| | Ernie Ball Dies at age 74 | | | Ernie Ball, a pioneer maker of rock 'n' roll guitar strings used by legions of artists, from the Rolling Stones to Merle Travis, has died. He was 74.Ball died at his home Thursday after an ongoing illness, the mortuary handling services announced. His strings and instruments were used by music stars over the past four decades, from B.B. King to Metallica. Beginning with a small music shop in the San Fernando Valley, Ball built a business with annual sales of $40 million and a worldwide reputation. Along the way, he bucked traditional thinking in the music business. |
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| Ike Turners Jimi Hendrix Guitar Stolen | | Soul great Ike Turner is on the hunt for thieves who stole the guitar Jimi Hendrix used to play when he was a backing musician in his band. The former husband of Tina Turner, 73, set the guitar down during a soundcheck at a Los Angeles club last month and used the restroom, but when he returned the guitar came up was missing. Turner claims he has had the guitar in his possession for the past 50 years and was hoping to auction it off later this year after learning the instrument could fetch $1m or more.
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| Zion Guitars Release New Bent T Guitar Model | | Zion Guitar Technology has created the Bent T model, a variation of the Maple T model. The Bent T's figured maple top is bent down to conform to the back, giving a gentle slope under the picking forearm. This makes for a much more comfortable body to play for long periods. It is a very subtle modification and does not change the overall appearance of the guitar but after a few hours on the bandstand, the Bent T just feels better. The peghead is now angled back ten degrees and has a body matching face on it. The truss-rod now adjusts from the peghead end and features a two-way rod. Standard is the Neutrik locking jack that is recessed into the side of the guitar. By use of this jack, the cable is locked into the guitar until released by a small button next to the plug using one hand. |
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| BSM Releases New VX-1 Treble Booster Pedal | | | The BSM VX-T model is based on the Vox Treble & Bass booster made in the late 60's in England, used by many british band at the time. The VX-T improves upon the original though with tighter and more powerful bass. The VX-T model features a single knob, a tone control, to shape the sound. When knob is set to maximum, the unit will produced a very glassy tone - like the "jingle jangle" sound of Roger McGuinn in Byrds in mid 60s. When a middle setting is dialed in, the result is a punchy tone with mild highs and bottom, somewhat like a wahwah pedal set in mid position, emulating the sound of Michael Schenker in UFO or Mick Ronson, guitarist in early 70s backing band called SPIDERS of David Bowie. Set to the minimum, the unit produces a bluesy bottom with enough mids and a litte bit of highs. |
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| New Bourgeois DS-260 Acoustic Guitar | | Adopting design elements from the earliest years of fine guitar construction, Dana Bourgeois has developed the 12-Fret Slothead DS-260, based in part on the Bourgeois Slope D model. Each piece is built in Pantheon Guitar's Lewiston, Maine shop by Dana Bourgeois and his team of seven craftsmen. The DS-260 is based on the Bourgeois model used on stage and on recordings by Dan Tyminski of Union Station. |
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| New Rocktron Pedal Tuner | | | Rocktron's latest pedal designs is the X-Tune chromatic tuner for guitar and bass. The X-Tune provides easy tuning in a floor format with multi-LEDs and lighted notes that make it easy to tune on dark stages. Note Indicator LEDs show the actual note being tuned. A row of notes will actually light up when the X-Tune is turned on, and during tuning the LED under each note being tuned will light up. The X-Tune handles 12 Note tuning and a 7 octave range. A calibration switch is provided. The X-Tune includes a Calibration Button which is used to calibrate the unit to match the pitch of any instrument or audio source (like a piano or tape player). |
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| Mother Maybelle's Gibson L-5 Guitar Returns | | | An important piece of country music history has returned to the U.S. Country Music Hall of Fame, as the museum has acquired the guitar used by Mother Maybelle Carter, one of the genre's most influential artists. "Mother Maybelle Carter is really the person who introduced the guitar as a lead instrument in country music," museum director Kyle Young told the Associated Press. "She belongs to a small group of blues, country and other roots musicians whose playing style and instrumentation provided a foundation for nearly every genre of popular music. |
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| AXL Introduces The ThinAmp - Portable Guitar Amp | | AXL amplifiers has unveiled the ThinAmp, a full-featured portable DSP (digital signal processing) guitar amplifier capable of cranking out 10W of sound anywhere, anytime. The ThinAmp's space-saving design at 5.3lbs and 2 inches thick makes it comparable in size to many laptops computers. |
