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Fan of Nine Inch Nails or Guns N’ Roses? You could get your hands on some tour-used gear in Robin Finck’s new Reverb shop
After more than 30 years as a professional guitarist, Robin Finck is unloading over 200 pieces of his vast gear collection. The items will be available in a new store on Reverb, officially opening on Wednesday, 11 November. The inventory will include guitars, pedals, and other rare items he used while touring with Nine Inch Nails and Guns N’ Roses.
“I’ve genuinely used and enjoyed all of these pieces, so much so that I’ve ended up with two or even three of some of them. You know I love all these sweeties, I just don’t need multiples of them anymore,” says Finck. “I have been so fortunate to have played these on stages all over the world, and now they’re poised to play with someone new.”
Credit: Reverb
Headlining the collection is Finck’s Gibson Les Paul ’60 Reissue Goldtop, playfully nicknamed Old Gold. He used the guitar during Nine Inch Nails’ iconic set at Woodstock 1994, in addition to all of his tours with the band from 1994 to 2014. Finck can also be seen playing the guitar in NIN’s music video for March of the Pigs.
“On the day we shot the video for March of the Pigs, that version of Nine Inch Nails had never played a show in front of an audience. My whole world was about to tilt,” says Finck. “This is the only guitar that made it out of 1994 intact. I don’t know why or how because it’s also the guitar I played more than any other.”
Elsewhere, the shop features the Fender Custom Shop Nocaster Finck used with NIN from the 2013 Tension tour to 2018’s Cold and Black and Infinite – which he also calls “one of the greatest guitars” he’s ever played – plus a Gibson ES-335 used extensively with both NIN and GNR, and a one-of-a-kind Manson Custom MA-RF-01 guitar built specifically for him and played extensively on tour with Nine Inch Nails.
“There is a deep history for me with, well, all of these guitars. But if you ask me which is the best guitar? It might be this one,” Finck says.
A selection of pedals is also available, including a Boss FZ-2 Hyper Fuzz with Finck’s initials on the side, a Prescription Electronics Experience with a one-of-a-kind paint job, and a DOD FX25 Envelope Filter used on the Guns N’ Roses track Better.
As for why he’s shifting some of these pedals? A lot comes down to duplicates in his collection. “I have used and loved all these deeply. I just don’t need multiples anymore.”
Robin Finck joins a long list of artists who have opened online shops on Reverb, including Gilby Clarke, Bullet For My Valentine, Kiko Loureiro, Dave Mustaine and Russian Circles.
Robin Finck’s Reverb shop will open on Wednesday, 11 November. For more information, head to Reverb.
The post Fan of Nine Inch Nails or Guns N’ Roses? You could get your hands on some tour-used gear in Robin Finck’s new Reverb shop appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.
How Total Tommy became one of Australia’s most exciting new guitar acts: “I’ve always used it as a songwriting crutch”
When strangers ask Jess Holt what she does, her answer is relatively self-conscious: “I play guitar, but I’m a bit of a hack!” Under her Total Tommy moniker, the Melbourne-raised artist is recently responsible for some of the most versatile guitar music from Down Under, spanning indie, dream-rock, grunge and post-punk. It’s a far cry from the sun-kissed, breezy tones of DMA’S, Royel Otis and Spacey Jane – arguably Australia’s trendiest modern guitar sound.
“Maybe it’s because of the climate,” smiles Holt, meeting Guitar.com at home in Sydney. “[DMA’S and Royel Otis] are two really good examples, but a lot of people say Australia doesn’t really have a sound, because we have so many influences from everywhere. There’s so many different guitar bands coming out of Australia at the moment – Swapmeet, The Belair Lip Bombs. My music, it’s like, ‘Is it here, or is it there?’ People are working that out…”
After three intensive years of songwriting, Holt introduced herself as Total Tommy in 2024 with her debut album bruises, a self-described “patchwork quilt” of atmospheric, heaven-sent indie-rock (Losing Out, Girlfriend) which packed an occasional punch (SPIDER, Amsterdam). Now, the Sydneysider is back with Trapezoid, a tough and unpredictable follow-up that drags Total Tommy even further down the grunge-rock rabbit hole. So you might be surprised to learn that, only six years ago, she was releasing pulsating alt-pop under the alias Essie Holt.
“I was listening to a lot more indie-pop at the time, and I wasn’t really hearing that much guitar,” she explains. “I felt bound by a genre – ‘this is your lane, make sure it’s really clear’ – which I don’t think is so much of a thing now [for artists]. When I started writing for Total Tommy, I was envisioning the live show, which was, ‘I want a rock band.’ It was the music I wanted to get back into, because I loved it as a kid and it’s always been in my bones.”
Image: Press
Ground Zero
After learning the flute, Holt picked up her first Valencia acoustic at 14 years old, pleading with her teacher to play pop songs instead of scales, before eventually gravitating towards learning everything by ear. While shifting some focus towards training her voice, she flitted between guitars in the background, most recently selling her Fender Player II Telecaster to buy the equivalent Jaguar. “I don’t really feel that attached to [my old guitars],” she shrugs.
Having forever idolised Courtney Barnett for her “intuitive” playing style, Holt underwent a second wave of kinship with her instrument when she ditched Essie Holt for Total Tommy. “I wrote all of my first Essie stuff on acoustic guitar, but it never made it into the music,” she says. “I’ve always used it as a songwriting crutch, but in terms of putting it into the production [through Total Tommy], it really pushed my voice in a different direction. Live, it’s a lot beltier.”
Although Holt has dabbled with a hands-free frontwoman setup, enabling her to soak up and bask in the glory of her riffs, rocked-up guitars have become a driving force of her artistry and taste. Alongside The Strokes, Fontaines D.C. and Momma, that influence includes plenty of British rock, which can lead to a mixed reception in Oz. “[Some] people are like, ‘Well, what’s the connection to Australia?’” she explains. “You [are expected] to really ‘own’ your country, and a lot of Australian artists do end up moving and making it big overseas before Australia pays attention,” she continues, pointing to punk-rock star Ecca Vandal.
Image: Press
London Calling
From a studio standpoint, Holt has done exactly that, because London is now her recording hub. Ever since a study semester in Brighton, she’s mentally associated the UK with making music. For any emerging artist, the prospect of regular 24-hour flights not only presents logistical obstacles, but also a sense of pressure, to make every second recording Trapezoid count. But Holt was determined to see it through, having found her familiarity in east London.
“When I’m in that zone, I’m like a sponge,” she tells Guitar.com. “You’re observing the world and everything’s poetic. You’re on the train, staring out the window, and lyrics come easily. It’s a muscle that you have to exercise and tap into. [Also], you’re in a completely different timezone to your friends, so there’s really no distractions. I love the pub culture, as well! I’ll have a pint, labour over my lyrics and listen to my demos. I romanticise that so much.”
Writing and producing her guitar lines alongside Tom Stafford (Joy Crookes, Orla Gartland), noodling around on his 1984 Yamaha SG-1000 in ‘Angel Tuning’ (CGDGAD) unlocked the door for Trapezoid. “The basis of the record was that weird tuning,” reflects Holt. “It sounds really stark, brooding, and the whole record’s off-tilt: that’s the meaning of Trapezoid. I really liked the wonkiness. I think bruises was very perfect, quite polished, and this one’s not.”
That instability shines through on the knee-jerk top lines of Girl, Interrupted, the wooziness and occasional volatility of City Of Mannequins and the thrashy pop-rock of Out Of Frame. The song structures on Trapezoid are suitably serrated, culminating in melancholy closer Tailgate and its rampaging climax of distortion. “I kept wanting to push it grungier and grungier,” Holt grins. “The live show is [like] that. I wanted it to feel darker.”
When Holt was in a post-pop creative rut, it was Microdose – her first single as Total Tommy – that pulled her out of it. The inception of Trapezoid is the closest thing she’s experienced since that moment; a feeling to chase and build around. Although her career path and songwriting has already taken many twists and turns, the guitar has helped her some find clarity. In turn, it’s forged an unbreakable bond with how she sees her art going forward. “The guitars will stay,” she reiterates. “I just want to be a kickass frontwoman with a rock band.”
Trapezoid is out now via Play It Again Sam.
