Not Your Typical Guitar Store... feat. Blade Guitars
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- Опубліковано 5 лют 2025
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Massive thanks to Scan for inviting me to the store and let me know in the comments below if you have any stories about Blade Guitars!
More info on the Variable Spectrum Control: • Blade Guitars - VSC Va...
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I got a blade used in a shop here in the states. Best guitar I've ever played.
Its Flawless, in every way. Metal to Country to Jazz. Rocks every song.
bought a second hand rh4 in 1996 for £ 495 , still gigging with it now 23 years later , fantastic tone and unbelievable tuning stability , you can endlessly dive the trem and it never goes out of tune which is more than can be said for a fender strat. I would back the rh4 against the best American fenders all day long. fantastic build quality and they just look fantastic aswell. awesome , awesome , awesome
correct great guitars used them for years can't fault them play better than some custom fenders should be more about underated by far beautiful workmanship
Hi Mary, thanks for visiting us, and for your film! It's really interesting reading everyone's comments... if there are any Qs for us we'll answer them. 🤓 SA
scan pro audio....where can we buy them in the US?
@@blueswood854 Hi we'll check for you, thanks for the question!
woody johnson where is. Scan audio ?
United Kingdom @@lukather1
@@blueswood854 Hi Woody, we're not aware of a US retailer at this time. We are able to sell and ship to US, so just email us scanproaudio@scan.co.uk and we can discuss and see if this works for you
Have played Blade guitars for years. Wonderful instruments. Always amazed that more guitarists did not know anything about them.
I know these guits!Wonderful!!truly very good instruments!Thx Mary!keep on rocking;learning!!!hihi...
I own a Blade RH2 Classic Ocean Blue and I love it. I bought it brand new back in 2016. Very well made in South Korea, and it plays and sounds like heaven. I strongly recommend this guitar brand. It was my first and still is my only electric, a great choice for an absolute beginner. Much better value for the price than other famous makers. Regards from Spain.
Nice one used them for years great guitars better than most fenders and the custom ones
Hello Mary, I'm writing from Venezuela, owner of a Blade California Standard, magnificent instrument, never met before but is simply incredible. It works very well for musicians that are looking for a signature sound. 100% recommended. Thank you for this video.
Love my misty violet RH4, great video. Nice to see Blade getting some publicity, the quality and versatility is absolutely amazing. I was drawn to them after watching Tom Quayles demo on guitar interactive magazine. I'd been ogling the guitar on ebay and accidentally left the page open in work (worked in a guitar store at the time). I was astounded when my boss surprised me with it as a Xmas present at the end of the year, so its a really special guitar to me. They have a particular glassyness that I've been unable to replicate with anything else so the RH4 is my main axe.. You won't be disappointed!
Yup that Tom quale vid was great.
I bought a Blade guitar from Andertons in the late 90's. At the time I was amazed at the quality and it sounded gorgeous. 20 years on it has matured beautifully and even more joyful to play
That's amazing Mike! Thanks so much for sharing
Back in 2008 I visited one of my best friends, who was living in Stockholm at the time. He didn’t have an electric guitar, so we went to a guitar shop in the city and found a blue T-style guitar from Blade. That guitar was very easy to play, had a very solid construction and had a great sound! I hope Blade still distribute all around the world. Thanks for your video.
Good on you, Mary for supporting Blade Guitars. Andreas Richwien, guitar and vox of MINOTAUR, long-time RH4 endorser of BLADE.⛧🤘
I’ve had an RH4 for a long while now, and it’s EASILY the best guitar I’ve ever owned. It can do pretty much everything.
The other thing about it is the build quality and workmanship. Second to none - and I’ve owned guitars by all the major players at one time or another.
I just acquired a 95 Blade Delta. It is an amazing guitar. I can see why the pros liked them. Excellent Demo by the way 👌
Since a few weeks I own a 32 y/o purple RH4, and it blows away anything I've ever played before. The previous owner thought the 15 different options weren't enough, so he switched the HSS setup to a Seymour Duncan P-rail in the bridge with an extra 3-way toggle to either P90, single rail, or both. And both the singlecoils replaced by some awesome sounding Dimarzio Cruisers! So much sound, power and tones.. even for some djent stilo my Jackson doesn't match the blade.. it's scary, so good!
