Vintage ICON V100MRBK | Affordable Les Paul goodness in an eye-catching relic finish! Review & Demo

Рет қаралды 5,321

Күн бұрын

This is the Vintage ICON V100MRBK in Distressed Black Over Sunburst! And straight away I’m sure you’ll notice that relic finish, and make up your mind - but stay with me, as under those divisive two colorways we have an affordable, Wilkinson-loaded, traditionally styled Les Paul type that should be a stable and versatile performer.
Find out more about the Vintage V100MRBK here: bit.ly/V100MRBKrwm
The V100, designed by Trev Wilkinson, is Vintage’s take on the iconic Gibson Les Paul single cut style of instrument, and Trev and his team like to keep things as traditional as they can. That means the V100MRBK has a mahogany body and neck, and we have two classically voiced Wilkinson humbuckers providing the tones. The guitar’s fingerboard is rosewood (yay!), while elsewhere you get a Wilkinson Tune-O-Matic style bridge, a Graph Tech TUSQ XL nut, and Grover Deluxe tuners - which seem to be upgrades to the standard Vintage range of previous years.
The neck itself is a medium to slim C shape, and satin (like the rest of the guitar) - so it’s a joy to play. But how does the V100MRBK handle all the riffs I throw at it? That’s what we’re about to find out: in this video, I put the guitar through its paces by playing a bunch of riffs in my favorite genres. That means everything from clean pop, folk and indie strumming to classic and hard rock, some alt rock and some punk, and even a bit of metal in Drop D!
Here are some links to the various playing samples and info bits:
00:00 Hello!
00:18 Intro and all about the Vintage V100MRBK - and relics
01:33 The Vintage ICON range and two finishes on one guitar
02:35 Specs and features
04:44 Today’s rig
Clean Sounds
05:31 Reference chords on all three pickups
05:52 Poppy barre chords
06:09 Country strummed chords
06:29 Country lead sound
06:37 Country ballad arpeggios
06:50 Blues progression
07:04 Poppy indie ringing chords
07:19 Indie pop picked arpeggios
07:38 Bluesey southern rock riff
08:03 Cowboy chords with tone control test
09:07 Strummed indie pop chords
Crunch Sounds (Clean Channel w/Greer Lightspeed)
09:24 Groovy classic rock riff
09:40 60s rock rhythm tone
09:50 Airbourne inspired classic rock riff
10:02 AC/DC inspired classic rock riff
10:20 Hendrix inspired classic rock riff
10:37 Classic rock riff
10:53 Southern rock picked arpeggios
11:04 Indie rock rhythm chords riff
11:20 Indie rock octave chords riff
11:44 Indie rock barre chords
12:09 Volume control roll-off test
12:53 Edgy indie barre chords
13:07 Droning indie rock riff
13:19 Indie octave chords
13:37 Kings Of Leon inspired epic indie rock riff
Amp on the Lead Channel
14:02 Classic hard rock riff
14:19 Hard rock riff
14:36 Glam rock riff
14:50 Foo Fighters inspired modern rock riff
15:07 Pop punk riff
15:21 Green Day inspired punk rock riff
15:35 Pop punk melodic lead sound
15:52 Punk rock power chords
16:06 Punk rock rhythm riff
16:20 Glam rock rhythm riff
16:36 Alt rock chunky chords
16:51 Alt rock riff
17:06 Progressive rock riff (Drop D)
17:21 Chunky modern hard rock power chords (Drop D)
17:46 Rage Against The Machine inspired groovy rock riff (Drop D)
Clean Channel with Revv G3 distortion pedal (Drop D tuning)
18:03 Metal chugging riff
18:19 Mastodon inspired metal riff with country twang
18:31 Hardcore punk riff
18:47 Thrash metal riff
18:57 Lead sounds
19:09 Classic heavy metal/sludge riff
19:43 My thoughts
20:05 First impressions out of the box: my opinion on relic guitars
22:12 First impressions: looks, weight, feel
22:50 Build quality, hardware and playability
24:21 Sounds and versatility
26:52 There are other Vintage V100s without a relic finish
27:50 What’s the competition to the V100?
28:35 My final conclusion on the V100MRBK and goodbye
My setup was as follows: I ran the V100MRBK into my Hughes & Kettner Black Spirit 200 head, using my Greer Lightspeed for the overdrive and my Revv G3 for the heavy distortion sounds. The amp went from the Red Box DI straight into my Focusrite Scarlett 2i4, which went into Logic Pro X. That's it. No post-processing on the sounds was done.
Here’s some links to those bits of gear:
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H&K Black Spirit 200 head: bit.ly/HKBS200rwm
Greer Lightspeed: bit.ly/GreerLightspeedRWM
Revv G3: bit.ly/RevvG3RWM
Focusrite 4i4 (this is the newer equivalent of my 2i4, which they don’t make any more!): bit.ly/rwmFR4i4
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Enjoy!
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Backing music from the KZfaq Audio Library: Controlled Distress - Biz Baz Studio.
#VintageGuitars #VintageGuitar #VintageTone #VintageV100
Note: certain links in the description are affiliate links. If you click said links and purchase anything as a result, I will receive a small commission. This doesn’t cost you anything extra, but it does help to support the channel. So, if you do that, thank you very much!

