tone dials.

The pickups on this guitar are kinda week according to my friend. Even with the amp's gain at max, the guitar still sound too "gentle", lacking that punch. You can always add in an Overdrive pedal to boost its "gentleness"

Highway ?

Overall, this guitar is good for those in between rich and poor. It's plays well and kinda good-looking. The best part about this guitar is its comfort while you're strapped on ready to go. Once you put in on, you won't want to take it off. I would recommend this guitar to everyone but with a price tag of Rm2,990, get this guitar IF you have the money.

Pros: Comfortable while playing; Great workmanship; Variety of tones

Cons: Price; pickups very "gentle"

Yet another Fender review ? What's with this dude man ? Seriously speaking, I don't even know why. Really, I went to my friend's shop to inquire if he allows a member of this forum (evo.com) to borrow a left-handed guitar. But the only left-handed guitar he has at the shop was a Fender (again ?) American Deluxe Stratocaster® Left Handed. He told me, "the only way your friend is going to "borrow" is to pay me Rm4,900 and he can "borrow" for the rest of his life. But you can try out that '72 Telecaster Custom over there"

Tele looks .....

My first look on this guitar was "why all the Fender Telecasters look the same wan ah ?" Maybe it was me, or maybe its because of 50 years of building guitars for artist around the world like James Burton, Muddy Waters, Danny Gatton and many more players of the Telecaster. Those folks love the body design of the guitar so why change to some design that can kill someone with those sharp designs ?
The Fender '72 Telecaster Custom Telecaster's body is made of alder, with a 1970s vintage hard tail strings-thru Strat bridge (with three-piece saddle) and a funny looking black pickguard which in my opinion, looks way nicer with a white one. Why '72 you ask ? It's because this guitar was created at 1972 la, huh.



The pickups on this guitar really have that Gibson Les Paul influence. Seated at the neck position of this guitar is a Fender Wide Range humbucking pickup (with three pole pieces each on opposing ends of the pickup) and the bridge equivalent is a standard Tele single coil. Both these pickups are controlled by a pair of numbered volume and tone dials, and a three-way toggle switch located on the upper bout of the guitar.

The neck of this guitar is made of Maple "U" Shape design with a Gloss Polyurethane Finish which is attached to the back of the guitar via three screws on the neck plate. This guitar also has the Micro-Tilt Adjustment feature. My friend told me that the 0.10 gauge strings on a 25.5" inch scale length could kill your fingers and hands into shreds, unless you're Stevie Ray which I'm no where near there. The Fender®/Schaller® Vintage "F" Style Tuning Machines on the guitar's headstock keeps all the tuning in check.



The guitar is really well built. Whoever hand built this masterpiece most likely took long and painstaking hours to put everything together. This is a Mexico-made guitar that is part of Fender's reissue series.

.... Tele Tunes ....

I never tried a guitar with both single coil bridge pickup and humbucking neck and I must say it sounds so good even better while playing it. Plugging on to a Fender Stage 1000, this guitar can do pop, funk and country picking genres.
Through the Stage 1000's overdrive channel, the '72 Telecaster Custom becomes a vintage rock monster and it sounds blistering when I strike those open position chords. In the bridge position, the '72 Telecaster Custom is a crunch monster, providing some strident, punchy sounds with tasty top end. Toggling the switch's central position results with a rockabilly tunes. The balance between the warmth of the neck pickup and the snap of the bridge single coil does wonders for this style of music.



The '72 Telecaster Custom has 4 controls to play with which are Volume 1 (Neck Pickup), Tone 1 (Neck Pickup), Volume 2 (Bridge Pickup) and Tone 2 (Bridge Pickup) plus with the pickup switching, the Custom is a highly versatile beast and will take you through most musical styles without having any problems at all. From jazz, blues, ska and anything in the middle, this guitar can play them all.

.... Tele Good ?

I think so far this is the best Telecaster design ever built by Fender. It feels so comfortable when you strap this guitar on and it sound so good to be true. If you're a professional guitarist looking for a new guitar for that professional use, I highly recommend this guitar even if it cost a cool Rm3,850. You won't regret this guitar. Get it and enter the Telecaster's Hall of Frame.

