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Post subject: The Lord giveth, and The Lord taketh
Posted: Sun Mar 23, 2014 11:32 pm
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But when he gives back..It can be Heavenly.

I didn't mention on the forum that I sold the Domino Hollowbody. I needed money for a dental visit, and had to sell something. I chose the Domino to sell for a couple reasons. But the main one being that I felt like I had to be REALLY delicate with it. It felt fragile, and when I feel like I have to be careful, I don't play as well. I like to dig into a guitar "pick a fight with it " as Jack White would say.

I had a store credit at a pawn shop for months. Every time I walked back in there, I just couldn't find anything I wanted. Even non musical stuff. But the store credit was about to expire, so I went in this weekend to get something out of it. It was $180.. No sense in losing it altogether.

And there it was...

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A 1973 Univox Les Paul Copy.

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$200..

It still needs some work done to it. It's not exactly in as good of shape as the Domino was. It has it's share of battle scars.

When I bought it, there was no telling what the pickups were. When I took it home, I took a look at them. There was a USA Gibson in the bridge (Still in it). I have no idea what model. There's no sticker to tell, but the DC resistance is at 14.8k. The neck pickup was a Seymour Duncan with a double row of Allen screws. My best guess is that it's a Full Shred. It's actually hotter than the bridge pickup. I had to take it out. There's no way it was intended for the neck position.

I replaced the neck pickup with a Giovanni GVH-1 neck pickup. If you haven't tried these, I highly recommend you do if you like Gibson pickups. They're fantastic!

So for $200, I got the guitar, a Gibson pickup, and a SD pickup. The tuners aren't original. But they were replaced with a set of Made In Germany Samick tuners. I'm just going to keep them on there. They're actually very good tuners (most likely better than the originals), so score on that as well.

THE SOUND:
Myth buster (well my own personal one anyway)
I took the Giovanni from another Les Paul copy with a different type of wood in the body. When I put it in the Univox, it became about 5-shades brighter.

After wiring up the bridge pickup properly (it came wired in split mode). It was extremely bright as well. Between the two, it sounds like an extremely high powered Telecaster. That's how bright it is.

It's so fantastically phenomenal I was taken back by it. The clarity of the Gibson and Giovanni coupled with the all maple guitar makes it very versatile. With 500k pots and orange drop caps, you can back off the tone pots, and get just about any humbucker tone you like. I A/B'd the guitar with a mahogany equipped JB/Jazz set. My Schecter Semi with Classic '57's, My Epi Special with SD '59's... This guitar could mimic all of them just by utilizing the tone knobs. I even got it to mimic my Telecaster (although higher powered, I'd bet if I installed a treble bleed it could get closer).

Insane week... Sold the Domino, and ended up with this guitar by chance in the same week.

This guitar will not be sold anytime soon. It's too valuable for its versatility. I've already picked a couple fights with it this weekend, and let me tell you, this guitar ain't afraid of me.

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Post subject: Re: The Lord giveth, and The Lord taketh
Posted: Sun Mar 23, 2014 11:41 pm
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Forgot to mention, it also came with a case..

Then the lady says, "let me see if I can find a case in the back so you can carry it out of here." Ok, cool. I'm expecting a beat up gig bag. And she comes walking out with this..

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Las Vegas Pawn Shops.. You gotta love them.

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Post subject: Re: The Lord giveth, and The Lord taketh
Posted: Mon Mar 24, 2014 12:38 am
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Nice! I'd love a Les Paul style guitar with a maple fretboard. I find it so much easier to see black fret markers (dots or blocks) on a maple board than pale white or abalone markers on a rosewood board... especially in dim lighting.


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Post subject: Re: The Lord giveth, and The Lord taketh
Posted: Mon Mar 24, 2014 1:02 am
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Yea, I agree 100%. It's a big plus for me.

The craziest thing for me is the difference in sound between an all maple LP and a mahogany bodied one. I've had a few over the years, and this is definitely a different breed. Bright, crisp and snappy aren't words typically used to describe LPs.

This guitar is perfect for Reggae and Ska. The chords come off sharp and quick with everything at 10. Bass tones aren't sluggish, they tighten up. I've never played any LP like it. I've only ever played mahogany bodied LPs.

I'm starting to see how maple can be beneficial to certain styles. My Schecter semi-hollow is Maple with ebony fretboard. The Univox is brighter, but they both have that sharp attack and tight bass tone.

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Post subject: Re: The Lord giveth, and The Lord taketh
Posted: Mon Mar 24, 2014 1:23 am
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Awesome! 8)

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Post subject: Re: The Lord giveth, and The Lord taketh
Posted: Mon Mar 24, 2014 8:27 am
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Wow! I haven't seen anyone pick up a Univox in ages. The interesting thing about yours is that it's almost the same age as one that I own that I bought back in 1994 or so (at a pawn shop) for $25 - no fancy case. Mine is all original and probably a couple years older than yours and I think that's a plus for you.

Your gold hardware looks too glitzy to be original - it should have weathered quite a bit by this time in it's life. With all the other changes made to the guitar, I wouldn't be surprised if someone swapped the gold appointments, too, and maybe went with the black knobs, pickguard, etc. But it's cool.

