65Amps Lil’ Elvis
Besides the decked-out booth with vintage televisions and the actual
Stonehenge from Spinal Tap, 65Amps had a new, low-powered amp
to check out. The 65Amps Lil’ Elvis is a 12-watt amp that’s based on
a circuit from the sixties that never went into production. Despite
its low wattage, an array of vintage-flavored tones poured from this
thing, and it didn’t lose tonal content when the voltage was rolled
down to just two watts. The amp features a subtle tremolo, passive
effects loop and Mercury hand-wound transformers.
Head $1695 list
Combo $1995 list
65amps.com
Saint Blues Workshop Series
Saint Blues is known for offering inexpensive, quality imports that are
built overseas and finished in their Memphis shop. As the company
celebrates 25 years, their new Workshop Series takes the entire build
process in house and brings some world-class pickup manufactur-
ers along for the ride. Pickups on these models include Jason Lollar
Charlie Christian, Lace 25th Anniversary pickups, Seymour Duncan
Mini ’ 59 Tele-sized humbucker, and Lindy Fralin Twangmasters. The
Workshop Series features the company’s 61 South and Mississippi
Bluesmaster models, along with the Blindsider and a limited-edition
Silver 25th Anniversary model.
$2300–$2600 retail
saintblues.com
ZVex Distortron & Mastotron
Zvex had a whole case full of custom-painted, one-off pedals on
hand, but the real draws were the new Distortron and Mastotron.
The Distortron is based on the Box of Rock engine, with an added
gain switch that increases sustain and feedback from the standard
Box of Rock pedal, and a Sub switch, which shaves off the bass. The
Mastotron has a knob that adjusts the source impedance and a Pulse
control that goes between square waves and narrower pulses.
$149 Street
zvex.com
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PREMIER GUITAR MARCH 2009 107
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