• 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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Wangs #2204 HW

Chinese Rocks

Even as new technology spawns new sounds, ease of use, and portability, there remains among guitarists a predilection for technologies of old. New sounds are inevitably compared to the earthy…

Musicvox Space Cadet 12

Chime Machine

Musicvox Space Cadet 12 Price: $899 (direct) Contact: musicvox.com As you may have read in Michael Wright’s profile of the Spaceranger guitar (September ’11), Musicvox started producing kooky, retro-styled solidbody…

Tremcaster Single Ninety Home Feature Image

Tremcaster Single Ninety

Best of Both Worlds

Today’s guitar market is one of extreme preferences. For some, the idea of countless options and exotic woods and craftsmanship is the name of the game. For others, the tendency…

Victoria Silver Sonic

Victoria Silver Sonic

Sonic Intoxication

For nearly 20 years, Victoria Amplifier Company has been making head-turning retro-styled amps. Mark Baier and his crew recently introduced the Silver Sonic, a lower-watt version of their popular Golden…

API Audio TranZformer GT and LX

Stripped Down

Automated Processing Inc. (API) is best-known for its high-end mixing consoles for broadcast and recording, along with the mic preamps, compressors, and EQs it has been making since the ’60s.…

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…

IBANEZ-RGA8_HOME-MAIN-BIG

Ibanez RGA8

In the Deep End

Ibanez RGA-8 Price: $1,102.21 (approx. $800 street). Info: ibanez.com In the annals of cool, weird, and unusual guitars, they’re nothing like an eight-string axe. It’s a strange beastie, sporting a…

Strymon Zuma

Power Station

Are you tripping over a spiderweb of effects power cords? Have a pedalboard that requires an advanced degree in electrical engineering to operate? Or are you just confounded by your…

Electro-Harmonix Pog and English Muff’n pedals

Sounds, Classic and Funky

For the last 37-plus years, Electro-Harmonix has been a prolific innovator and manufacturer of effects pedals and other preamp devices. A few times each year, E-H president Mike Matthews offers…

Soul Tramp Tweed 12

5E3 (Non) Copy

Soul Tramp Amps are builder Don Hill’s take on classic amp circuit designs… for instance, his Tweed 12 offers a spin on Fender’s Deluxe at the height of its form.…

Dan’s Guitar RX: Reviving a ’56 Duo-Jet, Part Two

Ugly, But An Oldy

In the March issue, I introduced you to my apprentice, Blake Burkholder, and the restoration he was doing to a ’56 Duo-Jet. Blake, who operates Peach Ridge Guitars, in West…

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…

Novax Sweet Annie

Silver Anniversary

Remember chuckling at the Rick 481 slant-fret guitar? Or wondering about those fret intervals on Joni Mitchell’s dulcimer, or the flying frets on Ravi Shankar’s sitar? Ralph Novak did. But…

Providence Silky Drive and Stampede DT

Japanese Silk (and Stomp)

Providence Silky Drive and Stampede DT Price: $394 (Silky Drive); $249 (Stampede DT) Info: www.providence-ltd.com. From the Land of the Rising Sun, Providence pedals have been building an audience among…

EarthQuaker Devices Zoar

Fuzz Fury

An all-analog, transistor-based fuzzbox, EarthQuaker’s new Zoar is billed as a “Dynamic Audio Grinder Distortion Pedal.” In plain English, it delivers square-wave sorcery for guitar or bass rigs that’s great…

Carl Martin’s Roadie Bandmate 15

Tone-Rich Traits

Denmark’s Carl Martin has built a following with its PlexiTone series of overdrives and effects pedals used by stars the world over. The company recently introduced the Roadie Bandmate 15,…

Danelectro Free Speech

"Do You Feeeeel"?

Well, we’ve all had the fun of trying to mimic – even on the worst of nights – a Peter Frampton tune featuring the dreaded “talk box,” possibly even venturing…

Jam Pedals’ Delay Llama & Wahcko Wah

What’s In A Name?

Positioning its sonic M.O. squarely in the 1960s and ’70s, Jam Pedals strives to create a distinct line of effects. Beyond their fun graphics and tongue-in-cheek names, Jam’s stompboxes are…

The Epiphone Nancy Wilson Fanatic

Heart Pounder

Sometimes, it takes awhile to dial-in a good idea. The Epiphone Nancy Wilson Fanatic improves on Gibson’s Nighthawk design from the early ’90s, and now offers a versatile, player-friendly instrument.…

D’Angelico’s EX-DC and EX-SD

D’Elegance and Power

D’Angelico’s EX-DC and EX-SD Price: $1,769 list/$1,259 street (EX-DC); $1,659 list/$1,185 street (EX-SD) Info: www.dangelicoguitars.com John D’Angelico produced just 1,164 guitars during his career on Kenmare Street in New York…

Blackstar ID:30TVP

Tone in the Digital Domain

Blackstar ID:30TVP Price: $399.99 Info: www.blackstarampsx.com. Since forming in 2007, Blackstar has been building user-friendly amplifiers and attracting high-profile artists like Leslie West, Neal Schon, and Gus G. The company’s…

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…

Eastwood La Baye 2x4 Devo Signature Model

Eastwood La Baye 2×4 Devo Signature Model

Whip It Good

For decades, guitarists have lovingly referred to their solidbody guitars as “planks.” In the mid ’60s, a small builder called LaBaye upped the ante by offering a guitar truly was…

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…

Blackstar ID:30TVP

Tone in the Digital Domain

Blackstar ID:30TVP Price: $399.99 Info: www.blackstarampsx.com. Since forming in 2007, Blackstar has been building user-friendly amplifiers and attracting high-profile artists like Leslie West, Neal Schon, and Gus G. The company’s…

Pirate Guitar Effects’ Plank Overdrive and Boost

Walk The Plank

Every pro guitarist who has laid eyes on the Pirate Guitar Effects Plank has initially thought they recognized the logo and taken a second look. The Plank is something other…

Six-String Kicks

Six-String Kicks

Wood from Famed Bowling Alley Set to Sing

Few things scratch America’s cumulative itch for nostalgia like Route 66 – the famed wagon-trail-cum-highway that offered passage to those migrating west from Chicago in the mid 19th century, then…

Roland Cube Lite

Roland Cube Lite

High-Calorie Tone

Roland Cube Lite Price: $169 (street) Info: www.rolandus.com. At just under four pounds, and with a 10″ x 6″ footprint, the Roland Cube Lite is about as compact and lightweight…

Guitar Tone Company’s Bloody Finger

Rugged Facelift

While honing his ears at Greene Street Recording Studio in New York, David Harrington was inspired to build studio-quality stompboxes. He must have done something right because as word spread,…

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…