Guitar.com

$2,499/£2,499, martinguitar.com

When you think about a Martin guitar, you probably have a pretty set image in your head. Very likely, you’re imagining a classic square-shouldered dreadnought guitar with a natural top and dark-stained back and sides. And that’s fair enough: Martin invented the dreadnought after all, and as such they are more than entitled to lay claim to this most iconic and imitated guitar configurations.

• READ MORE: Martin 00-10E Retro Joe Bonamassa review: “Forget the name on the label, this is a great guitar”

The thing about being iconic however, is that it’s not exactly something that stands out from the crowd. I could happily fill the rest of the word count of this review listing the names of legendary artists of literally every genre imaginable who have at one time or another sat down with a natural-finished Martin on their laps and made brilliant music.

For a lot of us, that’s part of the appeal – but clearly not everyone feels that way. If you’ve been paying attention to festival stages over the last few years, you’ll have noticed that artists – especially younger ones – seem to want their acoustic guitars to deviate from the norm. Where once practically anyone who was anyone would stride out with a natural-topped acoustic, increasingly we’re seeing painted tops and Gibson-adjacent body shapes favoured over the old faithfuls.

Martin has clearly noticed too, as its recently revamped 16 Series attests. This new range has brought a bunch of rather unconventional-for-Martin shapes to the party – including a slope-shouldered dread, a jumbo and the 00 you see here. Even more striking, however, are the tops – which in what must be a first for the brand, aren’t even available in natural finishes. Bright reds, blues, blacks and whites abound here – this is not your grandaddy’s Martin.

What is it?

The 16 Series has been around since the 1980s, and in that time the range has existed to offer something a little different – the focus was always on providing instruments that catered to evolving player needs and tried something a bit different. The old D-16E for example, had a shallower body depth than standard, to make it a more comfortable player, while the 16 series was also the place where Martin’s controversial Streetmaster factory-worn shade top first arrived – it has long been a place where the brand has felt comfortable taking big swings.

The new 00L-16E certainly feels like a bigger swing than most however. Fundamentally, it’s a 14-fret sloped shoulder guitar, and it’s quite impossible to continue in this review without mentioning the Gibson-shaped elephant in the room. In contrast to say, the Joe Bonamassa 00 that we featured recently, the slope-shouldered design is very, very familiar to fans of Gibson’s 1930s small-bodied classic.

Of course, Gibson doesn’t own the exclusive rights to this shape any more than Martin does the dreadnought or auditorium. And, like the slope-shouldered DSS-16E, this is far from the first time that Martin has made guitars with this body shape in its long history. All that being said, it does make you do a double-take when you pair that headstock with that body – it’s a bit like seeing Lebron in a Phillies jersey… it doesn’t look bad per se, but it is a little jarring.

On closer inspection however, there’s plenty to differentiate it from an L-00. For starters, the neck has a 14th fret join and a 24.9” scale length – slightly longer than the 24.75” of a Gibson – which should make for an intimate but not cramped playing experience.

It also sports Martin’s High Performance Taper neck, which means a roomy 1.75” at the nut, while my calipers register a roomier 2.13” at the 12th fret. The neck profile is Martin’s modified low-oval type, which means it has a little more shoulder than a vintage V-shape, with a little more general thickness all round.

In terms of build, we’re getting a spruce top with mahogany back and sides (another contrast to an L-00), with an ebony bridge and fingerboard. The neck itself is our old friend “select hardwood” – Martin uses this catch-all term to cover its bases around wood supply chain issues, and in practice that means it’s usually either tropical mahogany or Spanish cedar. The grain on this one looks like mahogany to me, but you will get whatever was available on the day the guitar was made!

The most striking thing about these new 16 Series guitars are the finishes. For the 00L-16E, you can choose between the shade topped 1935 Burst, or one of two solid colours – Black Smoke and this Blue Denim. This isn’t the first blue Martin guitar – Eric Clapton had a limited-run ‘Jersey Blues’ model a while back – but it is still quite an unusual colour to see on an acoustic. Interestingly, both of the solid colours are not really solid at all – they’re semi-transparent, allowing you to see the full grain pattern beneath the stain, at least up close. This does also head off the oft-repeated accusation that a painted top was just a convenient way to hide inferior quality wood – there’s no hiding place here.

The tops are all gloss-finished, which makes the decision to make the neck and sides (which are stained dark) in matt slightly confusing. I could understand doing the neck in satin from a playability perspective, but it does make the guitar look a little cheap from behind.

Elsewhere it’s all pretty restrained and stripped back – the binding is simple white plastic with a multi-stripe rosette, bridge pins are black plastic, while at the other end you’ll find a TUSQ nut and simple abalone dots.

Plugged in sounds are courtesy of a trusty Baggs Element system, and you also get Martin’s softshell case into the bargain – a reassuringly padded, semi-rigid affair that will protect your guitar from everyday bumps and thumps, but isn’t the sort of thing you’d want to check at an airport or toss into the back of a van with a load of other gear.

Build Quality and Playability

Talking about ‘value’ when you’re dealing with a $2,499 guitar seems slightly churlish in this economy, but there’s no escaping the reality that these are the cheapest spruce-topped guitars that Martin currently makes in Nazareth, Pa. The only cheaper USA-made Martins are the all-mahogany 15 and 17 series, and you’ll need to stump up another 100 bucks to get an all-satin Standard Series D-18, for example.

All of which is to say that efficiencies have had to be made to get a guitar with this level of spec and materials made in the USA for this price, but pleasingly very few of them appear to be reflected in the build. On the outside, that Blue Denim finish had better be done well given how eye-catching it is, and it has a nicely even stain across the top, one that nicely showcases the spruce grain underneath. The satin-finished neck and headstock are equally nicely applied, and feel smooth and comfortable to the touch – there’s no stickiness here.

The neck has a nice middle-ground feel – it’s not so chunky that you’re going to struggle to grip it with smaller hands, but it doesn’t disappear in the way that some vintage Martin V-neck does either. It’s supportive in the right areas.

The body is compact without feeling too toy-like, even for someone as big as me, but it still feels very accessible. The slope-shouldered dimensions definitely help in this regard, with the svelte upper section and narrow waist giving way to a more substantive lower bout.

Peeking inside, and it’s all very neat and tidy – the spruce scalloped X-bracing and purfling is expertly cut and installed with no excess glue or any rough bits.

Sounds

I’m always pleasantly surprised by the grunt and projection that a small-bodied Martin can present in the right circumstances. I will forever remember the speed at which my jaw hit the floor when I strummed Joan Baez’s 1880 Martin 0-40 in the Nazareth museum a few years ago – it was an absolute canon of a guitar.

Maybe this guitar will sound similarly life-changing when it has had 140-plus years to age, but there’s still plenty to be impressed about this little guy even in its earliest knockings out of the Martin factory.

Played with pick or fingers, it reveals a surprisingly versatile sonic character – more so than most small-bodied Martins I’ve experienced. It’s warm, with a focused mid-ranged and clear top-end, a fact that is no doubt helped by the mahogany back and sides – making it a rather charming and intimate strummer, but one that can really snarl if you dig in and give it some bluesy lines to work with.

Given my previous comments above, I wouldn’t say that I’m surprised by the projection on offer here, but it is still notable. While it’s not going to shout above a band without plugging in, it’s pokey and muscular in a way that is extremely enjoyable.

If you do need to shout over a band, however, the Baggs Element unit is a well-travelled performer. It’s simple and sounds good – avoiding any unpleasant piezo quack while giving a perfectly cromulent impersonation of the unplugged sound. It’s not going to change your life, but anyone expecting that from a plugged-in acoustic sound at this point is probably kidding themselves.

Should I buy one?

Trying to work out the sort of person that might buy this guitar is an interesting conundrum. Because by and large, my impression of the average Martin customer is someone who is drawn in by the classic looks and unimpeachable heritage of the brand and its instruments. That’s not to say that Martin hasn’t been actively trying to innovate and try new things over the last 100-odd years, often with rather impressive results, but the perception is there.

The question for many of these new 16 Series guitars is, ‘Why would you buy this over a Gibson?’ – a brand for whom the slope-shouldered thing is much more familiar in the eyes of most musicians – and it’s one I’ve been wrestling with myself.

Visually, these guitars stand out in ways that may or may not pique your interest. If you want a Martin that stands out from the rank and file, there’s no better option than this – but that limited finish palette is unquestionably going to alienate a lot of players who don’t want their guitars to present in primary colours.

In terms of sonics and playability, the 00L-16E is a much easier sell. Its interesting blend of Martin and Gibson features makes it an interesting greatest hits package of smaller-bodied American acoustics, with projection, articulation and versatility that could make it a perfect songwriter’s guitar. It’s this, much more than the garish finish, that makes the 00L-16E a worthy and interesting new addition to the Martin canon, whatever colour it happens to be in.

Alternatives

Gibson’s L-00 Century ($2,299) – this is a fine alternative to the 00L-16E. It’s a tried and true Gibson classic for a reason, though the 12-fret configuration does make it a more compact playing experience.

Taylor Ben Harper Gold Label 512e ($2,999) – Taylor has always known a thing or two about making great small-bodied guitars, but the new signature model is a lovely vintage-vibed bit of kit that has pretty unique looks itself.

Martin 0-17 Standard ($2,399) – all-mahogany Martins are a bit of a cheat code to getting wonderfully expressive Nazareth-made guitars for a bit less money than the spruce-topped versions, and this 0-style instrument is a nice compact but not too compact option.

Specs

• Model name: Martin 00L-16E
• Price: $2,499/£2,499
• Type: 14-fret slope-shouldered 00
• Top: Spruce
• Back & Sides: Mahogany
• Neck: Select hardwood
• Fingerboard: Ebony w/ abalone dots
• Scale length: 24.9″ (632mm)
• Nut width (1st fret): 1.75” (45.45mm)
• Neck depth (1st fret): 19mm (0.75″)
• Neck profile: Modified Low Oval
• Body depth: 100mm (3.94″)
• Bridge: Ebony w/ black plastic pins
• Nut: TUSQ
• Tuners: Martin nickel open-gear
• Electronics: Baggs Element
• Weight: 1.7kg (3.7lb)
• Finish: Blue Denim gloss top, satin mahogany-stain back, sides & neck
• Alternative finishes: Black Smoke, 1935 Burst
• Extras: Martin soft shell gigbag

The post Martin 00L-16E review: “this is not your grandaddy’s Martin” appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

Black Friday deals are already rolling out across Sweetwater this year, and we’ve found some of the best savings on guitar gear to save you time.

