I grew up in a house full of guitars, as my father was forever building electric guitars on the families kitchen table. I spent my teenage years trying to tame a 100 watt Marshall JCM 800 and matching 4 x 12 cab in a bedroom, only just large enough for a bed. I’d bought it not REALLY understanding exactly how loud 100 watts is. At this young age I started to experiment with recording and MIDI and cut my teeth on Pro 24 and Notator on an Atari synced to a Foster R8 with an MTC-1.
Playing in bands and working in recording studios for many years, I learned to mix, record and eventually worked as a sound engineer. I also worked for many of the UKs large pro audio retailers, where I helped to set up DAWs in everything from local studios, music technology colleges all the way through to world famous recording facilities like Air Studios and The Strongroom. As I couldn’t help myself, I even owned my own recording studio in London for a while. There I learnt a lot about recording guitars, dealing with bands and getting quality results anyhow.
Over the years I have acquired a very sizeable guitar collection, which includes many guitars that I have built myself. I’m a total hoarder of effect pedals and valve amps and I’m a certified guitar geek. So there are not many that I have not owned at least once. Whether Parker Fly guitars or Klon Centaur pedals, I’ve had them all. Now running the annual Analogue To Digital music show in the UK, plus the Vintage Guitar Fair, I get to be busy throughout the year and also get to rub shoulders with many other guitar lovers, luthiers, manufacturers and pro players.
My tastes in music includes everything from Dinosaur Jr to Squarepusher.
Write him: jef (at) gearnews (com)
Green Day's album "Dookie" is 25 years old this year - and MXR has just released a video of Billie Joe Armstrong demoing the new signature "Dookie Drive" pedal.
Reverb, the online auction site for musicians set up by Chicago Music Exchange owner David Kalt., has been sold to Etsy for a reported $275 million. Kalt will step down as CEO, the site announced.
Fender Custom Shop has revealed all their mid year releases including two new signature models. One for Steve Ray Vaughan and the other for Phil Lynott of Thin Lizzy
Gamechanger Audio has teamed up with Jack White's Third Man Records to release a new signature Plasma Coil fuzz pedal that adds in a handy octaver circuit for fattening up your fuzz even more.
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Kemper debuts its new Profiler Stage floor pedal unit, aimed at gigging musicians and melding the Remote controller with Profiler Rack. Will Profiler Stage shake up the floorboard FX market?
Fishman launches the TriplePlay MIDI controller system to turn your guitar noodling into MIDI data - and it comes with a rather handy app for the Apple iPad. The best thing: it's non-invasive.
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Kemper's new floor unit was spotted on Instagram today, and it looks like a full-on Profiler in a floorboard format! We managed to grab the image before it was pulled, presumably at Kemper's behest.
UPDATE: Since this post was published, an image of what looks like a new Floorboard Profiler has been spotted on Instagram. And it looks like a whole lot of Profiler, in a floorboard format.
The new Brandon ‘Taz’ Niederauer Atlantic Signature is based on the single-cutaway solid body Atlantic, the signature model comes with retro styling and a custom Sonic Blue finish.
Last month US dealer sites leaked news of new Squier Starcaster models - now the Classic Vibe, Contemporary Active and Affinity Series models have been announced by Fender at Summer NAMM 2019.
The new Powercab 212 Plus is Line 6's attempt colure pro players to using their FRFR active speaker system and it certainly packs some punch with an active 500 watts of stereo power.
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Jimmy Page has officially announced the new Sundragon Standard amp for release later this year. Which is great as the limited edition versions all sold out already!
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The new Charvel Limited Edition Super Stock SC1 is a guitar that will sell out, why? Because, it has everything we want in a performance instrument and it looks divine.
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Do you want a Hermida Zendrive, Analogman Prince of Tone, King Of Tone V4 and a Moog Moogerfooger for your Helix? Well today you can finally have them and more!
This new Gretsch Steve Warnier Signature Nashville Gentleman was announced today at Summer NAMM and it looks beautiful. Combining classic style with modern playability.
Fender has expended their pedal range with six new models. Including their first pedal for acoustic guitar, an ambient delay/reverb, a new valve overdrive pedal and more!
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EVH are commemorating the 40th anniversary of Van Halen II with ’79 Bumblebee tribute guitar, with that classic yellow on black stripe paint job and loads of Van Halen goodies
Spoon guitarist Britt Daniel and Lincoln Brewster get new Signature model Fenders. Plus the Fender Signature model series gets some updated colours for this year as well
The Line 6 Spider V MKII range brings a major overhaul to the company's budget amp series and with it come a few bold claims and new features.
Unexpectedly, Electro-Harmonix introduces a small transistor combo named Dirt Road Special. 40 watts, clean to dirty overdrive and four in-house reverbs based on the Holy Grail Max
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Gibson has announced the first boutique guitar companies to sign on for their Authorized Partnership Program. Could this be the beginning of a new era?
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After last weeks announcement of the new Boss SY-1 synth pedal, now we have the new Source Audio C4 modular synth pedal! Could Summer NAMM be a massive synth fest, but for guitarists?