• Ernie Ball
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Sosomething

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Aug 4, 2010
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102
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Indianapolis, Indiana, United States
A few weeks ago, I snagged a black burst flame top Armada for a pretty killer price on Reverb. I've long been a fan of EBMM guitars and have owned about 4 or 5 over the years, and was always curious about the Armada for being such an odd duck in the lineup.

The Gibson scale, neck-through design, and angled headstock are all uncommon for this brand. The biggest thing thing that drew me to it was the 24.75" scale, since I've always been a Gibson guy and am just more comfortable with it. I suspect that the odd specs (for EBMM) probably put off faithfuls of the brand, and the general Ernie Ball uniqueness coupled with the total disregard for boring convention probably caused it to not draw as many converts from Gibson as the company expected.

But I love it. I love it so much. The weight. The balance on strap. The playability and tone. The looks. Everything.

But now we have a discontinued guitar. My favorite guitar ever (out of owning over 60 over 25 years of playing), and there's a FINITE SUPPLY. Cue a weird feeling of stress thinking I might not be able to replace it if I needed to.

So... I watched Reverb like a hawk. Not really expecting to pull the trigger, but watching. And I'm seeing the prices on Armadas hitting 2500, 2900... When I saw one list for over 4k, I started getting worried. That is decidedly out of my reach right now.

And then it happened. Reverb winter sale. A motivated seller. A little haggling. And now I have two Armadas.

The black one I got first, and it's number 437. The natural quilt + red one I just received this week, number 200. Both insanely clean. Flawless and consistent. Blindfolded, I doubt I could tell the difference.

I'll be setting up the black one for drop C# and the new one for Eb standard, and using them both live with my band.

I just need to share. My girlfriend is supportive but she couldn't tell a Les Paul from a BC Rich warlock, lol.

Thanks for indulging me.

Pics!

Ernie Ball Music Man Armadas - Album on Imgur
 

TripHazard

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Feb 17, 2016
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Nottingham UK
Killer. I love the natural one. Always fancied one cos of the look but with my tiny hands think the neck is too thick for me
 

GWDavis28

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Jun 23, 2003
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Mass
Nice snag congrats, very cool, I saw the question at the bottom of of the images where someone asked why you wrap the strings over the bridge?

Glenn |B)
 

Sosomething

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Aug 4, 2010
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102
Location
Indianapolis, Indiana, United States
Killer. I love the natural one. Always fancied one cos of the look but with my tiny hands think the neck is too thick for me

I don't have large hands either, but I actually prefer chunkier necks. Thin shredder-type necks cause my hands to cramp.

The necks on these have some decent girth to them in general, but really aren't noticeably thicker than the neck on my Reflex or the ones they out on Silos and Albert Lees.

Nice snag congrats, very cool, I saw the question at the bottom of of the images where someone asked why you wrap the strings over the bridge?

Glenn |B)

Well, imgur is a weird site, lol. It's just an image hosting service for Reddit, but they have their own little wad of troglodytes as users who consistently put negative comments on anything that isn't a meme.

In the case of these guitars, they ship that way from the factory. But generally when people top wrap, it's to reduce the break angle of the strings over the saddles for a slinkier feel.
 

Sosomething

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Aug 4, 2010
Messages
102
Location
Indianapolis, Indiana, United States
That’s food for thought, cos I cope fine with the Albert Lee neck

I find that as a brand, with the exception of the Petrucci and Morse models, EBMM guitars don't vary too widely in neck dimensions. It's part of what I like about them.

They are beautiful!!! Great job with the photography...

Thank you!
 

Tollywood

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Mar 23, 2011
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Rhode Island
Great pictures. Both are really beautiful guitars.

I was watching the natural one on Reverb, too. Congrats.
 

BUC

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Nov 16, 2011
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387
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Phoenix, Arizona
I have that (almost) exact black Armada. It's an amazing guitar.

Had a similar sitch with the Reflex. Now I have 2 as the Reflex is my main axe.
 

Sosomething

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Joined
Aug 4, 2010
Messages
102
Location
Indianapolis, Indiana, United States
I have that (almost) exact black Armada. It's an amazing guitar.

Had a similar sitch with the Reflex. Now I have 2 as the Reflex is my main axe.

I just love the design. It looks so unique yet plays and sounds so familiar. And the playability is just out of this world. I would love to see some backstory on the construction method behind it, because it's the only neck-through guitar I have ever seen with a neck pitch and an angled headstock. I might make a thread about that, actually.

I love the Reflex too! In between getting these Armadas, I also picked up a mint Reflex HSHP Gamechanger for a flat $1k that I could not pass up. Really, really nice guitar as well. The HSH GC has direct-mounted pickups instead of EBMM's super-adjustable pickup rings so the middle pickup interferes with my pick a bit sometimes, but since this thing is 99% a studio instrument, I'm not too worried about it. It's a better strat I've ever had, haha.
 

KDude

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Sep 24, 2019
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90
Location
Texas
Both are awesome, but I have to say I like the black more. Something about a Black Armada reminds me of a chopper (bike). Y'all should have gotten one in the hands of Hetfield :p

Also a Reflex owner here.. I see a trend here.. do we Reflex owners all love the Armada?
 

GWDavis28

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Jun 23, 2003
Messages
12,470
Location
Mass
Just saw these in the vault!!

Shop Ernie Ball Music Man - Ernie Ball Music Man Armada Guitar - Black

web-armada-burst-1.jpg


Shop Ernie Ball Music Man - Ernie Ball Music Man Armada Guitar - Black

web-armada-black-1.jpg


Glenn |B)
 
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