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“Is this yours?”: Watch the wholesome moment James Hetfield meets a 10-year-old fan – and signs his ESP LTD Iron Cross guitar
They say never meet your idols – but this truly wholesome moment between Metallica guitarist James Hetfield and a 10-year-old fan is proof that, sometimes, you should ignore that advice.
The inspiring meeting – which can be seen in newly uploaded social media clips – took place in Tampa, FL back in June 2025, when Metallica were passing through on their mammoth M72 World Tour.
In the footage, 10-year-old Jacob K – who has cultivated a following of several thousand on Instagram thanks to his impressive metal riffing – has his ESP LTD Iron Cross signed by the Metallica leader. “Is this yours?” Hetfield asks before scribbling his signature on the guitar’s lower bout, and turning it into an instrument Jacob will truly treasure forever.
In an Instagram post, Jacob K reflects on the “crazy” day, calling James Hetfield “the best musician/guitarist and the reason I play guitar”.
“He was so amazing and cool,” he continues, “and so kind with me. It was the best day ever! I will never forget it.”
Another post on Jacob K’s Instagram page sees his parents reflecting on the wholesome meeting, writing: “Some moments change everything. This was one of them.”
“On 7 June in Tampa, during Metallica’s M72 weekend, something completely unexpected happened. After a night of pure magic at the show, a morning spent at the popup store buying ALL the Metallica gear, and gearing up for night two, our then-nine-year-old son Jacob got to meet his hero James Hetfield.”
They continue: “What meant the most wasn’t just meeting the GOAT. It was how humble, kind, and genuine James was with our son. He stopped. He talked with him. He encouraged him. He told him to keep playing and never stop.
“Up until that moment, Jacob’s world was countless hours of watching interviews, concerts, performances, learning Metallica riffs, listening daily, and even saving up for his Iron Cross guitar!”
They say the meeting made them bigger fans of Hetfield and Metallica than ever before: “Talent is incredible, but character is everything. James isn’t just a rock star. He’s the real deal.”
So there, have another piece of evidence pointing to how James Hetfield is one of the coolest dudes in metal – and music.
The post “Is this yours?”: Watch the wholesome moment James Hetfield meets a 10-year-old fan – and signs his ESP LTD Iron Cross guitar appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.
All gain, no pain: the 10 best overdrive pedals you can buy in 2026
At the start, the idea was a simple one: tube amps sound fabulous when they’ve overdriven, but you have to turn them up horribly loud to make that happen, so let’s design some pedals that will recreate the effect at lower levels. The story of overdrive could have ended there… but then people started tinkering with the formula, the options rapidly multiplied, and suddenly the whole thing had got catastrophically out of hand.
Still, as catastrophes go, this one has worked out pretty well for us guitar players: we get a vast array of shiny stompboxes to choose from, ranging from simple low-gain crunchers to complex amp emulators, via numerous modern interpretations of classic designs. As a rule, the intimidatingly expensive ones do tend to be spectacularly good, but there’s really solid stuff at the affordable end of the market too.
So this selection really is just the tip of an overdrive iceberg, and there are plenty of top-quality contenders just below the surface. But if you’re about to buy your first drive pedal, or are just looking to upgrade from a cheap knock-off to something a bit more respectable (and reliable), you’ve picked the right place to begin your search.
At a glance:
- Our Pick: Dinosaural Hypoid Drive
- Best Marshall-style overdrive: DryBell The Engine
- Best Tweed-style overdrive: Lazy J x ThorpyFX The J
- Best Dumble-style overdrive: J Rockett HRM V2
- Best Screamer-style overdrive: EarthQuaker Devices Plumes
- Best Klon-style overdrive: Warm Audio Centavo
- Best valve overdrive: Crazy Tube Circuits Venus
- Best affordable overdrive: Boss SD-1 Super Overdrive
- Best versatile overdrive: Silktone Expander
- Best dual overdrive: Hudson Electronics Broadcast AP-II
- Why you can trust Guitar.com
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Our Pick: Coggins Audio Dinosaural Hypoid Drive
Image: Richard Purvis
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Never before has such a scuzzy-looking pedal produced such polished tones. The British-made Hypoid Drive has pedigree going back to the very first boutique stompboxes of the 1990s, and it feels like the ultimate refinement of a brilliant formula.
Also available as the central section of the Cogmeister boost/drive/boost behemoth, this is a compact unit that provides a crunched-up and tastefully sweetened version of whatever you plug into it – with a toggle switch offering a couple of tone-thinning options, and a gain range that goes from gently fluffy grit all the way to a full-blown fuzzy roar. The only thing it can’t do is sound as lo-fi as it looks.
Need more? Read our Coggins Audio Dinosaural Hypoid Drive review.
Best Marshall-style overdrive: DryBell The Engine
If you want to start a massive argument on the internet, simply ask a guitar forum what the best ‘Marshall in a box’ overdrive is. Hundreds will pile on, each insisting their favourite is the best and everyone else is an idiot. Well, quite a lot of MIABs are indeed excellent… but DryBell’s offering is something else.
It has a smoothness that makes the average plexi-style pedal sound ever so slightly scrappy, is more tonally tweakable than most, and comes with the considerable bonus of having a separate boost circuit – based on the legendary Dallas Rangemaster but, again, tonally tweakable – built in.
Need more? Read our DryBell The Engine review.
Best Tweed-style overdrive: Lazy J x ThorpyFX The J
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It would have taken quite the balls-up for this collaboration between two of the world’s most distinguished tone-sniffers – Adrian Thorpe of ThorpyFX and Jesse Hoff of Lazy J – not to be a winner. Adrian makes superb pedals and Jesse makes superb amps, so it’s no surprise that The J is so good.
Inspired by the great tweed-clad Fender combos of the 1950s, Lazy J amplifiers are a joy to play through – but they do cost a fair few pennies, so this pedal offers a taste of the same chunky tones and touch-sensitive feel for a lot less dosh. The Origin Effects Deluxe55 does something similar in a more compact enclosure, but our reviewer described this pedal as ThorpyFX’s “crowning achievement”, and that really says it all.
Need more? Read our Lazy J x ThorpyFX The J review.
Best Dumble-style overdrive: J Rockett HRM V2
J Rockett HRM V2. Image: J Rockett Audio Designs
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Lactose-intolerant readers should look away now, because it’s impossible to describe the Dumble sound without using the words ‘creamy’, ‘buttery’ and ‘yogurty’ (alright, maybe not that last one). Made famous by the likes of Stevie Ray Vaughan and Robben Ford, these Californian amps are now hyper-rare and hyper-expensive, so naturally there’s a thriving market for D-style pedals.
This one is based on a Dumble with the so-called Hot Rubber Monkey tonestack modification. Whether that means anything to you or not is hardly relevant; all you really need to know is that the HRM V2 has all the creamy, buttery goodness you could ever wish for in an overdrive.
Need more? Read our J Rockett HRM V2 review.
Best Screamer-style overdrive: EarthQuaker Devices Plumes
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First launched in the late 70s, the Ibanez Tube Screamer is one of the absolute giants of pedaldom. It has a very distinctive voice, with a bump to the upper midrange and a sizeable chunk of bass scooped out… and for some players it’s still the only drive that matters. But if you want something a little less tonally radical, on a reasonable budget, then you’re better off with the EQD Plumes.
Launched back in 2019 and now on its way to becoming a classic in its own right, the Plumes sits somewhere in the zone between Tube Screamer raspiness and organic transparency, with a three-way clipping switch adding an extra layer of versatility. Some people find it too trebly; presumably those people are yet to notice that it has a tone knob.
Need more? Read our EarthQuaker Devices Plumes review.
Best Klon-style overdrive: Warm Audio Centavo
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There are two ways for pedal designers to pay tribute to the magic of the Klon Centaur, arguably the ultimate low-gain overdrive: either build on its template with an original product that goes somewhere new, or simply create a straight-up ‘klone’. Warm Audio took the second path with the Centavo, setting out to make the sound of the Centaur available at a sensible price point and nothing more.
If you’re OK with that, you’re likely to be very happy with this pedal’s wondrous clarity and sweetly pushed midrange, close enough to the real thing that nobody will ever notice the difference. And if you’re not? Get the Bondi Effects Sick As – it’s an artful improvement on the old Klon design, and it’s an absolute stunner.
