As we settle into the New Year, we’re looking forward to sharing with you the latest reviews of some of the best guitar gear available. Here’s a quick look at what lies ahead in the coming months…
Gibson SG Special
This early ’60s-style SG Special has the vibe and sound heard on countless classic-rock recordings. Features include a comfortable SlimTaper mahogany neck, a bound rosewood fingerboard, two P-90 pickups, a three-way toggle switch and hand-wired controls with Orange Drop capacitors.
The SG Special is available in Vintage Cherry and Ebony gloss nitrocellulose lacquer finishes, and comes with a hardshell case.
Dean Custom Run #16 ML
The long-awaited limited Dean Custom Run returns with number 16. This ML in sandblasted grey has a swamp-ash body, a three-piece mahogany neck with 24 jumbo frets, an Evertune bridge and Fishman Fluence Moderns in black chrome. The production run is limited to 100 pieces.
Ernie Ball Music Man Majesty Hydrospace
Limited to just 175 six-string models and 75 seven-string models, the John Petrucci signature Majesty Hydrospace features a carved quilt top and alder back and sides, with matching flame-maple headstock.
The three-piece Honduran mahogany/flamed-maple neck is visible through a translucent gloss-blue finish on the back and has 24 stainless-steel frets and blue-pearlescent fretboard inlays.
Electronics include a piezo-bridge pickup system and DiMarzio Dreamcatcher (bridge) and Rainmaker(neck) pickups. The guitar includes a John Petrucci autographed backplate and comes with a certificate of authenticity.
Cort G300 Pro
The G300 Pro is the new flagship model in Cort’s G Series. Features include 24 jumbo stainless-steel frets, an Ergo-V roasted-maple neck with a compound-radius roasted maple fretboard, Luminlay side dots, an American basswood body with 1⁄4-inch maple cap, Seymour Duncan humbuckers, staggered locking tuners, a solid-steel-block CFA-III tremolo and a Graph Tech Black TUSQ nut. It’s available in Vivid Burgundy and Black.
Peavey VYPYR X Series
The new lightweight and portable VYPYR X2 and X3 combos are packed with features like variable instrument input, instrument models, universal delay and reverb, analog TransTube distortion, an onboard looper, Bluetooth remote control and audio streaming in.
The amps have 12 stompbox effects with dual parameter control, 36 onboard amp models (including six acoustic and six bass amp models) and 26 onboard amp-accessible effects.
The custom-voiced speakers are designed for amp modeling, and the custom cabinet is built for enhanced low-end response, with a semi-open back that delivers enhanced volume and tone. The amps feature a headphone jack for private and late-night sessions and a 3.5mm aux input for connecting external audio sources.
S.I.T. Strings American Roots Monel Acoustic Strings
The new American Roots Monel Acoustic Strings use a blend of nickel and copper that’s formulated to produce a warmer tone and bring out the natural sound of your acoustic instrument. The strings are available in Pro Light, Light and Medium sets.
AmpliTube X-DRIVE Distorton, X-SPACE Reverb, X-TIME Delay and X-VIBE Modulation
Each of AmpliTube’s four new X-GEAR pedals features 16 effects drawn from the most popular AmpliTube models and all-new reverb and delay algorithms. All come with an exclusive virtual X-GEAR version of the exact same effects, so you can use the virtual versions with AmpliTube 5 (SE version included) to record and tweak settings and save as presets on the matching X-GEAR pedal.
X-DRIVE features algorithms drawn from the most popular AmpliTube models and 50 presets. The effects include distortion, overdrive and fuzz models based on the Marshall Guv’nor, Boss MT-2, Ibanez Tube Screamer, Roger Mayer Octavia, Arbiter Fuzz Face and other classic pedals.
X-SPACE has 16 all-new reverb algorithms and 50 presets, including Chamber, Church, Hall, Room, Plate, Gate and Reverse. X-TIME provides 16 all-new delay algorithms and 50 presets, including Analog Delay, Slapback, Ping-Pong, Reverse, Swell and more.
X-VIBE has 16 all-new modulation algorithms and 50 presets that include ’80s Chorus, Rotary, Tremolo, and models based on the ’60s Univox Uni-Vibe, Foxx Phaser, MXR Flanger, Electro-Harmonix Small Stone and more. Each pedal features MIDI and a USB port that lets you use the pedal as a recording interface.
ESP LTD Alexi Ripped
One of the final two Signature Series models designed by the late Alexi Laiho, and the first of the artist’s signature models to include a neck pickup, the Alexi Ripped is built on a 25.5-inch scale and has neck-through-body construction with alder body wings.
It features a three-piece thin U-shaped maple neck with natural satin finish, 24 extra-jumbo frets, and a Macassar ebony fingerboard (scalloped from frets 19 to 24) with sawtooth inlays and glow-in-the-dark side markers.
The pickups are an EMG HZ F-H2 passive humbucker (bridge) and an EMG HZ S2 passive stacked-single-coil (neck), and hardware includes Grover tuners and a double-locking Floyd Rose 1000 bridge.
The Alexi Ripped has a Purple Fade Satin finish with painted black-satin “ripped” pinstripes, with matching back and sides, and includes a deluxe ESP hardshell case.
PRS McCarty 594 Singlecut Joe Walsh Limited Edition
Limited to 200 pieces worldwide, this special electric guitar features a maple top, mahogany back, and a bound 24.594-inch scale mahogany neck with a Brazilian rosewood fretboard and 22 frets. Electronics include PRS 58/15 LT+ pickups.