The post How Total Tommy became one of Australia’s most exciting new guitar acts: “I’ve always used it as a songwriting crutch” appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.
Gibson Pickup Shop Introduces Year-Specific 1957–1960 P.A.F. Reissue Humbuckers
The Gibson Pickup Shop has introduced the 1957-1960 P.A.F. Reissue Sets, a new collection of historically accurate humbucker pickups designed to reproduce the dimensions, materials, appearance, and distinctive tonal characteristics of original Gibson Patent Applied For pickups.
Four new pickup sets capture the full tonal spectrum of the Patent Applied For humbucker, the most sought-after electric guitar pickup in music history.
The collection includes four pickup sets, each with a unique tonal profile shaped by its wire turn count and specific grade of long, rough-cast Alnico magnet. From the tight, articulate response of the 1957 set to the smooth warmth and natural compression of the 1960 set, the collection gives guitarists four distinct interpretations of the celebrated P.A.F. sound. The Gibson Pickup Shop 1957, 1958, 1959, and 1960 P.A.F. Reissue Sets—available at a street price of $799 each—are available worldwide through authorized Gibson dealers, at Gibson Garage locations in Nashville, London and Miami, and on Gibson.com.
After the humbucker debuted on Gibson pedal steels in late 1956, the Patent Applied For pickup first appeared on Gibson electric guitars in early 1957. Although they were not present on the very first units, it was the Patent Applied For decals affixed to the undersides of the pickups that earned P.A.F.s their nickname. First featuring in the electric guitar catalog on the ES-175, the humbucker became the primary pickup for high-end Gibson instruments, including the Les Paul Goldtop, Les Paul Custom, and Les Paul Standard.
Developed through extensive historical research, 3D scanning, scientific analysis, reverse engineering of vintage examples, and original specifications from the Gibson archives, each P.A.F. Reissue Set is built to the same exacting standards as the Gibson 1959 Collector’s Edition Humbucker Sets. The new sets are offered without the Lifton cases, individual serialization, and mounting rings included with the Collector’s Edition sets.
“The original P.A.F. humbuckers have inspired generations of players because they do more than reproduce sound. They respond to the player,” says Jared Brandon, Pickup Product Manager at Gibson. “With the 1957-1960 P.A.F. Reissue Sets, we have recreated four distinct voices from that historic era, giving guitarists the clarity, harmonic complexity, and dynamic feel that made these pickups legendary.”
Each pickup is wound on vintage Gibson coil-winding machines using 42 AWG plain enamel wire and vintage-correct butyrate bobbins. Period-accurate details include maple spacers, steel slugs and keeper bars, two-conductor wiring, True Historic nickel covers, Patent Applied For decals, and authentic tooling marks on the baseplate feet. All four sets feature unbalanced coils and unpotted construction, enhancing harmonic richness, openness, responsiveness, and note definition while preserving the individual tonal identity of each set.
Gibson Pickup Shop 1957 P.A.F. Reissue Set
- The 1957 P.A.F. Reissue Set is the most aggressive and modern-feeling set in the collection. Its long, rough-cast Alnico 5 magnets and unbalanced coils deliver tight, punchy lows, a bright and clear top end, and a slightly scooped midrange. With a fast attack, strong note separation, and articulate response, the 1957 set is designed for players who want vintage P.A.F. character with the power and clarity to cut through a mix. The set features Double Vintage Black butyrate bobbins, True Historic nickel covers, two-conductor wiring, unpotted construction, and average DC resistance readings of 8.1 k ohms for the treble pickup and 7.5 k ohms for the rhythm pickup.
Gibson Pickup Shop 1958 P.A.F. Reissue Set
- The 1958 P.A.F. Reissue Set is the most balanced and versatile set in the collection. Its long, rough-cast Alnico 4 magnets produce even bass and treble, a smooth midrange, and a slightly softer attack than the Alnico 5-equipped 1957 set. Dynamic and responsive, the 1958 set combines warmth with clarity, making it well suited to guitarists who want an expressive P.A.F. voice that performs across a wide range of musical styles. The set features Double Vintage Black butyrate bobbins, True Historic nickel covers, two-conductor wiring, unpotted construction, and average DC resistance readings of 8.3 k ohms for the treble pickup and 7.6 k ohms for the rhythm pickup.
Gibson Pickup Shop 1959 P.A.F. Reissue Set
- The 1959 P.A.F. Reissue Set captures the open, woody, and harmonically rich character associated with classic Burst tone. Its long, rough-cast Alnico 3 magnets and unbalanced coils create a softer bass response, sweet and airy highs, and a pronounced, musical midrange. A looser, more yielding attack provides a highly touch-sensitive feel, while the vocal midrange gives notes and chords an expressive, three-dimensional quality. The 1959 set features Double Vintage White butyrate bobbins, True Historic nickel covers, two-conductor wiring, unpotted construction, and average DC resistance readings of 8.1 k ohms for the treble pickup and 7.7 k ohms for the rhythm pickup.
Gibson Pickup Shop 1960 P.A.F. Reissue Set
- The 1960 P.A.F. Reissue Set is the smoothest and warmest set in the collection. Its long, rough-cast Alnico 2 magnets and unbalanced coils produce warm, rounded lows, gently rolled-off highs, and a strong, sweet midrange. With the softest attack of the four sets and slight natural compression, it is suited to singing lead tones, expressive bends, and vintage blues character. The set features Double Vintage Black butyrate bobbins, True Historic nickel covers, two-conductor wiring, unpotted construction, and average DC resistance readings of 8.6 k ohms for the treble pickup and 8.0 k ohms for the rhythm pickup.
Developed using 3D scanning, scientific analysis, reverse engineering of original late-1950s examples, and specifications from the Gibson archives, the 1960 set reproduces the dimensions, appearance, and sound of the vintage Patent Applied For humbucker. It uses 42 AWG plain enamel wire wound on vintage Gibson coil winders, maple spacers, and vintage-correct steel slugs and keeper bars, with period details extending to the Patent Applied For decals and tooling marks on the baseplate feet.
Gibson used different grades of Alnico magnets and varying wire turn counts during the original Patent Applied For era. Those variations helped give individual vintage pickups their distinctive tonal personalities and contributed to the enduring fascination surrounding them. Original P.A.F. pickups remain among the most sought-after vintage guitar components, prized for their openness, harmonic complexity, dynamic response, and connection to many of the most influential electric guitar sounds ever recorded.
Packaged as sets of two for the treble and rhythm positions, the Gibson Pickup Shop 1957-1960 P.A.F. Reissue Sets bring the celebrated sound of original Patent Applied For pickups to modern guitarists without the search for scarce vintage examples. Different wire turn counts and grades of long, rough-cast Alnico magnets give each set its own tonal profile, offering four distinct ways to experience the feel, character, and musical expressiveness of the original Gibson humbucker.
The Gibson Pickup Shop continues Gibson’s tradition of pickup design and manufacturing, drawing on decades of innovation, archival specifications, and hands-on craftsmanship. From historically accurate recreations to modern high-performance designs, Gibson pickups are developed to give musicians distinctive voices, dynamic response, and an authentic connection between player and instrument.
1957-1960 P.A.F. Reissue Sets
The Gibson Pickup Shop has introduced the 1957-1960 P.A.F. Reissue Sets, a new collection of historically accurate humbucker pickups designed to reproduce the dimensions, materials, appearance, and distinctive tonal characteristics of original Gibson Patent Applied For pickups.
Rig Rundown: Deafheaven [2026]
PG’s Chris Kies caught up with Deafheaven’s Kerry McCoy at the Satellite Music Hall in Memphis, ahead of a support slot with Mastodon. McCoy calls it a “rig redo,” which is about right: the heads, the guitars, and the pedals have all turned over since the last one. Have a look at some quick highlights below, and tune into the new Rig Rundown for all the details.
Brought to you by D’Addario.
On Loan
McCoy’s main guitar is a stock Gibson Les Paul Standard, one of the loaners Gibson has been supplying the band for the better part of a decade. He says he still isn’t sure how they snuck onto that list, given who else is on it, and that they take care of them and give them back.
