Norse Guitar Feeds

Kittie’s 30th-anniversary tour rolled into Nashville’s Brooklyn Bowl, and PG’s Chris Kies caught up with Morgan Lander and Tara McLeod to see what’s left of a rig that once meant hauling an SVT up a flight of stairs. Have a look at some quick highlights below, and tune into the new Rig Rundown for all the details.

Brought to you by D’Addario.

Solar Power

Lander’s main guitar is a Solar Type-V. She’s played the V shape so long that any other body design feels wrong in her hands. Before Solar she was using an old Hamer loaded with EMGs, and further back, a Yamaha Pacifica.

Total Eclipse

McLeod’s ESP E-II Eclipse has Fishman pickups and an EverTune bridge, though the EverTune stays “disengaged” live—Kittie’s sets run song to song with no room for guitar changes, so she needs to tune fast. She moved to active pickups during the “Kittie 2.0” era, wanting more bite than her passive Les Paul gave her.

Drop and Give Me C

Kittie has used one tuning since 1996: drop C, low to high C–G–C–F–A–D. Both players stick to D’Addario strings: Lander runs .011–.056, while McLeod uses .011–.052 on the Eclipse, with a .056 on the bottom for the Gibson Les Paul goldtop shown here.

Morgan Lander’s Pedalboard

Years of fly dates pushed the band to shrink everything down to what fits in an overhead bin. Lander’s Line 6 HX Stomp does the work of the old rig: a 5150 model for the main rhythm and lead tone, a Tube Screamer in front for a boost, and a channel with a low octave she calls “the scaries,” saved for accents and the extended parts where she steps away from the mic. A Shure GLXD16+ digital wireless system handles her signal and her tuning, and a Radial ProDI passive direct box rounds out the board.

Tara McLeod’s Pedalboard

McLeod ran a Neural DSP Quad Cortex for years, but a hiccup mid-tour had her switch over to the same HX Stomp Lander uses, which made it easy to copy her settings and tweak from there. She employs the same 5150 and Tube Screamer models, plus a third channel built around an OCD model with a delay after it for a smoother lead tone. She runs the same Shure GLXD16+ and Radial ProDI as Lander.

In just ten years, Sleep Token have marked themselves as A-listers in the metal world, releasing several studio albums, most recently 2025’s Even in Arcadia, and even securing a headline slot at last year’s Download Festival, all while keeping their identities officially secret.

Yep, the mysterious masked musicians have become one of the most talked-about acts in metal music, so a line of signature models was perhaps overdue.

To that end, the band have partnered with both Charvel and Jackson on two metal-ready signature models…

• READ MORE: Johnny Marr reacts to Andy Burnham playing the Smiths with Ukrainian soldiers: “It’s a victory for the guitar”

The first, the Jackson Pro Plus Series Signature Sleep Token IV Monarkh SC, ships tuned down a whole octave, and is designed to let players tap into the distinctive signature crushing riffs of guitarist and backing vocalist IV.

Credit: Jackson/Charvel

To support that fiendishly low tuning, the guitar features a 30” scale length and precision-engineered EverTune 6 bridge for unshakable tuning stability, alongside a bound mahogany body with a quilt maple veneer, three-piece caramelised maple set neck and compound-radius ebony fingerboard with 22 stainless steel frets.

It’s powered by a pair of Fishman Fluence Open Core Classic humbuckers, and also features pearloid teardrop inlays, Luminlay side dots for visibility in dimly lit environments, and a matching headstock.

Meanwhile, the Charvel Sleep Token III Signature Pro-Mod San Dimas Bass V is a five-string bass for bass player III. It features a resonant poplar body, caramelised maple neck and fingerboard with a 12”-16” compound radius, Luminlay side dots, 34.4” to 35.5” multi-scale fanned fret design, Fishman Fluence soap bar pickups with three distinct voicings, an onboard Fishman 2-band EQ, Ultra Lite open-gear tuners, locking strap pins, and a reverse licensed Stratocaster headstock. In a sweet visual touch, it also dons a question mark inlay spanning the 11th to 13th frets.

“Sleep Token’s sonic and visual identity is so distinctive, and the Jackson and Charvel signature models are a huge part of shaping that sound,” says Justin Norvell, Chief Product Officer at Fender, which owns both Jackson and Charvel.

“These instruments let players tap directly into that tone: the Jackson features a whole-octave-down tuning paired with an EverTune 6 bridge for rock-solid stability in that lower register, while the Charvel is a five-string bass built with custom Fishman pickups for added clarity and punch in the mix.

“We’re always looking for artists who redefine what a signature instrument can be, and Sleep Token does exactly that.”

Credit: Jackson/Charvel

Price-wise, IV’s new Jackson signature Monarkh clocks in at $2,199.99 / £1,949, while III’s signature Charvel Bass V is $1,599.99 / £1,399.

Learn more at Jackson and Charvel, respectively.

Credit: Jackson/Charvel

The post Mysterious masked metallers Sleep Token get their first signature guitars courtesy of Jackson and Charvel appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

Fender Musical Instruments Corporation (FMIC) has introduced the Jackson Pro Plus Series Signature Sleep Token IV Monarkh SC and Charvel Sleep Token III Signature Pro-Mod San Dimas® Bass V, marking the first-ever signature collaboration with globally acclaimed phenomenon Sleep Token. These models are built to the exact specifications of Sleep Token’s guitarist and bassist, capturing their genre-defying and mystifying sound.

With an unmistakable identity, a rapidly growing global following and platinum hits like “The Summoning,” Sleep Token fuses djent-weighted riffs, cinematic pop atmospheres and haunting R&B textures into a sound that feels both intimate and colossal. Drawn to that same boundary-pushing spirit, Jackson and Charvel capture it in two new signature models developed in close partnership with the band.

“Sleep Token’s sonic and visual identity is so distinctive, and the Jackson and Charvel signature models are a huge part of shaping that sound,” said Justin Norvell, Chief Product Officer, Fender Guitars. “These instruments let players tap directly into that tone: the Jackson features a whole-octave-down tuning paired with an EverTune 6 bridge for rock-solid stability in that low register, while the Charvel is a five-string bass built with custom Fishman pickups for added clarity and punch in the mix. We’re always looking for artists who redefine what a signature instrument can be, and Sleep Token does exactly that.”

Watch IV and III bring “Vore” to life in instrumental form, armed with their signature Jackson and Charvel.

IV is Sleep Token’s lead guitarist and backing vocalist, and his riffs form the backbone of the band’s sound. Every detail of this instrument’s design reflects his playing style, with IV personally selecting each feature to create a guitar built for reliability night after night on stage: the Pro Plus Series Signature Sleep Token IV Monarkh SC.

Jackson Pro Plus Series Signature Sleep Token IV Monarkh SC (MSRP: $2,199.99 USD, £1,949 GBP, €2,299 EUR, $4,499 AUD, ¥396,000 JPY) Built for IV’s signature whole-octave-down tuning, the Monarkh features a commanding 30” scale length and precision-engineered EverTune® 6 bridge with custom saddles that deliver clarity and tuning stability in the lowest registers. The bound mahogany body with striking quilt maple veneer and three-piece caramelized maple set-neck construction creates the perfect foundation for IV’s expansive tonal palette, while the compound radius pale moon ebony fingerboard with 22 stainless steel frets provides effortless playability from crushing low-end riffs to devastating chord progressions. Direct-mount Fishman® Fluence® Open Core Classic humbuckers capture every nuance—from crystalline clean tones that pierce the darkness to saturated leads that cut through the heaviest mix, translating pure emotion into sonic impact with exceptional clarity in the extended low range. Complete with pearloid teardrop inlays, Luminlay® side dots, matching headstock and foam core case, the Monarkh makes an unmistakable impact.

III is the heartbeat of Sleep Token’s sound. Visually, his masked mystique and kinetic stage presence amplify the band’s ritualistic aesthetic. Sonically, his bass is the glue between thunderous heaviness and atmospheric lift.

Charvel Sleep Token III Signature Pro-Mod San Dimas® Bass V (MSRP: $1,599.99 USD, £1,399 GBP, €1,649 EUR, $2,699 AUD, ¥258,500 JPY) His weapon of choice is a five-string Charvel® San Dimas bass featuring a resonant poplar body. The caramelized maple neck and fingerboard feature a progressive 12”-16” compound radius with jumbo frets for effortless playability, while Luminlay® side- dots ensure perfect navigation in Sleep Token’s signature darkened stage environments. The 34.4” to 35.5” multi-scale fanned fret design optimizes string tension across all five strings, delivering enhanced intonation and that percussive attack that defines III’s playing style and custom red Fishman® Fluence soap bar pickups with three distinct voicings accessible via a three-way mini toggle—from crystalline clarity to growling aggression. The onboard Fishman® 2-band EQ provides surgical control over bass and treble frequencies, while the blend knob allows seamless pickup mixing for infinite tonal possibilities. Hipshot® Ultra Lite open gear tuners guarantee rock-solid tuning stability, locking strap pins secure the instrument during III’s kinetic performances and the reverse licensed Stratocaster® headstock complements the band’s mysterious aesthetic.

