Hayden Cotton Club 7/15 guitar combo

With a name like this, you know it’s got to have something to do with jazz. This little beauty is part of Hayden’s hand wired, valve series produced in the UK. As the marketing blurb tells me, from the moment you plug it in, a Hayden makes its presence felt with a strong and unmistakable core tone that remains intact no matter how hard the amplifier is driven. There’s no endless tweaking of controls – it just sounds great straight out of the box. And they’re right. With a 12” Celestion G12M Greenback speaker, this is one sweet sounding little amp and switching between the Single Ended and Push/Pull modes to empower the EL84-driven output stages, you feel unusually “connected” to the 7/15. And the technology is all in there, from the custom wound transformers, to the defence-standard components and the elegant signal topology. These amps are not only built to sound good, but also built to last, with nonferrous stainless steel chassis, hand machined gold turret tags and ceramic valve bases all inside a marine quality birch ply cabinet. So if you’re looking for a classic tone look no further. For more go to www.haydenamps.com

Istanbul Cindy Blackman signature series cymbals

Blackman is a new endorsee to the Istanbul brand and it seems that this new association has clearly given her every opportunity to spread her wings creatively. The full range to date includes 15” hats, 16”, 18” and 20” crash plus a 22” ride. Firstly, Jazzwise tested the 15” hats and the 18” crash in a 30-piece big band setting to see if they could really cut the mustard and hold their own behind a full sax and horn section. Needless to say, the 15” hats are larger than the more common 13” and 14” and we were expecting plenty of volume –we weren’t disappointed. But it wasn’t just plain unabashed volume, it was volume with character, colour and charisma. These hats have a nicely defined “click” and when played half closed produced a lovely dark sound not unlike that heard in the recordings of the big bands in the 1930s and 40s. The 18” crash also came up trumps – a real revelation. It has a very dark, subtle sound and is not too overpowering. It’s in no way an aggressive cymbal and has a quick response that fades fast, so there is no question of the sound getting in the way. We also tested the hats and crash in a small combo situation, just to see if they might be too heavy. We would have felt more comfortable with a 14” pair of hats but the crash was just fine. For more go to www.brdistribution.co.uk

Headway HE2/DB.FEQ double bass pick-up

 It seems that double bass pick-ups have been, as it were, coming out of the woodwork in recent years, with the likes of Shertler, Underwood, Fishman and Realist. And now Oxfordshire-based Headway has come up with yet another way of amplifying your db. Set within the bridge the two shielded, circular piezo ceramic cables fit into U shaped slots, one in each of the feet of the bridge. The cables then run down the body of the bass behind the tailpiece and into a nine volt battery in a neat little leather case that is attached by a velcro pad to the back of the tailpiece. This follows on to the jack socket which is equipped with self-adhesive pads and draw ties. Spare velcro pads are supplied, so that wires can be trapped, so as not to touch either the body or the tailpiece of the bass. The circular 360-degree pick-up profile means that this system picks up the most comprehensive collection of vibrations passing through the bridge, maximising the tonal and timbral authenticity and delivering a very punchy, solid and clean sound. There’s no body or background noise and no hum. This pickup system could be as close as it gets to amplifying a bass through acoustic mics. The best thing about the HE2, is it does not taint the natural sound of the bass played acoustically. Go to www.headwayelectronics.com

Gretsch G5000 snare drum

Made in the Ridgeland, South Carolina custom drum shop, these solid maple snare drums include 30-degree bearing edges, 20-strand snare wires and coated Permatone batter head with an underside dot. This is the first time that Gretsch has offered single-ply wood snare drums. The G5000s are available in 5.5"x14" or 6"x13". Shells include solid maple reinforcement hoops to ensure true shell roundness. For more go to www.fender.com