JUAN PRAHAMMA HARTJAMT; Linux freak, guitar shred nerd, and a manga otaku. Well known among his colleagues with his speed tapping and typing on both guitar fret and qwerty keyboards. He talks a lot about Dragon Ball Z with Arie on the midst of smoking time. Thus, recently got promoted to also manage projects beside taking care the DSP engine as Head of Product Engineering, then promoted as our current VP of Operations, giving him an excuse to boss us around.
- Stratocaster
I am a firm believer that all guitar amplifiers are made for Stratocasters. Every guitarist, producers, and engineer probably have the same feeling that whenever you record with a Strat, it will never fail. Please try any Stratocaster with any amps from Kuassa, it’s guaranteed that you will get your sound, tone, and character instantly. Stratocaster’s bright quack and twang sounds very recognizable and suitable for almost any kind of music, especially in guitar-driven composition. But I have to admit, I’m quite bored with their classic looks. I have had two Fender Stratocasters: a Mexican made Blacktop Strat and an American Standard.
- Les Paul
All guitar amplifiers are made for Stratocasters….. And Les Pauls, for a similar reason as Stratocasters. For me, Les Pauls are the humbucker alternative for all-around guitar. It sounds warm and fat, giving a ‘full’ feeling in a song. It’s also known for its long sustain, notably if the body were full solid wood. As a side note, many guitarists feel that Les Pauls are extremely heavy, especially when it’s equipped with a Bigsby tailpiece. I still use Japanese Orville Les Paul as my main guitar.
- Fender Twin Reverb
One of the products from Kuassa, Amplifikation Matchlock, is heavily inspired by the Fender Twin Reverb. This classic amp from Fender has been revised and reissued multiple times since the 1960s, such as: Blackface, Silverface, Twin Reverb II, AB763, AA679, etc. all with different circuits and naturally, the resulting sound would be different as well. When using this amp, I feel like cheating. For players who love to play with effect pedals, Twin Reverb is the flawless pedal platform. You can use this amp for any type of sound you can dream of. Clear and transparent clean, heavy chugs, dirty fuzz, and everything in between. It’s also equipped with a wide range of tone control (or equalizer, if you like) to shape your sound. For me, the only drawback of this amp is that it doesn’t have a send and return channel. Otherwise, this amp is perfect. Don’t hesitate to give it a try.
Precision Bass
I really love Precision type basses. It’s just a bass guitar with a single pickup position, and two knobs, volume, and tone. Straightforward and very easy to get the sound you want. I used to play with a Japanese Squier Precision Bass. It doesn’t even need any pedals or preamps for direct recording.
- Dunlop jazz iii
Believe it or not, I can only play with this guitar pick. From the very first time I learned to play electric guitar in Junior Highschool, I feel that guitar picks are essential to get good playing ability. After a long way of searching, it becomes clear that this Dunlop Jazz III is the only pick I can use, in any thickness. Still, I feel that this pick gets worn out too fast.
Klon Centaur
Just like its name, a legendary creature, this is a legendary effect pedal. If you’re willing to spend about $2000, you can try to find the original Klon Centaur on the second-hand market or from a collector’s hand. Nowadays, Numerous pedal builders try to clone the Klon with varied prices, from as affordable as $50 up to $1000. Even when the original developer, Bill Finnegan, built a newer version of Centaur, namely Klon KTR and priced for about $400, it doesn’t put the original Centaur price down. The Klon is widely known as a “transparent” overdrive. It adds gain to the signal without significantly altering the character of the original signal, but you can also push the gain to distort the signal without losing the clear tone of the original sound.
- Earthquake devises Acapulco gold
Upon looking at the schematic of this pedal, I was very impressed with its quite simplistic design and architecture. It seems that it’s an original creation as well, not an ‘inspired’, ‘based on’, or a modified version of other pedals. I tried to build a copy of it using cheaper components and ICs. Though it sounded good, it didn’t last long. Probably around a week or so. Some people said that Acapulco Gold is a simplified version of a type of Sunn amplifier. Even Though that I don’t know how the Sunn amp sounds, I still believe that Acapulco Gold is one of the best fuzz or distortion pedals out there.
A/DA Flanger
Said to be the best flanger pedal of all time, and I respectfully agree. It’s a very versatile pedal, you can even set it to sound like a chorus or phaser. Another amazing aspect of this pedal is the potentiometers. It looks like it’s carefully chosen and calculated, not a usual logarithmic potentiometer. If I remember correctly, one of the flanger models in Efektor FL3606 is developed based on this pedal.
- Lovepedal Super lead
I’m guessing that this is a modified version of Marshall Drivemaster or Shredmaster. It looks like the tone knob is changed to a low pass filter. Quite similar to MI Audio Crunch Box. A very simple but effective modification. It’s easier to shape your sound from the fully clockwise position and turn it counterclockwise to filter out the high frequencies until you get the tone you want. One of the types of distortion in Efektor DS3603 is a different take of this design.
Sommer SC-Spirit LLX
The first time I assembled a guitar cable with this cable and Neutrik Gold Plated plugs, I was instantly amazed. My guitar tone sounds more wide and open with fuller frequencies. It feels like the output level increased as well. Very recommended. Combine this cable with Neutrik NP2X-AU or NP2RX-AU plugs and you will hear the real sound of your guitar.