• Ernie Ball
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  • Sterling by MusicMan

snakepitve

Member
Joined
Jan 16, 2006
Messages
11
Hey Brent,whats up!!!! new here,i was hoping that you could help me out here by answering a few of my questions about the EB guitars( anybody else who would like to contibute with opininons ,feel free to do so). I have a Les Paul custom that i truly love,never had an EB before and never tried one either,the reason for this post to brent is that i ve being checking the forum and he seems to have a taste for Gibsons and EB,so he would probably be able to set the diferences between the two,now, i'm looking for my next guitar,i play very heavy stuff but i also love dream theater,i am lookink for a guitar with fast neck and BIG frets for ripping solos,24 frets,tremolo bridge for sick string vibratos,thin neck,lots of note sustain. My Les Paul has a fat neck but i am used to it,but i want my next guitar to help me rip easier. Pete Dubaldo(who by the way is an awesome guy) gave me some great deals on the PET model which is the one that seems to have the most i'm looking for,now one thing that kind of turns me down is the basswood body,i don't like the fact of the costmetics cracks,and i've heard that its a very weak wood that doesn't take playing stress too well,HELP GUYS PLEASE:confused:
 

koogie2k

Well-known member
Joined
Dec 28, 2002
Messages
5,859
Location
Moyock, NC
snakepitve said:
Hey Brent,whats up!!!! new here,i was hoping that you could help me out here by answering a few of my questions about the EB guitars( anybody else who would like to contibute with opininons ,feel free to do so). I have a Les Paul custom that i truly love,never had an EB before and never tried one either,the reason for this post to brent is that i ve being checking the forum and he seems to have a taste for Gibsons and EB,so he would probably be able to set the diferences between the two,now, i'm looking for my next guitar,i play very heavy stuff but i also love dream theater,i am lookink for a guitar with fast neck and BIG frets for ripping solos,24 frets,tremolo bridge for sick string vibratos,thin neck,lots of note sustain. My Les Paul has a fat neck but i am used to it,but i want my next guitar to help me rip easier. Pete Dubaldo(who by the way is an awesome guy) gave me some great deals on the PET model which is the one that seems to have the most i'm looking for,now one thing that kind of turns me down is the basswood body,i don't like the fact of the costmetics cracks,and i've heard that its a very weak wood that doesn't take playing stress too well,HELP GUYS PLEASE:confused:

OK. I will answer this and try not to take it like I am being an ass......

Let's see....basswood is weak?!?!? Well, if John Petrucci asked for it, EVH asks for it, countless other artists ask for it....who are we to decided it is "weak"?

I have several JP models and I beat them to death. Weak....no. Devastation is what a JP does to most "Custom" guitars with their silly "exotic" wood bodies. Simply put, who am I to tell JP what to use? Obviously you have heard him.....is his tone weak? Not all of it is the axe (I am not a total idiot), but, come on....weak is not the word.

Define stress. Seriously, are you using the axe to hang up pictures? (Yes, I am being a smart a$$...LOL). I let my guitar player in my band use my JP (he is 22 and very "active" ) and he couldn't put a hurtin' on that axe if he wanted to. Again, the gods who use EBMM's requested that wood....keep that in mind.

Pete was giving you the right info. Pete is a great stand up guy who I would vouch for in a minute. He is not going to steer you wrong. Why would he....he is banking on you being an EBMM addict like me so you will go back to him to buy more guitars and fund his ferrari.......;)

Now, EBMM guitars/basses are built to Custom specs of the artists. I know this to be fact. I was at the Open House and got the tour and got to chat with the artists. Many here will attest to that. JP, Morse, Moore, Luke and others stated several times....we want to be able to walk in a store, pull our axe off the wall, and play it with no adjustments needed. So, the craftsmanship is superb and I got hundreds of pics to show it. You will be getting "Custom" quality at production prices.

EBMM has one thing over ALL other companies. That would be Customer Service. The best....do a search a see. I cannot state any more how great they are.

Big Poppa (Sterling Ball - Owner) is truly one of a kind. He genuinely cares about us...the "everyday" guitarist/bassist. He literally worries about us being satisfied with his products. That is just not the case with the other big names out there. Big Poppa posts here as well as several EBMM employees who help us out all the time. No one that I have seen.....I have seen just about all of them......do that.

Get yourself a Pet....and you will find your Gibby will be lonely.....simple as that. Not to knock the Gibby.....I just prefer the EBMM....hell, I have 7 total.....I wouldn't buy that many if the product was bad.....

