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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
Golden Age Pre-73 MkIII, Ear Trumpet Edwina, and Avantone CR-14
The Front End
Strike up a conversation with anyone who records music and they’ll talk your ear off about mics and preamps. If you want to make your guitar and vocals sound good…
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…
Danelectro Doubleneck
Twice the Tone
Jimmy Page. Don Felder. Even Elvis Presley. In fact, who amongst us hasn’t drooled over a 6/12 doubleneck at one point or another in our musical lives? Danelectro knows…
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PRS Swamp Ash Special
Narrow(field) Win
The bolt-on Swamp Ash Special has been around for nearly three decades, but PRS just retooled the U.S.-built version and dropped it at NAMM. There are significant upgrades. While earlier versions had humbuckers with a single-coil pickup between them, this latest plank has a PRS Narrowfield (NF) humbucker in the middle. Another bonus is the
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Martin D-28 Standard
If nobody mentioned that Martin’s new Standard line had been updated, a player might be forgiven for not immediately noticing that the latest D-28 has been subtly changed. After all, it’s the D-28 – one of the most recognizable and enduring American icons – and the thought of altering such a flagship is likely to
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Carr Skylark Special 1×12
Take Flight
Arriving a little more than 10 years after the original Skylark, Carr Amplifiers’ new Skylark Special adds versatility and enhanced tonal depths to squeeze a lot more into this diminutive combo. Specs remain much the same, deriving 12 watts of power from a pair of 6V6GT output tubes into a 12″ Celestion A-Type speaker. But,
TWA GD-02 Great Divide Analog Synth Octaver
Mono Monster
TWA GD-02 Great Divide Analog Synth Octaver Price: $399 Info: www.godlyke.com . Despite its cumbersome name and the fact it looks like it might require an MIT degree to use,…
Wylde Audio Odin Grail Genesis Bullseye
Berserker Broadax
Zakk Wylde emerged from New Jersey in the late ’80s to give Ozzy Osbourne’s music a style and attitude unlike that of any guitarist before him, using an approach spawned…
Ibanez RGA8
In the Deep End
Ibanez RGA-8 Price: $1,102.21 (approx. $800 street). Info: ibanez.com In the annals of cool, weird, and unusual guitars, they’re nothing like an eight-string axe. It’s a strange beastie, sporting a…
Gretsch Richard Fortus G6636T-RF Falcon
Flying Fingers
Through the decades, the Gretsch White Falcon has been spied in the hands of everyone from top Nashville session cats to rockers like Neil Young and Billy Duffy of the…
Black Cat Vibe and TWA’s Triskelion Mk. II
Opposites Attract
In today’s world of proliferating boutique pedals, guitarists have a staggering array of divergent options. Case in point, the Black Cat Vibe and TWA Triskelion Mk. II make for a…
St. Blues Bluesmaster, Blindsider, and Delta Blues Box
Straight from the Delta
Saint Blues Bluesmaster/Blindsider Price: $2,399 (Bluesmaster); $2,550 (Blindsider) Info: saintblues.com St. Blues’ history stretches back to the days when its founders customized guitars for the likes of Jimmy Page, Billy…
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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
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LSL Instruments’ Lucid OD and OG OD
Lively Drives
LSL Instruments is best known for high-end Leo-style guitar builds, but they’ve also started delving into overdrive pedals. The Lucid OD is their version of a Klon Centaur – one of the priciest stompboxes in human history ($5,000-plus for the first-gen gold box with the horse logo). The box offers Volume, Gain, and Tone knobs
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The Chase Bliss Clean
Posh Squash
With is Clean compressor, Chase Bliss set out to create a pedal that would duplicate the vivid interactivity of a dirty tube amp, but with a completely clean tone. While a standard compressor can give your guitar (bass, keyboard, etc.) a professional sheen, the Clean is a stereo unit that can polish mixes or deliver
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The Eastwood Super Axe
Chet Powered!
