FENDER SMART CAPO

ALL THE SMALL THINGS
ACCES SORIES
WE RECKON Guitar Man has been more than a
little inspired by Vox’s amPlug units with its new
Plug N Play headphone amps. Still, there are six
available: Tube Drive; Metal; Lead With Delay;
Super Lead; Acoustic and English Channel. We
tested the Metal model, and weren’t bowled
over by its initial wasp-in-jar sound. Drop the
Tone, though, and you can get a thicker rock
distortion, or a doomy stoner sound. These units
are certainly cheaper than Vox’s efforts, but
definitely try before you buy.
£17.95 www.stringsandthings.co.uk
Plug in, maybe?
GUITAR MAN
PLUG N PLAY METAL
THERE are plenty of string
cleaners/lubricants available,
some of which are already in Planet
Waves’ catalogue. If the text-speak
name didn’t give it away, XLR8
promises to help you play faster,
as well as cleaning and prolonging
the life of your strings. As with
similar products, it’s housed in an
applicator, which you rub along the
length of your strings to coat them.
It definitely works, and the lube
stayed on our guitar for a few days
after we applied it. We did, however,
find it a little greasy.
£6.49 www.planetwaves.com
Clean if you want to go faster!
PLANET
WAVES XLR8
YOU probably won’t buy many capos
throughout your career, so it’s worth
getting a decent one. Fender’s Smart
Capo falls neatly into that category. To fit
it, you simply squeeze it onto your guitar
neck by applying pressure towards the
back. The clever-clogs mechanism does
the gripping for you, so you don’t have to
do anything up. To release it, just press
on the opposite end and it snaps out of
place. It doesn’t mess up your tuning,
doesn’t cost the earth and doesn’t get in
the way. Brilliant.
£15.60 www.fender.co.uk
It’s truly gripping
FENDER
SMART CAPO
THINK of this as the headstock-
hugging offspring of Korg’s
Pitchblack pedal tuner. The
diminutive Pitchclip’s sleek LCD
screen flips out to offer 120 degrees
of movement and, as a very useful
bonus, if you hold the power button
down you can flip the display so
it’s readable while fixed behind the
headstock. Speedy tuning response
and the ease with which it picks up
the low E when tuned a whole step
down puts this a pitch above some
of its pricier competitors.
£13.79 www.korg.co.uk
KORG
PC-1 PITCHCLIP
Son of a Pitch
170 WINTER 2011
TGR222.gear_access.indd 170 11/4/11 5:02:00 PM