Standard Issue
McCoy plays D’Addario NYXLs, and has for years. Tunings stay fairly conventional: standard and drop D cover most of the catalog, with a few songs on the last record in DADFAD and DADFAD#. The new EP, At Work in the Fields of the Bomb, is the outlier, written entirely in C-sharp standard and drop B.
Why He Quit Lugging Heads
McCoy runs a Line 6 Helix Floor, and keeps two banks of four: clean verb, clean delay, distorted verb, distorted delay. The clean side is a JC-120 model; the distorted is a 5150 with a Tube Screamer in front. The second quadrant is labeled by song so he knows where he is mid-set. A Poly Capo handles the pitch shift on “Hunter,” which a former tech had to tell him was in there.
CFG Unveils DeadOn Rechargeable Clip-On Tuner
Cable Free Guitar (CFG) has introduced DeadOn, a low-profile rechargeable clip-on instrument tuner designed to provide enhanced visibility and accuracy.
The DeadOn pairs a bright color TFT screen with ±0.5-cent stated tuning accuracy and USB-C recharging, eliminating the need for disposable coin-cell batteries. It features a sleek, stealthy design that delivers instantaneous tuning status when it’s clipped to your headstock.
A conventional clip-on tuner can be awkwardly bulky, especially when left on an instrument during a set. DeadOn takes a more discreet approach. Its adjustable screen shows the note and tuning status at a glance, while a flexible mounting clip and vivid display makes it easy to see your tuning status – even in bright outdoor light. The result is a reliable, highly responsive tuner that stays out of the way until you need it.
DeadOn offers five modes: Guitar, Bass, Violin, Ukulele and Chromatic. The chromatic setting supports alternate guitar tunings and other compatible pitched instruments. Additional features include adjustable 410-460 Hz calibration, an A0-C8 detection range, memory of the selected reference pitch, and automatic shutoff after eight minutes of inactivity.
The internal rechargeable battery provides more than three hours of tuning time per charge and recharges in under 1.5 hours using the included USB-A to USB-C cable and a standard 5 V USB power source. The complete kit includes the tuner, charging cable, and owner’s manual.
CFG’s DeadOn tuner is available for a street price of $34.99 and comes with a 2-year warranty. For more information visit cablefreeguitar.com/products/deadon-clip-on-tuner.
DeadOn
Cable Free Guitar (CFG) has introduced DeadOn, a low-profile rechargeable clip-on instrument tuner designed to provide enhanced visibility and accuracy.
Fender and Loog celebrate 75 years of the P-Bass and Telecaster with new downsized instruments for kids
Fender has expanded its ongoing partnership with children’s instrument brand Loog with two new instruments: the first-ever Loog bass and a new Butterscotch Blonde Fender x Loog Telecaster.
Released as Fender celebrates 75 years of both the Telecaster and the Precision Bass, both instruments take the two classic instrument blueprints and shrink them down into a more child-friendly size, complete with Loog’s award-winning learning system.
The Fender x Loog Precision Bass celebrates the original 1951 Precision Bass, the world’s first mass-produced electric bass guitar, and marks Loog’s first foray into the world of bass guitars. It features three strings, a compact short scale, a single pickup and a “surprisingly big sound”.
It arrives alongside the new Butterscotch Blonde Fender x Loog Telecaster, which sports a black pickguard, three strings, and a compact form factor which makes it easy for children to begin playing chords and songs.
Both instruments feature an authentic Fender headstock, Loog’s signature three-string fretboard and a standard quarter-inch output jack for use with an amplifier. Each instrument also comes with access to the Loog Guitar app, which features video lessons and game-like exercises to make learning fun.
Credit: Fender
“Launching Loog’s first bass alongside the 75th anniversary of the Precision Bass is especially meaningful. It’s also full circle for me, since bass was the first instrument I played at 13,” says Rafael Atijas, Founder and CEO of Loog Guitars.
“And bringing the iconic Butterscotch Blonde Telecaster to life as a small, three-string guitar lets kids experience a piece of music history in a way that feels playful and authentic.”
“For 75 years, the Telecaster and Precision Bass have helped shape the sound of music,” adds James Chippendale, Fender Senior Director, Lifestyle & Licensing. “Our partnership with Loog brings these iconic instruments to a new generation of players.
“The most meaningful collaborations bring together shared values, creativity and a clear purpose. Together with Loog, we’re inspiring young musicians to discover the joy of playing, express themselves and begin a lifelong connection with music.”
Pricewise, both the Precision Bass and Telecaster clock in at $229.99 / £199.
The post Fender and Loog celebrate 75 years of the P-Bass and Telecaster with new downsized instruments for kids appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.
Loog and Fender Unveil Precision Bass and Telecaster for Kids
Children’s instrument brand Loog and Fender have introduced two new additions to the Fender x Loog collection: the Fender x Loog Precision Bass, marking Loog's first-ever bass, and the Fender x Loog Telecaster in a new Butterscotch Blonde finish.
The Fender x Loog Precision Bass features three strings, a compact short scale and one pickup. It’s designed to feel comfortable in small hands while providing the authentic experience of playing a real bass guitar.
The newest Fender x Loog Telecaster pays tribute to the original Telecaster with a classic Butterscotch Blonde finish and black pickguard. Loog’s compact, three-string format makes it easy for children to begin playing chords and songs from day one.
Developed in collaboration with Fender and manufactured by Loog, both instruments feature an authentic Fender headstock, Loog’s signature three-string fretboard and a standard ¼-inch output jack for use with an amplifier. Each instrument also includes access to the Loog Guitar app, featuring video lessons and game-like exercises, as well as an exclusive Fender-inspired activity book filled with games, trivia and creative challenges—a hands-on, screen-free way for kids to explore Fender’s heritage.
The Fender x Loog Precision Bass carries a $229.99 street price and is available in White Blonde, inspired by the finish of the original 1951 Precision Bass, as well as Candy Apple Red, Sea Foam Green and a limited edition Hello Kitty Black.
The Fender x Loog Telecaster is available at a $229.99 street price and features a classic Butterscotch Blonde finish with a black pickguard, inspired by the original 1951 model.
For more information visit loogguitars.com or fender.com.
Fender x Loog Precision Bass
Children’s instrument brand Loog and Fender have introduced two new additions to the Fender x Loog collection: the Fender x Loog Precision Bass, marking Loog's first-ever bass, and the Fender x Loog Telecaster in a new Butterscotch Blonde finish.
SoloDallas Updates Schaffer Replica Storm With Top Jacks
SoloDallas has updated the company’s flagship pedal: The newly unveiled Schaffer Replica Storm features top-mounted jacks, in response to overwhelming demand for a more pedalboard-friendly version of the classic circuit.
Since its initial release over a decade ago, the Schaffer Replica has attracted a fervent following, and the new configuration makes it a natural fit for an even broader range of pedalboards—while retaining all the components and features that have shaped its iconic sound from day one.
The Schaffer Replica Storm features the 100% analog limiter, overdrive, boost, line buffer and "goalpost" EQ circuit that SoloDallas reverse-engineered from the 1974 Schaffer-Vega Diversity System wireless unit. This pioneering wireless system was used by Angus Young, David Gilmour, EVH, and other legendary guitarists throughout the 1970s and 1980s.
With its top-mounted jacks and graphic font reminiscent of a Led Zeppelin album cover, the updated pedal retains its straightforward three-knob control set:
- GAIN Knob controls the harmonic clipping circuit and bumps the crucial low-mid frequencies responsible for giving live instruments punch and allowing guitar frequencies to stand out in the mix.
- BOOST Knob controls a powerful pre-amp capable of delivering a whopping 31db of clean boost. This LM308 flavored analog boost allows you to balance the output signal once the perfect amount of drive has been dialed in on the GAIN knob.
- LIMITER Knob controls the signal amplitude threshold while protecting against the clipping that typically occurs with gain increases. The sensitivity of this effect increases as the GAIN knob is turned up. The dynamic response ranges from loose and bloomy to extremely percussive attack.
Key features include:
- 100% Analog Circuitry
- Heavy-duty true bypass footswitch
- Neutrik Top-Mounted Jacks
- 9-12v DC center negative operation using external power supply
- Made in USA
The updated Schaffer Replica Storm carries a street price of $249 USD—unchanged from the previous version. For more information visit solodallas.com.
