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Carondelet Pickups has introduced their newest vintage-style humbuckers: the company’s OTB Ultimates provide a sound and feel that are stunningly close to great examples of original 1957-61 Gibson “Patent Applied For”-sticker humbuckers.

Louisiana-based Carondelet -- pronounced “kuh-RON-da-let” -- teamed up with artist Owen Barry in developing the OTB with the specific goal of “cracking the code” of vintage Gibson PAF humbuckers, but at a fraction of the cost of actual vintage PAFs.

The bridge position Carondelet OTB Ultimate reads 8.2k DCR and the neck position 7.0k DCR. Both positions feature rough-cast Alnico V magnets; historically accurate coil wire, plastics and metallurgy; two-conductor braided shield leads; and are unpotted like original PAFs.

Carondelet OTB Ultimates come with permanent and period-correct American-made raw German nickel silver covers. The “standard” version featuring modern covers with etched Carondelet logo carry a street price of $249 each and $498 per set. The “grail” version features no-logo vintage correct covers created from a 3D scan of an actual 1959 Gibson PAF, and carry a street price of $279 each and $558 per set.

The OTB Bridge position pickup is available in either Gibson-spacing or Fender-spacing, while the Neck position is available in a single vintage Gibson-spacing format.

The OTB in the product name is based on the initials of Owen Timothy Barry, a Nashville-based session and touring player whose resume includes The Chicks, Jackson Browne, Celine Dion, Jennifer Lopez, Gwen Stefani and Tal Wilkenfeld, among many others. Carondelet’s owner Jeff Richard (REE-shard, Cajun French) hand-winds all Carondelet pickups one at a time in his workshop in Baton Rouge. Barry and Richard met at the Amigo Nasvillle guitar show in 2025 and R&D on the OTB Ultimates began shortly thereafter, involving multiple trips between Tennessee and Louisiana and well over 50 pickup prototypes that directly contributed to the final recipe, Richard said.

“Even the simplest guitar pickup has so many variables which forge overall tone and feel,” Richard said. “In the case of a vintage PAF, however, you’re trying to recreate pickups wound 70 years ago by primitive machines, using inconsistent to outright changing techniques, components and materials, in a process overseen by common factory workers who aren’t around today to field how-to questions.”

Said Barry: “In order to create my perfect PAF set with Jeff, I had to fully understand the original recipe. It was an incredibly intensive deep dive, but I knew we had to try and test every variable. This would be the only way to find what created the original PAF magic.”

Carondelet OTB Ultimates are available direct via CarondeletPickups.com; and select vintage/boutique dealers including Carter’s Vintage Guitars in Nashville (cartervintage.com) and LA Vintage Gear in Los Angeles (lavintagegear.com).

How do you improve one of the coolest guitar stores? Well, at Chicago Music Exchange Andrew Yonke (CEO) & Daniel Escauriza (Vintage Inventory & Purchasing Manager) created an area where players can not only experience the best vintage guitars and holy grails available, but the Vault also celebrates player-grade, stone-cold tone stars at any price point. And the best part of this room is that it's open to even us gear mortals.

Few players have been more instrumental in shaping the sound of modern metalcore than Converge’s Kurt Ballou. But to hear the producer and guitarist tell it, the 6-string was originally a consolation prize, not a calling. “My buddy Rob and I had this pact to start a band together, but we both wanted to play bass because we were both really into Rush and Iron Maiden at the time,” he says, calling in from his God City recording studio in Salem, Massachusetts. “And those bands have fantastic guitar playing, but they also have these bass heroes in Geddy Lee and Steve Harris, respectively. So, we decided that whoever could save up money for a bass first got to be the bass player, and the other one had to play guitar. I obviously lost.”

It’s a good thing the chips fell where they did. Since Converge formed in 1990, Ballou’s chugging-yet-sinuous brand of guitar brutalism has proved to be the perfect foil for vocalist Jacob Bannon’s throat-rending forays into emotional catharsis. It’s a sound that has evolved exponentially since the band’s early days, though never lacking ferocity. “The music that I was making was about trying to find a voice that was true to me and to what my influences were, but wasn’t parroting something that I was a fan of,” Ballou says of the band’s earlier work. “You start out by emulating, and you either emulate poorly and come up with something original, or you just find your own voice and get to something that’s original. I think that’s what we got to eventually, but it took a while.”

A decade into their career, Converge had already solidly established themselves in the extreme music world. But with release of the album Jane Doe in 2001—the band’s first to feature the almost supernaturally kinetic rhythm section of drummer Ben Koller and bassist Nate Newton—Converge demonstrated their ability to challenge, and sometimes even transcend, genre tropes with a deft balance of fury and finesse. Their new album, the bleakly titled Love Is Not Enough, is their first in nearly a decade (Bloodmoon: I, a 2021 collaboration with doom metallist Chelsea Wolfe and Stephen Brodsky of Cave In, notwithstanding). “Converge is basically our side hustle,” explains Ballou, who spends most of his time producing and mixing other artists. “So, it’s not like we’re beholden to an 18-month album cycle. But there was definitely a feeling that like, ‘Oh yeah, it's been too long.’”

Love Is Not Enough was well worth the wait. Songs like the album-opening title track are relentless blasts of aggression, replete with riffs and half-time breakdowns sure to incite circle pits the world over, while brooding, delay-and-reverb-drenched midtempo numbers like “Gilded Cage” continue to expand and refine Converge’s palette. Throughout the album, a compositional discipline reigns that never allows the listener’s attention to drift. “It’s a good idea in anything creative to leave people wanting more rather than giving them too much, and if you try to limit how many ideas are in one song, you can increase the impact that that song has by keeping it tight and memorable,” Ballou says. “It’s like when you listen to newer Metallica. I actually think there's a lot of cool shit on St. Anger, but they just beat every idea into the ground. Instead of doing something four times, they do it 32. And if they’re like, ‘Well, part A sounds good going into part B, but part A also sounds good going into part C, and part C sounds good going back to A, but part C also sounds good going to B, then they do it every possible way in the song. These are all cool ideas, but I think it’s better to just find the best ones, tighten up your arrangements, and give people the best version of the thing rather than every version of the thing.”

Converge’s economical arrangements are certainly integral to what gives their songs an instantly recognizable contour, but the bespoke alternate tunings that the band have explored since Jane Doe are perhaps what distinguishes them most. “There were only a few songs in the first 10 years of Converge that had any alternate tunings because I was always really against them,” Ballou says. “Every time I tried drop D, I felt like what I was coming up with was really generic and basic. It took a while before I cracked the code to making something that felt like me.” Ballou credits Neil Young’s soundtrack to the 1995 Jim Jarmusch film Dead Man with finally opening his ears to the possibilities of alternate tunings. “It was atmospheric, vibe-y stuff that really spoke to me,” he says. “There was also a guy named Alex Dunham, who was in the bands Hoover and then Regulator Watts and Abilene, who had a similar vibe but also played slide. And so, I started experimenting with slides. But then you realize, like, ‘Oh, I don’t want this major third here. Let me get that out of there.’ And so, you start changing the guitar’s tuning to get the chord shapes you want. Eventually, I just stopped using the slide but stayed with those open tunings.” Ballou also cites other heavy bands like Cave In, Melvins, and Neurosis with providing him with inspiration, as well as indie rock legends (and alternate tuning icons) Sonic Youth.

