-
VG Approved Gear
Walrus Audio’s Mako Series MKII
Walrus Audio’s Mako Series MKII bolster the sounds of their first-gen predecessors, using altered algorithms, new controls, and better tonal quality. The most-obvious changes are new fine-tune settings and a menu screen. The M1 High-Fidelity Modulation Machine offers Chorus, Phaser, Tremolo, Vibrato, Rotary, and Filters. Running between a Deluxe Reverb a Les Paul Traditional or…
Cordoba 15CFM
Hawai’i Not?
The ukulele phenomenon shows no signs of slowing, with models ranging from well under $100 on up to thousands. The Cordoba 15CFM is on the budget end. The 15CFM has…
The Collings I-35
Soul in the Details
Occasionally, in the world of guitars, events influence the market. The introduction of a new guitar can send ripples through the industry. Not so long ago, Paul Reed Smith redefined…
DoleSonic Half Back Stack
Tone Meets Crafts-manship
Shaw Audio Bass 130 Price: $1,350 Contact: www.tremcaster.com, phone: (330) 608-2043 In a day where gear companies often focus on utilitarian products, it’s nice when high-end craftsmanship rears its head.…
-
LSL Instruments’ Lucid OD and OG OD
Lively Drives
LSL Instruments is best known for high-end Leo-style guitar builds, but they’ve also started delving into overdrive pedals. The Lucid OD is their version of a Klon Centaur – one of the priciest stompboxes in human history ($5,000-plus for the first-gen gold box with the horse logo). The box offers Volume, Gain, and Tone knobs…
-
The Chase Bliss Clean
Posh Squash
With is Clean compressor, Chase Bliss set out to create a pedal that would duplicate the vivid interactivity of a dirty tube amp, but with a completely clean tone. While a standard compressor can give your guitar (bass, keyboard, etc.) a professional sheen, the Clean is a stereo unit that can polish mixes or deliver…
-
The Eastwood Super Axe
Chet Powered!
Wait – what? Did Eastwood just bring back the Super Axe, that incredibly rare bird from the late ’70s? Indeed, they did. A Korean-made reissue, it captures the spirit of Gretsch’s chambered curiosity. Grabbing one, the first thing you’ll notice is the oversized yet thin body, with its arched top and the enchanting lines of…
Crucial Audio WahVelope
Tube Funk
Crucial Audio makes high-end tube pedals and studio gear at its shop in southern Delaware. Its latest, the WahVelope, is both auto-wah and envelope filter – and it also hides…
Guild Surfliner
Hang Ten
The Surfliner is Guild’s first new solidbody to come along in decades. A thoroughly modern design with classic features, there’s no mistaking the influence in this offset guitar. Named after…
Danelectro Dano Minis
More tasty treats
Danelectro has been busy churning out yet another set of pedals that are inex-pensive and quite small. A good thing, since one can never have too many pedals. These are,…
Bogner Oxford Fuzz
Highly Educational
Teaming with Rupert Neve, Bogner Amplification has developed a line of pedals based on its renowned amp channels. One result, the Oxford Fuzz, is a smooth and highly refined fuzz…
Teye Guitars Gypsy Queen
The Art of Tone
For Austin-based Teye Guitars, taking guitar construction to new artistic heights has been a basic tenet since their inception. Mastermind luthier Teye Wijnterp, an accomplished guitarist, forged his concept of…
Larry Alan Guitars’ The Harlot
Siren Song
Hot idea: pack a sturdy-yet-petite 1590B casing with specially selected parts rendering a powerful, variable guitar overdrive, add a couple of vintage-look knobs, a titillating pinup-girl graphic, and call it…
-
The Bad Cat Era 30
Retro-Great
So often has the phrase “Mark Sampson era” been applied to pre-2000 Matchless amps or early examples of the Bad Cat line that the term has become a “thing” in and of itself. As applied to Bad Cat’s new Era 30, it means Sampson is back in the fold (see our interview in the March…
-
Eastwood MRG Lap Steel
Slide Piece
Now more than 90 years old, the lap steel was the earliest example of an electric guitar and remains a stringed instrument every guitarist should try, largely because it’s so accessible. In fact, a lap steel is about as straightforward as you can get – it’s a plank that sits on your lap and is…
-
Soldano SLO Plus Super Lead Overdive
Icon In Reach
If the iconic Soldano SLO-100 is perpetually on your wish list but its price tag keeps you from pulling the trigger, its creator now has a realistic alternative. Expanding on the original single-channel SLO Overdrive pedal, the SLO Plus introduces a Normal channel alongside Overdrive, each with dedicated controls that allow for detailed tweaking of…
-
Orange Dual Baby, Gain Baby, and Tour Baby 100
Playpen Power
For 2025, Orange has expanded on its compact Pedal Baby introduced a few years back with a new trio – the Dual Baby, Gain Baby, and Tour Baby. All 100-watt amps with solid-state Class A/B output stages, Jfet preamp stages (another form of solid-state), and two footswitchable channels, they’re housed in 12″ x 3.25″ x…
-
Boss SDE-3 Dual Digital Delay
Double Echo
Based on the famed Roland SDE-3000 rack unit, Boss’ SDE-3 combines some classic delay sounds of the 1980s, updated with a bevy of modern tricks and features. Like a lot of delays, it can be run in mono, but you’ll get the biggest bang going in stereo to different amps or outputs. The core of…
-
Mesa/Boogie Mark IIC+ Reissue
Dual-Mode Delivery
The evolution of Randall Smith’s legendary high-gain Mesa/Boogie design into the revered Mark IIC+ of the mid ’80s established a rock amp that many guitarists still consider the epitome of the form. Building on what was already a high-gain amp by the standards of the day, the M/B team piled on even more gain, more…
Jeff Senn Original Senn Model One
Making Perfect Senns
For 15 years, Jeff Senn has been building, repairing, and modifying guitars for Nashville’s touring and studio elite. His double-cutaway Fullerton and single-cut Pomona are in the hands of guys…
Vox Real McCoy Chrome Wah Ltd and V846 Vintage Wah
Replica Treadles
Thanks to notable users ranging from Del Casher and Frank Zappa to Jimi Hendrix and Kirk Hammett, the “wah wah” is perhaps history’s most-recognized guitar effect. Vox, which marketed the…
Parker NiteFly Mojo Flame
Get Yer Mojo Workin'!
