Norse Guitar Feeds

Though rarely omitted from any conversation surrounding the world’s most legendary guitar players, Eddie Van Halen wasn’t the best teacher, or so says his son Wolfgang.

It’s certainly true that just because someone is proficient or highly skilled in something, doesn’t mean they share the same skill in imparting that knowledge. And as Wolfgang Van Halen explains in a new interview with Guitar.com, for Eddie, that skill didn’t come so naturally.

• READ MORE: Sean Long’s new Neon Pink Charvel signature model might secretly be the most metal guitar of 2025

“My dad was a great guitarist but a terrible guitar teacher – he’d tell you that himself,” Wolfgang recalls, adding that his father once tapped Mr Big and Racer X virtuoso Paul Gilbert to give him a lesson instead.

“He even called Paul Gilbert one time and asked him if he would give me a lesson, and he laughed his ass off,” he continues. “That just shows you how he felt about being a teacher.

“And, yeah, he was right. He’d be like, ‘Just do it like this.’ ‘Well, how?!’ You’re at such a different level, you’re just not even thinking in the same way.”

While Eddie Van Halen was, in large part, known for being technically gifted, what Wolfgang took from him the most was his sense of melody and musicality.

“When it comes to Dad, people always talk about the tapping and the shredding and stuff, but I think very much what he instilled in me is that melody is song,” he goes on. 

“If you can hum it, if you can think of it and sing it, that’s the best kind of solo – which is another reason why I love Aaron [Marshall, Intervals] so much! 

“But, yeah, I think his ability to not only be an amazing rhythm guitar player, but just to merge melody with the shreddiness, and never letting melody fall, is a very important thing as a musician. While shredding scales is technically impressive, it’s almost artistically stale.”

Read the full interview – in which Wolfgang Van Halen names his five favourite guitar players – at Guitar.com.

The post “My dad was a great guitarist but a terrible guitar teacher”: Eddie Van Halen once asked Paul Gilbert to give his son Wolfgang a guitar lesson appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

When it comes to titles, Wolfgang Van Halen usually keeps things simple. He named his hard rock outfit Mammoth (formerly Mammoth WVH due to trademark issues), after one of the bands his legendary dad Eddie played in before forming Van Halen. The project’s first album was self-titled. Then, its second was given the logical moniker Mammoth II. Now, though, album three is breaking tradition, brandishing the somewhat ominous title of The End.

• READ MORE: The guitar influences of Kurt Cobain

“The evolution from the second album to this one warranted this being the first album to actually be titled,” Wolfgang tells me. “This just didn’t feel like Mammoth III to me. There’s a lot of songwriting evolution and maturity and confidence that I don’t think were there on the last two. It just felt like the right time to actually break out.”

In contrast to his dad’s famously exuberant work as the guitarist for Van Halen, Wolfgang started his career playing less showy rock’n’roll music, inspired by the likes of Foo Fighters and Nine Inch Nails to focus on the song rather than the shred. However, on The End, things feel less conscious, more fun. The title track opens with some invigorating guitar tapping that may seem like an homage to Eruption, but it’s actually a sequence that Wolfgang’s had in his back pocket for more than 10 years. Plus, throughout the rest of the album, there’s more soloing and theatricality, without compromising the simplicity and directness of Mammoth’s trademark hooks.

“This pre-production process was a bit different in comparison to the last few,” says Wolfgang. “Instead of doing it on my laptop, we had the studio all ready to go. I would just try something [on guitar], run out to the drums, play it, run back and play bass to it, and it was this really creative, electric, quick-reaction environment. You could tell if something was working or not right away, rather than wasting three hours on a computer trying to figure it out.”

Given the greater focus on the guitar on this new album, we went on to ask Wolfgang to name his five favourite guitar players. His answers ranged from the very obvious to the totally unexpected.

Image: Travis Shinn

Aaron Marshall, Intervals

“Aaron is a close personal friend of mine, so it’s a bit tough to separate that, but, man, he’s probably my most favourite guitar player out there right now. What’s so fantastic about him is that he has this melodic sensibility that’s unrivalled by a lot of other guitar players. Rather than being shreddy, he’s almost the singer of his band, as well as the solo guitar player. The first song off of his album [2020] album Circadian, 5-HTP, is probably one of my favourite songs ever. I know the guys get sick of it: every time I have a guitar in drop D at soundcheck, I end up playing that song.

“Growing up, you hit these phases of, like, ‘I wanna hear more of this type of music.’ When I heard Meshuggah for the first time, I started exploring and found Periphery and Tesseract, and then I came upon Intervals. I was like, ‘This is exactly my shit.’ I really fell in love with Aaron’s playing on their [2012] EP In Time, the songs Epiphany and Tapestry.

“I was already a huge, huge fan of his, and then Mammoth came out. He messaged me and said he liked my albums, which blew my mind. I couldn’t believe that! Through the magic of social media, we met and hung out a handful of times, and we were actually able to tour together last year, which was really cool.”

Adam Jones, Tool

“I think, in terms of every instrument I play – bass, guitar, drums and singing – each member of Tool is on the respective Mount Rushmore for their instrument. The first song I heard from them was Third Eye [from 1996’s Ænima], which is funny, because it wasn’t a single or anything. It kind of opened my mind – opened my third eye, so to speak – regarding what music can be. I was like, ‘This is a 13-minute song! Not just a four-minute thing!’ It blew my mind when I was in seventh grade. There’s power in its simplicity: when Adam just holds down the rhythms and almost lets Justin [Chancellor, bass] take the lead, they have such a great connection.

“When it comes to rhythm playing, Adam is almost like the Malcolm Young of metal. He is such a fucking awesome rhythm guy, and he’s a great lead guy, too. Things like the talkbox solo on Jambi are just the best.

“In Mammoth, the influence of bands like Tool and Meshuggah will come out in places you don’t expect. If you listen to [the song] The End, the very end of it, there’s this double-kick, half-time, metal-ey thing. They just pop up! Even on the last album [2023’s Mammoth II], on Right?, there’s that Meshuggah-ey breakdown in the middle after the solo. It’s never intentional: I try not to stifle the creative process by overthinking and just do what feels right.”

Eddie Van Halen

“There was a benefit I played in fourth grade where I played drums and my dad played guitar. I remember, we went out to the car afterwards and some guy came up and asked him to sign something. He left, then he put on a different shirt and came back. I think – in moments like that, seeing that sort of desperation – I was like, ‘Oh, yeah, my dad’s probably a big deal, huh?’

“When it comes to Dad, people always talk about the tapping and the shredding and stuff, but I think very much what he instilled in me is that melody is song. If you can hum it, if you can think of it and sing it, that’s the best kind of solo – which is another reason why I love Aaron so much! But, yeah, I think his ability to not only be an amazing rhythm guitar player, but just to merge melody with the shreddiness, and never letting melody fall, is a very important thing as a musician. While shredding scales is technically impressive, it’s almost artistically stale.

“My dad was a great guitarist but a terrible guitar teacher – he’d tell you that himself. He even called [Mr Big and Racer X guitarist] Paul Gilbert one time and asked him if he would give me a lesson, and he laughed his ass off. That just shows you how he felt about being a teacher. And, yeah, he was right. He’d be like, ‘Just do it like this.’ ‘Well, how?!’ You’re at such a different level, you’re just not even thinking in the same way.”

Angus Young and Malcolm Young, AC/DC

“I couldn’t keep going without talking about AC/DC and how important those brothers are. I’m usually not the most bluesy guy – I respect it, but it’s just not my vibe – but what I love about Angus is how he manages to take the relaxing, sort of scaly stuff of blues and add this anarchistic punkiness to it, just by being so fucking crazy. It’s attitude: it almost doesn’t matter what he’s playing, it’s how he’s playing it. Look at songs like Down Payment Blues from [1978 album] Powerage. The solo is one note, and it’s also one of my dad’s favourite solos ever.

