My (current) Most Played Guitar: EBMM Valentine

The Raven

The Raven

Inspired


I've had this Valentine for a few years at this point, and it's become the guitar I constantly find myself reaching for. As such, I figured it would be cool to make a video about it and show off some of the tones I'm able to get with it. It's definitely a versatile guitar, and it plays even better than it sounds in my humble opinion.

As usual, all tones are Axe Fx 3 and York Audio IR's.

Let me know what you guys think, and feel free to share the guitars you've been picking up the most. I'd love to hear from those of you with Valentines or other EBMM guitars as Music Man is definitely my favorite USA production guitar brand at this point. I've also started to dip my toes in the boutiques/custom shop side of things recently, so I'm always curious to see what other people are reaching for as their "go-to" guitar.

Thanks for checking out my post/video.
 
Last edited:
Great video - great guitar! Have you play an Axis before? Wondering how the neck compares to that as it looks similar to mine.
 
The high gain tones with the Mesa Rectifier and the 5150 were surprisingly great considering the design was biased towards cleaner tones.
 
The Valentine is a great guitar, congrats!
I played my three Music Man LIII the most but all of them have been dethroned from my Custom Shop Stratocaster. I can’t put that guitar down.
 
AtomicJeff said:
It sounds great.
Click to expand...
Thank you!
CodePoet said:
Great video - great guitar! Have you play an Axis before? Wondering how the neck compares to that as it looks similar to mine.
Click to expand...
The axis is one of the Music Man guitars I still have to try. It’s definitely on my list, but I’ve heard those feature a more asymmetrical neck profile like the Stingray RS or the EVH Wolgangs. Is that the way the neck feels to you? The Valentine is a straight up C shape neck, with a a bit of definition to the C so its not a flatter modern C.
OrganicZed said:
The high gain tones with the Mesa Rectifier and the 5150 were surprisingly great considering the design was biased towards cleaner tones.
Click to expand...
I was definitely surprised when I got the guitar and fired up my usual high gain patches. It definitely sounds like a beefed up single coil still, but rolling the tone back helps tame some of the stringy-ness you can get with single coils. I think tele-stle pickups work well with most everything though, and if you beef it up, it can definitely hang with the gain.
Sashman said:
The Valentine is a great guitar, congrats!
I played my three Music Man LIII the most but all of them have been dethroned from my Custom Shop Stratocaster. I can’t put that guitar down.
Click to expand...
Thank you! I had an early LIII in Olive Gold with a rosewood neck a long time ago, but I could never personally connect with the V shaped neck profile so I ended up selling it. I will say, that guitar sounded incredible though. Does yours have the Dimarzio Transitions or the new EBMM pickups? Also what configuration? HH or HSS? Also also, tell me more about the Custom Shop Strat. I’m not necessarily a strat guy, but I’m definitely curious to hear more about a guitar thats good enough to take away attention from an EBMM.
 
You have a great eye for special guitars. That neck is so nice and the first thing I noticed was the grain through that Trans Buttermilk finish. Love that look. Great demo, the pickups sound very versatile and great playing. Your demos are the few guitar demos that make me immediately go out looking for the guitar on the net. Thanks for posting!👍
 
The Raven said:
The axis is one of the Music Man guitars I still have to try. It’s definitely on my list, but I’ve heard those feature a more asymmetrical neck profile like the Stingray RS or the EVH Wolgangs. Is that the way the neck feels to you? The Valentine is a straight up C shape neck, with a a bit of definition to the C so its not a flatter modern C.
Click to expand...

Yes, the axis has an asymmetrical neck profile, moreso than the EVH Wolfgangs IMO. It's been my favorite neck I've found. Perhaps the Valentine is in the ballpark of that one, w/o the asymmetry.
 
The Raven said:
Thank you!

The axis is one of the Music Man guitars I still have to try. It’s definitely on my list, but I’ve heard those feature a more asymmetrical neck profile like the Stingray RS or the EVH Wolgangs. Is that the way the neck feels to you? The Valentine is a straight up C shape neck, with a a bit of definition to the C so its not a flatter modern C.

I was definitely surprised when I got the guitar and fired up my usual high gain patches. It definitely sounds like a beefed up single coil still, but rolling the tone back helps tame some of the stringy-ness you can get with single coils. I think tele-stle pickups work well with most everything though, and if you beef it up, it can definitely hang with the gain.

