General Interest

John Scofield is undeniably one of the preeminent forces in contemporary jazz guitar. Along with a few of his peers—see Pat Metheny, Bill Frisell, Mike Stern—he modernized the sound of our instrument and the genre. But there’s much more to Scofield than just jazz.

To break down the deepest of Scofield’s records and talk about the intricacies of his playing, we called up another great, Adam Levy. There’s a great chance you’ve heard Levy alongside artists such as Tracy Chapman or Norah Jones, and his solo discography is deep! Adam has a host of Scofield know-how, so we get right to it.

AFI’s Jade Puget is another guitarist who’s switched over to the world of amp modelling, as he began to feel constrained with his tube amps.

Puget has previously been known to play through Diamond’s NitroX amp heads – powered by six 12AX7 preamp tubes and four EL34s – which he spoke of in a rig rundown back in 2017. These days, his signal runs through a pair of rack-mounted Line 6 Helix units in a stereo configuration, and a computer running Ableton. He has an RJM Mastermind and Effect Gizmo that are programmed to control all of his pedals, the Helix, and Ableton.

AFI released their 12th album, Silver Bleeds The Black Sun…, back in October, and in a newly updated rig walkthrough, Puget has shared why he’s happy to have made the ‘trade off’ between the pros and cons of real life tube amps with modellers and future-forward tech.

• READ MORE: “Not many people want to watch a band stand in front of their amp line”: Metallica guitar tech thinks ditching real amps helped the band improve spectacle of their live shows

Speaking to Premier Guitar in the new video, he explains, “I played tube amps for the better part of 30 years. I just wanted to expand, try something new, and a lot of what I’ve been doing on the recordings have been more getting into sound design and trying to take my tones elsewhere.

“Tube amps are great. They sound amazing, but you’re kind of constrained to whatever that tube amp sounds like, even if it sounds amazing, that’s the sound. And I wanted to really be able to tap into a ton of different sounds,” he shares.

“I’ve been using Helix’s for a while, I’ve been using the Native plugin for a long time, but I thought, you know… My last rig was a Bob Bradshaw rig that I had made in 2002, and it was falling apart. Like, it was held together by chicken wire and duct tape. So, it was just time for a new rig regardless of where I went. [I was] like, I’m going to build this rig myself, because the Bradshaw was a great rig, but I didn’t build it. So, if I build it, I know how it goes together and if something goes wrong, I know how to fix it.”

Asked if there was much of an adjustment period for getting used to a modeller, Puget replies: “Yeah, there is this kind of low mid, beefy thing that’s very difficult to recreate with models, and I spent a lot of time experimenting.

“IRs are important of course when you’re talking about modelling, getting the right IR and getting the right cab, or getting the right amp emulation. It can sound fizzy, it could be weird, it could be thin, but I think after a lot of experimentation and work I’ve figured out something that sounds good. I feel like you’ll always be missing a little bit of that air, but what you get in return is some things that you can’t get with the tube amp. It’s a little bit of a trade-off.”

You can watch the full rundown below:

AFI will play at Sick New World festival in 2026 – you can find out more via the AFI website. Silver Bleeds The Black Sun… is out now.

The post AFI guitarist ditched tube amps because they made him feel “constrained” sonically – does he have a point? appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

Is guitar virtuosity about memorising the fretboard, or trusting your instincts? Earlier this year, Jazz-Funk star Cory Wong made headlines insisting that “advanced” players should know the location of every note on the guitar – a view Joe Satriani has publicly supported.

For Yes legend Steve Howe, though, mastery takes a different form. Largely self-taught, Howe treats the fretboard as a guide rather than a rulebook, arguing that when it comes to improvisation, guitarists “just need a bit of the plot”.

• READ MORE: “He gets in big and gets out big”: The ultimate secret of Eric Clapton’s guitar solos, according to his most trusted guitar confidant

Asked whether being self-taught shaped his style in a new interview with Uncut, Howe explains: “I guess it did. But my brain capacity when I was young was all about the hearing and not playing while you look at a piece of paper. It comes through my head, and I put my fingers on the frets, and if I can recognise the tonality, I’m in the zone.”

“That’s why I like improvising so much,” he adds, “because you don’t need very much information to improvise. You just need a bit of the plot.”

Beyond notes, Howe emphasises rhythm as the true backbone of playing.

“The important thing is that notes are fairly meaningless on their own, so the rhythm is important,” he says.

“Two of my sons are drummers – unfortunately, Virgil [Howe’s second son and longtime Yes drummer] passed away – but it runs in the family, and I could have been a drummer; it really interested me. So, I’m pretty fanatical about beats. I feel beats. People talk about time signatures, but I can’t actually think about whether something is in 5/4 or not – I’ve got to feel what it’s like when the part’s in 5/4.”

Whether players should know their fretboard back to back has been the subject of some discussion as of late. After Cory Wong split the guitar world in two with his assertion that players should know every note on their instrument inside out, White Stripes legend Jack White responded hilariously: “Ok it’s a deal; I’ll find the C, but I’m not learning all those other notes!”

The post Yes legend Steve Howe on guitar improvisation: “You don’t need very much information. You just need a bit of the plot” appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

There’s no shortage of practice routines floating around the guitar world – from strict metronome drills to hyper-targeted exercises – but sometimes the most effective tips are the ones that push you well past your comfort zone. And according to modern guitar hero Mateus Asato, that might quite literally mean embracing a bit of pain.

Over the weekend, Asato shared an unusual tip on his Instagram Story, urging players to “practice standing up,” wear their strap “as low as possible,” and above all, “‘hurt yourself’ a little bit.”

• READ MORE: John Mayer thinks fretboard radius makes less of a difference on your playing than strap height: “I’ll fight anybody about that”

In the accompanying photo, the guitarist makes sure to practice what he preaches – wearing a Gretsch slung so low it sits nearly mid-thigh.

“It will sound terrible. Rusty. A completely new instrument at first. But do it. Have a great weekend,” the post concludes.

The post arrives as Asato gears up for a major milestone: his long-awaited debut album, expected in early 2026. Last month, he released its first single, Cryin’, offering fans the first real glimpse of what’s to come.

Describing the record as a snapshot of every phase of his musical life, Asato told Guitar: “The album is definitely a journey through all the sides of Mateus: the Mateus who’s a sideman, Mateus as the Instagram boy, and then the Mateus that got more mature over the years. Who developed a different vision regarding music, regarding how I see guitar.

“There are a couple of solos that I recorded from 2016 to 2019, but in that time my playing has changed – and when I listened to it back, you could tell that things were different… the vibrato, the tones, those little nuances. But I decided to just leave the original take and add new layers of me playing now, so it’s like I’m jamming with myself – that was cool!”

While Mateus Asato is, by most accounts, the quintessential Instagram guitarist, he took a widely publicised hiatus in 2020, citing burnout. “I grabbed all my guitars off the wall, put them in their cases, and I was like, I don’t want to have any contact with any instruments,” Mateus told Guitar.com. “And I went 90 days without touching any instruments, so I had to just go do other things.”

The post “Hurt yourself a bit”: Mateus Asato is one of the world’s best guitar players – and his latest practice tip is certainly unconventional appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

$159/$139, positivegrid.com

By now you surely understand the sketch when it comes to Positive Grid’s all-conquering Spark ecosystem – the once and future amp and effects plugin maker makes affordable and versatile practice and small gig amps that, regardless of how tiny they are, sound outrageously good in the room.

• READ MORE: Positive Grid Spark NEO review – the world’s best practice amp reaches its zenith

The whole concept reached what may have been its zenith in terms of being a quiet and functional practice tool when the Spark NEO headphones dropped earlier this year. Cramming the clever ‘smart amp’ tech into a set of cans that came with their own wireless dongle to ensure zero-latency cable-free home playing.

Now however, the brand has launched another set of headphones – these ones coming in at barely half the price of the original NEO, so what gives?

Positive Grid Spark NEO Core – what is it?

