Jimmy

Buying the best electric guitars under $200 without fees shouldn’t feel like solving a math problem. Most listings hide the real cost: a $129 guitar suddenly becomes $179 after the amp you forgot, then $215 after the cable and tuner, and the strap and gig bag push you past $240 before you’ve played a single … Read more

If you want one tool that handles curved cuts in oak, resaws 12 inch hardwood planks, and slices through steel pipe without switching machines, you need the best band saws for wood and metal cutting on your bench. After spending 90 hours testing eight machines across my shop, talking to professional woodworkers and fabricators, and … Read more

Our team has spent the past three months testing dozens of pickups in extended-range guitars, dialing in tones from B standard down to drop G, and running each one through high-gain amp sims and real tube rigs. We tracked clarity on palm-muted chugs, low-end tightness on the low B string, and how each pickup handled … Read more

I have recorded electric and acoustic guitar in home studios for over a decade, and I still remember the day I plugged my Telecaster into an interface, hit record on a budget DAW, and heard a delayed, glitchy take come back through my headphones. The DAW mattered more than the guitar. If you are searching … Read more

When Metallica’s James Hetfield flips to the lead channel mid-song, you can hear every palm-muted chug cut through the mix like a chainsaw. That aggressive character doesn’t come from the guitar alone. It comes from the amp doing the heavy lifting, shaping distortion, controlling low-end tightness, and giving each note room to breathe through the … Read more

Short scale bass guitars solve problems full-size instruments can’t touch. With a 30-inch (or shorter) scale length, they cut string tension by roughly 15%, making them a perfect match for beginners, guitar players transitioning to bass, and anyone with smaller hands. I’ve spent the past two months running nine different short scale basses through practice … Read more

I’ve spent the last three months in my shop running eight different band saw blades through hundreds of cuts on everything from mild steel pipe to stainless plate. The best band saw blades for metal in all share a few traits: M42 bi-metal construction with cobalt content, variable pitch teeth for versatility, and heat-treated bodies … Read more

Looking for the best guitar multi effects processors under $100 without drowning in a sea of compromises? I have spent the last three months testing eight budget multi-effects pedals in my home studio and at weekend gigs, and the results surprised me. The sub-$100 bracket used to mean toy-like amp modeling, plastic footswitches, and gutless … Read more

I’ve been testing MIDI controllers for over a decade, and I can say with confidence that the best small midi keyboard controllers have never been this good. Our team spent the last 90 days running each of these through real production work in Ableton Live, Logic Pro, and FL Studio to find the ones worth … Read more

I still remember the first time I plugged a guitar into a poorly tuned PA system and watched my carefully crafted solo turn into a muddy mess. That was the moment I realized I needed a real tool for tone shaping, not just another distortion pedal. After testing more than a dozen units over the … Read more