Thank you! I had an early LIII in Olive Gold with a rosewood neck a long time ago, but I could never personally connect with the V shaped neck profile so I ended up selling it. I will say, that guitar sounded incredible though. Does yours have the Dimarzio Transitions or the new EBMM pickups? Also what configuration? HH or HSS? Also also, tell me more about the Custom Shop Strat. I’m not necessarily a strat guy, but I’m definitely curious to hear more about a guitar thats good enough to take away attention from an EBMM.
Click to expand...
I had both, two LIII HH with the new MM Cutsom Pickups and one LIII HH with the Dimarzio Transition Pickups.
The one with the Transition Pickups is in Firemist Purple and I do love this color and it’s the only one of the three that I kept. It’s a perfect guitar, maybe to perfect for me.
I’m maybe selling it too because I don’t play it anymore.IMG_8794.jpeg
 
GitGuy513 said:
You have a great eye for special guitars. That neck is so nice and the first thing I noticed was the grain through that Trans Buttermilk finish. Love that look. Great demo, the pickups sound very versatile and great playing. Your demos are the few guitar demos that make me immediately go out looking for the guitar on the net. Thanks for posting!👍
Click to expand...
Thank you so much and I'm glad you enjoyed the video/this guitar! To be honest, I got really lucky with this one since it came at the right price at the right time. The ash definitely looks killer on this guitar too underneath this finish, even though my eyes were first drawn to the outrageous flame on this super caramel-colored neck.
CodePoet said:
Yes, the axis has an asymmetrical neck profile, moreso than the EVH Wolfgangs IMO. It's been my favorite neck I've found. Perhaps the Valentine is in the ballpark of that one, w/o the asymmetry.
Click to expand...
If I ever get hands on time with an Axis, I'll definitely report how they compare. It's been a few years since I've played an EVH, but even still, when compared to that neck, this is much more "standard" in terms of profile but the width might be similar to the Axis/Stingray RS since they all have the 1 5/8" nut width.
Sashman said:
I had both, two LIII HH with the new MM Cutsom Pickups and one LIII HH with the Dimarzio Transition Pickups.
The one with the Transition Pickups is in Firemist Purple and I do love this color and it’s the only one of the three that I kept. It’s a perfect guitar, maybe to perfect for me.
I’m maybe selling it too because I don’t play it anymore.
Click to expand...
Very nice looking guitar! Yes, the Transitions sound great for sure. Dimarzio definitely makes some great pickups. I'm not sure what the rest of your collection is looking like right now, but it may be worth hanging on to this one if you do enjoy it just because it is such a different animal from the Strat. The Transition is a versatile pickup and I remember loving the way it sounded from clean all the way to disgusting amounts of gain.
Tonedeaf said:
I tried a Sterling with a roasted neck Valentine in a music store and was impressed. Make a version with a dive only Floyd and I'm in the market
Click to expand...
I haven't tried the Sterling version, but like @Dave Merrill mentioned, they have some variety in models offered, including one with Music Man's vintage/modern tremolo. I'm not a Floyd/trem guy myself, but that bridge is dive only and by all accounts hold its tuning under heavy use when set up well, so that might be an option if you'd want the sounds/feel similar but with a trem.
 
The Raven said:
Thank you so much and I'm glad you enjoyed the video/this guitar! To be honest, I got really lucky with this one since it came at the right price at the right time. The ash definitely looks killer on this guitar too underneath this finish, even though my eyes were first drawn to the outrageous flame on this super caramel-colored neck.

If I ever get hands on time with an Axis, I'll definitely report how they compare. It's been a few years since I've played an EVH, but even still, when compared to that neck, this is much more "standard" in terms of profile but the width might be similar to the Axis/Stingray RS since they all have the 1 5/8" nut width.

Very nice looking guitar! Yes, the Transitions sound great for sure. Dimarzio definitely makes some great pickups. I'm not sure what the rest of your collection is looking like right now, but it may be worth hanging on to this one if you do enjoy it just because it is such a different animal from the Strat. The Transition is a versatile pickup and I remember loving the way it sounded from clean all the way to disgusting amounts of gain.

I haven't tried the Sterling version, but like @Dave Merrill mentioned, they have some variety in models offered, including one with Music Man's vintage/modern tremolo. I'm not a Floyd/trem guy myself, but that bridge is dive only and by all accounts hold its tuning under heavy use when set up well, so that might be an option if you'd want the sounds/feel similar but with a trem.
Click to expand...
Yeah, there definitely some kind of a special connection to this guitar.
I did prefer the Music Man Custom Pickups over the Transitions but actually I can not sell this guitar, crazy thing is I had no problems to sell the other two Luke’s.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom