Well, chaps... today I dragged most of my old gigging kit out just to see if it all still works - apart from my old valve guitar amp which doesn't!! - and here we go..
... yes yes; I know there's not an obvious Vantage there... yet.. it's right here..
... the "Corsair" Avenger. I have to say that I'd never really stretched out on it until now with proper amplification but, gee whiz; what a beautiful little guitar!! Light on the shoulder with pretty good dynamics but the noise it can make... OMG!!! I wasn't game to take it to performance level without letting the neighbours know what's going on but even at the admittedly quite loud enough levels I played it at, that pickup just kept getting "creamier", for the lack of a better word: I had a touch of overdrive on it at lower levels but once the gain started getting higher it would overdrive quite happily all on its own - beautiful!!
Obviously it is tonally limited, but what it does, it does very well indeed and there is a modicum of tonal variation with the coil split - very convincing Telecaster - and the remarkably good tone pot.
It is not, however, a shredders guitar - not even close!! - but for pretty much everything else it will fill its boots happily enough, and for the likes of ZZ Top type chunky rhythm, it is right there, in yer face!! The fast boys won't like the baseball bat neck nor the skinny frets - neither did I at first! - but once you get used to it, no worries!!
I'd have no worries gigging this thing without backup or a spare becasue it is a very capable instrument; none at all!!
The Vantage Avenger series.... IMHO, a very much forgotten and under-rated gem!