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What pickups was James using on the first 4 albums? Justice seem like he made the switch to EMGs, but the first three seem to have a non-EMG vibe? (Kirk has been using EMGs since Kill 'em all, right?)

Also, at what point did the rhythm sound evolve from Marshalls to Mesas?

James played Stock Gibby's w/496r and 500t pups on Kill'em All and RTL. I believe he started using Invaders and Distortions around Puppets along with his Boogies. And Justice was pure EMG/Boogie.

I'm sure someone will chime in with a more detailed facts.

The white V he played in the Kill 'em All era was a Gibby knockoff.

yeah, the V he used for the first 2 albums was a knockoff. it was stock for kill em all, and had an invader in it for RTL. he used a stock gibson explorer on MOP, but at the time he had a white jackson king v with EMGs, though i dont think he recorded with it (maybe he did on the thing that should not be, since he kept that guitar in D for playing that song live). then after that he switched full time to EMGs.

btw it was kirk who used a distortion in one of his gibson V's, though his jackson RR had EMGs from the get-go i beleive, and he got that on the RTL tour.