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“I thought to myself, ‘This guy’s not gonna be here very long’”: Dave Mustaine recalls the first time he saw James Hetfield perform
![[L-R] James Hetfield of Metallica and Dave Mustaine of Megadeth](https://guitar.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/James-Hetfield-Dave-Mustaine-new-hero@2000x1500.jpg)
With Megadeth’s final record set to feature a re-recorded version of Ride The Lightning, it seems Dave Mustaine’s feud with Metallica’s James Hetfield is water under the bridge. In fact, the Megadeth frontman has now put his hands up and admitted that he entirely underestimated Hetfield’s talent back in the day.
Back in 1983, Mustaine was kicked out of Metallica due to his aggressive alcoholism (which apparently even saw him punching Hetfield once). As a result, Mustaine and Metallica haven’t been on good terms for over forty years – but the Megadeth frontman is trying to make amends. Speaking to Eddie Trunk on SiriusXM, he praises Hetfield, calling him “an exceptional guitar player” [via Blabbermouth].
Mustaine also admits that he had initially doubted Hetfield’s talent. He’d judged the Metallica frontman at face value. “I remember the day that I saw him play guitar for the first time,” he recalls. “We were playing at the Whisky A Go Go… and he showed up in mid-1980s Rudy Sarzo garb. I thought, ‘Wow, that’s not gonna go down [well].’”
“He had a giant feather earring,” he continues. “I thought to myself, ‘This guy’s not gonna be here very long.’”
However, his tone changed at the very next rehearsal he attended. When he arrived, Hetfield was performing on his own – and his talent was clear. “It was just James playing guitar like a motherfucker!” Mustaine says. “I thought… ‘How did this guy go from singer to a great guitar player?’ And I was excited for me. I was excited for the band.”
Of course, Mustaine’s gut feelings were correct. Metallica have gone on to be one of the most iconic acts in heavy metal, with Hetfield firmly at the helm.
Despite Mustaine and Hetfield’s relationship souring over the years, with Mustaine admitting that it was still on the rocks in 2022, Mustaine is keen to end Megadeth on a positive note. He’s paying respect to where he came from – and that includes his two-year stint with Metallica.
“The whole purpose of [re-recording Ride The Lightning] was about showing respect to a man that… I don’t believe he thinks I respect him,” Mustaine recently told Rolling Stone. “I wanted to make that [respect] clear.”
“Our intentions were pure,” he added. “I didn’t have any reason I was going to say, ‘Oh, hey man, this thing that we’ve had for 40 years where you guys will never tour with me, me doing the song is going to change things.’ That wasn’t it at all. It was more about: This is my life going forward. I want to do things that are respectable… I mean, I hate to say this, because it’s just so fucking arrogant, but the guitar playing in Metallica changed the world.”
Megadeth’s self-titled final album will be released on 23 January. You can find out more or pre-order the record via their official website.
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The shape of a guitar “doesn’t amount to squat” in terms of sound according to legendary vintage expert George Gruhn
We’ve come across plenty of hot takes on guitar over the years, from debates on tonewood to theoretical knowledge, we’ve seen it all. But vintage guitar expert George Gruhn has now thrown his hat into the ring, and believes guitar shapes don’t make much difference to their sound at all.
In a debate on the Life With Strings Attached podcast, Gruhn says that body shape “doesn’t amount to squat”. However, it does seem that his definition of shape considers purely the body silhouette, rather than the thickness of the model or any neck specifications.
“Changing body shapes doesn’t amount to squat… changing body shapes on a solid body guitar doesn’t amount to much,” Gruhn says. He is then quizzed by host Jamie Gale, who asks him if a Telecaster with humbuckers would sound like a Les Paul with humbuckers.
“No it wont, because the structure of the guitar is different enough that the vibration pattern of the strings is not the same,” Gruhn replies. At this point, Gale is still completely baffled.
“So an SG sounds like an Explorer?” asks Gale.
“No they don’t because an SG is thinner,” Gruhn says, before expanding on his meaning of shape. “The Explorer has a neck joint that’s rock-solid stable, the SG does not. The Explorer has a much thicker body than an SG and it [has] different wood. The shape is not the important part, you could make the Explorer in a different shape and it would still sound about the same,” he suggests.
The pair have to agree to disagree, with Gruhn hilariously adding: “I can’t help it if you’re wrong!”
You can check out the full podcast below, which is split into two parts:
Gruhn launched his own guitar line back in 2023 with a model named the Versitar. He described his creation as “the only guitar on the market today that you can essentially look at from 100 feet away at a glance and know immediately which brand of acoustic guitar it is”.
George Gruhn established Gruhn Guitars in 1970. You can find out more about him and the business via the official Gruhn Guitars website.
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“It’s an out-of-body experience to be up there with legends like Nuno Bettencourt and Jake E. Lee”: Lzzy Hale on Black Sabbath’s final show
Five months have passed since the final Black Sabbath gig, and it’s still being talked about by those who took part – including Halestorm’s Lzzy Hale, who likened her time on stage to an “out of body experience”.
The Back To The Beginning concert took place on 5 July, and featured a huge line up of rock and metal’s greatest acts. It raised millions for charity, and marked the final time that Sabbath played together, with Ozzy Osbourne sadly passing away just weeks later.
Halestorm got to perform Osbourne’s Perry Mason, and Lzzy also got to perform The Ultimate Sin alongside a supergroup of stars including Nuno Bettencourt and Jake E. Lee.
In an interview with …, she looks back on the day fondly and recalls how the entire city of Birmingham was “in celebration”: “Backstage everybody is just hanging out. Even Axl [Rose]. Probably at any other show he’d be carted back and forth and we’d never see the guy. But we’re sat next to each other, and it’s funny, because there’s all these photographers, and he says to me: ‘Girl, you come with a lot of cameras!’ And I’m like: ‘I don’t think they’re here for me, man!’”
She adds, “I think Sharon [Osbourne] said it best – it was like rock ‘n’ roll summer camp. I’m talking to Steven Tyler, and he’s like, ‘You’re from Pennsylvania. I’m good with accents.’ Then he starts telling me this story about when the Aerosmith guys were in Doylestown in the seventies and they got pulled over for having weed in the car.
“But it’s intense back there too. Everybody is nervous. Even the Metallica guys. Like: ‘We want to do good by these dudes.’ And everybody’s really emotional because we know it’s the last time. So we go out there and play, and after we walk off we’re like: ‘That was just a blur. Did we black out? Did we pass the audition?’ Then I went back out to sing The Ultimate Sin, and it’s an out-of-body experience to be up there with legends like Nuno Bettencourt and Jake E Lee.”
Bettencourt himself also recently looked back on the mighty day of metal, and shared just how immense the pressure was: “If you go down in flames on that stage with Ozzy there and all your peers watching, your career is over!” he said during an episode of Steve and Rik’s POTcast.
“I ended up playing 12 fucking songs,” he continued. “I just wanted to respect the songs [and] fucking go all in… I was in here for weeks for fucking like four or five hours a day standing up, performing the fuckers.”
The post “It’s an out-of-body experience to be up there with legends like Nuno Bettencourt and Jake E. Lee”: Lzzy Hale on Black Sabbath’s final show appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.
“Everybody got slapped in the face real hard”: Steve Lukather recalls the impact Eddie Van Halen had on the guitar scene, and why people dismissed him as a “parlour trick”
As a session musician extraordinaire Steve Lukather knows a lot of stars across the world of guitar, and he’s recently been looking back at his treasured friendship with Eddie Van Halen.
The Toto guitarist was introduced to Van Halen’s music in his late teens, and he later became good buds with Eddie. The pair would share gear, and worked together a number of times. Eddie even played on Lukather’s debut self-titled solo album back in 1989, namely on the track Twist The Knife.
In an interview with Forbes, Lukather says that people originally dismissed Eddie as a one-trick pony due to his tapping technique. Of course, across his mighty career he certainly proved them wrong. But Lukather saw his magic all along.
“He was a dear friend of mine, man. Music was initially the bond between us, but once we got to know each other it became more,” he says. “All I can say is that Ed changed the world. He was a little rough around the edges, but so am I, probably why we hit it off so well. I miss him terribly. Half of these guys are gone…
“As for guitar, Ed changed the way we approached it, did something nobody else had done, created a new sound, a new energy, not to mention the tapping thing. He blew up the whole rock and roll scene. Everybody got slapped in the face real hard when they realised there was a new kid in town.”
He continues, “People mistook him for a parlour trick because he did the tapping thing. He actually stumbled upon it by accident. It had been around for a while. He was in a trio, and filling up the sound is hard. Think Cream [with Eric Clapton]. Ed’s rhythm-playing and solos were like one fluid movement. I don’t think he ever played the same thing twice, and that used to drive the guys in the band crazy [laughs].”
To Lukather, he still remains as “an improvisational genius” in his memory: “Sometimes we become our own worst enemies. Ed’s left behind a lot of genius, and probably a lot of undiscovered gems as well.”
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This devilishly cool Schecter MGK acoustic is heavily discounted at Reverb
Just caught MGK on tour and now you’re inspired to get into guitar? Well, we’ve found a great deal on one of his signature acosutics with Schecter that has some pretty cool details.
MGK is currently on tour in support of his seventh album, Lost Americana, and though this album era marks a changeup in aesthetics for the pop punk artist, he’s previously been synonymous for pairing licks of pink with darker hues across his album artwork and the guitars he’s played – just as this bargain acoustic shows.
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With guitarist Sophie Lloyd also accompanying MGK on his tour, it’s no wonder that those in attendance may pick up the itch to play guitar. This Satin Black signature acoustic model has a mahogany body paired with a solid Sitka spruce top, joined by dovetail construction for a resonant and punchy tone.
Its mahogany neck offers a fast Thin “C” profile and has a 25.5” (648mm) scale length. A smooth rosewood fretboard features a 16” (406mm) radius across its 20 standard acoustic frets, and for amplification it uses the official Fishman Sonicore Piezo pickup system, driven by a preamp module with controls for volume, tuner switch, bass, treble, and a phase switch.
- READ MORE: “Did you guys make a mistake?”: MGK admits he’s baffled as to why Bob Dylan is a fan of his
The devil is quite literally in the detail with this guitar, as it features a pink devil horn decal situated around its sound hole, pink double XX inlays, and a headstock also donning a devil horn shape. Its aesthetic certainly honours MGK’s 2020 album, Tickets To My Downfall, which marked his departure from rap to guitar-driven music.
It also has high-quality Grover diecast tuners and a rosewood bridge with a bone saddle, and as it’s sold via Reverb, this one is a used model and has some slight scratching on the body, though it otherwise in excellent condition. It’s priced at $447.20, down $118.50 from its original listing.
Shop this deal and more over at Reverb. You can also find out where MGK is playing next on his Lost Americana tour.
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Poly Effects Trails review – probably the world’s most inspiring multi-effects pedal
$399/£399, polyeffects.com
The Poly Effects Trails is for people who want something different – like, really different. Well, why put up with the plinky-plunk of a silly old electric guitar when you can have swirling bells, unearthly voices, or something that sounds like a terrible accident in a sewage tunnel?
- READ MORE: Buyer’s guide to the best compact multi-effects: sound-shifting units from Neural DSP, BOSS & Line 6
This peculiar little box is the latest pedal from the Australian company behind the fabulous Ample digital amp simulator. It can be beautiful, scary, and often both at the same time. But it can’t be ordinary.
Image: Richard Purvis
Poly Effects Trails – what is it?
Oof, can’t we start with an easier question? Because I still don’t really know what the Trails is – maybe nobody does. But I can say it’s not a modulation pedal, or a lo-fi delay, or a glitchy microlooper… though its skill set does include, in one form or another, all of those things.
At its heart is a set of seven effect categories, selected by the touch buttons with cute pictures along the top. They’re all very different, and each one comes with eight editable factory presets. So that’s your starting point… now all you need to know is how to actually work this thing.
Image: Richard Purvis
Poly Effects Trails – is it easy to use?
It’s quite understandable to be sent into a panic by the fact that the Trails doesn’t even look like an effects pedal. But honestly, it’s fine. Take some deep breaths, stroke your imaginary cat three times, then focus on the four columns of LEDs across the middle (A to D) and pretend they’re knobs – because, effectively, they are. This is Poly’s signature touch interface, where dragging a finger up and down is the equivalent of knob-twiddling, and the LEDs – colour-coded for different effect types – indicate the current position.
Yes, it’s odd and takes some getting used to – particularly as it can be hard to see the LED that’s underneath your fingertip – but it’s a smart system, and there’s a colourful manual in the box that makes everything clear, including what those four ‘knobs’ do in each mode.
Beyond that, there’s a second footswitch for infinite sustain, the option of true stereo output using a Y-cable, and MIDI for changing presets remotely.
Poly Effects Trails – what does it sound like?
I think the best way to tackle this – describing the indescribable – is to go through the seven modes and try to give a flavour of what each one is doing.
Meadows is up first: a sitar-like effect that creates blooming sympathetic resonances with an element of randomised movement. You can change the structure and density of the virtual sympathetic strings, as well as the wet/dry blend and resonant pitch. It’s supremely musical, it can sound stupendous in stereo, and it’s a hell of a start.
Haven has similar qualities in terms of resonance but goes in a more bell-like direction – making it even prettier if anything – and then we take a sharp left turn into Prairie, an interesting mix of delay and vinyl-style filtering, complete with (optional) pops and crackles. After that comes Outback, and this mode is surely inspired by the didgeridoo, creating vocal-like filter shifts that can sound like a talk box at high speeds or a uniquely grainy phaser when slowed down.
Tundra is a pitch-shifting delay that gets gloriously glitchy if you freeze it with the sustain switch then start messing with the time and pitch controls; Badlands is described as “a very brutal distortion” but is really something much more strange and vicious than that suggests; and we finish with Coast, arguably the most conventional effect on offer here – a granular texture generator with control over the blend, grain size, wave shape and density. This is another one that demands to be heard in stereo.
A couple of minor issues need mentioning – I found the sustain switching to be noisy in some modes (but not in others), and the touch buttons sometimes needed tapping more than once to respond – but of course it’s the sounds that matter most, and they are consistently awesome.
Image: Richard Purvis
Poly Effects Trails – should I buy it?
Each one of these effects is a playground for unorthodox soundscaping; the fact that you’re getting seven of them in the same compact box makes the Trails a hell of a secret weapon. The only question – given that it’s not a cheap pedal – is whether you’re intrepid enough to take on this gnarly sonic wilderness.
Poly Effects Trails alternatives
There aren’t really any alternatives – that’s the point. But other pedals that mess with the ambient soundscape formula include the Hologram Chroma Console ($399/£486), Death By Audio + EarthQuaker Devices Time Shadows II ($199/£199) and Red Panda Raster 2 ($329/£275).
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Guitar.com Deals Of The Week: the last Cyber Week guitar deals still available, including saving $200 on Martin and $150 on Epiphone
Cyber Week – is it really a thing? Well, if reality is a construct, then who can really say one way or another? Either way, the construct that retailers have joined up and told us is “Cyber Week” is coming to an end, and with it will go the month-long Black Friday sales event that went with it.
All of which is to say, if you’ve got an itch to grab yourself a guitar-shaped bargain, you really are running out of time to grab something before you turn around on Monday and discover that everything is full price – for a few weeks at least.
Thankfully, there are still some Cyber Monday and Black Friday deal hangovers kicking around at guitar retailers across the planet, and they’re offering some pretty tasty savings for the tardiest types. Given that the post-Black Friday period is often a wasteland for decent savings, I’ve actually been pretty impressed with what I’ve found on offer here – you might be too…
Save $74 on the Fender Player II Stratocaster
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Look, Black Friday’s over, the killer deals of earlier in the week have gone with them, but this is a pretty decent saving on what is already a very competitively priced instrument.
I was seriously impressed with the Player II Strat when I reviewed it last year, and nothing has changed with each new Player II I’ve encountered since – they sound great, look great, the rolled fingerboard edges are a revelation, and I think it looks killer in this Birch Green finish at Zzounds.
Save $200 on the Martin 000-Jr Sapele
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I know I said Black Friday was over, but one of the most impressive deals of the whole gosh-darn weekend is still going strong. I was so impressed with this $200 saving on the Martin 000-Jr Sapele that I wrote about it at the time, and I stand by it.
When I reviewed the new 000-Jr Sapele last month I was blown away, and not only can you save 200 buckeroonies on the guitar on its own, but if you wanted to get everything you needed to start out – including capo, tuner, stand and strap – that’s available as a pack for the exact same price. Mad stuff.
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Save £160 on the Sterling Jason Richardson
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For shoppers in the UK and Europe, things are a lot less rosy on the deal front – Thomann’s Cyber Weekend deal window slammed shut on Tuesday and with it went most of the really killer savings.
If you poke around on Thomann’s site like I did however, there are some interesting savings still to be had, especially if you’re of the seven-string persuasion. This Jason Richardson signature model is a B-stock example, but that 18% saving is not to be sniffed at.
Save $1,000 on the Heritage Custom Shop Factory Special H-535
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Our writers have been seriously impressed with the quality, sound and playability of the Heritage Custom Shop stuff we’ve reviewed in the last few years – especially their interpretations of the ES-style instrument.
This stunning faded Pelham Blue Factory Special option is an absolutely beautiful guitar with an insanely impressive discount – 20%! – that’s a hangover at Sweetwater from their Black Friday deals. There’s probably only one of these in stock, so you’d better act fast if you’re tempted.
Save $150 Epiphone Inspired by Gibson Les Paul Standard ’60s
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Finally we have what might be the best saving of the lot still kicking around. Zzounds actually has most of its Black Friday deals rolling which is impressive, and there’s a killer saving to be had on what was already a very well priced guitar.
The Inspired By Gibson Epiphone stuff has transformed what we expect a budget Gibson Brands guitar to be, and this lovely Ebony version gives you everything you’d want for under $550 – that is a stone cold steal.
Don’t forget you can find out about all the best guitars, amps and effects with our expert buyer’s guides.
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“Whoever makes me the best one, that’s who I’ll work with”: Steve Vai says no guitar company delivered anything “remotely close” to what he wanted at first – “not even Ibanez”
Steve Vai has revisited the origin story of his long partnership with Ibanez – and the years before it, when no guitar maker, including Ibanez themselves, could build a six-string that met his needs.
Speaking on the Metal Sticks podcast with Iron Maiden’s Nicko McBrain, Vai explains how iconic guitar templates like the Stratocaster and Les Paul felt “very limiting” to him even as a teenager in the ‘70s.
“I was a teenager in the ‘70s, and I loved Strats and Les Pauls, but there was something about them that was very limiting,” says the guitarist. “I loved Strats because they had a whammy bar, but they weren’t – I know I’ll get in trouble for this – but they weren’t heavy metal instruments to me. The single coil pickups never really seemed to deliver the rock tone that I wanted. So, Les Pauls were great, they had the rock tone, but they didn’t have a whammy bar, and I didn’t like the way they sat.”
Working with Frank Zappa later on and watching the late legend treat guitars as modifiable machines also changed his perspective on the instrument.
“Once I started working for Zappa, I noticed that he was very irreverent about guitars,” says Vai. “He would drill into them. He would put different pickups. He had a Jimi Hendrix Strat that Jimmy burned, and the first thing he did was rip the pickups out, and put all these electronics in. So, I realised then that you don’t have to be limited.”
Inspired, Vai headed to a small guitar shop and began sketching out what will eventually evolve into the JEM.
“It was really just an innocent kind of desires, like, ‘Can you make me a guitar? I want 24 frets, which was different for Strat-style guitars at that time; nobody had them. And I wanted the cutaway so my hand could fit. I could never understand why these guitars, like Strats and Les Pauls, have these little cutaways and you can’t get to the high frets.”
He continues, “And then I wanted the pickup configuration a particular way that was actually unique at the time. And the whammy bar, I wanted to be able to pull way, way, way up. And no guitars could do that. So, I just took a look at the tailpiece, and I realised, well, it’s not going up because this wood is in the way. So I banged out the wood. And next thing you know, that was the beginning of real floating tremolos.”
As for Ibanez, Vai reveals that the relationship didn’t begin with him pitching the company; if anything, it was the opposite.
“At the time, I was touring with Dave [Lee Roth], and I needed quality instruments,” he says. “I only had four of these made, and all the guitar companies at the time, were obviously interested in having you play their guitars. And I said, ‘Well, I play this one. Whoever makes me the best one, that’s who I’ll work with.’”
“And nobody delivered even remotely close to what I wanted. Not even Ibanez, until finally, I said, ‘No, this is what I want, make this,’ and they made that guitar, and that became the JEM, and Ibanez were the only ones that could really pull it off, and they did it beautifully. And we’ve had this amazing relationship for close to 40 years.”
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Greta Van Fleet’s Jake Kiszka thinks that modern rock bands aren’t experimental enough: “There’s so much tunnel vision in contemporary rock records”
Rock may not be dying just yet, but Jake Kiszka believes that rock as a genre isn’t pushing itself nearly hard enough.
In a new interview with MetalTalk, the Greta Van Fleet guitarist – who’s lately been busy with his side project Mirador, formed alongside Chris Turpin (formerly of Ida Mae) and drummer Marky Lennon – discusses the band’s self-titled debut album and shares why looking further backward may be the key to pushing rock music forward.
Beyond the blues, Mirador’s music, Kiszka explains, is steeped in folklore and ancient narrative traditions. The trio found themselves drawn to old ballads and myths, using those stories as a foundation while ‘re-adapting’ them for their songs.
For Kiszka, that mix of tradition and reinvention isn’t just central to Mirador – it’s something he believes rock music at large could benefit from.
“There’s so much tunnel vision in contemporary rock records,” he says. “Some of the philosophy in what rock ‘n’ roll could or should be for our generation. We were contemplating the future of rock ‘n’ roll, but what we did was the complete opposite: looking back, perhaps even further back, through the threads of influence that were the lineage of rock ‘n’ roll’s invention.”
