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Reviews:
Vince Lewis
www.vincelewis.com
“For this review, I plugged my Custom Heritage archtop guitars into a Fender Ultralight Jazzmaster head and tested a Redstone Audio 8 cabinet. An initial impressive feature is the beautiful response of this unit, providing a sound that is clean and clear. The bass response is full and rich and the woody tone of the guitar is conveyed perfectly in all registers. Not being a technically inclined, I can only judge this product by what I hear. This cabinet rivals any product through which I have ever played. Amazing to me is that a speaker this size can produce the volume and character required for live performances.
Redstone cabinets are without equal when it comes to physical design and ease of transportation. This 18-pound dynamo is just the ticket for moving around with minimal effort. The special sprayed on finish is considerably more durable than the traditional Tolex covering. It is also more attractive and appears to be basically indestructible.”
--Vince Lewis
Vince Lewis has made some wonderful CDs including collaborations with guitarist Steve Abshire.
“For this review, I plugged my Custom Heritage archtop guitars into a Fender Ultralight Jazzmaster head and tested a Redstone Audio 8 cabinet. An initial impressive feature is the beautiful response of this unit, providing a sound that is clean and clear. The bass response is full and rich and the woody tone of the guitar is conveyed perfectly in all registers. Not being a technically inclined, I can only judge this product by what I hear. This cabinet rivals any product through which I have ever played. Amazing to me is that a speaker this size can produce the volume and character required for live performances.
Redstone cabinets are without equal when it comes to physical design and ease of transportation. This 18-pound dynamo is just the ticket for moving around with minimal effort. The special sprayed on finish is considerably more durable than the traditional Tolex covering. It is also more attractive and appears to be basically indestructible.”
--Vince Lewis
Vince Lewis has made some wonderful CDs including collaborations with guitarist Steve Abshire.
Rodney Jones
www.rodneyjones.com
“Well today was the first day I put your 10 inch speaker [RS-10] through it's paces. I am blown away! My clean sound is my bread and butter and boy does your speaker deliver clean. It is balanced and smooth throughout the entire tonal range of both my Archtop guitars as well as my 335 style instruments. For perhaps the first time, I did not have to fiddle with a lot of knobs to get a great sound. I set my power amp flat and that was it.
The quality and craftsmanship of the cabinet is fantastic and it is light in weight. It is ready for any gig. It is almost art even before you plug it in!
I am happy to endorse your amazing product and to lend my voice to the pros who already know about Redstone. Anyone that is considering purchasing a jazz cabinet should listen to your speaker 1st or last. It really doesn't matter because once they hear it, they will have to have it! That's my story and I'm sticking to it!”
--Rodney Jones
Check out Rodney’s latest CD, “Soul Manifesto”
“Well today was the first day I put your 10 inch speaker [RS-10] through it's paces. I am blown away! My clean sound is my bread and butter and boy does your speaker deliver clean. It is balanced and smooth throughout the entire tonal range of both my Archtop guitars as well as my 335 style instruments. For perhaps the first time, I did not have to fiddle with a lot of knobs to get a great sound. I set my power amp flat and that was it.
The quality and craftsmanship of the cabinet is fantastic and it is light in weight. It is ready for any gig. It is almost art even before you plug it in!
I am happy to endorse your amazing product and to lend my voice to the pros who already know about Redstone. Anyone that is considering purchasing a jazz cabinet should listen to your speaker 1st or last. It really doesn't matter because once they hear it, they will have to have it! That's my story and I'm sticking to it!”
--Rodney Jones
Check out Rodney’s latest CD, “Soul Manifesto”
Marty Power
http://www.martypowerjazz.com/
"In a word, wow! I the RS-10 with an Acoustic Image Clarus 1R, a Crate Powerblock, a Polytone Fusion 100 watt tube combo and a Carvin SX-200. I unplugged the speakers on the combos to do an A/B - I wouldn't use them like that, I was just curious what they would do if they were separate heads. I did that test with my Abe Rivera carved seven string, while I tried all my guitars through the Clarus and the RS-10. (By the way, I did a gig with the Abe, the RS-10 and the Powerblock, and I had more comments on my tone than I've had in a long time - and this was from 'normal people', not musicians. People made the point to come up to me and tell me how nice the guitar sounded.)
