In my musical adventure, I run across new and used equipment all the time. Here are a few things that catch my personal attention and excite me. This is also a place to express my thoughts, voice my personal opinions and identify things that either inspire me or simply frustrate me....like you care.
Chris’ Corner
 
 
 
 
 The Echoplex and Mike Battle - (updated Jun-08) The EchoPlex Mike Battle, the inventor of the Echoplex passed aware this year. His legacy lives on in all echo and delay effects. Go HERE for a short write up on the Echoplex and Mike Battle.  More new guitars to keep your eye on - (updated Jun-08) J. Backlund Designs Check out these strangely shaped guitars painted in glistening blue and white. I like the way these guitars take on a whole new shape and approach. They could prove to be very popular! Collings 290 I’m really turning into a Collings fan! Here is a stunning take on a classic design. This new Collings model incorporates a solid mahogany body with Jason Lollar custom P-90s. I’m very impressed with this one.  Jeff Miller Custom Variax Guitars - (updated May-08) Jeff MIller Guitars Check out Jeff Miller’s custom Paul Reed Smith style guitars with built-in Variax electronics. This is very cool and innovative. Check out a few videos HERE on my site.  Guitars - (updated APR-08) COLLINGS I-35! The Collings I-35 is not a typical ES-335 copy, it is so much more in my opinion. The outline is similar but the details go way beyond the original concept. It includes a solid wood construction, carved maple top and a downsized body. It’s a very different animal really. It also includes custom Jason Lollar pickups which in my book, is a plus! I definitely see one in my future for sure. Taylor Solid Body Guitar Taylor Guitars has launched a line of solid body and semi-hallow guitars. They have also launched a dedicated website HERE They look and sound as good as anything Taylor has ever put out. I’m very impressed with their stylistic approach to the electric guitar. I’m sure these will be very popular. Breedlove Electric Guitars Breedlove, also known for their acoustic guitars like Taylor has launched a line of solid body and semi-hallow electrical guitars. These new electrics take on that classic Breedlove shape. I can’t wait to play one. Gary Kramer Electrics! I first saw Gary’s new line of guitars at Winter Namm 2007. The 2008 Gary Kramer models represent guitar design at its finest. Both the boutique line of American made guitars and the high quality import series are a confirmation of Gary Kramer’s vision still being A Step Ahead. These guitars are incredibly well balanced, well made and superb sounding guitars. You gotta keep you eye these for sure. I have played them and they fell soooooo good!  ROBBEN FORD GUITAR CLINIC - (updated JAN-07) In January, I attended the Robben Ford Guitar Clinic in Ojai, CA. It was a day long seminar on all things guitar. The clinic was thoroughly enjoyable. It was great to watch and learn from Robben as well as participate with the other guitarists. To be honest, I just like being in a room full of musicians. I’m a huge RF fan and I have followed his career and seen him perform all over the country.   used to buy Robben Ford albums for the licks. He has grown tremendously as a singer/song writer and although his playing is brilliant, his songs are fantastic. He has developed a style that connects with everything I like about music. I’m a decent guitar player and can hold my own in many situations. However, song writing is relatively new for me and I’ve always struggled in this area. It was wonderful to hear how he approach songs, lyrics, chord ideas and how he pulls it together.  GUITARS - (updated DEC-07)  This has to be the ugliest guitar I have ever seen. Who in their right mind would even THINK to build this...let alone play it.  GUITARS - (updated Aug-07) Jack Briggs - Artisan Series Appolo DestroyAllGuitars is the exclusive representative for the "Artisan Series" guitars by Jack Briggs. This series of guitars consists of one-off models built of Jack's inspiration and vision. They are crafted from his finest aged air dried woods and only the highest grade premium components are used.Check out Jack’s site and go HERE to see a great slide show of his latest work! Also, check out Jack’s work at Destroy All Guitars. Baker B3 XS 3x3 Gene Baker continues to create some amazing guitars. He has recently moved into creating some vintage inspired classic after very successful B3 series. The new B3 XS 3 X 3 is most definitely the more Fender leaning design. With the same super fast playing neck and incredible upper fret access claiming the most comfortable carve in the business. Watch out for Baker Guitars in the future. I think you will only see top quality work created by Gene. Taku Sakashta Guitars Here is the guitar that Robben Ford is now playing. They look absolutely amazing. This is one of the nicest interpretations of the classic Les Paul that I have ever seen!  