2024. It’s been twelve months, fifty-two weeks, three hundred and sixty-five days, five hundred twenty-five...you get the idea. As much as we can’t wait to see the Times Square globe drop for 2025, we’re here today, as we are every day, to talk gear. Let’s sendoff 2024 right with a rundown of some of the hottest guitars, amps, synths, and more from this most recent spin around the sun!
Best in Show: West Coast, Best Coast
When we reach across the great U-S-of-A, there’s always something awesome waiting for us on the opposite coast! We usually have to wait about three hours before everyone over there wakes up, but we’re pretty sure that has something to do with the rotation of the Earth, so we’ll give them a pass.
Benson Amps Germanium Preamp
Handmade in Portland, Oregon – need we say more? The Benson Amps Germanium Preamp combined two of the brand’s most popular pedals – the Benson Preamp and Germanium Boost – to make an all-new preamp and overdrive experience. There’s some real West Coast cool packed in this pedal for anyone to sink their teeth into, so chomp away!
Kauer Guitars
This year, we welcomed Kauer Guitars to Russo Music. Custom made in California, these one-of-a-kind pieces play with a distinctly vintage aesthetic and feel. Kauer Guitars utilize unique, high-quality materials and are ready for anything. With Kauer Guitars, we’ve been head over heels with a classic aesthetic that’s never gone out of style.
Origin Effects Cali76 MK2 FET Compressor
Sometimes the sunny, West Coast state of mind means more than just zip code. The effect wizards over at Buckingham, England’s Origin Effects know this more than anybody, it seems. Origin’s Cali ‘76 MK2 FET Compressor may not be strictly Golden State by definition, by why count it out? Its smooth, high-fidelity compression capabilities certainly speak for themselves. Welcome to the West Coast, Origin! We eagerly await your honest thoughts on In-N-Out.
Best in Show: Back to the Future
As we move ahead, it can be tricky to keep track of all the great advancements in gear that have come before us. These picks kept us reverent to the classics while throwing us down a Doctor Who time tunnel of sorts – somewhat disorienting but completely worth the trip. “What year is it?!”
Origin Effects Halcyon Blue Overdrive
Throwing back to the ‘60s and ‘70s, Origin Effects clocked in this year with a tribute to one of the most famously “bluesy” amplifiers in history and its effect pedal descendants. The Halcyon Blue punched in classically bluesy breakup and transparency for an exceptional overdrive circuit. With this pedal, you could feel the same blues as so many guitarists before you – and be glad!
Gibson USA Victory Guitars
The Gibson USA Victory line of guitars dates back to the ‘80s, the times of big hair, big choruses, big personalities...you get the idea. These revival models from Gibson showed off some true ‘80s style from a lesser-seen era in the company’s history. With off-the-wall body shapes, powerful humbuckers, and a splash of that bold ‘80s color palette, these hard-rocking models have just about everything to get you on your way.
Teenage Engineering Medieval EP-1320 Sampler
It’s not every day you get thrown back – way back – to find something musical. Usually, we expect to find ourselves in the ‘70s or ‘80s digging up inspiration, but this time, we didn’t expect the 1370s! Teenage Engineering brought some Dark Ages flair to our sampler and synth setups with Medieval, an all-in-one sampler and sequencer. Medieval packed in all the high-fidelity sampling and sequencing we expected from Teenage Engineering but took it a step further with a distinctly Arthurian art style and pre-loaded pack of samples. Armor clanks, drunken merrymakers, the occasional goat – everything you need to go medieval came readymade on this sampler! With Medieval, we had ourselves a round table of a good time, but we made sure to watch for dragons.
Best in Show: Groove Is in the Heart
You want the funk? We’ve got the funk. At least, we’ve got a pretty good case for the funk with these picks. It’s not always about hard riffs and overdrives, you know, sometimes you gotta get in with finesse and start dancing! For these couple of picks, we got into some deep pockets of groove with thunderous basses, stylish samples, and kinetic keys that made us slide to the right (and slide to the left)!
