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UNCOVERED: 2 | History Defined

The ultimate guide to guitar amps: from vintage vacuum tubes to modeling marvels

Everything you need to know about the tech, tones, and tools that define your sound

Guitar World

“It quietly became the working guitarist’s secret weapon”: 10 sleeper guitar amps that deserve legendary status

From overlooked British combos to U.S. workhorses, these may not have the Plexi's prestige, but they deliver world-class tone for players willing to look beyond the obvious

Guitar World

“The Mega channel has played a major role in heavy guitar tones since the early ’90s”: How the Diezel VH4 conquered metal, won fans in Metallica, Tool and Muse – and impressed John Fogerty too

Launched in ’92, the almighty four-channel beast completed a banner year for the high-gain tube amp

Guitar World

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read the most diverse news in one place.

“Some kid begged to get backstage. He had a guitar. He said it was his grandmother’s, and that she'd kept it under the bed…” Sheryl Crow was devastated when her favorite guitar was stolen – a year later, a fan gave her a life-changing gift

Its arrival coincided with Crow's breakout success and has remained at her side ever since

Guitar World

“They’re not just relics of the past. They are benchmarks”: The holy grail of tone – three amps that built the sound of recorded guitar

From shimmering cleans to full throttle roar, these three classic amplifiers helped shape the sound of modern music and still define what great guitar tone means today

Guitar World

“Some of the guys made fun of it, but it ended up giving us our second Number 1”: Back to the Future made them a household name, now they needed a followup – the making of Huey Lewis and the News’ last big rock ’n’ roll guitar record

By 1986, the heat was on. The success of the Power of Love required an artistic statement and fast. Guitarist Chris Hayes looks back on the making of Fore!, when Huey Lewis and co rose to the challenge

Guitar World

“It sounds way bigger than it is”: Joe Bonamassa names his go-to studio amp – which he bought from Steven Seagal

The 1950s combo “roars” in the studio despite its compact size

Guitar World

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“I knew that he liked me, and he would call me on the phone. ‘Robben, what you doing!?’” Robben Ford on how playing with Miles Davis made him feel untouchable

Ford wasn't a jazz player when he joined up with Davis in 1986 but he would soon learn – and it give him a sense of self-confidence that's with him to this day

MusicRadar

“I spent so much time as a teenager just staring at this guitar”: Liquid Gold Teles, a $569 shred machine, bonkers synth pedals... here is all the gear that caught my eye this week – and the megabucks Flying V that changed Kirk Hammett's life

Fresh new drops from Charvel, Fender, Gibson, Gretsch and more...

Guitar World

“Those Fender Jazz basses sounded fantastic, but they scared the hell out of me”: Why bassist Paul Samwell-Smith chose a short-scale Epiphone for his “rave-ups” with the Yardbirds

The blues-rock opener from the band’s 1966 debut album showcases a standout example of Samwell-Smith’s fluid, freewheeling bass work

Guitar World

“Fender execs were miffed that the brand was being represented by such a worn-out Strat. They gave Rory a new one to replace the ’61. It saw little use”: The story of Rory Gallagher’s ’61 Stratocaster, one of the most iconic guitars of all time

The late bluesman's most famous guitar is a true relic in the original religious sense of the term: it was a part of Rory himself, a receptacle for his musical mojo and a dear friend that spent more time with him than most people

Guitar World

“We’ve been intensifying our efforts. We finally hit upon a recipe that we loved”: This new 75th Anniversary Telecaster features a genuine Fender first – and it could change the face of Teles to come

The Fastlane humbucker is Fender’s first-ever in-house rail humbucker – and you should expect to see a lot more of it…

Guitar World

“A vibey ‘Junior’ with a stylish boutique-y finish that’ll age with use”: PJD Origin Series Carey Apprentice and St John Apprentice review

It may appear stripped down and basic, but PJD’s new Origin Series Apprentice is sharply built – and seriously affordable. A new standard for affordable craft?

Guitar World

“I dream of him a lot – only the positive stuff. But the negative stuff hits me in reality. The night he joined, he said, ‘I haven’t learnt the songs’”: Francis Rossi on the Status Quo groove, Kempers, and his relationship with the late Rick Parfitt

The Quo’s motormouthed frontman had no intention of releasing a new solo album. But with The Accidental, Francis Rossi tells us he’s stumbled across his best work yet

Guitar World

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MusicRadar

Locking tuners, oiled ‘Speed’ neck, compound radius ‘board with rolled edges: Charvel’s hotrodded shred performance just got more affordable with the launch of the $569 Standard SD Series

The Standard Series T-styles are cut from the same cloth as their more expensive siblings and present aspiring shredders with a pair of high-output humbuckers and a no-fuss hardtail bridge

Guitar World

“The Telecaster is like the heart and soul of rock and roll music”: Fender celebrates 75 years of the Telecaster with 5 new models – including the return of a cult classic and some Tele firsts

From a 1951 Road Worn edition to the Big F’s first-ever dual rail humbucker, vintage and modern come together for a T-shaped birthday party

Guitar World

“I literally cried tears of joy”: After years of searching, YouTuber finally uncovers the identity of Kurt Cobain’s mystery In Utero amp

Guitarist and YouTuber Aaron Rash has been documenting his tonal quest for four years – now he’s discovered the amp that’s been driving him crazy

Guitar World

“I get up to the counter and the guy’s like, ‘Ah, you know what? I just don’t like that guitar. I’ll give it to you for a few hundred bucks’”: Cory Wong on not buying the Klon hype and vintage unicorns lost and found

The modern-day funk maestro discusses his career in gear, and that means Strats, creative gear solutions, and why he never got swayed by the “mystique” of Klons and tube amp grails

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Guitar World

“One of the coolest things we saw at Fender’s invite-only NAMM event”: All the guitar gear that has caught my eye this week – including the answer to all your modeler tone woes

Fresh new drops from Taylor, Fender, Gibson, Eastwood and more...

Guitar World

“Left-handed necks of that era typically say ‘Custom’ or ‘Special’ because they were so seldom made and used”: What Kurt Cobain’s record-breaking 1969 ‘Competition’ Mustang tells us about Fender’s guitar building in the ’60s

The student-model Fender that ignited grunge on the worldwide stage just sold for $6,907,000 as part of the Jim Irsay Collection

Guitar World

“A lot of deceptively clever craft, all presented in faultless style”: Duesenberg Starplayer CBR review

It’s been a while since we’ve dropped into the world of Duesenberg. German ingenuity, retro style and some big-name users – what’s not to like?

Guitar World

Who's the best guitar player you've ever seen live?

Did the best live guitar playing you've ever seen come from a hero you'd been dying to see for years? Or someone out of the blue, who you'd never heard before? Tell us the story!

Guitar World

“I was the only guy playing that guitar. It was their version of a semi-hollow”: How Robben Ford helped Fender design their short-lived answer to the ES-335

The short-lived build aimed to compete with one of Gibson's flagship models

Guitar World

“This guy comes over, leaning on me. He said, ‘I’m sorry my guitar is such a pain in the butt’”: That time Eddie Van Halen visited the EVH workshop while they were building the Wolfgang

Fender Master Builder Andy Hicks hadn’t been in the job long before he received a visit from the guitar great, who came to oversee the making of his signature

Guitar World

“I’ve spoken to a lot of people about it – many of them think it will make more this time around”: David Gilmour’s Black Strat could be about to break records all over again

It was the world's most expensive guitar when sold at auction in 2019, but as it goes under the hammer in the Jim Irsay Collection, there are a number of reasons to think it will claim another record

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