Tuner

Pit26 Motorsports has created what it calls its most off-road-capable truck yet. It transforms the Mercedes G-Class into a high-riding, stretched pickup fully outfitted for choose-your-own-adventure day trips and overnighters.

After completing its third successful Kickstarter, Band Industries started shipping the Roadie 3 – a kind of electronic multi-tool for string pickers – out to backers in November 2020. As with the previous generations, we got sent one to try.

Band Industries first came to our attention in 2013 when the first Roadie automatic tuner launched on Kickstarter. Now the company has returned to the crowdfunding platform with its latest iteration, the Roadie 3.

Once you've attached your power brick, distortion and modulation stomps to your pedalboard, you may find that there's little or no space for a board tuner. Now there's a chromatic tuner from Pedaltrain called the SST that's designed to squeeze into the tiniest of gaps.​

​The Roadie 2 robotic tuner from Band Industries has been available since the close of 2017, and has now been joined by the Roadie Bass. We've spent the last couple of weeks in the company of bass players to get a feel for how it performs.​

The Roadie was essentially a motorized guitar tuner made smart with the help of a paired smartphone or tablet. And it rocked. We loved it. Until we got to meet the second generation robotic tuning machine – smarter, faster and able to work without a smartphone. This really is tuning made easy.

Classics like the Porsche 911 have been rising in value recently, but that hasn't deterred enthusiastic tuners from stripping them out, cranking up the power and refining the styling. The latest is Gunther Werks with the stunning 400R.

We were so impressed by the Roadie robotic guitar tuner we reviewed in 2015 that it's been in our gig bag ever since. Though having to use it along with a smartphone hasn't really been a problem for us, an upgraded Roadie has launched on Kickstarter that does away with the smartphone altogether.

Leave it to the tuning shops to take one of the most extreme vehicles on the market and make it that much more extreme. Starting with Mercedes' own big, oversized G-Class, Brabus has added power, performance and accessories to create the 550 Adventure 4x42.

SEMA plays host to some incredible, full-on concept cars every year, but Chevrolet has decided to keep its offerings low-key. It'll be taking on the world's biggest aftermarket trade show with warmed-over versions of the Malibu and Cruze kitted out with a set of parts from Chevrolet's own catalogue.

Ford is going all out for SEMA 2016, showing a fleet of modified cars at the Las Vegas Convention Center. Along with a set of tweaked Mustangs, the Fusion Sport and F-150 have both been comprehensively overhauled to look meaner, go faster and handle more off the beaten track.

Hyundai is preparing an all-out onslaught for SEMA 2016, having taken the wraps off a Veloster to join the set of four-wheel drives it showed off last week. The Gurnade Concept takes the basic Hyundai Veloster, and works in a wide-bodykit and some choice engine modifications.