Premier Guitar features affiliate links to help support our content. We may earn a commission on any affiliated purchases.

The Year in Gear 2019

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

Martin Modern Deluxe OM-28


In recent years, Martin has been mixing vintage production techniques with innovative new ones to expand the range of their new models. Along with its torrefied Sitka spruce top, svelte mahogany neck, and East Indian rosewood back and sides, this OM-28 has a titanium truss rod, carbon-fiber bridge plate, powder-coated titanium bridge pins, flame-maple binding, and copper-alloy frets. Flawlessly built, this instrument delivers taut lows, superb dynamics, and sky-high headroom.

Read the review
$3,999 street, martinguitar.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


Sign up below to join our newsletter list for daily NAMM show updates, so you don't miss our world-class gear coverage!

Read MoreShow less
Kernom Elipse Modulation Demo | NAMM 2025
- YouTube

Are you indecisive on your modulation application? Would you like to blend them? Well, Kernom has your solution with the impressively versatile Elipse is a modulation taproom with harmonic tremolo, rotary, chorus & vibrato, flanger, phaser, and vibe settings. The mood knob doesn't just select the effect, but you can blend them as you twist the knob. The all-analog, digital-controlled pedal secret sauce is in the swirl that blends a slow phaser with any modulation effect to create rich, multidimensional tones. If you can't find a sound in there you don't like, you don't have a pulse.

Cort Hedras X700 Mutility II Demo | NAMM 2025
- YouTube

Shredmaster Hedras showed us his new Cort X700 Mutility II signature that has an American basswood body (with an ergonomic double-cutaway design), a roasted 5-piece maple-and-walnut neck, a compact 25-25.5" multi-scale setup, a roasted maple fretboard, a GraphTech TUSQ nut, and rips thanks to Fluence Open Core Modern humbuckers.

Kyser How to Build a Capo | NAMM 2025
- YouTube

If you see a curl on your capo, you know it was made by Kyser in Texas. They did a unique thing by bringing production to NAMM and showed how they make their acoustic guitar capos. There's only a few parts on their capos, but they're all high-grade components that make a secure, snug, dependable hug on your guitar's neck.