My Favourites from 2024

Paul Reed Smith Modern Eagle V

Every guitar channel does it. So do I. Here are my favourite items that I played, or reviewed or bought in 2024. I tried to stick to products that either were released in 2024, or that became available where I am in 2024. I also make reference in many of the selections to The Arts Music Store. They have an amazing retail store and also ship Canada wide from their online store. As I write this article, the Boxing Week sales are still on, and unlike many stores, The Arts has excellent stock on hand. They do not compensate me for referencing them, but they support the channel massively by getting gear in my hands for review. If you are in Canada and have not tried them, I really advocate that you do. The staff there are awesome, not like so many music stores that treat customers like annoyances.

My Top Picks

PRS Modern Eagle 5

While this guitar did not come out in 2024, it took two years to arrive after I ordered it, showing up in September 2024. Mine is in Black Gold Burst and as expected, and like every other PRS guitar that I own, plays a dream. The combination of two TCI and one NS-01 pickup along with a five way switch, two microswitches and a push pull tone knob provides 17 different voices, more than even my beloved 513. It is an awesome instrument but the wait is long if not in stock. Sweetwater in the US does a decent stocking job. Check them out and ask for Sales Engineer James Ridings. He’s my friend and will do a great job for you.

IK Multimedia TONEX

The TONEX pedal is the best modeller for the money available by a long shot. The software is very easy to use and you can be going in very short order. Certainly you get more out of it if you crack the documentation (you do have to download it first though), but for under $500 here in Canada, this pedal kills and the sounds are really good. It does clean and dirt very well and the specific amplifier models are extremely accurate in my opinion.

Positive Grid Spark 2

This update from the original Spark 40 is a big step up and is hands down,. the practice amp for any player. Sure there will be people who complain that there are no tubes, or that it uses computational audio. But folks who actually try one are consistently impressed by the quality of the models, the ease of use and the excellent app.

Yamaha Pacifica Standard

There are a lot of S type guitars on this list. The Pacifica Standard sets the standard for an S style guitar between $1,000 and $2,000. Superb playability, awesome sound, fit and finish that make it almost indistinguishable from its Hamamatsu hand built big brother. I think it’s really sad that so many shops ignore just how incredible Yamaha instruments are.

PRS SE NF3

After a serious case of let down with the PRS Myles Kennedy, I expected very little from the NF3, thinking it would just be a Silver Sky with Narrow Field pickups like the MK. I was completely wrong. It is an awesome guitar and the one that I recommend in the $1,000 range. i like it so much, I went back to The Arts Music Store who had arranged the eval and bought one in metallic orange with the rosewood fingerboard before the PRS factory 15% off ends on Dec 31, 2024. Given how many excellent guitars that I already own, buying another guitar is always a mental and financial stretch. I love the NF3. if you want one, go to The Arts either live or online. They actually have them in stock, unlike so many other shops who advertise but don’t have any.

Suhr Pete Thorn HSS

Ok, I get it. Suhr Guitars are expensive, but they are seriously high end and in my opinion worth the ticket price. I would buy a factory Suhr over a Fender Custom Shop guitar every day of the week. They are just better. The only guitar that I think competes in the same field are from Tom Anderson Guitarworks. Over the years I have purchased several Suhr guitars and had the funds been available, this one would not have gone back to the providing Suhr dealer.

Barber Electronics Five Watt World BUSS Overdrive

I support Keith Williams and his Five Watt World channel. When he did the partnership with David Barber, I took the chance on the BUSS pedal and despite already owning far too many overdrives love the BUSS. While I have never played through a real Dumble, and will never own one, compared to recordings, this analog pedals gets closest to anything else I have heard and tried.

PRS SE DGT

Quite simply, while not equal to my custom ordered PRS Core DGT, the SE DGT comes so close it’s a bit disconcerting. If one could only buy one electric guitar, this one is my pick. Save the rest of the money to get a solid amp. Also in stock at The Arts Music Store. I personally like the original gold finish with the now long discontinued moon inlays, but also in a burst finish with birds.

