Music is the universal language
“Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.” - Luke 2:14
General Interest
“I ended up getting three of them. I just fell in love with them”: Steve Vai on the affordable modeling amp that stole his heart
Strymon EC-1 Review
Though they are maligned for their fragility, I’d put the Echoplex tape echo up there among the greatest pieces of musical instrument design. They are totally inspiring tools—certainly in terms of their sound, but also for the mechanical means by which one manipulates and mangles tones. These days, several digital sound designers replicate the Echoplex’s warm, hazy, and mysterious sonic fingerprint with startlingly good results. But just like real fingerprints, the sonic signature of every Echoplex is a little bit different, and one of the most interesting facets of the Strymon EC-1 design is the departure point they used for inspiration.
Rather than emulate the familiar and relatively common solid-state EP-3, Strymon used a tube-preamp-driven EP-2 as a launch pad—except that Strymon’s EP-2 was heavily modified by legendary amp man Cesar Diaz. In Strymon’s estimation, Diaz’ modifications added some characteristics of an EP-3 preamp to the EP-2 formula. In my experience (I’ve played EP-2s and EP-3s side by side and used the latter for comparison in this review) that could mean extra headroom or, in the worst cases, comparative brittleness. Strymon, for their part, says Diaz’ mods resulted in a warmer sort of EP-2 sound. Regardless of their design intent, the EC-1 sounds fantastic in many of the ways a great Echoplex might. The haze and degradation in each repeat sound and behave much like magnetic tape, shaving off high and high-mid spectrum detail as the echoes recede, and adding the dreamy, blurry ambience of a Gerhard Richter painting. But the EC-1 also does sound truly warmer than some of its rivals.
Punch and Foggy
The EC-1 features two preamp modes. The default or “amber” mode emulates the modded preamp Strymon discovered in their EP-2. Somewhat paradoxically for a pedal that excels at simulating tape-signal degradation, it gives the pedal a punchy, airy ambience that can make other delays sound flat and one-dimensional. You can also add up to 6dB of boost, and one thing is certain; at these hotter settings the EC-1 is not a tape-delay emulation that will go missing in an ensemble performance. The second “green” preamp mode emulates a stock EP-2, and while it sounded awesome, it felt a little less fun and dimensional—at least after ripping away with the default mode. Both modes sound great with drive and distortion, however. And in the amber mode, the extra detail you hear also makes it feel more sensitive to picking and input dynamics.
As is obligatory in most Echoplex emulations, the EC-1 offers excellent approximations of tape warble, tape wear, and recording input level effects. There is also stereo and MIDI functionality. In terms of price, the EC-1 inhabits an interesting position in a market full of top-performing Echoplex emulators. At $279, it’s $120 less than Universal Audio’s feature-rich Starlight Echo Station, $100 less than Strymon’s own El Capistan, and 80 bucks less than the Catalinbread Belle Epoch Deluxe. There are also excellent options in less expensive ranges, like the standard Belle Epoch ($209), Dunlop’s Echoplex pedal ($199), and UA’s Orion ($169). Though some of them offer more in terms of options and versatility, I’m not sure any of them can better the sounds of the EC-1. And certainly, the EC-1’s default mode offers a unique and exciting twist on EP-2 sounds that, while not vintage-correct in a technical sense, may offer more utility as a delay than the most perfectly executed Echoplex ever could.
“They are owed millions”: Sting sued by Police bandmates Andy Summers and Stewart Copeland over lost Every Breath You Take royalties
![[L-R] Sting, Stewart Copeland and Andy Summers of The Police](https://guitar.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/The-Police@2000x1500.jpg)
The Police frontman Sting is reportedly being sued by his former bandmates, guitarist Andy Summers and drummer Stewart Copeland, over lost royalties from their biggest hit, Every Breath You Take.
The news is being reported by The Sun, while People has found documents relating to the suit in the London High Court’s database, pertaining to “general commercial contracts and arrangements”.
According to a source, per The Sun, Summers and Copeland are claiming “substantial damages”, saying “they are owed millions in lost royalties”.
The dispute has been ongoing for some time, according to the source. “Lawyers tried repeatedly to reach an out-of-court settlement but hit a stalemate,” they say. “Andy and Stewart decided there was no alternative than court, so [they] pressed the button.”
Sting is named as a defendant in the suit under his real name Gordon Matthew Sumner, as well as his publishing firm, Magnetic Publishing Limited.
According to the Daily Mail, Sting earns around £550,000 per year in royalties from Every Breath You Take alone. And per Guitar World, PRS For Music records state Sting is the sole composer and author of the song.
