SHORT SESSIONS

A good many guitarists have fond memories of Stewart Ward's original Sessionette 75 amplifier, one of the first really small UK solid-state amps to be able to cut it live. Now Steward Ward has taken the essential circuitry from the Sessionette amp and put it in a pedal format box, so that the Sessionette sound is available through any amplifier. The pedal version includes a switchable circuit to make single-coil pick-ups sound more like humbuckers and switchable Heavy/Crunch modes.

Built into a tough, practical steel box, the Award SP75 may be powered from a PP3 battery or from an external power supply. AutoSense circuitry is included, allowing any mains adaptor of between 9 and 30V to be used.

The input and output jacks are on the rear of the box; there's a bypass footswitch with a red status LED on the top; all the controls, which are recessed for protection, are arranged along the front. Unusually for a pedal-type device, the SP75 has all the control you'd expect to find on the preamp section of a conventional amp: Drive, Treble, Middle, Bass, and Output Level. The tone controls use traditional passive circuitry for an authentic sound. There are two red buttons — one to select between Heavy and Crunch (overdrive voicing), and one to select between PAF (humbucker emulation) and Normal. The Crunch setting is designed to produce a more touch-sensitive overdrive suitable for blues and rock, whereas Heavy is better suited to metal and thrash styles of playing. The humbucker emulator not only provides new tones from single-coil guitar pick-ups, but also enables the unit to be used for DI recording without the sound becoming 'fizzy'. In bypass mode, the unit becomes an active line driver to eliminate tone loss down long cables.

As to the sound? The humbucker emulation really works well. In either mode, the sound is wonderfully touch responsive — you can set up a really filthy sound, yet produce an almost clean sound by picking gently. Switching into Heavy mode really creates a sense of restrained power waiting to be unleashed, even at very low playing levels. The four permutations available from the two buttons produce four distinctively different tone colours, and these are further enhanced by the authentic way in which the tone controls interact with each other. You really can get anything from authentic country and blues at one end of the scale to full-bodied, pounding metal or hard rock at the other. Another surprise is the low level of background hiss, even at very high overdrive settings.

No box will satisfy all guitarists, but this one comes pretty close. For my money, Award are running with the front pack in the race to deliver an authentic vintage sound from solid-state circuitry. And it is even being offered at a bargain special price of £59.95 at the moment.

Further Information

SP75 £59.95 inc VAT.
Award, (Contact Details).

DOWN THE JUNCTION

Palmer's little Junction Box represents a radical departure from the mainstream of speaker simulator boxes in that it is entirely passive. Although designed to emulate sharp top end and roll-off of a typical guitar speaker, it doesn't contain a dummy load, so to use it with a large amplifier without having speakers connected, you can knock up your own using relatively inexpensive power resistors. For example, with my 12W Fender Champ, a wire wound, 8 Ohm resistor rated at 20 Watts, bolted to a suitable metal heatsink is perfectly adequate.

However, the Junction Box isn't only suitable for use with an amplifier, you can also plug in an effects pedal or guitar preamp. The passive circuitry means that a lot of signal level is lost in the filter, but because the output comes out on a balanced XLR, you can feed it into the mic input of a mixer and use the gain of the mic amp to build the signal back up again. Because the circuitry is passive, effectively no noise is added to the signal.

The Junction Box has an unbalanced jack, input, which can accept either line or speaker level signals. There is also a Thru output to connect a speaker or dummy load to the simulator's output. For live work, the Junction Box would go between the amp and speaker so as to provide a feed to the mixing desk, while leaving the speakers still operating.

Because the input range of signal levels is so wide, a three-position attenuator switch is fitted so that the output level can be set to suit the mixer's mic input stage. There is also a second three-position switch, which allows the output tope to be set to mellow, medium or bright. There are no other controls, no batteries, and no meters to watch — just plug and play.

Tested with my Fender Champ, the Junction Box made a good job of replicating the close miked sound of the amp — the only thing it tended to lose was that chunky, out-of-control bass end that open-backed cabinets tend to produce. The three tone Settings proved very successful; the brighter position being particularly effective for capturing the wiry edge of a Strat played with just a little overdrive.

I've always rated Palmer's speaker simulators as being the most natural sounding. However, I feel this new box sounds even better, especially the three tone positions. It also has the advantage that it works with pedals and preamps as well as speaker outputs. You can even plug a keyboard into it to warm up the sound — a surprisingly effective trick sometimes.

If there is a limitation, it is only that you need a separate power soak or load resistor to use it with a valve amp, but then you wouldn't expect this feature in a unit of this price or physical size. In all other respects, the Junction Box is quite simply wonderful.

Further Information

Junction Box £79 inc VAT.
Gladden Pro Audio, (Contact Details).