Idiosyncratic pickups pull this slimline Gretsch along unexpected tone trajectories.

Unique, idiosyncratic pickups. Tidy construction. Top-notch playability.

Some tuning instability with Bigsby use. Some players will miss classic P-90 trebles.

Gretsch G2622T-P90 Streamliner gretschguitars.com

Gretsch’s new Streamliner guitars—like the 1960s Streamliners before them—are great instruments living in the shadows of the company’s most iconic shapes. Where guitars like the 6120, Country Gentleman, White Falcon, and others are either quite thick, very wide, or both, the Streamliner is slim and relatively light—in the fashion of the Epiphone Casino, Gibson ES-335, Fender Coronado, Rickenbacker 300-series, and various Voxes, Hofners, and Hagstroms that ruled the ’60s. They are exceptionally comfortable, engaging, and ultra-fun to play, particularly when fitted with a Bigsby, like the Gretsch G2622T-P90 Streamliner reviewed here.

This latest Streamliner Center Block incarnation, however, is also among the first to feature Gretsch’s FideliSonic 90 pickups, an option that gives the guitar a surprisingly mellow but meaty, articulate, and distinctive voice that deviates from archetypical P-90 semi-hollow sounds and offers unexpected tone colors.

All guitars are Gretsch G2622T-P90 Streamliner.

Gretsch’s bigger bodied classics can feel like a handful over the course of protracted practice and performance. The Streamliner almost never induces fatigue anxiety, though. It’s light for a center-blocked, Bigsby-equipped instrument, and the body contours feel great whether you sling the guitar low or hike your strap up for a full Merseybeat cradle. The balance is generally good, especially when playing seated, though it can be prone to neck-dive if you use a slippery strap. It’s got really handsome lines, too, that are simultaneously evocative of a Country Gentleman and an Epiphone Casino. More critically, in my view, it also bears a strong family resemblance to the Gretsch Monkees, a ’60s Streamliner antecedent that I covet rabidly.

There’s a lot of distinctly Gretsch personality here, too—primarily in the baby Country Gent’ shape you see plainly in the horns, but also in the arrow knobs, master volume, and teardrop pickguard. The latter design element, while handsome, is perhaps the only thing that didn’t work with some aspects of my playing style. Prone as I am to heavy arpeggio playing, I would often hit my pick against the pickguard on first-string upstrokes, making a clacking sound that resonates clearly through the pickups. On the other hand, I could conjure cool rhythmic accents during leads and spanky rhythm parts using the pickguard for percussive accents and extra-musical sound effects.

I’m generally pretty knocked out by how good the affordable Gretsches from the Streamliner line look and feel. The Streamliner Center Block P90 reveals that Gretsch’s Indonesian factory is still putting love into these instruments. Playability is superb. The 12"-radius fretboard makes string bending a breeze. And the walnut-to-root-beer brownstone finish showcases the grain of the arched mahogany top and back gracefully. (Sadly, there is no option for the cherry finish and white pickguard that would make this Streamliner a dead-ringer for a Gretsch Monkees. Drat.)

The FideliSonics are a genuinely unusual take on staple-style P-90s that stretch preconceptions about the type. Though they are designed for less overall output than a standard P-90, they have much of a P-90s muscle and mass, and they will make an amplifier growl delectably without breaking a sweat. But the FideliSonics seem a lot less toppy than the P-90s in, say, a Casino or ES-330. Instead, they exhibit a strong low-mid emphasis and a hi-fi quality that leaves room for dynamics and picking details. Some of the bridge pickup’s mellower tonality might also be down to the distance from the pickup to the bridge. Pickup placement has shifted a lot over the decades on Gretsches. The bridge pickup placement on the White Falcon, for instance, has varied by significant measures over its lifetime. The bridge pickup on the Streamliner Center Block P90 is nudged toward the neck enough to almost split the difference between a bridge and a middle-position pickup in a 3-pickup array. Doubtless, this blunts some of the top-end attack you might otherwise hear and expect from these pickups.

