The Valentine is the most brilliant guitar ever made tbh. The feel, the tone, and the overall vintage yet unique looks just makes this a master of its class. When I got my Valentine, I couldn’t stop playing / looking at it. I’m the type that LOVES the telecaster tone but i needed more umph. I have traded / sold many tele’s cause they couldn’t do it for me. THIS is the only guitar that has done it for me and I probably won’t pick up another telecaster again.
Thrilled to come across this review. You’re right on the money. I have a 2016 LE Valentine in Starry Night, which I bought because I really wanted a Valentine but I struggle with pale wood fretboards aesthetically (the Starry Night series all have an ebony fretboard). TBH I have had some difficulty with the dimensions of the neck between the nut and the fourth/fifth fret - I have pretty big hands so I used to find it a bit cramped down there, but I play out more now and it is in a band context that the Valentine comes into its own. It sounds great for pretty much every song we do, it’s quiet, it stays in tune and it feels solid enough that if it comes to grief it’ll survive. Nothing else I take out to play does that, apart from my Reverend Airwave, but that’s a 12 string so there’s no comparison really. Great review.
I have a Valentine Trem that has a natural swamp ash color, and the same tortoise pickguard as seen in this video. I have around 20 guitars of many types and this is really my fave to play. The neck back shape is very unique, especially near the nut - feels smaller around near the nut and is super easy to get a grip on. Great for the way I like to play. The range of tones that will come out of these is wide because of having both single and humbucker in those positions, coil split and boost, plus a high grade tone pot with a ton of frequency sweep - is nuts - from one end of the sonic spectrum to the other. Add a trem you can float like I have mine set (chef’s kiss). Sonics are great, and the build quality is a stop notch. Great neck, smooth stainless frets - the thing is by far one of the most playable guitars ever for me, personally. Severely under-appreciated by the crowds, this is a fabulous guitar.
Glad to see another Valentine fan. The neck is definitely something special just like all the Music Man guitars I’ve owned or played in the past. I’m a hardtail guy and never use trems, but I’m pretty sure its the same trem as on other Music Man guitars, which a lot of people seem to really love. This guitar is one I’ll definitely be keeping forever.
Amazing I enjoyed from beginning to end your videos are always so interesting to watch. I appreciate your knowledge about guitar’s and love listening to everything you create. The variety of sounds you put together always leave me wanting to hear more. Keep it up, I look forward to your next video.
Interesting subject with good timing. Following your review of many beautiful top of the line guitars, the one you like to play the most is of great interest. I agree, guitars that feel good and make me feel good are the ones that I choose to play. I enjoy your music regardless of the guitar you play. I especially enjoy the changing presentation formats that are always fun and interesting.
Fellow Valentine owner here! Everything you say in this video is so true - these guitars are something else. Mine is so easy to play and sounds amazing. The neck pick up has got a unique character which i had to get used to as it was quite dark. Also, I may have to get a fret wrap as my G has a slight overtone (only noticable when playing acoustically - what size did you buy?
Thanks for watching and I’m glad you agree! For the fretwraps i just use the standard Gruv Gear “small” ones that are good for 6 strings and (i think) 4 string basses. There’s definitely a bit of overtones/ringing on Music Man guitars just due to the headstock design, but with the stock tuners that’s completely eliminated with the fret wrap. With these graphtech tuners I feel like its definitely more prominent though, even with the fret wrap
Just bought the sterling model and I'm loving the vibe , I'd love to replace the sterling pickups with the music man ones but it's hard to find .. Your tones are the best I found yet on RU-vid for this guitar , exactly what I'm aiming :o May I ask which IRs did you use for the vids ?
Thanks for watching and for the compliment! In pretty much all of my videos, I use IRs from York Audio. For this video, I’m actually using some from several different cab packs, but mostly, its the most recent 412 KW pack, the Mesa 412 V2 pack, and the York Audio 212 M65. I own all of his IRs packs though and have used IRs from most of them across my other videos.
@@SethSilvaMusic very interesting ! I’ll shoot some ir’s from the pack , your playing affect a lot the quality of the tone so I won’t get close to it ! The Friedman patch were with the mesa of the Marshall ir ? 😏
Nah man these IR’s are doing a lot of the heavy lifting for the tones here so as long as you’re using a similar amp sim, I’m sire it’ll get you there. I appreciate your confidence in my ability though. And yeah for the Friedman BE tones here I’m blending some IR’s from the Mesa pack and the KW greenback pack. I’m also a fan of the York Friedman IR pack (which also has both V30s and Greendbacks for blending) and that’s generally what I use with Friedman amp sims for the tones I go for, but this time I wanted to try something different for fun.
I’ve never played the trem version of the Valentine and I’m not someone who uses trems even on guitars with them equipped. I’ve played several other Music Man guitars with their trem and always felt they were perfectly stable for my use.
Unless I mention otherwise, all my videos are using the Axe Fx with York Audio IR’s. The clean sounds are a model of a Fender Twin w/ the York Audio 2x12 loaded with Creamback speakers.