“Angus is still an incredible showman in his 70s. I know some people try to poke and make fun of him [for still wearing his schoolboy stage outfit aged 70], but I’d love to see you fucking do that. Personally, I try to avoid that sort of 80s-esque performance stuff. I get a lot of criticism from 80s music fans who love Van Halen, see me and go, ‘Why aren’t you jumping around?’ My idea is somebody like Tool or Meshuggah: they just stand on the stage and fucking destroy.

“Malcolm, to me, is the greatest rhythm guitar player to have ever lived. There’s nothing more perfect than his rhythm, his metre, his timing, and his tone was out of this world. If you listen to something like If You Want Blood (You’ve Got It), there’s nothing like it. And he did some of the best background vocals ever, like on TNT and Thunderstruck.”

Mark Tremonti, Alter Bridge/Creed

“Mark is another guitarist where he’s got the shred but he knows what makes a song good. The shred never overtakes that. I think people are so surprised that the dude from Creed can shred like that. I don’t think enough people recognise how important Alter Bridge are and the versatility they have: you have [acoustic ballad] Watch Over You, but then you have [heavy metal track] Cry of Achilles.

“I was in Mark’s solo band from 2012 to 2016. I’m on [the albums] Cauterized and Dust, which is pretty funny, because I only played one or two shows of that material. I toured the whole first album [2012’s All I Was], and that was the first time I came to the UK and Europe to tour. He became a personal friend. He’s such a silly, fun dude. He doesn’t take anything too seriously.”

The End is out on 24th October via BMG.

The post Wolfgang Van Halen names his five favourite guitar players appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

Reverend Guitars has launched a new generation of the company’s Kyle Shutt Signature solid body electric: the Reverend Kyle Shutt Mark 2 covers an extraordinarily broad range of sonic ground…just like its namesake artist.

As a founding member of The Sword – a band that has toured worldwide with acts such as Metallica, Lamb of God, Clutch, and Opeth – Shutt’s playing deftly shifts between heavy fuzz, classic crunch, and open cleans. Since the band’s 2003 inception in Austin, TX, The Sword has blown away audiences with their unique brand of stoner rock-meets-doom metal-meets-70s riff rock.

Shutt’s new Reverend model includes a pair of Railhammer Kyle Shutt Signature pickups that deliver a plethora of tones with ease. Outfitted with custom Diver Flag fret marker inlays and gold hardware, this guitar looks as good as it sounds.

It also includes a special Reverend feature for shaping your tone: the guitar’s Bass Contour control knob is a passive bass roll-off that’s perfect for tightening up the low end, or re-voicing the pickups. It can make a humbucker sound like a single-coil, or give a P-90 that classic twang. With this Bass Contour control you’ve got variable pickup voicing at your fingertips.

Other features include:

• Solid Korina body available in Ice White or Midnight Black finish
• Railhammer Kyle Shutt Signature bridge and neck pickups
• Electronic controls for bridge pickup volume, neck pickup volume, tone, bass contour control, and 3-way pickup selector
• Three-piece Korina neck with 22 frets, 24 3/4" scale length, medium oval neck profile and rosewood fingerboard with 12” radius
• Hardware includes Reverend Pin-Lock tuners and a tune-o-matic style bridge with stop tail piece

The Reverend Kyle Shutt Mark 2 electric carries a street price of $1499 and is available through any Reverend authorized dealer. For more information visit reverendguitars.com.

You’d be hard-pressed to find a punk or garage rocker who was not influenced by the raw tones that Wayne Kramer pitched into the guitar universe through MC5’s iconic recordings in the early 1970s. MXR teamed up with lifelong MC5 fan Johnny Wator of Daredevil Pedals to capture that gritty, groundbreaking sound in a compact, straightforward stompbox. The result is a pedal that delivers a huge rock ’n’ roll kick in the pants—just like Wayne’s music.

The MXR Jail Guitar Doors Drive cranks out powerfully rich tones reminiscent of two dimed-out 100-watt amp stacks. Johnny combined his Drive-Bi Dual Gain Distortion with the MXR Micro Amp to create two separate gain stages, one cascading into the other. A single knob controls the outputs of both circuits, and as the volume is raised, more gain is fed from the first stage into the second. The EQ range is wide and balanced with all the definition you need to cut through a loud live mix with an unrestrained roar thick with harmonics. And it’s all passed the ultimate test—an early prototype of this pedal, delivered to an MC5 recording session, made it onto the album.

We figured this pedal should look as great as it sounds, so we enlisted street art pioneer Shepard Fairey to create a visual representation of the pedal’s rebellious tones.

A limited run, a majority of the proceeds from the sale of each pedal will be donated to Jail Guitar Doors USA, a nonprofit organization co-founded by Mr. Kramer, his wife Margaret, and Billy Bragg. For over fifteen years, JGD's efforts have included programs to help incarcerated individuals heal and grow through music in over two hundred facilities nationwide. In 2021, JGD opened the doors to their youth-driven C.A.P.O Center (Community, Arts, Programming & Outreach) in the heart of Los Angeles to aidsystem-impacted young men and women in the exploration of personal healing through the art of self-expression. To make a further donation, please visit jailguitardoors.org.

MXR Jail Guitar Doors Drive highlights:

• Special limited edition
• Includes numbered certificate of authenticity
• Recreates the raw tones that Wayne Kramer used in MC5
• Reminiscent of two dimed-out 100-watt stacks
• Two cascading gain stages—Daredevil Drive-Bi Dual Gain and MXR Micro Amp
• Single knob increases both gain and volume for a thick, unrestrained roar
• Custom artwork from Shepard Fairey
• Co-designed with Daredevil Pedals proprietor Johnny Wator
• Majority of proceeds go to nonprofit Jail Guitar Doors USA

Availability

The MXR Jail Guitar Doors Drive is available now at $199.99 street/$285.70 MSRP from your favorite retailer.

Adding to the company’s line of boutique effects, Gigahearts FX has introduced two new fuzz pedals: the Hyper Soup and Mashed Voltaire Deluxe bring unique tonal variations, circuit refinements and performance-driven controls to guitarists seeking to expand their distortion and fuzz palate.

Designed to appeal to musicians who want to push their tone into new directions, and value genuinely hand-soldered and wired construction, both pedals build upon classic and well-loved circuits by bringing the feature-set into the 21st century.

• Wildly expanded take on the “Violet Rams Head” circuit
• Eleven external controls to fully sculpt and fine-tune your sound
• Three band EQ (HP/BP/LP) feeding a dual-mode synthesizer-style resonant filter offering unlimited tonal variation from lo-fi to cocked-wah and full-on fat fuzzed out bliss
• Footswitch-activated “starve” circuit limits voltage to the second transistor stage, bringing control over gating, dying-amp sounds, octave-glitches and textural artifacts

• Comprehensive adaptation of the popular “Super Fuzz /Hyper Fuzz” circuit
• Four-way rotary control, offering three fuzz modes and a boost mode
• Footswitchable upper-octave, essentially doubling the number of fuzz tone options
• Powerful Two-band High and Low active EQ controls

Both pedals feature Gigahearts’ signature hand-made construction, with high quality dual-layer PCBs, all through hole parts and hand soldering/wiring throughout. The pedals utilize 9-volt DC from an external power supply using standard 2.1mm tip negative (no battery compartment) and feature true bypass mechanical switching.

Mashed Voltaire Deluxe fuzz is priced at $239 USD / £175 GBP and Hyper Soup is $213 USD / £155 GBP available directly from www.gigaheartsfx.com, shipping worldwide, with free UK shipping and DDP duties paid to the USA.

