•  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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Bad Cat Black Cat 1×12 Combo

Roarin’ Back

When Bad Cat Amplifiers trimmed its line to just four models with modern circuits, some wondered if they’d capture the magic of the hand-wired wonders that built the company’s reputation.…

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…

Henriksen Amplifiers’ The Blu

Sound Cube

One old cliché among gigging musicians is, “They pay me for the aggravation, the music is free.” A good deal of that aggravation comes from lugging gear. If you play…

Gator Cases MiniVault

Rolling Rack

Every gigging guitarist who lugs their own gear (so, 95 percent of us) knows firsthand how instrument cases take a beating. No matter how carefully they’re handled, the reality is…

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…

Wylde Audio Odin Grail Genesis Bullseye

Berserker Broadax

Zakk Wylde emerged from New Jersey in the late ’80s to give Ozzy Osbourne’s music a style and attitude unlike that of any guitarist before him, using an approach spawned…

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…

Gurus Amps’ SexydriveMkII

Bellissimo!

Chalk up another score for Italian innovation. Chicco Bellini and his company, Gurus Amps, are among the top dogs in the Italian gear market. They’ve also been gaining steam worldwide…

Ernie Ball’s MVP Volume/Gain Expression Pedal

Ernie Ball MVP Volume/Gain Expression Pedal

Total Control

Ernie Ball’s MVP Volume/Gain Expression Pedal Price: $179 (list); $129.99 (street) Info: www.ernieball.com. Just when you thought you were done building the perfect pedalboard with all the coolest overdrives and…

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…

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 Rivolta Combinata Bass VII

Euro Flash

Rivolta’s Combinata VII bass takes ideas from Rickenbacker, Höfner, and various European builders lost to history and wraps them into a four-string with a chambered mahogany body. Working in collaboration…

D’Angelico Premier Bob Weir SS

Touch of Grey

When Bob Weir introduced his D’Angelico Premier SS at NAMM last January, he performed a set of Grateful Dead and solo tunes for a select audience with backing from an…

Relic Guitars The Hague T-Style

Relic Guitars The Hague T-Style

Aged to Perfection

Relic Guitars The Hague is a Dutch builder that produces, obviously, relic’d guitars. Mostly using the archetypal Strat and Tele shapes, the company sells their axes online and often for…

Dean Zelinsky Tagliare Z-Glide Custom

Dean Zelinsky Tagliare Z-Glide Custom

Future Tense

Every so often, a builder gives the art of guitar design a firm shove into the future. The Dean Zelinsky Tagliare Z-Glide Custom certainly fits into that category. On the…

Dunlop MXR Carbon Copy, ’74 Phase 90 and Buddy Guy Signature Wah

Legendary pedal builder MXR/Dunlop recently introduced a sweet trio of effects; something new from its Custom Shop in the form of the Carbon Copy analog delay, something old in the…

H&D, Running Dog, and Gibson L-Style Guitars

Downsize, Upmarket

Huss & Dalton 00-SP Gibson Robert Johnson L-1 In the July issue we looked at affordable L-style flat-tops for the acoustic blues player. This month, we look at similarly inspired…

Martin D-18 1937 Authentic and OMC-1 Fingerstyle

Display Their Heritage

Martin D-18 1937 Authentic The first thing that catches your eye as you open the case of Martin’s D-18 1937 Authentic is the guitar’s unmistakable vintage vibe. Whether you’re drawn…

Fender Player Jaguar

Updated Offset

Priced at entry level and built in Mexico, Fender’s Player Series provides affordable access to Fender’s most iconic solidbodies. The Player Jaguar updates a classic offset with a handful of…

Avante Gryphon

Avante Gryphon

Game Changer?

Avante Gryphon Price: $1,495 (street) Info: www.veilletteguitars.com People bandy about the term “game changer” so often these days it barely means a thing, but the Avante Gryphon may be just…

Friedman Plex

Mystique Maker

Dave Friedman built his brand (and reputation) by making supercharged Marshall-inspired amps, and his latest hones in on one of his personal favorites – a beloved ’68 JMP Superlead –…

Bare Knuckle Pickups’ PAT Pend, Flat ’52, and Mule

Bruising Tones

Bare Knuckle Pickups’ PAT Pend, Flat ’52, and Mule Price: $125-$340 Info: www.bareknucklepickups.co.uk. From the ever-expanding world of boutique pickups comes a builder out of southwest England who creates a…

Guild Bluesbird

Flyin’ High Again

The Guild Bluesbird has a long history that began in the 1950s with Guild’s answer to the Gibson Les Paul –the M-75 Aristocrat, later renamed the M-75 Bluesbird. The guitar…

Bixonic Expandora 2000R

Full-Range Distortion

Bixonic Expandora 2000R. Bixonic introduced the Expandora distortion/fuzz pedal in 1995, and it quickly became popular among guitarists the likes of Billy Gibbons, Joe Satriani, Megadeth, and Bootsy Collins. The…

Metal Pedals’ Raw Hide, Hard Core XXX

Saddle Up!

Metal Pedals’ Raw Hide, Hard Core XXX Price: $175 (Raw Hide); $230 (Hard Core XXX) Info: www.metalpedals.com. For many discerning players, Dave Pantaleone at Metal Pedals is a well-known stompbox…

MOD Kits DIY 102+ Amp Kit

MOD Kits DIY 102+ Amp Kit

Do It Yerself

MOD Kits DIY 102+ Amp Kit Price: $265 (list) Contact: www.modkitsdiy.com A good friend jokingly remarked that building tube amps is the legal equivalent of taking opiates – instantly gratifying…

Best In Tone

The Marshall DSL40CR

In the minds of guitarists, the Marshall name verges on mythic – from Bluesbreakers to plexis, they hold a special place. However, while iconic in terms of tone, they’re also…

The Daddy Mojo Ozark

All But The Kitchen Sink

For a decade, Daddy Mojo has been making cigar-box guitars that refine the vibe of those rudimentary instruments. In 2016, the company debuted a line of traditional guitars under the…

The SeaGlass Route6jr

Boutique Nobility

Roger Mello of SeaGlass Guitars officially opened shop in 2011. Today, he offers four electric models; his Route6jr maintains the simplicity of the guitars that inspired it while re-creating their…

Mu-FX Tru-Tron 3X

Get Tha Funk Out

The Mu-FX Tru-Tron 3X Price: $369.63 Contact: www.mu-fx.com. Think funk. Think Bootsy Collins’ wacked-out Parliament Funkadelic Space Bass lines. Think Stevie Wonder’s wah’d Clavinet on his ’73 hit “Higher Ground.”…