Yamaha StagePas 600i

Sheenagh: High wattage, great sounding, easy to use, easy to transport and quick to set up. Exactly what you want in a portable PA system! Totally indispensable for smaller gigs around town.

Roland LX15E

Alex: The elegant and classic looks belie the true power of this digital piano. Its incredible built-in sound system and connectivity options have made it the centrepiece of my music making world, inspiring me to play every single day.

Roland TD30KV+P

Chris: It’s so hard to avoid the distraction of this amazing drum kit at work. It’s expensive, but you can see and hear every single penny in the built quality and incredible kit sounds available.

KORG MicroKorg XL+

David J: Adding to the famous MicroKorg’s analogue-modelling sound taken directly from the old MS2000, and injecting a step-sequencer and some classic sampled sounds like pianos & organs, I think this is still the best small format, affordable synth around.

Roland System 1

Dave G: I absolutely love playing around on this machine. It’s a total revolution in terms of functionality, and the addition of more & more classic synth models makes it the most exciting bit of gear around right now.

Hamstead Artist 20+ RT

Fynn: An incredible sounding boutique guitar amp built right here in Blighty! Quality is the name of the game here, from the eyeleted epoxy glass boards, to the thick aluminium chassis and British made custom-wound transformers, this is nothing short of world class. And, wow, the sound…

Roland TB3

Dave T: Choosing between this pint-sized bass synth sequencer and the crazy-powerful TR8 drum machine is tough, but the TB3 makes it so easy to quickly create cool acid bass lines and intuitively edit them on the fly.

Allen & Heath Zed 12FX

Gav W: Lightweight, ergonomic and oozing quality, the Zed desks have Neutrik connections, 100mm faders, musical EQ and really usable effects. For such a prestigious name, they’re also pretty affordable!

Universal Audio Apollo Quad

Graeme: The Apollo range really feels like the first of a new generation of audio interfaces. These are designed to be the rock-solid, dependable workhorse of your studio set-up and are able to run some of the most advanced plug-in processing on the market.

Presonus Studio One 2

Guy: I don’t think I’ve ever run a recording session where somebody I’ve been working with hasn’t dropped their jaw and let out a little “woah” at something I’ve done in Studio One. Its amazingly efficient workflow lets you focus on the creative, fun bits.

Faith Venus High Gloss

Kirsten: All Faith acoustic guitars are really great to play and sound amazing, but I think the Venus is the best of the bunch. They always play like a dream and the pickup sounds so good, you’d think it had been recorded with a studio mic.

Fender ’59 Bassman

Niall: Big, fat and loud, the Bassman is my absolute dream gigging amp. This thing seems to bring out the best in anything you play through it, letting you hear the real differences between guitars and the true depth of your effects.

Fender Channel-bound Stratocaster

Phil: Oh my days! I love the way the neck and fretboard feel. The compound profile is rounded near the head making chords easier, and flatter at the body end for solos. The hand-wound pickups are absolutely killer, too.

Emmett: For the same price as a regular American strat, you can get one of these amazing limited channel-bound guitars. I really wish I had a technical reason, but actually I think they just look really cool.

SSL XL Desk

Roy: Highly personable studio centrepiece enabling versatile DAW control plus the ability to build-in your own personalised channels through the magic and flexibility of the 500-series format. Or summink. Innit!

Elektron Analog Four

Ru: This bridges the gap between all the cool things you can do with software editing and sequencing with the outstanding sound quality of a true analogue synth. Forget hours, whole days seem to disappear when I start playing with this.

Nord Lead A1

Sergio: If the learning curve of super powerful synths puts you off, the Lead A1 is for you! The engine from the Lead 4, streamlined and simplified makes this powerful, classic synth a must have.

Spector Chris Kael CK4

Stewart: Truth be told, I don’t really know who Chris Kael is. I don’t think I’ve ever heard Five Finger Death Punch. I like it because it has a massive knuckle-duster under the bridge, plays like a beast and looks totally cool!

Studio Electronics Boomstar 4075

Dickie: All of the Boomstar small format analogue synths are absolutely great and provide you with countless hours of knob-twiddling fun, but the ARP-style filter in the 4075 gives it the edge in my book.

Native Instruments Komplete 10

Joss: For the price of a PS4 and a couple of games, you can get every major product in Native Instrument’s arsenal of sound making software. Bare jokes, mate. Just buy it!

Elektron Analog RYTM

Li: Tactile, versatile and PHAT. There’s really nothing that can compete with the RYTM for its drum synth functionality, and the pre-loaded samples sound so polished and usable.

Focal Alpha 65

Fletch: These are the best project studio monitors around at the moment. For looks and sound they compete with the top dogs, but they’re under £500 a pair.

Roland HS5 Session Mixer

Will: Similar idea to the old JamHub, but better! This awesome bit of kit lets up to five musicians rehearse, jam, and record while monitoring with headphones. Grand!