Musik Indonesia

Fender takes David Gilmour’s famous “Black Strat” to its next stage of evolution with a pair of signature reproductions.

There are a handful of guitars that have shaped the sound of rock music, and indeed the course of rock history, with their distinctive tones. David Gilmour’s legendary “Black Strat” ranks high among this select company of instruments. This was the ax that the Pink Floyd guitarist wielded on Dark Side of the Moon, Wish You Were Here, Animals and The Wall, and on all three of his solo studio albums. The guitar was also with him at London’s Hyde Park for Pink Floyd’s 2005 reunion at Live 8.

Now aspiring David Gilmours everywhere can own a piece of the legend. Fender’s new David Gilmour Signature Series Stratocaster was carefully modeled after the original Black Strat. As usual with Fender Signature models, there will be a high-end, so-close-it’s-a-forgery Relic version of the instrument and a more affordable N.O.S. (New Old Stock) version.

The Strat was nothing special when Gilmour purchased it at Manny’s Music in New York in 1970, just an off-the-shelf late- Sixties Stratocaster. Gilmour bought it in a hurry to replace a Strat that had been stolen during a Pink Floyd U.S. tour. The guitar originally had a Sunburst finish, but it had been oversprayed with black paint at the factory as a custom finish. The Relic version of the Gilmour Signature Strat reproduces even this detail—the alder body features black lacquer sprayed over a three-color Sunburst finish. The N.O.S. version has simply a black nitrocellulose lacquer finish sprayed on an alder body.

Because the guitar was neither rare nor collectible when Gilmour bought it, he made it his “bodge-up guitar”—the instrument he’d experiment on by changing pickups and necks and drilling holes to add bits of circuitry that were later discarded. “The guitar was never treated with any reverence at all. It was just a working tool,” says longtime Gilmour guitar tech Phil Taylor, who worked closely with Fender to create the David Gilmour Signature Series Stratocaster. But because it was also a working tool, it was the guitar most likely to be in Gilmour’s hands when Pink Floyd were making history. The Black Strat first went into service on Pink Floyd’s 1970 album Atom Heart Mother and remained in heavy use throughout the group’s Seventies heyday. It is the guitar Gilmour played on the classic Floyd instrumental “Echoes” and for two of the three solos in “Money.” And this is the guitar that played what many fans regard as Gilmour’s greatest solo ever, the one in “Comfortably Numb.”

The Black Strat spent the years from 1983 to 1993 enshrined in display cases at various Hard Rock Cafe locations. When Gilmour took possession of it again in ’93, he outfitted it with a Fender ’57 Reissue Vintage Strat neck, which is the neck style used on the Gilmour Signature Strat as well. When the guitar made a high-profile return to the limelight at the Live 8 Pink Floyd reunion show, interest in Pink Floyd and the Black Strat reached a new level, and Fender got to work replicating the historic instrument as the David Gilmour Signature Strat.

The signature model reflects all the custom mods Gilmour implemented over the years, down to the shortened vintage vibrato arm that’s a key part of his technique. The historic process of replicating the guitar has been well documented: Phil Taylor published his own book, The Black Strat, based on research he did as part of the Fender project, and the folks at Fender have produced their own DVD that traces the full evolution of the David Gilmour Signature Stratocaster. A copy of Taylor’s book will be included with every Fender David Gilmour Signature Stratocaster, along with the three-disc version of Gilmour’s recently released concert extravaganza Live in Gdansk. (Guitar World published a full report on the Taylor book in the January 2008 issue.)

Look for an exclusive video on the making of the Black Strat replica, featuring Gilmour and Phil Taylor, on the CD-RO M that will accompany the March issue of Guitar World.

While this upgraded model has way more guts than its predecessor, it

still relies on the acoustic environment to give you optimal
performance.

The original Phil Jones Bass Flightcase was a significant entrant in the micro-amp wars thanks to its high power-to-weight ratio and audiophile-quality tone. The diminutive portable quickly gained fans with upright bassists and among electric bassists that wanted high fidelity at low volume. But many denizens of the deep called out for more volume, more bottom and more power, all without more weight. Apparently, the folks at PJB have heard the call, and they have responded: Super Flightcase to the rescue!

FEATURES

The most obvious difference between the Super Flightcase BG-300 and the original Flightcase BG-150 is the speaker configuration. The original has two lightweight five-inch neodymium drivers pointed toward the audience and two facing straight up. The Super adds two more forward-facing speakers, which creates a full, “surround-sound” tone that radiates throughout the stage rather than being directional. The preamp is the same as in the BG-150, with an active/passive toggle that changes the input impedance from 4.7 megohm in Passive mode to 50kHz in Active, a feature that optimizes the tone of passive, active or piezo pickups.

A 250-watt Class A/B amp with a Switch Mode Power Supply (SMPS) drives the BG-300. Phil Jones states that a Class A/B amp gives a truer representation of the bass waveform, and the higher-frequency operation of the switching power supply increases its efficiency. The SMPS design forgoes the heavy transformer of conventional amps and thus is critical in keeping the amp’s weight at a very manageable 33 pounds.

