Premier Guitar

After a devastating theft in 2021, the metal band’s guitarist rebuilt his tone empire around some life-changing loans.

Chicago post-metal band Russian Circles had to battle their way back to gear heaven. In 2021, the bulk of the band’s gear was stolen while on tour, leading to a years-long rebuild. As a result, many of the items you might’ve seen in guitarist Mike Sullivan’s Rig Rundown back in 2017 are long gone.

PG’s Chris Kies recently met up with Sullivan at the band’s Chicago practice space, where they’ve resided for nearly 20 years. Check out some highlights from Sullivan’s new, resurrected rig below.

Brought to you by D’Addario.

Dun Deal

Sullivan has been favoring Dunable guitars of late, borrowing one from tourmate Chelsea Wolfe after his other guitar was nabbed. The green one is based on the Dunable Narwhal, with a more Gibson-like scale—comparable to Sullivan’s old Les Paul. This Narwhal has a mahogany body and neck, maple top, and a coil-tap function for the two humbuckers: a DiMarzio PAF 26th Anniversary and a DiMarzio Joe Duplantier Fortitude signature. Vibrating atop those pickups are D’Addario strings—a set of .011–.056, with the low E swapped for a .058. Sullivan uses a number of different down tunings, all with D-A-D-G-A-D as a starting point.

The white Dunable has a maple neck, a 25.5” scale, and is tuned lower, with a .062 for the low E string. It’s used for drop-A tunings, and has the same DiMarzio pickups.

Gettin’ Hi

Sullivan was turned onto Hiwatts after acquiring some on loan in the wake of the gear theft, and he hasn’t turned back since. The cabinets are loaded with Hiwatt Octapulse speakers.

Mike Sullivan’s Pedalboard

Sullivan runs two pedalboards. The first includes a Peterson tuner, Shure P9HW, Dunlop CBM95 Cry Baby Mini, DigiTech Drop and Whammy Ricochet, and MXR Phase 95.

The motherboard carries a Dunlop DVP3 volume pedal, a Friedman BE-OD Deluxe, Strymon Dig, TimeLine, and Flint, a T-Rex Image Looper, DigiTech JamMan Stereo, MXR CAE Boost/Line Driver, Foxrox Octron3, Electric Eye Cannibal Unicorn, Maxon Apex808, Fortin-Modded Ibanez Tube Screamer, and a Radial Shotgun Guitar Splitter and Buffer.

Shure P9HW
MXR Phase 95
Peterson Tuner
DigiTech Drop
DigiTech Whammy Ricochet
Strymon Dig
Strymon Timeline
Strymon Flint
DigiTech JamMan Stereo
Dunlop Volume Pedal
Friedman BE-OD Deluxe
Dunlop CBM95 Cry Baby Mini
Radial Shotgun

I like to think I have some unique idiosyncrasies that sort of make me weird, and others that I probably share with lots of people. For instance, are you into coats? I have a ton of coats for some odd reason, and I really can’t explain why I enjoy interesting jackets, parkas, vests, and raincoats. In addition to a lot of coats and guitars, I also have a lot of sneakers. I totally dig sneakers and am always on the lookout for retro designs and fascinating colors. I have a pair of Vans for every holiday and occasion. But sadly, as I age, Vans are not friendly to my aching feet. (Seriously, my feet hurt!) I already had rather huge feet but now I think they’re getting wider with age, and I have to be careful when picking out shoes. Aging is for the birds!

So the behavior pattern that I was examining within myself came down to the appeal of variety. Whether it was shoes, coats, or guitars, I liked variety, as well as weird and retro and odd. The variety totally spans my interests, and with guitars I think it manifests in my appreciation of rare colors and palettes. Think about guitar finishes for a moment. What are the really popular colors? I think of bursts, reds, blacks, and blues. Now think about rarer colors. Here I think of greens, yellows, and oranges. Personally, I’ve always enjoyed greens. Whether sparkles or bursts, green finishes have always been my jam. I think my second-favorite old guitar finishes were the yellows and off-whites. The old Gibson TV yellow (to appear white on black and white television) and the Fender butterscotch finishes are cool. And the off-white, smoke-stained colors are just super.

And here is where I land this month. A wonderfully worn, yellowed example of a Teisco TG-64. I love this guitar and still own it today. Yellow was a rare color for any old Japanese electric and today’s exhibit looks like it’s been clawed by a rambunctious cat, exposing the darker undercoat. Maybe the original finish was whiter? Either way, this one features a very rare finish for the time and place.

“Many of these old guitars add a unique brush or color to your creative instincts.”

The TG-64 guitars were introduced (you guessed it) in 1964 and seemed to hang around into ’65, with slight variations such as emblems and pickguard materials. This model has the body cutout (often referred to as a “monkey grip”) and the square pole-piece pickups that were the successors to the older gold-foil pickups that Teisco was using. There is plenty of hype over gold-foil pickups, and rightly so, but these square jobbers are almost as good, and some might even say better. When I studied coil windings on Teisco pickups, I noticed that the amount of wire lessened over time, resulting in less aggressive tones. It was probably a way to save money but as a result, not all Teisco guitars sound alike, even among the exact same models.

I’ve owned two of these TG-64 guitars and both sounded different. They both needed extreme fretboard/neck work and refrets, but once you get these guitars dialed in, there are a multitude of sounds. Anywhere from grind to mellow, from thin to thick, these are not simple guitars. They borrow from Fender Jazzmaster/Jaguar electronics that offer some preset tones with the flick of a switch. The mini-switches are an acquired taste, but the tremolo units do work fine and overall, the guitar balances nicely. It makes me wonder if the body hole was there for balance or just to be different. I’d like to think the latter, but who knows?

What I really love about mine is how it handles fuzz and overdrive. When clean, my TG sounds a bit thin and lacking sustain. But with a clean boost or some dirt, it shines. In fact, a good clean boost can totally bring an old import guitar from below average to above average. I seem to mention this in one form or another every month: Many of these old guitars add a unique brush or color to your creative instincts. There’s a song in every guitar—and maybe in coats and sneakers, too!

More Circuits, More Mischief, More Tone

The monkey is out of the cage, and this time, it’s a little bit meaner. DigiTech’s cult-favorite Bad Monkey® overdrive pedal has swung back into the spotlight—not as a simple reissue, but as a fully evolved creature from DOD®: the Badder Monkey™. With the original Bad Monkey circuit still at its core and two brand-new circuits named Behaved and Badder joining the fray, this pedal gives players the power to go from mild-mannered overdrive to mischievous, unpredictable tones that are downright bananas.

The real magic happens with DOD’s patent-pending 360-degree Barrel Control, which lets musicians blend any two circuits at a time, resulting in hundreds of unique overdrive combinations. And if that’s not enough monkey business, a three-position toggle adds even more tonal tricks. In the UP position, the Bad circuit plays nicely in-phase with the others; DOWN, it flips out-of-phase to create wild harmonic shenanigans; and CENTER activates Troop Mode, where all three circuits pile on at once. In Troop Mode, the Barrel Control steps aside, letting the full troop roar together.

The Badder Monkey™ also introduces DOD’s patent-pending reversible StagePlate™, a simple but brilliant way to keep your pedal grounded—or attached to your board. The skid pad side keeps it from sliding off the stage; while flipping it over reveals a hook pad that locks onto your pedalboard in a snap. Switching between the two is as easy as removing four screws, flipping the plate, and tightening it back up—a simple solution for every rig and stage setup.

From the gain knob’s subtle creep to full-on roar, and with EQ controls named Grunt and Screech, the Badder Monkey™ offers a sonic playground for guitarists and bassists of all skill levels. True Bypass ensures your tone stays pure when the pedal is off, while a modern 9V DC input keeps it compatible with any rig.

From light, cheeky breakup to heavy, chest-thumping distortion, the Badder Monkey is ready to swing onto stages and pedalboards worldwide, delivering a jungle of tones without ever letting go of the vine. The Badder Monkey is the next step in the evolution of Cage-Free DOD.

For more information, please visit www.digitech.com

Street Price: $149.99 USD

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Seymour Duncan, a leading manufacturer of guitar and bass pickups, effects pedals, and pedal amps, is proud to announce the Dino Cazares Machete Signature Humbucker is now available to order from seymourduncan.com and from authorized Seymour Duncan dealers.

Dino Cazares Machete Signature Humbucker

Dino Cazares doesn't compromise, and neither does his signature Machete humbucker. This active pickup in a passive mount combines high-output coils with a custom preamp circuit to unleash ferocious attack with surgical precision. Whether you're hammering out brutal rhythms or cutting through with lead work, the Machete delivers the relentless clarity and thickness that fuel Fear Factory's punishing sound, now available to power your heaviest riffs.

• Dino Cazares' signature Machete humbucker now available worldwide
• Active pickup in passive mount for modern metal
• Aggressive clarity with crushing low-end definition and articulation
• Available in 6-string (in colors Black, White, and Red) and in 7-string (in colors Black, White, and Zebra)
• Hand-built in Santa Barbara, CA

MAP pricing: 6-string $149.00

MAP pricing: 7-string $159.00

Fear Factory's Dino Cazares has spent decades defining the sonic assault of industrial metal, and his tone continues to evolve. The Machete, previously exclusive to Dino's signature Ormsby® guitars, is finally available everywhere from Seymour Duncan. This active humbucker in a passive mount delivers aggressive clarity and crushing power, engineered for players who demand articulation and low-end definition without sacrificing organic feel.

