Jonathan Horsley
Jonathan Horsley has been writing about guitars and guitar culture since 2005, playing them since 1990, and regularly contributes to MusicRadar, Total Guitar and Guitar World. He uses Jazz III nylon picks, 10s during the week, 9s at the weekend, and shamefully still struggles with rhythm figure one of Van Halen’s Panama.
Latest articles by Jonathan Horsley

Synyster Gates’ headless 7-string Schecter is here, and there’s a $7,499 gold chrome version
By Jonathan Horsley published
Collectible art piece or state-of-the-art 7-string shreddable? Why not both

Gibson's iconic Hummingbird is reimagined with a cutaway body and LR Baggs electronics as standard
By Jonathan Horsley published
Evolution comes for us all. Just ask Charles Darwin. And it has arrived for the Hummingbird

Behringer unveils a $69 Klon clone – but is the Centaur Overdrive better than the original?
By Jonathan Horsley published
Behringer gets serious with a replica that looks the part, has germanium in the circuit, and promises that its dual-pot gain knob makes it easier than ever to find the sweet spot

“It can be very clean or it can get incredibly dirty”: Rob Chapman is branching out into tube amps
By Jonathan Horsley published
The Cloudhammer is a high-end 40-watt all-tube head that's hand-wired in Belgium by AmS Amps' Ben Genot, and the prototype looks and sounds pretty sweet

Nobels’ DEL-mini offers 3 delays and all the width of the stereo spread from a super-compact format
By Jonathan Horsley published
Analogue, tape and digital modes plus full stereo operation and tap tempo, the DEL-Mini makes the most of its modest pedalboard footprint

“This poses a risk of serious electric shock”: Blackstar issues urgent product safety recall
By Jonathan Horsley published
If you own the British amp brand's new Debut 100R 1x12 and 2x12 combos, check your serial number now to see if yours is affected

Albert Hammond Jr of the Strokes is (reluctantly) selling a heap of his stage-played gear on Reverb
By Jonathan Horsley published
Too bad his Bigsby-equipped SG has already been sold but that Mastery-equipped Jazzmaster looks pretty sweet, as does his Custom Shop Strat – and his father's Jupiter-6 synth is up for grabs too

Keeley Electronics and Andy Timmons unveil the Halo Core – same dual echo magic, simplified controls
By Jonathan Horsley published
Timmons sound has never been easier to dial in

PRS breaks out the “Brushtroke Birds” inlays for Kanami Tono’s stunning signature Custom 24-08
By Jonathan Horsley published
Limited to 200 units, the BAND-MAID guitarist's new signature model arrives in Trampas Green Burst and each guitar is hand-signed by Kanami

IK Multimedia teams up with Alex Lifeson for TONEX collection featuring four of his favourite amps
By Jonathan Horsley published
Lifeson promises “dimension, depth, all that stuff” from IK Mutlimedia’s latest signature TONEX release, and if you have a TONEX pedal you can have all this on your 'board

Boss unveils the Katana Mini-X, a portable $149 10W amp with effects, tuner and Bluetooth
By Jonathan Horsley published
The Katana-Mini X has three amp types with alternate voicings for each of them, and there is more volume and depth than you might expect from its 5" speaker
![A comped image with a young George Harrison [left] onstage with the Beatles in Hamburg, a Gretsch Duo Jet strapped to his shoulder. On the right is his Futurama electric](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/b8Kr55ksRwtGJHnbs2GZvg-320-80.jpg)
George Harrison’s Futurama electric sells for a record $1.27 million at auction
By Jonathan Horsley published
The 1959 electric Harrison played during the Beatles' early days joins the one-million dollar club and Mary Kaye’s 1956 Strat sells for $222,250

Fender and Foo Fighters’ Chris Shiflett team up for signature Cleaver Telecaster Deluxe
By Jonathan Horsley published
The Foo Fighters guitarist's new signature workhorse is named the Cleaver because it cuts through the mix
![Eric Clapton and his gold-plated Cry Baby: [Left] a black and white image of Clapton playing his Bigsby-equipped Gibson Les Paul standard live on stage with Cream.](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/aPowLRdfjdvVAiwU8PYuBh-320-80.jpg)
Dunlop salutes wah pedal pioneer Eric Clapton with a gold-plated signature Cry Baby
By Jonathan Horsley published
Doing that scrapyard bling...

Blackstar unveils St James 100, “world’s lightest” 100W tube amp with both EL34 and 6L6 power tubes
By Jonathan Horsley published
Can't decide between EL34s and 6L6s? Blackstar allows you to choose between them or use them together in this four-channel beast, now available as a 100W head or 2x12 combo

Noel Gallagher’s Silver Sparkle Gibson Les Paul Florentine fetches over $280,000 at auction
By Jonathan Horsley published
The 1997 Custom Shop doozie has changed hands a number of times over the years, this time going, going, gone at £226,000

“I was thrashing that guitar to pieces!”: Yes legend Steve Howe reveals what he’s learned in 60 years
By Jonathan Horsley published
His first guitar, his favourite Yes song, and much more…

Over 130 of Jeff Beck’s guitars headed to auction, including his iconic Oxblood Les Paul Standard
By Jonathan Horsley published
The Jeff Beck Collection goes under the hammer on 22 January 2025 at Christie's in London

Harley Benton unveils the Nashville Nylon Plus Black – a nylon-string to rival Tim Henson’s Ibanez?
By Jonathan Horsley published
With a solid spruce top, mahogany on the back and sides, Fishman electronic and "Flower & Vine" inlay, this thinline has obvious appeal for those working their way through the Playing God tablature

Behold, the $299 Les Paul as Epiphone unveils beginner-friendly Tribute and Express series models
By Jonathan Horsley published
Epiphone strips the iconic Les Paul and SG down to the essentials, while the J-45 Express sees it reimagine the Gibson workhorse as a 7/8-sized travel friendly acoustic

Shel Talmy, legendary producer of the Who and the Kinks, dies aged 87
By Jonathan Horsley published
He produced My Generation and other classics

KEN Mode’s Jesse Matthewson on the greatest reverb/delay ever what's on his “essentials” pedalboard
By Jonathan Horsley published
You, too, can travel light when meting out a punishing set of hardcore, metal and noise, so long as you choose your pedals of mass destruction carefully…

“Features not seen before in a Klon-style pedal”: Walrus Audio’s Voyager MKII takes Centaur stage
By Jonathan Horsley published
The Voyager MKII presents an abundance of tone-shaping features at your feet, including five clipping options and a parametric mids EQ section

Opeth’s Mikael Åkerfeldt on shunning perfection, shred discipline, and the problem with modern metal
By Jonathan Horsley published
A sprawling story of dark familial secrets, freewheeling prog and Åkerfeldt death growls, solos inspired by Peter Green and Ritchie Blackmore, Opeth bequeath everything a prog-metal fan could ever want on The Last Will And Testament

EarthQuaker Devices and Lee Kiernan of IDLES unveil Gary, a drive/fuzz wildcard for tone mavericks
By Jonathan Horsley published
There are two sides to Gary's personality, one is a wide-ranging drive. The other?Well, it's an "Automatic Pulse Width Modulation Fuzz" and it's not for the faint-hearted
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