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Magnatone and Slash announce the Lil’ Viper
ST. LOUIS, MO – January 22, 2026 – Magnatone is thrilled to announce the Lil’ Viper – the latest member of the Slash Collection. It’s a lightweight amp designed to…
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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…

The MXR M234 Analog Chorus and M87 Bass Compressor
Opposite Ends
MXR M87 Bass Comp and M234 Analog Chorus Price: $318 (M87 Bass Compressor), $170 (M234 Analog Chorus). Info: jimdunlop.com For…

The Iris Guitar Dan Erlewine DE-11
Renaissance Reimagined
Among the famous names in American guitar lore is Dan Erlewine – guitarist, builder, VG columnist and editorial consultant, and…
Mary Osborne
Charlie’s Angel
Jazz guitar pioneer Mary Osborne was the only female guitarist to realize a significant impact on jazz in the 1940s…
Cliff Goodwin
335 Reunion
Cliff Goodwin was catapulted into the big time on a decade-long stint with Joe Cocker that began in the late…

The Bass That Waited
Rickenbacker’s Early 4000 and 4001
In the January and February installments, we looked at Gibson’s Thunderbird, an instrument condemned by its maker to a quick…

Tim Lerch
Tele Jazz Master
If you watch any of Tim Lerch’s videos online, his virtuosity is immediately apparent. What may throw you is his…
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Rush
Rush 50
The goal of any anthology is to capture the broad scope of an artist’s career. Rush 50 is a strong attempt, starting with their first singles (previously unreleased) all the…
ARTISTS

Yasmin Williams
Art of Collaboration
Yasmin Williams turned heads a few years ago with her brilliant solo acoustic music, often playing the guitar flat on…

Rev Rock
Billy Gibbons Goes Solo
“BFG ain’t anybody ’cept BFG,” proclaims ZZ Top co-founder/front man/face Billy Gibbons, discussing his first solo album, Perfectamundo. “What is…

Brian Tarquin
No Idle Hands
Brian Tarquin is more than keeping busy. In the space of six weeks, he recently released two very different instrumental…

Paul Benjaman: Tulsa twanger
Funky solo from “Undercover of Night” On his new album, “My Bad Side Wants a Good Time,” Paul Benjaman serves…
CLASSIC INSTRUMENTS

Six-String Basses from the 1950s and ’60s
The Big Twang!
Electric bass, bass guitar, baritone guitar; four, five, or six strings – many varieties of low-tuned instruments are available today.…
The G&L El Toro
At the beginning of 1983, Leo Fender was just more than three years into his last guitar-manufacturing venture when he…

Vivi-Tone “Skeleton
A Master’s Magnificent Misfire
The eternal question “Who invented the electric guitar?” has no single answer. By the late 1920s, many players, tinkerers, and…
Park 75
Park 75 Preamp tubes: three ECC83 (12AX7 equivalents) Output tubes: two KT88 Rectifier: solidstate Controls: Volume II, Volume I, Treble,…
NEWSWIRE
APPROVED GEAR
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Live Wire
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Narrow(field) Win
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Take Flight

Electro-Harmonix Synth9
Downright Synth-Ful
For 40 years, guitar synthesizers have come and gone, but the Electro-Harmonix Synth9 looks to be a game-changer for several…

The Budda Twinmaster
Return of a Boutique Legend
In the early days of boutique-amp building, there were but a few contenders on the scene. One of the strongest…

EHX String9
Orchestral Stomp
The EHX String9 String Ensemble lets guitar players create electronic-string sounds, in full polyphony and without requiring a special pickup…
DigiTech iStomp
Morph For Less
DigiTech iStomp Price: $149.95 Info: www.digitech.com/istomp If you’re the type of gearhead who turns heel and runs from DSP effects,…
WHAT ELSE IS NEW
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Double-bound for Glory
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Black Light/White Noise

Classics: July 2021
Warren Garstecki’s 1932 Gibson HG-22
Warren Garstecki is a collector who keys on vintage Gibsons with interesting histories, like the HG-22. Introduced in 1929, the…

Joe Stump
… And the Holy Trinity of Euro-Metal Guitar
Metal virtuoso Joe Stump believes Ritchie Blackmore, Uli Jon Roth, and Michael Schenker form the holy trinity of European metal…

The Martin OM-28
Although popular music of the 1920s featured the tenor banjo as the preferred rhythm instrument, the guitar’s popularity rose steadily…

Arlen Roth
No Stone Unturned
To guitarists raised on his “Hot Licks” instructional video series, session and touring great Arlen Roth is something of a…












































