The Kitchen Sink
If you’ve ever sat with a guitar, delay pedal, bass amp or wah and wished it
had a particular feature, chances are, these pieces of gear have it. The winners of our new Kitchen Sink award are so packed with features that you
might actually read the manual. For giving us all the options we ever wanted—and sounding stellar with each one—we salute you.
Ernie Ball Music Man John
Petrucci BFR 6
As striking as the bookmatched maple top
of the John Petrucci BFR 6 (May 2009, Web
Exclusive) is, the real beauty of this guitar is
in its tonal palette—there’s as much variety
here as in any guitar we reviewed this year.
With two humbuckers—a Dimarzio Drop
Sonic and HH- 1 Custom in the bridge and
neck, respectively—and a piezo system
under the bridge, and the ability to use
dual outputs or blend the two together,
any tone you want is at your fingertips.
And don’t worry, as Jordan Wagner wrote,
“Ernie Ball performed a perfect job in the
layout and design of this switching procedure, making the learning curve very small
and enjoyable to use.”
MSRP $4199
music-man.com
Click here to read the full review
Empress Super Delay
Eight modes of delay, five
dials for tweaking, four three-way toggle switches, three
footswitches … and a partridge in a pear tree: that’s
what the aptly-named Super Delay (November 2009)
gives you. With up to 13. 6 seconds of looper time
in addition to tap tempo, reverse, and tape simulation modes, there’s not much in the world of delays
that this baby can’t do. “The Super Delay gives the
Eventide Timefactor and Line 6 DL- 4 a run for their
money,” wrote Brian Barr. “And analog purists need
not be afraid, because this pedal is transparent and
will not color your tone.”
Street $449
Empresseffects.com
Click here to read the full review
112 PREMIER GUITAR DECEMBER 2009
2009
TC Electronic RH450
Good things do come in small packages: the RH450 (April 2009)
weighs in at under ten pounds and packs 450 watts, but it’s the
ton of features that put it in this category. Included are four
EQ bands, a compressor, a tube amp emulator, a tuner, a headphone amp (and RCA jacks for using an iPod), a direct out, and
the ability to set three presets … plus a Shift button that gives
each knob another control … plus a ring of dots around each
control so you can see where your settings are in the dark. “TC
Electronic bills this rig as ‘bass amp 2.0',” wrote Dan Berkowitz,
“suggesting a new take on what a bass amp is all about. In a lot
of ways, I’d have to agree.”
MSRP $999
tcelectronic.com
Click here to read the full review
Voodoo Lab Wahzoo
Vintage Mode, Auto Wah, and Step
Wah—the Wahzoo (February 2009)
gives you three different wahs in
one package. Vintage Mode is a
Clyde McCoy-inspired wah, the
most traditional of the modes. Auto
Wah lets you wander freely about
the stage, using your pick velocity
to control the sweep of the pedal.
Step Wah is where things really take
off: it jumps through different wah
sounds, with the tempo based on
the treadle position. If your wah
use is limited by how fast you can
move your foot, meet your new
best friend. Gary Guzman wrote,
“It’s as if they took my wish list of
everything I’ve ever wanted in a
wah pedal and more, and put it into
one unit.”
MSRP $279
voodoolab.com
Click here to read the full review
www.premierguitar.com