Today, guitar powerhouse JARED JAMES NICHOLS is proud to release his new single, "Ghost," marking his first new music since recently signing with Frontiers Music Srl. The new track arrives accompanied by an official lyric video, available to view below.

In addition, JARED JAMES NICHOLS will be embarking on his European and UK headline tour starting November 5th in Valencia, Spain, at Loco Club and concluding December 6th in London, UK at The Underworld.

On the new single, JARED JAMES NICHOLS comments:

"‘Ghost’ was written with a very good friend of mine, Grammy-winning producer and epic guitarist Tyler Bryant. We have a synergy whenever we get together; it’s infectious, and things happen quickly. Tyler jumped behind the drums, and I started jamming the verse groove with the guitar. Within minutes, we had carved out the entire bones of the song in an old-school way of a jam.

"Lyrically speaking. ‘Ghost’ is something we can all relate to. It’s all about trying to live up to the voices inside your head, staying away from the insecurities and fear we all have running in our minds. It is about facing your fears, accepting the mind wars, and ultimately conquering them."

He continues, "‘Ghost’ was recorded with super producer Jay Ruston at Dave Grohl's 606 Studios in Los Angeles, California. Working with Jay is like breathing air; things come out so naturally and fresh. We share a common vision that is always hard to find when working with a producer. We put a lot of trust in each other, which means we care about nothing less than what is best for the song. As a band, our adrenaline was pumping…! Recording this song at such a legendary studio really sparked the fire and energy that you hear in the track."

Stream / Listen HERE

Armed with nothing more than his signature Gibson Les Paul, a cranked amp, and a microphone burning hot, JARED JAMES NICHOLS lives the Blues the way it was meant to be lived - tough by design, raw in delivery, and authentic to the core. The Wisconsin-born, Nashville-based singer, songwriter, and guitarist unleashes unapologetic rock ’n’ roll, his voice hitting with grit and soul while his fretwork roars with fire and fury.

Celebrated by American Songwriter, Guitar World, and Relix, NICHOLS has already tallied millions of streams and built a devoted following online. Gibson Guitars recognized his impact by naming him one of only four Global Brand Ambassadors worldwide - a rare honor that cements his standing as one of today’s most vital guitar slingers.

Now preparing his fourth - and most defining - album, NICHOLS calls this era “JJN Mach II.” Written and inspired by his post-pandemic touring experiences and new home base in Nashville, the record showcases his growth as a singer and songwriter, while taking his guitar playing to explosive new heights.

NICHOLS’ journey has not been without hardship: cancelled tours, collapsed labels, breakdowns on the road, even a freak accident that left him with 20 screws in his arm. Yet every challenge has only fueled his drive and deepened the legend of his self-proclaimed “Blues Power.”

With Frontiers Music Srl now by his side, JARED JAMES NICHOLS is ready to bring his uncompromising rock ’n’ roll to the world. The time has come for his name to be known in every household where true rock is alive.

​JARED JAMES NICHOLS - Tour Dates 2025

Tickets Available HERE

European Headlining Tour:

Nov 5 - Valencia, Spain @ Loco Club

Nov 6 - Barcelona, Spain @ Sala Razzmatazz 3

Nov 7 - Madrid, Spain @ Teatro Magno

Nov 8 - Aiguaviva, Spain @ Ca La Dolo (La Torrentera)

Nov 9 - Villava, Spain @ Sala Totem Aretoa

Nov 11 - Barberaz, France @ Le Brin de Zinc

Nov 12 - Paris, France @ Cafe de la Danse

Nov 14 - Hamburg, Germany @ BETTY (ex-headCRASH)

Nov 15 - Joldelund, Germany @ Gerd’s Juke Joint

Nov 16 - Cologne, Germany @ Yard Club

Nov 18 - Ahrensburg, Germany @ Stromarnschule

Nov 19 - Milan, Italy @ Legend Club

Nov 21 - Meppen, Germany @ Rockpalast Meppen

Nov 22 - Hoofddorp, Netherlands @ Cpunt

Nov 23 - Dordrecht, Netherlands @ Bibelot

Nov 25 - Wattrelos, France @ La Boite à Musique

UK Headlining Tour:

Nov 26 - Southampton @ The 1865

Nov 27 - Southend-on-Sea @ Chinnerys

Nov 29 - Manchester @ Manchester Academy

Nov 30 - Wolverhampton @ KK’s Steel Mill

Dec 1 - Bristol @ Thekla

Dec 2 - Glasgow @ The Garage

Dec 3 — Bradford @ Nightrain

Dec 4 - Nottingham @ Rescue Rooms

Dec 5 - Brighton @ Volks

Dec 6 - London @ The Underworld

The in-demand gunslinger brings a load of silverware to arenas across the world.

Devon Eisenbarger, session ace and touring shredder for stars including Chappell Roan and One Direction’s Zayn Malik, met up with PG’s Chris Kies at Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena before hitting the stage with Katy Perry to show off the sleek 6-string rig she’s using on Perry’s Lifetimes tour.

Brought to you by D’Addario.

Splitting Up

Eisenbarger cut her teeth on a Stratocaster, and its sonic character still feels like home. She filmed a demo for Fender using this American Professional II Strat with a coil-splitting humbucker in the bridge—the best she’s heard so far. This one and all other electrics run D’Addario strings (.010–.046).

Fiery Fiore

Eisenbarger just scored this PRS Fiore before this tour. It has a beefier, slightly more midrange-y sound than the Strat.

Silver Surfer

This Ernie Ball Music Man StingRay II, designed in collaboration with Cory Wong, was made for Eisenbarger just before this run of shows.

Saintly Signature

Eisenbarger uses this Ernie Ball Music Man St. Vincent Signature for “I Kissed a Girl.”

Taped-Up Taylor

This Taylor 814ce, wrapped in silver tape, comes out for a mid-show acoustic set.

Devon Eisenbarger’s Rack Setup

Eisenbarger runs an all-digital rig, contained in this rack backstage. The key pieces are a Radial JX42, two Shure AD4Ds, a Kemper Profiling Amplifier, and a Fractal Axe-Fx. The Kemper runs a SELAH SOUNDS pack of profiles and impulse responses.

With no onstage monitors, Eisenbarger’s signal runs only to in-ear monitors and front of house.

Fender American Professional II Strat

Ernie Ball Music Man St. Vincent

Taylor 814-CE

Kemper Profiling Amp

PRS Fiore

Shure AD4D

Radial JX42

Justin Hawkins of The Darkness believes there’s one virtuoso that could have rivalled Eddie Van Halen back in the 1980s, if only he wasn’t “born 10 years too late”.

Talking to Rick Beato, Hawkins claims Extreme guitarist Nuno Bettencourt would be “competing with Eddie Van Halen if he were a bit younger”, but that his talents went under the radar in the ’90s.

• READ MORE: Sean Long’s new Neon Pink Charvel signature model might secretly be the most metal guitar of 2025
  

According to Hawkins, Bettencourt may have become better known if Extreme were thrust into the bigger limelight that was 1980s glam metal, rather than being subject to the differing tastes of the ’90s.

“Extreme was successful with their couple of ballads… More Than Words was such a big hit, and it transcended like an Everly Brothers type song… But Nuno is one of the greatest guitar players of his generation.”

He’s also quick to add that he doesn’t think the rise of grunge had anything to do with what killed off glam rock. Instead, he thinks that glam metal bands like “Nitro… killed it because then nobody’s going to be able to sing higher than Jim Gillette. Nobody’s going to be able to play as fast or as ridiculous as Michael Angelo Batio.”

“So I think Nitro was the natural conclusion of that, and it meant the end for bands like Extreme unfortunately and other interesting glam rock stuff from that period.”

