Ugly Guitar Truth: Gibson S-Series

My relationship with Gibson guitars has always been one of admiration from afar. Back in old days, I would look of catalogs with pictures of pretty arch top electric guitars and just pine away. The prices of the Gibson guitars led me to believe that they were something beyond what I've experienced. As grew as a player, I've since played many Gibson guitars and found them to, be for the most part... a guitar. I even own a Les Paul and a 335. But that name on the headstock has always carried a weight to it, and I attributed that weight mostly to the high cost of admission into the 'club'. I was able to buy my first Fender for $300, but a Gibson (a proper Gibson) would be $1000+. But that looks to change with addition of Gibson's new S-Series guitar. Let's see what we know about them..

There are 5 models.

There is the M2: a flat top dual humbucker look-a-like to the Epiphone Les Paul Special II, The Firebird Zero: which looks to be a firebird's little brother, The SG: an SG, LP Special: very similar to the special but a little curvier, and the LP Studio: This one hasn't changed much, haven't the Les Paul Studios always started around $799? Anyways, They are all stripped down to just one volume and one tone knob. They have wrap around tail pieces, that is except the studio, which has a proper stop tail bridge. They look nice, and you can see the attention to detail in the released photos.

Are They proper Gibson Guitars?


Well, that's actually a tough question. take a look at the head stock and say, 'Yes, you idiot! It's right there!" and to that I'd reply, "Geez, name calling is really unnecessary." But back to the subject, those who likes their Gibsons know what feature are traditionally uses. This is mahogany with a maple cap for the body, and a mahogany neck and rosewood fretboard. However, Gibson went a little off-brand with some models giving them poplar bodies (except for the SG, it's still mahogany) and maple neck. It's clear that they were interested in keeping costs down. And to be honest, these aren't going to really appeal to the Gibson faithful anyways. Those who are looking at these are going to be first time Gibson buyers, maybe upgrading from their Epiphones.

Conclusion


I like the new line. Can't wait till I can get my hands on one and see how it feels. The poplar bodies and maple necks don't really bother me (I'm really a Fender guy so...). All these guitar are made in the USA and have a nitro finish, so it's a quality instrument. The Special reminds me a lot of the PRS Mira for some reason. This kind of blew my mind when I heard that Gibson was going to offer guitar starting at $399. We will see in the near future how these do.

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Ugly Truth About The BOSS Katana Amps

The latest amp to hit the solid-state, modeling, DSP market is the BOSS Katana series. This series is a completely new line of amps. It also is has the distinction of wearing the BOSS badge instead of Roland or WAZA. Many see this as a step in the right direction for BOSS, as they have the recognition among guitar players and not Roland. However, many have come to appreciate the Roland Cube series of amps. Roland Jazz Chorus amps have a long and proud history unto themselves. BOSS have struck out with a distinct offering that may have borrowed from the their heritage, but absolutely breaks new ground for the effects company that many love to hate. There are good and bad things about this amp, but what about the ugly?

There Are The Looks

Once you get past the black on black aesthetic, the dated BOSS logo, and the scrabble tile with a cursive "r" (or maybe a fancy "d"?)on it, well, there isn't much left is there. (edit: I am very aware that the symbol means "sword". It was mentioned in the promotional material and just about everywhere else. I didn't see the need in repeating it here.) The Blues cube took cues from Fender with it's 1X12 combo, but if you take the badges off and go by looks, it'd be difficult to tell these apart from the standard cube series. These amps do look a fair bit better than the cube amps, but there is nothing particularly striking about the design of these amps. Nothing says, "I'm a sexy, tone-machine". It has about as much appeal as a stage monitor.

They Are A Little Late To The Game

When you look at the list of feature on the Katana, it does seem a little similar to others that are already on the market. The Vox AV series and the Fender Mustang line both do similar functions, and do them rather well. So, is this a case of, "Too Little, Too Late"? It very well may be. A lot of the fans of these amps are also current users of the other two mentioned. Not to mention that users (or past users) of the Line6 Spider series or the Marshall CODE amps might be a little skeptical of the modeling scene. Are these amps worthy of the praise of the Fender and Vox offerings or do these fall to the dark side? Well, I'll tell you what they aren't...

They Aren't The Blues Cube

Those interested in a SS amp to do the work of your favorite 1X12 are probably familiar with the Roland Blues Cube. These amps come close to the sounds of their tube driven kin, but there will always be those the "hear" the difference. SS amps are supposed to be rugged and affordable. The Katana series are affordable. Although their ruggedness is yet to be tested, their price points make them attractive.This calls in question their fidelity to the faithful adaptation of tube-tone that the Blues Cube claims. While I am among those that would love to see an amp with the talents of the Blues Cube at a $300 price point, I doubt that Roland/Boss would undercut their own sales,

Conclusion

This isn't the point to where we can all trade in our tubes for transistors. However, these amps have some interesting features and have won the endearment of many that have had a chance to try them out. What is very interesting is that they have included access to the BOSS effects catalog via the "Effects" section. You are able to run three effect at a time. This is standard feature on all the amp in the line. They self-attenuates, so that you can play at any volume without changing your levels. If anything, these amps are well thought out, which can explain why they are a little late out of the gate. Among the cool feature, there are some slightly strange ones (like the tiny kickstand and tiny speaker hidden the 100 watt head). Considering the starting price for the 50 watt combo is $200, it might be worth serious concideration.

Continued Reading:

-Hands-on Review
-Katana 50 Watt Combo Vs Marshall Code
-Update: Katana Mini
-Update: Katana Air Portable Wireless Amp