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Slowly but surely, amp modellers like the Kemper Profiler are winning guitarists over. From AFI’s Jade Puget calling tube amps “constraining” to Black Sabbath’s Tony Iommi claiming it’s “hard to tell the difference” between a modeller and a real amplifier, artists from every genre are becoming converts. However, if you’re considering making the switch, Joyce Manor are here to knock some sense into you.

In a new interview with Marshall, punk rock emo revivalists Joyce Manor admit they “judge” anyone that prefers modeller over a real amp. “I’m judging you – get an amp!” lead vocalist, Barry Johnson, laughs. “It’s so un-rock-n-roll. It’s so not cool!”

He even goes so far as to liken a modeller to vaping; it’s a modern shortcut that takes any ‘cool’ factor out of what you’re actually doing. “You’ve got to get cabs – or you’re, like, vaping, y’know?” he laughs. “Just rip a cig! What are you doing?! Plug into an amplifier! Drink a beer and plug into an amp. Grow up already!”

• READ MORE: Laney Prism-Mini review – a sub-£100 desktop amp with sounds that’ll rival your main rig

He closes off his short, humorous rant with a short: “Modelling amp!! Jesus Christ!”

The frustration was spurred on by Johnson and his bandmate, Chase Knobbe, reminiscing about their first amps. “The first amp I bought for myself was a Marshall JCM800,” Johnson recalls. “I bought it from my friend, Eric, and it belonged to a guitar player of Thrice and it was actually modded to be a little more high gain…”

“My first Marshall was a 1987X – the Yngwie Malmsteen one,” Knobbe chimes in. “That was in my era when I did not know what any knob did… and that it still sounded awesome. I’d just kind of turn everything up…”

The experimental approach is how Joyce Manor’s guitarists found their sound – and the conversation is reminiscent of what Analog Man founder Mike Pierra said in a February interview. In his mind, the joy of discovering your personal guitar tone comes from the hands-on experience. If you jump in with a modeller from the get-go, you could be doing yourself a massive disservice.

Appearing on Products of Music, Pierra said: “I don’t personally try out the digital modelling things. I have no interest in them. Because to me, it’s not any fun…I want to play my guitar. I want it to go through real pedals, real amps and real speakers.”

And, to hone in on Joyce Manor’s argument once again – a clean, stackless stage set up is just “not cool”. Even Joe Bonamassa agrees; last year, the legendary guitarist appeared on the No Cover Charge podcast, and he also said that modellers aren’t as “cool” as the real deal. Being a rockstar is about great tone, but it’s also about looking the part with some vintage, rugged gear by your side.

“Imagine if Eddie Van Halen showed up with a Neural [Quad Cortex] and a Suhr.” he said. “Is it as cool? I’m not knocking John Suhr, I’m not knocking Neural… Great invention, but I just pose the question. People hear with their eyes. It’s the whole thing!”

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The post “Drink a beer and plug into an amp: grow up!”: Joyce Manor guitarist on why it’s “not cool” when bands don’t use real amps on stage appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

$395/£425, deathbyaudio.com / raingerfx.com

Sometimes, as a Brit, I find myself looking at Death By Audio’s freakiest pedals and thinking, “These Yanks are crazy!” But equally, I can well imagine American guitarists look at Rainger FX’s freakiest pedals and thinking, “These Limeys are crazy!” So… what if we’re both right?

• READ MORE: Orange Baby Terror review: a minuscule lunchbox head that packs classic Orange punch

The Amp Crash is what happens if the universe is reckless enough to let two of the most eccentric stompbox makers from either side of the Atlantic work together. It’s an ambitious product, with a whole range of uses at home, in the studio and even on stage, but that doesn’t mean it’s some sort of problem-solving utility pedal. In fact, this thing is about as utilitarian as a pet crocodile.

What is it?

Where to even start? I suppose the most obvious use of the Amp Crash is as a 3W analogue practice amplifier, complete with two-inch speaker and built-in digital effects. You get controls for gain and tone, with two mini-knobs for adjusting the ‘SFX’ section according to whether you have it set to chorus, delay or reverb.

The next step from there might be to plug it into an external speaker cabinet (minimum eight ohms) for a considerable upgrade in sonic scale, turning a cutesy bedroom gadget into a viable gigging solution. Or you could use the line output to run the pedal into a standard amp, at which point it becomes a sort of maverick multi-effects unit.

But here’s where things get really fruity. Yes, there really is a little microphone inside this pedal, pointing at the speaker, so you can also use it as an amp and cab sim – but without the ‘sim’ – for direct recording. Naturally this is unlikely to sound like a perfect digital recreation of a top-class studio mic pointing at a pre-CBS Fender Deluxe Reverb, but that was never going to be the point – these Yanks and Limeys are crazy, remember?

All of this functionality is delivered in a stompbox that won’t take up an inordinate amount of pedalboard space, and will run off a standard pedal power supply with at least 300mA of current.

Build quality and usability

DBA and Rainger have done a sterling job of keeping the interface as simple as possible given the number of features on offer here. Plug in a guitar, add nine volts and you’ve got the most basic of practice combos – maybe a master volume control would have been nice, but there is an old-school purity about going gain-only. Likewise there’s no bypass switch for the effects – to turn that section off you simply set the depth to minimum.

Worried about the mic picking up your seismic flatulence and general background chatter? It’s got a noise gate, which has an on/off toggle switch but nothing so fancy as a threshold control; and if you want to mute the speaker entirely – which most people will surely want to do when running into a ‘proper’ amp – you just have to plug something into the speaker output (an unconnected patch cable will do).

These connectivity options can get a tiny bit confusing at the beginning. But it’s all easily mastered with practice, and – as you have every right to demand from two companies with this kind of pedigree – it feels like a solid, well-built piece of gear.

Sounds

The practice combo is first up. I’m expecting lo-fi larks here, in the ultra-punky tradition of those old Smokey amps built into cigarette packets, and that’s very much what the Amp Crash spits out… with two key differences. Firstly, it’s a much more grown-up sound with a decent gain range, from light crunch to sagging splat-fuzz; and secondly, it’s a whole lot louder. If you plan to crank it into the rawk zone, you might want to warn your housemates first.

What you don’t get is any kind of warmth or three-dimensionality, but that’s hardly surprising with a two-inch speaker. So don’t bother playing tasteful chords through this thing – it was born to frighten people, not read them bedtime stories.

The effects section offers up some interesting options for going in a more wild and experimental direction. The reverb and delay both get extremely dense, while the chorus is very wobbly indeed and tends towards the flangey zone. It’s all highly entertaining, and only in delay mode might you wish for a third knob to let you adjust the level and feedback separately.

All of the above applies equally when you plug into an external cab: it’s still ragged and raucous, but now with a far less boxy frequency spread and, above all, a hell of a lot more volume. This will be more than adequate for gigging, though the clean tones remain flat and unrefined so we’re really talking heavy stuff only.

Next up is the ‘normal stompbox’ scenario, and it’s probably the Amp Crash’s strongest suit – letting you enjoy all the gnarliness but now in more well-rounded form, complete with independent control over fuzziness and output level. As a medium-gain overdrive it’s great, as a high-gain fuzz it’s even greater, and as a brutally overloading splurge-beast it’s greatest of all.

The direct recording function is more complicated. Use the DI output on its own and it sounds… well, like a DI: bright and plasticky. Stick with the mic output, however, and you might find you’ve gone too far in the other direction, as it’s oh so scuzzy and dark. But blend the two together, and suddenly you’ve got the best of both worlds and the worst of neither: the DI gives you clarity and edge, while the mic provides natural colour to round it out. It’s far from hi-fi, but there are some surprisingly pleasant and well-balanced tones available here.

The only snag is that, in order to record the mic’s output, you’ll obviously need to leave the speaker unmuted – and as I’ve already mentioned, it can get awfully loud. This is not a problem you have to deal with when using a sim, but at least – unlike a traditional amp and mic setup – the Amp Crash can be hidden away in a cupboard or smothered with cushions.

Should I buy one?

Oh dear, it’s time to get sensible. Because while the Amp Crash is a wondrous piece of work and I love it to bits, this is not the kind of product I’d recommend as a must-have for every guitarist’s arsenal. If you normally play clean, or you’re the kind of tonehound who demands warmly rounded smoothness in everything, it probably isn’t going to make much sense for you.

To be clear, though, this isn’t just about garage-rock shoutiness – the usable sounds range from Screamer-style drive to hyper-compressed filth, the three digital effects are all worthy additions, and above all it’s a genuine multi-purpose device that’s ready to impose its big personality pretty much anywhere in your music-making life.

Alternatives

Acorn Amplifiers Solid State ($299/£289) – good luck finding a true alternative to this thing… but you could have a look at the a Peavey-inspired preamp pedal with a built-in power amp so it can be plugged straight into a speaker cab. I reviewed the preamp-only version ($179/£169) and it was a retro riot.

The MXR Rockman X100 ($245/£229) – this is more of a standard distortion pedal, but it has that compression-heavy 80s thing going on and includes a chorus effect.

Positive Grid Spark GO ($99/£95) – right at the other end of the fidelity spectrum, there’s this thoroughly modern portable amp.

Specs

• NAME: Death By Audio x Rainger FX Amp Crash
• PRICE: $395/£425
• TYPE: Hybrid multi-effects and practice/direct amp
• POWER: 3W
• SPEAKER: 1×2” (internal)
• CONTROLS: DI out level, mic out level, gain, tone, mic gate toggle, effects select toggle, depth, time, power on/off
• INPUTS: 1x standard instrument input
• OUTPUTS: Hybrid DI/mic output (footswitchable), ext speaker out (8-ohm minimum, 3w or greater)
• POWER: 9V centre-negative DC only (300mA current draw)
• WEIGHT: 1.44lbs/0.65kg

The post Death By Audio x Rainger FX Amp Crash review – an amplifier, a speaker, a microphone and multiple effects… all inside one pedal appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

Back in 2023, John Mayer said that guitars should “echo” the “world around them”. Most of the time, this echoing is shown in the design elements in his Martin signature models – but, now, Mayer and Martin are considering the current economic climate. A reliable axe doesn’t need to be an expensive luxury – that’s why Mayer’s newest Martin signature is his most accessibly priced to date.

