Premier Guitar

Twin brothers Tim and Nick Frank were college students in their Canadian hometown when they built their first guitar.

It was the late 2000s, and Tim Frank was working a summer job at a canoe club that had taken over a decommissioned firehouse on Ward’s Island, just south of Toronto’s harborfront. There, he and his brother had access to a backyard shed equipped with a bandsaw, a MacGyvered drill press, and a dream.

It wasn’t the first time either of them had experimented with lutherie. When they were teenagers, Nick had gifted Tim a copy of a Dan Erlewine book on guitar repair, and Tim started doing fixups for his friends while Nick defretted his bass so that he could play more like Jaco Pastorius.

Building their own guitar posed a whole other challenge. The first one they built together at the canoe club had problems, but it showed a lot of promise. Tim and Nick kept honing their skills at college in Halifax, working out of a tiny room in Tim’s house that they converted into an ad-hoc workshop. When they returned to Toronto, they found a home in a 2,600-square-foot warehouse space in a century-old building in the city’s east end, which is where they decided to go all-in and start their own guitar company in 2014.

Fast-forward to today, and the Frank Brothers Guitar Company is established as an international purveyor of boutique guitars, with a small but mighty catalog of one-of-a-kind designs. Led by Tim and Nick, with business support from their older brother Jon, Frank Brothers has carved out a niche with its unique, vintage-inspired aesthetics and high-quality craftsmanship.

The company’s signature model is the Arcade, a double-arched solid body noted for its eye-catching look, comfortable playability, and warmth, sustain, and openness. When Frank Brothers brought the Arcade to the NAMM show just a few years into the company’s tenure, an early Reverb review commended the “superb build quality” and described playing it as “a raw and overwhelming experience.”

Since then, Frank Brothers’ reputation has continued to grow. The company’s roster of clients includes Phish’s Trey Anastasio, Barenaked Ladies’ Ed Robertson, Zac Brown Band’s Clay Cook, Walk the Moon’s Eli Maiman, Dispatch’s Brad Corrigan, Arkells’ Mike DeAngelis, the Beaches’ Leandra Earl, and solo artist James Bay, as well as live and session players for John Mayer, Vulfpeck, and Lou Reed.

It’s been just over a decade since the Frank Brothers first broke into the boutique-guitar market. But for the full story of the family business, you have to go way further back.

A Local Legacy of Music

In the Frank family, there’s an ingrained appreciation for craftsmanship in musical instruments that’s been passed down through generations. The brothers’ father, Jim Frank, was an award-winning recording engineer who worked with artists like Alice Cooper, Peter Gabriel, Bob Seger, and the Guess Who. Through him, the brothers learned about the value of high-fidelity sound. Their grandfather, Philip Frank, was an acclaimed violinist who played with Arturo Toscanini’s NBC Symphony Orchestra and recorded with a golden-era Stradivarius. He taught them respect for quality instruments. “We grew up with this understanding that not all instruments were made the same, and that they didn’t have equal value or sound, and that there were some instruments that were just special,” Tim Frank says.

So, when the brothers started building their own guitars professionally, they wanted to make instruments that would sound great, feel great, and play great—and last for generations. “When we first started, there was this newbie attitude where we didn’t know any better, so we tried to achieve something that we didn’t have the skills for at the time,” Tim says. “But we were always chasing perfection.”

The Frank brothers also had access to a wealth of knowledge and guidance from several master luthiers based in Toronto. When Jean Larrivée gained international respect for his steel-string acoustics in the 1970s, he enlisted several highly talented craftspeople to help build Larrivée Guitars. When he later relocated to Canada’s west coast and then onward to California, Larrivée left behind a community of people like William “Grit” Laskin, Linda Manzer, David Wren, and Tony Duggan-Smith, who stayed in Toronto and became renowned luthiers themselves.

“There’s been a culture of guitar-making here in Toronto since the ’70s, and these people were still around,” says Tim. “We got the opportunity to talk to some of them, ask them questions.”

Finding Their Niche

In a world of Fenders and Gibsons, the twins wanted to stand out. For inspiration, they looked to the retro Japanese imports of the ’60s and ’70s. These were models that took the recognizable silhouettes of classic American guitars and twisted and stretched them into funky new shapes that still resembled the originals, but were different enough that the companies making them wouldn’t get sued. “We wanted to make something that was familiar but different,” Tim says. “Something that people would recognize, but would also be its own thing.”

Drafting their concepts by hand, Tim designed the body and Nick the headstock, each of them sketching separately. When they put their two pieces of draft paper together, the designs complemented each other perfectly. Call it twin telepathy.

By the time of their third guitar build, they had zeroed in on what would be recognized today as an Arcade. The design features an arched top and back, an extra-deep neck tenon, and their signature “blended heel,” with a 25" scale length, a 12" radius, and a deluxe, hand-painted finish.

“We grew up with this understanding that not all instruments were made the same.”—Tim Frank

A couple of years ago, they added two additional models, both with a body design that looks a tad like a Gibson SG but sits more like a classic Fender. The Radar Deluxe is a set-neck mahogany guitar with a 24 3/4" scale length and a 12" radius with Kalamazoo-style parts. The Sonar is a California-inspired design with an alder body and a maple bolt-on neck, with a 25 1/2" scale length, a 9.5" radius, deep body contours, and Fullerton-inspired parts such as a Mastery vibrato and a chopped T-style bridge.

That brings Frank Brothers’ current catalog to six models in total, all fully customizable. There are four different Arcade models, with the base edition starting at $4,495, the thinline at $4,695, the signature at $5,795, and the semi-hollow at $6,795. The Sonar is the most affordable at $3,895 and up, while the Radar Deluxe starts at $4,395.

Almost all of Frank Brothers’ guitars are custom models that are made to order. Occasionally, they’ll make a few “brothers’ choice” guitars that they’ll sell on their website, and some are made for their 11 dealers in Canada, the U.S., United Kingdom, Netherlands, and Japan.

In the early days, it would take about 12 weeks to make one guitar. But their two-man operation has since doubled with the addition of two craftspeople so they can keep up with demand. Nowadays, the company makes two or three guitars a week; last year, they built 138 total.

A Meticulous Process

Step into the Frank Brothers workshop in Toronto and you’ll instantly be greeted by the rich, earthy aroma of freshly cut wood. On the day Premier Guitar stopped by, the air was filled with the sweet smell of Spanish cedar, evoking a sauna or a cigar box. (In this case, the guitar being built was for a cigar-loving client, so it was an intentional choice.)

Frank Brothers mostly uses mahogany for the Arcade model and the Radar Deluxe, but some are made with korina instead—for clients, like blues guitarist Josh Smith, who are seeking a body similar to mahogany but with a bit more presence and clarity in the mid-range. The Sonar is typically alder or maple.

“There are few people you can be as ruthlessly honest with as your brothers.”—Tim Frank

The company brings in ethically sourced shipments of new woods a few times a year, letting them dry out for over a year before cutting them into smaller chunks for body blanks, which are further dried for another six to 12 months until they’re ready to be milled. The milling process itself happens in gradual steps using their novelty-size jointer and Haas CNC machine to gradually pare down and shape the wood as its natural tension is released. “We’re not just milling it and then making the guitar,” Tim says. “We’re milling it, letting it rest, letting it de-stress, milling it again, and shaping it over time so that we get the most stable piece.”

During our visit, the CNC machine was in the process of milling the radius into a fretboard, having already been resurfaced three previous times. When it comes time for the fret slots, they’ll cut them in a pocket style rather than a straight line through the wood so that the fret tangs aren’t visible from the sides. Tim says this creates a firmer fit. “It’s a little detail that adds fractions of an amount of extra stiffness,” he says. “But, you know, we’re going for fractions.”

Once the fretboard gets glued to the neck, they use a highly precise straight edge to re-level the wood with sanding blocks until they reach their straightness tolerance of one half of a thousandth of an inch—less than the thickness of a human hair. They repeat that process again as they build in the tension of a single-action truss rod, and again as frets are installed.

Frank Brothers also take an unusual approach to their joints. For their angled headstocks, they use a “diamond” volute joint popularized by Martin acoustics prior to the First World War and typically found today on high-end classical or flamenco guitars. Tim Frank says it’s a highly labor-intensive practice, but it gives them a more sturdy, durable joint and, as a side benefit, the process uses a template that reduces wood waste. And then there’s Frank Brothers’ secret ingredient, the “blended heel.” Because the Arcade body is arched on both the top and the back, there’s no flat reference surface to build the heel. Instead, they do the build inside a block of wood, and only once they’re ready to glue the neck in do they cut the shape of the guitar.

“You get this big, Bo Diddley-looking thing with the neck in it,” Tim says. “And then we put it on the machine, and then we cut it out. It’s more like carving a statue from a block of marble than it is building a piece of furniture or a traditional guitar.”