Pros: Excellent workmanship; very comfortable play; a lot of tonal options

Cons: Price

What to eat ? That's the question on one fine Saturday afternoon. I just played Battlefield 2 and earned 549 global points but my stomach is making too many "I'm hungry" noise. So I drove down the hawker store and passed by Harmony Music Center at Uptown. To my surprise, there's no one at the shop expect for the auntie who is the wife of the uncle who owns the shop. My church bought most of our music equipment from this store so both auntie and uncle knows me very well, even though they don't even know my name. So don't go there and ask "Auntie, you know who is TheWhacker ah ?"

So I went in and asked the auntie how was business? She replied saying business was going very well hence the shop has expanded into 2 shop lots now. She further on told me that they bought in some new Ibanez guitars and invited me to try them out. They are very friendly people indeed.

S what ?

The guitar was a S470 that is under Ibanez S series. Ibanez claims that this is one of the most versatile guitars ever made, with adherents in every genre. My first impression on this guitar was very handsome yet sexy looking guitar. The guitar's body is in black colour and the body itself is made of Mahogany. The fingerboard is made of Rosewood and with 22 Jumbo Frets running across the guitar.



The neck however is made of Maple. The inlays of the S470 are a "flying bird" which the proper name is S Special Inlay. I'm not joking, look at the first picture above and laugh for yourself. Something different then the traditional circle inlays. The controls on the guitar are handled by 1 Volume knob, 1 Tone knob and a Pickup Selection Switch for you tweak out pickups on the guitar.

S tones

The pickups on the S470 consist of 2 IBZ INF1 Humbuckers at the neck and bridge position. The third pickup right in the middle of the two humbuckers is a single coil IBZ INFS1. From the pickup lineup on this guitar, you know for sure that this guitar is meant to rock & roll. So Ibanez's claim of "with adherents in every genre" is very in doubt now. Or so it seems.



Well, the problem of testing a guitar at a shop is that you can't just test any instrument and equipment that is available at the shop. Others will have that "tak tahu malu" impression on you even if you know the shop owner well. So I plugged the S470 to a MG50DFX, which is on the floor. Well, there's a MG100DFX that is on the top of the shelf, but like I said, you just can't just test any instrument and equipment that is available at the shop.

On the normal channel, the guitar speaks out clean and clear tones. Using clean channel on the neck humbucker with some reverb sounds really good. You can also play some jazz riffs on the neck humbucker and using only the middle pickup (the single coil) delivers puckable tones.

Neck humbucker with distortion is too smooth and leads with it in my opinion sound not too good, however jazz sounds good enough. However, using the bridge humbucker is perfect for those metal players because the guitar speaks out boldly and has that little punch to your face.



The ZR Tremolo system on the guitar works well but even with the tremolo lock, I suggest not to go crazy with it since the tuning of the guitar may go out of tune.
One thing I notice is how comfortable this guitar is. It has a very thin body design and all the edges around the guitar are so thin to be true.

S stands for Superb

Overall, the guitar's construction is ok since I found that the controls for the volume and tone knobs are placed very close together. Other than that, it's a good guitar with quite a diversity of tones you can get with the H-S-H configuration. Some may find this a little expensive with the price tag of RM2150, but with its attributes above, I recommend this guitar to anyone and most likely the last guitar you ever buy, till something better comes along.

Pros: Workmanship ok la; very comfortable play; a lot of tonal options; great for rock players

Cons: Controls knobs too close together;

What's the first thing that comes to your mind when you think about bass ? Mostly people will think of the name Ibanez. Some will think BIG amp. Others will look at the history. So when Mr.Fender (or Leo Fender) built an amp for his Precision Bass back at the 1950s, little that he care about what he thinks in the first place that this amp will be a hit with bass players. The Fender Bassman was born in the era where blues, rock and country were getting popular. And little did Mr.Fender knew that Mr.Marshall (Jim Marshall) adopted the Bassman's circuitry to launch a new line of Marshall amps.

Bassman cool man.....

When I first saw this amp, I notice the new Fender logo on the grille. And you cannot miss the "Eminence Inside" label at the bottom of the grille. This label tells you that whatever you hear from this amp is coming out from a reputable 10-inch American speaker manufacturer. And to my surprise, this 100-watter (yes, one hundred) amp is actually light. So don't worry if this amp is going to break your back or some bones while moving this amp around.