You can save on brands like Positive Grid, BOSS and Line 6 right now through to the end of December 2026.

• READ MORE: Laney Prism-Mini review – a sub-£100 desktop amp with sounds that’ll rival your main rig

Positive Grid deals

A huge load of Positive Grid products are reduced right now on Sweetwater. You can get $138 off the Spark LIVE combo amp and PA system, $135 off the Reactor 100-watt combo amp, and also save on its smaller goodies like the Spark GO ($50 off) and Spark NEO ($75 off).

Over $100 off IK Multimedia’s TONEX modeller

IK Multimedia’s TONEX modeller is now $299.99, saving you $130. This compact unit takes the IK Multimedia TONEX ecosystem and offers a portable, computer-free way to access your TONEX Tone Model library, with 150 preset slots to store your favourite amplifiers, cabinets, pedals, and full-size rig models.

Get $85 off the BOSS ME-90 multi-effects pedal

Now $299.99, the BOSS ME-90 is described by Sweetwater as “tone-packed”, with 11 onboard AIRD amp models, 60 flagship-grade effects, a dedicated amp section, and seven simultaneous effects categories. The ME-90 also supplies eight multifunction footswitches and an expression pedal for ease of control on the fly.

Get $100 of the Line 6 POD Go

Now $499.99, the Line 6 POD Go combines traditional controls with a large colour LCD display for reliable control over amps, stomps, and cabs. Inside the POD Go, users can access more than 270 Helix and legacy models of classic gear loved across the ages.

More great pedal deals

You can also save on brands like JHS, Warm Audio and Electro-Harmonix right now at Sweetwater. The EHX Octavix is now $79.99, while the JHS Good Vibrations chorus/vibrato pedal is now $199, and Warm Audio’s Fluff Drive is now $124.

For all these deals and more, visit Sweetwater’s Black Friday sale.

The post We’ve found some of the best early Black Friday gear deals at Sweetwater so you don’t have to appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

With Johnny Marr recently auctioning off over 100 if his instruments, it auctioneers have been inspired. A piece of Eric Clapton history is currently being flogged, meaning anyone could get their paws on one of the most pivotal rigs of his career – specifically his exact 1988 Fender Custom Shop Stratocaster and Soldano SLO-100 stack that he played with during Cream’s 1993 induction to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Hosted by ANALOGr, Clapton’s stack and guitar is estimated to sell for up to $3,000,000 at auction. It’s a pretty penny, but it’ll get you a grand piece of Slowhands history; the rig was Clapton’s preferred set up between 1989 and 1939, and it bears plenty of character from its time on the road.

• EDITOR’S PICK: Joe Satriani picks his favourite solo he’s ever laid down

The Strat served as Clapton’s very first signature Strat, and it was certainly well loved. From a burn mark capturing Clapton’s nicotine-addled era, a time when the rocker secured cigarettes beneath the strings on his headstock, to worn paint on the back of its body, the Strat has its fair share of battle scars. “I think this is the last smoking guitar,” Lee Dixon, Clapton’s personal Guitar Tech, tells ANALOGr, alluding to the fact Clapton gave up smoking in 1993.

Regardless of its imperfections, it should still sound the part; designed by Fender Custom Shop’s founder and Master Builder Mike Stevens, the axe has trio of Lace Sensor single-coil pickups, and an onboard boost. “This to me is one of the killer guitars,” Dixon explains. “It was played an awful lot through the early ’90s. It has no serial number on it because it’s the first [black] one, almost like a prototype. It was Eric’s suggestion at the time; he said we should really have a black one in the range. So this is the first officially sanctioned black [EC Signature] Strat.”

As for the sights this Strat has seen, the list is seemingly endless. It’s performed at the Royal Albert Hall with Cream, a 1991 Japanese tour supporting The Beatles’ George Harrison, and it even graced the stage at Madison Square Garden during Bob Dylan’s 30th Anniversary Concert in 1992.

Back in 2004, this exact Strat sold for $231,500 – but this auction listing also comes with Clapton’s Soldano SLO-100 stack (including a slanted Soldano 4×12, and a straight 4×12) which could explain the higher estimated price. It also comes with a few extra goodies, like an Eric Clapton pick, and a vinyl, and a signed booklet from the 2004 Christie’s auction.

For more information, head to ANALOGr.

The post The rig Eric Clapton played during Cream’s induction to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is up for auction appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

Both with successful multi-decade careers under their belts, today’s a big day for Joe Satriani and Steve Vai, as it marks the first time the pair have ever released a collaborative full-length album.

Yep, The Sea of Emotion has officially arrived via earMUSIC, and brings a cornucopia of six-string virtuosity and dizzying leads from two of the most prominent shredders in the game, so if you’re in any way guitar-inclined, you need to add this to your weekend listening list.

• EDITOR’S PICK: Joe Satriani picks his favourite solo he’s ever laid down

Of course, one reason it’s so surprising this album took the pair so long is how far back their professional relationship actually goes. In fact, Vai was once a student of Satriani, and began receiving lessons from him all the way back in 1973 when he was just 13 years old, and Satch was only 17.

Now 66 and 70 respectively, it’s been decades since their paths first crossed, and they’ve worked together on numerous occasions on various solo projects and on the famous G3 tours – which featured Satch and a rotating lineup of virtuoso guitarists – but it’s taken over 50 years for them to commit to a full album together.

And the opportunity arose following the most recent G3 reunion tour in early 2024, when both realised they had a gap in their forthcoming schedules. Initially, the pair had the idea to record a single track, but after Satch sent Vai two song ideas, they committed to a full album instead.

“We’ve been planning this since 1973!” Vai jokes. “Just unconsciously.”

“The biggest surprise was that we write in completely different ways,” Satriani adds. “And that’s what made the project so fun and interesting.”

The album features a selection of originals, plus a reimagining of Dancing, a song by Italian singer and pianist Paolo Conte.

Perhaps most notably, the LP’s closing track, the final part of an epic trilogy, The Sea of Emotion, opens with a vintage reel-to-reel recording from one of Steve Vai’s early lessons with Joe Satriani, bringing their professional relationship full circle.

“It illustrates just how far we’ve come,” Satriani says.“We’re these two kids who haven’t found our sound yet, but we’ve got enthusiasm. We’re chasing something, and we’re determined.”

“It’s a beautiful coming together of me and my friend in a very intimate musical way,” says Vai. “That was the reason we did the record.”

Produced with keyboardist Eric Caudieux, the album also features contributions from drummers Gregg Bissonette, Jeremy Colson, Kenny Aronoff, Matt Chamberlain and Mike Mangini, plus bassists Billy Sheehan, Bryan Beller, Philip Bynoe, Matt Bissonette, Marco Mendoza and Henrik Linder.

SATCHVAI’s new album, The Sea of Emotion, is out now. Listen below:

The post If you have any respect for guitar playing, you need to listen to Joe Satriani and Steve Vai’s new album appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

$249/£199, orangeamps.com

Despite the name, the Orange Baby Terror is not a horrifying infantile reincarnation of the current US president, born through mysterious science in order to circumvent term limits and rule over the blasted nuclear wastelands of 2028. It is, in fact, a new amplifier from Orange, one that combines the versatility of the Baby range with the small format of a Micro Terror. Orange has previous for making excellent little lunchbox heads that punch well above their weight classes – will this be any different?

• READ MORE: Boss EX-4 Effects Expander review – a force multiplier for compact pedalboards

What is it?

The Terror series dates back to 2007, and under it Orange launched a variety of affordable, all-metal lunchbox heads, starting with the Tiny Terror – there’s an argument to be made that without the Terror, lunchbox heads wouldn’t even be a thing in the guitar amp market.

The Baby Terror is best viewed as a successor to the smallest in the range, the Micro Terror, and at 16.5cm by 14cm by 10cm is almost exactly the same size. The biggest changes are a more complex control panel (with more than one knob for EQ!) and an added effects loop. This comes at the cost of the tube preamp, as the Baby Terror is now fully solid-state.

This tubeless operation and the more fully featured back panel are the headline imports from the Baby range – what we don’t get is the same power rating. Those amps are somewhat defined by their 100-watt class AB power amps, but here we’re working with the same 20 watts as the Micro.

But hey, 20 watts can still be more than loud enough, and the expanded controls and I/O do, on paper, make this far more flexible than the Micro’s one-knob tone control and barebones connectivity. So, let’s see what Orange has packed us for lunch.

Build quality and usability

From a build quality perspective, it’s pretty hard to fault the Baby Terror. It has a solid metal chassis and has a little bit more of a reassuring heft – 1.5 kilos compared to the Micro’s 850 grams. It’s still extremely light, all things considered, but the Baby Terror perhaps feels a little more sure of itself as an object. I’ve watched a punk band play with a Micro Terror on full-blast, and during the first song, the head walked backwards across its cabinet, chucking it into the mess of cables behind. That feels a little less likely here.

New for the Baby is that more densely-populated back panel, which offers an effects loop, a dry, direct line-out from the preamp, and a footswitch jack to switch between two pre-set master volume levels. It’s a little crowded thanks to the small size, perhaps, but it’s great to have this much flexibility in setup – particularly if you want to cleanly use reverbs and delays alongside the distortion from the preamp.

And speaking of crowded, the front panel controls are also far busier than the Micro – luckily not to the point where they’re actually difficult to turn, and perhaps smartly Orange has opted for pedal-style indented knobs rather than its in-house rounded ones. The extra controls are all pretty self-explanatory, with a three-band EQ, gain and presence joining the aforementioned dual volume controls. The final touch is the ‘Tubby’ switch, which acts as a low-end boost.

Sounds

Upon plugging in to everything set to noon, I’m met with a fairly loud, slightly overdriven sound. It’s perhaps cleaner than you might expect, given Orange’s propensity for raucous drive tones. But it’s soon clear that this amp retains the surprising versatility that other single-channel Oranges can conjure, even more so now that you have a full EQ section and presence control to further adjust things.

The gain control has a very impactful sweep, and three almost-distinct ‘zones’ that it suddenly enters as you turn it. Below 40 per cent is sparklingly clean, between 40 and 60 per cent is where you’ll find edge-of-breakup morphing into bluesy overdrive, and above 70 per cent you’re in far fuzzier territory.

