General Interest

DR Handmade Strings has introduced their highly engineered new Black Dragon Multi-Scale Bass strings. Combining the sound, feel and extra-long life of Dragon Skin+ with an exciting black finish, these new strings will bring out the best tone (and look!) of any multi-scale bass, including those with up to 37” B strings.

The new Black Dragons are available in 4-string, 5-string and 6-string sets and feature DR’s patented Accurate Core Technology (ACT). ACT upgrades the architecture of the strings, allowing them to vibrate to their full potential and deliver full tone and clarity for even the lowest notes of your bass. The stainless steel strings feature DR’s Black K3 coating that protects the strings, without choking off the sound, and gives the strings a distinctive black appearance to compliment any instrument. The net result? A great-looking string that delivers enhanced tone, effortless playability and extra-long life.

Black Dragons carry street prices of $39.99 (4-string set), $49.99 (5-string set) and $52.99 (6-string set). They will be available starting August 17th in honor of DR Strings founder Mark Dronge’s 87th birthday. For more information visit drstrings.com.

Whether you’re a student heading back to school this September, or a parent who’ll be waving them on their way, Thomann has rounded up a whole bunch of back to school deals to help you kick off the new academic year.

Featuring a range of brands and including a number of varying guitar starter bundles with all you’ll need to get going, the back to school sale offers up to 20 percent off on gear ideal for beginners or intermediate players looking for something new.

• READ MORE: Do you really need a baritone? A complete guide to guitar scale length

There are 11 bundles up for grabs, featuring electric, acoustic, or bass guitars from brands such as Harley Benton, Yamaha, Startone, and Thomann’s own branded instruments. For those looking to get started with an electric model, there’s a range of sets that are suited to either rock or pop guitarists.

For young players with small hands, the Harley Benton RG-Junior BK Set offers a short-scale, sleek black electric model, perfect for rock players. It hosts two humbuckers, and is comfortable in lower tunings. This set also includes the Harley Benton HB-10G combo amplifier, a gig bag, clip-on tuner, a strap, and instrument cable for £119.

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For those in need of a super budget-friendly guitar to learn with, then Startone’s £50 CG 851 set hosts a 4/4 sized classical guitar, and is accompanied by a gig bag, clip-on tuner, and some plectrums for £50.

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For older or more intermediate players who don’t need all the bells and whistles, the Harley Benton CLG-70SR CE NAT model might be more apt. It also comes with a gig bag, and is fitted with Fishman Sonicore pickups, ideal for those wanting to play live shows.

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To find out more and view the full list of deals, head over to Thomann.

The post Want to buy your first guitar? Thomann’s back to school sale is a great opportunity to save appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

Ozzy Osbourne might not have been a guitarist, but he was a remarkable judge of guitar talent. His knack for picking sidemen is legendary, and none of his solo axemen are as feted as Randy Rhoads. But now it appears that not only was Randy ready to call time on his rock star career before his death, his choice of alternative was shocking. nearly took a step back from life on the road to get a master’s degree instead.

• READ MORE: “I’m like, ‘Where does this stuff come from?’”: Sharon Osbourne says claims that Black Sabbath’s final show raised £140 million for charity are “just ridiculous”

According to his sister Kathy Rhoads, Randy was planning to leave Ozzy’s solo band and head back to college to complete his master’s degree in classical music instead. It’s a remarkable claim, and Kathy remembers that one person in particular was flabbergasted by his plans to step away from rockstardom: Ozzy himself.

Kathy explains in a forthcoming interview with Guitar World, “He had told Ozzy just a few short days before he passed that he was done with touring and wanted to come back home,” she shares.

“My mom went to UCLA, my dad too, so my mom was at the beginning of the process to get him into the school and get his master’s degree in classical music. She was starting the process and contacting the school. And he was really looking forward to that.

“Ozzy said to him, ‘Are you crazy? You’re a rock star.’ Randy said, ‘That’s just not what I want right now. This is what I want to do.’ Ozzy said, and I’ll quote him, ‘Okay, you could buy your own fucking college by the time you’re done if you keep doing this!’ But for Randy, the biggest key [thing] was that he was a true musician. It was always about the music for him,” she concludes.

Rhoads was part of the original lineup of Osbourne’s solo band, which formed in 1979. He played with them until his death in 1982 due to a plane crash. Osbourne passed away just recently on 22 July, just a matter of weeks after Black Sabbath’s reunion and farewell show.