Roland AIRA P-6 Creative Sampler
There’s few names that know sampling quite like Roland. Throw yourself back to any time in hip-hop and see and Roland sampler somewhere! What’s more, you don’t even have to go back in time to see some great Roland sampling in action with the Roland AIRA P-6 sampler and sequencer. This compact entry to the Roland sampling canon clocked in for exceptional tonality and interactivity and got us all in on a classic sampling experience.
Teenage Engineering OP-XY Synthesizer
It would be a real understatement to say the Teenage OP-XY “does a lot”. As a trifecta sequencer, sampler, and synthesizer, there’s actually quite little the OP-XY cannot do for sequence-based musicmaking. The OP-XY took cues from TE’s OP-1 and OP-Z synthesizers to add up to a massively musical instrument capable of doing everything under one roof from making beats to composing songs. This little black box of musical mojo delivered everything one could need for a groovebox unlike any other.
Read Our Release Here
Korg microKORG2 Synthesizer and Vocoder
The 2000s weren’t the same after the original microKORG, thus, the 2020s won’t be the same after the microKORG2! This miniaturized, analog modeling synthesizer carried with it all the thick, analog punchiness of its predecessor with new genre banks and functions built in. Factor in its classic, built-in vocoder function for funky, robot vocals or ‘00s-era autotune and you’ve got yourself a groovy microsynth for the ages.
Read Our Review Here
Epiphone Grabber Bass Guitars
Funkiness isn’t limited to electronic instruments, don’t you know. The Epiphone Grabber, a vintage revival of a classic Gibson release, reminded us of this excellently. With a straightforward and to-the-point setup with one humbucking pickup and a speedy, three-piece maple neck, we couldn’t help but bob our heads along to the groove these vintage-inspired basses laid down.
Best in Show: All in the Family
Every holiday season, it’s all about family – whatever that means to you! For us, this year we saw some growth in some of our favorite brands’ families – new series, anniversaries, exclusives, and more! With these picks, we’re shouting out all the things that make us feel like family – ugly sweater group portraits by the fireplace withheld.
Taylor Guitars 50th Anniversary Acoustic Guitars
This year, Taylor Guitars rang in fifty years as a company. What this meant was that, for all of 2024, we were treated to some limited pieces from California’s favorite acoustic family. Never-before-seen combinations of woods, rich finishes, rare specifications and more made this year quite sweet for Taylor fans. Happy anniversary, Taylor! Here’s to fifty more.
Fender American Ultra II Series Guitars
For 2024, Fender welcomed an advancement on one of their most cutting-edge series, the American Ultra II. These dynamic, new guitars dropped in with rolled fingerboard edges, new electronics, and quality tonewood picks to make for a futuristic group ready for taking on new musical endeavors. Fender’s American lines of guitars are always something special, so for this latest wave, we couldn’t help but pay attention.
Read Our Release Here
Gibson Custom Shop '58 ES-335 Murphy Lab Guitars
With Gibson Custom Shop, you can always expect something aesthetically rich, tonally colorful, and made with care. This was absolutely the case when the Custom Shop welcomed the 1958 ES-335 Reissue into its Murphy Lab line of instruments, bearing specially designed finish treatments by Gibson Master Artisan Tom Murphy. These semi-hollow beauties made us blush for their expertly crafted, aged finishes and dynamic sound. The Gibson Custom Shop lines are always pushing forward and are always worth a gander!
Reverend Russo Music Exclusive Guitars
We simply can’t go on without mentioning our own Reverend exclusives, now, can we? This year, we welcomed in two classics from the Reverend line – a Charger 290 and a Double Agent OG in Russo Music exclusive colorways. With a rich Venetian Gold and a rosy Orchid Pink, we couldn’t help but fall head over heels for these Reverend classics all over again. For fans of real rock ‘n’ roll tonality and playability, Reverend always has an answer.
Best in Show: New Dimensions
Ideas come in all shapes and sizes, sometimes big, sometimes small. Sometimes ideas come in forms that turn conventional wisdom on its head! In any case, this year we were treated to a bunch of new releases that re-shaped our perceptions of classic ideas.
Fairfield Circuitry Utility Series Pedals
Fairfield Circuitry is always coming up with something new, it seems. This was absolutely the case when they hit us with their new Utility series of pedals that totally changed the game for our boards. With new expression controls, attenuation, control voltages, and more, this group of units gave us plenty to work with on our existing rigs. The road less traveled, so they say.
