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Guitar World
All the latest content from the Guitar World team
Updated: 2 hours 50 min ago
“Nearly impossible to produce a bad tone”: Xotic AC Booster V2 review
Xotic revamps its classic boost pedal after 23 years – and it’s all but guaranteed to improve the relationship between your guitar and amp
Categories: General Interest
“My guy redesigned it into a medieval weapon: he did the blood splatter, drilled spikes on the side, and added three stripes because we wear Adidas all the time”: Slaughter To Prevail’s electric guitars are as savage as their deathcore breakdowns
Guitarist Jack Simmons unpacks his wild ESP refinish, why pinch harmonic riffs are the best riffs, and how he grabbed Ronnie Radke and Babymetal to guest on the metal heavyweights’ third record
Categories: General Interest
"It was already broken, but now we’re seeing how broken and how evil it really is": Merpire on the rise of AI bands, and the recording of her new dream pop opus Milk Pool
On her second LP Milk Pool, Merpire transmutes alternative pop into something dreamier and blurrier, without sacrificing hooks and momentum.
Categories: General Interest
“Impressive value for guitarists seeking rich clean/overdrive tones and timeless distortion tones”: PRS Archon Classic Head review
The PRS Archon Classic runs the gamut from crystal cleans to classic crunch and hot-rodded high gain
Categories: General Interest
“If it felt like punk speed freaks, so much the better. Elvis never came up to us saying, ‘Suspicious Minds was too fast tonight’”: At the suggestion of guitar picker James Burton, Elvis set up an audition with an unlikely bass candidate – Jerry Scheff
How bassist Jerry Scheff became the core of Elvis' famed TCB Band
Categories: General Interest
“With Mammoth, I play an EVH prototype built by Chip Ellis at the Fender Custom Shop. Only 2 exist!” Bassist Ronnie Ficarro on taking Wolfgang Van Halen’s studio sound to the stage
Ronnie Ficarro explains the nuances of pick playing, why tone can make or break a band, and how he stumbled upon slap bass for Mammoth’s latest single
Categories: General Interest
“An arresting, unsettling, sometimes unpredictable effect – and in that sense it nails the Deftones brief”: KHDK Digital Bath review
This signature stompbox recreates one of Deftones’ dreamiest tones – but is it more than just a one-trick (white) pony?
Categories: General Interest
“The truth of the matter is, I don’t believe that anybody asked us”: James LoMenzo reveals Megadeth weren't invited to Ozzy Osbourne and Black Sabbath's final show
The other members of the Big Four of thrash metal – Metallica, Slayer, and Anthrax – all participated in Back to the Beginning
Categories: General Interest
“I didn’t know their tunes, but we played some Chuck Berry and reggae, then Paul McCartney said, ‘What are you doing for the next few years?’” How Laurence Juber went from winning a Grammy with Wings to landing a hit record with Harry Styles
The British guitar veteran explains what made George Harrison different, how he returned to Number 1 with Harry Styles after 25 years away, and why Wings’ Back to the Egg needs to be re-evaluated
Categories: General Interest
“Martin and Taylor, watch out. There’s a new small-bodied build on the block”: This is all the new guitar gear that has caught my eye this week – and I think I've been convinced to finally go wireless
All-new drops from PRS, Furch, Victory and more
Categories: General Interest
"Featuring an array of genuinely useful extras, this is a surprisingly versatile and natural-sounding analogue overdrive": Nobels ODR-1X review
Building on the ODR-BC, Nobels adds some extras to their legendary overdrive tone
Categories: General Interest
“Should anybody be remotely interested…” Noel Gallagher shares pics of his Oasis reunion live rig – and we are definitely maybe interested
There are a biblical amount of boost options on Gallagher's board, but it is his SIB Echodrive that we'd swap our lasagna for
Categories: General Interest
“Bears clear indication of its historical significance”: Randy Rhoads’ Quiet Riot Les Paul – which features on the back cover of their debut record – expected to sell for up to $200,000 at auction
His heavily worn pre-Ozzy axe is expected to fetch $200K when it sells next month
Categories: General Interest
“I felt a connection to the space and all that happened there before me. I immediately opened my guitar case and started writing”: Al Nesbitt & the Alchemy deliver a genre-spanning EP inspired by a mysterious L.A. hotspot, Al Di Meola and John McLaughlin
Live in Seattle captures Al Nesbitt & the Alchemy’s debut 2024 performance – and showcases a prime musical partnership that isn't afraid to experiment
Categories: General Interest
“He called me and said, ‘Paul! Paul! I need your help. Eddie’s coming up”: Paul Reed Smith on the time Kramer asked him to build a guitar for Eddie Van Halen
Smith was asked what he would have made if Van Halen had ever asked for a PRS guitar – but it turned out to be something of a trick question
Categories: General Interest
“Pivotal throughout the band's pre-fame era and used for seminal recordings from Appetite for Destruction”: Slash’s famed B.C. Rich Warlock – which once went missing for 30 years – is going up for auction (again)
The guitar, which was one of Slash’s most-used axes in the band’s early days, is expected to fetch $200K
Categories: General Interest
Guitar World deals of the week: get $500 off a Victory amp, a first-ever saving on a Fender Ultra II, plus all the week's best deals on guitar gear
Your guide to the best savings on guitar gear from all corners of the web
Categories: General Interest
“I compared the two and the $140 Squier Telecaster, to me, sounded better”: Why Skunk Baxter chose to buy a beginner guitar over a “bazillion” dollar vintage Telecaster
Baxter pitted the two guitars against each other during a trip to Guitar Center – and there was a clear winner
Categories: General Interest
“Page must be mental giving away such a terrific guitar as this”: 50 years ago, Jimmy Page gave a guitar away for free in a magazine competition – now it's expected to fetch over $67,000 at auction
The 1957 Gretsch Chet Atkins 6120 was originally bought by Page in Nashville, back in 1972
Categories: General Interest
“Everything is set as loud as it can go without collapsing. All my heroes played loud – Clapton played loud, Jimi Hendrix played loud”: Joe Bonamassa breaks down his epic onstage guitar rig – and why your volume control is a tonal superpower
Amid the mayhem of his European tour, Joe gives us a guided tour around his 2025 live gear and tells us why his mighty multi-amp rig has to be run at breaking point. All in the name of tone
Categories: General Interest