A pedal capable of distortion, boost and fuzz isn’t revolutionary. But considering how many of us string together endless combinations of those three pedal types on our boards, a streamlined approach is always intriguing. Mission Engineering’s Delta III Si isn’t a three-in-one box with independent fuzz and overdrive circuits cascading into each other, but a three-transistor analog dirt unit that can go from transparent boost to ballsy vintage fuzz with the twist of the gain knob. (The pedal employs silicon transistors, though Delta also offers a germanium version.)
Delta, this is Mission Control
You control the Delta III Si via four knobs. Lo cut and hi cut trim bass and treble, respectively. Level is a master volume control. Gain is the key to the Delta III’s varied personality, moving from boost to overdrive to full-throttle fuzz across its range. The footswitch is a quiet, soft-touch relay.
The lightweight, brushed-aluminum enclosure houses two printed circuit boards. There’s no 9V battery option, though you can power the Delta III Si with 7.5V-18V power supplies for the option of varied headroom. The pedal works best with a dedicated power supply—a daisy-chain supply can make the Delta generate a wall of locust chatter when the effect is engaged. But with the right power arrangement the Delta is extremely quiet at all but the most extreme gain settings.
Call in the Firepower
Mission Engineering touts the Delta III’s “friendliness” with other pedals. As with many fuzz pedals, my first inclination was the place it early in my signal chain, but I got the best results when I put it after an overdrive (an Amptweaker Tight Drive Pro). The overdrive excited Delta III’s crunchy output rather than adding stifling compression
Ratings
Pros:
Easy access to wide-ranging tones.
Cons:
No battery option. Daisy-chains power supplies are a no-no.
Tones:
Ease of Use:
Build/Design:
Value:
Street:
$199
Mission Engineering Delta III Si Tri-Stage Distortion
missionengineering.com
With my Telecaster and the Delta III’s gain at 11 o’clock, I got Tube Screamer-like overdrive right at the cusp of crunch—an excellent setting for pushing a saturated amp over the edge. Note clarity is exceptional, and the pedal responds dynamically to changes in picking intensity. Digging in deep gives a blistering, amp overdrive-like edge. A lighter touch adds sparkling highlights and high-mid detail to chords and slower leads. However, that extra note definition means trebly guitars can sound super bright. That’s when the hi cut knob becomes invaluable. Setting it around 1 o’clock left plenty of room for my Telecaster’s top end to breathe, but kept shrieking feedback at bay when I stacked on extra gain.
With a Gibson Les Paul and an 18V adaptor, I checked out the available headroom. The higher voltage seemed to expand the tonal range of the darker humbuckers. The extra headroom meant more definition at high-gain settings. With gain at 3 o’clock and lo cut around 11 o’clock, I got a gritty, honky Les Paul drawl. Played with a slide, it was a straight shot of Duane Allman bliss. Decreasing lo cut at high-gain settings really fills out the bottom end—a cool tone option for the pedal’s fuzzier realms. And while the Delta doesn’t quite nail the brawn and sustain of a Big Muff, it’s still perfect for chunky ’70s hard rock power chords and stoner rock grind. You can readily move from fuzzier zones to civilized overdrive by trimming the guitar’s output. (This feels especially responsive with single-coils.)
The Verdict
The Delta III is a versatile dirt box that can wear many disguises. It’s a cool choice if you need one pedal to produce boost, overdrive and distortion tones, especially for travelling players requiring streamlined setups. It’s transparent enough to add definition and oomph to dirty amps without turning your tone into a saturated blur.The lack of switching options may limit the Delta III’s onstage usefulness for some players. But the pedal excels as a boost/distortion/overdrive you can quickly and intuitively tailor to suit varying guitars and amps. Given how readily it delivers everything from smooth crooning to fire and brimstone, the $199 street price is fair.
Art Tube Mp Project Series Tube Microphone/Instrument Preamp
Designed in Rochester NY and originally released in 1995, the Tube MP is celebrating its 30th anniversary in 2025.
