LTD AW-7 is it worth it?

[LeonMaga]

Aloha people! I've been roaming on this forum for bout' a year now and I finally decided to join! So, i've been thinking about getting an LTD Alex Wade as my first seven string, but i've heard some people say that tone's to dark and muddy.. Is this true?

Is the guitar good for shred? Also, have any of you who own this guitar have any complains about something!?
On other page, I own a Dean ML 79 (huge pantera fan ) with a floyd rose and I use .09 for standard tunning, the other day the A string popped off and as usual the floyd kinda went down a bit, the strings got pretty tight which i liked, but when i put on the new string and the floyd went back to normal position, the strings lost the tightness.
Now, i know this happened because the floyd went to position again but! My question is, is there anything i can do to achieve that tightness again adjusting the floyd on the backplate? Or if i put some 10's im good to go?

Pardon me if my english's a little bit off, I'm Latin and haven't been in the US in a long time.

Cheers!

 

[MitchellJBurgess]

First of all welcome to ss.org!

I'm really not greatly knowledgable on ESP/LTD guitars but to go off looks it seems nice!
LTD make fairly nice guitars at the higher end of the spectum anyway.

But I can probably help out with your second question,
All you'd need to do is put a higher gauge of strings on or you could fix up the floating bridge, although if the bridge is already on center with the wood or the strings are very nice in space between them and the frets, then I would suggest putting on some heavier strings.

 

[HurrDurr]

I've played one quite a few times at local shops and although it's a beautiful guitar, it depends on what you're searching for in terms of tone and what you're looking to get out of it when it comes to what you wish to play with it. Honestly, I have a D Activator 7 in my bridge and I kinda do not like the pickup. I was always fascinated by the Alex Wade guitar because of how hot it looked and how much output I knew D Activators possessed, but after I spent some time with the guitar and after I had one in my own, I was instantly disillusioned. Turns out I'm not one for ultra high-output pickups. I'd much rather have a moderate output pickup and then push my amp for the gain. I just personally like that idea much better. However, that guitar is quite a beauty, so if White Chapel is the kind of stuff that you're into, then by all means go for it! Be aware of all the production that goes into his tone though. Meaning that you might like the guitar and his tone on the records, but it's gonna take work and certain equipment to get that guitar to sound like that. I personally LOVE that Mayones-like style the Ben Savage signature model has and I much prefer the Crunch Lab/Liquifier combo to that of the D Activators. There's just something about that pickup combination that's just perfect. I've tried them out on a few EBMM JP's. All in all man, get out there and try out as many 7's as you can before you settle on that pricey of a guitar as your first 7. You might not even like that added string (lol, yeah right, who doesn't?), so no use spending that kinda money on a guitar. I hope this serves you well, friend! Happy Hunting!


EDIT: Yeah, going up a string gauge should tighten up the strings a bit, but get ready for some finger strain if you aren't used to having a 50+ gauge string, lol

 

[HellGamer666]

I was in a similar situation to you and ended up buying an AW-7 a few days ago. It hasn't arrived yet, but I have no regrets in purchasing it. I was concerned about the "dark" tone that the guitar supposedly has, but I figured I could always put in a CL/LF in there. It's a beauty of a guitar and Alex did a great job spec'ing it.

 

[devolutionary]

It is rather dark, yes. D Activators are like that though. It's gonna depend heavily on your amp in many cases. I find it needs a lot less in the bass and mids, with a more scratchy, pushed highs section. Works well for stuff like Fear Factory and other industrial styled tones, which is one of the things I love about mine.

 

[LeonMaga]

Oh ok! Thanks guys! And yeah im looking to get a heavy tone out of it, like a tight beefy sound but also a good lead sound and good cleans. And i've already played 7's, i had my friends LTD SC for a couple of months and it was pretty kickass.

I saw a youtube vid of a guy who owns a Mayones and put a D-Activator Neck pickup in the bridge position and it sounded pretty tight and cool.