For technical specs, additional information on new Charvel products and to find a retail partner near you, visit www.charvel.com. Join the conversation on social media by following @CharvelGuitars on X and @CharvelUSA on Instagram and Facebook.

The groundbreaking songwriter and guitarist sat down for an extended conversation about the inspirations behind his recent release, ‘Twilight Override,’ and his latest burst of creativity.

Johnny Marr has reacted to a clip of UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham playing a Smiths song on guitar with Ukrainian soldiers during a recent trip to Kyiv.

The British PM recently made the trip to the Ukrainian capital to reaffirm the UK’s support for the country amid its ongoing war with Russia, and found himself among the Ukrainian military’s Cultural Forces division playing the Smiths’ Rusholme Ruffians with soldiers, in a video that has since gone viral.

• READ MORE: Watch as UK PM Andy Burnham plays a Smiths song with Ukrainian soldiers in Kyiv: “You can take the man out of Manchester…”

Reacting to the video in a new appearance on Absolute Radio, Smiths guitar legend Johnny Marr praises Burnham, calling it a “victory for the guitar”.

“I think it’s an amazing thing. In all honesty, for me it’s like a victory for the guitar,” he says. “Just the way I’m wired, I always think like that. I can’t quite get my head around it. I don’t know whether pride is the word, but it probably is.

“It’s kind of beyond me to process it really, because it could be massive, that. But I just sort of go, ‘How great is the guitar?’ I think, what an amazing tool the guitar is. 

“My overwhelming feeling was that it was a victory for the guitar. I know that this being political and obviously with the plight of Ukraine. The more I think about it the more I think about how insignificant I am in it, really. Marr concludes: “Good on him.”

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Rusholme Ruffians appeared on 1985’s Meat is Murder. Andy Burnham has made no secret of his love of guitar music during his time as a politician, and has touted his love of classic guitar bands including the Beatles, the Stone Roses, Radiohead and more.

During his jam with Ukrainian soldiers, the prime minister donned a T-style guitar from local Kyiv guitar company WM Guitars, but Burnham has previously displayed his love of Gretsch and Gibson guitars.

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The post Johnny Marr reacts to Andy Burnham playing the Smiths with Ukrainian soldiers: “It’s a victory for the guitar” appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

Legendary country singer and music icon Dolly Parton has died at 80, following a short battle with cancer.

The news was confirmed by Parton’s nephew Bryan Seaver in an Instagram video posted yesterday (25 August). 

“Hey everyone, my name is Bryan Seaver, son of Cassie Parton, and I am representing the Parton and Owens family today, announcing the passing of my Aunt Dolly Rebecca Parton Dean. Sister, sis, Aunt Granny to one generation and Gigi to the next. This video announcement is something that Dolly asked of me years ago, before I fully absorbed it as a future reality.

• READ MORE: Dolly Parton gifts custom rhinestoned guitar to Texas drag queen

“As her head of security for more than two decades, a role my father Larry held before me, I have imagined the heaviness of this moment, but haven’t truly felt it until now. It is an honour, an honour that is mixed with absolute pride and great sadness. But sadness lies with us, not with Dolly. Dolly has lived in the light, and is in the arms of Jesus, surely met by Carl, her parents, and countless others who have watched her and longed for her to meet them in the heavens.”

Seaver goes on: “Dolly opened doors not just for me, but for her entire family to reach the potential we didn’t even know was possible. Dolly also opened doors for generations of singers, songwriters, musicians, and dreamers from every walk of life.”

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Indeed, few musicians get to count themselves as influential as Dolly Parton. Born in Tennessee in 1946, the fourth of 12 children, Parton – often dubbed the “Queen of Country” was surrounded by music from a young age, and it very quickly manifested, as she reportedly wrote her first song at just six years old, and was performing regularly on TV at just 10.

A prolific songwriter, Parton is said to have written more than 3,000 songs over the course of her lifetime, but a few stand out as her most enduring. They include I Will Always Love You – the 1973 hit later sent into the stratosphere by Whitney Houston – 9 to 5, a proud anthem of women’s equality in the workplace, and perhaps her biggest hit of all, Jolene. Parton is said to have sold more than 100 million records throughout her career.

She was known for her seismic impact on the music world as much as she was her one-of-a-kind fashion sense; she apparently had a collection of more than 350 wigs, and became somewhat synonymous with long, colourful fingernails. In an interview with The Guardian last year, she remembered composing the now-legendary Jolene lick before she truly adopted her iconic long fingernails.

“I was playing guitar pretty serious back then, before I had all the long nails,” she said. “I remember all the guys learning to play it and everybody thinking how cool a rhythm it was. It was a little out of the norm for the things we’d been doing up to that time. I remember everybody in the studio just loving that song.”

Since the news of her passing was announced yesterday, tributes have been pouring in from the music world and beyond, remembering the enduring impact Dolly Parton had on everything.

UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham – who recently visited Kyiv and played a Smiths song on guitar with Ukrainian soldiers – called himself a “huge” Parton fan, noting her “great music that people will treasure forever”.

Meanwhile, superstar Taylor Swift said in a statement shared with The Hollywood Reporter and Rolling Stone: “A world without Dolly doesn’t feel possible, real, or right. But because of the eternally generous way she spent her time on this earth and the countless lives she changed for the better, her legacy will be an everlasting one. She was truly the gift that kept on giving.”

Elsewhere, Beatles legend Paul McCartney called Parton a “magnificent star”, writing on Instagram: “Thanks Dolly for the beautiful music you gave me and the whole world. We will always love you, god bless and rest in peace. You were the best.”

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Gary Holt remembered Parton as “one of my father’s favourite singers”, while Jack White called for the country legend to receive an “instant sainthood”.

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The post “Instant sainthood”: Tributes pour in from the music world and beyond as country icon Dolly Parton dies at 80 appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

It’s one of the most iconic guitar riffs of all time, but a new previously unheard recording has revealed exactly what The Beatles’ Day Tripper sounded like before John Lennon and Paul McCartney game up with the iconic intro guitar part. 

• READ MORE: Fender Custom Shop releases a “painstaking” recreation of George Harrison’s Bass VI

As part of the build-up to the release of the new Special Edition of Rubber Soul, which is coming out in October, a new ‘work tape’ of Lennon and McCartney working on Day Tripper in a more embryonic form has been released – and it’s a real treasure trove for Beatles fans and guitar fans in general. 

The tape, which was recorded during a writing session undertaken at Lennon’s home Kenwood, in the lead up to what would become Rubber Soul, paints a fascinating picture of how such a timeless song can come together. 

In amongst the bonhomie and joking you can hear between Lennon and McCartney, you can see that Day Tripper is mostly there – it has the melody, the harmonised vocal lines between the pair, and the basic song structure. 

It’s clear, even in this more acoustic-driven, folky form, that it’s an incredible song. What it doesn’t have, however, is a killer riff to make it truly legendary. 

That riff, those 11 notes, would come together in the studio later, with Lennon taking credit for coming up with it – though he later reflected that the song was crafted in the studio “under pressure” and felt that, “It was very hard going, that, and it sounds it.”

It seems likely that George Harrison played the iconic riff in the studio – most likely on his Gibson ES-345 or a 1963 Gretsch Tennessean – though Lennon in typically blunt style, claimed responsibility for writing it, even if he was somewhat blase about its brilliance. “That’s mine. Including the lick, the guitar break and the whole bit. It’s just a rock ‘n’ roll song,” he told interviewer David Sheff shortly before his death. 

But it was a lot more than “just a rock ‘n’ roll song” for millions of guitarists and musicians. Day Tripper’s riff is important not just because it is a profoundly great guitar part – it’s significant for what it represented for the band and for music in general. 

Because the concept of a ‘guitar riff’ in the manner we now regard it was something relatively new in the world of rock ‘n’ roll. The Kinks’ You Really Got Me had only arrived in 1964 and by 1965 the riff was taking over pop music – from (I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction to For Your Love by The Yardbirds. 

Over in the States, a place where the Beatles were always more interested in drawing musical inspiration from, Motown was putting riffs at the centre of things in a different but no less impactful way with the likes of My Girl and The Tracks of My Tears.

While the Beatles had many memorable guitar parts before, and had dabbled in the relatively new concept of a ‘guitar riff’ previously – notably on Ticket To Ride earlier in 1965 – Day Tripper was arguably the first time that the band had made a truly riff-driven song, and in typical Beatles style, it was one that raised the bar. 

By the end of the decade, guitar riffs would be everywhere in popular music – Purple Haze, Smoke On The Water, Sunshine Of Your Love – and across the Beatles later work as well. 

Without Day Tripper, it’s hard to imagine we’d have had some of The Beatles’ most iconic guitar moments – from Taxman to Yer Blues, from Revolver to And Your Bird Can Sing. By the end, The Beatles were crafting some of the most iconic and enduring guitar riffs the world would ever know – and it all started with Day Tripper. 