The Tube MP/C is the most fully-featured member of the Tube MP family, designed for recording guitarists and bassists. It is a tube mic preamp and instrument DI with advanced features including an optical compressor/limiter and switchable line/instrument output levels for use as a re-amping device.
Last year, Taylor Guitars capped its 50th Anniversary by introducing a new guitar collection celebrating the contributions of co-founders Bob Taylor and Kurt Listug to the guitar world. The Legacy Collection revives five of Bob Taylor’s classic acoustic models, curated by the legendary luthier and innovator himself. “To imagine that we’re doing guitars that harken to our past, our present and our future all at the same time,” Bob says, “I really like that.”
In developing the collection, Bob preserved the essence of his originals while integrating performance and playability upgrades introduced during his tenure as designer-in-chief. “It’s an up-to-date version of what those guitars would be,” Bob explains, “but with the same sound.”
Visually, these guitars feel classic—clean, understated and unmistakably Taylor. While Bob’s original aesthetic preferences are showcased in his Legacy models, the nod to the past runs deeper than trade dress.
From his earliest builds, Bob favored slim-profile necks because he found them easier to play. That preference set a design precedent that established Taylor’s reputation for smooth-playing, comfortable necks. Legacy models feature slim mahogany necks built with Taylor's patented New Technology (NT) design. “My first neck was a bolted-on neck but not an NT neck,” Bob says. “These are NT necks because it’s a better neck.” Introduced in 1999, the NT neck allowed for unprecedented micro-adjustability while offering a consistent, hand-friendly Taylor playing experience.
What makes this collection unique within the Taylor line is Bob’s use of his X-bracing architecture, favoring his time-tested internal voicing framework over more recent Taylor bracing innovations to evoke a distinctive tone profile. Since Andy Powers—Taylor’s current Chief Guitar Designer, President and CEO—debuted his patented V-Class bracing in 2018, V-Class has become a staple in Taylor’s premium-performance guitars. Still, Bob’s X-bracing pattern produces a richly textured sound with pleasing volume, balance and clarity that long defined the Taylor voice. All Legacy models feature LR Baggs VTC Element electronics, which Bob says “harkens back to those days.”
The team at Taylor thought the best way to demonstrate the sound of the Legacy guitars was to ask Andy Powers, Bob’s successor, to play them. A world-class luthier and musician, Andy has spent the past 14 years leading Taylor’s guitar innovation. In addition to V-Class bracing, his contributions include the Grand Pacific body style, the ultra-refined Builder’s Edition Collection, and most recently, the stunning Gold Label Collection.
Below you’ll find a series of videos that feature Powers playing each Legacy model along with information about the guitars.
Legacy 800 Series Models
First launched in 1975, the 800 Series was Taylor’s first official guitar series. Today, it remains home to some of the brand’s most acclaimed instruments, including the flagship 814ce, Builder’s Edition 814ce and new Gold Label 814e.
The Legacy 800 Series features the 810e Dreadnought and two Jumbos: the 6-string 815e and 12-string 855e. Each model serves up a refined version of the Dreadnought and Jumbo body shapes Bob inherited from Sam Radding—the original owner of the American Dream music shop where Bob and Kurt first met. “I was making my guitars in the molds that Sam had made at American Dream,” Bob recalls. “There was a Jumbo and a Dreadnought. That’s all we had.”
All three Legacy 800 Series guitars feature one of Bob’s favorite tonewood combos. Solid Indian rosewood back and sides are paired with a Sitka spruce top, yielding warm lows, clear trebles and a scooped midrange.
Aesthetic appointments include a three-ring abalone rosette, mother-of-pearl Large Diamond inlays, white binding around the body and fretboard, and Bob’s “straight-ear” peghead design. Both Jumbo models also showcase a mustache-style ebony bridge—a nod to Bob’s early Jumbo builds.
