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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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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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Vola Guitar is a brand that makes quality Made in Japan instruments. The Vasti model is in a way the Telecaster reviewed by the designers of Vola. Vola Guitar - Vasti model video review Until the next gear review or interview, keep on playing the guitar! Pierre Journel.
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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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In this new Gear Review, we present the high-end category at Vola Guitar, the Zenith model which is characterized by a beautiful top and a great hardware. It's another great example of the Made in Japan high quality of instrument building. Vola Guitar - Zenith model Until the next gear review or interview, keep on playing the
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Amp Review – Kelt Amplification Sideman – 100% tube powered!
Wednesday, 30 January 2019
Thierry Labrouze manufactures in France in Brittany 100% tube amps that are found more and more in the hands of musicians who love beautiful tones. Some time ago a subscriber of La Chaîne Guitare ordered a Sideman Kelt but could not take delivery when Thierry brought him at the Puteaux show. So until further notice,
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Pedal Review – Overdrive Nobels ODR-1 – Cool natural sounding drive tones
Monday, 14 January 2019
It was during a conversation with Pete Thorn in Germany during the 2018 Guitar Summit that I heard about the Nobels ODR-1 overdrive pedal. It seems that this pedal has been used for a long time by studio guitarists in Nashville, as it costs around €90 online, I thought it was mandatory to try it
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Pedal Review – The Grunger – Tube powered booster from Sabelya
Monday, 31 December 2018
The Grunger is a tupe powered boost pedal from French boutique manufacturer Sabelya. This is a pedal that will serve to amplify the signal of your guitar by coloring it. We are not in the category of transparent boosts. On the contrary! The Grunger is made to bring color to your sound. The very neat
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In a previous article La Chaîne Guitare presented you an interview in French with Bruno Durand of the brand BD Custom Amplification. Here in this article you will find a review of his BF/Brownie model amp head that offers two completely separate channels. The first clean channel offers a Blackface type Fender sound, the second
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Here's the full video review of the fascinating Strandberg Boden Original 6 guitar, a great ergonomic guitar designed in Sweden and built in Indonesia. If you want to get some perspective about the Strandberg brand, check out the interview done with its founder Ola Strandberg back in 2013 during the Musikmesse. Video - Strandberg Boden
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Here is the first article in a series dedicated to the Strandberg Boden Original 6. Intrigued for a while by the work of this brand which you can find an interview with the founder Ola Strandberg made in 2013 at Musikmesse, The Guitar Channel has acquired a model in order to do an independently review,
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Sabelya is a French brand of boutique pedal shop Made in France. From the name of its designer and manufacturer Elyas Sabelya who is building interesting products including this reverb, the Ô Finest Reverb which has more than one trick in its bag. Ô Finest Reverb - Sabelya Until the next gear review or interview, keep
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The Puteaux Guitar Festival 2018 included in its program demo concerts that allowed to discover the instruments exhibited by luthiers throughout the festival in the magnificent Jean-Baptiste Lully Music Academy. Here are the Christian Stoll guitars presented on video. Stoll Guitars - Demo concert Luthier: Christian Stoll - www.stollguitars.de Musician: Arnaud Leprêtre - www.arnaudlepretre.com Video and sound: Philippe
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Showroom session – Archtop and solidbody shootouts – Miguel Castro
Monday, 26 November 2018
The Guitar Channel showroom is a kind of Ali-Baba cave filled with awesome guitar gear that allows pros partners to send potential customers to test their products in Paris, France. There are also guitars, amps, pedals and also Häussel pickups. It is for these that the Jazz guitarist Miguel Castro (www.miguelcastro.fr) has made an appointment
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Pedal Review – Thrilltone Great Escape pedal – Dynamic Tremolo
Friday, 23 November 2018
Pierre-Benoît Prudhomme the French manufacturer and creator of boutique pedals for Thrilltone hits a big blow with a dynamic tremolo whose sound varies depending on his attack. Gone the tremolo with speed or fixed depth whose sound you get tired so quickly, with the pedal Great Escape, we enter the 4th dimension of this kind
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The Puteaux Guitar Festival 2018 included in its program demo concerts that allowed to discover the instruments exhibited by luthiers throughout the festival in the magnificent Jean-Baptiste Lully Music Academy. Here are the Julien Gendre guitars presented on video. Gendre Guitars - Demo concert Luthier: Julien Gendre (www.juliengendre.com) Musician: Shaï Sebbag Video and sound: Philippe Camus
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Pedal Review – Overdrive and clean boost King of Tone from Analog.Man
Monday, 15 October 2018
Analog Man's overdrive and clean boost pedal King of Tone has an excellent reputation among pedal fanatics. You will be able to see and especially hear what this gives in this recorded video thanks to Steven, a member of The Guitar Channel who owns this pedal. King of Tone from Analog.Man Until the next gear
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Guitar Review – Bluesmaster Custom 59 – Johan Gustavsson luthier
Friday, 12 October 2018
With the Bluesmaster Custom 59 built by luthier Johan Gustavsson (www.jgguitars.com) we are clearly in the category of exceptional guitars! This guitar made in Sweden in 2005 is the top of the crop. The marriage of Les Paul and Telecaster shapes will probably not please everyone but we at The Guitar Channel are loving it. Test
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Guitar Review – 2007 Gibson Les Paul Faded “Peter Green” modded by Larry Corsa
Thursday, 04 October 2018
In search of a Les Paul to equip the showroom to have this reference sound in the arsenal available to visitors and for testing gear, The Guitar Channel had the opportunity to test this 2007 Gibson Les Paul Faded at length kindly lent by a member of the network (thank you Sebastien!). This guitar has
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It's a pleasure to discover the artisanal production of a young French luthier. The Raccoon is designed and manufactured entirely by Camille Jacob who also makes the excellent AMI Effects pedals. This instrument literally impressed me by the quality of the lutherie, this is top quality stuff. www.cjguitars.com Specifications Finish: shiny nitro-cellulo Body: one piece
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Pedal Review – Vanflet Distortion1: huge sounds from your pedalboard!
