The Guitar Channel - Passion Amplifier

In search of a Les Paul to equip the showroom to have this reference sound in the arsenal available to visitors and for testing gear, The Guitar Channel had the opportunity to test this 2007 Gibson Les Paul Faded at length kindly lent by a member of the network (thank you Sebastien!). This guitar has the double peculiarity that it is largely chambered (which makes it a rather light Les Paul at 3.4Kg) and that it was modified by Larry Corsa (www.corsaguitars.com) to get the famous sound Peter Green. Larry Corsa mods Larry Corsa (www.corsaguitars.com) prides himself on how to modify a Les Paul to bring it as close as possible to the sound of Peter Green's famous Les Paul Burst aka "Greeny" which belonged to Gary Moore and who is now in Kirk Hammet (Metallica) collection. These changes consist in almost changing all the hardware of the guitar including electronics and sometimes the pickups too. This is not the case in this guitar that has the original Gibson Burstbucker Pro pickups. Larry Corsa's original photo gallery of this guitar: http://cvguitars.com/PGMod/LCPG-56/index.html The main modification is to invert the magnetic polarity of the neck pickup to allow this sound so characteristic when both pickups are engaged in the middle position. Note that to make this inversion polarity it is necessary to dismantle the pickup to rotate the magnet and not just rotate the pickup itself 180 degrees as is often believed. In fact, if you only rotate the microphone will not change at all the sound in the intermediate position. I checked this point with Larry Corsa by mail when I got the guitar since his former owner had put the neck pickup in the standard position rather than in the "Peter GReen" position as you can see in the the photos made by Larry. To find out more about Peter Green's original Les Paul Burst and what makes it special, I refer you to this excellent 2011 Premier Guitar article. Review setup * Sound path: guitar > cable > amp * Amp: 100% solide stat high-end Jim 81 Heptode amp * Post prod: Reverb Average Room 20% added in Final Cut Pro, level normalization 2007 Les Paul Faded Gibson Larry Corsa modded review Podcast The audio version of the review is available in the podcast on iTunes, Spotify and below: Photo Album X-rayed Les Paul Here's a rare couple of pictures of an X-rayed Les Paul where you can see that most of the Mahogany body of the instrument has been chambered. What I enjoyed the most * The sounds in the 3 positions * The out-of-phase Peter Green sound * The tuning stability * Lightweight guitar (around 3kg) * The timeless class of the Les Paul What I enjoyed the least * The sharp edges of the body of the Les Paul ... Conclusion Probably the hardcore fans of the Les Paul will cringe at seeing the X-ray photos of this Faded Les Paul that highlights that a large part of the body is hollowed out. Personally, chambered or not, I judge only by the sound and this guitar sounds very very well. Plus, I can' stand to have guitars with a weight of 4.5Kg or more than 5Kg,

The Krautster II model from Nik Huber is a clearly inspired from the Les Paul. Made in Germany in the workshop of luthier Nik Huber (often interviewed on The Guitar Channel), the guitar reviewed below was lent to me by Gilles, a member of The Guitar Channel network (1000 thanks!). Setup configuration * Amp: Kelt V-Twin * Pedal: Satchurator Vox * Sound: SM58 * Reverb: 20% Average Room added in Final Cut Pro Video - Nik Huber Krautster II The Guitar Channel podcast The audio version of the video is available in the podcast on iTunes, Spotify and below: Until the next gear review or interview, keep on playing the guitar! Pierre Journel.

Joe Satriani is a regular at the festival Guitare en Scène because it is the 3rd time he plays it. It was for The Guitar Channel the opportunity to do a video interview just after the soundcheck of the evening concert. Note that the American guitarist played with his usual band consisting of Mike Keneally on keyboards and guitar and Bryan Beller on bass. But Joe came to Saint-Julien-en Genevois with some friends since he was joined on stage by Uli Jon Roth and Doug Alrich (who was also his opening act part with his band The Dead Daisies). So it was a summer version of the G3 that was on the program. Subjects covered in the interview * His impression coming out of the soundcheck * Play a festival compared to a normal concert * The specificities of the G3 concept * The exposure of young guitarists * Evolution of a song over time * His creative approach for each new album Joe Satriani interview Podcast The audio version of the interview is available in the podcast on iTunes, Spotify and below: Until the next interview, keep on playing the guitar! Pierre Journel.

