Unapologetically built as if the ’80s heavy metal party never ended.
As the guitarist for glam metal band Trixter, Steve Brown enjoyed commercial popularity, sold-out tours, and a healthy income stream. Then the alternative rock revolution hit, and like most hair rockers, Trixter dropped off the map for a long time. But Brown refused to go away. He worked as a studio musician and touring gun for hire, honed his production chops, and continued writing songs. So, when an opportunity surfaced to launch his own guitar line, Brown had the engineering chops and the playing skills to know what he wanted to make — and hear.
The SBS line, available from www.guitarfetish.com, is unapologetically built as if the heavy metal party never ended. The SS300 is a Strat-shaped hotrod that resembles an ‘80s Charvel. Loaded with a high-gain Alnico II humbucker and two high-gain single coil Alnico V Strat pickups, the guitar can go from mild to wild with the flick of a switch (or push of a pedal) and seems sturdy enough to take a pounding — though we wouldn’t recommend going all Kurt Cobain with it.
The body is made of a solid three-piece Alderwood and the neck is roasted solid flamed maple with rounded edges and 22 jumbo smoothed-out frets. As soon as we unboxed the guitar and plugged it in, the SS300 played smoothly, sustained well, and stayed in tune. No intonation tweaks were necessary. And the five-setting pickup selector and two knobs operated fluidly together, making volume swells a breeze. Without question, the guitar is made for shredding, and the bridge pickup is up to the task, yet the single coil pickups allow players flexibility, whether playing jazz, blues, delicate, watery arpeggios, or creamy rock leads.
Priced at under $400, the SS300 would be a sweet deal even with a normal Squire Strat-style bridge. But there was no way Brown was going to release a high-gain guitar that couldn’t swoop, climb, and divebomb, and that meant including a tremolo – and not just any tremolo. Every SBS guitar features a Floyd Rose system with a sensitive whammy bar, bridge tuners and a locking nut.
As with many affordable high-gain guitars, we had some issues with unwanted hum, especially with the single-coil pickups, but it was nothing that a simple noise gate couldn’t eliminate without compromising the tone of the guitar. In other words, the SBS300 is a bargain for players who want to tap into the power of Jackson, Ibanez, and Dean guitars, but don’t have unlimited income.
