Jivin

I don't think you are going to get a SD Jazz sound out of any EMG pickup, however all EMG pickups are, by nature, extremely clean, and have their own trademark clean sound which you can easily recognise. Depending on what slant you want to put on that sound in the neck position will determine what EMG you choose. The 85 as you probably know is quite fat and round (although not without enough bite and clarity to hold things together), whereas the 60 is mucher sharper and snappier. You can always experiement and swap them out later if your really unhappy, so dont spend half your life trying to pick the PERFECT pickup without having actually played it in your guitar. As far as passive alternatives to the EMG 81 goes, word of mouth seems to hint that the JB or Bill Lawrence L500-XL are as close as you will get. I have never even heard an X2N so im afraid I can't comment there. - Dan

OK I THINK THEY GET IT NOW Don't let it get to the stage where you guys are just ragging on them just because everyone else is Just cooincidentally I actually listened to that video (or as much as I could bear) last night while I was killing time (which is good because it appears to have been taken down now), and singing aside, I have to say that the one thing that struck me about puppets was the timing of the song? Maybe they weren't falling dramatically out of time, but like someone else mentioned... I think they were trying to play it way too fast. Once I heard how fast they were playing the intro riff (and just holding it together), I had to laugh as I wondered how they would go moving onto the verse riff at the same speed It didn't work out too well in my opinion Still, they may as well keep at it if they are having fun. I agree the singer is no good, but then again I have seen worse actually manage to get mic'ed up on a stage... so yeah.

Kenny G is a machine What I find funny is that a lot of the people who bag the some of the legitimate musicians mentioned here are also people who actually enjoy some of the crap that gets played on the radio. I'm not meaning to point the finger at anyone here (its more just other people ive met), and beleive me I have had my fair share of digs at celine dion and co., but really, how can anyone that is a fan of the crap on the radio seriously have a go at proper musicians and feel like its justified? I don't mind Bryan Adams either - Dan

Hi Guys, Wondering if any of you had any Jackson Kelly's in your collection and if you could post a photo for me. I am particularily interested in ones with solid metallic finishes (metallic red, blue ect). Any finish will do though... I have exhausted google and I am just looking around for inspiration for what to have done... or maybe even try doing myself Any photo's are welcome, I love Kelly's! - Dan

That shark guitar is the guitar that you will be using that totally killer quilted maple on right Perry? God I can't wait to see that thing finished - Dan

Stupid question - Dan

Sorry I don't have your answer, but I just have to comment I had NO idea those two were so talented! Thats a great duo they have going there! I dunno, maybe its a cardinal sin for modern metal followers, but I never really got into the whole European metal movement and I always kinda disliked Alexi Laiho just because of the arrogant way he seems to come across in interviews and things... almost like you have to be an ass if you want to be in metal But yeah, its not like I think he is awesome now because he has some serious chops, but still... props to him on that at least. Re: the effect... I am not entirely sure becuase I can't make it out well enough with the two of them playing... but with my GT-6 I can get a that orchestra feel if I muck around with my chorus/reverb settings, but it takes some fiddling. I think there is an orchestra preset? Like I said though, im having a hard time making it out over the both them playing at once. Does sound like its the other guitarist that has the effect on though perhaps. Sorry I couldnt be more help - Dan

I really like what you've done here maiden... it looks great! I don't mind the colour so much, but I think its a bit of a moot point really because its all about what you like, and the execution seems really good The heel contour looks really great too!

