Like the headline says, here’s a heapin’ helpin’ of new gear that struck our fancy over the past 12 months
By AMIT SHARMA — WITH A BIT OF PAUL RIARIO AND DAMIAN FANELLI
WHEN IT COMES to gear, we reckon 2022 is a year that’ll end up being remembered fondly — for the most part. There were some big surprises, such as the arrival of the Line 6 DL4 mk2, which had some serious updates from the original that was launched 23 years ago, and a limited-edition replica of Noel Gallagher’s prized ES-355 from Gibson — a storied instrument that had been seen on the world’s biggest stages and heard on some of the biggest selling recordings of the last two and a half decades.
As for innovations coming from across the pond, we were most impressed by Blackstar’s headline-stealing St. James series (coupling breathtaking tones with modern functionality inside deceptively light packages), the Philip Sayce-approved Octone fuzz from Pedal Pawn and Monty’s Guitars’ recreation of the pickups inside the Greeny Les Paul famously owned by Peter Green, Gary Moore and Kirk Hammett. Which, by the way, found a new lease of life in the sold-out Gibson Murphy Lab-aged Collector’s Edition, limited to just 50. And speaking of artist models, new products bearing the names of guitar legends like John Mayer, Scott Ian and Jeff Loomis certainly created a bit of a buzz in-store and online — and for all the right reasons. So without further ado, here’s our roundup of the very best gear of 2022.
PRS GUITARS SE SILVER SKY $849, PRSGUITARS.COM
Few would have been surprised by the announcement of the John Mayer Silver Sky joining the PRS SE series back in January; there was clearly a market for it and Mayer himself would have likely encouraged making it accessible for all players. It’s also no shock that the guitars made by the Indonesian Cor-Tek factory are of extremely high quality — and almost scarily close to the boutique craftsmanship of their premium, U.S.-made originals. The main differences with this Silver Sky lie in the body wood (poplar in place of the U.S. model’s alder), the pickups (SE versions of the 635JM set) and the tuners (non-locking instead of locking). The fingerboard radius is also ever so slightly flatter on the SE models — 8.5” instead of 7.25” — though the difference is negligible.
POSITIVE GRID SPARK MINI $229, POSITIVEGRID.COM
If there’s one practice amp that’s ruled the roost in recent years, most of us would be inclined to agree it’s the Spark 40. Which is why, back in February, there was a lot of excitement around Positive Grid announcing a new downsiz
