Days of Metal Passed
The Korean-made Kingbolt, with its pointy horns and curved bottom, has the aesthetic presence of a “super strat” that got tangled up with a Jazzmaster and a Music Man. The retro-pop-meets-shredder sum of those parts—the like of which we don’t see often—is quirky and eccentric without looking goofy.
The 25.5"-scale Kingbolt features a korina body, a “medium-oval”-profile maple neck with 22 medium-jumbo frets and a 12"-radius fretboard that’s available in maple or rosewood (our test model has the former). Reverend founder Joe Naylor’s expertise as a luthier and his experience in industrial design is evident in some of the Kingbolt’s less-obvious details, like the neck plate—which, in addition to having six screws for added sustain and increased tuning stability, has two smaller screws in the middle so that the plate stays bolted to the back of the body when the neck is removed.
Hardware choices also reveal a keen design eye and emphasis on playability. The Wilkinson WVS50 IIK tremolo features an arm that you simply push in instead of an annoying threaded arm (you can also adjust swing tension), and the Reverend pin-lock tuners makes it very easy to change strings and keep the guitar in tune. Tuning isn’t quite as stable as a more conventional locking-nut-equipped guitar—when I gave the whammy bar a few violent dives and upward yanks, I experienced some perceptible detuning, but it wasn’t too drastic. For folks like me who hate locking-nut tremolos, the pin-lock tuners and 1 21/32" graphite nut are a pretty cool compromise.
In terms of construction, this Reverend delivers in spades. The craftsmanship on the Kingbolt is immaculate—perfectly cut nut slots, properly seated frets, a correctly positioned bridge, and a great out-of-the box factory setup. All checklist items that, sadly, you can’t automatically expect these days. The Kingbolt’s neck is very comfortable whether your proclivities include extended jams based on full barre chords, bluesy lower-register bends, or above-the-12th-fret shredding. The forearm and belly cut definitely add to the comfort factor—after a fairly long rehearsal that traversed many different genres, I never felt a sense of fatigue.
Like a Bolt of Lightning
I tested the Kingbolt through various setups, including a Mesa/Boogie Blue Angel amp and a vintage ProCo Rat pedal. The ceramic Special H bridge and neck pickups, measuring at 13k Ω and 6.5k Ω, respectively, give the Kingbolt the ability to get a modern sound or a slightly vintage vibe. Overdriven, the Kingbolt has an authoritative lead voice that’s thick but clear and articulate—even at very high gain levels. Clean, the Kingbolt sounds confident without possessing an overbearing, in-your-face aggressiveness.
Like other guitars in the Reverend lineup, the Kingbolt’s electronics include a bass-contour knob, which Reverend says can make a humbucker sound like a P-90 or a single-coil. It hollows out the sound and works a little like a coil-splitter except that there isn’t as much volume loss as you’d get with a tapped coil. While an obsessive gear-o-holic might never mistake the Kingbolt for a Stratocaster or a Telecaster in a blindfolded test, there was a moment in the middle of a session where, a few seconds after flicking to the neck pickup, I looked over to double check the pickup configuration. I had the bass contour rolled back and, for a brief second, I thought I was hearing a single-coil. The faux single-coil sound was even more convincing when I played some twangy spaghetti-western-type riffs with the bridge pickup’s tone all the way up and the bass contour all the way off.
Ratings
Pros: Great sounds for almost any style. Flawless build.
Cons: Somewhat pricey for an import.
Tones:
Playability:
Build/Design:
Value:
Street: $1,079
reverendguitars.com
Overall, the Kingbolt is a bright-sounding guitar, and this is especially evident when playing with clean tones. Even after turning the tone knob fully counter-clockwise and keeping the bass contour up all the way, I noted a crispness that you typically don’t experience when you turn the tone knob all the way down. If you’re one of those guys who rolls off your tone to get jazz tones, you might not find the Kingbolt dark enough. On the other hand, your tone won’t turn into mud and you’ll be able to cut through any mix.
The Verdict
Reverend has always been about offering affordability without
sacrificing quality, and like most of their guitars, the Kingbolt’s
price-to-quality ratio is very high. At $1,079, it feels and plays like a
boutique instrument without the custom price tag. And although it’s
marketed as a hot-rod rocker, what makes the Kingbolt especially
appealing is its versatility beyond the world of power chords and
JCM800s. Practically speaking, it could be the one guitar to bring to
gigs where you don’t feel like schlepping multiple instruments. There
isn’t much tonal ground the Kingbolt can’t cover with a few tweaks to
the versatile control set. If you like to just dial up some basic sounds
and be done with it, you’ll find what you need in seconds. However, if
you’re a tinkerer, the Kingbolt offers a gold mine of tonal
possibilities.
1. Ready to rumble! A hollowbody Epiphone Emperor Swingster. 2. Officially called the “Wire Handle,” this is the trem arm Chet Atkins preferred on his
Bigsby. The guitar’s overwound SwingBucker pickups have alnico 5 magnets and switchable series/parallel coils. 3. The Swingster’s flame maple back is
impressive. 4. A close-up of the flame maple sides. Note the sexy 5-ply, black-and-white binding on the top and back.
One guitar missing from my collection all these years is an orange Gretsch 6120, a classic made famous by the likes of Chet Atkins and Duane Eddy. I never seem to find one at the right price—but hey, that’s how BFS (Bottom Feeder Syndrome) works, right?
However, while searching the ’Bay recently I ran across this baby, an Epiphone Emperor Swingster. It’s sort of Epiphone’s version of the Gretsch 6120. I’ve bought other 6120 wannabes before only to be disappointed by their woeful sounding humbucker pickups. You see, Gretsch guitars use double-coil pickups with both coils wired in parallel, while everyone else wires them in series in order to reduce hum and noise. The Gretsch method may be noisier, but it produces a way-cooler sound for certain types of music, like rockabilly, country, and hillbilly jazz.
