tunedDecember 2012

Exclusive Led Zeppelin Interview

Fender Celebrates Jaguar’s 50th Anniversary

Review of the New Ibanez S920

Top Five Effect Pedals of 2012

Contentsp.8 Exclusive Led Zeppelin Interview

p.10 Fender Celebrates Jaguar’s 50th Anniversary

p.4 Review of the New Ibanez S920

p.6 Top Five Effect Pedals of 2012

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2 December

Heavy metal has lost all form of legiti-macy as musical genre.

I believe it has evolved, or devolved, to the point where it has become some-thing so different from what it once was, that it now is a different genre all together.

People could argue that music trends change constantly with new generations that influence what is popular. Howev-er, jazz is still jazz, blues is still blues, but metal is no longer metal. Traditional forms of music such as the ones I men-tioned have changed over time, but not as quickly or as drasti-

cally as metal. In fact, the only other genre that seems to change so often and with such extremes is pop music.

There are many factors that have caused the change, and the biggest is the over-monopolization of record labels. But that’s not what I want to talk about. Recently I decided I no longer want to be known as a metal guitar player. My reasons will hopefully be explained through this blog post. Here are my three biggest issues with heavy metal bands today.My advice to metal bands today would be to focus on being good musicians and making amazing music.

As I mentioned in the beginning, due to the over-monopolization of record labels, it’s impossible to get a deal with a big label unless you have a marketing gimmick and are fashion-

able. The whole industry has become so corporate that you need to fit a certain mold in order get interest. It’s a real shame because that’s not how met-al used to be. Today metal has such strict boundaries on how you must look, act and sound that there’s little room for creativity or musicianship.

I didn’t even begin to talk about the production used on metal today where bands have sacrificed the feel and soul of their instruments in exchange for a punchy mix.

My goal with this blog post is to pro-voke discussion. I’m not an authority on the subject. I’m just a fan who loves classic metal bands like Rainbow, early Van Halen, Thin Lizzy, etc.

Cheers!

All text and photos are taken from Guitarworld.com, Ibanez.com or other sources for educational purposes only and are property of their respective owners. No copyright infringement intended.

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For 25 years its fans have appreciated the S-Series as a marvel of form and function, but now this S gets what Ibanez has come to call “the Premium treatment,” high quality luthiery at a price that’s within the budget of today’s working player. Those with a need for speed will love the thin, fast 5pc Maple/Walnut “Wizard Premium” neck which features hand-rolled frets—the product of a skilled, hand-crimping process that produces noticeably smooth fret edges. The curvaceous 3-D body style is shaped from mahogany, and through it feels light and nimble, is capable of tone by the ton.

S PREMIUMMODEL: Ibanez S920

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The S Premium features the amazing ZR2 bridge and ZPS3 Spring System for radical trem effects and incredi-ble tuning stability.

The Wizard neck on S Premium models is follow-ing the same playabil-ity and comfort on its Prestige counterpart.

EMG 60 neck pickup packs plenty of thick, classic-style output with a balance of multiple frequency bands of boost. The EMG 81 bridge pickup provides detailed intensity, incredible amounts of high end cut, and fluid sustain.

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Effects are like jellybeans. You can’t have just one — and is there really a flavor you don’t like?They’re all good. But since I must, I have to give you a list of the best flavors of effects this year. Keep in mind, if I could, I’d give you a top 20 list of my favorite stomp boxes of 2012, but I’ll limit it to five because I need to hold your attention and honestly, I’d be splitting hairs with some because there were so many good ones to pick from.I’ve chosen five different types of effects, in essence, the type of stomp boxes every guitarist uses and ones that typically claim real estate on your pedal board. So with that, I have my favorite delay, wah, gain, modulation and … well, just see for yourself.

