Early on in his run at Revv Amplification, Derek Eastveld knew the company needed a jolt of visibility—a way to supplement the conventional route of print ads and trade shows, a path toward placing gear into the hands of more players. In a prescient move, the VP of sales and marketing turned to YouTube—making human-to-human connections with the folks doing demos and reviews. That organic, word-of-mouth approach, both online and off, became crucial to the Canadian company’s vision.
Take, for example, the 2018 launch of their revered high-gain pedal, the G3. Motivated by a Strymon campaign, Eastveld brainstormed an ambitious plan: “[I said], ‘We’re gonna do what [they] did, but on steroids,” he tells Premier Guitar. “We’re going to blanket YouTube with the G3 pedal over a month.” Eastveld remembers flying to Europe as the first videos launched, having no clue what to expect. (Revv, he says, “sees the video almost always at the same time as the consumer,” staying out of the creator’s way.) “When I landed, I opened my email, and we’d sold almost 200 pedals,” he says. “We thought we were going to sell 500 in the first two years. That really spring-boarded Revv into becoming more of a household name.”
These days, Revv might not have the brand recognition of, say, Marshall or Mesa/Boogie, but they’ve become sleeper staples in certain scenes, gracing the rigs of hard-rock slingers, pop-punk riff-merchants, and versatile Nashville session aces. (Dann Huff used the Dynamis D40 amp head to record his 2025 debut solo effort, When Words Aren’t Enough.) That rise has been fueled not by exorbitant budgets but by genuine, grassroots guitar-geek curiosity—a trajectory solidified back in 2013, when Eastveld randomly struck up a friendship with Revv President & Designer Dan Trudeau.
Becoming a partner in an amp company wasn’t exactly on Eastveld’s radar back then, even if it basically amounted to a dream gig for the gear-obsessed guitarist. Growing up in Manitoba, he was introduced to music by the classic rock spinning on his parents’ record player. “We’d play music trivia, where my dad put on the Beatles and Led Zeppelin and we’d have to guess the tune,” he says. He started playing guitar at age 10, with his older brother Scott (now also part of the Revv team) picking up drums around the same time. Six years later, he began giving entry-level guitar lessons at a local music store, and that’s where he caught the bug for gear. (He recalls, for example, encountering the Danelectro Cool Cat and Daddy O pedals and being impressed by the retro aesthetic.) “I wanted to collect every pedal I could, and I would always have extra jobs on the side that would fund me being able to buy cool gear,” he says.
Joey Landreth Playing His Signature D25JL
As exuberant young musicians with loads of gear often do, he started making his own music—and for a while, that seemed like a legitimate career path. “I got involved with Christian hard rock and pop-punk bands around 2000, and we had some regional success in Western Canada, where we’d do mini tours,” he says. “I did that for about seven years, and, like a lot of musicians, I had other jobs.” Some were steady side gigs: He became a stagehand and, eventually, a concert rigger, working “pretty much every major concert that came to Manitoba.” Another day job was equally cool, but more practical: making decals and signs at a screen-printing company, with a speciality in printing on metal. Then, as his band fizzled out, he wound up starting his own screen-printing business—and that’s where Trudeau comes in.
“One day my foreman came up to me and said, ‘I got an email from this guy who used to work for me at another company,’” Eastveld remembers. “‘He’s asking me if we can help out his buddy who’s building guitar amps. I know you’re into the guitar thing. He wants, like, 10 pieces of a panel for the front and 10 pieces of a panel for the back of the amp printed. The job is not worth doing for us, but I know you’re into this stuff, so maybe you want to take a look at it.’”
His curiosity piqued, Eastveld called for more info. Trudeau, it turns out, was having a hard time finding a company that could screen print onto metal. It was a strangely perfect match, given that Eastveld was still a huge gearhead, with a collection that had grown to roughly 10 guitars, eight amps, and 80 pedals. Trudeau, a metal fan and electrical engineer, had been working on amps for local guitarists, but struck sonic gold with his prototype for the Generator, which seemed to fill a void on the high-gain marketplace. When he brought the amp over for a demo, Eastveld promptly plugged it in and was blown away: “I said, ‘Where did you build this, and how did you do it? If you could build me one of these, I’d buy it.’ He starts laughing, and says, ‘Man, I didn’t tell you how much it costs yet!’ I said, ‘That’s okay, because I didn’t tell you how much the printing costs.’”
