Schecter Hellraiser C-1

The Schecter C1 Hellraiser is an excellent playing guitar that possesses much more charm than you might think. The C-1 has a mahogany body and set mahogany neck with what Schecter calls an "ultra-access" cutaway. As far as electronics are concerned, the C-1 is EMG equipped with an 81 and an 89 wired into a 3 way blade switch, shared tone, and two push pull volumes that split the coils in the pickups. The appointments such as the body binding and cross inlays look a lot more appealing in person than in stock photos and lend the guitar a more expensive feel. I'm not a fan of over the top metal guitars but something about the looks of the hellraiser seemed restrained and thought out.

UTILIZATION

The strings are loaded thru-body to a tone pros Tune-o-matic bridge, adding sustain and clarity to the guitar. I enjoyed the feel of the neck and noted that the frets were in better shape than most Gibson USA guitars I've played. The cutaway provides ample maneuverability with the upper registers of the guitar, living up to it's "ultra-access" banner. Tuning stability was average with the guitar. The inclusion of active pickups and coil tap functionality is something otherwise unseen on guitars in the sub $1000 range.

SOUNDS

I played the Schecter through a Mesa boogie Stietto Deuce. Mesa 4x12 cab. No pedals.

The guitar handles every genre with finesse. The strings have an elasticity to the feel that resembles the playability of the newer plek'd Les Paul Traditionals. The C-1 has a great deal of sustain and not clarity both in clean and heavily distorted passages. The guitar is on the darker side of the spectrum but markedly brighter than most all-mahogany Gibsons.

OVERALL OPINION

The Schecter C-1 Hellraiser is a lesson in refinement that most guitar company's geared toward aggressive stylings could learn from. It's very obviously a "metal" guitar, but when you hold it in person with light hitting it, it has a very classy vibe going on. The binding and the active electronics give the consumer a sense that they are getting their money's worth-- which, to be honest, doesn't happen often these days.

This guitar is meant to take on the mid to high end ESP shred guitars. This guitar has a lot of the same features that you would find on an ESP with some extra touches. This guitar has the more modern design of making a shred guitar that can handle the modern music with low tunings. This guitar has a mahogany body and with a set mahogany neck. The neck has a rosewood fretboard with 24 jumbo frets. The pickups in this guitar are a fully active set of EMG's. You get an 81tw in the bridge and an a 89 in the neck. These are special EMG's because they are both splittable. Up top you have locking schecter tuners with a tonepros string through tune-o-matic bridge. The controls are two volume knobs with a master tone. Both the volume knobs have push pull pots so you can split either pickup into single coil mode. There is a 3 way toggle to switch between the pickups.

UTILIZATION

The arch top design is very comfortable and pretty different than what you would get on most shred guitars. The cutaways are pretty deep and give you good access to the upper frets. The necks on Schecter guitars are pretty big compared to a lot of other shred guitars so that will take some getting use to. I love the tonepros locking tune-o-matic. They lock down in place reducing wiggle and this increases sustain. They also do not fall off when you are changing strings. The locking tuners up top are nice as well. Schecter is really stepping up their game.

SOUNDS

Unlike a lot of guitars with EMG's this guitar has a pretty versatile sound thanks to the switching functions. The 81 is a classic EMG design and the 81tw just adds more functionality to the pickup. In full humbucker mode the 81 is a beast. It has a searing high gain metal sound. When I play music with a lot of palm muting I can get an awesome tone. The 81 really shines when you are playing tight chugging riffs. With the tune-o-matic bridge you dont have to worry about a tremolo going out of tune when you are trying to do heavy palm mutes. Tight chugging riffs and single note lines are what this pickup is best at. When you downtune all these traits just help to keep the sound nice and tight. It is very hard to get a muddy sound from this pickup. The TW came out in 2008 and has the dual mode function like the 89. It is like 2 pickups built into one. You get an 81 with a single coil in the case. It provides a good true single coil sound. You arent really splitting the pickup you are just turning on another pickup inside the case. The 89 is the original "splitting" EMG pickups. It is like an 85 but with the single coil pickup built in as well. In the neck the 85 is a great pickup. It has a smoother sound that works better for leads in the neck position. So with this guitar you essentially get 4 pickups, two EMG S models and an 81 and 85.