Need more? Read our Warm Audio Centavo review.
Best valve overdrive: Crazy Tube Circuits Venus
Image: Adam Gasson
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Despite its name, Greek company Crazy Tube Circuits does not generally make pedals with tubes in them – but as those glowing glass bottles are such an important part of real amplifier overdrive, doesn’t it make sense to squeeze them into stompboxes too? Well, there are a few practical considerations involving space, heat and voltages that might suggest otherwise… but then, on the other hand, there’s the Venus.
Based on the old BK Butler Tube Driver, this handsome stomper is fuelled by a full-size preamp valve yet comes in a compact enclosure and runs off a standard 9v power supply. It packs in a host of added features, and sounds so warm and harmonically rich that our reviewer was forced to break out the ‘m’ word: masterpiece.
Need more? Read our Crazy Tube Circuits Venus review.
Best affordable overdrive: Boss SD-1 Super Overdrive
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The SD-1 has seen a lot of changes around these parts since its original release way back in 1981. But the pedal itself hasn’t changed, and has never been out of production – which is surely an indicator of some kind of timeless perfection.
It’s simple and sturdy, and it does a solid job: providing mids-focused grit in a similar vein to the rival that inspired it, the Ibanez Tube Screamer, only with a slightly different distortion character. Want your SD-1 to be made in Japan like the originals? Go for the Waza Craft version, which adds a ‘custom’ sound mode and is still cheaper than almost everything else on this list.
Need more? Read our Boss SD-1 Super Overdrive review.
Best versatile overdrive: Silktone Expander
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Silktone supremo Charles Henry started out making cables for people to plug into their amps and pedals, before deciding he might as well build those amps and pedals himself. Smart move, because everything he’s done so far has been ridiculously good. The Expander, though, is something else: a beautiful tone machine, yes, but also something of a multi-purpose hero.
It works superbly as a low-gain crispy cruncher, it’s just as good as a medium-gain transparent drive, and it’s arguably even better as a high-gain flatulo-fuzz with enough low-end warmth to defrost a woolly mammoth. There are a couple of fantastic British-made boxes that rival it for tone-sculpting power – namely the Great Eastern FX Co Design-A-Drive and Bleak District Terra – but nothing beats the Expander for chameleon-like class.
Need more? Read our Silktone Expander review.
Best dual overdrive: Hudson Electronics Broadcast AP-II
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It’s perfectly reasonable to want more than one overdrive pedal – heck, some of us seem to need about 50 of the effing things – but sometimes a single device can be a better option than two separate ones. A dual stomper takes up less space, only needs one power supply outlet and saves you a patch cable – and, as the two halves have been designed together, you can be confident they’ll ‘stack’ nicely when one is run into the other. That’s certainly the case with the Hudson Broadcast AP-II.
A signature model for slide guitar master Ariel Posen, this version of the Broadcast has a germanium channel and a silicon channel, which can be used independently or stacked for double dirt deliciousness. So it’s essentially three pedals in one – and they all sound glorious.
Need more? Read our Hudson Electronics Broadcast AP-II review.
Why You Can Trust Us
Every year, Guitar.com reviews a huge variety of new products – from the biggest launches to cool boutique effects – and our expert guitar reviewers have decades of collective experience, having played everything from Gibson ’59 Les Pauls to the cheapest Squiers.
That means that when you click on a Guitar.com buyer’s guide, you’re getting the benefit of all that experience to help you make the best buying decision for you. What’s more, every guide written on Guitar.com was put together by a guitar obsessive just like you. You can trust that every product recommended in those guides is something that we’d be happy to have in our own rigs.
The post All gain, no pain: the 10 best overdrive pedals you can buy in 2026 appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.
“Hip-hop does not belong in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame”: Gene Simmons explains why rap doesn’t speak to him like rock and roll
What does Gene Simmons make of rap and hip-hop’s place in the musical pantheon? Not much apparently.
Speaking on the Legends N Leaders podcast, the Kiss bassist says the genres simply don’t resonate with him, maintaining that rock music’s blend of melody, songwriting craft and cultural longevity puts it in a different league altogether.
Simmons begins by questioning rap’s place in the Rock Hall: “The fact that, for instance, Iron Maiden is not in the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame, when they can sell out stadiums, and Grandmaster Flash is,” he says [via Blabbermouth].
It’s an argument Simmons says he’s taken up directly with hip-hop artists themselves: “Ice Cube and I had a back-and-forth [on this subject], and he’s a bright guy and I respect what he’s done,” he says. “[But] it’s not my music. I don’t come from the ghetto. It doesn’t speak my language. And I said in print many times, hip-hop does not belong in the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame – nor does opera, symphony orchestras.”
“How come the New York Philharmonic doesn’t get [inducted into] the Rock And Roll [Hall Of Fame]? ‘Cause it’s called the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame’. But he shot back and said, ‘No, it’s the spirit of rock and roll.’ OK, fine. So Ice Cube and Grandmaster Flash and all these guys are in the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame. I just wanna know when Led Zeppelin’s gonna be in the Hip-Hop Hall Of Fame. ‘Oh, you can’t do that?’ Oh, really?”
As Simmons explains, “music has labels because it describes an approach. By and large, rap, hip-hop is a spoken-word art. You put beats in back of it and somebody comes up with a musical phrase, but it’s verbal. There are some melodies, but by and large it’s a verbal thing – it’s rhyming and all that. And I know Eminem can [rap really quickly]. I wish him more success. I really don’t give a fuck. It just doesn’t speak to me.”
That distinction, he argues, is why rock songwriting still carries more weight for him. “With the genius of being able to put words and music and arrange it, it’s much more complex,” Simmons says. “The hardest thing to do is to write a simple, memorable song.”
Those values also shape his view of modern pop and electronic music. While Simmons insists he enjoys EDM and respects its ability to ‘make people happy’, he questions the genre’s long-term cultural impact.
“In terms of talent? … There are no tribute bands to [electronic artist and DJ] Skrillex. Nobody covers those songs,” he says. “There’s not a garage band, a new band that goes, ‘Fuck. The Swiss Mafia [Simmons is presumably referring to Swedish House Mafia here] have got this thing that I love. Let’s try to do a version of it and play it in the club.’ Nobody does that.”
Despite his criticisms, Simmons insists he isn’t anti- modern music. “I think it’s wonderful,” he says of today’s talent. His concern, instead, is the “business” behind it. Without record advances and sustainable income, he argues, artists can’t build the kind of careers that once defined entire generations.
“The biggest problem is that the next Beatles, the next Elvis is not gonna have a chance because record companies don’t give out advances… There’s no business. Fans are downloading for zero, next to it, so if you’re a musician, you can’t get paid for your art.”
For Simmons, that economic shift helps explain why modern popularity doesn’t always translate into lasting influence.
“Where’s that pivotal artist that shakes the rafters? You have popular artists. Taylor [Swift] has been the most popular artist, perhaps of all time. That does not move the needle,” he says. “New bands don’t form and say, ‘Let’s do 10 Taylor songs.’ No, that’s fame versus something deeper. So when you go to see a bar band, they’re gonna be playing the song. They’ll play Freebird, they’ll play Satisfaction, they’ll play the songs that have stood the test of time.”
The post “Hip-hop does not belong in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame”: Gene Simmons explains why rap doesn’t speak to him like rock and roll appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.
“Everything you need to create truly iconic tones”: Fractal Audio brings Axe-Fx modelling to DAWs with ICONS, its first-ever plugin
Known for its high-end Axe-Fx processors, Fractal Audio has now made the leap to native software with ICONS – a new line of amp-modelling plugins and standalone applications that brings its acclaimed modelling and effects tones directly to DAWs and desktop setups.
The brand’s debut series, ICONS: Fullerton, centres on classic American-style amps, delivering 36 models inspired by some of Fender’s most iconic designs from the ’50s, ’60s and ’70s and beyond. With “Deluxes, Bassguys, Double-Verbs, Vibrato Verbs, Supers, Princetones, Champlifiers and more” on offer, we’ve got quite the comprehensive tour of the vintage Fender canon.
