Valentine NGD!

[agt]

Awesome Valentino! They do have some great versatility. You may not be playing any doom metal with it but pretty much everything short of that you're golden.

Agreed! More extreme metal (not my personal interest), not so much. But everything else - totally.

Clean or lightly- to moderately-overdriven tones sound incredible.

I've mentioned the #2 switch with the neck humbucker split, but that #2 position without the neck humbucker NOT split is also very nice. Not quite the sound of the middle position of HH and not quite the sound of a bridge humbucker or single coil, but something in between. Adds a tonal color that neither a HH nor a SSS guitar can get.

 

[Astrofreq]

That's a lot of ODs. I had the BB Preamp, which is great. I guess I can say the Sound Driven is just tuned different in both the frequencies it enhances, but also the way it enhances them. It's sort of like the BB combined with the sparkle of the EP Booster.

I had the BB midboost version, and it was great. Didn't shine near as much as the Soul Driven. I have many other OD's as well, but they are so tonally different.

 

[assMan]

Nice agt! Hope to get one myself one of these days.

 

[mistercharlie]

mistercharlie, would it be possible for you to elaborate on how the 10s sound compared to the stock 11s? My guess is that lighter strings would bring out even more spank and twang from the pickups and tone woods.

Really, I didn't notice much difference. I remember worrying that the 10s would sound thinner, but in the end it just made the guitar easier to play. Same amazing 'spank' and twang. It really is the best guitar I've played.

 

[agt]

Really, I didn't notice much difference. I remember worrying that the 10s would sound thinner, but in the end it just made the guitar easier to play. Same amazing 'spank' and twang. It really is the best guitar I've played.

Thanks, mistercharlie!

 

[agt]

On the pedal topic, a Soul Driven appeared yesterday ...

It does sound fantastic with the Valentine. It sounds fantastic with all my other EBMMs. Cleans up beautifully when backing off the gain and rolling back the volume knob on the guitar. A whole bunch of other pedals I own just became obsolete. It is that good! Between it and the Friedman BE-OD (for the higher gain stuff), I'm set.

 

[Astrofreq]

I'm just selling stores' gear left and right! Lol

 

[agt]

Dude, you are on a roll! Any other cool gear you can tell me about?

Wait ... I don't think my checking account can handle any more right now!

 

[Ragnad]

I totally agree. I love the bridge single coil. T-style tone, clear and biting, but never thin.

I'm curious if other Valentine owners have kept the 11s or switched to a lighter gauge of strings. I played 11s almost exclusively for a couple of decades, so I am right at home with the 11s (except I put Cobalts on), but I enjoy 10s or 9s on some of my guitars. I may try Cobalt 10s at some point, but the Cobalt 11s sound like a great match thus far.

I switched to d'addario balanced tension 10's. i found the 11's a bit of a chore to push around, especially with the way the action was set from Sweetwater. The 10's are great, but i do have one issue. This issue is pulling the high E string off the fretboard when doing pull-offs in the first five frets. Have you encountered this?

 

[Gundar]

Hey, great looking guitar! I'm Sure it plays oh so nice too. Enjoy!

 

[agt]

I switched to d'addario balanced tension 10's. i found the 11's a bit of a chore to push around, especially with the way the action was set from Sweetwater. The 10's are great, but i do have one issue. This issue is pulling the high E string off the fretboard when doing pull-offs in the first five frets. Have you encountered this?

I have not noticed this issue on mine.

 

[mrmckinney]

I haven't encountered this either


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Fro]

No problem pulling the strings off of the fretboard on mine. Mine has the best playing neck I've held, followed closely by the neck on my Cutlass. If only the Cutlass neck was roasted and waxed

 

[wired]

Love the buttermilk finish. Dying to try one of these out. Congrats!

 

[Dominic]

I have one in Maroon and it is now my #1....took a couple months to get used to the thinner neck (this is my first EBMM guitar - but I did have an EBMM bass before). I also like the middle pickup position with the humbucker tapped / split. One thing I did change is the internal trim pots - the boost was too hot for me and I thought it lacked clarity when engaged. I knocked it almost all the way down and now it is a nice light boost to push me over the top as needed. I also went to 10s, but I like a "heavy bottom"....my playing is mostly clean.....when I do use an OD, I like the Lovepedal OD 11 and the Lunastone Wise Guy.