While both brothers have a hand in each guitar from first cut to final finish, the woodworking is Nick’s area of focus. Tim’s specialty is the finishing, done entirely by hand with a nitrocellulose lacquer and great attention to detail, making it the most time-consuming part of the whole process.

Frank Brothers opt for classic colors like candy apple red, Pelham blue, shoreline gold, and sunbursts, but they put their own retro-inspired spin on these by tweaking and re-toning the paints so they appear aged. While finishing, Tim even takes it an extra step further by using a razor blade glued to a toothpick to meticulously scrape the color off along the edges to reveal the bony white binding.

“At this price range, it’s expected that it has to sound good, play great, look great,” Tim says. “But where we have a lot of fun is with those really small details—finessing those things into making these guitars go beyond expectation.”

“It’s a little detail that adds fractions of an amount of extra stiffness. But, you know, we’re going for fractions.”—Tim Frank

By the time a Frank Brothers guitar is ready to play, roughly 60 hours of manual labor have been undertaken at their Toronto workshop. Tim Frank says their pursuit of perfection is ultimately what has allowed them to grow their client base almost entirely by word of mouth.

“The feedback we get from people that play our guitars—even in Toronto, where the weather and humidity fluctuate like crazy—is that they really don’t need to mess with them,” Tim says. “They’re super, super stable because of all that engineering. The end result is a guitar that you don’t need to futz with much. And also, we think it makes for a better-sounding guitar—something that’s more responsive, a little bit more lively, and with better sustain.”

A Guitar to Last Generations

For the Frank Brothers Guitar Company, it’s all in the name. The Frank family fostered an appreciation for fine instruments, and now that the brothers are running their own family business, that brotherly dynamic powers everything they do. “There are few people you can be as ruthlessly honest with as your brothers,” Tim says. “That relationship has really influenced the way we build guitars and the level that we work at. We’re really focused on the details.”

Tim defines that standard as “heirloom quality”—the idea that a Frank Brothers guitar should be something that you’d be proud to pass on to your children and grandchildren, the same way their father and grandfather passed on their musical legacies.

“We’re trying to make something that you would not only be proud to own and play yourself, but also want to pass along to the next generation,” Tim says. “We’re trying to make timeless guitars.”

As pedal builders, we often field questions about effects, but many players endlessly chase tone without grasping that the guitar-pedal-amp ecosystem is an inseparable whole. The initial signal from your guitar is the primary architect of your tone’s gain structure and frequency response. It’s the “first domino.” Every subsequent device in your chain—every capacitor in that boutique pedal and every line of code in your modeler—is just reacting to the ghost that your pickups sent into the wire.

The relationship between pickups and pedals is highly dynamic—an interaction between impedance and signal level. Consider one of the most popular pedals: the Ibanez Tube Screamer. In the hands of a metalhead with an active-pickup guitar and a high-gain amp, it functions as a reliable booster, yielding an aggressive metal sound. Conversely, in the hands of a bluesman with a Strat and single-coils plugged into a Fender amp, the Tube Screamer becomes the heart of a very SRV-esque blues tone. The same pedal, yet its response and character drastically change depending on the input signal.

The most extreme example is the fuzz pedal. (Personally, we focus on building fuzzes and other unique pedals.) In my experience, fuzz is the most idiosyncratic and signal-responsive pedal, affected not only by the pickup but also by whether the signal passes through a buffer or not. Empirically, my hypothesis is: Fuzz generally struggles to produce a clear, usable sound with high-gain or active pickups.

Technically, this happens because traditional fuzz circuits (especially those using germanium transistors) have low input impedance and severely limited headroom. High-gain pickups send a signal that is simply too “hot,” causing excessive and uncontrolled clipping at the fuzz pedal’s input. This results in a muddy, indistinct sound (or what’s often called “splattering”). Low-gain pickups, on the other hand (like single-coils, P-90s, or PAF-style humbuckers), provide a quieter initial signal, preserving the fuzz circuit’s headroom and allowing it to produce rich, dynamic textures.

The Ampless Rig: A New Challenge

So, what about the current era of all-direct or ampless rigs? Let me share an empirical experience. I’m a huge fan of the sound of a Les Paul plugged into a tube amp. However, the reality is I’m an amateur player who can’t afford a crew to haul that heavy gear to a gig. Whether I like it or not, I had to embrace the modern ecosystem. I started experimenting with a direct system using analog/digital amp and cab simulators.

The results were surprising: My Les Paul with high-gain pickups sounded terrible—dirty and muddy—in this direct setup. Then, I tried a guitar with low-gain pickups, and it worked!

This success wasn’t because the low-gain pickup was magically better, but because it unintentionally fixed a fundamental technical issue: gain staging.

1.Digital Input Clipping: High-gain pickups produce a much higher output voltage. When this hot signal enters the input of a digital multi-effect or direct box, which has headroom limitations on its digital preamp or analog-to-digital converter (ADC), the signal undergoes digital clipping even before the amp simulation begins. This is what leads to a “broken” and indistinct sound.

2. Optimal DSP Headroom: Low-gain pickups naturally send a lower initial signal, providing much better headroom for the digital signal processing (DSP) to optimally handle distortion, modulation, and EQ.

In the modeling era, the biggest challenge is strict gain staging. Different manufacturers—Boss, Line 6, Fractal, Valeton, Nux, Hotone—implement very different analog front ends and output drivers, so results vary. Ultimately, we just have to stick to the golden rule: If it sounds good, it is good!

The bottom line is that when we talk about stompboxes, pedals, multi-effects, or modeling—none of them can stand alone. The sound of an Ibanez Tube Screamer will remain a mystery until you plug it into a guitar and an amp.

If you want to “tweak” your pedal or multi-effect, you must also tweak your guitar’s pickups. Perhaps the problem isn’t the pedal’s algorithm or the modeling itself, but your gain staging is ruined because your pickup is too hot, making the signal too large to be ideally interpreted and processed mathematically by the multi-effect you are using.

And all of this can change with time and need. For me, when gigging with a tube amp, I like using a Seymour Duncan El Diablo in the bridge position (to aggressively push the tube preamp). When using a direct or modeling setup, I prefer a Seymour Duncan Jazz Model in the bridge position (because the cleaner, low-output signal provides better headroom for the digital processor).

Think of your pickup as the lens on a high-end camera. You can have the most powerful image processor in the world—the flashiest DSP or the most expensive boutique pedal—but if the lens is blurry or letting in too much light, the final “picture” will always be a distorted mess.

Adding to the company’s line of boutique effects, Lucky Dog Guitars has introduced the Chicken Nugget compressor, capable of delivering old school guitar compression made famous by country players throughout the decades, but with modern updates. The Chicken Nugget combines classic dynamic compressor sound and feel with an added sparkly clean tone in a separate, parallel channel. The two channels are completely independent and have their own dedicated volume knobs for maximum flexibility as you blend them together. Both channels offer plenty of output above unity gain, so both can be used as volume boosters.

The Chicken Nugget’s eye-grabbing graphics are augmented by a large retro-style jewel pilot light (in a “fried chicken” color) and playful descriptions for the control set. The compression channel offers three knobs and a two-position toggle switch for tone shaping. The “Cluck” knob controls the amount of compression; “Crow” varies the compression release time; and “Comp” adjusts the output volume level of the compressor channel.

The compression channel’s two-position toggle adds EQ flexibility: its “Greasy” and “Crispy” settings can tailor the effect to your guitar’s pickups. Use the “Greasy” setting with bright single coils for classic compression twang. Use the “Crispy” low-cut setting for tightening up a humbucker by eliminating muddy low-end frequencies.

The pedal’s clean channel offers two control knobs. “Gain” adds body and juice to your clean signal, while “Volume” controls the clear, uncolored signal parallel that can be added to the compressed signal.

Other features include:

• Soft switch controlled mechanical true bypass – if the pedal loses power it immediately goes into true bypass so you don’t lose your signal
• 9-volt operation using standard external power source – no battery compartment
• Retro-cool graphics and “chicken head” knobs, color coded for ease of use: cream for the compression channel and red for the clean channel

The Lucky Dog Chicken Nugget carries a $189 street price and is available through luckydogguitars.com

On-Stage, a leading supplier of music instruments and accessories and brand of The Music People, has released the GSWB5000 Guitar Stand Workbench, a guitar-maintenance solution that safely supports an instrument while making it easier for the user to perform tasks ranging from simple string changes to intricate repairs. Its adjustable height and tilt allow the user to dial in the best angle for working on various projects.

Compact and portable, this versatile tool conserves floor space and can be set up anywhere work needs to be done on an instrument. The guitar-holder assembly provides four tilt options, letting the user choose the best angle for working on setups, pickup swaps, potentiometer and switch replacements, nut filing, or hardware upgrades. Plus, when it’s not being used as a workbench, this versatile accessory can be configured for use as a traditional guitar stand.