Rather than breaking the bank, Martin’s new OM-13E John Mayer and OMC-13E John Mayer acoustic-electrics come as an affordable luxury in an overpriced world. The new signatures join the brand’s Road Series, which comes as the first time Mayer has released a Road guitar. After working with Martin for over 20 years, a Mayer Road axe has been a long time coming – but better late than never.

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Both the OM-13E and OMC-13E bring Mayer’s specific specifications to the Road series, with each capturing the heart and spirit of the iconic guitarist’s signature acoustic tone. In terms of design and sound, the two guitars are nearly identical, bar the OMC-13E’s additional cutaway and multi-stripe top trim.

The pair come in at 25.4 inches, and are constructed with solid Engelmann spruce tops, as well as solid black walnut backs and sides and scalloped spruce X-bracing for enhanced resonance. There are also ebony fingerboards and bridges, and nickel open gear tuners, and Martin E1 electronics with a nifty built-in tuner.

Each guitar also features an interior label with John Mayer’s signature proudly printed on.

As for that accessible price point, both axes will set you back by $1,999.99. It’s a huge drop in price for a Mayer-approved Martin – his last signature offered a cheaper model for $3,999, while the more premium model was $18,499. So it’s about time Mayer repackaged his legendary sonic touch into an axe that more fans can enjoy.

The OM-13E John Mayer and OMC-13E John Mayer are available now for $1,999.99. For more information, head to Martin.

The post John Mayer releases his most affordable Martin signature guitar to date – and it’s just under $2,000 appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

At 83 years old, Rolling Stones frontman Mick Jagger has no intention of hanging up his boots. In fact, he still spends considerable time penning new material while watching TV, as he explains…

In a new interview in the latest issue of Uncut magazine, Jagger explains how a large part of his creative process now happens in front of the TV while watching “rubbish”.

• EDITOR’S PICK: Matt Bellamy on Manson, why Instagram guitarists are the future, and his desire to build an AI prompt guitar
  

“I was sitting watching the TV last night in my flat,” he says, “then I picked up my acoustic guitar and wrote four different things. I said, ‘Turn the TV off. This is rubbish!’ It was quite late and I was banging out these tunes, then I put the TV back on after I’d done two.”

It turns out having the TV on nearby was a useful conduit for his creativity… “Then I thought, ‘Hang on, I’ve got this idea…’ I turned off the TV and wrote two more.

“I’m not saying they’re finished songs, they’re more like sketches. I thought, ‘Well, this is good going. You’ve got to do this every day.’ That’s what I’ve been doing. I’ve been writing quite a lot, but for what I don’t know.”

Yes, the big question is what will Mick do with those songs, and will they ever see the light of day? Well, he’s already making plans for 2027 and they include the possibility of some Rolling Stones shows. “I’d really like to do some shows,” he said, “so that’s in my head… but if not the Stones then any show!”

In the past few years, the Stones have added two new studio albums to their total of 25, with Hackney Diamonds (2023) and Foreign Tongues (2026) both well-received. Mick’s on a roll, and who would want to stop him?

The post “I picked up my acoustic guitar and wrote four different things”: At 83, Mick Jagger is still writing songs in front of the TV appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

Matt Bellamy’s proudest moment as the owner of Manson Guitars might have happened about five minutes ago – when he got it wrong. “They actually tested me, and I failed the test,” the Muse frontman chuckles as we sit in a conference room in Manson’s brand new showroom in its Devon, UK headquarters.

The test in question was telling the difference between his original Manson 007 guitar, and the ding-for-ding, super-limited replica Black Edition version the company brought out last year. Despite Bellamy having used the guitar on stage and in the studio for years, knowing every inch of his most iconic instrument, he couldn’t work it out.

• READ MORE: The Close Up: Muse guitarist Matt Bellamy’s most iconic and beloved guitar, the Manson 007

“They put the two guitars up, and they said, ‘Can you tell which one’s original?’” he explains. “And I picked the wrong one! And I took my time! I was looking at all the looking details, the cracks, and everything – that’s how accurate it was!”

That the company was able to create such a remarkably accurate replica of his original, and sell them out almost instantly despite a five-figure price tag, speaks to the way the brand has evolved in the half a decade since he took ownership of the small guitar brand that had supplied him with custom instruments since he was a young guitarist hanging around Hugh Manson’s Exeter shop.

The fact that we’re sitting down surrounded by various Manson prototypes and legendary instruments represents another milestone. Bellamy is back in his hometown to christen Manson’s brand new showroom, which sits above an expansion to the Ashburton factory that will enable the brand to scale up their UK operation and meet the considerable demand the brand has been battling with in recent years.

Most of that has been driven by Bellamy, of course. Ever since Hugh Manson started building eye-catching t-style guitars for him, embedded with various wild and wonderful technology in the early days of Muse’s rise to fame, player and brand have become intertwined in a rare way – something that was codified when Bellamy took ownership of the company in 2019.

History Lesson

The new artist showroom is a testament to this partnership – dotted around the walls and on stands are a mixture of iconic guitars and rare curios from the archives, everything from an aborted acoustic prototype, to Bellamy’s “GEO” mask guitar.

“Today is the first time I’ve seen it all laid out like that,” he marvels. “I mean, for me, it’s awesome. It’s like a museum of my history. I’ve got a couple of guitars at home actually, not far from here, that I was thinking of bringing in here, like the original DeLorean guitar. I think that was in here at one point, actually. But Adrian [Ashton, Manson MD] asked me to take it home because he’s scared of having something so valuable here!”

As nice as it is to take a tour through his personal guitar history, seeing the showroom in its current form sparks something: “Thinking about the future though,” he muses “I would love to see like a few other guitars on the wall that aren’t mine.”

Bellamy’s ownership of Manson has seen the brand diversify its artist roster outside of the core two that it started with Bellamy and Led Zeppelin bassist John Paul Jones (Manson was Jones’ longtime tech). Recent years have seen signature models for the likes of Skindred’s Mikey Demus and a collaboration with Adam “Nolly” Getgood, the Oryx. Bellamy reveals that the brand is currently working with Blur’s Graham Coxon on a signature model, and are also developing a guitar with online guitar sensation Emi Grace.

“I’m excited about us bringing in these new younger guitarists, who are going to take it to the next level,” he explains. “You know, it can’t just always rely on me. I like the idea of there being another face or two that start to become as associated with the brand as I am. That would be the long-term goal.”

Bellamy name-dropping Grace is not accidental – he was personally involved in getting the 22-year-old into the Manson orbit. “I reached out to her because she kept coming up on my feed on Instagram,” he chuckles. “I was like, who’s this amazing guitarist?!”

It’s a very 2026 way for an artist to be discovered, but it’s one that Bellamy is clearly enthused by – even if it flies in the face of how guitarists would traditionally earn their stripes.

“I see guitarists like her as being the future,” Bellamy notes. “These Instagram-type players. It’s an interesting development, because these people can now actually have a real career as an instrumentalist. For real, without needing to write songs and being a band in the traditional sense. I think that’s actually a good thing for players, you know? They have this new way of monetising what they do.”

Clean Slate

Bellamy, of course, was very much someone who was in a band and wrote songs as the bandleader and frontman of Muse. But his revolutionary and individual approach to gear – particularly his penchant for integrating effects, MIDI controllers and other tech directly into his instruments – was borne out of the limitations of being in a three-piece band that didn’t have a lot of support around it at the start.

“A lot of that digital stuff came from being a singer/guitarist and wanting to be able to do effects on the move rather than being restricted by the pedalboard,” he explains. “This was before I had techs that did stuff for me! So in those early years, I was like, ‘What can I have that’s integrated into the guitar?’”

Bellamy’s earliest Manson creations were notable for their onboard effects, but also because they weren’t quite the normal shape either – Tele-inspired sure, but different enough to be a clean slate to craft his music on.

“It’s got to be something unique. It’s got to be,” Bellamy says of his approach to guitar design. “That is literally how it started for me. Because every time I picked up a Tele, a Strat, a Les Paul, I just found myself playing music associated with those instruments. I always found that I needed my own thing to make my own thing. Otherwise, I’m just weighed down by the history of this instrument.

“So I wanted a fresh start, and that was really why I came up with the shape: as soon as I picked it up, it felt like a blank canvas to me. So that’s really how it started for me in terms of guitar design. Obviously that was when it was with Hugh [Manson], but that attitude is how we got to where we are now I think.”

Back To The Future

For two decades, Bellamy has been unapologetic in his quest to drive the electric guitar forward in technological terms – whether that’s using onboard effects, MIDI controllers or, perhaps most famously of all, mounting a Korg Kaoss Pad right into the body of his guitar. That was quite a long time ago, however, and its clear that Bellamy sees his ownership of Manson as an opportunity to push the boundaries once again.

“I want to update the tech in the guitar a little bit, and come up with some new ideas for that,” he confidently declares. “I like the idea of trying to integrate AI components into guitars, where you can prompt a guitar to sound a certain way. I’d like to explore that. That tech exists already in the pedal world, but I like the idea of trying to integrate some of that into guitar, so you can essentially talk to your guitar and tell it how you want it to sound. I’m not quite sure the tech’s there yet, but we’ll see.”

AI is of course an extremely polarising word to be throwing around in the music world, but Bellamy clearly sees that there’s a place for the technology to be used in the right scenario.

“I’ve got a big bank of synthesisers, and it can sometimes take hours and hours to get a sound out of it,” he explains. “Whereas the prompting synthesiser thing is interesting. The sound quality isn’t as good, but the interface is great, you know? I like the idea of prompting something, but then something analogue happens – that’s interesting to me. I think that’s probably a long way to go before we get that into a guitar, but the idea of it is interesting.”

One thing that isn’t up for debate is the enduring power of the real-life human element in all of this of course – and he can already see the backlash against AI coming from the next generation.

“I’m not that worried about AI music because I can already see a change with my kids,” he reflects. “They’re gravitating towards the real so much more now because half of what they see on their feeds now is AI. So for that reason, I think live music is going to be trending upwards, with real musicians playing. I think that’s what we’re going to be craving more than anything else, because it’s the only thing we know is real.