Back then, Trudeau was hand-wiring the Generators and, given the constraints of his day job, could only finish one per month. But Eastveld knew there was potential here. So he went to Trudeau with a pitch: “I was like, ‘Have you ever thought about having a partner?’” he recalls. “‘No, why, do you know anyone?’ I said, ‘I was kinda thinking about me.’ We went back and forth for a couple weeks and decided in December 2013 that we were gonna partner up.”
He was confident people would flip out over the amp—including guitarist friends like Mark Tremonti, whom Eastveld met through doing band merch. After Trudeau delivered the amp, Eastveld sent it to Tremonti’s manager, Tim Tournier, and asked for his feedback. “He called me right after and said, ‘Holy shit, where did you get this thing?’” he recalls. “I said, ‘It’s a local guy. I just started a partnership with him.’ Tim was playing in a band called Man the Mighty. He said, ‘I want one. I would happily play these live.’ Tim came onboard as an artist. I went to a show and brought one for Mark to check out. He picked one up, and it started to snowball a bit from there.”
The Generator G50 50-watt head
The Generator 120 has since become Revv’s “flagship” product, featuring four color-coded channels: blue clean, green crunch, purple tight gain, and red fat gain. Everyone who played one back in those early days seemed to rave over it. “We had a product that we felt competed really well against Mesa/Boogie, Peavey—it would at least be in the same class,” Eastveld says. “They’re different things, different flavors. Not saying we’re better in any way, shape, or form, but we knew people would like this.”
But it wasn’t exactly smooth sailing as Revv tried to spread the word, reflected by the company’s confusing first experience at the NAMM trade show, in 2015. They thought they would walk away with 50–100 amp orders, but after the first day, “it became very evident that we were not going to sell anywhere close to that.”
They networked and hustled, even created a promotion to give away a free amp. But with their numbers so minimal, they realized they had to rethink the strategy—which led to their lightbulb-idea with the YouTube community. They reached out to guitarists who had their own channels, some of which were fairly small at the time, and discovered a whole new layer of visibility. Some of these folks would play the amps during guitar demos, which “really started to bring some brand awareness” for the company. By the time of their G3 marketing blitz a few years later, YouTube had become a vital piece of doing business.
The Dynamis D20 MK2 head
For Revv, it’s all about that hands-on artist connection—getting gear into the right hands, letting people fall in love with it, and trusting that the quality will keep the momentum surging. And there’s no better place to foster a community than Nashville—it may be over 1,300 miles from the Winnipeg area, but it’s become a sort of spiritual home for their Dynamis series. There are currently multiple variants of this amp, including the D20, which has embedded reactive load virtual-cab tech, and the classic D40, voiced with the help of session/touring player Shawn Tubbs (Stone Temple Pilots, Carrie Underwood), with dedicated clean and overdrive channels.
As for how the Dynamis series came to be, Eastveld says, “I told Dan, ‘The clean channel on the Generator is really impressive.’ And I’d never really played a good high-end amp that had a great clean channel. I thought the house-of-worship market and the country market overlaps with the CCM market quite a bit now. And the tones these guys go for—if we just warmed up the clean channel on the Generator a little bit to where it took pedals a little better, I think it would do really well in that space. That being said, I don’t think anyone will pay attention to it if it’s a four-channel amp that just has a great clean channel. Most people hear with their eyes first. They see the Generator and see a lot of knobs and four channels and that it looks like a high-gain amp—if we do something a little different, maybe a nice clean channel and then maybe a crunch channel that can get saturated but not super high-gain, I think there would be a really big market for that. We’re probably going to want more than one line.’”