First up, a comment on that guitar - the Abe is DARK; it has a Benedetto S-7 pickup which reproduces it exactly. I usually have to roll a lot of bass off and boost treble to get the sound I want.
The Abe tends to feed back a LOT through the Carvin and the Polytone - if I give it any volume at all, it literally howls. It's so bad that I bought a Carvin solid seven to play gigs at louder volumes, which means anything with a drummer. When I pulled the Carvin speaker and ran the head through the RS-10, the sound became more defined - the stock sound was somewhat "blurry around the edges" and a bit muddy. The RS-10 is MUCH clearer, and it can run at a louder volume before feedback starts. The Abe through the Polytone Fusion is what you'd expect from an archtop through a Fender Twin/Mesa Boogie type amp, but a bit darker due to the Abe's construction. I've never been happy with the low A through that amp - quite muddy. The RS-10 cleaned up the bottom a LOT - I'd definitely consider using a tube head with the RS-10 when playing the Abe, which says a lot.
The Powerblock was a COMPLETE surprise - I seem to have gotten one of the good ones, since I can run it at a reasonably loud volume (DEFINITELY playing with a drummer level) without any distortion at all. I roll the treble up to 3 o'clock, and the bass down to 9 o'clock; the Abe sounds VERY nice through that combination. I'd make the recommendation that if you can find a GOOD Powerblock, get one and an RS-10 for the best value in jazz amplification. (Let me emphasize that I'm saying value - my recommendation would be an AI and an RS-10, but the Powerblock is good until you can get the bucks for an AI, and it's great as a backup for gigging.)
On to guitars - I tried an Aria FA-70, a Carvin DC-747, an Eastman AR805-CE, the Abe Rivera seven string, and an Abe Rivera scroll guitar (a chambered thin line hollow body - the neck is 11 pieces, carved hollow in the body to allow more resonance). The Eastman sounded as you might expect, very clear, very balanced, and with little need to tweak the controls - I rolled a little treble on and a little bass off, but that's mostly because I have flatwounds on it now. If I had my normal roundwounds (I use TI strings, btw) I'd run it flat. It's exactly the sound I want - very balanced, with no feedback. Perfect, and better than any set up I've used for it before - the only other amp I've used that comes close is the AER combo. The Abe seven string was duplicated EXACTLY - I mean, EXACTLY. I have to bump the treble up and roll the bass down because it's a dark guitar, but the sound flat is PRECISE. I've NEVER heard this guitar reproduced this well before - I know it's the combination of the AI and the RS-10, but I've tried the AI through other speakers, and it wasn't as nice as this.
The Rivera scroll sounding perfect - once again, duplicated the acoustic sound exactly. The guitar is capable of a lot of punch - the Bartolini pickups are killers - and the RS-10 can do that. The treble pickup is VERY cutting - it would be excellent in a rock setting, or in an R&B band with horns. You can still hear the 'wood' in the sound - I'd like to try this with some pedals to go for a Larry Carlton sound. (Not my style, but I can hear this set up doing it.)
The Carvin seven string has an "in your face" presence as well, but more so - the Carvin pickups are LOUD, but they're still nicely balanced. I can still get a very nice jazz tone out of them, but at huge venue volumes (good thing I'm in Vermont now, and not in the old apartment in NYC...); I was very surprised that I'd be happy with the sound of a solid body in this set up, but I am - so much so that I'm going to get rid of the other amps that I'd use for higher volume work.
The big surprise? The Aria FA-70. I've always been a fan of this guitar, since it's FAR better than it's under $500 price would lead you to believe. I plugged it into the Clarus/RS-10 with the guitar wide open and the amp at 12 o'clock on all tone. Wes. Seriously. It sounded EXACTLY like Wes' tone. I was stunned - the Aria sounded nice before, but through this set up? PERFECT.
