BLS-59 Bacchus "Live Road" into a North Effects 22/7 Violet Ram Fuzz

This is a short video of my favorite Bacchus LP with a North Effects 22/7 Violet Ram. 

Recently someone lent me a Z-Vex Fuzz Factory.  It is a pretty involved unit with lots of possibilities and gave me a good taste of what a real fuzz can be. I owned a Danelectro Cool Cat fuzz for a couple of years but never managed to get anything fat and musically pleasing out of it - I suppose you do get what you pay for sometimes. 

After the Fuzz Factory experience I started looking for something to meet my new FUZZ needs. After a few failed attempts at Yahoo Auctions to get a Noah's Ark Purple FUZZ I spied this unpainted "22/7" unit on Yahoo Japan. After a quick trip to the North Effect's website I threw in a bid and landed it for around $50 total. After I got it in my hands and I plugged it in the LED worked but I had no output. Fortunately, after I opened it up and monkeyed around inside it came to life. It was probably just a loose wire or a temporary short. 

This one seems to work well at around 2 o'clock on all the knobs. This video is one improvised take using a Zoom Q4 with all of the flagrantly crappy bits edited out or course. Excuse the repetitive pentatonic playing. I really need to use some backing tracks for rhythm.

In any case, the Violet Ram is highly recommended.




From the North Effects page for the "22/7 Violet Ram (http://north-effects.co.uk/violet)":

The History

What has become known amongst Muff connoisseurs as the "Violet Ram's Head" was a variant of the early 70s V2 Muff that typically had unusual violet graphics rather than the more common red, and a distinctly different set of components to those associated with the more common red Ram (to make matters especially confusing, there are a few red-graphic Rams out there that sport the same or very similar components and sonic qualities as the violet ones - esp. David Gilmour's red Ram). Apparently produced for a period during 1975, it is one of the more rare and desirable Muffs and tend to go for big money.

The 22/7 Violet

Produced from a tracing of an outstanding sounding original pedal of '75 vintage, the 22/7 take features a set of carefully selected NOS 2N5133 transistors and metal film coupling capacitors, just like the real thing. It also features North's usual high build quality and brand-name components (Neutrik jacks/Alpha pots and quality 3PDT footswitch), true bypass switching and a standard 2.1mm 9V DC jack (battery power is also there for the purists). Oh, and that's a superbright blue LED on there.

The Sound

The fabled "violet sound" falls somewhere between the "regular" Ram's Head and the earlier Triangle, combining the high gain of the former with a touch more mid-range and finesse that's commonly associated with the latter. In short, it has a deserved reputation for being a good all-rounder. Major Muff-head and massive Pink Floyd fan, Kit Rae, reckons that the violet comes closest to David Gilmour's mid-late 70s Ram sound (note: please don't ask me about specific Floyd stuff, my knowledge of them extends only to an old cassette of Relics, and I can only refer you to Mr. Rae's excellent writings on the subject).

Momose Guitars - Demo Videos

Here are a couple of videos of Momose guitars previously for sale by Brusheight.

The demos are by Kazunori Koga (webpage at http://kazu335.com/).

Great playing and well-made demo videos. Best thing is there is no talking!

Mystery 1982 Greco Flying V

I saw this one up for auction last night and threw in a low bid. 1982 Grecos are always a good bet. I had a Bacchus V that I should never have sold but we all do stupid things from time to time.

I should have this in a week or so but in the meantime here are a few pictures of this one. It has a mirrored truss rod cover and pickguard along with '68 style radio knobs. Made by Fujigen in December 1982. That is all I know about it.

December 1982

Mirrored pickguard

Mirrored truss rod cover

1982 Mint Collection Specs

The only flying V in the 1982 catalog is quite different and I don't recall noticing any for sale. There are however lots of the Michael Schenker models out there.

From the model name the FV64-80 would be based on a 1964 Gibson flying V. A short Internet search seems to confirm that there were actually no 1964 Gibson Flying V models but I guess that may not have been well-known in 1982.  The Greco model came with Double Trick pickups, long tenon (pretty much a necessity for a V!) and had shell dot position markers. The knobs are the early-60's style black reflectors. The guitars were finished in poly and came in white or Maroon red.

From 1982 Mint Collection Catalog

It has a 14 degree head angle and the nut width is only 40 mm so they were based on the late 60's Gibsons.

In honour of the mighty V and Greco here are some videos from Youtube.

1980 Greco V. Probably has U-1000 or U-2000 pickups.

A more serious side of the V.


Some guy trying to play some Freddie King. Looks like it didn't go over so well.


No problem playing the blues for that other King, Albert and his guitar Lucy.

Crews MANIAC SOUND and K&T Pickups

What about these CREWS MANIAC SOUND Les Pauls?

They are made in Japan and as far as I can tell and based on information from people at KEY Musicland the LPs at least have been made by Terada and Deviser (Bacchus). The list prices range from 98,000 yen to 520,000 yen for this brand.

Here are a couple of links to a video demos of Crews LPS. Enjoy!