The first zone can be a little thin, but this is helped by engaging the Tubby switch to keep things round and Fendery, rather than anaemic and dry. The middle zone is perhaps more exciting for a clean sound, though, it allows for your playing dynamics to dance across that ever-enticing edge of breakup.

At the fully-dimed end of things, you don’t get the same wall of thick, overblown doominess that something like the OR15 will give you when you max the gain knob, but it is still a pretty pleasing sound. It’s worth noting that as soon as I enter high gain territory, that Tubby switch gets turned off. On the cleans it adds a nice bit of low-end depth, but I find it far more flubby than tubby in gainier territory. The sound, though, is still very pleasing – with a classic Orange throatiness in the midrange that will just make you want to start learning every single C#-era Black Sabbath riff.

The downside is that you don’t get true clean-to-dirty channel switching – if you want to do that across a song or a set, you’re going to need to set the amp clean and get your dirt tones with pedals. Doing this, I find that ragged rock sounds and scuzzy doom sounds are more than achievable with some classic Orange pairings like Big Muffs and RATs. They’re not my favourite tones that I’ve heard from an Orange solid-state head – but for £199, they’re hard to be too negative about.

Where things do fall a little short is on the tighter, chuggy and modern side of things. It’s not a sound the amp can achieve on its own, as the gain tops out at Sabbathian stoner levels. And sadly, setting the Baby Terror to medium gain and boosting it with a TS-style pedal doesn’t get the best results either – with a bit too much high-end fizz, and a low-end that’s hard to clean up even without the Tubby switch engaged. This is a bit of a shame, but perhaps a less responsive and less boostable front end is the price we’ve paid here for going all solid-state.

What does help expand out the possible sounds is the effects loop. It’s a cool feature to see on a head this cheap, and obviously the more ambient-minded players will welcome the more flexible reverb and delay pedal setups it allows. The other benefit is that you’re no longer chained to the preamp that’s in here – if you wanted to run a preamp pedal or a modeller straight into the power amp here, you could – which is extra good news for giggers on a budget, given the upcoming avalanche of affordable NAM A2-capable modellers.

Speaking of gigging, a quick word on volume – this thing is loud, with a maximum volume that’ll be quite antisocial at home unless you live in the woods, and even then you’ll probably deafen a few squirrels. But that being said, it doesn’t quite match the kind of low-end impact you can get from something like the main Baby range or the Super Crush. It’ll likely be enough for most small gigs, as long as you’re not relying on your cab’s volume alone – and similarly, unless your drummer hits extremely hard, will be more than loud enough for practice rooms. Another gigging bonus is that footswitchable volume – for rock sets where the only effect you’ll need is a solo boost, all you’ll need is that footswitch.

One extra consideration is that the line-out is effectively just a balanced version of the preamp send – there’s no cab sim here. Having heard the analogue cab sim on the Super Crush, that’s not really a huge loss, but keep in mind it’s not quite viable as a straight-to-desk thing in a live situation.

This dry line-out also replaces the headphone jack that the Micro Terror had. Thanks to Positive Grid, the floodgates have opened for a bunch of digitally-driven mini practice amplifiers, and Orange seems totally uninterested in making this kind of amp. And so binning off the headphone jack seems to be making the assumption that you’ll use one of the many other far more flexible solutions for all-in-one coffee table practice – and it’s a fair assumption.

Should I buy one?

There’s a reason the first Micro Terror was such a hit. It weighs as much as a loaf of bread, costs less than your average boutique pedal, and can fit into even the most fashionably tiny backpacks – all while still kicking out Orange tones at very respectable volumes. The Baby Terror commits to all of these good points with aplomb, and for many, the added effects loop will be worth the price of admission alone.

Of course, it is not as high-fidelity, tonally, as it could be. The low end can be a little hard to manage, and the midrange throatiness won’t be for everyone. But that’s just Orange being true to the Orange of it all – there are plenty of options if you want a more modern sound and digitally-driven flexibility. It’s great to see Orange stick to its loud-as-hell, analogue-as-possible character and not just sound like everyone else. This, ultimately, is an amp with ‘Terror’ in its name, and its nature.

Overall, it’s not that much pricier than the original Micro, and it’s a good deal more flexible, so, really, if you are walking to every gig, don’t need the earth-shaking power of a full 100 watts in your band and like that more raucous Orange approach, then it’s a very viable option

Alternatives

There are, of course, a good few different options for amps in this price range depending on what you need. The original Micro Terror ($159/£139) is great if you don’t care about an effects loop, and you just want a 12AX7 to abuse with a fuzz pedal. If you want a little bit more of a classically chuggy sound, Laney makes its own range of affordable-but-punchy solid-state heads – try the Ironheart Foundry Series IRF Leadtop ($299.99/£149.99) for size. If you do want the classic Orange sound from a portable, flexible solid state head but 20 watts feels a little dinky, I’d recommend the Tour Baby 100 – although it is a little over twice the price at $599/£459.

If your reasoning for wanting a wee little amp like this for home usage rather than gigging convenience, something like the Blackstar Beam Mini ($229/£169), Positive Grid Spark Go ($99/£95) or Spark Mini ($199/£199) will be far more flexible in terms of playing along to tracks and headphone connectivity.

The post Orange Baby Terror review: a minuscule lunchbox head that packs classic Orange punch appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

Ad feature with Taylor Guitars

For decades now, Taylor Guitars has been helping musicians sound better, while keeping things compact. After all, when Bob Taylor designed the Grand Auditorium body shape back in 1994, part of what made it so revolutionary was the fact that it was a much smaller-bodied guitar than the dreadnoughts and jumbos that had dominated most of the recent past of acoustic guitar – and yet it still felt every bit the grown-up guitar in both tone and feel. 

Over the following 30-plus years, Taylor has continued to make an art form out of smaller-bodied instruments – whether that’s the Baby Taylor or the wildly popular GS Mini – but there’s another small-bodied Taylor icon that deserves its moment in the sun. And the latest additions to Taylor’s game-changing Next Generation collection are doing just that. 

The Grand Concert is Taylor’s smallest full-scale body shape, but one that has earned a legion of dedicated fans who appreciate its inviting, responsive feel, and impressively articulate voice. When Ben Harper partnered with Taylor to release his Gold Label signature model earlier this year, it was the compact dimensions of the Grand Concert that he used as the basis. 

Now, the Next Generation Grand Concert models bring a fresh and exciting new character to this small-bodied gem – and in the brand new 12-fret 512ce and K22ce, you might just have found the ultimate do-it-all instrument. 

Versatile, Compact, Inspiring

The 12-fret version of the Grand Concert is an unusual guitar in the Taylor catalogue, but it’s one that should be of real interest to players of all stripes. For starters, the 12-fret configuration is a perfect partner to the smaller body dimensions of a GC guitar – it makes what was already an ergonomically inviting and comfortable instrument even more so. 

Anyone who has spent a lot of time with a parlor-style instrument will know that the intimate dimensions of a 12-fret small-bodied instrument are compelling regardless of your frame. That being said, if you’re a smaller player, the compact experience of a 12-fret Grand Concert guitar is something you truly need to experience – with the shorter neck making this already bijou instrument even more comfortable and natural for those with smaller hands. 

But it’s not all about the accessible playing experience – the 12-fret Grand Concert models also offer tonal benefits by the bucketful. With a lush, warm voice that offers bags of rich midrange character – these guitars are compelling and sonically propositions in both of the stunning wood choices available. 

The 512ce sports solid mahogany back and sides to present a punchy, focused midrange character with a dry, woody quality. It pairs beautifully with the Western Red cedar top to add a warm attack and remarkable sensitivity – your notes will bloom with depth, sweetness and clarity. 

If you opt for the K22ce, you’ll be treated to Select-grade Hawaiian koa for the top, back and sides, producing an exceptionally articulate and rich midrange, and plenty of open-string resonance. Despite its small size, the properties inherent in the koa also give the guitar a charming low-end character – one that is only going to improve in terms of warmth and depth as the wood matures over its life. 

Next Gen Quality

Of course the most important and exciting thing about the K22e and 512ce is that they are part of Taylor’s revolutionary new Next Generation programme, which is gradually overhauling the brand’s core line with a variety of new innovations that enhance the guitar’s playability, sound and ease of maintenance. 

First among these is the new Scalloped V-Class bracing. This evolution of Andy Powers’ revolutionary V-Class bracing system offers a remarkable level of volume, sustain and pitch accuracy all the way up the neck – meaning that you can take full advantage of the guitar’s Venetian cutaway while still remaining perfectly in-tune and clear. The Scalloped version takes things further still, unlocking even greater volume and resonance, while preserving best-in-class intonation. 

Another innovation at the heart of these Next Generation guitars is the Action Control Neck – offering not only better down, but much easier long-term maintenance of your guitar. The ACN’s long-tenon joint adds warmth and depth to the overall sound of the 512ce and K22ce, but that’s not all. The ACN’s patented height-adjustment system means that you can alter the action of your guitar in seconds using just a hand tool – meaning that these guitars can adapt to your playing style as you evolve as a player. 

Finally, the new Claria pickup system makes plugging in and sounding great easier and more consistent than ever before. Designed with input from artists on every stage, the Claria utilises a reimagined piezo pickup to deliver clear, versatile acoustic tone every night, without hassle and fuss. 

Taylor’s Next Generation guitars are already capturing the creative imaginations of musicians from across the musical spectrum, and the new 512ce and K22ce guitars open up this world to more players than ever before. 

With their compact Grand Concert body shapes and shorter 12-fret necks, these are the most intimate Next Generation guitars yet. But they bring the full benefits of the range’s innovations to instruments that are perfect for musicians who cherish the way a small-bodied instrument can unlock your creativity both as a performer and a songwriter. 

Small can be beautiful, as many artists have proven – but with the Next Generation 12-fret Grand Concert guitars, there are no compromises in playability, sound and versatility. All you need is a song.

Find out more about the 512ce and K22ce at taylorguitars.com

The post Small is beautiful: why Taylor’s 12-fret Next Generation guitars are the ultimate player’s guitars appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

Back in September, Nene Royal won this year’s America’s Got Talent with a showstopping performance of The White Stripes’ Seven Nation Army. But the 16-year-old guitarist’s journey to the grand prize was defined by her ability to inject personality into classic tracks, from her palm-muted hard-rock take on The Cranberries’ Zombie to a gold-buzzer winning performance of Soundgarden’s Black Hole Sun.

