•  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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Fender’s Player Plus Meteora HH

Familiar Face

Billed as “futuristic and familiar,” Fender’s Meteora design first arrived as part of the Parallel Universe line – mashups of Leo’s body types, hot-rod concepts, and blasts of pure guitar…

Alairex H.A.L.O.

Heavenly Possibilities

Alairex H.A.L.O. Price: $399 Info: www.alairex.com. Guitarist Alex Aguilar is a veteran player, former guitar-mag columnist, and today runs an effects company that recently released its first box, the Alairex…

Carvin’s AE185-12

Stairway to Heaven

Carvin’s AE185-12 Price: $1,239 (base retail) Info: www.carvinguitars.com. Most guitarists love the sound of a 12-string, but the thought of owning one often raises several questions. Should you get an…

Holbrook TS50 Tommy Skeoch Head

More Than Modded

After Kevin Holbrook and rock guitarist Tommy Skeoch began working on a custom amp, the former took several trips to visit the latter, lugging prototypes between California and Florida. But,…

The DryBell Vibe Machine V-2

Catch A Wave

DryBell is renowned for one of the most authentic and pedalboard-friendly Uni-Vibe recreations on the market. Five years after launching their original Vibe Machine, the fine folks at DryBell have…

Brian Moore i2p

A modern guitar for the vintage fan

Brian Moore Guitars’ i2000 line of guitars offer some fantastic features and options, on instruments that have a unique feel and vibe while retaining certain vintage… uh… shall we say…

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…

MXR Custom Shop Sub Machine Octave Fuzz

Lowdown And Nasty

Rising from the smoke and flames of the MXR Custom Shop is the pedal of which every fuzz freak dreams. You never know when you’ll need that extra octave, so…

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…

Seymour Duncan Shape Shifter

Tremolo Transformed

Tremolo is a simple effect: the amplitude, or volume, of an incoming signal is raised and lowered in pulsating waves. With the Seymour Duncan Shape Shifter, the player is invited…

The Fender Bullet Deluxe/JP-90

No Frills, Didn’t Fly

    Fender has tried more than once to market basses with a low-budget vibe. And while the idea is laudable, most of the offerings never really caught on. In…

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:…

Lazy J 20

Deluxe inspiration

The Lazy J 20 Price: $2,700 (reviewed) Contact: www.lazyjprojects.com After moving to England and leaving behind the vintage Fender Deluxe he modified as a gigging amp, Jesse Hoff decided to…

Eastwood’s SD-40 Hound Dog and Classic AC

Subjective as it is, the term “mojo” usually refers to gear that’s been played-in over the years. Eastwood tries to counter that perception with their cool reissues, two recent examples…

Earthquaker Devices Special Cranker

True Grit

Plenty of stompbox fans remember the single-knob simplicity of Earthquaker Devices’ Speaker Cranker Overdrive. Kicking it up a notch, the new Special Cranker is another discrete analog OD that adds…

Fano Alt de Facto RB6

Classic That Never Was

Fano Alt de Facto RB6 Price: $2,495 Info: fanoguitars.com In recent years, a trend in the guitar realm has been to re-create the magic of vintage-style instruments. This has ranged…

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…

Ibanez Artcore Expressionist AM93QM

Semi-Hollow Magic

There comes a time in a guitarist’s life when one becomes hollowbody curious, and semi-hollow guitars are often the gateway – and they ain’t cheap. Ibanez offers a solution with…

Xaviere XV-950

Jazzy Looks, Multi-Purpose

Gibsonguildgretsch! Cumbersome as it may be in word form, Xaviere’s XV-950 gracefully combines attributes from the “big trio.” The XV-950 employs a classic Florentine cutaway body measuring a small-ish 15″…

Epiphone’s Inspired by 1955 Les Paul Custom

Dressed to Kill

Produced from 1954 to 1956, the Black Beauty Custom is one of the most revered Les Pauls. Marketed as the “fretless wonder” for its small frets, it was given an…

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,…

Saga Gitane DG-250M

Saga Gitane DG-250M

One Loud Blond

Saga Gitane DG-250M Price: $949 Info: www.sagamusic.com Features: Open-gear 14:1-ratio tuners, solid spruce top with “petite bouche” oval soundhole, birdseye maple back and sides, ebony fingerboard, maple neck, zero fret,…

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,…

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…

Schroeder Radio Lane Edge

Radio King

Schroeder Radio Lane Edge Price: $11,500 Info: www.schroederguitars.com Though Jason Schroeder began to follow his love of instrument-building in 1985, it wasn’t until 2005 that he made the jump to…

DYNAMIC 2040 HOME MAIN BIG

Dynamic Amplifiers 2040 Series

Tone to "Dy" For

Dynamic Amps 2040 series Price:  $2,570 (VA Combo) David Carambula’s Dynamic 2040 series of amplifiers consists of three models: Vintage American (VA), Vintage British (VB), and the HG DynaLead. All…

Divided By 13 BTR23C Brian Ray Signature

English Flavor

Divided By 13 BTR23C Price: $2,800 Info: www.dividedby13.com. After years of repairing and modding amps for himself and pals like Lyle Workman, Joel Shearer, and Corky James, guitarist Frederic Taccone…

Fender Mustang II Amp

Practiced Past

When you check out an amp like the Fender Mustang II, you may wonder if the term “practice amp” still applies anymore. Once upon a time, a practice amp was…

Fender Mike McCready Strat

Evener Flow

Mike McCready’s beat up sunburst ’60s Strat looms large in the history of grunge; heard on Pearl Jam’s illustrious body of recorded work and seen in the band’s millions-viewed videos,…

L-Guitar Lance Glass

Tweak City

Builders love tweaking the creations of Leo Fender and his squad of ’50s innovators; California luthier Lance McCormick is making his mark with the L-Guitar Lance Glass. It may look…