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As heavy metal legends Iron Maiden celebrate 50 years in the game after their formation in East London in 1975, Fender is celebrating the band’s Golden Anniversary with a new range of signature instruments for guitarists Dave Murray, Adrian Smith and Janick Gers, and bassist Steve Harris.

Specifically, the collection features a Fender Custom Shop Dave Murray Stratocaster, two limited-edition Fender Strats for Dave Murray and Janick Gers, a vintage-inspired Jackson for Adrian Smith and a new P Bass for Steve Harris.

• READ MORE: I’m finding the best Cyber Monday guitar deals in the US and UK across Thomann, Sweetwater and more

Custom Shop Masterbuilt Dave Murray Stratocaster – $11,000

Heading up the collection is the Fender Custom Shop Dave Murray Stratocaster, which celebrates his longstanding place in the band and contributions to all 17 of the group’s studio albums. The guitar is the result of close collaboration between Murray and Custom Shop Masterbuilder Andy Hicks.

“Dave Murray has always been my favourite guitar hero. Not only is his style absolutely brilliant but he also proved to me long ago that Fender absolutely belongs in the world of heavy metal,” says Hicks.

“It was an absolute honour to build this guitar for him and I will never get over the excitement of seeing my favorite player from my favorite band playing one of my guitars.”

In terms of specs, the ultra-high-end guitar – which will set you back a princely $11,000 – features a two-piece select alder body with an NOS Olympic White finish, oil-finished ‘60s-style Oval “C”-shaped walnut neck, flat-laminated 9.5”-14” compound radius rosewood fingerboard with 21 frets, with Seymour Duncan Hot Rails bridge and neck pickups and a JB Jr. middle pickup.

Other premium features include a Dave Murray signature neck plate, vintage-style tuners, a Fender Custom Shop strap and a certificate of authenticity.

Limited Edition 50th Anniversary Dave Murray Stratocaster – $1,799.99

If you’re a massive Maiden fan but don’t have 11 bands to drop, Fender has also unveiled the Limited Edition 50th Anniversary Dave Murray Stratocaster, which bears a far more manageable $1,799.99 price tag. This guitar features a trio of Seymour Duncan pickups, a compound-radius fingerboard and Floyd Rose R2 double-locking tremolo, and comes in a black finish and with a rosewood ‘board.

Limited Edition 50th Anniversary Janick Gers Stratocaster – $1,699.99

Celebrating the “technical precision and melodic sensibilities” Janick Gers has brought to Iron Maiden since joining the band in 1990, this 50th Anniversary Strat features a 7.25” radius rosewood fingerboard with vintage tall frets, as well as Seymour Duncan JB Jr. neck and bridge pickups, and a Fender Vintage-style synchronised tremolo with bent steel saddles. Finishing touches include a 50th Anniversary neck plate and Gers’ signature on the back of the headstock.

50th Anniversary Adrian Smith Jackson Pro Signature SC1 – $1,799.99

Dave Murray and Janick Gers have new signature guitars, but what about Adrian Smith. Well, he’s not been left out, and proudly shows off a new Jackson signature SC1. The guitar sports DiMarzio DP100 Super Distortion and Fender Noiseless Sumerian Cobalt pickups, a 12”-16” compound radius fingerboard, and a top-mounted Floyd Rose double-locking trem.

Limited Edition 50th Anniversary Steve Harris Precision Bass – $1,699.99

Fender calls Steve Harris “one of the most influential metal bassists alive”, and it’s hard to argue with such a declaration. To celebrate his enduring contributions to the genre, Fender has endowed him with a new signature P Bass, which sports a Satin Black finish, all-maple neck and body with a mirrored pickguard, as well as a split P Bass pickup, Fender Vintage Precision Bridge, Fender round-wound strings and Harris’s signature on the back of the headstock.

What does Fender say about Iron Maiden’s 50th Anniversary Guitar Collection?

“Honoring Iron Maiden’s fifty years of pushing heavy metal forward, this collection brings together the signature instruments that helped define their unmistakable sound,” says Max Gutnik, FMIC’s Chief Product Officer.

“From Dave Murray’s high-performance Stratocaster models and Janick Gers’ energetic, vintage-leaning Strat to Steve Harris’ unmistakable Precision Bass and Adrian Smith’s versatile Jackson SC1, each instrument carries the tone, feel, and power behind Maiden’s multi-guitar attack.

“These anniversary models are more than tributes; they are stage-ready tools built to inspire today’s players and the next generation.”

Learn more at Fender.

The post Fender celebrates 50 years of Iron Maiden with new signature guitar collection – including an $11,000 Masterbuilt Strat for Dave Murray appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

Former Thin Lizzy guitarist Eric Bell apparently did not relish the time he joined Metallica onstage for Whiskey in the Jar, the very song he helped turn into a hard-rock staple decades earlier.

Whiskey in the Jar began life as a traditional Irish folk tune, and it wasn’t until 1972 that Bell electrified it with Thin Lizzy, reshaping the song into a swaggering rock anthem complete with its now-iconic guitar solo.

More than twenty years later, Metallica reimagined the track for their 1998 covers album Garage Inc., giving it a heavier, grittier edge and introducing the song to a new generation of fans around the world.

• READ MORE: Buddy Guy once saw Eric Clapton in the crowd at one of his gigs and assumed he was a cop

Speaking with Guitar World, Bell revisits the unexpected moment he found himself performing the song alongside James Hetfield and co in Dublin – and shares why the whole experience never quite clicked for him.

“I didn’t know anything about Metallica. I’m not into that kind of music, really,” Bell begins. “But it was funny; they got in touch with me. Someone from their setup phoned me and said, “I work with Metallica. We’re doing a world tour. Would love to have you come along to play with us in Dublin and do Whiskey in the Jar.”

“I said, ‘Can you email me what’s going on?’ He said, ‘Have you heard Metallica’s version of Whiskey in the Jar?’ I said, ‘No.’ He said, ‘What planet are you living on?’ I said, ‘Jupiter.’ [Laughs] Anyway, this courier arrived on a motorbike about two days later, and he had quite a few records, cassettes and DVDs of Metallica doing Whiskey in the Jar.”

Recalling his reaction to the material, the guitarist says, “It was okay. But once we got to Dublin, the thing that threw me was, I was trying out this Marshall amp, and Metallica walked in sort of like cartoons. They said, ‘Hey, man, when we do this, we tune our guitars a whole tone down.’ I thought, ‘A whole tone? The guitar is going to sound like a fucking banjo…’ But I don’t know; I didn’t really know them.”

When asked whether he actually enjoyed the performance, Bell admits that the moment never sat comfortably with him.

“No. I mean, it was okay,” he says, noting that the tuning mismatch threw him off throughout the song. “I just felt a bit out of place, especially as my guitar was in standard tuning and I was playing along in F instead of G. That’s the only thing that was in my head because I didn’t tune my guitar a whole tone down. If I had the chance again, I’d tune it down because it was tricky playing it in F!”

