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Published on 12/31/11 at 09:28The Peavey Wolfgang Special was a slightly lower priced version of the top of the line archtop Wolfgang Standard. It was still made in the USA and offered the same core shape and tones, but it didn't have the arched maple cap, and certain parts were of slightly lower tier (IE: cheaper tuners, regular rock maple neck instead of birdseye maple, etc). It featured a basswood body, a maple neck with 22 frets, standard tuners, a Peavey licensed locking tremolo with EVH's own D Tuna onboard and a pair of EVH designed Peavey humbuckers wired to a single volume control and a 3 way toggle switch. Simple, yet effective.
UTILIZATION
The design of the Wolfie Special is quite ergonomic. I found it to be quite light and the shape felt like an old friend when I strapped it on. The neck is one of my favourite profiles in a guitar. It has a nice baseball bat sort of feel, but is not quite as wide, and is also asymmetrical as well. This combined with the tung oil neck finish on raw maple feels ridiculously good and allows for some extremely fast and precise playing. The upper fret access is great because the heel is actually contoured out a bit on the back to allow the whole hand to slide up a bit further than on a typical Strat or Tele. Getting a good sound is reasonably easy. There aren't a lot of switching options on this guitar but if you're using a great amp you can get some killer tones, both clean and distorted.
SOUNDS
This guitar may appear as a bit of a one trick pony, and it more or less is intended to play mainly hard rock styles, but using the right combination of amps and effects can be quite rewarded for versatility's sake. Through a nice clean amp with a bit of reverb, the guitar has some nice jazzy or bluesy tones, especially using the neck pickup only. I found the bridge pickup a little bit too high output to do any real pristine clean tones myself. Switching to drive tones brings you into rock city. The neck pickup is very fluid and clear, great for rock or shred lead work, and the bridge pickup is pure Van Halen. It's quite biting and aggressive, but has a nice vintage feel to it at its core a-la an old PAF being overloaded into a hot rodded amp. It works great for rock riffage or really harmonically driven lead work.
OVERALL OPINION
All in all I think the Peavey Wolfgang Special is a great buy for someone who wants a great EVH guitar for under $1000, or even just a great hard rock guitar with the best of both worlds between a Les Paul and a Superstrat. They can be had used for about $600 which is a great deal considering you're getting a high quality USA made instrument that will stand the test of time. It's not the most versatile instrument out there, but if you're looking for a killer rock n' roll ax, this is one for the books.
UTILIZATION
The design of the Wolfie Special is quite ergonomic. I found it to be quite light and the shape felt like an old friend when I strapped it on. The neck is one of my favourite profiles in a guitar. It has a nice baseball bat sort of feel, but is not quite as wide, and is also asymmetrical as well. This combined with the tung oil neck finish on raw maple feels ridiculously good and allows for some extremely fast and precise playing. The upper fret access is great because the heel is actually contoured out a bit on the back to allow the whole hand to slide up a bit further than on a typical Strat or Tele. Getting a good sound is reasonably easy. There aren't a lot of switching options on this guitar but if you're using a great amp you can get some killer tones, both clean and distorted.
SOUNDS
This guitar may appear as a bit of a one trick pony, and it more or less is intended to play mainly hard rock styles, but using the right combination of amps and effects can be quite rewarded for versatility's sake. Through a nice clean amp with a bit of reverb, the guitar has some nice jazzy or bluesy tones, especially using the neck pickup only. I found the bridge pickup a little bit too high output to do any real pristine clean tones myself. Switching to drive tones brings you into rock city. The neck pickup is very fluid and clear, great for rock or shred lead work, and the bridge pickup is pure Van Halen. It's quite biting and aggressive, but has a nice vintage feel to it at its core a-la an old PAF being overloaded into a hot rodded amp. It works great for rock riffage or really harmonically driven lead work.
OVERALL OPINION
All in all I think the Peavey Wolfgang Special is a great buy for someone who wants a great EVH guitar for under $1000, or even just a great hard rock guitar with the best of both worlds between a Les Paul and a Superstrat. They can be had used for about $600 which is a great deal considering you're getting a high quality USA made instrument that will stand the test of time. It's not the most versatile instrument out there, but if you're looking for a killer rock n' roll ax, this is one for the books.