DC-60 Junior – Kitarablogi.com – Finland's premier Guitar and Bass blog

When I started getting interested in electric guitars I first gravitated towards Jazz boxes, for some strange reason. I was ten years old, and a Beatles and Stevie Wonder fan, but the most beautiful guitar guitar to me was the Ibanez George Benson model.

Embed from Getty Images

In the mid-Seventies I got into Paul McCartney’s post-Beatles band Wings. Their fabulous lead guitarist Jimmy McCulloch was my first Gibson SG ”hero”. Great bluesy playing style coupled with a fat tone.

But along came Punk (not my cup of tea), as well as New Wave and Synthpop, which were all genres that veered more towards the wiry tones of Teles and Strats.

I got into a band, but as singer and bassist, so my first ”proper” instrument was a Squier Jazz Bass. My first electric guitar was an inexpensive Aria, a black Strat-style instrument with a then-fashionable spiky ”hockey stick” headstock.

Over the years I found out that I’m more of a two-pickup or single-pickup guitarist. I got into Telecasters, Les Pauls Standards and Juniors. The few times SGs crossed my path, I found them a little uncomfortable to wear and cumbersome to use.

About fifteen years ago two players made me reconsider my attitude towards SG-style guitars.

Embed from Getty Images

A friend of mine invited me to watch the full DVD-version of the Woodstock Festival (1969), as well as The Who documentary ”The Kids Are Alright”. I was mesmerized by the energy and fat tones that Carlos Santana and Pete Townshend got from their 1960s Gibson SG Specials. I was already a P-90s fan, but the combination of this big-sounding single coil pickup and an SG somehow seemed to make a lot of sense.

Since then I have been fascinated by SG-style guitars. Yes, they can be a little more temperamental than, say, a Les Paul, and sometimes the long neck causes issues with dead notes – especially around the 12th fret on the D- and g-strings – but I still love their look, feel and sound. For me it was an acquired taste at first, but now my go-to guitars, especially for live work, are Teles and SGs.

Here are some SG-related videos from the Kitarablogi channel:

****

Testijuttu on nyt luettavissa TÄÄLLÄ.

Here’s a short demo song featuring the Positive Grid Spark Mini practice amp (10 W modelling amp). The track is based on the Beatles classic ”Dear Prudence”.
• All guitar tracks were recorded with the Spark Mini amp and a Shure SM7B microphone.
• Guitars used: Harley Benton DC-60 Junior & Fender (Japan) 50s Stratocaster Reissue.
• Audio interface: Universal Audio Volt 2
Find out more about the Spark Mini HERE.
****
Rockway-testi tulossa.

Finnish company Uraltone ran a DIY pedal workshop at this year’s Tonefest Helsinki, where you could assemble this overdrive/distortion pedal kit.
The three-way mini-switch gives you regular distortion, slightly overdriven boost, and distortion with asymmetrical clipping.
All guitar tracks recorded using the Uraltone Tonefest Overdrive Plus pedal:
• main rhythm guitar (centre): Harley Benton DC-60 Junior; Juketone Trueblood
• rhythm guitar (left): Harley Benton DC-60 Junior; Bluetone Black Prince Reverb
• rhythm guitar (right): Squier Sonic Mustang SS; Bluetone Black Prince Reverb
• lead guitar: Jackson JS32 Dinky; Vox V845 wah; Bluetone Black Prince Reverb
• microphone: Shure SM7B

I thought it would be fun to do a direct comparison between these two fuzz pedals by Uraltone.
In the first half of the video I play the guitar with the volume control backed off to about 7.5 of 10. For the second part of the video I turned my guitar up to full volume.
The UralKit Ge Rouhi used here isn’t the regular version, but rather the Helsinki Tonefest 2023 special edition that I assembled at the guitar show.
****
• Guitar used: Harley Benton DC-60 Junior
• Amp used: Bluetone Black Prince Reverb
• Mic used: Shure SM57
• Preamp used: Cranborne Audio Camden EC2
• Interface used: Universal Audio Volt 2
• The Squier (Japan) Jazz bass was recorded using the Cranborne preamp

UralKit Germanium Rouhi

UralKit FF Si

Here’s a short demo of the UralKit GE Rouhi that I made at the Tonefest 2023 workshop.
• guitar used: Harley Benton DC-60 Junior
• wah-wah used: mid-90s Ibanez WH10
• amp used: Bluetone Black Prince Reverb
• mic used: Shure SM7B
• interface used: Universal Audio Volt2
Check out Uraltone’s effect kits here: https://uraltone.com/rakennussarjat/pedaalirakennussarjat.html

Finnish company Uraltone held a fuzz-building workshop at Tonefest 2023 in Helsinki. You could assemble and solder your own germanium fuzz, without any prior knowledge required.

Uraltone piti oivan fuzz-pedaalin rakentelupajan Tonefest 2023 -tapahtumassa Helsingissä. Osallistujat saivat jokainen koota oman germanium-pohjaisen fuzzin, myös täysin ilman aiempaa kokemusta.

Testiin pääset TÄÄLTÄ.

I wrote this tune when I was 16 years old as an orchestra piece for our school orchestra (I was playing the double bass).
Here’s an arrangement slightly reminiscent of some of Mike Oldfield’s folky instrumental tunes.
• Guitar used: Harley Benton DC-60 Junior
• Amp used: Bluetone Shadows Jr
• Mic used: Shure SM57
• Preamp: Cranborne Audio Camden EC2
• Audio interface: Universal Audio Volt 2

• Demobiisi äänitetty tehdaskielillä ja tehdassäädöillä.
• Efektejä: Joyo Analog Chorus, Mad Professor Simble OD, EHX Nano Big Muff Pi, Jim Dunlop CryBaby Mini
• Vahvistin: Bluetone Black Prince Reverb
• Äänityskalusto: Shure SM57 ja Universal Audio Volt 2

****

• Demobiisi äänitetty tehdaskielillä ja tehdassäädöillä.
• Vahvistimet: Bluetone Shadows Jr & Juketone True Blood
• Efektipedaaleja ei käytetty
• Äänityskalusto: Shure SM57 ja Universal Audio Volt 2