•  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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D’Angelico’s Deluxe Atlantic Baritone

Lowdown

Baritone guitars have been around for decades, traditionally featured in Nashville and Hollywood studios and elsewhere to “sweeten” a track or for some other “special” application; to hear an example,…

Earthquaker Devices Sea Machine

Earthquaker Devices Sea Machine

Chorus of Praise

Earthquaker Devices Sea Machine Price: $215 Contact: www.earthquakerdevices.com Known primarily for its monstrous distortion and fuzz units, the folks at Earthquaker Devices have decided to tackle what has often been…

Xotic XW-1 LPB Limited Edition

Small Wonder

Wah pedals come in a variety of sizes and textures, so finding one that checks all the boxes can be difficult. Based on the iconic Clyde McCoy wahs of the…

MOD Kits DIY 102+ Amp Kit

MOD Kits DIY 102+ Amp Kit

Do It Yerself

MOD Kits DIY 102+ Amp Kit Price: $265 (list) Contact: www.modkitsdiy.com A good friend jokingly remarked that building tube amps is the legal equivalent of taking opiates – instantly gratifying…

Victoria Vic 105

The Victoria VIC 105

Raw And Responsive

Victoria VIC 105 Price: $1,495 Contact: Victoria Amp Co.; phone (630) 820-6400; victoriaamp.com. In the 1990s, Mark Baier put himself on the map making quality reproductions of choice ’50s tweed-amp…

Billionaire by Danelectro Big Spender

Rotary Club

In this day and age, there’s a lot of spin going down, but perhaps not enough of the right type. Enter the new Billionaire line of affordable effects from Danelectro,…

LANEYL50H-HOME-MAIN-BIG

Laney L50 Head and L412 Cab

Classic British Tone

Laney L50H/L412 Price: $1,990 (head); $1,499 (cab) Info: laney.co.uk. Lyndon Laney is no stranger to fans of the iconic British stack. Established in 1967, Laney Amplification found its early fame…

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ToneConcepts’ The Distillery

100-Proof Tone

While many pedal makers tinker away on effects that exhibit their personal tonal philosophies, the fact is that most don’t play gigs or compose music. Seraphim Marcopoulous of ToneConcepts was…

Eastman AR905SCE Uptown Deluxe

Classy Jazz Box

Eastman AR905SCE Uptown Deluxe Price: $3,650 retail Contact: www.eastmanguitars.com Over the past few years the negative stigma attached to guitars manufactured overseas has been altered greatly. Many builders from abroad…

Prestige Heritage Premier P90 FM NAT

Liberating the P-90

Approach longtime players with a (yet another) single-cut/single-coil solidbody, and you may find it tough to get their attention. But, the Prestige Heritage Premier P90 does just that. Founded in…

Death By Audio’s Deep Animation

The Other Side

If you thought envelope filters died out after Jerry Garcia passed into the great beyond, think again. Submitted as proof – the Death By Audio Deep Animation. Tested with a…

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…

The DGN Custom Guitars Paragon Standard

In Search of Perfection

DGN custom guitars paragon standard Price: $3,000 (base) Contact: DGNcustomguitars.com. For the past few years, luthier Dan Neafsey has been making a name for himself from his small workshop in southern…

Cordoba 15CFM

Hawai’i Not?

The ukulele phenomenon shows no signs of slowing, with models ranging from well under $100 on up to thousands. The Cordoba 15CFM is on the budget end. The 15CFM has…

Dunlop Fuzz Face Mini Distortion Pedal

Dunlop Fuzz Face Mini Distortion Pedals

Face Lift

Dunlop’s Fuzz Face Mini Distortion Pedals Price: $129.99 (Germanium, street);$99.99 (Silicon and Jimi Hendrix, street) Contact: www.jimdunlop.com. When it comes to fuzz pedals, the one that comes to mind for…

The MXR Eric Gales EG74 Raw Dawg

Bark And Bite

During a recording career that spans three decades and includes 19 albums, blues guitarist Eric Gales has achieved a reputation for solos that are a deluge of precise notes delivered…

The Budda Twinmaster

Return of a Boutique Legend

In the early days of boutique-amp building, there were but a few contenders on the scene. One of the strongest amplifiers in those days was made by Budda. First released…

Peavey Vypyr VIP2

Backline in a Box

Peavey Vypyr VIP2 Price: $199.99 Contact: www.peavey.com For more than 40 years Peavey’s ongoing evolution while building guitars, amps, and pro audio equipment has attracted some big names in the…

JHS 3 Series

Budget Boutique

JHS’ seven new 3 Series pedals strip away cosmetics and frills. History has told us that simple pedal designs can sacrifice key elements. Is that the case here? Presented in…

Death By Audio’s Deep Animation

The Other Side

If you thought envelope filters died out after Jerry Garcia passed into the great beyond, think again. Submitted as proof – the Death By Audio Deep Animation. Tested with a…

Paul Hartmann Custom Manhattan

The Paul Hartmann Custom Manhattan

Not Your Granddaddy’s Semi-Hollow

The Paul Hartmann Custom Manhattan Price: $3,895 as tested Contact: www.phguitars.com Luthier Paul Hartmann’s Custom Manhattan is a classic semi-hollowbody, but one that displays a growing industry trend – replacing…

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…

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…

Heritage Guitars’ H-155M

Best-Kept Secret

Heritage Guitars still builds instruments by hand… in Kalamazoo. Like its veteran brethren in the industry, it focuses on craftsmanship, timeless aesthetics, and a consistent product line. One of its…

Moonrock Fuzz/Distortion

Otherwordly distortion sounds

Glenn Wylie has been experimenting with guitar effects pedals for over 10 years – when he’s not working on guitars or amps. In the Moonrock, he has come up with…

Guild Jetstar

High Flyer

In 1964, Guild launched its original Jetstar as the company’s budget-friendly solidbody. With a more-conventional shape than the S-200 Thunderbird introduced shortly before, the Jetstar didn’t quite set the market…

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…

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Siegmund Missing Link

Rounding Out the Board

Looking like a Sputnik-era satellite, the Missing Link from Siegmund Guitars and Amplifiers may be the perfect way to – pardon the pun – round out a pedalboard. Encased in…

Gibson’s 1941 SJ-100

Second Coming

Gibson 1941 SJ-100 Price: $3,868 (list)/$2,999 (street) Info: www.gibson.com Sporting a unique “stair step” headstock, the first Gibson SJ-100s began trickling out of the Kalamazoo factory in 1939. This original…

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…