New This Year: 2024's Best New Ranges
Published on 16 October 2024
It has been quite a year for new instruments and gear, hasn’t it? Guitars, basses and pedals have all shown up in droves, from big-hitters and small makers alike.
If you haven’t been keeping up with all of these releases as they’ve arrived, you may enjoy today’s blog. I’ve looked back through the year from January right up until now - mid October - and gathered together what I see as the highlights of the year. My only caveat here is that the range or series had to be ostensibly from this year, not simply new additions to an existing range (mostly). So for example, we’ve seen some great Epiphone Inspired by Gibson guitars being released this year, but that concept existed already, so they don’t qualify for today’s list!
Right, let’s see what newness has been unleashed in 2024…
Contents
The Return of the Yamaha Pacifica
Sterling by Music Man StingRay Short Scale RAYSS4
Fender Ultra II
First up, we have a series from Fender that’s so brand new, it’s actually being released a few hours after this blog has been written! Fear not though, I have had a good look at these new Fender Ultra II guitars and they are lovely! In fact, my colleague Keiran and I made a video about them, so click through below for our deeper dive into the Fender Ultra II series…
New finishes, new pickups, anodized pickguards…they sure are pretty, and those new Noiseless pickups are vintage-voiced to provide a tone that’s a step closer to classic Fender.
Not only that, there’s a whole new addition to the Ultra series: the Meteora! You’ll have seen this as part of the Player Pro range in the past, and now it has earned a promotion into a full-on USA model.
For the gigging pro and semi-pro player who wants to increase their stage presence a little, the bold-looking and versatile Fender Ultra II series is surely a must-try.
Strandberg Essential
Strandberg have been a runaway (and some might initially have said surprising) success story since they began selling guitars back in 2009. Back then, nobody cared about headless guitars - they were a curiosity from the 80s - but Ola Stranberg’s highly innovative, hugely ergonomic designs brought them squarely into the ‘now’ in a way that was impossible to deny.
Multiscale, extended range, headless and featuring a uniquely squared-and-angled ‘Endurneck’ neck profile, these are cutting edge guitars in every way. Strandberg took a gamble and it paid off, to the extent that there’s been a huge demand for a more affordable range.
Enter the Strandberg Boden Essential 6: a light, ergonomic headless axe with that famous Endurneck and 24 stainless steel frets. These have been so popular since release that we are perennially selling out, re-ordering them and waiting for more stock! They are one of the hits of the year without doubt.
The Return of the Yamaha Pacifica
The Yamaha Pacifica has never really been away, but Yamaha unveiled a new premium range of them earlier this year. Famous as quality beginner instruments, not so many people know that the range extends up into professional models. Yamaha want to reposition that perception, and their latest Pacifica Standard Plus and Pacifica Professional models are the ones to look at.
Gotoh hardware, Rupert Neve designed Reflectone pickups and a very high build quality combine to create a versatile HSS S-type for all serious players. Yamaha always build highly reliable instruments that give up the goods night after night, and this range of guitars should see the beloved Pacifica excel at this higher level.
Gibson Les Paul Studio
I’ve always been a fan of the Les Paul Studio, right back to my teenage years gazing at the one Wine Red Studio that hung from the wall of my local music shop like some sort of rare treasure.
The Studio has been an important part of Gibson’s electric lineup for decades now, and they gave the model a refresh earlier this year. It’s still the stripped back, no-nonsense guitar that it was before - its whole ethos was to forego the expense-inducing decorative elements such as body binding and figured tops - but it’s better than ever.
What makes it better? Well, for me, the weight-relieved body provides a legit alternative for those who have back issues (or just don’t want a heavier guitar). I don’t think you lose much in the ‘sonic girth’ stakes either, to be honest: these still sound big and fat, and the coil tap feature on these 2024 models really opens up the Les Paul’s sound.
Binding on the fingerboard elevates the look, and the slim taper profile feels close to a 60s style carve that you’d find on other Gibsons so it immediately feels like home to me!
Friedman IR Pedals
For years, Friedman have been delivering a top-class USA boutique take on the famous ‘British tone’ like nobody else in the business. An original amp modder in the 80s, Friedman’s decision to build and market his own range of products have proven to be a great idea.
Another great idea has been to build these amps into a range of preamp pedals with built in impulse responses. Basically, it’s like having a few channels of Friedman amp tone directly at your feet, with all of the richness and nuance you’d hope for from such a brand. Choose from the IR-X (with two 12AX7 valves built in and a hot-rodded Plexi sound), the IR-D (based on the Dirty Shirley amps) and the Jake E Lee signature model, which condenses the sound from the ex-Ozzy Osbourne axe-meister’s signature Friedman amp into a small, portable box. Yes, I obviously want them all.
Fender’s Jack White Collabs
Jack White is certainly a distinctive and eccentric personality, and his very recent limited edition collaboration with Fender expresses that side of him well. So far we’ve seen two guitars and one amplifier emerge:
- A triple pickup’ed Tele called the Triplecaster, which sports a custom Bigsby, a Hipshot Xtender (for dropping the low E to a D), a kill-switch, three different pickups and an arm rest on a chambered ash body.
- An Acoustasonic model known as the Triplesonic, which has three specific voices: acoustic, clean electric and overdriven electric.
- An amp - the Pano Verb - which takes elements from a number of classic Fender valve amps and blends them into a fully stereo amp with tremolo and reverb.
