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Dialing in that tone is such a great thing when you hit it. Eagles are great platforms and I'm glad you made it work for You!

There are additional product labeled Soldano that were built for the Asian market. They’re easy to spot with the pale purple face plates. They’re should bring about the same money as JETs.

Henriksen amp arrived this afternoon. Super easy to dial in with this Eagle Classic. Amp sounds great right out of the box with all the dials at 12:00. Looking forward to a little more tone tweaking tomorrow. It will go to the gig Friday. I was a little concerned that it wouldn’t be loud enough to keep up with our drummer, but with the volume only at 10:00 my wife shared: “Honey, that’s really loud!” Another good feature is the headphone out that defeats the speaker. Wife and family will appreciate that. Super easy to tote at 20lbs. Comes with a nice gig bag with a big front pocket for cables and other accessories. Two separate eq’d channels so i can put a mic or another instrument in for solo gigs or to accompany a singer or whatever. I ended up being the front man at gigs by default (someone had to do it), so being able to put a mic into this amp simplifies things and opens another input on the PA. Love the Benedetto B-6 pickup with this guitar. Really a perfect match. Really good with this specific amp. Always a little nervous buying things without ever playing them, but this combination really works well. The Eagle Classic was a good call in the end; so was the pickup switch and amp purchase. I have a feeling this amp may become the go to for gigs since it is so light and compact. Maybe that will be the end of my new gear craving (for a while at least). More to come….

On the subject of Wolfetones, I have a brand new set of Wolfetone Dr. Vintage, box never opened, that I'll sell for $190, shipped, lower 48. Dr. Vintage are similar to Legends.

That's one of the reasons that I don't tend to go down the swap pickup route. I can turn those tone controls and make 50 times more change than swapping pickups do, as long as you stay in the neighborhood. You won't make a 150 with Seths sound like a Ric 360 or Tele, but to me, a 150 with Seths vs 59s is like two houses on the same block with different front porches. Plus, I never really try to mimic someone else's tone, especially off a record. Even if it's a '59 LP and a Marshall BB, you don't know how their amp was set, what was done on the mixing board and in the mastering process.

check out Wolfetone Legends too. I have set in my '97 H150 & they are the bomb I like Seth Lovers as well

Thanks guys, it is really hard to describe "tone", but I want that nice, bright, but not harsh top end. The 59's are good, especially with more gain/distortion. But I tend to play on the edge of break up most of the time and even sometimes quite clean and bluesy. The 59's seem to have a peak in the 1khz-2khz frequencyrange that grates a bit on my ears. I wish I had money for the ThroBaks, they sounded so incredibly sweet in my friend's R9. Now to find a deal on a set...

fwiw, I have a 535 with 59s and one with Seths. The Seths are sweeter and smoother. I plan to sell the 59-equipped guitar but will keep the 535 with the Seth Lovers.

Liked it straight away, super playable/comfortable, neck profile suits me, very aesthetic without being flashy, love the neck pickup only vibe/look, but something was not quite right to my ear. Tried it with multiple amps, but couldn’t get what i was seeking. Decided to swap the Schaller Golden 50’s for a Benedetto B-6 (one of my all time favorite pickups)….still not feeling the love after much amp switching, new strings, etc. Then i started fiddling with my amp settings and BINGO!!!! On all my other guitars I have always used fairly scooped EQ. With this one, boosting the mids to about 2:00-3:00 was magic. That plus a little delay effect and: Eureka, i found it! Tight while still organic. A little more acoustic sounding than my two pickup archtops, which is part of what i was after. Volume control bump gives it a little more electric sound. Very versatile for what my band does. Real Book ballads to boss nova to full electric modal jazz jam tunes. It came with some Doug’s plugs so feedback should not be an issue. The plugs alter the sound a little, but not dramatically. Still sound like the same guitar. A little less acoustic sound. Getting closer to roughly the late 60’s/early 70’s (pre-pop era) Benson tone that i am looking for. Check it out. Links: George Benson Thunder Walk on Giblets and Gravy Billie’s Bounce Body Talk . I just ordered an open box ($200 discount) Henriksen Bud 10 (solid state, 20 lbs - good for the portability and the 65 year old back, two independent channels, super clean) that is voiced a little between a fender sound and a polytone sound. Cabinet built for feedback resistance. We’ll see how that goes. I’ll probably use it on the gig Friday 2/13. Will report back. Overall - after a couple of weeks thinking i might have made a purchase mistake and would have to sell it, I’ve found a great vibe with this guitar. Will update this thread after gig on Friday, or perhaps sooner after the Bud 10 delivery scheduled for today. Should be a fun pre-super bowl day exploring what the combination of Eagle Classic-Henriksen Bud 10 can do.

