Classic S Suhr, the best American Super Strat today
Friday, 30 April 2021
"Classic S Suhr, the best American Super Strat today?" Come on! Let's assume the bold statement that the Classic S from Suhr Guitars (suhr.com) represents the best of the modern Super Strat in the production guitar segment. Big fan of John Suhr (whom I hope to interview one of these days!!) and his work in
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Showroom feature: Tausch Guitars model 665 Raw in Candy Apple Red
Tuesday, 20 April 2021
As part of the service proposed to boutique guitar builders to exhibit and try out instruments in our private showroom in Paris, France here is the model 665 Raw in a gorgeous Candy Apple Red relic finish from Tausch Guitars (tausch-guitars.de). This guitar built in Germany by the luthier Rainer Tausch is full of cool
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Invaders Bluegrass 550 tube amp, a 50W single-channel powerhouse
Tuesday, 26 January 2021
The Bluegrass 550 from Invaders Amplification (invadersamplification.com) is a 100% tube amp single-channel tube amp that has a pretty phenomenal sound. One thing is sure, you won't run out of headroom with this amp! Invaders Bluegrass 550 review Until the next gear review or interview, keep on playing the guitar! Pierre Journel.
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Octopus G2002 Spalt review, awesome sounding guitar and a piece of art
Friday, 08 January 2021
Make no mistake the Octopus G2002 from Spalt Instruments might look like a piece of art (guess what, it is one!) but it is first and foremost a badass guitar! It was a real pleasure to review this guitar which spent a couple of weeks at our showroom in Paris before heading to Japan. This
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Tone Bender, review of one of the ultimate and sought-after Fuzz pedals
Wednesday, 16 December 2020
Thanks to a faithful premium subscriber of The Guitar Channel (thanks Steven), I was able to test a vintage Sola Sound Tone Bender Professional Mk II. It is one of the most sought after Fuzz pedals by aficionados. Tone Bender Professional Mk II review Impressions Fuzz pedals are difficult beasts to tame. This Tone Bender
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Unicorn Classic Ruokangas, a super high-end Les Paul type luthier guitar
Wednesday, 25 November 2020
Ruokangas (ruokangas.com) is a difficult name to pronounce for us but it's a well known name on The Guitar Channel since there have already been several interviews with luthier Juha Ruokangas as well as several luthier chronicles. In the category of high-end luthier guitars, here is the Unicorn Classic, the reinterpretation of the Les Paul
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Spalt Instruments Gate Guitar #047 – 5min review, playing only, no talking
Sunday, 15 November 2020
The video below was recorded in one take during a live broadcast on my Twitch channel (twitch.tv/lachaineguitare) during a demo of the awesome Gate Guitar #047 from Austrian boutique guitar builder Michael Spalt (Spalt Instruments). Only the playing sequences were kept for the edit of this 5min video review. 5min demo of the Spalt Gate
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1965 Gibson SG Junior, a great Rock’n’Roll machine
Friday, 16 October 2020
It was a blast to record a gear review of this 1965 Gibson SG Junior. Here is a great Rock'n'Roll machine of a Vintage guitar! This example is in player condition, meaning it is not fully original (the original tremolo is gone, the tuners were replaced, etc.) and it was heavily played. 1965 Gibson SG
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XTone Pro Xsonic review, 2 input USB audio interface and MIDI pedalboard
Friday, 31 July 2020
In this review I present you the XTone Pro from Xsonic. This is a super cool USB 2 input audio interface which doubles as a MIDI pedalboard! Great piece of gear which works great with your favorite amp emulation software on your computer or mobile device. Disclaimer: this gear was sent to me by the
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Fender Lead II and Lead III, two great guitars from Fender Mexico!
Friday, 19 June 2020
At the Winter NAMM 2020, the Mexican reissues of the Fender Lead models caught my eye. A few weeks later, here is now the complete test of the two Mexican Fender Lead series, the Lead II and the Lead III. To make it simple, the II is equipped with two single-coil pickups and the III
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Captor X Two Notes versus OX Box Universal Audio: sound battle!
