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Back in 1969, John McLaughlin was able to live out every guitarists’ dream – jamming with Jimi Hendrix. However, the experience proved to be more of a nightmare thanks to some shoddy gear.

Picture this – its the 25 March, 1969 and McLaughlin waltzes into Record Plant. The New York studio had hosted Hendrix while recording 1968’s Electric Ladyland – and he was back for more. “I walked into the studio with Mitch Mitchell [Hendrix’s drummer]… and it was LOUD,” the jazz guitarist tells Ultimate Guitar. “There was a big party going on, and that’s where I met Buddy Miles for the first time… Buddy was already playing some boogaloo… And Jimi was there.”

• READ MORE: “If you want to trace the origins of heavy metal back to anything, that’s where I would go”: Music journalist says this Jimi Hendrix song gave birth to metal music

Alongside McLaughlin, Hendrix and Miles, Dave Holland was also there on bass. And, as McLaughlin describes the jam – which lasted 6 hours, spanning from 2am to 8am – it sounds like quite the occasion. “There were quite a few guitar players there,” he recalls. “A lot of people. It was a big party.”

Unfortunately, McLaughlin was at a disadvantage – he only had an acoustic guitar to hand. “The only guitar I had was a Gibson Hummingbird,” he frowns. “I’d moved to Europe by that time, and I’d run out of money! I had to sell my really nice Gibson guitar.”

Strapped for cash, he’d only been able to afford the Hummingbird in lieu of a more expensive electric model. “It was pretty cheap, and I had a DeArmond pickup over [the sound hole],” he recalls. “It was a bit of a disaster.”

In his opinion, McLaughlin’s invention wasn’t quite up to scratch. “At that volume, I plugged my guitar in, and it was instant feedback,” he says. “It was really hard to play. It was unfortunate. I needed a solid body guitar on that session.”

Despite his handicap, the jam didn’t sour his relationship with Buddy Miles. In fact, the percussionist even gladly agreed to feature on McLaughlin’s 1970 record, Devotion.

While he didn’t have the chance to impress Hendrix on that fateful night of jamming, McLaughlin notes that he did end up meeting Hendrix again – and he didn’t seem to hold his acoustic nightmare against him. “He was a sweet guy,” McLaughlin says. “We had a chance to talk, and he was just totally unpretentious.”

“I think he knew he was causing quite a revolution on the electric guitar,” he adds. “He certainly affected me, and about another five million guitar players. He was a one-man revolution on the guitar. It was unbelievable what he was doing, with a wah-wah pedal and a Marshall amp. That was it!”

The post “It was a bit of a disaster”: Why John McLaughlin had to use a cheap acoustic during a jam with Jimi Hendrix appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

Guitarist Jake E. Lee has assured that there were no hard feelings between himself and Ozzy Osbourne during their final meeting before the legendary Prince of Darkness passed away.

Osbourne died just a couple of weeks after his reunion with Black Sabbath for their final Back To The Beginning show together. Lee got to chat with him shortly at a photoshoot prior to the event, and says it gave him closure following a sour ending to his stint in Osbourne’s solo band.

• READ MORE: “I couldn’t get up to the top frets, but the SG suited me perfectly”: Why Tony Iommi never became a Les Paul player

Lee played in the band between 1982 and 1987, following Randy Rhoads’ tragic death. He was eventually fired over the phone by Osbourne’s wife and manager, Sharon, which he did not see coming.

Despite having not seen Osbourne since the firing, his recent and final catch up with the late vocalist went swimmingly. He tells Guitar World in its print magazine, “I did get to talk to him. There was a big photoshoot a couple days before the gig, and I talked with Sharon, and she brought me over to Ozzy.

“There’s no ill will; there has never been any on my part. Business is business. I don’t think anything they ever did was to try and fuck over Jake; it was always about business. I didn’t know how they’d be, but they were amazing, friendly, open, welcoming and loving. I hadn’t seen either of them in decades, and after the show, on the flight back, I got a text from Ozzy.”

Lee continues, “He said he was sorry he couldn’t spend more time with me. And he said that when he got back to LA, he’d shoot me a text and maybe we could get together and shoot the shit for a while. Everything’s cool. I’m glad it’s resolved and everybody still likes each other.”

He goes on to share how connecting with Osbourne again was a “big bucket list check-off”, stating, “There’s a certain amount of closure. For years, in the back of my head, it was like, ‘I hope I get to see Ozzy one more time.’ I would’ve hated for the last time I spoke to him to be in 1987. I wanted to tell him I’m grateful for the opportunity he gave me.”

The post “Nothing they ever did was to try and f**k over Jake – it was always about business”: Jake E. Lee reflects on seeing Ozzy and Sharon Osbourne at Black Sabbath’s final show appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

Do you like watching people fail after they have talked themselves up? Of course you do, you’re human. Do you like watching the Hives fail after they have talked themselves up? Well, you’re still waiting to find out, aren’t you? Their new record The Hives Forever Forever The Hives won’t give you any closure on that front.

Arriving more than three decades on from the suited-and-booted iconoclasts’ formation in Fagersta, Sweden, it is another flex by a band who are still rattling along at high speed, powered by volume, treble and battleworn chemistry. “It kind of feels like we’re on an upward trajectory,” guitarist Nicholaus Arson, aka Niklas Almqvist, says and, remarkably, there’s a lot more than bravado behind his assessment.

• READ MORE: The Beths Pick Their Five Most Honest Guitar Records Of All Time

The Hives’ seventh album is, in some ways, a reaction to what came before it. By landing barely two years after the release of The Death of Randy Fitzsimmons, it course-corrects the yawning, decade-plus wait for a follow up that took hold after 2012’s Lex Hives. It’s a record by a touring group, its songs gathering momentum on the road and reaping the rewards of hundreds of on-stage reps. It’s about striking while the iron is hot.

“Recording when you’ve toured for two years is both good and bad,” Almqvist says. “It’s kind of fatiguing, but you have a band that sounds good, you know? You have to rehearse the songs, but your timing is still intact. You don’t have to practise to start sounding like the band that you are. It’s already sorted.”

The Hives Forever Forever The Hives pulls together two threads in the Hives’ story — it’s both a high-gloss rock album by some old heads and also a lean, mean garage-punk LP by musicians who’re still connected to their roots. It’s their attempt at making an “arena record”, inspired by their experiences opening for AC/DC and the Rolling Stones, but in executing that it seems like they’ve realised that a Hives arena record is actually just a Hives record assembled in a manner that pays attention to the basics: knife-wielding riffs, shoutalong hooks and a remorseless rhythm section.

“What’s an arena record for us?” Almqvist asks. “Maybe Back in Black? It’s pretty traditional stuff. Traditional-sounding drums, traditional-sounding guitars, great sounds. Maybe that was our take on it — you don’t have to do so much weird stuff if you’re going to try to make a classic rock record.”

Like its immediate predecessors, it was partly recorded at Stockholm’s Riksmixningsverket, the studio co-founded by ABBA’s Benny Andersson, while there was also creative input from Mike D, he of Beastie Boys fame. Crucially, though, it was tracked with Pelle Gunnerfeldt, whose gonzo style characterised their first three records. It’s the first time he’s produced a full LP for the Hives since 2004, with everyone from Pharrell Williams to Josh Homme having a crack in the intervening years, even if he’s steadfastly kept a finger in the pie, whether that’s as a mixer, engineer or sounding board.