It’s hard not to see the NEO Core as, on some level, a reaction to things happening that are far beyond the ken of music technology companies to control. Eight months ago, the Spark NEO cost $199, and at time of writing they now cost a whopping 25% more at $249.

I can’t say this for sure of course, but I’d wager that price hike has less to do with corporate greed than it does to do with this being a uniquely volatile and difficult moment to be a company that relies on importing electronic devices from China into the USA (though it’s worth noting that the UK price of the NEO has had a smaller but still substantial bump since launch).

Anyway, the fact that these now cost $250 is a problem because $250 is a lot to spend on a practice amp AND a lot of money to spend on some headphones. It doesn’t make the NEO any less great, of course, but it muddies the waters of it as an entry-level option.

The NEO Core then fixes this issue by coming in at a reasonable $159, which in these tariff-heavy times feels like an absolute frigging steal. For those 160 wing-wangs, you get something that looks and feels pretty much identical to the originals.

The cans themselves feel reassuringly weighty without being heavy. The faux-tolex rubberised covers and generous padding on the ear caps and headband make them comfortable and premium to slide on, and under the hood you’ll find the same Spark technology (accessible via the companion app) that offers a wealth of amps, effects and practice options.

What you don’t get, however, is the wireless dongle that came with the NEO. Yep, this baby is analogue-only – something that was an option with the original if you forgot to charge the dongle, but is now your only means of getting sound in out of the box.

Mercifully, bluetooth is still on board for audio and app-related things, so you can use it to stream audio into your cans – it’s just the zero-latency wireless instrument connection you’re missing out on here.

Positive Grid Spark NEO Core – usability and sounds

In many ways, the sounds portion of this test is broadly redundant – I did a quick A/B test with the original NEO cans I still have kicking around here and could not tell a single difference between the two.

And that’s a very good thing because like its bigger brother, the NEO Core manages to sound very much like you’re not playing through headphones at all. There’s midrange punch, high-end clarity, thumping bass response and a sense of roominess about the sound that really does feel like you’re playing through an amplifier – it’s not spatial in the way that Boss’s Waza-Air cans are, but it still sounds way better than running your amp through headphones ever has.

Choosing between your three onboard presets is as simple as clicking the button on the side of the headphones, and you can adjust your overall volume here too. In all the sonic ways that probably matter most of all, there are zero compromises here from the originals.

There is one big compromise, however. I’m not sure if you’ve ever noticed how unwieldy and uncomfortable it is having a guitar cable hanging down from just below your right ear, but reader, it sucks.

It’s easy to forget that even the most expensive pro audio wired headphones don’t tend to have ¼-inch cables – even ones with ¼-inch jacks at the end! They also don’t tend to use the sort of rugged, heavy and substantial jacks that guitar cables do… because all of these things which might be totally normal when plugged into an amp or a pedalboard become profoundly uncomfortable and annoying when they’re hanging off the side of your head.

I don’t know what the solution is here, really – some sort of male-to-female connector cable that has a more headphone-appropriate cable that you can plug your guitar cable into at a level that’s less intrusive?

On the plus side, if you wanted to get around this, you could plug a wireless unit into the jack. It worked fine with the Spark Link I tried, and the added weight of the receiver was minimal compared to the annoyance of the cable – I would imagine other wireless units with lightweight battery-powered receivers would work here too.

The problem with that of course is that the Spark Link costs $149… which means you’d be better off just buying the original NEO and save yourself a lot of hassle.

Positive Grid Spark NEO Core – should I buy one?

On the surface, the Core offers some of the best practice amp sounds you can get for a killer price – there’s no getting away from that equation if the original NEO is beyond your means. This is still a far better sounding solution than pretty much any other $130 practice amp out there.

There’s also no getting away from the fact that the usability is severely impacted to reach this price point however – you’d have to spend a fair amount of time finding the right kind of lightweight cable to render it less annoying, and ever then you still have to contend with something hanging down broadly in the area where you’re likely to be strumming.

But worse things happen at sea, as the old saying goes. If you’re looking for a great sounding route to silent practice at home, this is the best bang for buck option on the market – just be prepared to go cable shopping sometime soon.

Positive Grid Spark NEO Core – alternatives

Asides from the original NEO ($249) and Boss’s impressive but even more pricey Waza-Air ($389) options, there aren’t many headphone-based practice amps worth thinking about really. What there are a lot of however, are impressive plug-and-play micro-amps that offer the ability to plug in a normal set of cans (with a normal cable) into. Prince of these is probably the Fender Mustang Micro Plus ($134) though the Boss Katana Go ($139) and the Blackstar Beam Solo are also very impressive and affordable.

The post Positive Grid Spark NEO Core review: “Great sounds with an unavoidable compromise” appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

Attack—essentially the rate and intensity with which a note rises in volume from its point of creation—is one of the coolest musical expressions you can mess with. If you play an instrument from the violin family it’s a fundamental part of your vocabulary. It’s used frequently in synthesis to conjure spooky, low-gravity atmospherics, and it’s an essential tool for taking the front end off some psychotic Moog sound that might otherwise explode like a foghorn six inches from your ear.

Guitar players know the potential of this effect well too. Volume swells can drastically recast a guitar line—evoking reverse tape, pedal steel, and deep space. But doing it well is not easy. Even on guitars like the Stratocaster that lend themselves to volume swells by design, it takes technique, practice, and usually a very flexible pinky finger to make it work right. Electro-Harmonix’s Swello, which has origins in the attack filter section of the POG2, can do a lot of that work for you. But it’s capable of more than simple swells, with the ability to generate envelope filter- and wah-like sounds, big synth-style pads that are ripe for looping, and much stranger fare.

Swing in Smoothly

Though they can be mellowing, soft attack and volume swell effects aren’t always subtle. For many players that prize precise, immediate attack, they are anathema. Swello—especially in the sans-filter “green” mode—is great at backgrounding the effect and making it more subliminal. At the lowest attack levels, you can use Swello in a capacity similar to a compressor to soften picking irregularities. At slightly higher but still subtle settings, it imparts a beautiful legato quality to melodic lines—especially enchanting in understated or deeply ambient delay and reverb contexts. At much slower attack rates, it evokes lush pedal steel tones and remarkably natural volume pedal or cello-like effects. There’s a lot of range to explore in the attack control alone.

"Swello ’s capable of more than simple swells, with the ability to generate envelope filter- and wah-like sounds, big synth-style pads that are ripe for looping, and much stranger fare."

While the Swello’s control set is minimal, players without experience in synthesis or in using filters and envelopes with guitar may find them less than intuitive. This isn’t a shortcoming of the EHX design—it’s simply inherent to the complex interplay between filter and attack effects. If you start twisting knobs casually and with no particular intent you can end up with filter and attack combinations that make a guitar sound 30 feet underwater—if not altogether absent. So, it pays to move slowly though these controls, observe the sensitivities in their interactions and pay attention to how very small, incremental changes—as well as where you play on the fretboard—can alter the response and output. Though getting to your destination can be tricky and require patience, there are many surprises to find along the way.

Overtone Organizer

As a player that uses volume swells as both an expressive tool and crutch, I loved Swello’s very natural volume pedal and cello-like effects. But I also own a POG2 and treasure that pedal’s capacity to add -2-octave content to an upswelling tone. That can be a preposterously big sound with reverb (the low synth parts in Vangelis’ Blade Runner opening sequence and the Golden Gate Bridge foghorn at the distance of a couple miles are a couple handy points of reference). And there’s plenty of it here when you get a deep resonant peak, slow attack, and filter modulation working in sync, and hang out on the low strings.

As with the POG2, boosting the high frequencies can make the pedal sound less organic—and at times even a bit cloying. Some settings also introduce digital artifacts, most noticeable in the quackier, mid-forward envelope filter-style tones. These sounds can be fun, but they’re not the Swello’s strong suit (and may disappoint players that demand vintage Mu-Tron authenticity from envelope filters). That said, there are plenty of ways to use high-frequency emphasis for pleasant coloration and to shape the attack, and at many such settings the output is largely free of digital aftertaste.