This impact means that it remains a constant inspiration for guitar players so many decades later, and it’s something McCartney acknowledges himself. “You still often hear it played when you walk into guitar shops,” he wrote in his book, The Lyrics. “It’s one of those songs that revolves around the riff. Some songs are hung onto a chord progression. Others, like this, are driven by the riff, and it does that.”

All of the above makes it all the more fascinating to hear Day Tripper in its nascent form – still a great song of course, but one that showcases the enduring and vital power of a brilliant guitar riff to elevate a song into something truly special. 

The Beatle’s Rubber Soul Special Edition is out on 2 October, and is available to preorder now. 

The post Newly unearthed Beatles recording showcases Day Tripper without its iconic guitar riff appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

A big-budget Hollywood biopic of pedal-maker Jack DeVille would open in the eye of a furious winter storm—or, more specifically, The Great "Snowpocalypse" that rocked Portland with a record-breaking blizzard back in 2008. Our protagonist, a sharp and scrappy auto mechanic, has been racking up extra hours in the evenings and weekends: working a side gig as a builder with a burgeoning pedal company, taking on freelance gear repairs here and there, experimenting with electronics to learn the core theories that eventually powered his own brand, Mr. Black.

As the snow pours, he takes a crucial step: unveiling his first creation, the Jack DeVille Dark Echo, with all the homespun hustle you can imagine. “I put an ad on Craigslist: ‘Want a delay pedal?’” DeVille tells Premier Guitar. “There wasn’t much [out there] for delay in terms of small-manufacturer ‘boutique’ guitar effects. It’s hard, and that’s probably why. But I thought, If I can make something good, I bet I can sell them. So I did! And a couple people bought ’em.

“It’s gonna sound cheesy and poetic, but this is actually true,” he continues. “On December 23, 2008, I had my ad up, and some guy way down in Southwest Portland was like, ‘I wanna buy this, but I can’t leave my house. You’ll have to deliver it.’ For what it’s worth, there was, like, three feet of snow. But the pedal was $200. I was like, ‘Fuck, dude.’ On Christmas Eve, I actually did ride the bus, spend my $2.25 or whatever, and take a five-hour ride to sell this pedal. But that paid rent.”

Later that night, someone else hit him up: “Hey, I want to buy my husband this guitar pedal.” So DeVille journeyed around a half-mile to a local bar named Dots, where he sold his second Dark Echo.

“That’s when it clicked,” he recalls. “I was like, ‘These cost me $40 to manufacture, but I made $400 this afternoon. If I can do this 10 times per month, I’ll be able to pay my bills.’ Little did I know I was starting a manufacturing company.”

After years of continued grind and word-of-mouth buzz, DeVille is now one of the most respected boutique pedal makers in the business. But there have been no shortcuts—a theme that carries all the way back to his childhood in California.

There were many small but pivotal steps that led DeVille to create Mr. Black. The first was probably falling in love with metal. “I was really into Metallica," he says, highlighting the thrash kings’ 1988 classic, …And Justice for All. “I thought that was the pinnacle of music—until I heard Slayer.”

At age 10, back in his original home town of Berkeley (following his family’s brief stint in Oakland), DeVille started taking guitar lessons—and he says that, by around seventh or eighth grade, he was studying under Doug Doppler, a technically gifted player who expanded his knowledge of theory and the instrument’s “technical side.” By ninth grade, he started his first band—but his attention soon drifted elsewhere. “I didn’t like school or any of that,” he says. “So I quit in the ninth grade. I liked girls and getting high, so that’s what I was doing with my time. But that led to some pretty tumultuous years—got my ass locked up for a while, then got out of that.”

By 17, he was renting a “dumpy little apartment” with some friends, working at a junk shop and playing in a punk band. A few years later, he grabbed a copy of the Berkeley Daily Planet newspaper and spotted an eye-catching job posting for a nearby paint shop: “Mechanic, No Experience Necessary.” As it turned out, he was really good at the job, and next enrolled at a local community college for aviation, aspiring to be a helicopter mechanic.

“If I have a new thing I’m working on, it has to change the way you play and pull something out of you.”

DeVille eventually switched gears again, and found work at an Oakland car shop—that is, until a pivotal 2007 trip to Portland, where his sister was living. His then-girlfriend Nancy was there, too, and she fell for the city. “Two days into the trip, she said, ‘I’m moving here. You can come if you want to.’” The idea seemed to make financial sense—on levels both large and small. During his first trip to Dots, staring down at his massive but affordable plate of fries, he knew the truth: “That was the clincher,” he said. “It was an easy thing to figure out.”

Another easy thing to figure out: focusing on making pedals. In 2008, after those first sales of the Dark Echo, DeVille was working as an amp tech at Eastside Guitar Repair in southeast Portland. “I would also make pedals and sell them out of that place,” he recalls. “People in town knew, ‘If you need a pedal fixed, they’ve got a guy who can do it.’” And he realized he wanted to take his technical knowledge even further. “It only made sense to be like, ‘I know how to repair stuff. I’ll stop working on cars and transition to just doing repair work on amplifiers and guitar pedals and all that,’” he says. “That’s all well and good, but repairs, service work, is kinda shitty. What gets me about that trade and career is that you’re surrounded by broken stuff all the time. Nobody wants to take their car to the shop. Nobody wants to take their amp to the shop.”

That year, he formed Jack DeVille Ltd.—but that venture wound up hitting a dead end. Things changed in early 2012, when he created Mr. Black Pedals as an offshoot product line—and within a few months he had the inspiration for the SuperMoon, which is accurately described on the company’s website as “cavernous, vast, and orbital.” DeVille initially only planned to make 100 pedals, but those sold in five days and demand continued to snowball.

His girlfriend at that time, Victoria, knew he was at a crossroads: “She was like, ‘You’re out of debt. I can’t believe it!’” DeVille says. “She’d met me just before the Mr. Black brand had launched. At that time, I was deep in debt, and there was no one I could turn to. She still liked me. She said, ‘Are you gonna quit? Are you gonna go back to automotive? You hated automotive.’ She only knew me as an amp-repair/pedal person. She said, ‘Don’t do that. Worst-case scenario, if it doesn’t work out, you can always go back to automotive later. Why stop at 100?’ I made another batch of 100, and those sold real fast.”

With its massive, 30-second reverb tails and “dynamic, proprietary Sway modulation,” the SuperMoon became a sleeper favorite, with word spreading organically through forums like Harmony Central and The Gear Page. Even 14 years later, as DeVille’s product line has expanded to 30-plus pedals—from the transparent Deuce Coupe overdrive to the ADT/chorus-like DoubleTracker Stereo—he’s maintained that same workmanlike approach, choosing to let the quality of his builds do the talking for him.

“Little did I know I was starting a manufacturing company.”

“I’m not good at social stuff,” he admits. “I have friends who are like, ‘You should come meet so-and-so.’ That’s not my thing, man. Some people promote their products and brands through others, and I understand that’s a common and effective way people do things. It’s just not how I do it.”

DeVille thinks back to the wisdom of his former car-shop teacher, a Vietnam veteran and helicopter pilot named Paul: "When I knew him, he was in his mid-60s. He was my electrical and drivability instructor when I was in the apprenticeship program, and we became friends. One day around 2005, I stopped by Paul’s shop, and he said, ‘You gotta understand, man. I’m working on the grandchildren’s cars of my first customers.’ Paul’s shop had been there 30 years, in the same fucking building. He said, ‘Listen, Jack, all you’ve gotta do is offer a fair price for a good product, and you’ll never see the end of your business. You’ll never get rich like that, but you’ll always have work.’

“That’s always been my ethos,” DeVille continues. “I could have charged way more for the SuperMoon and all that. But who’s buying these? I don’t want to sell them to, like, blues dads. That’s fine. But I don’t want to limit a guy like myself. It’s nice to get a steak every once in a while, but it’s not steak every day. If I’ve got enough food on my plate, why do I need seconds?”

DeVille clearly isn’t chasing pedal-maker hype—he’s just happy to be creating some cool gear that galvanizes ordinary people to simply pick up the guitar and play. “As far as growth goes, I don’t know,” he says. “Money’s fine. I don’t want a big-ass corporation where I have to go to board meetings. I don’t like having employees. I don’t like having to kiss ass. I’m not good at it, and I have no interest in being good at it. I don’t want to have to go to some show for a band I don’t really like and say, ‘Oh, thanks for playing this product. Here’s a new product!’”

When asked about any famous artists who use Mr. Black pedals, DeVille is charmingly out of the loop. “There’s a country guy—maybe it’s Keith Urban—he has dark hair and stubble. A few years back, someone was like, 'Hey, they’re playing your pedal and gave you a shout-out in their magazine.' I said, ‘This is the first I’ve heard of this.’ I don’t know—I guess he bought it. I didn’t sell it to him, but he must have found it somewhere.” (Urban told Guitarist in 2026, “I use a [Mr. Black] SuperMoon for a couple of songs because it’s such a unique, cool-sounding ’verb.”)