The post Ex-Thin Lizzy guitarist didn’t enjoy performing Whiskey in the Jar with Metallica: “They said, ‘When we do this, we tune our guitars a whole tone down.’ I thought, ‘A whole tone? The guitar is going to sound like a f**king banjo!’” appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

John Fogerty has looked back on the time he gave away his legendary ‘ACME’ Rickenbacker electric guitar to a 12-year-old kid during the darkest days of Creedence Clearwater Revival’s breakup, in hopes it might help him start afresh.

Speaking on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, Fogerty reflects on the emotional spiral that followed the band’s split – and how giving away the guitar felt, at the time, like a way to shed the weight of everything falling apart.

• READ MORE: John Fogerty thought effects pedals were a “communist idea” and didn’t want to use them

Reflecting on the guitar’s origins, Fogerty explains that he bought the Rickenbacker in early 1969 and immediately began modding it into something uniquely his own.

“It was a Rickenbacker, but I made a bunch of changes to it because I found some things lacking with the standard model,” he says [via Ultimate Guitar]. “The most important thing was, I put a humbucker pickup from a Gibson Les Paul.”

“I’d heard about these fellas over in England; there was quite a mystique. They were Jimmy Page, Jeff Beck, and Eric Clapton… And it really helped. And when I got done, I changed the nameplate and hand-painted ‘ACME’ right there.”

By the early ’70s, CCR’s internal tensions had reached a breaking point.

“So the Credence Clearwater Revival thing had its run, and then, I guess, fellas just didn’t know how to have fun or something,” Fogerty recalls. “I wrote a song called Have You Ever Seen the Rain. That was about the band breaking up. It just seemed like I was certainly pushing to achieve these heights of the music business, and everybody was getting more and more miserable. Don’t ask me why. Maybe it’s human nature.”

When the band finally dissolved around 1972, Fogerty found himself emotionally gutted: “I was pretty forlorn,” says the musician. That’s when a young kid – about 12-years-old – approached him at the band’s headquarters and asked if he could have one of Fogerty’s guitars.

“He comes to me one day, says, ‘John, can I have one of your guitars?’ And I suppose, thinking that I could just give all my problems away and start over, I took this guitar and gave it to that kid,” says Fogerty. “I didn’t see it for a long, long, long time, 44 years.”

Fogerty was eventually reunited with the Rickenbacker thanks to his wife, Julie, who quietly set out to find it after decades away.

“Unbeknownst to me, just a few years ago, my beautiful wife Julie went searching far and wide for this guitar,” he says. “She finally found it in Ohio, and she got it home, put it under the Christmas tree, and that’s how I got it back.”

Watch the full interview below.

The post “I thought I could just give all my problems away and start over”: John Fogerty recalls giving away his prized ‘ACME’ Rickenbacker guitar to a 12-year-old after Creedence fell apart appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

After last year’s short-lived and turbulent JHS revival, Ross is officially entering a new chapter. The brand has resurfaced with the announcement of its upcoming Era 6 pedal line, and this time, the company is back in family hands.

Cameron Ross, grandson of founder Bud Ross, has taken over the reins, bringing the storied effects name back under the Ross lineage. “I am the Captain now,” Cameron writes in a post on Ross’s official Instagram page.

• READ MORE: UAFX’s best chorus pedal is at an insanely low price this Cyber Monday

The message goes on to thank players, collectors, and fans for shaping the return through years of passion and honest critique, adding that Ross Era 6 pedals have been rebuilt with “modern engineering” while staying true to the “warmth and character of the originals”.

“We’re starting with the core line you know and love – Compressor, Distortion, Chorus, Phaser, Fuzz – each rebuilt with player-driven improvements and the exacting standards of modern pedal design. Expect refined circuits, rugged builds, and updated features that make them more versatile and gig-ready than ever,” the post continues.

The Instagram announcement also confirms a Cyber Monday perk: all email subscribers will receive 10% off their first Era 6 preorder when the window opens.

Responding to comments, Cameron confirms that the pedals’ classic colours will remain untouched (“all colours will stay the same as the originals”). The new units will also be smaller to better fit pedalboards, with “internal enhancements” (“We listened to all the critiques and have implemented them in the new design”) and additional features to be detailed on the upcoming website.

This reboot follows the abrupt end of the JHS-led revival last November, when the company pulled the plug just 18 months after reviving the Ross line. Despite an explosive debut – 4,500 pedals sold in August 2023 – sales collapsed in 2024, with only 333 units moved all year.

JHS founder Josh Scott later described the project as a “leech” on his time and energy, announcing JHS would step away from legacy brand revivals entirely and return full focus to its own pedals.

View this post on Instagram

The post “Legends never die”: Ross revived under Bud Ross’s grandson with new Era 6 pedals after failed JHS relaunch appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

“It’s been a good week!” Guitar.com is catching up with Jason Isbell just days after he’s celebrated some pretty important milestones. Firstly, he’s been honoured with a pair of new Martin signature acoustic guitars (more on that later) but the 46-year-old musician has also just received a trio of Grammy nominations for the album that inspired said instruments, Foxes In The Snow. A very good week indeed.

But despite Isbell’s Grammy nomination total now reaching a whopping 11 overall (with six wins) he’s keen to dismiss any notion that it’s any less special to receive the nod than when he was first nominated a decade ago.

• READ MORE: Meet Aaron Rowe, the Irish singer-songwriter who has toured arenas with Lewis Capaldi and is heading to America and Australia with Ed Sheeran

“Oh, no – no!” he repeats for emphasis. “It’s always really exciting, but I’m kind of one of those people who think like, if you’re not going to get upset when those things don’t happen, you can’t get too excited when they do, y’know? It’s a wonderful thing. And it makes me feel really good, very excited. It gives me a reason to go to the Grammys, which I love. But it can’t be a fundamental thing because if it ever stops, then you don’t want to get down on yourself.”

Isbell has a shelf fairly stacked with various kinds of awards of course, but he admits that there’s something about a Grammy nod that feels special.

“It’s great because it’s like everybody knows the Grammys, you know?” Isbell adds. “There are other awards that make you just as excited, but then your cousins don’t know what that means. And your girlfriend’s family doesn’t care. But when you get nominated for a Grammy, everybody knows that. So they all reach out! That’s really nice. And once you’re a ‘Grammy-nominated songwriter’, you’ll always be that. If you have one, then they can say that before you go on stage!”

Snow Business

Foxes In The Snow is an album that strips Isbell back to the bare necessities – him, his voice, and a 1940 Martin 0-17. For the last decade Isbell’s work has primarily been presented alongside his band, The 400 Unit – it was a contrast that presented its own challenges to Isbell.

“It is different,” he admits. “I love working with other people and I love a level of collaboration. I normally do better if I’m calling most of the shots or if I’m being told what to do – anything in between can be difficult. But it is different because there’s a risk there.

“You don’t have a lot of people that are going to say what they really think about the work when it’s just you and a guitar and one or two other people in the studio. So I relied a lot on Gena [Johnson], who helped me produce this record and engineered it. She did a beautiful job with that.”

We wonder if the acclaim and awards nods mean a little bit more because of that – because this is Isbell at his most distilled.

