New Amp: Mesa Triple Rectifier 3 Channel

I got a local trade offer on my 2009 Splawn Quickrod for this lovely Mesa Triple Rectifier. I’ve wanted a rectifier on and off since I first got into guitars, and spent tons of time in my college town’s music shop demoing the Dual Rectifiers they had there. I’d never really considered the Triples, thinking they’d be way overkill and too much wattage to handle in my studio. I’m surprised that the volume can be kept pretty reasonable, especially with the loop output control combined with each channel’s volume controls.

The clean channel is really great sounding, if lacking much character with the gain turned lower. I find the gain maxed out in clean mode is my favorite setting, it does not get distorted like this but does add a little more chime and sparkle to it.

I use channel 2 in vintage mode, which is thicker in the mids than modern and can get pretty close, especially boosted, to classic metal sounds though since I have a few Marshalls and the Mesa Mark my standards are pretty high here and I think the best use for channel 2 vintage is actually as a more mid-heavy lead tone to use over channel 3 modern’s rhythm tone.

Channel 3 is the perfect modern metal tone machine, especially boosted with a tubescreamer, although I like it plenty without the boost. It has plenty of gain and gets very thick, especially tuned down a few steps for heavier modern styles. The sizzle can be dialed up or down with the presence control, which really affects the voicing of the entire channel - turned up reduces the bass as well and tightens the attack, but turned down it can get a bit more full sounding if a little more muddy in complex chords. It’s a great rhythm channel though I find it a little piercing for leads, unless that’s the desired outcome.

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New Amp: Egnater Renegade

This was another amp I remember testing out and enjoying around 2009 or 2010 when I was new to guitar. The idea of being able to blend power tube types was genius at the time - and still sounds appetizing today. These are very inexpensive online, and I spotted this one at a very low price on Reverb and grabbed it.

The clean channel is extremely full and thick sounding, I’d wager it’s one of the best clean channels I’ve ever heard really. The digital reverb is also fantastic sounding and can get really over the top. I found this channel best with the gain maxed out (don’t worry, it still stays clean) and the tweakable bright/deep switches can add some nice variation to the tone. I preferred this one turned all the way to 6L6 mode.

The drive channel is a bit underwhelming. Obviously my ear for tone has improved greatly over the years. I prefer it turned all the way to EL34, and with the gain around half it does a very good Marshall low-mid gain impression with good grit. However, keep turning the gain up and the amp becomes very flubby even to the point where when hitting an E chord for example, the upper strings cancel completely out and you can’t hear them at all because the bass takes over the whole sound. In hindsight, I understand this has to do with the voicing of the amp itself, so perhaps a few modifications to the circuit could open this up more to be more useful. The problem is even worse with high output pickups.

So it’s not what I dreamed of - an amp that would do the classic 6L6 high gain sound as well as the EL34 modded Marshall tones - but those expectations were probably unreasonable to begin with. What it does do is a pretty killer clean tone, maybe even a Twin Reverb impression, couple with a nice mid gain rock tone that allows the character of both tube types to come through.

New Guitar: BC Rich ST-III with Roland GK setup

I’ve always liked the look of these and they have a pretty unique history, coming out in the late 80s during a time when BC Rich was struggling financially and eventually ended up selling their brand name to Class Axe. This guitar is from before the sale, in 1987 - USA made and a very fine quality instrument. These also used top mounted Ibanez Edge tremolos, which were very new at the time and are close to OFR quality - some even prefer these trems to OFR’s and I can see why.

I picked this one up for a great price from Guitar Center, and it came equipped with a Roland GK-2A pickup. I doubt the natural finish is original, but if the original color was stripped they did a very clean job and the light satin finish is very well done. I’ve never had a Roland GK before either, so I look forward to trying it out - my initial look at Youtube videos makes this system look extremely cool and I’d love to be able to play some synthesizer or saxophone parts on my guitar!

In addition to the satin finished body, the neck is also a very bare wood feeling on the back, with an extremely thick slab of rosewood for the fretboard. When it arrived, this guitar had a Parallel Axis PATB-3 pickup in the bridge position, which is a sweet sounding pickup if a little lower output than I usually prefer in the bridge position, and a Quarter Pounder in the neck which is a highlight - I’m surprised just how much I like this high output, bassy single coil pickup.

New Amp: Splawn Quickrod (2009)

Picked this amp up for a great deal and couldn’t resist, despite owning another QR head already. This one is from 2009 and shares the same darker, mid heavy circuit of my 2008 model. One added bonus though, this one has the loop master volume, making it far more usable at lower volume levels and at home.

The flames “hot rod” head shell is not really my style, but it is a trademark Splawn amp look. Tones are exactly as I expected - thick and full sounding and a killer modded Marshall tone with a nice usable clean channel.

