Classic Rock - The Best Music Magazine?

Hats off to our Brit friends for the great Classic Rock magazine. Although newsstands are overrun with music magazines, Classic Rock stands head and shoulders above the rest. Good writing, great pictures, and a free CD or DVD with every issue makes this, in my opinion, the best music magazine on the market.

And, though you might think the title means the magazine is limited only to the classic rock era, there is ample coverage of new bands as well. Each month has a healthy selection of articles on new bands as well as reviews of CDs and DVDs by a wealth of new artists.

The classic rock era - spanning, I would say, from about '67 to '81 - is undoubtedly the golden era of rock and roll. The amount of interest in the music from this time period overwhelms any other period in the history of rock. I mean, who is listening to Flock of Seagulls, Human League, and other crummy 80s bands these days? The 90s still have some viable artists - Pearl Jam and the ever popular Nirvana. The classic rock era - well, there's the Beatles, the Stones, Led Zeppelin, Queen, Pink Floyd, Eagles, Aerosmith, Van Halen, the Police, U2, and the list can go on and on. Seriously, what other era has so many classic artists? None.

Classic Rock is certainly not the only magazine covering this golden era of rock, but it is, quite simply, the best. And I must add, somewhat mournfully as an American, that we have nothing on this side of the pond to compare with Classic Rock. Rolling Stone, you might say? No way. I ditched my subscription to that rag years ago. Too corporate, too predictable, too boring, and some of the dumbest album reviews in the history of music means I seldom even bother to see who is on the cover.

If you like classic rock music - and really, who doesn't - this is the only place to turn for great articles on the artists you love. Oh, but I do have one really big gripe. Classic Rock is, without a doubt, the most poorly proofread periodical on the planet. Seriously, do these guys ever proof this stuff? Each month is so chock full of errors that it gets embarrassing. Great, great magazine guys, but get yourself a decent proofreader.

The Mighty Fender Twin

Few guitar amps are as classic as the Fender Twin. After years of wandering in the digital wilderness I came back to tubes about a year and a half ago with one of the newer Twins - the ProVerb Twin Amp (yes, Amp is officially a part of the name).

Years ago I bought a '67 Vibrolux for $150.00. Around '89 or '90 I foolishly traded it for a Crate digital amp. I know - I was crazy! It is extremely painful to see them going for over $3,000.00 these days!

Anyway, I decided to get out of digital amps and am I ever glad I got one of these beasts. It's 100 watts of pure and glorious tube tone that sounds truly amazing. There are several versions of the Twin on the market, but this is one built for modern times. It has an effects loop (very handy and I use it all the time), a tube-driven reverb and tremolo, a 1/4 power switch (why would we want to turn down?), preamp out, power amp in, and best of all - a gain control on channel two. And man, what a great gain control it is. You won't get super heavy metal distortion of the Slayer variety (who wants to listen to that crap anyway) but you'll get all the wonderful tube crunch you need (and if you do need more, just stick a pedal in the front or in the effects loop). Oh, and it comes with wheels (which you'll need as this thing is a back breaker) and those cool tilt back legs.

I have a couple of recommendations to make this amp even greater. First, change out the power tubes. Mine came with 4 Groove Tube 6L6 tubes. I had it retubed with the Sovtek tubes not long after I got it. Do they make a difference? Well, to my ear I'm not sure, but my understanding is they are very reliable and have a great life span. Second, change out the stock speakers. Though it comes with some great Eminence speakers (and Eminence are the only kind of speakers you should use) I changed mine out for a set of Eminence Redcoat Tonkerlites. The difference was very dramatic. My main guitar is a PRS CE24 that has a Seymour Duncan Pearly Gates pickup in the bridge position. It is one HOT pickup with a huge amount of gain. With the stock speakers the sound was a little harsh but the Tonkerlites are amazing - they roll off the harsh high end and make all my guitars sound beautiful. My Strat and Telecaster keep that great Fender snap but the difference with my PRS is amazing. If you own a Twin, you should get a pair of Tonkerlites. By the way, special thanks to my good friend and bandmate Anthony Lucas, resident speaker guru and electronic genius at Eminence Speaker, and all around good guy who made the recommendation for the speaker change. As usual, he was right (just don't tell him or he'll get a big head about it).

The bottom line is this - the Twin is one of the most iconic amps in rock history, and this version of the amp makes a great amp truly amazing. I wouldn't trade mine for anything.