Пікірлер: 74

@RichWordsMusic 2 жыл бұрын

And here's the timestamps for you people on phones: 00:00 Hello! 00:18 Intro and all about the Vintage V100MRBK - and relics 01:33 The Vintage ICON range and two finishes on one guitar 02:35 Specs and features 04:44 Today’s rig Clean Sounds 05:31 Reference chords on all three pickups 05:52 Poppy barre chords 06:09 Country strummed chords 06:29 Country lead sound 06:37 Country ballad arpeggios 06:50 Blues progression 07:04 Poppy indie ringing chords 07:19 Indie pop picked arpeggios 07:38 Bluesey southern rock riff 08:03 Cowboy chords with tone control test 09:07 Strummed indie pop chords Crunch Sounds (Clean Channel w/Greer Lightspeed) 09:24 Groovy classic rock riff 09:40 60s rock rhythm tone 09:50 Airbourne inspired classic rock riff 10:02 AC/DC inspired classic rock riff 10:20 Hendrix inspired classic rock riff 10:37 Classic rock riff 10:53 Southern rock picked arpeggios 11:04 Indie rock rhythm chords riff 11:20 Indie rock octave chords riff 11:44 Indie rock barre chords 12:09 Volume control roll-off test 12:53 Edgy indie barre chords 13:07 Droning indie rock riff 13:19 Indie octave chords 13:37 Kings Of Leon inspired epic indie rock riff Amp on the Lead Channel 14:02 Classic hard rock riff 14:19 Hard rock riff 14:36 Glam rock riff 14:50 Foo Fighters inspired modern rock riff 15:07 Pop punk riff 15:21 Green Day inspired punk rock riff 15:35 Pop punk melodic lead sound 15:52 Punk rock power chords 16:06 Punk rock rhythm riff 16:20 Glam rock rhythm riff 16:36 Alt rock chunky chords 16:51 Alt rock riff 17:06 Progressive rock riff (Drop D) 17:21 Chunky modern hard rock power chords (Drop D) 17:46 Rage Against The Machine inspired groovy rock riff (Drop D) Clean Channel with Revv G3 distortion pedal (Drop D tuning) 18:03 Metal chugging riff 18:19 Mastodon inspired metal riff with country twang 18:31 Hardcore punk riff 18:47 Thrash metal riff 18:57 Lead sounds 19:09 Classic heavy metal/sludge riff 19:43 My thoughts 20:05 First impressions out of the box: my opinion on relic guitars 22:12 First impressions: looks, weight, feel 22:50 Build quality, hardware and playability 24:21 Sounds and versatility 26:52 There are other Vintage V100s without a relic finish 27:50 What’s the competition to the V100? 28:35 My final conclusion on the V100MRBK and goodbye

@DMSProduktions 2 жыл бұрын

Sounds good! So this ISN'T the Vintage CUSTOM Shop 'relic'? HAVE you seen those? They are about £1100 in the UK! Have upgraded pick ups as well from BK I think!

