Hey folks, it’s a new year and it’s the same old wizard. In this one I’m doing a proper New Guitar Day first look on my “new to me” LTD EC-401—secondhand, but it was a Christmas pressie off Big Papa Wizard. We actually spotted it back in September on a trip up to North Yorkshire (Redcar) in a Cash Converters, I tried it, it felt great, and that was that. If you’re into budget metal gear, this is exactly the kind of find I love: affordable, solid, and built for heavy. I run through the basic specs I could dig up: 24 frets, Grover tuners, mahogany body and neck with a bit of chunky weight to it, and active EMGs (I believe they’re 81/60s). I’ve restrung it and tuned it down to C# (I was on a bit of a Bolt Thrower kick, so it made sense), then plug it into my little Diezel mini amp. I demo the pickup positions, then stack things up with an EQ mid boost and a Gupp Tech PDQ in the loop to push it into proper aggressive territory. Takeaway: it plays nice, the neck isn’t sticky even though it’s painted, it’s a definite step up from my EC-256, and it’s already got me writing riffs and even a full song.