Guitar Interactive Magazine Issue 12 Featuring Steve Vai! iGuitar Magazine!
Steve Vai talks with Guitar Interactive Magazine at his home studio in L.A to talk about playing, his gear & his brand new album.
Learn how to play like Steve Vai in Guitar Interactive Magazine Issue 12 free guitar lessons to learn Steve Vai style and tricks with Andy James. Featured exclusively in this issue we were loaned the Steve Vai Ibanez EVO - only 100 were made as exact replicas & we have one to talk about in this issue.
Win a Steve Vai Gem EVOs in our Free Entry Competition -
Also featured in Guitar Interactive this Issue - We featured the band The Aristrocrats - headed by the fantastic Guthrie Govan check out the live performances of this super group!!
To celebrate Marshall Amplification 50 Years - we interview Paul Marshall about the companies history & we talk with the man behind the designs of Marshall amps with an exclusive tour around the factory.
Guitar Reviews this month feature;
Review of the Ibanez Jem Evo & JEM 70V
Review of the Duesenburg Fullerton CC
Review of the Fender Excelsior combo
Review of the Godin Session Custom Guitar
Review of the Cornell Valve Pre Amp Pedal
Review of the Hayden HGT A20 Head Review 2 x12 Cab review
IK Multimedia iRig Stomp review
TC Electronic Spark Booster Review
A/DA APP-1 Pre Amp Pedal
Rocktron Boutique Series FX Pedals Review
Faith Eclipse Venus 12 String Review
Review Marshall as50d Soloist
Huss And Dalton acoustic review
Review of the Laney NEXUS Fet & NX410 & NX115
Review of the overwater Tanglewood Standard Bass and plus bass
Review of Elixir Coated & Coated Nickel sbass strings
REVIEWS_AMP REVIEW
Fender’s Pawn Shop series may be the cleverest marketing idea ever for music
gear - a glorious exercise in ‘let’s pretend we once made these’ or ‘what Leo
might have done - but didn’t’. Alongside some great hybrid guitars there are
equally fine looking retro amps, too, like the Excelsior. But looks aren’t much use
if the sound doesn’t match. And does it? We asked Rick Graham to find out.
There’s no question about it, Fender’s
Excelsior is one cool looking amplifier.
As part of Fender’s ‘Pawn Shop’ range, it is
the perfect embodiment of all that was cool
about the post war era. It looks more like a
old radio than an amp and you’d certainly
be forgiven for expecting an episode of ‘The
Archers’ or a Wolfman Jack show to suddenly
start resounding from its speaker! The beauty
of this range is that you don’t have to go
scouring second-hand and antique shops
to find one of these little beasts and what’s
more, you’ll get one in perfect working
condition and not need a repairman on every
gig with you - just in case!
But although there is most definitely an
element of novelty with the Excelsior, don’t
be fooled into thinking that it’s not a serious
amplifier. Weighing in at 33lbs (15kg)
and measuring up at 21”x 19.5” x 9” it’s
a highly portable amp more than suitable
for the mobile gigging musician as well as
being ideal as part of any home recording
studio set-up. With its brown textured vinyl
STAR RATING CHECK THE SPEC
72 Guitar Interactive Magazine Issue 12
covering, uber cool ‘E’ design front grille and
the double crossed-swords Excelsior badge
boldy displayed across the front of the amp,
the Excelsior exudes a uniqueness which is
hard to ignore.
It’s all tube amp, housing twin 6V6 valves
in the power section and a pair of 12AX7
valves in the preamp section delivering
13 Watts of power through the specially
designed Excelsior 15” speaker. Fender has
opted for a bottom loaded primary chassis in
conjunction with a top-loaded control chassis
for low noise and operating convenience.
Controls are kept nice and simple but with
some interesting options, such as the three
inputs which are individually optimised
to suit certain playing scenarios. These are
labelled: GTR, MIC and ACCORDION
respectively. These are great if you are using
a guitar loaded with particularly high output
pickups and want as much clean headroom
as possible. A voicing switch located on
control panel gives you the option to either
go ‘Bright’ or ‘Dark’, the former giving more
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