NAMM 2012: LTD Buz-7 Buz McGrath signature model
Unearth’s Buz McGrath always had some of the freaking coolest custom Ibanez models. So many of us screamed bloody heresy when he switched to ESP. It’s not that ESP guitars are bad or anything – c’mon, they’re amazing – it’s just that Buz’s ideas always worked so well with Ibanii. Would his ideas translate over to the ESP aesthetic? Well get a load of this:
Ooooh yeah. That’s the LTD Buz-7 right there, my friend. I especially like the subtly angled trem cavity (it’s really like that, yeah? It’s not an optical illusion?), the black bound maple fretboard, the Snow White Sunburst finish and the reverse headstock. Other features: neck-through-body construction, maple neck, alder body, 25.5″ scale, Xtra Thin Flat neck contour, 24 extra jumbo frets, EMG 707 active pickups, Grover tuners, Floyd Rose 1000 series bridge. More info here.
NAMM 2012: Cool stuff at ESP
One of the highlights of NAMM every year is seeing the weird shit ESP unleashes seemingly just to show off what they can do. For example:
I’m pretty sure the reason they ask you not to touch it is because you will anger it and make it leap off the stand and come screaming for your jugular.
My latest for Gibson.com
Want to get caught up on my recent articles for Gibson.com? You can check my latest stuff at this link at any time but here are some recent features you might dig.
NAMM 2012: Visiting the Gibson Booth
Mean Streets: A Van Halen Tour of the Sunset Strip
What Could Have Been: Zakk Wylde Talks Guns N’ Roses
Yngwie Fast Track: Neoclassical Rock Lead Guitar Crash Course
NAMM 2012: Black Veil Brides signature BC Rich models
Black Veil Brides guitarists Jake Pittz and Jinxx both have new BC Rich guitars and they’re both pretty freaking cool! I checked them out at NAMM 2012 and was most impressed. These two axes tap into the essential sig guitar criteria of being attractive to people who aren’t fans of the band as much as to those who are (BVB inlays notwithstanding, but even then they look kind of cool).
REVIEW: VHT Special 6 Ultra
The VHT Special 6 is a very fine little amp indeed, which I’ve reviewed before and developed quite an attachment to. Any time I see one I remember those glorious few weeks I that the Ultra 6 was kicking around the house, and I get all wistful and nostalgic. It’s a 6 watt, boutique-style hand wired amp rocking a single 12AX7 preamp tube and a 6V6 in the output stage. The control options are pretty limited: just a single tone pot, a volume control with a gain boost, and a low/high power switch. One of VHT’s goals with that amp is to make something simple to serve as a platform for modders to work their magic on its minimal circuit. And it worked. If you go online you’ll find all sorts of mods for the Special 6. Different speakers, upgraded caps, bright switches, gain mods… it’s a tinkerer’s dream.
But y’know who else wanted to tinker with the Special 6?
VHT.
Think of the VHT Special 6 Ultra as a factory-modded Special 6. Continue reading
Hi! I'm Peter Hodgson. I write for Gibson.com, Australian Guitar, Australian Musician, Mixdown Magazine (including my instructional column, 'Unleash Your Inner Rock God,' which has been running since 2007), guitarworld.com, Tone Deaf, Beat (including their weekly hard rock/metal column Crunch) and The Brag. And I'm Assistant Social Coordinator with Seymour Duncan.
I've been playing guitar since I was 8 years old, and I've been writing for magazines since I was 18. I've also worked as a guitar teacher (up to 50 students a week), a setup tech, a newspaper editor, and I've also dabbled in radio a little bit. I live in Melbourne, Australia, and my hobbies include drinking way too much coffee, and eating way too much Mexican food.
You can check out my guitar playing at Reverbnation or on YouTube, and feel free to email me at iheartguitarblog@gmail.com