Came to this video a little late, I have played professionally with a Blade R4 for many years, pubs and clubs doing covers mostly.I have most makes of guitars, but to be honest nothing comes close to the Blade for versatility , playability , sound. The VSC switch is the key, it can sound like a Fender one minute , then with the flip of the switch it can have the fatness and drive of a Les Paul, sustains forever, amazing. Great video channel, let’s hope we all get back playing live in 2021, take care all.
Those guitars sounded incredible with the finger-picking. You looked good in the blue guitars! I think I caught a smile!
Blade guitars are awesome!!! Overdrive sounds are also fan-tas-tic! You can play a quite a huge range of drive sounds. Great great great guitars!
As a musician, and a big PC nerd, I'm amazed I had no idea Scan had a music division.
And of course, an Interesting and Informative TT, as always.
I have a Blade Levington R3 from the late 90’s with the banned headstock, i’m in love with it
Mary, your unbridled enthusiasm for all things musical is infectious. Happy Chewsday!
I just found Scan today when I was searching for Blade strats to buy in the U.K. I remember the Levinson blade models and didn’t know you could still but them
I remember when these were in the Guitar Center mail catalog for like $150 30 years ago. Amazing guitars!!!
Steve Rothery my no.2 all time guitar hero has a Levinson Blade signiture model, in fact he helped Mr Levinson create the range back in I987 or so I'm surmising.
I recently bought an early nineties Blade Panama Red strat. I know very little about it, except that it is an absolutely amazing guitar to play and sounds fantastic.
I have the delta. Birds eye burst with mint green guard, it's lovely. The pickup were a bit gutless for me so I put some Fralin Jim Weider set in and they were fat but to dark, in going to sell it now and use the cash to buy something a bit more hand made like a Palir or a Warmoth project.
The VLC preamp on these guitars is a stunning tool and works wonders live.
I have 8 electrical guitars, 2 of which are blades (RH-4 - which I bought 2nd Hand over 20 years ago- and Texas). The VSC is amazing. there'll be a pedal Version out soon. Definietly will check that out.
Amazing right hand technique. These guitars seem to be more than strat/tele clones, with some sort of active electronics, but they still retain a single coil sound. Thank you for the video.
Wow I remember those guitars...at the time I started playing there was a small guitar store/workshop in my area that sold these. Great to see they're still around. I couldn't afford one back then so I got a Pacifica as my first guitar instead, like so many beginners. It's gone through a lot of modifications over the years and I still play and love it a lot.
I got a blade rh2 about 5 years back, I had no idea about the brand or anything. It was very much an impulse buy. A fun s type guitar that can do lots of sounds if needed.
I picked one up 12 years ago and before plugging in I wanted it. I was looking for a s/h Fender Strat and the Levinson was just so nice. But it had been sold and was waiting for the new owner to pick it up. Eventually had A Tokai from 1985 but sold that last year (mistake). So Levinson back on my radar again. Good job Mary.
Mary
That was some genius editing there.
Good work as always!
I bought my first Blade, an RH4 in 1991 and was blown away by it. Not surprisingly, I still have it and have since added an R2 (1989) a T2 (now Delta Classic, also 1989 model) and a Texas Vintage 62 (1997). I have played Suhrs, Andersons but they sound soulless compared to Blades and Levinsons are every bit as good build quality IMHO. I also have a Don Grosh Retro Classic, a "boutique" strat that is excellent, but its my Blades that I turn to first. Great guitars and have also found Christian at Blade to be very responsive to any questions. Great guitars, great company. They deserve to be far better known but can be quite difficult to find here in Scotland
I've not seen or played one, but I do remember reading about them in guitar magazines many years ago.
I just got a Levinson Blade Texas Deluxe. S/h after finding out Rory Gallagher had a blade Durango. Though not on here it is an amazing guitar beautiful woods and stunning sound and action . How are these not so well known ? they outclass the big names for quality and performance .
