“It’s taken its time, but finally one of rock music’s most iconic instruments has been launched as a signature run”: All the guitar gear that has caught my eye this week – including a follow-up to the internet-breaking Bad Monkey story

Hello, and welcome to Guitar World’s gear round-up, your one-stop-shop for keeping up to date with what’s been happening in the big wide world of guitar gear over the past seven days.

From new electric guitars to amp modeler updates, the guitar industry is never short of fresh releases, and it can sometimes be hard to stay abreast of every new launch that may be of interest to you.

To make things a little easier, we’ve put together an essential must-read guide that will cover the major releases, the boutique drops, and everything in between.

It's pedal mania this week, with a few key releases from Strymon, JHS Pedals, DigiTech, and more, but that's not to say there wasn't at least one big guitar drop this week...

Fender x Tom Morello Arm the Homeless

Tom Morello on his "Arm the Homeless" Guitar, how he built his sound and his new collab with Fender - YouTube

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After years of speculation, Fender has issued a replica run of Tom Morello’s Arm the Homeless guitar – a Frankensteined electric guitar that shaped both Rage Against the Machine and rock music as we know it today.

The story of the original Arm the Homeless is the stuff of guitar legend. Morello commissioned a custom build. He hated every part of it. He systematically changed each piece before landing on a DIY job he was happy with. There were plenty of mods along the way.

Now, all of those idiosyncrasies – save for the dog chew mark on the headstock of the OG – have been replicated on this signature version, which, Morello himself admits, is so close to the flagship Arm the Homeless that he can hardly tell a difference.

“It was the worst guitar I’d ever played,” Morello told Guitar World of his Arm the Homeless axe. “I’d spent all my money making it. I was stuck with it. So I started writing songs.”

And write songs he did. The Arm the Homeless guitar went on to become one of the most iconic electric guitars of all time. Now, after years of patient waiting, that history has been shared with fans.

For more: Fender

JHS Pedals x EHX Big Muff 2

The Big Muff 2: A Lost Piece of Electro-Harmonix History - YouTube

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What would you do if, say, you were rummaging through the garage of Big Muff engineer Bob Myer, and came across a long-lost schematic for a ‘Big Muff 2’ that had been lost for the past 50 years? Well, you’d probably try and make it, wouldn’t you? As it turns out, Josh Scott of JHS Pedals was put in that exact position a few years ago while researching his new book about Electro-Harmonix – and has now brought that forgotten fuzz concept to life.

Myer hand-drew the circuit as a theoretical approach to creating a dual op-amp Big Muff. Sure, an op-amp Big Muff actually was created in the 1970s, but it was designed by different engineers. This was Myer’s attempt at cracking the code. And now it’s been brought to life.

There’s a few distinct differences between this and your regular ol’ Big Muff. It’s a bit more aggressive, with an enhanced low-end, cutting midrange, and a sharper attack. Take a listen for yourself. It sounds gnarly AF.

For more: JHS Pedals

DigiTech Badder Monkey

The Badder Monkey From DOD - Bigger, Louder, Badder! - YouTube

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Ready for the next chapter in the DigiTech Bad Monkey tale? Here goes: two years after the affordable, unassuming drive box broke the internet thanks to its Klon-aping gain tones, the Bad Monkey is back – and badder than ever before.

When Josh Scott of JHS Pedals pitted a Bad Monkey against a Klon in a blind shoutout, all hell broke loose. Punters tried to flog their $59 Bad Monkeys for north of $650. Gary Moore’s Bad Monkey was listed for $12k. Scott had to come out and calm everybody down. Merch was made. It all got very silly.

Well, the Bad Monkey is back in the form of the Badder Monkey – a new pedal with two additional circuits, some extra parameter controls, and a neat two-sided reverse plate that comes loaded with hook tape and rubber slip pads. Someone needs to put this against the Klon asap…

For more: DigiTech

Strymon Fairfax

Fairfax Class A Output Stage Drive | Sound Samples | Strymon - YouTube

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The undisputed kings of digital effects has gone fully analog with the Fairfax – a Class A output stage drive pedal that’s been dubbed “a complete miniature amplifier in 100% analog form”, inspired by the Garnet Amplifiers Herzog tube drive unit designed for Randy Bachman in the 1960s.

It’s not really distortion. It's a tube-like drive pedal with added saturation and harmonics coming courtesy of a nifty circuit that emulates a tube amp’s output transformer.

The really cool thing here is the Sag knob. Crank it for spluttery and spitty sounds that sound juicy and chewy yet DIY and broken. There’s also Drive and Level knobs, and a Bight toggle switch. We really dig this form factor from Strymon. Let’s hope there’s more to come.

For more: Strymon

Crazy Tube Circuits Orama

Crazy Tube Circuits ORAMA | 90's Dual-Drive pedal - YouTube

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Crazy Tube Circuits is no stranger to twofer drive pedals – just see the Hi Power and Unobtanium – but its latest might be its most gnarly yet. The Orama is a two-in-one stompbox inspired by vintage Orange amps, and, without beating around the bush, it sounds absolutely mega.

There’s unrelenting saturation and thundering fuzz aplenty, with the Orama capable of some truly earth-quaking tones. But it can also clean up quite nicely, too, with plenty of dynamic response and clarity. Expect heavy, desert, stoner, and doom rock tones, but also more versatile, thick sounds characteristic of those classic British amps. Another absolute win from CTC, it seems.

For more: Crazy Tube Circuits

Seymour Duncan Dino Cazares Machete

Introducing The Machete: Dino Cazares' new signature humbucker - YouTube

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Fear Factory’s Dino Cazares has partnered with Seymour Duncan for a set of signature Machete humbuckers, and if you took one look at these and thought they were your usual ol’ passive pickups… well, think again.

Here, active pickups have been paired with passive mounts and a custom preamp circuit for a sound that delivers ferocious attack with surgical precision. The set promises to run the gamut from powering rhythms and leads with mix-splitting precision, with plenty of definition and articulation thrown in for good measure.

For more: Seymour Duncan

Death By Audio Destroyer Series

Death By Audio // Destroyer Series: Dream Station / Moonbeam Phaser / Thee Treble Overload (Stereo) - YouTube

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Any line of pedals built by a brand named ‘Death By Audio’ that has the name ‘Destroyer Series’ is immediately going to grab some eyeballs. But these pedals are also going to grab some, uh, earballs, too, because the Dream Station, Moonbeam Phaser, and Thee Treble Overload units look seriously killer.

And that’s not just because of the rad control layouts and topography design. Each offers its own “over-the-top” personality, though together they form a “family of beautifully chaotic stereo tone machines”. Words simply will not do these justice. There’s reverb, delay, phaser, and fuzz effects to go around, with some genuinely inspiring design choices to boot.

For more: Death by Audio

D'Addario XPND Core pedalboards

D’Addario’s XPND range of expandable pedalboards has been, erm, expanded with the arrival of new XPND Core ‘boards.

Like their predecessors, they work on retractable rails that can make the pedalboard larger – or smaller – depending on how much space you require. These new additions to the range come pre-fitted with hook and loop fasteners, as well as built-in cable management solutions. A pedalboard that won’t judge me for my pedal-buying habits? Interesting…

For more: D’Addario