AMPLIFIERS - (updated Aug-07) Swart Atomic Space Tone Here is a very cool little amp using the classic 6V6 tube combo. From what I can here, it’s got a wonderful tone and it really sings. Check them out at their website. I also thing they look cool Reto-King Amplifiers Amp designer Chuck Dean has played through every style of vintage amp on the planet....so he says. Retro-King amps are his attempt to recreate a full line of vintage styled Marshal amps including a Plexi 18 and a Plexi 45. Check them out and see for yourself. Burris Shadow If you ask, I think this is one of the best new amps on the market. Truly one of the most musical amps I have every played. The Shadow is just awesome. Clean, mild overdrive with a big American voice, On-board dual phase inverter circuit equipped with a selector switch delivering two styles of clean American Character  EFFECTS - (updated Aug-07) The “Pinky Wah” The MODboard line of on-board guitar effects are very clever. This latest offering includes a mid boost and “wah wah” effect controlled via your pinky. Very nice by GuitarFetish.com. Vibe by Love Pedal According to the gang at Love Pedal, this pedal is “the MOST ACCURATE and righteous Uni-Vibe sounds to be had in a package this size”. I just played one and I have to say, it was very very cool! Check out all the custom Love Pedals HERE! Eventide Stomp Boxes... Eventide has announced its very first guitar stompboxes, the TimeFactor and ModFactor. Eventide's Rob Gillespie says the TimeFactor is a dual-delay, featuring ten Eventide algorithms from rack-mount gear such as the H8000, Eclipse and others. The ModFactor features phase, flange, chorus, and other effects. It also has a polymod chorus, plus AM/FM LFO modulation. So where are they? Since Winter NAMM, we’ve been waiting but still no sign of them. They look like they will be great...only if we actually see them in stores. It’s almost September and we’re still waiting. Real McCory Custom - Wizard Wah In my search for a Wah Wah pedal, I ran across designer Geoffrey Teese’s Real McCoy Custom Three wah wah pedals. These pedals are inspired by pedals built by the Thomas Organ Company which have been considered the father of all subsequent wahs. The Wizard Wah is designed to work with any pickup configuration and any amp gain structure. I just placed my order from Indoor Storm. I’ll review it soon!  Remembering Ken Fisher Ken Fischer 1945-2006 For those of you who did not know who Ken Fischer was, Ken was one of the original boutique and custom amp designers who was widely respected by his peers. Ken unfortunately passed away last December. Thanks Ken for all that you contributed! Check out Ken’s columns at Ultimate Gear and also see Komet Amplifiers who manufacturers some of Ken’s designs. Fuchs also has an amplifier inspired by Ken’s beautiful work.  Poor Taste... Killer Vintage Ad.... Not that I am at all a Lee Harvey Oswald fan....but this modified picture from Killer Vintage showing Lee and the cops jamming with guitars and mic may look cool and provide a bit of comic relief to a very tragic time in American history, but I think it is a bit tasteless to use this picture for an ad. Come on gang, can’t you be more clever than this?  GuitarGearEnthusiast.comEchoplex.htmlEchoplex.htmlEchoplex.htmlhttp://www.bennett-maxfieldmusic.com/index.htmlhttp://www.bennett-maxfieldmusic.com/index.htmlhttp://www.collingsguitars.com/electrics-290.htmhttp://www.collingsguitars.com/electrics-290.htmhttp://www.guitaristjeffmiller.com/guitars.htmhttp://www.guitaristjeffmiller.com/guitars.htmhttp://www.guitaristjeffmiller.com/new.htmJeff%20Miller%20Variax.htmlhttp://www.collingsguitars.com/index.htmhttp://www.collingsguitars.com/index.htmhttp://www.collingsguitars.com/electrics-i35dlx.htm#http://www.lollarguitars.com/http://www.taylorelectricguitars.com/http://www.taylorelectricguitars.com/http://www.taylorelectricguitars.com/http://breedloveguitars.com/instruments/guitars/mark/index.htmlhttp://breedloveguitars.com/instruments/guitars/mark/index.htmlhttp://www.garykramerguitar.com/http://www.garykramerguitar.com/NAMM%2007%20Review.htmlhttp://www.destroyallguitars.com/itempages/apollo.htmlhttp://www.briggsguitars.com/www/swf/index.htmlhttp://www.jnwphotography.com/gallery/briggsbest/http://www.destroyallguitars.com/pages/home.htmlhttp://www.destroyallguitars.com/itempages/XS3x3.htmlhttp://www.sakashtaguitars.com/http://www.swartamps.com/amplifiers.htmhttp://www.retrokingamps.com/http://www.burrissamps.com/shadow.htmhttp://store.guitarfetish.com/onswwamiboco.htmlhttp://store.guitarfetish.com/modboards.htmlhttp://lovepedal.com/fab50.htmhttp://www.lovepedal.com/http://www.eventidestompboxes.com/http://www.realmccoycustom.com/http://www.trainwreck.com/http://www.ultimateguitargear.com/kens_column.htmhttp://www.kometamps.com/ken.htmlhttp://www.fuchsaudiotechnology.com/html/train_45.htmlHome.htmlshapeimage_2_link_1shapeimage_2_link_2shapeimage_2_link_4shapeimage_2_link_6shapeimage_2_link_8shapeimage_2_link_9shapeimage_2_link_10shapeimage_2_link_12shapeimage_2_link_13shapeimage_2_link_14shapeimage_2_link_16shapeimage_2_link_17shapeimage_2_link_19shapeimage_2_link_21shapeimage_2_link_22shapeimage_2_link_23shapeimage_2_link_24shapeimage_2_link_25shapeimage_2_link_26shapeimage_2_link_27shapeimage_2_link_28shapeimage_2_link_29shapeimage_2_link_30shapeimage_2_link_31shapeimage_2_link_32shapeimage_2_link_33shapeimage_2_link_34shapeimage_2_link_35shapeimage_2_link_36shapeimage_2_link_37shapeimage_2_link_38shapeimage_2_link_39shapeimage_2_link_40shapeimage_2_link_41shapeimage_2_link_42