I just interviewed Fear Factory guitarist Dino Cazares about the band’s kickass new album The Industrialist. The full interview will be on I Heart Guitar when the album is released, but here’s a snippet we’re using on the Seymour Duncan blog. Enjoy!

Australian manufacturer Maton is perhaps best known internationally for their stunning acoustic guitars, which are regularly seen in the hands of one mr. Tommy Emmanuel. But Maton has a long history of great electric guitars too, such as the BB and Mastersound series, and some really funky vintage models. Even so, the MS T BYRD is a fairly unusual guitar for Maton to make. It seems to bring together a few disparate but equally historic elements: design cues from the Maton Mastersound and classic Tele-style guitars, along with an even earlier pickup design and a more modern-feeling fretboard adapted to current playing styles.

So, the most obvious marriage visible in the MS T BYRD is that of the Mastersound and the Telecaster. The Mastersound angle is covered by the curvaceous body shape, as well as a semi-hollow design which incorporates a sexy soundhole on the bass side body bout. The biggest giveaways as to the latter are the dot-inlay maple fretboard, the bridge, the single coil pickup and the controls.

The body is made of Quandong with a rock maple cap. The neck is made of rock maple and it’s not overly chunky, but its profile fits in the palm nicely. It’s not a particularly vintage-feeling neck but it’s very comfortable. The fretboard radius is a flattish 12″, a more modern rather than vintage appointment, and it makes playability a breeze, especially if you’re into huge bends or speedier playing styles, be they based on country flatpicking, fusiony shredding or blues-rock wailing.

As for hardware, the tuners are Grover minis which do their job well. The ashtray-style bridge by Wilkinson features three intonation-compensated brass saddles, while the controls are the typical master volume, master tone and three-way pickup selector switch. The bridge pickup is a Lollar Special T, a familiar-looking Telecaster-style unit featuring a flat pole design with graded Alnico 5 magnets and vintage style cloth covered lead wire. The neck single coil is a Lollar Charlie Christian pickup, based on a very, very early pickup design that you certainly don’t see very often these days. It’s wound with 38 gauge wire like the originals, with a nickel-plated blade pole piece and alnico bar magnets.

Aside from a cold solder joint on the review guitar’s tone control which caused the signal to cut out a bit (a very easy fix and one that any guitar store worth their salt would correct for you before letting you walk out the door with the guitar), construction quality was of a high standard.

Incidentally, that sound hole is the source of something incredibly addictive about the MS T BYRD that I haven’t encountered on any other thinline/semi-hollow guitar: its shape and location means that if you’re playing it unplugged, you will hear strangely beautiful phase-shift effects as your hand covers and uncovers the sound holes. It’s a really striking sound, and I wish there was a way to capture it through an amplifier. It helps to create an extra layer of interactivity and tactileness for the instrument. I guess if you really wanted to capture this sound for the ages, you could do so by micing the guitar up in the studio, much as you would an acoustic guitar.

The first thing you’ll notice about the MS T BYRD is how clear and musical it sounds, even when unplugged, but especially so once you plug into a nice tube amp. There’s a great treble ring and tight bass, along with a slight bloom to the notes, thanks I’m sure to the semi-hollow construction. This helps the tone to sit somewhere between the attack and snap of a bolt-on and the warmth and sustain of the classic mahogany/maple set-neck designs, and this tonal voice makes it an especially great fingerpicker’s axe, whether you play rhythm or lead, because it offers great note detail and separation. Complex chords maintain their definition, double-stops sound gritty, and single notes are articulate.

The bridge pickup sounds bright and sweet, and stays that way when you add overdrive. The almost pedal steel-like sweetness is maintained even when you really lay in with the pick, and it allows for a terrific amount of cut when playing through a higher gain setting.

The neck pickup sounds very full, with a singing quality and great harmonic overtones. It’s a really addictive playing experience, and it makes you want to play Santana licks or something equally expressive and bendy. It drips with bluesy harmonics through amp or pedal overdrive, while clean settings bring out a full, round, warm, atmospheric quality which reminds me of Jeff Buckley’s rhythm tone but with more muscle.

The combination pickup setting predictably presents the best of both worlds: the fullness and vocal quality of the neck pickup, with the top-end sweetness of the bridge one. I’d love to be able to blend the volumes of each pickup for the perfect balance in the middle setting, but it’s already pretty damn close to perfect as-is.

Aside from being a very attractive guitar to look at, the MS T BYRD plays great and sounds exceptional. The neck pickup is a real surprise – it’s so damn usable! It’s a real left-field decision to use a pickup like that in a guitar like this, but it works spectacularly. And the various design elements – the Mastersound shape, the sound holes, the Quandong body, the unusual pickup configuration, the player-friendly fretboard – all add up to a guitar that simply sounds like no other.

Maton guitars are available from Sky Music.

And here’s a bonus: check out this video of John Butler giving the MS T BYRD a test-drive at Maton.

Here’s something incredibly interesting that I just saw on the excellent Effects Database: the latest DigiTech Whammy V Pedal. And get this: it’s finally operated by a 9V DC adaptor (rather than AC). That feature alone is bound to sway some on-the-fencers, but the Whammy V also offers True Bypass (a popular aftermarket mod) and a new chordal shifting mode.