Sum 41 are still realeasing as good a stuff as they were when they got popular with Fat Lip. I'm not a big fan, but one of my mates is so I hear their stuff fairly often. They've done a song called "The Bitter End" which is a total tribute (or ripoff) of Battery by Metallica hahah. It's well done though, and I generally dont mind a lot of their stuff because they have a good dual guitar setup happening and they are both pretty tight players. They do little metal style instrumentals too which I like too - Dan

My friends dont understand it most of the time, and to be honest neither do I really, but for some reason they annoy me a bit because it really rubs me the wrong way when there is massive 4 page interviews with the green day guy in guitar magazines and he just talks about how they are doing so many more solo's in their songs and stuff. I dunno, but that just irks me, because I don't remember the last time I heard a 'solo' in a green day song. Fair enough that he thinks his band is evolving and he is trying new things (?) as a guitarist, and i respect all they have done, but sometimes its just like they take it a bit far... Not only that, but the whole spontaneous political agenda and the ridiculously pathetic filmclips (has anyone actually seen the clip for that when november ends song?) just seems annoying. Maybe I am looking at it from the wrong angle, and the fact that they are getting their message out is a good thing... but look at their demographic nowdays... is it really that good of a thing that every second 16 year old is a mis-informed political activist because they listen to green day? Then you have the radio stations heralding them as saviours of oldschool punk just because they are writing songs with political motivations... i mean cmon! they are bubblegum punk It's like the PR guy latched onto the latest 'matured' political angst emo protest vibe and is milking the stuff all over everything they've done since. Still, beleive it or not those are fairly small issues to me that I know I have just blown out of proportion and most people probably dont agree with me on. I actually find some of their songs really catchy and not too bad at all, and as ive said before regarding bands like nickelback... its still 'rock' in one way or another, so if the songs are solid then I would much rather have them on the radio than a lot of other stuff. - Dan

I'm not wearing any pants!

All of the guitars looked great, but I just couldn't go past the yei bass... it takes the cake for me. - Dan

Now that you mention it, they aren't that expensive really More than Seymour Duncans and less than EMG's, but without any of the extras EMG's come with (to my knowledge). I have never actually bought a set of Bartolini's, but when I emailed them to ask for advice some time ago I was recommended the ZBS-80 in the bridge and the ZBS-75 in the neck, and that was for a guitar which I wanted primarily for hard rock/metal, but I also wanted it to be able to hold its own for clean sounds. That was the advice I was given anyway. http://www.starspickups.com/ZBSelectric.php http://store.pickupcentral.com/bartolini.html - Dan PS: It looks like that pickupcentral store doesn't stock as many bartolini guitar pickups as they used to... but I get the impression starspickups sells them, so maybe you could email them for pricing.

When your talking about clean sounds, you really just need to go down to a guitar store or borrow a mates guitar and just muck around with the EMG's as they really do have their own type of clean sound. For the neck position, it doesn't really matter what pickup you try, whether it be the 81, 85, 60 or SA, you will still get the idea of what an EMG pickup sounds like clean. You can definitely hear what people label as the 'sterile' sound. I personally don't have a problem with it, and I love the sound my EMG's dish out, but I would suggest you know it before you go ahead and buy a set. Also, when your comparing EMG's and SD's, as Maiden more or less said, I would advice you dont make the decision based on price, as the difference is that huge as far as I have seen, and it should really be based more on what sound you are after. If you're happy with the clean sound EMG's give, then I would say go for it, because the sound of EMG's under gain is extraordinary in my opinion and I might even suggest you go the 81/89 combo because I find the SA has a slightly more manageable clean sound (and the 85 is definitely smooth, so both in one package would be a good choice). If your unsure about the 'EMG clean', then maybe the Seymour Duncans might be worth the safer choice. Make sure you let us know what you decide to do - it would be interesting to find out what you end up going for. - Dan PS: Just to clarify, im not saying that all EMG pickups have the same clean sound. They all have their tonal differences, however my point was that they all share that same.... sound... thingy... that makes them very recognisable as EMG's

Thanks for making me check Carvin World again marksound I had checked it originally so I wouldnt have usually thought to check again, but after you mentioned it I had a look and it turns out they have added 2 more Australian dealers and one of them is about 1-2 hours drive away, so I might give them a ring, see what they can do for me I am very interested to see what the deal is with warranty. - Dan