The single instrument input has a -6dB switch, so you can plug in either a passive or high-output active bass. There's a mute switch which is useful when you're tuning your bass. There's also a tuner output is located at the back of the amp.

I'm not a fan of semi-parametric EQ but my friend is and boy he was excited. Seeing him playing around with the semi-parametric EQ is like watching a kid playing his Christmas toy on Christmas day. The Bass and Treble controls are represented by a knob each but the mid can be controlled via "Mid Level" and "Mid Frequency" knobs. For your desired tone, simply dial in a mid frequency (between 150Hz and to 1.5kHz) and choose to cut (down to -15dB) or boost (+15dB). This apart, the Contour control also allows broader scooping of the overall mid frequencies.

An XLR Line Out socket with a Pre/Post EQ switch, a Line Level control and a ground lift switch are also provided. Behind the amp there's a pair of Effects Send and Return sockets. There's also an auxiliary input for devices such as a drum machine or CD player to be plugged in as well as the headphones too as there's an output for this device.

Bassman sound

Enough of design and let's talk about how this amp sounds. The Fender Bassman 100 is pretty normal like other amps but it's a bit "gentle". It's 100-watter amp and I was expected to be blown away by that. But somehow, I stood on the floor which I should been thrown to the wall.

If you're good at tweaking the semi-parametric EQ mid controls on this amp, you can get a lot of variety of sounds from this amp. The combination of the Contour knob and semi-parametric EQ resulted in some awesome tones. The 10-inch Eminence speaker produced a punchy and focussed sound. Bass was solid, not just some low-end rumble, even playing with the low-B string on the bass guitar. The treble was sweet, especially when you're slapping or popping. You'll find yourself tweaking the mid controls ever so often so those mid controls will be your very best friend.

So I Mr.Guitarist who don't even know a single thing about bass, pIugged in the Fender '70s Stratocaster with the Fender Bassman 100. I was expecting a heavy low tone sound from my guitar but to my surprise it produced a very nice clean sound.

Bassman cool ?

Despite being made from the Indonesian factories, the Bassman 100's price can really raise some eyebrows for a cool Rm3, 350. But with its semi-parametric EQ which you can get a variety of tones from this amp, bassist would love this feature (if they're good at tweaking the controls) more then they love their bank account.

My humble point of view is if you're not good at tweaking the controls on the semi-parametric EQ, then you probably won't want to get this amp. However, if you're seasoned bassist who knows what you're doing, by all means go ahead and get this amp because this will be the last bass amp you'll ever need.

Pros: It's light; the semi-parametric EQ is a very good feature.

Cons: Price; tweaking the semi-parametric EQ is not for everyone

"All guitarists will love the BD25R. With 25 watts of power, this reverb equipped Bad Dog offers 2 channels, high and low inputs, and a headphone jack. Small enough to take anywhere and loud enough to fill the room."

That is what is written at the Washburn website about their Bad Dog BD25R guitar amp. I never did fancy Washburn guitar amps but their guitars are however a different story altogether. Some of the Washburn guitars are hand-made under their Idol Series. Those guitars look so cool and sound even cooler. So how about their guitar amps then ? Visiting my friend's house for Deepavail and Hari Raya is not only to eat murukus and rendands, but aslo to try out my friend's gear. One of my friend has this amp which I'm about to review, in his room. With the name Bad Dog, it sounds like this amp is very bad.

Sit boy .... Good dog

This is without a doubt a practice amp for your bedroom. With 25 watts of power, this amp will definitely sound like a puppy in a big hall. The amp has very sturdy look and the construction is very well built. It's encased in black Tolex that does a good job of protecting the amp, with the help of plastic edges. The eight inch Washburn speaker is housed inside a metal grille.



The control panel has high and low inputs, a channel select switch, volume and reverb knobs, and a three-band equaliser. This amp has an open back that has inputs for an effects loop and optional footswitch. Overall, this amp isn't that heavy making it ideal portability amp.

Bark doggie ....

