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Hamer Californian vs couple other super strats(Suhr, Music Man, PRS)


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so I still believe that Hamer is the king of them all, I don't know why but only hamer has that mojo
I know I made quite long video, but below video you can find timecodes, for faster navigation. 

 

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Honestly, as far as sound goes, they were all very similar to my ears, and that's probably because the way a person plays really determines the sound a lot of the time. If you take any distinctive player, they'll likely sound like them no matter what they're playing, but even more so if the guitars are made for a similar style of music. 

I could name which guitars I preferred, but it would be more based on personal preference, not sound. I like the Cali, Axis, and Suhr, in that order, for entirely subjective, non-musical-sound reasons. Don't much care for the rest. But it's a nice collection you got there.

Since you're the one playing them, which do you prefer and in what order, from best to least favorite?

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Each sounded good for the style of music, yet I preferred the Cali's tone. IMHO, I will say that although EBMMs have stellar build quality, the EVH/Axis body shape looks somewhat cartoonish in 2019. 

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5 hours ago, 0054 said:

I thought the Hamer sounded real good in each part and looked the best. It is pretty hard to say which sounds best in this type of shootout.. The fx and the amp setup, makes everything sound the same, hard to tell most of em apart. That's not a knock, but an observation.

 

if setup is the same, it's really hard to make every guitar sound very different.  by swapping guitar we change only little part of the end result

Player, amp, cab, mic's, fx, cables, recoding technic, everything is still remains the same.  

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16 hours ago, Biz Prof said:

Each sounded good for the style of music, yet I preferred the Cali's tone. IMHO, I will say that although EBMMs have stellar build quality, the EVH/Axis body shape looks somewhat cartoonish in 2019. 

To be fair, it doesn't look half as cartoonish as Fender's traditional body styles, all of which I dig precisely because of their googie style. But the EVH style bodies are a hybrid of what's best about Teles and Lesters in my opinion. 

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IMO the Cali epitomizes the Super Strat. With the right configuration and features, it's the pinnacle of speed, power, beauty and finesse. But I might be a tad bit biased. :P For that reason, I didn't and won't weigh in on which is best because it's so ridiculously subjective. And because Cali's are clearly superior in every way. 😆

Also IMO, the EBMM, while being a well-made guitar, doesn't really fit within the parameters of a Super Strat.

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None of the EVH style guitars qualify as super-Strats. I like their shape, and they're definitely shredders (it's hard to argue that theyre not made for a style of shredding), but it seems rather obvious that to be a super-Strat, one of most obvious and necessary criteria is having a body that resembles a Strat.

When I finally acquired an EVH Wolfgang, it lasted about a week before I turned around and sold it. It was great in every way except that my Cali blew it away when it came to how it played. Sure, it was pretty with the flame top and tobacco burst paint, and I have to confess the pickups were very clear in terms of having zero mud no matter how much gain you threw at it. But the body wasn't comfortable or easily balanced to hold (for me), the sharp-edged binding annoyed my forearm, the neck was nowhere as fast or comfortable as the Cali (again, for me), the SS frets on the Cali were way nicer (though they're obviously not stock), the Cali's Slammer bridge pup, while not quite as clear, was more aggressive and made it easier to get those pinch harmonics without requiring as much gain to get there the way the Wolfgang did (I think the EVH pups use A2 magnets, right?) They definitely seemed like weaker pups compared to the Cali's Dimarzio with the A5 magnet. Frankly, every time I consider trying another bridge pup, I play the Cali and am reminded just how much I dig the Dimarzio. When it's cooking, it's glorious. I think I read where Zen suggested that pup was Dimarzio's version of a JB, and it sure comes close, only it's a bit more open, less compressed. That pup is a perfect match for the Cali (for what I want; if you hate a JB kind of sound, then not so much for you).... Yeah, the Cali wins my vote hands down, and not just because I'm a Hamer fan. I'm a big EVH fan, too, but that isn't enough to blind me to which guitar I prefer playing, even if it doesn't have a fancy flame top or fancy fretboard (to paraphrase Mr. Solo, she's not much to look at, but she's got it where it counts).

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2 hours ago, FGJ said:

None of the EVH style guitars qualify as super-Strats. I like their shape, and they're definitely shredders (it's hard to argue that theyre not made for a style of shredding), but it seems rather obvious that to be a super-Strat, one of most obvious and necessary criteria is having a body that resembles a Strat.

While Cali's epitomize the pinnacle of Super Strat-dom, one could successfully argue that this EVH guitar defines the very essence of the Super Strat ;) IMHO, it is the one that started it all. Sure, there were others who upped the ante. And of course, Hamer, who could easily (and accurately )be pegged as playing "keeping up with the pack" ( the Chap debuted in '85 and Cali came out in '88, well after the market had seen offerings from Charvel, Jackson, Ibanez, BC Rich, ESP, Kramer, Fender and scores of others who hopped on the Super Strat wagon) But to the point of the OP; the Cali, for my money, rises above the pack.  I like to think I have some tiny amount of credibility in stating this,  having owned/played all of the fore-mentioned brands, save for the ESPs (though I did own several LTDs). For whatever reason, the necks on ESPs never appealed to me.  Naturally, my rationale re: Cali's is severely undercut by the subjectivity of personal preferences. ;)

 

image.png

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I agree that to a certain extent the gain (assuming settings are all the same) levels things out to some degree, so I'm glad there are cleans as well.  But, I too, in almost every part liked the Cali better than the others.  A couple spots I liked the Suhr. To me, the Axis was just a hair too dark and the JP felt too bright to me.   