Hawkins’ own band The Darkness gained success in the 2000s after Extreme, and reminisces about what his own band might have missed out on: “Rivalries are what got people excited about music. It seemed like the ’80s were this wonderfully tumultuous decade”.

Hawkins doesn’t believe that rock should return to the old days, though. As he told Kerrang! earlier this year: “It’s about getting to a certain age and realising that the world’s changing, and you’ve gotta change or that’s you fucked, you get left behind. And that’s rock.”

“It’s actually from the perspective of rock – rock is a middle-aged guy in a world full of people who are just generation… whatever the fuck it is now, and it has to wake up and be part of it.”

The post Justin Hawkins thinks there’s one guitarist who could have rivalled Eddie Van Halen – if only he was born 10 years earlier appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

Charvel has once again partnered with While She Sleeps guitarist Sean Long on a new limited-edition version of his Pro-Mod San Dimas Style 1 HH HT M signature model. It’s essentially an updated take on Long’s Charvel signature model, which arrived back in 2022. 

Sporting a fresh lick of paint – Neon Pink, no less – the new version boasts a similar spec sheet to its predecessor, including a set of EMG 57 and 66 pickups. The 57, Charvel explains, evokes an “unmistakably PAF quality with plenty of headroom and punch”, while the 66 in the neck position offers a “warm, smooth mid-range and expansive lows”.

• READ MORE: Is a Back to the Future Marty McFly signature ES-345 about to become a reality?
  

Notably, where the original Sean Long signature model features a neon yellow cover on the bridge pickup, the new Neon Pink version’s pickups do not. We don’t blame Charvel here; pink and yellow would have been bold, to say the least…

Elsewhere, the guitar features an HT6 string-through-body hardtail bridge, designed for “improved intonation and enhanced sustain and resonance”.

Credit: Charvel

The spec sheet is complete by an alder body – crafted into Charvel’s San Dimas Style 1 shape, of course – as well as a bolt-on maple neck with graphite reinforcement, with a Speed Neck profile and rolled fingerboard edges for enhanced playing comfort.

Further appointments include Luminlay side dots, 22 frets, a 12”-16” compound radius fingerboard, a heel-mount truss rod adjustment wheel and Charvel-branded die-cast locking tuners.

Sean Long is the primary songwriter of Sheffield metalcore heavyweights While She Sleeps, and his Pro-Mod San Dimas Style 1 HH HT M signature model is designed to keep up with his “high-speed playing, scorching sound and sinister, yet eccentric style”.

“This is essentially the same as my original signature, the only difference is that it’s fucking pink, and this pickup [pointing to the bridge pickup], is black,” Long explains in the video above. Why? Because it’s awesome.”

He goes on: “I grew up listening to bands like Blink-182, Sum 41, Rage [Against the Machine], stuff like that. And then I discovered metalcore and metal. This kind of music completely captivated me – I’d never heard anything like it before…

“So the design – one of the fundamental aspects of my thinking was, I wanted it to be as simplistic as possible. I did not want it to be intimidating. I wanted it to seem aesthetically digestible. Because I remember when I was a kid going to music stores, it always felt like I wasn’t good enough to be there.

“If you looked at the guitars at the top, you would never have the balls to ask the guy to get it down. And that feeling has always sat with me. There was always this intimidating feeling with a lot of gear. So I wanted this to look appealing and approachable.”

The Limited Edition Sean Long Pro-Mod San Dimas Style 1 HH HT M is available now, priced at $1,469.99.

Learn more at Charvel.

The post Sean Long’s new Neon Pink Charvel signature model might secretly be the most metal guitar of 2025 appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

The SSI2100 is a 512-Stage BBD that offers a wide range of delay times using clock frequencies from 1kHz to over 2MHz. Special care was taken to faithfully reproduce the bucket brigade chain to preserve “mojo” of these quirky and beloved analog delay circuits.

Sound Semiconductor took advantage of a modern CMOS IC process that not only permits reduced chip die size but also allowed addition of new features. The SSI2100 includes an on-chip clock driver with anti-phase outputs that accepts a single TTL/CMOS 5V or 3.3V input that can be easily generated from a wide range of sources, negating the need for a traditional companion clock generator IC. In addition, the SSI2100 incorporates a clock tree to distribute the two anti-phase clocks throughout the chain for improved fidelity. The SSI2100 also internally provides the legacy “14/15 VGG“ supply voltage needing only an external capacitor.

A novel circuit (patent pending) provides noiseless gain allowing easy connection of multiple SSI2100’s for longer delay times without having to recalibrate inputs and outputs. An additional benefit to daisy-chaining is access to intermediate feedback taps for interesting reverb and other psychoacoustic effects.

The SSI2100 is available in a compact SOP-8 package, and believed to be the first BBD IC to be offered in a surface mount package. Pricing is $1.08 at 1k pieces, with samples available to qualified OEM’s. Production stock is available now.

"Before we could even start development in earnest of the SSI2100, we had to fully understand how these unusual devices work,” stated Neil Johnson, designer of the SSI2100. "From there it became a very fun project to complete.”

Sound Semiconductor is composed of musicians and technologists with the goal of developing affordable, high-performance integrated circuits for music creation. For more information, please visit www.soundsemiconductor.com.

Building on the success of MTD’s USA Norm Stockton Signature Saratoga, the new KNSJ5 brings high end appointments and renowned playability to a more affordable price range.

Built to Norm Stockton’s specs for a service life equally at in the studio and on the road, the KNSJ5 marries USA Bartolini pickups and a new USA Bartolini Preamp to MTD Kingston Saratoga’s signature neck profile, fretwork, iconic body shape and hardware. The new preamp designed in conjunction with Bartolini gives players an unparalleled playing experience.

Features include:

• 35” Scale Maple neck with Maple fingerboard for a more focused B string
• MTD Asymmetrical neck profile for less fatigue and a more comfortable grip
• Custom NSJ Preamp from Bartolini with Shiftable 450/850hz Mid band and Active/Passive switch
• Custom MTD Split Coil USA Bartolini Pickups
• Alder body with Quilted Maple top
• Quick Release Bridge
• Hipshot Licensed Ultra Lite tuning machines
• Dunlop Super Bright Stainless Steel Roundwound Strings w/ tapered B: 45-130

“I had high expectations for the Kingston NS,” says Norm Stockton, “and it absolutely blew them away! Gorgeous looks, spectacular playability, and TONE for days. Everyone who’s played it has been floored.”

This new model represents a shift in how MTD Kingston basses are assembled. While every single Kingston model received a full setup – including a fret level/dress, intonation, and action adjustments – moving forward all Kingston series instruments equipped with Bartolini electronics will have those electronics installed in company’s Kingston, NY facility by the MTD team.

The KNSJ5 is available in Satin Blue Burst and has a street price of $2099. For more information visit mtdbass.com.

Buying an electric guitar can be a somewhat daunting task – there are countless options out there, and rarely a “bad” instrument to be had, even at the budget end of things. So we’ve helpfully split this list of the best electric guitars into discrete categories, including our best overall pick.

• READ MORE: The 10 Best Jazzmasters for for beginners, upgraders and offset aficionados

Why? Well, the best guitar for you might be an affordable workhorse, ready to be thrown around on stage or into the back of a van without a care in the world. Or it could be a beautiful, premium instrument – a guitar to be looked after for life. The best guitar for you might offer up a palette of subtle, dynamic sounds. Or, it might pummel an amp’s front end to raise sonic hellfire. So, as well as our best overall pick, all of the guitars in this list excel in a given category – with everything from traditional classics to modern masterpieces, and premium instruments to beginner-friendly budget models represented. Let’s dive in.