Regardless of who’s playing his pedals, DeVille has some exciting things in the pipeline, including a “really fucking high-performance” product that he’s still tinkering with. “If I have a new thing I’m working on, it has to change the way you play and pull something out of you,” he says. “There are literal boxes full of perfectly good pedals that didn’t make the cut—they’re good, but they didn’t inspire."

The idea is simple: “Whoever inspires you, whatever it may be—maybe it’s Boss, maybe it’s MXR, maybe it’s Strymon, maybe it’s Joe Blow’s Fuzz Shack—buy the one that you like,” DeVille says. “And if at all possible, get the one that’s built by just a guy in his basement. That’s where the big dogs come from. They all start there, and you’re encouraging the next crop.”

He continues. “The expression I know is: ‘The grass is greener where you water it.’ If you want more of whatever it is—say there’s some fuzz pedal you really like, or there’s some boutique guy doing some weird, granular DSP bleep-bloop shit that I don’t understand—buy that one. Go for the one you’re uncertain about, that’s a little risky. Go for the underdog.”

Marking 60 years since Jimi Hendrix first plugged into a Marshall amplifier, Marshall continues its tribute to Jimi Hendrix through an expanded, cosmic-inspired anniversary collection.

This latest unveiling features the Studio Vintage amplifier, along with the Major V headphones and Emberton III Bluetooth speaker, all reimagined in a distinctive new aesthetic.

Leading the pack, the portable JMH Studio Bundle reimagines the design of the iconic Studio Vintage amplifier. Combining premium craftsmanship with a distinctive Hendrix-inspired aesthetic, the amp delivers everything from expressive cleans and deep blues textures to rich, harmonically complex driven tones.

Key specifications:

• 20W tube head with power reduction to 5W
• Two bridgeable channels
• 2 x ECC83 preamp tubes
• 1 x ECC83 phase splitter
• 2 x EL34 power tubes
• Switchable series effects loop
• Speaker outputs for 16Ω, 8Ω and 4Ω loads
• Dimensions: 500mm (W) x 240mm (H) x 230mm (D)

Built by hand at Marshall's factory in Bletchley, UK using quality plywood and wrapped in black Tolex, this stack’s one-of-a-kind anniversary design features black and purple in a psychedelic pattern across the fret and control panel, complemented by a purple LED indicator. Drawing on Hendrix’s distinct personal style and the silver jewelry that became part of his visual identity, intricate silver beading is woven throughout, detailing the knobs, handle, logo, grille, and back panel. The all-seeing eye badge, derived from Hendrix’s fascination with the third eye and expanded vision, sits on the top and bottom of the stack, completing the design.

The anniversary edition Major V on-ear headphones come in a sleek black finish, elevated with psychedelic graphics and subtle Hendrix-inspired details. A striking purple oil-on-water design flows throughout the inner headband and ear cups, finished with the all-seeing eye motif.

Continuing the purple oil-on-water design across the sleeve, and through the grille, the Hendrix 60th Anniversary Edition Emberton III Bluetooth speaker pays homage to Hendrix with the all-seeing eye that appears in silver on the media jog and is accompanied by purple LEDs. The silicone sleeve is hand-dipped using a water transfer print, making each piece entirely unique. With more than a full day of listening on a single charge, there’s plenty of time to play through Hendrix’s extraordinary body of recorded music.

This latest unveiling marks the final release in the Marshall x Hendrix 60th Anniversary Collection. The Major V and Emberton III editions carry street prices of $159.99 and $179.99 respectively. The JMH Studio Edition Bundle carries a street price of $2,499.99. For more information visit marshall.com.

The Fender Custom Shop has launched a limited-edition George Harrison 1967 Bass VI, which it describes as a “painstaking” recreation of the Beatle’s original.

The model has been crafted in Corona, California, capturing the look, feel and character of Harrison’s model, which he acquired in 1967 and used as an integral part of his work with the band at Abbey Road Studios.

• READ MORE: “The old George Harrison trick… it works every f**king time” Jason Isbell admits he stole a guitar technique from the Beatle for one of his most famous songs

This limited model is priced at $9,500.00 (£8,599), is built to the same specifications by the Fender Custom Shop luthiers, and is finished with Relic aging to give it a worn-in look. It has a two-piece select alder body to deliver warmth and a balanced midrange, with a thin nitrocellulose lacquer finish.

The neck is shaped to match the profile of Harrison’s Bass VI, featuring a bound 3A rosewood fingerboard and white pearloid block inlays. The 7.25” radius and 21 vintage frets provide a period-correct playing surface across a 30” scale length. This shorter scale produces lower string tension, lending a “supple, elastic feel that invites both bass lines and guitar-style phrasing”, according to the FCS.

A bone nut ensures “precise” intonation and open-string sustain at the headstock end. As for tone, the instrument comes loaded with three period-correct Custom Shop Hand-Wound Jaguar pickups, and individual on/off slide switches for each pickup so players can sculpt their signal path on the fly.

Another personal touch and nod to the original is on the switch plate, where etchings made by Harrison on his original to note his preferred settings can be found. Other premium features include a 6-saddle vintage-style adjustable bridge with “floating” tremolo tailpiece and Bass VI mute, a 4-ply brown shell pickguard, and vintage-style tuning machines with the Fender logo. A deluxe hardshell case, strap and certificate of authenticity are all included.

“George Harrison’s Bass VI holds a unique place in Fender history. It played a defining role in some of the most influential recordings ever made while showcasing the remarkable versatility of the Bass VI itself,” says Chase Paul, Director of Fender Custom Shop.

“With this Limited Edition release, our Custom Shop team has faithfully recreated George’s original instrument with extraordinary attention to detail, honouring its legacy and giving players and collectors the opportunity to own an extraordinary piece of music history.”

To find out more, visit the Fender Custom Shop.

The post Fender Custom Shop releases a “painstaking” recreation of George Harrison’s Bass VI appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

UK prime minister Andy Burnham has made no secret his love of guitar music, proclaiming back in 2022 his love of The Beatles, The Stone Roses, Radiohead and others.

But he’s not just a fan of guitar music; he’s also a longtime guitar player, and has been captured on video on numerous occasions playing both guitar and bass, and showing an affinity for Gretsch and Gibson guitars.

And his guitar skills have been showcased once again during his recent visit to Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, as the UK pledges its continued support for the country amid its ongoing war with Russia.

• READ MORE: How Taylor Guitars captured a whole new audience by putting the musician at the heart of everything

Burnham – who was mayor of Manchester – joined soldiers in a mobile recording studio, part of Ukraine’s military and artistic unit, which routinely performs on the front lines and in hospitals to boost morale. 

Equipped with a silver T-style electric guitar, the British prime minister can be seen in a video posted to his official Instagram page playing a rendition of Rusholme Ruffians by Mancunian legends the Smiths.

The guitar he plays is in fact a hand-built model by Kyiv’s WM Guitars. It also features the emblem of the Ukraine military’s Cultural Forces division. Check out the clip below:

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Andy Burnham isn’t the first guitar-toting politician to have flexed his six-string skills in Ukraine since the Russian invasion began in 2022. Back in 2024, then-US Secretary of State Antony Blinken made a surprise visit to the Ukrainian capital after the United States signed a new aid package, during which he performed a cover of Neil Young’s Rockin’ in the Free World.

The post Watch as UK PM Andy Burnham plays a Smiths song with Ukrainian soldiers in Kyiv: “You can take the man out of Manchester…” appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

Ad feature with Taylor Guitars

Taylor Guitars has always been a brand that listened to the player. But when Andy Powers became Taylor’s Master Guitar Designer over a decade ago, this mindset became even more central, evolving Taylor into something remarkable: a global guitar brand with the mindset of a bespoke luthier. Now a brand new Guitar.com Presents film gets to the heart of what this really means.

• READ MORE: How Taylor Guitars became the world’s most innovative guitar brand

In Taylor Guitars: Crafted To Inspire we head to Taylor’s HQ in El Cajon, California, and sit down with both Powers and other members of the Taylor team to explore exactly what it means to bring the in-depth, player-centric mindset of a one-of-one luthier and how that can be scaled up to make better instruments for thousands of guitarists all over the world.

“I’ve never lived in a world where there was a separation between the builder and the player,” Powers explains. “Whether it was building an instrument for myself, or building an instrument for someone that I’m sitting across from, or even building an instrument for somebody who’s half a world away, we speak the same language, and we’re seeking the same kinds of things, which is musical inspiration. ”

This mindset has reached new heights with the Gold Label Collection – a range of radical new guitars launched just last year that showcases the bold and unconventional way that Taylor is responding to the needs of musicians like never before. And the proof of this is not just in the instruments themselves, but the artists who have embraced them already, from signature artists Trey Hensley and Ben Harper, to Nashville musicians who would previously have never picked up a Taylor.

