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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
Guild’s Orpheum Slope Shoulder 14-Fret Rosewood Dreadnought
Reviving the ’30s
Guild’s Orpheum Slope Shoulder 14-Fret Rosewood Dreadnought Price: $4,999 (list); $3,799 (street) Info: www.guildguitars.com. Compared to Martin’s longstanding factory location in Pennsylvania, Guild’s acoustic guitar factory has been a gypsy.…
B&G Guitars’ Caletta Standard Build
Small But Mighty
B&G Guitars are made in Tel Aviv by a talented shop that translates the best traits of traditional guitars into high-quality instruments for today’s player. With the Caletta, their aim…
RainSong WS 1000
No wood in sight, but your ears won't know it
RainSong is a Hawaii-based company (in the process of moving to the mainland) that has been building its unique graphite/epoxy instruments since 1995, and earning a huge reputation for its…
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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
Fender ’68 Custom Vibro Champ Reverb
Small Wonder
Fender’s ’68 Custom amp series has become popular among pickers who love old-school looks and sounds but prefer contemporary modifications and features. The original Vibro Champ was a small wonder…
Bohemian Boho Moonshine
In The Can
Here at VG, we see all manner of guitars – those made out of steel, graphite, even animal shells. But I’d never seen a guitar with a body made of…
The Collings I-35 LC Vintage
Semi-Struck
The semi-hollow ES shape remains one of the most alluring electric designs in history. The folks at Collings know this and, with their new I-35 LC Vintage, attempt a new…
McGregor Pedals’ Crunch and Crunch Plus
Transparent Pair
McGregor Pedals founder and self-proclaimed “Chief Mad Scientist” Garth McGregor Heslop hand-wires pedals in his Vancouver shop. Two of them – the Crunch and Crunch Plus – are overdrives that…
Visual Sound’s Route 808, Visual Volume, and Comp 66
Sound and Vision
Visual Sound founder and president Bob Weil and chief engineer R.G. Keen have given their flagship combo pedals a face lift and introduced a new line of single pedals. These…
The Hi-Tone HT30/JP 15
Living Loving Gain
While many have tried via transistor trickery to replicate the tone of Jimmy Page’s Hiwatt at Led Zeppelin’s legendary January ’70 Royal Albert Hall performance, the Hi-Tone HT30/JP 15 is…
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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
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Soldano SLO Plus Super Lead Overdive
Icon In Reach
If the iconic Soldano SLO-100 is perpetually on your wish list but its price tag keeps you from pulling the trigger, its creator now has a realistic alternative. Expanding on the original single-channel SLO Overdrive pedal, the SLO Plus introduces a Normal channel alongside Overdrive, each with dedicated controls that allow for detailed tweaking of
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Orange Dual Baby, Gain Baby, and Tour Baby 100
Playpen Power
For 2025, Orange has expanded on its compact Pedal Baby introduced a few years back with a new trio – the Dual Baby, Gain Baby, and Tour Baby. All 100-watt amps with solid-state Class A/B output stages, Jfet preamp stages (another form of solid-state), and two footswitchable channels, they’re housed in 12″ x 3.25″ x
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Boss SDE-3 Dual Digital Delay
Double Echo
Based on the famed Roland SDE-3000 rack unit, Boss’ SDE-3 combines some classic delay sounds of the 1980s, updated with a bevy of modern tricks and features. Like a lot of delays, it can be run in mono, but you’ll get the biggest bang going in stereo to different amps or outputs. The core of
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Mesa/Boogie Mark IIC+ Reissue
Dual-Mode Delivery
The evolution of Randall Smith’s legendary high-gain Mesa/Boogie design into the revered Mark IIC+ of the mid ’80s established a rock amp that many guitarists still consider the epitome of the form. Building on what was already a high-gain amp by the standards of the day, the M/B team piled on even more gain, more
Warm Audio Centavo
Not Just Another Klon(E)