Formed in 1977, The Police later split in 1984 – before reuniting several times in later years – having sold over 75 million records worldwide. Every Breath You Take is by far their biggest hit, and was the best-selling single of 1983, and fifth best-selling single of the ‘80s overall.
Andy Summers hinted at legal action against Sting back in 2023 over royalties for Every Breath You Take, saying of his contributions to the track: “That song was going in the trash until I played on it.” He later said, apparently of forthcoming legal action: “Watch the press. Let’s see what happens in the next year.”
Also in 2023, Summers admitted he found Every Breath You Take corny at first, saying it felt “a million miles from The Police”.
The post “They are owed millions”: Sting sued by Police bandmates Andy Summers and Stewart Copeland over lost Every Breath You Take royalties appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.
Fender is laying down the gauntlet to all other Labor Day guitar sales – save up to $200 off an American Pro II Strat or Tele, and so much more
Adam Miller Rig Rundown
The prolific Australian guitarist brought his mastery to east Nashville, where we got a look at the gear he’s trusting overseas.
Adam Miller has been compared to plenty of his most sacred influences—Tommy Emmanuel, Chet Atkins, Charlie Hunter, Bill Frissell—but he’s certainly carved a path of his own. This year alone, he’s released three records and undertook a U.S. tour to bring his delightful mix of jazz, groove, and beyond to eager listeners.
Before his show at the Underdog in east Nashville, Miller took some time to show PG’s Chris Kies around his trusted tools for international touring, including a gorgeous custom Huber electric, a Collings acoustic, and some key items on loan.
Calling a Huber
This custom-built Huber electric, by German luthier Nik Huber, was crafted over the last five years, working in elements of Miller’s previous Huber and several other designs. It has a heavily chambered mahogany back and redwood top, bolt-on maple neck, rosewood fretboard, trapeze tailpiece, and nylon saddles, plus Kloppmann Electrics mini humbuckers and a single 250k volume pot, which rolls off for a jazzy archtop sound. Miller strings it with D’Addario NYXLs (.011–.049s).
Borrowed Bari
Since Miller can’t bring all his favorite instruments on tour, he often borrows guitars from local friends and fans on tour, like this baritone Novo Serus J.
Collings Calling
Miller bought this Collings acoustic at Gladesville Guitar Factory, just outside Sydney, about 10 years ago. He runs it with a Seymour Duncan Wavelength duo pickup system, but swapped out the kit’s undersaddle piece for soundboard transducers and modified “the circuit so they’re at a crossover, so you’re only hearing the bottom end of them and all the top end’s coming from the condenser mic.” He uses D’Addario Nickel Bronze (.012–0.53s) on his acoustic.
Can I Bum a Studio Sig?
Miller has been a Two-Rock devotee since 2007, and on one of his first trips to the U.S., he visited the factory and picked one up. He doesn’t travel with his unit, so he borrowed this one from Nashville legend Cory Congilio. For Miller, an amp is the soundboard for an electric guitar; if he doesn’t have a Two-Rock, he struggles.
Adam Miller’s Pedalboard
Miller’s Collings runs into a Grace Design ALiX preamp, which helps him fine-tune his EQ and level out pickups with varying output when he switches instruments. For reverb, sometimes he’ll tap the Strymon Flint, but often he’ll let the front of house weave it in.
Aside from the ALiX and Flint, Miller relies on a Vemuram Jan Ray, Free the Tone SOV-2 Overdrive, Chase Bliss Mood, and Line 6 DL4 Mk II.
Line 6 DL4 MkII Delay Modeler Pedal
“It’s happened before, people thought it was a patriotic ditty to wave the flag”: John Fogerty explains why Trump has misunderstood Creedence Clearwater Revival’s Fortunate Son
US president Donald Trump has ruffled the feathers of a growing list of artists for using their music at his political rallies and within campaign videos, with many taking legal action – John Fogerty is one of them.
Trump has previously used Creedence Clearwater Revival’s Fortunate Son to soundtrack his rallies, causing the band’s guitarist and prime songwriter to issue a cease and desist order to put a stop to its use. Fogerty has no idea why anyone would want to use the track at a political rally, but especially Mr. Trump.