The five-band EQ provides a wide spectrum of control that enables you to tune in a variety of useful bass sounds. As there is no tweeter in this rig, the 12kHz treble control is set to bring out the sparkle for a killer slap tone, while the low frequencies—Lo-Bass, @50Hz, and Hi-Bass, @160Hz—allow you to tune the bottom for maximum girth with minimal mud. The two bands of midrange—Lo-Mid, @630Hz, and Hi-Mid, @2.5kHz—provide fine control over presence and detail. With 18dB of boost and cut on all bands, the BG-300 is an extremely flexible tone shaper.

The optical limiter can be bypassed or adjusted with its own level control to provide a degree of safety when pushing the amp. Unlike many built-in limiting circuits, the PJB manages the level without squashing the life out of the attack. An effect loop, line out, headphone out, tuner out and a balanced DI with ground lift round out the BG-300’s feature set.

PERFORMANCE

Like the BG-150, the 300 is designed to work in conjunction with an acoustic environment. Three floor-level ports help couple the rig to the stage—which is, in part, how this quart-sized box achieves gallon-sized low end. The key to unlocking the amp’s maximum potential is to find the optimal distance off the stage’s back wall. By using the floor and walls you gain bottom that the amp itself won’t provide, but the upward facing speakers prevent the sound from being “absorbed” by the room.

While the increase in power and additional speaker coverage improve the 300’s high-volume capabilities, it’s obvious that this amp is not destined to be a big hit with the death metal crowd. Still, it performed admirably with a four-piece band with drums and electric guitar. Moving the amp around the stage, I was able to find the sweet spot that produced the most low end without losing clarity, and the cabinet handled the low B string without wheezing.

Employed with a gut-stringed upright bass on a roots/country gig, the BG-300 had plenty of naturally punchy bottom. Cranking the treble control brought out enough high end from my relatively dark-sounding Realist pickup to help the rockabilly slap technique cut through. Maxing the highs to that level is often accompanied by a lot of hiss, but the BG-300 is remarkably quiet, even when boosted to the extreme.

THE BOTTOM LINE

While this upgraded model has way more guts than its predecessor, it still relies on the acoustic environment to give you optimal performance. It might not be the best choice for an outdoor gig where you can’t take advantage of a back wall, or the resonance of a wooden stage. But in ideal conditions, the BG- 300 dishes out delicious, organic beef, with plenty to go around.

No question about it—the Bugera 6260/412H-BK is an impressive gigworthy

half stack that’s easily capable of hanging tough against more costly
rivals.

It's the biggest buzz in the amp world: Behringer, known for its wide range of amazingly affordable and primarily solid-state music gear, has entered the heavyweight tube-amp arena with a loud kerrang and a new brand: Bugera. Made in Behringer’s sprawling factory complex in Zhongshan, China, the Bugera line boldly debuts with nine new models: four highpowered heads, four open-back combos (featuring essentially the same circuitry as the heads but with inverted chassis) and a slant-front 4x12 speaker cabinet.

To check out this new line, I’ve selected the most stripped-down (and thusly the most affordable) Bugera head—the 6260—and coupled it with the 412H-BK cabinet to form the most basic building block of rock: the classic half stack.

FEATURES

The 6260 shares many key components with its Bugera cousins, something that reduces production costs. In addition to having similar chassis metalwork and cabinetry dimensions, the models share the same power and output transformer designs. An amp’s transformers are typically its most expensive components, and the output transformer is an especially important contributor to overall tone quality. According to Behringer’s eponymous head-honcho, Uli Behringer, the company developed and refined the intricate design details and sound of the Bugera’s output transformer for more than a year. With that kind of boutique-like obsession for detail, it’s clear the Bugera team is truly serious.

Like all of the Bugera amp designs, the 6260 sports four output tubes (and all of the tubes reside in high-quality ceramic sockets). And for you tone tweakers, all of the Bugeras are fitted with a switch that adapts the amp for either 6L6 or EL34 operation, and a conveniently located top-mounted bias adjustment pot with RCA test-jack makes it easy to check and fine tune your amp’s bias on the fly.

Speaking of tubes, Bugera boasts an impressive in-house tube testing facility. I visited the Behringer/Bugera factory last November, and the large tube testing room was abuzz with people busily testing tubes using special burn-in and matching rigs. They also use actual Bugera combos for critical testing of microphonics. The 12AX7s are carefully graded by their resistance to microphonics, and they’re selected for their final use accordingly. Uli Behringer said only five percent of the 12AX7s are selected for the most critical “A” grade applications. More good news: Bugera also plans to offer a full line of replacement tubes, so keep your eyes pealed for some sweet deals on great tubes.

PERFORMANCE

The 6260 forms an especially synergistic bond with the uncommonly deep-, rich- and smooth-sounding Bugera 412H-BK 4x12 speaker cabinet. It’s clear that the Bugera crew did a lot study and experimentation to design speakers that so perfectly complement the sound of the head; you really have to hear them together to get the complete Bugera experience. The amazing thing is the Bugera speakers are made inhouse. It’s easy to understand why the speakers match the head so perfectly when you see first-hand how Bugera’s unique manufacturing capabilities allow the company to fine-tune speaker performance so readily. Very few amp manufacturers can stake a claim to that kind of capability.

