Du côté de chez Swann
December 2011
American Gothic
August 2011
T-Bone Burnett playing his beautiful original 1955 Kay K-161 Thin-Twin, usually to be called “Jimmy Reed” model
After garnering considerable buzz in late 2008, Kay’s K161 Kay Thin Twin Reissues are now casually swinging through Europe and around the world. There are some pics and sounds below…
Cowboy got the Blues
August 2011
A whole other, rawer, grittier, warmer, swampier sound…
The Epiphone Rumblekat feels more like a slender, small-bodied acoustic guitar with a massive set of cojones. The top and back are slightly arched (this one is an older Korean-made Custom Shop all-transluscent finish and kinda “aged” hardware model), and the semi hollow bodies vibrates with the music in a whole other way, and that feels different as you hold the instrument. Easy to fine-tune different sounds when plugged in, by blending the pickups. Much less forgiving of poor technique as your usual P-thing, but much more rewarding when played cleanly. It has helped a lot to build kinda slick and tight bottom on Steile Treppe recently.
Englishmen Do It Better
July 2011
Talking Dirty
March 2011
I have it on authority of several US contributors of the correct vintage that a ‘nitty-gritty gator’ once was a ‘lowlife hip dude’ and can assure that in terms of sound (and of course looks) the Danelectro Nifty Fifty (15w rms solid-state amp) is undoubtedly one of those die-hard fellows
Nifty-Fifty-Dirty-Sweet
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Budget Babe
February 2011
Another low-cost little gem…
…being rediscovered during the last recording sessions – Electrovoice Cardinal (Cardioid Capacitor Vocal Mic) is beautifully engineered, impressively stylish, and sounds good to boot. The frequency response of the Cardinal is flatter than that of most large-diaphragm mics, as the presence peak is less pronounced and quite broad, but there’s also a hint of low-end lift at around 70-80Hz, which gives the mic a very subtle ’smile EQ’ characteristic, the practical outcome of which is that the sound is mildly flattering but still very natural sounding. There’s nothing thin or edgy about the sound and, because there’s no excessive inherent coloration, it responds well to EQ — you’re not constantly trying to fight the mic’s in-built character. Of course you don’t get the fudgy warmth of a tube mic or even a transformer-coupled model, but to our ears this makes it easier to place the vocals at the front of a mix without using excessive volume, and there’s certainly nothing budget (except the $199 price tag) or second class about the sound of this little beauty
“It Was a Very Good Year”
December 2010
Mikael Tariverdiev: “Dorogi” from the 17 Moments of Spring OST
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Form follows function
December 2010
This beautiful piece of all-american handcraft, built upon ingenious and now unfortunately gone Nace M1-7, is called SERAPH. No comment…
Seraph 2×2v6 smokin’
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Lovepedal
October 2010
Love this one. Although NOT a copycat of certain Shin-Ei Univibe this tiny little thingie equipped with just one chic rotary control knob is capable of producing THAT huge, swollen, swirling vibrato tone and, in addition, with its very own thick, lush lo-end throb. ‘Cause of the excellent signal/noise ratio it is suitable for lots of applications including vocals and cymbals and, hmm, well… it’s purple.
Lovepedal Pickle Vibe
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