tommy wrote: Fri Jan 27, 2023 9:18 am Picked up a 2011 Rickenbacker 360 in a trade from FM Owen.

Every Ric I've ever had came with issues and this one was no exception. The neck was far from straight, the action high, and I could not get anything heavier than 009s on it due to the tiny nut slots in the A and D. Nut slots were also a little too high. After a little tinkering I could not get it set up worth a shit but boy did it sound great. I do not understand the hate on the High Gain pickups, at least not these. Relatively noise free for a single coil pickup. Maybe people are always just expecting the thinner toaster sound. Took it to Geoff Benge who worked some magic and now it plays like butter with heavier strings on it. Neck is now almost dead straight (there's still a very small kickup on the treble side but the action will still go low without issues.

I was skeptical about these guitars, having had a 90s one sometime around 2005 that was a squealing feedback machine (and not in a good way). I couldn't get that one loud enough in a band situation with a 50-watt amp. Also, every one I've ever pickup up at guitar shops always felt like a plinky, janky toy. I'm pleasantly surprised by this guitar now. Rocked it for about 3 hours last night at "band practice" (we aren't really a band, just guitar and drums) and really enjoyed playing it. Sounded awesome through a Marshall 2204.

Anyway, I guess my review is that Rickenbackers are not precision instruments, but boy do they sound great.

tommy wrote: Fri Jan 27, 2023 9:46 am Interesting. I thought the 330 had dual truss rods too. My truss rod cover comes off pretty easily without unstringing.

Tip for Ric owners (and Gibson). Does your toggle switch sound all crackly and/or intermittent? Don't just spray contact cleaner in there unless you absolutely have to. I've found Deoxit to be a solution only when absolutely necessary. That fish oil in there attracts a lot of future dust. Instead, I recommend taking a business card and placing it between the physical contact points on the switch itself (one side at a time while it's in the open position). Then putting the switch in the middle position so it's pinching the card and pulling it back and forth gently a couple of times while in that position. You can do this dry or with it damp with as close to 100% rubbing alcohol as you can find. Works like a charm.

Garth wrote: Wed Jan 18, 2023 12:42 pm

four_oclocker_2.2 wrote: Wed Jan 18, 2023 11:34 am Evans UV1 14" Drum Head

This head fucking sucks.

Certainly if you go in expecting it to sound and feel exactly like an Ambassador then yeah you're going to be disappointed. There is A difference. But to me it's slight. I've been an Ambassadors guy for 20+ years and this is in the ballpark so the longevity/durability is worth any sonic trade off in my book (and even then this lack or whatever is completely subjective/debatable because I personally do not feel it's lacking in this area).

For the record, I'm certainly not a finesse drummer, nor even probably half the drummer of anyone else on this forum or 1/10th the recording engineer for that matter so the amount of difference between the two heads is apparently a lot wider a gulf for some more than others.

They don't suck though. At all. They fucking rule.

echokiloromeo wrote: Fri Jan 27, 2023 2:06 pm

Garth wrote: Wed Jan 18, 2023 12:42 pm

four_oclocker_2.2 wrote: Wed Jan 18, 2023 11:34 am Evans UV1 14" Drum Head

This head fucking sucks.

Certainly if you go in expecting it to sound and feel exactly like an Ambassador then yeah you're going to be disappointed. There is A difference. But to me it's slight. I've been an Ambassadors guy for 20+ years and this is in the ballpark so the longevity/durability is worth any sonic trade off in my book (and even then this lack or whatever is completely subjective/debatable because I personally do not feel it's lacking in this area).

For the record, I'm certainly not a finesse drummer, nor even probably half the drummer of anyone else on this forum or 1/10th the recording engineer for that matter so the amount of difference between the two heads is apparently a lot wider a gulf for some more than others.

They don't suck though. At all. They fucking rule.

Oh damn, I just saw this hot take! Garth is right. I played Ambassadors forever too, and when they took the tiny star/tuning points logo off quality control completely shit the bed. Bad glue, bizarrely out of round (how did they get more metal over there on that side?), coating lasted about 22 minutes. I'd get them to tune up, play a bunch, and days later three tension rods would suddenly start rattling mid-song and I'd be hitting a phone book. Clearly they still sell 40 billion of them every day, so perhaps I was good at finding the bad ones, but this would happen to the three I found out of 20 at the shop that didn't have welds that could skin game or looked like paper tacos or had the resonance of the side of an Anvil case.

To be sure, the UV1 brush feel is not the same as the Ambassador; Remo has that suede feel dialed in, and I came to know it as "COATED HEAD." But the Evans has lasted longer over multiple changes now, has consistently seated with no objection, has tuned effortlessly, and has stayed there. It stands up to my oh fuck yeah TallChris high kick LET'S GOOO moments in which I play through the drums for a few bars before regaining composure without collecting a lunar deposition of dents. And the coating, while coarser and less...warm?...feeling, has been just fine for brush stuff as far as how it sounds. It feels different. But like Garth said, I'll take that new weirdness if I get the rest of the good stuff the UV1 brings.

And no, despite the no-brainer it should be, I do not have an endorsement deal.

What DOES SUCK is the magnetic tuning key they make that is too GD big for at least 40% of the tension rods/fasteners of that shape I come across. WHY.