Gear Award 2020
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The products listed here received 90-percent or higher cumulative ratings for relevant categories (tones, playability or ease of use, build/design, and value) in reviews published during the 2020 editorial cycle, thus earning them Premier Guitar’s coveted Premier Gear Award.
ARTICLES
One Boost Pedal to Rule Them All?
April 1, 2020
Yeah, it does “pristine,” but it also offers ferocious, incredibly touch-sensitive fuzz—minus the noise. The PG ThorpyFX Heavy Water review.
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Wampler Terraform: The Premier Guitar Review
March 19, 2020
Myriad tones, from classic to tweaky, lurk in this one-stop modulation shop.
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J. Rockett APE: The Premier Guitar Review
March 17, 2020
Liven up your lame digital delay with the ultimate EP-3-style booster.
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Breedlove Wildwood Concert Cutaway CE: The Premier Guitar Review
March 12, 2020
Sleek, stylish, affordable, and balanced, this compact, all-solid mahogany flattop excels in amplified performance situations.
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Fender American Ultra Jazzmaster: The Premier Guitar Review
March 9, 2020
The Jazzmaster finally gets an upscale modern facelift—with enhanced playability and expressive potential as the payoff.
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Danelectro The Breakdown: The Premier Guitar Review
March 8, 2020
Tone freaks, take note: It’s badass—but not just for the usual “bang-for-buck” reasons.
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AC30 Tones for the 21st Century
March 3, 2020
A lighter, more flexible take on a British-voiced ’60s stalwart: The PG Victory VC35 "The Copper" review.
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Ernie Ball VPJR Tuner: The Premier Guitar Review
February 28, 2020
When it comes to obvious pedal combinations, could tuning and volume control be the new peanut butter and jelly?
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Strymon Iridium: The Premier Guitar Review
February 26, 2020
Intrigued but also daunted by sophisticated amp modelers? Strymon's latest brilliantly bridges the gap with a simple stompbox-style interface boasting a handful of stellar amp emulations.
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Source Audio Collider: The Premier Guitar Review
February 21, 2020
The greatest hits from a powerhouse digital reverb and an equally potent digital delay are distilled into a single, super-convenient space-and-time manipulator.
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Dean Thoroughbred Select Quilt Top TCS: The Premier Guitar Review
February 18, 2020
Flashy and fabulously playable, this single-cut boasts a surprising number of tonal personalities.
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An 18V Mistress for the Rest of Us
February 13, 2020
Looking for a Gilmour-esque flanger? Here's a compact and buttery-sounding take on the Pink Floyd legend's Animals-era modulation machine. The PG Retro-Sonic Flanger review.
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Amp in a Box? This Thing Feels More Like a Baby Recording Console
February 9, 2020
Expansive EQ- and drive-shaping capabilities meet studio-level precision. The PG Origin Effects RevivalDRIVE Compact review.
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Fender Tone Master Deluxe Reverb: The Premier Guitar Review
February 7, 2020
A DSP-driven blackface Deluxe that dares players to differentiate between tube and digital.
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PRS SE Hollowbody Standard: The Premier Guitar Review
February 6, 2020
The modern classic excels in its more accessibly priced guise.
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Electro-Harmonix Ram’s Head Big Muff: The Premier Guitar Review
February 3, 2020
Matthews and company chase the sound of the most coveted vintage Big Muff and come dang close to hitting the mark—and for less than 100 bucks.
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Fender American Ultra Jazz Bass: The Premier Guitar Review
January 30, 2020
An iconic bass undergoes a few tweaks to its formula, but make no mistake—this 4-string is all Jazz and then some.
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Is This the Most Versatile Compressor Ever?
January 14, 2020
Bonus: This squeeze box includes an amazing EQ and boost. The PG Jackson Audio Bloom review.
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Blackstar Silverline Standard: The Premier Guitar Review
December 27, 2019
This fun, budget-friendly modeling amp aims for the sky with solid attempts at mimicking the response of EL84, 6V6, EL34, 6L6, KT66, and KT88 power sections.
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