If you think that pre rock'n'roll era musical biographies must inherently be dull then let Gordon Spittle's little gem about Tex Morton, our own world famous yodelling boundary rider, 'a hobo who became a superstar', set you straight. ...more

The safe money says that when two top amplifier designers - Ian Robinson and Bruce Keir (the brains behind the AVT and Mode 4) - defected from Marshall to found their own company, they had a pretty solid take on how to establish Blackstar in the fiercely competitive high-end guitar amplification business, long before they severed those purse-strings. Firstly, as a new company they haven't spread themselves too thin, with 15 and 30 watt combo models and a 100 watt head and twin cabinets. ...more

We all aspire to get the best sound we can from our instruments though typically have to accept some compromise with what we can afford. It is a process of due diligence that has helped me forge the best sound I can get from a drum that would otherwise be found wanting. ...more

Roland have recently introduced a new addition to their Juno family, the Juno Stage, which the Roland website describes as being 'designed from the ground up for live performance'. Catch phrases like 'new breed' and 'sets a new standard' aside, the new Juno does make good on what is ultimately an extremely simple and honest promise. ...more

Of the many different types of speakers (monitors) available in this issue I am looking at three designed for close-proximity listening applications. When used in these conditions such speaker systems need to effectively handle high sound pressure levels through small diaphragm speakers, in often confined spaces, whilst still outputting meaningful levels of bass. ...more