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…

Slick Slide
Rocky Mountain Slides Company’s new “Firecracker Aluminum Slides” may look like other guitar slides but it is internally flared in two inner diameter combinations allowing the player to comfortably use…
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…

Super Dynamics
What do you get when you have a rockin’ pair of 12AX7 tubes and a pair of EL34 power tubes? You get the tonal core of the new Mack tube…
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…
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…
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…

Rawk Boxes
The musical spirit of the ’60s and ’70s lives again in two of EHX’s latest stompboxes: the Good Vibes analog modulator and Tone Corset analog compressor. Whether it’s chorus and…

Pedal Power
Famous for amp and cabinet models made to replace an amp for direct recording or plugging right into a PA, Fractal Audio has also developed an array of highly regarded…

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,…
Ready to Rev
Kustom ’36 Coupe In the mid 1960s, Kustom amps were popular for their cool tuck-and-roll vinyl covering, and their solid tones. Today, most of the company’s new amplifiers are solidstate…

Classic Looks, Modern Function
Carvin PB4 Price: $1,899 (list/base); $869 (street/base) Info: www.carvinguitars.com. Trends come and trends go, but tradition stands the test of time. And while Carvin’s designs stand quite well on their…

Direct Results
For performers, the struggle to amplify acoustic guitars properly never goes away. But as Schertler shows, things are getting better. It’s generally accepted that a combination of pickups can yield…
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…
Xotic’s S-style guitar line pays homage to the man who revolutionized rock guitar in the ’80s. Hint: He was hot for teacher. The latest version is the XSS-1 Super S, offered in an assortment of pickup configurations, necks, and an array of colors. With an alder body and C-shaped/bolt-on maple neck dressed with tall (Jescar…
Introduced in 2005, the Electro-Harmonix Polyphonic Octave Generator – a.k.a. POG – has spurred a handful of offshoots and updates. Born as an ultimate octave box, it conjures everything from electronic synth-bass, eight-string bass, and 12-string guitar to organs and harpsichords along with a universe of synthesizer textures. Set up like a mixer, the new…
The Bad Cat Cub has evolved through several iterations since arriving with the maker’s inaugural lineup 25 years ago. It has gained (and lost) features, morphed into more-affordable PCB-based versions, even occasionally doubled in power. The new Cub V returns to its entirely hand-wired/point-to-point origins equipped for two popular power levels – a 20-watter with…
Inspired by Robert Keeley’s fondness for combining effects, the digital Keeley Electonics Zoma Stereo Reverb and Tremolo simplifies interface and function compared to his earlier Hydra pedal and many other reverbs on the market. The concept is to deliver reverb and modulation that brings to mind ’60s blackface, while upping ease of operation. There are…
Greg Koch is arguably the Roy Buchanan of our time, wrestling squawks ’n squeals, burning blues and some absolutely haywire chicken-picking from his guitar. Being not only a big talent but a big fella at 6’7″, he asked Reverend to build a Strat-style guitar distinguished (like the single-cut that preceded it) by a slightly increased…

Jazzy Looks, Multi-Purpose
Gibsonguildgretsch! Cumbersome as it may be in word form, Xaviere’s XV-950 gracefully combines attributes from the “big trio.” The XV-950 employs a classic Florentine cutaway body measuring a small-ish 15″…
Bit of This, Bit of That…
Seldom will you find a company more appropriately dubbed than HomeBrew Electronics. Joel Weaver, his wife, Andea, and their sole employee, Terri Landreth, build some of the most widely used…

Get Your Grunge
With Soundgarden, guitarist Kim Thayil helped define the grunge movement. His unusual weapon of choice was the Guild S-100 Polara, a solidbody often unfairly compared to the Gibson SG. Soundgarden…

Songs from the Wood
Rebel Board’s Rockstar Pedalboard Price: $159 (Rockstar); $199 (Rockstar Pro) Info: www.rebel-boards.com. Puzzle-piecing a pedalboard together is equal parts fun and frustration. If you’ve ever wished for a custom board…

Big Step
The Boss Katana amplifier has a cult of devotees, many of whom have been waiting for a Bluetooth version that allows access to the amp’s deep models and effects with…

Double Vision
Modeling amps have evolved rapidly as software and circuits have improved and become, dare we say, more organic sounding. The Yamaha THR100HD is a prime example: a digital head that…

Classic Retrofit
Fishman recently released the revolutionary Fluence series pickups that utilize an active, hum-canceling pickup design. Following our review of their Single-Width pickups (VG, March ’15) we take a look at…

Jason Lollar has been in business winding pickups for more than 20 years. While he’s most famous for his take on the P-90, he makes pickups of all kinds, including…

Fingerstyle Dream
In a career spanning more than 60 years, Happy Traum has been a fixture of the American folk scene, from the Village to Woodstock and the New World Singers to…

Jazzed UP
In 2021, Ibanez re-tooled its hollowbody line to devise big surprises like the Japanese-made AF95, a full-bodied archtop with a traditional vibe thanks to flatwound strings and vintage looks. Let’s…

Side Effects
Keeley Electronics Seafoam Chorus Price: $229 (list) Contact: www.robertkeeley.com In a world of proliferating effects pedals, discovering one that does what it promises well can be a rewarding discovery. Finding…
Our Man Flint
Strymon Flint Tremolo & Reverb Price: $200 Info: www.strymon.net. In just a few short years, Strymon has established itself as a premier developer of pedal effects. With boxes like the…
Quad-6V6 Hoochie-Koo
To a certain degree, the Vintage Vacuum Tube Amplifiers Rick Derringer Hyperdrive model was born of intimidation. When VVT proprietors Tony Albany and Jim Hill began discussing a signature amp…
Three New Approaches to Replacement Vibrato Systems
Three new aftermarket vibrato systems for common double- and single-cutaway solidbody guitars offer the convenience of “drop in” installation. Each system boasts unique features and improved performance. SuperVee Tremolo System…
Goodies Galore
The D’Addario family has been making musical-instrument strings since before brothers-in-law Rocco and Carmine moved to the U.S. from Italy in the early 1900s. A longtime music-industry fixture, D’Addario &…

Modern Johnson
Waterloo WL-14 Price: $2,100, $1,890 (street) Contact: www.collingsguitars.com or www.waterlooguitars.com Robert Johnson slid into a photo booth, dangling a cigarette from his lips and holding a flat-top guitar. What brand…

Lordy Mama, Light My Fuse
Gibson guitars from the ’50s and ’60s are some of the most-sought after instruments on the planet, and re-creating the look, tone, and feel from that golden era is no…
The Larrivee C-09
The acoustic guitar wars are heating up, with wonderful instruments from Martin, Gibson, and upstarts like Taylor. Bill is making superb instruments down in Texas, and way up in Vancouver,…

Vintage Revolution
If you’ve ever played a fine vintage guitar, you know how two things jump out at you immediately: 1) they’re often quite light, and 2) they display a big, vibrant…

Wood from Famed Bowling Alley Set to Sing
Few things scratch America’s cumulative itch for nostalgia like Route 66 – the famed wagon-trail-cum-highway that offered passage to those migrating west from Chicago in the mid 19th century, then…
The Luthier's Art, Defined
Austin-area guitar builder/repairman Tony Nobles was, like everyone else in in high school wood shop class, needing an idea for something to build. Unimpressed with classmates’ ideas to construct various…