Norse Guitar Feeds

We are extremely pleased to announce the launch of the Belle Epoch +, our first compact delay with full tap tempo capabilities and a slew of other upgrades to our flagship tape echo simulator.

Much R&D was implemented to make the Belle Epoch + the best version of itself that it could possibly be. Tapping in a beat couldn’t be easier; simply hold the footswitch to enter tap mode and hold it again to enter tap bypass mode. Apart from the tap tempo circuit, the Belle Epoch + just gives you more, more headroom, a redesigned Mix control, improved buffered bypass, a touch of noise gating and better impedance specs for rig integration. The preamp has been tweaked to provide a higher dynamic range with the same feel and response of the original Echoplex pre, giving you a more hi-fi sparkling tone that you’ve come to expect from the classic circuit. We’ve also expanded the feature set by offering three modes that correspond to wear on the virtual tape, from a pristine “fresh off the line” Echoplex to a dusty unit that’s been sitting in an attic for 40 years. Step into (and onto) the next generation of our classic echo unit!

Learn more at catalinbread.com/products/belle-epoch-plus

Heather Brown Electronicals has unveiled its latest creation, the Darlene Compression, an ultra-quiet analog compressor built for players who want their dynamics to breathe and their sound to stay pure.

Darlene’s high-quality analog circuitry provides consistent touch and clarity across the board, preserving the nuance and character of your playing. Darlene avoids problems that occur with some other compressors that flatten tone, choke dynamics, or add unwanted noise. Instead, Dalrene delivers smooth, responsive compression that feels intuitive with your playing and provides each note with natural, effortless sustain.

The pedal’s control set is refreshingly straightforward. Three knobs (Sustain, Blend, and Volume) let you blend in your dry signal for lively dynamics and punchy attack, or lean into sustain for that smooth, elastic feel. The neutral voicing ensures your guitar’s natural tone remains untouched.

Inside, Darlene runs a 100% analog signal path with premium components and a noise floor so low it practically disappears. Players can choose between true or buffered bypass, paired with silent soft-touch switching for seamless performance on stage or in the studio. In addition to standard 9V DC operation the pedal offers optional 18V operation, adding extra headroom for those who like a little more snap.

Whether you use it as an always-on polish, a transparent clean boost, or a thickening texture after your drives, Darlene quietly makes everything feel more dialed in.

Features include:

• Three control knobs: Sustain, Blend, and Volume
• 100% analog signal path
• Exceptionally low-noise floor
• Selectable true/buffered bypass
• Silent soft-touch footswitch
• Runs on +9V or +18V DC

Heather Brown Electronicals’ Darlene Compression carries a $218 street price and is available now at select dealers and godsmom.com.

For well over 50 years, Bob Weir has been mystifying and delighting fans around the globe with seemingly endless musical ideas, helping to define the sound of the Grateful Dead. Weir has always taken a truly individual approach to rhythm guitar, centered around his affinity for melodic accompaniment. More than just strumming rhythmic patterns, he creates melodies that surround a given chord, adding texture and harmonic depth to the music. The following are examples of the way Weir adds color and rhythmic variety in harmonic patterns and illustrate his artistry as an improviser.

Ex. 1 

Ex. 1 shows a contrast in rhythmic activity, where the first two measures are much busier compared to measures three and four. Harmonically, notice the suspended 4th that resolves and leads to the next chord in measure two. Measure two highlights a wide interval of a major 6th and also the 9th, adding color to the triad. Also, in harmonic contrast to the first two measures, measure three and four end the phrase with 3rd-less triads. This is a good example of a compositional quality in Weir’s playing.

Ex. 2 

Triadic playing is certainly a component of Weir’s improvisational playing. In Ex. 2, you can see how he breaks up triads by articulating single notes and double-stops with the chord shape. You can see the three D chord shapes in measures one and two starting with a power chord and then sliding into the 3rd (F#) and the next chord shape, grabbing the 1st inversion D triad followed by a root position version of the same chord. Also notable, the use of long and short rhythms adds very musical syncopation. In measure five, note the F#m played completely, then breaking it up with the root followed by double-stop 3rd and 5th of the chord. The next chord, G, is arpeggiated, again in short and long rhythm. That rhythmic idea continues in the last two measures.

Ex. 3

Ex. 3 is another example of breaking up triads, but at a faster tempo. Notice the open E string doubling the 5th of the chord. That’s a nice touch and can be used on other chords as well, adding or doubling any chord tone. In measure three, the A/E chord held for two-and-a-half beats helps to break up the two-beat feel, as does the D/F# in measure four.

Ex. 4

The Dm sequence in Ex. 4 illustrates a Weir-like approach to melodic accompaniment and also a reference to the relative major, F. Beat 3 of measure one and beat 1 of measure two can be seen as using the relative F major, outlined in the diagram in parentheses. Notice the Dm and D5 played in a broken fashion followed by color notes on beat 3 of measure three, sliding double-stops down from D and F to C and E, the 7th and 9th of the Dm chord. The phrase resolves with descending Dm groupings, and a double-stop on the upbeat of 2 that could be thought of as C5, C/D or the 7th and 11th of Dm. Either way, you’re adding color and dimension to static harmony.

Ex. 5

Bending a string within a double-stop is pretty common in Weir’s playing, and you see this in Ex. 5 on beat 4 of measure one. The D# is pre-bent up a half-step to E and released in time down to D#, then pulled off to C#, all while holding on to the G# on the 3rd string. Rhythmic and melodic themes are apparent in Weir’s playing. In measures three and four, you can see variations of a rhythmic idea from measures two. All three measures have a version of a dotted quarter and eighth note rhythm, but end in a slightly different way.

November 14, 2025 Just like last week, I got derailed from my planned direction and detoured into some Al Stewart related things. The trigger here was a recent Forum post suggesting that I do a lesson on his tune The Palace Of Versailles from the 1978 album Time Passages. It got me playing some of […]

The post Totally Guitars Weekly Update November 14, 2025 appeared first on On The Beat with Totally Guitars.



Vermont-based guitar hero Paul Asbell joins us this week to talk about his new book, ‘Stages: Ruminations, Rants, and Reminiscences on a Life in Music.’

In ‘Stages,’ Paul recounts stories from early in his career when he worked as a sideman for legendary blues artists on the South Side of Chicago. We also hear about Paul’s unique upbringing, his love for luthier-made instruments, why he left Chicago for Vermont, and so much more.

Order ‘Stages’ here: https://paulasbell.com/product/stages-ruminations-rants-and-reminiscences-on-a-life-in-music-book/

Our new, 57th issue of the Fretboard Journal is now mailing. Subscribe here to get it.

Our next Fretboard Summit takes place August 20-22, 2026, at the Old Town School of Folk Music in Chicago. https://fretboardsummit.org

We are brought to you by Peghead Nation: https://www.pegheadnation.com (Get your first month free or $20 off any annual subscription with the promo code FRETBOARD at checkout).

The post Podcast 525: Paul Asbell first appeared on Fretboard Journal.

C. F. Martin & Co.® proudly announces the launch of Project 91, an extraordinary new collection that brings to life 91 unique guitars, each a direct descendant of an original pre-war D-45—among the most coveted acoustic guitars ever made. Crafted with Brazilian rosewood backs and sides, every Project 91 instrument is individually linked to its historical counterpart by serial number, honoring the spirit, craftsmanship, and tone of Martin’s golden era.

The first four models in this numbered legacy are now complete:

• D-45 1933 Project 91-1 – 12-fret body, slotted headstock bordered in pearl, torch headplate inlay, Style 45 snowflake fingerboard inlay, scalloped X-bracing.
• D-45 1934 Project 91-2 – 12-fret body, solid headstock bordered in pearl, C. F. Martin headplate inlay, Style 45 snowflake fingerboard inlay, scalloped X-bracing.
• D-45S 1936 Project 91-3 – 14-fret “special” wide body, Style 45 snowflake fingerboard inlay, forward-shifted scalloped X-bracing.
• D-45S 1936 Project 91-4 – 14-fret “special” wide body, Style 45 snowflake fingerboard inlay, forward-shifted scalloped X-bracing.

