•  Reverend Sensei H90

    VG Approved Gear

     Reverend Sensei H90

    Live Wire

    So you want a Gibson-style solidbody that can cover humbucker-powered rock, yet also twangier/glassier tones using a P-90 pickup. Check. You also want to grab high frets via double-cutaway and have the pitch reliability of a tune-o-matic bridge and locking tuners. Got it. One more thing: it’s got to look cool and old-school. Hmm…. sounds

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PRS CE 24

One Guitar, All night

There are gigs where a guitarist needs to cover a vast range of sounds and tones yet yearns to schlep just one 6-string to the show. It might be a…

Reverend Rick Vito

Tone, Style

Reverend Musical Instruments head honcho Joe Naylor began playing guitar in 1982, graduated from the Roberto-Venn School of Luthiery, started and ran an amp-building company, and in 1996 fired up…

Chase Bliss Onward

Glitch Niche

These days, there’s a litany of “glitch” pedals on the market – boxes that deconstruct guitar signal into 8-bit bleeps and lo-fi bloops. Chase Bliss’ entry is the Onward. Unlike…

Eastwood Marksman 5

Bullseye!

Eastwood Marksman 5 Price: $999 (retail) Info: www.eastwoodguitars.com. Reviving great and unusual designs from the past has been the focus of Eastwood Guitars since their inception in 2001. For well…

Groove Tubes Soul-O Single

Soul-O Single

Groove Tubes founder Aspen Pittman is a tube connoisseur. For 24 years, he has listened to, tested, designed, and manufactured many variants of the familiar glass bottles that melt the…

Earthquaker Devices Sea Machine

Earthquaker Devices Sea Machine

Chorus of Praise

Earthquaker Devices Sea Machine Price: $215 Contact: www.earthquakerdevices.com Known primarily for its monstrous distortion and fuzz units, the folks at Earthquaker Devices have decided to tackle what has often been…

Walrus Audio Messner Stage-One Overdrive

Into Thin Air

First off, who the heck is this Messner guy? Well, in 1978, mountaineer Reinhold Messner became the first person to scale Mount Everest without the help of oxygen tanks. Cool,…

SoloDallas Schaffer Replica Tower

Instant Angus

There should be a hall of fame of gear that’s famous for “lateral applications” – that is, features and functions beyond their original creation. Think of Fender’s Bassman or Supro’s…

RainSong WS 1000

No wood in sight, but your ears won't know it

RainSong is a Hawaii-based company (in the process of moving to the mainland) that has been building its unique graphite/epoxy instruments since 1995, and earning a huge reputation for its…

Budda 10th Ann. Limited Edition Twinmaster

Purple, Proud, and Punchy

In 1995, Budda Amplification made its debut with the Twinmaster Ten, a stripped-down, no-frills 18-watt combo designed to keep up with full stacks in terms of tone and volume. The…

Louis Electric KR M12

Ready To Roll

  Lou Rosano, founder and namesake of Louis Amplifiers, was one of the first of what has since become dozens of “boutique” amp builders, having first produced a Fender tweed…

Jerry Jones Master Electric Sitar

High-quality build, authentic groove

If you’ve always wanted to learn the sitar, but could never quite scrape up the cash to fly to India and study with the Maharishi for several years, then you’ll…

KJ Audio Hanwell 50

KJ Audio Hanwell 50

Shake The Walls

KJ Audio Hanwell 50 Price: Head $1,900; cabinet $1,600 Contact: www.kjaudio.com No apologies: Minneapolis-based amp designer Kristopher Johnson’s Hanwell 50 boutique amp is built to rock. The amp was inspired…

Mu-FX TruTron 3X

ToneVille Amplifiers Broadway

Red-Carpet Ready

ToneVille Amplifiers Broadway Price: $2,295 Contact: www.tonevilleamps.com What is it that drives boutique amp builders to expend gallons of skull sweat striving for a more-perfect union between the pluck of…

