guitar gear  
  anderson yamaha aes fg  
 

My guitars: Anderson Hollow Drop Top Classic, Yamaha AES FG, Yamaha CPX 15A

 
   
  egnator rack
 

This is my guitar rack: VHT Valvulator, Custom Audio Japan multiple line selector box, TC Electronic G Major FX, Egnater M4 rack preamp (x2), Marshall 50/50 power amp.

   
 
bognor cab
 

Bogner 1x12 Cube Closed Back Dual Ported (x2), Yamaha AG Stomp Acoustic Guitar Preamp, Palmer The Junction DI Box

 
 

 

 
  Details  
  Anderson Hollow Drop Top Classic  
 
anderson
 
 

Mini Review

There is no need to review Anderson guitars. They are simply incredible. Here in Japan they cost almost double the US price. Fortunately, I discovered a now defunct shop where I purchased my Egnater stuff and they were having an actual half-price sale on all their Anderson guitars. This made the price about 300,000 yen, which is still a fortune, but when you hear one of these you just want one and that's all there is to it. Anderson only produce 2 or 3 guitars per day, so availability is very tight. Last time I was in Montreal there was only 1 in the whole city! If you have the cash and like the Fender sound, look no further.

My guitar has hollow chambers in the body which I think helps the pick-ups hear every tiny little thing you do to the strings. It's incredibly expressive. If only I could play guitar! You can here samples in the Egnater section below.

Here are the specifications from the Anderson site:

Model - Hollow Drop Top Classic
Body Finish - Tiger's Eye with Binding
Body Wood - Quilted Maple on Alder
Neck Wood - Hard Rock Maple, Madagascar Rosewood Fretboard
Neck Finish - Matching Headstock, Satin Back
Nut width - 1 11/16 in
Frets - Medium
Back Shape -
Hardware - Chrome
Bridge - Vintage Tremolo
Pick guard - White Pearloid
Pickups - SD1R SD1 H2+
Switching - 5 Way, Customized
Strings - .0095 gauge SIT strings

 
     
  Yamaha AES FG  
  Yamaha AES FG  
 

Mini Review

There is no doubt that this guitar has a unique design. A rear-mount neck joint system, rear-mounted pick-ups, floating Wilkinson VS100 bridge and 25.5-inch neck all combine to provide an action lower than you can imagine, and with zero buzz, as well as amazing access to the top frets.

This guitar is more comfortable to play than the Anderson. It also sounds great. Alas, as great as it sounds it rests in the shadow of the Anderson. Still, this is my "Gibson" style guitar, so it's great to have.

Specifications:
22-Fret Neck with Yamaha Rear Mount System
Seymour Duncan Pickups with Yamaha RM System
Wilkinson VS100 Tremolo with Yamaha RM System
Fretwave Fret System
Sperzel Locking Tuners

 
     
  Yamaha CPX15A  
  Yamaha CPX15A  
 

Mini Review

This guitar sounds great amplified, especially using the AG stomp. However, the neck is narrow and not too comfortable for my hefty hands. Also, the body is small and really lacks volume when playing unplugged. In fact, it's so bad I never play it as an acoustic.

The problems with this guitar are, of course, just personal preferences rather than design flaws. I would not buy this again, but at the same time I have no intention of selling it and I'm sure many people would think it is great. And it is, after all, hand made, which has to count for something—so long as the hand that made it is not so hefty as mine.

 
     
  TC Electronic G Major  
  TC Electronic G Major  
     
 

Mini Review

Some of the effects in this unit are truly terrible: the flanger, phaser and wah spring to mind. It's possible that this is simply because they are in the wrong place in the signal chain: they should be after the guitar, but the G Major goes after the pre amp. Some other effects either do the job. Only the chorus is what I would call good.

Still, I'm not sure if any rack multi fx can be much better: I have a feeling that the position in the signal path is always going to be a problem.

Also I do not have the latest software version: TC Electronic provides a download patch for windows only! Because of course windows is super cool for music, right?

All in all the G Major is nothing to write home about. If it was the only thing destroyed in a major earth quake and I later found a pile of cash in the street, well I would probably check what else was available.