Each Project 91 guitar is accompanied by a certificate of authenticity in the case pocket, and a commemorative framed poster depicting its original reference instrument—available to those who register their guitar.

A Tribute Nearly a Century in the Making
Between 1933 and 1942, Martin built just 91 original D-45s. Today, fewer than that remain in circulation, each representing a priceless piece of music history.

“We’re getting close to 100 years since the first D-45 was introduced,” says Jason Ahner, museum and archives manager. “Project 91 is about recreating 91 of the greatest guitars ever built. We’re doing our best to replicate how they would have been built back in the 1930s and early 1940s.”

Continuing a Golden Era
The D-45 has long represented the pinnacle of Martin craftsmanship. “The 45 has always been the culmination of our best work,” says Chris Martin IV, chairman of the board. “During my career, we’ve done D-50s, D-100s, D-200s—but there’s something about the 45. The fact that we made the 91 during what people consider one of our golden eras—I would like to say today is another one—this is really exciting for me.”

Each Project 91 guitar captures the tone and detail that defined that era, from forward- and rear-shifted bracing and vintage neck profiles to Brazilian rosewood backs and sides—while some of the 91 models will feature unique touches like thinner nut widths, a shaded top, a left-handed build, and even one with two pickguards.

“The D-45 represents the absolute top of the line for Martin guitars,” adds Dick Boak, former museum and archives director. “The amount of work, the amount of detail in inlaying not only the top, sides, back, neck, and headstock, but also around the edges of the neck and endpiece—it just sets them apart.”

Owning a Piece of Martin History
Every Project 91 guitar connects its owner directly to a specific original D-45. “You have a unique serial number that ties back to its predecessor,” explains Tim Teel, instrument design manager. “When you register your guitar, you’ll receive a framed poster showing that connection—your guitar’s lineage to Martin’s history.”

Availability
The first four Project 91 guitars are now complete and available through select Martin dealers. The remaining models will be built and released in sequence over the coming years, each meticulously recreating its pre-war counterpart in sound, feel, and detail. For more information on Project 91, visit martinguitar.com.

From reimagining 1973 album Quadrophenia as a rock ballet to his role as The Who’s chief lyricist, Pete Townshend is always working on new projects. In fact, he admits he’s probably got 450 pieces of unfinished music lying around – and he’s not averse to using AI to aid his creative exploits.

Townshend has recently said that he wouldn’t shy away from using AI to help finish off tracks. “I’ve managed to wade through about half of [my unfinished music],” he tells The Late Show’s host, Stephen Colbert. “What’s interesting is… I don’t know what to do with it! I’m quite interested in AI [to see what it makes of it].”

• READ MORE: “One of the difficulties Roger had was Zak jumped straight into Instagram and started to mouth off”: Pete Townshend reveals the real reason why The Who fired Zak Starkey

While some artists are adamantly against the use of AI, Townshend is open to the idea. “I’m quite interested in [using it to rework] some of my old songs that didn’t quite work,” he explains. “I didn’t get them right first time round…”

“[If I put stuff] onto Suno or some AI music machine, [I could see] what it can make of it,” he continues. “There might be some hits!”

As intrigued as Townshend is by the new technology, Colbert then reminds us of the controversial side of using (and inadvertently training) AI software like Suno. He mentions music that’s “doing very well” that’s entirely “by robots” – an issue that has been detracting attention from genuine bands.

Recently, Welsh rockers Holding Absence have spoken out about AI’s impact on the industry. Back in September, singer Lucas Woodland posted on X to discuss AI band Bleeding Verse, which cites Holding Absence as one of its ‘inspirations. “So, an AI ‘band’ who cite us as an influence (ie, it’s modelled off our music) have just overtaken us on Spotify, in only two months,” he wrote.

“It’s shocking, it’s disheartening, it’s insulting – most importantly – it’s a wake-up call,” he continues, before urging listeners to “oppose AI music, or bands like us stop existing”.

So, an AI “band” who cite us as an influence (ie, it’s modelled off our music) have just overtaken us on Spotify, in only TWO months.

It’s shocking, it’s disheartening, it’s insulting – most importantly – it’s a wake up call.

Oppose AI music, or bands like us stop existing.

— Lu (@Lucaswoodland) September 30, 2025

It’s not the first time Townshend has entertained the possibility of using AI in his work. Speaking to The Times back in March, he said [via Guitar World]: “It is a tremendous irritation to Who fans that I don’t just stick to the old catalogue and do it until I die… If I told AI, ‘Write a load of Pete Townshend songs like he used to in 1973,’ a lot of fans would be really pleased”.

Back in 2023, however, the Who legend was far less enthusiastic about AI. While he did note that it could serve as a “helpful” tool, he feared its takeover. “With respect to AI, I’m hopeful… but I think, when it becomes what drives the machine, then we have to be careful,” he told the Broken Record Podcast.

He was particularly fearful of AI taking over the “artistic” realm. “I think, by this time next year, the landscape will be completely different,” he predicted. “We won’t know which way is up, we won’t know what’s been created by AI and what’s been created by humans.”

“Everything is going to get very blurred and very confusing, and I think we might look back on 2023 as the last year when humans really dominated the music scene,” he concluded. “I really think it could be that serious, and that doesn’t fill me with joy. It makes me feel apprehensive, and I’m preparing to feel sad about this.”

The post Pete Townshend admits he’s “quite interested” in getting AI to finish some of the hundreds of unreleased songs he’s written: “There might be some hits!” appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

Third Man Hardware has joined forces with Kansas City, MO’s JHS Pedals to create The Troika Delay, a horse-powered instrument and microphone delay product unlike anything else on the market. More than simply a pedal, The Troika is a multi-purpose, pro-audio, studio-grade delay device designed to work with microphones, guitars, or any instrument. Equipped with both XLR and ¼” inputs and outputs, The Troika utilizes a hi-grade Lundahl transformer on the mic input, and a secondary output transformer, enabling it to work well with other effects and is perfect for desktop and professional recording studios as well as on stage. The Troika Delay is available now in standard black ($349) at thirdmanhardware.com. A limited-edition yellow model ($369) is also available, exclusively via reverb.com/shop/third-man-hardware. For more about JHS Pedals, please visit jhspedals.info.

About Third Man Hardware:

Third Man Hardware introduced itself to the gear community with its first collaboration in 2014, the Bumble Buzz. They couldn’t stop there. With a vision to bring innovative, introspective, creative sounds to everyone in the gear community, Third Man Hardware has collaborated with over ten different companies that it respects in the gear community in order to produce its current gear line.

About Third Man Records:

Third Man Records was originally founded by Jack White in Detroit, MI in 2001. In March of 2009, a physical location was established in Nashville, TN. Third Man Records, in its current state, comprises a record store, record label offices, a photo studio, a darkroom, and a live venue with an analog recording booth. TMR now has three locations, with its latest addition in London. Almost all of our records are recorded, printed, and pressed in Detroit, MI, and produced by Jack White. In this fashion, TMR strives to bring a spontaneous and tangible aesthetic back into the record business.

About JHS Pedals:

JHS Pedals is a USA effects company based in the Kansas Cit metro area known for blending classic analog tone with creative modern design. Since 2007, JHS has become one of the most influential names in guitar effects pedals— developing original circuits, reimagining vintage classics, and collaborating with artists and brands across the globe. With a catalog spanning everything from overdrives to delays to preamps, JHS combines quality craftsmanship with large-scale production expertise. The company also produces popular content on YouTube, where founder Josh Scott explores guitar-related devices, the stories, and the sounds that shape music history.

