FRET-KING
SUPER-MATIC
Some of us don’t mind too terribly if our
guitars sound like they were tuned by a
sleep-deprived member of the Kingsmen
from time to time. Most of us, however,
like to tune a lot and prefer that our guitars stay that way. And others have the
nerve to prefer alternate tunings that stay
in tune, which no matter how you size
it adds up to a whole lotta peg-twisting.
That reality apparently got guitar innovator Trev Wilkinson thinking. The result is
the Fret-King Super-Matic, a self-tuning
marvel that really works in standard and
alternate tunings alike.
The real magic of the Super-Matic is
the latter capability. It makes the guitar
a real solution to the guitar-that-can-do-it-all dilemma, if that’s your concern.
Features like the Vari-coil pickup coil-splitting system and the fact that you can
store your own preset tunings make this a
guitar you can personalize for a multitude
of situations.
fret-king.com
SATELLITE
MUDSHARK
There’s no shortage of fools that have gone
in pursuit of Jimmy Page’s Led Zeppelin I
tone, forgetting that it was a combination
of studio wile, an all-analog studio signal
path, and a certain set of magical, genius
fingers interfacing with a mind open to
wildly divergent influences. Even still,
Satellite Amplification did us mortals the
favor of resurrecting one of the most vital
components of the equation—a beautiful
take on Jimmy Page’s Supro Thunderbolt
cheekily dubbed the Mudshark.
This dead-simple, 5881-tube powered,
20-watt, blue sparkle meanie, is a thing
of minimalist beauty. And we discovered
that it can very stylishly move from well-
mannered to malevolent, finding that it
“remains defined during complex chord
work, and exhibits pick sensitivity that we
have rarely experienced in an amplifier. It’s
very honest, with beautiful grit and nary an
ounce of dampening or over-compression.”
It may not get you all the way to “Dazed
and Confused,” but it can get you part of
the way in style and perhaps open up some
unexplored facets of your own playing
along the way.
satelliteamps.com
FUCHS
PLUSH FX
JERSEY
THUNDER
Andy Fuchs’ Plush line of effects have been
turning up with ever more regularity on the
pedalboards of frontline guitar rippers. If
the Jersey Thunder is any indication, bassists will soon be falling in line—especially
if, as reviewer Jordan Wagner observed,
the Jersey Thunder can summon frequencies from your bass you may not have even
known were there.
Like so many Fuchs products, from
amps to pedals, the Jersey Thunder seems
built with an ear for touch sensitivity. The
versatile Shape control moved Wagner to
comment on how he could summon punch
without loss of clarity. He found the Slope
EQ settings “perfectly tuned.” Little surprise, perhaps, given that Andy Fuchs is
behind it all—but maybe a revelation for
bass players in waiting.