Here, there’s energy and grit beyond what might be expected from a band this deep into their career, a youthfulness that bursts from Paint A Picture’s ringing chords and the blown out swagger of Enough is Enough. “Pelle’s always been around,” Almqvist says. “Kind of like us, in a way, he’s in a good spot right now. He’s making great sounding music — he’s done magical things with Viagra Boys. We’re in good shape. The rest of it is work. You work until the record sounds good. A studio is a studio. It can be anywhere, really. I don’t think we trust magic as much as other people do. For us it’s always work. That’s just the grind, you know?”

Reflecting the momentum that led them into the studio and this direct approach to documenting these songs, Almqvist and his co-guitarist Vigilante Carlstroem (Mikael Karlsson) threw their live set ups at the problem. “We probably used our regular guitars way more than we ever did before,” Almqvist says. “I mean, we probably haven’t used them this much since the first record, when we had no other guitars. The second record we recorded in Pelle’s studio, and he’s always collected Travis Beans and Kramers with metal headstocks, stuff like that. We used a lot of his gear on that record and from Veni Vidi Vicious onwards we played anything, really, that was in the studio. Anything that sounded good.”

While Karlsson has pinwheeled between his one true love, a ‘59 Epiphone Coronet, plus a Les Paul, and a Flying V along the years, Almqvist’s choices have remained decidedly Telecaster-shaped. His Sundberg Arsonette, a guitar of his own design that is halfway between a Tele and a Firebird, sat this one out, but his 1970s Telecaster Custom, a battered and bruised road-dog with just a fizzing stock bridge pickup, was in full flow. Amp-wise, The Hives Forever Forever The Hives leans on another old face: a Standel Custom that’s been around since the Veni Vidi Vicious era. “This is where it gets a bit dull to talk to me about guitars, because I picked them 25 years ago and ran with it,” he says.

And how. The Hives are older now, but thankfully they’re not wiser. No prog song suites here, no plaintive reflections on mortality, just ripping garage-rockers. In that spirit, we asked Almqvist to pick his five favourite Hives riffs or, to put it another way, to tell us five times the Hives were the best band on the planet. Unsurprisingly, he found it quite difficult to narrow it down. “I came to the conclusion that there are a whole bunch of riffs that I really like,” he says.

“A lot of them are older, I guess,” he continues. “They kickstarted things for us, they were riffs we managed to craft into songs early on, when we were finding our sound. If you’re a high jumper, the first time you clear 2.40, that’s amazing, but when you’ve done it 20 times the novelty is going to wear off a little bit. That first time, when you’ve nailed it, is a good feeling.”

Main Offender (Veni Vidi Vicious, 2000)

“People always ask me, ‘What’s your favorite song to play live?’ And I always say Main Offender. I really love that little guitar intro going into what’s probably one of my favorite riffs. It’s very much an updated version of the Sonics, one of my favorite bands. We always try to be like a punk band with AC/DC riffs, you know? Maybe a punk riff, but they would have that start and stop element. Main Offender is totally one of those.”

Die, All Right! (Veni Vidi Vicious, 2000)

“It’s on that record, too. The verse from Die, All Right! is one of my favourite riffs. It’s also very Sonics inspired. Main Offender, or Die, All Right! are riffs. I guess some will say Hate To Say I Told You So but it’s more like chords in a sequence. Is that a riff? I guess it is, but it’s not like a blues riff or a boogie riff or something. I like Hate To Say I Told You So because it really gave us a career, even though it wasn’t the song that I thought would give us a career. I thought that was probably going to be Die, All Right!.”

A.K.A. I-D-I-O-T (Barely Legal, 1997)

“I really like A.K.A. I-D-I-O-T. The intro bit is really good, and I really like both the verse and the chorus. On that record, too, I really like Here We Go Again. That’s a great riff. Barely Legal was the first record where I felt, ‘This is so cool, this is what I want our music to sound like.’ I remember listening to the master in my basement on one of those CD Walkmans. It was so great [working with] Pelle Gunnerfeldt. He was probably the only guy recording music [in Stockholm] who had ever heard about the New Bomb Turks.”

Bogus Operandi (The Death of Randy Fitzsimmons, 2023)

“To me, that’s a sort of a traditional Hives riff. What I like about it, too, is that it evolves during the song. There’s a key change, and there’s that bit at the end where you sort of cut the riff in half, and you play that outro bit. There’s a take on it through that middle eight, or whatever you want to call it, where you let it set sail and send it out to sea for a bit.”

Bad Call (The Hives Forever Forever The Hives, 2025)

“I should pick a favorite from the latest record, too. There are a lot of great riffs on there. Hooray Hooray Hooray has a great riff, Paint a Picture has a great riff, but I think my favourite is the verse to Bad Call. It’s the drums that are the star in that one, the chords accent the drums and then travel through the song. If it was just the drums, maybe you’d get a bit bored on your journey towards the chorus.”

The Hives’ The Hives Forever Forever The Hives is out on August 29 through PIAS.

The post Five times the Hives were the best band in the world (according to the Hives) appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

Brian Wampler, founder of the Wampler pedal brand, thinks the rise of digital amp modellers could go on to impact the gear industry in a similar way to Napster’s lasting effect on the consumption of music.

Growing numbers of big league artists are turning to brands like Neural DSP, Fractal, and Line 6 for their impressive amp modellers for touring and large shows. Though eliminating the need to carry around a hefty pedalboard while on the road sure is useful, it seems traditional pedal manufacturers are growing concerned with how such gear will go on to impact the sales of their traditional pedals and amplifiers.

• READ MORE: Metallica lawyer says Napster lawsuit was necessary to “set the ground rules for what music is worth”

For those unfamiliar with the infamous story of Napster, let us fill you in on the details: Napster was a peer-to-peer music sharing site that existed in the late 1990s and early 2000s, though reports suggest it will be returning in the form of an interactive music platform.

Around that time Lars Ulrich and his Metallica bandmates discovered that a demo version of their song I Disappear was being played on radio stations without their permission, which the group eventually traced back to Napster. The band’s entire catalogue was available to download for free on the site, leading to Metallica responding with a lawsuit, ultimately leading to its closure.

Some still argue that, despite its shutdown, the creation of Napster created a springboard for subscription-based streaming platforms to come along, which have drastically changed how we listen to music, and how we value its financial worth.

Speaking to Adam Wakeling on the Products of Music podcast, Brian Wampler believes a similar shift is occurring in the gear world: “I think, really, everyone in the pedal market is concerned. I think it’s going to take a big chunk of the market… as well as [create a] two-band market,” he says (via Guitar World).

Wampler feels there are “two paths” for manufacturers going forward: “You can always stick your head in the sand and ignore it and think, ‘It’s not going to happen to me,’ and then wonder what happens in five or 10 years. Or you can say, ‘It’s going to happen. I need to make a pivot here.’”

He later continues, “It’s analogous to Napster – for those who remember that, that’s where everybody who had music that you just uploaded to Napster, and now no one needs to buy any more music.