“A big part of it is just believing in the work that you’re doing and trying to sort of hold back too much self-criticism,” Isbell observes. “And I think for that reason, yeah, it is nice to get that sort of affirmation from the public at large or from the Academy.”

Perfectly Formed

The story of Foxes In The Snow is inextricably linked to the 0-17 he used to record it – a guitar that has provided the basis for the two new signature models he’s produced with Martin.

That the guitar is an all-mahogany small-bodied affair is interesting in and of itself. Isbell’s first signature with Martin was an unapologetically loud Dreadnought, while he’s been a fan of spruce-topped OMs and 000s in the studio recently.

The shift to an all-mahogany smaller-bodied instrument was originally one of convenience – he wanted a guitar to keep in his girlfriend’s New York apartment that would neither take up too much space or disturb her neighbours. It became much more than that however.

“I think it’s easy for us to defer to a spruce top and a bigger guitar,” he reflects. “But if you take everything else away and you’re just playing one instrument, the small mahogany body will really do everything that you need. As long as it’s comfortable enough to play, then you can get all the dynamics that you want out of a guitar that size.”

Still, the plan wasn’t always to make the 0-17 the voice of the record – it just ended up being perfect regardless.

“When I went into the studio, initially, I didn’t know that I was going to use this guitar for the whole record,” Isbell recalls. “I brought some other guitars. I brought an old D-18 in there. And the other guitars just didn’t work as well. They just sort of ate up all the frequency range.

“I think if I was making a guitar-driven record that was instrumental or really just meant to be listened to by guitar players, I think that it might have worked better to have a bigger, louder guitar. But, since I was trying to come at it from a singer-songwriter perspective, this guitar sat in the mix perfectly.”

Step Brothers

The new guitars that Martin has made with Isbell lean heavily into the magic that was revealed in that 0-17 on Foxes In The Snow – “if you want to know what a good Martin 0-17 sounds like, I don’t know that you’re going to find a better mic’d example,” the guitarist proudly declares – but from very different ends of the spectrum.

The 0-17 Jason Isbell spares no expense in its attempt to replicate the 1940 original – even going so far as to spec the guitar with a genuine Brazilian rosewood bridge and fingerboard just like the original. A production guitar – even one limited to just 100 pieces – using genuine Braz here in 2025 is a special and rare thing indeed, making the $4,999 pricetag seem rather reasonable considering.

The guitar also uses Sinker Mahogany (from trees that were originally logged in Belize in the 1920s) for the body to get even closer to the materials that would have been used to make this guitar in the Golden Era, while also meticulously recreating the original’s unique and somewhat unconventional neck profile.

All this was done, says Isbell, to ensure that the guitar would give its prospective owners (and himself) a guitar that replicated the feeling he gets when he holds a good Martin guitar in his hands.

“I’ve never felt like I could do something that a Martin couldn’t do,” Isbell enthuses. “You know, it’s kind of like my laptop. Especially with the really good old ones or the nice Custom Shop new ones. It’s like I’m doing emails on here, and this thing could operate a city or an automobile, y’know?

“And so I think that’s it – you don’t want your tools to create the ceiling. You want your creativity to create the ceiling and the tools should be able to follow you there. And that’s always been the case for me with Martins.”

The added benefit for Isbell himself, of course, is that the new guitars give him the freedom to alter them in ways that suit a working touring musician in a way that he’d never dream of doing to a Golden Era guitar.

“I take the same care of them, whether they’re new ones or old ones,” he reveals. “But I’m not going to drill holes in a pre-war Martin and start putting electronics in it and stuff. And so, I’ve actually had both of these, the 0-10 and the 0-17 out on tour with me some, and they held up really well. They did a good job, and I still take them out and use them, and will for a long time, I’m sure. If you’ve got some songs and a good way to deliver them you could make a living just with this guitar and a set of car keys.”

The Affordable Alternative

It’s not all about high-end instruments though, the 0-10E Jason Isbell is part of Martin’s Road Series and as such is much more of an accessible option for those wanting to get some of that mahogany mojo. The decision to go for two options comes from Isbell’s experience with his original dreadnought, which was priced above the means of most fans.

“This time around, I felt like a version that was more accessible would be a good idea because I didn’t want to split the difference,” Isbell explains. “I feel like there wouldn’t be as much of a purpose in making one that was sort of in the middle of the road. I wanted one version that was as close to the old guitars we could get and then, one version that sort of had the spirit of that guitar, but was a lot more affordable.”

The Road Series are made at Martin’s Mexican factory, and while some purists might turn their noses up at a non-US guitar, Isbell gives such snobbery short shrift.

“Working with somebody like Martin makes that a whole lot easier,” he explains. “Because they have a big skilled workforce. And I think the guitar builders in Mexico get a bad rap. I worked with Fender on a Telecaster that was made in Mexico. And they did a great job on that guitar. I think it was the first double-bound Tele that they had made in the factory, and they knocked it out of the park. Those are great guitars!

“So I think part of that is bias, and I think people pay for their biases too sometimes. Not necessarily with Martin, but with a lot of companies. I think people will pay more to reinforce the incorrect opinions that they already have.

“But, this guitar, I’ve got both of them sitting here next to me right now. And, you know, there is a difference. The finish is clearly a little bit different. The neck is a little bit different. But, I think that comes down more to preference than it does to quality, because the neck on the 0-10 is faster! It’s a slimmer neck, and it plays a little bit faster to me. I think it would be more comfortable for someone who wasn’t as used to playing bar chords on a big round neck.

“I don’t think anybody could have done a better job on a guitar at that price point at making it reminiscent of the pre-war Martin, for sure. It definitely has that vibe to it. I could take this Mexican-made version out and play it on tour and nobody would know the difference.”

The through-line for both of these instruments is understated elegance – they are not ‘look at me’ guitars, and that’s very much the point.

“When somebody performs, you want to be able to immerse yourself in the experience,” Isbell asserts. “And I think either one of these guitars does a really, really good job of contributing to the experience, but not becoming the main character, y’know?

“And I like that. I like a guitar where non-guitar players think is ‘that’s a guitar’ y’know? I don’t want them to think, ‘What the hell is that? That guitar looks crazy!’ I don’t want that – I’ve got business to attend to. I want to sing songs. If you came to the show, I would just like you to only know, I’m up there, playing a guitar, y’know?”

Find out more about Jason Isbell’s Martin collection at martinguitar.com/jasonisbell

The post “I’ve never felt like I could do something that a Martin couldn’t do” Jason Isbell on the magic of Martin guitars appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

Buddy Guy has been looking back on the early days of his music career, noting how things began to change for him when his music found its way to British artists who were flawed by his guitar work.

Guy juggled a number of jobs to pay the bills as a young man, and eventually worked as a session guitarist while playing gigs of his own. For a long time, he was overlooked by radio stations, mistaken for other Black artists, and suffered racial abuse.

• READ MORE: “You ain’t gonna hear nothing”: Buddy Guy admits that when he first saw Jimi Hendrix play live he thought he was “too loud” – but the Brits were next level

A new cover feature from Rolling Stone documents how the cognac that he’d drink at shows needed to be sealed in order for him to actually drink it, as he’d gotten sick before due to people urinating or spitting in it if it had been opened.

