Jess Kowalski

You don't need three amps for a wet/dry/wet rig. A real amp for the dry center, a modeler for the stereo wet sides — the routing, the level matching, and the one ground-loop trap to dodge.

A wet/dry/wet rig means three amps, three grounds, and a hum waiting to happen. Build a fully-isolated three-output splitter for the price of one boutique box — and why the cheap transformers hold up.

The pro splitter topology is a buffer into a transformer-isolated output. Here is how to build exactly that for under $80 — parts list, the phase switch, and why the cheap transformer holds up.

Two budget buffers and a passive switcher tested on a passive-piezo acoustic over a long cable. Which $50 box actually saves your top end, and which one isn't a buffer at all.

Your $500 board sounded huge for what it cost. The next $500 changes the math — and at some point the amp, not the pedals, is the thing holding you back. Here's the order to spend in.

You bought the $300 starter board. It works. Now you have $50, $100, or $200 to make it better. Here's the order that actually moves the needle.

A complete starter pedalboard built from the cheapest reliable pedals on the market in 2026 (tuner, drive, distortion, fuzz, modulation, delay, reverb, and a clean boost) for under $300 total. Here's the build.

Two budget micro-pedal lines, two different design philosophies. TC's TonePrint customization vs. Mooer's chip-overlap clone strategy. Which catalog actually deserves your $50 and your pedalboard square inch.

The Carbon Copy and DM-2W get all the BBD-delay airtime, but the Way Huge Aqua-Puss MkIII does something different. At the used price, it's the easy pick.

Both pedals use bucket-brigade chips. Both call themselves analog delays. But the MXR Carbon Copy and the Boss DM-2W Waza Craft sound different in ways that actually matter for buying decisions. Here is what each one does better and which one to pick for your situation.

Two of the most popular sub-$100 practice tools do completely different jobs. The Katana Mini is a tiny battery-powered combo with a built-in speaker. The Vox amPlug 4 plugs straight into your guitar and runs only into headphones. Here's which one is actually right for the way you practice.

These two products solve completely different problems despite being sold to the same audience. The Quilter replaces your amp. The Boss extends it. Before you spend $350 to $600, know which problem you actually have.

Most solid-state amp coverage falls into one of two camps: dismissive (real players use tubes) or defensive (but it actually sounds good for a solid-state). Both are wrong. This is the list of solid-state amps that deserve a spot in your rig on their own terms, no apologies, no asterisks.

The Boss BD-2 Blues Driver is already a good pedal. The question is whether a mod or a clone makes it better enough to justify the cost, and the answer depends on how you're using it.

The Boss BD-2W Waza Craft costs about 2.5× the standard BD-2. Here is what actually changed, what Custom mode does differently, and whether the upgrade makes sense for your playing situation.

A structured comparison of Boss BD-2, DS-1, and SD-1 modifications, covering what each mod actually changes, which one delivers the biggest improvement per dollar, and when modding beats buying something else entirely.

Boss SD-1 mod guide: three specific modifications that fix the SD-1's main problems: the input capacitor for bass response, the clipping diodes for gain character, and the output cap for high-end clarity. Component values included.

The Marshall Shredmaster is discontinued and expensive. Here's how the ProCo RAT, Boss DS-1, and Big Muff Pi stack up as substitutes for Jonny Greenwood's Radiohead Creep distortion.

Boss SD-1 Super Overdrive vs BD-2 Blues Driver: a direct comparison through a clean amp, with specific settings for each use case and an honest verdict on which one does what better.

The Boss DS-1 is the most modded pedal in history. The Keeley Ultra Mod is the most discussed mod. Here's what it actually changes, whether it's worth the $80–120 price premium, and who should bother.

The DS-1 and the Distortion+ are both cheap, both classic, and both constantly recommended — but they sound completely different. Here's what each one actually does, who should use which, and the settings that make them work.

The RAT, the TS808, and the Big Muff are three different philosophies about what distortion should do. Same amp, same guitar; here's where they overlap and where they completely diverge.

Jack White's tone settings explained: White Stripes Silvertone amp crunch, Seven Nation Army Big Muff fuzz, Whammy settings, and how to nail it on modern gear.

Tom Morello's tone broken down: the JCM800 gain structure, wah-as-filter technique, Whammy settings, and how to approximate it on a modeler or pedalboard.

Radiohead Creep guitar tone settings: the clean verse setup, the RAT-driven chorus crunch, and how to execute Jonny Greenwood's intentional string-scrape transition.

Six guitar modelers under $500 compared head to head. Real prices, real limitations, and honest picks for every playing style and budget.

Exact RAT pedal settings for blues, classic rock, grunge, shoegaze, and doom, with amp pairings and the one filter secret most players miss.

Boss DS-1 settings for punk, grunge, rock, and metal, with dial tables, the Tone sweet spot most players miss, and Keeley/Monte Allums mod tips.

Two writers build complete guitar rigs for $500 on the used market. One goes digital and ampless. The other goes guitar-into-amp with one cable. Both work.

Build a complete gigging rig for around $500 on the used market. Two signal chains, real-world gigging context, and zero filler.