Schaffer Replica Storm
SoloDallas has updated the company’s flagship pedal: the newly unveiled Schaffer Replica Storm features top-mounted jacks, in response to overwhelming demand for a more pedalboard-friendly version of the classic circuit.
Learn “Billy Lyons and Stack O’Lee”—A Fingerstyle Country-Blues Classic
“I don’t think it’s nepotism when your kid’s that f**king good”: Tom Morello defends hyping his son’s guitar skills
![[L-R] Roman Morello and Tom Morello](https://guitar.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/11/Tom-Morello-Roman-Morello-hero@2000x1500.jpg)
With his enduring work in Rage Against the Machine and as a prominent solo artist, Tom Morello has more than left his mark on the world of rock music. But at just 15 years old, his son Roman is already giving him a run for his money…
Back in 2023, a video went viral showing Roman nailing Killing in the Name during a Rage soundcheck – using the same 1982 Fender ‘Sendero Luminoso’ Telecaster his father used on the original song, no less – and his guitar chops have only improved since then.
The father-son duo frequently perform on stage together, and in a new interview with Rolling Stone, the Rage Against the Machine firebrand waxes lyrical on the pair’s heartwarming – and clearly productive – musical relationship.
Back in September, Tom Morello released his latest solo record, Everyone Gets Everything They Want. “My muse for this record was my 15-year-old son, Roman, who’s now toured with me for the last three summers,” he says. “I would be with my ear to his door poaching his best riffs for this record!”
Several songs on the album feature riffs from Roman’s mind, Tom says, including Soldier in the Army of Love, Adjourn it, and Unconquered. “The thing that’s interesting about lifting those riffs from Roman is that he clearly has, one, a knowledge of my catalog, two, has Morellian riff-writing DNA, but it’s through an entirely different lens. There’s a familiarity to them like, oh, that’s a kick-ass riff that I wish I had written, and we just have a ball doing it.”
At just 15 years old, Roman Morello is already enjoying the life of a rockstar. But with a dad like Tom Morello, it’s naturally going to bring with it nepotism accusations. But Tom is quick to dispel these.
“We were just playing last night, and he plays those two solos in Mr. Crowley, and people’s jaws are on the floor. You can call it nepotism, but I don’t think it’s nepotism when your kid’s that fucking good.”
Despite Roman’s fast-developing guitar skills, though, Tom still calls the shots… While he recently joked that he has conceded to being the “rhythm guitarist in the household”, Tom still exercises his dad powers: “If we have disagreements, I’m able to send him to his room.”
The post “I don’t think it’s nepotism when your kid’s that f**king good”: Tom Morello defends hyping his son’s guitar skills appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.
Laney Prism-Mini review – a sub-£100 desktop amp with sounds that’ll rival your main rig
£99/$149, laney.co.uk
As a lover of all things digital – and convenient – I’m perhaps better poised to appreciate the world of uber-compact smart practice amps than my tube-loving colleagues. A practice amp is an essential in any player’s gear collection. When a riff idea springs to mind, you can’t be dialling in your pedalboard or loading up your DAW; you need to workshop it right away before it’s lost to the ether. Having a small, portable and easily set-up amp on hand can be a creative lifesaver.
So when the Laney Prism-Mini arrives, I’m instantly intrigued by its promise to squeeze plenty of big amp features into a tiny enclosure. Let’s take a closer look…
What is it?
The Laney Prism-Mini joins an already-packed market of mini practice amps, and fights for space against such titans of the category as the Positive Grid Spark GO, Blackstar Fly 3 and the Boss Katana-Mini.
Laney has plenty of expertise in this world however – its Mini and Mini Stack amps have earned plenty of fans thanks to their ability to produce a simple and straightforward Laney sound in a tiny little package.
The Prism is something rather different however – this is a full-on modelling amp with all the versatility and depth that involves, but in Coke can-sized package. In practice that means you get 17 onboard amps and 32 effects, plus an onboard drum machine and tuner – a whole lot of stuff for a tiny little amp.
As you’d expect, the amps onboard include emulations of Laney favourites like the Lionheart, Ironheart, Cub and Digbeth, plus the usual off-brand suspects. The effects span reverbs, delays, drives, EQs and modulation effects, up to six of which can be run simultaneously. You can save up to 100 presets as well, so you don’t need to worry about forgetting your favourite tones.
As you’d expect for a modern practice amp, you can hook your phone up to it via Bluetooth to stream music wirelessly, while there’s also a 3.5mm headphone jack for quiet practice, and a USB-C for charging the built-in battery.
In terms of power, you get a pair of 1.5-inch stereo drivers putting out 3 watts each for 6 watts RMS in total. The amp has onboard control and a full-colour LCD screen for tweaking your sound on the fly, but for deep editing you’re probably going to want to hook it up to Laney’s Tone-Wizard smartphone app.
Image: Adam Gasson
Laney Prism-Mini – build quality and usability
The first thing that strikes me about the Prism-Mini is its light weight – barely tipping the scales at half a kilo (0.535kg/1.2 lb), it’s very easy to stow in a bag or even your pocket, should your trousers be of the cargo variety.
There is a flipside to this of course – one that often plagues these smaller amps with top-mounted controls. Its centre of gravity is such that it’s very simple to tip it over, and all it takes is one ill-considered tug on the cable and its taking a nose-dive towards the hardwood. Mercifully, it seems pretty capable of withstanding a three-foot drop onto a hard floor, but it’s not a trick I’d want to repeat too many times.
The amp could have been made more stable with the addition of some more sturdy rubber feet, or taking a leaf out of Blackstar’s book and sticking the input jack on the bottom of the amp instead of the top. Even adding a little more ballast internally might have helped things here.
Stability concerns aside, my first impressions are very positive. It feels rugged and well-built in the way Laney’s stuff so often does, and its all very clearly laid out, with just a volume control, infinite-scroll parameter wheel, and a back button to control what’s occurring on that colour LCD screen.
This is unquestionably a little fiddly – the lack of any kind of tone controls means that it’s not the most tweakable amp on the fly, but actually navigating the various patches is pretty intuitive via the 1-inch screen.
Image: Adam Gasson
Speaking of the screen, one hiccup I’ve noticed is that it’s pretty small – by design, obviously – but that fact it’s mounted on the top of the amp, and the nature of practice meaning the amp is often on a tabletop, means I find myself standing to a partial squat position in order to see what’s on the screen more clearly. Less of a problem if on a lower surface like a coffee table, but something to consider.
To get the most out of it however, you really do need to download the Tone-Wizard app, which makes the whole tone-shaping process much more intuitive – you can then save your presets and scroll through them quickly on the amp itself. There’s impressively little latency between the phone and the amp, too, so you can tweak your tones in real time without any hassle.
Equally impressive is the battery life – Laney claims 14 hours of continuous playtime on a single charge, and in practice this held up. Having charged it to full upon its arrival, I didn’t have to plug it in once during my entire testing period.
Another winner for the Prism-Mini are the looks – you can opt for a stealthy all-black affair with white piping and silver-flecked grille, or a blue and basketweave option that apes the Lionheart. Either look great, and strike the right chord in terms of classic British amp aesthetics.
Image: Adam Gasson
Laney Prism-Mini – sounds
Growing up, I’d come home every night from school, plug into my Roland Micro Cube, and shred that thing until I went to bed. It’s been a few years since then, and digital amp modelling has come along leaps and bounds, so I wasn’t surprised by the quality of the sound that emits from the Prism-Mini, but they’re still very impressive.
To recap, there are 17 amp models included with the Prism-Mini, plus 50 factory presets (and 50 slots for saving your own). These presets run the gamut in terms of what any average guitar player will be looking for, with a high-gain highlight coming with #14: Solo AyIt – I’ve lost a good few hours shredding some reverb-laden solos on this one – #1: Stratic! as a solid clean option, and #20: Funk as a wild card… These are some personal favourites, but you’ll be hard pressed to find a preset among the 50 that doesn’t sound good.
The stereo speakers sound great, giving a nice wide spread of sound, and offering more than enough volume for home use. Crank it up to the highest end of the volume knob however, and you start getting some sympathetic rattles and vibrations from the enclosure that are quite unpleasant. It’s the nature of a smaller amp that bass frequencies will get a bit muddy however, and I’d be surprised if many people were dimeing the volume in general use – it’s pretty loud!