The best electric guitars, at a glance:

• Our Pick: Fender Player II Modified Stratocaster
• Best Les Paul: Epiphone 1959 Les Paul Standard
• Best Jazzmaster: Fender Player II Jazzmaster
• Best Stratocaster: Fender Vintera II ’50s Stratocaster
• Best affordable guitar: Epiphone Les Paul Special
• Best high-end guitar: Gibson Murphy Lab 1959 Les Paul Standard
• Most unique guitar: Rivolta Forma Series Sferata
• Best metal guitar: Jackson LM-87 Lee Malia
• Best beginner guitar: Squier Sonic Mustang HH
• Best headless guitar: Strandberg Boden Essential 6
• Best baritone: Rivolta Mondata Baritone VII
• Why you can trust Guitar.com

[products ids=”65zVwPYBe1avNNSI9vJuzZ,5967F7MevKGn4y9zeDaXDV,4vmt2vrjJashEBH8Ite5ho,hH4VYzBqlTmQr5S6yNW4t,PDfsX0JQCguXWzRIksEmH,6oioPlMKa04Ogr1vwahk3v,7fozlZaHIa9UpwKhagriHq,4cEwY8kYQyltiIMkdFBzSX,1aUhWlbhl9cBsbOkbydEXm,7dfqKVACCG8MfIrJZKbLYo,1akX2bSfU4eOr1o2SPquwI”]

Our Pick: Fender Player II Modified Stratocaster

Image: Adam Gasson

[products ids=”5PoxPlaIRJMhQJPQoNoqcZ”]

The Player II range represents some of the finest guitars to come out of Fender’s Ensenada, Mexico factory to date, and their overall quality-to-affordability ratio made them great options for the odd pickup swap or hardware change. Fender itself has always been keenly aware of the Ship Of Theseus mindset its guitars encourage – and so here we have the pre-modded Player II Modified Stratocaster, replete with some excellent noiseless single-coils, locking tuners and extra switching options.

The result is an extremely versatile Strat – even for a Strat – with some very road-ready hardware, all for a great price. What more do you need?

Need more? Read our Fender Player II Modified Stratocaster review.

Best Les Paul: Epiphone 1959 Les Paul Standard

[products ids=”4vmt2vrjJashEBH8Ite5ho”]

If you want an awesome Les Paul that doesn’t cost an arm and a leg, then this collaboration between Epiphone and the Gibson Custom Shop could be it. Thanks to premium electronics and Gibson-spec pickups, there’s a wide range of responsive tone-shaping options on tap. Construction is solid and mostly sticks to vintage specifications, too – perfect if you want to see why the 1959 Les Paul Standard has remained one of the most legendary guitars of all time. It’s also a smart purchase when you compare it to what’s available at the most accessible end of the Gibson USA catalogue.

Need more? Read our Epiphone 1959 Les Paul Standard review.

Best Jazzmaster: Fender Player II Jazzmaster

The Player II Jazzmaster

[products ids=”hH4VYzBqlTmQr5S6yNW4t”]

The Player II series from Fender has updated its core designs to be more approachable than ever – and the oh-so-singular Jazzmaster is always a tricky needle to thread in that regard. Complete purists may bemoan the lack of the rhythm circuit, but that aside there’s a lot to like, including the subtle wobble you can get from that Jazzmaster vibrato, and the bright, articulate single-coil pickups.

• READ MORE: The 10 Best Jazzmasters for for beginners, upgraders and offset aficionados

But the star of the show is undeniably the neck – first off, rosewood is back, replacing the mildly controversial pau ferro and generally being a lot nicer to look at. And on the playing side the fretboard edges are now rolled, meaning an incredibly comfy playing experience.

Need more? Read our Fender Player II Jazzmaster review.

Best vintage-style Stratocaster: Fender Vintera II ’50s Stratocaster

Fender Vintera II ’50s Stratocaster. Image: Adam Gasson

[products ids=”5967F7MevKGn4y9zeDaXDV”]

Fender’s Mexican-made Vintera II line is an excellent place to turn if you want maximum bang for your buck in terms of sound, playability and looks. That remains true here with the Vintera II 50s Stratocaster: while it’s not a slavishly accurate recreation like the American Vintage II line is, there’s still a lot to love if you love a good traditional Strat, including the narrow-tall frets and the 7.25-inch radius.

The neck finds itself on the accessible side of vintage, with a softer V that takes the edge off its thickness, meaning a more characterful feel than that of the Vintera I necks. The concessions to modernity, where they have been made, are welcome ones too: a the bridge-wired tone control and five-way switch might not be totally accurate, but they sure are useful. In all, it’s a great Strat experience for a great piece.

Need more? Read our Fender Vintera II ’50s Stratocaster review.

Best affordable guitar: Epiphone Les Paul Special

[products ids=”PDfsX0JQCguXWzRIksEmH”]

Compared to the pricey Custom Shop collaborations Epiphone likes to shout about, the standard Les Paul special – first launched as part of the Inspired By Gibson range in 2020 – is an affordable workhorse that, unless you really, really hate the Epiphone headstock, has no discernible compromises. Although its neck profile is on the chunkier side, it’s very playable – and not quite as fat as some baseball-bat examples out there. Importantly, its pickups aren’t messing around, either, with all of the vocal midrange P90s are famous for.

Need more? Read our Epiphone Les Paul Special review.

Best high-end guitar: Gibson Murphy Lab 1959 Les Paul Standard

[products ids=”6oioPlMKa04Ogr1vwahk3v”]

From an affordable student-model Les Paul to, well, quite the opposite. The Gibson Murphy Lab 1959 Les Paul standard is the absolute pinnacle of Gibson’s modern production guitars, recreating the absolute pinnacle of its vintage instruments. While you may baulk at any level of ageing, the Murphy Lab’s various wearing-in processes – from light to heavy – serve to make the guitar feel like a truly authentic 1950s example, rather than a new guitar built to the same specs. For those of us without six figures to drop on a vintage example, it’ll be the closest we get to owning the real deal.

Need more? Read our Gibson Murphy Lab 1959 Les Paul Standard review.

Most unique guitar: Rivolta Forma Series Sferata

The Sferata. Image: Adam Gasson

[products ids=”7fozlZaHIa9UpwKhagriHq”]

There’s nothing wrong with the classics – the kinds of instruments that make a guitar-savvy audience member go, “Oh hey, it’s that guitar.” But maybe you want them to “what it that!?” – if that’s the case, look no further than the Rivolta Forma series. These awesome guitars chuck Gibson and Fender elements into a blender – along with a splash of brutalism, and a healthy dose of the sort of curves normally reserved for experimental Cold War-era aircraft. The Sferata is a particularly cool design standout, landing somewhere between a melted Jaguar and a Les Paul Junior.

But it’s not all about looks. The Forma series also come loaded with some awesome electronics, particularly a dramatically-slanted neck pickup – which our reviewer found to have an awesome and unique voice, thanks to the varied timbre of each string. They’re not the most affordable instruments out there, but Rivolta has a proven track-record of excellent guitars for the money, and, well, where else are you going for a guitar that looks like this?

Need more? Read our Rivolta Forma Series Sferata review.

Best metal guitar: Jackson LM-87 Lee Malia

Jackson Lee Malia LM-87 guitar. Image: Press

[products ids=”5iJIvQ0gmrg79ARQ4QBSdw”]

This offset from Jackson is one of the best-looking metal guitars released in recent years, and it follows up its cooler-than-cool aesthetics with great playability and some crushing sounds. But thanks to its versatile set up pickups – with that single-coil in the neck – there’s a lot of range here, too, so it doesn’t always have to be drop-A and tremolo-picking. But, of course, this has ultimately been made for Lee Malia – and so will handle pretty much whatever heaviness you want to throw at it!