At the heart of ICONS is Fractal Audio’s advanced amp modeling, which recreates analogue circuits at the component level so that “each model sounds, feels, and responds just like the real thing at any setting.” In practice, that means you can dial in the model the same way you would the physical amp.
Each ICONS volume includes DynaCab selections chosen specifically to complement its included amp types. You can position a virtual mic on a virtual speaker and hear the results in real time – just as with traditional analogue gear.
The package also includes a selection of stompbox and studio effects based on the same algorithms used in the flagship Axe-Fx. These include authentic spring reverb and tremolo, more than a dozen accurate drive pedals, plus delay, compressor, GEQ, additional reverbs, and more.
That said, “ICONS is not an Axe-Fx in software,” says Fractal. “Its effect blocks feature streamlined types and controls that make it fast and natural to create great, complete tones centered on the amp and cab.”
Additional features include a modern preset manager, complete with tags, favourites, and metadata to keep you organised and focused on creating. ICONS also includes an input calibration system for third-party interfaces and features near-instant setup when used with Fractal Audio hardware.
“With support for automation, MIDI control, and essential tools like a built-in tuner, ICONS is designed to fit seamlessly into modern recording and performance workflows,” says the company. “ICONS delivers the sound and feel that Fractal Audio is known for – now available for your DAW or desktop, with everything you need to create truly iconic tones.”
The full ICONS: Fullerton suite is available now for $299; individual volumes are priced at $99 each.
For more information, head to Fractal Audio.
The post “Everything you need to create truly iconic tones”: Fractal Audio brings Axe-Fx modelling to DAWs with ICONS, its first-ever plugin appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.
Radiohead guitarist Jonny Greenwood wants his music removed from Melania Trump’s new documentary
Radiohead’s Jonny Greenwood wants his music removed from the new Melania Trump documentary, and claims he was never consulted on its use.
The documentary was released at the end of January and centres around Melania’s life in the days leading up to her husband’s January 2025 inauguration. The doc uses a section of music from the score that Greenwood wrote for the 2017 film Phantom Thread, and both he and its director, Paul Thomas, are reportedly unhappy.
Greenwood has composed music for a number of films, including We Need To Talk About Kevin, Inherent Vice and more. In a statement from the pair given to Variety, it says that Greenwood was not made aware of the use of his work in the new doc, and alleges this breaches his composer agreement.
It reads, “It has come to our attention that a piece of music from Phantom Thread has been used in the Melania documentary. While Jonny Greenwood does not own the copyright in the score, Universal failed to consult Jonny on this third-party use which is a breach of his composer agreement. As a result Jonny and Paul Thomas Anderson have asked for it to be removed from the documentary.”
Greenwood is not the only artist who doesn’t want his music associated with the Trump name, as a number of others have spoken out against the US President using their work at his rallies and within campaign videos. Trump has previously used Creedence Clearwater Revival’s Fortunate Son to soundtrack his rallies, causing the band’s guitarist and prime songwriter John Fogerty to issue a cease and desist order to put a stop to its use.
In an interview with Vulture, Fogerty chose the song as the most misunderstood in his catalogue: “That’s misunderstood by a small percentage of people – people who seem to be conservative, right-wing, and probably Republican or some other ‘ism’ in that category, and most notably by Mr Trump.
“It’s happened before where people thought it was a patriotic ditty to wave the flag and all that, not really understanding the cynicism and absolute defiance I had in the song. I mean, even if you don’t hear the rest of it, you should at least hear, ‘It ain’t me, I ain’t no fortunate son’. But if you don’t, then I guess you’re able to see the song in a different way,” he said.
Guitar.com has reached out to Universal Music Group for comment.
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“There’s nothing that impressive about being able to play the guitar at a decently high level anymore”: Billy Corgan on why guitarists today need more than chops
In 2025, being good at playing the guitar is no longer a flex – at least not in Billy Corgan’s book.
In a recent chat with Guitar World, the Smashing Pumpkins frontman argues that technical proficiency by itself simply doesn’t move the needle anymore, especially when “there’s fifty 10-year-olds playing Eruption on YouTube.” He also shares how his approach to guitar solos has evolved in recent years, with less emphasis on playing leads live.
“I don’t play that many leads live anymore, so if I’m only going to play like two or three leads live, I’ve got to make my point fairly quickly,” says the guitarist. “At this point, I’m 58 years old – the kineticism of a lead is what I’m interested in. The notes are less important to me. And that might sound strange, but that’s just the way I feel.”
According to Corgan, the rise of social media has changed what counts as impressive guitar work.
“If you’re going to play a lead in an alternative rock band in 2025, what are you trying to say? No-one’s going to care that you can play good, because there’s fifty 10-year-olds playing Eruption on YouTube,” he argues.
“There’s nothing actually that impressive about somebody being able to play the guitar at a decently high level anymore, so I think it’s the expressive quality that makes it interesting. So I’m more interested in creating a feeling than showing off.”
And while technical chops are abundant online, Corgan says very few of those players turn their skill into music that resonates in the wider world.
“I don’t see a lot of that great playing converting into popular music, whether it’s in popular metal bands or popular alternative rock bands. I want to see them making the Metallica songs of tomorrow or Megadeth or Slayer or something. I want to see that convert into music. I would wish for that crew of guitar players to convert those incredible abilities into the popular culture.”
He continues: “It’s like if Clapton had just been a guitar influencer and hadn’t been in John Mayall and Cream and Derek and the Dominos. The reason everybody knows Eric Clapton’s name is not because he’s a great guitar player. It’s because he made some of the most popular music of the 20th century, and, oh, by the way, it has incredible guitar. That’s kind of the point I’m making.”
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Sterling By Music Man Rabea Artist Series Sabre – a solid rock and metal workhorse
$999/£1,199, sterlingbymusicman.com
When Ernie Ball Music Man blessed YouTuber and metal guitarist Rabea Massaad with his first signature models back in 2024, it was only a matter of time before more budget-friendly Sterling versions came along to serve the slightly more cash-constrained.
After a two-year wait, Rabea’s Sterling Sabre finally arrived in October 2025, retaining many of the original’s fan-favourite specs – including a recessed heel and characteristic lower-horn spoon carve for comfortable high-register shredding – while slashing its $4,000 price tag to just shy of $1,000.
That considerable cost-saving is owed, in large part, to the fact that Rabea’s SBMM Sabre is made in Indonesia, while its pricier EBMM counterpart is built in the USA.
But as I’ve discovered first-hand on numerous occasions – like when I got my hands on the SBMM Kaizen 6 in December – Sterling’s considerably more affordable instruments do very little, if anything, to diminish build quality and are devilishly fun to play and tremendously difficult to put down.
Image: Adam Gasson
Sterling By Music Man Rabea Artist Series Sabre – what is it?
If you’ve ever watched Rabea Massaad’s YouTube channel or heard his diverse array of crushing riffs in Dorje, Toska and FrogLeap, you’d naturally jump to the conclusion that the SBMM Rabea Artist Sabre is a guitar focused chiefly at the heavier-inclined. In reality, though, it’s an impressively well-rounded instrument, with a silky smooth feel and versatile Alnico V humbuckers catering to a vast range of playing styles and genres, should you wish.
Its spec sheet is similar to its slightly more decked out EBMM sibling, both sharing a 25.5” scale, roasted maple neck and 22-fret ebony fingerboard with white ring inlays, and sculpted lower horn carve which, it must be said, feels like silk when sweeping in the highest registers.
There are a few changes, though, which help bring the Sterling version down to the affordable sub-$1,000 bracket. An alder body is swapped out for nyatoh – while retaining the flame maple veneer – the Music Man vintage tremolo is substituted for a standard modern trem, and perhaps most importantly, Rabea’s signature Bare Knuckle Silo pickups are traded for a pair of custom-voiced Alnico V humbuckers. Controls are kept the same, meanwhile, with singular volume and tone pots – with coil splitting – and a five-way selector switch.
The Sterling By Music Man Rabea Artist Sabre also comes in two new finishes; where the EBMM version came in Vileblood Burst and Frenzied Flame Burst, its affordable counterpart comes in Ashen Burst and Blood Flame Burst, inspired by Rabea-approved video games Dark Souls and Elden Ring, respectively.
