Music is the universal language
“Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.” - Luke 2:14
Premier Guitar
Synergy Unveils Machine-Learning Power Amp Technology
At the 2026 NAMM Show in Anaheim, Synergy will debut a patent-protected Machine-Learning power amp technology that combines the convenience, light weight, and power of class D, with the tone and feel of tubes, for a no compromise amplification solution. This revolutionary design is different than anything currently in the market!
Background - For decades, traditional tube amplifiers have remained the gold standard for guitarists seeking expressive feel, touch sensitivity and harmonic complexity. These qualities come from two critical factors: the inherent nonlinear behavior of the vacuum tubes and the complex real-time interaction between the amp and its speaker cabinet.
While Class D designs have improved in efficiency and portability, their inherent low-impedance output stage makes them an obstacle to recreating true tube amp tone.
Attempts to remedy this have consistently fallen short - often relying on static models and fixed impedance assumptions, resulting in a stiff and sterile tone and a
disconnect from the guitar player. Increasing the impedance outage stage has also failed, as doing so makes the amplifier inefficient or extremely unstable.
Until now!
Synergy’s invention takes a fundamentally different approach, combining high-efficiency, low-impedance Class D output stages, advanced digital signal processing and a proprietary, patent-protected Machine-Learning system that continuously measures voltage and current in real-time at the speaker output.
During initial operation, the amplifier learns your cabinet's impedance through controlled sweeps, then continues to monitor it in real-time. The Machine-Learning power amplifier dynamically adapts to recreate true tube amp voltage-current behavior, including sag, compression, frequency-dependent damping and harmonic richness.
The result is authentic tube amp feel and tone that translates naturally across different cabinets and playing situations, while retaining the efficiency, stability, portability and updatability of modern amplifier designs.
Synergy’s Machine-Learning power amp was designed from the ground up by guitar players, for guitar players, including modern features guitarists demand and consistent, stable and robust power across all speaker cabinet impedances!
To bring this revolutionary technology to life STMicroelectronics enabled SYNERGY as an alpha customer on their new advanced STM32V8 mcu series, which combines advanced 18 nm FD-SOI and ST’s phase-change memory (PCM) technology with a powerful 800 MHz Arm Cortex®-M85 core, delivering up to 6x faster Machine-Learning and DSP processing than previous product generations.
Legends Unite
Synergy has partnered with industry giants Brian Wampler and Dave Friedman in collaboration with Pete Thorn to bring this technology to life with the following products that will debut at NAMM:
Brian Wampler’s PEDALHEAD - a super-compact pedalboard friendly 240W (60 tube watt equivalent), stereo power amp with IR loader, MIDI and 6 power amp models.
Dave Friedman IR-LOAD, a collaboration with Pete Thorn, that is an all-in-one 360W (90 tube watt equivalent), stereo power amp/load box/attenuator/IR loader/MIDI.
These exciting new products will be demonstrated live at the 2026 NAMM Show at the Boutique Amps Distribution booth (#4626). Dave Friedman and Brian Wampler will be on hand for demonstrations, discussions, and media interviews throughout the show.
Rig Rundown: Gwar
The grossest of ’em all rolls through Nashville.
When GWAR stomped through Nashville with the goriest gear of all, we had to take a look. PG’s Chris Kies caught up with the band at Marathon Music Works to hang with Grodius Maximus, Bälsäc the Jaws ’O Death, and Casey Orr (aka Beefcake the Mighty). The band rolls cab-free, armed with a stack of dangerously signature gear.
Sponsored by D’Addario
Totally Radical
Grodius Maximus’ rig is all about spectacle, aggression, and controlled chaos—designed to sound less like a guitar and more like a “big crazy animal.” His primary instruments come from Radical Instrument Products in Salt Lake City. His go-to is pointy, pink, and equipped with a locking tremolo and a single humbucker. He also carries a gold neck-through model loaded with a pair of humbuckers and a coil tap.
Inspired by Buzz
Rounding out the guitar lineup is an Electrical Guitar Company instrument—something Grodius was turned onto by Buzz Osborne of the Melvins. That guitar features dual humbuckers and a Mastery bridge, adding a slightly more refined edge to an otherwise savage setup.
Dark Favorite
Grodius calls the Orange Dual Dark 100 his favorite amp of all time. While it’s not being used onstage for this show, its DNA is still present via a Kemper, which houses a model of the Dual Dark that anchors his core tone.
All Sorts of Nasty
Effects are where things get truly unhinged. On his rack, a Line 6 Filter Pro handles “all sorts of nasty tones,” while a lineup of Bananana Effects pedals sit in reserve, ready to be unleashed when needed. Switching duties are handled by a Voodoo Lab Guitar Audio switcher, and he also shows off a Death By Audio prototype, alongside trusted staples like the DBA Echo Dream 2 and DBA Robot.
His actual pedalboard is deceptively compact but vicious: a Boss Chromatic Tuner, a Line 6 FM4 pedal, a Hotone expression pedal, DOD Gonkulator, Bananana Mandala, and an MXR Carbon Copy Bright, all powered by a Voodoo Lab supply.
Bälsäc the Jaws ’O Death - Blue Beast
Bälsäc’s rig blends modern metal precision with an openness to conventional and unconventional tools. His signature Schecter Bälsäc Blue Jaw model—soon to be released at what he jokingly calls “an exorbitant price”—is constructed using material from his actual costume. Finished in Antarctic crackle, it’s loaded with a pair of blue Fishman Fluence pickups, delivering clarity and aggression in equal measure.
Non-Metal Vibes
He also relies heavily on a Schecter PT Custom with a purple finish—a T-style guitar that initially raised eyebrows. “It’s surprising how much I love the PTs,” he admits. “It’s such a non-metal shape.” The guitar is outfitted with Fishman Fluence pickups and an Amptone XY MIDIpad, which wirelessly controls his Fractal Axe-Fx III.
Modeling Rig
The Axe-Fx handles amp modeling duties, often dialed in to a Mesa/Boogie-style sound. He also rocks the familiar purple Line 6 Filter Pro. Because Gwar performs to click tracks, all patch and effect changes are automated through Ableton, keeping everything locked tight.
Chaos via Kaoss
Bälsäc’s pedalboard is deep and experimental: a Chase Bliss Onward, Death by Audio Robot and Disemboweller, and a Meris Ottobit and Hedra. In the rack, he keeps a Korg Kaoss Pad, EarthQuaker Devices Data Corrupter, and an EHX C9 organ emulator, allowing him to blur the line between guitar, synth, and noise weapon. He even uses a Moog Theremini as an expression controller, further expanding his sonic vocabulary.
Casey Orr/Beefcake the Mighty - Slim Nikki
Handling low-end duties behind the scenes is Casey Orr, who you might better as Beefcake the Mighty. His primary instrument is the Schecter Casey Orr Beefcake Bass, which shares its electronics with the Riot 4, but features a Nikki Sixx–style body, slimmed down for comfort. The bass also sports a thinner neck, along with 24 frets, a kill switch, and a pair of EMG pickups—a combination Orr describes simply as “super comfortable.”
Backpack Rig
On the amplification side, the cornerstone of Orr’s sound is the Darkglass Alpha·Omega Ultra, which he calls the “missing link” in achieving the bass tone he’d previously been chasing—aggressive, articulate, and perfectly suited to Gwar’s controlled mayhem.
Bälsäc the Jaws ’O Death
Boss Chromatic Tuner
Darkglass Alpha Omega Ultra
DOD Gonkulator
Electro-Harmonix C9
EarthQuaker Devices Data Corrupter
Hotone Expression Pedal
Meris Hedra
Meris Ottobit
Moog Theremini
Schechter Purple PT Custom
Voodoo Lab Guitar Audio Switcher
Voodoo Lab Power
Shure Unveils KSM Studio Microphones
The new line of condenser microphones delivers premium, true-to-life audio capture with ultra-low self-noise in a sleek, modern design.
