Finding a great 5AR4 / GZ34 rectifier tube sounds fine but what exactly is an rectifier tube? Well, they’re one of those elusive inner components of the amplifier. You need one for the amp to function, but it never directly affects the guitar’s signal. Just because it’s not in the signal chain doesn’t mean it’s […]
Continue reading →The NS10M from Yamaha is a powerful speaker that functions equally well in a home theater or home audio context as it does as a stage monitor. Making the most out of this impressive piece of gear means having the right amp driving it. The most important thing is to get an amp that provides […]
Continue reading →KT88 vs 6550 tubes – are they interchangeable, different, or, indeed, what are they? Even people who have played tube amps their entire lives might not have given much thought to what’s inside them. Which is understandable. In the right conditions, these tubes can last the entire life of your amp. But for as little […]
Continue reading →A bedroom metal amp makes a lot of sense since it’s super convenient to practice in your home. After all, if you live in close quarters with other people, they might not appreciate your riffs as much as you do. The louder your standard amp, the harder it will be to get the volume low […]
Continue reading →Bridge humbucker pickups and versatility – when a lot of people praise certain pickups for their versatility, but what does that mean in practice? There are two main ways a pickup like a humbucker can be versatile: stylistically and functionally. The former means the humbucker can produce a wider range of sounds, making it more […]
Continue reading →The semi-hollowbody guitar’s design gives them an equally unique tone. The sound chamber gives them an acoustic-like warmth and attack, which is then amplified by the pickups, giving them enough output to play in non-acoustic ensembles. This makes semi-hollowbody guitars perfect for jazz, and they also enjoy quite a bit of popularity in the folk, […]
Continue reading →Marshall and Blackstar—if you’re looking for a classic British amp tone, odds are you’re looking to buy one of these two. The companies share a similar aesthetic, both in terms of sound and design. And there’s a very good reason for that: Blackstar was founded by former Marshall sound engineers in 2007, nearly 50 years […]
Continue reading →Distortion pedals for solid state amp – the prevailing wisdom in the guitar equipment world is that effects like boost, distortion, and overdrive don’t play nicely with such amplifiers. In fact, if you ask most guitarists for a recommendation, they’ll tell you the best way to get more distortion is to buy a tube amp. […]
Continue reading →So . . . P90 vs humbucker for jazz—conventional wisdom says the humbucker is the hands-down best pickup for this music genre. But this wisdom was coined decades ago, and modern jazz encompasses a much broader sonic landscape. This begs the question of whether the humbucker is still the best pickup choice for jazz guitarists, […]
Continue reading →The doom metal subgenre is often said to go back to the iconic band Black Sabbath, though it really came into its own in the 1980s when the Candlemass album Epicus Doomicus Metallicus gave the genre its name. While there’s a lot of variety in modern doom metal, they all share a plodding, bass-heavy sound […]
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