 Rig of the Week 23.2.10This week we have gone for a trouser flapping, organs adjusting bass rig of doom from Ashdown! This setup moves so much air you might start the gig in Reading and end up shaking your way to Maidenhead!
We have the classic ABM500 head which feeds 575 watts into the matching ABM series speaker cabs. We have a 2x10 and 1x15 compact cabs wired in. This rig is fairly compact and reasonably lightweight and delivers spades of full range bass tone. The head has a valve pre-amp, compressor and built in Octave sub harmoniser effect. It looks amazing too!
Driving the Ashdown set-up is a relic Sandberg JM5 bass. It's a hand made, German built bass which is certainly Fender inspired but with modern features and arguably much higher attention to detail. This bass has been hardcore reliced to make it look like a real vintage instrument. The process is highly skilled and time consuming to ensure it looks authentic. There is even a cigarette burn on the headstock! The combination of a coil split able humbucker and neck single coil can give classic Jazz tones and more modern aggressive tones within a flick of the switch. You can bypass the two band EQ and use the bass is pure passive mode via a lush pull volume pot. In passive mode the treble cut/boost then becomes a passive tone control, a very smart circuit!
For extra dirt we are running the Ashdown James Lomenzo signature bass distortion pedal. There is plenty of scope to dial in the exact type of overdrive from subtle valvey grind to a full on aggressive fuzz. The pedal only affects the mid frequencies meaning you don't lose the low end when the pedal is engaged. Very cool!
ABM500 EVO III head £599
ABM 2x10 £325
ABM 1x15 £325
Sandberg JM5 Heavy Relic (new 2010 price £1684!) - £1099
Ashdown JLO Bass distortion £69.99
Total cost £2417.99
Deal Price (excluding cables) - £2299 |
 Rig of the week 08.2.10Time for an electro -acoustic set-up!
This week's guitar is a GGCE 50 from lost Canadian maker Garrison. This brand shot to fame with the truly innovative constructive style of the 'Griffith's bracing system'. Rather than dwelling on the traditional bracing pattern which has been kept relatively unchanged in many decades of production Garrison employ a glass fibre structure to bond the top, back and sides together. The benefits are that the wood is free to resonate much more fully compared to a traditionally braced instrument given that they need to use a lot less glue to bond the constituent parts. The company rose to provenance and were bought out by Gibson Guitars, sadly they decided to cease production! This is one of the last two we have left and sounds gorgeous. It's all solid construction with a hard case and an awesome Fishman Prefix Pro pickup and pre-amp. The body is a very comfortable, slim shape designed for the gigging performer.
For the Amp we are going for a specialist acoustic amp from Fishman. It's the loudbox 100 model and offers superb tone and features in a small and easily movable package. It has twin channels with extra input's for backing tracks and drum machines etc.
To complete the rig we have decided to include the LR Bagg's Venue DI pedal. It's a high quality pre-amp along the lines of the Para DI pedal but with the added feature's of a built in chromatic tuner, a boost function for solo's in a rugged but light chassis. The Venue also comes with a little padded carry bag too. This is a very handy pedal to have for the occasion when it's not possible or impractical to use your own amp, at least with this product you can guarantee an awesome signal to send to the desk. Very handy for recording too!
Garrison GGC50-CE - £829 (Was £1099!)
Fishman Loudbox 100 - £599
LR Bagg's Venue DI - £299
Total Normal price - £1727
Deal Price - £1584.99
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 Rig of the Week 20.01.10We have gone for a more classic set up this week.
This week's guitar is a Squier Classic Vibe Simon Neil Strat, which is an astounding guitar for the money. It is essentially a 60s style Strat with a few tweaks- the neck has a flatter 9.5" radius with jumbo frets, making string bending a lot easier. Each pickup has two different Alnico magnets- Alnico 5 pole pieces on the bass strings, with Alnico 3 pole pieces on the treble strings. It's finished in the classic Fiesta Red, mint green pick guard and aged controls and pickup covers.
Amp wise, we've gone for the Laney VC15. It's simply a great sounding amp. The clean sounds are especially brilliant- clear and very bright- you will definitely cut through in a band mix with this!! The drive channel doesn't offer full on distortion, more of an AC30 style crunch (hence our pedal choices). As it's only 15 watts, you can crank it to hit the sweet spot (volume at about 2/3s) without going deaf! (They do offer a 30watt version if you require more headroom)
The Blackstar HT Boost can be used in two different ways- to make your clean sound even louder, or when used with the drive channel you can get a fantastic overdriven sound which has to be heard. The best boost pedal on the market!
The Phase 100 is essentially a Phase 90 with 4 selectable wave patterns. You get two over the top phase sounds and two more subtle sounds, allowing huge, slow, sweeping phase sounds or fast, subtle, almost Leslie style sounds and everything in between. A Guitar Works favourite!
I'm a huge analogue delay fan- I prefer warm, dark delays to clean, bright digital delays, so I've included the completely analogue MXR Carbon Copy. If you've never tried an analogue delay before, this is an excellent example- the repeats are very warm and dark, so stand out from your dry guitar sound. It's also got an added modulation switch to add a shimmer of chorus on the repeats for all those U2 moments!
All wired up with Cordial cables with the Carbon Copy in the effects loop.
Squier Classic Vibe Simon Neil Strat- £279.99
Laney VC15- £299.99
Blackstar HT Boost- £99
MXR Phase 100 (Second Hand)- £79
MXR Carbon Copy- £159.99
Total- £918
Deal Price- £885 |
 Rig of the Week- 13.01.10We have a new weekly feature- Rig of the Week!!
This weeks guitar is the brilliant Godin Progression, a brand new Strat inspired offering from our favourite Canadian guitar company, Godin. With 3 single coils that are bright but never harsh, you get the standard 5 way selector switch, but with added versatility of an active "High Definition Revoicer," which adds 5 further tones! It's got more body than a Fender and a fabulous feel to the neck. We like!
The Hughes and Kettner Switchblade TSC 50watt Combo is an extremely versatile amp- it's a completely tube driven amp, but with 4 different amp models and 5 great effects. It's possible to save your settings to 128 patches which can be recalled and switched with the included stage ready footswitch.
This is the latest version from Germany which has a revolutionary TSC circuit installed. The amp constantly monitors the valves and automatically makes adjustments. This is a new technology that means you don't have to take the amp to a tech to get it rebiased , it does it all by itself. It also lengthens the lifespan of the valves too by running them at the optimal bias. Too cool!
Added into the rig we are including a stage tuner from Ibanez (an essential part of any set-up) and a pair of high quality Cordial guitar leads.
Godin Progression - £799 (RRP £899
Switchblade 50 TSC Combo - £1129 (RRP £1299)
Ibanez Stage Tuner - £42.99 (RRP £49.99)
Cordial 3metre cables x 2 - £49.99
Total - £2020.97
Deal Price - £1909.99 |