Back when Fogerty issued the cease and desist, he wrote a statement and explained that the song exists because “as a veteran, I was disgusted that some people were allowed to be excluded from serving our country because they had access to political and financial privilege”. You can read his original post below:
— John Fogerty (@John_Fogerty) October 16, 2020
Now, in an interview with Vulture, Fogerty selects the track as the most misunderstood song from his catalogue. He explains, “That’s misunderstood by a small percentage of people – people who seem to be conservative, right-wing, and probably Republican or some other ‘ism’ in that category, and most notably by Mr Trump.
“It’s happened before where people thought it was a patriotic ditty to wave the flag and all that, not really understanding the cynicism and absolute defiance I had in the song. I mean, even if you don’t hear the rest of it, you should at least hear, ‘It ain’t me, I ain’t no fortunate son’. But if you don’t, then I guess you’re able to see the song in a different way.”
He adds, “How can I say this? I can’t imagine using that song as a political rallying theme, particularly when you seem to be the person who I’m screaming about in the song on all three counts. It’s hilarious to me. Maybe I’m the one that misunderstands it, who knows?”
John Fogerty released Legacy: The Creedence Clearwater Revival Years on 22 August, featuring re-recorded versions of the band’s classics. You can find out more via his website.
The post “It’s happened before, people thought it was a patriotic ditty to wave the flag”: John Fogerty explains why Trump has misunderstood Creedence Clearwater Revival’s Fortunate Son appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.
Legendary guitar dealer reveals his “biggest mistake” – turning down George Harrison’s offer to trade in his Beatles Gretsch Country Gentleman
Norman Harris of Norman’s Rare Guitars has shared the “biggest mistake” he’s made during his career – turning down an offer to buy George Harrison’s Gretsch Country Gentleman.
Harris’ legendary vintage guitar business has become the subject of a documentary, which is streaming on Netflix in the US. The documentary dives into the world famous reputation of the business, and features interviews with artists who treasure the shop including avid collector Joe Bonamassa, and even the late Taylor Hawkins.
In a new interview with The Guardian, in which Harris himself reflects on the shop’s humble beginnings and its legacy, he explains how the surprising visit from The Beatles guitarist sent his career “stratospheric”.
Back in 1973, he received a phone call from a friend. “He said he was with someone who needed a Les Paul,” he says. “But he wouldn’t tell me who it was. I went over to meet them and it was just my friend there. I said: ‘You made me ride all the way down here? You made it sound so important.’ And then in walked George Harrison with Mal Evans [The Beatles’ former road manager].”
At the time, Harrison was looking for a replacement for Lucy, a one-of-a-kind 1957 Goldtop Les Paul, refinished in red, that had been stolen earlier in the year. The guitar was given to Harrison by Eric Clapton, and had been used on The Beatles’ While My Guitar Gently Weeps.
After it was stolen, it was sold to a musician in LA. Harrison managed to track it down, but the new owner argued that he had “purchased Lucy in good faith”. He gave Harrison an offer: he would hand over Lucy if Harrison could get him another 1950s Les Paul and a Fender Precision bass in exchange.
As The Guardian reports, a mutual friend became involved who knew that Harris had three 1950s Les Pauls. When Harrison visited, he purchased two 1958 Les Paul Standards – one for the trade, one for himself.
“We actually spent the day together. I then went to this place he was renting in the Hollywood Hills. Ravi Shankar, the Indian sitarist, was there. To me, The Beatles were bigger than the pope or the president or whoever. I just kept looking at him – I couldn’t believe it was happening,” recalls Harris.
Also during his visit, Harrison offered Harris his Gretsch Country Gentleman, used in his Beatles days. Harrison owned two Gents, and one of them was reportedly smashed to bits in 1965 after it fell out the back of a car (though this has been disputed).
Harris regretfully passed on the offer, which he says is “the biggest mistake he ever made”: “I’m not a huge Gretsch fan, and more importantly, I didn’t think anybody would ever believe that I’d spent the day with George and bought his Beatles guitar,” he explains.
Find out more about the Norman’s Rare Guitars documentary, or head over to the shop’s website to dig into its history or view its current product lineup.
The post Legendary guitar dealer reveals his “biggest mistake” – turning down George Harrison’s offer to trade in his Beatles Gretsch Country Gentleman appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.
Why You Don’t Need to Worry About Removing All Your Guitar’s Strings at Once
“I’d been playing guitar full-time for 25 years, and when I got to play on a Deep Purple album it was just one chord!” Meet Tommy Denander, the session guitar great who’s worked with everyone from Jeff Beck and Michael Jackson to Joe Perry and Ace Frehley
“It is madness to keep people locked in poverty for the ego of one person”: Cradle of Filth members quit over alleged poor pay and “psychopathic” contract – and push back on release of Ed Sheeran collab
“They say they are owed millions in lost royalties”: Sting sued by Andy Summers and Stewart Copeland over lost royalties from Police mega-hit
Marshall launches the Bromley 750 – its first-ever “party speaker” complete with integrated stage lights
Though for decades one of the world’s top guitar amp brands – it still is, of course – recent years have seen Marshall foray further into the world of consumer audio, with products like headphones and bluetooth speakers becoming a staple of its product lineup.
