How is this for a good idea, String Dog Tone Rocket strings come with an extra E and B string in every pack, lets face it how often do you break your A string? Never, how often do you break your top E? Well if you are lazy like me and don’t change strings for ages then it will happen and its annoying having to break open a new pack just for one string! Having said that if you have had the strings on for a long time you really would be better off changing the whole set but its still nice to have spares!

What is even nicer is the price, for a box of 10 pack it only costs $39.99 if you buy direct from the StringDog.net website.

I haven’t tried these strings yet but the site says the strings are Nickel plated wrap over a tempered steel core for a great all purpose string.

”The tone is well balanced… chimey highs, clear but not overbearing midrange, and chunky lows.
And high quality plating means they stay great sounding longer.

The strings have excellent flexibility, so bend away! But no worries… the precision winding and premium materials add up for excellent tuning stability and long life.”

These strings do only come in 10 packs but there is a 60 day free trial, they sound pretty confident that you will buy the 10 pack and at $40 they are worth a try.

Pickup design hasn’t really changed much over the years, sure there have been developments such as active pickups and the likes of Seymour Duncan and Larry DiMarzio have sonically shaped the tone of many a guitarist but the formula has always remained the same for passive and active pickups as far as I know. For a great description of how traditional pickups are created, check out this site.

Enter Q-tuner with their Neodymium magnets! In case you can’t be bothered to check the wikipedia link Neodymium magnets are the strongest known and are used in Microphones, Headphones, Hard Drives, Speakers etc. however Q-Tuners are the first pickups to use neodymium magnets which have superior sound reproduction. They are designed to be more responsive than passive and active pickups and allow the subtle harmonics in the upper frequency ranges.

”We’ve invested over 25 years perfecting our patented symmetrical electromagnetic circuit to make Q-Tuners the best pickups available.

We top it off by feeding this pure signal out through two 999 silver coil lead-outs, the best electrical conductor available.”

And it doesn’t stop there, these pickups have 3 sets of adjustable pole pieces. These can be configured to create different magnetic and sonic variations by lowering a whole row using an allan key. Now whatever I say here simply won’t make sense, you should head over to the explanation for a comprehensive explanation from Q-Tuner.

So what do they sound like? Well there are a few examples available on the site which I recommend you have a listen to, no not the bass examples, the guitar! The first example of the clean guitar really shows how well these pickups accentuate harmonics, they achieve an incredibly bright and singing tone, although there is no information on what guitar was used which would have been helpful. The overdriven track also showcases the clarity of the pickups, the sound reminded me a little of Mattias IA Eklnudh who seems to get the cleanest distortion tones I’ve ever heard. The neck pickup demo is really nice, great tone that sounds like a single coil (it could actually be a single coil, check the GS model) but when it is overdriven it crunches up nicely. These pickups are a little more expensive than your average set of Seymours, well actually about double, you can get a matched pair for $280 but if you are a tone connoisseur than what is an extra $140? They also come in a direct mount version which have an “extremely linear frequency response”. Both varieties come in 7 string versions too.

Q-Tuner site.

If you are lucky enough to own a multitude of guitars and unlucky enough to own a small house then you will know how much valuable space they take up. Okay so I only have a couple of guitars to worry about but I know there are many of you G.A.S. (Guitar Acquisition Syndrome) sufferers who have more of a problem than I do (either that or you’re still single and have disposable cash) and what better way to keep your guitars neat and tidy than the RixzRax guitar rack?

The RixzRax guitar rack comes in a 6 or 8 unit rack which can be mounted to either the ceiling or wall. You can adjust from 1.5 inches to 2.5 inches to accommodate any neck width or headstock design and you can configure the rack to display right or left by flipping the bracket. It is apparently easy to assemble despite its strength and rigidity. Each guitar swivels independently on swivel arms that extend from the wall 10 inches when at 90 degrees. The racks are all fabricated in the USA and they say built to last more than a lifetime so you can always pass your collection on to your kids!

