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Mick Ralphs (1944-2025)

We’re saddened to hear of the passing of Mick Ralphs, who had been featured in VG several times. We’ll publish a memorial in the September issue.

Playlist: A Mick Ralphs Sampler – Definitive Listening (2025)
Fretprints: Mick Ralphs by Wolf Marshall (September 2023)
Pop ’N Hiss: Bad Company by Bret Adams (September 2022)
Mick Ralphs by Elliot Stephen Cohen (April 2017)
Mick Ralphs by Willie G. Moseley (December 2011)
Mick Ralphs by Lisa Sharken (November 1999)
Mick Ralphs by Willie G. Moseley (November 1999)
Pictured: Mick Ralphs: mickeydb/wikimedia commons.

Mick Ralphs (1944-2025)

We’re saddened to hear of the passing of Mick Ralphs, who had been featured in VG several times. We’ll publish a memorial in the September issue.

Playlist: A Mick Ralphs Sampler – Definitive Listening (2025)
Fretprints: Mick Ralphs by Wolf Marshall (September 2023)
Pop ’N Hiss: Bad Company by Bret Adams (September 2022)
Mick Ralphs by Elliot Stephen Cohen (April 2017)
Mick Ralphs by Willie G. Moseley (December 2011)
Mick Ralphs by Lisa Sharken (November 1999)
Mick Ralphs by Willie G. Moseley (November 1999)
Pictured: Mick Ralphs: mickeydb/wikimedia commons.

Artists

A Mick Ralphs Sampler – Definitive Listening

Curated by Vintage Guitar’s Willie G. Moseley, this playlist showcases the evolution of Mick Ralphs’ sound through various songs he wrote or co-wrote. Included are tracks from Mott the Hoople, which Ralphs sang, along with selections from Bad Company featuring all three lead vocalists: Rodgers, Howe, and Hart. Mott the Hoople “You Really Got Me” […]

by Willie G. Moseley
Artists

Classics: Guitars of Twisted Sister

Bar-band grinders with nearly 3,000 gigs in their back pockets, when Twisted Sister began recording its major-label debut 40 years ago, they were already on shaky ground. Signed by Atlantic Records A&R guy Jason Flom, TS faced pushback from label president Doug Morris, who wasn’t shy about his distaste for the group and its “car […]

by Ward Meeker
VG Approved Gear

The Electro-Harmonix Germanium 4 Big Muff Pi

Smooth Successor

Electro-Harmonix Germanium 4 Big Muff Pi Price: $133 (list)/$99.75 (street). Contact: ehx.com. The Big Muff Pi overdrive is the effect stompbox that put Electro-Harmonix on the map, and in the decades since its introduction, it has undergone changes both subtle and substantial. Today, the company’s lineup includes no fewer than 10 versions including the newest, […]

Music

Connie Smith

Love, Prison, Wisdom and Heartaches

Connie Smith’s career began with her ebullient 1964 hit “Once a Day,” now part of the Library of Congress’ prestigious National Recording Registry. Marty Stuart, Smith’s husband and producer since ’97, shaped her four previous albums to celebrate traditional sounds and present them to new audiences. This time, the focus is different. Smith selected venerable […]

Music

John Mayer

Sob Rock

John Mayer’s latest is a somber ode to the soft-rockin’ ’80s – think Henley and Hornsby. But don’t start eye-rolling just yet. Produced by Don Was, Mayer delivers the most polished guitar playing of his career. Sob Rock is a concept album about lost love, relationships gone astray, and romantic yearning. While almost an “SNL” […]

Music

Vince Gill & Paul Franklin

Sweet Memories: The Music of Ray Price and the Cherokee Cowboys

Ray Price (1926-2013) created a distinctive hard-country sound in the ’50s, combining his powerful vocals with the iconic Cherokee Cowboys, a fiddle/pedal-steel band echoing the honky-tonk and Western swing of Price’s native Texas. Cowboys alumni included some of Nashville’s greatest instrumentalists along with singer Johnny Paycheck and Country-Hall-of-Famers Willie Nelson and Roger Miller. Vince Gill […]

Music

Eric Ambel

Lakeside

Eric “Roscoe” Ambel is accomplished guitarist (Joan Jett and the Blackhearts, Steve Earle) and go-to “roots rock” producer (Bottle Rockets, Nils Lofgren, Ryan Adams, and many more). In 2012, he added “erstwhile tavern owner” to his CV. Worse, when Ambel’s Lakeside Lounge fell victim to gentrification, New York City lost what many swore was the […]

