A new year means new gear and as usual there were lots of cool releases during the annual NAMM winter show last week. Here’s a couple of great items for your Gilmour rig!

Squier Classic Vibe Telecaster Custom
Fender’s Squire has released many impressive models for low prices and has proved to be a great alternative to the more expensive Fenders. This year Squier released three new Telecasters in the Classic Vibe series. The Classic Vibe concept is very similar to the Fender Classic/Classic Player series – reissues of old classics with the most popular features from each decade. The Classic Vibe Telecaster Custom is a reissue of a late 50s/early 60s Custom, the same model David used on Dogs in 1974-77. The guitar feature a sunburst alder body with that classic binding, a rosewood neck and two vintage style Tele pickups.

Compared to a Fender US/CIJ ‘62 Custom reissue, the Classic Vibe has a more glossy finish and the binding looks kind of cheap but it’s a faithful reproduction nonetheless with a nice vintage tone. The guitar is extremely light weight making it easy to play but personally I’d like a bit more to work with.

All in all I think this is a great alternative to the Fender ‘62 Custom reissue if money is an issue or if you just want a cool looking guitar to have at home. My general opinion is that the guitar looks and sound like a 62 but some of the features makes it feel more like Standard. Replace the pickups with a couple of Custom Shops or Duncan and you’ll have a great instrument.

It’s also worth mentioning the Classic Vibe Stratocasters released last year. Although not available in typical Gilmour finishes both the 50s and 60s reissues makes great starting points for creating your own killer vintage style Strat.

Fender Road Worn
Last year Fender released the Road Worn series with Strats, Teles and bass guitars all beaten and worn out just as if they’de been on tour for 40 years. Each instrument has been sanded down, scratched up, poked, cracked up and worn down to make it look like the real deal. These are genuine Fender US Custom Shop items assembled in Mexico with high quality alder wood, hardware and Custom Shop Tex/Mex pickups. The thin nitro lacquer and the distressed finish adds warmth, sustain and tons of mojo.

The Strats with alder body and maple (50s) or rosewood (60s) necks are great alternatives for creating your very own Gilmour Replica Black Strat. Replace the pickups with CS69 or Duncans, slap on a black pickguard and you’re done. My favourite is the Olympic White 60s Strat… it will be mine!

MXR Re-Releases
MXR/Dunlop has expanded their lineup with several new pedals lately. The first offerings from their Custom Shop was the ‘74 Phase 90 and ‘76 Dyncaomp – stunning replicas of the original pedals with the sweetest tone imaginable. Both pedals has found their way to my boards of course!

New in line is the ‘75 Phase 45, which some might not even have heard of before. The Phase 45 had a short life in the late 70’s and this new reissue is a true reissue of the original with hardwire bypass, no led and battery power only. Compared to a Phase 90 the 45 has a slight narrower phasing sounding like something between a Phase 90 and a UniVibe.

MXR has also re-released two fairly obscure pedals – the Micro Chorus and Micro Flanger. Both were originally released with the block logo in the early 80s. I’ve always considered these highly underrated and although I’d prefer a Boss CE2 chorus and the Mistress for David’s tones both pedals are great alternatives for those sounds.

The Micro Chorus is basically a stripped down version of the MXR Stereo Chorus housed in the small sized Phase 90 box, with only one knob controlling the rate. The pedal has a smooth, warm analog tone much like the Boss CE2 and EHX Small Clone. The Micro Flanger is equally a stripped down version of the bigger M117 Flanger with two knobs controlling rate and regen. The pedal is 100% analog with a warm, liquidy tone that fits those Animals/Wall solos nicely.

It’s also worth mentioning the new MXR Black Label Chorus – Zakk Wylde’s latest signature for MXR/Dunlop. It’s basically a beefed up Boss CE5 with a fat, liquidy chorus ideal to spead out overdrive and distortions.

ProCo RAT
ProCo has just released a limited edition ‘85 RAT reissue. The pedal is a faithful reproduction of the original small box RAT with the old logo and the essential LM308 chip for those super smooth creamy tones. The RAT has always been one of my favourite distortion pedals for its versatile tone. You can pretty much plug it into any amp and it will give you that same great tone over and over. David featured the RAT in his 1988-90 and 1994 rigs and used it on many songs. Check out this article for some tips on choosing the right distortion for your Gilmour rig.

This entry was posted on Sunday, January 31st, 2010 at 1:22 am.
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