Every year, Mix contributors Rich Tozzoli, Mike Dwyer and Bruce MacPherson decamp to St. John, USVI, and temporarily turn a house into a studio where they record TV cues while also testing new equipment and software, resulting in a bevy of Mix Real-World Reviews written in a unique part of the real world.
USVI (May 15, 2024)—A last-minute addition to the St John arsenal, the Silvertone made its presence known as soon as the F-style Amp Jewel lit up red. Based on the classic 1484 Silvertone Twin Twelve amp, Jackson Audio’s team took the exact amp schematic and built a stomp pedal, replacing vacuum tubes with JFET transistors. It’s as simple as it gets: Volume, Bass, Treble, Gain.
I ran my 56 reissue Gibson Les Paul goldtop with P90 pickups into it, feeding a 66 Gibson Falcon and a 73 Fender Vibro Champ. What came out was a ton of gritty, tone-soaked, delicious character with a touch of classic edge. As you push the Gain harder, it almost “clips” your sound, but in a useful way. It’s not fuzz, but it’s not distortion; it’s somewhere in between. Twisting the Treble up and the Bass down just dialed it in even further, and it found its way onto every track we cut in that session. It doesn’t just look cool, it sounds cool, and it has become a staple on my pedalboard.