“We went back into the blues and folk, but also further into Native American music, African tribal music, Sufi music of India, Eastern European music, and Nordic, Celtic, and Hungarian folk music,” Kiszka adds.
That spirit of exploration has continued on the road, where Mirador’s songs have morphed and reshaped themselves almost nightly.
“The amount of evolution these songs have taken is crazy,” says Kiszka. “The majority of the record was written on two acoustic guitars in an old Victorian house in East Nashville.”
“We played versions of the songs before recording them, then recorded them, and they changed again. Then we constructed the headlining set, and they changed for the fourth time – and then they change every night. It’s a shape-shifting thing as we go along.”
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Electro Harmonix still wants to harvest the magnetosphere’s energy – this time for AI
When you think of Electro Harmonix, you probably think of their guitar pedals first and foremost – but that’s not all the company is about. Fans of the brand who subscribe to their newsletter were recently left stumped by an email proclaiming that the company has a plan to solve an AI-induced energy crisis by harvesting a near-infinite supply of energy that’s hiding out in the planet’s magnetosphere.
The crux of the email repeats much of the same points Matthews made back in 2022, the last time he sent out an email about this plan. However this time, the angle is that the increasing energy requirements of artificial intelligence datacentres redouble the need to figure out how to tap the magnetosphere’s energy.
AI’s extreme grid usage is well-documented – it is far more than traditional computing’s when it comes to doing comparable tasks. Some forecasts say that electricity needs from datacentres will have doubled between 2022 and 2026 thanks to the sheer scale of AI’s power usage.
And so Matthews is proposing his long-standing plan to address this growing need. The basic mechanism that Matthews lays out is this: solar winds, made of ions with their own charge, collide with and compress the Earth’s magnetic field on the side that faces the sun. Like a compressed spring, the magnetosphere is therefore a huge planet-wide store of potential energy. Matthews has long been interested in this as a source of usable energy. In 1999 he wrote a letter to NASA scientist David Stern and asked for a calculation of the energy within the side of the Earth’s magnetosphere that faces the sun
“I won’t calculate it here – it’s long and hard,” Stern wrote back, “but [I’ll] just give you an order of magnitude estimate based on a formula which is really appropriate to a different case, and isn’t even exact there.” The resulting calculation gives 6.9 × 10^14 joules, which Matthews formats as 690,000,000,000,000 joules – presumably to drive home the size of the number.
While this figure is indeed large, it’s important to remember that it’s somewhat arbitrary for a couple of reasons. Firstly, it was a self-admitted back-of-the-envelope calculation that Stern admitted was a rough order of magnitude estimate. Secondly, space is famously big – a number relating to the potential energy of anything on a planetary scale is obviously going to be enormous. The potential energy from the entire planet’s wind would obviously be a similarly massive number, but this has to be modulated by the practicalities of building and maintaining wind farms and their related grid infrastructure.
And so what are Matthews’ wind farm analogues, then? Well, the company ai3ms to “team up with the right partner(s) who will provide parallel satellites orbiting earth at about 500 miles.” These satellites would contain “electronics to build up an increasing oscillation,” designed by EHX and Bell Labs alum Bob Myer. Matthews says that “This would conceivably be an easy first step to getting the energy 500 miles up. For example, spaceships launched from earth use most of their energy to get into orbit. With this energy, those spacecraft can be refueled. Additionally, there are numerous defense applications and cryptocurrency mining uses.”
This is, in a word, ambitious. Spacebound energy generation that’s transferred to Earth remains in the realm of science fiction, for now. And lest we forget, this is a communication that’s been sent to the guitar pedal community via EHX’s email list. This is not normally how energy revolutions begin, and instead it’s just left those receiving the email rather baffled. Many have called the plan pseudoscientific, or just chalked it up to Matthews’ well-documented eccentricity.
Accusations of pseudoscientific thinking are not helped by the unimaginable scale of the project and the scattershot list of applications. Nor are they helped by the mention of Thomas Henry Moray, a scientist who claimed to have invented a device that took energy from “the metafrequency oscillations of empty space itself.” The device itself never took off, obviously, as that was in the 1920s and we don’t currently power things via these zero-point vacuum devices. Matthews’ press release states that Myer was inspired by Moray and posited that this machine could have worked by tapping into that magnetosphere – a claim that’s, shall we say, hard to verify. We really only have Moray’s word that his machine actually functioned, and so it’s hard to speculate how it might have worked.
In any case, it is obviously a little unlikely that this plan is ever enacted. But until then, Mike Matthews is clearly still passionate about it – so, er, all power to him.
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Sterling By Music Man Kaizen 6 review: one of the most ergonomic and comfortable guitars I’ve ever played
$849/£999, sterlingbymusicman.com
Every now and again you stumble across an instrument which renews your belief that there’s still plenty of room for innovation in guitar building. At the heavier end of the spectrum, Animals As Leaders guitarist Tosin Abasi has been something of a standard-bearer for this, both with his own Abasi Concepts guitar brand, but also with his collaboration with Ernie Ball Music Man.
The electric guitar that came out of that partnership was the Kaizen – a sleek, precision-engineered weapon of shred destruction that was launched back in 2022 to rave reviews. It felt like a guitar for the future, but one that came with a hefty price tag.
Now, however, we have a sub-$1,000 Sterling version that brings Abasi’s eye for forward-thinking guitar design to a much broader audience. The question is whether the design decisions made to make a guitar like this at this price point can retain enough of the brilliance and ingenuity of the original.
Image: Adam Gasson
Sterling By Music Man Kaizen 6 – what is it?
The original Kaizen was every bit a Tosin guitar – a seven-string multi-scale behemoth in the best kind of way. A six-string version came along a few years later, and so it’s fitting that we get both seven- and six-string iterations for this initial Sterling Kaizen run.
What you don’t get, however, is the fanned frets of the original, with EBMM opting for a conventional 25.5” scale with a 24-fret neck. Also different from the original are the pickups – the heat-treated humbucker and mini-humbucker of the original are replaced with a pair of OEM ceramic units. The alder body of the original is also traded for the less expensive but common nyatoh.
What the guitar does keep, and this is a very good thing, is the gearless Steinberger tuners that give the headstock its rather lovely uncluttered look. You also get a choice of two rather lovely finishes – Stealth Black or Firemist Purple Satin. This is not a guitar that’s going to win fans among the vintage obsessives, but that’s very much the point.
Image: Adam Gasson
Sterling By Music Man Kaizen 6 – build quality and playability
I won’t beat around the bush; the Sterling By Music Man Kaizen 6 is one of the most ergonomic and comfortable guitars I’ve ever played – at least in terms of the way it rests in my lap.
Ergonomic guitars are all the rage at the moment in heavier circles – and they aren’t just designed with stage comfort in mind. The Kaizen can go toe to toe with the best of them. It’s vanishingly light (barely weighing 6lbs) and the uber-think body and seamless contours meld into you as you’re playing, whether seated or standing – you almost forget you’re holding a guitar sometimes.
If you’re the sort of woodshedding guitar player who likes to sit and practise for hours on end, or indulge in mammoth recording sessions in front of your computer, the way this guitar sits so comfortably and lightly in your lap is a game-changer.
At first, the Kaizen 6’s 15.75” fretboard radius feels a little sprawling – but that’s simply due to what I’m used to on my other guitars. After a few minutes with the Kaizen 6 I’m locked in, and if anything the wider radius feels like it offers more room to explore as a player.
There are some that will definitely miss the multi-scale fretboard of the Ernie Ball Music Man version, but the setup on this more conventionally-scaled neck is so solid and smooth and effortless I didn’t find myself pining for it. That said, I’d definitely be keen to try one should Sterling want to expand the range in the future.