About Reverb:

Reverb is the largest online marketplace dedicated to music gear. Since launching in 2013, Reverb has helped millions of music makers find the perfect piece of gear from its trusted community of music shops, top brands, and other music makers around the world. Built by musicians and gear lovers, Reverb combines one of the largest selections of musical instruments with tools to help music makers find music gear that inspires them and a passionate musical community to connect with. Sales on Reverb help support Reverb Gives, which provides youth music programs with musical instruments.

We’ve all heard that Black Sabbath’s grand farewell show raised a lot of money for charity, but it didn’t rake in nearly $200 million, despite some early claims. In fact, Sharon Osbourne has revealed the final figure to be closer to $11 million. Still not a drop in the bucket, mind.

While Ozzy Osbourne’s late wife called the inflated claims “ridiculous” from the start, the latest episode of The Osbournes Podcast sees Sharon sharing exactly how much money was raised. “It raised 11 million, [minus] the cost [to put on the gig],” she explains [via Blabbermouth]. “We paid the cost of bringing everybody in, the accommodation, everything.”

• READ MORE: The guitar gear used by Tony Iommi on Black Sabbath’s Heaven & Hell album

She also clarifies that, despite the amount of high-profile artists appearing, “no one got paid” to be there. “Nobody asked for a penny,” she explains. “They gave their time, their efforts, everything for free. People were just so generous.”

While Sharon notes that it would have been incredible to have raised $190 million, the team were more than pleased with the amount earned. “It was nowhere near [$190 million], and I wish that it was, but we are living in reality, in the real world,” she says.

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Of course, Black Sabbath’s final show would also serve as a farewell to Ozzy himself, with the metal legend passing away just weeks after. Elsewhere in The Osbournes Podcast episode, Sharon and her two children, Jack and Kelly Osbourne, reflect on how the world responded to Ozzy’s death. “So many people have reached out to us,” Sharon says. “It’s just been overwhelmingly wonderful… I just want everybody to know that everything that has been sent to us we’ve read, and we appreciate it.”

“The outpouring of love has been so helpful to us,” she continues. “I never could have even imagined it to be as helpful as it has been, knowing that we are not alone in our grief and our sadness. The rest of the world loved him as much as we did.”

“I haven’t seen an outpouring like that since Princess Diana died – I didn’t expect it!” Kelly chimes in. She later adds that the love truly came from everywhere, nothing “it wasn’t just the heavy metal community, it was the entire world” sharing their condolences and tributes to the Prince of Darkness.

You can watch the entirety of the latest Osbournes Podcast episode below.

The post Sharon Osbourne says Back to the Beginning raised just over £8 million for charity – far from the £140 million some quoted appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

Joe Bonamassa’s guitar collection is the stuff of legends – so much so that he’s got two ‘museum’ locations – Nerdville East and West in Nashville and LA, respectively – housing hundreds of vintage guitars and pieces of gear.

It might not come as a surprise, then, that he’s had to adopt something of a poacher’s mentality to get his hands on the guitars he wants – even competing against one of his best friends, fellow blues maestro Joanne Shaw Taylor.

• READ MORE: “The heavy metal thing was not my first intention”: The creator of EMG pickups never meant for them to become the choice of metal guitarists

As Taylor notes in an interview in the new issue of Guitarist magazine, an Albert Collins signature Fender Telecaster she now proudly owns was once poached by Bonamassa under the guise he’d help her buy it.

Of the guitar – which was ultimately gifted to her by JoBo around 15 years – she recounts the hilarious tale of how it ended up in her hands.

“I flew to New York to see Joe for a few days,” Taylor recalls. “He was rehearsing for the first time with Black Country Communion. I went to, I think it was, Manny’s, and in there they had an Albert Collins signature model and it was signed by Albert. Other than Stevie Ray Vaughan, he’s my number one influence.

Credit: Frank Hoensch/Redferns

Upon seeing the guitar’s $5,000 price tag, Taylor consulted Bonamassa, informing him that she didn’t have enough money to buy the guitar outright herself.

“He’s like, ‘Okay, well what do you have?’ I said I could probably get together about four. He’s like, ‘Alright, well come back with me. They’ll probably want a photo of me, but I could probably get it for you for four.’

“So we go back to the guitar shop, he plays the guitar, and he’s like, ‘How much?’ And the guy goes, ‘Okay, four grand and a picture of you buying it.’ So we did the deal… and then he kept the guitar for himself! [laughs]”

The guitar remained under the custodianship of Bonamassa for about a year, Taylor says, until she informed his father Len, who then set out to make things right.

“About a year or so later, I talked to his dad and mentioned this, and Len was furious,” she says. “So Len must have phoned him and read him the riot act because I got a text the next day saying, ‘Remind me of your address,’ and then this was delivered in the post.”

The post “I said, ‘I don’t have $5,000,’ and Joe said, ‘They’ll want a photo of me but I could probably get it for you for four’”: Joe Bonamassa helped Joanne Shaw Taylor buy an Albert Collins Telecaster – and then kept it for himself appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

The Smiths’ Johnny Marr has recently announced a new collaboration with with Fender: the Johnny Marr Signature Special Jaguar. While the Signature sits just shy of three grand, Marr insists the guitar is more than a “vanity project” – it’s his own attempt at making a versatile guitar for many different guitarists.

Marr’s latest Signature Special Jag comes as an update on his 2012 model, and the guitarist notes that it is designed with players in mind. “I’ve always got the idea of other musicians of all types in mind when I do it,” he tells Hero Magazine. “I’m thinking about my guitar comrades and whether they’re going to like it. It’s not a vanity project.”

• READ MORE: “Dear UPS, where are my guitars?”: Johnny Marr slams UPS over “lost” guitars ahead of tour

Marr has been involved every step of the way in designing his new Signature Special Jaguar. “I put a lot of time and energy into my Signature guitars – It’s something I get quite obsessive about,” he admits. “[My original Signature] came out after about three or four years of dedication and obsession.”

Despite having his previous Fender Signature under his belt, it was high time the old guitar learned some new tricks. “I’ve been using that original Jaguar for over a decade now, pretty much exclusively live and when I’m collaborating, because it’s got that perfect sound that’s become associated with me. The new one, the Signature Special, is a development of that.”

To develop the old model even further, Marr looked to other players for inspiration. “I thought a lot about other guitar players, whether they’re indie rock or more straight-up rock musicians,” he explains. “I changed the radius of the fingerboard so it’s a bit flatter – better for soloing – and added another pickup for more variety. It gives you the option to be a little more aggressive, a little more rock, whilst still keeping everything that made the original Jaguar what it was.”

This time around, Marr’s Signature features a flatter fingerboard, an extra pickup, and an extended range of tonal flexibility. However, above all, Marr insists that his guitar isn’t restricted to Smiths-esque noodling. “You don’t have to want to sound like me,” he emphasises. “It’s just that what’s useful for me tends to be useful for other musicians. My original guitar already did a lot. But, with these changes, it now covers even more ground and opens up new sounds.”

Looking forward, Marr’s Signature Special Jag will surely feature on his upcoming releases. Elsewhere in his conversation with Hero Magazine, he teases that plenty of new tracks are raring to go. “I’ve got a collection of new songs, and we’ve been playing some of them on tour in America recently,” he says.

It’s been three years since Marr’s previous release, Fever Dreams Pts 1-4, and the guitarist hopes that his new tracks will kickstart a whole new era. “I’m hoping this next record is the start of the next long chapter,” he notes. “That’s the way it feels… it feels like we’re moving into a new phase.”

He even teases a pair of potential collaborators. “I still see Hans Zimmer quite a bit – I hang out with him a lot,” he says. “And me and Nile Rodgers have been talking about doing something together, so I’d quite like to do that. That’d be good.”