“Because everything that’s digital now, everything in our phones is starting to be like, ‘Is it AI? I don’t know!’ You know? But when you see it in person, you see it live, you know it’s real. So I think that real life experience of music is definitely trending upwards.”

New Horizons

The second decade of Manson Guitar Works has been characterised by evolution, and trying new things – whether that’s collaborating with Cort on the hugely successful affordable Meta series, getting into the high-end relic game with the Black Edition, or collaborating with ThorpyFX on the brand’s first effects pedal.

The future, Bellamy envisions, will involve more of all of the above, and maybe even some adventures into new territory…

“There are some of my guitars from the early years which were very special, and I think the fans really want. So I think we will keep doing limited runs of some of these early guitars, but at the same time, we’re always looking to create something new, as well.

“The Oryx eight-string, is a new arrival, and we’ve got the Wow! guitar (the red MB that ties in with Muse’s recent The Wow! Signal album) – that’s really nice and we’re going to start selling that soon. We’re also talking about maybe doing a pedal with Graham as well – an experimental one – and we’re going to do a second run of the Supermassive pedal with a couple of minor tweaks, so we’re expanding on the pedal front too.”

There’s also the question of amps – it seems like a logical place for Manson to explore next, but clearly its only a field that Bellamy would want the brand to get into if it was bringing something new to the table – the idea of sticking his name on a generic amp clearly doesn’t appeal.

“It’d have to be something innovative and different,” he affirms. “But that could be two different ways. It could be like the hyper hand-wired tube thing, or it could be something really on the futuristic side, like an AI prompt amp or something like that. I don’t know. We’ll see. But I could see that happening. We haven’t looked into it that deeply, as to how realistic it is on the manufacturing side, and you know it probably would have to be some kind of partnership. But I can see I could see something like that happening.

“I like the idea of getting some really amazing bass players involved with Manson, as well. I’d like to expand the bass side, and acoustic is something we never really tried,” he points to the prototype hanging on the wall in the room. “That one was made for me when I was trying to work out how to incorporate acoustic sounds live. We never sold it, it was the first attempt, but it’s a nice, lightweight electro-acoustic. But yeah, I like the idea that we can open up a little bit more.”

Reflecting on a relationship with Manson that has spanned the bulk of his musical career, and now eight years as an owner, Bellamy still marvels at the enthusiasm and loyalty that this small Devon boutique builder instills in others.

“I just love how the people love these guitars,” he smiles. “You know, I thought it was just my thing! But we have this really loyal fan base, and even when times are rough, the economy is, like they are now, they still have this enthusiasm for the guitars – that’s what keeps us going.”

The post Matt Bellamy on Manson, why Instagram guitarists are the future, and his desire to build an AI prompt guitar appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

Del Casher – the guitarist credited with the invention of the wah wah pedal – has died at the age of 88 following a battle with cancer. His death has just been publicly announced, but he passed away on 1 October, 2026.

A studio guitarist who worked with many influential acts including Elvis Presley, Cher and the Mothers of Invention, Casher was also a keen inventor, and in addition to the first wah-wah pedal, he also notably developed a portable tape echo device called the Ecco-Fonic.

• EDITOR’S PICK: You won’t believe which guitarist wrote a screenplay for an Elf sequel…

While working as a guitarist and consultant for Vox, Casher and engineer Brad Plunkett developed the first wah-wah pedal from the tone control of a UK Vox amplifier. The unit was being adapted for the US market, following Vox’s purchase by the Thomas Organ Company. Likening the sound to a harmonica cupping the instrument around a microphone, Vox preferred the effect for electric trumpets, rather than guitars. By 1967, however, Casher was able to release a record using the wah-wah pedal, but he was not eligible for manufacturing royalties.

In the years since, the wah-wah sound has become as distinctive to rock guitar as harmonics or tremolo dives or right-hand fretting, and employed by prominent guitarists from Jimi Hendrix and Eric Clapton to Slash, John Frusciante, and the wah king, Kirk Hammett. You could throw Jeff Beck and Joe Walsh in there too – the pedal is in so many guitarists’ repoertoires, whether they take it out on stage or not.

In 2011, Del Casher told the New York Times that no one at Vox saw a future for the device. “I feel gratified that I was there at the beginning,” he said. “I would just like guitar players to think of me once in a while. The only thing I ask is: remember me.”

Following financial hardship due to lockdowns during the COVID-19 pandemic, Casher began selling his collection of instruments to raise income. He is survived by his 89-year-old wife, Eiko, and a GoFundMe has been launched to support her.

The post Del Casher, inventor of the wah-wah pedal, has died appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

Everyone has their go-to festive films when getting into the Christmas spirit and for many, Elf is at the top of that list. Buddy has been a seasonal staple since it landed in 2003, and has never needed a sequel to stay in rotation. But that hasn’t stopped U2 guitarist The Edge from apparently writing a screenplay for Elf 2.

On a recent episode of Obsessed: The Podcast, comedian Andy Richter, who played Morris in the original film, says Elf producer Shauna Robertson received a message saying The Edge had written a script for a sequel and wanted to talk to her about it.

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“Somebody reached out to her and said The Edge from U2 has written a sequel to Elf, and he wants to talk to you about it,” Richter explains.

Calling it the “weirdest story”, he continues: “Apparently it was fully written. Somewhere in the world, there is an Edge-penned Elf 2 out there. I would love for that to make the light of day. [But] it never happened. She said it’s just one of those things where she’s like, ‘Alright, sure I’ll meet him!’ And then it just petered out and never happened.”

But despite his intrigue at seeing The Edge’s screenplay, Andy Richter touches on how many films are tarnished by their sequels, and that it’s not worth the risk to make an Elf 2.

“I’m on the side of let it stand. Just let Elf be Elf, and just let it be. You don’t have to use every part of the animal. Just let it be. If anyone even attempted a remake… There’s already been an animated version. There’s been a stage version. There have been other versions of it. They have remade the sausage a few times. But they should just let it be. Don’t touch it.”

The Edge’s script wasn’t the only attempt at continuing Buddy the Elf’s story. Richter adds that The Hangover Part II writer Scot Armstrong, who reportedly did uncredited work on the original Elf script, wrote a separate Elf 2 in which angry South Pole elves mentioned by Buddy in the original kidnap Santa Claus. The script never made it to screen.

Of course, it wouldn’t be The Edge’s first venture beyond U2. His résumé includes contributions to many Hollywood soundtracks and one of Broadway’s most troubled productions, the Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark musical he scored with bandmate Bono.

As for The Edge himself, he hasn’t publicly commented on the script. So for now, an Edge-penned Elf 2 exists only as a story told on a podcast.

Still, it’s hard not to wonder what an Edge-penned Christmas movie might have looked like. We can dream…

The post “Somewhere in the world there is an Edge-penned Elf 2”: U2 guitarist has apparently written a screenplay for an Elf sequel appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

Richard Lloyd, co-founding guitarist of New York rock band Television, has died at 75 years old.

According to a statement from his family given to Rolling Stone, Lloyd passed away on Saturday, 7 November, at his home in Chattanooga, Tennessee, after a battle with cholangiocarcinoma, a cancer of the bile duct.

After his diagnosis in March this year, by August, a GoFundMe was launched to help cover his medical costs after the illness forced him to stop touring. Bassist Sean Seymour, who played in Lloyd’s solo band, said touring remained his main source of income.

At that time, Seymour also revealed the severity of Lloyd’s condition. “He has tumours in his liver, including one located dangerously close to a major blood vessel,” Seymour said. “Because of its location, doctors cannot safely operate to remove it at this time.”

Born in Pittsburgh on 25 October 1951, Lloyd first started out on the drums before switching to guitar. As a teenager he became a devoted gig-goer, catching greats including Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin, The Who, The Jeff Beck Group and The Grateful Dead. He left school early and moved to Boston, where he ended up playing with John Lee Hooker, before spells in Los Angeles and then New York.

In New York in 1973, Richard Lloyd met Tom Verlaine, then still Tom Miller. They formed that year, with Verlaine, bassist Richard Hell and drummer Billy Ficca. They became fixtures at the legendary New York club and punk-rock/new wave epicentre CBGB, alongside the likes of Patti Smith, The Ramones and Blondie. Bassist Fred Smith took over from Richard Hell in 1975, after which their debut single, Little Johnny Jewel, arrived, followed by their debut album, 1977’s Marquee Moon.

Television made one more album, Adventure, in 1978, before splitting amid tensions between Lloyd and Verlaine. Lloyd’s first solo album, Alchemy, followed in 1979.

He went on to release nine solo records in total, the most recent being 2018’s The Countdown and played on records by artists including Matthew Sweet, Stephan Eicher and John Doe of LA punk band X. He also published a memoir in 2018, Everything Is Combustible: Television, CBGB’s and Five Decades of Rock and Roll, a loose run of short pieces that covered his early years, his heroin addiction and his time alongside Hendrix, Keith Richards and the CBGB crowd.

Television reunited in the early ’90s, releasing a self-titled album in 1992 and touring on and off for the next few years. Lloyd left the band in 2007. Verlaine died in 2023, which Lloyd later said made him the last functioning member of the band. He said that gave him a responsibility to the fans and so he returned to playing Television songs live after years of avoiding them.

Lloyd was also candid about what the band meant to him. “I wanted to make a dent in rock history,” he told Guitar World in December last year. “That was my goal, and that came true.”

The post Richard Lloyd, guitarist of New York rock band Television, dies at 75 appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

Guitar Center’s pre-Black Friday sale event has officially kicked off, and you can save big on loads of guitars.

Weekly ‘doorbuster’ deals are also landing every Thursday through to Sunday, along with other big bargains on electric and acoustic models, pedals, amps and more.

• READ MORE: The best acoustic guitars under $500: six-string stunners from Guild, Gretsch, Cort, Fender & more

To help you out, we’ve selected some of the best sale finds so far this year.

Save nearly $50 on a Squier Affinity Series Telecaster in Ice Blue Metallic

Squier guitars are typically cheap and cheerful, and you can save even more on this Affinity Series Telecaster. Available in a Guitar Center exclusive Ice Blue Metallic finish, this model is priced under $300 and is highly-reviewed by players, with many praising its playability and factory set-up.