The upshot of this review, if you haven't guessed yet, is I'm 100% happy with the RS-10. I was happy with it using the Crate Powerblock, but I'm ecstatic when it's paired with the AI Clarus 1R. I'm going to seriously unload all my other stuff and keep this - although I'll probably pick up another Redstone. I think Dave was mentioning a new cab that they're planning to make...
--Marty Power
"In a word, wow! I the RS-10 with an Acoustic Image Clarus 1R, a Crate Powerblock, a Polytone Fusion 100 watt tube combo and a Carvin SX-200. I unplugged the speakers on the combos to do an A/B - I wouldn't use them like that, I was just curious what they would do if they were separate heads. I did that test with my Abe Rivera carved seven string, while I tried all my guitars through the Clarus and the RS-10. (By the way, I did a gig with the Abe, the RS-10 and the Powerblock, and I had more comments on my tone than I've had in a long time - and this was from 'normal people', not musicians. People made the point to come up to me and tell me how nice the guitar sounded.)
First up, a comment on that guitar - the Abe is DARK; it has a Benedetto S-7 pickup which reproduces it exactly. I usually have to roll a lot of bass off and boost treble to get the sound I want.
The Abe tends to feed back a LOT through the Carvin and the Polytone - if I give it any volume at all, it literally howls. It's so bad that I bought a Carvin solid seven to play gigs at louder volumes, which means anything with a drummer. When I pulled the Carvin speaker and ran the head through the RS-10, the sound became more defined - the stock sound was somewhat "blurry around the edges" and a bit muddy. The RS-10 is MUCH clearer, and it can run at a louder volume before feedback starts. The Abe through the Polytone Fusion is what you'd expect from an archtop through a Fender Twin/Mesa Boogie type amp, but a bit darker due to the Abe's construction. I've never been happy with the low A through that amp - quite muddy. The RS-10 cleaned up the bottom a LOT - I'd definitely consider using a tube head with the RS-10 when playing the Abe, which says a lot.
The Powerblock was a COMPLETE surprise - I seem to have gotten one of the good ones, since I can run it at a reasonably loud volume (DEFINITELY playing with a drummer level) without any distortion at all. I roll the treble up to 3 o'clock, and the bass down to 9 o'clock; the Abe sounds VERY nice through that combination. I'd make the recommendation that if you can find a GOOD Powerblock, get one and an RS-10 for the best value in jazz amplification. (Let me emphasize that I'm saying value - my recommendation would be an AI and an RS-10, but the Powerblock is good until you can get the bucks for an AI, and it's great as a backup for gigging.)
On to guitars - I tried an Aria FA-70, a Carvin DC-747, an Eastman AR805-CE, the Abe Rivera seven string, and an Abe Rivera scroll guitar (a chambered thin line hollow body - the neck is 11 pieces, carved hollow in the body to allow more resonance). The Eastman sounded as you might expect, very clear, very balanced, and with little need to tweak the controls - I rolled a little treble on and a little bass off, but that's mostly because I have flatwounds on it now. If I had my normal roundwounds (I use TI strings, btw) I'd run it flat. It's exactly the sound I want - very balanced, with no feedback. Perfect, and better than any set up I've used for it before - the only other amp I've used that comes close is the AER combo. The Abe seven string was duplicated EXACTLY - I mean, EXACTLY. I have to bump the treble up and roll the bass down because it's a dark guitar, but the sound flat is PRECISE. I've NEVER heard this guitar reproduced this well before - I know it's the combination of the AI and the RS-10, but I've tried the AI through other speakers, and it wasn't as nice as this.
The Rivera scroll sounding perfect - once again, duplicated the acoustic sound exactly. The guitar is capable of a lot of punch - the Bartolini pickups are killers - and the RS-10 can do that. The treble pickup is VERY cutting - it would be excellent in a rock setting, or in an R&B band with horns. You can still hear the 'wood' in the sound - I'd like to try this with some pedals to go for a Larry Carlton sound. (Not my style, but I can hear this set up doing it.)
The Carvin seven string has an "in your face" presence as well, but more so - the Carvin pickups are LOUD, but they're still nicely balanced. I can still get a very nice jazz tone out of them, but at huge venue volumes (good thing I'm in Vermont now, and not in the old apartment in NYC...); I was very surprised that I'd be happy with the sound of a solid body in this set up, but I am - so much so that I'm going to get rid of the other amps that I'd use for higher volume work.