When Parker Fly guitars were introduced in July, 1993, they were strange aliens from a distant guitar planet, sporting a radical design, composite body, and neck, and one of the…
Tech 21’s Acoustic Fly Rig
String Wings
Adding to its line of compact DI/multi-effects units for traveling guitarists, Tech 21’s Acoustic Fly Rig is more than a collection of tone sweeteners – it contains a gig bag…
Fender’s Johnny Marr Jaguar Signature Limited Edition
The Right Thing Right
Nostalgia can be a confounding thing. When most fans think of Johnny Marr, they remember him flailing on an array of Ricks, Gibson semi-hollows, and Strats during his days with…
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…
Great Eastern FX Small Speaker Overdrive
Little Big Tones
Recording engineers and DIYers have long known what a small amp can do in a big room – that is, sound awesome. The U.K.-based Great Eastern FX Co. has created…
Nocturne Dyno Brain Booster
Smart Boost
In the not-so-distant past, guitarists learned that those great tape-echo units of the 1960s and ’70s not only added echo, but their preamps boosted signal, and in turn sweetened tone.…
The MXR Custom Badass ’78 Distortion
Company Hot Rod
Dunlop Custom Badass ’78 Distortion Price: $79 Info: jimdunlop.com Custom Badass is a new division of MXR that offers the company’s engineers’ hot-rodded takes on popular designs. Packaged in MXR’s…
The Vox AC30C2X and AC15C1
Brit-Rock Mojo in a Box
Fully appointed in classic Vox dress, the famed British amp maker’s new AC30C2X and AC15C1 both sport enough of that beloved AC30 look to make most any player yearn for…
Line 6 DM4, DL4, and MM4
Line 6 Modeling Pedals
In an addendum to its well-known line of guitar and bass PODs, combo amps, and amp/cab stacks, the Line 6 company recently launched four stompbox-style effects units. All share features…
Keeley Electronics Loomer
Tone Weaver
As effects pedals proliferate, so do multifunction boxes. Case in point: Keeley Electronics’ Loomer, combining three reverbs with a raging fuzz unit, each side triggered by a separate footswitch. The…
Martin D-18 Satin
Spruce Stalwart
Death, taxes, and spruce on mahogany. There are only so many certainties in life, and these are three. Another is that there will always be spruce-on-mahogany Martin guitars. The newest…
Henriksen’s The Bud
This One’s For You
In theory, a big guitar amp should sound larger than a smaller one. Then there’s Henriksen’s The Bud. Based on a cabinet created by company founder Bud Henriksen, it’s a…
Strymon El Capistan dTape Echo
Endless Echo
Like politics, religion, and overdrive pedals, echo boxes are sure to incite staunch views, heartfelt arguments, and perhaps even fisticuffs. But Strymon’s El Capistan is one worth fighting for. To…
Singular Sound BeatBuddy
Drums Even You Can Play
Everyone knows a good drummer joke. Or two. Drummers are indeed a special breed. Singular Sound’s BeatBuddy drum-machine pedal, however, is no joke. And as the first drum-machine-in-a-pedal designed for…
Smit Boosted Classic and Bucker Lite pickups
PAF Plus? S
Smit Boosted Classic/Bucker Lite Being a guitarist for more than 30 years, Kevin Smith learned much in his quest for great tone. For years he has dissected pickups while devising…
The PRS Studio
Bird Watcher
The new Studio model is the culmination of many decades of work from the design minds at PRS, as they attempt to craft a solidbody that can do it all.…
Retroman effects
Five Boxes of Fun
Retroman proprietor Joe Wolf is a dedicated one-man-shop that designs, builds, and finishes effects pedals all by hisself. Wolf, a guitarist and electronics engineer, began building pedals for his own…
Kustom’s ’36 Coupe
Ready to Rev
Kustom ’36 Coupe In the mid 1960s, Kustom amps were popular for their cool tuck-and-roll vinyl covering, and their solid tones. Today, most of the company’s new amplifiers are solidstate…
Lipe Guitars Maestro
Whole Lotta Mahogany
Lipe Maestro Price: $4,900 Contact: lipeguitars.com; phone (818) 352-6212 Mike Lipe has a wall of gold records. Why? Not because he’s a musical star, but because he’s a star to…
