Stephanie MacIntire

From 2003 - 2006, the Gibson Melody Maker was rejiggered into a form similar to the Les Paul Junior, with a single cutaway and a sole dogear P-90. It retained, however, the thinner body, slimmer neck and headstock, "button" tuners, and top-mounted output jack of the classic Melody Makers - and, unusually for both, featured a Tune-O-Matic bridge rather than a wraparound. The result was, in my esteem, a guitar superior to both the Les Paul Junior and all other iterations of the Melody Maker. It's lighter and faster than the Junior, and the classic P90 has a thick, powerful roarthat the traditional Melody Maker pickups can't match. The individual bridge saddles allow precise intonation, the controls are simple and straightforward, and the satin finish is comfortable and resistant to fingerprints. All this combined makes a killer gig guitar that can take a beating and keep screaming.

I love the sound of a cocked wah pedal, like Mick Ronson's seminal work of the glam-rock era, but keeping that sweet spot onstage is difficult with a traditional wah. This pedal puts that perfect smooth filtering into a one-button box with super simple controls, accessible even to a luddite like me. I like that there's a Mix knob, so you can make the effect subtler or bolder (unlike a normal wah); and i like that you can use it as a transparent wah or a fuzzy/distorted one. The only other pedals of this type were strictly "cocked wah fuzz" pedals. This one let you choose how clean or distorted it is. As for the build quality, it's totally hand-wired an solid as hell.

This is one of my all-time favorite dirt boxes, and a unique little monster to boot. It's made to mimic the chimey distortion of a cranked AC15, but unlike similar pedals, it's specifically intended to give the semblance of a single-speaker combo amp at any volume. There's an internal trim pot that lets you adjust this effect, but not eliminate it, so it'll always have a fair degree of natural compression and a slight "boxiness." Personally, I think it sounds absolutely fantastic and true to intent, and I use it for recording frequently. It's all hand-wired and hand-painted, superb craftsmanship.