The Dino Cazares Machete Signature Humbucker delivers the razor-sharp attack and punishing crunch his music demands. Built on the foundation of the acclaimed Retribution model, the Machete channels that articulation into a distinct new voice. Treble bite and low-mid thickness combine for an immediate, aggressive attack perfect for machine-gun picking, tight chugs, and searing leads. The Machete retains an organic character that responds dynamically to your playing, delivering punchy aggression with definition.

If you've been craving fierce, articulate power that cuts through the heaviest mix while maintaining note clarity, the Machete delivers. It's the pickup that powers Dino's relentless riffing on Fear Factory's latest material, and now it can power your playing. Load it into your guitar and discover the sound that drives one of modern metal's most uncompromising players

Strymon Engineering has announced a new gain pedal called Fairfax and an entirely new line of fully analog pedals they’ve dubbed Series A.

Fairfax is unique in the world of drive and boost pedals in that it’s a full tube amp circuit, miniaturized using only analog components. Strymon’s analog engineers took initial inspiration from the Herzog® tube drive unit from Garnet Amplifiers that was developed for Randy Bachman of BTO, as its sound powered a number of classic rock hits from the ‘60s and ‘70s.

As the debut pedal in Strymon’s new Series A lineup, the Fairfax uses only analogcomponents to recreate the amp’s topology, encompassing a tube preamp, Class Apower amp and a proprietary circuit that impersonates the important saturationcharacteristics of the output transformer, which is integral to the sound the unitproduces. Strymon created an internal power supply that converts the incoming 9 VDCinto 40V, giving the amplifier circuit a massive amount of headroom that gives the pedaltrue amp-like feel. The sound is clean and clear at low Drive settings, but moves into fulltransformer-like saturation as the gain is increased.

Along with a Bright circuit that modifies the treble response, the pedal also includes avariable Sag control that produces dynamic artifacts at low values, and full sputteringand gated sounds more commonly associated with fuzz pedals at extreme settings.

Here are descriptions of Fairfax controls:

• DRIVE: Discrete tube emulation circuit provides smooth asymmetric clipping.
• BRIGHT: A two-position tone switch for adjusting the high frequency content through the preamp. “Off” cuts high frequencies to darken the tone. “On” provides flat, full frequency response.
• LEVEL: Adjusts the output level when the pedal is engaged.
• SAG: Turning clockwise increases amount of power rail sag. Fully counterclockwise, no sag is applied. At high levels of sag, the preamp starts to un-bias itself, leading to gating and sputtering. A higher DRIVE setting will sag the circuit more than a lower setting with same input level.

The sound and feel of Fairfax is extremely tube-like, with added harmonics and saturation coming from a clever circuit that emulates the true behavior of a tube amp’s output transformer. It’s a drive pedal that feels completely natural to play, retains the natural sound of your guitar, and glues notes together in a truly organic way.

“Man, this thing is such a chameleon”, said Sean Halley, Strymon’s Head of Marketing and a long-time session and live player. “It can be a creamy and gooey boost that works great with any style of amp, and it can also breathe saturated fire.” Halley continues, “because it’s really an amp circuit, it doesn’t change your core tone, and it stacks brilliantly with other drive pedals. This thing is not leaving my board, full stop.” Gregg Stock, Strymon’s CEO and senior analog engineer added “even though we’re more known for DSP, our analog engineers are always coming up with interesting ideas for fully analog designs, so we created Series A to give them an outlet. There will be a number of pedals in the line by the end of next year, so we’re really excited to see some of these products come to market - it’s been a blast to work on this stuff.”

Fairfax is available now directly from Strymon and from dealers worldwide for $199 US. For more information visit strymon.net.

Following their highly successful debut band tour across Europe this past June and July — which saw numerous sold-out shows and glowing praise from fans and press alike — legendary guitar icons Joe Satriani and Steve Vai are bringing their electrifying SATCHVAI Band to the United States for the first time. The “Surfing with the Hydra” 2026 tour will launch on April 1 in Seattle, WA and continue on throughout April and May before winding up in Vienna, VA at Wolf Trap on May 30. Animals as Leaders will support on all dates. Tickets will be on-sale Friday December 12 with artist presale (PW: SATCHVAI2026) on Wednesday, December 10 at 10am local. Local pre-sales follow on Thursday, December 11.

This new chapter follows a monumental summer that took the newly formed band through major cities including London, Manchester, Paris, Copenhagen, Zurich, and more as well as festivals including Hellfest, Umbria Jazz Festival, and Guitares en Scene Fest, thrilling audiences with the unmatched interplay and energy that only Satriani and Vai can deliver. Now, with a brand-new video and single, “Dancing,” arriving March 2, 2026 via earMUSIC, the guitar greats are ready to bring that same firepower to stages across America.

“The SATCHVAI Band rides again! After a fantastic European tour last summer Steve, Kenny, Marco, Pete and I will bring the Surfing With The Hydra Tour to the US. We can’t wait to play you the new material from our forthcoming Satch/Vai album along with your favorite songs from our shared catalog. And that’s not all, we’re bringing along the incomparable Animals As Leaders. You do not want to miss this show with this lineup!” – Joe Satriani

Steve Vai concurs, "The SATCHVAI Band summer Euro tour of 2025 far exceeded anything I could have imagined. Joe and I struck pure jammin’ gold night after night. Being in the same band with Joe, playing songs we actually wrote together on stage, in real time felt like watching a childhood fantasy step out of my teenage brain and stroll onto the stage. And somehow, it was even more rewarding, satisfying, and downright fulfilling than I ever thought possible.

Our trusty band—Marco Mendoza holding down the bass with his usual thunder, Pete Thorn weaving in the magic on guitar, and Kenny Aronoff powering the whole thing from behind the kit, we created a musical flying carpet that carried us through the tour.

And to all the fans who came out and supported the show: massive thanks. Your energy and enthusiasm made the room pulse, and inspired us all beyond beyond. We are looking forward to steamroll this train into your city on our 2026 spring North America tour.”

The band’s forthcoming single “Dancing” marks the latest chapter in SATCHVAI Band’s creative evolution. It follows the duo’s first two releases — the sweeping, cinematic instrumental “The Sea of Emotion, Pt. 1” and the high-octane rocker “I Wanna Play My Guitar,” featuring powerhouse vocals from Glenn Hughes (Deep Purple, Black Country Communion). Together, these tracks have showcased both the emotional depth and unbridled energy that define the SATCHVAI Band sound — a seamless fusion of melody, virtuosity, and the kind of musical chemistry only five decades of friendship can produce.

The SATCHVAI Band marks the first time in their nearly 50-year friendship and musical partnership that Satriani and Vai have formally joined forces as a band. Their collaboration debuted in March 2024 with a duo tour and the release of “The Sea of Emotion, Pt. 1,” a stunning six-minute opus showcasing their extraordinary synergy. A second track, released ahead of the European tour, further fueled anticipation for what has become one of the year’s most celebrated live events.

Rounding out the lineup, powerhouse drummer Kenny Aronoff, renowned bassist Marco Mendoza, and virtuoso guitarist Pete Thorn complete the stellar quintet that is the SATCHVAI Band — a live ensemble built for explosive musicianship and unbridled guitar mastery.

Animals As Leaders, Tosin Abasi said of the tour, “We are beyond honored to be joining Joe Satriani and Steve Vai on tour! Our band, in many ways, would not be what it was if not for the impact of these two icons. Getting a chance to hit the US with them is a bucket list experience for us. Can’t want to see you all soon!”

Pre-sale tickets for “The Surfing with the Hydra 2026 U.S. Tour” kick off with an Artist Presale (PW: SATCHVAI2026) on Wednesday, December 10 at 10am local. Local presales follow on Thursday, December 11. The public on-sale begins Friday, December 12 at 10am local. All ticket details available at SATCHVAIBAND.COM

SATCHVAI Band “Surfing with the Hydra” 2026 U.S. Tour (with Animals as Leaders):