 
     
  Egnater M4  
  Egnater M4  
  Egnater M4  
 

Mini Review

When I first got my Yamaha AES FG I was running it through a Yamaha DG 1000 digital preamp which has various amp simulations and a speaker simulation switch. This went to a mixer and to my powered studio monitors. The results were less than ideal.

So, slowly I started looking into alternatives; and by chance I saw a second hand egnater M4. When I tried it I realised what all the fuss about tubes is all about. This thing sounded so damn good even with no effects I could hardly stop playing it, which is pretty amazing since I can hardly play guitar to begin with. Unfortunately, the shop was your typical dirty dusty messy used place, which of course did not inspire confidence. They were asking 300,000 yen too, which seemed rather steep.

I looked at prices for a new one and it was astronomical 80,000 for each module and over 100,000 for the empty rack!

Just by chance we called a strange shop in a converted house and the guy said to call back in a few days because he was dealing with the distributor to buy up the entire supply. So we called back and he said what price would we like to pay? So we said 300,000, the price of the used one. He said ok, so I went to the shop and in the very quiet basement I spent about two hours playing all the modules, trying to decide which I wanted! So I chose four.

In the weeks that followed I considered the situation:

1. He was selling the modules at the regular american price (40,000 yen) and not the crazy Japanese price like every one else.

2. He had 100% of available stock from the distributor and no more would be coming into Japan because of an agreement between Egnater and Randall.

3. I am a nutter.

Since that was the state of play, I decided to buy four more before the stock was all gone. And rather than switch and swop all the time I decided to get a second rack. The problem was I had no money! So the shop guy let me choose which I wanted and he put them in a cupboard until I had the money. So that's the story of why I have not one but two Egnater's! Also I am a nutter.

The sample sounds of my modules (below) were all recorded direct using a Palmer direct box and my Anderson guitar set to middle pick-up except for the EG3 and SL+ for which I used the bridge pick-up.

 
 

DLX (Fender Blackface Deluxe)

sample

VX (Vox AC30)

sample

VX+ (Hot Vox AC30)

sample

EG3 (Egnater IE4 Channel 3)

sample

Twin (Blackface Fender)

sample

plexi (Marshall Plexi)

sample

SRV

sample

sl+ (Hot Marshall Super Lead)

sample

 
     
  VHT Valvulator  
  VHT Valvulator  
  If you are splitting a guitar signal into two, obviously you will have a 50/50 compromise. Since my guitar needs to go to both Egnater preamps, this was a problem. In the same strange shop where I bought the Egnater, the friendly fellow demonstrated the difference between simply splitting the signal and using the VHT Valvulator, which not only boosts the signal but does it with an actual tube. The difference was easy to hear: much warmer and thicker. So I bought one. Unfortunately I still needed a pedal to switch which preamp would get the signal. Fortunately he gave me an old 12,000 yen Custom Audio Japan pedal he had laying around. For free!  
   
     
  Marshall EL34 50/50  
  Marshall EL34 50/50  
 

Mini Review

What can I say? It's a stereo power amp. It's stereo. It has power. Oh, and of course its all tube cos I'm a tube head. And it has a plexiglass window so you can peer in and see the tubes. And it's gold. Enough said.

 
     
  Bogner Speaker  
  Bogner Speaker cab  
 

Mini Review

Forced by my purchase of a tube pre-amp and a tube power amp I set out in search of a tube speaker only to discover that such a think is hideously impossible. So I tried out a bunch of guitar speakers. They all sounded like guitar speakers.

And then, one day, I saw one of these in a shop second hand and gave it a try. Even my girlfriend, who is as musical as a 5 year old demoted by her teacher to playing the humble triangle and thus dashing any tiny dreams of a grown up life as a pop idol, could hear that this thing did not sound like all those other speaker cabs I had tried over the previous weeks. Unfortunately the shop only had one and it was red.

So I had no choice but to place a special order and wait a month or two for delivery from the states. This is the price we pay in Japan for buying something made by foreigners. Oh, and of course the other price I paid was double the US price.

Any way, finally they arrived and my new Egnater and Marshall could finally stop collecting dust. Oh, and the sound . . . Yum.

 
     
  Yamaha AG Stomp  
  Yamaha AG Stomp  
 

Mini Review

This thing has mic modeling, effects and an instant feedback cut out. If your play an electric acoustic then this is a cheap and easy way to plug in and get great sounds without any hassle. So why not?