New Guitar: Kramer Stagemaster Mach II - Flat Top

Another awesome neck-through Kramer added to the collection, and in the same exact color as my arch top Mach II Stagemaster! This color in the catalogs was called “Rose,” it’s essentially a transparent coral/salmon color. It’s a beauty - and really cool to have both flat top and arch top variations of the same guitar. I’m a big fan of EMG’s and this one is equipped with the common 81/SA/SA combination, a modification I probably wouldn’t have done myself but I’m pleased with anyway. The previous owner also added an extra, non-matching knob in place of the coil tap switch. That won’t do, so I’ll be fixing that up shortly, perhaps a vintage EMG 89 would be a great addition here, and I could keep the stock looking coil tap switch, assuming there’s no major damage under the finish where the new knob was added.

Here are some pictures comparing the flat top to the arch top.

New Guitar: Ibanez 540S Carribean Blue

Picked up this guitar from Guitar Center - again - labeled as a “540S.” This is certainly an interesting combination and one I’m still trying to figure out - it’s a 1989 Carribean Blue 540S body, complete with the Bensalem PA neck plate (blank serial number), but the neck has a serial number dating it to 1996. Even more interesting, the neck has the “S series” badging, and abalone inlays - but they are dots instead of ovals. Also, it is not an all-access neck joint… from my digging, any S series guitar with a Fujigen made neck after about 1993 should have this neck joint type. I can’t find any stock 1996 S series guitar - even in Japan or European catalogs - that has abalone ovals and a traditional neck joint.

I also took some measurements, it is Wizard dimensions as well - and a very high quality build with the flat 17” fretboard just like my others. I’m not sure what to make of this neck, but strange features and history aside, it is an amazing player like any of my other Ibanez guitars. It’s not hard to imagine why Ibanez was able to weather the storm during the 90s while many of their competitors struggled, got bought out, or went overseas during the same period.

New Guitar: 1990 ESP Horizon Deluxe

Here’s a pretty unique one - a Bolt-on neck Horizon. Picked this up browsing Guitar Center’s listings for a fair price, and it has a really sweet arched top body shape with a great neck.

This also has a later iteration of the Sinclair bridge, ESP’s take on the Floyd Rose. These are great bridges, just as good as any OFR but with one major flaw - the saddles have offset screw holes and no one I can find makes replacement saddles. So don’t break one!

To make matters worse, the angular shape of the base plate on the Sinclair means a Floyd, Gotoh, or Edge trem will not just drop in - the body needs to be routed to fit a more squared-off base plate. I’ve seen too many hack-jobs over the years where someone tried to make a different bridge fit. I’m lucky and have a spare Sinclair bridge with 5 good saddles on it, so if I ever break one I have a few - but I understand most people who own these vintage ESP’s wouldn’t have access to that. If anyone happens to know a shop that can build a replica saddle based on a sample, please let me know and I’d be happy to supply some saddles from my spare to get it made… I’d love to keep this bridges alive into the future.

New Guitar: 1982 Kramer "The Pacer"

I have wanted a Kramer with the Rockinger bridge for a while. I know it’s an objectively inferior tremolo to a Floyd Rose, but since it was the original “Edward Van Halen Tremolo,” it has a certain value from a historical/collector’s standpoint - and that’s me.

I watched this one sit unsold for over a month, wondering when and if it would sell and at what price. Eventually it came down and I had to consider it - so I made a deal on it.

Not only is this my first guitar with a Rockinger, but it’s also the first guitar I’ve owned with the traditional strat configuration of three single coil pickups. Most of the music I play calls for a humbucker in the bridge position, so this guitar won’t be the most versatile, but after playing it I have sorely been missing the positions 2 and 4 “quack” - and a split humbucker does not have the same snap that a true single coil has in this position for sure. Coupled with a clean amp, and occasionally switching on a light overdrive, there are so many great tones in this guitar.

The condition is excellent with only a couple of small dings - sadly the largest of which came from a loose screw inside the case during shipping. It also included the original warranty card, case keys, and inspection tag - very cool. Despite collecting tons of Kramers over the years, I’ve yet to get a set of these so that’s really cool to have.

New Video: Mesa Mark IV Overview

A long-form video detailing some of the history, circuit design, features, and tones this iconic amp can produce. Took a while to finish this one and it is very long at 38 minutes but I think it came out pretty well!

New Amp: Kasha Rockmod 50 Head

I spotted this online for what seemed like an incredible price for a USA made boutique amp with top of the line components. I’ve had a few smaller name amps and been really blown away by them (PWE) and some that were awful (Kruse) so I really didn’t know what to expect here.

I know it’s a cliche, but all I can say is “wow!” This is a great sounding amp, really amazing tones. Channel 1 is a very full sounding clean tone, not too sparkly but reminds me the Normal channel on a plexi. Channel 2 is crunch, and with the gain about half does a great single channel JCM800 impression with a lot of brightness and grit just like the real one sitting only a few feet away. Channel 3 is the highlight for me, of course, as a fan of high gain tones. It keeps the same core tone going from the previous channel, but now you have a standard “gain” control as well as one titled “post” which effectively is a saturation control. Tweaking these two controls back and forth already results in a variety of great tones before even touching the EQ. Count me a big fan of this amp, and it looks great with so many tubes inside through the mesh front panel, and the HUGE Mercury Magnetics transformers inside.