The big surprise? The Aria FA-70. I've always been a fan of this guitar, since it's FAR better than it's under $500 price would lead you to believe. I plugged it into the Clarus/RS-10 with the guitar wide open and the amp at 12 o'clock on all tone. Wes. Seriously. It sounded EXACTLY like Wes' tone. I was stunned - the Aria sounded nice before, but through this set up? PERFECT.
The upshot of this review, if you haven't guessed yet, is I'm 100% happy with the RS-10. I was happy with it using the Crate Powerblock, but I'm ecstatic when it's paired with the AI Clarus 1R. I'm going to seriously unload all my other stuff and keep this - although I'll probably pick up another Redstone. I think Dave was mentioning a new cab that they're planning to make...
--Marty Power
Dr. Frank Dibussolo
www.frankdibussolo.com
"I have an old Heritage Golden Eagle custom, there are only 2 like it, Johnny Smith has the other, I never play it because of terrible feedback problems. Just for the heck of it, I hooked it up using a Fender PA amp to the Redstone [RS-10] and, man, I could play really loud with no feedback at all. And the redstone sounds great with all my guitars, even using the Fender PA head!"
--Dr. Frank Dibussolo
"I have an old Heritage Golden Eagle custom, there are only 2 like it, Johnny Smith has the other, I never play it because of terrible feedback problems. Just for the heck of it, I hooked it up using a Fender PA amp to the Redstone [RS-10] and, man, I could play really loud with no feedback at all. And the redstone sounds great with all my guitars, even using the Fender PA head!"
--Dr. Frank Dibussolo
Marc Schwartz
"Amps are like guitars, every one sounds different. And every amp sounds
different with every guitar. Perhaps that explains why I have so many of
each. When Dave of Redstone Audio, a new jazz guitar-centric speaker cabinet
manufacturer (www.redstoneaudio.com) asked me to audition one of their
products, I couldn't resist. After all, another color in my musical palette
is always welcome.
I play jazz guitar; sometimes modern, sometimes old fashioned. I perform Django style jazz on both archtops and Django style guitars with my band Hot Club Pacific (www.hotclubpacific.com). Hot Club Pacific has performed at major International festivals. My main amp is an Acoustic Image Clarus head paired with a Raezer's edge stealth 12 ER. The RS-12 was going to face some serious competition.
After unpacking the new cabinet, the first thing that struck me was its good looks. Kind of like a vintage Polytone. Visually, I like it better than the Raezer's Edge. And it's lighter (27 lbs. vs. 33 lbs. for the Stealth 12). For us Boomer musicians, lighter is better.
Plugged in, I found that my humbucker equipped archtops sounded brighter and more focused than the Stealth 12. My floating pickup archtop sounded more "acoustic" and my Django guitars (which use piezo pickups) sounded warmer (not what I like for these guitars). The RS-12 is very much for archtops with a magnetic pickup.
I took the RS-12 to Djangofest Northwest where Hot Club Pacific performed two shows. The sound in the large venue was excellent. I used my vintage ES-175 and had the sound engineers, mike the RS-12 with a Shure SM-57. Crisp tone (excellent for the "Django" sound and no feedback issues. And did I mention it was easy to carry being 6 Lbs. lighter than my Stealth 12? I had a lot of guys come up to during the festival to tell me that I sounded great. While I believe that tone is largely in the fingers, I have to give the RS-12 credit for my excellent tone.
Last week I played a modern jazz gig using my L-5 paired with rhe RS-12. This gig had me playing a medium sized restaurant with no PA. The drummer was aggressive. I had to turn up. No feedback issues (with my Stealth 12, I would have had to avoid many notes on the sixth string) and a crisp tone. Kudos to the RS-12 once again.
Last night I used the RS-12 on a gig where I played electric bass. I don't think the dual cone Eminence speaker in the RS-12 could handle an electric bass at high volume, but for a quiet straight-ahead gig in a small room it worked fine. And sounded good. And did I mention that it was easy to carry?