In a new interview with Guitar.com, Royal explains that every artist should put their own spin on a track, because “surprise” is an artist’s ultimate weapon. “Find your style,” she says. “You don’t have to copy another person; if you copy, your performance will look weird and uncomfortable.”

If an artist believes in their own unique sound, the confidence will follow. Having cut her teeth busking at Thailand’s Naka Market since the age of nine, Royal insists that finding her own sound and committing to it helped her mature as an artist. “Even if it’s a small stage, keep doing it,” she insists. “It makes you more confident. Then, you won’t be shy [on a bigger stage].”

• READ MORE: “I’m going to play in front of how many? 40,000?!”: America’s Got Talent winner Nene Royal on being invited to open for Avenged Sevenfold

In fact, this confidence has quickly caught the attention of some of Royal’s very own heroes. After winning AGT, Royal told Entertainment Weekly that her ultimate goal would be “sharing a stage with the bands that inspire me, like Avenged Sevenfold or Metallica” – and a month later, she was supporting Avenged Sevenfold, performing with her beloved 1978 Ibanez MC300 for 40,000 punters in Singapore’s Indoor Stadium.

“At [Avenge Sevenfold’s] Bangkok concert, they wanted to meet me,” Royal tells us at Guitar.com. “I was shocked. Backstage I met M. Shadows, Johnny Christ and Zacky Vengeance. It’s crazy to think I started at a night market in Phuket and now I’m opening for my favourite band.”

Alongside her support slot, the guitarist also joined Avenged Sevenfold on stage for Bat Country and Unholy Confessions. In her Guitar.com interview, she emphasises the band’s importance to her: “I really want to put my own energy into the way I play, but I’m inspired by Synyster Gates. I love harmonic minor, pentatonic scales, sweeping… My biggest influences are Avenged Sevenfold and System Of A Down.”

Moving forward, Royal’s goals are on writing more music and fine-tuning her personal style. Her favourite band is rallying behind her, and so are countless market customers who have caught her performing over the years – just look on any Facebook post or YouTube video from her performing, and the support is clear.

“The first time we saw Nene and the Ozone band [featuring her brothers] performing there she was about 9 years old the drummer around 7 years,” one Facebook comment reads. “Even then they were amazing and we’ve seen Nene perform every year [since]… I said three years ago that this girl is gonna make it big. This January when we visited there was no question about it. She is absolutely incredible and so full of charm as well…”

“They say practice makes good and this is just the way it is… But if you’re born with the genetic miracle fingers and musical feelings that Nene has, true musical wonders will happen!”

The post “Find your style”: How America’s Got Talent winner Nene Royal put personality into her playing – and it earned her a support slot with Avenged Sevenfold appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

Rush just announced a residency at the Las Vegas Sphere.

Spanning five dates in May 2027, the Elevate From the Norm residency will see veterans Alex Lifeson and Geddy Lee – with drummer Anika Nilles in tow – play a set of “fan favourites and greatest hits from across their catalogue”, while celebrating the life and legacy of the band’s late drummer Neil Peart.

Specifically, the dates for the residency are May 21, 23, 26, 28 and 30. The residency is set to commence just a month after Rush wrap up their much-hyped Fifty Something global tour.

• EDITOR’S PICK: Alex Lifeson explains why he’s “fallen in love” with touring again

Fans will have a number of opportunities to grab tickets early in presale events. Members of the band’s Rush Backstage online store and subscribers to their newsletter will get an exclusive two-hour window to purchase VIP and Travel packages starting Friday, 6 November from 10AM PT.

Artist Presale begins Wednesday, 11 November from 10AM PT, while fans who register via Seated will receive a unique presale code granting early access to tickets. General onsale is scheduled to begin Friday, 13 November from 10AM PT.

“When I first heard of Sphere, I thought to myself, ‘Wow, what a shame that Rush is no longer touring, because this venue sounds tailor made for the kind of visual attitude with which we have always designed our shows,’” says Geddy Lee. 

“Normally we spend months designing the visual effects for our shows and this scenario seemed like the cherry on top of the ice cream for our design team. But life is nothing if not surprising and now, here we are, living and touring in the present tense and we are able to make that particular dream come true. 

“We are presently working hard to expand our touring concepts and concoct some new madness to suit this incredible venue and musically perform the kind of show we’ve been doing in some of our ‘one-off’ cities. Meaning playing all of 2112 and all of Moving Pictures along with an array of other songs. We are so effin’ excited to make use of this incredible opportunity to please our fans both visually and viscerally- from wherever they might fly in from. Gonna be so much fun!”

Further VIP and Travel experiences will be available to purchase via Superfan, and will extend beyond the concert with exclusive fan activities, transportation and a dedicated Rush merch popup shop at the Fontainebleau in Las Vegas. Select packages will include the opportunity to meet Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson.

Rush join a growing list of high-profile artists who have announced shows at the Las Vegas Sphere, including Metallica, John Mayer, Eagles and Dead & Company.

All the info you need to know is at rush.com/sphere.

The post From retirement to world tour and now Sphere residency: Rush’s remarkable reunion continues appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

Telecaster-style guitars are renowned for their appealing simplicity – there’s a certain romance to the idea of a guitar that stays so close to just “wood slab with neck attached”. Its nature as one of the most simple electric guitar designs has helped cement the Telecaster’s reputation as a reliable workhorse, but it also means it’s a fantastic mod platform.

Helping more with this is an abundance of aftermarket Telecaster-compatible parts, whether you want a modern conversion, an authentic-looking vintage-styled instrument or a best-of-both-worlds combination of the two approaches. And you don’t have to take a drill and a soldering iron to a US-made Fender, either – there’s a similar abundance of affordable Telecaster-compatible T-type guitars, such as our patient today, a Vintage (the brand) V20 Coaster. Let’s dive into the process of giving it a full overhaul!

• READ MORE: The magic of partscasters – build your perfect guitar yourself
  

The Patient

This particular guitar is unashamedly Tele-alike – with a butterscotch single-cutaway body, maple neck, and two single-coils. It was purchased as B-stock for an extremely affordable £130. Guitars at this price point are fantastic for complete overhauls, and really all kinds of DIY messing about: the quality of guitars like this is nowadays relatively high, particularly in the fretwork. But if you make a wrong move with a screwdriver, dremel or soldering iron, and it’s a lot less of a financial tragedy.

The guitar itself is far from perfect, but the important thing here is that the basic construction is very good. Where it falls a little short is in the hardware, which is a little generic – particularly the sealed tuners, which after a bit of testing reveal themselves to be a bit stiff and not very stable. The Alan Entwistle pickups are actually pretty neat to see at this price, but they’re not the most authentically vintage-sounding things out there, and lack a little punch and character.

So, there’ll be a big benefit to the hardware and electronics swap – let’s get going.

Strip things back

The first thing to do with any project like this is figure out what you’re working with – for a total overhaul, it can be helpful to strip it down to a blank canvas before ordering a bunch of parts, just so you can be a little more sure about compatibility.

In this particular case, we do have basically the standard Telecaster routing, with room for upgraded electronics. Like most affordable guitars, the V20 comes with mini-pots, and so I do a quick test-fit of a full CTS-sized control pot in the electronics cavity to make sure I won’t have to do any routing when I switch stuff out. I might have to drill a bigger hole in the control plate itself, but that’s a bridge we can cross a little later, along with the, er, bridge.

Shields up

This being a single-coil guitar, proper shielding is almost essential. Without it, electrical interference from the outside world will leak into the parts of your guitar’s wiring that generate signal, and you’ll hear it through your amp, particularly with single-coils – but shielding the cavities in which your pickups and controls sit can very much improve this.

From the factory the V20 came with zero cavity shielding – so that’s first on the list to sort. Luckily this is both easy and also therapeutic – you’ll just need some conductive copper tape, some scissors, and something to help manipulate the tape in hard-to-reach areas, and maybe a good true crime podcast – this takes longer than you think.

You’ll also want to make sure your conductive tape has conductive adhesive – this means that as you place a new piece of tape, it will have continuity with the piece you’ve just slapped it on – and so when you coat a cavity with it, you make an electronically-connected faraday cage to absorb interference and send it away to ground.

The standard Telecaster routing pattern has several discrete pits that are hidden by the hardware. The shielding in each needs to be connected to the guitar’s ground to be effective – you can either solder a jumper wire between each to achieve this, or do what I did, and place copper tape to carry continuity down to the control cavity. The pickup grounds are connected to the back of the volume pot, and the volume pot is screwed into the metal control plate – so as long as the shielding tape has a conductive path to this plate, we’re all groovy.

The cavity for the bridge pickup is a little more involved – from the factory, the strings are grounded through a wire that’s sandwiched between the body and the bridge plate. For a good ground connection for the shielding, we can just make sure this wire is also sandwiched against the copper tape at one end, and connected to the back of a pot.

Building Bridges

It’s important to check the style of Tele bridge plate you’re using. You can see here that it’s mounted to the body with four screws behind the saddles. This is the same arrangement as official Fender parts and most aftermarket replacements. There are some affordable Telecasters and T-types (including the cheapest Squiers) which have something that on the surface looks like the classic bridge plate, but has a screw in each corner instead – there aren’t really many drop-in replacements for these plates.

However if you do have something like this, then you can still upgrade your bridge by replacing the saddles but keeping the same plate. Doing this just means you need to keep the same number of saddles. Some Telecaster bridges are three-saddle, some are six-saddle – meaning you can upgrade with (compensated, ideally) brass barrel saddles in the former case, and vintage or modern hardtail saddles in the latter.

Another consideration is the bridge pickup, which is obviously mounted straight to the bridge plate. There are plates out there that take humbuckers, but they’re not a simple drop-in deal – as you can see, the route underneath the bridge plate here (and in most single-coil T-types) is shaped directly for a single-coil pickup. If you want a humbucker-equipped guitar, either be ready to route, or start with an already humbucker-equipped platform to upgrade.

