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I do love the Schechter guitars the Hellraiser and Omen series are so nice.

I'm tempted to get a EPS Eclipse LOOK HERE

I was playing that exact same one, as well as a really nice LTD, cherry sunburst, ebony fretboard, 2X Seymour Duncan EC-1000 for only $799. On higher end LTDs and all ESPs, they have the huge frets similar to what's found on Schechters and you would probably take like a duck to water on that one.

Some Eclipses are heavier than others and depending on your comfort level, it's important to try them out first. Some balance really well sitting and standing and others are either too light and off balance, or too heavy and off balance. I tend towards the lighter ones and I shaved off a lot of wood on my heavy ESP/LTD Eclipse to get it to where it's more comfortable.
 
I was playing that exact same one, as well as a really nice LTD, cherry sunburst, ebony fretboard, 2X Seymour Duncan EC-1000 for only $799. On higher end LTDs and all ESPs, they have the huge frets similar to what's found on Schechters and you would probably take like a duck to water on that one.

Some Eclipses are heavier than others and depending on your comfort level, it's important to try them out first. Some balance really well sitting and standing and others are either too light and off balance, or too heavy and off balance. I tend towards the lighter ones and I shaved off a lot of wood on my heavy ESP/LTD Eclipse to get it to where it's more comfortable.

Yeah I had a problem when I 1st got my Jackson I could play it sitting no probs but as soon as I stood up it was like playing something completely different, but I have to choose weather to get a new guitar looking to spent about £300 or just get new pick ups sorted in my Jackson and PRS.

I'm looking at getting S,D Blackouts for the Jackson and S,D SH-1 and SH-1n for the PRS to keep that nice sound I think it would be a crime to put something active like a EMG in the PRS.
 
I'm looking at getting S,D Blackouts for the Jackson and S,D SH-1 and SH-1n for the PRS to keep that nice sound I think it would be a crime to put something active like a EMG in the PRS.

With EMGs, it all depends on what type of sound you want. Some players won't use a guitar unless it has active EMGs. It certainly has a different type of attack and while I like it for some stuff, it's not as versatile for me across all genres of music. Hard and heavy music, sure the EMGs and going through a Marshall is tough to beat.
 
Gibson Les Paul. No doubt.

I have a few different flavors...
'92 Les Paul Classic Plus
'08 Les Paul Standard
'09 Les Paul Traditional Pro

Love them all!!
 
With EMGs, it all depends on what type of sound you want. Some players won't use a guitar unless it has active EMGs. It certainly has a different type of attack and while I like it for some stuff, it's not as versatile for me across all genres of music. Hard and heavy music, sure the EMGs and going through a Marshall is tough to beat.

I play in 2 bands 1 is a Speed/Thrash metal band and the other 1 is a Industrial/Goth metal band. I use my PRS in drop B for the Industrial/Goth band because it sounds great for those low chunky riffs and bluesy licks that I add in,so the SH-1 and SH-1N Seymores will make good work with that. My Jackson I use in the Speed and Thrash band because its just made for that type of music and I think that the Blackouts will just make the sound even more dirty and intense.

A previous guitarist had active EMGs in his guitar and I didn't like them they were to loud and added unwanted sounds and very ott in a way.
 
A decade ago I had a WI luthier named Fred Burts make this for me from a stash of Honduras Mahogany that had been seasoning in the rafters of his garage for several years prior. Body shape is like two bottom halves of a Les Paul. Chambered out for increased resonance and reduced weight. Neck-through design means there is a perfectly smooth neck/body junction with totally unrestricted access to all 24 frets.

Looks like a piece of raw wood (teak oil finish). Even in the harsh temp/humidity extremes of the Midwest, I've never touched the truss rod ever and the action is wicked low with zero fret buzz.

It used to have a wraparound stop tailpiece/bridge, but I threw a Bigsby + a Wilkinson roller bridge on it about five years ago. Love the upgrade.

It's fitted with Adeson vintage-wound Trisonics (potted in aldarite) in a custom wiring scheme that gives me Tele/Strat/LP and out-of-phase Brian May/ Steve Howe ("icepick in the forehead") sounds.