- YouTube

The headstock and body yokes adjust to fit a wide range of instruments including electric, acoustic, and bass guitars. Bumpers and nonslip padding protect the guitar’s finish from scratches and increase instrument stability. The height of the stand can also be set to optimize viewing and comfort while work is carried out. To ensure ideal weight distribution and balance, the guitar-holder assembly can slide so that the heaviest part of the guitar is positioned over the base.

All of these adjustments are quickly and easily achieved through the use of twist-and-pull knobs that require minimal turning and securely lock settings in place. And rotating leveling feet make it possible to compensate for uneven flooring.

The On-Stage GSWB5000 Guitar Stand Workbench carries a $99.95 street price. For more information visit On-Stage.com.

Looks can be deceiving. But there is something extra playful about the graphical subterfuge Monger Pedals employs to conceal the ferocity of their latest stomp, The Little Guy. Behind the Beatrix Potter/Timmy Willie-styled enclosure art depicting a wee country mouse and creeping vines, there lurks a beastly mash-up of op-amp fuzz and operational transducer amp (OTA)-based phaser. But The Little Guy’s roar is not just ferocious, it's also unconventional—making the most of the unusual phaser section to twist staple psychedelic sounds into many altogether weirder things.

Monger of the Mangled

Op-amp fuzz can take many shapes in the hands of a clever builder, but most players would consider the op-amp Big Muff and the Pro Co RAT as the archetypes of the effect. Of the two, The Little Guy aligns most closely with the Big Muff. I don’t have an op-amp Big Muff in my pedal collection, but the Little Guy (like a real op-amp Big Muff) has a sonic signature much like a raspier 4-silicon transistor Big Muff. Of the Big Muff types I used for comparison, a ram’s head-type sounded most similar to the Little Guy’s fuzz, and the two share a capacity for sizzly, buzzsaw-like tones that define the op-amp Big Muff. That said, the tone control in the Little Guy’s fuzz has enough range that I could dial in sounds nearly equivalent to those from a Sovtek Big Muff, which tends to be rounder and more bass-rich than an op-amp Big Muff.

Certainly, the Little Guy’s fuzz section is versatile. I may not be in the majority in this sentiment, but my favorite among the fuzzy, distorted sounds I coaxed from the circuit were those I derived when fingerpicking (using the flesh of my thumb, rather than nail or pick) and working with low-gain, treble-attenuated fuzz settings. This application is more consistent with Monger’s description of the fuzz as “lo-fi”—often evoking Steve Malkmus, Sonic Youth, and Graham Coxon in their hazier states. Yet it’s a combination that’s surprisingly sensitive to touch dynamics and yields more high-mid range detail and a much more oxygenated tone environment than you would expect. Just switching between neck and bridge pickups can reveal whole worlds of color with this approach. The Little Guy’s fuzz rips at the other end of its operational spectrum, too, and it rarely sounds lo-fi here. Settings in the latter third of the pedal’s gain and tone control range are searing but still massive in a way that suits Fender single-coils and PAF humbuckers alike.

Vexing Vortices

If the Little Guy’s fuzz section is agreeable and intuitive, the phase section is a tougher nut to crack. Familiar sounds in the fashion of a Phase 90 or Small Stone (the latter of which shares an OTA as foundation for its architecture) lurk among the interactions between the five controls, but tend to be more subtle. In fact, for all the phaser’s weirdo capabilities, in much of its range it generates super-subtle modulations. This isn’t a bad thing, especially if you like phase as a constant, backgrounded presence. The Little Guy excels at producing this mellow phase texture in a way that a Phase 90 or Small Stone cannot.

But there are many other low-key modulation colors here. You can dial in super-slow (and I mean slow) modulation rates, and then emphasize peaks in those lazy cycles by using feedback from the regen control and narrowing the frequency range with the range control. The LFOs width control is excellent for subtly backgrounding modulations so you don't mask tone nuances from elsewhere in your chain. That capability is enhanced by the effect send and return, which lets you situate pedals between the fuzz and phase effect.

"For all of this phaser’s weirdo capabilities, in much of its range it generates super-subtle modulations."

The Little Guy’s weirder phase voices are refreshingly unique. The pedal is able to generate a variety of rich, vowel-y, “wow”-type pulses more reminiscent of a vintage Mu-Tron or Ludwig Phase II. It’s also capable of fresh takes on lively auto-wah and filter sounds, and slow, sweeping versions of these tones can take on a sort of parked-wah-on-nitrous-oxide personality that I don’t encounter every day.

The Verdict

Monger’s The Little Guy sells for just less than $225. That’s a great price for almost any pedal that combines two wide-ranging effects. But it strikes me as an especially good deal when you consider the very high build quality, clear sense of craft, and thoughtful design execution. The Little Guy won’t be a great value for every player. Rather than aping canonical phase sounds, it inhabits many very idiosyncratic corners of the fuzz/phase tone realm. And if you just want a Big Muff and Phase 90, there are simpler, less-expensive, and less space intensive solutions. Consequently, you should consider my enthusiastic tone and value ratings on a sliding scale relative to your needs.

But if you’re on the hunt for variations on the fuzz/phase theme that can set a track apart and inspire new directions, Monger’s Little Guy is brimming with them—particularly if you’re willing to probe the sometimes complex and idiosyncratic interactions between its controls.

Canadian boutique builder Deslongchamps Guitars has unveiled their latest electric guitar model: The Puffin.

The Puffin pays homage to the SG guitar and the Firebird, blending classic designs with modern sensibilities, aesthetics and playability. Built with premium materials and craftmanship, the Puffin model is lightweight and the shape makes it agile and comfortable.

The Puffin can be built in two configurations: an okoume body with a flamed maple top all of it bound in white, quartersawn flamed maple neck coupled with a dark rosewood fretboard; or an ash body coupled with a torrefied maple neck and fretboard for even lighter weight and feel.

Players can choose among a variety of different Fralin pickup configurations, including PAF-style humbuckers, P90s, singlecoil Thunderbird pickups and more.

Specs:

• Okoume or Ash body
• Maple neck
• Maple of rosewood fretboard
• 24.75” or 25.5” scale length
• Tune-o-matic and stop bar bridge or Descendant bridge and tremolo combo
• Gotoh tuners
• Includes a hard case

The Puffin carries a $3500 street price. For more information visit www.deslongchampsguitars.com.

The Lamb of God shred king sits down to discuss making LoG's 10th album Into Oblivion, designing his new signature Gibson Les Paul, writing his memoir Desolation, and he offers three hot takes on guitar culture.

The Tone King Royalist Preamp brings the sound and feel of the Royalist MKIII amplifier to a compact, high-voltage pedal format built for today’s stage and studio workflows.

Powered by three 12AX7 tubes running at full amp voltages, the Royalist delivers authentic tube touch sensitivity, harmonic bloom, and dynamic response — without the volume of a cranked amp.

Real Power-Stage Feel — No Speaker Required

At its core is Tone King’s Zero-Watt Power Amp, a genuine tube-driven phase inverter circuit that recreates true power-stage compression and interaction. Players experience the feel of an overdriven British amp — at any volume.

Three Eras of British Tone. Two Fully Independent Channels.

Each channel features:

• Volume, Bass, Middle, Treble
• 1964 / 1967 / 1970 voicing switch
• FAT switch for added body and punch

From warm, vintage-inspired cleans to aggressive classic crunch and tight arena-ready drive, the Royalist delivers the evolution of British rock tone in one pedal.

Direct-Ready for Stage and Studio

The Royalist includes low-latency Impulse Response (IR) cabinet simulation with 20 curated OwnHammer IRs, six onboard IR slots, and stereo balanced XLR outputs for direct connection to FOH or recording interfaces. The IR section can also be bypassed for use with traditional power amps and cabinets.

Modern Control, Maximum Flexibility

• Save up to 128 MIDI presets
• Stereo series effects loop (bypassable)
• Reverb with assignable routing and trails
• USB-C connectivity with Tone King Editor software
• Headphone output for silent practice

Equally at home on silent stages, in the studio, or integrated into traditional rigs, the Royalist Preamp delivers the unmistakable voice of British rock — anywhere, at any volume.

Available February 26, 2026, The Royalist Preamp Carries a Street Price of $599.99 - go to TONE KING AMPS for more information.

Reader: Howard Linton

Hometown: Zürich, Switzerland

Guitar: Hardtail Gold-Foil S-Style

I'm a hardtail Stratocaster guy, so when I discovered that Harley Benton was offering a S-style with a Babicz bridge, I figured it would be the perfect platform for modding. I was lucky to find one in sonic blue for only 300 bucks as it was b-stock. When it arrived, it had high-output humbuckers and a roasted maple neck. I replaced the humbuckers with gold-foils from Victory pickups that I found on Reverb. The new pots, knobs, output jack, and pickguard were sourced locally.