The comfortable neck is coupled with what is an almost 2D form factor (and that’s a compliment) and a beautifully low string action right out the box, the Kaizen starts to feel almost like an extension of myself – which is exactly where I want to be in terms of priming myself for creativity. As Guitar.com’s resident shredder, I can confirm that sweep picking, in particular, with the Kaizen 6 is an absolute joy.
Obviously, the looks mean this is a guitar that will chiefly find itself in the sights of metal players. But in all honesty, it’s just a fantastically well-rounded instrument, and has the comfort and clean tones to handle a plethora of less aggressive styles of music, too. You might get a few odd glances if you whip it out at the local jazz club, mind, but at least people will remember your set…
The gearless Steinberger tuning machines are a bit of a headspin at first, but they do as promised in providing rock-solid tuning stability – especially with unforgiving use of the floating tremolo system at the other end – and with a 40:1 ratio, ultra-fine tuning adjustments feel effortless. These tuners undoubtedly serve the guitar’s sleek and streamlined aesthetic, too.
Image: Adam Gasson
Sterling By Music Man Kaizen 6 – sounds
The Kaizen 6’s blacked-out aesthetic, dual ceramic humbuckers and floating trem – paired with my personal penchant for metal – mean I head straight for the high-gain tones, naturally.
Personally, I like to test guitars both through a real amp and some kind of in-the-box amp plugin. My choices in this case are the Blackstar ID:CORE V4 – a cheap but formidable practice amp – and Positive Grid’s AI-powered tone platform, BIAS X.
Something about the alien-like offset body and matte black finish makes me head straight to the tuners and drop to something in the modern metal range. And while I can’t go quite as low as the Kaizen 7 would allow me, drop B suffices here. The drop tuning isn’t just for my own enjoyment, though; it’s to test how tightly the bridge pickup handles complex riffs in the lower registers. The Kaizen 6 aces this litmus test, with the perfect blend of aggressive bite and clarity that’ll effortlessly stand out in even the messiest of mixes.
Remember how I said sweeping was a joy? That’s in large part due to the warm tone of the neck pickup on a high-gain setting. Like the bridge pickup, the neck humbucker offers superb coherence of notes even when heavily driven – throw a fret wrap on there and the Kaizen 6’s fretboard becomes a genuine playground for your fingers.
The Music Man Kaizen featured a mini humbucker in the neck and a super-hot custom wound bridge bucker, but the Sterling’s tonal palette isn’t especially vast, with singular volume and tone controls, a three-way toggle switch and no push-pull functionality for coil-splitting. I didn’t find that I particularly missed all that, but it definitely makes the Sterling version less sonically versatile than its big brother.
Clean tones sound superb on the Kaizen 6, too, but it’s worth noting that the pickups run pretty hot, and are very responsive to the aggressiveness of your playing. In other words, even on a clean amp setting, playing hard enough provokes some degree of breakup in your signal.
Image: Adam Gasson
Sterling By Music Man Kaizen 6 – should I buy one?
All things considered, there are plenty of metal-ready double-humbucker, floating trem-loaded guitars on the market, but where the Kaizen 6 really excels, I believe, is in its ergonomics.
Supremely lightweight and thin – yet durable and ready to take a hammering, in terms of your playing, at least – the Kaizen 6 is among the most comfortable and seamless guitars I’ve ever played. And coupled with a more than adequate tonal palette, I’d say you’d be wise to part with £999 to get yourself one of these.
Image: Adam Gasson
Sterling By Music Man Kaizen 6 – alternatives
If budget isn’t a concern, you could spring for the full shebang and go for the Ernie Ball Music Man Kaizen ($3,799/£3,749). This’ll get you that modern metal fanned fret setup, Music Man-designed custom humbuckers – including a Heat Treated one in the bridge position billed by EBMM as “one of the hottest pickups on the market” – as well as a wider range of finish options. The fluorescent green Kryptonite, in particular, is my favourite. There are plenty of other ergonomically-inclined guitars out there at the moment, king of which is the remarkable Strandberg Boden II Standard ($1,799/£1,699) – though I think the Kaizen has the edge on looks.
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Is this the first relic’d Strat? Andrian Belew and Seymour Duncan’s chaotic ‘relic-ing’ session revealed: “He laid it in the grass, doused it with lighter fluid, and poof!”
Who invented the relic’d guitar? Depending on who you ask, the answer might be the Fender Custom Shop… or a young Adrian Belew watching Seymour Duncan set his freshly purchased $285 Stratocaster on fire in their backyard.
The prog legend has now shared never-before-seen photos from that gloriously unhinged afternoon, giving guitar fans a rare peek at what may well be one of the earliest relic jobs ever attempted.
In a new Instagram post, Belew recounts the brutal treatment his brown sunburst Strat endured that fateful day.
“Seymour Duncan just sent these cool photos from the day he and I (mainly he) battered and burnt the $285 strat I had just bought,” the post begins. “It had to have been one of the earliest examples of ‘relic-ing’ a guitar.”
“He laid it in the grass, doused it with lighter fluid, and poof! The relic-ing ritual began. When we were finished gouging it with screwdrivers, spraying blops of paint on it, dragging it around the yard, and banging it on the driveway, we hung it up in a tree.”
The next day, Belew brought the battered Strat to rehearsals – where Frank Zappa couldn’t resist commenting: “If you wanted to ruin your guitar, Adrian, why didn’t you loan it to a friend?’”
And while Belew’s backyard burn session was pure chaos, most professionals would agree that relic’ing today is a very different beast. For all the debate the practice stirs up, the modern process is often meticulously planned, measured, and executed down to the last scratch.
Max Gutnik, Fender’s Chief Product Officer recently explained just how involved modern-day relic-ing really is: “You know, relicing is hard to do. It’s ironic because people think you can just drop it a few times and drag it down the street. But it’s actually a really intensive process that adds a lot of hours to the guitar.”
“Trying to make the relicing not look uniform is really important. The processes we use have improved so much: you want the feel and the look of a broken-in guitar, but you don’t want anything actually broken! So we just keep improving that process, the lacquer and paint…”
The post Is this the first relic’d Strat? Andrian Belew and Seymour Duncan’s chaotic ‘relic-ing’ session revealed: “He laid it in the grass, doused it with lighter fluid, and poof!” appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.
“He said, ‘You have something the others don’t’”: Steve Lukather recalls the night Jimmy Page complimented him – while he was hanging out with Eddie Van Halen
Earning a nod of approval from the Jimmy Page is the sort of once-in-a-lifetime trophy moment most guitarists would brag about for decades. For Steve Lukather, that moment unfolded under even more surreal circumstances – with Eddie Van Halen standing right beside him.
Speaking to Forbes, the Toto legend and session ace shares the story of the only time he ever met the Led Zeppelin icon and how the night had left an unexpectedly deep mark.
“I have a funny story about Jimmy,” Lukather begins. “It was the one and only time I ever met him. I went over to this Guitar Center thing honouring Nigel Tufnel from Spinal Tap. In fact, I ended up producing four tracks on their next record because of that night.”
Lukather arrived with Eddie Van Halen, expecting nothing more than a fun hang and a chance to meet one of his heroes. But what happened next caught him completely off-guard.
“I showed up with Eddie and my boys,” he recalls. “Hey, we’re going to meet Jimmy Page, a big deal, right? Jimmy’s standing there greeting everyone. He points at me. I think he’s pointing at Ed, of course, but it’s me, and he motions for me to come over.”
