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In the age of social media, it seems there are more guitarists than ever with ungodly playing chops. Algorithms are designed to surface and show you the best of the best, so it can often seem like there are insanely good guitarists everywhere you turn.

But has social media encouraged the pursuit of speed and technicality at the expense of what actually makes music enjoyable? In a new interview with the Mighty VH Podcast discussing the history of Van Halen, guitarist Richie Kotzen explains how he believes this may be the case.

• READ MORE: “He didn’t want the association with hair metal”: Richie Kotzen explains why Trent Reznor backed out of hiring him as Nine Inch Nails’ guitarist

Describing the current landscape of guitar as a “very bizarre situation”, he explains [via Blabbermouth]: “I don’t wanna say anything that’s discrediting or it sounds like, ‘Oh, Richie, you’re just too old.’ But back in the day when I was coming up, with Van Halen, you had [Eddie] being him and innovative and all that, in the context of great songwriting, which he was giving and doing…”

Kotzen cites the likes of Eddie Van Halen – and others including former Ozzy Osbourne sideman Zakk Wylde and Extreme’s Nuno Bettencourt – as guitarists who are the “complete musician”: “There’s artistic value there in the creativity.”

But he says we’re now in a “strange land” where guitarists are playing more technically than ever, but at the expense of creative value.

“You have gifted musicians that are actually executing at a level that’s much more complex than the stuff that was happening when I was young growing up but it’s completely stripped of the artistic creative value, as we would have defined it, which would be song, the craft of creating song…” he says.

“‘Cause you can listen to someone improvise over changes or giant steps or whatever it is, and your mind can be blown with how quickly and efficiently and expressively one can weave through these changes. But what’s missing to me with many of the folks is the stuff that was there with the names that I mentioned — Eddie and Zakk and Nuno and others.”

Kotzen describes the shift as “very strange and unfortunate”: “I find that very disheartening. I don’t know the exact word, but I don’t like it.”

The post Richie Kotzen says guitarists are playing “more complex” nowadays, but at the expense of “artistic creative value” appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

The Rolling Stones have got another new album on the way, and these days they work in a much more timely manner to how things used to be. As guitarist Keith Richards says, working under the influence was a significant part of their story.

The band’s forthcoming album, Foreign Tongues, was announced in May. It marks their first release since 2023’s Hackney Diamonds and their 25th studio album overall. Just like their previous record, it has also been produced by Andrew Watt, and features appearances from Paul McCartney, Robert Smith, Steve Winwood and the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ Chad Smith.

• READ MORE: “Call my guitar man if you want the exact number”: Keith Richards reveals the astonishing number of guitars in his collection

In an interview with MOJO, Watt confirms that for the making of Foreign Tongues, Richards (now living a clean lifestyle) would arrive at Metropolis Studios each day at the allotted hour – a far cry from the years of what became known as “Keith Time”, when sessions could be held up for hours or even days.

Richards now says, “Working under the influence is a part of the story because it’s the one job where you can get away with it. I’m not driving, you know. But this idea of everyone being befogged by drugs… it wasn’t like that.”

He adds, “We worked very meticulously, with a little hit here and there, and drugs were used either so we could stay awake to finish a song, or to go: ‘Gimme a break.’ And it was the era. The ’60s and ’70s were wide open for it.”

The team who were around the band during this “wide open” era remember often have much more chaotic memories of working with The Stones. Celebrity publicist Alan Edwards once recalled how a very drunk Richards couldn’t be woken, and was loaded right onto a plane to fly to the next country while the band were out on tour.

In Edwards’ memoir, I Was There, he shares: “The tour manager couldn’t wake Keith up in a hotel room to fly to the next country. So roadies carried the bed, with Keith sleeping in it, out of the hotel, loaded it onto the plane then hauled it off when the plane touched down again.”

The new Rolling Stones album will be released on 10 July, and is available to pre-order now.

The post “We worked very meticulously, with a little hit here and there”: How “working under the influence” was part of life for the Rolling Stones appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

John 5 has a very close relationship with his Ghost Telecaster. The guitar inspired the name of his most recent album, and he travels absolutely everywhere with it.

The guitar was launched as a signature model by Fender in 2023, featuring a top-bound alder body and one-piece maple neck finished entirely in an Arctic White gloss, coupled with red appointments and a mirrored pickguard/control plate. The unique model is also equipped with a pair of DiMarzio D Activator humbuckers that are designed to “replicate the sound of active pickups in a passive format”.

• READ MORE: “It’s your phone – I don’t mind”: Why John 5 is against phone bans at live shows

Speaking to Guitar World, he says of his beloved axe, “My Ghost is Number 1. It was put together when Fender did a collaboration with [NYC skateboarding and streetwear brand] Supreme. I thought, ‘This guitar is strikingly beautiful. I want to do a guitar like this.’ That’s where we came up with it, and it’s by far my favourite. I even named a record after it! [2025’s Ghost]

“I feel safe with the Ghost. I know I’m not gonna have problems live or in a studio. It’ll stay in tune and sound and feel great. It’s like when you’re getting on an airplane, and you’re like, ‘I don’t know about this,’ but then you get on a really nice one, a beautiful double-decker, and you think, ‘This is gonna be amazing.’”

He adds, “That’s how it is with the Ghost! I travel with it everywhere. In fact, I’m driving home right now from Joshua Tree, and I have my Ghost in the back seat. So yeah, it’s important.”

John 5 is one of very few rock artists to play a Tele, and he previously likened it to “wearing a cowboy hat to a Slayer concert”. On an episode of The Kenny Aronoff Sessions, he said, “I loved music just like any kid, and I loved TV. I would see clips of bands playing on TV, and I was really drawn to it, for some reason. You know, it kind of picks you.” He later added: “It’s just weird, and I wasn’t trying to be weird. It’s just what I’ve always played.”

You can catch John 5 on the road this summer with Mötley Crüe for their Return Of The Carnival Of Sins tour. Find out more via the Mötley Crüe website.

The post “I’m driving home right now and it’s in the back seat!”: Inside John 5’s relationship with his number 1 guitar, Ghost appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

Johnny Marr will release a brand-new album, The Age of Everything, later this year.

Arriving 2 October via BMG, the album comprises 10 new tracks, each written in London, developed while on the road during live shows on the east coast of North America, and recorded in Marr’s hometown of Manchester.

