-
Super PickupGiveaway 2025
Win Big! 11 Sets! 11 Winners! Win a set of pickups from one of these sponsors: Deadline is March 15, 2026. Complete the survey below to enter giveaway. One entry…

Brown Guitar Factory Chambered Electric
Beast Mode
To use a slightly skewed metaphor, John Brown builds guitars to the beat of a different drummer. After all, who…

Black Cat’s D&S and N-Fuzz
Two Faces of Fuzz
Located in south-central Connecticut, Black Cat blends an ear for vintage tones with an eye toward modern function and bulletproof…

Devi Ever:FX Big Distortion Sound Machine
Enough is Never Enough
Devi Ever:FX Big Distortion Sound Machine Price: $200 (list) Contact: www.devieverfx.com Want fuzz, crunch, and overdrive? How about all at…

Newman Guitars Lake Placid Blue
Portrait in Blue
Excitement at the arrival of this offset beauty was dampened by the sad news that its creator had passed away…

Keeley Electronics Dark Side
Floyd Fare
In the multi-verse of effects pedals, Robert Keeley’s compressors, dirt boxes, and workstation gizmos are a thing of beauty –…

Frank Zappa
Funky Nothingness
The stream of archival Zappa releases would be overkill if not for the fact that the quality remains excellent –…
-
Reverend Sensei H90
Live Wire
So you want a Gibson-style solidbody that can cover humbucker-powered rock, yet also twangier/glassier tones using a P-90 pickup. Check. You also want to grab high frets via double-cutaway and…
ARTISTS

Rex Brown
Still Smoking
Throughout his career, Rex Brown has delivered the low-end as the bassist for Pantera, Down, and Kill Devil Hill. But…

Sonny Landreth
Live In Lafayette
When music fans discuss upper-echelon slide mastery, the name Sonny Landreth tops most lists. The preeminent slide-guitar stylist of his…
Jeff Golub
Unfinished Business
The route taken by Jeff Golub in making Train Keeps A Rolling is unlike that followed by any other artist.…

Instro-Meister Eric Penna
Blues Switch-Up in Trabants Eric Penna’s main gig is playing bass for the garage/surf band Insect Surfers, but he side-hustles…
CLASSIC INSTRUMENTS
Peavey RJ-IV
Peavey RJ-IV bass, serial number 04938996. Photo: Bill Ingalls Jr. Instrument courtesy of Naffaz Skota. Americans by the millions “know”…
Gizmotron
Most Bizarre Guitar Effect of All Time?
Led Zeppelin’s final studio album, 1979’s In Through The Out Door, opens with an eerie, otherworldly drone that weaves and…

The Coulter Company
More Rarities from the Pacific Northwest
The eye-catching and technologically innovative stringed instruments created by Frank Evans Coulter in the early 20th century are so exceedingly…

Six-String Kicks
Wood from Famed Bowling Alley Set to Sing
Few things scratch America’s cumulative itch for nostalgia like Route 66 – the famed wagon-trail-cum-highway that offered passage to those…
NEWSWIRE
APPROVED GEAR
-
Live Wire
-
Narrow(field) Win
-
Take Flight

Fishman Loudbox Mini
Little Big Man
The Fishman Loudbox Mini is just what its name says – a small amp that delivers the company’s renowned audio…

Dogu Custom Electric Guitars’ MOS-01
This Old Strat
Dogu Custom Electric Guitars’ MOS-01 Price: $2,200 (list) Contact: www.actionfigurestudios.com Improving upon classic designs is a consistent theme in the…

Tech 21 English Muffy
Killer Combo
The Tech 21 Character Plus Series aims to combine a vintage amp with one classic overdrive/fuzz/booster circuit, essentially giving two…

Sturdy and “Purdy”
Dashboards Pedalboards
Founded in 2010 by guitarist Ashley Dasher and based on his vision of the ideal touring pedalboard, Dashboards offers well-crafted,…
WHAT ELSE IS NEW
-
Consentrik Quartet
-
Lookout Highway

Pop ’N Hiss: King’s X’s Gretchen Goes To Nebraska
Faith, Hope & Pain
By the final year of the ’80s, King’s X was a powerhouse of curiosity cleaving its way through the harmonic…

Gregg Wright plays “Hey Li’l Girl”
Fiery riffs from a blues-rock legend! Gregg Wright has opened for Albert and Freddie King, and toured with The Jacksons.…

Jeff “Skunk” Baxter
License To Thrill
To a generation of music fans, Jeff “Skunk” Baxter was one of the most recognizable guitarists of the early ’70s.…

Beat Portraits: Burns Volume 1
Beginnings – The Early 1960s
In early 2009, VG columnist Peter Stuart Kohman turned his focus on Burns, the pioneering British guitar builder. We’ve compiled…






































