duncan or emg?

[gnr4ever]

Hi guys. this is my first post in this forum. i have a really important question! right now i have a crappy guitar and a crappy amp ( epiphone les paul 100 and crate 15 watt amp) and sounds really really bad!!! i want to put new pickups in my guitar, but since the guitar is so bad, should i put duncans or emg's in it? i've heard that emg's make even a crappy guitar sound good.

the sound i'm going for is a kind of versatile sound. i want it to be able to sound good for classic stuff (aerosmith, zep..), 80's stuff (i love randy rhoads' tone), and even new stuff (disturbed, godsmack, ..).

is there any combo that can help me do this? i was thinkin maybe a JB/59 or JB/Jazz, but will this sound good in a bad guitar? maybe i should get a EMG 81/85? any suggestions???

i wouldn't mind getting a pedal for the new stuff, like maybe a digitech metal master pedal? but i only want one pedal b/c i dont like too many of them what do you think??

 

[heavydutysg135]

Re: duncan or emg?

I am sure that everyone on this forum with any experience with tone will agree with me when I tell you that you will NEVER be able to sound great with a 15 watt crate practice amp. Even if you had a 59 les paul it would not get you jimmy page or Randy Rhoads tone. I believe that you first need to get a good amp, and THEN pickups will help you nail the exact tone that you are after. I don't think that it would not be a good investment to put arround 200 dollars into a 150 dollar guitar and then expect to get good tone through a practice amp cuz it aint gonna happen.

 

[Mac-P]

Re: duncan or emg?

I am sure that everyone on this forum with any experience with tone will agree with me when I tell you that you will NEVER be able to sound great with a 15 watt crate practice amp. Even if you had a 59 les paul it would not get you jimmy page or Randy Rhoads tone. I believe that you first need to get a good amp, and THEN pickups will help you nail the exact tone that you are after. I don't think that it would not be a good investment to put arround 200 dollars into a 150 dollar guitar and then expect to get good tone through a practice amp cuz it aint gonna happen.

Great advice. I agree 100%.

And when you DO get a better amp, go Duncan (or passive pickup in general) any day of the week over EMG's or active pickups if you want anything resembling an "organic" sound.

None of the influences you listed use EMG's. Certain players get a great tone from em (Zakk Wylde), but for the most part, active pickups can make a great guitar sterile and a bit TOO perfect and artificial sounding.

This is just my opinion mind you, but one that I share with many many players.

 

[heavydutysg135]

Re: duncan or emg?

For the price of two new pickups and a pedal you could buy a decent tube amp. I would reccomend a peavy classic for you because it can give you the sound that you are after and can be found very cheap used (less than $300). You may also want to look into the fender hot rod or blues series. If you save up a little more you could also get a peavey 5150 which would be a GREAT rock amp. You could get a new guitar or pickups later on which would add to the sound, but you need to have a solid foundation (ie. amp) to build upon.

 

[Evan Skopp]

Re: duncan or emg?

One of things that's so great about this Forum is how entry-level players are treated with respect by the older, more experienced folk. Nice job.

Welcome to the User Group Forum gnr4ever. Stick around here and you'll learn a ton about getting great tone.

 

[gnr4ever]

Re: duncan or emg?

thanks for the help guys. i'm gonna take your advice and save up for an amp and maybe get it by summer! thanks a lot!

 

[strat_master]

Re: duncan or emg?

YUP amp!!!! IM geting a single rectifier head and a 2 x 12 hopefully this summer as well, my guitar is OK its a MIM strat with a hotrial so its a medicore guitar but wiht a rocking amp it will ROCK MY SOCKS! I only have a 10 watt marshall partcie amp right now ( but hey its a marshall!) Later i plan on sticking to my guitar and save up for liek 3 years to get me my gibson les paul! But for your axe i'd say invest some money and get betetr picks or a better axe all together, i wouldnt go with EMG's but they can work...i'd say duncans if your trying to get hat calssic rock type sound.

 

[papersoul]

Re: duncan or emg?

Good luck with the Rectifier bro. Nice amp. What cab??