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When she was seven years old, sibling rivalry spurred Blu DeTiger to get a bass so she could play along with her brother on his new drum kit. After honing her skills for several years at School of Rock, taking lessons, and playing in high-school bands, she also became a DJ on the New York […]
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In episode 103 of “Have Guitar Will Travel”, presented by Vintage Guitar Magazine, host James Patrick Regan is again at the “Live in the Vineyard” event in Napa and again speaking with a host of up and coming Country Music Stars including Elliot Greer, Remy Garrison, DINER, Rose Falcon, Josh Ross and with all of […]
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EHX’s Slammi Plus and Hot Wax pedals are not for the faint of heart. Housed in heavy-duty plastic, the Whammy-shaped Slammi Plus may look like a wah, but it has different tricks in its bag. This polyphonic pitch transposer can shift a note’s pitch plus or minus three octaves and create harmony notes (though it’s […]
In today’s world of proliferating boutique pedals, guitarists have a staggering array of divergent options. Case in point, the Black Cat Vibe and TWA Triskelion Mk. II make for a pair of pedals, which couldn’t be more different. The Black Cat Vibe is based on the original Uni-Vibe of the 1960s and ’70s, evoking that […]
Marty Walsh has plied his trade for decades, though relatively few may be familiar with his efforts. A Los Angeles native, the guitarist gravitated to his father’s old Martin when he was 15. The first guitar he called his own was a Gibson ES-1403/4 he bought from his brother and eventually traded (and $10) for […]
Whether used for funky tones, a gentle sonic sheen, or as gatekeeper for your rig’s volume, compressors are handy – and often misunderstood – pieces of gear. Fortunately, Donner’s affordable LAX Comp does several compression tasks well, and for less than a trip to the supermarket meat department. While the LAX Comp is ostensibly inspired […]
In 2012, Samantha Fish’s Runaway was named Best Artist Debut at the Blues Music Awards. Known for her energetic blues-rock concerts, she released two departures in 2017 – the R&B-tinged Chills And Fever and some country/Americana on Belle Of The West – and is a nominee for Vintage Guitar’s 2017 Readers Choice Award for Blues […]
From 1994 to the present — read about each Readers’ Choice Awards Players.
The Space Age Travellers: Eclectic Instro B.J. Baartmans’ trio, The Space Age Travellers, defies genre labelling. Here, he uses his ’73 Fender Strat (tuned down a full step) with a replacement neck to show us how he played “Cabin Fever,” from their new album, “Satellite Shuffle.” He’s plugged into an early-’70s Princeton, preamped with “…a […]
In two short years of existence, ZT Amplifiers has found a unique place for itself in the world of boutique amplification. ZT engineering guru Ken Kantor’s flagship amp is called The Lunchbox, so named because of its compact physical size. But the moniker utterly belies the fact the amp can pump out 200 watts of […]
B.B. King was truly peerless. Beyond his ability to pull an audience up via a single long, vibratoed note, he exhibited an incomparable charisma and style, and his influence carried far beyond the way he plucked a guitar. Fans ranging from simple listeners to world-class guitarists display a reverence for King that is reserved for […]
Back from barnstorming the globe, blues guitarist Kirk Fletcher’s latest is music for the people. Heartache by the Pound is about love, sorrow, joy, and pain, driven by freakishly excellent guitar playing. Mostly recorded at FAME Studios in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, Fletcher checks one off his bucket list by recording at the legendary studio and […]
1958-’59 Fender Twin Preamp tubes: one 12AY7, two 12AX7 Output tubes: four 5881 (6L6 equivalents), fixed bias Rectifier: GZ34 (5AR4) tube Controls: Volume, Volume, Treble, Bass, Middle, Presence Output: 80 watts RMS +/- Speaker: two 12” Jensen P12N Many tweed-o-philes get more excited about the small and mid-sized amps that they can crank up in […]
One night in 1976, I drove into San Francisco with no agenda other than to hear music. I passed by the always reliable Great American Music Hall, which was primarily a jazz club. No group was named on the marquee, just four individuals, and I recognized one – Richard Greene – because he played fiddle […]
From 1954 through ’59, the Fender Electric Instrument Mfg. Co. built guitar amplifiers with controls mounted atop using “chickenhead” knobs that go to 12, and covered with “the finest airplane luggage linen.” This line represents the company’s classic “tweed era,” and from the diminutive Champ to the mighty Twin, it remained virtually unchanged throughout the […]
On Eric Johnson’s new – and first all-acoustic album – EJ, the guitarist takes a break from the intervallic inventions of his electric work and finds greater depth in his artistry, stripping away the non-essentials and exploring the purity of acoustic performance. The compositions reveal an artist reaching for musical substance, humanity, and intimacy. On […]
Veteran guitarist/songwriter/vocalist/keyboard player/producer Jim Peterik’s career has taken yet another intriguing turn in its long and ever-active history. The Chicago-area musician first sprang to prominence over three decades ago as the vocalist/guitarist for one-hit-wonder combo the Ides of March (“Vehicle”), and went on to further success in the ’80s with the original lineup of Survivor. […]
In the mid 1950s, Gibson president Ted McCarty was paying close attention to two new instruments impacting the musical-instruments market – the solidbody electric guitar and the electric bass. Both had been developed by an upstart company called Fender, and Gibson’s original solidbodies, the Les Paul guitar and Electric Bass (VG, February ’06) were introduced […]
Recorded during two weeks in 1991, Vai/Gash is a collaboration between Steve Vai and late singer Johnny “Gash” Sombrotto, expressing their fondness for the rockin’ tunes of their youth and Harley Davidson culture. Sombrotto was an inspiring figure in Vai’s life who died in a 1998 motorcycle accident. After shelving the project for 30 years, […]