• READ MORE: Johnny Marr reveals that he turned down an “eye-watering amount of money” for a Smiths reunion – despite Morrissey agreeing to it

The former Smiths guitarist has kicked things off with the album’s lead single and “urgent opening statement”, Spin, which tackles the theme of overwhelm in our collective consciousness in 2026. Check out the official music video below:

“This is the record that’s been the most cathartic,” says the 62-year-old guitarist. “The title came to me early in the process and became an inescapable idea. It seemed to sum up the way I think a lot of people are feeling. It’s all encompassing, but it’s not necessarily a negative statement. There’s a sense of overwhelm in the culture brought about by technology, but looking at it with a different light, there could also be a sense of possibility.”

In addition to the album’s launch, Johnny Marr has announced some of his biggest live concerts of his solo career to date, with two massive shows planned at Manchester’s Castlefield Bowl on 9 July, and London’s Wembley Arena on 24 October. The Smiths guitarist will also play a number of festivals in Europe this summer, with more dates to be announced.

The two headline shows in Manchester and London will be preceded by two intimate warm-up shows in early July, at Leeds’ Stylus on 6 July and the O2 Academy Liverpool on 7 July.

Fans who preorder The Age of Everything will receive access to an exclusive fan presale for these dates, which will run from 10AM 17 June to the start of general sale, at 10AM 19 June.

Check out the full tracklist for The Age of Everything below:

1. Spin
2. Beyond the Rain
3. It’s Time
4. How Come
5. Ophelia
6. That Feeling
7. In and Out of Love
8. Just Once More
9. Fire With Fire
10. All in a Life

A full list of Johnny Marr’s upcoming live dates – excluding those that are yet to be announced – is available below:

• June 28th – Live is Live, Antwerp, BE
• July 4th – Down The Rabbit Hole, Ewijk, NE
• July 6th – Stylus, Leeds, UK
• July 7th – O2 Academy, Liverpool, UK
• July 9th – Castlefield Bowl, Manchester, UK – SOLD OUT
• July 10th – Iveagh Gardens, Dublin, IE
• July 16th – Verona, IT
• July 17th – Rome, IT
• July 18th – Pugila, IT
• July 20th – Udine, IT
• July 21st – Sardinia, IT
• July 23rd – 1001 Musicas, Granada, ES
• August 9th – OFF Festival, Mysłowice, PL
• August 21st – Parken Festivalen, Bodø, NO
• October 24th – Wembley Arena, London, UK

Head to johnnymarr.com for more info.

The post Johnny Marr announces new album, The Age of Everything – along with his two biggest solo shows to date appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

Amid the squalling notes, Zoh Amba was trying to get somewhere else. Their tenor saxophone, buffeted by clashing free jazz percussion and popping bass, was a hand reaching out. “It was like this deep plunging together to really get close to God,” they say, reflecting on records that made them a key figure in New York’s avant garde scene; both a critical darling and a collaborator capable of pushing more seasoned players to the edges of their capabilities.

• READ MORE: “We don’t write things that would be boring live” Guilt Trip on why they’re committed to keeping hardcore as intense as possible

Their new record Eyes Full is, at first, a more terrestrial proposition, its guitar-and-vocal heart beating through a series of character studies drawn from the margins of an imperfect America. But, Amba insists, there’s more in common between her two creative identities than there initially appears.

“With the songs it was more of a long process of thinking about that same thing,” they say. “It’s just a different type of journey to it. I don’t think we succeeded in reaching those places yet, but I think we tried.”

Amba grew up in Kingsport, Tennessee, and played guitar before they ever picked up a sax. Even as a teenager, wandering the woods around the home they shared with their family, their first instinct was to explore. They have discussed at length the influence of experimental jazz great Albert Ayler on their music, but the guitarists who informed their early approach, from Michael Chapman and Bert Jansch to John Martyn, were cut from a similarly unconventional cloth.

“I could play in standard but it didn’t really feel like me,” they say. “I found these other tunings and I really started finding my way in it, with different finger-picking. They fingerpicked so clean, but being from the Blue Ridge Mountains I felt like a dirty-ass right hand was my only goal.”

Image: Angela Betancourt

Full Hearts

The songs on Eyes Full, which will be released by the indie-rock institution Matador, are lit up by the antic energy of Amba’s playing, given a sense of restlessness that seems to capture the nomadic nature of their author’s recent past. After leaving Kingsport in their late teens, Amba played and studied music in San Francisco and New York before eventually winding their way back home. “I could see how it looks like that on paper,” they say when this observation is put to them.

In reality, the record was written on the floor of their apartment in the undertow of a difficult year, a sense of isolation offset by the places that Amba was able to travel to by picking up their guitar. “Sometimes I’d start with a tuning, find a little thing and keep at it,” they recall. “Other times I’d have the words come with it or I’d run in the park, because I was really disciplined at the time. For a reward, I’m gonna get a big beer at my favourite bar. I’d go in there and sit, and I would be thinking for a while by myself, staring at the wall, writing down stuff that I’d put back on these guitar parts.”

On the streets outside the bar were people just like the ones who’d eventually populate the songs – medicated children, dreamers, and broad-spectrum fuck ups who don’t deserve that being the only thing written on their gravestone. There is enormous compassion here, with the feeling that Amba is reaching out to past versions of themselves as much as they’re extending a greeting to others. “You only can really understand what you know,” they say.

“I’m just gonna have a nasty right hand, and be a great guitar player, and write words that are really sincere,” they continue. “[Words] that feel like things other people are chasing in their lives, or trying to chase words to figure out how they feel. I think, especially being a kid, you are looking for something to connect with. I know I found certain things that really kept me looking forward to being alive, and looking forward to keeping going. I’m hoping that this music reaches these kids who need to hear a little something.”

Image: Eleanore Hendricks

Friends Indeed

After a couple of attempts in Brooklyn that didn’t work out for one reason or another, bringing Eyes Full to life required Amba to call upon the services of two old friends: guitarist Kevin Hyland and drummer Jim White, whose loose-limbed style with the Dirty Three and as a member of Bill Callahan’s band seems to perfectly mirror Amba’s approach.

Recording at Drop of Sun studios in Asheville, North Carolina, around 90 minutes’ drive from Kingsport, they liked things lean, largely eschewing overdubs and keeping takes to a minimum. “We made it in two days or something like that,” Amba says. “It was a pretty quick turnaround. I wish we had a little more time but time is money for people. It was beautiful — we stayed upstairs, we ate meals together, and it just felt like we were in this bubble together, which was really sweet.”

