Free Articles
Interviews, reviews and features from the ToneQuest Report, free to read.
Gutherie Trapp Livin’ In Nashville, “The Greatest Music City In The World”
About half way through Guthrie’s new record you get the distinct feeling that he can play anything, and he’s having a ball doing it. We remember when Guthrie first arrived in Nashville, and his attitude hasn’t really…
We Discover A Heady 1×12 That Renders Inspiring Vintage Tones
Following the acquisition of our silverface Princeton Reverb, we pondered our next amp to be reviewed in these pages expressly for you. We’ve had a good long run with guitar amps, acquiring and reviewing nearly every…
The Pure Sound Of Rock & Roll… After 50 Years, A Fullerton Classic Still Defines The Sound Of Rock & Roll The 1960 Fender 5E3 Tweed Deluxe
Back from a sunbaked week at Pawley’s Island, our only fine son sent off to Mercer University in Macon to embark on the next chapter of his young life, your guide in the Quest has been loading up with cool new old tools…
The Coyote Hole
Given a choice, nearly every guitar player we know would prefer to own and play those rare instruments that seem mysteriously endowed with the seductive character and extraordinary resonant vocal qualities we so admire…
The Great Humbucking Cunundrum: Ron Ellis And Lee Roy Parnell On The Development of the ‘LRP’ Humbuckers
If you subscribe to the theory that different models of guitars seem to fall in and out of fashion, it seems that guitars equipped with humbucking pickups are experiencing a strong resurgence in popularity. We have…
Our Interview With Jason Lollar On His Regal ‘Fender’ Humbuckers
During the past 60 years the Telecaster has been modified in countless ways, at first by players who sought to make the Tele more versatile and later by Fender designers tasked with creating a more diverse range of…
When It Comes To Guitar Speakers We’ve Never Had It So Good
Warehouse Guitar Speakers operates in Paducah, Kentucky, not so far from the original home of CTS speakers that graced amplifiers in the ‘60s like Ampeg. Warehouse has designed and currently produces over twenty custom…
Blackberry Smoke Guitarist Charlie Starr
American music has defined popular music for decades, and in many ways Blackberry Smoke defines American popular music in 2016. Rock & roll with a country influence, Blackberry Smoke turns rock & roll tunes into fresh…
Hangin’ With Elvin Bishop
Half a century has passed since the blues bands of Chicago rocked the smoky clubs and bars crowding the Southside and street players set up to play curbside on Maxwell Street on Sunday afternoons. The blues that…
The Robben Ford Interview
I was so open to music that it seemed I liked almost everything. My parents bought a record player, joined a record club, and received a stack of records that I remember included Ravel’s Bolero and some kind of big band…
The David Lindley Interview!
Turkish ‘ud— The Turkish version of the ‘ud, with a slightly smaller body and a very resonant sound. Turkish saz— One of the most popular instruments of Turkish music, the saz may derive from the Iranian sehtâr or…
The Fender Silverface Princeton Reverb
In 2019 it seems that the 12 watt Princeton Reverb has attained a level of desirability and popularity that may eclipse that of any other Fender amp ever built. As volume levels have come down on stage, at home and on…
Northwest Vintage Vacuum Tubes with Dave Baldwin
The difference in the quality of sound between modern output and preamp tubes and their classic equivalents in direct A/B tests is usually depressing. No contest. For touring pros, burning up rare old tubes really isn’t…
A Super Hard-On For Players With Discriminating Taste… Z. Vex Distortron
Ya’ll remember the original Z. Vex Super Hard-On dontcha? Well, we do. Granted, it’s, uhm… hard to remember them all, but some definitely linger in the mind, and the original Super Hard-On was a memorable hard-on…
The Return of Robert Keeley
Robert Keeley is one of the most well-known, accomplished and successful effects designers of our time. In September 2001 he launched his company when he shipped his first Keeley Compressor, and his meteoric rise as an…
Brian Wampler On How Many Ways A Distorted Guitar Signal Can Be Created With A Pedal
How many ways can you create an overdriven or distorted guitar signal? A candid interview with Brian Wampler, founder of Wampler Pedals sheds some light on what is really going on inside overdrive and distortion effects.
