If you want to update your bass rig, you can’t go wrong with the new US Series from Ashdown. Great value for money bass cabs hand-built in the USA!
Hand-built at the Ashdown factory in Kentucky, USA, the US Series cabinets combine massive performance with exceptional value for money, and they are ideal for the professional gigging bassist who values quality and reliability above all.
Constructed from locally sourced 3/4″ birch play, cabinets are glued, pinned and screwed for maximum strength and protected by hard wearing black tolex for a life on the road.
The drive units are also made in the US, and feature classic ceramic magnet assemblies and paper cones, and hand wound voice coils.
Available models:
…and the perfect amp head for a US Series cabinet: Ashdown BTA 400 Head (400W Vacuum Tube Head)
When Ashdown made a tube amp head, it was always going to be something very special. The BTA 400 (Big Tube Amp) partners a feature-laden ABM EVO III preamp with a sledgehammer 400W power section comprising of 8 KT88 tubes and massive output transformers. You get a sub-harmonic generator, built-in compressor and classic Ashdown ‘rotary plus slider’ EQ providing 20dB of cut and boost at 60Hz, 660Hz and 5kHz, supplemented by 15dB cut and boost at 180Hz, 340Hz, 1.3kHz and 2.6kHz.
Comprehensive connectivity includes a balanced DI output with pre or post EQ switching, a sub-bass output, a tuner output, an FX loop and a line input, and a 4-way footswitch is included for maximum performance control. Alongside great tone and flexibility, what makes the BTA 400 really special is its reliability. With a chassis suspended on car engine mountings and a circuit design that will even survive running with no speakers connected, this is a tube bass amp head you can depend on.
The Vintage V100 Les Paul-style guitars are quite simply the best deal if you can’t afford a real Gibson. Outstanding value for money, they have the look, the vibe and the sound you’d expect from a real Les Paul. Don’t believe us? Check them out…
Vintage V100 Icon Series Lemon Drop – Inspired by Peter Green’s legendary Gibson Les Paul
There’s only two types of guitarists – those who love their Vintage V100 Les Paul guitars, and those who never played one. We’re yet to hear from guitarists who are disappointed with theirs. Why?
The Vintage V100 guitars are carefully crafted guitars, which many players would tell you match (if not better) the quality of the current Epiphone Les Paul guitars, for instance. They look and sound the part and many guitarists have been posting their loving pics of those amazing guitars, on web forums and other social media sites. The usual opinion is that, if you can’t afford a real Gibson, a Vintage V100 is the next best thing and great value for money!
Vintage V100 Les Paul-style Tobacco Sunburst
Vintage V100 Flamed Top, available in:
Iced tea
Honeyburst
It’s tempting to try to compare the Vintage Les Paul guitars with the Epiphone models, but truth is each company has a very different approach to the Les Paul guitars they make. Vintage concentrate on, erm, “vintage looking” Les Paul guitars, taking their cue from the Les Paul Standard models, including vintage specs such as plastic tulip tuners. Epiphone, on the other hand, at the moment at least, concentrates on making more modern-looking Les Pauls and, in fact, their Les Paul Standard models are not one of their highlights. So, the best Les paul for you may depend on your taste in guitar, really!
One of the coolest models Vintage makes is the V100 Wine Red, which resurrects the 70′s Gibson Les Paul Deluxe, a model that not even Gibson themselves make anymore! With its mini-humbuckers (more or less a cross of humbucker and P-90 sound) and gold hardware, the V100 Wine Red is simply stunning – and looks as good as the Gibson original.
Vintage V100 Wire Red, Les Paul deluxe style
Vintage V100 Gloss Black
Some snobs might disaprove of the Vintage guitars simply because they don’t have the Gibson seal of approval, but the fact is those are great guitars that are good, afordable and are helping keeping the Les Paul-style guitars popular, especially amongst younger guitarists who perhaps can’t afford the real deal. But make no mistake – despite the price tag, those guitars are good enough for the professional gigging guitarists, too!
Vintage V100 Gold Top
Vintage V100 ICON Series Distressed Honeyburst
Also available as Distressed Tobacco Sunburst
As those guitars lovingly photographed by their owners show, to own a Vintage V100 is to be part of a very special group of guitarists: those who bought an amazing guitar for truly bargain price! No wonder they are proud of their guitars!