“You start out by emulating, and you either emulate poorly and come up with something original, or you just find your own voice and get to something that’s original.”

“I feel like if you really boil it down, Converge is sort of like Sonic Youth meets Slayer meets New York hardcore,” Ballou says. “And I actually have a tuning I call ‘Open Slayer.’ It’s C–F#–C–F#–C–F#, which is a take on Sonic Youth’s C–F–C–F–C–F.” Ballou’s favorite tuning, however, is one that he and the band refer to as “Wacky Tuning.” And while the internet will tell you that it’s C–G–C–F–G#–C, the guitarist will neither confirm nor deny this. “For whatever reason, I’ve put my foot down,” he says, smiling. “I’m not going to say what it is. It’s a challenge for people to figure it out. But we’ve used it almost half the time on every record since Jane Doe.”

For the recording of Love Is Not Enough, Ballou auditioned many of the amps in his studio’s collection, only to return to his stalwarts. “It's funny, when I have a record where there’s a little more time in the budget to experiment, like we have with Converge, I will tend to set up more amps and do shootouts,” Ballou says. “And a lot of times I’m just like, ‘Oh yeah, the shit I use all the time I’m using all the time for a reason—this is the best shit that I have!’ There are a few amps that really are the best at everything.”

He continues, “On this record, for the main rhythm guitars, the left side is this uncommon amp from Belarus made by Sparrows Sons. There’s a handful of them that are out there. I own two, and they don’t sound the same as each other. My purple one has a very “home brew” kind of vibe. And it’s just really great sounding. I don’t know what kind of circuit it’s based on. And then the right side is a 100-watt HMW, which stands for ‘Heavy Metal Warfare,’ by Dean Costello Audio. Both amps ran through Marshall 1960 cabinets that have a mix of Celestion Classic Lead 80s and Amperian speakers, miked with Shure Unidyne SM57s and Soyuz 1973s.”

Instead of relying exclusively on his amplifiers’ preamp sections to produce crushing gain levels, Ballou prefers to hit the amp’s front end with a pedal. It’s a practice he adopted early on in Converge’s career, when he primarily employed a ’70s-era Traynor YRM-1 45-watt head, which he still owns and used for many of the clean and semi-clean sounds on Love Is Not Enough. “There’s something about starving the low end and tightening things up with a pedal that I still like,” he says. “The Traynor is somewhere between a Fender Twin and a Marshall JMP kind of circuit, so it wasn’t designed to go ‘chug, chug, chug.’ I was forcing it to do that against its will by hitting the front end with a Boss OS-2 [Overdrive/Distortion], which has a really good midrange push to it.”

When pressed to unpack the concept of “starving the low end” a little more thoroughly, Ballou, who has a degree in aerospace engineering, is more than happy to expound. “In any negative-feedback-based op-amp overdrive, there’s always this sort of shunt to ground that happens in the negative feedback circuit in order to get gain. And basically, you have to high pass that—meaning cutting the lows—because low end tends to overdrive before high end, and you can end up with a signal where the low end is distorted but the highs are clean,” he explains. “So, to get that searing tone with high end and mids compressed and overdriven, you have to starve the bottom end going into the overdrive circuit. To do that, a lot of pedals—like, say, the Boss Metal Zone—have a bunch of EQ stages working under the hood that precondition the signal before the drive section by cutting lows, and then post-condition after the drive section to add it back in. So, you’re starving the bottom end going into it to tighten it up and make it more responsive, and then you’re boosting the bottom end at the output to restore what you’ve lost. The same theory applies when you’re hitting the front of an amp.”

Ballou eventually graduated from the OS-2 to using a Boss GE-7 graphic equalizer pedal “set to a frowny-face EQ with the output gain jacked up,” and now favors the Onslaught, a pedal that he designed for his own God City Instruments brand of stompboxes, guitars, and basses. Although he also used a Wild Customs electric, a pine T-style partscaster with Lindy Fralin pickups, and a First Act Sheena with EMGs, the bulk of the guitar parts on Love Is Not Enough were in fact tracked using GCI guitars that Ballou designed himself.

“My father’s a machinist and owns a machine shop and has CNC mills and stuff, so making shit was always just sort of normal to me,” Ballou says. “There was a summer where the studio was slow and my dad’s shop was slow as well, and I went down the rabbit hole and built about 30 guitars. I was making the bodies that I had designed on the CNC machines, and having Warmoth make the necks with a custom headstock.”

The guitarist would assemble and set up the instruments himself, a process that he found less satisfying than dialing in the design and specifications of the instruments. “I am definitely better at the design aspect of it than I am at the craftsman aspect,” he says. “Now I’ve got a relationship with this fantastic factory in South Korea that’s doing the building for me, but I still do all the quality control of each instrument myself when they get here.”

“I feel like if you really boil it down, Converge is sort of like Sonic Youth meets Slayer meets New York hardcore.”

Kurt Ballou’s Gear

Guitars

God City Instruments Craftsman

God City Instruments Constructivist

God City Instruments Deconstructivist baritone

Amps

Studio:

Dean Costello Audio 100-Watt HMW

Sparrows Son

Traynor YRM-1

Marshall 1960 4x12 cabinets with Celestion and Amperian speakers

Live:

Line 6 Helix into Quilter Labs Tone Block 202 heads

Picks, Strings, & Cables

D’Addario Duralin Standard Light/Medium Gauge (.70mm) picks

D’Addario NYXL (.011–.056) and NYXL Players Choice (.013–.064) custom set for baritone strings

D’Addario cables

While his production runs often sell out—as of this writing, there are no guitars available for sale on the God City Instruments website—one thing that never fails to bedevil Ballou (as surely it must his peers) is the mercurial and unpredictable taste of the guitar-buying community. “I am always amazed at the things that people are particular and not particular about,” he admits. “And people are very, very particular about colorways. Sometimes, I order guitars in a color where I’m like, ‘Yeah, whatever, it’s white,’ and, boom, they sell out. Then sometimes I order a colorway, and I just think like, ‘Oh my God, this color looks fucking awesome!’ And then it’s slow to sell.”

He continues. “I love doing it, but I get really scared because none of this is done through pre-order. So it’s all out of pocket to me. Twice a year, I have to wire half my life savings halfway around the world to get a batch of guitars. And then when they come in, I’m just crossing my fingers that they’ll sell!”

Guitar effects fall in and out of fashion. But I never quite understood the moment when Tube Screamers ceased to be cool. Players would complain about the midrange bump. Fair enough, mid bumps can suck air out of a signal. But then I’d watch the same players buy some other mid-pumping drive or distortion and rave about it. Perhaps it was the TS’s association with blues rock—an occasional punching bag among guitar’s leading edge. Perhaps it was the rise of the Klon Centaur, the affordable “klones” that followed in its wake, and the resulting chatter about “transparency.” Never mind that the Klon Centaur’s design shares much of its basic architecture with the TS, or as my esteemed former PG editor Joe Gore pointed out, that the sonic differences between the pedals are not always as different as they seem.

The collective conversation confirmed one thing for me: Guitarists are a weird, fickle bunch. Because for me, Tube Screamers have always been a reliable, forgiving source of overdrive that pair well with fuzz, distortion, and other drives, and amps across the Fender, Vox, and Marshall spectrum (though it really loves the first of these). Warm Audio’s Tube Squealer is a kind of super TS. It combines switchable TS-808, TS-9, and TS-10-style circuitry, a mix control that blends in clean signal (a touch of Klon), a humbucker/single-coil switch that shifts the midrange emphasis from the 800Hz range to the 2kHz range, and a voltage boost switch that engages a voltage doubler (another touch of Klon). It adds up to a very adaptable overdrive.

