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Phil Feser
Bogner Oxford Fuzz
Highly Educational
Teaming with Rupert Neve, Bogner Amplification has developed a line of pedals based on its renowned amp channels. One result, the Oxford Fuzz, is a smooth and highly refined fuzz with unmistakable tone and feel. Housed in a sleek die-cast chassis with top hat-style knobs and chassis-mounted pots and switches, the Oxford’s insides are loaded…
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Phil Feser
Swart Atomic Jr.
Splitting The Atom
When Swart decided to split their Atomic Jr. five-watt combo into a piggyback, they not only went from an 8″ speaker to a 12″, they added more speaker options, including the Mojotone BV-25 and Celestion’s Creamback 75, Cream Alnico, Anniversary, G12 Blue (as tested), and Alnico Gold. The resulting all-tube Atomic Jr. head features an…
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Phil Feser
Stomp Under Foot Ram’s Head
Piece of the Pi
Matt Pasquerella has a reputation as a pi connoisseur… no, not the eating kind, the fuzzy kind. The creator of Stomp Under Foot effects has been building some of the most sought-after Big Muff Pi clones on the market. Pasquerella’s Ram’s Head is a modified version of his favorite “violet ram’s head logo” version of…
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Phil Feser
Strymon’s Riverside Multistage Drive
Down By The River
At first glance, the Strymon Riverside Multistage Drive doesn’t look much different from the rest of the herd. But dig deeper and you’ll find this is not just another overdrive pedal. For controls the Riverside features quite an array: multistage Drive knob with a Low/High Gain toggle; output Level knob; Normal/Mid Push switch; Bass, Middle,…
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Phil Feser
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 fresehest offerings is the production version of the Classic AJ. Based on Page’s first post-Fender creation and named after his son Adam John, the AJ is…
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Phil Feser
The Taylor 712e
Naturally Bold
Taylor Guitars recently redesigned their 700 Series, to add performance bracing, two-piece maple/spruce bridge plate, protein (hide) glue on bridge and bracing, and several new aesthetic features, including a re-shaded gloss western sunburst finish, Koa binding, maple and Douglas fir herringbone-style rosette, and a new weathered-look proprietary pickguard material. Taylor’s elegant yet earthy 712e certainly…
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Phil Feser
Andrews Spectraverb 16
No Limits
Taking inspiration from Fender’s classic AB763 Deluxe Reverb, the hand-wired Andrews Spectraverb 16 uses a pair of JJ 6V6 power tubes (producing 16 watts), a GZ34 rectifier, two 12AX7 and two 12AT7 preamp tubes, a beefed-up output transformer with 4-, 8-, and 16-ohm outputs, glass-epoxy turret boards, and a tube-driven spring reverb with limiter circuit…
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Phil Feser
Taurus Devil Drive and Acid Reflux
No Bull Tone
Russ Pedersen and his crew at Arkansas-based Taurus Pedals build a wide variety of distortion, overdrive, chorus, fuzz, boost, and delay pedals for guitar and bass, using high-end components and offering both stock and custom graphics finishes. Taurus has expanded that already extensive line of boutique hand-made wares to include the new Devil Drive Overdrive…
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Phil Feser
Mojotone ’58 Quiet Coil Strat Pickups
Quiet, Please
Players love that single-coil sound but hate the noise and hum that generally come with them. For the most part, “noiseless” pickups, whether stacked coils, side-by-side coils, or other designs, have meant something of a compromise between tone and hum-free operation. The new Mojotone ’58 Quiet Coil Strat Pickups use traditional side-by-side coils with blade…
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Phil Feser
LsL Instruments’ Soledad
T-Bone with a Side of Sustain
Based out of Santa Clarita, California, LsL Instruments was founded by Lance and Lisa Lerman in 2008 after many years in the furniture-manufacturing business as well as guitar building. Today, the crew at LsL utilizes a mix of CNC machining and handwork to produce a variety of electric guitars and basses, as well as most…