Shure, a leading manufacturer of audio solutions known for quality, performance, and durability, unveiled its new KSM condenser microphone line today—the KSM32C, KSM40C, and KSM44MP—at NAMM 2026. The new KSM series delivers lifelike fidelity and a thoughtfully engineered design, crafted for musicians and studio professionals.
Shure KSM microphones have delivered exceptional audio quality for decades. With the launch of new models, the KSM line once again sets the benchmark for professional recording by providing premium, true-to-life audio capture and ultra-low self-noise, all within a sleek, modern design.
The KSM line captures every nuance, from the warmth of vocals to the dynamic energy of instruments, with stunning realism. Each model features precision-engineered capsules for maximum control and accuracy, ensuring the source sounds exactly as intended. Whether you're a musician or engineer needing transparent voicing for natural reproduction, rich low-end presence, or multi-pattern flexibility, there’s a KSM microphone ready to elevate any session.
“At Shure, our mission has always been to empower audio professionals and artists with quality tools that deliver uncompromising sound,” said Eduardo Valdes, Associate Vice President of Global Marketing and Product Management, at Shure. “The new KSM microphone line reflects this commitment by offering upgrades to both design and engineering, meeting the evolving needs of recording studios. Featuring circuitry upgrades from previous models, varied capsule options, and premium accessories, we designed every detail to help professionals capture precisely what they want. By making boutique-level quality attainable for both home and professional studios, we’re ensuring exceptional performance is within reach for all professionals."
The KSM Studio Lineup
Built for precision and performance, the new line includes a range of expertly engineered and hand-crafted capsules, from compact ¾" to robust 1" designs, offering exceptional off-axis rejection, clarity, and creative flexibility for vocals, instruments, ensembles, and beyond. Thoughtful details like lightweight, all-metal construction, advanced shock mounts, and curved magnetic pop filters ensure durability and ease of use, while premium accessory options complete the professional package.
- KSM32C—SMALL CAPSULE. BIG SOUND.
The KSM32C is a large diaphragm condenser microphone that delivers a smooth, balanced response and exceptional low-frequency performance. This microphone is ideal for vocals, instruments, drum overheads, and ensemble work, and is available in a stage and studio bundle.
- Precision engineered ¾" capsule
- Exceptional off-axis rejection
- Flattest voicing in the KSM line
- Exceptional flexibility for vocal and instrument recording
- Premium materials and compact design
- KSM40C—WARMTH YOU CAN FEEL. DETAIL YOU CAN HEAR.
The KSM40C is a versatile, large diaphragm condenser microphone that delivers natural, detailed audio with enhanced proximity effect and natural high-frequency boost. An ideal microphone for capturing rich nuances in vocals and instruments, including upright bass, guitar amps and kick drum.
- 1” capsule delivers natural, detailed audio with rich low-end
- Uniform cardioid polar pattern for predictable placement
- Extremely low self-noise
- Sleek, modern design with premium materials
- KSM44MP—STUNNING REALISM. EXCEPTIONAL VERSATILITY.
The KSM44MP offers unparalleled versatility in a sleek, dual-diaphragm design that maximizes sensitivity and stabilizes pattern consistency, improving off-axis control at low frequencies. A multi-pattern microphone with natural clarity and smooth, airy detail, this mic is ideal for vocals, pianos, stereo techniques, distant miking, and ensembles.
- Selectable polar patterns: Cardioid, Omnidirectional, and Bidirectional
- Flat response with subtle high-frequency emphasis
- Optimized polar consistency and low-frequency rejection
- Ultra-low self noise
- Sleek, modern design
“The new KSM microphones look elegant, and have great, low-profile appearance, which is always a nice aesthetic in the studio (and live) environment,” said Greg Norman, Engineer, Electrical Audio. “One of the most immediately striking features is their impossibly low self-noise, so low, in fact, that while tracking a very quiet vocal, I found myself double-checking to confirm the mic was even active. This level of noise performance is seriously impressive.”
What’s Included
- KSM32C/HM—Cardioid Condenser Microphone (Stage Kit) ($659): Includes a KSM32C Cardioid Condenser Microphone, Premium Flocked Foam Windscreen, Premium Zippered Carrying Case, Swivel-Mount Mic Clamp (Hard Mount), Threaded Adapter
- KSM32C/SM—Cardioid Condenser Microphone (Studio Kit) ($729): Includes a KSM32C Cardioid Condenser Microphone, Shock Mount, Magnetic Pop Filter, Premium Zippered Carrying Case, Set Replacement Shock Mount Bands (8), Threaded Adapter
- KSM40C Large Diaphragm Cardioid Condenser Microphone ($879): Includes a KSM40C Large Diaphragm Condenser Microphone, Shock Mount, Magnetic Pop Filter, Premium Zippered Carrying Case, Set Replacement Shock Mount Bands (8), Threaded Adapter
- KSM44MP Large Diaphragm Multi-Pattern Condenser Microphone ($1,099): Includes a KSM44MP Dual Diaphragm Multi-Pattern Condenser Microphone, Shock Mount, Magnetic Pop Filter, Premium Zippered Carrying Case, Swivel-Mount Mic Clamp (Hard Mount), Set Replacement Shock Mount Bands (8), Threaded Adapter
Availability
The KSM line will be available this spring and is on display at the Shure Booth (#15608) at NAMM 2026 in Anaheim (January 22- January 24).
For more information about the KSM microphones, visit these web pages:
Genzler Amplification Announces the New MAGELLAN ULV series
Genzler® Amplification is proud to announce the new MAGELLAN®ULV series of ULTRA * LIGHT * VERTICAL bass cabinet designs. With decades of cabinet design and build expertise, these new models are by far the lightest, most compact bass cabinets Jeff Genzler has ever offered.
These great sounding cabinets are tuned and ported to reproduce the depth and clarity of any bass instrument, with tight low-end support, vocal, mid-range definition, and available top-end shimmer.
The MG-ULV cabs are all vertical designs, with a minimal stage footprint, and are constructed from a new ultra-light, multi-layer, poplar plywood, for its warmth, density and strength, and all cabinets feature full internal acoustic dampening.
The MG-ULV series features:
- **All vertical cabinet designs, front ported for better projection and depth
- **High-powered Neodymium speakers and tweeters
- **Ultra-light, multi-layer, poplar plywood construction
- **Small, compact stage footprints
- **Full, internal acoustic dampening
- **12dB/octave crossover with Tweeter Level control
The series consists of 3 models with exceptional
weight to performance ratios.
MG-ULV-112T
- NEO—1X12” w/Tweeter, 350W, 8 ohm
- WT: 19.5 LBS
- DIMENSIONS: 18 1/8”H x 14 ¼”W x 14”D
- USA MAP: $1,099.99
MG-ULV-210T
- NEO-2X10” w/Tweeter, 600W, 8 ohm
- WT: 25 LBS
- DIMENSIONS: 26 1/8”H x 14 ¼”W x 14”D
- USA MAP: $1,359.99
MG-ULV-212T
- NEO-2X12” w/Tweeter, 700W, 4 ohm
- WT: 35.5 LBS
- DIMENSIONS: 29 ¾”H x 14 ¼”W x 14”D
- USA MAP: $1,599.99
GENZLER AMPLIFICATION staying in tune with the player community has responded with the new MAGELLAN® ULV series; addressing player’s needs for the lightest weight, most compact bass cabinets possible, without sacrifice in tone, power, warmth, and durability.
PRODUCTION SHIPPING---EARLY FEBRUARY 2026.
EBS Introduces CurlySquare and Regular Square Bass Cables
EBS has introduced two new lines of high-performance cables: the CurlySquare and Regular Square instrument cable.