Je viens seulement de découvrir ce que vous faites et Whahou, qu'elle belle surprise, je vais écouter et voir vos autres vidéo 👍👍👍
levinson blade they were awesome phil emmanuel played one for years, underrated guitar.
Thanks for posting the Blades here;newer saw a bad blade guitar!
These guitars look and sound great. A local shop had one blade bass in stock. It took him something like ten years to get it sold. I don't know why, but nobody wanted to buy it for some reason. It became a bit of a meme among the locals who where in the shop frequently.
Great demos!! I love your playing style, and I love how jazzed you are about playing clean stuff on electric guitars. It gives you such a unique sound and approach.
Thank you!
@Mary Spender Hi Mary, I've been a subscriber to your UA-cam channel for about a year now. I really enjoy watching your videos. I have 2 chronic lower back pain conditions, Lumbar Spinal Stenosis and Degenerative Disc Disease and Osteoarthritis in both of my knees and in my hips. I can't sleep most nights because of my chronic pain so I binge watch your videos. Binge watching your videos helps me get through the sleepless nights and helps me forget about my pain. Thank you for making your videos, I really appreciate it.
I'm so so sorry to hear that! Thank you so much for spending your time watching my videos. It means the world.
@@MarySpender Thank you for the kind words Mary. My favorite video of yours is when you collaborated with Leo from Frog Leap Studios for the song Sultans of Swing. You are an amazing guitarist Mary.
Brilliant way of mixing guitars to hear their differences. Reminds me why i play a tele
Don't know how I missed this one when it first came out, but I'm glad I found it. Beautiful guitars! The cover over the truss rod seems kind of necessary, but besides that, they look and sound great.
Love this demo! Your narrative is always interesting, and the playing just moves right along, giving us a free-flowing and super entertaining vicarious experience of these beautiful guitars.
Thank you so much!
Mary, take another look at the Dayton. Such simple setup, but such versatility in tone.
I owned a Blade, with active pickups. Strat style. Had it from 1998 to 2008.
Being a blues player I also had a Fender Strat and Tele for the more traditional tones heard in blues. That Violet Mist Blade was great for blues-rock songs, but it didn’t sound like Strat. I lived in
L.A. for two decades, and found that some of my various band mates had very traditional ideas about what a blues guitar tone should sound like. So I found myself playing mostly my Fenders.
As the 2000’s moved on I had stopped using my Blade and sold it on EBay to a buyer in England. I paid $1200 new, but ten years on it only fetched $800 used.
I still use both a Strat and Tele live. I moved to Hawaii in 2013 and am pleased as to how popular the blues is here. Although the local blues players here are not opinionated as many L.A. players as to guitar tone, and now I wish I hadn’t sold the Blade. SRV style blues-rock is very popular here, so I bought a Shawbucker Strat with a bridge humbucker to keep up with the Les Paul players.
I'll definitely have to check out Blade guitars for myself. All of the guitars featured sound great. Thanks again.
Marco
Thanks Marco!
Hello Mary, great film. These axes....well your Vigier Guitars sound much better and I think fit your sound much better. Keep up the great work.
Blade Guitars are awesome! I've got a Panama Red from the Texas series and it's superb.
I have a 1991 Japanese made blade rh4 In purple sen ash. It is pre Fender headstock lawsuit and Its the most beautiful guitar in my collection! It reminded me of Prince somehow 😂 so I bought it. The bridge is fantastic also
Great guitars. Had a Wayne's World moment with a misty violet R4 back in the day. Currently playing a Delta Pro. Don't forget about the adjustment pots for the VSC on the back. Even more flexibility!
