-
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
Roland’s Blues Cube Artist
Roland’s Blues Cube Artist Price: $1,169 (list)/$899 (street) Contact: www.rolandus.com Roland has reinvented and relaunched its Blues Cube combos with a series featuring Roland’s exclusive Tube Logic design that carefully…
The Pinter SB1-R
Days of Sustain
Mike Pinter conceived his new SB1-R as a do-it-all “rock star” guitar that would combine design concepts and tone choices in an attractive package. The SB1-R starts with an alder…
Fender Bassbreaker 45 Combo
Hybrid Love Child
Fender’s new nine-product Bassbreaker series combines popular traditional amplifiers with modern technology. Classic tones and flexibility are the name of the game, which means a plethora of wattages and sizes…
-
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
-
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
-
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,
Gibson’s Memphis ES-275
History Now
Take a quick glance at the Gibson Memphis ES-275 and you might think this is a venerable Gibson from decades past – except it’s a brand-new model. Crafted at the…
Fender American Vintage II 1954 Precision Bass
Ageless Anchor
It wasn’t literally the first electric bass, but Fender’s Precision was the genesis of the instrument the world knows today. For more than seven decades, the four-string workhorse has been…
Reverend Hellhound 40/60
One step to "schizo"
Reverend Musical Instru ments founder Joe Naylor’s head is always cranking out cool ideas. A Roberto-Venn graduate who in 1996 sold his amplifier company so he could start building guitars,…
Saga’s Gitane DG-300 and DG-320 Modèle John Jorgenson
Gypsy Stars
John Jorgenson boasts not one, not two, but three signature-model guitars – one for each style he excels at: bluegrass, hot country, and Django Reinhardt’s Gypsy jazz. In fact, two…
Great Eastern FX Small Speaker Overdrive
Little Big Tones
Recording engineers and DIYers have long known what a small amp can do in a big room – that is, sound awesome. The U.K.-based Great Eastern FX Co. has created…
Budda Verbmaster 112
Versatile 18-Watter
Budda Verbmaster 112 Price: $1,800 (street) Contact: budda.com As part of its Hand-Wired series, Budda has reissued the tube-rectified Verbmaster 1×12 combo that differs from similarly powered amps because it’s…
-
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
-
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
-
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
-
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
-
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
-
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
Gibson Falcon 5
Timeless
Drawing inspiration from its classic Skylark amplifiers of the 1950s and ’60s, Gibson is revisiting those beloved tones with the Falcon 5. Designed by Randall Smith and his Mesa/Boogie team…
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…
Weller El Dorrado
Rock-and-Roll Screamer
Tucked away in southwest Illinois near St. Louis, luthier Steve Weller is making interesting instruments. His El Dorrado model is a solidbody with nods to the angular shapes of the…
Guild D-50 Standard
Rosewood Renaissance
With a tradition going back more than 70 years, Guild Guitars was there from the beginning of rock and roll, at the peak of folk, and through the Summer of…
T-Rex Replicator
Daily Echo
Among the arcana of tone, few things inspire as much devotion – even obsession – as echo. The Holy Grail is often considered the simple-but-lovely slapback heard on early Sun…
Magic Magnets
TV Jones’ Starwood Humbuckers
Best known for making the vintage-sounding Magna’Tron, Power’Tron, and Supra’Tron pickups, TV Jones has expanded its well-regarded line to include pickups for Telecasters, Stratocasters, and Les Pauls. The TV Jones…
Mack Atomsmasher DB-40
Super Dynamics
What do you get when you have a rockin’ pair of 12AX7 tubes and a pair of EL34 power tubes? You get the tonal core of the new Mack tube…
Reddick Voyager CS
Boss Delay Machine DM-101 Reddick Echo Heaven
Love the simplicity and warmth of analog in your effects? Well, meet Boss’ new Delay Machine DM-101, housed in a chassis that echoes their very first delay (the late-’70s DM-1)…
Fender Twin & Deluxe
Fender’s ’57 Twin Amp and ’57 Deluxe – Tweed for Two
Fender “tweed” guitar amplifiers – the Twin, Deluxe, Bassman, Champ, etc., from the 1950s – are the most sought after amps in the annals of guitardom. Whether it is Leo’s…
Fender Player Jazz Bass Fretless
No Frets, No Sweat
The fretless has long been mysterious territory for bassists dazzled by the sonic achievements of Jaco Pastorius, Pino Palladino, and Tony Franklin but reluctant to compromise their intonation. The Fender…
Taylor Classic, Custom, and Standard
Worth the Wait
Taylor SolidBody Classic. For years, Bob Taylor fended off the question, “When are you going to build a solidbody guitar?” Well-known as a builder of top-notch acoustics, for his company,…
Empress Effects Tremolo
Outboard Highness
Ontario-based Empress Effects’ Tremolo pedal is housed in a 45/8″ x 35/8″ x 13/8″ die-cast box and boasts a ton of features that separate it from virtually every other outboard…
Carr Bel-Ray 1×12
Brit-Based Invasion
Carr Amplifiers are renowned for their build quality and vintage-inspired tones. Not one to rest on his laurels, founder Steve Carr continually pushes the envelope with designs that capture the…
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…
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…
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…
Guild Standard Series Acoustics
Legacy, Cont’d?
Founded by a jazz guitarist as jazz-box builder, the Guild company also built a solid reputation with its ’50s acoustic guitars. The brand’s profile as an acoustic builder was certainly…
Ohana Ukuleles
Serious Fun
Ohana Ukuleles Price: $249 (SK-35, CKP-70R); $259 (SK-28) Info: www.ohana-music.com. Just like guitars, ukuleles come in all quality levels, from uke-shaped objects made of plastic, composite board, and unidentifiable materials,…
Parker NiteFly Mojo Flame
Get Yer Mojo Workin'!
When Parker Fly guitars were introduced in July, 1993, they were strange aliens from a distant guitar planet, sporting a radical design, composite body, and neck, and one of the…
The MXR Eric Gales EG74 Raw Dawg
Bark And Bite
During a recording career that spans three decades and includes 19 albums, blues guitarist Eric Gales has achieved a reputation for solos that are a deluge of precise notes delivered…
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…
