Alright guys, so I just got back and I found the evening to be educational... I spent a good 2 hours with a schecter c1 hellraiser, an ltd h-1001, ltd h 400 or whatever its called, and then later and esp m1 and eclipse.
First off though 006, I know EXACTLY what you mean with the inconsistency of the Gibsons and the PRSs. With the LP i ordered it from the store and while I didn't get one of the really terrible units it wasn't as good as a couple i had tried in the past. With the two PRSs, I tried out so many of each model before buying that it was mindboggling. Especially the Cu24 I have, I was in NYC at the time for a trip so I spent 3 days and tried basically every Cu24 in the city, well over a dozen and they all had slightly different options and more importantly, they all played very differently. However, I'm extremely satisfied with the two units I ended up buying.
But yeah back to the schecter/esp experiment. Keep in mind that I haven't owned nearly as many guitars as 006 has apparently and I don't have ears of audio engineering experience like some of you so maybe my years aren't so good. But I have played for a lot of years and played a LOT of good high end gear.
The first guitar I tried was the C-1 Hellraiser, through alternately (same for all the other models) a peavey jsx and crate blue voodoo they had at the store. Not the ideal choices obviously but they worked. First thing I thought was that the 81 in the bridge sounded really trebly and rhythms were not as thick as I'd expect from a guitar with these specs. The feel though was GREAT, very fast action, the thickness of the neck didn't bother me at all since im used to my LP, and the lack of that sucky neck heel that the PRSs have made for great fret access. I moved over to the neck 89 since I wasn't liking the 81 in that guitar and it sounded much better, I hadn't expected to like it but I loved how beefy it sounded. Still though, the feel was not markedly better than any of my own guitars, I mean, it was comfortable, but I can play everything I want to play on my guitars so how does it really matter? And most importantly I wasn't happy with the sound. It sounded almost metallic and tinny compared to PRSs, despite being mahogany body/neck it didn't really sound warm and full. I wasn't really "feeling" the tone it sounded kind of thin and cheap to be honest.
Next was the H-1001. Seems like they're nearly the same guitar, though I felt my hand flying across the thinner neck quicker. I could really hear the difference the maple made, the tone was punchier and had more cut than the Schecter, though at the same time wasn't as full and warm (which is a problem for me since I already thought the schecter wasn't nearly warm or full enough for my tastes). Other than that I didn't find anything really different from the Schecter.
Now to see the consistency of ESP models the best I could do for a scientific comparison was to try the 400 series version of the horizon... and it lacked some of the bells and whistles of the h-1001 but felt exactly the same and through high gain amps sounded pretty much the same. I'd be lying if I told you I could tell a difference. There may have been a slight difference feel but it was so slight that I can't tell if its just one of those things where Im remembering something I think I should remember but didn't actually observe. Let me note that the Schecter, and both ESPs thus far felt exactly the same essentially, except for the difference in neck thickness. While I have the thought, I read about the history of two companies and from what I understand they're supposed to be managed seperately but both owned by the japanese guy who started ESP in 83, he bought schecter in 88 or 89 or something like that. The hellraiser and horizon are so similar though that I think its pretty clear that they're not managed totally seperately. The H-1001 has switched from the old headstock of the h-1000 to one very much like the one on the hellraiser, another suggestion, maybe theyre built in the same factory...
Now what I found while the build seemed consistent, I didn't like the sound of any of these guitars. With the wall of gain going I felt vaguely satisfied, but none of them sounded quite warm enough, so I did my usual bit and listened to the guitars for a while unplugged with my ear right to the guitar. The hellraiser had none of the richness or softness of my PRSs but sounded thin and almost metallic like i mentioned before. The ESPs didn't sound so "metallic" but sounded brighter obviously with the maple and again didn't have that warmth to the sound. The notes didn't bloom the way they do on my Cu24, or even to an extent like on my LP studio believe it or not.
When I mentioned this to the salesman, he brought me an M-1 to show me one of the japanese builds (he said theyre japanese anyways I didn't read about the higher models so I can't confirm). Immediate night and day difference. I believe it was an Alder body with maple neck through. The action and fret access were awesome, just like on the cheap ones, plus it had an unfinished neck so it really played like butter. However, i first tried it acoustically just to compare, and even though I guess alder/maple neck thru should sound brighter and thinner than all mahogany it sounded considerably richer, and when I plugged into the JSX, it really ripped. It had TONS of cut. First thing to note is I was favoring the 85 neck to the 81 bridge when I tried the cheap ones, on this guitar I LOVED the 81. The combo didn't sound thin or weak at all it was sizzling and hot and lead tones cut like a knife. Rhythms tones were pretty good too, but not huge and chunky, though I guess that can be expected with the materials used.
Next he brought me an esp eclipse, and again, the cheaper guitars had nothing on this. It was mostly mahogany. HUGE, fat warm sound with 81 in the bridge, it was so fat the 85 was really overkill in the neck. And despite it being singlecut, with 24.75", and worse fret access it still just played extremely fast, much more comfortable than my LP and with lots of cut. The neck was thinner than on my LP, pretty similar to my PRSs, and the fretboard was nice and flat for fast runs.
So to summarize, this was probably my most scientific test of a series of guitars except for when I tried all those PRSs in NYC, and the differences in wood quality were very definitely audible to my ears. The higher end ESPs were a joy to play and listen to but the lower end ones were only a joy to play. Hearing them left something to be desired, to my ears anyways. ESP seems like a much more consistent brand than PRS though in terms of the playability of these models across different models was all the same, and I tried over a dozen of the same PRS in NYC and they all felt different. However, I don't think I'd be happy playing any of the ESPs except the higher ones. While the PRSs were inconsistent, and not all of them sounded and felt as good as one another, every single one sounded warm and lush acoustically, I'm assuming because they all use good woods. Another thing worth mentioning, is I guess the M-1 is basically ESPs version of the Jackson Soloist and I'd take it over a much more expensive SL1 any day. It just was so much better in terms of playability while still sounding great that I don't see how I could ever justify spending on an SL1.
Last thing I need to address if the pickup issue. Last time i played a guitar with EMGs was 5 years ago. 3 of the guitars had an 81/85 setup, the schecter was an 81/89, and the m-1 had a single 81. Whoever started the bullshit about actives sounding the same with every guitar is a complete fucking moron and should be shot. The sound differences between instruments was so obvious that the only reason for them to sound the same were if you were deaf. The 81 colored the tone a lot less than most of the passives I've tried... I'm starting to think that people who complain about lifeless sterility in the emgs are LOOKING for the different colorations and degrees of responsiveness you can get from picking different passives.
Sorry for the long diatribe but I found this trip very educational! I decided to just keep the LP and throw an 81/85 set in there, and Ill probably try swapping around to 85/81 to see how it sounds at some point. Its not an ideal guitar but I like the warm sound even if it isnt the greatest in terms of playability and if Gibson's quality standard has clearly dropped a lot. Later down the road I'll look into a higher end 7 from ESP or maybe a caparison dellinger 7 or something, and if at somepoint I have money again for a better 6 string with EMGs for this recording application i'll sell the gibson.
), but I really do prefer 25.5" necks, cuz I can use thinner strings (relatively) and still maintain approximately the same tension.
