OLP and musicman??

[JPetrucci DT]

John petrucci OLP or musicman??

how does the cheaper OLP petrucci guitar stand up to the musicanman because im thinking about buyin the OLP then changing the tuners becuz i heard about how bad they were which wud cost me 400 or i cud save up for the real thing but i just have to know if the OLP is a waste of money or if its ok

any input wud be appreciated

 

[Spudmurphy]

My mate Olplayer bought one a couple of weeks ago.
We cranked it through my Pod/Marshall and it was fantastic- a great sound.

The neck felt good albeit the fret tangs felt a bit sharp.
I rectified that for him with some wet and dry - job done.

Why change the machine heads ? keep your money towards your next "proper 'ball".

It's a great looking guitar too - trans black.
Spud
Edit: he bought the olp axis

 

[Jimi D]

OLP's are great guitars for the money, but they are a Chinese-made copy, they are not made by Ernie Ball, and the only similarity between an OLP and an EBMM is the shape of the body and headstock. The neck shapes are completely different (an OLP MM1 and an EBMM Axis are night and day in the neck department), the hardware is completely different, and the woods used are different as well. Is an OLP a good guitar? Yes, for the money... Is it as good as an Ernie Ball Music Man guitar? No, not even close... Should you save up for the real thing? Well, if you're planning to spend $400 on an OLP anyway, a nice used S.U.B. 1 isn't going to cost you much more than that, so my advice to you would be, go for a S.U.B. 1... Of course, if your heart is set on a Petrucci, you'll have to save longer, but there's no doubt that an EBMM PET is a far better built and better equipped instrument than the OLP equivalent...

my 2¢

 

[Jonny Dubai]

OLP's are great guitars for the money, but they are a Chinese-made copy, they are not made by Ernie Ball, and the only similarity between an OLP and an EBMM is the shape of the body and headstock. The neck shapes are completely different (an OLP MM1 and an EBMM Axis are night and day in the neck department), the hardware is completely different, and the woods used are different as well. Is an OLP a good guitar? Yes, for the money... Is it as good as an Ernie Ball Music Man guitar? No, not even close... Should you save up for the real thing? Well, if you're planning to spend $400 on an OLP anyway, a nice used S.U.B. 1 isn't going to cost you much more than that, so my advice to you would be, go for a S.U.B. 1... Of course, if your heart is set on a Petrucci, you'll have to save longer, but there's no doubt that an EBMM PET is a far better built and better equipped instrument than the OLP equivalent...

my 2¢

yeh---what he said

Jonny

 

[Spudmurphy]

I would suggest that you look out for a second hand one - someone on the forum paid less than 100 bucks for a used OLP.
They are good for the money but quality wise and and the feel, are nothing like a proper EB.
- BUT I was amazed by the sound we got out of it.

 

[JPetrucci DT]

OLP's are great guitars for the money, but they are a Chinese-made copy, they are not made by Ernie Ball, and the only similarity between an OLP and an EBMM is the shape of the body and headstock. The neck shapes are completely different (an OLP MM1 and an EBMM Axis are night and day in the neck department), the hardware is completely different, and the woods used are different as well. Is an OLP a good guitar? Yes, for the money... Is it as good as an Ernie Ball Music Man guitar? No, not even close... Should you save up for the real thing? Well, if you're planning to spend $400 on an OLP anyway, a nice used S.U.B. 1 isn't going to cost you much more than that, so my advice to you would be, go for a S.U.B. 1... Of course, if your heart is set on a Petrucci, you'll have to save longer, but there's no doubt that an EBMM PET is a far better built and better equipped instrument than the OLP equivalent...

my 2¢

I was with u untill u said SUB 1... wut exactly is that?

 

[Jimi D]

I was with u untill u said SUB 1... wut exactly is that?

The S.U.B. 1 is Music Man's entry-level US made guitar. You can see it here:

http://www.ernieball.com/mmonline/specs/instruments_subguitar.html

 

[SubMariner61]

I would be more than happy to sell you my recently purchased Sub 1 (graphite) with twin humbuckers and tremolo. I've owned three OLP versions of the Axis guitar (they're fun to toy with) but there is NO comparison between the quality of them and the real deal and to be honest, they're a far cry from the Sub 1 series as well. $385 plus shipping.
I'll also keep the pearl tuners on the guitar for $15 more, otherwise, I'll switch 'em back to stock. I've already reinstalled the stock 'buckers since I've got a white Sub 1 enroute with my Dimarzios slated for it.
Condition report: A very small crack in the faux diamond plate pickguard (see pic) and a nick on the headstock edge near the high E tuner.

 

[Luc]

Wow if I'd have the money I would be all over that guitar! Those pearl tuners look nice on that one.

 

[SubMariner61]

