•  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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McElroy OM Model

OM, Gee!

McElroy OM Model Price: $7,500 (base; $8,500 as reviewed) Info: www.mcelroyguitars.com. Brent McElroy is a Seattle luthier specializing in high-quality acoustics. One of them, the OM Model from his Generation…

Cort’s Sunset I and II Feature

Cort’s Sunset I and II

Jonesin’ For Tone

When Cort isn’t busy making guitars and basses for major musical instrument companies, they’re hard at work building some pretty cool instruments under their own name. From jazz boxes to…

Blackstar HT Club 40

Blackstar HT Club 40

Monster of Rock

Blackstar HT Club 40 Price: $699.99 (list) Contact: www.blackstaramps.com Standalone combo amplifiers that cover broad sonic terrain are popular with guitarists looking for quick, pedal-free stage setups. Blackstar’s HT Club…

Carr Amplifiers’ Super Bee

’60s Muscle

Inside its chicken hatchery turned amp shop in Pittsboro, North Carolina, Carr Amplifiers has hatched another beauty in the low-watt/single-channel Super Bee. With three distinct voices plus a wattage attenuator…

Traynor’s Darkhorse DH15H

Canadian Bakin’

Hugely popular in its native Canada, Traynor amps are a formidable force from north of the 49th parallel and its line includes a variety of quality tube amps. The company’s…

Arteffect Bonnie Wah

Cry No More!

Israel-based Arteffect’s new Bonnie wah pedal is an accurate re-creation of the highly soughtafter vintage Vox Clyde McCoy wah. The “Clyde wah,” you’ll recall, was designed to help guitar players…

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,…

Kochel Resonator

Big-Sky Steel

Self-taught guitar builder Sean Kochel has always been a compulsive tinkerer, even as a child. Years ago, he and his father side-hustled by dismantling homesteader farmhouses, barns, commercial buildings, schools,…

Analog Man BC183 Sun Face

Here Comes the (Black Hole) Sun

Analog Man BC183 Sun Face Price: $185 Contact: www.analogman.com Mike Piera has been building his line of stomp boxes bearing the Analog Man name since the mid ’90s. Famous for…

Dan’s Guitar RX: Reviving a ’56 Duo-Jet, Part Two

Ugly, But An Oldy

In the March issue, I introduced you to my apprentice, Blake Burkholder, and the restoration he was doing to a ’56 Duo-Jet. Blake, who operates Peach Ridge Guitars, in West…

Guild’s Starfire I DC GVT

Big Green Monster

Guild’s Newark Street guitars are a line of lower-priced instruments anchored by a reissue of the classic Starfire; the most distinctive is the I DC GVT. A handsome semi-hollow, it…

Harden Muddy Waters

Mojo Working

Harden Engineering is a small Chicago shop that specializes in hand-made instruments in a variety of shapes and sizes and aims to bring a custom approach at affordable prices. Its…

Mu-FX Phasor 2X

Next Phase

Mastermind effects mad scientist Mike Beigel is back with another re-creation of a classic Musitronics effect. The Mu-FX Phasor 2X is a time machine back to the bad old ’70s…

Fender’s Duel Pugilist Distortion & Dual Marine Layer Reverb

Double Trouble

Fender launched its Pugilist Distortion and Marine Layer Reverb in 2018, after VP of Innovation Stan Cotey – who’d previously helped design signature amps with Eric Clapton, Joe Bonamassa, and…

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…

Snarling Dogs Super Bawl Whine-O Wah

The Snarling Dogs Super Bawl Whine-O Wah is definitely one of the coolest-looking wah pedals available, with its bright red base and foot-shaped treadle, it’s reminiscent of those custom gas…

JHS Pink Panther

Diamond Delay

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 Eastwood BW Artist

Dead Again

Thanks to über-tonemeister Carlos Santana, extended jamming, and the rise of overdrive, the ’70s gave rise to a solidbody trend that sought to achieve the holy grail of “sustain.” Using…

Maxon OD-9, SD-9, and AF-9

Maxon updates three classic stomp toys

If you’ve cruised the aisles of a guitar show in the last couple of years, and sauntered up to a table full of effects pedals, you’ve probably experienced a little…

Martin SC-13E Special Burst

Blueprint Blow-up

For nearly two centuries, Martin has been building acoustic instruments befitting the company’s august reputation. The slew of budget-friendly models in its Performing Artist series offer modern takes on traditional…

Rowan Cimarron

Amazing craftsmanship, aesthetic appeal

Michael Rowan operates a one-man custom gui- tar shop in Garland, Texas, and he recently submitted for review one of the most appealing guitars we’ve grabbed, groped, and fondled in…

Blackstar ID:30TVP

Tone in the Digital Domain

Blackstar ID:30TVP Price: $399.99 Info: www.blackstarampsx.com. Since forming in 2007, Blackstar has been building user-friendly amplifiers and attracting high-profile artists like Leslie West, Neal Schon, and Gus G. The company’s…

Donner DST-400

Seeing Green

If the pandemic had a silver lining beyond more time at home with our toys, it was the growth of our hobby, witnessed by the spike in gear sales and…

Furch Blue Deluxe SW

Czech Mate

You might not recogonize the Furch brand, but the Czech Republic builder has spent that last 40-plus years gaining a reputation for building high-quality acoustic guitars. One of the company’s…

Way Huge Saffron Squeeze MkII

Way Huge Saffron Squeeze MkII

Fresh-squeezed

Twenty years after its launch, the Way Huge Saffron Squeeze compressor has been improved upon. Doing fierce business with an already spectacular product line, Jim Dunlop Manufacturing added pedal wizard…

Eastwood EEB-1 and EUB-1

Horizontal Vibe

Eastwood’s EEB-1 and the EUB-1 Eastwood’s EEB-1 and the EUB-1 take their design inspiration from Ampeg’s quirky mid-’60s Horizontal Bass series, the brainchild of Dennis Kager, an amp technician and…

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…

Fender American Vintage II 1954 Precision Bass

Ageless Anchor

It wasn’t literally the first electric bass, but Fender’s Precision was the genesis of the instrument the world knows today. For more than seven decades, the four-string workhorse has been…

Randall MTS RM50/RM100

For the gotta-have-more tube amp lover

After trying to get together for several years, in 2002, tube amp guru Bruce Egnater officially joined forces with Randall Amplification. The result? Randall’s MTS guitar amps! With its interchangeable…

BC Audio Grand Prix 100

Hand-Wired Heaven

For the past few years, builder Bruce Clement of BC Audio has been getting attention for his killer-sounding and meticulously wired tube heads and matching cabs. New for 2017 is…