PRODUCT REVIEW
felt very substantial in my hand when digging into riffs. Neck feel is certainly one of
the fussiest things a player can harp about,
and for me, this one just had it. I wish that I
could put it on my ’ 78 Les Paul Custom!
particular Eagle, equipped with DiMarzio
Dual Sound pickups and an extensive
switching system.
Plugging In
After realizing that I’d been ogling the
thing for about twenty minutes without
even playing a note, I eagerly plugged the
Eagle into a Marshall 2555 100-watt head,
which was running into a Bogner 4x12 cabinet with four Celestion Vintage 30s. The
Marshall is what Slash’s signature amplifier
was eventually based on (it’s the predecessor to the famed Silver Jubilee), and has a
great, snappy midrange and tight low end.
Sound-wise, the Eagle is not a dark-toned
guitar. Lots of players equate B.C. Rich with
the hardest of metal tones. While they do
make some fantastic instruments for that
genre, those in the know have been aware
for years that they offer some incredible
classic rock tones. Such is the case with this
The Dual Sound pickups included on the
Eagle were originally a collaborative effort
between Bernie Rico and Larry DiMarzio to
offer the first 4-conductor pickups. These
pickups are passive, but designed to work
with an active circuit preamp, which add
20dB of boost. When the preamp is activated by means of a mini-switch, the resulting boost can be controlled by the rotary
gain pot (middle knob after the volume
and before the tone). The preamp can also
increase the gain when the Varitone is used,
to compensate for the resulting cuts in frequencies with certain settings.
