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Oscar Jordan
EVH Wolfgang WG Standard
Atomic Punk
EVH Wolfgang WG Standard Price: $799.99 (list); $599.99 (street) Contact: www.evhgear.com Decades after the release of the first Van Halen album, universal acceptance of Edward Van Halen as the last musician to revolutionize the electric guitar periodically rises and falls. About every five years or so, renewed admiration and respect is often followed by indifference
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Oscar Jordan
Mike Keneally
Gainfully Employed
Mike Keneally has made a career of inconspicuously assisting Frank Zappa, Andy Partridge, Steve Vai, Dethklok, and Joe Satriani fulfill their musical vision. But, there is another side to this multi-instrumentalist and sideman. Besides pulling triple-duty as a keyboardist, guitarist, and producer, Keneally is a prolific composer. He is compiling a catalog of music from
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Oscar Jordan
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 real deal, the demand has created a market for affordable hand-built amplifiers with old-school sounds and specs. The father-and-son team of Steven and Scott Cohen
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Oscar Jordan
George Lynch
Home Run with KXM
Creative chemistry is an under-discussed topic when it comes to a successful collaborative effort. With the right people, sparks can fly and the good stuff is born. George Lynch’s partnership with Korn drummer Ray Luzier and King’s X bassist Dug Pinnick is one such collaboration. It brought out inspired elements within his playing never heard
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Oscar Jordan
Supersonic Blues Machine
Lance Lopez is a pentatonic-playing guitar monster who deserves a higher profile in the music world. His sinewy blues-rock tone and phrasing will leave you dazed and humble. He’s joined forces with bassist Fabrizio Grossi and veteran drummer Kenny Aronoff to form Supersonic Blues Machine. This album is a collection of 13 songs that unapologetically
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Oscar Jordan
Jesse Johnson
Quad City Funk
In the early 1980s, Jesse Johnson traveled from Rock Island, Illinois, to Minneapolis and found fame with The Time and Prince to help define the sound of a generation. Since then, he has crafted a sizable catalogue of hypnotic funk and Hendrix-style blues soloing. His last album is Verbal Penetration, and, between solo records, he’s
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Oscar Jordan
Brimstone Audio Crossover Distortion XD-1
Bi-Amping in a Box
Brimstone Audio Crossover Distortion XD-1 Price: $299.95 Info: www.Brimstoneaudio.com. Brimstone Audio is a relatively new company that hit the ground running, entering the stomp-box arena with some innovative ideas that offer tone geeks unparalleled aural flexibility. The XD-1, for example, is essentially two amps in a box. It allows the user to generate the kind
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Oscar Jordan
Josh Smith
Josh Smith takes the soul stylings that marked his earlier work and puts it on the back burner here. In its place is a return to his first love – high-octane, supercharged blues-rock. The nuanced R&B influence of Bobby Blue Bland has been replaced with a testosterone stew consisting of Hendrix, Frank Marino, and SRV.
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Oscar Jordan
Black River Delta
Swedish disciples of pre-World War II blues Erik Jacobs, Erik Nilsson, and Pontus Ohlsson, hauled a bunch of gear up to a remote cabin and got down to business. The result is an album so full of genuine love for the genre, it’s impossible to dismiss. Sure, the band consists of three young Swedish guys
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Oscar Jordan
Eric Krasno
Funk, Soul, and Jazz
Eric Krasno is on a roll. The guitarist in the soul-jazz organ trio Soulive moonlights with the funk ensemble Lettuce, co-produced The London Soul’s upcoming record, and lends his production talents, playing, and songs to a slew of other artists; he most recently produced a new album by Aaron Neville. Then, there’s a new solo
