tjon901 « Mike Amott ESP »
Published on 08/09/11 at 22:20This was Mike Amotts signature ESP for the short time he played for them. He is one of the guitar players for the popular band Arch Enemy. For a long time he played an ESP custom flying V which looked a lot like a Gibson. Then he decided to switch to a real ESP and this is what we got. He was part of the large wave of players that switched to ESP just to switch to something else a short time later. Krank amps also had a large influx of players for a short time also around the same time. This guitar has a pretty basic construction. It has a modified Flying V shape with a mahogany body. The guitar has set neck construction with a mahogany neck with a rosewood fretboard. The fretboard has 22 jumbo frets. The pickups in this guitar is a classic set of Seymour Duncans. It has a JB in the bridge and a 59 in the neck. The controls are slightly unusual as it has two volume knobs and no tone knob with its 3 way selector. It has a reflective chrome pickguard which gets covered in fingerprints instantly. It has locking tuners up top and a locking bridge at the bottom.
UTILIZATION
The neck on this guitar is pretty fat. It feels like a real Gibson when it comes to the neck. The body has some hard edges on it. They wont cut you or anything but they can be pretty uncomfortable. The mirror pickguard gets dirty in like 5 secconds. It gets covered in fingerrprints so fast it is annoying. The dual volumes and no tone is unusual. I thought it was a master volume and master tone at first. Locking tuners and locking bridge are great. Every guitar should have locking tuners even if it doesnt have a tremolo. Locking tuners lock everything down so you can pickup the guitar after weeks and it will still be in tune. The locking bridge is great if you change strings a lot. The tune-o-matic is normally held on with string tension. Without this it can fall off. These locking bridges are locked on and dont fall off.
SOUNDS
Although being in a death metal band. Mike has a pretty old school tone and feel to his playing. You can really hear this in his other band Spritual Beggars. The pickup set in this guitar gives an old school tone and feel as well. The JB in the bridge is what you find in a ton of Gibsons. The JB is the benchmark hot rodded PAF. It gives you classic tone but with modern output and old school feel with modern tightness. It is a classic design from Seymour Duncan and is one of their most popular models. The 59 in the neck is another classic pickup. The 59 Jazz combination is a classic combination and Seymour Duncan sell them as a set. The 59 is closer to the original PAF sound than the JB. I guess it would be a cool rod instead of a hot rod. It gives you super smooth lead tones. The blues just pours out of the neck pickup on this guitar. Throw in some wah and you are in blues heaven. You can be like mike and call this metal heaven too because that is exactly what he does.
OVERALL OPINION
I really dug Amotts old ESP Flying V copies so I was a bit disappointed when these first came out. There were a few in between models That I remember seeing. Traditional shaped Flying V's but with chrome pickguards and what not. This was a pretty radical depature from what he had been playing for nearly a decade But once I played one I realized it had all the sound and feel that Amotts old V's had but now they could make a signature model of it and get it out to the fans and kids. If you are like me and like his old Flying V setup you can get an Edwards Flying V just like his old one with the rounded headstock and block inlays and everything. If you are a newer fan you probably know him better for this guitar and the Deans. I prefer this over the Deans also. On the base level you get a Flying V with a slightly more metal shape and excellent pickups. What more could you want.
UTILIZATION
The neck on this guitar is pretty fat. It feels like a real Gibson when it comes to the neck. The body has some hard edges on it. They wont cut you or anything but they can be pretty uncomfortable. The mirror pickguard gets dirty in like 5 secconds. It gets covered in fingerrprints so fast it is annoying. The dual volumes and no tone is unusual. I thought it was a master volume and master tone at first. Locking tuners and locking bridge are great. Every guitar should have locking tuners even if it doesnt have a tremolo. Locking tuners lock everything down so you can pickup the guitar after weeks and it will still be in tune. The locking bridge is great if you change strings a lot. The tune-o-matic is normally held on with string tension. Without this it can fall off. These locking bridges are locked on and dont fall off.
SOUNDS
Although being in a death metal band. Mike has a pretty old school tone and feel to his playing. You can really hear this in his other band Spritual Beggars. The pickup set in this guitar gives an old school tone and feel as well. The JB in the bridge is what you find in a ton of Gibsons. The JB is the benchmark hot rodded PAF. It gives you classic tone but with modern output and old school feel with modern tightness. It is a classic design from Seymour Duncan and is one of their most popular models. The 59 in the neck is another classic pickup. The 59 Jazz combination is a classic combination and Seymour Duncan sell them as a set. The 59 is closer to the original PAF sound than the JB. I guess it would be a cool rod instead of a hot rod. It gives you super smooth lead tones. The blues just pours out of the neck pickup on this guitar. Throw in some wah and you are in blues heaven. You can be like mike and call this metal heaven too because that is exactly what he does.
OVERALL OPINION
I really dug Amotts old ESP Flying V copies so I was a bit disappointed when these first came out. There were a few in between models That I remember seeing. Traditional shaped Flying V's but with chrome pickguards and what not. This was a pretty radical depature from what he had been playing for nearly a decade But once I played one I realized it had all the sound and feel that Amotts old V's had but now they could make a signature model of it and get it out to the fans and kids. If you are like me and like his old Flying V setup you can get an Edwards Flying V just like his old one with the rounded headstock and block inlays and everything. If you are a newer fan you probably know him better for this guitar and the Deans. I prefer this over the Deans also. On the base level you get a Flying V with a slightly more metal shape and excellent pickups. What more could you want.