Image: Adam Gasson
Sterling By Music Man Rabea Artist Series Sabre – feel and sounds
Put simply, 10 minutes of tinkering with your amp in both clean and high-gain settings reveals the Sterling By Music Man Rabea Artist Series Sabre to be a guitar that can do it all. But parking the versatility argument for just a second, let’s be honest: this is still a guitar that’ll find its core audience among metal players. So straight to high-gain setting I go.
Rabea’s Sterling Sabre owes its one-quarter price tag, in large part, to the addition of standard custom-voiced Alnico V humbuckers in place of Rabea’s signature Bare Knuckle Silos. But these pickups don’t exactly leave you wishing for anything. Flicking through the five pickup settings – on a switch which must be commended for its buttery smooth feel, I might add – it’s a true joy running the metal gamut. Low-register riffs on the bridge setting exude power and bite while retaining tightness, meaning even technically challenging riffs retain their clarity in a mix or band setting.
The neck pickup offers a gloriously warm tone perfect for sweeps, which when coupled with the recessed heel, sculpted lower horn carve and silky satin neck finish, genuinely make me feel about twice as good at sweep picking as I really am. Shredding really shines with this guitar, so if you’re looking to supercharge your lead playing, it might be the perfect option for you. Those Alnico V humbuckers handle crystalline cleans as well as high-gain tones, so you can rest easy knowing your tonal palette of needs is pretty much taken care of. Bear in mind there’s also a push-push tone pot, too, so you can tap into single-coil-type tones.
As with so many guitars that come out of Indonesia these days, build quality is superb, save for a few minor imperfections, like both the “Made in Indonesia” sticker and the way the fretboard connects with the neck at the headstock, seeming a little misaligned or off-center.
Straight out the box the strings are barely wound round the tuning post at all, which may have contributed to the A string breaking the first time I tuned up. Following that little hurdle and after a new set of strings, everything else about this guitar feels wonderfully put together and premium, from its graceful satin finish to a solo-friendly low action across the length of the fretboard. Glow-in-the-dark side dots are a welcome addition, too, and work great in dimly lit environments.
Image: Adam Gasson
Sterling By Music Man Rabea Artist Series Sabre – should I buy one?
There’s no shortage of riff-ready double-humbucker electric guitars on the market, and at times it’s hard to see where the Rabea Artist Series Sabre stands apart from the pack. It’s a tremendously well-built guitar which plays and sounds fantastic, but in terms of feeling like anything groundbreaking, it doesn’t feel like there’s much to see here.
That said, if you’re looking for a metal-first, versatile workhorse to add to your guitar collection – this is a solid option. And if you’re an avid Rabea Massaad fan, you’ll get more out of this guitar than most.
Image: Adam Gasson
Sterling By Music Man Rabea Artist Series Sabre – alternatives
If you’ve got $4,000 to part with, springing for the Ernie Ball Music Man Rabea signature gets you a slightly more kitted out spec sheet, but is it worth the $3k extra? The Sterling By Music Man version more than does the job, so I’m not that convinced it is.
In a similar price range, though, is the Tosin Abasi-approved Sterling By Music Man Kaizen 6, an ergonomic shred machine I named as my favourite guitar of 2025 in Guitar.com’s year-end gear roundups. While the SBMM Rabea Sabre is undeniably a beautiful guitar to play, few guitars have made an impression on me like the Kaizen, and it also has a floating tremolo, so you’ve got a slightly wider array of tools at your disposal.
The post Sterling By Music Man Rabea Artist Series Sabre – a solid rock and metal workhorse appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.
“You’re not going to get any sustain”: Analog Man legend Mike Piera thinks people who use digital amps and in-ear monitors are missing out on a huge part of guitar tone
In 2026, more and more touring guitarists are turning to digital amp modellers to get their tone, with increasingly professional-quality sound available in progressively smaller units offering unprecedented benefits in terms of how simple they are to transport and set up.
Many musicians also love the fact they can programme and save a tone, and it’ll sound the same at every show and at every venue. But some gear purists and analogue lovers think this is a problem.
As Analog Man founder Mike Piera explains in a new interview on the Products of Music YouTube channel, there are some elements of analogue gear which digital amp modellers can’t replicate.
“I don’t personally try out the digital modelling things,” he says. “I have no interest in them. Because to me, it’s not any fun. Where are you gonna go next? Are you just gonna stream your sound over the internet and you don’t even have to play your guitar? I want to play my guitar. I want it to go through real pedals, real amps and real speakers.”
Piera explains how, in his opinion, rigs reliant mostly on digital elements and amp modellers often benefit from throwing a piece of analogue gear somewhere in the signal chain.
“I do get exposed to a lot of the digital modelling,” he goes on. “The King of Tone [classic overdrive pedal] sounds pretty good into a Kemper or some of those amps.
“For example, a client of mine, who is one of the best guitarists in the world, was playing at [New York City’s] Madison Square Garden… He had been using the King of Tone with his digital modelling amp…
“My friend who came with me, he was like, ‘Man, that guitar sounds amazing.’ And it did sound amazing, but it didn’t sound like a real guitar. It sounded fake. It was so great how you could hear everything, but I didn’t enjoy it. But there were a couple songs I thought sounded really good, and I checked with the guitar tech, and he did kick on the King of Tone for a couple of songs, and it helped. It sounded more real, I don’t know why. Maybe starting out with a sound with some analogue glitches and things and then going through all that digital stuff, it still preserves some of that tone.”
Piera admits that relying on digital modellers and PA systems as opposed to analogue guitar amplifiers is “certainly easier”, but asks if it’s “worth it”.
“[If you use in-ears and you’re going through the PA], you’re not going to get any sustain, because you get sustain by the sound going from your amplifier into your guitar,” he continues.
“A Strat – you’ll hear those strings vibrating. It gives you that Strat sound. I guess most of that comes from the strings, but your amplifier sound vibrating your guitar is quite important, and gives you that sustain. You’ll see guitarists moving around the stage to find that spot where they have the sustain.”
Many artists have made the switch, either fully or in part, to having their live setups powered by digital amp modellers in recent years.
Last year, Metallica guitar tech Chad Zaemisch reflected on the band’s decision to ditch real amps while playing live, and how it freed up stage space to ultimately put on a better show. “Not many people want to watch a band stand in front of their amp line,” he reasoned.
Other artists have sung the praises of digital amp modellers, with Jim Root revealing in 2024 that he was using a Neural DSP Quad Cortex with Slipknot. Elsewhere, Black Sabbath legend Tony Iommi revealed the same year he’d been tinkering about with a Kemper, admitting it was “quite hard to tell the difference” between it and traditional analogue amps.
However, Sheryl Crow guitarist Peter Stroud urged beginners to steer clear of amp modellers, arguing that using an analogue amplifier helps players better understand their instrument.
The post “You’re not going to get any sustain”: Analog Man legend Mike Piera thinks people who use digital amps and in-ear monitors are missing out on a huge part of guitar tone appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.
“The industry has told me to f**k myself at every single turn”: Yungblud pushes back on the idea that he’s an “industry plant”
Yungblud has found himself with a much wider audience over the past year, and despite criticism from listeners and artists alike who have labelled him an industry plant, he argues it took him 10 years to get to this point.
Yungblud released his first studio album 21st Century Liability in 2018, but the past year has been life changing for the 28-year-old musician. He put out his fourth album IDOLS in June last year, collaborated with Aerosmith on an EP – and at the VMAs in what ended up being a contentious performance – and performed a poignant rendition of Changes at the Black Sabbath Back To The Beginning gig, which earned him an army of new fans.
Speaking to Rolling Stone for its Music Now podcast, he says, “I’ve been doing this for 10 years now. People have just found me now, and it takes 10 years to become an overnight success, doesn’t it?”
Yungblud is later asked if he wishes he was ever in a band, and despite his collaboration with Aerosmith, he replies, “No! Fuck no! I am not made to compromise. In the past, when I’ve listened to opinions and almost met someone in the middle, my art’s been shit. Watching Steven Tyler and Joe Perry together, the compromise is the fucking magic. But for me, it doesn’t work. It just makes me mad.
“People don’t realise I’m in control of everything. One of the biggest misconceptions about me is that I had everything handed to me by the industry. The industry has told me to fuck myself at every single turn,” he explains. “I find it really funny when people think that about me. If I’m an industry plant, I’ve planted the fucking plant myself.”
