Today I took a trip to RKM Music in Millwoods, Edmonton. I found some really nice gear, and what stood out the most for me was the Suhr Butterscotch Tele and the Glassworks 30 watt head.
I played a Suhr Tele and a beautiful Suhr strat with birds eye maple neck and quilted maple top. A beauty. That Suhr tele - wow, it was drool time again - tone, feel, looks - this thing impressed me a lot. It was very very articulate and the sound was so much better than all the other teles I played there. The Suhr strat was very nice too, but it actually had some very minor buzzing problems. Could be because of that bird's eye maple made the neck need some adjustments. The sales guy said nobody has really played it for a long time and it hasn't been adjusted in a year. Probably an easy fix with a truss rod adjustment.
I tried some G&L guitars - Legacy, Comance, ASAT Classic. Only the Legacy was fun to play, but it sounded pretty crappy compared to the Suhr. Decent neck though - but completely unfinished wood.
I played a couple of Blade guitars, and they were quite nice. Well made and nice to play.
Ever heard of Cole Clark guitars? Me neither. I played one, but the neck just wasn't for me.
The amps I tried were good. 65 amps - always nice big tone, but I want a bit more gain, so I tried a El Diablo Genz Benz next. Very versatile amp, and many cool sounds. I wasn't quite getting any drool happening, and it could be because I didn't play it loud enough.
I found a Marshall DSL 401 in there and of course I had to try it. Yeah baby! It sounded awesome! Very nice tones with the Suhr. Plenty of gain, but worked great for bluesy overdrive stuff too. Man, this would make for a fantastic combo. This means I am still in full drool mode for a DSL100 - I think I will have a lot of fun with one of these. Heck, even that combo would do it for me, but I do prefer head and cabinet setups.
I tried a Blackhearts 5 watt amp too, and it impressed considering the price. Crank that sucker and you get a fat juicy tone. Nice bottom end too.
The last amp I tried was a Glasstone Legend 3015. Wow, that is a great amp! It's built locally in Edmonton. I got some serious tone with the Suhr when I cranked up that 30 watt head. It's a dual channel, all-tube guitar amp head. Both channels are fully independent (including preamp tubes) and include gain and volume controls, as well as 3-band passive tone controls. The power amplifier is a non-feedback design using a pair of EL34s configured in a push-pull class AB circuit, with power output switchable between 30 and 15 watts. A series tube-driven effects loop allows you to patch-in effects between the preamp and power amp. The Glasstone 4x12 with V-30s sounded sweet, my friends. See their website - glasstoneamps.com.
Ahh, Gas - what a feeling! I am not sure what I will do next. I guess I will go where GAS takes me.
By Robert Renman - www.dolphinstreet.com
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