John Justen's completely unsolicited gear hype...

is it just me or is their newish hendrix pedal surprisingly decent?

I've heard from a couple of people that the Digitech Bad Monkey overdrive is good, especially for the cash being that it is half as much as an Ibanez Tubescreamer. I have not yet heard one plugged up.

I have also heard good things about that Hendrix wah.

Fender is putting out what looks like a new generation Pro Sonic tube amp (both combo & head) called a Super-sonic that looks pretty cool. The first channel is supposed to be Vibrolux voiced and the second channel Bassman voiced with more available gain.

http://www.fender.com/products/search.php?partno=2160500400

I've heard a Pro Sonic and thought it was a good sounding head. I'd like to hear this new one. The combo with the ox blood grill and cream tolex also looks pretty smooth.

John, how are the different wah models on that Digitech? I'd love it if I could find a great sounding wah that wasn't also a collector's item.

The Hendrix is suprisingly good. Now if I could only blindfold the pople that don't want to try it because of the whole "modeling" aspect, I might get some more unbiased appraisals.

Earl - We might get the Super-sonic on sample pretty soon, so I'll let you know if it works out. Should be about $980 street. The Pro Sonic was good, but I'm not sure how close/far this one will be.

martin - I'll steal a few hours and investigate tomorrow(?) if possible.

I know I've said this (and variations of the same theme) here before, but a lot of "modeling" out there is actually very good for recording if the rest of the signal chain is up to it. The blindfold is urgent and key for a lot of people. I'll even admit myself to needing it sometimes.

I remember when I first got a VG-8ex being unimpressed by some models and blown away by the rest. That's still pretty much how I feel about all model-based processing now. The VG-8ex pulls off an incredibly convincing Les Paul through a stack (and it impersonates the SG grown and the Rick/Vox jangle well too), and I'm playing a Strat with a hexaphonic pickup in the bridge. Is it perfect? No... but it does let me come damn close to the sound of a Paul with the benefits of a) not carrying a guitar that weighs a ton, b) playing the scale length I like better and c) being able to bomb the Floyd Rose to the body of the guitar like I do on my Strat because, well, it is my Strat. I mean that's pretty cool.

Similarly, if someone made a digital or hybrid wah pedal that could get all honkey even remotely like my Wau Wau Machine or original Stack of Dimes Cry Baby, I'd be pretty psyched to be stepping on something I could replace without spending an arm and a leg. Because I mean, I play all of the toys in my collection (with very few exceptions, I am not a "sealed in plastic" kind of collector), but I sure as hell don't want to gig with the ones that would upset me if I lost them to a beer spill or other show abuses.

ha ha in my previous post, "SG grown" should be "SG growl." I am talking about the way an SG sounds, not its age.

i'd agree that digitech is doing surprisingly well. their X-reverb pedal is quite usable, much more so than cheap reverb pedals used to be.

also, that supersonic looks awesome. the prosonic is a great great amp, this one looks like it may be even better - includes reverb too. nice.

I use a prosonic.

It's an AMAZING amp, i've only played a couple things that were 'better'- and they were Matchless or Top Hats, and even they didn't have the gain of the Fender. Perfect amp, and for the price, a no brainer.

Couple thoughts on the Super Sonic.

The Bassman/Vibrolux thing seems to be just like a function of one of the channels- and not like seperate 'sides' of the amp. It seems to capture the general vibe of the Prosonic- oldschool clean channel, Mesa-esque lead channel, but without the class A mode, which is where the Prosonic (and many an incredible classic amp) shines.

And the Prosonic combos always had reverb, it's the heads that didn't (also it appears to be the case here).

I dunno, aren't they spreading themselves a tad thin with all the different configurations?

Its clear they're trying to bank on the great rep of the Prosonic- perhaps Zinky wouldn't give up the rights for a straight up reissue?

I'm a tonemaster devotee. I'm now considering adding the supersonic head to my set up. Probably a tad indulgent, but my band is a power trio and some of our new sounds need a bit more of that modern hi-gain crunch tone.I'd like to try and achieve this without goig Marshall or Mesa. My idea is to convert my 4x12 cab to stereo and run the two heads together with switching so i have a whole range of, from the amp, tone possibilities. Basically: Clean, drive, Driven with boost and modern/hi-gain. I like the idea of a lead tone being modern on one side and drive boost on the other. Any feedback on this would be helpful, as i find the whole amp tone thing a bit like a secret society that i've never really been a part of. too busy getting to the next gig. Phil

If you like the Tonemaster, check out the Prosonic- it will go from Bassman to Dual Rectifier, no exaggeration.

yeah, the prosonic is pretty great. talk about meaty tone.

technically speaking, too, i think the prosonic actually has 3 rectifier circuits.

OMG, the new Parker acoustic (the full-bodied one, not that thinline thingy) is amazing. I'm certain it will languish in non-stocked obscurity (still trying to work up the gusto myself) but it is unbelievable once you get past the look, which is survivable if you think of odd gypsy guitars.

So yeah, it's good. Also, Brian May Digitech on it's way, with report to follow.

I'm so holding my breath for the huge residual value hit those are going to have to take on the used market, and then pouncing.

But then I have an odd itch to try a Southern Nitefly too.

So far the word on the May seems to be very cool and useable tones (assuming you like Queen), and noisy unless you're running it direct.

oh, and they look like this...

http://parkerguitars.com/images/models/p8e_popup.jpg

I think I'm going to buy myself my reps sample once he's bored doing the dog and pony show with it.