HOHNER JT-60 ATN The very first modelling guitar? (HOW does it do it?)

The HOHNER JT-60 (Jazzmaster Copy) had some crazy Alan Entwistle designed ATN passive tonal circuit. This Allows you to blend pickups and access a much wider range tones.
It came with a booklet with various settings to allow you to replicate the sounds of a Stratocaster, Telecaster, Gretsch, Rickenbacker, Les Paul and, get this, an acoustic! All done with zero battery power. Just some tiny wee thing in the circuit.
Here's what it sounds like.
Thanks to ma mate Mick for a loan of this guitar. You can find his band here:
/ 1919official
Video Timing:
0:00 Intro
2:46 A look at the Hohner JT-60
4:41 The ATN Circuit
5:43 Sounds without all the fancy stuff enagaged
7:20 It's a decent guitar!
9:27 Sounds with all the fancy stuff engaged
16:53 What do I think?
Thanks for watching, folks.
Dunsy
#hohner
#jazzmaster
#guitarreview

[@shaunw9270]

Watching this , I remembered that Hohner had a "Custom Shop" in Wales in the early 90's that Alan Entwistle was running.

[@marccarter1350]

My first Guitar in the 1980's was a Hohner. An SG copy. It was £350 quid new in 1988. It was bloody shocking stock. Needed loads of work, parts. Gibson/Fender were not doing cheaper guitars then for some reason. They were all well out of my price range as a school kid. I paid weekly. They gave it to me after i finished.

[@BeesWaxMinder]

This circuit crops up a lot more than you might think & in different guitars as well but back then it was just Stuck to the back of the scratchplate with double sided foam tape! It often came loose for that reason rattling about causing trouble so many people did remove it eventually but it was an intriguing gimmick to push sales somewhat👍 (No doubt you've push sales up on eBay considerably!!)😂

[@DunsysGuitarWorld]

Crasy how all those sounds are controlled by that little gizmo. The guitar is back with its owner now, he's probably checking Reverb and Ebay listings!

[@davidrjbrown8808]

The same thing is available on many Revelation guitars. The one I owned briefly was very nice. I emailed Alan, and he said he was thinking of releasing the ATN as a standalone mod. I think there's inductance involved. Beyond my understanding, but I like it more than Varitone.

[@DunsysGuitarWorld]

I quite fancy one of the Revelation Jazzmaster types with the varitone. Look and sound pretty cool.

[@johnpulaski3293]

I don’t know that any one setting emulated any specific guitar but some of those tones were phenomenal!!!

[@DunsysGuitarWorld]

I was really impressed with the playability and the sounds - wee bit heavy for me though.

[@danielktdoranie]

Honner has made some cool sleeper guitars in the past. What an interesting circuit and tonal options on this one! I have always been a strictly set-neck or neck through guitar guy… hated bolt-on necks. Recently got a Fender Troy Van Leeuwen Jazzmaster… I am impressed with how many songs I am writing using it.

[@DunsysGuitarWorld]

Very nice JM you have there! Yeah, I was very impressed with the build quality of this guitar. I had a loan of their ‘59 style Les Pauls a long time ago. It was a nice instrument.

[@jasondorsey7110]

Hohner had some real sleeper amps too when Paul Bartell worked for them, that man was a legend

[@BeesWaxMinder]

I should never have sold my TVL JM on Ebay!

[@danielktdoranie]

@@jasondorsey7110 YES, those Bartel made Honner amps were strictly USA only though IIRC. Must keep that in mind when I’m in the U.S. again

[@AndrewAHayes]

My thinking on the circuit used to achieve the different tones was the same as yours, whatever is going on inside it sounds good, apart from that acoustic tone, I too liked the Rickenbacker tone it was very bell like! I wonder how good they will sound with some amp and cab modeling? I was surprised how well this guitar has been looked after, it doesn't look as though it has been played a lot. I think this is the first time I have seen and heard one of these, I have had a go on one of their '80s Tele copies owned by a friend back in the '80s and that was a decent sounding model. I once saw a video where a guy could not decide which type of cap to use for his PUPS and so he made a small board with about 4 or five different caps and a switch, just to test them out, its tones were so likeable he fitted it to the guitar permanently.

[@DunsysGuitarWorld]

I guess it must be that kinda changing capacitance or inductance? And there's no power to it, so it must be pretty damn cleaver engineering. Definitely loved the Ricky tone. And a very decent playing guitar.

[@paulmccusker4305]

I think it'd be great to mess around with all the tonal settings, great wee vid mate sure you enjoyed it 👍

[@DunsysGuitarWorld]

Yeah, quite the guitar for different sounds - damn heavy though!

