This week, we look at how Yamaha has just won a design award for their Upcycled Guitar range. We also look at the new Dimebag Darrell Warhead lunchbox-style mini-amp head. Finally, we look at the new limited-edition Solaria from New Zealand’s Red Witch pedals.
Yamaha’s Upcycled Guitar Range Wins Design Award
Yamaha has announced that its innovative Upcycled Guitar range has been honored with a prestigious Red Dot Award: Design Concept 2024 award.
Concept Guitars
This concept series of electric guitars is a groundbreaking initiative aimed at improving the sustainability of instrument production. The three guitars revealed all repurposed materials and showed how large corporations can be more environmentally friendly.
Eco-Friendly
The eco-friendly guitar family reduces waste and maximises material efficiency. By repurposing offcuts of wood and other components from Yamaha’s existing product lines, these guitars are crafted with a commitment to environmental responsibility.
Re-Use
The Marimba model features rosewood for marimba tone bars, while the Piano model reuses unused piano materials such as spruce, birch, and maple.
Beyond its immediate impact on the instrument manufacturing world, Yamaha’s Upcycled Guitar range has the potential to inspire broader industry change.
Hopefully, these design ideas will gradually filter through to the world of guitar makers, as it makes a lot of sense to recycle materials rather than discard them, both from an environmental and a financial standpoint.
Warhead Mini
KHDK Electronics has resurrected the legendary Warhead amplifier as a compact, 40-watt lunchbox amp.
Developed in collaboration with Dimebag Darrell’s longtime guitar tech, Grady Champion, and Rita Haney, the new Warhead aims to capture the iconic tone of the original amp.
Dimebag Tone!
This new mini Warhead features the same 40-watt, single-channel, solid-state power amp, and pre-EQ circuits as the original, which delivers an authentic Dimebag tone. The Warhead website states, “You’re getting the same… pure, unfiltered Dimebag tone.”
Wylde Approved
Zakk Wylde extensively tested the new Warhead during Pantera rehearsals and is confident that Dimebag would have approved the design. “It’s like having a little piece of Dime with you everywhere. Dime would be so proud of this right now.”
One for Pantera fans on the move, I guess. The Warhead Mini Guitar Amp: BLACK Edition certainly packs a punch!
MSRP – USD 529.99
Red Witch Solaria
Finally, Red Witch announced the Solaria limited edition phaser, which uses Operational Transconductance Amplifiers to achieve its unique tone. It will be limited to only 79 units worldwide and is a hand-wired pedal with premium components.
Orangic & Chewy
The demo video demonstrates an organic, chewy phase effect and sounds glorious. The four top-mounted controls are as follows;
- Mix: This option adjusts the blend between your original guitar sound and the processed phaser effect, giving you precise control over the tonal balance.
- Velocity: Controls the speed at which the phaser effect sweeps, ranging from slow and subtle to fast and intense.
- Dimension: A unique feature that lets you shape the overall character of the phaser effect, from deep and rhythmic to light and shimmering.
- Resonance: Controls the amount of feedback in the phaser, determining its intensity and the richness of its harmonic content.
Limited Edition
If you want one, don’t wait, as these limited-run pedals from Red Witch tend to sell out quickly. It looks as amazing as it sounds, so I can see these being popular with vintage phaser fans and lovers of quality modulation pedals.
MSRP – USD 349
