Trending Now
Trending Now
A living legend of folk-rock, Richard Thompson has been earning fans and rave reviews as a solo artist for more than 40 years – and well before that during his partnership with then-wife Linda Thompson and as lead guitarist in Fairport Convention. On his first album in six years, Ship to Shore, the singer/songwriter/guitar hero […]
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Artists
Bill Pitman
The Man From The Wrecking Crew
On a recent episode of his TV talk show, David Letterman mentioned to guest Cher that he’d just seen the new documentary, The Wrecking Crew, which chronicles the coterie of L.A. studio musicians that helped create many of her records and hundreds of other hits for more than three decades. She immediately responded by naming […]
VG Approved Gear
Vox Real McCoy Chrome Wah Ltd and V846 Vintage Wah
Replica Treadles
Thanks to notable users ranging from Del Casher and Frank Zappa to Jimi Hendrix and Kirk Hammett, the “wah wah” is perhaps history’s most-recognized guitar effect. Vox, which marketed the first modern wah, has two new re-creations of pedals released in 1967 – the Real McCoy Chrome Wah Limited Edition and V846 Vintage Wah. The […]
Artists
Bob Cowsill Plays a Topical Tune
New Cowsills album is an impressive self-contained work Before the Jackson 5 and the Osmonds, The Cowsills scored four Top 40 hits in the late ’60s. Here, Bob Cowsill used his ’66 Gretsch Tennessean to play a bit of “Lend A Hand” from The Cowsills’ latest album, “Rhythm of the World.” Read our review in […]
Artists
Jared James Nichols’ glorious goldtop
Mods and pedals need not apply! Watch Jared James Nichols tear it up on “Dorothy,” his ’52 Gibson Les Paul, running straight into his Blackstar JJN20 signature amp. The guitar is (get this!) a tornado survivor that had its neck reattached. Its pickups are untouched and the tailpiece and knobs are era-correct (courtesy of his […]
Music
Flamin’ Groovies
Live 1971 San Francisco
Flamin’ Groovies are best known for the ’76 power-pop gem “Shake Some Action,” but this show – recorded five years earlier at the final Fillmore West concerts – couldn’t be more different. It’s blunt three-chord rock, somewhere between the Seeds, MC5, and the Rolling Stones. The live tape’s audio fidelity is lo-fi and raw, but […]
VG Approved Gear
Siegmund Midnight Special
Tried ’N True, Twisted
Siegmund Midnight Special Price: $1,895 (list, as tested) Contact: www.siegmundguitars.com Driven by a quest for preserving the original tonal qualities of a player’s instrument, builder Chris Siegmund created the Midnight Special, an attractive and great-sounding single-ended Class A amp that brings many of the bells and whistles of larger units to a small amp that […]
VG Approved Gear
Tech 21 English Muffy
Killer Combo
The Tech 21 Character Plus Series aims to combine a vintage amp with one classic overdrive/fuzz/booster circuit, essentially giving two pedals in one chassis. The English Muffy pairs Hiwatt sounds with a Big Muff-type circuit, offering the brashness of a venerable British amp with a definitive New York City fuzzbox. You also get SansAmp speaker […]
VG Approved Gear
TWA Triskelion MK3 Harmonic Energizer
Functional Filter
Based on the Systech Harmonic Energizer pedal made famous by Adrian Belew, Frank Zappa, and Greg Lake, the TWA Triskelion MK3 is a third-generation mid-boost that combines the features of the manufacturer’s MKI and MKII editions in a smaller pedal. A simple pedal, it has three knobs; Energy sets the peak in the frequency to […]
Classic Instruments
Gretsch Jet Firebird
One of the flashiest Jets in the Gretsch Company’s Air Force
Given the number of jet-related model monikers in Gretsch’s 1950s and ’60s catalogs, one might get the impression the company built airplanes. There were the flashy “fighters” like the Duo-Jet, Silver Jet, and Jet Fire Bird. Then there were the sturdy, reliable “tankers” represented by laminated archtops like the Corsair and the seldom-seen Jet 21. On the “commercial” […]
Newswire
ToneConcepts, Nels Cline Co-Op on Goo Distortion Pedal
The ToneConcepts Goo distortion pedal was designed in cooperation with guitarist Nels Cline. It has controls for Volume, Shininess (tone), and Viscosity (gain), a cast-aluminum Hammond housing, and an all-analog circuit on PCBs hand-made in Toronto using through-hole components tested for tolerance. Its aesthetics are inspired by the 1958 film The Blob, with graphics representing […]
Classic Instruments
Gibson’s Mastertone Banjos
This Gibson RB-3 five-string from 1925 is a rare piece, as is any five-string banjo from the era dominated by tenor banjos. But it’s more important as a representative of one of Gibson’s first steps in a desperate attempt to develop a competitive banjo. Gibson recognized the impending popularity of the tenor banjo as early […]
Classic Instruments
Scotty Moore’s Gibson ES-295
First Guitar of Rock and Roll
Like a hound dog hit by lightning, the first notes of rock and roll blasted out of radios across the country in July of 1954, courtesy of Elvis Presley’s supercharged-hillbilly singing on “That’s All Right” and “Blue Moon Of Kentucky,” backed by Scotty Moore’s guitar. It was the twang heard ’round the world. That guitar […]
VG Approved Gear
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 body shape reminiscent of a Jazzmaster, yet it has a bridge pickup more like you’d find on a Telecaster, making it more adaptable for everything […]
Classic Instruments
Fender’s 1961 Showman
The Show Must Go On
When Fender stepped up from the tweed-covered amps of the 1950s to the radically redesigned Tolex amps of the ’60s, one of the biggest leaps was in the “piggyback” head-and-cabinet sets. None better exemplified the need for a powerful, professional rig than the Showman. The development and early evolution of the model have long been […]
Artists
Nicolas Meier
Jeff Beck Sideman Steps Out
If you’ve been to a Jeff Beck concert in the past few years, you may have said to yourself, “Who’s that other guy onstage?” It happens to be Nicolas Meier, a Swiss virtuoso who for more than a decade has also led his own groups, such as the world-metal group Seven7. A monster picker, Meier […]
Classic Instruments
Built to Survive
Gibson and Montgomery Ward in the Great Depression
In our nation’s darkest economic times, one of its most-revered guitar manufacturers was treading headlong toward extinction before an unlikely hero started placing big orders.
Artists
Larry Carlton
Farewell, Mr. 335
As music becomes more unfamiliar and the past becomes a long reflection in the rear-view, veteran guitarists are increasingly mindful of artists who inspired and created timeless music. Larry Carlton is one of them. His playing with The Crusaders, Joni Mitchell, and Steely Dan is the stuff of legend, and he has contributed to thousands […]