Since 1979, I've purchased and owned nearly 200 guitars (give or take a few) and honestly, the Sub 1 is probably the finest guitar I've purchased new in the $600 and below range. How Ernie Ball does it is anyone's guess. There is no comparison between this and what is currently coming out of Korea or China. Those guitars are often adorned with abalone purfing/faux binding in lame attempts to make up for shoddy fret work or bargain basement electronics. Compare the tremolo block on this guitar to your typical $500 Strat and you'll know what I'm talking about. The locking tuners on this guitar I actually like MORE than Sperzels or other types which have too much mass behind the headstock. This is a better design to my eyes.
As for pickups, these are only a fraction under the tone quality of a Dimarzio or Duncan whereas in most guitars competing with the Sub 1, the pickups are trash with little or no sonic character whatsoever. When you roll off the treble to the neck humbucker, it nails that Velvet Revolver, Slash-tone about as good as anything this side of a $2500 Les Paul. The bridge has just enough bite to get you into heavy gain territory without all the mud, common with inexpensive humbuckers voiced for high gain only.
The story behind this graphite Sub 1 is funny. I originally visited a local high-end guitar shop to pick up a Peavey XXX combo I had been eyeballing for awhile and decided to match it with a 20th anniversary PRS for its test run. Hell, if I liked the PRS as much as I figured I would, I might even get the guitar as well. My checkbook was ready!
The combination sounded, as you might expect, fantastic, but I wanted to know how much of that sound was from the guitar and how much was being generated from the amp so I figured I would find something considerably less in quality to try out. I saw this textured graphite Sub 1 a few hangers down from the PRS and figured..."well, let's see if the XXX can make this budget 'Ball sound decent. If so, I know the amp is mine."
Five minutes into the test drive, I had completely forgotten about the PRS. That little beast kicked that XXX combo into such incendiary tones that it took me damn near one hour to finally put it down. I had a grin on my face, as sportswriter legend Ring Lardner once said, "you could of poured on a waffle." The neck on the Sub 1 seemed to have been built after Ernie Ball luthiers sneaked into my bedroom one night and took 100 measurements of my hands. I've had custom guitars built for $2500 whose necks didn't feel that comfortable.
As for the 20th anniversary PRS, sorry to say folks but the Music Man ate it for breakfast...and this is coming from someone who has owned six or seven PRS'. Only when I returned home did I realize the guitar is available in white (my favorite color for guitars) so I immediately ordered it and decided I would sell this one for a great price to someone probably shopping $400 Korean or Chinese-built instruments at a fraction of this guitar's quality.

 

[Spudmurphy]

I'll also keep the pearl tuners on the guitar for $15 more, otherwise, I'll switch 'em back to stock. I've already reinstalled the stock 'buckers since I've got a white Sub 1 enroute with my Dimarzios slated for it.

Where can you purchase the pearl tuners from and how much ?

 

[Tim O'Sullivan]

Where can you purchase the pearl tuners from and how much ?

I understand that you can buy the buttons from Stewmac.

The individual locking Schaller mini tuners you can buy from Warmouth:

http://www.warmoth.com/hardware/tuners/tuners.cfm?fuseaction=guitar_tuners

This way you can get a 4+2 set.

 

[Eilif]

I just love this story!

Again, welcome to the addiction!

(Koogs, to where do I mail the nickel? )

Since 1979, I've purchased and owned nearly 200 guitars (give or take a few) and honestly, the Sub 1 is probably the finest guitar I've purchased new in the $600 and below range. How Ernie Ball does it is anyone's guess. There is no comparison between this and what is currently coming out of Korea or China. Those guitars are often adorned with abalone purfing/faux binding in lame attempts to make up for shoddy fret work or bargain basement electronics. Compare the tremolo block on this guitar to your typical $500 Strat and you'll know what I'm talking about. The locking tuners on this guitar I actually like MORE than Sperzels or other types which have too much mass behind the headstock. This is a better design to my eyes.
As for pickups, these are only a fraction under the tone quality of a Dimarzio or Duncan whereas in most guitars competing with the Sub 1, the pickups are trash with little or no sonic character whatsoever. When you roll off the treble to the neck humbucker, it nails that Velvet Revolver, Slash-tone about as good as anything this side of a $2500 Les Paul. The bridge has just enough bite to get you into heavy gain territory without all the mud, common with inexpensive humbuckers voiced for high gain only.
The story behind this graphite Sub 1 is funny. I originally visited a local high-end guitar shop to pick up a Peavey XXX combo I had been eyeballing for awhile and decided to match it with a 20th anniversary PRS for its test run. Hell, if I liked the PRS as much as I figured I would, I might even get the guitar as well. My checkbook was ready!
The combination sounded, as you might expect, fantastic, but I wanted to know how much of that sound was from the guitar and how much was being generated from the amp so I figured I would find something considerably less in quality to try out. I saw this textured graphite Sub 1 a few hangers down from the PRS and figured..."well, let's see if the XXX can make this budget 'Ball sound decent. If so, I know the amp is mine."
Five minutes into the test drive, I had completely forgotten about the PRS. That little beast kicked that XXX combo into such incendiary tones that it took me damn near one hour to finally put it down. I had a grin on my face, as sportswriter legend Ring Lardner once said, "you could of poured on a waffle." The neck on the Sub 1 seemed to have been built after Ernie Ball luthiers sneaked into my bedroom one night and took 100 measurements of my hands. I've had custom guitars built for $2500 whose necks didn't feel that comfortable.
As for the 20th anniversary PRS, sorry to say folks but the Music Man ate it for breakfast...and this is coming from someone who has owned six or seven PRS'. Only when I returned home did I realize the guitar is available in white (my favorite color for guitars) so I immediately ordered it and decided I would sell this one for a great price to someone probably shopping $400 Korean or Chinese-built instruments at a fraction of this guitar's quality.

 

[Sub1 Zero]

i would agree with these guys and say to go with the Sub1... although the OLP's aren't bad, a used Sub will absolutely kill it

 

[RAL]

Yea...The Sub1 is an outstanding instrument. It simply can't be beat for the price.
I have a HH w/trem. Did replace the neck PU with a Dimarzio Air Norton.

I agree with SubMariner61 that most of the Korean and Chinese stuff is pretty weak. One exception that I know of is the Parker "P" series. These are pretty fine.

R

 

[Magic Twanger]

Great Story about the SUB1.

I've currently got one on order and will be dumping a PRS Custom 24 to make room for it.

Those necks are incredible.

How do you find the trem?
Do they stay in tune all right?

By the way Submariner check your PM....

Magic