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Stringed Guitars

Created by a passionate guitarist, containing a bit of gear reviews and news

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Gibson SG GT

Yes.. another SG! I haven’t bought an SG for a few years I think… and I stumbled across the GT version, which I knew nothing about apart from the fact that existed.

So… for the official info.. you can go to SG Wiki: https://solidguitar.fandom.com/wiki/SG_GT

I love that website! They actually used one of my guitars for their pictures of a 71 SG :).

Anyway.. it is just like any other SG? Mmm kind of… but of course the tailpiece gets all the attention, I originally thought it was just a cover for the regular SG tailpiece, but no… it’s a whole thing that is bolted to and through the guitar! And ma man is it heavy! It feels heavier than my other SGs. Pretty cool design which attempts to resemble the bonnet or a car.

The Pickups are the 490/498 Alnico II. To me these are great pickups, I’ve been raving about Alnico II and Alnico III for a few years… preferring them over the Alnico V pickups.

The neck… I haven’t compared measurements but it feels chunky and not as slim/taper like a 61 reissue, just about the perfect size. You might have seen on other recent posts that I’ve discovered that chunkier necks seem easier to play…

The frets… this has caught my attention, they are quite thin… good height and crown… but they are thinner to what I’ve been seeing on standards and custom shop… There’s usually not a lot of info on frets used on different versions.

The inlays! These are not your usual mother of pearl… these are “mirror” inlays… of course probably made of plastic… but they add to the cool chrome look of the guitar.

All in all, I’m very pleased with it, it plays great and it sustains nicely. A definitely good addition to the SG collection.

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Plexi? But… not Marshall plexi… plexi screens :)

You probably have seen Bonamassa do this… and probably many others. The idea is to use them to control volume and the speaker beam.

So… I am extremely conscious of the audience sound experience, I also hate tilting amps.. it gives me a fake sound… so… what’s the solution? Plexi screens.

This is a very inexpensive mod to your rig that you’ll reaps the benefit very quick! These screens will make the sound much more filling, and more importantly… you’ll hear yourself better. If you are using a combo amp… 1×12 or 2×12… I recommend you try using a plexi screen, not only for live situations but also at home. It reduces the total volume (I can’t tell you how much… but it does) and also it allows you to place your amp maybe in a more convenient way (out of your way) and still be able to hear it well.

On the image above you can see my katana covered by two plexi screens.

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Bad Cat! Black Cat!

So… I’ve regretted selling my matchless for a couple of years already.

I was browsing guitar sites (as you do) and I noticed that one of my “local” places having a bunch of bad cats. Apparently Bad Cat has hired someone to help them re-design amps and improve production, so these new versions are part of a “re-launch” of bad cat.

This is a 20W amp, 1×12 with 2 channels. If you seen my other posts.. I had recently purchased a Katana Artist gen 3 for my new band project, I wanted something easy to carry… because all my other amps are heads and cabs… which I use for my AC/DC tribute band.

Anyhoo… long story short… I’ve used the Katana live and also at home for a few months, and it annoyed me the fact that “it has too many knobs” so… I wanted something simpler.

I spotted the Black Cat and i watched a few videos, I loved the fact that it has two channels with two volumes each…(volume and master), the EQ is shared and there is no other “master” volume, there’s a cut… and reverb and tremolo.

I never had a tremolo amp, it’s an experience! Because the sound sort of comes and goes… it feels weird. But it works well on some songs, I need to get used to it.

I used the Bad Cat live yesterday… and it killed! It sounded great, it uses an open back cabinet and it really filled the place, the volume wasn’t even that high up… the drummer was able to hear it and the sound in the place was also sufficient, this amp has a great touch! I think this is what is hard to perceive in video reviews… whether it is guitar of amp reviews… you are listening to the “final” output of the product… but not the experience of using it.

You can get a really clean sound, channel 1 has less gain that channel 2. And even though you can get a pretty good hard rock sound on channel 1… the cleans are amazing.

Channel 2 has even more gain! You can easily cover heavy metal with this amp, Judas Priest… even Megadeth.

The EQ is what gets me with these amps… similar to matchless…. the stages of the EQ almost interact with each other, the variety of sound and adjustments of the EQ are far more complex compared to a Marshall, so… you’ll need to dedicate time to this.

So…. is it better than the Katana… is it worth 3x the price? Mmm hard to tell, I mean, the katana is awesome, and I believe this is mostly due to the very high speaker quality and cabinet construction. Setting the speaker attenuation to 100%, Master almost all the way up… and controlling volume with your “channel volume” gives you a much richer sound. However… it’s still not a valve amp… the reaction to your picking is different, the digital aspect of the sound makes it that the actual sound is high quality…. but… it’s too precise… almost surgical. I think both amps have its use. I love having a valve amp with me. But.. if you are looking for an amp that can do it all.. AND have a great line out straight to a PA? Pff.. the Katana is unbeatable.