The EBS CurlySquare coiled instrument cable features a bold design with jumbo-sized curls and square-shaped cable. The innovative shape performs an important function: its square shape prevents the cable from turning into a mess due to cable memory, and the heavy-duty insulation makes it extra durable and protected.
These cables feature a unique design by EBS called WaveGrip, which means the 1/4” contacts have annular grooves spaced along the shaft that lock the contact in the jack. That means the risk of stepping on the cable and losing signal because it pulls the plug out of the jack is eliminated.
The CurlySquare cables are available in two lengths: 4.6 m (15 ft) and 7.6 m (25 ft), and configurations with straight/straight or straight/angled contacts.
If you prefer a more discreet design but still want the heavy-duty insulation and square-shaped cable, pick the EBS Regular Square edition, a straight instrument cable version available in 3.8 m (12.5 ft) and 6.8 m (22 ft) lengths, with the same contact configurations as the CurlySquare cables.
The CurlySquare name and WaveGrip design both have pending patent applications in Europe and the USA.
For more information visit www.ebssweden.com.
Shure Introduces Slx-D+ Wireless Microphone System
Today at NAMM 2026, Shure introduced the SLX-D+ Wireless Microphone System, the next evolution in its renowned wireless portfolio. Building on SLX-D’s proven success, SLX-D+ delivers a powerful combination of advanced features and ease-of-use, now accessible to audio professionals and experienced volunteers in live performance, houses of worship, education, content creation, electronic newsgathering (ENG), broadcast, and video industries.
SLX-D+ empowers users with greater flexibility, reliability, and control, making wireless audio management easier than ever. With wide tuning across all components, users benefit from simplified setup, seamless deployment in any environment, and reduced inventory complexity. Remote system management, AES-256 encryption and automatic feedback suppression further streamline operation, ensuring clear, secure, and uninterrupted performance.
“As we introduce SLX-D+, we’re not just raising the bar for wireless technology; we’re empowering our customers to push creative boundaries by removing complexity from their workflows,” said Nick Wood, Associate VP, Marketing and Product Management. “By making advanced features like wide tuning and remote management accessible to a broader audience, we’re making wireless more resilient to the most common challenges, streamlining the path to great audio, and shaping a future where audio professionals and volunteers alike can innovate with confidence.”
Wide Tuning: Simplified Deployment and Inventory
SLX-D+ features wide tuning across all components up to 138 MHz*, enabling seamless countrywide deployment and minimizing inventory complexity. Systems can operate across multiple frequency bands, reducing the need to own several product variants.
ShowLink® Ease: Effortless Remote Control
The new ShowLink Ease technology, inspired by ShowLink® on Shure’s premier Axient Digital wireless system, provides real-time, two-way communication between receiver and transmitter. Once synced, the transmitter remains paired to the receiver every time it is powered on. This allows for automated radio frequency (RF) set up, and remote parameter adjustments, eliminating the need for physical proximity and streamlining live management from performance to performance.
Interference Management: Enhanced Operation with Continuous Connectivity
Should interference occur, the SLX-D+ system can automatically scan for a new, clean frequency and deploy it to both the receiver and transmitter without requiring user interaction, ensuring enhanced operation and continuous connectivity.
Digital Feedback Reduction: Reliable and Clear Sound
SLX-D+ integrates advanced digital feedback reduction (DFR) algorithms to automatically detect and suppress audio feedback, delivering clarity and confidence in any environment.
Mobile Management with Wireless Workbench Applications: Flexible, On-the-Go Control
With robust mobile management via the Wireless Workbench (WWB) Mobile app, users can monitor and adjust their systems remotely using Wi-Fi or Bluetooth, which is available for the first time in SLX-D+ systems to improve workflow efficiency. Gain visibility and control over system gain, transmitter locking and unlocking, battery status, frequency scans and changes, and audio metering.
Backward Compatibility, Streamlined Design
SLX-D+ maintains compatibility with existing SLX-D systems and introduces a new half-rack dual receiver, supporting straightforward upgrades and flexible configurations.
RF Cascade and Audio Summing for Added Flexibility
RF cascading makes it possible for three SLX-D+ Quad Receivers to be linked together to create a twelve-channel SLX-D+ receiver system. This facilitates the ability to quickly scale up and condense the footprint of multi-channel wireless systems without requiring additional accessories.
SLX-D+’s audio summing feature on dual and quad receivers enables users to set and combine audio levels, then mix them down between one and two outputs, simplifying the process of managing wireless output levels and managing receiver outputs to best match open mixer channels.
Availability
Shure is showcasing the SLX-D+ Wireless System for the first time at NAMM 2026 in Anaheim, California at booth 15608. SLX-D+ components will be available in February 2026, with the option to select key wireless configurations for a variety of applications, including handheld bodypack systems and a portable system option. Rechargeable batteries and charging accessories are available separately.
*region dependent
Julian Lage: The Art of Limitations
It all started with a self-imposed time limit. Julian Lage, who at the relatively young age of 38 already stands near the pinnacle of artistry in jazz guitar, was preparing to enter the recording studio with producer Joe Henry and a formidable quartet of musicians: acoustic bassist Jorge Roeder, drummer Kenny Wollesen, and keyboardists John Medeski and Patrick Warren. He needed new original material for their two-day springtime session at Sear Sound in New York City, so he set a timer for 20 minutes and let his fingers do the fretboard walking, in concert with prompts from his personal spontaneous creative muse. When the timer beeped, the composition was done, for better or worse. Lage recorded a quick demo of what he came up with over the past third of an hour. Then he reset the timer and repeated the process again.
And again.
And again.
More than a hundred times.
At this point, Lage needs to clarify something. “It wasn’t always 20 minutes,” the soft-spoken guitarist explains via Zoom from his California home. “Sometimes it was 10. I guess it’s a way to have some parameter that’s different than, ‘Is it good?’ or ‘Is it bad?’ It’s more like, what can you do with this limitation? I’ve known many composers who do something similar, and typically it helps prevent you from dwelling on any one facet of the music, which I would say is beneficial if you’re trying to make a larger body of songs to pick from.”
Julian Lage's Gear
Guitars
- 1955 goldtop Gibson Les Paul
- Nacho/Gibson ’50s Les Paul reissue with Ellisonic pickups
- 1956 Gibson ES-225
- Nacho 1657 Tele-style with Ellisonic (neck) and Fatpups Blackguard (bridge) pickups
- Collings Julian Lage 470 JL
- 1932 Gibson L-00 acoustic (borrowed from wife Margaret Glaspy)
- Collings Julian Lage OM1A JL acoustic
- 1939 Martin 000-18 acoustic
Amps
- Austen Hooks Filmosound 385
- Standel 25L15
- Magic Amps Vibro Deluxe
- 1959 and 1960 Fender tweed Champs
Effects
- Strymon Flint tremolo and reverb
- Shin-ei B1G 1 preamp gain boost
- Sonic Research ST-300 Turbo Tuner Mini
Strings & Picks
- D’Addario Flatwounds (.011–.049) for electrics
- D’Addario Nickel Bronze (.012–.053) for acoustics
- Dunlop Tortex .88 mm picks
That was exactly what Lage was after. Over a period of several months, from 100 or so quickly assembled fragments of melody, harmony, and rhythm, emerged the nine evocative tunes that make up Scenes from Above. Of course, the guitarist himself would be the first to acknowledge that these nine tracks aren’t entirely his work. From the start, he was writing with particular musicians in mind—one of whom, Medeski (best known as a cofounder of Medeski Martin & Wood and a longtime collaborator with John Scofield, among many others), he’d never recorded with before, although they’ve known each other for years. In a manner similar to one of his heroes, Duke Ellington, Lage was intentionally underwriting, trusting his colleagues to flesh out the music as only they could.