Now, the company is once again pushing into new territory, as it unveils its first-ever “party speaker”, the Bromley 750.
Perhaps the unit’s most intriguing feature isn’t its sound at all, but rather the integration of “stage lighting” on its front panel, which is sure to set the Bromley 750 apart from other similar standalone or party speakers.
These lights have three presets: the first creates an ambient feel in the room, while the second and third “gradually up the energy” by syncing with the music being played through the speaker.
“Inspired by stage lighting, we’ve incorporated lights in a new way, enhancing the atmosphere and elevating the entire experience” says Ella Renneus, Senior Manager Design at Marshall Group.
But how do the Bromley 750’s other specs measure up? The unit is housed in a tactile, premium enclosure, with a brushed metal control panel, water-based PU leather wrap and stamped metal grill. Oh, and it also has an IP54 rating, meaning it’s safe from dirt and rain, if your party is subjected to such elements.
Elsewhere, the Bromley 750 features 360° True Stereophonic sound, with an integrated Sound Character control which can be adjusted to fit the mood or setting.
It also sports 40+ hours of unplugged play time courtesy of its onboard battery – which gets charged when plugged in using an AC cable. There’s also a backup battery, meaning you can vastly extend your unplugged play time.
The Bromley 750 also features a host of inputs so you can connect mics, instruments, and even turntables – everything you need for a good party.
The Bromley 750 weighs 23.9kg and measures 652 x 413 x 355 mm, so you’ll also be pleased to know its fitted with a set of wheels for lugging it around an airport, the sidewalk, or, well, anywhere.
Credit: Marshall
“When we first considered entering the party speaker category, we saw an opportunity to bring something different to a uniform market. By staying true to our identity and what we are great at – prioritising iconic design and superior acoustics – we’ve created a standout product that brings something fresh to an otherwise homogenous category,” says Hanna Wallner, Product Manager at Marshall Group.
“We designed Bromley 750 to be something you want to keep out and show off – a speaker that becomes part of your home and interior. The design is rooted in our heritage, with ‘party’ at its core. It’s bold and straightforward, with every material chosen for a reason – to both look good and withstand countless parties to come,” adds Ella Renneus.
The Bromley 750 will be available from 23 September for £899.99. For more info, head to Marshall.
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“People say Eurythmics are a synth-pop duo, but a lot of those songs started with me playing electric guitar. Even Sweet Dreams is a blues song, really”: Eurythmics legend Dave Stewart on gigging folk clubs underage and drinking sake with Bob Dylan
“Do modelers have a place? Yes. Are they going to put me out of business? Idon’t think so”: Mike Zaite on the secret to the Dr Z sound, making custom amps for James Walsh’s shows at the Sphere and the enduring appeal of the tube amplifier
Fender Studio review: a barebones DAW with promise – and teething problems
Fender’s approach to being a guitar company includes having a Fender-branded thing in nearly every stage of the musical creation process. You know, patch cables, pedal power supplies, wireless systems, clocks that look like amplifiers – the essentials. In support of this goal, and following on from the 2021 acquisition of PreSonus, Fender now offers its own DAW – Fender Studio. It’s a barebones, beginner-friendly program that’s available on any platform you like, all for the low, low price of zero dollars. But is it any good?
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What is Fender Studio?
The fact that it’s a free app that supports mobile platforms ties into Fender Studio’s generally beginner-friendly approach. On top of this, the central selling points are a range of Fender-designed guitar amp sims and effects, and a library of pre-mixed jam tracks you’re free to use in your social media content, or play around with to learn the basics of a DAW.
Being made by many of the same team, there’s a lot of crossover with PreSonus’ Studio One’s UI and feel. There is also a native way to export full projects straight from Fender Studio into .DAWproject files, a relatively new open-source format that’s currently supported by a handful of paid DAWs, including Studio One.
Fender Studio workspace. Image: Cillian Breathnach
What can’t Fender Studio do?
