Please tell me how Luke w EMG's Sound

[Brian G]

Hi all;

I'm thinking about acquiring another quitar, lovin' my Asis SS with MM90's . I have a Custom Shop St**t, so not really thinking about a Silo of any kind, at the moment. Also not really thinking about another guitar with dual humbuckers, which leads me to the Luke.

Those of you who own or have owned a Luke II with the current EMG models, can you give me some sound descriptions, perhaps in comparison to the MM90's, conventional humbuckers (vintage flavor), and in particular to St**t (or similar) single coils? I know these guitars are well liked by their owners, but please be specific.

I've heard both positive and negative comments about EMG's. I'm aware of the noise advantages. Do the SLV's get anywhere close to the attack and "open", "airy" quality of other great single coils? I'm concerned that the relatively high output produces a "fat" tone, but not an open one that really breathes? All the Toto & Steve Lukather stuff I've heard seems to emphasize a fair amount of overdrive.

And yes, I know about Gilmour's use of EMG's, but those were different models in a different guitar.

I will check a Luke out in person, but in the meantime, can you let me know what to expect.

Thanks in advance,
Brian

 

[beej]

Totally different sound than your MM90 ASS, really. My best description of the Luke's sound is "hi-fi". EMGs give you a very tonally balanced sound (no midrange spikes, etc.) and you can get a pretty wide range of sounds- great bluesy neck tone, great quack and a solid rock bridge tone. Really, I wouldn't think twice if I were looking for a SSH config.

It's a great axe. But with the Luke, you either love the neck or it ain't for you. Very different from the other MM necks.

As for noise, EMGs can be very noisy- really depends on your environment. Again, love 'em or they ain't for you.

 

[jagged]

i've found the same thing with the lukes... no matter how hard you try to love it... it might not feel good in your hands... my remedy... buy more of the guitars you love...

 

[Headstock]

Q: Please tell me how Luke w EMG's Sound
A: Great.

 

[Headstock]

It's a great axe. But with the Luke, you either love the neck or it ain't for you. Very different from the other MM necks.

I totally agree with that statement. I play differently on this neck.

 

[GWDavis28]

I just got mine yesterday and I love it. The EMG's sound great. My AL with MM90's has a very different sound, because they are totally different types of pups.

I think Beej hit the nail right on the head. Try it out man, you might find that it's for you. Goos luck in your search.

Glenn |B)

 

[Sweat]

The Luke is great I find the neck to be perfect and the emg pups sing but every player is different so it is a personel choice, all my Balls play great and have a unique feel and play ability, so buy what ever makes you happy as long as it is a ball

 

[Lance Romance]

Hi Brian!
Eric from The Arts here! Funny you should ask about the Luke, as I took one to a gig two weekends ago. Hadn't played an EMG guitar in a long time, although I always used to have one as a road guitar for nightmare wiring rooms. Yes, the neck feels a bit different with the slightly lower frets, but I found I bonded with that aspect very quickly, as I have a really light touch with my left hand. However, your question was about tone. The singles sound like good strat singles, perhaps more hi-fi with extended bottom and top. I'd forgotten how much I liked the 85 in the bridge, and actually spent about 65% of the night on that pickup, which is a place I rarely tread. I found it slightly odd that Luke seems to like "middle-plus-bridge" with the hummer not split, and thought that was the least useful tone. If I purchased it, I would swap the 85 for an 89, which is two pickups in the same housing. In single mode it's an SA single, and in dual mode it's pretty close to an 85, and M+B would give you that "real" strat cluck. The volume and tone controls are both useable through their travel. Some players call the EMGs "sterile", but I just don't think about that when I've got hundreds of people boppin' up and down in front of me. My bottom line take on the whole guitar was that it was one of the best LIVE workingmans guitars out there. If I was doing a lot of roadwork again, I would definitely own this guitar. Killer neck, dead light, silent pickups, useful/simple controls...no excuses left for not making great music. Why did I not keep it? Just a little too close to my Silo Special with WCR SRs and my Albert Lee Limited with P90s (and the usual lack of dollars). What it DID make me do was drag my old H-S-S Silo pickguard out of storage and order some new pickups for it, which I'm setting-up with solderless connectors so as to just swap electronics almost as fast as changing strings. Plug and play...
Just a quick note to anyone else reading this review: We have two Lukes in stock right now that are just outstanding. Great acoustic ring, really light. One day I too shall own one!-Eric

 

[fogman]

Check these out! This is a pretty good idea of the sound.

[nomedia="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TtVsJmCz3NU"]YouTube - Broadcast Yourself.[/nomedia]

[nomedia="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nc2IBXdH8t0"]YouTube - Broadcast Yourself.[/nomedia]

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lo4PML0C9Xk"]YouTube - Steve Lukather noodling[/ame]

 

[GWDavis28]

Lukes so friggin awesome and his playing is just MAN!! I hope someday to be able to play like that. I really like those clips.

Glenn |B)

 

[Brian G]

Thanks to everyone for the great responses and info. Wow - some great collections out there (Beej . . .).

Eric, this is really a continuation of our discussion the other day. (You're the one who raised this topic!) What colors are the current Luke inventory? Red by any chance? (I'm really getting ahead of myself here . . .).

Interesting point about swapping out pickups at the bridge. Would it also be possible to change out the SLV's to SA's if it came to that? I suppose another option is to get a Silo Special and try a Gilmour EMG set?

Brian

 

[dfrady]

The Luke is available in candy red and rad red.

 

[robelinda2]

i recently sold my Burnt Apple Luke, i got tired of the EMG's after a few years and much prefer the AL or Silo Special single coils, they are much rawer and cripser, i dont mind some noise from the pickups, all part of the tone i reckon. I really liked the neck shape and feel, i maybe shouldve investigated changing pickups.

 

[kbaim]

Hey Brian,
Sounds like you can really luck out here. You can actually "try" 2 lukes to see if either has the feel and sound your looking for.

If you can't put one down, that's the guitar...unless you want a different color, then you have to special order and hope.

I love 'em. I have 4 with another 3 on the way.

 

[uvacom]

One thing I will say about EMGs - parallel pickup combinations just sound different from passive pickups. Because EMG pickups are buffered, multiple-pickup combinations don't change the electrical properties of the pickups, and what you get is simply two summed signals.

Contrast that with passive pickups, where two-pickup combinations are essentially parallel inductor networks. What happens there is that the total inductance is decreased (if both pickups have equal windings and equal DC resistance the net inductance will be halved), and I believe this does some fairly interesting and complex things to the resonant peaks of each pickup.

I'm not saying one is better than the other, but parallel pickup combinations on my Albert Lee (on which I've replaced the pickups with EMG SVs) definitely sound less "quacky" than the originals did. For this reason, I think I'm going to try a set of Harmonic Design, Lollar, or Lindy Fralin pickups on the Albert lee - in other words, I'm going back to passive. I'm going to keep the EMGs for another guitar, probably a parts-o-caster. They're great, but I don't think they match the vibe of the Albert Lee very well.

All I'm saying is, you have to anticipate what to expect from EMGs. They don't behave like passive pickups, and that can be a bad thing if you don't anticipate it.