Image: Adam Gasson
Laney Prism-Mini – should I buy one?
There’s space for an amp of this size in every guitarist’s arsenal. The Laney Prism-Mini is hardly going to become your main guitar amp, but the ability to grab it and set it up anywhere makes it indispensable for workshopping riff ideas as they come to your head. That said, having a solid tone while working on riff ideas is surprisingly important; you’ll play in response to your tone, so a better one means you’ll be more creative and come up with better ideas. So you can rest assured that the Prism-Mini comfortably meets that requirement. And for less than £100, it’s hardly an expenditure that’ll leave you bankrupt.
Laney Prism-Mini – alternatives
At a similar price point (£95 compared to the Prism-Mini’s £85), the Positive Grid Spark GO jumps out as the most obvious contender here. Like the Prism-Mini, it’s also an uber-compact desktop modelling amp, and also comes with a companion smartphone app for crafting your tones. When the Spark GO arrived in 2023, we gave it a 9/10 review, calling it a “remarkable feat of engineering”. Alternatively, by springing a little extra (£135) for the NUX Mighty Air, you’ll get an additional four watts of power, plus an included wireless transmitter, meaning no cables, and no amps falling off tables! This one also comes with a wealth of built in amp models and effects including all your typical delays, reverbs and modulation effects. Another option in the same category is the Pulze Mini from Hotone, which offers a similar form factor and suite of digital amp models, but in a classy cream enclosure. If you want the best sounding mini-amp and are prepared to spend a little more, the Blackstar Beam Mini offers access to the high-end NAM tone library in a compact package.
Learn more about the Prism-Mini at Laney.
The post Laney Prism-Mini review – a sub-£100 desktop amp with sounds that’ll rival your main rig appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.
Listen: “I Won’t Ever Give Up on You” by Chris Eldridge and Kristin Andreassen
After fifteen years as life partners, guitarist Chris “Critter” Eldridge and singer-songwriter Kristin Andreassen have finally released their first song as a musical duo. If you know their work, you won’t be surprised to learn it’s a low-key banger.
“I Won’t Ever Give Up on You,” which the couple posted on YouTube shortly before Election Day, is a stubborn love song to America. It begins with a sad and familiar story about people so appalled by what’s going on in our country that they’re talking about “Flying off someplace/That’s still in working order.” Instead, they decide to stay, talk to their neighbors and work to “mend it someday.” Then comes an incantatory chorus:
I won’t ever give up
I won’t ever give up
I won’t ever give up
And I swear that it’s true
I won’t ever give up
I won’t ever give up
I won’t ever give up
I won’t ever give up on you
So a love song about standing up for democracy is hitting at a moment when millions of Americans are going to the polls to do just that. But the song also reaches across the political divide, seeking to forge connection among all kinds of Americans with all kinds of views.
Kristin is a tireless community builder (she co-founded the Miles of Music artist camp) and prolific songwriter with a voice like a clear mountain lake. She co-wrote this one in 2025 with her Nashville neighbor, singer-songwriter Robby Hecht. Robby came to their writing session with the “won’t ever give up” nugget of a conventional love song. Kristin came with the first line of what she calls an “existential political song.” They worked on each idea individually, she says, “without landing anything great.” Then the two ideas collided and they suddenly had something special.
Critter – one of our finest pickers, a gifted producer, and for almost 20 years the guitarist in Punch Brothers – refined the chordal structure and added a key change that brings the tune home. Hearing his voice blend with hers on this song is quietly thrilling.
“A bunch of the songs I’ve been writing lately start with one true sentence,” Kristin says. “In this case it was, ‘Man, what are we going to do? All my friends are talking about leaving.’ Because the country we grew up in, we don’t recognize it. And maybe don’t feel welcome here.
“That’s the moment to step forward and say, ‘No, you can’t bully me into thinking I need to leave.’ I’m being called to stay. I have to trust that there’s a majority who value democracy and are against blatant corruption. We’re all neighbors – we have to remember how to have productive conversations when we disagree. That’s the purpose of government.”
Kristen and Critter have begun work on a duo album, and they’ve been squeezing duo gigs in between legs of Critter’s massive Punch Brothers tour while caring for their four-year-old. But they decided this song couldn’t wait for the album. As the midterms approached, Critter says, “we were feeling the vibe shift in the country and saying, ‘Hey, this is the moment for this song. We just need to record it and get it out.’ So that’s what we’re doing, because its time is now.”
Above photo: Laura Schneider
The post Listen: “I Won’t Ever Give Up on You” by Chris Eldridge and Kristin Andreassen first appeared on Fretboard Journal.
Squier Paranormal Troy Van Leeuwen Telecaster XII Review
Though some players find electric 12-string guitars fussy, finicky, and precious, they can be very practical and functional if, at the most elemental level, the design is solid. They have to be tuning stable, be extra playable to overcome the intrinsic challenges of 12-strings, and have clear, balanced pickups that can communicate all the additional harmonic information in a way that doesn’t turn your signal into mud. That’s why I’ve always believed a Telecaster to be an ideal 12-string platform. Not least because it has the added bonus of feeling familiar to so many players. That light, compact body profile is just one more way that you can make an electric 12-string feel less alien.
Queens of the Stone Age’s Troy Van Leeuwen uses a lot of electric 12-string these days—primarily to add a greater sense of orchestration and space to the band’s dense sound and current three-guitar configuration. It’s a role that would seem to fit a Telecaster-based 12-string to a “T.” But it was a fortuitous sequence of events that led to the signature Squier Paranormal Troy Van Leeuwen Telecaster XII reviewed here.
Initially, Van Leeuwen wanted a double-neck 6-and-12-string Jazzmaster for the job, a model that he now owns and uses. At the time, though, that massive instrument required six months in the Fender Custom Shop to build—and a Queens tour was looming. Custom Shop master builder Paul Waller proposed a solution in the easier-to-execute form of a single-neck Telecaster 12-string.
For the most part, that’s the template for the instrument you see here. And this Squier edition delivers in a way that would make Waller proud. It sounds fat and clear, the build is near-flawless, it feels natural and easy under the fingers, and the $599 price makes it approachable for players that don’t consider 12-string their primary instrument. But this is also an electric 12-string that serious 12-string players will dig, and I suspect many of them won’t hesitate to play this guitar in lieu of fancier, pricier, or vintage instruments that are safer at home.
Copper Chimes
One of the cool things about Van Leeuwen’s embrace of 12-strings is that he’s the kind of player that proves the instrument’s utility outside canonical, jangly applications. But that doesn’t mean you can’t put this guitar straight to work in a Byrdsian pop band. The basic tone profile, you won’t be surprised to hear, is quintessentially Telecaster. The bridge pickup is punchy and bright, with a just-right midrange that adds body without being overbearing. The neck pickup is mellow and twilight dark, with just enough air and brightness to add vital detail and a trace of daylight.
Compared to other 12-strings, the Van Leeuwen model’s Telecaster voice situates it in a distinctive place. The pickups sound and feel hotter than a Rickenbacker’s toaster tops, which means the Van Leeuwen Telecaster XII lacks some of the headroom that a Rick makes available for high and high-mid harmonics and the addition of heavy compression. At full guitar volume that means output from the Telecaster’s bridge pickup feels less aerated, and a touch more claustrophobic than a vintage-spec Rick.
This isn’t unique to the Van Leeuwen Telecaster XII—with the exception of some lipstick pickup-equipped Danelectros, most 12-strings sound more forceful and brawny than a toaster-top Rick, and that includes vintage Fender Electric XIIs and the Van Leeuwen’s Squier stablemate, the Paranormal Jazzmaster XII. In isolation, I’d hardly call it a problem, though. You can conjure a lot of a Rickenbacker toaster top’s extra oxygen by attenuating the Van Leeuwen’s volume a touch. And when paired with a clean Fender amp, the Telecaster’s neck pickup sounds spirited in a way that serves R.E.M.- and Smiths-flavored folk rock and power pop in a satisfying and very addictive way. The other pickup combinations are super useful, too. In the middle position I added vibrato, delay, and reverb to fashion clear, ethereal Slowdive-isms that sound beautiful in strummy rhythm contexts, and that a mix engineer would have little trouble nestling in a blend of other big spacey tones. The Van Leeuwen Telecaster XII’s neck pickup, meanwhile, demonstrated its own superpower when standing in for rich acoustic rhythm guitar. I love using this technique with other 12-string types to lend a breeziness and size to rhythm-guitar arrangements. But the neck pickup on the Van Leeuwen Telecaster XII might be better suited to the role than any other electric 12-string I know.