Working with Tubbs was crucial on two levels—first, he was “really influential” in the voicing of the D40, but he also “opened a bunch of doors” through his connections with other session players. Eastveld has also found a home-away-from-home in Nashville, traveling there for weeks at a time to work and host events. “It’s unbelievably welcoming,” he says. “The Southern hospitality thing is very true. There was no gatekeeping.” These days, you’ll probably find Revv all over the studios of Music City.
The company is continuing to evolve: Their current lineup features numerous amps, including the recently unveiled Generator G25, their “high-gain answer to the D20”; a handful of speaker and cabinet models; and an array of pedals, highlighted by their recent invention, the Dirtdog, which replicates the sound of a modded—and, eventually, blown-out—Princeton amp clone Joey Landreth used to record Dog Ear, his 2025 album with the Bros. Landreth. “That’s the kind of stuff we get excited about,” Eastveld says, “where we’re like, ‘Yeah, that’s something that doesn’t exist.’”
Revv’s Scott Kroeker building a Dynamis D40
That’s the whole philosophy—bringing to life the specific sounds that guitarists can’t currently access, that may only exist in their heads. “We all have different tones that we’re going for,” he says. “People don’t realize—there isn’t much stuff out there that’s bad. It’s just not for you.”
And that quest to seek out the next inspiring tone is what keeps Revv from feeling like just a job, “It’s connected to the thing that I’ve loved since I was 10,” Eastveld reflects. “I still love going to guitar stores and finding a new amp or pedal or something I’ve never played, then plugging into it and having that moment: ‘This is so cool. This feels so different or sounds so different.’
“Most of what I do is not playing guitar,” he continues. “But I don’t get up in the morning and go, ‘Ugh, I have to go to work today’—ever. This is the best job I could ever ask for.”
Godin Guitars has introduced the ACS Steve Stevens Signature 25th Anniversary LTD, a limited-edition nylon-string instrument celebrating more than 25 years of creative collaboration between legendary guitarist Steve Stevens and the Canadian guitar maker.
Crafted in Canada, the new model marks a significant evolution of the renowned ACS Multiac platform. Designed to reflect Stevens’ unmistakable musical identity, the anniversary edition blends elegant craftsmanship with modern performance, resulting in a nylon-string instrument as visually striking as it is sonically versatile.
“When I first discovered the Godin Multiac, it completely changed the way I thought about guitar,” says Steve Stevens. “I wanted to merge flamenco, rock, and electronic music into something cinematic and modern, and Godin was the first company that truly understood that vision.”
Built with a purple quilted maple top, custom purple tuning pegs, and a gloss-finished neck, the 25th Anniversary nylon-string model delivers a bold stage presence, effortless playability and tonal flexibility. Adding a deeply personal touch, Stevens’ iconic raygun logo is featured prominently on the front of the guitar, while his signature appears on the back of the headstock.
The mahogany neck and Richlite fingerboard and bridge, combined with a 16" fingerboard radius and 1.9" Graphtech nut, provide effortless playability and precise response across the full 25.5" scale length—perfectly suited to Steve Stevens’ dynamic and expressive playing style.
Equipped with an on-board preamp, this ACS Multiac captures every nuance with clarity and control, making it equally powerful on stage or in the studio. The initial production run of 100 guitars will each be signed by Stevens and numbered (1 to 100). They will include a custom hardshell case with purple plush interior, a Steve Stevens guitar pick, and a Certificate of Authenticity. More than a guitar, the ACS Multiac Steve Stevens Signature 25th Anniversary LTD is a celebration of artistry, collaboration, and legacy.
“This 25th Anniversary model represents everything I love about guitars, craftsmanship, innovation, and inspiration,” Stevens adds. “From the purple finish to the upgraded electronics, every detail was designed to create an instrument that feels both elegant and exciting the moment you pick it up.
”Known for his groundbreaking work with Billy Idol, his acclaimed solo career, and his genre-defying approach to guitar, multi-platinum selling, Grammy Award-winning artist Steve Stevens has long relied on Godin instruments to move seamlessly between acoustic, electric, flamenco-inspired, and cinematic textures. A 2026 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee alongside Billy Idol, Stevens has helped shape generations of rock guitar playing while continually pushing the boundaries of the instrument. The ACS Multiac became a cornerstone of that sound, helping define a unique playing style that blends technical precision with emotional intensity.
