"In winter 2009, Mustaine was using his signature Dean VMNT with six-on-a-side tuners with Seymour Duncan signature Live Wire pickups. He also had a Dean Dave Mustaine VMNT Angel of Death model (left), Dean Dave Mustaine Zero (middle) and a Dean Dave Mustaine Double Neck (bottom)"
Attack—essentially the rate and intensity with which a note rises in volume from its point of creation—is one of the coolest musical expressions you can mess with. If you play an instrument from the violin family it’s a fundamental part of your vocabulary. It’s used frequently in synthesis to conjure spooky, low-gravity atmospherics, and it’s an essential tool for taking the front end off some psychotic Moog sound that might otherwise explode like a foghorn six inches from your ear.
Guitar players know the potential of this effect well too. Volume swells can drastically recast a guitar line—evokingreverse tape,pedal steel, and deep space. But doing it well is not easy. Even on guitars like theStratocaster that lend themselves to volume swells by design, it takes technique, practice, and usually a very flexible pinky finger to make it work right. Electro-Harmonix’s Swello, which has origins in the attack filter section of the POG2, can do a lot of that work for you. But it’s capable of more than simple swells, with the ability to generate envelope filter- and wah-like sounds, big synth-style pads that are ripe forlooping, and much stranger fare.
Swing in Smoothly
Though they can be mellowing, soft attack and volume swell effects aren’t always subtle. For many players that prize precise, immediate attack, they are anathema. Swello—especially in the sans-filter “green” mode—is great at backgrounding the effect and making it more subliminal. At the lowest attack levels, you can use Swello in a capacity similar to a compressor to soften picking irregularities. At slightly higher but still subtle settings, it imparts a beautiful legato quality to melodic lines—especially enchanting in understated or deeply ambient delay and reverb contexts. At much slower attack rates, it evokes lush pedal steel tones and remarkably natural volume pedal or cello-like effects. There’s a lot of range to explore in the attack control alone.
"Swello ’s capable of more than simple swells, with the ability to generate envelope filter- and wah-like sounds, big synth-style pads that are ripe for looping, and much stranger fare."
While the Swello’s control set is minimal, players without experience in synthesis or in using filters and envelopes with guitar may find them less than intuitive. This isn’t a shortcoming of the EHX design—it’s simply inherent to the complex interplay between filter and attack effects. If you start twisting knobs casually and with no particular intent you can end up with filter and attack combinations that make a guitar sound 30 feet underwater—if not altogether absent. So, it pays to move slowly though these controls, observe the sensitivities in their interactions and pay attention to how very small, incremental changes—as well as where you play on the fretboard—can alter the response and output. Though getting to your destination can be tricky and require patience, there are many surprises to find along the way.
Overtone Organizer
As a player that uses volume swells as both an expressive tool and crutch, I loved Swello’s very natural volume pedal and cello-like effects. But I also own a POG2 and treasure that pedal’s capacity to add -2-octave content to an upswelling tone. That can be a preposterously big sound with reverb (the low synth parts in Vangelis’ Blade Runner opening sequence and the Golden Gate Bridge foghorn at the distance of a couple miles are a couple handy points of reference). And there’s plenty of it here when you get a deep resonant peak, slow attack, and filter modulation working in sync, and hang out on the low strings.
As with the POG2, boosting the high frequencies can make the pedal sound less organic—and at times even a bit cloying. Some settings also introduce digital artifacts, most noticeable in the quackier, mid-forward envelope filter-style tones. These sounds can be fun, but they’re not the Swello’s strong suit (and may disappoint players that demand vintage Mu-Tron authenticity from envelope filters). That said, there are plenty of ways to use high-frequency emphasis for pleasant coloration and to shape the attack, and at many such settings the output is largely free of digital aftertaste.
The Verdict
Swello, as the name suggests, specializes in very cello-like volume swells that sound organic, and enable you to keep your fingers on the strings and your feet away from expression pedals. At less than $150, it’s a great value for the slow-attack effects alone. However, players who explore its compression-like dynamics and the vast, unconventional tones found at atypical filter frequency and modulation settings will discover that the Swello is far more than it appears—truly greater than the sum of its parts.