“The bridge pickup is punchy and bright, with a just-right midrange that adds body without being overbearing.”
The Verdict
There aren’t a lot of new electric 12-string options out there in the world these days, and there are fewer still at the accessible end of the price spectrum. The guitars that do inhabit that market space, like Squier’s own $429 Paranormal Jazzmaster XII and Danelectro’s slightly more expensive 12-strings, are great values. But the Troy Van Leeuwen Paranormal Telecaster XII has the goods to be at the top of the heap among this company. Our test instrument was tuning-stable and built to a very high standard of quality. The 1.6875" nut width makes it extra playable. It’s also super stylish. Most importantly, though, it proved comfortable and full of sonic range and versatility—two critical attributes that stand to give this electric 12-string enduring appeal rather than mere sugar-rush novelty.
Squier Paranormal Troy Van Leeuwen Telecaster XII
Jeff Loomis Teams Up with Von Frankenstein Monster Gear for Signature Raven VI and VII Strings
Von Frankenstein Monster Gear has teamed up with American heavy metal guitarist Jeff Loomis, best known for his work with progressive metal band Nevermore, his solo albums such as Plains of Oblivion, and projects including Conquering Dystopia; to release two new signature guitar string sets: the Raven VI six-string set and the Raven VII seven-string set. Engineered to meet the technical demands of high-speed shredding, complex neoclassical solos, and rhythmically advanced six and seven-string riffing, the new series delivers bench-built consistency and reliability for modern progressive thrash, power metal, and death metal players.
Every string in the Raven series is manufactured individually on a U.S. workbench using domestically sourced raw materials, deliberately avoiding mass-production processes. The construction utilizes treated hex steel cores meticulously wrapped with nickel-plated steel. This specific material selection and one-at-a-time wrapping process is designed to deliver the precise build quality, feel, and durability required by discerning players.
“These are the perfect gauges for half step tuning," Loomis says. "Not too light, not too heavy. These custom gauge sets are ideal when standing up with a strap in live settings and being comfortable doing deep bends and vibrato.”
For six-string setups, the Raven VI set runs a precise gauge spread of .009, .012, .016, .026, .036, and .048.
For players needing heavier bottom end, the Raven VII seven-string set takes that exact same foundation and adds a heavy-duty .062 gauge on the bottom end, delivering a total gauge lineup of .009, .012, .016, .026, .036, .048, and .062.
For more information, visit www.vonfrankensteinmonstergear.com.
Street Price:
Raven VI $7.99 USD
Raven VII $9.99 USD
Raven VI and Raven VII
Von Frankenstein Monster Gear teams up with American heavy metal guitarist Jeff Loomis, best known for his work with progressive metal band Nevermore, his solo albums such as Plains of Oblivion, and projects including Conquering Dystopia; to release two new signature guitar string sets: the Raven VI six-string set and the Raven VII seven-string set. Engineered to meet the technical demands of high-speed shredding, complex neoclassical solos, and rhythmically advanced six and seven-string riffing, the new series delivers bench-built consistency and reliability for modern progressive thrash, power metal, and death metal players.
Blackstar Unveils the Beam Control and Beam Mini Wireless Rig
Expanding on the company’s highly regarded Beam Mini smart amplifier, Blackstar has announced two new launches. First, there’s the Beam Control, a dedicated Bluetooth foot controller engineered for all Beam range products. In addition, Blackstar has introduced the Beam Mini Wireless Rig, a fully integrated, cable-free guitar package that integrates the Beam Mini amp, Blackstar’s Airwire i58 wireless instrument system, and the new Beam Control Bluetooth footswitch into a dedicated protective carry case.
Developed to eliminate cable clutter and give guitarists seamless, hands-free command over their sound, Beam Control links directly to Beam units via an out-of-the-box Bluetooth connection, allowing players to switch sounds and effects wirelessly without taking their hands off the instrument. The device expands the interactive capabilities of Blackstar’s home-focused Beam series.
Beam Control connects directly to Beam hardware in seconds with zero setup programming required, making it the only foot controller designed to work straight out of the box with the Beam lineup. The unit addresses the demands of home practice and rehearsal environments by removing trailing cables between the amp and player, eliminating trip hazards, keeping living spaces organized, and allowing musicians the freedom to place their Beam amplifier wherever desired.
To provide players with complete performance flexibility across a wide range of musical contexts and playing styles, Beam Control incorporates three dedicated operational modes that transform how musicians interact with their sound in real time. In Patch Mode, guitarists can instantly cycle through the five pre-stored sound patches on their Beam amplifier, executing effortless, instantaneous transitions between rhythm beds, pristine clean tones, and high-gain lead voicings without breaking musical flow. When direct sonic manipulation is needed during a song, FX Mode reframes the foot controller as a traditional pedalboard layout, empowering players to engage or bypass individual effects on the fly within whichever patch is currently active. For players requiring a completely tailored workflow, Custom Mode interfaces with the companion Beam app to enable granular mapping across the hardware, allowing musicians to assign each individual footswitch to their exact functional preferences and craft a personalized control setup uniquely tuned to how they play.
Engineered for portability and ergonomics, the foot controller features a compact, ultra-lightweight chassis weighing just 0.22 kg. It includes an integrated expression pedal input for expanded external control and is powered by a built-in USB-C rechargeable battery that provides up to 12 hours of continuous play time on a single charge.
Beam Control carries a $74.99 street price. Key features include:
- Compatibility: Dedicated foot controller engineered for all Blackstar Beam products
- Connectivity: Direct Bluetooth wireless connection; zero programming required straight out of the box
- Control Modes: Three dedicated modes: Patch Mode, FX Mode, and Custom Mode
- Patch Switching: Direct access across five stored hardware patches
- FX Switching: Individual on/off effect toggling within active patches
- App Integration: Custom footswitch assignment and mapping via the Beam app
- External Expression: Expression pedal input included
- Battery & Power: Internal USB-C rechargeable battery providing up to 12 hours of operational use
The Beam Mini Wireless Rig is an all-in-one solution engineered to eliminate setup clutter, reduce floor-cable hazards, and deliver extended mobile playing capability.
Arriving in a dedicated travel case, the bundle brings together Blackstar’s Beam Mini smart guitar amplifier, the Airwire i58 5.8GHz instrument transmission system, and the Beam Control Bluetooth foot controller. By combining low-latency wireless instrument connectivity, native open-source neural profile loading, and rechargeable battery operation across all hardware units, Blackstar targets modern guitarists seeking an unencumbered practice and performance ecosystem in a single grab-and-go package.
The core of the system is the Beam Mini smart guitar amplifier, which features an IP66-rated enclosure for dust and water resistance. Tone generation is driven by advanced component-level modeling alongside Blackstar’s patented Infinite Shape Feature (ISF) tone control. Spatial sound projection is handled via Super Wide Stereo technology, engineered to create an immersive playing experience as well as high-definition Bluetooth music playback for standard listening.
Expanding its digital footprint, the Beam Mini is the first hardware amplifier to natively load NAM A2 (Neural Amp Modeler) captures. Through a direct partnership with TONE3000, players can browse, audition, and wirelessly transfer thousands of community-crafted profiles straight to the amplifier using the free companion Beam app. In addition, the Beam ecosystem embeds Moises real-time stem separation technology directly into the practice routine, giving musicians the ability to isolate, attenuate, or completely remove original guitar tracks from commercial songs to generate custom play-along backing tracks on the fly.
Instrument connectivity is handled by the Airwire i58 system, which broadcasts across the 5.8GHz frequency band to steer clear of crowded Wi-Fi networks. The system operates with under six milliseconds of latency, supports an operational range of up to 35 meters, and includes switchable Cable Tone emulation to recreate the characteristic capacitive high-frequency roll-off of traditional copper cables. Hands-free command is maintained through the Beam Control wireless foot controller, which pairs over Bluetooth without requiring manual routing or programming. Operating in Patch, FX, or custom app-defined footswitch layouts, it allows users to switch presets and toggle any of the amplifier's 35-plus studio-quality effects seamlessly.
