•  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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Wampler Effects Pedals

Filling the Gaps

Brian Wampler, who developed a reputation first for modding effects pedals, then for building originals including a custom overdrive for heavy-hitter country picker Brad Paisley, plays by the rules set…

Xaviere XV 700

Lofty Promises, Fulfilled

Xaviere XV 700 Thinline. The Massachusetts-based guitarfetish.com is an instrument/parts importer that carries a complete line of goods, from pickups and vibratos to knobs and pots. Its guitar line, dubbed…

The Eastwood BW Artist

Dead Again

Thanks to über-tonemeister Carlos Santana, extended jamming, and the rise of overdrive, the ’70s gave rise to a solidbody trend that sought to achieve the holy grail of “sustain.” Using…

EMG T-52 Set

EMG pickups have been around since 1976, offering a diverse line of active pickups used in just about every genre of music and matched with top guitar manufacturers. EMGs have…

Heritage Guitars’ H-157W

Turnkey Head-Turner

In 1985, Heritage Guitars took over a certain factory space at 225 Parsons Street in Kalamazoo, Michigan, after the former owners decided to move production to Nashville. Since then, Heritage…

Fender Mike McCready Strat

Evener Flow

Mike McCready’s beat up sunburst ’60s Strat looms large in the history of grunge; heard on Pearl Jam’s illustrious body of recorded work and seen in the band’s millions-viewed videos,…

Rob Wrobel Le Voyage Lace III

Boxed Up

Cigar-box guitars are a 19th-century creation that today are enjoying a trendy surge in popularity, and attracting the design expertise of some talented folks. Why? Well, because cigar box guitars…

E.W.S. BMC2

E.W.S. BMC2

Tiny Green Giant

As mini-sized pedals continue to gain in popularity they are also becoming increasingly refined and versatile in their layouts. One of these, the popular BMC (Bass Mid Control) from E.W.S…

Red Witch Zeus Bass Fuzz Suboctave and SoloDallas Schaffer Replica

Circuits Gone Wild

Fuzz and octavers are among the hottest pedals around, with some builders even melding them to great effect. The Red Witch Zeus Bass Fuzz Suboctave is one such box. It’s…

Eastwood EEB-1 and EUB-1

Horizontal Vibe

Eastwood’s EEB-1 and the EUB-1 Eastwood’s EEB-1 and the EUB-1 take their design inspiration from Ampeg’s quirky mid-’60s Horizontal Bass series, the brainchild of Dennis Kager, an amp technician and…

Xaviere XV 700

Lofty Promises, Fulfilled

The Massachusetts-based guitarfetish.com is an instrument/parts importer that carries a complete line of goods, from pickups and vibratos to knobs and pots. Its guitar line, dubbed “Xaviere,” consists of 11…

Supro Comet 1610RT

Desert-Island Jams

Supro’s Comet 1610RT just may be the perfect desert island amp – a high-gain, low-watt 1×10 combo that maybe doesn’t do it all, but does most everything you’ll ever need…

DYNAMIC 2040 HOME MAIN BIG

Dynamic Amplifiers 2040 Series

Tone to "Dy" For

Dynamic Amps 2040 series Price:  $2,570 (VA Combo) David Carambula’s Dynamic 2040 series of amplifiers consists of three models: Vintage American (VA), Vintage British (VB), and the HG DynaLead. All…

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…

Eastwood EEB-1 and EUB-1 Basses

Horizontal Vibe

Eastwood’s EEB-1 and the EUB-1 take their design inspiration from Ampeg’s quirky mid-’60s Horizontal Bass series, the brainchild of Dennis Kager, an amp technician and guitar specialist who worked for…

Gretsch Richard Fortus G6636T-RF Falcon

Flying Fingers

Through the decades, the Gretsch White Falcon has been spied in the hands of everyone from top Nashville session cats to rockers like Neil Young and Billy Duffy of the…

Burns Steer Cutaway

The Burns Steer Cutaway

The story of the Burns Steer Cutaway begins in 1925 with the birth of the “British Leo Fender,” James Ormston Burns. An avid guitar player beginning in his early teens,…

New Orleans Guitar Company Model 8

Sonic Mojo

New Orleans Guitar Company Model 8 Price: $2,999 Contact: neworleansguitar.com For over a decade, the New Orleans Guitar Company has been producing handcrafted electrics with an attention to design and…

New Orleans Guitar Company Model 8

Sonic Mojo

New Orleans Guitar Company Model 8 Price: $2,999 Contact: neworleansguitar.com For over a decade, the New Orleans Guitar Company has been producing handcrafted electrics with an attention to design and…

EHX Lizard Queen

Filthy Fuzz

In 2021, JHS Pedals founder Josh Scott teamed with graphic designer Daniel Danger to design a ’70s-style/E-H-inspired fuzz pedal. The response convinced Scott to present the idea to Electro-Harmonix president…

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…

Lovepedal Purple Plexi

Glory & Overtones

Fans of guitarists with superb tones routinely spot Lovepedal boxes on pedalboards in almost every music genre. From their early days emulating the tones of Billy Gibbons and Jimi Hendrix,…

Zinky True Grit Pedal

Tone charismatic enough to thrill the Duke

Yeah, we know! You’re thinking, “Wha? Another overdrive pedal?” It seems that one thing guitar players will forever be in search of is the ultimate dirty tone, and few players…

Brown Guitar Factory Chambered Electric

Beast Mode

To use a slightly skewed metaphor, John Brown builds guitars to the beat of a different drummer. After all, who wants a custom builder without vision, churning out yet another…

Collings I-30 LC

Desert Island Axe

If you found yourself stranded on that proverbial desert isle with – horror of horrors – just a single guitar at your disposal, the Collings I-30 LC just might make…

Friedman Motor City Drive & Fuzz Fiend

Sonic Rapture

An innovative designer, builder, and repairman, Dave Friedman has worked with some of the biggest names in the music industry, lending his artistry, experience, and great gear and amp mods…

Blackbox Effects Inferno, X-Ray, Cobalt, Ultraviolet 2, Oxygen

Stimulating sounds

During a recent chat with our friends at Willie’s Gui-tars, Minneapolis, we were turned on to an interesting new line of boutique stompboxes made by Blackbox Music Electronics – a…

Martin D-42 Modern Deluxe

Boom Box

Martin’s new Modern Deluxe line offers a tantalizing idea – a traditional-looking/playing premium acoustic, but with high-tech innovations under the hood. Being a revised take on an iconic dreadnought, it…

 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…

The Cicognani SexyBoost2

Top-Tier Driver

Italy’s Cicognani Engineering makes amplifiers, pedals, and nifty accessories. With a client list that includes Robben Ford, Richard Fortus, and Kee Marcello, Cicognani is the real deal when it comes…