Need more? Read our Jackson LM-87 Lee Malia review.

Best beginner guitar: Squier Sonic Mustang HH

Squier Sonic Mustang HH. Image: Adam Gasson

[products ids=”1aUhWlbhl9cBsbOkbydEXm”]

The Squier Sonic Mustang HH could be a perfect starter guitar, for a good few reasons. It is, of course, very affordable, at less than $200 – but it’s also no slouch in the playability department. It has a short 24-inch scale length, meaning that those with smaller hands will have an easier time with it – and string tension is lower, meaning easier fretting no matter the size of your mitts. And while the pickups aren’t the most deft and articulate humbuckers out there – for getting someone hooked on the sheer joy of a power-chord, they’re perfect.

Need more? Read our Squier Sonic Mustang HH review.

Best headless guitar: Strandberg Boden Essential 6

[products ids=”7dfqKVACCG8MfIrJZKbLYo”]

It’s undeniable that a headless guitar is not for everyone – but it’s equally undeniable that they’re playing a massive role in the modern guitar landscape, espcially in the proggier, mathier outlands of heavier music. For the uninitiated, the Strandberg Boden 6 offers an enticing invite into that world – it has a rather reasonable price of $999, as well as an approachable featureset.

Six strings and a non-fanned fretboard mean that there’s only so much you’ll need to get used to if you’re coming over from a more traditional electric. Our reviewer found some truly excellent and versatile sounds on board, and had an excellent time with the ergonomics of the instrument. If you’re a fan of a comfortable, light guitar, there are very few lighter or more comfortable instruments – the Boden Essential 6 offers all of the awesome ergonomic benefits of a modern headless, with none of the extended-range hurdles, and all at a very approachable price.

Need more? Read our Strandberg Boden Essential 6 review.

Best baritone: Rivolta Mondata Baritone VII

[products ids=”1akX2bSfU4eOr1o2SPquwI”]

The Rivolta Mondata Baritone VII is, as you can tell immediately, an absolute stunner. But it’s as sonically beautiful as it is aesthetically, with a versatile combination of a humbucker and a P90 for exploring all corners of the downtuned sound. Need to get even more old-school? A strangle switch lets you starve some low-end for some bright tic-tac basslines, but whack things back up to full and let the 28-inch scale length add clarity to your ultra-low riffage.

Need more? Read our Rivolta Mondata Baritone VII review.

Why You Can Trust Us

Every year, Guitar.com reviews a huge variety of new products – from the biggest launches to cool boutique effects – and our expert guitar reviewers have decades of collective experience, having played everything from Gibson ’59 Les Pauls to the cheapest Squiers.

That means that when you click on a Guitar.com buyer’s guide you’re getting the benefit of all that experience to help you make the best buying decision for you.What’s more, every guide written on Guitar.com was put together by a guitar obsessive just like you. You can trust that every product recommended to you in those guides is something that we’d be happy to have in our own rigs.

The post The best electric guitars for all styles and budgets appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

Penned in collaboration with composer Harry Brooks and lyricist Andy Razaf, the song made its debut in 1929 and was an instant sensation.

Most guitarists probably engage in some degree of a warm-up pre-show, but everyone has a different routine unique to them.

But few guitarists have a warm-up routine that rivals that of Dream Theater‘s John Petrucci, according to Steve Morse.

• READ MORE: Is a Back to the Future Marty McFly signature ES-345 about to become a reality?
  

Deep Purple and Dream Theater have previously shared the stage, with the latter supporting the former on their Touring to Infinity shows in 1998.

“One thing I love seeing is how John Petrucci will just sit down and do a warm-up, no matter what, even if you’re talking to him, he’s going to keep on,” Morse tells The No Cover Charge podcast in a new interview.

“[He’s] got a metronome going. He’s going to build it up, build it up. And when he goes up on stage, it’s no problem… He keeps getting better with his musical ideas and everything, too.

“So he’s blown me away with the level that he’s been able to keep that alternate picking and even incorporating some hybrid things, just to serve the music. That’s as high of a level [as] I’ve seen of somebody preparing for a gig.”

Steve Morse’s appreciation for John Petrucci is certainly reciprocal, too. In a Guitar Player interview in 2022, Petrucci said that Morse’s playing was “The wildest, most incredible stuff I had ever heard.”

“There are moments that you can pinpoint and say they were truly life-changing, and for me, hearing Steve Morse play guitar was one of them.”

The post Steve Morse reveals the guitarist with the best pre-show warm-up routine he’s ever seen appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

Drummers often hold the band together. And this can mean getting a good read on the personalities of other members of the band, and situations where clashes may arise.

In The Yardbirds this was Jim McCarty’s job, and observing from behind the drum kit gave him a stark perspective of the dynamic between Eric Clapton, Jimmy Page and Jeff Beck.

• READ MORE: Is a Back to the Future Marty McFly signature ES-345 about to become a reality?
  

In a new interview with Guitar Player, McCarty reveals that working with these musical giants in their formative years was not always easy: “Going back to the time, they were all learning how to do it… We were all trying to play and having good fun playing that sort of music. And they were all very different. Very.”

Clapton was, as McCarty recalls, “a very moody sort of guy”. He explains: “We’d be travelling in a transit van, going to the shows, and he would sit in the corner and not talk to anybody.”

As McCarty explains, tensions arose over the band’s desperation to have a hit, versus Eric’s zealousness for the blues: “He’d be in a little world of his own, obviously quite unhappy with the way it was going.”

“Eric was coming from a difficult upbringing, because he wasn’t really brought up by his parents,” McCarty says. “He was brought up by his grandmother, who he thought was his mother. We met her, and she was a lovely woman, very chatty and very friendly. But that gave him a challenged outlook on things, and I think he took the blues up as his personal crusade.

“He was totally dedicated to the blues, and also seemingly very ambitious… Eric was obviously gonna go somewhere. You knew that yes, one day he’ll be a big star, ’cause he was driven to do that, and he was getting a reputation while he was playing with us. He used to copy blues solos – Matt ‘Guitar’ Murphy or Buddy Guy or somebody – and copy them note for note before he got his own thing going.”

Clapton ultimately left the Yardbirds shortly after the release of For Your Love in 1965. In his own words, Clapton said he left the Yardbirds for John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers because of their “earthier” blues sound, stating that he continued to play guitar in the same way but that the two bands’ interpretations of his music meant it came across differently.

The post Yardbirds drummer explains why Eric Clapton was difficult to be in a band with: “He took the blues up as his personal crusade” appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

Back in June, it was announced that Gibson and actor Michael J. Fox had launched a worldwide search for the missing iconic Cherry Red ES-345 which appears in Back to the Future.

Well, it turns out Gibson had hatched a plan behind the scenes, as the brand is now teasing what looks to be a production run version of the legendary guitar played by Marty McFly in the film’s famous school dance scene.

• READ MORE: Wolfgang Van Halen thinks it’s a “miracle” Van Halen’s final album was even made

Famously historically inaccurate for the scene – guitar trivia nuts have long pointed out that the 1958 ES-345 played by Marty McFly had no place in a scene set in 1955…

But this criticism is generally the subject of debate for a very small cross section of the general population, who otherwise lapped up the iconic scene which sees the film’s protagonist perform Chuck Berry classic Johnny B. Goode at the Enchantment Under the Sea school dance.

While the teaser is very much just a teaser, it points to something being announced on 21 October. The social media post shows a Cherry Red ES-345 shrouded in smoke, propped up against the DeLorean DMC-12 which doubles as a time machine in the movie. “Time circuits set for 21 October, 2025,” the caption reads.

