Our favorite guitars, basses, amps, effects, and accessories from the last 12 months.
GigRig G2
The G2 impressed reviewer Joe Gore with its ease of use—impressive given the huge eight-bank/15-slot preset capabilities of this professional-grade switcher. With features like “stompbox mode” and programmable pre/post-gain settings, the sonic possibilities are mind-boggling. But as Gore remarked, “G2’s ultimate feat may be the way it makes these complex functions so disarmingly simple.”
$1,199 street
thegigrig.com
In the years we’ve compiled our annual list of Premier Gear Award winners, we’ve probably never seen a list more eclectic than 2015’s. From high-gain monster amps and atmospheric reverbs to mini overdrives and wahs, 2015’s award winners covered all the bases.
As always, it was a joy to see how both big-time musical instrument industry players and little shops a step removed from the garage managed to haul in Premier Guitar’s prize for gear excellence. And if anyone’s counting, we’re pretty sure we also set a record for Premier Gear Award winners. So we hope you’re comfy—this list of primo gear may take some time to cover.
Our guest columnist’s current pedalboard spices his EXH diet with stomps from Line 6, TC Electronic, Strymon, Fulltone, Ibanez, and Boss.
Ex-B-52s member, composer, and NYC music scene veteran Pat Irwin loves pairing EHX pedals with keyboards—and recollecting good times with his late guitar virtuoso friend.
I’ve got a thing for Electro-Harmonix effects boxes. I’ve got a Crying Tone Wah that’s the coolest, a 16 Second Digital Delay, and a Deluxe Memory Man. All have made their way onto my ambient country band SUSS’s new record, Birds & Beasts. And currently a Big Muff, two Freeze Sound Retainers, and a Mel9 Tape Replay Machine are on my pedalboard. Here’s the thing: I like using them on keyboards.
I remember spending one cold winter night recording keyboards for a track called “Home” that made it onto Promise, the third SUSS album. I was playing a Roland Juno-106 through the Deluxe Memory Man while my bandmate Bob Holmes manipulated the delay and feedback on the pedal in real time. The effect was otherworldly. You can also hear the Crying Tone on SUSS’s “No Man’s Land” and “Train,” on Bandcamp. Sure, the guitars sound great, but those keyboards wouldn’t sound the same without the extra touch of the Crying Tone. I also used it on the B-52s’ “Hallucinating Pluto,” and it went out on the road with us for a while.
One of the first musicians I met when I moved to New York City in the late ’70s was the late, great Robert Quine. Quine and I would talk for hours about guitars, guitarists, and effects. I bought my first Stratocaster from Quine, because he didn’t like the way it looked. I played it on every recording I’ve made since the first Lydia Lunch record, 1980’s Queen Of Siam, and on every show with 8 Eyed Spy, the Raybeats, the B-52s, and my current bands PI Power Trio and SUSS. It was Quine who taught me the power of a good effects pedal and I’ll never forget the sessions for Queen of Siamwith the big band. Quine played everything through his Deluxe Memory Man straight into the recording console, all in one take except for a few touch ups here and there.
Quine and I used to go to Electro-Harmonix on 23rd Street and play through the boxes on display, and they let us pick out what we wanted. It’s where we first saw the 16 Second Digital Delay. That was a life-changer. You could make loops on the fly and reverse them with the flick of a switch. This thing was magical, back then.
“Quine played everything through his Deluxe Memory Man straight into the recording console, all in one take except for a few touch ups."
When I recorded a piece I composed for the choreographer Stephen Petronio and performed it at the Dance Theatre Workshop in Manhattan, I put everything through that 16 Second Digital Delay, including my clarinet. Later, when I recorded the theme for the cartoon Rocko’s Modern Life, I played all of the keyboards through the Deluxe Memory Man. Just when things would get a little too clean, I’d add a little more of the Memory Man.
I’m pretty sure that the first time I saw Devo, Mark Mothersbaugh had some Electro-Harmonix effects boxes taped to his guitar. And I can’t even think of U2 without hearing the Edge and his Deluxe Memory Man. Or seeing Nels Cline for the first time, blowing a hole in the universe with a 16 Second Digital Delay. Bill Frisell had one, too. I remember going into the old Knitting Factory on Houston Street and passing Elliott Sharp. He had just played and I was going in to play. We were both carrying our 16 Second Delays.
Who knows, maybe someone from another generation will make the next “Satisfaction” or “Third Stone from the Sun,” inspired to change the sound of a guitar, keyboard, or even a voice beyond recognition with pedals. If you check out Birds & Beasts, you’ll hear my old—and new—boxes all over it. I know that I won’t ever make a SUSS record or play a SUSS show without them.
Things change, rents go up, records are being made on computers, and who knows how you get your music anymore? But for me, one thing stays the same: the joy of taking a sound and pushing it to a new place, and hearing it go somewhere you could never have imagined without effects pedals.
Nashville's historic Gruhn Guitars give PG an exclusive look at a very early amp that is a piece of rock history that preceded the heralded JTM45. Amp builder and reverb aficionado Eric Borash of Ebo Sounds shares his expertise on this rare amp's lineage, while John Bohlinger plugs in Dan Auerbach's old '60s ES-335 to test it out.
Metallica's M72 World Tour will be extended into a third year with 21 North American shows spanning April, May, and June 2025.
The M72 World Tour’s 2025 itinerary will continue the hallowed No Repeat Weekend tradition, with each night of the two-show stands featuring entirely different setlists and support lineups. These will include the band’s first Nashville shows in five years on May 1 and 3 at Nissan Stadium, as well as Metallica’s return to Tampa after 15 years on June 6 and 8 at Raymond James Stadium. M72 has also confirmed its much anticipated Bay Area hometown play, to take place June 20 and 22 with the band’s debut performances at Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara.