A Squier Deluxe Stratocaster FMT plugged into the amp's channel one. The amp was able to produce some fairly warm and vibrant clean tones. Plugging and strumming sounds no problems at all.
Plugged into the amp's channel two delivers a crunchy sound which I think it's perfect for playing alternative rock or a little puck riffs.

After playing around with the clean channels, I switched on the overdrive button. The gain is there, but it's very lacking that German Shepherd fierce barking which my neighbors has. Rock and metal players will not love this amp's gain as playing metal riffs with this amp doesn't sound metallic at all. The gain level is also unsuitable for playing anything other than blues/rock

Good dog ?

For an amplifier made in China, you can't really complain much considering what it can do. This puppy is more then enough to stay at your bedroom or some studio recording work. For a price tag of Rm750, I think you can get better practice amps with that price range.

Pros: Good construction; very light; dual channels

Cons: Overdrive very week

How many of you know what PRS stands for ? Well, if you don't, knock your head on the wall. PRS stands for Pontian Root Sugar, no la .... I'm just joking. PRS stands for Paul Reed Smith. They (or he) are one of the most famous guitar makers in the world as all of their guitars are all hand made to perfection. How famous you ask ? My answer to that will be the various guitarist and bassist from very famous bands like Mark Tremonti from Creed, Brad Delson from Linkin Park, Carlos Santana and many more. And the best part is, PRS sells to you the guitars that those famous guitarists actually use. But now, I'm going to review the PRS SE Soapbar and maybe in the future, PRS Santana.

Soap to Kill ....

First look on this guitar and you'll get the message "Don't mess with me punk". This guitar is a serious looker. This red may seems red in colour, but it's actually Vintage cherry. Koreans have vaunted finishing second to none, and the Soapbar is proof of the pudding - the high gloss is evenly applied across the entire guitar, from solid mahogany body through the entire length of the mahogany neck. Excellent finishing I have to say.



The guitar has 25" scale length mahogany 22-fret neck with rosewood fretboard and moon inlays on them. The neck on this guitar is carve, wide fat. Strapping this guitar on and you'll never put it down. This guitar is so comfortable to be true. You can jump, sit, stand, fly or do anything on stage and this guitar won't even bite you.



The controls on the guitar are handled by a three-way toggle switch, a tone and volume dial cater to tonal alterations. If you notice on the picture above, the placement of the toggle switch is not traditional in any way. All Les Paul fans have already got use with the toggle switches on the top which is the opposite of the cutaway. However, the Soapbar has its toggle switch well behind the bridge. I tried to ask the sales assistant in the shop on why the toggle switch is located behind the bridge, but he just gave me the blur look on his face.

Soppy Sounds ....

Every musicians (well, almost all I guess) out there will tell you "What's the point the instrument only looks good, but doesn't sound good". A Fender 1000 was used to test the SE Soapbar sounds. On the clean channel, the sound coming from the guitar is clear and bright sounding. Strumming and plucking chords is superb as everything comes out clean and clear.



Crank the gain and you can wail away with some sizzling rock. The punch and bite on those pickups can actually punch you on your face. The Soapbar is the most versatile guitar I ever played and you'll be surprised what music tones you can get with just a pair of P90 pickups and a volume and tone dial. There's enough top end sparkle, midrange punch and bottom end grunt to take you through a variety of styles.

The Soapbar's dynamic response is also amazing. Just by varying my picking attack, I could elicit a whole range of tones. And if you thought single coils have poor sustain, try this for size. Those volume and tone dials are fantastic tone shapers, too.

Soppy Cool

Now you know what PRS stands for. But do you know what SE on the SE Soapbar stands for ? SE stands for Student Edition and all SE series are below Rm3, 000. There are SE Santana and SE Tremonti (Mark Tremonti's guitar) for students for who can actually afford to buy their guitar heroes' guitars. Even if it's a Student Edition, all SE series are outstandingly put together. With a price tag of Rm2, 680, I highly recommend this guitar.

Pros: excellent workmanship; attractive finishing; very comfortable to play; variety range of tones

Cons: I can't find any.

How many of you collect your guitar hero's items which they used for their recordings, performances and their photo shoots ? Some will go crazy to obtain their guitar pick, guitar strap and what more, the guitar itself. (would you actually collect your guitar hero's underwear ? ) This review was done by my friend (my friend wish to remain anonymous) but since I'm the one that drove both of us to the shop, I think I have the rights to post this review . What both of "us" are doing to review are two Tremonti guitars from PRS which are PRS Mark Tremonti Model and PRS Tremonti SE. It will be very interesting to put these rather similar guitars side by side for comparisons.