“I’ve never recorded a record before, so I didn’t really know you could do it any other way,” they add. “Honestly, just get in there and do it. I think I’m interested in other forms now, but at the time I didn’t know anything. I overdubbed some stuff on Child You’ll See, I went in there with this Gibson guitar and I was bowing this SG through all this shit. I put an old saxophone recording that I played solo years ago on top of that. We overdubbed in a creative way, not in other ways. But people should do whatever they need to do. That’s just how it fell for us, I guess.”

There is real chemistry between the trio, with Hyland’s electric deployed in washes and waves against the woodiness of Amba’s acoustic. White lopes beside them like a labrador in a rumpled suit, always on the balls of his feet in case something fun comes his way. It’s naturally less improvisational than Amba’s jazz work, with plenty of time spent woodshedding ideas with Hyland, but when White’s snare tumbles into the room on Dead End Street, suddenly there as the guitars egg each other on, it retains the sense of art coming to life in real time.

“With the jazz stuff, when you’ve been doing it for so long, you learn [people’s] not cheat codes, but different ways to get into certain things,” Amba says. “I feel like Jim and I are so similar — my right hand is really like the way he thinks on the drums. Kevin is a really great guitar player in a different way, so it all worked. Me and Kevin spent a lot of time together. Me and Jim didn’t, but we’ve known each other and have played together through the years. Baby tours a lot so we didn’t rehearse too much, but me and Kevin just, like, wiped it out, you know?”

Image: Eleonore Hendricks

Tattoo You

Aside from borrowing a Dillion DTT-72 from Wednesday’s Karly Hartzman, Asheville royalty and no stranger to Drop of Sun, to deliver the squalling, Wednesday-esque freakout on Dead End Street, Amba leaned heavily on a characterful Martin D-18, which they picked up while on the road shortly after inking their Matador deal. “When I signed I got a Telecaster and a tattoo,” they say. “Honestly, people love Telecasters, and I was like, ‘That’s what I’m gonna do.’ It was so sick but, you know what? I actually don’t think I’m a Telecaster person.”

“I had a cheap Guild — it wasn’t cheap for me, by the way — and I wrote most of the record and demos on that,” they continue. “I love that fucking Guild, but I wanted something that’s going to hold up. I asked a buddy what guitar I should use for what I’m trying to do, and they said a D-18. I went in there, and I tried the old ones, I tried the new ones, and it was so fucking expensive.

I was trying to trade everything in the car at the Chicago Music Exchange to get the money down. I was going to trade my Guild too, with the Telecaster, and they’re like, ‘That guitar is $200.’ I was like, ‘That can’t be real, you’re lying to me!’ I ended up putting the rest on my credit card that I’m paying off for the rest of my life. But I have this D-18, and I love it.”

Rick Rolling

Of late, Amba’s credit card has added a Rickenbacker 330 to their live rotation, helping them move between acoustic and electric renderings of songs from Eyes Full while keeping one eye on what comes next. “People been like, ‘Don’t beat the fuck out of that guitar!’ But I’m gonna do whatever I want with that guitar, it’s my guitar,” they say.

“We went all over the place looking for Ricks in New York, and they’re too expensive. We ended up going to Guitar Center in Brooklyn, and we found this one — it was a very affordable guitar for what it is. I’ve been playing the Rick with a Big Muff. I was like, ‘I’m never gonna be a pedal motherfucker, I like being an acoustic motherfucker.’ But here I am fucking with pedals, you know?”

Out among the trees, Amba found their place through alternate tunings. Out in the world, rekindling that feeling requires time and patience. We all have to go on the ride with them if we want to get to where they’re going, which feels fitting.

“I play some new songs with the Rick because it’s in standard,” they say. “So it’s easy to turn back. I do Smile With Your Eyes, which is DGDGBD, and I have to tune the guitar. Then there’s this other one with everything down a half step, then there’s C#F#C#EBC, then C#G#C#F#BC#…I’m getting really good at stage banter. I’m like, ‘Hang on, everyone, we’re gonna get there together.”

Zoh Amba’s Eyes Full is out now through Matador.

The post “I’m just gonna have a nasty right hand, and write words that are really sincere” Zoh Amba on their journey from avant garde sax to an indie-rock guitar phenom appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

EarthQuaker Devices Sunn O))) HalfLife is half the size but just as heavy

Otherworldly reverbs in a pocket-sized pedal

Press Release

Source: Clyne Media

Following weeks of controversy surrounding Fender’s cease-and-desist letters over alleged infringement on the Stratocaster body shape, the company’s CEO Edward “Bud” Cole has sought to clarify Fender’s position in a speech to dealers.

• READ MORE: Fender claims social media has led to “a lot of misunderstandings about the nature and the scope” of their cease and desist blitz… as PRS confirms they were one of the brands affected

The speech took place at a Fender event for dealers. It was filmed and published to YouTube last week by Bananas At Large, a musical instrument dealer based in California, and brought to wider attention in videos posted by Phillip McKnight and Rhett Shull.

Cole initially seeks to reassure the crowd that Fender has not sought active litigation against anyone, saying: “First and foremost, Fender is not suing anybody.” Referring to the cease-and-desist letters received by several companies, he adds: “What we’ve done is reach out thoughtfully and [respectfully] to a handful of companies whose guitars come extremely close to replicating the iconic Fender Stratocaster design.”

Cole then seeks to further clarify which guitars Fender views as potentially “replicating” the design, taking issue with a common piece of phraseology used when marketing double-cut guitars. “We’re talking specifically about the Stratocaster, because that’s what this is really about – calling it simply the ‘S-style’ or the ‘S-shape’ is an attempt to diminish and whitewash the immeasurable game-changing contribution that Leo and his team made to the entire industry that all of us have built so much of our success and careers around.”

In the full speech, Cole also seeks to clarify the nature of Fender’s ownership – in response to online comments that have chalked the recent cease-and-desist actions up to the brand being owned by “private equity.” He also reassures the room that this issue has been raised in the EU, and therefore will have less impact on dealers selling American brands.

It is worth noting, however, that while Fender does not seem to be engaged in active litigation over this issue, the cease-and-desist letters sent out do still contain the threat of litigation, if the request is not met. Additionally, while the cease-and-desist letters have been sent regarding instruments being sold in the EU, this still includes US-based brands such as PRS.

Cole’s intention was clearly to quash at least some of the intense controversy that has circled Fender since LsL first revealed that it had received a cease-and-desist. However, commentators seem unconvinced by the walk-back – Rhett Shull, for instance, called Cole’s speech “insulting”, and took issue with the idea that the initial threats were “thoughtful and respectful”. Phillip McKnight had similar issues with the clip, going so far as to say Cole was lying when he characterised the cease-and-desist letters as thoughtful and respectful.

