Mellow, Maybe But…
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How mellow can this axe actually be, even with its soothingly gorgeous, In-Distress, Mellow Yellow exterior? After all; all Andes are genetically endowed with the innate ability to take over the musical world—figuratively speaking, of course. We are not talking hostile takeover here. We are all happily aware that music is the universal language of Love and as such this Icon Classic is pertinently poised for effortless interaction. One of the best ways to share. So sure, maybe this Icon is mellow—but mellow from a commanding position of free-flowing mastery and grace.
Because remember, first and foremost Anderson Guitars are performance guitars. Everything we do in the development and creation process is about extraordinary function and rich, soulful tones first—with no compromises. All the other appointments that you love so much are the natural byproduct of ultra-attention to every detail of design and creation.
As awesome as an Icon Classic already is, this one has some newer secrets hiding beneath its unassuming mellow exterior that we would be delighted to show you. Don’t be fooled, it is still a supercharged sleeper—looks like a vintage guitar, sounds like the best vintage instrument you have ever heard…plus more. Plays like liquid butter—smooth, fast and so fun that you just cannot put it down. So good. Who would want to anyway.
But as we said, underneath lies secrets, secrets sequestered just below the surface.
Laying the foundation for its In-Distress, Mellow Yellow finish is a Roasted Pine body. Body wood is the primary “tone generator” of an electric guitar—establishes the characteristic tone. Still with a vintage flavor, Roasted Pine speaks with a slightly different voice than the two most dominant tone woods of the 50’s & 60’s, Alder and Swamp Ash or even the 80’s era “boss,” Basswood.
Roasted Pine pronounces each pick attack with a noticeable and pleasing percussive bloom—a natural organic compression—blossoming into full, round and gorgeous note projection, that is not too thin and not too thick. Perhaps Roasted Pine could best be defined as a sound reminiscent of blending Alder and Basswood together for a different but equally good and familiar, sweet vintage tone—the approximate resonant response of Alder with the soft attack of Basswood. Very musical and very nice in the midst of a song.
To add further versatility to this platform, a Single/Single/Humbucker pickup layout was chosen by the guys at Midwood Guitar Studio. The HC2 humbucker in the bridge position is our version of an overwound PAF. We purposely designed it to be super-musical. When you “take your foot off of it” the sound can be so sweet, but wind it up and you are soaring with powerful saturation and sustain.
Single coil duties lie with a set of two beautiful sounding VA7.2 pickups positioned in the neck and middle. VA7.2 pickups, are again, wound to be super-musical, rich and full without ever being overwound. You need to be very careful when creating vintage single coil pickups that use magnets as pole pieces. Over-overwind them and they become lifeless, dull and dark. VA7.2s ring out with fullness and proper articulation without sounding the least bit harsh. Sweet, superb, timeless tone.
Hummmm?
What is that? Oh right, with real vintage single coils—and even split humbuckers—they can also “pick up” the 60 cycle wave form from the AC power in the room. (In other countries it can be a different amount of cycles per second but the result is the same.) At times you can hear electrical field hum. Some players manage it and some (more) want it to go away without altering lush tones in any way.
Will you please V-Quiet!
Yes we will, thank you.
Enter Anderson's exclusive, V-Quiet, hum-canceling system. This is a precisely-calibrated passive setup that imperceptibly quiets any of our true single coil pickups without a trace. No one will be the wiser. Just wonderful tones with the hum left behind—no where to be heard.
They call it Mellow Yellow—Icon that is—awash in unparalleled playability, bountiful tone and no one to be heard humming loudly in the background. So good.
GUITAR SPECIFICATIONS:
