Norse Guitar Feeds

Relicing has long been one of the most divisive topics in the guitar world. Some players adore the worn-in look and feel, while others can’t stand the idea of a brand-new instrument looking decades old, dismissing it as disingenuous.

Fender masterbuilders Andy Hicks and Austin MacNutt know just how heated this debate can get. In a recent conversation with Guitarist, the pair break down why some players are drawn to the beaten-up aesthetic, why others recoil at it – and why, at the end of the day, it all comes down to personal taste.

• READ MORE: ThorpyFX just made the world’s first braille pedal for blind guitarist Anthony Ferraro following his custom braille Victory amp

“There are people who want an instrument that looks like it’s straight out of the early ‘50s, and then there are other people who see [relicing] as another aesthetic part of the guitar,” says Hicks.

“In just the same way as people have their favorite colors, they also tend to have their favorite relicing level. And it’s not about, ‘Does it look like it actually happened to the instrument?’ Something that you’ll hear a lot of is that relicing is like ‘stolen valour’ – like, ‘Oh, you didn’t earn that relicing.’ But I think people who like it are not thinking of it like that,” he explains.

“They’re not thinking, ‘I want this instrument to look like I’ve played it for 60 years.’ They just think it’s cool.”

Hicks stresses that his role isn’t to police taste but to build the guitar the customer wants. Whether it’s a one-off for a local player or a Custom Shop model for Iron Maiden’s Dave Murray, the philosophy stays the same.

“I always tell people there’s nothing stopping you from ordering a NOS [non-relic] guitar,” MacNutt laughs. “I’m more than happy to not beat it up – so you can have both.”

Despite how they look, relic’ing doesn’t mean simply smashing guitars or beating them up indiscriminately (though Andrew Belew and Seymour Duncan might beg to differ) There’s a surprising amount of care and craftsmanship behind the process, as Fender Chief Product Officer Max Gutnik explains.

Take Fender’s Road Worn models, for instance. Built at the company’s Ensenada, Mexico factory, they’re designed to give players that ‘played-in’ feel straight out of the box, replicating the gradual wear of decades of playing.

“It’s like getting a pre-washed pair of jeans,” Gutnik says. “They’re broken in so they’re comfortable right out of the store, but they’ll continue to wear and become your own.”

“That’s what’s so great about nitrocellulose lacquer. If you have to wait 25 years to get to that place, I mean, you might not get there! So starting that process and having the guitar feel super comfortable out of the gate is what we’re aiming for.”

The post Fender masterbuilders on why relic’d guitars aren’t about “stolen valour”: “Those who like it aren’t thinking, ‘I want this instrument to look like I’ve played it for 60 years.’ They just think it’s cool” appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

Angine de Poitrine are quickly becoming the hottest act in guitar town. The Quebec-based instrumental duo – known as much for their polka-dotted masks as for a sound that borders on the unearthly – are turning heads across the internet.

Fresh off the release of their second album, Vol. II, ADP are riding a wave of online buzz, with their February KEXP performance already closing in on 8 million views on YouTube.

And now, even Foo Fighters guitarist Dave Grohl has hopped on the hype train.

• READ MORE: Celebrate Foo Fighters’ new album and get Dave Grohl’s Pelham Blue Epiphone DG-335 at a discount at Thomann

Grohl shared his discovery of the duo during a recent interview with Logan Kelly on Logan Sounds Off. Asked about the music he’s been listening to lately, Grohl immediately gushes, “I just have to try to say this correctly because it was sent to me yesterday by a friend, and it absolutely blew my fucking mind.”

“It’s called Angine des Poitrines… And I don’t know how to explain it other than you just have to watch these people. And it’s all instrumental.”

Attempting to put the band’s setup into words, Grohl explains, “That person has a double neck that’s a bass guitar on the bottom and a guitar on the top. And you’ll see the bank of pedals that they’re stepping on. And they’re looping every one of these riffs. It’s so completely insane.”

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For the uninitiated, that part-bass, part-guitar beast of an instrument, as drummer Klek de Poitrine revealed in a previous interview with Noize, actually began as a DIY experiment.

“I built the first microtonal guitar we used myself,” he said. “I added more frets on a guitar with a saw. The moment we started playing it, we just laughed. But since I’m not a guitarist, I wasn’t using the instrument’s full potential.”

“So I brought it to [bandmate] Khn [de Poitrine], and I told him, ‘You have to try this, it makes absolutely no sense.’ Then right away, the moment we started playing with it, we just laughed, you know, because of the friction created and the proximity of the notes.”

Listen to Angine de Poitrine’s new album, Vol. II, below.

The post “It absolutely blew my f**king mind”: Dave Grohl is getting on the Angine de Poitrine hype train appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

Earlier this year, boutique amp maker Victory made headlines by building a custom braille-equipped amp for blind guitarist and skateboarder Anthony Ferraro. Now, UK pedal wizards ThorpyFX have picked up the baton with what’s believed to be the first fully braille-labelled guitar pedal.

“Braille guitar pedal? It’s the first one in the world,” Ferraro exclaims in an Instagram video documenting the reveal. “Wouldn’t be possible without this man, [Thorpy founder and pedal designer Adrian] Thorpe. I just showed up to his factory in the UK and he surprised me with this.”

• READ MORE: The best looper pedals for all needs and budgets

The pedal in question is a customised version of ThorpyFX’s The Dane MKII, a dual-stage boost/overdrive developed in collaboration with Andertons demo star and session ace Peter Honoré, aka ‘Danish Pete’. Already a favourite among tone chasers for its amp-like drive and stacked boost section, The Dane now has a new trick: it can literally be read by touch.

Getting there, however, wasn’t as simple as swapping printed Gain and Boost labels for raised dots. Thorpe’s initial attempt to integrate braille into the standard control layout quickly hit a wall.

“He started by trying to put the braille in here but unless you have super dainty fingers, which I don’t have, you can’t read it,” Ferraro explains. The solution came in the form of a custom “cover plate” – a removable top layer featuring clearly spaced braille markings that map out every knob and switch without crowding the pedal.

Running his fingers across the enclosure, Ferraro reads aloud: “Let’s see if the braille’s right. Level, boost side, clip, gain, tone, lows, the Dane. And then it even tells you on each side
which each pedal does. Like, this is the drive side and this is the boost side. Not to mention, he actually made it so I know if it goes on or off.”

“When using guitar pedals, it can get really confusing and I can forget all the controls at once,” Ferraro continues. “And this makes it so I know exactly what I’m gonna dial in and this is pure freedom at its finest. Especially in an age where all these pedals are going digital with all these touch screens. Come on!”

Plugging in his Fender Stratocaster, Ferraro runs through the tones: “Here’s our clean signal. Add some drive. Add some boost.”

And the verdict’s clear: “I think this just became my favorite drive pedal,” says the guitarist. “Thanks for being the first one to ever do this with a pedal and making huge waves in the accessibility world, brother. Thank you.”

In the video’s caption, Ferraro – a longtime advocate for accessibility in music gear – also reflects on how far the conversation has come.

“I thought asking music equipment to be made accessible was an extreme request but why not dream big. Never did I think my advocacy for braille throughout my life would lead to such monumental waves,” he writes. “If playing music is the only thing I do in my life that doesn’t make me feel blind then why not make the gear accessible so other blind kids and people can experience freedom through music like I have.”

“Thank you ThorpyFX for making the world’s first braille pedal – of course it had to be The Dane by Peter Honoré – it was incredible to visit your factory where this braille pedal came to reality and gave us a new friendship.”

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The post ThorpyFX just made the world’s first braille pedal for blind guitarist Anthony Ferraro following his custom braille Victory amp appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

£1,419, fender.com

Here’s a strange one for you – despite being without question the coolest guitar the company has ever made, Fender doesn’t seem to understand why people like Jazzmasters. That’s a ballsy claim, I’ll admit, but as a fully paid-up member of the Offset Tragics committee, let me tell you why.

If you love a Jazzmaster, chances are what captivated you about them were the guitars made in the 60s – especially those with various delightful custom colour options. Lake Placid Blue? Hell yes. Firemist Gold? Don’t mind if I do. Fiesta Red? I should think so. In fact, if you go onto Reverb, search ‘Jazzmaster’ and sort prices from high to low, you’ll find that all the most expensive offsets on there are early 60s Jazzers in a variety of beautiful shades.

And yet despite Fender churning out enough guitars to clog the Strait of Hormuz on a daily basis, you simply cannot buy an authentically early 60s Jazzmaster with Fender on the headstock.

• READ MORE: Eastman Fullertone Offset ’62 review – “it has a unique sonic voice and retro feel all of its own”

The American Vintage II 1966 Jazzmaster is a stunning guitar, sure, but that has block inlays and a big matching headstock – a different genus of Jazzer if ever there was one. The Vintera II Jazzmaster guitars are 50s models, and so it’s all sunbursts and gold pickguards – again, beautiful instruments, but it’s not what I want. The American Professional Classic guitar looks the part, but under the hood it’s a modern guitar in 60s clothing. In fact, the only way to get something that properly looks and feels the part without going to the Custom Shop is the Squier Classic Vibe 60s model… and that doesn’t have the right name on the peghead.

Thank goodness, then, for Fender Japan. In the 90s and early 2000s it kept the faith with the Jazzmaster when nobody else was making them, constantly reminding the world that Fender’s offset remained achingly cool with some wonderfully quirky takes on the form. It’s no surprise, then, that among the small range of Fender Japan guitars that the brand chooses to share with the wider world, there’s always a couple of quirky Jazzmasters in there – that’s real heritage.

Most relevant for this discussion, one of the more recent entries is this – a proper early 60s spec’d Jazzmaster… is this the traditional guitar I’ve been waiting for?

Fender Made In Japan Traditional 60s Jazzmaster – what is it?

Crafted in Fender’s mysterious Nagano factory (the specific details of which they refuse to share publicly), this Jazzmaster might have “Traditional” in its name, but in a lot of ways it’s anything but.

We’ll come back to the visuals in a minute, but even a glance at the spec sheet reveals this to be very much its own thing. So, for starters the body is basswood rather than the more traditional alder you’d expect to see in a Fender guitar. There’s nothing wrong with basswood of course – everyone from Steve Vai to Eddie Van Halen has found it a perfectly acceptable option, but well, it’s not very ‘traditional’ is it?

Then there’s the neck, which is a classic maple/rosewood affair at least, but with a U-shaped neck profile and 9.5-inch fingerboard radius – again, there’s nothing wrong with either of those things, but that certainly wasn’t what Fender was doing in the 60s.

And then there’s the visuals, which if you’re not reading this via some sort of screen-reading software, is likely to be old news – and something about which you’ve probably made your mind up about already.

Because yes, while you can get this Traditional 60s model in a rather fetching sunburst with a competition stripe (lordy) or Black Pearl, the powers that be have deigned to send me one in this rather polarising White Pearl finish, complete with matching headstock and gold hardware.

And in some ways, I have to take my hat off to the folks at Fender Japan – they’ve managed to craft a Jazzmaster that I absolutely would not take out in public, and I think that might be a first. Which is a real shame, because the White Pearl, with its rather charming hint of iridescence, is kinda awesome – especially when looking at it up close – but the mood-killer here is that gold hardware.

Look, gold hardware in the right context can look awesome – stick it on a big ol’ Gretsch or a Les Paul Custom and I will buy that all day long. Doubly so if that gold has got a bit dulled and tarnished in an authentic way.

But there’s just something… wrong… about the gold here. I don’t know whether it’s the pristine nature of it all alongside that ultra-shiny poly finish, the specific shade of gold Fender has chosen, or just the fact that it’s on a Jazzmaster at all but… it’s an absolute car-crash. It feels about as premium as a Claire’s Accessories jewellery haul, and that is NOT what we want especially from, and I feel the need to reiterate this – a Traditional 60s Jazzmaster.

Looks are subjective of course, but everyone I’ve shown this guitar to over the last few weeks has universally agreed that this would be a massively better-looking guitar with silver hardware.

Fender Made In Japan Traditional 60s Jazzmaster – build quality and playability

Putting my aesthetic reservations aside, respect is due to the fine folks at Fender Japan for the level of craftsmanship and the attention to detail that comes off every millimetre of this instrument.

With a finish this shiny – especially one that catches the light in the way that the Pearl does – any hint of imperfection or rushed workmanship would show up, but this guitar really is perfect from top to bottom. The immaculate edging around the painted headstock and the transition from neck to peghead is also flawlessly done. The neck’s glossy finish is also smoothly applied, while the rosewood fingerboard is a lovely dark brown, with 21 impeccably installed vintage-style frets.

As it happens, I have a pair of similarly-priced alternative Jazzmasters to compare the MIJ one to – the Road Worn Vintera II 50s model I reviewed earlier this year, and my trusty 60s Lacquer model from 2012.

One striking aspect of this MIJ model is the weight: both of the Mexico-made guitars read at bang on 8lbs, but the Traditional 60s guitar barely scrapes 7lbs. This is no doubt down to the lightweight basswood body compared to the alder used on the other two, but it’s still eyebrow-raising to pick up a Jazzmaster and find it has the displacement of a good Strat or Tele.

The neck is another obvious point of difference – obviously you get a flatter and more bend-friendly experience from the MIJ’s 9.5-inch radius (though I never have too many issues with a 7.25 in that regard personally), but the profile itself is a strikingly different experience.

Both the Mexico guitars have a classic C-shaped neck and, comparatively, the pronounced shoulders and flatter back of the U-shape on the Japan model definitely offer a different vibe. It’s not any less comfortable, but it’s one that feels more set up for lead playing and precision than the perhaps more generic comfort of the MIM models I have for comparison.

It’s also a slightly deeper neck at the first fret (20mm to 21.5mm) but graduating to a roughly identical 22mm at the 12th fret – combined with the extra shoulder, it makes for a chunkier proposition when playing open chords.

Despite the gloss finish however, it’s impressively un-sticky under hand, and while the ‘board edges aren’t rolled as they are on the Vintera II, the fretwork is nicely finished and it’s a smooth, comfortable player.

Like literally everyone else who’s ever owned a Jazzmaster, my guitar has had a bridge change from the dreadful threaded saddles that make original guitars from the 60s such a tricky prospect to set up right.

I’ve had to learn to live with Fender’s baffling determination to inflict the original bridge on modern players on its vintage-inclined instruments, but given how fast and loose Fender has played with the ‘Traditional’ tag on this guitar elsewhere, it’s utterly baffling to see an ugly gold example situated here. Especially as it seems to be more prone to rattling than the bridge on the Vintera II does. The worst part is, if you were planning to buy the damn thing, your upgrade options are limited. As far as I can tell neither Mastery, Staytrem, Tuffset or Bensonite – the most trusted options for aftermarket bridges – offer a gold option. That means you’re stuck with a generic Mustang option that probably won’t quite match the shade of gold to the rest of the guitar. Nightmare.

Mercifully, the rest of the setup works nicely, the push-fit trem arm is a welcome addition, and it’s a smooth, fluid operator out of the gate – with tuning stability as acceptable as you could hope for a JM trem.

Fender Made In Japan Traditional 60s Jazzmaster – sounds

Given that this guitar is loaded with a set of Fender’s Vintage-Style Jazzmaster single-coils, you might very well expect that we’d be greeted by a traditional Jazzmaster sonic experience when plugging in… well, not so fast, my friend.

Played clean, there’s plenty of woody low-end warmth that you’d expect to find from a Jazzmaster, but rather than pair that with the usual high-end sparkle you’d expect, we get more of a strident midrange and general clarity in terms of note definition. Even with the idiosyncratic rhythm circuit, this is a guitar that seems unwilling to muddy up – which depending on what you want to use it for, may be a good or bad thing.

If I had to guess, I’d say that this is probably more down to the basswood body than the pickups themselves – basswood is quite similar to mahogany in terms of the way it pushes the mid frequencies, compared to the brighter attack of alder, after all.

It’s a sound that’s unquestionably very usable – it doesn’t have much of the wooliness that can plague a Jazzmaster in the wrong hands, and if I were to put my hand on my heart I’d say that it’s probably a more widely usable palette of tones for the average player, especially if you’re pushing things on the distortion front.

Even with the rhythm circuit engaged, there’s a pleasing amount of midrange here that works well as you dial the gain up, adding punch and power without any shrill high-end issues. We’re not going crazy here – this is still a single-coil pickup guitar – but if you’re a Jazzmaster fan looking for a more general rock voice, this could be exactly what you’ve been after. “Traditional” though? Well…

Fender Made In Japan Traditional 60s Jazzmaster – should I buy one?

I feel like I’m boring myself at this point by continually pointing out that this guitar has been bafflingly named. If you’re looking for an authentically early 60s guitar like me, then your search continues here as it doesn’t have much of that about it – whether that’s the looks, the playability, or indeed the sound.

With that in mind, maybe the sensible thing is just to park that particular misnomer and take this guitar on its own merits. If you’re a more rock-inclined player looking for something that has some Jazzmaster mojo but with a playability and sound that will make light work of lightning-fast runs and heavier tones, this might be the perfect offset for you.

It’s also built extremely well, with an excellent level of fit and finish throughout, and the price is compelling given how rapidly the price of Mexico- and USA-made Fenders have crept up in recent years: at barely 200 bucks more than a Vintera II Road Worn and almost a grand less than a USA guitar, it stacks up very well.

It’s a less fun equation if you’re in the USA, sadly: while Fender Japan guitars are widely available (including direct from Fender) outside of the US, the guitars seem to be an import-only affair in the Land Of The Free currently. Maybe it’s a tariffs thing, but either way it’s a shame.

The subjective question of the looks here on this particular finish / hardware combo is the biggest sticking point for me. I’m sure someone will love it, and I am nobody’s idea of an authority on style, but I can’t really understand some of the choices made here. And that, much more than the inaccurate name, is the thing I just can’t get over.

Fender Made In Japan Traditional 60s Jazzmaster – alternatives

As you might well expect, Fender offers most of the ready-made alternatives to this guitar, and perhaps its closest competitor is the American Professional Classic Jazzmaster (£1,599 / $1,599) – that offers a 9.5-inch radius fingerboard and various other modern conveniences with a classic (and very early 60s) look, and vintage-style pickups. If you want something that’s much more accurate on the vintage side (albeit in the later 60s incarnation) the American Vintage II 1966 Jazzmaster ($2,799 / £2,379) is a fantastic guitar from top to bottom. If you wanna embrace the rock with your offset, the EVH Wolfgang Special ($1,499) has a pair of humbuckers to pair with the same basswood body as the Jazzmaster.

The post Fender Made In Japan Traditional 60s Jazzmaster review: “this visually polarising guitar is anything but traditional” appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

This June, Rush’s grand Fifty Something reunion tour will finally be kicking off at LA’s Kia Forum, the very same venue where guitarist Alex Lifeson and bassist Geddy Lee performed their final show with the late Neil Peart in 2020. For years, the band weren’t sure they’d ever feel comfortable performing again without their iconic drummer – let alone under the Rush branding.

While the band ultimately decided to go by Rush on their comeback tour, it was a hot topic of debate amongst the team. But, as Geddy Lee says in the latest issue of Classic Rock, “What else do you fucking call it?” when you’re performing a back-to-back set of Rush cuts.

• READ MORE: Rush have performed for the first time since reforming – and you can watch it right now

“When the band ended, we said it’s only Rush with Neil in it,” he explains. “Which of course is true. Rush as most people know it. But, you know, over five gigs we will be playing forty Rush songs. So what the fuck should we call it, Iron Maiden?”

While the band will be touring with new drummer Anika Nilles, Peart’s family has given their blessing for the group to tour under the Rush name once again. Because, when it comes down to it, Lifeson and Lee have gone by Rush for over five decades – it’s a part of them. “We were twisting ourselves into a pretzel to try to avoid using the name that we have had for fifty years, and even before Neil came,” Lee says.

Of course, the tour opening at the venue that played host to Peart’s final Rush performance is the band’s way of respecting their late drummer’s legacy. But they won’t let the loss define Rush and confine it to the annals of history. “It just seems silly to go on as Lee and Lifeson Present The Music Of…” Lee concludes. “Let’s cut to the chase, shall we? Let’s just be who we are and have been for over fifty years.”

And Neil’s presence is going to be felt every night, so he wont be forgotten. Lee expressed his sadness elsewhere in the new Classic Rock interview: “Without Neil… I’ll be frank. There are some songs you play where it kind of hits you, it’s bad, and it feels weird. And it’s appropriate that that happens. You know what I mean?”

“If we just picked up and went on without feeling any tug of anything, that would be absurd, that would be a whole other thing. And there’ll be moments in both sets where we’ll pay tribute to him. We’re working hard on that, making sure that it’s appropriate.”

The post “What the f**k should we call it, Iron Maiden?” Geddy Lee says he and Alex Lifeson “twisted ourselves into a pretzel” coming up with a reunion name that wasn’t ‘Rush’ appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.



This week, we’re chatting with Rhys John Stubbs, founder of UK-based Bigfoot Engineering. Rhys is best known for his effects pedals, but he just released a beautiful album of original acoustic guitar instrumentals called ‘Zems.’ We love it.

We talk about Rhys’ journey through music (and how a Fretboard Journal video with the Milk Carton Kids shaped his playing!), his love for acoustic guitars, pedal production, and so much more.

https://www.bigfootengineering.com/

Listen to ‘Zems’: https://www.bigfootengineering.com/music.html#/

Our next Summit takes place August 20-22, 2026, at the Old Town School of Folk Music in Chicago. Register today: https://fretboardsummit.org

We are brought to you by Peghead Nation: https://www.pegheadnation.com (Get your first month free or $20 off any annual subscription with the promo code FRETBOARD at checkout).

Mike & Mike’s Guitar Bar: https://mmguitarbar.com

Mike & Mike’s Substack: https://mmguitarbar.substack.com

The post Podcast 543: Rhys John Stubbs (Bigfoot Engineering) first appeared on Fretboard Journal.

$899/£949, milkmansound.com

Collaborations are everywhere these days. But for every collab that the world seizes on with Nike x Skims enthusiasm, there’s plenty more that go down about as well as Issey Miyake’s much-maligned iPhone sock.

• READ MORE: Neural DSP Quad Cortex Mini review: “this is the most universal Quad Cortex yet”

It’s a risk, is what I’m getting at here: not every partnership can be Lennon and McCartney, and when collaborations go wrong, they can damage both brands. A project lacking in any real purpose beyond trying to pull in fans, and comes across as a cringe-inducing cash grab that leaves you with one lingering question: why? Yes, I’m looking at you, The Flintstones & WWE: Stone Age SmackDown.

Luckily, everything makes a lot more sense with this recent collab between two of the boutique amp world’s most respected names: Benson and Milkman. Benson’s amps have rapidly built the sort of clientele that much bigger brands would kill for: from St Vincent and Jason Isbell, to Joe Bonamassa and Joey Landreth. Tim Marcus’s Milkman creations are similarly revered in the pro world, with the brand’s tube-based floorboard amps earning special affection from a wealth of pros and civilians alike.

As well as both being respected boutique amp builders, both Tim Marcus and Chris Benson have in common a shared set of values: building amps with a distinct sonic identity, that also offer the sort of rigorous build standards that make them such a hit with big name artists.

With both brands sporting wait-lists that would make Analog Man blush, the prospect of them coming together, well that’s a match made in heaven, right?

Milkman/Benson The Amp: what is it?

The foundation of this collaboration is Milkman’s hugely popular The Amp series of products. The amp is a 50-watt compact guitar amp that features a single 12AX7 tube in the preamp section, alongside a tube-driven EQ. As well as sporting a very pretty and sleek design that’s equally at home on a desk or on a pedalboard, The Amp quickly won fans for its authentically tube-y tones, and its familiarity to those of us who prefer our amps to have glass bottles in them. It was a perfect pedalboard/desktop amp for the sort of people who want no part of modelling, both sonically and in terms of usability.

There have been various iterations of the amp over the years, including a 100-watt and Stereo versions, but this is the first time that the platform has been re-voiced around the design philosophy of a different amp builder.

The new version features a circuit that is modelled on the preamp of Benson’s Chimera and Monarch amps. Like its siblings, you can pump that sound out via a traditional speaker cab, or go direct via the balanced XLR output or the impressive internal headphone amp.

The switchable cab sim on the XLR has been voiced by Chris Benson to sound nearly identical to the ceramic speakers he uses in his Benson cabs, and they’ve also added a Room control to make things feel more, well, room-y: adding a sense of depth and spatial realism when you’re going direct or your cabinets are close-mic’d. Like the original, you get onboard reverb and a boost control, both of which are footswitchable.

Milkman/Benson The Amp: usability and sounds

I’ve been using a Benson 2×12 vertical cabinet for a while now, and alongside my trusty Jazzmaster it seemed like the sensible place to start here. Plugged in and powered up, I couldn’t help but gasp at just how much chime the clean tone had on tap. Chords ring out beautifully, and at no point does it feel sterile or overly “solid-state” in character.

The onboard reverb is a drip machine. It never comes across as cold or lifeless and feels far more tube-like than many competing designs in this category. The Room knob might be the hidden MVP of the entire amp. The idea of controlling early reflections is something you don’t realise you need, until you start experimenting with it. Then suddenly it clicks.

