The latest issue of Guitar Interactive, the free digital guitar magazine has been released and it’s loaded to the brim with new video interviews, interactive guitar lessons and reviews of all the latest guitars, amps and pedals. Also, after the success of last month’s offer, every Guitar Interactive subscriber can still claim a FREE copy of the brilliant TAB editing software package Guitar Pro 6!
American guitar virtuoso Richie Kotzen is this month’s cover star with an in-depth interview at his LA home studio and a special ‘Kotzen Masterclass’ lesson from Tom Quayle. Other interviews include Free bassist Andy Fraser and Guitar Interactive favourite Steve Hackett returns to talk with Michael Casswell about his new album ‘Genesis Revisited ll’ and to perform an exclusive live session!
There’s more exclusive material on offer as Guitar Interactive are invited to the annual LA Amp Show to sample the latest products and find out what’s new in the world of Amplifiers. Pedals and Guitars. With a whole host of interviews with the brains behind the gear you love including Fractal Audio, Matrix Amplification, Suhr Guitars, Eganter + More….
There’s lots of prizes up for grabs in the competitions section of the mag… Gi are giving away two Wampler pedals and two copies of the new Randy Rhoads biography + find out which lucky reader bagged the Ibanez Steve Vai JEM70V Guitar!
Don’t miss the column features as Andy James, Tom Quayle, Rick Graham, Michael Casswell and Giorgio Serci all continue their technique lessons including tips, tricks and licks to help make you a better guitarist and starting this month, Guitar Idol winner Don Alder joins the Guitar Interactive teaching team to begin his ‘Acoustic Percussion’ series.
Included in the magazine is full downloadable tab for all of the lessons in the usual PDF format and now our new Guitar Pro 6 format so you can start using your FREE software right away (For details on how to claim your copy, visit the downloads page in the magazine).
The rest of the issue is jam packed with reviews including the new Tony Iommi Signture T-100 Laney Amp, Washburn, Rickenbacker, PRS, Hiwatt, Wampler, TC Electronic, Danelectro, Stonebridge and an exclusive review of the new Ibanez Roadcore RC230 Guitar!
If that’s not enough, Gi brings you a Quiet Room special with the new ‘Rise Of The Super-Ukes’ feature – Ukelele expert John Howlett explains why the Ukelele is conquering the world and reviews the best models on the market.
All this is available now and it’s completely FREE! Visit http://www.iguitarmag.com/issue13 to read it now!
REVIEWS_AMP REVIEW
Love the idea of a mighty HiWatt guitar amp but just can’t find the cash? What if
we said you could get ‘that sound’ (or pretty close) from a very affordable new
combo? Rick Graham plays very loud...
The past few years have seen the emergence
of several venerable British amplification
brands that had seemed to go dormant
after their heydays in the 1960s and ‘70s.
Take Hiwatt for example. Back in the late
1960s it became known as about the only
viable alternative to Marshall - and it had
a distinctly different sound, too. It lost its
way after the death of its founder, Dave
Reeves, but in the past few years, under new
ownership, it has come back strongly, finding
favour with a completely new generation
of musicians including major bands like
Coldplay, The Killers and the Arctic
Monkeys - to name, as they say, just a few!
Hiwatt’s strength was always the impeccably
made valve/tube amp. Cleaner than a
Marshall, with a biting sound and immense
loudness, a Hiwatt was a force of nature -
strong as an ox, as well!
But what if that sort of handbuilt valve
sound is beyond your reach? The usual
answer has been to buy a cheaper, Asian-built
valve amp or, maybe, a solid state amp with
a valve stuck in the pre-amp, the sales pitch
being that it sounds ‘like the real thing’.
STAR RATING CHECK THE SPEC
92 Guitar Interactive Magazine Issue 14
Only it rarely does, of course!
The other alternative, a 100 per cent solid
state amp, has usually been thought of as a
bit of a poor relation - fine for beginners or
messing around with at home, but not ideal
for gigs and rehearsals with a proper band.
Well Hiwatt begs to differ so, sceptical as
we were at GI Towers, we agreed to take a
look at their latest offering n this area - the
amazingly affordable (if not so catchily
named) G550CMR.
This model comes from the company’s
entry-level Maxwatt range and is a solid
state combo capable of delivering 50 Watts
from a tidy little package. As a dual channel
amplifier, the G50 should have plenty for its
potential users to get their teeth into. The
normal (clean) channel features a three band
EQ stage of Bass, Middle and Treble controls
as well as Volume. The Overdrive channel
offers the same features but with the addition
of a Gain control should you wish to turn up
the heat. Hiwatt has also included a switch
which changes the gain structuring from a
‘classic’ to a ‘modern’ voicing, which is a nice
feature. The G50 also includes an onboard
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