EVH Wolfgang Special Review

Peavey and Edward Van Halen designed the EVH Wolfgang Series as the pinnacle of modern tone and design -- an instantly recognizable modern classic.

Features:	9.5
Sound:	9
Action:	10
Reliability:	9.5
Impression:	10
Overall rating:	9.6
Users rating:	9.4
Comments:	12

overall: 9.8

Featured review by: Whitey5150, on may 07, 2009

Price paid: $ 680.00

Purchased from: Guitar Center (Used)

Features: My Wolfgang is a 2002 Peavey Wolfgang Special, and I think it has 22 jumbo frets. It has an all maple neck I think and by the sound of the tone the body is basswood. It has a Orange/Yellow quilt top finish and obviously it is a double cutaway. It came with a Peavey Floyd Rose (FR liscensed) and it has passive electronics. It has a 3-way selector on the upper cutaway and it only has one knob: the volume knob(I replaced the original one on mine with a MXR pedal knob for the EVH feel). When you Switch the 3-way selector up, it goes to the bridge pickup, mid is mid, and switched down is the neck pickup. I'm not really sure what kind of pickups are in the guitar, but I'm sure they are the Peavey/EVH manufactured ones. Also, I bought my Wolfgang used, so the bridge pickup might of been replaced (not sure). It has grover non-locking tuners (locking not needed with FR), and it came with a hard shell case. Very cool. // 10

Sound: Since I am a Van Halen man, this guitar fits my preferences perfectly. Also, I play a little blues, and the guitar also suits that very well. I use a Line-6 Spider III amp with a Ibanez TS9 pedal (The amp, well, its as if the distortion is at 80% of what you want, so the pedal to me puts it up to 100%), When the guitar is on the bridge setting, it really gives that kickass tone. Also one thing unique about the Wolfgang is that it allows you to do things that you can't do on another guitar. Like you can make harmonics easier on this guitar then other ones. The neck pickup is perfectly for blues, but I don't recommend clean blues or jazz. This guitar doesn't seem to sound very well at the clean level on a amp. (Then again, my amp is solid-state, so don't count on that) If you really know how to fit yourself into a guitar and how to use one, this guitar will basically welcome you to it. // 9

Action, Fit & Finish: This guitar is VERY sturdy, and the action is perfect to my standards. It is so low it nearly touches the frets. The bridge pickup was adjusted perfectly for my kind of tone (Early Van Halen tone) but like I said, the neck sounds very nice, but not the best pickup for a clean channel. The routing for the Floyd was done very well, and it looks professional, so no complaints from me. The only flaw for I'd say is that the whammy bar for the floyd is a little loose, and it sometimes makes the guitar noisy, but its nothing major. // 10

Reliability & Durability: Once again, the guitar is very solid. Everything is screwed in tightly, and everything is right where it should be. When it comes to how long it'll last, well, the guitar has been around for seven years already and it looks nearly Brand New. So in my opinion, yes it'll last for a very, very long time. The strap buttons are very solid, no problems there. This is a guitar that can VERY dependable, besides the fact it cannot make the best clean tone, it can fit a wide variety of tone for rock, blues, and sometimes metal. Also the finish is similar to that of a Les Paul, so I'd say that that will last a long time too. // 10

Impression: Since this is a Peavey/EVH Wolfgang, it obviously meets my standards. I have been playing for about 5 years and I own a Les Paul and a Ovation Acoustic. And to be honest, if you have questions about this guitar, just simply play it. It'll literally answer your questions. And for me I have none, it totally fits my standards. If I had lost this guitar or if were stolen, of course I would try to replace it. For one the price can be as low as 600 dollars from time to time, and it is a very great guitar for more then just Van Halen fans. What I love about this guitar is that I can do horse whinny harmonic on it, which I can't do on my other guitars. It has the kickass tone of a Les Paul, and it also allows you to be more creative with the Floyd Rose and the D-tuna (D-tunas do NOT come with the guitar, Mine just happened to). // 10

overall: 9.4

Reviewed by: f-e-z, on may 07, 2007

Price paid: $ 457.5

Purchased from: Sounds Great

Features: My Wolfgang is a 2001 US guitar. It has 22 frets on a single-piece maple neck with a maple fretboard. It's a dark burst quilted and laminated maple top with a maple body. It's a pretty unique body style, with only the follow-up guitars by Peavey and Ernie Ball similar to it. It has a floyd Roas non-floating tremolo system which provides the authentic EVH dives. Also note the D-tuna, a simple device on the trem that pulls out and puts the guitar into drop-D tuning. Snaps back into place for concert pitch. Perfect tuning everytime. There is only one control, that's volume, in true EVH fashion. The pickups are Seymour Duncan Zebra humbuckers, designed and co-built by Eddie to his own specs. There are two of them. The tuners are Grover, and there is a locking bnut for tuning stability. Gator flight case included free. // 9