Everything has a distinctive colour scheme of black and white (plus yellow for the amp) and everything has a practical application, and just a touch of off-kilter weirdness. Very cool.
PRS SE Refresh
PRS’s so-called entry level guitars continue to impress in this evolved, refreshed lineup. I say ‘so-called’ because there’s no way these guitars are anything other than high quality workhorses, with or without the spectacular quilted tops that can be found on certain models.
There are a few brand new additions to the lineup, and some refinements to other models, but they are all offering a ton of value. Here are some personal faves:
PRS SE Standard CE24: I love a good bolt-on PRS, and these don’t need a figured maple top to still look beautiful. Also: who doesn’t love gold guitars?
PRS SE Custom 24-08 Quilt: everything that’s great about a Custom 24, with added switches for coil-tapping the pickups and some superbly dramatic quilted maple on the top! AND on the headstock! Sacre bleu, these guitars are gorgeous!
PRS SE Hollowbody Piezo: genuinely good ‘plugged-in’ acoustic tones along with a super-versatile f-holed PRS, this guitar will fit in at almost any gig or session and sound excellent.
There’s more to PRS’s 2024 output, so click through to this PRS SE blog for the full scoop!
Fender Player II Series
It’s been a year of Fender sequels, between the Ultra II series (see above) and this, the updated Player II range. Fender’s most affordable range of F-branded guitars (let’s not call them ‘cheap’ because they aren’t) were pretty great to begin with, so this mark II update is subtle.
Still, gorgeous new colours, alnico 5 pickups (vintage and sparkly sounding) and good quality hardware will always be worth writing about. In addition to the expected Strats, Teles, P and Jazz basses, the Player II series also includes a Jazzmaster, Jaguar, Mustang (all closer to historical models than the last iteration of Players) and an HH-Tele. Nicely done, Fender!
Sterling by Music Man StingRay Short Scale RAYSS4
The most popular bass in the world that isn't a Fender is the Music Man StingRay. It's timelessly cool, also designed by Leo Fender, and wonderfully powerful sounding.
Sterling is an affordable sub brand of Music Man (just like Squier is to Fender) and this particular StingRay Short Scale RAYSS4 model uses a shorter 30” scale length for an altogether slinkier feel.
Whether you normally find basses just too big to negotiate, or even just fancy changing up the feel and response that you’re used to with 34” basses, this newbie from Sterling is well worth a spin.
Blink 182 Instruments
Punk-pop mainstays Blink 182 have been touring the world’s arenas this past year, and have obviously requested some new ‘weaponry’ to take with them. Last year brought us Tom DeLonge’s signature Strat, which sold like hotcakes. Fast on its heels is his Starcaster model, which boasts his trademark single humbucker preference along with a large headstock and a brace of eye-catching pastel colours.
Also out is a limited edition ‘Jag’ Jaguar bass for Mark Hoppus, made with a single P-bass pickup (single pickups must be a running theme in the band) and available in a very cool shade of Seafoam Green. As punktastic as it gets, this Jag bass will be great for much more than just punk music.
Neural DSP Nano Cortex
It’s only a few weeks old but the Neural DSP Nano Cortex is already causing a sensation amongst guitarists. Delivering world-class Neural tone in a stompbox-sized device, the Nano Cortex brings powerful tone capturing technology within the reach of more guitarists than ever.
Rather than just being a shrunken Quad Cortex, the Nano focuses on simplicity, dispensing with screens in favour of old-school dials and switches. You don’t even need to connect this to a computer in order to capture a sound (it’ll do that itself via a couple of regular ¼” cables), so it’s a self-contained tone machine!
Whether you play guitar, bass or both, the Neural DSP Nano Cortex has plenty to offer, and it fits in the pocket of a gig bag!
Universal Audio Amp Pedals
Universal Audio make some of the very best audio interfaces and plugins on the market. They now make some of the very best pedals for guitarists, too. In recent years, they’ve moved into making top-end stompboxes for guitarists, and I’ve been getting continually impressed by their efforts.
There are loads of UAFX (that’s Universal Audio effects, pals) pedals now covering all the usual bases of modulation, time-based effects and so on. The ones that are really turning my head though, are UA’s takes on classic amps. Last year brought us the Lion 68, which is a very convincing Marshall Plexi-in-a-box. This year? Check it out:
The UAFX Anti 1992 is a pitch-perfect take on the Peavey 5150, with amazing impulse responses built in. It has that authentic bark which is basically essential for today’s metal player.
Better still is the UAFX Enigmatic ‘82 Overdrive Special, which chases no less a tone than the mythical Dumble Overdrive Special! In full disclosure, I have never plugged into a Dumble amp (neither have you, let’s be honest with each other), but this sounds magnificent and does kinda make me want to roll my sleeves up and rock back on my heels when I play, so it seems to be doing the trick!
Better still is the one that’s due soon: a take on the almighty MESA/Boogie Dual Rectifier. Watch this space…
So Much Great Gear
There’s still over two months left in 2024 and I can safely confirm that it’s been a great year for the ages. Technology is kicking ass, affordable guitars are better than ever and top end gear more varied than we’ve seen in recent years.
What will the rest of 2024 bring? Keep an eye on the gg site for up-to-the-minute-news! And if you simply want to check out all of the gear from 2024 so far, hit the link below!
Click to Browse All of the Gear from 2024