“Individuality and freedom of expression are really paramount to the whole experience,” he explains. “It’s not so much, ‘Well, I wrote it, so you’ve gotta play it.’ I don’t feel that kind of attachment to this music, and I think that was reflected in how it went down. There were songs where I thought pretty quickly, ‘Yes, you could justify doing this if we had the time to rehearse and workshop it, but we don’t, so we’re gonna go for the ones that are clear from the start.’ And that’s a nice place to be, going into a recording date.”
“Individuality and freedom of expression are really paramount to the whole experience.”
As intended, that clarity is greatly enhanced by the contributions of the other musicians. This is apparent from the opening track, “Opal,” in which Medeski shades Lage’s wistful, unpretentious melody with ghostly layers of Hammond B-3 organ and piano, while Roeder and Wollesen establish a bottom so spacious that you feel it more than you hear it. The sense of effortlessness that runs through the piece becomes more remarkable once you learn what a struggle it was getting Scenes from Above made to Lage’s satisfaction.
“I had so many guitars at that session, man,” he recalls with a shake of the head, “and none of them worked. We were in midtown Manhattan, right near the Empire State Building, and for whatever reason it was just, like, hum central. I was planning to use my ’55 Les Paul goldtop with P-90s”—a guitar given to Lage by its previous owner, comedy legend and Spinal Tap co-creator Christopher Guest, emblazoned with Les Paul’s own signature— “but with the whole electricity situation in the studio, I just couldn’t use anything with single-coil pickups. And even amongst multiple humbucking guitars, the only one that was usable was a Nacho Les Paul”—a Gibson ’50s reissue brought up to period-correct specs by Spanish luthier/wizard Nacho Baños—“with Ron Ellis pickups. There was a lot of work done later to make that sound more single-coil, because it wouldn’t be what I’d naturally gravitate towards.” That later work largely involved re-amping Lage’s performances: taking the tracks he’d already recorded and running them through different amplifiers to capture new tones.
“We tracked everything with a black-panel [Fender] Deluxe Reverb,” Lage continues. “When we re-amped, we went through two amps. One was a Benson … and not a new Benson. [20th-century session guitarist extraordinaire] Howard Roberts had this guy [Ron Benson] years ago in L.A. who made him a few amps. There’s really not many of them, but a friend of mine has one, and I think it might be the one that Howard Roberts used on a bunch of film scores. Kind of like a Magnatone style, shallow body, 12" speaker, beautiful built-in tremolo, not loud, but we used it in combination with a 100-watt [Fender] Bandmaster head that [Two-Rock Amplifiers founder] Bill Krinard had done something on years ago through a Marshall half-stack. And that’s the sound, with those two amps running simultaneously, not in series. The clarity and the life force comes from the [Fender/Marshall combo], and the unusualness comes from the Benson.”
“People I studied with said, ‘Hey, have you really considered what it takes to play a note on the guitar, or are you just squeezing it for dear life?’”
From what’s in the grooves, however, you’d never suspect how much post-production tweaking went on. And even when Lage’s melodies are at their most circuitous, the music always feels direct. The album’s peak comes five tracks in, on “Night Shade,” a rootsy, soulful, slow-building ballad that’s highly reminiscent of the Band. Its focal point is a simple series of hammer-ons and pull-offs on the Les Paul’s high-E string, over G and C major chords. The first couple of times through, Lage alternates between a melodious seventh-fret B and an open E; the third time around, the B becomes a B-flat, creating a nasty tritone interval with the E that he emphasizes repeatedly, with obvious glee.
“That’s an older song,” Lage notes. “I think I wrote it for [2016’s] Arclight, and I used to play it in the trio with Kenny Wollesen and [bassist] Scott Colley as an encore. But I remember thinking, well, it’s kind of slow and we need more ‘up’ tunes. So that was always just sitting in the background. That feature of it, the pull-off/hammer-on business, I didn’t anticipate that it would have the impact it had. But in this group, I quickly realized that it’s a nice and super-guitaristic way to interrupt this steady groove. The quartet orchestration reveals that this feature is, in fact, a feature.”
A similar harmonic surprise lurks within the chord structure of “Solid Air,” titled in tribute to British folk great John Martyn’s 1973 song and album of the same name, but dissimilar to them in all other ways. Lage’s “Solid Air” is in the key of E major, and for most of its duration employs chords firmly rooted in that scale. Then, at the end of the head arrangement, with little warning, the music descends chromatically from E flat to A before rising back up to D—the flat seven of E major—and resettling on the tonic. This strange but gratifying move is the indirect result of some deep historical listening.
“When I think of someone like Willard Robison, who wrote ‘Old Folks’ and some other really cool songs,” Lage says, “or pre-1930s writers before the Great American Songbook era of Broadway musicals, or I listen to Nick Lucas’ ‘Picking the Guitar,’ or ‘April Kisses’ by Eddie Lang, they’re these pieces that have unexpected shifts to different keys. They happen all the time, and they’re not terribly subtle, you know? Now we’re here, now I moved up a half step, and now I’m back down a half step. Do I feel like going up a minor third? Okay, I’ll go up a minor third. There’s nothing clever about it. If anything, it’s rather inelegant—which can be really what the doctor ordered. Aesthetically, I’m drawn to that. The impact of it excites me.”
“It’s all a miracle. It doesn't feel like it when you can’t play like you used to. But it really is miraculous, what’s going on.”
Lage’s battle with the sinister forces of hum during the Scenes from Above sessions was certainly not the first time he’s faced major challenges with his chosen instrument. A little more than a decade ago, he basically had to relearn how to play the guitar. In 2013, after experiencing a scary succession of left hand and arm spasms, he was diagnosed with focal hand dystonia, a neurological disorder brought on, or at least worsened by, years of incessant practice from an early age (a child prodigy, Lage began playing when he was five). In sum, the connection between his brain and left hand had been overused to the point of burnout, and needed to be repaired.
“There’s so much sense of identity that’s wrapped into playing,” Lage acknowledges. “And if something interrupts that, there can be a tremendous amount of embarrassment or shame, or a feeling of, like, ‘I thought I was doing well, why is this happening now?’ It was the first time I had to consider that the techniques I’d been employing since I was a little boy weren’t appropriate for an adult-statured human. They could have been perfect for 20 years, but now you’re not that height, you’re not that weight. There’s a reckoning to be done, and a reconfiguration. When I started talking about it to people, I quickly became aware that I’m not alone, that a lot of people struggle with similar stuff. It could be focal dystonia, it could be tendinitis, it could be anything, but the point is there’s something going on with the material form that is trying to get our attention.”
Working with fellow guitarists like Jerald Harscher and Juanito Pascual and studying the Alexander Technique, a therapy developed to help treat stress-related chronic conditions, Lage gradually rewired his reflexes to be kinder. “People I studied with said, ‘Hey, have you really considered what it takes to play a note on the guitar, or are you just squeezing it for dear life?’ Entering into a dialogue about that was healing. I mean, how do you even talk about tension without just pointing to it and saying it hurts? Well, there are these mechanisms. The head/neck relationship dictates a lot of your reflexes. Are your knees locked? Are your hips locked? Are your ankles locked? Are you breathing? What’s your vision like? There’s a pretty holistic approach to how you can unpack an injury. So I just jumped in. There was no other choice, right?”
Looking back on this fraught time from 10 years onward, fully recovered and getting ready to hit the road with Medeski, Roeder, and Wollesen in support of Scenes from Above, Lage marvels at what it all took, and takes. “There’s this great quote by an Alexander teacher, Patrick Macdonald. He said that people often think their bodies are disobedient, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. Typically, we’re not aware of what we’re asking our system. I was asking a lot of my system, practicing guitar endlessly, and my body was doing the best it could until it just couldn’t anymore. … I guess I’m saying it’s all a miracle. It doesn’t feel like it when you can’t play like you used to. But it really is miraculous, what’s going on.”
