Trending Now
Trending Now
Love the simplicity and warmth of analog in your effects? Well, meet Boss’ new Delay Machine DM-101, housed in a chassis that echoes their very first delay (the late-’70s DM-1) and with eight BBD chips in a 100-percent analog signal path. Yes, DM-101 has digital brain that helps organize things and saves 12 presets, but […]
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DAN ROSE AND HIS TASTY TAKE ON A CLASSIC! Dan Rose used his ’58 ES-175 (with a PAF at the neck) plugged into a Fishman Loudbox to play the Rodgers and Hart tune “Spring Is Here.” It’s one of the tracks from his new album, “Last Night.” Read our review in the January issue. Read […]
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Artists
Monster Mike Welch
From Phenom To Blues Veteran
Twenty-seven years after his debut album at age 17, Monster Mike Welch delivers perhaps his best disc yet with Nothing But Time. Co-produced with multi-instrumentalist Kid Andersen, it features bass legend Jerry Jemmott, who worked with Aretha Franklin, B.B. King, and countless others. A commanding guitarist and music scholar, Welch flirts with heroes from Magic […]
VG Approved Gear
Roland Micro Cube
Mighty Mouse
Roland Micro Cube Price: $130 (street) Info: www.rolandus.com. Every once in a while you have to pinch yourself and thank your lucky stars to be a guitarist in the 21st century. The Roland Micro Cube is a good illustration of this phenomenon; a dinky, portable amp that runs on AA batteries, it weighs just over […]
Have Guitar Will Travel
Have Guitar Will Travel – 020 Featuring Dan Hawkins
In this episode of “Have Guitar Will Travel,” host James Patrick Regan speaks with Dan Hawkins, producer and guitarist for the Darkness. They dig into the band’s new album, Easter is Cancelled, and other topics including Dan’s home studio (where the album was recorded), his collection of recording gear, his car collection, the music business, […]
Artists
Alex Lifeson
Rush Keeps Rollin
“A lot of critics perceived us as being pretentious,” says Rush guitarist Alex Lifeson of his band’s early years. “We were not representative of where they thought rock was heading.” • Responding after being asked about a comment he made in the award-winning 2010 documentary Beyond The Lighted Stage(“We always felt it was us against […]
Music
Ace Frehley
Origins Vol. 1
Ace is back – and he told you so! The former Kiss guitarist shares a buffet of the gems that influenced him – Hendrix, Clapton, Page, and the Rolling Stones, to name a few. Frehley kicks out 12 classic-rock jams and a few Kiss tunes with special guests. As lame as this may sound, it’s […]
Artists
Fretprints: Billy Duffy
Personality of The Cult
Co-founder of The Cult, Billy Duffy was Britain’s last ’80s guitar hero, with an attitude and sound that embodied the essence of rock guitar. While lauded, that X factor was misunderstood by critics. Historically, Duffy bridged gaps between hard rock, melodic metal, punk, and alternative in an era fraught with conformity by adhering to the […]
VG Approved Gear
Schertler’s Magnetico AG6
Direct Results
For performers, the struggle to amplify acoustic guitars properly never goes away. But as Schertler shows, things are getting better. It’s generally accepted that a combination of pickups can yield better results, especially that special blend of a magnetic pickup and mini-condenser microphone. With their M-AG6 model, Schertler offers a solution. The Magnetico pickup is […]
VG Approved Gear
Reverend Guitars Ron Asheton Model
Raw Power
Reverend Guitars Ron Asheton Model Price: $1,079 Info: www.reverendguitars.com. If Ron Asheton had recorded just one album in his musical career – the Stooges’ 1969 debut – he still would be regarded as a legend. The Stooges’ proto-punk opus laid the blueprint for a thousand punk, alt-rock, and grunge bands that followed and featured the […]
Music
Tony Holiday
Motel Mississippi
Following his two volumes of Porch Sessions collaborations with artists Lurrie Bell, Bobby Rush, Charlie Musselwhite, and the two Kids – Ramos and Andersen – the Memphis-based Holiday presents a fully realized, intriguing collection of originals. Coming up with new blues material is one of the hardest things to do, but like better-known songs by […]
Classic Instruments
Cole Eclipse Pro Special
Straight-from-the-catalog instruments are fun – and reassuring – because you know exactly what you’ve got. But there’s another kind of thrill – and satisfaction – when you find something that’s totally off the radar, something that presents a mystery to be solved, like this circa 1913 Cole’s Eclipse banjo, which sports a Washburn headstock and […]
VG Approved Gear
Harmony Comet
Michigan Meteor
Whoever coined the phrase “Everything old is new again” knew what they were talking about. The resurrected Harmony brand, associated decades ago with budget instruments (and at one time the largest guitar maker in the U.S.), began appearing on new guitars three years ago. And they’re still made in the U.S. – in the famed […]
VG Approved Gear
Reilander’s Muckbucker Pickups
Fat, But Not Tubby
Reilander’s Muckbucker Pickups Price: $199 (set) Info: www.reilandercustomguitar.com In the 1970s, great guitar-pickup winders began wrapping extra wire on humbuckers, touting the resultant higher output and greater low-end response. Though this approach to pickup construction makes it easier to “overdrive” certain amps, most neck pickups that were given this overwinding sounded muddy, and most such […]
VG Approved Gear
3rd Power Amplification’s Solo Dream 1, Solo Dream 4, and Switchback 112
Dream Babies
Recording/touring guitarist, studio engineer, and industry veteran Jamie Scott made the metamorphosis into amp designer by learning to repair and modify Marshall heads. He quickly realized that he wanted amps to sound full, responsive, and what he refers to as “fader up” – i.e., fully formed and ready to “fader up” on a recording console […]
Classic Instruments
Univox Uni–Fuzz & Super–Fuzz
Full, Fat Fuzzzy
Pete Townshend sent many a guitar and amp to an early grave. But there’s no known evidence of him doing the same with effects pedals. Never mind that spearing a Rickenbacker through the heart of a Hiwatt provided much more Shakespearean drama than stomping on a lowly stompbox. Perhaps, though, he simply didn’t need to […]
Artists
Johnny Hiland
Mr. Versatility
“…when you’re onstage, in the heat of the moment in the middle of a solo, you want to have bandmates who can read you loud and clear and know where you’re going. It’s just a godsend to have that with these guys.” Nashville monster picker Johnny Hiland has been a wonder to guitar nuts ever […]
Artists
Stanley Clarke
Godfather of Bass
Despite being widely credited for pushing the electric bass past its status as a rear-of-the-stage device intended to simply help drummers provide rhythmic backing, and in turn influencing two generations of players, Stanley Clarke remains deferential and unassuming. In the decade and a half before his arrival on the music scene in Philadelphia, the bass […]
Classic Instruments
Small Screen, Big Pickin’
Crew Strives to Keep it Real on “Nashville”
It’s not often that prime-time network television captures an audience of working class, professional musicians. In 1968, players watched Elvis Presley and Scotty Moore swap their Gibson SJ-200 and a Super 400 during Elvis’ “Comeback Special.” More recently, it’s been done with grace in a fictional musical drama. “Nashville” aired for four seasons on ABC, […]