final thoughts

Reflections on a year in guitar

so many times this year, we’ve had cause to reflect on a deceptively complex question: what is the value of good tone? Too often the question of tone is treated like a whisky review – as if it were an amber nectar to be sampled and sipped in isolation. But the sound of a guitar (or, for that matter, that of an amp or effect) is something the player participates in much more than they do when merely tasting something. You are in the loop. If the sound of a guitar excites you then it drives you to new heights of expressiveness in your playing. And you have to say that the useability of a piece of kit has a hand in that sought-after feeling of being seamlessly at one with the instrument, too. Any clunky intrusions into that golden moment, from sharp fret-ends to unwanted buzzing noises – bring you back down to earth with a bump. We feel confident that all of the gear picked in our Gear of the Year selection meets and exceeds the important criteria of not only sounding good but having either intuitive, non-intrusive useability or a comprehensive feature set that helps you dial in exactly what you want. As a final thought, we’d like some feedback from you too. This year has seen quite a few letters arrive in our postbox asking why so much gear featured in the mag scores seven out of ten and above. Partly it’s because mainstream gear is made more consistently well than ever these days – and partly because plain trashy gear isn’t the focus of this magazine in the first place. So a question for debate: would you like a review system that had no out-of-ten scores, just Choice and Gold awards where deserved and brilliant insights into what value, useability and quality an instrument represents? If so, we’ll give it serious thought. Until next time, happy pickin’.