Joey Landreth inspires a switch to EMGs?

I was recently watching That Pedal Show's video with Joey Landreth, and the minute I saw his Suhr, I knew it was time to drop that new pick guard into my Blacktop Stratocaster.


The tortoise shell pick guard I bought was for the purposes of finding a home for my EMG 81 and SA (no middle), so the tones are obviously going to be VERY different.  This could be a lot of fun though in combination with the Metal Zone I recently bought.  EMG pickups and a Boss Metal Zone?

So. Much. Suck?

I'm actually kind of interested in debunking this concept.  Just a few minutes with the Metal Zone led me to the conclusion that it isn't THAT bad.  What if I built two similar rigs from very different pieces and A/B'd them.
The first rig would be the Eric Johnson Maple Stratocaster, which has a Tone Zone S in the bridge, into a Fulldrive 2, an Angry Charlie, a Quickdraw delay, and finally int the Dr. Z Maz 8.

The second would be the Blacktop Stratocaster, with EMGs, into a Noah Sark Green (TS9 clone), a Metal Zone, a Korg Toneworks AX10 (for the delay), running into a Peavey Envoy 110.

For kicks I may run the second rig into the effects return of the Maz 8 and see what the Korg can produce with an amp model engaged.  I haven't used that thing in a long time, and it served me pretty well overseas running into an Ampeg Jet II, which has a pretty simple control layout and stays fairly clean.

I know what you're thinking - there's no way a Metal Zone, some EMG's, and a solid state amp will beat boutique tubes and an Angry Charlie, to say nothing of the EJ Strat.  Of course it won't.  But that isn't the point.

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