Anyone bought/tried a SBMM AX30 yet?

[TonyEVH5150]

I was flipping through Musician's Friend last night, and saw that the SBMM AX30 is available now. I've been thinking about getting one, but I wanted to see if anyone has tried one out yet.

Anyone had a crack at one yet?

 

[phaeton]

I bought an AX30 on Saturday. Haven't had much time with it yet but so far so good

http://img856.imageshack.us/i/dsc1020.jpg/
http://img829.imageshack.us/i/dsc1024r.jpg/
http://img821.imageshack.us/i/dsc1026i.jpg/
http://img59.imageshack.us/i/dsc1032f.jpg/

 

[Steve T]

I thought the exact same thing. I love my EBMM Super Sport. If the AX30 comes even somewhat close to that tone, I'll definitely be buying one.

If anyone has played an AX30 (and can compare it to a Super Sport), please let us know your thoughts.

 

[Steve T]

Wow, Phaeton...that looks really nice. Thanks for the pics.

Please let us know how she sounds once you take her for a spin.

 

[TonyEVH5150]

I went ahead and ordered one. Happy to post my review once I get it in.

 

[phaeton]

I'm enjoying this guitar. I'm can't comment on the tone versus the EBMM Axis model but this AX30 certainly has some character. The setup from factory was nice and low with the intonation set properly. Feels really nice to play. It's giving my Strat are run for it's money.

I haven't changed the strings or done my setup on it yet but I did notice a couple of assembly issues.

One of the tuners doesn't seem to be seated into the headstock properly. The washer under the tuner is loose and rattling while i'm playing. I plan on restring it tonight and at the same time i'll remove the tuner and re-seat it. Hopefully the nut wasn't crossthread.

Another issue i've seen is when i removed the cover for the trem cavity. Where the screws are there are some chips/cracks in the finish. With the trem cover on these are not visible.

The sides of cover for the control cavity is very roughly cut but when it is installed it is not something you see.

Other then these issues, which I will take some pictures tonight and post them here for you to see, the guitar is a blast to play.

 

[TonyEVH5150]

I got mine tonight just as the Nashville/Anaheim game was starting (Go Preds!!). The fit and finish look great on mine. Very nice cherryburst on quilted maple. There is a slight rough spot on the neck, but I'm going to hit it with steel wool.

A couple of smal things that I did notice: The tuners are standard non-locking tuners. It's an odd choice given EBMM's standard of locking tuners on trem guitars. I had owned a Silo 30 that did have locking tuners. And The guitar does have a 5-way switch. I thought most of the descriptions said it was a 3-way switch. Actually a happy surprise there.

In positions 4 and 2, there is a slight volume drop, but it does yield a nice single coil twang.

The pickups on the AX30 are eerily similar to the Axis pickups. They have alot of punch and clarity. The neck pickup is not muddy, which is a rare find for me.

The trem can handle vibrato and mild divebombing. If you go nuts and drop it to hell, it won't come back in tune. It will probably do better with some graphite in the nut slots, and maybe locking tuners.

I did do some very simple audio samples. Both run through all five positions, starting at the bridge and ending with the neck. The first is clean with a little reverb. the Second is a dimed Marshall tone with a little delay.

Ax30 samples by TonyEVH5150 on SoundCloud - Create, record and share your sounds for free

 

[phaeton]

I emailed Sterling about the 5way switch setup this is how it is setup:

Position 1, the switch tip should be pointed towards the neck.

1-Neck humbucker - series, full output
2-neck hubucker - parallel, cleaner tone, little less output
3-neck humbucker and bridge humbucker together, all 4 coils active.
4-inside coils of neck and bridge pickups together - chimey, bright, funky,
great for country, funk tones.
5-bridge humbucker - series, full output.

 

[phaeton]

As promised, here are some of the pics

 

[Mark-NL]

Still, great quilt on that top! I'd say it sucks!

edit: since you have 5 posts here, you might nog realise that "it sucks" actually means "WOW, VERY nice quilt"....just so we're clear on that...

 

[phaeton]

Still, great quilt on that top! I'd say it sucks!

edit: since you have 5 posts here, you might nog realise that "it sucks" actually means "WOW, VERY nice quilt"....just so we're clear on that...

Thanks Mark-NL. I figured that was most likely the case

 

[owkenobi]

I've got an axis super sport and last year I bought an ax40 as a backup. The ax30 looks pretty great.