Gear of the Year 2025!

2025 has been a strong one in guitar gear land. Big releases by the heavy-hitters, interesting innovations from a number of places and some fun surprises from other areas. We’ve seen new ranges appear, old ranges renewed, sequels and revisions. 

Quality across the board is pretty astounding these days, so picking favourites is not such an obviously easy task. Still, it’s time for a roundup, so I’ve swept my Sauron-like gaze across all of the releases from this year - from electric guitars to acoustics, amps to pedals - and put together a list of highlights. If you’ve been keeping up with things then I expect you’ll be familiar with much of what’s to follow, but if you haven’t, then consider this your primer on the top instruments and equipment of the year 2025…

We’ve finally had our hands on this thing! This time last year it was nothing but a whispered rumour, but after a long launch campaign, actual physical units of the Line 6 Helix Stadium XL are now being sold, plugged in and played by musicians like you around the country.

Was it worth the wait? I think so. The guitar sounds were always going to be excellent, but really, that’s only a part of the full picture here. The potential available within the Helix Stadium - particularly this ‘full fat’ XL edition - is pretty staggering. Put simply, working professional guitarists are going to have to try really hard to find reasons not to own one of these!

Jackson are making guitars in the USA again! It’s a wonderful thing. To be sure, Jackson - for some years now built under license by Fender - have been reliable wherever they’ve been made, but as a Californian brand, it’s great to see them once more coming from home.

So far, we’ve seen relatively soberly-finished versions of the Soloist and the RR appear, along with a new model - the Virtuoso - which is a freshened take on their classic Superstrats.

The feel is there, the quality is there and all of the iconic visual value of the brand is there too, from pointed headstocks to sharkfin inlays. Hard rock class, and once again built on original home soil. Very cool.

On the subject of bringing classic guitar stuff back to where it belongs, Gibson have finally understood that there needs to be a Les Paul Custom available outside of the top-end Gibson Custom line. It’s been years since these have been available at this price point, and not only are they back, they are excellent specimens indeed. 

The 70s connection lies not only in the suite of historical nitro finishes that they come in, but in details such as the volute behind the headstock’s join angle. This is a move that I’d diplomatically say is ‘very sensible’, and as a Les Paul fan, I’m glad to see it!

If you’ve always dreamed of a Les Paul Custom, then your dreams are a little closer to fruition than before. They ain’t cheap (they never were), but they’re still top-tier guitars, available at a price you can justify.

Technically, Taylor debuted their Gold Label at the very tail end of last year, but I’ll bend the rules here since most of their models dropped in 2025. Fair enough?

So, the thinking behind the Gold Label is to somewhat deviate from Taylor’s unusual contemporary path, into an area that for once looks backwards. Without copying any particular model - it’s not their style to do so - designer Andy Powers and co instead have put together a small range of guitars whose aim is to evoke cherished pre-war acoustics. There’s a certain tonality, attack, sustain and harmonic resonance to these golden-era guitars, and Taylor Gold Label guitars have aimed directly for that sound and response in a new guitar. Additionally, visual details across the range - subtle things, like an angled edge to the top of the headstock - reveal an even greater concession to those classic acoustics.

Bass effects processors probably don’t get enough light shone on them. Forgiving the forced pun then, Darkglass are a brand who shine a lot of light over the bass world, and their new Anagram effects unit is worth getting excited about! 

You can tell by a glance that this is from the same team who designed the Neural DSP Quad Cortex: sleek brushed steel and Apple-style contours, with a strong sense of minimalism is the order here. That’s all surface stuff though: the sounds, adaptability and opportunities are what have sold this unit to excited bassists everywhere. The generously sized screen makes edits intuitive and quick, and there’s depth for those who wish to don the lab coats and get ultra-specific with their frequencies.

Where do you look to innovate, when you’re already designed one of the most revolutionary guitars on the market? If you’re Ola Strandberg, you listen to customer feedback, refine, and deliver a very dialled-in update to the now-classic Boden.

What’s new? Various things, but chiefly a slightly arched carved top, a new bridge design (inspired by the company’s own Essential series bridge), specially produced Seymour Duncan pickups (amongst other options) and a neck that is now reinforced with titanium. For cutting edge guitarists, this is where to find the furthest-ahead instrument on the market, with 6, 7 or 8 strings and a range of quite lovely new colours.