“But I have a lot of long-time traditional guitar player, pre-war guitar players who are knocking down our door to get their hands on one of these,” explains Jay Parkin, Taylor’s director of artist relations and partnerships. “Andy had the foresight to create guitars that sound and look incredibly familiar, yet they have the playability of a modern Taylor, which is like none other.”

But the real magic of Powers’ design genius can be found in the way that the innovations that he uses to make guitars that have a particular sonic and visual style can be redeployed to enhance and evolve other guitars in the Taylor range. This is seen most strikingly in the evolution of Taylor’s classic Grand Auditorium and Grand Concert Next Generation guitars – which utilise many of the innovations found in the Gold Label, but result in a sound that is much more classically Taylor.

“I love that musicians don’t all sound alike,” Powers explains. “We have different interests. We have different influences, different inspirations, and I enjoy that. I don’t want instruments to all be just the same thing.

Watch Taylor Guitars: Crafted To Inspire at the Guitar.com YouTube Channel. 

 

The post How Taylor Guitars captured a whole new audience by putting the musician at the heart of everything appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

Byron "Mr. TalkBox" Chambers is a Grammy-recognized artist whose talk box talents have lent unmistakable, expressive power to some of the defining gospel, funk, R&B, and pop records of the modern era. When he wanted a device made specifically to elevate his silky smooth, electro grooves, he came to MXR.

We held nothing back building the MXR Mr. TalkBox Signature Talk Box. You get more power, more headroom, more control over your voice, and better articulation of each sound over a low end that stays thick and full. This is a professional-grade talk box tailor-made for keyboardists and guitarists who want to speak through their instrument, straight from the soul.

“I’ve been using a talk box for 27 years,” Byron says. “I wanted to work with MXR because they know how to do portable and powerful at the same time. Whether I’m playing on stage or doing radio shows and podcasts, I want my setup to be quick, easy, and sound great. This talk box gives me all of that.”

MXR Mr. TalkBox Signature Talk Box highlights:

• Collaboration with Grammy-recognized artist Byron “Mr. TalkBox” Chambers
• Lightweight neodymium driver for more low end without weighing you down
• 25W amp for increased headroom and improved dynamic response
• Volume, Tone, and Gain controls allow you to shape your voice
• Gain bypass switch helps keep hot signals under control
• Fit for desktops and pedalboards with an 18V power supply, 8’ tube, and mic stand clip

Availability

The MXR Mr. TalkBox Signature Talk Box is available now at $449.99 street/$642.84 MSRP from your favorite retailer.

Queens of the Stone Age have always remained enduringly, singularly magnetic. It isn't just their sound. It's their spirit. They are provocative in the most essential sense: unafraid to explore the dark, the sexual, the surreal, the absurd. It's art that snarls and seduces in equal measure, and never more so than on the band’s ninth album, Perfecth, due Oct. 30 from Matador Records.

Out today is latest single "Insignificant Other,” which could be considered the album's centerpiece. It's the second of only two takes and captures the quintet playing loose and unguarded and making space for one another on the fly. "It's a song about distance,” says frontman Joshua Homme. “About how someone can be your entire world only to simply vanish. And about the strange vertigo of being on the receiving end of that.”

The album announcement is accompanied by a Chapman Baehler-directed video starring Big Chongus as the embodiment of “perfecth.” Joined by the goodest boys and girls Ruby Homme, Max Homme, Pumpkin Van Leeuwen, Isabella Puppolini (Izzy) Van Leeuwen and Reesa Shuman, watch HERE to find out if Big Chongus finds the perfect home. You can also watch the now infamous Five Finger Filet teaser that announced the date the album would NOT be released HERE .

Produced by Homme and band member Michael Shuman, Perfecth will be available on CD, Standard Black Vinyl everywhere, on Clear Vinyl at Indie Retailers and as a limited Deluxe Edition — a gatefold LP package which includes handwritten lyrics, stationary, ‘stamps’ housed inside a custom envelope as well as a bespoke piece of art temporarily placed in a custom pocket — exclusively on the QOTSA and Matador webstores. Pre-order is available HERE .

Kintsugi — the Japanese art of repairing broken pottery by filling its cracks with gold — holds that what has been shattered is made more beautiful, not less, by the act of repair. This is the spirit in which Perfecth was made. An album that could only have been made right now thanks to Homme, Troy Van Leeuwen, Michael Shuman, Dean Fertita, and Jon Theodore taking significant evolutionary steps as a collective and arriving at hard-won clarity, its nine songs map different forms of love: of family, friends, and others both significant and insignificant. The loves that break you beyond survival and the loves that put you back together.

Birthed from sessions tracked everywhere from New Orleans to Los Angeles, the music is fearless and boundless, moody and menacing, gentle and strange. Here, Queens have moved a career's worth of jagged pieces into alignment. "Every song sounds like it's from a different world," says Homme. "And that's on purpose, because it's trying to stitch together all these emotions revolving around love, lust, foolishness, and the sort of wisdom that comes as a gift from all that."

The record is called Perfecth because "perfect," as a word, has never been honest. It doesn't exist. So, Homme broke the word and made it "perfecth," a more appropriate spelling for a term that never felt right to begin with. "Nothing in this world is perfect, but everything seems to be 'perfecth'," he explains. "And that title is funny when you're in a group, but it ain't so funny when you're alone.”

While fans await the new album, they can air their gripes and grievances, moans and groans, chagrin', carpin', and any judgements they wish to pass via the official Queens of the Stone Age Complaint Hotline at +1 (760) 437-1966. Callers may even find a live ear at the other end of the line.

The Complaint Hotline opened following Queens of the Stone Age’s rapturously received new single “Easy Street (feat. Nikki Lane) .” Debuted live last year during their lauded Catacombs tour and eagerly awaited by fans, it was the band’s first new music since 2023’s In Times New Roman…. Homme also released high-profile collaborations with Shania Twain on her new single “'Faded Blue Jeans” and added guest vocals to Mastodon's latest rocker, “Snakes for Dinner.”

Queens of the Stone Age resume their North American stadium tour with Foo Fighters on Sept. 15 and also recently announced a fall headline run in Australia, New Zealand, Japan and Singapore. 2027 headline shows will be announced in the coming weeks. Sign up at qotsa.com to be the first to receive updates.

Queens of the Stone Age on tour:

09/15 - Regina, SK, CA - Mosaic Stadium^

09/17 - Edmonton, AB - Commonwealth Stadium^

09/20 - Vancouver, BC, CA - BC Place^

09/24 - Louisville, KY, US - Bourbon & Beyond Festival

09/26 - Las Vegas, NV, US - Allegiant Stadium^

10/04 - Sacramento, CA, US - Aftershock Festival

10/24 - Reykjavík, IS - Laugardalshöll

11/25 - Tokyo, JP - Zepp Haneda

11/26 - Nagoya, JP - Zepp Nagoya

11/28 - Osaka, JP - Zepp Namba

12/2 - Singapore - Star Theatre

12/8 - Adelaide, AU - The Drive

12/11 - Hobart, AU - My State Bank Arena

12/13 - Melbourne, AU - Rod Laver Arena

12/15 - Sydney, AU - Qudos Bank Arena

12/16 - Newcastle, AU - Newcastle Entertainment Center

12/18 - Brisbane, AU - Brisbane Entertainment Center

12/20 - Auckland, NZ - Spark Arena

^ w/ Foo Fighters

Perfecth tracklisting:

1.It’s Only Love

2.Insignificant Other

3.Where The Goth Girls At?

4.Mono

5.From The Cliff

6.Sunday

7.Easy Street

8.Phantom Limb

9.Run Away From The Mob

The Fender Custom Shop (FCS) today unveils the Limited Edition George Harrison 1967 Bass VI, a meticulous recreation of the legendary instrument that became one of George Harrison's most distinctive creative tools during one of the most influential periods of his career. Crafted in Corona, California, the model faithfully captures the look, feel and character of Harrison's original Bass VI, bringing one of music's most iconic instruments to a new generation of players and collectors.

Acquired by Harrison in 1967, his sunburst Bass VI became an integral part of the sound created at Abbey Road Studios, contributing melodic lines and rich textures across some of the most celebrated recordings in popular music. At a time when The Beatles were redefining what was possible in the studio, the Bass VI became another creative tool that helped expand the band's evolving sound.

Occupying a unique space between guitar and bass, the Bass VI gave Harrison another creative voice in the studio. Its distinctive sound allowed him to achieve melody and depth in ways few instruments could, making it ideal for sonic exploration and helping shape the evolving sound of an era. Today, it remains one of Fender's most versatile and inspiring designs.

Harrison's creative influence extended far beyond The Beatles. As a songwriter, solo artist and collaborator - including his work on All Things Must Pass and with The Traveling Wilburys - he continually pushed creative boundaries and inspired generations of musicians through his fearless approach to musical innovation.

"George Harrison's Bass VI holds a unique place in Fender history. It played a defining role in some of the most influential recordings ever made while showcasing the remarkable versatility of the Bass VI itself," said Chase Paul, Director of Fender Custom Shop. “With this Limited Edition release, our Custom Shop team has faithfully recreated George's original instrument with extraordinary attention to detail, honoring its legacy and giving players and collectors the opportunity to own an extraordinary piece of music history."

