Music

Fender is celebrating its 75th anniversary this year, and is marking the occasion with special editions of its most popular models – the Telecaster, Stratocaster, Precision Bass and Jazz Bass.

This extraordinary hundred-buck headphone amp plugs straight into your electric guitar, giving you access to a dozen beautifully-made amp emulators and a swag of quality effects in about the most portable package we can imagine.

Audio gear maker M-Audio has launched two USB interfaces geared at folks who are looking to break into computer-based recording, podcasting, live streaming and more, without emptying their bank accounts.

Sony's WF-XB700 Truly Wireless Headphones wrap a workmanlike set of features into an intrepid design, delivering solid sound in a practical package that won't blow the doors off your bank account.

We've long been admirers of the work of Swedish designer Love Hultén, who has frequently paid tribute to the worlds of retro gaming and classic computing with beautiful hand-crafted creations. Now he's back with the bizarre Voc-25 chatterbox.

Roland has unveiled a new digital wind instrument called the Areophone Pro that's destined for the hands of professional players, and is said to put entire brass and woodwind sections at a player's disposal.

UK guitar amp maker Blackstar has introduced its first guitar in collaboration with Gordon Smith Guitars. The Carry-On Guitar is aimed at wanderlust musicians who want the feel and tone of a full-size instrument in a compact package.

Fender mashed up different guitar models for its Parallel Universe series in 2018. The company launched the second edition in July, and has now released its fifth member – a gorgeous black and gold bruiser called the Troublemaker Tele Deluxe Bigsby.

Music gear icon Gibson has teamed up with online instrument marketplace titan Reverb to sell one-of-a-kind prototypes, demo models, pre-played artist signatures and Gibson mods. The Gibson Demo Shop has kicked off with 40 exclusive guitars.

Eric Clapton often auctions off his music gear to help fund the Crossroads Centre in Antigua, and it's from the first in mid-1999 that Lot 103 was sold. Dubbed Slowhand, it's now available again, with bidding kicking off at a million bucks.

The folks behind the impressive Seaboard Grand have launched a new version of the colorful Lumi Keys learning platform that was crowdfunded last year. The Studio Edition injects some of the Grand's spongy expression into a standard solid keyboard.

Back in 2016, Chris Prendergast launched a Kickstarter project for the JamStack portable guitar amplifier that snapped onto a strap peg and blasted out tones generated by a smartphone. Now the bigger and better second generation has launched.