For this guitar, I’m swapping out the whole plate and staying in single-coil land, which makes it a more simple drop in – I just run through the ground and the hot wire of the bridge pickup to the control cavity before attaching the bridge. And speaking of that control cavity:

Electronics overhaul

With a T-type guitar, it’s good to re-do the electronics first. The handy thing is that all of the controls are attached to a single plate. This too can be cleared out, with the original switch and the original pots saved for use as spares.

I’m using Stewmac’s Premium Telecaster Wiring Kit here, which comes with full-sized pots. This means a test fit is a good idea, as like most affordable guitars, the V20 comes with mini-pots, – cross-compatibility is never guaranteed, even if you’re using an official Fender or Squier body.

Here, the full-size CTS pots fit – but only just. They’re a few tenths of a millimetre away from needing me to get the dremel out and carve away some material, but as it stands I’m happy with the pots contacting the shielding tape – it’s all going to ground anyway.

I do need to drill a slightly bigger hole in the plate for the larger sized pots – if you don’t have a step bit, or just don’t trust your drilling abilities, you can grab an aftermarket plate sized for CTS pots.

Here’s a good opportunity to talk about why this is worth doing. As previously stated the base guitar here is good – the frets are fine, the neck feels nice, and it’s the right shape and so on. However, even just using this switch is a world of difference to the cheap stock one – it’s got a reassuring clunk, and just makes interacting the guitar feel like a more premium experience.

Sonically, of course, the pickups have had the biggest impact – StewMac’s Telecaster set sounds fanstastic, with a punchy, bright bridge that’s not too brittle, and a warm-yet-articulate neck pickup that’s perfect for smooth, overdriven solos. If you’re doing just one thing to a cheap guitar, the pickups are perhaps the thing to start with if you want a big leap in tonal quality!

Tuner time

The V20 Coaster’s tuners are more modern sealed-gear ones – not in-line Kluson-style ones. It’s important to measure your post holes, and check the angle of the mounting screw is correct here – not all tuners are cross-compatible, and conversions can be tricky. Luckily this Gotoh set I grabbed as a replacement fit straight in with no modifications.

But… one thing I didn’t really foresee was their impact on the balance of the guitar! They’re relatively high-mass locking units, and the guitar’s body is seemingly made out of a very light and affordable wood – and so there’s a little bit more pull on the shoulder strap than before. When looking for tuners, keep this in mind, particularly if you’re working with a lighter guitar.

Wrapping it up

With the hardware and the electronics overhauled, the guitar can be re-strung and setup. The Wilkinson compensated bridge allows for some really in-depth adjustments, and so I spend a while with an accurate tuner and a set of allen keys getting intonation perfect, something not normally easily achieved with even a compensated Telecaster bridge. After this I dial in pickup heights for consistent output, give the nut a little lubrication, and find a compressor pedal for some old-scool Tele clean playing to give it a whirl.

It is a marked difference from the unmodded guitar – the pickup swap has totally changed the sounds on offer, and the more premium hardware makes it far more inviting to play. However, there’s always more you can do in terms of modding. I eschewed a fret polish this time, but doing one can sometimes make a guitar go from feeling a little gritty and cheap to feeling very premium indeed. I also don’t quite love the feel of the back of the neck – it’s a slightly generic-feeling pale satin finish that, again, feels a little gritty. This can be remedies with some ScotchBrite, or, if you were feeling very brave, you could grab a Telecaster compatible neck – Fender-style bolt-ons are often totally compatible with each other, but I’d get the calipers out if I was switching this one, mainly thanks to its fingerboard extension…

Regardless, it’s remarkable what a £120 guitar can be made to play and sound like these days, still with room for improvement! For some extra parts and inspiration, check out StewMac’s offerings here.

The post Here’s how to mod an affordable T-type into the Tele of your dreams appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

Six years after his death in 2020, guitarists still move mountains to try and achieve the sound of legendary guitarist Eddie Van Halen. And Peterson reckons its new tuner pedal, the StroboStomp EVH, will help many players to that end.

You might ask: “It’s a tuner. How can it make me sound more like Eddie Van Halen? It doesn’t affect tone and it certainly doesn’t train my fingers to tap lightning fast.”

Well, as Peterson explains, on Van Halen’s self-titled debut album, which arrived in 1978, Eddie used slightly different tunings across its 13 songs in order to “sweeten” the sound of different chords and riffs. Essentially, he was a fan of slightly detuning certain strings on his guitar for a more characteristic sound.

• READ MORE: “The concept for me is surprise”: Nene Royal on AGT, Avenged Sevenfold and the 1978 Ibanez that made her a star
  

Peterson tuner pedals have incorporated “Sweetened” tunings for some time, allowing guitarists to incorporate tiny pitch offsets by a few cents to flavour their sound. And the new StroboStomp EVH comes loaded with 13 of them, each tailored to the 13 songs on Van Halen’s debut. That’s not all, though; if you want to venture outside the Van Halen sound, the pedal comes with a total of 158 tuning presets, and you can even upload your own custom tunings, too.

Fittingly, the pedal comes outfitted in the classic Van Halen red, white and black Frankenstein stripes, and swaps a mechanical disc piece for a crystal-clear LCD screen which can be set to different colours, perfect for when it’s dark onstage.

Additionally, the pedal might be a good option if you’re a bassist, too, as there are 11 bass presets included also.

“Eddie relied on Peterson tuners as he developed the sound and playing style that made him one of the most influential guitarists of all time,” Peterson writes. “The StroboStomp EVH honors that connection, bringing Peterson’s renowned ±0.1 cent accuracy to a new generation of players.”

The StroboStomp EVH is now available for $179. Learn more at Peterson.

The post This new tuner could make you sound like Eddie Van Halen – here’s how appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

After more than 30 years as a professional guitarist, Robin Finck is unloading over 200 pieces of his vast gear collection. The items will be available in a new store on Reverb, officially opening on Wednesday, 11 November. The inventory will include guitars, pedals, and other rare items he used while touring with Nine Inch Nails and Guns N’ Roses.

“I’ve genuinely used and enjoyed all of these pieces, so much so that I’ve ended up with two or even three of some of them. You know I love all these sweeties, I just don’t need multiples of them anymore,” says Finck. “I have been so fortunate to have played these on stages all over the world, and now they’re poised to play with someone new.”

• READ MORE: Laney Prism-Mini review – a sub-£100 desktop amp with sounds that’ll rival your main rig
  

Headlining the collection is Finck’s Gibson Les Paul ’60 Reissue Goldtop, playfully nicknamed Old Gold. He used the guitar during Nine Inch Nails’ iconic set at Woodstock 1994, in addition to all of his tours with the band from 1994 to 2014. Finck can also be seen playing the guitar in NIN’s music video for March of the Pigs.

“On the day we shot the video for March of the Pigs, that version of Nine Inch Nails had never played a show in front of an audience. My whole world was about to tilt,” says Finck. “This is the only guitar that made it out of 1994 intact. I don’t know why or how because it’s also the guitar I played more than any other.”

Elsewhere, the shop features the Fender Custom Shop Nocaster Finck used with NIN from the 2013 Tension tour to 2018’s Cold and Black and Infinite – which he also calls “one of the greatest guitars” he’s ever played – plus a Gibson ES-335 used extensively with both NIN and GNR, and a one-of-a-kind Manson Custom MA-RF-01 guitar built specifically for him and played extensively on tour with Nine Inch Nails.

“There is a deep history for me with, well, all of these guitars. But if you ask me which is the best guitar? It might be this one,” Finck says.

A selection of pedals is also available, including a Boss FZ-2 Hyper Fuzz with Finck’s initials on the side, a Prescription Electronics Experience with a one-of-a-kind paint job, and a DOD FX25 Envelope Filter used on the Guns N’ Roses track Better.

As for why he’s shifting some of these pedals? A lot comes down to duplicates in his collection. “I have used and loved all these deeply. I just don’t need multiples anymore.”

Robin Finck joins a long list of artists who have opened online shops on Reverb, including Gilby Clarke, Bullet For My Valentine, Kiko Loureiro, Dave Mustaine and Russian Circles.

Robin Finck’s Reverb shop will open on Wednesday, 11 November. For more information, head to Reverb.

The post Fan of Nine Inch Nails or Guns N’ Roses? You could get your hands on some tour-used gear in Robin Finck’s new Reverb shop appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

When strangers ask Jess Holt what she does, her answer is relatively self-conscious: “I play guitar, but I’m a bit of a hack!” Under her Total Tommy moniker, the Melbourne-raised artist is recently responsible for some of the most versatile guitar music from Down Under, spanning indie, dream-rock, grunge and post-punk. It’s a far cry from the sun-kissed, breezy tones of DMA’S, Royel Otis and Spacey Jane – arguably Australia’s trendiest modern guitar sound.

• READ MORE: “The concept for me is surprise”: Nene Royal on AGT, Avenged Sevenfold and the 1978 Ibanez that made her a star

“Maybe it’s because of the climate,” smiles Holt, meeting Guitar.com at home in Sydney. “[DMA’S and Royel Otis] are two really good examples, but a lot of people say Australia doesn’t really have a sound, because we have so many influences from everywhere. There’s so many different guitar bands coming out of Australia at the moment – Swapmeet, The Belair Lip Bombs. My music, it’s like, ‘Is it here, or is it there?’ People are working that out…”

After three intensive years of songwriting, Holt introduced herself as Total Tommy in 2024 with her debut album bruises, a self-described “patchwork quilt” of atmospheric, heaven-sent indie-rock (Losing Out, Girlfriend) which packed an occasional punch (SPIDER, Amsterdam). Now, the Sydneysider is back with Trapezoid, a tough and unpredictable follow-up that drags Total Tommy even further down the grunge-rock rabbit hole. So you might be surprised to learn that, only six years ago, she was releasing pulsating alt-pop under the alias Essie Holt.

“I was listening to a lot more indie-pop at the time, and I wasn’t really hearing that much guitar,” she explains. “I felt bound by a genre – ‘this is your lane, make sure it’s really clear’ – which I don’t think is so much of a thing now [for artists]. When I started writing for Total Tommy, I was envisioning the live show, which was, ‘I want a rock band.’ It was the music I wanted to get back into, because I loved it as a kid and it’s always been in my bones.”

Ground Zero

After learning the flute, Holt picked up her first Valencia acoustic at 14 years old, pleading with her teacher to play pop songs instead of scales, before eventually gravitating towards learning everything by ear. While shifting some focus towards training her voice, she flitted between guitars in the background, most recently selling her Fender Player II Telecaster to buy the equivalent Jaguar. “I don’t really feel that attached to [my old guitars],” she shrugs.