Then came the compliment of a lifetime.
“He said, ‘You have something that these other guys here don’t.’ And I go, ‘What’s that, Jimmy?’ He said, ‘You understand and I understand, but those other guitarists don’t. We were studio players. They don’t know what that means.’”
Page then explained that he knew people sometimes dismissed Lukather because he was a “studio guy” – a notion he shut down instantly, speaking as someone who’d carved his own career in the studio trenches.
“‘That’s the opposite of the absolute truth. That sets you above these other guys,’ Jimmy said. I asked if I could give him a hug, and tell people he had said that,” Lukather continues. “He laughed, gave me a hug and said, ‘Sure.’ That meant the world to me.”
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“Virtually indistinguishable from the all-tube original”: EVH’s first digital amp, the 5150III Hypersonic, delivers Eddie Van Halen’s iconic tube tones without the heft
EVH has officially entered the digital arena with the 5150III Hypersonic 6L6, a 1×12 combo designed to deliver the power, clarity and feel of Eddie Van Halen’s legendary 5150III tube amp – without the bulk or maintenance that comes with traditional valves.
Built using “massive digital processing power”, the Hypersonic 6L6 is said to deliver “EVH tone, volume and dynamics” that’s “virtually indistinguishable from the all-tube original”.
With a premium Celestion speaker and closed-back cabinet, it dishes out the familiar growl, punch and high-gain aggression players expect from the brand.
The launch also marks EVH’s first fully-digital amplifier, positioning it alongside the modern convenience trend pioneered by Fender’s Tone Master series. According to EVH, the Hypersonic aims to solve the long-standing challenge of capturing true EVH tube tone in a form factor that’s practical for home studios and travelling musicians alike.
The amp sticks to the familiar three-channel layout – Clean, Crunch and Lead – but with added features for greater precision. Clean and Crunch come with concentric EQ controls, while each of the three channels comes equipped with its own noise gate and trim control. The result is a setup that stays tight and controlled, even with high-gain tones or loud stage volumes.
The redesigned footswitch allows players to toggle reverb and the effects loop on the fly, and an onboard power selector offers full power plus five attenuation levels, making it easy to dial in your ideal tone at any volume.
Credit: EVH
Recording and live routing options are equally comprehensive. A balanced XLR line out with built-in IR cabinet sims provides studio-ready tones straight to a mixer, while a mute switch enables silent monitoring and late-night tracking. A headphone jack, MIDI input and USB-C port round out the modern connectivity.
Weighing just 39 lbs – roughly 40% lighter than the Iconic Series 5150III 50W combo – the Hypersonic offers exceptional portability without sacrificing tone. The amp is available in Black or Ivory vinyl, and is priced at $1,699.99.
“This represents the next evolution in EVH amplification, delivering Eddie’s iconic tone through innovative digital technology,” says Jon Romanowski, VP of Product of EVH Guitars. “The Hypersonic 6L6 1×12 breaks down the barriers that have kept players from accessing authentic EVH sound, making it more portable and versatile than ever before. Whether players are recording at home or performing on stage, this amp delivers that unmistakable EVH tone that made Eddie’s sound iconic.”
Learn more at EVH.
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“He came up with the guitar parts we all studied. He produced the records we all worshipped”: Guitar community pays tribute to legendary guitarist Steve Cropper, who has died aged 84
Steve Cropper, the legendary guitarist for Booker T. & the MGs and key architect of the Stax Records sound, has died at the age of 84.
A statement shared on Cropper’s official Facebook page confirms that the musician passed away “peacefully in Nashville” on Wednesday (3 December): “Steve was a beloved musician, songwriter, and producer whose extraordinary talent touched millions of lives around the world,” the statement reads.
“While we mourn the loss of a husband, father, and friend, we find comfort knowing that Steve will live forever through his music. Every note he played, every song he wrote, and every artist he inspired ensures that his spirit and artistry will continue to move people for generations.”
Born in 1941 in Dora, Missouri, Cropper rose to prominence as the guitarist for Booker T. & the MGs, the house band for Stax Records in Memphis. Often hailed as one of the finest backing bands in soul, the group helped define the label’s signature grooves, with Cropper’s distinctive guitar work featuring in many of Stax’s hit tracks.
In the ’60s, Cropper co-composed the famed instrumental Green Onions and (Sittin’ On) The Dock of the Bay, the latter of which won the first Grammy Award for Best R&B Song in 1969. As a member of the MGs, he was inducted into the Rock & Rock Hall of Fame in 1992.
Beyond the band, Cropper also collaborated with legends like Otis Redding, Queen’s Brian May, and John Lennon, co-writing and producing tracks that remain staples in American music.
Tributes have poured in from across the guitar and music community following news of the musician’s passing.
Describing Cropper as a “true great”, Joe Bonamassa writes, “Words fail me in describing Steve Cropper’s impact on music. He was on the session when history was made. He came up with the guitar parts we all studied. He produced the records we all worshipped. He was my friend and a true great. Rest in peace. This one really hurts.”
Australian guitarist Tommy Emmanuel, too, calls Cropper “one of the most influential guitar players of our time”, saying “Thank you for all your beautiful music… and for being so kind to me, coming to my camp in Memphis.”
Tyler Bryant, who performed at Cropper’s Songwriters Hall of Fame induction in 2005, also recalls the experience: “I was so nervous that I wrote the lyrics to Midnight Hour on the top of my guitar. I knew the song by heart, but I etched them into the top of my favourite guitar anyways,” he states. “The guitar got stolen and the lyrics were sanded off. After many years, the guitar came back to me. I think about that night every time I play it. Some things just live on, especially when they are pure. The way Steve Cropper made music was pure.”
View more tributes below.
In Memoriam: “Play it, Steve!” Immortalized with a shout-out in Sam and Dave’s “Soul Man,” 1992 Inductee Steve Cropper was one of music’s most recognized and in-demand guitarists. (1/3) pic.twitter.com/hwRAXPgOvQ
— Rock & Roll Hall of Fame (@rockhall) December 3, 2025
RIP Steve Cropper… a blues brother to the end. pic.twitter.com/QPpJDFOWdx
— ✭Marc✭ (@marcmonster76) December 3, 2025
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How Jan Akkerman created a timeless guitar riff that soundtracked adverts, TV and beyond: this is the story of Hocus Pocus by Focus
Some songs take on a life that sprawls far beyond their intended audience to become something altogether more impactful. It’s certainly been the case with Hocus Pocus, the signature song of 70s Dutch prog-rockers Focus.
Decades after its release, the song has become a staple of film and TV soundtracks, covers, and advertisements – perhaps most iconically as the soundtrack to Nike’s legendary “Write the Future” advert in 2010. But for guitarist Jan Akkerman, moving outside of what’s expected is nothing out of the ordinary.
“My guitar playing influences go much further than just the rock scene,” he exclaims. “I like jazz guitar players like Django Reinhardt, because of his approach to playing the melody, and also Wes Montgomery in the way he uses phrasing. So, in my own style, I tried to do a mishmash of those things. In turn it triggered my interest in playing more than the usual straightforward chords. So, in a way, you could say I really make a kind of fusion music.”
As a founding member Focus from 1969 until his departure in 1976 for a solo career, Akkerman and his cohorts broke through internationally in 1973 with two instrumentals, Sylvia and Hocus Pocus. Having studied classical guitar in his early years as well as, attended Amsterdam Music Lyceum where he was awarded a scholarship, Akkerman brought a mindset and approach to making music that were in many ways, virtuosic.