A Scream Across the Ages

Fundamentally, the Tube Squealer is a really satisfying TS-style overdrive. As a test, I situated it alongside a 1981 Ibanez TS-9 that was my primary overdrive for ages and always sounded excellent to my ears. Compared to the original Tube Screamer, the Tube Squealer in the TS-9 setting, and no clean signal in the overdriven/clean mix, is discernibly more compressed and less oxygenated in the high-end than the Ibanez. But is that better? That depends. Paired with a 16-watt, EL84-powered Carr Bel-Ray in its Vox-style setting, the Tube Squealer’s low-to-mid gain overdrive settings could seem redundant, while the TS-9 added a little more sparkle. On the other hand, the Tube Squealer’s more compressed profile lent a creamy cohesiveness to the Bel-Ray’s output that sounded fantastic with chords, and added a touch of anger to Peter Buck-ish arpeggios in the more aggro Lifes Rich Pageant vein—one of my favorite applications of the effect.

“The wet-dry mix control may be the most valuable feature on the Tube Squealer. It opens up a lot of fine tuning possibilities.”

With a late-’60s Fender Bassman, the Tube Squealer’s more compressed output illuminated the difference between the pedals more starkly. I enjoyed the warm, growly nature of the Tube Squealer’s basic distortion voice. And while the pedal felt more grafted to the amp rather than seamlessly integrated with it, I was reminded of an old J Mascis quote. To paraphrase: “What’s the point of using an effect if it’s transparent?”

There is a way that I was able to close the difference between the more compressed Tube Squealer voice and the more open TS-9, and that was by using the clean signal mix control. By dialing that knob up to noon (give or take, depending on the gain level), I could make the two pedals sound identical enough that most folks would be hard-pressed to tell them apart in a blind test. What that revealed to me is that the mix control may be the most valuable feature on the Tube Squealer. It opens up a lot of fine tuning possibilities.

Do Screamers Squeal Equally?

Though it’s nice to have the three TS voicings, the differences among them can be subtle. At low gain settings, in fact, they can be pretty difficult to tell apart. Higher gain settings make the contrasts more apparent, but even then the variations can sound really minimal. In general, they are evident as subtle EQ shifts. The TS-9 comes off as the most balanced of the three, the 808 seems to bloom a bit more, and the TS-10 has a bump in the low midrange that results in a smoothing effect. These voices are useful and fun to work with if you’re moving between guitars and amps in a studio, but I’d venture that they’d be nearly impossible to discern in a live setting.

The control that makes a big difference is the pickup voicing switch. The shift from the 800Hz peak to the 2kHz peak in the midrange is transformative enough to rip your face off if you’re not careful. With single-coils it’s spiky enough that your bandmates may ask you to take a time out. But the PAF-equipped SG I used in this evaluation became smooth and vicious in the 2k mode. In fact, I’ve rarely heard my Bassman sound so much like a JCM800. And it not only genuinely extends the utility of the Tube Squealer, it’s also raucous, rowdy fun.

The Verdict

Though the Tube Squealer’s three voices may be subtle to the point of a letdown for some potential buyers, the interactive power of the controls, when taken together, is impressive. The clean/dirty blend control adds considerable flexibility and tone shaping potential, and while I preferred the more compressed, classic TS sounds with the pedal in 9V mode, the voltage doubling switch adds a lot to the sound tapestry within. Given the extra utility here—and how close to vintage TS sounds these voices are in their most basic modes—the $149 price is quite reasonable, even when considering that new, basic Ibanez TS-9s are just $99. Even if you use the Tube Squealer to even half of its potential, it’s most certainly not your average pig.

Let’s talk about the range of a pedal control knob—its potential versatility, perceived value, real-world implementation, and creative inspiration. That’s a lot of fancy words to impose upon a 300-degree rotating potentiometer with a knob affixed to it, but here we go!

I’ve had this topic in mind since starting my writing career, but it crystallized while I was watching a recent episode of That Pedal Show featuring a CopperSound-loaded pedalboard. Co-host Mick Taylor made a comment about amp control knobs, positing that a knob should live between 3 and 8. A lot of players can relate to this—the idea that the core sounds in this range cover almost everything needed, while still leaving headroom on either side of the dial. This ties into versatility. It feels like the designer tuned it properly.

I’d counter that if a knob does too much—like a digital single-knob EQ—the “usable” range feels diminished. Which circles back to the same idea: The designer needs to tune the control properly.

Let’s talk about first impressions. Whether it’s a demo video or an in-person audition, the first engagement with a pedal almost always starts with “everything at noon.” This feels like a natural, logical starting point, and it ties back to the philosophy that control knobs should be flexible at both ends of their range.

When designing products, manufacturers try to consider all types of rigs. While not everything will work for everyone, the goal is to create products that perform well across different scenarios and setups.

Now let’s consider the outermost ranges of a knob. A reasonable question: “Why do I have to max this knob?” When a control only works at its extreme setting, I immediately wonder if I’m doing something wrong or if the pedal is designed for a more specific application than I realized. Both are plausible.

Here’s a firsthand example. I won’t name the pedal, but there’s a particular dirt box I keep coming back to—it has a great overdrive sound, wide gain range, and a pretty unique circuit. Those qualities make it memorable. But so does its shortcoming: The tone knob always has to be maxed. Any other setting made it too dark. I should mention that I play Telecasters almost exclusively, so it’s not like my guitar was on the darker side of the spectrum.

“When a control only works at its extreme setting, I immediately wonder if I’m doing something wrong.”

Was the tone control an afterthought? Was it only tested with a super bright guitar and amp? What happened here? At this point, the knob may as well not have been there—or it could’ve been hardwired internally to the max position. It’s scenarios like this that call versatility into question.

To counter that—and circle back to the digital EQ knob I mentioned earlier—a knob can have too wide a range. Let’s say this EQ control sweeps from 500 Hz at minimum to 1 kHz at maximum. That’s a fairly wide range covering a prominent part of the guitar’s frequency spectrum. For this hypothetical, let’s assume the entire dial is usable.

Now, let’s say we want to expand the range and add value. What do we do? We make the knob sweep from 250 Hz to 2 kHz. Better, right?

Well … there’s technically a wider range that covers more ground, but two significant problems emerge. First, the extremes become less useful. The low end gets too bass-heavy and conflicts with the bass guitar, while the upper end becomes shrill and unpleasant. Okay, so we just avoid the outermost parts of the dial. Don’t we like having that range available? Sure—but we still want everything outside of 3 and 8 to be friendly and usable. If the first and last 20% of the knob are unusable, then by doubling the frequency range, we’ve actually cut the knob’s usability in half.

The second issue is how the knob feels. At 500 Hz to 1 kHz, there’s a 1.6 Hz difference per degree of rotation. But if we’re only using half the dial’s range, that becomes a 3.3 Hz difference per degree. This often makes the knob feel overly sensitive.

Do you agree, disagree, or find yourself somewhere in between? Try this: Go to your pedalboard and amplifier and count how many knobs you have at your disposal. Then, without turning them, note how many are currently set at maximum or minimum. Any of them?

