
Jonathan Horsley
Jonathan Horsley has been writing about guitars and guitar culture since 2005, playing them since 1990, and regularly contributes to MusicRadar, Total Guitar and Guitar World. He uses Jazz III nylon picks, 10s during the week, 9s at the weekend, and shamefully still struggles with rhythm figure one of Van Halen’s Panama.
Latest articles by Jonathan Horsley

“To lead Fender is the honour of a lifetime”: Fender announces Edward “Bud” Cole as its new CEO
By Jonathan Horsley published
Cole will replace Andy Mooney, who is stepping down after a successful decade at the company
![John Mayer [left] plays his signature PRS Silver Sky live onstage in 2025. George Harrison plays a Les Paul during a 1975 live performance.](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/4njaLNzrwJVuLTKZcxrnka-320-80.jpg)
Don Was on how John Mayer “might” be even better than George Harrison – but they definitely have one thing in common
By Jonathan Horsley published
The producer of Sob Rock says Mayer is the best arranger he has ever worked with – and he has the late Beatle’s gift for creating guitar sounds that transform a song

Victory Amps reimagines the $5k+ MK Overdrive as a 50W lunchbox head – and it's a fraction of the price
By Jonathan Horsley published
It's smaller, lighter and a heck of a lot cheaper but the MKX still has three channels, two reverbs, dual master volumes, effects loop, power scaling and more

Myles Kennedy on why karaoke “terrifies” him, the secret to a perfect take – and the hardest Guns N’ Roses song to sing
By Jonathan Horsley published
The man with the best pipes in rock and metal checks in to talk monastic vocal preservation, the challenges of Axl’s range, and that "magic mic" Paul Reed Smith gave Mark Tremonti

“I turn this thing on, I don’t want to stop playing”: Keeley Electronics has made Andy Timmons fall in love with reverb with his new signature Nocturne pedal
By Jonathan Horsley published
Robert Keeley gives reverb the Halo treatment for an all-new signature reverb that has officially made a convert of Timmons

It’s official! Neural DSP’s John Mayer Archetype plugin suite is here – and with Dumble, Klon and Reverberator captures, it is the motherlode for boutique electric guitar tone
By Jonathan Horsley published
Neural DSP bags its most high-profile artist yet and present players with a cornucopia of gourmet tone options

Paul McCartney's favourite bass company is in trouble – Höfner's future uncertain as it files provisional insolvency proceedings
By Jonathan Horsley published
The German brand behind McCartney's iconic 500/1 Violin Bass has been in existence since its founding by Karl Höfner in 1887

Burned out recording vocals? Myles Kennedy shares his top for getting the perfect take
By Jonathan Horsley published
Kennedy says Alter Bridge producer Michael 'Elvis' Baskette knows his voice better than anyone and has worked out how to get it sounding 100 per cent on record

Joe Walsh on the best guitar solo he ever recorded (and how it officially made the talk box a thing)
By Jonathan Horsley published
How a fateful night at a Nashville party gave Walsh the sound he was looking for, and an all-new sound for rock guitar

Harley Benton just put a Vega-Trem on YouTuber Carlos Asensio's $700 signature guitar: is this the best-value S-style on the market?
By Jonathan Horsley published
HSS Tesla pickups with coil-split, roasted maple neck, rolled fingerboard edges, Luminlay side markers... this is on tricked-out S-style – and then you have the Vega-Trem

"It’s just the most emotive piece of music": Alter Bridge's Mark Tremonti on the greatest guitar solo of all time
By Jonathan Horsley published
Like what, 99.99 per cent of players, the Alter Bridge and Creed guitarist looks for patterns on the fretboard, but alternate tunings set him free from reaching for the same old notes when soloing

Electro-Harmonix and JHS Pedals team up for a Big Muff based on schematic that had been lying forgotten for 50 years
By Jonathan Horsley published
While researching a book on the history of EHX, Josh Scott found a 50-year-old schematic from Big Muff inventor Bob Myer. He took it to the breadboard and now it's here... The Big Muff 2

