NEW GEAR 50/24: Gretsch Billy Duffy, Epi Tribute, Dunable bass and HeadRush Flex Prime

Epiphone Les Paul / SG Tribute and J-45 Express

Epiphone has included new versions of the Les Paul and SG, which have all the classic features of their predecessors, in the affordable Tribute collection. Both feature 650R/700T powerful ceramic humbuckers, mahogany body, laurel fretboards, a 60s SlimTaper Rounded C profile neck and a tune-o-matic LockTone bridge. Another new addition, the J-45 Express electroacoustic, premiered with a more compact 7/8 laminated mahogany body, spruce soundboard in Ebony, Vintage Sunburst or Pelham Blue lacquers, shorter 22.68-inch scale length and nickel-plated mini machines.

Gretsch G8424TG Billy Duffy Falcon Limited edition

When The Cult's guitarist Billy Duffy chose to use a hollow-body guitar on stage or in the studio, it was almost always his favourite white Gretsch Falcon, which Gretsch now offers as the G8424TG Billy Duffy Falcon, a limited edition replica commemorating 40 years of the band's existence. The 70mm thick maple body is combined with a maple neck fitted with a U-profile, the ebony fretboard carries 22 vintage frets, the Bigsby B6GW vibrato tailpiece is followed by a solid Adjusto-Matic ebony bridge and Grover Imperial machines. Specially wound Black Top Filter'Tron pickups with Alnico 5 magnets were chosen, connected to separate volume, Master Volume and a pair of pickup switches.

Walrus Audio Voyager MKII: an improved clone of the Clone

The second generation of the Walrus Voyager overdrive/preamp incorporates similar circuitry to the previous design but adds features not previously seen in pedals that seek to deliver the sound of the mythical Clone Centaur drive. Of course, the maximum clarity, musical mids and transparency of tone typical of Bill Finnegan's masterpiece are all present. The MKII adds active (+-12dB) semi-parametric mids with a selectable range of 350 Hz to 2 kHz, plus a custom footswitch, to the Volume, Gain and Tone knobs, as well as a rotary switch with five voicing mods built on germanium or silicon diodes. These modifications have contributed substantially to the Voyager's wider flexibility.

Behringer Fuzz Bender with Mod Switch

Fuzz is synonymous with guitar distortion of the '60s and has retained its popularity to this day, which is indirectly confirmed by the Fuzz Bender model, which Behringer built on a pair of vintage transistors and, in addition to the traditional Level, Attack controls, equipped it with a lever switch for Original and Mod modes, the latter of which provides more gain and more prominent mids. The sound ranges from a light crunch with a sensitive response to the pick stroke, through a more saturated tone suitable for a variety of pickup types, to an aggressive high-gain register with long sustain. Priced at around 60 euros, the new product, based on the well-known Sola Sound Tone Bender, should be launched within a few months.

Solar Chug Tuner +: pedal tuner with boost

For guitarists who want to save space in the pedalboard, Oly Englund has prepared the Chug Tuner +, which, in addition to a tuning circuit with +-1 cent deviation, fast traction and tuning modes, also has a boost unit with its own footswitch. This section has infinitely adjustable gain with up to +20dB lift and an associated high-pass filter, complete with an Off / 720Hz / 1kHz switch, the frequency operating points found on many classic boosts. The buffered signal goes to two outputs, with Output 2 having the ability to bypass Boost/EQ as well as grounding to eliminate mains noise. Price: approx. 150 euros.

HeadRush Flex Prime floor modeler

The HeadRush Flex Prime is among the aspirants for the title of the best compact preamp/multi-effect of today. This is confirmed, among other things, by the integration of ReValver and SuperClone technologies, thanks to which amplifier profiles can be acquired providing a more precise response to the gain settings. The library contains more than 600 emulations of effects, apparatuses, boxes or microphones and the DSP unit can handle up to 14 blocks in one preset with five different types of signal routing. Wi-Fi and Bluetooth module, third-party IR pulse slots, four-inch touchscreen, expression pedal, USB card, 3 programmable footswitches, stereo effects loop, MIDI, etc. are included.

Orange Crush 20RT Orianthi combo

After the Oriverb model, Orange is coming up with another signed combo by guitarist Orianthi, which should appear in European distribution probably in late February/March. The limited edition Crush 20RT Orianthi in a white tolex decorated with a gold emblem with the Australian player's name and signature is, like the standard 20RT series, designed primarily for practice or smaller jams, which is matched by a 20W transistor power amp and an eight-inch Voice of the World speaker. A two-channel preamp with shared EQ is complemented by a digital reverb, tuner, Aux In, headphone output and footswitch input. Price: approx. 250 euros.

Signed Dunable Jeff Matz JM5 bass

Dunable Guitars has built a JM5 model for Jeff Matz, bassist of the Californian heavy metal band High on Fire, with a standard 34-inch scale length, a one-piece black limba body, a bolt-on neck made of durable wenge wood and an ebony fretboard fitted with 21 jumbo frets and luminescent markers on its top edge. The instrument's Natural oil finish uses a Dunable D-Split medium pickup, a high-quality Hipshot A-Style bridge and Ultralite lightweight tuning machines from the same manufacturer. Price: approx. 3250 dollars.

Latin Percussion Alex Van Halen Signature 8” Cowbell

The Latin Percussion brand has included in its product portfolio a signature cowbell by the drummer of the band Van Halen, whose logo, including Alex's signature, is engraved into the chrome eight-inch body. Based on the classic Bongo Cowbell, the American-made model features the Jenigor Ridge Rider system and a patented self-aligning eye bolt for mounting on a variety of 3/8" to 1/2" diameter rods. The Alex Van Halen Cowbell delivers a higher tone with a dry character, an optimal combination to stress accents in any rock groove. Price: approximately 100 dollars.

Dreadbox Artemis desktop synthesizer

The Dreadbox Artemis, a six-voice analogue synthesizer featuring effects algorithms from Sinevibes, is due to hit the European market in a few weeks. In addition to a pair of oscillators with wave shaping, synchronization, frequency modulation and pulse width, there is a sub-oscillator and noise generator. The filtering unit offers resonant high-pass and low-pass filters, the modulation section has two ADSR envelopes (VA/low-pass filter), and two LFOs feature fade-in or BPM sync. An arpeggiator, polyphonic sequencer and effects represented by delay, reverb, modulation and distortion are integrated. Price: approx. 1300 euros.