“This was a unique project for us,” says Mario Biferali, Vice President of Sales at Godin Guitars. “Steve has been part of the Godin family for over 25 years, and that kind of relationship allows for a deeper level of trust and creative freedom. This guitar isn’t just a new finish or a cosmetic update, it's a true reflection of Steve’s personality, his history with the Multiac, and the evolution of our partnership.”
Simon Godin, CEO of Godin Guitars, adds: “Steve Stevens represents everything we value in an artist relationship: longevity, creativity, and a genuine connection to the instruments we build. After more than two decades of working together, this guitar feels like a celebration of that journey. It’s modern, expressive, and unmistakably Steve.”
Handcrafted in Canada, the ACS Steve Stevens Signature 25th Anniversary LTD maintains the core design elements that have made the Multiac series beloved by players around the world, while introducing exclusive visual and performance upgrades worthy of this milestone collaboration.
The ACS Steve Stevens Signature 25th Anniversary LTD carries a street price of $2999. For more information visit godinguitars.com.
Orange Amps and Ed Sheeran have teamed up to introduce a new line of amplifiers, the Outlowd Ed Sheeran ES Series. The ES3, ES60 and ES100 are three new models in a collaboration focused on sound portability and performance.
The launch of the new Outlowd Ed Sheeran ES Series features a collaboration with Ed Sheeran designed to inspire more people to play music, in every setting.
Developed in partnership with one of the world’s most recognizable singer-songwriters, the ES Series brings together Orange’s distinctive design and analogue heritage with a modern, musicians approach to acoustic and broader instrument amplification.
The range launches with three new models - the compact ES3 acoustic amp and Bluetooth speaker, the performance-focused ES60 2-channel portable busking amp, and the flagship ES100 acoustic amp and portable PA - each designed around real-world music listening and playing, from songwriting at home to busking, touring and live performance.
At the center of the launch is the ES60, described by Orange as “the ultimate busking amplifier”. Designed specifically for modern performers and singer-songwriters, the ES60 combines long-lasting battery-powered portability, with professional live performance sound and features, allowing musicians to perform virtually anywhere without needing mains power.
Delivering a typically ‘Orange Amps loud’ 60 Watts, through a specially crafted 8” Voice of the World whizzer cone speaker, the ES60 features dedicated guitar and vocal channels, +48V phantom power, built-in reverb, Bluetooth audio playback, balanced line out and FX loop connectivity. A rechargeable Li-Ion battery and included padded gig bag complete a package designed for musicians constantly on the move.
Ed Sheeran said:
“Music doesn’t start in arenas or on streaming platforms. It starts in bedrooms, youth clubs, pubs, schools, parks, living rooms and street corners. That’s where I found my voice. I think tiny venues are super important to learn how to perform and busking teaches you not to sweat the big stuff.
I wanted this project with Orange to feel honest to that - celebrating local musicians, local communities, and the idea that anyone can start somewhere.
Playing music is a really fun thing to do and it should always be fun. It should feel like an escape. Now I'm in my 30s, I just want to do things that I enjoy and get excited by. With this collaboration, it was like, would I use this? Is this something that I need in my life as a musician? And the answer was yes.”
The ES3 serves as the smallest and most portable model in the range, a rechargeable 3-Watt acoustic amplifier with reverb control, full range 4” speaker, Bluetooth playback, USB-C charging and a leather carry strap - aimed at home use, practice, and casual performances.
Meanwhile, the ES100 has been designed as a fully professional acoustic solution for larger performances and demanding live environments. Featuring a 12” Celestion full-range neodymium driver paired with a state-of-the-art neodymium Celestion HF tweeter, the ES100 delivers increased headroom, clarity and full-range response for professional acoustic players and vocal performers alike.