Black Sabbath’s Geezer Butler recently reflected on the experience in an interview with Uncut. He told the outlet, “I am so grateful that we were able to play one final show together, the original four of us, back in our home town,” he says. “[Ozzy] held on so he could do that gig, to say farewell to the fans.”

The post “Are you crazy? You’re a rock star”: Ozzy Osbourne’s baffled reaction when Randy Rhoads told him he was going to quit his band shortly before his death appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

Joe Bonamassa has clarified that he doesn’t actually care what other players do with their rigs, saying instead that there’s room for every kind of guitar player. This is in somewhat stark contrast to an opinion he expressed a few years ago, where he bemoaned the existence of ambient players with complicated boards.

• READ MORE: The best pedals for ambient music, from space-warping reverbs to experimental micro-loopers

In a new interview with GuitarWorld, he offers a strongly-worded rebuke to a question about players hiding the “natural” tone of a guitar with lots of effects. “We’ve been down that road before, us and the media,” he says. “Players can do whatever the fuck they want, I don’t care. How about that? [Laughs] You do you, I do me, and we’ll see how it works out. I don’t give a shit what anybody else does.”

Bonamassa has previously been a little less open-minded on the subject of pedals. In a 2017 interview with MusicRadar, he called guitarists who use lots of pedals “fucking lazy” for focusing on non-traditional guitar sounds, and challenged them to make compelling music on an acoustic guitar.

“I know I’ll get shit for saying this,” he said, correctly. “But it’s fucking lazy. It’s insulting to people who spent 35 years playing and learning, like a lot of players. And we continue to work at it! These guys can barely play a chord but call themselves soundscapists. Get the fuck outta here! It’s bullshit.”

Many players took issue with Bonamassa’s comments, stating that he was misunderstanding tonal preferences and the musical goals of non-blues players. Joe’s aversion to complex pedalboards was also a bit of a point of contention when his own rather involved board, stacked with vintage fuzzes and complex switchers, was revealed in a rig rundown.

However for 2025 he seems to have revised his opinion that players should avoid shoegaze-ready monoliths stacked to the nines with delays. “I’m not gonna comment on other players’ business; they can do whatever they want,” he tells GuitarWorld. Although he does add in a little jab at the practicality of a larger pedal-based rig: “If you want to lug a tabletop full of shit around to a club, God bless you. Mazel tov. And if you want to plug straight into the amp, it’s all good. It’s just guitar, man. It doesn’t matter.”

The post Joe Bonamassa says he no longer cares if you use too many pedals: “Players can do whatever the f*** they want. How about that?” appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

JHS Pedals founder Josh Scott has revealed that he’s been seriously injured in a cycling accident, taking to Instagram to share the alarming news with his followers, but assuring them that “I’m fine”.

• READ MORE: Klon Centaur designer says you should NEVER use a multi-tap PSU to power the legendary pedal

“Hey y’all, I’m a private guy, but I do want you to know that I was in a pretty bad cycling accident,” Scott posted on Instagram on 15 August. “Lots of broken things and lots of stitches. I’m fine and will pull through like I have in the past.”

https://www.instagram.com/joshuaheathscott/p/DNYlgCURvKb/

Scott went on to pay tribute to his wife Alice, who he described as “THE GOAT when it comes to caring for me. She deserves a medal.” but revealed that he’s likely to have to take some time away from his hugely popular JHS Show on YouTube while he recovers. “You won’t be seeing my face for a bit (trust me- you don’t want to), and if I haven’t returned your email, DM, or text, this is why. If you’re the praying type, say a few for the swelling, the breaks, and the overall mental weight of it all.”

A popular and influential figure in the guitar world, the comment section of the post featured an outpouring of support and well wishes from the great and good of guitar,  including Paul Gilbert, Lari Basilio,  ‘Danish Pete’ Honore, Ella Feingold, Dave Hill, Pendulum’s Peredur ap Gwynedd and plenty more besides.

https://www.instagram.com/joshuaheathscott/p/DNeDHtWPZoX/

Scott followed up with a second post on 17 October expressing his thanks for the support and providing an update on his current condition, “Thanks to everyone for the countless messages and real help you’ve given our family since the crash,” he began. “I’ve had several moments of overwhelming gratitude thinking about you all. Today’s been tough – lots of soreness setting in, tightness around all the stitches, and plenty of pain. Tomorrow I see some doctors about the breaks. Grateful for you all.”