The Verdict

Swello, as the name suggests, specializes in very cello-like volume swells that sound organic, and enable you to keep your fingers on the strings and your feet away from expression pedals. At less than $150, it’s a great value for the slow-attack effects alone. However, players who explore its compression-like dynamics and the vast, unconventional tones found at atypical filter frequency and modulation settings will discover that the Swello is far more than it appears—truly greater than the sum of its parts.

Our world of guitars is peppered with cliches and theories about what physical attributes make an instrument special. I’ve always gravitated towards electric guitars whose sound not only blooms and holds on to a note or chord, but also leaps from your touch. This can be described as having great dynamic range and punchy transients as well as sustain. Whether we admit it or not, beyond the subjective matter of “good” tone, that’s the thing that we’re all looking for. You might describe it differently—such as calling it liveliness, or resonance, or something else, but it’s what makes a guitar seem “alive.” But how can you build that into a guitar?

Some point to the actual materials used in an instrument’s construction, others say the pickups do the heavy lifting needed to make this happen. I believe that it’s a combination of small details that conspire to either raise the game of a guitar or crush it into mediocrity. Here are a few things that I’ve found that need to be right in order to achieve the spunkiness that you seek—whether you’re building, assembling, or just modifying/accessorizing your guitar.

Builders like Tom Anderson and the late Rick Turner have endorsed the “unplugged test”—if the guitar is loud, balanced, and resonant acoustically, it will usually sound better when amplified. This is fine if you are starting from scratch, but how can you achieve this when you already have a finished guitar?

Get Tight

A snug, vibration-friendly neck pocket (or a carefully designed set neck) can make a guitar feel more like one piece of wood rather than two separate parts. Over the years, builders of bolt-on neck instruments like John Suhr and Grover Jackson have emphasized the neck joint fit itself because the way the neck and body vibrate together matters more than most players realize. I tend to agree. The more you can transfer resonance throughout the entire guitar, the more lively it will be. In a bolt-on guitar, you can remove finish within the joint and glue shim material to tighten the fit. This essentially puts wood to wood so that the entire instrument becomes one—and don’t forget to tighten those screws down tight. This is also a good time to check that the string alignment is correct relative to the edges of the fretboard, which helps playing feel. If you are building a set neck instrument, my opinion is that the larger and tighter the union is the better it will sound.

Mind the Nut

Most players think of the nut as little more than a spacer for strings, but it’s really an important gatekeeper of resonance. Sure, the slot depth and spacing matter, but a critical thing is how solidly that nut is bonded to the neck. If there’s glue slop under there, you’re leaking tone before the note even leaves the station. I always make sure the mating surfaces are smooth, flat, and fully seated—wood and nut material acting as one. When cutting slots, I file a gentle curve so the string leaves the nut as if it’s flowing downhill towards the tuners for maximum contact without snags. I stop my file exactly at the angle where the string will meet the tuner post—this way the string’s path is straight, clean, and free to slide.

“Sure, the slot depth and spacing matter, but a critical thing is how solidly that nut is bonded to the neck. If there’s glue slop under there, you’re leaking tone before the note even leaves the station.”

Batten Down the Hatches

No matter what kind of bridge you employ, make certain that all of the contact points—both to strings and body—have the maximum amount of contact. On wraparounds, Tune-o-matics, and Stoptails, be sure anchors are tightly set into the body. When installing them I always drill to the exact depth so the anchor presses firmly against the bottom of the hole. The name of the game is stability and vibration transfer.

Balance Tone, Not Output

I know there’s a lot of fine tuning that can be done with pickup to string distance, but the way I do it isn’t for volume balance as much as for tonal variety. On a guitar with two pickups, I always adjust by ear in the middle position, looking for a certain chime that I like. I’ve found that this position is often overlooked in favor of getting more gain from one pickup or the other, but if you get that middle sound right the rest usually takes care of itself, and your guitar will be more versatile as a result.

Because the way a guitar performs is a sum of all the parts, this way of looking at individual areas can eliminate potential weak links in your sound. In the search for a guitar that is alive in your hands and delivers a resonant sound, these small attentions are what can separate a dead plank from a singing instrument. Oh yeah—don’t forget to crank those tuning machines tight, too. That headstock does a lot more than host the logo.



Musician and Fretboard Journal contributor Paul Burch joins us this week to talk about his just-published debut novel, Meridian Rising. The book, an imagined memoir by Jimmie Rodgers, is filled with insights on the Father of Country Music and some of the unbelievable collaborators he worked with.

We talk about the making of the book, why Rodgers is so fascinating to Paul, Paul’s new album (Cry Love), and so much more.

https://paulburch.com/

Our new, 57th issue of the Fretboard Journal is now mailing. Subscribe here to get it.

Our next Fretboard Summit takes place August 20-22, 2026, at the Old Town School of Folk Music in Chicago. https://fretboardsummit.org

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Above photo: Jim Herrington

The post Podcast 524: Paul Burch first appeared on Fretboard Journal.

On November 14, 2025, I’ll be giving a presentation at the Royal College of Music in London. It’s in conjunction with a unique guitar they have on display: Kurt Cobain’s 1959 Martin D-18E, the one he played on MTV Unplugged. To honor the occasion, we’ve built a modern reproduction of that particular guitar for my friend Craig Thatcher to play at the event—because I don’t think they’ll let him play the original. (Yes, that one … the guitar that sold for $6 million at auction in 2020.)

MTV Unplugged: What a good idea that was! And talk about good timing. The 1980s were not a good time to be in the acoustic guitar business. My dad joined the family business in 1955, the year I was born. The mid-’50s were the era of the folk revival. Acoustic music was taking hold in coffeehouses and on college campuses. Thanks to bands like the Kingston Trio, folk music was becoming pop music.

By the early ’60s, demand for Martin guitars outstripped the capacity of our old factory on 10 West North Street in Nazareth, Pennsylvania. My dad convinced my grandfather that we needed a new factory to keep up with the boom. So in 1964 we opened the new plant at 510 Sycamore Street. What else happened in 1964? The British Invasion.

Yes, Bob Dylan went electric, but the acoustic guitar remained a mainstay on many folk-rock songs. Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young and others drove demand skyward. We couldn’t keep up. These were good times. Politics, the Vietnam War, and the fight for civil rights … it all gave the younger generation reasons to speak out and speak up, and the acoustic guitar became an integral part of that messaging.

By the late 1970s, music was changing. Disco was taking over. The Eagles were the last significant folk-rock supergroup. By the 1980s, it was tough going for acoustic guitars. Several of our smaller competitors closed their shops. Pointy electric guitars were flying off the shelves, thanks to hair metal. The Yamaha DX7 and other digital keyboards were everywhere.

“By the end of the 1990s, our production had increased fivefold compared to the start of the decade.”

Our business struggled. My dad retired and moved to Florida. I had just graduated from college and joined the family business full-time, at a difficult moment. My grandfather passed away in 1986, and at 31, I became CEO. I was scared. My dad had encumbered the company with a crushing level of debt. We were on the verge of bankruptcy. I wasn’t sure exactly what to do, but I was determined to not allow my multi-generational family business to disappear. We cut back expenses and focused on what we did best: flat-top acoustic guitars. One of my dad’s better decisions was to acquire a string company. String sales helped us survive those lean years.

One day, my friend and colleague Dick Boak walked into my office. “I got a call from MTV,” he said. “MTV? The rock video station?” I inquired. “Yes,” he replied. “Why did they call us?” I asked. “They have this idea,” Dick said. “They want to get rockers into the studio and have them play their famous songs on acoustic guitars.” Hmmm. Not a bad idea.

“Why did they call us?” “They weren’t sure if the rockers they were going to ask even had acoustic guitars,” he said. “And they’re going to film some shows in New York. Could they borrow some guitars from us if needed?” I looked at Dick and smiled. He took that as a “yes.”

