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Gear Award 2019

The 60+ guitars, amps, pedals, basses, and accessories that stood out from the crowd and earned our coveted Premier Gear Award this year.

Carr Telstar

This handwired 17-watt, 1x12 combo employs two familiar power tubes—a 6L6Ā and an EL84—to produce the presence and immediacy of a great Fender tweed, the thrilling sparkle of Vox overdrive, and a tighter, tougher bass response than you’d expect from a strictly vintage midsized combo. Telstar’s suave spring reverb, strong note fundamentals, articulate attack, and extraordinary touch response caused Joe Gore to exclaim, ā€œI love this frickin’ amp.ā€

Read the review
$2,450 street, carramps.com

Watch the First Look:

Plus! December Premier Gear Award Winners!
Read the full reviews on the pages indicated below!

1. Peavey Invective.MH — $699 street, peavey.com
2. Chase Bliss Dark World — $349 street, chaseblissaudio.com
3. Comins CGS-16 — $2,399 street, cominsguitars.com
4. Ernie Ball Music Man Short-Scale StingRay — $1,999 street, music-man.com
5. EBS MicroBass 3 — $349 street, ebssweden.com

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A smorgasbord of reverb tones, from familiar to freakazoid.

Ā  Ā 
Ā 

Ratings

Pros:
Unique reverb effects. Countless combinations. Expressive real-time control. Flexible routing. Stores two settings.

Cons:
Not cheap. Mono only.

Street:
$349

Chase Bliss Dark World
chaseblissaudio.com



Tones:


Ease of Use:


Build/Design:


Value:
Ā 
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A relatively affordable archtop from a high-end artisan.

Ā 

Ratings

Pros:
Great looks. Superb playability. Fine traditional jazz tones.

Cons:
Very expensive for a factory-made Korean guitar.

Street:
$2,399

Comins GCS-16-2
cominsguitars.com



Tones:


Playability:


Build/Design:


Value:
Ā 
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