ESP Eclipse II or Les Paul Studio

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ttosh

ttosh

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I am wanting to get a Les Paul style guitar. Have any of you played the ESP Eclipse? I have never used EMG pickups and I am curious about them. I figure whichever one I bought I would put in a JB/59 combo or go with some Bare Knuckle pickups for the rock/metal type stuff I am doing.

Any input of pros/cons of either? I am typically a strat guy and have a Suhr Pro Series that will give me quite a range of musical tones. Just dig the Les Paul style body, etc...
 
I just went to the store and tried a bunch of guitars, the LTD delux was on the very close list of guitars I could of left with.... this one..

http://www.samash.com/webapp/wcs/stores ... rySA182633

playing through a fender amp, I thought the active pickups sounded pretty great! liked the cleans and drive, guitar felt pretty good. the only thing I didn't like was that the string spacing was a little closer together then I was used to, not totally a bad thing.

I have owned les pauls in the past, and I really liked them, this guitar didn't feel quite like a gibby, but I could of gotten used to it no doubt.

I really like Les Pauls, but most of the studio ones in the affordable range look like Gibson really didn't put that much time into putting them together you know.
 
I played one of these and quite enjoyed it, EC400VF:

EC-400VF_TSB.jpg


Already has the JB/59s. ~$800
 
ratter":1278z9p8 said:
I played one of these and quite enjoyed it, EC400VF:

EC-400VF_TSB.jpg


Already has the JB/59s. ~$800
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How does the LTD's compare to the actual ESP's?
 
ttosh":1a2q0i4k said:
ratter":1a2q0i4k said:
I played one of these and quite enjoyed it, EC400VF:

EC-400VF_TSB.jpg


Already has the JB/59s. ~$800
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How does the LTD's compare to the actual ESP's?
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Haven't played the actual ESP Eclipse, but I've owned ESP in the past...the LTD felt real solid. I ended up buying a PRS SE instead. The LTD felt a little more expensive than the PRS SE, but then again, it was a few hundred more. But I dug the LTD, and the added bonus of good pickups. The feel was good, tone was good.
 
i love my LP studio
usa_lp_studiopp.jpg


when i bought this guitar i was heavily debating an Eclipse or a Gibson LP and in the end i went with the gibby.
Mostly because i genuinely like the sound and feel more than the LTD but partially because of the resale value. those eclipses drop their price value substantially
 
If you get a studio, try and find a late 80's or early 90's one. (just my opinion) mine was a 88' and was awsome. I also dont think you could go wrong with either the ESP eclipse or the LTD EC1000. both awsome guitars.
having done alot of A/B recently with EMG's and a duncan blackout, vs. passives I dont think there is any comparison IHMO actives suck major ass. again just my .02
 
go with the esp(preferably not ltd, but i'd even take a few ltds over the newer gibsons) . i hate to admit it. #1 10000000% more consistent than the gibson. #2 dual action truss rod. # 3 better pickups. imo ANYTHING is better than stock gibson....ANYTHING. #4 better fret work. gibson has NEVEr been known for stellar fretwork and in a lot of instances esp has, even in stock models.just my observations. go with what YOU like.i'm just a drunk....what do i know? :thumbsup:
 
turmoil":2jsaiyax said:
i love my LP studio
usa_lp_studiopp.jpg


when i bought this guitar i was heavily debating an Eclipse or a Gibson LP and in the end i went with the gibby.
Mostly because i genuinely like the sound and feel more than the LTD but partially because of the resale value. those eclipses drop their price value substantially
Click to expand...

That one looks gorgeous!!!
 
Another great option would be Les Paul Studio with 490/498 set or even better an Edwards LP & replace 59/JB with 490/498, much better pickups IMO.
 
ttosh":2tk6e2pd said:
This one looks nice for just a bit over $800 with the JB/59...

http://www.drumcityguitarland.com/drumc ... 8C428.aspx

They are definitely less expensive than the Les Paul Studio's and I would have to also add pickup replacement charges into the Les Paul.

Anybody else have feedback to add? Pros/Cons?
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I tried out this very same guitar as well! It was nice, I preffered the active emg pick up version better side by side, just had more sweetness to it, the pups on this one were just a little non exciting in comparison. Not bad, and I have never played an active pickup guitar before, but in the amp I A/B'd them through, I preffered the EMG active version over this exact model, by a small margin. both played about the same, nice lookers.