Save $80 on an Epiphone Hummingbird Studio

If you’ve always wanted to own an acoustic guitar with that famous Hummingbird pickguard design, then now’s your chance – this Epiphone Hummingbird Studio is now $419. In a Guitar Center Exclusive Ebony gloss finish, this version has a solid spruce top paired with layered mahogany back and sides, a Rounded C mahogany neck and bound rosewood fingerboard, complete by Fishman electronics.

Save $210 on an Epiphone Les Paul Standard ’60s Quilt in Ocean Water Perimeter

Now $489, this Epiphone Les Paul Standard ’60s Quilt is a limited-edition Guitar Center-exclusive model with a mahogany body, a quilted maple top, a SlimTaper ’60s C neck profile and ProBucker humbuckers.

Save $200 on a Schecter Demon-7 in Vintage White

If you’ve been wanting to try a 7-string model but have been put off by the price, now’s the time to grab one. For under $450, this Schecter Demon-7 is said to be “ready for your most face-melting riffage and heaviest down-tuned rhythms” according to Guitar Center. Fitted with Diamond Active pickups and offering a fast maple neck with smooth wenge fingerboard, it’s a great model to start exploring a heavier playing style with.

To shop all these deals and more, visit Guitar Center.

The post Save on brands like Epiphone, Squier, Schecter and more with these early Black Friday deals from Guitar Center  appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

$2,499/£2,499, martinguitar.com

When you think about a Martin guitar, you probably have a pretty set image in your head. Very likely, you’re imagining a classic square-shouldered dreadnought guitar with a natural top and dark-stained back and sides. And that’s fair enough: Martin invented the dreadnought after all, and as such they are more than entitled to lay claim to this most iconic and imitated guitar configurations.

• READ MORE: Martin 00-10E Retro Joe Bonamassa review: “Forget the name on the label, this is a great guitar”

The thing about being iconic however, is that it’s not exactly something that stands out from the crowd. I could happily fill the rest of the word count of this review listing the names of legendary artists of literally every genre imaginable who have at one time or another sat down with a natural-finished Martin on their laps and made brilliant music.

For a lot of us, that’s part of the appeal – but clearly not everyone feels that way. If you’ve been paying attention to festival stages over the last few years, you’ll have noticed that artists – especially younger ones – seem to want their acoustic guitars to deviate from the norm. Where once practically anyone who was anyone would stride out with a natural-topped acoustic, increasingly we’re seeing painted tops and Gibson-adjacent body shapes favoured over the old faithfuls.

Martin has clearly noticed too, as its recently revamped 16 Series attests. This new range has brought a bunch of rather unconventional-for-Martin shapes to the party – including a slope-shouldered dread, a jumbo and the 00 you see here. Even more striking, however, are the tops – which in what must be a first for the brand, aren’t even available in natural finishes. Bright reds, blues, blacks and whites abound here – this is not your grandaddy’s Martin.

What is it?

The 16 Series has been around since the 1980s, and in that time the range has existed to offer something a little different – the focus was always on providing instruments that catered to evolving player needs and tried something a bit different. The old D-16E for example, had a shallower body depth than standard, to make it a more comfortable player, while the 16 series was also the place where Martin’s controversial Streetmaster factory-worn shade top first arrived – it has long been a place where the brand has felt comfortable taking big swings.

The new 00L-16E certainly feels like a bigger swing than most however. Fundamentally, it’s a 14-fret sloped shoulder guitar, and it’s quite impossible to continue in this review without mentioning the Gibson-shaped elephant in the room. In contrast to say, the Joe Bonamassa 00 that we featured recently, the slope-shouldered design is very, very familiar to fans of Gibson’s 1930s small-bodied classic.

Of course, Gibson doesn’t own the exclusive rights to this shape any more than Martin does the dreadnought or auditorium. And, like the slope-shouldered DSS-16E, this is far from the first time that Martin has made guitars with this body shape in its long history. All that being said, it does make you do a double-take when you pair that headstock with that body – it’s a bit like seeing Lebron in a Phillies jersey… it doesn’t look bad per se, but it is a little jarring.

On closer inspection however, there’s plenty to differentiate it from an L-00. For starters, the neck has a 14th fret join and a 24.9” scale length – slightly longer than the 24.75” of a Gibson – which should make for an intimate but not cramped playing experience.

It also sports Martin’s High Performance Taper neck, which means a roomy 1.75” at the nut, while my calipers register a roomier 2.13” at the 12th fret. The neck profile is Martin’s modified low-oval type, which means it has a little more shoulder than a vintage V-shape, with a little more general thickness all round.

In terms of build, we’re getting a spruce top with mahogany back and sides (another contrast to an L-00), with an ebony bridge and fingerboard. The neck itself is our old friend “select hardwood” – Martin uses this catch-all term to cover its bases around wood supply chain issues, and in practice that means it’s usually either tropical mahogany or Spanish cedar. The grain on this one looks like mahogany to me, but you will get whatever was available on the day the guitar was made!

The most striking thing about these new 16 Series guitars are the finishes. For the 00L-16E, you can choose between the shade topped 1935 Burst, or one of two solid colours – Black Smoke and this Blue Denim. This isn’t the first blue Martin guitar – Eric Clapton had a limited-run ‘Jersey Blues’ model a while back – but it is still quite an unusual colour to see on an acoustic. Interestingly, both of the solid colours are not really solid at all – they’re semi-transparent, allowing you to see the full grain pattern beneath the stain, at least up close. This does also head off the oft-repeated accusation that a painted top was just a convenient way to hide inferior quality wood – there’s no hiding place here.

The tops are all gloss-finished, which makes the decision to make the neck and sides (which are stained dark) in matt slightly confusing. I could understand doing the neck in satin from a playability perspective, but it does make the guitar look a little cheap from behind.

Elsewhere it’s all pretty restrained and stripped back – the binding is simple white plastic with a multi-stripe rosette, bridge pins are black plastic, while at the other end you’ll find a TUSQ nut and simple abalone dots.

Plugged in sounds are courtesy of a trusty Baggs Element system, and you also get Martin’s softshell case into the bargain – a reassuringly padded, semi-rigid affair that will protect your guitar from everyday bumps and thumps, but isn’t the sort of thing you’d want to check at an airport or toss into the back of a van with a load of other gear.

Build Quality and Playability

Talking about ‘value’ when you’re dealing with a $2,499 guitar seems slightly churlish in this economy, but there’s no escaping the reality that these are the cheapest spruce-topped guitars that Martin currently makes in Nazareth, Pa. The only cheaper USA-made Martins are the all-mahogany 15 and 17 series, and you’ll need to stump up another 100 bucks to get an all-satin Standard Series D-18, for example.

All of which is to say that efficiencies have had to be made to get a guitar with this level of spec and materials made in the USA for this price, but pleasingly very few of them appear to be reflected in the build. On the outside, that Blue Denim finish had better be done well given how eye-catching it is, and it has a nicely even stain across the top, one that nicely showcases the spruce grain underneath. The satin-finished neck and headstock are equally nicely applied, and feel smooth and comfortable to the touch – there’s no stickiness here.

The neck has a nice middle-ground feel – it’s not so chunky that you’re going to struggle to grip it with smaller hands, but it doesn’t disappear in the way that some vintage Martin V-neck does either. It’s supportive in the right areas.

The body is compact without feeling too toy-like, even for someone as big as me, but it still feels very accessible. The slope-shouldered dimensions definitely help in this regard, with the svelte upper section and narrow waist giving way to a more substantive lower bout.

Peeking inside, and it’s all very neat and tidy – the spruce scalloped X-bracing and purfling is expertly cut and installed with no excess glue or any rough bits.

Sounds

I’m always pleasantly surprised by the grunt and projection that a small-bodied Martin can present in the right circumstances. I will forever remember the speed at which my jaw hit the floor when I strummed Joan Baez’s 1880 Martin 0-40 in the Nazareth museum a few years ago – it was an absolute canon of a guitar.

Maybe this guitar will sound similarly life-changing when it has had 140-plus years to age, but there’s still plenty to be impressed about this little guy even in its earliest knockings out of the Martin factory.

Played with pick or fingers, it reveals a surprisingly versatile sonic character – more so than most small-bodied Martins I’ve experienced. It’s warm, with a focused mid-ranged and clear top-end, a fact that is no doubt helped by the mahogany back and sides – making it a rather charming and intimate strummer, but one that can really snarl if you dig in and give it some bluesy lines to work with.

Given my previous comments above, I wouldn’t say that I’m surprised by the projection on offer here, but it is still notable. While it’s not going to shout above a band without plugging in, it’s pokey and muscular in a way that is extremely enjoyable.

If you do need to shout over a band, however, the Baggs Element unit is a well-travelled performer. It’s simple and sounds good – avoiding any unpleasant piezo quack while giving a perfectly cromulent impersonation of the unplugged sound. It’s not going to change your life, but anyone expecting that from a plugged-in acoustic sound at this point is probably kidding themselves.

Should I buy one?

Trying to work out the sort of person that might buy this guitar is an interesting conundrum. Because by and large, my impression of the average Martin customer is someone who is drawn in by the classic looks and unimpeachable heritage of the brand and its instruments. That’s not to say that Martin hasn’t been actively trying to innovate and try new things over the last 100-odd years, often with rather impressive results, but the perception is there.

The question for many of these new 16 Series guitars is, ‘Why would you buy this over a Gibson?’ – a brand for whom the slope-shouldered thing is much more familiar in the eyes of most musicians – and it’s one I’ve been wrestling with myself.

Visually, these guitars stand out in ways that may or may not pique your interest. If you want a Martin that stands out from the rank and file, there’s no better option than this – but that limited finish palette is unquestionably going to alienate a lot of players who don’t want their guitars to present in primary colours.

In terms of sonics and playability, the 00L-16E is a much easier sell. Its interesting blend of Martin and Gibson features makes it an interesting greatest hits package of smaller-bodied American acoustics, with projection, articulation and versatility that could make it a perfect songwriter’s guitar. It’s this, much more than the garish finish, that makes the 00L-16E a worthy and interesting new addition to the Martin canon, whatever colour it happens to be in.