Through the cab, the Benson is impressively loud and dynamic. And speaking of dynamics, let’s talk about the Boost switch and the edge-of-breakup tones this little box can produce.

With the boost engaged, the Benson captures an edge-of-breakup tone that feels astonishingly tube-like – arguably the most convincing I’ve heard from a solid-state device. Clean tones lean slightly dark, while the Treble and Bass controls seem to accentuate the amplifier’s inherent character rather than behaving like a traditional EQ. This approach allows the natural voice of your pickups to shine through. I found this especially useful with brighter pickups, where the amp retained clarity and sparkle without ever drifting into harsh or shrill territory.

Things get particularly interesting once you start adding drive. Pairing the Benson with the Chase Bliss Brothers AM yielded results that encouraged me to crank the volume and experience this amp the way it’s meant to be played: loud.

Chords roared with enough grit to give many full-tube amplifiers a legitimate run for their money. That said, there’s a delicate line between bass and mud here, and dialling in the perfect balance requires a bit of experimentation.

Given its pedigree as the boutique pedalboard amp de jour, you’d expect it to be a good companion to a gigantic pedalboard, and unsurprisingly, the Benson retains its status as a wonderful pedal platform.

Running it with various reverbs and granular effects produced some genuinely staggering results. At no point did the amp collapse into that dreaded “wet blanket over a cheap starter amp” sensation where effects feel like a muddy afterthought.

Milkman/Benson The Amp: should I buy one?

Benson’s take on The Amp offers a compelling solution for players looking to replace a traditional tube amp – or for those seeking an alternative to the current wave of digital modelers.

It manages to retain a remarkably authentic tube-like feel without ever dipping into the sterile territory that plagues many hybrid designs. Yes, it does require players to think carefully about speaker pairings. But that extra bit of forethought often rewards you with a tonal identity unique enough to put many boutique amps costing considerably more on notice.

Whether the Benson sound is worth the extra hundred bucks over the regular Milkman model is a matter of taste, certainly for me it is well worth it. It’s still not cheap compared to a lot of digital amp pedals of course, and it’s more expensive than some of its boutique competition too – but when it sounds this good, it’s hard to argue.

Milkman/Benson The Amp: alternatives

If you want some more sonic options but keep your pedalboard amp all-analogue, the DSM Humboldt Electronics Simplifier X ($469 / £425) is an impressive piece of kit – just don’t be scared off by all the knobs! More in common with the Milkman is the great-sounding Tone King Imperial Tri-tube Preamp ($599 / £599). If you don’t mind going digital but want to keep the simplicity, then Strymon’s Iridium ($399 / £379) sounds fantastic on record and in headphones – you’ll need to go direct or buy a power amp to run it with a traditional cab, however.

The post Milkman/Benson The Amp review: “a compelling solution for players looking to replace a traditional tube amp” appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

Alongside being an incredible guitar player, Dimebag Darrell was a notorious party animal. In fact, he could convince just about anyone to let loose and have a good time – even if that meant occasionally being a bad influence.

In a new interview with Classic Rock, guitarist Zakk Wylde recalls how the late Pantera axeman was always the “life of the party”, able to transform any event into a chaotic night to remember. “Dime’s energy was so contagious,” Wylde explains. “He’d just walk in the room, and he’d be the life and soul of the party. It was nothing but a good time all the time with him.”

• READ MORE: “If they were Dime’s original riffs and ideas, of course”: Zakk Wylde says he’s open to recording new Pantera music – but only based on Dimebag Darrell’s existing ideas

Though, that focus on having a “good time all the time” sometimes meant Dimebag could be somewhat of a devil on someone’s shoulder. “He’d get people that were completely sober drinking again… Wylde says. “Or, if somebody had a gambling problem, he’d get them playing poker without knowing.”

Of course, Dimebag never knowingly dished out beers to alcoholic. When his brain was in party mode, he sometimes needed a tap on the shoulder to keep him in check. Wylde laughingly remembers how a confused Dimebag would protest with a cry of “What? I’m just getting this guy a drink!”, before someone explained “Bro, he’s a major alcoholic! You can’t do that!’

The same goes with the gambling antics. Unaware of someone’s vices, he’d sometimes be shocked when a person stepped in and told him to dial things back. Wylde re-enacts how Dimebag would often respond: “What? Nobody told me!!”

Even Dimebag’s brother, the late Vinnie Paul, branded the iconic guitarist as the “wild life of the party” in an old interview with Metal Hammer. “He loved to entertain people and loved to put a smile on people’s faces and he didn’t care how he did it,” Paul explained. “Whether it was with his guitar, doing a picture backstage with some fans, signing some autographs or just being himself and hanging out being the life and soul of the party.”

The party animal mentality was something that Dimebag had throughout his life, even before his Pantera days. “If there was a party to be had, he was always the first one grabbing the bottle and firing it up,” Paul said. “People expected Dimebag Darrell to be the crazy motherfucker off the Pantera videos, and he didn’t want to let them down. But at the same time, he also needed what he referred to as his ‘Dime Time’ – just to chill.”

The post “He’d get people that were completely sober drinking again”: Zakk Wylde on why Dimebag Darrell was the “life of the party” appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

When Cliff Burton died as a result of Metallica’s 1986 bus crash, the band didn’t just lose a bassist – they lost their unofficial leader. Prior to frontman James Hetfield and drummer Lars Ulrich becoming stepping up to the place to run the show, the young band looked to their eldest member as a guiding light.

In a new interview with Metal Hammer, producer Flemming Rasmussen recalls the influence Burton had on his younger bandmates. While working alongside the band between 1984 and 1988 for a trio of records, he reveals that Burton always had the final say on 1984’s Ride The Lightning and 1986’s Master Of Puppets. “Lars and James were the ones out there promoting the band, but Cliff was the oldest, and the one with a musical education, so they leaned on him to get shit done,” he explains.

• READ MORE: “I’d listen to it in my bunk on my Walkman in private”: David Ellefson kept his love of Metallica’s Master of Puppets a secret from Dave Mustaine

While Rasmussen acknowledges that Hetfield and Ulrich tend to take the reigns nowadays, he explains that that certainly wasn’t the case back then. “The thing about Lars and James being the leaders of the band didn’t emerge until later,” he says. “At that point it was a four-piece unit [and] Clifton was important to the structure of the band.”

“He took part in all of the decisive processes,” the producer adds. “Nothing really happened in Metallica unless Cliff nodded ‘yes.’”

Despite Rasmussen’s recollections, drummer Ulrich has gone on record admitting that him and Hetfield didn’t immediately gel with Clifton’s creative lead. When Burton joined Metallica in 1982, the band were dubious to follow his advice.

In an archival interview with Classic Rock magazine, Ulrich said: “Cliff had been in the band for a few years and he brought in a lot of harmonies and melodies [for Master of Puppets]. It took a little while for James and I to open up to some of Cliff’s ideas about harmony and melody, because we’d never played stuff like that before.”

Thanks to Burton, the band began to push themselves to try more intricate, exciting riffs and structures. “After a while we got it and that’s when we started experimenting more,” he explained.

The post “Nothing happened unless Cliff said, ‘Yes’”: Master of Puppets producer on Cliff Burton’s influence on his Metallica bandmates appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

Taylor has expanded its Gold Label Collection with three new Grand Concert models – including a new signature model for singer-songwriter and three-time Grammy winner Ben Harper.

The trio of new acoustics take Taylor’s classic, compact Grand Concert body shape and give it a deeper body for improved air resonance, warmth and low-end presence, while preserving the intimacy long-loved by Grand Concert fans. 

And as new members of the Gold Label Collection – which launched in 2025 to blend vintage acoustic warmth with modern innovation – they feature Taylor’s signature Gold Label voicing, with fanned V-Class bracings and Action Control Necks, a patented neck system which offers improved resonance and on-the-fly string action control.

• READ MORE: Taylor Gold Label 510e review: “Taylor’s return to the dreadnought is crying out for some big pick energy”

Elsewhere, each of the three new models features a torrefied Sitka spruce top for a “seasoned, played-in sound from day one”, 24.875” scale length, Honduran rosewood “Curve Wing” bridge, cream binding with a black and white top purfling, cream/black rosette, cream Crest fretboard and peghead inlays, and a gloss finish.

Heading up the trio is the Ben Harper Gold Label 512 Special Edition, a new signature model for the singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. Having grown up working on instruments at his family’s Folk Music Center in Claremont, California, Harper brought “both a luthier’s ear and a touring musician’s practicality” to the partnership, Taylor says.

Features include mahogany back and sides paired with a Honduran rosewood fretboard, as well as an array of custom visual stylings, like a golden-brown shaded edgeburst top, cream pickguard, bronze mini tuners, bone bridge pins and a custom Ben Harper interior label. The model also incorporates Taylor’s new Claria electronics.

“If I could dream up a way to collaborate with a guitar maker, this would be it,” Harper says. “There was a simpatico relationship between what I do and what Taylor does that I recognised right away.”

Meanwhile, the Gold Label 512e Grand Concert is marked as the collection’s “most approachable entry point”, with a solid mahogany back and sides paired with a torrified Sitka spruce top, plus a Firestripe pickguard and LR Baggs Element VTC electronics.

The Gold Label 712e Grand Concert pairs its torrefied Sitka spruce top with an Indian rosewood back and sides, as well as a West African ebony fingerboard, Firestripe pickguard and LR Baggs Element VTC electronics.

“I wanted to feature the classic Grand Concert shape in its full, non-cutaway form and give it a warmer, more blended voice,” says Andy Powers, Taylor’s Chief Guitar Designer, President and CEO. 

“The result feels instantly familiar in size and balance, yet delivers a richer, more robust sound with clear focus and a surprisingly strong lower register for a Grand Concert.”

Price-wise, the Ben Harper Gold Label 512e Special Edition is available now at $2,999, while the Gold Label 512e and 712e are priced at $2,799. All three models come with a Taylor Deluxe hardshell case.

Learn more at Taylor Guitars.

The post Taylor expands its Gold Label Collection with three Grand Concert models – including a signature model for singer-songwriter Ben Harper appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

Does a guitar’s age automatically make it superior? It’s a debate that continues to rage in the guitar community, particularly among lovers of vintage instruments.

On one side, players like Lenny Kravitz swear by the mojo of classic instruments, claiming modern gear just can’t capture the tonal magic of vintage guitars. On the other, an equally fervent camp of guitarists argues that modern instruments can match – or even surpass – the classics in playability and tone.

Consider Jeff “Skunk” Baxter of Steely Dan, who once chose a $140 Squier Telecaster over a 1958 vintage model because it “sounded better”. Blues-rock guitarist Chris Buck has echoed this view, saying he doesn’t “subscribe to the idea that all vintage instruments are great” and that “older” doesn’t automatically mean “better.”

• READ MORE: “You don’t want to have no recollection of when, where or how you acquired it”: Why Joe Bonamassa is hitting the brakes on his vintage gear collection

Chiming in on the debate, Eric Johnson, too, cautions against assuming an old guitar is automatically “perfect” because of its age. Speaking on the new issue of Guitarist, the Grammy-winning virtuoso reflects on decades of collecting and trading vintage instruments and the lessons he’s learned along the way.

Asked about his most incredible guitar find, Johnson recalls an original 1954 Fender Stratocaster he purchased decades ago: “Probably my original ‘Virginia’ Strat. I think I paid $175 for it,” he says. “But that was many years ago, when they really were going for a few hundred bucks back in the late 70s.”

“I mean, in today’s money, it was still a good deal, but, yeah, you could just get them pretty cheap. Back in those days, I remember you could go into a music store and there’d be several old 50s Strats. You just took your pick, you know? They’d be under $500.”

Johnson also reveals there are “a number of” guitars he regrets selling, including that same ’54 Strat, which he parted with after the electronics got damaged and he had it rewired.

“It never quite sounded the same. It was a wonderful guitar,” he says. “I wish I had just kind of gone, ‘Okay, just put it in the closet and someday you’ll run into an old pickguard,’ you know what I mean? ‘Just don’t freak out.’ But I was like, ‘Ah, it’s no good any more. I’ve got to find another one.’”

Since then, he’s found himself in a cycle of buying and selling vintage Strats, chasing after that elusive perfect tone.

“I’d buy a ‘54 Strat and then I’d sell it, buy one, sell it… Just keep trading them off. And I’ve been disappointed in some of those,” he admits. “I don’t think that every single old guitar necessarily means you’re going to get the perfect guitar just because it’s old and cool and original and worth money.”

“I have bought vintage guitars before and you think they’re okay, but once you start playing songs and playing with a band and doing what you do, you realise they’re not really going with you like you need them to.”

The post Eric Johnson dismisses the idea that vintage guitars are always better than modern ones: “It’s not the perfect guitar just because it’s old and worth money” appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

Entertainment memorabilia auction house Propstore is set to host its next Music Live Auction on 30 April in the UK, with bidding open worldwide. The sale will feature more than 400 lots spanning generations of iconic music acts, from Guns N’ Roses and Queen to The Beatles and Ed Sheeran, with a combined estimated value of £1.5 million ($2 million).

Arguably the star lot of the auction is Slash’s Gibson Les Paul ‘59 Custom Shop guitar, estimated at £150,000–£300,000 ($198,000–$396,000). This is no studio-only relic – it was a workhorse on the historic Not In This Lifetime tour, Slash’s first full run of dates with Guns N’ Roses since leaving the band after 1993’s Use Your Illusion tour.

• READ MORE: Ace Frehley’s number-one Les Paul headlines upcoming auction at Julien’s – and could fetch half a million dollars

That reunion tour spanned 175 shows worldwide, from Coachella to stadiums across the globe, and became one of the highest-grossing tours in music history, earning over $584 million. Slash’s Les Paul was a constant companion on stage throughout, its flame-patterned maple top photo-matched to live performance shots included with the lot.

Crafted by Gibson’s Custom Shop, the Abilene Sunset Burst Les Paul ‘59 features a mahogany body and neck, nickel hardware, and Slash’s personal modifications – including cloth-taped access panels and his signature double-sided adhesive tape pick setup on the headstock.

The guitar also bears Slash’s autograph and shows “light performance wear, including indentations and surface scratches above the bridge”, left behind from the guitarist’s jewelry striking the strings during live performances.

“The weight of the guitar, the way the neck is, the humbuckers; all that stuff just appeals to me as a guitar player. [The Les Paul] really is the best all-around guitar for me,” Slash has said of the instrument.

Collectors will also find a Les Paul Custom 20th Anniversary guitar used by Noel Gallagher during the recording of Standing on the Shoulder of Giants and Heathen Chemistry (est. £10,000–£20,000).

Other standout items include a John Lennon and Yoko Ono Double Fantasy promotional poster signed on December 8, 1980 – just hours before Lennon’s death – accompanied by an audio recording of Lennon retracing his signature when the ink failed. The lot is estimated at £60,000–£120,000 ($79,200–$158,400).

Paul McCartney’s handwritten first-draft lyrics for Goodbye are also up for auction, estimated at £55,000–£110,000 ($72,600–$145,200), alongside handwritten lyrics signed by Jimi Hendrix, Noel Redding, and Mitch Mitchell (£35,000–£70,000 / $46,200–$92,400).

A public exhibition of highlight lots will be held from 22–25 April at The Cumberland Hotel in London, allowing fans and collectors to inspect these legendary items in person.

Check out the full catalogue at Propstore.

The post Got £300k to spare? Slash’s legendary Les Paul from Guns N’ Roses reunion tour is up for grabs at upcoming music memorabilia auction appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

It’s not every day two alt-rock heavyweights sit down and casually reopen the vault on ’90s indie drama.

Appearing on Billy Corgan’s The Magnificent Others podcast, Courtney Love joins the Smashing Pumpkins leader for a wide-ranging chat, trading war stories about their rock journey and dishing plenty of unfiltered dirt on the industry and its players.

The conversation, which finds former frenemies comfortable spilling alt-rock tea, soon drifts toward the idea of “gatekeeping” in indie circles – a charge they level at Sonic Youth, or more specifically, its bassist Kim Gordon.

• READ MORE: Hole bassist on the “public witch trial” that followed her leaving the band – and why she was “pissed” at Courtney Love “turning away”

“I barely know Thurston [Moore], but he was never a gatekeeper type,” says Corgan. “But his partner was the worst.”

“She was the worst, and she kind of still is,” Love adds, with Corgan noting, “Oh she’s still rocking the gatekeeping.”

From there, the discussion spirals into a mix of personal anecdotes and not-so-buried grievances. Love recalls a run-in in Europe in the ’90s where Gordon was “really horrible”, while Corgan points to an early backstage encounter that set the tone for their relationship.