• April 1 – Seattle, WA – Paramount Theatre
• April 2 – Portland, OR – Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall
• April 4 – Oakland, CA – Fox Theater
• April 5 – Reno, NV – Grand Sierra Resort and Casino
• April 7 – Long Beach, CA – Long Beach Terrace Theater
• April 8 – San Diego, CA – Cal Coast Credit Union Open Air Theatre
• April 10 – Mesa, AZ – Mesa Amphitheatre
• April 11 – Las Vegas, NV – The Theater at Virgin Hotels Las Vegas
• April 14 – Denver, CO – Mission Ballroom
• April 16 – Houston, TX – 713 Music Hall
• April 17 – Dallas, TX – Music Hall at Fair Park
• April 18 – Austin, TX – ACL Live at the Moody Theater
• April 20 – Mobile, AL – Saenger Theatre
• April 22 – Pompano Beach, FL – Pompano Beach Amphitheater
• April 24 – Clearwater, FL – Baycare Sound
• April 25 – St. Augustine, FL – St. Augustine Amphitheatre
• April 26 – Orlando, FL – Hard Rock Live
• April 27 – Atlanta, GA – Atlanta Symphony Hall
• April 29 – Charlotte, NC – Ovens Auditorium
• April 30 – Durham, NC – DPAC
• May 2 – Minneapolis, MN – State Theatre
• May 3 – Chicago, IL – Chicago Theatre
• May 5 – Milwaukee, WI – The Riverside Theater
• May 7 – Nashville, TN – Ryman Auditorium
• May 8 – Cincinnati, OH – PNC Pavillion at Riverbend Music Center
• May 9 – Indianapolis, IN – Everwise Amphitheater at White River State Park
• May 10 – St. Louis, MO – The Factory #
• May 12 – Buffalo, NY – Kleinhans Music Hall
• May 13 – Toronto, Ont – Meridian Hall #
• May 15 – Northfield, OH – MGM Northfield Park
• May 16 – Rochester Hills, MI – Meadow Brook Amphitheatre
• May 17 – Syracuse, NY – Landmark Theatre
• May 20 – Boston, MA – Leader Bank Pavilion
• May 21 – Albany, NY – Palace Theatre
• May 22 – Waterbury, CT – Palace Theater
• May 23 – Virginia Beach, VA – The Dome
• May 27 – Reading, PA – Santander Performing Arts Center
• May 28 – New York, NY – Beacon Theatre
• May 29 – Atlantic City, NJ – Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa
• May 30 – Vienna, VA – Wolf Trap *

#On-sale TBA 2026

*Pre-sale and on sale for Wolf Trap show will be in February 2026.

Not to bore you with my day gig, but I do product reviews. I’m a bit surprised to find myself here, as I’m not great at techy things. I hate reading manuals, and having spent most of my life in the pre-digital age, I’ve developed a low rage threshold when it comes to dealing with technical issues. Get an error message twice in a row, and I want to throw my phone or computer across the room. I’m the kind of musician whose comfort zone is a traditional guitar plugged into a few pedals (tuner, compressor or boost, overdrive, delay, maybe a phaser for something weird), running into a tube amp with controls limited to volume, treble, mid, and bass—and maybe verb and trem. If I haven’t changed by this point, it’s unlikely I will.

Yet, the PG reviews seem pretty popular. Perhaps the appeal is that the average guitar player can hear what the gear is capable of, even with a knuckle-dragging guitarist twisting the knobs—sort of like having a monkey test-driving a new car.

Part of the draw may also stem from my being a furiously positive person who genuinely looks hard for the good in everything. My default mode is up, probably because I don’t handle the downs very well. That being said, when I review anything, I look at it as somebody’s baby. People don’t dedicate themselves to building guitar stuff to get rich (although a few do make a ton of dough-re-mi)—they build out of passion. I am not one to yuck somebody’s yum, so I search for the best a piece of gear has to offer and lean into that—rather than looking for the bad, like a bitter restaurant blogger. Even when it’s a sound I don’t find appealing (an extreme clipping fuzz, for instance), I understand that, for some of my 6-string family, this may be just what they’ve been searching for.

The truth is, it’s good to be forced out of one’s comfort zone. When you have to make music with a sound or tone that’s completely foreign to you, it can take you to some very cool places you wouldn’t normally go. I usually build a track for my demos, and it often seems like the tones I’m least comfortable with lead to the most interesting backing tracks or playing, because I’m not able to rely on my comfortable old bag of tricks.

“Analog won’t vanish, but in time, it’ll be a premium, ‘vinyl-like’ niche.”

Last week, PG’s editors lined up a review of the Boss PlugOut Pedal for me. I admit, I experienced some initial frustration—and emitted some vile cursing—when I first plugged in the PX-1. But once I got past my tech fear, pilot error, and some Bluetooth issues with my phone, I found a lot of sounds I really liked. It felt like a practical way to bring a Swiss Army knife of a pedal to a session—something packed with just-in-case sounds if you need them. It also occurred to me that in five years, this pedal will be as normal to my kid as my 50-year-old Ross Compressor is to me.

To me, doing a gig without an amp feels wholly unnatural. But I know young players whose comfort zone is a Kemper/Fractal/Line 6/etc. into headphones. And in time, AI-driven tech improvements, combined with the rising cost of analog gear, will result in digital rigs becoming the standard. Stats back this up. In a blind test conducted by Sound On Sound in 2024, 90 percent of listeners found digital indistinguishable from analog.* In a 2024 Sweetwater survey, 55 percent of new buyers opted for digital gear over analog (up from 35 percent in 2020).

Digital amps tend to be more affordable, and offer preset tones that usually sound good-to-great without any tweaking (or the addition of pedals). They’re also more stable. If your rig consists of a tube amp driven by five pedals and a bunch of cables and AC power lines, there’s a lot that can go wrong compared to plugging into a Boss Katana loaded with onboard effects.

For casual and home players, who make up roughly 70 percent of the market, the low cost and simplicity of all-in-one amps and effects makes digital an easy choice. And as many Rig Rundowns have shown, the stability of digital amps, combined with their portability, has led many classic bands to leave their Marshalls at home in favor of modeling gear.

Analog won’t vanish, but in time, it’ll be a premium, “vinyl-like” niche. The combination of technology and economics makes digital inevitable for most players. Obviously, we’ll play whatever we can afford and acquire. So if analog is your thing, hold onto those amps and stock up on tubes.

Peavey announces the return of its legendary Super Festival Series. Renowned for its stellar, overdriven bass tone, the Super Festival Series features a classic retro look with features modernized for today’s bass playing settings.

It begins with the Peavey F-1200B Bass Amp Head. The F-1200B takes its cues from the classic F-800B Bass Amp Head circa 1971 and revitalizes it with 1200 watts of true skull-crushing RMS Peavey power. Its discrete BJT (bipolar junction transistor) preamp circuitry is carefully recreated with a lot of effort to select similar thru-hole components and has been voiced by the legend himself, Hartley Peavey. The F-1200B flaunts a three-band EQ with Treble, Middle, and Bass settings and preset Slope that can be adjusted internally, if desired. Like the original F-800B, the F-1200B has a six-band inductive EQ circuit that divides into six segments, each controlling a specific band of frequencies. The result is player-defined tone that can be dialed into any conceivable configuration.

For those looking to kick the F-1200B’s sound into overdrive, the Overdrive control is for players looking for that perfect overdriven tone. The Overdrive feature distinguishes itself from others by providing a fuller, softer characteristic, and is footswitch controllable. Honestly, it’s what this amp really became known for, making it highly sought after in the secondary markets. Rounding out the F-1200B’s control assortment are two Input Jacks with Input Jack 1 having twice the amount of gain as Input Jack 2. Volume to control the input preamp and Master Volume to control total sonic output bring it all together. On the rear panel, the F-1200B features a USB-C Recording Output/Interface, Dual ¼” TRS Footswitch Jacks for Mute, Boost (+4dbV), Overdrive, and Effects Loop, a Headphone jack, XLR cable connections for a DI Interface, Ground Lift, Preamp Out/Power Amp Input Master/Slave Loop, EFX Send/Return jacks and Dual Neutrik combination Speakon/Phone Speaker Output connectors. All of them combine to make this the heaviest and biggest sounding Super Festival bass amp yet.

Providing the thunder for the Peavey F-1200B Bass Amp Head is the Super Festival Series 610 Bass Enclosure. The Super Festival Series 610 Bass Enclosure is designed with the touring musician in mind and manufactured to withstand extreme use show after show. The Super Festival 610 is a black vinyl covered beast with a full-frame fabric grill, reinforced by the classic metal silver strips, with a quick removal strap included, emblazoned with the classic Peavey “lightning-bolt” logo. Six heavy duty parallel-connected 10” speakers pound out the bass. Rugged 15mm plywood construction provides stability while the extensive cross bracing technique produces a tighter low end. Tweeter attenuator, top handles, internal pocket casters, metal corners, heavy duty hardware, and two combination input jacks, which accept both Twist Lock and 1/4” phone plug, are also featured. Overall, the Super Festival 610 handles 1,200 watts of program power making it the perfect partner for the F-1200B Bass Amp Head. Nominal Impedance is 8 Ohms.

The Peavey Super Festival Series is for the serious bass player looking for that retro 70s sound and feel in an enhanced contemporary package.

For more information, please visit www.Peavey.com or visit NAMM Booth 210A

Retail Street Price: F-1200B $999.99 USD

Retail Street Price: 610 $999.99 USD

With less than six weeks until the arrival of their eighth studio album on January 9, 2026, Alter Bridge return with their brand-new single, “Playing Aces.” The track bursts open with the band’s trademark dual-guitar firepower as Myles Kennedy (vocals/guitars), Mark Tremonti (guitars/vocals), Brian Marshall (bass), and Scott Phillips (drums) lock into the muscular groove that has defined their sound for more than two decades. The propulsive verses build into a soaring, unforgettable chorus, highlighted by Kennedy’s declaration: “If I risked it all, I hope you’ll understand that I had to play my hand…”

“Playing Aces” is available now across all digital service providers. The accompanying music video—directed by J.T. Ibanez—is also out today and can be seen here.

“The term ‘Playing Aces’ ties in with the gambling analogy of risking everything regardless of how many times you’ve failed in life. It’s a last-ditch effort to come out on top,” explains Myles Kennedy.

