My Latest Mod

[fly_with_v]

Wanted to do this since I purchased this amp a couple months ago, finally found the time. Next I think I am going to make a scratch build S to match. Yes, I am a Fan(old)boy!








And, to complete the obsession.

[MichelIV]

I like the way you think!

[GUITARMAGEDDON]

looks great! I love this kind of stuff

[fly_with_v]

The 50Watt 5150 III does not come as the "Special Edition", but the 100 watt does and uses two of the stripped plated flipped 180 with one painted white and the other black then the back plate is red.

THe 100 Watt Special Edition is about $500 or so more then the stock version. This cost me about $6 bucks.

[fly_with_v]

By the way, In the red S570 I just installed a set of custom wound by MJ Seymour Duncan Frankenstien pickups. They differ from the normal Frankies by the fact that the bridge is a trembucker and they are 4 wire instead of two.

This S570 has a modified RG550 re-issue neck and the guitar plays very well, but I have been struggling to get the sound I want. I feel that the ZR make guitars a little thin sounding even compared to a Floyd type. I do love the functionality of the ZR but would choose the Edge over it anyday. I have tried a Norton, Super D, Evo, an F2 and a SD Custom Custom. The Custom Custom was my favorite and pretty close to the sound I wanted, the EVO's were great but not exactly right for the sound I was after.

The Custom Shop Frankies are simply amazing! Very Hot sound, but clear and articulate with some looseness on the bottom end, very EVH, of course. They clean up well when the volume is reduced. I have them split and they sound pretty good in all combinations. Neck pickup is basically a slightly hotter PAF at 8.6k. I get some great Slash type stuff out of it. The bridge kind of reminds of the Norton but much thicker and more balls, and (dare I say it) even better harmonics. Awesome!

I tried the stock Frankenstein in the guitar before I bought this some I new it would work, but these custom shop pickup just seem to be even better (probably some MJ mojo).

[Philboski]

How do you like the amp? These are veeeeery interesting to me.

[fly_with_v]

Excellent amp. Fender Cleans, Killer Crunch, and blazing metal all in one package. I am a huge EVH fan but this amp is great regardless. I have had Marshall's and Mesa's and this gets me the best of both for the most part. It is definately blows my Marshall's away. There is no need for them anymore. The clean channel has great cleans with plenty of headroom, reminds of a twin for the most part. If you turn up the gain on the clean and AC/DC crunch comes up. The crunch channel does a very, very wide range of gain levels. I set the gain a little over 1/2 way 95% of the time. Because the clean channel and crunch channel share controls your mileage may very here, but to me I get perfect EVH crunch and rolling the guitar volume gets EVH clean. Keep the guitar volume backed off a bit from full and switch to the clean channel and you get really nice Fender type cleans. I also do not notice any volume drop issues that would cause me any problems live. I usually like the clean volume a little lower anyway. The lead channel has tons of gain. Most of the time I keep it a little less then half for lead playing.

The amp is very articulate and doesn't ever seem to lose clarity even when cranking the gain on channel 3. Harmonics and sustain are excellent and can take a weaker, thinner sounding S and really make it sing. I love it.