• Walrus Audio’s Mako Series MKII

    VG Approved Gear

    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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Girl Brand Crossroads

One Devlishly Sweet Axe

Girl Brand Guitars… No it’s not a clearing house for sparkley pink and purple guitars with short-scale necks and small bodies. Rather, Girl Brand is the brainchild of Tucson-based luthier,…

EMG T-52 Set

EMG pickups have been around since 1976, offering a diverse line of active pickups used in just about every genre of music and matched with top guitar manufacturers. EMGs have…

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,…

Louis Electric 6L6-183 Cobra

Humble, Capital D

One glance at the control panel and cabinet styling of the Louis Electric 6L6-183 Cobra is all most will need to know what this amp is about – and builder…

Fender’s ’68 Custom Deluxe Reverb

Fender’s ’68 Custom Deluxe Reverb

Improving on a Good Thing

Fender’s ’68 Custom Deluxe Reverb Price: $999.99 list Contact: www.fender.com In 1968, Fender gave its amp line what collectors today look back on as a major facelift when it introdued…

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…

Black Cat Vibe and TWA’s Triskelion Mk. II

Opposites Attract

In today’s world of proliferating boutique pedals, guitarists have a staggering array of divergent options. Case in point, the Black Cat Vibe and TWA Triskelion Mk. II make for a…

Carvin’s GH24 Greg Howe Signature

Carvin’s GH24 Greg Howe Signature

Super Unleaded

After decades of jumping from one guitar manufacturer to another, Greg Howe recently began working with Carvin (more specifically, Kiesel) on a signature guitar. Carvin passed manufacture and sale of…

Guyatone FR3000V Reverb, MT-3, WR3 and MD3

effects deliver, regardless of size

Guyatone FR3000V Reverb Reverb! King of guitar effects. If there’s an extracurricular sound guitarists most want, it’s reverb. Maybe because even if they’re playing the most low-down, dirty dive, they…

Marshall’s EH-1 Echohead, RG-1 Regenerator & RF-1 Reflector

Little Marshalls, Big Tones

Continuing the tradition set forth by the stout little metallic gray/gold boxes of the GV-2 Guv’nor Plus, BB-2 Bluesbreaker II, VT-1 Vibratrem, and others, Marshall recently introduced the EH-1 Echohead…

GJM Guitars Tenoroc

Designed To Rock

Road-warrior guitarists with years of gigs under their belt who later design guitars have an advantage over builders without that experience. Knowing what works in the real world of tone-sucking…

Pigtronix Philosopher’s Tone 2

See The Light

Optical compressors are known for making guitars sound smooth and musical – a truth well-captured in the latest Pigtronix offering, which adds greater sound-sculpting capabilities to their groundbreaking Philosopher’s Tone…

Keeley Electronics Zoma

’65 Vibe

Inspired by Robert Keeley’s fondness for combining effects, the digital Keeley Electonics Zoma Stereo Reverb and Tremolo simplifies interface and function compared to his earlier Hydra pedal and many other…

Rainbow Electronics Warmenfat Micro Amp

Tiny Tube Infusion

Warmenfat Front Rainbow Electronics is, as the kids say, “old-school.” How old? Well, if you lived in the Sacramento area in the mid 1960s and your color television went on…

Carvin Audio’s X1 Preamp

Welcome Back

The recently re-tooled Carvin Audio has stayed active with product offerings aimed at the player/sound-reinforcement segment. Its new X1 combines the front end of Carvin’s old X100B with cool tweaks…

Tone Electronix Animalizzer

Fuzz Feast

At first glance, Tone Electonix’s Animalizzer might appear to be a Big-Muff-style fuzz with too many knobs. A closer look is in order… A Volume control and a three-band EQ…

Luker Chameleon Combo

The Luker Chameleon Combo

True to Its Colors

The Luker Chameleon Combo Price: $1,850 (list) Contact: www.lukeramps.com Considering the state of modern vacuum tubes, a surprising number of great tube amps are currently being built. And of those,…

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…

Breedlove Pursuit Exotic S Concert Amber 12-String CE

Tonal Transcendence

In 1990, Steve Henderson and Larry Breedlove quit their day jobs at Taylor Guitars and moved to Oregon, where they set to work building their own. Through the decades, they…

Wayne Lap Steel

Wayne's new lap packs a wallop

Wayne Charvel’s name is familiar to any guitarist who was on the scene in the 1980s. If that rock star or bar wunderkind you saw was playing something with a…

Peterson VS-1 Tuner

The accurate, real-time tuner goes mobile

Most guitar techs will tell you that there has always been a void between small battery-powered tuners and full-blown rotating disc strobe tuners; the small ones are not all that…

Ibanez Artcore AF105NT

Class Axe

Ibanez has always had two distinct personalities – first as a purveyor of shreddy solidbodies for the hard rock/metal crowd, but also as a maker of fine archtops, thanks to…

Zemaitis GZ-3200DF

One For the Rest of Us

Looking to score one of those legendary guitars made by the late British luthier Tony Zemaitis? Yeah, so are we. But given that Tony’s work today occupies its own unique…

Falbo Alpha Series Hollowbody

Falbo Alpha Series Hollowbody

Top Dog

Falbo Alpha Series Hollowbody Price: $3,450 (base); $6,250 (as reviewed) Info: www.falboguitars.com Frank Falbo set the acoustic guitar world on its collective ear in 2012 with a revolutionary string-anchoring design…

ToneTron Billy-Rocker 10

Small Is Beautiful

Small amps are big. As venues become increasingly intimate and amplifiers are miked through sound systems rather than muscling-up to broadcast across a full room, you no longer need to…

John Page Classic AJ

Production-Line Custom

After 20-plus years with Fender, where he co-founded and helped guide the renowned Custom Shop, John Page struck out on his own to start John Page Custom. One of the guru’s…

Ernie Ball Earthwood

A Big ABG

Way before “unplugged” became a popular way to play music and fretted acoustic bass guitar (ABG) models began appearing from so many manufacturers and independent luthiers, Ernie Ball bought a…

Electro-Harmonix Pico Canyon, Rerun

Spacious Sounds, Less Space

Electro-Harmonix’s Pico pedals are designed for players running out of space on their pedalboards. Each occupies just 71/3 square inches while providing features that set them apart. The digital Pico…

Acoustic Remedy’s ClimaStand Display Case

Open and Shut

Acoustic Remedy ClimaStand Price: $899 (walnut) Info: www.acousticremedycases.com Most players have at least one guitar they would like to display in a manner that allows them to enjoy its beauty…

Fender Joe Strummer Campfire

Punk Burner

Punk legend Joe Strummer might not be the first name that comes to mind when the subject turns to “acoustic guitars.” But in fact, all-night hootenannies hosted by the former…