It is my only electric guitar and I'm absolutely fine with that. I doubt anyone would ever steal it--no name brand, matte finish, nicks and scratches, nonstandard shape. Wouldn't fetch more than $100 at a garage sale or on Craigslist, even though the pickups alone are worth twice that.

Photo 19.jpg
 
^^^^^^^^^^ That is a beautiful guitar!

I never understood it when guitar makers used mahogany but then covered it up with a solid color. Usually woods for an electric guitar are either strictly tonewoods like maple, mahogany, basswood, alder, or ash. But some woods have more looks, but probably not the best tone like my all-koa BC Rich I had, cocobolo, buginga, and korina.

But luckily mahogany and maple, which both sound good bringing out low mids and highs, respectively, also look so nice either satin finished or clear finished. Gibson could save a ton of money, and even improve their sound pulling out muddiness most criticized by players in their classic models, by simply using something like an alder and ash for a solid colored Les Paul or SG. Nobody would know and they would sound more balanced plugged in. I had a rather uneventful looking walnut Gibson and it sounded better than my Les Paul Custom which had the pretty mahogany and maple. Unless the maple and mahogany are blemished, they should let those show the wood since their strengths at the end of the day is for looks.

To counteract the low definition caused by mahogany (my guitar, ESP/LTD Viper), electric guitars with a naturally bassy tone unplugged could use pickups that accentuate the highs. I took out tone control altogether and I put in push pull to make humbuckers go to single coil when I wanted stricter definition and less mud. But going into a passage where mud is OK, like jazz or something that sounds like Cream, then it's OK to go full humbucker with a mahogany bodied guitar. As we all know, we saw what Clapton did, for better or worse, with the Fenders he stuck to later when the tone he had from a strat accentuated highs.

All that being said on solidbody electric guitars, I still think the tone is 90% percent the pickups and electronics (see below link to Laiho pickup) and maybe it's only geeky gearheads who like the nuances of wood and how that effects the electronics in a very subtle way. I notice on Clapton he went from neck pickup on SG, Les Paul, Firebird, and 335 to almost always the lead pickup on the strat for most of his mid and latter career stuff. That choice of lead pickup had a lot more to do with his high end bite than the snappier woods on his strat (maple neck, alder/ash body) than his mostly mahogany bodied Gibsons (save the 335).

I bet if your guitar was solid maple, like the Gibson L6-S, but with same pickups, it would sound nearly identical to what you have now.
I play in 2 bands 1 is a Speed/Thrash metal band and the other 1 is a Industrial/Goth metal band. I use my PRS in drop B for the Industrial/Goth band because it sounds great for those low chunky riffs and bluesy licks that I add in,so the SH-1 and SH-1N Seymores will make good work with that. My Jackson I use in the Speed and Thrash band because its just made for that type of music and I think that the Blackouts will just make the sound even more dirty and intense.

A previous guitarist had active EMGs in his guitar and I didn't like them they were to loud and added unwanted sounds and very ott in a way.

I think maybe it's the way the previous guitarist used the EMGs. They are kind of an unforgiving pickup and forces the player to be a lot more precise. Was he kind of a sloppy player? (nothing is wrong with that and greats like Hendrix and Page wrote the book on sloppy).

On the upside is that if you want every note to cut through, especially on single note leads, this is a great pickup. The Blackouts are similarly accurate but to me sound like a blend between your '59s and the classic EMG 81, but obviously closer to the 81s with all that horsepower. I use EMG HZs and even though they are EMG, they don't have any more power or definition than any medium output pair of humbuckers. They do have a nice warm, vintage tone but with a little extra push on midrange. Alexi Laiho uses those but has a built in boost on the volume knob to more accurately keep up with the active EMG side. It's the best of both worlds with a warm tone with passive electronics but a cutting lead if kicked into overdrive:

http://www.guitarcenter.com/EMG-ALX...02246-i1458238.gc?source=4WWRWXGP&cagpspn=pla
 

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Any SG, doesn't have to be Gibson.

