Guitars

What's Actually in My Rack Right Now

By Mike · Published August 21, 2026

A quick note before we get into it: this is a living page, not a fixed list. Gear comes in, gear goes out, and I’ll update this whenever the rack actually changes rather than let it go stale. So if you’re reading this six months from now, assume something’s different and check back. Bookmark it if that’s useful to you.

I’ve said it before and I’ll keep saying it: I’m a player more than a collector. Over the years I’ve put real hours on hundreds of amps and thousands of guitars, everything from budget stuff to solid mid-tier gear to actual rigs belonging to working touring pros. This isn’t that. This is just what’s currently sitting in my space, what I’m actually reaching for, and an honest account of which pieces I’ve got real opinions on versus which ones haven’t earned a verdict yet.

Guitars

The one I keep coming back to is my 1986 FujiGen Fender MIJ Telecaster, and I’ll say this plainly: Japanese-made Telecasters are just my thing. Of everything that’s passed through my hands, they’re generally the guitars I’ve preferred, and this one is a big part of why. There’s a build quality and a feel to those FujiGen-era instruments that I keep chasing in other guitars and rarely find.

My Fender Squier Custom Telecaster with the Seymour Duncan Designed P-90s gets played a lot too. Those P-90s have real punch and growl, and there’s a raw clarity to them that suits gritty rock and blues tones especially well.

The Reverend Pete Anderson Eastsider T in Green Sparkle lives here as well, and I already gave that one the full writeup treatment over at the Eastsider T review, so I won’t repeat the verdict here, just go read it if you want the details.

Same goes for the Gibson ES-335 with P-90s. That one has its own dedicated ES-335 P-90 review, so I’ll point you there instead of re-litigating it.

Rounding out the rack: a 2006 MIJ Epiphone Les Paul Special in TV Yellow and an ESP LTD George Lynch GL-256, both of which I own and both of which I just haven’t put in the hours needed to have a real opinion on yet. They’re in rotation, they exist, but I’m not going to manufacture a take I haven’t earned.

And then there’s the Ciairi folding guitar, which is exactly what it sounds like, a guitar that folds. I keep it around more out of curiosity than anything else. No strong opinion, just a fun oddity that’s fun to pull out and confuse people with.

Amps

The Budda side of things has grown into its own little family. I already covered the SD18, SD30, and SD80 in the Budda Superdrive review, and now there’s a fourth, the Superdrive V20 1x12 combo. Across the whole line I’ve found a genuinely huge tonal range and a master volume that actually works the way a master volume should, and the V20 fits right into that. I’ve also got the “Baby Budda” Twinmaster head, which I haven’t spent enough time with yet to say much beyond that it’s here.

On the Mesa Boogie side, the Subway Rocket Reverb has its own retrospective if you want my thoughts on that one specifically. I’ve also got a Mesa Mini Rectifier head that’s still in the no-verdict-yet bucket.

The East Amplification Studio 2 is here too, and again, full review already exists for that one over at the Studio 2 review, so go there for my actual take.

I’ve got a handwired Fender ‘65 Deluxe Reverb with its matching 1x12 extension cab that shows up in photos across a few other articles on this site. No dedicated review for it yet, it’s just been a steady presence in the rack.

The Swart STR Space Tone Reverb tweed combo is another one I own but haven’t formed a detailed opinion on. It’s a lovely-looking amp, I just haven’t logged enough real playing time with it to say more than that.

Last but definitely not least, the Vox AC15. I’ve actually gigged this one, and I’ve got a longstanding soft spot for what I’d just call the basic AC15 thing. There’s a simplicity to it that keeps working for me no matter how much other gear comes and goes.

Modeling and digital

When I sold off a big chunk of my traditional gear at one point, the Kemper Profiler Stage was one of the pieces I explicitly chose to keep. That’s about as clear a signal as I can give you about how much I trust it. I’ve written more about how it fits into my actual live setup over at the Kemper live rig article.

I’ve also got a second Kemper, a Profiler Player, plus a Fractal FM3 and a Fractal FX8. None of those three have a detailed opinion attached yet, they’re newer additions to the digital side of things and I’m still working through them.

Pedals

I’ve thinned out my pedalboard a lot over the years and sold off more pedals than I currently own, so this isn’t a complete history, just what’s actually still here. That includes a Piedmont Aluminum Falcon III, a Pigtronix Philosopher’s Rock, a Pigtronix PolySaturator, and a Diamond Tremolo. The Philosopher’s Rock and the PolySaturator both show up in my pedal order guide if you want to see where they sit in the signal chain.

That’s the rack as it stands today. Some of this gear I could talk about for an hour, some of it I’ve genuinely only just started getting to know. Either way, it’ll shift again eventually, and when it does, this page will be the place that reflects it.