Guitarist Magazine January 2016 Vorige editie

GEAR OF THE YEAR 2015
So, once again we’re under starter’s orders for a grand reckoning of the best kit that’s crossed our transom in the past 12 months, to quote from the holy book of Spinal Tap. First, let’s explain the rules by which we chose our winners here. Firstly, there are the tell-tale signs: someone comes back from a demo and just has to tell the rest of us how good something was. No matter how forensically you pry apart the qualities and shortcomings of a piece of gear when you review it, that first current of excitement is often the best indicator that a guitar, pedal or amp is not merely competent and fit for purpose, but potentially something outstanding. As you’d expect, gear of that calibre usually comes out of the review process with a Guitarist Choice or even Gold award, so the price of entry into Gear Of The Year is just that: we select the winners from a long list of products that have received one of those accolades, with one or two exceptions. Now, about those exceptions. When it comes to weighing up our winners, we get debating in the office. Even the best, most rigorously objective reviewer represents but a single viewpoint. Just occasionally, when we really get down to the nitty gritty, a wild-card entry makes it into the final by consensus among Guitarist’s writers and reviewers, because when it comes to Gear Of The Year, a little bit of extra subjectivity is allowed to creep in.