Premier Guitar features affiliate links to help support our content. We may earn a commission on any affiliated purchases.

Gear of the Year 2017

Another year, another dazzling parade of pedals, guitars, amps, modelers, and accessories that made our noggins spin.

Spaceman Titan II

With their ’60s avionics-derived enclosures and top-quality builds, Spacemen effects have become objects of lust for many fuzz fetishists. But the real appeal in Spaceman’s pedals is an audible originality, and that quality shows through brightly in the Titan II. Loud and gainy, the Titan II is less nuanced than some Spaceman effects, but it still successfully carves out it’s own beautifully fuzzy sonic niche.

$249 street
spacemaneffects.com

Click here to read the full review

This year’s Premier Gear Award winners are, as usual, an eclectic set—full of old-school vintage homage, leading-edge digital developments, and imaginative meetings of those worlds. Dig in and dig it as we revisit the gear that fired the enthusiasm and wonder of our editors and contributors in 2017.

Analog modulation guided by a digital brain willing to get weird.

Fun, fluid operation. Capable of vintage-thick textures at heavier gain settings. High headroom for accommodating other effects.

MIDI required to access more than one preset—which you’ll probably long for, given the breadth of voices.

$369

Kernom Elipse

kernom.com

4.5
4.5
4
4

If you love modulation—and lots of it—you can eat up a lot of pedalboard space fast. Modulation effects can be super-idiosyncratic and specialized, which leads to keeping many around, particularly if you favor the analog domain. TheKernom Elipse multi-modulator is pretty big and, at a glance, might not seem the best solution for real estate scarcity. Yet the Elipse is only about 1 1/4" wider than two standard-sized Boss pedals side by side. And by combining an analog signal path with digital control, it makes impressive, efficient use of its size—stuffing fine-sounding harmonic tremolo, phaser, rotary-style, chorus, vibrato, flanger, and Uni-Vibe-style effects into a single hefty enclosure. Many of the effects can also be blended and morphed into one another using a rotary control aptly called “mood.” The Elipse, most certainly, has many of those.

Read MoreShow less
- YouTube

An easy guide to re-anchoring a loose tuning machine, restoring a “lost” input jack, refinishing dinged frets, and staunching a dinged surface. Result: no repair fees!

This late-’90s Masterbilt was made to mimic the feeling and look of vintage luxury.

Photo by Madison Thorn

This collaborative effort between Japanese and American guitar builders aimed for old-school quality without breaking the bank.

I recently called a rideshare to pick me up from the airport and was surprised when the driver pulled up in a Jaguar. I’d never been in one and was stunned at how quiet it was, and how the backseat was as comfortable as a living room couch, but retained a refined look. This 1998 Masterbilt prototype reminds me of that airport ride.

Read MoreShow less

Unleash your inner metal icon with the Jackson Lee Malia LM-87, a high-performance shred-ready axe designed in collaboration with Bring Me The Horizon guitarist Lee Malia. Featuring custom Jackson signature pickups, a fast D-profile neck, and a TOM-style bridge for rock-solid stability, this signature model is a must-have for commanding metal tone and smooth playability.

Read MoreShow less