Asked about the advice he’s been given from others, he shares, “It’s funny, it’s all the same advice. Everyone’s like, ‘We were hated. People thought we were posing.’ Aerosmith went through it. After Ozzy left Sabbath, people were like, ‘He’s a pop star.’ He had to really stay true to his fucking self.”
Yungblud will begin touring in April this year. You can view the full list of scheduled shows via his official website.
The post “The industry has told me to f**k myself at every single turn”: Yungblud pushes back on the idea that he’s an “industry plant” appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.
“To me, that’s the biggest compliment you can get”: Cory Wong on the praise he received from Prince that he’ll “never forget”
Imagine what it would feel like to be complimented by one of your biggest musical heroes – that dream became a reality for Cory Wong, who was once given shining praise by none other than Prince.
Wong has just released a new album, Lost In The Wonder. The modern funk artist has a rather large discography, but while he was still finding his feet and playing local gigs in Minneapolis, Wong found himself playing for Prince. The megastar had stopped by to watch Dr. Mambo’s Combo, the band of which Wong was a member at the time, whose experienced members had been mentoring him.
He tells MusicRadar, “There’s this club in downtown Minneapolis called Bunkers. It was the hang for musicians and to some extent still is. All kinds of people would come to hang and sit in, from Slash and John Mayer to Roy Hargrove and Jonny Lang.
“Prince would come in all the time to watch the band,” he shares. “Anytime he was hiring new musicians to play with him, he would bring them to Bunkers and make them listen to how the musicians would approach the music, as well as the repertoire itself…
“Prince sent one of his people to bring me over. He’d always sit in the back corner with his entourage and security around because he’s Prince – obviously everyone would want to go and say hi, which is to be expected,” he says.
“When I saw him, I said ‘Hey, how are you doing?’ And he replied ‘Oh, you sound so great, man… I love what you do because you’ve got such a sound, it’s such a thing, keep doing your thing because when I hear it, it’s such a sound!’”
Wong says that it was the biggest compliment one could possibly get as a guitarist: “It wasn’t just about playing a great solo, which would have been nice enough. But from artist to artist and guitar player to guitar player, Prince telling me I had an identifiable sound was by far the biggest compliment I’ve ever gotten.”
He adds: “I knew he meant it when he said it. Sometimes, when I’m feeling down about myself, I can go back and hear his voice in my head. It’s something I’ll never forget.”
Cory Wong’s new album Lost In The Wonder is out now.
The post “To me, that’s the biggest compliment you can get”: Cory Wong on the praise he received from Prince that he’ll “never forget” appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.
Looking for a new multi-effects processor? Get this exclusive Line 6 HX Stomp XL from Sweetwater with $100 off – and a freebie included…
Sweetwater is currently offering $100 off the Line 6 HX Stomp XL floorboard amp and effects processor, which comes in an exclusive colour and includes a freebie.
Floorboard amp and effects units are becoming increasingly popular, helping touring artists scale down their rigs and keep things uber-portable. This exclusive burgundy version is priced at $649.99, and you’ll also get a free Eminence IR Sampler Pack chucked in the deal for good measure.
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This expanded version of the compact HX Stomp floor processor offers eight switches, enhanced MIDI capabilities, and an intuitive pedal editing mode. Like the original HX Stomp, the HX Stomp XL offers eight blocks – amps, cabs, and stomps – per preset, and adds a fourth snapshot per preset for further sonic tweaking.
- READ MORE: Superlunar SR-01 review – a designer dirt pedal that sounds a lot more rock’n’roll than it looks
There are over 300 onboard amp, cab, and stomp models from the Helix family, M-series, and legacy Line 6 products, and 128 presets in total. There’s also an FX loop for front- or back-loading stomp effects, support for third-party cab IRs, and many more features.
The HX Stomp XL can be used as a standalone rig or as a command center for your MIDI-enabled gear. Find out more in the video below:
Line 6’s hotly anticipated Helix Stadium XL Amp Modeller and FX Processor is also now available at Sweetwater, and you’ll get a free Eminence IR Sampler Pack included with your purchase. The Helix Stadium and its deluxe XL sibling, which were announced back in June last year, were tipped as a tough new rival to the beloved Neural DSP Quad Cortex. They bring entirely new modelling tech, cloning capabilities, and high-resolution touch screens.
Shop this deal and more at Sweetwater.
The post Looking for a new multi-effects processor? Get this exclusive Line 6 HX Stomp XL from Sweetwater with $100 off – and a freebie included… appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.
Did Billie Joe Armstrong just soft-launch a signature Marshall “Dookie Mod” head and cab at the Super Bowl?
The world might be talking about Bad Bunny’s blockbuster halftime show at this year’s Super Bowl, but props must be given to Green Day for opening the event in style with a brief but powerful set comprising Good Riddance (Time of Your Life), Holiday, Boulevard of Broken Dreams and American Idiot.
The keen gear heads among the hundreds of millions of viewers round the world spotted something interesting about the band’s performance, though. And that’s that frontman Billie Joe Armstrong appeared to soft launch a new signature head and cab with Marshall.
To the side of Tré Cool’s drum riser, fans noticed a somewhat unfamiliar light blue Marshall stack, and quickly began speculating as to what exactly it was. Many – who possess fantastic eyesight, we must say – have noticed a little plaque in the top left corner of the amp head, which appears to read “Dookie” (a nod to the band’s landmark 1994 album).
While it hasn’t been officially confirmed yet, Marshall has made a series of social media posts strongly hinting at the imminent arrival of a Billie Joe Armstrong signature amp.
“Green Day showing the world how to keep it loud,” the brand writes in one post.
Another shows Armstrong standing next to the monstrous amp stack – which, incidentally, is taller than him – alongside the caption, “Are you seeing what we’re seeing?”
Billie Joe Armstrong’s Dookie sound is widely regarded as a masterclass in chunky pop-punk tone. That album was recorded largely using “Pete”, a modded 100-watt Marshall Plexi 1959SLP.
As we say, it certainly looks like an official announcement is close, but for now, we can enjoy speculating using the information we do have. We’ll keep you in the loop as we know more…
The post Did Billie Joe Armstrong just soft-launch a signature Marshall “Dookie Mod” head and cab at the Super Bowl? appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.
How Angel Du$t became the most unconventional band in hardcore
What do Justice Tripp, Wes Eisold, Kevin Baker, Dave Weinberg and Frank Carter have in common? Well, aside from being some of the most revered and influential singers in modern hardcore, they’ve all shared a stage with Jim Carroll, a guitarist who’s a punisher’s dream – essentially a heavily-tatted Zelig with a Les Paul Custom cinched at his waist. “I guess I’m fairly versatile,” he says, playing it down during a Zoom call from New York. “I like a lot of different shit.”
But, in fairness, that self-deprecation is perhaps only natural given how long he’s been bouncing between gigs. Hailing from Worcester, Massachusetts, Carroll came up in a febrile hardcore scene at the turn of the millennium, joining local band Hold Strong while still in his teens. “I went to one of their shows and they announced over the PA between songs that they needed another guitar player,” he recalls. “So, I went up to their merch table. I ended up playing with them when I was 17, 18 and they were in their late 20s. That was a big thing.”
From there, dominoes kept falling. Carroll moved to Boston when he was 19 and started touring, chipping away at a rep as a collaborator capable of switching gears with verve and adaptability. He played with Weinberg on some early Suicide File recordings and would later indulge his inner rocker in Carter’s post-Gallows project Pure Love, while pulling double duty as a touring member of American Nightmare and the Hope Conspiracy, switching between backing Eisold’s mile-a-minute-bark and Baker’s muscular roar. Of late, though, it’s been his job to tune in to Tripp’s way of thinking as a member of Angel Du$t.
Image: Nat Wood
Chilled Out
And that remains a unique proposition in hardcore thanks to the genre-defying sprawl the vocalist has embraced since Trapped Under Ice hung up their recording spurs almost a decade ago.
Angel Du$t was originally a side project for Tripp to have fun with his buddies Michael Quick and Nicholas Heitman, alongside Daniel Fang and Pat McCrory of Turnstile. Turnstile’s tilt for unprecedented stardom for a hardcore band has been based on their willingness to push its musical boundaries, and it’s something that’s baked into Angel Du$t in different but no less experimental ways.
