shortspecialbus

The first thing I'll say about this is that pictures don't do it justice. It looks absolutely gorgeous in person, and it's less "bright" than it appears in photos, so I think the look still works for hard rock. Sweetwater Guitar's photos seem to be the most accurate I've seen, if you want to search that out. There are a million reviews of the RG421 out there, this just happens to be a different color, so I don't have a ton to say. I love the look and it has a nice solid sound. The stock pickups are better than you expect on a guitar at this price point - I haven't felt the desire to replace them at all. The tone can get a bit muddy if you set it lower, though. The neck is comfortable and fast. One thing I'm finding though is it seems to be struggling to hold its tune. Even after doing what I can to get the strings broken in, so to speak, I often find that various strings have gone up to a half-step out of tune overnight. It seems to need a significant re-tune about once every 30 minutes or so while playing, too. It's not always the same strings either. I'm not sure what the cause is - it could be user error on my part, or I may just need to take it in for a professional setup. I feel bad knocking a star off for it, especially since it could be user error, but I've just never had this problem before.

I'm a (bad) guitar player with little interest in playing the bass. However, I have been interested in playing and recording songs, and while there's lots of good options for drum simulators, until Toontrack comes out with EZ Bass, you need an actual bass. This one cost $110, and for the price, it's solid. I play a lot of dropped tunings, so I wanted a 5 string. It has two volume and tone knobs (one of each for each pickup) so you can get some decent variation in tone pretty easily. I don't really know what I'm doing with a bass, but I played a couple simple basslines for a few songs I've been fiddling with and they sounded decent. I did need to bump up the gain, though, as it's not a very loud bass. Really, for $110 new, it does the job I wanted it to do better than you'd expect for that price.

This is a nice-sounding 1x12 Combo Amp that works well when paired with my Line 6 Helix. It has a convenient feature where it tips up if you prefer that, and volume is pretty good. In FRFR mode, it seems to sound the same at low volume or high volume, although that's only by ear rather than a scientific test. I haven't used the speaker modeling all that much yet as it's slightly inconvenient to change and see what it's on, but if you're fine with keeping it on a single one most of the time, they all sound nice and add a little extra on top of what the Helix can do. The one complaint I have is that I wish it had the Line 6 link like the Plus model so that the Helix could control it. I don't need the digital display or the other features of the Plus model, but if the Helix could switch speaker models on it that would have been a huge bonus. I suppose it makes sense that you need the Plus for that, but still. If this is important for you, get the Plus model - it costs a bit more but it's got the same sounds so my review largely applies. That aside, in summary this is a great amp and pairs really well with the Helix, and FRFR seems to actually be pretty flat across the board. The speaker modeling is fun to play with and adds a little extra on top of everything which might just be the last piece you need for the tone you want. I debated knocking a star off for lack of Line 6 link, but it's not really the amp's fault and if you need that you (I) should just pony up the extra money for the Plus model.

There's only so much you can say about a guitar pick, but I'm really happy with these ones. I like a stiffer pick, and these have just the right amount of flex. The pick has a subtle texture which feels nice to grip and doesn't slip. I also like the color, and I'm a fan of turtles, so that's a bonus as well. A pick is a really subjective thing to review, but any of the Tortex picks are worth trying out. I stopped using my Fender picks and use these all the time now.

This was the first 7-String guitar I bought back in ~2000 or so. It was inexpensive and was all I could afford at the time. It was absolutely awful. The pickups sounded like mud on the low string, trying to tune down a full step made it even worse. The neck was incredibly wide which made playing uncomfortable. Despite several different attempts at a setup, I never could get notes above the 8th fret to be in tune. The neck was also incredibly heavy and it would constantly tip towards the floor if you played standing up. I sold it after 6 months and saved up for an Ibanez RG7420 which was amazing in comparison.

I got a used one of these back in 1999 or so. It sounded incredibly great clean, and had a really neat spring reverb. It was also insanely loud, and it really shined when played insanely loud. This was unfortunate for trying to use it at home for practice since I could never really turn it up to where you'd get the best sound. You'd need a fairly large venue if you want to turn it up while gigging as well. I'm not sure most people would have a need for this, although it really does sound quite good! With the volume also comes weight - the thing weighs almost 90 pounds and with only a single carry handle, it's a nightmare to move around. For reference, I had the full combo. I *think* it was a V4 but I'm not sure, I sold it years ago.