“I came into their dressing room because we were all playing this festival – Kurt [Cobain] was playing, Nine Inch Nails was playing, [The Pixies’] Black Francis was playing, Urge Overkill was there… I was a fan [of Sonic Youth], and I came in to pay my respects, and I was treated so rudely by her, and that was the beginning of the horrible relationship,” says Corgan.

The feeling, it seems, hasn’t exactly been one-sided. In her 2015 memoir Girl in a Band, Gordon took her own shots at both artists, writing, “I have a low tolerance for manipulative, egomaniacal behavior, and usually have to remind myself that the person might be mentally ill… Courtney asked us for advice about her ‘secret affair’ with Billy Corgan. I thought, Ewwww, at even the mention of Billy Corgan, whom nobody liked because he was such a crybaby, and Smashing Pumpkins took themselves way too seriously and were in no way punk rock.”

Back in the present, The Hole frontwoman turns her attention to Kurt Cobain, offering her interpretation of the Nirvana track Heart-Shaped Box. She claims the line “Hey, wait, I got a new complaint / Forever in debt to your priceless advice” was “literally about Kim,” pointing to what she describes as Cobain’s frustrations with Gordon’s influence (Sonic Youth famously helped Nirvana sign to DGC Records).

“He was so mad at her,” Love says. “Kurt’s whole thing was… he hid his light under a bushel for Bleach, because, one, Seattle, which he wasn’t from, two, Kim Gordon.”

Recounting early encounters with Cobain and the wider Seattle scene, Love continues, “When I first saw Nirvana in Portland, Oregon, there was … Jason Everman [who played in Nirvana and Soundgarden]. And he had long hair like a Soundgarden guy. And I watched Kurt at a little club called Satyricon turn his Fender all the way down. I saw it. I’m not stupid. I saw it and that’s what led to me and him having an interaction. I was like, ‘You fake guitar player, I get it.’ But that was the Seattle element. And I didn’t know till I hung out with him about the Kim…. I know I was scarred by Kim. So scarred that I had to write her a letter kissing her ass to get – you don’t go for the husband, the cool husband. You go for the wife. And she produced my first album to her eternal regret.”

Watch the full interview below.

The post “She’s still rocking the gatekeeping”: Billy Corgan and Courtney Love agree that Sonic Youth’s Kim Gordon is “the worst” appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

Chris Garza, guitarist and founding member of Suicide Silence, believes Limp Bizkit’s Wes Borland is a nu metal guitar genius, and is possibly the greatest player within the genre as a whole.

Though highlighting other greats, such as Korn’s Munky, Garza feels Borland has pushed the genre forwards, and praises him for also maintaining Limp Bizkit’s core (and well-loved) sound across their discography.

• READ MORE: The weird gear of Wes Borland

Asked to pick his favourite nu metal player during his Garza Podcast, he says (via Ultimate Guitar), “It’s a no-brainer… As far as the well-rounded[ness] and the insanity and creativity, the look, the sounds, you gotta go Wes Borland. Wes Borland, I think, is the greatest nu metal guitar player of all time.

“Because also, it’s one guy [doing] all that. I can’t do that, I need Mark [Heylmun]. I need the other guitar player to bounce things off of. If my shit sucks or his shit sucks, we can kind of gauge something, then come into some kind of agreement. But one guy? You’re writing all that stuff, dude? All those melodies and stereo verses and the riffs and pushing a genre forward. There’s nothing like it. And I’m pretty blown away that it’s one person.”

He goes on to expand, “We talked about Mike [Mushok] from Staind already. It was kind of close because he’s also very creative. But Wes, what he did is he maintained [the band]. Limp Bizkit never lost their heavy sound. The second record was still insane, and then the third was still high-gain amps and top-string riffs and exactly what you want from Limp Bizkit.”

Borland has always shown off some pretty strange looks when on stage with the band, and during their final support slot for Metallica’s M72 World Tour in Denver last June, Borland appeared onstage dressed as a skeletal version of an ‘80s-era James Hetfield– complete with white high-top sneakers and a “Metal Up Your Ass” t-shirt.

The post Deathcore guitarist explains why Wes Borland is the “greatest nu metal player” and is “pushing a genre forward” appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

Dionne was born with music in her blood. Growing up as the youngest of three classically-trained siblings – one a cellist, the other Mercury-nominated singer Laura Mvula – she first learned to play the violin at just seven-years-old.

“I was always taught there’s a right and wrong way to hold the bow,” the Birmingham-born London-based artist recalls of her “technical and so precise” introduction.

• READ MORE: Courtney Barnett on Kurt Cobain Jaguars, writing for the song, and why she’s learned to push down the feeling she’s “wasting everyone’s time” to nail her guitar solos

Because of this traditional grounding, it wasn’t until the age of 16 that Dionne first picked up a guitar, and it wasn’t exactly a great one when she did – namely, her dad’s Stagg acoustic. While she has great affection for the guitar that started off her journey, she eventually found herself drawn to the sound and look of a different type – the electric.

Three years later at university, she picked up another humble guitar in the shape of the Yamaha ERG121 S-type, but it was vital in her evolution as a guitarist and “opening up a different way to perceive an instrument”.

Rather than being told what to do, as she had been in her classical education, it was a case of feeling her way round it. “I asked my friends on the guitar course to show me how I should place my fingers,” she remembers. One particular reply surprised her: ‘Just do what feels comfy and natural to you’. Although she recognises that this was just their approach and “there is a very technical side to playing guitar”, such a lack of restrictions felt alien.

More than that, the freedom she experienced when playing guitar was initially difficult for her to understand. Nonetheless, Dionne jumped in at the deep end during her last year of uni. Upon her sister Laura’s orchestral-leaning debut album, Sing to the Moon getting signed to Sony, she and her brother soon joined her live band, playing violin and cello respectively.

Opportunity Knocks

However, as Mvula’s sound evolved to incorporate synths and, crucially, electric guitar, Dionne’s own creative spark was ignited. “I started properly messing around on guitar and decided that I knew I wanted to share music at some point in the future.” Realising that guitar interested her most, she told Laura about her ambitions. “I knew that I wanted a guitar to be in my hand so I could learn more,” she recalls, counting Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin’s Jimmy Page, Funkadelic’s Eddie Hazel, Eric Clapton and Nile Rodgers among her live guitar heroes.

“I said, ‘this is what I want to do. Guitar is my instrument. I don’t want to play violin anymore’.” In a bold move, she gave her sister an ultimatum: Dionne would only stay in Laura’s band if she could play guitar. While she reflects on this as “completely ridiculous, because I literally couldn’t play anything at that point”, Mvula was characteristically supportive. “Even though there’s a million other guitarists that would do the job 1,000 times better, she must have thought ‘they’re not my sister’, so you can come with me’.”

Dionne’s wish was granted and, soon after, their live debut on UK TV had been booked. However, due to having very little time to prepare, her guitar solo intro on Overcome didn’t go as well as she hoped. “I definitely bit off way more than I could chew,” she recalls honestly.

Thankfully, those she toured with placed equal importance on her artistic development as the band’s overall performance. “They gave me the confidence to think that it was okay to explore an instrument as I was working and touring.”

When the album cycle came to an end, she joined the London Contemporary Voices (LVC) choir and found herself in an audition – unbeknownst to her, it was to join Florence + the Machine’s live band on tour. Playing acoustic and then electric guitar – “I think they saw that’s where my true passion lies” – was a privilege, Dionne says.

Stepping Out

Leaving Laura’s band and joining Welch’s helped her to grow, she reflects. “It was really important for me to have some space from my sister’s world and artistry”, she says of the time spent finding herself as an artist. After touring with Florence – “where I was just Dionne” – she realised something: “there’s a space for me that doesn’t have to go hand in hand with being Laura’s sister. That definitely helped me see myself differently.”

Those latter shows also boosted her confidence – especially her relationship with the guitar – so much that she started penning her own lyrics. Quickly, her guitar became key to her songwriting, especially for making chord loops. “It’s easy when you’re playing your own stuff,” she suggests, “because I’m trying to express myself. It’s not somebody else’s vision”.

Making her own music and pursuing a career as a solo artist has always been “the secret inside” of her, Dionne says now, reflecting that she was “probably coasting” during the years touring with her siblings. “There was no reason for me to delve any deeper,” she recalls, sharing that she would instead write poems in her downtime; after one resonated particularly strongly on her Instagram page, she had an epiphany: ‘maybe I should let out what I feel more, and form it into more of a song’.

However, the path to going it alone posed several personal hurdles. Alongside worrying about comparisons to her sister, she was concerned that any success would lead to “being judged and observed… people’s opinions coming at you all the time. Being in music is like psychological warfare,” Dionne continues, “you’re basically a start-up business, and it’s so tough”.