M-Tone Slipstream

M-Tone Slipstream

Delicious Curves

M-Tone Slipstream Price: $2,600 Contact: www.m-tone.com When it comes to custom, hand-made guitars, many prefer an instrument that innately reveals the work of its craftsman – the type that, instead…

D’Addario/ Planet Waves Accessories

Goodies Galore

The D’Addario family has been making musical-instrument strings since before brothers-in-law Rocco and Carmine moved to the U.S. from Italy in the early 1900s. A longtime music-industry fixture, D’Addario &…

Maestro Comet Chorus and Discoverer Delay

Return to the Space(y) Age

Maestro’s Comet Chorus and Discoverer Delay, from the company’s Original Collection effects series, may have a retro-chic aesthetic, but they bring a pronounced (and welcome) modern twist. Both are analog…

Supro’s Thunderbolt S6420+

Supro’s Thunderbolt S6420+

35 Watts on a Gold Platter

Supro’s Thunderbolt S6420+ Price: $1,599 (list) Contact: www.suprousa.com Upon introduction in 1964, the Valco-made Supro Thunderbolt Model S6420 was a misfit. Like Fender’s 4×10 Bassman, it was designed “exclusively for…

DiPinto Mach IV

Garage Days

There are times when a traditional Strat or Tele won’t scratch a particular itch, and you need a retro plank with a specific look and sound to get the job…

St. Blues Scoundrel

St. Blues Scoundrel

Walking the Dog

St. Blues Scoundrel Price: $1,898 (list)/$1,349 (street) Contact: www.saintblues.com Intended as a versatile instrument for the player with a budget for just one boutique guitar, the St. Blues Scoundrel is…

The Vox Bobcat V90

Feral Feline

In the Swinging ’60s, Vox guitars were all the rage, particularly among British and European players. Though stylish and visually innovative, the Italian-made guitars were also inconsistent, with anemic pickups…

Carvin PB4

Carvin PB4

Classic Looks, Modern Function

Carvin PB4 Price: $1,899 (list/base); $869 (street/base) Info: www.carvinguitars.com. Trends come and trends go, but tradition stands the test of time. And while Carvin’s designs stand quite well on their…

EHX String9

Orchestral Stomp

The EHX String9 String Ensemble lets guitar players create electronic-string sounds, in full polyphony and without requiring a special pickup – just plug in and you’re on your way to…

St. Blues Juke Joint Series

St. Blues Juke Joint Series

Domestic Bliss

With the elimination of its Korean-made Pro Series and the introduction of the Juke Joint Series, Memphis-based St. Blues can boast an entire lineup made in the good ol’ U.S.…

Seymour Duncan ’78 Model

Upscale Touch

In the late ’70s, rock guitarists fell down the rabbit hole trying to achieve more sustain, harmonics, and extra crunch via pickup swaps. Seymour Duncan has created a new PAF…

Taylor’s 326ce Urban Ash

Tonewood Tales

When hunting for a new acoustic, it’s useful to learn about tonewoods and construction, as both play a huge role in how an instrument sounds. With Taylor’s Grand Symphony body…

The MXR Eric Gales EG74 Raw Dawg

Bark And Bite

During a recording career that spans three decades and includes 19 albums, blues guitarist Eric Gales has achieved a reputation for solos that are a deluge of precise notes delivered…

The Grez Mendocino Junior

New Old-Soul

Luthier Barry Grzebik was a Jersey boy who moved to NorCal in his teens. When he began building guitars, he was inspired by the sonic possibilities of redwood. Those possibilities…

Keeley Noble Screamerb

Ultimate Mash-Up

Just when guitarists thought the golden age of gear couldn’t get better, Robert Keeley has combined two great pedals that sound great together. One side of his new Noble Screamer…

The Vox Bruno TB35C2

Yankee Doodle Tony

When it comes iconic guitar tone – especially “British” tone – Vox and its flagship AC30 are at the top of most players’ list. After all, the Vox AC30 is…