Re: NGD win! Silver-burst Epi V
That's kind of tough to do. To my ear they sound nothing like the demos you can hear from several people linked to on the Epi website. Those all make it sound thin and tinny, they are NOT that! Those demos had me planning a SH-5 & '59 swap. That's not happening now!
I play metal, hard rock, sludgey/doom type stuff so some of my descriptions will be from that ball park.
First off they are super low noise! I suspect that I may be able to run these without a gate for the really high gain stuff I do. They'll still feedback but not as bad as anything else I've played.
Output I would say is blurring the line between medium and high. However they respond so well to volume adjustment that they swing equally well towards what you want with a little roll up or down, with the break @ 6-7 on the dial. They can do classic rock or high gain metal type output with equally ability. They sound good clean and dirty, with the cleans laking a little sparkle unless you're on the bridge with the tone dimed. Demoed it through a Fender twin @ the dealer and it could sound like a bridge around 8k, to maybe up around the 12-13k range with just volume knob adjustment. Specs are 12k on the neck and 18.3k on the bridge.
Lows are POWERFULL & dynamic, responds really well to pressure/attack changes. The low end just sounds big. They don't overpower the rest of the tone though. Not super tight like my DiMarzio Evolution but tight enough that speed picking doesn't sound like mush at all. I have it in C# and there is no mush even downtuned.
Mids are pretty strong but can be smooth or crunchy depending on how hard you're hitting them. Chords sound big and powerfull, but the mids still have a pretty equal share compared to the lows. It'll cut through the mix pretty well.
Highs are smooth and maybe a little subdued. Single note highs shine a little brighter than when they're played in a chord. Not ice picky at all though. Take a notch or two down from the highs of a Pearly Gates neck and that's pretty close, not as shimmery, more creamy if that makes any sense.
They are very musical sounding, that sterility that a set of EMG 81/85 have isn't a factor here. All the notes can be heard all the time, including some oscillation from hard attack until the string calms down. Kind of Seth Lover-esque in this tonal regard. If you want they'll let you put the emphasis where you want to eq wise in a chord with attack as well. The only thing that was just a little lacking for me personally was that I had to concentrate harder and be more precise to get pick harmonics. They just don't want to jump off the strings like they do with my EMG'S, I can still make them happen, they're just not as in your face. These things will palm mute chug better than anything else I've ever played, there is not a comparison available for how good they'll chug. They are medium tight for response time, and overall more forgiving of small mistakes than an Evolution, but still a decently tight pickup.
Lol, how's that for my first serious pickup review, hope it made some sense.