The post Johnny Marr insists his latest $3,000 signature guitar isn’t a “vanity project” appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

$749/£749, martinguitar.com

For nearly a decade now, the Martin Junior Series has quietly been one of the most compelling acoustic guitar offerings at the affordable end of the market. What started out as a slightly slimmed-down version of the venerable dreadnought has become an entire family of instruments that blend smaller stature with all-solid tonewoods to create an impressive bang for buck equation for those looking to get a ‘proper’ acoustic guitar for not a lot of money.

• READ MORE: Martin Junior Series D Jr E StreetLegend review: “this guitar feels Junior in name only”

For 2025, the Junior range has been overhauled – continuing the focus on improving that initial Martin experience that began with the Remastered X Series last year. Of course, unlike the sometimes-maligned X guitars, the Junior series was already very well thought of – blending as it does all-solid construction with classic looks and affordable Mexico build. So what’s new here?

Image: Adam Gasson

Martin 000 Jr Sapele – what is it?

The 000 Jr Sapele is very much what it says on the tin – this is a 14-fret 000-style instrument with top, back and sides all made of sapele. Sapele is often used as a mahogany substitute in more affordable instruments, because both tonally and materially they occupy a very similar territory.

As a result, this Junior has been stained brown in the tradition of all-mahogany Martins, and it certainly looks the part with this ultra-thin open-pore finish. Woodie Guthrie called his all-mahogany 0-15 “the people’s Martin” due to its affordability and stripped-down aesthetic, and this feels suitably in that lineage.

The body itself is a scaled-down version of the classic 000 shape – as seen previously on Martin’s Shawn Mendes signature. It’s closer in dimensions to a classic 0-size guitar in the flesh – 14 inches across the bottom bout and 18 inches from top to bottom, with a 3.1-inch depth – but still feels very much like a ‘real’ guitar in the hands. This is no travel guitar, and it’s all the better for it.

That grown-up feel is helped by the most notable new addition to this Junior series refresh – a full 24.9″ scale length compared to the previous 24 inches. This brings the guitar on par with a proper 000 in terms of scale, giving you a fair bit more room to manoeuvre.

The neck and fingerboard itself is Martin’s always frustrating ‘select hardwood’ – which could be anything from mahogany to cedar. Looking at the grain here, if I had to guess I’d say this was also sapele on this model, but part of the reason Martin uses that nebulous term is to enable them to switch out similar woods depending on supply.

This is an all-solid instrument with one exception – the peghead has a Brazilian rosewood-patterned HPL cap on it, and man, I wish it didn’t. It’s a minor thing, but the elaborate figure of the faux-Braz really does jar with the rest of the ‘people’s Martin’ vibe of the instrument.

While we’re up here, I’m not sure why on earth they decided to take the lovely open-gear butterbean tuners and slap some ugly black plastic buttons on them – aside from presumably wanting to make sure people can tell this is actually a cheap guitar. If this was my guitar I’d be swapping them out for some normal chrome button ones in a heartbeat.

Electronics are provided by Martin’s trusty E1 system, which has a built-in tuner plus a two-band tone control and phase switch.

Image: Adam Gasson

Martin 000 Jr Sapele – playability and sounds

Pulling the 000 Jr out of its case and the reputation of Martin’s more affordable guitars to leave a little to be desired on the QC side of things is at the forefront of my mind. Thankfully, this is a very well sorted instrument – everything is tight and clean and nicely executed. A gander inside with a phone camera shows that the spruce scalloped X bracing and internal purfling is all very neat and tidy.

If I was splitting hairs, I’d say that the fingerboard and bridge look like they’ve been baking in the Sonoran heat for a bit too long and desperately need a bit of lemon oil, but that’s mainly an aesthetic concern.

Less positive is the presence of a fair bit of glue residue around the frets themselves – quite significantly so on the top side 14th, 15th and 16th frets. Again, this is something that a bit of cleaning and gentle wire wool application will easily sort (and what the hell would you be doing up at the 16th fret on a 14-fret non-cutaway guitar anyway?), but really an instrument at this price point with Martin on the headstock shouldn’t be leaving the factory like this.

A first strum of the guitar is a much more reassuring experience, and it’s enough to make those QC foibles quickly recede into the memory.

Image: Adam Gasson

The High-Performance Taper neck is a nice crossover palmful for those more used to electric playing, and the string spacing is just about comfortable at 38.2mm at the nut and 40mm at the 12th fret.

It’s probably going to feel a little tight for those wanting to really lean into intricate fingerpicking, but for basic strumming, picking, and noodling it’s a nice balance that is clearly made to ease beginners into the world of acoustic guitar.

The action is similarly forgiving, low enough to not give your fingers undue punishment but without any discernible string buzz. It’s a really lovely guitar to have on your lap and idle your time away on – something that’s helped by the slightly more compact body size.

Of course, a nice playing guitar won’t count for much if it doesn’t sound good, but it’s here that the 000 Jr really makes you stand up and take notice.

The all-solid construction and ultra-thin open-pore finish have combined to make this an impressively lively and resonant instrument that belies its small size. While you won’t get the sparkling highs that you’d find from a spruce/rosewood instrument, it has an aptly sonorous low-end and rich midrange that you’d expect from a small-bodied all-mahogany Martin guitar.

It’s a guitar that probably suits pickers and gentle strummers more than it does full-on beaters – the Dreadnought Jr is probably a better fit there – but it remains an impressively versatile and sonically compelling instrument. The solid timbers mean it’s likely going to sound even better as it gets older, too.

Image: Adam Gasson

Martin 000 Jr Sapele – should I buy one?

There are so many options for anyone shopping for an acoustic guitar in this price point – plenty of which have better specs on paper at least. But what they don’t have is that Martin name on the headstock. And unlike the X Series guitars, which while being good sounding and playing instruments have always felt like a compromise, the Junior series somehow skirts that.

Maybe it’s the aesthetics, maybe it’s the solid woods, maybe it’s a combination of the two, but you really get the sense that far from being an entry-level instrument to be discarded in time, this is a guitar that could easily become a lifelong companion. There can be no higher compliment for any instrument.

Martin 000 Jr Sapele – alternatives

At this price point, take your pick – literally everyone in the budget acoustic guitar game is offering something compelling in its own way. If you want a proper all-solid mahogany guitar, you could do a lot worse than Fender’s Malibu Special ($735/£679) – which also sports a premium Fishman Flex Body preamp system. If your tastes veer a little more modern, then Taylor’s 24ce ($599/£499) – with mahogany top and sapele back and sides – is a really solid option. If you want a bit more brightness from your sound, Eastman’s E1OM ($699/£599) has a vintage-tinted spruce top paired with sapele back and sides.

The post Martin 000 Jr Sapele review: “a guitar that could easily become a lifelong companion” appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

Photo by Steven Perlin

Today, contributor and FJ56 subject Cameron Knowler has released a covers EP, East of the Gilas (Lagniappe Session). In honor of his new EP, we are giving online readers an exclusive look into the pages of our print magazine by publishing Philippe Custeau’s profile of Knowler from our 56th issue. We also recently put out a live video of Cameron performing “Sunflower River Blues” on our YouTube. 

Sonoran Gothic

Yuma-born, Nashville-based Guitarist Cameron Knowler

By Philippe Custeau

“Who is your favorite guitar player?” Cameron Knowler asked.  It was a blustery January morning in 2022, and we were meeting for the first time.  My interest had been piqued by “Guitars Have Feelings Too,” a book he’d recently released, part instructional manual and part flatpicking manifesto. I had sent him a message to inquire about his teaching schedule, and he’d promptly suggested we convene on a video conference to see if we could be a good fit.