On their new record Cold 2 The Touch, Carroll and guitarist Steve Marino, better known for his indie-rock solo work as Bugg, make themselves right at home, lending sinuous riffage to songs such as Pain is a Must, warped pop flourishes to Man on Fire and straight-up hardcore carnage on The Beat. So far, so Angel Du$t, you might think, but it’s been a while since the group has sounded this sure of itself, this hench.
“That’s Justice’s brain,” Carroll says. “He’s described it to me as ADHD music. He always wants something new to catch the listener’s ear. It’s been a cool way of approaching music, because I feel like it’s not my natural way of doing things. It’s been fun to jump into it and then try to write songs that will fit what he’s doing, and what he wants.
“I think Steve is the same way – we’re filtering our way of writing into the Angel Du$t vision. Approaching this record, I definitely tried to put my stamp on it. I like big guitars, I like layers, I like cool psychedelic elements that go with heavy music. I feel like I was pretty successful with that.”
Cold 2 The Touch was recorded with producer Brian McTernan, who worked on a lot of Angel Du$t’s early stuff, including their debut A.D., and also Nonstop Feeling, the first LP by another TUI offshoot: Turnstile. Given Carroll’s long history in hardcore and the fact McTernan has been around since the early 90s himself, as vocalist of the underrated Washington, DC youth crew band Battery and a Boston-headquartered collaborator with everyone from Cave In to Snapcase, it’s surprising to discover that they were strangers when recording began.
“I grew up seeing his name on seven inches,” he says. “When we went into the studio and I met him for the first time, we realised we have a ton of mutual friends. We clicked. We definitely have a lot of the same interests — he’s great at getting good guitar sounds and making things huge, but he’s a great songwriter as well, and makes great suggestions [when it comes to] harmonies and melody. He’s a guitar player, a singer. It was cool to work with him. We had to shove a lot into a short period of time, so it would get hectic at times. But it worked out.”
Pumping Iron
In truth, Carroll’s tenure with Angel Du$t has been hectic from the drop. It began in his local gym, where bassist Zechariah Ghosttribe is a trainer. “One morning he was talking about how their guitar player couldn’t go to Brazil, and it was kind of screwing up some shows they had,” Carroll recalls. “And I was like, ‘If you need a guitar player, I’ll go to Brazil for a weekend. That sounds all right.’ Justice and I had met over the years, but very briefly. We got on the phone later that night and talked about it. Two weeks later, we went and did a couple shows with No Warning. We had a good time, they had some stuff coming up, and he was just like, ‘If it’s something you want to do…’”
Serendipity aside, Carroll and Marino make a lot of sense as a pairing given Angel Du$t’s split personality. In the past, Marino has described playing with the band as “exercising a different muscle” to his own songs, and from the outside the same is true for Carroll. Where Marino is being drawn into heavier realms than he’s used to, Carroll is pushing different buttons to the one he needs to rely on when on stage with American Nightmare or Hope Con.
There is a moment a minute or so into Cold 2 The Touch standout Zero when all of this comes into focus: the guitars slow and Tripp barks out a line that feels like a mosh call, but instead of a breakdown we get Carroll peeling off a solo. It’s a bait and switch that serves as a perfect encapsulation of what Tripp calls “aggressive rock and roll”.
In the studio, Carroll’s search for punchy tones took him down an unexpected path. Using a JCM800 as a starting point, and with everything from a Pro Co RAT to a API Tranzformer and a JHS Bonsai in the mix pedals-wise, he settled on a Rickenbacker Dakota 650D for most of his contributions, swerving away from the 2000 Black Beauty that’s been his go-to for decades and the 2017 humbucker-rigged Fender Jaguar that’s served as his Angel Du$t live guitar. “Brian had a handful of guitars in the studio, and I played that on the first day,” he says. “It felt great, it had a good sound. You could run the gamut of nice, gain-y distortion, and cleaner, more percussive, classic Marshall sounds. I think I played that on every song.”
Image: Nat Wood
Solid State Logic
On the road, Carroll is still wearing a few different hats. For him, touring means switching between the more abrasive sounds required by American Nightmare and Hope Con, with Angel Du$t presenting a different, more tonally nuanced challenge. So, if he was playing a show tomorrow, what would he be taking with him? “I am playing a show tomorrow,” he replies. It’s with AN at Rough Trade in NYC, before a couple of dates with youth crew icons Gorilla Biscuits, so the Les Paul is up.
“These days, I have a Quilter Tone Block 202 and then I’ve been playing through a Line 6 HX Stomp XL,” Carroll adds. “If you told me five years ago that I would have a solid state head and a digital modeller, I would have called you crazy. But it’s made travel and jumping between bands so much easier. I fit all my stuff into a Pelican and a two-guitar Gator case.”
“I know that every night when I plug in, I have every band programmed,” he continues. “It’s just a flip of the switch. At festivals or shows where you’re not the headliner, I can get up there and set my stuff up in five minutes. I don’t have to think about pedals and dead cables, trying to find where things are going wrong. It has its downsides, because it’s like a computer on stage and, if you’re playing a smaller hardcore show, you have people running up and maybe trampling on stuff.”
And there are a lot of feet out there right now ready to do that trampling. Hardcore is as big as it’s ever been, and that’s down to people like Jim Carroll slogging it out during some lean years. Over the past two decades and change, every good show, every bad show, every connection, every recording session, has led to this niche, outsider music catching fire in a manner few could have expected it to.
He’s seen it all first hand, just like so many of his peers have. It feels fitting that Carter and Eisold both guest on Cold 2 The Touch, underlining the fact that hardcore, before merch, Grammys and social media beefs, is about pulling together with your friends. “It’s just a case of, ‘Hey, do something on this,’” Carroll says. “Make it cool.”
Angel Du$t’s Cold 2 The Touch is out February 13 through Run For Cover.
The post How Angel Du$t became the most unconventional band in hardcore appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.
“Make this stuff too hot to handle”: Chris Buck calls for help after gear stolen
Guitarist Chris Buck is the latest victim of musical gear theft, and he’s appealing to the internet for help.
In a new post on Instagram, Buck – who alongside Yamaha, recently launched his new signature Revstar at NAMM 2026 – makes an appeal to anyone who has seen or may come across his stolen gear, which includes a brand-new, unused Schmidt Array SA450 pedalboard, plus two cases with a selection of accessories.
- READ MORE: Vista Musical Instruments acquires Scottish retailer Kenny’s Music and confirms relaunch plans
“While I was in the US for the launch of my signature Yamaha, my car’s rear window was smashed in Bristol and a load of gear stolen,” he writes, promising to reveal more details about the theft in the coming days.
Alongside the Schmidt Array SA450 pedalboard, two Peli 1510 and 1640 cases were stolen, the first with accessories including guitar cables, capos, guitar straps, two Audix Cab Grabber mic stands, picks and a lid organiser. Buck says this case had two Telefunken stickers on it at the time it was stolen, but admits these would be “fairly easily removed”.
Meanwhile, Buck’s stolen Peli 1640 case is adorned with a “Let’s Get Loud” sticker, a Mythos Pedals sticker, as well as purple tape and “Heavy” tape from airport travel. The foam inside is moulded to fit a Schmidt Array pedalboard.
Buck says he believes the stolen items are still in the Bristol area, and urges anyone who comes across it, in person, “at a Cash Converters/car boot sale or online”, to contact him at chrisbuckguitar@gmail.com.
“If we could make this stuff too hot to handle, that’d be great!” he concludes.
Sadly, music gear remains a prime target for thieves, and many high-profile musicians have found themselves victims of this crime. Last year, for example, Australian jazz/funk band Hiatus Kaiyote saw “tens of thousands of dollars” worth of gear, including Jackson and Ernie Ball guitars, stolen from their studio space.
Similarly, New Zealand rock band the Beths had instruments, pedalboards and even their entire rented backline stolen from their van while on tour in France.
But musicians aren’t the only victims of such gear thefts, and brick-and-mortar retail spaces regularly find themselves victim, like when thieves managed to steal a $5k Gibson Les Paul in 2024 by simply walking out of a store with it.
The post “Make this stuff too hot to handle”: Chris Buck calls for help after gear stolen appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.
