My first hour with my E1

[MateoDelElayoh]

I opened my E1 after a month of sitting around unboxed:

First impressions from just an hour or so:

The positives:

- The condition was perfect, despite it being an "opened" box deal from moog. #140 from 2010.
- It's a really well made guitar, just in terms of the neck feel, and handsome as well.
- The intonation seems fine and tremolo arm seemed to work well out of the box
- The harmonic blend sweep, when combined with max sustain, is fairly mindblowing
- The technology behind vo power, and the selective vs all option, is truly amazing
- This thing can make some seriously unique sounds, which in my line of work is pure gold.
- I like owning one of a thousand or so of these, especially in working shape.

The mehs:

- The strings don't seem to hold their tuning terribly well, but they're very light and somewhat new.
- Did I mention the light gauges? Am I 16 again, with Steve Stevens playing solos on the radio?
- I'm really underwhelmed with the stock petal effects, especially considering it could just be a volume pedal (useful) harmonic blend switch, instead of making that an onboard knob. I really don't need a meh low pass filter effect, or three of them.

Of course, the few complaints I have could be solved with a better set-up and/or some familiarity with the pedals/filters, which I've spent all of fifteen minutes playing with.

[Croyote]

Keep playing with it.

You will find the shades in between quite useful with some tests.

I think that the Wilkinson is stable, generally, but it may be susceptible to shifts in humidity or temperature which are not experienced in Asheville. I'm not certain about this, but I do know that even my Vo will wander in tuning from one day to next if there has been a rainstorm or the humidity has been quite high . . . however I've noticed this with a good number of other vibratos/tremolos as well.

Did you buy this guitar from Moog Music recently? I was under the impression that they were all gone. I need a backup!

[MateoDelElayoh]

Yup, bought it direct. They are about all gone AFAIK.

I thought about it a bit, the stock 2 low pass things make more sense with gain, and probably really come alive with a MuRF or the such.

I'm having fun - I did my Hendrix "Banner" pass yesterday, I think it's as hard to resist as "Stairway to Heaven" on a Gibson 12 +6!

[MateoDelElayoh]

A month later, finally got a dozen hours with this thing.

I rigged up a decent setup for it, including two channels both using a stereo volume pedal and a nice new stereo demeter DI box.

It's fabulous, though the B string really holds tuning pretty poorly, so, my two initial negatives are still there.

That issue could possibly go away if I'm motivated enough just to put a heavier set on.

I can't imagine not using this on any project, and I'm much less negative on the onboard effects, especially the harmonic balance pedal routine, it makes a great subtle wet channel on any recording alongside the standard 1/4".