The 6260/412H-BK half stack is a serious rock machine. And while the Clean channel is indeed capable of crisp and punchy clean tones (especially with vintage-style single-coil pickups), this rig was clearly born to rock. Engaging the Clean channel’s Crunch mode punches up the gain with a more aggressive upper-midrange emphasis that barks with Rottweiler-like authority, and amazingly, it’s equally effective with single-coils or humbuckers.

The Lead channel increases the gain with more perfectly voiced upper-midrange emphasis and a leaner, trimmer and more percussive low end that handles low-tuned and seven-string guitars surprisingly well. Despite these characteristics, the Lead channel sounds fat thanks to the cab’s exceptional low-end depth. It’s truly amazing how seamlessly both amp channels work together and how many great sounds are available from so few controls.

THE BOTTOM LINE

No question about it—the Bugera 6260/412H-BK is an impressive gigworthy half stack that’s easily capable of hanging tough against more costly rivals. It’s destined to become a hit with budget-minded rockers and I suspect we’ll be seeing them on some big-time stages real soon too. The real bottom line: Bugera is for real. I’ve seen it all and I’m a believer.

The Solitaire's “exotic” design is really more about function than form.

You may not be aware of this, but playing an acoustic guitar could be the most unselfish act a guitarist could make. Because an acoustic guitar’s sound projects outward from the sound hole, the fullest and most harmonically rich sound is heard a few feet away from the guitar by listeners who are positioned directly in front of the sound hole. The player’s ears are located above and just behind the sound hole, so the player has to settle for hearing tones that aren’t quite as rich and robust.

Despite this fact, most acoustic guitar designs feature a sound hole that is located just below where the end of the fingerboard meets the body. In addition to providing a less than ideal monitoring situation for the player, this design actually prevents the top from doing much of what it was designed to do in the first place—vibrate freely and project the full range of frequencies that a string can produce.

Boulder Creek’s new Solitaire models present a logical solution to these design quirks by placing the sound hole on the side of the guitar and facing it up toward the player, leaving the soundboard hole-free. A special bracing design allows the top to flex freely and still provide ample strength to support the strings. Surprisingly, this innovation is offered on a very affordable line of instruments that includes cutaway acoustic-electric models, like the ECR-3N that I auditioned for this review.

FEATURES

From the front, ECR-3N looks like a typical dreadnought cutaway acoustic model except for the absence of a sound hole in its top. Materials include a solid cedar top, solid mahogany back, laminated mahogany sides and a 20-fret rosewood fingerboard—all the usual suspects. The 18:1 tuners boast wood buttons, and they’re mounted on a distinctive jagged-shaped headstock that evokes a mountain crest.

The side-mounted sound hole is surrounded by a plastic ring that makes it look like a drink holder, but you won’t want to put your Bud in there. The built-in AB4-T preamp system is mounted just above this sound hole in the typical location you’d expect to find acoustic-electric controls. The preamp features four EQ bands (brilliance, treble, middle, bass) with slider controls, a volume knob, a phase in/out switch and a chromatic tuner that automatically bypasses the output when the tuner is switched on. Outputs include a 1/4-inch unbalanced jack and a balanced XLR jack.

The side-mounted sound hole is very clever, but the true genius of the Solitaire’s design is its Suspended Bracing System (a.k.a. SBS), which features two aluminum bars aligned in the same direction as the neck and strings and affixed to the guitar’s soundboard at the top, bridge and bottom, which allows the soundboard to flex freely. Instead of the usual assortment of braces, crossbars and struts used on a traditional crossbracing design, the SBS uses just a simple wooden “X”-brace to stabilize the soundboard.

PERFORMANCE

Most untraditional designs seem more like a novelty than an actual improvement, but the Solitaire’s side-mounted sound hole and SBS deliver on their promises. The guitar produces very full and loud tones that project directly toward the guitarist. You can instantly hear the difference in the treble and midrange, which no longer seems to fight against the bass the way they do on a traditional dreadnought. But even without the sound hole, the tone and volume output still sounds just as good to listeners sitting in front of the guitar. This is probably because the suspended bracing really lets the soundboard do the job it was originally designed to do.

Plugged in the ECR-3N sounds even better. The AB4-T system features a one-piece cable-type saddle transducer that produces warm, natural tone without the annoying piezo “quack” and with all the enhanced treble and midrange frequencies that the guitar produces naturally. Although its great to have four EQ bands to adjust, you really don’t need to tweak the EQ much, if at all, to get very attractive amplified acoustic tone. And the side-mounted sound hole eliminates the need for a monitor, since it pushes the sound directly at you at a volume level loud enough to be heard over a band.

THE BOTTOM LINE

The Solitaire's “exotic” design is really more about function than form. These seemingly simple innovations make playing the instrument a very satisfying experience both for the player—as intended—but also for the audience, who get to enjoy tone that’s as good as what the player hears. Finally, a win-win situation.