Did you get caught up in all of that mad Bad Monkey hype a few years ago? About how a certain video on YouTube favourably compared the previously-maligned Digitech Bad Monkey overdrive pedal to a Klon Centaur? It all got a bit much after a while, but there’s no denying the plain truth that the Bad Monkey is one great sounding transparent overdrive.

So, a few years on, here’s the frankly bonkers sequel (DOD is the pedal arm of parent company Digitech), the Badder Monkey, with all kinds of fun added in. 

A dial for ‘Bananas’? Check! An endless encoder shaped like a barrel? A package that contains a literal (small) toy barrel filled with guitar picks and tiny monkey toys? Yes indeed.

Now, I realise I haven’t said anything about how it sounds, but that's only because I’m easily distracted. Safe to say, there’s tons of quite sensible mileage to be had with this far-form-serious pedal, and it’ll happily join any rig as a quality gain stage.

If awards ever got handed out for case-candy, then Gibson’s above-and-beyond bundle for the Back to the Future ES-345 should not be seeing any competition for some time. Talk about buying into a concept? There were 88 of them (the speed it takes to time travel), and the case bore the stencilled legend ‘Marvin and the Starlighters’, who of course are the fictional band from the movie.

Once you opened the case, there was of course the stunningly recreated guitar, which would normally be the main talking point, but not here…open the accessory pocket in the hard case you’ll see an actual working (well, it lights up…) flux capacitor! Don’t know what that is? Never mind, keep reading! Check out the headstock and you’ll find a photograph attached of a family, except they seem to be fading from the picture…there’s more!

Inside the shipping box you’ll find a poster tube with a replica promo poster for the Enchantment Under The Sea dance, where the film’s finale occurs; you’ll uncover a replica plutonium safety case (it’s cardboard and quite un-radioactive, so don’t worry) just like Doc Brown’s, but instead of weapons grade Plutonium inside, there’s a special Casio digital watch, a guitar strap and - rather excellently - a DeLorean car key with a keyfob upon which is scrawled ‘Dr Emmett Brown’. 

Now, how cool is that? A lot of love obviously went into this whole package, and whilst it’s clearly not something that everyone can afford, it’s a joy to just check out all of the extras, particularly if you grew up with the movie, like I did. In fact, why don’t you watch this video of me and my colleague Anna doing exactly that…

2025 saw a LOT of new range releases from Fender. It’s a little confusing even for me, whose full-time job is to keep track of this kind of stuff! That said, one particular set of guitars did leave a real impression on me as they flowed past the office: the Fender Vintera Road Worn series. Have you checked these out yet?

In simple terms, the Vintera range are Mexican-built retro model Fenders. The specs heavily reflect guitars from certain periods, and they offer a vintage -era (get it?) charm, feel and sound at a price that’s at least reasonable. Road Worn, then, is basically Fender’s term for relic/aged finish work carried out on Mexican guitars, in order to distinguish from the Time Machine relic work carried out on Fender Custom Shop guitars.

With me so far? Okay, so this range is basically a collection of more affordable relics, sold with hardshell cases and possibly being the coolest Fenders I’ve personally seen all year. Tastes will differ, but I haven’t been able to get that Fiesta Red Jazzmaster (with gold anodised guard!) out of my head since I first set eyes on it!

A Gretsch White Falcon for just over £1500. With a case. Not a copy, a proper, branded Gretsch. Yes, with all the sparkly binding and gold hardware. What on earth else do you need to know?

Actually, there is one thing: there’s a Black Falcon model, too, and it’s maybe even cooler.

In all seriousness, Gretsch hit a home run this year with the Synchromatic range. Chinese made, in an age when top-quality Chinese guitars can compete with anything, this is a way to buy into the real Gretsch legend without offering your body to medical science. The guitars are a tiny, teeny bit skinnier than Professional Series Gretches, but I don’t think you’ll be caring too much once you get your hands on one of these.

As always, there is more great gear out there than I have energy to gush about, so please let me add a brief list of other things that impressed and excited me during 2025:

And the list goes on. I think we’ve had a good one this year, us guitarists. And we’re not done yet! There are some very cool things due in the next couple of weeks, and then we’re onto NAMM stuff! Until then though, this was my favourite gear of 2025. Please check out anything you may have missed, because who knows - maybe your all-time favourite guitar lies within?