• 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…

    Read more >>

Dino’s Guitars Rust Box and Dynabox

Old-World Build For a New Gen

Dino’s Guitars Rust Box Italians have historically been known for great craftsmanship and detail. Names like Lamborghini and Maserati conjure the image of the exotic and the high-end detail required…

B&G Little Sister Private Build

Doncha Go And Do…

B&G Guitars just about do it all – from mixing their own nitro finishes to winding pickups and even casting their own brass hardware. Their goal? To re-create the feeling…

Reddick Voyager CS

Boss Delay Machine DM-101 Reddick Echo Heaven

Love the simplicity and warmth of analog in your effects? Well, meet Boss’ new Delay Machine DM-101, housed in a chassis that echoes their very first delay (the late-’70s DM-1)…

Universal Audio Ruby, Woodrow & Dream

Model Of Perfection

With digital recording more popular than ever, audio designers are working to capture guitar tone directly, without miking an amp. Universal Audio – renowned maker of studio gear – has…

The Zelinsky Dellatera Custom

Easy on the senses

Dean Zelinsky’s history as a guitar builder includes unique designs that are toneful and eyecatching. To many, he might be best known for his early designs inspired by Gibson’s futuristic…

EHX Spruce Goose OD

Blues-breakers Bump

Known and loved for its smooth breakup and sensitivity, Marshall’s Bluesbreaker circuit is a legend unto itself. The Spruce Goose Overdrive is the Electro-Harmonix version of it. Offering a simple…

The PRS HX 50 and HX 2×12 Cabinet

Jimi Jam

Paul Reed Smith has earned a reputation building guitars of the highest quality. It wasn’t until just over a decade ago he tried his hand at building amps, pairing with…

Bad Cat Mini Cat

Little Kittie With Bite

The Bad Cat amplifier company’s Mini Cat is a small unit designed for many things, including practice, recording, or use as a preamp. Bad Cat has established itself as one…

Carvin’s HH2 Allan Holdsworth

Off With Their Heads

Headless guitars and basses, which had their heyday back in the big-hair/thin-necktie ’80s (think Power Windows-era Geddy Lee), still have a few diehard fans who like the instruments’ compact, lightweight…

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…

Yamaha’s LL-TA TransAcoustic

The Secret Inside

Every once in a while, an instrument or piece of gear emerges that knocks the socks off. Yamaha’s TransAcoustic is one such axe. The TransAcoustic is a dreadnought (the company…

Garage Guru

The Epiphone Crestwood

The original Epiphone Crestwood was built at Gibson’s Kalamazoo factory, alongside Les Pauls and other ’50s classics. A double-cut solid-body, it appeared a full three years before that other double-cut…

The Prestige Classic TBK

Hidden Treasure

One of the best-kept guitar secrets, Prestige is a small Vancouver-based operation that has flown under the radar for 18 years. The company farms its own tonewoods, which are shipped…

Avante Gryphon

Avante Gryphon

Game Changer?

Avante Gryphon Price: $1,495 (street) Info: www.veilletteguitars.com People bandy about the term “game changer” so often these days it barely means a thing, but the Avante Gryphon may be just…

Skatterbrane Pickups Jazzbranes

Skatterbrane Pickups Jazzbranes

Who Woulda Thunk?

Skatterbrane Pickups Jazzbranes Price: $295 (list) per set Info: www.skatterbranepickups.com. In the mid 1950s, Rickenbacker and Gibson began offering dual-coil, hum-canceling pickups. Jazz was still king, but rock and roll…

Taylor T3

Tone Poet

The Taylor T3 Price: $2,998 Info: www.taylorguitars.com. Some guitar players never touch a tone knob, while others view it as the Holy Grail of guitar controls. If that sounds like…

Fuchs Audio Technology Full House-50 Combo

The Art of the Deal

The Fuchs Full House-50 1×12 is a compact amp that strives to deliver a range of tones in a small footprint. Weighing in at 52 pounds, the amp has a…

Reverend Hellhound 40/60

One step to "schizo"

Reverend Musical Instruments founder Joe Naylor’s head is always cranking out cool ideas. A Roberto-Venn graduate who in 1996 sold his amplifier company so he could start building guitars, Naylor…

Area 51 The Alienist Voicing Boost

Manmade Tone Monster

Gather ’round, children, for a scary bedtime story. Once upon a time, there was no such thing as a high-gain amp. So, wizards built treble boosters – like the Dallas…

Talos Basic

Music Technology’s Talos Basic is an all-tube guitar amp is designed to be simple, yet so versatile that it stands out in what has become a rather large crowd. The…

The Universal Audio Astra Modulation Machine

Stately Shimmer

Famous for well-regarded interfaces, plug-ins, and vintage-gear emulations, Universal Audio has entered the pedal business with the Astra Modulation Machine, Starlight Echo Station, and Golden Reverberator. Each has an array…

Universal Audio Max and Del-Verb

Smart Stomps

After rolling out several “amp-in-a-box” pedals last year, Universal Audio is back with a fresh line of stompboxes to help guitarists groove. The Max Preamp/Dual Compressor gives models of famous…

Jerry Jones Master Electric Sitar

High-quality build, authentic groove

If you’ve always wanted to learn the sitar, but could never quite scrape up the cash to fly to India and study with the Maharishi for several years, then you’ll…

Fender Songwriter

The Songwriter: Ill-fated Mini-Fender

Just when you think you’ve seen or heard of everything Fender ever did, along comes another tidbit about a guitar that was prototyped but never produced. In 1969 and ’70…

PRS SE 245 Single Cut

Dressed to Impress

PRS SE 245 Single Cut Price: $650 (street). Info: prsguitars.com Pick up the PRS SE 245 and turn it around a few times. After blinking repeatedly at its finish, you…

Ellis Guitars TX3

“T” For Texas

  Houston is the closest major U.S. port to the tropical hardwoods of South and Central America, so it makes sense that Ellis Guitars makes good use of them. Grabbing…

Blackstar’s HT Series Pedals

Gain to the Third Power

Blackstar Amplification is known for its successful Artisan, Series One, and HT amp lines. Its new HT effects line includes boxes for delay, reverb, modulation, distortion, drive, and boost. All…

Melancon Custom Artist/P-90 Artist

Attention to Detail

Hailing from Louisiana, Gerard Melancon is a former professional gigging and studio player who parlayed experience on the road and as a guitar repairman into a devout attitude toward building…

Alessandro Working Dog amps

Designed and built for tone – and the real world

George Alessandro and his amps have been high-profile for some time, and both are highly regarded. Over the years, George has repaired, modified, and tweaked thousands of amps. What he’s…

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…