Atomic.Sheep said:
Does anyone have active pickups in their Jackson(s)? I want to install EMG81s or 81/85 combo (donno yet) into my SL2H (haven't go it yet but planning to) and I was just wondering wether anyone has converted their axe from the passive to active state? So inconveniet not having a factory standard option of a battery cavity especially in something that costs as much as these things do
OK Here we go. I have a Jackson RR1T (White with black pinstripes, I think someone posted their's already). A note about these guitars.
1. They are string through, neck through, and the neck is PAINTED. These guitars have a lot of bass and mids. Which is great for lead; the tone is really thick and 'woody'. With the neck pickup on, I got a really colorful sounding compressed tone for single note lead lines. BUT, for low power chords all I was getting was MUD. SO, I replaced the neck\bridge pickups with an EMG 85 and 81 respectively. I'm not good with a soldering gun so I think this installation cost me around $100 at the local Guitar Center, with no modification\cuts to the body. This cleared up the mud problem. Just be aware of this.
2. These guitars feel STERILE. If you're used to a spongy-stringed Fender or have a lot of nuance and personality in your playing (think Steve Vai) you may want to reconsider. For tight metal rhythm playing, though, these things are a MACHINE. Fast and steady triplet or 16th note lead runs work great on these guitars but if you have more nuance in your playing, watch out.
All in all I still love this guitar. Through the thick-bottomed 3 Channel Triple Recto, this guitar sounds huge. A great mix of vintage\modern metal tone.
You guys have some fucking sweet Jackson collections by the way. Nice to see some good metalheads here.