On November 14, 2025, I’ll be giving a presentation at the Royal College of Music in London. It’s in conjunction with a unique guitar they have on display: Kurt Cobain’s 1959 Martin D-18E, the one he played on MTV Unplugged. To honor the occasion, we’ve built a modern reproduction of that particular guitar for my friend Craig Thatcher to play at the event—because I don’t think they’ll let him play the original. (Yes, that one … the guitar that sold for $6 million at auction in 2020.)
MTV Unplugged: What a good idea that was! And talk about good timing. The 1980s were not a good time to be in the acoustic guitar business. My dad joined the family business in 1955, the year I was born. The mid-’50s were the era of the folk revival. Acoustic music was taking hold in coffeehouses and on college campuses. Thanks to bands like the Kingston Trio, folk music was becoming pop music.
By the early ’60s, demand for Martin guitars outstripped the capacity of our old factory on 10 West North Street in Nazareth, Pennsylvania. My dad convinced my grandfather that we needed a new factory to keep up with the boom. So in 1964 we opened the new plant at 510 Sycamore Street. What else happened in 1964? The British Invasion.
Yes, Bob Dylan went electric, but the acoustic guitar remained a mainstay on many folk-rock songs. Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young and others drove demand skyward. We couldn’t keep up. These were good times. Politics, the Vietnam War, and the fight for civil rights … it all gave the younger generation reasons to speak out and speak up, and the acoustic guitar became an integral part of that messaging.
By the late 1970s, music was changing. Disco was taking over. The Eagles were the last significant folk-rock supergroup. By the 1980s, it was tough going for acoustic guitars. Several of our smaller competitors closed their shops. Pointy electric guitars were flying off the shelves, thanks to hair metal. The Yamaha DX7 and other digital keyboards were everywhere.
“By the end of the 1990s, our production had increased fivefold compared to the start of the decade.”
Our business struggled. My dad retired and moved to Florida. I had just graduated from college and joined the family business full-time, at a difficult moment. My grandfather passed away in 1986, and at 31, I became CEO. I was scared. My dad had encumbered the company with a crushing level of debt. We were on the verge of bankruptcy. I wasn’t sure exactly what to do, but I was determined to not allow my multi-generational family business to disappear. We cut back expenses and focused on what we did best: flat-top acoustic guitars. One of my dad’s better decisions was to acquire a string company. String sales helped us survive those lean years.
One day, my friend and colleague Dick Boak walked into my office. “I got a call from MTV,” he said. “MTV? The rock video station?” I inquired. “Yes,” he replied. “Why did they call us?” I asked. “They have this idea,” Dick said. “They want to get rockers into the studio and have them play their famous songs on acoustic guitars.” Hmmm. Not a bad idea.
“Why did they call us?” “They weren’t sure if the rockers they were going to ask even had acoustic guitars,” he said. “And they’re going to film some shows in New York. Could they borrow some guitars from us if needed?” I looked at Dick and smiled. He took that as a “yes.”
MTV Unplugged launched in 1989. It started slowly. Initially, few people noticed. But it built momentum. In 1992, Eric Clapton recorded his Unplugged segment at Bray Studios in London, playing his 000-42 Martin. The subsequent album became a phenomenon, garnering multiple Grammys, selling millions of copies, and becoming the best-selling live album of all time.
In 1993, Nirvana performed one of Kurt Cobain’s last televised sets. After his death, MTV Unplugged in New York was released. It sold over 5 million copies and won a Grammy for Best Alternative Music Performance. As the momentum grew, our phones started to ring. And ring. Players were rediscovering how cool it is to hold a wooden box against their body and feel it vibrate as they played their favorite songs. The acoustic guitar was back. Thank you, MTV Unplugged. (Fun fact: Many of the guitars played on MTV Unplugged were actually plugged in!)
What started as a simple TV concept helped usher in a full-fledged acoustic revival. For Martin, it arrived just when we needed it most. By the end of the 1990s, our production had increased fivefold compared to the start of the decade. Sometimes, all it takes is a well-timed idea and a few beautifully-built guitars.
