an_tran

The cleans are unbelievably, glassy on the bridge and warm and sparkly on the neck, but what really gets me with this guitar is how well it handles high-gain situations with an incredibly aggressive crunch and bark.

I have updated my Epiphone Black Beauty with a DiMarzio X2N in the bridge, PAF Pro in the middle, and Air Norton in the neck, as well as a custom wiring job with bridge and neck on the switch like normal, the middle humbucker wired directly to a third volume pot (where the bridge's tone pot would originally be), and the neck tone pot as a master tone for all three. Grover locking tuners. It's a versatile beast and my main guitar for metal.

Acoustically, this guitar sounds really incredible. My criticism is mostly in the pick-ups (which no longer work, but it's been over ten years and it needs to be re-wired), which are a muddy mess. I pretty much use this guitar as an acoustic now and take it on camping trips with me. I love the way it plays and it's a really great beat-em-up budget axe if you want a full hollowbody.

This amp is LOUD and gives me the best clean tones I've ever encountered. It has a Celestion A-type speaker in it, which complements the amp incredibly well. This is a killer pedal platform, which makes it a really convenient amp for rehearsals when heavier/bigger amps are less feasible.

I hate the design of the pedal (and I would much prefer the V3 for its redesigned shape), but I'm never going to get rid of this pedal unless it poops out on me entirely. It's just the perfect chorus for my needs.

This is my favorite neck pick-up. That's really all I have to say about it. Warm, smooth, creamy bliss.

The PAF Pro is just a great all-round pick-up for rock, blues, and metal. In the middle position of my Epiphone Black Beauty, it offers up some very interesting sounds, especially when it's paired with the DiMarzio X2N bridge, or with the Air Norton in the neck position, creating a much fuller and harmonically vibrant sound on either.

I went with the DiMarzio X2N knowing that Michael Romeo of Symphony X uses it, and also knowing I wanted a dual-rail bridge humbucker due to Dimebag Darrell's influence on me. This pickup is a monster, but I'm also a huge fan of the bright glassy crystal-clear cleans I can get out of it.