“So, the question is, ‘Well, what do you do?’ Eventually, Spotify forms, you know? I mean, is that good? Not if you’re an artist, it’s not good. Not really, not unless you’re just using the music as a marketing tool.”

Wampler’s move into adapting to the digital world has seen the brand release a line of plugins. Currently it sells three, which are virtual versions of some of its most popular physical pedals: The Terraform Multi Modulation, Metaverse Multi Delay, and its Catacombs Reverb/Delay.

Find out more about Wampler, or view its current range of plugins. 

The post Brian Wampler likens the rise of amp modellers to Napster’s impact on music: “I think it’s going to take a big chunk of the market” appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

Steve Jones of the Sex Pistols has broken his wrist, and the band have subsequently had to postpone their upcoming tour dates.

The Sex Pistols, fronted by Frank Carter, will eventually be rescheduling the shows they had planned across North and South America. The tour was announced back in March, with their North American run originally due to kick off at the Longhorn Ballroom in Dallas, Texas, on 16 September.

• READ MORE: “My father, a brilliant musician, didn’t believe in me”: Pete Townshend attributes his guitar-smashing antics to feelings of rejection from his father

In a post shared on social media, the band states: “We have some unfortunate news to share about our upcoming North and South American performances. We’ll let Steve explain what’s going on: ‘I’ve got some good news and bad news. What do you want first?

“‘Okay, the bad news: I’ve broken my wrist, so unfortunately we won’t be doing any shows for a while,’” says Jones. “‘The good news is the surgeon said I will be back playing guitar in the not-too-distant future. The other good news is I’ll be 70 tomorrow! God bless, and God save the wrist.’”

The band adds: “The performances will be postponed and rescheduled when Steve has fully recovered. Please check local venue websites and our social media for more information. We appreciate your understanding and support.”

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Jones recently discussed how Frank Carter has changed the live dynamic of the band in an interview with Guitar World. He told the magazine, “Frank’s a lot younger, so he’s got a lot more energy. He’s literally the best; I call him the ringmaster. He loves getting the crowd going; he goes crowd surfing and just takes the heat off of me, [Paul Cook] Cookie and Glen [Matlock].”

Carter is of course filling in for John Lydon, who has criticised the band’s decision to reunite with Carter on vocals. “He’s definitely not trying to be Johnny Rotten. He’s really something else, and he’s made it a lot of fun,” Jones said of the difference between the two.

“I’ve got nothing but love for John. He was brilliant back in the day, and I never would take that away from him. I would never deny it; he was fantastic. But I think we’ve just grown apart… l’ll never shut the door, but I don’t think he’d have the energy like Frank does, to be honest with you.”

The post “God save the wrist”: Sex Pistols postpone their North and South American tour dates due to Steve Jones’ injury appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

Pink Floyd founding member Roger Waters has reignited an age-old feud with Black Sabbath, snubbing the late Ozzy Osbourne in a new interview – and Ozzy’s son Jack isn’t too happy about it.

Speaking to The Independent Ink, Waters discusses how pop culture often diverts attention away from politics and humanitarian issues. He namedrops “Taylor Swift [and] Kim Kardashian’s bum” as unimportant topics the media uses to detract from vital topics – before, unfortunately, opting to lump Black Sabbath and The Prince of Darkness into the same category.

“It all doesn’t matter… and Ozzy Osbourne – who just died, bless him!” he adds to his list of media buzz topics. “Whatever that state that he was in his whole life, we’ll never know… He was all over the TV for years, with his idiocy and nonsense.”

• READ MORE: Birmingham University economists say Black Sabbath’s final show made £33.8 million from physical ticket sales

After already criticising the late musician, he also decides to criticise Black Sabbath’s music on the whole. “The music, I have no idea,” he says. “I couldn’t give a fuck!”

“I don’t care about Black Sabbath, I never did,” he announces. “I have no interest in ‘BLAAAAH!’, biting the heads off of chickens, or whatever they do. I couldn’t care less.”

Now Jack Osbourne, son of Ozzy Osbourne, who passed away on 22 July just weeks after Sabbath’s grand Back To The Beginning farewell show, has responded by calling the former Pink Floyd man a “cunt”.

“Hey Roger Waters – fuck you,” he writes in a new Instagram post. “How pathetic and out of touch you’ve become. The only way you seem to get attention these days is by vomiting out bullshit in the press.”

“My father always thought you were a cunt,” he adds. “Thanks for proving him right.”

This isn’t the first time Waters has shared his dislike of Sabbath’s music. Speaking in music magazine Melody Maker back in 1970, he critiqued the band’s debut album Paranoid, honing in on the album’s cover of Crow’s Evil Woman.

“Well, well, well… I’m speechless,” he said [via Louder]. “Well, almost. It’s got that kind of Dragnet, Peter Gunn, American detective series beginning. You keep thinking it’s going to start. You think that for the first minute but then, if you are really perceptive, you realise it isn’t going to start, and that’s all there is.”

It’s a comment that would stick with Sabbath for many years, with Tony Iommi even mentioning it in a radio interview with Planet Rock in 2017. “I used to read the slaggings we’d get and I’d just think ‘Why?’” he said. “There was one comment that really hurt and that didn’t actually come from the press. It came from Pink Floyd’s Roger Waters.”

“He reviewed Paranoid when it came out as a single because he was reviewing the singles that week for a music paper,” Iommi recalled. “He gave it such a terrible review. I thought ‘Blimey!’ Hearing that from a fellow musician seemed really harsh.”

The post “My father always thought you were a c**t”: Jack Osbourne slams Roger Waters for saying he “couldn’t give a f**k” about Ozzy Osbourne’s music appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

Disturbed’s Dan Donegan has looked back on the band’s first ever set at Ozzfest, and how they managed to draw a crowd of “thousands” despite playing in broad daylight at 10am.

The travelling festival, founded by Ozzy and Sharon Osbourne, was launched in 1996. The idea for the fest was born after Sharon had tried to get Ozzy on the bill at Lollapalooza but was rejected, and decided that the pair should make their own festival that celebrated the best established and growing bands in metal.

• READ MORE: “Probably had a better chance of getting struck by lightning”: Watch Daron Malakian join System Of A Down covers band onstage in Chicago – it’s the stuff of dreams

Disturbed made their Ozzfest debut in the year 2000, when they played the festival’s second stage bright and early (in festival time, that is). Speaking to Guitar World for its new print edition, Donegan says it took the band to new heights.

“It was a steady climb, gradually going upward. I’ll never forget – our first show was in West Palm Beach in Florida, and we were the first band to open the second stage, which was basically a stage set up in the parking lot. There were so many good bands coming out at that time, so there was this friendly competition, with everybody trying to leave their mark.

“We were on at 10 in the morning, so we were like, ‘Is anybody even gonna show up?’ Sure enough, we start playing at 10am and nobody’s there yet,” he says. “The festival people said, ‘They’re coming in, don’t worry about it,’ and by the time we got to the second or third song, there were thousands of people watching us. It was great exposure, and it really helped launch our career.”