The gear that passed through our reviewer’s hands in 2025 was a thrillingly varied bunch. There were new takes on old friends, slimmed and shrunken evolutions of proven designs, and radical reinventions of the instrument we love and treasure so much. Join us as we review the guitars, pedals, amps, modelers and more that stood apart from the pack.
Keeley Zoma
Keeley chased one of the most perfect effect combinations—the tremolo and reverb from a black panel Fender amplifier—in the form of the Zoma. But the tremolo-and-reverb combo goes beyond mere black-panel flavors. There’s a versatile plate reverb setting, harmonic tremolo, and vibrato, too, and it’s all very straightforward and easy to use. Stereo capabilities take the lushness to another level if you choose, making the Zoma a standout in a class of pedals chasing magic Fender amp effects formulas.
Phil X’s signature drive and boost is not, at its foundation, a unique idea. But by making the boost and overdrive order switchable and adding flexible EQ controls, the PXO becomes more than the sum of its parts. It can make single coils sound as fat as humbuckers or add treble that burns. It’s a fantastic studio and stage tool—both for discovery and backline problem solving.
Over several decades, Gibson’s minimalist, more economical version of the Les Paul enabled a lot of players to own the fabled—but often expensive—solidbody. In this case, $1,599 might still feel a touch pricy, but reviewer Dave Hunter found the playability on our review model superb, and described the hotter-than-vintage-spec Burstbucker Pro pickups as extremely articulate.
The Schaeffer-Vega Diversity System isn’t exactly a household name—even among gear nerds. But as an early wireless system, its mild coloration became essential for Angus Young and Eddie Van Halen. The SVDS Boost reduces its inspiration to its essence, beautifully fattening every facet of a guitar’s output without favoring any particular frequency.
Many of Orange’s solid state amps in the Crush and Terror series have become staples of studios and the road. The Gain Baby, which is part of a trio of new “Baby” solid state offerings, is crushing in its own way. It also weighs just 6 1/2 lbs. Stuff it in the included shoulder bag and you have a highly portable monster that can deliver headroom and rage.
The Plethora X1 doesn’t do gain effects, but it covers just about everything else. It’s packed with models of TC’s signature delay, reverb, modulation, octave effects and more, plus access to the company’s star-studded Tone Print library. At just $159, it's a stellar value.
To resurrect one of the ’80s most essential tone machines in pedal form, the MXR team set their sights on the Rockman X100. They’ve recreated all four modes from the original: cln2 is the default setting, cln1 in the second position is EQ’d with a mid-boost, edge delivers moderate clipping, and dist is high-gain. Both distortion settings use the same hard-clipping LED diodes as the original. Preset compression and an analog chorus circuit add to the fun and nail the vibe.
No stranger to our Year in Gear list, Carr Amplifiers delivered again. The brand made the already spectacular Skylark lighter, but also added an EZ81 tube rectifier and a Hiwatt-inspired tone section from their equally awesome Bel-Ray. With a 2x6V6 power section, it’s no surprise that the Skylark Special has more than a hint of Fender Harvard and Princeton in its makeup. But the extra bit of British flavor, as well as the bass response from the 12" Celestion, make it a thrillingly versatile twist on the Fender formula.
The magic of the Barstow Bat is its ability to expand the Pro Co RAT’s traditional vocabulary to include 1960s-style fuzz realms, exploding lo-fi student-amp tones and extreme sounds spanning fat and blurry and hot and trebly. A 3-band EQ replaces the traditional filter knob on a RAT, extending its sound palette significantly—and in ways an old RAT could only hint at.
Some might find it hard to imagine Cory Wong without a Stratocaster. But in helping design the StingRay II, Wong not only deviated from the Strat template but delved into the realm of humbuckers. Our reviewer found the pickups warm and tight in the low end and more than articulate enough to accommodate Wong’s signature rhythm riffing. They’re also capable of smoky jazz tones and burly alt-rock rowdiness, making the StingRay II an axe for any mission.
The Jordan Boss Tone is one of the nastiest 1960s fuzz artifacts—check Big Brother and the Holding Company's Cheap Thrills for reference—and Barcelona’s Ananashead captured every bit of that potency in the Spirit Fuzz. The Spirit Fuzz isn’t exclusively mean—it can be smooth and mysterious, too. And while it really loves humbuckers, it will happily take a buzzy trip with just about any guitar or pickup you put in front of it.