First video:
From the youtube explanation: 

The first one is the KTR-LS01 with standard KTR (non-handwound) pickups. The guitar is made by Deviser and has a 2-piece African mahogany body, 1-piece African mahogany neck. 

The second one is a LTR LTD with K&T "Not For Sale" NFS Pickups. Gain is lower compared to the LS-01 pickups with extremely good definition. Guitar is Terada-made and has a 1-piece body, nitro finish, African mahogany back with South American mahogany neck. Asian rosewood board air-dried for 30 years.

Third is a Terada-made KTR STD. Very-low tension K&T NFS handwound pickups. More complex sound. 

Second Video:
From the youtube explanation: 

First is a KTR STD. Nitro finish with South American mahogany neck and African mahogany body. Very-low tension K&T NFS handwound pickups. Fat sound with good depth. 

The second one is a Terada-made KTR 59J. Brazilian fretboard. Sound has definition but with the maple top has a stickiness" to it. (粘り in Japanese). This has a set of first-lot "Not For Sale" NFS Pickups. 

The third guitar is another Terada-made KTR 59J but with a set of first-lot VL-wind "Not For Sale" NFS Pickups. Again, Terada-made guitar.

Last guitar is a Terada-made LED Premium with NOS TOPS K&T pickups which use NOS-wire. The guitar has a Honduran mahogany neck/back and Brazilian fretboard. Slightly relaxed tone with some compression.

From the past #3: Super Real EGF-1200 Sunburst Lady x 2

The "Sunburst Lady."

They are nice enough looking guitars, but what is the big deal? Looking at the specs they have veneer tops and and often had 2 or 3 piece backs. But what about those it Dry-Zs or Brazilian boards?

I have had a couple of these and played another couple of examples and from my experience these are among the most sought out of the Japanese replicas for good reason.

One factor is the exceptional craftsmanship. With the start of CNC-based production during 1981,  the 1980-1981 Greco run by Fujigen was the end of the handmade era. Fujigen had lots of experienced craftsmen by this time and spent a lot of time and effort on the premium Greco guitars.

The Dry-Z development is a separate story of it's own involving Jun Takano of current K&T pickup company.

The luthiers must have had the run of the woodpile at Fujigen because each of the ones I have had was a very resonant and responsive guitar. I am sure wood selection for tonal properties had at least a bit to do with that.

These days they seem to sell from $2250 to over $3000 depending on where they are and the condition. I think they will only continue to appreciate over the years as more people learn about Fujigen, Grecos and the golden age of Japanese guitars.

Here are some videos (first is one of the 2 I owned) and a bunch of pictures to enjoy.

Orville by Gibson vs EGF-1200

EGF-1200 through a vintage Selmer amp

Magazine advertisement from 1980.

Brazilian rosewood with mother of peal inlays. Note the vintage-size frets.

1980 headstock. Note the fat MOP "Greco" inlay

Busy flame-maple veneer

Two-piece back on this 1980

Double-cobb tuners seen on some EGF-1200s

Gentle top curve

Top carve detail

Plastic shades look pretty good

Almost looks like a faded cherryburst here

Dry-Z pickups - $400 and up these days for a pair

Medium tenon with black shielding paint in the cavities

In the original "Super Real" Lifton imitation case

1981 headstock with the thinner "Greco" inlay

Some 80's Japanese band endorsing Greco  

Fat Guitar - Burst and 335 Clones

Have a listen to these replicas.  Not sure of who made them but is says on the Fat Guitars site tat they were made by an overseas luthier. I think the videos have has some tasty playing through nice amps and is well-recorded. Check out his other videos for some interesting and tasty guitars.

Link here to Fat Guitars with some more close up pictures of the burst. It was selling for 389,000 yen which is a bit under $4k US. It is sold out though (I checked!)

Link to the 335 here.

Navigator in the House

This arrived a couple of weeks back and has me rethinking the need to try out any further examples of the Les Paul standard model.

I bought it as shown below - no pickguard and an open Seymour Duncan JB in the bridge. Thankfully it came with the original Seth Lover bridge pickup.  It also came with black speed knobs which came off too fast to bother with taking any pictures.

The current model is the N-LP-STD which has basically the same specs as this one. There are also many custom order Navigators out there and special runs that have options such as Brazilian rosewood fretboards and cashew lacquer finishes so you never really know if a Navigator is "off the shelf" or was a custom order. With this one I am pretty sure it is a straight N-LP-380 with a nice top. The headstock serial starts with a 1 so it should be a 2001 model.

The guitar only weighs 3.9 kg and has a great neck profile with thickness but smaller shoulders. The Seth Lovers match this guitar perfectly.

Not much else to do but add some pictures.

From the ESP site:

From the ESP Website: http://www.espguitars.co.jp/navigator/nlpstd.htm

I was able to find a used ESP brown case on Yahoo auctions and a set of Montreux relic pickup rings. After the new rings, knobs and fitting a pickguard it looks like this:

The neck has a maple plug in the truss rod channel like the old bursts

Nice fretboard and inlay work.

Honduran mahogany back, The cherry finish is light and is a good match of what you see on vintage bursts.

Sitting in the case.