Phil Weller
A freelance writer with a penchant for music that gets weird, Phil is a regular contributor to Prog, Guitar World, and Total Guitar magazines and is especially keen on shining a light on unknown artists. Outside of the journalism realm, you can find him writing angular riffs in progressive metal band, Prognosis, in which he slings an 8-string Strandberg Boden Original, churning that low string through a variety of tunings. He's also a published author and is currently penning his debut novel which chucks fantasy, mythology and humanity into a great big melting pot.
Latest articles by Phil Weller

How a video game about a cult led by a lamb united 5 of today’s greatest metal players in a quest for brutality
By Phil Weller published
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
By Phil Weller published
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
By Phil Weller published
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
By Phil Weller published
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
By Phil Weller published
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
By Phil Weller published
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
By Phil Weller published
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
By Phil Weller published
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
By Phil Weller published
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”
By Phil Weller published
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
By Phil Weller published
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
By Phil Weller published
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
By Phil Weller published
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
By Phil Weller published
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
By Phil Weller published
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
By Phil Weller published
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?
By Phil Weller published
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
By Phil Weller published
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
By Phil Weller published
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
By Phil Weller published
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
By Phil Weller published
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

Nobels stuffs three chorus flavors into its tiny new pedal, the CHO-mini
By Phil Weller published
Skewed towards ’70s-style chorus effects, it comes with tap tempo functionality, space-saving housing, and an affordable price tag

Celestion’s ear-saving Peacekeeper speaker lets you dial in the “sweet spot” of a driven amp at modest volumes
By Phil Weller published
The days of having to crank an amp to excessive levels to make it sing could soon be a thing of the past

How Spiro Dussias became shred’s next great hope – and ended up giving Dream Theater guitar lessons
By Phil Weller published
One of 2024’s standout metal guitarists on what it’s like to be compared to Tosin Abasi, why nothing compares to his ESP Horizon, and how amp modeling is about to get crazy
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