05. DigiTech iStompThe DigiTech iStomp ($229.95) is a revolutionary pedal. If you own an iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch, you can turn this black “blank canvas” stomp box into any type of singular guitar ef-fect at any time, simply by downloading the desired effect from DigiTech’s Stomp Shop at the iTunes store and quickly upload it into the iStomp.The iStomp includes 10 free ePedals, power supply and a SmartCable to download the effect from your iOS device. Once you connect to the Stomp Shop, you can try out any pedal with-out purchasing it, and if allotted five minutes time isn’t enough for you to make a decision on whether or not you like it, you can download it all over again.The pedals range in price from 99 cents to $19.99, and there are more than 40 different guitar effects of every flavor available for you to store on your iOS device to upload into the iStomp when the gig calls for it.More info: digitech.com

04. Wampler Pedals Brent Mason V2 Hot WiredLast year I picked Wampler Pedals’ Brent Mason Hot Wired as one of my favorite pedals, and just when I thought this two-in-one overdrive/distortion pedal is about as good as it gets, they release the V2.The V2 Hot Wired ($259.97) adds more flexibility with a blend control to mix in your clean signal with the overdrive and a slightly more organic, warmer overdrive on its overdrive chan-nel. The pedal can be used as an overdrive or a distortion pedal with its two separate foot switches, or both channels can be cascaded together to get both gain stages “stacked” for more gain.More info: wamplerpedals.com

Effect Pedals of 2012

Top Five TUNED

6 December

03. Dunlop Joe Bonamassa CryBaby WahEvery guitarist I know has a wah on his/her pedal board, and you can’t have a top effects list without including this essential effect in it.The Joe Bonamassa CryBaby Wah ($298.68) is the latest signature wah pedal from Dunlop — which happens to make 10 signature wahs — and this new wah has such a wide and lively sweep that it sounds almost vintage in character.The Bonamassa wah looks elegant with its shiny copper top (Is it just me to think that all wahs should have this look?) and glossy black body. The wah has a Halo inductor (a “haloed” compo-nent that adds the vocal-like quality found in the very desirable vintage VOX Clyde McCoy wahs) and a switch for true-bypass or non-true-bypass operation (Joe likes to set it for non-true bypass to smooth the top end).TMore info: jimdunlop.com

02. Z.Vex Effects SonarZ.Vex has always been one of my favorite effects manufacturers because they always seem to have an innovative spin on every new stomp box they introduce.The Sonar ($329, hand-painted; $219, Vexter Series, not hand-painted) is not just an ordinary tremolo pedal but one that slices and dices and chops up your signal in a multitude of ways.It can be made to sound somewhat traditional but who wants just that? The Sonar can get very machine-like and quirky in its tremo-lo sounds — kind of like if Kraftwerk decided to cover Creedence Clearwater Revival’s “Born On The Bayou.”All the knobs and mini toggles play with the idea of when and where you wish to hit peak volume of the tremolo and when it ramps up or down to the end of the signal. It excels when using a high-gain amplifier to create helicopter sounds or very quick stutters. Get the hand-painted version because each Z.Vex pedal is a work of art. Trust me.More info: zvex.com

01. TC Electronic Flashback X4 DelayNot too long ago, TC Electronic introduced their compact pedal series with their pioneering TonePrint technology in some of them.The new X4 Flashback ($369) has the same TonePrint technology found in their compact pedals but it’s clearly the tractor trailer of their series hauling in 16 delay types, three presets to store your favorite settings, tap tempo switch and a 40-second looper.One of the best settings happens to be the 2290 Dynamic Digital Delay, which was the preeminent rack delay made by TC before it was discontinued. I find the X4 to be the new workingman’s delay pedal because of its crystal clear sounds and intuitive operation that makes dialing in and storing your favorite delays a breeze, not to mention, the ability to store an additional four TonePrint delay settings. More info: tcelectronic.com

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8 DecemberDecember

Led ZeppelinDISCUSS THEIR 2007 REUNION SHOWThe first thing you notice is how close together they are. Led Zeppelin are not scattered around the huge stage of the O2 Arena in London like 100-meter-re-lay runners awaiting the baton, like most bands at this venue.

They are huddled within a few feet of each other in the center of the stage, and they stay that way for most of the two hours or so of Celebration Day, the new movie that captures their one-off return to play-ing live in December 2007.

Jimmy Page might wander off a few feet to hit a gui-tar pedal, John Paul Jones occasionally sets his bass down to sit at a keyboard, but Robert Plant sings from the heart of the group, just in front of the drum kit — occupied by Jason Bonham, son of Zeppelin’s drummer John, who died in 1980. For most of the film, all four of them are in frame simultaneously.“It was like a shield wall — it was a Romano-British shield wall, and what was coming at us was the idea of failure and ridiculousness — for me,” says Robert Plant, speaking on a sunny autumn morning at his local pub in north London. “It would be precocious of me to walk to the front of the stage and take on a kind of rock singer pose at that time in my being — and that’s five years ago. I could only send it up, and I don’t want to do that.”