Most pedal enthusiasts consider a vintage Klon Centaur the pinnacle of overdrive boxes. With originals now approaching $10,000, it makes sense that Warm Audio has created a cost-effective reproduction with…
Mojotone ’58 Quiet Coil Strat Pickups
Quiet, Please
Players love that single-coil sound but hate the noise and hum that generally come with them. For the most part, “noiseless” pickups, whether stacked coils, side-by-side coils, or other designs,…
The Hi-Tone HT30/JP 15
Living Loving Gain
While many have tried via transistor trickery to replicate the tone of Jimmy Page’s Hiwatt at Led Zeppelin’s legendary January ’70 Royal Albert Hall performance, the Hi-Tone HT30/JP 15 is…
James Trussart SteelCaster
Rust Never Sleeps
James Trussart’s guitars exist on a plane of their own. With their peerless styling, the builder’s guitars-as-art are nonetheless fully functional, gigable axes. Trussart began building violins, dulcimers, and hurdy-gurdies…
Charvel Pro-Mod So-Cal Style 1 FR E HSS
Ultimate Hod Rod
Designed more than 30 years ago, the latest incarnation of Charvel’s Pro-Mod So-Cal keeps the “super” in superstrat. An eye-catching, ergonomic guitar with alder body bolted to a U-shaped, oiled-maple…
Collings Julian Lage OM1 JL
Great Expectations
The late Bill Collings and his craftsmen are renowned for their beautiful-sounding guitars. It’s apt they’ve connected with a beautiful-sounding guitarist: jazzer Julian Lage, a rising musician known for his…
So-Cal Steel
Asher Guitars & Lap Steels Ben Harper Signature Model
If Nashville is the pedal-steel capital, surely Southern California is a lap steel hotspot. David Lindley and Ben Harper, along with luthier Bill Asher, have taken what some consider an…
Armadillo Blues Preamp/Roadkill Fuzz
The boost you need, with no noise
The TAL Audio Armadillo Blues Preamp/Roadkill Fuzz is a dual-purpose pedal the company describes as “A low-noise instrument preamp with a footswitchable harmonic overdrive designed for the professional musician.” Professional…
Immix Eleven V-Series 30 Amp/Cab
Lights! Sound! Action!
Immix Eleven V-Series 30 Amp/Cab Price: Amp $1,995 (list); cabinet $895 (list) Contact: www.immix11.com Remember the first time you encountered the Rick 331LS Light Show guitar? You thought, wow, that’s…
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…
The Senn by Eastwood Model One
Econo Stunner
In 2015, Jeff Senn introduced his retro vintage-inspired Senn Model One (VG, April ’16). Thanks to popular demand, Senn has partnered with Eastwood Guitars to introduce an import version. The…
L-Guitar Lance Glass
Tweak City
Builders love tweaking the creations of Leo Fender and his squad of ’50s innovators; California luthier Lance McCormick is making his mark with the L-Guitar Lance Glass. It may look…
Reverend Hellhound 40/60
One step to "schizo"
Reverend Musical Instru ments 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,…
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…
Magnets and Magic
The PAF – Yesterday, Today
When it came to launching a solidbody electric guitar, Fender beat Gibson to the punch with its Broadcaster model in 1950. Big G, though, had a cross to counter the…
Ernie Ball Earthwood
A Big ABG
Way before “unplugged” became a popular way to play music and fretted acoustic bass guitar (ABG) models began appearing from so many manufacturers and independent luthiers, Ernie Ball bought a…
Kirn Vaquero
Ride ’Em, Cowboy
Veteran builder Ron Kirn, noted for his Fender-inspired creations, has produced his first original design, and it exudes quality along with practical simplicity. The Vaquero is an offset double-cut solidbody…
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,…
Pigtronix Philosopher’s Tone 2
See The Light
Optical compressors are known for making guitars sound smooth and musical – a truth well-captured in the latest Pigtronix offering, which adds greater sound-sculpting capabilities to their groundbreaking Philosopher’s Tone…
Budda 10th Ann. Limited Edition Twinmaster
Purple, Proud, and Punchy
In 1995, Budda Amplification made its debut with the Twinmaster Ten, a stripped-down, no-frills 18-watt combo designed to keep up with full stacks in terms of tone and volume. The…
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…