Alessandro The Dane Review
The tweed Deluxe circuit sets the gold standard in tone for many of us. And for good reason. It’s simple and responsive, with a warm, compressed, midrange-forward voice that’s perfect for jazz and country lines at low to moderate volumes—and a distinctive, saturated gnarliness in the upper reaches of its output that’s hard to beat for rock. If that’s the sound you hear in your head, many would say a vintage model is still the one to have.
If anyone could top that with a true “tweed killer,” I’d put my money on George Alessandro. That’s not just because his clientele reads like a Mount Rushmore of guitar tone—David Gilmour, Derek Trucks, and Warren Haynes are just a few who’ve cited Alessandro in current gear lists in PG. It’s the combination of his deep firsthand knowledge of the history of guitar amp circuits and his tireless quest to source the finest components that not only land him those rock-star devotees, but easily place his name among mythical amp wizards like Alexander Dumble and Ken Fisher, and make him the guy for the job.
I’ve had the good fortune to play one of Alessandro’s 5E3 copies, and it was so familiar, it felt like what I imagine one of those amps must have sounded like fresh out of the factory in the late ’50s. With his new combo, The Dane, he’s used that circuit as a jumping off point—with a nod toward Dumble as well—and optimized it for a modern pedal-using player. Not only does the 14-watt The Dane deliver the same sonic hallmarks as the 5E3, it offers more headroom and an even wider range of touch-sensitive response.
Do the Evolution
Despite all the tweed Deluxe talk, the Dane is no clone. Instead, it’s inspired by the 5E3 circuit and a Dumble Tweedle Dee—that legendary amp builder’s own tweed Deluxe mod—that landed on Alessandro’s bench for service. From there, Alessandro evolved the design, creating a unique preamp circuit, which uses a pair of ECC83MG/12AX7s. On the user end, the most recognizable change might be the inclusion of a 3-band EQ. Alessandro paired his preamp with a ’50s-style output section that employs a pair of 6V6s. Together, and in conjunction with Alessandro’s signature Eminence GA-SC59, they evoke a vintage vibe, achieving the tube compression and harmonic complexity tweed Deluxe players know well, but with more clean volume.
As a tweed Deluxe player who also loves pedals, I’ve often found myself a little bit conflicted. There’s a weird imaginary line I feel like I cross every time I plug a fuzz—or even worse, a digital pedal—into my 1949 5A3. But if I want to use my prized amp on as many gigs as I do, it’s a necessity. With The Dane, not only is there no conflict, it actually feels more welcoming to pedals. That’s not just about headroom, though that certainly helps—the 3-band EQ really goes the distance when it comes to shaping your sound.
Much like the dynamic interplay between the tone and volume controls on a vintage Deluxe, each of The Dane’s EQ controls seems to shape the whole of the sound. I found this to be especially helpful with dialing in dirt tones. Over the course of a few sessions with The Dane, I plugged in a wide range of gritty pedals, including a Klon KTR, Analog Man King of Tone, EHX Ripped Speaker (there’s some comedy here in using a fuzz that’s supposed to sound a little broken), and an Analog Man Sun Fuzz. In each, I found that I was able to shape their tones with the EQ more than I would ever expect from other amps. And that goes for using those to push The Dane into overdrive as well, which, as ruthlessly delightful as it is to do on a tweed Deluxe, is not especially sculpt-able. With the KTR adding some gain and heading into cranked volume territory, the mid control alone added a heft to my Creston JM-style that felt resolutely heavy and thick—much more so than I would expect from JM-style pickups. And at more polite volumes, I could use the pedal alone to get my overdrive, while still preserving the character and voice of the amp.
Full Control at Your Fingertips
While reviewing The Dane, there’s a quote that kept coming back to me from when I interviewed Alessandro a few years ago: “If I can make it a limitless journey, then I did my job right.” With The Dane, he’s managed to take the tweed Deluxe sound and remove the limits.
I think there are a lot of ways Alessandro gets there, and one of those is through his next-level component sourcing. With the fervor of a hi-fi aficionado, Alessandro has most of his components custom built, with quality control that goes well beyond the consumer-grade level.
The result is that The Dane, like every Alessandro amp I’ve played, responds like a performance sports car: It runs silently, has an ultra wide dynamic range, a broad frequency range, and is fast and articulate, all of which keeps control in the player’s hands. That might be daunting if you’re used to an amp that heavily colors your phrasing by limiting the window of control (though pedals can help with that). But if you want to keep that window wide open, The Dane will get you there.
What, exactly, does that mean? The response, dynamics, and EQ keep the controls in your hands. Playing intensity and attack have more noticeable results. Sustain is there when you need it. In short, The Dane is a thrill to play.The Verdict
As a devoted tweed Deluxe user, I’m genuinely taken by The Dane. Alessandro has preserved the character of the original while opening it up with more dynamic range, control, and possibility. But it goes beyond that, because The Dane isn’t just a 5E3-style amp—it’s a solution. Whether you’re playing clean articulate lines (I didn’t have an archtop handy, but I can assure you this amp would be the perfect transparent companion for jazz hits) or cranking with abandon, The Dane has the harmonic range and firepower for the gig. Its 14 watts are not only bold and powerful, this combo maintains its composure through its entire output, making it fully usable at all levels. At $3,000, The Dane, handmade by one of the ultimate legends of amp building, is an unrivaled feat.
Reader Guitar of the Month: A ’60s Hopf Telstar-Turned-Schwartocaster
Reader: Andreas Schwartau
Hometown: Hamburg, Germany
Guitar: Schwartocaster #1
1974. Picture a boy in his PJs in front of a black-and-white idiot box with eyes and mouth wide open, staring at the outrageous glittery costumes, risky platform boots, and over-the-top makeup of glam rock bands the Sweet, Slade, T. Rex, and Sparks. Today, when I watch these clips from the German TV show Disco on YouTube, I still get excited by the music these bands made and how they looked. I also understand why my parents were horrified and worried for the mental health of their 11-year-old firstborn. I imagine their faces when I asked for a guitar for my birthday as they considered how the urge to create these crunching, screaming, chugging noises on a shiny axe had gripped me.
Thanks to an intervention by my grandma, I was allowed to buy an acoustic, though I had to scrape together half of the 130-Deutschmark cost for a Framus Wanderlust, which I still play today! Just one year later, I had my first electric—a used and very worn ’60s Hopf Telstar Standard with an already badly warped neck. I played it for a few years, though the many pickups, switches, and pots confounded me. In an attempt to fix the neck, I tore out the frets, sanded the fretboard flat and played it as a fretless for a while, then left it lying around for almost 50 years. In the intervening years, Arias, Ibanezes, Fenders, and Gibsons came and went. Yet the ruined Hopf stayed and settled dust. I’m sure more than a few Premier Guitar readers can relate why I kept it, right?
“What a glorious moment it was when I first strung it up to ‘feel the noize’ of the still pickup-less body and neck for the first time in decades!”
Last year I decided to either throw it out or Frankenstein it. I can do some easy repairs on my own guitars and those that belong to friends, but I’m not a luthier by any stretch. Anyhow, I accepted the challenge. Removing the bolt-on neck was hard, because a previous owner had applied glue. I read Irish luthier Gerry Hayes’ recommendable newsletter and found out how to steam it off, which took days and a lot of patience. Everything else was relatively easy though. I found a sort of T-style neck from a flea market, some half decent tuners, and a pickguard blank. And because the original selection of pickups and switches was confusing anyway, I made the move to a single Seymour Duncan Mustang-style pickup, and two pots. A lot of measuring, sawing, and drilling ensued, and I’ll admit I drilled through the fretboard once. I also did a lot of manual sanding to fit the neck into the narrow pocket. I feared I would have to relocate the bridge posts since the Hopf neck was a shorter scale, but it ended up working fine. What a glorious moment it was when I first strung it up to “feel the noize” of the still pickup-less body and neck for the first time in decades!