The Limited Edition George Harrison 1967 Bass VI faithfully recreates Harrison's original instrument with remarkable authenticity. Every detail was chosen to faithfully recreate Harrison's original instrument - from the Relic® Bleached 3-Color Sunburst finish and handwritten switch plate markings to the Custom Shop Hand-Wound Jaguar® pickups that capture the Bass VI's distinctive voice. Together, these elements deliver the look, feel and sound that made the instrument such an important part of Harrison's creative process.

Key features include:

• Bleached 3-Color Sunburst Relic® lacquer finish modeled after the original
• Custom neck profile matched to Harrison’s personal Bass VI
• Era-correct bound 3A rosewood fingerboard and block inlays
• Three period-correct Custom Shop Hand-Wound Jaguar® pickups
• Etched control plate markings replicated from Harrison's own instrument
• Full technical specifications are listed below

LIMITED EDITION GEORGE HARRISON 1967 BASS VI (MSRP: $9,500.00 USD, £8,599 GBP, €10,099 EUR, $14,999 AUD, ¥1,650,000 JPY) George Harrison’s sunburst Fender® Bass VI became an essential voice at Abbey Road Studios, providing the melodic counterpoints and textural layers that shaped some of the most admired arrangements in popular music. The Fender Custom Shop Limited Edition George Harrison 1967 Bass VI is a painstaking recreation of that instrument, built to the same specifications by the luthiers in Corona, California, and finished with Relic® aging that channels decades of creative life. The two-piece select alder body delivers resonant warmth and balanced midrange, with a thin nitrocellulose lacquer finish.

The Relic® treatment in Bleached 3-Color Sunburst gives this bass the worn-in look and feel of an instrument that has seen years of regular studio and stage use. The neck is shaped to match the profile of Harrison’s Bass VI, featuring a bound 3A rosewood fingerboard and white pearloid block inlays. The 7.25” radius and 21 vintage frets provide the period-correct playing surface that rewards a lighter touch with expressive dynamics, making chord voicings and melodic runs feel effortless across the 30” scale length. This shorter scale produces inherently lower string tension, lending a supple, elastic feel that invites both bass lines and guitar-style phrasing. A bone nut ensures precise intonation and open-string sustain at the headstock end. Loaded with three period-correct Custom Shop Hand-Wound Jaguar® pickups, the Harrison Bass VI captures the full harmonic spectrum of the instrument’s unique register. These pickups deliver articulate highs that cut through a dense mix, a growling midrange with natural compression, and defined low end that anchors without muddiness. Individual on/off slide switches for each pickup let you sculpt your signal path on the fly, from a single pickup’s vocal clarity to the full trio’s orchestral depth. The switch plate replicates the etchings Harrison made on his original to note his preferred settings. Other premium features include a 6-saddle vintage-style adjustable bridge with “floating” tremolo tailpiece and Bass VI mute, 4-ply brown shell pickguard, vintage-style tuning machines with Fender® logo, American Vintage ’59-’64 string tree, nickel/chrome hardware, and Fender® Bass VI stainless steel strings (.025-.095), deluxe hardshell case, strap and certificate of authenticity.

Def Leppard guitarist Phil Collen says producer Robert ‘Mutt’ Lange was “about 99 percent” responsible for the band’s success in the 1980s.

Lange has produced huge hit records for a large number of successful artists, with a pivotal example being AC/DC and their Highway To Hell album, but also for artists like Shania Twain, Bryan Adams, Muse, Britney Spears and Lady Gaga.

• READ MORE: Vivian Campbell confirms his cancer is back – but he’s continuing treatments and is “certainly not slowing down”

Lange worked with Def Leppard on their 1981 album High ‘N’ Dry, 1983’s Pyromania, and their fourth studio album, 1987’s Hysteria. In an interview with Meltdown of WRIF radio station, Collen is asked just how much Lange impacted their triumph back then.

“Probably about 99 percent. [He taught us] everything,” Collen says (via Blabbermouth). “He taught us how to sing, he taught us how to play guitar. He sings on every song we’ve ever done [with him]. He does backing vocals. He’s got the best singing voice out of all of us put together. And he sings on everything he does.

“I mean, I even hear him on Highway to Hell. His backing vocals are on that, and all the Bryan Adams stuff, Shania Twain stuff. Obviously, all of our stuff. And, yeah, you hear him on Foreigner, I think on The Cars. He’s got a great voice. It’s just amazing.”

Collen goes on to explain, “[Mutt did] everything. He’s the best producer in the world, [and a] songwriter as well. You’d come to him and you go, ‘I’ve got this chorus.’ He’d go, ‘Okay, well, that’s not strong enough for a chorus. We could use that for a middle eight or a bridge or something like that, but we need a stronger chorus.’ And he’d come and he’d write with us as well. So that was a great thing.”

Looking back on the making of Hysteria, Collen shares how Lange came up with the main hook of Pour Some Sugar On Me: “We’d got 11 songs, and [Mutt] heard Joe [Elliot] play an acoustic, and he’s like, ‘What’s that?’ [Joe] goes, ‘I don’t know.’ He [starts going], ‘Pour some sugar on me…’

“We went in, took about 10 days to do that song. We stopped everything, and Mutt just kind of orchestrated the whole thing. So he was very active in everything we did. And most of the bands that he worked with, he did that kind of thing with everyone.”

Watch the full interview below:

The post Phil Collen says Mutt Lange is “the best producer in the world” – this is how he helped Def Leppard rise to success appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

Wolfgang Van Halen has responded to an old hate comment he received in 2021, in which someone suggested he would be playing his father’s music by now.

In a gloriously petty post, the Mammoth frontman reflects on his success over the past half a decade, and has quoted the words of his own father, Eddie Van Halen, about the importance of playing your own music.

• READ MORE: “He doesn’t want to be Ed Jr”: Why Alex Van Halen is “proud” that Wolfgang Van Halen doesn’t play his father’s music

On Instagram he shares a screenshot of the comment, along with the caption: “August 24 2021. The first Mammoth record just came out, we had just started touring, when this kind fella (along with many MANY others) said this. I jokingly responded, threw it in my calendar and forgot about it. Today is that day.

“Five years later. What a trip. And yeah, this guy is a dickhead, but I just wanted to say thanks for listening and sticking with me. I’m very proud of what we’ve built here and I intend to keep going until the wheels fall off.”

He adds, “I never planned on playing VH in any capacity when it came to Mammoth, and five years later I feel exactly the same. As my dad once said, ‘I’d rather bomb on my own than succeed with someone else’s music.’ Don’t ever let anyone tell you what you’re capable of. That’s for you to decide.”

Wolfgang has of course received a lot of support in the comments, notably from Phil Demmel who writes, “Receipts kept!” and Nita Strauss, who says: “Big fan of a spite calendar reminder.”

Check out the full post below

View this post on Instagram

Wolfgang has always been clear about his decision to not play any Van Halen material at his shows. Just a couple of months ago he said during an interview with 105.7 The Point, “If anybody’s been really paying attention, they know that I wouldn’t do anything like entertaining to play a Van Halen song,” he says. “I’ve been very forthright about not wanting to play Van Halen songs.

“I’d rather bomb playing my own stuff than succeed by shacking up in my dad’s legacy and playing Panama every day. It’s just not what I’m interested in doing. I like to have a little bit more artistic and personal integrity than that.”

Find out where you can catch Wolfgang Van Halen live on tour via the Mammoth website.

The post Wolfgang Van Halen claps back at old comment saying he’d be playing his father’s music by now: “Don’t ever let anyone tell you what you’re capable of” appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

Back in 1966, Jimi Hendrix – arguably the greatest guitarist who has ever lived – plugged into a Marshall Super 100 for the first time. It began his love affair with the legendary British amp maker, with whom he became synonymous during the later years of his career.

Marshall amplifiers powered many of Hendrix’s most iconic performances, including his landmark closing set at Woodstock 1969, and his show at Monterey Pop Festival in 1967, when he famously set his Fender Stratocaster on fire.

It’s only right, then, that 60 years after that first spark, Marshall should do something big to celebrate.

• READ MORE: Captured by a drama student who snuck onstage, new rare footage of Jimi Hendrix’s legendary 1969 Woodstock show has surfaced online

In fact, Marshall has been celebrating 60 years since it collided with one of the world’s greatest players for much of 2026 already. In May, the firm unveiled a collection of cosmic-inspired purple-and-black guitar gear, including a 1959 JMH Half Stack based on Jimi’s rig, a reskinned Acton III Bluetooth speaker and a limited-edition Fuzz Face pedal.

Now, the company has expanded its Hendrix 60th Anniversary collection with a new pair of headphones, a Bluetooth speaker, and another amplifier. Each sports the same purple oil-on-water design as previous items in the 60th Anniversary collection.