With over twenty years as one of rock’s most consistently acclaimed bands, Alter Bridge continue to push forward. Renowned for their towering riffs, infectious melodies, and masterful guitar interplay, the quartet will release their self-titled eighth studio album on January 9, 2026, via Napalm Records. Physical formats are available for preorder now at https://www.lnk.to/AB-AlterBridge.

The forthcoming album features 12 brand-new tracks that capture some of the band’s most compelling work to date. Songs like “Rue The Day,” “Disregarded,” and “Scales Are Falling” stand tall alongside staples from the Alter Bridge catalog. “Trust In Me” showcases the powerful vocal chemistry between Kennedy and Tremonti, with Myles taking lead on the verses and Mark commanding the chorus—an approach they flip on “Tested and Able,” one of the band’s heaviest introductions to date. “Hang By a Thread” is primed for the live stage, echoing the energy of fan-favorite anthems, while album closer “Slave to Master” delivers an epic finale and marks the longest track the band has ever recorded.

The first single, “Silent Divide,” continues its ascent at Active Rock and has already surpassed 4 million views on YouTube. Longtime producer Michael “Elvis” Baskette once again joins the band for the project, recorded over two months this spring at both the legendary 5150 Studios in California and at Elvis’ studio in Florida.

The track listing for Alter Bridge is:

1. Silent Divide (5:06)
2. Rue The Day (4:46)
3. Power Down (4:08)
4. Trust In Me (4:48)
5. Disregarded (3:55)
6. Tested And Able (4:36)
7. What Lies Within (5:07)
8. Hang By A Thread (4:11)
9. Scales Are Falling (5:54)
10. Playing Aces (4:05)
11. What Are You Waiting For (5:00)
12. Slave To Master (9:03)

Alter Bridge is currently available for pre-order in the following formats:

-1-CD 6p Digisleeve, 12p Booklet

-2-LP Gatefold BLACK, Lyric Sheet

-2-LP Gatefold TRANSLUCENT VERDE - VETRI (INDIE exclusive)

-2-LP Gatefold TRANSLUCENT VERDE - VETRI + autographed postcard (NEWBURY exclusive, limited to 50)

-1-CD 6p Digisleeve + autographed postcard (NEWBURY exclusive, limited to 250)

-2-LP Gatefold SPLATTERED BLACK SMOKE/ WHITE ORANGE BLACK, 12p Booklet (Napalm mailorder exclusive)

-2-LP BLACK, White Label Edition + hand-numbered Covercard (Napalm mailorder international-only exclusive) - SOLD OUT!!!

-2-LP Gatefold MARBLE COLORLESS BLACK & RED BLACK OLD PURPLE, 12p Booklet (Napalm exclusive)

-LP Box incl. 2-LP Gatefold SPLIT BLACK/MILK, 12p Booklet, 5-Tack Bonus Picture Vinyl in Plastic Sleeve, Artprint (Napalm mailorder international-only exclusive)

-1-CD 6p Digisleeve + "Hang By A Thread” Shirt Bundle (Napalm exclusive)

-2-LP Gatefold SPLATTERED CRÈME BLACK, 12p Booklet (Band exclusive)

-2-LP Gatefold MARBLE BLACK SMOKE, 12p Booklet (Band exclusive)

-2-LP Gatefold CRISTALLO MILK GLITTER, Lyric Sheet (Band exclusive)

-1-CD Jewel Case (Ticket Bundle for Townsend exclusive) + Guitar Pick (Band exclusive)

To coincide with the new album, Alter Bridge will hit the road in support of the release on the What Lies Within Tour. The 31-date European run kicks off January 15 in Germany and wraps March 5 in Nottingham, UK, with Daughtry and Sevendust joining as special guests. The band has also announced a headlining U.S. tour featuring Filter or Sevendust and Tim Montana on select dates. The trek begins April 25 in Orlando, FL and concludes May 24 in Tampa, FL. Full ticketing information and VIP package details can be found at www.alterbridge.com.

Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival is thrilled to announce the return of the internationally acclaimed camping festival, taking place June 11-14, 2026, on the 700-acre Bonnaroo Farm, located just 60 miles southeast of Nashville in Manchester, TN. Bonnaroo 2026 will once again present a fantastic lineup of top artists performing around the clock across more than 10 unique stages over the four-day festival, with live music and much more through the night and into early morning with special sunrise sets. This year’s highlights include headline performances from Skrillex, The Strokes, RÜFÜS DU SOL, and Noah Kahan, along with top-billed live sets from GRiZ, Turnstile, Teddy Swims, The Neighbourhood, Role Model, Kesha, and many more. In addition, Kesha will lead the 2026 Superjam, titled “KESHA PRESENTS: SUPERJÂM ESOTERÍCA: THE ALCHEMY OF POP,” and “Weird Al” Yankovic will be performing a special late-night Saturday set called “Bigger & Weirder Saturday Late Night Roovue.” The complete Bonnaroo 2026 lineup is below.

Bonnaroo tickets go on sale Friday, December 5th at 10:00 am (CT), exclusively via bonnaroo.com. 2026 ticket options include 4-Day General Admission, 4-Day GA+, 4-Day VIP, 4-Day Platinum, and 4-Day Roo Insider, along with a variety of camping and parking options.

Bonnaroo also offers upgraded ticket types for those who prefer an elevated experience. GA+ tickets include unlimited access to the Centeroo GA+ Lounge, with relaxed seating, dedicated food for purchase, air-conditioned restrooms, and hospitality staff to assist with all festival needs; a private bar with drinks for purchase plus complimentary soft drinks; a dedicated premium entrance lane at both gates into Centeroo, and more. VIP and Platinum guests will enjoy the same perks plus dedicated close-in and on-field viewing areas; unlimited access to VIP and Platinum air-conditioned Lounges; an express lane at the main festival store and artist merch store, commemorative festival gifts, and so much more. To learn more about all Premium experiences, please see http://www.bonnaroo.com/tickets.

A wide range of Camping & Parking options will be available in Outeroo, including Primitive Car Camping, Glamping, RVs, Backstage Camping, Accessible Camping, Groop Camping, Community Camping, and more. Premium Outeroo Camping Accommodations include pre-pitched Souvenir Tents, cool and comfortable Darkroom Tents, Luxury Bell Tents, and spacious 2-person Wood Frame Safari Tents for the ultimate Bonnaroo camping experience. Cosmic Nomads On-Site Daily Parking passes will be available for ticketholders who are not camping. For details on all accommodation options, please visit www.bonnaroo.com/accommodations.

Bonnaroo 2026 will also see an array of new experiences along with significant upgrades to the Farm, including improved drainage, miles of new roadways, and 135 acres of new turf. In addition, the much-beloved Bonnaroo bandanas will be back this year. 2026 will also see the long-awaited return of Bonnaroo Radio, providing exclusive programming like throwback Bonnaroo performances, interviews, traffic and weather updates, and more as fans arrive at the Farm and throughout the weekend.

Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival is generously supported by PayPal, Venmo, and Verizon.

THE COMPLETE BONNAROO 2026 LINEUP IS BELOW:

THURSDAY

• Skrillex
• Four Tet
• Vince Staples
• Spiritual Cramp

FRIDAY

• The Strokes
• Griz
• Turnstile
• Mt. Joy
• Major Lazer
• Jessie Murph
• Yungblud
• Geese
• Cloonee
• Lil Jon
• Blood Orange
• Wet Leg
• Hot Mulligan
• bbno$
• Zack Fox
• Smino
• Sidepiece
• Rachel Chinouriri
• The Dare
• Adventure Club
• NOTION
• Mother Mother
• Łaszewo
• Blues Traveler
• Wolfmother
• Wednesday
• The Chats
• Lambrini Girls
• Amble
• Daniel Allan
• Goldie Boutilier
• Dora Jar
• Villanelle
• Jackie Hollander
• PawPaw Rod

SATURDAY

• RÜFÜS DU SOL
• Teddy Swims
• The Neighbourhood
• Alabama Shakes
• Chase & Status
• Sara Landry
• Rainbow Kitten Surprise
• Freddie Gibbs & The Alchemist
• Amyl & The Sniffers
• Sub Focus
• Gorgon City
• flipturn
• Passion Pit
• Snow Strippers
• Tash Sultana
• Wyatt Flores
• Boys Noize
• Holly Humberstone
• Deathpact
• SG Lewis
• Osees
• Waylon Wyatt
• The Runarounds
• DJ Trixie Mattel
• Buffalo Traffic Jam
• Confidence Man
• Arcy Drive
• Mountain Grass Unit
• Juelz
• The Stews
• Congress The Band
• Midnight Generation
• Sunami
• Nikita, The Wicked
• "Weird Al" Yankovic Bigger & Weirder Roovue
• KESHA PRESENTS: SUPERJÂM ESOTERÍCA: THE ALCHEMY OF POP

SUNDAY

• Noah Kahan
• Role Model
• Kesha
• Tedeschi Trucks Band
• LSZEE
• Clipse
• Mariah the Scientist
• Daily Bread
• Modest Mouse
• Big Gigantic
• Japanese Breakfast
• Turnover
• San Holo
• Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue
• Del Water Gap
• Spacey Jane
• Audrey Hobert
• Fcukers
• Blondshell
• Little Stranger
• Aly & AJ
• Hemlocke Springs
• Steph Strings
• A Hundred Drums
• Girl Tones
• Motifv

“The title definitely makes a statement,” says Alex Skolnick, referring to Prove You’re Not a Robot, the latest release by his jazz-rock ensemble, the Alex Skolnick Trio. “On the one hand, it’s a phrase we’ve all encountered online, and I think, ‘Why should I have to prove I’m not a robot, especially when a robot is posing the question?’