The Focus Fuzz Deluxe was destined to be a rare bird from the start. Great Eastern boss David Greeves had just 400 of the NOS transistors required to arrive at the Focus Fuzz Deluxe formula. But oh, what a formula it is. Unlike many fuzzes, it leaves lots of headroom for a dynamic touch, but still screams—all while offering superb boost and drive sections.
Boss’ first Tube Amp Expander reactive load box stood out among the competition for its integrated 100-watt power amp. Still, it was expensive, and though compact, wasn’t exactly backpack portable. The small, more wallet-friendly Core version addresses both issues, making one of the most powerful tools for recording big sounds at quiet volumes a more accessible proposition.
Clearly, Divided By 13 has thrived under the ownership and guidance of Two-Rock Amplifiers' Eli Lester and Mac Skinner. This brilliant design enables the lucky owner to select between 9-watt 6V6GT or 15-watt EL84 output stages. As you’d expect, it spans 1950s Fender tweed colors and 1960s Brit chime, all while staying dynamic and deftly ranging from clean to filthy.
Any overdrive that offers blendable clean and dirty tones promises a certain measure of extra flexibility. But the C. Regalis’ powerful +/-15 dB bass-and-treble EQ, as well as its smooth/crunch switch that adds even-order harmonics, make it capable of very heavy and subtly boosted tones that can coax magic out of any guitar/amp combination.
Seeing a Taylor on our Year in Gear list is practically inevitable. But even by Taylor standards the Gold Label 814e Koa Super Auditorium is Cadillac stuff—and a treat to play. For starters, the Super Auditorium body could be Taylor’s loveliest shape ever. But the just-right proportions, combined with Andy Powers' V-Class bracing, add up to a flattop that sounds seasoned, balanced, and beautiful.
It’s super cool to see Bowie’s right hand man and ripper supreme, Mick Ronson, honored with this fantastic looking Cry Baby. But there is much practical appeal to this wah, too. It stays bold and heavy in the midrange and is a great match for a nasty fuzz, a wide-open Marshall, or any occasion where you want a solo or riff to stand out like a pair of cherry-red platform boots.
Most of the time you don’t really expect a Marshall-in-a-box to rival the sound of the real thing. But Ted Drozdowski, who had the good fortune to test this pedal alongside a real 1972 Marshall Super Lead, found it more than capable of holding its own against the original.
Chase Bliss’ Joel Korte and “Analog” Mike Piera—now there’s two sticklers for detail. It shows in the fruits of their collaboration, the Brothers AM, a take on Analog Man’s King of Tone that could help sate the hunger of players marooned on the King of Tone’s seemingly endless wait list. It’s a fantastic, agreeable drive that can add a lively edge to any guitar/amp pairing.
Most players probably associate the Archon name with ultra-high gain. But that’s not the direction PRS went in with this evolution of the original. The 50-watt, 2-channel Classic is, instead, a relatively streamlined affair that, as the name suggests, coaxes a lot of mid-rangey, Marshall-like tonalities from its 2x6CA7 power tubes and six ECC83S preamp tubes.
One of the more distinctive newcomers in the boutique amp world, Strange Audio has turned heads with its bold, midcentury-modern-inspired colorways and patterns—and circuits that sound as striking as they look. For its first head-and-cab design, the company has built a uniquely interactive control set with switchable preamp tubes, housed in a 35-watt, 2-channel, 6L6-powered package that appeals equally to natural-overdrive purists and pedal-platform players—and looks incredible onstage.
Leaping into the future, luthier Robin Stummvoll re-thought the nuances of electric guitar design and created an “expressive guitar” in the Sine. This truly experimental instrument pairs a powder-coated flexible steel “top” with Lehle expression controls to offer playability never before seen on a guitar, including volume-swell capabilities and two expression outs to run to your outboard devices. Plus, the Sine’s easily movable pickups and stereo outs multiply the sonic possibilities exponentially. It’s fun, forward-thinking, and intuitive.