The looks .....

(Tremonti SE)
My friend owns a PRS Tremonti SE guitar. The SE stands for Student Edition. Well, you guess it, since most students are "not-so-rich", the Tremonti SE is the lower-end model made in Korea of the more excellent Mark Tremonti Model. Lower-end or not, the Tremonti SE has the looks of any expensive guitars out there. The body is made from Mahogany and there's a 3-way toggle pickup selector near the neck pickup, similar to Les-Paul guitars. There are also four control knobs which are controls the volume and tone for each pickup. To add some icing to the cake, there's white binding on the Mahogany body which looks real cool with the black colour body. The guitar has 22-fret neck with rosewood fretboard with PRS very own tuners which keeps the guitar in tune. And all this is still the Student Edition folks; I haven't mentioned anything on the Mark Tremonti Model yet.



(Mark Tremonti Model)
Now it's the more expensive version. Comparing the Mark Tremonti Model with the Tremonti SE is like comparing a Ferrari F50 with a Proton Gen-2. First look at this made in USA guitar and you'll notice the superb pearl bird inlays on the 22-fret rosewood neck and the special 12th fret Mark Tremonti inlay. The guitar's body is a carved maple top with thick mahogany back and has an opaque color with natural maple edge. The guitar has a unique Tremonti Bass and Tremonti Treble pickups with a PRS adjustable stoptail bridge. Everything else is pretty much the same with the SE version, there's a 3-way toggle pickup selector near the neck pickup and four control knobs which are controls the volume and tone for each pickup. The Tremonti SE is thinner than the Mark Tremonti Model.

The sounds .....

(Tremonti SE)
My friend says that the guitar has a pleasing mix of full and well-defined lows and brilliant mids on the neck pickup, and howling leads with some real AC/DC moments on the neck. The entire sound feels quite modern and punchy, but the output isn't too high and this gives it enough raunch for classic rock stuff. The guitar has a thin neck which means playability is awesome or in other words, the action is good stuff. It pleasingly winds up the clean channel with clean crystal clear sounds.
Overdrive turns the neck pickup into rythmn heaven, with the punch at low gain good for a wide range of driven backings, with the top end biting nicely. Winding up the gain gives a much more metally tone, as the benefits of a set mahogany neck show through. My friend plays this guitar with a Marshall AVT100X, and this guitar is good for metal and rock playing guitarists.



(Mark Tremonti Model)
The amp used with this guitar is a Laney HCM65R. My friend is doing all the testing and I'm doing all the writing. The clean sound on this guitar is crystal clear and pristine, and when my friend switches on the overdrive channel on the amp, it's just pure ecstasy. Warmth and sustain for days with the fullest body of sound we have ever heard. This guitar is perfect for hard, guitar-driven rock...this is how Mark Tremonti makes those fat and warm crunch for their songs (listen to Creed's "What If"). As I mentioned earlier, this guitar has a unique Tremonti Bass and Tremonti Treble pickups installed. The fat and warm crunch is the result of the combination of these pickups. The Tremonti Bass pickup never sounds overdriven when playing clean, and the Tremonti Treble pickup will add extra presence/ brightness. There's no unwanted feedback at all with this guitar. My friend did point out that the action is super low & super fast, the guitar practically plays itself. Those who love Nickelback, Hoobastank, P.O.D., Linkin Park, Puddle Of Mudd just to name a few (and of course Creed) will surely love this guitar.

So which guitar to buy ?

Haha, seriously speaking ... we don't know. Well, it depends on your wallet. My friend bought his Tremonti SE for Rm2,999 and the Mark Tremonti Model is a cool Rm10,999. Basically, the Tremonti SE has less cosmetic finishes and the unique pickups then the Mark Tremonti Model. Both guitars are perfect for metal and rock players, but of course the Mark Tremonti Model provides the better sounding and better looking then its smaller brother has to offer.

Tremonti SE
Pros: Great for metal and rock guitarists, excellent workmanship, very comfortable
Cons: You'll get jealous with those who have the "real" Tremonti guitar .