The Truth About Cables With Evidence Audio’s Tony Farinella
Along with guitar pickups, no other topic of discussion is potentially more confusing or steeped in fog and hype than the subject of audio cables. We asked Evidence Audio founder Tony Farinella to lift the veil from…
Mr. Sandman Build Me A Dream— A Celebration of Custom Guitar Builders Collings Guitars
(Singing the circle of 5ths) Bum-bum-bum-bum-bum-bum-bum-bum-bum-bum-bumbum-bum… Mr. Sandman, something to hold… Would be so peachy before we’re too old… So please turn on your magic beam, Mr Sandman, bring me, please,…
Meet Lindy Fralin. How A Guitar Player Cracked The Code On Vintage Pickup Winds One Coil At A Time…
Well over fifty sets of pickups have been reviewed in these pages and while that may be a lot to digest, we have barely scratched the surface of the entire range of pickups being built as OEM and aftermarket…
Larry Cragg Talks Tone
Larry Cragg has been Neil Young’s guitar and amp tech since the early ‘70s. He has also worked with many other artists like Carlos Santana over the years, and he maintains a thriving guitar repair shop while also…
Wild Things
It’s a rare day when we fail to receive a request for enlightenment, guidance, or affirmation of someone’s chosen path in the quest for tone. Handwringers like, “Do chambered guitars sound ‘better ‘than solid ones?” Or,…
Turning Coils Jason Lollar
In simpler times, players played the pickups that came in their guitars and that was the end of it. Hispanic women wound coils in Fullerton, Latvian women wound ‘em in Kalamazoo, and less celebrated workers of…
NAMM and Ampeg
Will you be at NAMM? We had been answering this question via e-mail for weeks, and no, the annual meeting of the National Association of Music Merchants was not on our agenda this year. We have roamed the cavernous…
Wood, The Heart And Soul Of The Martin Guitar With Dick Boak And Martin Wood Buyer And Expert Linda Davis-Wallen
Dick Boak nearly lost his eyesight at the age of six and ever since, has concerned himself with visual details.Unable to surpass his older brothers in the sports arena, he focused instead on drawing, woodworking,…
Que Pasa? Viva La Cabronita! Fender’s Most Appealing And Toneful New Guitar Model In 50 Years
It has occurred to us that some of you may be skeptical of our recent luv fest with ‘cheap’ guitars. It’s OK, we live in a sour and puckered culture of jaded skeptics… To quote Andy Rooney, “People will generally accept…
Golden Years… Are We Living In A Golden Era Of Gear For Guitarists? Custom Shop Nocaster
“Golden Years” has always been one of our favorite Bowie songs, and if you pay attention, you’ll notice that the Thin White Duke was the first ever to have a rap hit, complete with finger pops, whop-whops and a…
The Echoplex EP-2 Still A Classic And In Many Ways An Indispensable Enhancement For Your Guitar
We recently acquired an Echoplex EP-2, our favorite and preferred Echoplex model, which was the last tube Echoplex, being replaced by the solid state EP-3 in the late ‘60s.
Lee Roy Parnell on the LRP Humbuckers…
Lee Roy Parnell has the touch, and we discovered that he has been chasing the sound of those old Gibson guitars for decades. He hooked up with pickup winder Ron Ellis to contrive a new set of Lee Roy’s signature…
Eminence Speakers With Founder Bob Gault— His Only Interview!
Among all of the interviews we’ve had the privilege to conduct on your behalf, there has never been a more palpable sense of historical significance permeating the room than on the day we met Bob Gault, founder of…
Celestion Heritage Speakers
Celestion first began on the Thames River in Hampton Wick, England in 1924, producing loudspeakers designed by founder Cyril French and Eric Mackintosh for ‘wireless’radio sets. In 1927 the Celestion Radio Company and…
My Obsession — Peter Frampton
Every once in a while we receive a call or an email from Peter Frampton. Ever the cheerful soul who always leaves us feeling likewise, we usually discuss some type of gear or another, but one day last year Peter asked…
Dr. Z Resurrects… A Low Power Version Of The Z Wreck
Ten years ago Dr. Z launched the original Z Wreck amplifier in close collaboration with the late Ken Fischer of Trainwreck Amps and Brad Paisley, who collectively parlayed their deep experience and passion for tone to…
Lee Roy’s Abilene Sunset Les Paul
Oh, we have had some Les Pauls over the past twenty years and you have read about them all right here. Goldtops, bursts, a magic black, some with big necks, some not as big, some were featherweights, others heavier, and…
Valencia Magic
Two of Nacho Baños’ Stratocasters arrive from Valencia, Spain and we dig deep into the unmistakable craftsmanship and artful mojo that makes these guitars so stunningly good…
Checking In With Matchless and Star Amplifiers Founder Mark Sampson & 1993 Matchless DC30 Review With Commentary From Sonny Landreth and Gordon Kennedy
Mark Sampson and Rick Perotta founded Matchless Amplifiers in 1989, initially building prototypes for friends and professional contacts in Southern California. Sampson had previously been involved in importing and…
The Leslie West Interview: Mountain Climbing…The Original King of Tone & Wicked Vibrato Lets It Rip
Boom, boom, boom, boom. Let’s get right down to it, people. This issue is dedicated to a classic style of high-decibel blues, boogie and rock & roll that has claimed few masters. As our good pal, slick guitarist and…
Unleashing Red Dawg…The Epiphone Dot ES-335
Like the Squier J Mascis Jazzmaster and Telecaster Custom we acquired last month, if you haven’t kept up with what’s been happening at Epiphone, we suggest you get busy. Inspired by our experience with the Squier…
The Analogman Comprossor Essential To Your Tone
In case you forgot, the Analogman Comprossor is unarguably the most toneful and eminently useful pedal you can place on your pedal board. Here’s why…
Compression Is Good, The Demeter Compulator
Compression is, in our humble opinion, underrated and probably underutilized. Can’t say for sure, but we don’t recall seeing a compressor on a lot of pedal boards, although we can assure you that Sonny Landreth uses one…
2015 Fender Custom Shop Really Relic Telecaster
Sometimes, the folks at the Fender Custom Shop create a relic that is entirely believeable as an old road horse guitar. This is one of those…
The White Penguin
Among the rarest of all truly rare guitars is the Gretsch White Penguin— perhaps the most uncommon and elusive electric guitar ever made. A mere handful were built, no more than fifty or so from 1958-1962, and the…
20th Anniversary Edition
On April 5, 1967 The Who’s rave up, “Pictures of Lily” was released, and it changed everything in the world of a 16 year old guitarist in Indianapolis, Indiana. Go ahead and cue it up on your phone or PC while we chat –…