Orion Guitar on ebay

[gtrguy]

My usual gigging MIJ 62ri Strat has EMGs and I like them a lot. Also very easy on the batteries. A Modulus Black knife guitar I used to own also had them and they sounded great. However, I would not swap out the PUPs on an Alembic for them.

[jalevinemd]

I use overdrive or distortion on 90% of the songs my band plays. I can say, unequivocally, that they sound amazing clean or dirty.

[lbpesq]

Hi Jonathan, always nice to see you check in.   I assume you are referring to Alembic PUs and not to EMGs?   Both are being discussed on this thread.

Bill, tgo

[jalevinemd]

Thanks Bill. I know it’s been awhile. Yes, I was referring to the Alembics not the EMG’s.

[bob_g]

In fact there is a black spoiler on ebay as we speak with "upgrade" to  Bartonini pickups.

Not to mention the very tasteful control knob upgrades...

[jalevinemd]

I stand by my original response. However, I definitely can understand someone wanting to swap the original pickups out for somethings else. Years and years ago, I wasn't at all happy with the tone of my Alembics when using OD/Distortion pedals. That's because I always have the tone and volume knobs on my non-Alembic guitars all the way up. So, I did the same with my Alembics, except the "tone" control is actually the filter. They sounded like shit. Very tinny and harsh. I had inquired about a build with PAF style pickups and was politely told that was not going to happen. So I went back to the drawing board with the Alembics and rolled the filter down a lot until I found the sweet spot. Haven't looked back since. So, if you treat your Alembic like a non-Alembic and aren't willing to fiddle about, you're likely to pull out the pickups (as in this case).

[cozmik_cowboy]

Let us not forget that one J.John Garcia had the Alembic guts taken out of 72-25 (or was it 73-25?) and replaced with Dirt'Marzios, and Wolf seemed to work OK for him.  But I myself lean to the philosophy that the cleaner the p/up's natural sound, the better, as one can always add grit & distortion, but one can never take it out.


As to EMGs, doesn't the "M" stand for "metal"?  I don't think I've seen anyone but metal folks use them.  (In fact, a large part of why I dropped my subscription to Premier Guitar was their penchant for focusing on guys who tour carrying 7 ESPs, identical except for color, all loaded with the same EMGs, and talk about which song they use which one on.........)


Want to put EMGs in your Alembic?  It's yours, go ahead.  But don't delude yourself into thinking I'd buy it from you.

Peter (who does love Barts, as well)

[jalevinemd]

Peter makes a point that I've always wondered about myself...why Jerry used DiMarzios in the first place, given the type of clean tone he's known for. And not just any DiMarzios...but the Super Distortions. I have always loved those pickups. But I play mostly Classic Rock. Obviously they worked well for him, though. I had no idea that EMG was in Santa Rosa as well.

[lbpesq]

I once called DiMarzio for advice when I was doing a pickup swap on a DBZ Imperial.  (interesting guitar - sort of a double-cutaway Les Paul that got flattened by a steamroller).   I got into a conversation about Jerry with the DiMarzio rep.   Surprisingly, he said that Jerry got his tone in spite of the DiMarzios, not because of them!

Bill, tgo

[mica]

Yes, when I called0 DiMarzio to get pickups for the one Tribute we made with them, the rep said, "You makin' a Jerry guitar?" and he also told me the only reason they make those pickups still is because of Jerry - they are not their favorite pickups

[jalevinemd]

Many years ago, before figuring how how to make my Alembics play nicely with my OD/Distortion pedals, I had asked Susan about the possibility of having my next custom made with Super II's. If memory serves, she told me in the most polite way possible, to go pound sand. Hahahahahahaha!