That’s the extent of the information we have at this time, but we’re confident in our assumption that a Marty McFly signature ES-345 might be on the way…

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Gibson (@gibsonguitar)

Gibson’s search for the original guitar launched earlier this year recruited not only Michael J. Fox, but his Back to the Future co-stars Lea Thompson, Christopher Lloyd, Harry Waters Jr. and Huey Lewis. 

“Guitar has always been a big part of my life,” Fox noted. “When we talked about the ‘Enchantment Under The Sea’ scene in Back To The Future, I sat down with the cinematographer and choreographer and said I want to riff through all of my favourite guitarists, like doing Jimi Hendrix behind the head, Pete Townshend doing a windmill, and the Eddie [Van Halen] hammer thing, it was so cool that they were open to that, and we laid it all out there.

“I’m really happy with the scene because it was an expression of my love for guitar and all the great players. I didn’t realise the influence the scene had on people. John Mayer said, ‘I play guitar because of you,’ and Chris Martin said the same thing, and I am glad they took it further than I did, they went to the trouble of being really good players. I just love the guitar, and I love the movie.”

Gibson CEO Cesar Gueikian added: “This is one of the most exciting moments at Gibson for me. Back To The Future is one of the most important and significant movies of my life, and the ‘Enchantment Under the Sea’ school dance scene marked me musically in a profound way. 

“Working with Michael J. Fox, Bob Gale and the rest of the Back To The Future team is a dream come true. I hope we find Marty’s Gibson ES-345! To everyone out there who is as passionate as I am about this iconic film, please help us find it!”

If you need a refresher on that classic school dance scene, you can check that out below:

We’ll keep you updated with more info on this teaser as we have it…

The post Is a Back to the Future Marty McFly signature ES-345 about to become a reality? appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

$329/£299/€272, gamechangeraudio.com

Don’t ever stop being weird, Gamechanger. Eight years after stealing the show at NAMM 2017 with the Plus Pedal, this Latvian company is still going all-out for radicalness. And in the case of the Auto Series, that means three stompboxes – a delay, a reverb and a chorus – that each have a patchbay and a set of cables for customising the circuit.

• READ MORE: Boss RT-2 Rotary Ensemble review – a compact Leslie sim that doesn’t compromise on features

This, then, is a stereo delay pedal that thinks it’s a synth module. So if you like the idea of creating unique sounds where different aspects of the effect are controlled by playing dynamics or pitch – or possibly both – then things are about to get interesting. And if you don’t? Well, it could still be fun. In parts.

Image: Press

Gamechanger Audio Auto Delay – is it easy to use?

Relax – it doesn’t have to be bamboozling. Ignore the left footswitch, focus on the four full-size knobs in the green section, and you can lower yourself gently into the world of the Auto Delay without fear of setting fire to your brain. Because, to start with at least, this is a straightforward stereo echo generator.

Those knobs control delay level, tone, time and repeats (feedback), while a three-way slider lets you set the stereo panning – none, 50 per cent or full ping-pong – and another flicks between tape, analogue and digital modes. Easy – but brace yourself, because that’s where the simple stuff ends.

With the ‘auto’ footswitch engaged, the idea is to use the cables to set up secondary settings (adjusted via the mini-knobs) that will kick in according to the level or pitch of your playing. For example, patch from ‘dynamics’ to ‘level’ and you can make the delay get louder when the input signal hits a certain threshold; or link ‘pitch’ to ‘repeats’ and you can send it into cascading feedback whenever you go up the neck.

There are two patch outputs from the dynamic section, and two from pitch, so you’re free to set up multiple parameter changes at the same time – and you can of course choose the levels at which these changes happen. Sound fiddly? It is, and the manual is too wordy to be much help, but it’s mostly quite intuitive once you’ve cracked the concept.

Image: Press

Gamechanger Audio Auto Delay – what does it sound like?

In theory, you could buy this pedal as a standard delay and use the patchbay as a place to keep your mid-gig Snickers. If you do this, you’re unlikely to have any complaints (apart from getting chocolate on your fretboard); it does the job well, in mono or stereo. It’s a pity there’s no DMM-style modulation option, though – this might have been more useful than the three-way mode switch, which largely duplicates what the tone control is doing.

But it’s the dynamic effects that have brought you this far – so are they any good? On the whole, yes. There are obvious use cases for some setups: having the repeats get quieter when you’re playing low notes could be a nice way to stop things getting mushy, while toning down the brightness on louder lead breaks might prevent an overload of percussive hits. More creatively, you can also use delay time changes to create wild pitch-sweeps as you cross the threshold.

Sometimes the results of a new patching arrangement turn out to be less musically appealing than you might expect, and I’ve a nagging feeling that, for some players, the fun won’t last very long beyond the initial exploration. But Gamechanger must be used to that by now – it’s the price you pay for being weird.

Image: Press

Gamechanger Audio Auto Delay – should I buy it?

The Auto Delay doesn’t catapult you into unknown sonic territory in the way that some of Gamechanger’s previous efforts do – the advanced effects take a bit of dialling in, and can be more subtle in practice than they might sound in theory. So this is possibly the company’s narrowest niche yet… but if you want to add dynamism to your delay sounds, and don’t mind a bit of hands-on tinkering, it’s a unique piece of kit.

Gamechanger Audio Auto Delay alternatives

The Rainger FX Echo-X (£229) packs some similarly ingenious functionality into a titchy format, with help from the included Igor foot controller. More straightforward multi-mode digital delays include the Walrus Audio Mako Series MkII D1 ($399.99/£379) and Boss DD-200 ($274.99/£249).

The post Gamechanger Audio Auto Delay review – a dynamic delay that lets you wire it up how you want it appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

Tom Butwin‬ is back with round two of Pedalmania 2025!

First, he demos the versatile Chase Bliss Brothers AM, a collaboration with Analog Man that packs the beloved King of Tone sound into a compact powerhouse. Next, experience the unique and wild sounds of Eventide's Knife Drop, a collaboration with Third Man that delivers crushing distortion and synth tones. Finally, explore the simple but effective Rock N Roll Relics Stinger Overdrive, an old-school pedal with new old stock parts that offers a wide range of usable tones—from a clean boost to searing leads.

.rbm-pick { display: grid; grid-template-columns: 160px 1fr; gap: 16px; align-items: center; border: 1px solid #e6e6e6; border-radius: 12px; padding: 16px; } /* Media box — no cropping, no edge kiss */ .rbm-pick-media { height: 180px; /* fixed height for consistency */ padding: 8px; /* breathing room to avoid flat-cut edges */ box-sizing: border-box; /* keep total height = 180px */ border-radius: 10px; background: #fff; overflow: hidden; display: flex; align-items: center; justify-content: center; } .rbm-pick-media img { max-width: 100%; max-height: 100%; width: auto; /* preserve aspect */ height: auto; object-fit: contain; /* never crop */ object-position: center; display: block; } .rbm-badge { display: inline-block; font: 600 12px/1.2 system-ui; padding: 4px 8px; border-radius: 999px; background: #111; color: #fff; margin-bottom: 8px; } .rbm-title { font: 700 18px/1.3 system-ui; margin: 4px 0 8px; } .rbm-blurb { font: 400 14px/1.5 system-ui; color: #333; margin-bottom: 12px; } .rbm-pick-buttons { display: flex; gap: 8px; flex-wrap: wrap; } .rbm-pick .rbm-btn { display: inline-flex; gap: 6px; align-items: center; border: 2px solid #b50000; /* Premier Guitar red */ border-radius: 999px; padding: 10px 16px; text-decoration: none; font: 600 14px/1.2 system-ui; color: #b50000; background: #fff; box-shadow: 0 2px 5px rgba(0,0,0,0.12); transition: background .2s, color .2s, transform .15s; } .rbm-pick .rbm-btn:hover { background: #b50000; color: #fff; transform: translateY(-1px); } .rbm-pick .rbm-btn .price { opacity: 1; font-weight: 600; } /* Responsive tweaks */ @media (max-width: 540px) { .rbm-pick { grid-template-columns: 1fr; } .rbm-pick-media { height: 160px; padding: 6px; } } @media (min-width: 900px) { .rbm-pick-media { height: 200px; } }