Sarah Yule, Managing Director of Orange Amplification, commented:
“What made this collaboration feel right from the beginning was that it came from a very real place. Before streaming numbers and stadium tours, Ed’s music started in community spaces and street corners. That’s still true for others today and is an important beginning - that with nurture - feeds the whole music ecosystem. The ES Series was designed around that journey; products that feel approachable, inspiring and genuinely useful for musicians at different stages of their musical lives.”
Alongside the hardware launch, Orange is also unveiling Outlowd: Play It Home, a global campaign celebrating grassroots music culture and emerging local talent.
Play It Home launched in Ed’s hometown of Ipswich, Suffolk on Friday 5th June, with around two thousand Ed Sheeran fans flocking to see him perform a 6-track set alongside local singer-songwriter Lianne Kaye. One local 9-year-old schoolboy, Felix, was delighted that Ed chose to give him his brand new amp from the performance at the end of the set. To help Felix with his dream to become a musician, his next 12 months of music lessons will be fully funded. This will make him the first to receive support via the campaign, which aims to give back to the community in each city it visits through equipment donations and financial support for youth music programmes, rehearsal space initiatives, and community projects.
Cliff Cooper, Founder and CEO of Orange Amps said:
“It’s a real pleasure to work with Ed. He is such a talented and caring person who does so much to introduce people into music”.
The campaign will also spotlight local artists through intimate performances filmed in meaningful locations, travelling globally through a series of retailer-supported sessions in towns and cities around the world including Guildford, Toronto, Paris, Sydney, Los Angeles, Tokyo, and Bamberg.
The Outlowd by Ed Sheeran ES Series carry the following street prices:
ES3 : £149 / €179 / $199 - Available now
ES60 : £499 / €599 / $699 - Available now
ES100 : £1099 / €1299 / $1499 - Pre order now, available September 10th 2026
Jared James Nichols has a few calling cards: his mane of total-rockstar hair, his giant steel-toed boots, and his sweet, stinging Gibson-plus-Marshall shredding. He just released his latest record, Louder than Fate, which landed him on the cover of Premier Guitar’s June issue.
PG’s Chris Kies met up with Nichols at Gym 5 in Nashville to get a look at his revamped, pared-down rig, based around a classic recipe: Gibson guitars, Marshall stacks, and a couple of stomps to push those elements to the edge.
These four electrics are Nichols’ mainstays. The 2025 Gibson Futura, second from the right, has been modded with Seymour Duncan Antiquity pickups and a custom black pickguard. To its left sits a 1952 Les Paul nicknamed “Dorothy,” Nichols’ favorite axe, which has survived a tornado and will be with him for life.
Also on the roster are Nichols’ signature Epiphone “Blues Power” Les Paul Custom (far left), with a Seymour Duncan Silencer JJN P-90B that gets rid of hum, and a Gibson Made to Measure Les Paul (far right), with a Custom Bucker and another Silencer JJN P-90B, intended to recreate Nichols’ ’54 Les Paul nicknamed “Old Red.”
Nichols uses DR Strings Veritas sets (.010–.049).
Stacks on Stacks
Nichols runs two Marshall 1959 modified heads through Marshall 1960 4x12 cabs, with Celestion GT-75 speakers. One is set for higher treble response, and the other favors bass presence.
Jared James Nichols’ Pedalboard
Nichols’ stomp setup is simple as can be: Along with a Klon Centaur and an Ibanez TS808 Tube Screamer, he carries a Seymour Duncan Pickup Booster Mini, a TC Electronic PolyTune 3, and a Whirlwind Selector A/B Box to switch between amp heads.
Jack White has announced the release of his forthcoming seventh studio album, Frozen Charlotte, arriving via Third Man Records on Friday, July 10. Alongside the announcement, White released the new single “Dollar Bill” which is available on all DSPs and streaming services. The album will be available on black vinyl; a limited-edition “Zug Island Blue” as the Third Man Records exclusive vinyl; a limited-edition “Chrome” for the Jack White tour and webstore; and a limited-edition “Ice Blue” for independent record stores. The album will also be available on CD and cassette. Pre-orders/pre-saves are available now.