It was in the 1960s, however, that his music began to be much more appreciated. Guy began to be embraced by British artists like Jeff Beck, Keith Richards, and Jimmy Page. Culture was shifting, and it was the ‘hippies’ that fell in love with his skill. He tells Rolling Stone that he once saw “a white face” at one of his shows and assumed it was a cop, but he laughs, “It was Eric Clapton!”

He continues, “I saw the [Rolling] Stones coming with the high heels on, almost looked like a woman. I’m saying, ‘What is this?’ I got to San Francisco, and I said, ‘Man, look at this.’ I didn’t know what a hippie was. I saw men with long hair. But they were going crazy [for my music], man: ‘What do you got in that amp?’”

Also in the interview, Guy talks about the importance of keeping the blues alive and kicking. He notes how thankfully, young musicians like Christone “Kingfish” Ingram are helping to do so. He also celebrates the 2025 film Sinners, in which Guy played an older version of the character Sammie Moore.

“It seems like every time I go to the grocery store, I hear, ‘That looks like that guy in Sinners.’” He goes on to add, “I’m the last old man still walking and playing the blues. That’s what we talked about with Muddy [Waters] and Howlin’ Wolf before they died. They said, ‘Buddy, please keep the blues alive.’ And I’m tryin’.”

Buddy Guy released his 20th album, Ain’t Done With The Blues, back in July. You can stream or buy now via his official website.

The post Buddy Guy once saw Eric Clapton in the crowd at one of his gigs and assumed he was a cop appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

It’s no secret that the Boss Katana is a versatile and powerful thing – walk into any practice studio and you may well encounter at least one, and for good reason. The Katana is affordable, sounds great, and is loud enough to compete with a drummer. And for Cyber Monday, the 50-watt version of the amp is even more affordable over at Sweetwater. Check out the deal:

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$299 for the Katana 50 Gen 3 is an extremely appealing deal – that’s less than you might pay for a dedicated direct solution like a UAFX pedal, and the Katana Gen 3 has excellent direct sounds, with a customisable signal path and effects chain thanks to robust software control. But, it is more than capable of being used as a regular combo amp, and the 50-watt version has a nice balance between power and portability. It’s more than capable of small-to-medium club gigs, practices and even bigger stages if you have the right monitoring setup, thanks to those great direct tones.

I took a look at the 100-watt version back in 2024, and was mightily impressed by the tonal upgrades that Boss added – particularly the “pushed” mode that recreated an edge-of-breakup tube combo. And so I’d heartily recommend any Gen 3 Katana!

See more deals here, or check out more places to save below:

The post The Boss Katana can do it all – and it’s $50 off for Cyber Monday appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

Universal Audio has launched a new plugin, Paradise Guitar Studio, and it’s designed to make you feel like you’re playing in the studio of your wildest dreams.

It has everything you need for a pro guitar recording chain, offering its acclaimed UAD guitar amp emulations along with classic cabinets and mics, pedals, and studio effects – all built upon its analogue modelling.

• READ MORE: It’s my go-to pedal for all-in-one heavy tones, and it’s $50 off this Black Friday

Within Paradise Guitar Studio, you get 11 hand-picked vintage and modified tube amps, over 300 presets – spanning genres such as rock, blues, indie, metal, funk, and pop – as well as a generous range of effects like 1176 compression, vintage tape echo, and more.

The plugin also has its own integrated tuner and input gate, as well as an intuitive interface similar to a classic pedal board workflow. It comes in UAD’s Native format and is available to purchase on its own, or it can be accessed with a UAD Spark plug‑in subscription.

The plugin has already received praise from Covet’s Yvette Young, engineer Pete Lyman, and Rush’s Alex Lifeson, who says: “This is a stunning array of guitar tones that are instantly usable. The worst part about Paradise Guitar Studio is I’m not going to get much sleep now!”

Learn more in the video below:

“We built Paradise to make any guitarist feel like they’re playing in a dream studio,” says James Santiago, Senior Product Designer at Universal Audio. “It’s the most complete ‘end‑to‑end’ virtual experience we’ve ever built, with hand-picked tube amps and essential recording gear, all in a single plugin.”

Paradise Guitar Studio is available for $199 starting 1 December 2025. For a limited time during the UAD Holiday Sale, you can grab it for an introductory price of $149. Find out more at Universal Audio.

The post “A entire pro guitar recording chain in your DAW”: Universal Audio launches Paradise Guitar Studio appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

Ever fancied a Gretsch guitar but been priced out of owning one? Well, if you’ve saved your pennies for the Cyber Monday sales, you may just be able to grab this signature Nigel Hendroff Penguin model for just shy of $2,000.

We’ve been scouting out all of the most exciting deals across the sales over the weekend, and this Gretsch G6134TFM-NH Nigel Hendroff signature Penguin model is now priced at $1,999 over at Reverb — a MASSIVE $1,680.99 price drop from its original list price.

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There are multiple units of this model available on Reverb, all of which are in mint condition and come with their factory box. This signature model honours worship guitarist, songwriter and producer Nigel Hendroff, affectionately known as “Droff”.

It’s a single-cutaway model with a chambered mahogany body and flame maple top, which “captures harmonic richness and resonance” for a “livelier, more articulate tone”. It was designed by Fender Musical Instruments’ Tim Shaw, and hosts BT65 BroadTron pickups that offer “wall-shaking power and full-spectrum fidelity”.

• READ MORE: I’m finding the best Cyber Monday guitar deals in the US and UK across Thomann, Sweetwater and more
  

Hear how it sounds in play below:

Shop this deal now via Reverb.

The post This signature Gretsch Penguin has been discounted by nearly $1,700 for Cyber Monday appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

Chorus is, of course, on of those all-time great effects that underpins so many brilliant tones – particularly the Boss CE-1, which has been put to great effect by Robert Smith, Andy Summers, Alex Lifeson, The 1975, The War On Drugs, Tame Impala and countless more. And this Cyber Monday, Thomann has an awesome deal on UAFX’s stellar digital recreation of the CE-1: the Brigade. Check out the deal below:

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When we took a look at the original UAFX compact line, pretty much our only complaint was they were a little too straightforward for the price – however for Cyber Monday the Brigade has been discounted all the way down to just £88, which is an unbelievable deal!

The sounds themselves are great – it is a mono pedal, but there’s both vibrato and chorus modes as well as an optional preamp for a bit of colour. When he reviewed the pedal my colleague Josh said: “the Brigade does a really impressive job of replicating the warm analogue bath of the CE-1… if you told me that it was genuine Bucket Brigade chips producing those wonderfully warm undulations and shimmers, I wouldn’t bat an eyelid.” A pretty good endorsement!

Check out more Cyber Monday deals here, or see more places to save below:

The post UAFX’s best chorus pedal is at an insanely low price this Cyber Monday appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

The 2025 remaster of The Beatles Anthology landed on Disney+ last week, along with an additional ninth episode and a new box set containing remastered versions of the original three Anthology albums and a new compilation album, Anthology 4.