Alternatives

Gibson’s L-00 Century ($2,299) – this is a fine alternative to the 00L-16E. It’s a tried and true Gibson classic for a reason, though the 12-fret configuration does make it a more compact playing experience.

Taylor Ben Harper Gold Label 512e ($2,999) – Taylor has always known a thing or two about making great small-bodied guitars, but the new signature model is a lovely vintage-vibed bit of kit that has pretty unique looks itself.

Martin 0-17 Standard ($2,399) – all-mahogany Martins are a bit of a cheat code to getting wonderfully expressive Nazareth-made guitars for a bit less money than the spruce-topped versions, and this 0-style instrument is a nice compact but not too compact option.

Specs

• Model name: Martin 00L-16E
• Price: $2,499/£2,499
• Type: 14-fret slope-shouldered 00
• Top: Spruce
• Back & Sides: Mahogany
• Neck: Select hardwood
• Fingerboard: Ebony w/ abalone dots
• Scale length: 24.9″ (632mm)
• Nut width (1st fret): 1.75” (45.45mm)
• Neck depth (1st fret): 19mm (0.75″)
• Neck profile: Modified Low Oval
• Body depth: 100mm (3.94″)
• Bridge: Ebony w/ black plastic pins
• Nut: TUSQ
• Tuners: Martin nickel open-gear
• Electronics: Baggs Element
• Weight: 1.7kg (3.7lb)
• Finish: Blue Denim gloss top, satin mahogany-stain back, sides & neck
• Alternative finishes: Black Smoke, 1935 Burst
• Extras: Martin soft shell gigbag

The post Martin 00L-16E review: “this is not your grandaddy’s Martin” appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

Black Friday deals are already rolling out across Sweetwater this year, and we’ve found some of the best savings on guitar gear to save you time.

You can save on brands like Positive Grid, BOSS and Line 6 right now through to the end of December 2026.

• READ MORE: Laney Prism-Mini review – a sub-£100 desktop amp with sounds that’ll rival your main rig

Positive Grid deals

A huge load of Positive Grid products are reduced right now on Sweetwater. You can get $138 off the Spark LIVE combo amp and PA system, $135 off the Reactor 100-watt combo amp, and also save on its smaller goodies like the Spark GO ($50 off) and Spark NEO ($75 off).

Over $100 off IK Multimedia’s TONEX modeller

IK Multimedia’s TONEX modeller is now $299.99, saving you $130. This compact unit takes the IK Multimedia TONEX ecosystem and offers a portable, computer-free way to access your TONEX Tone Model library, with 150 preset slots to store your favourite amplifiers, cabinets, pedals, and full-size rig models.

Get $85 off the BOSS ME-90 multi-effects pedal

Now $299.99, the BOSS ME-90 is described by Sweetwater as “tone-packed”, with 11 onboard AIRD amp models, 60 flagship-grade effects, a dedicated amp section, and seven simultaneous effects categories. The ME-90 also supplies eight multifunction footswitches and an expression pedal for ease of control on the fly.

Get $100 of the Line 6 POD Go

Now $499.99, the Line 6 POD Go combines traditional controls with a large colour LCD display for reliable control over amps, stomps, and cabs. Inside the POD Go, users can access more than 270 Helix and legacy models of classic gear loved across the ages.

More great pedal deals

You can also save on brands like JHS, Warm Audio and Electro-Harmonix right now at Sweetwater. The EHX Octavix is now $79.99, while the JHS Good Vibrations chorus/vibrato pedal is now $199, and Warm Audio’s Fluff Drive is now $124.

For all these deals and more, visit Sweetwater’s Black Friday sale.

The post We’ve found some of the best early Black Friday gear deals at Sweetwater so you don’t have to appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

With Johnny Marr recently auctioning off over 100 if his instruments, it auctioneers have been inspired. A piece of Eric Clapton history is currently being flogged, meaning anyone could get their paws on one of the most pivotal rigs of his career – specifically his exact 1988 Fender Custom Shop Stratocaster and Soldano SLO-100 stack that he played with during Cream’s 1993 induction to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Hosted by ANALOGr, Clapton’s stack and guitar is estimated to sell for up to $3,000,000 at auction. It’s a pretty penny, but it’ll get you a grand piece of Slowhands history; the rig was Clapton’s preferred set up between 1989 and 1939, and it bears plenty of character from its time on the road.

• EDITOR’S PICK: Joe Satriani picks his favourite solo he’s ever laid down

The Strat served as Clapton’s very first signature Strat, and it was certainly well loved. From a burn mark capturing Clapton’s nicotine-addled era, a time when the rocker secured cigarettes beneath the strings on his headstock, to worn paint on the back of its body, the Strat has its fair share of battle scars. “I think this is the last smoking guitar,” Lee Dixon, Clapton’s personal Guitar Tech, tells ANALOGr, alluding to the fact Clapton gave up smoking in 1993.

Regardless of its imperfections, it should still sound the part; designed by Fender Custom Shop’s founder and Master Builder Mike Stevens, the axe has trio of Lace Sensor single-coil pickups, and an onboard boost. “This to me is one of the killer guitars,” Dixon explains. “It was played an awful lot through the early ’90s. It has no serial number on it because it’s the first [black] one, almost like a prototype. It was Eric’s suggestion at the time; he said we should really have a black one in the range. So this is the first officially sanctioned black [EC Signature] Strat.”

As for the sights this Strat has seen, the list is seemingly endless. It’s performed at the Royal Albert Hall with Cream, a 1991 Japanese tour supporting The Beatles’ George Harrison, and it even graced the stage at Madison Square Garden during Bob Dylan’s 30th Anniversary Concert in 1992.

Back in 2004, this exact Strat sold for $231,500 – but this auction listing also comes with Clapton’s Soldano SLO-100 stack (including a slanted Soldano 4×12, and a straight 4×12) which could explain the higher estimated price. It also comes with a few extra goodies, like an Eric Clapton pick, and a vinyl, and a signed booklet from the 2004 Christie’s auction.

For more information, head to ANALOGr.

The post The rig Eric Clapton played during Cream’s induction to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is up for auction appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

Both with successful multi-decade careers under their belts, today’s a big day for Joe Satriani and Steve Vai, as it marks the first time the pair have ever released a collaborative full-length album.

Yep, The Sea of Emotion has officially arrived via earMUSIC, and brings a cornucopia of six-string virtuosity and dizzying leads from two of the most prominent shredders in the game, so if you’re in any way guitar-inclined, you need to add this to your weekend listening list.

• EDITOR’S PICK: Joe Satriani picks his favourite solo he’s ever laid down

Of course, one reason it’s so surprising this album took the pair so long is how far back their professional relationship actually goes. In fact, Vai was once a student of Satriani, and began receiving lessons from him all the way back in 1973 when he was just 13 years old, and Satch was only 17.

Now 66 and 70 respectively, it’s been decades since their paths first crossed, and they’ve worked together on numerous occasions on various solo projects and on the famous G3 tours – which featured Satch and a rotating lineup of virtuoso guitarists – but it’s taken over 50 years for them to commit to a full album together.

And the opportunity arose following the most recent G3 reunion tour in early 2024, when both realised they had a gap in their forthcoming schedules. Initially, the pair had the idea to record a single track, but after Satch sent Vai two song ideas, they committed to a full album instead.

“We’ve been planning this since 1973!” Vai jokes. “Just unconsciously.”

“The biggest surprise was that we write in completely different ways,” Satriani adds. “And that’s what made the project so fun and interesting.”

The album features a selection of originals, plus a reimagining of Dancing, a song by Italian singer and pianist Paolo Conte.

Perhaps most notably, the LP’s closing track, the final part of an epic trilogy, The Sea of Emotion, opens with a vintage reel-to-reel recording from one of Steve Vai’s early lessons with Joe Satriani, bringing their professional relationship full circle.

“It illustrates just how far we’ve come,” Satriani says.“We’re these two kids who haven’t found our sound yet, but we’ve got enthusiasm. We’re chasing something, and we’re determined.”

“It’s a beautiful coming together of me and my friend in a very intimate musical way,” says Vai. “That was the reason we did the record.”

Produced with keyboardist Eric Caudieux, the album also features contributions from drummers Gregg Bissonette, Jeremy Colson, Kenny Aronoff, Matt Chamberlain and Mike Mangini, plus bassists Billy Sheehan, Bryan Beller, Philip Bynoe, Matt Bissonette, Marco Mendoza and Henrik Linder.

SATCHVAI’s new album, The Sea of Emotion, is out now. Listen below:

The post If you have any respect for guitar playing, you need to listen to Joe Satriani and Steve Vai’s new album appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

$249/£199, orangeamps.com

Despite the name, the Orange Baby Terror is not a horrifying infantile reincarnation of the current US president, born through mysterious science in order to circumvent term limits and rule over the blasted nuclear wastelands of 2028. It is, in fact, a new amplifier from Orange, one that combines the versatility of the Baby range with the small format of a Micro Terror. Orange has previous for making excellent little lunchbox heads that punch well above their weight classes – will this be any different?

• READ MORE: Boss EX-4 Effects Expander review – a force multiplier for compact pedalboards

What is it?

The Terror series dates back to 2007, and under it Orange launched a variety of affordable, all-metal lunchbox heads, starting with the Tiny Terror – there’s an argument to be made that without the Terror, lunchbox heads wouldn’t even be a thing in the guitar amp market.

The Baby Terror is best viewed as a successor to the smallest in the range, the Micro Terror, and at 16.5cm by 14cm by 10cm is almost exactly the same size. The biggest changes are a more complex control panel (with more than one knob for EQ!) and an added effects loop. This comes at the cost of the tube preamp, as the Baby Terror is now fully solid-state.

This tubeless operation and the more fully featured back panel are the headline imports from the Baby range – what we don’t get is the same power rating. Those amps are somewhat defined by their 100-watt class AB power amps, but here we’re working with the same 20 watts as the Micro.

But hey, 20 watts can still be more than loud enough, and the expanded controls and I/O do, on paper, make this far more flexible than the Micro’s one-knob tone control and barebones connectivity. So, let’s see what Orange has packed us for lunch.