Spector Bass, in collaboration with pioneering bassist Doug Wimbish, announces the Doug Wimbish Euro 4 Aged White Signature Bass, a new addition to the Doug Wimbish Euro line for 2026. Available worldwide through authorized Spector retailers and online, the new model continues Spector’s exploration of lightly aged instruments inspired by Wimbish’s personal collection, recreating one of his lesser-known vintage basses, his white NS-2, while delivering a familiar, broken-in feel and sound for modern players.

The Doug Wimbish Euro 4 Aged White Signature Model features a light aged white nitro finish, offering the look and feel of a well-loved instrument straight out of the case. The body is constructed with maple body wings and is paired with Spector’s slim Doug Wimbish neck carve. A narrow 1.5" nut width and 34" scale length contribute to a fast, comfortable playing experience. The rosewood fingerboard features mother-of-pearl crown inlays, completing the instrument’s classic Spector aesthetic.

Electronics on the DW Euro 4 Aged White Signature Bass reflect a unique configuration within the Euro line. The bass is loaded with EMG Jazz pickups, delivering a responsive and articulate tonal foundation. These pickups are paired with Spector’s Legacy onboard preamp, developed in collaboration with Darkglass Electronics, and designed around a classic, 1980s-inspired two-band EQ.

Additional features include gold Spector hardware, which complements the aged white finish and reinforces the instrument’s premium presentation. Together with its distinctive electronics package and historically inspired design, the Doug Wimbish Euro 4 Aged White Signature Bass represents a deeply personal chapter of Wimbish’s musical legacy brought forward for today’s players.

Reflecting on the instrument, Doug Wimbish states, “This bass is a piece of my history. The original 1987 Spector that helped shape my sound—now ready for the next generation.”

For more information about the Doug Wimbish Euro 4 Aged White Signature Bass and the full Spector lineup, visit NAMM Booth #6802 or online at www.spectorbass.com.

Street Price: $3699.99 USD

It’s a familiar problem: You know your pentatonic scale patterns, but they’re only getting you so far. In this lesson, instructor Caitlin Caggiano breaks down the pentatonic scale and helps you elevate you patterns and deepen your playing. Want to learn how to make your pentatonics feel less boxy and more musical? How to use multiple pentatonic scales to emphasize chord tones? How to add certain notes to add more dimension and color to your playing? This lesson is for you.

Aguilar has announced the Octamizer DLX, an expanded evolution of its long-running Octamizer bass octave pedal. Designed to preserve the musical feel and tone that made the original a staple for over a decade, the DLX adds new voices, enhanced performance, and greater flexibility for modern bass players.

Rather than reworking the Octamizer’s foundation, Aguilar focused on extending it. Powered by the company’s in-house DSP engine, the Octamizer DLX delivers faster, more natural tracking that responds directly to playing dynamics and remains stable even on extended-range basses.

“When we set out to design the Octamizer DLX, the goal wasn’t to fix the original Octamizer — it was already doing what bass players needed,” says Aguilar Amplification. “We wanted to keep that familiar feel intact while giving players more creative space, better tracking, and new voices they could access instantly in real musical situations.”

The octave-down section retains the familiar Octamizer control set—Octave Volume, Octave Filter, Clean Level, and Clean EQ—while introducing new flexibility. The clean signal can now be fully muted for pure sub-octave tones, and two distinct filter modes expand the sonic range. A Mode delivers the classic Octamizer sweep, from smooth and round to sharper, more synth-forward textures, while B Mode draws inspiration from vintage octave divider circuits, offering added grit and character.

For the first time in the Octamizer lineup, the DLX introduces a dedicated octave-up engine. Tuned specifically for bass, this new voice avoids the harshness and latency often associated with octave-up effects. Simple volume and filter controls allow players to shape tones ranging from subtle octave doubling to a more pronounced, guitar-like presence.

Three independent footswitches provide direct control over the clean signal, octave down, and octave up, allowing players to stack voices instantly without adjusting controls. This layout makes it easy to move between foundational octave tones, harmonic layering, and more synth-like textures in both live and studio settings.

For more information, visit NAMM Booth #6802 or online at www.aguilaramp.com

The Aguilar Octamizer DLX is available with a street price of $329.99.

Signal Chain Audio Labs, maker of professional tour-grade instrument and microphone cables, today announced a limited edition Tie-Dyed Braided Guitar Cable honoring the legacy of Bob Weir, legendary guitarist and founding member of the Grateful Dead, who passed away earlier this year.

All proceeds from the cable sales will go to the Furthur Foundation a non-profit founded by Bob Weir that provides funding for environmental and social change initiatives in the San Francisco Bay area and around the world. To learn more about the Furthur Foundation and the many programs it supports, visit https://furthur.org.

Each cable features a hand-dyed multifilament nylon overbraid in vibrant tie-dye patterns - no two are alike. Beneath the distinctive exterior lies tour-proven Mogami 2524 instrument cable terminated with G&H High Clarity Profile plugs and protected by SignalCoat®, the company's dielectric seal that guards against moisture and oxidation. Every cable is individually numbered and soldered and assembled by hand in Alexandria, VA. Only 500 cables will be produced for this series.

The cables are available in four colors options:

• Spectrum: Blue, Purple, Red, Orange, Yellow
• Red/Purple
• Blue/Purple
• Red/Blue

The cables are available in three different lengths and street prices:

• 10ft - $79.00 street price
• 15ft - $89.00 street price
• 20ft - $99.00 street price

"Bob Weir's artistry and innovation shaped generations of musicians," said Rob Haralson, Founder of Signal Chain Audio Labs. "Creating something as unique and handcrafted as his music felt like the right way to honor his legacy - and directing proceeds to the Furthur Foundation ensures this tribute supports the causes he championed throughout his life."

Haralson added, "We've engineered these cables to be as distinctive as the music that inspired them. Each one is truly one-of-a-kind and built with the same premium components our professional clients depend on. To our knowledge, this is the only hand-dyed professional guitar cable currently offered by any company. It's a functional work of art that musicians can actually use."

The Signal Chain Audio Labs Tie-Dyed Braided Instrument Cable is available at https://www.signalchainaudio.com.

NAMM 2026 is a wrap, and this year's show offered no shortage of gear to discuss. Tom Butwin sits down with longtime industry vet John Bohlinger and PG Editorial Director Richard Bienstock to trade stories and name the products they’re most excited about from the year's biggest gear event. Check out ALL of PG's NAMM coverage here

At NAMM 2026, Ashdown Engineering proudly announces Phase 2 of its return to UK manufacturing, following the successful September 2025 launch of the UK-built ABM EVO IV heads and UK-ABM and Classic cabinet ranges.

This next stage represents a continued, long-term commitment to British design, engineering, and production, building on the momentum established by Ashdown’s flagship UK-made products.

For NAMM 2026, Ashdown unveils five brand-new UK-built amplifier ranges, all scheduled to ship in 2026.

Every new model is designed, engineered, and handcrafted in Britain. These launches expand Ashdown’s renewed UK manufacturing focus into a complete, multi-tier amplifier ecosystem, delivering British-built solutions for musicians at every level.

UK-RBM

The UK-RBM Series is designed for professional bassists who demand maximum power, tonal control, and flexibility. Delivering Ashdown’s most recognisable sound in a modern, lightweight format, the range includes amplifier heads and newly designed UK-RBM cabinets, creating a complete, performance-ready system.