On the surface, Fender Studio seems like an answer to an entry-level (but relatively fully-featured) DAW like GarageBand. In reality, it is even more stripped-back as a proposition – the term DAW suggests MIDI, software instruments and support for third-party plugins, but as of June 2025, Fender Studio doesn’t have any of those. It also only supports a total of 16 audio tracks, which won’t be enough for complex ‘full song’ mixes. It is perhaps more useful to think of it as an elevated voice notes app, and indeed that’s how Fender pitches it – there’s a reason that one of the four options presented upon launch is a big red button that instantly starts recording.
It’s a reasonable approach in theory as, realistically, most beginner guitarists don’t need to get their head around four different Hammond organ VSTs before they start sharing their riffs on Instagram. The pitch is that there’s less of that extraneous stuff but more guitar-friendly features built right in, namely that aforementioned library of amps and effects.
A track in Fender Studio. Image: Cillian Breathnach
In use
But before I get to the guitar sounds on offer, I have to contend with Fender Studio’s UI design. The good news is that there are a lot of elements that are pretty self-explanatory. While I obviously can’t completely Eternal Sunshine my general DAW experience to gauge just how intuitive things really are for beginners, many other visual elements of the program are minimalistic enough to be easy to figure out with a quick bit of experimentation.
With that said, there are a few things I want to call attention to as more than a little obtuse. One thing I have trouble with when I dive in is working out how to pan a track left or right – having not used Studio One before, I’m unaware that the little blue handle below the mute and solo buttons is called the “panner” – so I lose a quarter of an hour fruitlessly searching for a knob somewhere, anywhere, that matches the style of the delay and reverb controls.
Track panner detail. Image: Cillian Breathnach
Having failed to find any way to pan, I search the manual. Searching for “pan” and “panning” doesn’t return any results, and for a moment I ponder if panning has been excluded on purpose. However to find info on the “panner” within the manual you need to type in “panner” explicitly, introducing the fun extra challenge of convincing your autocorrect that you’re not looking through the Fender Studio manual for a hard cheese common in South Asian cooking.
In some ways this shared design language is understandable. But regardless of whether I’m familiar with Studio One, I’d wager that Fender Studio’s target audience of DAW-inexperienced recording beginners aren’t going to intuit things like this. I cannot for the life of me think why this isn’t a big, obvious knob labelled “L/R” or “pan”. It’s also a pretty fiddly control on both desktop and mobile, and has no way to double-click or tap to type in a specific value.
A shortcut to nowhere
Given that the express goal of the software is to get you recording as quickly as possible, it’s not ideal that my next issue crops up as I go to start actually recording. Hitting the ‘R’ key doesn’t, as I am used to from some other DAWs, start rolling. Instead it just toggles whether the selected track is armed to record. That’s fine, but I’m used to ‘R’ as the record key, so I head into the settings menu to change the shortcut…
…and am surprised to find that the settings menu doesn’t really exist, beyond some basic layout tweaks and the audio setup. There’s no way to remap the keyboard shortcuts. This is less than ideal, as the default key to start recording is ‘*’ on the numpad, a key that does not exist on my laptop. So I’m stuck clicking on the record button with my mouse.
This may not sound like a big deal, but dexterity is at a premium in the case of a DAW that’s meant to be used while also holding a guitar. Maybe this is the result of the platform-agnostic, beginner-friendly approach, but changing keyboard shortcuts is hardly power-user hacking. There are a couple of other incompatibilities with the default layout, too – the backspace key does nothing on Mac, for instance. You need to press fn+backspace to delete a region, which turns it into a two-handed operation – again, not ideal when you’re also trying to keep a guitar neck from knocking your coffee over.
Editing in Fender Studio. Image: Cillian Breathnach
Exporting woes
I have one more gripe on the design side of things. Having recorded some stuff I press cmd+S to save my project, and nothing happens. I go to the top window to see where the ‘file>save’ menu is, but it isn’t anywhere, because it doesn’t exist. So where’s my project file being saved? It turns out Fender Studio is autosaving all the time (fine) to a deep system folder (less fine). There is no native way to save full projects to a location of your choosing.
The on-board export function either bounces out audio, or bundles the whole project into a .DAWproject file – but there’s no import function for .DAWproject files. Exporting is a one-way street to the DAWs that currently support the format. As of 2025, that’s Bitwig, Cubase and (all together now) Studio One. To move your project between devices but keep it in Fender Studio, you have to root into Fender Studio’s app folder and bundle up the full project yourself. Not exactly intuitive, and obviously a bit trickier on mobile.
