This unique guitar was designed online by members of the infamous Monkey Lord’s music-gear review forum.

The idea was to spend as much money as possible on non-replaceable components (i.e. the neck and body) then leave the rest to you. The stock Chinese pick-ups (although intended for replacement) sound great, with plenty of gain but enough depth to give you a full-bodied tone. The standout features of the ML-1 are by far the insanely heavy solid-mahogany body, which resonates forever and the incredibly playable ebony fingerboard. This guitar plays easily as well as an American made Fender Strat, and the coil tap affords you all sorts amazing of tonal possibilities.

For instance, I found that you could get a great Telecaster style sound on the neck pickup with a little jiggery-pokery. Jumbo frets are a nice extra feature, coupled with a thin c-contour neck they are a match made in heaven. This definitely seems to be more of a metal-head’s guitar on first impression, but I found it was a lot more flexible than that. Grover tuners insure great tuning stability and the bridge is a solid-as-hell Wilkinson Chrome WVPCR, which makes for a very comfortable play, in fact, comfort is the main word here. This guitar plays like an old friend. The only things I’d personally would of changed would have been the wacky reverse head-stock and the 25.5″ scale, which felt a bit of a stretch at times.

Conclusion:

Whack a couple of dimarzios/seymour duncans in here and get shredding. This is a steal for the money, and proves once more that if you build a guitar starting with a great piece of wood, you cant go far wrong.

Body Wood: Solid Mahogany

Body Colour/Finish: Thru Black Satin

Neck Wood: Maple with Thin Lacquer

Neck Profile: Thin ‘C’ Contour

Frets: Jumbo

Neck Join: Bolt On

Neck Plate: Engraved monkey face

Fingerboard: Ebony

Fingerboard Inlays: “Infinity” Logo on 12th Fret

Headstock: Reverse Tele Style

Nut: Bone

Scale: 25.5?

Pickups: Humbucker & two single coils

Electronics: Shadow kill-pot fitted under volume control, coil-tap under tone control

Machine Heads: Grover Rotomatic – 18:1 Ratio. BLACK

Bridge: Wilkinson Chrome WVPCR

Case: Monkey Lord padded gig bag included

Accessories: Guitar lead, allen keys, tremolo arm, two different gauges of solid mahogany tremolo blocks, black 3-ply pick guard & black screws

To see this guitar in our online shop and possibly even buy it click here

Vox amPlugs have quite a range now of guitar and bass mini amps. These plug directly into the instrument and are a useful practice tool.

The new cabinet not only looks cool and has a sensible price, but also sounds good despite only having a 3inch speaker and an output of only 0.7 watts. The amPlug slots into the cab at the top and delivers a very Voxy sound especially on the AC30 and Metal units. Check out the plugs and cabs – great sounds from a small unit with the cool factor.

You don’t instantly think of Gibson Les Paul standard fitted with Floyd Rose tremolo units.
When this guitar landed in our store it took me straight back to early nineties watching Skid Row live and noticing Dave ‘the Snake’ Sabo had a Les Paul with A Floyd Rose. 18 years later I finally get my hands on this truly unique guitar.

First appearances may seem deceptive.

Straight out the box you are greeted with a plush Custom Shop black case. After nearly 10 years in this industry one thing that still put a smile on my face is the smell of a boutique guitar in it’s case, anyone who owns a bespoke instrument from this or a similar manufacturer with know exactly what I am talking about.

The first thing you notice about the Axcess is it’s beautiful if yet simple top almost woven in its appearance. The body is adorned with a highly polished chrome Floyd Rose tremolo and locking nuts which add to it’s super cool looks with out distracting from it’s classic lines.

Picking up the guitar you really notice how light the Axcess is due to chambered body and routing for the Floyd Rose trem unit.

Playing this guitar for long sessions will be a breeze. The body of the guitar incorporates a ‘belly cut’ making it more comfortable on you ribcage or down to your knees caps depending on what style you play.

Compared to a Les Paul Custom this is a much lighter guitar, closer in weight to a 2008 LP Standard.

Playabilty:

The guitar was set up perfectly straight out the box tuned up and intonated correctly with a low buzz free action.

