Product: Reverend Reverend Roundhouse 290
Price Paid: USD 620
Submitted
11/27/2007
at
03:44pm
by
DM Blues Guy
Features
:
9
Made in Korea; purchased 8/07
Mahogany neck/body
Flat top
Cream colored/black back/neck
2 Reverend P-90's
3 Way Selector, hum cancelling middle position
Tone/Volume/Bass Contour Knobs
Wilkinson "locking" tuners
The guitar is very nice, particularly for a Korean made guitar. The Wilkinson tuners work fine, but I did not find them easy to use at all, particularly removing the strings, so I installed Grover locking tuners on it. Perfect now. Low Action.
For a mid priced guitar, this is a steal.
Sound
:
10
I play blues, blues/rock, and straigh ahead rock.
The sound of this guitar rivals anything I have played. The pups are P-90's, and these babies have balls and bite like you wouldn't believe. The Bass Contour control is amazing. It really delivers anything from twang to humbucker. But even in full on Bass Contour mode, there is still that extra bite you want if you buy a P-90 guitar, with the meat of a humbucker. The hum cancelling middle position works perfect; dead silence. I am investing in a noise gate as I do get a little feedback when I crank my Fender Blues Deluxe here and there in bridge and neck position. But, hey, they are P-90's...they are supposed to hum.
Rolling down the volume cleans up the sound but doesn't lose any character. Very usable tone control. I can't put it down most of the time.
Not a death metal guitar, but even hard rock is within the realm of this beauty.
Action, Fit, & Finish
:
9
Only small gripe is a small paint masking error on the low E of the neck joint; the paint line is not precisely in line with the joint. Again, VERY minor issue overall, but since some people on here seem to expect $500 guitars to match USA PRS's, etc., thought I would mention it. I have seen much bigger paint flubs with Gibsons, so it's barely worth mentioning.
Setup was great. Action was great. Hardware is solid. The tuners worked fine, just don't like the design of them; not a quality control issue.
Reliability/Durability
:
10
It's not wise to gig without a backup, but this is very well made, sounds great, and appears able to take a beating.
Customer Support
:
10
Reverend is a great company. I, unlike a lot of people on here, have not dealt with them one on one. I just know they make a great guitar, and the shop I bought it from said that Joe Naylor answers the phone a lot of the time when you call. Find another maker that does that. I would not hesitate to contact them, and I feel very confident they would make things right if anything went wrong.
Overall Rating
:
10
I have been playing for 20+ years (I am 33, started when I was 6 or so).
Incredible guitar at a great price. I did a LOT of searching before deciding on this guitar. Tried about everything you could think of (Gibson LP's, Epi LP's, PRS SE's, you name it...), and this was easily the winner on a price/performance scale. Not even anything else close. Saving up for my next Reverend (Volcano) as we speak.