Saw some videos lately of Joe Bonamassa taking ownership of the late Gary Moore’s Soldano amp. Like many influencers, you can bet used Soldano amp values will jump… However if you’re like me and can’t come up with the funds, the original Jet City amps were designed by Soldano to be an import, affordable version. May not sound the exactly the same, but still sounds great. I’ve had three of them, still have a 20 watt 2 Channel combo that sounds killer!

To my ear, Seths are much better, but that’s just me. I haven’t done a direct swap, but when I’ve played similar guitars with Seths, i notice the musical and textural difference. Seths are more articulate, organic, smoother and just sound better for what i am looking for. You may have a different experience. I’ve had 59s in multiple guitars and only found them to sound great in one. Even in that one i swapped for a Benedetto B-6 and it was better for my use. That said, 59s sounded VERY good in that specific guitar (H575).

I have the Seth Lovers in my H-535 and I think you are right as far as them being smoother (If that is what you are saying?) especially on the top end. I have Dimarzio Anniversary PAFs in a couple of other guitars and they seem to have the same great tone and an identical high end. I am not sure that I could tell the difference btw the Seth Lovers and the Dimarzios. I love them both.

Anyone have direct experience swapping out a pair of Seymour Duncan 59's for a pair of Seth Lovers SH-55 pickups? I have a '98 H150 that was a special run with SD59's and standard tune-o-matic bridge/tail from the factory. It's also a lighter one, about 8-3/4 lbs. I've owned it for over 20 years now. Use it as a work-horse. The 59's are ok-ish, but I find them a bit aggressive and in general, I find they have in this, and many other guitars, a treble peak that's a bit harsh. It isn't overly bright, but it just has a peak in the wrong place to my ears. The original pots from Heritage were like the Norlin era-Gibson, 100k tone and 300k volumes, which darkened it up quite a bit. When a couple of the pots showed wear, I changed them to the more typical 500k and "50's wiring" since I like to roll the volumes up and down a lot while playing. I like the low-output PAF sound a lot, clear, articulate, bright but not harsh. A friend put throBaks in his Gibson R9 and that's the direction I'd like to go, but not $900 in that direction.

Rare sighting.

Sweet! I have one of those. The light on the music stand, I mean. That is the first cowpoke I ever came across with a Sweet 16.

He needs a Millennium!

Top wrapping has worked great for me, but I don't think that Lightning option existed yet! Brilliant.

I confess i'm not up to date on the details of the latest model distinctions. I've got mine and I'm decidedly NOT looking to expand! Nice to see such a high profile artist putting them out there though. Not aware of many.

Looks like a new Custom Core to me.

and now he has 3. added another with a bigsby. I'd say he's a convert. Playing sold out back to back shows at 100,000 people a night. Not bad.

Have you looked at the Lightning stoptail? It slopes upwards so that the strings exit the tailpiece higher up. No need to top wrap for clearance, so you don't trash your stoptail finish. I thought about this one time, but these guys already did it. https://lightningguitars.com/ They're located in Hampshire UK.

It sounds like he's a convert! He walks in to a store, plays a 530, and buys it on the spot and then adds a CC 535 later. Way cool!

did a little digging. This may be a custom H530??? Turns out his touring lead player relies heavily on a H-530. https://guitar.com/features/interviews/fretbuzz-noah-levine/