Sure, the Telstar is far from a professional-grade guitar. The tuning stability could be better and the narrow spacing of the neck bolts—typical for German guitars of that era—makes the neck a bit wobbly. Maybe I’ll fix this at some point. But even now my Schwartocaster #1 is great fun to play. It’s lightweight and balanced, it intonates well, and the single pickup has a husky, jazzy voice. I still marvel at how I pulled it off, but I’m glad I tried, and I’m glad it worked out.
Blackwater Holylight’s Heavenly Heaviness
Several years ago, after releasing a trio of well-received stoner-doom albums, the core members of Blackwater Holylight—vocalist/guitarist/bassist Allison “Sunny” Faris, guitarist/bassist Mikayla Mayhew, and drummer Eliese Dorsay—left their hometown of Portland, Oregon, and took off for Los Angeles. News of the move filled some of the band’s fans with dread: Would the blissed-out, carefree Cali lifestyle result in a lighter and friendlier Blackwater Holylight? Would the band start writing—yikes!—happy music?
“Not a chance,” Faris scoffs. “I think our music is more depressing than ever.”
“We needed to get out of the physical gloom of Portland, but I guess we took a little bit of that with us,” Mayhew says. “It’s not like we came to L.A. and everybody went, ‘Yay, you’re here!’ We had to start all over in a lot of ways—meet a bunch of new people, find different opportunities. It was hard. It would have been easy to stay where we were, but I think we needed to grow to keep the band sounding fresh.”
“Fresh” might be a relative term when discussing Blackwater Holylight’s songs—there’s no frothy singalong choruses and nary a trending dance beat to be found—but there’s a looseness and a recklessness to their new album, Not Here Not Gone, that feels like something of a breakthrough. It’s there in the woozy, fuzzed-out guitar rhythms on bulldozers like “Bodies” and “Spades,” which come at you gritty and grimy, yet with a disarming playfulness to the dissonance. Another track, “Heavy, Why?” is rooted in thick layers of distorted sludge, but boasts plenty of kinetic sass and swagger—and when Faris swoops in with her ethereal, almost angelic vocals, complemented by former bandmate Sarah McKenna’s feather-light synth lines, the effect is transcendent. The capper to it all is the mini epic “How Will You Feel,” in which Mayhew’s scarifying, Iommi-esque guitar tones seem to take flight when the band locks in for a wicked, post-grunge jam.
“Our last album [2021’s Silence/Motion] was pretty much written and recorded during the Covid pandemic,” Mayhew says. “We couldn’t tour or go out that much, and we didn’t have a lot of time to work on material. With this album, we took a lot of time to write. Some of the songs were written years ago, so we had time to demo and play around with them.”
Kicking up Blackwater Holylight’s kind of apocalyptic racket (Mayhew calls it “sensually murderous”) means that neither Faris nor Mayhew is epoxied to a guitar or bass—live and in the studio, the two alternate instruments. “There’s no set formula,” Faris says. “I might write a guitar part and have a melody, and I’ll bring it to practice and Mikayla will play bass to it. And sometimes she’ll have a guitar part, and I’ll play bass and start singing to it. We’re flexible.”
Occasionally, a different scenario unfolds. “I might bring in a guitar part, and we’ll start playing and I’ll go, ‘You know, maybe I should play bass on this,’” Mayhew says. “I think our skills are pretty equal on bass and guitar, and nobody has a big ego about who plays what.”
The two share a love of “heavy music,” though their distinct influences differ wildly. Faris sings the praises of My Bloody Valentine and the Brian Jonestown Massacre, while Mayhew cites Nirvana, the Beatles, and Black Sabbath as her essential references. Asked to assess her bandmate’s playing style, Faris says, “Mikayla is a lot more forward in terms of lead lines. She’s better at being kind of noodly. I think that helps to balance us out, because she can do more of a shreddy, cruising-around-the-fretboard thing, and I can play more rhythm stuff.”
Describing Faris’ strengths, Mayhew says, “Sunny has more of a folky background, so she’s really good at fingerpicking, which I think is cool. She’s got the rhythm down, and her bass playing is great. Sometimes she plays guitar like a bass.”
Their amp preferences—and, significantly, how they crank up the walloping distortion—present more examples of sonic divergence. Mayhew relies on the vintage clean tones of a Music Man HD-130 through a 4x12 cabinet, with all dirt conjured via pedals. “My main one is a Fuzz War by Death By Audio,” she says. “I absolutely love that pedal. I also like to use a [EarthQuaker Devices] Terminal fuzz and a Big Muff. And, of course, I gotta use a Tube Screamer.”
For her part, Faris stands by her Sovtek MIG100H, a Russian-made amp favored by metal and stoner rockers for its Marshall-like high-gain firepower. “I borrowed one from a friend a few years ago, and I just fell in love with the sound,” she says. “They’re not too easy to find, but I did locate a guy selling one in Eugene, Oregon, and I was like, ‘I’m buying this!’”
She adds, “The Sovtek is a killer guitar amp, but we also use it for the bass. Normally, we run our basses through an Ampeg SVT, but the Sovtek really comes through. We like to flip-flop what we use.”
They do agree on one key aspect of their approach to ultimate heaviness: Standard tunings are out, alternate tunings are in. “I don’t remember how we got there. I think we started using alternate tunings by accident and they just sort of stuck,” Mayhew says. “We have a couple of tunes where we tune down to D, and we have a few that are in DADGAD. Most of the tunes on this record are in open C minor—that’s C–G–C–G–C–Eb—and we even go down to open B minor.”
Before recording Not Here Not Gone, the band had only performed “Heavy, Why?” live, but they promise that their upcoming spring tour will feature a healthy dose of new tunes. “We’ve got a lot to learn, but it’ll be fun,” Faris says. “I’m really proud of what we accomplished on the new album, especially the way we’re experimenting with dynamics and how things can be crushing and heavy, but also soft and beautiful. When you think about it, that’s what life is.”Sunny Faris’ Gear
Guitar and Bass
Gibson SG Custom
Gibson SG Standard bass
Amp
Sovtek MIG100H
Ampeg SVT
Ampeg 8x12 cabinet
Effects
Death By Audio Fuzz War
EarthQuaker Devices Terminal
Tech 21 Boost RVB
Tark Audio Morty’s Fuzz Drive
Boss GEB-7 bass equalizer
Strings, Picks, & Cables
“I’m not sure what strings I use. They’re thick, though.”
Dunlop Tortex .73mm
“Cheap cables”
Mikayla Mayhew’s Gear
Guitars and Bass
Gibson SG Custom
Guild S-60
Gibson SG Standard bass
Amp
Music Man HD-130
Music Man 412 GS cabinet
Ampeg SVT
Ampeg 8x12 cabinet
Effects
Death By Audio Fuzz War
EarthQuaker Devices Terminal
Ibanez Tube Screamer
Electro-Harmonix Big Muff
Hologram Electronics Microcosm
Strymon Cloudburst
Tech 21 Boost RVB
Tark Audio Morty’s Fuzz Drive
Strings, Picks, & Cables
Ernie Ball Power Slinkys
“I can’t remember the bass strings. It’s been so long.”
Dunlop Tortex .73mm
Ernie Ball cables—“If I want to splurge.”