Having forever idolised Courtney Barnett for her “intuitive” playing style, Holt underwent a second wave of kinship with her instrument when she ditched Essie Holt for Total Tommy. “I wrote all of my first Essie stuff on acoustic guitar, but it never made it into the music,” she says. “I’ve always used it as a songwriting crutch, but in terms of putting it into the production [through Total Tommy], it really pushed my voice in a different direction. Live, it’s a lot beltier.”

Although Holt has dabbled with a hands-free frontwoman setup, enabling her to soak up and bask in the glory of her riffs, rocked-up guitars have become a driving force of her artistry and taste. Alongside The Strokes, Fontaines D.C. and Momma, that influence includes plenty of British rock, which can lead to a mixed reception in Oz. “[Some] people are like, ‘Well, what’s the connection to Australia?’” she explains. “You [are expected] to really ‘own’ your country, and a lot of Australian artists do end up moving and making it big overseas before Australia pays attention,” she continues, pointing to punk-rock star Ecca Vandal.

London Calling

From a studio standpoint, Holt has done exactly that, because London is now her recording hub. Ever since a study semester in Brighton, she’s mentally associated the UK with making music. For any emerging artist, the prospect of regular 24-hour flights not only presents logistical obstacles, but also a sense of pressure, to make every second recording Trapezoid count. But Holt was determined to see it through, having found her familiarity in east London.

“When I’m in that zone, I’m like a sponge,” she tells Guitar.com. “You’re observing the world and everything’s poetic. You’re on the train, staring out the window, and lyrics come easily. It’s a muscle that you have to exercise and tap into. [Also], you’re in a completely different timezone to your friends, so there’s really no distractions. I love the pub culture, as well! I’ll have a pint, labour over my lyrics and listen to my demos. I romanticise that so much.”

Writing and producing her guitar lines alongside Tom Stafford (Joy Crookes, Orla Gartland), noodling around on his 1984 Yamaha SG-1000 in ‘Angel Tuning’ (CGDGAD) unlocked the door for Trapezoid. “The basis of the record was that weird tuning,” reflects Holt. “It sounds really stark, brooding, and the whole record’s off-tilt: that’s the meaning of Trapezoid. I really liked the wonkiness. I think bruises was very perfect, quite polished, and this one’s not.”

That instability shines through on the knee-jerk top lines of Girl, Interrupted, the wooziness and occasional volatility of City Of Mannequins and the thrashy pop-rock of Out Of Frame. The song structures on Trapezoid are suitably serrated, culminating in melancholy closer Tailgate and its rampaging climax of distortion. “I kept wanting to push it grungier and grungier,” Holt grins. “The live show is [like] that. I wanted it to feel darker.”

When Holt was in a post-pop creative rut, it was Microdose – her first single as Total Tommy – that pulled her out of it. The inception of Trapezoid is the closest thing she’s experienced since that moment; a feeling to chase and build around. Although her career path and songwriting has already taken many twists and turns, the guitar has helped her some find clarity. In turn, it’s forged an unbreakable bond with how she sees her art going forward. “The guitars will stay,” she reiterates. “I just want to be a kickass frontwoman with a rock band.”

Trapezoid is out now via Play It Again Sam.

The post How Total Tommy became one of Australia’s most exciting new guitar acts: “I’ve always used it as a songwriting crutch” appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

Fender has expanded its ongoing partnership with children’s instrument brand Loog with two new instruments: the first-ever Loog bass and a new Butterscotch Blonde Fender x Loog Telecaster.

Released as Fender celebrates 75 years of both the Telecaster and the Precision Bass, both instruments take the two classic instrument blueprints and shrink them down into a more child-friendly size, complete with Loog’s award-winning learning system.

• READ MORE: Laney Prism-Mini review – a sub-£100 desktop amp with sounds that’ll rival your main rig

The Fender x Loog Precision Bass celebrates the original 1951 Precision Bass, the world’s first mass-produced electric bass guitar, and marks Loog’s first foray into the world of bass guitars. It features three strings, a compact short scale, a single pickup and a “surprisingly big sound”.

It arrives alongside the new Butterscotch Blonde Fender x Loog Telecaster, which sports a black pickguard, three strings, and a compact form factor which makes it easy for children to begin playing chords and songs.

Both instruments feature an authentic Fender headstock, Loog’s signature three-string fretboard and a standard quarter-inch output jack for use with an amplifier. Each instrument also comes with access to the Loog Guitar app, which features video lessons and game-like exercises to make learning fun.

“Launching Loog’s first bass alongside the 75th anniversary of the Precision Bass is especially meaningful. It’s also full circle for me, since bass was the first instrument I played at 13,” says Rafael Atijas, Founder and CEO of Loog Guitars. 

“And bringing the iconic Butterscotch Blonde Telecaster to life as a small, three-string guitar lets kids experience a piece of music history in a way that feels playful and authentic.”

“For 75 years, the Telecaster and Precision Bass have helped shape the sound of music,” adds James Chippendale, Fender Senior Director, Lifestyle & Licensing. “Our partnership with Loog brings these iconic instruments to a new generation of players. 

“The most meaningful collaborations bring together shared values, creativity and a clear purpose. Together with Loog, we’re inspiring young musicians to discover the joy of playing, express themselves and begin a lifelong connection with music.”

Pricewise, both the Precision Bass and Telecaster clock in at $229.99 / £199.

Learn more at Loog or Fender.

The post Fender and Loog celebrate 75 years of the P-Bass and Telecaster with new downsized instruments for kids appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

With his enduring work in Rage Against the Machine and as a prominent solo artist, Tom Morello has more than left his mark on the world of rock music. But at just 15 years old, his son Roman is already giving him a run for his money…

Back in 2023, a video went viral showing Roman nailing Killing in the Name during a Rage soundcheck – using the same 1982 Fender ‘Sendero Luminoso’ Telecaster his father used on the original song, no less – and his guitar chops have only improved since then.

The father-son duo frequently perform on stage together, and in a new interview with Rolling Stone, the Rage Against the Machine firebrand waxes lyrical on the pair’s heartwarming – and clearly productive – musical relationship.

• READ MORE: Laney Prism-Mini review – a sub-£100 desktop amp with sounds that’ll rival your main rig

Back in September, Tom Morello released his latest solo record, Everyone Gets Everything They Want. “My muse for this record was my 15-year-old son, Roman, who’s now toured with me for the last three summers,” he says. “I would be with my ear to his door poaching his best riffs for this record!”

Several songs on the album feature riffs from Roman’s mind, Tom says, including Soldier in the Army of Love, Adjourn it, and Unconquered. “The thing that’s interesting about lifting those riffs from Roman is that he clearly has, one, a knowledge of my catalog, two, has Morellian riff-writing DNA, but it’s through an entirely different lens. There’s a familiarity to them like, oh, that’s a kick-ass riff that I wish I had written, and we just have a ball doing it.”

At just 15 years old, Roman Morello is already enjoying the life of a rockstar. But with a dad like Tom Morello, it’s naturally going to bring with it nepotism accusations. But Tom is quick to dispel these.

“We were just playing last night, and he plays those two solos in Mr. Crowley, and people’s jaws are on the floor. You can call it nepotism, but I don’t think it’s nepotism when your kid’s that fucking good.”

Despite Roman’s fast-developing guitar skills, though, Tom still calls the shots… While he recently joked that he has conceded to being the “rhythm guitarist in the household”, Tom still exercises his dad powers: “If we have disagreements, I’m able to send him to his room.”

The post “I don’t think it’s nepotism when your kid’s that f**king good”: Tom Morello defends hyping his son’s guitar skills appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

£99/$149, laney.co.uk

As a lover of all things digital – and convenient – I’m perhaps better poised to appreciate the world of uber-compact smart practice amps than my tube-loving colleagues. A practice amp is an essential in any player’s gear collection. When a riff idea springs to mind, you can’t be dialling in your pedalboard or loading up your DAW; you need to workshop it right away before it’s lost to the ether. Having a small, portable and easily set-up amp on hand can be a creative lifesaver.

• READ MORE: HeadRush FRFR-12 and FRFR-8 Cab review: “looks and feels like a real guitar amp”

So when the Laney Prism-Mini arrives, I’m instantly intrigued by its promise to squeeze plenty of big amp features into a tiny enclosure. Let’s take a closer look…

What is it?

The Laney Prism-Mini joins an already-packed market of mini practice amps, and fights for space against such titans of the category as the Positive Grid Spark GO, Blackstar Fly 3 and the Boss Katana-Mini.

Laney has plenty of expertise in this world however – its Mini and Mini Stack amps have earned plenty of fans thanks to their ability to produce a simple and straightforward Laney sound in a tiny little package.

The Prism is something rather different however – this is a full-on modelling amp with all the versatility and depth that involves, but in Coke can-sized package. In practice that means you get 17 onboard amps and 32 effects, plus an onboard drum machine and tuner – a whole lot of stuff for a tiny little amp.

As you’d expect, the amps onboard include emulations of Laney favourites like the Lionheart, Ironheart, Cub and Digbeth, plus the usual off-brand suspects. The effects span reverbs, delays, drives, EQs and modulation effects, up to six of which can be run simultaneously. You can save up to 100 presets as well, so you don’t need to worry about forgetting your favourite tones.

As you’d expect for a modern practice amp, you can hook your phone up to it via Bluetooth to stream music wirelessly, while there’s also a 3.5mm headphone jack for quiet practice, and a USB-C for charging the built-in battery.

In terms of power, you get a pair of 1.5-inch stereo drivers putting out 3 watts each for 6 watts RMS in total. The amp has onboard control and a full-colour LCD screen for tweaking your sound on the fly, but for deep editing you’re probably going to want to hook it up to Laney’s Tone-Wizard smartphone app.

Laney Prism-Mini – build quality and usability

The first thing that strikes me about the Prism-Mini is its light weight – barely tipping the scales at half a kilo (0.535kg/1.2 lb), it’s very easy to stow in a bag or even your pocket, should your trousers be of the cargo variety.

