Interface

November 27, 2009 · Posted in Amps, Gear, tube amps · 6 Comments 

Going retro, that’s been a trend in guitar amps for a few years. Small, all-tube amps that capture the vintage mojo. For example, take a look at the new Peavey Valveking Royal 8

Valveking_royal8-6364e678ac40060ec8f8d42e8cc98378

The thing is though, you got to sell retro to the kids and that requires some slick wordsmithing…

Perfect for rehearsing, the Royal 8 combo amp features the simple interface of a single tone control, dual inputs, and master volume and gain controls that can be adjusted for either class A “breakup” power amp tones achieved by reducing the gain and increasing the master volume, or preamp distortion, which you can access by reducing the master volume and cranking the gain.


“simple interface”
… now, that tickles me!

Take a look at the “interface” on this old Gibson…

GibsonBR6_04

Gibson Guitars C.E.O. Leaves Environmental Group Position

November 19, 2009 · Posted in Guitar · 1 Comment 

Gibson’s CEO and chairman, Henry Juszkiewicz, has also served on the board of the Rainforest Alliance for over 15 years. He has now stepped down from that post after Wednesday’s federal raid of Gibson’s Nashville facility.

From the Tennessean…

After the federal search, Juszkiewicz called the alliance and offered to take a leave of absence “to avoid conflict or distraction,” said President Tensie Whelan. “It’s very difficult to know what’s happening at this point,” Whelan added. “Our hope indeed is there will be no violations of the Lacey Act.”

Ms. Whelan seems to be taking a rather tentative stance which is understandable. From the Rainforest Alliance website…

A significant part of our work focuses on certification and verification services, which enable us to:

* Provide farmers, foresters and tourism entrepreneurs with guidelines on how to improve their practices
* Hold companies accountable
* Enable consumers to make informed choices

Gibson Guitars Gets Raided By The Feds

November 17, 2009 · Posted in Guitar, News · 2 Comments 

Strange story from the Nashville Post

Federal agents from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and local police today seized wood, guitars, computers and boxes of files from Gibson Guitar’s Massman Road manufacturing facility.

Sources say the Nashville-based guitar manufacturer is being investigated for violating the Lacey Act, a key piece of environmental law, for importing endangered species of rosewood from Madagascar…

…Sources tell NashvillePost.com Gibson was involved in a scheme that shipped the wood from Madagascar to Germany and then to the United States.

Not good for Gibson if the “sources” are on the money… an international rosewood smuggling ring.

Contraband?

Contraband?

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