“On the other hand, there’s a musical statement,” he continues. “There’s been a decline in many types of music, most of it in the pop world where a lot of it has become more robotic. They’ve conducted tests and have found that people can’t tell the difference between actual artists and AI-generated music, but that doesn’t happen with jazz. When you get a quality group of dedicated musicians, their work can’t be replicated.”

You’d need one exceptionally crafty robot to replicate Alex Skolnick. On one side, there’s his blistering thrash-metal persona, honed over nearly four decades with Bay Area legends Testament. On the other, there’s his sharp, high-energy jazz improvisation with the Alex Skolnick Trio. Sometimes it’s hard to believe that all of it actually comes from the same person.

​Alex Skolnick’s Gear

Guitars

• Gibson ES-347
• Allparts Stratocaster
• Roger Sadowsky SS-16 archtop
• ESP Alex Skolnick
• ESP LTD Alex Skolnick AS-1

Amps

• Tyler Amp Works (“the one modeled after the Fender Princeton”)
• 1965 Fender Deluxe Reverb (“also part of my tax write-off”)

Effects

• Electro-Harmonix POG2 octave generator
• JAM Rattler distortion
• Crazy Tube Circuits Splash reverb
• MXR Phase 90

Strings, Picks and Cables

• D’Addario flat wounds, NYXL, XS
• Dunlop picks
• D’Addario cables

“I’ve heard it compared to how an actor changes roles, and I get that,” he says. “When I warm up for a show with the trio, I work on my Grant Green and my Wes Montgomery. But when I’m getting ready to play with Testament, I click on the distortion and go for some Van Halen or [Allan] Holdsworth. The actor is the same, but the script is different.”

Continuing with the analogy, he says, “Instead of changing costumes, I’m changing gear. I wouldn’t play screaming metal on a ’76 Gibson L-5 archtop, just as I wouldn’t try to play jazz through an Orange Rockerverb cranked on the overdrive channel. So the person’s the same, but the tools are different. The bottom line is, it all feels very natural to me.”

From the start, the AST specialized in wildly inventive, improv-heavy covers of hard rock and metal tunes. Over the years, the band has had their way with “Detroit Rock City,” “Dream On,” “War Pigs,” “No One Like You,” Goodbye to Romance,” “Highway Star” and “Tom Sawyer,” among others. Not every tune lends itself to interpretation, however. As Skolnick points out, “Whenever you’re playing a song that’s essentially a vehicle for improvisation, it has to have a strong, identifiable melody—that’s key. Even when we take things really outside, the foundation of the song is the melody. The Kiss songs we’ve done—great melodies. Same with ‘Dream On.’ I would put the Scorpions at the top of the list. Every song of theirs has a melody you could play on a saxophone.”

“When I warm up for a show with the trio, I work on my Grant Green and my Wes Montgomery. But when I’m getting ready to play with Testament, I click on the distortion and go for some Van Halen.”

Thus far, all efforts to transpose AC/DC to free-form jazz have proved elusive. “They’ve got great riffs and grooves, but they’re not big on strong vocal melodies,” he says. “Trying to do one of our arrangements with AC/DC would be like covering James Brown. Incredible music and awesome grooves, but it’s not about the melody.”

Lately, Skolnick and company (drummer Matt Zebroski and bassist Nathan Peck) have placed more emphasis on original material, but they haven’t bagged the covers entirely: Prove You’re Not a Robot includes “Armondo’s Mood,” a cheeky mashup of Chick Corea’s “Armando’s Rhumba” and Steve Howe’s “Mood for a Day” that beautifully showcases Skolnick’s breezy, delicate touch and dulcet tones. There’s also a hypnotic take on Tom Petty’s classic “Breakdown” that sees the guitarist skipping and pirouetting across the fretboard over multiple time signatures. “That one came about the day Tom Petty died,” Skolnick explains. “I went on stage and said, ‘We just lost Tom Petty,’ and we started playing the vamp. When we decided to record it, I knew that I didn’t want to just copy the original, so we made it slower and did odd-time sections. In a lot of ways, it’s inspired by Dave Brubeck and Paul Desmond.”

Among the album’s original tunes, “Polish Goodbye” is a snarky and sassy modern-age lounge affair that offers sticksman Zebroski considerable room to stretch out and flex his chops, while “Asking for a Friend” is a shimmering (and at times, aching) ballad built on Skolnick’s spare, contemplative melodies. The effervescent “Guiding Ethos” ranks as one of the guitarist’s most memorable compositions, and his playing—in particular, an extended steel-string acoustic solo—rises to meet the quality of his writing.

“I actually wrote that song on the piano,” he reveals. “That was my first instrument, but I had a teacher who wasn’t very inspiring, and so I got into the guitar. Lately, I’ve revisited playing the piano a bit—I’ve gotten into some good jams—and I came up with the parts that became ‘Guiding Ethos.’ I transferred it to guitar and thought it sounded nice, particularly this section that’s so bright and shiny. It offered me a lot of spots to go places and have cool key changes.”

“Instead of changing costumes, I’m changing gear.”

The song, he continues, “was meant for steel-string acoustic, particularly the solo. I knew I wanted the sound to really pop, and as it turned out, right before we did the album, I had needed a tax write-off, so I allowed myself to buy a guitar that I might normally have considered an extravagance.”

The guitar in question is a 1935 Gibson L-00 acoustic that Skolnick found while poking around at RetroFret Vintage Guitars in Brooklyn. “They had over a dozen guitars from the ’30s and ’40s, and I went around and played them all,” he says. “Some were easy to play, some were hard to play. They all sounded good, but some sounded great. The L-00 sounded great and was easy to play. It’s a parlor guitar, but it blows a lot of my other guitars out of the water. The people at the studio where we recorded were like, ‘That is one of the best guitars we’ve ever heard. It sounds like it has a microphone on it.’”

Perhaps more importantly, the guitarist’s accountant also weighed in with his assessment. “He said, ‘Well done,’” Skolnick says with a laugh. “All in all, it was worth the money.”

I’ve always been the kind of player who avoided going direct to the mixing board or FOH whenever I could. But lately, the stage reality has forced me to make peace with the direct setup. Seeing a real guitar amp onstage now feels like stumbling across a rare oasis. I often end up borrowing a friend’s Boss IR-200 just to blend in with this new stage normal. Not because it’s the ultimate box, but because it’s what I can get my hands on. If all I could find was a cheap Sonicake IR loader, I’d still take it—anything to save the gig.

Then my five-year-old son started learning guitar and asked for a stompbox. I first thought of getting him a multi-fx—cheap, practical, a good way to explore sounds. But he had one condition: everything had to be blue. Finding a blue multi-fx was harder than I expected—Boss ME units are rare, the Zoom MS series wasn’t “blue enough”—so I got him a DigiTech Screamin’ Blues. Affordable, with a cab-sim out that might come in handy for me, too. I tried it, and to my surprise, I loved its raw, simple tone.

Part of me wanted to get him something digital signal processing (DSP)-based for consistency and versatility, but I found myself overwhelmed by the sheer number of options. It felt like buying a mystery box. And that made me realize—this personal dilemma is just a microcosm of a bigger trend. Digital technology is reshaping not only how we play and hear but also how we define guitar tone.

We are living in the golden age of digital emulation. Amps, pedals, mixers, even speakers—nearly everything that was once purely analog has been distilled into algorithms. As with every revolution, mass adoption comes with pushback. The “amp sims vs. real amps” question still rages on, a never-ending debate.

But strip away the nostalgia of glowing tubes and “the warmth of the amp,” and one fact stands out: DSP leaps forward year after year. We’re now in the age of AI and machine learning.

Flashback to 2011 when the Kemper Profiler dropped like a bomb on the guitar universe, offering the first device that could capture the “DNA” of an amp and recreate it so convincingly that most players couldn’t tell the difference. With IR loading built in, players could now carry studio-grade tone straight to the stage.

Of course, such tech came at a price, and not everyone could afford a Kemper. Slowly, alternatives emerged: IR loader pedals like the Two Notes Torpedo Cab, multi-fx units like the Line 6 Helix and Boss GT-1000, and even software plugins that approached hardware-level realism for a fraction of the cost.

“Are we heading toward an oversaturated market, maybe even a bubble burst?”

This perfectly illustrates Moore’s Law: as technology advances, production costs drop. What once required a computer-killing amount of processing power can now fit inside a compact pedal. Today, a stompbox can run hundreds of high-res IRs with sub-2 ms latency. DSP devaluation has made pro-level tone available to everyone: flagship rigs like the Neural DSP Quad Cortex, Fractal Axe-Fx, and Fender Tone Master Pro; mid-tier units like the Line 6 Helix, Boss GX-100, Boss IR-200, Headrush MX5, and IK TONEX; and budget-friendly gear from Mooer, NUX, Valeton, Joyo—even open-source IR loaders. What used to be reserved for high-end studios, pro musicians, or crazy rich hobbyists is now in the hands of bedroom players with nothing more than a laptop or smartphone.