Earlier this week, White’s label Third Man records premiered Third Man Release Lab, a free, two-part, behind-the-scenes online series that explores Third Man Records’ creative approach to record releases and demystifies the album release process. Fans tuning into each Release Lab were unknowingly teased glitching album imagery, allusions to the Frozen Charlatan character, and listened to a “Dollar Bill” audio clip for the first time. Watch the Third Man Release Lab Part 1 and Part 2.
White will introduce fans to Frozen Charlotte on a wide-ranging 2026 world headline tour. North American dates begin July 10 with a sold-out show at Washington, DC’s The Anthem and continue through a two-night stand at Atlanta, GA’s Coca-Cola Roxy on November 20-21. Highlights include two-night runs in a number of cities, including Brooklyn, Los Angeles, Chicago, Atlanta, Charlotte, and Miami Beach, along with top-billed festival performances at East Aurora, NY’s Borderland Festival (September 19) and Richmond, VA’s Iron Blossom Music Festival (September 20). Support at Toronto, ON’s RBC Amphitheatre on July 14 comes from Angine de Poitrine.
White and his longtime live band – Patrick Keeler (drums), Dominic Davis (bass), and Bobby Emmett (keys) – will also cross the Atlantic for a series of shows and headline festival appearances in Europe and the United Kingdom, including two-night stands at Paris, France’s sold-out L’Olympia (June 13-14), Brussels, Belgium’s sold-out Ancienne Belgique (June 16-17), London, UK’s Eventim Apollo (August 25-26), and Dublin, Ireland’s sold-out 3Olympia (September 1-2). In addition, White will travel to Asia for eagerly anticipated dates in Seoul, Shanghai, Istanbul, Turkey, at Babylon Soundgarden (August 23), and Almaty, Kazakhstan. For complete details and remaining ticket information, please visitjackwhiteiii.com/tour-dates.
Frozen Charlotte will also feature the two fiery songs, “Derecho Demonico” and “G.O.D. and the Broken Ribs,” which premiered earlier this year. White and his band marked the release with electrifying performances of both songs during a landmark sixth career appearance on NBC’s Saturday Night Live.
Produced by White, Frozen Charlotte represents White’s first new music since 2024, a year highlighted by the release of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee’s critically lauded sixth studio album, No Name. The acclaimed collection was honored with a 2025 GRAMMY® Award nomination for “Best Rock Album” – White’s 34th solo-career nomination and 46th overall, along with 16 total GRAMMY® Award wins. No Name includes the consecutive #1 U.S. radio hit singles, “That’s How I’m Feeling” and “Archbishop Harold Holmes,” the latter of which is joined by an electrically charged official music video starring legendary actor and renaissance man John C. Reilly as the ecstatic, impassioned titular character, now boasting over 3.5M worldwide views via YouTube alone.
October 2025 saw the official publication of Jack White Collected Lyrics and Selected Writing Volume 1, available now atthirdmanbooks.com, Third Man physical storefronts, and booksellers in the United States and the United Kingdom. Edited by Third Man Records co-founder Ben Blackwell, the landmark new anthology features never-before-published poems and writings by White, rare and exclusive photos, and new essays written especially for this book by Blackwell, award-winning, Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award-nominated poet Adrian Matejka, and award-winning, Detroit-based filmmaker and writer dream hampton. The collection also compiles lyrics from both White’s solo recordings thus far, as well as his acclaimed work with The Raconteurs, The Dead Weather, and other collaborations. White discussed Jack White Collected Lyrics and Selected Writing Volume 1 during an extended interview on CBS’s The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, highlighted by a recitation of his original poem, “Just Suppose to Juxtapose.” White also appeared on Colbert’s surprise public access broadcast, Only In Monroe, which premiered the day after his final CBS episode.
JACK WHITE – LIVE 2026
JUNE
10 – Gothenburg, Sweden – Liseberg (Concert Series)
12 – Hilvarenbeek, Netherlands – Best Kept Secret Festival †
![Jared James Nichols [2026]](https://www.premierguitar.com/media-library/image.jpg?id=66892615&width=1245&height=700&quality=70&coordinates=0%2C0%2C0%2C0)
