jackson audio

Guitars, basses, pedals, amps, and more … high-quality gear kept arriving in 2023 at a record pace. Here are the past 12 months’ Premier Gear Award winners.

Read on to see which debut tone toys of 2023 reaped Premier Gear Awards from our editors and expert reviewers!

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An encyclopedic collection of analog chorus tones that range from the sublime to the stuttering.

So much more than a chorus. Deep analog sounds. A wealth of usable options.

The 18-volt requirement might be a concern for underpowered boards. Some learning curve.

$299

Jackson Audio New Wave
jackson.audio

4.5
4
3.5
4

In my modulation universe, I think of chorus as the North Star—the effect around every other modulation effect turns. Within it, you hear traces of delay, phase, and reverb all mixed together to create waves of sound that evoke powerful and often very specific feelings and musical settings. Sometimes that feeling is the lush sound of ’80s pop. Other times it can be aggressive and unnerving. Jackson Audio’s New Wave, a chorus/vibrato collaboration with Snarky Puppy’s Mark Lettieri, aims to cover both of those extremes and nearly everything in between.

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Recreating the preamp in Silvertone’ssignature ’60s amp results in a surprisingly multifaceted overdrive.

Great drive sounds, ranging from characterful boost to low-gain overdrive. Unique personality. Powerful, flexible EQ.

Arguably a bit expensive for what it does.

$249

Jackson Audio Silvertone 1484 Twin Twelve
jackson.audio

4.5
4.5
5
4

Once harvested for peanuts at garage sales and pawn shops—or free for lucky dumpster divers—the Silvertone Model 1484 Twin Twelve amplifier of 1963-’67 graduated to legend status over the past couple decades. Like a lot of ’60s gear with department store catalog origins, Silvertone amps and guitars provided great bang for the buck when they were new. But perhaps no Silvertone product—apart from the company’s Danelectro-built guitars—is as revered as the Twin Twelve. Mudhoney’s Mark Arm and Steve Turner discovered their charms early in their career, and Twin Twelves and their siblings remained backline fixtures for punks, garage rockers, and indie kids. But once the likes of Jack White and Dan Auerbach got on board, the market heated up considerably.

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