Designed for off-grid operation, the rig provides independent, rechargeable runtimes: up to 18 hours of play time from the Beam Mini amplifier, 12 hours from the Beam Control footswitch, and nine hours from the Airwire i58 wireless unit. All components pack into an impact-resistant, vegan-leather-finished carry case fitted with a heavy-duty handle and an internal zippered storage section designed for guitar accessories.
Beam Mini Wireless Rig carries a street price of $459.99. Features include:
- Rig Components: Beam Mini smart guitar amplifier, Airwire i58 wireless instrument system, Beam Control Bluetooth foot controller, and custom hard carry case
- Amp Modeling & Effects: Component-level digital modeling, patented ISF (Infinite Shape Feature) control, and 35+ onboard studio-grade effects
- NAM Support: World's first hardware amplifier to natively load NAM A2 (Neural Amp Modeler) profiles; access to thousands of captures via TONE3000 partnership
- Practice Integration: Moises real-time stem-separation technology for song isolation and backing-track generation
- Audio & Audio Playback: Super Wide Stereo technology with Bluetooth streaming capability
- Durability Rating: IP66 dust- and water-resistant rating on the Beam Mini amplifier
- Wireless Instrument Band: 5.8GHz frequency band to mitigate standard Wi-Fi interference
- Footswitch Switching Modes: Patch mode, FX mode, and custom layout configuration via the Beam app
- Rechargeable Battery Life: Up to 18 hours (Beam Mini), up to 12 hours (Beam Control), and up to nine hours (Airwire i58)
- Case Construction: Impact-resistant shell with vegan leather exterior finish, rugged carrying handle, and zippered internal accessory pouch
Beam Control
Expanding on the company’s highly regarded Beam Mini smart amplifier, Blackstar has announced two new launches. First, there’s the Beam Control, a dedicated Bluetooth foot controller engineered for all Beam range products. In addition, Blackstar has introduced the Beam Mini Wireless Rig, a fully integrated, cable-free guitar package that integrates the Beam Mini amp, Blackstar’s Airwire i58 wireless instrument system, and the new Beam Control Bluetooth footswitch into a dedicated protective carry case.
“Give me a brand-new guitar, and after 2 gigs it looks like someone put it in the dryer”: The hilarious reason Joe Satriani doesn’t bother with vintage guitars
There’s a general belief in the guitar community that vintage guitars tend to be better. But not all guitarists are convinced. In fact, one prominent guitarist who doesn’t pay much attention to older, relic’d guitars is Joe Satriani, but it’s not for the reason you might think…
While cost tends to be the main barrier to entry for guitarists looking to add a vintage guitar to their collection, for Satch, the reason is more one of practicality – in that his instruments take such a beating on tour that it wouldn’t take long for a brand-new guitar to be bashed to the extent that it looks like it’s seen years of heavy road use.
“I don’t own any relic guitars,” he tells Guitar World in its latest print issue. “I don’t think I’ve ever purchased, like, a Tom Murphy $14,000 Les Paul or something like that. I tend to like doing all the distressing myself, which I seem to have a great talent for. Give me a brand-new guitar, and after two gigs it looks like someone put it in the dryer! I have literally gotten new guitars and scratched them as they come out of the case…”
The feature sees Satch and former student-turned-collaborator and fellow virtuoso Steve Vai discuss all things guitar ahead of the launch of their upcoming collaborative debut full-length, The Sea of Emotion.
Elsewhere, they discuss how they’re not particularly moved by the thought of a guitar being previously owned by someone famous or notable.
“I remember, I was doing a gig with Experience Hendrix in New York,” says Vai. “We had reached out to Paul Allen to see if he would send the Woodstock Strat. And he did. I remember feeling it and thinking, ‘This is hard to play.’ It put up a fight. Would I want to own it? Not really. I don’t have a romantic attachment to antique guitars or stars’ guitars…”
Satriani concurs: “I’m like you. I’m not really a guitar collector. You and I, we have our favourite-shaped neck and fret height. We’ll play two guitars for the entire tour. So I understand how when you pick up Hendrix’s guitar, you might go, ‘Wow, it’s hard to play.’ Because you’re not instantly Hendrix. A guitar would need some special connection for me to be able to get over its foreign feel.”
Joe Satriani and Steve Vai’s first collaborative full-length album together, The Sea of Emotion, arrives 6 November via earMUSIC.
The post “Give me a brand-new guitar, and after 2 gigs it looks like someone put it in the dryer”: The hilarious reason Joe Satriani doesn’t bother with vintage guitars appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.
“I would apologise for the loud guitar playing”: Joe Bonamassa pays tribute to his former neighbour, late Star Trek legend Patrick Stewart
![[L-R] Joe Bonamassa and Sir Patrick Stewart](https://guitar.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/11/Bona-Stewart-hero@2000x1500.jpg)
Joe Bonamassa has paid tribute to his former neighbour and legendary Star Trek actor Sir Patrick Stewart, who died last week at the age of 86.
In an Instagram post, Bonamassa recalls the actor as a warm and friendly neighbour who always asked him about his music career.
Stewart, best known as Captain Jean-Luc Picard in Star Trek and Professor Charles Xavier in the X-Men films, died at his Los Angeles home on October 28.
Bonamassa, a self-confessed Trekkie, says Stewart’s death is “a huge loss”. “As a massive fan of Star Trek: The Next Generation, I grew up knowing him as Captain Jean-Luc Picard. It was my favourite show,” he says. “Patrick Stewart was an actor’s actor that went way beyond Star Trek.”
He then shares a more personal memory. “In a former life Patrick was a neighbour of mine. He lived in the house across the street from me and was the nicest, most humble movie star I have ever encountered. He always made a point to say hello and ask me how the music business was. I would apologise for the loud guitar playing and we would have a laugh. Rest in peace, Sir.”
Tributes to Patrick Stewart have come from far and wide, including from SoCal guitarist Mason Stoops, who says the actor and his wife, singer-songwriter Sunny Ozell, took him and his partner Brooks into their home after they were forced to evacuate amid wildfires in California in 2025.
“A year that would otherwise have been consumed by grief, confusion and loneliness was instead filled by their warmth, kindness and relentless hospitality,” Stoops writes. “We became our own chosen family. Cocktails and dominoes every evening, followed by arguably the best food Brooks and I have ever had, all made with love by Sunny.”
Stoops said Stewart “never stopped showing up for us”, adding that he helped Brooks choose her wedding dress and Stoops wore Stewart’s suit at the ceremony, which Ozell officiated.
“We are painfully grateful to have spent what time he had left together, playing his favourite songs, sharing our favourite stories, and holding each other close,” he added. “We love and miss you so much Patrick. Thank you.”
The post “I would apologise for the loud guitar playing”: Joe Bonamassa pays tribute to his former neighbour, late Star Trek legend Patrick Stewart appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.
“The concept for me is surprise”: Nene Royal on AGT, Avenged Sevenfold and the 1978 Ibanez that made her a star
By the time Nene Royal closed her set at a packed Singapore Indoor Stadium with Zombie, the 9,000-strong crowd knew exactly what was expected of them. As the 16-year-old guitarist blasted out the iconic Cranberries cover she reworked in hard-rocking style to win America’s Got Talent barely a month ago, the audience happily belted back the song’s refrain in a fitting coda to a the previous half hour when she’d run through the reworked covers that had propelled her to the season 21 title.
From Muse’s Hysteria to System Of A Down’s I-E-A-I-A-I-O, the viral social media hits came thick and fast. After her set however, she pulled off something even more impressive – joining the headline act Avenged Sevenfold on stage to blast through Bat Country and Unholy Confessions, singing and playing along with Zacky Vengeance and Synyster Gates and looking every bit at home.
Nene’s a natural performer, clearly, but even with the huge exposure that performing in front of millions on America’s Got Talent gave her, the Thai phenom still struggles with prematch nerves.
Speaking to Guitar.com the afternoon before her performance, she sums up her natural flow in a single word. “Surprise,” she explains. “If I play Zombie like the original, nothing changes, and the judges feel like nothing changes. But if I play my version, they go, ‘What is this song?’”
