NEW GEAR 8/25: PRS SE NF 53, Dingwall SP1 Bass, Fender Effects and Oberheim Synth

Three Ibanez RGA Premium superstrats: design with a touch of Custom Shop

The Indonesian edition of Ibanez Premium, ranked just below the Japanese Prestige series, now offers the RGA20P1PB, RGA21P1PB, and the seven-string RGA217P1PBDRL, all of which feature a basswood body combined with maple, walnut, panga panga, and poplar burl, giving the instruments an impressive appearance. It features an ebony fingerboard with 24 steel frets, genuine mother-of-pearl position markers, a five-piece maple and walnut neck and a pair of DiMarzio Fusion Edge humbuckers connected to the dyna-MIX10 system. The RGA20P1PB version is equipped with a locking Edge tremolo, while the other two variants feature a Gibraltar Standard III hardtail bridge and Gotoh MG-T locking tuners.

PRS SE NF 53: vintage style and timeless tone at a reasonable price

The PRS SE NF 53 is a modern guitar with a flexible sound inspired by the classic Telecaster design. Manufactured by the brand's Asian branch, this model features a swamp ash body combined with a bolt-on maple neck and fingerboard with 22 frets and a 25.5" scale. Thanks to a pair of specially tuned PRS Narrowfield DD (Deep Dish) "S" mini humbucker pickups with rail extensions and a patented design, you get both natural-sounding clean registers and clear distortion with articulate bass. The steel-based bridge with brass saddles provides the instrument with a lively tone and the necessary resonance. Colours: Black Doghair, White Doghair, Pearl White. Price: approx. 1,000 dollars, including a gig bag.

Boost and Breakup Drive: effects from the Fender Hammertone series

The new Hammertone Boost enhances the sound through two different circuits – the Type switch allows you to choose between a clean, transparent boost based on an operational amplifier or a JFET circuit that adds warmth and harmonic richness to the tone. In addition to volume, the resulting character can be fine-tuned with an active two-band EQ. Thanks to the JFET concept, Hammertone Breakup Drive offers distortion and dynamics similar to hot tubes at the edge of saturation. Two selectable clipping modes, ranging from subtle crunch to low-gain drive, change the response according to the intensity of the strumming, and there is also a switchable pre-gain mid boost. In addition to soft-touch relay true bypass, both pedals also feature automatic bypass, which is activated when the battery is low. Price: approximately 90 euros.

Hotone Verbera: Convolution Pedal Reverb

Verbera is a hardware convolution reverb with instant IR loading, extensive editing options, and unlimited sound range. Whether you're recreating iconic spaces, vintage hardware, or creating otherworldly reverbs you've never heard before, Verbera gives musicians a powerful new tool for live and studio setups. The patented low-latency dual engine provides studio-quality reverbs with a range of up to 10 seconds in stereo or 20 seconds in mono. The pedal comes with 120 high-quality IR samples and can store 1024 IRs. You can adjust parameters such as frequency response, attack, pre-delay, modulation, etc., with additional options available in the accompanying Neon Collector app.

DiMarzio Muscle T B and N: new pickups for Telecaster

For guitarists looking to improve the sound of their Telecaster, DiMarzio has developed a pair of new single-coil pickups from the Muscle T series. The neck model retains all the dynamic response of vintage Tele singles from the early 1960s, but adds more glassy sparkle, volume and presence. The bridge version, with its traditional magnet layout, has a stronger output than older pickups, warmer highs with detailed expression, and a balanced frequency response. According to the manufacturer, the Muscle T set is the ideal choice for any player who wants the legendary Telecaster sound with a modern twist.

Modified Fender Blues Junior IV 30th Anniversary combo amp

For more than 30 years, musicians of various genres have been using Fender Blues Junior tube amplifiers on stages around the world. The IV 30th Anniversary model celebrates the legacy of this compact 15-watt combo amp and, in addition to a facelift featuring elegant Black Western vinyl and a grille cloth reminiscent of the vintage Bassman series, it also offers several modifications. These consist of modified preamp circuits for a fuller tone, a modified spring reverb with a more musical sound, a different Celestion G12M-65 Creamback speaker that provides warmer clean registers and, in the case of crunch, more pronounced mids. Price: approx. 1,170 dollars.

Dingwall SP1 Precision-style futuretro basses

The four- and five-string Dingwall SP1 models from the ever-expanding Ready To Play range combine the iconic Precision concept with innovative features, including fan-shaped frets (Novax Fanned-fret) on a rosewood fingerboard, minimalist company bridges, and angled Dingwall Dual-P and FD3n passive pickups controlled by a shared volume, tone and Quad-Tone switch. The basses, with alder bodies, bolt-on maple fingerboards, and price tags of approximately 2,510 and 2,600 dollars, are available in Metallic Black, Vintageburst, Dark Candy Green and Ducati Pearl White.

MXR MB301 Bass Synth: a pedal not just for funk players

Want to create massive groovy and vintage analogue vibes reminiscent of your favourite funk tracks? Then the MXR Bass Synth might be a must-have for you. Designed in collaboration with bassist Ian Martin Allison, this pedal offers earthy sub-octaves, expressive envelope filtering and fresh modulation effects, all with very fast traction, the necessary sustain, three pulse wave shapes, harmonically rich oscillators, intuitive controls, and eight different presets inspired by classic synth sounds that you can hear on albums by Herbie Hancock, Peter Gabriel, Michael Jackson, and others. The official price is around 320 dollars.

Cymbits and XSR EC: two effect editions from Sabian

Canadian company Sabian has expanded its product portfolio with two new additions: Cymbits O-Zone Chains and XSR Effeks Clap. The first is a chain that can be used with ride or crash cymbals for a special "sizzle" effect, but also on snare or tom drums for electronically sounding registers. Cymbits consists of seven 2" discs made of B20 alloy connected by rivets, six of which have a hole punched in the middle. The three-piece XSR Effeks Clap stack is slightly curved and the individual surfaces are loosely connected to each other to achieve the classic sound of a digital "clap" from the 1980s. All high-pitched resonances have been reduced with an emphasis on clear projection.

Oberheim TEO-5 DM desktop synth module

A year after the premiere of the TEO-5 polysynth, Oberheim is introducing its alternative in the form of the TEO-5 DM desktop module, which is about half the size but has all the sounds and features of the classic version. Designed for musicians looking for the iconic Oberheim sound in a space-saving package, this new product offers the same analogue oscillators, multi-mode SEM filter and other features and represents a more affordable way to create the classic tones for which this manufacturer's synths are famous. The price is around 1,400 dollars.