Rating:
The Single can cover more than just your
weekly jazz gig. It lives in that area between
a jazz-dedicated box and a jack-of-all-trades. It’s very comfortable to play both
sitting and standing, and Soloway’s work
in shaping the contours and optimizing the
guitar ergonomically speak to a thoughtful and evolutionary design sense that’s
unencumbered by the shackles of tradition
and inspired by the real needs of players. The long scale length and wide string
spacing aren’t really for your average blues-rocker, and in many ways, this is a guitar
for exploring the outer limits of technique
and sound. But the range of tones it produces makes it capable of beautiful—and
beautifully defined—tones beyond archetypal round-and-wooly jazz sounds. If you
want to take your playing somewhere way
beyond, the Soloway Single 15" is a great
place to start.
basis for many classic jazz recordings),
so I also ran the Soloway into a Tech 21
Trademark 60. The Trademark 60’s first
channel is designed to replicate a Fender-style amp without the tube noise. Running
through this channel, the Soloway felt
right at home with the Bass control at
about an 8 and the Treble at 4. And with
the Tone control all the way up on the
neck pickup, the Soloway delivered the
delicious mellow-yet-lively tones you’d
associate with Grant Green and some earlier Jim Hall recordings.
The Verdict
On the second channel, I dialed up a
slightly dirtier tone than I used with the
Tourmaster. The added distortion sounded
a little muddier than the tube amp, but the
tone cleaned up a little bit with the Volume
knob rolled off to about 50 percent. It was
obvious this guitar is designed to shine on
the lower gain side of the spectrum. But
even at higher volumes, I didn’t feel I was
fighting the feedback issues that plague
other hollowbody guitars, and there’s no
reason this guitar couldn’t hang with say, a
PG color ad-11.pdf 1 8/2/2010 11:12:57 AM
good Gibson ES-335 for more out or rock-inspired jazz explorations.
Buy If...
you need a guitar that can handle
blues to bebop and beyond.
Skip If...
high-gain tones are more your bag.
Soloway
Guitars
Base price $2700;
$3030 as reviewed
solowayguitars.com
or use a mobile device to watch a
video review of the guitar at
CLICKHere…
premierguitar.com/apr2011
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