All user reviews for the Reverend Manta Ray 290

Reverend is a pretty small guitar maker but they are hitting the scene big with their high quality guitars sold at great prices. The names of the models tells you all you need to know about the guitar. This is the Manta Ray their semi-hollow ES-335 type guitar. The FM in the same tells you that this is the flame top model and the 290 in the name tells you that this guitar comes with 2 P90 pickups. It has a semi-hollow design with a Korina body with a maple top and Korina set neck. The neck has 22 frets and a rosewood fretboard. The scale is the traditional Gibson scale. Up top on the headstock there are Reverend pinlock tuners. The bridge is a traditional tune-o-matic design. The pickups are a set of Reverend P90s. The controls on this guitar are simple but traditional Reverend. You get a master volume and master tone with a bass contour knob which they are known for. The pickups are selected with a 3 way switch.

UTILIZATION

This guitar plays as great as any guitar this style can. With the sharp cutaways you have great access to the upper frets. The big semi-hollow body makes you have to reach around it to play but thats part of the game. Reverend uses a single F-hole to reduce high volume feedback which is smart. Locking tuners are great and nowadays every guitar should come with them. The pickup selector is kind of in a strange place, similar to a PRS SE model. Im not really a fan of knobs on pickguards. Thats kind of a Jazz guitar thing. It does give a clean look of all the knobs in a row though.

SOUNDS

P90s are my favorite kind of single coil. This combined with the woody open tone of a semi-hollow guitar gives you great tone all around. P90s are great because they have the twang and stringy clarity of a single coil with the body of a humbucker.The bass contour knob opens up a whole new range of tones with the guitar. With the bass contour fully engaged you get the full blast of tone with the full P90 low end. If you dial it back it sounds more like a strat single coil. You cant really split a P90 so this adds a lot of versatility to the sound. You can go from quack to jazzy with either pickup with the contour knob.

OVERALL OPINION

If you are looking for a semi-hollow you should check out this Reverend. It has all the tone and features of a big dollar guitar but sold at a reasonable price. When you get a Reverend you are getting way more guitar for your money than with other companies. If you dont support these smaller companies when they are making and selling things for reasonable prices they will either stop or just start selling super boutique items no one can afford. Do yourself a favor and check out a Reverend if you can find one.

Reverend is a small guitar maker out of America making high quality guitars for very decent prices. They have a wide range of guitars falling into two catagories set neck and bolt on. This is one of their set neck models. This is their Manta Ray model with two P90 pickups as you can tell by the name. It has a semi-hollow design with a Korina body with a maple top and Korina set neck. The neck has 22 frets and a rosewood fretboard. The scale is the traditional Gibson scale. Up top on the headstock there are Reverend pinlock tuners. The bridge is a traditional tune-o-matic design. The pickups are a set of Reverend P90s. The controls are typical Reverend as well with a volume and tone with their famous bass contour knob. There is a 3 way toggle to switch between the pickups with.

UTILIZATION

Reverend guitars play very well. The body design on this guitar allows very good access to the upper frets. Because of the big semi-hollow design you will find yourself reaching around the guitar a bit but that happens on just about any guitar of this type. Because they only use a single F-hole there is even less feedback so you can treat this guitar like it was a solid body. Locking tuners are great and nowadays every guitar should come with them. The pickup selector is kind of in a strange place, similar to a PRS model. I would like it to be closer to the rest of the controls but it is not bad.

SOUNDS

P90s are some of my favorite pickups and that matched with the classy tone of a semi hollow works very well together. The P90s add a good amount of twang to the semi-hollow mellowness. P90s are twangy full bodied pickups. The bass contour knob opens up a whole new range of tones with the guitar. With the bass contour fully engaged you get the full blast of tone with the full P90 low end. If you dial it back it sounds more like a strat single coil. This adds lots of versatility to a P90 which you cant split. These features matched with the woody semi-hollow tone means you have tone from top to bottom.

OVERALL OPINION

I dont know where else you can find a semi-hollow guitar with P90s for less than a thousand dollars. That alone is pretty amazing. But this guitar also has the tone to back it up. With Reverend you get tons of guitar for the price. More and more smaller companies are showing the big guys what you can do with less resources. If you are looking for a well priced American made guitar with huge tone you should check out this Reverend.