MTV Unplugged launched in 1989. It started slowly. Initially, few people noticed. But it built momentum. In 1992, Eric Clapton recorded his Unplugged segment at Bray Studios in London, playing his 000-42 Martin. The subsequent album became a phenomenon, garnering multiple Grammys, selling millions of copies, and becoming the best-selling live album of all time.

In 1993, Nirvana performed one of Kurt Cobain’s last televised sets. After his death, MTV Unplugged in New York was released. It sold over 5 million copies and won a Grammy for Best Alternative Music Performance. As the momentum grew, our phones started to ring. And ring. Players were rediscovering how cool it is to hold a wooden box against their body and feel it vibrate as they played their favorite songs. The acoustic guitar was back. Thank you, MTV Unplugged. (Fun fact: Many of the guitars played on MTV Unplugged were actually plugged in!)

What started as a simple TV concept helped usher in a full-fledged acoustic revival. For Martin, it arrived just when we needed it most. By the end of the 1990s, our production had increased fivefold compared to the start of the decade. Sometimes, all it takes is a well-timed idea and a few beautifully-built guitars.

The gear that passed through our reviewer’s hands in 2025 was a thrillingly varied bunch. There were new takes on old friends, slimmed and shrunken evolutions of proven designs, and radical reinventions of the instrument we love and treasure so much. Join us as we review the guitars, pedals, amps, modelers and more that stood apart from the pack.

Keeley Zoma

Keeley chased one of the most perfect effect combinations—the tremolo and reverb from a black panel Fender amplifier—in the form of the Zoma. But the tremolo-and-reverb combo goes beyond mere black-panel flavors. There’s a versatile plate reverb setting, harmonic tremolo, and vibrato, too, and it’s all very straightforward and easy to use. Stereo capabilities take the lushness to another level if you choose, making the Zoma a standout in a class of pedals chasing magic Fender amp effects formulas.

$229 street, robertkeeley.com

Read the Review

J. Rockett PXO

Phil X’s signature drive and boost is not, at its foundation, a unique idea. But by making the boost and overdrive order switchable and adding flexible EQ controls, the PXO becomes more than the sum of its parts. It can make single coils sound as fat as humbuckers or add treble that burns. It’s a fantastic studio and stage tool—both for discovery and backline problem solving.

$349 street, rockettpedals.com

Read the Review

Gibson Les Paul Studio

Over several decades, Gibson’s minimalist, more economical version of the Les Paul enabled a lot of players to own the fabled—but often expensive—solidbody. In this case, $1,599 might still feel a touch pricy, but reviewer Dave Hunter found the playability on our review model superb, and described the hotter-than-vintage-spec Burstbucker Pro pickups as extremely articulate.

$1,599 street, gibson.com

Read the Review

SoloDallas SVDS

The Schaeffer-Vega Diversity System isn’t exactly a household name—even among gear nerds. But as an early wireless system, its mild coloration became essential for Angus Young and Eddie Van Halen. The SVDS Boost reduces its inspiration to its essence, beautifully fattening every facet of a guitar’s output without favoring any particular frequency.

$129 street, solodallas.com

Orange Gain Baby

Many of Orange’s solid state amps in the Crush and Terror series have become staples of studios and the road. The Gain Baby, which is part of a trio of new “Baby” solid state offerings, is crushing in its own way. It also weighs just 6 1/2 lbs. Stuff it in the included shoulder bag and you have a highly portable monster that can deliver headroom and rage.

$599 street, orangeamps.com

Read the Review

TC Electronic Plethora X1

The Plethora X1 doesn’t do gain effects, but it covers just about everything else. It’s packed with models of TC’s signature delay, reverb, modulation, octave effects and more, plus access to the company’s star-studded Tone Print library. At just $159, it's a stellar value.

$159 street, tcelectronic.com

Read the Review

MXR Rockman

To resurrect one of the ’80s most essential tone machines in pedal form, the MXR team set their sights on the Rockman X100. They’ve recreated all four modes from the original: cln2 is the default setting, cln1 in the second position is EQ’d with a mid-boost, edge delivers moderate clipping, and dist is high-gain. Both distortion settings use the same hard-clipping LED diodes as the original. Preset compression and an analog chorus circuit add to the fun and nail the vibe.

$245 street, jimdunlop.com

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Carr Skylark Special

No stranger to our Year in Gear list, Carr Amplifiers delivered again. The brand made the already spectacular Skylark lighter, but also added an EZ81 tube rectifier and a Hiwatt-inspired tone section from their equally awesome Bel-Ray. With a 2x6V6 power section, it’s no surprise that the Skylark Special has more than a hint of Fender Harvard and Princeton in its makeup. But the extra bit of British flavor, as well as the bass response from the 12" Celestion, make it a thrillingly versatile twist on the Fender formula.

$3,200 street, carramps.com

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Supercool Barstow Bat

The magic of the Barstow Bat is its ability to expand the Pro Co RAT’s traditional vocabulary to include 1960s-style fuzz realms, exploding lo-fi student-amp tones and extreme sounds spanning fat and blurry and hot and trebly. A 3-band EQ replaces the traditional filter knob on a RAT, extending its sound palette significantly—and in ways an old RAT could only hint at.

$200 street, supercoolpedals.com

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Ernie Ball Music Man StingRay II

Some might find it hard to imagine Cory Wong without a Stratocaster. But in helping design the StingRay II, Wong not only deviated from the Strat template but delved into the realm of humbuckers. Our reviewer found the pickups warm and tight in the low end and more than articulate enough to accommodate Wong’s signature rhythm riffing. They’re also capable of smoky jazz tones and burly alt-rock rowdiness, making the StingRay II an axe for any mission.

$2,999 street, music-man.com

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Ananashead Spirit Fuzz

The Jordan Boss Tone is one of the nastiest 1960s fuzz artifacts—check Big Brother and the Holding Company's Cheap Thrills for reference—and Barcelona’s Ananashead captured every bit of that potency in the Spirit Fuzz. The Spirit Fuzz isn’t exclusively mean—it can be smooth and mysterious, too. And while it really loves humbuckers, it will happily take a buzzy trip with just about any guitar or pickup you put in front of it.

$117 street, ananashead.com

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Great Eastern FX Co. Focus Fuzz Deluxe

The Focus Fuzz Deluxe was destined to be a rare bird from the start. Great Eastern boss David Greeves had just 400 of the NOS transistors required to arrive at the Focus Fuzz Deluxe formula. But oh, what a formula it is. Unlike many fuzzes, it leaves lots of headroom for a dynamic touch, but still screams—all while offering superb boost and drive sections.

$349 street, greateasternfx.com

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Boss Waza Tube Expander Core

Boss’ first Tube Amp Expander reactive load box stood out among the competition for its integrated 100-watt power amp. Still, it was expensive, and though compact, wasn’t exactly backpack portable. The small, more wallet-friendly Core version addresses both issues, making one of the most powerful tools for recording big sounds at quiet volumes a more accessible proposition.

$769 street, boss.info

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Divided By 13 CCC 9/15

Clearly, Divided By 13 has thrived under the ownership and guidance of Two-Rock Amplifiers' Eli Lester and Mac Skinner. This brilliant design enables the lucky owner to select between 9-watt 6V6GT or 15-watt EL84 output stages. As you’d expect, it spans 1950s Fender tweed colors and 1960s Brit chime, all while staying dynamic and deftly ranging from clean to filthy.

$3,549 street, dividedby13.com

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Moth Electric C. Regalis

Any overdrive that offers blendable clean and dirty tones promises a certain measure of extra flexibility. But the C. Regalis’ powerful +/-15 dB bass-and-treble EQ, as well as its smooth/crunch switch that adds even-order harmonics, make it capable of very heavy and subtly boosted tones that can coax magic out of any guitar/amp combination.

