Think i pinned down Ltd Ec-1000. Now JB, Fluence or EMG?

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romanianreaper
romanianreaper
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I think I may get an Ltd Ec-1000 for now and maybe an ESP down the road. Anyone like or dislike the JB, Fishman Fluence or EMG in these?

Thought the model with the Fluence push/pull would be cool or even the JB with Piezo option. I'm sure I'd like any to be honest. As a reference, I have a Suhr Aldrich in my Les Paul and a JB in my Chubtone. Have heard good things about the Fluence.
 
It has been hit or miss for me with the fluence line. Absolutely love the classics. The moderns I’m on the fence with. It is nice that the new ones have a 3rd voice now though.

They were my first foray into active pickups and I was impressed enough with them not to bother with trying out EMGs

I personally do not like JB at all, but tons of people obviously do
 
Justin Bailey said:
It has been hit or miss for me with the fluence line. Absolutely love the classics. The moderns I’m on the fence with. It is nice that the new ones have a 3rd voice now though.

They were my first foray into active pickups and I was impressed enough with them not to bother with trying out EMGs

I personally do not like JB at all, but tons of people obviously do
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Yeah I'm nervous about the moderns but not sure why. It seemed like the passive and modern push/pull would give me both though so probably not a big concern.

Most of the clips I heard were just like the heaviest distortion ever and downtuned, etc. I heard a few "rock" clips. My band does punk and hard rock type tones but I use a good amount of distortion. Just want to have some warmth if possible.
 
Badass..

cf8fee135cwiIc1KcyqaHfe4IpOxeRKUmGwWu0jM.jpg


https://www.sweetwater.com/store/de...ater-exclusive-violet-shadow?serial=W23101170
 
I had a jb/59 in mine for years and was very happy with it.

Recently I changed those out for a set of thornbuckers, not because I didn't like them. I just have those same pickups in a few other guitars.
 
romanianreaper said:
Yeah I'm nervous about the moderns but not sure why. It seemed like the passive and modern push/pull would give me both though so probably not a big concern.

Most of the clips I heard were just like the heaviest distortion ever and downtuned, etc. I heard a few "rock" clips. My band does punk and hard rock type tones but I use a good amount of distortion. Just want to have some warmth if possible.
Click to expand...
I’d look into the open core classics dude. The moderns will chug and that’s about it, but they are great for it.

I won’t spam the thread with clips but I used the open cores for both of these clips

https://on.soundcloud.com/2qYHhJqC8hoPxno29

https://on.soundcloud.com/DrNWegGmiZfLjAe1A
 
I have LTDs with all three... JB is my favorite pickup, but I love the Fluence Classic too. I've never totally bonded with EMGs. I've tried hard, but not for me.
 
FWIW, I think Fishman Moderns do the EMG thing better than newer EMG's nowadays. I believe EMG preamps had one IC changed in the last few years, and they don't quite sound like they used to. Plus they've got the passive voice on top. TBH, I never really liked the passive voice on the Moderns, but it is there if you need it. It's kinda vanilla.

But Fishman Classics are a whole other trip. I'm sure you'd like them if you like the JB. Voice 2 is sorta like a cleaner, clearer, and hotter JB. Voice 1 is kinda like Duncan 59's.
 
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81/85 at standard 9v

edit; As Rex mentioned, buy the old logo emgs if possible, and if buying the modern logo shoot for before 2015 and you will be getting good versions.
 
you have been on a gear acquisition roll for a while. Perhaps buy 3 ESP/LTD guitars and load each with the pickups you're considering? :m17:
 
I took the EMGs out of mine. Nothing to do with the guitar, just no matter what amp settings I used it all sounded the same (like an EMG).

So if you want, then they're great! I turned mine into more of a classic rock thing with some Lollar PAFs and swapped the nut for bone. Downside is now I'm looking to get another guitar to play more metal stuff again with higher output pickups.
 
I have a few guitars with SD JBs, they are my go to. Rock to metal.

My ec401 came with emg het set. I don't like them at all. I had 81/85 years ago, not my favorite either.

I also have a couple guitars with fishman moderns. I like the passive voice best. The single coil mode is good too. The higher gain voice isn't quite as nice compared to hitting the amp with an OD pedal.

My preference is SD, Fishman, with EMG far behind.
 
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