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MusicNomad is running a fun Valentine’s Day challenge for guitar players — and it’s a good one.
Has Your Guitar Been KISSed? 💋🎸 This Valentine’s Day, MusicNomad is asking one big question: Has your guitar been KISSed? Show your guitar some love with a KEEP IT SIMPLE,…
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“Buy That Guitar” podcast with special guests Robb Lawrence and Kim Shaheen
Season 03 Episode 10 In Episode 3.10 of “Buy That Guitar,” host Ram Tuli is joined by Robb Lawrence and Kim Shaheen. Robb’s experience in the vintage market spans from…
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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 the grain of the wood used to make your body. …

Betty Davis and Mahalia Barnes
Nasty Girl
Betty Mabry was known far and wide by the sobriquet of the Nasty Girl. She earned the moniker for being…

The Peavey ValveKing II Micro-head 20-Watt Amplifier
Royal Rock
The Peavey ValveKing II Micro-head 20-Watt Amplifier Price: $429.99 Contact: www.peavey.com Famous for their sturdy build and quality overdriven sounds,…

Valco El Grande
Preamp tube: one 6SL7 Output tube: one 6V6GT Rectifier: 5Y3 Controls: Volume, Tone Speaker: 8″ Rola speaker Output: 5 watts…

Carl Verheyen
Well-rounded and busy
Carl Verheyen says it all came to him when he heard the Eagles’ album called The Long Run. At that…

Nat King Cole
Live at the Blue Note Chicago
Many Nat Cole fans, even diehards, are unaware that, in addition to his beautiful singing voice, he was among the…

EHX’s Bad Stone Phase Shifter, C9 Organ Machine, and Pitch Fork Polyphonic Pitch Shifter
Pedal Heaven
When it comes to stompboxes, there are the standard go-to effects that every guitarist, whether a gigging musician or a…
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VG Q&A: Harmony History
And an Archtop Mystery
I recently received two guitars as gifts and am trying to learn more about them. The first is a Harmony I believe is from the early ’70s. Its serial number…
ARTISTS

Kim Simmonds
Back to Basics with Savoy Brown
Under the aegis of founder Kim Simmonds, Savoy Brown has always been a band “subject to change.” Formed in 1965,…

Dave Gonzalez
Western Soul Brother
For a guitarist with fans and admirers around the world, Dave Gonzalez is one humble man. “I’m still trying to…

Walter Trout
“Reborn” and Rockin’
After having his life saved by a liver transplant and releasing Battle Scars, an album that chronicled his health struggles,…

Sonny Landreth
Live In Lafayette
When music fans discuss upper-echelon slide mastery, the name Sonny Landreth tops most lists. The preeminent slide-guitar stylist of his…
CLASSIC INSTRUMENTS

Classics: January 2023
Jay Mitzner’s ’53 Gibson Les Paul.
Overhearing his 13-year-old son noodling on a beginner guitar in his bedroom one day in 1958, it occurred to Murray…

Fender 5E7 Bandmaster
Preamp tubes: one 12AY7, two 12AX7 Output tubes: two 6L6s, fixed biased Rectifier: 5U4G tube Controls: Volume, Volume, Treble, Bass,…

Michael Bloomfield’s ’63 Telecaster
This Guitar Killed Folk!
A silver-spoon teen who loved sneaking into Chicago’s southside blues clubs, Michael Bloomfield reveled in absorbing all he could from…

A Guitar for Mr. Richards
The Saga of Ted Newman Jones
For anyone who visited the tiny workshop inhabited by guitar builder Ted Newman Jones in the 1970s and ’80s, two…
NEWSWIRE
APPROVED GEAR
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Live Wire
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Narrow(field) Win
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Take Flight

Fire-Eye Red-Eye Twin DI
Double Your Pleasure
In a simple system, even a basic direct-input box with little in the way of adjustments will work fine. But…

Mojotone ’58 Quiet Coil Strat Pickups
Quiet, Please
Players love that single-coil sound but hate the noise and hum that generally come with them. For the most part,…

Reverend Greg Koch Signature Gristle ST
Big Time
Greg Koch is arguably the Roy Buchanan of our time, wrestling squawks ’n squeals, burning blues and some absolutely haywire…

Schertler’s JAM 150
Plays Well with Others
Schertler’s JAM150 Price: $1,249.99 (list); $999.99 (street) Info: www.schertler.com Schertler’s JAM150 is a compact combo amp capable of pulling double-duty…
WHAT ELSE IS NEW
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Five Alternative Club Classic Amps of the ’50s
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Remembering a Heavy Hero

The Peavey HP2
Best Of Both Worlds
Introduced in 1996, the EVH Wolfgang was an evolution of Eddie Van Halen’s previous models from Music Man, Kramer, and…

Paco de Lucía
The Montreux Years
“He didn’t read music – but I have never met a musician with such an impeccable ear,” says John McLaughlin…

George Fullerton’s Fender Jazzmaster
A Master's Pallet
This Jazzmaster is an interesting example of what went on behind the scenes at the Fender factory with the research…
Electro-Harmonix Epitome, Tone Tattoo
Tone to the Third Squared
The Electro-Harmonix Epitome, Tone Tattoo Price: $491.84 list (Epitome) and $292.35 list (Tone Tattoo) Info: www.ehx.com The concept is smart…










