And by making Les Paul models not available from Gibson or Epiphone (such as the V100 Wine Red Les Paul-deluxe style, the road-worny Distressed ICON Les Paul guitars or the awesome Peter Green Lemon Drop) we can say that Vintage makes the best “non-Les Paul” Les Pauls! Guitars that may not be Les Paul by name, but which certainly have the soul of a true Les Paul!
Looking for a new acoustic guitar? Tanglewood, voted best selling acoustic guitar brand of 2009, has a new ‘Exotic’ range of guitars, now in stock at Dolphin. And for a limited time we’re offering a FREE guitar tuner with them. Don’t miss this great deal!
The guitars part of this offer are:
Tanglewood Exotic Super Jumbo with Fishman Ion EQ System
Tanglewood Exotic Super Folk Acoustic Guitar With Fishman Ion EQ System
Tanglewood Evolution Exotic Acoustic Guitar
Tanglewood Exotic Super Jumbo Acoustic Guitar
The above guitars can be ordered with a FREE Clip On Traffic Light Tuner, which is really cool and very easy to use! When the light is red, it means the guitar is out of tune. When it is gree, the guitar is tuned! Easy!
Example: in tune (left) and out of tune, right.
Stock is limited, so order your Tanglewood ‘exotic finish’ acoustic guitar today!
Sad day for musicians everywhere – Les Paul, one of the world’s most incredible, influential and innovative guitarists & inventors, has passed away. It’s time to pay tribute to the man who gave us the Gibson Les Paul, the multi-track recording and the tape delay – and changed the face of music forever.
Les Paul, R. I. P. 1915 – 2009: The World Lost a Genius
It’s simply impossible to underestimate the importance of Les Paul (Born Lester William Polsfuss in 1915) to the world of music. Even though newer generations might’ve not been totally aware of him or his music, what he’s done has changed the face of music forever, and his influence touched us all. He made the sound of rock and roll possible.
One of the foremost influences on 20th century sound and responsible for the world’s most famous guitar, the Les Paul model, Les Paul’s prestigious career in music and invention spans from the 1930s to the present. Though he’s indisputably one of America’s most popular, influential, and accomplished electric guitarists, Les Paul is best known as an early innovator in the development of the solid body guitar. His groundbreaking design would become the template for Gibson’s best-selling electric, the Les Paul model, introduced in 1952.
Some Gibson Les Paul players: George Harrison (The Beatles), Jimmy Page (Led Zeppelin) and Noel Gallagher (Oasis)
Anyone who ever fell in love with rock music, at some point must have been thrilled by the sound of a Gibson Les Paul, whether they knew it was a Les Paul or not. Iconic guitarists who’ve played a Les Paul include George Harrison (Beatles), Jimmy Page (Led Zeppelin), Noel Gallagher (Oasis), Jeff Beck, Eric Clapton, Bob Marley, John Lennon and many, many more. The Gibson Les Paul guitar is still one of the most desirable musical instrument for many guitarists, and it’s popularity remains undiminished, even many decades after Les Paul designed his first prototype.
In fact, the most popular guitar at Dolphin right now is a Les Paul-style guitar, the Vintage V100 Lemon Drop, which is inspired by the Gibson Les Paul pleayed by Peter Green during his Fleetwood Mac days.
How Les Paul invented the guitar that changed music
Tinkering with electronics and guitar amplification since his youth, Les Paul began constructing his own electric guitar in the late ’30s. Unhappy with the first generation of commercially available hollowbodies because of their thin tone, lack of sustain, and feedback problems, Paul opted to build an entirely new structure. “I was interested in proving that a vibration-free top was the way to go,” he has said. “I even built a guitar out of a railroad rail to prove it. What I wanted was to amplify pure string vibration, without the resonance of the wood getting involved in the sound.”
With the good graces of Epiphone president Epi Stathopoulo, Paul used the Epiphone plant and machinery in 1941 to bring his vision to fruition. He affectionately dubbed the guitar “The Log.”
Mark of genius: from The Log, Les Paul’s first invention (left) to Les Paul-inspired guitars such as the Lemon Drop, the Les Paul invention changed the design of electric guitars.