Tuesday, 18 September 2018
Vanflet is a new French manufacturer of boutique tube amp, they are now launching a range of pedals. Here is the Distortion1, a pedal that inaugurates the series with the Driver1. Vanflet Distortion1 video review Specs Settings: Volume, Gain, Tone Soft switch 9V Price: 149 € What I enjoyed the most A huge reserve of gain
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Guitar Review – Nik Huber Krautster II – Awesome instrument
Wednesday, 05 September 2018
The Krautster II model from Nik Huber is a clearly inspired from the Les Paul. Made in Germany in the workshop of luthier Nik Huber (often interviewed on The Guitar Channel), the guitar reviewed below was lent to me by Gilles, a member of The Guitar Channel network (1000 thanks!). Setup configuration Amp: Kelt V-Twin
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The Toulouse brand of high end boutique guitar gear Dewitte Wired has in its range a tube amp which sounds awesome: the Brut(e) Deluxe. Nicolas Dewitte, the boss of the brand, was visiting the showroom with his amp under his arm for a tour of Paris, it was an opportunity to do a quick test
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Amp Review – Heptode Jim 81 – Awesome sounding 100W solid-state amp
Friday, 22 June 2018
Jean-Luc Chtioui is a French engineer specialized in repairing guitar amps, with or without tubes. For his own line of amps under his brand Heptode, he chose to focus on making the greatest sounding solid-state amp possible. The Jim 81 100W amp - Heptode Recording setup Guitar #1: Strat / Vintage type pickups Guitar #2:
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Simon Ghnassia is a musician who is often featured on The Guitar Channel, here he is at the showroom just before an online masterclass trying a guitar built by luthier Mikaël Springer, a Spartan model (the guitar whose construction is documented in video in the Project Spartan). The cameras were rolling, here's the result. www.springerguitars.com
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iRig Pre HD IK Multimedia review: how to have a good electric guitar sound in a smartphone video
Tuesday, 10 April 2018
To follow up on the article entitled "Stop posting guitar demos filmed with a smartphone and how to do better!" here is a comparative review to show the results obtained on a smartphone video, an iPhone 6 in this case, using the iRig Pre HD from IK Multimedia. Three sound sources are compared: the internal
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Simon Ghnassia is a musician who is often featured on The Guitar Channel, here he is at the showroom just before an online masterclass trying a guitar built by luthier Mikaël Springer, the Halfbreed model (a guitar reviewed in this article). The cameras were rolling, here's the result. www.springerguitars.com Halfbreed demo Test configuration Amp: V-Twin
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Guitar Review – Taylor K14ce Builder’s Edition – New V-class bracing
Wednesday, 21 March 2018
In the very high end category, The Guitar Channel is pleased to present you this guitar review of the new version of Taylor K14ce Builder's Edition guitar equipped with the new V-class bracing presented at NAMM 2018 (see this interview with Andy Powers, the master builder at Taylor to know everything). In order to highlight
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Zorg Effects is a French boutique pedal builder based in Toulouse. This builder has a wide range of gain pedal with several boosters, distorsions, octavers and overdrives. The Zorgverdriver is a great overdrive pedal with a wide range of tones. Pedal Review - Zorgverdrive Zorg Effects is a pro partner on The Guitar Channel Review
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Guitar Review – GS Mini Bass Taylor Guitars – Small format, huge sound!
Sunday, 11 March 2018
Taylor Guitars offers with the GS Mini Bass an atypical instrument since it is an acoustic bass guitar with a reduced tuning fork. In order to be able to make this bass sound correctly, Taylor Guitars has had specific strings developed by D'Addario. It is clear that the result is bluffing. GS Mini Bass video
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