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REVIEW: Swart’s Immaculate Atomic Space Tone

25. September 2006

2 Comments

Handmade Quality, Atomic-Age Styling, Delicious All-Tube Tone When I first stumbled onto Michael Swart’s handsome tweed Atomic Space Tone tube amp, via the Swart Amplifier Co’s website, I may have been instantly struck by the retro-cool look of his handiwork, but I had no inclination that I was gazing upon one of the best sounding tube [...]

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REVIEW: Campbell American’s Precix

22. August 2006

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I suppose this will come as no great surprise to most of my readers, but one of the nicest benefits of writing at EGR is that I get to play a whole lot of great instruments that I’d probably never have access to otherwise. Call me crazy, but this is the greatest job in the [...]

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REVIEW: Fender ‘69 Telecaster Thinline

17. July 2006

4 Comments

One of the best performing, and most under-appreciated guitars I’ve ever had the pleasure of owning and playing was Fender’s semi-hollowbodied ‘69 Telecaster Thinline reissue. Originally conceived and sold as a lighter-weight alternative to Fender’s standard Tele, the Thinline is actually much more than just an easier-on-the-arms Telecaster — it’s a beast all its own. The Good: [...]

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The Chorus Perfected: Electro-Harmonix Small Clone

20. June 2006

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Wave Of Mutilation It’s no secret that here at EGR we prefer analog effects to digital, tube amps to solid-state – not because its cool to say so, but because we like the way analog guitar equipment sounds. Its warmer. Its more vibrant. It feels more alive somehow. Not to mention we grew up listening to analog [...]

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REVIEW: The Rickenbacker 620

19. June 2006

19 Comments

Intro Unless you hang out in the right circles you really don’t hear much about Rickenbacker these days, which is really a shame when you consider that they continue to produce high-quality guitars, with truly one-of-a-kind styling and craftsmanship. In fact, in a world where badly-conceived Stratocaster and Les Paul clones abound, Rick’s unique form [...]

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REVIEW: Gibson’s Classic ES-335 Hollowbody

6. June 2006

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Intro Gibson’s incredible ES-335 was first introduced to the world in 1958 as a guitar to bridge the gap between the popular hollowbody instruments of the day, and the newer, more streamlined solidbody models. It was apparently a stroke of genius on Gibson’s part, because the ES-335 has gone on to become one of the [...]

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Vintage Tone & Sustain: Ibanez’s TS808 Tube Screamer Is Back

19. May 2006

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I may be dating myself a bit here, but the classic TS808 Tube Screamer was one of the first distortion pedals I ever owned (that and a vintage Big Muff,) and I’m really happy to see that Ibanez has brought it back to life through this reissue… even if it is only in limited production. While [...]

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Big, Fat Fender Tone: The Classic Vibro-King Custom

17. May 2006

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What can I say? I’ve been coveting Fender’s classically-cool Vibro-King Custom for as long as I’ve been playing the guitar… and that’s longer than I’d like to admit. First off, I’m a true tube-amp freak, and the Vibro-King is all tube/all the time, including dual 6L6 Groove Tubes, five 12AX7 pre-amp tubes, and something you seldom [...]

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