$179 street, mothelectric.com

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Taylor Gold Label 814e Koa Super Auditorium

Seeing a Taylor on our Year in Gear list is practically inevitable. But even by Taylor standards the Gold Label 814e Koa Super Auditorium is Cadillac stuff—and a treat to play. For starters, the Super Auditorium body could be Taylor’s loveliest shape ever. But the just-right proportions, combined with Andy Powers' V-Class bracing, add up to a flattop that sounds seasoned, balanced, and beautiful.

$4,799 street, taylorguitars.com

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Dunlop Mick Ronson Cry Baby

It’s super cool to see Bowie’s right hand man and ripper supreme, Mick Ronson, honored with this fantastic looking Cry Baby. But there is much practical appeal to this wah, too. It stays bold and heavy in the midrange and is a great match for a nasty fuzz, a wide-open Marshall, or any occasion where you want a solo or riff to stand out like a pair of cherry-red platform boots.

$265 street, jimdunlop.com

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Marshall 1959 Super Lead Pedal

Most of the time you don’t really expect a Marshall-in-a-box to rival the sound of the real thing. But Ted Drozdowski, who had the good fortune to test this pedal alongside a real 1972 Marshall Super Lead, found it more than capable of holding its own against the original.

$159 street, marshall.com

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Chase Bliss Brothers AM

Chase Bliss’ Joel Korte and “Analog” Mike Piera—now there’s two sticklers for detail. It shows in the fruits of their collaboration, the Brothers AM, a take on Analog Man’s King of Tone that could help sate the hunger of players marooned on the King of Tone’s seemingly endless wait list. It’s a fantastic, agreeable drive that can add a lively edge to any guitar/amp pairing.

$399 street, chasebliss.com

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PRS Archon Classic

Most players probably associate the Archon name with ultra-high gain. But that’s not the direction PRS went in with this evolution of the original. The 50-watt, 2-channel Classic is, instead, a relatively streamlined affair that, as the name suggests, coaxes a lot of mid-rangey, Marshall-like tonalities from its 2x6CA7 power tubes and six ECC83S preamp tubes.

$1,149 street, prsguitars.com

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Strange Audio The Eloise

One of the more distinctive newcomers in the boutique amp world, Strange Audio has turned heads with its bold, midcentury-modern-inspired colorways and patterns—and circuits that sound as striking as they look. For its first head-and-cab design, the company has built a uniquely interactive control set with switchable preamp tubes, housed in a 35-watt, 2-channel, 6L6-powered package that appeals equally to natural-overdrive purists and pedal-platform players—and looks incredible onstage.

$3,199 (head)/$3,999 (with cab) street, strangeaudioelectronics.com

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Verso Sine

Leaping into the future, luthier Robin Stummvoll re-thought the nuances of electric guitar design and created an “expressive guitar” in the Sine. This truly experimental instrument pairs a powder-coated flexible steel “top” with Lehle expression controls to offer playability never before seen on a guitar, including volume-swell capabilities and two expression outs to run to your outboard devices. Plus, the Sine’s easily movable pickups and stereo outs multiply the sonic possibilities exponentially. It’s fun, forward-thinking, and intuitive.

$3,699 street, versoinstruments.com

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Old Blood Noise Endeavors Dark Star Stereo

A digital reverb pedal that lives beyond simple effect categorization, the DSS is a feature-rich stomp built for creativity. With a control set that includes pitch shifting and bit crushing, the DSS provokes experimentation. There’s a great balance between the pedal’s deep, tweakable controls and easy usability. And it sounds just as great at always-on reverb settings as it does diving into the sonic cosmos.

$299 street, oldbloodnoise.com

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Walrus Audio Voyager MkII

Built on a Klon-style foundation, the Voyager delivers a level of versatility that reaches well beyond the average klone. By combining the tight boost and overdrive users expect with a 2-knob sweepable-mid control set and switchable diodes—1N34A and silicon, both with and without bass boost—the Voyager opens up the sonic possibilities of the genre and demands attention.

$249 street, walrusaudio.com

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SOMA Laboratory Harvezi Hazze

If you’re looking for the one distortion to rule them all, the Harvezi Hazze from SOMA Laboratory is a good place to start—and end—your journey. It can do your typical rodent-style dirt, but this transistor-based stomp’s unbelievably deep tweakability—centered around its wave-folding function—make it capable of just about any overdrive, distortion, or fuzz tone you'd dream up. It’s not cheap, but the Harvezi Hazze can outperform most signal-clipping boxes in its price bracket.

$349 street, somasynths.com

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Fish Circuits Echo Limiteur

Fish Circuits designs pedals with equal attention to both sight and sound. The Echo Limiteur—a hefty, striking delay box—offers two modes that blend a warm analog echo with the extended range of a digital PT2399 chip. Its standout feature, dynamic delay mode, lets your playing intensity control the number of repeats, and when they start or stop. This stompbox has the rare, exhilarating ability to transform the way you play.

$349 street, fishcircuits.com

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Mile End Effects Pique

Montreal builder Justin Cober did something remarkable when he built the Pique: He made an EQ pedal that’s fun. The Pique is technically a 3-in-1 (a boost, buffer, and EQ—or, as Cober puts it, “frequency enhancer”) built around Mile End’s beloved Preamp 150 circuit, a take on the sounds in vintage Roland Space Echo units. By incorporating three straightforward EQ modes that enhance targeted frequencies, Cober ensures you spend more time chasing inspiration and less time tweaking settings.

$212 street, mileendeffects.org

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Keeley Manis

Did you really expect Robert Keeley to build a simple klone and leave it at that? Of course not! Keeley made sure his Manis possessed all the essential goodness of a Klon Centaur—it’s adaptable to changing rigs and backlines, and its overdrive and distortion profile ranges from barely boosted to raging. And while in many respects it's faithful to the Klon’s architecture, the addition of a germanium transistor clipping and bass boost options extends its utility and enhances its personality significantly.

$199 street, robertkeeley.com

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Asheville Music Tools APH-12

With 12 stages, the all-analog APH-12 phaser is capable of much more than simple phasing as most players understand it. It chirps, quacks, thrums, and throbs with intensity, richness, and personality. The likeness to the beloved Moog Moogerfooger MF-103 is not entirely coincidental. Designer Rick “Hawker” Shaich worked at Moog and helped refine the original MF-103 design. With that model long since discontinued, it’s wonderful to see an all-analog phase conceived in that same adventurous spirit.

$397 street, ashevillemusictools.com

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Fender Laura Lee Jazz Bass

Khruangbin’s music is driven by groove. And bassist Laura Lee’s tasteful parts, which often evoke vintage soul and reggae lines, are ideal for the fat, punchy tonalities of a Fender Jazz Bass. This signature edition is actually a copy of a copy in one sense: Lee always used an inexpensive SX-branded J-bass-style instrument. But this flawless evolution of that bass, with DiMarzio Ultra Jazz noiseless pickups and jumbo frets—not to mention that ashtray pickup cover—is both a looker and a studio-grade performer.

$1,499 street, fender.com

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MXR Bass Synth

MXR’s Bass Synth is the kind of pedal that can blur the differences between a stringed instrument and a keyboard. And the “synth” in the name is not one that MXR tosses about lightly in this case. Several textures here use vintage keyboards like the Minimoog and Stevie Wonder’s TONTO synth as sonic departure points. The MXR not only captures these tones convincingly, but makes it easy for novices with less synthesis experience to incorporate them into their vocabulary.

$285 street, jimdunlop.com

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PRS S2 Special Semi-Hollow

We’re used to PRS guitars being well-built, smooth-as-butter players. And yeah, they tend to sound pretty great, too. But the S2 Special Semi-Hollow, with its 58/15 humbuckers in the neck and bridge positions, a Narrowfield pickup in the center, and a bevy of switching and tapping options, is wildly versatile and possesses a distinctive, airy semi-hollow voice that represents a cool alternative to PRS signature sounds.

