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Joined:
January 2006
Posts: 5881
Location: Colorado Rocky Mountains | O.k., I know it was only one week and nine songs, but here goes:
1. It was the right guitar for the right application. Of the 9 songs we performed last weekend, two required a lead line with distortion. Turning the pan to pure electric, and hitting both the boost and overdrive pedals accomplished the objective beautifully.
2. Panning the control between acoustic and electric tone was very simple, although in a live performance with four other instruments, I can’t say that I really noticed a lot of variation in tone, particularly while using the neck pickup in the electric mode. On the other hand, I stuck with the AAP Cub acoustic amp by Phil Jones as a powered monitor, so this may have impacted the tone coming back to me.
3. With my other acoustic and Viper guitars, I control volume primarily with an expression pedal. With the VXT, I found myself using the volume control knob on the guitar, much like I would on a Strat or other electric. The upside is that compared to a Strat, the VXT volume control is completely out of the way of my picking/strumming hand, so once set, it stays put. On the downside, after changing out the VXT’s knobs to chrome telecaster types, with no visible variable setting marks other than the location of the set screw, I need to be mindful of settings.
4. The neck range is excellent. I was fingering up in the high G range and when I looked down, I was amazed to see I still had room to go even higher. Fingering in high E seems like you still have a third of the fretboard remaining. This is very reminiscent of Ovation’s early solids of the 70's with their two-octave necks.
5. Absolutely no feedback whatsoever, no matter what I did with the volume.
6. I found the best tone (to my ears) was to bypass the Zoom A2.1u altogether and use either a small amount of reverb or a small amount of chorus for the VXT’s acoustic setting, and an even smaller amount of reverb (or none at all) with some overdrive and a little boost from a Keeley Blues Driver on the VXT’s electric setting. Guitar tone was set at the maximum and when in electric mode, I used only the neck pickup.
7. After one live performance session, there is little doubt that this will be the go to guitar whenever the set requires any type of pure electric guitar tone. For pure acoustic tone sets, the Tak EF75 will continue to serve as my primary guitar. Although the Viper 12 stands on its own for 12 string needs, my new dilemma is where to slot the Viper 6 which I dearly love. Rehearsals, for sure, but it still needs to come out once in awhile for performances, too. When comparing the acoustic only tone between the Viper and the VXT, I think the Viper comes out on top, plus it works very well with the Zoom. However, neither can top the Tak acoustically particularly when the Tak’s tone is dialed in on the Zoom. |
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Joined:
May 2003
Posts: 4389
Location: Capital District, NY, USA Minor Outlying Islands | Excellent review! |
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Joined:
November 2004
Posts: 4413
| Two questions Prof -
would a coil split be an advantage (particularly on the neck pup) to mix with the acoustic?
I'm a tele lover - would you think that a standard (Seymour Duncan standard of course) tele set up would match well with the acoustic pup? |
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Joined:
January 2006
Posts: 5881
Location: Colorado Rocky Mountains | Schroeder, don't know but I have a Tele (a 52' Vintage RI with the updated pup control wiring schematics) and will A/B the two and get back to you. My initial thought is that there will definitely be a difference in the necks as the Tele neck (on mine, at least) is real chunky. |
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Joined:
November 2004
Posts: 4413
| Thanks Prof - I was actually thinking about a VXT with tele pups, a custom order. I would think (but I'm an idiot) that the acoustic mix with a tele pup layout would be beautiful. With the neck pup I'm imagining an almost L5 sort of sound could be achieved. |
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Joined:
January 2006
Posts: 5881
Location: Colorado Rocky Mountains | Oh, I get it Schroeder. Yes, I think it would create a pretty nice tone. My recommendation is to talk to Al about the custom configurations. The Hamer shop uses excellent SD single coils on a number of their models, although not sure if you want them to resemble the appearance of the Tele thin lines. I know it is possible to build a VXT using some materials from the Hamer shop. The 5-layered cream Ivoroid binding on mine is direct from Hamer. I don't know if it possible to alter the pup routing in the body, so you might have to use single coils that are essentially of the same dimensions and attachment configuration as the SD Buckers. If it is possible, Al will know how to negotiate it through the system, and please keep us informed. |
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Joined:
December 2001
Posts: 10582
Location: NJ | I have yet to find a split coil humbucker that does a convincing single coil sound
schroeder may I suggest the duncan fat cats?
they are more like p 90 than tele though. |
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Performing with the VXT: First Impressions