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This is what my pre-Lawsuit Era Univox looks like, all original. Nothing black on it, which is interesting, compared to yours. But it's got that massive all-maple two-piece layered body, covered with a solid maple carved cap. I also own a Univox amp from the same era.

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I bought the amp at a Minnesota music store in the 90s to go with the Univox guitar and I used to display them side by side just for the heck of it. The amp's in excellent, working condition with awesome tremolo and decent reverb.

Enjoy your Univox!

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Post subject: Re: The Lord giveth, and The Lord taketh
Posted: Mon Mar 24, 2014 4:57 pm
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Congratulations Ted!

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Post subject: Re: The Lord giveth, and The Lord taketh
Posted: Mon Mar 24, 2014 5:03 pm
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Congratulations, JS, that was quite a find! :o

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Post subject: Re: The Lord giveth, and The Lord taketh
Posted: Mon Mar 24, 2014 7:19 pm
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Congrats for sure...especially when it comes with it's original case! JS you must be living right!

T2

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Post subject: Re: The Lord giveth, and The Lord taketh
Posted: Mon Mar 24, 2014 11:49 pm
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CR, I knew by looking at it there was a certain amount of modifying done to it. Seeing the gold Samick tuners leads me to believe its a Bridge from the same Samick. It's a Gotoh bridge though. Good enough for me. Love the guitar. I like it better than my old LP Studio. Looks and playability.

Stratman, I don't know what it is. But there is definitely something in the air.

I had the idea it ended there. A great turn of events. Something unexpected. A guidance from a higher power. However we choose to see it sometimes.

Maybe I have Jack Sparrow's compass embedded in my brain. It points to the thing I want most.

I have a decent arsenal of clean channel amps. But I've been lacking in the Heavy Metal department over the years. When I joined my last Reggae band, it was after I had to sell my Mesa DR. I LOVED that amp. I miss my roots. The reason I started playing. It wasn't reggae. I was a heavy metal kid. Iron Maiden, AC/DC, Ozzy, KISS.

The music Gods know that. They must. Because selling that Domino isn't something most people would do. But that guitar wasn't who I am. I have a feeling there's a higher power who knows that and guided me to what I really needed.

And it didn't stop there..

It didn't end with this guitar..

I know that because today I ran across this.

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A Hughes and Kettner Triamp MKI.. $345 out the door!!!

This is after cleaning the dust off it. I retubed it with 9-NOS preamp tubes. And what came out of this thing was one of the best distortions I've ever owned. It does Mesa, Marshall, Peavey Classic, and a pretty good clean channel. The clean can't touch a Fender or Vox, but I'll take those 3 out of 5.

To put this in perspective, there was a Line-6 spyder for sale for $300 on the shelf above it. I once paid $350 for a Marshall MG50. That's how insane this is.

I'd be lying if I said I wasn't in some sort of shock over the events of this week.

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Post subject: Re: The Lord giveth, and The Lord taketh
Posted: Tue Mar 25, 2014 1:58 am
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:shock: wow!

I've been gassing for a H&K Tubemeister 18 or 36 as I've heard they do metal pretty well and nothing but good reviews about them. Same comments about clean channel but hey what the hell.. :mrgreen:

But $345?? ... Oh my god. I'd loose my gherkin if I saw a price tag on something like that here lol

Talk about luck!! :D

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Post subject: Re: The Lord giveth, and The Lord taketh
Posted: Tue Mar 25, 2014 5:38 am
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The clean channel isn't bad. I just think I'm spoiled to great clean channels. At least I can use a 12at7 in v2 to give it headroom without affecting the other channels.

This particular clean channel has an "A" and "B" mode. The "B" mode gives you the Peavy Classic sound and it sounds much like the Delta Blues. So technically, it might not be accurate to say it doesn't have a great clean channel. "A" mode is what has the clean headroom. I just find it tricky to adjust the treble to a sweet spot. A typical thing for a lot if high gain amps. My Mesa DR was a lot easier to dial in.

It's actually AMP 2 that I need to work with on this thing. The crunch channel. So far I think it's pretty awful. I'll have to find the right preamp tubes for that channel. I can't get much usefulness out of it so far. Amp 1 and 3 clearly outshine Amp 2.

Amp 3 is freaking outstanding. Both A and B modes.

Unbelievable find.

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Post subject: Re: The Lord giveth, and The Lord taketh
Posted: Tue Mar 25, 2014 10:29 am
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that's a sweet looking guitar I loves maple fretboard's.
I'd love to find a H&K that cheap :P my buddy got a tubemeister 18 I love it.

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Post subject: Re: The Lord giveth, and The Lord taketh
Posted: Tue Mar 25, 2014 11:02 am
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Jah Soldier, I really enjoy your contributions to this forum. Cool stuff.

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Post subject: Re: The Lord giveth, and The Lord taketh
Posted: Tue Mar 25, 2014 11:07 pm
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Well thank you. That's what it's all about. Sharing your experiences. I'm diggin the new gear so far.

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