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Cort Viva Gold II or Dean Vendetta 1.0?


Speeddemon

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I'm looking for a new guitar and am trying to decide between these 2.

 

The Cort:

vivagoldLG.gif

 

the Dean:

vn1_400.jpg

 

I've played them both and liked them both. The Dean is 199 euro's new here and the VIVA Gold is discontinued, but I can get one for 350 euro's.

 

Anyone with some more experience?

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I have no experience with those but I would prefer the string through bridge, dual hum, side jack configuration and the body style of the Dean. Since you've played them both I assume you already got an idea of how they compare in terms of build quality.

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well, I was hoping whether someone had some longer experience with them.

I tried them both (on different occasions, mind you) for about an hour or so.

 

My main axe is an Ibanez S540FM TTS and the Cort is obviously very close to that (sleek S body, fast neck, low pro edge-like trem, HSH config). I also have a GrassRoots (ESP) Horizon-esque thing, with 2 humbuckers (SD 59 and Lil'59) with a Floyd Rose thingie. This is a great metal/rock guitar, but the clean sucks and I like those glassy 80's clean sounds when doing metal (the clean parts then ofcourse). Take Hold of the Flame from Queensr

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I played a Vendetta 1.0 a few weeks ago actually. I was very impressed with it, it played really nice and sounded pretty good for the price. I'm actually considering buying one and putting better pickups in it (Duncan JB and Jazz) and using it as a backup. I've yet to find a guitar with better features for the price, I also love the look of it as well. It's the coolest looking $200 guitar I've ever came across as well. Mahogany body, string thru, 24 frets, pretty sweet deal if you ask me. :)

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From what I can remember (tried the Vendetta 1.0 through a VOX AD30VT), the stock pickups already sounded great. Chunky, full and tight. And the middle position gave some excellent clean sounds.

 

What's your assessment of the stock pups?

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Well I have the same Cort as your are wandering for. I don't know for the Vendetta... The Cort is of impressive quality it is a first class guitar in terms of build, assembly and playability quality, the pickups may not be perfect... But the way the body is routed for the pickups and the control cavity there is room for clean upgrades. The electronics (pots, switch, soldering...) is of high quality so swapping for nicer pickups would be very easy.

 

In my case I have hot rodded it with carvin pickups (very cheap upgrade) and I made custom inlay with bloodwood, reshaped the headstock to look less like Ibanez and finally refinished the neck with tung oil. The result is impressive with a pickup upgrade plus the playbility and overall construction are at least as good as any Ibanez or american Strat...

 

I would go straight for the Cort because it is very good as is and can be easily improved over time...

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Originally posted by Speeddemon

so you did some luthier-alike work? And what of this tung oil?

What's it for, what does it do?


Also, what kind of sound difference did you go for (or what did you find was lacking in the original pups?)

 

 

I did these modifications by my own as a project because I had no use for my Cort due to my other guitar and I was not interested to sell it so I took it as a challenge to learn how to repair and modify electric guitar... The custom bloodwood inlays and the headstock retooling were simply for cosmetic concerns. I also installed sperzel locking tuners, not much for improvement but because I screwed one of the existing tuner and could not find other replacements than the sperzel regarding the diameter of the hole and the alignment mini holes.

 

The tung Oil is a very thin finishing varnish that is very silky and thin to the touch so it gives the feel of an unfinish neck but slides more easily along and keeps dirt away. One of the advantage is that it is very easy to apply, simply with an old cotton rag damped with the product. Also it is a finish that builds very thin layers so you have to apply several coats to get the thickness you need so it is very easy to get the accurate thickness you want... It is probably one of the most appropriate finish for lightning fast action along the neck. Obviously you do not spread it over the rosewood fretboard.