Build quality and usability

From a build quality perspective, it’s pretty hard to fault the Baby Terror. It has a solid metal chassis and has a little bit more of a reassuring heft – 1.5 kilos compared to the Micro’s 850 grams. It’s still extremely light, all things considered, but the Baby Terror perhaps feels a little more sure of itself as an object. I’ve watched a punk band play with a Micro Terror on full-blast, and during the first song, the head walked backwards across its cabinet, chucking it into the mess of cables behind. That feels a little less likely here.

New for the Baby is that more densely-populated back panel, which offers an effects loop, a dry, direct line-out from the preamp, and a footswitch jack to switch between two pre-set master volume levels. It’s a little crowded thanks to the small size, perhaps, but it’s great to have this much flexibility in setup – particularly if you want to cleanly use reverbs and delays alongside the distortion from the preamp.

And speaking of crowded, the front panel controls are also far busier than the Micro – luckily not to the point where they’re actually difficult to turn, and perhaps smartly Orange has opted for pedal-style indented knobs rather than its in-house rounded ones. The extra controls are all pretty self-explanatory, with a three-band EQ, gain and presence joining the aforementioned dual volume controls. The final touch is the ‘Tubby’ switch, which acts as a low-end boost.

Sounds

Upon plugging in to everything set to noon, I’m met with a fairly loud, slightly overdriven sound. It’s perhaps cleaner than you might expect, given Orange’s propensity for raucous drive tones. But it’s soon clear that this amp retains the surprising versatility that other single-channel Oranges can conjure, even more so now that you have a full EQ section and presence control to further adjust things.

The gain control has a very impactful sweep, and three almost-distinct ‘zones’ that it suddenly enters as you turn it. Below 40 per cent is sparklingly clean, between 40 and 60 per cent is where you’ll find edge-of-breakup morphing into bluesy overdrive, and above 70 per cent you’re in far fuzzier territory.

The first zone can be a little thin, but this is helped by engaging the Tubby switch to keep things round and Fendery, rather than anaemic and dry. The middle zone is perhaps more exciting for a clean sound, though, it allows for your playing dynamics to dance across that ever-enticing edge of breakup.

At the fully-dimed end of things, you don’t get the same wall of thick, overblown doominess that something like the OR15 will give you when you max the gain knob, but it is still a pretty pleasing sound. It’s worth noting that as soon as I enter high gain territory, that Tubby switch gets turned off. On the cleans it adds a nice bit of low-end depth, but I find it far more flubby than tubby in gainier territory. The sound, though, is still very pleasing – with a classic Orange throatiness in the midrange that will just make you want to start learning every single C#-era Black Sabbath riff.

The downside is that you don’t get true clean-to-dirty channel switching – if you want to do that across a song or a set, you’re going to need to set the amp clean and get your dirt tones with pedals. Doing this, I find that ragged rock sounds and scuzzy doom sounds are more than achievable with some classic Orange pairings like Big Muffs and RATs. They’re not my favourite tones that I’ve heard from an Orange solid-state head – but for £199, they’re hard to be too negative about.

Where things do fall a little short is on the tighter, chuggy and modern side of things. It’s not a sound the amp can achieve on its own, as the gain tops out at Sabbathian stoner levels. And sadly, setting the Baby Terror to medium gain and boosting it with a TS-style pedal doesn’t get the best results either – with a bit too much high-end fizz, and a low-end that’s hard to clean up even without the Tubby switch engaged. This is a bit of a shame, but perhaps a less responsive and less boostable front end is the price we’ve paid here for going all solid-state.

What does help expand out the possible sounds is the effects loop. It’s a cool feature to see on a head this cheap, and obviously the more ambient-minded players will welcome the more flexible reverb and delay pedal setups it allows. The other benefit is that you’re no longer chained to the preamp that’s in here – if you wanted to run a preamp pedal or a modeller straight into the power amp here, you could – which is extra good news for giggers on a budget, given the upcoming avalanche of affordable NAM A2-capable modellers.

Speaking of gigging, a quick word on volume – this thing is loud, with a maximum volume that’ll be quite antisocial at home unless you live in the woods, and even then you’ll probably deafen a few squirrels. But that being said, it doesn’t quite match the kind of low-end impact you can get from something like the main Baby range or the Super Crush. It’ll likely be enough for most small gigs, as long as you’re not relying on your cab’s volume alone – and similarly, unless your drummer hits extremely hard, will be more than loud enough for practice rooms. Another gigging bonus is that footswitchable volume – for rock sets where the only effect you’ll need is a solo boost, all you’ll need is that footswitch.

One extra consideration is that the line-out is effectively just a balanced version of the preamp send – there’s no cab sim here. Having heard the analogue cab sim on the Super Crush, that’s not really a huge loss, but keep in mind it’s not quite viable as a straight-to-desk thing in a live situation.

This dry line-out also replaces the headphone jack that the Micro Terror had. Thanks to Positive Grid, the floodgates have opened for a bunch of digitally-driven mini practice amplifiers, and Orange seems totally uninterested in making this kind of amp. And so binning off the headphone jack seems to be making the assumption that you’ll use one of the many other far more flexible solutions for all-in-one coffee table practice – and it’s a fair assumption.

Should I buy one?

There’s a reason the first Micro Terror was such a hit. It weighs as much as a loaf of bread, costs less than your average boutique pedal, and can fit into even the most fashionably tiny backpacks – all while still kicking out Orange tones at very respectable volumes. The Baby Terror commits to all of these good points with aplomb, and for many, the added effects loop will be worth the price of admission alone.

Of course, it is not as high-fidelity, tonally, as it could be. The low end can be a little hard to manage, and the midrange throatiness won’t be for everyone. But that’s just Orange being true to the Orange of it all – there are plenty of options if you want a more modern sound and digitally-driven flexibility. It’s great to see Orange stick to its loud-as-hell, analogue-as-possible character and not just sound like everyone else. This, ultimately, is an amp with ‘Terror’ in its name, and its nature.

Overall, it’s not that much pricier than the original Micro, and it’s a good deal more flexible, so, really, if you are walking to every gig, don’t need the earth-shaking power of a full 100 watts in your band and like that more raucous Orange approach, then it’s a very viable option

Alternatives

There are, of course, a good few different options for amps in this price range depending on what you need. The original Micro Terror ($159/£139) is great if you don’t care about an effects loop, and you just want a 12AX7 to abuse with a fuzz pedal. If you want a little bit more of a classically chuggy sound, Laney makes its own range of affordable-but-punchy solid-state heads – try the Ironheart Foundry Series IRF Leadtop ($299.99/£149.99) for size. If you do want the classic Orange sound from a portable, flexible solid state head but 20 watts feels a little dinky, I’d recommend the Tour Baby 100 – although it is a little over twice the price at $599/£459.

If your reasoning for wanting a wee little amp like this for home usage rather than gigging convenience, something like the Blackstar Beam Mini ($229/£169), Positive Grid Spark Go ($99/£95) or Spark Mini ($199/£199) will be far more flexible in terms of playing along to tracks and headphone connectivity.

The post Orange Baby Terror review: a minuscule lunchbox head that packs classic Orange punch appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

Ad feature with Taylor Guitars

For decades now, Taylor Guitars has been helping musicians sound better, while keeping things compact. After all, when Bob Taylor designed the Grand Auditorium body shape back in 1994, part of what made it so revolutionary was the fact that it was a much smaller-bodied guitar than the dreadnoughts and jumbos that had dominated most of the recent past of acoustic guitar – and yet it still felt every bit the grown-up guitar in both tone and feel. 

Over the following 30-plus years, Taylor has continued to make an art form out of smaller-bodied instruments – whether that’s the Baby Taylor or the wildly popular GS Mini – but there’s another small-bodied Taylor icon that deserves its moment in the sun. And the latest additions to Taylor’s game-changing Next Generation collection are doing just that. 

The Grand Concert is Taylor’s smallest full-scale body shape, but one that has earned a legion of dedicated fans who appreciate its inviting, responsive feel, and impressively articulate voice. When Ben Harper partnered with Taylor to release his Gold Label signature model earlier this year, it was the compact dimensions of the Grand Concert that he used as the basis. 

Now, the Next Generation Grand Concert models bring a fresh and exciting new character to this small-bodied gem – and in the brand new 12-fret 512ce and K22ce, you might just have found the ultimate do-it-all instrument. 

Versatile, Compact, Inspiring

The 12-fret version of the Grand Concert is an unusual guitar in the Taylor catalogue, but it’s one that should be of real interest to players of all stripes. For starters, the 12-fret configuration is a perfect partner to the smaller body dimensions of a GC guitar – it makes what was already an ergonomically inviting and comfortable instrument even more so. 

Anyone who has spent a lot of time with a parlor-style instrument will know that the intimate dimensions of a 12-fret small-bodied instrument are compelling regardless of your frame. That being said, if you’re a smaller player, the compact experience of a 12-fret Grand Concert guitar is something you truly need to experience – with the shorter neck making this already bijou instrument even more comfortable and natural for those with smaller hands. 

But it’s not all about the accessible playing experience – the 12-fret Grand Concert models also offer tonal benefits by the bucketful. With a lush, warm voice that offers bags of rich midrange character – these guitars are compelling and sonically propositions in both of the stunning wood choices available. 

The 512ce sports solid mahogany back and sides to present a punchy, focused midrange character with a dry, woody quality. It pairs beautifully with the Western Red cedar top to add a warm attack and remarkable sensitivity – your notes will bloom with depth, sweetness and clarity. 

If you opt for the K22ce, you’ll be treated to Select-grade Hawaiian koa for the top, back and sides, producing an exceptionally articulate and rich midrange, and plenty of open-string resonance. Despite its small size, the properties inherent in the koa also give the guitar a charming low-end character – one that is only going to improve in terms of warmth and depth as the wood matures over its life. 

Next Gen Quality

Of course the most important and exciting thing about the K22e and 512ce is that they are part of Taylor’s revolutionary new Next Generation programme, which is gradually overhauling the brand’s core line with a variety of new innovations that enhance the guitar’s playability, sound and ease of maintenance. 