$2,599 street, prsguitars.com

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Aclam Go Rocky Go

In terms of pure sonic presence, it’s hard to match the toothy, trebly tones that marked many Beatles recordings of the 1966-1968 period. Much of what made those sounds distinctive was the band’s occasional use of Vox amps with all-solid-state circuitry or solid-state preamps. The Go Rocky Go, the third of Aclam’s homages to these amplifiers, apes the sound of the Vox Conqueror, which spiced up many White Album tracks. But it’s also a drive, distortion, and fuzz that offers delicious alternatives to familiar, run-of-the-mill dirt sounds.

$348 street, aclamguitars.com

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Marshall JVM, DSL, JCM 800 and JCM 900 Pedals

Four pedals, four award winners. Not a surprise, perhaps, given that it’s Marshall. On the other hand, generating the sheer mass and presence of a Marshall from a pedal isn’t easy, which makes this quartet of heavies—which span a rainbow of gain colors—very impressive indeed. Just as impressive is the $159 tag for each, a very nice price considering how close these stomps come to the real thing.

$159 street, marshall.com

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Wampler Cryptid

We’re always intrigued when a manufacturer releases a “fuzz for those that don’t like fuzz.” What could that possibly mean? In the case of the Cryptid, it definitely isn’t a fuzz that skimps on nastiness. While it doesn’t imitate any specific classic fuzz, it can erupt with explosive tone—and its bias control adds sputtery, delightfully deranged textures. Where it breaks from fuzz tradition is in its ability to deliver overdrive and bright, near-clean tones, creating a versatility that could make many pedals on your board feel obsolete.

$199 street, wamplerpedals.com

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Vox V863-CA Wah

Vox has always been fearless about messing around with familiar formulas. Sometimes their success in these endeavors is in the eye of the beholder, as any collector of mid- to late-1960s Vox oddities will tell you. But the V863-CA, which can switch from wah to envelope generator or envelope follower merely by lifting your foot from the treadle, fits seamlessly into Vox’s history as a design renegade—while remaining highly functional and musically intuitive.

$279 street, voxamps.com

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Boss RT-2 Rotary Ensemble

This simpler evolution of Boss’s discontinued RT-20 is definitely one of the better rotary speaker simulators you’ll find in a compact pedal. It’s rich and realistic, in no small part because its simple control layout still enables a user to shift emphasis between virtual treble and bass horns, add simulated tube amp drive, and switch between slow and fast ramp times. The resulting modulations are much less binary, more organic, and considerably more atmospheric than those from a simple vibrato pedal.

$239 street, boss.info

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Strymon EC-1

Typically, when a pedal maker tries to capture Echoplex tones, the solid-state EP-3 is the go-to reference. Strymon, however, took a different path: it based its design on the less common—and in some circles, more coveted—tube-driven EP-2, and used one modded by legendary amp technician Cesar Diaz. The result is an Echoplex simulation that feels both warmer and punchier than many others on the market, an appealing proposition in a crowded product segment.

$279 street, strymon.net

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NUX Queen of Tone

The name may suggest a note-for-note copy of Analog Man’s much-coveted King of Tone, which is a modified mashup of two Marshall BluesBreaker circuits. But NUX’s two-headed overdrive machine actually unites the company’s BluesBreaker-style Morning Star overdrive and their take on the Klon Centaur, the Horseman. You can, of course, switch the order of the effects, which can yield many interesting colors, but you can also opt for a raspier “silver” version of the Horseman or a FET circuit that will hammer the front end of an amp.

$149 street, nuxaudio.net

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Berzerker Aquanaut

The affordable, U.S.-built Aquanaut takes an interesting approach to achieving its pleasing and unmistakably analog-like tone color. For generating repeats, the unit employs the PT2399 digital chip—an inexpensive device once used in karaoke machines that delivers analog haziness. However, the Aquanaut also uses analog filtering at the input and output, which adds to an overall sense of bucket brigade toastiness without the clock noise.

$129 street, berserkerpedals.com

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PRS SE NF 53

At first glance, the single-cutaway might mislead a novice into thinking the SE NF 53 is just another T-style guitar—but that label hardly does justice to its distinctive qualities. The Narrowfield DD humbuckers, for instance, can deliver tones that are punchier, grittier, or smoother than a Telecaster’s, depending on how you set the guitar’s volume. Meanwhile, its streamlined design will feel familiar—and inviting—to anyone drawn to T-style guitars for their elegant simplicity.

$2,899 street, prsguitars.com

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It’s been some years now, but Reverb’s Blacked Out event is still going strong. Every year, the gear marketplace partners with a number of pedal makers to launch a limited-edition run of all-black stompboxes, and this year’s are especially tantalising…

The event started back in 2019, when 17 boutique builders offered super-limited Blacked Out versions of their pedals, including Old Blood Noise Endeavors and Adventure Audio. 2023 saw a gothed-up Line 6 DL4.

• READ MORE: Jason Isbell might have the strangest tip for breaking in an acoustic guitar we’ve ever heard

So what does 2025 have in store, you ask?

This year, Reverb has partnered with five pedal brands – Walrus Audio, EarthQuaker Devices, Way Huge, Daredevil and Death By Audio – for a run of gothic-esque stompboxes. They are (in order of the brands listed above): Qi Etherealizer, with original signed art by Yvette Young; Mini Black Eye; Deep State, signed by Joe Bonamassa; Chicago Rat and Infinity Verb.

As of the time of writing, the EarthQuaker Mini Black Eye is sold out, but the other four are still available.

“Blacked Out 2025 brings five exclusive, all-black effects from your favorite builders: Walrus Audio, EarthQuaker Devices, Death By Audio, Daredevil, and Way Huge. Each one redesigned, reimagined, and built for players who like their tone with a darker edge,” says Reverb.

Head to Reverb to find out more.

The post Reverb just launched limited-edition Blacked Out pedals with 5 top brands – and we want them all appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

At just 26, the guitar-playing phenom has already netted a Grammy, earned a signature Telecaster, started his own label, and we think this is just the beginning. John Bohlinger checks in with the lovable Mississippi kid who always has a guitar nearby and continues finding inspiration in his church roots and new gear.

Sponsored by StewMac: https://stewmac.sjv.io/APO2ED

Gene Simmons has walked fans through his passion for sober living, and his peculiar rockstar diet – including a lot of sweet treats.

The Kiss bassist has proudly never drank alcohol or used drugs, but does indulge in a lot of cake which he, apparently, also rubs all over himself after a good show. In a video titled Gym & Fridge for Men’s Health, Simmons says his diet is about “as much fun as I can have with my pants on”.

• READ MORE: Fan who paid $12k to be Gene Simmons’ roadie says it was “absolutely” worth it

“When in the middle of a tour, I’d eat cheesecake every day because I’m wearing 40 pounds of armour, seven-inch platform heels — each one of the dragon boots probably weighed, I don’t know, eight to 10 pounds, a leg, a foot. You don’t have to do anything. Within two hours, you will be exhausted,” he says [via Blabbermouth].

“The amount of calories burned on stage, it’s like a heavy workout. And so I could eat anything. Strangely, I wouldn’t be that hungry, after you exert that pressure, but I’d crave sweets. In the morning, big egg white, maybe a little steak, toast, coffee. And then nothing until about three, four o’clock in the afternoon — a little pasta for some carbs, and then hit the stage. Coming off the stage, cake. I wouldn’t even have to eat it, I’d just rub it all over myself.”

Of his sober lifestyle, he credits his mother for keeping him on the right path: “I don’t drink. I never have… The rock world is filled with losers, idiots. Actually, I think it goes back to my mother. She was a survivor of Nazi Germany’s concentration camps at 14 years of age, and I never wanted to break her heart. I’m her only child, so this idea that you could be a loser, not be able to earn a living, and destroy yourself… It’s crazy. No.”

Elsewhere in the video, Simmons says he’s never been “gung-ho about doctors”, but does proudly proclaim himself to be “the doctor of love”. A rather bold statement indeed, but nothing short of surprising from Simmons. In fact, back in 2023 he “confirmed” rumours that he’d slept with over 5,000 women.

