When i was still using Recto's i used the red channel on modern with all the tones pretty much straight up at noon for my main/rhythm tone, and then for leads i switched to the orange channel on modern with the treble all the way to zero, lows at noon and the mids all the way up and used the...
This. Recto's absolutely LOVE EMG 81's. My ESP Eclipse with EMG's was my best sounding guitar when I was still using a Triple Recto. I switched to an Engl Powerball II a few years ago and while my Eclipse still sounds great with it, my passive pickup guitars sound much better with the Engl then...
I like the old ESP standard series Eclipse and the newer E-II versions. I've got a standard series and i used to have an E-II. People bag on the E-II and say they're not as good as the old standard series, but I think the construction upgrades ESP made to the E-II Eclipses make them better built...
If you don't feel you need to make EQ adjustments a clean boost is fine. But using something like an MXR 10 band or Boss GE7 let's you make EQ tweaks specifically for your lead tone when you hit that boost. The MXR even more so than the Boss.
Agreed that most LP's are "try before you buy". I got lucky on one of the ones I have, a 2010 LP Trad Pro I bought last summer off another forum. I usually dislike Gibson pickups, but the ones in that one aren't bad, and it's been nice to have something that isn't super high output like the...