While the furor over the issue rolls on (particularly in Fender’s own social media comments) it remains to be seen what the material outcome for the wider guitar market will be. While only LsL and PRS have gone on record as having received letters, one other global brand – that we cannot name due to confidentiality reasons – has received a letter, and has rebuffed Fender’s demands via its own lawyers. PRS also told the Wall Street Journal that it “disagrees” with Fender’s assessment, although it’s unclear whether the brand intends to take this disagreement to court.

The post Fender CEO responds to cease-and-desist backlash, says company is “not suing anybody” appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

You’ll know him as everyone’s favourite gun-toting, knife-wielding assassin, John Wick, but when he’s not participating in high table duels and racking up ludicrous body counts, Hollywood A-lister Keanu Reeves handles bass duties in Los Angeles-based alt-rock trio Dogstar.

And this weekend, Download festival goers had the chance to see Reeves perform live on the second stage. Perhaps unsurprisingly, crowds flocked to see the Matrix star and his bandmates, drummer Robert Mailhouse and guitarist/vocalist Bret Domrose.

• READ MORE: Sick of tuning issues on the road? These new guitar cases from D’Addario feature integrated humidity control

The band’s set marked their first-ever appearance at Download Festival, widely regarded as metal music’s spiritual home.

The trio performed a half-an-hour set on the Opus stage on Sunday (14 June) – later headlined by Florida pop-punk/metalcore powerhouse A Day to Remember. The stage also saw performances from Mastodon, Tom Morello, Social Distortion and more.

Watch footage of Dogstar’s set below:

This year’s Download Festival hosted headliners Limp Bizkit, Guns N’ Roses and Linkin Park, with sets from a who’s who of metal’s elite, including Trivium, Bad Omens, Ice Nine Kills, Pendulum, The Pretty Reckless, Architects, Behemoth, Periphery, Black Veil Brides, Hollywood Undead and many, many more.

Keanu Reeves and Dogstar are currently on tour in Europe, with dates planned in the Netherlands, France, Switzerland, Germany, Sweden, Norway, Denmark and more. Later this year, the trio will head back to the states for a US leg.

Tickets and tour dates are available via dogstarofficial.com.

The post Watch Keanu Reeves perform with Dogstar at Download 2026 appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

Ad feature with Martin Guitar.

Few bonds exist like the one between an acoustic guitar and its player. Special chemistry occurs when you find the right instrument – so much so that it can teach you more about yourself as a musician than any book, video or guitar teacher ever could.

“An acoustic steel-string guitar will faithfully reproduce the physical energy that you give it by the simple act of touching the strings, and it will turn that energy into sound. There’s a purity to this relationship – one that I have loved for many years,” explains Guitar.com’s Michael Watts, who offers some expert tips to make better music with your acoustic guitar in a new video made in partnership with Martin.

This may be true, but it’s important to take considered and intentional steps in finding your own unique voice as an acoustic guitarist, as that’s how you’ll learn the most about yourself. So, we’re here to guide you in the right direction.

Come with us as we take a deep dive into the characteristic playing styles of iconic guitar players like Johnny Marr, Jimmy Page and David Gilmour, and show you how you can adopt their sus4 and open-string embellishments to enhance your own acoustic accompaniments.

Next, we’ll take a look at how you can incorporate the techniques of some of the most revered flatpickers in the game right now, like Martin artists Molly Tuttle and Billy Strings, who find their own style in open string drones and double-stops.

Dipping your toes in the world of alternate tunings can completely transform the way you play your acoustic guitar. A simple drop of the low E string to D can open up a whole world of new textures, while favourites like DADGAD can open up entirely new soundscapes ripe for exploration.

And this is all well and good, but how do you select the right acoustic guitar in the first place? Every guitar is different, and the best way to find your perfect instrument is to “try as many guitars as you can, and don’t rush into a choice”, says Watts.

“I would advise you to take your time getting to know an instrument. Listen to how it responds to your touch. Explore the dynamic range between quiet and loud, and the different sounds you can make as you move your picking hand position.”

“It’s great to absorb the work of players that you love, and to feel inspired and learn from that,” Watts goes on. “But even more important is that aspect of your playing which makes you feel the most vulnerable – the bit that you’re least sure of because you haven’t heard anyone else do that. That’s the good stuff. That’s you. Lean into it.”

Watch the full video above.

The post “Take your time getting to know an instrument”: Top tips to find your own unique voice as an acoustic guitarist appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

Ad feature with Positive Grid

If you’re a guitar player, there’s a very good chance that on more than one occasion you’ll have found yourself stumped trying to think of a guitar sound that is authentically yours. Despite the huge gamut of guitars, amps and effects available for us to play with here in 2026, sometimes the sheer wealth of choice can be overwhelming, and as such we end up leaning on accepted gear combinations and tried and true solutions.

Most of the time that’s fine, but sometimes you just want to push yourself out of your comfort zone, right? It’s no fun ploughing the same furrow forever, and unless you’re very lucky, it’s unlikely that such an approach is going to help you develop a sound or guitar style that’s truly your own.

Positive Grid has been trying to help guitarists get over this hump in a variety of ways over the last few years. First, they built an AI helper into their impressive Spark 2 practice amp that could help you find your sound with just a few words, then they built a more powerful and advanced version into the Bias X software that helped make in-the-box guitar playing less intimidating for newbies. Now however, they’re taking things to the next level.

REACTOR is PG’s brand new gig-ready amp aimed at those who want to sound good without breaking the bank. While it has all the usual impressive features and onboard sounds you’d expect from a Positive Grid amp, the most intriguing feature might be Amp Intelligence.

Amp Intelligence is, essentially, a guitar-centric intelligent tone engine designed to help you take the sound that’s in your head and make it a reality. Using the companion REACTOR smartphone app, you can interact with it in a variety of ways: whether it’s via a text-based prompt, an image or a sound sample. You can simply hand it over to Amp Intelligence and in no time at all, it’ll fire out a bunch of presets for you to audition on the amp in real time.

The useful potential of this is pretty clear from just a few minutes of using it. For starters, it’s pretty dang good at recognising a played guitar tone and reproducing it. We threw an old band demo recording into Amp Intelligence with very little clue what exactly had been used to record the original, and within a minute or two it had presented three very usable, very decent sonic approximations of what it heard. It also can do that trick with instruments, too – if you show it a picture of a certain type of guitar, it’ll pull out some classic tonal pairings to go with them, and they’re very impressive.

