Articles by Joe Charupakorn
Looks Like a Rock Machine, But Delivers Much, Much More
April 23, 2020
Flashy mid-priced solidbody covers the heavy sounds, country tones, and the acres in between. The PG Chapman ML3 Review.
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Eric Johnson on Breaking Patterns to Play with More Freedom
April 9, 2020
On the road during his EJ Vol. II tour, the guitar giant talks about the rewards of varying technique, acoustic versus electric playing, balancing spontaneity and perfectionism, why he chose the pickups for his new “Virginia” signature Strat, and owning the first guitar he ever heard.
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Dean Thoroughbred Select Quilt Top TCS: The Premier Guitar Review
February 18, 2020
Flashy and fabulously playable, this single-cut boasts a surprising number of tonal personalities.
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Peavey Invective.MH Review
November 6, 2019
Misha Mansoor’s own mini head is as savage as you want it to be, with a less rowdy side that surprises.
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Ramble FX Kismet Review
September 29, 2019
Many shades of dirty bliss are to be had in this highly tailorable and expression-pedal-enabled overdrive.
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TWA MM-01 MiniMorph Review
September 6, 2019
An envelope overdrive that can go from filthy fuzzy to faux Moog filter freakouts.
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Boss EQ-200 Review
September 2, 2019
Behold the transformative power of 10 frequency bands and four presets!
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Mad Professor Double Moon Review
August 31, 2019
Eleven modulation modes in a small, simple, great-sounding package.
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Alexi Laiho: Can’t Stop, Won’t Stop
June 18, 2019
The “Wildchild” brings back his neoclassical influences and takes a catchier songwriting approach on Children of Bodom’s 10th studio release, Hexed.
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Victory V4 The Kraken Review
June 18, 2019
Packaging the Kraken amp’s preamp in a stompbox yields a flexible, malleable, and monstrous high-gain machine.
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Abasi Concepts Pathos Review
May 14, 2019
An uncommonly articulate and detailed high-gain machine.
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Sarah Longfield: Tapper’s Delight
February 19, 2019
An emerging guitar star brings two-handed tapping into a brave new world of melody and texture. And yes, she shreds, too.
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Is Erik Rutan Death Metal’s Renaissance Man?
February 7, 2019
With ultra-high action, a scalding tone, a jackhammer rhythm hand, classical melody and dynamics, and mad production skills, the guitarist scales his personal “Mount Everest.”
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Hughes & Kettner Black Spirit 200 Review
February 7, 2019
Solid-state circuitry makes this programmable powerhouse light, and super-flexible, too.
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Caparison Horus-M3 CC Review
December 24, 2018
Courtney Cox’s signature shred machine extracts shreddy versatility from a streamlined control set.
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MXR EVH 5150 Chorus Review
November 26, 2018
Eddie’s chorus pedal is full of idiosyncrasies and interesting tonal surprises.
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Revv G3 Review
August 30, 2018
Metal-melting high-gain tones are the tip of the iceberg in Revv’s purple amp-inspired monster stomp.
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Seymour Duncan Silver Lake Review
August 28, 2018
Dynamic response makes a dynamite reverb.
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Fantastic Negrito: The Real Punk Blues
August 16, 2018
With a right hand he calls “the Claw” and a pawnshop guitar jones, this blues-fueled 2017 Grammy-winner sticks to basic riffs and the truth on his second album, Please Don’t Be Dead.
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