Seymour Duncan teams up with Dino Cazares for signature Machete humbuckers – and their versatility might surprise you
By Jonathan Horsley published
Available for six or seven-string guitars, the Machete is the same high-powered heavy-hitter Cazares uses in his signature Ormsby guitar, and is all about power and clarity

Crazy Tube Circuits squeezes out another sweet twofer with the Orama preamp/fuzz pedal
By Jonathan Horsley published
One classic British amp-in-a-box circuit, one '90s boutique fuzz, two footswitches and countless tones to explore, the Orama is CTC's "vision in gain" and it looks (and sounds) mighty fresh

Brian May just got Tony Iommi the best Christmas present ever
By Jonathan Horsley published
Talk about doing Christmas shopping early? May's gift was two years in the making, and it's a big one – Queen meets Black Sabbath on a Red Special replica with a signature Iommi twist

Strymon debuts Series A analogue pedals range with the Fairfax – a “chameleon” drive that can “breathe fire”
By Jonathan Horsley published
The Fairfax Class A Output Stage Drive replicates the old-school mojo of the vintage Garnet Amplifiers' Herzog tube drive, and is the first release in Strymon's new Series A range of analogue pedals

DOD reimagines a Gary Moore overdrive favourite as the Badder Monkey – think the DigiTech Green Monkey, only badder
By Jonathan Horsley published
DOD creates the king of the pedalboard swingers, combining the original Bad Monkey circuit with two new drive circuits, and some truly bananas ways of blending them all

Davey Johnstone on guitar shopping with Elton John – and how he ended up with his iconic Les Paul Custom
By Jonathan Horsley published
Johnstone says some of his best guitars came via the kindness of Elton John as he recalls one surreal day in the legendary NYC gear institution Manny's and the unexpected gift of a Clapton Strat

Tom Morello’s favourite 'Arm the Homeless' electric guitar has just been recreated by Fender
By Jonathan Horsley published
We have all seen this guitar. We have all heard it. Now we can buy it, and it has the same off-brand build and graphic finish as the original

“If I sit down with a Dumble, the last thing I’m going to do is do any kind of fast techniques”: Mark Tremonti on why he is addicted to Dumble amps
By Jonathan Horsley published
The Alter Bridge and Creed guitarist's love for Dumbles underlines the importance of choosing the right amp for your style

“Nobody can play better than that guy, man!”: Steve Morse on the supernatural powers of Petrucci, Johnson and Blackmore
By Jonathan Horsley published
His new Steve Morse Band album Triangulation is an audacious work of instrumental rock

Dirty Boy turns the tables on guitar’s digital revolution with an all-analogue preamp pedal inspired by a plugin
By Jonathan Horsley published
SilverBOY is fully wired for sound and presents players with a high-functioning preamp pedal with all mod cons, proving that the inspiration between pedals and plugins can go both ways

EVH Gear turns “holy grail” Eddie Van Halen amp Hypersonic with super-lightweight 5150III 6L6 digital modelling combo
By Jonathan Horsley published
The three-channel 50W monster is a super lightweight combo that is easy on your back while showing no quarter with its high-gain tone, and EVH Gear says its faithful to the original tube amp

Adrian Belew on how he and Seymour Duncan made one of the first relic’d guitars
By Jonathan Horsley published
The prog guitar icon has posted new pics taken by Seymour Duncan that show off their handiwork as they turned Belew's new Strat into a relic and started guitar's most controversial trend

Electro-Harmonix presents 100-watts of solid-state power in a compact guitar amp head weighing just 2.5lbs
By Jonathan Horsley published
An amp you can throw into a backpack, the ABRAMS100 is a single-channel head with digital spring reverb, 3-band EQ, Bright switch and effects loop and it has ample clean headroom
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