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31 minutes ago, scottcald said:

I agree that to a certain extent the gain (assuming settings are all the same) levels things out to some degree, so I'm glad there are cleans as well.  But, I too, in almost every part liked the Cali better than the others.  A couple spots I liked the Suhr. To me, the Axis was just a hair too dark and the JP felt too bright to me.   

Do you think that's more attributable to the p'ups or the construction materials/methods?

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27 minutes ago, diablo175 said:

Do you think that's more attributable to the p'ups or the construction materials/methods?

I'm sure it's all of that, but just going on what the guitars as they are.  It would be cool if someone would take the time to put the same p'ups in all of them to negate that part of it, but I wouldn't.  

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3 hours ago, diablo175 said:

While Cali's epitomize the pinnacle of Super Strat-dom, one could successfully argue that this EVH guitar defines the very essence of the Super Strat ;) IMHO, it is the one that started it all. Sure, there were others who upped the ante. And of course, Hamer, who could easily (and accurately )be pegged as playing "keeping up with the pack" ( the Chap debuted in '85 and Cali came out in '88, well after the market had seen offerings from Charvel, Jackson, Ibanez, BC Rich, ESP, Kramer, Fender and scores of others who hopped on the Super Strat wagon) But to the point of the OP; the Cali, for my money, rises above the pack.  I like to think I have some tiny amount of credibility in stating this,  having owned/played all of the fore-mentioned brands, save for the ESPs (though I did own several LTDs). For whatever reason, the necks on ESPs never appealed to me.  Naturally, my rationale re: Cali's is severely undercut by the subjectivity of personal preferences. ;)

 

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Yeah, I should have said none of the "Wolfgang" guitars qualify as a super-Strat, rather than none of the EVH guitars qualify. As you intimated, the EVH guitar above created the super-Strat category single-handeded as far as I'm concerned, even if there were others who dabbled with the Strat-body-with-humbucker formula. Charvel probably tried to copy Ed's formula first and, as far as looks go, I think their early guitars caught that vibe visually better than the more extreme Strat-like mutations that came later (Jackson Soloists may be Strat-bodied in their general silhouette but, like the Cali even, they don't have the smooth body edges and Fender head-stock to pass for a Strat; not the way the early Charvels did anyway). But I still think the Cali, if set up and/or modded correctly, promulgates the spirit of the guitar above better than most with respect to performance, even if not with respect to looks (one can hardly argue that the Cali looks more like the Frankenstrat above than the current EVH striped series, which are more or less Frankenstrat clones as far as looks are concerned).

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On 7/29/2019 at 8:21 AM, diablo175 said:

While Cali's epitomize the pinnacle of Super Strat-dom, one could successfully argue that this EVH guitar defines the very essence of the Super Strat ;) IMHO, it is the one that started it all. Sure, there were others who upped the ante. And of course, Hamer, who could easily (and accurately )be pegged as playing "keeping up with the pack" ( the Chap debuted in '85 and Cali came out in '88, well after the market had seen offerings from Charvel, Jackson, Ibanez, BC Rich, ESP, Kramer, Fender and scores of others who hopped on the Super Strat wagon) But to the point of the OP; the Cali, for my money, rises above the pack.  I like to think I have some tiny amount of credibility in stating this,  having owned/played all of the fore-mentioned brands, save for the ESPs (though I did own several LTDs). For whatever reason, the necks on ESPs never appealed to me.  Naturally, my rationale re: Cali's is severely undercut by the subjectivity of personal preferences. ;)

 

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21 frets though. Ive spent 2k getting that  fucking D note...

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1 hour ago, it's me HHB said:

21 frets though. Ive spent 2k getting that  fucking D note...

Absolutely agree. Were it not for that singular issue, I'd likely still be playing my '76 Strat that I had Super-ized.

 

CBS Strat.jpg

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3 hours ago, diablo175 said:

Absolutely agree. Were it not for that singular issue, I'd likely still be playing my '76 Strat that I had Super-ized.

 

CBS Strat.jpg

While I love my Cali, I also love Strats. Yes, I know, Charvel, Schecter, Fernandes had kind of super Strats before, but to me, the start of the super Strats started with Kramer's EVH "No Bozos" ad. That really got my attention, and I wasn't even a die-hard follower of VH. I took that 1985 Kramer catalogue everywhere with me. It was the first serial Super Strat, and it was the only guitar that had the OFR as standard. I loved the Pacer Deluxe, as it was very Strat-like, but I could afford the Focus 3000 only, later I learned to love the Focus series. Good guitars going cheap on the used market. New electronics make them great guitars. The Cali may not have been the first super Strat, but to me, it was the best. I don't have a style, where I really need 27 frets, so I can enjoy 22 fret Strat necks. The cherry one I built myself from Fender parts. It is my own Fender Super Strat with high output pickups (Fender modern Twinhead, Dimarzio Chopper) and Fender locking tremolo. Doesn't sound like a Strat at all.

Strats.jpg

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