Kiss played their final show in December 2023, and are due to return as live avatars only in the future.

The post “The rock world is filled with losers, idiots”: Gene Simmons explains why he doesn’t drink alcohol – and why sugary foods are “as much fun as I have with my pants on” appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

Like most of you, I would guess, I’ve never had the pleasure of playing a Dumble amp. I have a fair idea of what they are supposed to sound like thanks to Stevie Ray Vaughan and, presumably, David Lindley and Henry Kaiser (I’m never sure what amp I’m hearing on records from those two mad geniuses). But I definitely don’t know how a Dumble feels, or how it sounds up close in a room. So, I have to take NUX’s word for it that they deliver on the Steel Singer—an overdrive inspired by the Dumble Steel String Singer.

Fat and Snappy

While I can’t comment on the Steel Singer’s ability to perfectly ape a Dumble, there is a lot of reason to recommend the NUX Steel Singer as an overdrive. As a light drive or near-clean boost it can be a great thickening agent (at bassier filter settings), or a better-than-serviceable treble booster at toppier filter settings. At its trebliest extremes it can be a bit crispy, so you should take care. Additionally, the NUX tends to move beyond light drive pretty quickly—requiring only a slight bump in pedal to filthy up a Deluxe Reverb and Stratocaster.

To many ears, single coils and clean Fender-style amps might be the most natural and well-suited companions to the Steel Singer. In these setups, the pedal adds discernible edge in the midrange, while retaining the scooped essence of those formulas. Humbucker users can get in on the fun, too, and a PAF can coax many Plexi-like drive tones from a Deluxe Reverb. British-style amps, however, are less accommodating to the NUX’s charms. AC15-style and 18-watt Marshall-style settings on a Carr Bel-Ray, for instance, clashed with the NUX at times, a setup where klones and TRS-style pedals got along reasonably well.

The Verdict

To many ears, single coils and clean Fender-style amps might be the most natural and well-suited companions to the Steel Singer.

There are two keys to success using the NUX Steel Singer. One is to keep the gain and tone at relatively modest settings and out of the range where merely excited tones become fried. The second is to expect the best results with single coil pickups and clean Fender-style amps. This makes sense. Dumble’s Steel String Singer is, in many respects, an evolution of black-panel Fender designs. And if the goal is to create smooth overdrive and boost tones, a pedal that dovetails more precisely with that Fender-style profile is a smart move. That isn’t to say there aren’t joys to be found in a Steel Singer/humbucker combo, or even with an AC30. But such tones will be better suited for more adventurous players less aligned with classic amp-drive results.

According to Bruce Dickinson, the vibe at his Iron Maiden audition started out on quite a bum note.

Dickinson famously joined the band in 1981 after departing the band Samson, and elevated the English metallers to new heights after the dismissal of vocalist Paul Di’Anno. Featuring for the first time on the band’s third album, 1982’s The Number Of The Beast, Dickinson saw them achieve their first number one album in the UK.

• READ MORE: “I was in a dark place with Bruce leaving and me going through a divorce”: Steve Harris on why this underrated Iron Maiden album was so “powerful”

However, in an interview with Classic Rock, Dickinson recalls that spirits were feeling a little withered when he rocked up to his audition in Hackney, London. He tells the magazine: “It was weird… I turned up and Steve [Harris, founder and bassist] wasn’t there, he hadn’t arrived yet, but everybody else was. And I looked around and everybody was just… not happy.

“Everybody was just down. And I was thinking: ‘This is going to be rough.’ But we started bashing through some songs that we knew, and it turned out we all knew half of every fucking rock song on the planet,” he shares. “We had a go at a bit of AC/DC, a bit of Deep Purple – Woman From Tokyo then Black Night – and so on. And suddenly we were all smiling and having a laugh.”

After Harris arrived, the band got straight down to business, which was a breeze for Dickinson, having already mastered all of the Maiden songs thrown his way. On drums was another recent addition to Maiden, Clive Burr, who had also played in Samson.

“Steve turned up. We went: ‘Right, let’s have a bash at some Maiden songs.’ We did three or four Maiden songs, but I’d learned all of them. Clive had been Samson’s drummer, so it felt very natural. But then I had to wait two weeks so that they could deal with Paul after the last gigs in Scandinavia,” Dickinson remembers.

These days, Dickinson is pretty outspoken on one matter in particular: his expectations for the crowd at Maiden’s live shows, and their use of mobile phones. In a conversation with Appetite For Distortion, the vocalist said: “It’s like some terrible disease, that people feel the need to look at the world through this stupid little device. It’s like a failing of humanity,” he explained. “You’re surrendering your senses completely to this little fascist in your hand.”

Iron Maiden continue their Run For Your Lives world tour in 2026, with the first date kicking off on 23 May in Athens, Greece. Find out more or grab tickets via the official Iron Maiden website.

The post “Everybody was down, and then suddenly we were all smiling and having a laugh”: Bruce Dickinson recalls his eventful Iron Maiden audition appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

Wolfgang Van Halen is no stranger to the stage; he joined Van Halen alongside his father Eddie in 2006 at the ripe old age of just 15. But that’s not to say he doesn’t still experience nerves like the rest of us.

Wolfie has graced some of the world’s biggest stages; his band Mammoth routinely play arena shows, and he’s appeared at some real landmark events, including Foo Fighters’ Taylor Hawkins tribute shows in London and LA in 2022. He was also invited to appear at Black Sabbath’s monumental farewell show, but was unable to attend due to scheduling conflicts with his own band.

But this breadth of experience doesn’t make him immune to jitters, as he notes in a new interview with Classic Rock.

• READ MORE: “Not many people want to watch a band stand in front of their amp line”: Metallica guitar tech thinks ditching real amps helped the band improve spectacle of their live shows

As the story goes, Mammoth were invited to support metal titans Metallica on a string of 2023-2024 shows for their M72 World Tour. But while on the plane to Mexico for two shows in Mexico City in 2024, Wolfgang recalls suffering a panic attack.

“I’ve never in my life been freezing but completely drenched in sweat,” he remembers. “It fucked me up. It felt like it was forever, but it was probably about a 10-minute thing. In hindsight it’s hilarious, but during, very traumatic.”

He notes how he was able to take the negative experience and channel it into something positive, the writing for Mammoth’s newly released third album, The End. “I think that headspace – I’m already an anxious person – bled into the whole writing process,” he says.

As many who have suffered such panic attacks will note, the exact cause is often hard to pin down.

“When I get like that it doesn’t really matter,” Wolfgang notes. “At any time, I can just freak out because something’s gonna go wrong, or I’m gonna make an ass of myself, or I’m gonna ruin it, I’m gonna mess up, or, you know…”

He reflects that some of his anxiety may stem from a lifetime in the public eye as the son of Eddie Van Halen. 

“I guess I am my toughest critic,” he says. “And growing up in the scrutiny of the public eye, since I was 14, I think might have a lot to do with that; issues that I’ve got to work on. I’ve been to therapy a couple of times, I’m medicated, all of that. So it’s just a matter of working your way through it, being more comfortable in yourself, not needing that approval from others.”

We were lucky enough lately to catch up with Wolfgang Van Halen himself, where he told us about his five all-time favourite guitar players. You can read the full interview at Guitar.com.

The post “I’d never in my life been freezing but completely drenched in sweat”: Wolfgang Van Halen had a panic attack while en route to support Metallica appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

$2,899/£2,899, fender.com

If there’s anyone that can find a gap in an already comprehensively stocked catalogue, then it’s Fender. Back at the tail end of 2024, Fender updated their pro-focused American Ultra range with the release of the American Ultra II series. Guitars designed to cater to those modern players desirous of compound radii, Noiseless pickups, extra body contouring and the like.