Here’s the press release.

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah – HARMAN’s DigiTech today introduced its next-generation Whammy pedal, building upon one of the most iconic guitar pedals recognized by guitarists around the world. The new Whammy features the classic Whammy sound that guitarists have embraced for over 20 years, and moves to the next level by introducing chordal Whammy pitch-shifting, additional Whammy intervals, and true bypass.

For over two decades the Whammy pedal has been known as the ultimate pitch-shifting pedal in the world, used by everyone from Jimmy Page to Tom Morello and heard on songs like “Seven Nation Army” by the White Stripes and the Black Keys’ recent hit, “Lonely Boy.” The introduction of new possibilities with the Whammy pedal reinforces its legendary status of the pitch-shifting realm.

“The release of the new Whammy is the latest chapter in the pitch-shifting revolution. Bringing together the best of the original Whammy with the latest developments offering both classic and chord shifting modes, we are giving guitarists a reason to rediscover the unrivaled tone that makes this pedal a legend in the first place,” stated Rob Urry, vice president, HARMAN Professional Division and general manager of Signal Processing and Amplifier Business Units.

The Whammy lets guitar and bass players raise and lower their tuning by up to two octaves, to create pitch shifts from subtle to extreme and dramatic musical effects not possible with any other pedal. The Whammy now incorporates new pitch-shifting technologies that enable the player to bend entire chords up or down while keeping all the notes in the chord perfectly in tune. The Whammy also keeps its signature Classic single-note mode that has made the pedal one of the most recognizable in rock and contemporary music, along with nine Harmony 2-note interval settings and two Detune modes.

Offering true bypass means that the signal from the guitar is completely unaffected by the Whammy when it’s switched off, maintaining all the purity of the guitar signal when the player doesn’t want anything altering his or her sound. This can be especially important when using a lot of pedals on a pedalboard. The Whammy won’t alter your sound – until you want it to!

The Whammy also includes 1/4-inch inputs and outputs, a MIDI input that allows control of the pedal from an external MIDI device, and a 9-volt DC power input. The Whammy employs high-quality 24-bit/96kHz analog-to-digital and digital-to analog converters for clean, smooth pitch-bending sound. An on/off switch engages and disengages the Whammy effect, and a “Classic/Chords” switch lets players select either mode. The Whammy is built to withstand the rigors of the road, with a rugged all-metal chassis, pedal and footswitch with a bold “Whammy” logo proudly displayed.

The DigiTech Whammy will be available in May 2012 at $299.95 MSRP.

Check out this great video of the new Strymon Flint Tremolo & Reverb pedal. This video features several audio examples of the ’65 Photocell Tremolo and Reverbs within Flint. Go here for more info.

]]> http://iheartguitarblog.com/2012/05/cool-gear-alert-strymon-flint.html/feed 0 http://iheartguitarblog.com/2012/05/van-halen-dlr-says-theyre-coming-to-oz.html http://iheartguitarblog.com/2012/05/van-halen-dlr-says-theyre-coming-to-oz.html#comments Sun, 20 May 2012 07:01:51 +0000 Peter Hodgson http://iheartguitarblog.com/?p=6477

Hermosa Beach, California punk rock pioneers Pennywise released their tenth studio album, All Or Nothing, on April 26 via Epitaph Records. It’s the veteran punk band’s first release with new singer Zoli Téglás from Ignite, who stepped in for already-booked live dates in 2009 when longtime vocalist Jim Lindberg was unable to make the shows due to documentary making commitments. A few months later Lindberg announced his resignation and Téglás was brought on board permanently. In addition to continuing to work with Orange County hardcore punk band Ignite, Téglás has filled in on vocals for The Misfits, he has collaborated with Motörhead, and he is head volunteer for Pacific Wildlife Project, rescuing and taking pelicans and other sea birds to rehabilitation hospital. And he’s also the volunteer music and outreach coordinator for Sea Shepherd. It sounds like he’s definitely the man to match the passion, intensity and fire of Pennywise at their finest. And the results are all there on All Or Nothing. I caught up with guitarist Fletcher Dragge to see how the newly revitalised Pennywise is settling in.

At what point did the band realise Zoli was the guy?

We had a situation where originally we had a couple of shows we were contracted to play. We didn’t want to cancel some shows, and he agreed to come in and do the shows. He was down for it. At that point we knew how things were going to be and we told him we would try some other people out [to be the new singer] But he did those shows, and he got the best try-out because he actually did those shows live with us. And he just brought it. He’s got a great stage presence. He’s got similar political views to what we have. He supports some causes we agree with. And he’s got a great voice. The thing is, you hear Pennywise, you near NOFX, Bad Religion, you think it’s just another punk band, but the fact that this stuff is really, really hard to sing. And although a lot of people we tried out were really good, Zoli was just that much better. He can do the older stuff that has a lot more dynamics and a lot higher register, because he has a higher voice, but he can still do the lows stuff. So we just mulled it over, tried everybody out, and said, well, he’s as crazy as they come, but we all are! So the rest is history. We’ve had a couple of ups and downs, a couple of bumps in the road, but for the most part I think we picked the right guy.