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EVH? Let’s give it a go

I’m no EVH fan, but of course who doesn’t respect and think of Eddie as a guitar monster! The dude was incredible, just not my preferred music style.

But to pull all these “stunts” he must have had a very comfortable guitar, right? Plus… he was always looking for improvements and tweaked all his guitars until he actually created his own brand which is built by Fender.

So.. I bought an EVH Wolfgang Special, I really wanted the pro… which is made in Japan… but I found a flamed maple top under offer… and I couldn’t resist.

This isn’t my first “shredder” guitar… but it’s the first time o by an expensive shredder guitar. I’ve had Ibanez and I still have an old Shecter.

This EVH is awesome, first of all… whatever Fender is doing with Frets lately…. is just incredible and much better than any other brand! Definitely better than Gibson, are they stainless steel? I don’t know, but the strings just glide on them… the ends… are just so well rounded off. Impeccable work here.

The neck is roasted maple, which is a first for me, and it also feels really good, it offers zero resistance to your hand cause I believe there is no finish on them and it has this tanned color that looks very cool.

The headstock… I know it’s minor, but lately I’ve been looking at headstocks more and more and in occasions..: it has put me off from buying certain brands… some look just too big, too crazy, too similar to other brands. The EVH headstock looks great, good size and “original” shape (very similar to a musicman also owned by fender?)

So… Playability? 10… definitely a 10, not just for shredding, which isn’t something I do great… but for general stuff and of course mainly soloing, this combination of features are unbeatable.

The body… on the smaller side… quite comfy with good curves and cutouts. It has a floyd rose system, but… it bonoy goes one way… down… which means changing strings isn’t a pain in the neck. It does have nut locks and the micro tuning on the floyd rose too. It also a d-tuner which took me a few attempts to understand the best way to use it (mechanically speaking) and I can say… it is very well designed.

Pickups! Boy these are hot! But still very articulate and they clean up nice when volume is rolled down… which brings me to another feature, the volume pot… slightly different to your regular pots, these have very little mechanical resistance yet they are firm (they won’t move on their own) very cool for volume sweeps.

All in all, an outstanding instrument and very well built, made in Mexico.

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Gibson Firebird V

I had an Epiphone Thunderbird for a while and while it looked cool… it was so uncomfortable to play… that I never considered a Firebird guitar as I thought it would be just as bas, boy was I wrong.

So… i sold a couple of SGs as I has way too many and some had almost never been played since I bought them, I started to look for something different.. something special, until I stumbled upon the Firebird, what a piece of art this is… designed by an ex car designer… it just screams luxury.

It’s a neck through construction, which gives it that raised middle section and then two “wings” attached to the side, the neck is built by 9 continuous pieces of wood glued together, two of those bits… are walnut, and it gives it that distinctive two lines of slightly different wood colour.

The pickups are something of their own… constructed with blades instead of poles… and in a much smaller package, I’d say they sound a little bit like P90s.

Apart from anyone looking 10 times cooler when holding a firebird… these guitars sound awesome, great sustain due to their construction method and great playability too! Although… they are meant to be played standing up, so… when playing seating down.. the guitar feels a little

Bit offset to the left, because of the curve of the body where we wedge our thigh on… the guitar feels longer, even though it’s scale isn’t longer. When you stand up… everything just feels normal.

The pickups, the bridge pickup sounds almost like a humbucker but like I said.. it has a p90 twang, a bit more bite than a humbucker, the neck pickup even though I think it’s the same construction… sound a bit more single coil, like the 5th position of a strat, which I love.

The one I bought is a 1991 Firebird V which means it has two pickups and the bigger inlays. The tuners were changed to the steinberg ones which apparently is what Gibson used before.

The Firebird hasn’t always been on Gibson’s catalogue because it was an expensive guitar to build and not very popular, however they just added it back in… but… it’s construction method is like all other gibsons… just a set neck. If you are looking for a Firebird… please buy an older one with the traditional neck through, this way you’ll experience the real Firebird!

An awesome guitar that is becoming one of my favourites to play.

The finish is starting to crack a little bit which looks incredible.
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Epiphone 1959 ES 355

One of the hottest guitar on the internet right now. Everyone is raving about it.

Of course I bought one.

Who doesn’t like a 355?? They are probably the coolest looking guitars out there, we know who is to blame for… Marty McFly! Or Chuck Berry!

This guitars is part of the “gibson custom shop collaboration ” series. Which allows a lot more people to own a oiece of history and something that doesn’t scream Epiphone as soon s as you see it. They dressed it up every nicely.

Custom headstock logo, headstock binding, headstock with the right shape, block inlays, the whole thing just looks stunning!

