XML Feeds
Category: Reviews
Think outside the effects box - AttackDelaydrive
By KenBJammen on Mar 10, 2010 | In Reviews | Send feedback »
On Monday I presented a distortion effect that was dependent on frequency to distort. Somewhat different that the treble boosters of the past, but it still made for a very interesting effect. Today I will present a more complex effect that takes attack and delay and frequency control to another level.
Imagine if you would an effect that if you played subtly, your notes would come through, nice and relaxed with a subtle delay, when you hit harder, the clean note would ring and then quickly mute, and slowly a distorted note would fade in. At the same time, A delay would go from 0% mix up based on the level that you hit the string. As your string fades, the delay fades out. A hard hit makes you sound like you are playing backwards.
AXL SRO wrapped up.
By KenBJammen on Mar 5, 2010 | In Reviews | Send feedback »
Well, this past week I have been reviewing the AXL SRO Marquee series guitar. This guitar can be purchased from many outlets for $169, which is cheaper than it's better selling competitor the Squier Stratocaster.
Features: 4 guitars out of 5. 
This guitar is pretty straight forward with the configuration H-S-S. Nothing different than any other H-S-S. Better than average bridge saddles, and tuning stability.
Sound: 4 guitars out of 5.
This guitar has a better than average sound, especially at it's price range. For a guitar under $200, you will be VERY hard pressed to find something that sounds this good that is new. There is an expectation with single coil pickups that there will be noise when going with a single coil selection, but usually with lower end guitars, there is noise in all switch selections, and this is not true with the AXL guitar that I reviewed. Again, much better than would be expected for a guitar of this price range!
Action, Fit, & Finish: 3 guitars out of 5.
Again, a well produced guitar, about average for the price range. The truss rod, action were easily tweaked as should be with any guitar. It felt good to play, not as easy as my Fender, or any other high end guitar that I own, but it was not uncomfortable like other guitars that I have owned.
Reliability/Durability: 2 guitars out of 5.
This guitar gets a low rating due to the cheapness of the trem bar. I would expect that this guitar otherwise would do well over it's live. That being said this guitar was designed with a trem and should have had been built with a trem. The ONLY flaw in the design of this guitar.
Value: 5 guitars out of 5.
At under $200 a great deal. I would rate this guitar midway between high end Sqiuer and MIM Strat. You would be pretty hard pressed to find a guitar at this value. With this said, this is an overseas production guitar, and you should expect that you should have some set up work that needs to be done with this guitar.
Overall Rating: 4 guitars out of 5.
This guitar is definitely was designed to be in a class of guitars to compete with starter guitars, but good enough to be a guitar that could be played for some time. This guitar is better than almost all new guitars in this price range, including models from Squier, Epiphone and Ibanez. As with any lower priced guitar, expect that there will be minor tweaks that need to be done out of the box as care that is given higher end models will not be standard practice.
Don't be fooled by the price tag, I might just have to say it again before the end of this review, the build quality generally is pretty solid. The guitar is well balanced and not what I ever expected. I actually had a chance to play the badwater series, which is significantly lighter, but the pickup configuration is the same. The badwater series is a series of road worn guitars that are priced under $200. I would assume that the sound quality would be very similar to the SRO series with a little more mojo with looks.
I will not be keeping this AXL guitar, but I do not have a problem giving this guitar to someone I know who is a serious or maybe not even a serious player. It looks pretty good and has a decent sound for a lower priced guitar. If I ever saw one in a pawn shop for under $100 it would be a no brainier. Although I do not believe that this guitar sounds better than a Fender as some reviews have stated, it certainly sounds better than the Squier model.
For more information about AXL guitars, check out their website regarding this specific guitar http://www.axlguitars.com/as800sn_shape.html. AXL guitars has many other guitars in some very odd shapes. This weeks review was based on 1 sample of a guitar produced by AXL guitars and may not be representative of all guitars produced by AXL guitars. As with all guitars, each individual guitar should be carefully inspected before buying, and when buying on-line be sure that you can return a guitar with defects.
AXL SRO Overdrive
By KenBJammen on Mar 4, 2010 | In Reviews | Send feedback »
One of the biggest drawbacks to having a budget guitar, especially a single coil is the hum that is created whenever you are playing through an overdriven amp. In my experience, too much drive even in positions 2 and 4 with a Squier guitar, there is noticeable hum present. I wanted to see what would happen when you played the AXL with an ultra high gain amp.