Only last week, JHS launched the 424 Gain Stage – a lo-fi pedal inspired by the sound of a Tascam portastudio – but it seems Scott will have to take a back seat on product launches for the time being. Everyone at Guitar.com wishes Josh a speedy recovery.

The post JHS founder Josh Scott seriously injured in cycling accident: “You won’t be seeing my face for a bit (trust me you don’t want to” appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

When former Van Halen frontman Sammy Hagar claimed that the late, great Eddie Van Halen had visited him in a dream and they’d written a song together, it certainly led to a lot of raised eyebrows around the music world. And it seems that David Lee Roth was similarly unimpressed.

• READ MORE: Kirk Hammett thinks no guitarist will ever eclipse Eddie Van Halen

Hagar released the song, Encore, Thank You, Goodnight, back in April, having first claimed back in 2022 that he’d been visited by Van Halen in a dream during which they composed the song together, “I remembered it. I got up in the morning and I wrote the song,” he told Ultimate Classic Rock. “I used the fuckin’ lick that he showed me in the song.”

Now it seems that Hagar’s precursor in Van Halen, David Lee Roth, is not entirely buying the Red Rocker’s story however – certainly if his remarks to the audience at concert at the Hampton Beach Casino Ballroom last week was anything to go by.

“One of my esteemed colleagues, he’s a contemporary, he’s got a great voice, he’s got a great catalogue,” Hagar told the crowd in a video posted by a fan on YouTube. “You all know Sammy Hagar, right? He’s got a great voice. And Sammy, aloud, he described to the media about six weeks ago that the ghost of Eddie Van Halen visited him and graced him with a song that he memorised and then went home and recorded. It’s on the internet.”

There’s few things more reliable than Van Halen members throwing shade at one another, and Hagar described Roth as “fake” during an interview earlier this year. DLR’s clapback, however, was pretty withering.

“I don’t know what the odds are, but last night the ghost of Eddie Van Halen visited me at the fucking hotel room,” he joked. “I was watching the weather report and he came in and he was laughing. His fucking ghost was laughing.

“I said, ‘What did you do now?’ He said, ‘Dave, Dave… Dave, you know that song I gave Hagar?’ I said, ‘What now?’ He said, ‘It’s actually [1968 Iron Butterfly proto-metal hit] In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida backwards. Don’t fucking tell him.'”

Hagar claims that Encore, Thank You, Goodnight is a tribute to his relationship with Van Halen – it features Joe Satriani on guitar, Jason Bonham on drums and fellow ex-Van Halen man Michael Anthony on bass.

“It’s not meant to be anything more than a thank-you – with love, with respect, and with one hell of a guitar solo,” he said – but it’s not the only surprising claim he’s made about Van Halen recently.

Back in June, Hagar claimed that the last time he spoke to Eddie before his passing, the guitarist claimed that he’d primarily been playing cello – though in this case he does have EVH’s backing, who posted in 2017 that the instrument was his favourite after guitar and piano.

The post “Don’t f**king tell him!” David Lee Roth mocks Sammy Hagar by claiming Eddie Van Halen’s ghost has visited him too appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.



3Bender’s Wade Back joins us this week to share the fascinating history of 3Bender and reveal an incredible new product he’s unveiling at this year’s Fretboard Summit, the Steelmaster.

The Steelmaster is a string bender that can be mounted to any Jazzmaster-style guitar. It requires no drilling and works with stock or Mastery bridges.

Wade’s story is one of a kind. We hear about his love for steel guitar and B-Benders, meeting elderly guitar tech Bob Stafford, and about the Steelmaster’s origin story (which involves Black Bobbin’s Shelby Pollard and last year’s Summit).

https://www.3bender.com

Come see Wade and the Steelmaster at the Fretboard Summit taking place this week: https://fretboardsummit.org/

Showcase-only tickets are just $40.

The Fretboard Summit is our three-day festival celebrating great guitars and great guitar people. We have nearly 80 luthiers, amp builders, and pedal makers exhibiting, hourly workshops and master classes, and some mind-bogglingly great evening performances. The fun takes place August 21-23, 2025 at Chicago’s Old Town School of Folk Music.

The Fretboard Summit is our three-day festival celebrating great guitars and great guitar people. We have nearly 80 luthiers, amp builders, and pedal makers exhibiting, hourly workshops and master classes, and some mind-bogglingly great evening performances.

The fun takes place August 21-23, 2025 at Chicago’s Old Town School of Folk Music.

