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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
The Mercury Magnetics Epiphone Valve Junior Mod Kit
Small Cha-Ching, Big Bling
Last year, Epiphone tossed a small pebble into a large pond with the introduction of its Valve Junior amplifier – and its launch caused a tsunami. Available as a stand-alone…
FireBelly Amplifiers’ Tweed 1955SE, PR3512SE
Tale Of Two Princetons
FireBelly Amplifiers’ Tweed 1955SE, PR3512SE Price: $949 (Tweed 1955SE); $1,595 (PR3512SE) Contact: www.firebellyamps.com The quest for vintage tone continues, and while budgetary concerns might keep many guitarists from owning the…
Strymon’s Deco Tape Saturation and Doubletracker
Smart Box
Strymon’s Deco Tape Saturation and Doubletracker Price: $299 (list) Contact: www.strymon.net It’s scary, wielding a stompbox that’s smarter than you. Scary and thrilling. Strymon’s Deco pedal is designed to provide…
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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,
Jeff Babicz Acute model
Earful of Engineering
Writing about new gear is a problematic situation when you’re called Vintage Guitar magazine. Fortunately, most of the gear we review is based on long-accepted concepts. Even the advanced technology…
National Dueco
Still Resonating
Blues man Charlie Parr recently philosophized in VG that National resonator guitars are as much mechanical creation as musical instrument, which is why maintaining the function of vintage Nationals comes…
Crucial Audio Echo-Nugget
Things Just Got Serious
Crucial Audio Echo-Nugget Price:$799 (list) Contact: www.crucialaudio.com It’s hard not to be impressed by the physical presence of the Crucial Audio Echo-Nugget. Unlike typical small-footprint stompboxes, the Echo-Nugget is a…
Egnater Tweaker 40
Small, But Mighty
Egnater Tweaker 40 Price: $1,149 (approx. $800 street). Info: egnater.com Egnater has just amplified its Tweaker line with a new 40-watt, two channel, 1×12 combo. This amp has a Celestion…
The MXR Custom Badass ’78 Distortion
Company Hot Rod
Dunlop Custom Badass ’78 Distortion Price: $79 Info: jimdunlop.com Custom Badass is a new division of MXR that offers the company’s engineers’ hot-rodded takes on popular designs. Packaged in MXR’s…
Ernie Ball Steve Morse Model & Silhouette Special
High-Octane Solidbodies
The guitars of the Ernie Ball/Music Man Company generally cater to “guitarist’s guitarists,” that is, those fretboard virtuosos we all stand in awe of. Over the years, players who’ve lent…
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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
Vox’s AC10C1
Blast of the Past
Few amps give such an instant jolt of history as a Vox. The golden nameplate, that distinctive crisscross speaker fabric, that black or fawn Vynide basket-weave covering, that tone –…
Sam Ash Fuzzz Boxx
Atomic Wedgie
Sam Ash Fuzzz Boxx Price: $149.99 Contact: http://www.samash.com. Guitarists who lived in New York City in the late ’60s might recall the Sam Ash Fuzzz Boxx. Introduced in ’67 as…
Oddfellow Napoleon Boost
Little Dictator
Oddfellow Napoleon Boost Price: $119.99 (list) Contact: www.oddfellowfx.com Overdrive is one of the guitarist’s great joys. Unlike flat-out distortion, overdrive is a broad tonal palette, from clean and full to…
Universal Audio’s OX Amp Top Box
The Tube Abides
Since the mid ’60s, electrical engineers have been trying to drive a stake into the heart of the vacuum tube, first with transistors, then with zeros and ones. Yet the…
ESP GL-56
Is it Really Vintage?
Like the “aged” guitars crafted by Fender and Gibson, this ESP solidbody looks like an ancient road warrior, one that’s gigged from Texas to Tijuana and back again, 200 nights…
Strymon Ultraviolet Vintage Vibe
Modern Spin
Pioneered by Jimi Hendrix, the Uni-Vibe became synonymous with psychedelic rock sounds in the 1960s. Strymon’s modern interpretation is the Ultraviolet Vintage Vibe. The Ultraviolet offers a variety of tone-shaping…
Strymon’s DIG Dual Digital Delay
Diggin’ In
Offering the heart and soul of those crystal-clear first-generation 1980s digital delays, California-based Strymon’s DIG Dual Digital Delay provides not only three classic digital voicings, but dual cascading or parallel delay…
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…
Metropolitan Guitars Westport
Series
New from Metropolitan Guitars of Texas comes the Westport Series, a scaled-down version of their Tanglewood, reviewed last year in these pages. The Tanglewood is, if you recall, Dave Wintz’s…
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…
Hamer Blitz
The Hamer Blitz
One of the unspoken assumptions in the vintage guitar market is American instruments are superior to those made outside the U.S. Regular “Gigmeister” readers know I don’t necessarily subscribe to…
Randall MTS RM50/RM100
For the gotta-have-more tube amp lover
After trying to get together for several years, in 2002, tube amp guru Bruce Egnater officially joined forces with Randall Amplification. The result? Randall’s MTS guitar amps! With its interchangeable…
Blackbird Guitars’ Lucky 13
Nice Roll
Blackbird Guitars’ Lucky 13 Price: $1,850 (list)/$2,050 (with Fishman electronics) Info: www.blackbirdguitar.com What has a 13-fret neck, a small-but-curvaceous body like a classic early-’30s Gibson, and a sound that conjures…
The D’Angelico Excel 59
Hybrid Hotshot
Some might see it as a Frankenstein’s monster, while others will view it as the best of all worlds. The D’Angelico Excel 59 is a throwback to an original John…
TTS Music BMT Overdrive
Fine-Tune Your Crunch
TTS Music BMT Overdrive Price: $175 Info: www.ttspickups.com. No, the “BMT” in the name of TTS Music’s overdrive pedal does not stand for a “bacon, mayo, and tomato.” The initials…
The Peavey HP2
Best Of Both Worlds
Introduced in 1996, the EVH Wolfgang was an evolution of Eddie Van Halen’s previous models from Music Man, Kramer, and Charvel. Today known as the Peavey HP2, the guitar is…
RS Guitarworks Rock Master
Lotta Green, Buncha Mean RS
RS Guitarworks Rock Master In 1994, RS Guitarworks was just another guitar repair joint that every so often did some refinishing work. But it has since grown to become a…
Pefftronics Super Rand-O-Matic
Big sounds from a little device
In the words of the great Monty Python, “Now, here’s something completely different…” The Pefftronics SB-101 Super Rand-O-Matic is a modulation effect unlike anything we’ve heard. It can create basic…
The Clark Gainster
Trick Your Tweed
Before he got into the effects pedal biz, Michael Clark had a reputation for building killer tweed-inspired amps. In 2001 he utilized his tonal superpowers to devise the first version…
The Reverend Koch Gristle 90
Pop The Hood
What happens when you mix a classic design with the creativity of twang ace Greg Koch? You get the Reverend Gristle 90, which may look like a sporty T-style guitar…
Henriksen’s JazzAmp 112-ER
All That Jazz
Henriksen’s JazzAmp 112-ER Price: $999 (retail) Info: www.henriksenamps.com. Traditionally, jazz guitarists have sought a mellow tone in which single notes exhibit a horn-like timbre. Unfortunately, this often means sacrificing chord…
