•  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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Tech 21 English Muffy

Killer Combo

The Tech 21 Character Plus Series aims to combine a vintage amp with one classic overdrive/fuzz/booster circuit, essentially giving two pedals in one chassis. The English Muffy pairs Hiwatt sounds…

The Eastman SB55

Little Devil

When re-creating a classic, it’s all too easy to feel hidebound to the original – especially if it’s an icon. In launching its first single-pickup solidbody, Eastman felt few restrictions…

Mesa Boogie’s Badlander 50 Combo

Rarin’ Recto

When Mesa Boogie introduced its Dual Rectifier amps in the early ’90s, they cemented a place in rock-and-roll history. Over the past 30 years, there have been several incarnations of Rectifier-series amps.…

Rock City RockSlide

Alluring Accessories

The RockSlide Guitar Slide is the creation of Mark Morse, a guitarist who wanted more from a guitar slide. Morse found most conventional slides uncomfortable because they’d pinch the fleshy…

Musicvox 20th Anniversary MI-6 Guitar and Bass

By The Horns

Musicvox has earned a well-deserved reputation for capturing the mojo of ’60s-era gear in their import guitars and basses (and amps). The new MI-6 line is no exception. With their…

Music Man’s JP13

Petrucci Pick

Music Man’s JP13 Price: $3,500 Info: www.music-man.com. Music Man has a knack for building blazing artist models for the likes of Steve Morse, Albert Lee, and John Petrucci – three…

Newman Guitars Lake Placid Blue

Portrait in Blue

Excitement at the arrival of this offset beauty was dampened by the sad news that its creator had passed away July 1. Ted Newman Jones was known for building guitars…

Eastwood EEB-1 and EUB-1

Horizontal Vibe

Eastwood’s EEB-1 and the EUB-1 Eastwood’s EEB-1 and the EUB-1 take their design inspiration from Ampeg’s quirky mid-’60s Horizontal Bass series, the brainchild of Dennis Kager, an amp technician and…

5150 Iconic Series 60-Watt 2×12

Little Monster

When Edward Van Halen released his 5150 head with Peavey in 1992, it quickly grew famous for its massive gain, tight compression, and ability to chug. Co-designed by engineer James…

Hull Amplifiers’ Model H5

Hull Amplifiers’ Model H5

Pretty, Stunning

Hull Amplifiers’ Model H5 Price: $3,199 (list) Contact: www.hullamps.blogspot.com A beat-up ol’ blackface amp can be a thing of beauty, like an old muscle car showing its miles in patches…

EHX Walking on the Moon Flanger/Filter Matrix

Andy Flange

With its mouthful of a name – The Andy Summers Walking On the Moon Flanger/Filter Matrix – the latest Electro-Harmonix stompbox is modeled after Summers’ legendary tone, with nuance that…

Charles Fox Ergo

A New Voice, From Experience

When experienced luthiers reach “a certain age,” they often make changes in their work.

Gibson Everly Brothers SJ-200

Full Dress

Gibson has always had a knack for producing distinctive guitars. The EDS-1275 in Cherry finish will forever be tied to “Stairway to Heaven,” while the white version veritably proclaims “Hotel…

Bacino BAC 18

Tone, With a Big T

Bacino Bac 18 Mike Bacino makes no bones about his mission in recreating the Marshall 18-watt model 1958 2×10″ combo from the mid 1960s. The original amps are rare and…

Hipshot Products

Bass Extenders, Stealth Slide, and B Bender

What do Will Lee, Leland Sklar, and Bunny Brunel all have in common? Besides being bassists, they all use Hipshot Bass Extender keys, a nifty device that drops the E…

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,…

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…

Gibson’s J-45 50s Faded

Lore Holder

In the decade leading up to World War II, guitar builders started scaling up their acoustic offerings to meet the demands of working musicians, and bigger was better. In Kalamazoo,…

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…

Seymour Duncan P-Rails pickups

All-In-One Slam Dunc

Seymour Duncan’s new P-Rails pickup is a P-90 with a slim rail-style coil tucked in next to it, designed to fit into a standard humbucker ring. Coupled with a standard…

Teye Guitars Electric Gypsy

Balanced Beauty

Teye Guitars Electric Gypsy. Netherlands-born Teye has been a professional guitarist for more than two decades, and like a lot of gigging guitarists spent his share of time searching for…

The Legendary Tones Lynch Mod

No-mod Hot Rod

Designed for guitarist George Lynch, the Lynch Mod introduces an additional, non-permanent gain stage to the classic Marshall circuit. The device uses two 12ax7 preamp tubes on a base that…

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…

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…

DSM Humboldt ClearComp 1078 Dynamic Threshold Compressor

Smooth and Sweet

When it comes to compressor pedals, the modern standard is to pursue studio-quality results in a pedalboard-friendly box. DSM Humboldt Electronics’ ClearComp 1078 Dynamic Threshold Compressor is a fresh design…

Guild Aristocrat HH

High Roller

Since its arrival in 1954, the chambered Guild Aristocrat and it’s later solid cousin, the Bluesbird, have offered an alternative to the single-cutaway Les Paul and Gretsch Duo-Jet. Decades later,…

Gittler Classic Home Feature Image

Gittler Classic

Back to the Future

The Gittler guitar was invented in the late 1970s by Allan Gittler, whose vision to reduce the guitar to its most essential elements led him to design an instrument that…

Fender ’68 Custom Vibro Champ Reverb

Small Wonder

Fender’s ’68 Custom amp series has become popular among pickers who love old-school looks and sounds but prefer contemporary modifications and features. The original Vibro Champ was a small wonder…

M-Tone Slipstream

M-Tone Slipstream

Delicious Curves

M-Tone Slipstream Price: $2,600 Contact: www.m-tone.com When it comes to custom, hand-made guitars, many prefer an instrument that innately reveals the work of its craftsman – the type that, instead…

Billionaire by Danelectro Big Spender

Rotary Club

In this day and age, there’s a lot of spin going down, but perhaps not enough of the right type. Enter the new Billionaire line of affordable effects from Danelectro,…