Reviews
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The Best Boost Pedals for Distortion-Free, Clean Gain & Fatter Tone
There are times when you simply can't get enough gain. Maybe you just need more volume in general or your other pedals or long cables have sucked too much power out of your signal. Or perhaps you want to drive a distortion pedal or a tube amp even harder. This is what a boost pedal does, and it does it in a clean fashion so […]
The Best Wah Pedals to Wail Like a Cry Baby or Neigh Like a Bad Horsie
The spectral glide we call wah-wah has been around for quite some time. Trumpet and trombone players were doing it manually since the 1920's, and in 1966 the first guitar wah pedal was invented. These pedals have gone through a lot of revisions in technical terms of how they pull off the effect, but the sound itself remains the same. It's the same one that […]
The Best Envelope Filter Pedals to Auto-Wah Your Way Into Funk Nirvana
Most of the effects pedals out there are for universal effects any instrumentalist or studio engineer might use on any number of tracks. But the envelope filter pedal, or auto-wah pedal, is largely designed for the electric guitar, bass, and piano and employed for the funk genre. That's not to say you won't find it elsewhere being used creatively by talented thinkers. It's just that […]
The Best Fuzz Pedals to Get That High-Gain, Girthy, Vintage Distortion
Distortion and overdrive are all fine and dandy, but sometimes you want to really push it to the limit with some ripping fuzz. And by ripping I mean the sound of the woofers in your amp being torn to shreds. In a studio in 1961, Grady Martin played through a faulty preamplifier and that song became a smash hit. Companies scrambled to recreate the sound, […]
The Best Distortion Pedals to Growl the Crunchy Harmonics
Newcomers to the guitar and bass world often ask the obvious question about the difference between the distortion effect and that of overdrive and fuzz. Even experienced musicians tend to think the last two are sub-types of distortion, but that's not correct when it comes to pedal nomenclature. It's easier to explain the difference, and attractiveness of distortion in general, by describing the sounds of […]
The Best Overdrive Pedals to Push Your Gain Into Warm Tube Paradise
Guitar players have been praising and taking advantage of the subtle sounds of the overdrive effect for half a century now. Although overdriving your amplifier was considered a mistake before, by the early 1960's rock bands were purposefully creating this effect with their amps as engineers scrambled to create ways to achieve this without altering your overall volume levels. Eventually the overdrive pedal hit the […]
Roadie 2 Review - Does the Automatic Guitar Tuner Stack Up?
Whether you're a professional guitar player, a beginner still in the learning stages, or even a guitar technician looking for a faster and accurate way to get through those million restrings you have to do, the Roadie 2 has something to offer you. There's a lot to be said for automatic guitar tuning. Not all of us have perfect pitch, and being relatively in tune […]
The 6 Best Monitor Isolation Pads for Pristine Audio Quality
We do all kinds of research to make sure we invest in the highest quality studio monitors we can in our price range. We value a flat frequency response so we can make accurate decisions when working and can hear the intricacies of our favorite music and movies when not working. But eventually the realization sets in that sound doesn't exist in a vacuum. Our […]
The Best Guitar Tuners to Get You Back in Key Fast & Reliably
If there is one tool you will absolutely need as a guitar player, it's a guitar tuner. The importance of having your instrument in the right key can't be emphasized enough. Additionally, guitars going out of tune during use is something everyone has to deal with. So it's a non-negotiable skill; you will have to learn to tune up and how to do it fast. […]
The Best Guitar Amps: 6 Hot Rockin' Face-Melters!
If you've just bought yourself your first electric guitar, you're probably in that state of excitement that's hard to describe. The truth is, that's only the beginning. Now it's time to find yourself a good amp that'll really show you the sounds your brand new six-string is capable of producing. Selecting the right amp can be pretty tricky. There are so many models available and […]
The Best Acoustic Electric Guitars: Loud & Refined
Even though acoustic guitars haven't really changed much in the past century, modern technology did have an impact on these instruments. When the first guitar pickups were invented, it didn't take long before someone tried to find applications for this technology in the world of acoustic guitars. The result we have at the present moment is a market full of acoustic electric models that bring […]
The Best Classical Guitars: Our Fave Nylon String Beauties
In this day and age, classical guitars have taken the back seat to electric and steel string acoustic guitars. However, there are indications that this old instrument is rising again in popularity. For anyone who truly appreciates guitars, that's good news because a classical generates some of the most beautiful tones you'll find on any instrument ever. Going for a classical as your next or […]
The Best Beginner Guitars For Easy Learning
Learning to play guitar is a pretty intimidating concept. In most cases, the person thinking about getting into guitars has never really had extended or informed contact with musical instruments before. Which is fine, that's how we all start. Although understanding the basics of a guitar is complicated enough as it is, let alone trying to play with some semblance of skill, the real confusion […]
The Best Guitar For Metal & A Guide To Amps, Strings, & Pickups
Metal music has become among the most popular genres in the past few decades. On top of that, we have seen all kinds of new variations and sub-genres hitting the scene, offering a much more diverse selection. If you are just starting to play guitar and you are absolutely sure that you want to play metal, you are probably wondering what kind of gear to […]
The Best Electric Guitar to Keep Beginners Learning & Excited
Compared to acoustic guitars, electric ones have been around for a fairly short period of time. We are talking 60 to 70 years of active use. Even so, this instrument has completely changed the way we understand music. The electric guitar's almost unlimited flexibility is exactly why so many people start their journey of learning how to play it each year. If this is you […]
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