GuitarHack
Well-known member
- Joined
- Jun 22, 2006
- Messages
- 981
J-Nick:J-Nick said:
To my admittedly amateur ear, the rosewood top (and I assume neck plays a big role here as well) Axis has an almost instantaneous, popping sort of attack. It is warm and thick and pleasing, yet with very good articulation, and the note sort of keeps blooming after that. It smooths out the single coil MM90s nicely...if you want smooth. The maple top (and neck) is sharper and brighter, with a more pronounced decay. Or, to put it another way, I guess the rosewood sounds more compressed, whereas the maple is more lively and articulated. Both sounds are EXCELLENT.
There's also a big difference when playing chords, either clean or overdriven. On the rosewood, it's like you can hear every note coming at you equally, the definition is so good that it's like six different guitarists are playing one note each. The notes of the chord all decay more equally...you're not left with just the bass notes toward the end on the rosewood guitar.
Which do I prefer? That's tough. I think I like the maple better on the MM90 guitars, since the additional articulation seems to go better with the single coil "Tele-on-steroids" vibe. But, I have to say, the rosewood Axis with humbuckers is A-FREAKIN'-MAZING!!! I don't have a maple topped humbucker Axis SS to compare it too (yet), but I've never played a better sounding, more versatile guitar than the rosewood ASS with humbuckers. The basswood body on the humbucker Axis (versus the ash body of the MM90s) probably figures in, but whatever, if you haven't tried a rosewood Axis, do yourself a favor and find one, I doubt you'll be disappointed.
My $0.02, YMMV.
Regards,
GH