“It was always like that,” counters John Paul Jones, talking later that day at the Connaught Hotel in Lon-don, where he and Page are both ensconced. “You need to be that close. There’s a lot going on, a lot to concentrate on and focus on. Plus, I like to feel the wind from the bass drum.”

“This was going to be a critical show,” Jimmy Page says. “We only had one shot at it, so we needed to

go out there and do it really well. There was a lot of listening to be done, a lot of communication — nods and winks — and you can see this generate through the course of the evening to the point where we’re really communicating through the music.”

“There are a number of Led Zeppelin projects that will come out next year,” Page said. “There are differ-ent versions of tracks that we have that can be added to the album, so there will be box sets of material that will come out starting next year. There will be one box set per album with extra music that will surface.”

Celebration Day will likely mark the world’s last chance to see Led Zeppelin communicating through the music. At a press conference the following day, they avoided questions about whether they will ever again reunite, but Plant’s ambivalence about Zeppe-lin’s role in his current life is evident during our con-versation. He talks about how being the singer in the band is “just kind of narrating some bits and pieces which hold together some great instrumentation.”

He says fronting Led Zeppelin means being specif-ically a rock and roll singer — and how that’s not what he is any more; he’s a singer. He talks about how the lyrics of those old, old songs are the words of a young man — “There was nothing cerebral about what I was doing at all” — even if he knows his writing got better as the band matured.

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10 DecemberDecember

The Fender Jaguar electric guitar is 50 years old. Unveiled in 1962, it was the last of the guitar maker’s four most famous electric guitars to be introduced, and, as it turned out, the last major six-string creation of the enigmatic geni-us whose name adorned it.

And while it might not be as omni-present as its big-brother electric guitars of the 1950s, the Telecaster and the Stratocaster, and its closest ancestor, 1958’s Jazzmaster guitar, make no mistake: The Jaguar is a survivor with a great history, and you have heard it.

From the Beach Boys and Jimi Hendrix in the ’60s all the way to Nirvana, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Smashing Pumpkins and Slacktone in the modern era, the sleekly chromed-out Jaguar has blazed its own unexpectedly successful trail through the history of rock music. Like some kind of “little guitar that could,” it has surprised nearly every-one by continually finding its own distinctive place with each succes-sive generation of guitarists, from harmlessly sparkling old-school pop to subversive alt-indie cool and beyond.

“One of the reasons I really like Jaguars is they’re a little restrictive for me to play, and that’s a good thing,” said Johnny Marr, noted guitarist for the Smiths, Modest

Mouse and the Pretenders to name only a few. “I have to work within the limitations of the guitar. So it gives me a really strong direction. I can’t get too ‘blues rock’ on it, as it’s too feminine to play power chords on it.”

Alone among Fender’s four main electric guitars, the Jaguar was a child of the 1960s rather than the 1950s. When it was introduced in 1962, the Jaguar was intended by its creator, Leo Fender, as his compa-ny’s top-of-the-line model. But things haven’t always been easy for Leo Fender’s cool cat. Extinction has threatened the Jaguar on several occasions over the past half century. In the end, though, there’s just no keeping a great guitar down.

Here in its 50th anniversary year, the Fender Jaguar is back in style and looking way hotter than any 50-year-old has a right to. The Jag’s rock ‘n’ roll cred is equaled only by its irresistible retro-chic allure. This distinctive instrument’s anniversa-ry comes at a time when popular culture has fallen in love with the Mad Men era—the early-’60s glory days of crisply tailored suits, extra-dry martinis and sleek European sports cars.

Very much a product of that same zeitgeist, the Fender Jaguar in fact takes its name from the undisput-ed apotheosis of Euro automo-tive design. The Jaguar E-Type was introduced in 1961 and was

immediately praised as “the most beautiful car ever made” by none other than Enzo Ferrari. Fender’s Jaguar made its debut the very next year. It is one of the last instruments that Leo designed for Fender before selling the company to CBS in the mid ’60s.

Introduced at a retail price of $375.50 — about 25 bucks more than the Jazzmaster, which was Fender’s next-most-expensive guitar—the Jaguar was featured in an ad that hailed it as “the ultimate in design and precision.” A styl-ish black-and-white photo paired Fender’s new top-of-the-line beau-ty with its automotive namesake. The ad was the handiwork of real life “Mad Man” Robert Perine, who created Fender’s youthfully eye-catching late-’50s/early-’60s ad campaigns.