On Hocus Pocus Akkerman’s heavy guitar riffage, fire-y guitar soloing, classical elements and use of jazzy major seventh chords within an instrumental framework that set him apart from his guitar contemporaries – though the hair-raising yodeling courtesy of keyboardist/flautist Thijs van Leer also helped Hocus Pocus stand out.
“I used to listen to a lot of Frank Zappa and really liked his eclectic approach to making music,” says Akkerman when asked how Hocus Pocus came to be. “The main heavy rock guitar motif that is throughout the track is actually very Chuck Berry based. We were just jamming, then when our organ player in the band started yodeling on the piece, we said, ‘Yeah, man, keep on doing that’ not realizing the consequences of doing that, and what it would bring to the song.”
Bet On Black
The track’s driving guitar riff, is courtesy of a late 60s Gibson Les Paul Custom, of which Akkerman has become synonymous with ever since, and used extensively throughout his playing career. “It was the first Les Paul I laid my hands on in the early 1970s,” he says. The first time I saw a Black Beauty was with a Dutch-Indonesian rock band called The Tielman Brothers. They were using that guitar and the first moment I saw it I said, ‘that’s going to be my guitar’. And to my great surprise, when I finally got one, it had everything I wanted. But I thought that the sound of the humbuckers’ middle position was a little bit too muddy so I decided to put my Gretsch White Falcon Filter’tron pickups in it instead to give me more middle. But later I put the pickups back into my White Falcon again.”
When Akkerman turned 75 years of age in 2021, Gibson approached the guitarist offering to build him a signature model based on the Black Beauty. “They kind of did a signature model, but it wasn’t the thing for me,” he says. “So, they came up with another signature model from their custom shop called the Les Paul Custom JA, which is based on the ‘54 Custom that I used with Focus on the Live at the Rainbow album. The production was limited to only ten guitars, with each guitar unique, having the name of one of the songs I played at the concert, on the headstock.”
Akkerman’s warm distorted guitar tone on Hocus Pocus was achieved via a Coloursound Power Boost pedal through a Fender Super Showman. Some may pour scorn on Akkerman’s use of a much-maligned solid-state amp to achieve his tone, but he’s having none of it.
“I bought the Coloursound pedal on Shaftsbury Avenue because, the Showman though it was extremely loud, it didn’t have a boosting sound,” he says. “But once I came across this Coloursound, I checked it out and realized it was exactly what I needed. On the new live recording of Hocus Pocus that I did on My Focus – Live Under the Rainbow, I used two Voxs and the big Line 6 Helix as a preamp. The Helix is wonderful, you can go anywhere with that, straight in the PA or whatever. I even brought two of them; one for the road and one for my studio.”
One could argue that Akkerman’s fast and furious soling on Hocus Pocus set the foundation for what later became speed metal. His guitar work on the track was also noted by Melody Maker magazine who in 1973 awarded him the title of ‘Best guitarist in the world’, above other iconic guitar players such as Eric Clapton, Ritchie Blackmore and Jimmy Page. In addition to its regular place in film and TV, the track has gone on to become a popular choice cover by acts such as Marillion, Iron Maiden, The Vandals, Vanessa Mae and German heavy metal kings Helloween.
“I think Marillion’s version is really great,” says Akkerman. “Steve Rothery is such a great guitar player, that I’m actually very proud of that cover.”
Whereas instrumentals were regularly heard on radio playlists in the Seventies and Eighties, Akkerman believes that in today’s musical climate’s obsession with style over substance, instrumentals have become nothing more than a guilty pleasure for many. “Today everybody does their own thing and everything else is bad,” he says. “And that gets pretty boring after a while, so because of that, I don’t listen to new music anymore. The only thing I listen to now are the old classic boys like Django or Wes Montgomery and others like them.”
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“No self-respecting classical player is going to play with a pick”: Marcin declares himself “a true enemy” of the humble guitar pick
Marcin Patrzałek is arguably a guitar’s best friend – take one look at the Polish musician’s percussive fingerstyle technique, and it’s as if his acoustic is an extension of his body. Picks on the other hand… well, Marcin has some “heated” opinions on them.
In a new interview with D’Addario, the guitarist has officially declared himself as a “true enemy” of the humble guitar pick. “I don’t use a pick, ever,” he declares. “I don’t need a pick! Even if I play electric, I’m not gonna use a pick! Why do I need a pick if I have five picks right here on this hand?”
Rather than a classic plectrum, Marcin has grown out his nails on his right hand. While the left hand’s fingernails are short to tap on his guitar, his taloned right hand essentially means he’s got five ‘picks’ ready to go at all times.
While some might question the choice, he argues that using the nails rather than a pick gives far more control. “This is something that comes very much from classical and flamenco,” he explains. “No self-respecting classical player is going to play with a pick, man! Dude, I can’t even imagine what that would look like… I’m never using a pick.”
He goes on to show his nails in action, showcasing how the nails make a light job of a rasguedo performance, easily navigating the intricate flamenco strumming technique. “How am I using a pick and doing that?” he exclaims. “It’s the most limiting thing in the world!”
He even goes so far as to “grab a pick from behind [his] back” to show the difference. When he performs with an equal degree of confidence, unleashing a great burst of flamenco, he reveals it was a trick; he obviously hadn’t been able to conjure up a real pick from thin air. “Where’s the pick, where’s the pick?” he gasps, feigning shocked. “The nails, dude!”
“Sorry,” he concludes with a laugh. “I got heated!!”
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Nuno Bettencourt says bands often sabotage guest guitarists at gigs on purpose with sub-par gear: “I’ve dubbed it the ‘punishment’ rig’”
While hazing rituals are often associated with college sports teams, its also a rite of passage to humiliate your musical peers every now and then. Sometimes, stepping out on stage as a guest guitarist can feel like playing a game of Russian Roulette – and, as Extreme’s Nuno Bettencourt reveals, he bands have tried to sabotage him numerous times with a crappy rig.
Speaking to Guitar World in its new print issue, Bettencourt explains how many bands have a designated “second rig” to prank their guest performers. “It’s not the same rig as they’re playing through,” he says. “I’ve dubbed it the ‘punishment rig’.”
According to Bettencourt, the “punishment rig” often has very little “distortion or sustain”, and “the guitar has action three miles off the neck and there are no special pedals, no special sauce”. But, regardless of the tools you’ve been dealt, you just need to suck it up.
“You’re gonna have to get up there and battle it out with whatever it is,” he laughs. “You’re gonna have to show the fuck up, no excuses! That’s where you separate the men from the boys – on the punishment rig!”
Of course, strong guitarists wont be too tripped up by a “punishment rig”. In fact, Bettencourt is adamant that gear has minimal impact on how good a guitarist can sound. Downright sabotage can obviously have a negative impact, but he argues that the most important piece of gear you can always rely on is a good pair of hands.
“We know amps are important… But for anybody who’s chasing gear to make themselves sound better, that’s never going to happen,” he tells Guitar World.
“You need to find pieces of gear that allow your hand to allow you to express yourself the best way,” he adds. “It’s like finding a head that doesn’t tamper too much with what your hands are saying and doing and – tonally – finding pedals that don’t get in the way of that, like to where they process so much that it’s not you anymore.”
In his opinion, the key is finding what you find most comfortable to play with, and then the rest is up to you. “Find a string, a pedal, a pick, an amp and a speaker that best interprets you and doesn’t get in the way of the power, expression and voice that your hands have,” he explains. “Your hands are your secret weapon.”
