I can build almost any electric guitar I want. Strat? sure. Tele? whatever. les paul? Bread 'n butter. But there's one guitar that I just can't build. The materials are just impossible to find, the pickup is impossible to find and the tools... well. Just no.
it's the Dan Armstrong Ampeg ADA6 Plexi guitar. I always had my eye on that guitar and after nearly 10 years I finally got a chance to play it 7 months ago. I sold off some amps and got a chance to trade an amp for this guitar and so I did. A small review.
The guitar smokes. My oh my. sustain for days, very versatile sounds and just a great guitar overall in its own merits and right. The guitar comes with 2 pickups: one humbucker and one singlecoil. The humbucker isn't overly hot, perhaps like a pearly gates? The playability is good. not smashing, good. The upper fret access is fine, the frets are nice but I know I'll have to tweak it for a long, long time before it's finally up to my specs. The frets need a good polish, the fretboard needs a polish too, the neck is finished in a satin gloss and that has to go, too. The neck needs to be straightened a bit and DAMN those strings that were factory fitted are horrible. I know it can play amazing, the raw material is there. But the playability may also be simply getting used to. The thing I really hate is the lack of treble and that's due to the horrible pots, switch and jack. It's all asian junk. I mean, c'mon. A guitar that was 1500 bucks new shouldn't be loaded with brandless, horrible mini-pots. Never. CTS, Bourns, fine. But not this. The switch is wobbly and doesn't work that well after 3 good bashes, the jack is noisy. I do love the knobs though and the tone I am able to coax from this guitar is already amazing.
it's the Dan Armstrong Ampeg ADA6 Plexi guitar. I always had my eye on that guitar and after nearly 10 years I finally got a chance to play it 7 months ago. I sold off some amps and got a chance to trade an amp for this guitar and so I did. A small review.
The guitar smokes. My oh my. sustain for days, very versatile sounds and just a great guitar overall in its own merits and right. The guitar comes with 2 pickups: one humbucker and one singlecoil. The humbucker isn't overly hot, perhaps like a pearly gates? The playability is good. not smashing, good. The upper fret access is fine, the frets are nice but I know I'll have to tweak it for a long, long time before it's finally up to my specs. The frets need a good polish, the fretboard needs a polish too, the neck is finished in a satin gloss and that has to go, too. The neck needs to be straightened a bit and DAMN those strings that were factory fitted are horrible. I know it can play amazing, the raw material is there. But the playability may also be simply getting used to. The thing I really hate is the lack of treble and that's due to the horrible pots, switch and jack. It's all asian junk. I mean, c'mon. A guitar that was 1500 bucks new shouldn't be loaded with brandless, horrible mini-pots. Never. CTS, Bourns, fine. But not this. The switch is wobbly and doesn't work that well after 3 good bashes, the jack is noisy. I do love the knobs though and the tone I am able to coax from this guitar is already amazing.
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