Friday, 12 June 2020
In this video we put back to back two loadbox simulators, the Captor X Two Notes Audio Engineering and the OX Box Universal Audio. Both devices are connected to the same Marshall 6101 100W tube amp. May the best win! Shootout: Captor X Two Notes versus OX Box Universal Audio Advantages Ox Box The fineness
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Valvebucker, the tube powered guitar pickup invented by Juha Ruokangas
Friday, 22 May 2020
Juha Ruokangas is a Finnish luthier who leads a small team of highly skilled craftsmen. Ruokangas Guitars builds high-end electric guitars and basses. In 2014 at the Holy Grail Guitar Show in Berlin, Juha Ruokangas presented the Nemo guitar, a prototype electric guitar with a tube pickup, the Valvebucker. It wasn't until 2019 that the
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Amp attenuators and cabinet simulators, only the best gear at our showroom!
Wednesday, 20 May 2020
There is only the best gear regarding attenuators and speaker/mic simulators in The Guitar Channel showroom in Paris for recording gear reviews, for Guitar in Hand interviews and for live broadcasts every Friday night. Reminder on attenuators and simulators The gear presented in this article has two distinct functions: Attenuator: to reduce the electrical power
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Eccos Keeley, a delay with the power of digital and the warm sound of analog
Friday, 17 April 2020
The Eccos Keeley (robertkeeley.com) echo pedal promises nothing less than simulating the effect obtained with two tape recorders that are linked to generate a repetition of sound. Make no mistake, this pedal is fully digital but achieves the performance of sounding beautifully like in the good old days of analog recording. Eccos Keeley review Until
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JHS PG-14, Paul Gilbert signature distortion pedal – Jam à la Santana
Friday, 10 April 2020
The American pedal brand JHS (jhspedals.info) which bears the initials of its founder Joshua Heath Scott has just released a distortion in collaboration with the one and only Paul Gilbert. With a clever equalization with a semi-parametric midrange adjustment, a very large range of sounds can be reached. The dynamic response is also pretty awesome.
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Guitar Review – California model from luthier Tony Girault, a mean P90 rock machine!
Friday, 28 February 2020
Here is a video of a great electric guitar built by a French luthier Tony Girault (giraultguitars.com) who is based in Normandy in a town called Evreux. This California model is a great Rock machine with its twin P90 pickups built by Tony himself. Config review For this video the guitar was plugged straight into
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JHS Panther Cub – High-end boutique delay pedal
Thursday, 09 January 2020
JHS (jhspedals.com) is an American brand that offers top level guitar effect pedals. Here in this gear review, the Panther Cub delay pedal. JHS Panther Cub Until the next gear review or interview, keep on playing the guitar! Pierre Journel.
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Centura Ceriatone – One of the best Klon Centaur clone
Tuesday, 24 December 2019
The Klon Centaur is probably one of the most cloned pedal with the Tube Screamer. Today we are testing the Centura pedal from Ceriatone (ceriatone.com) which is one of the most highly regarded clone of the Klon. It is built in Malaysia and looks absolutely gorgeous. Test configuration Amp : BD Custom Amplification Guitars :
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Recording an acoustic guitar: direct output versus through a Radial DI box
Friday, 20 December 2019
Following a discussion with the luthier Virgile Pilon from Blind Guitars (blindguitars.com) concerning the K&K Pure Mini sensor which equips the B-51 model which is in our showroom in Paris, I recorded the video below reserved for paying subscribers of the show. The idea is to compare the sound when you get when you directly
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1983 Vigier Arpège, a very uncommon French guitar built by Patrice Vigier
Friday, 04 October 2019
This 1983 Vigier Arpège guitar is a real monument of French guitar building because of the high level of the lutherie and because of its very modern shape that we have not seen again afterwards. 1983 Vigier Arpège Until the next gear review or interview, keep on playing the guitar! Pierre Journel.