We scored Steve Vai’s Positive Grid Spark Mini amp a 9/10 – get it now with over $50 off
You can now save over $50 on Positive Grid’s Spark MINI Vai portable amplifier thanks to Sweetwater.
The 10-watt amp, developed in collaboration with Steve Vai, was launched in 2024 and reflects the “unique tone and style” of Vai’s influential work. It’s ultra-compact and battery-powered, featuring a host of features requested by Vai himself, including four onboard presets and an exterior design that oozes Vai character.
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Just like the original, the Vai MINI hosts a dual angled-speaker design that utilises a personalised EQ, omnidirectional bass response, and custom damping to produce a tone to match amps much bigger in size. Users can also access more than 100,000 additional tones and presets via the Spark app, as well as tools to help you practise. Its built-in USB-charge battery delivers up to eight hours of playtime.
- READ MORE: “He saved my bacon!”: How Steve Stevens saved an “inexperienced” Steve Vai from tonal humiliation
Instead of the standard black or white Tolex of the Spark MINI, the Vai version features a deep red burgundy exterior coupled with a Mandala design on the grille, made famous on Vai’s Hydra guitar. You’ll also get a matching 10-foot guitar cable featuring 24K gold-plated connectors and a durable burgundy weave nylon jacket to match the aesthetic.
In addition to the aesthetic glow-up, the Spark Mini Vai also offers a collection of loops and backing tracks pulled from Vai’s catalogue, as well as four new Steve Vai-curated presets. These are: Fresh (a bright, clear voice), Mild (a lightly distorted tone), Hot (ideal for crunchy rock rhythms and leads), and Fire (saturation for solos with vocal-like character).
We rated the MINI Vai a 9/10 in our 2024 review, noting it offered brilliant sounds in a compact package, and the accompanying app made editing presets easy and offered a wide range of effects.
Shop this deal and find out more via Sweetwater.
The post We scored Steve Vai’s Positive Grid Spark Mini amp a 9/10 – get it now with over $50 off appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.
This guitarist is using a Steam Deck as his entire live rig – and it’s genuinely impressive
Handheld gaming consoles aren’t exactly designed with live guitar rigs in mind – but that didn’t stop one guitarist from turning Valve’s Steam Deck into his entire live setup.
In a new video, 26-year-old virtuoso Sebastian Garcia, aka Sebastiside, breaks down how he’s been using the handheld console as a fully fledged live guitar rig – running Reaper and Neural DSP – and says it’s already survived real-world shows, including a performance at NAMM.
“It really surprised me how well it worked,” says Sebastiside. “For instance, I am using the lowest buffer size on the Steam Deck, which is 16 samples. And even though it’s so low, it’s not crackling or doing any weird glitches… Everything is functional.”
- READ MORE: This guitar has a bridge suspended in mid-air by magnets – and it sounds (and looks) insane
To get there, Sebastiside first installed a lightweight, “de-bloated” version of Windows on a small SSD partition, pairing it with Reaper as his DAW of choice.
“This modified Windows version removed all of the bloat and all of the garbage Windows comes with,” he explains. “I think this is very important for the Steam Deck specifically because it’s so limited.”
From there, he loaded Neural DSP – specifically Archetype: Rabea X – along with the same plugins he uses at home.
“So my Steam Deck recognises my audio interface just as any other computer. After you install the drivers, everything works as expected. All of my plugins are here. All of my EQs. So, for example, I have FabFilter… and I can apply FabFilter Pro-Q to my guitar channel,” says the guitarist.
That familiarity, he notes, is what makes the rig feel less like a workaround and more like a genuine replacement: “It’s really interesting because you can’t really do that on a pedal board or anything. Everything is different. So, it felt really comfortable to have my home setup in a live setting.”
Control is handled via the Steam Deck’s touchscreen, trackpads (“It’s basically like a laptop’s trackpad”) and buttons: “The way you control Reaper is by going into Steam itself. Steam lets you configure every single button,” Sebastiside explains. “You can choose whatever you want them to do. It could be as complicated as you want.”
Key Reaper functions – like recording – are mapped directly to buttons, while the touchscreen lets him tweak mix parameters on the fly.
According to the musician, the only real hurdle came with scaling plugins to the small screen. Some guitar plugins are simply too large for the Steam Deck’s screen, making controls hard to access. The solution, says Sebastiside, is enabling high-DPI compatibility, which “lets you resize the plugin however you want”.
Once everything is dialled in, Sebastiside locks the session down completely to prevent accidents mid- live show.
“What I did was very simple,” he says. “I just routed every single part of the mix that was going through front of house to output number one. And then I routed every single part of my in-ears to output number two. So that would be the metronome basically. So, I just have one slider for front of house and one slider for in-ear mix as well. I also made sure to hide all of the other tracks because I didn’t want to accidentally move them or delete them. I’m too paranoid with it.”
As Sebastiside explains, one of the Steam Deck’s biggest advantages is its portability: “I don’t have a laptop. So, this is basically my laptop,” he says. “I can put this inside the guitar case. I don’t even need an extra bag.”
Battery life has proven equally impressive. With a session running at 88% battery, Sebastiside says the console estimates over six hours of use.
Perhaps most surprising, though, is how the handheld stacks up against traditional computers. According to the guitarist, the 1TB Steam Deck he has delivers even lower latency than his desktop system – something he attributes to Reaper’s efficiency and the handheld’s surprising power.
“As I said, I am really impressed with how well this works and I find it extremely reliable,” he says. “I will keep using it and I will keep doing things with it.”
The post This guitarist is using a Steam Deck as his entire live rig – and it’s genuinely impressive appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.
Vista Musical Instruments acquires Scottish retailer Kenny’s Music and confirms relaunch plans
[Editor’s note: Vista Musical Instruments and Guitar.com are both part of Caldecott Music Group.]
Vista Musical Instruments has acquired the intellectual property, brand assets and goodwill of Kenny’s Music, confirming plans to relaunch the Scottish music retailer under its ownership.
The acquisition was completed in coordination with Hilco Global and secures the future of the Kenny’s Music brand within Vista Musical Instruments’ wider portfolio.
Founded in 2008 by Kenny Graham, Kenny’s Music became a key part of Scotland’s music retail scene, serving musicians across Glasgow, Dundee, Aberdeen, and Dunfermline. The retailer earned a strong reputation for its close ties with local artists and commitment to fostering a thriving music culture through expert service and community engagement.
The acquisition follows the company’s announcement last October that it had ceased trading and would move into Creditors’ Voluntary Liquidation (CVL), “despite our strongest sales ever in recent years.” At the time, Kenny’s Music ran both an online store and brick-and-mortar locations across Scotland.
Vista Musical Instruments says the acquisition marks the start of a new chapter for the brand. As an initial step, a revitalised digital home for Kenny’s Music is now live at kennysmusic.co.uk, where customers can sign up to an official newsletter for updates on the brand’s evolution and upcoming milestones.
While a new online store is currently in development, customers can reach out via the website to a dedicated team member for personalised concierge services, expert gear advice and professional consultations.
The Kenny’s Music community will also gain immediate access to a wide range of global brands, including Fender, Martin, Heritage Guitars, Harmony and MONO. Products will be available with next-working-day delivery in the UK via Vista Musical Instruments’ sister retailer, Dawsons.
Commenting on the acquisition, Vista Musical Instruments CEO Meng Ru Kuok says: “We’re excited to welcome Kenny’s Music into our VMI ecosystem. While the brand’s recent pause was unfortunate, it followed a period of its strongest sales on record. There is a great foundation here to build upon, and we appreciate Hilco Global’s professionalism in helping us ensure this legacy is reimagined for the next generation of musicians.”
Find out more at Kenny’s Music and Vista Musical Instruments.
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“AI is fun… But you can’t replace what’s coming out of Ozzy’s mind”: Zakk Wylde weighs in on AI music
Artificial Intelligence can already fake your favourite band’s riffs, remix their voices and spit out passable soundalikes in seconds. But according to Zakk Wylde, that’s about as far as it goes.
Speaking at a recent Q&A session in London, the Black Label Society frontman and longtime Ozzy Osbourne collaborator weighs in on the growing use of AI music generators – explaining why, novelty aside, they stop short of replacing the real thing.