First up is a new pair of over-ear Major V headphones, boasting a rugged, foldable design, and purple-and-black colour scheme that extends throughout the inner headband and ear cups, and a battery that lets fans “listen to days of Hendrix tracks on a single charge”.

Next is a limited-edition Emberton III Bluetooth speaker, with a silver all-seeing eye motif, purple LEDs, and a silicone sleeve that’s been hand-dipped using a water transfer print, making each piece unique. A full day of listening is offered on a single charge.

Credit: Marshall

But the pièce de résistance of the collection is a stunning new portable JMH Studio amplifier, which reimagines the design of the classic Studio Vintage amp.

Produced at Marshall’s factory in Bletchley, UK, the Hendrix 60th Anniversary JMH Studio is built using quality plywood wrapped in black Tolex, the same black-and-purple psychedelic pattern, a purple LED indicator, silver beading woven throughout and an all-seeing eye badge, which pays homage to Hendrix’s fascination with the “third eye and expanded vision”.

“The story of Jimi and Marshall has always been personal to me because I first heard it from my dad, Al Hendrix,” says Jimi’s sister, Janie Hendrix. “Dad was there and shared those memories with me, so I carry that story only one degree from its source.

“Jimi was always searching for a sound that did not yet exist, pushing beyond what anyone thought an electric guitar could do. Marshall gave him the power and freedom to turn those bold ideas into a sound the world had never heard before. Sixty years later, that connection between Jimi and Marshall still speaks to new generations of musicians who are pushing creative boundaries and searching for their own sound.”

Pricing & availability

The Hendrix 60th Anniversary Major V headphones and Emberton III Bluetooth speaker are available now direct from Marshall, priced at £129.99 and £149.99, respectively. They’ll also be available at selected retailers from 9 September. Meanwhile, the JMH Studio Edition Bundle will be available from 9 September from Marshall.com and selected retailers, priced at £1,749.99.

Learn more at Marshall.

The post Marshall celebrates 60 years since Jimi Hendrix first plugged into a Super 100 with a stunning purple-on-black JMH studio amp appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

Ad feature with StewMac

We all know the myth of the ‘endgame guitar’ – it’s rare that one single instrument is the final piece of the puzzle for your rig. But there’s a good chance you’ve got some idea of what your perfect guitar might be, and there’s an equally good chance this perfect guitar isn’t just hanging on the wall of a guitar shop. Maybe it has some wild arrangement of specs and features that you’ve been hunting down for years – maybe it’s a more standard guitar with your own stamp on it. In any case, let’s explore how you can follow in the footsteps of Eddie Van Halen and Tom Morello and assemble that perfect guitar from parts.

Parts unknown

The two most important parts of a part guitar are, of course, the body and the neck. Making sure you’ve got a good match between the two, and the right sort of body for the kind of instrument you want to make, is crucial. There are a lot of options out there, either via the custom body route or official Fender parts – you could even salvage a body or neck from an existing instrument.

The most important thing a body defines is what kind of bridge you work with in the end. Broadly speaking each kind of bridge commonly found on Fender-style instruments presents a different level of challenge when it comes to getting assembly right. The least confounding is the straightforward hardtail setup – this includes Telecaster-style bodies with a full bridge plate, and bodies designed for shorter hardtail bridges, like the Telecaster Deluxe or Hardtail Stratocaster bodies. You can also find custom bodies in all sorts of shapes that accommodate various styles of hardtail bridges.

You then have the Stratocaster-style block vibrato – this requires a bit of finesse, but as long as the body you find has high-quality mounting holes already drilled (or you have a steady drilling hand), it’s not that bad. After this is the offset-style vibrato found on Jazzmasters and Jaguars, which requires a good deal of accuracy to get a well-performing string path, and of course is infamously fiddly even once it is assembled.

The blank neck for the project.

Today I’m working with a Telecaster-style body and a Fender neck, both relic’d. The Tele platform is, as I mentioned, relatively straightforward, but it’s not without its own challenges – regardless, it’s a good place for a beginner to start thanks to the lack of a vibrato with moving parts and extra things to align.

Start with the Finish

The body in question – without any shielding, electronics or hardware.

If it’s your first time assembling a parts guitar, then it’s probably a good idea to get a body and a neck that are already finished. The art of finishing is by no means inaccessible, but it can be a big hurdle for first-timers – there’s a lot that can go wrong, and depending on what kind of finish you opt for, the process itself can require a lot of practice and patience.

Getting pre-finished parts takes that worry out of the equation, but if you are keen to give it a go, StewMac has some excellent in-depth guides and info on the various finishing processes you can apply to get the right look for your guitar – just remember, don’t ever rush it!

Pickup some ideas

What kind of body you choose will define what kind of pickups you can go for – some bodies are more flexible than others, with swimming-pool routes that allow for any and all pickups, while some – like the more traditional Tele-style body we have today – won’t take non-standard pickups without serious modifications.

To help make the decision, it’s good to work backwards from the kinds of sounds that you want your perfect guitar to be capable of – do you want vintage PAFs? Full-throated Wide Range humbucker tones? Spanky single-coils? Thanks to the very wide world of aftermarket pickups, there are options that incorporate a wide range of sounds into all sorts and sizes of pickups. Getting a Tele doesn’t chain you to single-coils, for instance, as there are single-coil-sized humbuckers designed specifically for them.

If you need some inspiration, StewMac has a huge stock of various pickups, ranging from lovingly recreated PAF-style humbuckers to active EMGs, from vintage Tele single-coils to powerful blade pickups. For our purposes today we’re sticking with StewMac’s own vintage-style Tele single-coils.

Shields up

The same body, shielded with copper tape. All of the separate cavities shielding parts have been joined with a wire or a strip of shielding tape.

If you’re keen to cut down on hum, you’ll want to shield the body cavities with conductive tape or paint. When the shielding is connected to ground, it works as a faraday cage, protecting the signal-generating parts of the guitar from external noise.

I opt for conductive tape. The Tele body in particular presents the fun challenge of getting all of the different cavities connected, and for that I use either a strip of tape between the two cavities that are hidden by the pickguard, and a jumper wire to connect these to the control cavity. Similarly the bridge plate is connected to the electronics’ ground via a stripped wire, sandwiched between it and the body.

Check the fit

Of course pickups are often fitted into pickguards, and one thing you quickly learn when assembling a parts guitar is that eventually, something just won’t fit, especially if you’re using a smorgasbord of parts from different brands.

Doing a dry fit is always a good idea, even if your body already has pickguard screw holes. If it doesn’t, it’s good to position the guard with everything installed before marking and drilling, just so you know that it’ll be properly aligned without any components crashing into cavity walls and so on. You may find you need to plug existing pickguard screw holes and re-drill them, or shave off a millimetre of pickguard to let a pickup through – just be careful, go slowly, and remember the age-old adage: measure twice, cut once.

And talking of things fitting – you’ll want to check that your neck is the right kind. If you’re building a Telecaster-style guitar, a traditional Tele pocket is designed for a square heel. Hence a Telecaster-style neck will fit in a Strat-style pocket (with a little gap), whereas a Strat-style neck’s rounded heel means it won’t fit in a Tele-style pocket!

The neck, ready for mounting holes to be drilled. I’m using a cardboard caul to ensure the frets aren’t damaged by the pressing motion, and a concave curved piece of wood to keep the neck itself as vertical as possible.

The neck I’m using today also doesn’t have any mounting holes. And so I get the bridge installed, loosely string up an outer E to ensure alignment, and then clamp it in place, using a cardboard caul. Once I know the neck is aligned properly I mark the positions for the screw holes with the sharp end of a brad-point bit, and unclamp it all so I can drill them straight and true with a press – you’ll want to use a bit that’s the same diameter or very slightly larger than the shank of the neck pocket screw you’re using.

For more on what fit and alignment issues you might run into, check out StewMac’s full guide to assembling a parts guitar here. In fact, little like the measure twice, cut once adage, there’s not really too much reading you can do before embarking on a project like this!

Hardware and electronics

The body and neck we’re using today are relic’d, and so to complete the look of an aged guitar we can grab some aged hardware to match. StewMac has a veritable treasure-trove of ready-aged hardware, including a lovely Gotoh bridge that has a super vibey vintage aesthetic but also compensated saddles to keep things in tune. The Kluson tuners are an easy fit and also come pre-aged, so they don’t stick out like a sore thumb next to the aged Fender logo!

Of course, you may not like the relic vibe, or want to add a bit of modern panache to proceedings – that’s fine too, as of course this is your guitar that you’re making! There are lots of different modern options, each of which is suited for different aesthetic tastes and playstyles.

The guitar’s control plate, all wired up. Here the pickguard screws are yet to be drilled, as I want to ensure the pickguard will key against the completed control plate before I commit to a location for it.

Once everything else is ready, I assemble the guitar’s electronics on the control plate – once it’s all wired up I give it the old screwdriver tap test to check that the switch and controls work. All this involves is plugging in and tapping the pickups with something metal, just to establish that the guitar makes the right signals in different switch positions, and the controls actually function – it’s good to check this before you get everything strung up and ready to go.