Though The Log came close to it, it still wasn’t quite what he was after. In the early 1950s, Gibson Guitar would cultivate a partnership with Paul that would lead to the creation of the guitar he’d seen only in his dreams.
Working closely with Paul, Gibson forged a relationship that would change popular culture forever. The Gibson Les Paul model—the most powerful and respected electric guitar in history—began with the 1952 release of the Les Paul Goldtop. After introducing the original Les Paul Goldtop in 1952, Gibson issued the Black Beauty, the mahogany-topped Les Paul Custom, in 1954. The Les Paul Junior (1954) and Special (1955) were also introduced before the canonical Les Paul Standard hit the market in 1958.
With revolutionary humbucker pickups, this sunburst classic has remained unchanged for the half-century since it hit the market.
Les Paul didn’t just invent the iconic guitar – he was actually a gifted guitarist, often listed amongst the best and most influential players ever. In the Les Paul Trio he translated the dizzying runs and unusual harmonies found on Jazz at the Philharmonic into a slower, subtler, more commercial approach. His novelty instrumentals were tighter, brasher, and punctuated with effects. Overall, the trademark Les Paul sound was razor-sharp, clean-shaven, and divinely smooth.
And Les Paul was also one of the most succesful guitarists, too! In the 1950s, he had several hits with his wife Mary Ford, and the duo were bona fide popstars. Through hits, tours, and popular radio shows, Paul and Ford kept one foot in the technological vanguard and the other in the cultural mainstream. When not creating hit songs with his wife or doing radio and TV shows, Les Paul was busy revolutionizing the way people made music.
He experimented with dubbing live tracks over recorded tracks, also altering the playback speed. This resulted in “Lover (When You’re Near Me),” his revolutionary 1947 predecessor to multi-track recording. The hit instrumental featured Les Paul on eight different electric guitar parts, all playing together. To explain this revolutionary new idea, he introduced the fictional “Les Paulverizer” device, which multiplies anything fed into it, like a guitar sound or a voice.
Paul has stated that the idea was to explain to the audience how his single guitar could be “multiplied” into an orchestra. The device even became the subject of comedy, with Ford multiplying herself and her vacuum cleaner with it so he could finish the housework faster. Later Paul claimed to have made the myth real for his stage show, using a small box attached to his guitar, which was really just a stage prop.
He typically pretended to lay down one track after another on stage, in-sync, and then play over the repeating forms he had recorded. Today, such a thing is not just possible but common, thanks to FX pedals such as the Akai Headrush, which simply updates Les Paul’s visionary concept.
Les Paul & the multi-track recording technique
Paul acquired a first generation Ampex tape recorder from Crosby in 1949, and began his most important multi-tracking adventure, adding a fourth head to the recorder to create sound-on-sound recordings. While tinkering with the machine and its many possibilities, he also came up with tape delay. These tricks, along with another recent Les Paul innovation—close mic-ing vocals—were integrated for the first time on a single recording: the 1950 No. 1 tour de force “How High the Moon.”
Tributes to the Legend
When Les Paul passed away on 13th August, from complications of severe pneumonia at White Plains Hospital in White Plains, New York, he was surrounded by family and loved ones. According to the Gibson website, he had been receiving the best available treatment through this final battle and in keeping with his persona, he showed incredible strength, tenacity and courage.
Up until very recently, Les Paul could still be seen performing weekly at a jazz club in New York. In 2008, The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame paid tribute to Les Paul in a week-long celebration of the life of this Grammy-award winner musician. Les Paul has since become the only individual to share membership into the Grammy Hall of Fame, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, the National Inventors Hall of Fame, and the National Broadcasters Hall of Fame.
Les Paul will be sadly missed, and many musicians have already paid their tributes to this musical giant:
Slash said, “Les Paul was a shining example of how full one’s life can be, he was so vibrant and full of positive energy. I’m honored and humbled to have known and played with him over the years, he was an exceptionally brilliant man.”
Joe Satriani said, “Les Paul set a standard for musicianship and innovation that remains unsurpassed. He was the original guitar hero, and the kindest of souls. Last October I joined him onstage at The Iridium club in NYC, and he was still shredding. He was and still is an inspiration to us all.”