First among these is the new Scalloped V-Class bracing. This evolution of Andy Powers’ revolutionary V-Class bracing system offers a remarkable level of volume, sustain and pitch accuracy all the way up the neck – meaning that you can take full advantage of the guitar’s Venetian cutaway while still remaining perfectly in-tune and clear. The Scalloped version takes things further still, unlocking even greater volume and resonance, while preserving best-in-class intonation. 

Another innovation at the heart of these Next Generation guitars is the Action Control Neck – offering not only better down, but much easier long-term maintenance of your guitar. The ACN’s long-tenon joint adds warmth and depth to the overall sound of the 512ce and K22ce, but that’s not all. The ACN’s patented height-adjustment system means that you can alter the action of your guitar in seconds using just a hand tool – meaning that these guitars can adapt to your playing style as you evolve as a player. 

Finally, the new Claria pickup system makes plugging in and sounding great easier and more consistent than ever before. Designed with input from artists on every stage, the Claria utilises a reimagined piezo pickup to deliver clear, versatile acoustic tone every night, without hassle and fuss. 

Taylor’s Next Generation guitars are already capturing the creative imaginations of musicians from across the musical spectrum, and the new 512ce and K22ce guitars open up this world to more players than ever before. 

With their compact Grand Concert body shapes and shorter 12-fret necks, these are the most intimate Next Generation guitars yet. But they bring the full benefits of the range’s innovations to instruments that are perfect for musicians who cherish the way a small-bodied instrument can unlock your creativity both as a performer and a songwriter. 

Small can be beautiful, as many artists have proven – but with the Next Generation 12-fret Grand Concert guitars, there are no compromises in playability, sound and versatility. All you need is a song.

Find out more about the 512ce and K22ce at taylorguitars.com

The post Small is beautiful: why Taylor’s 12-fret Next Generation guitars are the ultimate player’s guitars appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

Back in September, Nene Royal won this year’s America’s Got Talent with a showstopping performance of The White Stripes’ Seven Nation Army. But the 16-year-old guitarist’s journey to the grand prize was defined by her ability to inject personality into classic tracks, from her palm-muted hard-rock take on The Cranberries’ Zombie to a gold-buzzer winning performance of Soundgarden’s Black Hole Sun.

In a new interview with Guitar.com, Royal explains that every artist should put their own spin on a track, because “surprise” is an artist’s ultimate weapon. “Find your style,” she says. “You don’t have to copy another person; if you copy, your performance will look weird and uncomfortable.”

If an artist believes in their own unique sound, the confidence will follow. Having cut her teeth busking at Thailand’s Naka Market since the age of nine, Royal insists that finding her own sound and committing to it helped her mature as an artist. “Even if it’s a small stage, keep doing it,” she insists. “It makes you more confident. Then, you won’t be shy [on a bigger stage].”

• READ MORE: “I’m going to play in front of how many? 40,000?!”: America’s Got Talent winner Nene Royal on being invited to open for Avenged Sevenfold

In fact, this confidence has quickly caught the attention of some of Royal’s very own heroes. After winning AGT, Royal told Entertainment Weekly that her ultimate goal would be “sharing a stage with the bands that inspire me, like Avenged Sevenfold or Metallica” – and a month later, she was supporting Avenged Sevenfold, performing with her beloved 1978 Ibanez MC300 for 40,000 punters in Singapore’s Indoor Stadium.

“At [Avenge Sevenfold’s] Bangkok concert, they wanted to meet me,” Royal tells us at Guitar.com. “I was shocked. Backstage I met M. Shadows, Johnny Christ and Zacky Vengeance. It’s crazy to think I started at a night market in Phuket and now I’m opening for my favourite band.”

Alongside her support slot, the guitarist also joined Avenged Sevenfold on stage for Bat Country and Unholy Confessions. In her Guitar.com interview, she emphasises the band’s importance to her: “I really want to put my own energy into the way I play, but I’m inspired by Synyster Gates. I love harmonic minor, pentatonic scales, sweeping… My biggest influences are Avenged Sevenfold and System Of A Down.”

Moving forward, Royal’s goals are on writing more music and fine-tuning her personal style. Her favourite band is rallying behind her, and so are countless market customers who have caught her performing over the years – just look on any Facebook post or YouTube video from her performing, and the support is clear.

“The first time we saw Nene and the Ozone band [featuring her brothers] performing there she was about 9 years old the drummer around 7 years,” one Facebook comment reads. “Even then they were amazing and we’ve seen Nene perform every year [since]… I said three years ago that this girl is gonna make it big. This January when we visited there was no question about it. She is absolutely incredible and so full of charm as well…”

“They say practice makes good and this is just the way it is… But if you’re born with the genetic miracle fingers and musical feelings that Nene has, true musical wonders will happen!”

The post “Find your style”: How America’s Got Talent winner Nene Royal put personality into her playing – and it earned her a support slot with Avenged Sevenfold appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

Rush just announced a residency at the Las Vegas Sphere.

Spanning five dates in May 2027, the Elevate From the Norm residency will see veterans Alex Lifeson and Geddy Lee – with drummer Anika Nilles in tow – play a set of “fan favourites and greatest hits from across their catalogue”, while celebrating the life and legacy of the band’s late drummer Neil Peart.

Specifically, the dates for the residency are May 21, 23, 26, 28 and 30. The residency is set to commence just a month after Rush wrap up their much-hyped Fifty Something global tour.

• EDITOR’S PICK: Alex Lifeson explains why he’s “fallen in love” with touring again

Fans will have a number of opportunities to grab tickets early in presale events. Members of the band’s Rush Backstage online store and subscribers to their newsletter will get an exclusive two-hour window to purchase VIP and Travel packages starting Friday, 6 November from 10AM PT.

Artist Presale begins Wednesday, 11 November from 10AM PT, while fans who register via Seated will receive a unique presale code granting early access to tickets. General onsale is scheduled to begin Friday, 13 November from 10AM PT.

“When I first heard of Sphere, I thought to myself, ‘Wow, what a shame that Rush is no longer touring, because this venue sounds tailor made for the kind of visual attitude with which we have always designed our shows,’” says Geddy Lee. 

“Normally we spend months designing the visual effects for our shows and this scenario seemed like the cherry on top of the ice cream for our design team. But life is nothing if not surprising and now, here we are, living and touring in the present tense and we are able to make that particular dream come true. 

“We are presently working hard to expand our touring concepts and concoct some new madness to suit this incredible venue and musically perform the kind of show we’ve been doing in some of our ‘one-off’ cities. Meaning playing all of 2112 and all of Moving Pictures along with an array of other songs. We are so effin’ excited to make use of this incredible opportunity to please our fans both visually and viscerally- from wherever they might fly in from. Gonna be so much fun!”

Further VIP and Travel experiences will be available to purchase via Superfan, and will extend beyond the concert with exclusive fan activities, transportation and a dedicated Rush merch popup shop at the Fontainebleau in Las Vegas. Select packages will include the opportunity to meet Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson.

Rush join a growing list of high-profile artists who have announced shows at the Las Vegas Sphere, including Metallica, John Mayer, Eagles and Dead & Company.

All the info you need to know is at rush.com/sphere.

The post From retirement to world tour and now Sphere residency: Rush’s remarkable reunion continues appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

Telecaster-style guitars are renowned for their appealing simplicity – there’s a certain romance to the idea of a guitar that stays so close to just “wood slab with neck attached”. Its nature as one of the most simple electric guitar designs has helped cement the Telecaster’s reputation as a reliable workhorse, but it also means it’s a fantastic mod platform.

Helping more with this is an abundance of aftermarket Telecaster-compatible parts, whether you want a modern conversion, an authentic-looking vintage-styled instrument or a best-of-both-worlds combination of the two approaches. And you don’t have to take a drill and a soldering iron to a US-made Fender, either – there’s a similar abundance of affordable Telecaster-compatible T-type guitars, such as our patient today, a Vintage (the brand) V20 Coaster. Let’s dive into the process of giving it a full overhaul!

• READ MORE: The magic of partscasters – build your perfect guitar yourself
  

The Patient

This particular guitar is unashamedly Tele-alike – with a butterscotch single-cutaway body, maple neck, and two single-coils. It was purchased as B-stock for an extremely affordable £130. Guitars at this price point are fantastic for complete overhauls, and really all kinds of DIY messing about: the quality of guitars like this is nowadays relatively high, particularly in the fretwork. But if you make a wrong move with a screwdriver, dremel or soldering iron, and it’s a lot less of a financial tragedy.

The guitar itself is far from perfect, but the important thing here is that the basic construction is very good. Where it falls a little short is in the hardware, which is a little generic – particularly the sealed tuners, which after a bit of testing reveal themselves to be a bit stiff and not very stable. The Alan Entwistle pickups are actually pretty neat to see at this price, but they’re not the most authentically vintage-sounding things out there, and lack a little punch and character.

So, there’ll be a big benefit to the hardware and electronics swap – let’s get going.

Strip things back

The first thing to do with any project like this is figure out what you’re working with – for a total overhaul, it can be helpful to strip it down to a blank canvas before ordering a bunch of parts, just so you can be a little more sure about compatibility.

In this particular case, we do have basically the standard Telecaster routing, with room for upgraded electronics. Like most affordable guitars, the V20 comes with mini-pots, and so I do a quick test-fit of a full CTS-sized control pot in the electronics cavity to make sure I won’t have to do any routing when I switch stuff out. I might have to drill a bigger hole in the control plate itself, but that’s a bridge we can cross a little later, along with the, er, bridge.

Shields up

This being a single-coil guitar, proper shielding is almost essential. Without it, electrical interference from the outside world will leak into the parts of your guitar’s wiring that generate signal, and you’ll hear it through your amp, particularly with single-coils – but shielding the cavities in which your pickups and controls sit can very much improve this.

From the factory the V20 came with zero cavity shielding – so that’s first on the list to sort. Luckily this is both easy and also therapeutic – you’ll just need some conductive copper tape, some scissors, and something to help manipulate the tape in hard-to-reach areas, and maybe a good true crime podcast – this takes longer than you think.

You’ll also want to make sure your conductive tape has conductive adhesive – this means that as you place a new piece of tape, it will have continuity with the piece you’ve just slapped it on – and so when you coat a cavity with it, you make an electronically-connected faraday cage to absorb interference and send it away to ground.

