tjon901 « Triple P90 goodness »
Published on 12/25/11 at 13:26Reverend is a newer independent guitar maker in the United States. They have come on the scene fast with their wide ranging line of unique but familiar semi boutique guitars. They have a guitar for just about every style and sound you can think of in popular music. Their guitars are very well priced too. If you are looking to get into the market of more unique guitars Reverend is a good starting place since most of their guitars cost less than 1000 dollars. This is their Jetstream 390 guitar. The 390 in the name indicates that there are 3 P90 pickups in this model. The Jetstream model is their primary bolt on neck guitar. The body on this guitar is solid Korina like on most Reverend guitars. The neck is a bolt on maple neck with a maple fretboard. The tuners are locking Reverend tuners. The bridge on this model is a tune-o-matic. There is also a tremolo version. The controls are typical Reverend with a Volume and tone with their own bass contour switch. The pickup selector is a 5 way blade switch.
UTILIZATION
As far as playability goes Reverend never misses on their guitars. The neck on this model as with most reverend models has a 12 inch radius which is right in the range of vintage comfort with modern playability. The bolt on heel is very Fender like so it does get in the way a bit if you are playing on the higher frets but the body cutaway gives you great acess all the way up to 22. With the 3 pickup design you get the typical 3 pickup problems. The middle pickup gets in the way of picking and since this is a P90 guitar this is even worse since it is very difficult if not impossible to raise or lower the pickups. Usually on 3 pickup guitars I like to lower the middle pickup but you cant on these.
SOUNDS
A great part of this pickup configuration by Reverend is that the middle pickup is reverse wound so that when its combined with either the neck or bridge pickup you can get a hum cancelling effect. With the Reverend P90s you get that classic P90 crunch that you cant replicate with a humbucker. When the pickups are combined you get the strat style inbetween sounds that strat players like. These tones are a bit thicker but still combine the natural crunch of the pickups. The bass contour knob gives you a ton of extra versatility from the guitar. since these are single coils you cant do much to them to alter the sound. The bass contour knob gives you plenty of tone contour. With it fully engaged you get the full on P90 tone with the thickness and bottom end. If you dial it back you get a thinner tone which is more like a strat single coil pickup. This is a great way to get more versatility out of the old style single coil pickups.
OVERALL OPINION
I havent found a bad Reverend guitar in the whole line up. The company is unique in that they combine great playability and unique designs with a reasonable price that just about anyone can afford. You get great versatility as well even with the single coils thanks to the bass contour knob. The familiar strat feel and construction will not scare anyone away and the unique tonal options on this guitar is very cool. If you are a player looking for something different but not too different Reverend guitars probably has what you are looking for and at a reasonable price.
UTILIZATION
As far as playability goes Reverend never misses on their guitars. The neck on this model as with most reverend models has a 12 inch radius which is right in the range of vintage comfort with modern playability. The bolt on heel is very Fender like so it does get in the way a bit if you are playing on the higher frets but the body cutaway gives you great acess all the way up to 22. With the 3 pickup design you get the typical 3 pickup problems. The middle pickup gets in the way of picking and since this is a P90 guitar this is even worse since it is very difficult if not impossible to raise or lower the pickups. Usually on 3 pickup guitars I like to lower the middle pickup but you cant on these.
SOUNDS
A great part of this pickup configuration by Reverend is that the middle pickup is reverse wound so that when its combined with either the neck or bridge pickup you can get a hum cancelling effect. With the Reverend P90s you get that classic P90 crunch that you cant replicate with a humbucker. When the pickups are combined you get the strat style inbetween sounds that strat players like. These tones are a bit thicker but still combine the natural crunch of the pickups. The bass contour knob gives you a ton of extra versatility from the guitar. since these are single coils you cant do much to them to alter the sound. The bass contour knob gives you plenty of tone contour. With it fully engaged you get the full on P90 tone with the thickness and bottom end. If you dial it back you get a thinner tone which is more like a strat single coil pickup. This is a great way to get more versatility out of the old style single coil pickups.
OVERALL OPINION
I havent found a bad Reverend guitar in the whole line up. The company is unique in that they combine great playability and unique designs with a reasonable price that just about anyone can afford. You get great versatility as well even with the single coils thanks to the bass contour knob. The familiar strat feel and construction will not scare anyone away and the unique tonal options on this guitar is very cool. If you are a player looking for something different but not too different Reverend guitars probably has what you are looking for and at a reasonable price.