View other reviews for this product:
tjon901 « Great alternative to the Zakk Wylde models »
Published on 06/23/11 at 12:05It is pretty interesting that Epiphone makes Zakk Wylde signature guitars with Passive EMG pickups when they have made normal Epiphones with fully active EMG's in the past. This is the guitar you really want if you are looking for the Zakk Wylde sound. You get the active EMG's without looking like a Zakk fanboy. This guitar is the Epiphone Les Paul Custom model with a set of active EMG pickups in it. It has an 81 in the bridge and an 85 in the neck. This combination is what Zakk Wylde uses in his Gibsons and it is a classic metal combination. The Custom is bascially a dressed up Les Paul standard. It has more binding on the body neck and headstock and has larger block inlays. I think the large block inlays give the guitar a classy look. The guitar has s 22 fret rosewood fretboard with the large block inlays. The headstock is fully bound. The body is solid mahogany. Customs do not have the maple top on the body. The color is solid black with gold hardware to give it class. There is a volume knob and tone knob for each pickup and a 3 way switch to switch among them. The bridge is your standard tune o matic and stop tail like you would find on most every Les Paul.
UTILIZATION
This guitar is more Les Paul Custom than Zakk Wylde signature when it comes to playability. It does not have the raw neck that the Zakk Wylde signature guitars have. Since the body joins the neck at the 17th fret you will have to reach around the body of the guitar to get to frets higher than this. This strong joint helps with tone and sustain but limits upper fret playability greatly. The neck binding on this guitar and generally helps to limit the amount of sharp fret ends you feel when playing.
SOUNDS
This guitar sounds like the real thing. This thing sounds more like the Zakk Wylde Gibson than the Epiphone Zakk Wylde guitar does. This guitar is as heavy as a Les Paul can get. With EMG's from the factory the guitar rips faces. The 81 in the bridge has been an iconic metal pickup for decades. It has a high end crunch and distortion that gives it clarity no matter how much gain you are using or how low you tune. The 85 in the neck is a great pickup too. It has a more fuller sound than the 81 so in the neck position you can get fat lead tones. The 85 is also good too in the bridge. With EMG's quick connect system you can easily swap these pickups position without soldering anything. The 85 in the bridge produces a super thick tone and cleans up better than the 81. Speaking of cleans if you do the 18v mod on the EMG's. With the 18v mod you run the pickups on two batteries instead of one. This provides a more organic tone with more headroom. This tone produces better cleans than stock EMG's and clean tones are usually the weakest part of the EMG sound.
OVERALL OPINION
They did not make too many of these guitars so they are pretty rare. They have a newer version out call the Prophecy and they come with active EMG's and 24 frets. This guitar is what I wished the Zakk Wylde signature was. No crazy graphics, just pure metal tone. Its fat Les Paul tone with the searing gain from the EMG's mean it can play any time of heavy music. If you are looking for a metal Les Paul this guitar is a good option.
UTILIZATION
This guitar is more Les Paul Custom than Zakk Wylde signature when it comes to playability. It does not have the raw neck that the Zakk Wylde signature guitars have. Since the body joins the neck at the 17th fret you will have to reach around the body of the guitar to get to frets higher than this. This strong joint helps with tone and sustain but limits upper fret playability greatly. The neck binding on this guitar and generally helps to limit the amount of sharp fret ends you feel when playing.
SOUNDS
This guitar sounds like the real thing. This thing sounds more like the Zakk Wylde Gibson than the Epiphone Zakk Wylde guitar does. This guitar is as heavy as a Les Paul can get. With EMG's from the factory the guitar rips faces. The 81 in the bridge has been an iconic metal pickup for decades. It has a high end crunch and distortion that gives it clarity no matter how much gain you are using or how low you tune. The 85 in the neck is a great pickup too. It has a more fuller sound than the 81 so in the neck position you can get fat lead tones. The 85 is also good too in the bridge. With EMG's quick connect system you can easily swap these pickups position without soldering anything. The 85 in the bridge produces a super thick tone and cleans up better than the 81. Speaking of cleans if you do the 18v mod on the EMG's. With the 18v mod you run the pickups on two batteries instead of one. This provides a more organic tone with more headroom. This tone produces better cleans than stock EMG's and clean tones are usually the weakest part of the EMG sound.
OVERALL OPINION
They did not make too many of these guitars so they are pretty rare. They have a newer version out call the Prophecy and they come with active EMG's and 24 frets. This guitar is what I wished the Zakk Wylde signature was. No crazy graphics, just pure metal tone. Its fat Les Paul tone with the searing gain from the EMG's mean it can play any time of heavy music. If you are looking for a metal Les Paul this guitar is a good option.