i think to get alexi tone, first of all the best option is to get alexi guitar (alexi-600 or e-al-120).
if you cant afford that replace pickup on your guitar with hz like alexi is using or duncan invader (like roope)... or something that sounds like hz or invader - there are quite many options. I don't think active pickup like emg81 will give you that tone - i used to owe one guitar with emg81 on it - it sounded totally different. That's just my opinion, but you can go with emg81 still. I have a guitar with duncan JB in the bridge - it sounds more close to alexi tone than what emg81 used to sound like but not quite as close as my e-al-120. your guitar preferably should be a neck-thru and the wood should be alder. Bolt-on might do just fine too, but the tone might deviate.
then you gotta get something that sounds somewhat like lee jackson. for example, i tried once to play alexi-600 in the guitar store through peavey xxx. the tone was very believable alexi tone... more believable than though my marshall jmp-1 at home. if you wanna try to sound like alexi by setting mids to 10 with your 15 watt Chinese practice amp and some crappy distortion pedal - i don't think it will ever work. You need to get decent gear. And I also believe gain booster isn't absolutely necessary to get alexi tone... get a decent amp instead - and avoid mutilating your guitar with those switches.
One more thing you can try out is to use a program called Guitar Rig 2. The distortion that comes from it is kind of crappy and unnatural (in my opinion - but many people might argue). But if you connect your tube preamp to it - it's a totally different story! I connect my jmp-1 to my computer and basicly i just play around with different cabinets, microphones and their positions in guitar rig. The tone i get in the end is pretty close to the one in FTR (using 4x12 80s cab with dynamic microphone on the axis in guitar rig). I think i am gonna record some samples sometimes and post them soon.
This my experience mimicking alexi tone - i hope it's helpful to you.
if you cant afford that replace pickup on your guitar with hz like alexi is using or duncan invader (like roope)... or something that sounds like hz or invader - there are quite many options. I don't think active pickup like emg81 will give you that tone - i used to owe one guitar with emg81 on it - it sounded totally different. That's just my opinion, but you can go with emg81 still. I have a guitar with duncan JB in the bridge - it sounds more close to alexi tone than what emg81 used to sound like but not quite as close as my e-al-120. your guitar preferably should be a neck-thru and the wood should be alder. Bolt-on might do just fine too, but the tone might deviate.
then you gotta get something that sounds somewhat like lee jackson. for example, i tried once to play alexi-600 in the guitar store through peavey xxx. the tone was very believable alexi tone... more believable than though my marshall jmp-1 at home. if you wanna try to sound like alexi by setting mids to 10 with your 15 watt Chinese practice amp and some crappy distortion pedal - i don't think it will ever work. You need to get decent gear. And I also believe gain booster isn't absolutely necessary to get alexi tone... get a decent amp instead - and avoid mutilating your guitar with those switches.
One more thing you can try out is to use a program called Guitar Rig 2. The distortion that comes from it is kind of crappy and unnatural (in my opinion - but many people might argue). But if you connect your tube preamp to it - it's a totally different story! I connect my jmp-1 to my computer and basicly i just play around with different cabinets, microphones and their positions in guitar rig. The tone i get in the end is pretty close to the one in FTR (using 4x12 80s cab with dynamic microphone on the axis in guitar rig). I think i am gonna record some samples sometimes and post them soon.
This my experience mimicking alexi tone - i hope it's helpful to you.
