![Array]](https://backingtracksfullcollection.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/Array.svg.svg+xml "My pick of the best new guitar gear this week (07.17.26) 18"){kind=small}
Welcome to Guitar World’s weekly gear round-up, your one-stop-shop for keeping up to date with what’s been happening in the big wide world of guitar gear over the past seven days.
From new electric guitars to amp modeler updates, the guitar industry is never short of fresh releases, and it can sometimes be hard to stay in the loop with every new launch.
To make things a little easier, we’ve put together an essential must-read guide that will cover the major releases, the boutique drops, and everything in between.
Below you’ll find my personal highlights from the week, along with plenty of honorable mentions for the new gear you might have missed. Agree with my picks? Have a highlight of your own? Let us know in the comments.
Marshall Billie Joe Armstrong 1959BJA
At a time when the whole world is going digital there is something reassuringly punk rock about putting your name to a signature 100-watt tube amp that is the descendent of a ‘60s design – especially one that was originally intended as a form of public address.
But then Billie Joe Armstrong plays big venues – like the Super Bowl, where he debuted this signature Marshall amp – and this particular amp is elemental to the Green Day sound.
The 1959BJA is a hand-wired heavyweight with a gang of four EL34s in the power amp that ships out from Marshall’s Milton Keynes factory pre-modded with the so-called ‘Dookie Mod’.
In other words, master volume has been added to the control panel, and we have cascading gain stages under the hood for extra crunch and tighter low end to make hand grenades of your power chords.
Don’t be fooled by the baby blue vinyl covering, the white piping giving it a slight baby’s-first-tube-head vibe. This is a hostile animal. It’ll give you that Dookie tone. So of course, it’s essential for Green Day superfans (the colorway, the nameplate on the front et cetera adds up to what is a very attractive package for fans), but this be used in service to all kinds of different styles, anything where you think a hot-rodded Marshall might come in handy. Check out our demo video above.
I am yet to get my hands on this but this might be a great candidate for replicating Metallica’s Kill ‘Em All tone, for all manner of high-gain hi-jinks. It’s an amp for when you feel the need to give the FOH sound engineer a nervous breakdown or when you are in a band with a bona fide zoo creature on drums and it’s time to turn it up.
“I’m so overjoyed to have my own signature Marshall amp,” says Armstrong. “These amps have been a part of my musical life, from my heroes down to little old me. Turn it the f**k up!!”
For more: Marshall
Gibson Custom 1971 Flying V Medallion Reissue
This has to be in contention for the most hard rock guitar of this year so far, or of any other for that matter. Granted, I have a weakness for Flying Vs, especially those in cherry. But this really is a tip-top VOS job from the Gibson Custom Shop, a meticulous reproduction of one of the Nashville-based guitar brand’s earliest limited edition models.
Originally released to commemorate the 1972 Summer Olympics in Berlin, with a medallion embedded in the upper wing of each instrument, this became one of the most sought-after vintage guitars.
The fact that Michael Schenker played one just added to the allure (he is pictured on the back of UFO’s Force It with one of these Medallion Flying Vs). It certainly did for Kirk Hammett of Metallica. He grew up idolizing Schenker, and remarkably, now owns the very Flying V that Schenker had on the back cover of Force It, that had subsequently been refinished in black-and-white, and was recently given the deluxe Murphy Lab treatment for a super-limited release back in March.
So, do you paint it black and white? That’s on you. But with 1968 T-Top humbuckers, the mahogany body that’s shallower and lighter than its korina forebears, the super cool white pickguard against the cherry finish, black witch hat control knobs – and, of course, that medallion, Flying Vs don’t get much better.
Hey, it would go well with that Billie Joe Armstrong modded Super Lead above. And if you wanted to shove the V into your right arm and play it like Dave Davies of the Kinks then that’s cool, too. Just make sure your suit is back from the dry cleaners.
For more: Gibson
EHX Deluxe Big Muff Pi 2
The “final boss” of the Big Muff Pi 2 has arrived, with the “lost” Dual Op-Amp fuzz circuit expanded into a Electro-Harmonix’s Deluxe presentation, which means this noticeably more aggressive take on the classic Muff sound is not more versatile, with considerably more EQ’ing options at your disposal.