All together now

So that’s it all assembled – there are, as with all things guitar, a lot of improvements you can make to a simple parts instrument – once it’s working and making sound, there’ll be a long process of dialling in the action, neck relief, pickup height and so on to get it playing its best. It’s rarely a case of just bolting a body onto a neck and calling it a day, but the process is absolutely not beyond the average enthusiastic guitar-modder! Building a parts guitar is a great way of getting an instrument with your stamp on it, and when playing it you’ll feel even more connected to it knowing it was your handiwork that brought it into being.

For more on assembling parts guitars, check out StewMac’s full guide here.

 

The post The magic of partscasters – build your perfect guitar yourself appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

Two Les Paul Customs, three cabinets, 12 pedals, 13 microphones and a bicycle. When Russian Circles opened their U-haul truck outside of a California hotel in 2021, they found that all these things and more had been stolen from them overnight. As if that weren’t calamitous enough, they were about to start the biggest tour of their lives, supporting System of a Down and Korn in stadiums, and were 2,100 miles away from their then-base of Chicago. The only thing that could have been worse was if someone had died.

• READ MORE: Meet the little-known boutique builder who makes the secret weapons behind some of metal’s most brutal guitar tones

“It was an ‘Oh, shit’ moment, obviously,” remembers guitarist Mike Sullivan, talking to me from his home in Los Angeles. “Right away, your brain goes into survival mode. We’re in fucking Bumblefuck, California! Who do we know around here? How do we get their gear? How do we reach out to these people? Despite being on a huge tour at the time, there weren’t many people looking to help us out in that world.”

The instru-metal trio took whatever they could to carry on. Chelsea Wolfe lent Sullivan her Dunable Gnarwahl guitar. Hiwatt, a company they’d never worked with before, let them borrow some amps. They overcame – playing the shows, crowd-sourcing $60,000 (£45,000) and getting some of their stuff back in 2024 – but the incident reinvented Sullivan’s rig. Five years later, Dunable and Hiwatt are his go-to manufacturers.

“I was desperate for anything that sounded like a Les Paul. Anything with humbuckers and a glued neck would have sufficed,” he recalls. “But the Gnarwahl was such a cool-looking instrument, which sounded and felt great, and I was hooked on it. It’s a fun guitar to play. You don’t feel weighed down: it’s so ergonomic for tapping.

“I was blown away by how good the Hiwatt sounded,” he adds. “It took pedals so well. All these pedals that I thought I needed no matter what, I started tossing them out of the pedal chain. Less is more. When your blueprint tone, your foundation, is that fucking good, then you don’t need as much garbage to polish the turd.”

Image: Press

Cutting The Chaff

Hearing Sullivan talk about discarding pedals is like hearing Father Christmas talk about laying off elves. Since he co-founded Russian Circles in 2004, the guitarist’s penchant for pedals has become a cornerstone of the band’s identity. Many of their songs are centred around his loops, which help the three-man lineup, completed by drummer Dave Turncrantz and bassist Brian Cook, build bulletproof walls of noise.

Their approach is so ear-grabbingly loud, and Sullivan’s playing so immediately melodic, that they’ve transcended the insular post-rock scene which ensnares most modern instrumental rockers. As well as Korn and System of a Down, they’ve toured with Tool and Mastodon. Gojira’s Christian Andreu sports their merch onstage, ex-Killswitch Engage singer Howard Jones has touted them in interviews and Converge guitarist Kurt Ballou produced their four latest albums, including their brand-new ninth, aptly titled Nine. The soft-spoken Sullivan almost sounds uncomfortable with the elite company.

“After doing the System of a Down/Korn tour, I’ve never been more proud to be part of the underground,” he says. “Some of the stories are jaw-dropping. I have a lot of good things to say about Korn. System of a Down? Next question.”

Certain fans have talked about Nine as if it’s Russian Circle’s mainstream moment, pointing out the increased synths and electronics on the single Eluvial. But Sullivan only leaned further into his underground proclivities, such as on the punishing Empath and Seventh Seal. After being inspired by metal bands Pantera and At the Gates for 2022’s Gnosis, he went even deeper, turning to cult UK death metal luminaries Bolt Thrower.

“Death metal tremolo picking can be very vocal,” he explains. “It’s very minimal as far as melody. It’s a hummable, simple melody. It’s similar to black metal, where you can hold the chord shape and keep different voice lines interweaving in a cool way. You can rub an open string against a fretted string and create tension, a breathing pulse to the melodies.”

Unconventional Sources

Sullivan’s a metalhead at heart: he has a vinyl copy of Sabbath Bloody Sabbath on the table next to him and a 1981 Dean ML on his wall, in tribute to Dimebag Darrell. To understand the essence of his guitar playing, though, you need to know about obscure math-rockers Don Caballero. Like Russian Circles, they were an instrumental three-piece whose guitarist, Ian Williams, used tapping and loops. Sullivan saw them in Chicago after moving there to study and was floored.

“I came from the world of [punk legends] Fugazi, where many people were like, ‘Pedals? We don’t need pedals! Do it with your fingers!’” he says. “So the first pedal I ever had that I used in a band was a looper, and then a friend showed me, ‘Hey, you ever mess with a delay pedal?’ I’m like, ‘Not really. Let me try it out. Oh, this is fucking awesome! Alright, what does a tremolo pedal do? Oh, reverb’s great! Oh, the volume pedal!’”

He admits that his approach to distortion is pedal-first, “not out of preference, but utility”: “If I had my way, I’d probably draw upon a distorted amp channel and then boost it if need be. But I switch between gain stages so much. I want the decay of delay to bleed through. If I change channels on-amp from clean to dirty, the delay trails will be bumped up to a distorted signal, and I don’t want that. I want the delay to be after distortion, always.”

Seeing What’s Important

By the 2021 robbery, his fixation had become a bit much. “I had a bunch of tone sweeteners, like Klon clones and shit, and EQ sculpting devices that I just didn’t need,” he laughs. “Too many things were taking up space and compromising the tone.”

But Sullivan’s setup has always revolved around the looper. Be it a Les Paul or a Gnarwahl, he uses instruments with humbucker pickups so he’s not stacking layer upon layer of feedback. The Hiwatt amps have plenty of headroom so the loops don’t “collapse”. Unfortunately, other drawbacks can’t be circumvented. Mistimed loops force drummer Turncrantz to adjust or improvise.

“It’s all on me if it fucks up,” the guitarist admits. “It’s more about, do I know how to cheat to get the loop or the phrase sampled? If a loop’s awful, I’ll find a way to bury it and do some work-around.”

While making Nine, Sullivan was in his element. He recorded guitars at Ballou’s own studio God City in Salem, Massachusetts, where he experimented with so many models and bits of gear that he can’t remember what was used where. What he can say for certain is that he wrote some of the album with his favourite guitar, the 1985 Les Paul Custom that was stolen in 2021 then returned to him.

“All Les Pauls are a little bit different, and that one looks like it saw action in the Civil War,” he grins. “It’s falling apart, there are stress cracks everywhere, but it’s the most resonant guitar I’ve ever played. It just shakes for you and you can really feel it respond.”

He also dabbled in a variety of tunings. “I’ve always hovered around DADGAD tunings or that relative setup. The lowest [on this album] is DADGAD but tuned down to A. Other ones are that same shape of DADGAD but in B.”

Get Low

Across Russian Circles’ career, as the guitar influences have grown heavier, the tunings have got lower. Although Sullivan’s always imbued his riffs with a Sabbath-esque sludge, the early albums were much higher, in D or C-sharp. It’s a bit of a pickle for a man who tells me “I don’t like changing guitars during a set”.

“There’s enough changing pedals and settings, so to change guitars and all that takes so much time, and I end up getting gum in my hair or something like that while I’m doing it,” he elaborates. “It’s a fucking trainwreck.”

Then why do you use so many different guitars and tunings in the studio?!

“Oh, I fuck myself over at every opportunity. If you only knew. If there’s a fork in the road, I seem to always take the more difficult route.”

He may self-deprecate, but the more difficult route clearly pays off. You don’t get to support Korn and System of a Down by not knowing what you’re doing. As our conversation turns towards the future, Sullivan tips his hat to Mastodon for gradually getting bigger without compromising their musical vision. Given he’s still attached to his extreme metal and math-rock touchstones, even after getting a taste of stadiums, surely he wants the same thing?

“If it happens, that’d be awesome, and I’d be happy to go that course our own way,” he answers. “But we’re proud to be on an independent label. I’ve had endorsees turn me down because we’re not on late-night talk shows and tell me I’m ‘not pushing the brand hard enough’. We’re not going to be on a late-night talk show, and if we are, I don’t want that to matter if I get an endorsement or not. I’m fortunate that I have the ability to play, I get to play and people care enough to hear our records. That’s a good spot to be in.”

Nine is out on 28 August via Sargent House.

The post “Right away, your brain goes into survival mode” how having all his gear stolen led to Russian Circles’ Mike Sullivan reinventing his approach to guitar appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.