We are brought to you by: Stringjoy Strings: https://stringjoy.com

(Use the code FRETBOARD to save 10% off your first order)

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

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

The post Podcast 512: 3Bender’s Wade Black first appeared on Fretboard Journal.

$449/£419, walrusaudio.com

The great thing about amp simulators is that they offer three different ways to fall out with someone in a raging, expletive-strewn argument. First up, there’s the straightforward debate about which one is best. Then there’s the wider philosophical dichotomy between digital and analogue types. And finally, the question with real brawling-in-the-street potential: are any of these products actually up to the job, or are they just soulless imitations of the real thing?

• READ MORE: Walrus Audio Mako Series MkII D1 review – the do-it-all high-fidelity delay pedal gets glitchy

None of these arguments will ever end. But the Walrus Audio Mako Series MkII ACS1 surely makes the most persuasive case yet for using a digital pedal to replace real amps and cabs when it comes to gigging, recording and even bedroom practice with headphones.

What is the Walrus Audio Mako Series MkII ACS1?

The main point of a pedal like this one is to cut a whole load of bulk (and noise) out of your rig: plug a guitar in at one end, and what comes out of the other is a digital simulation of what you’d get from putting a microphone in front of a real-life amp and speaker cabinet. Send that straight to an audio interface or live PA, and hey presto: all that heavy hardware in your spare room is suddenly ready to be converted into novelty coffee tables.

The original ACS1 offered three amp types and six cabinet IRs, with full stereo capability, onboard room reverb and the ability to store three presets (or 128 with MIDI). MkII brings revised versions of the old unit’s Fender Deluxe Reverb, Marshall Bluesbreaker and Vox AC30 models, and adds an Orange Rockerverb, a Mesa Boogie Dual Rectifier and a Peavey 5150 – while expanding the cab offering to 12. You also get a choice between room, hall and spring reverbs, and no less than nine preset slots.

How is all of this possible? As discussed in my review of the MkII D1 delay, the whole Mako Series has had an interface revamp, with an LED display replacing the three toggle switches across the middle. Here’s where, with the help of the three encoder knobs above it, you get access to those extra settings and a few more besides (including an option to bypass the IRs). It might not feel super-intuitive at first, but the whole system is clear and logical.

What does the Walrus Audio Mako Series MkII ACS1 sound like?

I don’t have a lot to say about the clean tones. They were already lusciously lifelike and three-dimensional, and now they’re still lusciously lifelike and three-dimensional but with a bit more headroom – the main effect of which is that, when you hit the boost switch, it actually makes things bigger and louder rather than just getting thick and congested. You can also adjust the boost level for each preset, which is very handy.

The Vox crunch still lacks midrange punch out of the box, but you can fix this quite satisfyingly by cranking the mids to maximum in the three-band EQ. And if you really want to rock like a mudskipper? The overdriven Orange, Boogie and Peavey models all sound impressively large when used one at a time – and simply colossal in stereo pairs.

To experience that colossalness to the full, you might be inclined to leave at least some of the factory presets unchanged (aside from dialling back the reverb and maybe turning off the annoying noise gate). While the first two batches of three presets cover the six single models, the last set offers absolutely killer left/right pairings: Fender and Vox, Marshall and Orange, then Peavey and Boogie. This last setup, fully panned, is probably the biggest guitar sound my home studio monitors have ever spewed out.

Should I buy the Walrus Audio Mako Series MkII ACS1?

Here’s one more argument to enjoy: Are the MkII ACS1’s Vox tones as convincing as those of the Strymon Iridium? For me that’s too close to call, but in every other respect there’s no contest, because this is as good as digital amp and cab simulators get – and the step up to MkII has turned an already great pedal into an utterly compelling one.

Walrus Audio Mako Series MkII ACS1 alternatives

The aforementioned Strymon Iridium (£379) is now six years old and surely due some kind of update. A newer rival with cab models galore is the Boss IR-200 (£329), while analogue purists might prefer the DSM & Humboldt Simplifier X (£449).

The post Walrus Audio Mako Series MkII ACS1 review: “this is as good as digital amp and cab simulators get” appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

The likes of Joe Bonamassa, Jason Isbell, and Richie Faulkner walk us through a carousel of vintage Gibson Standards

Trace the journeys of some of the world’s rarest guitars including cherry sunbursts pulled from pawnshops, a scorching ’59 that simply refused to be left behind, and more. Along the way these legends debunk hand-winding myths, detail meticulous restorations, and share the emotional pull of instruments that have crossed continents and shaped Rock and Roll.