Latest articles by Phil Weller
Adrian Belew recovering after undergoing carpal tunnel surgery
The “world-renowned” surgeon who took charge of the surgery is a King Crimson fan
Tosin Abasi’s playing is now available in Garage Band and Logic thanks to a high-profile new producer pack
The guitar innovator has lent his creative force to a versatile pack of 170 loops available exclusively on Apple’s DAWs
How a video game about a cult led by a lamb united 5 of today’s greatest metal players in a quest for brutality
Scott LePage, Javier Reyes, Matt Heafy, Sean Long and Josh Baines reflect on sharing a record with elite shredders, how new gear discoveries shaped its direction, and the joys of scoring video games
Adrian Smith reveals what convinced him to ditch Les Pauls for Jacksons
The Iron Maiden guitarist is one of the luthier’s longest-serving artists – he explains how its founder’s diligence inspired him to make the jump
Pigtronix shrinks down its ethereal ambient reverb pedal into a smaller, but no less interstellar, Cosmosis 1
The space-aged high-fidelity reverb retains its trippy magic, but now comes in a single footswitch package
Suhr’s OSO Short Scale aims for the best of both – combining a Gibson-like scale length with a T-style body
Featuring a 24.625" scale length and the best of Suhr’s specs, the high-end guitar has already won over Mateus Asato
Fender eyes up the iRig with the Link I/O interface – a studio-grade audio interface that can fit in your pocket
High-fidelity recording, streamlined controls, and a meager price tag finds Fender aiming to win the hearts of traveling riff writers
Donner’s Hush-X was lauded as the ultimate affordable travel guitar – now it’s been given a major upgrade
Lightweight and tonally versatile with onboard tones and effects, the Hush-X Pro shows the Chinese firm is continuing to push the envelope
Tim Henson says he put Ernie Ball’s skills to the test with his new signature string and accessory set
The Ernie Ball Tim Henson Signature String and Accessory Collection features strings for electric and classical guitars, with both sets primed for his unique style
Orange debuts the O Tone 40 – a “ludicrously loud” solid-state combo that promises to be a dream pedalboard platform
The 40-watt single-channel combo is built to be painted on top of with effects, and it wants to be your next “workhorse” amp
After years of waiting, Jacob Collier’s wild five-string Strandberg has hit the market
Melding Strandberg’s ergonomic headless guitar designs with Collier’s perception challenging D A E A D tuning, the guitar is one of the most intriguing guitar concepts in years
The Fart Pedal Number Two has dropped – and it’s promising “10 times the splooty blompers”
Players can now turn their guitars into more tonally accurate farts, as the new pedal adds fan-requested features to the original’s steaming pile...
Sterling by Music Man serves up an affordable take on Tosin Abasi’s Kaizen, plus Rabea Massaad and Fluff signature guitars
The wait for mid-priced versions of some of Ernie Ball Music Man’s most innovative signature models is now over – although not without some significant tweaks...
Fender sprinkles a little pizzazz onto its Player II guitars with a limited edition Sparkle Series
An all-new Three-Color Sunburst finish with a classy sparkle finish sees Strats, Tele, and Precision and Jazz bass builds get an $899 makeover
Harley Benton doubles down on the Fender Tom DeLonge Strat, with this Blink-style dual-humbucker build
The budget gear firm loads up its alder/maple strat copy with high-gain humbuckers with split coil functions for a new tonal take on its ST-Modern Plus Series
Fender reveals its most affordable Acoustasonic builds yet – in the form of the $599 Standard
Made in Indonesia and featuring Fender and Fishman designed electronics, the release brings Fender’s cutting-edge electric-acoustic well under the $1,000 mark
Marshall reimagines the JCM900 as the Studio 900 – condensing its gain and growl into a portable, practice-friendly unit
The high-gain JCM900 has been remodeled for the compact format with 20-watt amp switchable to reduced 5W and 1W levels to adapt to its environment
Marshall makes a play for the amp-in-a-box market, bringing authorized takes on Plexi, DSL and JCM tones to your pedalboard
Blending classic Marshall tones with “modern convenience,” the Overdrive Series pedals represent a bold new era for the legendary British firm
ESP goes all-in on single-pickup builds for 2025 – is the neck humbucker becoming a thing of the past for metal guitars?
The Japanese luthier has dropped 28 new models, with half of those featuring single-pickup designs as it reflects changing trends in the metal guitar scene
Orange launches “studio-grade and gig-ready” Baby Range – three affordable, compact heads that downsize classic Orange tones
NAMM 2025: The three amps are travel-friendly and offer versatile tone-sculpting features for the studio and the stage
Spiritbox’s Mike Stringer to raffle off his gear in support of L.A. wildfires relief
Stringer reveals that the wildfires have affected the band on a personal level, as bassist Josh Gilbert lost his home to the fires
Sterling by Music Man brings six high-end builds to affordable price ranges – covering guitars and basses
From the EVH-rooted Axis and the Cutlass, to a collaborative Darkglass bass, the Ernie Ball-owned firm is serving up cut-price versions of fan favorites
Magneto takes its Sonnet six-string to new heights and launches its first-ever bass
The one-two release is set to be rolled out in May, with its upgraded Strat-a-like and short-scale bass set to be showcased at NAMM 2025
