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EVH: First Impressions

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  • EVH: First Impressions

    So, I installed 'em this afternoon. I think I know what pups Joe's putting in my next Driskill. I haven't sorted through everything yet: I need to fine-tune the pickup height to get things balanced but I think I have a pretty good idea of what they're about.

    They offer reasonable output: definitely not "hot" but far from feeble. I thought about rewiring the Diablo to provide a neck single coil but figured that an 8K humbucker is not gonna sound great split by itself. As a result, I kept the original switching (like PRS rotary except for #3 which is both humbuckers).

    These pups do an outstanding job of enhancing, rather than obsuring, the guitar's intrinsic tone. They convey the bite provided by the thick maple top, the richness of the mahogany body and neck, and the woodiness contributed by the chambers.

    Okay, you've read to the fourth paragraph and you're likely wondering about the whole "EVH" thing. Though "EVH" officially stands for "Evenly Voiced Harmonics", there's a pretty well-known player with those initials, too. Though I haven't gone out of my way to cop "his tone" with these pickups (yet), I did play a few fairly familar riffs. Though there are a lot of ways to approximate the brown sound of '78-'82, this is a nice way to start the signal chain. Like I said, it's not super hot but then again, Eddie's classic tone isn't as distorted as that of a lot of imitators.

    But I didn't buy the pups to join DLR's backup band. Though the brown sound is one of my reference guitar tones, it was the "punchiness" and "clarity" in reviews than intrigued me. Let me tell you about punchiness: I couldn't come up with a better word to describe this bridge pickup. When you hit the strings hard, a whole 'nother set of overtones comes out. I find myself hitting the strings differently than with the Dragon 2's in my PRS CuRo. It took me a few minutes to figure out what was going on but once I did, I was really diggin' it. The EVH bridge sounds great at any gain level my Rivera Rake can provide: clean, crunchy, or screamin'--the tone is balanced and clear. String definition is excellent as well.

    The neck pickup is where I really had to adjust my picking. It was initally surprising to play a pickup that lacked the compression and mid hump I'd grown accustomed to playing PRS and Rio Grande-equipped guitars. Though I missed that midrange emphasis when going for a sweetly saturated neck lead tone, the EVH neck maximized the shimmer on my Rake's clean channel. The low-end is full but balanced. Clean passages in drop-D sound very natural without being flubby or bass-heavy.

    The in-between positions are somehow more scooped but also sound more "acoustic", perhaps a result of the chambered body. The corresponding positions on my PRS sound more like single coils but the EVHs broaden my overal tonal palette.

    So are they worth three bills for the set? In this case, yes. I feel that these pickups do a great job of demonstrating what my Diablo is all about. They sound great clean or at Soldano-ish high gain. I dunno how they'd work with a modern beast like the Uberschall: their punchiness may or may not work with the Uber's attack but other than that, they're useful for a shocking breadth of tones.
    Last edited by aleclee; 08-22-2004, 09:29 PM.
    Originally posted by LesStrat
    make sure that you own the gear, not vice versa.
    My Music

  • #2
    Re: EVH: First Impressions

    Good review Alec. I didn't even realize that there was an EVH neck model. I like the way you describe the attributes of the bridge pickup. This model will probably be my first true custom shop order.
    My Sound Clips

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    • #3
      Re: EVH: First Impressions

      Nice review man! I kept forgetting the EVH pickups meant evenly voiced harmonics. lol
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      • #4
        Re: EVH: First Impressions

        Originally posted by Jeff_H
        I didn't even realize that there was an EVH neck model.
        Not sure it really is. All my paperwork simply says "Custom Shop Humbucker: Neck" but it was probably calibrated to compliment the EVH bridge.
        Originally posted by LesStrat
        make sure that you own the gear, not vice versa.
        My Music

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        • #5
          Re: EVH: First Impressions

          I asume you can get them with covers, right? If so, I think I know what's going in my Hamer once the EMG's come out.
          Ain't nothin' but a G thang, baby.

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          • #6
            Re: EVH: First Impressions

            Originally posted by Benjy_26
            I asume you can get them with covers, right? If so, I think I know what's going in my Hamer once the EMG's come out.
            Hey, it's the Custom Shop! They'll build it with whatever options you ask for. For the record, I got mine with four conductors (they normally come with two) and short legs (in case I decide to put 'em in one of my PRS guitars).
            Originally posted by LesStrat
            make sure that you own the gear, not vice versa.
            My Music

            Comment


            • #7
              Re: EVH: First Impressions

              Originally posted by aleclee
              Hey, it's the Custom Shop! They'll build it with whatever options you ask for. For the record, I got mine with four conductors (they normally come with two) and short legs (in case I decide to put 'em in one of my PRS guitars).

              Cool, I think I'll get those options as well!

              Have you tried the PG neck? If so, how would you compare the neck EVH to the PG?
              Ain't nothin' but a G thang, baby.

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              • #8
                Re: EVH: First Impressions

                Originally posted by Benjy_26
                Have you tried the PG neck? If so, how would you compare the neck EVH to the PG?
                Yeah, I have a PG neck in another guitar. Though the EVH neck is a bit more scooped, the PG has a more extended high-end frequency response that can be either glassy or shrill depending on your rig.

                ...at least that's the way I remember it. It's probably been about five or six months since I played that guitar.
                Originally posted by LesStrat
                make sure that you own the gear, not vice versa.
                My Music

                Comment


                • #9
                  Re: EVH: First Impressions

                  Originally posted by aleclee
                  Yeah, I have a PG neck in another guitar. Though the EVH neck is a bit more scooped, the PG has a more extended high-end frequency response that can be either glassy or shrill depending on your rig.

                  ...at least that's the way I remember it. It's probably been about five or six months since I played that guitar.
                  Ya know, I'm gonna have to break out that other guitar. I woke up this morning wondering if I'm remembering frequency response or output or something else.
                  Originally posted by LesStrat
                  make sure that you own the gear, not vice versa.
                  My Music

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Re: EVH: First Impressions

                    Originally posted by aleclee
                    Ya know, I'm gonna have to break out that other guitar. I woke up this morning wondering if I'm remembering frequency response or output or something else.
                    Cool! Thanks for the help, bro!
                    Ain't nothin' but a G thang, baby.

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