Tis the season for you, the struggling musician. You lived on instant ramen noodles for months. You dodged the rent a few times too many. You’ve had romantic candlelit dinners with your lady friend because you’ve convinced yourself electricity’s overrated. Now that the year’s almost over, you can stop your miser fit because you’ve already scrounged up enough dough to give yourself a treat. Check out these cool toys and gadgets that will surely make you the buzz of the backstage.

GIBSON DARK FIRE

Slash and Jimmy Page got nothing on you with this baby. The Gibson Dark Fire is the second-gen incarnation of the guitar titan’s innovative self-tuning Robot Guitar released in December 2007. Equipped with a new brain and chockfull of new tricks, the Gibson Dark Fire tunes itself about a third faster than the original Robot Guitar. The model also sports a newly designed master control knob and display, tastefully slapped alongside the classic twin volume and tone pots.  Of course, it has the distinct Gibson vibe which has remained virtually unchanged.

DIGITECH VOCALIST LIVE 4

Want to add that tasty multi-vocal flair to your one-man act? Do harmonies like the Beatles or Alice In Chains with the Digitech Vocalist Live

4. No, it’s not a vocoder. It’s a vocal harmony processor that sports the patented MusIQ technology, tracks the chord progressions of any instrument plugged into it, and translates it into the proper harmonic elements for your voice. Now you can do three or four-part harmonies in real time, in any key - no programming, no fuss. It’s even got an intelligent pitch-correcting circuit to boot. The only problem now is that mob of unemployed back-up singers trying to kill you.

BOSS RC-50 LOOP STATION

You’ll have the whole rhythm section chasing you with stones once you have the best looper in the Boss stable. The Boss RC-50 sports 7 footswitches, 3 stereo phase tracks capable of multiple overdubs, up to 49 minutes of recording time, and computer connectivity via USB. You a beatboxer? Switch this on and you’re a two-legged rave party. A guitarist? Now you’re an ensemble! Just don’t forget to bring the AC adaptor and your groove with you.

TAYLOR T5

Guitarists have long searched for the holy grail of acoustic amplification. Taylor hasn’t found it yet, but they’re getting mighty close with the T5 guitar. The search also causes severe schizophrenia because the T5 is actually a slim, sexy acoustic/electric hybrid capable of producing true warm acoustic tones and screaming overdrives. On the acoustic side of things, the T5 uses an ingenious pickup system located under the fret board and under the soundboard, capturing the wood’s subtle sonic properties as well as the guitarist’s playing dynamics. Flipping the switch puts the T5 in high gain mode, pumping out fat twangs and screams reminiscent of a Fender plugged into a Bassman or Hot Rod Deluxe. So if you feel like skipping between John Mayer and John Pettrucci, the Taylor T5 is your guitar.

- Dexter Ayala