In the 15 years since his debut album, Welcome, Doyle Bramhall, II has been in great demand. Along with a decade working with Eric Clapton in the studio and onstage, he’s has collaborated with a lengthy list of artists including Elton John, Roger Waters, Sheryl Crow, and on the Tedeschi-Trucks Band’s last three albums. This …

Mix one part blues, one part jazz, one part swing, stir in some rock and soul, bring to a simmer, and you have Duke Robillard ala mode. In his 35 years in the music business, Robillard has learned to do things his own way. Though a stint in the Fabulous Thunderbirds brought him closer to …

Because Eric Krasno isn’t quite busy enough performing 188 dates a year with Soulive, moonlighting with the band Lettuce, or producing Norah Jones and Aaron Neville, he recently felt the need to release a solo record. Blood From A Stone positions the eclectic songwriter/guitarist front and center for the first time as a singer. Soul …

Price: Soul Food, $89.25 (list), $62.81 (street); Nano Big Muff, $95.64 (list), $69.80 (street) Info: www.ehx.com Guitarists have an insatiable desire for overdrive and distortion pedals, and manufacturers seem to be responding with more models every day. Two of the latest to roll out are the Soul Food and Nano Big Muff stompboxes from Electro-Harmonix. …

In his first exclusive video tutorial for VG Online, Andrew Hendryx uses his Collings MF5 mandolin to show us how to play the intro of the Jimi Hendrix version of “Hey Joe.” Keep up with Andrew at www.andrewhendryx.com. See more lessons, VG adds new lessons monthly!

In the mid 1950s, Leo Fender and his crew spent countless hours on the design and manufacture of their revolutionary new Stratocaster tremolo bridge. And in the 60-plus years since its introduction it has, in many cases, been taken for granted when it comes to a guitar’s tone and playability. With their new high-quality replacement …

Experience Winter NAMM 2017 with James Patrick Regan (1 of 42). Experience Winter NAMM 2017 with James Patrick Regan Experience Winter NAMM 2017 with James Patrick Regan Experience Winter NAMM 2017 with James Patrick Regan Tom Feldmann live demo of a new Waterloo by Collings Guitars and Mandolins. #NAMM2017 Cool happenings at the John Page …

Players who love a hotrod Lincoln, a good drive-in, or a rocking retro guitar are familiar with Reverend Guitars, a brand that builds instruments that all but ooze vintage style mixed with modern amenities. And Reverend models like the Rumblefish have long been meeting the needs of session and touring bassists. Reverend’s latest bass, the …

Every so often, a builder gives the art of guitar design a firm shove into the future. The Dean Zelinsky Tagliare Z-Glide Custom certainly fits into that category. On the surface, it’s a high-performance “super Strat” with basic features that should seem familiar, but this solidbody aims to pack the features of two or more …

Larry Mitchell’s guitar-centered “Ah ha!” moments run the gamut from Roy Clark, Van Halen, Prince, and Elvis. With a string of instrumental records, Mitchell is also a Grammy-winning producer and has toured as a guitarist with Billy Squier, Ric Ocasek, and Tracy Chapman. Whether he’s in the control room calling the shots, or onstage performing …

By sound and association, Blackberry Smoke walks a fine stylistic line. A good ol’ rock band when it started rollin’ in Atlanta 15 years ago, its following has more recently grown in front of crowds gathered to see headliners like country superstars Zac Brown Band and Eric Church. So, it sort of made sense that …

Unlike its rival from the West Coast, Gibson did not readily embrace the concept of offering custom-color finishes. It wasn’t averse to custom work or colorful finishes, but saw them more as a consequence of its wider range of stringed instruments – acoustics, electrics, and associated clientele. While competitors like Fender, Gretsch, Harmony, and Rickenbacker …

Derek St. Holmes has been in the rock and roll business since the early 1970s and is best known for his work as guitarist, vocalist, and co-songwriter with the original Ted Nugent band. Ever the unsung hero, St. Holmes was delivering the word on favorites like “Stranglehold,” “Snakeskin Cowboys,” and “Hey Baby,” back when people …

Preamp tubes: four 7025 (12AX7 types) Output tubes: two 5881 (a more-rugged 6L6 type), fixed-bias Rectifier: solidstate Controls: Bass Instrument channel: Volume, Treble, Bass; Normal channel: Volume, Treble, Bass; shared: Presence Output: 50 watts RMS Insiders from the golden era of the New Jersey amp manufacturer have frequently spoken of Ampeg founder Everett Hull’s unwillingness …

1962 Ampeg R-12-R Reverberocket Preamp tubes: two 6SL7, two 6SN7 Output tubes: two 6V6, cathode-biased Rectifier: 5Y3 Controls: Volume, Tone, Dimension (reverb), Speed, and Intensity (tremolo) Speakers: Jensen Special Design C12R Output: approximately 18 watts RMS In the view of Ampeg main man Everett Hull, rock and roll was not a musical form to which …

George Lynch is one of the premier axe men to emerge in the ’80s. His melodic hard-rock riffs were the driving force behind Dokken and he later launched Lynch Mob while releasing several solo discs and collaborations. He recently joined with former Dokken bassist Jeff Pilson and drummer Mick Brown under the moniker Tooth & Nail …

In his 2003 book, American Basses, author Jim Roberts noted that for all of Peavey’s innovative offerings in the 1990s, “…the company hadn’t forgotten their regular customers,” specifically citing the company’s mid-’90s Forum as a “good old meat-and-potatoes bass.” The Forum series did indeed exemplify the builder’s efforts to adhere to founder Hartley Peavey’s mantra …