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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
Bad Cat Mini Cat
Little Kittie With Bite
The Bad Cat amplifier company’s Mini Cat is a small unit designed for many things, including practice, recording, or use as a preamp. Bad Cat has established itself as one…
Reddick Voyager Custom
Swap Meet
The concept of pickup-swapping guitars has been around for decades, almost always with cumbersome results. With the Voyager, Reddick Guitars has devised a fresh approach. The essential idea has been…
Fender American Professional Jazzmaster
Return Of The Rebel
From the get-go, Fender’s Jazzmaster was the black sheep of the family – that wild-at-heart uncle your ma warned you about. Happily, it’s happily back in the lineup with the…
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PRS Swamp Ash Special
Narrow(field) Win
The bolt-on Swamp Ash Special has been around for nearly three decades, but PRS just retooled the U.S.-built version and dropped it at NAMM. There are significant upgrades. While earlier versions had humbuckers with a single-coil pickup between them, this latest plank has a PRS Narrowfield (NF) humbucker in the middle. Another bonus is the
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Martin D-28 Standard
If nobody mentioned that Martin’s new Standard line had been updated, a player might be forgiven for not immediately noticing that the latest D-28 has been subtly changed. After all, it’s the D-28 – one of the most recognizable and enduring American icons – and the thought of altering such a flagship is likely to
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Carr Skylark Special 1×12
Take Flight
Arriving a little more than 10 years after the original Skylark, Carr Amplifiers’ new Skylark Special adds versatility and enhanced tonal depths to squeeze a lot more into this diminutive combo. Specs remain much the same, deriving 12 watts of power from a pair of 6V6GT output tubes into a 12″ Celestion A-Type speaker. But,
Gallagher Bluegrass Bell
Ready, Set, Ring
Pickers sure love to talk about their guitars, and more than a few will enthusiastically tell you about their favorite acoustic’s “bell-like” tone, describing its chime and the way it…
Harden Rodeo Boost
Yippee-Ki-Yay
Known for building some of the coolest guitars to roll out of Indiana, Harden Engineering recently expanded its line with a low-gain overdrive pedal called the Rodeo Boost. Bearing the…
Republic 207 Tricone
Brass Ring
Resonator guitars appear to inspire a particular kind of affliction among players. And it’s a difficult addiction to maintain, given the paucity of vintage National and Dobro instruments, their much-cursed…
Charis Acoustic SJ
Spirit in the Wood
Charis Acoustic SJ Price: $4,800 (base); $7,100 (as reviewed) Info: www.charisacoustic.com. The spiritual aspects of music perhaps originate with the creation of the musical instrument. To that end, Charis Acoustic…
Marshall MXL V57M
Big-buck mic sounds – small bucks required
If you do any serious recording, analog or digital, you a need a great mic. Condenser mics have been the de facto standard for recording music and voice since World…
Bad Cat Hot Cat
New Roar in Ampland
With a name like Bad Cat and a product pedigree that includes Matchless, our expectations for this new amp line were quite high. So it was with some anxiety that…
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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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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
G&L S-500 Deluxe
Still hand-made, still Leo-like
The people at G&L Guitars consider themselves more than simply guitar builders. Rather, they are the caretakers of Leo Fender’s legacy. Built on what started as Clarence Leo Fender (CLF)…
Carvin AE-185
Our movable feast of musical gear begins this month with an offering from the folks as California’s Carvin Musical Instruments: the semi-hollow, acoustic-electric, 6-string guitar designated AE-185. These are the…
Republic’s Classic Concert Ukulele
Dainty Device
National launched its first ukulele in 1927, combining a brass-bodied, nickel-plated uke with the sweet-sounding amplification of a resonator cone. Plenty of vintage-uke fans see those rare National (and subsequent…
Universal Audio Ruby, Woodrow & Dream
Model Of Perfection
With digital recording more popular than ever, audio designers are working to capture guitar tone directly, without miking an amp. Universal Audio – renowned maker of studio gear – has…
Heritage Guitars’ H-155M
Best-Kept Secret
Heritage Guitars still builds instruments by hand… in Kalamazoo. Like its veteran brethren in the industry, it focuses on craftsmanship, timeless aesthetics, and a consistent product line. One of its…
Altamira TD Birdseye Oval Hole
Djangology
Altamira Guitars has made a specialty of classical nylon-string, replica, and gypsy-jazz guitars. The latter are created with the same meticulous methods and craftsmanship found in the old-world examples played…
PRS Guitars’ McCarty
Ted Talkin’
In the late 1980s, Ted McCarty, the man who served as president of Gibson during the company’s “golden age,” became a special consultant to Paul Reed Smith, sharing insight on…
Carl Martin Vintage Series Pedals
More Effect, Less Coin
If you’re the type of hardcore gear geek who spends as much time evaluating guitarists based on what’s in their hands, rigs, and pedalboards as you do actually listening to…
Fender Songwriter
The Songwriter: Ill-fated Mini-Fender
Just when you think you’ve seen or heard of everything Fender ever did, along comes another tidbit about a guitar that was prototyped but never produced. In 1969 and ’70…
Xotic Effects’ Wah XW-1
State-Of-The-Art MousEtrap
Xotic Effects’ Wah XW-1 Price: $295 (list); $249 (street) Contact: xotic.us/ The chase for tone sometimes seems like never-ending “Tom and Jerry” reruns. Enter Xotic Effects and their better mousetrap:…
DigiTech iStomp
Morph For Less
DigiTech iStomp Price: $149.95 Info: www.digitech.com/istomp If you’re the type of gearhead who turns heel and runs from DSP effects, let alone any equipment with a lower-case “i” in front…
Frantone “The Sweet” Fuzz
Sturdy, Fuzzy, and Sweet
Frantone Electronics is a New York City company that has been hand-making a variety of effects pedals since 1994, and recently launched it’s germanium-transistor powered The Sweet, which the company…
Epiphone’s Wilshire and Coronet
Gotta Rock
Some elemental solidbodies were born to rock – the SG, Telecaster, and Les Paul Special and Junior come to mind. Born in the late ’50s, Epiphone’s Coronet and Wilshire were…
“Tremolo” Trio
Three new approaches to replacement vibrato systems
Three new aftermarket vibrato systems for common double- and single-cutaway solidbody guitars offer the convenience of “drop in” installation. Each system boasts unique features and improved performance. SuperVee Tremolo System…
D’Angelico’s EXL-1 and EX-SS
Deco Redux
3rd Power Solo Dream/Switchback amps Price: $1,859 list/$1,149 street (EXL-1); $1,999 list/$1,409 street (EX-SS) Info: www.dangelicoguitars.com. Images of John D’Angelico crafting masterpieces in his Little Italy shop haunt guitar enthusiasts…
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…
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 Guitars P8E and P8E
Fresh designs from radical axe maker
A Parker acoustic? And a cyber-age single-cutaway? Yes, folks, it’s the 21st century, and the Parker guitar company is responding with new designs for a new era. Of the two,…
Donner DST-700 Hyper
Value City
It’s often the case that guitars with roasted necks cost more than gloss poly finishes, but Donner is challenging that assumption with its feature-laden import DST-700 Hyper Series. Aiming for…
Godin
Godin’s 5th Avenue CW Kingpin II and Richmond Dorchester – Funky to Fab
We’re living in a golden age of retro guitars – a period when you can barely turn around without tripping over some cool, vintage-styled plank. Granted, the retro fad has…
Cable Porter
Much of a musician’s setup time is relegated to detangling cable thought to be wrapped pristinely at the previous gig. Even if you use Velcro to wrap the cable neatly,…
