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XLR is a magazine, a radar and a diary about music gear and the making of music — for the people who make records and put on shows, wherever they do it.

The name is the three-pin connector that every signal in the business passes through: the microphone on stage and in the booth, the line to the desk, the DMX cable that runs the lights. Studio, stage and lighting rig share it, and so does this magazine. Every few hours XLR collects what the makers shipped, what the reviewers heard, what the studios and the touring crews are doing, which producers and collectives are surfacing and what they are saying — synths and modular, plugins and DAWs, guitars and drums, microphones, monitors, PA and lights, the rooms and the people — from a few hundred sources in English, German, French, Spanish, Japanese and more, then plots what is moving. The editor writes a letter every few days. Nothing is sold here; when a link leads to a shop, that is the maker's shop, not ours.

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Premier GuitarGuitars

Question of the Month: How Important Is an Effect Pedal’s Looks?

September 9

Question: How important is an effect pedal’s looks? Linnea Siggelkow (Ellis, Ethel Cain) A: Ultimately, not important. I was just debating between two different overdrive pedals and ended up going with the less-cool-look

Pedals & effects Overdrive-pedals Effect-pedal-looks Importance-of-design Pedals

Read at Premier Guitar ↗

GuitarsWe review the Positive Grid Spark Pedal Amp and Effects Modeler: “There’s a lot to love here — the fact that it costs under $200 makes it all the more impressive” Guitar Player

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Question of the Month: How Important Is an Effect Pedal’s Looks?

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