Mark Tremonti Model
Pros: excellent workmanship, very comfortable, unique Tremonti pickups which sounds awesome, excellent presentation (pearl bird inlays and Mark Tremonti inlays)
Cons: Price , not suitable for blues and jazz

This post has been edited by TheWhacker: Mar 5 2006, 08:55 AM

Ask any musicians' you know of and chances are they will own at least one acoustic guitar along with their endless list of electric guitars. Playing a gig with an electric guitars take some time to set up, from plugging your guitar to those pedals on the floor, to setting those controls on the amp and finally having the best pedals, amp and guitar in the world won't do a thing if you can't find a power plug. Acoustic guitars are a "take and play" instrument, similar to "plug and play" in most computer hardware.

Some songs require both acoustic and electric guitar in order to play the song properly and accurately. So how do you switch between your acoustic guitar and then back to your electric guitar at an instant on the live performance?

The Modeler

To solve that problem, allow me introduce the Behringer AM100 Acoustic Modeler pedal. This effects pedal allows guitarists to achieve realistic acoustic guitar modeling using any electric guitar. The pedal has dark brown colour which may be representing the wood theme here, hence acoustic guitar. The pedal has a switch to choose what type of Acoustic Guitar sound you want (standard, large, piezo pickup style or bright). Standard mode produces a typical acoustic guitar sound while at the Large mode delivers a large and more resonant acoustic feel. The Piezo mode simulates distinct brightness of a classic piezo pickup and the last mode Bright gives a brilliant and ultra-present sound which is good if you're playing in a live environment.



On top of that, there's also 3 knobs for level, enhance and resonance. Level basically adjusts the output level (the volume). The Enhance control determines the amount of brilliance as well as upper harmonics and the Resonance control adjusts the resonance of the simulated acoustic guitar body.

Sadly, the manual is only a sheet of paper (like all Behringer effects pedals), and to be honest the manual should have at least give more information, such as where to put the 9V battery (because of this I actually unscrewed the whole thing looking for where to put the battery, only to find out it is under the actual pedal). The locking system for the battery also needs about 5 different hands to unlock and lock again. See the picture below.



If you stomped on the pedal, it would probably break due to the fact that it is mainly plastic. I said before "throwing a Boss pedal to the wall will crack the wall and the Boss pedal will be fine" but don't try throwing this Behringer pedal to anything, so press it and treat it gently.

Acoustic Sounds ?

The pedal was used with a 70's Fender Stratocaster and a Marshall MG50DFX amp. When in use, it makes a slight hissing noise, but it is very easy to ignore when playing with it. The sound when used is very similar to an acoustic guitar, but the highs, even when the enhance knob is turned up full, just aren't good enough. When the Resonance knob is turned up, the bottom 4 strings sound great.

I played the song "Some Day" by Nickelback and I was able to play the whole song only on the electric guitar with the AM100 plugged in. I played the song using the 'Piezo pickup' mode, with the 'Enhance' knob turned nearly to full, and the 'Resonance' knob set at about halfway. When the pedal is turned on it create a slight "pop", which can be a nuisance when turning it on an off mid song. You have to turn down the volume on the pedal itself it avoid the "pop" sound.

So I throw away my Acoustic guitar ?

No, keep it. If you're playing a song which uses only the acoustic guitar, then you should use an acoustic guitar to play it, not with this pedal. This pedal helps a lot if you don't want to switch guitars in a middle of performance. If you're looking for your first Acoustic Modeler pedal, this is the pedal to buy because it's only Rm120. However, if you're a seasoned guitarist, you should skip this pedal and settle for the Boss AC-2.

Pros: Super cheap; great acoustic sounds

Cons: Changing batteries is a big hassle; it's made of plastic; creates a "pop" sound when activating the pedal.

Anyone here knows where Petaling Street is located ? This is the place where all the cheap electronic items like microphones, mixers, cables are being sold at very low prices. Don't think very low prices means very low quality, the catch is to find the right item at the right shop so a little abit of window-shopping is required to get the best bang for your money.