The UK-RBM amplifier heads combine powerful output with advanced tone-shaping tools to deliver deep, authoritative low end, articulate mids, and controlled high-frequency detail. Features such as Ashdown’s Sub-Harmonic Generator, onboard compression, valve-emulated overdrive, and Analogue Cab Sim allow players to shape everything from tight, punchy modern tones to rich, harmonically complex sounds with confidence.

The matching UK-RBM cabinets have been newly designed, tuned, sized, and ported to deliver optimal performance in lightweight plywood enclosures. Equipped with high-performance Italian Sica NEO speakers and adjustable high-frequency tweeters, they provide fast response, clarity, and controlled projection across a wide range of playing styles and stage environments.

Finished in a striking new heavy-duty Charcoal Tweed covering and custom grill cloth, the UK-RBM cabinets combine durability with a bold, modern aesthetic.

Handcrafted in the UK using premium components, the UK-RBM Series is built for demanding live stages, professional touring rigs, and bassists who want total command over their sound.

UK-OBM

The UK-OBM Series is designed for bassists who value clarity, simplicity, and reliability. Built in the UK, the range delivers clean, articulate tone with minimal fuss and maximum usability, making it ideal for players who want dependable performance without unnecessary complexity.

The UK-OBM lineup includes newly updated combo amplifiers featuring high-powered models and new Italian Sica NEO drivers, delivering improved efficiency, punch, and clarity. These combos are house in reengineered lightweight plywood cabinets, newly sized and optimised for balanced projection and portability.

Finished in Ice Blue and a new heavy-duty Charcoal Tweed covering with custom grill cloth, the UK-OBM combos combine durability with a modern, professional aesthetic.

With a refined features set and intuitive controls, the UK-OBM amplifiers are designed for musicians who want to plug in, dial in quickly, and get straight to playing. An open, balanced sound makes the series equally well suited to rehearsals, live performances, and studio work.

UK-SBM

The UK-SBM Series brings Ashdown’s studio-focused tonal philosophy into a range of compact, UK-built bass combo amplifiers. Designed for clarity, responsiveness, and musical transparency, the series prioritises clean tone and dynamic response in lightweight, portable enclosures.

Inspired by Ashdown’s Studio range, UK-SBM combos deliver a refined, natural sound that translates seamlessly in recording environments while remaining powerful enough for rehearsals and small live stages. Newly ported and structurally strengthened cabinets are engineered to handle higher power levels, ensuring confidence and control at increased volumes.

The cabinets are equipped with new, highly efficient Italian Sica NEO drivers, and articulate low-end performance. Finished in a heavy-duty Charcoal Tweed covering with custom grill cloth, the UK-SBM combos combine durability with a modern professional aesthetic.

Featuring DI outputs, FX loops, and onboard overdrive across the range, the UK-SBM Series offers practical versatility for practice, recording, songwriting, and intimate performance spaces.

UK-PBM

The UK-PBM Series is Ashdown’s answer to the modern bassist’s need for extreme portability without compromise. Designed and built in the UK, the range delivers genuine Ashdown tone in an ultra-compact, travel-friendly format.

Launching with the UK-PBM-200 “Pocket Bass Magnifier" AKA The ANT, the series delivers a surprising amount of real-world power from a palm-sized chassis. Despite its minimal footprint, its produces clean, articulate output with impressive low-end authority and ample headroom for rehearsals, smaller stages, and professional monitoring setups.

The UK-PBM is solidly built by design, retaining a touch of added weight to ensure stability and resonance. This robust construction helps generate real bass response while preventing excessive cabinet vibration, keeping amplifiers securely in place even when the low end is working hard.

With essential tone shaping, DI output, headphone out, line input, and auto-voltage operation, the UK-PBM Series is ideal for fly rigs, touring backups, studio use, IEM-based setups, and bassists who need reliable tone wherever they play.

UK-PEACMAKER

The UK-Peacemaker Series marks the return of one of Ashdown’s most iconic amplifier names, celebrating Dave Green’s formidable and widely respected valve amplifier design expertise. Handcrafted in the UK and refined for today’s players, the range revisits and updates legendary designs from Ashdown’s past.

Built for musicians who value feel, dynamics, and harmonic richness, the UK-Peacemaker delivers expressive British valve tone with depth, warmth, and authority. At its core, the series showcases Dave Green’s unmistakable valve amp philosophy, brought forward with modern reliability while preserving the character that made the originals so highly regarded.

The UK-Peacemaker Series is built using premium components throughout, included JJ valves, UK hand-wound transformers, and lightweight plywood cabinets loaded with UK-made Celestion Creamback speakers.

Hand-built in Essex, England, the UK-Peacemaker Series stands as a statement range - honouring Ashdown’s heritage while delivering timeless British valve tone for the modern guitarist.

From cabinets to flagship heads, and now a complete amplifier ecosystem, Ashdown’s UK manufacturing programme continues to grow with clarity and intent.

Every new range launching at NAMM 2026 is designed, engineered, and built in Britain.

After more than a decade of collaboration, Stringjoy has collaborated with guitar virtuoso and frontman of the Bros. Landreth, Joey Landreth, to release the Stringjoy Joey Landreth Artist Signature set.

Joey Landreth is a Canadian guitarist, songwriter, and producer known for his soulful voice and slide guitar virtuosity. As a founding member of Bros. Landreth, his playing and songwriting blends blues, rock, and Americana styles, and his stunning tone and penchant for first-rate gear have made him a modern guitar hero to players all over the world.

Stringjoy’s Joey Landreth Signature Set features:

• Gauges: .019 - .022p - .024w - .032 - .044 - .056
• Nickel wound Stringjoy Signatures
• Wound 3rd string
• Ideal for Open C and other dropped or open tunings on a standard scale-length guitar
• Optimal for both slide and fretted/hybrid playing
• As with all Stringjoy offerings, Joey Landreth Signatures are produced at Stringjoy HQ in Nashville, TN, with domestically sourced materials of the highest quality
• Stringjoy Signatures are wound at tension with high compression winds, increasing their output and naturally maximizing durability and lifespan

Stringjoy Joey Landreth Artist Signature strings were born of a decade-long collaboration between Stringjoy’s Scott Marquart and Landreth in which the two sought to formulate the perfect set for Landreth’s use of open tunings and hybrid slide technique.

“Long before anyone was paying attention to what my band was doing or what I was doing as a guitar player, [Stringjoy] were supporters of what we were doing,” says Landreth. “We landed on 56 on the bottom with 19 on top, which supports lower tuning really, really nicely and opens up the possibility for some really clean playing, whether I’m playing slide or fretted. This set has helped me get to the places I want to get as a player, and it also celebrates my friendship and collaboration with Scott [Marquart] and Stringjoy. I’m really proud of it

“I still remember the first time Joey told me he played 19s,” says Stringjoy’s Scott Marquart. “Nineteens!? I couldn’t wrap my head around it. But once I saw his full specs and understood how he plays—and especially after hearing him play in person—it all clicked. Joey and I have spent the better part of the last decade refining this set together, and it represents years of friendship & experimentation. I couldn’t be more proud to have both of our names on it.”

Stringjoy Joey Landreth Artist Signature strings carry a street price of $13.99. For more information visit stringjoy.com.

Laney has launched the DB-EAST-PRE Nathan East Signature bass preamp pedal.

What separates the DB-EAST-PRE from generic bass preamps is simple: Nathan East didn’t just approve it. He designed it around the exact problems he encounters every week as a working musician, and it’s designed with enormous flexibility in mind.

