tragedyman wrote: i was just thinkin and wondering if the pickups actually make a difference nowadays. would i here a difference if i had the emg 81/85 in my amp or should i leave the factory pickups

Well, they're in your guitar, not your amp, lol. :roll: And yes, you may hear a difference, but that depends on the quality of the rest of your gear, and your level of playing ability.

Pickups make a world of difference these days. They completely change the sound of a guitar. I don't know what your stock pickups are, but those EMG's are really nice.

your guitar itself is the biggest factor in tone IMO. pickups are a major part of that tone.guitar body design is pretty big, and strings/pick selection defines certain aspects.

i have an SG with P90s, no matter what setup im running through i can still hear my guitars distinct characteristics. its a major cross between it being an SG and the pickups in it. very hard and beefy.

the exception would be tone destruction. if youre the type that cuts the hell out of your mids, and deep scoops 500, no its not going to make much a difference, youll sound a lot like most crappy generic sounding distortions. i really doubt youre that type of person, since you are concerned about pickup tone.

you will definitely notice a difference with EMGs, they are good stuff.

and just to note, i would be able to tell a HUGE difference between a strat, tele, les paul, and my guitar on even a crappy amp.

i've manipulated and improved upon many cheap guitars just buy suiting the right pickups and wiring configurations to match the rest.
I still own many of the original pickups to many classic guitars i have had but to me it's obvious they deteriorate or loose there reaction to higher frequencies not to mention the fact that they have there own unique distortions each one of them.

I just finished setting up a Standard Strat with the David Gilmour emg pack. It sounds amazing - an enormous step up from the stock electronics.

Wes

Gentlemen, I own a Brain Moore guitar. I paid something like $1000 for it new. I talked to a few people at different guitars stores about maybe one day upgrading to EMG's or even putting LesPaul pickup's in it. They either looked at my guitar or asked what I was playing, and at 2 different stores said,"that's a nice guitar, I wouldn't change a thing about those Brain Moore's".
Does anyone disagree? Or if I was looking for a certain sound...say metal...what would you do.
The sound I get right now is nice. I A/B'd it against a Les Paul and it sounded a little more clearer on the clear chan. than the LesPaul to me and my guitar player, but the LesPaul's still have "great clean sound" that I like so much also.
What should I do?

Which Brian Moore guitar do you own, and which metal sound are you going for?

Here she is...

And the metal sound I like is... CrossFade, Mudvayne, Anthrax, Pantera or Damage Plan, stuff like Staind, or System of a down.
I am getting the Hughes & Kettner WARP X in a month or so.
Check it out.
http://www.guitarshop.net/hugheskettnerwarpxhead.htm

That Hughes & Kettner will be killer. nuf said.

Very, very nice guitar! That looks like the high end line, so the stock pickups would be Seymour Duncan Alnico II neck, and JB Bridge(the Duncan flagship tone pup). The JB is capable of getting the metal tones you want, but is a slightly noisy humbucker when used in high gain setups.The rosewood fingerboard should tame down the high end "icepick" that the JB can sometimes deliver. If the fingerboard was ebony, the JB would be much too trebly. I agree with those who said to leave the pickups( at least until you hear how they sound with the new amp). The EMG's will be much fatter, and quieter though, with a slight loss of passive type "belltone" clarity as the tradeoff...

But if you want the fatness and sustain of the EMG active pickups, combined with the organic clarity of those passive Duncans.... then put a Duncan pickup booster first in the signal chain before going into the Hughes and Kettner.

There's an internal version too.

I'm pretty sure Brian Moore stocks American made Duncan's in that guitar. I could be wrong. Brian Moore doesn't skimp. I've never played a Brian Moore I wasn't impressed with. I'd rank them right up there with the Ernie Ball guitars. Very smooth, with quality craftmanship and excellent design with attention to detail.

Duncan's american pickups are beautiful in my experience. There are so many great pickups out there it's hard to decide when it comes to choosing what to buy as replacement pickups.

Therea re some killer foreign made pickups these days to choose from too. Kinman's are made in Australia and blow me away.