Ernie Ball Music Man

[shredmonster]

I may have to try one of these guitars some day. Personally I hate - and I mean hate the looks of them but I hear stellar reviews on the tone and the necks. To bad they don't have 24 frets.

Harmonics are suppose to be great also. Actually I have never heard anything bad about them.

How is the sustain on these things? Anyone compare them to an LP?

I would love plug one of them and do comparisons next to my other guitars. Think I will have to look locally for one in a music store.

[ChickenScratch]

I can tell you that Ernie Ball guitars and basses are the most solid bolt on instruments I've ever come across. It vibrates, sounds and behaves like one cut of wood, not a bolt on. Sustain sustain.

[shredmonster]

Any big differences between the Axis and EVH models. They want a rediculous amount of money for the EVH models on ebay.

[DonP]

Personally I hate - and I mean hate the looks of them

+1 I don't buy fugly guitars LOL!

[Top Jimmy B]

Any big differences between the Axis and EVH models. They want a rediculous amount of money for the EVH models on ebay.

I've owned three of each and other than the toggle placement, no difference to me.

I currently have one Axis and an old Morse, both are incredible guitars. The Morse is smoother sounding than the Axis, with a much more balanced tone. The Axis is a great rock guitar with massive lows and highs and somewhat scooped mids - killer for riffin' it out. I tend to use an eg with a reverse "V" to bring out some mids for soloing. Harmonics jump out all over the neck.

If you're looking for twenty four frets I would suggest a Petrucci. The nut width is the same as Jackson and the profile is pretty flat, like an Ibanez Prestige neck.

Even dead, you won't pry the Morse from my hands.

[dinkyjacksonman]

Great guitars and I love them!
but if you are used to play wide and beefy necks of Jackson, most of these Ernie Ball guitars(except Petrucci models) necks would be too skinny.
Also most of these come with medium frets, not jumbo.

[Flatpicker]

Silo's are 24 frets.

[Joe_Steeler]

+1 I don't buy fugly guitars LOL!

+2
They hurt my eyes.

[owlhead]

I've owned two EB axis' guitars and played a bunch. IMO they all played great and are extremely comfortable to play.

[roodyrocker]

I have an EB MM Petrucci and its a great axe! Go for the piezzo equipped model for some awesome acoustic tones along with great electric sound. To get the most out of the piezzo you need to plug it into an acoustic amp and for that I'd recommend an SWR California Blonde.
Besides, Mystic Dream is about the coolest color ever

Rudy

[Jimi D]

I may have to try one of these guitars some day. Personally I hate - and I mean hate the looks of them but I hear stellar reviews on the tone and the necks. To bad they don't have 24 frets.

Harmonics are suppose to be great also. Actually I have never heard anything bad about them.

How is the sustain on these things? Anyone compare them to an LP?

Actually, as previously mentioned, the EBMM Silhouette and Petrucci models have 24 frets. There are older Silhouettes out there with a Floyd too, and they hit Ebay on occasion... The Sil's with Floyds will have the same pickup config as the original JEMs had - a pair of PAF Pros with a custom Dimarzio single in between.

The necks are as good as any neck on any guitar I've ever played, and far, far better than most... One thing about these killer necks is that they're oil and wax finished, which means they need the truss rod tweaked on occasion because they are more susceptible to elemental changes than poly-finished necks. The good thing is that the truss rod is so easy to adjust with the truss rod wheel exposed at the base of the neck. The bad thing is that I've seen some appallingly bad setups on these guitars in GC-type stores where the staff are generally too lazy or too stupid to do anything about the neck moving. But EBMM don't make many duds (if any), so if you find one that's horribly set up, just get them to hand you a hex key and tweak it yourself - you'll soon see just how good the off-the-shelf playability of a production guitar can be, because they don't make 'em in any factory anywhere that are better than this!

As far as sustain is concerned, that depends on so many variables that it's really impossible to answer, but if you've ever seen a bolt-on, Floyd-equipped super strat that sustains as we acoustically as a good Les Paul, then you've found something special. I will say that most of my EBMMs have been light, very resonant, and extremely lively guitars acoustically, which translates into a great guitar in my book... Except for a couple PRS's and a Custom Shop Aria PE, they're all I play...

[pro-fusion]

I played a Silhouette a couple of days ago in a local store. Damn nice guitar, though I agree about the narrow neck and medium frets being a bit of a "foreign experience" for someone used to Jackson necks. By the way, I think the Silhouette is a handsome guitar, unlike most of the other EBMMs.