•  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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Redplate Amps’ BluesMachine66

Redplate Amps’ BluesMachine66

Welcome to the Machine

Redplate Amps’ BluesMachine66 Price: $2,799 (list) Contact: www.redplateamps.com Redplate builds boutique amplifiers with point-to-point wiring and meticulous hands-on attention to detail. Their BluesMachine66 1×12 was created for the discerning guitarist…

ASIA Symposium

The ASIA Symposium

Kinship and Connections

As much a celebration of kinship as it is an educational forum, the biannual Association of Stringed Instrument Artisans (ASIA) Symposium, held at East Stroudsburg University, in Pennsylvania, is mini…

Majik Box Paul Gilbert Fuzz Universe Custom

“Scarifying” OD

Majik Box Paul Gilbert Fuzz Universe Custom Price: $329.99 retail Contact: www.majikboxusa.com Since Dave Simpson and Rob Nishida joined forces to form Majik Box, they’ve been the go-to stompbox company…

Wampler’s Ego Mini Compressor and Faux Tape Echo v2

Both Ends

With an extensive line of nearly 30 devices, it’s no surprise Wampler Pedals has entries in both the traditional-size and a micro pedal markets – and pedals to cover both…

Analog Man BC183 Sun Face

Here Comes the (Black Hole) Sun

Analog Man BC183 Sun Face Price: $185 Contact: www.analogman.com Mike Piera has been building his line of stomp boxes bearing the Analog Man name since the mid ’90s. Famous for…

Supro Huntington

Looking supremely ’60s-like with its gorgeous, vintage-y cherry-red finish, petite body, and fancy-topped pickups, the Supro Huntington is inviting as all get-out. A short-scale axe, it combines a classic shape…

Savage Audio Macht 12x

Sweeter Mids, Smoother Twang

The Savage Audio Macht 12x Savage Audio gained a solid reputation for its repair work before moving into amplifier production in 1990. Today, the company builds a full line of…

Delisle Island Carney/Drifter Amp-in-Case Combo

Delisle Island Carney/Drifter Amp-in-Case Combo

Econo Classic Reimagined

Delisle Island Carney/Drifter Amp-in-Case Combo Price: $4,000 (list) Contact: www.island-instruments.com A half-century ago, before Marshalls were stacked and ’Bursts dangled menacingly below hips, the marketing of guitars and amps targeted…

Aiken Invader 30

Randall Aiken makes his home in Buford, Georgia, and for many years has been repairing and designing amps. A double-degree holding electrical engineer who put himself through college by fixing…

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ToneConcepts’ The Distillery

100-Proof Tone

While many pedal makers tinker away on effects that exhibit their personal tonal philosophies, the fact is that most don’t play gigs or compose music. Seraphim Marcopoulous of ToneConcepts was…

Xotic Effects’ Wah XW-1

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:…

Visual Sound Effects Pedals

Two-for-one punch

Always on the watch for good-looking, good-sounding, durable pedals, we were recently drawn to three of the latest gizmos from Visual Sound, the Florida-based company that started out building a…

Steinberger ZT3 Custom

Ned Lives On

The year is 1979. The disco era is nearing its end and the “Me Generation” is approaching like a freight train. With the impending new decade full of fresh ideas…

The Pettyjohn Crush Compressor

Big Squeeze

Compressors can be a real mystery to guitarists who don’t understand the concept. Recording engineers bandy about words like “hard-knee” and “soft-knee” compression, “ratio,” “threshold,” and “transparency”; these are not…

Supro’s Dual-Tone 1624T, Coronado 1690T

Supro’s Dual-Tone 1624T, Coronado 1690T

1964 All Over Again

Supro’s Dual-Tone 1624T, Coronado 1690T Price: $1,595 (Dual-Tone[LEFT]); $1,795 (Coronado) Contact: www.suprousa.com If there was a time machine handy to scoot us back to 1964, where we would naturally stock…

Garage Guru

The Epiphone Crestwood

The original Epiphone Crestwood was built at Gibson’s Kalamazoo factory, alongside Les Pauls and other ’50s classics. A double-cut solid-body, it appeared a full three years before that other double-cut…

The Selmer Zodiac 50

The Zodiac Twin Fifty

An amp maker at the very heart of the British guitar boom of the late ’50s and early ’60s, Selmer was, for a time, the leader in the field, though…

Martin OM-28 Authentic 1931

Martin OM-28 Authentic 1931

Vintage Revolution

If you’ve ever played a fine vintage guitar, you know how two things jump out at you immediately: 1) they’re often quite light, and 2) they display a big, vibrant…

The Providence Velvet Comp, Red Rock OD, and Phase Force

The Providence Velvet Comp, Red Rock OD, and Phase Force

Tones of Destiny

The Providence Velvet Comp, Red Rock OD, and Phase Force Price: $199 (per piece, list) Contact: www.providence.jp Providence is a Japan-based manufacturer of effects, cables, guitars, pickups, and audio-switching devices.…

EHX Spruce Goose OD

Blues-breakers Bump

Known and loved for its smooth breakup and sensitivity, Marshall’s Bluesbreaker circuit is a legend unto itself. The Spruce Goose Overdrive is the Electro-Harmonix version of it. Offering a simple…

Jam Pedals Harmonious Monk Mk2 & Boomster Mk2

Brothers In Tone

Jam Pedals continually evolves its line by creating a cool menagerie of point-to-point stompboxes that adapt to a multitude of sonic applications while maintaining residency on the pedalboards of stringbenders…

Carvin CT6M California Carved Top

Carvin CT6M In a way, it’s like those clothing catalogs that fill your mailbox (especially this time of year). It’s regular, it’s reliable. But instead of sweaters and shoes, the…

PRS 513

Axe of Many Colors

PRS 513. The latest addition to the model line at PRS Guitars is the discretely-named 513, an axe that carries all the family traits, like a carved figured-maple top, double-cutaway…

Electro-Harmonix Tube Zipper

Exotic Tones For Eclectic Players

Hailed by its creators as the greaest product introduced by Electro-Harmonix in over 20 years, the new Tube Zipper was developed jointly by E-H’s legendary stompbox guru, Mike Matthews, and…

Bass Bruiser

The HomeBrew Hematoma Bass Overdrive

Like a lot of gear-making companies whose stuff is warmly received, Joel and Andrea Weaver at HomeBrew Electronics have never rested on their laurels. Instead, the effects-pedal builders have launched…

Fishman Broken Record

Acoustic Looper

Part of Fishman’s line of AFX Mini Acoustic pedals, the Broken Record is a looper/sampler for players who like to keep it simple. Capable of six minutes of audio recording,…

Brown’s Guitar Factory Lap Steel

Steel Yourself

At the beginning of amplified music, one of the first instruments to get a magnetic pickup was the Rickenbacker “frying pan” lap steel – the first of many electrified lap…

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…

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…

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,…