NGD my first two 7 string axes

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bandit2013

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Normally I would have just done one then the other since they were purchased at different times, well say 2 weeks from each other. Bought the Kiesel Vader 7 string first. The one on the left. Specifications: Black Limba Body sides, maple neck through with zebra wood fretboard and stainless steel jumbo frets. 27 inch scale length. Was not too fond of the Kiesel Lithium pickups so I opted for Seymour Duncan Mark Holcomb Alpha and Omega set. Also changed the 5-way switch with an Oak Grigsby 5-way super switch so I can get a different arrangement of pickup combinations. Original was HB, SB, HB+HN, SN, HN. Not exactly sure if the center was both humbuckers or coil tapped. I did not like the Lithium pickups at all and did not care what the 5-way was doing. Lithium pickups were shrill sounding at best. No note definition and just terrible overall. The only amp they sounded good with as the JP-2C, note: everything sounds great through the JP-2C. I did what I could before ordering the replacement pickups from removal of the bleed cap on the volume pot, dropping the pickup all the way into the body, etc. Still could not adopt them. The saving grace was the Seymour Duncan Alpha and Omega set. Was not sure I was going to like them due to the tone chart but once installed they made a night and day difference. No more shrill tones. Now it is just WOW. Perfect note definition, does not get muddy at full guitar volume and cleans up well with volume roll off. I opted to wire the pickups to run coil taps on the two humbuckers but in parallel. I believe it is the two south coils on position 2 (position 1 is the full bridge). and the two north coils in position 4, both humbuckers in the center and full neck in position 5. Never used a super switch before so I may change things sometime down the road. Talk about a comfortable guitar by all means. Vey light for an unchambered body. I actually like the Baritone scale length. However was wanting something with a floating bridge. Searched the used market place for a guitar with a mahogany body and Floyd Rose bridge. I like Carvin guitars so the Kiesel Aries was a good bet (same company). It may be toxic Kiesel Racing Green, some may not like this color. My preference is to see the wood it is made from but with the large bevel cut on the upper part of the body the Aries looks awkward so a solid color is not as weird looking. The Aries on the right is a 25.5" scale length guitar with same fret wire as the other. Thin neck option with a 14" neck radius. Feels much like the Vader neck and that has a 20" neck radius. Neck is made from 5 piece walnut and purple heart wood. Ebony board with some very faint streaks. It is just as heavy as my alder body Fender Dave Murray Stratocaster. I will be doing the same pickup swap with the green guitar as I did with the Vader. May consider a sustain block change, thinking about the Sophia Global tuner pro sustain block. Their full bridges look interesting too but much prefer the Floyd Rose look than the barreled tuner thing, still that would be an improvement due to the range of those tuners compared to the small thumb screws. Still, rather keep the FR stock looking. The shorter or standard scale length sounds a bit more normal for your typical 6 string songs where as the 27 inch has a different sound even though you are playing at the same frequencies.

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Most important.... what amps these two axes sound the best?
My favorite rig setup is a pair of Royal Atlantics RA-100. One is the half stack you see in the picture in the original post. The other is the RA-100 combo combined with the Mesa Recto Horizontal 212 cab. I am using a Mesa Switch track to run the two amps in parallel. In the FX loop I am running a stereo setup. Strymon BigSky, Boss DD-200 and Boss EQ-200. That actually works great. With our without the EQ turned on, the dual Royals deliver some tight punch tone and aggressive grind to boot. Love the blue or red channels. Preamps are loaded the same, V1=NOS RFT ECC83s, V2= Ei CV492, and the rest are stock Mesa tubes. Power tube choice in both amps are the Mesa NOS Winged C STR442. The RFT and Ei tubes in the hi/lo gain circuit keeps the flub away and adds that aggressive recto tone to the amp. By far this is my favorite rig for any style of music. Deciding to get some parts to build a common switch function for the RA footswitch so I can change channels on both amps at the same time using only one footswitch. Since the circuit is basic pull to ground for hi or lo depending on tip or ring, just wiring them together could have some issues. I will use 4 1n4007 didoes using a pair wired in common cathode to prevent back feed of one power supply to the other in the event there is a slight voltage variation. Common ground should be fine. Will see how it works out. May have to change to a Schotty diode if the voltage drop of the standard diode is too high. I have also run the Vader guitar before and after the pickup swap through my other Mesa amps. JP-2C had great performance but was much, much, better with the Alpha Omega set. I retubed the Mark V combo with stock mesa tubes. Since it has an EV speaker in it thought to see what happens. WOW, it performed much better than I thought. No flub at all, even with the Mark I setting but was a bit dark. Edge actually sounded decent for a change. My Roadster on the other hand was a bit much for me to handle. Definitely a power house amp. My oversized 412 I use with that amp is loaded with EVM12L black labels. What a beast with a 7 string. The TC-100 performed well too. Did not try either 7 string with the TC-50 or the California tweed (probably not ideal for that anyway). The only amp that was a bit of a disappointment was the Multi-watt Dual Rec. I expected it would rip with the 7 string but did not. I will need to spend more time with that amp and see what I need to do to dial it in. For now, I just cannot get enough of the two Royals cranking out some awesome grind. Royal Atlantic for heavy metal? Yes. This amp has not failed to surprise me.
 
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