A Mint-Condition 1959 Gibson Les Paul Junior Sees the Light of Day
We recently traveled an hour from our shop to a small town (and down at least half a mile of actual dirt road) to the hilltop home of Buford, a man interested in selling a 1959 Gibson Les Paul Junior, a gift from his mother to his father back when it was new. We had seen snapshots, but were unprepared for the glory that awaited us when he opened the original alligator grain chipboard case. Even a spotlight couldn’t have made the glossy, unfaded, cherry-red lacquer finish shine much brighter. We have seen, played, and even owned a lot of Les Paul Juniors—single cutaway, double cutaway, 3/4, sunburst, cherry, TV yellow, refinished, lacking any finish at all, wraparound tailpiece, Bigsby, you name it. To collectors, they aren’t and haven’t ever been the brightest-shining Gibson star of the 1950s. While very well made, the variations of this model were built simply and offered at an affordable price. It has always been an underrated, championship-level workhorse, but once these instruments transitioned to being “used” guitars, they found their way to clubs more often than arenas.
But in addition to being well cared for and clean as a whistle, this particular guitar has a combination of specs many players (and collectors, who admittedly may also be players) want. This Junior’s six-digit serial number shows it was made in late 1959 (a stamped 9 xxxx with a space between the 9 and other 4 digits would have been done earlier in the year). The mahogany body is lightly and very deliberately contoured, unlike the slab mahogany with squared-off edges that this model would have had the year prior. It has a nice chunky neck paired with larger frets than would have been found on most made before 1960. Plus, it has a surprisingly robust “dog-ear” P-90, probably due to it saving up all its energetic magnetism for the 21st century. Unlike many Juniors, the bridge posts are tip-top straight, and the tortoiseshell pickguard is flat, with no cracks, chips, or even, well, picks. The buttons on the Kluson single-line tuners are still a stark white and every piece of metal looks virtually new. The red anodyne dye Gibson used back then reacts to being exposed to both light and hands, but the neck on this Junior is just as cherry red as the body. The vintage strings (a wound third!) didn’t even have the appearance of being played.
That all being said, just because a vintage guitar is in near-mint condition doesn’t mean it’s great overall. Some are super clean because they must have always been somewhat uninspiring. We’ve played stunningly beautiful bursts that didn’t have “the thing,” and over the years we’ve come to realize that some of the guitars that have been played to within an inch of their lives are like that for a very distinct reason: They brought out the best in the people who owned them.
In this case, it seems both Bufords were hardworking men who just plain didn’t pick up the guitar and play it. Buford Sr. kept it safe (it was a gift, after all), and then Buford Jr. did the same because it was his dad’s. Considering this particular Gibson era, Buford Jr.’s mother could have just as easily purchased a 1959, 1960, or even a “brand-new” 1958 Les Paul Standard. Seeing such a clean, glossy, bright cherry Junior gives us hope that one of those Standards is still waiting in a closet somewhere, barely played and awaiting its second life in someone else’s hands (and preferably not in their closet, or sitting unused in a display case). To us, uncirculated vintage guitars, and more particularly the stories from the people ready to part with them, really are the most interesting vintage guitars these days. The pleasant drives out in the country are a nice bonus, too.
Dunable - Minotaur DE, Will Putney Signature Cyclops & Yeti 7-String | NAMM 2026
John Bohlinger chats with Sacha Dunable about the new Minotaur DE, available in iterations with EMG 81/85 pickups and with passive Cthulhu pickups. Also showcased: the Will Putney signature Cyclops with built-in Electro-Harmonix Pitch Fork pedal and single EMG 81, plus new custom shop seven-string models across all Dunable platforms with in-house pickups and Hipshot hardware.
Minotaur DE
- SCALE LENGTH: 25.5"
- NECK PROFILE: 1.65" nut width, .81" thick at 1st, .89" at 12th, Medium "C" profile
- ORIENTATION: right handed
- NECK: mahogany | ebony | white binding | pearloid bock inlay
- NUT: Graphtech Tusq
- FRETS: jumbo nickel silver
- SIDE DOTS: luminlay
- VOLUME CONTROLS: one volume
- TONE CONTROLS: one tone
- HARDWARE COLOR: black
- FINGERBOARD INLAY: pearloid block
- BODY: mahogany
- BODY TOP WOOD: none
- BRIDGE PICKUP: EMG 81
- NECK PICKUP: EMG 85
- TUNING KEYS: locking
- BRIDGE: tune o matic and stop tail
- FINISH TOP COAT: matte
- FINISH COLOR: black
- CASE: padded Dunable gig bag
- manufactured in South Korea
Dunlop - MXR EVH Modern High Gain Pedal, and More! | NAMM2026
Dunlop's Bryan Kehoe takes us on a tour of some fantastic new gear, including the MXR EVH Modern High Gain pedal developed with Eddie Van Halen, featuring input/output boost, smart noise gate, and bass shift switch. Also on the docket: the Way Huge Jumbo Fuzz Swollen Pickle XXX with silicon/LED clipping switch and high-output volume and the limited-edition Iron Maiden Killers Cry Baby.
EVH Modern High Gain
Unleash the full force of your rig with the MXR EVH Modern High Gain Pedal. Designed in direct collaboration with Eddie Van Halen in 2015, this powerhouse of a device delivers EVH High Gain tone in raw, uncompromised and crushing form. It’s searing, it’s intense, and it’s razor sharp.
Silvertone 1446 Semi-Hollow | NAMM 2026
Silvertone's Rick Taylor takes us through the new 1446 Semi-Hollow, updating the 1962 classic with center-block construction, set neck, modern neck profile, and era-specific mini-humbuckers reverse-engineered from original Gibson P13 pickups with Alnico 5s. Available with Bigsby or trapeze tailpiece, the pickups are also offered as a standalone matched set.
1466
Silvertone has reintroduced the iconic 1446 semi-hollow electric – one of the most recognizable guitar models in rock history.
Played by legendary artists Chris Isaak, Elvis Costello, Hubert Sumlin and more, the Silvertone 1446 is now, for the first time in decades, that sound - and that guitar - can be yours.
Originally sold through the Sears catalog from 1961 to 1967, the Silvertone 1446 holds a special place in electric-guitar history. Over the last 60 years it has become one of the most sought-after models among recording artists and collectors.
Now, Silvertone proudly reintroduces the 1446 - meticulously recreated with modern performance features while honoring every detail that made the original a legend.
Last Call: Creativity Is Gardening, Not Architecture
You know that feeling of deep shame when you’re playing guitar and you realize that you’re just repeating patterns you’ve played hundreds of times? I’m pretty sure that’s happened to everybody … except maybe Jeff Beck. In Eric Clapton’s 2007 book, Clapton: The Autobiography, E.C. wrote: “Jeff Beck once said to me, ‘Try to play something you’ve never played before.’ And that really stuck with me.”
So how do we do that? How do we break out of ruts, not just on the fretboard, but in life? How do we live more creatively—or at least more interestingly?
Creativity isn’t about waiting for a lightning bolt of inspiration. It’s about showing up consistently and doing the work. It’s a skill anyone can cultivate through deliberate practice and curiosity. After six decades of trial and error (plus a quick dip into some actual research), here’s my distilled guide to getting better at it:
- Curate Your Inputs Creativity feeds on diverse raw material. Read outside your wheelhouse—novels, science, history, whatever. Watch films from different cultures, listen to genres you’d normally skip, wander through museums. Travel if you can; if not, explore a new neighborhood. The broader your influences, the more unexpected connections you’ll make. Lately, I’ve been working my way through all 349 tracks the Nat King Cole Trio recorded for Capitol between 1943 and 1951. It’s reshaping how I hear everything.
- Practice Regularly Creativity is a muscle—use it or lose it. Carve out time for deliberate creative play: journaling, sketching, brainstorming. Try morning pages (three stream-of-consciousness pages, first thing) or random prompts. Consistency breeds fluency. That’s why I started this column 15 years ago—to force myself to create outside of music. Every month it’s like handing in a term paper. It’s torture, but it’s good for me.