The standard Telecaster routing pattern has several discrete pits that are hidden by the hardware. The shielding in each needs to be connected to the guitar’s ground to be effective – you can either solder a jumper wire between each to achieve this, or do what I did, and place copper tape to carry continuity down to the control cavity. The pickup grounds are connected to the back of the volume pot, and the volume pot is screwed into the metal control plate – so as long as the shielding tape has a conductive path to this plate, we’re all groovy.

The cavity for the bridge pickup is a little more involved – from the factory, the strings are grounded through a wire that’s sandwiched between the body and the bridge plate. For a good ground connection for the shielding, we can just make sure this wire is also sandwiched against the copper tape at one end, and connected to the back of a pot.

Building Bridges

It’s important to check the style of Tele bridge plate you’re using. You can see here that it’s mounted to the body with four screws behind the saddles. This is the same arrangement as official Fender parts and most aftermarket replacements. There are some affordable Telecasters and T-types (including the cheapest Squiers) which have something that on the surface looks like the classic bridge plate, but has a screw in each corner instead – there aren’t really many drop-in replacements for these plates.

However if you do have something like this, then you can still upgrade your bridge by replacing the saddles but keeping the same plate. Doing this just means you need to keep the same number of saddles. Some Telecaster bridges are three-saddle, some are six-saddle – meaning you can upgrade with (compensated, ideally) brass barrel saddles in the former case, and vintage or modern hardtail saddles in the latter.

Another consideration is the bridge pickup, which is obviously mounted straight to the bridge plate. There are plates out there that take humbuckers, but they’re not a simple drop-in deal – as you can see, the route underneath the bridge plate here (and in most single-coil T-types) is shaped directly for a single-coil pickup. If you want a humbucker-equipped guitar, either be ready to route, or start with an already humbucker-equipped platform to upgrade.

For this guitar, I’m swapping out the whole plate and staying in single-coil land, which makes it a more simple drop in – I just run through the ground and the hot wire of the bridge pickup to the control cavity before attaching the bridge. And speaking of that control cavity:

Electronics overhaul

With a T-type guitar, it’s good to re-do the electronics first. The handy thing is that all of the controls are attached to a single plate. This too can be cleared out, with the original switch and the original pots saved for use as spares.

I’m using Stewmac’s Premium Telecaster Wiring Kit here, which comes with full-sized pots. This means a test fit is a good idea, as like most affordable guitars, the V20 comes with mini-pots, – cross-compatibility is never guaranteed, even if you’re using an official Fender or Squier body.

Here, the full-size CTS pots fit – but only just. They’re a few tenths of a millimetre away from needing me to get the dremel out and carve away some material, but as it stands I’m happy with the pots contacting the shielding tape – it’s all going to ground anyway.

I do need to drill a slightly bigger hole in the plate for the larger sized pots – if you don’t have a step bit, or just don’t trust your drilling abilities, you can grab an aftermarket plate sized for CTS pots.

Here’s a good opportunity to talk about why this is worth doing. As previously stated the base guitar here is good – the frets are fine, the neck feels nice, and it’s the right shape and so on. However, even just using this switch is a world of difference to the cheap stock one – it’s got a reassuring clunk, and just makes interacting the guitar feel like a more premium experience.

Sonically, of course, the pickups have had the biggest impact – StewMac’s Telecaster set sounds fanstastic, with a punchy, bright bridge that’s not too brittle, and a warm-yet-articulate neck pickup that’s perfect for smooth, overdriven solos. If you’re doing just one thing to a cheap guitar, the pickups are perhaps the thing to start with if you want a big leap in tonal quality!

Tuner time

The V20 Coaster’s tuners are more modern sealed-gear ones – not in-line Kluson-style ones. It’s important to measure your post holes, and check the angle of the mounting screw is correct here – not all tuners are cross-compatible, and conversions can be tricky. Luckily this Gotoh set I grabbed as a replacement fit straight in with no modifications.

But… one thing I didn’t really foresee was their impact on the balance of the guitar! They’re relatively high-mass locking units, and the guitar’s body is seemingly made out of a very light and affordable wood – and so there’s a little bit more pull on the shoulder strap than before. When looking for tuners, keep this in mind, particularly if you’re working with a lighter guitar.

Wrapping it up

With the hardware and the electronics overhauled, the guitar can be re-strung and setup. The Wilkinson compensated bridge allows for some really in-depth adjustments, and so I spend a while with an accurate tuner and a set of allen keys getting intonation perfect, something not normally easily achieved with even a compensated Telecaster bridge. After this I dial in pickup heights for consistent output, give the nut a little lubrication, and find a compressor pedal for some old-scool Tele clean playing to give it a whirl.

It is a marked difference from the unmodded guitar – the pickup swap has totally changed the sounds on offer, and the more premium hardware makes it far more inviting to play. However, there’s always more you can do in terms of modding. I eschewed a fret polish this time, but doing one can sometimes make a guitar go from feeling a little gritty and cheap to feeling very premium indeed. I also don’t quite love the feel of the back of the neck – it’s a slightly generic-feeling pale satin finish that, again, feels a little gritty. This can be remedies with some ScotchBrite, or, if you were feeling very brave, you could grab a Telecaster compatible neck – Fender-style bolt-ons are often totally compatible with each other, but I’d get the calipers out if I was switching this one, mainly thanks to its fingerboard extension…

Regardless, it’s remarkable what a £120 guitar can be made to play and sound like these days, still with room for improvement! For some extra parts and inspiration, check out StewMac’s offerings here.

The post Here’s how to mod an affordable T-type into the Tele of your dreams appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

Six years after his death in 2020, guitarists still move mountains to try and achieve the sound of legendary guitarist Eddie Van Halen. And Peterson reckons its new tuner pedal, the StroboStomp EVH, will help many players to that end.

You might ask: “It’s a tuner. How can it make me sound more like Eddie Van Halen? It doesn’t affect tone and it certainly doesn’t train my fingers to tap lightning fast.”

Well, as Peterson explains, on Van Halen’s self-titled debut album, which arrived in 1978, Eddie used slightly different tunings across its 13 songs in order to “sweeten” the sound of different chords and riffs. Essentially, he was a fan of slightly detuning certain strings on his guitar for a more characteristic sound.

• READ MORE: “The concept for me is surprise”: Nene Royal on AGT, Avenged Sevenfold and the 1978 Ibanez that made her a star
  

Peterson tuner pedals have incorporated “Sweetened” tunings for some time, allowing guitarists to incorporate tiny pitch offsets by a few cents to flavour their sound. And the new StroboStomp EVH comes loaded with 13 of them, each tailored to the 13 songs on Van Halen’s debut. That’s not all, though; if you want to venture outside the Van Halen sound, the pedal comes with a total of 158 tuning presets, and you can even upload your own custom tunings, too.

Fittingly, the pedal comes outfitted in the classic Van Halen red, white and black Frankenstein stripes, and swaps a mechanical disc piece for a crystal-clear LCD screen which can be set to different colours, perfect for when it’s dark onstage.

Additionally, the pedal might be a good option if you’re a bassist, too, as there are 11 bass presets included also.

“Eddie relied on Peterson tuners as he developed the sound and playing style that made him one of the most influential guitarists of all time,” Peterson writes. “The StroboStomp EVH honors that connection, bringing Peterson’s renowned ±0.1 cent accuracy to a new generation of players.”

The StroboStomp EVH is now available for $179. Learn more at Peterson.

The post This new tuner could make you sound like Eddie Van Halen – here’s how appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

After more than 30 years as a professional guitarist, Robin Finck is unloading over 200 pieces of his vast gear collection. The items will be available in a new store on Reverb, officially opening on Wednesday, 11 November. The inventory will include guitars, pedals, and other rare items he used while touring with Nine Inch Nails and Guns N’ Roses.

“I’ve genuinely used and enjoyed all of these pieces, so much so that I’ve ended up with two or even three of some of them. You know I love all these sweeties, I just don’t need multiples of them anymore,” says Finck. “I have been so fortunate to have played these on stages all over the world, and now they’re poised to play with someone new.”

• READ MORE: Laney Prism-Mini review – a sub-£100 desktop amp with sounds that’ll rival your main rig
  

Headlining the collection is Finck’s Gibson Les Paul ’60 Reissue Goldtop, playfully nicknamed Old Gold. He used the guitar during Nine Inch Nails’ iconic set at Woodstock 1994, in addition to all of his tours with the band from 1994 to 2014. Finck can also be seen playing the guitar in NIN’s music video for March of the Pigs.

“On the day we shot the video for March of the Pigs, that version of Nine Inch Nails had never played a show in front of an audience. My whole world was about to tilt,” says Finck. “This is the only guitar that made it out of 1994 intact. I don’t know why or how because it’s also the guitar I played more than any other.”

Elsewhere, the shop features the Fender Custom Shop Nocaster Finck used with NIN from the 2013 Tension tour to 2018’s Cold and Black and Infinite – which he also calls “one of the greatest guitars” he’s ever played – plus a Gibson ES-335 used extensively with both NIN and GNR, and a one-of-a-kind Manson Custom MA-RF-01 guitar built specifically for him and played extensively on tour with Nine Inch Nails.

“There is a deep history for me with, well, all of these guitars. But if you ask me which is the best guitar? It might be this one,” Finck says.

A selection of pedals is also available, including a Boss FZ-2 Hyper Fuzz with Finck’s initials on the side, a Prescription Electronics Experience with a one-of-a-kind paint job, and a DOD FX25 Envelope Filter used on the Guns N’ Roses track Better.

As for why he’s shifting some of these pedals? A lot comes down to duplicates in his collection. “I have used and loved all these deeply. I just don’t need multiples anymore.”

Robin Finck joins a long list of artists who have opened online shops on Reverb, including Gilby Clarke, Bullet For My Valentine, Kiko Loureiro, Dave Mustaine and Russian Circles.

Robin Finck’s Reverb shop will open on Wednesday, 11 November. For more information, head to Reverb.

The post Fan of Nine Inch Nails or Guns N’ Roses? You could get your hands on some tour-used gear in Robin Finck’s new Reverb shop appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.