We’ll get to them in a second. But new to this release we have an onboard noise gate, all controllable via a single knob. We have a Blend control, which might not sound like the sexiest knob on the enclosure but is often the most useful, especially for an effect like a fuzz, where you might want some more of your unaffected signal in there for a bit more clarity. We also have the original three-knob controls of Volume, Sustain and Tone – and for many of us that is enough.
But lo, this is the Deluxe, and the NYC-based guitar effects pedal brand adds a three-way Wicker switch, for opening up the high-end bandwidth, and there are footswitchable mids. You can adjust the level and center frequency of those mids via the dedicated knobs, then set the Q switch to Hi or Lo to set the resonant bandwidth of the midrange. Hook up an expression pedal and you can sweep these mids with your foot.
For more: Electro-Harmonix
ALSO LAUNCHED THIS WEEK…
Tom Anderson Direwolf
Did someone say the B-word? Yes they did. Come on down, and bring some dog biscuits, because Tom Anderson has just unveiled the Direwolf. It’s a descendent of the Wolfhound but has a thicker body and a flat neck angle, all of which allows it to be customizable with a greater range of bridge options (a Floyd Rose? Why not!?) and pickups and switching. It’s a beauty.
For more: Anderson Guitar Works
D’Addario fret cleaner set
Because the last time we looked your frets were, frankly, unsanitary, and quite possibly a health-code violation waiting to happen… C’mon people, let’s get ‘em shiny again. Your feel, your tone, your self-esteem will thank you.
For more: D’Addario
Boss gig bags
We love Boss pedals. They sound great and can even save your life. But did you know the effects specialist also makes gig bags – and it has just refreshed the lineup, with thicker padding, and improved design to protect upper bouts, and there are options for acoustic guitars and bass guitars too.
For more: Boss
The latest Tonex collection from IK Multimedia collects the iconic sounds of nine F_____ a__, from a transitional period betwixt the Tweed and black panel eras. You know the drill. You know these tube amps sounds, and they’ve been recreated using IK Multimedia’s Tonex V2 AI Machine Modeling technology.
For more: IK Multimedia
Behringer Real McCoy WahWah
Behringer’s latest vintage-inspired effects pedal takes us back to the original wah pedals, and as per the demo video it reminds us that the wah was not originally designed for guitar players.
For more: Behringer
Blackstar Doug Aldrich DA5 Ruby
Doug Aldrich’s signature Blackstar head is brilliant but it is loud. Can you really play it at home? Well, if you live on the farm, maybe. So this 5-watt combo might just be the solution. Aldrich says it nails the tone.
For more: Blackstar Amplification
Harley Benton Fusion-T II HH
This new T-style line is Harley Benton guitars doing that high-end, hotrodded thing, offering the choice of their flagship Tesla humbuckers or EMGs, and the choice of Babicz tremolos or hard-tails. The alter switch gives you more tone options. The Fusion T vibe is high-performance.
For more: Harley Benton
LCO Take Your Time
Got time for a new delay and reverb pedal twofer? This one launches on July 21, it’s priced $275, has a five-knob control surface and allows you to cut the pedal in half, with both sides having thei own blend, three modes on the delay side, and you can open it up and reverse the order of the effects.
For more: LCO Industries
Catalinbread Crooner Console Preamp
One of the great things about this new golden age of effects pedals is that you can get the sounds of classic studio equipment in a compact stompbox. This is what Catalinbread is doing here with the Crooner inspired by the RCA mic preamp BA-31. Clean boost, drive, distortion, fuzz, console magic sauce.
For more: Catalinbread
D’Addario NYXL & XT HD: New High-Density Singles for Extended-Range Guitars
D’Addario has come through for all you sickos with extended-range guitars, with specially developed sets for electric and nylon-string guitars that optimize tension on those lower strings, promise better intonation and a more balanced tone.
For more: D’Addario
Dusky Proxima A
Let’s finish up with a preview of coming attractions, a smart little boutique amp and cab that is now available to preorder through till October. It’s a compact sibling to the D₂O, fitted out with 6V6GT power tubes, a lower but respectable 12-watt output, and it weighs just 18lbs.
For more: Dusky Electronics
- What’s your favorite new gear release of the week? Let us know in the comments below.
