Crank up a 2008 Les Paul Standard Plus Electric Guitar and experience the power and performance that more than 40 years of craftsmanship and innovation can produce.Pioneered and developed with the assistance of legendary jazz-pop guitarist Les Paul-one of the world's greatest musical and technological pioneers-the Gibson Les Paul has become the standard by which all electric guitars are judged. With fat, rich tone and incredible sustain, the Les Paul lends itself to every style and generation of music. From the sweetest jazz to the heaviest rock and metal, the Les Paul can do it all-it is one of the most powerful and versatile instruments of all time.The 2008 Les Paul Standard Plus continues to alter - and inspire - the sounds of today's ever-changing musical landscapes. It features a hand-carved figured maple top with matched chambered mahogany back outlined with single-ply binding. The neck is crafted from a single piece of mahogany. Carefully glued into the neck cavity of the body, the neck functions as a single unit with the body. Its asymmetrical shape is the most comfortable neck offered on a Les Paul Standard.The BurstBucker Pro humbuckers have Alnico V magnets with slightly mismatched windings to deliver an enhanced "Patent Applied For" tone with more bite and brilliance. All Les Paul Standards will be Plek'd on Gibson's Plek machines, a computer controlled device which scans and dresses a guitar under actual playing conditions, strung and tuned to pitch. This is a major breakthrough since the Plek machine identifies precisely what needs to be done for perfect fretwork, executes this rapidly, and delivers perfect results on the instrument when restrung.NOTE: To give you a choice of how your Les Standard should look, the pickguard is not attached but included in the case. To install the pickguard, holes will need to be drilled into the body.

The Ibanez Artist ARX140 is an affordable, set neck, mahogany body, electric guitar with dual humbucker pickups. It features a double-cutaway design that allows easy access to the uppermost frets, and a Quick Change III tailpiece that enhances the mahogany body's already powerful sustain. The ARX140 has classy, straightforward looks that lets 'em know you mean business. For over 30 years, the classic Artist design has provided a real, high-quality alternative to "the other famous mahogany double humbucker."

The THD UniValve Rackmounted Guitar Amplifier Head is a single-ended class A amplifier head with a single output tube that can be switched at will among many octal-based power tubes, including 6L6, EL34, 6550, KT90, KT88, KT77 and KT66, for different tones without re-biasing the amp. Likewise, the two preamp tubes can be any combination of 12AX7, 12AT7, 12AU7, 12AY7 or 12AZ7. The UniValve delivers tones from smooth and clear to very aggressive overdrive. It is quite small and light, yet easily capable of driving a 4 x 12" cabinet. It has a built-in hot plate power attenuator that allows for full output distortion at almost any volume. And it doesn't cost as much as you might think.What is a Class A? Class A is a term given to an amp that runs its tubes at full current all the time, unlike most tube amps that alternate between running one set of tubes and the other set, each for one half of the wave. The set not in use is turned off by a positive swing of the grid voltage. Single-ended output stages always operate in Class A. Most push-pull amplifiers, including the venerated Vox AC-30 operate in Class AB when overdriven, even if they are in Class A while clean. The upshot is that Class A operation has its own unique tone characteristics that set it apart from other tube amp classes. Class A amps sound great at low volumes, and even better as you turn them up. Thus, with the relatively low wattage of the UniValve you can turn up the amplifier to take full advantage of its stunning output distortion tone without deafening anyone. Why the self-biasing feature? The UniValve's circuitry senses the current needs of the output tube and provides the correct bias volt-age to the cathode of the output tube regardless of tube type or wear. This means that, without any trip to an amp technician, you can simply replace the output tube with one that has different sound characteristics. (Of course, you can also change the preamp tubes at will for even more tonal variations.) For example, a 6550 will stay cleaner at higher volumes, but when overdriven, yields an astoundingly "woody" character to the overdrive. On the other hand, an EL34 will break up earlier than a 6550 and gives a more British sound. The ever-popular 6L6 family of tubes gives a tight overdrive with less power than a 6550 but more detail than an EL34. Even within the same type of output tube there are "harder" and "softer" tubes, so two guitarists playing with the same guitar through the same UniValve, but simply switching the tubes to their preference, can have noticeably different tones.Controls and Features The UniValve has two inputs: one for high gain and one for low gain ranges. The low gain input with 12AX7 preamp tubes in the amp gives a wide range of clean sounds from country clean and crisp to jazz warmth. With the controls pegged and a relatively high-output humbucker, the low-gain input can deliver a very convincing Texas blues type of ov