Friday, December 10, 2010

Vox: SSC-33

Vox's SSC-33 made it on time for City Music's year-end sale with a discounted price tag of $816, it certainly is worthy of our considerations for instruments in the mid-price category.

Please free yourselves from any Les Paul expectations when hearing this guitar in action because there are none to be had here; it's not a Les Paul anyway, just happened to be in the likeness of its outline. I feel the SSC-33 offers a different feel in terms of handling as the double curved body design (front & back) offers a sleek aerodynamic feel. The neck profile is more Fender-y as opposed to being LP-like & with the low action set up, this guitar is definitely to my liking with lots of shred potential without excluding the traditional players who prefer digging into their notes & bend like there's no tomorrow. Vox's MaxConnect lightweight aluminium bridge did well to let the resonance through as well as providing some player comfort. Unlike the usual tune-o-matic unit, this one doesn't project the strings away from the body too much.

Tone-wise, the CoAxe pickups are functionally humbuckers but they are essentially P-90 type units so expect lots of single coil fatness here & splendid cleans. However, driven tones wouldn't be as full sounding as what the average humbucker might offer so the metal-heads out there should accept the tamed tones here. Personally, I find the SSC-33 to be more appealing when peddling crunchy blues-type voicings than all-out distortion. Build-wise, there's nothing adverse to report on the Indonesian hands which manufactured this instrument. It's highly recommended for those of us shopping for a singlecut unit without having extreme distortion priorities.

Thanks to Mr. Dhalif @ City Music for helping me out! Cheers!

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Says the sales booklet: "purchase any VOX Guitar and get a free amPlug of your Choice + amPlug Cabinet." Does it still apply? If so, now's the time to buy this guitar. The free gifts already cost $73 (sale combo set pricing). I tried it out last week, it was unlike any other common guitars. It feel comfortable on the body and neck. ~1mb

Bil said...

Hi Guitaraddict!
Are you by anychance the lefty guitar player who tried out the VOX amPlugs with this guitar on thursday this week?

subversion.sg said...

em... i'd rather get a quality guitar cable with any guitar purchase if given a chance. but if you are curious about the amPlug + cab, it's good acquisition to say the least :-)

i'm not a lefty :-) i tried the guitar during the first week of sale together with the LINE6 HD...

naz said...

Hey bro, this question may sound stupid, but would there be any tonal difference on different guitar finishes?

subversion.sg said...

yes bro, but it has nothing to do with the colour, it's the final finish overcoat. a guitar body with a gloss finish is usually more massive & this will influence the bass response. satin finished guitars lets the wood resonate more instead of the overcoat so the overall response is a brighter sounding guitar.

however, the wood type dictates tone more than the finish type :-)