Impulse responses became the cornerstone of cab simulation, allowing us to “photograph” the sonic fingerprint of a cab, mic, and room, then swap between them at will—Marshall 4x12 to Fender 2x12, studio ribbon mic to SM57, even legendary room captures—all just a file change away.

If profiling is like a still photograph, capture is like a moving picture. Capture technology, as seen in the Quad Cortex and TONEX, uses machine learning to model non-linear behaviors like sag, clipping, and dynamic response, producing results almost indistinguishable from the real gear. Many touring pros are now comfortable leaving their amps at home and going direct with digital rigs and IEMs—something that would’ve been unthinkable 15 years ago.

And yet, despite how good this tech has become, purists still argue that amps and cabs have a soul that can’t be cloned. They talk about speaker interaction, power-amp sag, and the physical push of air. The other camp counters that consistency, portability, and reliability outweigh the romance of hauling heavy tube amps.

This paradox fascinates me. Sometimes I wonder if all these breakthroughs are just ways to solve logistics and efficiency problems. Why do so many of our algorithms seem stuck in a loop of chasing “perfect emulation?” Because in the end, emulation is still just imitation. I find myself longing for innovation that pushes us forward—toward creativity that truly inspires. I think back to the first time I tried the EHX Freeze and Superego pedals —not amp simulators at all, but they gave me a true “eureka” moment.

And so I keep coming back to a phrase that feels both inevitable and frightening: saturation point. Every year brings dozens of new products, but the differences between them get smaller and smaller. Are we heading toward an oversaturated market, maybe even a bubble burst? Perhaps now is the perfect moment for the industry to step away from the arms race of “better emulation” and offer something beyond—an oasis of new ideas that encourage players to create, explore, and be inspired to make music.

Hybrid picking is a technique used by many players that combines regular flatpicking with fingerpicking. It’s not all arpeggio and patterns though. Caitlin Caggiano guides us through a lesson using this picking technique for chords, melodic lines, and lead lines, and she shows us how the Beatles, Heart, and others have applied hybrid picking to create classic parts. In this video, you’ll learn what hybrid picking is, why we use it, how to implement good technique, and how to practice and apply the technique in your playing.

In the modern guitar lexicon, few names scream “new frontier” like Tosin Abasi. As the creative engine of Animals as Leaders, he’s helped reframe the electric guitar’s vocabulary. But unlike Jimi Hendrix, Eddie Van Halen, or Steve Vai before him, he’s done it not on six strings—or even seven—but on eight. So maybe it’s only fitting that he’s now CEO of Abasi Concepts, the only “guitar solutions” company that can deliver the instruments he needs for his otherworldly technique.

Abasi’s not doing it alone. Abasi Concepts co-founder and COO Ivan Chopik has deep roots in the guitar industry. Along with his background in manufacturing and supply-chain development, he is the founder and editor-in-chief of Guitar Messenger. This experience brings a rare duality to the brand: a guitarist with deep genre fluency combined with a business-operations mind focused on precision.

Through our conversation, it became clear that their partnership runs on an unspoken principle: innovation born from problem solving. Rather than chasing trends, Abasi Concepts begins with questions like, “What keeps extended-range guitars from feeling effortless? How should ergonomics evolve as the register expands? Where does resonance get lost between wood, hardware, and finish?”

Their answers don’t arrive as marketing slogans—they take shape in the lines, contours, and design choices that put a guitarist’s hands first, while giving their eyes something just as striking.

Far from the typical hype of “the future of guitars,” these two talented players treat design like composition: eliminate noise, enhance articulation, and let ideas breathe. If there’s a better way to do something, find it, refine it, or create it.

PG sat down with Abasi and Chopik to explore how they translate that ethos into instruments, and why their brand of innovation stands apart as the genuine article.

Tosin, your partnership with Ibanez led the charge for 8-string guitars. And then, as everybody was expecting the next Ibanez Abasi signature model, you launched Abasi Concepts. What inspired you to go into the guitar business?

Tosin Abasi: I had a close to a 10-year relationship with Ibanez, but there were a lot of realities of dealing with such a large company that started to make the process feel less than ideal for us. It got to the point where I felt I could take it and bring it to life on my own.

And I did negotiate ownership of that original body design, so the Larada [model] started life as an Ibanez.

So to avoid the red tape at Ibanez, you thought, “I know what will be easier. I’ll start a company.”

Abasi: [laughs] A part of what informed that was my experience of making custom 8-string guitars. I liked the whole luthier experience of having a bespoke handmade instrument. It was attractive to make a made-in-the-USA, smaller-scale instrument; something closer to a Suhr or something of that caliber.

It was also a perfect storm of living in Southern California. There are a lot of guitar builders here, so what seems like a pie in the sky idea, if you’re in Southern California, all of that infrastructure is there.

Ivan, how did you connect with Tosin to create Abasi Concepts?

Ivan Chopik: Our first meeting was actually through my interview with Tosin for Guitar Messenger in 2010. Later, myself and one other guy started the metal ensemble at Berklee [College of Music]. We had a small budget to bring in visiting artists, and I was like, “Man, we have to bring Tosin in here.” He came to Berklee, did a performance there, and we stayed in touch.

Abasi: I knew Ivan could wear many hats. Ivan has this capacity in the business sense, but he’s also a great guitar player. So when it comes to making decisions, we’re not a business that doesn’t understand the culture of guitar playing. We both play, and we’re both very passionate.

“I think a lot of 8-string guitars attempt to scale up a 6-string into an 8-string. I wanted to treat the 8-string as its own consideration.”—Tosin Abasi

You launched Abasi Concepts with the Larada, a guitar design that definitely makes a statement. What informs your designs, and why do you think players are so willing to embrace them?

Abasi: I think the search began as more of trying to answer a problem. I think a lot of 8-string guitars attempt to scale up a 6-string into an 8-string. But I felt that a ground-up approach made more sense. I wanted to treat the 8-string as its own consideration. So there was a solution-oriented approach.

Chopik: It was exciting to rethink a lot of those things as its own instrument, rather than an extended version of something that already exists.

Still, both the Larada and your ēmi model are more than exercises in function over form. What made you lean into such a bold design instead of something more traditional?

Abasi: We wanted to offer an aspirational instrument. I feel like every player has a poster on their wall of a guitar they’d pull the trigger on if they ever made enough money. But, as a metal guitarist playing an extended-range guitar, there wasn’t the same prestige to many of the options.

We also wanted to communicate, aesthetically, that we are forward-thinking. The music I make, I’m very concerned with new musical horizons. So we wanted an instrument that encapsulated all of these concepts.

Chopik: I think it’s also important to notice that all the ergonomics and design choices, while modern, are all from the player’s perspective. All the different curves, all the cutouts; there’s an aesthetic choice, but there’s also a functional one. That’s where there’s a connection between the design and the player’s perspective.

Two guitar players can come at the same thing from very different perspectives. How do you two balance that?

Chopik: I toured with progressive metal bands for some years. And I was hugely inspired and influenced by Animals As Leaders and Periphery when they came out. So there’s definitely a lot of overlap in the things that we like. But, over the years, I came full circle to one of my first loves, which is blues.

So we do come at it from different angles, and there are different iterations of gear that serve what we’re doing. But [the guitars are] a good example of something that extends beyond the realm of what one set of musicians might expect.

Abasi: I think it’s great. As idiosyncratic and distinct as my playing style is, we are trying to offer a guitar that works for other styles as well.

Like, Ivan’s an interesting player. He can do the progressive metal thing, but he can also … I call it “Dad Hands,” where he’s like, “Does the guitar have fight in it?” [laughs]

That’s how we achieve this balance where the guitar does excel at very modern and distinct styles of music, but also doesn’t fail to deliver classic and established tones.

“All the ergonomics and design choices, while modern, are all from the player’s perspective.”—Ivan Chopik

Currently, you offer versions of two body styles. And customers have to be signed up for your newsletter to be notified of availability. Why follow such a limited-release model?

Chopik: We base a lot of releases around streamlining the manufacturing process. Having greater consistency for our team helps them stay very connected and gives us better visibility into [quality control].

The customer is more informed than ever, and they have more choices than ever. They’re looking for every last detail, and they’re informed about specs. We have to answer to that, and we’re very specific with it. So, ultimately, the consistency comes from our standards, the design itself, and how we want to see it executed.

Abasi: It’s relatively boutique and lean. We want to consider every product we release. We want it to be meaningful, and the Larada was the starting point.

We know what we think the guitar needs to be, and there are so many variables that come together to make a guitar that feels that special. It could be as minute as the number of coats sprayed on the body at a facility, which affects the guitar’s resonance. This is the level of granularity we’re getting down to.

You’ve also released the Pathos Distortion and Micro Aggressor compressor pedals. Why branch out from guitars?

Abasi: Abasi Concepts was always meant to be an umbrella encompassing more than just guitar design. We’re interested in solutions across the board. And part of the fun of having the company is that we get to manifest the things we wish existed.