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Stevie Ray Vaughan’s actual 1967 Fender Twin Reverb is almost £140,000 off for Cyber Week – but here’s the gargantuan figure it’ll still set you back…
With countless deals across guitars, amps and pedals, the chaos of Cyber Week is truly in full swing. But you’ll be hard-pressed to find a saving better than this one – that is, if you’re willing to splash out £458,796.89 exactly on Stevie Ray Vaughan’s actual 1967 Fender Twin Reverb.
You might be thinking “Guitar.com, that’s still an awfully expensive bit of gear”, and we hear you. But the amp usually costs just under £600,000, which means you’re actually saving around £140,000. So, if you’re enticed by hefty discounts – and willing to ignore how much you’ll still pay – this Reverb deal is for you.
While the price tag may still scare people off, the amp is a pretty cool piece of blue rock history. Not only was it used during the recording of a slew of Stevie Ray Vaughan’s records, including 1983’s Texas Flood, 1984’s Couldn’t Stand The Weather, 1985’s Soul To Soul and 1989’s In Step.
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It was also used during a number of live shows between 1982 and ‘89, and even during rehearsal sessions for David Bowie’s Serious Moonlight Tour in 1983 – a tour where Vaughan was supposed to play as the opening act, before plans fell through.
The Twin has also been heavily modded, with the listing explaining that Cesar Diaz and René Martinez were likely involve in the amp’s tweaked electronics, which also sees the amp employing Electro Voice SRO, otherwise known as ‘coffee can’, speakers.
In an interview with Guitar World, the seller, Björn Groenen, explained that: “This amplifier was one of Stevie Ray Vaughan’s most favourite and important amplifiers. He owned many, but only one Twin Reverb with Electro Voice coffee can speakers.”
“In the five years that I have owned it, I have played the amplifier just once. It deeply shocked me how an amplifier could sound like that! I immediately recognised the sound of Stevie Ray Vaughan’s most famous songs… this amp is the most important amplifier in blues musical history.”
READ MORE: I’m finding the best Cyber Monday guitar deals in the US and UK across Thomann, Sweetwater and more
The seller has also got a number of engineers, techs and tour managers to confirm the authenticity of the £458,796.89 amp. His sources vary from Stevie’s mate, fellow blues rocker Bill Carter, to the Stevie’s guitar tech, Richard Spencer, to David Bowie’s guitarist, Carlos Alomar. The list goes on, and on, and on – and he’s even got Stevie Ray Vaughan’s ex-partner, Janna Lapidus (now Leblanc), to sign on the dotted line to prove it’s the real deal.
Credit: Reverb
He’s also included a number of photos pointing out where the amp has appeared in old recordings, all helpfully circled or highlighted. So, its fair to say the man has been thorough.
For Stevie Ray Vaughan mega fans, this is certainly a cool bit of kit. The listing also serves as a great history lesson; there’s loads of insight into how Vaughan used the Twin. “The guitar techs would wire wired Stevie Ray Vaughan’s signal into [the Twin and a Marshall combo] and sometimes a sheet of plexiglass would be placed in front to lower the volume because he played extremely loudly,” the listing reads.
Frank Pavlich, another of Stevie Ray Vaughan’s guitar techs, has also provided some insight into the amp’s life. “Yes, this is absolutely authentic. I had the privilege of working with Stevie Ray Vaughan during David Bowie’s rehearsal period… I worked on that crazy Fender Twin Reverb amplifier with Electro Voice SRO speakers. I never understood how it made such fabulous noise.”
The tech also shines some more light on why the Bowie and Vaughan tour may have fallen through. “The concept colour for David Bowie’s Serious Moonlight was blue… when the set designer said ‘blue’, Stevie Ray Vaughan went ballistic!” he explains. “The collaboration with David Bowie went downhill afterwards. It was a very tumultuous rehearsal period. David Bowie had very specific ideas about the set, costumes and crew. Stevie Ray Vaughan didn’t want anything changed.”
Head to Reverb for more information.
The post Stevie Ray Vaughan’s actual 1967 Fender Twin Reverb is almost £140,000 off for Cyber Week – but here’s the gargantuan figure it’ll still set you back… appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.
EarthQuaker Devices Barrows review – a titchy fuzz pedal with a huge voice
$129/£139, earthquakerdevices.com
Somebody at EarthQuaker Devices really wants to confuse people. How else do you explain the decision to make an aggressive fuzz pedal, name it after a kind of burial mound and cover it in sinister skulls… then opt for the colour palette of raspberries and ice cream?
This is the Barrows Fuzz Attacker, a mini-pedal based on the Tone Bender MkII of 1966 – one of the absolute greats of the early days of guitar filth. It looks cute and dinky, but it should sound anything but.
Image: Press
EarthQuaker Devices Barrows – what is it?
There won’t be an ‘is it easy to use?’ section in this review, because it’s a two-knob fuzz and even my dog could handle that (on a good day). The Barrows is powered by three germanium transistors in classic MkII style, and the knobs are marked level and attack; that matches what you’ll see on any original pre-MkIII Tone Bender, letting you adjust the loudness of the output, the wildness of the fuzz, and nothing else. If you want to be able to tweak the EQ or the bias, look elsewhere.
Is that a drawback? Not necessarily: those old fuzz circuits were all about brutal simplicity, and that’s the spirit that EQD has tried to capture here. For my money the MkII is the best of all the Benders, taking the smoothness of the Fuzz Face sound but sharpening up the midrange, and some would argue that’s a recipe best left unembellished.
Image: Press
EarthQuaker Devices Barrows – what does it sound like?
Surely nobody needed this much gain in 1966? But it was there if they wanted it, and it’s here as well: the Barrows is as heavy as a five-tier wedding cake, and every bit as sweet.
This is about as thick as fuzz gets, with whumping bass and just enough headroom to avoid completely splatting out. Even with a Telecaster on the bridge pickup it’s not a natural choice for tight power chords – in fact ‘tight’ is not in its vocabulary – but what you do get instead is an ultra-creamy lead tone with just a hint of pinch when you dig in hard.
And there is a way to lighten things up a bit… but it doesn’t involve the attack control. While this is effective at making things more sensible, you’re still dealing with full-on fuzz even when it’s set to minimum – and it’s still on the bloomy side. Turn down your guitar’s volume knob a few notches, however, and the treble is no longer being squeezed out of the picture – resulting in a mid-gain crunch sound that’s much more fresh and tonally transparent. This is great, but it just makes me wish EQD had found room for a cheeky bass-cut switch so we could enjoy that more open tone at full blast.
Image: Press
EarthQuaker Devices Barrows – should I buy it?
The Barrows is a lovely little pedal, and if you’re after a high-gain fuzz that will sneak into the tiniest gap on your pedalboard then it’s definitely worth a look. Just bear in mind that this isn’t the last word in faithful MkII replicas: it prioritises phatness over clarity, which might suit you fine if you’re a sludgy doom-rock merchant – or indeed a bassist – but isn’t much good for disciplined riffing.
EarthQuaker Devices Barrows alternatives
For similarly thick and fluffy fuzz tones with a couple more knobs to play with, try EarthQuaker’s own Dirt Transmitter ($179/£189). The Electro-Harmonix Bender Royale ($149/£149) is another new TB type, this time based on the MkIII circuit; but for old-school handwired quality, you won’t find better than the Williams Vintage Tone MkII Professional (£155).
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