Everything was great—at least for a while. After about six weeks, I realized that the reason this guitar was returned was because the neck was horribly unstable. It seemed that every other week I’d have to play with the truss rod to get it to play properly due to the strings practically laying on the neck. By this time, the mods I’d planned were already in place, so returning the guitar wasn’t possible. So, I bit the bullet and ordered a Mexico-made Fender neck and tuners. I prefer a 43 mm nut width and a 12" radius, which this neck has.

“When I took the guitar to my luthier he informed me that the scale length was off by about 5 mm. Oi!”

Something that I hadn’t anticipated was that the dimensions of the body aren’t exactly to Fender specification. When I took the guitar to my luthier, he informed me that the scale length was off by about 5 mm. Oi! Add another $120 to the overall price to make it play in tune!

Was it worth it? I’d say yes. Gold-foils are special pickups, and Victory makes a great product. I love the combination of sonic blue and tortoise shell pickguard and the neck plays really well. If I had to do it all over again, the only thing I would change would be sourcing the body as a separate item. But it all worked out, so no biggie!

Cort Guitars announces the new Gold-MC6 Ovangkol, an all-solid Modern Concert acoustic guitar designed for players seeking seasoned tone, premium craftsmanship, and stage-ready performance. Available worldwide through local retailers and online, the Gold-MC6 is built to deliver responsive, expressive sound from day one through its torrefied top, carefully selected tonewoods, and professional electronics, all crafted with precision detail.

At the heart of the Gold-MC6 is a torrefied solid Sitka spruce top, heat-treated to bring out the open, responsive character of a well-played instrument, matched with solid ovangkol back and sides to provide warmth, clarity, and dynamic range. The Modern Concert body features a natural gloss finish, black ABS binding, and an abalone rosette with ABS multi-ring design. A walnut-reinforced mahogany neck with a dovetail joint at the 14th fret supports a Comfort C profile and satin finish for effortless playability. The 25.5" scale length is paired with a Macassar ebony fingerboard with a 15.75" radius, 20 frets, and Gold Custom Inlay. The guitar includes a genuine bone nut measuring 1 3/4" (45 mm). Internally, hand-scalloped X-bracing reinforces the instrument’s all-solid construction, ensuring durability and tonal maturity over time.

For amplified performance, the Gold-MC6 is equipped with the Fishman Flex Blend system, combining an internal microphone and under saddle pickup to capture the guitar’s natural acoustic character while providing intuitive onboard control for live performance or recording situations.

Premium hardware completes the build, including Deluxe Vintage Gold tuning machines, a Macassar ebony bridge with ebony bridge pins featuring white dots, and a genuine bone saddle with 54.1 mm bridge string spacing. The guitar ships strung with Elixir Phosphor Bronze Nanoweb Light 12–53 strings and includes a Cort Premium Gig bag.

For more information on the Gold-MC6 Ovangkol and other Cort acoustic instruments, please visit online at www.cortguitars.com.

Street Price: $1399.00 USD

Cort Guitars announces the new Core-MC Ovangkol acoustic guitar, available now worldwide through local retailers and online. Designed for players seeking an all-solid wood instrument that blends contemporary aesthetics with refined acoustic performance, the Core-MC Ovangkol pairs a solid cedar top with solid ovangkol back and sides, modern concert body styling, and onboard Fishman® electronics. With its semi-gloss black top and player-focused construction, the model delivers responsive tone, stage-ready functionality, and detailed craftsmanship built for long-term performance.

The Core-MC Ovangkol features a solid cedar top, known for its inviting, responsive character with smooth highs and rich mids, complemented by solid ovangkol back and sides that contribute low-mid fullness and broad tonal range. The Modern Concert body shape incorporates a slightly smaller waist and sleek cutaway for comfortable playability without sacrificing projection. The guitar is finished with a semi-gloss black top using an ultra-thin, UV-cured process designed to preserve resonance. Construction includes a dovetail neck joint at the 14th fret and hand-scalloped X-bracing. Added body details include aged white ABS binding, a black and aged white ABS rosette, rosewood bridge, and black bridge pins with white dots. The mahogany neck features a comfortable C shape with a semi-gloss finish, a 25.5" (648mm) scale length, and a genuine bone nut measuring 1 11/16" (43mm). The rosewood fingerboard has a 15.75" (R400) radius and 20 frets, with no inlays.

For amplified performance, the Core-MC Ovangkol is equipped with a Fishman® Presys VT preamp system with discreet side-mounted controls. The system provides onboard volume and tone controls for straightforward sound shaping, offering a clean acoustic tone suitable for live and studio applications.

Hardware appointments include vintage open-gear tuning machines and a genuine bone saddle, with 54.1mm bridge string spacing. The guitar ships strung with Elixir® Phosphor Bronze Nanoweb Light 12–53 strings and includes a Cort gig bag. The model is available in Black Top Semi-Gloss (BTSG).

For more information about the Core-MC Ovangkol and additional Cort Guitars models, please visit www.cortguitars.com.

Street Price: $899.99 USD

MIRADOR formed out of the shared passion for good ol’ classic rock ’n’ roll held by Greta Van Fleet’s Jake Kiszka and Ida Mae’s Chris Turpin. The trans-Atlantic band took their blazing, bluesy rock out on the road, and before their show at Nashville’s Brooklyn Bowl, Kiszka, Turpin, and tech Johnny Meyer led PG’s John Bohlinger through the vintage axes and amps they’re using to keep rock alive.

Brought to you by D’Addario.

The Underdog

The paint’s been completely stripped from this workhouse 1970 Gibson Les Paul Custom that Turpin scooped from an auction house in Wales, but those sweet, sweet pickups are original. Turpin had to replace both volume pots, and opted to add a Bigsby vibrato. He uses Elixir strings on this and all other electrics.

National With a Novak

Turpin used some electrical tape to secure a Curtis Novak K-Pancake pickup to this 1930s National Triolian. To avoid any unnecessary drilling, the output jack runs via one of the air holes in the top.

6L6 Slammer

Turpin packs a pair of Marshall JTM45 heads, with one serving as a backup. The main one in use on this run has 6L6 power tubes, and runs into a 4x12 cabinet with Celestion Greenbacks.

Chris Turpin’s Pedalboard

Turpin’s pedalboard includes a Dunlop Custom Audio Electronics Cry Baby wah pedal, JAM Pedals Double Dreamer, Analog Man Beano Boost, Analog Man Sun Face, a Boss GE-7, Maxon CS-550, Boss RE-202, and Universal Audio Golden Reverberator, while his acoustic board carries a Fishman Aura, MXR Carbon Copy, and a Line 6 HX Stomp.

Dearly Beloved

This 1961 Gibson SG is Kizska’s forever-and-always—he calls it “the beloved.” It’s been cracked, taped, and repaired over the years, but it’s still number one. Jake uses custom-made Dunlop coated strings on his electrics.

Juiced-Up Junior

This late-’50s double-cutaway Les Paul Junior was rerouted for a pair of PAF pickups, and is primarily used by Kiszka for slide-playing. The added sideways tremolo unit, from the ’60s, is there for looks only.

Dual Destroyers

Jake runs a dual-amp setup for a monster sound. A Park P50M and a Supro 1932R Royale get the job done, pumped out through a Marshall 4x12 cabinet.

Jake Kiszka’s Pedalboard

Kizska’s acoustic and electric boards carry a pair of Boss TU-3Ws, MXR Micro Amp, TC Electronic Flashback, Fishman Aura, Dunlop Cry Baby, Boss GE-7, Strymon El Capistan, Universal Audio Del-Verb, Universal Audio Golden Reverberator, Electro-Harmonix Micro POG, a pair of MXR Deep Phases, Boss BP-1W, and Boss TU-3.

A trio of MXR units—DC Brick, Iso-Brick, and Mini Iso-Brick—power the pedals.

White Falcon

Supro 1932R Royale

Marshall JTM45

4x12 Marshall Cabinet

MXR Phase Pedal

Vox Wah Pedal

Crybaby Wah Pedal

EHX Micro POG

Universal Audio (UA) Delverb

Strymon El Capistan

Space Echo Delay

Universal Audio (UA) Golden Reverberator

Lollar Pickups has introduced the new Monolith humbucker model, a higher-output pickup designed for guitarists who play both modern and extreme styles of music.

Many high-output humbuckers suffer from either a boxy voicing or a harsh and brittle top end. The Monolith is designed to deliver balanced tone in all positions and increased dynamic and frequency ranges, using AlNiCo 8 magnets.

The bridge position offers a midrange forward sound with increased harmonics and fundamental frequency response and the right amount of compression when palm muting for a satisfying attack and grunt. And, like Lollar’s other pickup designs, the neck position is designed to be open, clear, and balanced with the bridge, offering a prominent midrange that offers a more vocal sound for leads and clean passages.

Splitting the coils on these humbuckers provides a full-bodied single-coil sound. When under gain, the split coils provide the percussive and aggressive tone for lower tunings and extended scale length instruments that progressive and djent players seek.

