Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Happy New Year Friends:

I just returned from my semiannual trip to SOCAL and had the pleasure of spending an afternoon at guitar row on Sunset BL. I do not remember seeing so many cool old Ricks on previous trips. Voltage Guitars seemed to have the best selection.

Anyway, I picked up a new Aphex Guitar Xciter (the red one) at Guitar Center. I tried it out on an old 450/12 through a '66 Deluxe Reverb in their vintage shop. It sounded great. I brought it home to Colorado with me and put it between my 360/12 VP and my Fender Deluxe and...WOW! It adds back the punch I was missing after I retrofitted the vintage pickups without killing the jangle. The bass effect (Big Bottom ["talk about bun cakes..."]) is particularly impressive. Check it out. You won't believe the difference.

Yes the music shops on Sunset Blvd. in Hollywood CA can fill up a whole day of fun. It's like the west coast version 48th St and 7th Ave in Manhattan of NYC.
I tried the Aphex Bass Xciter at a Guitar Center (Brea, CA), but it was in the middle of the Christmas rush and I didn't get to use an amp or bass to play it with to get to the "I've gotta have it" point.
So does it really get a great bottom end thickness without farting out the speakers?

Except that half the salesmen in the GC on Sunset are pushy jerks..

I think the problem is more with the Guitar Center "culture" than with the sales personnel, and it seems to be getting worse. The whole atmosphere is set up to create mass confusion and chaos.

My son and I stopped at the GC in Denver last Friday on our way back from skiing. I just needed a couple of sets of strings. The person behind the counter in the accessories area could not hear me because it was so loud. One customer was auditioning a Vox Tonelab through a Hot Rod Deville at ear splitting levels. A Led Zeppelin DVD was playing on a TV near the front entrance full blast through a ****** Akai surround system. On top of that, there was recorded music being played at high levels over the store's PA system. People were leaving in disgust (I'm not kidding). I went next door to Office Depot and returned to GC about ten minutes later. The Tonelab dude was still there playing the same hideous riff on the high E string with this piercing preset at 120db. I turned around and walked out. Screw it. I'll go to Wildwood Guitars which is totally out of my way!

I just do not see how anyone who is serious about purchasing an expensive instrument could ever consider doing so in this environment.

I usually go to my local GC on Saturday mornings when it is still quiet. Some weekday evenings is also quiet. Definitely avoid midday and afternoons on Saturday.

I always go during every body else's working hours. And I totally avoid the Hollywood store (of the three near me, that's the second closest). I also have Voltage, Norm's etc. near me, so GC isn't the only game in town.

You're right about the GC "culture" in regards to mass confusion & chaos.. My wife refuses to go in there anymore and she is a musician.. I've only bought 2 guitars there ever since I first started playing as a teen back in the early 80's.. My first "good" electric, an 84' Japanese Fender Strat, and a 2002 Am. Std. Tele, I picked it up by chance and it spoke to me. I didn't even bother to plug it in. I usually go to the one in Lawndale.

Lawndale's my first choice. I actually tried a couple 325's there, very nice.

I wanted to give this topic a bump. Seriously, this Aphex Guitar Xciter really breathes life into my Rick 360/12 VP. You gotta try one. Even my wife, who usually just rolls her eyes at my guitar gadgets, was impressed by the difference!

http://home.comcast.net/~drjeffreyb