To me, the biggest difference between the two models are the necks. My '86 Rampage has a 25" radius, the Tribute 13.75" radius. The '86 neck is slightly thinner, and to my surprise, both measure 1 3/4" nut width, and 2 3/16" heel width. I prefer the oiled neck and 25" radius on the '86, but the Tribute model feels great to me as well.
As far as the body shapes being different, judge for yourself. From the top of the neck pocket down the center of the back the '86 measures 16 9/16" and the Tribute 16 10/16". The top horn of the 86 is 1 9/16" thick, the Tribute 1 11/16" thick. So there goes that theory of the guitars not being the same specs.
Tone: The original's Schaller pickup has a clarity to it that I love, it can handle a lot of distortion, but you can still hear the notes clearly. The same for the Tributes Alnico V pickup, but the Tribute is a little brighter than the original, and is a hotter pickup. The Tribute model has more sustain, and sounds better acoustically than the '86. Both are great rock guitars. The Rampage is great for stuff like AC/DC, Kiss and hard rock in general. My sound is based on Randy Rhoads tone on the spotlight solo from Tribute, and the Rampage nails it. It also sounds sweet with a MXR Phaser to get that Van Halen tone from the early records. The tone is limited with only one humbucker and 1 tone knob. For more mellow, bluesy stuff, my '85 Invaders single coil MFD's have that covered!
Bridge: There's a lot of Kahler haters out there. But I enjoy them. Once you know how to set them up, they are very stable. Here's where people will laugh at me... I like Leo's string lock design, the old graph tech locking nut. Once you know how to tune the strings a step and a half flat when restringing, lock them down, and they will be near pitch. Fine tune them and you are good to go. With the old graph tech locking nut, I don't have any more tuning issues than with a fixed bridge. Maybe I'm just lucky, but I swear by them! I was leary of the Kahler import xtrem bridge, but once I got it set up, no issues there either.
Sorry for the long post, I'm just a fan of the Rampage model, and wanted to try to explain the differences between the two. I almost didn't buy the Tribute based on what I had read, and there was none near me to try first. I'm glad G&L brought them back, and I am planning on getting a new USA model because I've kind of become a collector. Now if G&L would only bring back the Superhawk!
Dave