The Monolith humbuckers are available individually, or as two-piece sets for both 6 and 7-string guitars. For 6-string sets, Lollar also offers an F-spaced bridge position pickup (53 mm) to match a wider string spacing required for guitars with tremolos.

Specs for the Monolith humbuckers are:

• 6 string Avg. DC: Neck 12.9K, Bridge 19.3K, F-spaced Bridge 19k
• 7 string Avg. DC: Neck 14.7K, Bridge 19.6K
• Recommended Capacitor: .022uf
• Recommended Potentiometers: 500k

Lollar Monolith humbuckers’ street price varies based on options, starting at $190. For more information visit LollarGuitars.com/Monolith_Humbuckers.

Fifty years ago, a bold vision to “make a better bass” gave birth to what would become one of the most influential instruments in modern music history: the Music Man StingRay.

“It’s so much more than an instrument,” reflects Sterling Ball. “I was there when that baby was born. And when you see that 50 years later — it’s still as important, as vibrant, as valid — that’s insane.”

Originally developed under the guidance of legendary instrument pioneer Leo Fender at Music Man, the StingRay wasn’t just another bass guitar. It was the first mass production bass to feature active electronics — a revolutionary move at the time.

“The vision was to make a better bass. The vision was to use active electronics because there hadn’t been any production basses that had active electronics.”

What followed was both innovation and serendipity.

For five decades, the StingRay has set the benchmark for bold, forward-leaning bass tone. The Ernie Ball Music Man 50th Anniversary StingRay Special honors that legacy with two limited-edition finishes. Liquid Gold is hand-numbered and limited to 50 instruments worldwide, featuring a striking golden reflective pickguard for a truly exclusive presentation. Molten Gold, limited to 300 instruments, showcases a metallic gold finish on the body and headstock—each with its own unique character. Both versions are paired with an ebony fretboard with gold face dot inlays and glow-in-the-dark side markers for effortless navigation on any stage. A roasted flame maple neck and poplar body deliver a fast, comfortable, and perfectly balanced feel, while gold hardware throughout, including a 50th Anniversary-stamped bridge, completes the look. Finished with a commemorative 50th Anniversary silkscreen on the back of the headstock, each bass ships in a deluxe hardshell case with a certificate of authenticity.

50th Anniversary StingRay 4 Features:

• Roasted figured maple neck
• Gold face dot Inlays with glow-in-the-dark side dots
• 50th Anniversary stamped bridge
• Certificate of authenticity
• Deluxe hardshell case

The 50th Anniversary StingRay 4 Special in Molten Gold will be available at all Ernie Ball Music Man retailers, and the Liquid Gold colorway will be available exclusively in the Ernie Ball Music Man Vault this

The StingRay Special also gets an update with 7 new finishes available in 4 or 5-string in either H or HH pickup configurations. New finishes include Classic Natural, Anomalous Green, Mean Blue Burst, Soda Pink Sparkle, Trans Orange, Violet Sparkle Burst, and Yellow Brick Road.

Following months of relentless rumors and fever pitch speculation, it was announced today that Metallica will debut its Life Burns Faster residency at Sphere in Las Vegas. The highly-anticipated eight show run will take place on October 1 and 3, 15 and 17, 22 and 24, and 29 and 31, 2026 — and will continue the No Repeat Weekend tradition that began with the 2023 kick-off of the band’s M72 World Tour, with no songs repeated on each Thursday and Saturday throughout the course of the run.

Two-night No Repeat Weekend tickets and single-night tickets will go on sale March 6th at 10am PT. To register for tickets or for further information regarding pre-sales, enhanced experiences, travel packages and more, visit metallica.lnk.to/MetallicaSphere

Metallica’s standing at the vanguard of new and unique live experiences has seen the band play to millions of fans across all seven continents in every shape and size of venue imaginable. Their current M72 World Tour has played to more than 4 million fans from Europe and North America to the Pacific Rim and Middle East since its spring 2023 kick-off, its performances and production universally hailed as among the best of Metallica’s 40+ years of traversing the globe.

The band’s Sphere residency will see live staples and surprises spanning the Metallica catalog enhanced by the venue’s immersive technologies that will allow fans to experience the sound and fury of the band’s live performance in new experiential dimensions. Whether you’ve seen Metallica from the upper reaches of a stadium or arena, at an intimate club or theater gig or from the famed Snake Pit surrounded by the 360-degree M72 stage, Sphere’s technology, including the world’s highest resolution LED display that wraps up, over and around the audience; Sphere Immersive Sound, which delivers audio with unmatched clarity and precision to every guest; and multi-sensory 4D technology, will present a wholly unique and entirely new Metallica experience for all who attend — including James, Lars, Kirk and Robert.

Metallica co-founder/drummer Lars Ulrich commented, “About 12 seconds into the opening night of Sphere with U2 back in ‘23, I thought ‘We have to do this, it’s completely uncharted territory!’ This residency gives us another chance to reinvent how we interact with our fans in a live setting. We are beyond excited to share this with the world in six months time, and way fuckin’ psyched to go next level!”

Metallica Life Burns Faster at Sphere is produced by Live Nation and presented by inKind. inKind rewards diners with special offers and credit back when they use the app to pay at thousands of top-rated restaurants nationwide. inKind also provides innovative financing to participating restaurants in a way that enables new levels of sustainability and success. Metallica fans can learn more at inKind.com.

For updates and further information, stay tuned to metallica.lnk.to/MetallicaSphere

Death By Audio’s new Destroyer Series pedals, which include the Dream Station reverb, Moonbeam phaser, and Thee Treble Overload treble booster, are smaller than most DBA wares. But that very practical decision doesn’t herald a retreat to convention. There is abundant weirdness in the two pedals reviewed here. And what is satisfying about them is how easy it is to tap into both the strange and the familiar. They are very fluid-feeling creative tools.

Station to Station

Of the two pedals, the Dream Station digital delay and reverb is the most expansive, and in that sense, the most traditionally DBA-like. The range of available tones is enormous, straddling subdued echo and reverb and deep ambience. As a delay/reverb combo, it’s a practical way to save space and reduce pedal count, much like EarthQuaker’s more streamlined Dispatch Master. But the Dream Station’s three voice modes and stereo capability make it much more than a simple mashup of essential time-based effects.

At their essence, the Dream Station’s most basic sounds are versatile and lovely. The reverb is simple, offering only a reverb time control. But its voice is adaptable, living somewhere between spring and plate reverb tonalities depending on where you set the pedal’s 3-way voice switch. The bright voice tends to summon spring-like clang, while the full tone setting is softer around the edges, if still a bit metallic, and gives a sense of greater mass and body. The dark-voiced reverb is hazy and, at times, just a bit trashy and gritty at the corners.

“Paired with longer delay times and the reverb, the Dream Station's full voice sounds big enough to be measured in astrophysical terms.”

The delay lives within very analog-like delay time constraints, spanning 2 and 500 ms. But it’s surprisingly resistant to analog- and tape-style runaway oscillation, which enables useful near-infinite repeat beds. These working parameters might seem conservative on the surface. But in true DBA spirit they conceal a deeper capacity for mayhem.

Deeper Down the Vortex

A nerd’s confession: I’ve been hoovering ’70s Doctor Who episodes lately, marveling at the BBC Radiophonic Workshop’s resourceful, inspired, and fantastic sound design for the show. When you talk about guitar effects and Doctor Who, you’re usually talking about ring modulation (the effect behind the voices of the evil Daleks, among other things). Dream Station isn’t a modulator in a formal sense, but its capacity for tight, comb filtered delays at super-short echo settings generates sounds much like ring modulation bouncing around a tunnel—a texture few echo or delay units bother with. Dream Station excels at another vintage sci-fi effect: spiraling flying saucer take offs and landings. That’s thanks to knobs that are spaced and arranged to facilitate simultaneous manual sweeps of the echo time and mix, evoking the sounds and functionality of the Roland Space Echo and EHX Deluxe Memory Man. If you’re a guitarist who dabbles in tabletop synthesis or uses guitar pedals for mixing, this capability extends the Dream Station’s utility and fun quotient in a big way.

Some of the Dream Station’s most unique effects—the comb filter/ring mod effect among them—are attributable to the 3-position filter mode switch, which activates a high-pass filter, low-pass filter, or a full-frequency setting. Use of the high-pass filter, which makes echoes extra prominent, lends a sort of metallic dew-drop quality to repeats at high feedback and a sharp, tile-like attack in slapback settings. The dark voice is predictably analog-like. But its slurred, cloudy repeats take on very different personalities depending on where you situate them using the wet/dry mix knob. At high mixes, they have a spooky, hollowed-out, almost gamelan-like essence that sounds extra haunted with heaps of reverb and long repeats. At more modest mixes, these repeats are a delicious match for drive generated by picking dynamics, contributing satisfying, blurry distortion when you hit the strings hard, and more bell-like sounds when you kick back and chill. The full-spectrum voice is the Dream Station at its most open and sprawling. Paired with longer delay times and the reverb, the full voice sounds big enough to be measured in astrophysical terms. And if you’re a fan of grand-scale ambience without the sugary addition of octave voices, it’s hard to imagine the Dream Station coming up short in terms of space or size.

