Washburn HB30 I couldn't be happier
Wanted a 335 style guitar as I sold my 67 walnut original years back and always thought it was a mistake. I always liked Washburn products and when I saw the HB30 with a case at the price WMS was advertising I couldn't help but take the chance. Hey it wasn't a lot of bread (But I researched the hell out of it first, I'm cautious) I ordered on line, it was much easier than I thought, everything was laid out right in front of me and I'm a 65 yr. old techno challenged dinosaur, so nothing comes easy to me, but still I did it easily. Well before I knew it all was complete and I was naturally apprehensive, bought a guitar the first time in my life without playing it, what was I doing? Received email tracking info (what's this stuff) every step of the way. Sure enough a truck pulls up on the day I was told it would arrive and out comes this guy with a box. Well packed double boxed with the case inside. When I took it out I had to look several times at the case as it was every bit as nice or better then the original factory case from my old 67 but this one says Washburn on it, not Gibson. Hard to believe at first. The guitar was a total surprise beautiful cherry finished maple grain, fantastic finish and workmanship. Thought it was a mistake and I got the wrong model. Had to check it twice thought I stole it. Needed to be tweaked for my setup preference, but actually played great out of the box. Great sounding guitar, will do anything my old one would and actually I prefer the neck on the HB30 to the 335 as it is larger and easier to play for me. I like the Carlton, Ford, Chuck D'aloia sound and this thing does it perfectly, it really amazes me. The pickups will do what you want if you adjust them and the amp right. When I plug this into my Genz Benz Diablo TS head (which I also got from WMS) and run it into my bandmaster 212 cab with hemp cone speakers it sure is fun. That amp can get some awesome sounds once you learn how to tweak it. No foot pedals necessary it has so many tonal possibilities. It really can get to the 50k D zone, maybe not exactly the same but close lots of touch sensitivity, endless sustain and a beautiful slightly compressed singing quality. It's a great amp. And the HB30 even sounds better but different through my other amp a real Trainwreck Liverpool my good friend Ken Fisher built for me in 1993, but that's another story, God bless you Kenny. Thank you WMS for great service and some great products, it's fun making music.