A 6 unit rack will set you back $249.95 in US dollars and the 8 unit rack is a mere 50 dollars more at $295.95 which can be ordered through the RixzRax website. 

Last week Gary from Thumbrella found this fantastic Swineshead Pickups Humbucker Keyring so I thought I would see what other guitar related keyrings were on the market. Well I didn’t have to look long before finding a company that specialises in miniature guitars and keyrings called MiniatureGuitarOutlet.com. The image on the left is labeled on their site as a ’Dark Wood Electric Guitar Keychain‘, which is a little bit strange considering this company create 9” replica guitars, you would think they would at least call it a Flying V?

Although they don’t acknowledge the different styles of guitar they actually create Les Pauls, Strats, Teles and Flying V’s in a range of colours and they are only $2.19 a piece.

MiniatureGuitarOutlet.com

What do you buy the guitarist who has everything? How about a Braithwaite Orpheus? ”designed for the guitar player who knows that playing the instrument is more than just a hobby” and only $105… surely worth the money because not only can you fit all your cards and cash in this leather wallet but also 3 guitar picks because of course they take up so much space in your pocket!

”Without picks inserted, you can see the black silk lining the back of the pick holder, creating a look reminiscent of shark’s gills. With picks in, the true purpose of the wallet (and its owner) becomes clear.”

Yeah because with those picks in there I had no idea what the true purpose was!

When I discovered Kangaroo Amp Covers I was excited that I had found another Aussie company after featuring JLF Guitars yesterday however I was a little disappointed to find out that despite the name they are in fact an American company, ah well I’ll forgive them. Now have you ever needed to protect your guitar amp from a military invasion? Well you might want to consider buying a cover made from 1050 Denier Ballistic Nylon as used in bulletproof vests!

Kangaroo Amp Covers give you the choice of either ballistic nylon or 32 oz. heavy duty sierra vinyl to ensure your amp will be protected in the back of the band’s transit van, in fact Kangaroo Amp Covers say it is “the next best thing to having your own roadie”. Apart from being rugged enough for your amp to survive a pub tour of Baghdad each cover features exterior pockets for all your extra bits an pieces, kettle lead… erm and whatever else you can’t fit in your guitar case. The covers also have a 3/8” high density foam padding (thats 10mm in the wonderful metric world) to help protect your amp as it bounces around the outback with skippy.

UK based Swineshead Pickups have some very interesting pickup designs, for instance the Swineshead Warthog which is a high output humbucker with a powerful thick tone has a Paduak wood finish.

The other wood finishes available are Maple, Rosewood, Ebony, Mahogany, Zebrano and Lacewood. And that is just the wood finishes! Check out some of the other special finishes available such as Diamond Tread, Red Sparkle or their colour combinations. Oh and the customisation options don’t stop there, you can also have custom engraving on your pickups!

But how do they sound? Well I don’t know there aren’t any sound samples, but the humbuckers all use Alnico magnets as shown on this tone chart.

IK Multimedia have today added to their arsenal of audio products with the announcement of SampleTron which includes the most complete “Tron” anthology ever released in one virtual instrument, with over 2 GB of sounds, 640 presets and 260 multi-samples from 17 rare and vintage Mellotrons®, Chamberlins™, and their derivatives like the Optigan™, Rhythmaster™ and much more. I don’t normally mention software that is not guitar related but with recently I have been doing a bit of recording (post coming soon) and found myself needing a lot of backing instruments for my compositions and these would have come in very useful! You can’t just have all guitar tracks can you! (I know it is tempting!!!)

”SampleTron’s diverse library was meticulously sampled by Sonic Reality and assembled to showcase the entire sonic palette, with chromatic samples that accurately capture the complete authentic tone of each instrument. Jam-packed with unprecedented instruments originally used by The Beatles, Moody Blues, Genesis, Yes and other famous bands from the 60’s and 70’s, the sounds in SampleTron are diverse, powerful and inspiring!”