A digital reverb pedal that lives beyond simple effect categorization, the DSS is a feature-rich stomp built for creativity. With a control set that includes pitch shifting and bit crushing, the DSS provokes experimentation. There’s a great balance between the pedal’s deep, tweakable controls and easy usability. And it sounds just as great at always-on reverb settings as it does diving into the sonic cosmos.
Built on a Klon-style foundation, the Voyager delivers a level of versatility that reaches well beyond the average klone. By combining the tight boost and overdrive users expect with a 2-knob sweepable-mid control set and switchable diodes—1N34A and silicon, both with and without bass boost—the Voyager opens up the sonic possibilities of the genre and demands attention.
If you’re looking for the one distortion to rule them all, the Harvezi Hazze from SOMA Laboratory is a good place to start—and end—your journey. It can do your typical rodent-style dirt, but this transistor-based stomp’s unbelievably deep tweakability—centered around its wave-folding function—make it capable of just about any overdrive, distortion, or fuzz tone you'd dream up. It’s not cheap, but the Harvezi Hazze can outperform most signal-clipping boxes in its price bracket.
Fish Circuits designs pedals with equal attention to both sight and sound. The Echo Limiteur—a hefty, striking delay box—offers two modes that blend a warm analog echo with the extended range of a digital PT2399 chip. Its standout feature, dynamic delay mode, lets your playing intensity control the number of repeats, and when they start or stop. This stompbox has the rare, exhilarating ability to transform the way you play.
Montreal builder Justin Cober did something remarkable when he built the Pique: He made an EQ pedal that’s fun. The Pique is technically a 3-in-1 (a boost, buffer, and EQ—or, as Cober puts it, “frequency enhancer”) built around Mile End’s beloved Preamp 150 circuit, a take on the sounds in vintage Roland Space Echo units. By incorporating three straightforward EQ modes that enhance targeted frequencies, Cober ensures you spend more time chasing inspiration and less time tweaking settings.
Did you really expect Robert Keeley to build a simple klone and leave it at that? Of course not! Keeley made sure his Manis possessed all the essential goodness of a Klon Centaur—it’s adaptable to changing rigs and backlines, and its overdrive and distortion profile ranges from barely boosted to raging. And while in many respects it's faithful to the Klon’s architecture, the addition of a germanium transistor clipping and bass boost options extends its utility and enhances its personality significantly.
With 12 stages, the all-analog APH-12 phaser is capable of much more than simple phasing as most players understand it. It chirps, quacks, thrums, and throbs with intensity, richness, and personality. The likeness to the beloved Moog Moogerfooger MF-103 is not entirely coincidental. Designer Rick “Hawker” Shaich worked at Moog and helped refine the original MF-103 design. With that model long since discontinued, it’s wonderful to see an all-analog phase conceived in that same adventurous spirit.
Khruangbin’s music is driven by groove. And bassist Laura Lee’s tasteful parts, which often evoke vintage soul and reggae lines, are ideal for the fat, punchy tonalities of a Fender Jazz Bass. This signature edition is actually a copy of a copy in one sense: Lee always used an inexpensive SX-branded J-bass-style instrument. But this flawless evolution of that bass, with DiMarzio Ultra Jazz noiseless pickups and jumbo frets—not to mention that ashtray pickup cover—is both a looker and a studio-grade performer.
MXR’s Bass Synth is the kind of pedal that can blur the differences between a stringed instrument and a keyboard. And the “synth” in the name is not one that MXR tosses about lightly in this case. Several textures here use vintage keyboards like the Minimoog and Stevie Wonder’s TONTO synth as sonic departure points. The MXR not only captures these tones convincingly, but makes it easy for novices with less synthesis experience to incorporate them into their vocabulary.
We’re used to PRS guitars being well-built, smooth-as-butter players. And yeah, they tend to sound pretty great, too. But the S2 Special Semi-Hollow, with its 58/15 humbuckers in the neck and bridge positions, a Narrowfield pickup in the center, and a bevy of switching and tapping options, is wildly versatile and possesses a distinctive, airy semi-hollow voice that represents a cool alternative to PRS signature sounds.