I can only speak to the Android experience; however Apple isn’t particularly forthcoming with users’ deeper app folders, so best of luck to the iPhone users. It takes me some time to find where Fender Studio is saving its projects on my phone’s disk, and once I do, I have to use my phone’s file system UI to zip it and send it to my desktop.
Fender Studio has been explicitly designed for desktop and mobile. Surely the process of moving projects between platforms – and not just exporting out to a ‘full’ DAW – should be built right into it? The mobile app uses the OS share functionality for seamless exporting to a cloud service, or anything that can be shared to – DMs and socials included. So it’s a shame that it’s such a complex operation to move the actual Fender Studio project about.
The sounds
Yes, the UI and UX whinges are finally over. It’s time to talk sounds. Fender Studio’s cabinet of virtual guitar gear includes an overdrive, a fuzz, a chorus, a tremolo, a mono delay, a stereo delay, a hall reverb and a room reverb. The four amps are a ‘59 Bassman, a ‘65 Twin Reverb, a Bassbreaker combo and a Super Sonic. That’s it for the guitar effects block – but you can also load up a separate set of effects for bass and vocals. The bass module keeps the ‘59 Bassman and the majority of the effects, but also adds a bass-specific overdrive, a compressor and a flanger, plus three more bass amp models. There’s a set of vocal effects too, including a de-tuner, a ‘transformer’, a ring mod and a vocoder.
The tonal fidelity on display here is pretty damn good. The effects and amps have been ported over from the GTX series, so despite the superficial resemblance to the Tone Master Pro’s UI, these models aren’t quite as powerful. However, they still do offer some more in-depth controls for further sonic tweaking, such as tube bias and sag.
There’s a lack of touch-responsiveness that means they’re not going to ever make you question owning a real tube amp – but the tones are absolutely release-worthy for the kinds of things you’re going to use a free DAW for. The preset library is pretty broad, too, and demonstrates some creative combinations of effects to hopefully spark some inspiration.
In a very Fender way, the focus remains on the clean and mid-gain sounds, with the occasional preset for blown-out vintage fuzz or indie wobble. I do want to note the rather odd omission of anything geared towards modern metal – the gainiest amp is the Bassbreaker, which has quite a loose, old-school-Marshall voice. Getting a tight, chuggy modern metal sound is all but impossible with the virtual gear here. Given Fender Studio’s self-proclaimed beginner focus, and the current glut of modern heavy bands with huge, young fanbases, this is a bit of a headscratcher. Maybe in a future update…
In a jam
To give the guitar sounds a test within a context, I open one of the jam tracks – these are multi-track recordings that, as well as providing a bed for some noodling, let you experiment with muting/unmuting elements, adding effects to different tracks and doing some rudimentary mixing. Most of them have bass and drums, and then a few rhythm guitar tracks or synth parts depending on the genre of choice.
The quality of the tracks themselves is fine – they’re generic by design, providing a bland musical slate on top of which you can add your own playing. The EULA for these tracks stipulates not to actually release them as full tracks onto, say, Spotify – but you can still jam over them on social media. Fender Studio can also natively time and pitch-stretch the tracks to bring them to your key and tempo of choice, which is a very neat feature. However, since the tracks aren’t software instruments, things can sound a little artefacted the further you stray from the original key/tempo.
Running into limitations
The main issue with having no software instruments, however, is that it’s actually pretty hard to write using Fender Studio. You’re stuck with the deliberately generic parts in the jam tracks – unlike a DAW with even a rudimentary drum sampler, it’s not really capable of letting you actually create a ‘full song’ in the box.
If you’re a bedroom guitarist and you want to write a full song with an original drum pattern, you’re going to need a way to make your own beats in an audio format and then import them in – a hardware drum machine, access to a drummer who can record their own parts, extremely convincing beatboxing skills, that sort of thing. This is a far cry from GarageBand’s auto-drummer, which can instantly provide fairly alright drum parts in-the-box that will at least get you started, and can be edited.
This is a good time to remind ourselves of what Fender Studio ultimately is. When considering it as an elevated voice-memo app, the ‘full DAW’ editing features that like panning, mixing, compression, EQ, reverb and so on do seem a little overwrought – what’s the point of EQing a guitar to sit in a full mix if the software doesn’t have an easy way to create a full mix?
The answer to that is to practice using a ‘full’ DAW without the time and financial investment. Which is ultimately a pretty good thing to exist – a good baseline understanding of DAWs is a pretty good skill for a guitarist, given the prevalence of self-recording in 2025. Fender Studio lets you frog-in-the-water your DAW experience from the very beginning of your playing journey, a good alternative to having to learn a more in-depth program after years of just using a voice notes app.