In general the exercise of the press conference is not very interesting because the format is very rigid and the answers just as framed. And yet, not being able to interview Ben Harper directly during the 2018 edition of the Montreal Jazz Festival, I went without great expectations to this event and it was an excellent moment that I propose you to revive in full below. Ben Harper press conference Podcast Audio version of the interview available in the podcast on iTunes, Spotify and below: Until the next interview, keep on playing the guitar! Pierre Journel.

Shawn Cho is one of the CEO of Vola Guitar. He came all the way from Korea to present the Made in Japan instruments built by Vola Guitar while he was visiting our showroom in Paris. During the last Winter NAMM I had the opportunity to take a look at the full range of guitars at the Vola Guitar booth, that's why I was curious to learn more about the brand which is currently launching its products in Europe. Shawn Cho interview - Vola Guitar CEO The Guitar Channel podcast The audio version of the video is available in the podcast on iTunes, Spotify and below: Want to test a Vola Guitar in Paris, France? Some Vola guitares are available to test at The Guitar Channel showroom. Contact the Judge Fredd to make an appointment to come and try it in Paris. Do you like to test beautiful guitar gear? Join the club! lachaineguitare.com/showroom Vola Guitar - OZ model Here's a very nice super Strat style guitar with an excellent quality/price ratio at around 1 400€. Vola Guitar - Vasti model Into Telecaster style guitar? Here's Vola Guitar take on that legendary model. Note that the bridge pickup has a coil-tap kind of function which gives you an additional passive boost when you pull on the volume pot. Until the next interview, keep on playing the guitar! Pierre Journel.

Charles Janssen is the luthier for Schwung Guitars (www.schwung-guitars.com), he is based in The Hague, Netherlands. We first met via Facebook and then in Berlin at the Holy Grail Guitar Show where he was present as a visitor. Charles came to the showroom in Paris with nothing less than six of his instruments to present his work. As he plays pretty well the guitar, we did a Guitar in Hand interview and we also took the opportunity to record some sounds so you can have a real taste of his guitars.   Charles Janssen luthier interview - Schwung Guitars The Guitar Channel podcast The audio version of the video is available in the podcast on iTunes, Spotify and below: Until the next interview, keep on playing the guitar! Pierre Journel.

At the 2018 Holy Grail Guitar Show, I had the opportunity to do an interview with Andy Manson, a legendary luthier who worked for Led Zeppelin's bassist John Paul Jones. In this in-depth interview I revisit with him his career. I have to say it was an honor and a true pleasure to interview this gentleman  of the guitar. www.andymanson.com Andy Manson interview Podcast with Andy Manson Audio version of the interview available in the podcast on iTunes, Spotify and below: Andy Manson guitars photo album Andy's table at the 2018 Holy Grail guitar show: The guitar presented in the interview: Until the next interview, keep on playing the guitar! Pierre Journel.

One of the novelties of the 2018 edition of the Holy Grail Guitar Show was the presentation by the Finnish luthier Juha Ruokangas of a new guitar model, the Emma Maria archtop, named after his wife. Here is an interview to know everything about what led this luthier to develop this new instrument in a category he never worked on before. www.ruokangas.com Juha Ruokangas interview - Emma Maria archtop Special message from Juha Ruokangas The Guitar Channel podcast The audio version of the video is available in the podcast on iTunes, Spotify and below: Until the next interview, keep on playing the guitar! Pierre Journel.