OVERALL OPINION

This guitar is meant to do battle with the likes of ESP. This guitar has much of the same features as its ESP counterparts but with slight tweaks that give it a slight advantage overall. You do not see many companies using the dual mode EMG's. This really shows that they want to add an air of versatility to the guitar. This is not just a metal machine it can get your good clean tones too but overall this guitar is pretty beastly.

Characteristics have already been said

I had the first version, with EMG 81 and 85 non splitable.

Excellent guitar, but kept only 3 weeks because it has not convinced me in the end: continue reading ...

UTILIZATION

This really is a quality instrument.
A great violin, a properly calibrated weight, excellent balance, a perfect finish ...
In short we feel that we have in our hands a reliable instrument and "longlife" after 5 seconds of the game not even connected.

The sustain is remarkable

Being an addict Gibson in terms of handle (knacki my balls and my big palms like tuning forks and short sleeves a little overweight), the handle (pitch fender) is a treat because it is not a caricature like Ibanez for example. .. He keeps such a small head side thickness, ideal for riffer comfortably, which seems to refine the acute ... Short form handle which, in addition to its comfort, it gives a true versatility in terms of game

Access to acute is perfect ... This is a guy who plays Gibby SG who said ...

The hardware is super strong, reliable etc ... We are really confident, which at this price is still rare!

SOUNDS

It is true that not buy this type of instrument to funk, country or back in the text and notes Robert Johnsonn ...

With electronics it is clear that this tool is more than comfortable in genres bleeding ... And that for copper, zinc, aluminum, stainless steel and even titanium is the ideal shovel whatever metal you play. In terms of range, it is well above an LTD, and a bit below an ESP ...

After I have still not caught, or rather I was very frustrated very quickly by both EMG ... I soon felt that they completely have stifled the instrument: it has such a quality violin (which means not connected: sustain, harmonics, brightness, and heat - mid made by the construction mahogany neck + stuck ...) that the microphones are unable to highlight ... Brief EMG EMG make us, giving the feeling that they scoff at the guitar in which they are placed ...

In short it is objectively good, even very good, but I find this terrible frustration, non-development of the electronic violin by choice.

OVERALL OPINION

As said by introducing an excellent instrument, I bought more at very low prices (and sold more expensive ...), but finally made a meteoric passage into my set.

A versatile little guitar, especially a small inconsistency in my opinion between violin and electronics.

on the other hand (it will be another opinion soon), regretting its comfort and violin character, but I plunged for a blackjack ATX ... and then, finally REVELATION: we really hear the guitar and not only micro ... And it confirms that the C-1 are excellent shovels!

I do not think I need to redefine the characteristics

UTILIZATION

The handle is very nice, no matter the position: the left hand cut is really perfect and the 24 fret widely accessible. It is a pleasure to play in the treble. It may seem a bit much at first, especially if you like me comes from Fender, or Ibanez.

In terms of weight, it's still not very heavy, it can easily take several hours standing without bursting.

SOUNDS

I play mainly Heavy Metal, Progressive Metal, Death Metal and Black Metal. This guitar is part of what is best for these kinds of music.

I do not play on my computer but amps, but I have not much to complain about, the sound is really good, what there is always room for progress.

Sometimes I play a little jazz with the neck pickup (and appropriate settings). I would really like to try this with other stringed active pickups and a split, because the grain of the guitar would sound good with a simple.

OVERALL OPINION

I use this guitar since 2010. I hesitate between Ibanez, LTD and other brands specializing in Metal, but my choice was focused on it because it has an excellent value, especially since I bought it at more than half the original price at the output of this model (bought second-hand 500 euros lead guitarist Loudblast).

So I want to offer me other brand models for different tunings.