Despite the harsh realities of her chosen industry – she currently coaches tennis and tutors beginner piano and violin to help pay the bills – Dionne has become one of the most exciting new names on the scene. Having found a sound that is uniquely her own – an epic fusion of indie and rock; the seductively cinematic I’d Be Yours wouldn’t feel out of place soundtracking a Bond movie – Dionne is finally stepping out of the shadows and into her own spotlight.

Comfort In Sound

Watching her perform in Manchester recently, where she stormed the Co-op Live arena in support of Florence + The Machine’s ‘Everybody Scream’ UK tour, it’s abundantly clear how at home Dionne feels when she is on a stage. Undaunted by the scale of the room, she certainly made a lasting impression – though she’s very open about wanting to push herself further. “There’s so much more I want to do with guitar and learn,” she says, specifically citing that jazz “would open up another dimension for me”.

This interest in constant discovery stems from her sister’s ethos when it comes to music: “it’s always been about exploring, expression and being authentic”. Dionne has also carried Mvula’s outlook on live performance through to her own band, which comprises drummer Duayne Sanford and lead guitarist Al Shaham.

“I don’t believe in mistakes,” she says. “If you hit a wrong note, it doesn’t matter. For me, I think it only adds to the experience for someone that’s listening and participating. We are human, we’re not machines.” Dionne goes on to suggest that “you have to go beyond what’s comfortable to find out where the magic is”.

She also believes that promoting an open dialogue is of high importance. “If you’’e playing sharp or flat, or you’re not in the pocket, that needs to be communicated in a way that is neutral so that you can learn and adapt,” she says, going on to offer advice for anyone who may be on a similar artistic journey. “For musicians, you can’t necessarily control what situations you walk into, but I think you can control how you want to respond.

“So the main thing I would say is to be teachable. But, equally, put the time into whatever craft is yours, and have confidence in your own ability. To have that self-assuredness of taking the time to explore and figure out what it is that you do well, I think that’s what’s really fun about making your own music.”

Amid all the lessons that she’s learned along the way, Dionne’s goals remain the same: to make a living from her artistry, and to inspire others. “As a female, and as a brown female, I love that I play instruments,” she says, arguing that more needs to be done to improve representation. “We have a long way to go so that people feel as though things are accessible to them and that they are allowed to explore certain instruments.”

Dionne’s debut EP, ‘Cooked’, is out now

The post How indie-rock rising star Dionne went from playing guitar for Laura Mvula and Florence + The Machine to launching a solo career appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.



Singer-songwriter John Craigie joins us this week to talk about his new album, I Swam Here.

https://johncraigie.com

We also talk about Craigie’s unique humor during his sets, his Beatles covers, album covers, and so much more.

Plus…a really exciting Fretboard Summit update. Our next Summit takes place August 20-22, 2026, at the Old Town School of Folk Music in Chicago. Register today: https://fretboardsummit.org

We are brought to you by Peghead Nation: https://www.pegheadnation.com (Get your first month free or $20 off any annual subscription with the promo code FRETBOARD at checkout).

Mike & Mike’s Guitar Bar: https://mmguitarbar.com

Above photo: Savannah Lauren

The post Podcast 542: John Craigie first appeared on Fretboard Journal.

David Ellefson has confessed that he would secretly listen to Metallica’s Master Of Puppets album away from his Megadeth bandmate, Dave Mustaine.

Mustaine was fired from Metallica in 1983, which led to him forming Megadeth. Despite Metallica ultimately being their main thrash opponents because of this, Ellefson remembers being completely wowed by their rivals’ 1986 album, which marked their third studio release and received a widely positive reception from both listeners and the media.

• READ MORE: Watch David Ellefson perform Megadeth’s Countdown to Extinction in its entirety

Speaking to Metal Hammer, Ellefson recalls, “I remember thinking, ‘These guys are really fucking doing it, man.’ You had the intensity of Battery, which really upped the thrash game, then you had Welcome Home (Sanitarium), which was this dark ballad, and then you had Orion, which could almost be on a King Crimson album.

“In a way, it was the first metal prog album. The whole thing was almost an hour long, but there’s only eight songs on it, and the songs are five, six, seven minutes long. No other thrash band was doing that at that time.” Going on to address Mustaine’s rocky history with the band, Ellefson adds: “I made it known that I liked the album, but I’d definitely change the channel when he got in the car.

“When we were on tour, I’d listen to it in my bunk on my Walkman in private. I studied that record and what they were doing: ‘Fuck man, we need to do that. How do we do it?’ We were never going to sound like them, but it really upped the game for me when it came to songwriting.”

Ellefson played bass for Megadeth until 2021 when he was let go following allegations of sexual misconduct after explicit videos were shared online. Ellefson denied any wrongdoing and filed a ‘revenge porn’ lawsuit against the person who uploaded the videos to social media.

Though Megadeth are now retiring, Ellefson won’t be returning to the band or joining them on their farewell tour, as Mustaine has said he wouldn’t want their shows to feel like “puppet show Megadeth”.

Mustaine has also honoured his background with Metallica by recording a new version of Ride The Lightning for Megadeth’s final and self-titled album. Though many first believed it to be a roast of the band that let him go all those years ago, he has clarified that it was done out of respect.

The post “I’d listen to it in my bunk on my Walkman in private”: David Ellefson kept his love of Metallica’s Master of Puppets a secret from Dave Mustaine appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

Using a combo amp for practice at home is like bringing a paving slab to a pillow fight. For fewer ruffled feathers in your vicinity, you’d be better off using a desktop amp. This relatively new category of amplifiers can give you excellent sound while keeping the volume respectful(-ish), and many of them offer a wide range of digital amp models and effects to help you find your sonic sweet spots.

Desktop amps are usually even smaller than a classic practice amp, with neat enough proportions to live on your desk. You can even carry one along to a jam session, where many models will run cordlessly after a thorough charge-up.

But what really sets the best desktop amps apart is their on-board smarts. Driven futurewards by innovations from the likes of Positive Grid and JBL, cutting-edge models fold in capabilities to help with practising, recording and writing music with your guitar at home. With the right desktop amp, you can tap into AI-powered backing tracks, tuners, metronomes, smartphone operability and Bluetooth connectivity, all from a little box on your desk. Equally, there are simpler desktop amps from the likes of Boss, Orange and Earthquaker Devices that prioritise excellent sound in a neat package.

Headphone amps – another sub-category of practice amps – offer similar advantages to a desktop amp, so we’ve included a few of these supremely portable and neighbour-friendly amplifiers among the potted reviews below.

At a glance:

• Our pick: Positive Grid Spark Mini
• Best for automated accompaniment: JBL Bandbox Solo
• Best affordable desktop amp: Boss Katana-Mini X
• Best pocket-sized amplifier: Fender Mustang Micro Plus
• Best analogue headphone amp: EarthQuaker Devices Easy Listening
• Best budget desktop amp: Orange Crush Mini
• Best all-in-one headphones: Positive Grid Spark Neo
• Best premium desktop amp: Yamaha THR10II
• Best FRFR desktop amp: HeadRush FRFR GO
• Why you can trust Guitar.com

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Our pick: Positive Grid Spark Mini

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A truly portable desktop amp, the Positive Grid Spark Mini has a pint-sized form that’ll comfortably find a spot on your workstation, or even inside a backpack. It’s louder than it looks, with a 10-Watt pair of 2-inch drivers behind the grill, and a base-integrated passive radiator which enlists the surface beneath it as a bassy sounding board.

There’s masses to love about this miniature amp: excellent adjustability via the minimal on-unit controls, practice-friendly features including Bluetooth pairing and ‘Smart Jam’ backing tracks, outstanding app operability and – most importantly – stunning sound quality across 30 amp type presets. We believe it’s one of the best practice amps ever made.

Need more? Read our Positive Grid Spark Mini review and our review of the Steve Vai variant.

Best for automated accompaniment: JBL Bandbox Solo

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Trust a smart speaker brand to create one of the cleverest practice amps on the planet. You might still be peeking at it mistrustfully from behind your Vox AC30, but the JBL BandBox Solo is a potential game-changer for solo practice sessions and desktop creativity.

It has the sort of smarts we’ve come to expect from a feature-packed desktop amp, including a good range of presets for guitar (as well as for vocals and bass guitar), adjustable on-board effects, looper, drum machine, tuner and metronome – but what’s really revolutionary about the BandBox Solo is its play-along possibilities. Connect your chosen audio via Bluetooth, and you can use the amp’s ‘Stem AI’ processor to remove the guitar, vocals or other instruments from the mix, creating a custom backing track. If you have songs to learn, this amp is uniquely equipped to help you do it.

