DiVill By Italia M100 review

With big names such as Chris Rea wielding its guitars, Trevor Wilkinson's Italia brand has grown large enough to launch its own sub-brand: DiVill. Like its parent brand, DiVill guitars are designed in the UK and built in South Korea, albeit at a cheaper price point.

Wits smooth single-cut contours and twin humbuckers, you might think you already know what the M100 plays and sounds like. Picking the guitar up shatters any preconceptions. Its agathis body makes for a lightweight guitar that's ready to swing around on stage - and trust us, you'll want to take this one out on the road.

For starters, that matt black finish feels great, as does the lightly matt-finished mahogany bolt-on neck - speeding up and down the fingerboard is no problem. The single-cut-meets- double-cut 635mm (25-inch) scale length helps in this regard, too, making for trouble-free chords at the bottom of the neck, and swift solos at the top. For anyone who likes the idea of an LP but finds it cramped at the dusty end, it's a welcome break from the norm.

Plugged in, that pair of DVH high-output humbuckers brings to mind hot-rodded takes on the LP blueprint. Crunchy rhythm tones ring out with vintage authority and get seriously beefy as you up the gain, revealing these 'buckers as real rock machines. Bust out a few open-chord riffs and you'll be in classic rock heaven.

Played clean, the DVHs are surprisingly dynamic, too, although when the gained-up tones sound this good, you'll struggle to turn off the filth.