The Moonbeam: Phase Beyond the Dark Side

I don’t know about you, but I seem to reflexively subject any analog phaser to a “Breathe” test. I don’t consciously compare every phaser to the sound of David Gilmour’s swooshy Uni-Vibe. But the lazy, time-stretching phase that colors those sleepy opening chords is like catnip to me. The Moonbeam’s name may or may not be a cheeky nod to Pink Floyd’s mega-selling classic (DBA’s Interstellar Overdriver pedal suggests they are more squarely in the Syd Barrett camp) but it excels in that context. And just as the real dark side of the moon conceals secrets from us here on Earth, the Moonbeam’s three knobs belie great depth, complexity and, yes, lunacy.

The Moonbeam’s earthy-to-insane sonic range is, at the fundamental level, made possible by two phase engines, which can be used in 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, or 6-stage modes. But the richness and weirdness are compounded as much by the range in the frequency and depth controls, both of which go beyond the conventions of more pedestrian phasers.

At the risk of oversimplifying, phase stages are all-pass filters. These filters don’t affect the amplitude of a given frequency, but they can be used to delay a signal relative to another, creating the phasing effect. Odd-numbered phase stages are not intrinsically, well, odd. But compared to even-numbered phase stages they produce fewer of the symmetrical notches in phase-shifted waveforms that make a phaser sound chewy, rich, and all those other yummy phase descriptors. In practical terms that means the Moonbeam’s 1-, 3-, and 5-stage phaser modes all sound thinner and more “snorkely” than their even-numbered counterparts in a way that’s analogous to a wah parked in a fixed position. DBA makes effective, if perverse, use of these odd-numbered phase stages. In 3-stage mode I uncovered cool unique auto wah sounds and weird variations on volume swell effects. In the 1-stage setting, the more binary, less vowel-inflected phase pulses could sound like vintage practice-amp tremolo. And in all three odd-numbered phase stages, weird harmonic peaks lent a quirky attitude to Nile Rodgers funk.

“In all three of the Moonbeam's odd-numbered phase stages, weird harmonic peaks lent a quirky attitude to Nile Rodgers funk.”

The Moonbeam sounds great in the even-numbered stages, too. The 4-stage mode sounded nearly equivalent to a favorite script-style MXR Phase 90. Except, of course, the Moonbeam’s 4-stage mode was capable of that and much more. Minimum depth settings, for instance, make the Moonbeam ideal for players who rarely switch their phasers off—generating subtle animation that enlivens arpeggios, leads, and the simplest strumming. Higher depth control settings also helped the Moonbeam approximate a Small Stone’s color switch mode, as well as a fast-pulsing Leslie speaker.

The Verdict

Death By Audio pedals always feel like a bit of an investment, as they should—these stompboxes are handmade in New York City by creative people that give a damn. They look fantastic and come with a lifetime warranty. If you were ever concerned that the esoteric nature of some DBA pedals could mean less return on your investment, you needn’t worry here. The Dream Station and Moonbeam can work in service of utility or in pursuit of the demented. They sound beautiful in stereo (which requires appropriate TRS cabling), and have a low noise floor that makes them suitable for mixing or artists working in quieter settings. In terms of pure value, I have to give the nod to the Dream Station for its range. But both pedals are full of potential for any player keen to use these effects beyond their most basic applications.

Danelectro, known for their irresistibly iconic guitars, launches their new DANO guitar line.

Borrowing styling cues from the company’s storied past, while adding modern playability and new sonic options, the DANO line was one of the biggest highlights at the recent NAMM show, grabbing attention with three new series:

• Golden 50s: The show-stopping body/headstock graphic is borrowed from an authentic 1950s kitchen table top and combined with a pair of hot Lipstick® pickups

• The Dan O. Cool series, sporting rare and evocative vintage colors from the 1950s with a pair of higher output Lipstick® pickups

• The Dan O. Mano series, armed with a pair of P-90 style pickups providing a dynamite match for the DANO's hollow inner body and rosewood bridge

With their Atomic Age styling – drawing heavily upon Danelectro’s boldly original 1950s roots – and turbocharged retro vibe, the DANO line might be the company’s most true-to-the-spirit guitars ever. Key features include:

• Full Bell Headstock, a Danelectro original design dating back to 1954
• Rosewood Saddle Bridge, another feature from 1954 prized by generations of players for its warm tone
• Skate Key Tuners, gloriously recapturing the Danelectro vibe from 1958 with smooth, modern tuning accuracy
• Ultracool vintage colors – all of them authentic to the 1950s
• And every DANO® guitar comes with a FREE 8-page collectable reproduction of a Danelectro catalog from the 1950s!

The new DANO® line brings modern playability to the vintage-inspired lineup. An adjustable saddle bridge is included free in the box with every guitar. It mounts with the same three screws as the stock rosewood bridge. Now, each player can enjoy their preferred bridge: vintage-style rosewood or modern adjustable saddles.The DANO line’s electronics offer a perfect bridge between old-school tone and contemporary tastes. The new Lipstick pickups (available on the Golden 50s and Dan O. Cool series) are made exactly like vintage gems from the 1950’s but are 30% hotter in the bridge and 20% hotter in the neck for sweet, harmonically rich tone. And the Dan O. Mano series’ P-90 style pickups (a first for Danelectro!) pair beautifully with the guitar’s rosewood bridge.The new DANO® instruments carry street prices ranging from $599 to $649. For more information visit danelectro.com

For decades, the Gibson Custom Shop has set the global standard for craftsmanship, authenticity, and artistry in the world of electric guitars. Each instrument is built with uncompromising attention to detail, honoring the legacy of the world’s most iconic players while inspiring the next generation of musicians.

Gibson Custom is proud to announce the release of the Mick Ronson 1968 Les Paul Custom Collector’s Edition, an extraordinary, ultra‑limited recreation of the legendary guitarist’s most iconic instrument. Long celebrated as a producer, arranger, songwriter, multi‑instrumentalist, and one of rock’s most distinctive guitar voices, Mick Ronson left an indelible mark on modern music—and his stripped‑finish 1968 Les Paul Custom became a defining part of his sound, style, and legacy. Only 100 of the Mick Ronson 1968 Les Paul Custom Collector’s Edition from Gibson Custom are available worldwide at authorized dealers, Gibson Garage locations, and on www.gibson.com.

One of rock music’s most distinctive and quietly influential guitarists, Mick Ronson was far more than David Bowie’s right-hand man during the most transformative years of Bowie’s career. He was a producer, arranger, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and a guitarist whose dramatic, melodic, and unmistakably aggressive style helped define an era. His work as an arranger shaped recordings for artists such as David Bowie, Lou Reed, Pure Prairie League, Ellen Foley, and Roger McGuinn, and he contributed to the arrangement of John Mellencamp’s “Jack & Diane.”

Ronson was instrumental in shaping “Perfect Day” for Lou Reed’s 1972 album Transformer, acting as co-producer, pianist, and string arranger helping shape its glam-infused sound world with a craftsman’s precision and a showman’s flair. His work provided the song’s signature lush, melancholic, and dramatic feel, a sweeping emotional landscape that contrasted beautifully with Reed’s simple, intimate vocal performance. Ronson’s piano on “Perfect Day” is one of his finest and most sublime productions—restrained, elegant, and quietly devastating. His broader contributions to Transformer—from arranging its iconic string parts to playing guitar and piano—were central to the album’s enduring character.

His collaborations with Ian Hunter, his session work with Bob Dylan, Roger Daltrey, and Van Morrison, and his production for artists including Morrissey and Roger McGuinn showcased a rare musical versatility.

Ronson’s own solo career included five studio albums, among them Slaughter on 10th Avenue, which reached the UK Top 10. Yet it is his work with Bowie on The Man Who Sold the World, Hunky Dory, The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars, and Aladdin Sane that cemented his place in rock history.

Central to Ronson’s sound was his beloved 1968 Les Paul Custom, an instrument he famously stripped of its original Ebony finish, giving it a raw, distinctive look that became inseparable from his identity. Its tone—shaped by Ronson’s use of a parked wah pedal, fuzz, and echo—was as bold and expressive as his stage presence. Now, Gibson Custom honors that legacy with a faithful recreation that captures the soul, character, and unmistakable aesthetic of Ronson’s original Bowie-era guitar. The Mick Ronson 1968 Les Paul Custom Collector’s Edition has been handcrafted with extraordinary attention to detail, using ultra-precise Murphy Lab aging techniques to replicate every nuance of the original instrument’s wear, feel, and sonic personality.