Joan Jett said, “I, and everyone at Blackheart Records, mourn the passing of our dear friend, Les Paul. He was a genius inventor, musical innovator, and a wonderful person. Without the advances he pioneered, the recording sciences and the electric guitar would have been left years behind. I will miss him so much.”
Joe Perry said, “As a guitarist and a fan of music in general, I know the amazing contributions Les Paul made in his lifetime to the art of making music. I think if the general public knew how much of that influence is heard every day in the music that they listen to, they would be amazed. He was a true genius. The few times that I had met him, he made me feel like I had known him forever. He was always sharp, ready to rock and he was always talking about his next gig. Knowing that he is not walking the earth anymore is sad and I have lost a friend. But every time I pick up a guitar I’ll know that his spirit is alive and well right next to me. “
For more tributes and complete information about Les Paul’s life and career, please visit the official Gibson website.
Line 6 has once again expanded their range of Spider amps. The new SPIDER IV amps come packed with exciting new features, and you can order all of them now, from Dolphin Music!
Line 6, the industry leader in digital modeling technology for music creation products, announced today the launch of Spider IV, the company’s latest line of modeling amplifiers for guitarists. The new amplifier line includes many fresh features, innovations and updated highlights from its best-selling and award-winning predecessor, Spider III.
“Spider IV amplifiers are feature-packed with new artist-created presets and amp models, gorgeous new effects, FBV™ foot controller compatibility, and so much more,” remarks Aaron Suplizio, product marketing manager, Line 6. “These amplifiers are perfect for guitarists who want artist-quality tones and effects, and complete versatility at a great value.”
The new amplifier line is well-rounded with five flexible combos and a powerful head. The four flagship amplifiers, which includes the SPIDER IV 75, SPIDER IV 120, and SPIDER IV 150 combos and the SPIDER IV HD 150 Head, feature over 350 new and re-mastered artist-created and song-based presets professionally dialed in by many world-famous guitarists. The presets range from jangly cleans and scorching distortions to swirly, effect-laden tones, and they provide guitarists of all styles with access to the tones of their heroes.
These amplifiers also come complete with 16 rich-sounding amp models and 20 brilliant on-board Smart FX. The amp models, inspired by the most celebrated modern and vintage guitar amplifiers from both sides of the Atlantic, provide the next generation in Line 6 amp tone. The on-board effects provide players with a complete palette of colors and textures, including a collection of beautiful delays, echoes and mods, a dedicated reverb, a brand-new and astonishingly responsive intelligent pitch-shifter, a built-in looper, and more. Four effects can be used simultaneously and edited completely to create the perfect sonic landscape.
The 15-watt Spider IV combo features four amp models and six Smart FX (two effects simultaneously); the 30-watt Spider IV combo features 12 amp models and seven Smart FX (three effects simultaneously).
Each Spider IV preset, amp model and effect exceeds the renowned Line 6 standard of sound quality. Every aspect of the tone, from the guitar input to the three-quarter closed-back cabinet and Celestion® speakers, delivers exceptional definition, clarity and feel.
Spider IV amplifiers can dramatically expand their sonic capabilities with the addition of a Line 6 foot controller, including FBV Shortboard™ MkII, FBV Express™ MkII and FBV2™. These powerful and durable foot controllers can deliver everything from wah-wah, pitch-shift and volume control, to tap tempo, a chromatic tuner display and simple channel switching.
Providing all the conveniences that guitarists expect from Line 6 amplifiers, Spider IV amplifiers feature a built-in tuner, a CD/MP3 input, a three-band EQ and a headphone output that doubles as a high-quality direct-recording output.
Guitarist Bill Ruppert developed a new You Tube series where he shows how to produce “impossible” sounds using just a regular guitar and EHX effect pedals. He proves that, with some imagination, you can really nail any sound with the standard EHX pedals! Amazing…
On the latest episode, Bill recreates the classic synth sound of Kraftwerk’s Autobahn. Check it out!
This is the perfect companion to your new MoFo head. Check it out…shamone, mofo!
Small and perfectly formed, the new MoFo speaker cab is the ideal choice if you already have the MoFo head. With both, what you’ll have is a compact and affordable rig, to take on tour or play at home!
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