DSM & Humboldt Simplifier X

These fine folks from Chile know their stuff. This all analog pedal does it all. It can simulate the preamp and power amp of a number of clean and driven amps, allows simple switching between them and has superb cabinet emulations all in a very small and very easy to use box. It does a lot less than the excellent TONEX pedal, but what it does do is spectacular in sound, usability and efficiency. Put this in your gig bag and plug your guitar to the input and run the outputs to the PA and you are gigging.

BOSS Katana 100 Generation 3

This is the best trad style amp that I played in 2024. Yes it’s digital and no, I do not care. It sounds terrific, the software is great and it is massively configuratble. I much prefer it to the far more constraining Line6 Catalyst and the 100 watt Class D power section can be readily played with no tonal loss at bedroom volume and still be loud enough at a jam or a small gig to hold its own against an aggressive drummer. Anyone who says they they sound lousy has clearly never spent more than 30 minutes with one. I also like the controller app very much. It’s crazy powerful but the learning curve is reasonable.

Alvarez ABT60e Baritone

The best acoustic baritone that I have played. I found it more playable and more pleasing to my ear than the very good and MUCH more expensive Taylor 8 String baritone. The Alvarez is an 8 string and there is such magic in a baritone voice that stands on its own and makes such a nice complement to a standard tuned guitar.

PRS SE Custom 24 Semi Hollow Body with Piezo

If I did not already own other PRS Core Semis with Piezos, I would buy this guitar in a New York minute. Fabulous barely scratches the surface. It does what it is supposed to do with grace and aplomb and does so for under $2,000. And yes they have them at The Arts Music Store

Universal Audio Enigmatic

I have had very little time with this pedal and it was only in store very briefly. I have only ever heard a Dumble. I have never seen one live and certainly never played through one. My expectations of doing so are infinitesimal and my probability of owning one is zero. Moreover, it is well known that every Dumble is different, even different iterations of the same model sound different. However, listening to great players who get the most out of the amp such as Robben Ford, John Mayer and Joe Bonamassa will tell anyone who listens that they sound very special. I’ve tried a number of other Dumble pedals, mostly crap except the Barber BUSS and most models are at best decent and only at the settings where the model/profile was built. Until Neural builds a proper Dumble plugin that also runs on the Quad Cortex, for the closest thing to a real Dumble, consider the Enigmatic. But run it into an FRFR or your desk, not into another guitar amp. if you did so, you lose the Dumble sound because the amp’s preamp, power amp, output transformer and speakers will overwrite the Dumble sound that you paid for. The only downside is that the controlling app is lame, slow and according to my Android using friends completely broken. It does work ok on iOS but the initial connection is really slow.

Honourable Mentions

Fender Player II Series

I disliked the Player I guitars, not because they failed, but because their QC was uniformly crap. The Player II series is not different in features, although the pickups are improved. but the QC is superb and was on every single one that I picked up. I am naturally suspicious of Fender as very often their “new” models are only new in the colour of the spray paint. but the Player II guitars and basses blew me away with what you get for your money.

Gibson Kirk Hammett Greeny Les Paul

Surprised? I sure was. I expected another Gibson decal guitar with crap QC. Both Greenys that I tested and played were awesome. The first had a blander top and came in well over ten pounds but played perfectly. The second had a wonderful top and weighed 1.5 pounds less, but needed a bit of tweaking to suit my preferences. In the end both were superb guitars, the only issue being the exhorbitant price for the Gibson label on the headstock. Both models are still available at The Arts Music Store.

Universal Audio Knuckles

I cannot afford a real Mesa Boogie Dual Rectifier. I also don’t have the space. Or the environment to tolerate its natural volume. Also since Gibson bought Mesa Engineering, I find that they treat Mesa like any one of their many brands. With disdain and ignorance. What I could afford is the UA Knuckles. It does what a Dual Rectifier does so well. And in that space where Mesa, ENGL, and Bogner live, this pedal is really true to form. Want the sound of a real Dual Rectifier without window shattering volume or to get that sound direct into your interface? Get this pedal and be done with it.