Rivera Venus 5 Guitar Amplifier

Rivera Venus series has been making big waves in the amp world, and with good reason. The Venus amps are the company’s first foray in Class A designs and they are taking things way beyond the typical Vox-derived flavors that many players think of when they hear the term. The newest amp in the line is the Venus 5. Read more

Gibson Midtown Standard with Bigsby

Every year or so, the big 2 guitar manufacturers [Gibson, Fender], release a guitar that is designated as their latest “Wow Guitar”. You know, the ones that are pure eye and ear candy, that tempt you with selling your car to have one of your own. Read more

Mighty Moe Strap Amp: Ampstrap On The Go

Ever wish you had the freedom to play your electric guitar wherever you wanted, even while walking, without being tethered to an amp? The Mighty Moe Strap Amp lets you realize this dream and do it for less than it costs to fill the gas tank on your motorcycle. Read more

Fishman AFX Acoustic Effect Pedals Review

For years, ACOUSTIC-ELECTRIC players that wanted to process their instruments with effects have faced a dilemma. Because acoustic instruments have a refined, subtle sound, only studio-quality effects will do when you want to process acoustic tones. Read more

Line 6 POD HD300 Review

Late last year, Line 6 ramped up their strategy to claim a larger stake in the Multi-Effects arena. The flagship series they constructed to spearhead the entry, was the POD HD series. Before this series, the market was largely dominated by a handful of large companies, namely Digitech, Boss, and a few others. To this day, these large companies still hold the large share, but that all may change in the future. Read more

EHX Micro POG Guitar Octave Pedal Review

Bored with the guitar’s four-octave range (and that’s only if you have a 24-fret guitar)? You could succumb to the seven-string itch, but that will only increase your range by a perfect fourth (or five half steps). No wonder many guitarists lust for other instruments like the bass, six-string bass, 12-string guitar or—the horror—ukulele or mandolin. Thanks to the ElectroHarmonix Micro POG, you can expand the range of your guitar by two octaves without cheating on your faithful ax. Read more

Orange brings the Dark Terror

We all know who Orange is. World renown for making some of the nicest, sleekest valve amplifiers, they’ve been working on a high gain monster. Behold, the Dark Terror! Read more

Peavey Transfex Pro – An Oldie But Goodie

Remember that one amp you had? Sure, you’ve finally upgraded to a full tube head or something that’s a little more professional, but there was something about that one that you’ve forgotten that you still miss. That amp for me is the secret gem that Peavey contrived in 1997, the Transfex Pro 120. Read more

Godin Guitars Gone Wild! Godin Guitars Creations

In the past decade, Godin Guitars have been making quite a name for themselves with their beautifully designed guitars becoming more and more popular each day. This isn’t only because of their looks, but functionality as well. This year, Godin overwhelmed Winter NAMM with many new, affordable instruments. Read more

In Search of a High EQ

In the jargon of producers and recording engineers, equalizers fall into two general categories: “surgical” and “character.” The surgical EQ is used correctly, e.g., when you wish to focus on a problem frequency without affecting the neighboring frequencies. Much like a surgeon, you want to go into a narrow band with a very precise cutting tool—an appropriate simile since we primarily “cut” or reduce problem frequencies. Examples would be taming harsh frequencies on cymbals; sibilance or plosives in vocals; fizz or wool on distorted guitars Read more

Next Page »