Well this will be the second review for the Hamm community guitar and as rumble_b has stated this is strictly my opinion on the guitar it may vary to others. It arrived in a unique shipping case, nice idea Andy. When I first took it from the case it had that PRS look to me. The finish is good, the weight is “light” and it feels comfortable to hold. It is slim but I am used to an LP. The neck is very slim, nice feel though. Hardware is good and functional. One question Andy, the tune o matic is reversed with the screws face toward the neck? A little tricky with the HB there if you want to set intonation. The HB’s are a little loose in there mounts, would suggest a stronger spring there. Ok that is a general visual as I took it out and checked out the build. Final opinion on build is, putting in perspective the price and the fact it is a set neck, this guitar gets an A+ . Again I’ll note the weight, very light but unplugged it has a nice acoustic sound and I’m sure it will sound great plugged in. Here we go….
Setup one, guitar straight into my Epi VJ combo. The VJ has been tinkered with as I have posted in previous thread and is a nice place to start. Hmmm my opinion here varies from the first, the bridge pickup seems fine lots of bite, but the neck sounds a bit muddy to me, a lack of definition on the notes. Rolling back on the volume seems to clean them up and the tone loss is not bad. The pups are probably a little hot for my liking but they do have a bit of spank in them. As I said they clean up nice rolling back the volume. Probably biggest thing for me is the neck pup seems a little dark but that is easily solved. As mentioned in the first review the volume and tone pots perform there job fine, like the taper on the tone.
Setup two, guitar straight into my Ampeg SJ12R. This is my main gigging amp so I am pretty used to the sound I get or can get. Faired out a bit better through this setup. I will say this guitar is loud plugged in also. A better definition in the low end on the neck pickup with this amp. Still a nice bite from the bridge. Again rolling back the volume cleans them up nicely. The guitar stays in tune fairly well, I do some heavy bending once and a while and I use a vibrato kind of style a lot with fretting hand but it was holding out Ok, had to tweak once in a while. Overall not to shabby sounding guitar. So far I haven’t noticed any problems with the frets and the neck plays nice once you get use to it.
Been playing this guitar a fair bit tonight and it really does grow on you. I did notice that the edge on the nut could use a little rounding. It is a nice guitar to play unplugged.
Now with pedals. First I ran it through a stock Boss BD2 with a slight bit of gain . Sounds good, but then the ampeg loves pedals, turned the gain up and it sounded great.
Next I put it through my normal pedal board setup, Diamond J Drive TR, Bad Monkey, BYOC phase, Marshall Chorus and BYOC tremolo. Had a bit of a jam with some buddy’s and gave the HCG a good workout. The guitar did well, very little tuning problems, lots of good tones and I enjoyed playing it. I think if I was to have one the only mod I would do would be to change the pups.
My overall opinion on the sound of the guitar is favorable. Unplugged or plugged in this guitar sounds good. By unplugged I mean the natural acoustic sound of the guitar. I have three other guitars around at the moment that would be in the same category as this guitar. A Squire 51, an Epi Special LP and another Special with upgrades. Comparing this guitar to these three it well held its own. Overall I would recommend this guitar highly to anyone. My interest is in the new offerings that Andy has to offer. A great value for the buck all round, well built and some great tones. Hat’s off to you Andy for offering a great guitar at an affordable price.
Setup one, guitar straight into my Epi VJ combo. The VJ has been tinkered with as I have posted in previous thread and is a nice place to start. Hmmm my opinion here varies from the first, the bridge pickup seems fine lots of bite, but the neck sounds a bit muddy to me, a lack of definition on the notes. Rolling back on the volume seems to clean them up and the tone loss is not bad. The pups are probably a little hot for my liking but they do have a bit of spank in them. As I said they clean up nice rolling back the volume. Probably biggest thing for me is the neck pup seems a little dark but that is easily solved. As mentioned in the first review the volume and tone pots perform there job fine, like the taper on the tone.
Setup two, guitar straight into my Ampeg SJ12R. This is my main gigging amp so I am pretty used to the sound I get or can get. Faired out a bit better through this setup. I will say this guitar is loud plugged in also. A better definition in the low end on the neck pickup with this amp. Still a nice bite from the bridge. Again rolling back the volume cleans them up nicely. The guitar stays in tune fairly well, I do some heavy bending once and a while and I use a vibrato kind of style a lot with fretting hand but it was holding out Ok, had to tweak once in a while. Overall not to shabby sounding guitar. So far I haven’t noticed any problems with the frets and the neck plays nice once you get use to it.
Been playing this guitar a fair bit tonight and it really does grow on you. I did notice that the edge on the nut could use a little rounding. It is a nice guitar to play unplugged.
Now with pedals. First I ran it through a stock Boss BD2 with a slight bit of gain . Sounds good, but then the ampeg loves pedals, turned the gain up and it sounded great.
Next I put it through my normal pedal board setup, Diamond J Drive TR, Bad Monkey, BYOC phase, Marshall Chorus and BYOC tremolo. Had a bit of a jam with some buddy’s and gave the HCG a good workout. The guitar did well, very little tuning problems, lots of good tones and I enjoyed playing it. I think if I was to have one the only mod I would do would be to change the pups.
My overall opinion on the sound of the guitar is favorable. Unplugged or plugged in this guitar sounds good. By unplugged I mean the natural acoustic sound of the guitar. I have three other guitars around at the moment that would be in the same category as this guitar. A Squire 51, an Epi Special LP and another Special with upgrades. Comparing this guitar to these three it well held its own. Overall I would recommend this guitar highly to anyone. My interest is in the new offerings that Andy has to offer. A great value for the buck all round, well built and some great tones. Hat’s off to you Andy for offering a great guitar at an affordable price.