The amp can also act as a really interesting creative tool, creating tones based on pretty much anything that can be typed, photographers or captured via audio.

With something as broad and powerful as Amp Intelligence, there’s also the potential to get rather silly, and well… that’s where we’re going today. Let’s take the most leftfield nonsense we can come up with and see how Amp Intelligence handles the task. It’s time to get weird.

Cat’s Entertainment

Image: Positive Grid

The logical place to start, if we’re really going to try and get weird, is to pick something that really has got absolutely nothing to do with music and see what happens. It’s convenient then, that a rather handsome and entirely unknown interloper of the feline variety decides to wander through an ajar kitchen door and into the house just as we’re mulling over exactly what kind of flora or fauna to choose.

A quick photo of this incredibly majestic creature is duly snapped wandering around the kitchen like he owns the place – how will REACTOR’s Amp Intelligence handle a picture of a cat?

Well, pretty amusingly well actually. “You wanted a ‘pur-fect’ jazz’ tone inspired by a playful Balinese or Siamese cat,” it responds, before handing me a bunch of warm, soft and smooth jazzy tones with names like “Playful Jazz Cat” – they all sound good, especially when I start pulling out the ninth chords and switch on my Jazzmaster’s rhythm circuit.

Interestingly, when I put the same prompt in a second time it offered me something completely different – this time offering me ‘Meow-y’ wah-based sounds instead – showing the potential for Amp Intelligence to offer so many unique options no matter what you ask it – and of course you can then tweak these tones to taste in the apps conventional tone editor.

Orange You Glad I Called?

Right, we’ve done animals, it’s time to take something even weirder – food. We did contemplate giving Amp Intelligence a delicious burger or even a perfectly stuffed gyros to work with, but quite frankly nobody should have such things to hand in the middle of a working day, and so we had to work with what was at hand instead… Hmm, what about the fruit bowl?

I half wish I’d made the oranges a little more prominent in the photo in the hope that it would really go route one, but instead the image of fruit sent Amp Intelligence to sunny climbs and tropical paradises, offering me a “fruity bossa” tone in various flavours.

Of these, the mellow, mid-boosted Apple Jazz was very fun for more of those comped chords, while Tropical Fruit Clean gave a strident but enjoyable fruit punch (sorry) to proceedings.

Chapter and Verse

Image: Adam Gasson

Okay, it’s done a pretty impressive job with the first two weird things, but let’s push things really outside the box. We wanted to give the Amp Intelligence something truly odd – like say, this writer reciting William Blake’s seminal 1794 poem The Tyger?

Now Positive Grid is pretty clear that this function is designed for you to play actual music into in order to generate the tone. We don’t expect that they ever expected Amp Intelligence to have to make a tone present based on someone theatrically reciting an early-Romantic verse on the duality of beauty and ferocity in their spare bedroom.

So despite not missing a beat in terms of actually crafting the sounds, the created presets don’t exactly feel hugely grounded in the subject matter. Perhaps the amp’s generation of four “sledgehammer high-output lead” tones speaks to the potent metaphor of the tyger, burning bright in the forest of the night? It’s pretty metal, you have to say. Either way, all the tones sounded good, even if they were working with some suitably unhelpful subject matter.

Real World Benefits

Over the course of our little experiment, it has become abundantly clear that not only can Amp Intelligence handle the weirdest stuff you can throw at and turn that into some surprisingly usable and logical guitar tones. If you’re really struggling to find a new sound for a song, or just feeling creatively underwhelmed, there’s an element of Brian Eno’s legendary Oblique Strategies to chucking random objects at Amp Intelligence and seeing what it spits out.

What’s more, it’s worth remembering that the REACTOR is an amp priced in the realms of beginners who are moving into playing live and taking the instrument seriously. It’s so easy to imagine Amp Intelligence helping them discover how different amps and effects work together by creating presets that they can then edit and dig into – without having to build from the ground up. It can even create wholly original amps using its component-level modelling and understanding of hundreds of classic circuits. The sky’s the limit.

Maybe you’ve never thought about whether you might need an amp that you can have a conversation with before, but Amp Intelligence and the Positive Grid REACTOR makes a case that you should start asking questions…

Find out more about the REACTOR at positivegrid.com

The post I used an animal, a fruit and a poem to make guitar tones using Positive Grid’s REACTOR… but which one sounded the best? appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

D’Addario has unveiled a new line of “climate-smart” guitar cases designed to keep the environment around your guitar stable, even when on the move.

Aimed at guitarists and bassists taking their instrument on the move – to rehearsals, gigs, and sessions, for example – D’Addario’s new Backline Electric Guitar and Bass Cases feature a host of storage compartments in a streamlined gig-bag-style design, but the USP has to be the Humidpak Climate-Control Neck Cradle.

Humidity can have a big effect on the way your guitar plays. The porous wood that makes up the instrument naturally expands and contracts in varying humidity levels, leading to playability and tuning issues if not kept stable. The Humidpak Climate-Control Neck Cradle features a two-way humidity control to keep humidity – and your instrument – stable.

• READ MORE: This new range of guitar cleaning products has everything you need to keep your instrument in pristine condition

The Backline cases – made of water-resistant materials and reinforced construction with shock-absorbent padding – also feature a detachable Breakaway Bag with Auto Lock security to keep accessories organised and moveable to and from the stage.

They also sport balanced ergonomic straps as well as a cushioned back panel to ensure maximum comfort while in transit.

D’Addario’s new Backline cases are “premium transport solutions designed to deliver superior instrument protection, user comfort and accessory organisation, all without the bulk of a traditional hard case”.

While no concrete information is available yet, D’Addario says an acoustic guitar version “is expected to follow”.

Learn more at D’Addario.

The post Sick of tuning issues on the road? These new guitar cases from D’Addario feature integrated humidity control appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

Try these musician-tested ideas for making your guitar room more efficient, comfortable, and creatively inspiring.

Press Release

Source: SRO PR

Billy Morrison takes a deep dive into his psyche with Hollow, the title track of the British guitarist, singer, and songwriter’s album of the same name out August 7 via TLG | ZOID distributed by Virgin Music Group.

The sonically explosive and lyrically gripping single is released today (June 12) along with an artful and eye-popping lyric video that traces Morrison’s previously unhinged life. View the Mike Savage-directed video HERE and listen to the autobiographical song, highlighted by Morrison’s deeply felt vocals and sweeping lead guitar runs, HERE.