@RichWordsMusic 2 жыл бұрын

@@DMSProduktions Nope, this isn't one of those, this is just from the standard ICON range. Those other ones are the so-called ProShop ones, and they're one-offs. I kind of like the idea of them, but for that price they feel like a hard sell. Guess I need to try one before I judge though ;)

@DMSProduktions 2 жыл бұрын

@@RichWordsMusic A BIT of a hard sell indeed, seeing you can get just AS good Epis, & some Eastmans already in that price range!

@RichWordsMusic 2 жыл бұрын

@@DMSProduktions Exactly. And after all the pro work, the setup, the paint job, the pickup swap... it's still 'just' a Vintage underneath!

@DMSProduktions 2 жыл бұрын

@@RichWordsMusic YEP!

@canadianintheukbrian 2 жыл бұрын

I purchased a 2011 Tobacco Sunburst V100 for 160 quid I cannot believe how much guitar I have, the build quality is unbelievable, the pickups I put them against the top brands easy, neck angle was an ingenious design by Trev , better tuning stability than a regular Gibson LP, not many large Music stores carry Vintage maybe it has something to do with the stores being licensed Gibson or Fender dealers and maybe they're worried that people would play the Vintage in the shop pay 400 quid for a V100 instead of 1000 plus for a Gibson, or Fender , or they don't want to get into the bad books with those brands off, ; love the brand love the guitar, great review as for relic job um not my cup of tea,

@RichWordsMusic 2 жыл бұрын

Yeah, that's a great deal! I also wonder why Vintage can be quite hard to find, but I wouldn't be surprised to learn that it's for precisely the reasons you've outlined here... they do probably scare some of the competition ;) We should just be happy we know what we're getting when we go Vintage! I've grown to really like the relic job here, but I can totally see why it's not for everyone ;)

@surfrby8876 10 ай бұрын

This was an amazing review , I like this guitar ,I like relics, I have hi, mid and low end guitars, this sounded good , I like these guitars for playing live , don't have to worry about damaging them or if they get stolen , and it looks like I'm the only guy on here that actually likes that cheesy relic job , cheers and subscribed !

@musikwein 2 жыл бұрын

Another very helpful review. Awesome work, Rich! 👌🎸👏

@RichWordsMusic 2 жыл бұрын

Thanks folks, glad you enjoyed this one too!

@amaurypalmen7968 2 жыл бұрын

Great Video man, so well done!

@RichWordsMusic 2 жыл бұрын

Cheers, glad you enjoyed this one!

@steveshears6079 2 жыл бұрын

Great guitar and great review you knocked it out of the park Again

@RichWordsMusic 2 жыл бұрын

Thanks a lot Steve! What do you make of the relic finish on this one?

@FC-jp7ez 2 жыл бұрын

Amazin review as always

@RichWordsMusic 2 жыл бұрын

Thanks, glad you enjoyed it!

@amandonyukiteru5931 Жыл бұрын

Thank you so much!❤️❤️👍

@RichWordsMusic Жыл бұрын

Thanks for watching, glad you enjoyed the video!

@billy1858 2 жыл бұрын

ive just purchased a used distressed cherry version! had to level about four frets ,but this is the case with most guitars.now ive got it set up how i like it ,its definitely a keeper.might even treat it to a 50s style wiring harness later.i think these guitars are really good value and a great base for modding.

@RichWordsMusic 2 жыл бұрын

Nice, happy new guitar day! The distressed cherry ones look very classy. I agree too, get these set up and they're great guitars that really punch above their weight, plus you can do the odd mod and end up with a guitar that's still affordable, but plays and sounds like a dream!

@OddTimeMan 11 ай бұрын

I have a Vintage V100 Icon in tobacco sunburst that I bought new back in 2008. It has the traditional LP neck heel and the older relic job which doesn't look very realistic. It's still my go-to guitar. The only things I did to it was: Gibson Modern tuners by Grover, brass string nut, straplocks, removed the pickguard, and a little more relicing. I love that guitar.