I have always been a big fan of the 60’s slim taper neck Gibson have offered on select models and this has to be one of the best examples we have ever seen.

Hitting those high bends has never been easier with the contoured neck heel that gives the guitar it’s well deserved name ‘ The Access’.

The fret work is immaculate and the binding is incredibly neat, long gone are the days of miss aligned binding and uneven fretting.

The pickups are 496R and 490T which feature in lots of different models spanning the whole range of guitars Gibson have to offer from the SG Special through to some of the more expensive Custom shop one offs. They are versatile enough to cut through the mix in most gigging situations but if you require more versatility both pick ups are coil tapped on the tone controls giving you access to 3 single coil options too. I really liked having the bridge pick up set as a humbucker and the neck pick up tapped giving me the ability to switch between searing lead tones and glassy cleans at the flick of a switch.

The Floyd Rose system is well matched with the R4 Locks. Tuning is rock solid no matter how much you use the trem. The fine tuners felt smooth and responsive though we have not had much need to use them yet.

Overall verdict is:

The Axcess Standard is a great addition to the Les Paul Custom shop arsenal. It might not suit the 59’ VOS connoisseur but it certain has a prime place in the guitar buying market. Would suite a player that loves the Les Paul vibe but needs a little more versatility from their instrument. More incredible tones than you can shake a very big stick at. The pickups can handle vast amounts of gain with out getting muddy or lack definition. They clean up superb too.

Being a Custom shop model the finish is incredible. What you would expect of a guitar of this level. And comes with nice bits of case candy and a certificate of authenticity.

Boss have come up with another winner with this multi-effects unit. As well as the usual effects as found in its predecessor the ME 20, Boss have added COSM amp models and a USB connection for recording. A mini-jack aux input for jamming along with MP3 / CD players makes it a great unit for practising along to your favourite music. There are preset sounds onboard, but these can be tweaked or edited.

As with so many of these types of units the ME-25 is not difficult to use, although it takes a bit of time to work out the relationship between the sound library and memory bank. A great unit for experiementation and practice, and a great way to get into home recording. As with similar units it is more limited for live use, though it is certainly rugged enough for this purpose for the well organised player.

A great product, with multi-use for a great price. Batteries included, but well worth investing in a Boss PSA adaptor at some stage.

Looking for a fun, vintage vibe guitar that doesn’t break the bank?

Look no further than the Epiphone 1966 Worn Wiltshire. With it’s retro looks based on original specifications, the mini humbuckers provide a range of sounds from blues and jazz to old school classic rock rhythms.

Made in Indonesia, with a double cutaway, mahogany body, 22 medium jumbo frets and NY mini-humbuckers it is well worth its £329 price tag. Finished in options of aged cherry, worn cherry or worn black.

You can also buy the Wiltshire Histroical Reissue custom shop for £2,429……………………..

“Jam along to your favourite groups” £339

OK. All your mates are out, nothing on tele and nowhere to go. So jam along with the JS-8, with its amp simulation, playback loops and recording facility, clearly laid out controls, well back lit blue display for ease of use, and inputs to link to a computer if necessary.

Using Rolands cosm modelling system patches and adjustments via editing presets, it is easy to handle and music can be imported into the eBand via various methods. (MP3, CD, or SD card). There are backing tracks built in and loop phrases which can be slowed down via the temp control to help with practice.

It is a great practice and play-along tool, can store thousands of your favourite songs and unlike your mates it won’t disappoint………..

Boss created an industry standard with the TU-2 pedal tuner in 1998 – they’re ubiquitous. Over the ensuing 12 years, however, its +/- 3 cent accuracy and limited display drew questions – though we’ve never had any issues live – as other brands offered better specs. Time for an update…

In Use

First and foremost, accuracy of the new TU-3 is quoted at +/-1 cent over a 23-segment LED display, which means it tunes more accurately. Tested against a 10 year-old TU-2 and a TU-12, the TU-3 outperforms its predecessor; unnoticeable in most live situations, but it does mean that the TU-3 is a better companion for adjusting your intonation. Improved accuracy means landing bang-on in tune is marginally more fiddly live; for example, this reviewer doesn’t wait for the extra half a second or so for the ‘AccuPitch’ confirmation display after the single green LED lights up. Other functions include drop tuning up to six semitones and bass tuning up to three flats.

