Tokai LS85F VF

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Paulred

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Hi everybody!

I am willing to buy this guitar at Rich Tone http://www.richtonemusic.co.uk/guitars-1/electric-guitars-2/tokai-love-rock-ls85f-violin-finish-566.html for ?599. I am a bit afraid about the pick ups, because I do not know how it works playing hard rock, e.g. Guns'N'Roses, using a JCM800 or a similar valve amp. Can anyone tell me if he has played this kind of music with this guitar, or with PAF Vintage MK2 Pick Ups?. Hard rock is not my main style, are blues and classic rock, but sometimes I cross the line and let my hair down.

Regards
 
The Mk II's will be perfect for G&R hard rock as well as more bluesy stuff! For VERY high gain modern metal you might need to get them potted as they could feedback, but that would only cost about ?20 for the pair.

The MKII's are great PAF cloned and sound wonderful for most styles.
 
They are wax potted and do resist feedback relatively well.

Neck pick up and Sweet Child through a warm tube distortion channel and you are in GNR heaven with one of these mate. I have the LS90Q and wouldn't look anywhere else for GNR tone.

The MKIIs, IMO, don't quite have the note clarity that you need for seriously heavy rock (EMGs tend to do the trick with this) to get the ditorted deep tone, yet it be articulate enough at the same time. But slash actually uses the more mid-output seymours (or has done in the past) which are much more akin the vintage style of the MKIIs.
 
I'm not a Les Paul expert, but can I make a general comment? A number of Japanese Tokai owners on this forum love the pickups and wouldn't consider changing them. This applies to Gibson & Fender clones. The rest of the people love their Tokais, but reckon they are good enough to justify better pickups, so they fit better pickups when they have the money.

In other words, they are fine as they are for most of us, but the guitars are easily good enough to do justice to more expensive pickups, if you want to tweak your tone. Nothing is quite as subjective as pickups - it's all a matter of opinion.

Mike
 
I thought they weren't potted, but obviously wrong :oops: I have some peter Florence Voodoo's and SD Seth Lovers that aren't potted and they don't squeel using high gain settings.

I think lower output PAF style pickups are much more musical than high output pickups for most styles, including rock, but if 'metal' is your thing then EMG's or similar may be the way to go.
 
Perhaps the short and "fair the the guitar answer" is (of course i have to confess slight dealer interest :wink: ) try the pick ups out, learn to understand their advantages/disadvantages and see whether they suit you and tweak as/if required.

I think everyone would certainly say "there's nothing to be afraid of" though. The pups are good quality and you aren't going to be sat their upset with them. I suspect you'll be more than happy.

Much prefer my MKIIs to Gibson Burstbucker 1 and 2 i have in my v. Certainly bridge pick up wise.

Just got my hands on a new Charvel So Cal with DiMarzio Tone Zone and Evolution combination - excellent. Really well balanced....but that's another thread really.
 
The reason of my question is not whether they are good for high gain sounds like EMGs for example. I had read comments about these pick ups that made me think that they were closer to the blues than the rock sound(with high gain).

Regards
 
Slash, Eddie Van-Halen, Angus Young, all use PAF type pickups, all play rock, and all sound great, the MK II's will give you the sound you are after, perfectly :D
 
I play this guitar through a practice amp (Laney LC15R) or sometimes through headphones from my Zoom G2.1u effects pedal.

You'll love the blues tones you can get from it, does the classic rock sound (think Led Zeppelin) very well.

As for hard rock, I've recently been noodling round using the zoom effects and can get a decent 'Crazy Train' sound. As for Slash, he uses mid output SD Alnico II Pro pickups, so not the hottest pickups. Sweet Child O' Mine plays perfectly on the LS85, don't know about other GNR songs because I haven't tried.
 
One more thing:

Have you seen what's happening to the exchange rate lately?

Rich has those Love Rocks listed still at the old price. :eek:

If I were you I'd stop procrastinating and buy it NOW! :lol:
 
Si Pie said:
I play this guitar through a practice amp (Laney LC15R) or sometimes through headphones from my Zoom G2.1u effects pedal.

You'll love the blues tones you can get from it, does the classic rock sound (think Led Zeppelin) very well.

As for hard rock, I've recently been noodling round using the zoom effects and can get a decent 'Crazy Train' sound. As for Slash, he uses mid output SD Alnico II Pro pickups, so not the hottest pickups. Sweet Child O' Mine plays perfectly on the LS85, don't know about other GNR songs because I haven't tried.
Click to expand...
I use the Zoom G2 as well...and I use it for stage work.
Through a clean valve amp and using the 5150 amp model it works a charm.
As for a Slash type tone I use EMG HZ pickups in my LS80.
They're a passive pickup and are voiced very much like an AlnicoII.
I have a set in my explorer but unlike the set in my LS80 they have a more "traditional PAF" appearance ..whereas the ones in the Tokai have the Zakk EMG 81 covered look.
I love 'em to death...they're a terrific PAF replacement.
 
I love the PAF MkIIs, they do the job for me and I play stuff from Page through to Vai in one band, and then Bad Company through to The Spice Girls ( Not something I should admit, but a gig is a gig is a gig :oops: )
 
Hi,

I have just received some days ago my new Tokai Ls85F in violin finish from Richtone. Here is a photo.

IMG_4209.JPG


Althought the guitar seems ok in the photo, I would like to ask all of you about one thing in the flame maple cap.

As you can see, under de bridge's screws there are two vertical lines, where the maple cap seems to be distorted.
IMG_4217.JPG


Anybody knows what happend in my flame maple cap?

Regards.
 
Yep looks fine to me too, but if you really don't like it, give Richtone a call and see if they can do anything for you.
 
Nothing wrong in that as far as I can see.

Wood is a natural product, so there's always a bit of variation in the grain. It's part of what makes each guitar unique.
I very much doubt that Tokai (Or Richtone) would let a guitar go out with a "distorted" top, so I guess what you mean is the difference in grain between the left and right hand sides of the cap, yes?

Okay, imagine a piece of wood which is cut down the middle, and the two halves opened up like you would open a book, yes? You'd have a mirror-image of the wood both sides, hence "Book-matched" top. That's what the lines are.

My last veneered top had something similar, they all do to a certain degree. Makes it easy to identify if it's ever stolen (God forbid!)

Nice guitar! 8)

So, the $64,000 question:

What do you make of the pickups? :D
 
Hi,

I have just arrived from the first rehearsal with this guitar. Before that, I tested it with a digitech multiefect at home. I only had the opportunity to try it with a little valve amp, fender Champion 600, in which the neck pickup sounds great for blues. The rest of the time I plug it into a 60 watt Behringer V-Tone GMX112. The pickups are ok for me; perhaps I would prefer more output in the pickups, like my friend's Gibson Classic with 500T and 496R, bridge and neck respectively, but I guess that is until I get used to the sound.

The guitar is very comfortable for me, although after two hours, my wrist felt the thickness of the neck, because my old-first guitar is a chinese stratocaster copy.

Regards
 

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