Nathan doesn’t play one bass, in one style, in one context. He moves between acoustic and electric basses. Four-string and five-string instruments. Active and passive electronics. Sometimes all within the same set, on the same stage. Most preamps make this painful. Switching instruments means stopping to re-dial input trims and levels. That’s not realistic in a professional environment.

The DB-EAST-PRE solves this with dual inputs, including independent trim control on Input 2. Switch instruments and your levels are instantly matched. No volume jumps. No tone shifts. Just seamless transitions.

The DB-EAST-PRE ships with Nathan East’s favourite LA·IR impulse responses pre-loaded. These aren’t generic cabinet simulations—they’re IRs taken directly from the rigs that have defined his touring and studio sound.

Even better, the system is intelligent. Select Input 1 and the corresponding IRs load automatically. Switch to Input 2 and the cabinet responses adapt to match. It’s fast, musical, and invisible in use.

Run the DI output straight to a front-of-house console, into a DAW, or into a powered speaker system. Using the companion app, you can manage real-time parametric EQ and store cabinet IRs tailored to specific venues or recording situations.

Every control on the DB-EAST-PRE exists for a reason. The master volume lets you shape the preamp’s character while maintaining precise control over overall output. The TUBE channel includes dedicated EQ voicing for players who want to refine the drive characteristics of their tone.

The RANGE control reinforces low-end weight within the drive section, while selectable mid pre-shapes allow you to fine-tune presence, punch, and articulation.

This isn’t complexity for its own sake. It’s acknowledgement that professional bass players need precision, adaptability, and control—night after night.

Key Specifications

• Signature Dual-Input Bass Preamp – Designed with Nathan East for seamless switching between multiple basses, active and passive
• Independent Input Trim Control – Automatic level matching between instruments for uninterrupted live performance
• LA·IR Advanced Impulse Response Technology – Pre-loaded with Nathan East’s personal touring and session cabinet IRs
• Professional DI & Recording Ready – Optimised outputs for live consoles, DAWs, powered speakers, and silent practice
• Precision Tone Shaping – Tube channel voicing, selectable mid pre-shapes, RANGE low-end control, and master output control
• Handcrafted in England – Built at Laney’s Black Country Customs workshop; compact, pedalboard-ready

Handcrafted in the UK the DB-EAST-PRE is pedalboard friendly and robust enough for demanding session and touring work.

The DB-EAST-PRE is carries a street price of $429.99. For more information visit https://www.laney.co.uk/amps/bass/digbeth/bcc-db-east-pre.

Italian effects maker Dophix®, known for its handmade analog pedals that blend sonic artistry with Tuscan craftsmanship, announces the release of the Magnifico Dual Independent Boost Pedal. The pedal is the result of a collaboration with Artur Menezes and the first ten will be personally signed my Menezes. Available now worldwide through select retailers, the Magnifico represents a refined evolution in the pursuit of expressive tone and musical warmth.

Inspired by the spirit of Lorenzo de’ Medici’s “Il Magnifico”, the celebrated patron of Renaissance art and culture, the new Magnifico pedal embodies both elegance and power. This dual channel boost pedal offers players exceptional dynamics, precision, and tonal control in a fully analog, hand-wired design.

Featuring two completely independent boost circuits, each has its own Level control and dedicated input/output jacks for true signal separation. Whether used to push an amplifier into natural overdrive or to elevate solos with transparent volume lift, the Magnifico gives guitarists total command over their tone.

Constructed with discrete, high-quality components and vintage-grade resistors, the Magnifico delivers the warmth, clarity, and harmonic richness that define the Dophix sound. Each pedal is handcrafted in Italy, employing true bypass switching to preserve tonal integrity when not engaged. Designed for flexibility and musical sensitivity, it draws only 19 mA with LED on and operates on a 9V DC external power supply.

Rooted in the artistic legacy of Florence, Dophix continues its mission to merge Italian design, handcrafted quality, and vintage sound philosophy. The Magnifico stands as both a tribute to Renaissance craftsmanship and a modern tool for discerning guitarists who demand authentic analog character.

For detailed specifications, please visit www.dophix.it.

Street Price: $350.00 USD/€300.00 EUR

Blues-rock virtuoso and legendary collector Joe Bonamassa joins Axe Lords for an episode that dives deep into the wild, weird, and sometimes downright wicked world of vintage guitars. Buckle up as Joe tries to convince Tom to stop weighing his instruments, expounds on the mythology of double-white PAFs, explains why taking a Flying V into a motel room is “sick and wrong,” and reveals that having a stage persona (and a good suit) is the true path to spiritual liberation.

Mike Hickey, Joe’s longtime guitar tech, also drops into the conversation. Shenanigans ensue.

This episode originally aired in April 2024 as part of Season 1 of Axe Lords.

Axe Lords is presented in partnership with Premier Guitar. Hosted by Dave Hill, Cindy Hulej and Tom Beaujour. Produced by Studio Kairos. Executive Producer is Kirsten Cluthe. Edited by Justin Thomas (Revoice Media). Engineered by Patrick Samaha. Recorded at Kensaltown East, NYC. Artwork by Mark Dowd. Theme music by Valley Lodge.

Follow Axe Lords @axelordspod for news, updates, and cool stuff.

Follow Joe ⁠@joebonamassa

As a Fender amp guy, I frequently cross paths with musicians and guitar players in all sorts of situations. What I enjoy most is fieldwork—setting up amps onstage or troubleshooting tubes, fuses, speakers, and rattling noises on the fly. Here are a couple of stories where I got the last-minute call to save the gig.

In 2013, organizers of the Kongsberg Jazzfestival in Norway reached out in urgent need of guitar amps for Robben Ford and Matt Schofield. I was thrilled—I knew I had the perfect amps for these blues aficionados. Though I had never seen Ford play live, I knew from reading interviews that he liked black panel Fenders. Schofield was more familiar to me. I’d caught him several times, always playing his SVL guitars through Two-Rock amps. I particularly remember one time he taped over the logo of a 4x12" Marshall speaker cabinet, probably because he didn’t want to be associated with the brand.

I loaded my car with my best Super Reverb, a silver panel Vibrolux Reverb, and a silver panel Deluxe Reverb as backup amps, both converted to black panel specs with modern upgraded speakers. The Vibrolux had a pair of 10" Weber 10A125s and the Deluxe a 12" Celestion Century Vintage, the very first guitar amp speaker with a neodymium magnet. Together with a custom pair of 6L6s, this amp was both lighter and twice as loud and punchy as a normal Deluxe Reverb.

For Matt, I borrowed my brother’s Two-Rock Custom Signature v3 and a 40 kg oak cabinet loaded with four heavy-duty Weber 10A150 and 10F150 speakers. It even had a cool Weber logo on the front. At soundcheck, I met up with Simon Law, Matt’s guitar tech and the founder of SVL Guitars. He was a bit unsure about the robustness of the original CTS speakers in the Super, but I assured him that they could take a beating.

We set up both the Super and Vibrolux for Robben and the Two-Rock for Matt on top of the huge Weber cabinet. I remember Matt spending a lot of time rotating the Two-Rock’s knobs to find his tone. Meanwhile, Robben didn’t even look at his amps before he struck a chord, and he was shocked by the loud volume! He walked back a few meters to dial down the level on both amps.

“The whole shop erupted when Kirk demoed a few Albert King licks—powerful bends, vibrato, and those unmistakable facial expressions to match.”