I really like Les Pauls, but imo, in order to get a good feeling, well crafted LP, you are going to need to spend 1800 plus. I think some of the more affordable LP's (1000 range), really look like they should be priced no more then 500 bucks, I mean mostly unfinished, just not very exciting untill you start dropping more coin. one of the things I hate about gibby.
 
I've played the ESP and LTD eclipses, there's really not a lot of difference in them tone wise

but the advantages of a ESP/LTD over a Gibson would be the weight, the ESP's body's are a bit thinner and lighter than a Gibby Les Paul, and the neck is a little thinner, and the action is a little better when set low, but as far as sound, with the same pickups in, they should sound pretty close, same wood, same shape, shouldn't be too much of a difference

The only drawback to a Edwards LP would be that you will probably have to get it shipped from japan
 
I am really digging the ESP/LTD's the more I read about them. I like the JB/59 Combo a lot and have always been afraid the Active pickups would dramatically affect the dynamics when playing different types of music, etc... I dig the JB alot and the 59 is not bad overall. I need to see if the Local Guitar Center carries any of these to hear the pickup differences in the LTD guitars.

Thanks for the input keep it coming if there is more!!!!
 
yeah man

I never have played an active pickup guitar before, and never had any desire. I was trying out a bunch of guitars, and had 2 of those side by side, emg loaded one, and the other one you pointed out. overall I preffered the emg' version, and then flipped it over to see something about a battery. They sounded pretty good though, the pups, I played them through a fender supersonic, tried both clean and dirty tones, and both guitars worked good, just thought the emg loaded one was a tad sweeter in comparison.

I ended up leaving with an ibanez prestige however, just because it was a little cheaper and really loved the neck on it. but if I did'nt see that one, I would be playing the emg loaded guitar right now.
 
tituba":3gp3f7i5 said:
go with the esp(preferably not ltd, but i'd even take a few ltds over the newer gibsons) . i hate to admit it. #1 10000000% more consistent than the gibson. #2 dual action truss rod. # 3 better pickups. imo ANYTHING is better than stock gibson....ANYTHING. #4 better fret work. gibson has NEVEr been known for stellar fretwork and in a lot of instances esp has, even in stock models.just my observations. go with what YOU like.i'm just a drunk....what do i know? :thumbsup:
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i see this alot on the forums,...that there are all these crap gibsons out there flooding the market..."quality control issues"..and the such...

it took me 2 years to save up $2200 for my dream guitar..a gibson les paul gold top!!..and in the 2 year time period i tried every les paul i could find..(i tried out at least 40).....i even made 2 trips to boston to try out les pauls.....and i can honestly can say not once have i seen/played one of these gibson les pauls with these issues..and i looked for them too!!...what i did find is alot of bad set ups..well bad for me..the set up didnt suit my style..(they had high action etc.)...i once saw the binding near where the neck joins the head stock get "thin"...but thats it!!!...so have i just been lucky??...or is this all just typical forum bs??

whats everyones "personal" "hands on experience" with this??...


oh..side note...one of the first pauls i tried was a gothic,...i didnt like the looks of it,..but it just felt great and sounded sweet...and the action was perfect for me...i kept comparing the other pauls to this one..some were indeed better,...they vos8 i played was better....and there was also an older bronze topped paul that really had my attention..i kept trying to convince myself that it almost looked like a gold top!!..but in the end...i couldnt take the gold top i had saved up for over the gothic....i bought the gothic...and have been more than happy with it!

i probably should of started a different thread for this..

i would be curious to what others thought on this subject,
 
Its been more or less that I wasn't excited about any gibby's with a lower price tag (800-1100), they just don't offer much in this range. Some of the pics look nice, but when I got up close to the actual guitars, just seems like at that price range, they could of dressed them up more you know. just my opinion.

most guitars in stores have a horrible setup, sometimes its really hard to see through the crappy setup to know if its a player.
 
Audioholic":10xphq4c said:
Its been more or less that I wasn't excited about any gibby's with a lower price tag (800-1100), they just don't offer much in this range. Some of the pics look nice, but when I got up close to the actual guitars, just seems like at that price range, they could of dressed them up more you know. just my opinion.

most guitars in stores have a horrible setup, sometimes its really hard to see through the crappy setup to know if its a player.
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I am really digging the looks and specs on this one.

EC-1000_ASB.jpg


For under a grand seems like a great looking guitar with good options.
 
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