Music

Rush

Time Stand Still

Grab your hankies, Rush fans – this DVD doc captures moments from the trio’s R40 farewell tour, along with reminiscences on their four-decade career. There are interviews with Alex Lifeson, Geddy Lee, and Neil Peart, all mixed with vintage photos and hilarious stories galore. (Can you imagine the members of Rush and Thin Lizzy having […]

VG Approved Gear

Supro Amulet 1×12

Jewel Box

Supro’s 1×10 Amulet has proven popular with guitarists looking for portability, versatility and classic Supro tone. Now, it has a big brother. The Amulet 1×12 brings all of the same features including a switchable power attenuator that allows the player to choose one-, five-, or 15-watt output. One key change with the Class A 1×12 […]

Ibanez M522S
VG Approved Gear

Ibanez M522S

F-Style For Less

Thanks to acts such as the Avett Brothers, Mumford & Sons, and the Punch Brothers, the mandolin is suddenly hip again, particularly among guitarists interested in expanding their stringed horizons. While the lower-end mando market is pretty crowded, the Ibanez M522S is one of the few F-style instruments in the price range. Certainly, pear-shaped “A-style” […]

Artists

Pop ’N Hiss: Prince’s 1999

Music, Sex, and The New World Order

1981, the world was enveloped in the Cold War, with its nuclear weapons, Reaganomics, and uncertainty. Prince Rogers Nelson had survived a contentious tour with Rick James and being booed off the stage at the L.A. Coliseum on the Stones’ Tattoo You tour. Nevertheless, he had a sizeable black audience, high-profile fans like Mick Jagger, […]

Gibson Barney Kessel Custom Prototype Vintage guitar magazine
Classic Instruments

Gibson’s Experimental Kessel Prototype

Gibson Barney Kessel Custom model

This is a guitar which for all practical purposes appears to be a Gibson Barney Kessel Custom model, but the label clearly indicates it was made as an experimental prototype. The date of this instrument precedes the introduction of the Barney Kessel. Our shop obtained it from the original owner, Jon Hines, who purchased it […]

VG Approved Gear

Taylor 724ce

Bold And Bright

In the Hawaiian tongue, koa means “bold” and it’s an apt name for the wood known in guitardom for its bright tone and golden grain. In kindred spirit, the new Taylor 724ce has the rich look that comes with a koa top, back, and sides. Visually, the acoustic/electric 724ce is a dazzler. Our tester had […]

Artists

Fretprints: Ty Tabor

X Marks the Spot

The turbulent 1980s ended with a tsunami of bands seeking new sounds. Trends like classic-rock redux, blues/roots revivals, nu-metal, grunge, and divergent alternative styles purveyed by Red Hot Chili Peppers, R.E.M., Jane’s Addiction, and Faith No More dotted the horizon. Among the inimitable genre-defying outfits was King’s X, a power trio (guitarist Ty Tabor, bassist […]

VG Approved Gear

Kiesel JB5 Classic

The look and feel of Kiesel’s JB5 Classic align well with what a bassist expects when they gaze upon it – modern take on a Fender Jazz, with similar cuts and contours. Unless you’re that last bassist on earth to have picked up a Jazz (or one of the million clones), you know it. Sitting or […]

Classic Instruments

Warwick Thumb Bass

Generational Innovation

Founded in the early 1980s by Hans-Peter Wilfer, Warwick has a familial connection to another well-known German brand from a time when that nation was divided following World War II. Wilfer’s father, Fred, founded Framus in 1946, and Hans-Peter worked at the company’s facility before it closed in the ’70s. His desire to build stringed […]

Blackstar HT Club 40
VG Approved Gear

Blackstar HT Club 40

Monster of Rock

Blackstar HT Club 40 Price: $699.99 (list) Contact: www.blackstaramps.com Standalone combo amplifiers that cover broad sonic terrain are popular with guitarists looking for quick, pedal-free stage setups. Blackstar’s HT Club 40 fulfills those desires by offering a foot-switchable, two-channel, 40-watt combo with two modes per channel, Master Volume, and a 12″ speaker. At just over […]

Classic Instruments

Fender Deluxe Reverb

Vintage Guitar magazine Hall of Fame 2011 Instrument

In the June ’07 issue of VG, amp profiler extraordinaire Dave Hunter said of the Fender Deluxe Reverb, “If guitarists were to vote for the one ‘best amp for all occasions,’ [it] would very likely earn a majority decision’.” And while this year’s nominees in the VG Hall of Fame “Instrument” category pitted the “DR” […]

Classic Instruments

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, Number One. And don’t forget E.C.’s colorful Crash Strats. But not all guitars cool enough to get names are played in front of the teeming masses. Amongst the community of collectors who dwell in the […]

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