 

In terms of sound: The bridge pickup was way too harsh for my taste (sounded too much like my SG's 57), the middle pickup was nice but too much noise for me and the neck pickup was kind of flat (like an EMG HZ). So I swapped the bridge to an Oldsworth signature from carvin. Bought a carvin S60 single coil for the middle pickup. Finally a carvin TBH60 twin blade (single coil sized) humbucker for the neck. What I gained was a lot of midrange emphasis on the neck with lots of definition. In the bridge, it now sounds more balanced with more presence. For the middle pickup

it sounds like previously but with much less noises. My only regrets is the middle pickup, I would have been better with a twinblade as the one in the neck position because it is completely noiseless and I do not need the typical single coil sound in the middle position since I have a Strat for that purpose.

 

The result is that for a guitar with previously no use for, it is now my number two guitar just behind my am dlx strat.

 

pm me if you want more information...

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Originally posted by Megadeth7684

I played a Vendetta 1.0 a few weeks ago actually. I was very impressed with it, it played really nice and sounded pretty good for the price. I'm actually considering buying one and putting better pickups in it (Duncan JB and Jazz) and using it as a backup.

 

 

 

Originally posted by Speeddemon


What's your assessment of the stock pups?

 

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well, I got the Cort... but for much less than I anticipated. ;)

 

When I was on Ebay with the 325 euro Cort (from Italy) I was still very uncertain whether I should do it or not... I said 'no', because I had just bought a Cort S2900 (H-S-S Seymour Duncans, with Sperzel tuners and Wilkinson bridge).

 

Anyway, couple of weeks ago there was a Cort Viva Gold again on Ebay... 199 euro's (instead of 325!).

What the hell, I figured. If I don't like it I can easily resell it for 300.

 

Guitar arrived today. Very nice. I think it does need some setting up (lowering the action a bit, repositioning the Floyd Rose) and neck cleaning. the strings and fretboard feel a bit leathery (I think some dirt/old strings is the cause).

 

the toggleswitch might need replacement, since it crackles a lot, but the pots and jack are great.

 

Still, I'm not sure what to replace the brigde and neck humbuckers with. I like the basic sound of the neck humbucker, but it could be a tad bit more round, with more definition.

 

The middle pup will most likely be replaced by a SD SSL-2 Vintage Flat.

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About the pup change...

 

I'm thinking of replacing the Mighty Mite humbuckers (that are in it stock and sound pretty thin) with either one of these:

 

Bridge:

SD JB

SD Custom Custom

DiMarzio Norton

DiMarzio Super Distortion

 

Neck:

SD Jazz

SD Pearly Gates

SD '59

DiMarzio Air Norton

 

I want them to be coil-tappable, have a fat, yet tight low-end, clean has to be CLEAN, and if it can sound a tad vintage-ish, and still be able to do heavy metal/speed metal, all the better.

 

My tone is all about definition, clarity and punch.

 

I'm leaning the most towards the Custom Custom/Jazz combo right now...

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No I have not tried any of the other. Actually:

Bridge = Original MightyMite

Middle = Carvin S60

Neck = Carvin TBH60

 

Currently I am waiting to receive a Carvin H22T to replace the bridge pickup (supposedly very similar to a Seymour Duncan 59). I want a more vintage sounding bridge pickup, the actual one has too much gain for my tastes when played clean.

Also I will replace the middle Carvin S60 with another Carvin Twinblade TBH60. The S60 is a single coil blade pickup a bit darker sounding than a strat typical middle pickup but I want something noiseless and I already have a strat sound with AmDlx strat. I am no Carvin dedicated fan but I have come to appreciate their pickups because it is a quite inexpensive alternative to other major namebrand expensive pickups. I considered a SD 59 for the bridge because I had an opportunity for a used one but after considering is very good tonal quality and reading reviews that compared the H22T to the 59 I prefer having the Carvin with the four wires to get all the switching options I want.

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Originally posted by angryrock

Don't go for the Dimarzio SuperDistortion, the mightymite is not so far from it... I tried to switch my mightymite in the bridge for a superdistortion and it was a waste of money. It sound quite similar.

 

 

Wow I was also thinking about replacing the bridge humbucker of my X-6 (also mightymite) with Dimarzio SD

 

This is such a small world

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