On the Swingster, Epiphone does this by allowing the player to pull up on each pickup’s tone control to select between that pickup’s parallel and series mode. That feature alone made me want to try one out, so off to eBay I went. After some searching, I found this one from a seller who wanted $500 or best offer. After going back and forth a few times, we agreed on a $435 price with free shipping.
Bottom Feeder Tip #2864: Never be afraid to make an offer when you see “or best offer.” All they can say is no.
When my Swingster arrived, I was really blown away with the flame maple sides and back, which looked a lot better in person than in the pics. And, as advertised, the pickups could easily be switched between series and parallel mode by simply lifting up on the tone controls. I also dig the cool Chet Atkins-style Bigsby tremolo. This baby can do everything from rockabilly to country to blues ... even rock, as long as you watch your stage volume. After all, it’s a hollowbody. Can you dig it daddy-o?
So is it a keeper? Yeah, for now anyway. It comes the closest to a Gretsch of any non-Gretsch I’ve tried so far. Maybe one day I’ll own a 6120. But for the price of the real deal, I can buy six or seven other guitars. That’s just the way a bottom feeder thinks and I can’t change that.
Will Ray
is a founding
member of the
Hellecasters guitar-twang
trio. He also does guitar
clinics promoting his
namesake G&L signature
model 6-string, and produces
artists and bands at his studio in
Asheville, North Carolina. You can contact
Will on Facebook and at willray.biz.
Top: Discontinued in 2003 and currently valued between $300 and $350, this Fury 6 model
6-stringer features a pair of active VFL pickups and a 3-band EQ.
Bottom: This Fury 6 sports a transparent blue finish, but the model was also offered in transparent
red, transparent green, and sunburst, and was available in 4- and 5-string versions.
Hey Zach,
This Fury is my go-to bass! I love it
and I’m interested in the history of
Fury basses, but there appears to be
some different variations. Can you
give me any background about them
and maybe some information about
what they are worth today? I’d never
sell mine, but I’m interested in buying
another one for a backup.
Thanks!
Bryan in Fort Wayne, Indiana
Hi Bryan,
I’m glad you asked about a Peavey because
Hartley Peavey (founder and president
of Peavey) is a good friend of mine and
I have a lot of respect for what he has
brought to the music industry. Hartley is
a true innovator when it comes to guitars,
amplifiers, and other electronics, and your
Fury bass is just one example of his many
contributions. But what people may not
realize is that several of his ideas have
been followed by others.
Hartley Peavey was born and raised in Meridian, Mississippi (where the company is headquartered and he still resides today), and worked in his father’s music store growing up. Peavey then began building guitar amplifiers by hand and developed a reputation locally for his talents while playing in various bands in college. When it appeared a music career wasn’t an option, he decided to go into business building electronics. And in 1965, he started Peavey Electronics in the attic of his father’s music store. Peavey initially focused on PA systems and components before moving into guitar amplifiers by the late 1960s.
In 1975, Peavey decided to get into the guitar business. By the mid-1970s, many of the large guitar manufacturers were producing lower-quality instruments, yet at the same time, they were costing more. This stemmed from paying skilled craftsmen large salaries to build instruments, and because of corporate involvement, rushing production in an effort to reduce costs. Peavey saw this problem in the industry and came up with the idea to produce guitar necks using a computer and copy lathe. Not only did this speed up the production time, but it also ensured that every neck would be the same and fit flawlessly with other components. And as we know, this is a process now used by nearly every major guitar manufacturer!
The first Peavey guitars rolled off the production line in 1977 with the T-60 guitar and the T-40 bass. Several other variations of the “T” series were released in 1981 and 1982, but in 1983, Peavey introduced a plethora of new guitar and bass lines. And one of them was the Fury bass. The original Fury was quite similar to a Fender Precision—with a slightly different body shape and Peavey’s original headstock design—and remained part of Peavey’s product offerings until 1998.
In 1999, the Fury II bass was released, but it featured an entirely different body shape than its predecessor. In 2001, Peavey introduced a higher-end Fury bass with a quilted-maple top. Peavey offered Fury basses in 4-, 5-, and 6-string configurations, and you have the latter—the Fury 6.
Fury basses featured a sculpted lightweight body (made of unspecified wood) with a quilted-maple top, bolt-on maple neck, 20-fret rosewood fretboard, two VFL (vertical flux loading) active pickups, and a 3-band active equalizer. Along with the transparent blue your bass is finished in, the model also came in transparent red, transparent green, and sunburst.
When your model was discontinued in 2003, the MSRP (manufacturer’s suggested retail price) was $700. Today, your Fury 6 is worth between $300 and $350 in excellent condition. This might seem low, but the thing about Peavey guitars and basses is that they produced a lot of them (production totals were 300 per day during the late 1970s) and the price points have always been traditionally affordable, which translates to their used values today. Peavey started building instruments to offer quality and affordability— something his competitors were unable to do at the time.
Most Peavey instruments are built overseas these days, but Peavey still uses the same methodology and production techniques to keep costs down while building a quality instrument at the same time. In my opinion, Peavey has seen so much success because he was able to see what the major manufacturers weren’t doing and capitalized on it. I hope you can find another Fury bass treasure to add to your arsenal!
Zachary R. Fjestad
is author of Blue Book of
Acoustic Guitars, Blue Book
of Electric Guitars, and Blue
Book of Guitar Amplifiers.
For more information, visit
bluebookinc.com or email
Zach at guitars@bluebookinc.com.