-
Magnatone and Slash announce the Lil’ Viper
ST. LOUIS, MO – January 22, 2026 – Magnatone is thrilled to announce the Lil’ Viper – the latest member of the Slash Collection. It’s a lightweight amp designed to…
-
Super PickupGiveaway 2025
Win Big! 11 Sets! 11 Winners! Win a set of pickups from one of these sponsors: Deadline is March 15, 2026. Complete the survey below to enter giveaway. One entry…

Budda Verbmaster 112
Versatile 18-Watter
Budda Verbmaster 112 Price: $1,800 (street) Contact: budda.com As part of its Hand-Wired series, Budda has reissued the tube-rectified Verbmaster…

Mike Zito
Back to Solo Soul-Searching
Following a stint of nearly four years in the Royal Southern Brotherhood, Texas-based guitarist Mike Zito is focusing on his…

Jeff “Jabo” Bihlman
Grinder Blues
Guitarist Jeff “Jabo” Bihlman has joined forces with King’s X bassist Dug Pinnick to release a gritty record that incorporates…

2024 February Issue on Spotify
This month we feature Osborne Brothers, Robben Ford, Campilomgo & Cardenas, Myles Goodwin, Jef Beck, Hawkwind, Adam Levy, Sue Foley,…

The Epiphone ES-175 Reissue
Return of a Classic
There are plenty of affordable hollowbodies on the market, but Epiphone’s recent reissue of the Gibson ES-175 is almost a…

Gibson Style R Harp Guitar
Harp guitars with a standard six-string guitar neck and varying numbers of sub-bass harp-style strings have been made by a…
-
Rik Emmett
Ten Telecaster Tales
At the risk of starting a brawl, Rik Emmett’s guitar work was arguably too good for Triumph. As evidence, his latest project centers on a custom-built Loucin that inspired both…
ARTISTS
Paul Gilbert
All About Vintage – Import Style
Paul Gilbert was a teenager when he appeared on the music industry’s radar after Mike Varney of Shrapnel Records introduced…

Steve Knight’s Vibey Jazz
Chicago native leans into the Benson/Green playbook on “Suspects” Chicago-based jazzer Steve Knight used his Benedetto 16B to play…
Paul Gilbert
Mr. Big Takes it Down a Notch
Paul Gilbert and the crew that makes up Mr. Big – bassist Billy Sheehan, drummer Pat Torpey, and vocalist Eric…

Steve Carr
Twenty-Five Years of Tonemaking
In the mid ’90s, Steve Carr was a guitarist playing weekends and working weeknights as a waiter in a swank…
CLASSIC INSTRUMENTS

Holy Cripes!
The Story of Jerry Garcia’s Last Guitars
Steve Cripe left a unique legacy in the annals of music history. He was not a guitar player, not a…

Zakk Wylde
Doomsayer
Best-known as Ozzy Osbourne’s longest-tenured guitarist, Zakk Wylde has also been the leader of Black Label Society since the late…

Pieces of a Prototype
Secrets of a Socal "Parts" Guitar
If you were a guitar – particularly one with a natural or translucent finish – your “fingerprint” would be…

Dallas Rangemaster and Scala Combos
Texas Two Step
Fascinating also-rans, C-list classics, or both, the amps manufactured by London-based Dallas Music Ltd beginning in 1959 tie directly to…
NEWSWIRE
APPROVED GEAR
-
Live Wire
-
Narrow(field) Win
-
Take Flight

Weller Guitars’ Stageliner
Jetson Moderne
More and more, guitar designers are digging deep, thinking out of the box, and using their imaginations to conjure hip,…

Ibanez RGA8
In the Deep End
Ibanez RGA-8 Price: $1,102.21 (approx. $800 street). Info: ibanez.com In the annals of cool, weird, and unusual guitars, they’re nothing…

Retro and Wonderful
The EHX Mainframe Bit Crusher
The Mainframe Bit Crusher is a nasty little pedal that warps, mangles, distorts and produces lo-fi digital sounds and trippy…

Cast Engineering Texas Flood OD
Bring On The SRV
Tube Screamers, those famed overdrives from Ibanez, have been screaming off the shelves ever since guitarists first learned the little…
WHAT ELSE IS NEW
-
Black Light/White Noise
-
All I Got and Gone

Radial Tonebone Hot British V9 and North-Star
Tone Deep Down
Since the mid ’90s, Radial Engineering has been making audio products with a rep for superb performance and top-tier construction.…

Charles Moothart
Fuzz: Sons of Sabbath
While ’80s metal is past its heyday, the proto-metal of the late 1960s and early ’70s is making a huge…

Jensen Tornado Stealth Speakers
Sheer Magnetism
Jensen has been in the speaker game for a very long time and its wares are some of the most…

Last ’Burst?
Single-Cut Saga From the End of an Era
Certain instruments are nearly as famous as the heroes who play them – we know them as Blackie, Lucille, Greeny,…













