Final thoughts
So overall, I do really respect the goals of Fender Studio, and I can only knock a free piece of software so much. However, my time with the version of the app as of June 2025 was still a bit of a mixed bag. It really feels like a baseline version of the software at the moment, with things like a more diverse amp lineup and some rudimentary software instruments being potential inclusions in future updates.
Right now, there’s a good bit of fun to be had with the jam tracks and the creative tones – and given that it’s free, I do encourage you to check it out, especially if you’ve not had to get your head around a ‘real’ DAW before. And if Fender Studio doesn’t seem up your street at the moment, as well as noting the obvious alternatives here of BandLab and GarageBand, I’d also like to say that it may well look very different in a year – maybe come back and check out what’s been added in a spell.
The post Fender Studio review: a barebones DAW with promise – and teething problems appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.
“They were getting pretty hard to find!” Gibson has re-launched its first ever signature pickup – the Tony Iommi humbucker
Pick Your Pickup Giveaway!
You could WIN a JR "Daemonum" Set or REV Set from EMG Pickups in this all-new giveaway.
EMG Pickup Giveaway
EMG JR "Daemonum" Set
Jim Root, a long time user of the EMG 81/60 combo, began the process of developing a signature set well over three years ago. After trying various prototypes Root was inspired by a set of modified Retro Active pickups to tailor his tone. He settled on a set that gave him everything he loved from the 81/60 with the added benefits and versatility of the Retro Active design.
Unlike traditional open coil pickups, both the bridge and neck pickup utilize stud poles. The fingerboard pickup uses ceramic studs giving it a clean high-end percussive tone. The bridge pickup has black steel poles and features a ceramic magnet, similar to the EMG 81. Both pickups feature custom Retro Active preamps exclusive to the Root set.
Make sure to check the instructions for pickup measurements before purchasing to compare your existing pickups with EMG models.
EMG Rev Set
This passive pickup set created for guitarist, songwriter and producer Prashant Aswani. The Revelation Set spent 2+ years in development that included testing in both recording and live playing sessions. After several variations EMG had designed an undeniably brilliant pair of humbuckers that delivered the clarity and definition usually found only in active pickups.
This matched set has precision wound custom bobbins and alnico 2 magnets that create the perfect balance between neck and bridge positions. The alnico 2 magnets have just enough “give” to deliver that classic sponginess passive players crave without the muddiness usually associated with old school PAF-types. Aswani is known for his amazing style and tone and now has the perfect pickups to help him deliver every time.
Make sure to check the instructions for pickup measurements before purchasing to compare your existing pickups with EMG models.
EMG Revelation Passive Humbucker Pickup Set - White
EMG JR 'Daemonum' Signature Set Black and Creme
A Low-Cost Gamma for the Gigging Guitarist
Before getting to the Gamma G50 ($199 street) amp that has solved a lot of problems in my professional life, I should explain my musical day-to-day. One month, I clocked gigs in Jewish old people’s homes for Holocaust survivors, followed by an outdoor concert backing Bootsy Collins. Then, three bluegrass gigs and five gigs with a horn section soul band. Most of those were powered by a mid ’80s Polytone Mini-Brute with a Muzizy 5-band EQ and a cheap reverb pedal. The Mini-Brute is the Dodge Dart of guitar amps—compact and unkillable. I loved that amp as I would a favorite uncle. And like my favorite uncle, it died, to nobody’s surprise, shortly after my 53rd birthday.
I’ve tried different micro-amps. Since my electric life is low volume (mostly jazz or Latin music, with occasional klezmer thrown in), 50 watts is fine by me. If you live roadie-free as I always have (my painfully brief stint with NRBQ notwithstanding), the braggadocio about tone gives way to “fits in the car,” “isn’t hard to lift,” and—this is huge—“doesn’t break.”
There are two schools of thought about amps: The first is that the amp completes the sound of your guitar, which is a Marshall aesthetic. The second is that your amp should sound like whatever you plug into it, maybe with a little reverb for dimension, and that’s Fender thinking. I am definitely a Fender thinker.
My effects rack is minimal—reverb, tremolo, and analog delay (for rockabilly slapback). And the Muzizy EQ.
In my formative years, the amps around my neighborhood were battered Supros, Silvertones, and Univoxes. The guitars were mostly Penco, Morris, Hondo II, Harmony, Silvertone, and unbranded Strat copies. It was how you made do until you could afford something decent.