“Mick Ronson is a true musical legend, and his impact—delivered in far too short a time—cannot be overstated. As a writer, producer, singer, and one of the most influential guitarists of his generation, Mick helped shape the very sound of the 1970s through his work with David Bowie, Lou Reed, Mott the Hoople, Elton John, and countless others” says Lee Bartram, Head of Commercial and Marketing EMEA at Gibson. “His solo records and wide-ranging collaborations continued to inspire fans and peers up to his untimely passing in 1993, and they still do today. The world misses Mick Ronson more than it likely knows. Our hope is that this project advances the broader recognition he so richly deserves. For Gibson, it’s an honor and a privilege to help celebrate the legacy he left us.”

This limited-edition model features a mahogany body with a plain maple cap, a mahogany neck carved to an Authentic ’68 Medium C profile, and an ebony fretboard adorned with mother-of-pearl block inlays. The aged gold hardware, including Grover tuners, an ABR-1 bridge, and a heavily worn Stop Bar tailpiece, mirrors the exact look of Ronson’s road-tested guitar. Even the mismatched volume and tone knobs have been faithfully reproduced. The unpotted, aged ’68 Custom humbuckers with Alnico 2 magnets and no covers deliver the aggressive, expressive tone that defined Ronson’s playing, while CTS 500k audio taper potentiometers and Black Beauty capacitors ensure vintage-accurate response. Every Murphy Lab detail—from the stripped top to the precise wear patterns—captures the essence of Ronson’s original instrument.

Only 100 of these exceptional guitars have been built by the expert luthiers of the Gibson Custom Shop and Murphy Lab in Nashville, Tennessee, making this a rare opportunity for collectors and musicians alike. Each guitar ships in a Custom case featuring a reproduction of Mick Ronson’s signature, along with a replica strap and a Certificate of Authenticity booklet that also bears his signature. The Mick Ronson 1968 Les Paul Custom Collector’s Edition is more than an instrument; it is a piece of music history, lovingly recreated to honor one of the world’s most iconic and influential guitarists

Outer space awaits in two new pedals from DBA that span pedestrian and bizarre sound worlds.

The Dream Station is like two Death By Audio pedals in one! It’s an instant mood creator, blending DBA-style reverb and delay to plunge your signal into a vivid fantasy hallucination. Three filter settings let you radically shape the tone and character of the effects, opening up a myriad of soundscapes at your fingertips and exploding your sound into super-wide stereo.

From shimmering, lush pads to wild slapback insanity, ping-pong comb filtering, and swirling atmospherics, the Dream Station delivers a full palette of sonic reflection for bending reality and dreams alike. In this compact package, you can create any combination of echo and reverb with the Dream Station’s easy-to-use interface and feel the power of a full-stereo ambience in our smallest reverb ever. With the three filter settings, you can explore different spaces from airy and bright, dark and moody, and full-range digital. And when you really want to go crazy, crank the ECHO F-BACK to blow your bandmates away.

Part of Death By Audio’s Destroyer Series, the Dream Station sports the line’s signature look: a compact footprint, glowing vintage-style LED display, and minimal controls that conceal a world of sonic madness. Each Destroyer pedal delivers a distinct, over-the-top effect in a smaller, stage-friendly box - together forming a family of beautifully chaotic tone machines in stereo.

The Moonbeam Phaser has landed. A stereo, multi-stage phaser like no other, the Moonbeam Phaser lets you completely reshape your sound by choosing between one and six stages of phase shifting for any modulation occasion. With its expansive range of controls, you can instantly explore everything from classic swirling movements to ultra-gooey bends, resonant filtered tremolos, and textures yet to be discovered. Take a trip through the world of tones from beyond the exosphere.

At its core, the Moonbeam Phaser houses two fully analog 6-stage phase shifter engines. You can tap into each stage individually and hear its unique movement as the display morphs through a spectrum of colors that mirror the sound. To unleash the full potential of this unique circuit, we supercharged the FREQ control far beyond the usual range. Drift slowly through 2-minute phase sweeps, dive into liquid swirls, or blast off into ring-modulated frequency shifts. Combined with the DEPTH control, the Moonbeam Phaser opens a vast spectrum of refracted phasing tones- from shimmering rotary-style warbles to deep, resonant bends. And if one phaser wasn’t enough, we’ve packed two phasers in one, letting you bring your guitar, bass, synth, or anything you can imagine into mesmerizing stereo with the click of a stomp.

Part of Death By Audio’s Destroyer Series, the Moonbeam Phaser sports the line’s signature look: a compact footprint, glowing vintage-style LED display, and minimal controls that conceal a world of sonic madness. Each Destroyer pedal delivers a distinct, over-the-top effect in a smaller, stage-friendly box - together forming a family of beautifully chaotic tone machines in stereo.

“Let’s define ‘music’ for a second,” says Deftones guitarist Stephen “Stef” Carpenter. “To me, music is the performance of sound. That sound could be anything, and it becomes musical if I can recreate it. So if there’s a sound I can make, and I can do that with intent every time—to me, that's music.”

This ethos essentially sums up how Carpenter has helped shape Deftones’ densely heavy and alluringly atmospheric music over the past 35 years. Because for Stef, it’s always been less about playing blindingly fast licks or complex riffs and more about coming up with unusual sounds, textures, and chords that enrich and intertwine with the songs that he and his bandmates create together.

“I’m not a technical player,” he says. “I play guitar, and I play it very simplistic; I’m not complicated at all—I leave that for all the players that want to do that. That’s not to say I don’t love math-y, complicated guitar riffs; I absolutely do. It’s just that none of that has been my focus. I absolutely love players that can do phenomenal things. I’m just not interested in doing that myself.

“As a band, we are all very interested in how it sounds,” he continues. “When it comes to why it sounds that way, we don’t talk about it or go into all those things in any great depth. But the thing I think we would all agree on is that we want the sound; we are all about listening for and hearing the little nuances. We’re very much into all the little nuances of things.”

Those “little nuances”—as well as Carpenter’s gigantic power chords—can be heard throughout Deftones’ catalog, including last year’s Private Music, their 10th album. The band’s first new studio full-length since 2020’s Ohms, the effort, co-produced by the band with Nick Raskulinecz, was released in August, 2025, to massive critical acclaim and commercial success, giving Deftones their first-ever #1 on Billboard’s Top Rock & Alternative Albums chart. “My mind is a mountain,” the album’s lead single, also became the band’s first song to reach #1 at U.S. radio, topping Billboard’s Hot Rock Songs and Mainstream Rock Airplay charts.

Stef Carpenter’s Gear

Guitars

• ESP LTD SCT-607B Stephen Carpenter Signature 7-string Baritone
• ESP LTD Stephen Carpenter SC-608 Signature 8-string Baritone
• Kiesel Vader 8-string Baritone

Amps, Cabs, Emulators, Routers, & Receivers

• Bogner Uber Ultra
• Bogner 2x12 UberKabs
• Bogner 4x12 UberKabs
• Soldano SLO-100 Super Lead Overdrive
• Fractal Axe-Fx II
• Rivera Mini RockRec Power Attenuator
• Radial JX44 V2 Guitar & Amp Signal Manager
• Shure AD4Q Digital Wireless Receiver

Effects

• Boss FZ-1W Fuzz
• DigiTech Whammy Ricochet Pitch Shift
• Dunlop DVP4 Volume (X) Mini Pedal
• Eventide H9 Harmonizer
• Line 6 Helix
• Pigtronix Gatekeeper Noise Gate
• Strymon BigSky Multidimensional Reverb
• Strymon Mobius Multidimensional Modulation
• Strymon TimeLine Multidimensional Delay
• TC Electronic 2290 Dynamic Digital Delay
• TC Electronic PolyTune 3 Noir
• Voodoo Lab HEX True Bypass Audio Loop Switcher
• Xotic SP Mini Compressor
• ZVEX Fuzz Factory
• ZVEX Machine (custom)

Stef’s signature 7- and 8-string ESP baritone guitars, long a central element of the Deftones sound, lent significant sonic heft to Private Music tracks like “milk of the madonna,” “cut hands,” and “i think about you all the time.” But the album also marked the first time that Stef employed headless Kiesel Vader 8-strings in the studio, which he acquired shortly before the sessions began.

“We have a friend, Chrys Johnson, who’s the A&R person for Kiesel,” Stef explains. “He’s done A&R for other companies as well, so we've known him through other endorsers throughout the years. And he had asked if I was interested in trying a Kiesel. At the time, I had just received one of their guitars from Marc [Okubo] of Veil of Maya; I had randomly asked him about why he switched from Jackson to Kiesel, and I guess he was having some guitars made at the time, so they sent me one of his guitars that he was getting made. I was very shocked and blown away by that—I had never received a guitar from anybody.” Carpenter laughs. “And then I was talking to Chris after that, and he’s like, ‘If there’s anything on the website that you’re interested in, just let me know, and I’ll have something put together.’”

“I absolutely love players that can do phenomenal things. I’m just not interested in doing that myself.”

