NGD: Duesenberg Alliance Joe Walsh
Jan 31, 2019 20:25:48 GMT
ocarolan, leoroberts, and 2 more like this
Post by grayn on Jan 31, 2019 20:25:48 GMT
Set out today, on a visit to Sound Affects, in Ormskirk.
With the aim of trying out 2, very different guitars.
They had a pre-owned but mint Duesenberg Alliance Joe Walsh in.
I'd phoned them beforehand, as I was worried that with it's design, that it may be a little neck heavy.
Not unknown with Dueseys, though my Paloma had perfect balance.
They said they feared it may be so but to come and try it anyway.
I decided to do just that, as also they had a lovely , preowned, American Standard strat, with some cool mods.
Just in case the Duesey's headstock liked to head south, at every oppertunity.
First thing I did on arrival, was whip out my Fender strap, attach it to the Duesey and sling it 'round my neck.
Whoopee, it stayed motionless, when my hands let go.
What a relief and what a stunning guitar.
I'm not a big fan of bling but Duesenbergs, with their art deco influenced, retro-futuristic look, get away with it.
With it's goldburst finish, gold and nickel hardware, matching headstock and radiator tremola, the Joe Walsh Signature
looks rather special, to my eyes.
Even the fret markers spell out Joe Walsh, in morse code. Flash.
The double cutaway body is smallish but it reaches further up behind the neck, than is obvious from the front.
Cleverly, it doesn't hinder access to the top frets but allows the strap peg to be placed higher up.
Which accounts for the stable strap balance.
This is a semi acoustic guitar, with a centre block.
The controls are simply tone, volume and 3-way pickup selector.
The neck pickup is single coil and sounds somewhere between Jazzmaster and a P90.
The bridge pickup is a toaster pickup, looking quite Filtertron like.
If that is what it is, then it's the best Filtertron style pickup I have heard.
It's tighter and richer than any Filtertron I have heard.
I tested the guitar through a Fender FSR Hot Rod Deluxe III, via an MXR EVH5150 Eddie Van Halen 5150 Overdrive Pedal.
On clean, with a hint of reverb, the S/C sounded strong and well defined.
Thicker than strat/tele S/Cs but not as much bite as a top end P90.
The Toaster was full and lush but still strong in the definition department.
Together they had that spacey, scooped tone you get from some Gretsches and Jazzmasters.
I have to say that the bridge pickup on this guitar pushes crunch, whether mild, middling or powerhouse, better than
any pickup I have heard.
Wow, did it love the MXR EVH.
By better, I don't mean higher output, I mean it full tonality mixed with all levels of crunch, superbly.
When I got it home, I tried it with heavily saturated, metalesque distortion and it again, sounded spot on.
It sounded nice through my Princeton Reverb but I use that mainly for my Jazzmaster.
But through my Fender Mustang GT200, it really shone.
Flicking through some of the GT200's 105 presets, so many more sounded great with the Duesey, than did with the Paloma.
And again, it made my Blackstar HT-Dual Overdrive pedal sound better than anything I'd played through it before.
And that is probably 20 others, including PRS's, Fenders and Gibsons.
So yes I have been impressed by this model.
Set up superbly, it is comfortable, resonant and musical.
Even playing it acoustically sounds impressive.
The only thing I would change would be the sparkly gold scratchplate.
Not sure what with though.
BTW, the modded strat, back up buy, was also a great guitar.
Black body and scratchplate, white pickups and knobs, Bare Knuckle Trilogy pickups and Fender locking tuners.
If I'd had the dosh, it would have come home too.
Good day, great guitar.
With the aim of trying out 2, very different guitars.
They had a pre-owned but mint Duesenberg Alliance Joe Walsh in.
I'd phoned them beforehand, as I was worried that with it's design, that it may be a little neck heavy.
Not unknown with Dueseys, though my Paloma had perfect balance.
They said they feared it may be so but to come and try it anyway.
I decided to do just that, as also they had a lovely , preowned, American Standard strat, with some cool mods.
Just in case the Duesey's headstock liked to head south, at every oppertunity.
First thing I did on arrival, was whip out my Fender strap, attach it to the Duesey and sling it 'round my neck.
Whoopee, it stayed motionless, when my hands let go.
What a relief and what a stunning guitar.
I'm not a big fan of bling but Duesenbergs, with their art deco influenced, retro-futuristic look, get away with it.
With it's goldburst finish, gold and nickel hardware, matching headstock and radiator tremola, the Joe Walsh Signature
looks rather special, to my eyes.
Even the fret markers spell out Joe Walsh, in morse code. Flash.
The double cutaway body is smallish but it reaches further up behind the neck, than is obvious from the front.
Cleverly, it doesn't hinder access to the top frets but allows the strap peg to be placed higher up.
Which accounts for the stable strap balance.
This is a semi acoustic guitar, with a centre block.
The controls are simply tone, volume and 3-way pickup selector.
The neck pickup is single coil and sounds somewhere between Jazzmaster and a P90.
The bridge pickup is a toaster pickup, looking quite Filtertron like.
If that is what it is, then it's the best Filtertron style pickup I have heard.
It's tighter and richer than any Filtertron I have heard.
I tested the guitar through a Fender FSR Hot Rod Deluxe III, via an MXR EVH5150 Eddie Van Halen 5150 Overdrive Pedal.
On clean, with a hint of reverb, the S/C sounded strong and well defined.
Thicker than strat/tele S/Cs but not as much bite as a top end P90.
The Toaster was full and lush but still strong in the definition department.
Together they had that spacey, scooped tone you get from some Gretsches and Jazzmasters.
I have to say that the bridge pickup on this guitar pushes crunch, whether mild, middling or powerhouse, better than
any pickup I have heard.
Wow, did it love the MXR EVH.
By better, I don't mean higher output, I mean it full tonality mixed with all levels of crunch, superbly.
When I got it home, I tried it with heavily saturated, metalesque distortion and it again, sounded spot on.
It sounded nice through my Princeton Reverb but I use that mainly for my Jazzmaster.
But through my Fender Mustang GT200, it really shone.
Flicking through some of the GT200's 105 presets, so many more sounded great with the Duesey, than did with the Paloma.
And again, it made my Blackstar HT-Dual Overdrive pedal sound better than anything I'd played through it before.
And that is probably 20 others, including PRS's, Fenders and Gibsons.
So yes I have been impressed by this model.
Set up superbly, it is comfortable, resonant and musical.
Even playing it acoustically sounds impressive.
The only thing I would change would be the sparkly gold scratchplate.
Not sure what with though.
BTW, the modded strat, back up buy, was also a great guitar.
Black body and scratchplate, white pickups and knobs, Bare Knuckle Trilogy pickups and Fender locking tuners.
If I'd had the dosh, it would have come home too.
Good day, great guitar.