Wait – what? Did Eastwood just bring back the Super Axe, that incredibly rare bird from the late ’70s? Indeed, they did. A Korean-made reissue, it captures the spirit of Gretsch’s chambered curiosity. Grabbing one, the first thing you’ll notice is the oversized yet thin body, with its arched top and the enchanting lines of
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The Bad Cat Era 30
Retro-Great
So often has the phrase “Mark Sampson era” been applied to pre-2000 Matchless amps or early examples of the Bad Cat line that the term has become a “thing” in and of itself. As applied to Bad Cat’s new Era 30, it means Sampson is back in the fold (see our interview in the March
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Eastwood MRG Lap Steel
Slide Piece
Now more than 90 years old, the lap steel was the earliest example of an electric guitar and remains a stringed instrument every guitarist should try, largely because it’s so accessible. In fact, a lap steel is about as straightforward as you can get – it’s a plank that sits on your lap and is
Roland’s Blues Cube Artist
Roland’s Blues Cube Artist Price: $1,169 (list)/$899 (street) Contact: www.rolandus.com Roland has reinvented and relaunched its Blues Cube combos with a series featuring Roland’s exclusive Tube Logic design that carefully…
The Carr Skylark
Desert-Island Amp
The Carr Skylark Price: $2,390 (list) Contact: www.carramps.com If you could own only a single guitar amp – horror of horrors! – Steve Carr’s new Skylark just might be the…
Trussart Steel
Classic Designs, Never Before Seen
James Trussart is a luthier who recently moved his headquarters from Paris to Los Angeles. A guitar builder since 1980, in recent years, he has upped his profile and reputation…
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…
Square Amps’ Chippy
Radio King
Matt Richards builds basic cathode-bias amps housed in the carcasses of vintage radios. They’re designed to be compatible with various tubes, giving the user a range of output and tone…
Martin’s DJr-10E StreetMaster
Dread, Not
The big, booming dreadnought has been a Martin hallmark since its debut in the 1930s. From that tradition comes Martin’s Dreadnought Junior, a smaller, more playable version of the signature…
M-Tone Slipstream
Delicious Curves
M-Tone Slipstream Price: $2,600 Contact: www.m-tone.com When it comes to custom, hand-made guitars, many prefer an instrument that innately reveals the work of its craftsman – the type that, instead…
Danelectro Minis
More Tasty Treats
Danelectro has been busy churning out yet another set of pedals that are inex-pensive and quite small. A good thing, since one can never have too many pedals. These are,…
Xotic Bass BB Preamp V1.5
In Your Face
Sometimes, bassists need boost, too, like when that bass-solo interlude from Sade’s “Smooth Operator” comes along and it’s time to get busy. This updated version of Xotic’s Bass BB brings…
The SeaGlass Route6jr
Boutique Nobility
Roger Mello of SeaGlass Guitars officially opened shop in 2011. Today, he offers four electric models; his Route6jr maintains the simplicity of the guitars that inspired it while re-creating their…
D’Angelico’s EX-DC and EX-SD
D’Elegance and Power
D’Angelico’s EX-DC and EX-SD Price: $1,769 list/$1,259 street (EX-DC); $1,659 list/$1,185 street (EX-SD) Info: www.dangelicoguitars.com John D’Angelico produced just 1,164 guitars during his career on Kenmare Street in New York…
Crazy Tube Circuits Stardust, Splash MKII, and Pin Up Fuzz
Pure Sanity
Crazy Tube Circuits Stardust, Splash MKII, and Pin Up Fuzz Price: $290 (splash MKll); $260 (Pin Up Fuzz); $235 (Stardust) Contact: www.crazytubecircuits.com Athens, Greece – birthplace of the Olympics, democracy,…
Tim Bogert’s Modified Fender
One Fudged Bass
When Vanilla Fudge helped pioneer the progressive-rock movement in the latter half of the ’60s, bassist Tim Bogert played more than one Fender Precision – and usually installed Telecaster Bass…
Breedlove Pursuit Exotic S Concert Amber 12-String CE
Tonal Transcendence
In 1990, Steve Henderson and Larry Breedlove quit their day jobs at Taylor Guitars and moved to Oregon, where they set to work building their own. Through the decades, they…
The Orange Acoustic Pedal
Juice To Spare
Since the dawn of amplification, engineers have sought a better mousetrap – a more-transparent signal chain that preserves signal and adds less noise. With its new Acoustic Pedal, Orange takes…
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…
Fishman AFX Pedals
Tiny Tools
The shrinkologists at Fishman recently introduced a line of mini AFX pedals that do many jobs in an acoustic/electric guitar while offering a minimal footprint, 9-volt power, and optional true-bypass.…
Gittler Classic
Back to the Future
The Gittler guitar was invented in the late 1970s by Allan Gittler, whose vision to reduce the guitar to its most essential elements led him to design an instrument that…
Lovepedal Purple Plexi
Glory & Overtones
Fans of guitarists with superb tones routinely spot Lovepedal boxes on pedalboards in almost every music genre. From their early days emulating the tones of Billy Gibbons and Jimi Hendrix,…
Electro-Harmonix Soul Food, Nano Big Muff
Add OD, To Taste
Price: Soul Food, $89.25 (list), $62.81 (street); Nano Big Muff, $95.64 (list), $69.80 (street) Info: www.ehx.com Guitarists have an insatiable desire for overdrive and distortion pedals, and manufacturers seem to…
KR Musical Purple Pedals
Jimi Would Love 'Em!
Efects builder Kevin Randall has done his homework on what makes vintage pedals sound the way they do. But most guys who build pedals do that… right? And we all…