I discovered the guitar with Blade, by watching Norbert "Nono" Krief (from Trust/Johnny Halliday) playing an RH4 back in the early '90s. In 99, I got a Delta pro, which still had the Fender style headstock, not that awkward thing they got since FMIC threatened to sue. It played like butter and looked awesome with its yellow burst and golden hardware. It was my favorite one until it got stolen 10 years ago. I've never got over it. Blade guitars were all the rage in the '90s. They fell in relative oblivion in the last 20 years but I'm glad they're coming back to the front stage. If only they could change that terrible headstock!! ;)
Loved that white tele
I never heard of Blade guitars, but I really liked the sound of the white Tele one and the orange strat one.
been watching a lot of your Tuesday talks....enjoy them...your unique style and talent and your unpretentious manner...had to subscribe. Keep em coming. If your ever gigging on the west coast of the U.S.A... i would show up and listen. ♪
Nice - cool vid. Wow, easy to see why session folk use these. that's a fair bit of tone range and sound shaping :)
Great video marry 👍🏻👍🏻
Love Lebensohn Guitars I have a Texas Strat I’m able to pull the perfect Stevie Ray Vaughan sand so versatile lovely neck impeccable wiring love them
I've got a Texas Vintage and a Delta Standard. Very good guitars!
Very cool video!! Thanks Mary! Splendid tones
Mary you make playing guitar look easy!
Thanks so much Edward!
Thanks, Mary. Well done; always go to 11.
Hi mary. Im a big fan of Blade guitar i got given a Delta standard series telecaster type for my 15th birthday in candy apple red which i love. I have made a few videos on it myself on my own youtube channel. When you played the different guitars in the song and edditrd the clips together was that hard to do. Im a big fan of your channel and music keep it up. 😊🎸
So it’s like a full floating system. Wow. Found one on marketplace. Considering it atm.
Great video Mary. I’ve bought computer components from scan before but never knew they sold guitars! Will definitely check them out
Had an RH4 and Delta Classic both in the Misty Violet. No question they're really top notch instruments the build quality and technology is right up there with the best. However I sold both of mine. I found the Sen Ash bodies to be soooooo heavy. I often regret selling the RH4. Blades have terrible resale value too which is great for the 2nd hand buyer. A new RH4 is around £1300+ I think, but they often come up on eBay for half that. Nice to see somebody feature them they're so rarely talked about.
Time for road trip.....up north! Thanks for the heads up Mary!!!
I'm amazed by how many good eps of tuesday talks you can make. you're doing something interesting every week or so it seems and that's just really, really cool to me, cause not everyone can say the same
the best part about tuesday
Thanks so much Totti!
I also recommend SciManDan's "Tinfoil Tuesday", where he takes Flat-Earthers to bits. It is absolutely hilarious 😂.
@@ChrisPage68 cheers, will check it out
PageMonster
SciManDan is taking over!!!
Ikr
Great video Mary. I didn’t know of Scan Audio before, but I am very familiar with Blade instruments, having been a Levinson/Blade player since 2000. I have a Texas 62 Vintage model. It’s an sss S type, without the VSC control but with a switch to bring the neck pickup into the Bridge & Bridge+Middle positions, and a variable boost that is like having an overdrive pedal in the guitar. I was looking for an S type guitar and searched long and hard. In the end I found 3 F branded models in a shop not far away and this. None of the F guitars quite had what the Blade had, so I had it there and then and have never looked at another S.
However, a few years ago I wanted to improve the sound and changed the stock single coils for set of Irish Tour single coils from Bare Knuckle Pickups. Oh wow. It’s a keeper....
Keep up the great work Mary!
Never heard of Blade - but really interested/intrigued now!
Hey Mary, for the next time you compare several guitars, maybe consider trying longer chunks with the same guitar, because the listener needs 2-3 second to accomodate the new sound and it's already gone when you have adapted... A bit frustrating, maybe... Anyway, I love this video, your authenticity and your generosity ! Thanks to the Scan shop ! ;-)
That pure white one sounded amazing to me. Clear favorite
Not familiar with these guitars yet, but by God, they are beautiful! They have some of my favorite features, too: coil-split humbuckers, and a trem that stays in tune!
Winning surprised tone face.
hahaha
I enjoyed your playing,Mary,great snappy groove and excellent showcase for the many tones available on these versatile guitars. You made those guitars,indeed,Talk. And on a Tuesday too! Tcheers!
Thank you!
I love the way you play the guitar. Have you ever made any chewtorials on how to play that style?
I sitting in paradise with my new Mary Spender shirt watching Chewsday Tawks.
That was amazing, Mary. Really grabbed me with the first guitar before hearing it. Saw you at Norms vids in the last few months.
