JEM 7VWH

This JEM does not belong to me, I'm actually quite honored to have what used to be one of my dream guitar sitting in my house. It belongs to a friend of mine, Anthony Woen.

The look

I got a chance to analyze this JEM both in terms of sound and look. It's just gorgeous; its gold hardware, Edge Pro locking trem, vine tree inlay, jumbo frets, gotoh tuner, DiMarzio Evolutions and its monkey grip are just awesome!

The feel

It's the ancestor of the current Ibanez RG model, so naturally it has that oversized horns on its body just like my PGM and every other RG based guitars. The neck is just awesome! It's thin, meaning that it will help you run across the neck easily. Doesn't feel to good when you try to play chords here, a bit more thickness should help. It's thinner than my already flat PGM Prestige neck. I don't need to speak about the locking trem, it's just totally awesome, the same exact trem as what I have on my PGM.

Weight isn't too bad. It's an alder body guitar, it's supposed to be a bit heavier compared to a basswood guitar, but it isn't; in fact it is lighter than my PGM!

The sound

DiMarzio Evolution on the neck, middle and bridge. They're fantastic for modern hi-gain sound! The alder body and rosewood combination adds more tonal color to the overall sound. The JEM supposed to sound pretty bright due to the alder body but in fact it isn't that bright. It sounded pretty good on distortion pedals and tube pre-amp! Overtone harmonics are appearing on some spots in the neck, it has a strong punch in the mid-high mid area. Definitely a shredder's guitar! Either the neck and the bridge delivers punch and clarity. Roll back the volume and I get that sweet spot break-up sound.

On the clean channel, the neck pickup sounded like an SG. Very good for jazz runs, lots of fat tone that's good for chording as well. Combine the neck and the middle and I got a pretty subtle sounding clean signal, good for funk and general strumming. I didn't really use the middle pickup but mid+bridge gives me another good funk-type sound with some added treble. I don't really use the bridge pickup on the clean channel.

Sustain is pretty good. It doesn't hold as long as my PGM, but it does hold longer than every Strats that I've touched.

What it lacks

Nothing! This guitar is in fact one of the most versatile guitar on this planet. It does everything. However, not everyone will enjoy this guitar. The pickups are a bit too hot for me and I always prefer a single coil in the neck. Nonetheless, it's my preference; this guitar will surely blow you away if you're a Steve Vai fans or just someone looking for a HSH super strat.

The verdict

I compared this gorgeous JEM side by side with my PGM, and I recorded some tunes with both guitar on same settings just so you can hear the difference between how the JEM and the PGM sound. All clips started with my PGM first, and then the JEM later.

Clean signal: CLICK HERE

Chorus added: CLICK HERE

Screamer and delay: CLICK HERE

Fat crunch rhythm: CLICK HERE

I hope you enjoy this post.

Cheers and God bless ! :)

DIMARZIO PAF 7

So sorry for the very lack of update last week, I went to so many places and didn't have much time to update the blog. Anyway, here I am with a review of DiMarzio PAF 7, the seven string DiMarzio low output PAF style pickup.

A little bit of background

It's supposed to sound like a regular PAF on Les Paul guitars. This one is formulated for seven string guitar and it has that low output sound of a weak magnet humbucker that makes it so sweet.

I installed mine on my RG7321 on the neck position. It doesn't sound good right away, but after I tweaked a little bit with the pickup height, I got my sweet spot right away.

Sound

The sound is very good, this is totally the best low output pickup for seven string guitar! This pickup doesn't boost the mid and bass like other high gain seven string guitar pickups, instead it adds a little bit more open-sound quality with more treble. On the neck position on a very dark sounding guitar, it will sound pretty much like the old PAF pickup on a '50s Les Paul guitar. Its low output doesn't mean it's not good for metal or shreddy stuffs, it's actually the best pickup on the neck for a fast legato runs! Doesn't get muddy is what it does best, so if you're frustrated with your seven string of getting too muddy and bassy, this pickup is the solution.

Keep in mind that it has what they call Virtual Vintage technology, you can do coil split and get a super sweet single coil-like sound that's pretty pleasing to hear. I don't make mine to sound like that but I guess you should be pleased if you have a coil tap function available on your guitar right now and you're thinking to get this pickup.

Price and worthiness

$70.00, It's worth every penny I spent for sure. This is one of the best replacement pickup for a seven string available. Probably the lowest output pickup replacement for seven strings.

From 0 to 10

10 ! Sounds totally awesome and not too expensive.

Stay tuned for audio clips.

Cheers and God bless :)

SEYMOUR DUNCAN JB

Hey all! Today I decided to review one of the most popular humbucker replacement pickup on the market. It's made by Seymour Duncan and it's called Seymour Duncan JB(Jeff Beck). This pickup is one of the earliest medium-high output pickup that's available in the market.

The sound

The sound that I'm getting out of this relatively high output pickup is very bright and happy, much like the original PAF of a Les Paul. It does not get bass-y, it does not punch you with too much mid, it stays clear on a highly driven channel and it somehow has some unique treble-ish sound, much like a single coil.

On the bridge

I installed mine on the bridge. I got the 7 string model by the way, because I currently don't have any 6 string guitar left for modification. I put this pup on an RG7321 that originally has AH pickups by Ibanez that's totally muddy and way too hot to control. I put a DiMarzio PAF 7 on the neck to balance this med-high output pup.

I really like this pickup, it shines very well and cut through the mix nicely even with high gain amp. Roll back the tone knob a little bit and you get a more defined mid frequencies and less harsh treble. Play some palm-muted riffs on my seven string, it sounds great! The chops are very clear, very pronounced and retains the original sound of the pickup. Drive this pickup as hard as you can, then roll back the volume pot and you'll get your sweet spot immediately, sparkle clear dirty-clean tone with some extra punch.

So far so good..

One thing that I hate from this pickup is the treble level that can be too dangerous especially when you crank up everything on your signal path. That's why you need a tone knob for this pickup. It'll be your best friend when you want to control the sound of this pickup. Other than that, I'm quite happy with this pickup!

Beware, this is not meant to be a high-gain friendly pickup. It's designed to give you more dynamics on your sound, not to compress and further drive your amp. I'm happy with it because it suits well with mid-gain type of guitar music. If you plan to play heavy metal music with this pup, you better be prepared. It doesn't mean it's a bad pickup for metal music, but you have to know how to control the pup properly. See my previous post about pickups for more explanation.

Worth the money?

Yessss!! For $80.00, this thing upgrades the sound of your guitar with some added clarity.

From 0 to 10?

What can I say? 10.

Hope you enjoy this review, sound clip coming soon!

Cheers and God bless :)