It’s a hard style to sing because it’s difficult do do notes that pure without sounding pretty.

Yeah, it’s something you don’t really hear in Ignite as much because he’s singing higher, but we wanted to make sure that he wasn’t imitating Jim but he also wasn’t imitating Zoli from Ignite. We worked the songs in keys where he has to drop down into keys that are almost in an uncomfortable range for him, and he was like, ‘move it up a notch,’ and we said ‘no. You learn how to sing it here, and you sing it with some gravel and some grit.’ He really adapted to it, and I think we created a new sound. Obviously with me and Randy [Bradbury, bass] writing and playing music it’s going to sound like Pennywise automatically, but the key was making it sound like Pennywise with Zoli singing, and I think we accomplished that.

Well the fact that it’s called All Or Nothing sums it up really well, in terms of keeping the band going. You must have thought ‘What the hell do we do now?’

Yeah! That song took on a life of its own. That song and the lyric encompass what Pennywise is all about and what we’re all going through in our lives. Obviously that song’s more of your old-school Pennywise song from yesteryear. Y’know, it wasn’t like was asked Jim to leave the band. He quit and although it wasn’t a surprise, because he’d been threatening to quit for years, it was kind of a shock because we’d bent over backwards to keep him in the band for years. But whatever. Jim went and did his thing, and we can’t say we’re happy about a lot of the things he did and how he conducted himself, but it is what it is. We’re over that.

Are you still an Ibanez guy?

Yep! Still an Ibanez guy. I’m using the same old RG. I don’t even know the model number any more! They actually make me custom bodies. They take the RG and make the body about an inch and a half bigger overall. Because I’m a big guy and the little regular body looked kind of small on me. Funny story: I actually made a body that was a bigger version of an Ibanez before I got sponsored by them, and put all their hardware back on it and their neck. I took it to them and they said ‘We’re not sponsoring any punk bands right now.’ I said ‘Check out my guitar.’ They said ‘You made a custom guitar and put all our hardware back on it?’ I said ‘Yeah. I love the necks and I love the sound of your guitars. I just need a bigger version.’ They said ‘Wait here,’ went upstairs, came back down and said ‘You’re sponsored.’ So that was pretty cool! The guitars are really durable on the road, and they work. I’m using EMGs in my setup, and with those super-fast muffles, if you don’t have a tight punchy guitar it just loses that aggressiveness. You’ve got to find that balance. Ibanez, for recording and live, you’ve got to find that really sweet open tone but also that Pantera-like low end for the super-fast muffles. I use a Mesa Boogie Dual Rectifier and a Bogner with two mics on each cab blended down to one, and then doubled. I feel pretty happy. I usually don’t like my guitar tone on record after I’ve done it, but I really like my guitar tone now. This is the most stoked I’ve ever been on my guitar tone.

And what do you use live?

I have a Dual Rectifier and a VHT Pitbull. That’s in my rack, and when I’m travelling with my rack I do a left and right split on stage and in the PA, so it’s true stereo. A lot of guitar players never get that. I always tell them, first piece of advice, get two heads and a splitter. And I’ve even used a delay between the two in the past, and it really opens up the whole of the middle for the vocals and the kick and snare and bass. If you sit out front and listen to a true stereo guitar with two stereo heads, it’s huge. It’s way bigger than one mic. But a lot of the times when I’m on the road I’ll just use two Dual Rectifiers split, two full stacks. And it’s a lot of work to lug that stuff around, but either way, the Dual Rectifier, I would say, is my signature sound. I’ve been playing Boogies since our first recording on Epitaph, and that’s just the old school Dual Rectifier, one of the best amps I’ve ever heard in my life. It’s a very versatile amp, and durable. Y’know, it’s funny. I saved up and thought “I want to sound like Metallica,” so I went out and got a Mesa Boogie Studio 22 preamp and the Strategy 400 watt all tube stereo power amp, which was just insane. It cost me a lot of money. It cost $3500 bucks or something. I saved up all summer. And not to say that I’m that guy, but I’m pretty sure I turned the whole punk scene onto those Boogies. NOFX used it on their album, Bad Religion used it on their album, Down By Law used it on their album. After I recorded with it, Brett [Gurewitz, Bad Religion guitarist & Epitaph founder] was like, “Can I borrow it?” Then Eric Melvin from NOFX came down and he was really into it and he would up buying a Mark III. In the meantime I was trying to get sponsored by Boogie. I was like, “Hey look, you’ve got to hook up some punk bands.” And they were like, “Punk bands can’t afford our stuff. It’s too high end.” And I was like, “No, I’ve already got three bands that have bought it from you. Why don’t you give us some free stuff?” And they don’t give anybody free stuff. Maybe Metallica, I don’t know. But they’re one of those amp companies that really keeps it tight. And it’s hilarious because I look back on it and there was an article in a magazine entitled Boogie Man, and I just want to call them up and tell the old guy, “You know how many punk guys are using Rectifiers now? You owe me steak dinners for life!”

All Or Nothing is out now via Epitaph