I would not have many situations where I find myself playing a 355… so I was having a hard time deciding to invest a lot of money in this purchase, trust me.. I spent a week! Having a Gibson 345 in my cart… of course the gibson 355 is only custom shop and it’s double the cost of the 345… so that was out of the question.

So… I received the guitar, very well packed and presented, the case is very nice! (Not as nice as a Gibson custom shop) the guitar itself looks very smart too, the finish is matte and the gold hardware… is very gold… so… it looks too shiny on a matte finish, this hardware should be more like a VOS finish so it would blend in.

The good? It looks great, it plays well… like an Epiphone.

The Bad?

I don’t think you are getting a better Epiphone for the money… the frets are the same as any other Epiphone.. the rounding, the size, the feel. Was I expecting a better Epiphone? I think so… it costs twice as much….and… they spent a lot of time and effort dressing this one up… so.. why don’t make it better?

So… what are these extras?

Custombuckers: i love custombuckers… almost all my guitars have them, I have 3 custom shops with them + I have bought a lot of custombuckers and fitted them on my standards SGs, I know them very well… do these sound the same? I don’t think so… but why? Is it the pickup or the guitar? I don’t know… impossible to tell.. but I don’t think they feel like a regar Custom Bucker, also… their cover is just too shiny.

The Case: who cares for a case now? i don’t.. I much rather get the leather gig bag Gibson introduced a few years ago… but I understand what they are trying to do.

Aesthetics: block inlays, split diamond headstock inlay, neck binding, headstock binding, body double binding. I love all of the above, they make the guitar look incredibly smart.

So.. is it worth it? I think so… i think is 20% too expensive… I would’ve dropped the hardcase and focus on the frets. Still.. it can be sorted with a good setup, it’s a nice playing guitar and costs around 30% compared to a Gibson 345.

If this won’t be your main guitar… and you can afford a Gibson . Get the Epi..

If this will be your main guitar and you can afford the Gibson… get the Gibson

If this will be your main guitar and you can’t afford the Gibson.. get the Epi! It looks awesome…

If this will be your main guitar and you can’t afford a gibson and you don’t care for the looks.. get the Epi 335 that we’ve all known for years

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Boss Katana Artist Gen 3 (Combo)

Alright, this might be the most reviewed amp on the internet right now… so of course… I ended up buying one.

If you have read any of my other posts… you will by now know that I’m a simple guy… guitar + amp and nothing else (maybe the solo dalas tower…) but… in summary… I don’t like buttons, knobs, etc. give me something simple so I can go straight to the action. So you might wonder…. why even bother with the Katana? well.. I wanted to buy something different.

let’s get the first thing out of the way. This amp does not sound like a tube amp! but.. that is not a bad thing… tube amps always sound different… why? think about this… if you are old enough as me… you’ve heard music on tapes… or even vynils…. do they sound the same as the cd? or the same as spotify? No… should they sound the same? No… it’s a completely different technology…. what is the draw back of a Tape? well.. it ends up stretching… every time you hear it.. the tape degrades, the same with the Vynil and the CD…. but.. Spotify (quality aside) gives you the same exact sound every single time. The Quality? well… it’s easy.. Spotify has to compress a file send it over the internet… put it on your laptop/phone.. and then play it out… so.. even though it’s all 1s and 0s… there are algorythms behind.. the quality suffers but it’s scientific.. we know how much it suffers and we still choose it.

Tube amps are the same.. every time you play them.. they will wear.. they will sound different if there’s high humidity… if it’s cold… if it’s too hot.. if it’s been pushed around.. maybe the tube isn’t well placed in the socket… and you never know what makes it sound appealing… maybe your biased isn’t set to what the manual says… but you still like it…. and if you go in to try to fix it… you might not like it anymore…

I have and have had over 50 tube amps… I play in an AC/DC tribute band… i’m not an expert on tubes and amp building… but I know my sound when I hear it. And the Katana… isn’t my sound… but… it is still a great sound.

The Speakers / Cab: The Artist combo comes in an oversized cab.. which I love! the speaker is superb… it’s clearl not a regular guitar speaker because it doesn’t need to be broken in… it sounds as good as it gets right out of the box. the body of the sound and the tight end is unreal… you’ll need a 4×12 to get that sound

The Sound itself: I’ll probably end up using just one setting on this… “pushed” + my guitar volume, And that’s ok… but hard to accept when they offer “hundreds of options” I hate options.. I hate fiddling with knobs and apps.. I hate buying a rock album and getting a balad… so… I want an amp that can do one thing right at least. The Katana gives you a great break up sound with very clear bottom end at most volumes

How does it react with the guitar: I find that the amp works nicer with single coils… with humbuckers.. the guitar volume behaves differently compared to a tube amp.. I have to get used to that.