There is a flipside to this of course – one that often plagues these smaller amps with top-mounted controls. Its centre of gravity is such that it’s very simple to tip it over, and all it takes is one ill-considered tug on the cable and its taking a nose-dive towards the hardwood. Mercifully, it seems pretty capable of withstanding a three-foot drop onto a hard floor, but it’s not a trick I’d want to repeat too many times.

The amp could have been made more stable with the addition of some more sturdy rubber feet, or taking a leaf out of Blackstar’s book and sticking the input jack on the bottom of the amp instead of the top. Even adding a little more ballast internally might have helped things here.

Stability concerns aside, my first impressions are very positive. It feels rugged and well-built in the way Laney’s stuff so often does, and its all very clearly laid out, with just a volume control, infinite-scroll parameter wheel, and a back button to control what’s occurring on that colour LCD screen.

This is unquestionably a little fiddly – the lack of any kind of tone controls means that it’s not the most tweakable amp on the fly, but actually navigating the various patches is pretty intuitive via the 1-inch screen.

Speaking of the screen, one hiccup I’ve noticed is that it’s pretty small – by design, obviously – but that fact it’s mounted on the top of the amp, and the nature of practice meaning the amp is often on a tabletop, means I find myself standing to a partial squat position in order to see what’s on the screen more clearly. Less of a problem if on a lower surface like a coffee table, but something to consider.

To get the most out of it however, you really do need to download the Tone-Wizard app, which makes the whole tone-shaping process much more intuitive – you can then save your presets and scroll through them quickly on the amp itself. There’s impressively little latency between the phone and the amp, too, so you can tweak your tones in real time without any hassle.

Equally impressive is the battery life – Laney claims 14 hours of continuous playtime on a single charge, and in practice this held up. Having charged it to full upon its arrival, I didn’t have to plug it in once during my entire testing period.

Another winner for the Prism-Mini are the looks – you can opt for a stealthy all-black affair with white piping and silver-flecked grille, or a blue and basketweave option that apes the Lionheart. Either look great, and strike the right chord in terms of classic British amp aesthetics.

Laney Prism-Mini – sounds

Growing up, I’d come home every night from school, plug into my Roland Micro Cube, and shred that thing until I went to bed. It’s been a few years since then, and digital amp modelling has come along leaps and bounds, so I wasn’t surprised by the quality of the sound that emits from the Prism-Mini, but they’re still very impressive.

To recap, there are 17 amp models included with the Prism-Mini, plus 50 factory presets (and 50 slots for saving your own). These presets run the gamut in terms of what any average guitar player will be looking for, with a high-gain highlight coming with #14: Solo AyIt – I’ve lost a good few hours shredding some reverb-laden solos on this one – #1: Stratic! as a solid clean option, and #20: Funk as a wild card… These are some personal favourites, but you’ll be hard pressed to find a preset among the 50 that doesn’t sound good.

The stereo speakers sound great, giving a nice wide spread of sound, and offering more than enough volume for home use. Crank it up to the highest end of the volume knob however, and you start getting some sympathetic rattles and vibrations from the enclosure that are quite unpleasant. It’s the nature of a smaller amp that bass frequencies will get a bit muddy however, and I’d be surprised if many people were dimeing the volume in general use – it’s pretty loud!

Laney Prism-Mini – should I buy one?

There’s space for an amp of this size in every guitarist’s arsenal. The Laney Prism-Mini is hardly going to become your main guitar amp, but the ability to grab it and set it up anywhere makes it indispensable for workshopping riff ideas as they come to your head. That said, having a solid tone while working on riff ideas is surprisingly important; you’ll play in response to your tone, so a better one means you’ll be more creative and come up with better ideas. So you can rest assured that the Prism-Mini comfortably meets that requirement. And for less than £100, it’s hardly an expenditure that’ll leave you bankrupt.

Laney Prism-Mini – alternatives

At a similar price point (£95 compared to the Prism-Mini’s £85), the Positive Grid Spark GO jumps out as the most obvious contender here. Like the Prism-Mini, it’s also an uber-compact desktop modelling amp, and also comes with a companion smartphone app for crafting your tones. When the Spark GO arrived in 2023, we gave it a 9/10 review, calling it a “remarkable feat of engineering”. Alternatively, by springing a little extra (£135) for the NUX Mighty Air, you’ll get an additional four watts of power, plus an included wireless transmitter, meaning no cables, and no amps falling off tables! This one also comes with a wealth of built in amp models and effects including all your typical delays, reverbs and modulation effects. Another option in the same category is the Pulze Mini from Hotone, which offers a similar form factor and suite of digital amp models, but in a classy cream enclosure. If you want the best sounding mini-amp and are prepared to spend a little more, the Blackstar Beam Mini offers access to the high-end NAM tone library in a compact package.

Learn more about the Prism-Mini at Laney.

The post Laney Prism-Mini review – a sub-£100 desktop amp with sounds that’ll rival your main rig appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

There’s a general belief in the guitar community that vintage guitars tend to be better. But not all guitarists are convinced. In fact, one prominent guitarist who doesn’t pay much attention to older, relic’d guitars is Joe Satriani, but it’s not for the reason you might think…

While cost tends to be the main barrier to entry for guitarists looking to add a vintage guitar to their collection, for Satch, the reason is more one of practicality – in that his instruments take such a beating on tour that it wouldn’t take long for a brand-new guitar to be bashed to the extent that it looks like it’s seen years of heavy road use.

• READ MORE: “I would apologise for the loud guitar playing”: Joe Bonamassa pays tribute to his former neighbour, late Star Trek legend Patrick Stewart

“I don’t own any relic guitars,” he tells Guitar World in its latest print issue. “I don’t think I’ve ever purchased, like, a Tom Murphy $14,000 Les Paul or something like that. I tend to like doing all the distressing myself, which I seem to have a great talent for. Give me a brand-new guitar, and after two gigs it looks like someone put it in the dryer! I have literally gotten new guitars and scratched them as they come out of the case…”

The feature sees Satch and former student-turned-collaborator and fellow virtuoso Steve Vai discuss all things guitar ahead of the launch of their upcoming collaborative debut full-length, The Sea of Emotion.

Elsewhere, they discuss how they’re not particularly moved by the thought of a guitar being previously owned by someone famous or notable.

“I remember, I was doing a gig with Experience Hendrix in New York,” says Vai. “We had reached out to Paul Allen to see if he would send the Woodstock Strat. And he did. I remember feeling it and thinking, ‘This is hard to play.’ It put up a fight. Would I want to own it? Not really. I don’t have a romantic attachment to antique guitars or stars’ guitars…”

Satriani concurs: “I’m like you. I’m not really a guitar collector. You and I, we have our favourite-shaped neck and fret height. We’ll play two guitars for the entire tour. So I understand how when you pick up Hendrix’s guitar, you might go, ‘Wow, it’s hard to play.’ Because you’re not instantly Hendrix. A guitar would need some special connection for me to be able to get over its foreign feel.”

Joe Satriani and Steve Vai’s first collaborative full-length album together, The Sea of Emotion, arrives 6 November via earMUSIC.

The post “Give me a brand-new guitar, and after 2 gigs it looks like someone put it in the dryer”: The hilarious reason Joe Satriani doesn’t bother with vintage guitars appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

Joe Bonamassa has paid tribute to his former neighbour and legendary Star Trek actor Sir Patrick Stewart, who died last week at the age of 86.

In an Instagram post, Bonamassa recalls the actor as a warm and friendly neighbour who always asked him about his music career.

Stewart, best known as Captain Jean-Luc Picard in Star Trek and Professor Charles Xavier in the X-Men films, died at his Los Angeles home on October 28.

• READ MORE: “The concept for me is surprise”: Nene Royal on AGT, Avenged Sevenfold and the 1978 Ibanez that made her a star
  

Bonamassa, a self-confessed Trekkie, says Stewart’s death is “a huge loss”. “As a massive fan of Star Trek: The Next Generation, I grew up knowing him as Captain Jean-Luc Picard. It was my favourite show,” he says. “Patrick Stewart was an actor’s actor that went way beyond Star Trek.”

He then shares a more personal memory. “In a former life Patrick was a neighbour of mine. He lived in the house across the street from me and was the nicest, most humble movie star I have ever encountered. He always made a point to say hello and ask me how the music business was. I would apologise for the loud guitar playing and we would have a laugh. Rest in peace, Sir.”

View this post on Instagram

Tributes to Patrick Stewart have come from far and wide, including from SoCal guitarist Mason Stoops, who says the actor and his wife, singer-songwriter Sunny Ozell, took him and his partner Brooks into their home after they were forced to evacuate amid wildfires in California in 2025.

“A year that would otherwise have been consumed by grief, confusion and loneliness was instead filled by their warmth, kindness and relentless hospitality,” Stoops writes. “We became our own chosen family. Cocktails and dominoes every evening, followed by arguably the best food Brooks and I have ever had, all made with love by Sunny.”

Stoops said Stewart “never stopped showing up for us”, adding that he helped Brooks choose her wedding dress and Stoops wore Stewart’s suit at the ceremony, which Ozell officiated.

“We are painfully grateful to have spent what time he had left together, playing his favourite songs, sharing our favourite stories, and holding each other close,” he added. “We love and miss you so much Patrick. Thank you.”

View this post on Instagram

The post “I would apologise for the loud guitar playing”: Joe Bonamassa pays tribute to his former neighbour, late Star Trek legend Patrick Stewart appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

By the time Nene Royal closed her set at a packed Singapore Indoor Stadium with Zombie, the 9,000-strong crowd knew exactly what was expected of them. As the 16-year-old guitarist blasted out the iconic Cranberries cover she reworked in hard-rocking style to win America’s Got Talent barely a month ago, the audience happily belted back the song’s refrain in a fitting coda to a the previous half hour when she’d run through the reworked covers that had propelled her to the season 21 title.

• READ MORE: “You can’t choose to be an artist. It’s something that you have to compulsively do” Tough Cookie are mastering their own vision of intimate guitar music

From Muse’s Hysteria to System Of A Down’s I-E-A-I-A-I-O, the viral social media hits came thick and fast. After her set however, she pulled off something even more impressive – joining the headline act Avenged Sevenfold on stage to blast through Bat Country and Unholy Confessions, singing and playing along with Zacky Vengeance and Synyster Gates and looking every bit at home.

Nene’s a natural performer, clearly, but even with the huge exposure that performing in front of millions on America’s Got Talent gave her, the Thai phenom still struggles with prematch nerves.