Another really awesome feature, which I can’t wait to play around with more, is a switch on the front panel called “OT,” short for Output Tubes. It allows you to select from A or B right on the front panel - and all tubes are running so you can switch while playing and really hear the differences between them. Basically, you can put in two different pairs of power tubes, say 6L6 and EL34, and swap between them. Currently, it has a pair of 6550’s and a pair of EL34’s, and it’s very cool to hear the differences between those. This is what I expected from the Egnater Renegade, but was disappointed in the preamp section of that amp even though the blendable power section was cool. While the Rockmod doesn’t allow me to blend the two tube types, the preamp section is fantastic so I’m totally happy with this feature.

New Video: Splawn Comparison

While it’s not secret that Splawn Amps have gone through a number of revisions and circuit changes over the years, I haven’t seen many direct comparisons. Since I have three from a wide range of years, I thought I’d record some clips of the amps at different settings to show how different they sound.

First up, the 2006 Quick Rod. This amp has the offset input jack and 3x 12AX7 preamp tubes. The clean channel gets dirtier if the overdrive channel’s gain is turned off, so I turned it way down for this video. It’s a bit of a quirk of this amp, but you can’t have a pristine clean and a high gain sound footswitchable - you have to sacrifice your clean tone for the high gain overdrive tone. That said, this is still my favorite of the three.

Second, a 2008 Quick Rod, which has a much darker/smoother circuit and an additional preamp tube for the clean channel, bringing the total to 4x 12AX7’s.

Last, a 2018 Street Rod, while a slightly different design and lower wattage than the QR’s it is an almost identical circuit and the most up-to-date version I have.

Enjoy!

In this video, I play this sweet Charvel Model 4 in Rainbow Crackle finish

New Video: Charvel Spectrum

Kind of a shorter/quicker one this time. I forgot to shoot the B-roll of the guitar but I thought it showcased the unique JE-1500 EQ so here it is!

New Amp: Mesa Triple Crown TC-50 Head Gold Tolex

I’ve been occasionally looking for good deals on Mesa amps to add to my collection lately, and after acquiring a Mark V (and being thrilled by it) I started to look at some of other models in the range. I’m covered on Rectifiers, but I have little to no experience with the Electradyne, Royal Atlantic, and Triple Crown models. From what I understand, these share a similar architecture and design ideology.

After spotting a TC-50 on Guitar Center’s used listings for a very good price - and an interesting color I couldn’t quite place (it looked creme to me in the pictures), I snagged it.

Instead of creme or tan like I expected, it’s GOLD tolex! Combined with the carbon fiber front (both top and bottom) and gold piping, it’s quite the striking look. I’m pleased that it’s a bit of a darker gold, so its not too flashy or bright like “gold tolex” would lead you to believe.

I’ve already spent some time dialing it in and my first impressions are good, but not mind blowing. As with any amp, I think it’s important to spend some time with it, try different speakers and settings, as well as guitars, so anything I say below could change as I get more time with it. The spring reverb is fantastic though - no complaints there.

The drive channels sound a bit like a Mark series amp, especially with the “tight” switch turned on, but the EQ structure is different - more like dialing a Marshall amp. Set to the “normal” setting, it gets a little flubbier in the bass but also fuller - really akin to a rectifier style amp. The “tight” switch does not only affect the bass though, it adds some hair and midrange grit to the tone as well - it’s really more accurate to call it a “voicing” switch than anything else. The tone flows nicely from Channel 2 to 3, you can keep the same core tone and change EQ, gain, or volume and it still sounds like the same amp, which is a plus. The Mark V can be a bit of a “3 amps in one box” whereas the TC50 is definitely just “one amp with 3 gain levels.”

The Cleans and “drive” mode on the clean channel are superb right off the bat - it’s the drive channels that will take a little more time to get along with. With the presence dialed back, or alternatively the treble down and presence up, it is easy to dial a great classic rock crunch on this channel, or a full sounding dirty clean.

More Details Here

New Amp: Marshall JCM800 Model 2203x Reissue

I finally have a single channel, master volume, Super Lead Mark II amp. The full 100 watter too, and a reissue to boot.

This is a hell of an amp, and I can see why this has been the tone people lust after for years, build amps based around, modify to their liking, and so on. This amp is dynamic, punchy, full sounding, and has this incredible elasticity and flow to the notes that is impossible to really describe without experiencing.

There’s not much to cover since it’s such a simple design, based on the early plexi circuits but using cascaded gain stages (and the voicing shaped to accommodate that), the JCM800 2203 is a staple of modern rock tones and possible the most famous and most recorded amp of all time (for overdriven tones, at least). A simple front panel has six knobs - presence, treble, mids, bass, volume, and preamp gain. Two inputs, a high and a low (skips one of the three gain stages). These are invariably run with the preamp gain set to max, but if desired can be set lower for surprisingly great sounding clean tones. Compared to the split channel JCM800s I have, this one feels like the mids are a little more relaxed, the amp just a tiny bit more mild, but with an even wider spectrum of sound. Contrasting with the JVM410 I got around the same time, this amp is the total opposite - it’s extremely touch sensitive and has very present ultra-highs, but without being piercing, and deep full lows that extend beyond any lows coming out of the JVM.

This particular unit is a 2005 reissue, complete with a factory effects loop, but still sporting the silver back grille (as opposed to modern Marshall’s black).

No other features on this one - just one great channel, a nice loop, and some of the best rock tones I’ve ever heard. Also no surprise that this is one of the best pedal platforms out there, it can be taken into extreme metal territory with a boost or distortion pedal and all of the characteristics of the pedal shine through as well, enhanced and colored by the amp perfectly. I have had a Joyo Ultimate Drive (OCD clone) for years now and thought it was awful until I heard it through this amp. My SD-1 and Tubescreamers sound great as well, and I can imagine any unique overdrives would have their full potential realized through an amp like this one.

Definitely a long term keeper - and it looks great stacked on top of my JCM800 2210 and JCM800 1960A cabinet!