The Features: I have no idea… but dude… this amp should have the freaking bluetooth and a footswitch included! come on! at least a simple one to go from clean to the drive section

Should you buy it? I guess so…. I wanted a combo amp that I could just plug and forget about it.. I was between the 1974x, the Fender Tonemaster and the Katana… but… the Katana fits for the new project I’m working on.. I might need a bit of delay.. I might need some reverb.. I might need some fuzz… but what I definitely need is an amp that requires 0 maintenance, that I can load in the back of my car with one hand… and have the tone I had at home.

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Richie Kotzen Telecaster

This is my…. third telecaster. But I currently own one.

I’m a Gibson SG person… for me… it is the most comfortable guitar in the world. But… I always had a thing for teles… similar to an SG… it’s a “no bells or whistles” kind of guitar. The simplicity of its design and oh god, can they take a beating!

My first tele was an American Standard… back in 2003, which I loved… it was white ivory finish, stunning. I sold it to buy an SG… and 10 SGs later.. I bought the Tele Elite, this was a sweet guitar, the finish… the fretwork.. all stunning. But I never bonded with it, that bridge pickup… I struggle to like it.

I then found the Richie Kotzen model, I think as I was searching for “hum-bucker” type bridge pickup.. his model came up on google… then a few years later…. I went ahead and bought it.

Man…. this is an outstanding guitar! Made in Japan… comes in a box and a gig bag… but… is it full of goodies or what!

The fretwork… is immaculate, the maple neck and fretboard… are so easy to play… your hand just glides. The Frets! (Yes I already mentioned them…) but man.. the frets! The string just dances on top of them. The finish! Never been a sunburst person…. in fact the back of the guitar is nicer than the front… but still… sunburst with gold hardware… hard not to like.

The inlays! Holy moly, abalone inlays which have little variations of colours, it’s like looking into a beautiful sunset.

The pickups! Yup… two of them. the Chopper T bridge pickup… what an angry pickup! This is what a rocking tele has been missing! Full of balls and body, an amazing sound but still true to the tele twang.. (somewhere in the back of the sound) that adds to the spectrum of the sound wave which probably covers every single hertz out there.

The neck pickup! Always my favourite tele pickup, you kinda get straty sounds out of it, I love SRV but I can’t play Strats… i find them uncomfortable, this pickup delivers that tone! And it can get to the breaking up point where you get a bit of distortion going on.

The bridge and neck pickup combined… series or parallel switch… i haven’t really explored it much, but this option makes it much more useful than a regular combined position.

This is the Tele for you if you want to rock out! If you feel that the regular bridge tele pickup holds you back.. then this guitar is for you

Now.. the Neck! Everyone says it’s massive! And… it’s definitely not small… but coming from Gibsons SG.. i say it’s pretty decently sized neck… it is a baseball neck for sure. But i’m starting to believe that bigger necks are faster and more comfortable to play… they fill your hand better… more ergonomic for sure.

The Frets! (Yup… 3rd time mentioning them) jumbo frets… bending… is as easy as abc. The size of them makes this neck very easy to play….

The Tuners! You can tell this guitar was designed by someone that actually uses his signature guitar… the tuners are a pleasure to use, just the perfect amount of “stiffness”. And they look incredible.

If you are in the market for a Tele… please do try one of these… I feel that this is what a Tele should be, this has to be the new standard.

And… made in Japan. Which… is great! Japanese gear has always been very high quality and it always feels a bit more “exclusive”.

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To Fuzz or no Fuzz – Solodalas Orbiter!

I’m not an expert on the fuzz world, but I always wanted one… when you watch those late 70s AC/DC videos, Angus guitar sounds like if he had a fuzz… barely turned on.

We all know that Angus never used a fuzz, but maybe the combination of poor recording quality or whatever other combination of stuff… makes his solos sound like if he had one.

So when Solodalas released his Fuzz… i got excited! Cause I know these guys are honest to the vintage sounds and they don’t really over do stuff… it’s always kind of sutile… but exceptionally noticeable! Kind of a weird balance.

I’m using this pedal in addition to the EX Tower, not to add more distortion nor fuzz… but just to push the amp and the tower a little but extra… like a hot biased tube.

This pedal apart from achieving great fuzz and sputter fuzz tones… gives you very nice and homely overdrives and sustain that is to die for!

I love this thing! I kinda wish it didn’t exist cause I’m not a pedal guy… I always try to minimise stuff that can go wrong in my rig…. i hate cables and stomping on things… but I’ll make this work… maybe velcro it to the amp or the top of the tower, because like all of their products.. it is something to always have ON.

The tone cleans up nicely when you roll down the guitar volume.. like if it wasn’t there.

This is a pedal to be bought! I absolutely love it!

Thank you Solodalas Team!

Orbiter Fuzz Pedal
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