Schecter Avenger 7 A-7 Plus

This is a 2000 A-7 plus by schecter. It has 24 frets, volume and tone controls, and a pickup switch. Mine is gloss black(pure beauty) and curves like. . . . . The bridge is Floyd Rose and it has locking tuners. It has a very thick neck(7 strings, go figure) and came with a gig bag.

This guitar sounds great!!! Its clean tone is warm and rich on the neck pickup and both pickups and crisp on the bridge. I play many styles and it fits most of them perfectly. Im not to big on the 'classic' amp sounds. I just don't care about them, I get all of my sounds clean or through effects. I use DOD effects and Zoom. The guitar has a full sound and would fit any style I think. I only have one dislike about the guitar. It can be noisy when soloing, the bottom strings ring out. They seem to be a little too active.

The action was setup pretty good, then I went and messed it up. I took off the low b string and added a g at the top, completely destroying all the work I had put into it. The pickups were good, bridge was pretty good, finish was great, everything was superb

I here that the Navy buys these guitars and uses them as ancors. This guitar is pretty heavy. I would withstand getting hit by a u-haul I think. I would and have used it at gigs without a backup.

Never dealt with them

I have play lots of other guitars(not mine, I am a musician/aka broke)and it compares to les pauls in sound and is in my opinion vastly superior to any fender. I love the style and the sound, the neck is really thick, but it is a seven string. I wish it had a drop switch to drop the bottom string down to drop-d/drop-a, but that would probably destroy the intonation on the guitar. If it were stolen, I would be very sad, and would hunt down the person who took it and beat them with my guitar and then would take it and play and gig with it because it would still be in great condition.

This is one nice piece. The body shape is one of the most balanced feeling types that I have encountered. I especially appreciate how the neck seems closer to me than say a typical strat/tele/les paul/artist/etc setup. Honestly can't gripe about this one. Has 2 humbuckers, mahogany body (quite heavier and solid feeling than Les Pauls), Floyd Rose trem, Grover tuners. Like how it plays, feels, and sounds compared to my Ibanez Universe (newer model w/mirror pick-guard--3 times the price!), my Schecter C-7 (strat style w/gold top), my buddy's ESP 7-string w/Floyd Rose, and the new Cort line of 7-strings at a local store. Will never get rid of this one. The pickups are perfect for this particular instrument and I have no intentions of ever switching them out with replacements, despite the fact that they are "Duncan Designed" versus bonofide "Seymour Duncans".

OK--here's where this baby really shines! For live playing I play through a Marshall TSL100 head into a Marshall 4x12 cab w/Celestion Vintage 30's and a Mesa Boogie Maverick 2x12 combo(Class A type that sounds somewhere between a Matchless and a Vox--very nice) and I often blend these 2 amps via a Morley ABY switch. Effects-wise I go through (in this order) 1)a Digi-tech XP100 Whammy/wha 2)a Digi-tech original WH1 Whammy 3)Snarling Dogs Mold Spore (in ring modulator mode only) 4)Snarling Dogs Whine-O-Wha (usually in Voodoo or White Room modes) 5)Electrix Filter Factory (all of these are before the guitar even hits the amps). Lead style-wise I am heavily influenced by Satriani (especially Engines of Creation--brilliant!), Vai (instrumental only), and Petrucci (Liquid Tension stuff or Dream Theater) and rhythmically by the same plus all of the typical Korn, Pantera, PM5K, Deftones, on and on..... This guitar gets it all with flying colors--seriously folks. It is way more versatile and responsive than my high-end Universe. Compared to the Universe it is smoother, less noisy, touch-responsive, and tonally balanced. I still like my Universe, but I play the A-7 Plus more. This guitar also gets some of the best "controlled" feedback I've ever heard. Wow! And if that isn't enough, it even excels at mid-gain stuff ("in between tones") for "dirt" tones. Clean sounds are rich yet clear without being obnoxiously piercing. I'd bet this would sound great through a vintage Fender amp or a Roland chorus amp. Anyone that gets this guitar should spend time fiddling with the volume knob for tons of tone variation. This guitar beckons for a seasoned player and nice "tone amps"/pedals.

Here's the catch: this is the 2nd A-7 Plus I have had. The first one (identical to the one I now have) had a bad Floyd Rose. Wouldn't hold it's tune to save it's life. I sent that one back (to Rock 'n Rhythm in South Bend, IN) and bought this one from a different place (R'n R didn't have any others). The new one is quite fine in this regard, and I suspect the bad trem was just an extremely rare case of bad luck (my Universe had similar problems and had to be sent in to Ibanez for repair the first month I had it). Action was fine, but I went to heavier strings (10-56's), so it had to be adjusted regardless, but it plays wonderfully. The neck thickness is almost exactly between the thinner Ibanez and the "Louisville Slugger" feeling ESP's. The overall feel is that of a neck-through design even though it is a bolt-on. You could ram this guitar through a plywood sheet because it is so solid and tightly put together--no kidding! Hardware is great all around, though I would've prefered a bushing-type tremelo arm rather than the threaded-type. If you go to really heavy strings, you may have to compromise the low B-string's intonation a bit because the string saddles cannot physically go back far enough for huge strings, and I've seen this problem on lot's of other 7-string Floyd Rose units (my .056 is only slightly affected by this, but .060's and above may suffer more limitations--the Ibanez has a better Floyd design on their higher-end LO-Pro Floyds that totally allows for this). If you play on heavier strings, you might consider the non-trem version (a student of mine has one, and it is even more solid feeling than mine--if that's possible!) Also, the volume knob rubs against the body unless I pull it out slightly (not a big gripe considering the overall perks). The Floyd will go out of tune slightly under excessive use, and I like the Ibanez Floyd better, but this is still a nice Floyd, and I'd trust it in a gig w/out a backup. The frets are superb and well dressed.

This guitar is built like a tank, and if you put your mind to smashing it, you better take your vitamins. The hardware is beefy--no problems there. The finish on mine is Silver Satin (which completely hides finger prints) and is flawless to my eye. It is almost like a shell covering. The strap buttons were larger than normal, but I religiously install straplocks on all of my instruments. Totally reliable, and it isn't as affected by weather related truss rod problems as much as my Ibanez. No backup required here.

I called Schecter one time prior to buying the instrument to inquire about certain specs, and the guy I talked to was rather a jerk (for lack of a better way to describe him). Perhaps he was ill that day, but he didn't seem very "customer friendly". Ibanez on the other hand, bent over backwards to fix my problem with the trem and one of their techs went so far as writng me a personal letter as to why there was a problem and how it could be avoided in the future. To my knowledge, Schecter's warranty is a lifetime, versus Ibanez' 1 year. May never need a warranty on an axe as good as the A-7 Plus.

Have played for 15 years. If I lost this guitar, I would definately get another. A neck-through design AND a Floyd Rose with a bushing type arm would be even better, but who's complaining. I have one of the earlier Diamond series C-7's (Gold top), and ironically it doesn't even compare, so go for the A-7 with mahogany body.