Speaking to Metal Hammer earlier this year, Sharon Osbourne looked back on the festival as one of her proudest achievements. “It was brilliant,” she said. “For 23 years, it was like summer camp. There was one band in particular who I just always adored, and I got the honour of working with them for a while, which was Motörhead [who played Ozzfest in 1998]. I just loved Lemmy to death.”

Of the festival’s success, she said, “It passed the torch. So many great bands came out of Ozzfest that are still going today and still so relevant.”

The post “We start playing at 10am and nobody’s there yet… Two or three songs in there were thousands of people watching us”: Dan Donegan on how Ozzfest helped “launch” Disturbed’s career appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

Zakk Wylde has been reminiscing on his bond with Ozzy Osbourne, and has shared what their friendship was like outside of music.

Osbourne passed away back in July, just a matter of weeks after his giant final show with Black Sabbath in their home city of Birmingham, England. The monumental metal celebration brought in a total of £33.8 million in ticket sales, according to Dr. Matt Lyons of the University of Birmingham, and proceeds from the event were pledged to Cure Parkinson’s, the Birmingham Children’s Hospital, and Acorns Children’s Hospice.

• READ MORE: “They say never meet your idols, but that’s just not true. Sometimes you get lucky”: M. Shadows reflects on interviewing Ozzy Osbourne in 2017

Since his passing, friends, fans, and music figures alike have been sharing their stories of meeting or working with the Prince of Darkness. As one of his solo band guitarists, Wylde has spoken of the advice Osbourne used to give him, and why his excellent sandwich making skills kept him in Osbourne’s good books in a new interview with Guitar World.

“You’re always gonna learn along the way. You trust somebody, and then you get screwed on a business deal or whatever. When anything would happen, Oz would be like, ‘Zakk, I remember with Sabbath this or that…’ Stories about thinking someone was a good guy, and they end up screwing you over,” he says.

“Obviously, all of us live and learn on our own, too. But Oz would always be there for advice. He’d poke me in the eye, and I’d be like, ‘What was that for?’ He’d say, ‘Life’s tough. That’s why.’ [Laughs] I’d go, ‘Yeah, but I really didn’t need that.’ He’d go [in a British accent], ‘Oh, go make me a sandwich, light on the Colman’s [Mustard].”

Wylde followed in the footsteps of Randy Rhoads and Jake E. Lee within Osbourne’s band. Asked why he felt Osbourne chose him to take on the gig with such big shoes to fill, he jokes, “Because I went light on the Colman’s! Forget the guitar playing; the way I made ham sandwiches with the Colman’s was amazing.

“I was the Randy and the Jake of ham sandwiches and Colman’s,” he laughs. “With anything, if it works and it’s easy, that’s how it should be with bands and relationships. I mean, with your wife, your friends, anyone – if they don’t bring you peace, why are you with these people?”

The post “Forget the guitar playing; the way I made ham sandwiches was amazing!”: Zakk Wylde on the ‘real’ reason he was hired as Ozzy’s guitarist appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

€299/£265, crazytubecircuits.com

Vintage guitars are rightly held as some of the most inspirational tone-creating machines out there in guitar land. Vintage pedals, however, are often dismissed for being overly big and bulky, noisy and needing a power supply last seen powering a 1980s Casio keyboard. Yes, there are the well-trodden and bank-busting Tube Screamers and Klons, and much love for round Fuzz Faces abides on forums, but outside of a few classics, many of today’s players find these ‘quirky’ boxes are just too much to handle.

For others however, the quest for tone means they will tolerate the original pedals in all their idiosyncratic glory.

• READ MORE: EarthQuaker Devices Rancho de la Luna Dirt Transmitter review – heavy fuzz tones with a voltage-starving twist

One such is the Tube Driver. Designed by BK Butler in 1983, it was initially developed from a circuit designed to overdrive keyboards – in the style of Deep Purple in the late 1970s. However, it was quickly refined as a guitar pedal and despite numerous versions over the years, remains a somewhat overlooked iconic pedal.

Relied on by players such as David Gilmour, Billy Gibbons and Joe Satriani, and a core part of Eric Johnson’s smooth violin-esque lead tone, original models are big, heavy, mains powered and, feature a real ECC83 inside giving oodles of juicy smooth gain to even a clean amp.

While Butler has once again began making Tube Drivers in very limited runs, he’s a one-man operation, so they’re both hard to get and pretty pricey on the used market. Thankfully for those of us without the patience to wait, Crazy Tube Circuits is here to help.

Crazy Tube Circuits Venus – what is it?

The Venus is effectively an attempt by CTC to cram all of that valve-powered goodness into a compact modern enclosure, complete with some refinements that you won’t find on the original – most notably a three-band EQ. It’s also less than half the size of the original Tube Driver, and you can power it straight off your pedalboard’s power supply (albeit with a 400mA current draw), which again, you won’t be able to do with the original.

As luck would have it, I happen to own an original vintage non-bias control Tube Driver that’s fitted with an ECC83 valve – what better way to see how the new kid on the block stands up?

Crazy Tube Circuits Venus – sounds

Despite the ‘real tube overdrive’ moniker of the original unit, I’ve always felt like Tube Drivers should be best approached like fuzz pedals, they work great at imparting huge walls of gain on even the cleanest amp, yet are quite tricky to dial in. Often their best tones, at least for anything other than rich compressed super-sustaining lead tones, are best found by working your guitar’s controls to dial them back a bit.

Owners of original units will debate endlessly whether higher gain ECC83 or lower gain ECC82 valves sound best so for their reworking of the classic pedal, CTC have used an ECC823 dual triode in their Venus as they felt this offers the best of both worlds, although users can swap out for any other dual triode should they wish.

Plugging my Strat into a Deluxe Reverb set squeaky clean is usually kryptonite for drive pedals, but with the Venus’ volume and drive set at noon I’m greeted with exactly the thick, harmonically rich lead tone I hoped for. Smooth, sustaining notes bloom and blossom into feedback as I turn up the volume.

Side by side, it’s perhaps a touch fuzzier around the edges compared to the original unit, but definitely a wonderful expressive tone that is more dynamic than the vintage pedal, cleaning up far better from my volume control.

Utilising the onboard bias control to presumably starve the valve of voltage, I can go from smooth to Velcro-esque spitty fuzz tones and all points in between. Special mention should also go to the addition of this powerful 3-band EQ – it offers a myriad of tonal tweaks not possible with the original unit, making it much more versatile as a result..

Crazy Tube Circuits Venus – should I buy one?

It’s very rare that a modern pedal is an improvement over the original, but for size, flexibility, tone and practicality, Crazy Tube Circuits may well have created a masterpiece here, a new Goddess of tone!

Crazy Tube Circuits Venus – alternatives

Bargain hunters looking for a Tube Driver fix may wish to seek out a TC Electronic Tube Pilot, which manages to pack a real ECC83 tube in for a frankly bonkers low price of around $67.90/£50. For a non-valve take on a similar tonal palette, you might be lucky and find a used Dover Drive by Hermida out there, but it won’t be cheap! The Butler Audio recreation of the original Tube Driver will cost you $299, but Butler makes them one at a time so prepare to be patient.