I have seen alot of guitar cables in various shops with all the advance features like a muted button or an anti-tangle construction and all these cables don't come cheap. Some of them can reach over Rm200 price tag. Almost all guitarist and bassist will agree of the importance of having a good quality cable. This is because the cable acts as the middle man between your guitar and your amp. Some would settle for a cheap cable that will break or snap after awhile due to the cheap construction of the cable. But there's one cable under the same category of cheap but has the expensive features of an expensive cable.

The MaxCable

When I first saw this cable, my first taught is this cable is not going to be cheap. Its construction is a solid rubber base, you can slash someone's back with this cable and it will leave a mark on the skin. The connectors have a reinforced padding (see the picture below) to protect the wires inside the cable so that they will not break or snap while you move around with your guitar plugged on. This cable is 3 meters long, not that long for those who want to move around the stage during a live performance, but should be enough for most musicians. And to add the icing on the cake, the connectors are a 24k Gold Plated. Gold is one of the best conductor for electricity to inprove the connection between speakers or instruments. Gold is used because it is virtually resistant to corrosion, which is the primary reason why it is chosen over copper and silver.



Max Sounds ?

Comparing this cable with a cheap cable (the ones the music stores will give free when you purchase a guitar from them), the MaxCable gives a more brighter and clearer sound on both clean and overdrive channels while on the cheap cable it gives abit of muddy sounds. I did an experiment with this cable by moving 3 meters away from the amp. The cable poped out from the guitar but there's no sign of cracking whatsoever and still works like new. The cheap cable however didn't suffer same the fate as its now in the rubbish bin because the connector broke while I was doing the same experiment.

The best cable ever !

So how much this cable cost ? Its only Rm25. Yes, Rm25. So go and get it

Pros: It's Rm25, good construction, 24K Gold Plated connectors

Cons: If I have to say something bad about this cable, it would be the length of the cable, which is only 3 meters.

This post has been edited by TheWhacker: Aug 28 2006, 07:10 PM

Features: Ibanez RG Prestige 7 string model. Made In Japan. 24 frets and a bolt-on neck. Solid Basswood body. Mine is a blue with a slight touch of green on it. Standard Passive Pickups with 1-Volume 1-Tone selector. Edge Pro 7 with locking tuners. Comes with a very nice Ibanez Prestige Team J Craft hardcase (fits perfectly and can only fit the guitar). // 10/10

Sound: I play Progressive Metal, Neo-Classical, Jazz (well alot of things actually) with this guitar (Rusty Cooley, John Petrucci, and the likes). Running this Guitar through my Boss GT-6 to my Marshall AVT-150. The guitar is great but the pickups are questionable. Plan to change the pickups to EMG's or DiMarzio's depending on how fast I can save for it. It's stock pickup is muddy and not as powerfull as I expect it to be. But the stock pickups are bearable and won't dissapoint. A change is definate if you're a person who values tone and power. Not much difference between the Neck and Bridge Pickup. Neck pickup goes muddy when gain is up and the low B-string is played. Bridge pickup lacks the bite and has no power to it's sound. Clean sounds are ok and nothing to shout about. If you don't solo on the guitar and the B string(extended runs) and only do power chords then the pickups are quite reasonable as the sound it produces is heavy. // 5/10

Action, Fit & Finish: I had a techincian to do minor tweeks to it. It came with 3 springs at the back and added another one. 5 springs make the trem too hard to play with. 4 was just nice to keep it in better tune and stability. Had some intontion check and changed the action as it was slightly higher then usuall. Neck feels great but Ibanez didn't do a great job to the minor details. I can see extra wood used at the headstock(7 piece neck instead of 5). The paint around my pickup has a very small blotch. Not really noticeable. All in all still a good job. I'm just picky when it comes to these things. // 7

Reliability & Durability: Definately reliable if you can stand the weight as it is slightly heavier then a normal guitar. Still haven't played a real gig yet with this guitar so I cannot comment on it yet. Strap buttons are solid. I would use it on a gig without a backup. Finish looks as if it can last forever if properly taken care of. // 9