During the gig, I stood right in the line of fire of all the amps and enjoyed the show. Robben’s ES-335 sounded clean and articulate, and Matt had his typical saturated and fat single-coil neck-pickup Strat tone. They both sounded fabulous. It was great seeing them perform, and also meeting them before the gig.

A few years later, I was introduced to two of my all-time guitar heroes, Kirk Fletcher and Josh Smith. The meeting came via the talented Adam Douglas, who also lives in Norway. Adam came up with an idea to do a daytime jam session with Kirk and Josh in a guitar store. So I texted with the owner of Vintagegitar, a high-end boutique shop in Oslo, who immediately said yes. I lifted 15-20 different vintage Fender amps into my Fenderguru trailer and headed for town.

On the shop floor, we had nearly every Fender blackface amp in existence, plus a few great silver panels. Kirk played his flametop Les Paul while Josh had his regular black Chapin T-Bird. I plugged them into different amps and started turning knobs. Josh spent time with my 1966 Princeton Reverb, loaded with a custom '60s Jensen C10n speaker. Meanwhile, Kirk grabbed a Flying V hanging on the wall. I plugged him into a stock 1964 Twin Reverb with Oxford 12T6 speakers. With the volume between 4 and 5, the Twin was loud, and the Flying V's hot humbuckers filled the room with sustaining single notes.

The whole shop erupted when Kirk demoed a few Albert King licks—powerful bends, vibrato, and those unmistakable facial expressions to match. Goosebumps.

Kirk liked that Twin so much he asked to borrow it for his gig that night. A few songs from that October 2015 show at Herr Nilsen are documented on YouTube for anyone wanting to hear some serious blues guitar.

Finally, after 5 years of talking Fender amps for Premier Guitar, the time has come for me to say goodbye to all of you. I’d like to offer a huge thanks to all the readers and the professional, fun, and knowledgeful people at PG, in particular my editors Ted Drozdowski and Luke Ottenhof. I have really enjoyed working with you, and I hope my contributions have inspired older and newer generations to enjoy the classic Fender amps and to keep the legacy going.

Cloud Microphones has unveiled its new Cloudlifter Mini CL-25 compact mic preamp. Offering the same award-winning circuitry and performance specs as the original Cloudlifter CL-1, the Mini CL-25 is a custom engineering collaboration with Neutrik. Using standard 48-volt phantom power, the unit’s ultra-compact in-line design interfaces directly with dynamic, ribbon, and tube microphones to provide up to +25 dB of ultra-clean gain, and is the smallest and most portable Cloudlifter ever produced for studio, broadcast, and live sound professionals.

Plugging directly into microphones, preamps, mixers, stage boxes, and wall panels, the Mini CL-25 is built utilizing a custom Neutrik gold-plated XLR connector system. Employing hard-soldered, wire-free internal circuitry designed to meet the demands of thousands of insertion cycles, the device offers reliability within live and studio environments where daily hard use is the norm.

As a tool to achieve more clarity while reducing noise or coloration, the Mini CL-25 adds clean, transparent gain before your preamp using standard phantom power that isn’t passed along to the microphone. Along with cleaner gain, the unit lets users operate with lower preamp gain settings to better preserve clarity, detail, and authenticity. Resulting performance provides more of the actual microphone and less preamp coloration and artifacts, along with increased headroom.

Optimal for voice mics, dynamic mics, and low-output microphones, plus situations where protection for ribbon mics is desirable, the CL-25 will find itself completely at home in applications including studio recording, broadcast, location recording, podcasting, and live sound. Advantages within the latter category center around its compact form factor that won’t pull or stress microphone connectors, clear gain and natural frequency response (which helps reduce artifacts that cause feedback), easier EQ control from the mixing console, its ability to eliminate the need for an extra mic cable, and an external black finish that maintains a low visual profile onstage.

Designed using state-of-the-art multilayer technology and high-tech engineering, the streamlined miniaturization process at the heart of the Mini CL-25 brings the smallest footprint possible to the Cloudlifter universe, but guarantees that no sacrifices to either performance or audio quality are made along the way. The true sound of the source with all the attributes the Cloudlifter line has built its reputation upon remains totally uncompromised.

The Cloudlifter Mini CL-25 is now shipping and carries a street price of $149. For more information visit cloudmicrophones.com.

Spending quality time with the Silktone Expander is like getting lost in a garden maze in late spring. You might not always know where you are, but the sensory overload is so rich and intoxicating that you’ll forget you were trying to get anywhere specific in the first place. Using the Expander, a player encounters full, resonant boost, overdrive, and distortion tones that can sound great in the most straightforward applications. But there are also unusual gain flavors in abundance, ranging from exploding-5-watt-antique-amp textures, thrilling uncommon fuzz fare, and ghostly, smoky, fiery, in-between sounds that defy easy categorization but can drive a mixer, arranger, or songwriter’s inspiration to white-hot levels.

Getting the most out of the Expander’s, well, expansive tone vocabulary requires you to be realistic and honest about your relationship to strictly analog methods. There are no presets here. And while the Expander can cover textures you might otherwise assign to three or four gain devices with their own dedicated footswitches, you do all that here with a single footswitch, three knobs, and a toggle. So, tapping into the breadth of the Expander’s capabilities in performance takes confidence, and a creative mindset that allows for happy accidents. If your composing and performance style is more “roll-with-it” than surgical and uncompromising, the Silktone Expander opens doors that reveal unexpected surprises.

A Chameleon, An Individual

One of the trickiest things about reviewing the Expander and boiling it down to its essence is how hard it is to find equivalent sounds as a base for comparison. The germanium heart of the pedal is inspired by a Dallas Rangemaster, and some overdriven and fuzzy facets of its personality sound and behave like a germanium Fuzz Face. At other times it responded like my Jext Telez Selmer Buzz Tone clone running at 3 volts. Some of the Expander’s warm, fizzy drive tones also evoke console preamp-style pedals like the Hudson Broadcast. But on the flip side, I’d plug the Expander in alongside a favorite clean boost, sparkly overdrive, or preamp, and end up totally preferring its balance of clarity, detail, and energy.

If you find a combination this pedal sounds lousy with, let us know! We’re still looking.

How did Silktone craft a pedal that’s so many pedals in one? There are clues to Silktone founder Charles Henry’s intent. In addition to the Rangemaster influence, Henry gravitated toward the Shin-Ei FY-2 and FY-6 as well as the Roland Bee Baa—all fuzzes that speak through bold, often radical voices. Certainly, tones of that ilk live here. But there is much in the Expander that reflects the mindset of an amp builder—and Henry is a very creative one. In lay terms, the Expander’s circuit works like this: A JFET transistor that emphasizes rich, consonant, 2nd order harmonics makes up the first power stage. The second stage is Henry's riff on the germanium Rangemaster circuit. That is almost certainly the origin of many of the Expander’s hazier, fuzzier, but also more dynamically responsive tendencies. A JFET at the output stage effectively emulates the saturation that occurs in a real tube amplifier's first stage—probably a reason the Expander sounds great at low amp volumes. There’s nothing terribly complex going on here. But in practice you hear a balance more typical of a great amp: Warm when clean, full of overtone character when run at its limits, and responsive across a wide dynamic range and EQ spectrum.

