Get the holiday gear fires burning with the final installment of Guitar World’s Holiday Ultimate Gear Guide

Looking for the best new gear to make sure this holiday season is the merriest yet? Look no further than Guitar World’s Holiday Ultimate Gear Guide.

In this final installment, Guitar World’s Paul Riario and Alan Chaput select innovative  acoustics, tough-traveling gig bags and primo podcasting studios that are guaranteed to keep your music sizzling.

First up is Gibson’s Generation Collection G-45 acoustic, which features the company's revolutionary new Player Port sound hole. Located on the upper bout of the body, the Player Port projects sound up toward the player so that you can hear exactly what the audience is hearing like never before.

Gibson G-45

(Image credit: Gibson)

The new G-45, like all the Generation guitars, is constructed in the Gibson acoustic facility in Bozeman, Montana. The acoustic features a solid Sitka spruce top and solid walnut back and sides on a slightly thinner, round shoulder body that’s super comfortable to hold and play.

Other features include a fast-playing Advanced Response utile neck and a striped ebony fingerboard with a flat 16-inch radius, TUSQ nut and bridge saddles, Grover Mini Rotomatic tuners and traditional scalloped X-bracing.

And if you need a new gig bag? Why not check out Gator’s ICON Series bags.

Gator ICON case

(Image credit: Gator)

Features include a weather-resistant exterior and a plush, micro-velvet interior with ergonomically-designed body blocks; reinforced front, back and side carry handles; and an exterior pop-out luggage tag and serialized QR code to help you keep track of your instrument during travel.

There’s also added foam footing on the heel of the bag and heavy-duty, padded backpack straps for maximum comfort for shoulders and back.

The ICON is available for electric, bass, dreadnought and 335-style guitars, and will keep your instrument safe so you can rock stress-free.

Finally, Paul and Alan introduce us to TASCAM’s Mixcast 4, your one-stop shop for all your podcast creation, live streaming, event production and voiceover needs.

TASCAM Mixcast 4

(Image credit: TASCAM)

The Mixcast 4 allows you to mix and record mic inputs, internal sounds and music via the system’s trigger pads, as well as external audio input from a phone or PC, and there’s an internal 14-track recorder that records directly to an SD card, so you can just plug in and start recording.

Features include four TRS/XLR combo jack mic inputs and four headphone outputs, as well as auto-mixing functionality and the ability to scroll menus and adjust settings via a five-inch color touchscreen.

There’s also eight customizable sound pads, eight large channel faders with mute and solo buttons on each channel, talkback and mark buttons and much, much more.

The result is new-school functionality in a classic design.

To find out more about the TASCAM Mixcast 4 all this amazing gear, check out the video above.

Richard Bienstock

Rich is the co-author of the best-selling Nöthin' But a Good Time: The Uncensored History of the '80s Hard Rock Explosion. He is also a recording and performing musician, and a former editor of Guitar World magazine and executive editor of Guitar Aficionado magazine. He has authored several additional books, among them Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck, the companion to the documentary of the same name.