The post Crazy Tube Circuits Venus review – ”Crazy Tube Circuits may well have created a masterpiece” appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

In guitar circles, Greeny – the 1959 Gibson Les Paul Standard once owned by Fleetwood Mac guitarist Peter Green and now by Metallica’s Kirk Hammett – is sort of like the One Ring from Lord of the Rings; when players get their hands on it, they’re never quite the same again.

It’s a lesson former Ozzy Osbourne six-string sidekick Jake E. Lee learned the hard way, after Kirk Hammett let him play the guitar backstage at Black Sabbath’s recent farewell show in Birmingham on 5 July.

• READ MORE: “These go to 11!”: Nigel Tufnel’s old Spinal Tap amps are out – because Marshall has designed him an amp that goes to “infinity”

As he recalls in a new interview with Guitar World, Lee explains how Hammett let him play Greeny while rehearsing for his performance at the event, and the experience left an indelible mark.

“I can confirm that it’s a magical piece of wood,” he says. “I didn’t want to put it down – didn’t want to leave it. I’ve missed it ever since! It’s so resonant; it just sings. I almost wish I’d never played it! [laughs] Nah – I’m glad I got to bask in its magic, if for just a while.”

While undoubtedly one of the most fabled electric guitars in existence today, Kirk Hammett is generally pretty generous with whom he lets play the Greeny Les Paul. Earlier this year, he recalled lending the guitar to Jack White, who played it for a few songs onstage.

But while Hammett and Greeny are not tied at the hip, he has acknowledged the lasting effect the guitar has had on him since owning it.

“People say a lot of things have changed about me since I got that guitar,” Hammett said last year. “My playing has changed, my attitude has changed, my tone has changed, my approach has changed. All those things have changed over the last five or six years because of this guitar. I’m really happy about it.”

Elsewhere in the Guitar World interview, Jake E. Lee recalls his performance at Black Sabbath’s monumental final gig, which would also serve as Ozzy Osbourne’s last live appearance before his death.

“I was backstage, and I knew my guitar needed tuning,” he remembers. “And I kept saying, ‘Where’s the rest of the band? Shouldn’t I be out there?’ But they said, ‘No, we’re not ready for you?’ I was like, ‘Okay… can I go out now?’ They said, ‘Okay, you can go.’ Then they led me to stage right, and I said, ‘Shouldn’t I be stage left? I’m playing over there…’ But they said, ‘No, you’ve got to go this way…’

“So I came out, and I hadn’t heard anything, but Nuno [Bettencourt] had the crowd chanting my name. And I walked out and Lzzy [Hale] and Nuno are doing little bows to me. [Laughs] Then Nuno grabbed me and gave me a kiss on the cheek!”

He continues: “The crowd was chanting my name. It was overwhelming. I’m surprised I didn’t trip and fall down! But because of all that, I was a little out of tune – but it was worth it. To have that introduction and reaction was good for my soul. 

“And then, with Shot in the Dark, we rehearsed it a certain way, but I think David got a little excited and jumped ahead. So I didn’t get to do my cool harmony at the beginning, but that’s okay! Did I play my best? Maybe not. Was I in tune? Maybe not. Was it fantastic and amazing? Absolutely.”

The post “I’ve missed it since – I almost wish I’d never played it!”: Jake E. Lee reveals Kirk Hammett let him play Greeny backstage at Black Sabbath’s final show appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

Sophie Lloyd has decided to change up her social media content, as the pressure of battling with algorithms has impacted her joy of sharing guitar videos online.

Lloyd has been building up her live presence in the real world across recent years following the release of her 2023 album, Imposter Syndrome. When she last chatted to Guitar.com, she spoke of how she’d always viewed herself as a solo performer, even though she’s well-known for playing alongside MGK.

• READ MORE: Sophie Lloyd: “The sign of a really successful guitarist is when they can play anything and sound like themself”

MGK recruited Lloyd after coming across her online presence, which she has been building since the early 2010s. Her YouTube videos and snappy covers on TikTok and Instagram have been something she has continued alongside both her solo work and her live shows with MGK, but the pressure of making ‘perfect’ content was has become a lot less fulfilling.

“Lately I’ve been feeling a little overwhelmed with the pressures of social media,” she writes on Instagram. “With so many amazing creators out there, I’ve been finding it harder and harder to stand out and keep up with the constantly changing algorithm. I kept comparing myself to others, chasing numbers, and honestly, it just stopped being fun.”

She continues, “I think back to when I started posting videos when I was a young girl, I was so excited to pick up a guitar for hours every night learning my favourite songs, and sharing that with whoever would listen, not worrying about views or likes. I want to rediscover that passion and love for guitar and music.”

“Joe Satriani’s Surfing With The Alien was the first instrumental album that really got me into guitar, and the song Satch Boogie was one I tried to learn when I was younger, and could just never get my fingers round it. So the other night, I sat down and started trying to work through it again. I was sat there for hours, really enjoying myself, actually playing guitar for fun like I used to. I want to bring that back into the content I make.”

With that in mind, Lloyd is going to be stripping down her content in favour of posting “real stuff” with “no fancy lighting, no fake eyelashes, no overdubbed audio. Just the room sound, and what I’m actually doing and wanting to work on that day”. She’ll also be doing chatty and fun content, the kind of videos she likes to watch as a viewer, and will still be doing her YouTube shred versions and higher production reels from time to time as well.

You can watch Lloyd’s cover of Satch Boogie below:

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Sophie Lloyd is touring with Glenn Hughes this October – find out more via her official website.

The post “I want to be more myself, and get back to the real joy of playing guitar”: Sophie Lloyd to post simpler content due to social media pressures ruining the fun of playing music appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

A teaser video for the sequel of Spinal Tap landed earlier this year, showing a Marshall amp that can be cranked right up to “infinity”. Now, the fictional band’s lead guitarist, Nigel Tufnel, has spoken about it for the first time.

The sequel, titled Spinal Tap II: The End Continues, lands on 12 September this year – that’s over 40 years since the original rock ‘n’ roll comedy mockumentary was released. As for the plot of the new film, director Rob Reiner says that the band’s manager has passed away, and that his widow has been left with a contract that states Spinal Tap owe them one more concert.

• READ MORE: Eddie and Alex Van Halen thought This Is Spinal Tap “wasn’t funny” because it was too true to life

Tufnel, played by Christopher Guest, recently did an in-character interview with Guitar World, in which he discussed his gear choices for the Spinal Tap reunion, and that mighty “infinity” master dial. After all, how can you possibly out-do an amp that goes to 11?

It seems this new custom-made head is the solution: “Marshall has made for me an amplifier, the head, and if you look at the dials, it now goes to Infinity. Just think about that for a moment. Think about infinity – oh, my God, that’s literally infinity,” Tufnel says.

Commenting further on his experiments with gear, he adds: “There are lots of pedals that people have done in the last years that are quite extraordinary. Companies that make these pedals, which I use, and I do a little work on them. I take them apart, and I do a little fooling around with wires and stuff like that to get the sound I’d like.

“Lots of times I break them because I don’t really know how to do that work. I haven’t been trained, but it’s interesting to open things up, see all the wires and move them about a bit.”

You can watch the official, full-length trailer for Spinal Tap II below:

To find out more about Spinal Tap II, head over to Sony Pictures.