In terms of pure sonic presence, it’s hard to match the toothy, trebly tones that marked many Beatles recordings of the 1966-1968 period. Much of what made those sounds distinctive was the band’s occasional use of Vox amps with all-solid-state circuitry or solid-state preamps. The Go Rocky Go, the third of Aclam’s homages to these amplifiers, apes the sound of the Vox Conqueror, which spiced up many White Album tracks. But it’s also a drive, distortion, and fuzz that offers delicious alternatives to familiar, run-of-the-mill dirt sounds.
Four pedals, four award winners. Not a surprise, perhaps, given that it’s Marshall. On the other hand, generating the sheer mass and presence of a Marshall from a pedal isn’t easy, which makes this quartet of heavies—which span a rainbow of gain colors—very impressive indeed. Just as impressive is the $159 tag for each, a very nice price considering how close these stomps come to the real thing.
We’re always intrigued when a manufacturer releases a “fuzz for those that don’t like fuzz.” What could that possibly mean? In the case of the Cryptid, it definitely isn’t a fuzz that skimps on nastiness. While it doesn’t imitate any specific classic fuzz, it can erupt with explosive tone—and its bias control adds sputtery, delightfully deranged textures. Where it breaks from fuzz tradition is in its ability to deliver overdrive and bright, near-clean tones, creating a versatility that could make many pedals on your board feel obsolete.
Vox has always been fearless about messing around with familiar formulas. Sometimes their success in these endeavors is in the eye of the beholder, as any collector of mid- to late-1960s Vox oddities will tell you. But the V863-CA, which can switch from wah to envelope generator or envelope follower merely by lifting your foot from the treadle, fits seamlessly into Vox’s history as a design renegade—while remaining highly functional and musically intuitive.
This simpler evolution of Boss’s discontinued RT-20 is definitely one of the better rotary speaker simulators you’ll find in a compact pedal. It’s rich and realistic, in no small part because its simple control layout still enables a user to shift emphasis between virtual treble and bass horns, add simulated tube amp drive, and switch between slow and fast ramp times. The resulting modulations are much less binary, more organic, and considerably more atmospheric than those from a simple vibrato pedal.
Typically, when a pedal maker tries to capture Echoplex tones, the solid-state EP-3 is the go-to reference. Strymon, however, took a different path: it based its design on the less common—and in some circles, more coveted—tube-driven EP-2, and used one modded by legendary amp technician Cesar Diaz. The result is an Echoplex simulation that feels both warmer and punchier than many others on the market, an appealing proposition in a crowded product segment.
The name may suggest a note-for-note copy of Analog Man’s much-coveted King of Tone, which is a modified mashup of two Marshall BluesBreaker circuits. But NUX’s two-headed overdrive machine actually unites the company’s BluesBreaker-style Morning Star overdrive and their take on the Klon Centaur, the Horseman. You can, of course, switch the order of the effects, which can yield many interesting colors, but you can also opt for a raspier “silver” version of the Horseman or a FET circuit that will hammer the front end of an amp.
The affordable, U.S.-built Aquanaut takes an interesting approach to achieving its pleasing and unmistakably analog-like tone color. For generating repeats, the unit employs the PT2399 digital chip—an inexpensive device once used in karaoke machines that delivers analog haziness. However, the Aquanaut also uses analog filtering at the input and output, which adds to an overall sense of bucket brigade toastiness without the clock noise.
At first glance, the single-cutaway might mislead a novice into thinking the SE NF 53 is just another T-style guitar—but that label hardly does justice to its distinctive qualities. The Narrowfield DD humbuckers, for instance, can deliver tones that are punchier, grittier, or smoother than a Telecaster’s, depending on how you set the guitar’s volume. Meanwhile, its streamlined design will feel familiar—and inviting—to anyone drawn to T-style guitars for their elegant simplicity.
Like most of you, I would guess, I’ve never had the pleasure of playing aDumble amp. I have a fair idea of what they are supposed to sound like thanks toStevie Ray Vaughan and, presumably, David Lindley and Henry Kaiser (I’m never sure what amp I’m hearing on records from those two mad geniuses). But I definitely don’t know how a Dumble feels, or how it sounds up close in a room. So, I have to take NUX’s word for it that they deliver on the Steel Singer—an overdrive inspired by the Dumble Steel String Singer.
