The Vox AC4 and the Beginnings of Bedroom Rock
Everybody knows that the 1950s set the direction for almost every typology of guitar design, pickup configuration, and amplifier down
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The Sunday Papers
The Sunday Papers is a weekly offering by Riff City Guitar. Our single goal with this feature is to provide a good morning read over coffee, each and every Sunday. What you won’t find in The Sunday Papers is a sales pitch or product recommendations. We’ve asked Andy Perrin—one of the industry’s best writers on guitar gear and culture—to pen short weekly editorials that tell the tales of how we got to where are in the music industry and the players and builders that helped us along the way. In short, The Sunday Papers are about conversations, stories, histories, and experiences with the guitar.
Proof that Computer Generated Music is Older than the Electric Guitar
If you’re into creating and capturing music, chances are there’s a computer chip and processor that’s getting the job done.
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When Gibson Pioneered the First-Ever Pedal Demo
In addition to inspiring modern guitarists in new ways, the guitar pedal craze in which we live has also spun
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The Klon Revolution: What Made the Centaur both Classic and Foreword Thinking?
In Greek mythology the centaur was a hybrid creature with the legs of a horse and the upper body of
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History Repeats Itself: Three Electro-Harmonix Memory Man Pedals that Revolutionized Delay
Before you plug it in, it’s musical. Then when you start playing, it’s magical. The Memory Man delay by Electro-Harmonix
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Fender and Gibson Designs You’ve Never Heard Of
This week on the Riff City Sunday Papers, we’re celebrating our 100th issue! Whether you’ve been with us from the
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Five Favorite & Forgotten “Metal” Pedals
Metal tones are deceptively complex. It might seem like you just dime the gain and rock yourself into oblivion, but
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Fender’s Other Ivy League Amp: The Fender Harvard
Whether vintage or reissue, the Fender Princeton amplifier is among the more famous entries in Fender’s extensive catalogue of loud
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What Do Hendrix, Townsend, and Springsteen Have In Common? Meet the Epiphone Wilshire
Whether inspired by core designs of Gibson or hailed their own spinoffs, there’s no denying Epiphone has an established roster
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The Time Kurt Russell Smashed a 145-Year Old Martin Antique Acoustic Guitar
On the surface, it seems like an odd juxtaposition: some of the most creative musical forces on stage have gone
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