The post “These go to 11!”: Nigel Tufnel’s old Spinal Tap amps are out – because Marshall has designed him an amp that goes to “infinity” appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

Tony Iommi is about as synonymous with the Gibson SG as any guitar player could be, apart from maybe AC/DC’s Angus Young.

But in his early days as a guitarist, the Black Sabbath man actually set his sights on being a Les Paul player instead, but found that, following his famous accident while working at a sheet metal factory – which saw him lose the tips of his two middle fingers on his fretting hand – the LP proved a little restrictive.

• READ MORE: “Sharon actually sat in on my audition – probably to see if she’d wasted plane tickets!”: Jimi Bell on his Ozzy Osbourne audition – and why he lost out to Zakk Wylde

During a recent Q&A event held at the Gibson Garage in London – where he launched his new signature humbuckers – Iommi explained [via Guitar World]: “I always wanted a Les Paul, but I couldn’t play the Les Paul because of my accident.”

“I couldn’t get up to the top frets, but the SG suited me perfectly,” he said. “The SG for me was comfortable. I liked the shape, the weight, and, eventually, a ton of people started using it. Everybody wanted a Les Paul in the early days; that was always the best.

“As I said, I couldn’t have a Les Paul. I didn’t feel comfortable, [it was] too heavy, and I couldn’t get to the top frets. So the SG has been perfect for me, and that’s why I always stuck with it.”

While Tony Iommi is now synonymous with the Gibson SG, he started out his Black Sabbath career playing a Fender Stratocaster, before it became faulty while recording the band’s self-titled debut album.

He reached for his backup Gibson SG, which has been his preferred guitar for his entire career since.

While the Les Paul is widely considered to be the most iconic Gibson model, guitarists have long touted – and continue to tout – the benefits of an SG.

Recently, Greta Van Fleet man Jake Kiszka explained why his SG is his favourite in his arsenal.

“The thing about an SG that differentiates it from other Gibson guitars is that it’s really microphonic, and you can feel every nuance of the guitar,” he said.

“I really like to play with my body,” he continues, “and even pulling the neck slightly back and moving things and tapping on it. It’s responding in more than just one way. It’s not just the strings and the connection between that and the pickup.”

The post “I couldn’t get up to the top frets, but the SG suited me perfectly”: Why Tony Iommi never became a Les Paul player appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

Continuing its popular Rules Of Tone YouTube series, PRS Guitars has released a new video on how the hardware materials on your instrument affect its sound.

Founder Paul Reed Smith – whose knowledge on all things tone has come from years of experimentation and building, from crafting the right necks to taking razor blades to pickups – says that the materials used on your guitar are all “subtractive”, and have an impact on the way its strings ring out.

• READ MORE: “Paul Reed Smith has mastered creating an instrument that behaves”: Carlos Santana on his love of PRS guitars

With that in mind, PRS opts for hardware material that ensures the guitar doesn’t “shut down” its natural harmonic sound. Teaming up with Rob Carhartt, PRS’ Director of New Products Engineering, Reed Smith walks through some examples of the brand’s choice for nut material, bridge material, tuning pegs, and more.

“In a lot of the past videos, I’ve stated that whatever the guitar string touches is God,” begins Reed Smith. “To exaggerate that, if the bridge is made of rubber, the nut is made of rubber, and the tuning peg is made of rubber, the guitar is not going to have the kind of high-end that it would have if these things were made out of metal.

“We’ve done a tremendous amount of research about how each of these [parts] operate on a mechanical engineering basis, but also what [they] sounds like. I can tell you just in these tremolo bridges alone, the amount of time spent on the geometry of the curve of the saddle where the string leaves has gone through three or four iterations, and it makes a difference [to] how much high-end the string has, how it works with the tremolo, and how it gets out of the way so the string can vibrate without sounding like a sitar.”

He continues, “The theory with these parts is that the string is trying to do its job. It’s really, really trying to ring for a really long time. The guitar in general is subtractive. If you make the bridge and the nut and the tuning pegs out of rubber, it’s going to shut that vibration down really fast…

“One of the main goals with these parts is to not subtract from the this beautiful sound the string’s trying to make. If you take a string and put it between two big steel vices and hit it, it rings [beautifully]. It’s got a nice, beautiful musical high-end. It’s full of harmonic content, which I want the guitar to not shut down.”

You can watch the full video below:

PRS celebrates its 40th anniversary this year. You can find out more about the brand and view its product lineup via the PRS Guitars website.

The post “One of the main goals with these parts is to not subtract from the beautiful sound the strings are trying to make”: Paul Reed Smith explains how hardware impacts guitar tone appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

It’s the stuff of dreams: you’re playing a cover of a famous song with your bandmates, and a member of the original band digs what you’re doing so much they come and jam with you.

That’s exactly what happened to a band playing System Of A Down’s Cigaro in a bar near where the Armenian-American metal legends were set to perform with Avenged Sevenfold on Sunday (31 August).

• READ MORE: “Sharon actually sat in on my audition – probably to see if she’d wasted plane tickets!”: Jimi Bell on his Ozzy Osbourne audition – and why he lost out to Zakk Wylde

The event was the first of two nights at Chicago’s Soldier Field with a co-headlining bill of System and A7X, and support from Polyphia and Wisp.

As the story supposedly goes, ahead of the first night on Sunday, SOAD guitarist Daron Malakian was walking around the area near Wrigley Field, a few miles from Soldier Field, when he overheard a band in a nearby bar playing Cigaro, from the band’s 2005 album Mesmerize.

He then used his rockstar powers for good, stepped inside and joined the band onstage, no doubt to their heavy disbelief.

Malakian later took to Instagram to share his thoughts about the moment, confirming that “none of this was planned”.

“We had a day off before our show in Chicago and I went out to dinner, and after I decided to go take some pictures around town. We didn’t plan on going to Wrigley Field, but we ended up there.”

He explains that he first heard a cover of Needles (from 2001’s Toxicity) and, at first, thought it was karaoke.

“I decided to walk across the street and go into the bar and found that it was a System Of A Down cover band called Peephole. I walked right to the front of the stage and surprised the band and the audience. This was all so spontaneous. The look on everyone’s faces was priceless.

“To be honest, I was just as surprised as anyone else that this was happening. I joined the band and sang Cigaro, shook their hands, took some pictures with the fans in the audience, and walked out of the place. I can only imagine what a shock it was for everyone there after I left.

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“The odds of this happening were so slim. Probably had a better chance of getting struck by lightning. So many stars had to align for me to end up at the right place and right time.”

Malakian concludes by saying it was “one of the coolest moments I’ve ever had”.

Watch footage of the spontaneous performance below:

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The post “Probably had a better chance of getting struck by lightning”: Watch Daron Malakian join System Of A Down covers band onstage in Chicago – it’s the stuff of dreams appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

Neil Young is not a man who does a lot of gear-focused interviews, which makes the secret of his incredible and hugely influential guitar tones something of an enigma in guitar circles. While guitar fans do our best to extrapolate what Young used, we do have the benefit of one forthright source. His longtime guitar tech Larry Cragg has been pretty open about the gear Young has used and his preferences when it comes to tone.