Impression: I play nearly everything and this guitar fits it well. With the right pickups this guitar can definately play anything if you know how to. I own an Ibanez S cutomized by me and a Fender Highway 1 also customized by me and the RG7 is different. This guitar gives you the extra string and that really opens up possibilities to your playing. The 7 stringer can play what a 6 stringer can and more. If it was stolen or lost (which I will make damn sure it won't) I'll definately get it back. I Compared it with the Hamer 7 string and still went for this because of the neck. The neck is truly important as it makes the transaction from 6 to 7 a lot easier. Wish it had better pickups. After playing a 7 string, when you return to a 6, the 6 will feel like a toy and feel much more easier to play (for me). It would take some time to get used to it but when you do, it'll rock hard. // 9


This is from my review at
http://ultimate-guitar.com/reviews/electri...1527/index.html

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Added on February 17, 2007, 10:54 am

Features: It's a gift from my dad and well he refused to give much information about it when I asked. This is what I can see from my research. The certificate and serial numbers from the Taylor website. It's was made in 1996 and if it was built back then it was definately made in US. Standard 21 frets. Most likely normal frets, not jumbo's in a rosewood neck. Neck has a very nice feel, small and easy to wrap your hands around the whole neck and not too fat (Trademark Taylor Neck ). One piece neck instead of the "new technology" neck (The NT neck is glued and what not. I Find it cost cutting measures instead of enhancements). If the wood used is still the same 10 years back, then the top is Solid Stitka Spruce with Ovangkol for the back and sides. Mine has a Mat finish instead of the new satin and gloss. Has Bear Claw Marks on the top which makes it look much cooler than a normal one. Has a Dreadnought body using Grover tuners. Built in Fishman Pickups (No controls, just direct into the jack at the side of the guitar). It came with the original Hand Made Taylor Hardcase from 1996 instead of the new black ones. // 10/10

Sound: I use the Taylor to tackle all of my acoustic songs as it is my only acoustic guitar. I use Elixir 0.12-0.53 gauges and it sounds amazing! When you strum this baby it sings! The projection is amazing and it also sounds beautiful when finger plucked. I play jazz to power ballads on this beauty and it just captures peoples attention because of it's loud and powerfull projection! Has a warm and round sound which I particularly like as opposed to the Martin sound (I have something for warm and round sounds). I hardly plug it in but when I have to it's usually my Marshall AVT150 which doesnt't really suit or compliment it (saving for an AER). Only minor drawback with this guitar is the feedback. I have to stay quite a distance from the amp to prevent feedback. Must be because of the pickups but I won't make changes because it'll ruin the value of this guitar. // 9/10

Action, Fit & Finish: Well for a 10 year old guitar, It's as good as new. The previous owner really kept this guitar in amazing condition and everything was perfect. Stays in tune, action is amazing it's not too low but low enough to be just nice for me (I sent the guitar for a checkup at Sinamex recently and the tech said the action was high but since i played classical he said the action shouldn't be a problem ). The neck is perfect for it's age and humidity problems here in Malaysia (very hot and humid country). And the back of the guitar is showing minor signs of bloating(prevention is the best cure, the guitar bloat is very minor and i'm doing my best to stop it from bloatign anymore). All these are because of the weather conditions here. But again the problems may not have been here when it was first brought in. // 10/10

Reliability & Durability: I have used this guitar for a lot gigs and played with it nearly everyday and it still sounds and feels like when I first got them. It's 10 years old 'nuff said. The hardware seems brand new and the buttons are solid. I only use this guitar as my acoustic so I won't use another as a backup cause this guitar is irreplaceable. Finish would last the ages. // 10/10

Impression: Practicly this guitar totally suits me as it can cover everything from blues to jazz to rock to country. I may not own many other guitars but I've tried a lot of other guitars out there in the market from Martin, Maton, Fender, Takamine and even other Taylor models, but this is unique and different. This also show the difference in quality and workmanship 10 years back and now. I tried the new 410's and they had a lot of difference but all in all it still felt the same. Wished I had more information on the guitar but never regretted this guitar. Amazing gift. If it was stolen/lost I'll hunt for it with all my heart and soul because I know this guitar is irreplaceable. Love everything about it and hate only the feedback from the fishman pickups (not using the espression system). // 10/10

My Taylor 410 review from Ultimate Guitar
http://ultimate-guitar.com/reviews/acousti.../410/index.html

This post has been edited by TheWhacker: Feb 17 2007, 10:54 AM