EarthQuaker Devices x Death By Audio Time Shadows V2 Delay
Teamwork makes the dream work! When we were hit with this astounding collaboration from two of effect pedals’ most prolific names, we couldn’t help but take notice. The EarthQuaker Devices x Death By Audio Time Shadows came as a revival of their The Pedal Movie collab model. This trippy, heavily modulated delay brought new perspectives on compact, one-and-done noisemaker units that anyone could take up and get creative with.
Old Blood Noise Endeavors Pardner Fuzz
This was a pretty big year for Old Blood Noise. Among the many reinventions of ideas they brought us, their Pardner fuzz pedal brought on a synth fuzz effect with a totally new angle – parallel effect looping! With this effervescent fuzz effect, Old Blood invited players to route in any type of effect pedal to play alongside their latest, sputtering, synth-like fuzz and create new effect combinations with ease. With Pardner came plenty of new ideas blooming from every direction ripe for the picking!
Read Our Review Here
Fender Player II Series Guitars
When we talk about new dimensions, we’re talking a bit about reinvention and coming up with new takes on classic formulas. We saw this process really come to life with the Fender Player II series! For newer players looking to join in on the Fender family, or experienced players looking for a reliable guitar, the Player II series reintroduced many to what an “entry-level” guitar can be with rolled fingerboard edges, new electronics, and vibrant colors.
Best in Show: Kick Out the Jams
Let’s get real for a second – sometimes you just gotta crank it to 11. With these picks, we got loud and proud of our rigs for that finger-shredding, face-melting element that never seems to quite go away. Fads come and go, eras rise and fall, but the shred never goes out of style.
Universal Audio ANTI 1992 High Gain Amp
You know how you sometimes hear Metallica (from before AND after The Black Album) on classic rock radio these days? Well, to embrace such a frightening sentiment, we had the Universal Audio ANTI 1992. This box of massively distorted digital wizardry clocked in for delivering punishing blows of amp-like distortion just like mom used to make. With formidable, distorted chops and UA’s classic control and connectivity, ANTI brought classic distortion tones into the twenty-first century for all the controlled chaos one could ask for.
Death By Audio Bass War Octave Fuzz
New York City’s Death By Audio is a wild, little workshop, always cooking up something crazy. This year, they followed up their fan-favorite Fuzz War pedal with a similar, yet new circuit designed specifically for bass – the Bass War. Blasting in with buckets of fuzzy goodness and a built-in octave effect, the Bass War laid waste to fidelity and courtesy in the most wonderful of ways. Make no mistake, this piece from one of the world’s most experienced bands of noisemakers is all that and a bag of chips – scrumptiously distorted chips, may we add!
Mythos Pedals Envy Pro Overdrive NV-9
At the end of Brat summer, we took on a different shade of green with the Mythos Pedals Envy Pro Overdrive! This new model from Mythos built upon classic “screamer” circuits with plenty of new tonal character to make it its own while remaining a reliable TS pedal for anyone to identify with. In name, so envious. In essence, so Julia.
Read Our Review Here
Fuzzrocious Big Fella Overdrive/Distortion
When it comes to beefy, handmade distortion circuits, there are few who know the game quite like Fuzzrocious and their Big Fella overdrive/distortion pedal. A two-in-one distortion and overdrive, the Big Fella combines the power and grit of their Demon distortion with the bite and articulation of their Lil’ Fella drive. Top this all off with a gate function, a momentary feedback control, and up to 18V power operation, this mean machine made for some real delectable drive tones.
Keeley Octa Psi Transfigurating Fuzz
This school year, we pledged Octa Psi with Keeley’s latest fuzz effect pedal. This stark, black unit combined a meaty Muff-style fuzz circuit with a polyphonic octave and pitch-shifting effect to add up to one bodacious box of dirt. Punch in a thick fuzz and drop it down an octave or two for disastrously rumbling distortion mixes, if you’re feeling particularly bold. Do whatever you feel, just remember: no running in the halls.
Read Our Review Here
*****
If you're like us and you can't get enough of this stuff, check out our Part 2 for more great gear!