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| New Hypnotic Flange Pedal from Rocktron | | | Rocktrons new Hypnotic Flange Pedal offers some twists on the classic flanger pedal. It takes modulation to a new level with a hypnotic mode that becomes a random low frequency oscillator. This mode dances anywhere from an arpeggio sound to a randomized chorus sound. |
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| Former James Brown bass player dead at 72 | | | Bertrand Odom, the bass guitar player for the James Brown Band for over 40 years died Tuesday at the age of 72. Odom, was a Monroe County, Alabama native and retired from the famous band in 1998. |
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| Guitar Auction to raise money for hurricane fund | | | Radio giant Clear Channel Communications plans to auction 43 autographed guitars to benefit victims of Hurricane Charley. Among the celebrities who have autographed the guitars are Tom Petty, Robert Plant, The Strokes, George Thorogood, the Stone Temple Pilots, ZZ Top, Kenny Rogers, Wynonna Judd, Incubus, Sammy Hagar, Linkin Park and Britney Spears. |
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| Interchangeable Guitar Pickups - Mercurio Guitars | | Mercurio Guitars just launched a new line of innovative electric guitars, featuring their patented interchangeable pickup technology. Mercurio guitars enables any standard pickup , from any manufacturer to be installed into a pickup module, which can then be installed in the guitar in a matter of seconds. A single guitar can provide a huge range of sounds just by swapping pickups as desired. |
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| New Guitar String Line By Shadowsky | | | After 30 years of designing and building instruments, Roger Sadowsky now tackles an integral part of getting the best tone out of those instruments - the strings. Created by Sadowsky in collaboration with Richard Cocco of E.O. Mari, Inc., the electric bass, electric guitar and acoustic guitar strings are available in a variety of gauges and materials to suit different tastes and playing styles. |
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| New Line 6 Spider II Combo Amps | | Line 6 releases new Spider II series guitar amplifiers. The Line 6 Spider II 15 watt combo and the Line 6 Spider II 30 watt combo. Both models offer four amp channels (Clean, Crunch, Metal, and Insane) that come preset with tone and effects settings. Channel recall also allows users to create and store their own customized amp and effects settings for each model as well. |
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| Genz Benz Releases 60 Watt El Diablo Head and Combo | | Genz Benz is expanding their line of El Diablo amps series with their new El Diablo 60 combo and head. Both models feature: Two, independent channels: A Warm channel featuring settings for Clean or Vintage gain. A Hot channel featuring Classic and High Gain as well as Dynamic or Compressed settings and a Tube Contour, which changes the voicing and character of this channel. 12AX7 preamp section with 6 Gain stages. Global Attack: A boost which, when engaged, boosts the upper mid frequencies that enhances pick bite. Acts as a great lead boost and is extremely effective for cutting through the mix. Remote footswitch to control channel selection as well as gain settings and "Attack" feature. Accutronics spring reverb with a master level control as well as an independent control for each channel. |
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Archived Files | | Tuesday, July 20 | | · | Country Studio Musician Fred Carter Jr. Dies At 76 | | Monday, July 19 | | · | New Fab 600MS Delay and Fab Fuzz Effects Pedals From Danelectro | | Wednesday, July 14 | | · | New Snark Tuners® By The Makers of Qwiktune | | Tuesday, July 13 | | · | THD Yellow Jackets® Full Line Now Available | | Thursday, July 08 | | · | AmpliTube iRig Replaces Guitar Gear With iPhone | | Wednesday, July 07 | | · | Jaco Pastorius Bass of Doom Is Back | | Tuesday, July 06 | | · | Worlds First All Green Chromatic Tuner - No Batteries Needed | | · | Recycled Sound Power Plug 6/12 Attenuator | | Monday, June 21 | | · | Guitar Sidekick Mounts iPhone To Your Guitar | | Monday, June 14 | | · | Seven45's Power Gig: Rise of the Six String | | · | Slash Attacked On Stage In Milan | | Thursday, June 10 | | · | Jeff Beck Honors Les Paul | | Tuesday, June 08 | | · | Gibson and Harmonix Settle Lawsuit | | Tuesday, June 01 | | · | Rory Gallagher Immortalized In Bronze | | Tuesday, May 25 | | · | Clay Buchholz Uses The Guitar To Help Him Pitch | | · | Slipknot Bassist Paul Gray Found Dead In Des Moines Iowa Hotel Room | | Sunday, May 23 | | · | Richie Kotzen Clinic Tour | | · | John 5 to Release The Art of Malice | | Thursday, April 15 | | · | New Zoom G2Nu and G2.1Nu Multi Effects Pedals With USB Audio Interface | | Wednesday, April 07 | | · | ProCo 1985 Re-Issue WhiteFace Rat Distortion Pedal |
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Did You Know? | Most Rock songs are in 4/4 time
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