By the way snakepitve.....WELCOME TO THE ADDICTION!

That is what it will be too.....trust me I know as well as several others here. :cool:
 

snakepitve

Member
Joined
Jan 16, 2006
Messages
11
HAHAHA GREAT KOOGIE,dude you really made me laugh in a very good way,thank you very much for the info(by the way i am still laughing),sorry for being so ignorant since its the first time i look into EB guitars,now can you talk to me a little more about the neck of the guitar and the sound,i told pete i was going to wait for the d-sonic pup,i like heavy metal and hard rock mostly and thanks again man for welcoming.
 

lock-ny

Well-known member
Joined
Jan 23, 2003
Messages
877
Location
NYC
You might wanna check outthe silhouette as well, 24 frets, alder body and with a pup change it can be a metal monster, thinner neck than a paul, trem that sits flat on the body, great guitar -
 

brentrocks

Well-known member
Joined
Oct 28, 2004
Messages
3,682
Location
Paw Paw, MI
Snake, I am honored that you would seek my opinion!!!

I'm gonna lay it down to ya straight bud....

I was just like you, had a couple LP Customs, a Kramer Baretta and then i bought my 1st EBMM EVH.

I'm not saying that the EVH is the right guitar for you, but i will tell you that EBMM guitars blow away Gibson, Fender, Kramer, ect. in quality and workmanship!!

http://photobucket.com/albums/y52/ebmmquilt/

Go here and see all the guitars that i have bought and sold over the past 2 years or so...the only ones i have now are EBMM EVHs!!!

The Les pauls were ok, but the necks on the EB EVHs are sooo much faster, the quality of the tops are so much better! The pickups were hotter and the EBMMs were lighter!

Weather you get a JP, EVH, Axis, Luke, ect.....you cant go wrong with a Musicman!

You dont know what you're missing untill you try a EBMM guitar...i'm living proof!!
 

snakepitve

Member
Joined
Jan 16, 2006
Messages
11
Brent AWESOME!!!!!!!!! i knew you could help me out,one thing i really want to note is that everybody in this forum seems to be very friendly and grown up,not like in many other guitar forums where you end up asking a bunch of kids that dont take anything seriously and is a big waste of time,now brent as i said before i need tha fastest biggest frets possible on a guitar neck and good K A distortion.Oh and by the way thanks Lock-ny for the sujestion.MAJOR PROPS ON ALL THE PEOPLE IN THIS FORUM
 

koogie2k

Well-known member
Joined
Dec 28, 2002
Messages
5,859
Location
Moyock, NC
snakepitve said:
HAHAHA GREAT KOOGIE,dude you really made me laugh in a very good way,thank you very much for the info(by the way i am still laughing),sorry for being so ignorant since its the first time i look into EB guitars,now can you talk to me a little more about the neck of the guitar and the sound,i told pete i was going to wait for the d-sonic pup,i like heavy metal and hard rock mostly and thanks again man for welcoming.

Cool man...It is hard to come across with this Internet writings and not sound like a pr1ck.....glad you got a laugh out of it! :D

The JP neck is thin....some people have compared it to the Wizard neck from Ibenhad.....but, alas, I have not tried a Wizard neck....so I would be lying to you if I said it felt like it. When I first picked up the Pet.....it just felt right. It is not for everyone...so, I would suggest trying one if you can. I personally love e'm.

Another suggestion was the Silo. Simply an awesome axe as well. My bro OrangeChannel has one that I played when I visit him and I like it. Neck is different but I feel at "home" with it.

The best description or what I love to say about the necks are this....it is not laquered, not painted (exception being the SUB) and the natural feel is what makes playing an EBMM so great. I just love that wood "feel". But, here is a quick funny story....I play bass in a band (Yes, I use an EBMM bongo bass) and the necks are painted....heheheh....kind of an oxy moron...but the neck feels great and the bongo will rip your head off.....but anyway, the JP, Silo or even the Axis would be a great model to look at.

I was thoroughly blown away by the Y2D as well. I loved the Y2D at the Open House and a bunch of lucky bastids here have one. Simply, in my opinion, the best all around axe out there. I only say that because Steve Morse plays ALL genre's of music and seeing him live with the Y2D only convinced me more that it is probably the most versatile axe on the market today. Metal would be no problem wiht the Y2D as well as the other EBMM's mentioned.

Hope this helps. Plus, brents comments were spot on as well.

