The electronics incorporate some tricks that
weren’t typically employed on vintage instruments.
The two Reverend dog-ear P-90-style
single-coils are reverse-wound to cancel hum
when used together, and each pickup is sonically
calibrated for its respective position. In addition
to standard Volume and Tone knobs, the PA
also includes a Bass Contour knob—a passive
low-frequency roll-off control common to all
Reverend guitars.
Contemporary players will also appreciate how
the neck joins the body at the 15th fret for
improved access to upper regions of the 22-fret
rosewood fretboard. A moderate 12" radius and
medium-jumbo frets promote clean bends and
comfortable chording.
Plugging In
The guitar arrived set up with extremely low
action, yet it exhibited no string buzz through the
amps I plugged it into (all guitars will buzz acoustically
with the action this low), nor did it fret out
at any point on the neck. I prefer my action a tad
higher, so I simply applied a screwdriver to the
task of raising the bridge a bit. Both acoustically
and amplified, the guitar exhibited more sustain
than a typical hollowbody, but a little less than
your average solidbody. The Reverend arrived
perfectly intonated and it stayed in tune despite
my severe Bigsby manhandling.
I played the PA through an Egnater Rebel-30
and an Orange Tiny Terror, in addition to running
it directly into Ableton Live with Line 6
POD Farm plug-ins. Through the Egnater’s clean
channel, the neck pickup produced warm jazz
tones à la early Jim Hall with his Gibson ES-175.
The PA’s tone knob was voiced nicely for this
classic sound. Using the Bass Contour knob to
roll off the lows, I was able to coax a striking
Strat-like blues character from the neck pickup.
Switching to the bridge pickup produced
plenty of Tele-style twang. At lower volumes,
I found it unnecessary to roll off any lows
with the Bass Contour. At increased—but stil clean—levels, I rolled off just a bit of bass to
maintain good bite. Applying full bass rolloff
to the bridge pickup produced a slightly
scooped midrange that didn’t float my boat on
clean settings, but it gave me a great throaty
tone with snap and articulation when I dialed
in higher gain on the Egnater’s lead channel or
with the drive cranked on the Tiny Terror.
When I switched on both pickups, the PA
offered chiming tones with or without the bass
rolled off. The dual-pickup setting blissfully cancelled
the standard 60-cycle P-90 hum as well.
Though the PA excelled at traditional jazz,
blues, country, and rockabilly riffs, it was no
slouch at soaring ES-335-style fusion and all-out
distorted rock. The guitar even revealed
its charms through amp-modeling software, a
quality I’ve usually only found in more
expensive instruments.
Playing through the amps in clean mode, I
was able to sit facing the speaker with no
feedback issues, despite relatively high volumes.
Even with a fair amount of distortion,
the feedback remained controllable, though
if you want to avoid run-away feedback
onstage, you’d better turn down the guitar
volume before taking your hands off the
strings to clap along with the crowd. Of
course, fans of semi-hollow and hollowbody
guitars know that controllable feedback can
be one of their most gratifying pleasures.
And that was certainly true of the PA—I really
enjoyed adding Bigsby vibrato to its feedback-
sustained notes.
The Final Mojo
The PA is a well-crafted and finely tuned
machine. Its combination of spruce and
maple keeps potentially muddy P-90s clear
and focused at all volume levels, making the
guitar suitable for a wide range of musical
styles. Its hollow body produces the woodiness
associated with this type of instrument,
while the Uni-Brace really mitigates the howl
often associated with cranked archtop guitars.
That’s why the Reverend Pete Anderson
is a no-brainer for roots players—but rockers
who aren’t dedicated Floyd-wigglers might
want to give it a shot, too.
Buy if...
you need a cool-looking, fantastically
versatile hollowbody.
Skip if...
locking tremolos and metal are your
thing.
Rating...