• READ MORE: Fender Player II Modified Stratocaster review: “it gives Fender’s US instruments a run for their money”

The thing about those guitars, however, was that they tended to look as modern as they played – and not everyone wants that particular recipe. Enter then, the American Ultra Luxe Vintage series. This brand new tangent at the top of Fender’s USA production range aims to, “Fender’s contemporary innovations with their historic foundations to create a series of modern performance-focused instruments beautifully inspired by vintage tones and aesthetics.”

In short then, these electric guitars offer all the tweaks on the classic formula that the Ultra guitars have championed, but with more old-school sounds and visuals that mean you’d probably never know unless you played it yourself.

Guitars that combine vintage aesthetics and tones with more modern appointments are, of course, already very popular – many of the biggest names in the boutique guitar world made their names doing it. The biggest question is why it’s taken Fender so long to catch up.

Despite the company introducing a 22-fret neck all the way back in 1987, Fender guitars that blend vintage aesthetics with appointments favoured by more technically-minded modern players have been vanishingly rare in the intervening three decades.

Outside of Custom Shop instruments, it’s been pretty much unheard of. It was notable however that last year a British retailer spec’d a run of Custom Shop Strats with heavy relic finishes but with bridge humbuckers, sculpted heels and large frets – and despite the hefty price tag these guitars sold out almost instantly. You would imagine that this did not go unnoticed by Fender’s accounts department…

Fender American Ultra Luxe Vintage Stratocaster HSS – what is it?

So what does the snappily-named American Ultra Luxe Vintage Stratocaster HSS actually offer you? Well, for players such as myself, the best of both worlds.

Many of the specs of the Ultra II range are replicated here. That means you get a 22-fret compound radius neck complete with rolled edges and Luminlay side dots. You’ll also find a sculpted heel for upper-fret access, and further accommodation is offered for dusty end excursions courtesy of some extra contouring to the back (including on the lower horn).

Up top you’ll find Fender’s two-point Syncronized Tremolo with block saddles, a Tusq nut at the other end, and Fender’s own locking tuners. Under the hood you’ll also find Fender’s S-1 switching system adding some extra sonic options to the usual.

But the pickups themselves are where things start to deviate – rather than the Noiseless units found in the Ultra II, this HSS guitar pairs a duo of Pure Vintage ’61 single-coils (also found on the 1961 American Vintage II Stratocaster) in the neck and middle with a Haymaker humbucker in the bridge.

The most striking visual difference of course is the visual stuff. In this case you get a Heirloom-aged nitrocellulose lacquer finish, and a rosewood board instead of ebony – in this case it’s ol’ faithful Fiesta Red, and there’s also a rather lovely Surf Green option in this HSS configuration.

Fender American Ultra Luxe Vintage Stratocaster HSS – build quality and playability

As you’d expect from a guitar that occupies the space at the very top of Fender’s production output, the general impression upon pulling this guitar out of its brown vintage-style case (another departure from the Ultra II recipe) is very impressive.

The general fit and finish is exemplary throughout, but it’s worth spending a minute talking about the Heirloom finish Fender has introduced with these new models – as it’s not always totally apparent in photos. The first thing to be aware of is that this is not a pristine ‘just left the factory’ finish – there is artificial ageing going on here, though it is very subtle.

There’s no overtly artificial wear and tear, but the finish itself does have a very subtle (and pretty convincing) lacquer checking to the body and the neck – which has a satin lacquer treatment as opposed to the satin urethane job on the Ultra II. The finish too has a slightly dulled effect – it certainly doesn’t have the vibrant orange-tinted sheen of a classic Fiesta Red, but that’s all to its benefit, I think.

The plastics on the guitar have a slightly yellowed colour too, while the beautifully dark and inviting rosewood board is similarly given the more retro vibe courtesy of some yellowed clay dots – the contrast of which with the Luminlay side dots really does reflect the world-straddling nature of the whole guitar.

The neck shape itself is described by Fender as a shallow D, but with a slightly pronounced set of shoulders, it actually feels more ‘C’. The definition of a modern player’s neck seems to be a D shape, but the dimensions can prove to be a little too slim for some. The Vintage Ultra Luxe has a decent set of shoulders, which vintage enthusiasts may find a little slim, but as someone who has a strong preference for the fulsome Oval 60s C shape offered on a Custom Shop model, I can say that this is still comfortable in comparison.

The rolled fingerboard edges really lend a touch of finesse to the playing experience and further hints at a guitar that’s been well played-in. Combine that with the stainless-steel fretwork and compound radius, and it makes for a notably sleek Strat that will certainly appeal to more technical players.

Fender American Ultra Luxe Vintage Stratocaster HSS – build quality and playability

If I had my way, every Strat would have a humbucker in the bridge. I’ve never been a fan of the often bright, shrill, and scything tone produced by a single coil in this position but that is a disservice to all the incredible rock riffs by Messrs Blackmore and Gilmour (I guess that’s why they’re called the greats).

Through a Boogie Mark IV the Haymaker humbucker pays homage to another icon of yesteryear, Jeff Beck, as the tonal similarity with his namesake’s iconic pickup are remarkably similar. We get the trademark mid-range bump with a crisp – but not harsh – high end supported by a focused low end. The stainless-steel frets also add an additional presence to my ears and combined, make legato work smooth and seamless. There is also a wonderful balance across all six strings for chordal/rhythm work. This is everything a rock humbucker should be.

In the middle and neck position we have Fender’s Pure Vintage ’61 Single-Coils, so when switching over to the neck pickup I’m expecting a lower output vintage experience. Rather surprisingly – and pleasingly – there’s a plenty of snap and girth on tap, making for a well-rounded tone that is obviously vintage-inspired but with a slightly higher output (noticeable more on the thicker strings).

Through the Boogie, pentatonic-based rock riffs sound wonderfully percussive and full, while retaining some warmth traditionally expected from the neck position. In fact, they’re reminiscent of the Bare Knuckle ’63 Veneer Board’ pickups, which are based on the hotter coils from the ’63/64-era Strats – a set venerated for their wide frequency response and dynamics.

The only real disappointment here is the S-1 system, which continues the trend from the Ultra II of offering a significantly reduced palette of extra sounds than was previously available on the pre-Ultra Elite model Strats. Here it functions in just two positions: splitting the bridge humbucker. I would argue that a simple push-pull switch would do the job just as well.

The split coil is an acquired taste and certainly has its uses, but I found it to be a little on the thin side for my needs – your mileage may vary depending on how much you love the sound of a Strat bridge pickup, however!

Fender American Ultra Luxe Vintage Stratocaster HSS – should I buy one?

When you’re talking about a near-$3,000 instrument, the pricetag is always something that’s going to weigh heavily on any comparisons made. At this end of the market you’re putting yourself up against not only Fender’s own Custom Shop, but also some of the most storied names in the US boutique market who have been doing this sort of thing for a long time.

The Ultra Luxe Vintage more than stands up to these rivals, however. The attention to detail and general build is exemplary, while the playability is exactly what you’d expect from an instrument at the very highest echelons of production instruments.

It’s one of the most enjoyable and compelling Fender-made Strats I’ve played in a long time – the combination of vintage looks with all the modern conveniences that a technically elevated player could ask for makes for a serious forever guitar. In fact, it’s probably the best marriage of vintage and modern features out there.

Fender American Ultra Luxe Vintage Stratocaster HSS – alternatives

When you’re within touching distance of the $3k price point, you’re bringing in not just other big brands, but the meat of some of the bigger boutique guitar makers, too. The vintage/modern amalgamation is extremely well espoused by Suhr and its Classic S guitars ($3,525). It’s not cheap, but is designed to capture the essence of vintage guitars whilst simultaneously offering modern precision and comfort. Tom Anderson is another big name in this world, and the Classic ($4,134) offers a unique blend of classic styling and modern playability. A relic’d Tom Anderson is an unusual sight, but their “Level 1” distressing is subtle yet authentic. And of course, the playability and craftmanship are second to none. The elephant in the room is probably the PRS Silver Sky ($2,339) – if you can live without a bridge humbucker, it does a fine job of blending the vintage and modern in a very stylish package.

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