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mcvinyl

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Oct 4, 2004
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512
Location
Brisbane Australia
I have been spending some time playing my friends EBMM's and I'm in love. He has an original EVH & a Morse. I'm thinking about getting rid of my strat to pay for it, I was wondering how close to those Strat like tones does the Axis get. There is one on ebay here in AUS that has the three single coils. Would that do the job or would something along the lines of the Silhoutte be better? I know, I know - go and play one to see which suits me but there aren't too many in the shops down herebecause EBMM's are hugely expensive Down Under & I'm not a pro so I have to buy right first time. Thanks for any help.

Simon
 

dwf1004

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Dec 3, 2002
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Scottsdale, AZ
"Im in love." Ha ha...welcome to the addiction, pal. :)

If you're digging on the EVH, then that Axis could do you good, since it's the same neck, minus being 1/32" wider at the top of the neck to stop high E string slippage. Not enough for you to notice, really...I would say that the SSS setup on that guitar would be suitable, anyone else wanna chime in on this one?

Myself, I went the Silhouette Special route for that requirement. No Strats in this house, thank you very much. :) The neck is as comfortable as the EVH (see my sig to understand how I know), with little adjustment needed, if any.

I would think that either would do ya right, but it's all up to you.

Hope I helped ya out here! :)
 

PurpleSport

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Feb 8, 2004
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NYC
The Morse does really good strat tones and humbucker tones, but that forest of knobs and switches....<whew!>. Not a bad choice if you don't mind a slightly higher learning curve, and don't mind the idiosyncratic nature of that setup, and if you can conquer that, all the other EBMMs are a piece of cake!

The Silo's not a bad choice either. Keith Richards and Ronnie Wood loved 'em, and they've got tons of vintage stuff to choose from in their collections. Most flexible model as far as electronics, and has the basic strat wood formula in place (get the 22-fret Silo Special if you want the most authentic tones, as the regular one is a 24 fretter and thus might sound a tad different on the neck).

If you can get to try an Axis Sport/Super Sport with the MM90s, you'll get a nice warm, twangier "fat strat" and Tele sounds than the regular model, and even find some vintage-humbuckeresque tones as well with a little work....well worth seeking out if that's your thing. The three single coil model sounds like it would be worth it if you're a strat-oid, tho, esp. if it has an ash body (which I think they did) - to my ear, basswood's not quite as authentic sounding, but that's just me.

For something even closer to Stratworld from the EBMM line, either model of the Albert Lee (standard single coils or MM90s) is the real ticket. Ash body, maple neck, single coils, and vintage trem (or not)....doesn't get much closer to the receipe of the best vintage strats than that, not to mention plays/sounds better and more consistently than most of 'em and costs far less to boot.

Whichever you choose, I can assure you it's money well spent...good luck! :)
 

Jimi D

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Feb 27, 2003
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Ottawa ON
mcvinyl said:
I was wondering how close to those Strat like tones does the Axis get. There is one on ebay here in AUS that has the three single coils. Would that do the job or would something along the lines of the Silhoutte be better?

The Axis Sport with three singles has a 22 fret neck, ash body and great pickups - it sounds a whole lot like a Strat to me... I've got the Sport model with the HSS pickup config and it does great Straty neck and in-between. The Silhouette Special gets you close too with it's Alder body and HSS set up. I'd think it would be more a question of which neck you prefer, as either guitar can walk that Strat walk. And of course, there's always the Albert Lee if you can find one - another great Strat-like EBMM! Good luck! :)
 
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