solusash's Reviews

Good for Jazz, But Also Good For...

Doom Metal. Yes, Doom Metal. This guitar, it allows you to sit atop the Holy Mountain on the Dopethrone. Something about the reverb it gets, I guess. I don't know, man, don't look at me like I'm crazy, I'm just telling you what I heard! I plug this into my pedalboard, run all that into my amp, and man, I can doom for days. We're talking some heavy riffage, man.

Then I kick off the dirt, crank the chorus to 11, roll the tremolo depth back to about 30%, and start playing 7th chords, it's jazz for the rest of the night. And I do love my jazz. Miles Davis, Prince of Darkness, show us the way!

270 Degrees

Seriously. If you're not using 270 Degrees, and throwing the Rate Knob to 3 o' Clock, you've missed out. There's something about that slightly off, slightly... It really does feel weird, ya know? But I love it.

I snagged this on MF's SDotD, and boy am I glad I did. It's been a staple of my board ever since. Hell, I don't even know if the Boss equivalent would replace it at this point--and that's saying something, since I eat, sleep, and BREATHE Boss!

Good Chorus

Can't complain. Once again, does what it says on the tin. Three knobs, easy to work with, stereo chorus effect. Sounds about as good as the Boss equivalent. Didn't pay a cent for mine, so I really have no room to complain.

Sometimes it sounds a bit washy, but when I got it it looked pretty hard used. So not sure if that's just the SC10 or just the fact mine was ran hard and put up wet. Still, not a bad box, does what I need it to, sits between my HM-2 and my TR-2, perfect spot on a Doom/Stoner Metal Pedal Board.

Does What it Says on the Tin

There's really not much to say about this. It's got Rate, Wave, Depth. That's it. Rate controls speed, Depth controls volume, and the wave is what kind of a soundwave the tremolo effect will take.

The cool thing about this pedal, and what I use it for, is I'll crank the Depth all the way up, set a fairly fast rate, turn on my Phaser, set the wave to a pretty sharp cut, and then play in time with it like a metronome, and I get a pretty neat staccato effect.

This one... Is Odd

So the trick with this pedal is, no one really knows how to use it. It's one of those weird pedals that's like "What was Boss really thinking with this one?" The answer? "FAT DISTORTION." The instruction pamphlet has settings for everything from some grungy basic tones, to BALLADS (yes, ballads), to what literally says "The Fattest Distortion."

This is one you've got to play with. I mean, you've really got to play with it. And it's worth your time, if you don't mind noodling. You can get some creamy fat tone out of it, and with the doubling effect and stereo out, one guitarist can fill the room with sound.

Question is, are you willing to put in the work?

Swedish Buzzsaw

Dime everything. Get legendary tone.

But seriously, I use this for Doom/Stoner Metal, and believe it or not, don't actually crank everything to 11. You CAN do that, but if you tweak the colours, you get a really wild distortion that, when mixed with an Akai Phaser set to 270 degrees and a fast repeat, is ball-trippingly freaky.

Everyone should have one of these. Or the Berhinger clone, but it don't sound the exact same--you have been warned.

First Instrument I ever Owned

This is the instrument that started me off down this long, dark road towards insanity. Mine is midnight wine. I love it. I cannot be unbiased. There are no downsides. This instrument is perfection. There is nothing wrong with it. Zero flaws. The balance is perfect. The colour is perfect. The tone is perfect. The feel, the look, the sound, the way it plays.

It is, quite simply put, the best instrument on this or any other planet.

Want a JEM? Can't Afford a JEM?

Get this. This is basically the budget JEM. I mean, the only differences are the electronics, the Lion's Claw routing, the Tree of Life inlay, and the Monkey Grip. Outside that, it's the same guitar. And while the electronics are different (this has the Ibanez Infinity series of pickups, while I'm pretty sure the 2010s series JEMs had DiMarzio Evolutions or Breeds, can't recall), they're still very nice, high output, killer sounding pup's.

So this was my main gigging axe for a while. Been 'round on some pretty hard gigs, it's road worthy as hell, sounds good, holds tune, you can REALLY lay on the trem arm like you're trying to break it off--I've done the Herman Li thing and used that to sling the guitar around with, and it's held in place. So the Trem is solid as all getout.

Electronics, as I said, they sound good. The way it's wired is the exact way a JEM is wired, so Steve Vai is the guy that came up with that, so you can get Les Paul type sounds and Strat type sounds out of it. Basically, it's a nice cross between the two, with some other sounds thrown in.

This'n, like other Ibanez guitars, has been discontinued. Either or, whatever this year's flavor is called, or the JEM Jr., do yourself a favor, and get it.

Great Guitar for the Price But...

Should have come with a bleeding gig bag at the very least. I mean, we're talking this is a $400 axe (on sale), and while it looks as good as it sounds, it comes with a cheap little cable. They could have thrown a cheap little gig bag of some kind instead.

Right, anyway, that's why it's 4 starts instead of 5.

So the sound is rich, full, and fills the small rooms. Sounds good plugged in, sounds good unplugged. As I said, looks as good as it sounds. Or sounds as good as it looks. Whichever. The strings what come on it are in need of changing when you get it. They're pretty dead.

Stays in tune pretty decent. Onboard tuner for when it goes out. AND the tuner does a pretty good job.

As far as the onboard preamp, it does what it says on the tin. I was running it through my Vox Pathfinder, and it sounds bangon-spot just like it should. Had everything dime'd out, then rolled back to nickles just to get the "natural sound."

All said, you could do a lot worse for $400 than this guitar.