Fender’s big plans for the Jaguar may have paid off right from the start had it not been for a momen-tous event that changed the course of musical history. The 1963-’64 ascendancy of The Beatles and the advent of the British Invasion touched off a mad clamor for guitars made by Gretsch and Rickenbacker, the two main brands played by The Beatles and their Brit brethren.

For the most part, though, the Jaguar remained something of a cult guitar in the ’60s and ’70s, as the Gretsches and Rickenbackers of the British Invasion gave way to

Fender Celebrates Jaguar’s50th Anniversary

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General Model Name:Series:Color / Part #:

BodyBody:Body Shape:

NeckNeck Shape:Number of Frets:Fret Size:Position Inlays:Fretboard Radius:Fretboard:Neck Material:Neck Finish:Nut Width:Scale Length:Neck Plate:Neck Binding:Truss Rods:

ElectronicsPickup Configuration:Bridge Pickup:Neck Pickup:Pickup Switching:Special Electronics:Controls:

HardwareHardware:Bridge:

Bridge Cover/Tailpiece:

MiscellaneousStrings:

Unique Features:

AccessoriesCase/Gig Bag:Pickguards:Included Accessories:

50th Anniversary Jaguar®Limited Anniversary Edition•Lake Placid Blue 017-0084-802•Candy Apple Red 017-0084-809•Burgandy Mist Metallic 017-0084-866

AlderJaguar®

“C” Shape22Medium JumboPearloid Block Inlays9.5” (24.1 cm)RosewoodMapleLacquer1.650” (42 mm)24” (61 cm)Vintage Style 4 BoltYesOriginal Vintage Style

S/SSpecial Design Hot Jaguar® Single-CoilSpecial Design Hot Jaguar® Single-Coil2-On/Off slide switches, one for each pickup2-Position Tone SwitchLead Circuit: Volume, Tone; “Rhythm” Circuit: Volume, Tone

ChromeVintage Style Floating Tremolo with Tremolo Lock ButtonIncludes Chrome Bridge Cover

Fender® USA 250R NPS,(.010-.046 Gauges)Bound fingerboard, block inlays, hot pickups with fatter tone and more output, new neck pocket cut provides better pitch, trem plate moved closer to bridge to increase break angle and sustain

Deluxe Brown CaseMint Green/Black/Mint GreenStrap, cable, set of flatwound strings

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12 December

Stratocaster, Telecaster and Les Paul guitars of psychedelia, blues rock, glam and metal. Consequently, Fender dropped the Jaguar from its line in 1975.

But it was soon to be revived in a dramatic way. The punk rock revo-lution of 1976-’77 brought a radical new aesthetic to electric guitar play-ing. Nascent punk guitarists looked for instruments that were cheap and free of the taint of old-school rock. Pawnshop Jaguar and Jazzmaster guitars fit the bill perfectly. Leo’s two uptown girls became the new queens of the downtown scene.

Favored by guitarists in punk and post-punk acts including Sonic Youth, My Bloody Valentine and assorted others, the Jaguar rode a new wave of popularity. And that wave crested when the Jaguar was

adopted by the most famous figure in recent rock, Nirvana’s Kurt Cobain, whose emotionally charged shifts from crystalline introspection to full-distortion mayhem propelled the trio to the forefront and put grunge on the map. What Jimi Hendrix was to the Stratocaster, Kurt Cobain was to the Jaguar. He inspired legions of players to pick up a Jag.

The honor roll of modern rock guitarists who have played Jaguar guitars also includes Frank Black (Pixies), Wayne Coyne (Flaming Lips), Graham Coxon (Blur) and a great many others.

The Jaguar returned to Fender’s product line by the mid 1980s and has been going strong ever since. Cobain and Marr have been honored with their own signature

model Jaguar guitars, and guitarists can now choose from a full line of beautifully appointed Jaguar guitars with a wide range of features and prices. Meanwhile, the market for vintage Jaguar guitars continues to thrive.

“I think they’re absolutely beau-tiful,” Marr said. “I love all the chrome. I love the shape of it; this kind of early-’60s idea of ‘space age’ paired with a classic sort of ‘Fender’ thing.”

So raise a martini glass to the Jaguar and its 50-year sojourn in our midst—a guitar with style, an impeccable pedigree and a fascinat-ing history.

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