I was initially taken aback when he appeared on screen. He looked to be in his early 20s, and so, by all measures, I’d already been playing guitar for longer than he had been aware of their existence Knowler sat upright, almost stiffly, his long thin hair battling some imperceptible wind.  He came off as so unassuming and soft-spoken that the bluntness of his query also caught me off guard, and I wondered if we would be able to find any common ground there.  I considered this for a moment. “Probably Robert Bowlin,” I replied, “and John Fahey.”  Knowler’s eyes widened. “Robert Bowlin?” he repeated, visibly surprised. “I wasn’t expecting that.” He then added, “Never heard him and Fahey brought up together.” I told him I thought that, oddly, there were elements connecting the two. He nodded in approval. “I couldn’t agree more. I think we will be just fine.”

Photo by Micah Matthewson

Knowler laughs when I bring this up as we sit down again two years later, this time to discuss CRK, his latest collection of tunes. “That’s right!” he says, lifting a finger and flashing one of his characteristic Native turquoise rings. His large denim shirt is draped loosely over his shoulders, framing a squash blossom pendant necklace. It would have been impossible for either of us to divine the sequence of events that occurred in the intervening time, and which resulted in the aforementioned Bowlin playing piano and guitar on a few tracks of the record. And yet, this also seems to be a recurring motif in his story.

Knowler was born in Yuma, Arizona, a small town on the Colorado River just a few miles from the California and Mexico borders. “The sunniest place on earth,” he adds, though, I quickly find out, the narrative of his formative years there is anything but that.

His mother, a young woman looking for an escape from Manhattan, settled in the desert outpost hoping to carve out a pastoral life framed by a set of fringe ideologies — most notably a systematic distrust of the formal educational and medical systems. She met Knowler’s father at a counseling session soon after her move, and even a few years and two kids later, her resolve wouldn’t soften.  So, Knowler explains, neither he nor his older brother attended school.  “Not home-schooled,” he quickly adds, “but un-schooled.” When I press the matter further, trying to get a sense of what that means, he shrugs as if to indicate there wasn’t a very rigorous philosophy informing any of those decisions. “We basically spent our days riding dirt bikes and digging holes in the backyard.”

If Knowler’s candor weren’t so immediately palpable, one could suspect him of having a flair for drama, or of gleaning bits and pieces from Western novels and maybe even a Coen brothers’ movie or two — his parents gifted him a gun at age 10 — when he paints a portrait of his childhood. “So from zero to 11, basically I’d never seen anyone my own age because I was living in a retirement community. The foothills area of Yuma is where the snowbirds go — retirees that have a house in Idaho, it gets really cold there in the winter, and they go to Yuma and then they get their dental work and their cigarettes.”

The family traveled very little, and the aridity of their surroundings was mirrored in their social life. Knowler’s recollection of that period is a kaleidoscopic series of images centered around the desert, isolation, but also the quality of the light in Arizona, and the colors of the Navajo and Zuni art being sold in the market.

Unexplainedly, he attended middle school for a single year at 11 and thrived academically, rising to the top of the class against all expectations. On the last day before summer vacation, his mother met him at the bus stop, and announced that they would be moving to Texas without her husband. That night Knowler witnessed his father being carted away by the authorities, and that was the last he would see of him and of Yuma for the decade and a half that followed. Instead, his first years in a Houston suburb were again spent in aimless wandering through the city on his skateboard, smoking cigarettes with his brother while his mother’s health began steadily declining.

Knowler is a gifted storyteller, and he paints a vivid portrait of the first half of his life with the studied detachment of someone who’s spent years trying to assemble it into a coherent narrative.  I have to remind myself to steer the conversation back to guitar.

When asked if he has any musical memories of that period, he takes a cinematic pause to reflect, as if to indicate that we have now entered consequential territory. He began by learning drums, then moved on to electric guitar, and quickly realized dexterity and technique came easily to him. He would play Guns N’ Roses and study the prototypical metal riffs without any real sense of direction initially. That is, until he took an organized group bus trip with his grandparents at 14.

On an overnight stop in Cody, Wyoming the travelers were given a choice between attending a rodeo or a bluegrass concert. The majority chose the obvious, but Knowler, on a whim, insisted on seeing the concert.  There he witnessed a family band playing some fiddle tunes, and one of the titles, “Whiskey Before Breakfast,” stuck with him.

Knowler is not predisposed to hyperbole, and yet he makes it plain that this experience would change the course of his life. Having returned home from the trip, he looked up the aforementioned number online and the first video that came up was an excerpt of Norman Blake’s first Homespun tape.  “I saw his right hand and told myself: I want to do that,” he says pointedly, “the looseness, the studiedness.” He would subsequently sell his Les Paul copy, his Parker Nite Fly and a few Ibanez guitars and buy a Japanese D-28 copy, and eventually cobble together the money for a new, 2012 D-18. He began studying Norman Blake’s music, videos — and hands — obsessively.

Knowler laughs when I inquire whether he had an inkling that this would turn into a career. “It was a total hobby, and I started making YouTube videos, like I had anything to say. Like a year into seriously playing flatpick guitar, I made tutorial videos where I didn’t know anything.  And I would teach the wrong chord progression, but I loved teaching.  It was basically a visual journal. I have journal books filled with like, ‘What is a triad? What is a major six?’ asking myself these very fundamental questions.”

If this doesn’t make it plain that Knowler was a preternaturally precocious teenager, the fact that he then enrolled in a community college at 16 to study music appreciation — without having gone to high school — should. “It was a battle,” he says. “Every single day it was a battle. I had to come up with fake paperwork for a homeschooling group and pretend like it had collapsed and they no longer had copies of my academic records. And then doing these entry exams and acing the writing portion and the critical thinking stuff, but my math was multiple years behind, so I had to do accelerated courses and got up to speed in about three to six months.”  He would eventually move on to the jazz studies program at the University of Houston, where, incredibly, he started writing a book which he intended as a “method for rural guitarists” — a 230-page instructional manual, treatise on and analysis of the backup guitar stylings of players such as Jim Baxter, Norman Blake, Maybelle Carter and Riley Puckett.

Despite his steadfast dedication to the craft, Knowler still had planned to follow in the footsteps of some of his relatives, and enrolled in law school after having completed his jazz degree. He went so far as to take the LSAT, get accepted, and move near the campus. But before the start of the semester, after a long boozy evening spent playing tunes with a friend, he finally admitted to himself that his heart wasn’t actually in it. He was drawn to the challenge of higher education more than to an actual career in law. “I realized that, to me, the best thing about being a lawyer was just being able to say you’re a lawyer,” he quips. His friend mentioned his graduate work in archives. “And at that moment,” Knowler recounts, “I was like, I’m going to do that. That’s what I’m going to do. I’m going to do a Master’s in archives. I love archives.”

He spent a lot of time alone in that small apartment next to the law faculty building at the start of the pandemic. “I started having these vivid hallucinations of moving to Los Angeles,” he recalls. “Many came true when I finally did.” Some of them consisted in meeting a few of his musical heroes, Norman Blake included, having his favorite guitar players join him on CRK, and eventually moving to Nashville, where he currently resides.

Photo by Annabella Boatwright

Knowler’s guitar playing itself is certainly worthy of its own dissection, and it highlights the sentiment brought forth by the title of his instructional manual. While unquestionably dexterous, he doesn’t rely on speed or volume to convey virtuosity. Knowler has a sophisticated, delicate touch on the instrument and balances melody and rhythmic movement with a poise that belies, or at least transcends his youth. He is a distinctly nuanced player, but also surprisingly restrained.  When I ask how he conceives of his own style, he replies modestly, “I think of it as modern, from unlikely, very disparate sources. Basically it’s a collage of American music and it’s modern.”  He ponders this for a second. “I think it’s traditional to modernists and modern to traditionalists.”

