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"When I first heard about the prototypes for the Reactor Tonepacks, I was expecting the sonic improvement to be very subtle, but when I actually heard them - I really was blown away. I couldnt believe how obvious the difference was between them and a traditional circuit. I was fortunate enough to have some small involvement in the development of the Tonepacks; My Les Paul was one of several guitars used as a testing ground, and my ears and opinions were used as a sounding board during the later stages of the development process. My Les Paul bridge tone circuit became the happy home of the circuit that is now known as the Viper. Its been about 20 years since I first starting playing guitar, and for as long as Ive been playing, I have been complaining about the brittle, thin, edgy, and harsh sound of many bridge pickups. I just haven't found them that usable for much of the music I play. Ive also complained about how most guitar tone circuits are designed it seems too often you have dull and muddy on one end of the circuit and harsh and thin on the other often without a real good compromise in between. Well, after 20 years, Im finally starting to find myself playing a lot more on the bridge pickup. Im amazed at the excellent range of tones Im able to get that I just couldnt get before. While the Viper was really designed to excel on distorted tones, I also really like to use it on clean tones as well. The TonePacks are inexpensive, quick and easy to install, and come in several varieties - Id recommend them to any guitarist who is looking to get serious about improving their tone. So, whats next on my list of Les Paul upgrades? Im getting the Vintage Cooler - it's probably my favorite humbucking model, and I cant wait to get it installed." - Matt Mylroie, (Guitarist/Writer/Audio Engineer) "I have been playing guitar for twelve years. I've been a diehard Strat player all of my career but my biggest qualm with a Strat is the bridge pickup. I play alot of country, blues, classic rock in a live band (Bullethead) and I've always felt like the bridge pickup was too icepicky for my use and wished it sounded more like a Telecaster. I told Bill about this problem thinking that he was gonna send me the way of a new bridge pickup by one of the big manufacturers, instead he said, "I've got just the ticket." He installed the Country Clean Tone Pack into my Number One American Strat loaded with Fender Custom Shop '69s and I was blown away with the tone I had. I was able to cop my clean country riffs with no icepick, play rhythms clean and distorted, and it also sounded wonderful with a slide slightly distorted. With the middle pickup it gives me some funky tones too! I'm so happy with this tone change with just the turn of a knob and no goofy looking switches that I will be installing it into all of my Strats! I highly recommend this to anyone who suffers from the same experiences that I have had with Strat bridge pickups or just wants a totally different sound without spending hundreds of dollars on pickups." - Kyle Fernander, (Guitarist - Atlanta, GA) "So I've installed what, a dozen of the Reactor Tone packs? Yes, they work beautifully. The REACTOR TONE packs are an inexpensive, yet effective, way of extending the tonal possibilities of any electric stringed instrument. Before you spend mucho $$ on a new set of pickups, try a REACTOR TONE pack: less wear and tear on your instrument and more bang-for-buck. And here's a tip: try the Vintage Cooler as a tone pack on a guitar with two humbuckers. Suddenly the middle position becomes spanky and funky with wonderful clarity when the Vintage Cooler is at maximum effect." - Murali Levine, (Guitarist/Owner Kali Music Sales & Service - Santa Fe, NM) |