.rbm-pick-card { --rbm-border: ; --rbm-accent: ; border: 2px solid var(--rbm-border, #e53e3e); border-radius: 10px; padding: 16px; background: #fff; font-family: inherit; position: relative; } .rbm-pick-badge { position: absolute; top: -10px; left: 12px; background: var(--rbm-accent, #e53e3e); color: #fff; font-size: 12px; line-height: 1; padding: 6px 10px; border-radius: 6px; font-weight: 700; } .rbm-pick-wrap { display: grid; grid-template-columns: 110px 1fr; gap: 16px; align-items: start; } .rbm-pick-img { aspect-ratio: 1 / 1; /* forces square crop */ overflow: hidden; border-radius: 6px; background: #f3f4f6; /* subtle placeholder */ } .rbm-pick-img img { width: 100%; height: 100%; object-fit: cover; /* crops without distortion */ display: block; } .rbm-pick-title { margin: 0 0 4px; font-size: 20px; font-weight: 800; color: #111; } .rbm-pick-sub { margin: 0 0 12px; font-size: 14px; font-weight: 700; color: #334155; } .rbm-pick-btns { display: grid; gap: 10px; max-width: 560px; } .rbm-pick-btns a { display: block; text-align: center; background: #000; color: #fff !important; text-decoration: none; padding: 12px 14px; border-radius: 8px; font-weight: 800; letter-spacing: .3px; } .rbm-pick-btns a span.price { text-transform: none; } .rbm-pick-btns a span.label { text-transform: uppercase; } /* Responsive */ @media (max-width: 560px) { .rbm-pick-wrap { grid-template-columns: 80px 1fr; } .rbm-pick-title { font-size: 18px; } }

.rbm-pick-card { --rbm-border: ; --rbm-accent: ; border: 2px solid var(--rbm-border, #e53e3e); border-radius: 10px; padding: 16px; background: #fff; font-family: inherit; position: relative; } .rbm-pick-badge { position: absolute; top: -10px; left: 12px; background: var(--rbm-accent, #e53e3e); color: #fff; font-size: 12px; line-height: 1; padding: 6px 10px; border-radius: 6px; font-weight: 700; } .rbm-pick-wrap { display: grid; grid-template-columns: 110px 1fr; gap: 16px; align-items: start; } .rbm-pick-img { aspect-ratio: 1 / 1; /* forces square crop */ overflow: hidden; border-radius: 6px; background: #f3f4f6; /* subtle placeholder */ } .rbm-pick-img img { width: 100%; height: 100%; object-fit: cover; /* crops without distortion */ display: block; } .rbm-pick-title { margin: 0 0 4px; font-size: 20px; font-weight: 800; color: #111; } .rbm-pick-sub { margin: 0 0 12px; font-size: 14px; font-weight: 700; color: #334155; } .rbm-pick-btns { display: grid; gap: 10px; max-width: 560px; } .rbm-pick-btns a { display: block; text-align: center; background: #000; color: #fff !important; text-decoration: none; padding: 12px 14px; border-radius: 8px; font-weight: 800; letter-spacing: .3px; } .rbm-pick-btns a span.price { text-transform: none; } .rbm-pick-btns a span.label { text-transform: uppercase; } /* Responsive */ @media (max-width: 560px) { .rbm-pick-wrap { grid-template-columns: 80px 1fr; } .rbm-pick-title { font-size: 18px; } }

Continuing the company’s 40th anniversary celebrations, Heritage Guitars has introduced the Standard II Collection, a refinement of its original Standard Series, starting with the updated H-150 model.

With the Standard II Collection, Heritage Guitars reaffirms its commitment to continual improvement and refining every detail to deliver meaningful upgrades for today’s players, while staying true to its American-made legacy. The all-new H-150 under the Standard II Collection introduces several key enhancements in construction, tone, and versatility.

Key features include:

• Updated Headstock: A new headstock veneer featuring the ‘Heritage’ logo lends a more
• Weight Relief: The body is crafted from genuine mahogany with weight relief, offering greater playing comfort without compromising tonal integrity
• New Heritage Custom Shop 225 Standard Humbuckers: Designed and wound in-house, these pickups deliver a broad and expressive tonal range. Built with 42 AWG plain enamel wire (neck) or 43 AWG poly wire (bridge) on Butyrate unpotted bobbins, and 2.5” roughcast Alnico 5 magnets, they feature potted covers to minimize unwanted feedback at higher volumes
• Modern Wiring: Equipped with series/parallel switching via push/pull tone pots, this setup provides expanded tonal flexibility, capturing the brightness and clarity of a “single-coil” voice without the typical volume loss of traditional coil-splitting
• ’60s Neck Profile: A slim, comfortable profile that maintains ample grip for a familiar, vintage-inspired feel
• New Finishes: Offered in striking new colorways Wine Red, Bourbon Burst, and Chestnut Burst, alongside existing favorites Dirty Lemon Burst and Ebony
• Made in the USA: Crafted at 225 Parsons Street, Kalamazoo, Michigan

The Standard II H-150 launch marks another milestone in a landmark year for the brand, which also saw the debut of the critically acclaimed Custom Shop H-717 archtop and the Ascent Collection, a line of accessible instruments designed to bring Heritage’s renowned craftsmanship to a wider audience.

The Heritage Standard II H-150 is priced at $2,599 (US MAP). For more information, visit heritageguitars.com or contact select authorized Heritage dealers.

Continuing the company’s 40th anniversary celebrations, Heritage Guitars has introduced the Standard II Collection, a refinement of its original Standard Series, starting with the updated H-150 model.

With the Standard II Collection, Heritage Guitars reaffirms its commitment to continual improvement and refining every detail to deliver meaningful upgrades for today’s players, while staying true to its American-made legacy. The all-new H-150 under the Standard II Collection introduces several key enhancements in construction, tone, and versatility.

Key features include:

• Updated Headstock: A new headstock veneer featuring the ‘Heritage’ logo lends a more
• Weight Relief: The body is crafted from genuine mahogany with weight relief, offering greater playing comfort without compromising tonal integrity
• New Heritage Custom Shop 225 Standard Humbuckers: Designed and wound in-house, these pickups deliver a broad and expressive tonal range. Built with 42 AWG plain enamel wire (neck) or 43 AWG poly wire (bridge) on Butyrate unpotted bobbins, and 2.5” roughcast Alnico 5 magnets, they feature potted covers to minimize unwanted feedback at higher volumes
• Modern Wiring: Equipped with series/parallel switching via push/pull tone pots, this setup provides expanded tonal flexibility, capturing the brightness and clarity of a “single-coil” voice without the typical volume loss of traditional coil-splitting
• ’60s Neck Profile: A slim, comfortable profile that maintains ample grip for a familiar, vintage-inspired feel
• New Finishes: Offered in striking new colorways Wine Red, Bourbon Burst, and Chestnut Burst, alongside existing favorites Dirty Lemon Burst and Ebony
• Made in the USA: Crafted at 225 Parsons Street, Kalamazoo, Michigan

The Standard II H-150 launch marks another milestone in a landmark year for the brand, which also saw the debut of the critically acclaimed Custom Shop H-717 archtop and the Ascent Collection, a line of accessible instruments designed to bring Heritage’s renowned craftsmanship to a wider audience.

The Heritage Standard II H-150 is priced at $2,599 (US MAP). For more information, visit heritageguitars.com or contact select authorized Heritage dealers.