Electra Pheonix X-150

This was most likely a 1983 model. 22 frets. dual humbuckers,chubby strat style shape, solid ( very solid) body, three way pickup switch, coil tap, out of phase and roaring 2 9v powered pre-amp. The active pre-amp will substantially boost volume in clean channels on your amp and severly or nicely overdrive on drive channels. The pre-amp will accentuate your tome setting so be careful when you flip the switch- you could get a screaching high gain or with the tone at full base a subdued compressed bass roar. Mine is a redish walnut with a butcher-block stripe down the center emulating a neck thru under a thick coat of clear poly. Brass hardwear on nut ( he said nut..huh...huh) and bridge. solid as hell. The neck is slightly wide, rosewood and slightly flat so it's pretty fast. Mine came with a fake alligator semi hard case.

This unit will emulate within just about an 80% accuracy of any guilar out there. It excells at a strat tone with the coil tapped to single, tone at detent and the pre-amp on. I have a 2006 american strat and the electra has more strat balls if you get my drift only on the neck pick up with the pre amp on. No one can beat a strat on the other settings. The bridge pick up is mid range balanced and can do metal fairly well. Any blues tones you want this guiatr can do pretty well. The massive amount of output from the pre amp is pretty quiet- it will feed back on you if your not carefull though. With the middle setting on the pick ups with the setting on out- of- phase you can get a great Brian May sound.

I got this guitar from a pawn shop after my Westone was stolen in 1988. It was slightly harder to play as the neck is shaped more like a strat with that baseball bat shape. My Westone had a more flat contour ( palm of hand under fretboard) like a Dean or Jackson. This unit was pretty much right on as they all are!

This is a tank-- look up any review. You cant bust through the amount of clearcoat on it. My sister-in-law dropped it back in 1990 and cracked the headstock and it still stays perfectly in tune. I have found myself comming back to it over and over.

there probably is none now but the fan base for these guiatrs is growing so someone might have parts and etc.

playing since 1978, I would buy another and still look. My Westone ThunderI-A was an identical guitar and was stolen and I can't believe I found this one a few weeks later in a pawn shop. This guitar is attractive, versatile, well built, and sounds awesome. This unit is like a cross between a Strat, a Les Paul and an SG with the electronics and quality of a Carvin and it sounds like all of them. I play through either a Randall rg 100sg with a 212 extention or small gigs through a Fender Frontman with a huge pedalboard with vintage Boss and Ibanez (1980's) to make the darn Fender sound big and trippy ( two bands- try it.....Lord!). The thing I love about this guitar is its ease of playing and it unlimited sounds. I often contemplate using it as my sole electric guitar as I did back in 1998.. I now have a 2005 Strat hwy 1, a Dean Explorer, an Aria Hollow body, A Carvin Ultra V, and three acoustics. That should tell you something about it's range of sounds.

Japanese Strat-style body (with SG-like horns!), bolt-on 22-fret maple/rosewood neck. Thick, glossy clear-coat over beautiful walnut/maple wood. Two exposed humbuckers with three-position selector switch, coil tap mini-switch, phase mini-switch, and onboard active preamp. Manufactured in the early 80s; purchased mine from a pawn shop in '92 for $125 (it was a decent chunk of change at the time, but now I realize it was money well spent!). The fabled guitars of Matsumoku deserve their reputation.

I play rock/pop/reggae/world/ambient/whatever, mostly in my home studio, and mostly using software amp simulation and effects. This guitar has a bright, ringing tone unamplified, and anything from nasally thin (single-coil out-of-phase) to brutally fat (humbucking in-phase) tones when plugged in. I never use the active preamp, being disinclined to relying on batteries; even passive, the stock pickups are very high output, and when combined with the mini-switches, provide a wide variety of sounds. It's never muddy, always clear and articulate. The single-coil mode does hum somewhat, but not objectionably so. I'm after versatility, and this guitar delivers.

Being a pawn shop prize, I can't comment on factory setup, but it has all of the usual adjustability - truss rod, bridge height, pickup height, etc. The bolt-on neck fits the neck pocket tightly, and is bolted on securely. The walnut has a striking, bold grain that looks great under the glossy clear coat (even if it has gotten a few dings over the years).

This guitar has been played out a fair amount, and has held up without trouble. It's built very well, and feels very solid. The clear-coat has gotten a few chips over the years, but has otherwise held up well.

N/A. I always work on my own guitars anyway.

Good stuff here, especially for the price. Electra guitars now have a cult following, due to their insanely high quality/price ratio. I've had this one for about fifteen years now, and it's always made me smile. The only issue I have is one that is inherited from Leo Fender's original design: The bolt-on neck heel obstructs playing the very highest frets. For this reason, I recently purchased a set-neck Washburn Idol that doesn't sound half as good as this Electra (Seymour Duncans will hopefully fix that guitar). I also play a Tobias fretted and a Yamaha fretless bass, as well as keyboards and brass instruments. I am a classically trained musician, and I've been rockin' on the side for the last twenty years. I will always cherish my Electra!

i own a 1981 japaneze matsomuko x 150 and its absolutely incredible
22 frets, 2 humbuckers with coil tap and phase reverse, a booster switch (incredibly powerful!) the pickups are super magnaflux (yeah i never heard of it either)
it has a walnut body with a maple stripe going through the midlle (for the neck throgh look, its a bolt on)
the body looks like a cross between a strat and an SG, it has the SG horns on a strat body.
its a lot i know but a different coil tap switch for every Pup would be nice

I play roknroll and metal and sludge and some times raggae.
this guitar can do pretty much everything. It has lots of output but it is easely tamed by coil tappin (or lowering the volume).
its not noizy at all, even when its on singles its relatively quiet. has that 70's classic rock sound to it. kinda like bells ringing (in a good way)
anyway im inlove with this one :)

its really quite old. so the factory setup is probably not important. but the neck is streight like an arrow and there is almost no fret ware. oh and the tuners are the originals and still work great.

oh and it has brass everythng (nut bridge cavity covers)

its still standing and it looks and feels new.
i think this one will stay with me for good.
its really solid and weighs a lot too.
i would definately gig with no backup.

ahhhh the company is gone.
no customer support

this guitar is the best purchase i have ever made.
its absolutely incredible and it costs next to nothing.

the only beef i have with is that the pickups are mirophonic but ill pot them and that will be the of that.