When he speaks of archival work, Knowler describes the process as a reorganizing of the past in new ways, and it’s easy to see how it dovetails with his playing. On this new record, he surveys the vernacular of traditional dance music from the South, and while one can glean some of Knowler’s source influences, he manages to always sound distinctly like himself. When I mention it to him, he thanks me bashfully and explains that he re-recorded the album four or five times while moving between cities.

I ask him whether he had set out to write a collection of tunes that were either sonically or thematically connected, and Knowler nods before explaining that CRK is a portrait of his life the past few years. Harrison Whitford and Dylan Day, two of Knowler’s favorite guitarists whom he met serendipitously in Los Angeles contribute parts on the album. The same goes for drummer Jay Bellerose. The actor Jack Kilmer, who also grew up in the Southwest, narrates a poem written by Knowler. And Robert Bowlin even makes an appearance on piano and guitar on a few tracks.

I push the question of a unifying theme further, and Knowler confesses the album was a way for him to process his past experiences with hindsight, to be both the anthropologist and archivist of his own life and filter them through a brighter lens. He even went back to Yuma and experienced it with a newfound sensibility. He mentions Proust, and distance having afforded him the possibility of romanticizing his past, or at least that town.

The importance of his own experience as source material was brought to light in a convincing way when Knowler reached out to the famously private Norman Blake after having mailed him a copy of “Guitars Have Feelings Too,” and subsequently received an invitation to visit his hero at home in Georgia. “I go to Rising Fawn where Norman has been writing about Sulphur Springs (…) and going to the cemetery and seeing the last names of the people he writes about.  And then his next-door neighbor is Castleberry. And having learned “Castleberry’s Hornpipe,” I realized he’s a 100-plus-year-old figure who lives right next door to Norman. I got slapped in the face almost as if I were visiting John Steinbeck, and I had seen the grocery store he went to or something like that. It’s like, ‘This is really serious. This is really the life that he leads.’ And it just changed everything on a fundamental level. I have this impulse to be the art, but I didn’t have the courage to do so because I never had someone so creatively stable in my life. But then meeting him, I just opened up the doors and I said to myself, ‘I’m just going to do this, and this is what I need to do right now’.” Knowler told Blake that his music had saved his life by giving him direction. He left that encounter with his now most-cherished instrument, the 1933 Gibson L-Century of Progress that appears on the cover of Blake’s “Be Ready Boys: Appalachia to Abilene” album. The L-Century can be heard on “Christmas in Yuma,” CRK’s first track, played by Dylan Day.

Knowler resolved that everything he would write for the rest of his life would be about, or inspired by the 100 or so mile stretch of land between Gila Bend and Yuma; a map that will unfold with each subsequent record.

“It’s like building a ship in a bottle,” he reflects, before bringing up another one of his incredible chance meetings in David Rawlings, whose approach to his own music Knowler feels a profound kinship for. He too is an apt “reorganizer” of archival material. The two met in East Nashville at a house party. Knowler picked up a guitar, played a few notes and Rawlings immediately said: “Norman.”  That was all they needed to hit it off.  “Dave has a good quote,” Knowler continues, “that ‘the smallest things make the biggest difference.’ (…) It’s about innovating within an existing framework.”  He also means this literally in how small or unusual guitars can sound the biggest in front of a microphone. Case in point: Knowler plays a 1935 Epiphone Olympic that he acquired through Rawlings on “Mohave Runs the Colorado.” “I’m interested in the anthropology of an instrument,” he adds.

More recently, Knowler acquired a Mario Martello classical that used to be one of Bola Sete’s main recording guitars.  I am curious to find out whether instruments themselves have an influence on his writing.  “The beautiful thing about guitar is that it supports so many viewpoints,” Knowler answers.  Referring back to the Rawlings quote, he explains that with solo guitar, you are really working in miniature, while much has been made about “sounding big” in the guitar world. He brings up the Dreadnought, which was named after a war vessel, and the Mastertone banjo as examples. “I don’t need a guitar that’s loud,” he reflects, “I need a guitar that’s introspective.” Knowler even likes what he calls uniquely unbalanced instruments that may have unusual ringing overtones, such as the 1936 Martin 00-28 he borrowed from Chris Eldridge for the track “Yuma Ferry.”  “Some guitars are like a skatepark. You have to pick your tricks,” he adds, chuckling. And those proclivities even extend to recordings themselves. “In a way, I like bad-sounding records. For this medium specifically I like early Fahey records. I like what a cassette recorder does. I like what a field recorder does to the compression of a guitar.”  In this as in other things, what Knowler is seeking is authenticity.  In his words, he aims to cultivate depth. “Instrumental music allows you to posture yourself between photography and poetry,” he adds. It is a through line to feelings.  Like photographs, they are both immediate.  But words can fortify their meaning, which is why titles are so important to him.

It is certainly no coincidence that the musicians he cites as being the most influential on his playing are also unique voices whose lineage nonetheless come through in their sound.  Knowler’s eyes brighten when he talks about this. “In Fahey you hear Elizabeth Cotten, and you hear Debussy. In David, to me, you hear Neil Young, and you hear Norman.  And in Norman you hear Mother Maybelle Carter, and you hear Grandpa Jones, and you hear Riley Puckett.” All those people, all of us, really, are filters through which the past gets shuffled and reinterpreted.  Then archived. “There is bravery in self-expression,” he concludes, “regardless of talent.”

It is getting on in the evening, but before we end our conversation I tell Knowler how impressed I am with everything he’s managed to accomplish in such a short amount of time and with very little guidance from the outside. He often refers to his stumbling upon Norman Blake’s music as a turning point in his life, but I tell him that it certainly takes a rare individual to set that kind of standard for himself as a beginner. Like a kid with a vague interest in science who would resolve to model himself after Richard Feynman without truly grasping how impossibly high he would be aiming, but also being buoyed by that naïveté instead of weighed down by expectations. And in trying to convey this, I stumble and fall short of what I intend to express. I’m still hung up on the simple fact that he managed to get into college with a year or two of schooling, never mind the rest of what he’s succeeded in doing so far — and he is still years away from turning 30.  I tell him I really like the record and admire his playing.  “Aw, thanks man,” he demures. “I would just like this to serve as a thank you card to Norman.”  I nod and tell him I hope it reaches Blake and does that for him.

We leave on that note, and I immediately think that, more so than a card for anyone, Knowler’s story should be subsumed in his own archives as a testament to the transformative power of resilience, dedication and the story we all tell ourselves about ourselves. That there is so much more there than perhaps even he himself realizes.

But, I can already hear him say, brushing a strand of hair from his face, “Nah, that’d be like trying to take the whole ship out of the bottle.”

The post Cameron Knowler Releases New EP East of the Gilas (Lagniappe Session) first appeared on Fretboard Journal.

Sponsored by Shubb: Music transcends boundaries, connecting hearts across cultures and continents. In 2025, Shubb Capos is proud to present the Pathfinder Series, a celebration of groundbreaking artists who have elevated solo fingerstyle acoustic guitar into a universal language of expression.  Individually designed for each artist, these capos embody their unique style, passion, and legacy. They […]

Fender offsets are the ultimate indie guitar. They coax players towards textural, chordal playing, angular melodies, ringing open strings, and often a lot of extra noises, clatters and clangs thanks to that entertainingly unique tremolo system. It seems weird in retrospect that indie guitar icon Johnny Marr wasn’t a Fender Jaguar player until picking one up in Modest Mouse in the 2000s. Now it almost feels strange to see him without a Jaguar. 

Marr’s latest signature model takes the majority of its cues from his existing model, which is among my favourite Fender guitars. The biggest difference, and it’s a huge one, is the addition of a trio of lipstick pickups in place of the Jaguar’s regular two single coils. But let’s back up a bit and break it down. 

