Highlights of the Year: 2025 A Year of Guitar Gear!
My Guitar Gear Highlights from the past 12 months
3,0 / 5,0 | 
Well, 2025 came and went rapidly, another blink, and you’ll miss it year! It feels like 2025 was a year of great, affordable new guitar gear mixed with high-end, limited-run announcements and high-spec DSP-driven virtual guitar rigs!
Highlights of the Year
2025 – A Year of Guitar Gear
There were some really great announcements in 2025, some of which caused a stir and others that offered fantastic value for money. I found myself playing and demoing a lot of new stompboxes over the last 12 months, and I had a few favourites at either end of the price range, from super affordable to high-end.
I’m not a virtual guitar rig player, so my choices for this year were pretty much all analog (maybe a USB port here or there) and made with no code or DSP!
Affordable Analog Vibe
Technically, the Behringer 69 Vibe was announced at the end of 2024; however, like most Behringer products, it took a few months to ship, so it landed worldwide in 2025. This was one of my favourite ‘affordable pedals’ of the year, and I reviewed them online, took it out with a band, and recorded with it in the studio.
Studio & Live
I own many vibe pedals, and so I had plenty to compare the 69 Vibe with.
For me, it works really well on pedalboards as it has no odd power requirements (though don’t bother using a battery as it only lasts a short time, yes, I tried it). Another massive plus for me was that it sits in a band mix really well, as it doesn’t swamp the low-end frequencies and clash with kick drums or low bass notes.
Affordable Vibe
It is so affordable, which is excellent for many musicians who cannot afford high-end boutique clones or original Uni-Vibe units. If you like to tweak, you can also open it up and adjust the effect’s speed using the internal trim pots.
For live use, I also appreciated the ability to use a regular expression pedal to adjust the speed in real time, which meant you don’t need an expensive controller to get the most from this analog vibe/chorus pedal.
Octave Fuzz Fun!
Again, the Behringer Octavia was another highlight of my stompbox tests this year, and, for the price, I think it does a fantastic job of mimicking Roger Mayer’s classic vintage circuit.
Purple Haze
I collect fuzz pedals and own a lot of octave fuzzes, so I had plenty to compare the Octavia with. If you want an all-analog vintage fuzz tone used by players including Jimi Hendrix, Jeff Beck, and Stevie Ray Vaughan, but cannot afford a vintage Tychobrahe or a modern boutique pedal, then this one is for you.
This pedal delivers the famous Purple Haze solo fuzz tone and features true bypass, making it easy to use in modern pedal rigs.
Classic Fuzz
Turn down the Boost control and get sweet octave tones when playing up the fretboard. Another great, affordable unit from Behringer, and the solid metal casing of all these pedals makes them perfect for gigging.
Behringer Octavia Octave Fuzz at Thomann
Tone King Imperial Tube Preamp
The Tone King Imperial Tube Preamp was another highlight for me in 2025, offering great guitar amp tones in a compact, versatile format. The three 12AX7 preamp tubes give it the warmth, dynamics, and sparkle we guitarists love, and it isn’t priced ridiculously for all it offers.
Spring Reverb & Tremolo
It has a lush spring reverb and a stereo tremolo, both powered by the third 12AX7 tube in the circuit. Having stereo XLR outs, an FX loop, MIDI, and USB also make this unit super versatile, perfect for studio, stage, and home use.
Premium Tones, Reasonable Price Tag
A great product you really should check out if you haven’t already. It offers some fantastic amp tones and sits nicely in various guitar rig setups, which makes it one of the products of the year for me.
Tone King Imperial Tube Preamp at Thomann
An Offset with a Difference
The Jackson Lee Malia LM-87 was another highlight for me this year, as I think Malia has created a fun guitar with a very unique style. Obviously, I love the offset Surfcaster body shape, and I think the overall aesthetic is visually pleasing.
The lightweight, resonant Okoume body is a nice feature, and it features a D-shaped neck profile.
Surfs Up for Massive Riffs!
This model comes with Jackson Custom Lee Malia Pickups and a handy Push-Pull Coil-Split for extra single-coil-like tones, adding versatility. It has a P90 in the neck position and a humbucker in the bridge position.
Having a set of fine tuners on the bridge is also something we don’t see often (The Gibson BB King Lucille comes to mind, as another signature model that does use them). These can be really useful in a studio when you need perfect tuning for recording.
A Great Signature under a Grand
It isn’t a ridiculously high-priced signature guitar; in fact, it is pretty affordable for such a unique guitar (rather than just another S-style or T-style signature variation), and I think Mr Malia has done a sterling job with this new model.
Great-looking guitar, nice feature set, something different and not overpriced, so a win for me!
Jackson Pro Sig Lee Malia LM-1987 at Thomann
QOTSA Tones
The one piece of gear I did not get to try, but I really, really want to, is the Troy Van Leeuwen GMI 33F6 signature amp. It is a 35-watt, two-channel head that uses NOS components and is a very high-end boutique tube amp built by Sean Romin.
Boutique Bliss
Designed to take pedals and incorporating design elements of Peavey, Marshall, and Fender amplifiers, this is the amp I would want if money were no object in 2025. It is an all-tube, fixed bias, push-pull guitar amplifier with a solid-state rectifier, with a Lar-Mar style post-phase inverter master volume, defeatable tone stack, so it has its own sound and isn’t trying to be something else, and I love that!
Not Exactly Cheap, But…
A boy can dream, and if I had the money, this is the amp I would buy this year, as it just sounds perfect for the tones that I like to create.
The GMI Public Address Systems 33F6 sells for between $5000 and $5500, but it sounds like a million dollars to me!
Brent Hinds: 16 January 1974 – 20 August 2025
Not a highlight of 2025, far from it.
But we lost Brent Hinds this year, and it hit me hard. I cannot think of another guitar player with such a unique style and love of his instrument.
I’m going to miss seeing him wielding his custom-made Banker guitars and his wonderful eccentric pedal releases. His playing always puts a big smile on my face, and I’m really going to miss hearing new music from him.
· Source: Anne-Marie Forker / Alamy
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