The first clip is the AXL SRO Marquee starting with the neck pickup, neck and middle, middle and bridge and then bridge. (positions 1,2,4,5). You can see with the high gain amp, in position 1 there is noticeable hum produced by this guitar.
Source http://burlapandblues.com/uploads/axl-3.mp3
Surprisingly, though there is little noise in any other position, which is not what I have experienced with the Squier models.
Here is the same amp settings with a Fender Stratocaster Deluxe.
Source http://burlapandblues.com/uploads/axl-4.mp3
Definitely a silent noiseless guitar.
Tomorrow I will summarize my thoughts on the AXL SRO Marquee series guitar.
A virtualized Mesa-style high gain amp through two separate 4x12 cabinet emulators was used for the sound samples. No noise reduction software was used in either sound sample.AXL SRO Clean
By KenBJammen on Mar 3, 2010 | In Reviews | Send feedback »
A guitar can only be as good as its weakest part. A solidly built guitar with poor pickups will not sound well, nor will the top of the line pickups on a guitar that is out of tune
I did a recording of the AXL SRO Marquee series guitar with the EMG designed pickups. There is very little on the AXL site to discuss what other than the EMG design is meant by the pickups or what pickups they were trying to do with the pickups.
I challenged the members of Burlap and blues to see if they could correctly identify the guitar based on some quick clips. As of 9 PM last night, no one had identified the AXL and Strat correctly. That is VERY interesting. . . . .
The first track is the AXL SRO in 4 parts. Neck pickup, Neck and Middle, Middle and Bridge and then Bridge. It is clear that the bridge pickup is different than the rest. Overall the tone is very much like a strat.
Source http://burlapandblues.com/uploads/axl-1.mp3
As you can see, until the humbucker is selected, the tone sounds fairly good. Compare that to the Fender Deluxe Stratocaster in the same pattern. Neck pickup, Neck and Middle, Middle and Bridge and then Bridge.
Source http://burlapandblues.com/uploads/axl-2.mp3
There is a clear difference between the selection of 2 guitars. The Fender has a street value about 10 times the AXL, but the AXL guitar still has many useful sounds. My opinion is that the single coil pickups in combination (position 2 and position 4) are very usefull strat style sounds for this guitar. You listen, you decide.
Tomorrow, how does the AXL handle a hot over-driven amp.
Both clips were done using a fender 1950's bassman virtual amp software with no noise reduction software.
AXL SRO Hardware or Software
By KenBJammen on Mar 2, 2010 | In Reviews | Send feedback »
When I first picked up this example of the AXL guitars, SRO Marquee series guitar, I was told that the Tremolo bar had broken off. This was the first thing I critiqued in the hardware review.
After manipulating the tremolo bar a few times, I realized that the trem bar was very soft and was easily malleable. My youngest daughter did inform me that that is a property of all metals, but not necessarily a good thing with a trem bar. I would easily worry that the trem bard would snap again if left in, so I decided to screw the trem springs in hard, take off the trem bar and make the guitar an effective trem-less guitar.
After opening the back cavity, I noted a very nicely routed body. I have taken apart several Squier strats and some look like the local grade school was given lessons on routing on the bodies. This was nice and clean without any dust. The hardware under the back plate was solid and in good order. The trem came with three springs and it was easily screwed down.
Further evaluation of the bridge showed some nice saddle pieces similar to the 'break resistant' saddles that are on my Fender. The saddles were easy to move to get the guitar intonated.
The next piece of hardware I looked at were the tuning pegs. A set of no-name pegs seemed to be installed nicely. During my review I did not see a loss of tuning during playing the guitar.
The truss rod needed a little tweaking and was easily accessed. There seemed to be plenty of room for adjustment in the truss rod. It did not seem to be anything of concern there.
Overall the hardware on this AXL SRO Marquee series guitar seemed pretty good, a noticeable level better than the Squier guitars that I have owned and worked on over the years. The only thing that was odd is the total failure of the trem bar to function properly.
Tomorrow, clean tone clips of the AXL SRO Marquee Series Guitar