Sound: I myself play quite a bit of Van Halen, but it is more versatile than expected. It can cover the whole '70s and '80s era of rock, and loves to be cranked with some dirty overdrive. I am currently usin a Epiphone Valve Jnr. 5watt head with a 1X12 Marshall cab, with a Boss distortion and Marshall Guv'nor. The sound is something else. It isn't really more noise than you can handle, even through more powerful setups, and too much noise can be corrected by a simple turn-down. Very full sound courtesy of the body and neck. The gFloyd Rose makes for some very authentic sounds and some unique noises that even a rookie could create on first picking up this guitar. My only criticism of the sound is the clean. It sounds cheap, like something you would expect a £150 guitar to do. // 9

Action, Fit & Finish: The guitar was set up perfectly when I bought it. Whether this was because it was second-hand, I don't know, but the Neck and action are just perfect. The neck is slim, and yet feels solid, and professional. The action is probably as low as it can go without buzzing, but there's never any hint of buzzing when playing, even if you're thrashing the living daylights out of it. The pickups are screwed straight to the body for optimum tone, so there's no room for adjustment, but there's no need to adjust them. Top is perfectly matched, couldn't tell it was 2-pices at first. The bridge is routed fine, and there's not too much or too little tension for those huge dives. The guitar contains no flaws whatsoever, the pickup Switch is noisless and smooth. // 10

Reliability & Durability: Considering Eddie built these to be played by himself Live, they will withstand a beating. Mine has not yet been gigged with, but has had a number of 'incidents' at home involving younger brothers and a guitar-hating mother. e.g. it recently had a Fender acoustic dropped onto it's front, and there's not even a scratch. Hardware is completely solid; Bearing in mind I bought this 2nd hand, and it's already 6 years old, it still looks Brand New. Strap buttons, again, are an EVH design, so they would have to be solid or he'd just send them all back. I would not use it a gig without backup, but only because some of the songs I play require a clean guitar, which is the Wolfgang's downfall. // 9

Impression: This is a good match for the classic rock I tend to play. Not sure how it will cope with other genre's, but I suspect it won't be so awful that you take it back. I have now been playing for almost 5 years, in which time there have been 5 guitars minimum in the house (Fender US Stratocaster, Epiphone Les Paul, Montana acoustic, Fender acoustic, Peavey EVH Wolfgang). I have to say, the Wolfgang is the best guitar to play out of those 5. Albeit, only the Epiphone and the Pavey are my own, the rest my dad's, but the'yre always out and it's good to see how they compare to the Peavey. Dad still retains his Strat is the best guitar he's ever played, but I have my opinion and it's with the Wolfgang. We also own (excluding those mentioned earlier) 2 30watt Fender amps, a HH100watt bass head, a 250watt bass cab, Peavey Milestone series 1 bass, and sea Jim Dunlop crybaby. I wish I had asked for fingertip surgery, cause I was playing this (literally) till my fingers bled, and I still carried on, that's how good it is to play. I would definitely buy this again if it were stolen, after I got out of prison for murdering whoever stole it. If it were lost, then, I would buy it again after much hunting and looking. Ease of play, great overdriven tone, appearance, versatility, and sound. Hate is a strong word, but only the fact it doesn't sound good clean at low volume. I did not compare this to anything else simply because I think it's in a class of it's own. I chose this one because it stood out, and as soon as I played it I thought "Yes, this is the one." I only wish it came with the disclaimer "warning: this guitar will make you sound like EVH, but you'll probably never be as good as him." // 10

Comments

[Donkey Fly]

Wolfgang is his son.....So im guessing it's named after him...

[bluesblaster]

^ Good call. Thanks for the update, Sherlock.

[zerodeck]

jeesh, I want that damn guitar!!!

[sambargun]

You ought to be sodomized for letting those "incidents" happen to this beauty.....

[Stop Messin']

Wicked guitar! Only problem is no tone knob gets annoying cause it's so sharp sounding.

[E V H 5150]

The picture doesn't match the guitar, that's odd. That picture looks like the OLP MM, which is a cheap MusicMan copy (not a Wolfgang!).

Personally, I prefer the Frankenstrat (Strat headstock, not the Kramer) as opposed to the Wolfgang.

Oh, and WHERE THE HELL DID YOU GET AN ORIGINAL (even if used) WOLFGANG FOR LESS THAN $500?!?!? I paid $550 for mine...it's nowhere near as godly as a Wolfgang (but still a Peavey). Still, Frankenstrat is better....

[Metallica_Ðuke]

lol i woulda thought wolfgang would have designed a bass guitar.. oh well, cool i guess

[proguitarist11]

that is an ugly guitar...it had better play really well.

[rainmaker13]

i hav one of those.
mines a hardtop sunburst
1996 usa made
entire neck is birdseye maple
brilliant guitar.
i cant find a pic of the same one i have
must of been a limited edition or sumthin

[Joe-Dogg]

Only Eddie had one in '96....they weren't released til like '98. And It IS a pic of a Wolfgang special, only without the Floyd Rose...Metallica Duke, you're a momo...

[SAVE_US.DWD]

Metallica Duke its designed by EDDIE BUT NAMED AFTER WOLFGANG

[metaladdict123]

is it just me or does anyone else think that guitars ugly