If you’ve whisked your way through the doc series like most of us here, then you’ve probably been dreaming of ways to make your guitar collection a little more Beatles-esque. If so, then look no further than this Cyber Week deal on a stunning Höfner Ignition Bass Limited HI-VB-SB model over at Thomann. With 24 percent off it’s now just £333, making it the perfect gift for The Beatles fanatic in your life, or an early Christmas treat for yourself…

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This bargain HI-VB-SB model has an original trapeze nickel tailpiece and control panel, plus a spruce top with flamed maple back and sides. It has a one-piece maple neck and rosewood fingerboard hosting 22 frets, and features two Höfner Ignition Staple humbuckers with nickel covers.

Get yours now at Thomann.

The post If you’ve been binging The Beatles Anthology like us, this bargain violin bass is your perfect Cyber Monday deal appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

By now you’re probably a little flummoxed with all the Black Friday messaging you’ve been bombarded with over the weekend. And I feel for you. But what about Cyber Monday – still got an appetite for that? I’m being facetious, but I had to get your attention on this unbelievable deal on a Kramer somehow.

Right now at Reverb, you can get this Kramer Pacer – in a shred-ready Scarlet Red – for just $179. With a huge $200 discount, you’re getting a $379 guitar here at 53% off. And ultimately a guitar for $179 is just ridiculous in itself.

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Kramer has long built a reputation in the hard rock and heavy metal community, helping facilitate the wildest and most wailing shred solos since 1976.

The Kramer Pacer Classic is a solid option for any shred fanatic – beginner or advanced – and is built for speed with a Kramer K-Speed SlimTaper C profile neck, with 22 medium jumbo frets and a 25.5” scale length, as well as an alder Superstrat-style double-cutaway body, a pair of white Alnico Classic 5 humbuckers, and a licensed Floyd Rose trem for those mandatory divebombs.

But don’t just take my word for it; have a look at what other Reverb users are saying about the Kramer Pacer. “Best guitar ever,” one writes, while another says they “couldn’t be happier” with their purchase.

• READ MORE: Black Friday Guitar Deals 2025: find the best deals and biggest savings with the help of our experts

So don’t hesitate. Whether you’re after the perfect beginner guitar or just a shred-ready workhorse to add to the guitar rack, this Kramer Pacer for just $179 is a truly ridiculous deal.

Get yours at Reverb.

The post If you’re a budding shredder, this Kramer guitar is just $179 for Cyber Monday appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

[Editor’s Note: Meng Ru Kuok, Founder & CEO of Caldecott Music Group is a part owner of Manson Guitar Works. Guitar.com is part of Caldecott Music Group]

£899, mansonguitarworks.com

It’s been six years since Muse frontman Matt Bellamy purchased the long-time manufacturer of his signature guitars, Manson. Shortly after this acquisition they introduced Meta series MBM-1: an affordable variant of Matt’s signature model, built – as many budget brands are – by Cortek. It quickly garnered plaudits from the guitar community as a much-improved successor to 2015’s already rather good MBC-1.

• READ MORE: Boss XS-100 Poly Shifter review – even better than the squeal thing?

Manson soon expanded the Meta series in 2022 and released the MBM-2, marketed as being ‘more closely aligned to Bellamy’s stage guitars’ and included revised body contouring and a Fernandes Sustainer in the neck position.

Of course, due to the sad demise of Fernandes Guitars, the Sustainer is no longer a viable option for anyone wanting an infinite-sustain pickup in their guitar, and so welcome then the latest MBM-2H, which retains much of the spec of the original guitar but with some newly revised body contours and the all-important presence of a Sustainiac pickup in the neck – the exact model Bellamy uses himself these days.

Manson Meta Series MBM-2H Sustainiac – what is it?

As mentioned, this is broadly a very similar to the guitar it’s replaced – you get a basswood body, laurel fretboard, compound 12-16” radius, soft ‘V’ neck profile, kill switch, 3-way toggle switch, volume and tone controls, and staggered locking tuners.

The tweaked body contours are subtle enough that you’d probably not even notice, but the new finish options – the festive Red Sparkle or this more demure Satin Olive Green – are very much in the current Bellamy wheelhouse and represent a welcome change from the flat black that the original MBM guitar exclusively shipped in.

It’s all made in Indonesia by Cortek, the makers of Cort, and the guitars are then shipped to Manson’s UK facility for final inspection before being sent out to yours truly.

Manson Meta Series MBM-2H Sustainiac – build quality and playability

Though Matt’s guitars may look like industrially-vibed disproportionate Telecasters at first glance, the guitar is a surprisingly comfortable shape when strapped on. The new contouring probably helps this – the tummy contour in particular makes things instantly feel a little less agricultural than its slab-bodies inspiration.

It’s a shame that the concessions to player enjoyment don’t extend to the upper frets – the slanted bolt-on neck joint has little regard for those of us who want to reach the highest parts of the fretboard.

Bellamy is no stranger to the dusty end of course, but it’s worth noting that the high-end Mansons that Matt tends to actually use himself usually have some element of sculpting on the heel – it’d be nice if the affordable options could follow suit someday.

The industrial aesthetic extends to its overall feel. The satin finished neck looks fresh off the CNC machine with its thin satin finish and lack of rolled fingerboard edges. This is understandable given the price point (though Fender have managed to work out how to affordably roll edges), but we feel most would prefer a slightly more comfortable finish on the fretboard edges.

But that is also the vibe with Matt’s guitars – they look and feel very utilitarian and this is further evidenced by the lack of amenities such as fretboard markers. Before I consider lamenting the lack of fretboard dots, I remind myself that Mr. Bellamy himself has provided ample evidence via his incredible live performances, that their omission is not an impediment to performance or accuracy. Consider myself scolded.

Manson Meta Series MBM-2H Sustainiac – sounds

Plugged into my high-gain Diezel VH4, the MBM-2H’s bridge humbucker performs feels like a medium-high output voicing and delivers us a mid-rich crunch that’s pleasingly devoid of the brittle high end that you sometimes get with an alder body.

Basswood is sometimes perceived as a more economical wood compared to say alder or ash, but it has an even frequency response which often makes it the preferred choice of rock and metal players with high output pickups, and in conjunction with the Manson bridge pickup pushes our preamp section enough to produce a real throaty rock tone that punches out palm muted riffs and chords.

Matt, along with Ed O’ Brien, are players who demonstrate the full potential of the sustaining pickup as a bona fide writing tool. For those who only view it as an opportunity to infinitely sustain bends as part of ostentatious live solos ala Steve Vai, you’re missing out on the sheer number of textural parts you can create by using the Sustainiac in conjunction with a wide variety of effects – such as the conveniently placed kill switch right underneath your nose.

The sustainer switches are sensibly located near the volume and tone pots and allow us to switch between fundamental, harmonic, and blend modes. What many don’t realise is that the neck pickup in non-sustainer mode is quite exceptional sounding in its own right, providing an extra little bit of punch and clarity that really shines on low to mid-gain sounds.

Manson Meta Series MBM-2H Sustainiac – should I buy one?

Despite it’s place as the affordable signature model of one of the most high profile players in modern rock, the MBM-2 paradoxically continues to be something of an under-the-radar standard bearer for this sort of rock-focused T-type.