But there is no questioning the horsepower they put at your disposal. Paired with a black-panel Tremolux, the Gretsch coaxes throaty overdrive at amplifier volumes as low as 2. With just a bit of reverb, this sound is intoxicating and huge. There might not be quite enough top-end headroom for some jangle-oriented players, or soloists that rely on biting treble. But before you pass definitive judgement on the available top end, it’s worth checking out how the Gretsch sounds with really aggressive amplifier treble settings. I used the bridge FideliSonic with the Tremolux’s treble at 10 and it sounded an awful lot like a sweet spot to me!

As with any hollow or semi-hollow, feedback can be an issue. And I had a pretty short leash when it came to using fuzz or aggressive boost or overdrive (particularly with all of that amp treble). Thankfully, the Gretsch’s trademark master volume is always close at hand—and, incidentally, a very cool way to add feedback into a song when you get the knack. Generally, though, it’s good to tame your guitar volume before you engage any particularly vicious fuzz.

I spent a lot of time with the Gretsch Streamliner Center Block P90 amid a mid-winter playing rut. Few guitars were feeling great, or right, or fun. But the Streamliner Center Block P90 was always a gas, and with its Bigsby, classic Gretsch master volume control, and a set of idiosyncratic and dynamic pickups, it prompted inspirational and invigorating shifts in technique and voice. The Streamliner Center Block P90 doesn’t need much help to sound great through a decent amp—just a little reverb and 10" or 12" speakers can make this guitar sound enormous, rocking, and alive. There are drawbacks inherent to the design. Feedback is always a risk and you don’t have to get too unhinged with the Bigsby before tuning stability becomes an issue. But the warm fullness of these pickups and the guitar’s fascinating combination of liveliness and mass adds up to countless surprises that make the $649 price tag a pretty nice deal.

A faithful recreation of the Germanium Mosrite Fuzzrite with a modern twist.

From the years of 1966 to 1968, Mosrite produced two distinct fuzz circuits---one outfitted with silicon transistors, the other with germanium parts. Of the two, the germanium version is by far the most rare, with original designer and Mosrite employee Ed Sanner estimating that around 250 ever made it out the door. In that final year of production, Mosrite shifted exclusively to silicon parts, making germanium components a thing of the past. However, by 1968 the public was hungry for fuzz, having heard it on a handful of recordings, most notably "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida" by Iron Butterfly and "Incense and Peppermints" by Strawberry Alarm Clock. These two buzzy, sinewy fuzz tones were part of a wave of psychedelic rock gaining traction in the mainstream, and both were recorded prior to the introduction of the silicon Fuzzrite.

Other purported users of this early Fuzzrite circuit include Ron Asheton of the Stooges, Norman Greenbaum on "Spirit in the Sky", Henry Vestine of Canned Heat, and many others. Catalinbread have a germanium version at their disposal, and we've used it as a benchmark to create an extremely faithful version with a modern twist. Just like the original, the Catalinbread Fuzzrite Germanium includes two NOS PNP germanium semiconductors with a polarity inverter IC so it plays nice with all forms of power. Unlike the original, Catalinbread added a toggle switch to shift into modern mode, significantly beefing up the low-end content to suit more contemporary rigs.

The Fuzzrite Germanium is out now and available for $179.99 at participating retailers and catalinbread.com.

The all-new HT series offers "heat treated" pickup technology along with the Cutlas HT, StringRay HT, and Sabre HT guitars.

The Ernie Ball Music Man Sabre HT guitar delivers an incredibly dynamic and responsive playing experience. The pickups are able to achieve an ultra-high-output, powerful low-end response while retaining a distinctively clean, clear tone and definition at lower volume control levels. The HT (Heat Treated) bridge pickup utilizes patent-pending heat-treated pole pieces with a large ceramic magnet and an overwound coil that gives the pickup higher frequency harmonics and excellent touch sensitivity. The Sabre's custom-wound neck humbucker also features a large ceramic magnet and has been wound specifically to pair with the Sabre's HT bridge pickup. In other respects, the Sabre HT shares many of the original Sabre guitar specifications such as a contoured Okoume body with a thick maple top, Schaller locking tuners, and 22 stainless steel frets. The Sabre HT is available in a Yucatan Blue, Raspberry Burst, Showtime, and Snowy Night finish.

