Check out the Digital Edition HERE!

Home

Vintage Guitar
-
0
Home

Bryan Beller: Aristocratic Riffs

Bryan Beller and his Lull Custom BBMF5 demonstrate what it takes to keep up with Guthrie Govan and Marco Minneman in their scary-good fusion trio, The Aristocrats. Bryan and his four- and five-string basses help the band tackle challenging instrumentals without losing sight of the song; think modern-day Dixie Dregs or fusiony Satch/Vai. Here, he plays “Aristoclub” (from their latest album, “Duck”) while plugged into his touring rig – a Gallien-Krueger MB Fusion preamp, GK 2001RB power amp, and two GK RBH410 speaker cabinets. In-between are a Boss OC-2 Octave, Digitech Bass Driver, Xotic Effects EP Booster, and a Demeter Opto-Compulator. Catch our interview with Bryan in the April issue. Read Now!

Bryan Beller: Aristocratic Riffs

Bryan Beller and his Lull Custom BBMF5 demonstrate what it takes to keep up with Guthrie Govan and Marco Minneman in their scary-good fusion trio, The Aristocrats. Bryan and his four- and five-string basses help the band tackle challenging instrumentals without losing sight of the song; think modern-day Dixie Dregs or fusiony Satch/Vai. Here, he plays “Aristoclub” (from their latest album, “Duck”) while plugged into his touring rig – a Gallien-Krueger MB Fusion preamp, GK 2001RB power amp, and two GK RBH410 speaker cabinets. In-between are a Boss OC-2 Octave, Digitech Bass Driver, Xotic Effects EP Booster, and a Demeter Opto-Compulator. Catch our interview with Bryan in the April issue. Read Now!

Artists

Fretprints: Steve Khan

Khan-sequential Guitar

Steve Khan is an internationally acclaimed guitarist with a career spanning more than 50 years. Japan’s Jazz Life proclaimed him one of the 22 greatest jazz guitarists and Musico Pro’s Antonio Gandia praised him as “the voice of the guitar in Latin Jazz.” He has been making waves as a solo artist since 1977, collaborated […]

by Wolf Marshall
Classic Instruments

1962 Premier E-727

One of the least un-derstood aspects of American guitar history is the role of musical instrument distributors. It’s one thing to be able to manufacture guitars, but quite another to get them to customers, especially in an era when your purchase was likely to be from a local store or teacher (excepting mail order). Enthusiasts […]

by Michael Wright
VG Approved Gear

Universal Audio Max and Del-Verb

Smart Stomps

After rolling out several “amp-in-a-box” pedals last year, Universal Audio is back with a fresh line of stompboxes to help guitarists groove. The Max Preamp/Dual Compressor gives models of famous compressors, with three compressor circuits – the classic DynaComp pedal capable of squashed, chicken-pickin’ sonorities, and two studio favorites, the LA-2A and FET 1176, which […]

by Pete Prown
VG Approved Gear

Carvin’s GH24 Greg Howe Signature

Super Unleaded

After decades of jumping from one guitar manufacturer to another, Greg Howe recently began working with Carvin (more specifically, Kiesel) on a signature guitar. Carvin passed manufacture and sale of its guitars and basses to Kiesel Guitars. The reason for the change isn’t immediately obvious, though it makes more sense if you know that Carvin […]

by Oscar Jordan
Music

Jo’ Buddy’s One Man Stomptet

Lockdown Sessions & Beyond, Vol. 1

Finnish guitarist Jussi Raulamo has led so many aggregations it’s hard to keep track. From Jo’ Buddy & Down Home King III to the New Orleans R&B Ensemble, One O’Clock Humph, Funky Kingstone, Boogaloo Brothers, the Uplifters, and Groovy Eyes, all are soulful with maximum party factor. As evidenced here, a little thing like a […]

Music

Claudia Thompson with Barney Kessel

Goodbye To Love

In 1956, Julie London’s “Cry Me A River” was the unlikeliest of hits, yet her breathy reading of a minor-key ballad, written by a schoolmate, reached the Top 10. With austere backing of upright bass and legendary studio guitarist Barney Kessel, it was also one of the biggest introductions of jazz guitar to the masses. […]

Gibson ES-Les Paul
VG Approved Gear

ES-Les Paul

F-hole with soul

ES-Les Paul Price: $2,799 to $3,199 (list) Contact: www.gibson.com Gibson’s latest version of the Les Paul isn’t the first with f-shaped sound holes. Various Florentine models have been offered, but this semi-hollowbody makes a greater effort than its predecessors to thread the needle between the Les Paul and ES-335. The result is an interesting guitar […]

Classic Instruments

Watkins Joker

Beat-Gen Beaut

This could be just what every well-heeled young “Beat” guitarist and singer in Britain needed in the early 1960s – a guitar amp/PA with reverb, tremolo, mic stand, and tape echo all in one! We’re joking, right? Not in the least – although Joker-ing, we are indeed. Put your hands together for the Watkins Joker, […]