Legacy 810e
The 810 Dreadnought holds a special place in Bob Taylor’s heart. “My first 810, the one I made for myself, was a thrilling guitar for me to make,” he says. “It’s the one and only guitar I played. It didn’t matter how many guitars we made at Taylor, that’s the one I took out and played.” The Legacy 810e brings back that bold, room-filling Dreadnought voice along with the easy playability expected from a Taylor.
Taylor Guitars | Legacy 810e | Playthrough Demo
Legacy 855e
Taylor’s first 12-strings found an audience in 1970s Los Angeles. “I was making guitars that would find their way to McCabe’s in Santa Monica and Westwood Music,” Bob says, “and these guitars were easy to play. Twelve-strings were a popular sound in that music. It was a modern country/folk/rock music genre that was accepting our guitars because they were easy to play. They also liked the sound of them because our guitars were easier to record.” The Legacy 855e, with its resonant Jumbo body, slim neck and gorgeous octave sparkle, carries that tradition forward.
Taylor Guitars | Legacy 855e | Playthrough Demo
Legacy 815e
The Legacy 815e revives Taylor’s original Jumbo 6-string, delivering a big, lush sound with beautifully blooming overtones.
Legacy Grand Auditoriums
In the early 1990s, Bob Taylor heard a consistent refrain from dealers: “Not everybody wants a dreadnought guitar anymore.” Players were asking for something with comparable volume but different proportions—something more comfortable, yet still powerful. This feedback inspired Bob to design a new body style with more elegant curves, more accommodating proportions and a balanced tonal response. The result was the Grand Auditorium, which Taylor introduced in 1994 to celebrate its 20th anniversary.
Thanks to its musical versatility and easy playability, Bob’s Grand Auditorium attracted a wide variety of players. “We came into our own with our Grand Auditorium,” he says. “People were describing it as ‘all around.’ It’s a good strummer and good for fingerstyle, but it’s not totally geared toward strumming or totally geared toward fingerstyle.” Also referred to as the “Swiss-Army Knife” of guitars or the “Goldilocks” guitar, the GA quickly became a favorite among guitarists across playing styles, musical genres and different playing applications including recording and live performance. “That guitar made studio work successful,” Bob says. It gained a wider fanbase with the debut of the “ce” version, which introduced a Venetian cutaway and onboard electronics. “That became one of our hallmarks,” says Bob. “If you want to plug in your guitar, buy a Taylor.”
Today, the Grand Auditorium is Taylor’s best-selling body shape.
The Legacy Collection features two cedar-top Grand Auditoriums inspired by past favorites: the mahogany/cedar 514ce and rosewood/cedar 714ce. Both models incorporate Bob’s original X-bracing pattern for a tonal character reminiscent of their 1990s and 2000s counterparts. Shared aesthetic details include a green abalone three-ring rosette, ebony bridge pins with green abalone dots, a faux-tortoiseshell pickguard and Taylor gold tuning machines.
Taylor Guitars | Legacy 815e | Playthrough Demo
Legacy 514ce
The Legacy 514ce features solid mahogany back and sides paired with a Western Red cedar top, yielding a punchy midrange and dry, woody sonic personality that pairs beautifully with cedar’s soft-touch sensitivity and warmth. It’s a standout choice for fingerstyle players and light strummers who crave nuance and depth. Distinct visual details include faux-tortoise body and fretboard binding, black-and-white top trim, and mother-of-pearl small diamond fretboard inlays.
Taylor Guitars | Legacy 514ce | Playthrough Demo
Legacy 714ce
The Legacy 714ce also features a cedar top, this time matched with solid Indian rosewood back and sides. The result is a richly textured sound with deep lows, clear trebles and a warm, mellow response. Inspiring as it is, this specific wood pairing isn’t currently offered in any other standard Taylor model. Additional aesthetic details include green abalone dot fretboard inlays, black body and fretboard binding, and black-and-white “pinstripe” body purfling.
While the Legacy Collection spotlights Taylor’s past, newer models from the Gold Label, Builder’s Edition and Somos Collections show the company’s legacy is always evolving. Explore the Legacy Collection at taylorguitars.com or visit your local authorized Taylor dealer.
