Latest articles by Jonathan Horsley
“At full bore, it’s brilliant fun for doomy metal riffs and speaker-blowing Stooges-style punk”: Beetronics Tuna Can Fuzz Pedal review
Vintage fuzz tones from an actual tuna can that will leave you hungry for more
Martin unveils 7-string Johnny Marr signature acoustic with an an octave G string for added jangle
The M7 Johnny Marr is one seriously cool Grand Auditorium with an East Indian rosewood back and sides, solid spruce on top, and there is a six-string version available too
“It breaks up in the perfect place”: Supro teams up with Tyler Bryant for signature tube combo
Lots of headroom, lots of mojo, and a whopping bass response, Bryant's new combo is a 1x12 powerhouse “you can be down right rude with”
Kirk Hammett has a second vintage Les Paul once owned by Gary Moore that Moore preferred to Greeny
The Metallica lead guitarist offers Mark Agnesi a tour of his epic guitar collection on GibsonTV, with a coffee table book to follow. But will we ever see his ESP KH-1 with the onboard theremin?
Kenny Wayne Shepherd on what people get wrong about Dumble amps and why the clones don’t measure up
Shepherd is a long-standing user of Alexander ‘Howard’ Dumble’s amps and was a friend of the late amp guru. Here he discusses amps’ mythical status and salutes the man who made them
“It still buzzes”: Brian May reveals the mods he made to his £10 acoustic for Queen’s debut album
Recently reissued and “rebuilt”, Queen’s 1973 debut was a time of learning and experimentation for the band, with May customising a cheapo acoustic for one of the coolest tones on the record
Fender unveils $20,000 Custom Shop Masterbuilt replica of John Frusciante’s 1962 Stratocaster
Masterbuilt by Paul Waller, featuring pickups hand-wound by Abigail Ybarra and an Ilitch Electronics onboard hum-cancelling system, Frusciante’s Stratocaster is the Custom Shop at the height of its powers
Third Man and Eventide unveil the Knife Drop, an octave-fuzz and synth pedal ft. Jack White presets
This unholy union of octave-fuzz and analogue synth combines Third Man's radicalism with Eventide Audio's functionality, and might just be the wild card your pedalboard has been waiting for
Fender unveils the Champion II series, a trio of affordable modelling combos with onboard effects
Priced from $129, the Champion II series presents a dozen or more amp voicings in 1x8, 1x12, and 2x12 formats, with effects including reverb, delay and echo, chorus, tremolo and Vibratone
Cort unveils the KX700 TT, a high-end S-style with True Temperament frets for on-point intonation
Intonation, intonation, intonation... This top-tier electric is for the tuning freaks and players with minds open enough to give the curved-fret True Temperament tech a go
Abasi Concepts unveils the Micro-Aggressor, a boost-style compressor promising low-end clarity
The Micro-Aggressor features dual-compressor circuits running in parallel and has a tilt EQ for adding top-end clarity or thickness and warmth to taste
PRS unveils limited edition black limba and swamp ash CE models with eight-position pickup switching
As the man whose name on the headstock says, these are "player's guitars" – a pair of top-tier bolt-ons with limited edition tonewoods and a huge array of tones from its 85/15 pickups
Roland Orzabal and Curt Smith on Tears For Fears’ restless creativity and the beauty of independence
Orzabal and Smith talk collaboration, high-concept pop-rock production and songwriting chemistry, and why they've never been just a “couple of guys with synths and a backing tape”
Queen hated the drum sound on their debut so much that they “augmented” every beat for its reissue
Their eponymous debut is a stone-cold rock classic but Queen have never been happy with its sound, especially Taylor’s drums. For its “rebuilt” and renamed reissue, they forensically applied digital tech to transform the sound of each individual drum hit
EVH Gear’s Star TOM is a single-pickup shred machine with kill-switch and classic Van Halen vibes
No whammy bar? No problem. This super-aggressive shape presents a high-performance platform for rock and metal. And who wouldn’t want an arcade-style red button for a kill-switch?
Boss promises a “universe” of tones from the small but mighty GX-10 amp modeller and multi-effects
It’s the GX-100, only smaller, and it has 23 guitar amp models, nine bass amps, and 170 different effects to choose from – plus there’s MIDI, an effects loop, IR support, optional Bluetooth and more
Line 6 serves up a compact $179 high-gain treat for metal players with the POD Express Black
The POD Express Black packs top-quality Helix amp models and effects in a convenient feature-packed stompbox that can be powered by AA batteries and delivers totally crushing tones
Monster Dual Rectifier tones in a compact pedal? Universal Audio unveils the UAFX Knuckles ’92
The Dual Rectifier shaped an era of rock and metal tone and the Knuckles '92 Rev F Dual Rec Amplifier pedal brings its Metallica and Foo Fighters-approved firepower to your pedalboard
Gibson unveils stunning $19,999 Murphy Lab replica of Jimmy Page’s 1964 SJ-200 acoustic guitar
The Murphy Lab has been turned loose on a limited run of two super-collectible acoustics inspired by the SJ-200 that Page played on Led Zeppelin’s debut album
JHS Pedals unveils Flight Delay, an easy-to-use stompbox with analogue, digital and reverse delays
Available in blue or white, Flight Delay draws inspiration from three stompbox classics and is designed to offer these sounds in an easy-to-use package. No faffing around with an LED screen here
“The ultimate weapon for metal guitarists”: Blackstar unveils Series One MK II 100W tube amp head
After more than 30 updates to the circuit and channel voicings, Blackstar's flagship high-gain amp is here, and it's equipped with power scaling, MIDI connectivity, effects loop, and more zero "unwanted fizz"
Epiphone and Tak Matsumoto strike gold with 1955 Les Paul Standard based on his vintage original
This Epiphone x Gibson Custom shop collaboration is liberally finished in Antique Gold and features USA Burstbucker Pros, but it’s only available in Japan and from the Gibson Garages
Joe Bonamassa reveals the secret to tube amp consistency on tour and he “nicked it” from Angus Young
Tube amps are like fine wine; they often don’t travel well. But a power gizmo designed for clinical settings keeps Bonamassa’s epic touring rig in top form
Fractal packs “over 400” effects from the Axe-Fx III into its compact VP4 ‘Virtual Pedalboard’
The Fractal VP4 stakes a claim for pedalboard supremacy offering players hundreds of sounds in an easy-to-use format, 104 user configurable presets, and a signal path that can be populated by up to four effects simultaneously,