Artists

Charlie Parr

A Muse From Olden Times

Charlie Parr makes new music from olden times. And he makes it the old way – not only using just the simplicity of a National resonator, a bottleneck slide, boot-stomping rhythms, and his voice, but also traveling like a modern-day Delta blues man. Instead of Robert Johnson’s Hudson Terraplane, though, Parr is driving – and […]

Artists

Uli Jon Roth

Return to Tokyo

In the 1970s, rockers were cranking out now-classic live sets with stunning regularity – Jimi Hendrix’s Band of Gypsys in 1970, the Allman Brothers’ At Fillmore East in ’71, Deep Purple’s Made in Japan in ’73, Kiss’ Alive! in ’75, Led Zeppelin’s The Song Remains the Same, Peter Frampton’s Frampton Comes Alive! and Bob Seger’s […]

Artists

Have Guitar Will Travel 076 – Nashvillains

Ep 76 of “Have Guitar Will Travel” features Troy Johnson, Scott Lindsey, and Brett Boyette of the band Nashvillains. The guys have written and produced music for feature films, television shows, and A-list artists including The Chicks, Keith Urban, Cassadee Pope, and James Taylor. During a stop on their recent nationwide tour, they talked with […]

Blackbird Guitars’ Lucky 13
VG Approved Gear

Blackbird Guitars’ Lucky 13

Nice Roll

Blackbird Guitars’ Lucky 13 Price: $1,850 (list)/$2,050 (with Fishman electronics) Info: www.blackbirdguitar.com What has a 13-fret neck, a small-but-curvaceous body like a classic early-’30s Gibson, and a sound that conjures midnight hoodoo blues combined with the playability and durability necessary to jump into a street-corner jam in a Delta downpour? Why, it’s the Blackbird Guitars […]

Artists

Alex Lifeson

Fresh Sonic Horizons

What do you do when you’re the beloved guitarist in a legendary band whose career was ended by the premature passing of a core member? When you’re Alex Lifeson, you move forward creatively, and explore a new realm of playing. The result is Envy of None, consisting of Lifeson, bassist/guitarist/programmer Andy Curran (formerly of Coney […]

Artists

Alexander Dumble 1944-2022

Recalling an Eccentric Genius

Howard Alexander Dumble, iconic amp designer and builder, passed away January 16, 2022, after suffering a stroke. He was 77 and had been dealing with heart issues including Atrial fibrillation (A-fib). The son of an engineer, Dumble grew up in Bakersfield, California, and was 12 years old when he started making transistor radios he’d sell […]

Classic Instruments

The Supro “Model 24”

Okay, Zep police, sound the alarm and prepare to loose the hounds – we are finally about to lift the lid on the Jimmy Page amp. Well, maybe not the Jimmy Page amp, but almost certainly a Jimmy Page amp, and even this claim should be enough to get the keys clacking and the internet […]

VG Approved Gear

PRS 25th Anniversary Swamp Ash Special NF

From Jimi to Eric to Angus

PRS 25th Anniversary Swamp Ash Special NF Price: $3,908 (retail)/$2,329 (street) Contact: PRSguitars.com. The PRS 25th Anniversary Swamp Ash Special NF is a guitar that attempts to thread many needles: depending on your pickup and amp selections, it can cover most tonal bases between Fender and Gibson, and then some. And that’s just for starters. […]

Classic Instruments

Vega Model 120

Viewed from our contemporary perspective, it’s difficult to fully appreciate how different the music scene in general – and the guitar scene in particular – was back in the early part of the last century. When the electric guitar hit the ground as a viable entity in the mid 1930s, everything was up for grabs… […]

Artists

Jeff Hanna

Decades of Dirt

One’s taste in music usually starts in the home, where immersion can fuel the subconscious. Jeff Hanna’s parents loved Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong, which helped embed great music deep in the brains of their three sons. By age 10, the middle child, Jeff, was hearing rock-and-roll on 45s and the radio in his big […]

Artists

Julian Lage

Jazz Memoir

The latest from Julian Lage contains mesmerizing originals featuring Bill Frisell’s supple artistry and Lage’s potent six-string imagery. View With A Room is a dreamy record that transcends contemporary jazz-guitar techniques in favor of crafting altered states of consciousness. It’s a journey of the mind with gorgeous chord melodies that stands on the shoulders of […]

Artists

Phil DeGruy

Laughin’ Matters

Phil deGruy is the rare jazz artist who’s also a bona fide entertainer – and a funny one, at that. His flashy, inventive playing is complemented by amusing asides and lyric parody. In fact, his observations on modern life could qualify for any stand-up comedy stage. His unorthodox instruments attract the musicians in every crowd, […]

VG Approved Gear

Gallagher Bluegrass Bell

Ready, Set, Ring

Pickers sure love to talk about their guitars, and more than a few will enthusiastically tell you about their favorite acoustic’s “bell-like” tone, describing its chime and the way it rings. Perhaps this is where Gallagher Guitar drew inspiration for its Bluegrass Bell, a proper dreadnought that shares many specs with the bluegrass cannons of […]

- Advertisement -