Just don't be like Foggy and promise us you will have one before 2,000 posts and then come on the forum with multiple personalities so you can keep the post count down.......:D
 

Norrin Radd

Well-known member
Joined
Jul 20, 2004
Messages
2,914
Location
Saint Paul
What he said!

Koogs - nice job.

Customer Service at EBMM in UNPARALLELED! Period.

Only one thing struck me (and only because I talked turkey with my amp and "pickup" guru today), is that Petrucci's meaty tone is helped along by his choice in amplification and excellent sound engineers (both live and recorded). I have a JP6 myself, and the only thing that I believed wasn't exactly perfcet (for me) were the pickups. What I learned today (because I complained that they were "weak" pickups, that the output was too low) is that, in fact, they are not. I was told that the way they are designed spreads the signal strength more evenly over the frequency spectrum (if I'm saying that right!). So each string actually has more presence in the mix of the pickup, and hence, more clarity/definition. It was suggested that I turn up the gain one notch from where I have it for other guitars to approximate evening out for what I was perceiving as "weakness". So I did that, and it did "even out" the gain/distortion/output level I was getting from other HBs. Then my guy says, "Listen closely - with the Pet pickups you now have the same gain level, but your definition is far superior" to the other pickups. And he was dead spot on. He also told me it would be more obvious to me becasue of my own amps more classic.vintage tone/style as opposed to if I were playing a Mesa or 5150/JSX type of amp.

Just some info I thought I'd share considering your stated heavy style. As for the build quailty - none better. EBMM is right at the top with a few select others.

Good luck (and listen to Pete and Koogie - they know).

And welcome to the addiction!

D'oh! :mad: :eek:
 

PeteDuBaldo

Well-known member
Joined
Jul 16, 2004
Messages
10,193
Location
Central Connecticut (Manchester) USA
Welcome aboard!

I sold a gorgeous Axis SS to a local guy who wanted a guitar to compliment his LP. He's in a band with a guy who works across the street from the store who bought a gorgeous StingRay4 from us. He bought the guitar sight unseen after I spoke with him a few times. He fell in love with it, and raves about it all the time.

I also sold an awesome JP model to a guy who has a LP, and he loves it just as much, if not more because of the unfinished neck!

Evidently you can't go wrong with an EBMM ;)
 

snakepitve

Member
Joined
Jan 16, 2006
Messages
11
Hey there Pete,whats up!!!!!!!!!!!! i am still waiting for the JP red pearlburst with piezo and the d-sonic,let me know when they start delivering those,Thanks.
 

tommyindelaware

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Joined
Dec 24, 2002
Messages
3,274
Location
wilmington , delaware
if ya want a trophy guitar.......get one made of some crazy exotic wood that only grows on mt. olympus or mt. hoowey-hoowey or somewhere.

but i gotta say some of the best sounding guitars i ever heard were made of basswood.......popular.....really soft swamp ash.......light mahogany. i once played a guitar made of yellow pine...& early paf's on it......& it crushed the early 70's les paul i had. (which i traded for my first music man in 79).....

also ..if great tone was all about hot pickups.......hendrix must of sounded like ****...cause his pickups were REALLY weak by todays remarkably confused standards.:cool:
 

phatduckk

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Joined
Jul 25, 2004
Messages
8,145
Location
San Mateo, California, United States
i have a couple LP's ... sorry guys, I had to admit it. One of them actually has the zakk qylde type PUPs in it ... an EMG 81 and 89. The other LP just hand on the wall and is my apartment's nicest and most expensive decoration :)

Besides the LPs I also have a JP6. Personally I like the JP6 better. The neck is what everyone says it is ... its smooth as hell and its fast! way, way faster than that of an LP. Its can definately play the role of a metal machine. its great for that ... the neck and the PUPs pull off metal well. But, you dont wanna pigeon hole the JP as just a metal guitar either. You can get the "Slash" kinda tone out of it too and clean it sounds awesome ... i really like the middle pup position when playing clean.

Honestly ... i have a bunch of guitars. all of em are good, that's why I keep em around, but the JP6 is my favorite.
 

zenmba

Well-known member
Joined
May 22, 2005
Messages
111
Location
Suburban Chicago
I've had my JP for almost a year and still never put it down...except to play my LP Custom. Sure, there is a different feel, especially since my JP is a 7-string and has a wider neck. Nonetheless, the adjustment to the JP was only minor.

The sound is outstanding and brent and koogie have articulated the benefits of Ernie Ball very well.

So, just my personal opinion - buying an Ernie Ball guitar exceeded my expectations and inspires my playing still to this day! :D :D :D

-Billy
 
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