With the Pathos pedal, Brian [Wampler] had existing circuitry, and we got together and tweaked it to taste. Ivan and I both personally use this pedal, and it does a really good job of achieving an amp-like feel in pedal form.

Compression isn’t even on the radar for a lot of guitar players, and then the ones that exist don’t always feel great on the guitar. So the Micro Aggressor has an almost amp-type bloom and response, similar to cranking a tube amp and having the power section start to work a bit. It’s another thing where I think we’re solving something.

“Part of the fun of having the company is that we get to manifest the things we wish existed.”—Tosin Abasi

Tosin, you’re playing tube amps these days, but you guys also collaborated with Neural DSP on the Abasi: Archetype plugin suite. Are there plans to broaden the line into amplifiers and additional plugins?

Abasi: We’d love to have an offering in each of those spaces. Software is a territory that we have not really stepped into yet, but it is clearly of such utility that it would make sense. But Ivan and I are both big fans of tube amplifiers. There’s no substitute for playing an amp in a room. So the amp thing has been a conversation.

What about the instruments themselves? What kinds of designs can Abasi Concepts fans look forward to?

Abasi: We’ve been dabbling in nylon-string instruments, since I have some tracks that use that sound. We also want to offer instruments at a lower price point. It’s hard to make these things in the United States to the caliber we’re trying to make them, but we’re sensitive to the fact that there are players who don’t have enough to buy the Masterbuilt stuff.

Chopik: That’s where our Legion Series comes in. The idea was to give players the chance to experience the same design language and feel that defines what we do, but at a more approachable price point. Both lines come from the same DNA, but the Legion models are bolt-on, with a thin U-profile neck that’s flatter and faster. The materials also play a big role. For instance, wenge necks are unique to the Legion line.

We’re also looking at a semihollow take on the Larada. In the same spirit, it’s looking to solve issues with traditional design.

You’ve definitely carved out your own lane, but there’s been a noticeable rise in artists and influencers starting their own gear companies. Why do you think that’s happening?

Abasi: It’s an extension of the fact that artists have direct relationships with their fans and manufacturers. Before, that connection was filtered through record labels and publications. We’re in a paradigm now where you have direct access to turning those ideas into reality.

Also, artists are reclaiming their brand value. They can hold the keys and deliver instruments that represent their vision directly. I actually think we will see more of it.

Chopik: It’s interesting to see this formula growing and expanding, and the gap between artist and product narrowing. It’s a lot of work. And had we known the journey that we would be on, a lot of it would have seemed unreasonable. But we held it together because we had such a strong belief that it was going to work.

“Unreasonable” is an interesting word choice. From Animals as Leaders’ first album to the Larada’s body style, you guys have practically cornered the market on unreasonable.

Chopik: [laughs] Yeah, for sure. I mean, look, we built this thing from the ground up, and funded it ourselves. And you know, we learned lessons along the way. It’s definitely been a journey.

An all-analog flange and chorus with a lot of character.

Way back in the 2010s, before starting Mr. Black as his pedal-building outlet, when Jack DeVille was releasing effects under his own name, he created the Mod Zero. This multi-modulation unit covered flanging, chorus, rotary effects, and vibrato, and, with a limited run of 250 units, gained a reputation and is long sold out.

Although Mr. Black’s Mod.One is not that pedal, this all-original unit designed by DeVille follows a similar mission, and its reverential name is surely no accident. The Mod.One is a 100-percent-analog modulator that spans chorus, flange, and high-band flange with a unique control set designed for flexibility, sonic excitement, options and a lot of character.

Controls for the Curious

If you come to the Mod.One a little fuzzy on the differences between chorus and flange, here’s a brief explanation: Chorus is created using a slower set of delay times on a secondary, parallel signal. Flange uses shorter delay times, and high-band flange the shortest. On the Mod.One, a pair of knobs—one for lower limit and one for upper limit—allow users to set that range of delay times. The lower limit knob has a max delay of 31 mS and a minimum delay of 1.9 ms. The upper limit knob ranges from 1.9 ms to .5 ms. Within those ranges, you’ll find the difference between chorus and flanging, and the position of the two knobs, rather than a switch, determines which effect you’re using. Ultimately, I’m a firm believer that we should use our ears and not get hung up on definitions when listening to an effect. The Mod.One is a great example. Determining exact delay times and whether you’re chorusing or flanging is inexact but ultimately it doesn’t matter. What matters is what sounds good.

The lower limit/upper limit controls might frustrate purists that want to toggle between a clearly defined chorus and flange tone. But Mod.One’s controls, and its central premise, are all about sound sculpting and opening up creative options. And options abound: LFO speed, for example, reaches up to 20 seconds long when using the tap-tempo switch. Six waveform options also widen the sonic lane.

Let’s Get Exponential

The Mod.One is powerful in a literal sense. The active volume control provides plenty of juice, and is capable of really pushing whatever comes next in your chain. That lends a gooey vibe to everything that passes through the pedal. Whether you use that power to drive your amp or not, the combo of gain and all-analog circuitry give the Mod.One a warm, thick voice. This is not just another metallic-sounding flange device.

I found myself stomping on the Mod.One to add space and texture to rhythms, riffs, and leads that cover a lot of range. Sometimes, I was looking for subtlety—Andy Summers on “Walking on the Moon,” for example. For that, I kept the enhance knob, which determines the intensity of the effect, toward lower settings, and kept the speed on the slowest part of its range, which generates molasses-like movement. For more obvious results, I nudged the speed and enhance knobs. There’s a lot of play in each control, so it doesn’t take much to get things moving in a different direction. The enhance control can even self-oscillate at the top of its range, where more extreme sounds live.

Each of these controls interacts differently with alternate waveform settings, making the possibilities exponential. If there’s one complaint I have about the Mod.One—and I do think it’s just one—it’s that it’s hard to tell which waveform is selected. When experimenting by ear, that’s not the worst thing, but when searching for specific settings, it can be hard to tell if the single LED lights up in a sine, triangle, or other pattern. Eventually I got better at telling the difference, but I didn’t always nail it.

To get some ’70s pseudo-cosmiche tones for a recording project, I rocked the triangle, sine, and hypertriangle waveforms at varying levels of excess. And all three were useful for thickening up high-fretted chordage rather than just the crystalline kind of flange I tend to associate with Prince. I found true excess with the step wave selected and the enhance cranked to its fullest, and there are many experimental sounds to be heard in these wilder places. With so many variables at play, I know there is a lot to be discovered still, which makes the Mod.One compelling.

The Verdict

The Mod.One is a powerful flange and chorus with a strong, recognizable character and wide range. It’s not a do-it-all kind of modulator meant to compete with digital units. But this all-analog device can deliver texture to your sound at dosages that are easily controlled. The unique sculpting possibilities make it exciting and refreshing, and in my time with the pedal, I was impressed with how much I hadn’t yet discovered. It strikes a difficult balance between a quick learning curve and the kind of depth that’ll keep it in heavy rotation for a long time to come. It simply sounds excellent, too.

Way back in the 2010s, before starting Mr. Black as his pedal-building outlet, when Jack DeVille was releasing effects under his own name, he created the Mod Zero. This multi-modulation unit covered flanging, chorus, rotary effects, and vibrato, and, with a limited run of 250 units, gained a reputation and is long sold out.

Although Mr. Black’s Mod.One is not that pedal, this all-original unit designed by DeVille follows a similar mission, and its reverential name is surely no accident. The Mod.One is a 100-percent-analog modulator that spans chorus, flange, and high-band flange with a unique control set designed for flexibility, sonic excitement, options and a lot of character.

Controls for the Curious

If you come to the Mod.One a little fuzzy on the differences between chorus and flange, here’s a brief explanation: Chorus is created using a slower set of delay times on a secondary, parallel signal. Flange uses shorter delay times, and high-band flange the shortest. On the Mod.One, a pair of knobs—one for lower limit and one for upper limit—allow users to set that range of delay times. The lower limit knob has a max delay of 31 mS and a minimum delay of 1.9 ms. The upper limit knob ranges from 1.9 ms to .5 ms. Within those ranges, you’ll find the difference between chorus and flanging, and the position of the two knobs, rather than a switch, determines which effect you’re using. Ultimately, I’m a firm believer that we should use our ears and not get hung up on definitions when listening to an effect. The Mod.One is a great example. Determining exact delay times and whether you’re chorusing or flanging is inexact but ultimately it doesn’t matter. What matters is what sounds good.

The lower limit/upper limit controls might frustrate purists that want to toggle between a clearly defined chorus and flange tone. But Mod.One’s controls, and its central premise, are all about sound sculpting and opening up creative options. And options abound: LFO speed, for example, reaches up to 20 seconds long when using the tap-tempo switch. Six waveform options also widen the sonic lane.

Let’s Get Exponential

The Mod.One is powerful in a literal sense. The active volume control provides plenty of juice, and is capable of really pushing whatever comes next in your chain. That lends a gooey vibe to everything that passes through the pedal. Whether you use that power to drive your amp or not, the combo of gain and all-analog circuitry give the Mod.One a warm, thick voice. This is not just another metallic-sounding flange device.

