Advantages: Good quality, sturdy, good value for money
Disadvantages: None really

...Boss have been producing good quality guitar pedals for many years now and are one of the best know names in guitar pedal manufacture. Boss have an extensive range of effect pedals for guitars, the one I am reviewing here is the TR-2 Tremolo pedal. I purchased this pedal a couple of years ago and I believe at the time I paid £59 for it, brand new. Construction The TR-2 is a sturdy looking pedal. It has a solid looking, all metal construction which should take years of punishment. The pedal is a compact size with a large switch on the top to turn the effect on and off and a rubber slip-proof mat on the bottom. This mat is handy for stopping the pedal sliding across the floor when you step on it! The pedal can be powered by a 9V battery, or by an external 9V power adapter. The controls are mounted on the top... Read review

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Advantages: Subtle effect, 2 effects in one
Disadvantages: Too subtle

...Having already bought distortion, chorus, and wah-wah, a tremolo pedal was the next on my list. The Boss tremolo was my first choice, but the high price forced me to look elsewhere. The Marshall Vibratrem is a tremolo AND vibrato pedal. the two effects can't be used at the same time, as they are switchable with one of the knobs. The other three controls are for depth, speed and shape. The tremolo effect is very subtle. I'm not sure whether my unit is broken, but the depth and shape controls are so useless they need to be turned up all the way all of the time. Anything other than all the way up, and the effect is virtually non-existant. The tremolo is okay for most uses, but if you want a sharp stop/start effect (especially with distortion), this pedal simply won't give you it. The vibrato effect is okay too, but I can't think of a use... Read review

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Advantages: Nearly 20 years of priceless pop history
Disadvantages: One or two disposable corny moments

...... Read review

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Advantages: nice neck, very cheap
Disadvantages: bad paint, bad tuners, bad pickups

...of the Stratocaster. Its flatter and wider than the original Fender neck. It's more the kind of modern hardrock neck like you would find on a Jackson or Charvel guitar. It's the kind of neck I like and $100.00 is not much money for a good neck. For the people who want to buy a guitar to start with: as long as you don't want to do live gigs, this is a good guitar to study on (altough I think it's better to learn on an accoustic guitar, but that seems to be old fashioned). Don't get angry if the tremolo bridge gets the guitar out of tune: they allways do. Even on the expensive Fenders the tremolo's are a disaster. Jimi Hendrix loved the tremolo, and that's why on 50% of all his live recordings his guitar was out of tune. Best thing to do: Take of the plastic cover on the back of the guitar (6 screws). Underneath you find 3 springs connected to a metal... Read review

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Advantages: Great Drumming, Danceable Music, Great Production, Great Band, Nice DVD footage of the band
Disadvantages: Lyrics Can Be a Bit Downbeat, Can Get a Tad Repetetive.

...album, slow intro with vocals only for the first verse, then the bloc party trademark guitar riffs come in to spring the song into life. A new addition to the bloc party sound is the introduction of more backing vocals, which are evident through this track. The chorus is strong with some nice lead guitar work to compliment the vocals (again with backing vocals). As a trademark Russel (lead guitarist) comes in with a short guitar solo interlude inbetween chorus and verse, with a great tremolo picked part with some kind of modulation effect. The song finished with a breakdown and back into the chorus for the outro flipping back into the early riff to finish the song off nicely. Hunting For Witches This song starts off with some fantastic production of short stabbed voices and sounds in a rhythmical way, then some kind of processed guitar... Read review

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Advantages: Tough, durable, wide variety of tones, ergonomic body, fast neck
Disadvantages: Hum and noise due to stock single-coil pickups

...its job well, with no audible pops or clicks; and that's a reassuring sign. Tuners are sealed Am Stds, with a nylon collar and tension-adjusting screw. Stringing is fast and smooth. There is no slippage; especially if the unwound 1st, 2nd and 3rd strings are first bent and then wound back on themselves. On the other end, the tremolo is balanced on 2 large screws (apparently brass). The six individual steel saddles are rectangular, with two height-adjustment screws. The sustain block seems to be compressed powdered steel. I added 2 more springs (to the factory-fitted 3) and tightened the tremolo flush to the body as I do not use it anyway. Plus, you get a natural sustain boost due to the extra contact of the tremolo with the body. I have tried 'playing around' with the Am Std tremolo just out of curiousity; and the bad news... Read review

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Advantages: Great Sounding, Price, Features, Volume
Disadvantages: Maybe a bit geared towards the heavy spectrum of music.

...BASIC INFO: 75-watts mono Custom Celestion® 12-inch Speaker 12 amp models that deliver a complete range from Clean to Insane 7 Smart Control effects (up to 3 simultaneous) including Tape Echo, standard Delay, Sweep Echo (all w/Tap Tempo), Chorus/Flanger, Phaser, Tremolo and Reverb 4 User-programmable channels Built-in front panel Tuner Came with FB2 foot control FEATURES: This is the 112 (1 x 12" Speaker) Version of the Spider II Guitar combo amplifier; the combo is available all the way from the Spider II 15, to the Spider II 212. I bought this amplifier off eBay, I paid about £250... which I felt was a reasonable price after being impressed with the amp in a guitar shop (They wanted £299 at the time).... but now you can get it for as little as £100.. as the Spider III has been released, £100 for this amp... Read review

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Advantages: Great neck, good build quality, value for money
Disadvantages: Low output pickups, not suited for heavier music styles

.... These include: 1962 neck profile Thin fretwire Body contouring based on the 1962 model Stratocaster Maple neck Rosewood fretboard "Kluson" style tuners 3 vintage voiced single coil pickups Vintage style tremolo 3 ply scratch plate "Candy apple red"; metallic finish Stratocasters from this period were made with a one or two piece alder or ash body, but this reissue features a basswood body, probably made from three pieces, to keep costs down. However, the neck is made from a decent piece of maple and features a nice piece of rosewood for the fingerboard. The guitar features 3 single coil pickups wired to the standard Stratocaster controls of one volume control, two tone controls and a five way pickup selector switch. As an aside, there is quite an interesting story told about when the first of these Japanese made vintage re... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful

Advantages: Cheap, single coil and humbucker pickups, classic stratocaster styling
Disadvantages: Not that good for heavier metal music, pickups not that great, goes out of tune when using tremolo

...Some information on the guitar: "The Squier is an affordable 6-string electric guitar with both single coil and humbucker pickups. With this guitar you get two different pickup types and sounds at a very low cost." Features: Single humbucker Two single coil pickups 22 frets Rosewood neck Tremolo Chrome tuners. I purchased my Squier Fat Strat as part of the Affinity package, which cost £200. I believe it is much cheaper now. It contained a 10w amp, lead, plectrum, strap, spare se