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Gear Review – OX Amp Top Box Universal Audio / Marshall 6101 amp
Friday, 17 May 2019
New test run for the Universal Audio OX Amp Top Box which is this time connected to a Marshall 6101 combo. For reference, for comparison a recording was also made with a Shure SM57 positioned in front of the speaker combo. OX Amp Top Box / Marshall 6101 Connection of the OX on the amp
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Gear Review – OX Amp Top Box Universal Audio / Kelt Sideman FX amp
Friday, 03 May 2019
Here's a new review for the Universal Audio OX Amp Top Box which is this time connected to a Sideman FX Kelt head and cab. For reference, for comparison a recording was also made with a Shure SM57 positioned in front of the 15 inch speaker cab. OX Amp Top Box / Sideman FX amp
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Pedal Review – Drybell Unit67 Booster/Equalizer/Compressor
Thursday, 02 May 2019
The brand Drybell based in Croatia offers pedals of excellent quality as the Vibe Machine which is the choice of Mike Landau to have a sound of Univibe on his pedalboard. The Unit67 is a multifunction pedal with boost, 3-band equalizer and compressor. Video Review - Drybell Unit67 Until the next gear review or interview, keep
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Pedal Review – Vemuram Jan Ray overdrive – Super dynamic and creamy drive pedal
Friday, 26 April 2019
The model Jan Ray overdrive pedal from the Japanese manufacturer Vemuram is the star of this video gear review. I found that this pedal sounded remarkably well with a great response to the playing dynamics. Judge for yourself via the video below. Vemuram Jan Ray overdrive video Until the next interview, keep on playing the
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Pedal Review – High Voltage Anasounds, AC/DC in a pedal!
Friday, 29 March 2019
The French pedal manufacturer Anasounds (anasounds.com) now offers a pedal named High Voltage. The promise of the manufacturer from Nice for this pedal is simple: get the sound of Malcom Young from AC/DC, just that! Promise kept? Let's hear it... Summary of the full review Full video Pros and cons of the pedal Conclusion: promise kept?
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Plugin Review – Friedman DS40 amp by Universal Audio
Thursday, 28 March 2019
Here's a video review of the Friedman DS40 plugin available in the Universal Audio Apollo interface. Friedman is well know for the quality of their tube amp. That's why I was very curious to test drive the plugin based on their DS40 model. Here's a screenshot of the plugin : Setup used for the review
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Pedal Review – Tone Bender Mk II: legendary pedal, legendary tones!
Friday, 22 March 2019
Thanks to a subscriber on The Guitar Channel (thanks Steven), I was able to record this video review of this legendary Fuzz pedal, the Tone Bender Mk II. Tone Bender Mk II video review Until the next gear review or interview, keep on playing the guitar! Pierre Journel.
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Gear Review – OX Universal Audio / Les Paul + Marshall 6101
Wednesday, 20 March 2019
We continue the exploration og the Universal Audio OX Amp Top Box which is this time connected to Marshall 6101 combo using a 2007 Gibson Ls Paul Faded modded by Larry Corsa. In case you are wondering, the OX is a piece of gear you connect between the output of a guitar amp and the
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Shootout – Universal Audio OX Amp Top Box versus Shure SM57 mic
Friday, 01 March 2019
Out of curiosity and having a certain taste of provocation, The Guitar Channel presents you an unusual shoutout between the Ox Amp Top Box from Universal Audio and a timeless Shure SM57 microphone. A kind of David against Goliath fight in the field of sound recording! The goal of the game is more to show
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Debrief after 2 months of use – Strandberg Boden Original 6
Thursday, 28 February 2019
After two months of use of Strandberg Boden Original 6, an ergonomic electric guitar, it is time to give a first feedback on this instrument which incorporates a lot of innovations. Summary of the full article The positive points The neutral points The negative points Conclusion Positive points
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