- Embrace Constraints Limits breed ingenuity. I once watched Jared James Nichols play a three-note phrase 10 different ways, and each one got more interesting. A creative player can make the most vanilla song interesting by thinking outside the box. There are no boring songs—just boring players.
- Practice Divergent Thinking Train yourself to generate options. List 20 ways to use a brick, or 10 different endings to a story. Don’t edit early; quantity eventually yields quality.
- Take Breaks and Incubate Step away. The best ideas often arrive when you’re not chasing them. Mine come when I’m mowing my lawn, riding my bike, or taking a shower. Your subconscious keeps working while you’re off the clock.
- Collaborate and Cross-Pollinate Do things outside of your wheelhouse. In Japan, big companies practice jinji idō—regular personnel rotation across departments. An accountant might move to production, then sales. It builds empathy, kills boredom, and sparks fresh perspectives. Borrow that idea in your own life: jam with musicians from different scenes, trade ideas with non-musicians.
- Embrace Failure and Experiment Risk looking dumb. Every missed note or bad idea is data. Edison didn’t fail 1,000 times; he discovered 1,000 ways how not to make a light bulb.
- Cultivate Curiosity Stay in a permanent state of “What if?” and “Why?” Keep a notebook for stray thoughts and questions.
- Optimize Your Environment Surround yourself with stimuli that spark you—art on the walls, plants, good light. Declutter the rest. Find the spaces where your brain hums.
- Shift Your Mindset Drop the “I’m not creative” story. Everyone is; some just haven’t found their medium yet. Confidence is half the battle.
- You Must Be Present to Win Mindfulness isn’t an empty hippie cliché—it’s the price of admission. Get off your screen and pay attention to what’s happening.
“Aimless curiosity will take you places meticulous planning never could.”
Quick Boosters
- Meditate daily, even for five minutes.
- Play like a kid—puzzles, improv, anything without a goal.
- Learn something completely new (pottery, coding, tango).
- Take care of yourself. Get sleep, eat real food, and move your body. A foggy brain can’t create.
In a world where AI will soon handle most of the “building,” human creativity will be our most valuable currency. Creativity is gardening, not architecture. You don’t force it into rigid blueprints. You plant seeds, give them light and water, nudge them gently, and let them grow in their own wild direction. Aimless curiosity will take you places meticulous planning never could.
So remember: Stay curious, and keep experimenting. And the next time you pick up your guitar, try playing something you’ve never played before.
Gibson - The Wild and Wonderful World of ES Guitars! NAMM 2026
Gibson's Dinesh Lekhraj walks us through the brand's new ES-335 models offering '50s and '60s options—the '50s featuring a chunky neck profile, dot inlays, and Alnico 3 pickups, and the '60s with a slimmer taper, block inlays, and hotter T-Type pickups. We also check out cool Custom Shop ES-330 reissues in '59 and '62 specs, with dog-ear P-90s, trapeze bridges, and full-hollow construction. Also new: the Victory offset, now available with longer 24 3/4" scale, 24 frets, ebony fretboard, and Floyd Rose (or fixed bridge), with baritone and seven-string versions coming soon.
Gibson Century Collection and Epiphone Futura Series | NAMM 2026
We met up with Gibson's VP of Product, Mat Koehler, to check out the new Century Collection, celebrating 100 years of flat-top guitars with three 12-fret body styles (L-00, J-45, J-185) featuring featherweight construction, thin satin nitrocellulose lacquer, Gibson's 24¾" scale length, and Art Deco tweed cases. On the Epiphone side, a lineup of new models headlined by the Futura series, boasting color-shifting finishes, hot pickups, and stainless steel frets.
Blackstar BEAM Mini & ID:X Floor Modeler | NAMM 2026
Chris Kies heads to Blackstar to take in a demo of the Beam Mini, a USB-C rechargeable desktop amp with 18 hours of battery life and a companion app featuring amp models, effects, IR speaker simulation, YouTube integration for practice, and upcoming neural amp model support via Tone 3000 with access to over 200,000 captures. Also new: the ID:X Floor series modelers with 18 voices, over 35 effects, all parameters controllable on-unit, and the Artist FR active FRFR cabinets in 50-watt and 100-watt versions.
Beam MINI
Blackstar announces the BEAM MINI, a compact desktop amplifier designed for electric, bass and acoustic guitar players seeking high-quality tone, portability and intuitive control. Previewing at NAMM 2026 and launching worldwide on 24 March 2026, BEAM MINI combines Blackstar’s decades of amp design expertise with advanced component-level digital modelling, powerful DSP and a sealed, acoustically tuned cabinet to deliver immersive sound in a small, portable format suitable for home, studio and on-the-go use.
Vox - AC30 Hand-Wired Head and Cabinet & More | NAMM 2026
Vox came fully stocked to NAMM '26. During our visit we checked out the new hand-wired AC30 head and 2x12 cabinet with Celestion Alnico Blues, plus the Treble Booster and Fuzz pedals featuring silicon transistors voiced for AC30s. Also new: the VT20X and VT40X Valvetronix amps celebrating the series' 25th anniversary with circuit-level modeling, deeper 12AX7 tube integration, Class A/AB switching, and (very cool) vintage-style Classic Blue grille cloth.
AC30
Few amplifiers have shaped music history like the VOX AC30. With the AC30 Hand-Wired, that legacy lives on – reborn with painstaking attention to vintage accuracy and updated with modern refinements that make it stage- and studio-ready.
This is more than a reissue. It's a complete reconstruction of a vintage legend – hand-wired and fine-tuned to bring the '60s sound back to life. Featuring hand-wired circuitry, custom transformers, and vintage-accurate cabinet construction, this amplifier aligns classic British tone with modern necessities including bypass-able master volume, a transparent effects loop, and custom-voiced spring reverb.
Now, the unmistakable sound of a vintage VOX is finally within reach. Built for vintage enthusiasts, aficionados, and modern players alike. The AC30 Hand-Wired delivers the unmistakable voice of VOX!
Boss GX-1 Guitar Effects Processor | NAMM 2026
We met up with Boss' Matt Knight to dive deep into the GX-1, an ultra-portable multi-effects unit with intuitive one-touch controls, 23 amps, and 140 effects featuring Gear Suite for saving individual effect presets within your patches. The unit includes built-in Bluetooth for app connectivity with librarian and session player, looper, stereo outs, USB-C audio interface, IR import capability, and battery power for up to six hours of use.
GX-1
- Ultra-portable amp/effects processor for guitar with premium BOSS sound and features
- Authentic tube amplifier tone and touch response with AIRD technology
- Straightforward operation with a color display and intuitive effect category buttons
- Exceptional audio quality with 24-bit AD and 32-bit DA conversion, 32-bit floating-point processing, and 48 kHz sampling rate
- Explore 23 amplifier types and over 140 BOSS effects
- Eight simultaneous effect blocks plus volume pedal and noise suppression
- Gear Suite feature allows you to quickly configure each amp and effect with the turn of a knob
- Includes 99 ready-to-play preset memories and 99 user memories for storing custom sounds
- Three footswitches and an expression pedal with toe switch, all freely assignable
- Play along with songs from your mobile device via onboard Bluetooth®
- Record and play tracks in music production software on a computer or mobile device* via a USB-C®
- BOSS Tone Studio for GX-1 app (macOS/Windows/iOS/Android) with powerful practice features and sound-editing tools
- Download and share Livesets on BOSS Tone Exchange
- Support for loading WAV speaker IRs
- Jack for expanded control with up to two footswitches or an expression pedal
- Tap into wireless foot control with the FS-1-WL Wireless Footswitch and EV-1-WL Wireless Expression Pedal
- Versatile power options: three AA batteries, AC adaptor, or USB (computer bus power or mobile battery)
- Compact, lightweight design fits easily in the pocket of a guitar case or bag