Part I - An Abbreviated History of the Champ and Fender (Non Tube) Amps Early Fender tube amps were basically lifted from RCA radio designs and modified for higher power and a more rugged design. By leveraging these designs, Fender was able to forgo large research and development costs in their init... [More]

Undoubtedly most well known as a the inventor and number one manufacturer of harmonicas since the company was founded in 1857, Hohner first introduced an electric guitar in the 1950’s and briefly in the 1970’s before permanently expanding their instrument lines to percussion and fretted ... [More]

I remember seeing the promotional photos for the original Lace Cybercaster years ago and immediately falling in love with the cool aesthetics which somehow looked both futuristic and classic at the same time. Perhaps more aptly named Son of Cybercaster, while this imported incarnation does share som... [More]

Ever wanted to sit down and talk with one of your heroes, maybe even take a lesson? Do yourself a favor and check out The IMV (Interactive Music Video) Behind the Player series. The series focuses around some of today’s prominent metal icons such as John 5 (Marilyn Manson, Rob Zombie) and Munk... [More]

Fender Super Champ XD Review In prior years, most small powered amps featured a watered down version of the features of their higher powered cousins. However, it appears manufacturers have recently (and finally) been catering to those seeking smaller yet full featured amps. The market has been spli... [More]

Fender Cyber-Champ Review The baby of the Cyber series, Fender’s Mexican made Cyber-Champ shares many of the same features of it’s older siblings such as the digitally controlled analog Virtual Tone Interpolation (VTI) preamp engine which virtually reconfigures the gain stage/tone stack... [More]

The New Champ? From a tonal perspective, it’s hard to fault the Super Champ XD’s traditional Fender tones, especially at lower volumes, which faithfully captures the chime commonly associated with Fender’s clean and slightly overdriven tones. It would be a good buy for a project or... [More]