In addition to the release of their new micro stack, Krank has also released a new overdrive pedal. From the Krank website Krank says:

Designed for those guitarists who like to add that extra gain to their amps or simply want a classic overdriven tone for their clean channel, the Krankshaft delivers. Featuring a heavy-duty chassis and true bypass circuitry, the Krankshaft can help you achieve screaming leads or smooth country rock-blues tones.

I cant say that I see anything specifically special about this pedal, but the Krank fanboys out there will probably love it. The only feature information I could find was that it has true bypass and a heavy duty chassis. It’s a simple pedal that has only three controls including output, tone, and gain. There is a true bypass switch and thats about it.

Online retailers are listing the unit at $129USD and it should be available for purchase by tomorrow.

Krank showed off their new micro versions of the Rev 1 heads and amps at this years NAMM. Well they have gone retail this month and you should be able to pick one up at your local or online Krank retailer soon. The Krank Rev Jr. 20W Full Stack Guitar Amp is based on the Rev 1 line, but obviously the focus is on putting it into a smaller package.

Marshall also has two micro stacks, the MG15MSII and a Zakk Wylde branded one that was released this year, the MG15MSZW. The major difference between Marshall’s micro stack and Krank’s is Krank’s setup comes with a tube head (and the associated price tag) and Marshall’s is all solid state.

Information is still a little scarce and I was unable to find an actual hands on review for this product, but I do have a few specs. The Krank Rev Jr. is a 20 watt micro amp available as either a full stack or half stack. The unit is essentially the exact same as the full size Rev, but is meant for people who dont want to pay the full price because they aren’t going to use all that power. The head is all tube, has 2 channels, a boost switch, and an active tube-driven effects loop. If you get the full stack it comes with two 1×12 speakers, the half stack comes with one. The cabs are made out of solid poplar wood and come with the signature Krank metal grill.

Online stores are listing the price as $899USD for the full stack and $699USD for the half. It’s a pretty steep price, but remember it’s a tube amp, and it’s Krank.

If I get any more information from Krank or if I find a hands on review, I’ll post that as well.

Line 6 has released an entry level option in their POD line of modeling units. The Pocket POD is about the size of a digital guitar tuner and runs off of either 4 AAA batteries or an optional (sold seperately) AC adapter.

On their official website Line 6 states that “Pocket POD® exhibits all the celebrated features and pro tone that makes POD a standard in recording studios everywhere”. I’m obviously skeptical of that statement since why would the release a lower end version if it has all the same features. So I decided to take a closer look.

Comparing the Pocket POD and the POD 2.0
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Has anyone else seen this commercial for the new Dodge Avenger and does anyone else want to smash their tv every time they see it? no? oh…

Why does Matt hate it so much you ask? Well it’s simple. I’m going to forget the fact that it essentially looks like the QA guy is “grinding the gears” on these 3 cars and skip to the point. As he’s going along with his tests he does something we have all done as guitarists, he is working on something and stumbles upon a familiar riff. In this case it happens to be Smoke on the Water by Deep Purple. The riff is simple, it has three chords. The guy has 3 cars that happen to be growling at G, A#, and C respectively. So he starts playing the song triggering each car in the order of the chords in the song. Ok, so here is my beef. He plays cars 1-2-3 and then 1-2-3-3. It’s like he did an up-strum on the last chord. Didja see that? It should be 1-2-3 1-2-3-2! Am I the only one who noticed this? Every time… pisses me off… yeah it sounds right because it’s just dubbed, but it’s musically wrong. Didn’t anybody on the set catch that?

Anyway, thanks for putting up with my little rant.

I just got an email from Justin Baker who let me know that he won the custom Gears of War ESP guitar and Xbox360 from the contest that I posted about on on April 28th. In the contest hopeful winners needed to send ESP a picture of themselves air-fragging on their new Xbox.

Justin was kind enough to send me a picture of him and his prize. You can also look below to see Justin’s winning pose. If you want to see all of the entries you can visit the contest page on the ESP website.

The Prize

The Winning Entry

Justin came out of it with a brand new ESP LTD Standard AX-50 guitar and an Xbox360 shipped to him at his home in Canada.

Thanks for the tip Justin and congrats on your win!

First off - Damn, Cary at EGR is fast. He has already posted an article about Gibson’s Les Paul ‘59 USB Drive giveaway.

Second - How is it possible that I didn’t know that Gibson had a mini Les Paul that was a flash drive and came with it’s own little case? I’m the biggest geek I know. Well - maybe not, but I AM the biggest gadget whore I know. I’m just checking out the Gibson website and they have a few geeky products I didn’t know about. For example CD-Rs and DVD-Rs that come in a fancy tin case and 500GB external hard drives that glow blue Gibson logos.

Anyway, Gibson is giving one of these flash drives away this month. I would enter the contest to win one, but once again it’s only open to yanks. So all you Americans, can visit the Gibson website to try and win yourself one of these bad boys.

The drive is a 1GB flash. It’s a ‘59 Les Paul replica (Sorry no Relic versions available). It’s USB 2.0, comes with the cable and a tiny guitar case. As of now I cant seem to find anywhere online to buy one, but I’ll be keeping my eyes out.

Good Luck!

Dean was one of the first, if not the first guitar company to use gorgeous models holding guitars as advertisements. Many companies have copied this advertising method. Thanks Dean! I can see the difference!