We’ll start with the overall features. We’ve got an alder body with a gorgeously deep custom gloss nitrocellulose black laquer finish and a 22-fret maple neck with rosewood fingerboard. The fingerboard radius is 9.5”, a slightly flatter board than you would expect on a Jaguar (where 7.25” is more common). The back of the neck is carved to Marr’s specific preferences, inspired by the neck on his ’65 Jaguar. The 24” Jaguar scale is present and correct, and while the vintage tremolo initially looks pretty standard, there are a number of tweaks to the spec. The vibrato itself is a classic vintage-style floating Jaguar unit but it employs a nylon sleeve insert and a taller tremolo arm, while the bridge uses a Jaguar base with Mustang saddles and speclialised nylon post inserts (and the radius differs from the standard Marr model in order to match the flatter neck of this version). There’s also a removable bridge cover in the same style as the ashtray covers found on Strats, Teles, Jazz Basses etc. Cool touch. 

But what makes this particular Marr model stand out is its electronics setup. First up and most obviously we have those three lipstick pickups. They’re made by Kent Armstrong to Marr’s specs, and represent his continued search for tone and versatility. In addition to the typical master volume and master tone controls, there’s a four-way pickup selector switch to give you bridge, bridge+neck in parallel, neck, and bridge+neck in series modes. 

An extra three-way switch on the top control plate flips between the wiring of the original Marr Jaguar model (complete with muted middle pickup in keeping with said original model’s two-pickup layout); a version of the same but with the middle pickup added to every setting; and a middle-only option that bypasses the four-way switch. There’s also a brightness switch which really takes the low end out of the signal if you need it. Then there’s a secondary brightness switch which only operates on the neck+bridge series mode. Fender and Marr have figured out how to get a huge amount of variety out of this circuit. To me it doesn’t feel too complicated but I’m sure there are players who think there’s too much going on here. 

Sonically, this guitar is supremely versatile. The in-between settings afforded by the middle pickup create a texture that we’re just not hearing from a Jaguar: clearer, snappier, slightly hollow, definitely gritty. Then flip back to the two-pickup mode and you’re locked in to a new take on the classic Jag vibe, edgier and twangier but no less bold and powerful. The tone is almost a little Telecaster-like looser, darker within the middle frequencies, but you can zap that darkess straight to heck with the brightness switch. 

The sheer clarity of this guitar makes it a great choice for players who use loads of pedals: it maintains its character no matter what you’re piling on top of it. And it’s definitely geared towards clean and edge-of-dirt sounds, but I found a few settings that wanted nothing more than to absolutely roar through a fuzz pedal. 

Is this the ultimate Jag? Can it be the ultimate Jag in a world where the regular Marr model exists? I dunno but it’s certainly the most fun Jaguar I’ve played in years and undeniably the most versatile one ever. My only suggestion would be, hey guys, how about a version with a lipstick humbucker in the bridge position? Aww c’mon, it’d be cool. 

The post REVIEW: Fender Johnny Marr Signature Special Jaguar appeared first on I Heart Guitar.

Though the business of cloning pedals is competitive (and endless fodder for frothing Reddit denizens), I appreciate when a pedal company offers a useful twist on an established formula. Warm Audio accomplishes this with the Throne of Tone. It is clearly inspired by the Analog Man King of Tone. But it is also very obviously a nod to the Marshall Bluesbreaker, the pedal that Mike Piera used as a departure point for his KOT design. The Throne of Tone, though, might mark the point at which the snake bites its tail. It cross-pollinates the circuits in a dual overdrive that opens up many, many tone-coloring avenues and options.

Split Personality

Mike Piera ripped up a friend’s Bluesbreaker to build the first King of Tone. But by the time he rewired it, it was a different pedal altogether. To the extent that the KOT and Bluesbreaker sections are accurate in the Throne of Tone, the differences between the original Bluesbreaker and King of Tone are easy to hear. It’s hard to accurately assess the accuracy of the Throne of Tone’s two circuits without a real-deal King of Tone or Bluesbreaker at hand. But I’ve played through both as well as excellent clones, and in both sound and feel, both Throne of Tone circuits are in the ballpark and better.

In very general terms, that means the “king” side is a bit less aggressive, darker, and more dynamically responsive to changes in pick intensity—especially when you want to go from gnarly to truly clean. The “blues” side is a bit more dynamite, revved up, and lively in the midrange. It’s more immediate and a bit harder to keep on a leash for dynamic purposes. But the Throne of Tone is a great multiplier—and mixer—of these qualities, because you can experience each basic voice through the lens of high gain and low gain settings, a boost, an overdrive or a distortion. Additionally, output from each side can be modified with a presence control which appears on neither pedal in its original form. Add up the possible tone permutations and, well, you’ll probably be less occupied with the accuracy of the circuits, and more excited about harnessing the copious killer tones here.

Pick A Door

Of the three modes, the boost is the most user friendly and easy to apply to a base tone that just needs heft and body. It’s also great for demonstrating the basic duality in the king and blues voices—which align along a Marshall/Fender divide. The blues, or Marshall-like side feels considerably more compressed as a boost, but it positively rings in the high-mid zone. If you want a guitar to be boss in a mix it dishes the goods. But it’s agreeable too, and flattered PAFs, Telecaster single-coils, Wide-Range humbuckers, and a Rickenbacker 12-string—lending all of them an infectious, excited edge. Matched with an EL84 amp it can feel a touch redundant, but with 6L6 amps it shines. The king, or more Fendery side, sounds comparatively scooped. It feels much less hyperactive, and it excels in the clean, low-gain range, but it also gets squishy when you dig in.

These same qualities are very apparent in the overdrive mode. Each voice sounds more compressed than the boost mode. But the higher reaches of the gain controls yield treasure. Here again, the blues side was explosive—sounding at many settings like Malcolm and Angus Young after consuming a bag of firecrackers. Angry but fun. The king’s OD side, at high gain range, sounds much more like a mid- to late-’60s Bassman at high volume: crunchy, but softer around the edges. Each of these voices can be nudged into more savage extremes by the high-gain toggle, which depending on your amp and guitar, can be surprisingly airy to downright sizzly.

The distortion mode kicks the high-midrange in the pants, but retains much of the overdrive mode’s basic coloration. It’s an especially cool match for 6L6 amps—especially on the king side. But the way the distortion modes remain responsive to dynamic input like volume and touch variation is impressive. Distortions can often sound quite binary—either raging or gobbling up midrange oxygen. Both distortions in the Throne of Tone give you gray area to work with that can range down to chiming clean tones.

The Verdict

The original King of Tone and Bluesbreaker pedals are revered for good reason. And if Warm Audio’s take on the two circuits represents even 80 percent of those pedals’ prime tonality, you’ll still hear and feel what makes them special. As a whole, the Throne of Tone is adaptive and versatile. The kind of pedal that could save your hide and solve problems in a studio. But it could work the same magic in a live situation, especially one with a backline surprise in store. In performance, the vertically oriented mini toggles, which are situated perilously close to the bypass switches, could be a liability. I accidentally switched the gain and mode switches with my toe more than once. That’s a shame, because they make experimentation so much easier than when DIP switches are in the mix. It’s hardly a dealbreaker, though. For $229, the Throne of Tone offers a very big bucketful of tone options that can span civilized and rabid.

Season 2 of Axe Lords kicks off with a legend: Lita Ford joins Dave, Cindy, and Tom for one of the heaviest, wildest, most guitar-nerd–satisfying episodes we’ve ever done. Lita talks about reinventing herself after The Runaways, why she insisted on a three-piece band to prove her guitar chops, and how she developed a voice on the instrument that producers once criticized—until legends like Billy Gibbons co-signed her sound.

And yes: Lita plugs in, cranks a Boss Katana, and rips a live performance that might be the most rock-and-roll ending to an Axe Lords episode yet.

