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tjon901 « Daves new Dean »
Published on 12/21/11 at 10:23The newer Dave Mustaine Angel of Deth guitar is one of his new signature model. It has a crazy angel paintjob that looks like something out of Assassins Creed or Constantine. The specs on this guitar are pretty similar to his ESP signature V before this and the old Jackson King V before that. It has a mahogany body with a neck through mahogany neck. The neck has an ebony fretboard with 24 jumbo frets and the strange sharkfin and dot inlays. Up top on the headstock there are Grover tuners and the bridge is Tonepros locking unit. The guitar comes stock with straplocks which are cool. The pickups in this guitar are Daves signature Seymour Duncan pickups. They are Seymour Duncan Livewire Dave Mustaine pickups. The controls are two volumes with a master tone and a 3 way toggle switch.
UTILIZATION
These King V style V guitars are huge. You dont really realize how big and broad they are. The neck shape is pretty cool. It has a very soft V profile to the neck that comes from the Dean DNA. Factory straplocks are cool. Thats an even rarer thing than locking tuners and locking bridges nowadays. With the factory straplocks this guitar is really gig ready out of the box. The Tonepros locking bridge is one of the best tune-o-matics on the market. It is locked in place so it isnt held on by string tension so when you take the strings off it stays on and it also gives you less wiggle and more sustain. The only problem with these bridges is that you need an allen wrench to unlock them. Epiphone has a clip and spring system so you do not need any tools to unlock their bridges but it is not that big of a problem since you use the same tools for the rest of the guitar.
SOUNDS
The Dave Mustaine livewire pickups were some of the first active pickups Seymour Duncan made. They are super hot. To me they are hotter than EMG's or Blackouts. These pickups retain the basic feel and quality of the JB/Jazz setup and adds a clarity and high gain composure to the sound. The bridge pickup is like a JB with more bite. It cuts even better than the passive JB does. The pickups are super clear and everything you play will come out, the good and the bad. The neck pickup is like a Jazz with a similar treatment. The Jazz was already a clear sounding pickup and now it has even more clarity. You can get a lot of different lead tones from the neck position by using the tone and volume control. If you are a big fan of the classic JB/Jazz setup but the passive set isnt quite cutting it for the type of music you are playing.
OVERALL OPINION
The paintjob on this guitar is pretty much what makes it special. Dave is a super Christian guy so recently he has begun putting Christian and Angel stuff on his guitars. Some people may like that but I think only the hardcore Mustaine fans will want a guitar like this over a plain black or white model. Other than that this is a good solid guitar. It has the unique active Dave Mustaine pickups which are like no other active pickups on the market. This guitar also has straplocks from the factory which makes it ready to gig right out of the box.
UTILIZATION
These King V style V guitars are huge. You dont really realize how big and broad they are. The neck shape is pretty cool. It has a very soft V profile to the neck that comes from the Dean DNA. Factory straplocks are cool. Thats an even rarer thing than locking tuners and locking bridges nowadays. With the factory straplocks this guitar is really gig ready out of the box. The Tonepros locking bridge is one of the best tune-o-matics on the market. It is locked in place so it isnt held on by string tension so when you take the strings off it stays on and it also gives you less wiggle and more sustain. The only problem with these bridges is that you need an allen wrench to unlock them. Epiphone has a clip and spring system so you do not need any tools to unlock their bridges but it is not that big of a problem since you use the same tools for the rest of the guitar.
SOUNDS
The Dave Mustaine livewire pickups were some of the first active pickups Seymour Duncan made. They are super hot. To me they are hotter than EMG's or Blackouts. These pickups retain the basic feel and quality of the JB/Jazz setup and adds a clarity and high gain composure to the sound. The bridge pickup is like a JB with more bite. It cuts even better than the passive JB does. The pickups are super clear and everything you play will come out, the good and the bad. The neck pickup is like a Jazz with a similar treatment. The Jazz was already a clear sounding pickup and now it has even more clarity. You can get a lot of different lead tones from the neck position by using the tone and volume control. If you are a big fan of the classic JB/Jazz setup but the passive set isnt quite cutting it for the type of music you are playing.
OVERALL OPINION
The paintjob on this guitar is pretty much what makes it special. Dave is a super Christian guy so recently he has begun putting Christian and Angel stuff on his guitars. Some people may like that but I think only the hardcore Mustaine fans will want a guitar like this over a plain black or white model. Other than that this is a good solid guitar. It has the unique active Dave Mustaine pickups which are like no other active pickups on the market. This guitar also has straplocks from the factory which makes it ready to gig right out of the box.