@PooNinja 2 жыл бұрын

Glad you’re feeling better Sir! Vietnam makes a beautiful Lp style guitar. I’m not turned off by the relic but it isn’t exactly exciting me either? Sounds nice here too. The relic on the back was a nice touch too, not just a top treatment. 🤘🏽

@RichWordsMusic 2 жыл бұрын

I am indeed, thank you! About time too. Agreed, Vietnam is doing the business nowadays. After getting over the initial shock of the relic I quite like it, and I do like that they've gone the whole hog with the back and the neck too. And of course it's all smooth satin, which is a bonus. Add in those excellent Wilkinson PAF-types and I call this one a win!

@DMSProduktions 2 жыл бұрын

They make even BETTER food & women!!!!

@RichWordsMusic 2 жыл бұрын

@@DMSProduktions ;)

@DMSProduktions 2 жыл бұрын

@@RichWordsMusic Xin chau!

@stevehanham9266 2 жыл бұрын

As you may remember, I am a huge Vintage Guitars fan. They make some incredible guitars for the money. This guitar sounds great to my ears. Everything you would want from a LP style guitar at a fraction of the price of a Gibson. I am not a huge fan of relicing guitars, unless it is paying homage to a particular guitar such as the Vintage Greeny/Moore Lemon Drop. Which incidentally is brilliant, even the hardware looks old and worn. I highly recommend one of these. As for this particular guitar, as I said I'm not really a fan of relicing, but of course it is a growing market at the moment and this fits the bill perfectly. So, would I have one, despite the relicing? Of course I would! 😁 Cheers and stay safe. 😊😎🎸

@RichWordsMusic 2 жыл бұрын

Hi Steve, I thought this one might catch your attention! And it's a really good guitar, perhaps even more so if you close your eyes while playing or listening to it for some people 😉 Vintage and Wilkinson did a cracking job with this, and indeed the whole V100 lineup. I've played many a Lemon Drop over the years, and they've always been great. I actually regret never owning one of those for myself! I also really like the V100MRJBM... and again, that one is based on a real guitar. So there's definitely something in your 'relicing after a particular' instrument idea. As you say though, these are cracking guitars for a fraction of what you'd pay for 'the real thing'... it's a no-brainer for me! Stay safe 😊

@23skidoo46 2 жыл бұрын

I don't know if you can get these, but, check out the Earl SLick guitars sold at Guitar Fetish. I bought their super strat w/single hum and it's really well built, sounds great and very playable. it's solid swamp ash body w/very light finish and it's open pore wood. it was under $250. really a good band for the buck.

@RichWordsMusic 2 жыл бұрын

Funnily enough, Slick Guitars have made it to Germany now, and they're distributed by the same company who distributes Vintage (Musik Wein, they're called). I'll see what the options are when it comes to the Slicks - I just checked out their site and they look pretty cool!

@vicm_lg 2 жыл бұрын

Great reviews straight to the important bones. How do this stack up against the Harley Benton dlx gotoh in blue you recently reviewed?

@RichWordsMusic 2 жыл бұрын

Thanks a lot, glad you enjoyed it! And the answer is: really well! I still have the HB actually, and I plan to do a video shooting out the two (and my Epi Les Paul at the same time!). Should make for some interesting viewing :)

@beardedrancher 2 жыл бұрын

Vintage makes some pretty cool clones

@RichWordsMusic 2 жыл бұрын

I agree, they're some of the best I've played in the 'affordable' budget point.

@jimmyjames2022 2 жыл бұрын

Who would spray over a burst with black? Cause you're a teen and you hate the burst look for your goth music so you spray over with cheap black paint, then 20 years later you've worn some it off but you don't mind cause you've mellowed out a little. Personally, I'd like a little more sunburst showing on the bottom half of the top to balance the wear, if there was something underneath to reveal. Wilkinson pups sound great. No dealers in Canada that I can find.

