The Sponsors

The biggest brands supporting new guitar talent from around the world.

We couldn't do this without our sponsors. Guitar Idol wishes to thank these amazing brands for their ongoing support, and the fantastic prizes they have donated to the competition.

Laney

Lyndon Laney began making amplifiers for friends and fellow musicians in the mid-1960s. As a bass player on the scene in the UK’s Birmingham & Black Country area, it was a vibrant time for music. Sometime member of “The Band of Joy” with John Bonham on drums and Robert Plant on vocals, Lyndon Laney decided his own true talents lay in amp construction. Using his father’s garden shed, Lyndon sought to design and build amplifiers with key “tonal” characteristics that were unheard of at the time.

The Company was officially incorporated in September 1967 and popularity for the products began to grow. Laney’s signature tone, performance and value helped set Laney apart from competitors. The products were highly sought after and used by numerous local musicians, most notably Tony Iommi of Black Sabbath, who first used Laney for the recording of their seminal first release “Black Sabbath” launched on Feb 13th, 1970. This album defined the new sound of Heavy Metal and Tony remains with Laney to this day.

Since 1967, Laney Amplification has gone from strength to strength, working with a great many globally renowned musicians and with a sales network in over 80 countries. Laney also remains a family business with music-making at its heart: Whilst retired from day to day duties, Lyndon stays on as Chairman and to his immense pride, his son James Laney is CEO for the Group.

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Vigier

The electric guitar and bass market is a particularly traditional and conservative environment. It seems that the marketing division of some brands tends to take precedence over research and development. Vigier does not fall into this category.

For Patrice Vigier nothing is ever perfect. Nothing is ever complete or final. Since he started building guitars, Patrice has never stopped looking for and inventing technological solutions to problems facing musicians.Technology is not an end to itself, though. We see it as a way to overcome mechanical problems in order to allow musicians to focus solely on music.

Technology for musicality. The ease of playing a guitar, is primarily a story of pedigree. 30 years of research have enabled us to find the original technical solutions to offer what we think are the best instruments in the world.

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Elixir

Elixir® Strings brings a wider choice of coating options to complement players’ desired tone and feel. From warm and slick, to bright and smooth, to crisp and natural, our family of electric strings, including POLYWEB, NANOWEB and OPTIWEB Coatings, satisfies player demands.

Elixir Strings, the pioneer in coated string technology, is the only brand to coat the entire string. While each coating produces a different tone “flavor,” they all protect not only the outer string surface from dirt and corrosion, but also the gaps between the windings. As a result, Elixir Strings, according to players, retain their tone longer than any other brand's coated or uncoated string.

Elixir Strings are available in a full range of gauges and a variety of metals for acoustic, electric and bass guitars, banjo and mandolin.

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Ibanez

A Short History Of A Company With A Long History
If you wanted a total history of Ibanez you´d have go back to 1908 when a company named Hoshino began as a sheet music store and later music products distributor in Nagoya Japan.

If you wanted a little less completeness than that you´d go back about forty-five when Hoshino began distributing a Spanish guitar named Ibanez. Or perhaps you´d simply go to the Mid 60´s when Hoshino, who by that time had purchased the rights to the Ibanez name, began shipping incredibly funky looking guitars to the United States, many of which were actually sold in department stores

As well known for its jazz guitars as it is for rock, Ibanez has an impressive line of jazz boxes including the aforementioned George Benson models, two Pat Metheny models, and most recently, the new John Scofield signature semi-acoustic.

One final note...Ibanez is also one of the top selling bass companies in the world (in many places the top selling bass). Ibanez first drew attention in the 70´s and 80´s with its neck-thru Musician basses with active electronics. Today, Ibanez offers the huge number of 4, 5, and 6 basses in the Soundgear as well as the basses of the future, the luthite-bodied Ergodynes.

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IK Multimedia

IK Multimedia is a leading developer of audio software and hardware solutions for the Mac/PC and mobile platforms. The IK range has been adopted by musicians of every level, from beginners to professionals.

Our AmpliTube guitar amp and stomp modelling software is used by leading players, studios, producers and engineers around the globe. Partnerships with worldwide brand leaders such as Fender®, MESA/Boogie®, Ampeg®, Orange® Soldano® Gallien Kruger®, Seymour Duncan® and more, together with branded products from influential artists such as Slash and Jimi Hendrix make AmpliTube the leading ‘go-to’ solution for all musicians requiring top quality and authentic sounds.

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