While the nature of the world right now means that it’s more expensive than it used to be, that’s true of every guitar really – and getting this level of guitar for this price is still not to be sniffed at.

The sheer versatility and creative prowess the Sustainiac affords you means that irrespective of your preferred guitar styles, if you like experimenting with textures then this is an affordable way of trying one.

Cortek’s manufacturing process and quality control further cements their status as world-leader in affordable guitar manufacture. That means that while there’s undoubtedly a somewhat polarising industrial, unfinished feel to the MBM-2, it’s still a superbly set-up and put together instrument that’s ready for anything thrown at it.

Manson Meta Series MBM-2H Sustainiac – alternatives

Tele-based but with a little more 80s vibe is the Schecter PT Sun Valley Super Shredder (£989). Very much styled upon the Californian super Strat/Tele models of the 80s, Schecter, like Cort, are another huge manufacturer that continues to provide impressive specs for very reasonable prices. In this instance just under a grand gets you a twin humbucker, maple necked, Floyd rose loaded axe with onboard sustainer.

Another signature guitar with a sustainer loaded has now become somewhat a modern classic: the Ed O’Brien Fender Stratocaster. With JB mini-humbucker in the bridge and a Fernandes Sustainer in the neck, all the electronic accoutrements of Radiohead wizard have been distilled into a classic Strat format.

A slightly more left-field choice (for a very left-field player) is the Reverend Reeves Gabrels Signature RG-SUS (£1,399). Its unique body shape will invite comparisons to a Telecaster but with a Korina Body, ebony neck, and Sustainiac such comparisons begin to dissipate. A unique guitar worthy of further investigation.

The post Manson Meta Series MBM-2H Sustainiac review: “a superbly set-up and put together instrument that’s ready for anything thrown at it” appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

Cyber Monday is here at last, and while this is traditionally the final day of the Black Friday sale weekend, in practice now it’s become the final day of what has been a week- or even month-long sales event across the world’s biggest musical instrument retailers – so if you’ve been on the fence about buying something recently, do so now while you have the chance!

I’ve been writing about guitar in print and online since 2008, so I know a great deal when I see one. I’m also a sucker for a Cyber Monday splurge – my beloved Gibson Les Paul Special was actually a late Cyber Monday flash deal from Guitar Guitar here in the UK, and there’s nothing I love more than finding similar killer deals so that you can find your next musical inspiration for a killer price, just like I did.

Guitars, amps and effects are just like any other sector on Cyber Monday – there’s an awful lot of things pretending to be great deals that are either not that great a discount, or are not the sort of product you should be spending your hard-earned on. That’s where myself and my team here at Guitar.com are here to help – we’re constantly watching the sales and offers at big retailers before and after Black Friday and Cyber Monday in order to make sure you get the best possible deal on the gear you need.

So below you’ll find a mix of killer savings that simply can’t be missed, but also some more modest discounts on tried-and-tested gear that we’ve reviewed and loved here at Guitar.com – the savings might not be as steep, but you can trust that these guitars, amps and effects won’t let you down.

Click for USA deals and UK deals

USA Deals

Whether it’s Sweetwater, Reverb, Zzounds or Guitar Center, there are still so many incredible guitar savings to be had this Cyber Monday. Amazon is the king of Cyber Monday of course, but by and large the guitar deals over there are pretty modest – if you want to save on genuinely good gear, you’re better off sticking with a specialist retailer. Don’t sleep on the direct retailer options either – brands like Fender and Positive Grid are offering serious savings if you buy off their websites.

Save $300 on a Epiphone Dave Grohl DG-335 in Pelham Blue – was $1299, now $999

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Dave Grohl’s hard-to-find signature Gibson Trini Lopez 335 graced the Epiphone product lineup and finally allowed Foo fans a bit more an accessible version of his cooler-than-cool semi-hollow. For Black Friday you can save a substantial $300 on the guitar, which is a pretty faithful affordable version of Grohl’s ultra-rare Gibson Custom DG-335 signature model – down to using the very same Gibson USA Burstbucker pickups.

Save $200 on the PRS SE Silver Sky at Sweetwater

I absolutely love the PRS Silver Sky – John Mayer’s affordable signature model is one of the best bang for buck electrics out there, and it was the easiest decision in the world to give the maple-board version a glowing 9/10 review when I looked at it last year. Now however, you can save serious wedge on what was already a seriously well-priced guitar – a whopping $200 off the list price on a variety of colours at Sweetwater.

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Save $200 on the Martin 000 Jr Sapele

The 000 Jr Sapele was a steal at full-price, but Sweetwater have a killer deal on the guitar for Black Friday that takes an incredible $200 off the base price of the guitar, making it just $549. I absolutely loved this guitar when I reviewed it recently, and it’s an amazing first Martin for players who want a smaller bodied instrument.

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MXR TBM1 Tom Morello Power 50 Overdrive on Reverb – nearly 70% off

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The MXR Power 50 is a signature overdrive for Rage Against the Machine guitarist Tom Morello, so you can bet your bottom dollar (which you won’t be reduced to with this killer deal) that it’ll provide all the gnarly gain flavourings you’re after. Its circuitry even uses the same MOSFET technology to recreate the preamp stages of Morello’s own amp. It’s usually priced at $199.99, but it’s now just $64.99 (a 68% saving!). Get yours now.

Save $50 on the UAFX Anti

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The UAFX Anti is an awesome all-in-one metal rig, and has just recently received a major firmware update that adds a whole load of features. Could it be the heart of your new direct rig?

Save $170 on a PRS Sonzera 20 combo amp at Sweetwater – was $1099, now $929

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This 20-watt 1×12 tube amplifier can handle everything from the most pristine of cleans to thick, saturated crunch. You also get all of the bells and whistles you might need from a modern tube amplifier, including footswitch control, an effects loop, and multiple speaker outputs to expand your sound. However, the included 12-inch celestion speaker and 20 watts of tube power will still do a great job at projecting you over most drummers!

Save $60 on the Walrus Audio Silt

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What do you think of sonically when you think of Walrus Audio? Maybe the subtle wobble of the Julia, the considered amp emulation of the ACS1 or the textural pads of the Slo. The Silt, however, drives a truck through any expectations of boutique subtlety, and starts ripping a guitar-burning octave-fuzzed solo, standing windswept on the flaming wreckage, and it’s on sale right now for Black Friday at Sweetwater.

Save $31 on the Pro Co RAT

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An awesome versatile distortion pedal that everyone should give a go at least once. It’s normally affordable anyway, but it’s a no-brainer right now for Black Friday.

Save on Warm Audio pedals

Warm Audio makes their own affordable takes on otherwise hard-to-find gear – and for Black Friday, its pedals are even more enticing! Both the Centavo, a Klon-alike that costs one 20th of the original, and the ODD Box, an OCD-inspired pedal free of the controversy, are discounted.

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Electro-Harmonix JHS Pedals Lizard Queen Octave Fuzz on Reverb – just $45

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Perhaps you’re looking for a stocking filler ahead of Christmas? Well, a sub-$50 effects pedal is sure to do the trick, isn’t it? This Lizard Queen Octave Fuzz from Electro-Harmonix and JHS Pedals is just $44.95, and is based on a unique transistor-based octave fuzz distortion circuit designed by JHS head honcho Josh Scott.