The Ernie Ball Music Man Cutlass HT showcases new custom Music Man pickup technology delivering an incredibly dynamic and responsive playing experience. The pickups are able to achieve an ultra-high-output, powerful low-end response while retaining a distinctively clean, clear tone when rolling back the volume control. This set of three HT (Heat Treated) pickups uses patent-pending pole pieces and a large neodymium magnet which provides remarkable definition. The bridge pickup has been wound with plain enamel magnet wire providing a strong, powerful tone, while the neck and middle pickups have been underwound with heavy formvar magnet wire for a more traditional voice. All three pickups have been crafted for a complimentary tonal offering across all five switch positions. The Cutlass HT shares many of the standard specifications of the original Cutlass guitar, including a contoured Alder body, a roasted figured maple neck, 22 stainless frets, Schaller locking tuners, and Music Man vintage tremolo. The Cutlass HT is available in a Showtime, Brûlée, Midnight Rider, and Raspberry Burst finish.

The Ernie Ball Music Man Stingray HT showcases new custom Music Man pickup technology inspired by over a decade of guitar string research delivering an incredibly dynamic and responsive playing experience. The pickups are able to achieve an ultra-high-output, powerful low-end response while retaining a distinctively clean, clear tone and definition at lower volume control levels. The Stingray HT (Heat Treated) bridge pickup utilizes patent-pending heat-treated pole pieces with a large ceramic magnet and an overwound coil that gives the pickup higher frequency harmonics and excellent touch sensitivity. The custom-wound neck humbucker also features a large ceramic magnet and has been wound specifically to pair with the Stingray's HT bridge pickup. This Stingray HT is outfitted with a stop tail Tune-o-Matic bridge which sets it apart from the Stingray's vintage style tremolo but shares a number of the standard specifications, including a contoured body, a roasted figured maple neck, 22 stainless frets, and Schaller locking tuners. The StingRay HT is available in a Showtime, Brûlée, Midnight Rider, and Raspberry Burst finish. HT Series instruments are available now at authorized Ernie Ball Music Man dealers.

Visit them online at www.ernieball.com and www.music-man.com.

Presets extend the flexibility of an already expansive and easy-to-use reverb.

Intuitive. Great range in all controls. Well-built.

Some digital artifacts at long decay times.

Walrus Audio Slötvå walrusaudio.com

Walrus Audio is a prolific builder, but, as the five reverb pedals in their lineup suggest, they have a real affinity for manipulating time and space. The beauty of the Slötvå reverb (which is derived from the company’s very similar Spin FV-1 chip-based Slö reverb) is how satisfying and simple it makes dramatic shifts between time/space textures.

Slötvå’s big departure from the Slö model is the addition of three presets, enabling quick switches between vastly different reverbs. But Slötvå’s interface is also pretty easily mastered and manipulated on the fly without using presets. And that operational flexibility makes Slötvå just as capable of delivering surprises as predictable, repeatable results.

Slötvå’s three algorithms all range to super-long decay times, especially when you hit and hold the sustain button. “Dark” adds a minus-one-octave signal, rise adds an almost reverse-like swell effect, and dream adds a latch function that effectively “freezes” the reverb signal. In all three modes, the octave content can reveal chorale-style overtones and discernibly digital artifacts at long decay times. Some players love and utilize these sounds to great effect. So, try before you buy if you don’t know where you stand. If you’re untroubled by a little shimmer at expansive settings, however, Slötvå is a fun, intuitive, and performance-practical way to source a genuinely expansive range of unobtrusive to ambient reverb sounds in a compact, easy-to-wrangle unit.