•  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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Mu-FX TruTron 3X

ToneVille Amplifiers Broadway

Red-Carpet Ready

ToneVille Amplifiers Broadway Price: $2,295 Contact: www.tonevilleamps.com What is it that drives boutique amp builders to expend gallons of skull sweat striving for a more-perfect union between the pluck of…

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…

D’Angelico Excel SS

Classic Versatility

The modern D’Angelico company specializes in hip semi-hollow guitars with a nod toward their namesake, legendary luthier John D’Angelico. Case in point is the updated version of its Excel SS,…

Maxon FL-9, CS-9, and AD-9 boxes

Green flashbacks

Japan’s Maxon company has made some of the most popular guitar effects pedals of all time. But because they carried a different brand, you might not equate the box with…

EHX String9

Orchestral Stomp

The EHX String9 String Ensemble lets guitar players create electronic-string sounds, in full polyphony and without requiring a special pickup – just plug in and you’re on your way to…

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…

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…

Epiphone Tony Iommi SG Special

Monkey Time

Digging into the primordial ooze of heavy metal, players often start with Black Sabbath and their resident guitar necromancer, Tony Iommi. Armed with various Gibson SGs and custom-made copies, he…

PRS Alex Lifeson Signature

PRS Alex Lifeson Signature

Grand Designs

PRS Alex Lifeson Signature Price: $8,999 (list) Contact: www.prsguitars.com What do you call the most beautifully made production acoustic you’ve ever seen? You might consider calling it the Paul Reed…

The D’Angelico Excel 59

Hybrid Hotshot

Some might see it as a Frankenstein’s monster, while others will view it as the best of all worlds. The D’Angelico Excel 59 is a throwback to an original John…

Headway EDB-2 Equalizer Direct Blend Preamp Home Main

Headway EDB-2 Equalizer Direct Blend Preamp

Make Way

Headway EDB-2 Equalizer Direct Blend Preamp Price: $475 (retail)/$320 (street) Info: www.headwaymusicaudio.com. Designed in England and manufactured in Korea, the Headway EDB-2 is a 5.75″ x 3.75″ x 1.5″ box…

Phantom Reissue 1964 PH12

Ghost of Vintage Past

From the Hollies to the Mahavishnu Orchestra, from Robert Junior Lockwood to the Stones, the electric 12-string has a prominent place in modern music. And arguably, the most iconic of…

Fender American Professional Jazzmaster

Return Of The Rebel

From the get-go, Fender’s Jazzmaster was the black sheep of the family – that wild-at-heart uncle your ma warned you about. Happily, it’s happily back in the lineup with the…

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…

The Xaviere XV-JT90 and XV-585

Planks for Pennies

Xaviere is a company that imports its guitars from China, sets them up in its Massachusetts shop, then sells direct. The company’s XV-JT90 Offset Hybrid is a solidbody with a…

D’Angelico NYSS-3 and NYSD-9

Accoutrements, quality worthy of the name D'Angeli

When one thinks of D’Angelicos, elegant jazz archtops from the 1930s, ’40s, and ’50s spring to mind. As it should be. John D’Angelico was the preeminent archtop builder of his…

Tech 21 Trademark 60 and Bronzewood 60

60-Watt Combos to Go!

Tech 21 Trademark 60. Tech 21 has long been the purveyor of cool solidstate gear that replicates the sound of tube amps, like the famed SansAmp pedals and their wide…

Analog Man Bi-Comprossor

Analog Man Bi-Comprossor

Fresh-Squeezed Sounds

Analog Man Bi-Comprossor Price: $275 Info: www.analogman.com Mike Piera, a.k.a. Analog Man, is known for creating pedals with a vintage flavor. Clients include guitarists who want to achieve that classic…

Airline Bojotar

Airline Bojotar

Hybrid G-String Machine

There’s something about the Airline Bojotar that makes one ask, “What if Keef had added a high-G banjo string to the bass side of his five-string Tele?” With a scale…

Singleton Guitars Capella

Shining Bright

Mark Singleton holds the distinction of being a smokin’ guitarist as well as, for the past 24 years, a builder of boutique guitars and basses. One side of the coin…

Mooer’s Slow Engine Volume Swell

Bring It Up

Long out of production, the Boss Slow Gear was one of the coolest pedals of the ’80s, duplicating the sound of a volume swell without putting your pinky to work.…

Metal Pedals’ Raw Hide, Hard Core XXX

Saddle Up!

Metal Pedals’ Raw Hide, Hard Core XXX Price: $175 (Raw Hide); $230 (Hard Core XXX) Info: www.metalpedals.com. For many discerning players, Dave Pantaleone at Metal Pedals is a well-known stompbox…

Mojo Hand Octaverse

Reverse Gears

The Mojo Hand Octaverse is billed as a “dedicated reverse octave delay,” which is a mouthful, but accurate. It offers an array of otherworldly sounds, from chiming backward textures to…

Benedetto Bravo

Earns a Standing O

With a list of regular users that includes Johnny Smith, Joe Diorio, Martin Taylor, Bucky Pizzarelli, Howard Alden, Ron Escheté, Frank Vignola, Andy Summers, Earl Klugh, and Kenny Burrell, Benedetto…

Electro-Harmonix Pog and English Muff’n pedals

Sounds, Classic and Funky

For the last 37-plus years, Electro-Harmonix has been a prolific innovator and manufacturer of effects pedals and other preamp devices. A few times each year, E-H president Mike Matthews offers…

Rick Gram Tone Zone Pedals

Lots of the promised tone, no noise

Rick Gram’s Woman Tone Overdrive, Franken Tone, and Catch-A-Buzz overdrive and distortion effects are designed and hand-built. And despite limited production, they carry a much lower pricetag than many other…

ToneTron Feature Home

ToneTron’s Billy-Rocker

Best Amp You've Never Heard of

ToneTron’s Billy-Rocker Price: $1,200 Info: www.tonetroamps.com. On a quiet residential street in Minneapolis lives a mad scientist. Erstwhile rockabilly guitarist Jeffrey Falla is the brains behind ToneTron. And from his…

Full Dozen, Semi-Hollow

12 Variations on a Classic Design

To complement our February 2016 issue survey of the semi-hollow electric guitar, we tested 12 examples of the form as it exists today. Plus, check out 2 featured articles in…

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…

Lollar Pickups

Super-Suitable Substitutes

Seattle’s Jason Lollar not only builds fine pickups, he also builds archtop, solidbody, and lap steel guitars (his list of clients includes National, DeTemple, Harmos, and Zero Guitars). And he…