“The title track to my new album was inspired by the life that I led when I was homeless and addicted to heroin,” says Morrison. “Begging for money on the streets and being the guy that people crossed the street from, I would watch people’s faces as they walked towards me, gradually realizing they had to walk past me and being disgusted at how dirty I was, or that I was begging for change. That leaves an indelible mark on your soul and the song is about slowly crawling out of that hollow life.” Read the full Q&A about the track and video below.

Morrison is now lighting up the rock charts with Hollow’s first single “Becoming” [feat. Sully Erna of Godsmack & GRAMMY® Award winner Nuno Bettencourt of Extreme]. It has surged at rock radio, hitting #20 this week on Billboard’s “Mainstream Rock” chart. Revolver dove into the track headfirst with an extensive feature interview, going on to note that “Morrison and Fuel member Brett Scallions co-wrote the song before sending it over to Erna, who delivers an impassioned and raspy set of lines. Bettencourt rises to the occasion and rips pure hellfire on his guest solo.” Listen to the song HERE and watch the video HERE.

Throughout an illustrious career, Billy Morrison has played live in front of millions of fans, collaborated with every A-list rockstar under the sun (even notching a #1 single with the late Ozzy Osbourne), sold his paintings in galleries on multiple continents, and logged hundreds of hours on-air as a radio host for SiriusXM. And yet—some folks wonder, “Who the F%@K is Billy Morrison?” Which is the title of a new short film that answers the question. Directed and edited by Mike Savage, it tells his story through punchy editing, candid footage, and new interviews with Duff McKagan of Guns N’ Roses, Al Jourgensen of Ministry, B-Real of Cypress Hill, Nuno Bettencourt of Extreme, mixer/engineer/producer Barry Pointer, and Morrison himself. Watch the six-minute documentary HERE.

Two years ago, Billy Morrison released The Morrison Project via TLG | ZOID distributed by Virgin Music Group. It marked his third solo album (and first since 2015) and produced the #1 Active Rock Song (Mediabase) in America: “Crack Cocaine” featuring Ozzy Osbourne and Steve Stevens and co-written by all three artists. A deluxe edition of the album followed in 2025 and bonus track, “Gods Of Rock and Roll (Orchestral)”—another seismic collaboration with Osbourne and Stevens—landed in the Active Rock Top Ten (Mediabase).

Hollow will follow the success of The Morrison Project format with 12 songs, half sung by Morrison and half sung by a handful of Morrison’s  friends. Guests include Dexter Holland, Marilyn Manson, Chuck D, B Real, Duff McKagan, Steve Stevens, DMC, and the above-mentioned Sully Erna and Nuno Bettencourt, among others. “Forgive Me,” “The Tailor,” “No Suspects,” “Another Day,” “Leave No Trace,” and “Becoming” are among the song titles.

Hollow Single/Video—Q & A with Billy Morrison:

•“Hollow” is an intense and poignant song about personal desperation, with a reference to a “narcotic embrace.” Can you tell us what inspired the song?

Morrison: The title track to my new album, Hollow, was inspired by the life that I led when I was homeless and addicted to heroin. Begging for money on the streets, and being the guy that people crossed the street from ……. I would watch peoples faces as they walked towards me, gradually realizing they had to walk past me and being disgusted at how dirty I was, or that I was begging for change. That leaves an indelible mark on your soul and the song is about slowly crawling out of that hollow life.

•Looking at your career overall, you’ve been known primarily as a rhythm guitar player. “Hollow,” with its soaring, stadium-sized guitar lines, especially shows how much you’ve developed as a strong and confident lead guitarist. Can you tell us about your development?

Morrison: I think it was only a matter of time before I somewhat “graduated” as a guitar player into the category known as “lead guitarist.”  Basically playing so much guitar for so many years, it was a natural learning curve for me. I would never stand next to any of the greats, but I can clearly play what’s needed in my own music, and that would be primarily due to the encouragement and belief of Steve Stevens, who has always allowed me to stretch in the Billy Idol band. I also gravitate to the kind of lead and solos that are musical, not necessarily a thousand notes a second. So that helps!

•This is so much more than a lyric video—artful and eye-popping—following right in line with your previous standout videos. It mixes black and white urban footage from the UK with colorful, surrealist imagery. It’s a fantastic visual vehicle for the song. Can you tell us how it all came together and who directed it?

Morrison: I definitely wanted to utilize the technology we now have available to us, even though this is “just” a lyric video! So I had a conversation with Mike Savage (who made the “Who the F%@K is Billy Morrison?” mini doc) and it turned out he was dabbling with all kinds of crazy tech and agreed to try a few things for this lyric video. I had no idea how it would turn out, but the brief was: “London, homeless, begging for change, being judged and criticized, Alice In Wonderland choruses.” And look what he came up with from just that brief description! I’m very happy.

ABOUT BILLY MORRISON:

Billy Morrison is a British guitarist, singer, and songwriter, widely known as Billy Idol’s rhythm guitar player for the past 17 years alongside lead guitarist Steve Stevens. He is also a solo recording artist in his right having released three albums including the successful and acclaimed The Morrison Project in 2024 via TLG | ZOID distributed by Virgin Music Group. His fourth solo album, Hollow, will arrive in August 2026, also on TLG | ZOID distributed by Virgin Music Group. Morrison is also a former member of The Cult and Circus Diablo and currently also performs with the superstar cover band known as The Royal Machines. In addition, Morrison is a contemporary fine artist whose Warhol-inspired work has been shown at top galleries. He also has a regular show, “Influenced,” on SiriusXM’s Ozzy’s Boneyard (ch. 38), where he delves deep into the dynamic relationship between art and music.



Today’s podcast episode is with songwriter and guitarist Alex Amen, who has a new album out today on ATO Records.

https://alexamen.com

In this conversation, we talk about Alex’s Texan roots, mountaineering, living on a California commune, and the musical influences found on his new album.

Above image: Jackie Domi

Join us at our 2026 Fretboard Summit in Chicago (August 20-22, 2026) for three days of guitar demos, concerts, workshops and live podcasts with some of our favorite artists: https://fretboardsummit.org

This year’s Summit has over 80 luthiers and brands showcasing their new and prototype gear! 2026 speakers include Josh Scott (JHS), Mark Stutman (Folkway Music), Chris Martin IV (Martin Guitars), Fender historian Terry Foster, and many other fretted instrument luminaries.

Join us at our 2026 Fretboard Summit in Chicago for three days of guitar demos, concerts, workshops and podcast tapings with some of our favorite artists: www.fretboardsummit.org.

This year’s Summit has over 80 luthiers and brands showcasing their new and prototype gear!