New Guitar: Charvel Model 2 Electric Blue

Another guitar center find, this one popped up online for a very reasonable price that I could not refuse. It arrived and is in surprisingly great condition besides a small light colored mark on the top edge of the body - it looks a little bit like paint, like you would use on the walls of your house. It also came equipped with a Seymour Duncan SH-12 Screamin’ Demon, one of my favorite humbuckers for its thick tone and with a single pickup, a versatile one like this helps make it more practical when rolling off the volume than other high output pickups.

New Guitar: Charvel Model 3A '86

I picked this up as a bit of a change in pace compared to my other Charvels - this one is equipped with a Kahler, USA made, fulcrum tremolo called the “2520.” This trem is similar in design to a modern strat trem, with two anchor points instead of the traditional six, and the addition of fine tuners to pair with the locking nut at the headstock. While it’s not a true double locking, floating tremolo like a Floyd Rose, it’s actually a very good bridge - and quite forward thinking for the time. It gets a pretty bad rap around the web, but I was impressed with it, although my expectations were low which helps. The biggest detractor is that the spacing of the studs is too close for a direct swap with just about any other bridge - anyone who had an ‘86 Model 2 or Model 3 with this bridge would have to plug and re-drill holes in order to upgrade the bridge to something else.

I personally would never modify an original like this one, which happens to be in fantastic shape. The factory J80C pickups are meaty and thick sounding, similar to Duncan Customs, and I think this pickup sounds incredible in the neck position even if a bit high output. As long as the heights are adjusted, the volume difference isn’t too bad, and a 3-way blade switch makes it easy to switch between them. Later 3A’s had the 5-way blade switch, which gives split coil sounds in positions 2 and 4 but this particular one is too early for that feature.

New Amp: Splawn Streetrod 1x12 Combo (2018)

Picked up this beauty using Guitar Center’s online used section. It was marked down in price and the idea of a miniature Splawn like my 2008 Quickrod, coupled with a Creamback speaker, sounded great to me.

This amp is much larger than I expected it to be - nearly 2x12 sized, despite housing a single speaker. The production date is from 2018 so it is the most recent circuit, although lacks the B+ voltage switch some of the newest ones are optioned with. The Blue tolex is gorgeous and contrasts nicely with the Marshall-like gold front panel and knobs.

This amp is both brighter and more scooped than my Quickrod head. The bass is much stronger and full sounding, and is definitely not as much of a “classic” sounding amp as the QR. The 2008 QR is an older circuit design, so I’m not surprised they are so different. I do find this Streetrod can get lost in the mix a little and when turning up the volume to compensate a little, it starts to sound a little thinner because the attack is concentrated in the upper upper mids, accentuating some of its flaws. Played alone however, it sounds fantastic - maybe the right mixing would bring this amp to life. The clean channel is extremely similar to my 2008 QR and I wouldn’t be surprised if it is identical in circuit, although the SR lacks the gain control of the QR heads here.

Two Single-Humbucker Guitars, One Weekend

It’s been an eventful few days here. My replacement Proaxe neck arrived and is bolted up now finally (thanks UPS), along with acquiring another very special neck (no spoilers yet!). Plus, two new guitars through the door just in time for Thanksgiving - a 1987 Charvel Model 5A in “Black Cherry” finish and a 1989 Kramer Baretta I in “Snakeskin.” Now that’s a rare color!

I actually know an owner of the snakeskin Baretta, it’s changed hands quite a few time since he’s had it, going from east coast USA to west coast, then all the way to the UK, before finally landing back here with me in Florida. It’s a shame in that time it has seen a few mods, such as a hole for a strap button on the rear of the upper horn, jack plate added, and a mini switch added. Still, it’s a great player and certainly eye catching.

The Model 5A came from Guitar Center, nothing too exciting about that, until I picked it up and played it. Wow, that neck through design can really get very low action without much setup effort and it really wails now that I’ve removed the 25k pot (somebody must’ve had EMG’s in this before) and put in a 500k and Jackson J90C pickup.

A few teasers:

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As always, there will be more pictures and details on their respective pages.

Baretta I Details

Model 5A Details

Happy Thanksgiving!

A Few Projects Are Coming Together

I’ve been extremely busy with a few projects at work so I haven’t had the time to fully complete some of my guitar projects. I finally have all of the parts arriving this week though, and should be able to assemble them soon! Here’s a mock-up of what they are going to look like - probably. I may change the necks around but this looks the best to me so far:

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Special thanks to my friend Jaime who was able to supply a neck, floyd, and a fancy PJ Marx pickup for these.

Tale of Two Maple Fretboard Kramers

I’ve always been a maple fretboard kind of guy. If you know the Kramer collecting market, you know how hard they are to come by, at least in the “pointy” era (1986-1990). In years of collecting these, I have never been able to get my hands on one - the neck I lusted after the most, even more than the coveted “claw” neck; a maple fretboard pointy with the Kramer inlay on the 12th fret. Thanks to a wild stroke of luck, I now have two of them in the span of a week.