Last year in September was the debut edition of the Guitar Summit, a great show dedicated to all things related the six string world. From big brands to small builders, from electric guitar to acoustic, from amps to pedals and accessories, with demo concerts and masterclasses, it was all there and superbly organized. The 2018 Guitar Summit is doing it again this year! www.guitarsummit.de In this year 2018, the Guitar Summit will be held again in Mannheim, from September 7th to 9th. The Guitar Channel met Stephan Killermann, one of the key people in the organization, to conduct the interview below to learn everything about this 2nd edition. Stephan Killermann interview - 2018 Guitar Summit Podcast Audio version of the interview available in the podcast on iTunes, Spotify and below: Come to Mannheim! If you are passionate about guitar, come to the Guitar Summit because it is a 100% guitar event I am sure you will thoroughly enjoy it. If you are a luthier, craftsman or brand of guitar products, and you want to develop your presence in Europe, then the Guitar Summit is probably a great option that I warmly recommend. This year again The Guitar Channel will be present in Mannheim with a booth to meet the guitarists and record some interviews. Until the next interview, keep on playing the guitar! Pierre Journel.

David Wallimann is a long time online friend who is an important Youtube guitar teacher with more than 110k subscribers on his YouTube channel. We almost met during the last NAMM but he couldn't make it at the last minute so we decided to do this Skype interview to talk about our respective projects built on our favorite instrument. www.youtube.com/Wallimann www.guitarinfusion.com David Wallimann interview Podcast Audio version of the interview available in the podcast and below: Until the next interview, keep on playing the guitar! Pierre Journel.

Jack and Joe Napoli are the two brothers behind the American boutique pedal builder Analog Alien. They were exhibiting as usual at the Winter NAMM, a perfect opportunity to catch up with them and get a few stories from them, straight from the show floor. www.analogalien.com Napoli brothers interview - Analog Alien Analog Alien is a pro partner on The Guitar Channel Photo album The 2018 Analog Alien NAMM booth: Always a lot of people on the booth: The Power Pack is a booster pedal which was just launched at NAMM: Podcast Audio version of the interview available in the podcast and below: Until the next interview, keep on playing the guitar! Pierre Journel.

One of the great novelties of the NAMM 2018 was the great announcement of Taylor Guitars, the new V-Class bracing system developed by Andy Powers, the master builder of the Californian manufacturer. The Guitar Channel went to meet the luthier to know everything! Andy Powers interview Podcast Audio version of the interview available in the podcast and below: Until the next interview, keep on playing the guitar! Pierre Journel.

Bruno Pelletier-Bacquaert is the official Jazz consultant for The Guitar Channel. It was via his intermediary that I was able to conduct interviews with jazz greats such as Gilad Hekselman, Jonathan Kreisberg, Nir Felder and Mike Moreno. Bruno was in Paris for a few days before returning to San Francisco where he usually resides for his work as a music teacher at the university and for his private lessons. www.brunojazz.com Bruno Pelletier-Bacquaert interview Podcast Audio version of the interview available in the podcast and below: Bruno's playlists on YouTube Subscribe to Bruno's YouTube channel The vlog (blog in video in case you are wondering) videos: The "Play With Me" videos: Until the next interview, keep on playing the guitar! Pierre Journel.

Adriano Sergio is one of the luthiers who was part of the NAMM 2018 Boutique Guitar Showcase. Jamie Gale's Boutique Guitar Showcase was an entire section of the show floor where you could find high end luthiers from around the world. Previously interviewed in 2015 at the Holy Grail Guitar Show in Berlin, here is a new interview under the California sun. Facebook group mentioned by Adriano in the interview: Picks Collector Against Cancer Adriano Sergio interview Podcast Audio version of the interview available in the podcast and below: Until the next interview, keep on playing the guitar! Pierre Journel.

Tommy Emmanuel is one of the greats of the guitar at the moment and not only in the Fingerstyle domain. The Guitar Channels proposes you for the 3rd time an interview with the Australian maestro for a Guitar-in-Hand video. His album Accomplice One, which will be released in January 2018, is excellent with incredible duets without ever forgetting an emotion present in all the pieces. Tommy Emmanuel interview - Guitar in hand in Paris Podcast - Tommy Emmanuel interview Audio version of the interview available in the podcast and below: Until the next interview, keep on playing the guitar! Pierre Journel.