@RichWordsMusic 2 жыл бұрын

Yep, it's quite an odd choice, isn't it? Except maybe for the reasons you outline there 😂 I'd overall like to see much less wear, as I think that's more realistic, although you're right, with a nice sunburst underneath (if indeed there is any under the black!) it would be cool to see more of that. I do agree that this guitar sounds great, and it plays great too. Last I heard, a company called 5th Crown Music was distributing Vintage in Canada, not sure if that helps: www.5thcrownmusic.com/

@23skidoo46 2 жыл бұрын

Rich, I have their Junior w/2 p90's and their LP w/2 p90's all black. they both punch above their price class. IMO.

@RichWordsMusic 2 жыл бұрын

I bet they do! Those are both models I would love to try, so no surprises to see you have them in your collection :) Exquisite taste!

@matereo 2 жыл бұрын

At the price point still great guitars. Now i think it would be a good time to check some Hagstrom guitars on the channel :)

@RichWordsMusic 2 жыл бұрын

I agree, I think they're great value for money. And I also agree about the Hagstroms... I would love to feature some of those on my channel soon too! I'll see if I can get in touch with them :)

@matereo 2 жыл бұрын

@@RichWordsMusic Yeah, they are workhoses for many guitarists up here. You see them at concerts all the time. When it says just Swede, Viking or ultra in the name they have Gibson scale, and when they have super or max added to the name they are fender scale. I think Donnie Distorsion is the one who has done most Hag videos on youtube

@RichWordsMusic 2 жыл бұрын

@@matereo Sounds cool! I need to check some more out. I know the Fantomen, and I actually came quite close to buying a used Viking Baritone some time ago, but I missed it. They're a fascinating brand who definitely deserve more recognition though. Thanks for the tip about Donnie Distortion - I don't know him, will need to go check him out!

@9outof10 2 жыл бұрын

Rich -- you seem like a good person to ask this! Could you suggest a good setup for someone wanting to record themselves into a pc (for practice, making loops / backing tracks etc) but is a total newcomer to digital recording? Like a good interface, a good DAW etc. Thanks!

@9outof10 2 жыл бұрын

Budget-conscious of course

@RichWordsMusic 2 жыл бұрын

Hmm, so you have a PC, not a Mac, right? Well, there's loads of options out there, but the good news is most things these days are very good, even at the budget end of the spectrum. The free DAW lots of people use is Audacity (and GarageBand for Macs, which I'd recommend if you have one!). The other cool thing is that these days, lots of audio interfaces come with free DAW software (often a stripped down version of a more expensive pro product, but more than enough for a beginner!). For me, you really can't go wrong with Focusrite Scarlett interfaces - I use one myself (you can see it in all my videos, sat under my Mac!), and they're super simple to use. The current base model is the Solo, which is around €100: redir.love/thoprod/468428?offid=1&affid=1250 And it comes with a free copy of Ableton Live Lite, which is a pretty cool DAW! What I love about the Focusrite is you just plug it in and go... it's powered by USB too, so you don't need an extra power supply. Each input takes either an XLR cable, or an instrument cable. There are different size models with different features too, depending on your needs. The Solo mentioned above only has one input, so you can only record one instrument/mic at once. However, there are models with more than one, in case you want to (for example) record your guitar and a vocal mic simultaneously on to two different tracks, and there's others with MIDI, etc. But you just need to work out what you'd want to do and pick accordingly. There are even cheaper interface options - Behringer seem the cheapest, and M Audio do some too - but I have years of experience of using the Focusrite stuff without any issues whatsoever, so I'd recommend them. I hope this helps a bit, but feel free to ask me any more questions if you have them :)

@9outof10 2 жыл бұрын

@@RichWordsMusic Thank you for such a detailed reply. I appreciate it. From the chain you describe under your video I presume the tone from your Head/pedals is what is being sent to your DAW. Do you have any experience sending a "dry" tone in and using plugins like amplitube to get the tone?