• READ MORE: The Gear Used by Jimmy Page on Led Zeppelin’s Physical Graffiti

What we don’t really have is any concrete idea of exactly what he was using and when – so we’re left to pull from what Cragg has shared, combing the various interviews, photographic evidence from his studio and live sessions, and a fair bit of hearsay, too.

Harvest is an album that many see as the pinnacle of Young’s long and storied career. And there’s a good case for it – it’s his best-selling album, and gave him his only number one song in the US in the shape of Heart Of Gold.

The album also helped solidify his signature sound. As we know, Young has, at times, been very experimental when it comes to his guitar rig, but for most, when we think of the “Neil Young Sound” we think of Harvest.

The ‘Old Black’ Les Paul

We can’t talk about gear used on a Neil Young album without talking about his main electric guitar, Old Black. Old Black is a heavily modified 1953 Gibson Les Paul Goldtop that Young obtained from his Buffalo Springfield bandmate Jim Messina. However, regarding the recording of Harvest, there is some debate over what pickup was in the bridge position. The most reputable sources, as well as Neil Young himself, claim that the Firebird humbucker was installed in 1973, which would be after the recording of the album. It is widely believed that the pickup in the guitar during the sessions was a DeArmond Dynasonic single-coil (the neck was still a stock Gibson P-90 which had been rehoused in an aluminium cover).

Cragg stated that he installed the DeArmond which was in the guitar for about two years before being replaced by the Firebird humbucker. If the Firebird pickup was installed in 1973, then the pickup in Old Black during the recording of Harvest would have been the DeArmond.

The White Falcon

As the story goes, Young traded his first White Falcon, a 1959 model, to Stephen Stills in exchange for a rare 1960 White Falcon that had stereo outputs (though Cragg often refers to this guitar as a 1970 model). This guitar was unique, so much so that it had its own model name, the 6137 (a regular White Falcon was a 6136). It was made from 1958 to 1981, but in very small numbers.

The guitar actually had different pickups than a standard Filter’Tron; it had what historians call “Project-O-Sonic” pickups which had wiring that separated the three pole pieces on the bass of each pickup from its three pole pieces on the treble side of each pickup. Meaning that one output was for bass and the other for treble. They could be routed to two different amplifiers and panned in a recording mix. It is easy to see why Young wanted this particular White Falcon model as it was so much more versatile in the studio. This guitar was most notably used on the solo for Words (Between the Lines of Age).

Martin D-45

The main acoustic used on Harvest was a Martin D-45. That guitar was used on songs like Old Man. Young bought this guitar in 1969 as a reissue – the D-45 was originally made from 1933 until 1942. Martin wisely started making them again in 1968 and it has been a mainstay of the company’s lineup ever since.

Pre-war D-45s are quite rare and only 91 are said to have been made. Neil Young’s former bandmate Stephen Stills is said to own a 1939 model that he calls ‘Mother Maybelle’. At some point Young had his tech scallop the braces on the inside of the guitar to enhance its tonal response. To amplify the acoustic, Cragg installed two FRAP pickups (Flat Response Audio Pickups) inside the guitar. One is for the top strings, and one is for the bottom strings. In this way, they were better able to tweak the tone of the guitar to their liking.

Amps & Effects

The primary amplifier for his electric guitar work on the album was a 1959 Fender Deluxe Tweed (5E3), especially during the barn sessions at his ranch, where most of the electric tracks were recorded for Harvest. As far as we know, Neil Young is still partial to the Tweed Deluxe.

As for effects, there were very few, which is something that has become somewhat characteristic of his signature sound. There was, however, a 15 IPS (inches per second) tape slap-back on Young’s vocals for a few tracks, which is often confused for a subtle echo or delay. The other “effect” is something we had already alluded to… perhaps just as important as the gear itself was the studio where it was recorded, and Harvest was the first album to utilize a new studio that Young was in the process of building in his barn at his newly acquired thousand-acre ranch in Woodside, California, that he called Broken Arrow.

The barn where the album was recorded allowed Young and his band to play loud, allowing for the room ambience to be captured. The barn, and relatively primitive recording techniques, unlike a proper recording studio, often resulted in bleeding between tracks, which means you can hear the bass in the guitar tracks or drums in the piano tracks, etc. This makes mixing more difficult, but nonetheless was something that Young and his production crew embraced. This concept of using the room and recording techniques, essentially, as an effect, was a brilliantly simple way to record and forge his own sound. The sound was far from perfect, but it was Neil Young.

Neil Young is known as the Grungefather, and the recording techniques used on Harvest, along with the natural tube distortion of a cranked out Deluxe amp, helped to sculpt the tones that many rock musicians still chase today. Harvest remains a favorite among Neil Young fans and the mainstream at large.

The post The guitar gear used by Neil Young on his Harvest album appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

After Cradle of Filth members, husband and wife Marek “Ashok” Šmerda and Zoe Marie Federoff, recently quit the band citing “low pay”, high stress and “years of unprofessional behaviour from people above us”, band leader Dani Filth has offered a response.

Šmerda and Federoff’s resignations came in quick succession last month, with the latter claiming the band’s management were “dishonest” and “manipulative”, also saying they had attempted to withhold advance payments for the band’s new album.

• READ MORE: “Sharon actually sat in on my audition – probably to see if she’d wasted plane tickets!”: Jimi Bell on his Ozzy Osbourne audition – and why he lost out to Zakk Wylde

Posting screenshots of her contract with the band on social media, Federoff says her lawyer “called it the most psychopathic contract a session musician could ever be handed”.

Now, Dani Filth has come forward with his “side of the story, now that so many accusations have been levelled at the band, our management, and me personally”.

Apologising for the “tardiness” of his statement following a period of reflection, Filth says he doesn’t want to partake in “tit-for-tat or slander”, but wishes to “clarify the following points”.

Filth says “one of the main reasons” for the ongoing dispute between Šmerda, Federoff and the band is a “miscommunication regarding the nature of the contract”.

“There is not a contract that was ever expected to be signed as is, but was the initial framework to build from,” he writes.

Filth also accuses Šmerda and Federoff of engaging in arguments while the band was on tour, sometimes in front of fans.

“I’m sad to see that Zoe is picking facts to fit an agenda but am willing to share the full story including the description of events of the first three days of the South American tour, to show a more balanced picture so that people can make their judgements based on the wider context,” he says.

“During those first days, heavy drinking, escalating arguments, and repeated public disputes created a very disruptive atmosphere for everyone involved. 

“I personally witnessed heated exchanges between Zoe and Ashok that included both verbal and physical abuse, culminating in a public display in front of the hotel and fans who had gathered for last minute autographs in Sao Paolo. This was not an isolated incident but part of a pattern of abusive behaviour that strained the entire team.”

Filth also says he took issue with the way Šmerda spoke about band manager Dez Fafara, as well as Sharon Osbourne, in screenshotted text messages.

The messages, confirmed by Consequence, read: “Dez Fafara – you are a sick, evil person trained by sickest person in music industry – Sharon Osbourne – the criminal who should be whipped to death.”

“Dez is very honest, transparent and truthful and doesn’t get paid until I allow the accountant to pay him,” Filth continues.

“This means everything goes through my accountant and then said accountant sifts through all the financial numbers to see what can and cannot be afforded. Dez never handles any of the moneys coming in.