- READ MORE: “You never say never”: Zakk Wylde says new music with Pantera’s tribute lineup is possible
“AI is fine,” Wylde says [via Blabbermouth]. “It would almost be like if me and you were sitting around going, ‘Hey, guys, can you write a song you think Black Sabbath would write?’ So it’s no different than that.”
“But you’re never gonna be able to replace what is coming out of Ozzy’s mind, what’s coming out of Tony Iommi’s mind, what Geezer’s [Butler] thinking when he’s gonna write lyrics, and how Bill’s [Ward] gonna approach the drums on a riff, what kind of drum beat he’s gonna play,” says the virtuoso. “‘Cause when you get a record from whatever your favourite artist or your favourite band [is], you’re getting a piece of them. So you can’t ever replace that.”
Wylde argues that while AI might convincingly imitate a band’s style, it can never recreate the people behind the music or the personal chemistry that defines great records.
“It’s just like saying you’re gonna write AI Pantera. You can’t replace what was going on in Dime’s mind and what Vinnie’s gonna play. Pantera is those four guys – so it’s Philip [Anselmo], Rex [Brown], Dime [Darrell] and Vinnie [Paul]. And that’s that,” he says. “I mean, that’s Pantera. So, just like any other band is… That’s who it is. You can’t replace what’s coming out of Elton John’s mind, what he wants to sit down and play on a piano and what Bernie Taupin’s gonna write lyrically. That’s the beauty of the human element of music.”
Still, Wylde believes that AI has its place, particularly when it’s treated as a creative toy rather than a replacement.
“But, I mean, AI is fine. It’s fun, in regards, though, if it’s gonna write something that sounds like what Led Zeppelin would write or what Black Sabbath would write. And it’s just, like, ‘Oh, wow. This came out pretty cool,’” says Wylde.
“I mean, with Black Label, we always start with the Zappelin-Sabbath mashup. And I think it’s great. I remember when Ozzy heard it the first time, he was, like, ‘Oh my god. Zakk, have you heard this thing?’ I’m, like, ‘Yeah, I think it’s great.’ It’s Whole Lotta Love, and then you stick in Ozzy singing War Pigs over the riff, and then Robert Plant comes in on the solo. I’m, like, ‘Dude, this is the coolest thing ever.’ So, it’s having fun with it.”
“But you’re never gonna replace Ozzy coming up with that melody, Tony coming up with that music, and Geezer coming up with those lyrics. And then Whole Lotta Love, Jimmy Page playing that riff and then Robert Plant singing the Whole Lotta Love scream over the top of it. ‘Cause that’s the real thing. You can never replace the real thing.”
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“There’s nothing the Dumbles did for me that other amps hadn’t done before”: Eric Gales doesn’t get the hype around Dumble amps
Favoured by the likes of Carlos Santana, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Robben Ford and John Mayer, Dumble amplifiers have long occupied a near-mythical place in guitar culture. Built in tiny numbers by the late Howard Dumble and whispered about in reverent tones, they’re often treated less like amps and more like holy relics.
But not everyone is convinced.
In a new interview with Guitarist magazine, Eric Gales admits he doesn’t quite understand the obsession. While he acknowledges that Dumbles sound excellent, he says they didn’t offer anything he hadn’t already heard from other “great” amps. As the guitarist puts it, there was no moment where the “heavens opened up”.
Asked why Alexander Dumble’s amps are held in such high regard, Gales replies: “To be honest, I don’t know. There’s a bit of a taboo fascination with them. Obviously, they are highly respected and deeply admired for the sound they make, but I don’t see the big draw factor.”
“Sure, they sound great, but I’ve heard other amps that sound great,” says the virtuoso, who played through a Dumble on his new album at the suggestion of producer Joe Bonamassa.
“I’m very honoured and privileged to have plugged into one a few times, but it wasn’t like a ‘heavens opened up’ sort of moment,” Gales continues. “I’m not speaking bad about them, I’m just saying there’s nothing the Dumbles did for me that other amps hadn’t done before, you know? I was just going off a suggestion and I trusted Joe enough to go with it. He has plenty of Dumbles and runs through them pretty rigorously. I had no reason to go against it.”
In practice, Gales’ setup was about as straightforward as it gets. He plugged his Magneto signature guitar into Bonamassa’s Dumble, and into his own signature DV Mark amp, and let his playing do the talking.
“If [the Dumble] was the only amp that was there and my DV Mark wasn’t around, I’m sure I would have been fine,” he says. “I have some really nice amps, like my Two-Rock, and the Dumble did nothing less than that. If it wasn’t as good, then I wouldn’t have used it on the record. I remember it had great sustain and delivered every single nuance I put through it. At the same time, my DV Mark was doing the same thing. Both amps were standing tall beside each other, doing a great job in giving me what I needed to accomplish this record. That’s all I can ask for.”
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Superlunar SR-01 review – a designer dirt pedal that sounds a lot more rock’n’roll than it looks
$280/£249, suprlunr.com / northernstomps.com
The Superlunar SR-01 is a little white tragedy. This is something that belongs in a design museum, yet the only people who’ll ever really look at it are guitar players… just as they’re about to stomp on it.
At least those players will be well rewarded, because this versatile fuzz, drive and boost pedal from New York – now available in the UK through Northern Stompboxes – makes a spirited attempt at the impossible: sounding as good as it looks.
Image: Richard Purvis
Superlunar SR-01 – what is it?
The first stompbox from NY-based ‘audio design studio’ Superlunar, the SR-01 takes its inspiration from a cranked black-panel Fender amp. I’m assuming that means something manageably small like a Deluxe, Princeton or Champ – there is no record of anyone ever hearing a Twin Reverb at full volume and surviving.
So it’s first and foremost an amp-like fuzz, but the manual also promises subtle overdrive and even clean boost settings. You get quite the control array to navigate all that, and it comes in three parts: the big knobs on the left are for gain in the first clipping stage and output level; the push-buttons are for engaging fuzz mode and a high-pass filter; and the three mini-knobs are for input attenuation, second-stage transistor bias and treble.
Sounds a bit complicated, doesn’t it? Best just to leap right in, start twiddling things and see what happens.
Image: Richard Purvis
Superlunar SR-01 – what does it sound like?
I came, I saw, I twiddled, and here’s what I found: the best starting point is with the two full-size knobs at noon, the buttons both off, the outer mini-knobs at maximum and the middle one at minimum. This is a very pleasing medium-gain drive tone with plenty of body and chime. It’s sweet, solid and thoroughly amp-ish.
To take the crunch out of the equation, you just have to turn the input attenuation down to about two o’clock (maybe lower with humbuckers); now output level controls how hard you’re hitting the front end of your amp, while the treble knob lets you tame the zing and the white button does just enough to keep you safe from flubbage when required. This is all good stuff.
The big black gain dial doesn’t actually have much effect until you turn the input level back up to full, at which point it can push the SR-01 just about to the edge of fuzziness… but it’s no use trying to resist the blue button, which piles on the saturation and adds a hint of squish as we tumble into the world of proper fuzz. It’s mighty powerful, but still with a tightness and clarity that’s definitely more black-panel than tweed.
And if you want more squish – lots of it – you just need to start messing with the bias control. This can make things gently velcro-like or, bumped up further and with the input level notched back again, give full-on gated splutter effects. It’s borderline anarchic, and really not what you expect from a pedal that looks this well educated.
Image: Richard Purvis
Superlunar SR-01 – should I buy it?
If all your other pedals look like salvage from a nuclear accident site – scratches, dents, rust, missing knobs, unidentified stains – then frankly no, you shouldn’t be allowed to buy this one. But if you promise to look after it, what you’re getting with the SR-01 is a unique pedal that can cover a surprising amount of tonal ground. It’s great as an uncoloured booster or medium-gain drive, and it’s even better as a rampaging fuzz, gated or otherwise.
Image: Richard Purvis
Superlunar SR-01 alternatives
It’s a very different proposition, but the Land Devices HP-2 ($229/£225) is another wonderfully impolite fuzz hiding inside a cleanly asymmetrical enclosure. The Origin Effects Deluxe55 (£279) could almost be described as the SR-01’s tweed cousin, while the Hudson Electronics Broadcast Dual Footswitch (£179) is a more conventional pedal that covers high and low gain just as effortlessly.
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