@RichWordsMusic 2 жыл бұрын

@@9outof10 No problem! Yes, I'm sending the sound from the Red Box in the Black Spirit 200 straight to the Focusrite. It's ready to go, as they say. You can switch off the Red Box's emulation, and I have done that in the past just to test it. Of course it sounds nasty on its own, but you then can sweeten it up with all manner of plugins, IRs, etc. For me that's usually too much hassle! If I was going to do that more regularly I think I would spare myself the amp completely and just run my guitar right into the Focusrite. That is, of course, one extra step to the chain I didn't really mention before. Lots of newer amps have DI options, but many brands and amps still don't have them, and some have DIs that are really lacking. In this case you'd either need to mic up a cabinet, or get a separate DI box to do the job. I find amps like the H&K very useful and easy in that regard! They just make it simpler to actually focus on making music...

@650thunderbird5 2 жыл бұрын

👍🏻👍🏻

@RichWordsMusic 2 жыл бұрын

My thanks as ever, good sir 😊

@74Rasel 7 ай бұрын

👏👍

@RichWordsMusic 7 ай бұрын

Thanks for watching! 👍

@DMSProduktions 2 жыл бұрын

The Meat, got beaten! R.I.P. Mr Loaf! \m/ He's gone like a BAT out of hell! \m/

@RichWordsMusic 2 жыл бұрын

Another music legend gone :(

@DMSProduktions 2 жыл бұрын

@@RichWordsMusic Yep! Looks like Delta got him!

@johncollins5552 2 жыл бұрын

I remember back in Nam, how we used to relic some guitars... shouldn't have bothered, waste of time I don't know anybody that wants to buy that fake look. Sounds good. The bridge sounds better than a Gibson, not muddy sounding. Nothing wrong with Wilkinson tuners imo.

@RichWordsMusic 2 жыл бұрын

Yeah, overall I'd have to say the only good relic is one that happens naturally. I'm not sure anyone has convincingly managed to fake that process yet... not Vintage and not even the Custom Shop guys at places like Fender and Gibson! Yeah, I love the Wilkinson pickups. They really have a classic and clear tone. I do think very highly of Wilkinson tuners too, although I was pleasantly surprised to see Grovers on this one as standard!

@steveroberts 2 жыл бұрын

To my mind those pickups sound Gibsonish. Don't like relicing at all, Good video

@RichWordsMusic 2 жыл бұрын

They do - I really think Trev Wilkinson wound these ones right! They're very classic sounding humbuckers. Glad you enjoyed it, apart from that finish of course (it is pretty divisive, I suspect!)...

@DMSProduktions 2 жыл бұрын

@@RichWordsMusic Trev's PAFalikes are pretty good, esp for the price!

@RichWordsMusic 2 жыл бұрын

@@DMSProduktions Agree 100%! He knows what he's doing alright.

@DMSProduktions 2 жыл бұрын

@@RichWordsMusic You know, he started Wilkinson Guitars here!

@RichWordsMusic 2 жыл бұрын

@@DMSProduktions He did indeed! Trev's done so much. Australia, Los Angeles... Southport ;)

@stephanguitar9778 2 жыл бұрын

The relic'ing looks silly. I can imagine owning a guitar that wears down with decades of playing but this is OTT. I think people who buy these should be made to buy brand new reclic'ed cars. I have a vintage V6 which is a very good Strat copy, better than the Squire classic vibe but if buying one you need to watch the QC. I had to send one back for having a strangely skewed neck.

@RichWordsMusic 2 жыл бұрын

Ha ha, I actually quite like the idea of buying a new relic car! Or maybe a distressed Rolex. Would never happen! I agree that this finish is very OTT, but as I say in the video, I don't believe even Vintage think anyone is getting fooled by it. It's just another color choice at this point. And I agree about the Vintage range being really good. I've played hundreds over the years (I used to work for them, you see a lot that way!) and they really do compete with the likes of Squier and Epiphone... but you do get the odd QC issue too (as you do with the other brands). If you get a good one, though, it's a wonderful thing!

@stephanguitar9778 2 жыл бұрын

@@RichWordsMusic thanks for the reply. I bought a Rolex for £10 and it looked stressed when the gold paint came off.

@RichWordsMusic 2 жыл бұрын

@@stephanguitar9778 Come to think of it, I actually won a watch from one of those grabber machine things on holiday as a kid and the same thing happened. And the battery went after a couple of hours. Let's hope the Vintage guitars hold up a little longer!