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!
