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VG Approved Gear
Fender American Vintage II 1965 Strat
Classic Character
The 1965 Stratocaster joins Fender’s American Vintage II reissues of Strats from ’54, ’57, ’61, and ’73. It’s the company’s first dip into a “transitional” instrument from the year CBS acquired the brand amidst the “guitar boom.” With the AVII series, Fender’s goal in part is to reexamine underappreciated instruments while fixing a few details
Donner DST-700 Hyper
Value City
It’s often the case that guitars with roasted necks cost more than gloss poly finishes, but Donner is challenging that assumption with its feature-laden import DST-700 Hyper Series. Aiming for…
D’Angelico Excel EXL-1
Laudable Likeness
Few vintage guitars are as vaunted as John D’Angelico’s original handcrafted Excel archtops. Building a new – and affordable – version is a tall task. The EXL-1 from the re-created…
Sommatone Roaring 40
Beauty and the Blend
Sommatone Roaring 40 There’s an inherent dichotomy when it comes to guitar amplifiers; the more TLC that goes into their construction, the tougher they are. Think about your average mass-produced…
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Meris Enzo X
Synth Evo
The world of guitar synthesizer is vast and often confusing, from older floor units to the latest generation of synth pedals, all of which have pros and cons. Meris is pushing the envelope outward with the Enzo X, which uses the company’s acclaimed “bubble screen” interface. It looks daunting at first, but is actually intuitive
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Xotic Effects AC Booster-V2
Musical, Minimalist
Xotic Effects’ AC Booster-V2 offers all the signature sounds of the company’s popular original while bringing improved touch sensitivity, gain, and overtones. Using Classic Mode, the pedal offers the original AC Booster’s signature sound; Gain controls grit, Volume tweaks output level, Bass secures low-end, Treble manages highs. Jump to Modern Mode and you’ll hear enhanced
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Grez Grand Tour
Big Bottom
Barry Grzebik had an ambitious goal for his all-new line of hollow-bodies: Deliver the low-end resonance of a deep archtop in a guitar with a slim, lightweight profile. With just one open-stringed strum of this 5.8-pounder, even unplugged, there’s no mistaking he hit his mark. Behind that big bottom end is a novel approach to
DryBell’s The Engine
British Splendor
Customers like John Mayer and Mike Landau have helped put DryBell Musical Laboratory effects on some of the world’s biggest stages and in the best studios. The Engine is DryBell’s…
Epiphone 1966 SG G-400 PRO
For Those About to Rock
Epiphone’s 1966 SG G-400 PRO Price: $582 (list); $349 (street) Info: www.epiphone.com Gibson’s SG is a classic design with plenty of great players behind it, from Eric Clapton, Pete Townshend,…
Breedlove C25 and Custom XII
Beauty, brains, and brawn
Breedlove Guitar Company is a small, independent gui-tar and mandolin builder in Oregon’s high desert region east of the Cascade Mountains. Started in 1990 by Steve Henderson and Larry Breedlove,…
Taylor Classic, Custom, and Standard
Worth the Wait
Taylor SolidBody Classic. For years, Bob Taylor fended off the question, “When are you going to build a solidbody guitar?” Well-known as a builder of top-notch acoustics, for his company,…
Big Knob Pedals
What’s in a Name?
Big Knob Pedals Price: Tube 808, $139; Echo Flex, $149; Vibe Tone, $159; Octavius, $129 (all list) Contact: www.bigknobpedals.com Gary Kibler started making pedals almost by accident. Originally from Los…
Maxon Fuzz Elements Pedals
Elemental Fuzz
Maxon Fuzz Elements Pedals Price: $189 to $199 Contact: www.maxonfx.com Classic fuzz pedals are some of the fine wines of the vintage guitar world. Guitarists talk like Frenchified sommeliers when…
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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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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,
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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
Paul Hartmann Stormy Monday
Travel Tunes
The typical “travel guitar” is a small, budget-minded instrument that offers varying levels of construction and quality, often forcing compromise in playability and usefulness. Luthier Paul Hartmann takes a different…
The Jext Telez Jonathan Wilson’s Canyon Climber, Jext Face
Fuzz Buzz
There’s nothing subtle about Jext Telez stompboxes; they’re about loud colors, loud sounds, and loads of fuzz. The latest creations from designers Bob Ebeling and Colin Simon harken to the…
Collings CJ-45 T
Golden Child
Every now and then, you pick up a guitar and realize you’re holding magic in your hands. Welcome to the Collings CJ-45 T. The inspiration is obvious in a slope-shouldered…
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…
VVT Lindy Fralin Model amplifier
Toneful Tag-Team
Maryland-based amplifier builder Vintage Vacuum Tube Amplifiers (you may know it as VVT) recently fielded a request from renowned pickup winder Lindy Fralin. He wasn’t looking for advice on wire…
Carl Martin Contour & Boost
Pedals For All Occasions!
