•  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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Vox MV50 AC

The Little Amp That Could

Ready to step onstage but your amp won’t sing? Traveling, but don’t want to lug a lot of gear? Need a backup for a gig or session? Got a tiny…

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,…

Fender Strat-o-Sonic

Mahogany body, P-90-style pickups, wraparound tailpiece, 243/4″ scale? Sounds like a Gibson Les Paul Special. But alas, the instrument bearing these features looks like a Fender Stratocaster. Recently launched as…

Fender FM52E acoustic/ electric mandolin

Mondo Mando!

I know what you’re thinking – “Yuck! A mandolin review! What next – a zither writeup?” Well, wait a second, because this mando is definitely worth your time. First off,…

Orangewood Guitars’ Echo 12 Live

Fresh-Squeezed Jangle

Twelve-string sales ebb and flow in part with the popularity of a song featuring one. Orangewood Guitars aims to change such fickle trends with an affordable 12 that plays and…

Luker Chameleon Combo

The Luker Chameleon Combo

True to Its Colors

The Luker Chameleon Combo Price: $1,850 (list) Contact: www.lukeramps.com Considering the state of modern vacuum tubes, a surprising number of great tube amps are currently being built. And of those,…

The BBE Soul Vibe

Taking Soul to New Levels

The original Shin-Ei Uni-vibe became hugely famous after Jimi Hendrix used it with Band of Gypsys (and at Woodstock). Later practitioners like Frank Marino and especially Robin Trower used the…

Gibson Theodore Standard

Flower Power

Named in honor of Ted McCarty, the Theodore is based on a design the legendary Gibson president penciled into a sketchbook back in 1957. Ted was angling for more radical…

The Jext Telez Jonathan Wilson’s Canyon Climber, Jext Face

Fuzz Buzz

There’s nothing subtle about Jext Telez stompboxes; they’re about loud colors, loud sounds, and loads of fuzz. The latest creations from designers Bob Ebeling and Colin Simon harken to the…

Smit Boosted Classic and Bucker Lite pickups

PAF Plus? S

Smit Boosted Classic/Bucker Lite Being a guitarist for more than 30 years, Kevin Smith learned much in his quest for great tone. For years he has dissected pickups while devising…

Fender’s Jason Isbell Custom Telecaster

Songs Not Included

Fender can’t guarantee its Jason Isbell Custom Tele will instill every player with Isbell’s talent for songcraft, but it sure does put his range of tasteful Tele tones within reach.…

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…

John Page Classic AJ

Production-Line Custom

After 20-plus years with Fender, where he co-founded and helped guide the renowned Custom Shop, John Page struck out on his own to start John Page Custom. One of the guru’s…

Henriksen’s The Bud

This One’s For You

In theory, a big guitar amp should sound larger than a smaller one. Then there’s Henriksen’s The Bud. Based on a cabinet created by company founder Bud Henriksen, it’s a…

Traveler AG-105EQ

Traveler AG-105EQ

Savvy Traveler

Traveler AG-105EQ Price: $499.99 (street) Info: www.travelerguitar.com When it comes to “travel guitars,” players are often forced to sacrifice size for portability and even functionality. Unlike many travel instruments that…

Carvin Audio VLD1 Legacy Drive

Legend In A Box

When Steve Vai needed a portable preamp to take on the road to emulate his signature amp tones, Carvin Audio obliged. Their VLD1 Legacy Drive is Vai’s Legacy amplifier in…

Sadowsky Semi-Hollow

Jazz Axe, Plus

With his newest creation, luthier Roger Sadowsky endows his entrant into the world of semi-hollow guitars with capabilities to cover the demands of blues, rock, and fusion. And while Sadowsky…

GIFFIN VITKA

Giffin Vikta

Feelin’ Special

Giffin Vikta Price: $2,295 Contact: premierbuildersguild.com. Roger Giffin is a guitarmaker to the stars, having built for Eric Clapton, Pete Townshend and John Entwistle, Mark Knopfler, Andy Summers, David Gilmour,…

Ball Amps 1950s GE TV

Turn Up The Television

Randall Ball crafts vintage amps like no others. At his workshop in Kearneysville, West Virginia, he translates tried-and-true schematics into new builds, then houses them in old cabinets adapted from…

Citron CS1

Citron Guitars CS1

Harvey Citron has been building instruments since the 1970s, and was co-founder of Vielette-Citron in 1975. His own line of instruments, whose users range from James Taylor to Skunk Baxter,…

Martin 00-17S Black Smoke

New From Nazareth

When C.F. Martin Guitars endured the deprivations of the Depression and World War II, they still found ways to build first-class guitars – just without the trademark frills of herringbone,…

Friedman IR-X Dual Channel Preamp

Stack in the Box

Most guitar-electronics companies make a direct-recording preamp, many promising to provide ultimate distortion and overdrive via impulse responses (IR) or cabinet simulations. Dave Friedman, of course, is known for putting…

Ernie Ball Music Man Luke3

Cool-Hand Luke

The latest model in Ernie Ball Music Man’s Steve Lukather signature series was designed to answer Lukather’s demand for an instrument that is simple yet versatile. The Luke3 (a.k.a. LIII),…

Blues Guitars On A Budget

A New Breed of L-Style

Picture the archetypal 1930s blues man, photographed with a studio backdrop, jaunty hat, knowing leer…. What else do you see? A guy with not too much money, that’s what! That’s…

3rd Power Dream Weaver

Tone Cubed

3rd Power Dream Weaver Price: $3.299 Info: www.3rdpower.com. Purchasing a new amp is much more than buying a piece of gear – think of it as hiring out a job.…

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…

PureSalem Honey Bunny, Pink Beard, Attack Captain

Bring The Fuzz

Remember your first fuzz pedal? Maybe, like a certain reviewer, you literally worked up a sweat trying to strike a deal between the body resonance of an ES-175D and the…

DryBell’s The Engine

British Splendor

Customers like John Mayer and Mike Landau have helped put DryBell Musical Laboratory effects on some of the world’s biggest stages and in the best studios. The Engine is DryBell’s…

Marshall’s EH-1 Echohead, RG-1 Regenerator & RF-1 Reflector

Little Marshalls, Big Tones

Continuing the tradition set forth by the stout little metallic gray/gold boxes of the GV-2 Guv’nor Plus, BB-2 Bluesbreaker II, VT-1 Vibratrem, and others, Marshall recently introduced the EH-1 Echohead…

Santa Cruz HT/13 Happy Traum

Fingerstyle Dream

In a career spanning more than 60 years, Happy Traum has been a fixture of the American folk scene, from the Village to Woodstock and the New World Singers to…