Save $30 on the Positive Grid Spark Go at Sweetwater

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We called it “the first truly great portable electric guitar amp” – and it has a great discount right now, along side a whole host of other Positive Grid amplifiers at Sweetwater. Check it out!

Charvel MJ So-Cal Style 1 HSS FR M on Reverb – was $1,679, now $899

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Courtesy of Franklin Guitar Works, this Charvel MJ So-Cal Style 1 HSS FR M is now discounted by almost $800 at Reverb. This Superstrat-style electric guitar is loaded with a trio of Seymour Duncan pickups – a humbucker in the bridge position and single coils in the middle and neck position – as well as a Gotoh double-locking tremolo for those juicy divebombs. And at an original price of $1,679 that’s a humungous 47% saving, so it would be rude not to…

Save $100 on a Exclusive Olive Green Line 6 HX Stomp – was $699, now $599

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For Black Friday you can save $100 on a Sweetwater-exclusive Olive Green variant of the HX Stomp, one of the most powerful modelling units out there, packing tons of different tones into a pedalboard-friendly unit that leverages Line 6’s decades of digital experience. Perfect if the only analogue pedal in your rig is a Sovtek Big Muff, and you want to keep a consistent colour scheme!

Squier Limited Edition Paranormal Jazzmaster XII on Reverb – only $299

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Let’s face it, every guitarist needs a 12-string in their collection – those jangly natural chorus-type tones are just indispensable. And right now at Reverb, you can get this Squier Limited Edition Paranormal Jazzmaster XII in Sherwood Green at over 40% off, meaning you pay just $299 instead of $517. That’s a bargain if ever we saw one.

Save $200 on Walrus Audio’s Mako D1 delay at Sweetwater

The Mako D1 is an extremely fully-featured pedal, with stereo, MIDI, and more delay modes than you can shake an echoey stick at. At the time, we  gave it a 10/10 and said: “There’s a startling amount of functionality available here – far more than we could hope to cover even in a review of double this length – in fact it’s no exaggeration to say that we are confident the D1 is capable of just about any existing delay texture as well as myriad yet to be discovered.”

All that makes it pretty appealing on its own. But for Black Friday, Sweetwater has discounted the pedal by a whopping $200! Make no mistake – even though the unit has been surpassed in some ways with the MkII (different to the V2 – confusing, yes) – a pedal like this for only $149 is an absolute bargain. Check out the deal below:

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Save $194.9 on a Electro-Harmonix Soul POG at Sweetwater – was $324.8, now $129.90

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Want some polyphonic octaves but with a little more grit than the standard POG? There’s a huge discount of 50% to be had on this Electro-Harmonix Soul POG, a dual pedal that mashes up the Klon-inspired drive sounds of the Soul Food with the multi-octave pitching of the POG, allowing for some awesome overdriven octave sounds – and for only $129.90, you’re effectively getting two amazing effects for the price of one!

UK Deals

The biggest player in the guitar retail game in both the UK and Europe is Thomann – the German retail giant has breadth of products that nobody else can ever compete with, and some of the best prices and great customer service, too. They’re not the only game in town however, and you can find some amazing savings at retailers like Gear4Music – who have some really good deals on their impressive in-house brands.

There’s also some bargains to be found on the newly relaunched Reverb UK, and a limited but interesting selection on Amazon UK too. Don’t forget about shopping direct either – there are some killer savings on Fender and Positive Grid‘s UK sites.

Save £1,487 on the Taylor 514ce Urban Ironbark

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Across the whole event of Black Friday week, there are some deals that just knock you flat on your back, and this is definitely one of those. At Thomann right now you can save well over a grand on one of Taylor’s most interesting and unconventional approaches to sustainable guitar making.

Save €165 on a Epiphone 1959 Les Paul Standard

Thomann has some absolutely killer deals on Epiphones this Cyber Monday, but this one really takes the biscuit. The Epi 1959 Les Paul Standard is perhaps the best bonafide Les Paul you can get for under a grand, and a €165 saving here makes it even more compelling. The collaboration with the Gibson Custom shop grants this Epiphone a true Gibson-like headstock, and two USA Custombucker Alnico 3 humbuckers for high-fidelity, touch-responsive tone.

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Save £90 on a Martin GPC 10e Roadseries Special at Thomann – was £879, now £789

One of the best-sounding, affordable Martins out there, this guitar is also utterly beautiful, with a rich dark finish for its solid sapele back and sides.

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Save €160 on an Epiphone 1960 Les Paul Special DC TVY

Another collaboration with the Gibson Custom Shop, this double-pickup double-cut is an awesome simple rock machine, with a pair of P90s and a slab mahogany body – great for everything from old-school 70s rock to stoner doom fuzz.

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Save €188 on an Epiphone Hummingbird Deluxe

An awesome acoustic entry into the Inspired by Gibson Custom collection, this high-end epiphone comes with a solid spruce top, solid rosewood back and sides, an ebony fretboard and a mahogany neck for a classic sound – as well as some equally classic Hummingbird aesthetic appointments. For Black Friday, there’s a great saving of 13% off, so whether you’re looking to take your first steps into the world of acoustics or upgrade your rig this is a great option.

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Save £24 on a Harley Benton DNAfx GiT at Thomann – was £129, now £105

Maybe you’re new to the world of digital modelling and want to just dip a toe in – or maybe you’re a beginner guitarist on a budget. The DNAfx GiT is a great option in either case, even more so with a chunk of change knocked off the price!

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Save £23 on a Boss Katana Mini X in limited-edition Blue at Thomann – was £145, now £122

Portable yet powerful, there’s a great discount on this pint-sized amp from Boss, finished in a cool limited-edition blue so you can stand out while you play.

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Save £855 on a Martin Custom D18 at Thomann – was £5299, now £4444

This top-of-the-line Martin D18 is perhaps the pinnacle of the brand’s instrument design, and you can save a whopping £855 right now. Perfect if you want to really up your acoustic game in 2026!

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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 I’m finding the best Cyber Monday guitar deals in the US and UK across Thomann, Sweetwater and more appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

The Hello Kitty Strat is something of a cult legend in the guitar world. The Hello Kitty Fender Stratocaster was first launched in 2006, but received little attention at the time. That was until a YouTuber began uploading videos playing the guitar in the late 2010s, causing searches for the guitar to skyrocket, and average prices on Reverb to shoot 254% from $275 to $700.

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Fender always has its ears to the ground, and spotted the furore surrounding the Hello Kitty Strat, and this year launched the latest in its Hello Kitty line, a white-finished Squier Stratocaster. And for Cyber Monday, you can get your hands on one at a generous 30% discount, and grab it for $399 rather than $579.

• READ MORE: Black Friday Guitar Deals 2025: find the best deals and biggest savings with the help of our experts
  

Aside from its white finish and unmistakable Hello Kitty decals across its body, the Squier Hello Kitty Stratocaster boasts an easy-playing C-shape neck, contoured body, Fender humbucking pickup with volume control, and vintage-style tuning machines. A Deluxe Hello Kitty gig bag also comes included.

