Reverend Roundhouse HB

Features a flame maple veneer over solid maple top, bound mahogany body, a set neck with rosewood fretboard, 24 - 3/4" scale with 22 frets, master volume, treble cut and bass cut controls. Has a 3-way pickup selector to choose between the 2 Reverend Humbucking pickups. Styling and sound is similar to a Les Paul, but lighter in weight. Case is solid and unique with rounded corners. The guitar was made in Korea in 2007 with final setup done at Reverend headquarters in the US.

The type of music I play requires guitar sounds inspired by SRV, Hendrix, early Clapton, EJ, Robben Ford, even Van Halen. I will be using the Roundhouse on material that is best suited for a Humbucker equipped instrument. I play through a 50 watt custom made channel switching tube amp, based on Marshall, Fender and Dumble technology, pushing 2 Hellatone speakers in an open-back cab.

This is one guitar that doesn't require a pickup upgrade, although I did have to make some minor adjustments to get the sound I like. (Note- This is not a criticism, just my experience. The following adjustments may not be required by eveyone, as a lot of the sound depends on the amp.) Initially the guitar had more output on the unwound strings. So, I adjusted both pups to get more balance between wound/unwound strings. Even after the adjustment, it still sounded like the strings were dead (like a thin blanket over the speakers). I changed the strings, but it had no effect. After A quick email, Joe Naylor, the company president, responded with some very good suggestions on how to brighter it up a bit. For some reason there is a 330pf cap across the output jack, which bypasses some of the highs to ground. Once I removed it, the instrument woke up and delivered the sound I knew was there all along (I could hear the excellent tone of this guitar, even unplugged). After the adjustments, there is no dullness, harshness or frequency spikes. There is plenty of sustain and harmonically rich overtones. Output between pups is very balanced. The bass cut control is a nice touch but as it is passive, it cuts the volume too. I don't see myself using it, but I could see where some people would. The treble tone control taper and frequency affected is the best of any stock guitar I have ever played - very useable. The volume control does cut some highs when it is rolled back and is more noticeable on the neck pickup. Some players don't mind the loss of highs, but it bothers me so I modded the treble bleed circuit and bumped the stock 220pf bleeder up a bit. Now the sound stays crisp when you roll back the volume.

The guitar was ready to play right out of the case and you really can take it to a gig with no setup. I may raise my strings just a tad on the bass side, but other than that (and the slight pup adjustments mentioned) it is setup up perfectly. I use .095 guage strings on my Strat, but the .010 - .046 strings feel fine to me and I will replace with the same guage. I bend strings like a madman and it stays in tune. The tuners feel solid, but the low tech string locking system is to be avoided and here's why: You cannot quickly remove the string if it breaks during a gig, and the strings will slip if you don't put them on exactly right. It took me 40 minutes to change my strings at my repair bench using tools to dig the old wraps off of the tuner. Instead of one hole, these tuners have 2 and the idea is to thread the string through one, make a couple of wraps and go through the other one. If the wraps are not tight between the holes (and it is near impossible to get them tight), the strings will slip. Fortunately, you can also just put strings on the conventional way (just using the bottom hole) and they will work fine. I have a special way of tieing mine so that they do not slip, but are easily removed.

The neck is a tad wider than what I am used to, but I will adjust to it in time - not an issue. The perfect finish is a beautiful greenish-blue (Turquoise?) tiger striped color. It is darker than what I expected, but I like it even better than what I viewed on my monitor when cruising the Reverend website. It is well balanced and doesn't give you neck cramps.

Seems solid and dependable, very gig-worthy. The neck is more stable than similar models by other manufacturers. The wiring was neat, with excellent solder joints and the controls and other hardware looked solid and should hold up under nightly use. I recommend straplocks as the top strap attachment point is at an angle that may cause a loose fitting strap to slip off.

So far, so good. Word of mouth reputation on this company is excellent. I got quick response when I contacted Rev about my order and about the tone adjustments. It took 6-7 weeks from the time I placed my order to get it. They post approximate shipping dates on their website for each model, so the wait was expected. Given the size of this company and cost/quality ratio of their product, I am not surprised there is a wait. This guitar is well worth waiting for IMHO.

This company has some excellent products and is expanding to meet demand. You get way more than you pay for with this guitar. It really does deliver the goods. The best part is the sound is full, harmonically rich and sustains forever. The only way I could see this guitar being even better is if it had an ever so slightly smaller neck width and depth, and some real locking (or just conventional) tuners. That's my opinion backed up by 38+ years as a professional musician, sound engineer and guitar repairman.

Les Paul style with set neck and humbuckers. Sunburst model. Maple top, with Mahogany body. It's all on the website; they don't have mix and match options.

The sound of this guitar is really incredible! Especially considering the price. I played it through a Reverend Hellhound set at 20 watts, with a 12 inch speaker. Chords were rich, full and had tremendous presence. Loved it! Mids and leads were articulate and delicate, rivaling the best of the Gibson $2,500+ guitars. I could have played it all day in the store.

Set up was perfect! Much better than any but the very best custom guitars. The neck seemed wider than I expected, but I play a lot of acoustic so I can get used to it easily. Guitar balanced very nicely on my knee; I didn't play with a strap, but I'm guessing that would be fine as well. No fret issues. Paint perfect. Graphite nut helps with playability. The only way to know that this is a mid-priced guitar is by turning the tone and volume knobs. They look great, but you can tell by turning them, they're not expensive. The taper wasn't great either. Intonation was perfect and action couldn't be set better. Very, very easy to play. You will never feel that this is a "copy" of something else.

Solid--professional; good stuff.

this is a young company. The owner, Joe Naylor, probably busts his hump doing a lot with a staff of 5 people. I'd guess his reputation would mean more to him, than my calling Fender to complain about my new Gretsch, if you know what I mean.

I've been playing 40+ years. I've owned my share of strats, G&L's etc... would have bought a Les Paul years ago, but for the price. They never seemed worth it to me--and I prefer a different style of playing, so it was never a need to have one. This guitar will absolutely kill the Epiphones and other LP knock offs--basically, because it has it's own personality and stands on it's own merits. I was looking to buy an Epi Casino, and I'm going to order the Manta Ray 290, because this Reverend company produces an A+ product! If I wasn't in the market for semi-hollow body I would buy this one. I checked it out at Russo Music in Lowell, MA. Good neighborhood music store. This was the only set kneck model they had, so I wanted to check it out before they order the Manta Ray for me. Awesome guitars!