In a new twist, M72 2025 will feature several single shows bringing the tour’s full production, with its massive in-the-round stage, to venues including two college football stadiums: JMA Wireless Dome in Syracuse, New York on April 19, and Metallica's first ever visit to Blacksburg, Virginia, home of the Virginia Tech Hokies. The May 7 show at Lane Stadium will mark the culmination of 20+ years of “Enter Sandman” playing as the Hokies take the field.
In addition to playing football stadiums across the nation, the M72 World Tour’s 2025 itinerary will also include two festival headlines—the first being the opening night of the run April 12 at Sick New World at the Las Vegas Festival Grounds. May 9 and 11 will then mark a festival/No Repeat Weekend combo as Metallica plays two headline sets at Sonic Temple at Historic Crew Stadium in Columbus, Ohio.
Support on M72’s 2025 North American run will come from Pantera, Limp Bizkit, Suicidal Tendencies and Ice Nine Kills. See below for specifics.
Additionally, M72 2025 will see Metallica’s long-awaited return to Australia and New Zealand.
M72’s 2025 North American leg is produced by Live Nation and presented by new sponsor inKind. inKind rewards diners with special offers and credit back when they use the app to pay at 2,000+ top-rated restaurants nationwide. The company provides innovative financing to participating restaurants in a way that enables new levels of sustainability and success. Metallica fans can learn more at inkind.com.
Citi is the official card of the M72 tour. Citi cardmembers will have access to presale tickets beginning Tuesday, September 24 at 10am local time until Thursday, September 26 at 10pm local time through the Citi Entertainment program.
Verizon will offer an exclusive presale for the M72 tour in the U.S through Verizon Access, just for being a customer. Verizon Access Presale tickets for select shows will begin Tuesday, September 24 at 10am local time until Thursday, September 26 at 10pm local time.
* Citi and Verizon presales will not be available for Sick New World, Sonic Temple or the Toronto dates. Verizon presale will not be available for the Nashville, Blacksburg or Landover shows.
As always, a portion of proceeds from every ticket sold will go to local charities via the band’s All Within My Hands foundation. Established in 2017 as a way to give back to communities that have supported Metallica over the years, All Within My Hands has raised over $15 million – providing $8.2 million in grants to career and technical education programs including the ground-breaking Metallica Scholars Initiative, now in its sixth year, over $3.6 million to combat food insecurity, more than $3.5 million to disaster relief efforts.
For more information, please visit metallica.com.
Metallica M72 North America 2025 Tour Dates
April 12 Las Vegas, NV Sick New World @ Las Vegas Festival Grounds
April 19 Syracuse, NY JMA Wireless Dome *
April 24 Toronto, ON Rogers Centre *
April 26 Toronto, ON Rogers Centre +
May 1 Nashville, TN Nissan Stadium *
May 3 Nashville, TN Nissan Stadium +
May 7 Blacksburg, VA Lane Stadium *
May 9 Columbus, OH Sonic Temple @ Historic Crew Stadium
May 11 Columbus, OH Sonic Temple @ Historic Crew Stadium
May 23 Philadelphia, PA Lincoln Financial Field +
May 25 Philadelphia, PA Lincoln Financial Field *
May 28 Landover, MD Northwest Stadium *
May 31 Charlotte, NC Bank of America Stadium *
June 3 Atlanta, GA Mercedes-Benz Stadium *
June 6 Tampa, FL Raymond James Stadium +
June 8 Tampa, FL Raymond James Stadium *
June 14 Houston, TX NRG Stadium *
June 20 Santa Clara, CA Levi's Stadium +
June 22 Santa Clara, CA Levi's Stadium *
June 27 Denver, CO Empower Field at Mile High +
June 29 Denver, CO Empower Field at Mile High *
* Pantera and Suicidal Tendencies support
+ Limp Bizkit and Ice Nine Kills supp
Beetronics FX Tuna Fuzz pedal offers vintage-style fuzz in a quirky tuna can enclosure.
With a single "Stinker" knob for volume control and adjustable fuzz gain from your guitar's volume knob, this pedal is both unique and versatile.
"The unique tuna can format embodies the creative spirit that has always been the heart of Beetronics, but don’t let the unusual package fool you: the Tuna Fuzz is a serious pedal with great tone. It offers a preset level of vintage-style fuzz in a super simple single-knob format. Its “Stinker” knob controls the amount of volume boost. You can control the amount of fuzz with your guitar’s volume knob, and the Tuna Fuzz cleans up amazingly well when you roll back the volume on your guitar. To top it off, Beetronics has added a cool Tunabee design on the PCB, visible through the plastic back cover."
The Tuna Fuzz draws inspiration from Beetronics founder Filipe's early days of tinkering, when limitedfunds led him to repurpose tuna cans as pedal enclosures. Filipe even shared his ingenuity by teachingclasses in Brazil, showing kids how to build pedals using these unconventional housings. Although Filipe eventually stopped making pedals with tuna cans, the early units were a hit on social media whenever photos were posted.
Tuna Fuzz features include:
- Single knob control – “Stinker” – for controlling output volume
- Preset fuzz gain, adjustable from your guitar’s volume knob
- 9-volt DC operation using standard external power supply – no battery compartment
- True bypass switching
One of the goals of this project was to offer an affordable price so that everyone could own a Beetronicspedal. For that reason, the pedal will be sold exclusively on beetronicsfx.com for a sweet $99.99.
For more information, please visit beetronicsfx.com.