This is mine:
gitarr.jpg


The pictures are several years old but the guitar looks the same. ;)
 
"Electric bass guitar" is a bit of a limited option!

Currently I'm trying to decide if I perfer my Warwick Corvette Proline or my EB Musicman Stingray

Given the money I'd go for either a Wal MkII 4 string, an ACG jazz or a Shuker JJ
 
I think maybe it's the way the previous guitarist used the EMGs. They are kind of an unforgiving pickup and forces the player to be a lot more precise. Was he kind of a sloppy player? (nothing is wrong with that and greats like Hendrix and Page wrote the book on sloppy).

On the upside is that if you want every note to cut through, especially on single note leads, this is a great pickup. The Blackouts are similarly accurate but to me sound like a blend between your '59s and the classic EMG 81, but obviously closer to the 81s with all that horsepower. I use EMG HZs and even though they are EMG, they don't have any more power or definition than any medium output pair of humbuckers. They do have a nice warm, vintage tone but with a little extra push on midrange. Alexi Laiho uses those but has a built in boost on the volume knob to more accurately keep up with the active EMG side. It's the best of both worlds with a warm tone with passive electronics but a cutting lead if kicked into overdrive:

http://www.guitarcenter.com/EMG-ALX...02246-i1458238.gc?source=4WWRWXGP&cagpspn=pla



Yeah He was really bad (but the guy just didn't show up for a session 1 day so it saved us time sacking him ;) )

But I saw a Jackson Dinky in white for £169 part of last of Jan sales at a guitar shop I'm really tempted to get it, those EMG HZ look nice I have been also looking up these Dominion pickups there ment to be really good.

Have you had any experience with Bare Knuckle pickups ?
Look Here
 
Have you had any experience with Bare Knuckle pickups ?
Look Here

I have heard great stuff about them, and also boutique makes like The Creamery pickups, Lindy Fralin pickups, or at least the custom wound lines within Seymour Duncan.

http://www.at-the-creamery.co.uk/custom-handwound-pickups-from-the-creamery.html

http://www.fralinpickups.com/

http://www.seymourduncan.com/products/custom-shop/

Either Seymour Duncan and/or DiMarzio have a pretty good pickup selector site that gets you in the territory. When you see a certain style of pickup you may notice a certain average DC resistance with lower values being more vintage and higher values being closer to a hotter pickup with more mids.

Within the context of a six string guitar, I liked my Duncan JB since it could revert to vintage sounds but could take distortion nicely and get the heavy stuff down. Of course with downtuning and heavier strings, I think something Bare Knuckle pickups has can handle those lower frequencies better than the standard tuning type PAF like a Duncan JB. Heavy strings and downtuned strings make make standard pickups lose definition but something specially wound with that in mind may work well for the heavier stuff. That being said, that same pickup may not sound that good for standard tuning with lighter strings in the .08, .09 and .10 set range.
 
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I have heard great stuff about them, and also boutique makes like The Creamery pickups, Lindy Fralin pickups, or at least the custom wound lines within Seymour Duncan.

http://www.at-the-creamery.co.uk/custom-handwound-pickups-from-the-creamery.html

http://www.fralinpickups.com/

http://www.seymourduncan.com/products/custom-shop/

Either Seymour Duncan and/or DiMarzio have a pretty good pickup selector site that gets you in the territory. When you see a certain style of pickup you may notice a certain average DC resistance with lower values being more vintage and higher values being closer to a hotter pickup with more mids.

Within the context of a six string guitar, I liked my Duncan JB since it could revert to vintage sounds but could take distortion nicely and get the heavy stuff down. Of course with downtuning and heavier strings, I think something Bare Knuckle pickups has can handle those lower frequencies better than the standard tuning type PAF like a Duncan JB. Heavy strings and downtuned strings make make standard pickups lose definition but something specially wound with that in mind may work well for the heavier stuff. That being said, that same pickup may not sound that good for standard tuning with lighter strings in the .08, .09 and .10 set range.

I'm looking at EMG 81's but undecided for the PRS atm but being as its in drop B I have fitted a 7 string set of Duncan 7 String Core Set 10-60 and had the high string removed.
 