Bottom line, I heartily endorse the Redstone Audio RS-12 for archtop guitars with a magnetic pickup. They look good, sound great, are incredibly feedback resistant and are easy to carry (I may have mentioned that). And they are priced reasonably. What more could you want?"
--Marc Schwartz
Check out Marc Schwartz's band, “Hot Club Pacific”
I play jazz guitar; sometimes modern, sometimes old fashioned. I perform Django style jazz on both archtops and Django style guitars with my band Hot Club Pacific (www.hotclubpacific.com). Hot Club Pacific has performed at major International festivals. My main amp is an Acoustic Image Clarus head paired with a Raezer's edge stealth 12 ER. The RS-12 was going to face some serious competition.
After unpacking the new cabinet, the first thing that struck me was its good looks. Kind of like a vintage Polytone. Visually, I like it better than the Raezer's Edge. And it's lighter (27 lbs. vs. 33 lbs. for the Stealth 12). For us Boomer musicians, lighter is better.
Plugged in, I found that my humbucker equipped archtops sounded brighter and more focused than the Stealth 12. My floating pickup archtop sounded more "acoustic" and my Django guitars (which use piezo pickups) sounded warmer (not what I like for these guitars). The RS-12 is very much for archtops with a magnetic pickup.
I took the RS-12 to Djangofest Northwest where Hot Club Pacific performed two shows. The sound in the large venue was excellent. I used my vintage ES-175 and had the sound engineers, mike the RS-12 with a Shure SM-57. Crisp tone (excellent for the "Django" sound and no feedback issues. And did I mention it was easy to carry being 6 Lbs. lighter than my Stealth 12? I had a lot of guys come up to during the festival to tell me that I sounded great. While I believe that tone is largely in the fingers, I have to give the RS-12 credit for my excellent tone.
Last week I played a modern jazz gig using my L-5 paired with rhe RS-12. This gig had me playing a medium sized restaurant with no PA. The drummer was aggressive. I had to turn up. No feedback issues (with my Stealth 12, I would have had to avoid many notes on the sixth string) and a crisp tone. Kudos to the RS-12 once again.
Last night I used the RS-12 on a gig where I played electric bass. I don't think the dual cone Eminence speaker in the RS-12 could handle an electric bass at high volume, but for a quiet straight-ahead gig in a small room it worked fine. And sounded good. And did I mention that it was easy to carry?
Bottom line, I heartily endorse the Redstone Audio RS-12 for archtop guitars with a magnetic pickup. They look good, sound great, are incredibly feedback resistant and are easy to carry (I may have mentioned that). And they are priced reasonably. What more could you want?"
--Marc Schwartz
Check out Marc Schwartz's band, “Hot Club Pacific”
Nate Najar
www.natenajar.com
“Another Plug For My Redstone: I have to say I really like this cab. mine's the 8 inch. I did a concert tonight at a small theater. My trio- guitar bass and drums. Clarus SLR for the amp. I used my buscarino cabaret nylon for most of the night and a few tunes I used my buscarino gigmaster archtop. I didn't even have to fiddle with the eq knobs when switching guitars. Both guitars sounded great amplified- I didn't touch the amp once after we hit the first note. All night I wasn't worried about the amp or the tone,I just played and it sounded good. So I do like the cab a lot. For my ears and my music, this thing does better than the RE”.
--Nate Najar
Check out Nate’s latest CD, Swinging With The Nate Najar Quartet.
“Another Plug For My Redstone: I have to say I really like this cab. mine's the 8 inch. I did a concert tonight at a small theater. My trio- guitar bass and drums. Clarus SLR for the amp. I used my buscarino cabaret nylon for most of the night and a few tunes I used my buscarino gigmaster archtop. I didn't even have to fiddle with the eq knobs when switching guitars. Both guitars sounded great amplified- I didn't touch the amp once after we hit the first note. All night I wasn't worried about the amp or the tone,I just played and it sounded good. So I do like the cab a lot. For my ears and my music, this thing does better than the RE”.
--Nate Najar
Check out Nate’s latest CD, Swinging With The Nate Najar Quartet.