The Carl Martin Contour & Boost is a hybrid EQ pedal with two filters, a high pass, and a low pass crossed over at 440 hz. The company says it…
Walrus Slöer Ambient Reverb
Reverb Reimagined
Reverb is nearly omnipresent in modern music, and for those looking to add some with a twist, Walrus Audio has introduced its Slöer Stereo Ambient Reverb. The Slöer brings typical…
Shaw Audio Bass 130
Classic Tone for the Modern World
Tennessee amp builder Kevin Shaw loves restoring old cars – and creating fine-sounding amplifiers. His ToneRod SE and Fulltilt 18 helped establish him as a factor among amp builders, and…
Line 6 M5 Stompbox modeler
100 Sounds, One Box
Line 6 M5 Stompbox modeler Price: $279.99 (retail) Info: line6.com Have you ever thought, “Maaaan, I wish I had that [fill in the blank with the name of that rare…
Fire-Eye Red-Eye Twin DI
Double Your Pleasure
In a simple system, even a basic direct-input box with little in the way of adjustments will work fine. But what if your setup includes a plethora of pedals and…
Legendary Tones Time Machine Boost
Built like a tank, but sings like a bird…
To call Legendary Tones’ Time Machine Boost “…a distortion pedal” would be to sell it extremely short. Designed for use with high-quality tube amps, the Time Machine’s purpose is to…
Walrus Audio Messner Stage-One Overdrive
Into Thin Air
First off, who the heck is this Messner guy? Well, in 1978, mountaineer Reinhold Messner became the first person to scale Mount Everest without the help of oxygen tanks. Cool,…
Martin D-18VE
Bring It On, Pre-War D!
The C.F. Martin Company has been around longer than any instrument manufacturer. It’s an icon whose guitars have consistently set the standard by which production (and often custom) acoustics are…
Blackstar Artist 15
All ’Rounder
Blackstar’s Artist 15 is a British amp with an American accent. Though designed and built around good ol’ American-flavored 6L6 tubes, its sonic qualities feature that glorious jangly, chimey sound…
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…
ToneTron Billy-Rocker 10
Small Is Beautiful
Small amps are big. As venues become increasingly intimate and amplifiers are miked through sound systems rather than muscling-up to broadcast across a full room, you no longer need to…
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…
TTS Music BMT Overdrive
Fine-Tune Your Crunch
TTS Music BMT Overdrive Price: $175 Info: www.ttspickups.com. No, the “BMT” in the name of TTS Music’s overdrive pedal does not stand for a “bacon, mayo, and tomato.” The initials…
Gibson 1928 L-1 Blues Tribute
Blues Time Machine
Gibson 1928 L-1 Blues Tribute Price: $4,255 retail; $3,299 street Info: www.gibson.com. The Gibson L-1 boasts the kind of intriguing history that makes it a legend. In the late 1920s,…
Dunlop MXR Carbon Copy, ’74 Phase 90 and Buddy Guy Signature Wah
Legendary pedal builder MXR/Dunlop recently introduced a sweet trio of effects; something new from its Custom Shop in the form of the Carbon Copy analog delay, something old in the…
The Wampler Catacombs
Shimmer Box
In the pedal market, the category of reverbs and delays is straight fire these days. Wampler has jumped in with the Catacombs, a stereo box that can operate as a…
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