A new brightness mode means that maximum current draw is up from 55mA (TU-2) to 85mA. Using the recommended BOSS supply and a PCS-20A daisy chain, the TU-3 will supply a total of 200mA to up to seven other BOSS Compacts.

BOSS is resisting true-bypass switching which may be an issue for the tone-obsessed, but the usual BOSS buffered output helps when using long leads and numerous pedals. Also there’s no facility for sweetened tunings but the truth of that matter is that only a tiny proportion of players either know or care about them!

Verdict

Simple: a classic, updated. Success awaits you, TU-3.

The Bottom Line

We like: Improved accuracy; high brightness mode; no-nonsense operation; price

We dislike: Nothing

Although Peavey has been working diligently for decades to make solid state amps sound like tube amps, last year’s release of the company’s ReValver modeling software seemed to signal a real technological breakthrough—the modeled sounds were so good, and recreated in such technical depth, that it seemed like one company had finally cracked the code to realistic, three-dimensional amp models.

It should be no surprise then that Peavey’s latest generation of combos are packed with the company’s slickest modeling technology yet—the Vypyr line features Peavey’s now mature TransTube technology and a blazing 32-bit floating point processor—but it may be surprising that the Vypyr has not managed to completely slay the valve. The Vypyr 60 and 120 models include a full complement of preamp and power tubes to provide the “feel” that’s been missing from so many other attempts at modeling. And while that hybrid approach isn’t completely new, Peavey’s execution is, meaning the Vypyr may very well be the first modeling amp to win a spot in your gear room.

Welcome to Your Spaceship
From the very start, it’s obvious that Peavey wants us to think of the Vypyr not as just another modeling amp (yawn), but a technological step forward (yeah!). The Vypyr Tube 60 is packed with a lot of powerful technology, but it’s the amp’s face that really delivers that futuristic message. Turning on the amp triggers an epilepsy-inducing lightshow on the front panel (this can be disabled), with the red and green LEDs surrounding each “encoder” (not knobs) dancing wildly until you plug into the input jack. I felt like I was on the bridge of the Starship Enterprise, which, depending on your particular sensibilities, is either a very cool or entirely unnecessary thing.

And while having LEDs instead of numbers and lightweight encoders instead of beefy knobs initially felt a little alien, it’s a quick adjustment once you see how it all works together. Because the Vypyr includes so many tonal options the front face needs to be flexible. It works like this: your first three knobs from the right of the input— Stompboxes, Amp and Effects—control the main functions of the amplifier, and are ordered to simulate the order in which you would run a regular rig. Pressing either the Stompbox or Effects encoder will bring you into edit mode, and you’ll see the LEDs encircling the next group of encoders—Pre Gain, Low, Mid, High, Post Gain—switch instantly to represent the parameters of the effect you are editing, along with the amp’s Delay and Reverb settings. Press it again to return to your amp’s controls, or hold it down to bring up the Vypyr’s built-in tuner. Press the Amp encoder to switch between “channels,” and you’ll similarly see your LEDs change to reflect the different settings.

All in all, it’s a pretty slick and surprisingly easy to use interface, and the stompbox/effect editing process is as straightforward as it can be. A line of Bank and Preset selection buttons are positioned underneath the three main encoders and allow you to quickly store any of your settings with just a touch of the button, much like a car stereo. And while this should do the trick for the average user who will just fiddle with the thing each time they play, power users will definitely want to upgrade to the Sanpera I or Sanpera II foot controller, which makes all of the patch business a lot easier (more on this momentarily).

Future Rock
All the flashing lights in the world mean nothing if the tone’s not there, and I’m proud to report that the Vypyr 60 does not disappoint on this front. Backed by 60 watts, the 12 included amp models are all generally solid and include two channels; amps that don’t normally include a second channel have been given an additional “hot-rodded” circuit to choose from. Peavey has also painstakingly recreated the EQ sections of each amp model so that that they react as they would in real life, giving the Vypyr some definite tweaker cred.