Subscribe to the Fretboard Journal’s quarterly print magazine: https://shop.fretboardjournal.com/products/fretboard-journal-annual-subscription

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

The post Podcast 554: Alex Amen first appeared on Fretboard Journal.

From the Summer 2026 issue of Acoustic Guitar magazine There’s a certain kind of guitarist whose influence becomes so embedded in the acoustic guitar world that it can be easy to forget how fresh and unusual they once sounded. Jorma Kaukonen is one of those players. Long before stylistic openness became commonplace in acoustic guitar […]

Death Angel guitarist Ted Aguilar believes that modern metal has an identity problem. He argues that while today’s players are more technically gifted than ever, many bands struggle to stand out from one another.

Speaking in a new interview with Pipeman, Aguilar says that unlike bands of the past, contemporary bands often lack the distinct identities that once defined the genre, even if the scene itself is more active than ever.

“There’s nothing against the metal bands of today, and the good thing about it is there’s a lot of them – maybe a little too much sometimes. It’s oversaturated. And they’re keeping it alive. They’re carrying the torch,” he says [via Blabbermouth]. “But I grew up in a time where thrash metal, Anthrax sounded different from Overkill, Death Angel sounded different from Testament.”

• READ MORE: Converge’s Kurt Ballou on “disappointing the gear heads” by choosing digital gear live: “It makes it about the songs”

“They had their own sound, but it was thrash. Of course, they were all influenced by the New Wave Of British Heavy Metal and punk rock, and, of course, Metallica; everyone was influenced by Metallica and Exodus, ‘cause they were in the forefront.”

“But everyone just said, ‘We want that aggression, but our style.’ For example, [Death Angel singer] Mark [Osegueda] doesn’t sound like [Testament singer] Chuck Billy. Chuck Billy doesn’t sound like [Vio-Lence frontman] Sean Killian, and no one sounds like [former Exodus vocalist Steve Souza] Zetro.”

According to Aguilar, the difference isn’t a lack of talent. If anything, he says the technical ability of today’s musicians is “next level” compared to previous generations.

“My gripe about today’s metal, and this is just me and it’s no diss to these bands, I can’t tell who from who,” he says. “And I think metal nowadays, there’s some incredible players – like, oh my God, they could run circles around us, and they’re very talented.”

Unlike in the past where members of a band were often “figuring it out together”, many modern players arrive already fully formed individually, shaped by online learning and solo practice.

“[Back] then it’s just, like, you figured out your instrument together as a band: ‘Let’s write songs. Let’s do covers,’” he says. “In this day and age, and, again, there is no diss, ‘cause there’s amazing musicians out there. Incredible, like, oh, man, I wish I could do it. What’s in the water today that you could run circles around everyone? But it’s just the YouTubers and the influencers or whatnot, where then it’s just, like, you had to figure out, you had to be a band together.”

“There’s something about being in a room together, with everyone learning from each other, bouncing ideas,” says Aguilar, as opposed to players today who “are so used to being by yourself, you don’t know how to click with another musician.”

“That’s the organic way back then,” he continues. “It’s just, like, you get in a room, ‘let’s play’, and you go home and you kept playing. You write, you come back, ‘Hey, guys, I got this idea,’ and you work on it together.”

“Now… There’s pros and cons to everything. Like anything in life. You have the technology where you could write riffs and send it to somebody, they learn it, and you could record. But you still gotta get in a room… There’s a synergy where a human contact – you get to see someone’s face, how they feel about it, what they contribute, and maybe the disagreements or whatever.”

The post “I can’t tell who from who”: Death Angel guitarist on the problem with metal bands today appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

Sammy Hagar has said that Eddie Van Halen “saved guitar players”, and was, in his view, a “music god” whose talents extended far beyond the guitar.

The comments come as Hagar prepares to bring his Best of All Worlds tour – featuring Joe Satriani, bassist Michael Anthony and drummer Kenny Aronoff – back for a limited summer run.

In a recent chat with Guitar Player, the singer reflects on his years working with Van Halen and the guitarist’s enduring influence on rock music and his own musicianship.

“I can’t imagine where guitar players would be without Eddie,” Hagar begins. “He just took a fuckin’ hard left, man, and we’re going to outer space. There were great guitar players before him: Jimmy Page, Jeff Beck, David Gilmour, Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix.”

• READ MORE: “Eddie Van Halen ruined rock guitar”: The Jesus and Mary Chain’s Jim and William Reid think “guitar players should never learn scales” because it gets in the way of making music

“I mean, Hendrix kind of did the same thing – he got that whammy bar in there and changed everything. But Eddie took the whammy bar and the hammer and the frickin’ tapping.”

“But it wasn’t just the innovation of what he did; he was a great musician. He was a master. He was fuckin’ Beethoven – he was that unique. He belongs in that category.”

Hagar also argues that Van Halen’s impact wasn’t limited to his guitar playing alone.

“People call him a rock god – he’s a music god, in my opinion,” says Hagar. “When I bring keyboard players into the band now and they have to learn Right Now and some of his keyboard parts, they’re holding their heads in their hands and saying, ‘Fuck! This guy played keyboards just as unique as he played guitar.’ And on guitar, Joe [Satriani]’s going, ‘Wow, this chording!’”

“So I can’t imagine where guitar players would be without Eddie,” he continues. “I think they probably would’ve come and gone and we’d be listening to electronic music. I think Eddie saved guitar players – he saved us so we could continue and compete with those damn keyboards and electronic instruments and Pro Tools and all that crap.”

The singer also credits Van Halen for making him a “better musician” and expanding his “lyrical abilities”.

“I just loved working with him,” Hagar says. “Like when he was playing Love Walks In on piano – stuff came out of my mouth I would never have sung. The way his playing inspired a lyric and the words that fit melodically, rhythmically within the song, just writing with him was crazy.”

“I remember when we wrote Black and Blue – it’s the most syncopated lyric/guitar thing I’ve ever heard in my life. I would never write a song like that without Eddie.”

While early Van Halen records are often cited as the guitarist’s defining work, Hagar believes some of Eddie’s most ambitious writing came later.

“So many people think the early stuff was his best stuff,” he says. “Well, no, that was just the first time you heard him. It was so fresh and new when you heard Eruption or Spanish Fly or these intros on these songs.”

“Was that the best stuff? It was his simplest stuff.”