It’s true that this breadth of sounds could be a challenge to manage for players accustomed to pedal presets. The Expander is a very hands-on pedal. But it must be said that the intuitive ease with which you can move between radically different sounds is impressive. The simple controls have great range, especially the tone or “choke” knob, which alone can recast a given output volume or gain level drastically. The choke knob can, in turn, be radically reshaped by the 3-position voice switch, which enables moves from a dark voicing at the left-most position, a neutral position in the center, and a bright setting at the right. Henry suggests that the dark voicing is best for high-gain sounds, and the bright switch for low-gain output. He’s right. But perhaps predictably, the Expander gave me many satisfying reasons to violate this guideline.

Equal Opportunity Expander

Though I tried, I really couldn’t find an amp and guitar pairing that wasn’t enhanced by the Expander. A Jaguar running through a hot, 15-watt EL84 amp at attenuated levels? Magic! An SG driving a Fender Reverb tank and a 50-watt Bassman? Double, extra-thrilling, super-loud magic! A Rickenbacker and Champ? That combo sounded ten times as big and fat, all at a volume that any soundman or engineer could love. I could go on. I threw Danelectros and Eko 12 strings at this pedal. Mixed it with other gain sources as divergent as Harmonic Percolators, Selmer Buzz Tone clones, Tube Screamers, Boss DS-1s and Vox Tone Benders. In every case the Expander was not just agreeable and accommodating but had real enhancements to lend. If you find a combination this pedal sounds lousy with, let us know! We’re still looking.

The Verdict

For all its understated, elegant design, the Silktone Expander is packed with sounds that not only bring a lifeless amp to life, but do so in ways distinctive enough to jump-start a stalled recording project or rescue a song from the doldrums. The straight-ahead, all-analog design means that presets aren’t coming to save you in a pinch. You’ll need to get crafty, be resourceful, and practice using the Expander. But it is incredibly forgiving, a willing co-pilot, and full of alternative tone treasures—particularly for players willing to explore and improvise. While $269 might seem a lot for a pedal this simple, the quality is tip-top, and it certainly makes several of my gain devices feel superfluous. If you have downsizing to do, the Silktone Expander, despite its name, is a beautiful solution that leaves you no less rich in tone options.

MGK—formerly known as Machine Gun Kelly—released his seventh studio record, Lost Americana, last August. When he took it out on tour, he hired two firebreathing fretboard masters, Justin Lyons and Sophie Lloyd, to knock his audiences dead. Ahead of their gig at Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena, PG’s Chris Kies met up with Lyons and Lloyd to get the lowdown on how they bring MGK’s music to life. Scope some of the highlights below.

Brought to you by D’Addario.

Make Your Mark

This PRS Mark Tremonti is one of Lyons’ current favorites, despite the black finish—typically, he’d never take a black guitar, but this one’s so good that it gets a pass.

Bow Down

Just before Christmas, Reverend sent over this Sensei model, along with a Roundhouse. Lyons, who’s in talks with the company to build a signature model, can’t put the Sensei down.

Justin Lyons’ Tone Master Rig

For their amp-free, in-ear monitor stage setup, Lyons loves the Fender Tone Master Pro unit, which lets him emulate his treasured Mesa/Boogie amps. Tack a TS-style boost in front and he’s in tone heaven. He also digs Mark Lettieri’s patch pack.

Kiesel Engine

Lloyd was Kiesel’s first female signature artist, and she brought a stable of them out with MGK. Lloyd’s models feature black limba bodies and walnut necks, with Kiesel Lithium pickups in the bridge position. Her signatures are unique because they include a Sustaniac in the neck position, which makes the guitar “ring out forever” and offers different octave options. Lloyd uses the kill switch on her guitars during the show for “big ending” moments. She runs her Kiesels with Ernie Ball Paradigm strings (.010–.046).

Sophie Lloyd’s Kemper Rig

Back home, Lloyd likes playing through a Neural Quad Cortex, but on this tour, she’s running a Kemper Profiler like the rest of the band. She was skeptical at first that it could replicate that magic of her favorite Diezel amp, but it does the job—and then some.

The rack backstage carries the Profiler brains, plus the Radial JX42 and Shure AD4Q units that handle Lloyd’s and Lyon’s signals.

Seymour Duncan, a leading manufacturer of guitar and bass pickups, effects pedals, and pedal amps, is proud to announce The 50th Anniversary Limited Edition JB / Jazz Humbucker Set is now available to order from seymourduncan.com and from authorized Seymour Duncan dealers.

Experience the true origin of the hot-rodded humbucker with the 50th Anniversary Limited Edition JB / Jazz Set. Built with historically accurate parts including butyrate bobbins and rough-cast magnets, this set faithfully replicates the earliest production models. Presented in retro silver packaging and limited to 2026 production only, this is a collectible piece of tone history.

• Authentic recreation of the original JB / Jazz humbuckers
• Limited-edition packaging inspired by early Seymour Duncan designs
• Features a commemorative 50th Anniversary logo on the bottom plate
• Includes butyrate bobbins crafted using our original 1970's mold and true to vintage design specifications
• Proven JB / Jazz versatility from articulate cleans to expressive rock gain
• Available for a limited time in 2026 only, making it a true collector’s item
• DC Resistance: Jazz 7.5k - JB 16.6k - Magnet: Rough Cast Alnico V
• Cable: 1c Braided - Long Leg Bottom Plate
• Available in traditional Black and Zebra

MAP pricing: $258.00

Half a century of legendary tone starts here. In 1976, Seymour Duncan officially launched the company that would revolutionize electric guitar sound, but the story began years earlier in a London workshop where Seymour crafted pickups for rock's most influential players. Among his greatest achievements was a revolutionary humbucker set that would become the foundation of countless iconic recordings. Now, as we celebrate 50 years of innovation and craftsmanship, we're honoring that legacy with something truly special: the 50th Anniversary Limited Edition JB / Jazz Humbucker Set.

These aren't just commemorative pickups. They're the benchmark combination that has defined versatile guitar tone for generations, now crafted with the exact vintage-correct specifications of our earliest production models. When the JB officially went into production, the basic recipe was already set, but those earliest models used butyrate bobbins, long-legged baseplates, single-conductor cable, maple spacers, and rough-cast Alnico V magnets. Over time, practical updates were added for consistency and flexibility, such as modern bobbin materials that better handle vacuum wax potting, precision-ground Alnico V magnets, and short legs. Today's standard production JB / Jazz delivers that same legendary tone with these modern refinements. This special 50th Anniversary set faithfully recreates the original vintage-correct component blueprint while preserving the familiar JB and Jazz voice players already trust, with the legendary clarity and dynamics that earned the combo its status as the industry standard. Whether you're tracking sessions at home or covering everything from blues to hard rock at the club, this is the proven tone that does it all without compromise.

For serious players ready to finish their number one guitar, this is your moment. The JB / Jazz combination remains one of our best-selling humbucker sets because it simply works: rich harmonics, singing sustain, articulate clarity, and everything from warm neck cleans to aggressive bridge drive in one definitive package. Now you can own this iconic pairing in its most collectible form, built exactly as Seymour crafted them in our earliest years. The set arrives in limited edition silver packaging that echoes our original artwork from the company's founding era, while the bottom plate bears our commemorative 50th Anniversary logo. Available exclusively during 2026, this limited production run ensures you're not just upgrading your guitar; you're acquiring a rare celebration of 50 years of uncompromising excellence. Secure this definitive heritage piece for your instrument and connect to 50 years of Seymour Duncan legacy.