On the AGT stage, the teen prodigy converted the mournful 90s anthem into a palm-muted wrecking ball – surprising it certainly was, but she’s continued to confound and delight as her star has risen so dramatically over the last few months.
Image: Brite Panther
Let’s start at the beginning. Seven years old, Phuket. How did this all begin?
“Because of my dad. He’s not a musician, but he played rock on the radio: Deep Purple, Metallica, AC/DC. When I listened, it felt like it fit me. So I told him I really wanted to play rock, and he said, ‘Are you sure? It’s very hard.’ I understood what he meant — it’s mostly guys who play rock. My dad saw clips of people busking in night markets, and quickly said, ‘You should try that.’ The first time, I played five songs. People came up and said, ‘Oh my god, you’re going to be a famous rocker.’ I didn’t expect to become a rock star. But watching AGT, in my mind I was like, ‘I really want to be a rock star.’”
You didn’t play the market alone. How was playing with your band Ozone, and what did it teach you?
“We started in 2021, and I was still learning how to play with other musicians. More people started coming to the market, because we only play rock, and they all love rock. The biggest thing I learned is that being a good guitarist isn’t just about playing fast solos. It’s about playing together as a band and enjoying our music. We still play that market. It’s where we started.’”
So what actually made you send the tape to AGT?
“I sent in my audition four times. On the last one, they texted me: ‘You passed, you need to come to America.’ I prepared Zombie to make it my version, very, very me. When I walked on stage I was so nervous my hands were shaking. But when I played the first riff, my nerves were gone. I always imagined the stage was the night market, like it was my concert. The moment I really loved was when the audience stood up and sang along with me.”
And a week after the final, Avenged Sevenfold came knocking?
“At their Bangkok concert, they wanted to meet me, and I was shocked. Backstage I met M. Shadows, Johnny Christ and Zacky Vengeance. It’s crazy to think I started at a night market in Phuket and now I’m opening for my favourite band.”
You’ve called Synyster Gates your dream teacher, what about his style inspires you?
“I really want to put my own energy into the way I play, but I’m inspired by Synyster Gates. I love harmonic minor, pentatonic scales, sweeping. Honestly, on stage I don’t think too much about what I’m doing. The music just happens naturally.”
From a guitar perspective, it was hard not to not notice you kept using your 1978 Ibanez MC300 throughout AGT – why do you love that guitar so much?
“I have around 30 guitars, but on stage I only play Ibanez. I’ve used Yamaha and Gibson too, but for me it’s really important how a guitar feels in my hands. I got the main one when I was 13 or 14. A woman told me she was a big fan because she’d seen me at the night market. She has so many guitars, and she’s older and doesn’t play much any more, so she decided to give me that one.
“When I played it, it was so smooth that I didn’t touch the others at all. I’ve had it for three years and I’m still playing it. Sometimes in a concert I have two guitars, because some songs I need to drop (tune). Some songs I drop live, and for others my team swaps out my guitar. But it’s usually the same guitar.”
You used a Fender Deluxe Reverb during the auditions – what’s your signal chain now?
“I use the Fractal AX8. It’s very hard to find and very expensive. I’ve had it for four or five years. It’s reliable, it’s easy to press, and it has the wah for the solos!”
Your voice caught people off guard as much as the shredding. Did singing arrive with the guitar, or after?
“Together. I did guitar first, then I saw people who play and sing, and I wanted to do that. Music is all about expressing emotions. I love heavy riffs and crazy solos, but I also really love singing, because it’s the other way to express how I feel.”
Image: Brite Panther
You’ve started writing your own songs. What are they like?
“I have two songs so far. One is only a guitar solo. My biggest influences are Avenged Sevenfold and System Of A Down. I want my music to have that rock and metal energy, heavy riffs, powerful vocals, crazy solos. But I don’t want to sound exactly like anyone. I want to write lyrics about myself and make music that tells a story, like a movie. I also play drums, piano and bass, and I’ve written a slow song where I only play piano.”
What’s looking ahead for you?
“I want to keep playing with my brothers in Ozone, but they’re in school. So I want to perform solo and with the band.”
What do you tell the next kid setting up at the night market?
“Find your style. You don’t have to copy another person; if you copy, your performance will look weird and uncomfortable. And stage presence: even if it’s a small stage, keep doing it. It makes you more confident. You won’t be shy.”
The post “The concept for me is surprise”: Nene Royal on AGT, Avenged Sevenfold and the 1978 Ibanez that made her a star appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.
Peterson Launches StroboStomp EVH
The Gig Behind the Gig: Nobody Auditions Anymore
A guitarist in his 20s recently told me something that rearranged how I think about this whole business. He's auditioned exactly once in his life. One time, at the very beginning. Every single gig since then has come a different way.
I should mention that I'm not exactly in a position to act surprised. I haven’t auditioned for anything in years myself. At some point the phone just started ringing on its own. A gig would end and another would appear, almost always because someone I’d worked with knew someone who needed a player and my name came up in a text thread I never saw. I always chalked that up to time served. You pay your dues, you build a reputation, and eventually the auditions stop because the work comes to you.
But this kid hadn’t put in 30 years. He’d barely started. And he’d already skipped the part of the process I always assumed was mandatory.
At first, I just thought he’d gotten lucky, or that he was so good that word had spread quicker than usual. But that’s not what he described at all. What he described was, essentially, a life. He went to jams. He hung around clubs. He met people who loved the same music he loved, and he made friends with them, both in person and online. He used social media not to audition for strangers but to show what he was into, what he could do, the specific corners of music that lit him up.
And those friends, over time, became the entire engine of his career. Every call he got came from someone in that web of genuine relationships. Not connections. I hate that word—it makes what I’m talking about sound like a transaction, like collecting business cards at a conference. This was the opposite of that. These were real friendships built on a shared love of music, and the work was a byproduct, not the goal.
That distinction matters more than almost anything else I could tell you. People can smell the difference between someone who wants something from them and someone who genuinely loves the same things they do. One is exhausting. The other is the beginning of a friendship. And friendships, it turns out, are how most gigs actually happen now.
The thing that struck me most was his range. He wasn’t trying to be the best at one narrow thing. He was openly, almost joyfully curious about everything—country, indie, r&b, pop, the weirder stuff at the edges. That curiosity wasn’t a strategy. It was just who he was. But it had a side effect: Because he loved so many types of music, he could talk to anybody, play with anybody, and fit into almost any situation.
A genuine love of music and an honest curiosity about styles outside your lane will open more doors than any single skill you can name. Not because it’s clever positioning but because it makes you the kind of musician other musicians want in the room. The player who lights up when someone puts on a record they’ve never heard is a lot more fun to tour with than the one waiting for their solo.
Then there's the part that really separates the players who work from the players who wait. This guitarist doesn’t sit around hoping to be hired. He solves problems.
He related a typical scenario to me: A new artist wants to play live, but the budget is small. A full band is out of the question. Most players would hear that and walk away because there’s no gig there. He hears it and says, I can fix that. He takes the artist's tracks, drops them into Ableton, arranges them for the stage, pulls out the guitar parts, and shows up as a one-man band. Problem solved. The artist gets a live show they can afford, and he gets the gig he just invented out of thin air.
“The player who lights up when someone puts on a record they’ve never heard is a lot more fun to tour with than the one waiting for their solo.”
That’s the whole game right there. He didn’t audition for that. There was nothing to audition for. He looked at a problem somebody had and made himself the answer.
I came up in a different era, when the audition was the front door and you’d better know how to walk through it. That skill still matters, and I’ll always believe in being prepared. But I’d be lying if I told you the front door is where most of the action is anymore.
The action is at the jam. In the club. In the comments under a video posted by someone who loves the same obscure record you do. It’s in being a real person who genuinely loves this stuff, who’s curious beyond their own lane, and who, when someone describes a problem, leans in instead of backing away.
So if you’re young and waiting for the audition that’s going to change your life, I have slightly inconvenient news: It may not be coming. Something better might be, though, and it starts with putting down the practice routine for a night, going to where the music is, and making an actual friend.
Turns out that’s been the real audition all along. We just didn’t call it that.
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