The Guitarist’s Christmas Wishlist 2015

With Christmas just around the corner, many of you will be out to hopefully be able to grab great music deals.

Today’s post is aimed towards the recording guitarist or if you’re someone looking to pick up the guitar. Here are some Christmas shopping recommendations for the aspiring guitarist who is looking to make a hit in the studio.

Happy shopping and happy holidays!

Amplifiers

Blackstar ID:Core BEAM (Bass. Electric. Acoustic. Music) 2×10-Watt – $279.99

It’s 2015 and it’s about time we had an amplifier that can do it all. If you’re looking for one that can do it all, it’s the Blackstar ID Core Beam.

There are six electric voices, two bass voices and two acoustic voices packed into the 20-watt box, with 12 programmable patches and even a USB connection for integration with a DAW setup.

Based on the control set of the critically acclaimed and best-selling ID:Core series of guitar amps, the ID:Core BEAM takes incredible guitar tone into the home and becomes the central hub for instruments and stunning music playback that can be streamed via bluetooth.

Pedals

Line 6 Firehawk FX – $449.99

Traditional effects and tones officially meet technology with Line 6’s new multi effects pedal. Imagine being able to control your effects via your android or iOS device without compromising on quality.

• 300+ world-class amps and effects, including 48 HD models
• 5 FX on/off, channel and bank footswitches with colored LED rings
• Onboard tone control, plus detailed editing via Bluetooth Remote app for Android and iOS
• 128 onboard presets
• 1/4″ Guitar and VDI inputs
• 1/4″ and XLR main outputs, plus headphone output
• Low-latency DSP and USB recording
• One-button looper
• Expression Pedal input
• Firehawk Remote app for iOS and Android
• Remotely control amp parameters to dial in your sound
• Search a cloud-based library of thousands of tones
• Create, save and recall unlimited presets in the cloud
• Share tones via Twitter and Facebook
• Made for iPhone 6 Plus, iPhone 6, iPhone 5s, iPhone 5c, iPhone 5, iPhone 4s, iPhone 4, iPad (3rd and 4th generation), iPad 2, iPad mini and iPod touch (5th generation) and compatible Android devices running OS v4.2 or better

Ibanez Tube Screamer Mini – $79.99

One of the world’s most popular overdrive pedals got a lot smaller in 2015 and guess what? It sounds just as good.

Dunlop Cry Baby Mini Wah – $99.99

2015 has been a good year for conserving pedalboard real estate.

Not only does Dunlop’s Cry Baby Mini Wah dramatically reduce the traditional Cry Baby footprint, it also throws in three voicing options, a Fasel inductor and features true-bypass.

Guitar

In mood for a new guitar? I understand the serious guitarist can never have enough guitars, so if your budget allows before the year ends, here are some great recommendations.

Chapman Guitars ML-1 Pro – $899.00

You’ll love this if you’re a guitarist who wants a sleek looking rock machine that is loaded up with top of the range hardware at an astonishingly low price.

The Chapman ML1 set the level for high quality guitars for not much money. Now they are adding a new guitar to their lineup which has hardware that would expect to see on a guitar double the price.

The Chapman ML1 Pro is your ticket to great tones at fantastic value.

Made with a slab top Mahogany body with a walnut veneer this guitar looks and feels great. The neck is also made of mahogany with an ebony fretboard and is set in to the body rather than bolted for better sustain, tone and feel.

Without the bolt on backplate you can access the upper frets much easier perfect for when you want to go all out on your next solo.

Made to cover nearly any style of rock and metal  and voted guitar of the year by Music Radar, you can push this through a high gain amp no problem at all orback off the volume to clean up your signal giving you some excellent crunch and clean sounds that work just as good live as in the studio.

• Mahogany slab top body with 3mm natural finish walnut top
• 25.5″ Scale Length
• Open-pore mahogany neck
• Ebony Fingerboard
• Thin C Neck Contour
• Set-through Neck Construction
• 13.8″ Fretboard Radius
• 24 Extra Jumbo Frets
• Hipshot Locking Machine Heads
• 42mm TUSQ Nut
• Hipshot Tremolo
• 1x Seymour Duncan Hot Rails (neck)
• 1x Seymour Duncan Stacked Humbucker (middle)
• 1x Seymor Duncan Lil’ 59 (bridge)
• Chapman Guitars Hardcase; Tools; Tremolo Arm + Extra Spring

Miscellaneous Music Gears

ZOOM Q8 – $399.99

If you are a die-hard musician with no experience in video shooting and do not have any intentions of learning the art of filming, it could be ideal to get a point a shoot video camera that captures great studio quality audio.

Zoom’s portable recording line gets a huge boost with the new Q8, a marriage of HD video, four-track audio and an interchangeable microphone, making it the ideal camera for capturing music and video with professional results.

The Q8 has a 160-degree wide-angle lens and digital zoom, and it allows up to four tracks of simultaneous audio recording.

Most intriguing, though, is the groundbreaking interchangeable mic capsule system with two XLR-TRS combo inputs, allowing you to swap out interchangeable ZOOM mic capsules as easily as changing the lens on a camera.

The Q8 comes with the detachable stereo X/Y microphone (XYQ-8) and is compatible with all ZOOM mic capsules except the EXH-6 TRS/XLR Combo capsules.