Here is a list instruments that the sounds are based on:

Mellotron® M400
Mellotron® MK5
Mellotron® MKII
Mellotron® Powerhouse (8 Track Rhythm Machine)
Novatron®
Vako Orchestron®
Optigan™
Talentmaker™
Chamberlin™ Music Master 600
Chamberlin™ Music Master 400
Chamberlin™ Model 200
Chamberlin™ M1
Chamberlin™ M4
Chamberlin™ Rhythmate™
360 Systems® “Digital Tron”
Roland® VP-330 (Choir)
Stylophone®

Good old stylophone! The interface design is a bit weird, they have gone for a eroded kind of look but I suppose it is meant to resemble a rusty old vintage instrument?

SampleTron is now available from all worldwide IK dealers, distributors and in the IK online store for just EURO249.99/$329.99. A crossgrade price of Euro199.99/$269.99 is also available for all previously registered users of any lite or full version IK product.

For more information check out the official SampleTron site.

Talking of IK Multimedia, don’t forget the Guitar Noize/IK Multimedia Competition closes in a week so don’t miss out on your chance to win a fantastic StompIO!

”You’ve got a guitar that is a work of art and a beautiful hand made tube amp, why would you trust all this to work at its best with a cheap, machine pressed fit cable?”.

I suppose they have a point, every guitarist is on a quest for the perfect tone and we spend thousands of dollars on guitars, amps, strings, stompboxes and then trust all of these connections down to a cable that we spent a few dollars on. Well ok I actually have a couple of decent cables but at the moment my recording input cable to my mac is a cheap crappy cable. Solid Cables‘ new Dynamic Arc Ultra Guitar Cable is a pro guitar cable built for durability, its rugged design makes it capable of pulling an object weighing six to ten thousand pounds without breaking which makes it a handy tow rope if your car breaks down on the way to a gig!

”The cable makes a notable audio enhancement on any instrument. The clear sound allows you to hear any instrument. Improved note detail and complexity make this cable the go to cable for producers.”

Here are the stats:

Conductor: ultra pure oxygen free copper for the most harmonic content
Solder: high silver content alloy for clearest sound
Armor: tear strength of 6000 PSI - you could tow a car with one if you had to
Ends: nickel plated - all metal for classic tone
Insulation: 1kV shorting resistance
Ultra quiet: no handling noise, not microphonic, resists up to 98% of EMI/RFI noise
Hand assembled in Pasadena, California
Triple strain relief
All parts chemically welded together using the same stuff they use on dragsters and fighter jets.
Lifetime warranty
Available in stock lengths from 12 to 21 feet
The Ultra is available in dusk cherry or carbon black

And here is the all important pricing info:

21’ Dynamic Arc Ultra $156.95
18’ Dynamic Arc Ultra $149.95
15’ Dynamic Arc Ultra $142.95
12’ Dynamic Arc Ultra $135.95

Now I know that sounds expensive but these are professional quality cables, so not really aimed at the bedroom guitarist, but like I said if you are a tone perfectionist then you might want to add one of these to your setup!

Solid Cables Official SIte

At Winter Namm 2007 Vox announced that they were collaborating with Joe Satriani on a series of stomp boxes that he had been testing on tour, at the time they had nothing to show but Vox have just announced the first in the series at Musikmesse Frankfurt 2008. The Vox Satchurator pictured left is a distortion pedal that apparently recreates Satch’s distinctive tone. Apparently the Satchurator is capable of very high gain levels but operates more quietly and musically than other modern distortion pedals. It also preserves the tone and pick-attack of the guitarist plugging into it, regardless of style, from subtly distorted blues tones through classic rock and shred. Oh and like his Ibanez JS1200, it is red!

There is no news on the official Vox site as yet but I’m sure that will be updated soon.

While I’m on the subject of Professor Satchafunkilus himself, starting March 22nd Joe Satriani will be releasing video podcasts on his site with insights into how the new album ‘Professor Satchafunkilus and the Musterion of Rock’ was recorded much like he did when ‘Super Colossal’ was released, check it out on Satriani.com. You can also check out a new track from the album - “I just wanna rock” on the homepage too!