Stef found himself especially intrigued by the company’s headless Vader model, which was available in 6-, 7-, and 8-string editions. “I wasn’t even seeking out a headless guitar,” he shrugs. “I’d never played one, but there was something about the Vader that really attracted me. And I wasn’t trying to get with a different guitar company; that had never been anything I was ever interested in. But I decided I really wanted a headless guitar, and ESP doesn’t make one.”

Stef continues, “It turned out that Jeff Kiesel was already a huge Deftones fan, and he built me a Vader himself. He’s super dope, just an awesome person, and he’s become a friend. I was moved by their generosity—and, well, it’s a headless guitar!” (Kiesel has since released a limited-edition 8-string Stef Carpenter Signature Model in all-white and all-black iterations, both outfitted with the same Stef Carpenter Signature Fishman Fluence pickups used in his ESP signature models.)

The Kiesels have become an integral part of Stef’s live arsenal as well. “When it comes to performing most of our songs, I can use either my ESPs or my Kiesels to play them,” he says. “It won’t make a difference.” The band’s 2000 effort, White Pony, he says, “is our only record where I have to use my ESPs versus using my Kiesels, because there’s some songs from that where I play the little bits above the nut on the headstock, as well as below the bridge on the strings as they’re going into the body.”

Of course, Stef always brings a veritable platoon of 7- and 8-string guitars with him on the road, due to the various alternate tunings that he began using on the second Deftones record, 1997’s Around the Fur. “Had I not done all that in the past, I could learn all the old songs on the 8-string, which I didn’t start playing until [2010’s] Diamond Eyes,” he says. “But they would be new versions of the songs—they wouldn’t sound the same, and keeping everything consistent is what I go for.

“Every day, I was just shy of crying from pain that was in my right arm; I couldn’t even move it.”

“On this record, I went back to what I was doing on the Koi record [2012’s Koi No Yokan], which is standard 8-string tuning—F#–B–E–A–D–G–B–E—with the top [low] string dropped to E [low to high: E–B–E–A–D–G–B–E]. And I did that because, at the time, I had met Tosin [Abasi] from Animals As Leaders, as well as the guys from Periphery and the Contortionist. They were all amazing dudes and amazing players, and they were all like, ‘We’re playing drop E!’

“So I went to drop E for the Koi record, and I went back to that for this record, because Koi is our record that I enjoy playing the most; I have the most fun playing those songs, physically speaking. But whether it’s the F#-standard tuning or the drop E, they inspire me to do different things on the 8-string; I feel like I can get things out of each one that I can’t get out of the other.”

Stef also switched things up, amplifier-wise, on Private Music. An early adopter of amp modelers, he’s unfortunately had some well-documented difficulties with his digital equipment over the years. “That’s when my struggle began, really, when I left the analog world,” he reflects. “When I initially started using the Fractal Axe-Fx Ultra, I didn’t have any problem with it, because I was just kind of treating it like a preamp. And then I got the Axe-Fx II when they became available. What had really drawn me to them initially was the tone-matching capability; that’s why I got really sucked in. Because, for me, I was like, ‘Oh man, I’m gonna be able to get all the sounds from all the records, so I’ll be able to bring that kind of audio to the live sound, where I can have each song sounding similar to how the record sounds!’ I was so excited about that.”

He continues, “It wasn’t until we got out of the studio, and we started actually living in the real world as a band again, that I started having all the problems with trying to make the digital world sound like it did to me in the analog world. Sitting in front of some recording monitors, you can do that a lot easier, but in the jam room, where we’re actually performing as a band, I did not understand how to make that become a reality, and it never did, the way I had it set up. The thing that I was lacking was just simply the thing that a real amp gives. There’s a certain feeling; you just play on them enough and you’ll feel it. It’s not an audio thing, it’s not something my ears were recognizing. It was just the way it feels, the overall experience. A tube amp is alive, just as you are, but we don’t often recognize—or we take for granted—the fact that there’s this living piece of machinery that’s interacting with you, as well as you with it.”

“I wasn’t even seeking out a headless guitar. I’d never played one, but there was something about the [Kiesel] Vader that really attracted me.”

To reconnect with that feeling, Stef had his collection of high-gain tube heads brought into the studio when it came time to record his parts on Private Music. “I’ve been collecting them over the last 10 years,” he explains. “I didn’t know how they would sound or anything, but I decided I’d at least throw them in the mix and see what happens. I’ve got an entire collection of Bogners; those are my preferred and my favorite, but they weren’t the only ones I brought down. I brought Fryettes, I brought out my Orange amps, my Rivera, my Diezel, my Soldanos. The Soldano SLO-100, man, that amp is amazing! We busted that thing out on many little bits throughout the record.”

The experience of recording with the tube heads inspired Stef to have his live rig entirely rebuilt by Dave Friedman and Greg Dubinovskiy, Stef’s guitar tech, with his Bogner Uber Ultra heads at the center of his setup. “There’s nothing wrong with the digital equipment, whatsoever,” Stef insists. “I mean, for what it does, what it has to offer and what it provides people? That shit’s amazing. But ultimately, I just had so much fun in the studio with the tube amps. My guitar tech, Greg Dubinovskiy, set all my gear up; he was dialing shit in as I tracked. I didn’t turn a knob—I didn’t even plug in,” he laughs. “I was just playing, and enjoying the moment of being there and being able to actually contribute physically.”

Indeed, there were points during the creation of Private Music where Stef’s ability to contribute seemed worryingly limited, largely due to the physical and psychological effects of what was finally diagnosed as Type 2 diabetes. “I had no clue what I was going through,” he says. “I’d just been so out of it for the past four or five years—all the things that go with poor diet and poor exercise, that’s what I experienced.

“During the whole writing process, I was just tired, but I was not connecting how I felt to what I was doing,” he recalls. “When we went in to start tracking the music, thankfully we got all of our scratch tracks done, because shortly after that, something had got me all messed up. Like, every day, I was just shy of crying from pain that was in my right arm. I couldn’t even move it. I did what I could to just take care of myself—at least as best as I understood what I was going through. And thankfully, when it was time to actually track my guitar parts, my body was feeling better, and I was able to physically do what I had to do.”

But rather than get to the root of his physical challenges, Steph simply chalked it up to the aging process. “I just thought it was old-man life shit,” the 55-year-old guitarist says now. It was only after experiencing more difficulties while performing with Deftones at Coachella in 2024 (“I was just trying not to fall over,” he says) that his bandmates successfully convinced him to seek medical help.

“I was self-medicating, hoping I was doing the right thing, and always hoping things would get better so I wouldn’t have to do any of that,” he admits. “But unfortunately, you can only kick a can so far down the road before you run out of road.”

“The sounds those [MRI] machines make are so wild. The techs were like, ‘You can listen to music while we’re doing it.’ And I'm like, ‘No—I want to listen to the machine!’”

Now markedly slimmed down after changing his diet, Carpenter seems to be doing much better, both physically and mentally. “I’m very glad I got help,” he says. “Type 2 diabetes was affecting me on a number of levels for a long time, and I’m grateful to have that information now and be able to deal with it. I’m also really grateful to everyone else in the band—their positive energy really carried me through that period of time, and really carried us through the making of the album.”

If there’s a silver lining to Stef’s medical odyssey, it’s that his health challenges may have inspired him to chase some new sounds for the next Deftones record. “I’ve had two MRIs in the last year,” he says, “and each time, I found myself thinking, ‘Man, how can I bring a recorder in here and record it?’”

Carpenter laughs. “The sounds those machines make are so wild. The techs were like, ‘You can listen to music while we’re doing it.’ And I’m like, ‘No—I want to listen to the machine!’”

Wampler Pedals announces the release of the Golden Jubilee™, a dual-voice high-gain pedal designed by Brian Wampler.

The Golden Jubilee delivers the punch, feel, and harmonic richness of classic hot-rodded ’80s high-gain amplifiers in a rugged, pedalboard-ready format.

Engineered as a complete gain platform, the Golden Jubilee features two purpose-built, complementary voices: tight, articulate American boutique high-gain and aggressive, saturated British crunch. The channels are designed to operate independently or stack together, providing seamless transitions from defined rhythm tones to saturated, singing lead sounds.

Independent channel controls and intuitive voicing and stacking switches allow players to shape tones quickly without menus or complex switching. The pedal is designed to perform consistently across clean tube amplifiers, solid-state platforms, and digital rigs, delivering reliable amp-like response in any setup.

Key Features:

• Two distinct high-gain voices in one pedal — American boutique distortion and British crunch, voiced to complement and stack
• Complete gain solution — rhythm, lead, and stacked high-gain tones in a single unit
• Independent channel controls with simple voicing switches
• Consistent amp-like feel across tube, solid-state, and digital platforms
• Premium U.S.A. construction built for long-term reliability

The Golden Jubilee is built for players who require professional-level performance, flexibility, and durability in a streamlined format.

For more information, visit www.wamplerpedals.com