But inexpensive guitars improved. First lawsuit guitars, then Squier, whose Japan-built Telecasters surpassed their American-made counterparts. Now Harley-Benton et. al. have revolutionized the market.
As a man old enough to recall the Dodge Dart, I look back with longing to the barebones interface of a Supro solid-state combo amp. Who makes that nowadays?
Acoustic has been reborn as Acoustic Control Corporation. Their signature combo amp is the Gamma, available in either a 25- or 50-watt version. The 50 weighs 25 pounds, runs two channels, features a 4-position “voicing” selector that gives you your choice of metal, rock, blues, and clean. The 12" True Blue speaker sounds close to a Celestion, so that’s not bad. The tone knobs are clean and sensitive, with neither dead spots nor sudden gains. The inherent sonic personality of this amp resembles an Ampeg Reverb Rocket (the 1x12 version), and it weighs less. Kind of miraculous for something with no tubes. Warm, quiet, and non-sterile. The control set? Voicing, volume dials for each channel, 3-band EQ, and drive.
“If you live roadie-free as I always have (my painfully brief stint with NRBQ notwithstanding), the braggadocio about tone gives way to ‘fits in the car,’ ‘isn’t hard to lift,’ and—this is huge—‘doesn’t break.’”
Out on the gig? The first night, I used it with Los Chicos del Mambo, a loud 20-piece band. The job was at the Paramount, a giant wooden room in Los Angeles, whose skilled soundman miraculously kept screaming trumpets from deafening the entire 90033 zip code. The bassist played out of a Laney 200H. I played my Harley-Benton CG-200CE electric classical through the Gamma 50, sans effects. And it cut. Headroom to burn.
The next day, same amp but different venue, band, and guitar. Band—Voodoo 5, the eight-piece exotica group I lead with my wife, vocalist Lena Marie Cardinale. The other instruments are flute, vibraphone, pedal-steel guitar, upright bass, and two Latin percussionists. Venue—the Redwood Bar, whose stage is a squeeze for eight. Guitar—an Indio DLX Plus, which is a Jazzmaster copy but with (huzzah!) a maple fretboard, plugged into my anemic effects rack.
The room is smaller, but with a long trajectory from the bandstand to the back. For this performance, I didn’t modify my guitar tone other than to hit the pickup switch. The Muzizy was set to its usual place, reverb on for the whole show, and I only hit the tremolo box on two songs. Guitar and amp doing basic duty.
From Instagram videos, I heard what the audience heard through my $10 earbuds, giving me an un-glamourous idea of what went out into the room, and I am mightily impressed by how formidable the G50 is. Even in the battlefield recording conditions, the presence, reach, warmth, and clarity were unmistakable.
Maybe I was going in search of the simpler operating procedures of my early musical life, but I really wanted an amp that boasts fewer knobs and delivers the character of whatever I plug into it. That it comes in at a price we can all afford and a weight we can all lift is gratifying to this old—old—pro.
“It weaves together wild features into something that could’ve been a producer’s secret weapon in the early 1970s”: Acclaimed producer Adrian Younge’s new semi-fretless signature Fender is perhaps the craziest Jazz Bass the company's ever released
Foot-Controlled Analog Delay?? | Black Mountain Roto Echo
PG contributor Tom Butwin walks us through a rugged, pedal‑board‑friendly delay that lets you shape time, feedback, and blend entirely with your foot. The Roto Echo features warm, gritty analog‑style echoes, intuitive real‑time control, and a design tough enough for full body weight. It sounds great on its own, but this wheel‐driven innovation opens up worlds of expressive possibilities.
Black Mountain Roto-Echo
Third Man Hardware and Black Mountain are excited to announce the innovative Roto-Echo delay pedal. Instead of tweaking delay parameters with your fingers, the pedal’s
Freewheel® Technology allows players to change them with their feet in real-time as they play –
a small change that leads to tons of creative possibilities.
The Roto-Echo is built tough and players can put their full weight onto the pedal with no
problem. It’s the same size as a regular Boss-style guitar pedal, and fits on any pedal board.
Key Features
● Foot-Controlled Adjustments: Change Time, Feedback, or Blend while you play.
● Analog-Style Delay: Warm, gritty echoes up to 600ms.
● Rugged Build: Built to handle full body weight on stage.
● True Bypass: Keeps your tone pure when switched off.
● Play Sitting or Standing: Built for performance.
● 9V, Center Negative Power
● Morph feedback from short to infinite repeats
● Ramp wet/dry mix for dramatic effect
● Sweep delay time to bend and warble pitch, and so much more
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