Pedals

This year’s annual Pro Pedalboards issue features up-close-and-personal picks of the stomp stations used by Chris Robinson and Neal Casal, Prophets of Rage and RATM bassist Tim Commerford, Band of Skulls’ Emma Richardson and Russell Marsden, Teppei Teranishi and Dustin Kensrue of Thrice, Modest Mouse’s Jim Fairchild, Brad Whitford, Bloc Party’s Russell Lissack and Justin Harris, and Red Hot Chili Peppers’ Flea and Josh Klinghoffer. (We also spotlight a handful of sweet-looking reader boards!) At the other end of the signal chain, we’ve got an insightful feature on the far-reaching history of the plectrum. Meanwhile, our artist interviews section this month includes chats with Kristin Hersh (of Throwing Muses and 50FootWave), Dean Ween, Harvey Mandel, Luke Temple, AZIZA’s Dave Holland and Lionel Loueke, and Oozing Wound’s Zack Weil and Kevin Cribbin. Our gear-review section includes in-depth looks at IK Multimedia’s Fender Collection 2, Rock Stock’s Skyline Reverb, the BAE Hot Fuzz, Amptweaker’s Bass TightMetal Jr., the Paul Reed Smith Sonzera 50 combo, Supro’s Westbury, G&L’s Kiloton 4-string, the DigiTech Whammy Ricochet, Bullhead Amplification’s Matador half-stack, Joe Gore’s Gross, the Epifani Piccolo 999, Daredevil Pedals’ Red Light District, and D’Angelico’s Premier SS.

Premier Guitar October 2015: Widely copied but never matched, our annual Pedal Issue skips the endless lists of catalog fluff and instead digs deep to offer insights and audio samples that help you figure out which of the coolest new tone toys might match your needs. This year we take a look at 34 of the latest stomps from industry heavyweights, revered boutique gurus, upstart tweakers, and everything in between. Other reviews this issue include Asher Guitars’ GT-3, Schecter’s Diamond-P Plus bass, and Guild’s M-140E acoustic. Our feature interviews this issue run a massive gamut—from Slayer’s Kerry King and Gary Holt to Tame Impala’s Kevin Parker, jazz-fusion god John McLaughlin, Kristofer Steen of Swedish hardcore band Refused, acoustic legend Tommy Emmanuel, Slightly Stoopid, Soilwork, and a Forgotten Heroes piece on former Frank Zappa and Captain Beefheart sideman Denny Walley.

Pedal freaks rejoice! We’ve got info and close-up photos of 10 of the coolest stomp stations from our recent Rig Rundowns—from Pixies to Brent Mason, the War on Drugs, Larry Carlton, Brand New, Jonny Lang, Death from Above 1979, Bring Me the Horizon, the Gaslight Anthem, and Third Eye Blind. Then we’ve got a gallery of your pedalboards, which often give the pros’ boards a serious run for their money. We’ve also got a review roundup of “spring-reverb” pedals—Subdecay’s Super Spring Theory, Mojo Hand Fx’s Dewdrop, and Catalinbread’s Topanga—new photos from our Gwar and Lucinda Williams Rig Rundown video shoots, and a DIY feature with setup and maintenance tips for 12-string guitars. Our artist interviews this month include chats with Robert Pollard, Cancer Bats’ Scott Middleton, and Consider the Source’s Gabriel Marin. Other gear reviews include toys from MXR, Eastwood, Veillette, Tone Bakery, TC Electronic, T-Rex, Schertler, BC Audio, Red Witch, Outlaw, Electro-Harmonix, and Stone Deaf.