“Dez called out for Zoe’s firing, to which Ashok spoke out for her and went after the Royal family of heavy metal and we won’t have anybody speaking about Ozzy’s wife like this.”

You can read Dani Filth’s full statement below:

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The post “So many accusations have been levelled at the band, our management, and me personally”: Dani Filth issues lengthy statement amid Cradle of Filth dispute appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

Landing a gig with Ozzy Osbourne is a dream for any guitarist and Jimi Bell certainly came closer than most.

In a new interview with Guitar World, Bell recounts the audition that almost saw him become the Prince of Darkness’ next axe-wielder following Jake E. Lee’s exit in 1987, sharing everything from the gear he brought to the surreal dinner where Osbourne ate off his salad plate.

• READ MORE: “Are you crazy? You’re a rock star”: Ozzy Osbourne’s baffled reaction when Randy Rhoads told him he was going to quit his band shortly before his death

Bell’s journey began with a call from Kramer Guitars: “I was endorsed by Kramer Guitars and Dennis Berardi, the president, had kind of taken me under his wing. One morning he called to say Jake E. Lee was out and he’d sent a video of me to Sharon. Suddenly I had an audition – but the catch was I had to fly out that same day.”

Already familiar with Ozzy’s classics like I Don’t Know, Crazy Train, Flying High Again, and Suicide Solution, Bell spent the hotel ride brushing up on his repertoire.

When it came time to play, he didn’t need much gear as the amps were already set up. “I just had to bring myself and my Boss 7-band EQ to push the amp a bit harder. I’m pretty sure it was a Marshall JCM800,” he recalls. “The energy in the room was intense but inspiring.”

Bell explains that the first round of audition was with Randy Castillo and Phil Soussan, though the moment that stuck with him the most was Sharon Osbourne sitting in on his session.

“Most of the players went through that first round. Sharon actually sat in on mine – probably to see if she’d wasted plane tickets! She liked what she saw, and I was told I did great.”

The next day brought him onstage with Ozzy himself: “Surreal doesn’t even begin to cover it,” he says. “It went exceptionally well – I was locked in with the band and stayed true to the song and the solo, but I added a little flair unique to me. Ozzy literally leaned down in front of my amp while I was playing.”

The guitarist also took a solo on his own, noting how the vibe in the room was “strong” then. “Ozzy and Sharon told me it was down to me and Zakk. I went to dinner with them at a fancy restaurant, where Ozzy ate off my salad plate with his fingers!”

“Then I went back to their house and hung out for a while, and I even met Ozzy’s oldest daughter, Aimee,” he continues. “At that point Zakk had already started working with them, and I think his similarities to Randy played a big part in the final decision.”

Though he didn’t land the gig, Bell looks back on the experience without regret.

“I don’t know if he ever saw my tape; but I know Sharon did, and that’s what got me in the room. More importantly, Ozzy saw me live, just inches from my amp. I think that moment said more than any demo ever could,” says the guitarist.

The post “Sharon actually sat in on my audition – probably to see if she’d wasted plane tickets!”: Jimi Bell on his Ozzy Osbourne audition – and why he lost out to Zakk Wylde appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

Former Guns N’ Roses member Matt Sorum has seen his fair share of frontmen command a stage. But after catching Yungblud’s recent gig at the Hollywood Palladium, he says he’s convinced rock ’n’ roll’s future is in safe hands.

The drummer recently shared a photo with Yungblud – real name Dominic Richard Harrison – on Instagram, praising the pop-rock provocateur as a “pupil of RNR” who’s “done his homework” and studied greats from Freddie Mercury, Mick Jagger and Steven Tyler to Axl Rose and Ozzy Osbourne.

• READ MORE: He brought the house down at Black Sabbath’s farewell gig, and once hilariously defied a no-moshing order at a Japan show. Like it or not, Yungblud is the star rock music needs

“Happy to report there is hope in the world of rock n’ roll,” he writes. “Truly inspired and blown away by Yungblud’s gig at the Hollywood Palladium last night. If you were there you know what I mean. The room was electric and the crowd was insane. The energy all came from the stage as Yungblud brought it.”

“He has discovered himself and is unleashing it on the world,” Sorum continues. “I will go so far as to say I saw something historic last night and the world needs this. Congrats Dom you are going no place but up!”

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It’s no faint praise, coming from a musician whose career spanned stints with Guns N’ Roses, Velvet Revolver and the Hollywood Vampires. Sorem’s comments also add to a growing chorus of rock veterans championing Yungblud as more than just a crossover act dabbling in guitars.

The 27-year-old recently brought down the house at Black Sabbath’s farewell show last month with a soaring rendition of Changes that won over even hardened skeptics. Ozzy Osbourne himself had long been a supporter, forging a personal friendship with the singer before his passing in July.

Meanwhile, Yungblud’s ‘Idols’ World Tour is set to continue across North America and Europe in 2025. The tour began on 23 August in Los Angeles and is scheduled to conclude in April 2026 in the UK.

The post “There is hope in the world of rock ‘n’ roll”: Matt Sorum hails Yungblud as rock’s next great star after Hollywood Palladium show appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

A red Baldwin Burns Double Six 12-string electric guitar lent to Dire Straits frontman Mark Knopfler in the mid ‘70s is headed to auction, and could fetch up to £30,000, experts say.

The guitar was lent to Knopfler by old friend Jeff Sadler, who played guitar for numerous bands in north-east England, including Brethren, which later became Lindisfarne. It was originally intended to be part of Christies’ massive Mark Knopfler Guitar Collection Sale, which raised nearly £9 million last year.

• READ MORE: Reverb’s Labor Day sale is on – save thousands on guitars, amps and pedals right now

However, according to auctioneer Gardiner Houlgate, the 12-string was withdrawn prior to the auction and returned to Jeff Sadler.

Despite Knopfler using the Double Six “regularly in the studio and on stage” – including on Dire Straits’ second album Communiqué, and at the band’s Prince’s Trust Rock Gala performance in the mid ‘80s – the instrument is said to be in “perfect original condition”.

Now, the guitar is scheduled for auction via Gardiner Houlgate on 9 September, alongside a Jimmy Page-owned 1957 Gretsch Chet Atkins 6120, which was given away by the Led Zeppelin man in a competition in NME Magazine in 1974.

“Mark Knopfler and Dire Straits had a huge influence on music and guitar players not just in the 1980s and ‘90s, but through to today,” says Luke Hobbs, auctioneer at Gardiner Houlgate.

“I’m confident this guitar will attract a lot of attention from fans and collectors alike – particularly as it has such a great story behind it.”

The auction – featuring both the Mark Knopfler-played Double Six 12-string and Jimmy Page-owned Gretsch Chet Atkins 6120 – will take place at Gardiner Houlgate, 9 Leafield Way, Corsham, Wiltshire, SN13 9SW on Tuesday, 9 September.

The guitar will also be available for public viewing on Friday 5 and Monday 8 September from 09:00 – 17:30, and on the day of the sale, too.

For more information, head to Gardiner Houlgate.

The post Burns Double Six 12-string “borrowed” by Mark Knopfler for 50 years and used on classic Dire Straits album could fetch £30,000 at auction appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.