Great soul and player. Take care.
I have a purple strat blade. The playability and 15 range of sounds are unsurpassed. Easily Better than fender and sounds better too. The most underrated guitar ever. Not cheap but well worth it. However its wasted on me I'm a bass player. Might sell it to someone who will put it to good use.
I've had a very early R4 since the mid '90s. Playing it's like wearing a fitted suit... I own quite a few guitars, but the Blade is the only one that you 'put it on' and it feels like it's natural for it to be there.
Me too. Pre lawsuit headstock.
Now that Trem Torture Ad, makes more sense. Very cool idea, and invention.
While I drool a bit over Blade guitar models, I'd like to see something about that little ascending lick that is the center piece of that song you're playing.
Love Blade guitars. If they had more 24 fret models, I'd use them all them time! Great for recording and getting loads of sounds!!
Great guitars used them for years can't fault them play great 👍
The maroon best suits you with the hum bucker. If you wanted one, pick that one, it looks good on you and I thought you looked more comfortable playing that one. I'm late but tomorrow is Tuesday!
Early nineties the RH4 was hot. Imho it had a better value and quality than a lot of big brands.
And my R4 too !!
In the early 2000s, I had a Blade RH-4 Strat style down in Memphis, TN, I believe in the honey burst color if I recall correctly. I recall that I bought it used at Yarbrough Music for around $500. I had some other Strats and so later consigned it at Park Avenue Consignment Music (the music store that was in the movie Hustle and Flow as the place where they got the recording microphone). Joe the Manager told me quite excitedly that the guitar was sold to the former bass player of Sam Sham and the Pharaohs (Little Red Riding Hood and Wooly Bully hits), who came up from nearby Northern MS. It was a great guitar, but I was Strat rich at the time. Last I knew Blade was designed and run by Gary Levin, who lived in Switzerland. They are definitely great, high end guitars with a lot of features, for sure.
Awesome.. blade's.... tone.... fantastic review mam...
My friend played a Blade 20 years ago, nothing else sounds quite like them, I tried to get his sound from a standard Strat and effects, but nothing sounded right until I played one myself.
Great guitars used them for years can't fault them play great and so versatile
04:58 that‘s my setup: Steve Rotherby Blade RH4 played through Hughes & Hughes&Kettner Grandmeister 35. Was real blast to see you playing it! Has a fantastic & versatile sound. I hardly play anything else sind I got it. But I have to admit I‘ve not explored even a small fraction of the possibilities this combination provides.
Todd Rundgren had a Blade. It has a see through purple finish. I think the first time I saw him play it was in the early 90's.
I have a taxes one, more than 10 years
I love it very much
I’ve wanted a Blade pretty much since they were launched, but could never afford one. Then recently I bought a left handed RH2 from 1989 (with F*nder style headstock). It really is a gorgeous guitar. Next I want an RH4, or the Steve Rothery signature if they make a lefty of that?
That demo style was amazing. If you did that with the same amp settings and pickup position, you could compare the tone of a lot of guitars. That would be a great video. I'd watch more of those.
More to come then! I had such fun making it
Great vidéo ! Very cool to listen to ! Thanks ! :-)
Yeah I have a Texas blade it’s awesome I love the pick ups I love the setup if it’s possible you can make more of a stretch sound play little wing even nicer and cleaner with still heaps of sustain also I found that Stevie Ray Vaughan sound perfect
The Dayton standard is the only one you looked comfortable with physically, regardless of tone. With the right config it could be like a cool UK St Vincent style sig for you :)
Blade was one of the best guitars I ever played. Cheers and be lucky
I’m going to have to check these guitars out, never heard of them before
There are very versatile guitars. I have an RH-4 Standard. I think they don't make that model anymore. It is the same but without the Falcon bridge and not matching painted headstock. TBH I didn't know how to use this guitar to get the most out of it. I think this is a cool guitar for recording studio. I never got how to make a good use of the VSC system. Maybe cause I was looking just for an Strat sound. BTW if somebody want strat sounds... IMO just get a strat, this is a more modern approach but very interesting to have.