Get yours now at Sweetwater.

You can also check out savings at all the big online music retailers below:

The post One of the internet’s most hyped guitars of the last year has a rare 30% discount this Cyber Monday at Sweetwater appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

Headless guitars have always eluded me, somewhat. For the longest time I never saw the point, plus I’ve only ever had my hands on a couple in my life. But as a huge Avenged Sevenfold fan, when Synyster Gates added a headless Schecter to his rotation for the Life Is But a Dream album cycle, my interest in headless guitars was supercharged.

And now might be the perfect time to get my hands on one, as this Hils Next HN4 has been discounted by 21% – over £100 over at Thomann. My first headless guitar for under £400 is a proposition that’s, quite frankly, hard to turn down.

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I get it – headless guitars aren’t for everyone… But they’ve been gaining popularity in recent years, and it’ll certainly be a strong conversation piece whenever you have guests over, that’s for sure…

In terms of spec, with the Hils Next HN4, you get a mahogany body with a roasted maple neck and rosewood fingerboard – with 24 medium stainless steel frets, perfect for dabbling in the upper registers – as well as a pair of Hils-designed humbuckers, controlled via singular volume and tone controls (the latter with a push-pull function for coil splitting).

• READ MORE: Black Friday Guitar Deals 2025: find the best deals and biggest savings with the help of our experts

Further hardware includes a custom tremolo bridge, titanium locking machine heads, a bone nut, and .010 – .046 factory strings, and it even comes with a gig bag, too.

So if you’ve ever been tempted by a headless electric guitar like me, now’s the time to add one to the guitar rack. But be warned, if it’s the last one in stock, you’re gonna have to fight me for it.

Learn more at Thomann.

You can also check out savings at all the big online music retailers below:

The post I’ve wanted to a headless guitar for a while, and this Black Friday deal at Thomann is too good to be true appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

“I have enough guitars; I don’t need any more.” This is what I tell myself, and most of the year, it works to stave off my gear addiction. But when Black Friday rolls around, some of the bargains are just a little too tempting to resist.

As Guitar.com’s resident shred fanatic, a solid deal on a double-humbucker metal machine built for speed is always going to pique my interest, and with nearly £100 off this Schecter Omen 6 at Thomann, it might be time to get my wallet out once again.

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It doesn’t make it any better that I don’t have a Schecter currently, so my collection – which I take pride in for its metal leanings – doesn’t feel complete until I get one. I started writing this article to convince you to buy one, but I think I’ve just convinced myself. BRB.

• READ MORE: Black Friday Guitar Deals 2025: find the best deals and biggest savings with the help of our experts
  

So let’s talk specs: for just £392, the Schecter Omen 6 sports a basswood body with a bolt-on maple neck and rosewood fingerboard (with 24 frets, for those shred solos in the uber-high registers, naturally…) This fingerboard is decorated with metal-esque semi-goth inlays, while a pair of Schecter Diamond Plus humbuckers are on hand to provide all the high-gain tones you’ll need.

Further hardware includes a Graph Tech XL Black TUSQ nut, singular volume and tone controls, a three-way selector switch, Schecter machine heads and a Tune-O-Matic-style bridge with a string-through setup.

If you’re looking for the perfect Christmas gift for the metalhead in your life, I promise the Schecter Omen 6 will make you the hero. Or, hell, get it for yourself and be your own hero, mate.

Check out the deal at Thomann.

And you can check out more places to save below…

The post I’m Guitar.com’s resident shredder, and this bargain Schecter Black Friday deal could tempt me into a new guitar appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

If there’s one mic I’d recommend everyone gets, it would be the SM57. It can record basically anything, you have to actively try to make it sound bad and you have to really try to break it. While the mic itself remains £99 for Black Friday, Thomann’s throwing in a Gravity mic stand – normally £35 – for free! This shorter stand is perfect for micing up any speaker on a guitar cab, or a drumkit without it getting in the way of itself. Check out the deal:

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So once you’ve unpacked your brand new SM57, what can you use it for? Well, I would argue basically anything – it’s famously great in front of a guitar cabinet, but it’s super versatile. It does a stellar job on bass, kick, snare, vocals, trumpet, sax – anything. Point an SM57 at all of the important parts of your band, start rolling and you may well have an album by the end of the day.

It also has near unlimited volume handling – you could probably get a clean recording of an extinction-level asteroid impact with an SM57, which would be at least one saving grace about the whole situation. Failing planetary destruction, it will also definitely handle your amp at its loudest, or the shotgun-blast of sound that is your drummer hitting their snare with all their might.

Check out more places to save below.

The post It’s the mic I use on everything – and there’s an awesome Black Friday saving to be had appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

We get it – it’s easy to get fatigued over Black Friday weekend. There are so many retailers and websites trying to get you to pay attention to them as they bid for your hard-earned cash, and it’s sometimes tempting just to turn off the internet for the weekend.

But before you do, I promise you’re gonna want to take note of this one… Over at Sweetwater, you can save an absolutely massive $1,000 – yep, a rack, a G, a band – on this D’Angelico Excel DC XT semi-hollow, bringing its price down from $1,999 to just $999.

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But even with $1,000 off, why do you need this guitar? Well, designed for unparalleled comfort and playability – for long studio sessions, live shows or simply just noodling in front of the TV – the D’Angelico Excel DC XT certainly looks the part with its beautiful Vintage Natural Quilt finish, but its tones are top-tier, too, courtesy of a pair of Seymour Duncan ‘59 humbuckers.

We don’t expect this deal to last across the weekend owing mostly to the sheer sum knocked off its price tag.

Bear in mind, too, that Sweetwater offers up to 48-month Special Financing, so the Excel DC XT could be yours today for as low as $21 a month.

Learn more at Sweetwater.

The post Looking for your first semi-hollow? Save a HUGE $1,000 on this D’Angelico beauty at Sweetwater this Black Friday appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

As much as I love analogue gear, the heart of my at-desk rig is actually a UAFX pedal – the Anti. It’s the line’s emulation of a Peavey 5150, and comes with a built-in gate and boost – therefore is perfect for all-in-one heavy tones, and right now it’s $50 off at Sweetwater. Check out the deal:

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• READ MORE: Black Friday Guitar Deals 2025: find the best deals and biggest savings with the help of our experts

The Anti is characteristically brilliant-sounding, as UA is a dab-hand at digitally emulating tube amps and real cabs. The 5150, of course, is the backbone of so many classic heavy tones – and so the Anti has been parked under my desk for the better part of a year now, as I’m desperately trying to learn more Gojira gallops so that I’m not just trapped playing the same four Black Sabbath riffs over and over again.

Like all of the other UAFX pedals, the Anti has just gotten a major upgrade, too, thanks to UAFX 2.0. This means four user presets at your feet, MIDI control, direct USB connection to your smartphone and a whole lot more. $350 for all of that ain’t bad!

Check out more places to save:

The post It’s my go-to pedal for all-in-one heavy tones, and it’s $50 off this Black Friday appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.