Fat and Snappy
While I can’t comment on the Steel Singer’s ability to perfectly ape a Dumble, there is a lot of reason to recommend the NUX Steel Singer as an overdrive. As a light drive or near-clean boost it can be a great thickening agent (at bassier filter settings), or a better-than-serviceable treble booster at toppier filter settings. At its trebliest extremes it can be a bit crispy, so you should take care. Additionally, the NUX tends to move beyond light drive pretty quickly—requiring only a slight bump in pedal to filthy up a Deluxe Reverb and Stratocaster.
To many ears, single coils and clean Fender-style amps might be the most natural and well-suited companions to the Steel Singer. In these setups, the pedal adds discernible edge in the midrange, while retaining the scooped essence of those formulas. Humbucker users can get in on the fun, too, and a PAF can coax many Plexi-like drive tones from a Deluxe Reverb. British-style amps, however, are less accommodating to the NUX’s charms. AC15-style and 18-watt Marshall-style settings on a Carr Bel-Ray, for instance, clashed with the NUX at times, a setup where klones and TRS-style pedals got along reasonably well.
The Verdict
To many ears, single coils and clean Fender-style amps might be the most natural and well-suited companions to the Steel Singer.
There are two keys to success using the NUX Steel Singer. One is to keep the gain and tone at relatively modest settings and out of the range where merely excited tones become fried. The second is to expect the best results with single coil pickups and clean Fender-style amps. This makes sense. Dumble’s Steel String Singer is, in many respects, an evolution of black-panel Fender designs. And if the goal is to create smooth overdrive and boost tones, a pedal that dovetails more precisely with that Fender-style profile is a smart move. That isn’t to say there aren’t joys to be found in a Steel Singer/humbucker combo, or even with an AC30. But such tones will be better suited for more adventurous players less aligned with classic amp-drive results.
The long-running punk quartet pick prototypes, P basses, and Pauls for their latest live shows.
On tour supporting their 12th full-length record, Silver Bleeds the Black Sun…, California rockers AFI rolled through Nashville’s Marathon Music Works in October. After first running down their rigs in 2017, PG’s Chris Kies linked up again with guitarist Jade Puget and bassist Hunter Burgan to see how their gear has evolved in the past eight years.
Puget found this Les Paul Standard hanging at Guitar Center 15 years ago, and it’s still his go-to live guitar. A surprisingly light specimen, it’s had a Seymour Duncan pickup swapped in, and it’s strung with Ernie Balls—usually .010s.
Throughout AFI’s set, Puget switches between tunings: D sharp, drop C sharp, D standard, and E standard.
Silver Surfer
This new Schecter, a prototype made for Puget, is his first ever silverburst, which saw service in the music video for “Holy Visions.” It’s loaded with a Sustainiac system in the neck position.
Willing and Ableton
Puget has experimented a lot to get his rig to this point. His signal runs through a pair of rack-mounted Line 6 Helix units in a stereo configuration, and also through a computer running Ableton that triggers the exact sound designs he created while recording. The RJM Mastermind and Effect Gizmo are programmed to control all pedals, the Helix, and Ableton.
Jade Puget’s Pedalboard
Most of Puget’s effects come from the Helix, but he also runs a few pedals in his rack, including an MXR EVH 5150 Overdrive and Carbon Copy, Boss DC-2W, RV-2, and BF-2, and a Keeley Compressor.
Another board carries a Boss TU-3, TC Electronic Mimiq, EHX The Clone Theory, TC Electronic Arena, MXR Echoplex, and L.R. Baggs Venue DI.
Blackout
In live contexts, Burgan uses Fender P basses exclusively. This is his No. 1, which he’s had since 2012.
Pinky
This dazzling Fender P was made custom for Burgan before this tour.
Triples is Best
Burgan runs this trio of Ampeg SVT Classics.
Hunter Burgan’s Rack Setup
Burgan uses a RJM Mastermind GT to control his in-show switching. In his backstage rack, there’s an EHX Bass Big Muff, Micro Synth, Satisfaction, Nano POG, Bass Clone, and Graphic Fuzz, and on a second shelf, there’s the rest of the collection: a Bass Soul Food, Battalion, Lizard King, Neo Mistress, and Memory Toy.
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