NEW GEAR 1/25: Faith Eclipse Acoustics, Tech 21 RK5 V3, G&L Basses and Tama 8055 Snare

Shergold Masquerader Standard SM11: retro with a modern sound

Shergold Guitars has bolstered its guitar catalogue with the stylish Masquerader Standard SM11, redesigned for the 21st century by renowned British guitarist Patrick James Eggle. Honouring its 1970s roots, the instrument has been given a solid poplar body, a bolt-on neck made from roasted Canadian maple and a laurel fretboard with 22 medium jumbo frets, elegant position inlays and a synthetic bone nut. The strings anchor in a hardtail bridge à la Hipshot and end in locking machines with graduated shaft lengths. Flexibility is provided by the company's humbucker combined with a P-90 single-coil neck. Colours: Astral Blue, Quartz White. Price: approx. 410 pounds.

Three new Faith electroacoustics from the Eclipse series

Faith Guitars has updated its Eclipse electroacoustic edition, resulting in a trio of all-massive Eclipse Neptune, Neptune 12 String and Venus models, which share the common features of mahogany necks and bodies with cutaway and Alpine spruce soundboard. All guitars also boast an ergonomically designed maple edge at the right-hand rest, an ebony fretboard, Grover Rotomatic machines and a quality Fishman INK system consisting of a piezo pickup, internal sensor, five-band EQ, notch filter, volume, phase rotation and tuner.

Snark Crazy Little Thing clip-on tuner

One of the smallest clip-on tuners on the market, the Crazy Little Thing features a USB-C rechargeable battery, a highly visible rotating display and a massive piston clamp with an integrated resonance sensor for fast and accurate detection. The chromatic tuner can tune guitar, bass, ukulele, mandolin, banjo and other instruments, and the A4 reference tone can be calibrated in 432, 440 or 442 Hz. The official price is around 22 dollars including the USB-A/USB-C cable.

Pico 360+: the smallest looper from Electro Harmonix

Despite its truly compact size, the miniature Pico 360+ is a full-size looper offering up to 6 minutes of recording capacity with unlimited layers, as well as a bank for 11 presets. Among other things, the pedal features an Overdub control that adjusts the playback level of previously recorded loops when overdubbing new loops, allowing you to create ever-changing passages and ambient soundscapes. Thanks to the programmable order of the Overdub/Playback functions, it is possible to change which mode the looper goes into after recording the initial loop. An adjustable fadeout time ranging from 1 to 10 seconds takes care of reverberation after the loop has stopped, and the Dry Lvl / Loop Lvl parameters are independently selectable for precise layer blending. Price: approx. 140 dollars including power supply.

Tech 21 RK5 V3: a new version of Richie Kotzen's Fly Rig

The third generation of the famed guitarist's signature preamp/multi-effect differs from the previous version primarily in its switchable Pre/Post Boost with up to +20dB of lift for boosting gain or increasing overall volume; also new is the addition of a serial effects loop and integrated phantom power for Kotzen's recently introduced wah Tech 21 RK Killer Wail (see video). Again, the OMG/Fuzz distortion section, reverb, delay, rotovibe, tuner and, of course, the SansAmp analogue emulation circuit can be used. The price together with the 9V adapter is around 490 euros.

Mooer Prime Minimax M1 pocket multieffects/controller

The Prime Minimax M1 is a compact multi-effects pedal for guitarists and bassists alike, offering a host of virtual machines and effects including an 80-second looper with auto-start function, drum machine, slots for custom IR pulses, tuners or and Bluetooth 5.0. In addition to the display, the simplified UX design brings two multi-function footswitches, the same number of buttons, a master wheel control, input + stereo output, headphone jack, OTG recording, editing with Mooer Prime, a rechargeable (USB-C) 2000 mAh lithium battery with a battery life of approx. 5 hours or compatibility with the company cloud for easy sharing and importing of presets. A comprehensive processor costs about 100 euros.

G&L Fullerton Deluxe ASAT basses

G&L Guitars, formerly Leo Fender's company, has expanded its premium Fullerton Deluxe bass collection with a four-string ASAT version based on the Telecaster. Choose from swamp ash models in Butterscotch Blonde with a maple fretboard or alder in Jet Black and Alpine White Frost finishes with a rosewood fretboard. All 34″ scale length options feature a Medium-C profile maple neck with 21 Jescar frets, lightweight machine tuners and Saddle-Lock bridge. Two G&L MFD humbuckers are connected to electronics with passive/active mod options, dual-band EQ and coil switching in series or parallel mode.

Behringer Bass Brassmaster Fuzz

Due to hit the European market in March, the Bass Brassmaster Fuzz pedal is designed for bassists who demand an aggressive distortion character while maintaining volume and clarity of tone. Inspired by a vintage version of the Maestro from the early 1970s, Behringer's model features a two-voice circular modulator that helps shape the resulting fuzz sound, in addition to a distortion section and octave generator that allows you to switch between high and low-frequency accentuation. The effect, which can also be used with a guitar, costs around 70 euros.

Tama 8055 Mastercraft Steel Snare limited edition

A special edition of the Tama 8055 Mastercraft Steel snare drum from the 50th Anniversary Reissue collection should be heading for worldwide distribution soon. With this 14"x5" steel model with cast rims and 1.2 mm thick chrome-plated walls, the Japanese manufacturer returns to the 1980s and delivers a clean, fast attack with clear and distinct resonance. Articulation is supported by 6035N carbon steel wires, integrated Superstar shells, Roller Action mechanics and a 6552N One-Touch tone control. The snare having Remo Ambassador membrane comes in at around 780 dollars.

Desktop Steampipe synthesizer from Erica Synths

Lithuanian manufacturer Erica Synths has launched the Steampipe, a compact desktop synthesizer developed in collaboration with Dutch company 112dB.com. The polyphonic eight-voice model has no conventional oscillators, but instead mimics the way sound is produced in wind and string instruments. Steampipe is optimized to work with MIDI wind controllers and any MIDI keyboard. With detailed control over many physical modelling parameters, the synth can generate very organic emulations of real instruments, while going far beyond their normal pitch and dynamic ranges.