Some Kind Of Muffin

So there are two new pieces of Jason Becker gear. It is a testament to his talent that he is still relevant and beloved after his 1987 debut in Cacaphony with Marty Friedman. For those of you not in the know Becker was diagnosed with Lou Gehrig’s Disease in 1990 and given 3 years to live. Well, it’s 2009 and he is still with us. He has continued to write music and has released 4 albums since his diagnosis, the most recent is titled Collection and is a combination of older and newer songs featuring guest musicians.

So here we are 19 years after Becker was diagnosed with Lou Gehrig’s Disease and 16 years after he was supposed to have died and Jason has a new signature guitar made by Paradise Guitars and a new pedal made by Pro Tone.

The guitar is a remake of his toy inspired guitar. He has one made from and Ibanez body and one from Peavey later. There was talk of Peavey doing a signature guitar for Becker, but that never happened. The new Paradise guitars have the large numbered frets and colorful pickups as well as the natural finish. Now, as I will most likely never get to try one out, and I know I will never own one ($2499 for the “standard” package and $2699 for the “deluxe” package) I can only telly you what I like and dislike about its appearance. First, the things they get right, in my opinion: The finish is perfect, the fret numbering and pickup colors. Things I don’t like: the head stock and volume knob. I prefer the headstock on the original model as well as the super-large volume knob on the original. I have placed pictures of both below for you to compare. Yes my problems are superficial. Whatevs. The materials and construction are superior from what I can tell. Bet it’s a great feeling and sounding guitar. The stats etc. are here http://paradiseguitarsusa.com/jason_becker.html

The version I like on the left, newer version on the right

I have been waiting for the Jason Becker Distortion pedal for sometime. There have been ads for it for over a year it seems and until my most recent issue of Guitar Player all the pictures have been artist renderings. Even now, on Pro tone’s own site they still do not have an actual picture of the pedal. Also of note is that while the pedals overall setup and knobs appear to be the same I have seen 3 different bits of artwork for the pedal and the artwork on the pedal featured in Guitar Player is not the same as the artwork on the pedal on Pro Tone Pedal’s website. From what I have read and the few videos I have seen on YouTube the Becker pedal is not for me. However, if you are a tone seeker or shredder this pedal will be for you.

Update: check out a hands on review at Agreed’s Gear Reviews