• Walrus Audio’s Mako Series MKII

    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…

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Hamer Monaco III

Not Like The Others

After 30 years in the business, Hamer has gained a reputation for being one of the best guitar builders in the world, and for good reason. Hamer’s attention to detail,…

Eastwood’s Classic 6 TA PHo

Phish Food

If you’ve seen Phish guitarist Trey Anastasio onstage, you may have noticed an unusual archtop in his mitts – a custom six-string by builder Paul Languedoc. Its design has been…

Vox’s AC10C1

Vox’s AC10C1

Blast of the Past

Few amps give such an instant jolt of history as a Vox. The golden nameplate, that distinctive crisscross speaker fabric, that black or fawn Vynide basket-weave covering, that tone –…

Tsakalis Experience, Emma ON-1 Okto-Nøjs, and Mad Professor Twimble

World Sounds

It seems that every other stompbox on the market has dual-footswitch functionality, packing two entirely different circuits into one housing. And judging by the trio here – all three of…

Strymon Iridium Amp & IR Cab

Model Citizen

It can be tough, living in the golden age of gear tech. Which piece of amazing equipment to get next? Strymon’s Iridium might be worth a look. A stompbox-sized amp…

Yamaha’s THR100HD Dual Amp

Double Vision

Modeling amps have evolved rapidly as software and circuits have improved and become, dare we say, more organic sounding. The Yamaha THR100HD is a prime example: a digital head that…

Tone Tubby 4×12

Sweet, full tones from funky hemp cones

Northern California’s A Brown Soun has been repairing speakers for nearly 30 years. Founded in 1974 by John Harrison, the company was named after the way Harrison “sees” sounds –…

3rd Power Amplification’s Solo Dream 1, Solo Dream 4, and Switchback 112

Dream Babies

Recording/touring guitarist, studio engineer, and industry veteran Jamie Scott made the metamorphosis into amp designer by learning to repair and modify Marshall heads. He quickly realized that he wanted amps…

Morley Sapphire Flanger

Flanger

Morley’s Sapphire Flanger is a cute little box driven by wallwart or 9-volt battery. The box itself is a bit clunky and odd, but klunky and odd are “in” right…

Metropolitan Guitars Westport

Series

New from Metropolitan Guitars of Texas comes the Westport Series, a scaled-down version of their Tanglewood, reviewed last year in these pages. The Tanglewood is, if you recall, Dave Wintz’s…

Fishman’s Fluence Greg Koch Gristle-Tone Pickups

Voices Not In Your Head

In 2014, Fishman introduced their Fluence line with the goal of combining vintage tone with freedom from the inductance problems that impact even the most hallowed vintage pickups. Rather than…

IK Multimedia iRig HD

Pocket Rocket

Ain’t technology grand? With a device like the iRig HD, you can plug your guitar into an iPhone, iPad, or a computer and rock out with shockingly good sounds. The…

Mojo Hand Swim Team Chorus Flanger

Double Duty

Michigan-based Mojo Hand Effects has been building a variety of hand-assembled pedals since 2010. Their latest, the Swim Team, pulls double duty as a chorus and flanger packed into a…

Koch Twintone

Bantam Tough-Guy

The Twintone is the Netherlands-based Koch Guitar Electronics company’s mid-sized guitar amp, a 1×12″ combo that, like the entire Koch line, uses top-quality components including cold-lacquered transformers, fiberglas-reinforced PC boards,…

Fender’s American Deluxe Stratocaster V Neck

Still Killer After All These Years

One look Fender’s latest Frontline catalog and you’ll see a huge array of models – Custom Shop N.O.S., Closet Classic, and Relics, artist signature models, American Strats, Mexican-made Strats, vintage…

Boss IR-2 Amp & Cabinet

Sim Plus

With the rise of home recording, videos, and gigging without amps, Boss has introduced its IR-2 Amp & Cabinet, a small box with a range of amp and cabinet sounds…

Crucial Audio Echo-Nugget

Crucial Audio Echo-Nugget

Things Just Got Serious

Crucial Audio Echo-Nugget Price:$799 (list) Contact: www.crucialaudio.com It’s hard not to be impressed by the physical presence of the Crucial Audio Echo-Nugget. Unlike typical small-footprint stompboxes, the Echo-Nugget is a…

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,…

Tyler Amp Works’ HM-18 Combo

Jersey Original

New Jersey has a history as home of some iconic amplifiers, and Tyler Amp Works in Westfield is a father-son operation that uses local resources in producing some of the…

Immix Eleven V-Series 30 Amp/Cab

Immix Eleven V-Series 30 Amp/Cab

Lights! Sound! Action!

Immix Eleven V-Series 30 Amp/Cab Price: Amp $1,995 (list); cabinet $895 (list) Contact: www.immix11.com Remember the first time you encountered the Rick 331LS Light Show guitar? You thought, wow, that’s…

Fryette Power Station PS-10

Get It On

There’s nothing like cranking up a tube amp and getting all the punch, feel, dynamics, and juicy goodness of warm valves. But how do you hit your amp’s sweet spot…

Marshall JCM800 2203

Marshall JCM800 2203

Preamp tubes: three ECC83. Output tubes: four 6550. Rectifier: solidstate Controls: Pre-Amp Volume, Master Volume, Treble, Middle, Bass, Presence. Speakers: four Celestion G12T-75 12″ speakers per cab. Output: approximately 100…

Capo Glider

Capo The Glider

Evolution has had fun with the trusty old capo. Invented in the early/mid 18th century as a way to simultaneously fret all the strings of an instrument, allowing quick key…

Ellis Guitars TX3

“T” For Texas

  Houston is the closest major U.S. port to the tropical hardwoods of South and Central America, so it makes sense that Ellis Guitars makes good use of them. Grabbing…

The Epiphone ES-175 Reissue

Return of a Classic

There are plenty of affordable hollowbodies on the market, but Epiphone’s recent reissue of the Gibson ES-175 is almost a slam-dunk out of the box. Whether your guitar guru is…

Boss MT-2 3A Metal Zone

Captain Crunch

Over the years, the Boss Metal Zone has often been lampooned for its ferocious personality. But if you plug one in, you’ll be hard-pressed to understand why – it’s a…

Paul Hartmann Dutchess

Regal Archtop

Based in the Hudson River Valley, luthier Paul Hartmann has made a name for himself crafting solidbodies, semi-hollowbodies, and most recently, full-on archtops. The Dutchess – named for the New…

EarthQuaker Devices’ Erupter

Bring The Fuzz

EarthQuaker Devices is one of the most admired pedal builders today, thanks to their original designs that feature tweakable controls which allow players to easily dial in their own unique…

The Pickaso Guitar Bow

Fiddle Stick 

Ever since Jimmy Page grabbed a bow for “Dazed and Confused,” players have tried to bridge the gap between guitars and their fretless counterparts. To that end, Pickaso introduced the…