Axe Lords is hosted by Dave Hill, Cindy Hulej, and Tom Beaujour. Produced by Studio Kairos. Presented in partnership with Premier Guitar. Artwork by Mark Dowd. Theme Music by Valley Lodge. Follow and subscribe to Axe Lords @axelordspod.

Subscribe to Premier Guitar for more episodes of Axe Lords and get notified when the next Axe Lords episode drops.

The speed and accuracy with which you react to what’s happening around you musically is definitely not a competition, but I believe it’s the single most important element of any musical performance, and your ears play a pivotal role.

Through some brutally honest self-inventory of my own abilities over the past month, I’ve discovered a few things about my playing that are far from flattering.

Here are a few key takeaways.

I want to get better: I’ll be the first to admit that my abilities—although well-developed after 35 years of practice—can still be improved significantly. Whether it’s recognizing the exact notes in a chord someone is using over my bass line, or hearing a song once and playing it back immediately, there’s plenty of room to grow. As bass players, we get to hang out in the low end and “listen up” the harmony vertically. It’s a great place to be, and the nature of our fundamental role in the band to hold things down often gives us a little more space and time to use our ears. It’s good to be aware of that and make the most of that extra time to absorb more information.

Repetition of listening has never been more important: Depending on the time frame I have from an artist—or my own personal goals—I want to spend as much time as possible listening away from my instrument. I’m making drastic changes to how I allocate my practice time, and the results have been huge. My playing is already sounding more natural because I’m focusing more on my ear than on my chops.

Recording shows religiously: I’ve always had some kind of recording device running during live gigs and practice sessions. Lately, I’ve been leaning much more heavily on this process. The more honest I am with myself about a performance or a practice session, the better I can plan future practice time to fix weaknesses and accelerate growth—even after 35 years!

“No matter where you’re at, creating a positive feedback loop—recording everything we do, listening back, and being self-critical when needed—has enormous potential to make us better musicians right away.”

I think it’s essential to remember that we’re all at different stages of the journey and want different things from our playing and our music. But no matter where you’re at, creating a positive feedback loop—recording everything we do, listening back, and being self-critical when needed—has enormous potential to make us better musicians right away.

I’ve been comparing learning to hear “faster” and more accurately to how a successful athlete approaches their sport. In tennis, for instance, you need multiple specialized skills to become a top player: speed, agility, hand-eye coordination, physical endurance for long matches, and mental toughness to outthink your opponent under pressure.

Similarly, a musician needs great time, great tone, a fantastic ear, solid memory, social skills for working with others, and technical command to execute ideas. It’s no small list of requirements.

But I think the most striking similarity is the mental toughness and focus required to handle the pressure of being onstage or in the studio. The best musicians feel no pressure at all. As a result, their ideas flow freely, they absorb everything happening around them, and their ears catch every detail. That’s where I’m looking to improve: Feel no pressure, and take in as much as I can.

Listening faster has become somewhat of an obsession, and I suspect it will stay at the top of my priority list for life. In just a few weeks, I’ve become more relaxed onstage, uncovered dozens of new things to practice by reviewing old recordings, and started to feel what a great athlete must feel when they step onto the court knowing they’re in complete control.

Distractions are fading, focus and intent are way up, and I feel like I’m playing better than I have in years. I thought I would never get back to the feeling I had when I first picked up a bass in my early teens, but the past month or so has surprised me greatly.

It has actually been quite emotional at times because the past decade has had its fair share of self-doubt, including hitting several plateaus where progress felt nonexistent. But now I can confidently say there’s no end in sight when it comes to new challenges to tackle. The improvements may not come in leaps and bounds, but they’re coming—and that’s what matters.

VOX® announces the debut of the Micro Superbeetle Guitar, a compact guitar amplifier that brings together the unmistakable VOX aesthetic with a bold reimagining of portable amplification. Inspired by the classic Super Beatle stacks of the 1960s, this new model delivers authentic VOX tone in a modern format—complete with an innovative two-way speaker system and a detachable, battery-powered amp head.

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At the heart of the system is an innovative two-way design, pairing a 4" cabinet woofer with a 1.5" tweeter housed inside the detachable amp head. When stacked, it delivers a full 20 watts of articulate, harmonically rich sound—far beyond what its compact footprint suggests. Detached, the head becomes a fully self-contained 5-watt portable amp with a full-range driver and built-in rechargeable battery, ready for songwriting sessions, rehearsals, or outdoor jams.

“The Micro Superbeetle Guitar captures everything that makes VOX special—its look, its tone, and its spirit—while introducing a level of portability and flexibility that today’s players demand. It’s an exciting new step for the VOX family.” - John Stippell, Director of Marketing & Product Planning.

The Micro Superbeetle Guitar features three versatile amp voices—Clean, Drive, and High Gain—each crafted to reflect VOX’s signature tonal character, from shimmering chime to expressive crunch. With Bluetooth connectivity, players can stream backing tracks or music directly from their devices, making practice and performance seamless across any environment.

Compact, bold, and stylish, the Micro Superbeetle Guitar delivers the perfect balance of vintage charm and modern performance.

Available now through authorized VOX dealers and at www.voxamps.com

Street Price: $399.99 USD

The impact Motörhead had on the rock world cannot be understated. Most rock artists can trace their influences back to Lemmy and co in some way. Let’s be honest, we can all remember the first time we heard that smouldering intro riff of Ace of Spades.

Metallica guitarist Kirk Hammett remembers it well; and says his mind “exploded” when he heard Lemmy’s Ace of Spades vocals enter for the first time.

• READ MORE: “The heavy metal thing was not my first intention”: The creator of EMG pickups never meant for them to become the choice of metal guitarists

“Lemmy was the real deal, right to the fucking end,” Hammett tells Metal Hammer. “I saw that Ace of Spades cover and was like, ‘I’ve gotta buy this album.’ I got home and put it on… Oh, my god. Lemmy starts singing, my mind fucking exploded. It was like he’d got a distortion box in his throat. It’s so dirty and aggressive, so real!”

Indeed, Metallica owes a great debt to Motörhead for the band’s influence on their music. Following Lemmy’s death on 28 December, 2015, his ashes were dispersed far and wide (with some finding their way behind the bar at London’s Stringfellows strip club, no less).

A small portion of his ashes, though, found their way under James Hetfield’s skin, after he got a tattoo of the ace of spades using ink mixed with Lemmy’s actual ashes.

“With the steady hand of friend and tattoo artist Corey Miller, this tattoo [is] a salute to my friend and inspiration Mr. Lemmy Kilmister,” Hetfield wrote in an Instagram post at the time. “Without him, there would be NO Metallica.”

He added: “Black ink mixed with a pinch of his cremation ashes that were so graciously given to me. So now, he is still able to fly the bird at the world.”

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Kirk Hammett’s answer was part of a new feature by Metal Hammer charting the greatest Motörhead tracks as chosen by a number of metal artists. Naturally, Ace of Spades is a common favourite among rock fans, but other classics like Overkill, Hellraiser and Killed By Death also deserve their praise.

“Killed By Death is one of my favourite songs ever, not just Motörhead songs,” says Mastodon’s Brann Dailor. “Whenever they would launch into that live it was like, ‘Oh boy, here we go!’ Killed, by death. Can you imagine?! Death gets us all, but this makes it personal… and badass.”

“Tracks like Hellraiser really shaped how I play guitar,” says Halestorm leader Lzzy Hale. “Growing up, my dad was a bass player, so my first real experience playing ‘guitar’ was on his bass. My dad was like, ‘Think about Lemmy from Motörhead! He plays bass like a guitar!’”

The post “I got home and put it on… My mind f**king exploded”: Surprise, surprise – this classic Motörhead song is Kirk Hammett’s favourite appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.