Gus G’s rippin’ “Demon Stomp”
Rock god Gus G – Ozzy vet and Firewind shredder – rips through “Demon Stomp” in this exclusive video for VG. That’s his signature Jackson Star USA model. Read our review of his new solo album, “Quantum Leap,” in the January issue. Read Now!
Gus G’s rippin’ “Demon Stomp”
Rock god Gus G – Ozzy vet and Firewind shredder – rips through “Demon Stomp” in this exclusive video for VG. That’s his signature Jackson Star USA model. Read our review of his new solo album, “Quantum Leap,” in the January issue. Read Now!
Ray Cummins – Guitar Tutorial #3 For his latest tutorial, Ray Cummins plays his Gibson Country Gentleman plugged into a late-’80s Boss DD 2 delay and a Lexicon reverb through his ’89 Roland JC 77 amp running direct to the console. At the end, he plays a bit of “Finger-Flying with Ray.” Keep up with Ray at www.raycummins.com. See more […]
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To mark the 10th anniversary of its original Pink Panther delay, JHS has created an updated edition that packs a plethora of cool appointments in an attractive box. Modeled after the sounds of the old DOD DFX9, Boss DD-5, and Ibanez DE7, the new Pink Panther not only delivers the crisp flexibility of a digital […]
Each year, VG asks readers to select Readers’ Choice winners for Album of the Year, Artist of the Year, and Player of the Year in four musical categories, based on artists and recordings featured in the magazine between July 1, 2014, and June 30, 2015. Included in the annual vote are nominees for the VG […]
The J&B Brothers make a sound equal parts Texas country, blues, folkie, rock, jazz, and soul – the spices that make music from the region so damn tasty. They’re also longtime vets of the gear biz. Jeff Hasselberger was the visionary behind the rise of Ibanez in the ’70s, while Bill Kaman was a big […]
John Lee Hooker was the bridge between country blues and electric blues, something elegantly captured during a 53-year career. The son of sharecroppers, he melded field hollers, Delta blues, talking blues, and what became called Mississippi “hill country” blues into the electric postwar era with records like “Boogie Chillun” and “Sally Mae” from 1949. Those […]
Dutch Kazoo Analog Fuzz Pedal Price: $225 retail Info: www.dutchkazoo.com It’s not easy for a new boutique overdrive or distortion pedal to stand out in today’s thick fog of clipped signals, high gains, and crunchy fuzz. After all, properly tweaked, they all can be made to sound about the same, right? This may not be […]
People having been raving about Julian Lage since he was a young guitar prodigy almost 20 years ago – he even jammed onstage with Carlos Santana at the tender age of eight. Over the past half-decade, the 26-year-old has become a brilliant guitarist who’s taste and depth bely his youth. Lage’s latest recording, World’s Fair, […]
Growing up in a small Kansas town, 38-year-old Aaron Moreland took up guitar at 15, and his first garage band played classic-rock throwbacks like “Tush” and “China Grove,” occasionally getting more contemporary with R.E.M. and the Black Crowes. By 2001, when he met singer/harpist Dustin Arbuckle at an open mic, he’d immersed himself in acoustic […]
Amidst the torrent of modern-country anthems praising pickup trucks, beer, bros, and sweet things in tight jeans gushing out of Nashville these days, there’s an undercurrent of stellar music that’s also making waves. Listen hard to the radio and you might even hear it. Jason Isbell’s latest solo shot ranks with his best. His songwriting […]
Sonny Burgess, one of the last of the great Sun Records stars, died August 18. He was 88 and had been performing with his old band, the Pacers. Burgess was born on a farm near Newport, Arkansas, in 1929. After graduating from high school, in the early ’50s he began playing what he called “boogie […]
The continuing appeal of Hawaiian music through the past 100 years is based in part on the music itself, which evokes exotic images of life on a Pacific island, and in part on the fact that all you really need to get to that state of mind is a ukulele. As perhaps the easiest of […]
Fender’s “blackface” amplifiers made from late 1963 through ’67 have earned enduring “classic amp” status. Simultaneously collectible, they’re desired for their rich vintage tones and renowned as everyday workhorses that cover several sonic bases better than many bells-and-whistles amps manufactured today. We tend also to ascribe pre-CBS goodness to blackface amps en masse, even in […]
There are plenty of affordable hollowbodies on the market, but Epiphone’s recent reissue of the Gibson ES-175 is almost a slam-dunk out of the box. Whether your guitar guru is Joe Pass, Pat Metheny, or Steve Howe, there’s a historical aura to the 175 design that transcends categorization. In that light, Epiphone has an instant […]
Lungs burning, sweat soaking their shaggy hair in the Arizona sun as miles passed beneath their feet, Dennis Dunaway and Vince Furnier shared endorphin highs along with an appreciation for surrealist art and deep cuts by the Beatles. Stars on the track and cross-country teams at Cortez High School, both were imports to Phoenix; Dunaway’s […]
Whether you’re talking music or family, in the rolling hills of Kentucky, roots grow deep and strong. The Kentucky HeadHunters and Black Stone Cherry were carved from the same stock, and are linked as true rarities – family bands that stay together. ν Key in the existence of each band is a 700-acre farm in […]
Scarce and beautiful, Gibson’s Flying V was an ahead-of-its-time marketing failure when introduced in 1958. Made of exotic limba (a mahogany cousin from Africa trademarked in the U.S. as “Korina”) and being joined the following year by the equally radical lightning-bolt shape of the Explorer didn’t bolster sales, which means today the two rank amongst […]
Keeley Engineering Compressor Pro Price: $299 (list) Contact: www.robertkeeley.com Studio-quality dynamic control at your feet is a luxury that guitarists haven’t seen before. With the Compressor Pro, Keeley Engineering has managed the impressive feat (sorry) of stuffing a studio compressor’s performance and feature set into a stompbox. Thoughtful design choices make this ideal for guitarists […]
In two short years of existence, ZT Amplifiers has found a unique place for itself in the world of boutique amplification. ZT engineering guru Ken Kantor’s flagship amp is called The Lunchbox, so named because of its compact physical size. But the moniker utterly belies the fact the amp can pump out 200 watts of […]
