Signature Gear
The guitars, amps, and pedals behind the players you love.
Valeton GP-200 Review: Is This the Budget Helix We’ve Been Waiting For?
Eight footswitches. Expression pedal. XLR outputs. MIDI. Effects loop. IR loading. More than 240 effects and 140-plus amp and cabinet models. The Valeton GP-200 looks suspiciously like the kind of rig that used to require considerably more money.
Marcus King’s First Guitar Comes Full Circle: Inside the New Epiphone El Dorado
The new Marcus King El Dorado isn’t simply another signature guitar. It recreates the Epiphone that helped start King’s musical life — and it might be one of the most interesting artist acoustics Epiphone has released in years.
Slash Has Used a Talk Box Since He Was 16. Now MXR Has Built One Specifically for Him
The new MXR Slash Signature Talk Box takes one of rock guitar's strangest and most expressive effects, traces it back through Peter Frampton, Jeff Beck and Aerosmith, and rebuilds it around the unmistakable voice of Slash.
Gibson Breaks a 70-Year Habit: The ELEV8 Is Its First Alnico 8 Humbucker
For seventy years Gibson humbuckers have run on Alnico 2, 3, 4 and 5. The new ELEV8 series finally reaches for Alnico 8 — and it is aimed squarely at high-gain players.
Gibson's DES Series Is the Most Aggressive Modern Gibson in Years
Six body shapes, Ghost Burst nitro, Super Split Block inlays, compound-radius ebony boards and Alnico 8 humbuckers. Gibson has built a limited run aimed squarely at the modern technical player — and priced it accordingly.
I Put RipToneZ’s Valeton GP-200 Tone Packs Through Their Paces — Here’s What Stood Out
Five collections. 53 presets. Everything from Plexi crunch and Texas blues to ambient cleans, 5150-style aggression and an entire 15-preset Adam Jones-inspired collection. RipToneZ is betting that the GP-200 can sound considerably bigger than its price suggests.
Positive Grid Spark PEDAL Puts a Full Guitar Rig at Your Feet for $199
Positive Grid has taken the Spark idea off the desk and put it on the floor: 33 amps, 43 effects, a 60-second looper, direct outs, USB-C recording and a seven-hour battery in a pedal that costs $199.
Marshall Brings Hendrix's Plexi Era Down to Earth With New 20-Watt JMH Studio Edition
Marshall's latest Hendrix anniversary release turns a 1969-inspired Super Lead into a UK-built, hand-wired 20-watt half-stack — complete with the cosmic purple visual treatment.
Fender's Strat Crackdown Is Already Changing Guitar Design — Is This What the Next S-Style Will Look Like?
LsL Instruments has shown its first new electric guitar since confirming it received a cease-and-desist tied to Fender's Stratocaster enforcement campaign — and the redesigned Saticoy 24 raises a much bigger question: if boutique builders can no longer lean on the Strat silhouette, does electric guitar design finally move again?
Does Any Guitarist Really Need 27 Frets? Solar's New ACS Makes the Case
Solar Guitars has put 27 frets on its new carved-body ACS models — a six-string at 25.5" and a seven-string at 26.5", both with stainless super-jumbo frets, Gotoh 1996 tremolos and set-thru necks. Here are the verified specs, plus the design question nobody in the launch coverage is asking: what do frets 25, 26 and 27 actually give a player, and what do they cost you further down the neck?
D'Addario's AI Guitar Controversy Is Bigger Than One String Demo — It's About Trust
D'Addario says no generative AI wrote or played the music in its NYXL HD string demo — but it has admitted the track was over-produced and that AI-assisted mastering tools were used. The row exposes a deeper problem: when a product's selling point is sound, how much production is too much before the demo stops being useful to players?
Can the Badder Monkey Beat the Legendary Tube Screamer? I Put Them Head-to-Head
The DOD Badder Monkey takes on the Ibanez Tube Screamer in a head-to-head shootout. Same guitar, same amp, same playing — here's which overdrive actually deserves a spot on your board.
The Evolution of Guitar Modeling: From POD to Quad Cortex
How digital rigs went from bedroom practice tools to the centerpiece of the modern guitar world — from the original Line 6 POD to today's Neural DSP Quad Cortex.
Inside the Evolution of the PRS Silver Sky
From the most controversial launch in modern PRS history to one of the best-selling signature guitars on the market — how the Silver Sky won over the guitar world.
The 5 Best Budget Modeling Amps in 2026 (That Actually Sound Incredible)
Big tone, small budget, zero excuses. We tested today's best affordable modeling amps — from the Boss Katana to the Spark 2 — and ranked the five that genuinely sound incredible without breaking the bank.
The Fender California Vintage King Antigua Is Unlike Any Acoustic I've Played
A hands-on review of the Fender California Vintage King Antigua — the bold Antigua finish, traditional Fender headstock, Fishman Presys VT Plus electronics, premium gold-lined hardshell case, and a surprisingly resonant voice that feels nothing like a typical production acoustic.
The Modern Working Rig: Fender, Charvel & Line 6 Picks for 2026
From the Fender Player Series workhorse to the American Pro II flagship, Charvel's superstrat shred machines, and the Line 6 Helix that ties it all together — here's the gear we'd actually buy this year.
Why the Marshall JCM800 Is Still the King of Rock Tone
Four decades on, the 100-watt JCM800 2203 still defines hard rock bark. We A/B a clean 1984 head against the current 2203X to hear why nothing punches a mix like an 800.
The Best Stratocasters Under $1,000 Right Now
From Fender’s revamped Player II to PRS’s dialed-in Silver Sky SE, these are the S-style workhorses that actually earn their keep under a grand—what to buy, what to skip, and why it matters.
Fractal AM4 Review: Is It the Ultimate Guitar Rig for Players Who Refuse to Compromise?
Our in-depth Fractal AM4 review covers tone, feel, flexibility, recording performance, and whether it's worth the investment for serious guitar players.
Donner's HLX-500 Wants to Make Headless Guitars Affordable
A 24-fret, HSS headless guitar for around $330–$350. Donner's HLX-500 is a budget build with premium ambitions.
Inside Steve Vai's Hydra: The Triple-Neck Monster Built to Play an Entire Song by Itself
Seven-string, 12-string, 3/4 bass, 13 harp strings, sustainer, piezo, MIDI and half-fretless necks — the Hydra isn't a gimmick. It's an arrangement tool. Here's how Vai plays it.
Marshall 1959BJA Review: Billie Joe Armstrong's Signature Amp Brings the Legendary Dookie Tone to the Masses
Marshall's first signature amplifier in 14 years takes the hand-wired 1959HW Super Lead and voices it around Billie Joe Armstrong's famously modified touring Plexi — the sound that powered Dookie and American Idiot.