Guitars user reviews

The Hufschmid Walnut Special is one of the most unique guitars I have owned. This is my 12th Hufschmid Guitar and the 5th with Alumitone deathbucker pickups. My amp use with these incredible guitars…

Do you have a favorite guitar and wished it had a tremolo bridge? Do you have a guitar with such a bridge, but you find you are always tuning it after some whammy escapades? How about an instrument …

BearAss works for rhythm, lead, and bass guitars, primarily (e.g., certainly you can use the Compressor for vocals or the Fuzz for instruments). There are three aspects to this pedal, including Fuzz,…

I am lucky enough to own many plectrums Patrick HUFSCHMID made, in various sizes, shapes, thicknesses and materials. All of them are of the highest quality, speaking of craftsmanship, finish, and of …

I haven't had the sz520 long, but it feels great! Very smooth and fast. I bought it used for 300 bucks. It sounds really decent. No complaints. The finish on it looks great. Especially considering it…

For those who dislike fuzz or may be looking for an alternative, the TSAR FACE is an option. This is a low-gain germanium PNP transistor-based fuzz with a unique circuit design. Using two Soviet-era …

If you are a tube snob, then the Hagerman Half-Watt is an ideal practice and studio recording amp. This is a cleanish amp, although it has some growl and burn when cranked or when playing hard, runni…

Of all the budget multi-effects modelers, the MATRIBOX is my favorite, and I would venture to say that some of the guitar tones (particularly hi-gain) sound impressive. They are ‘dry’ and sound decen…

Now and again, gear comes along that blows me away, and I am sure others have had that experience. The Purple Nightmare Preamp (based on Driftwood Amp’s flagship Purple Nightmare head) follows suit w…

I travel as an electrician There's probably 6 or 8 times that I get to a job, check offer up or FB and find a cheap acoustic to play on my days off. I usually end up giving them away right before I l…

GRIM3 is a ‘sick’ pedal, and in a good way. What may throw off some people is that this is not a hi-gain pedal, despite the name or that it comes from its creator, This Heavy Earth. The function and …

A fuzz and an envelope filter in one, and ideal for either lead/rhythm or bass. This may not seem unusual, but add to that a dual channel with various filter options, and you have a killer pedal for …

I had headless guitars in the past, both of which were double the price as the Ibanez Quantum (QX54QM model). I found one brand stiff playing, whereas the other two had wiring or sound issues (that …

I supposed I could joke about how this is a guitarist’s ‘Wet Dream,’ but the name Dream ’65 will suffice. Emulated from select 1965 Fender Super Reverb amps, as well as select speaker emulations, UA …

Pascal is a dual-channel (Green & Red) modulation pedal (it also is a module for the LiberaToe pedal/switcher systems). In effect, you have a separate set of controls for each channel. A channel can …

The Del-Verb is impressive. It houses a Tape EP-III, a Deluxe Memory Man, UA’s own Precision delay, a 1965 Spring reverb, an EMT Plate reverb, and a Lexicon Hall reverb. Both delay and reverb have t…

NOTE: I bought a 'module' of the Brever, but it is available in a full-pedal format for about $150. Brever may be as close as it gets to an actual amp spring reverb. Now, I am basing my opinion on…

After having UA’s Woodrow ’55 (Fender Tweed amp emulation) for only a few hours, I knew I had to review the Ruby ‘63 (Vox AC30) and Dream ’65 (Fender Reverb Twin), the latter of which I will be done …

Late 2022, I saw an advertisement, likely in my Hotmail feed, for a ‘system’ that involved pedals, a pedalboard-type concept, as well as a switcher. I was intrigued immediately and looked into the Li…

Off the bat, the Universal Audio’s Woodrow ’55 is not a simulation but an emulation; and this is as close to something other than an actual amp sounding like an amp. Woodrow ’55 is based on the Fende…

Boostequila is a diverse beast! It is a dual-boost, which means two channels, one you can dedicate to a clean channel and the other a dirty channel, or one for rhythm crunch and the other lead, as t…

The KERNOM RIDGE is an award winner, and for good reason; and the engineers just established a new precent that surely will be followed. When most guitarists are thinking what drive may be the best f…

Strange amp, straight out off the sales floor from a local music store, Excelsior sounds fine at lower volumes (< 1/2) with just about anything with an output jack. Bright switch, volume, tremolo; ef…

Darwin is an analog touch-sensitive overdrive that can be purchased as a stand-alone pedal or as a module for the LiberaToe system (pedalboard/switcher). It’s amazing how any pedal or amp can sound d…

My first review for a LiberaToe pedal, and I can’t say enough about this company (I’m already into my eighth pedal from this company, with more reviews coming). Fire Sword is one intense distortion a…