I found myself stomping on the Mod.One to add space and texture to rhythms, riffs, and leads that cover a lot of range. Sometimes, I was looking for subtlety—Andy Summers on “Walking on the Moon,” for example. For that, I kept the enhance knob, which determines the intensity of the effect, toward lower settings, and kept the speed on the slowest part of its range, which generates molasses-like movement. For more obvious results, I nudged the speed and enhance knobs. There’s a lot of play in each control, so it doesn’t take much to get things moving in a different direction. The enhance control can even self-oscillate at the top of its range, where more extreme sounds live.

Each of these controls interacts differently with alternate waveform settings, making the possibilities exponential. If there’s one complaint I have about the Mod.One—and I do think it’s just one—it’s that it’s hard to tell which waveform is selected. When experimenting by ear, that’s not the worst thing, but when searching for specific settings, it can be hard to tell if the single LED lights up in a sine, triangle, or other pattern. Eventually I got better at telling the difference, but I didn’t always nail it.

To get some ’70s pseudo-cosmiche tones for a recording project, I rocked the triangle, sine, and hypertriangle waveforms at varying levels of excess. And all three were useful for thickening up high-fretted chordage rather than just the crystalline kind of flange I tend to associate with Prince. I found true excess with the step wave selected and the enhance cranked to its fullest, and there are many experimental sounds to be heard in these wilder places. With so many variables at play, I know there is a lot to be discovered still, which makes the Mod.One compelling.

The Verdict

The Mod.One is a powerful flange and chorus with a strong, recognizable character and wide range. It’s not a do-it-all kind of modulator meant to compete with digital units. But this all-analog device can deliver texture to your sound at dosages that are easily controlled. The unique sculpting possibilities make it exciting and refreshing, and in my time with the pedal, I was impressed with how much I hadn’t yet discovered. It strikes a difficult balance between a quick learning curve and the kind of depth that’ll keep it in heavy rotation for a long time to come. It simply sounds excellent, too.

There’s a fairly popular reality-television show that focuses on a pawn shop in Las Vegas where, in the opening credits, the proprietor says, “You never know what is gonna come through that door.” I imagine that to be true of most pawn shops, and I also know it to be true at guitar shops. In fact, it’s been true of every one I’ve ever worked in, especially applicable at my store, Relic Music. Maybe it’s because of the left-of-center stuff we typically specialize in; maybe it’s our geographic location; maybe it’s our reputation. But folks never seem to shy away from bringing us things we’ve never seen before (and often, never even knew existed). Like so many others, this particular story began with a phone call, and it ended with one of the most peculiar instruments I’ve ever had the chance to check out.

It’s not uncommon for people in this industry to get called to sites to look at collections, and that was the case with this call. The gentleman on the phone was vetting several shops to find the right fit to help sell his friend’s guitar collection. After calling several, he found us to be that fit. So I got in my car, drove up the Garden State Parkway to Rockland County, New York, and examined a collection that was truly remarkable. Beautiful and rare Parker, Klein, Teuffel, Spalt, and Linda Manzer pieces were some of the stars of the show.

But what stood out to me most about this collection was that out of 75 incredible guitars, he had just one Fender and one Gibson. Most people with a collection that large would have a much more sizable percentage of each brand given their dominance in the marketplace; but not this collector. And when that Gibson case caught my eye, sizable was the exact word that came to mind.

Sometime in the early 1990s, Gibson Custom Shop manager and master luthier Roger Giffin received a request from a client asking him to build something very special. It wasn’t David Gilmour, it wasn’t Eric Clapton, and it wasn’t Jimmy Page. It wasn’t a special, historic Les Paul, or a lavish L-5, or even an SG. It was an 18-string Explorer-style harp guitar. Yes—you read that correctly.

When I opened the case, it took my brain a while to process it. At first, I thought, “Despite the Gibson logo on the headstock, this is the craziest Frankenstein-mod-job in history.” But then I remembered the case was clearly Gibson, and given the selected nature of the rest of the collection, it was probably something legitimate and very special. Research was needed. Calls had to be made. And above all else, I was dying to set this monstrosity up in an open tuning, plug it into a vintage Hiwatt stack with a bunch of pedals, run a bow across the strings, and bask in its potential magnificence. (Sadly, I never got to do this, and I will probably regret it forever.) I made sure to put it in the car first—not because it was beyond wild, but because I had to make sure it fit. I got the guitar back to the shop and we started to dig in.

It was made of all mahogany, finished in what appeared to be a slightly naturally aged wine red. It had a beautiful Brazilian rosewood fretboard detailed with two aged-pearl stripe inlays, an enormous Seymour Duncan pickup—which was in reality three Duncans wound together—an adjustable mute, custom tailpiece that artistically matched the rest of the guitar, and single volume and tone knobs with pots from 1968. It also had a 5-ply black pickguard, gold hardware, a special cutout on the neck’s bass side (for what I assume to be easier carry), and, finally, an absolutely huge headstock adorned with one of the coolest “stingers” of all time.

Once everything checked out, my brain immediately shifted into “who would dig this?” territory. After all, we all have things on our lists that we hope to see whenever we enter guitar shops, and if these shops are doing things the right way, they remember someone saying something like, “If any one-off ‘Harp-splorers’ come in, please call me.” Aside from the usual cast of characters you might imagine wanting something like this, I knew where this piece had to end up. After calling our friends, and taking a road trip from New Jersey to Nashville, this guitar ended up back home at Gibson.

Is this guitar for everyone? I think the answer is obvious, but pieces like this keep what we do fun and interesting. Do we love finding pre-CBS Fenders, pre-war Martins, and ’50s/’60s Les Pauls & SGs? You bet. But still being surprised by the crazy, seldom-seen guitars that are out there, waiting to be re-discovered is a reason to get up in the morning.

You might know Tim Shaw, but you've heard his work. He's a lifelong guitar nut that's shaped the sound of your heroes. He's learned from Bill Lawrence, resuscitated the vintage-spec PAF for Gibson, and currently has developed dozens of new and updated pickups for Fender, including the popular Shawbucker and revived the heralded CuNiFe Wide Range humbuckers. But that's just the start of his story, enjoy the hour-long chat host by John Bohlinger. Sponsored by StewMac: https://stewmac.sjv.io/APO2ED

You might know Tim Shaw, but you've heard his work. He's a lifelong guitar nut that's shaped the sound of your heroes. He's learned from Bill Lawrence, resuscitated the vintage-spec PAF for Gibson, and currently has developed dozens of new and updated pickups for Fender, including the popular Shawbucker and revived the heralded CuNiFe Wide Range humbuckers. But that's just the start of his story, enjoy the hour-long chat host by John Bohlinger. Sponsored by StewMac: https://stewmac.sjv.io/APO2ED

Reader: Andrew Waugh

Hometown: Stockton-on-Tees, England
Guitar: Ebenezer

I'm always impressed by the luthier skills and/or expense invested in other reader's guitars. This guitar, however, is the complete opposite. I call it “Ebenezer” after a certain Dickens character who would have been delighted by how little I spent on it.

Intrigued by the design’s simplicity and the idea that the tone is purer without the extra magnetic pull of a neck pickup, I’ve wanted to try a Fender Esquire-type instrument for a long time. Near where I live in the U.K. I found a Telecaster copy on a local forum for a ridiculously low £15. It turned out to be almost as-new and played pretty well. Sure, it’s in-your-face yellow; butterscotch blonde would have been nice, but beggars can’t be choosers! I ordered an Esquire-type pickguard, compensated brass saddles, and a budget-line alnico bridge pickup to replace the ceramic one the guitar came with. Total: £43. You can’t do Esquire-type wiring with an inexpensive sealed 3-terminal selector switch, so I had to fork out £7 for a blade-type switch.

“Ebenezer’s Esquire-style wiring gives me loads of sustain and upper harmonics to work with.”

With the whole thing now costing a wallet-wrenching £65, I only had to choose which wiring scheme to adopt. It might have been interesting to go authentically Leo Fender and use his original wiring, but I just couldn’t see myself ever employing the “imitation bass” neck-position setting, so, I went for the Eldred mod, further modified by Premier Guitar’s very own Dirk Wacker. In this scheme, the forward position introduces a series capacitor that scoops the output and the tone knob is bypassed. In the middle position the volume and tone are engaged. And in the bridge position the guitar runs full bore, with the tone control removed from circuit. There was a little head-scratching involved with mapping the wiring onto a control plate that reverses position of the tone and volume controls (which I prefer on T-style guitars). I also tried a little experimentation with cap values.

Ebenezer’s Esquire-style wiring gives me loads of sustain and upper harmonics to work with. In the middle position the tone knob shapes three very distinct and useful tones. And I just have to select the bridge position to bring out a fill or a lead line. All other aspects of tone are down to my fingers, which is part of the challenge that attracted me in the first place.

One problem I didn’t anticipate came to light when I tried playing Ebenezer in church. The rented building we use has a hearing-aid loop installed, and with only one pickup there’s no way to cancel out the squealing interference. I swapped Ebenezer for a black Telecaster and I told my pastor I couldn’t use the yellow guitar in church. He replied in all seriousness that he had no idea the color made such a difference.

I’m under no illusions here. Things are cheap for a reason, and you usually get what you pay for. If I were a serious gigging musician, Ebenezer might be dead in a couple of years. But I’m not, and Ebenezer lives (for now). I hope its existence proves that a fun guitar project doesn’t always have to be expensive or require fine woodworking skills.