Pointing to Can’t Stop Loving You from 1995’s Balance as an example of Van Halen’s later writing, Hagar adds, “When we play that song now, Joe looks at me and goes, ‘Wow, what a piece of music! Every single bar is different. It just keeps changing.’ And this is Joe Satriani. This isn’t some kid that’s just learning how to play guitar.”

“It was an honour being able to play with Eddie,” he concludes. “It made me a better musician. It made me a better writer. It made me a better singer, without a doubt. I did my best vocals ever with Van Halen.”

The post “I can’t imagine where guitar players would be without Eddie. We’d be listening to electronic music”: Sammy Hagar says Eddie Van Halen “saved” guitar players appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

From £1,800 (£2,200 as reviewed), madocguitars.com

All the way back in 2012, I reviewed the Fender FSR Thinline Jaguar for this very publication. It was gorgeous, and left me asking myself why there weren’t more offset-type guitars with semi-acoustic bodies.

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

Now I’m reviewing the Madoc Guitars Wyre Semi Hollow, it’s even more gorgeous, and I’m no longer asking myself that question – I’m yelling it at the sky like a maniac demanding answers from God.

Strictly speaking, this isn’t even an offset – the waist of the body is more or less symmetrical, rather than being swept forward on the top side like a Jaguar or Jazzmaster – but it is a two-pickup guitar with Fender-style construction and a Mastery vibrato, so that’ll do for me.

What really matters, semantics aside, is the ‘even more gorgeous’ bit – because that’s pretty good going for a new UK maker that most people have probably never heard of.

Image: Adam Gasson

Madoc Guitars Wyre Semi Hollow – what is it?

Come with me to the beautiful English county of Worcestershire, famed for its gently rolling hills and unpronounceable (if you’re American) sauce. This is where Luke Roberts builds his guitars under the Madoc name.

The Wyre is his only model for now, but it’s all about custom orders and the spec options are wide open – starting at an undeniably reasonable £1,500 for a one-pickup solidbody with a hardtail bridge.

Not everyone is going to love the distinctive body shape, which has a hint of “Look what the shark did to my surfboard”, but I find it strangely appealing… aided by the fact that my review instrument is finished in the king of all guitar colours: burgundy mist.

That’s just the ash top, though – the sides and back of the chambered mahogany body have been left with a natural oiled finish, along with the roasted maple neck. Completing the main specs in timber terms is an unbound ebony fretboard with a 25.5-inch scale and 12-inch radius.

But it’s in the hardware that this premium-specced sample really stands out – the Mastery tailpiece/bridge combo is a mighty expensive indulgence, adding £400 to the price. Still, it is a proven game changer in terms of tuning stability and reliability.

And that just leaves the pickups, which have the unmistakable look of Filter’Tron types. These are made by Manchester-based Green Pickups – another fairly new name but already one with a certain amount of pedigree, as the Tele pups fitted to the Ancoats Granada I reviewed last year were excellent. These humbuckers promise “definition, dynamics, and that classic Gretsch sparkle” – and who doesn’t want that?

Image: Adam Gasson

Madoc Guitars Wyre Semi Hollow – build and playability

One spec detail I didn’t mention above is the compound neck profile: the Madoc site says it morphs from a modern V at the 1st fret to a modern C at the 12th. The effect is subtle, but what you’re getting is a moderately rounded neck that feels slimmer on the upper frets even though it isn’t.

That might be one reason why this guitar is so luxuriously playable; the other is its impeccably high standard of fret work and general build quality.

There are a couple of cosmetic details that could be considered imperfections – a visible join in the binding just above the bridge pickup, and a headstock decal that looks greyly opaque when it catches the light – but you might just as easily call those evidence of authentic artisan construction.

The important thing is that it’s a pleasure to hold and even more of a pleasure to play. Now all it needs to do is sound good.

Image: Adam Gasson

Madoc Guitars Wyre Semi Hollow – sounds

There are two build factors pulling this guitar in opposite tonal directions: on the one hand, you’ve got the inefficient bridge design that gives offsets their fast, twinkly response; and on the other, you’ve got a semi-hollow body slowing everything down and adding airy warmth.

I’m pretty sure that combination was the secret of the Thinline Jaguar, and here the longer scale length and beefier pickups just make the tone even fuller and smoother.

Mind you, ‘smooth’ is hardly the word for the bridge pickup through a clean amp. I’ve got a Godin hollowbody with TV Jones Filter’Trons and the Wyre actually out-twangs it – the tone is unashamedly bright, with oodles of surfy character.

The neck pickup, in contrast, is pure jazz – albeit still with more treble than most humbuckers in this position – while the middle setting does a sterling job of combining the best of both, and sweetens the whole thing up with some classic phasey chime. The responsiveness to playing dynamics, with either pickup or both, is sublime.

The tone control doesn’t do much until it’s down to at least halfway – which is about as close to a disappointment as I can find in this guitar – but not to worry, because knocking back the volume a notch or two instead is extremely effective at softening down the edges when required.

That’s unlikely to be on your mind once you stomp on the nearest overdrive pedal, though: with high gain, that trebly response translates to a nicely articulate attack for expressive lead work… which is made all the more appealing by the speedy smoothness of the neck.

And of course, a chambered body with humbuckers plus a supremely well-behaved whammy bar is the perfect recipe for controlled feedback. Wannabe alt-rock guitar heroes will be in heaven with this thing – and yes, that is coming from a wannabe alt-rock guitar hero.

Image: Adam Gasson

Madoc Guitars Wyre Semi Hollow – should I buy it?

For readers in the UK at least, it’s hard to think of many reasons not to buy a Wyre Semi Hollow – because even if there’s something about the specifications of this one that you don’t like, all you have to do is change it.

Personally I’d love to try a guitar exactly like this – including the burgundy mist finish, obviously – but with slightly less feisty pickups.

If the price is out of your range, the hardtail and solidbody options will bring it down… but then you’re talking about a quite different guitar. Mind you, if all Madocs are put together as well as this example, then you’re still going to be getting a pretty fantastic instrument.

Image: Adam Gasson

Madoc Guitars Wyre Semi Hollow – alternatives

You’ll notice that the prices below all start with the word ‘from’ – bear in mind that the numbers will go up once you specify semi-hollow construction and a whammy bar. British alternatives include the Trent Model 1 (from £2,095) and Ancoats NQ (from £1,099), while a highly rated American contender is the Jennings Voyager (from $2,845/£2,399). Or you could just go for a factory standard model like the Duesenberg Starplayer TV (€2,599/£2,399).

The post Madoc Guitars Wyre Semi Hollow review – “wannabe alt-rock guitar heroes will be in heaven with this thing” appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.