Best affordable desktop amp: Boss Katana-Mini X

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If you like the form factor and impressive sound quality of the best desktop amps, but not so much the app-heavy user experience or the pricing, then this one’s for you. Loud, versatile and affordable, the Boss Katana-Mini X is more of a ‘familiar’ guitar amp than many of the others featured here (though it does double up as a Bluetooth speaker, which can’t hurt).

Our reviewer was impressed with the Katana-Mini X’s clear tones, ample tweakability, generous selection of on-board effects, and its power, which proved a match for busking or a campfire singalong. It’s genuinely portable, too, with a carry strap and up to ten hours’ runtime on a single USB charge.

Need more? Read our Boss Katana-Mini X review.

Best pocket-sized amplifier: Fender Mustang Micro Plus

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This tinier-than-pocket-sized headphone amp is the height of portability, cramming a great selection of sounds (25 amp models and 25 effects!) into the smallest ever Fender amplifier. Keep one inside your guitar case, combine with some decent headphones, and you can enjoy excellent amplified sound wherever you may be. It allows easy control via the dial and display, or finer adjustment via the Fender Tone app.

We were blown away by the sounds on offer here, from classic tweed and black-panel tones to oddities including Super Sonic and Excelsior amp models. The effects include some superb Fender pedal emulations, and you can combine these with your favourite amp sounds to create your very own presets.

Need more? Read our Fender Mustang Micro Plus review.

Best analogue headphone amp: EarthQuaker Devices Easy Listening

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An ultra-simple amp simulator with tone based on the Fender Deluxe Reverb, the EarthQuaker Devices Easy Listening is ideal for guitarists who like their desktop amps simple and sweet-sounding. Don’t expect bells and whistles; do expect excellent tone.

Like the Fender Mustang Micro Plus, this is a headphone amp – so you’ll need to plug in some decent cans to experience the Easy Listening at its best. The reward for making this small effort is clear, clean, tonally balanced sound, right up and down the pedal’s single adjustable parameter: volume. The Easy Listening won’t give you a full amp experience, let alone the bells and whistles some desktop amps offer – but it’s a great little option to have kicking about.

Need more? Read our EarthQuaker Devices Easy Listening review.

Best budget desktop amp: Orange Crush Mini

Mmmmmm, Orange Crush. This distinctively-hued line of amplifiers is famed for its warm tone and juicy amp overdrive – and the Orange Crush Mini gives you a taste of that sweet signature sound in a concentrated, 3W format.

Eschewing the connected features you’d get from the likes of Positive Grid and Blackstar, this is a straightforward mini practice amp with standout on-board drive. There are some handy extras including an aux input and a built-in tuner, but you’ll spend most of your time playing with the shape, gain and volume controls on the top panel, creating sounds that punch above this amp’s negligible weight.

Need more? Read our Orange Crush Mini review.

Best all-in-one headphones: Positive Grid Spark Neo

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A headphone amp in the truest sense, the Spark NEO magicks Positive Grid’s sounds and smarts into a pair of wireless over-ear headphones – with far better results than we ever heard from forerunners like the Vox AmPhones.

These cans connect to the peerless Spark app, which gives you access to 33 amps, 43 effects, and over 100,000 community-made presets in the ToneCloud user library. (Side note: it’s also abnormally straightforward to set up.) Plug the supplied dongle into your guitar, pair up the headphones and you’ll be rewarded with midrange punch, clear high-end and thumping bass response, in myriad tonal flavours to suit your taste.

Need more? Read our Positive Grid Spark Neo review.

Best premium desktop amp: Yamaha THR10II

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Yamaha is widely considered to have pioneered the desktop amplifier category with its THR5 and THR10 models, both of which launched in 2011.

This newer installment, the THR10II, carries the same industrial-chic design DNA as those early models but adds new musical possibilities, with an expanded selection of digital amp models, Bluetooth playback for easier play-along practice, and plug-in-and-play recording via USB.

With two speakers pushing out a combined 20W, this is a beast compared to the average desktop amp. It’s dreamily easy to use at home, offering the rare advantage of wireless connectivity to your effects chain via a Line 6 G10TII transmitter (sold separately). Admittedly, you pay a premium for these little luxuries.

Need more? Read our Yamaha THR10II review.

Best FRFR desktop amp: HeadRush FRFR GO

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For real, for real, the only trouble with amp pedals – like the EarthQuaker Devices model featured above – is that you can’t hear them out loud. Here’s where an FRFR (flat frequency, flat response) amp comes in. These workhorses push out an unvarnished guitar sound, so you can hear the tone of your chosen amp modeller as the maker intended it.

This HeadRush model is a great desktop example, with good sound, excellent cordless runtime and approachable pricing. Modestly sized and equipped with Bluetooth connectivity and basic EQ controls, it’s the perfect solution for hearing or rejigging your digital modelling setup at home or in the studio.

Need more? Read our HeadRush FRFR GO 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 in those guides is something that we’d be happy to have in our own rigs.

The post The best desktop amps for portability and uncompromising sound quality appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

It’s that annoying day of the year again – when you feel you can’t trust anything you see online.

However, April Fools Day does spring up some funny content across the guitar community, and the team here at Guitar.com have tasked ourselves with finding the best and most creative hoaxes from across the internet.

• READ MORE: Four classic Electro-Harmonix pedals are now available in plugin form
  

This year, we’ve seen AI-powered guitar gloves, shit-stained relic’d guitars and even Marshall-branded protein powder. Come to think of it, it’s probably best that the minds behind these wacky ideas are not left to their own devices more than one day a year…

We stress again that these are not real.

Marshall Gainz

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It takes muscle to lug around a Marshall combo, and so the legendary amp builder has come forward with its own protein powder, Marshall Gainz. It comes in a single “Vintage Vanilla Plexi” flavour, in a 2kg tub which “goes to 11 servings”. That’s a hefty serving size of over 181g… “I used to hate hauling amps around all day. Now, with Marshall Gainz, I can’t get enough,” says muscle-bound rockstar André Vaillant, who’s tasked with being the face of the launch…

AI-powered guitar gloves

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“AI plays. You take the credit.” That’s guitarguitar’s promise with its new AI-powered guitar gloves, which auto-pluck and auto-fret so you, the human guitarist, don’t have to do anything at all.

“Using cutting-edge AI technology as well as groundbreaking mechanical components, the AutoPluck & AutoFret allows you to program any song or style to play instantly,” guitarguitar says.

“Wanna sound like your favourite player? Don’t Fret, we’ve got it! With “artist packs” (sold separately) you can take the right hand of your favourite strummer, as well as the dexterity of your favourite fretter and mix and match the profiles of some of the greatest guitarists in history.”

Strandberg Arc REACH – a two-foot tremolo arm

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Headless guitar purveyor Strandberg has always been on the cutting edge of guitar design, and it continues that philosophy with the all-new Arc REACH Tremolo system, which consists of a two-foot-long tremolo arm, enabling use by “picking hand, fretting hand, teeth, toes, or any other performance-ready point of contact”. REACH, of course, stands for Range Extended Articulation Control Hardware.

“Arc REACH opens the door to a new level of ergonomic expression. From subtle vibrato to dramatic divebombs, it is designed to reduce the distance between player intention and tremolo response for faster, more intuitive control,” says Strandberg.

Victory MKXXL

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Celebrating the success of its MKX amp head, Victory has conjured up an XXL version – the MKXXL – with “double the features, double the power, double the tone, and double the X!” “Today only,” the brand reiterates…

Wampler Pedalcab

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On the heels of the Pedalhead – a pedalboard-friendly 240-watt stereo power amp and IR loader unveiled during this year’s NAMM Show – Wampler has concocted the Pedalcab, a compact speaker system with two 1.2” speakers and true bypass. You can also take advantage of a killer deal – buy one get one full price – because “mono is just stereo for quitters”.

“Warning: Excessive volume can cause your pants to flap in an excited manner. Wampler will not be held responsible for the consequences of any such incidents.”

A new relicing process by Danish Pete at Andertons

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In a bid to circumvent the often costly nature of relic’d guitars, the team at Andertons have devised a new method of wearing guitars in. The only thing is the camera crew haven’t been allowed to film Pete “Danish Pete” Honore’s somewhat questionable aging process. But we think we get the idea… 

The post Marshall protein powder and AI-powered gloves that play for you: These are the best guitar April Fools hoaxes we’ve seen this year appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.