The Pacer Custom I

If you have read any of my previous entries, you might remember a project I started to a build - a white Sustainer body that I was able to find a maple neck with dots for on craigslist. The owner of that neck and I talked at length about our projects and guitars, so I knew he had a late Pacer Custom I with a maple fretboard. I’d been thinking about asking about it for several months, but never followed through. While on my way to the UPS center to pick up another guitar, I received a text message out of nowhere:

“I was wondering if you’d be interested in my transparent blue pacer custom?”

As you can imagine, I freaked out. I’d be thinking about that guitar for so long, and I even had a picture of it saved to my phone so I wouldn’t forget who had it. Of course I went for it, so not long after it arrived on my doorstep, original case and pickups included.

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Not quite transparent blue - it’s more of a teal color. Even better!

An amazing neck, finally found after years of hunting.

I have another Pacer Custom from this era (only a few hundred away by SN#) with the stock JB/SSL-1/SSL-1 combination, and with the thin body and single volume control, I found it to be painfully bright, even after converting the JB to an Alnico II magnet. I eventually settled on a PATB-1 for that guitar which helped fill it out nicely while retaining bite - so I wanted something completely different for this guitar. I installed a Dimarzio Breed, recently discontinued, which I found at a musicgoround for $30. I’ve had this pickup for a while but never installed it - and after hearing it in this guitar I’ve already bought another. It is dark, smooth, and thick - even played through my aggressive sounding Mesa Mark IV. I can see why someone wouldn’t want this as their only pickup, but for a change of pace it is excellent. It really makes lead lines sound amazing, and with the treble adjusted on the amp itself, it cuts through nicely. I’m looking forward to installing some single coils, but for now those slots are empty. I’m thinking about the Dimarzio SDS-1’s, a true single with a darker character and more output, which sounds like it will pair nicely with the Breed.

The Sustainer

This one was a harder call. Another member of kramerforumz.com posted about this guitar, listed at a Guitar Center in Chicago, along with a few shoddy pictures. I couldn’t really tell what the color of the body was, didn’t know if it had a case, and had no way of knowing if the Sustainer circuitry actually worked. However, I saw the maple fretboard and 12th inlay in a blurry image of the front and figured I would take the risk - worst case scenario I could return it to my local Guitar Center within 45 days (thank goodness for this policy, GC used gear is roughly a 50/50 crapshoot).

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Apparently these are quite fragile in working condition, so I will have to take very good care of it.

I’m happy to say that it was well worth the risk. The body and neck are both in impeccable shape, the Sustainer unit works wonderfully, and tonally it sounds nice and thick even with the stock JBJ installed (which I don’t plan on replacing after having a look at that electronics cavity). I did snip the capacitor off of the volume pot, I’m not sure what value but it made the tone extremely thin when rolling back the volume. I was also glad to see it was flip flop red when it arrived, it appeared as more of a flat red in the pictures and that would not have been as cool.

The first thing I noticed after my initial setup was just how much better this Sustain unit functions as compared to my ‘88 Hamer Chaparral sustainiac. It really hangs on to fundamental notes with more strength, and the harmonic functions are easier to control and less “screechy.” It also has an additional control that my Hamer does not that is really unique: a knob to control the intensity and strength of the Sustain unit. This really adds some cool dynamics to the sound, aside from the usual master volume and tone knobs. With this knob at minimum, notes are still sustained indefinitely but they vibrate very softly - nice for letting a note trail off naturally but not disappear completely. When at full power, the entire body of the guitar vibrates with force and the strings generate voltage as if they are being picked hard and constantly. For example, with the amp set to crunch, I can softly pick a note for a slight breakup then roll up the sustain knob and it will smoothly go into a thick overdrive, taking advantage of the dynamics of that channel on the amp. Of course the real fun is turning all of the knobs to full and using it on an improvised solo at the end of a song, and flipping the harmonic mode switch at the same time to make some really unique sounds with a seamless transition between all of them.

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A great color combination.

Another pleasant surprise is the Schaller made Sustain Unit when used as a neck humbucker. Again compared to my Hamer Chaparral, that guitar has a single coil stuffed right underneath the sustain driver unit, which does not work as a pickup on its own. However this guitar’s sustain unit is a fully functional humbucker, which sounds pretty great to boot. It’s a bit higher output and darker sounding than something like a Jazz or ‘59, maybe more similar to the SH-7 Seymourizer II or something with more output than the usual PAF spec neck humbuckers.

The real reason I went for this guitar was the neck though, and it does not disappoint. It has the thickest slab of maple for the board I’ve seen, and it is noticeably thicker than even the other neck with the same inlays from the Pacer Custom above. It has a comfortable profile, almost no fret wear, and the bound headstock is a nice touch. This may be “new guitar brain” talking, but this is my favorite neck on any guitar I own right now.

Now to fix that chrome volume knob…