WTT Warrior Isabella Guitar for Mark 5

[vitor gracie]

Hi. My name is Defraim Santiago. I own a black Warrior Isabella "Soldier" guitar. I'm one of their artists:
http://www.warriorguitar.com/main/artists.html

I mainly use a 7 string these days and this guitar is just a back up 6-string for me. I no longer need it. It's been used on tour and has a couple small dings in the finish. It's a working man's guitar. It's in very good condition other then two small dings in the finish. I have close up photos of the dings. I am looking to trade for a Mark 5 (V)

I have seen these guitars sell for as low as $1500 and as high as $2000+ The same as I have seen Mark 5s go for on ebay. I would say if you are familiar with Warrior's boutique, PRS like, high end quality, it's a perfectly even trade. The guitar is equipped with a custom Seymour Duncan Invader in the bridge, and a custom wired Duncan Jazz in the neck. I own, and will include the matching Duncan Invader neck pick up for you metal guys.

It's all mahogany with a strip of Purple Heart in the neck for stability. This guitar is comfortable, sexy, and has a rich tone. I have it set up with coil taps on both pickups. I wanted an instrument that could do the craziest metal stuff, and then be able to do the prettiest, most Strat-like cleans. It handles anything extremely well, and really delivers on the rock/metal tones. I play professionally for a R&B/Gospel artist and have to be able to switch tones like that quickly on the spot and have always had great compliments on this instrument.

If you have any questions about the guitar, PM me and I'll even try to get a Youtube video up of myself playing it going through the tones.

I have bought and sold a lot of gear here in the past and have an excellent standing reputation with guys like MonstaTone who had worked on my Boogies and bought and sold stuff from each other quite a bit. I can PM more info regarding the guitar and details about the wiring, etc.

Thanks for the interest,

-Def Santiago



Here is a link to several photos of it.

http://s644.photobucket.com/user/vitorgracie/library/Warrior%20Isabella

 

[vitor gracie]

A couple of photos from my photobucket link:

And a good one from my Instagram profile:
http://instagram.com/p/KS2JJGu5Zg/

 

[vitor gracie]

Ok, I'm starting to consider a Mesa Stiletto Ace 2x12 combo. I'm a little unsure though...the highs on those are pretty piercing. I like warmer dirty sounds and crisp cleans so...any thoughts on the Ace combos?

I'm pretty open.

 

[vitor gracie]

As promised here's a video. My apologies for the iPhone audio, it was all I had to make this and put it on youtube for is. Also, I literally grabbed the guitar, set the amp, put my iPhone up and started recording, so my playing is a little stiff. I had the guitar in dropped "C" before the video and tuned it up to Dropped D...which made it a little tough to play without some neck/bridge tweaking. When set up properly, it plays like BUTTER and I'll set it up for whatever tuning needed.

Lastly, I tried not to talk too much, as I hate when guys babble on for like 20 minutes and when they finally go to play, they SUCK! Lol! I explained the different settings so that you could see how I was setting the guitar and amp to get the sounds.

Enjoy.

http://youtu.be/IdNLk5LS_Fg

 

[vitor gracie]

Here is the way I set my clean sound. Much better, and a different t-shirt. Your t-shirt HEAVILY effects your tone. Black shirt= dirty. White shirt= clean sounds.

http://youtu.be/xXcmsvG0sUE

 

[ifailedshapes]

Ok, I'm starting to consider a Mesa Stiletto Ace 2x12 combo. I'm a little unsure though...the highs on those are pretty piercing. I like warmer dirty sounds and crisp cleans so...any thoughts on the Ace combos?

I'm pretty open.

As you know, I'm selling my Ace combo, so take this with a grain of salt.

I think you'd love a Stiletto. The cleans are amazing. Fat Clean gives you a big, bold clean sound, but based on what you have posted, I think you'd fall in love with Tite Clean. It's also very possible to get some warmth out of the gain modes; you just have to run the Treble and Presence pretty low. If you're playing live, I've found mic placement to be even more important than the channel controls. My Vintage 30 isn't fully broken in yet, so I can't give the final verdict, but I just don't think it's the right speaker for this amp. I don't know enough about speakers to give a better recommendation, though.

All in all, I think you'd be really happy with a Stiletto. I'm also curious why you're dead set on a 2x12" Ace when Marks have always been offered as 1x12" combos.

Thanks for the bump on my listing, too!

 

[vitor gracie]

I've played through the heads, the combos, and heads through a 4x12. I think I prefer the Ace over the other higher wattage Stiletto amps. Mesa messed with the tones a bit to me on the Ace. It's subtle but noticeable. The beefier ones aren't just louder/higher wattage, they sound a tad different to my ears.

As far as the 2x12, I think I just prefer the way the sound spreads through a pair of speakers over a single speaker. I owned a couple 1x12 Mesas before and when I tried the 2x12 versions of the same amps (Mavericks and Lone Stars) I think I just dug the way the amp acted and sounded as a 2x12. I'm not completely opposed to a 1x12 though - hence my interest in a Mark 5.

Lastly, my old TOV is my very first Mesa (1996) I'm it's first owner so I have always had a 2x12. It's odd, you kind of just get used to it. But as I said, I'm not against a 1x12...just what I'm used to.

 

[Monsta-Tone]

Just a friendly bump! Def is a straight up honest dude!
Now I'm really bummed that I traded my Mark V last month.......

 

[Metalflange]

Ill trade my Mesa mark IV for this guitar.

 

[vitor gracie]

MOOOOONSTA-TONE! What's good brah? CALL ME UP!

Metalflange, thanks for the offer but the value of my Isabella is higher then your awesome Mark 4. I do love those amps very much and have used them in the studio but I prefer the newer Mark 5. Thanks bro, but no thanks man. Can't do it.