[@alanwilson1724]

I've fancied one of these since they first came out, based purely on the looks. I'd definitely get confused with all the settings though! I've heard they tend to be a bit on the weighty side too, might be a bit much for my aching back.

[@DunsysGuitarWorld]

Yeah this was a heavy guitar! Fine for sitting doon, but maybe only a couple of songs live standing up for us OAPs 😆👌

[@michaelreed9887]

THANKS MATE GREAT CONTENT AND THANK YOU FOR THE FIX UP THE GUITAR FEELS GREAT GOD BLESS SORRY FOR LATE RESPONSE FAMILY MATTERS I OWE YOU A DRINK AND A FAVOUR KEEP THE SHOWS COMING

[@DunsysGuitarWorld]

Absolutely no problem, Sir. Hope all is well. Catch up soon.

[@Iggytommy]

My first guitar was a Hohner ES335 copy

[@jonnyroxtar]

It sounds pretty dark on practically every sound to me except for the Rickenbacker . I agree that one sounds the best , nice and bright and more alive really. Very interesting little guitar

[@DunsysGuitarWorld]

Yeah, I definitely thought that the Ricky sound was super cool - almost having just for that. Good playing guitar too, but a wee bit on the heavy side.

[@darbassbasscovers]

That's really good (thanks!) - I like it

[@DunsysGuitarWorld]

Thank you too!

[@kevinbutler94]

I had one of these, bought it in about 92 after Cobain made the Jaguar shape popular with us kids, my one was never really set up properly and the body was really heavy. I never really felt the ATN system worked particularly well and had other guitars I preferred to play so this baby just sat collecting dust. I tried to sell it earlier this year with little luck, eventually sold it onto some teenager locally (probably bought it for the same reasons I did back in 92') and only got £60 for it, I was just glad of making some space in the garage lol...shameful I know.

[@DunsysGuitarWorld]

£60?! No way! I thought it was a decent guitar and the tonal choices were pretty interesting. It was too heavy for my old back though, I'll say that.

[@kevinbutler94]

@@DunsysGuitarWorld I know, £60, what a give away lol. I need the room, thankfully the kid reminded me of my '19 year old self' so I didnt resent letting it go so cheaply, hopefully it'll inspire him to write the next 'Teen Spirit' or 'Paranoid'. Daaaamn heavy too lol

[@DunsysGuitarWorld]

Passing on the Torch of Rock and Roll, I like it!

[@Iggytommy]

I'm very intrigued to know what's going on with the circuitry. I wonder if the second tone controls is a mids controls and there's an inductor in that expoxyed bottle cap looking module thing? When it's on full, the mids are fully cut; when it's on zero, the mids are fully in. ??

[@DunsysGuitarWorld]

Could well be - the unit seemed to be completely sealed, so I couldn’t check inside. If it had been my guitar I definitely would have opened it as I’m totally confused by how it’s doing it!

[@650thunderbird]

👍🏻👍🏻 Nice!

[@DunsysGuitarWorld]

Thank you! Cheers!

[@bbq4126]

Noel Gallagher used one pre-Oasis fame.

[@DunsysGuitarWorld]

No way?! I honestly didn’t know anything about these guitars - pretty damn neat though.

[@Iggytommy]

Which of the controls have notched positions?

[@DunsysGuitarWorld]

That’s the funny thing, I couldn’t actually feel a notch as such, just went with what I thought was changing the sound.

[@Iggytommy]

@@DunsysGuitarWorld oh, the instruction sheet implies at least one of the controls has notched positions. Hmm

[@martinheath5947]

Would've been nice to hear this demo without a distortion pedal to hear the comparisons more clearly. That overdrive fuzz tone stamps its own character too much over the natural harmonics of the various pickup options imo.

[@DunsysGuitarWorld]

Definitely better to have as many sound options as possible 👍

[@Lomoholga2]

Guys-- I *think* this guy just might be Scottish.

[@DunsysGuitarWorld]

Indeed!

[@lindamcguigan5989]

I've a guitarist magazine, and they review this guitar 1991they also review a Patrick Eggle Berlin

[@DunsysGuitarWorld]

Ah, nice one - seems to be an early 90’s creation then.

[@lindamcguigan5989]

@@DunsysGuitarWorld At the costly sum of £225

[@BettyBoolean]

I bought the Hohner ST59 with ATN in around 1992 a strat style version of the same thing in great blue see the grain look There is a company producing Alan Entwistle designed guitars today called Revelation Guitars. They make an updated version of this called the RJT 60

[@martinheath5947]

Fantastically versatile guitar, the Revelation

[@DunsysGuitarWorld]

Yeah, I really fancy one of those Revelation Jazzmaster types.