review request: rosewood axis w/ MM90s

[withmyshadow]

can someone give a review of those?

 

[Bazaboy]

I've got a Rosewood Axis Super Sport MM90 with tremolo and it is truly a joy to play. The MM90's sound great & have just enough bite. The guitar is perhaps the most resonant guitar that I've owned (and I've owned too many). I'm still working on the string height & truss rod tension. I've got it about dialed in there, except for the 17th fret on G-B-E strings for some reason. I digress. The neck pickup sounds great clean or dirty. I like the bridge dirty only. Both on slightly dirty is my favorite. If you are looking for sparkle & meat, I don't think that you can go wrong with it. If you are looking for heavier tones, you may want to go with the humbuckers. Personally, I'm looking to get a HSH Silo to cover the heavier stuff... I'd check one out. I bought mine on a whim. My first EBMM guitar & I've no regrets. That quickly led to the purchase of an HSS Silo from the Bay. Now I'm looking for a third & considering selling my Strat & Gretsch Committee. They're addictive like tattoos. Good luck.

 

[withmyshadow]

thank you very much,
did you compare it with a regular axis ss with maple top and neck?
and judging from this line, this model should suit me well when playing blues.

If you are looking for sparkle & meat, I don't think that you can go wrong with it. If you are looking for heavier tones, you may want to go with the humbuckers.

 

[Big Mike]

I bet it would be killer. I have the HB'd version, and there's some very groovy mojo going on with the wood combination. I'd love to have the P90'd version as well.

 

[withmyshadow]

my major gripe is it's so rare to see an used MM90 axis on the bay while the HH's pop up every other day, and my money is tight for a new one

 

[beej]

Well look on the plus side- you've got great taste and like an axe that is in demand - one that everybody holds on to

 

[GuitarHack]

To my ear, the rosewood 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.

All that said, I may be parting with my MM90 rosewood...I bought it while waiting for an EBMM I ordered with trem and piezo , and that one is my main MM90 guitar (pictured in my avatar). If you're interested, let me know, maybe we could help each other out.

Regards,
GH

 

[Funky Chicken]

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.
Regards,
GH

What he said.

 

[Bazaboy]

thank you very much,
did you compare it with a regular axis ss with maple top and neck?
and judging from this line, this model should suit me well when playing blues.

No problem. I didn't really compare it to the humbucker model. I was looking to pick up a P90 guitar. I think that you couldn't possibly go wrong with the Rosewood ASS MM90 for the Blues.

"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."

True, true, true.

 

[Astrofreq]

Man, I LOVE it. I have two MM90 SS, one rosewood, one regular. THERE IS Definitely a difference. The Rosewood is just flat out darker and meaner sounding. If you do any drop D tuning at all, you will eat it up. Just rocks. The regular EVH pickups are great too, but they are much tighter overall. The MM90s have more break up to them, giving them the "bite" everyone talks about.

BTW, I had to special order mine to get the options I wanted. Well worth the wait.