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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…
Gretsch G2420T Streamliner
Bang For The Buck
Want to rock like they did back in the glory days, but don’t have pockets deep enough for a top-line…
Pop ’N Hiss: Santana’s Caravanserai
Pageant of Enlightenment
By the summer of 1971, 24-year-old Carlos Santana and his band – Neal Schon on guitar, drummer Michael Shrieve, Gregg…
Gamechanger Light Pedal
Spring Thing
All-analog and made with a genuine spring tank, Gamechanger Audio’s Light Pedal adds a wrinkle to the reverb equation in…
Sheryl Bailey
New Ground in The SBQ
Sheryl Bailey has enjoyed a steady upward trajectory since her career launched 20 years ago. One of the leading proponents…
Ritchie Blackmore
Machine Head at 45: Tone Secrets of Deep Purple’s Masterwork
In any conversation about the dawn of hard rock and metal, several bands rise up – Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath,…
Kid Ramos’ Raunchy Slide
Kid Carves it up! Proving that tone is less about fancy gear and more about feel, Kid Ramos used his…
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Rickenbacker’s Electric 12-Strings
Double-bound for Glory
George Beauchamp and Adolph Rickenbacher founded Electro String in 1931 to manufacture what everyone would soon call “Rickenbacker” guitars. Success came early and their lap steels set standards of quality,…
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ARTISTS
Steve Cropper
Friend, Legend
Even before he began to record seminal music using an Esquire plugged into a Harvard amp – creating one of…
Alvin Youngblood Hart
Electric Gutbucket
Alvin Youngblood Hart surfs the musical landscape of blues-based music to make his own great art. His influences range from…
Nicolas Meier
Jeff Beck Sideman Steps Out
If you’ve been to a Jeff Beck concert in the past few years, you may have said to yourself, “Who’s…
Naia Izumi
Intuitive Artistry
It’s difficult to pigeonhole the music of Naia Izumi, a singer/songwriter who’s also one of the most uncanny guitarists around.…
CLASSIC INSTRUMENTS
Dan’s Guitar RX: A ’57 Strat Goes Under the Knife
Battle-Scarred
B.K. Vaught recently walked into my shop with a vintage Strat that had been modified and refinished. While its changes…
Freddie Green
Artistry in Rhythm
Fellow musicians called him “Pep” or “Pepperhead.” He was also known as “Mr. Rhythm,” and he could drive a band…
Mark Erlewine’s 40 Years with Willie Nelson’s Trigger
Wooden Wonder
For a decade, Willie Nelson chased fame as a performer in the Nashville mold of the ’60s – hair coifed,…
Five Classic Amps
A Tone-Spotter’s Arsenal To Cover It All
When it comes to classic guitar tones – whether it’s blues through a Dumble, country through a Fender, rock through…
NEWSWIRE
APPROVED GEAR
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Live Wire
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Narrow(field) Win
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Take Flight
Banker Excalibur Derringer
Lordy Mama, Light My Fuse
Gibson guitars from the ’50s and ’60s are some of the most-sought after instruments on the planet, and re-creating the…
Bad Cat Black Cat 1×12 Combo
Roarin’ Back
When Bad Cat Amplifiers trimmed its line to just four models with modern circuits, some wondered if they’d capture the…
Fralin’s Wide-Range Humbucker
Gibson and Fender have a long history of influencing each other’s designs. When hard rock and warm, jazzier textures were…
Bohemian Boho Moonshine
In The Can
Here at VG, we see all manner of guitars – those made out of steel, graphite, even animal shells. But…
WHAT ELSE IS NEW
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More Personal
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Rare Pioneer
Ampeg VT-22
Preamp tubes: four 7025 (12AX7 types) Output tubes: two 5881 (a more-rugged 6L6 type), fixed-bias Rectifier: solidstate Controls: Bass Instrument…
Jam Pedals RetroVibe
Bridge Of Floyd
In a civilized world, every guitarist would have a bit of Robin Trower, Pink Floyd, and Band Of Gypsys shimmer…
Park Model 1229
Half-Stack Heaven
Vintage Park amplifiers have long offered happy hunting for those seeking stealthy “Marshall in disguise” kicks. But the maker used…
2015 Readers’ Choice
Each year, VG asks readers to select Readers’ Choice winners for Album of the Year, Artist of the Year, and…