I'm looking at EMG 81's but undecided for the PRS atm but being as its in drop B I have fitted a 7 string set of Duncan 7 String Core Set 10-60 and had the high string removed.

This one may do:

http://www.dimarzio.com/pickups/humbuckers/high-power/d-sonic

My friend's Ibanez with similar pickup to above Drop Sonic had a similar big attack and was along the lines of his other guitar he had with EMG 81 in bridge and EMG 89 in neck.
 
The EMG 81 bridge and 89 in the neck is what I'm looking at.

So what pedals and amps do you use?

At home just a small 15 watt transistor Crate amp. In the studio drummer's Marshalls. As for pedals, just the amp channel switch between clean, distortion, and a slight overdrive. These amps tend to make everything sound a lot like a certain big tone Marshall is known for and there's not the same nuance as on a smaller amp. It's a sound that can match any drummer's attack and it's a workhorse that gets the job done.
 
At home just a small 15 watt transistor Crate amp. In the studio drummer's Marshalls. As for pedals, just the amp channel switch between clean, distortion, and a slight overdrive. These amps tend to make everything sound a lot like a certain big tone Marshall is known for and there's not the same nuance as on a smaller amp. It's a sound that can match any drummer's attack and it's a workhorse that gets the job done.

Sound very nice mate I have A Kerry King Head and Peavy 6505 cab With Crybaby and Boss MT-2 and NS-2 they seem to do the job for me :)
 
Sound very nice mate I have A Kerry King Head and Peavy 6505 cab With Crybaby and Boss MT-2 and NS-2 they seem to do the job for me :)


A lot of people love the JCM 800 tone. There is one that unfortunately gets neglected and sits unused often with cover on it. The #2 amp, which I like most, is the JCM 900 but the main plugged into the 8x12 is the JCM 2000. The drummer has tons of amps and even more guitars so there's no need to bring anything. Another drummer guy I jammed with had a similar setup of a lot of gear (but crazy stuff like pre-CBS Fenders, real '59 Les Pauls, and the like, but only because people told him it was good stuff so he saved up and bought it...back when such stuff was within reach). The weirdest part was he didn't play a lick but it was a magnet to get people to come over and jam so he had run of the schedule.

At least our drummer plays guitar, but it's rather excruciating but he's an amazing drummer but has no clue as to the people's ears he hurts with guitar or people he amazes on drums and he's really kind of a musical rain man that way. We all know people like that but then again we don't do this for a living so it's all good. :)
 
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Definitely this one, Ibanez JEM77vbk.
Plays like a dream and the Breed pick ups sound great. Am not the biggest Vai fan and was hesitant about spending the money on a tweaked RG model, but really, the finish, build quality and playability are amazing.

jeme.jpg
 
Don't have a specific favourite, currently rocking a Reverend Slingshot with soapbars :cool: and a Hohner G3T :cool: :cool: for performances.

I used to love Rickenbacker 330's... until that is, I tried a 360. Immense guitar. :eek: :cool:

Actually speaking of Rickenbacker's, I tried a 350SH the other week in rehearsals, really surprised by the combination of a 3/4 body (though after playing a G3T, it still felt huge), full scale neck but with triple HB1's, seemed to have a proper bottom end for a Ric, really surprised me that.
 
Definitely this one, Ibanez JEM77vbk.
Plays like a dream and the Breed pick ups sound great. Am not the biggest Vai fan and was hesitant about spending the money on a tweaked RG model, but really, the finish, build quality and playability are amazing.

Image

The RG models are really nice I have had my eye on the GRG250DX ,RG350EXZ and RG2550Z. shame they don't come in 7 strings tho :(
 
The RG models are really nice I have had my eye on the GRG250DX ,RG350EXZ and RG2550Z. shame they don't come in 7 strings tho :(

Nice! I have the RG350EX and the RG2550E (old version with the Edge Pro) and recently added a Premium RG927. While the finish has a few minor flaws compared to the Prestige & JEM, it's a really nice guitar. the neck is perfect for me. Just am still not sure if I like 7 strings in general or not...
 
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