GEAR BOX

64 GUITAR ONE << guitaronemag.com << MARCH 2004

By Michael Ross

Last month we reviewed the Parker Mojo,which featured both electric and

acoustic capabilities—a magnificentinstrument with a price tag to match. Butperhaps your pocketbook is a tad limited, oryou just need an electric with a piezo for onetune in the set and can’t justify a four-figureticket. The folks at Peavey have come to therescue with a Korean-made guitar that offerselectric and acoustic sounds yet only takesan economical hit on the wallet.

TIGER, TIGERThe mouthful that is theGeneration EXP Custom ACM model (standard Piezomodel available) is a mostlyclassy-looking instrument.Ours came with a tiger-eye(Peavey’s term for orange)quilt maple top (pictured inwine red), double binding,and painted headstock. I findthe sophisticated appearancemarred by mismatching uncovered middleand bridge pickups with a covered neck pick-up, though some might rightly say this addsa little funk to the look. The satin neck andwell-finished frets make the instrument verycomfortable to handle. The action came onthe high side for an electric but helped keepthe acoustic sound buzz free and made bend-ing a breeze.

Played through a Fender Hot Rod Deluxe,the ceramic pickups sounded surprisinglywarm. The bridge pickup was full but pro-vided enough snap to twang like the coun-try axe it resembles. The middle single-coilalone proved suitable for blues riffing andadded the requisite “out-of-phase” attitudeto the bridge and neck pickups. The neck

pickup proved articulate enough for rock orblues, and with the tone rolled off, produceda wonderful jazz tone—warm without beingmuffled. Some of the credit goes to the per-fectly voiced tone control. One quibble: thefive-way switch allows only bridge, middle,neck, and the combination of middle withneck or bridge. An additional switch orpush/pull pot would have allowed the optionof the bridge combined with the neck with-out adding unduly to the cost.

The EXP piezo features Peavey’s patentedACM circuit, which helps replicate an acoustic

guitar sound. Played through aCarvin acoustic amp, it didindeed sound like a flat-top,with full bass and little or nopiezo harshness, even whensnapping the strings. Blendingin the electric guitar sound fora hybrid tone, however, yield-ed the most interesting results.Adding a little acoustic to theneck pickup with its tone rolledoff sounded like an archtop

played at low enough volume to hear theacoustic tone. Blending it behind thebridge pickup added beef to the twang ofthe swamp riff below.

THE GREATEST GENERATIONThe days of throwing your electric behindyour back and playing an acoustic on a standfor one verse or an intro are over; theGeneration EXP Custom ACM allows youto switch sounds with the flick of a three-way toggle. More importantly, it will letyou develop a whole range of newsounds without breaking the bank.

CONTACT Peavey, 601-483-5365,peavey.com

FEATURES BODY Solid alder body, quilt top, binding on back and top NECK 25" scale, dual-expanding truss rod, Rosewood fingerboard ELECTRONICSHumbucker/single-coil/single-coil pickup configuration, patented ACM (Acoustic Analog Modeling) circuit HARDWARE Steel-plate bridge with die-cast saddles

FINISHES Available in tiger-eye, sunburst, wine red, and purple PRICE $649.99

“Playedthrough an

acoustic amp,the piezo

did indeedsound like aflat- top.”

HEAR IT ONLINE AT GUITARONEMAG.COM

GEARBOX

Peavey EXP T-T-Talkin’ ’Bout My…

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