Speaking to Guitar.com the afternoon before her performance, she sums up her natural flow in a single word. “Surprise,” she explains. “If I play Zombie like the original, nothing changes, and the judges feel like nothing changes. But if I play my version, they go, ‘What is this song?’”

On the AGT stage, the teen prodigy converted the mournful 90s anthem into a palm-muted wrecking ball – surprising it certainly was, but she’s continued to confound and delight as her star has risen so dramatically over the last few months.

Let’s start at the beginning. Seven years old, Phuket. How did this all begin?

“Because of my dad. He’s not a musician, but he played rock on the radio: Deep Purple, Metallica, AC/DC. When I listened, it felt like it fit me. So I told him I really wanted to play rock, and he said, ‘Are you sure? It’s very hard.’ I understood what he meant — it’s mostly guys who play rock. My dad saw clips of people busking in night markets, and quickly said, ‘You should try that.’ The first time, I played five songs. People came up and said, ‘Oh my god, you’re going to be a famous rocker.’ I didn’t expect to become a rock star. But watching AGT, in my mind I was like, ‘I really want to be a rock star.’”

You didn’t play the market alone. How was playing with your band Ozone, and what did it teach you?

“We started in 2021, and I was still learning how to play with other musicians. More people started coming to the market, because we only play rock, and they all love rock. The biggest thing I learned is that being a good guitarist isn’t just about playing fast solos. It’s about playing together as a band and enjoying our music. We still play that market. It’s where we started.’”

So what actually made you send the tape to AGT?

“I sent in my audition four times. On the last one, they texted me: ‘You passed, you need to come to America.’ I prepared Zombie to make it my version, very, very me. When I walked on stage I was so nervous my hands were shaking. But when I played the first riff, my nerves were gone. I always imagined the stage was the night market, like it was my concert. The moment I really loved was when the audience stood up and sang along with me.”

And a week after the final, Avenged Sevenfold came knocking?

“At their Bangkok concert, they wanted to meet me, and I was shocked. Backstage I met M. Shadows, Johnny Christ and Zacky Vengeance. It’s crazy to think I started at a night market in Phuket and now I’m opening for my favourite band.”

You’ve called Synyster Gates your dream teacher, what about his style inspires you?

“I really want to put my own energy into the way I play, but I’m inspired by Synyster Gates. I love harmonic minor, pentatonic scales, sweeping. Honestly, on stage I don’t think too much about what I’m doing. The music just happens naturally.”

From a guitar perspective, it was hard not to not notice you kept using your 1978 Ibanez MC300 throughout AGT – why do you love that guitar so much?

“I have around 30 guitars, but on stage I only play Ibanez. I’ve used Yamaha and Gibson too, but for me it’s really important how a guitar feels in my hands. I got the main one when I was 13 or 14. A woman told me she was a big fan because she’d seen me at the night market. She has so many guitars, and she’s older and doesn’t play much any more, so she decided to give me that one.

“When I played it, it was so smooth that I didn’t touch the others at all. I’ve had it for three years and I’m still playing it. Sometimes in a concert I have two guitars, because some songs I need to drop (tune). Some songs I drop live, and for others my team swaps out my guitar. But it’s usually the same guitar.”

You used a Fender Deluxe Reverb during the auditions – what’s your signal chain now?

“I use the Fractal AX8. It’s very hard to find and very expensive. I’ve had it for four or five years. It’s reliable, it’s easy to press, and it has the wah for the solos!”

Your voice caught people off guard as much as the shredding. Did singing arrive with the guitar, or after?

“Together. I did guitar first, then I saw people who play and sing, and I wanted to do that. Music is all about expressing emotions. I love heavy riffs and crazy solos, but I also really love singing, because it’s the other way to express how I feel.”

You’ve started writing your own songs. What are they like?

“I have two songs so far. One is only a guitar solo. My biggest influences are Avenged Sevenfold and System Of A Down. I want my music to have that rock and metal energy, heavy riffs, powerful vocals, crazy solos. But I don’t want to sound exactly like anyone. I want to write lyrics about myself and make music that tells a story, like a movie. I also play drums, piano and bass, and I’ve written a slow song where I only play piano.”

What’s looking ahead for you?

“I want to keep playing with my brothers in Ozone, but they’re in school. So I want to perform solo and with the band.”

What do you tell the next kid setting up at the night market?

“Find your style. You don’t have to copy another person; if you copy, your performance will look weird and uncomfortable. And stage presence: even if it’s a small stage, keep doing it. It makes you more confident. You won’t be shy.”

The post “The concept for me is surprise”: Nene Royal on AGT, Avenged Sevenfold and the 1978 Ibanez that made her a star appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

Behringer has never been shy about shaking up the gear world, but its latest announcement didn’t quite land with those who make pedals for a living. 

In a recent social media post, the company opened with a mock apology: “Dear guitar players. We owe you an apology.” It said it had been “so busy disrupting synthesizers, mixers and DJ gear” that it forgot about guitarists. 

Its fix is 200 to 300 all-metal analog and digital pedals at $10 to $15 each. The range will run “from legendary legacy pedals to wildly innovative new designs,” including open-source pedals players can hack and modify themselves.

• READ MORE: The best distortion pedals: jagged sounds from ProCo, Boss, EHX & more

The post then raised the question itself: “will this upset a few boutique pedal manufacturers? Probably. Sorry about that,” it answered, with a laughing emoji, before adding that the photo of the pedals attached to the post was “just the beginning.”

For London-based builder Intensive Care Audio (ICA), the joke didn’t land. The team reposted Behringer’s announcement to their Instagram story with a caption: “Behringer openly joking about destroying small independent builders. This is fucking shameful behaviour.”

In a separate post, they laid out what the pressure feels like from the workshop floor. “Running a small operation like this is becoming increasingly difficult due to a wide range of complicated issues,” they wrote. “It feels like everything is against us right now. The last thing we need is a giant, faceless multinational company gleefully revelling in destroying the livelihoods of thousands of small builders.” 

They also questioned where the designs come from. “Behringer did not design these circuits for the most part. They did not live on a shoe string budget to carry on doing what they love,” the post continued. “Things like this make it hard to want to bother carrying on.”

That last line will worry anyone who values the independent pedal scene. ICA was founded in 2020 and has built a name on characterful designs like the Fideleater lo-fi chorus and the Vena Cava Filter, the latter of which has been spotted on the pedalboard of IDLES guitarist Lee Kiernan.

Behringer’s critics have long argued that its model rests on copying other people’s work, a charge that has already led to legal disputes, including one with Klon. Its defenders say it puts classic sounds within reach of players who could never afford the originals and that many of its clone targets are long out of production. Behringer’s own post leans on the latter: “great tone should come from your fingers, not your credit card.”

The pricing is particularly provocative at a time when boutique builders – especially those based in the USA – are struggling to survive thanks to tariffs and other increased costs, though smaller builders all over the world are facing reduced margins due to the general state of the global economy. 

Pricing like this is only possible at huge manufacturing volumes, something that a small workshop in North London simply cannot match, however good the designs are. What remains unclear is how many of the 200 to 300 pedals will be direct copies and how many will be original.

Behringer isn’t being shy about what their intention is here, posting in the comments underneath the post, “Tell us which pedal you’d love us to make next! And if you have the schematics, even better! We’re listening. Legendary classics, analog, digital, or something completely crazy. If the community wants it, we’re happy to build it.” 

How many of those new pedals will impact the business of the boutique effects makers that have driven so much of the innovation behind the effects boom of the last decade remains to be seen, but clearly these small makers are apprehensive about the situation. 

The post “F**king shameful behaviour” boutique builder slams Behringer’s plan to release 300 $15 pedals to “disrupt” the pedal industry appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

Fender and The Pokémon Company have announced two limited made in Japan electric guitars to mark the 30th anniversary of Pokémon: a “Red Version” Stratocaster and a “Green Version” Telecaster, each featuring an onboard ‘8-bit sound system’.

In practice, this seems to be an onboard heavily gated fuzz that is activated with a discreet press of a button on the volume knob, but the effect is rather effective in practice, as the below demo video illustrates, creating tones that are reminiscent of the original GameBoy soundtrack. 

• READ MORE: Ibanez and Dragon Ball Z make a play for the coolest guitar collaboration of the year

The guitars take their visual cues from the original Pokémon Red and Green games, which launched in Japan in 1996 (and were later released as Red and Blue internationally), with GameBoy-accurate pixel-art graphics across the body. In a nice nod to the chunky 8-bit graphics of the original, the classic Strat and Tele pickguards have been given a blocky edge, and both show a fluorescent-like effect when viewed from different angles.

Both guitars also include a custom neck plate engraved with an exclusive 30th anniversary pixel-art logo, an illustrated certificate of authenticity, a dedicated hard case and a collectible pick tin containing 11 picks, ten with Pokémon pixel-art designs and one commemorating the anniversary.

The catch is that these Made In Japan limited editions cost ¥396,000 (around $2,600) and will only be available in Japan, sold via a lottery-based sales programme on Pokémon Center Online. Applications open at 12:00pm JST on November 19 2026 and close at 4:59pm JST on November 24. Lottery results will be announced on the site at a later date.

Shipping is available within Japan only and is expected in late December 2026. For other regions, Fender and Pokémon Center say to check their respective official websites, however, no international pricing or availability has been confirmed. 

The collaboration marks two anniversaries at once. Pokémon Red Version and Green Version first arrived in Japan in 1996 and Fender, founded in 1946, is in its 80th year. The guitars are announced by Pokémon Center Co Ltd, the company behind the official Pokémon stores and Fender Music Corporation Japan. 

“For 80 years, Fender has helped generations express themselves through music, while Pokémon has inspired creativity and imagination around the world,” said Giorgio Guerrini, President of Fender Asia Pacific. He described bringing the two brands together as “a natural celebration of that shared spirit.”

Fender has been on one with Japan-centric pop-culture collabs in recent years. Earlier this year the brand launched both Pac-Man and Godzilla tie-in guitars, while a few years back they also did a Monster Hunter team-up, and relaunched the iconic Hello Kitty guitar with an entire range of tie-in products.

Find out more at Pokemon Center Online. 

The post Fender’s new Pokémon Stratocaster and Telecaster feature built-in effects that make your guitar sound like an 8-bit videogame appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.